It was only a matter of time before [Card]Hogaak, Risen Necropolis[/Card] reared its ugly head and claimed a FacetoFaceGames.com Open Trophy.

This past Saturday, surging Canadian Magic stalwart Shawn Dhaliwal piloted Hogaak Bridgevine to the winner’s circle at our Hamilton, Ontario Modern Open.

Dhaliwal has been on an absolute tear lately. He came into this even fresh off a Grand Prix Top 8 in Madison and very recently clinched Silver Pro status. That high level of performance continued on Saturday when he picked up the format’s most high powered new deck and took down our event.

Hogaak Bridgevine has been nothing short of dominant since the release of its namesake card in Modern Horizons. The deck truly challenges the limits of the Modern format with its ability to kill on the game’s second turn and requires massive hate from the opposition to be slowed down. We had two copies of the deck in our Hamilton Top 8, and from where I’m sitting, that number is actually pretty low for how good this deck is compared to the rest of the format.

Dhaliwal was able to triumph over Matt Loong in the finals playing good old Jund. Joining them in the Top 8 was Les Walderman playing Turbo Druid,  Andrew Barbosa and John Robbins on Izzet Phoenix, Erik Traikov with his bread and butter Affinity deck, Lucas Goodman-Caines who was the other Hogaak player and Frederico Prado who played Humans.

Robbins notably was victorious earlier this year at our Toronto Open+ where he also played Izzet Phoenix. He’s certainly shown himself to be a force on the Open Series this year and is a master with this cantrip-dense strategy.

The dust certainly hasn’t settled on Modern Horizons impact on the format just yet. If you look through our Top 8, it’s obvious that some of these much maligned “fair” decks have gotten big upgrades from the new set. That said, the [Card]Faithless Looting[/Card] decks still seem to be at a higher power level than their alternatives. We’ll have to wait and see if that changes in the coming months.

While all the action was going on in our main event, we had players on-site all day long battling in side events. We ran Modern Horizons Drafts all day long and even hosted a FREE Standard event which is a part of our new Open Series programming for the upcoming season.  If you haven’t taken a look at our Season 2 schedule you do not want to miss this, so mark your calendars today!

Congratulations again to our champion Shawn Dhaliwal from everyone at Face to Face Games! Additionally, we’d like to extend our thanks to both our Open Series sponsor — Ultimate Guard — who hooked up everyone in the Top 8 with some awesome swag and to our amazing judge staff! The next stop on the series is coming up on July 22 when we travel to Toronto, Ontario for a special Team Trios Open. Make sure to pre-register and we’ll see you there!

[Deck Title= First Place, Hogaak Bridgevine- Shawn Dhaliwal]
[Creatures]
4 Bloodghast
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Gravecrawler
4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Stitcher’s Supplier
4 Vengevine
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Faithless looting
1 Darkblast
1 Lightning Axe
4 Altar of dementia
4 Bridge for Below
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Blood Crypt
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
3 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Lightning Axe
2 Ingot Chewer
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Nature’s Claim
4 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Second Place, Jund – Matthew Loong]
[Creatures]
3 Dark Confidant
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Seasoned Pyromancer
2 Bloodbraid Elf
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Wrenn and Six
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Fatal Push
3 Assassin’s Trophy
1 Unearth
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Grounds
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Raging Ravine
1 Nurturing Peatland
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Collector Ouphe
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Liliana the Last Hope
2 Plague Engineer
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Third Place, Turbo Druid – Les Walderman]
[Creatures]
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Giver of Runes
4 Devoted Druid
4 Vizier of Remedies
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Eternal Witness
2 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Finale of Devastation
4 Eladamri’s Call
4 Incubation // Incongruity
2 Postmortem Lunge
1 Chord of Calling
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Razorverge Thicket
3 Forest
1 Plains
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ravenous Trap
3 Path to Exile
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Spellskite
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Tireless Tracker
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Fourth Place, Izzet Phoenix – Andrew Barbosa]
[Creatures]
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Thing in the Ice
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Aria of Flame
4 Faithless Looting
4 Manamorphose
4 Thought Scour
2 Finale of Promise
2 Lava Dart
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Magmatic Sinkhole
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Fiery Islet
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Alpine Moon
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Force of Negation
1 Magmatic Sinkhole
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
3 Ravenous Trap
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
1 Shenanigans
2 Spell Pierce
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Fifth Place, Affinity – Erik Traikov]
[Creatures]
2 Master of Etherium
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Galvanic Blast
2 Experimental Frenzy
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Mountain
1 Island
3 Spire of Industry
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Dispatch
1 Etched Champion
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Experimental Frenzy
2 Damping Sphere
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Sixth Place, Izzet Phoenix- John Robbins]
[Creatures]
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Thing in the Ice
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lava Dart
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Magmatic Sinkhole
2 Aria of Flame
2 Finale of Promise
4 Manamorphose
4 Faithless Looting
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Serum Vision
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
2 Mountain
4 Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Shenanigans
2 Force of Negation
2 Alpine Moon
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Ravenous Trap
1 Magmatic Sinkhole
2 Spell Pierce
1 Aria of Flame
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Seventh Place, Hogaak Bridgevine – Lucas Goodman-Caines]
[Creatures]
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Bloodghast
4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
4 Stitcher’s Supplier
4 Gravecrawler
4 Vengevine
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Necrotic Wound
4 Altar of Dementia
4 Bridge From Below
4 Faithless Looting
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Blood Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Swamp
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Necrotic Wounds
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Shenanigans
2 Nature’s Claim
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Force of Despair
3 Leyline of the Void
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Eighth Place, Humans – Frederico Prado]
[Creatures]
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Mantis Rider
4 Meddling Mage
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Reflector Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aether Vial
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Waterlogged Grove
2 Kessig Malcontents
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Seachrome Coast
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Damping Sphere
3 Auriok Champion
3 Ravenous Trap
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Deputy of Detention
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Plague Engineer
1 Dismember
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]