Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan

Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan
Date	2–4 February 2018
Location	Bilbao, Spain
Attendance	465
Format	Modern and Booster draft
Prize pool	$250,000
Winner	Luis Salvatto
Previous Pro Tour: Ixalan Next Pro Tour: Dominaria

Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan was the second Pro Tour of the 2017–18 season. It took place on 2–4 February 2018 in Bilbao, Spain. It was the return of the Modern Pro Tour, the first of its kind since PT Oath of the Gatewatch in 2016. The event was won by Argentina's Luis Salvatto, whose Lantern Control deck took him to victory in the final against PT Amonkhet champion Gerry Thompson.

Format

Modern had not been a Pro Tour format for two years, but the Grand Prix events featuring the format were still hugely popular, and Modern events generally had the highest viewership, so it was brought back for the 2017–18 season. The banlist had been stable since the Eldrazi Winter, having only (re-)added Golgari Grave-Troll - which did not destroy Dredge as a deck - and Gitaxian Probe - which in particular weakened Infect and Death's Shadow decks. The biggest innovation since PT Oath of the Gatewatch was the development of the Death's Shadow strategies in early 2017, creating the newest midrange deck, with powerful threats and strong disruptive capabilities. A new player in the field was 4C or 5C Humans, using Unclaimed Territory and Kitesail Freebooter for near-perfect mana as well as combo disruption.

The previous Modern GP showed a metagame development from Death's Shadow domination into big-mana Tron and Scapeshift decks, whose gameplans are difficult for Death's Shadow decks to interact with.

Day one

The Rivals of Ixalan Booster draft followed World Championship finalists Seth Manfield and Owen Turtenwald, drafting Blue-Green Merfolk and Blue-Red, respectively. However, neither player fared well in their pod, with Seth taking one win and Owen taking none. Instead, the pod was won by the relatively unknown Colin Rountree, who drafted White-Blue. Other players who won their respective pods included Paul Rietzl, Raphaël Lévy, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, and Ben Stark.

The breakdown of the Modern format seemed fairly balanced, with the top represented deck of 5C Humans taking up only 9.8% of the metagame. With the format shifting to big mana decks, aggressive strategies such as Burn, Affinity, and Humans took the top tables, which left room for the control decks heavy in removal to take over. At the end of the day, Italian 2017 World Magic Cup competitor Adriano Moscato was the last undefeated player, wielding 5C Humans, with PT Aether Revolt champion Lucas Esper Berthoud barely behind at 7–0–1, also on 5C Humans.

The top eight players after day one:

Rank	Player	Points
1	Adriano Moscato	24
2	Lucas Esper Berthoud	22
3	Javier Dominguez	21
4	Makis Matsoukas	21
5	Michael Lagamba	21
6	Paul Rietzl	21
7	Tay Jun Hao	21
8	Jon Stern	21

Day two

The second Rivals draft followed the undefeated Moscato and Hall of Famer Rietzl, drafting Blue-White Ascend and Red-Black removal; unfortunately, like the Day 1 featured drafters, Rietzl went 0–3, and Moscato 1–2; the pod was won by Jon Stern, who thus took the overall lead in the tournament at 10–1. Following him was Pascal Vieren of Belgium, who trailed by one point due to two draws on Day 1, at 9–0–2.

The cutoff metagame rewarded those who read the format shift accurately, with most aggro decks suffering while blue control (excluding Blue-White) flourished. Additionally, Valakut-based strategies, non-Shadow midrange, and most combo decks fared poorly, due to increased nonbasic and graveyard hate. The first lock for the Top 8 was Pascal Vieren with Blue-Red Pyromancer in round 14, with an unusual 12–0–2 record that ultimately led to a 12–0–4 record and technically undefeated. Ken Yukuhiro piloting Black-Red Hollow One landed his fourth Top 8 in the same round. Round 15 lined up the next four players at 12–3 - Reid Duke on Abzan, Gerry Thompson on Mardu Pyromancer, Javier Dominguez on 5C Humans, and Jean-Emmanual Depraz on Traverse Shadow. Luis Salvatto on Lantern Control also landed on 12–3, but had the worst breakers and was paired down against Lucas Esper Berthoud at 11–3–1. Salvatto won his win-and-in, and Andrea Mengucci defeated Matis Matsoukas for the only 12–4 spot; Jon Finkel was edged out by 2.7% on tiebreakers and finished 9th.

