Pro Tour Fate Reforged
| Pro Tour Fate Reforged | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 6–8 February 2015 | |||
| Location |
 Washington, D.C., United States | |||
| Attendance | 407 | |||
| Format | Modern and Booster draft | |||
| Prize pool | $250,000 | |||
| Winner |
 Antonio Del Moral Leon | |||
| ||||
Pro Tour Fate Reforged was the second Pro Tour of the 2014–15 season, and the only non-Standard Pro Tour of the season. It took place on 6–8 February 2015 in Washington, D.C., United States. 407 players competed in Modern and Fate Reforged-Khans of Tarkir Booster draft. The event was won by Spanish player Antonio Del Moral Leon, who defeated Pro Tour debutant Justin Cohen in the final. This marked the first time a player from Spain won a Pro Tour.
Format
The Constructed format of the event was Modern, and it was the first premier event to feature the format following the banning of Birthing Pod, Treasure Cruise, and Dig Through Time. These cards had been centerpieces in the top decks prior to the bannings, including Melira Pod, Blue-Red Delver, and Jeskai Ascendancy. With the bannings, it was expected that these decks were no longer viable. This was the second Modern Pro Tour in a row that was immediately after a major shakeup; last year's Pro Tour Born of the Gods featured a Modern format where Deathrite Shaman was recently banned, and Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl had been unbanned.
Day one
The Pro Tour started with a Fate Reforged-Khans of Tarkir (FKK) draft. Luis Scott-Vargas was featured on camera, and was successful with his White-Blue deck splashing for Jeskai Ascendancy, starting the event 3–0. Another 3–0 drafter was Jelger Wiegersma, whose strategy was to draft five-color Control decks if possible, prioritizing manafixing and powerful rares. Other notable players who started the event 3–0 included Patrick Chapin, Eric Froehlich, Kenji Tsumura, Andrew Cuneo, and reigning World Champion Shahar Shenhar. In the Modern portion of the event, popular decks included Burn, Splinter Twin, and Affinity. Several members of Team Pantheon, including Jon Finkel, had brought Blue-Green Infect decks. Undefeated players after day one, however, were Seth Manfield, playing Burn, and Austin Bursavich, who was playing a Living End-deck.
The top eight players after day one:
| Rank | Player | Points | Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seth Manfield
|
24 | 5 |  Roberto Esposito
|
21 |
| 2 | Austin Bursavich
|
24 | 6 |  Stephen Murray
|
21 |
| 3 | Marco Lombardi
|
21 | 7 | Zvi Mowshowitz
|
21 |
| 4 |  Alexandre Bonneau
|
21 | 8 |  Martin Müller
|
21 |
Day two
Seth Manfield continued his success, winning the second FKK draft and then the first round of Modern on day two to be 12–0, and almost certain to have a top eight berth locked up. Hall of Famer Jelger Wiegersma and old school pro player Eric Froehlich were also having great tournaments, comfortably securing their seats on Sunday. Jon Finkel got close to his fifteenth Pro Tour top eight, but suffered a late defeat to Sam Black, who in turn was defeated by roommate Justin Cohen in a match for top eight. Finkel and Black finished 10th and 17th, respectively. Overnight co-leader Austin Bursavich lost to Justin Cohen in the last round, and finished 16th with an 11–4–1 record.
