We're finally here.
October 28 will be a historic day for Magic: The Gathering. Not only does this kickstart the celebrations of Magic 30 in Las Vegas alongside a flurry of The Brothers' War previews, but the Magic World Championship XXVIII will also take place—the first in-person Magic World Championship since February 2020.
Las Vegas will warmly welcome many of Magic's best and brightest to battle it out for a slice of the impressive $500,000 prize pool, but more importantly, the prospect to become Magic's next World Champion. As with any high-stakes event, carefully sifting through tournament data, playing hundreds of games, and toiling over the final card to register are familiar yet overwhelming experiences in competitive play. Fortunately, these burdens often seem lighter when part of a group, especially one that understands what is at stake.
And there is one group that continued to achieve incredible feats despite these hurdles, nurturing the next generation of competitive Magic players. Originally named Team Swan MTG, this cadre of skilled Magic players came together to test for numerous Magic Online Champions Showcase events over the last two years. Now, the Magic World Championship features eight members of this team—25% of the World Championship field—and each celebrated success (and endured some hardships) through all three 2021–22 Championships, from Zendikar Rising to Streets of New Capenna.
Simon Nielsen, a veteran on the competitive scene who secured their Magic World Championship spot with a Top 6 finish at the New Capenna Championship, shared their origins. "The team actually started back in early 2020 as Team Swan MTG, a ragtag bunch of Magic Online (MTGO) grinders assembled under the banner of Sam Rolph to work together for the different formats of MTGO Showcase Challenges," Nielsen says. "Most notably, David Inglis, Nathan Steuer, and I were part of that original team."
"As the first Championships rolled around, we formed more of an organized testing team and picked up a lot of the current members along the way. This was very much a team existing on Discord and formed by it. We had a strong showing at the Zendikar Rising Championship and for the Kaldheim Championship, we had Arne Huschenbeth hoist the trophy," Nielsen beamed. "Eventually, David (Inglis) became the unelected leader who organized our Discord, and Sam (Rolph) broke off to form a new team that would fit his playtest style better."
Over the next few years, the team welcomed Zachary Kiihne, Jonny Guttman, Matti Kuisma, Tristan Wylde-Larue, Karl Sarap, and Julian Wellman, a who's who of Championship competitors—and each secured their spot in the Magic World Championships through testing together. What began as an assembly of Magic Online players became one of the most successful testing teams in competitive Magic.
"The current form of the team has existed since around the Strixhaven Championship," said Nielsen. "That's when the team took in the likes of Matti (Kuisma) and Karl (Sarap) to pad the numbers, and after putting two players in the Top 8, our team was beginning to be viewed as one of the powerhouses that professional Magic players wanted to join," Nielsen added. As the rapid changes for competitive play going into—and then with the absence of—tabletop Magic in 2020 many players lost their focus.
But not this group.
"Our ragtag squad prided ourselves on a drive to do well and put plenty of effort into systematic and organized testing," Nielsen continues. "Where before, we were desperate to add anyone qualified to have enough members, now we were rejecting applications from top players—often favoring the young up-and-comers over the old guard."
It's easy to default to someone with a vast competitive career over someone unknown and on the ascent. But these new faces can introduce an analytic aspect of competitive Magic not seen before, or are simply driven to put a foot in the competitive door. This was the case for Tristan Wylde-Larue, who joined the team shortly before the Zendikar Rising Championship.
"For me, this was an awesome opportunity to learn more about how the testing process worked (and also, it was just fun). I was also blown away by the opportunity to work with very established players like Austin Bursavich, who had recently won the 2020 Season Grand Finals," sid Wylde-Larue.
The breakthrough moment for the team emerged during the New Capenna Championship, where the group earned incredible results. As Wellman put it: "Out of the 16 of us, four of us (David Inglis, Simon Nielsen, Karl Sarap, and Zachary Kiihne) made the Top 8, and eight made the Top 16. Our total record against people who weren't on our team was 131-59, for a 68.9% win rate."
