Magic Worlds 2017

24 players, 3 days of Magic, only one winner. Over the weekend of the 6th-8th of October the worlds best 24 Magic players battled it out in the Magic The Gathering World Championship to see who would lift that coveted World Champion Trophy and walk away with a cool $100,000. Players qualified from all corners of the world to play the best of the best in Boston Massachusetts over 14 rounds of Swiss. It would be a grueling weekend for all 24 players testing there adaptability and quick thinking with the total of six rounds of draft along with their stamina and metal while playing at least eight rounds of standard constructed over these three days, culminating in the top four players competing for the title.



That wouldn't be the only entertainment to watch however as the top two teams from the 2016/17 pro tour series would also be battling it out for the chance to take home a share of $50,000.

Let's dive in and take a look at the players that had grafted all year for their opportunity to be at the Magic The Gathering World Championship:

Lucas Esper Berthoud

Sam Black

Christian Calcano

Marcio Carvalho

Kelvin Chew

Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa

Javier Dominguez

Reid Duke

Eric Froehlich

William Jensen

Martin Juza

Lee Shi Tian

Seth Manfield

Martin Muller

Brad Nelson

Sam Pardee

Sebastian Pozzo

Donald Smith

Gerry Thompson

Owen Turtenwald

Josh Utter-Leyton

Yuuya Watanabe

Shota Yasooka

Ken Yukuhiro

I'm sure there are a lot of names on that list that many of you have heard of including past Players Of The Year, multiple Pro Tour Champions and even Hall Of Famers.

Going into Worlds the metagame wasn't set in stone, there were a couple of decks that were pretty much guaranteed to show up like Ramunap Red and Temur Energy. And show up they did with Ramunap Red making up over 37% of the field and Temur energy holding its own with 25% of the field. As for the rest it was split between four other decks; UB Control with 16%, 4 Colour Energy with 12%, Treasure Red and Grixis Control bringing up the rear with only 4% each. Overall, a pretty strong showing for two of the more dominant decks before rotation but there must have been some confidence in UB Control to get four players to run it at the World Championships.

The action started on Friday with three rounds of Draft, players were split into three pods of eight and after the dust settle three players emerged as the front runners in the 3-0 spot:
Christian Calcano, William Jensen and Josh Utter-Leyton. All three of the now leading pack had gone different ways; Calcano with a black red Pirates-ish deck, J.U.L straight up green blue Merfolk and William "Huey" Jensen going for more of a red white Dinosaurs draft, so almost all of the Ixalan tribes being represented in the top spots.

All three players also came prepared for the standard portion with different decks as well; Calcano deciding to go for the tried and tested Ramunap Red with few changes to any pre-Ixalan lists, mainly 4 Lightning Strike in the main and the full 4 Rampaging Ferocidon in the sideboard.

Utter-Leyton opted for a UB Control build featuring the new premium removal spell in 3 Vraska's Contempt, what could turn out to be a break-out card with 3 Search For Azcanta, 4 Drowned Catacombs to smooth out any mana issues and 3 Field Of Ruin acting as the most recent Strip Mine/ Ghost Quarter effect along with the fourth in the sideboard. That wasn't all though with J.U.L's board containing stand alone's Argul's Blood Fast and Treasure Map.

Lastly, Huey Jensen, landing on Temur Energy only choose four Ixalan cards to run in his entire 75, 4 Rootbound Crag. That is all

The minimal change to the deck serves Huey well however as at the end of day one he was the only player to go undefeated while J.U.L and Calcano fell into 3rd and 6th with Kelvin Chew making his way into 2nd playing UB Control, Seth Manfield in 4th on 4 Colour Energy and Javier Dominguez in 5th running Ramunap Red.

Huey Jensen had everything to lose going into day two, even though he was six points ahead two loses at this level of play are never a million miles away. From Dinosaurs to Pirates, Huey's second draft went absolutely swimmingly as his red black pirates deck, with a Hostage Taker and Drowned Catacombs for good measure, took down his second draft pod 3-0. Aside from the top spot there was some shuffling around going on after the second draft rounds were over, including Calcano dropping to 12th and Reid Duke and Gerry Thompson making a break for the top four places, or at this point more like the three available with Huey going on a tear. With Jensen being on a healthy 30 points after round 10 though the only player that could realistically catch him is Utter-Leyton on 21 points, where every player below would have to win out and have Jensen lose all of the last four rounds and even then it would be a tie breaker issue.

