Mythic Championship VI Limited Draft day one highlights and standings

For the first time on a Magic: The Gathering competitive stage, pros are playing the Throne of Eldraine (ELD) set in a Limited Booster Draft format. 

Over 500 of the best Magic players in the world have earned an invite to the last tabletop tournament of the year. Every Magic Pro League player is in attendance, seeking Mythic Points and a chance to play at the Magic Word Championship event in February 2020. And for the Challengers, many are also seeking Mythic Points for the Rivals League and open MPL seats. But everyone wants a piece of the $500,000 prize pool. 

Unlike the Standard Constructed rounds later today, the ELD Limited Draft won’t be bogged down with Food decks run by Oko, Thief of Crowns. The Eldraine set is unique to Magic in that players for the first time in MTG’s history have the opportunity to build a monocolored deck in the Limited format. There are three rounds (best-of-three matches) in Draft, in which eight players at a table will build a minimum 40-card deck from rotating ELD booster packs (three). 

Here are the top plays and finishers from day one Draft rounds at Mythic Championship VI.  

MCVI Limited ELD Draft feature table

The feature pod at Mythic Championship VI ELD Draft consisted of MPL players and other various Magic players from around the world who qualified for the tournament. Several of the players weren’t too happy with the draft options or their picks but still managed to put together a few solid decks. 

• Shahar Shenhar: Dimir Control
• Mike Sigrist: Gruul Aggro
• Jessica Estephan: Mono-White
• Matt Schmaltz: Green/Black Food
• Alexey Shashov: Blue/White
• Paul Cuillier: Red/Blue
• Michael Jaskolka: Green/White
• Bradley Yoo: Blue/Black

Round one

The first feature match was Shenhar facing off against Shashov, with game one quickly going to Shashov.

Game two for Shahar wasn’t looking good either until he pulled out an incredible two-for-one removal trick. The play led to a scoop from Shashov, leaving the match at 1-1.

And the momentum continued for Shahar, drawing the only bomb he claimed in the draft. Lochmere Serpent came onto the battlefield to threaten lethal, but Shashov survived by going down to one life. It wasn’t enough, however, and Shahar won the match.  

Round two

The feature table at MCVI in round two of the ELD Limited Draft was Schmaltz against Sigrist. And it didn’t take the draft master long with Gruul Aggro to win game one against Schmaltz and his Green/Black Food. Game two for Schmaltz and Sigrist didn’t take long either, with Gruul Aggro shutting down Schmaltz to take the match win. 

On the side table, there was an interesting pairing with Cuillier facing off against Shahar. Both players had 1-0 records and it was Cuillier’s Red/Blue deck that dominated Shahar’s Dimir Control in game one. The second game didn’t go in Shahar’s favor either and Cuillier wrapped up the second round at 2-0.

Round three

The feature table in round three showcased the 2-0 Sigrist against Cuillier. In a match between Gruul Aggro and the card drawing Red/Blue, cantrip won over aggro in game one. 

Wildborn Preserve, however, changed everything in Sigrist’s favor during game two while Cuillier was getting mana starved. 

Game three began with Cuillier back in the driver’s seat, dropping an Irencrag Pyromancer onto the battlefield. But after getting mana flooded, Cuillier found himself in a difficult spot. The land flood continued, forcing Cuillier to concede, giving Sigrist a 3-0 start at Mythic Championship VI.

Here are the standings from the day one pod and the decks each player made. 

• Shahar Shenhar (2-1): Dimir Control
• Mike Sigrist (3-0): Gruul Aggro
• Jessica Estephan (2-1): Mono-White
• Matt Schmaltz (1-2): Green/Black Food 
• Alexey Shashov (0-3): Blue/White 
• Paul Cuillier (2-1): Red/Blue
• Michael Jaskolka (1-2): Green/White
• Bradley Yoo (1-2): Blue/Black

Day two of ELD Limited Draft at Mythic Championship VI begins tomorrow at 8am CT.