pro tour journey into nyx

The Midas Touch: 22nd at Pro Tour Journey into Nyx

Hall of Famer Raphael Levy is back from Pro Tour Journey into Nyx to tell us how his UB deck - with King Macar, the Gold-Cursed and Daring Thief - "inspired" his 22nd place finish and why you might see the deck in the future.

By Raphael Levy | @raphlevymtg | Published 2/7/2023 | 20 min read

For PT Journey into Nyx, our plan was to split Team Revolution into two before meeting in Atlanta a week before the Pro Tour to gather our thoughts and ideas and come up with the best deck.

PT Theros Finalist Pierre Dagen, PT Theros Champion Jérémy Dezani, PT Nagoya semi-finalist Elie Pichon, GP Paris Top 8 Loïc Le Briand, WMC teammate Yann Guthmann, PT Yokohama winner Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, three-time GP Champion and very motivated Trey Van Cleave who made it all the way to Europe to test with us, and I met in Warsaw the week before the GP to draft and start building decks.

The initial decks we had were Monoblack Aggro, Monored Aggro, Naya, Esper, and BUG. We tested all the decks against each other, and the BUG deck seemed to come out on top, but we thought we could work with that to find something better. Somehow, we were not convinced by the deck, and we also thought everyone would have that deck since it packed three of the best threats in the format: Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver , Prognostic Sphinx , and Reaper of the Wild.

Thrown around in the gauntlet, we had Monogreen Devotion and Monoblue Devotion. Nothing really amazing there, but there were a few cards I really wanted to try, and maybe tweak the monoblue deck into something else. These cards were Hour of Need , Daring Thief and Battlefield Thaumaturge . I liked the possible interaction between Hour of Need and Elemental Tokens from Master of Waves . Also, trading the tokens for better creatures your opponent had would also be a good deal for you. But for that, you needed fast mana, and a way to enable the Thief. So I added Springleaf Drum s to the mix.

But hey, if you have drums, you want black and Pain Seer s. Oh yeah, these guys are good too. But adding Pain Seer s means less blue, so Master of Waves wouldn't be so impressive. Alright, no more Masters, let's add some inspired cards like Disciple of Deceit and a toolbox. And of course we're adding Triton Tactics ! We found out that a turn one Springleaf Drum into a turn two Pain Seer that you could protect with a Triton Tactics was a sick play. We also wanted to be able to trade stuff on the turn we played Daring Thief .

The toolbox cards we thought of were Boon of Erebos , Crypsis , Retraction Helix , Bile Blight , Drown in Sorrow , Hour of Need (became a one-of, and Thaumaturge got the boot), Hero's Downfall , and Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver .

We added one King Macar, the Gold-Cursed , because... you know, he could be good in an inspired deck. But it was four mana, so that was bothering us with Pain Seer s.

Early in the testing, we thought there was something to be found with that mechanics. The deck was fine, but it took forever to win, and you were never really safe. Some decks would scoop to Daring Thief or to one King Macar, the Gold-Cursed (we quickly added two of them). We weren't impressed with Ashiok as a one-of, even though it allowed to trade for an opposing planeswalker.

So we kept brewing. One night, we asked the question: What could help the deck win faster, and that doesn't cost too much? I left for five minutes. When I got back, I looked at Wafo and said: I think I have it. He said: me too. You first. No, you first. Ok, at the same time. 1,2,3 (Wafo and I together): "PLAY FOUR ASHIOK!" What followed was an incredible scene of Guillaume and me jumping in each other's arms with joy, cheering loud at our genius idea.

Well, it didn't quite happen that way, but we did find that the deck needed four Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver s. They would provide flesh to trade with Daring Thief , and a planeswalker to trade for Elspeths, while still being the threat midrange decks dread and without going too much "off course" with the deck.

From then on, Trey and I worked on the deck non-stop, trying to find the right one-ofs to look for.

We then left to Atlanta, where we would meet the rest of the team: Melissa DeTora, Vidianto Wijaya, and the Italians, Samuele Estratti and Emmanuele Giusti.

They all kinda liked the deck, but it was still missing something. Trey was very confident and we started to draw sideboard plans. We wanted Prognostic Sphinxes in the sideboard to bring in against Midrange and Control. In fact, it was coming in against most matchups. But we were reluctant to bring it in main because of Pain Seer ...

A few days before the Pro Tour, Jérémy decided that he would look seriously into it. With his fresh new look at the deck he said: "Take out all the crappy 1/3s that don't do anything (the Disciple of Deceit ), all the one-of's, and replace them with real cards." So he added Prognostic Sphinxes main and a few Hero's Downfall s.

The deck finally looked like a real contender in the format. After a few more hours of brewing, testing and tweaking, this is the list we ended up with:

The deck is trying to control the game, sometimes by "hardlocking" your opponent and attacking from very different angles. It uses your opponent's threats against them, using the inspired mechanic in the process. The Creatures:

4 Pain Seer 4 Daring Thief 2 King Macar, the Gold-Cursed

These inspired creatures provide card advantage and a way to control the game with undercosted cards.

