16 of the best Magic: The Gathering players competed in Honoloulu, Hawaii for the $1 million prize pool at the Magic World Championship XXVI, and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (PVDDR) won the whole three-day tournament played in the game's digital version, Magic: The Gathering Arena.
The Brazilian professional player wins the World Championship trophy, and the grand prize of $300,000, the biggest cash prize awarded in a Magic tournament ever. PVDDR dominated the tournament with his Blue/White Control Standard deck that launched him to the top of the upper bracket in Day 3 of the World Championship.
In the lower bracket, we saw Hall of Famers Gabriel Nassif and Seth Manfield battle it out to advance to the semifinals match against Portuguese player Marcio Carvalho. Manfield's Mono Red deck ended up winning that match but he lost in the semifinals against Carvalho.
It was PVDDR against Carvalho in the finals of the World Championship. Carvalho played the explosive Jeskai Fires deck, and he had to win three best-of-three matches to win the trophy, but Paulo only had to win two matches because he was in the winner's bracket.
PVDDR won the first best-of-three match, but Carvalho dominated the second match.
In the third best-of-three match, Paulo faced Carvalho's powerful creatures but was able to stabilize with his counterspells, and "Elspeth Conquers Death", taking over Game 1 of Match 3, but Carvalho made a more aggressive comeback with "Legion Warboss" and "Kenrith, the Returned King", and PVDDR couldn't find a "Shatter the Sky" (board-wipe card) to save him from Carvalho's lethal threats.
In Game 3 of Match 3, Carvalho deployed a "Tithe Taker" to give Paulo early damage, and PVDDR uses "Narset, Parter of Veils" to dig for answers against Carvalho's proactive threats. Carvalho gains advantage with Kenrith attacking with haste, but Carvalho's "Tithe Taker" is taxing him from playing "Mystical Dispute" to counter his next big threat. However, Carvalho couldn't find the land he needs to activate the ability of "Cavalier of Flames" to take down PVDDR's 7 remaining life total to 0. However, in the next turn, Carvalho was able to dig for the land he needed, but instead of going for the lethal attack with "Cavalier of Flames", Carvalho played a Kenrith with haste, and Carvalho was able to take over Match 3.
In the fourth and final match, Carvalho's "Bonecrusher Giant" dealt some early damage, but Paulo's "Archon of Sun's Grace" followed with "Elspeth Conquers Death" and other enchantments helped Archon create multiple 2/2 pegasus tokens. Paulo's "Thirst of Meaning" helped him draw more counterspells to control Game 1. Paulo countered "Cavalier of Flames" while making more pegasus tokens with "Omen of the Sea", turning the tides as the aggressor. Carvalho has "Cavalier of Flames" but he couldn't find "Deafening Clarion" to kill the pegasi. Paulo wins Game 1.
In Game 2, Carvalho drew a "Legion Warboss" in the opening hand but he didn't get red mana to play it. He also didn't have white mana to play "Tithe Taker". Carvalho continued to be unlucky and couldn't find red mana to play his spells. PVDDR's "Archon of Sun's Grace" and his pegasi tokens easily while Carvalho is powerless to stop him from taking the trophy!
Here's the decklist via the Twitch stream:
Here's the decklist that Carvalho played:
I've been rooting for Paulo since the beginning of the tournament!
Congrats to Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa for winning the Magic World Championship XXVI!
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