Melbourne Crossroads Report

14 October 2025

Melbourne Crossroads and PAX Australia are now in the history books. In this article, I will report my tournament results and experience. This article is a personal journal and won’t capture the overall data such as the meta and breakdown of decks played. I want to focus on what it’s like to attend a big tournament and what you can expect. The Crossroads was the culmination of competitive Sorcery for the Beta-Arthurian Legends era for me and a chance to put all my theory to the test.

Whilst a main focus of these events is competitive play, I want to highlight the social aspects. Sorcery fans are incredible, and the comradery I’ve experienced at these events is second to none. I’m quite shy and introverted, and Sorcery has been an incredible opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone.

Cornerstone Season for me was a bit rocky. I had challenged myself to play Battlemage and then never had an opportunity to do so. Both of the Cornerstones I attended were Sealed, so I felt underprepared for a Constructed event. This year had also been financially challenging, so I was unsure if I’d be able to make the numbers work. The expense of international travel is always high and the rising cost of living is affecting us all. Fortunately, with the support of my wonderful partner, we were able to make it work for me to head over to Melbourne.

I’ve also never been to a large convention like PAX before. New Zealand has the Armageddon Expo, but like most things in New Zealand, it just can’t compete on size with international offerings. But I’d heard many good things about PAX Australia, so I figured I should go – and perhaps the presence of a certain Ed Beard Junior project got that decision over the line. I had travelled to Melbourne twice last year for Sorcery tournaments, so I knew what I was getting myself in for. I knew the Crossroads would be highly competitive. I had made the top eight at my first tournament in Melbourne, so I was looking forward to proving myself once again.

If you’ve read my Cornerstone Series, you will know about my goals and my decision to champion Battlemage. Soon, I will reveal what version of the deck I decided to take with me and pin all my hopes on. The opportunity to win a Rainbow Foil was an important part of the Crossroads journey. So, did I achieve my goal of winning a Rainbow Foil Battlemage? Read on to find out.

Predicting the Meta

But first I want to go over my predictions of the meta. I knew there would be plenty of Druids and a handful of Archimagos. I felt that Battlemage had a decent chance against Archimago, but Druid was the clear best deck, backed by recent tournament results.

Beyond that, though, it was anyone’s guess. The Australian meta is interesting. There are many local scenes across the country, each brewing their own micro-metas that then converge at these big tournaments. So perhaps by embracing the chaos and championing Battlemage, I had avoided a series of impossible to answer questions in attempting to predict the meta.

The path through a tournament is always chaotic. There’s a real chance with random pairings that you might have a day where you play no meta decks, dodging the match-ups that you have tuned your deck to beat. For example, at this Crossroads I faced no opponents playing Earth in the Constructed, so my tech against Earthquake was useless. Worst still, I was weak to all the Water-based decks that I was paired against.

Swap!

Swap was also a massive consideration going into this tournament. Historically, Water threshold has been the least popular element in competitive Sorcery, so it was hard to guess how many people would swap to Water-based decks for this one card. Despite Swap’s power, there was an obstacle in obtaining sufficient copies for the tournament. Everyone in attendance could rely on getting one on the day, but getting two or three was a challenge, either requiring purchasing or borrowing copies, or attending multiple Cornerstone events and being rewarded a copy intended for community champions.

How did Swap affect my deck building? Swap is less effective in Battlemage than in Druid, where both Tawny and Torshammer Trinket make it very abusable. I played one copy as a finisher and instead of a copy of Disenchant. It’s nice having an answer to Artifacts and Auras, but I find Disenchant can be a dead card in many games. I did make some card choices to not get destroyed by Swap, such as using Mix Aer over Cores and Philosopher’s Stone. Mix Aer is a powerful accelerant, allowing for turn two Hounds of Ondaros and explosive plays with Whirling Blades. I also enjoy the high risk, high return of Mix Aer, so I was excited for this build.

