Spice + Spike at Glorycon 2026

Summary

This article recaps my Top 8 Spike + Top 8 Spice run at Glorycon 2026, hosted by the Old Order Old School club of South-Central Pennsylvania.

The Vision

When I finished my playset of Mishra’s Workshop, I swore to use my powers for spice. Anyone can cast T1 Su-Chi into Copy Artifact, not many people have paid 55 for an Aladdin’s Lamp.

In previous years, I had flirted with Candelabra Tron Shops, inspired by David’s list, looking for shells capable of generating truly ludicrous amounts of mana to justify cards like Lamp. Eventually it hit me: why not make infinite mana with fewer pieces by using Power Monolith as the engine instead?

Fresh off a year heavy on Sage of Lat-Nam, fueled by Swedish tournaments leading up to Lobstercon 2025, I wanted to revisit Sage in artifact-based combo builds like Time Vault or Power Monolith. The appeal was twofold: insulating against blowouts from interaction, and providing a fast churn through your deck toward an A+B combo. Most importantly, Sage lets you on-demand trigger Lamp’s draw condition rather than waiting for your next draw step.

Early versions of the list leaned heavily into artifact density such as Conch Horn for redundant on-demand draw spells that could also be hard-cast off Shops. In goldfishing, I found that artifacts with actual mana costs (unlike Moxen) made Transmute Artifact lines far cleaner and more intentional. From there, Dragon Engine emerged as the perfect fit: a win condition once infinite mana came online, and when redundant, a clean 3-CMC artifact requiring no additional mana investment to fetch Basalt Monolith.

You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

There are 164 legal artifact cards in Atlantic Old School. I spent many nights staring at that pool, hunting for fast, castable (3-to-5 mana) artifacts that could add interaction or stability. That’s when the Ring of Ma’rûf called to me. On paper, it looked strictly better than Lamp while satiating my desire to bring some of that good good spice. Ring can be hard-cast earlier for Transmute fodder when needed, whereas Lamp is often stone-dead until the combo is assembled. It can dig for combo finishers or if needed can find relevant interaction.

The moment my sideboard was live in Game 1, the question stopped being “what’s optimal post-board?” and became what effects must exist somewhere in the 75 at all times. Moving off the turbo mono-Blue plan was the first real commitment alongside dropping the Shops count. White earned its slot immediately, not for elegance, but for panic buttons… lots of them. Balance, Disenchant and Divine Offering mean you’re never cold to resolved hate, even when you’re forced to play fair for a few turns.

Then came the obvious inclusion: Swords to Plowshares. Wait-what? Oh. Right. With Dragon Engine, this isn’t just removal. Against chump blockers or Maze of Ith, Swords become life if you target your one million-power Dragon. What started as defensive interaction quietly turned into another axis of inevitability. Cool. Cool cool cool.

If I’m looking for a low-CMC interaction that isn’t named Counterspell, Red Elemental Blast was worth splashing. Volcanic Island. City of Brass. At that point, the mana base is already dirty, so we may as well lean in with Fireball and Disintegrate.

What began as a turbo-blue artifact combo deck for Lamp quietly became the Dragon Powered 🐔 Ring. History suggests the Ring of Ma’rûf was simply being worn on the wrong appendage.

Deck Pic: Dragon Powered 🐔 Ring Combo

Of note, Glorycon 2026 was 93/94 Gentleman’s Atlantic (no Library or Mind Twist)

Why no Flash Counter? I don’t own any copies of Flash Counter.

Why no Basalt Monolith or Power Artifact in the Side Board to get off Ring? The Ring is foremost a payoff card after you have the mana that if needed can be a panic button to get Balance or combo protection. I thought the trade off of diluting the A + B combo main deck was not worth it.

Why no Rocket Launcher? Playa came to Dragon people, not Launch them. Read the ‘Card Choice Thoughts’ section later in the report for my actual thoughts on this.

Why 62 cards? I thought 61 wasn’t enough. Rasputin was the last addition and seemed like a solid piece to backdoor hardcast off Basalt early and late game fuel some large natty Fireballs.

