August 14 2016
Top 5 Moments by Frank KarstenThere were plenty of great moments, decks, players, cards, and stories over the course of the weekend here in Rimini. Here are our picks for five things to remember from the Grand Prix. 5. The...
In a Top 8 comprised of two U/R Fevered Burn and six Bant Company decks, Arne Huschenbeth became the champion of Grand Prix Rimini, defeating Petr Sochurek in a Bant Company mirror in the finals.
Top 8 Coverage
Just one week before, at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, the Top 8 was dominated by Emrakul and Liliana. The Standard Grand Prix in Rimini, however, marked the breakout weekend of U/R Fevered Visions and the return of Bant Company. By defeating Platinum pro Petr Sochurek in a mirror match in the finals, Arne Huschenbeth proved to the world that Bant Company is still a force to be reckoned with!
But let's start this short recap at the beginning. Early on Saturday morning, 889 players entered the tournament, and we've had a great weekend all around. At the end of the Swiss, only eight players remained. Most notable among them were World Championship-bound (3) Lukas Blohon and (11) Shota Yasooka, playing in their 7th and 20th Grand Prix Top 8, respectively. While they fell quickly in the quarterfinals, Arne Huschenbeth did not.
The Top 8 matches of the 19-year old player from Hamburg, in the second Grand Prix Top 8 of his career, were all close. The final game in particular had him at 1 life for what seemed to be ages, but he never gave up. Many hard-fought turns later, he was holding the trophy. Congratulations to Arne Huschenbeth, champion of Grand Prix Rimini 2016!
August 14 2016
Top 5 Moments by Frank KarstenThere were plenty of great moments, decks, players, cards, and stories over the course of the weekend here in Rimini. Here are our picks for five things to remember from the Grand Prix. 5. The...
August 14 2016
Finals: Petr Sochůrek vs. Arne Huschenbeth by Tobi HenkeThis was it. After fifteen rounds of Swiss and two single-elimination rounds, it was on these two, the two youngest players in the Top 8, to determine the winner: 22-year-old Platinum pro Petr...
August 14 2016
Top 8 Decklists by Frank KarstenAfter 15 rounds of Swiss competition, eight players remain to compete for the trophy. Out of those eight, six are playing Bant Company, and the two remaining players are on U/R Fevered Burn. ...
Day 2 Coverage
Welcome back to Rimini for Day 2 of the first Standard Grand Prix to follow Pro Tour Eldritch Moon! Out of an original 889 players, 272 qualified for the second day, with 9-0 players Jaroslav Boucek and Yusuf Kemal Vefa taking the lead. Now it was time for six more rounds of Standard, followed by the Top 8 playoffs.
So far Bant Company, Red-Green Ramp, and Blue-Red Fevered Visions had appeared to be the most successful decks here in Italy, with a surprisingly weak showing of Temur Emerge, the breakout deck of last week's Pro Tour. We'd have more data later in the day, of course. Check back for a full metagame breakdown of the Day 2 field, further deck tech articles, and many decklists!
August 14 2016
Round 13: When Worlds (Competitors) Collide by Tobi HenkeThis round two players squared off in the feature match area who, less than a month from now, would meet again at the 2016 World Championship. Japanese Hall of Famer Shota Yasooka had qualified...
August 14 2016
Deck Tech: Esper Control with Eliott Boussaud by Frank KarstenAt Pro Tour Eldritch Moon in Sydney, Esper decks saw nearly no play. Even Esper aficionado Shaheen Soorani played B/G Delirium! So is the black-white-blue color combination still viable in the...
August 14 2016
A Summary Dismissal of Temur Emerge by Tobi HenkeTemur Emerge had been the breakout deck of last week's Pro Tour Eldritch Moon. The deck was brand new then, still several teams came up with similar lists. Andrew Brown and Owen Turtenwald played...
Day 1 Coverage
After nine rounds of Standard, Day 1 is in the books. Out of the original 889 players, 272 earned the right to come back on Day 2 in their quest for the winner's trophy.
We saw all kinds of interesting cards and decks. The biggest stories to come out of Day 1 were the continued dominance of Bant Company and the rise of U/R Fevered Burn (alternatively, U/R Alchemist, U/R Thermo-Thing, or however you like to call it). Several visionaries actually foresaw that and added tech like Peace of Mind or Orbs of Warding to their decks.
Leading the field overnight with perfect records of 9-0 were two players: Jaroslav Boucek and Yusuf Kemal Vefa, both on Bant Company. Hot on their heels were five players with technically undefeated 8-0-1 records: Thomas Holzinger, Fabio La Martina, Mathias De Momi, and William Pizzi. But the competition wasn’t far behind and included Pro Tour Eldritch Moon champion Lukas Blohon (U/R Alchemist), the Danish trio of Simon Nielsen, Tina Dahl, and Martin Dang (all on the same R/G Ramp deck), and plenty of other top players at 8-1 records.
August 13 2016
Crossing the Finish Line on Day 1, Undefeated by Tobi Henke889 players had been in the running originally, but after eight rounds only six remained who still sported a perfect record of 8-0. Most notable among them was of course (3) Lukas Blohon. He...
August 13 2016
Decks of Fire and Ice by Tobi HenkeSome say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I've seen at this Prix Grand, I hold with those who favor … "and." Or something. In any case, the blue-red deck with Fevered...
