Day two of the Innistrad Championship is behind us, and the Swiss rounds of competition have now come to an end. Fifteen total rounds, seven of Historic and eight of Standard, have now determined the Top 8 players who will go on to compete in the playoff matches tomorrow.
Players needed to earn twelve total match wins in order to secure their place in the Top 8, and the competition was close – going into the final round, only one player, Christian Hauck, had been able to clinch his position. Hauck was one of the two undefeated players after day one, and he managed to win all but two of his matches today and earn the top seed in the playoffs.
Also of note was the testing team from Japan – many of whom brought Golgari Food decks to Historic and Izzet Epiphany to Standard. Out of the twelve players on their team, six were still in the running to make the Top 8 at the beginning of the final round. In the end, four members of the team (Toru Saito, Yuuki Ichikawa, Yuta Takahashi, and Riku Kumagai) made it into the playoffs, making up fully half of tomorrow’s competition.
This article is a continuation of MTGA Zone’s coverage of the Innistrad Championship. You can follow these links to view our previous coverage:
Below, we’ll present the final Swiss standings from the tournament and decklists from the Top 8 players. The tournament will resume tomorrow, Sunday, December 5, with a double-elimination playoff tournament featuring the Historic format. As before, you can find live coverage of the Innistrad Championship over at twitch.tv/magic starting at 9:00 am PST.
Innistrad Championship: Swiss Final Standings
Rank
Player
HistoricDeck
StandardDeck
Overall Record
1*
Christian Hauck
Selesnya Humans
Mono Green Aggro
13-2
2*
Toru Saito
Golgari Midrange
Izzet Epiphany
12-3
3*
Yuuki Ichikawa
Golgari Midrange
Izzet Epiphany
12-3
4*
Zachary Kiihne
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Epiphany
12-3
5*
Simon Gรถrtzen
Izzet Phoenix
Mono Black Zombies
12-3
6*
Yuta Takahashi
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Epiphany
11-4
7*
Riku Kumagai
Golgari Food
Izzet Epiphany
11-4
8*
Akaike Yo
Jeskai Creativity
Izzet Epiphany
11-4
9
Sam Rolph
Jeskai Creativity
Dimir Control
11-4
10
Andrey Zhilin
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Control
11-4
11
Tristan Wylde-LaRue
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Epiphany
11-4
12
Shahar Shenhar
Rakdos Arcanist
Izzet Dragons
11-4
13
Futoshi Iwata
Rakdos Goblins
Izzet Epiphany
11-4
14
Shota Yasooka
Jund Food
Izzet Epiphany
11-4
15
Logan Nettles
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Dragons
11-4
16
Tim MacSaveny
Dimir Control
Mono Green Aggro
10-5
*Advances to playoffs
In Friday’s coverage, we noted that ten of the decks in the top sixteen were one of the variations of Izzet. Now that the Swiss rounds have concluded, the color pair’s dominance has only increased, with twelve total decks making up 75% of the top sixteen. One is Izzet Control, two are Dragons, and the other nine are good ol’ Izzet turns.
Only two players who brought Mono Green decks to Standard finished in the top sixteen at the end of the Swiss rounds – although one of them finished in first place – and none of the top sixteen finishers played Mono White. Simon Gรถrtzen did manage to put on quite a show with his Mono Black Zombies deck, which he took into the Top 8 through a round fifteen victory against Izzzet Epiphany.
Speaking of Izzet decks, three Phoenix players in the Top 8 are out to prove that the archetype is still one of the best in the format. It’s not nearly as dominant as its Standard counterpart, however, with Food decks putting up great results and a smattering of other archetypes scattered through the top sixteen.
You can view all sixteen of the Standard and Historic decks from the Top 8 players below, and we’ll be back again tomorrow with final results.