dark ascension pro tour

Pro Tour Dark Ascension

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Pro Tour Dark Ascension was the first Pro Tour of the 2012 season . The event had 445 competitors and took place on 10–12 February 2012 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. The formats were Standard and Dark Ascension / Innistrad Booster draft , and was the first constructed premier event where Dark Ascension was legal. The Pro Tour was the first to take place after significant changes to the structure and presentation of the professional scene, initially announced in 2011. [1] [2] The top eight featured many of the game's biggest stars, including Hall of Famers Jon Finkel , Jelger Wiegersma , and Brian Kibler , as well as Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa in his ninth Pro Tour Sunday appearance. In a final between two players who were already Pro Tour champions, Brian Kibler earned his second win, with Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa finishing runner-up.

• 1 Presentation and coverage
• 2 Qualification
• 8 External links
• 9 References

Presentation and coverage [ | ]

In the past, Pro Tours were not tied to the release of any set specifically and were simply named after whichever city they were in. This changed starting with Pro Tour Dark Ascension ; Pro Tours were now held only a short time after the release of a set (1–2 weeks), and with the explicit purpose of marketing that set. As such, Pro Tours were now named after the most recent set, and the effects and props used during the production of coverage were based on the theme of that set.

As for coverage of the event, independent coverage producers such as GGs Live and StarCityGames had live-streamed video coverage of Grand Prix events and independent circuit tournaments for a few years already, and starting with Pro Tour Dark Ascension , Wizards of the Coast expanded their Pro Tour coverage from just the top eight to the entire tournament. The event was streamed, starting with round one, on Twitch rather than on their streaming platform, which had previously been customary, and featured a changing lineup of commentators. At Pro Tour Dark Ascension , these were Sheldon Menery , Rashad Miller , Brian David-Marshall , and Rich Hagon . [3]

Qualification [ | ]

Pro Tour Dark Ascension was the first PT to extend invitations based on the newly introduced Planeswalker Points system. The 100 players with the most Competitive Planeswalker Points during the season leading up to the Pro Tour received invitations and airfare to the Pro Tour. This system replaced the previous DCI rating-based invitation system. However, it was discontinued immediately following the Pro Tour, as attempting to qualify for the Pro Tour this way turned out to be a massive grind where players couldn't afford to go to as many events as they could, seeing as otherwise other players who played in more would overtake them. This resulted in a substantial backlash for Wizards of the Coast, [4] who had to revise a lot of their initial announcements regarding qualification, Pro Points, and the Pro Players Club . [5] [6] [7] Instead of retiring the Pro Points system and the Pro Players Club, as initially announced, [2] new versions of these were announced, and an "end to the grind" was promised. However, due to Wizards honoring the initially announced system of PWP-based invitations, there was an unusually high number of qualified players for Pro Tour Dark Ascension .

Payout [ | ]

Prize payout, both for Pro Points and for prize money, was altered significantly for Pro Tour Dark Ascension . The top 75 players receive prize money as opposed to the previous top 65, and every player winning money wins at least $1000, whereas previously a 65th-place finisher would win $450. This was not the result of a significant increase in prize money awarded, however; the prize money was for the most part redistributed, but the prize pool was increased from $230,795 per Pro Tour event in 2011 to $250,000 in 2012. The minimum number of Pro Points a player would win increased from 2 to 3, and in particular, players finishing in the top 16 and in the top 25 received a lot more Pro Points than at previous events: for example, a 16th-place finish went from being worth 8 Pro Points to being worth 15. Additionally, before players finishing in the top 50 of a Pro Tour would receive invitations to the next Pro Tour, only the top 25 now received invitations. However, those players now also received airfare to that Pro Tour.

