Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
| Jean-Emmanuel Depraz | |
|---|---|
|
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Jean-Emmanuel Depraz.jpg}}|250px]] | |
| Demographics | |
| Nickname | JiRock |
| Residence | Paris, France |
| Nationality |
 French |
| Professional Career | |
| Pro Tour debut | Pro Tour Magic 2015 |
| Top Finishes | 7 (1 win) |
| GP top 8s | 1 (1 win) |
| Awards | |
| World Champion | |
Jean-Emmanuel Depraz is a French professional Magic player and one of six players to have been part of the Magic Pro League since its creation. He won Grand Prix Warsaw in 2017 and the 2018 World Magic Cup in Barcelona. He finished 7th at the 2019 World Championship and at Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan. He achieved a 5th place in both Mythic Championship III and Neon Dynasty Championship , a 2nd place in Mythic Championship V, a 2nd place at Players Tour Series 2 and a 2nd place at the 2021 World Championship. In 2023, he became World Champion.[1][2][3]
Professional play
Pro debut
Jean-Emmanuel Depraz qualified and made his Pro Tour debut in 2015 in Portland. In 2017, he won Grand Prix Warsaw 2017 with a 4-Color Energy deck[1]. A few months later, he achieved a 7th-place at Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan with Traverse Shadow[2]. Two weeks later, at GP Lyon 2018, he finished 16th with almost the same deck[3]. In December 2018, he won the 2018 World Magic Cup as the captain of the French national team. He played Golgari Aggro[4] in Standard, whereas Arnaud Hocquemiller brought Jeskai Control[5], and Timothée Jammot Selesnya Tokens[6]. During the same month, it was announced that Depraz would be one of the 32 players joining the upcoming 2019 Magic Pro League.
League play
Confirmation
During the first season of Mythic Championships, Depraz achieved a 5th-place in Las Vegas in Mythic Championship III with UR Phoenix[7]. He almost won Mythic Championship V but lost in the final. His deck, Bant Golos[8], has been rewarded "Standard deck of the year" by mtgtop8.com. Because the winner was already qualified, he earned a spot for the 2019 World Championship in Hawaii (February 14–16, 2020).
During Worlds, Depraz started with a 1-2 draft, playing a very "artistic" deck in his own words : a GB 4-Color deck [9] with Thassa's Oracle and Banishing Light. After a win against Andrea Mengucci (WB, 2-1), he lost to Chris Kvartek (UG, 0-2) and fellow countryman Raphaël Lévy (UB with Kiora Bests the Sea God 1-2). Because of the unusual brackets, he then had to play a lot of matches to advance to Day 2 and brought Temur Reclamation[10] for the Constructed rounds. He defeated Ondřej Stráský 2–1, who was playing the same UW control list as the winner (the deck was indeed built by Stanislav Cifka), before losing against Piotr Glogowski (Jund Sacrifice). During the win-and-in for Day 2, he won one more time against Mengucci with a clean 2-0 (Mono-red aggro). The next day, he beat another French Hall of Famer, Gabriel Nassif (on Jeskai Fires, 2-1) and defeated Autumn Burchett in a tensed mirror match (2-1) to secure a spot in Top 8. Because of the formula, he still had a lot of matches to play to win the tournament, and in the lower bracket, lost to Sebastian Pozzo (Mono-red aggro, 1-2), and finished 7th.
Depraz finished this first MPL season 8th (126 points: 112 points from Mythics, 14 from Season). Because he finished in the Top 20, he could continue in the 2020 Season.
Partial Season
Because of COVID-19, Magic Esports announced that the 2020 Partial Season was "now unrecoverable".[4] Thus, all MPL players including Depraz would stay in the 2020-2021 MPL roster. Next autumn, the French player began his third season at the highest level of professional Magic.
Later, in May, 2020, Wotc announced : "We are shifting our 2020 Partial Season competitions from in-person destinations to online events, played remotely through MTG Arena". Thus, Regional Players Tour are updated to "Players Tour Arena" : "There are four (4) tournaments. Qualified players can play in only one (1) of their choosing"[11]. Depraz brought "a collaborative French Temur Reclamation list"[12] for the second tournament of these Players Tour Series 2 (June 13-14). Despite a thought start at 1-2, he came back at 3-3 and secured a spot in Day 2 at 6-3. During Day 2, a strong run of 5 wins and 1 ID earned him a 6th place at the end of Swiss rounds. He then defeated Canadian player Eduardo Sajgalik (Jund Sacrifice), and Rivals member Allison Warfield (Temur Reclamation) to reach the Finals. After an epic battle against Japanese player Ryuji Murae (Temur Reclamation), he ended up at 2nd place. He has been undefeated in this tournament for 11 consecutives games, from 3-3 to 13-3-1, winning 10 "played" games in a row.
