The season one finale. A champion of champions where the winners from across the season came back to work out who was actually the best. About a year on from that first pandemic episode, getting to a proper finale felt pretty good.
The contestants
Three returning winners: alter artist ALK, level two judge and Scourge Divas podcaster Cayce, and Gavin Verhey from Wizards of the Coast. This time they weren't just playing for pride, they were playing for the first ever Battle of Wits trophy.
The rounds
I mixed the usual favourites with some new ideas for the finale:
- Tiny Leaders: guess the commander from de-pixelating art. I got sneaky and used promo and alternate arts this time.
- Topsy-Turvy: trivia asked and answered in reverse word order.
- Heartbreaker: a mythic round with twelve pewter miniatures from the 1990s, eleven based on Magic and one not.
- Journey to Nowhere: I remove a character from a piece of card art and you name who is missing.
- Tentative Connection: four things linked by a common thread, including a group that turned out to be Magic themed sodas.
- Savor the Flavor: match eight characters to eight bits of flavour text.
- Reality Smasher: two card names smashed together at the join.
How it went
Show the result (spoilers)
It came right down to the wire. Gavin took an early lead, the other two clawed it back through the middle rounds, and it stayed close to the end. Gavin edged it by a single point on 11, with ALK on 10 and Cayce on 8. A proper nail-biter to close out season one.