While I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico taking in the state of Standard at Pro Tour Ixalan, there was a Modern FacetoFaceGames.com Open event going down at Seneca College in Toronto. As I’ve said in the past, I find it really interesting how quickly the Toronto Modern metagame can evolve because of the sheer volume of Modern events that happen in the city.

Recently we’ve seen a lot of U/R Storm and Eldrazi Tron dominating locally and players have been tuning and tweaking their decklists to adapt to those top-tier linear strategies. As much as it pains me to say it, the way players adapted on Saturday was primarily with blue control cards and counterspells.

Caleb Keung took down this event with his Grixis Delver deck, and yes I’m still talking about Modern and not Legacy. From what I gather from the Top 8 decklists here, players decided to play tempo-style blue decks and highly interactive decks to get ahead and stay ahead against linear strategies. Caleb’s deck looks exactly like what you’d expect and combines with one copy of Merfolk and a U/R Breach deck to exemplify the strength of blue-tempo at this tournament.

Now, in third place was Omar Beldon with what might be the most wild piece of deckbuilding in his career—which is really saying something. Omar’s U/W Control deck featured a maindeck copy of Runed Halo, four copies of Opt, some Search for Azcantas and four full copies of Field of Ruin. This type of deck is very much right up Omar’s ally when it comes to deckbuilding, but this is just a thing of beauty. Maybe if you all bug him enough, Omar will write about it here on ManaDeprived.

The rest of the Top 8 featured the linear beat down and aggressive decks you’d expect (also 8-Rack), with the bonus of a super sweet Geist of Saint Traft Zoo deck. Aaron Shantz was our token Eldrazi Tron player for this Top 8, and is a strong player overall and a name I’d look out for in the Toronto scene.

Without further adue, some decks:

Caleb Keung, Grixis Delver- First Place

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Delver of Secrets
4 snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Vendilion Clique
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Remand
3 Spell Snare
1 Electrolyze
2 Kolaghans Command
2 Terminate
2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
2 opt
1 Murderous Cut
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Spirebluff Canal
1 Steam Vents
1 Watery grave
1 Blood Crypt
2 Island
1 mountain
1 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Dispel
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Liliana, the last hope
3 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Disdainful Stroke
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Braiden Duncan, Burn- Second Place

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Goblin Guide
4 monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the great revel
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Lava Spike
4 lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Riftbolt
4 Boros Charm
4 lightning Helix
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained mire
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
4 Destructive Revelry
3 Path to exile
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Searing Blood
1 Grafdiggers Cage
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Omar Beldon, U/W Control- Third Place

[Deck]
[Creatures]
3 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Supreme Verdict
4 path to exile
2 detention sphere
3 mana Leak
1 negate
1 Gideon Jura
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 search for Azcanta
3 Cryptic Command
1 Runed Halo
4 Opt
4 Spreading Seas
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Flooded Strand
1 Mystic Gate
1 Irrigated Farmlands
3 Plains
5 Island
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Runed Halo
1 Elspeth, Suns Champion
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Stony Silence
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Dispel
1 Relic of progenitus
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Vendilion Clique
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Courtney Johnson, Geist Zoo- Fourth Place
[Deck]
[Spells]
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Spell Queller
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Kird Ape
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Geist of Saint Traft
[/Creatures]
[Lands]
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
2 stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 plains
4 windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foot Hills
4 Arid Mesa
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Grafdiggers cage
2 Shapers Sanctuary
4 Unified Will
2 Collected Company
2 Wear // Tear
2 Spell Queller
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Aaron Shantz, Eldrazi Tron- Fifth Place

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Urzas Tower
4 Urzas Power Plant
4 Urzas Mine
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Wastes
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Sea gate wreckage
3 Ghost Quarter
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
2 Endbringer
4 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Expedition Map
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Warping Wail
2 Dimember
2 All is Dust
2 Karn Liberated
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Relic of Progenitus
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Spatial Contortion
2 Relic of progentus
2 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Warping Wail
1 Pithing Needle
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Jesse Packard, Mono-Blue Merfolk- Sixth Place

[Deck]
[Spells]
1 Dismember
2 Spell Pierce
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
[/Spells]
[Lands]
10 Island
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
4 Mutavault
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
1 Kopala, Warsen of Waves
4 Curse Catcher
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of Waves
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Dismember
2 negate
1 Echoing Truth
2 Dispel
2 Deeproot Waters
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Hurkyls Recall
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Zach Brooks, U/R Breach- Seventh Place

[Deck]
[Spells]
4 opt
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Cryptic Command
4 Remand
1 Logic Knot
1 Harvest Pyre
4 Through the Breach
1 Electrolyze
3 Blood Moon
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Spell Snare
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Lands]
8 Island
1 mountain
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Scalding Tarn
4 flooded Strand
1 Desolate Lighthouse
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Anger of the Gods
1 inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Batterskull
2 Dispel
1 Izzet staticaster
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Flash Freeze
1 flame Slash
1 Roast
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
[/Lands]
[/Deck]

Darryl Pineda, 8 Rack-Eighth Place

[Deck]
[Lands]
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Mutavault
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
14 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Ravens Crime
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Funeral Charm
3 Thoughtseize
3 Wrench mind
4 Smallpox
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Shrieking Affliction
4 The Rack
3 Fatal Push
1 Dismember
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Fatal push
2 asylum Visitor
2 Bontus Last Reckoning
2 Collective Brutality
2 Leyline of the Void
3 Delirium Skeins
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Ratchet Bomb
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Stoked about Modern and want to play this weekend? Face to Face Games Toronto has a Modern Last Chance Qualifier in-store this Saturday for the Modern RPTQ in-store on Sunday. Come out and battle for a chance at the Pro Tour !