Luis Scott-Vargas

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Luis Scott-Vargas
Luis Scott-Vargas.JPG
Nicknames
LSV
Born
17 February 1983 (age 31)
Oakland, California
Nationality
United StatesAmerica
Pro Tour debut 2004 Pro Tour San Diego
Winnings
$262,605[1]
Pro Tour wins (Top 8) 1 (5)[2]
Grand Prix wins (Top 8)
4 (12)[3]
Lifetime Pro Points
388[4]
Planeswalker Level
49 (Archmage)
Luis Scott-Vargas (born 17 February 1983), commonly known as LSV, is a professio
nal Magic: the Gathering player from Oakland, CA, USA, currently living in Denve
r, CO. His accomplishments include twelve Grand Prix top 8s (four wins), and fiv
e Pro Tour top 8s (1 win).[5][6] In 2013, he was inducted into the Magic: The Ga
thering Hall of Fame. As well as being a prominent player of the game, Luis is a
lso known for writing about the game. He was a writer for StarCityGames.com befo
re becoming the editor for ChannelFireball.com, a Magic: the Gathering shop and
strategy website. LSV still writes for Channelfireball, but ended his tenure as
editor in 2012 to work as game designer in Dire Wolf Digital.
Contents
1 Magic: The Gathering
1.1 Career
1.2 Play style
1.3 Accomplishments
1.4 Team ChannelFireball
2 Personal life
3 References
Magic: The Gathering
Career
Scott-Vargas first qualified for the Pro Tour in 2004 for Pro Tour: San Diego, a
nd has been an active competitor in major Magic: the Gathering events since.
Scott-Vargas' breakout performance came at the 2006 US Nationals, where LSV won
a play-off to take third place and earn a place on the US Nationals team with Pa
ul Cheon and Benjamin Lundquist.[7] The US Nationals team would finish 13th in t
he team competition at the 2006 World Championship.
He went on
omas Drake
t the 2007
his first

to win US Nationals in 2007, leading a US Nationals team featuring Th

and Michael Bennett.[8] The US National team finished in 25th place a
World Championship. He also won Grand Prix San Francisco that season,
Grand Prix title.

The 2008 season would bring even greater success for Scott-Vargas. He made the T
op 8 of Grand Prix Philadelphia before going on to make his first Pro Tour Top 8
at Pro Tour Berlin.[9][10] Luis reached the finals of the Pro Tour where he def
eated Matej Zatlkaj to win his first, and so far only, Pro Tour title. He would
then continue his success by winning his second Grand Prix event at Grand Prix A
tlanta. By the end of the year Luis had amassed 58 Pro points, placing him in jo
int second place in the Player of the Year standings alongside Olivier Ruel.[11]

The 2009 season featured another strong set of results for Scott-Vargas. He star
ted the season by winning his third Grand Prix in as many years at Grand Prix La
s Vegas. He then made his second career Pro Tour Top 8 at Pro Tour Kyoto. Once a
gain, he reached the finals, but this time lost to Gabriel Nassif. He would roun
d out his year with another Grand Prix Top 8 at Grand Prix Seattle. He finished
in 7th place for the 2009 Player of the Year standings with 52 Pro Points.[12]
The 2010 season would be the first time since 2006 that Luis would not win a maj
or event. However, despite not winning any events Luis did manage to make a Gran
d Prix and a Pro Tour Top 8, at Grand Prix Sydney and Pro Tour San Diego. Luis c
urrently holds the record for the longest undefeated run at a Pro Tour after goi
ng 17-0 at Pro Tour San Diego, before losing in the semifinals to eventual winne
r Simon Grtzen.[13] For the second consecutive year, Luis placed seventh in the P
layer of the Year standings at the end of the season.
The 2011 season was a very successful one for Luis. He won Grand Prix Kansas Cit
y and advanced to the Top 8 of US Nationals, Pro Tour Nagoya and the 2011 World
Championship. This was the first time that Luis made the Top 8 two Pro Tour even
ts in a single season, and the first time he made Top 8 of a World Championship.
Luis only needed to win his quarterfinal match against Richard Bland at the Wor
ld Championship to overtake Owen Turtenwald and win the Player of the Year title
. He lost 2-3 to Bland leading to Owen Turtenwald winning the Player of the Year
title and Luis taking second place.[14] Also in 2011, Luis was invited to take
part in the third annual Magic Online Community Cup. The Community Cup is a spec
ial event held by Wizards of the Coast in which prominent members of the Magic O
nline community are invited to the Wizards of the Coast offices to play in a tou
rnament against staff.[15] Luis was picked for the Community Cup for his contrib
ution to the community through draft videos and his articles and work for Channe
lFireball.com.[16] Ultimately, it was the Community Team that won the tournament
defeating the Wizards Team and winning the Community Cup as well as a prize for
the Magic Online community.[17]
From 2009 2011, Luis was one of the most consistent players on the Pro Tour, with
the highest median and average finish at Pro Tour events amongst high-ranked pla
yers.[18][19]
In the 2012 season, Luis made the Top 8 of Grand
rmance for the season also qualified him for the
nship. Luis won a 2012 World Magic Cup Qualifier
tates national team, alongside national champion
ld Magic Cup event.[20][21]