Day One [ | ]

The first five rounds of the event were Standard . The most popular archetype was White Weenie , boosted by the release of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben . These decks were typically heavily White-based, as the name implies, but splashed either Blue for Geist of Saint Traft , Green for Gavony Township , or Black for Lingering Souls and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad . Put together, these made up 26% of the metagame. [8] The second-largest deck, occupying 20% of the field, was Delver, typically a Blue-based aggressive deck splashing White for Geist of Saint Traft, and sometimes also Black for Lingering Souls. In third, at 17%, was Wolf Run Ramp, the deck that won the 2011 World Championships . Already a strong deck, it was further enhanced by the printing of Huntmaster of the Fells and was the deck favored by the undisputed #1 team on the Pro Tour, ChannelFireball . Famous players off to a 5–0 start included Pro Tour Philadelphia winner Samuele Estratti (Delver), Tom Martell (Delver), Robert Jurkovic (Blue-Black Control), and Shōta Yasooka (Blue-Black Tezzeret Control).

The day ended with a Dark Ascension / Innistrad Booster draft before the cut to day two, where players with fewer than 15 points (5–3) were eliminated. A famous play happened during round 7 in the match between Tom Martell and Samuele Estratti , both with perfect 6–0 records in the event. Martell had Beguiler of Wills with Mask of Avacyn equipped, which Estratti could not hope to beat. However, upon attacking with his Fiend Hunter , Estratti hastily played a Moment of Heroism on his creature and looked to be about to cast a second, but realized that Martell still had a creature to block with (the Beguiler), and stopped. Martell would have taken lethal damage if he didn't block and Estratti indeed had another Moment of Heroism, so he chump-blocked with Beguiler of Wills. Estratti did, in fact, not have a second pump spell, and successfully tricked Martell into sacrificing the card he couldn't beat. Estratti went on to win the game. [9] [10] At the end of the day, Estratti finished atop the field at 8–0.

The top eight players after day one:

Day Two [ | ]

164 players advanced to day two of competition to play in a second Dark Ascension - Innistrad Booster draft . Overnight leader Samuele Estratti could only post a 1–2 record with his Blue-White draft deck despite having both Geist of Saint Traft and Angelic Overseer . Due to quirks of in-pod pairings, two players managed to 3–0 the first pod: Denniz Rachid and Shōta Yasooka . These two players headed into the final five Swiss rounds of Standard on 10–1 records, knowing that 2–2–1 from here would be enough to lock up a top-eight slot. Not far behind, on 9–2, was Jon Finkel , and fans of the game were excited to see if one of the game's greats would reach a 13th Pro Tour top eight, four years after his previous one (PT Kuala Lumpur 2008). Three rounds later, Finkel was 12–2 and tied for first with Rachid, both locked for Sunday play. Estratti and Yasooka, on the other hand, faltered in the final rounds, finishing 12th and 16th, respectively. Instead, two other all-time greats, Brian Kibler and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa , both on ChannelFireball 's Huntmaster of the Fells -fueled Wolf Run Ramp deck, advanced to the top eight on the back of great performances in the final rounds of the tournament. Rounding out the top eight were three Pro Tour Sunday first-timers: Mamoru Nagai, Lukas Blohon , and Matt Costa , as well as Dutch Hall of Famer Jelger Wiegersma , who was the only player on a 12–4 record to make it. Three other players also achieved a 12–4 record, but fell short on tiebreakers: Lukas Jaklovsky , Robert Jurkovic , and Kenny Öberg .

Top 8 [ | ]

Trivia [ | ].

• Five players achieved a flawless 6–0 record in Booster draft : Jon Finkel , Denniz Rachid , Bryan Eleyet, Takahito Kobayashi, and Dustin Flora.
• Additionally, four players posted 9–1 records: Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa , Robert Jurkovic , Tom Martell , and Daniel Pham.
• Famous players who made their debut at Pro Tour Dark Ascension include Ondřej Stráský , Brian Braun-Duin , and Fabrizio Anteri .

External links [ | ]

• Pro Tour Dark Ascension coverage
• Pro Tour Dark Ascension final standings
• Top Standard decklists
• Although the entire event was streamed live, only the top eight matches have been publicly preserved.

