Merkel, Azorius Spirits, Wins 2020 MOCS Season 3 Finals

Jan-Moritz Merkel won the Magic Online Champions Showcase Season 3 Finals on Sunday with Azorius Spirits in Modern.

Merkel won the Vintage Cube Draft section of the tournament with an Esper Midrange deck to make the finals and faced Toru Saito, who won the Modern section of the event with Selesnya Company, in the finals.

Azorius Spirits

Jan-Moritz Merkel

1st Place at MOCS Showcase Season Three on 03-14-2021

Modern

Creatures (36)

• 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 4 Drogskol Captain
• 4 Rattlechains
• 4 Spell Queller
• 3 Selfless Spirit
• 4 Mausoleum Wanderer
• 4 Supreme Phantom
• 2 Unsettled Mariner
• 2 Spectral Sailor
• 3 Shacklegeist
• 4 Skyclave Apparition

Lands (20)

• 1 Plains
• 1 Island
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 2 Snow-Covered Plains
• 1 Snow-Covered Island
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 3 Seachrome Coast
• 1 Moorland Haunt
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Fiery Islet

Spells (4)

• 4 Aether Vial

Sideboard

• 2 Auriok Champion
• 3 Path to Exile
• 2 Kor Firewalker
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 4 Damping Sphere
• 2 Aether Gust

Merkel’s Modern deck of choice was Azorius Spirits, a deck he swapped to on the last day of prep for the event after ditching Jund Death’s Shadow. The finals went to Game 3 where Saito missed on a third land, allowing Merkel to win with the most modest of beats, curving a Selfless Spirit into Kira, Great Glass Spinner, into back-to-back copies of Drogskol Captain.

Merkel won $20,000 and an invite to the Strixhaven Championship. Saito earned $15,000 for his runner-up finish. Final standings can be seen below.

View the Modern decklists from the MOCS Season Three Finals.