Welcome to the final chapter of the Pro Tour Amonkhet Team Series preview countdown. If you haven’t caught up yet, make sure you check out the previous articles and then come back here and learn about the next four teams hoping to make a big splash in Nashville!
- Team Series Preview and Countdown #32 – #29
- Countdown #28 – #25
- Countdown #24 – #21
- Countdown #20 – #17
- Countdown #16 – #13
- Countdown #12 – #9
- Countdown #8 – #5
#4 DEXThird
The good news for DEXthird is that they got a whole boatload of points from Pro Tour Aether Revolt champion Lucas Esper Berthoud–31, to be precise. The bad news is that no other member of the team hit the nine wins needed to earn more than three points. The worse news is that no other member of the team qualified for Pro Tour Amonkhet. Facing a twelve-point disadvantage compared to teams that can send five to six players to Nashville, Berthoud may need to win back-to-back Pro Tours to keep DEXthird in contention to win the Pro Tour Team Series.
#3 Face to Face Games
At Pro Tour Aether Revolt, Ivan Floch came agonizingly close to making the top eight getting edged out by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa on tiebreakers. With Alexander Hayne and Oliver Tiu picking up eleven wins apiece and Sam Pardee chipping in a ten-win effort, Face to Face got off to a great start, looking every bit like the elite team they are on paper.
A team of six platinum pros (a staggering five of whom are currently in the Magic: the Gathering top 25) starting the tournament within five points of the leaders is always going to be a threat. They’ve also had some nice recent results: Jacob Wilson and Samuel Pardee teamed up to take second at Grand Prix Mexico City, while Hayne is coming off a top-eight finish at Grand Prix Orlando (and beating Hipsters of the Coast’s Carrie O’Hara at Grand Prix Richmond). Face to Face has to be one of the favorites to finish the season in the top two; look for them to make a strong showing in Nashville this weekend.
#2 Musashi
Four of Musashi’s six members won at least eleven matches at Pro Tour Aether Revolt, earning them a spot alongside Team MTG Mint Card atop the leaderboard with 49 points. That is a staggering level of consistency across the team, and it has allowed them to outpace teams whose members boast flashier individual results.
Headlined by Hall-of-Famers Yuuya Watanabe and Shota Yasooka (winner of Pro Tour Kaladesh), Musashi also features three gold pros and one silver pro, and Yasooka (3), Kentaro Yamamoto (17), and Watanabe (22) are all holding down spots in the Magic: the Gathering world rankings. This is a team that looks deep enough to contend for the Team Series title, and I’d expect them to be at least within striking distance heading into Pro Tour Hour of Devastation.
#1 MTG Mint Card
Eduardo Sajgalic keyed MTG Card Mint’s run to a share of the top spot, as his top-four finish at Pro Tour Aether Revolt brought in a healthy 23 points for his team. Lee Shi Tian and Kelvin Chew contributed a pair of valuable eleven-win performances.
They will, however, be shorthanded in Nashville, as Nam Sung Wook failed to qualify to join platinum pro Tian and the team’s quartet of gold pros. The good news is that each team drops its lowest score; just like teams with six competitors in the tournament, MTG Card Mint is guaranteed at least fifteen points. Their margin for error is thinner than other top teams, however, and Tian, Chew, Sajgalic, Huang Hao-Shen, and Jason Chung will be under a little more pressure if they want to make sure they hold onto the top spot. They may just be running hot enough to do it, though; Chew is coming off of a win at Grand Prix Beijing, Tian took tenth in the Magic Online Championship and finished in the top four at Grand Prix Brisbane, and Tian (7), with Sajgalic (12), and Chew (21) all currently claim places in the top 25.
Rich Stein contributed to this article.