August 13 2016
Lukas Blohon on Testing, Tech, and Triumph by Tobi HenkeEight days ago, when Lukas Blohon sat down for his first round at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, the Czech player could already look back on quite a succesful season, highlighted by a win at Grand Prix...
Petr Sochůrek, 2-0
(3) Lukas Blohon
Simon Enckels, 2-1
(11) Shota Yasooka
Arne Huschenbeth, 2-0
Thomas Holzinger
Marco Dolazza, 2-1
Jaroslav Boucek
Petr Sochůrek, 2-1
Simon Enckels
Arne Huschenbeth, 2-1
Marco Dolazza
Petr Sochůrek
Arne Huschenbeth, 2-0
Note: final standings reflect the number of players participating in the event, not the number of preregistered players.
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
by Frank KarstenAfter 15 rounds of Swiss competition, eight players remain to compete for the trophy. Out of those eight, six are playing Bant Company, and the two remaining players are on U/R Fevered Burn. ...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
by Frank KarstenThere is more to this event than just the Top 8. Below are the decklists of the players who finished in 9th through 32nd place. Although the Top 8 featured only Bant Company and U/R Fevered Burn,...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
by Frank KarstenThere were plenty of great moments, decks, players, cards, and stories over the course of the weekend here in Rimini. Here are our picks for five things to remember from the Grand Prix. 5. The...
article GRAND PRIX RIMINI 2016 August 14, 2016
Finals: Petr Sochůrek vs. Arne Huschenbeth
by Tobi HenkeThis was it. After fifteen rounds of Swiss and two single-elimination rounds, it was on these two, the two youngest players in the Top 8, to determine the winner: 22-year-old Platinum pro Petr...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
Semifinals: Petr Sochůrek vs. Simon Enckels
by Tobi HenkeMinutes earlier Platinum pro Petr Sochůrek had defeated (3) Lukas Blohon in their all-Czech quarterfinal match. Blohon, the most recent Pro Tour's champion, had been playing Blue-Red Fevered...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
Semifinals: Arne Huschenbeth (Bant Company) vs. Marco Dolazza (Bant Company)
by Frank KarstenWith six Bant Company decks in the Top 8, it didn't come as a surprise that one of the semifinals was a mirror match. According to Arne Huschenbeth, one of the two Bant Company players in this...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
by Tobi HenkeAfter 15 rounds of Standard, with a total of 881 others eliminated, only eight players remained in the running for the fame and the fortune, the title and the trophy. Find out more about these...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
Round 13: When Worlds (Competitors) Collide
by Tobi HenkeThis round two players squared off in the feature match area who, less than a month from now, would meet again at the 2016 World Championship. Japanese Hall of Famer Shota Yasooka had qualified...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
Deck Tech: Esper Control with Eliott Boussaud
by Frank KarstenAt Pro Tour Eldritch Moon in Sydney, Esper decks saw nearly no play. Even Esper aficionado Shaheen Soorani played B/G Delirium! So is the black-white-blue color combination still viable in the...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
A Summary Dismissal of Temur Emerge
by Tobi HenkeTemur Emerge had been the breakout deck of last week's Pro Tour Eldritch Moon. The deck was brand new then, still several teams came up with similar lists. Andrew Brown and Owen Turtenwald played...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
by Frank KarstenRecently at Grand Prix, with players at 6-3 records making it to Day 2, we've had to settle for a "Top 100" breakdown of the humongous second day's metagame. In Rimini, however, fewer than 1,000...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 14, 2016
by Frank KarstenEmrakul, the Promised End is an incredibly skill-testing card that, due to the nature of Mindslaver turns, generates plenty of great stories. We asked some of the pros here in Rimini for their...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
Crossing the Finish Line on Day 1, Undefeated
by Tobi Henke889 players had been in the running originally, but after eight rounds only six remained who still sported a perfect record of 8-0. Most notable among them was of course (3) Lukas Blohon. He...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
by Tobi HenkeSome say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I've seen at this Prix Grand, I hold with those who favor … "and." Or something. In any case, the blue-red deck with Fevered...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
Lukas Blohon on Testing, Tech, and Triumph
by Tobi HenkeEight days ago, when Lukas Blohon sat down for his first round at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, the Czech player could already look back on quite a succesful season, highlighted by a win at Grand Prix...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
Deck Tech: R/G Ramp with Simon Nielsen
by Frank Karsten"It's the best Emrakul deck," Simon Nielsen said when I approached him about his deck choice for the weekend. "I couldn't beat it with the Jund Delirium deck that I played in Sydney, so I switched...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
Deck Tech: Jund Delirium with (23) Oliver Polak-Rottmann
by Frank KarstenSome players frantically switched decks in the week leading up to this Grand Prix. Oliver Polak-Rottmann is not one of them. He's running back the Jund Delirium deck that brought him success at...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
by Frank KarstenGrand Prix Rimini marks the start of the 2016-2017 premier play season, and it gives Magic enthusiasts an opportunity to test their mettle at Standard in the wake of Pro Tour Eldritch Moon. So...
article Grand Prix Rimini 2016 August 13, 2016
Grand Prix Trial Winning Decklists
by Tobi HenkeAs is tradition, Friday was the last chance for players to earn two byes for Grand Prix Rimini. Their last chance and our first, that was, to get an early impression of what we should expect to...
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