My Battlemage List

Finally, the grand reveal of the deck I took to Melbourne:
https://curiosa.io/decks/cmerolpwn00kpie04f38n43nx

It’s a Water-Air Battlemage focusing on Airborne minions, boosted by the power of Updraft Ridge. Water-Air Battlemages are currently quite popular and putting up good results, but I feel like this variation has a unique spin on it.

Airborne minions are incredibly resilient and aggressive. If your opponent isn’t playing their own Airborne minions, then they need a removal spell to kill them. Updraft Ridge gives you incredible board coverage and defensive opportunities. I have played against a lot of Avatar of Air, so this minion-forward strategy has been etched into my brain as both powerful and frustrating to play against – a perfect combination for a tournament.

In Battlemage, I like diversifying my threats, so I play more minions than many other Battlemage lists. This means I have multiple axes of attack and am less reliant on the Avatar itself if I gets locked out by defensive sites or put to Death’s Door.

Gnomes Hollows is a Site that I’m terrified to come up against with Battlemage. The Palliburrie Bats are an answer to that, along with the Magic Missiles as a finisher. It’s hard fitting in answers to everything into a list, so there were some tough cuts. I really wanted to play three copies of Shrink, a second Polar Explorers, and a third Blink, but there’s just not the room for everything.

Tension Rising

Arriving at Plenty of Games on Wednesday morning, I was relatively calm. I knew I wanted to go in and focus on fun, so I needed to push aside any nerves and expectations to perform. This was helped by seeing so many familiar faces from my last two trips and being able to immediately dive into conversations. I just love how passionate Sorcery players are, and getting to hear stories of exciting games, recent acquisitions of prized cards, and reports from all the recent Cornerstone events melted away my nerves.

There was also a great contingent of players from all across Australia, a handful from Singapore, and a great group of New Zealand players. There were 57 players in total, and many familiar players that I had lost to in the past, so I was getting nervous in the lead up to round one pairings. There was also a group of eight New Zealand players in the field, so I wanted to avoid getting paired with them so we didn’t knock each other out of contention.

Round One versus Water-Air Druid

My first opponent was armed with an aggressive Water-Air Druid. I thought I was unique for bringing Updraft Ridge, but my opponent was on a similar plan, so essentially a mirror match out of the gate. My Battlemage was able to get an early lead, and my deck was able to counter my opponent’s aggressive airborne minions that other lists might have struggled with. Ring of Morrigan did its work and I was able to stabilise and be aggressive with my Avatar. This was the perfect first round for me, as my opponent and I were able to have a fun lighthearted game, sharing jokes and discussing strategy. This really helped set the tone for the rest of the day and shed my nerves.

Round Two versus Air-Fire Battlemage

My second opponent was a fellow Battlemage. This was unfortunate because even if I couldn’t personally make top four, I wanted another Battlemage player to be able to do so, so getting paired up against a fellow Battlemage reduced the chances of that. I also really dislike mirror matches in any game, so it was a little tilting to be paired up against two decks that were so similar to my own.

My opponent was playing an Air-Fire list that looked similar to one that I had tested earlier in the year. I wish I had seen their entire list to compare notes, but an early Sacred Scarabs off a Highland Falconer was a great meta pick with so many Lugbog Cats running around. I had teched against Infiltrate with two Hounds of Ondaros and two Watchtowers in my list, but I didn’t draw either of these, and their Infiltrate stalled my aggression. Updraft Ridge allowed me to maneuver my minions effectively and attack their life and get them to Death’s Door first. An explosive rebuttal also knocked me to Death’s Door, reminding me of the power of Battlemage and to not get complacent. Fortunately, I had plenty of answers in hand to close out the game, including a Swap to steal their Flaming Sword if they attempted to play blockers on the same site as their Avatar.

