The Elite Eight: Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ Top 8 Revealed
After three days of intense competition in Las Vegas, a starting field of over 300 skilled players has been narrowed down to the final eight competitors. These elite players have battled through demanding rounds of both Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Draft and Standard Constructed, showcasing mastery of the format’s top strategies. Congratulations to the Top 8 of Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY, who secured their spots on June 20, 2025, and will compete for the coveted trophy!
Notably, the Top 8 features a perfect split between the two most dominant archetypes that emerged from the sprawling Standard metagame: four players on Izzet Prowess and four players on Mono-Red Aggro. While Izzet Prowess represented a staggering 42.3% of the initial field – the highest share for any deck at a Pro Tour since 2023 – Mono-Red Aggro, though less numerous initially, proved its mettle by successfully navigating the competitive landscape to claim an equal number of Top 8 berths.
Let’s meet the players who rose to the top and the decks that carried them there.
Meet the Top 8 Competitors
Here are the eight players who will clash on Sunday, detailing their path to the Top 8 and the archetypes they piloted:
Christian Baker (Izzet Prowess)
Coming to Las Vegas after qualifying through a Regional Championship, Christian Baker aimed simply to qualify for the next Pro Tour. He exceeded expectations dramatically by going undefeated on Day One of the event, a rare feat in a field of this size. Despite facing challenges on Day Two, he recovered to secure a seat in the Top 8 and an invitation to the World Championship 31. Baker piloted Izzet Prowess, the tournament’s most popular deck, showcasing the power of its aggressive spell-based strategy in experienced hands.
Percy Fang (Mono-Red Aggro)
A player on the rise, Percy Fang adds a Pro Tour Top 8 to recent successes on the Regional Championship circuit and MTG Arena, having qualified for this event through Arena Championship 8. Fang boasts an impressive 34-10-1 record across recent major events, achieved largely with the streamlined Mono-Red Aggro list he helped refine. His consistent performance with the deck highlights its raw power and speed in the current Standard format, making him a dangerous opponent for any adversary.
Andy Garcia-Romo (Mono-Red Aggro)
Andy Garcia-Romo’s journey to the Top 8 was a dramatic one, securing the final spot by the narrowest of tiebreaker margins. After starting Standard play 3-2 following a perfect 3-0 record in Day One Draft, he staged an incredible comeback. Garcia-Romo went 5-1 overall in draft rounds and closed out Day Two with a crucial four-match win streak in Standard, demonstrating remarkable resilience and focus with his Mono-Red Aggro deck when it mattered most.
Yuchen Liu (Mono-Red Aggro)
Following a nail-biting finish to make Top 8 at Pro Tour Aetherdrift, Yuchen Liu returns for his second consecutive Pro Tour Top 8 appearance, this time clinching his spot decisively in the penultimate round. While many gravitated towards the ubiquitous Izzet Prowess, Liu opted for the raw speed and efficiency of Mono-Red Aggro, using its aggressive tools to blitz through the competition all weekend. With back-to-back Top 8s, Liu is poised to potentially claim his first Pro Tour title.
Toni Portolan (Izzet Prowess)
A distinguished competitor from Croatia with multiple team World Championship appearances, Toni Portolan achieved his primary seasonal goal by making the Top 8 here: locking in invitations to both the next Pro Tour (Edge of Eternities) and Magic World Championship 31. He qualified for this Pro Tour with a strong 11-5 finish at Pro Tour Aetherdrift and continued his success by skillfully navigating the field with Izzet Prowess, proving his ability to perform consistently at the highest level.
Ian Robb (Izzet Prowess)
Ian Robb makes his second consecutive Pro Tour Top 8 appearance, having earned invitations to this event and World Championship 31 with his Top 8 finish at Pro Tour Aetherdrift. Robb successfully repeated this impressive feat, once again reaching the Sunday stage. He wielded Izzet Prowess, the most popular archetype in the tournament, demonstrating that in the hands of a veteran player, the deck’s powerful combination of spell synergies and creature threats is exceptionally difficult to overcome.
David Rood (Izzet Prowess)
Bringing decades of experience to the battlefield, including a team Pro Tour win in 2004 and a finals appearance in 2002, David Rood makes his return to the Pro Tour Sunday stage for the third time (including team events). Qualified via a strong finish at a Canadian Regional Championship, Rood utilized the weekend’s most prevalent deck, Izzet Prowess, to navigate the complex meta. His deep understanding of the game and sharp play with the powerful archetype have earned him a shot at adding an individual Pro Tour trophy to his storied career achievements.
Ken Yukuhiro (Mono-Red Aggro)
Ken Yukuhiro is a Pro Tour legend, making his astounding eighth career Pro Tour Top 8 appearance – a testament to his enduring skill and innovative approach. While many players opt for the most statistically dominant strategies, Yukuhiro is known for his willingness to play unexpected decks. In Las Vegas, he chose Mono-Red Aggro over the more popular Izzet Prowess, putting on a masterclass in aggressive play to tear through the field. As one of the first players to clinch his Top 8 spot, the question is if his signature speed can carry him all the way to victory.
Navigating the Pro Tour Meta
The path to the Top 8 demanded mastery of both the unique Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Draft format and a Standard environment heavily shaped by powerful cards and archetypes. While Draft required patience and adaptability to find open colors and leverage strong removal like Sephiroth’s Intervention, the Standard portion was largely defined by the presence of Izzet Prowess. Driven by cards like Cori-Steel Cutter, efficient cantrips, and the widespread adoption of Vivi Ornitier (appearing in over 90% of Izzet lists and offering immunity to key hate cards like Temporary Lockdown), Izzet was the deck to beat.
However, the strong showing of Mono-Red Aggro in the Top 8 demonstrates its effectiveness as either a predatory counter-strategy or simply an equally powerful linear game plan. Players like Ken Yukuhiro and Percy Fang proved that the raw aggression, synergistic threats like Heartfire Hero and Manifold Mouse with Monstrous Rage, and targeted answers like Magebane Lizard (effective against Izzet) could consistently win matches against the top tiers.
Though the Top 8 solidified around these two powerhouses, the wider metagame saw attempts to challenge them. Decks like Azorius Omniscience (the second most popular choice initially) aimed to combo over aggressive strategies, while innovative approaches like Golgari Insidious Roots attempted to exploit different angles the top decks struggled to interact with. The fact that these diverse strategies ultimately fell short of the Top 8 underscores the sheer power and consistency that Izzet Prowess and Mono-Red Aggro brought to Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY.
The stage is set for a thrilling conclusion, as these eight accomplished players battle it out with the format’s two premier archetypes to determine who will lift the Pro Tour trophy.
