Coming into Day Two of Magic World Championship XXVI, we knew a few things about how the day would proceed. Four players had already secured spots in the Top 8, while four from the starting field had been eliminated. The remaining eight players would battle it out for those final four Top 8 spots with the Saturday Play-In.

For the four that already had Top 8 spots lined up, that meant an anxious morning watching the games play out. Márcio Carvalho, Seth Manfield and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa were taking in the matches from the player lounge, rooting for their preferred matchups to advance, while Eli Loveman was too nervous to watch and was jamming games on MTG Arena to pass the time.

But their stress was nothing compared to those fighting for their tournament lives in the World Championship. The field included some of the fan favorites like Mythic Championship VII winner Piotr Głogowski, as well as Hall of Famers Gabriel Nassif and Raphaël Lévy and relative newcomers like Thoralf Severin and Chris Kvartek alike.

Kanister Can't

The day started off with a tense match between Piotr "Kanister" Głogowski and Chris Kavrtek and ended with a bang as Kanister's Jund Sacrifice deck pulled out an improbable win out of nowhere in the first game.

But things went downhill from there for the champion as Kavrtek's deck outmuscled Kanister's through favorable draw steps, and Kavartek sent Kanister into the bottom of the bracket where a single loss would eliminate him. And when he squared off against Raphaël Lévy in last round, the Hall of Famer dispatched Kanister him with the power of Jeskai Fires.

Even in defeat, Kanister remained his usual affable self.

Actually I did#MTGWorlds https://t.co/HgoKvJdVzF

— Piotr 'kanister' Głogowski (@kanister_mtg) February 15, 2020

Pozzo Keeps Pushing

On the top side of the bracket, Kvartek and Sebastián Pozzo then played to secure a spot in the Top 8. It was the dream matchup for Pozzo, who was on Mono-Red Aggro against a Temur Reclamation deck lacking Storm's Wrath.

"I really wasn't expecting many red decks, so I didn't worry about any sweepers," Kvartek admitted sheepishly before the match. "It was a pretty boneheaded move to not even play [anything like] Fiery Cannonade."

The decision came back to haunt Kvartek in the match, and Pozzo's red deck burned him out.

Top8 #MTGWorlds!!! Thanks everyone for the support!!! #HareruyaPros

— Sebastián Pozzo (@sebastianpozzo) February 15, 2020

Nassif Nailed It

That put Kvartek's back up against the wall and sent him into a deciding match against French Hall of Famer Gabriel Nassif, who was playing Jeskai Fires to the Top 8. After starting out slowly with some admitted mistakes, Nassif brought his best when it mattered most, and in a pair of tight games he had the right answers at the right time, and leveraged Teferi, Time Raveler to completely derail Kvartek's plans of abusing Wilderness Reclamation.

Started the day off poorly punting a bunch vs Depraz then had to face off Toffel on UW and thought it was gonna be a repeat of yesterday when I threw vs Eli and got crushed by PV. Got there today though and games vs Kavartech were tense but kind of smooth comparatively #MTGWorlds

— Gabriel Nassif (@gabnassif) February 15, 2020

Depraz Dares to Dream

Pozzo and Nassif's wins locked up two of the four open slots. The third went to Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, who had beaten Nassif in the opener and then provided the most exciting topdeck of the day to close out an epic back-and-forth between himself and Autumn Burchett.

Burchett Bashes Through

With that, the final spot came down to a deciding match between Burchett and Lévy. As Burchett developed their mana, Lévy responded with a Teferi, Time Raveler to shut down instant-speed shenanigans. But as the game dragged on, Burchett amassed enough lands that they didn't even need Wilderness Reclamation to cast giant spells.

And when Lévy missed a crucial land that would have given haste to his Cavalier of Flame, he lost his only window to close the game out and Burchett ran away with the match, capping an incredible two days for the winner of the first Mythic Championship last year.

Now into the Top 8 at the World Championship, it's safe to say the drought since then is over for Burchett.

Lévy's Lament

It was a disappointing ending for Lévy, given that the difference between elimination and advancing to the Top 8 was a razor-thin margin across all three of his matches.

"I had a few turns in the first match where I just needed pretty much anything, a creature or a spell, and I missed," he lamented. "The last turn, any creature would have won it for me but I drew a second Fires of Invention instead."

That's how close things are at this level of competition. And while Lévy came up a little short, he remained in good spirits after an incredible 2019 where he made the Magic World Championship as well as the Magic Pro League.

Aaand out of #MTGWorlds. Lost two nailbiters against @sebastianpozzo and @AutumnLilyMTG but got lucky against @kanister_mtg. Rooting for fellow countrymen @gabnassif and @JEDepraz in the top 8.

— Raphael Levy (@raphlevymtg) February 15, 2020