The recently concluded Pro Tour Hour of Devastation in Kyoto has declared the Brazilian Powerhouse Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa as the Champion of the tournament. Paulo Vitor, also known as PV, has finished Day 1 unscathed with an 8-0 record before taking the rest of the 16 Swiss rounds in first place. He piloted the most popular deck in the current Standard, Mono Red or what they called as Ramunap Red with the name of origin from the uncommon HOU Desert.

It was a variance of these Mono Red decks in the Top 8 but I think it was PV’s list in the sideboard that somewhat out-edged the mirror. The key cards were Aethersphere Harvester and Sand Strangler.

The playoffs was probably one of the epic PT matches that I have witnessed (even if it is only on live stream). PV came back to win from a 0-2 deficit in the quarters versus Seth Manfield. He utilized the Aethersphere Harvester’s Lifelink to gain advantage in the damage race whereas Manfield also failed to destroy the vehicle. I remembered that turn wherein he used Abrade to kill Kari Zev before PV attacks and in post-combat PV dropped the Harvester.

The semifinals was also a mirror match with Wing Chun Yam wherein PV got ahead 2-0 but Yam was able to come back to take it to a decider Game 5. It was one hell of a matchup but also a scene of one of a major mistakes in Magic history. Quoting a Reddit post of the scenario:

“Yam had PVDDR at 11, all tapped out. had Collective Defiance in Hand, and drew Incendiary Flow with Hazoret on board. That’s exactsies, and in his excitement he tried to attack with Hazoret before casting his spells. Unfortunately, you’re not allowed a take back at the PT. Since he indicated he wanted to go to combat by trying to attack, he’s passed priority on his first Main Phase. PVDDR is obviously going to also pass priority and he moves into Beginning of Combat.

Both Incendiary Flow and Collective Defiance being sorceries, he can’t cast either in BoC. Since he has 2 cards in hand, he can’t attack with Hazoret. This was Game 5, and he then proceeds to post-combat main phase cast the Collective Defiance and pass back to PVDDR. This eventually causes him to lose the game.”

That did the match and PV was back in the Pro Tour Finals again with the matchup against Sam Pardee’s BG Constrictor. The match took 5 games and in the last game, PV started fast with hard hitting creatures as Sam could only muster a Grim Flayer that could not block as PV rallied with Earthshaker Khenra, Ahn-Crop Crasher and Hazoret. Sam was also lacking spot removals and he could only offer a handshake in defeat as PV Eternalized the Khenra for the final points of damage.

Congratulations to Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa as winner of Pro Tour Hour of Devastation and Player of the Year 2017.