References [ | ]

• ↑ Mike Turian (2011-09-06). " INTRODUCING PLANESWALKER POINTS ". Wizards of the Coast.
• ↑ a b CHANGES TO 2012 TOURNAMENT AND EVENT STRUCTURE, PART 3 . Wizards of the Coast (2011-11-02).
• ↑ Rich Hagon (2012-02-06). " KNOWING WHERE TO LOOK: A PRO TOUR DARK ASCENSION PREVIEW ". Wizards of the Coast.
• ↑ Luis Scott-Vargas (2011-10-16). " An Open Letter Regarding Planeswalker Points ". ChannelFireball.
• ↑ Helene Bergeot (2011-12-23). " Addressing Changes to 2012 Magic Premier Play ". Wizards of the Coast.
• ↑ Revamped Premier Play Coming in 2012 . Wizards of the Coast (2011-12-23).
• ↑ Melissa DeTora (2012-01-05). " Organized Play, Planeswalker Points, and You ". GatheringMagic.
• ↑ Bill Stark (2012-02-10). " PRO TOUR DARK ASCENSION METAGAME BREAKDOWN ". Wizards of the Coast.
• ↑ Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (2012-03-07). " PV’s Playhouse – Technical Play ". ChannelFireball. Retrieved on 2016-06-26.
• ↑ Samuele Estratti's bluff against Tom Martell at pro tour Dark Ascension . YouTube. Retrieved on 2016-06-26.
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Magic Pro Tour - Dark Ascension

• 2 Prize Pool
• 3 Participants
• 5 References

Format [ edit ]

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Results [ edit ], top 8 [ edit ], references [ edit ].

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Pro Tour Dark Ascension

Last weekend was Pro Tour Dark Ascension in Honolulu, and the new set certainly made its mark on the event. Brian Kibler took home first place with a Wolf Run Ramp deck featuring the latest addition, Huntmaster of the Fells . While this was all going on, The Escapist crew was congregating at our local hobby shop to compete and I’m proud to say that my own Wolf Run Ramp deck featured none other than the Huntmaster himself. Of course my record leaves a bit to be desired as compared to the results Kibler showed, but all the same I’m pretty pleased to have been on the cutting edge of deck tech this past weekend.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Wolf Run Ramp, it gets its name from Kessig Wolf Run , and has been putting up results basically since Kessig Wolf Run was introduced to Standard. It hasn’t seen as much consistent play as some of the other archetypes, but Wolf Run Ramp always seems to come back with a vengeance when people least expect it. The basic game plan is to ramp up mana with Rampant Growth , Sphere of the Suns , and Solemn Simulacrum to drop a turn four Primeval Titan . As long as your Titan resolves, as well as anytime he attacks, you get to fetch any two lands from your Library, often being the namesake Kessig Wolf Run and Inkmoth Nexus , or a Red mana source to power Kessig. At this point, you’ve got 8 mana on the board. This is enough to animate the Inkmoth Nexus and pump it up with Kessig Wolf Run for 4 Infect on turn five. As long as you swing with your Primeval, you’ll be getting two more lands out of it so you can swing for 6 infect the next turn. For those keeping score at home, that’s a total of 10 Poison Counters, which ends the game by turn six. Of course, that’s just one course of action for Wolf Run Ramp. Regular damage can end games just as quickly, if need be. With an unchecked Primeval Titan on turn 4, plus Kessig pumping him up, you can swing for 11 Trample on turn five and 13 Trample on turn 6, closing the game just as quickly.

Then they gave us Huntmaster of the Fells. In the current Standard environment, Vapor Snag is everywhere. Check out the Top 8 lists and you’ll see 16 Vapor Snags. This is the same showing as Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets which are arguably two of the most powerful cards in the format. Unfortunately, at least for Blue players, Huntmaster of the Fells makes for a very poor Vapor Snag target. It seems to me that you’d likely have to Snag the Wolf token he creates, lest your opponent end up with extra bodies on the board and extra life to boot. In the Ramp decks here, you can easily resolve a Huntmaster on turn three, a full turn ahead of schedule which can help you catch up on board position against more aggressive strategies. He helps keep the opponent off-balance, as they’re likely going to want to cast a spell every turn to prevent him from flipping, which can help draw out bad plays. As the game goes longer, Huntmaster doesn’t really flag. Kessig Wolf Run gives you a great outlet for your mana, so you can pass the turn without casting a spell, causing Huntmaster to flip. Every time an opponent uses Snapcaster Mage he’ll flip back, and each time he flips, you gain more value.

