(As a note this article is a week later than I would have liked, as I went down with Covid right after the Pro Tour and it really knocked me out.)

I'm going to the 2022 Magic: the Gathering World Championship!

Admittedly, we don't know much about this year's World Championships other than they will be held from October 28th-30th and will have 32 players. Whether it is going to be in person or held on MTG Arena, the formats, the location, the prize pool, and how it will lead into the return of the Pro Tour next year is all still up in the air.

However, I know the most important factor... I'll be there!

I'd be lying if I said it was pretty.

I went into the New Capenna Championship two weeks ago needing a decent day two finish to lock up my spot at Worlds, thanks to all the points my perfect 15-0 record in the swiss of the Neon Dynasty Championship got me. I also had the luxury of working with Team CFB, some of the literal best Magic players to ever play the game, for this event. However, I would fall just short of making day two with a 3-4 record, leaving my fate out of my hands.

Thankfully, things broke my way and those chasing me were unable to catch me.

I am astoundingly fortunate (as usual) that my poor performance wasn't the death of me, as I made some major mistakes in preparation for this event.

As I made my predictions two weeks ago, I'm going to view those mistakes through the lens of those predictions:

Prediction One: Naya Runes Is Going to Have A Positive Win Rate

Verdict: Incorrect

This of course was my biggest mistake of the event.

The majority of Team CFB played the Grixis Vampires deck that was the surprise of the event, and not only that but was fairly similar in structure to the Grixis Midrange deck I went undefeated with at the Neon Dynasty Set Championship. However, while over half the team played the deck and many did well, with Mike Sigrist making Top 8 and joining me at Worlds, there was much dissension among the team about the deck. The general consensus was that the deck was "fine" and wasn't great against anything, but also wasn't really bad against anything either. There was also a lot of dissent among the flex spots of the deck, with many different players on the team all playing different one-ofs and or having differing sideboard choices.

This uncertainty caused a few members of the team, myself, Martin Juza, Carolyn Kavanaugh, and Sam Pardee to jump ship and just play Runes. I had been the Runes player in a lot of testing, was winning a lot, and I had a feeling that Runes was going to fly under the radar this time around after everyone turbo-focused on it for the last major event.

I don't have the actual numbers on hand, but I recall seeing that Runes was either exactly at .500 or slightly below, making this prediction as well as my choice for the event look very dubious in hindsight.

I had the sneaky cool deck that people wouldn't know how to play against or sideboard for built by some of the best minds ever to play Magic, and I didn't play it. What was I thinking?!?

Prediction Two: There Will Be More Than a Dozen Copies Of Fable Of The Mirror Breaker In The

Standard Top 8

Verdict: Correct

Well, I was right about one thing...

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is definitely the best card in Standard.

Six of the eight decks in Top 8 played the full four copies, with only Esper Midrange not playing it (for obvious reasons). Naya Midrange, Jund Midrange, Grixis Vampires, Jeskai Storm, and Jeskai Hinata... all Fable of the Mirror Breaker decks. I even played four copies in my Runes deck!

There's not much else to say here, as Fable of the Mirror-Breaker has been starting to make its way into older formats as well; the card is real good.

Prediction Three: Ledger Shredder Will Become Stock in Izzet Phoenix

Verdict: Correct

Most of the team also played Izzet Phoenix in Historic, as it was clear it was already one of the best decks and picked up a huge upgrade in Ledger Shredder.

Ledger Shredder is an excellent card, also picking up steam across various formats, and slots perfectly into essentially any Arclight Phoenix deck; it's a cheap threat that doesn't require the graveyard, plays awesome with cheap spells, and has good high toughness that makes it fairly durable. This was the safest of all predictions and was a tap in.

A word on Historic-

While I regret dissenting from the majority of the team for Standard, I was still very happy with my Azorius Auras deck in Historic despite my result. My pairings were quite bad, as I lost two mirrors which can be extremely volatile. Azorius Auras wasn't as good as it was for the Neon Dynasty Championship, but it was still very good, things just didn't break my way.

Prediction Four: Ob Nixilis, The Adversary Will See Very Little Play Among the Highest Finishing Standard Decks

Verdict: Correct

All the talk upon the release of Streets of New Capenna was about how broken Ob Nixilis, the Adversary was. Pretty much the first conclusion we came to as a team was how misguided this notion was.

Standard is very much an "on the board" tempo-driven format. Creating a board presence, working your way ahead, and keeping yourself there is extremely important. This is why some of the best cards in the format are Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, Esika's Chariot, and Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity - They all add more than one threat to the board, and do so without requiring any further mana investment.

Ob Nixilis asks you to remove something from your board to use him optimally and only gives you a pair of planeswalkers that don't defend themselves very well. Ob Nixilis is awful if you're behind, only all right if you're at parity, and very good if you're ahead - this is not the recipe for a good card in this Standard format.

There's still probably a home for Ob Nixilis in some sort of sacrifice Rakdos Anvil deck, but he is a very minor player. There were exactly zero copies of Ob Nixilis in the Top 8 of the New Capenna Championship, despite there being three decks that could cast him.

The hype isn't real.

Prediction Five: Two Members of My Testing Team Are Going To Make Top 8

Verdict: Incorrect

Close, but no cigar.

With a testing team this busted, it's hard not to make this prediction:

• Eli Kassis
• Luis Scott-Vargas
• Reid Duke
• Andrew Cuneo
• Martin Juza
• Kai Budde
• Mike Sigrist
• Carolyn Kavanagh
• Sam Pardee
• Mani Davoudi
• Will Pulliam
• Raph Levy
• Gabriel Nassif
• Will Krueger
• Shahar Shenhar
• Brent Vos
• Ma Noah
• Jim Davis

But alas, while I didn't exactly pull my weight, we had a number of players live for Top 8 in the later rounds, but only Mike Sigrist would make it across the finish line.

Still... I'd predict it again!

Close Call!

This event could have easily been an all-time Magic regret for me. If things hadn't broken my way so I'd maintain my Worlds qualification slot, I would probably have been kicking myself for the next decade about not playing the deck that the majority of my team played.

The deck was both good and played Evelyn, the Covetous for god's sake!

But thankfully everything worked out, leaving me a chance to play Magic on the biggest stage the game has to offer. I'm ecstatic for the opportunity and will be giving it my best. I'm not the best Magic player in the World, I'm just a lucky guy who gets to make Magic content for a living... but I'll give it my best!