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This morning, competition got underway for the first professional-level MTG tournament of 2022: the Neon Dynasty Championship. The championship includes all members of the Magic Pro League (MPL) and the Rivals League, as well as other players who earned qualification through other events including the Arena Qualifier Weekends.
In this article, we’ll discuss some of the events from today and present the leaderboard as it stands at the conclusion of day one. We’ll also be sharing some data powered by mtgmeta.io, including performance matrices that help illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of each archetype so far and a review of the most popular cards in each format. Lastly, there are still some 7-0 undefeated players, so we’ll wrap things up by taking a look at the decks that helped them get there.
The first day of play consisted of seven rounds of Swiss play: three rounds of Alchemy followed by four rounds of Historic. Tomorrow will follow a similar outline, although there will be four rounds in each format that will determine the final Top 8. On Sunday, those eight players will fight it out in a double-elimination playoff tournament that will decide the final results – and the winners of the top-dollar prizes.
In addition to the cash prizes, each player who wins a match in the playoff tournament will also earn an invitation to the Magic World Championship XXVIII that will be taking place sometime later this year.
It’s been an exciting first day of the Championship, and all play has now concluded for the day. In Alchemy, much of the attention was focused on the Naya Runes archetype, which was considered the deck to beat, but has been underperforming thus far due to the extent to which the competition was prepared for the matchup. Mono White Aggro decks arrived in force to prey upon the archetype with hatebears like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Archon of Emeria. Our performance matrix shows that the Naya decks have had an abysmal 29% winrate against Mono White as a result.
You can read a bit more about the situation in both Alchemy and Historic in our coverage of the tournament’s metagame:
Day two coverage available here:
It felt like the excitement of the entire day culminated with an intense Historic format showdown between two of the tournament’s then-remaining undefeated players, Jim Davis and Toru Saito. Both players brought Azorius decks to the match, although they were quite different; Jim Davis was running the aggressive Auras archetype while Toru Saito attempted to keep him in check with Azorius Control.
It was a long and intense battle between the two players that stretched on to the game-three tiebreaker. In game one, a perfect draw including both of his 80-card deck’s two copies of Farewell helped Saito keep his opponent at bay. However, Davis’ tempo-positive gameplan took him to victory in both games two and three, with Spell Pierce and Dovin's Veto keeping the clunky wrath spell in check.
At the end of the day, only two players manage to remain undefeated with a perfect 7-0 record: the aforementioned Jim Davis, and French player Jean-Emmanuel Depraz. Let’s review the current standings and take a temperature-check on the metagame in both Alchemy and Historic:
Neon Dynasty Championship: Day 1 Standings
| Rank | Player | Historic Deck | Alchemy Deck | Overall Record |
| 1 | Jim Davis | Azorius Auras | Grixis Midrange | 7-0 |
| 2 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz | Azorius Affinity | Jeskai Hinata | 7-0 |
| 3 | Toru Saito | Azorius Yorion | Naya Runes | 6-1 |
| 4 | Greg Orange | Izzet Phoenix | Mono White Aggro | 6-1 |
| 5 | Michael Bernat | Izzet Phoenix | Gruul Werewolves | 6-1 |
| 6 | Nathan Steuer | Golgari Food | Mono White Aggro | 6-1 |
| 7 | Yudai Miyano | Rakdos Sacrifice | Esper Clerics | 6-1 |
| 8 | Yuya Yamakita | Azorius Lotus Field | Mono White Aggro | 6-1 |
| 9 | Zhi Yimin | Rakdos Arcanist | Mardu Midrange | 6-1 |
| 10 | Eddie Figueroa | Gruul Aggro | Naya Runes | 6-1 |
| 11 | Aaron Gertler | Orzhov Auras | Grixis Midrange | 6-1 |
| 12 | Piotr Głogowski | Izzet Phoenix | Mardu Midrange | 6-1 |
| 13 | Vinnie Silverman | Five Color Niv-Mizzet | Gruul Werewolves | 6-1 |
| 14 | Kai Budde | Izzet Phoenix | Orzhov Venture | 6-1 |
| 15 | Jonny Guttman | Golgari Food | Mono White Aggro | 5-2 |
| 16 | Dom Harvey | Jund Food | Mono White Aggro | 5-2 |
Alchemy Performance Matrix and Top Cards:
rate
You can find even more metagame information over at mtgmeta.io.
Historic Performance Matrix and Top Cards:
rate
More information on the Historic metagame is available at mtgmeta.io.
Day One Undefeated Alchemy Decklists
Check out Jean-Emmanuel Depraz and Jim Davis’ undefeated decks below! I’m particularly interested in Jim’s Grixis Midrange Alchemy pile and Jean-Emmanuel’s Historic Affinity decks:
Creatures (15)
Instants (8)
Sorceries (2)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$273.85
Sideboard
15 Cards
$130.79
Instants (26)
Artifacts (2)
Lands (19)
60 Cards
$168.18
Sideboard
15 Cards
$8.37
Day One Undefeated Historic Decklists
Creatures (18)
Enchantments (15)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$286.78
Sideboard
15 Cards
$17.71
Planeswalkers (3)
Creatures (14)
Instants (4)
Artifacts (21)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$377.12
Sideboard
15 Cards
$52.63
That’s all for today’s coverage of the Neon Dynasty Championship, but we’ll be back with more tomorrow after the Swiss rounds have completed and the Top 8 is decided! Check back in with us then, and you can also tune-in to the official live coverage over on twitch.tv/magic.
