The final Open Series weekend to host two 10K Opens is in the books and the Top 8s of each event were ones to remember. With new decks stealing the spotlight in both Standard and Legacy, two established archetypes came out victorious in the final weekend before the Season Four Invitational in Seattle.

The Standard Top 8 saw the return of Gerry Thompson to the elimination rounds of an Open, playing Abzan Reanimator along with Glenn Jones. Ross Merriam and Brad Nelson looked to solidify their spots in the Players’ Championship with Jeskai Tokens, the newest iteration of a Jeskai Ascendancy deck, created and displayed by Yuuya Watanabe in the World Championship. In the end, Sheldon Freerksen rode Siege Rhino and friends to victory, giving Abzan Midrange its third victory on the Open Series.

Freerksen’s path to the trophy involved beating Merriam, Jones, and Nelson without dropping a single game along the way. Rounding out the Top 8 was Kelley King with Mardu Midrange, Matthew Alspach with Abzan Midrange, and reigning Portland Standard Open winner Robert Hunsaker with Sultai Reanimator.

In Legacy, the hottest Delver of Secrets variant, U/R Delver, took two slots in the Top 8 while Sultai Delver featuring three copies of Death’s Shadow and a pre-Khans of Tarkir Temur Delver build also reached the elimination rounds. The Delver heavy field broke right for David McDarby, who brought Maverick to the table despite being a proud member of the Izzet League. The Abzan deck from the days of Legacy past beat Stephen Mann’s Temur Delver in the quarterfinals, Oliver Coffey’s Burn in the semifinals,  and David Stroud’s U/R Delver in the finals. For McDarby, this was his eighth Open Series Top 8 and his first victory.

The rest of the Top 8 was made of Chris Marshall’s Elves and defending Portland Legacy Open champion, James Nguyen on Shardless Sultai. Marshall defeated the morning’s Standard Open winner, Freerksen in the quarterfinals, leaving Thompson as the only player to ever win two Opens in one weekend.

Complete coverage of #SCGPORT

Top 16 Standard decklists from #SCGPORT

Top 16 Legacy decklists from #SCGPORT

Shenhar repeats as World Champion

History was made in Nice, France this weekend as 21-year-old Shahar Shenhar defended his World Champion title, becoming the first player to hoist the trophy twice. Shenhar, armed with Sultai Reanimator, defeated Pro Tour Journey into Nyx winner Patrick Chapin in the finals 3-0. Shenhar dispatched Watanabe in the Top 4 as Chapin beat Kentaro Yamamoto to reach the finals.

While Shenhar was the bigger winner in the individual portion of Worlds weekend, Denmark claimed the World Magic Cup title. Denmark, made up of Thomas Enevoldsen, Simon Nielsen, Lars Birch, and team captain Martin Muller, took down Greece in the finals, using Mardu Midrange, U/B Control, and Abzan Reanimator in the Unified Standard  format. The United States fell to Greece in the semifinals.

Complete coverage of the World Championship

Complete coverage of the World Magic Cup

Modern Masters 2015 Edition announced

Wizards of the Coast announced Modern Masters 2015 Edition will be released on May 22. Three Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Utrecht, and Chiba will all host Modern Masters 2015 Edition Limited Grand Prix as part of a global celebration of the highly anticipated set, starting on May 28.

Modern Masters 2015 Edition will contain 249 cards from Mirrodin block through Scars of Mirrodin, including the spoiled Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Modern Masters 2015 Edition announcement