Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan

Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan is the second Pro Tour of the 2017–18 season. It will take place on 2–4 February 2018 in Bilbao, Spain. It is set to be the return of the Modern Pro Tour, the first of its kind since PT Oath of the Gatewatch in 2016.

Format

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

The previous Modern GP showed a metagame development from Shadow deck domination into big-mana Tron and Scapeshift decks, whose gameplans are much more difficult for 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.

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 of 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 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.

The top eight players after day one:

Rank	Player	Points	Rank	Player	Points
1	Template:Flagicon ITA Adriano Moscato	24	5	Template:Flagicon USA Michael Lagamba	21
2	Template:Flagicon BRA Lucas Esper Berthoud	22	6	Template:Flagicon USA Paul Rietzl	21
3	Template:Flagicon ESP Javier Dominguez	21	7	Template:Flagicon SGP Tay Jun Hao	21
4	Template:Flagicon GRC Makis Matsoukas	21	8	Template:Flagicon CAN 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 above, Rietzl went 0-3 and Moscato 1-2; the pod was won by Jon Stern, who took the lead at 10-1. Following him was Pascal Vieren of Belgium, who trailed by one point due to two draws in 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 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 lead 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 with Lucas Esper Berthoud at 11-3-1. For the final round, Salvatto made his win-and-in, and Andrea Mengucci defeated Matis Matsoukas for the only 12-4 spot; Jon Finkel was edged out by 2.7% in tiebreakers.

Top 8

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

Place	Player	Deck	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Template:Flagicon BEL Pascal Vieren	UR Pyromancer	$50,000	30
2	Template:Flagicon ARG Luis Salvatto	Lantern Control	$20,000	28	Second Pro Tour Top 8
3	Template:Flagicon JPN Ken Yukuhiro	BR Hollow One	$15,000	24	Fourth Pro Tour Top 8
4	Template:Flagicon USA Gerry Thompson	Mardu Pyromancer	$12,500	22	Third Pro Tour Top 8
5	Template:Flagicon ESP Javier Dominguez	5C Humans	$10,000	20
6	Template:Flagicon USA Reid Duke	Abzan Midrange	$9,000	18	Third Pro Tour Top 8
7	Template:Flagicon FRA Jean-Emmanuel Depraz	Traverse Shadow	$7,500	17
8	Template:Flagicon ITA Andrea Mengucci	5C Humans	$6,000	16	Third Pro Tour Top 8

Worlds Leaderboard

Player of the Year

Seth Manfield held the lead as the tournament began. but did not make Day 2. However, his sizeable 20-point lead kept him firmly in the lead, as much of the top leaderboard had underwhelming records, with Reid Duke only narrowing the gap. Bringing up the rear were Andrea Mengucci, Javier Dominguez, John Rolf and Piotr Gloglowski.

Pro Tour Team Series

The big winners this Pro Tour was Connected Company, putting two into the Top 8, as well as the other three scoring above the requisite 9-7 record. Previous leader Genesis had a strong outing, but was overtaken by Ultimate Guard with Reid Duke's Top 8. ChannelFireball and UltraPro slipped down.

Draft Master

Seven players went 6-0 in the Draft, most notably Elias Wadsfeldt, who now has a prefect 12-0 record over two Pro Tours. Top 8ers Andrea Mengucci, Pascal Vieren, Jean-Emmanual Depraz also went 6-0, and rounding out the rest are Jon Stern, Mattia Zapparoli, and Elliot Boussaud.

Constructed Master

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