Magic’s 2018 World Championship starts this Friday, and as part of the event, Fantasy Pro Tour has launched a public Pick 6 tournament.
To help you build the perfect team, the Fantasy Pro Tour staff built a statistical database to analyze each player’s potential for success in at the World Championship. We built our dataset to include results from both of the tournament’s formats, Dominaria Limited and Standard, meaning we input all of the Grand Prix and Pro Tours that featured Dominaria limited as well as all of the Standard results from the 2017-2018 season.
Then we sprinkled in Elo scores, the official Top 25 rankings, our “professional” opinions, and voilà! We had a standardized way of evaluating each competitor.
After pouring over the numbers, we’ve assembled the following 100% accurate, guaranteed or your money back, officially licensed Fantasy Pro Tour Power Rankings for the 2018 World Championship.
1. Seth Manfield
Top 25 Rank: 1
ELO: 2038
Dominaria Limited Record: 21 – 9 – 0
Standard Record: 54 – 31 – 3
How He Qualified: Pro Tour Ixalan winner, 2017–18 North American Champion
Comments: Putting Seth Manfield at #1 is a pretty obvious choice. Manfield has put up consistently impressive numbers over the last two years and was the leader for 2017-18 Player of the Year until Luis Salvatto tied him last weekend to force a playoff. The only knock against him is his lackluster GP performances in 2018—but nobody is perfect. (Except maybe Reid Duke.)
2. Brad Nelson
Top 25 Rank: 14
ELO: 2144
Dominaria Limited Record: 4 – 2 – 0
Standard Record: 51 – 23 – 2
How He Qualified: 10th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: After a safe #1, putting Brad Nelson at #2 probably has you shaking your head. But Nelson is one of the most accomplished Standard players in recent Magic history and has upped his Limited game of late. We expect him to improve on his middling 2017 World Championship performance and make a big splash this year.
3. Marcio Carvalho
Top 25 Rank: 4
ELO: 2189
Dominaria Limited Record: 4 – 2 – 0
Standard Record: 33 – 20 – 1
How He Qualified: 2017–18 European Champion
Comments: Marcio Carvalho currently has the highest ELO rating of any player in the game, Top 8’d Pro Tour Dominaria, and has been a mainstay at the last few World Championships, having lost in the finals of the 2016 World Championship to Brian Braun-Duin. He should put up strong numbers again this year.
4. Reid Duke
Top 25 Rank: 3
ELO: 2101
Dominaria Limited Record: 12 – 6 – 0
Standard Record: 27 – 18 – 0
How He Qualified: Most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Reid Duke had a strong 2017-18 season, finishing third in the Player of the Year race and Top 8’ing Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan. Duke is known for his tight play (and luscious locks)—look for him to improve on is 9-5 finish at the 2017 World Championship, challenge for a spot in the Top 4, and maybe even claim the title of World Champion his teammate William Huey Jenson won last year.
5. Owen Turtenwald
Top 25 Rank: 5
ELO: 2122
Dominaria Limited Record: 6 – 5 – 0
Standard Record: 25 – 12 – 3
How He Qualified: 2nd-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Owen Turtenwald is one of the most technically proficient players on the Pro Tour. He Top 8’d Pro Tour Dominaria, where he lost to eventual winner Wyatt Darby, and almost always performs well when playing at the highest levels. Like his teammate Reid Duke, he’ll be looking to improve on his good performance at the 2017 World Championship and try and keep Jensen’s title in the Peach Garden Oath family.
6. Javier Dominguez
Top 25 Rank: 8
ELO: 2148
Dominaria Limited Record: 1 – 2 – 0
Standard Record: 46 – 25 – 0
How He Qualified: 7th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Javier Dominguez seems to be underrated by the Magic community at large, but he has consistently excellent finishes and made it to the finals of the 2017 World Championship, where he lost to William Huey Jensen.
7. Mike Sigrist
Top 25 Rank: 13
ELO: 2142
Dominaria Limited Record: 4 – 4 – 0
Standard Record: 41 – 20 – 4
How He Qualified: 13th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
8. Ken Yukuhiro
Top 25 Rank: 11
ELO: 2184
Dominaria Limited Record: 18 – 5 – 1
Standard Record: 16 – 21 – 0
How He Qualified: 2017–18 Asia-Pacific Champion
Comments: Ken Yukuhiro is one of the most accomplished Limited players in the 2018 World Championship. Unfortunately for him, only six of the 14 rounds will be Dominaria Draft.
9. Luis Salvatto
Top 25 Rank: 3
ELO: 1944
Dominaria Limited Record: 5 – 1 – 0
Standard Record: 33 – 23 – 0
How He Qualified: Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan winner, 2017–18 Latin American Champion
Comments: This will be Luis Salvatto’s first World Championship. He tied Seth Manfield for Player of the Year last weekend at GP Stockholm, forcing a playoff to determine the winner.
10. Ben Stark
Top 25 Rank: 6
ELO: 1901
Dominaria Limited Record: 10 – 5 – 0
Standard Record: 34 – 15 – 0
How He Qualified: 3rd-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Ben Stark, like Ken Yukuhiro, is an extremely accomplished Limited Player. But unlike Yukuhiro, Stark also won Standard matches in the 2017-18 season. We’d be higher on Stark if his ELO rating wasn’t so low—it’s the 22nd out of 24 of players in the World Championship—and we might be underrating him for that reason.
