MagicCon: Las Vegas was already buzzing, but the energy reached a fever pitch as Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ entered its critical second day. From an initial field of over 300 elite competitors, including numerous Hall of Famers and champions, just 209 players had successfully navigated the challenging Day One to earn their seat for Saturday’s competition. Day Two is where strong performances can turn into legendary runs, with coveted Top 8 berths and invitations to future Pro Tours on the line.
The day’s structure mirrored Friday’s intensity: three rounds of Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY™ Booster Draft to kick things off, followed by five crucial rounds of Standard Constructed play. Christian Baker, who finished Day One as the sole undefeated player with a perfect 8-0 record fueled by a strong draft and the consensus best Standard deck in Izzet Prowess, led the pack heading into Saturday. However, with the field tightly bunched behind him, the race for the Top 8 was wide open.
Mastering the FINAL FANTASY™ Draft
The Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY™ Limited format has been praised as particularly deep and engaging. Extensive pre-tournament testing by pro teams indicated a balanced color landscape, meaning success in Draft relied less on forcing specific archetypes and more on patience and flexibility. The key strategy echoed by top players was to “stay open” through the early picks, waiting to identify the most available color pair at their seat before aggressively committing.
This patient approach rewarded players who could read signals effectively. Jody Keith exemplified this, following up a perfect 3-0 Draft on Friday with another successful Draft on Saturday, ultimately building a mono-black deck. Keith’s deck highlighted the power of black removal in the format, featuring high-priority cards like Cornered by Black Mages and Sephiroth’s Intervention. Similarly, Regional Championship winner Connor Mackenzie found success by focusing on the inherent efficiency of his mana curve, demonstrating the strength of straightforward, well-built decks.
Despite the format’s depth and complexity, achieving consistent success in Draft proved challenging. Out of the over 200 Day Two participants, only three players managed to secure a second perfect 3-0 Draft record for the weekend: Edgar Magalhaes, Ha Pham, and Ian Robb. Their success underscored the mastery required across multiple draft archetypes to truly stay open and adapt. By the time the final Draft round concluded, no player remained undefeated in the tournament, setting the stage for a dramatic Standard sprint to the Top 8.
The Standard Showdown: Izzet Dominance and Rogue Innovation
Heading into the Pro Tour, the Standard metagame was heavily influenced by the new cards from the FINAL FANTASY™ set and Tarkir: Dragonstorm, shifting the landscape significantly from the previous Pro Tour where Domain strategies were prominent. Pre-event analysis and Day One results confirmed Izzet Prowess, particularly leveraging the power of Cori-Steel Cutter, as the overwhelming favorite, accounting for a staggering portion of the field—the highest share for any deck since the Pro Tour’s return in 2023.
A crucial innovation for the dominant Izzet Prowess strategy was the widespread adoption of Vivi Ornitier. Despite initially appearing slow, over 90% of Izzet players in the field included the three-drop, with many hailing it as a game-changer. Vivi provided valuable resilience, notably against popular answers like Temporary Lockdown, and significantly improved the matchup against the second-most popular archetype, Azorius Omniscience combo.
However, the tournament also showcased the power of metagame prediction and skilled deck selection by players willing to diverge from the expected top tier. Pro Tour veteran Eli Kassis was a major proponent of a Golgari Insidious Roots deck within Team Handshake. Kassis explained his reasoning: avoiding being a target and leveraging favorable matchups. He highlighted the deck’s enchantment-based win condition as particularly problematic for Izzet Prowess, as their interaction options like Into the Flood Maw came at awkward costs, and their counterspells like Spell Pierce were difficult to hold up. Kassis reported strong team testing results against the expected field, ultimately finishing the Swiss rounds with an impressive 8-2 record, including a dominant 4-1 against Izzet.
Other notable “rogue” strategies making deep runs included Jody Keith’s Golgari Graveyard deck and Edgar Magalhaes’s piloting of Domain Overlords. While Domain was the winning strategy at the previous Pro Tour Aetherdrift, Magalhaes chose it here partly to improve his matchup against the increasingly popular Azorius Omniscience compared to traditional black midrange decks, leveraging insights from teammates like Reid Duke and Gab Nassif. Despite missing the Top 8 on tiebreakers, Magalhaes’s ninth-place finish demonstrated the enduring potential of the archetype with strong pilotage and team support.
Memorable Runs and Top 8 Contenders
As the Standard rounds progressed, several players distinguished themselves with memorable performances. Nick Odenheimer, champion of the first Magic Spotlight Series, continued his strong play piloting Izzet Prowess, securing his invitation to the next Pro Tour with a tense victory in Round 13. Odenheimer expressed immense happiness at his success in his first Pro Tour.
US Regional Champion Percy Fang also delivered another deep run with his signature Mono-Red deck, an archetype predicted pre-event to have a high win rate and a favorable matchup against decks like Domain Overlords (though Domain wasn’t as prevalent here). Fang, along with teammate Quinn Tonole, showcased the power of aggressive red strategies, with Fang ultimately making his way into the Top 8. Hall of Famers were also battling throughout Day Two; Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa finished a respectable 10-6 with an innovative Standard build, while Bob Maher delighted fans with a long undefeated run on Friday.
The Top 8 is Set
The race for the Top 8 reached its climax, with twelve wins guaranteeing a spot in Sunday’s single-elimination bracket. The first players to reach this benchmark in Round 14 were Ian Robb and Ken Yukuhiro. For Robb, piloting Izzet Prowess, it marked an incredible second consecutive Pro Tour Top 8 appearance. Yukuhiro, known for his rapid, exciting playstyle, secured his astounding eighth career Top Finish with Mono-Red.
Following Robb and Yukuhiro, the remaining spots were filled by Yuchen Liu, former Pro Tour winner David Rood, and the surging Regional Champion Percy Fang. The final three spots were determined by tiebreakers after the final round, setting the stage for Sunday’s finals.
The Top 8 of Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ features a powerful and historic split, showcasing the dominance of the format’s top archetypes:
Ken Yukuhiro (Mono-Red)
Ian Robb (Izzet Prowess)
David Rood (Izzet Prowess)
Percy Fang (Mono-Red)
Yuchen Liu (Mono-Red)
Toni Portolan (Izzet Prowess)
Christian Baker (Izzet Prowess)
Anthony Garcia-Romo (Mono-Red)
With an even 4-4 split between Izzet Prowess and Mono-Red, the stage is set for a thrilling conclusion as these eight players compete for the title of Pro Tour champion on Sunday morning.
