This weekend Pro Tour Atlanta is taking place and we will get to see the Theros Block format.
Block formats have usually been precursors of how Standard will look after Rotation so there is a lot to learn from this event.
The players will also draft full-block Theros which is still a new and exciting format.
Meet our team heading to the event:
Shahar Shenhar
Being a Platinum Level Pro Player has gotten him the invite to the event.
Shahar is your reigning Magic: The Gathering World Champion, has won 3 Grand Prix and Top 8ed 2 more of them, he is currently 6th place in the Player of the Year Race, all while just being 20 years old.
Shahar has yet to see the Sunday stage in a Pro Tour, but we have the feeling that might change very soon…
Jérémy Dezani
Another Platinum Level Pro Player, but that’s not all that got him the invite to this event… Jérémy also made top 25 at the last Pro Tour and Top 8ed Grand Prix Prague!
Jérémy was also the winner of Pro Tour Theros, has 7 Grand Prix Top 8s to his name and of course a Grand Prix win in Lyon.
Jérémy is currently in the midst of an incredible run and is currently way ahead on the competition in the Player of the Year Race, if he does well in this event (Like he usually does…) he will prove to be unstoppable.
Pierre Dagen
Pierre earned his invite by being a Silver Level Pro Player.
Pierre made Top 8 in Grand Prix Bochum in 2012 , and of course, being a part of the French team in Pro Tour Theros lead him to the finals of the event where he faced his teammate and close friend Jérémy.
Pierre has a very numerical approach to the game, and as can be learned from his articles, he knows how to use that to his advantage.
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
One of the names in Magic that are most associated with Control.
Guillaume won a PTQ in Paris to qualify to this event, likely by playing control.
At Pro Tour Theros, even after most of his team decided to play Mono Blue Devotion, he strayed from the pack and played Esper Control, that didn’t stop him from making Top 8 and assuring everyone that he is still a Control master.
Guillaume has 7 Grand Prix Top 8s and 5 Pro Tour Top 8s to his name, and no one will be surprised to see these numbers rise soon.
Patrick Dickmann
Patrick Qualified for the event by having an amazing result in Pro Tour Born of the Gods but also is a Gold Level Pro Player (Got the last points he needed by making top 32 of Grand Prix Minneapolis this past weekend!)
Playing mostly Magic Online, Patrick developed the Tempo Twin deck to perfection and left the online world to go and win Grand Prix Antwerp. By doing that he broke the Modern format and had to adjust, for the Pro Tour he developed the deck even further and brought Tarmo-Twin along and managed to make Top 4!
Patrick is also famous for tragic stories of match losses caused by being late to the table, the most tragic of which is in Grand Prix Vienna in which he missed the beginning of the first draft by a few minutes, basically resulting in 3 match-losses.
Even though this Pro Tour is not in his strongest format we believe that Patrick will be more than ready for the event, let’s just hope he gets to the event in time…
Chris Fennell
Chris is another Gold Level Pro Player who also qualified by doing extremely well at Pro Tour Born of the Gods.
He is an old-school pro who has seen a fair amount of success, making Top 8 of 4 Grand Prix over the past decade, and with the help of his teammates he took home the trophy from Gran Prix Washington back in 2004, Chris’s last achievement is making Top 8 of Pro Tour Born of the Gods with his Storm deck.
He is currently 23rd in the Player of the Year Race with nowhere to aim but upwards.
Samuele Estratti
Samuele got his invite to the event by getting to the Gold Level of the Pro Club.
Samuele has 4 Grand Prix Top 8s and a Pro Tour win at Philadelphia with his Splinter Twin deck.
Not a stranger to the highest levels of play, we expect Samuele to be in the Sunday stage again soon enough.
Valentin Mackl
Valentin is qualified to the event by being a Silver Level Pro Player.
Valentin can always be found with a smile on his face at any point of a Grand Prix, especially lately with his amazing success.
Over the last year Valentin had 3 Grand Prix Top 8s in various formats proving that love for the game is also an important parameter.
Valentin is another one of those players for whom it is only a matter of time until the Sunday stage is reached, is it his time now?
Wenzel Krautmann
A Silver Level Pro Player earned Wenzel his invite to the Pro Tour.
Another old-school Pro, Wenzel has 4 Grand Prix Top 8 and had his first in 2005, Wenzel managed to get his first win last year in Warsaw.
Currently on the hunt for his first Pro Tour Top 8, we wish him the best of luck this weekend.
Emanuele Giusti
Emanuele qualified for the event by Top 8ing Grand Prix Prague earlier this season.
When Emanuele was just 17 years old he made his first Grand Prix Top 8 and even won the event, just 2 years later he won another and until now he managed to get 2 more Top 8s.
Being on the same team as Samuele Estratti, Emanuele is surely waiting to get his first Pro Tour Top 8, good luck!
Loic Le Briand
Loic has earned his invite to this Pro Tour by making Top 8 of Grand Prix Paris with his Reanimator Deck.
Loic first appeared on the stage with a Grand Prix Top 8 in 2005, almost a decade later he now made his second top 8 in Paris.
Working with the french team we can expect great things from him this weekend.
Philipp Schönegger
Philipp qualified by making Top 8 Grand Prix Paris with his Miracles Deck.
Paris was Philipp’s first top 8, but we have a hunch that it won’t be the last.
Philipp is an extremely skilled Legacy player and we are sure to see more of him in years to come, this weekend we will see how he fares with a much smaller card pool.
All of these players are masters in their own ways, their own formats, their own archetypes.
Let’s see who will manage to beat the field and get the win.
MTGMADNESS