The Pain Seer does something only a few cards in the format do. If you are the control/midrange player, you want to have a drawing engine. When we tried UB control, we saw that it had problem sustaining resources when the game was starting to last. Divination s and Fonts of Fortune don't quite do it, so it had to come from somewhere else. Along with Springleaf Drum , Pain Seer can start drawing you an extra card a turn from turn three if not dealt with. The life loss is usually irrelevant, except against aggro decks. The metagame may vary depending on the tournament you play in, but the upcoming GP might just be all midrange with decks from the PT Top 8, and in that case, you won't mind losing life. Having five-drops in the deck might stop you from drawing after a while as you don't want to take the risk yourself by revealing a Sphinx or a Macar, but in these situations, you can always scry with either Temple of Deceit , Omenspeaker or even Prognostic Sphinx to make sure you don't hit something too big.

Daring Thief is the reason why I wanted to play the deck in the first place. When I asked around for cards, people said they looked at the card before packing their stuff for the trip and said "naaah, probably not worth taking, no one's ever gonna play that. " This card is amazing. The 2/3 body might not be super impressive, but it survives a Magma Jet , can block a Courser of Kruphix without dying, and also attacks into one without dying. It will attack if it needs to be tapped (or just to Deal Damage ) or get tapped for mana with a drum. It's very hard to play around it, especially when you can switch control at instant speed thanks to Triton Tactics . It's an answer to almost every threat in the format, Planeswalkers and even Prognostic Sphinx : you can trade your Ashiok for an Elspeth, which usually will take care of your old Ashiok, and Prognostic Sphinx just isn't as good if its controller needs to discard a card every turn to keep it on his side of the table.

King Macar is the other house of the deck. Just like Daring Thief , a 2/3 body is pretty much what you need for it to survive long enough to do his deeds. Sure, an extra point of toughness would have been nice to dodge Lightning Strike and Bile Blight , but you have Triton Tactics to save them from that anyway. Once in play, and if not dealt with, it becomes really hard for your opponent to kill you with creatures. Just like Daring Thief , it's a nightmare to protect your Sphinx against it. It makes quick work of all the green guys such as Polis Crusher and Polukranos which don't have any kind of protection against it. The Gold provided by his cursed touch will actually be relevant. When you get to steal cards (with Daring Thief of Ashiok), you sometimes want to use their ability as well. Your Swamps and Islands don't always provide the right colors, and along with the colored mana you get from Springleaf Drum , you'll be reliably able to activate abilities such as: monstrosity of Polukranos, Polis Crusher , Stormbreath Dragon , Fleecemane Lion , giving hexproof a Reaper of the Wild, activating an Underworld Coinsmith ...

4 Omenspeaker 3 Brain Maggot

The deck needs cheap creatures to play the drum early in the game and to give away for something better. You can't really trade your Daring Thief or your Macar away, you need to make the deal as unfair as possible. Swapping a 1/3 with no abilities is the best you could do.

I personally love Omenspeaker . With so few lands in your deck (22), you need to be able to dig for them. The three toughness blocks Courser of Kruphix and all the one-drops from Monoblack and Monored decks. It gives you ways to make sure you choose your draws for Pain Seer . I don't think there's a two-drop that fits the deck better than Omenspeaker .

Brain Maggot is a creature you are less happy to trade as it will be banging on your defense as soon as it joins the opponent's side. You'll block it whenever it's necessary but you'll be freeing the card it's been keeping captive. Usually, not a big deal, but it can definitely be an issue in some games. The main purpose of the Maggot is to protect your team by providing some disruption and allowing you to look at your opponent's hand (and take one card away for a bit).

3 Prognostic Sphinx

Early in the testings, we identified Prognostic Sphinx to be the threat of the format. It was only late in the deckbuilding process that it joined the ranks of the gangster mob. Some decks just can't deal with that guy. It's a resilient way to attack for three, attack planeswalkers, and give you a business draw every turn. Definitely worth the risk of taking five with Pain Seer . The Tricks:

4 Springleaf Drum 4 Triton Tactics

Both of these cards help the Inspire mechanic.

Springleaf Drum is the "Mox" of the format. All Midrange decks need a way to provide mana from something else than lands or just to ramp. All the green-based decks have access to Sylvan Caryatid ; GTA has access to Springleaf Drum . It allows you to play a lower number of lands, enables your Inspire creatures on the turn after you cast them (or on the same turn if you have Triton Tactics ). It fixes your mana in case you only have black or blue ( Pain Seer would give you blue mana, an Omenspeaker would give you black). Being able to play a Prognostic Sphinx on turn four is also nice.

Triton Tactics is the trick of the deck. While it might seem cute, it does a lot of different things: it untaps your inspired creatures, allows you to trigger them the turn you play them, protects them from Bile Blight , Anger of the Gods and all red direct damage spells, buys you a lot of time against aggressive decks when you block... The Planeswalker:

4 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

Ashiok is the main threat of the format. You can't play a deck that doesn't have at least four ways to kill it if you're not running creatures to attack it. That's one of the reasons most midrange and control deck play a combination of Banishing Light and Hero's Downfall . He will provide you with your opponent's creatures that you can eventually trade for bigger creatures.

