PT Team Preview

Going purely based off Lauren's team rosters which you can find here

Team Australia

The team has fomrer PT start Jeremy Neeman (he took time off form the game for his studies iirc) and small child prodigy Zen Takashi who has three PT qualifications before he turned 16.  I don't know how much they tested, but the overall tea composition is mostly people not used to the testing process for a PT and, combined with the jetlag from travelling, I sadly don't see a great level of success coming from this team.

Predicted members in the T16:  0-1


Team Channel Fireball

One of the "big two" teams of Magic, the CFB roster for this PT has expanded dramatically with the addition of GerryT, Matt Nass, and Shahar.  CFB consistently performs well in the limited portion of the event (I assume this is due to the contributions of BenS and EFro), but has struggled in some recent constructed formats.  This struggle is further amplified by the two star players having a huge slump this year.  Hopefully PTDM allows PV and LSV to hit platinum, but I think it requires about a T8 for either of them to do so.  But I expect the team to do quite well at the PT (anyone not picking EFro in your fantasy PT drafts is committing a serious error).

Predicted number in the T16:  4

European Union

The third strongest team in the tournament, headlined by the second best player of all time.  In addition to the juggernaut, the team also includes the extremely underrated Jurkovich and Floch.  I expect this team to compete with team SCG for the best constructed performance overall, but the limited portion of the event has been the downfall of previous iterations of this team.  Time will tell if they're better prepared for PTDM.

Predicted number in the T16:  3

Team Luxurious Hair

The team most likely to find some off-the-wall aggro deck thanks to the combined powers of Wescoe and Ari Lax.  If the deck they find isn't good, they won't perform well, but otherwise should put up some above average numbers.

Predicted number in the T16:  0-1

Team Rourix

The Brazilian team is much better than anyone will give them credit for.  The combination of Edel and Kaoz_zeh is pretty lethal in a format where midrange green decks are good, so I expect them to surpass everyone's (even my own) expectations for them.

Predicted number in the T16:  1 (it's a small team)

Team Starcity

The other "big two" team and a 17-member power squad.  Sam Black and Zvi are known for creating decks to beat the PT meta and have had an incredible level of success doing so in the past so nothing different should be expected here especially when combined with Chapin's theorycrafting power now (I think he was part of CFB for the last PT).

Predicted number in the T16:  4

Wilson Gone Wild

The team that's the biggest wildcard in the event.  If they put actual work into testing, they'd perform solidly, but I don't think they'll do so.  This is the team most likely to get wasted the night before the event, make a brew, write "YOLO!" on their deck boxes and jam it the next day.  Possible I'm very wrong on this one, but meh.

Predicted number in the T16:  1

None of the other teams listed really got my interest/hopes of a strong performance up.  This is just unfiltered thoughts so don't judge me and I could be wildly wrong here.  :P