Four different tournaments in four separate formats on three different continents crowned a handful of champions this past weekend. While some were first-time winners, others were no strangers to taking home the trophy.
The StarCityGames.com Open Series stopped in Indianapolis, IN and the strong player base from the Midwest did not disappoint. Justin Crandall won the Standard Open with a Big Naya brew filled with Planeswalkers topping a Top 8 with four previous Open champions. Crandall defeated St. Louis 2014 Standard Open winner Jonathon Habel in the finals after Habel topped two-time winner Chris VanMeter in a Jund Monsters mirror in the semifinals. The Top 8 was the second Standard Top 8 in a row for VanMeter, who notched his 14th Open Series Top 8 with his performance. Other notables in the Top 8 were Open Series winners Jacob Baugh and Ryan Forsberg, who both fell in the quarterfinals.
The Standard Open Top 8 got one-upped by the Legacy Open, with a stacked bracket where the players’ history combined for more than 45 Open Series Top 8s and eight wins. Riley Curran took home his second trophy with Elves by defeating Joe Bernal and his Esper Deathblade variant in the finals. Curran beat Maverick aficionado Thomas Herzog in the semifinals and Matt Hoey, who played RUG Delver, in the quarterfinals. Also making the Top 8 were Todd Anderson with Sneak and Show and Stephen Mann with RUG Delver.
A pair of Grand Prix took place across the globe with Theros Block Constructed taking center stage in the United Kingdom for GP Manchester and Theros Block Team Sealed in Brazil for GP São Paulo.
Fabrizio Anteri became the latest player to win his second Grand Prix by taking down GP Manchester with his BUG Control deck. The win locked Anteri into the Gold level of the Pro Players’ Club and marked his third GP Top 8 this year. Anteri won GP Warsaw just three weeks back in the Theros Block Sealed format. Valentin Mackl reached the elimination rounds marking the fourth GP Top 8 of the season for him.
Complete coverage of Grand Prix Manchester
Finally, the team of Tulio Jaudy, Guilherme Merjan, and Carlos dos Santos Esteves won the Team Sealed Grand Prix in São Paolo. The team had both Keranos, God of Storms and Iroas, God of Victory on their side from the Top 8 draft and used both to take the title.