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By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

End of Day 2 Wrap Up

Top 8 Modern Decks of Pro Tour Fate Reforged:

1. Abzan (Eric Froelich)
2. U/R Splinter Twin (Antonio Del Moral Leon )
3. U/R Splinter Twin (Jelger Wiegersma)
4. Burn (Seth Manfield)
5. Amulet of Vigor (Justin Cohen)
6. Jacob Wilson (Liege Abzan)
7. R/W Burn (Lee Shi Tian)
8. Abzan (Jesse Hampton)

Catch us Sunday morning for the final rounds of Pro Tour Fate Reforged coverage.

Round by Round Coverage

6:15pm: Rnd 16: Cohen (Amulet) vs. Bursavich (Infect)

Cohen puts Amulet of Vigor into the Top 8 and the specs are live!

6:12pm: Rnd 16: Sam Black (Amulet) vs. Jesse Hampton (Abzan)

Tasigur may be the backbreaker that puts away Sam Black. Did you buy your foils yet?

5:38pm: Sam Black on camera breaking down Amulet deck. Amulet of Vigor buyout is clearly ongoing online with copies drying up everywhere under $5, likely to land in the $5-8 range after the weekend. Just bought another 12 copies myself at $4.

5:20pm: Lee Shi Tian (Burn) vs. Nathan Smith (Burn)

More burn! How many Eidolon of the Great Revel do you own? Lee Shi Tian played Kor Firewalker in his R/W burn build out of the board to handle the mirror. Nice one. Foils are under $2.

Plenty of thinking required in this mirror. Burn as the “dumb deck” definitely a bit unfair. Lee Shi Tian just qualified for his 3rd PT Top 8 in the last year (4 total), pulling out a tight game against Smith.

5:19pm: Seth Manfield (Burn) vs Jacob Wilson (Liege Abzan)

Jacob got down a Leyline of Sanctity in Game 2 to steal the game, a card that could see new highs if Burn stays popular in the Meta.

5:08pm: Sam Black (Amulet) vs. Justin Cohen (Amulet)

Lol, an Amulet mirror match in the final rounds is hardly going to help dampen hype around Amulet since it virtually ensures one of these players makes Top 8 with the deck. Both players end up intentionally drawing to avoid knocking each other out of contention.

4:59pm: Seth Manfield (Burn) vs Jacob Wilson (Liege Abzan)

Manfield makes great use of Eidolon of the Great Revel to put away game 1 against Wilson.

4:09pm: Eric Froelich (Abzan) vs Jacob Wilson (Liege Abzan)

Jacob Wilson’s metagame call to run anti-discard cards in Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege was looking pretty good vs. the more mainstream Abzan build. In game 3 however a flurry of Zealous Persecutions on both sides of the table leads to a dramatic combat step and EFro takes the match.

3:57pm: Round 14: Sam Black (Amulet) vs. Jon Finkel (Infect)

Amulet of Vigor is moving from $3 to $5-$6 so far on the camera time as players and speculators realize that this deck is no longer Tier 2. Last time this deck did well it hit $10 so be ready to sell in to the hype. Sam Black beat Finkel and the hype check is on for Amulet of Vigor and Primeval Titan as key cards in the deck that could rise, along with perhaps Gemstone Mine.

3:22pm: Cifka breaking down B/W Tokens deck for Randy. 3 copies of Sorin, Solemn Visitor especially notable.

3:12pm: Rnd 13: Frank Karsten (Affinity) vs. Jelger Wiegersma (Twin)

Remember folks, Mox Opal is being reprinted in MM2, so don’t go specing on it no matter how far Frank pushes.

3:05pm: Rnd 13: Seth Manfield (Burn) vs. Eric Froelich

Eidolon of the Great Revel may be due for price boost if this burn deck makes Top 8.

2:51pm: Marco Lombardi (Merfolk) vs. Sam Black (Amulet)

Merfolk back on camera! Sam Black wins this one too.

2:39pm Yuuki Ichikawa (Jund) vs Alexandre Bonneau (Living End)

First time we’ve seen these decks on camera this weekend. Fulminator Mage being highlighted.

2:21pm: Jakob Wilson on camera discussing the Wilted Abzan build, with Wilt Leaf Cavalier and Loxodon Smiter in place to blank Thoughseize and LOTV.

1:45pm: Round 12: Seth Manfield (Burn) vs. Jelger Wiegersma (Twin)

Manfield takes the match, staying undefeated on Burn.

1:44pm: Round 12: Sam Black (Amulet) vs. Robin Dollar (Abzan)

Primeval Titan and Hive Mind in the spotlight in the Amulet deck. Sam Black wins the match demonstrating Amulet as a non-fringe strategy.

1:33pm: Round 12: Jon Finkel (Infect) vs. Willy Edel (Abzan)

 

Round 11: 12:54pm: Martin Mueller just looked like a boss taking down Zvi Mowshowitz in the 3rd round of today’s draft portion.

11:58am: Seth Manfield on Burn is now 10-0, and looking very likely to take red spells into the Top 8

And we’re back for round by round MTGFinance coverage of Day 2 at Pro Tour: Fate Reforged!

Day 1 Summary

After 3 exciting rounds of FRF/KTK/KTK drafts, Day 1 saw Abzan dominate the Modern field with a whopping 30% of the metagame, as many of the relevant cards from the Birthing Pod decks saw play even without their namesake counterpart. Also at the top of the standings thus far are multiple are multiple Burn and Infect decks as aggressive strategies proved capable of taking advantage of the slower combo and untuned rogue decks throughout the first 5 rounds of constructed play.

Many interesting Rogue cards did appear on camera, though most have yet to prove their mettle. Here are some of the most exciting of the new ideas:

• Wild Defiance was being put to use in Infect decks as a method for providing recurring access to the final boost often needed to win the long game
• Humble Defector showed up in a Grixis Splinter Twin list, providing massive value as an early speed bump and minor card drawing engine, with the pilot rarely caring if his opponent got a couple of cards out of the deal.
• Tasigur, The Golden Fang was all over the place but it was Pat Chapin who demonstrated his deck building master by showing up with Gurmag Angler to trump an expected field of 4/5 Siege Rhinos, Tarmogoyfs and Tasigurs. Sadly, the deck did not perform for Patrick and he failed to make Day 2, casting shadows on the people that were buying out foil Anglers Friday afternoon.
• Sorin, Solemn Visitor showed up in the W/B tokens decks that showed up to check out the post-Treasure Cruise scene, demonstrating that it has the chops to find an ongoing home with tokens in Modern over Elspeth, Knight-Errant.
• Lingering Souls was also all over the top tables, playing a key role against Infect decks for both Abzan and W/B Tokens
• Chord of Calling showed up in an Elves deck and looks criminally undervalue right now.

James Chillcott is the CEO of ShelfLife.net, The Future of Collecting, Senior Partner at Advoca, a designer, adventurer, toy fanatic and an avid Magic player and collector since 1994.