It didn't matter though as Huey continued his streak with a win in both the 11th and 12th round sealing his top four spot before going on to lose the final two rounds. With this set in stone then began the race for the last three spots and realistically everyone down to 11th place was in wth a shout. With everything to lose, all players in contention could afford any slip ups but unfortunately that's the way life goes sometimes, Reid Duke crashed out of the top four leaving the door open for Javier Dominguez and Kelvin Chew to sneak into 3rd and 4th place just behind J.U.L.
All 24 competitors should be commended for making it to this prestigious stage playing in the Magic World Championships, they are all a testament to working hard, getting your head down and grinding away. It shows what can be achieved if you're willing to dedicate yourself and keep pushing on, no matter what record any player ended the weekend on the fact that they are at the pinnacle of the Magic tournament scene is incredible, one day it could even be you.

14 rounds in the books and only four players were left to battle it out for the championship. Huey had made an insane undefeated run to grab his spot and Utter-Leyton really grinding out some games to secure a place. Chew and Dominguez aren't to be counted out either, even though both had a fluctuating place in the standings that's all behind them now and it's straight knockout.

Chew and Jensen squared up for the first semi final, this would be a repeat match up of round 13 where Jensen was handed his first loss of his Worlds campaign from Chew.
The first game went as planned from Kelvin Chew's perspective, he controlled the board with Fatal Push and Vraska's Contempt for all the Longtusk Cubs, spells cast by Huey were being met by counter magic and all the while Chew was using Search For Azcanta to dig through his deck finding massive hay-maker threats like Torrential Gearhulk, that met an Essence Scatter, and The Scarab God which ultimately saw the game come to a close.

The second game went a little different, Huey didn't get off to the best of starts having his Whirler Virtuoso Essence Scattered on turn three. Kelvin chew had a third land and decided to go for his Search For Azcanta to try and smooth out any draws and find a land to go along with his Torrential Gearhulk and Glimmer Of Genius. This left the door open for Jensen to drop a Bristling Hydra under any counter magic with enough energy to save it from removal as well. As Chew sat back on the defensive Jensen was the pro active player dropping Glorybringers in succession, the first being met by a Supreme Will and the second with an Aether Meltdown. In an attempt to survive and bring himself back into the game Chew managed to land a Scarab God, though Aether Meltdown doesn't stop the creature from attacking and with an Exert from Glorybringer and a Magma Spray for good measure the God was gone never to return. When a last ditch attempt to stabilise with a Torrential Gearhulk was Harnessed Lightning'd away and another Harnessed Lightning saving the Hydra from Vraska's Contempt the game was over soon after.

In the post board games Jensen was favour with counter magic and Confiscation Coup being brought in. The third game got off to a slow start but after landing a Longtusk Cub and Whirler Virtuoso while having the Negate for a Glimmer Of Genius that Chew needed to dig for answers. After Jensen had the counter for Chew's Gearhulk a final attack preceded by two for 7 damage locked up the win for Huey.

Game four was all Chew for the first four or so turns, having removal for every including a Chandra, Torch Of Defiance. It wouldn't last though and as the answers started to dwindle Jensen landed a Whirler Virtuoso making a bunch of tokens and was later joined by a Longtusk Cub to attack in for a whole lot and put Huey in the final.

The other semi final saw Javier Dominguez, playing Ramunap Red, face off against Josh Utter-Leyton, piloting the second copy of UB Control in the top four. With Ramunap Red being one of the top decks in the metagame it may have been a surprise that Javier Dominguez was the only player running it that made the top four out of the six RamRed decks that showed up to worlds.

Game one was a fairly simple affair, early game threats from Dominguez met by answers from Utter-Leyton including Bomat Courier falling to Fatal Push, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider meeting an Essence Scatter and even Ramunap Ruins crumbled by a Field Of Ruin. It all seemed like it was going J.U.L's way until a Soulscar Mage and Kari Zev number two slipped through the cracks, coupled with a Lightning Strike it was then that Utter-Leyton’s life started tumbling and after tapping out for a Scarab God left the door open for Dominguez to drop Hazoret The Fervent, it allowed him to seal the first game.

