The FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series kicked off its 2019 schedule this past Saturday when we traveled to Toronto for a Modern Open+.

And as we kicked off the start to a new year, an old Modern stalwart took home the crown: Grixis Death’s Shadow.

David Hall was able to fend off the onslaught of the likes of KCI, Amulet Titan and the newly crowned king of Modern Izzet [Card]Acrlight Phoenix[/Card] in order to bring home the trophy.

Death’s Shadow has recently experienced a bit of a resurgence in the format with the rise of Phoenix and the fall of Humans. The deck presents a fast clock that is difficult for the Bolt-centric Phoenix deck to deal with and offers enough disruption to combat decks like KCI. David has been out battling in the Greater Toronto Area and on the Open Series for years now and it’s awesome to see him in the winner’s circle.

If there’s anything else you should take notice of in the rest of the Top 8 it’s the continued resurgence of Amulet Titan in the Modern metagame across multiple competitive tournament series’. Last weekend, Team Face to Faces Games Pro Player Edgar Magalhaes made it all the way to Top 4 of SCG Columbus with his team of triple Amulet Titan in the Team Modern format. This weekend, another Torontonian in Dominic Harvey won SCG Worcester with his version of the deck. And while he was doing so, back home in Toronto both Ben Lu and Andrew Gordon made the Top 8 of with Amulet Titan in our first Open of 2019.

Somehow, through what seems like the sheer will of its followers, this crazy deck has vaulted itself back to the top of the Modern metagame.

In addition, two one Shadow deck and those two Amulet players we also had a copy of Jekskai Phoenix, Burn, U/W Control, Hardened Scales and Dredge in the Top 8. As usual the format is as diverse as they come.

Notably, the U/W Control player in the Top 8 was former Platinum Pro player Paul Dean, who brought some spice with his decklist. Paul played a maindeck copy of [Card]Surgical Extraction[/Card] and even a copy of [Card]Mana Tithe[/Card]. Sideboard cards creeping into the maindeck of Modern decks has been a recent trend. Hall of Famer Gabriel Nassif has been playing quite a bit of U/W lists with [Card]Rest in Peace[/Card] and Paul did something similar on Saturday.

As we all know, a good metagame call can make the difference in Modern, and Paul was certainly trying to catch people off-guard.

Congratulations to David on his win on Saturday. There were 210 players out to celebrate our first stop on the 2019 FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series and we enjoyed every minute of it. A special thanks also goes out to our sponsor, Ultimate Guard.

Next up the Open Series will be traveling to Vancouver, B.C. for a Modern Open on Jan.26. Make sure to get your Modern deck ready and pre-register and we’ll see you out west!

[Deck Title= First Place, Grixis Death’s Shadow – David Hall]
[Creatures]
4 Street Wraith
4 Death’s Shadow
4 Gurmag Angler
3 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Serum Visions
2 Temur Battle Rage
2 Dismember
1 Faithless Looting
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Fatal Push
3 Mishra’s Bauble
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thought Scour
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Abrade
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stubborn Denial
3 Surgical Extraction
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Second Place, Amulet Titan – Ben Lu]
[Creatures]
1 Walking Ballista
1 Skyshroud Ranger
3 Trinket Mage
4 Sakura Tribe Scout
4 Primeval Titan
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Amulet of Vigor
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Summoner’s Pact
1 Pact of Negation
1 Engineered Explosives
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Vesuva
1 Khalni Garden
1 Slayer’s Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Boros Garrison
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Forest
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
3 Tolaria West
1 Radiant Fountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Hornet Queen
1 Negate
4 Path to Exile
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Spell Pierce
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Tormod’s Crypt
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Third Place, Burn – Seungho Heo]
[Creatures]
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Rift Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Boros Charm
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Arid Mesa
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Path to Exile
2 Rest in Peace
2 Searing Blood
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Fourth Place, Jeskai Phoenix – Pedram Moazen-Sayad]
[Creatures]
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Arclight Phoenix
2 Crackling Drake
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Lightning Axe
1 Flame Slash
4 Serum Visions
4 Opt
4 Thought Scour
3 Gut Shot
4 Manamorphose
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Izzet Charm
2 Pyromancer Ascension
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Island
2 Mountain
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Steam Vents
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Hallowed Fountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Dispel
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Spell Pierce
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Blood Moon
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Stony Silence
2 Scab-Clan Berserker
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Fifth Place, Hardened Scales – Michael Lewis]
[Creatures]
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Hangarback Walker
3 Steel Overseer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Mox Opal
4 Hardened Scales
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Throne of Geth
2 Animation Module
4 Welding Jar
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
5 Forest
1 Phyrexia’s Core
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Llanowar Reborn
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Pendelhaven
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Damping Sphere
3 Dismember
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Nature’s Claim
2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2 Tormod’s Crypt
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Sixth Place, Amulet Titan – Andrew Gordon]
[Creatures]
1 Walking Ballista
4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Skyshroud Ranger
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
3 Trinket Mage
4 Primeval Titan
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Amulet of Vigor
1 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner’s Pact
4 Ancient Stirrings
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Forest
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Khalni Garden
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Slayer’s Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
3 Tolaria West
1 Vesuva
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Negate
4 Path to Exile
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Spell Pierce
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Hornet Queen
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Seventh Place, Dredge – Aaron Raine]
[Creatures]
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
1 Golgari Thug
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Shriekhorn
1 Darkblast
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Life from the Loam
3 Conflagrate
4 Creeping Chill
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Copperline Gorge
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Ground
2 Mountain
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Mana Confluence
1 Dakmor Salvage
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Assassin’s Trophy
2 Damping Sphere
1 Darkblast
3 Lightning Axe
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Eighth Place, Azorious Control – Paul Dean]
[Creatures]
4 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Terminus
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3 Cryptic Command
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Peek
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Mana Tithe
4 Path to Exile
4 Opt
1 Think Twice
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Logic Knot
3 Mana Leak
1 Blessed Alliance
[/Spells]
[Lands]
6 Island
2 Plains
4 Field of Ruin
3 Celestial Colonnade
1 Windswept Heath
2 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Baneslayer Angel
2 Celestial Purge
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Condemn
2 Dispel
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Negate
1 Oust
2 Surgical Extraction
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]