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After three full days of intense competition, the Innistrad Championship has been decided. The first two days of the tournament, which was the first event of the 2021-22 MTG pro season, saw over 250 players compete in fifteen rounds of Swiss competition in the Standard and Historic formats to earn their place in the day three Historic playoff tournament.
The playoffs are now complete, and while Simon Görtzen breezed his way to the finals undefeated with his Izzet Phoenix list, it was Yuuki Ichikawa who managed to take the win after slogging through three Golgari Food matches.
Ichikawa, who ended the first day in rank 15, was one of four teammates from Japan to make it to the Top 8. He had to play four matches against his teammates in the playoffs, including two matches against Riku Kumagai; after losing to Kumagai in his second match, Ichikawa would rematch against Kumagai and win in the lower bracket.
This article is the final entry in MTGA Zone’s coverage of the Innistrad Championship. You can follow these links to view coverage from day one and day two, along with a review of the tournament’s metagame:
The Innistrad Championship has now concluded, but you can watch the complete replays of the live broadcast from each day of competition over at twitch.tv/magic.
We also encourage you to check out the detailed metagame statistics from both the Standard and Historic portions of the championship on mtgmeta.io.
Innistrad Championship: Final Standings
| Rank | Player | Historic Deck | Standard Deck | Swiss Record | Winnings (USD) |
| 1 | Yuuki Ichikawa | Golgari Food | Izzet Epiphany | 12-3 | $20,000 |
| 2 | Simon Görtzen | Izzet Phoenix | Mono Black Zombies | 12-3 | $15,000 |
| 3 | Riku Kumagai | Golgari Food | Izzet Epiphany | 11-4 | $11,000 |
| 4 | Toru Saito | Golgari Food | Izzet Epiphany | 12-3 | $9,000 |
| 5 | Zachary Kiihne | Izzet Phoenix | Izzet Epiphany | 12-3 | $6,500 |
| 6 | Yo Akaike | Jeskai Creativity | Izzet Epiphany | 11-4 | $6,500 |
| 7 | Christian Hauck | Selesnya Humans | Mono Green Aggro | 13-2 | $4,500 |
| 8 | Yuta Takahashi | Izzet Phoenix | Izzet Epiphany | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 9 | Sam Rolph | Jeskai Creativity | Dimir Control | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 10 | Andrey Zhilin | Izzet Phoenix | Izzet Control | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 11 | Tristan Wylde-LaRue | Izzet Phoenix | Izzet Epiphany | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 12 | Shahar Shenhar | Rakdos Arcanist | Izzet Dragons | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 13 | Futoshi Iwata | Rakdos Goblins | Izzet Epiphany | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 14 | Shota Yasooka | Jund Food | Izzet Epiphany | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 15 | Logan Nettles | Izzet Phoenix | Izzet Dragons | 11-4 | $4,500 |
| 16 | Tim MacSaveny | Dimir Control | Mono Green Aggro | 10-5 | $4,500 |
While there were two other archetypes to make it to the Top 8 (Selesnya Humans and Jeskai Creativity), the majority of the playoffs consisted of up battles including Izzet Phoenix and/or Golgari Food. The two archetypes were pitted against each other in five pairings including the finals. In something of an upset, the Golgari Food players managed to take the win in four out of the five face-offs.
Izzet Phoenix has long been considered one of the top archetypes in Historic, and while that’s certainly not going to be called much into question with three copies of the deck in the Top 8 and a 54.2% winrate, followers of the Historic format are absolutely going to be turning their attention to the Food decks – the Gogari variant in particular.
In the Standard portion of the tournament, perhaps the most eyebrow-raising result was Simon Görtzen piloting his Mono Black Zombies deck to a Top 8 finish. The Zombies archetype has been on the fringes of competitive Standard since the release of Midnight Hunt brought Champion of the Perished and other tools to the format, but perhaps the additional Zombie cards from Midnight Hunt have finally pushed the tribal deck over the edge.
The midrange-y Mono Black and Orzhov decks of the format have been known to be generally weak against Izzet Epiphany and other blue control decks, but with his spectacular run in the Swiss rounds, Görtzen has proven that the matchup can be won.
The other big upset that took place in Standard was the abysmal performance of Mono White Aggro decks in the field. Thought to be one of the best decks in the format, Mono White made up over 20% of the competition, but only had a 39.6% winrate and wound up with no representation in the sixteen top players.
Top 8 Day One Historic Decklists
Creatures (15)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$395.6
Sideboard
15 Cards
$37.73
Creatures (14)
Sorceries (13)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$174.7
Sideboard
15 Cards
$18.23
Creatures (15)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$395.6
Sideboard
15 Cards
$37.73
Creatures (15)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$395.6
Sideboard
15 Cards
$37.73
Creatures (14)
Instants (15)
Sorceries (11)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$170.18
Sideboard
15 Cards
$8.01
Creatures (3)
Instants (17)
Sorceries (16)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$353.62
Sideboard
15 Cards
$61.39
Creatures (33)
Instants (4)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$455.98
Sideboard
15 Cards
$18.91
Creatures (14)
Instants (18)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$161.46
Sideboard
15 Cards
$14.73
Top 8 Day One Standard Decklists
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (20)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
60 Cards
$76.72
Sideboard
15 Cards
$20.67
Creatures (3)
Instants (26)
Sorceries (9)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$177.38
Sideboard
15 Cards
$15.87
Creatures (3)
Instants (26)
Sorceries (9)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$177.38
Sideboard
15 Cards
$15.87
Instants (29)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$103.9
Sideboard
15 Cards
$50.71
Planeswalkers (3)
Creatures (25)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$310.26
Sideboard
15 Cards
$8.53
Creatures (3)
Instants (27)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$124.88
Sideboard
15 Cards
$14.01
Creatures (3)
Instants (26)
Sorceries (9)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$177.38
Sideboard
15 Cards
$15.87