The Games

R1 🐉🐉 vs Duncan (Mono Green)

Duncan is regarded as one of the top Mono Green pilots in the country. For the second straight event, Lobstercon followed by Glorycon, I was paired against him, both times with 4x Fireball in my main deck.

G1: My removal package kept Duncan off mana long enough to create an opening, and I closed the game with a clean combo finish.

G2: On the draw, I kept a strong opener and had even better topdecks. I assembled the combo quickly, attacking with a one million-power Dragon Engine while Mana Drain protected the line by countering Crumble.

R2 🧯🐉🐉 vs Owen (Tax Tower)

G1: My opponent opened with Land Tax, followed by Mox and Fellwar Stone, quickly pulling ahead on mana. I broke the Tax and held Mana Drain up to successfully ramp into a Rasputin. Before I could assemble the combo or swing enough times, Land’s Edge closed the game, pitching nine lands to deal lethal damage.

G2: Expecting stronger interaction post-board, I brought in both Disintegrates to enable more evasive tactics. I established Dragon Engine pressure and finished the game with back-to-back, large natty Fireball / Disintegrate turns.

G3: After a long, interactive game, Owen lands a Blood Moon on board. I Disintegrate him down to 2 so I can sandbag any top-decked lands for more outs to Land’s Edge or a top deck X spell. After accidentally tapping a pair of Fellwar Stones for Blue and Black to search his deck with Demonic Tutor to grab and cast Time Walk, Owen graciously conceded the game. Total accident we both didn’t catch that Fellwar Stones could only tap for Red at the time of casting Demonic due to the Blood Moon.

R3 🐉🐉 vs Shaun (Lion-Dib-Bolt)

G1: I assembled a fast Power Monolith and stuck a Dragon Engine and Ring of Ma’rûf. On my draw step, I used the Ring to fetch Swords, as I didn’t have access to Red mana. I attacked for roughly one-million power; when Shaun responded with Lightning Bolt, I Swords’d my own Dragon to jump to one-million life. Shaun courteously scooped to save us time. At that point, it was reasonable to assume I’d find enough natural or boosted Fireballs to close the game well before decking.

G2: As is typical post-board, increased interaction made fast combo lines difficult to commit to. Much of the game revolved around Shaun holding up interaction with Black Vise online, forcing me to dump Dragon Engines and Basalt Monoliths from hand only to see them Disenchanted. After several draw-go turns with ample mana, I found myself at 9 life under Vise pressure, holding Timetwister, Mana Drain, BEB, BEB, and Monolith. I cast Timetwister, countered a REB with BEB, then countered an in-response Lightning Bolt with the second BEB. From there, I assembled the combo and finished with Fireball for lethal, avoiding more interaction or nine points of instant-speed burn from Shaun’s fresh seven.

R4 🧯🧯vs Don! (Lion-Dib)

The actual, factual Don of the highly allocated Don’s Goblin Raiders Old School team was in attendance, and one of us was about to lose an X-0 record.

G1: I don’t remember the exact sequencing, only the result. I died to a blur of Serendib Efreet and Mishra’s Factory attacks. It happened fast enough that I’m pretty sure a Time Walk was involved somewhere along the way.

G2: I had an ok hand with some late game card value. Don had a fast Mox + Sol Ring start. Later on my third turn feeling pressured to speed up, I attempted to cast a naked Basalt Monolith, planning to follow it up with a second copy from hand to further put pressure on his Disenchants. This was, in hindsight, a catastrophic decision. Don had two blue mana open and happily Mana Drained it, then untapped, played a third Island, and Amnesia’d me for five spells discarded, effectively removing me from the game on the spot.

R5 🧯🐉🐉 vs Mike (Atog Bloodlust)

Still shaking off the loss to Don, after a round-repair, destiny decided I would face the TO himself. Another of the top Mono-Green pilots in the country, Mike is constantly introducing new innovations to the archetype.