Huntmaster wasn’t the only Dark Ascension card to make a splash at the Pro Tour, though. Looking at the Top 8 again, you’ll probably notice the inclusion of Drogskol Captain in the Spirit/Delver lists. He couples well with Phantasmal Image s, who can copy the Captain to give both the copy and the original Hexproof. Follow that up with Lingering Souls , also from Dark Ascension , and you get a small army of 3/3 Flying Hexproof Spirits. Another inclusion that I’m pleased to see is Dungeon Geists , which was included in three of the Top 8 decks. As I mentioned last week, he’s a good threat/removal combination that isn’t as weak to mass removal as the likes of Fiend Hunter. He’s higher on the mana curve, but I’d guess that most times that won’t actually hurt, since you’re probably not going to want to cast him too early anyways. As a kicker, Dungeon Geist gets Hexproof from Drogskol Captain, making him that much harder to deal with in certain builds.

Q&A Q: Does casting a spell with Flashback from your Graveyard trigger Null Profusion , allowing you to draw a card? A: Yes. Casting a spell with Flashback from your Graveyard works just like casting it out of your hand, so it will trigger these sorts of abilities. The spell still goes on the Stack, it still resolves as normal, the only real difference is where it started and where it ends up. Instead of casting it out of your hand, you’re casting it from your Graveyard. Likewise, instead of going to your Graveyard after it resolves, it will be Exiled by the Flashback ability.

702.32a Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one that functions while the card is in a player’s graveyard and the other that functions while the card is on the stack. “Flashback [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.” Casting a spell using its flashback ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e-g.

Question of the Week : What steps make up the Combat Phase of a player’s turn?

UW Delver (Matt Costa, Pro Tour Dark Ascension)

Standard, $194 (14 tix), mtggoldfish

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Truly a Blast of a Top 8

Magic Esports has 25 years of history . World Championships are packed with unforgettable stories . Y ears ago we compiled a playlist of many of competitive Magic's amazing moments . Every event's Top 8 features moments that resonate across the game.

Top 8 playoffs are packed with these standout memories. Players, decks, bluffs, and, of course, cards all contribute to pushing ordinary competition to extraordinary plays—such as the legendary showdown between Magic Hall of Famers Brian Kibler and Jon Finkel.

Clash of the Titans

Let's set the stage: after two full days of play, both Jon Finkel and Brian Kibler earned their way to another Top Finish with the Top 8 of Pro Tour Dark Ascension in 2012.

Brian Kibler, Pro Tour Dark Ascension

Kibler had returned to the game a few years prior to earn his way into the Magic Hall of Fame—and did so by rattling off a stunning stretch of success including a pair of Top Finishes at Pro Tour Honolulu 2009 then Pro Tour Austin 2009 (which he also won). He joined the Hall of Fame in the class of 2010.

And he was eager to keep adding to his career with more.

Jon Finkel, Pro Tour Dark Ascension

Jon Finkel is one of Magic 's truly legendary players. Long considered one of, if not the , best players to ever play Finkel's record was already stunning by Top 8 of Pro Tour Dark Ascension . Finkel became the first Hall of Fame member to win another top event—Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur in 2008—and seemed live to make Top 8 in every event he competed in.

After navigating their quarterfinals matchups, the two battled in a truly back-and-forth match. Each player had a deck that they were comfortable with: Kibler playing Wolf Run Ramp that builds up to big hits with big creatures, and Finkel with Spirit Delver tempo deck built on making (and powering up) flying Spirits backed up by counterspells to protect your lead.

The entire match went to five games as they rallied back and forth, Kibler taking the first and fourth games and Finkel taking two back-to-back in between. It was a battle every step of the way—as you'd expect from two Hall of Famers—and it was a tight fifth game that featured Kibler get pushed back as Finkel turned the corner on the deciding game.

But something extraordinary was about to happen.

As Kibler fell behind, he persisted in attacking and chipped 2 life away each turn. Finkel's Spirits took over the game and eventually dropped Kibler to 4 life and set up a game-ending attack on the following turn. However, Finkel is renowned for his methodical approach to the game and knew exactly how he could potentially lose in Kibler's final turn: Galvanic Blast .

