Houston, TX – August 2025
The winds of nostalgia swirled once again at Hurricane 2025, the Falling Stars’ fourth Old School constructed event, held in partnership with Romancing the Stones. Gathering at Rudyard’s Pub, 39 Old School competitors and 25 Vintage duelists braved the storm of cardboard clashes, raffles, and camaraderie.
Amazing 1st place card with Alter from Winston Wood!
Community and Charity Front
Players traveled in from across Texas and beyond—Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Oklahoma, —to take part in the weekend’s festivities. Thanks to raffle donations and community generosity, the event raised an impressive $2,562.75 for the Houston Food Bank.
Friday Night Warm Front
The storm began brewing Friday evening at Toasted Coconut for happy hour, before rolling to Voodoo Queen for high-octane cocktails. The night closed at the Austin crew’s Airbnb with Old School Cards Against Humanity. Notably absent: Ben, who “wussed out,” leaving the reigning three time Beta Draft Champion (me) uncontested—cementing their all-time champ status. Thanks Ben!
Hurricane’s coming in hot!
The Main Event
Saturday morning saw a few early hiccups (a bleary-eyed bartender not yet storm-ready and feeling a bit spicy put us a little behind schedule), but soon 39 players launched into battle. Like a captain at the wheel I was awash with registering participants, raffle ticket sales, and wrangling an eager 8-year-old participant, the tournament roared to life like the relentless ocean.
Top Performers
When the skies cleared, Collin Roundtree was crowned the 2025 Hurricane Old School Champion, though not without a tongue-in-cheek asterisk—his first-round opponent was the tournament organizer’s 8-year-old son.
Final Standings
The Top 8 featured a storm surge of familiar names:
- Collin Roundtree – UWb Skies
- Shane Remelt – The Deck with awful printings + couldn’t be bothered to rotate his photo
- Doyle Hancock – The Deck (without 2 COP: Red)
- Adam Alexander – URb
- @mtgmisprint – UWR LDB
- Ben Kendrick – The Deck
- Andy Swaffar – 4C Black Mid-range
- Brian Tweedy – Let’s not have another meme card please*
Vintage also brought strong showings, rounding out a weekend of dual-format action.
Closing Skies
Hurricane 2025 once again proved itself not just a tournament, but a celebration of community, competition, and charity. With $2,562.75 raised, countless memories made, and new friendships forged, the forecast for 2026 looks nothing short of legendary. Thankfully everyone made it home in one piece as unfriendly skies started to blow into Houston on Sunday.
*Meme Card from last year:
Falling Stars 