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Showdown Recap: Modern

Welcome to another weekly Showdown Recap, where we take a look at what happened at Face to Face Games Toronto’s weekly Sunday Showdown, a series of 1k events feeding into the Ultimate Showdown 5k Invitational. This week, players battled in the ever-popular Modern format for the top prize.

Pasha Meshkati is on a heater—full stop. He seems to be in the Top 8 of every Showdown he plays recently and was able to win this event with U/R Storm. He told me after the third round that he feels like his matchups against the field were really strong as long as he could avoid a large number of Death’s Shadow decks. What’s even better is that he took it right to Shadow in the finals defeating local prodigy Liam Kane who’s off to another great Showdown series start this season.

As far as the metagame goes, it was a drastically different day than the Modern Showdown’s we’ve seen of-late. In opposition to the colourless big-mana decks, Primeval Titan decks and Affinity that have dominated lately this week was all about midrange creature decks, with the exception of Meshkati. I played B/G Rock on Sunday to a middle-of-the-pack finish but couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot of people do similar things to me in the room. It really was just a super midrangey field which made the Empty the Warrens and Blood Moons in Meshkati’s sideboard some of the best cards in the room.

Matthew Dilks was the loan big-mana player in the Top 8 with Amulet Titan, once again proving that it has “no bad matchups.” In all seriousness he and Edgar Magalhaes are certainly proving that this deck is a real force in Modern and maybe a unique way to attack the format right now.

With his win Pasha qualifies himself for the next Face to Face Games Ultimate Showdown and the rest of the Top 8 have started their march toward the top of the Showdown leaderboard. Join us this weekend to try to cement your spot on the leaderboard at our Final Frontier Showdown. That’s right your last chance to battle Frontier for a while ! Start brewing and we’ll see you on Sunday. If you’re here for the Modern decklists get ready for our Sept. 16 FacetoFaceGames.com Open + 5k. This event will feature two invites in addition to travel rewards for first and second place to the StarCityGames Invitational as well as 5k in prizes. All that, just a few weeks before our Nationals event, there’s lots coming so get to testing !

First Place: Pasha Meshkati, U/R Storm

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 Goblin Electromancer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Manamorphose
1 Noxious Revival
2 Peer Through Depths
4 Pyretic Ritual
3 Remand
3 Grapeshot
2 Past in Flames
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Blood Moon
1 Echoing Truth
2 Empty the Warrens
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Pieces of the Puzzle
2 Shattering Spree
2 Swan Song
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Second Place: Liam Kane, Grixis Death’s Shadow

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Death’s Shadow
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
1 Kolaghan’s Command
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Terminate
4 Thought Scour
1 Liliana of the Veil
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Young Pyromancer
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Third Place: Matthew Dilks, Amulet Titan

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Dismember
1 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner’s Pact
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Explore
4 Amulet of Vigor
1 Engineered Explosives
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Gruul Turf
1 Khalni Garden
1 Radiant Fountain
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Slayers’ Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
3 Tolaria West
1 Vesuva
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Dismember
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hornet Queen
2 Kozilek’s Return
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Swan Song
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tireless Tracker
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Fourth Place: Richard Welch, Grixis Death’s Shadow

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Death’s Shadow
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Terminate
4 Thought Scour
1 Liliana of the Veil
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kozilek’s Return
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Fifth Place: Bill Irons, U/W Hate Bears

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Flickerwisp
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Meddling Mage
4 Reflector Mage
4 Restoration Angel
4 Spell Queller
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Vendilion Clique
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Adarkar Wastes
2 Celestial Colonnade
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Moorland Haunt
2 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Celestial Purge
1 Ephara, God of the Polis
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Honor of the Pure
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Negate
1 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Sixth Place: Chris Duong, 5-Colour Company

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Devoted Druid
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Mirran Crusader
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Viscera Seer
4 Vizer Of Remedies
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Lingering Souls
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
1 Path to Exile
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Selfless Spirit
3 Stony Silence
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Seventh Place: Stephan Conway, B/G Rock

[deck]
[Creatures]
2 Courser of Kruphix
4 Dark Confidant
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tireless Tracker
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
4 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize
4 Liliana of the Veil
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Forest
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Hissing Quagmire
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Swamp
1 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Damnation
1 Flaying Tendrils
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Eighth Place: Alexei Varakin, Melira Company

[deck]
[Creatures]
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Blood Artist
2 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Murderous Redcap
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reveillark
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Spellskite
3 Viscera Seer
1 Voice of Resurgence
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Forest
3 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Path to Exile
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sin Collector
2 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

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