2012 World Magic Cup

2012 World Magic Cup
Date	16–19 August 2012
Location	Template:Flagicon USA Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Attendance	284 (71 teams)
Format	Magic 2013 Booster draft, Standard, Magic 2013 Team Sealed, Modern, Block Constructed
Prize pool	$136,000
Winner	Template:Flagicon TWN Taiwan
Previous World Magic Cup: 2011 World Championships Next World Magic Cup: 2013

The 2012 World Magic Cup was the inaugural World Magic Cup event after the discontinuation of the World Championship system. It was held on 16–19 August 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and featured 71 different national teams. The first World Magic Cup was won by Taiwan, led by Platinum pro Tzu Ching Kuo, defeating Puerto Rico in the final.

Format and schedule

The inaugural World Magic Cup featured five formats: Magic 2013 Booster draft, Standard, Magic 2013 Team Sealed, Modern, and Block Constructed. Team Sealed is a variation of Sealed deck where the team shares a pool of twelve Booster packs, which is used to build three 40-card decks. On the first day of competition, players competed individually to add to their team's score; on the second and third day, teams played against opposing national teams, with the winning team being the first to win two matches (each match being best-of-three-games).

Day 1 - Friday, 17th of August

• 3 rounds of Magic 2013 Booster draft
• 4 rounds of Standard

Day 1 was seven rounds of individual Swiss play, where each win a player earned counted towards that player's team's total score. Players could not be paired against other players on the same team. The top 32 teams at the end of the day qualified for Day 2 of competition.

Day 2 - Saturday, 18th of August

• 3 rounds of Magic 2013 Team Sealed
• 3 rounds of Team Constructed, featuring Standard, Modern, and Block Constructed

Day 2 was six rounds of team play. Teams played 3-on-3, with the teams being made up of the three players with the best score on Day 1 of competition; the fourth was assigned a "coach" role, being able to assist the other players during the matches. The day also featured "pool play": Teams were divided, according to their standing within the event (seeding), into eight groups of four teams each, where each team played every other team in the group once, the format being Magic 2013 Team Sealed. The top two teams in each group advanced; if two or more teams were tied, the team(s) with the highest seed advanced. The teams were then divided again, according to their standing within the event, into four groups of four teams each, where each team played every other team in the group once, the format being Team Constructed, with one team member playing Standard, another playing Modern, and the third playing Block Constructed. The top two teams in each group advanced to Day 3 of competition; if two or more teams are tied, the team(s) with the highest seed advanced.

Day 3 - Sunday, 19th of August

• Quarterfinals, semifinals and final, featuring Team Constructed (Standard, Modern, Block Constructed)

The top eight teams then competed in a seeded (based on total number of points from Day 1 and Day 2), single-elimination bracket.

Pre-tournament favorites

Many pundits' favorites prior to the tournament's start was the Belgian national team. The team, captained by Pro Tour top eight competitor Vincent Lemoine, also sported Marijn Lybaert (four PT top eights), Christophe Gregoir (one PT top eight), and Peter Vieren (Grand Prix top eight competitor and Pro Tour mainstay). Another team favored to do well was the Slovak Republic; the team contained all three members of the winning team from the 2010 Team World Championship: Ivan Floch, Robert Jurkovic, and Patrik Surab. Other teams included the United States, with Brian Kibler and Luis Scott-Vargas; Japan, with Yuuya Watanabe and Yuuta Takahashi; and Australia, with Jeremy Neeman, Justin Cheung, and John-Paul Kelly.

Day 1

After seven rounds of individual play, Croatia stood atop the field with a combined 51 points, spearheaded by their captain Grgur Petric Maretic with the perfect 7–0 record. Pre-tournament favorites the Slovak Republic and the United States followed in the next positions. Peru made an impressive showing, finishing the day in 12th place despite only showing up with three players. The most surprising result after Day 1 was Belgium's elimination, however; their combined record of 11–11 was only sufficient for 43rd place. Pre-tournament favorite Japan nearly failed to show up due to a missed connection flight in Washington, D.C.. They barely avoided it by taking a cross-state 10-hour taxi ride, but still couldn't avoid a day 1 exit in 60th-place.

