A judge shouts out the opening announcements while over three hundred hands excitedly shuffle their cards. The speech concludes and echoes of “Good luck, have fun” can be heard around the room. The head judge steps down. A clock begins: 49:59. Almost as one, a hundred and eighty-four players present their decks and play begins. This was the start of the second largest Face to Face Games Open Series to date and it took place in Red Deer, Alberta. The buzz around the room was electric. Everyone was ready to claim that first place finish, but it would take eight grueling rounds to reach the top 8 and another three matches before a champion could be declared. For such a large event, full of veterans, deck choice can play a major role. So what did our players bring to the table?

The Top 5 and the Outliers

Jund, Nahiri Jeskai, Abzan CoCo, Infect, and Tron are quickly becoming the new “usual suspects” in the Modern meta. 9.2% of the field decided that Jund would win the day while 7.1% landed on Nahiri Jeskai. CoCo, Infect, and Tron each claimed between 6% and 6.5% of the field. Of course, there were many outliers. Affinity, Control variants, Burn, Fish, and Bogles each claimed between 5.4% and 3% each. 13% of the field was made up of homebrews, a sometimes wise choice when looking to spike a tournament with an established meta.

For an in-depth look at all the decks present, check out the full statistics below:

So What Made It into the Top 8?

If I’d had to have guessed, based on the numbers alone, I would have said that Jund and Nahiri Jeskai would certainly make the top 8, but I would have been half wrong. Only one Jund pilot cruised into the top 8, while Nahiri simply wasn’t heard from. The top 8 was dominated by Infect. The Phyrexians were once more poised to claim another territory. Perhaps a Phyrexian finish is fitting for Alberta, a province known for its oil. The Phyrexians are certainly known for theirs.

Name: Dean McLaren
Place: 1st
Deck: Infect

[deck]
[lands]
2 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Breeding Pool
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Pendelhaven
4 Inkmoth Nexus
[/lands]
[creatures]
1 Spellskite
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
4 Noble Hierarch
[/creatures]
[spells]
1 Spell Pierce
1 Dismember
1 Slip Through Space
2 Apostle’s Blessing
2 Twisted Image
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Become Immense
[/spells]
[sideboard]
1 Dispel
1 Twisted Image
1 Piracy Charm
1 Spell Pierce
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Nature’s Claim
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Dismember
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Wild Defiance
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Riley Harper
Place: 2nd
Deck: Jund

[deck]
[lands]
3 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Twilight Mire
[/lands]
[creatures]
1 Grim Lavamancer
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Terminate
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
[/spells]
[sideboard]
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Kozilek’s Return
1 Choke
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Duress
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Andrew Lesiuk
Place: 3rd-4th
Deck: Fish

[deck]
[lands]
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
14 Island
[/lands]
[creatures]
3 Master of Waves
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Cursecatcher
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Spreading Seas
4 Aether Vial
2 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Pierce
1 Dismember
[/spells]
[sideboard]
2 Negate
1 Phantasmal Image
2 Echoing Truth
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Flashfreeze
1 Dismember
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Hibernation
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Ethan Dallaire
Place: 3rd-4th
Deck: Grixis Delver

[deck]
[lands]
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Island
2 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
[/lands]
[creatures]
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Stormchaser Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Nivmagus Elemental
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Bump in the Night
4 Gut Shot
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Searing Blaze
4 Titan’s Strength
2 Vapor Snag
1 Temur Battle Rage
[/spells]
[sideboard]
1 Painful Truths
2 Terminate
2 Dispel
1 Negate
2 Duress
1 Dragon’s Claw
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Mike Penner
Place: 5th-8th
Deck: Infect

[deck]
[lands]
2 Forest
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Breeding Pool
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Pendelhaven
4 Inkmoth Nexus
[/lands]
[creatures]
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Viridian Corrupter
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
2 Apostle’s Blessing
1 Spell Pierce
1 Twisted Image
1 Dismember
1 Slip Through Space
3 Become Immense
1 Piracy Charm
[/spells]
[sideboard]
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Spellskite
2 Dispel
1 Spell Pierce
3 Nature’s Claim
2 Dismember
2 Twisted Image
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Cody Crossman
Place: 5th-8th
Deck: Suicide Zoo

[deck]
[lands]
1 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
[/lands]
[creatures]
3 Steppe Lynx
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Death’s Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Wild Nacatl
[/creatures]
[spells]
3 Thoughtseize
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Temur Battle Rage
3 Become Immense
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Mishra’s Bauble
[/spells]
[sideboard]
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Dismember
1 Forest
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Hooting Mandrills
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Natural State
2 Phyrexian Unlife
1 Stony Silence
2 Tarmogoyf
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Brooke Mrakava
Place: 5th-8th
Deck: Infect

[deck]
[lands]
1 Pendelhaven
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Breeding Pool
4 Windswept Heath
[/lands]
[creatures]
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Viridian Corrupter
4 Blighted Agent
[/creatures]
[spells]
1 Dismember
1 Twisted Image
2 Dispel
1 Spell Pierce
4 Might of Old Krosa
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Apostle’s Blessing
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Become Immense
1 Distortion Strike
[/spells]
[sideboard]
1 Dispel
3 Nature’s Claim
1 Spellskite
2 Dismember
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Spell Pierce
1 Twisted Image
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Name: Brian Su
Place: 5th-8th
Deck: OmenShift

[deck]
[lands]
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Ground
4 Steam Vents
3 Flooded Grove
1 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Forest
3 Island
1 Mountain
[/lands]
[creatures]
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions
4 Prismatic Omen
4 Scapeshift
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Farseek
3 Explore
1 Izzet Charm
4 Cryptic Command
[/spells]
[sideboard]
2 Nature’s Claim
1 Crumble to Dust
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Sudden Shock
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Dispel
1 Gigadrowse
1 Keranos, God of Storms
3 Obstinate Baloth
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Tying It Together

What does this data mean for us right now? Clearly, being hyper-aggressive pays off. There were plenty of decks that had pinpoint and mass removal, but an experienced Infect player is capable of navigating through that in the first few turns. Eleven players heard the call of the Phyrexians and three of them made it to the single elimination rounds with Dean McLaren ultimately taking the crown. With a Suicide Zoo deck also in the top 8, it would seem that picking a deck that can end the game as early as turn 2 or 3 has its payoffs. The recent Face to Face Games Open in Toronto boasted a diverse top 8, but at the end of the day it came down to an explosive Dredge deck and the ever-dangerous Suicide Zoo.

If you’re stepping into Modern in the coming weeks be warned that the waters are dangerously full of monsters waiting for that critical miscalculation or failure to find a key piece of removal. Will you be joining the side that seeks to eliminate the opponent with enough time left in the round for lunch? Or will you attempt to disrupt those plans with a list packed full of cheap removal? Perhaps you’ll pick a third route and go your own way. Whatever you decide, be ready to begin the game under the gun, or in the case of Red Deer Alberta, at the mercy of the Phyrexians.
_________________________

For everything related to the event including the top 8 decklists, go here!

And as always, for the latest FaceToFaceGames.com Tournament Series news, join the Face to Face Games Facebook page.

Coming up next, we are still in Alberta for our much-anticipated Edmonton 5k next Sunday, July 10th! Will we break the attendance number set at Red Deer? We are also hosting a 3K Modern Open later in the month on Saturday, July 23.

For info on the Edmonton event: CLICK HERE!

For info on the Toronto event: CLICK HERE!