Drafting

I was 2-0 going into the draft portion of the event. I was placed ninth at this point, putting me into the second pod. Having draft rounds in the middle of the Constructed allows a bit of chaos into the mix, shaking up the event and requiring players to showcase a diversity of skills. I feel pretty confident with drafting, and would say I’m a stronger Limited player than a Constructed one, so this event format worked for me. But with the randomness inherent in booster packs, there’s always room for disaster. The draft was Beta-AL-AL.

My Beta picks were pretty mediocre. Pack one, pick one I took Firebolts, and then second picked a Cloud Spirit, so no bombs for me. With two packs of AL in the mix, I was favouring Fire because of the absurd power level of the Fire Exceptionals in Arthurian Legends. Cloud Spirits is a card I probably pick higher than most because it’s a great aggressive minion and finisher due to its maneuverability. My remaining picks weren’t anything super exciting, with some okay Ordinaries such as Highland Clansman and Sand Worm. I grabbed a Standing Stones on the off chance I got a couple of Magic Missiles in the next two packs and could use it as a surprise finisher, but unfortunately didn’t end up playing it. It would have made for a fun play.

My first AL pack presented me with one of my favourite cards, Goswhit Helmet. I can’t remember what I took it over, but it was a difficult choice against a decent Exceptional minion that most players would have taken. I was rewarded with a pick three Sir Lamorak, having cut Fire and Air in the first pack, but from there the remaining picks were pretty weak.

Second pack of AL, and pack three, pick one I got a Firebreathing, which is incredibly strong and one of the cards I went into Fire for, and then a couple picks later received a Shatter Strike, so felt like I had a decent number of useful spells, but my minion quality was overall on the weaker side.

We then registered another player’s deck before deck building. The deck that I registered was essentially a far better version of my own. They had better cheap minions such as a Vile Imp, oodles more Charge minions to actually be an effective aggressive deck, and more removal. So I wasn’t feeling great about my deck’s ability to perform in the next two rounds.

Overall, I had an aggressive pile, but it was lacking power to back it up. This is how my list ended up. Note that my recollection of the list might be different to what I submitted. I think I went Beast of Burden over Snow Leopard for the maneuverability over the cheaper minion, but I can’t remember 100%. Here’s my list:

https://curiosa.io/decks/cmgoboj7i0048kz04goj2d6p7

Round Three – Draft Round One

My game plan was to just be aggressive and push damage. I had plenty of cards that could close out the game if I got my opponent to Death’s Door first, so I just poured all my resources into that goal. Turn two, a Spectral Stalker started the clock, and from there I just kept deploying minions. In the back of my mind, I had the looming spectre of Lava Flow. In my two Cornerstone Sealed events, I lost both of my finals to this card, so I knew its devastating power. But I also had to play into it to push enough damage. Luckily, there was no Lava Flow this game, and I was able to succeed in my mission. So a win for my first game of the draft rounds.

Round Four – Draft Round Two

There is an outlier in my deck list. Highland Clansman is the only card that costs more than four – and seven at that. It’s a powerful card, but not really conducive to my game plan. The longer the game drags on, the more difficulty I would have winning, so I considered replacing it with another cheap minion. But Charge wins games, so I decided to keep it in as a powerful outlier.

In this game, my Atlas betrayed me. I need two Air threshold before I need two Fire. In this game, I saw all five of my Air sites before I saw my second Fire site, complete with a hand of double-Air cards. So, the game dragged longer and longer, and I missed my early game window to be aggressive. I was able to get ahead in the race, but then disaster. Lava Flow. It got me. It always gets me. This turned the tide back and put me on the back foot. But fortunately, I had a friend come to my rescue. Goswhit Helmet. Most people just play the Helmet defensively, and then get blown out by a removal spell and have the helm stolen. The true power of Goswhit Helmet is playing it aggressively, almost like a Torshammar Trinket.

I managed to get a three-power minion to stick on the board, and with six mana a turn, I could use my Avatar and my minion to take out four-power minions without losing life or board presence. I was able to stabilise the game and start chipping away again. Eventually, the card advantage generated by Gowshit Helmet was insurmountable, and I won my second game of the draft portion.

