Longtime Magic: the Gathering player and occasional MtGO user Janette Widdicomb had no idea what she was getting into when she joined a Battle for Zendikar 8-4 at 7:12pm last night.

Janette had remained mostly spoiler free, so when she saw her first pack containing a gold rare, a pair of gold uncommons, and several cards with the converge mechanic she assumed it was another gold set, such as Khans or Return to Ravnica. A perfectly valid assumption, she then first-picked a Forerunner of Slaughter, and assumed mana-fixing (such as the Lifespring Druid she’d also seen in that pack) would come back to her.

Needless to say, the manafixing to support her multicolored strategy never appeared, and she ended up with an absolute trainwreck: a BRgw aggro deck with a 7/6/2/2 manabase, including RR and BB spells.

What unfolded over the next couple of hours is what has non-believers everywhere so excited: 6 straight games, curving out each time perfectly without once stumbling on mana. This, says renowned atheist Richard Dawkins, is definitive proof of the absence of God:

“If there were a God”, argues Dawkins, “it’s clear that a draft so undisciplined and a deck so greedy would be punished with mana-troubles, or at the very least a mulligan or two. Janette’s flawless draft simply cannot exist in the same universe as a divine creator.”

Janette, herself an agnostic, describes her trepidation as she was sideboarding before game two of the final: ‘I knew what I would mean if the next game was the same. There was more than just eight packs of BfZ at stake; the very nature of religious belief was up in the air. When I saw two swamps and a forest in my opening hand I felt pretty sure that a God did exist and that my Munda, Ambush Leader would be a dead card all game – but when I drew mountain then plains in my first two draw steps, I knew that I was alone in the universe; no immortal soul to carry on after I leave this mortal coil’.

Prominent theists remain unconvinced though. Rabbi David Wolpe has suggested that God doesn’t care about games of modo, while the Dalai Lama has said that it was probably just another modo shuffler bug.

Pope Francis, meanwhile, has released a statement saying “This draft is not conclusive evidence – The Lord moves in mysterious ways, after all. However, if Pierre Canali wins another Pro Tour then I’m done with religion forever”.

As of publication Canali is unqualified for any upcoming Pro Tour.

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