Pro Tour Gatecrash
| Pro Tour Gatecrash | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 15–17 February 2013 | |||
| Location |
 Montreal, Canada | |||
| Attendance | 329 | |||
| Format | Standard and Booster draft | |||
| Prize pool | $250,000 | |||
| Winner |
 Tom Martell | |||
| ||||
Pro Tour Gatecrash was the second Pro Tour of the 2012–13 season. The event had 329 competitors and took place on 15–17 February 2013 in Montreal, Canada. The formats were Standard and Gatecrash Booster draft, and was the first constructed premier event where Gatecrash was legal. The event was significant for being the first Pro Tour to feature a female player in the final eight; long-time professional player Melissa DeTora finished sixth after having led the tournament for most of the way. But it was her quarterfinal opponent, Tom Martell, who went on to claim his first Pro Tour trophy, defeating Joel Larsson in the final.
There was a minor format shift that started with this Pro Tour: The Booster draft on the first day of competition would take place at the beginning of the day rather than at the end.
Day one
For the first time since mixed-format Pro Tours were introduced in 2009, the event began with a Booster draft; this event featured a triple Gatecrash draft. Coverage followed Ben Stark, who started out drafting Orzhov, but changed mid-pack one to draft Simic instead. He finished the first draft with a 2–1 record. Players who achieved a 3–0 start included Paul Rietzl, Eric Froehlich, Melissa DeTora, and reigning Pro Tour champion Stanislav Cifka. In the Standard portion of the event, the most popular archetype was WUR Control/Tempo variants,[1] featuring the new Gatecrash card Boros Reckoner; some players even opted for an infinite life combo involving Reckoner, Azorius Charm, and Boros Charm. Narrowly behind WUR was Esper Control, frequently with Nephalia Drownyard as its win condition; and in third was Jund, sporting cards such as Liliana of the Veil and Huntmaster of the Fells. The only perfect 8–0 record overnight belonged to Melissa DeTora, who had joined the primarily French testing team "Revolution"; she was running a Bant-colored Control deck splashing for Kessig Wolf Run. This was the first time a female player had posted an undefeated Day-One record at a Pro Tour.
The top eight players after day one:
| Rank | Player | Points | Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melissa DeTora
|
24 | 5 |  Felipe Tapia Becerra
|
21 |
| 2 |  Timothée Simonot
|
22 | 6 |  Isaac Egan
|
21 |
| 3 |  Paul Renie
|
21 | 7 | Ben Stark
|
21 |
| 4 | Eric Froehlich
|
21 | 8 |  Don van Ravenzwaaij
|
21 |
Day two
Melissa DeTora was featured on coverage for the second Gatecrash Booster draft; she drafted Orzhov to a 2–1 record, meaning she was in joint lead with Ben Stark and Gerry Thompson coming into the final five Standard rounds. DeTora beat Thompson in round 12 to be only one match away from a top-eight berth but lost the next two matches, needing to win round 15 against David Shiels to advance. In a very long and close match, DeTora eventually came out ahead, securing a Sunday appearance, the first time a female player did so. The first players who clinched top eight slots, however, were Ben Stark and Owen Turtenwald, at 12–2 with two rounds to go. Stark had already won a Pro Tour, and another top eight would solidify his bid for Hall of Fame membership later that year, while former Player of the Year Turtenwald was considered one of the best players in the game without a Pro Tour top eight finish.[2] Gerry Thompson was in a similar situation, having played on the Pro Tour since 2002 without ever quite making a big splash, but he also got his first top eight after defeating Gianluca Spanu in round 15 to advance.
Top 8
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | Ben Stark | 3 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Stephen Mann | 1 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Ben Stark | 2 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Joel Larsson | 3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Gerry Thompson | 1 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Joel Larsson | 3 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Joel Larsson | 1 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Tom Martell | 3 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Melissa DeTora | 1 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Tom Martell | 3 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Tom Martell | 3 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Eric Froehlich | 2 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Owen Turtenwald | 1 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Eric Froehlich | 3 | |||||||||||
| Place | Player | Deck | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Martell
|
BRW Aristocrats | $40,000 | 30 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 2 |  Joel Larsson
|
WUR Tempo | $20,000 | 24 | |
| 3 | Ben Stark
|
Esper Control | $12,500 | 22 | Fourth Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 4 | Eric Froehlich
|
Naya Aggro | $12,500 | 22 | Third Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 5 | Owen Turtenwald
|
Jund | $10,000 | 20 | |
| 6 | Melissa DeTora
|
Wolf Run Bant | $10,000 | 20 | First woman in a Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 7 | Gerry Thompson
|
WUR Control | $10,000 | 20 | |
| 8 | Stephen Mann
|
Jund | $10,000 | 20 |
External links
- Pro Tour Gatecrash coverage
- Pro Tour Gatecrash final standings
- Top Standard decklists
- Video coverage playlist
References
- ↑ Standard Metagame Breakdown. Wizards of the Coast (2013-02-15). Retrieved on 2016-07-05.
- ↑ Brian David-Marshall (2013-02-15). "Next Man Up!". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2016-08-09.