Ezelopez15 ran ahead with Teija to take first place in the Europe-focused Monday event for Week 5 of AWOL Season 2 March 3. Wesshh of the competitive team Altered Aces, partnered with rarely seen Lindiwe to take the second spot. Both decks were the only two to go 6-0 in the 123-player event. Serendiptique (Kojo) and Altered Aces’ ClaedeusFR (Sigisimar) took third and fourth, respectively.

In the U.S.-focused Wednesday event March 5, Altered Aces’ Popeye kept pace with Sigismar to win first place as the only undefeated deck for the week. TheKelonGuy partnered with Afanas to take second out of 71 players. Nina_1312 (Teija) and Fr0nde (Sigismar) went for third and fourth, respectively.

Each event covered six rounds of Swiss play. The Monday event was streamed with commentary from PaandyAndy and TheKelonGuy. The Wednesday event was streamed with commentary by Jalex and Blue. Each week, the first and second-place players receive a booster pack, and each player who places in the top 16 receives an invite to the Seasonal Invitational, where an additional two booster boxes are available across the prize pool.

Monday tournament breakdown

According to 39cards.com, for the Monday event, Teija, Kojo and Afanas saw the most representation in the top eight decks with two each. Lindiwe and Sigismar filled in the remaining gaps. Overall, Sigismar ruled the other heroes with 31 total entries (fully 25% of the crowd) with Afanas showing up next at 19 and Fen at 15.

None of them could lay a hand on Ezelopez15’s Teija, built around the standard Muna kit of anchoring and boosting characters across multiple days. While there’s no Meditation Training to be seen in the deck, maxed common Muna Caregivers, Druids and Sow provide plenty of options for anchor while three common Floral Tents and two rare Spindles run defense. Rare Aloe Vera, Sneezer Shroom, Ogun and Lyra Thespian build the ongoing stats. Two of the deck’s uniques provide an anchor to another character, but each of them only on play or at dusk.

Equally untouchable was Wesshh’s Lindiwe deck, which brought in several of the TBF tools to develop even more ways to feed Maw. The deck is full up on the standard ways to provide mana-cheap options for sacrifice, running full counts of common Studious Disciple, Chrysalis, Tooth Fairy and Kadigiran Alchemist, as well as rare Moonlight Jellyfish (to assist on card draw). It also pulls two Mobile Armory, which are more versatile and cheaper than the Ordis Carrier, as well as allowing Chrysalis to go forward even with Defender. The deck features two unique Dorothy Gales, both of which sacrifice in return for opponent removal, and a terrifying Amarok that packs removal and can choose which other character to sacrifice as opposed to the standard version that forces a specific target.

Wednesday tournament breakdown

According to 39cards.com, for the Wednesday event, Sigismar led the top eight decks with four lists, followed by two Teija, one Afanas and an Atsadi that went 5-1. Overall, Sigismar had 18 entries (again 25%), followed by Teija at 13 and Afanas and Fen each with seven.

Popeye’s Sigismar went undefeated, running only four cards from TBF (those being two common Rallying Calls and Ebenezer Scrooges each). It leans into Foundry Mechanics (two rare, one unique) to get one of the three rare Grand Endeavors into play. It still packs plenty of card draw across full rare Ordis Attorneys and Baba Yagas (and a unique Kakoba that adds card draw), plus removal through full Monolith Legates and Teamwork Training, with two Sticky Note Seals. When it isn’t doing that, it can add more tokens through two Ordis Cadets and Gatekeepers, and a token-wave generating unique Foundry mechanic and Ordis Gatekeeper, both of which add more Recruits with each new character played.

A notable rarity in the top eight was Westwill’s Atsadi deck, which also only dips into TBF for seven cards (all common, three Haven Seiringars, two Fire Rabbits and two Eat Me Energy Bars). Along with the Jinn ramp (three rare Tiny, three common Mighty), it runs three common Mana Channeling. It carries removal through common Intimidation and full rare Mana Eruption as well as full common Haven Bouncers, plus two rare Dorothy Gales. With those Energy Bars, Atsadi is looking for the combo with one of two rare Sakarabru, or a unique Council (that additionally ramps mana) or a unique Sakarabru that also destroys permanents. The deck’s remaining unique is a Kaibara that gains boosts on play.