11. John Rolf
Top 25 Rank: 9
ELO: 2096
Dominaria Limited Record: 6 – 6 – 0
Standard Record: 24 – 11 – 1
How He Qualified: 4th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: This will be John Rolf’s first World Championship. He has been one of the most consistent players on the Pro Tour over the last two seasons.
12. Matt Severa
Top 25 Rank: Not Ranked
ELO: 1979
Dominaria Limited Record: 18 – 12 – 0
Standard Record: 52 – 26 – 0
How He Qualified: Constructed Master
Comments: This will be Matt Severa’s first World Championship. He’s an excellent Standard player, having won the 2017-18 Constructed Master. This is his last shot to play Standard with his beloved Mardu Vehicles, if he sticks to what got him here.
13. Grzegorz Kowalski
Top 25 Rank: 10
ELO: 2088
Dominaria Limited Record: 5 – 1 – 0
Standard Record: 40 – 24 – 3
How He Qualified: 6th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: This will be Grzegorz Kowalski’s first World Championship.
14. Matt Nass
Top 25 Rank: 18
ELO: 2154
Dominaria Limited Record: 10 – 5 – 0
Standard Record: 14 – 11 – 0
How He Qualified: 14th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: This will be Matt Nass’s first World Championship, and he’d be #1 in our power rankings if this was a Modern tournament. Unfortunately for Nass, it’s not.
15. Brian Braun-Duin
Top 25 Rank: 16
ELO: 2086
Dominaria Limited Record: 10 – 8 – 0
Standard Record: 15 – 9 – 0
How He Qualified: 12th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Brian Braun-Duin won the 2016 World Championship but has taken a bit of a step back from traveling to Magic events in 2018.
16. Gerry Thompson
Top 25 Rank: 15
ELO: 1990
Dominaria Limited Record: 3 – 1 – 0
Standard Record: 20 – 20 – 0
How He Qualified: 9th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Gerry Thompson is a fan favorite but has had a rough 2017. 2018 has been looking up but his Standard record is holding him back in our rankings.
17. Elias Watsfeldt
Top 25 Rank: Not Ranked
ELO: 2169
Dominaria Limited Record: 4 – 1 – 1
Standard Record: 11 – 9 – 0
How He Qualified: Draft Master
Comments: This will be Elias Watsfeldt’s first World Championship and if the format was “Best Blue Steel” impression, he’d be our #1 pick. His high ELO buoys him a bit, but his Standard record is concerning.
18. Andrea Mengucci
Top 25 Rank: 12
ELO: 1920
Dominaria Limited Record: 5 – 1 – 0
Standard Record: 31 – 21 – 0
How He Qualified: 8th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
19. Shahar Shenhar
Top 25 Rank: 17
ELO: 1829
Dominaria Limited Record: 11 – 7 – 0
Standard Record: 38 – 22 – 2
How He Qualified: 11th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
Comments: Shahar Shenhar has the worst ELO rating of any player in the 2018 World Championship and has had a relatively quiet 2017-18 season. But he won the 2013 and 2014 World Championships, which pushes him up a bit in our power rankings.
20. Martin Juza
Top 25 Rank: 7
ELO: 1911
Dominaria Limited Record: 7 – 8 – 0
Standard Record: 48 – 35 – 1
How He Qualified: 5th-most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified
21. Wyatt Darby
Top 25 Rank: Not Ranked
ELO: 1948
Dominaria Limited Record: 6 – 0 – 0
Standard Record: 26 – 14 – 1
How He Qualified: Pro Tour Dominaria winner
Comments: This will be Wyatt Darby’s first World Championship. Despite winning Pro Tour Dominaria with Mono Red, he falls down the power rankings due to the combination of low ELO rating and lack of results outside of PT Dominaria.
22. Gregory Orange
Top 25 Rank: Not Ranked
ELO: 1901
Dominaria Limited Record: 14 – 4 – 0
Standard Record: 21 – 20 – 0
How He Qualified: Pro Tour 25th Anniversary winner
Comments: This will be Gergory Orange’s first World Championship. Unfortunately, he and his teammates are penalized for winning a team Pro Tour due to the fact that we can’t separate individual results from the team results, and Orange ranks above his teammates due to his larger pool of results.
23. Ben Hull
Top 25 Rank: Not Ranked
ELO: 1975
Dominaria Limited Record: 12 – 6 – 0
Standard Record: 9 – 12 – 0
How He Qualified: Pro Tour 25th Anniversary winner
Comments: This will be Ben Hull’s first World Championship. Unfortunately, he and his teammates are penalized for winning a team Pro Tour due to the fact that we can’t separate individual results from the team results, and Hull ranks in between his teammates due to his Limited results at PT Dominaria and GP Las Vegas.
24. Allen Wu
Top 25 Rank: Not Ranked
ELO: 2118
Dominaria Limited Record: 3 – 3 – 0
Standard Record: 6 – 4 – 0
How He Qualified: Pro Tour 25th Anniversary winner
Comments: This will be Allen Wu’s first World Championship. Unfortunately, he and his teammates are penalized for winning a team Pro Tour due to the fact that we can’t separate individual results from the team results, and Wu ranks below his teammates due to his paucity of results.
And with that, you’re ready to draft your own Fantasy Pro Tour team for the 2018 World Championship. Create a team now!