And then there were two.

The biggest Pro Tour field in years has whittled its players down to the tournament's final two competitors: a pair of Domain Overlords players on very different ends of the experience spectrum, but both very close to victory, All that stood between one of them and the trophy was one final match against the tournament's top deck.

Matt Nass drew the headlines. He was the tournament leader from pole to pole, finishing Day One undefeated and then becoming the first player to earn his twelfth win and an automatic spot in the Top 8. The two-time Top Finisher is a renowned combo player who has seen many decks come and go, through bans and format rotation. He's also just one of the best Magic players around, period. He came to Chicago locked in, now just one match away from planting his flag on this city.

Across from him sat James Dimitrov, playing in not just his first Top Finish, but also his first Pro Tour ever. The underdog run was punctuated by a number of upset victories including a quarterfinals win over Japanese star Kenta Harane. A follow-up win over Yuchen Liu was just as close, and now incredible Pro Tour dream had brought the New York native as far as he could go.

The deck of choice for both finalists? Domain Overlords, the best-performing archetype of the three big decks (along with Gruul Mice and Esper Pixie). Both had proven their prowess at the big-mana deck that leaned on board wipes, and navigating through a tricky field trying to drop bombs had demonstrated just how strong the deck could be in the right hands.

The first game revealed what was important to each player in the matchup. While Nass had to mulligan to five cards, he wasted no time in firing off a Temporary Lockdown to catch Dimitrov's turn-two Up the Beanstalk. The rules of engagement for the finals were made clear: this would be a fight to cement card advantage engines.

One of which was Zur, Eternal Schemer. The piece of the Domain deck has been one of its key pairings with the Overlords, and the many abilities it provides to creatures is part of the deck's bounceback potential.

It's also how the deck runs away with games. Despite the extra cards Dimitrov did not have enough of a cushion to prevent Zur from activating and taking the game. So when Nass was able to stick one unimpeded, the advantage it gained came much faster than Beanstalk, and too fast for Dimitrov to stop.

The second game was more of the game; Dimitrov opened with double Up the Beanstalk while Nass had a more traditional start with an Overlord and a board wipe. From there, players traded resources back and forth, but as the turns counted up the cards in hand counted down–for the player without Up the Beanstalk.

Still, despite the slow advantage that Dimitrov was grinding out, Nass wasn't going anywhere. At one point when Dimitrov was discarding to hand size thanks to the pair of Beanstalks he had in play, Nass was staring down a hand of four three point removal spells and a board wipe; talk began to turn to which player may run out of cards in library first (Up the Beanstalk is a forced draw). And soon Dimitrov had all four of his Beanstalks in play, with both players clutching grips full of removal while their Overlords slowly counted down.

But despite having a hand flush with sweepers, Nass still needed a lot to beat Dimitrov's snowballing board. And with just eleven cards left in his library, Dimitrov decided the time had come to get aggressive. He played every turn to push through as much damage from tokens as possible, and with his library dwindling he was able to just squeak out the last few points to even the games.

It was time for a breather. The Domain mirror had promised to be complex and exhausting, and it was living up to that hype. Now the sideboards would come in, which meant that each player would have access to their preferred late-game options. For Nass, it was Nissa, Ascended Animist, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier. For Dimitrov, it was the same, plus Jace, Perfected Mind.

The third game, though, was about more of the same: Beanstalk advantage. This time it was Nass who was able to pull ahead in the critical resource advantage, and as the game wound on the quality of spells in his hand remained high throughout, and slowly he was able to choke out Dimitrov's board until his own team of tokens overwhelmed the board and put him now just one game away from the Pro Tour title.

Again, Nass was able to deploy Up the Beanstalk early, but Dimitrov was able to find some of his own key cards as well. Most notably, he resolved Jace, the Perfected Mind and was able to protect it with a pair of tokens from Overlord of the Mistmoors. With his own mana base developing slowly, Nass found himself with his back up against the wall early.

Dimitrov's Jace was the primary problem. Forced between a rock and a hard place, Nass made the critical decision to attack Jace after using a precious Negate to protect his own board. That gave Dimitrov the opening he needed–he tanked on the combat but ultimately let the Jace go, untapped for his turn and fired off another removal spell at Nass' Zur. That was enough to open the way for his own team of Zur-fueled team of tokens and Overlords, and like that the finals were headed into a fifth and deciding game.

That game would prove to be epic, though it nearly didn't happen at all–Nass was missing a green-producing land and didn't find it with his first few draw steps or even surveil triggers. But a Hedge Maze off the top of the deck on the third turn meant that the game would not just progress, it meant that Nass was free to try and start capitalizing on the Up the Beanstalk in his hand.

Dimitrov's hand was more straightforward. He immediately Get Lost-ed at Up the Beanstalk, going on to developed his board with an impending Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Zur, Eternal Schemer. The flurry spells that followed left Nass with a pair of tokens but Dimitrov with Jace, the Perfected Mind in hand as he tried to clear the way.

It was a powerful plan and one that Nass needed to answer quickly. Unfortunately Zur, Eternal Schemer wasn't the clean answer that the mana-light Nass was looking for. The three-time Top Finisher was forced to just pass things back to Dimitrov, who could sense this epic match drawing to a close. He confidently used his own Zur to activate his Overlords and send them into combat against a suddenly on-the-defensive Nass. Once the dust and damage settled, Nass's tokens took one Overlord down with them. But Dimitrov calmly followed up with his last spell in hand: an Overlord of the Mistmoors, made uncounterable thanks to Cavern of Souls.

Talk about a late game: both players now had Overlords in play and able to attack, Zurs to animate more enchantments, and Dimitrov's Jace, the Perfected Mind watched over it all. At one point Nass was down to a scant 3 life; after the proliferation of Overlords he now stood at 17, to Dimitrov's own inflated life total that at one point hit 59. But all that remained in hand for Dimitrov was a Get Lost and a pair of lands.

Until he drew Atraxa, Grand Unifier off the top of the deck. It was one of the only draws that could pull him back into the game while avoiding Nass's Negate. He slammed the Phyrexian Angel onto the table, refilled his hand, and sent the turn back to a stoic but surely stunned Nass.

Stunned, but willing to count. And count, and keep counting. Arithmetic floating around his head, Nass counted all the way up to 54–Dimitrov's current life total. Then he counted how much power he could generate with Zur, Eternal Schemer. He kept adding, and multiplying, and adding some more. And when he was done with all that counting...

Nass attacked for more than enough damage to end the game, win the match, and earn the title of Pro Tour Aetherdrift champion. Who says math is for blockers?

With a 20-year journey toward a Pro Tour title now complete, Nass did all that was left: he laid down on the ground and let the moment sink in. Consider Matt's class done for today.

"I'm a math major, and I like to play combo decks; I'm pretty comfortable with math, but that was the hardest math I've ever done," Nass marveled.

And all that added up to a victory. Congrats again to Matt Nass, the winner of Pro Tour Aetherdrift!

Congratulations to Matt Nass, Winner Pro Tour Aetherdrift!