Round Five versus Mono-Water Druid

I was now 4-0 in the tournament, and reaching the pointy end of the day. Crunching the numbers, it would be plausible to reach top eight with a 4-2 record, but 5-1 was the goal to feel confident.

I was paired up against a player who I knew was a formidable opponent. Sitting down against a Druid deck, I was already nervous, but this was new tech, and I struggled to think of how to play against it. I often say that if your opponent can’t work out your plan in the first few turns, then you’re at a massive advantage to win, and I certainly felt that was the case here. Big Water minions overwhelmed my resources, and positioning effects such as Riptide took away my maneuverability.

One of the strengths of my deck is that it can operate well with few sites. It also doesn’t have to push up as aggressively as other Battlemage decks. This is important against many Druid decks, especially those running Fire, as it buys me some time to stabilise. But a Sinkhole on 13 took me off mana, threshold, and tempo. My list is reasonably ‘ungreedy’ with threshold, but I just couldn’t draw back into my second Water threshold. My one remaining Water site also betrayed me, allowing their Pirate Ships and Mester Stoor Worms easy access to attack my life. A Maelstrom on Site 13 also provided massive board control, and Troll Bridges were chipping away at my life. Tufted Turtles are also difficult for Battlemage to deal with, and playing a Ring of Morrigan to pop their shield (if I had one) only opens me up to Swap. By the end of the game, I was so far on the back foot and they still had plenty of tools in hand, so the game was well and truly over. My first loss of the day.

Round Six versus Mono-Water Waveshaper

Sitting down to face another Water deck, I had the fear of Swap in me. My opening hand had a Ring of Morrigan in it, and I strongly considered mulliganing it. I think that would have been the correct choice as I went the whole game without playing it for fear of it being stolen. Chances are high that my opponent had zero to one copies of Swap in their deck and didn’t draw into it, but the damage was done and I just couldn’t bear to play it. At least it would be a tool to finish the game on Death’s Door if it came to it.

Troll Bridges and Lugbog Cats have been the bane of my day. Free damage from sites and four-power minions are definitely pain points for Battlemage. Updraft Ridge allowed me to maneuver around their Mester Stoor Worm, and whilst their Avatar’s ability could lock down my minions, it didn’t prevent my Avatar from getting in damage. My deck’s ability to attack on multiple axes got me the win here. My final record was 5-1.

End of Day One

As the dust of day one settled, I was buzzing. Overall, I ended up in second place, which put me in good stead for the first round of top eight, as I would be on the play as I had the higher seed. There were two New Zealanders in the top eight, which was a fantastic result for Team Kiwi. Unfortunately, I was paired up against my compatriot, Nick, who was on Enchantress. The silver lining was that at least one of us would make top four, taking our unique Avatars picks to Rainbow Foil glory. So, whilst I was nervous about the next day, I was able to enjoy myself and celebrate my achievement. I had a fantastic evening, socialising with a large group of Sorcery players at the incredible Fortress, an amazing all-in-one bar, restaurant, arcade, and board game cafe.

Top 8 versus Enchantress

The next day dawned, and top-eight match was here. I had played against my opponent, Nick, earlier in the year at the Tūmatarau whakataetae o Aotearoa. Enchantress is a deck that I struggle to play against in general. It’s full of complicated rules and corner cases; it has amazing resilience and the ability to be both controlling or aggressive when required. Someone said Battlemage was the favourite in the match-up, but I certainly didn’t feel that was the case.

My opening hand had a Cloud City, which allowed me amazing board control to prevent Nick from forming the requisite clump of sites to allow their massive Auras to attack. This also meant I could maneuver myself around the board. I was glad to see this in my opening hand, and felt confident that it would be a large component of a winning strategy.