Top 8
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | Eric Froehlich | 1 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Jesse Hampton | 2 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Jesse Hampton | 1 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Justin Cohen | 2 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Seth Manfield | 1 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Justin Cohen | 2 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Justin Cohen | 1 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Antonio D. M. Leon | 3 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Jelger Wiegersma | 2 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Jacob Wilson | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Jelger Wiegersma | 0 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Antonio D. M. Leon | 2 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Antonio D. M. Leon | 2 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Lee Shi Tian | 1 | |||||||||||
The top eight saw three players who had already made it to a Modern Pro Tour top eight in the past: Jacob Wilson and Jesse Hampton, as well as Lee Shi Tian, who was in his third Modern Pro Tour top eight. Both Wilson and Shi Tian lost in the quarterfinals, however; Dutch Hall of Famer Jelger Wiegersma, equipped with a Blue-Red Twin deck, took down Jacob Wilson's Abzan deck 2–1, and Shi Tian lost a close match to Spanish Pro Tour top eight debutant Antonio Del Moral Leon. Jesse Hampton did win his match, defeating first-seeded Eric Froehlich, playing in his fourth Pro Tour top eight, in the Abzan mirror-match. In the semifinals, he faced Justin Cohen, who had won his quarterfinal match against Seth Manfield 2–1, and Cohen's Amulet Bloom deck won the match in three games. The last game looked to be in Hampton's favor, but Cohen, thanks to a Hornet Queen, ultimately prevailed. In the other semifinal, Jelger Wiegersma faced Antonio Del Moral Leon, both players running Blue-Red Twin decks, and it was Del Moral Leon who took the match, winning 2–1. Del Moral Leon's deck was well positioned in the final match against Justin Cohen's Amulet Bloom deck, and indeed won the best-of-five match 3–1. This was the first time a Spanish player had won a Pro Tour.
| Place | Player | Deck | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antonio Del Moral Leon
|
Blue-Red Twin | $40,000 | 30 | First Spaniard to win a Pro Tour |
| 2 | Justin Cohen
|
Amulet Bloom | $20,000 | 26 | Pro Tour debut |
| 3 |  Jelger Wiegersma
|
Blue-Red Twin | $12,500 | 22 | Fifth Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 4 | Jesse Hampton
|
Abzan | $12,500 | 22 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 5 | Eric Froehlich
|
Abzan | $10,000 | 18 | Fourth Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 6 | Seth Manfield
|
Burn | $10,000 | 18 | |
| 7 |  Jacob Wilson
|
Abzan | $10,000 | 18 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 8 |  Lee Shi Tian
|
Burn | $10,000 | 18 | Fourth Pro Tour Top 8 |
Player of the Year Race
The leader coming into the event, Owen Turtenwald, just barely finished in the money, placing 75th. Eric Froehlich and Lee Shi Tian both made it to the top eight, though, passing Owen in the race. With his second Pro Tour top eight of the season after only two played, Shi Tian emerged from the event as the Player of the Year frontrunner.
| Player | Pro Points |
|---|---|
| Lee Shi Tian
|
53 |
| Eric Froehlich
|
50 |
| Owen Turtenwald
|
49 |
| Ari Lax
|
48 |
 Shahar Shenhar
|
45 |
Notable performances
- Seven players posted umblemished (6–0) draft records: Robin Dolar, Seth Manfield, Jelger Wiegersma, Hao-Shan Huang, Yuuki Ichikawa, Justin Maguire, and Lucas Michaels.
- The best performing Modern players in the Swiss portion of the event, with 9–1 records, were Yam Wing Chun (Burn), Roberto Esposito (Affinity), and Tyler Hill (Infect).
Trivia
- Standard was initially chosen as the format to be played in the Constructed portion of the event when the 2014–15 Pro Tour Season schedule was announced. However, WotC later revised this decision, and changed the Constructed format to Modern after taking player feedback into account; a significant player portion wanted a non-Standard Pro Tour event to be a part of the schedule.[1]
- Hall of Famer Gary Wise made his first Pro Tour appearance since his Hall of Fame induction at the 2006 World Championships.
External links
- Pro Tour Fate Reforged coverage
- Pro Tour Fate Reforged final standings
- Top Modern decklists: A-E
- Top Modern decklists: F-L
- Top Modern decklists: M-R
- Top Modern decklists: S-Z
- Pro Tour Fate Reforged invitation list
- Video coverage playlist
References
- ↑ Helene Bergeot (2014-08-10). "MODERN AT THE PRO TOUR IN 2015". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2016-04-18.