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 the brand new Ultimate Masters Sealed format to see who could take down the top prize.

There’s  nothing quite like a brand new Masters set. Limited Magic is always exciting because everyone likes to crack a nice fresh pack. But, in Masters it’s even better, you can stumble into some of that sweet sweet value. To kick off our Ultimate Masters action, we obviously hosted a UMA Sealed Sunday Showdown this past weekend — which was taken down by Isaak Krut. 

Now, I haven’t taken a deep look into the set quite yet, with the exception of those awesome foil box-toppers, but traditionally the power level of these sets lead to a lot of three and four colour control decks. 

That said, Isaak may have been able to fight back against that norm, by putting together a nice Boros deck that was able to land him in the winner’s circle. 

The rest of our Top 8 featured many Showdown Series regulars. Andrew Abela made the semis with a wild looking Jeskai Aggro build, Delan Hamasoor played an awesome Simic deck, Andrew Gordon made his millionth Top 8 and Ryan Sandrin made the elimination playing Selesnya — as he always does. 

For what it’s worth on the first week of the format, our Top 8 definitely makes it look like you can play an aggressive deck in this format. Past Masters sets that’s been virtually impossible, but Isaak, Melissa Eng and Abela were all able to beat down to some success. 

That said, you Masters fans shouldn’t be too hesitant to try your old tricks when approaching the format. Alex Nikolic made the finals with a sweet Izzet Control deck. As long as [Card]Young Pyromancer[/Card] and [Card]Think Twice[/Card] are good in this format, I think we’ll be alright. 

With his win on Sunday, Isaak cements his spot in the upcoming Ultimate Showdown and also puts himself in first place on our Showdown leaderboard, while the rest of our Top 8 have begun their march up the leader board to qualify. If you’re hungry for more UMA action make sure you come out to the store on Dec. 30 for our all day $50 Draft Till you Drop event! This upcoming weekend at Face to Face Games Toronto we’ll be hosting  our seasonal Ultimate Showdown. This will be a celebratory invitational for all of our loyal customers that have had success at our Showdowns this season. If you’re qualified, we can’t wait to see you there!

First Place, Isaak Krut – Boros Aggro

[Deck] [Creatures] 1 Akron Crusader 1 Vexing Devil 1 Ronom Unicorn 1 Phalanx Leader 1 Wandering Champion 1 Arena Athlete 2 Generator Servant 1 Molten Birth 2 Tethmos High Priest 1 Wingsteed Rider 1 Lotus-Eye Mystics 2 Skyspear Cavalry [/Creatures] [Spells] 1 Hyena Umbra 1 Reckless Charge 1 Fire // Ice 1 Double Cleave 1 Conviction 2 Soul’s Fire 2 Undying Rage [/Spells] [Lands] 7 Mountain 9 Plains [/Lands] [/Deck]

Second Place, Alex Nikolic – Izzet

[Deck] [Creatures] 1 Young Pyromancer 2 Thermo-Alchemist 1 Sparkspitter 1 Cathodion 1 Molten Birth 2 Reckless Wurm 1 Murderous Redcap 1 Living Lore 1 Mad Prophet 1 Archaeomancer 1 Scuzzback Marauders 1 Aethersnipe 1 Magmaw [/Creatures] [Spells] 1 Visions of Beyond 1 Faithless Looting 1 Treasure Cruise 1 Rise from the Tides 2 Fire // Ice 1 Think Twice 1 Soul’s Fire 1 Fiery Temper [/Spells] [Lands] 8 Mountain 8 Island [/Lands] [/Deck]

Third Place, Andrew Abela – Jeskai Aggro

[Deck] [Creatures] 2 Akroan Crusader 1 Vexing Devil 1 Rakdos Shred-Freak 1 Ronom Unicorn 1 Wandering Champion 1 Wingsteed Rider 1 Kitchen Finks 1 Heliod’s Pilgrim 2 Hissing Iguanar 1 Sublime Archangel 1 Murderous Redcap 1 Skyspear Cavalry [/Creatures] [Spells] 1 Reckless Charge 2 Gods Willing 1 Repel the Darkness 1 Soul’s Fire 1 Fiery Temper 2 Faith’s Fetters 1 Treasure Cruise 1 Molten Birth [/Spells] [Lands] 7 Plains 7 Mountain 1 Island 1 Terramorphic Expanse [/Lands] [/Deck]