It also helps you setting up the hardlock against green decks. Along with Brain Maggot s that make you see your opponent's hand and Courser of Kruphix played on the other side of the table, you can control your opponent's draws. Make sure you use Ashiok wisely. Let them draw their blanks and "Time Walk" them. If they are about to draw a business spell, mill them. If even after you mill them once, there's another business spell on top and if you have another Ashiok in hand, remember you can play it, get rid of your first Ashiok and mill again. Matchups

The week prior the Pro Tour, lists started to appear from Magic Online Daily Events. Lots of MonoBlack, lots of very aggressive decks. But it seemed that these decks were losing to the midrange decks. So we thought, players at the Pro Tour will want to have an edge against aggro and will work their way to win the midrange matchup. The plan was to feed on these strategies as the deck wasn't performing as well against Midrange as it was against super aggressive strategies. Monoblack is probably the only bad matchup, UW heroic might just be a coin flip, while pretty much all the Midrange decks are favorable.

-3 Brain Maggot -1 Bile Blight

+2 Thoughtseize +1 Prognostic Sphinx +1 Dissolve

This Matchup is very favorable. It doesn't mean you can't lose, but GTA is built to beat Naya Midrange. You easily take care of their threats while attacking from different angles. They have to kill your creatures - Pain Seer s, Daring Thieves and Macar - if they want to be anywhere in the game, and except against Banishing Light , Triton Tactics can save them. You can steal pretty much all their threats, including Elspeth, so they have to be extremely careful, and that often leads to mistakes from them. Your nut draw will work perfectly against them:

Turn 1: Land+Drum. Turn 2: Pain Seer . Tap Pain Seer and Drum, play Triton Tactics on Pain Seer to protect it from Lightning Strike or Magma Jet . Draw a card.

At the Pro Tour, people didn't see that one coming, and it felt goooood. You might want to board in an extra Thoughtseize on the draw. Purphoros and his Hammer are really the only things you should be really worried about.

Vs. Junk Constellation

-4 Triton Tactics -3 Brain Maggot s -1 Bile Blight -1 Omenspeaker

+2 Annul +1 Prognostic Sphinx +1 Dissolve +2 Feast of Dreams +3 Thoughtseize

This matchup is a little trickier, and when you lose it, it feels like you were so far behind and that the matchup is terrible. It's really not. The only thing you have to keep in check is Eidolon of Blossoms . Sometimes they play more creatures like Brain Maggot and Underworld Coinsmith and in that case, you want to keep your Bile Blight and even add one extra. You take out your own Brain Maggot s because they just die to a Doomwake Giant , which isn't that big of a deal otherwise.

Vs. Junk Reanimator

-4 Triton Tactics -1 Bile Blight -2 Omenspeaker

+2 Annul +1 Dissolve +1 Prognostic Sphinx +3 Thoughtseize

One of you best matchups as well. It gets very grindy, but you always come out on top.

Vs. Monored

-4 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver -1 Springleaf Drum -1 Prognostic Sphinx

+2 Annul +2 Feast of Dreams +2 Bile Blight

This aggressive deck is nowhere as big a problem as Monoblack. Omenspeaker nets you at least a trick from their part if they want to kill it. The only threat you have to worry about it Flamespeaker Shaman.

Sometimes they board in the "Big Red" version with Flame-Wreathed Phoenix , but that version doesn't perform very well against you.

Vs. UW Heroic

-4 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver -3 Prognostic Sphinx

+2 Annul +2 Bile Blight +2 Feast of Dreams +1 Thoughtseize

This matchup is mostly about God's Willing and your draw, at least in game one. Manage to deal with their lethal threat and you'll win. Stumbling on lands or on a color and you won't have a chance. After board, you want to board in as many removal spells as possible and control the board with either Macar or Daring Thief . Ashiok doesn't do much at all; the creatures you'll get won't help you defend yourself and you don't want to spend a turn casting it. Prognostic Sphinx doesn't block either and the fact that it costs five really is a problem in this matchup. Since they won't be killing your Pain Seer s, you want to draw from them as much as possible, hitting a five-drop can cost you a turn and the game.

Vs. Monoblack

-4 Triton Tactics -1 Prognostic Sphinx -4 Springleaf Drum s -1 Daring Thief

+4 Dark Betrayal +2 Feast of Dreams +2 Bile Blight +2 Annul

This matchup is tough. They kill your creatures and have a ton of pressure on the board. It gets a little better after board when you have 8+2 more spot removals. You have to manage your life total as tightly as possible and play around Herald of Torment and Mogis's Marauder almost all the time.

-4 Triton Tactics -1 Bile Blight

+3 Thoughtseize +1 Prognostic Sphinx +1 Dissolve

Pretty much like Naya, it feels the matchup is favorable as they have to deal with most of your threats. Daring Thief and Macar are great answers to Prognostic Sphinx , and you love it when you can see what they draw.

I finished 22nd at the PT, posting an 8-2 record with the deck, playing against: Monored, Junk Constellation, BUG twice, Naya twice, BG Constellation, UW Heroic twice (losing once) and Monoblack (losing that one).

I really loved playing the deck and would play the same list if I had to play the PT again. Five of my teammates decided to play the deck as well: Jérémy, Melissa, Elie, Vidi and Trey. Trey went 7-3 and Elie 6-4.

