Captains Carvalho & Co. Conquer Rotterdam

Top 4 Coverage

With the World Magic Cup taking place in the same city and just a few days from now, teams from all over the world traveled to the Netherlands and made a stop at Grand Prix Rotterdam. In total, 703 teams of three players each were in the running originally, including fifteen that were made up exclusively of players who would be competing together next week at the World Magic Cup as well.

After the first day's nine rounds of Kaladesh Team Sealed Deck, the field was whittled down to 144 teams; after another five rounds with fresh Sealed Decks, four teams gathered in the feature match area to do Team Booster Drafts who could boast a combined number of 105 prior Grand Prix Top 8s and 20 prior Grand Prix victories. However, the super teams of Raphaël Lévy, Tomoharu Saito, and Jérémy Dezani as well as (14) Ondřej Stráský, (10) Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, and Shahar Shenhar, who accounted for the majority of these, fell in the semifinals.

This left Hall of Famer Frank Karsten and the two friends he had brought from his hometown of nearby Eindhoven, Brent Vos and Bas Melis, to duke it out in the finals versus Grand Prix Paris 2014 champion Javier Dominguez, 2015–2016 Draft Master (12) Márcio Carvalho, and Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad quarterfinalist Luis Salvatto. All of the latter would be playing next week at the World Magic Cup, albeit on three different teams, being the captains of Team Spain, Portugal, and Argentina, respectively. Yet this weekend the three of them made a case for international cooperation and won it all.

Congratulations to Javier Dominguez, Márcio Carvalho, and Luis Salvatto, champions of Grand Prix Rotterdsam 2016!

Day 2 Coverage

A total of 703 teams, well more than 2,000 players, had been in the running initially, full of hopes for Grand Prix glory. But after the first day's nine rounds of Kaladesh Team Sealed, all but 144 teams were eliminated.

Now it was time for the remaining teams to build another Sealed and time for another five rounds. Following that, the Top 4 teams would gather for two semifinal Team Booster Drafts to determine the participants of one final Team Booster Draft: one final draft for the trophies and the title.

Starting the second day in a particularly good position to get there, among few others at 8-1, were all the of the following super teams: Raphaël Lévy, Tomoharu Saito, and Jérémy Dezani; Javier Dominguez, Marcio Carvalho, and Luis Salvatto; Mike Hron, Alexander Hayne, and Richard Hoaen; Kenji Tsumura, (2) Shota Yasooka, and Toru Takeshita; (14) Ondřej Stráský, (10) Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, and Shahar Shenhar.

So it was going to be an interesting day ... Stay tuned for all the insight and all the excitement, all the action and all the news, straight from the battlefield of Grand Prix Rotterdam 2016!

Day 1 Coverage

A total of 703 teams braved the elements to arrive in Rotterdam, an exhilarating city of futuristic architecture, a proliferation of the arts and entertainment, as well as a surge of drinking and dining venues. Despite the chilly weather in The Netherlands' second-largest metropolis, there was fire in their hearts as they all harbored the same dream of being crowned Grand Prix Champions.

After 9 rounds of intense competition, the trio of Minh Nyugen, Alistair Martin, and Dan Burnand were the only players of over 2,000 to achieve the perfect 9-0 record and were well-poised to make the elimination rounds tomorrow.

In addition, numerous big names were found near the top of the standings, ranging from World Champions, Pro Tour Champions, Grand Prix Champions, Hall of Famers, and Platinum Pros. For instance, the team of Frank Karsten, Brent Vos, and Bas Melis was led by a very familiar Hall of Famer. They closed Day 1 at 8-0-1 in 2nd place but very, very close behind at 8-1 were a pack of international luminaries, ready to give chase. These star-studded rosters were all within the top ten seeds at the moment:

• Raphaël Lévy, Tomoharu Saito, and Jérémy Dezani
• Javier Dominguez, Marcio Carvalho, and Luis Salvatto
• Mike Hron, Alexander Hayne, and Richard Hoaen
• Kenji Tsumura, (2) Shota Yasooka, and Toru Takeshita
• (14) Ondřej Stráský, (10) Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, and Shahar Shenhar

Including these seasoned veterans, a total of 144 teams have earned the right to return tomorrow, where each team will receive twelve new Kaladesh boosters to create yet another set of three killer decks in a bid to fight their way to the Top 4. Join us tomorrow as we continue our adventures in Kaladesh and Rotterdam, and we bring you live coverage of all the action taking place!