Fourth Place, Melissa Eng – Rakdos

[Deck] [Creatures] 1 Beckon Apparition 1 Ghoulcaller’s Accomplice 2 Rakdos Shred-Freak 2 Sparkspitter 1 Cathodian 1 Patchwork Gnomes 1 Hissing Iguanar 2 Grave Scrabber 3 Reckless Wurm 1 Twins of Maurer Estate 1 Shriekmaw 1 Gurmag Angler [/Creatures] [Spells] 1 Faithless Looting 1 Double Cleave 1 Grave Strength 1 Moan of the Unhallowed 1 Malevolent Whispers 1 Undying Rage 1 Dark Dabbling [/Spells] [Lands] 8 Mountain 6 Swamp 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1 Phyrexian Tower [/Lands] [/Deck]

Fifth Place, Delan Hamasoor – Simic

[Deck] [Creatures] 1 Basking Rootwalla 1 Satyr Wayfinder 3 Wild Mongrel 1 Boneyard Wurm 1 Devoted Druid 1 Fauna Shaman 1 Deranged Assistant 1 Eternal Witness 2 Stitched Drake 1 Hooting Mandrills 1 Walker of the Grove 1 Golgari Grave-Troll 1 Aethersnipe [/Creatures] [Spells] 2 Prey Upon 1 Defy Gravity 1 Just the Wind 1 Circular Logic 1 Become Immense 2 Brawn [/Spells] [Lands] 8 Forest 8 Island [/Lands] [/Deck]

Sixth Place, Andrew Gordon – Orzhov

[Deck] [Creatures] 3 Fume Spitter 1 Olivia’s Dragoon 1 Golgari Thug 1 Dimir Guildmage 2 Safehold Elite 2 Bloodflow Connoisseur 2 Icatian Crier 1 Grave Scrabbler 2 Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker 1 Ghoulsteed [/Creatures] [Spells] 1 Gods Willing 1 Last Gasp 1 Spirit Cairn 1 Faith’s Fetters 1 Moan of the Unhallowed 1 Unholy Hunger 1 Death Denied [/Spells] [Lands] 10 Swamps 7 Plains [/Lands] [/Deck]

Seventh Place, Ryan Sandrin – Selesnya

[Deck] [Creatures] 1 Basking Rootwalla 1 Slippery Bogle 1 Ronom Unicorn 1 Wandering Champion 1 Emancipation Angel 1 Wingsteed Rider 1 Kitchen Finks 1 Heliod’s Pilgrim 1 Wickerbough Elder 1 Lotus-Eye Mystics 1 Staunch-Hearted Warrior [/Creatures] [Spells] 2 Shed Weakness 2 Spider Umbra 1 Hyena Umbra 1 Prey Upon 1 Dawn Charm 2 Travel Preparations 1 Double Cleave 2 Boar Umbra 1 Faith’s Fetters [/Spells] [Lands] 8 Plains 8 Forest [/Lands] [/Deck]

Eighth Place, Eugene Kang – Abzan

[Deck] [Creatures] 2 Satyr Wayfinder 1 Olivia’s Dragoon 1 Groundskeeper 2 Crow of Dark Tidings 2 Golgari Brownscale 1 Slum Reaper 1 Canker Abomination 1 Verdant Eidolon 1 Penumbra Wurm 1 Walker of the Grove 1 Gurmag Angler 1 Artisan of Kozilek [/Creatures] [Spells] 1 Last Gasp 1 All is Dust 1 Unburial Rites 1 Unholy Hunger 1 Miraculous Recovery 1 Kodama’s Reach 1 Pulse of Murasa 1 Moan of the Unhallowed [/Spells] [Lands] 2 Plains 8 Forest 8 Swamp [/Lands] [/Deck]