But today, we wouldn’t be fighting Green. Today, we would bathe in Mono-Red…

G1: Through a mix of Chain Lightnings, Black Vise pressure, and Bloodlust, I’m pushed into an uncomfortably low life total. Mike casts Wheel of Fortune and burns me out before I get to untap.

G2: For the first time that day I felt happy about my interaction (4 BEB) for post-board. I manage to stabilize the board with double Dragon Engine technique and hammer away at his life to ultimately kill him with a medium sized Fireball.

G3: Never be confident against a Vise deck on the draw. I kept a fast opening that managed to get under Vise pressure after the first two turns. My top-deck interaction was lining up well as Mike’s hand dwindled while deploying another Black Vise.

“Wheel of Fortune.”

Mike cast it without having made a land drop. Constrained on Red mana, he was left with only a Mox Emerald untapped. My new seven contained all the combo pieces. His seven failed to find Red mana to interact on my turn, and I won the match.

R6 🧯🐉🐉 vs Andy (Dreams Combo)

Andy is a very strong deck designer. So strong, I consulted his wisdom ahead of the event on some of the finishing touches to my main deck and side board. 

G1: Andy did some of the sickest OS lines you could make T1 on the play. To the best of my recollection his sequence was Underground + Mox + Dark Ritual into Timetwister, followed up by Lotus + Dark Ritual + Underworld Dreams + Wheel of Fortune into Mox + Black Vise. After I draw my first card for turn I’m already down to 9 life. Andy eventually kills me with some forced Howling Mine draws before I could combo.

G2: On the play I have a pretty fast start involving Mox and Fellwar. Andy's first or second turn is able to cast a Wheel effect but doesn't have much follow up to the best of my memory. My fast mana helps me get double Dragons down and some decent damage. My interaction lines up well such that Andy deploys a sideboarded Juzam as a blocker/clock. The chip damage starts adding up and eventually Andy plays a second Juzam with a Blue mana open to try and end the game fast in a couple of swings. I spiked the land off the top to have open a REB to protect my Fireball for X=6 which allowed me to attack with both Dragons, losing one in combat, but dealing the last point of damage needed for him to die on upkeep to the Juzams.

G3: Never be confident against a Vise deck on the draw. I had a fast enough start involving Mox to chain Basalt Monolith into Basalt Monolith to dump my hand and get under Black Vise on my T2. Andy answered with Hurkyl’s Recall, setting me back on tempo and forcing some Vise damage, but I recovered quickly by repeating the same line to empty my hand again. Eventually he resolved Underworld Dreams, which I immediately Disenchanted. Low on resources, Andy cast another Wheel effect and was left with only Sapphire and Emerald untapped. On my turn, I had just enough mana to cast Chaos Orb, hit his Sapphire, then move to main phase two to avoid Hurkyls, assemble the combo, and Fireball him to end the match.

Top 8 🐉🧯🧯 vs Phil (5c Erhnamgeddon)

With Phil coming in as the reigning Zombie Master Open champion I knew we had a long match ahead.

G1: Due to some fortunate sequencing I managed to attack with a trillion-power Dragon Engine that forced Phil to Sword’d it, making it so that Phil’s only way to win was to deck me before I could natty Fireball him out. When Phil untapped for his turn he drew into a way to kill my Monolith. I managed to land a fair Ring of Ma’rûf and grab REB to fight a potential Mana Drain on my Fireball for 19 >> the only way I lose is if I deck out to Braingeyser for a large amount. I eventually can cast back to back large Fireballs safely and take a crucial G1.

G2: Similar to previous opponents playing White mana, their interaction is a lot tougher to navigate post board. I kept in Swords and brought in my Disintegrates to try and close out a game if I need to use the Fireballs early. Phil plays it smart and never overextends, never risking more than one Argothian Pixies to my Fireballs. Eventually I’m chipped away by Factory swarm. 

