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Your Canadian National Champion(s)

After a six year hiatus, Canada finally has a new National Champion. Kale Thompson defeated Lucas Siow in the finals of Canadian Nationals hosted by Face to Games on Sunday and a champ was crowned. Both Siow and Thompson will be joining our Canadian Team Captain, Eduardo Sajgalik, in representing the country at the World Magic Cup in Nice, France on Dec. 1.

Canadian Nationals Top 8

For me, and for a lot of my peers in the room, this was our first Nationals. This two day multi-format event was truly everything it was advertised to be. It was the perfect combination of skill-testing and fun. The transition from Standard to Draft made for a real test of strength, as players who ran-hot early hit a metaphorical wall of booster packs. With Limited aside, the at-the-table story of the tournament was clearly Temur Energy. Every member of the Top 4 of this event played the powerful creature-based strategy in very similar iterations. Thompson’s list was pretty generic, a virtual spitting image of the deck William Jensen used to win the World Championship with just a week ago. Siow’s deck on the other hand, had some familiar Siow spice, as he went bigger than everyone post-board, raining down Carnage Tyrants and Nicol-Bolas God-Pharaoh on his opponents. One of the highlights of watching the Top 8 for me was seeing Siow laugh out loud after flipping his one-of Search for Azcanta then playing a Carnage Tyrant and win easily. The rest of the Temur Top 4 consisted of Greater Toronto Area grinder and Grand Prix Montreal Top 8 competitor Morgan McLaughlin and Maxime Auger who also went big out of the sideboard with both Pull From Tomorrow and River’s Rebuke.

Siow and Thompson face-off in the Finals.

The remainer of the Top 8 was (thankfully) a little more diverse. Toronto-local Omar Beldon brought a build of Hazoret Red featuring a full four copies of Rampaging Ferocidon. Jonathan Dery joined the Temur Energy brigade, Philippe Gareau played the Abzan Hidden Stockpile tokens deck and Alan Ngo blew it all out of the water with a B/R Aggro deck featuring the all-powerful Night Market Lookout. Beldon’s red deck looked really well-positioned against the field as the creature density allowed for more powerful draws and Ferocidon beats-up on Tokens decks very well. Ngo’s B/R Aggro deck must be good beyond my comprehension because I’m hard-pressed to find a reason why to play this over Hazoret Red.

All this in mind, the Top 8 was a pretty good representation of what the room looked like, with the exception of the lack of U/B Control. Temur Energy was simply the best deck in the room, and the best players playing the best deck won the event. It really was what you wanted out of a top-tier competitive tournament. Toronto’s next challenge—how do you now beat the boogeyman that is Temur Energy?

Before I leave you with the decklists, I’d like to add some of my own insight as to what the Nationals experience felt like this weekend. What was remarkable to me, was the unparalleled sense of community that I felt walking around the venue all weekend. I truly have never played a Magic tournament with more familiar faces, fun to be had and collective positivity. Between interacting with the loyal crowd Face to Face Games has fostered in Toronto to seeing the way older players and pros like Alexander Hayne sprinkled themselves into that community, it was truly a great weekend. If you ever get the chance and didn’t this year—play Nationals.

Congratulations to Kale, