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)
Adanto Vanguard
Benalish Marshal
Dauntless Bodyguard
Law-Rune Enforcer
Skymarcher Aspirant
Snubhorn Sentry
Venerated Loxodon

Planeswalkers (2)
Gideon Blackblade

Enchantments (12)
Conclave Tribunal
History of Benalia
Legion’s Landing
Lands (20)
Glacial Fortress
Hallowed Fountain
12 Plains

Sideboard (15) (15)
Gideon Blackblade
Teferi, Time Raveler
Baffling End
Disdainful Stroke
Dovin’s Veto
Island
Deputy of Detention

Mattia Oneto's Modern Izzet Phoenix

Creatures (11)
Arclight Phoenix
Thing in the Ice
Crackling Drake
Snapcaster Mage

Spells (29)
Serum Visions
Faithless Looting
Flame Slash
Set Adrift
Opt
Manamorphose
Lightning Bolt
Gut Shot
Lightning Axe
Thought Scour

Enchantments (2)
Pyromancer Ascension

Land s (18)
Steam Vents
Scalding Tarn
Spirebluff Canal
Island
Mountain
Misty Rainforest
Flooded Strand
Sideboard (15)
Blood Moon
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Spell Pierce
Ceremonious Rejection
Shatterstorm
Abrade
Ravenous Trap
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.

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