If you're planning to go to GP Manchester, it's definitely a deck you should look into. However, don't pick it up a day before the tournament; it's very, very hard to play. There are a ton of interactions and subtle plays that won't come naturally (the Ashiok activations for example). For now it seems the deck isn't viable in standard. Adding a third color (green?) with the help of dual lands might make it viable though. I haven't given it much thought yet, but I'm sure you will! But as soon as the format rotates, we might see it around.

I'd like to thank all the team for the hard work, including Trey for believing in the deck from the beginning and working hard on it and on the sideboard.

I'll be going home after GP Atlanta and I'll try to stream a daily or two with this deck, so if you haven't followed me yet, and want to see some GTA in action, do it now!

www.twitch.tv/raphaellevy

Facebook: www.facebook.com/raphael.levy.mtg Twitter: @Hahamoud

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What We Learned

Pro tour journey into nyx.

@RichStein13

May 19, 2014

6 min to read

Hipsters is proudly sponsored by:

Chapin vs. Duke. Kibler vs. Kastle. Juza vs. Stark. This is a tournament that needs no introduction.

Day One – King of the Hill

Friday in Atlanta kicked off with three rounds of  Theros/Born of the Gods/Journey into Nyx  booster draft. The coverage kicked off early following the draft and then moving onto feature matches. Text coverage was a bit slow to update with only the first round (Juza vs. Stark) published by the time the fourth round was underway.

The coverage filled the empty space between rounds with a variety of specials including Pro Player interviews, a break-down of the upcoming block constructed format, and a look at the top 25 pro rankings. As expected the focus was on the importance of team testing and interactions leading up to the tournament.

One of the biggest coverage improvements I noticed was a scrolling bar at the bottom in-between rounds. Before the first round of constructed, the list of 3-0 drafters was rolling along the bottom of my screen. Since the main coverage standings hadn’t been updated it was nice to see who was sitting at the top of the standings heading into the Theros block constructed portion.

Oh yeah, all day Friday included these cute little commercials advertising a special Conspiracy announcement following round 11 on Saturday. Kudos to Wizards for getting people to tune into parts of coverage they otherwise may not have.

Constructed kicked off with a high-profile feature match between Team Pantheon member Reid Duke and Pro Tour Hall of Fame member Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin (also supposedly of Team Pantheon though he was wearing a StarCityGames shirt). Chapin would win the epic match and go on to sweep the constructed portion of the day, finishing with a perfect 8-0-0 record.

Joining Chapin at the top was reigning player of the year Josh Utter-Leyton. Nipping at their heels with 7-1-0 records were Joel Larsson, Todd Anders, Darwin Kastle Mess, Andrea Mengucci, Reid Duke, Ricar Sanchez Garrido, Marcelino Freeman, Jared Boettcher, and Andrew Baeckstrom. Surprisingly missing the cut to play in day two were (11) Shaun McLaren (16) Jacob Wilson, both from Canada, and Melissa DeTora and Christian Calcano also missed the cut.

King and Queen of the Hill

Day Two – Conspiracies

Saturday began with another round of  Theros/Born of the Gods/Journey into Nyx  drafting. The top table was absolutely stacked. Patrick Chapin. Josh Utter-Leyton. Darwin Kastle. Joel Larsson. Reid Duke. Ricardo Garrido. Andrea Mengucci. Todd Anderson. If you have any interest in analyzing limited play you’ll check out this draft viewer .

After the first round of draft, Chapin was sitting undefeated at 9-0-0 (he beat Josh Utter-Leyton in round nine). After the second round of draft, Chapin was sitting… well a little more defeated at 9-1-0 having lost to Reid Duke (you may recall Chapin defeating Duke on day one in constructed). The “Innovator” was not phased and finished the draft portion 2-1-0 for a 10-1-0 record after the 11th round.

Also following the 11th round was this:

That’s right. Conspiracy season is now in full swing. The kind folks over at Reddit compiled a list of the reprints  and the new stuff  that was spoiled in the video. Obviously the big news is the reprinting of Brainstorm and Swords to Plowshares along with the reveal of the new Conspiracy card type. All-in-all this looks like an absolute blast to draft. We’re now less than a month from the release. Don’t miss it.

The rest of day two held two incredible stories. The first was Patrick Chapin’s continued domination, finishing the day with a 13-2-1 record, good enough for first overall. The more impressive story is that of South Korea’s Sung Wook Nam. Nam finished the first day with 15 points, already sitting on three losses. But then he won round 9. And then round 10. And 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Seven straight wins allowed him to finish off an amazing day two by drawing into the top 8.

Top Eight – The King Reigns Supreme

Pro Tour Journey into Nyx – Top 8

The first thing we learned from the final tables of the Pro Tour is that Courser of Kruphix is a good card in  Theros  block constructed. Then we learned that Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is even better. Seven of the top eight decks were running Courser. The only player without it was Stanislav Cifka playing RW Heroes. Cifka lost in the quarterfinals to Josh Utter-Leyton who was running Courser.

