MTG Pro Tour top eight showcases multiple Hall of Famers and diverse meta

Over 200 Magic: The Gathering players competed over the course of the last two days, with only eight advancing to the playoffs of Pro Tour Phyrexia, featuring the World Champion, Hall of Famers, and six different Pioneer decks. 

The best MTG players from around the globe gathered in Philadelphia for the first tabletop Pro Tour tournament of the 2022-2023 season. A total of 16 rounds were played during days one and two, featuring gameplay in ONE Draft and Traditional Pioneer Constructed. The Draft rounds had a huge impact on the field, with players like Shota Yasooka going undefeated both days, and being the first of eight players to advance onto the day three single elimination playoffs.

Heading into the Phyrexia: Pro Tour, the two most popular Pioneer decks brought to the tournament were Rakdos Midrange (33 players) and Mono-Green Devotion (30 players). Only one Rakdos Midrange deck made it to the top eight, piloted by Yasooka. No Mono-Green Devotion builds or Gruul Vehicles decks (21 players) made it to the top eight. 

• Shota Yasooka: Rakdos Midrange 
• Benton Madsen: Selesnya Auras
• Reid Duke: Izzet Creativity
• Takumi Matsuura: Mono-White Humans
• Nathan Steuer: Lotus Field Combo
• Chris Ferber: Lotus Field Combo
• Gabriel Nassif: Izzet Creativity
• Derrick Davis: Enigmatic Fires (Yorion, Sky Nomad)

Of the three players who went 6-0 during the ONE Draft rounds, only Yasooka advanced to the top eight. The other two players were Michael Belfatto and Riki Kamo. Hall of Famers who made the top eight at the Phyrexia Pro Tour include Yasooka, Duke, and Nassif. Also making the top eight was the current MTG World Champion, Nathan Steuer.

The standout player and favorite heading into the final day of the Phyrexia Pro Tour was Shota Yasooka. He was the only Rakdos Midrange player to make it to day three, defeating other decks that made it like Izzet Creativity, Lotus Field Combo, and Mono-White Humans. Favored alongside Shota is the World Champion Steuer, along with Hall of Famers Duke and Nassif.

Day three of the Phyrexia Pro Tour will feature a single elimination bracket playoff with a best-of-five games in Pioneer Constructed. All the top eight players earned a direct invite to the 2022-2023 Magic World Championship.