PVDDR Wins Pro Tour Hour of Devastation

Posted on July 30, 2017

The final Pro Tour of the 2016-17 season was one for the ages. After the last set of bans removed Aetherworks Marvel from Standard, the format going into Pro Tour Hour of Devastation was set to look at a radically different Standard format. The pros delivered as the top tables were filled with Mountains and creatures with Haste. The Top 8 featured six Red based aggressive strategies including decks piloted by Hall of Famer Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (in his 12th Pro Tour Top 8), 2016 World Champion Seth Manfield, and Sam Black (both in their third Pro Tour Sunday appearance).

The Top 8 was rounded out with two more Ranumap Red decks in the hands of Yam Wing Chun and Felix Leong. Shintaro Kurata brought a Red-Black aggro deck to the table while Yusuke Sasabe brought the winning deck from Pro Tour Amonkhet in Zombies. The lone hold out was Sam Pardee who, in his second Pro Tour Top 8, brought Black-Green Winding Constrictor to the party.

The Top 8 started off with a marquee match - Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa taking on Seth Manfield. Paulo had gone 11-0 to start the tournament and entered as the number one overall seed. Yet he still fell behind two games to Seth and was on the brink in game three before battling back. The next two games followed suit and the Hall of Famer was one step closer to the finals. In his semifinal match up he was up against Yam Wing Chun (who had dispatched Shintaro Kurata in four games - the lone match to not take the full five games on Sunday). In the deciding game Yam Wing Chun drew the perfect card to win and moved right to attack - an attack rendered less effective by having two cards in hand, thus preventing Hazoret the Fervent from entering the red zone. He was never able to recover and Paulo found himself in the finals against Sam Pardee.

Pardee had a different path to the finals, first taking out Yusuke Sasabe in five games before squaring off against Sam Black. Five games later he was in the last match of the tournament against his testing partner Paulo Vitor. With PVDDR on ChannelFireball Ice and Sam on Face to Face Games, these two players entered the event working together. They traded games with the player going first taking each one. In the deciding fifth game Paulo took an early lead and never let off the pressure. Pardee put up a fight but an Eternalized Earthshaker Khenra meant there were no blocks possible and the Hall of Famer earned his second Pro Tour Victory.

As if that wasn't enough, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa also won his first ever Player of the Year title. Marcio Carvalho had a commanding lead going into the event and when Shota Yasooka and Yuuya Wantanabe fell away, only Paulo could claim the crown and only if he won (a second place finish meant a playoff of some sort). But Paulo went and won the thing and so he is your 2016-17 Player of the Year.

With the end of the 2016-17 Pro Tour season, more rosters have been decided. The first is the full list of players for the 2017 World Championship in October. The final two teams from the inaugural Pro Tour Team Series will battle at the event - congratulations to Musashi and Genesis! Finally National Captaincies are set for the World Magic Cup.

The 2017-18 series will kick off at Pro Tour Ixalan in November. But until then, congratulations again to Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, your Pro Tour Hour of Devastation Champion and 2016-17 Player of the Year!