A total of $1 million and the bragging rights of being the best MTG player of 2019 is on the line at this weekend’s Magic World Championship.
Magic World Championship XXVI technically started yesterday with the paper portion of Theros: Beyond Death Booster Draft. Once completed, players submitted their draft decks to be uploaded into MTG Arena. But there was still prerecorded coverage of the paper draft from yesterday.
Booster Draft
The THB Booster Draft was broken into two drafting pods consisting of eight players each.
Pod one
- Autumn Burchett: White/Blue
- Thoralf Severin: Esper
- Ondřej Stráský: Mono-Red
- Márcio Carvalho: Black/Green
- Sebastián Pozzo: Jund
- Gabriel “Yellowhat” Nassif: Blue/White
- Piotr “Kanister” Głogowski: Black/Red
- Seth Manfield: Green/White
Pod two
- Javier Dominguez: Black/Green
- Eli Loveman: Green/White
- Matias Leveratto: Red/Green
- Jean-Emmanuel Depraz: Four-Color
- Chris Kvartek: Green/Blue
- Raphaël Lévy: Black/Blue
- Andrea Mengucci: White/Black
- Paulo Vitor Damo “PVDDR” da Rosa: Red/White
Prior to match play today, Andrea Mengucci had already suffered a game loss due to an error on his part upon submitting his THB Booster Draft decklist.
Players who have a 2-0 record advance to the winners group, and after two rounds, four players are automatically moving on to day two.
- Chris Kvartek
- Seth Manfield
- Márcio Carvalho
- PVDDR
Players who finished the first two rounds 1-1 moved on to a third round of THB Booster Draft. Those who win will advance to the winners group while the losers will end up in the elimination group.
- Gabriel Nassif
- Javier Dominguez
- Autumn Burchett
- Piotr “Kanister” Głogowski
- Ondřej Stráský
- Eli Loveman
- Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
- Raphaël Lévy
Competitors with 0-2 records were placed in the elimination group, too.
- Andrea Mengucci
- Sebastian Pozzo
- Matias Leveratto
- Thoralf Severin
Related: Here’s a Magic World Championship guide for each day of competitive play
Standard Constructed
Once players were separated into two groups, THB Booster Draft ended and Standard Constructed best-of-three matches began.
Winners group
The winners group consisted of Loveman, Kvartek, Manfield, PVDDR, Carvalho, Nassif, Lévy, and Burchett. Every player in the group advances to day two, but only four make it into the winners bracket.
- Players with a 2-0 record in the winners group advance to top-eight semifinals on day two.
- Those with a 0-2 record in the winners group will have a second chance in the Saturday play-in rounds on day two.
- Players in the winners group with a 1-1 record will compete in a third round of Standard Constructed.
- The two winners of the third round will advance to top-eight semifinals on Saturday.
- The two losers will compete in the Saturday play-in on day two.
Elimination group
The competitors who ended up in the elimination group were at risk of not making it to day two at Magic World Championship XXVI. The players in the elimination group were Mengucci, Pozzo, Dominguez, Severin, Stráský, Leveratto, Kanister, and Depraz.
- Players with a 2-0 record in the elimination group advance to the Saturday play-in on day two.
- Those with a record of 0-2 are eliminated from the Magic World Championship.
- Players with a record of 1-1 will compete in a third round of Standard Constructed.
- The two winners in the third round will advance to the Saturday play-in on day two.
- Losers in the third round are eliminated from the tournament.
The first feature match of Standard Constructed was between Kvartek playing Temur Reclamation against Manfield on Mono-Red Aggro in the winner group. Rocking Embercleave, Manfield quickly wrapped up game one.
And with two Rimrock Knight’s pumping, along with an Embercleave against a Brazen Borrower, Manfield went 2-0 during his first round of Standard Constructed.
Leveratto and his Temur Reclamation deck in the elimination group were paired against Pozzo, playing Mono-Red Aggro, in the second feature match of the evening. And the results of game one were similar to what took place between Manfield and Kvartek, with Pozzo earning a game win.
