[Card]Arclight Phoenix[/Card] is really making its mark on on the Modern format.
Historically, any card that you can get onto the battlefield for free has been pretty broken. And well, Austin Anderson showed that this past Saturday when the FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series traveled Red Deer, Alberta and he took down the whole event with U/R Phoenix.
Modern aficionados have been putting in a lot of work as of late trying to make this card work. The lists started trying to go as fast as possible by playing a Mono-Red version with [Card]Bedlam Revler[/Card] and [Card]Runaway Steam-Kin[/Card] and has since morphed into a proactive Izzet deck with a little bit of disruption.
This deck solves a lot of the problems that various Izzet strategies have been battling with for years. Most specifically, with the combination of [Card]Arclight Phoenix[/Card] and [Card]Thing in the Ice[/Card] mean that the deck’s able to put on a clock much quicker than previous [Card]Young Pyromacer[/Card] U/R Moon decks.
Anderson even had a couple copies of [Card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/Card] in his list for some staying-power in grindy matchups.
The rest of the Top 8 feature more or less an appetizer sampler of Modern decks. Our second place finisher played Burn, we had a U/W Control player, a copy of Amulet Titan, the newest [Card]Aether Vial[/Card] deck in Bant Spirits, a copy of Ironworks Combo, a spicy Jeskai Breach deck and an awesome looking Affinity deck featuring [Card]Experimental Frenzy[/Card]. Eight unique decks, the Modern special.
As you can see with these lists, Modern is in a pretty good place right now. If you want to play on hard mode and play a control deck you can make it work, combo is present and creatures are still king. You can really show up with any archetype and make it work.
In addition to the Modern action, we had a slew of players show up to play Ultimate Masters Drafts all day long.
Congratulations to Austin on his Victory on Saturday. The next stop on the FacetoFaceGames.com Open series is in the new year with our Toronto Open+. Make sure to pre-register and make your plans early and come on out for some more Modern action!
[Deck Title= First Place, U/R Phoenix – Austin Anderson]
[Creatures]
4 Thing in the Ice
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Crackling Drake
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
3 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
3 Gut Shot
1 Maximize Velocity
1 Lighting Axe
1 Burst Lightning
4 Manamorphose
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Island
2 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Ceremonius Rejection
2 Dispen
1 Spell Pierce
1 Ligtning Axe
3 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Second Place, Burn – Andrew Wright]
[Creatures]
4 Goblin Guide
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Helix
4 Searing Blaze
2 Skullcrack
4 Rift Bolt
1 Risk Factor
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Path to Exile
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Searing Blood
2 Skullcrack
3 Smash to Smithereens
1 Risk Factor
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Third Place, Damian Brown – Bant Spirits]
[Creatures]
4 Noble Heirarch
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Supreme Phantom
2 Selfless Spirit
3 Drogskol Captain
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
1 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Spell Queller
3 Reflector Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Path to Exile
3 Aether Vial
4 Collected Company
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Botanical Sanctum
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Distainful Stroke
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Detention Sphere
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Knight of Autumn
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Fourth Place, U/W Control – Grant Matthews]
[Creatures]
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendillion Clique
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Opt
4 Path to Exile
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Serum Visions
1 Spell Snare
1 Sunlance
2 Mana Leak
1 Negate
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Detention Sphere
1 Disallow
1 Sphinx’s Revelation
3 Cryptic Command
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
4 Terminus
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
5 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Plains
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Damping Sphere
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Fifth Place, Amulet Titan – Nathan Cole]
[Creatures]
4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
2 Skyshroud Ranger
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Trinket Mage
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Primeval Titan1 Walking Ballista
1 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner’s Pact
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Amulet of Vigor
4 Ancient Stirrings
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Forest
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Vesuva
1 Slayers’ Stronghold
1 Khalni Garden
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Radiant Fountain
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Academy Ruins
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Tolaria West
4 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Gruul Turf
1 Boros Garrison
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Abrade
3 Spell Pierce
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Hornet Queen
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Beast Within
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Tireless Tracker
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Sixth Place, Jeskai Breach – Robbie Schmidt]
[Creatures]
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Cryptic Command
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Through the Breach
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions
2 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
3 Lightning Bolt
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Island
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Steam Vents
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Field of Ruin
2 Celestial Colonnade
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Stony Silence
1 Rest in Peace
1 Negate
1 Abrade
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonius Rejection
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Engineered Explosives
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Seventh Place, Ironworks Combo – Jozef Telecki]
[Creatures]
1 Myr Retriever
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Scrap Trawler
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Mox Opal
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Terrarion
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Mind Stone
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
1 Spine of Ish Sah
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Buried Ruin
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Inventor’s Fair
1 Island
3 Yavimaya Coast
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Galvanic Blast
1 Swan Song
2 Negate
1 Firespout
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Eighth Place, Affinity – Matthew Nahuis]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Cranial Plating
3 Experimental Frenzy
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
1 Welding Jar
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Mountain
4 Spire of Industry
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Bitterblossom
1 Damping Sphere
2 Dispatch
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Plains
1 Rest in Peace
1 Rule of Laaw
1 Spellskite
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Wear // Tear
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]