Over the weekend, Magic: The Gathering Arena players competed in the July 2021 Arena Open for their chance to win $2,000 and a Qualifier Weekend invitation, and Twitch streamer Stephen “crockeyz” Croke dominated the two-day Standard competition and won the ultimate prize.
Crockeyz showed the proof of his top finish on Twitter, showing a screenshot of his $2,000 USD reward for staying undefeated in both days of the Arena Open. What’s more impressive is that he was able to win the open without a delay during his livestream, which most streamers usually have to avoid opponents stream-sniping their hand.
Crokeyz’s Standard Gruul Deck
Crockeyz played an aggressive Gruul (red/green) Standard deck with the adventure package from Throne of Eldraine like Edgewall Innkeeper, Bonecrusher Giant, and Lovestruck Beast while taking advantage of the power of newer cards like Werewolf Pack Leader, Ranger Class, and Goldspan Dragon. The deck also runs copies of Jaspera Sentinel and Magda, Brazen Outlaw to help ramp up mana to play the bigger spells like Embercleave and The Great Henge.
Check out Crockeyz’s winning deck here via his Twitter here:
As you can see, his sideboard is packed with burn spells like Redcap Melee, Blazing Volley and Burning Handsto deal with his opponents’ creatures. Against graveyard strategies, Crokeyz uses Soul-Guide Lantern, Weathered Runestone, and Klothys, God of Destiny.
A couple of Ox of Agonas can also help him gain card advantage, especially in grindy midrange games while Roiling Vortex is a Control player’s nightmare as it is difficult to deal with once it’s resolved as the one-to-cast red enchantment deals 1 damage to every player in each of their upkeeps while having the ability to prevent them from gaining life.
Related: MTG Arena Mobile ‘Exceeded All Expectations’, Wizards of the Coast’s Revenue ‘More Than Doubled’
The Team Liquid star has proven once again that he has what it takes to dominate a high-level tournament on MTG Arena. It would be interesting to see Crockeyz compete against other Magic professional players in other high-level tournaments.
