Raging Bull Series: 2026 Coverage & Results

The eighth edition of the Raging Bull Series. Two editions were held online due to COVID; the other six all took place at De 2 Klaveren. Twelve people have attended every live edition, another 30 have only missed one, and 51 have missed just two. By now, it’s become something of a routine.

Friday brings a side event, usually Sealed. Saturday is the main event, always following the same schedule: announcements, six rounds of Swiss, 55 minutes each. No lunch break, no dinner break, but a raffle just before the Top 8 begins. Those who don’t make it spend their time playing Angry Mob, grabbing some chicken across the street, or jamming games in the basement. Timmy runs the livestream all day, and when De 2 Klaveren closes at 22:00, whoever is still standing heads across the street for one more beer.

Well, if that doesn’t sound like a boring introduction to a tournament report, I don’t know what does.

But routine isn’t a bad thing. And alongside the familiar traditions, there’s always something new to add. I doubt anyone has ever come home from a Magic tournament and told their wife: “Around 18:00, I was standing in a sweltering basement in Amsterdam with 50 drunk men, chanting ‘bathrobe, bathrobe, bathrobe.'”

Welcome to this year’s Raging Bull report.

Friday: Ice Age sealed

Sealed and Draft are great ways to play Magic. Doing it with Ice Age, Homelands, and Alliances is even better. This isn’t about building the perfect deck; it’s about getting the most out of cards that aren’t exactly all-stars. It’s one of the few formats where weird cards can shine and complete junk can suddenly become good. And when junk becomes good, there are few better ways to play Magic. After all, this is how many of us started. Back then, junk was almost all we had. Playing junk against tuned tournament decks is miserable. Playing junk against other junk? That’s great Magic.

Last year I wasn’t able to play in the side event myself, and I regretted it. This year I made sure I could join. Twenty-eight players cracked open seven boosters each and had one hour to turn the contents into something playable. There were some iconic pulls: Ihsan’s Shade, Wiitigo, Stormbind, Balduvian Horde, Lake of the Dead, Skeleton Ship, Time Bomb, three Force of Wills, and plenty of other classics. In theory, you want removal, flyers, and big creatures. In practice, what you get is completely random. Many cards look unplayable at first glance, but appearances can be deceiving, and strange synergies can easily win a game.

I was fortunate enough to open a great pool, but still lost R4 to Koendert thanks to a Diseased Vermin enchanted with Awesome Presence. Yes, those are real cards. No, there’s no shame in looking up what they do. Koendert made it to the final, but there he had to submit to Frank, our local hero and possibly one of the biggest Ice Age Limited enthusiasts around. A fantastic way to start the weekend.

Saturday: Main Event

At 10:00 the venue opened and players started streaming in. Everyone arrived early, so registration went smoothly. While merchandise has become part of the Raging Bull routine, I try to come up with something new every year. This year’s collection consisted of a Raging Bull water bottle, Raging Bull sunglasses, and a Raging Bull cotton  bag.

Over the years, the list of Raging Bull merchandise has grown surprisingly long. At times it genuinely feels like we’re running an actual brand rather than a Magic tournament. Of course, there’s always room for one more idea. This year I added a new item: the Raging Bull bathrobe. A limited edition run. One for the winner, one for myself, and five reserved for the charity raffle. Naturally, there was only one appropriate way to start the announcements: wearing the Raging Bull bathrobe.

While I always try to come up with creative ideas myself, Raging Bull wouldn’t be what it is without all the people who contribute their own. Martin has been creating amazing 3D-printed prizes for years. You already saw the Snow Elf, but this year he also made another Raging Bull trophy for the winner and a Demonic Tutor for the Spice/Brewmaster award. Juan came up with the idea of creating special Raging Bull patches for all previous champions. As a result, every former winner received their own champion’s patch during the announcements.

And last but certainly not least, we had a special surprise for Marc Heider. Marc won n00bcon earlier this year, but unfortunately there was no shark trophy for the winner this time around. Marc is a familiar face at many Dutch tournaments, and over the years we’ve all grown rather fond of him. If we couldn’t give him a shark, however, we could at least make his nickname official. Alex created a beautiful alter in honor of “Shark Heider,” and before the tournament began, we gave Marc a well-deserved round of applause for his victory back in April.

Round 1. Let’s go. The pairings go up, players find their seats, and the first 55-minute round of the day begins. Timmy starts the stream while I run around taking care of the usual organizer duties, making sure everything is running smoothly. As I walk through the venue, I see the familiar routine of Raging Bull once again. The same faces, the same tables, the same excitement. This group meets each other at tournaments throughout the year, but for many of them, Raging Bull is a big red cross in their calender every year.

And while you often end up playing against friends, some matchups have become classics by now: Henk vs. Ron, Evert vs. Leo, Wilfred vs. Demmer, Malte vs. Jordi, Roy vs. Koen, Wouter J vs. Wouter M, Frank vs. Thomas. These aren’t just Round 1 pairings; they’re rivalries that have been replayed across multiple editions of the tournament. All of these players have attended Raging Bull at least five times. Once again they find themselves in the same venue, competing for the same prizes, but above all looking forward to a great day of Magic.