Even more impressive? "[O]ur 76.5% win rate with the version of
It wasn't only Wellman fascinated by the team's combined result. "It was almost overwhelming to see our team do this well at the New Capenna Championships," added Nielsen. "We suspected that we would have a lot of players qualified for the 2022 Magic World Championship, but half of the team? Eight of our 16 members—plus Nathan Steuer as an honorary ninth! One of the best parts of playing competitive Magic on a team is that you always get to cheer for someone's success every single tournament. When you have four team members in the Top 8 as well as four more in the Top 16, well that is just a whole lot of cheering. For my position, I was also overwhelmed by my own achievement—making my first Pro Tour-level Top 8!"
For Jonny Guttman, it felt important to rebound after their less-successful Neon Dynasty Championship. "It was great to see this ideal storm of an event as the culmination of working so hard in the Championships as the final one of them," Guttman said. Despite him securing a World Championship invitation by making top 4 at the Neon Dynasty Championship, Guttman agreed the team could do more. "We were quite unhappy with our overall poor performance, especially our lack of innovation in the Alchemy portion," he said. "The New Capenna Championship was the perfect way to bounce back."
Ending with eight qualified teammates is an achievement like few others in Magic history, with little reason to change things up. However, for Magic World Championship XXVIII the group decided to take a different approach by splitting into two teams.
As Wellman explained, they "split into two teams because with such a small field of 32 [players], having a team of eight players would be too many. The incentive to be favored against our own decks would be too strong to collaborate effectively, and it would be impossible to reach a consensus to all play the same thing." But that doesn't mean there isn't any cooperation. "All eight of us have still been practicing Dominaria United Drafts together a fair bit since you need eight committed players to get proper practice for the real thing."
One team features Inglis, Guttman, Kiihne, and Wylde-LaRue. The other Sarap, Kuisma, Nielsen, and Wellman. It's an exciting yet friendly dynamic during the Magic World Championship. Despite a division with secrecy between the two teams in the lead up to the event, it won't harm any relationships according to Nielsen. "I know the friendship is still staying strong despite us not really being able to talk much right now due to the secrecy," he said. "I'd expect us all to work together again with the return of the tabletop Pro Tours. But maybe the force of this team is something that could only belong to the online era. ... I'd be content with that as well."
Collaborating now, even as smaller teams, benefits from learnings earlier in the season. "The best thing about the interaction between myself and Julian (Wellman) is how much he likes to put one-ofs in his decks and how much I hate it," joked Nielsen. "He's the type who'd rather split the difference between two cards if they are of similar power level, while I much prefer a clean-looking list with as many four-ofs as I can get away with. So, the testing process has involved a sort of tug-of-war where I take a decklist and 'clean it up' getting rid of odd numbers, then Julian takes the same list and adds a bunch of one-ofs. Then I take it and clean it up again, back-and-forth until we end up at some, more optimal, compromise." Interactions like this exemplify strong bonds among peers and humor, if anything, cuts through the tension of preparing for these tournaments.
Reunited with my homies @terribadmtg and @MrChecklistcard for a Worlds 2022 training camp in Vegas 🥳 #playthegameseetheworld #thegathering pic.twitter.com/S4WXN7aLEh
— Matti Kuisma (@kuismatti) October 19, 2022
With the cauldron excitement, and the pressure to perform well in a high-stakes event such as the Magic World Championship, it's easy to overlook arguably the more desirable aspect of any in-person tournament: the gathering. Rallying at Magic 30 is a highlight the teams look ahead to. "Of the people across both our teams I have only ever met Zach (Kiihne) and Nathan (Steuer) in person," said Guttman, "so I'm really excited to meet everyone else in person for the first time in Las Vegas."
These players all met online, through Magic Online and Discord. To finally have in-person connection after years of online testing, hardship, and celebration is a well-deserved chapter for their story. Regardless of what occurs across the tables during the World Championship, you can be sure these exceptionally skilled players will continue to join forces and thrive in future Magic events.
Magic World Championship XXVIII features Dominaria United Draft, Explorer, and Standard all played out on MTG Arena. You can watch Nielsen and the rest of the impressive field duel it out beginning at 9 a.m. PT (6 p.m. CEST // 1 a.m. JST 10/29) October 28–30 live on twitch.tv/magic