Weekend Review: June 28 - 29
Tags: #Legacy, #Limited, #News, #OpenSeries, #Standard
posted 2014-06-30 by Nick Miller
Theros Block Sealed had its last hurrah this past weekend with both Grand Prix Washington DC and Grand Prix Milan showcasing the format for one last time. With the format being close to solved and heavily tested, both GP Top 8s reflected the skill-level as previous GP winners and Pro Tour regulars populated the elimination rounds of each tournament.
In Milan, Pro Tour Theros winner and eight-time GP Top 8er Jeremy Dezani bested a stacked Top 8 with his aggressive U/W deck in the final draft. Dezani had to defeat Marcio Carvalho and Nico Bohny in the semifinals and finals, respectively. Other notables in the Top 8 included Ivan Floch and Timothee Simonot. The win allowed Dezani to overtake Reid Duke as the No. 1 player in the world.
Complete coverage of Grand Prix Milan
Back in the states, Mike Sigrist took down Grand Prix Washington DC, improving on his Top 4 of GP Richmond earlier this year. To win his first Grand Prix, Sigrist had to beat six-time GP winner and two-time Player of the Year Yuuya Watanabe in the finals. Sigrist won the intense finals matchup with his U/R draft deck highlighted by Shipbreaker Kraken and Arbiter of Ideal.
Hall of Famer William “Huey” Jensen reached his eighth GP Top 8 this season, but fell in the quarterfinals to Wing Chun Yam. Also making the Top 8 were Christian Calcano and GP Providence runner-up Alex John.
Complete coverage of Grand Prix Washington DC
While players across the pond and in our nation’s capital battled limited, the StarCityGames.com Open Series visited Portland, OR marking the series’ second weekend in a row on the West Coast.
Robert Hunsaker piloted Naya Hexproof to the deck’s first trophy on the Open Series Sunday morning in the Top 8 of the Standard Open packed with three copies of Mono-Black Devotion and two copies of Mono-Blue Devotion. The abundance of blue and black devotion decks harkened back to the early days of Theros-infused Standard, but Hunsaker showed that overlooked strategies can still take home a trophy.
James Nguyen added another win to Shardless BUG’s resume by beating Michael Swailes and his Miracles deck in the finals of the Legacy Open. The Legacy Open Top 8 made up for the lack of diversity in the Standard Top 8, with eight different archetypes represented, including Oops All Spells, Elves, Sneak and Show, Jund, BUG Control, and U/W/R Delver.