Pro Tour Theros (Dublin, 2013): format, Top 8 and teams
Pro Tour Theros was held in Dublin, Ireland, from October 11 to 13, 2013. It opened the 2013–14 Pro Tour season and was the first premier Constructed event where the Theros expansion was legal. It is remembered for the debut of the "devotion" decks in Standard, for an all-French final between teammates, and as the stage for the 2013 Hall of Fame induction.
Event facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates | October 11–13, 2013 |
| Location | Dublin, Ireland |
| Formats | Standard; Theros Booster Draft |
| Players | 428 |
| Prize pool | $250,000 |
| Winner | Jérémy Dezani (France), Mono-Blue Devotion |
| Before / after | Pro Tour Dragon's Maze / Pro Tour Born of the Gods |
Top 8
| Place | Player | Deck | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jérémy Dezani (FRA) | Mono-Blue Devotion | $40,000 |
| 2 | Pierre Dagen (FRA) | Mono-Blue Devotion | $20,000 |
| 3–4 | Sam Black (USA) | Mono-Blue Devotion | $12,500 |
| 3–4 | Makihito Mihara (JPN) | Red-Green Ramp | $12,500 |
| 5–8 | Guillaume Wafo-Tapa (FRA) | Esper Control | $10,000 |
| 5–8 | Paul Rietzl (USA) | White-Black Midrange | $10,000 |
| 5–8 | Kentaro Yamamoto (JPN) | Mono-Black Devotion | $10,000 |
| 5–8 | Kamiel Cornelissen (NLD) | Mono-Red Devotion | $10,000 |
Playoff results: in the quarterfinals, Dezani beat Cornelissen 3–0, Mihara beat Rietzl 3–2, Dagen beat Wafo-Tapa 3–1 and Black beat Yamamoto 3–1. In the semifinals, Dezani swept Mihara 3–0 and Dagen edged Black 3–2. Dezani then won the final 3–1. Both finalists were reaching their first Pro Tour Top 8.
How the tournament unfolded
Day one opened with a Theros draft followed by five rounds of Standard. Sam Black (Mono-Blue Devotion) and Paul Rietzl (White-Black Midrange) finished the day undefeated at 8–0. The Standard field included White-Blue Control decks with Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Red-Green decks with Stormbreath Dragon and Domri Rade, a red devotion deck from Team ChannelFireball built around Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and the Mono-Blue Devotion deck built around Thassa, God of the Sea.
On day two, Rietzl went 1–2 in the second draft. That left four players at 10–1: Mihara, Dezani, Black, and Pro Tour newcomer Raymond Perez, Jr. Jon Finkel started 7–1 but lost all three matches in his second draft pod and finished 26th. Guillaume Wafo-Tapa recovered from a 1–2 start, won every match after that, and drew into the Top 8. Kamiel Cornelissen reached his first Top 8 since the 2004 World Championships with a Mono-Red Devotion list that Frank Karsten built at the Theros prerelease.
Notable teams in Dublin
Pro Tours had no official team standings in 2013, but testing groups were easy to see in the results:
- Team Revolution (France). Hipsters of the Coast counted three members in the Top 8: Wafo-Tapa, Dagen and Dezani. It also named Hall of Famer Raphaël Lévy and Melissa DeTora as part of the team. The final was played between two of its members.
- Team StarCityGames.com. Sam Black wrote that his team "did exceptionally well." He described testing in Madison and New York, including at Jon Finkel's apartment, and work on B/W, R/G and Mono-Blue Devotion, which most of the team ended up playing. Black and Rietzl both reached the Top 8. The team also included Kai Budde, Gabriel Nassif and Patrick Chapin, who finished ninth.
- Team ChannelFireball. Coverage credits the team with bringing a red devotion deck built around Nykthos.
For the wider context of how these groups were organized, see team rosters in the 2013 era and the general history of team competition.
Legacy
Devotion decks took over the format. More than half of the Top 8 were mono-colored devotion builds (blue, black and red). Kentaro Yamamoto's Mono-Black Devotion list with Pack Rat was singled out as innovative, and a later version of it became the format's top deck. Dezani went on to succeed Josh Utter-Leyton as Player of the Year for 2013–14. Mihara's appearance was his second Top 8 in a row, after third place at Dragon's Maze.
The event also hosted the induction of the 2013 Hall of Fame class: Luis Scott-Vargas, William Jensen and Ben Stark.