Jan-Moritz Merkel nearly completed a perfect tournament run but staved off the spoiler Toru Saito to win the Magic <\/em>Online Championship Showcase Season Three Championship.<\/p>
With the victory, Merkel won $20,000 and an invitation to the Strixhaven<\/em> Championship on June 4 to 6.\u00a0<\/p>
Merkel entered the tournament with a 73.6-percent win rate in Vintage Cube Draft. Merkel flew through the Vintage Cube rounds to earn a spot in the finals. He nearly completed the perfect tournament run by notching two quick wins in rounds four and five.\u00a0<\/p>
Merkel crushed Peter Ward in round five to put himself into a position to win one final game of Modern and capture the championship without the need for a final playoff round. Merkel won a marathon game one, then easily took game two with a backbreaking Rest in Peace that completely shut down Ward\u2019s Oops All Spells strategy.<\/p>
Merkel faced Saito and his Selesnya Company deck in round six for the chance to close out the tournament a round early.<\/p>
Selesnya Company is one of the top decks in the format having won MOCS Season Two Championship piloted by Martin-Eric Gauthier<\/a> the day before. Saito showed why Selesnya Company is such a powerful deck with a quick start that earned him the game one victory. Game two was an even quicker victory with the Heliod, Sun Crowned and Spike Feeder combo.<\/p>