Mattia “Schiapponetor” Oneto won the 2019 Magic Online Championship on Sunday evening, defeating Kenji “NumotTheNummy” Egashira in the finals and taking home the $50,000 prize for first place.
Coming into the tournament, Oneto was one of the least experienced players in the field, with the fewest number of Magic Online matches played (3,519), no Grand Prix or Pro Tour/Mythic Championship Top 8s, and only $2,550 in lifetime winnings. By contrast, his opponent in the finals, Kenji Egashira, had played 43,075 matches on Magic Online, while his semifinals opponent, Marcio Carvalho, had three Grand Prix wins, six Pro Tour Top 8s, and $300,920 in lifetime earnings.
The 2019 Magic Online Championships featured a unique tournament structure. Each day would be split up into Limited and Constructed rounds, similar to a Mythic Championship, with three rounds of War of the Spark Draft followed by four rounds of Constructed. However, the Constructed portion was Standard on Day 1 and Modern on Day 2. Because the event had multiple Constructed formats, the Top 4 bracket was comprised up to three Best-of-3 matches. The first match of each Top 4 pairing would be Standard and the second Modern—then, if the match was tied at two matches apiece, the higher seed could choose the format for the deciding third match.
Oneto brought two familiar decks to the tournament: Azorius Aggro in Standard and Izzet Phoenix in Modern.
Mattio Oneto's Standard Azorius Aggro
| Creatures (26) 3 Adanto Vanguard 4 Benalish Marshal 4 Dauntless Bodyguard 3 Law-Rune Enforcer 4 Skymarcher Aspirant 4 Snubhorn Sentry 4 Venerated Loxodon Planeswalkers (2) 2 Gideon Blackblade Enchantments (12) 4 Conclave Tribunal 4 History of Benalia 4 Legion’s Landing | Lands (20) 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 12 Plains Sideboard (15) (15) 1 Gideon Blackblade 2 Teferi, Time Raveler 4 Baffling End 2 Disdainful Stroke 3 Dovin’s Veto 1 Island 2 Deputy of Detention |
Mattia Oneto's Modern Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (11) 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Thing in the Ice 2 Crackling Drake 1 Snapcaster Mage Spells (29) 4 Serum Visions 4 Faithless Looting 1 Flame Slash 1 Set Adrift 4 Opt 4 Manamorphose 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Gut Shot 1 Lightning Axe 4 Thought Scour Enchantments (2) 2 Pyromancer Ascension Land s (18) 3 Steam Vents 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Island 2 Mountain 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Flooded Strand | Sideboard (15) 2 Blood Moon 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer 2 Spell Pierce 2 Ceremonious Rejection 1 Shatterstorm 2 Abrade 4 Ravenous Trap 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
In the semifinals, he faced the Magic Pro League’s Marcio Carvalho, who was playing in his third consecutive Magic Online Championship. Carvalho played Esper Hero in Standard, which Oneto defeated in three games with Azorius Aggro. In Modern, Carvalho brought Humans, and managed to even the match up at one match apeice. As the higher seed, Carvalho got to choose the format for the deciding match and chose Modern, the matchup he had just won, but Oneto took both games of the third match with Izzet Phoenix and advanced to the finals.
In the finals, Oneto faced fan-favorite streamer Kenji Egashira, who was playing Jeskai Control in Standard and Tron in Modern. Neither Egashira’s Jeskai Control deck nor his Tron deck were able to withstand the power and synergy of Oneto’s Azorius Aggro and Izzet Phoenix decks, with Oneto winning the match 2-0 and becoming the 2019 Magic Online Champion.