William Jensen won the Ruby Division of the Magic Pro League’s Eldraine Split on Saturday. He played Bant Food and defeated Autumn Burchett on Golos Fires in two Grand Finals matches. Jensen joins the winner of the Sapphire Division, Piotr Głogowski, with a bye to Day 2 of Mythic Championship VII.
Last week’s Field of the Dead ban took effect in the middle of the Ruby Division’s schedule, so Wizards of the Coast decided to have the players play with their pre-ban decks in the Top 4 bracket. William Jensen brought Bant Food and lost his Upper Finals match against Autumn Burchett’s Golos Fires in two games, advancing Burchett to the Grand Finals and dropping Jensen to the Lower Bracket.
The Top 4 bracket of the MPL’s Ruby Division.
In the Lower Bracket finals, Jensen defeated Javier Dominguez in a Bant Food mirror match in two games, earning himself a rematch with Burchett for the division title.
The Grand Finals
Game 1 of the first Grand Finals match began with Jensen mulling to five. Burchett played lands and said go for their first few turns, while Jensen cast Once Upon a Time in hopes of finding a Gilded Goose, but was forced to take a Forest instead.
Jensen played Oko, Thief of Crowns on Turn 3 and made a food token while Burchett cast Circuitous Route to start ramping. Questing Beast hit the battlefield for Jensen and he turned his food token into an elk and attacked for seven damage. Burchett played another Circuitous Route and made four Zombie tokens thanks to Field of the Dead and cast Fae of Wishes as another blocker.
Jensen attacked with the Questing Beast and played Leafkin Druid and Paradise Druid. Oko’s -5 ability traded the Paradise Druid for the Fae of Wishes.
Burchett untapped and played Fires of Invention into Agent of Treachery, taking the Oko, Thief of Crowns and turning Questing Beast into an elk. Jensen played another Oko, Thief of Crowns and made a food token but had fallen too far behind—Burchett now had three Field of the Dead in play and continued to make too many zombie tokens for William Jensen to handle, giving Burchett the Game 1 win.
Game 2 began with Jensen casting Once Upon a Time and this time finding a Gilded Goose. This let him play Oko, Thief of Crowns on Turn 2 and made a food token, one of the most important play patterns for any Oko deck.
While Burchett was stuck just playing lands, Jensen also got a Questing Beast onto the battlefield. Burchett was able to play Teferi, Time Raveler and bounce the Questing Beast, which Jensen quickly replayed. He then turned his own Gilded Goose into an elk and attacked, killing Teferi and putting Burchett on the back foot.
Burchett played a Fires of Invention as well as a Fae of Wishes to block. Jensen turned another food token into an elk attacked Burchett down to two life. He then played a second Oko, Thief of Crowns to make another food token to play around a sweeper. But Burchett couldn’t find anything to keep them in the game and Jensen won Game 2.
Game 3 began in a very similar way with Burchett making their first few lands drops and Jensen casting Once Upon a Time to find a Gilded Goose. Turn 3 saw Oko, Thief of Crowns for Jensen while Burchett missed their third land drop and played Fae of Wishes.
Jensen continued applying pressure with a Questing Beast and made a food token. Burchett drew their third land…but it came into play tapped so they couldn’t deploy Prison Realm that turn. Jensen attacked with the Questing Beast again and made a food token into an elk. Prison Realm exiled Questing Beast and Jensen made a food on Burchett’s end step with Gilded Goose. Jensen’s Deputy of Detention exiled Prison Realm, which gave him his Questing Beast back and he attacked with all to win the first match of the Grand Finals.
The beginning of Game 1 of Match 2 saw Burchett with enough time to successfully ramp into a Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, which got a Field of the Dead to begin to make Zombie tokens, while Jensen could only a Gilded Goose and Wicked Wolf with no targets.
Jensen eventually played Nissa, Who Shakes the World and animated an Island, but an Agent of Treachery from Burchett took Nissa and the Granted side of Fae of Wishes got Casualties of War. Jensen cast a Hydroid Krasis for three but there were too many Zombies on Burchett’s sid, and they took Game 1.
In Game 2, Jensen found a Hydroid Krasis off Once Upon a Time and played a Gilded Goose. Burchett made a couple land drops and Jensen played a second Gilded Goose into a Turn 3 Nissa, Who Shakes the World. Deafening Clarion from Burchett swept the board, but Jensen still had Nissa and played an Oko, Thief of Crowns to make one of his animated lands into a 6/6 elk. Burchett tried to cast a Hydroid Krasis for four but a Mystical Dispute from Jensen countered the creature, though Burchett still drew two cards. But an army of elks and elemental lands was too much for Burchett to handle and Jensen took Game 2.
Like the previous games, Burchett’s first couple of turns of Game 3 were land drops and ramp while William Jensen played Once Upon a Time and Gilded Goose. Jensen played a Nissa, Who Shakes the World and animated a Breeding Pool to hold up mana for Disdainful Stroke, which countered a Circuitous Route from Burchett and Jensen drew another Disdainful Stroke the following turn. Questing Beast and animated lands won him Game 3 of Match 2, the Grand Finals, and the Magic Pro League’s Ruby Division.
William Jensen is the second player to earn a bye to Day 2 of Mythic Championship VII. Up next, the Pearl Division will face off with the Top 4 streamed on November 2 at 12 PM Pacific on twitch.tv/magic. Any of the previous matches and results can be viewed at magic.gg.
Decklists
Standard Bant Food by William Jensen
| Creatures (25) 4 Deputy of Detention 4 Hydroid Krasis 4 Paradise Druid 4 Gilded Goose 4 Questing Beast 4 Wicked Wolf 1 Leafkin Druid Spells (3) 3 Once Upon a Time Planeswalkers (8) 4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World 4 Oko, Thief of Crowns | Lands (24) 4 Breeding Pool 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Temple Garden 3 Fabled Passage 1 Plains 2 Island 6 Forest Sideboard (15) 4 Disdainful Stroke 1 Mystical Dispute 1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves 2 Aether Gust 3 Veil of Summer 2 Voracious Hydra 2 Glass Casket |