2018 World Championship: Difference between revisions

From MTG Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
Line 112: Line 112:
In the [[Standard]] portion, fully 61% of the players elected to play a <c>Goblin Chainwhirler</c> deck, with 57% (13 players) running Black-Red aggro. Blue-Black Midrange and Blue-White <c>God-Pharaoh's Gift</c> were the second-most popular decks, at 9% (2 players); and Mono-Red Aggro, Mono-Blue <c>Tempest Djinn</c>, Reservoir Combo, Turbo Fog, Blue-Black Control, and White-Blue Control were played by one player each.<ref>{{cite web|title=WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDARD METAGAME BREAKDOWN|url=https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/2018wc/standard-metagame-breakdown-2018-09-21|publisher=Wizards of the Coast|first=Marc|last=Calderaro|date=2018-09-21|accessdate=2018-09-21}}</ref>
In the [[Standard]] portion, fully 61% of the players elected to play a <c>Goblin Chainwhirler</c> deck, with 57% (13 players) running Black-Red aggro. Blue-Black Midrange and Blue-White <c>God-Pharaoh's Gift</c> were the second-most popular decks, at 9% (2 players); and Mono-Red Aggro, Mono-Blue <c>Tempest Djinn</c>, Reservoir Combo, Turbo Fog, Blue-Black Control, and White-Blue Control were played by one player each.<ref>{{cite web|title=WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDARD METAGAME BREAKDOWN|url=https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/2018wc/standard-metagame-breakdown-2018-09-21|publisher=Wizards of the Coast|first=Marc|last=Calderaro|date=2018-09-21|accessdate=2018-09-21}}</ref>


At the end of the first day, [[Javier Dominguez]] unseated the leading [[Grzegorz Kowalski]], leaving both at 6-1.  
At the end of the first day, [[Javier Dominguez]] unseated the leading [[Grzegorz Kowalski]], leaving both at 6-1. Both players were on the prevalent Black-Red aggro deck; they were trailed at 5-2 by Marcio Carvalho, Ben Stark and Ken Yukuhiro. At the end of the first day, Simon Goerzten commented on the attempt on the nine Blue players who attempted to metagame against the Red decks, ultimately poorly For example - Brad Nelson and Owen Turtenwald, named two of the strongest players in the field, attempted to go outside the field with Reservoir Combo and Blue-White <c>God-Pharaoh's Gift</c>, but they picked up only one of four and two of five wins respectively against Black-Red decks.
 
===Day two===
The second day's draft followed Grzegorz Kowalski and Ken Yukuhiro; Kowalski's Green-Black deck posted 2-1 and Yukukhiro's Red-White deck resulted in a 1-2. Due to the small field, more than the standard three players made a 3-0 result - Dominguez, Nass, Wu, Shenhar, and Manfield all went 3-0, which resulted in a field where after Kowalski at 8-2 and Dominguez at 9-1, the player at third place was Ben Stark at 6-4. Dominguez and Kowalski locked up their Top 4 in the next two rounds, followed by Ben Stark in round 13. The last round paired the three locked players against three 8-5 players, and the outside shot of Shahar Shenhar at 8-5 against Ken Yukuhiro at 7-6. What might have been a rather messy tiebreaker scramble was not to be, as all three leaders won their match, leaving the last spot to be taken by either Shenhar's 9-5 or Yukuhiro's 2% tiebreaker favorite at 8-6.
 
Unfortunately, Ken Yukuhiro was disqualified due to failure to declare a failure to desideboard, resulting in Shenhar's victory at third World Championship Top 4.


==Final standings==
==Final standings==
Line 173: Line 178:
|p8-pp=5
|p8-pp=5
|p8-e1=2-1
|p8-e1=2-1
|p8-e2=2–1
|p8-e2=2–2
|p8-e3=1–2
|p8-e3=1–2
|p8-e4=3–1
|p8-e4=3–1

Revision as of 07:13, 1 October 2018

2018 World Championship
Date 21–23 September 2018
Location Template:Flagicon Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Format Standard and Dominaria Booster draft
Prize pool $300,000
Previous Worlds:
2017
Next Worlds:
2019

The 2018 World Championship, the 26th Magic World Championship, is held on 21–23 September 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

The event also features the 2017–18 Magic Pro Tour Team Series final between Hareruya Latin and Ultimate Guard.

Invitations

The seats for the 2018 World Championship were given out based on the following rankings:[1]

Player Method(s) of qualification
Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield Pro Tour Ixalan winner
2017–18 North American Champion
Template:Flagicon Luis Salvatto Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan winner
2017–18 Latin American Champion
Template:Flagicon Wyatt Darby Pro Tour Dominaria winner
Template:Flagicon Allen Wu Pro Tour 25th Anniversary winners
Template:Flagicon Ben Hull
Template:Flagicon Gregory Orange
Template:Flagicon Matt Severa Constructed Master
Template:Flagicon Elias Watsfeldt Draft Master
Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho 2017–18 European Champion
Template:Flagicon Ken Yukuhiro 2017–18 Asia-Pacific Champion
Template:Flagicon Reid Duke Most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald 2nd-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Ben Stark 3rd-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon John Rolf 4th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Martin Jůza 5th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Grzegorz Kowalski 6th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Javier Dominguez 7th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Andrea Mengucci 8th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Gerry Thompson 9th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson 10th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar 11th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Brian Braun-Duin 12th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist 13th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Template:Flagicon Matt Nass 14th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified

Players qualifying via multiple methods pass down extra invitations to the players with the most Pro Points among otherwise unqualified players.

