The final stop of the thrilling 2017 MKM Series had finally arrived as players from far and wide gathered here in Barcelona to finish this year’s competition for Cardmarket credit, MKMS ranking, and glory. More than the usual tournament prizes were at stake here in Barcelona, as the competition for the MKMS Power 8 finally came to a close and the top finishers were eager to receive their hard-fought rewards.

Dennis Zens had already cemented his lead by winning the Modern main event on Saturday, but there still were multiple players in contention for the other seven spots. Johannes Gutbrod finished 6-1-1, but closely missed the Top 8 on tie-breakers! So he had to watch from the sidelines while Julian Knab and Tomas Mar were playing the elimination rounds hoping to overtake their fellow competitors.

Deathrite Shaman had made waves at Eternal Weekend 2017, providing support to six of eight Top 8 decks— helping continue the trend of more standard creature-based decks topping US tournaments. Would we see combo triumph here in Europe, going by MKMS Hamburg’s winning Show and Tell deck, or would the European meta fall in line with the US?

This was indeed the question of the final match, which featured the battle of Delver vs. Sneak & Show.

While Gutbrod was sad he had to sit out this one, he was happy to see his buddy Maximilian Lorenz claiming the trophy in the end. Gutbrod had earlier told the story of how his friend Max had gotten him into Legacy in the first place, and now revealed that he himself had gotten Lorenz back into Legacy after a long break recently. So things had come full circle – on a personal level for those two players, but also for us at MKMS Barcelona 2017.

We are looking forward to an even more exciting season in 2018 – with an additional stop, a new organizer, improved video coverage, and many more exciting stories and friendships to be created!

See you in January!