Anteri crushes the competition in Mexico City

TOP 8 COVERAGE

He may have traveled half the world to compete, but the trip was well worth it for 17th-ranked Fabrizio Anteri, who knocked off teammate Martin Dang in the quarterfinals before vanquishing Tomoharu Saito to win Grand Prix Mexico City.

There were 787 players in the main event, making the Grand Prix the largest Mexico has ever hosted, and many of those players were pros passing through on their way to Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta next week. That included Anteri and most of his teammates on Team EUreka, which spent in a week in Mexico testing for the event before competing in the Grand Prix.

That practiced paid off, as they placed two members into a star-studded Top 8, which also featured Marcio Carvalho and Rodrigo Goncalves, no strangers to Grand Prix Top 8 appearances themselves.

But in the end it was Anteri who proved himself the master of the fresh Oath of the Gatewatch draft format, piloting a tricky blue-red deck past Saito in three razor-close games to claim the trophy at Grand Prix Mexico City!

DAY 2 COVERAGE

Grand Prix Mexico City began with 787 players as Mexico’s largest-ever tournament, but only 217 scored the 18 points or more needed to return for Day 2. Among those is an absolutely stacked field of pros who made the trip to Mexico’s capital before heading to Atlanta for next week’s Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch.

Speaking of Oath, today marks our first (or second, counting the sister Grand Prix in Nagoya) look at Magic’s newest set in draft action. With more Eldrazi than you can shake a planet-sized stick at, our new colorless overlords are sure to make a splash when the games begin.

The only question is: whose side will they be on? Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir champion Martin Dang led the field along with Rodrigo Goncalves Dos Santos after Day 1, but it’s a packed field right behind them, with a bevy of ranked players and hall of famers clustered at the top, including second-ranked Seth Manfield and hall of famer Frank Karsten seated drafting alongside Dang.

Who will rise to the top when the dust settles? We have six rounds of Magic and a Top 8 left to figure that out.

DAY 1 COVERAGE

There were 787 players who began the day at Grand Prix Mexico with hopes of finishing it unbeaten, but in the end only three managed to accomplish the feat: Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir champion Martin Dang and Rodrigo Goncalves Dos Santos finished undefeated at 9-0, while Jorge Padierna was hot on their heels with a final record of 8-0-1.

It’s a packed field right behind them, with several ranked players lurking behind Dang and Goncalves Dos Santos, among them No. 2 Seth Manfield, No. 8 Martin Muller, No. 17 Fabrizio Anteri, No. 18 Lee Shi Tian and No. 23 Joel Larsson.

There are 218 players qualified to return on Day 2 of Mexico’s largest-ever Grand Prix, and we’ll get our first look at the Oath of the Gatewatch when the players reconvene in the morning for six rounds of draft to determine the Top 8.