But then the rest of the game just didn’t fall my way. After my mulligan, I drew two copies of Pollimorph, which is normally an incredibly useful card, but one that isn’t super effective against Enchantress’ animated auras as they will get an attack in before I can respond to them. My draw was also minion light and slow, preventing me from getting in early damage. My Lugbog Cat ate a Poison Nova, and my Daperyl Vampire got sent to oblivion by an Atlantean Fate. My hand had a Grim Guisarme and Grapple Shot, so I had a potential route to victory, but I needed the mana to deploy it. I was scared to play the Grim preemptively with the looming Atlantean Fate, so I thought myself fortunate to draw an Aquamarine Core to give me the sixth mana without requiring taking the time to draw and play a sixth site. Unfortunately, my opponent’s Shatter Strike with the Atlantean Fate took me off both mana and life, sending me into a scramble of trying to get to a place of safety, knowing I was in a bad spot. Riptide was an incredible card for my opponent throughout this game. With three copies played in total, pulling me into Troll Bridges and through Wall of Fires; I was just torn to shreds.

So an unfortunate ending to my run, and getting so close to top four definitely stung, but I felt I had played my game well without any glaring mistakes, making the best of the tools available to me. Nick played well, with admirable grace and calm, and their Enchantress deck was unique and powerful. Congratulations to Nick, and I am stoked for your success, and just so happy to see a non-Druid, non-Archimago Avatar achieve Rainbow status.

The Rest of Day Two

Unfortunately, I missed the start of the Sealed side event, so I had a bit of time on my hands to think about the tournament. The prizes for reaching top eight were incredibly generous, so armed with my emotional-support Beta booster box, I took the time to reflect and take in the experience. I didn’t have the chance to watch any of the other top eight games, so I am looking forward to watching the three games that were recorded and to observe the full power of the Mono-Water Druid.

Crossroads Melbourne gave me a fantastic opportunity to trade and talk to people. This was my third trip to Melbourne in 18 months, so I have made some incredible friends, and it’s always fantastic to see everyone again and hear about their achievements. So having the rest of day two free to socialise was a silver lining. Overall, I think Sorcery is doing incredibly well in Australia. There are some incredible people working hard to build and support their local communities. I am sure these groups will continue to flourish.

Battlemage Deck Performance Review

Overall, I was pleased with my deck’s performance. It would have been nice to get in some more rounds of Constructed to actually put it to the test, as effectively it went 3-2 in this event (minus the two draft rounds). I think I played well and didn’t get overly lucky, so my result isn’t an outlier. Water-Air Battlemage seems to be doing all right at getting to top eight around the world, but has yet to crack the top four.

I am continued to be frustrated by threshold in Beta-Arthurian Legends. I would say that this deck is ‘ungreedy’, but I stalled on threshold too often for my liking. I nearly went mono-Air on this event, so perhaps I will test out that version. The reason I didn’t is that Shrink and Pollimorph feel so integral to the Battlemage playstyle and strategy. Also, if I went mono-Air, then I figure at that point I should just play Avatar of Air.

The one point I’d like to assert into the Battlemage brainstorm is that in my opinion Plumed Pegasus is stronger than Phase Assassin. Only requiring one Air threshold is a huge advantage, and the Pegasus is more flexible and resilient having Airborne. Phase Assassin requires movement spells, such as Tactical Move, to maximise its potential, and is weak to a defensive Lugbog Cat and the like. So, maybe try the Plumed Pegasus in that slot and give it a go.

For anyone thinking of playing Battlemage in this meta, I think it’s a reasonable choice. Being explosive and aggressive in a tournament means that you can high roll and put your opponents on the back foot. Just be very cautious of Swap. I play way fewer Artifacts than most Battlemage decks, so my lists are already more resilient to Swap than most, but it’s such a powerful spell and it will become more and more common as more events are held. Competitive players will obtain copies if they want to play it.

