Never has there been more experience in a World Championship final.

That was the headline as we wrapped up the Top 8 and entered into the final match of Magic World Championship 30. After thousands of tournaments spread across the globe yielded the 113 competitors who qualified for the 2024 World Championship, we whittled that field down until just two of the absolute best of the best remained.

Javier Domínguez and Márcio Carvalho, both making their third World Championship finals. There's only been a single two-time winner in previous World Championship history, but now, Javier had a chance to be the second if he could add to his 2018 title. Carvalho had come up just short in his previous finals appearances, but he was now making his third World Championship final in the last eight years, a feat entirely unprecedented in itself.

But only one of them could be the 2024 champ. Carvalho would attempt to do so with Golgari Midrange, a classic archetype that had quietly advanced two players into the Top 8 despite more flashy decks like Gruul Prowess and Abhorrent Oculus drawing the attention over the weekend. It was more than good enough for Carvalho as he enjoyed success throughout the Standard rounds and worked his way through Yoshihiko Ikawa and Quinn Tonole in the first two Sunday rounds.

The Games

Carvalho and Domínguez were both playing black-based decks that leaned on Duress, so it made sense that the longtime pair traded discord spells on the first turn. The exchange left Domínguez especially depleted on nonland resources, but he did have the best Phyrexian Arena variant we've seen recently in Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber.

That meant if he could hang in there, he had a path toward not just extra card draw but a bonafide win condition if he could get around to unlocking the second half or sticking a Demon. But staring at a hand with just a Doomsday Excruciator in it and finding a creature to stick around would be the challenge.

Carvalho, meanwhile, was therefore forced into a defensive position—and when Domínguez played an Archfiend of the Dross, Carvalho had an answer ready. But he was still the one with his back up against the wall due to the long-term threat of the Annex, and when he couldn't find an immediate answer to a second Archfiend, the only thing on the wall was the writing: Domínguez took the first game of the 2024 Magic World Championship.

Carvalho would be back on the play for the second game, and this time, he had the weekend's most controversial two-drop: Caustic Bronco. The Dark Confidant-inspired creature that Domínguez described as "something he wanted to play, not something that was necessarily good to play" had nonetheless found its way into both finalists' decks. The Bronco didn't last long, but it did get the action moving into the midgame.

And this was a game that would be defined by Archfiend of the Dross; Domínguez played one, Carvalho, two. With oil counters flooding the battlefield, the battle for air superiority kicked off in earnest. Domínguez was able to remove one, and Carvalho in turn instantly removed the Faerie Mastermind Domínguez attempted. But that only cleared the way for Domínguez's own second Dross demon—it was followed by a big attack step, and just like that, the Demon life loss triggers secured Domínguez a second victory.

That meant we were possibly one game away from what could be just the second two-time World Championship winner in 30 years of recorded Magic history.

That game would be a grind, as the players went in opposite directions. For Carvalho, it was more lands than spells; for Domínguez, the reverse. That kept the tension to a maximum as every draw step gave the finalists a chance to find the game breaker.

Despite lacking mana, Domínguez was not lacking in life or cards, thanks to an Unholy Annex and a few triggers with Demons in play. But as, Doomsday Excruciator rotted away in his hand, he desperately needed to find land before Carvalho could dig out of the hole.

It came excruciatingly slow. Extra draw after extra draw failed to yield land, and Carvalho was able to claw back up to 8 life and even landed a pair of Mosswood Dreadknights.

But the Annex was too much. Domínguez found his land. That found him the time and space to deploy his removal. And when Carvalho failed to rip a way back in, Domínguez found himself the winner of Magic World Championship 30, the winner of the Player of the Year title (and the Kai Budde Player of the Year trophy), and only the second two-time Magic World Champion in history.

🎉🎉Congratulations to #MTGWorlds Champion Javier Dominguez!🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/2oMxbdoYwU

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) October 27, 2024