Magic: The Gathering World Champion XXIX wins big with Esper Legends deck

Jean-Emmanuel Depraz's Esper Legends deck holds no surprises. The 2023-2024 MTG season has seen a flood of decks abusing Sheoldred, The Apocalypse with the extremely cheap mana cost for a 4/5 Deathtouch critter that has both life gain (for the player) and life loss (for the opponent) every turn.

Meanwhile, Raffine, Scheming Seer provides a cost-effective early flying blocker and Connive to boost attackers with +1/+1 counters. Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Rona, Herald of Invasion, and the counterspell Make Disappear rounded out the recurring offense and defense against the most common strategies other players employ (such as other Esper decks that use Sheoldred).

Depraz has been a staple in the MTG Pro Circuit and regularly made the top finishers over the past five years. The French MTG veteran placed at the Magic World Championship XXVII held in 2021, but failed to overcome Yuta Takahashi who ultimately won that year.

You can find all the Magic: The Gathering Standard Constructed deck lists at the official Magic World Championship site at this link.

For his victory, Jean-Emmanuel Depraz takes home the $100,000 prize money. And aside from the bragging rights, Depraz will have his likeness forever etched in a future Magic: The Gathering card.

Meanwhile, second placer Kazune Kosaka took the $50,000 reward and the rest of the Top 8 finalists received $20,000 (Top 5-8) and $25,000 (Top 3-4). The Top 8 MTG World Championship XXIX finalists are also automatically invited to all the Pro Tour and World Championship events for the 2023 to 2024 season. The rest of the 104 World Championship XXIX players received cash prizes of at least $4,000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlgUO8ET618 Congratulations to Jean-Emmanuel Depraz for his Magic: The Gathering XXIX Championship win! And what did you think about the champ's winning MTG Standard Constructed deck? Do you think Magic: The Gathering is still the #1 collectible card game in the world despite recent controversies?

Meanwhile, you can still try your hand for this year's Magic: The Gathering Arena Championship to be held on October 7-8, 2023. The MTG Arena Championship will have a $200,000 prize pool and the winners will receive an invitation for the next Magic World Championships in 2024.