Mirror Realm

Jarrod and Nick of the Mirror Realm Youtube channel are incredible players. I played Nick in round five, and was just in awe of his skill. Jarrod went on to place first in the Crossroads and Nick third, proving their prowess and the effectiveness of their Mono-Water Druid deck. I would argue that they’re the best in the game. They work hard and put in the hours. Their innovation in deck building is indisputable, their passion for the game is incredible, and their game knowledge is impressive. It was great to meet them in person and spend time with them over the week. For anyone looking to level up their game, they are incredibly generous in sharing their time and knowledge, and there is a wealth of content available on their Youtube channel:

https://youtube.com/@mirrorrealm?si=W4f9clCkyKoA9t2N

Watching their Arthurian Legends limited video series definitely helped me out this Cornerstone Season, so if you have an event coming up, take the time to study up.

Their winning Crossroad list can be found here:
https://curiosa.io/decks/cmgjbm9yx00bnl704gcpn1xl8

PAX Australia

However, the excitement wasn’t over yet. The Crossroad event was just the first part of an incredible week in Melbourne. PAX Australia was next, and whilst I was going solely for Sorcery, I was looking forward to seeing what else was on offer.

The PAX secret ingredient for me, and for most of my fellow Sorcery players, was the availability of Dragonlord. Everyone was fiending for it, and the taste they had received from attending the Cornerstone had not satiated appetites. We arrived early, waited in line, and then power-walked (no running allowed) across the hall to the Sorcery booth. Dragonlord was sold out 20 minutes later.

PAX was the biggest event I had been to since COVID, so it was strange to be amongst so many people. Overall, it was enjoyable and interesting, but with sore feet and lagging energy levels, there was only so much I could take in. It was great to see Null Signal Games with their continuation of Netrunner, so I picked up a couple of expansion sets from them. I also grabbed some Dragon Shield sleeves and a jigsaw puzzle that looked intriguing.

The Sorcery booth was consistently buzzing. There was a constant stream of people learning how to play the game. The Erik’s Curiosa team and volunteers were doing an amazing job, and considering how exhausted I was, I have to respect their drive and energy. The two guest artists, Brian Smith and Lindsey Crummett, were consistently busy with their fans. After getting an Immolation in a trade, I went to have a chat with Brian. I always get a bit tongue-tied talking to artists and people that I admire, but eventually I was able to convey my request. Brian did an amazing job of putting the Returned King, an upcoming card from Gothic, on my Immolation. This is definitely my favourite treasure that I took home with me from Melbourne.

Day two of PAX was similar, and we arrived even earlier and walked even faster to the Sorcery booth. Dragonlord sold out even quicker. With the flight home looming later that afternoon, it was a much more subdued day.

The Avatar of the Realm event was on everyone’s mind – a great sign that despite the exhaustion of four hectic days in a row, people still wanted more Sorcery – and we speculated where it might be held. Of course, there’s only one logical answer, Auckland, New Zealand, so I’ll see everyone in Auckland next year. I joke, of course. Most likely it will be in the States, so I’d better start saving up.

Many Thanks

On that note, I just want to thank everyone who attended the Crossroads and PAX. I know how expensive it is to travel and how difficult it is to take the time away from work and family. I highly recommend that Sorcery fans save up and make plans to attend big events when they pop up. There’s just so much positive energy and enthusiasm, and the fanbase is incredible. It’s clear that Sorcery is a project that touches the hearts and minds of many.

A final massive thank you to the Erik’s Curiosa team, Plenty of Games, and all the volunteers. There’s so much work that goes on behind the scenes to organise these events, and I have incredible appreciation for everyone and their hard work.

And the excitement is nowhere near done! Cornerstone Season is still here, and I look forward to playing in more events. I want to give Battlemage another run, but I have a Dragonlord deck in the works that I think is a real contender.

And Gothic is on the horizon, and hype is building. December 5th 2025. Mark it on your calendar! I have no doubts that this next set is going to be the biggest and best yet. So I’m looking forward to more cards, more events, and being able to write more articles about it all.