Top 8

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	1	Pascal Vieren	3
	8	Andrea Mengucci	0
						1	Pascal Vieren	2
						4	Gerry Thompson	3
	4	Gerry Thompson	3
	5	Javier Dominguez	1
											3	Gerry Thompson	0
											2	Luis Salvatto	3
	3	Ken Yukuhiro	3
	6	Reid Duke	2
						3	Ken Yukuhiro	2
						2	Luis Salvatto	3
	2	Luis Salvatto	3
	7	Jean-Emmanuel Depraz	2

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Decks	Comments
1	Luis Salvatto	$50,000	30	Lantern Control	Second Pro Tour Top 8 First Argentinean to win a Pro Tour
2	Gerry Thompson	$20,000	28	Mardu Pyromancer	Third Pro Tour Top 8
3	Pascal Vieren	$15,000	24	UR Pyromancer
4	Ken Yukuhiro	$12,500	22	BR Hollow One	Fourth Pro Tour Top 8
5	Javier Dominguez	$10,000	20	5C Humans
6	Reid Duke	$9,000	18	Abzan Midrange	Third Pro Tour Top 8
7	Jean-Emmanuel Depraz	$7,500	17	Traverse Shadow
8	Andrea Mengucci	$6,000	16	5C Humans	Third Pro Tour Top 8

Worlds Leaderboard

Player of the Year

Seth Manfield had a massive 20-point lead coming into the event thanks to winning Pro Tour Ixalan and then finishing in the top eight of three Grand Prix events. He did not make it to Day 2 of the competition, and Reid Duke, already in second place before the event, made it to Sunday play. However, Manfield's lead was such that even this left him with a sizable 5-point lead in the race going into the latter half of the season. 9 points behind Duke was the winner of the Pro Tour, Luis Salvatto, followed by John Rolf and Gerry Thompson.

Player	Pro Points
Seth Manfield	62
Reid Duke	57
Luis Salvatto	48
John Rolf	44
Gerry Thompson	42

Pro Tour Team Series

After the Pro Tour, Ultimate Guard became a big winner of the event: coming into the event in fourth place, with Reid Duke's Top 8 and one 12–4 (which is the maximum finish for non-Top 8 players in terms of Pro Points) finish, they become the mid-season leader of team series. Similarly, inaugural Team Series winners Musashi, despite a disappointing 15th-place start at Pro Tour Ixalan, made a big comeback with Ken Yukuhiro's top 4, one 12–4, and three 10–6 finishes or better, and jumped to 2nd-place. Inaugural Team Series runners-up and previous leaders Genesis, despite having a decent outing with five players scoring a 9–7 record or better (the prerequisite for earning more than the minimum 3 Pro Points) in this pro tour, including one 12–4 and one 10–6, it was not good enough to keep the lead, and they slipped down to third place. Hareruya Latin, with the help of Luis Salvatto's win, was in fourth place. Notably, these four teams were only separated by a 9-point margin. In fifth was Connected Company, which had two Pro Tour top 8s.

Draft Master

Seven players went 6–0 in the Draft, most notably Elias Watsfeldt, who now had a perfect 12–0 record over two Pro Tours. Top eight members Andrea Mengucci, Pascal Vieren, and Jean-Emmanual Depraz also went 6–0, and rounding out the rest were Jon Stern, Mattia Zapparoli, and Elliot Boussaud.

Constructed Master

Gerry Thompson posted a near-perfect record of 9–0–1 with his Mardu Pyromancer deck; he was trailed by Jacob Nagro on Eldrazi Tron, Alex Majlaton on Blue-White Control, and Immanuel Gerschenson on Traverse Shadow, all at 9–1. At 16–4, Gerschenson tied with World Champion Brian Braun-Duin in second place, but first place was John Rolf, whose intentional draw at Pro Tour Ixalan put him in the lead in the Constructed Master race at 16–3–1.