The top eight teams after day one:

Rank	Country	Points
1	Template:Flagicon HRV Croatia	51
2	Template:Flagicon SVK Slovak Republic	48
3	Template:Flagicon USA United States	48
4	Template:Flagicon TWN Taiwan	45
5	Template:Flagicon ARG Argentina	45
6	Template:Flagicon SCT Scotland	45
7	Template:Flagicon PHL Philippines	45
8	Template:Flagicon CAN Canada	42

Day 2

First round of pool play

Pool A Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon HRV Croatia 9 1 2 Template:Flagicon UKR Ukraine 6 16 3 Template:Flagicon SGP Singapore 3 17 4 Template:Flagicon MYS Malaysia 0 32

Pool B Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon SVK Slovak Republic 7 2 2 Template:Flagicon POL Poland 7 18 3 Template:Flagicon DOM Dominican Rep. 3 31 4 Template:Flagicon PER Peru 0 15

Pool C Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon EST Estonia 9 14 2 Template:Flagicon USA United States 6 3 3 Template:Flagicon BRA Brazil 3 19 4 Template:Flagicon GRC Greece 0 30

Pool D Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon TWN Taiwan 9 4 2 Template:Flagicon PRT Portugal 3 13 3 Template:Flagicon SWE Sweden 3 20 4 Template:Flagicon AUT Austria 3 29

Pool E Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon FIN Finland 9 21 2 Template:Flagicon SVN Slovenia 3 28 3 Template:Flagicon NOR Norway 3 12 4 Template:Flagicon ARG Argentina 3 5

Pool F Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon SCT Scotland 9 6 2 Template:Flagicon HUN Hungary 3 11 3 Template:Flagicon ESP Spain 3 22 4 Template:Flagicon CHE Switzerland 3 27

Pool G Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon PHL Philippines 7 7 2 Template:Flagicon URY Uruguay 6 10 3 Template:Flagicon NLD Netherlands 4 26 4 Template:Flagicon ROU Romania 0 23

Pool H Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon FRA France 9 9 2 Template:Flagicon PRI Puerto Rico 6 24 3 Template:Flagicon CAN Canada 1 8 4 Template:Flagicon BOL Bolivia 1 25

Second round of pool play

Pool A Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon HRV Croatia 6 1 2 Template:Flagicon PHL Philippines 6 8 3 Template:Flagicon FIN Finland 6 9 4 Template:Flagicon PRT Portugal 0 16

Pool B Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon TWN Taiwan 9 2 2 Template:Flagicon HUN Hungary 6 15 3 Template:Flagicon USA United States 3 7 4 Template:Flagicon URY Uruguay 0 10

Pool C Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon POL Poland 9 11 2 Template:Flagicon SCT Scotland 6 3 3 Template:Flagicon EST Estonia 3 6 4 Template:Flagicon SVN Slovenia 0 14

Pool D Rank Country Points Seed 1 Template:Flagicon PRI Puerto Rico 7 13 2 Template:Flagicon SVK Slovak Republic 4 4 3 Template:Flagicon FRA France 3 5 4 Template:Flagicon UKR Ukraine 3 12

Day 3

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	1	Croatia	1
	8	Puerto Rico	2
						8	Puerto Rico	2
						4	Poland	0
	4	Poland	2
	5	Philippines	1
											8	Puerto Rico	0
											3	Taiwan	2
	3	Taiwan	2
	6	Slovak Republic	1
						3	Taiwan	2
						7	Hungary	0
	1	Scotland	2
	7	Hungary	2

Place	Country	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Place	Country	Player	Prize	Pro Points
1	Template:Flagicon TWN Taiwan	Tzu Ching Kuo	$10,000	8	5	Template:Flagicon HRV Croatia	Grgur Petric Maretic	$1,500	5
		Tung-Yi Cheng	$10,000	8			Toni Portolan	$1,500	5
		Yu Min Yang	$10,000	8			Stjepan Sučić	$1,500	5
		Paul Renie	$10,000	8			Goran Elez	$1,500	5
2	Template:Flagicon PRI Puerto Rico	Jorge Iramain	$5,000	7	6	Template:Flagicon SCT Scotland	Stephen Murray	$1,500	5
		Gabriel Nieves	$5,000	7			Bradley Barclay	$1,500	5
		Cesar Soto	$5,000	7			Andrew Morrison	$1,500	5
		Jonathan Paez	$5,000	7			Chris Davie	$1,500	5
3	Template:Flagicon POL Poland	Tomek Pedrakowski	$2,500	6	7	Template:Flagicon PHL Philippines	Andrew Cantillana	$1,500	5
		Mateusz Kopeć	$2,500	6			Gerald Camangon	$1,500	5
		Adam Bubacz	$2,500	6			Zax Ozaki	$1,500	5
		Jan Pruchniewicz	$2,500	6			Jeremy Bryan Domocmat	$1,500	5
4	Template:Flagicon HUN Hungary	Tamás Glied	$2,500	6	8	Template:Flagicon SVK Slovakia	Robert Jurkovic	$1,500	5
		Gabor Kocsis	$2,500	6			Ivan Floch	$1,500	5
		Tamás Nagy	$2,500	6			Filip Valis	$1,500	5
		Máté Schrick	$2,500	6			Patrik Surab	$1,500	5

External links

• 2012 World Magic Cup coverage
• 2012 World Magic Cup final standings
• Top 8 Team Constructed decklists
• Video coverage playlist