At GenCon 2001, over 90 players stopped in to try for the coveted title Master of Peasants, each willing to bet it all in a double-elimination tournament run by format originator and newbie tournament master Robert Baranowski.
The following few survived six brutal rounds of double-elimination play that saw more than 80 of their competitors eliminated. Each of these players received prizes on the day of the tourney, and now they receive recognition for their acheivements. Each of these players have graciously allowed us to post their winning decks, allowing other would-be peasant masters to learn from their brilliance.
Invented at the last minute because there were nine people entering the seventh round, the speed round would eliminate one player, leaving eight competitors for the final three rounds. To acheive this, all players that had already lost one previous game played each other, and both the player first eliminated and the player that eliminated him received two booster packs.
This round decided the ninth-place finisher, Gerald L. Davis II. Gerald's deck, Red Foil is a white and green deck. Due to its excellence of construction and gameplay, Gerald will forever hold the title of Peasant Sergeant.
Round 7 reduced the playing field from eight to four. This was the first single-elimination round of the tourney, and those eliminated in this round may proudly claim the title of Peasant Major for the rest of their days.
This round saw the field reduced from four players to two. In this round, Erik Weissmann and his deck, Goblin Bomb, and Jason Burden and his deck, Pack o' Fat Rats earned the right to be called Peasant Colonels.
The final round took place six hours into the tournament, and the final two players decided the tournament in less than half an hour. This round determined that our Peasant General would be none other than Mark Gottlieb, playing a green deck named Village Idiot.
Of course, in any tournament, there can only be one winner. On August 5, 2001, at GenCon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that man was David Semonchik, and his white deck, Red Hate helped make him the first-ever Master of Peasant Magic. When Dominia roils with rebellion, David will be leading the army of oft-forgotten and even more oft-abused peasants against the Planeswalker tyrants. Congratulations, David!