Another quick one for the second game, Dominguez starting off with a couple of Bomat Couriers and racking up the cards underneath them both while Josh sat back and sculpted his hand with a bunch of cycling cards. Dominguez chipped away at Utter-Leyton’s life total slowly until a Scarab God was played, at which point Dominguez revealed his hand to be a Lightning Strike and an Ahn-Crop Crasher which along with the Bomat Courier would take the second game with minimal effort.

Going into the first game of sideboarding J.U.L found himself in a bit of a predicament; not only was he two games down the sideboarded games actually favoured Dominguez, being able to bring in actual effective spells like Glorybringer and Chandra, Torch Of Defiance in exchange for his creature removal which against UB Control was almost useless. On the other side of the table Utter-Leyton could only bring in Contraband Kingpin as an early game blocker and another Essence Scatter.

With the third game underway it seemed entirely possible that Josh could pull it out of the bag, until the fourth turn when Dominguez played around Utter-Leyton’s Essence Scatter with a Chandra, Torch Of Defiance. J.U.L had no answer to the planeswalker which started picking away at his lifetotal until the Control player could land a Torrential Gearhulk to try and answer Chandra. With a chump block for the Gearhulk attacking Chandra Dominguez decided to deploy a Glorybringer which was met by Essence Scatter. Not a problem though as he had double Hazoret sitting in his hand which Utter-Leyton had no answers to. With his only course of action to attack the planeswalker, Josh went after Chandra with the Gearhulk knocking her down to two loyalty, Dominguez resolved a Hazoret the turn after at which point he planned to go on the offensive instead of trying to protect his planeswalker. This proved very effective as Josh’s Gearhulk had to stay back as a blocker but with him down to 8 life and with no relevant cards in hand he had to sit there and tank damage from both Javier’s planeswalker and God for a turn. Utter-Leyton’s only out was a Vraska’s Contempt off the top to deal with Hazoret but all he found was a swamp and with the activation of Hazoret he extended his hand. A clean sweep for Dominguez to make it into the final and despite UB Control having two copies in the top four the top two decks of the metagame prevailed and was facing off in the final of the World Championships.

So here we are. The finals of the World Championships. William “Huey” Jensen vs Javier Dominguez, Temur Energy vs Ramunap Red the two pillars of the current metagame battling it out to decide the World Champion. Would it be Huey with his incredible twelve match undefeated run or will Javier Dominguez Ramunap Ruin his day?

The first game was a back and forth of creatures being met by removal spells, Dominguez starting things off with a Soulscar Mage and Bomat Courier but they didn’t hang around for long. The same was imminent for Huey’s Whirler Virtuoso and Longtusk Cub, the latter eating two of Javier’s removal spells. This cleared the way for Jensen to land his second Virtuoso which is a bit of a problem for RamRed due to it being able to churn out a lot of blockers at instant speed. After getting over a slight stumble on mana, Javier managed to find a fourth land for Hazoret, however unable to attack thanks to a few cards still in Javier’s grip. This problem was short lived though when next turn he dropped a Chandra, Torch Of Defiance and an Ahn-Crop Crasher thanks to her second +1 ability, Huey had the Harnessed Lightning for the Crasher and after making blocker after blocker with Whirler Virtuoso for Hazoret and successfully casting a couple of Longtusk Cubs, was able to see off the planeswalker. As the board just kept growing and growing to Jensen it became harder for Javier to keep up and after a couple of turns the overwhelming power of Jensen’s board was enough to crash through and take the first game.

With Dominguez on the play for game two it was almost inevitable that it would be a much faster game. A turn two Kari Zev from Javier started things off nicely for the Spaniard and an Abrade the turn after for Huey’s Longtusk Cub cleared the way for two Earthshaker Khenra’s to drop Jensen to 11. Keeping the pressure on Dominguez landed a Hazoret and with a massive attack that again left Jensen’s board baron and him at 3 life, Javier followed this up with a Hazoret activation and attack to make it a turn six win and level the scores at 1-1.

