From 223 players, the final eight remain for the Sunday playoff. Congratulations to the Top 8 players of the New Capenna Championship!
🎉Congratulations to the #SNCChamps Top 8!🎉
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) May 22, 2022
They are:
David Inglis
Hisamichi Yoshigoe
Zachary Kiihne
Mike Sigrist
Shota Yasooka
Simon Nielsen
Karl Sarap
Jan Merkel
See these stellar players in tomorrow’s double elimination race to the trophy! pic.twitter.com/5CyvGu2doD
David Inglis
David Inglis burst onto the scene with a Top 8 at 2021's Strixhaven Championship, and has carried on since. Rising through the Challenger Gauntlet then the Rivals Gauntlet, Inglis put in the work–alongside a cadre of talented teammates–to earn another Top 8 at the New Capenna Championship. His New Capenna success matches his consistent performance all season, earning him a Magic World Championship XXVIII invitation at the top of the league standings, standing atop a field of the game's greats.
Zachary Kiihne
Rivals League member Zachary Kiihne adds a third Top Finish to his growing resume during a year in which he's already qualified for the World Championship. He follows up his Top 8 appearance at the Innistrad Championship with this second shot at taking home the trophy. He was one of the players who benefitted from a very strong metagame for Golgari Food in Historic, and now he'll turn to his tuned Esper Midrange deck for Sunday play.
Jan Merkel
On a weekend where his testing teammate Logan Nettles qualified for the World Championship, Jan Merkel will now seek to join him if he can pick up a match win on Sunday. Merkel makes his fourth career Top Finish and did so as the only Top 8 player to bring
Simon Nielsen
The first challenger of the weekend to secure their spot at Magic World Championship XXVIII, Nielsen added a Top Finish here at the New Capenna Championship as well. Nielsen has been a star on the Grand Prix circuit for a decade and now finally has his breakthrough performance at the Pro Tour. His relentless dedication–playing seven qualifier events over two weekends as part of his path to this tournament–paid off perfectly and now the 2014 Magic World Cup Champion from Denmark will look to reach even greater heights on Sunday and beyond.
Karl Sarap
Karl Sarap credited his testing team–led by fellow Top 8 competitor Inglis–as the best in the world, and they certainly looked the part in the New Capenna Championship by putting eight players in the Top 16. Sarap eschewed the two most popular Historic decks to play Selesnya Humans, and the power of
Mike Sigrist
The former Player of the Year Mike Sigrist is back in a Pro Tour Top 8 as "Siggy" adds his fourth career Top Finish with a 12-3 finish this weekend. Sigrist was well below the points cutoff for the World Championship when the weekend began, but if he can win a match on Sunday he'll instantly become one of the accomplished and fan-favorite players in Magic World Championship XXVIII. He surprised the field with his team's Grixis Vampires deck in Standard, which he'll now take into a sea of midrange decks.
Shota Yasooka
The Hall of Famer entered the weekend with one goal: to qualify for the World Championship so he can chase the only title he hasn't yet claimed in Magic. This is an incredible 10th Top Finish for the Japanese legend, and while he's already achieved his first goal–he'll be at the World Championship regardless of what happens on Sunday–and that means he can focus his attention solely on claiming a third individual Pro Tour title.
Hisamichi Yoshigoe
Yoshigoe began playing just two years ago, but he's quickly made his way up through the ranks of online play. He won a qualifier playing a deck of his own creation, and he now has a Top Finish to add to his accomplishments. He found success with Naya Midrange throughout the tournament, and that's what he'll look toward to continue his emergent run through the Top 8 and, potentially, a World Championship seat to boot.