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Cory Burkhart Wins Magic: The Gathering Players Tour Phoenix


Over this weekend, Magic: The Gathering players from around the world at Players Tour Phoenix, Arizona for their share of the $250,000 prize pool, Players Points, and an invitation to the PT Finals this April. In the finals Sunday after, Cory Burkhart defeated Hall of Famer William "Huey" Jensen to win Players Tour Phoenix with his Blue/Black Inverter of Truths deck.

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

The 28-year-old American MTG professional player started the tournament at 2-3 and didn't lose another match. Burkhart was only the seventh player to make Top 8 after starting 2-3 in a 16-round Pro Tour/Mythic Championship/Players Tour event, out of 4682 opportunities.

In the top 8 bracket, Burkhart was paired against Peter Ingram in the quarterfinals for a Blue/Black Inverter mirror match, and after two games, he ended up winning thanks to Pack Rats.

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

Burkhart played against Zachary Kiihne (Mono-Red) in the semifinals, and ended up winning 2-0 thanks to his Inverter of Truth/Oracle of Thassa combo in both games.

The finals match against Jensen turned out to be a much easier match for Burkhart after Jensen mulliganed to four on Game 2.

Here's the Blue/Black Inverter deck Burkhart played:

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

This is Burkhart's first Pro Tour/Mythic Championship/Players Tour Top 8 and his first win, but he has nine Grand Prix Top 8s on his belt.

Congrats to Burkhart for winning the Players Tour Phoenix trophy and the $35,000 prize!

Related: MTG Designer Talks About Potential Changes in The Commander Format

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