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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 we were back to Modern at Face to Face Games Toronto and that means it was once again time to see just how much of grip [Card]Faithless Looting[/Card] has on the format. Our winner Felix Sloo showed us that Izzet Phoenix is just as good as advertised but, he had to slog through a swath of control decks to get to the finish line.

Sloo defeated Russell Phillips’ sweet [Card]Electrodominance[/Card] deck in the Finals. Hall of Famer and member of Team Face to Face Games Gabriel Nassif has been streaming with this deck for the last few weeks and it’s certainly capable of some broken things. Turns out that when [Card]Restore Balance[/Card] and [Card]Ancestral Vision[/Card] lose their suspend costs they’re pretty busted.

That said, over the last few months Izzet Phoenix has been king in Modern, and Felix showed that that’s still the case on Sunday.

The rest of the Top 8 featured last week’s winner Boston Schatteman on Azorius Control, Wan Tse Shuen on one of his patented Blue Moon decks, Seungho Heo playing Ad Nauseum, Lucas Worrell who’s still winning with Bant Spirits, Joshua Santangelo with Titan Shift and Christos Kaldis who played sweet control deck featuring three copies of [Card]Gideon of the Trials[/Card].

If you take a close look, you’ll notice a large increase in the stock of graveyard hate amongst these Top 8 decks. The format is really starting to adjust to the ways decks like Phoenix and Dredge are abusing their graveyards and it looks like we’re rounding or way back to a healthy format.

Take Joshua Santangelo’s Titan Shift deck for example. This is a linear powerful strategy that operates on an incredibly consistent axis by using its manabase to defeat its foes. That, in conjunction with the fact that it can afford to play maindeck [Card]Relic of Progenitus[/Card] gives it a home in this metagame.

This was of course one of just a handful of Showdowns left in our current location. The Face to Face Games Toronto shop is packing up and moving just down the street to a brand new, bigger and better location at 1398 Danforth Ave. Our first day in the new shop will be April 24, so make sure to stop by and say hi. there’ll be lots of new and exciting announcements about organized play as we get closer to moving day!

With his win on Sunday, Felix cements his spot in the upcoming Ultimate Showdown, while the rest of our Top 8 have begun their march up the leader board to qualify. If you’re interested in your Ultimate Showdown point total, you can check it out here. If you’d like to inquire about your point total or report a discrepancy, please email Toronto@facetofacegames.com. This upcoming weekend at Face to Face Games Toronto we’ll be hosting a Legacy Showdown. Make sure to pre-register and we’ll see you on Sunday!

[Deck Title= First Place, Izzet Phoenix – Felix Sloo]
[Creatures]
4 Thing in the Ice
2 Cracking Drake
4 Arclight Phoenix
1 Snapcaster MAge
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Manamorphose
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Lightning Axe
2 Gut Shot
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Steam Vents
3 Islands
2 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Polluted Delta
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Blood Moon
1 Shatterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
2 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Flame Slash
1 Forked Bolt
1 Shattering Spree
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Second Place, Izzet Electrodominance – Russell Phillips]
[Creatures]
4 Greater Gargadon
2 Simian Spirit Guide
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Opt
3 Remand
4 Restore Balance
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Serum Vision
1 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Ancestral Vision
4 As Foretold
1 Blood Moon
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Echoing Truth
3 Electrodominance
1 Flame Slash
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Cascade Bluff
4 Island
2 Mountain
2 Shivan Reef
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Steam Vents
3 Tolaria West
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Blood Moon
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Shatterstorm
2 Spell Pierce
3 Tormod’s Crypt
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Third Place, Azorius Control – Boston Schatteman]
[Creatures]
2 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Spell Snare
2 Negate
1 Mana Leak
1 Absorb
4 Cryptic Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Condemn
2 Detention Sphere
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Relic of Progenitus
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
2 Plains
4 Field of Ruin
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Celestial Purge
2 Damping Sphere
2 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Oust
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Vendilion Clique
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Fourth Place, Jeskai Moon – Wan Tse Shuen]
[Creatures]
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Serum Vision
3 Opt
1 Ancestral Vision
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Burst Lightning
1 Flame Slash
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Logic Knot
1 Negate
4 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
2 Blood Moon
1 Abrade
1 Anger of the Gods
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
7 Island
1 Mountain
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Roast
1 Spell Pierce
1 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Dispel
1 Abrade
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spell Snare
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Surgical Extraction
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Fifth Place, Ad Nauseum – Seungho Heo]
[Creatures]
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Laboratory Maniac
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Echoing Truth
1 Lightning Storm
1 Solemnity
2 Pact of Negation
2 Spoils of the Vault
4 Pentad Prism
3 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Vision
4 Angel’s Grace
4 Phyrexian Unlife
2 City of Brass
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Seachrome Coast
3 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Thoughtseize
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Bontu’s Last Reckoning
2 Pact of Negation
2 Grand Abolisher
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
2 Path to Exile
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Sixth Place, Bant Spirits – Lucas Worrell]
[Creatures]
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
1 Rattlechains
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol Captain
3 Deputy of Detention
3 Selfless Spirit
2 Phantasmal Image
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Geist of Saint Traft
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Moorland Haunt
4 Botanical Sanctum
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Damping Sphere
2 Unified Will
2 Knight of Autumn
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
1 Worship
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Seventh Place, Azorius Control – Christos Kaldis]
[Spells]
3 Gideon of the Trials
1 Sphinx’s Revelation
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Path to Exile
2 Rest in Peace
4 Serum Vision
1 Supreme Will
1 Jace the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Absorb
4 Cryptic Command
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Detention Sphere
[/Spells]
[Lands]
6 Island
3 Plains
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Field of Ruin
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Absorb
1 Condemn
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Negate
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Dispel
3 Stony Silence
3 Timely Reinforcements
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Eighth Place, Titan Shift – Joshua Santangelo]
[Creatures]
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Summoner’s Pact
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Explore
3 Farseek
2 Flame Slash
2 Khalni Heart Expedition
2 Lightning Bolt
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
6 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Abrade
1 Beast Within
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Damping Sphere
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Tireless Tracker
1 Spitebellows
1 Shatterstorm
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

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