With four copies in Kibler's deck, it wasn't just reasonable to assume Kibler could have a copy in hand but possible for him to even have two. That math—how likely an opponent is to have something—is a hallmark of how the best in the game approach a difficult decision.

Finkel, confident with a copy of Negate and Snapcaster Mage in hand, played to prevent double Galvanic Blast from ending his march to the Pro Tour Dark Ascension finals.

The rest of the tale became Magic history you have to watch to believe.

Dispatching Finkel, Kibler went on to win Pro Tour Dark Ascension and add his second Pro Tour trophy to his outstanding career.

Kibler's triple Galvanic Blast —and Finkel's humble "I should have blocked." quip—is the story of just one card in Double Masters , a set jam packed with even more history. While you'll need to wait until August 7 for your chance to pick up a booster pack from your local game store, there's more Magic moments like this around the corner.

The Players Tour Finals Top 8 playoff streams live on twitch.tv/magic and begins with the bracket reveal at 12 p.m. PDT Friday, July 25 followed by a full day of live coverage beginning at 9 a.m. PDT Saturday, August 1 (all times in PDT). History will be made again.

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Politics latest: Labour's new MP Natalie Elphicke apologises for supporting ex-husband after sex assault conviction

The fallout is continuing from the shock defection of MP Natalie Elphicke from the Conservatives over to Labour. She has now released a statement apologising for supporting her ex-husband, who was her predecessor as MP for Dover, after his sexual assault conviction.

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:20, UK

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• New Labour MP issues apology
• Starmer facing backlash over Tory defector  | Abbott speaks out
• Explained:  Who is Natalie Elphicke?
• Sam Coates:  More defections possible - but some Labour nerves too
• Re-elected Tory mayor condemns party 'chaos'
• Ex-chancellor to stand down at election  | His statement in full
• Live reporting by Faith Ridler

Labour MP Natalie Elphicke has apologised for comments she made supporting her ex-husband after he was convicted of sexual assault, following criticism from her new party colleagues. 

Concerns had been raised about comments she made after Charlie Elphicke, her predecessor as MP for Dover, was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and sentenced to two years in prison.

At the time, she said in an interview with The Sun that being "attractive" and "attracted to women" had made him an "easy target".

Labour said yesterday "all those issues have been dealt with previously both in parliament and in public".

But in a new statement, Ms Elphicke said the period was an "incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew".

She added: "I know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him.

"I have previously, and do, condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. It was right that he was prosecuted and I'm sorry for the comments that I made about his victims.

"It is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system and our rates of prosecution and conviction are far too low as a country.

"Keir Starmer's mission to halve male violence against women and girls is critical and I wanted to take the opportunity to express my explicit support for Labour colleagues working to realise it."

We just discussed the UK media regulator's new rules for social media companies designed to keep children safe online with the technology minister, Michelle Donelan.

The new Ofcom rules include age verification and reformulating algorithms to keep children away from "toxic" content. But parents whose children have died as a result of exposure to harmful content have called the rules an "insult".

You can explore this more on the Sky News Daily, on which  Niall Paterson is joined by technology correspondent at the Financial Times Cristina Criddle to discuss what the measures are and how they can be delivered.

Niall is also joined by John Carr, who is on the government's principal advisory body for online safety and security for children, to discuss the challenges of enforcing the rules and if they go far enough to protect children.

Over a year ago, Rishi Sunak made five pledges for voters to judge him on.

The prime minister met his promise to halve inflation by the end of 2023.

But with the general election approaching, how is Mr Sunak doing on delivering his other promises?

You can see the progress for yourself below:

One point made by several Labour figures after the party welcomed Conservative defector Natalie Elphicke yesterday was the continued suspension of veteran MP Diane Abbott.

The MP for Hackney and Stoke Newington was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party last year for suggesting Jewish people face prejudice similar to "redheads" rather than racism.

She later apologised but has not had the whip restored.

Ms Elphicke's welcoming to the party by Sir Keir Starmer has raised eyebrows because she was one of the more right-wing Tory MPs, and caused controversy with some of her previous comments.