On July 25-26, 2020, The Players Tour Finals for Series 2 took place (145 players, Standard Constructed), with Top 8 playoff occurring the following weekend on Saturday, August 1. Depraz chose Temur Reclamation again, but with an updated version tuned for mirrors, with White as the fourth color. With this 4C Reclamation [13], he qualified for Day 2 with 4-3 in Day 1 and ended up 8-6 the next day. He described the tournament as "one of the hardest I played for sure".
In early September, Depraz was part of the 161 players fighting for the 2020 Mythic Invitational. The format was Historic Constructed, and he brought Rakdos Goblins [14], a very powerful aggro-combo deck. But because the deck was so strong, "the field [...] was tuned to beat goblins", according to himself. The first day ended at 4-3, and Day 2 at 6-6 with no chances to reach top 8.
2020-2021 MPL Season
On July, 14, 2020 Wizards announced huge changes for both MPL and Rivals leagues. Henceforth, only 4 of the 24 players from the MPL roster can secure a spot for the next season. Players from 5th to 16th will have to battle against Rivals players and Challengers in one of the two "Gauntlets" , tournaments that granted the other MPL invitations. Wizards also announced the creation of "League Weekends", "two-day events occuring [...] players [to] earn points in the races to the Magic World Championship XXVII, invitations to leagues in the following season, and placement in postseason Gauntlet playoff events" [15].
For the first League Weekend (part of the Zendikar Rising split), Depraz brought a 80-card deck, UW Yorion [16], and had to battle in one of the toughest field ever (Raphaël Lévy, Reid Duke, Ondřej Stráský, Shahar Shenhar, Javier Dominguez and Andrea Mengucci in Day 1, Seth Manfield, Márcio Carvalho, Piotr Głogowski, Martin Juza, Gabriel Nassif and Chris Kvartek for Day 2). He made 3-3 then 6-6 at the end of the weekend. He said at the end of the first day : "Never have I been so happy about going 3-3 in a tournament".
Two weeks later, Depraz kept his faith in Yorion, and chose Esper Doom Yorion [17]. He had to play the other 11 players from the MPL. He ended up at 3-2 on saturday, and despite not being confident for the next day, he beat his bad matchup, UB Rogues (3-0), and secured a 7-4 record. At the end of the Zendikar Rising split, he finished 6th with the best tiebreakers (for players with the same number of points), and was only 1 point left from top 4 (and invitation for the next MPL season).
In the finals of the 2021 World Championship, he lost to Yuta Takahashi.[5]
League play
| Season | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2019 Magic Pro League | 8 |
| 2020 Magic Pro League | 20 |
| 2020-21 Magic Pro League | 9 |
| 2021–22 Magic Pro League | 15 |
Accomplishments
Rankings
| Season | Event type | Location | Format | Date | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Grand Prix | Warsaw | Standard | 11–12 November 2017 | 1 |
| 2017–18 | Pro Tour | Bilbao | Modern and Booster Draft | 2–4 February 2018 | 7 |
| 2018–19 | World Magic Cup | Barcelona | National team | 14–16 December 2018 | 1 |
| 2018-19 | Mythic Championship | Las Vegas (MTG Arena) | Traditional Standard | 21–23 June 2019 | 8 |
| 2018–19 | Mythic Championship | Long Beach (MTG Arena) | Traditional Standard | 18–20 October 2019 | 2 |
| 2018-19 | Worlds | Honolulu | Standard and Booster Draft | 14–16 February 2020 | 7 |
| 2020 | Players Tour | Online | Traditional Standard | 13-14 June 2020 | 2 |
| 2020-21 | Worlds | MTG Arena | Standard and Booster Draft | 8-10 October 2021 | 2 |
| 2021-22 | Set Championship | MTG Arena | Alchemy and Historic | March 11–13, 2022 | 5 |
| 2022-23 | Worlds | Las Vegas | Standard and Booster Draft | 22-24 September 2023 | 1 |
| 2023–24 | Pro Tour | Chicago | Pioneer and Booster Draft | 23–25 February 2024 | 8 |
→ Source: Wizards.com
Pro Tour Results
| Season | Pro Tour | Format | Finish | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Mythic Championship III | Traditional Standard | 8 | $12,500 |
| 2018–19 | Mythic Championship V | Traditional Standard | 2 | $50,000 |
→ Source: Wizards.com
References
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (September 24, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Top 8 Players and Decklists". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (September 25, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Finals Match". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (October 4, 2023). "Un Moment de Triomphe". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (April 1, 2020). "Esports Update: MPL, Rivals, and Competitor 2020 Partial Season Changes". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (October 11, 2021). "The Title Match of Magic World Championship XXVII". Magic.gg.