2018 World Championship
| 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 | |||
| ||||
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
- 3 rounds of Dominaria Booster draft
- 4 rounds of Standard
Saturday, 22 September
- 3 rounds of Dominaria Booster draft
- 4 rounds of Standard
Sunday, 23 September
- The 2017–18 Magic Pro Tour Team Series final, featuring Guilds of Ravnica Team Sealed.[2]
- 2018 World Championship semifinals and final, featuring Standard.[3]
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.
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 | 2–1 | 1-2 | 2–2 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar | $25,000 | 6 | 0-3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Allen Wu | $10,000 | 5 | 1-2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Wyatt Darby | $10,000 | 5 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1–1 | 3–1 |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Matthew Nass | $10,000 | 5 | 1-2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Ben Hull | $10,000 | 5 | 2-1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Reid Duke | $5,000 | 5 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist | $5,000 | 4 | 3-0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 |
| 11 | Template:Flagicon John Rolf | $5,000 | 4 | 1-2 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| 12 | Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho | $5,000 | 4 | 2-1 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 2–2 |
| 13 | Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson | $5,000 | 4 | 2-1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 |
| 14 | Template:Flagicon Elias Watsfeldt | $5,000 | 4 | 1-2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 4–0 |
| 15 | Template:Flagicon Brian Braun-Duin | $5,000 | 4 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1–1 | 1–3 |
| 16 | Template:Flagicon Luis Salvatto | $5,000 | 3 | 2-1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| 17 | Template:Flagicon Andrea Mengucci | $2,500 | 3 | 1-2 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–3 |
| 18 | Template:Flagicon Matt Severa | $2,500 | 3 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 |
| 19 | Template:Flagicon Greg Orange | $2,500 | 3 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 |
| 20 | Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield | $2,500 | 3 | 1-2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| 21 | Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald | $2,500 | 2 | 2-1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 |
| 22 | Template:Flagicon Martin Juza | $2,500 | 1 | 0-3 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| 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]