Prix Lincoln. His overall perfo

inaugural Magic Players Champio
to earn a place on the United S
Brian Kibler, for the first Wor

Luis first became eligible for the Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame in 2013. Luis lea
d the 2013 ballot receiving 95.63% of the vote and thus was the first inductee i
n the Class of 2013.[22] Luis was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Pro Tour The
ros alongside Ben Stark and William Jensen.
Play style
Scott-Vargas is known to favor control decks in Limited and often comments on hi
s love for drawn out games involving mana-intensive cards.[23] In Constructed Sc
ott-Vargas has had success mainly with Combo and Control decks. When he won Pro
Tour Berlin he piloted an Elf-combo deck. He achieved his two Constructed Grand
Prix wins with a blue-black control deck and a Storm-combo deck. Despite his pre
ferences Scott-Vargas has also had success with other deck types. At Pro Tour Ky
oto he piloted a black-white midrange deck to a second place finish and at Pro T
our San Diego he went undefeated in the Swiss rounds with an aggressive white-re
d-green deck.
Accomplishments
Season Event type
Location
Format Date
Rank
2006
Nationals
Atlanta
Special
28 30 July 2006
3

2007
Nationals
Baltimore
Special
26 29 July 2007
1
2007
Grand Prix
San Francisco Block Constructed
25 26 August 2007
1
2008
Grand Prix
Philadelphia
Extended
15 16 March 2008
3
2008
Pro Tour
Berlin Extended
31 October 2 November 2008
1
2008
Grand Prix
Atlanta
Limited
15 16 November 2008
1
2009
Grand Prix
Los Angeles
Extended
17 18 January 2009
1
2009
Pro Tour
Kyoto Standard and Booster Draft
27 February 1 Marc
h 2009 2
2009
Grand Prix
Seattle/Tacoma Standard
30 31 May 2009 5
2010
Pro Tour
San Diego
Standard and Booster Draft
19 21 Febr
uary 2010
3
2010
Grand Prix
Sydney Sealed and Booster Draft
9 10 October 2010
2
2011
Pro Tour
Nagoya Block Constructed and Booster Draft
10 12 June
2011 7
2011
Grand Prix
Kansas City, Missouri Sealed and Booster Draft
18 19 June 2011
1
2011
Nationals
Indianapolis
Standard and Booster Draft
5 7 August
2011 5
2011
Worlds San Francisco Special
17 20 November 2011
6
2012
Grand Prix
Lincoln, Nebraska
Modern 18 19 February 2012
3
2012 13
Grand Prix
Philadelphia
Sealed and Booster Draft
27 28 Octo
ber 2012
7
2012 13
Grand Prix
Indianapolis
Sealed and Booster Draft
22 23 Dece
mber 2012
3
2013 14
Grand Prix
Richmond
Modern 8 9 March 2014 8
2014 15
Grand Prix
Portland
Team Limited
9 10 August 2014
4
Last updated: 23 December 2012
Source: Event Coverage at Wizards.com
Team ChannelFireball
Team ChannelFireball is a team of professional Magic: The Gathering players form
ed in 2010.[24] The team is named after ChannelFireball.com, a Magic: The Gather
ing store and strategy website, with many of the members of the team writing str
ategy articles for the website. Luis is considered to be the unofficial leader o
f the team as he is often responsible for organising the team meeting and practi
sing for events.[24][23]
Current and former Team Members[24][23]
United States Luis Scott-Vargas
Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
United States David Ochoa
United States Josh Utter-Leyton
United States Owen Turtenwald
United States Conley Woods
United States Ben Stark
United States Brian Kibler
United States Brad Nelson
United States Matt Nass
United States Tom Martell
United States Eric Froehlich
Japan Shuhei Nakamura
Czech Republic Martin Juza