G3: At this point there was a large crowd watching the match behind me to see my full sequencing. I have a better start than G2 but he manages to save his clock for several turns BEB’ing my Fireballs or casting multiple Argothian Pixies in a row while also leaving at least 2 mana open while having 6 cards in hand. I eventually land some Dragon Engine to deal some damage and Phil has multiple City of Brass he needs to use to interact and is chipping away closer to natty Fireball range. Due to some mild top decks on my side, my back becomes against the wall and I’m facing lethal the next turn from Mishra's Factory and Erhnam. I find the only line that gives me a possible chance of surviving, Demonic Tutor for Chaos Orb to kill Erhnam. The problem is that Phil also has a Chaos Orb… he lands his flip to kill mine in response. GGs. Phil would go on to win the event, back-to-back OOOS tournaments.

Ultimately, I’m really happy a large crowd was there to see me play that match, even if I did lose it. I think I played one of the best G3s of my life with sequencing decisions and was mentally ready to hit an important flip if I got the opportunity. I was 4th in Swiss, finished 6th overall in Top 8, and landed at 3rd for Spice.

Card Choice Thoughts

Dragon Engine was the over performer of the day, and I hope to see more copies find their way into the 75 of Power Monolith shells going forward. I genuinely think it’s a better artifact win condition than Rocket Launcher when paired alongside Fireball. There were multiple games where chipping in for 6-8 damage with Dragon Engine set up a clean, natural Fireball for lethal. Having an extra mana sink also changes how you get to use Fireball defensively. Lists that lean harder on countermagic always looked miserable trying to fire off small Fireballs just to stabilize, only to find themselves digging even longer for a real payoff. It survives The Abyss and blocks Mishra’s Factory extremely well.

My goal with spice has always been simple: change the way at least one person thinks about cards that have been sitting in binders for 30+ years. If Dragon Engine helps make that happen, then it did exactly what I wanted it to do.

Sage of Lat-Nam was the MVP. My theory about its viability in artifact-based combo decks fully panned out. It consistently did exactly what I wanted it to do - providing value against interaction and accelerating toward A+B lines off fast mana. At this point, I’m almost always going to include three copies somewhere in the 75 of my Time Vault lists, and it may have even earned itself a test seat in Lich shells as well…

Ring of Ma’rûf is a real rush, I’m telling you. The activation cost is expensive and it can be clunky at times, sure. But powerful? Absolutely. In a top-deck battle, it can claw you back into the game or find exactly the piece of interaction you need against a specific combo strategy.

Swords splash is rarely bad in Old School in general. It lets you preserve Fireball in hand while you’re top-decking toward the second combo piece and trying not to die on board, and it doubles as a real synergy piece-functioning as an alternate win condition that a good amount of decks can’t win through if you have a Dragon Engine online.

More Pics

Top Row: Spice Prizes

Bottom Row: Spike Prizes

Dragon Engine Proof to commemorate the run

Various signatures, swag, raffle items

When a plan all comes together

Shout Outs

Mike does it again, another amazing event towards charity! With over 80+ players he’s always building great events and opportunities for people to get together and jam Old School. This was my first Glorycon and I can see why people constantly refer to it as the standard setter of what an event should be.

Levi! He ran the tournament at Dobbin house the day of as Mike was playing in the event. Always a good source of energy in the room, a reason I keep driving to these PA events.

Anson! The dude literally painted Dragon Engine.

Philadelphia Old School: 

• Brad for booking the weekend and being the tallest Magic player I know. 

• Farb for being the most reliable roommate at these weekends, always watching out for people accidentally leaving their trade folders behind at the Airbnb. 

• Nate for putting up with my constant spam of decklist ideas on Discord and reciprocating the spice >> fun fact Nate also Top 8’d spice this weekend with Hack-Mob. 

• Dan for great post-match commentary and thoughts.

• Geoff for ordering the sweet sweet Philadelphia Old School baseball jerseys.

• Rest of the club for cheering us on in Discord between rounds.

The friends and new homies at the event really stood out. Thinking back to my first Old School event (also run by OOOS), when I didn’t know anyone, and comparing it to now, knowing half the room at an 80-person event, feels genuinely surreal.