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 Standard for the top prize and a Last Chance shot at Sunday’s Regional Pro Tour Qualifier.

I hope Devin Giles likes his deck as much against the RPTQ field as this PPTQ field, because he’s going to be competing for a Pro Tour invite on Sunday after taking this one down. Kind of the lone outlier in the Top 8, Devin played U/R Gift combo, a deck that did make a splash this weekend at GP Denver but wasn’t really on the radar for this event. The rest of the Top 8 was three copies of Zombies, including yours truly, a couple Temur Energy decks and a Mardu Vehicles deck.

Lucas Siow continued his recent onslaught of Showdowns recently with another strong performance making it all the way to the finals of the event. Notable grinder Derek Pite AKA MisplacedGinger on Magic Online and Twitch also made the trip to Toronto for the event and made the semifinals with Zombies. The elimination rounds of this event also marked the return of Em Cuthbert to the Top 8 circle of competitive Magic events in the city, a name I’d suggest you watch out for if they can find the time to keep battling.

As for Standard, this event was probably what you’d expect if you paid any attention to the pro scene over the weekend. Temur had a coming out party and Red didn’t fare as well as it did at the Pro Tour. What was unique about this event was the success of Zombies. Lucas, Derek and I all 3-0 double-drew into Top 8 and collectively seemed to be happy with our deck choices. With that said, if Temur continues to rise in popularity, I’d expect Zombies to become a worse choice as I’ve had trouble with that match up. Somehow it seemed as though Standard is in a good place, with a cyclical metagame and 4-8 good decks you can win with at any given time. I guess the next step is figuring out what beats Temur.

With his win, Devin 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 leader board. Join us this weekend to try to cement your spot on the leader board at our Legacy. You heard me right, come out this Sunday and you’ll get to battle with Force of Will and Brainstorm and all your favourite Legacy cards. Need ideas for a deck, tune in to ManaDeprived.com this week as I’ll be posting a bit of a deck tech with the Legacy deck I’ve been playing recently.

First Place: Devin Giles, U/R Gift

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Angel of Invention
4 Champion of Wits
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Hollow One
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Minister of Inquiries
1 Pilgrim’s Eye
4 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Gate to the Afterlife
2 God-Pharaoh’s Gift
4 Cathartic Reunion
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
6 Island
5 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Wandering Fumarole
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Abrade
2 Chandra’s Defeat
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Chaos Maw
3 Glorybringer
3 Negate
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Second Place: Lucas Siow, Zombies

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Dread Wanderer
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Lord of the Accursed
4 Relentless Dead
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Liliana’s Mastery
3 Fatal Push
3 Grasp of Darkness
4 Dark Salvation
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Ifnir Deadlands
2 Scavenger Grounds
19 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Murder
2 Never
2 Scrapheap Scrounger
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Transgress the Mind
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Third Place: Omar Beldon, Temur Energy

[deck]
[Creatures]
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Abrade
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Magma Spray
2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Attune with Aether
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
2 Mountain
3 Sheltered Thicket
3 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Confiscation Coup
2 Elder Deep-Fiend
2 Magma Spray
4 Negate
2 Radiant Flames
2 Tireless Tracker
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Fourth Place: Derek Pite, Zombies

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Dread Wanderer
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Lord of the Accursed
4 Relentless Dead
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Fatal Push
3 Grasp of Darkness
4 Dark Salvation
4 Liliana’s Mastery
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Scavenger Grounds
20 Swamp
1 Westvale Abbey
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Dispossess
1 Grasp of Darkness
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Lost Legacy
1 Murder
2 Never
2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Transgress the Mind
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Fifth Place: Keith Capstick, Zombies

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Dread Wanderer
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Lord of the Accursed
4 Relentless Dead
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Fatal Push
3 Grasp of Darkness
4 Dark Salvation
4 Liliana’s Mastery
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Ifnir Deadlands
19 Swamp
2 Westvale Abbey
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Grasp of Darkness
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Lost Legacy
3 Murder
2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
3 Transgress the Mind
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

SixthPlace: Em Cuthbert, Ramunap Red

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
4 Bomat Courier
4 Earthshaker Khenra
4 Falkenrath Gorger
2 Hanweir Garrison
3 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
2 Soul-Scar Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Abrade
4 Shock
1 Collective Defiance
4 Incendiary Flow
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Hanweir Battlements
14 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
4 Sunscorched Desert
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Abrade
2 Chandra’s Defeat
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Glorybringer
2 Magma Spray
2 Pia Nalaar
1 Reality Smasher
1 Release the Gremlins
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Seventh Place: Delan Hamasoor, Temur Energy

[deck]
[Creatures]
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
2 The Scarab God
3 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Abrade
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Magma Spray
4 Attune with Aether
1 Cut
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Forest
1 Hashep Oasis
1 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
2 Mountain
3 Sheltered Thicket
2 Spirebluff Canal
1 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Chandra’s Defeat
2 Confiscation Coup
3 Negate
3 Radiant Flames
2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
3 Tireless Tracker
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Eighth Place: Jeremy Rubinoff, Mardu Vehicles

[deck]
[Creatures]
2 Archangel Avacyn
2 Pia Nalaar
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Aethersphere Harvester
3 Heart of Kiran
3 Fatal Push
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Cut
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
3 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
4 Spire of Industry
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Abrade
1 Canyon Slough
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Doomfall
2 Dusk
1 Fatal Push
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Heart of Kiran
1 Painful Truths
1 Release the Gremlins
2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]