Welcome to 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
#8 Channel Fireball Ice
It’s hard to bet against a team helmed by Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa, especially when the Hall-of-Famer has been in good form lately: currently ranked number six in the world Magic rankings, he’s coming off a top six finish at Pro Tour Aether Revolt and he’s the only player in the field to qualify for the tournament four different ways. He may have paced his team at Pro Tour Aether Revolt, but the winning records posted by Eric Froehlich, Joel Larsson, Ben Stark, and Ondrej Strásky also helped the team pick up a few more valuable points.
Coming into Pro Tour Amonkhet, PVDDR’s fellow Hall-of-Famers Froehlich and Stark are fresh off a Grand Prix win in Mexico City, and Stark also made the top four at Grand Prix New Jersey. Tenth-ranked Larsson’s coming into to Nashville hot too, after hoisting the trophy at Grand Prix Orlando. And, while Strásky and Mike Sigrist don’t boast any new hardware, they are among the most consistent players in the world, with Strásky landing at number eighteen in the latest world rankings and Sigrist sitting just outside the top twenty-five. They may trail the top teams by twelve points, but with a deep, experienced lineup and several players running hot recently, the cooler of ChannelFireball’s two teams looks like a smart-money pick to make a move on the Pro Tour Team Series’s top spot this weekend.
#7 Magic Corsairs Crew
The Corsairs Crew’s outing at Pro Tour Aether Revolt showed just how powerful team consistency is. Although they didn’t put anyone in the top eight, their three members notching eleven wins apiece powered them to seventh on the initial rankings.
Samuel Vuillot is definitely a rising star to watch in Nashville; he followed his 11-5 finish in Dublin with a breakthrough win at Grand Prix Utrecht. He’ll be hard-pressed to lead the Corsairs Crew higher in the team rankings, however; while he, Eliott Boussaud, and Martin Hrycej earned invitations to Pro Tour Amonkhet based on their performance in Dublin, their teammates Maxime Martin, Julien Stihl, and Pierre Sommen will be sitting this one out.
#6 DEX Army
Márcio Carvalho hoisted his team onto his shoulders at Pro Tour Aether Revolt; although no other member of the DEX Army hit the vital nine-win threshold to earn more than three points, Carvalho ran all the way to the finals, bringing in a whopping twenty-seven points.
Carvalho, the world’s top-ranked Magic player, has continued to play well, earning spots in the top four in both the Magic Online Championship and Grand Prix Barcelona; if he continues his recent tear and his teammates can make deeper runs, other teams should be worried. Carvalho’s fellow platinum pro Thiago Saporito also looks to be in good form recently, with a top-eight finish at Grand Prix Richmond and a fifth-place finish in the Magic Online Championship among his recent successes, and gold pro Luis Salvatto made the top eight at Grand Prix Porto Alegre. With Hall-of Famer Willy Edel and gold pros Carlos Romão and Antonio Del Moral León also coming to Nashville, I wouldn’t bet on the DEX Army only netting one winning record this time around; like ChannelFireball Ice, this looks like a team primed to move up and compete for a spot in the Pro Tour Team Series finals.
#5 Lingering Souls
Donald Smith’s top-four finish in Dublin keyed his team’s debut at number five in the Pro Tour Team Series rankings, backed up by Travis Woo’s ten-win outing and the nine wins Shaheen Soorani posted.
Smith is a gold pro while Woo, Soorani, Chris Fennell, Andres Ganz, and Ashraf Abou Omar are all silver, which means the entire team should be spending the weekend lingering in Nashville. They don’t boast the résumés or the flashy recent results of some of the other top teams, but having their whole team in town will give them a definite leg up on much of the competition. Team Lingering Souls trails the top two by only nine points, so they are definitely within striking distance if they can put together a slate of quality performances this weekend.
Rich Stein contributed to this article.