Four players were running Elspeth. Chapin, Wook, Mengucci, and Ichikawa. Chapin and Wook both advanced against players without Elspeth while Mengucci defeated Ichikawa. Then Chapin defeated the Elspeth-less Josh Utter-Leyton while the South Korean Nam Sung Wook continued his amazing streak , defeating Menguicci’s red/green deck which splashed white for Elspeth. The finals featured an epic Elspeth vs. Elspeth duel, really highlighting how powerful and dominating a six-mana white planeswalker can be. When the dust settled, The Innovator was still The King.

Nyx. The Final Frontier.

Khans of Tarkir

Oh yeah. After the quarterfinals on Sunday we learned a bit about the fall set, previously code-named “Huey.” Here’s the short video reveal:

Very exciting stuff. Obviously we’ll be going to the homeland of Sarkhan Vol , dragon-master-slash-planeswalker extraordinaire. We don’t know very much, but here’s what we’ve been told:

• The set releases on September 26th, 2014
• Mark Rosewater is the lead designer
• Erik Lauer is the lead developer
• The Rosewater/Lauer pair also brought us Innistrad and Theros
• There will be “something old” and “something new” in the set
• The block format will be large-small-large (similar to Innistrad)

Personally, I hope the “something old” isn’t contraptions or horsemanship because those are both a pain. I have no idea what they’ll be, but expect something unexpected. No, not banding. Not that unexpected.

The Quick Hits

• If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about WotC OP director Helene Bergerot, you won’t want to miss out on this podcast [ The Deck Tease ]
• In case you missed it, here is the deck list for the Modern Event Deck [ Magic Arcana ]
• Mark Nestico encourages us all to take chances when brewing decks, and not to worry about negative criticisms [ StarCityGames ]
• Wizards has your monthly FNM Promo update, adding Bile Blight to the mix for July. Not a bad addition as this is a popular card against tribal in casual formats [ Magic Arcana ]

Wallpaper of the  Week

Conspiracies afoot!

The Week Ahead

Now it’s time to digest everything we learned this weekend. Some of us will be pouring over the Pro Tour results, surely trying to predict the post-rotation Standard environment coming this fall. Others will be gearing up for the Conspiracy release, only three weeks away now. Finally, there will be the self-proclaimed Nostradamus among us trying to guess at what Khans of Tarkir holds in store for us. Oh, and if none of that floats your boat, there’s a Grand Prix tournament in Atlanta just a few days from now!  Theros  block limited is the format. Don’t miss the exciting post-Pro Tour coverage.

What We Learned is a weekly feature here at Hipsters of the Coast written by former amateur Magic Player Rich Stein, who came really close to making day two of a Grand Prix on several occasions. Each week we will take a look at the past seven days of major events, big news items, and community happenings so that you can keep up-to-date on all the latest and greatest Magic: the Gathering community news.

Don't Miss Out!

Sign up for the Hipsters Newsletter for weekly updates.

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The Rise—and Return—of Stanislav Cifka

Stanislav Cifka knows Magic . Eight years ago his career kicked into high gear, culminating with a win at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica that cemented him as a player with incredible technical skills at the highest level of play.

Stanislav Cifka, Pro Tour Return to Ravnica

Then, he was gone. Magic continued to grow—thrive—with new champions rising to the top of the game. But Cifka hadn't disappeared, and he wasn't done competing. His journey to the top, and now battling to be right back there again, underscores Cifka as a commensurate competitor.

"Like lots of other people, I first picked up Magic during high school, but back then I wasn't taking it too seriously and rather focused on chess." Cifka said. Becoming ranked as FIDE Master was the just the start of his success with competitive gaming. Despite break from Magic , great strategy and high level competition has a way of attracting his interest. "The turning point came in 2011 when Martin Jůza invited me to hang out with some friends for a week that concluded with Grand Prix Prague, which got me really hooked and translated into memories and friendships that are still lasting today."

The depth and skill of competitive Magic had hooked Cifka, and his quest to rise up was rewarded as he battled his way through events.

"In the following year I finished in Top 4 of Nationals, Top 32 at Worlds, and cemented Platinum with Top 32 at Pro Tour Avacyn Restored in Barcelona." Cifka said. "Right after that came what is probably my biggest Magic success to date: Taking down Pro Tour Return to Ravnica with the infamous Eggs deck."

Cifka enjoyed winning with the complicated, sequential "Eggs" combo deck.

Cifka continued on his path of success, earning two more Grand Prix Top 8s and a second Mythic Championship Top 8 at Pro Tour Journey into Nyx in Atlanta. Then, it seemed like he vanished from the top of Magic .

"A couple years as Platinum pro followed until Hearthstone got released, right at the time when streaming was becoming a big thing." Cifka said. "This idea of having an electronic game and an awesome platform to share it really caught my interest. Once again what tipped the scales was visiting an event, this time Dreamhack Bucharest. There I met and made friends with a number of people that have since become legendary across many games and social media channels, people I'm still very fond of even nowadays even though I get to meet them rather rarely."

Another game, Hearthstone , had grabbed him by the lapels. Like with Magic , Cifka rose through the ranks and found success in the emerging competitive space it offered. But it couldn't hold him forever.

