Berger Becomes Immense in Lille

TOP 8 COVERAGE

It was a great weekend full of Modern Magic here at Grand Prix Lille (and in Guangzhou and Indianapolis as well, of course). A whopping 1,818 players entered the French Grand Prix with high hopes, 538 managed to qualify for the second day, and when the dust of the Swiss rounds had settled eight players with eight different decks remained to fight for the title in the playoffs.

Most notable among them was Dutchman Thomas Hendriks, a quarterfinalist at Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir and Grand Prix Antwerp 2013. Up until the finals, the Gold-level pro had proven to be nigh-unstoppable with his Death's Shadow deck, entering the Top 8 in first seed with a commanding 14-1 record.

But here Hendriks finally found his match in Meciek Berger who was playing a different breed of fast combo-esque beatdown deck in Infect. After one turn-two and one turn-three kill in the first two games, it all came down to one attack, one Become Immense, one Vines of Vastwood, and one Apostle's Blessing to ward off Path to Exile. With that, Glistener Elf dealt 11 infect damage in one fell swoop making Meciek Berger the champion of Grand Prix Lille 2016. Congratulations!

Day 2 Coverage

What had started with 1,818 players early on Saturday was whittled down to but 538: everyone who escaped the first day's grueling nine rounds with six match wins or more. Among them, six players managed to win all nine of their rounds, including Gold-level pro Thomas Hendriks, multiple Grand Prix Top 8 competitor Michael Bonde, Thomas van der Paelt who finished in the Top 8 at last year's Grand Prix Lille, and Mike Boulinguiez who was playing in his very first Grand Prix this weekend.

As for decks, Modern once again didn't disappoint with its vast variety of viable archetypes. Even just the 8-1 or better crowd was piloting such a diverse selection as Jund, Affinity, Elves, Death's Shadow Aggro, Ad Nauseam, Scapeshift, Red/Green Land Destruction (!), Dredge, Merfolk, Kiki-Chord, Amulet-Scout (!), Infect, Jeskai Nahiri, Death and Taxes, Burn, Grixis Control, and Eldrazi.

Check back throughout the day for a look at the metagame, for decks and tech, for standings and stories, and, finally, the Top 8 playoffs and the epic conclusion of Grand Prix Lille 2016!

Day 1 Coverage

1,818 players showed up at Grand Prix Lille on a sweltering hot day to do battle with their Modern decks. The predictions were for a field favoring aggressive decks and for Jund to do well. However, with a card pool as large as Modern to choose from it was inevitable that the field would end up being much more varied.

After nine hard-fought rounds six players ended the day with perfect 9-0 records at the top of the standings. Thomas Hendriks, Thomas van der Paelt, Michael Bonde, Manuel Menges, Alessandro Casamenti, and Mike Boulinguiez were the players ending the day in pole position, and fittingly they managed it all playing different decks. Death’s Shadow Aggro, Elves, Jund, Affinity, Ad Nauseum and Through the Breach Scapeshift… which is the top dog of Modern? Come back tomorrow as the 538 players with a 6-3 record or better return to fight through another six rounds and attempt to earn themselves a Top 8 berth and a chance at a coveted Grand Prix title.

And this is not the only Modern action. If you want more, check out the concurrent coverage at Grand Prix Guangzhou and Grand Prix Indianapolis.