But game two was much different, with Leveratto able to respond and keep Mono-Red under control due to an opening hand that Pozzo kept. And the Reclamation pieces came together with Wilderness Reclamation and Expansion//Explosion.
Pozzo took Leveratto down to one life while he searched for a Green land during game three. And he found it just in time. But in the end, it wasn’t enough and Pozzo won the match.
Also in the elimination bracket was Stráský (Azorius Control) battling against Depraz and his Temur Reclamation deck. Both players earned a game win and it would come down to game three. But Depraz held onto Niv-Mizzet Parun until just the right moment, ending the game and winning the match with Expansion//Explosion.
Dominguez and Mengucci desperately needed a win to stay alive during round two of Standard Constructed at Magic World Championship XXVI. But the feature match was for a seat in the top-eight with Manfield (Mono-Red Aggro) against Carvalho (Jeskai Fires).
Manfield quickly won the first game despite Carvalho having a Deafening Clarion in hand. Game two was much closer, with Manfield coming up just one shy of lethal. And Carvalho wrapped the game with Deafening Clarion and Cavalier of Flame.
Carvalho continued his dominance during game three with Manfield coming up short on red mana. Manfield was unable to recover and Carvalho was the first of the 16 Magic players to earn a seat in the top eight.
Another Mono-Red Aggro and Jeskai Fires pairing also took place, with a top-eight seat on the line, featuring Nassif against Loveman. Each player earned a game win and Loveman began game three with quick hits to Nassif’s life, despite taking a mulligan to five.
Nassif gained board state advantage, however, with Fires of Invention and two Deafening Clarions in hand. But Loveman topdecked an Embercleave to win the match and move onto day two, in the top eight, with Mono-Red Aggro.
Heading into round three of Standard Constructed at Magic World Championship XXVI, defending World champion Dominguez and Leveratto were eliminated.
The next feature match with a top-eight seat on the line was between Nassif (Jeskai Fires) and PVDDR (Azorius Control). Nassif had an early advantage but PVDDR dropped Dream Trawler and took control of the board state. And with an Elspeth Conquers Death, PVDDR won the first game.
Nassif began game two with two copies of Robber of the Rich, but PVDRR had an answer to the mayhem with Shatter the Sky. And the Tempo Storm MTG player played Azorius Control like a well-tuned fiddle, preventing Nassif from doing much of anything. PVDDR forced a concession from Nassif and earned himself a seat in the top-eight tomorrow.
In the final match to determine which player would be in the upper bracket of the top-eight tomorrow, Manfield was paired against Burchett and their Temur Reclamation deck. Game one went to Manfield and he kicked off game two with land, Runaway Steam-Kin, and low-cost creatures.
Burchett found themselves looking for a fourth land to survive, found a Breeding Pool, but it wasn’t enough. And Manfield moved onto the top-eight tomorrow.
In the elimination group, Stráský and Thoralf found themselves in an Azorius Control mirror match battle for survival. Thoralf won the first game and was at a severe disadvantage during the second. It seemed like Stráský had the win until Thoralf played Emergency Powers, then countered his own spell, winning the match because Stráský was out of cards.
Following round three of Standard Constructed, four players had guaranteed seats in the top-eight tomorrow.
- Carvalho: Jeskai Fires
- Loveman: Mono-Red Aggro
- PVDDR: Azorius Control
- Manfield: Mono-Red Aggro
In the Saturday Play-In group, there were eight players remaining, with a second chance to making it into the top-eight.
- Kvartek: Temur Reclamation
- Burchett: Temur Reclamation
- Lévy: Jeskai Fires
- Nassif: Jeskai Fires
- Pozzo: Mono-Red Aggro
- Kanister: Jund Sacrifice
- Depraz: Temur Reclamation
- Severin: Azorius Control
And at the end of day one, four players found themselves eliminated from Magic Worlds.
- Matias Leveratto
- Ondřej Stráský
- Andrea Mengucci
- Javier Dominguez
Coverage of Magic World Championship XXVI resumes tomorrow at 1pm CT with Play-In matches to determine the final four seats in the top-eight and who will advance to day three in the top four.