The sideboarding began, Jensen with access to cards like Aethersphere Harvester for life gain in the early game and Dominguez with access to Rampaging Ferocidon, Chandra’s Defeat and Glorybringer.

Game three was a back and forth with creatures meeting removal spells all over the place. When the dust settled Dominguez was left with a rampaging Ferocidon, Kari Zev and an Earthshaker Khenra while Jensen had a Rogue Refiner, Servant Of The Conduit and a Longtusk Cub. The Cub could prove to be the difficult creature however as both players were equal on the board by the Cub had the ability to keep growing. With Javier successfully landing a Chandra, Torch Of Defiance there was a ray of hope but as he tried the following turn for a Glorybringer Jensen reacted with an Essence Scatter keeping the chance of a runaway dragon putting a downer on Huey’s chances of victory to a minimum. The planeswalker acted as a buffer for Dominguez’s life for a couple of turns as Jensen had to keep it in check she couldn’t ultimate. Suddenly a rush of creatures I’ve two turns from Javier Dominguez, including a Hazoret, Kari Zev and a Bomat Courier, looked like he’d found a way to close out the game before dying to any energy antics that Jensen had. Using Chandra to remove a potential blocker and Eternalising an Earthshaker Khenra all on the following turn had given Dominguez the opportunity to bypass most of Huey’s blockers for the win. This was all based on Jensen not having a removal spell in hand which, unfortunately for Dominguez, he did. With the Magma Spray taking out an attacking creature Dominguez couldn’t quite get there and with a massive attack back from Huey, game three went to Temur. 2-1 in Jensen’s favour meant that he could close it out with this last game.

Dominguez was off to a great start with the turn one Soulscar Mage and Turn two Kari Zev however Jensen was able to match his curve with a turn one Magma Spray for the Mage and a turn two Servant Of The Conduit. This would be followed up by a pair of Whirler Virtuoso’s in succession that unfortunately Javier only had the answer for one and even then things were being made awkward by his lack of Mountains meaning he was taking a pain from Ramunap Ruins for almost every spell he was playing. Deciding to go on the offensive with a Rampaging Ferocidon turned out to be ineffective for Dominguez when Huey landed a Longtusk Cub and, despite the Ferocidon triggers, kept chipping away at the Spaniards life total. It was close however with Javier utilizing his deserts to get Jensen to one life but in the process he sacrificed his fifth land, this put Javier Dominguez in a top deck moment with a lot of outs; any land or any burn spell that he could point at Jensen’s head and the game was over. Dominguez slowly peeled the top card of his library keeping it concealed as he wracked his brain thinking of any other way of surviving. He peaked at his drawn for the turn and then...the hand started to extended across the table. Dominguez couldn’t find it, the game was over and William Jensen had done it. After a fantastic undefeated run to secure his top four spot the Peach Garden Oath player had played almost flawlessly to become the Magic The Gathering World Champion.

The Champion was decided but that wasn’t the end of this weekend of Magic.

The Team Championships was coming to a conclusion and the teams that had made it to the finals were Team Genesis and Team Musashi. The players taking the seats for Team Genesis were Pro Tour Eldritch Moon winner Lukas Blohon, 2015 World Champion Seth Manfield and Gold Level Pro Thomas Hendriks while sitting across from them were three of Japans best players; Ken Yukuhiro, Yuuki Ichikawa and Kentaro Yamamoto.

As this was a team event which meant that players could confer with their teammates. In seat A, Thomas Hendriks faced off against Ken Yukuhiro, both players had gone for dinosaurs in this team limited format Hendriks in a red/white build while Yukuhiro leaned more towards the red/green side of things. Hendriks got off to a good start with a curve of turn two Raptor Companion into turn three Frenzied Raptor with Yukuhiro only having a Raptor Hatchling to hold off Hendriks’ Companion. With Hendriks unable to push through the Raptor Hatchling Yukuhiro managed to turn a River Herald’s Boon into a sweet two for one and followed that up with a mid-combat Unfriendly Fire to clear the way and take game one.