Czech Republic Lukas Blohon

United States Gerry Thompson
Israel Shahar Shenhar
Netherlands Frank Karsten
Japan Kenji Tsumura
United States Pat Cox
United States Ben Lundquist
United States Brock Parker
United States Paul Rietzl
United States Paul Cheon
United States David Williams
Pro Tour Achievements
Team ChannelFireball has had considerable success on the Pro Tour; putting at le
ast one player in the Top 8 of every Pro Tour from Pro Tour San Diego 2010 to Pr
o Tour Dragon's Maze 2013, with the exception of Pro Tour Avacyn Restored. Eight
of the sixteen players participating in the inaugural 2012 Magic Players Champi
onship were members of Team ChannelFireball. Three members of Team ChannelFireba
ll have won Player of the Year titles since the creation of the team; Brad Nelso
n (2010), though he left the team prior to winning the title, Owen Turtenwald (2
011), and Josh Utter-Leyton (2013).
Year
Pro Tour
Members in Top 8 (players in bold won)
2010
San Diego
Luis Scott-Vargas
2010
San Juan
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Josh Utter-Leyton, Brad Nelson
2010
Amsterdam
Brad Nelson, Brian Kibler
2010
Worlds Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Eric Froehlich
2011
Paris Ben Stark
2011
Nagoya Luis Scott-Vargas
2011
Philadelphia
Josh Utter-Leyton
2011
Worlds Conley Woods, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Luis Scott-Vargas, Josh
Utter-Leyton
2012
Dark Ascension Brian Kibler, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Lukas Blohon
Return to Ravnica
David Ochoa
2012 13
2012 13
Gatecrash
Ben Stark, Gerry Thompson, Eric Froehlich[25]
2012 13
Dragon's Maze Josh Utter-Leyton
2013 14
Journey into Nyx
Josh Utter-Leyton
2013 14
Magic 2015
Patrick Cox
Personal life
Luis was born in Oakland, California to his parents Claudio and Penny. He has tw
o brothers, Antonio and Miguel. He graduated from UC Davis in 2005. On 6 Septemb
er 2009, he married Geneva Sarcedo in Oakland.[26]
In May 2012, Luis announced that he would be moving to Denver, having acquired a
job as a game designer there.[27]
References
"Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-07-15. Retrieve
d 2014-09-05.
"Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014
-09-05.
"Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-07-28. Retrieved 20
14-09-05.
"Planeswalker Points". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2014-09-0
3.
"Back to Back for LSV". 15 November 2008.

"LSV + ELVES Equals Champion!". 31 October 2008.

"Cheon Conquers All at U.S. Nationals". Wizards of the Coast. 30 July 2006.
Retrieved 18 November 2011.
"All Hail Scott-Vargas the Omnipotent!". Wizards of the Coast. 29 July 2007.
Retrieved 18 November 2011.
Scott-Vargas, Luis (7 November 2008). "Feature Article - Pro Tour: Berlin To
urnament Report, Part 1 *Winner*". StarCityGames.com. Retrieved 19 February 2012
.
Scott-Vargas, Luis (11 October 2008). "Feature Article - Pro Tour: Berlin To
urnament Report, Part 2 *Winner*". StarCityGames.com. Retrieved 19 February 2012
.
"2008 Pro Tour Player of the Year". Wizards of the Coast. 22 December 2011.
Retrieved 1 December 2011.
"2009 Pro Tour Player of the Year Standings". 17 June 2009.
"Grtzen Goes All the Way in San Diego". Wizards of the Coast. 21 February 201
0. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
"2011 Pro Tour Player of the Year Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 23 Novem
ber 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
"Magic Online Community Cup 2011". Wizards of the Coast. 26 April 2011. Retr
ieved 3 December 2011.
Ashley, Monty (24 May 2011). "2011 Community Cup: The Community Team". Wizar
ds of the Coast. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
"Community Team Makes it Three in a Row". Wizards of the Coast. 17 June 2011
. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
David-Marshall, Brian (2 September 2011). "Phantasy Drafting". Wizards of th
e Coast. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
Pro Tour Statistics, 2009Mascioli, Chris (24 August 2011). "Magicalmetrics
2011". StarCityGames.com. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
Scott-Vargas, Luis (10 June 2012). "WMCQ Interview with Winner Luis Scott-Va
rgas". ChannelFireball.com. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
Scott-Vargas, Luis (14 June 2012). "Luck, Skill, Victory WMCQ Report". Chann
elFireball.com. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
"Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2013 Voting Results". Wizards of the Coast. Ret
rieved 29 January 2014.
"Team CFB". ChannelFireball.com. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
Vitor Damo da Rosa, Paulo (4 January 2012). "PV s Playhouse
Team ChannelFireba
ll". ChannelFireball.com. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
Cooperfauss, Andrew. "Tom Martell Wins #PTGTC". ChannelFireball.com. Retriev
ed 19 February 2013.
"Luis & Geneva". Retrieved 17 April 2012.
"Magic TV: Show #125 Cubing at the Players Championship". ChannelFireball.co
m. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
Preceded by
Paul Cheon
Magic US National Champion
2007
Succeeded by
Michael Jacob
[show]
v
t
e
Magic: The Gathering
Categories:
American Magic: The Gathering players
Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame inductees
Living people
1983 births

People from Oakland, California

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