Rizzi Triumphs in Death's Shadow

Day 2 Coverage

1,815 players had entered the tournament in total, with 561 returning for the second day. This being their first chance to sling some Amonkhet cards in Modern at a Grand Prix, people made good use of As Foretold, Vizier of Remedies, and Horror of the Broken Lands, although the most succesful strategy, if only by the smallest of margins, remained Death's Shadow. In fact, eight distinct deck types ended up in the Top 8 and the format once again impressed with its vast variety of viable archetypes.

In the end, it was Gold pro Mattia Rizzi of Italy who defeated all comers with Grixis Death's Shadow, personally dispatching Platinum pro (17) Martin Müller along the way. Rizzi didn't have it easy, though. First a decklist error left him with Flooded Strand instead of Scalding Tarn in his deck, then he had to face what he described as "the worst matchup, in all of Modern" in the finals: Living End, as piloted by Cristian Ortiz Ros. A curious turn of events, involving multiple Snapcaster Mages with no graveyard cards to target and Horror of the Broken Lands plus Simian Spirit Guide summoned the old fashioned way, left him to hoist the trophy.

Congratulations to Mattia Rizzi, champion of Grand Prix Copenhagen 2017!

Day 1 Coverage

After nine rounds of Modern, the original field of 1,815 was whittled down to just 561 players. They would return on Sunday for another six rounds followed by the Top 8 playoffs. Leading the charge into the second day were five players at 9-0, running five different decks: Guillaume Perbet with Dredge, Niklas Holtmann wih Death's Shadow, Teemu Halonen with Titan Shift, Toni Ramis Pascual with Counters Company, and Cristian Ortiz Ros with Living End.

But firece competition wasn't far behind. In fact, Gold pros (13) Martin Jůza, Magnus Lantto, Martin Dang, Immanuel Gerschenson, Marc Tobiasch, and Mattia Rizzi all finished the first day at 8-1, as did Platinum pro (17) Martin Müller, while (1) Márcio Carvalho, Shahar Shenhar, and Michael Bonde went 7-1-1.

So tune back in tomorrow to watch some of the game's best and brightest play more Modern Magic, fighting for fame and fortune, for points and prizes, and eventually for the trophy and the title of champion of Grand Prix Copenhagen 2017!