August 28 2016
TOP 5 MOMENTS by Tobi HenkeThe tournament, like every Grand Prix, was full of memorable stories, of exciting matches, of interesting decks doing interesting stuff. The following are our Top 5 picks, the five moments that...
Playing Infect in a Modern Top 8 which featured eight different archetypes, Meciek Berger defeated Gold pro Thomas Hendriks and his Death's Shadow deck in the finals to become champion of Grand Prix Lille 2016!
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!
August 28 2016
TOP 5 MOMENTS by Tobi HenkeThe tournament, like every Grand Prix, was full of memorable stories, of exciting matches, of interesting decks doing interesting stuff. The following are our Top 5 picks, the five moments that...
August 28 2016
Grand Prix Lille 2016 Final – Thomas Hendriks vs Meciek Berger by Craig JonesAggressive decks are in a good place right now in the Modern format, so it was appropriate that the final of Grand Prix Lille would be fought between two of the fastest decks in the...
August 28 2016
TOP 8 DECKLISTS by Tobi HenkeAfter fifteen rounds of Modern, with a total of 1,810 others eliminated, only eight players remained in the running for the fame and the fortune, the title and the trophy. And since this was...
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!
August 28 2016
The 9-0 Decklists by Tobi HenkeYesterday, out of 1,818 competitors, six players managed to go 9-0: Gold-level pro Thomas Hendriks, GP Lille 2015 quarterfinalist Thomas van der Paelt, multiple GP Top 8er Michael Bonde, Manuel...
August 28 2016
Deck Tech: Blood Moon Jund by Craig JonesWhile I was looking at the 3-Bye decklists yesterday one particular version of Jund stood out to me. When we write up interesting decks we don't normally post the full list until after the final...
August 28 2016
Deck Tech: It's a Ponza Scheme! by Tobi HenkeEven if you play a lot of Modern chances are you have never had Mwonvuli Acid-Moss cast against you on turn two. But that's exactly what Artie Heinrich, a longtime player with a bit of Pro Tour...
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.
August 27 2016
Closing the First Day: The 9-0 Players by Tobi Henke1,818 players had entered the tournament in the morning. After nine grueling rounds of Modern in the scorching heat of the French summer, but six of them remained with a perfect record of 9-0...
August 27 2016
Deck Tech: Death’s Shadow Aggro by Craig JonesJund was the most popular deck amongst the 3-bye players. The next most popular after that – Death's Shadow Aggro. This has been Team EUreka's Modern weapon of choice ever since PT Oath of the...
August 27 2016
Quick Question: What's Your Tech? by Tobi HenkeWe asked a few of the more notable players in attendance at Grand Prix Lille for the most interesting, the most unusual, or, simply put, the most "techy" card in their deck or sideboard. Here's...
(1) Thomas Hendriks, 2-0
(8) Daniel Ballestin
(4) Manuel Menges
(5) Jiří Obraz, 2-0
(3) André Metzger
(6) Meciek Berger, 2-1
(2) Mike Boulinguiez
(7) Serafin Wellinger, 2-1
(1) Thomas Hendriks, 2-0
(5) Jiří Obraz
(6) Meciek Berger, 2-0
(7) Serafin Wellinger
(1) Thomas Hendriks
(6) Meciek Berger, 2-1
Note: final standings reflect the number of players participating in the event, not the number of preregistered players.
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Tobi HenkeThe tournament, like every Grand Prix, was full of memorable stories, of exciting matches, of interesting decks doing interesting stuff. The following are our Top 5 picks, the five moments that...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
Grand Prix Lille 2016 Final – Thomas Hendriks vs Meciek Berger
by Craig JonesAggressive decks are in a good place right now in the Modern format, so it was appropriate that the final of Grand Prix Lille would be fought between two of the fastest decks in the...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Tobi HenkeAfter fifteen rounds of Modern, with a total of 1,810 others eliminated, only eight players remained in the running for the fame and the fortune, the title and the trophy. And since this was...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Craig Jones and Tobi HenkeA very diverse selection of Modern decks were brought to Grand Prix Lille 2016. You've already seen the Top 8 lists. Here are the decks that finished 9th to 64th. Maybe there will be something...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Tobi HenkeAfter fifteen rounds of Modern, with a total of 1,810 others eliminated, only eight players remained in the running for the fame and the fortune, the title and the trophy. Find out more about...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Tobi HenkeYesterday, out of 1,818 competitors, six players managed to go 9-0: Gold-level pro Thomas Hendriks, GP Lille 2015 quarterfinalist Thomas van der Paelt, multiple GP Top 8er Michael Bonde, Manuel...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Craig JonesWhile I was looking at the 3-Bye decklists yesterday one particular version of Jund stood out to me. When we write up interesting decks we don't normally post the full list until after the final...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
Deck Tech: It's a Ponza Scheme!
by Tobi HenkeEven if you play a lot of Modern chances are you have never had Mwonvuli Acid-Moss cast against you on turn two. But that's exactly what Artie Heinrich, a longtime player with a bit of Pro Tour...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
by Tobi HenkeWe asked some of the more notable players in attendance at Grand Prix Lille this weekend whether they had seen (or made) any particularly sweet or spectacular plays during the tournament so far....
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
Day 1 Top 100 Metagame Breakdown
by Craig JonesAs I don't have a Mklthd to help/hinder me here in GP Lille (see Chapman Sim's Day 2 Metagame breakdown of GP Guangzhou for explanation. Are you okay out there in China, buddy?), I crunched the...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 28, 2016
Quick Question: Seen Anything Interesting?
by Tobi HenkeYesterday, we asked some of the more notable players in attendance here at Grand Prix Lille for their own tech, for what's special about their own deck or sideboard. Now we asked them whether...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 27, 2016
Closing the First Day: The 9-0 Players
by Tobi Henke1,818 players had entered the tournament in the morning. After nine grueling rounds of Modern in the scorching heat of the French summer, but six of them remained with a perfect record of 9-0...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 27, 2016
Deck Tech: Death’s Shadow Aggro
by Craig JonesJund was the most popular deck amongst the 3-bye players. The next most popular after that – Death's Shadow Aggro. This has been Team EUreka's Modern weapon of choice ever since PT Oath of the...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 27, 2016
Quick Question: What's Your Tech?
by Tobi HenkeWe asked a few of the more notable players in attendance at Grand Prix Lille for the most interesting, the most unusual, or, simply put, the most "techy" card in their deck or sideboard. Here's...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 27, 2016
by Tobi HenkeDo you like to play a proper old-fashioned control deck? Not one which deals with a few threats and then casts its own, not some midrange deck full of planeswalkers. But a true control deck which...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 27, 2016
by Craig JonesIn the early rounds of a Grand Prix it’s hard to get a full picture of how the metagame is going to shape up. As much as I love you all, going through 1,000+ decklists to get a full metagame...
article GRAND PRIX LILLE 2016 August 27, 2016
Setting the Scene – The Modern Metagame
by Craig JonesThis weekend the European Grand Prix train pulled into Lille. Eager Magic players showed up at the Lille Grand Palais for a chance to go home with up to $10,000 and earn an invite to PT Kaladesh...
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