Ms Abbott has now responded on social media, referring to a Guardian article headlined "Natalie Elphicke's queasy welcome shows Labour will turn no one away".

"Not sure I can confirm this headline," said Ms Abbott.

Ms Abbott and Sir Keir were colleagues in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet.

By Jenness Mitchell , Scotland reporter

John Swinney has axed the post of minister for independence from his ministerial team.

The role, the first of its kind, was created last year by then first minister Humza Yousaf.

Jamie Hepburn, who previously held the Scottish government post, has now taken over from George Adam as minister for parliamentary business.

Earlier on Thursday, SNP MP Alyn Smith appeared to confirm during a radio interview that the role had been "subsumed" into Angus Robertson's constitution, external affairs and culture brief.

You can read more from Sky News below:

NHS data released today ( see 10.20 post ) paints a pretty mixed picture. 

There are gains in key areas, but many targets are still being missed. 

The government wants improvement in two particular areas. 

Firstly, it has tasked health leaders with bringing cancer waiting times back below pre-pandemic levels. 

The 62-day backlog (the target time it takes for people with suspected cancer having a confirmed diagnosis and to start treatment) is a top priority and there have been improvements for consecutive months. 

Another focus for improvement is the faster diagnosis standards and here too there have been gains.  

This has been achieved by giving extra support to struggling NHS trusts identified through a tier ranking and the deployment of mobile diagnostics and screening services to targeted areas. 

But there are still too many patients waiting longer than two months to start treatment for cancer, after an urgent GP referral. 

The target is 15% and the actual number is double that. 

And many cancer experts will argue that pre-pandemic levels set a low bar because the country’s cancer detection and treatment services were already far behind comparable health care systems. 

The improvements are welcomed, but there is still some way to go. 

House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is getting good value out of yesterday's defection of Tory MP Natalie Elphicke.

Having used it to suggest Labour's Keir Starmer doesn't represent the real values of his party (see previous post), she's now suggested he "wouldn't be interested" in her defection as she's "too left-wing".

She made the quip during Business Questions, when her fellow Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said "(Ms Mordaunt) I feel will fall off her chair no doubt as long as she doesn't defect", as he asked for a debate on local authority decision-making.

Ms Mordaunt replied: "Can I reassure (Mr Liddell-Grainger) that I am not about to defect to the opposition benches. They wouldn't be interested in me, I'm too left-wing."

Eyebrows have been raised over Ms Elphicke's defection, as she was a hardline Brexiteer and one of the Tories' more right-wing MPs.

Ms Mordaunt has been tipped as a potential replacement for Rishi Sunak.

While the foreign secretary was delivering a speech on national security, mooted Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt has launched an unusual attack on Sir Keir Starmer.

She turned her fire on the Labour leader in the Commons following yesterday's shock defection of Natalie Elphicke, who had been one of the more right-wing Conservative MPs.

In a lengthy list of metaphors addressing recent Tory defections to the opposition party, Ms Mordaunt compared Sir Keir to a crab.

"What it (the defections) has exposed is a pattern of behaviour from the leader of the opposition," she said.

She said they are part of an attempt by Sir Keir to "disguise" his "true form" like the "decorator crab".

While such crabs hide themselves with other creatures and seaweed, Labour's leader uses "St George's flags, his Gunners (Arsenal) season ticket and several programmes from the Last Night of the Proms".

Having "channelled Margaret Thatcher" and expelled former leader Jeremy Corbyn, his old boss, she said "the leader of the opposition is the decorator crab of these benches, desperate to show that he's not really leading the Labour Party at all".

Scotland's new first minister John Swinney is on his feet at First Minister's Questions, just a day after he formally took the top job.

He received a loud applause from those on the SNP side of the chamber as he took to his feet, facing off against Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar.

By  Ed Conway , economics and data editor 

The Bank of England has edged closer to a cut in interest rates, with another member of its nine-person Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voting for lower borrowing costs this month.

While the MPC voted 7-2 to leave UK interest rates on hold at 5.25%, the change in the vote will be seen as a further sign that they could be coming down soon - perhaps as soon as next month.

