I. Introduction

The final two weeks have passed in the "league-style" Standard Pauper event being held by Hipsters of the Coast, bringing an end to the Swiss portion of the event and bringing us to the coveted Top 8 cut. Last time, I updated my readers on the events of Week 5 and 6 and covered my matches for both weeks. For this week's article, I will update you on the final rankings after Swiss, reveal who walked away with prizes this week, and videocast my matches from the past two weeks using my Selesnya build. As always, I am grateful to Zachary Barash for providing some of the source material for this article. So, here's all the news that's fit to print from Week 7 and 8 of this great event!

II. State of the Event



Of the original 152 players, 47 were still active going in to Round 8. Unlike most Player Run Events, intentional draws were allowed for this tournament, and as a result several of the players in contention for the Top 8 spot chose to take advantage of this option. Going into Round 8, there were 10 players who were still in contention for the final spot, with the possibility of even a player at X-2 squeaking into the Top 8. Here, then are your Top 8 finalists:

Sadly, I was not among these top performers. I ended up with a meager 4-4 record, finishing in 39th place, which would put me just outside the typical prize structure had this been a high-level sanctioned tournament.

While the details of the Top 8 Playoffs have yet to be announced, the host did promise that in addition to the pairings he will soon post interviews with each player that made Top 8. I personally am looking forward to it and hope to bring you as much coverage from that event as I can. Stay tuned for future developments...

III. Prizes For the Past Two Weeks



As I mentioned previously, just for participating in this event, you have the chance to walk away with a booster pack each week, given out to two random participants regardless of their success. Additionally, the Hipsters of the Coast team are all playing in this event, and special prizes can be won by defeating them in matches. So here's who walked away with what:

Matt LaZer won a booster pack of Ravnica: City of Guilds in Week 7.

John Mason won a booster pack of Gatecrash in Week 7.

David Wills won a booster pack of Guildpact and a Foil Hammerfist Giant for beating Rich in Week 7!

Sean Shirato Almon won a booster of Onslaught in Week 8.

Hans wins a booster of Dragon's Maze in Week 8.

Jesse S wins a Foil Modern Masters Blood Moon for beating Zachary in Week 8.

IV. My Matches

In case you missed my previous articles, for the final four weeks of this event I decided to run a Selesnya build based on one from my good friend and fellow Standard Pauper enthusiast joekewwl. At the end of the day I still feel like this was a good choice, but definitely not the strongest deck in the format. That coveted title belongs either to Flickergate or to Mono Blue Flyers! In any case, here are my two matches.

V. Conclusion

That wraps up this report from the final two weeks of the Hipsters of the Coast Standard Pauper event. Let me remind you that you can always check out all of my previous articles here on PureMTGO by clicking here. I also publish over on my blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and encourage you to keep up with all my projects there. You can get a sneak peek at my matches from this event before they go live here at PureMTGO.com over on YouTube.com. Simply search for "gwyned42," select one of my videocasts, and click the Subscribe button. Finally, you can keep up with everything I'm doing for this event on Twitter at the username gwyned42; check out my profile here and click on Follow.

Also, in unrelated news, I am happy to announce that when Monday Pauper Deck Challenge resumes on October 21st, I will once again be hosting this great event. Monday Pauper Deck Challenge is a weekly PRE featuring a Swiss tournament in the Standard Pauper format, with prizes awarded for the Top 8 finishers thanks to the sponsorship of MTGOTraders. If you've never checked out MPDC, I encourage you to browse over to PDCMagic.com for all the information and then come join us at 2:00pm EST / 7:00pm GMT in the /join MPDC room.

Hope to see you on the other side of the virtual battlefield soon!