Schedule

Friday, 21 September

Saturday, 22 September

Sunday, 23 September

Main event

Day one

The 2018 World Championship started with a Dominaria Booster draft, where Seth Manfield and Javier Dominguez were the featured players. Manfield has a tough draft, ultimately settling in Red-Green, and went 1–2 in the draft. Dominguez' Blue-Black-Red deck was not considered great by the commentators either, who after Dominguez finished 2–1 in the draft, noted that the player likely was quite happy with that result. Three players went 3–0: Mike Sigrist, Ben Stark, and Grzegorz Kowalski.

In the Standard portion, fully 61% of the players elected to play a Goblin Chainwhirler deck, with 57% (13 players) running Black-Red aggro. Blue-Black Midrange and Blue-White God-Pharaoh's Gift were the second-most popular decks, at 9% (2 players); and Mono-Red Aggro, Mono-Blue Tempest Djinn, Reservoir Combo, Turbo Fog, Blue-Black Control, and White-Blue Control were played by one player each.[4]

At the end of the first day, Javier Dominguez unseated the leading Grzegorz Kowalski, leaving both at 6-1. Both players were on the prevalent Black-Red aggro deck; they were trailed at 5-2 by Marcio Carvalho, Ben Stark and Ken Yukuhiro. At the end of the first day, Simon Goerzten commented on the attempt on the nine Blue players who attempted to metagame against the Red decks, ultimately poorly For example - Brad Nelson and Owen Turtenwald, named two of the strongest players in the field, attempted to go outside the field with Reservoir Combo and Blue-White God-Pharaoh's Gift, but they picked up only one of four and two of five wins respectively against Black-Red decks.

Day two

The second day's draft followed Grzegorz Kowalski and Ken Yukuhiro; Kowalski's Green-Black deck posted 2-1 and Yukukhiro's Red-White deck resulted in a 1-2. Due to the small field, more than the standard three players made a 3-0 result - Dominguez, Nass, Wu, Shenhar, and Manfield all went 3-0, which resulted in a field where after Kowalski at 8-2 and Dominguez at 9-1, the player at third place was Ben Stark at 6-4. Dominguez and Kowalski locked up their Top 4 in the next two rounds, followed by Ben Stark in round 13. The last round paired the three locked players against three 8-5 players, and the outside shot of Shahar Shenhar at 8-5 against Ken Yukuhiro at 7-6. What might have been a rather messy tiebreaker scramble was not to be, as all three leaders won their match, leaving the last spot to be taken by either Shenhar's 9-5 or Yukuhiro's 2% tiebreaker favorite at 8-6.

Unfortunately, Ken Yukuhiro was disqualified due to failure to declare a failure to desideboard, resulting in Shenhar's victory at third World Championship Top 4.

Final standings

Place Player Prize Pro Points Dominaria draft 1 record Standard day 1 record Dominaria draft 2 record Standard day 2 record
1 Template:Flagicon Javier Dominguez $100,000 12 2-1 4–0 3–0 2–2
2 Template:Flagicon Grzegorz Kowalski $50,000 10 3-0 3-1 2-1 3–1
3 Template:Flagicon Ben Stark $25,000 7 3–0 2–2 1-2 4-0
4 Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar $25,000 6 0-3 3–1 3-0 3–1
5 Template:Flagicon Allen Wu $10,000 5 1-2 2–2 3-0 2-2
6 Template:Flagicon Wyatt Darby $10,000 5 2–1 2–2 2–1 2–2
7 Template:Flagicon Matt Nass $10,000 5 1-2 2-2 3-0 2-2
8 Template:Flagicon Ben Hull $10,000 5 2-1 2–2 1–2 3–1
9 Template:Flagicon Reid Duke $5,000 5 1–2 2-2 1–2 4-0
10 Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist $5,000 4 3-0 1–3 1-2 2-2
11 Template:Flagicon John Rolf $5,000 4 1-2 3-1 2-1 1-3
12 Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho $5,000 4 2-1 3-1 0-3 2-2
13 Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson $5,000 4 2-1 0-4 1-2 4-0
14 Template:Flagicon Elias Watsfeldt $5,000 4 1-2 2–2 1–2 3–1
15 Template:Flagicon Brian Braun-Duin $5,000 3 2–1 2–2 2-1 0–4
16 Template:Flagicon Luis Salvatto $5,000 3 2-1 1–3 1–2 2–2
17 Template:Flagicon Andrea Mengucci $2,500 3 1-2 3-1 1–2 1–3
18 Template:Flagicon Matt Severa $2,500 3 1–2 3–1 1–2 1-3
19 Template:Flagicon Greg Orange $2,500 3 1–2 1–3 2-1 2-2
20 Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield $2,500 3 1-2 1-3 3-0 1-3
21 Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald $2,500 2 2-1 1-3 0–3 2-2
22 Template:Flagicon Martin Juza $2,500 1 0-3 2-2 1–2 1–3
23
24

Gerry Thompson protest

Less than an hour prior to the start of the event, Gerry Thompson posted on Reddit that he would refuse to participate in the tournament in protest against the state of professional Magic. Thompson cited WotC's failure to promote the event and its players, poor communication leading to among other things Worlds competitors' significant others being denied entry to the tournament hall (though this was ultimately fixed), poor coverage, lack of reward for professional players and aspiring professional players, and failure to adequately punish cheating.[5] An hour later, Rich Hagon on behalf of Wizards of the Coast gave a statement on stream addressing the protest, respecting his decision, but that improvements to professional Magic would come in 2019 and beyond.[6]

Thompson's move was met with support from the wider Magic community. Matt Sperling commented: "I’m writing within the hour of Gerry’s announcement, and already it has gone at least as viral as anything I’ve seen in this community. We may not remember much else about this Worlds five years from now, but we’ll always remember this".[7] In an interview with Kotaku, Thompson explained that he had made up his mind about the tournament a month and a half prior, and deliberately waited until right before the tournament to announce it so that the tournament would only have 23 players.[8]

References