"The peak of my Hearthstone career was probably winning Hearthstone Global Games with the Czech national team." Cifka said. "Forward to 2018, Magic managed to find its way back to me in the form of Silver Showcase but around that time I also got into Artifact beta. I really fell in love with the game and what its background was offering. I spent a huge chunk of my time preparing for its release, in the hopes it would become the next big thing. Unfortunately, reality hit a little bit harder this time, so early this year I called it quits."

Cifka is always seeking the right kind of challenge. One game—chess—has remained part of Cifka's routine throughout the years. "I still play a couple games daily when I want to do something other than cards and I've managed to maintain my master Elo rating."

Then Magic made its ways back to Cifka.

"And since I wasn't too happy with the place Hearthstone was in anymore, I decided to not come back and look for other options." Cifka said. "I spent my days on autobattlers, visited the World Series of Poker, and since Ondřej Stráský got to both the Mythic Invitational and Mythic Championship III in Las Vegas, I also invested some time into playtesting and playing qualifiers on MTG Arena . Then, one Kethis Combo deck and one Mythic Championship later, here we are."

Cifka at Mythic Championship V.

Cifka took his MCQW entry to Mythic Championship V all the way to a third Mythic Championship Top 8.

Finished 5th at #MythicChampionshipV , I feel I did solid work during preparation and tournament, but there is still room for an improvement, so maybe next time? :) And gratz to our Champion @JavierDmagic !!!🙂🙂🙂 — Stanislav Cifka (@StanCifka) October 21, 2019

Getting that Mythic Championship invite came as part of his work alongside Stráský, and teaming up with Jůza led to excellent Day One performances there.

Ez gg https://t.co/Cm4S2tPiLq — Ondřej Stráský (@OndrejStrasky) October 19, 2019

Collaborating with friends—playing a great game—is part of how Cifka has stayed dominant wherever he's put his focus. "The Czech House" is where both Stráský and Cifka live, alongside more players, who put in the time to dominate competitions.

This is the list I played to 8-2 record today. @StanCifka and @IvanFloch_ broke the format in half again! Will post sideboard guide tomorrow after the #MCQW is over! pic.twitter.com/kWudQgRThi — Ondřej Stráský (@OndrejStrasky) August 17, 2019

The history of their house and friendship reaches back years. "There's four of us: myself, Ondřej, Jan Kotrla (KK) and Ivan Floch. We first moved in together five years ago when we had an idea to for a streaming team along with Lucas Blohon, but it fell apart pretty quickly and I went on to try and established myself as a Hearthstone pro instead." Cifka said, listing two fellow Mythic Championship winners (Floch and Blohon) as well as a future one (Stráský). "Ondřej, KK, and I kind of clicked and stayed together, then Ivan joined us again when we got a larger place to stay while Lucas got married and went his own way."

"I think the cornerstone of our process is smart planning and hard work. We try to assign tasks efficiently and then put the hours in, while providing feedback to others even if they're not necessarily working on the same thing." Cifka explained. "Typically, I would be the one trying out a lot of new stuff and taking care of the deckbuilding process. Whenever I'm onto something, I pass it to others for larger sample size. Sometimes we ditch it, sometimes it's fun and fresh so Ondřej is able to present it on stream, and sometimes it's broken so we polish it for the next event."

Cifka is both a cerebral, and strong, opponent to face.

Collaborating isn't exclusive to their residence—both Stráský and Kortla are making the trip to Mythic Championship VII to support their housemate. Kortla, who has been alongside him throughout the years, is closer to family than simple friend for Cifka.

"My family has always supported me in my decisions. They also follow coverage and watch my matches, which I value very much." Cifka said. "My friend KK (Jan Kotrla) has been around from almost the beginning together when we started playing Hearthstone competitively. Since I've signed my first professional contract, he has shifted to managing a broad sort of things from IT stuff and graphic designs, to smallest ones like travel arrangements. Not having to worry about any of that is what let me focus solely on my game and really helped me grow as a player over past couple years."

Through it all—the house, the friends, the variety of games from and leading back to Magic —Cifka has maintained his skills and tenacity to be one of any game's best.

And it's obvious what he wants now.

"The next step is to make it to the MPL during the shortened season next year. Then, well, it's a long way to go but let's say when I do something I strive to be the very best."

With a post-Oko Standard and a house built on breaking formats, Cifka is a Challenger poised to reclaim his spot at the top of the game. Don't miss a minute of the action all weekend when the Mythic Championship VII broadcast kicks off December 6 at 9 a.m. PST / 12 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. UTC at Twitch.tv/magic .

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Reid Duke is an American professional player from Sugar Loaf, New York. He won the Magic Online Championship in 2011 and Pro Tour Phyrexia in 2023. [3] He has four Pro Tour top eight finishes, at PT Journey into Nyx , [4] PT Eldritch Moon , PT Rivals of Ixalan , and Mythic Championship Cleveland 2019 . Other results include a runner-up finish at the 2013 World Championships as well as wins at GP Nashville 2012, GP Miami 2013, GP Portland 2014, GP Oakland 2016, GP Louisville 2017, and GP Cleveland 2017. He also was a columnist for Magicthegathering.com , writing the article series "Level One". [5] These were also released as an e-book. [6]

• 1.1 Beginnings
• 1.2 Rising stardom
• 1.3 Breakthrough performances
• 1.4 GP Richmond 2018, aka GP Reid Duke
• 1.5 Magic Pro League Era
• 1.6 Premier Play Era
• 2.1 Accomplishments
• 2.2 Pro Tour Results
• 3 Other Magic -related work
• 4 External links
• 5 References

Professional play [ | ]

Beginnings [ | ].