The second game got off to a slow start for Hendriks with a removal heavy hand but a no real action until turn four. After conversing with his teammates and deciding a mulligan was correct, Hendriks went all the down to five cards with a fairly decent hand that was able to stabilising with a Glorifier Of Dusk on a board that Yukuhiro had flooded with small early drop creatures. After both players playing a slow more “draw-go” game with few creatures being added to the board Hendriks landed an Ixalan’s Binding on a Colossal Dreadmaw. This cleared the way for Yukuhiro to attack in without fear of a combat trick from Hendriks and a River Herald’s Boon took care of the Glorifier Of Dusk along with a Crushing Canopy to release Yukuhiro’s Colossal Dreadmaw. All of a sudden Hendriks found himself at one life facing down a massive amount of power and despite being able to wipe the board Yukuhiro found a Jade Guardian off the top and was able to take game two and put Musashi one match ahead.

In seat C sat Lukas Blohon, who had gone down the blue/black Pirates route, and Kentaro Yamamoto who aired on the side of black/white Vampires. Blohon had a game plan of getting to the late game to cast Overflowing Insight to out card advantage his opponent, Yamamoto would do everything in his power to stop that from happening. Game one got underway with a few creatures gumming up the board and starting the onset of a board stall until Yamamoto was able to push through a Skymarch Bloodletter which then combined with an Anointed Deacon to start hitting in for four damage a turn. With no flying blockers and unable to find removal Blohon had to try and race with two Direfleet Interloper’s, as difficult to block as they were though Yamamoto was able to find a Vampire’s Zeal to progress the clock ahead by a turn and that was enough to take game one. Blohon and Yamamoto’s second game was postponed just in case a tie breaker was needed.

The focus moved to seat B with Seth Manfield and Yuuki Ichikawa. Manfield was the only player out of the six finalists to go for blue/green Merfolk while Ichikawa landed on blue/black Pirates. The first game was a bit of a grind with some early trade offs that moved into a ground stall, at which point it became all about evasion so it was good timing for Manfield when he was able to land a Wind Strider and Storm Sculptor both of which went unanswered and were enough to take game one.

A quick start from, Yamamoto including a Wanted Scoundrels combined with a Pirate’s Cutlass, allowed him to attack for six on turn three and though Manfield was able to hold it down for a couple of turns using Watertrap Weaver and re-using it thanks to Storm Sculptor. Yamamoto utilised a mid combat Dive Down to save the Scoundrels from a double block and after Manfield missed a land drop and was unable to get back onto the board, that was that with Yamamoto taking the second game. The last game between the two seat B players could spell either Genesis tying up the match and moving the focus back to seat C for a thrilling finale or Musashi taking the Team Championship. The last game was a small creature affair with the power not exceeding more than 2 until Yamamoto stuck a Mark Of The Vampire on a Skittering Heartstopper. This newly made 3/4 Lifelink Deathtoucher made combat awkward for Mansfield as he needed to deal with the Heartstopper but couldn’t get a decent trade, plus the constant thought of all the combat tricks in the format meant finding an answer to this puzzle was going to be a lot harder than first thought. An alpha strike, double block and combination of Skullduggery, Dive Down and River Herald’s Boon later only the Skittering Heartstopper had survived. Manfield dealt with it the following turn but lost two creatures in the process and, without any more cards in his hand, found himself facing down a 6/6 Deadeye Plunderers from Ichikawa. It had turned into a top deck war with Ichikawa having the edge on life totals, Manfield had to chump the Plunderers to stay alive for a few turns until he could find a Run Aground that Ichikawa bypassed by bouncing the Plunderers. This gave Manfield another turn but ultimately he was unable to find an answer and after a hard fought battle Team Genesis extended their hands and Musashi heaved a sigh of relief.

The match ended 2-0 after two 2-1 wins for Musashi, they’d taken the championship with a solid showing and definitely deserve a huge congratulations.

So that rounds up the weekend of the World Championship, but what have we learned?

Well first off William Jensen is absolutely incredible at Magic.

Secondly Temur Energy is still a top tier deck and I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon.

And lastly, apparently all you need to win a team championship is a 1/1 for one with optional Deathtouch and a four mana enchantment.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my look over the action at Worlds and I’m sure I’ll be doing it all again next year. In the mean time though keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates and remember to follow and tell your friends. Later guys.