1996 Pro Tour Los Angeles/Top 8 decks
| Pro Tour Los Angeles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Date | May 3 to 5, 1996 | |||
| Location |
 Los Angeles, California | |||
| Attendance |
Seniors: 179 | |||
| Format | Booster Draft (Fourth Edition & Homelands) | |||
| Prize pool |
Senior: $100,000 Junior: $30,000 (Scholarships) | |||
| Winner |
Senior: Shawn "Hammer" Regnier Junior: Max Szlagor | |||
| ||||
These are the decks drafted by the Top 8 players in Los Angeles for the single-elimination finals series. The format was two boosters of Fourth Edition (15 cards each) and one booster of Homelands (8 cards) for a total card pool of 38 cards per player. Basic lands could be added to construct a 40 card minimum deck.[1]
Seniors
Shawn "Hammer" Regnier
A 
draft deck played by Champion Shawn "Hammer" Regnier.[2]
| “ | Unlike most players, Hammer passed up the direct damage and big creatures, building a very slow, passive, mostly-blue control deck with a little white and just a touch of black. In most of his games, he was able to neutralize his opponent's creatures with Gaseous Forms and/or Flood, then slowly eat them with a Giant Oyster until he was finally able to steal a big creature— or, in some cases, simply hold them off until his opponent ran out of cards.[3] | ” |
Thomas Guevin
A 
draft deck played by runner-up Tom Guevin.
| “ | Guevin opened his first booster pack to find a Shivan Dragon staring him in the face. It didn't take much thought to decide to play heavy red. Noticing that the players to his left didn't seem to be drafting much red, he decided to pick up a second color early and then get more red creatures later, so he grabbed a couple of Prodigal Sorcerers. When the draft switched directions on the second booster, he was passed several good white cards and changed his initial red-blue plans to red with a splash of both white and blue. His favorite card from the second pack came to him on the sixth pick: Armageddon.[3] | ” |
Darwin Kastle
A draft deck played by semi-finalist Darwin Kastle.[4]
| “ | [Kastle] was very happy with his draft. He managed to score two direct-damage spells, Fireball and Drain Life, along with Brothers of Fire and a good selection of both small and large creatures, ranging from Drudge Skeletons up through a Fire Elemental and Shapeshifter.[3] | ” |
Creatures (16)
1 Chandler
Instant (1)
Artifact (1)
Enchantment (1)
1 Weakness
Mark Venhaus
A 
draft deck played by semi-finalist Mark Venhaus.
| “ | Venhaus built a fast, creature-heavy red-green deck. His best picks, he said, were Lightning Bolt, Giant Growth, and Cockatrice. His main strategy was to get lots of small creatures out fast, to swarm over his opponent and hopefully take him out before getting the chance to play anything big.[3] | ” |
Creatures (18)
Sideboard (12)
Scott Johns
Quarterfinalist Scott Johns played a deck in the final Fourth / Homelands draft. A full decklist doesn't exist, but certain cards are mentioned in coverage, and the number of creatures (15) and cards of each color (2 black, 9 red, 10 green) are known.[5]
Preston Poulter
Quarterfinalist Preston Poulter played a deck in the final Fourth / Homelands draft. A full decklist doesn't exist, but certain cards are mentioned in coverage, and the number of creatures (15) and cards of each color (7 blue, 10 black, 2 red) are known.[5]
Vaughn Sandor
Quarterfinalist Vaughn Sandor played a deck in the final Fourth / Homelands draft. A full decklist doesn't exist, but certain cards are mentioned in coverage, and the number of creatures (11) and cards of each color (9 blue, 14 black) are known.[5]
Creatures (1)
Artifacts (1)
Jeff Wood
Quarterfinalist Jeff Wood played a deck in the final Fourth / Homelands draft. A full decklist doesn't exist, but certain cards are mentioned in coverage, and the number of creatures (14) and cards of each color (6 black, 19 green) are known.[5]
Juniors
Max Szlagor
A Fourth Edition / Homelands draft deck played by Junior Champion Max Szlagor.
| “ | Szlagor wasn't overjoyed with his draft; he described it as "more or less OK." His drafting strategy was to choose colors he didn't think many people would play (blue and white) and go for those colors. His best pick, though, was an artifact: Aladdin's Ring. Too expensive for use in standard tournament play, it's a killer in limited-environment play; it won several games for him. In addition, he drafted two Phantasmal Forces, along with two Zephyr Falcons, a Mesa Falcon, and a Serra Aviary for a very impressive air force. A Flood complemented those nicely, keeping ground creatures under control. Serrated Arrows and Aysen Bureaucrats could take care of small fliers while Gaseous Form neutralized any creature that avoided the other defenses. Kismet, Castle, and Righteousness, along with a couple of CoP's, topped things off for a very nice deck. [3] | ” |
Paul McCabe
A Fourth Edition / Homelands draft deck played by Junior runner-up Paul McCabe.
| “ | McCabe tried to complement banding and first strike with Giant Growths and damage prevention, making his creatures extremely hard to get rid of. He also scored superb cards as his first pick from each of the Fourth Edition™ packs: Serra Angel in the first, and Millstone in the second. [3] | ” |
References
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (July 1996). "Best draft formulas (pdf)". The Duelist Sideboard, pp. 21. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on February 7. 2020. Retrieved on June 17, 2025.
- ↑ MTG Top 8 (2025). "Pro Tour Los Angeles 1996 #1 Blue / White / Black "I'll deck you" - Shawn Regnier (website)". MTG Top 8. Retrieved on June 16, 2025.
- ↑ a b c d e f Beth Moursund (July 1996). "Best draft formulas (pdf)". The Duelist Sideboard, pp. 20. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on February 7. 2020. Retrieved on June 17, 2025.
- ↑ MTG Top 8 (2025). "Pro Tour Los Angeles 1996 #3-4 Black / Red - Darwin Kastle (website)". MTG Top 8. Retrieved on June 16, 2025.
- ↑ a b c d Beth Moursund (July 1996). "The Top 8 (PDF)". Inquest 15, pp. 25. Inquest Gamer. Archived from the original on July 13, 2020. Retrieved on June 18, 2025.