Reid Duke started playing in 1995, at age five, with his brother Ian Duke , [7] who is now a member of Magic R&D at Wizards of the Coast , and his cousin Logan Nettles , also a prolific and successful competitive player. For a time, he was primarily a Magic Online player, but made the transition to in-person competitive play. He qualified for Pro Tour Amsterdam 2010 via rating, [8] and won a Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS) event to qualify for the 2010 Magic Online World Championship, where he finished 5th, [9] as well as the 2010 Magic: The Gathering World Championships in Chiba, Japan. Although his finishes in his first Pro Tours were unspectacular, he has not missed a Pro Tour since Amsterdam 2010.

Rising stardom [ | ]

Duke first experienced success at paper Magic in 2011, when he reached the top eight of two Grand Prix events: Grand Prix Providence, where he finished fourth, and Grand Prix Montreal, where he finished fifth. He also won another MOCS event to requalify him for the Magic Online Championship, this year held in San Francisco concurrently with the 2011 World Championships. Duke ended up winning the event, defeating Florian Pils in the final. [3] This qualified him for the inaugural Players Championship event (later renamed the Magic World Championship). At Pro Tour Dark Ascension in Honolulu, Duke finished in the money at a Pro Tour for the first time, placing 38th. [10] From here, he would go on to finish in the money in eight consecutive Pro Tours. He also won his first Grand Prix when he defeated Todd Anderson in the final of Grand Prix Nashville. [11] He has since 2012 been a part of the team now known as The Pantheon , alongside players such as Jon Finkel , Kai Budde , and Gabriel Nassif . [12]

The 2012 Magic Players Championship did not go well for Duke; he finished the event with a 2–10 record, taking last place. [13] Following this failure, Duke made it his mission to redeem himself by qualifying for next year's event and putting up a better performance, [2] even going so far as to write down the mistakes he made in the tournament. [14] Thanks to three Grand Prix top eight finishes, in Charleston, San Antonio and Quebec City, as well as stellar performance on the Pro Tour, he succeeded in requalifying for the World Championship when he finished 9th at Pro Tour Dragon's Maze in San Diego. [15] He finished the 2012–13 season on 52 Pro Points, which was also sufficient for Platinum membership in the Pro Players Club .

Breakthrough performances [ | ]

Duke started the 2013–14 season well, winning his second Grand Prix, at GP Miami. [16] Duke went on to dominate the Swiss rounds of the 2013 World Championship, finishing in first place before the knockout rounds. [17] Duke faced Josh Utter-Leyton in the semifinals, defeating him 3–2. He was considered a substantial favorite against his final opponent, Shahar Shenhar , and did indeed take a 2–0 lead in the best-of-five match, but Shenhar came all the way back to beat Duke 3–2 in an upset. [18] Duke thus took second place in the event. He put up three more Grand Prix top eight finishes during the season, in Detroit, Barcelona and Philadelphia, before finally posting a top eight performance at a Pro Tour. At Pro Tour Journey into Nyx in Atlanta, Duke finished fifth, losing in the quarterfinals to Yuuki Ichikawa . [4] At this point, he was in position to win the 2013–14 Player of the Year title, but ultimately this was won by Jérémy Dezani . He was also overtaken by teammate Owen Turtenwald for captainship of the United States national team at the 2014 World Magic Cup when the latter made the top eight of the final event of the season, Pro Tour Magic 2015 .

The 2014–15 season started well for Duke, with him and his Peach Garden Oath teammates Owen Turtenwald and William Jensen winning the very first Grand Prix of the season, Grand Prix Portland. [19] At the 2014 World Championship , however, Duke posted a modest 14th-place finish, and his Pro Tour results throughout the season were average. He managed to reach two Grand Prix top eights, in Singapore and Montreal, towards the end of the season to retain Platinum status, but he did not qualify for the 2015 World Championship . In February 2015, Duke came close to a MOCS event trophy for the third time, but lost in the final. [20]

After failing to qualify for the 2015 World Championship, Duke had a much better 2015–16 season that included Grand Prix top eight finishes in Detroit; Quebec City; Washington, D.C.; and Barcelona, plus a win at GP Oakland. He was in the running for Grand Prix Player of the Year for almost the entire season, but ultimately the title went to Brian Braun-Duin . Duke still qualified for the 2016 World Championship , however, as his Pro Tour finishes were stellar. He came close to a second top eight at Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar , but lost in the last round to finish 19th. He would still get his second Pro Tour top eight, as he finished seventh at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon , the last event of the season.

2016–17 was also a strong season for Duke. He posted his fifth and sixth Grand Prix victories, at GP Louisville and at GP Cleveland (as a member of the Peach Garden Oath ), and while he didn't add to his tally of Pro Tour top eights, he posted stellar finishes, including a 10th-place, a 20th-place, and a 37th-place. This resulted in third-place overall in the Player of the Year race, and as the highest ranking American, qualification to the 2017 World Magic Cup as a member of the United States national team, where they finished 13th. Duke had strong Pro Tour finishes in 2017–18 as well, cashing all events and posting his third Pro Tour top eight at PT Rivals of Ixalan .