Alongside its rate decision, the Bank published new forecasts for the UK economy, which show that gross domestic product is projected to be stronger this year and unemployment and inflation rates lower than previously expected. 

It said that the CPI rate of inflation was likely to drop to its 2% target imminently - though it would bounce a little higher afterwards.

Governor Andrew Bailey said: "We've had encouraging news on inflation and we think it will fall close to our 2% target in the next couple of months. We need to see more evidence that inflation will stay low before we can cut interest rates. I'm optimistic that things are moving in the right direction."

You can read more in our Money blog here:

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Ford’s EV unit weighs on Q1 2024 earnings as Pro remains the dark horse

Amid a shifting strategy, Ford (F) reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday, beating analyst expectations. However, due to fierce pricing pressure, Ford’s EV revenue fell 84% in Q1 2024.

Ford shifts EV strategy amid sales upswing

Despite EV sales surging 86% to 20,233 in the first three months of 2024, Ford is pulling back. All Ford electric models saw double (or triple) digit sales growth.

The F-150 Lightning remained the top-selling electric pickup in the US, with 7,743 models sold, up 80% over last year. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E was the second best-selling electric SUV in the US, with 9,589 vehicles delivered, up 77% over Q1 2023.

Meanwhile, Ford’s commercial Pro unit continues to appear as a dark horse for the automaker, with EV adoption rising 40%. Ford E-Transit sales were up 148% in Q1, with 2,891 units sold.

Ford’s growth propelled it to second in the US EV market (if you don’t include combined Hyundai and Kia sales).

The sales surge comes after Ford introduced significant price cuts and savings on the Mach-E and Lightning earlier this year.

Despite rising EV sales, Ford announced it is pushing back EV production at its BlueOval City facility to 2026. It is also delaying the launch of its three-row electric SUV to focus on smaller, more affordable EVs.

In the meantime, Ford said it would introduce more hybrids to the mix as it develops its next-gen electric models.

Ford’s Model e EV unit had a net loss of around $4.7 billion last year with “extremely competitive pricing” and new investments. Meanwhile, EBIT loss slipped to $1.6 billion in Q4.

Analysts expect Ford to report $40.10 billion in revenue in its Q1 2024 earnings report. Ford’s Model e, EV unit, is expected to generate around $24.5 billion in revenue with an EBIT loss of $1.65.

Ford Q1 2024 earnings results

Ford reported first-quarter 2024 revenue rose 3% to $42.8 billion, topping estimates of around $40.10 billion. Ford also topped adjusted EPS estimates with $0.49 per share in Q1 vs $0.42 expected.

The automaker posted net income of $1.3 billion, down from $1.8 billion last year. Adjusted EBIT fell 18% to $2.8 billion due to lower prices and the timing of the F-150 launch.

Ford Blue, the company’s ICE business, saw revenue fall 13%, again due to the new F-150 launch.

Ford Pro was the growth driver, with volume and revenue up 21% and 36%, respectively. The commercial and software business had an EBIT margin of nearly 17%, with first-quarter revenue of $18 billion.

Meanwhile, Ford Model e revenue slipped 84% due to “industry-wide” pricing pressure. With lower prices, the unit’s EBIT loss increased YOY to $1.3 billion. That’s about a $64,000 loss for every EV sold in Q1. However, this is still down from the $1.6 billion EBIT loss in Q4 2023.

Top comment by Pete Za

Yep, it makes perfect sense to build a more complicated vehicle that requires more parts to lower costs and raise revenue. 🙄

Ford expects EV costs to improve going forward, but it will be offset by top-line pressure.

The automaker is maintaining full-year EBIT guidance, expecting to hit the higher end of the $10 billion to $12 billion range. The company now expects to generate between $6.5 billion and $7.5 billion in adjusted free cash flow, up from the previous $6 billion to $7 billion.

According to Ford, the updates reflect recent cost-cutting actions, like the delayed EV investments. Ford’s update comes after rival GM also raised full-year guidance this week.

Meanwhile, Ford is releasing a new brand campaign called “Freedom of Choice” to promote its gas, hybrid, and EV lineup amid the strategy shift.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

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