Osawa’s Wurms Flog Prague

日本語の取材へ

Four hundred and fifteen Pro Magic players descended on Pro Tour-Prague with drafting on the brain. Seeing as it was the debut of Dissension, there may have been that many unique draft strategies too.

With other players working complex theories on mana-fixing via bounce lands and signets to maximize the shininess of Ravnica's gold cards, Japan's Takuya Osawa played it cool and drafted a tried-and-true archetype of huge creatures and removal, spicing it up with the new Graft ability that came with the introduction of Dissension. Osawa's recipe couldn't have been any hotter, cooking up a win in the finals over Germany's Aaron Brackmann. The 21-year-old Japanese player dropped just one game all day, and the win marked the first for a Japanese player outside their own country.

Osawa's strategy involved dropping wurms of the Streetbreaker and Golgari Rot variety, making them even bigger and badder with a few Simic-enhanced grafts thanks to six Graft creatures. Two Pyromatics, a Seal of Doom, a Douse in Gloom, and a Char helped him clear up the board and deliver killing shots to the dome on his way to taking home the $40,000 first prize.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

• Top 8 Finals (93 MB zip) | BitTorrent
• Top 8 Semifinals (59 MB zip) | BitTorrent
• Top 8 Quarterfinals (125 MB zip) | BitTorrent
• Top 8 Draft (33 MB zip) | BitTorrent
• Top 8 Pregame (14 MB zip) | BitTorrent
• Day One Wrap-up (8.3 MB zip)
• Day Two Wrap-up (7.9 MB zip)
• Day Three Wrap-up (6.7 MB zip)
• Welcome Back, Finkel (11 MB zip)
• Justin Gary Riding High at 5-0 (5 MB zip)
• Mike Donovan, Surprising Himself(5.3 MB zip)
• Olivier Shining Yet Again (4.5 MB zip)
• Terry Soh Says ‘Draft Blue’ (5.3 MB zip)
• Ben Goodman Delivers the Beats (3.9 MB zip)
• Time Out with Karsten the Fanatic (6.7 MB zip)
• Joe Crosby’s Good Day (5.1 MB zip)
• Around the Floor at Pro Tour-Prague (3.8 MB zip)

The Top 8 draft saw two distinct strategies play out regarding mana. While six players grabbed bounce lands and signets, Osawa and Brackmann eschewed that plan for Utopia Sprawls and Silhana Starfletchers. Many thought Antonino De Rosa came out of the draft with the top deck thanks to multiple Steamcore Weirds and Ogre Savants, but mana issues in the first two games put the U.S. National champion in too deep a hole against Shuhei Nakamura. Nakamura then fell to his countryman Osawa in the semis, after Osawa had steamrolled Joe Crosby in three quick games.

On the other side of the bracket, Rasmus Sibast, who had dropped only one match all weekend prior to Sunday, picked a bad time to see loss No. 2 come his way as he fell to Brackmann in the quarterfinals. Christian Hüttenberger, a German player in his first individual Pro Tour, defeated Quentin Martin in the other quarters before falling to Brackmann 3-0 in the semifinals.

While many questions about Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension drafting were answered here in Prague, almost as many questions have been raised. Is Bloodgraft the dominant draft archetype? What are the best mana solutions? Is there key pack in the set? You can start answering those questions by replaying the Top 8 draft in the Draft Viewer. Follow how the Pros made their picks and design your strategy before your next draft!

The Top 8 bracket is determined randomly; seeds do not correspond with the final Swiss standings.

top 8 bracket

FINAL TOP 8 STANDINGS

pairings, results, standings