GP Richmond 2018, aka GP Reid Duke [ | ]

Towards the end of the season, Duke was in a three-person race for the Player of the Year title against Seth Manfield and Luis Salvatto . Due to an unusual structure, the last Pro Tour of the season was not the last event, which led to a unique Grand Prix coverage experience in Richmond, known to the community as "GP Reid Duke". Duke was scheduled to commentate the event, but upon realising his relative position to his rivals he attempted to withdraw; as an experiment and a compromise, Duke was featured in every round of the event as he competed, with either Marshall Sutcliffe or the second coverage pair commentating with Duke's hand and table audio. While the experiment was a success with the community as an innovative approach to coverage, Duke gained no ground on the weekend, with Manfield adding two points and Salvatto adding one. The last chance event was in Stockholm, but he couldn't add any points, and Salvatto won at PT Guilds of Ravnica after tying Manfield during Stockholm. That said, Duke's team's performance at the season's Pro Tours was good enough to qualify them for the Team Series finals in Las Vegas, where they ended up taking down the Hareruya Latin team to claim the title.

Magic Pro League Era [ | ]

In December 2018, it was announced that Duke would be one of the 32 players joining the 2019 Magic Pro League . He was also voted into the Hall of Fame in 2019, the last inductee as of yet. Because he finished in the Top 20 in the 2019 Magic Pro League , he could continue in the 2020 Season , but was relegated to the Rivals League for the final 2021 season.

Premier Play Era [ | ]

In the revamped Premier Play Era, Duke was the first winner of Pro Tour, defeating Benton Madsen in the Pro Tour Phyrexia in February 2023. This was his first Pro Tour Championship. [21] [22] He missed a back-to-back result on the last round of Pro Tour March of the Machine against David Olsen, but converted his Worlds invite into another Top Finish. Duke trailed Simon Nielsen for Player of the Year by a match going into the Top 8 and ended the race at second when he was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

League play [ | ]

Accomplishments [ | ].

→ Source: Wizards.com

Pro Tour Results [ | ]

Other magic -related work [ | ].

Reid Duke was a Star City Games columnist from December 2010 to January 2014, at which point he started producing content for ChannelFireball in the form of articles and Magic Online videos. He was also a columnist at Magicthegathering.com, writing the article series "Level One" in 2015. In recent years, he has been a frequent color commentator at Grand Prix coverage , including Grand Prix Richmond 2018, where he famously both played the event and provided play-by-play commentary, and all of his matches were covered. [23]

External links [ | ]

• Lifetime Top Finishes
• Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s
• Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders * Reid Duke's column archive at ChannelFireball.com
• Reid Duke's column archive at Star City Games
• Reid Duke's column archive at Magicthegathering.com
• Reid Duke's Twitch channel

References [ | ]

• ↑ Player Profile: Reid Duke . Wizards of the Coast . Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ a b Player Profile: Reid Duke . Wizards of the Coast (2013-08-04). Retrieved on 2014-05-26.
• ↑ a b 2011 Magic Online Championship Final . Wizards of the Coast (2011-11-19). Retrieved on 2014-05-26.
• ↑ a b Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx Coverage . Wizards of the Coast (2014-05-18). Retrieved on 2014-09-03.
• ↑ Reid Duke (October 5, 2015). " Level One: The Full Course ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
• ↑ Blake Rasmussen (December 10, 2015). " Best of 2015 and Holiday Treats ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
• ↑ Player Profile: Reid Duke . Wizards of the Coast (2012-12-17). Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Pro Tour–Amsterdam 2010 Invitation List . Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Magic Online World Championship Standings . Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ 2012 Pro Tour Dark Ascension Final Standings . Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Duke is King of Nashville . Wizards of the Coast (2012-03-18). Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Team Pantheon . ChannelFireball. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Magic Players Championship 2012 Round 12 Standings . Wizards of the Coast (2012-08-29). Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Kar Yung Tom (2013-03-13). " Captain’s Log #3 – It’s a Process ". Manadeprived. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Pro Tour Dragon's Maze Final Standings . Wizards of the Coast (2013-05-19). Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Duke Draws Blood in Miami . Wizards of the Coast (2013-06-30). Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Magic World Championship Round 12 Standings . Wizards of the Coast (2013-08-01). Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Josh Bennett (2013-08-04). " Finals: Comeback of the Ages ". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ THE PANTHEON CONQUERS PORTLAND . Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Reid Duke (2015-02-23). " DRAFT WALKTHROUGH ". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-08-11.
• ↑ Corbin Hosler (February 20, 2023). " Pro Tour Phyrexia Finals ". Magic.gg .
• ↑ Corbin Hosler (March 1, 2023). " A Legendary Win for a Legendary Player ". Magic.gg .
• ↑ Cameron Kunzelman (2018-09-01). " Magic: The Gathering's Pro-Focused Broadcast Experiment Is Paying Off ". Kotaku. Retrieved on 2018-09-03.
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