Depraz earns first Worlds title with legendary MTG deck at 2023 World Championship

Jean-Emmanual Depraz has earned his first Worlds title after returning to the Magic: The Gathering World Championship two years after his last premier appearance, while Simon Nielsen was crowned Player of the Year.

Standard was the feature format on the final day of the Magic World Championship in Vegas, showcasing a wide variety of decks in the top eight. Matches were single-elimination best-of-fives, with players allowed to dip into sideboards after game two.

The largest Magic tournament of the year brought about Simon Nielsen as player of the year, an announcement for phase two of improving Standard, and eventually saw Depraz earn his first MTG World Championship.

Esper Midrange was the most popular Standard deck brought to MTG Worlds, along with decks like Domain Ramp and Esper Legends. Hall of Famer Reid Duke and Willy Edel piloted Domain Ramp on the final day, with both falling during the quarterfinals. Eventually, Azorius Soldiers and Golgari Midrange also fell, with Jean-Emmanual Depraz piloting Esper Legends against Kazune Kosaka’s Esper Midrange for the final match.

Depraz finished second at the 2020-2021 MTG World Championship, which was also in the Standard format. Today, with Esper Legends, Depraz was determined to earn his first Worlds title. Depraz began the match 2-0 before sideboard cards were allowed, and then ended up sweeping Kosaka for a 3-0 match-win and an MTG Worlds title.

Nielsen was the second player to advance into the top eight on day two, taking the remainder of the day off to prepare for the playoffs. Multiple players were up for Player of the Year, which was narrowed down to Duke and Nielsen by the final day.

The Quarterfinals match for Nielsen was projected as a bad matchup against Lorenzo Terlizzi and his Esper Midrange deck.

Nielsen was also on the play for game one, which proved a huge advantage as Terlizzi couldn’t find a second land before the soldiers flew in for lethal damage. Then, getting mana flooded during game three didn’t help Terlizzi as Nielsen swept his opponent, securing the honor of player of the year following Duke’s loss in the quarterfinals.

An end to the Magic World Championship was a new beginning, with Depraz also earning his face on an MTG card next year and players getting geared up for the 2023-2024 organized play season.