- Pearl Division Decklists
- Sapphire Division Decklists
- Ruby Division Decklists
- Emerald Division Decklists
Headlining Week 3 is a showdown between Brad Nelson and Martin Jůza to see who improves to 4-0 as the divisions make the turn for the back half of the split. Nelson and Jůza are joined by Seth Manfield as the undefeated players in the Emerald division, while Andrew Cuneo and Eric Froehlich pace the Pearl Division at 3-0. Both have matches against 2-1 players, so by this time next week the Pearl division could have one or two clear leaders or a major logjam at the top of the standings.
The Pearl and Ruby divisions feature double-match play this week.
Broadcast and Coverage Information
Week 3 stream: Saturday, May 25 at Noon PT/3 p.m. ET/7 p.m. UTC
Casters: Maria Bartholdi, Paul Cheon, and Becca Scott
Channel: twitch.tv/magic
Schedule
Format: Best-of-Three Traditional Standard
Pearl Division
- Brian Braun-Duin defeats Andrew Cuneo 2-0
- Eric Froehlich defeats Javier Dominguez 2-0
- John Rolf defeats Andrew Cuneo 2-0
- Lee Shi Tian defeats Eric Froehlich 2-1
- Brian Braun-Duin defeats Luis Salvatto 2-0
- Javier Dominguez defeats Shahar Shenhar 2-1
- Luis Salvatto defeats John Rolf 2-1
- Shahar Shenhar defeats Lee Shi Tian 2-0
Sapphire Division
- Piotr Głogowski defeats Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 2-0
- Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa defeats Mike Sigrist 2-1
- Rei Sato defeats Jean-Emmanuel Depraz 2-0
- Mike Sigrist defeats Autumn Burchett 2-0
- Márcio Carvalho defeats Andrea Mengucci 2-0
Ruby Division
- Ken Yukuhiro defeats William "Huey" Jensen 2-0
- Ken Yukuhiro defeats Reid Duke 2-0
- Carlos Romão defeats Ben Stark 2-1
- Lucas Esper Berthoud defeats Carlos Romão 2-0
- Note: Ruby Division matches involving Jessica Estephan and Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen will be rescheduled during future weeks in Split 1.
Emerald Division
- Brad Nelson defeats Martin Jůza 2-1
- Seth Manfield defeats Grzegorz Kowalski 2-1
- Alexander Hayne defeats Christian Hauck 2-1
- Shota Yasooka defeats Matthew Nass 2-0
Week 3 Metagame and Decklists
| Archetype | Number |
| Mono-Red Aggro | 5 |
| Four-Color Dreadhorde | 4 |
| Azorius Aggro | 4 |
| Esper Midrange | 3 |
| Golgari Midrange | 3 |
| Esper Control | 2 |
| Jeskai Walkers | 2 |
| Bant Midrange | 1 |
| Bant Nexus | 1 |
| Dimir Control | 1 |
| Dimir Diviner | 1 |
| Rakdos Aggro | 1 |
| Selesnya Tokens | 1 |
| Simic Nexus | 1 |
| Sultai Dreadhorde | 1 |
| Temur Reclamation | 1 |
We are now three weeks into the MPL and players have fully embraced all the new decks and archetypes created from War of the Spark. Diversity is the name of the game this week as there are 16 different decks represented from a total of 32 submissions.
It's become pretty clear that Mono-Red and Mono-White Aggro are the two premier aggressive decks in the format. They are among the most popular decks chosen this week with a few players reverting back to playing Azorius Aggro, whereas Mono-Red was clearly the aggressive deck of choice in Week 2.
Bant Midrange was the breakout deck in Week 2 as it was over 20% of the field but it seems that players have chosen to go with a different midrange strategy this week. The biggest riser this week is the emergence of the Four-Color Command the Dreadhorde deck. It plays out very similarly to the popular Sultai Midrange deck from last season but has chosen to replace Hydroid Krasis with the powerful Command the Dreadhorde as the top-end threat.
The Japanese competitors in the MPL have teamed up this week as Rei Sato, Shota Yasooka, and Ken Yukuhiro each submitted a Golgari Midrange list. The most exciting addition is the three maindeck copies of Casualties of War as the way to go over the top in the slower matchups. Going two colors has also allowed them to play four copies of Field of Ruin in the main. This is a fantastic metagame decision by the Japanese contingent as the Four-Color Dreadhorde decks play zero basic lands in their deck.
It's been fascinating to see the metagame shift so dramatically from week to week. Things are as diverse as they've ever been and our MPL competitors have risen to the challenge to come up with some truly innovative decks to attack the evolving metagame.