SUNDAY COVERAGE
While many eyes were on ChannelFireball and Face-to-Face Games, as Hall of Famers and Pro Tour winners smashed through the top tables all weekend with Modern’s new titan on the block, the story of the weekend shifted to the team that bested the titans of professional Magic.
The real winners of the weekend was Team East West Bowl, and Jiachen Tao, who conquered not only the format, but the two biggest teams of the Pro Tour with a very different take on the Eldrazi strategy with Blue-Red. Utilizing Eye of Ugin to fuel perilous starts with Booster Draft all-stars such as Eldrazi Skyspawner and Vile Aggregate, Tao emerged as one of the two undefeated players at the end of Friday with a deck that turned heads and over-performed, with the team’s pilots earning a combined 19-1 record with the deck by the end of the first day. Saturday caused a bit of a sweat for Tao, who was left hoping for solid tiebreakers after suffering a loss against Hall of Famer Shuhei Nakamura in the last round of Swiss.
But fortune favored Tao, who emerged as the eighth seed in the Top 8 and was able to achieve vengeance in the quarterfinals against Nakamura. His path to the title was perilous, as he fought through Nakamura as well as Hall of Famer Luis-Scott Vargas and Pro Tour winner Ivan Floch. But despite ChannelFireball and Face-to-Face Games’ great show this weekend, Tao proved that he and his team truly broke the format wide open, outclassing the two titanic teams and their Colorless Eldrazi deck one match after another.
Tao walked into the Pro Tour this weekend with an idea, and emerged on Sunday qualified for the 2016 Magic: The Gathering World Championship, $40,000 richer, and the title of Pro Tour champion. Congratulations to him and the rest of Team East West Bowl for a brilliant performance.
SATURDAY COVERAGE
The Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch Top 8 features prominent teams and players, including Hall of Famers Shuhei Nakamura and Luis Scott-Vargas. They are joined by veterans Ivan Floch and Patrick Dickmann, along with four players who battled their way to their first Top 8: Andrew Brown, Pascal Maynard, Frank Lepore, and Jiachen Tao.
The Modern Pro Tour has introduced a new titan into the metagame as well: Eldrazi, in three different varieties. The Eldrazi players are joined by two Affinity pilots, and they will battle it out to see which colorless deck reigns supreme! Who will become the Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch champion? Tune in to twitch.tv/magic on Sunday at 9 a.m. local time (ET)/6 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC to find out!
FRIDAY COVERAGE
The world’s best Magic players travel to Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta, Georgia to compete for their share of a massive $250,000 prize pool and seats in the 2016 Magic: The Gathering World Championship. Tune in NOW to see all the action!
Pre-Show Coverage
Live video coverage of Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch begins Friday at 9 a.m. local time (ET)/6 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC.
Social Media
Twitter
The hashtag for Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch is #PTOGW. Join the conversation!
Twitter: #PTOGW
Facebook
See the Pro Tour as it unravels on the Magic: The Gathering Facebook page!
MTG Facebook