These teams have shown us their prowess on the battlefield all weekend. Let's learn some more about the final four.
Xinyu Fei / Chih-Cheng (Peter) Yeh / Zirui Zhou
Seat: A
Name: Xinyu Fei
Age: 22
Hometown: China
Occupation: Cleveland, Ohio
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
65th at Grand Prix Indianapolis 2017
Won PTQ Beijing
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Dinosaurs, I hate 2 drops and like 5-8 drops.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Green 12/12 Trample Elder Dinosaur [Ghalta, Primal Hunger]
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
They are always positive, and they are good players and good guys.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
On the draw, I kept a one-land hand with Commune with Dinosaurs. I completely missed on Commune and was stuck on one land for a turn. I still won that game. That was our win-and-in.
Seat: B
Name: Chih-Cheng (Peter) Yeh
Age: 26
Hometown: Taipei, Taiwan
Occupation: Graduate Student
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
6th, 2015 Magic Online Championship Series
Writer for gamesquare.tv
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Merfolk
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Tetzlmoc, Primal Hunter
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
By listening to my ramblings and keeping me calm and focused.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
The hugs after making the Top 4.
Seat: C
Name: Zirui Zhou
Age: 17
Hometown: Shenzhen, China
Occupation: Student
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
Went 12-3 twice at Grand Prix.
Team member of TCP (Team China Pal).
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Merfolk. Cause they are fast, and unblockable.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Stormfleet Sprinter
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
My teammates are great and won a lot of matches, even when I lost.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
When we locked into Top 4.
Eric Severson / Benjamin Weitz / Neal Oliver
Seat: A
Name: Eric Severson
Age: 25
Hometown: Davis, California
Occupation: Applied Mathematician
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
Gold Pro with Team Massdrop East
This is my 6th Grand Prix Top “8”
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Dinosaurs. A little too slow for Limited, but Magic has long been missing this as a creature type.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Forerunner of the Heralds.
In any good Merfolk deck, your turns after playing him will be insane.
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
Carried me! I did not win a match that mattered for the first 10 rounds!
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Two very close losses where I could have played differently to win. Good thing Ben & Neal are great at Magic!
Seat: B
Name: Benjamin Weitz
Age: 27
Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota
Occupation: Software Engineer
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
Silver Magic Pro, 5 Grand Prix Top 8s, consistently medium Pro Tour results, member of Team Massdrop West.
Co-host of the podcast Allied Strategies with Neal Oliver
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Pirates. I think they have the coolest cards that do weird things
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Kitesail Corsair.
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
Pointing out the wrong lines.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Playing a really close game in Round 8 where we screwed up, but barely managed to win anyway.
Seat: C
Name: Neal Oliver
Age: 29
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Occupation: Special Education Technician
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
GP Vegas 2013 — 1st
GP Oakland 2013 — 2nd
GP Ottawa 2014 — 2nd
Member of U.S. World Magic Cup team — twice
Podcast co-host of Allied Strategies
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Chupacabras. I had three in my Day 2 deck and that tribe is REAL good.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Arch of Orazca. The card lets you win a grindy game and Ascend is sweet.
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
Ben won almost all his matches. Eric, not so much. But he won a ew key times. Also, we’re all great friends.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Top 4ing with one of my podcast members but not the other. Now I can poke fun at Tristan Killeen on the podcast, one of my favorite pastimes.
Shahar Shenhar / Lance Austin / Oliver Tiu
Seat: A
Name: Shahar Shenhar
Age: 24
Hometown: Jerusalem, Israel
Occupation: MTG Player
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
2 World Championships
4 Grand Prix wins
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Vampires is the best archetype. The cards in Black and White are just more powerful.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Profane Procession
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
Every match they helped me. Helping each other make decisions is the best part of team events.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
When Matt Costa, Dave Shiels, and Adam Snook won their last round to lock us in Top 4 (mistakes were made).
Seat: B
Name: Lance Austin
Age: 41
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Occupation: US Air Force officer
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
A Top 8 bubble match at Grand Prix Dallas 2017
Top 32 at Grand Prix Denver, a few X-4s after.
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Merfolk. Love the tempo and power and I love sushi.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Hadana's Climb. Almost unbeatable on curve.
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
Great chemistry in the team. We built really well together. Also, they’re insanely good players—so there’s that.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Coming back from an 0-4 hole on Day 1 vs. the Madison Crew [(18) Matt Severa, (15) Sam Black, Justin Cohen]. I honestly wasn’t aware of the score at the time, but watched the coverage later and was in awe.
Seat: C
Name: Oliver Tiu
Age: 20
Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Occupation: Student
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
2016–17 Rookie of the Year and Constructed Master
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Pirates, I love their Cutlass.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Sailor of Means
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
They carried me in some matches and made sure I ate enough.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Breaking my glasses.
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa / Eric Froehlich / Ben Stark
Seat: A
Name: Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Age: 30
Hometown: Porto Alegre, Brazil
Occupation: Magic player and writer for Channelfireball.com
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
12 Pro Tour Top 8s!
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Vampires, I like their flavor and play pattern.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
Ravenous Chupacabra
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
They let me have the best deck both times!
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
When I played Polyraptor with Forerunner of the Empire and made 8 Polyraptors! [and on camera too…]
Seat: B
Name: Eric Froehlich
Age: 33
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Occupation: Channelfireball.com writer
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
Pro Tour Hall of Fame
5 Pro Tour Top 8s
2 Team Grand Prix wins
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
Humans. Go, team, go.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
There are many many many unbeatable cards in Rivals of Ixalan.
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
They’re good.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Winning all the matches.
Seat: C
Name: Ben Stark
Age: 34
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Occupation: None
Previous Magic Accomplishments:
Hall of Fame
4 Pro Tour Top 8s — Pro Tour Paris 2011 Champ
24 Grand Prix Top 8s —Grand Prix Indy 2012 and Mexico City 2017 Champ
What is your favorite tribe in Rivals of Ixalan, and why?
I’m not into tribal.
Which Rivals of Ixalan card impressed you the most?
There are a ton of unbeatable rares.
How did your teammates help you this weekend?
We all won a lot of matches.
What was your most memorable moment of this weekend?
Putting Squire’s Devotion on Zetalpa, Primal Dawn.