Top 8 Coverage
1,113 players had come to Warsaw to test their mettle in the new Standard format which had only debuted two weeks ago at Pro Tour Kaladesh. 361 of them qualified for the second day. Finally, eight of them gathered in the feature match area for the playoffs.
Among them, Hall of Fame member Ben Stark and Grand Prix Charlotte champion Andreas Ganz were arguably the biggest names. But both lost to first-time Top 8 player Gabrielius Kaklauskas—a first-time Day 2 player even—in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Niels Molle for whom this marked his second Grand Prix Top 8 likewise stood no chance in the finals. This was Kaklauskas's day.
His deck of choice was White-Blue Flash. While the archetype still took the number one spot in the Day 2 metagame here in Warsaw, its archnemesis Black-Green Delirium was catching up, and by the time we entered the Top 8 Kaklauskas was the only white-blue player left, facing a whopping six Black-Green Delirium decks.
Yet Kaklauskas prevailed. Congratulations to Gabrielius Kaklauskas, champion of Grand Prix Warsaw 2016!
Day 2 Coverage
1,113 players had been in the running initially, here at Grand Prix Warsaw, full of hopes and determined to test their mettle in the Standard format which had only debuted two weeks ago at Pro Tour Kaladesh. After the first day's nine rounds, all but 361 of them were eliminated.
Now these players would battle their way through six more rounds of Standard, with the Top 8 later advancing to the playoffs. Starting the day at 9-0 were Sam Rolph, Bart van Etten, Oleksii Riabokon, and Pro Tour Theros champion Jérémy Dezani, closely followed by Hall of Famers Ben Stark and Frank Karsten, Pro Tour Eldritch Moon champion (4) Lukas Blohon, 2014 World Magic Cup champion Simon Nielsen, and Grand Prix champions Andreas Ganz, Javier Dominguez, and Martin Jůza (to name but a few) all at 8-1.
The top three most popular decks, it would appear, continued to be White-Blue Flash, Mardu Vehicles/Zoo, and Black-Green Delirium. Although the latter might have overtaken the first in sheer numbers by now. This clearly warranted further investigation.
So check back throughout the day for a look at the metagame, for decklists, for updates and insights, for news and stories straight from the battlefield of Grand Prix Warsaw 2016!
Day 1 Coverage
1,113 players had been in the running initially, here at Grand Prix Warsaw, full of hopes and determined to test their mettle in the Standard format which had only debuted two weeks ago at Pro Tour Kaladesh. After nine rounds, all but 361 of them were eliminated.
Leading the field overnight were Sam Rolph, Bart van Etten, Pro Tour Theros champion Jérémy Dezani, and Oleksii Riabokon who ended the day with perfect records of 9-0. But lots of big names had made their way to Warsaw this weekend, and weren't far behind now. Just the places 8 to 14 alone included Hall of Famers Ben Stark and Frank Karsten, Grand Prix champions Andreas Ganz and Javier Dominguez, multiple Grand Prix champion Martin Jůza, plus Grzegorz Kowalski and Matteo Moure who each could boast multiple Top 8s as well.
Meanwhile, the evolution of Standard continued. Black-Green Delirium was still on the rise, whereas White-Blue Flash's popularity took a little hit. That was more or less what was expected. However, we also saw people creating millions of Thopters with the help of Whirler Virtuoso and Decoction Modules. That wasn't expected and was but one indication that Standard still held more than a few surprises.
Check back tomorrow for more news and stories straight from the battlefield of Grand Prix Warsaw 2016!
Article
October 29 2016
The 9-0 Players
by Olle Rade
1,113 players showed up to battle in beautiful Warsaw, Poland. After nine rounds of standard only four of them sport an undefeated 9-0 record, and it's an exciting mix of a seasoned veteran, an up...
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