Jessica Estephan is Magic: The Gathering’s first female Grand Prix winner

A Magic: The Gathering player made history over the weekend, as Jessica Estephan became the first female player to be a Grand Prix champion at GP Sydney. Magic Grand Prix are professional level events awarding cash prizes, though they are open to all players. Estephan and her teammates Ryan Lewis-Jonns and Lachlan Saunders win an invitation to Pro Tour 25th Anniversary in Minneapolis this coming August, as well as a cool $15,000.

Estephan played a Black-Red Hollow One deck, while her teammates played Five-color Humans (Lewis-Jonns) and Mono-Green Tron (Saunders). You can view their decks on Wizards of the Coast’s website.

Prior to Estephan’s victory, Magic’s most famous professional female player was perhaps Melissa DeTora, who placed top eight in both a Grand Prix and its invitation-only cousin, the Pro Tour. DeTora now works full time on Magic: The Gathering’s Play Design team, ensuring the game is balanced for professional play, where she regularly pens articles for the game’s website.

This is shaping up to be a big year for Magic, with its most ambitious digital offering ever entering a public closed beta—here are our impressions.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.