Apart from a few technical issues with the pairings software, everything runs smoothly. The day flies by. My wife and kids visit Raging Bull for the first time, and I get to show them something we’ve built over the years. Seeing the event through their eyes makes me realize just how much it has grown. By Round 6, I’m walking around the top tables making sure players cut decks and that there are no intentional draws. It might feel unnecessary among friends, but there’s really no reason not to do things correctly.

Seventy-two players entered the tournament. At the end of six rounds, only two remained undefeated, and a clean cut put everyone with 15 points or more into the Top 8. And what a Top 8 it was. Jordi made his third consecutive Raging Bull Top 8 appearance. Shark Heider made it again, this time looking to win an actual trophy card. Evert, who hadn’t touched a Magic card since n00bcon and claimed to be feeling rusty, got in as well. Daniel made his first-ever Raging Bull appearance, joining the Daltons and Rantanplan while proudly defending Norwegian honor. David returned after years away from the event and clearly came back with a mission. Then there was Svante in third place, doing what only Svante seems capable of doing.

And at the top of the standings stood the two undefeated players: Alex and Rob. The day before the tournament, Alex had messaged me with a simple question: “Spice or spike?” I gave the obvious answer, only to discover that his definition of spice differed considerably from most people’s. Rob, meanwhile, had just won Weinfest and was once again sleeving up the Atog deck I originally tuned for UTC 2025, which I then piloted to a quarterfinal finish. What a lineup!

First up: the Spice/Brew Award. Throughout the day, Timmy and I tried to feature the most interesting decks on the stream, and I have to say it worked out fantastically. It’s not enough to showcase great brews, you also want great matches and we were lucky enough to get both. There were plenty of contenders. Edo’s deck featuring Petra Sphinx, Sinbad, Millstone, and Sylvan Library certainly caught our attention. But in the end, we couldn’t help falling in love with Thomas Nilsen’s creation. Thomas has a habit of bringing sweet decks to Raging Bull every year, but this one was something special. An All Hallow’s Eve deck featuring Hazezon Tamar, Clone, Vesuvan Doppelganger, and plenty of other old-school goodness. A very deserving winner of the Spice/Brew Award.

Next up: the raffle. Last year, I turned the raffle into a charity raffle, and I was proud that we were able to support a wonderful local cause. The organization provides gifts for children whose families cannot afford them, helping make birthdays and the holiday season feel special, as they should. This year, I was blown away by the generosity of the community. Not only did we receive an incredible amount of donated prizes, but raffle ticket sales were through the roof as well. Perhaps the five Raging Bull bathrobes helped. Perhaps the n00bcon ticket helped a little too. But I also think many people recognize how fortunate we are to spend our weekends playing this game with friends, and how good it feels to give something back. Whatever the reason, the result was incredible. Together, we raised €2,065 for charity. Thank you all for contributing!

We also held another edition of Angry Mob! While his performance in the main event was, let’s say, respectable rather than spectacular, Gijsbert more than made up for it when it came to guessing cards. Despite it being his very first time participating, he took home the Angry Mob title. An impressive debut. Jurriaan tried all day really hard to win any games, but finished dead last. And Toon thought it was a great idea to bring The Deck at his first apperance at Raging Bull, taking home the revised Grizzly Bear as the highest The Deck finisher. Meanwhile, the Top 8 was already underway. Rob defeated Jordi on stream, while Daniel, Alex, and Svante all advanced as well. In the semifinals we featured Svante versus Alex, and what a match it was. These guys can play. Svante was looking to claim his second Raging Bull title, but Alex had other plans. On the other side of the bracket, Rob defeated Daniel, setting up an all-Dutch final. I had called for a Dutch winner during the morning announcements, so I was very happy to see it happen.

The first game of the final quickly went south for Rob after an early Blood Moon. In game two, however, he seized the initiative and looked firmly in control. In my head, I had already started counting it as his game but Alex didn’t agree. Somehow he managed to turn things around and eventually closed out the match. While playing Atog most of the time in the recent tournaments, he moved out of his routine. And while his deck wasn’t quite as spicy as I had imagined when he messaged me the day before the tournament asking “spice or spike?”, winning the whole event with three Shivan Dragons in a deck that hasn’t seen much play in recent years is still pretty awesome.

A worthy champion for another fantastic edition of Raging Bull. And for those keeping score at home: yes, Alex had already won the n00bcon ticket as well and yes, that’s the guy who created the Shark Heider alter.

Congratulations, Alex. You earned that Breakfast of Champions. I expect you won’t take that ring off your finger for the coming year!

Livestream

Check out all episode’s here: TBD
Check out the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya4okD0s51g

Tournament Reports

Svante Landgraf: End of turn, draw a card

Pairings & Results

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Top 8:

Final Standings:

Participants & Archetypes

Decklists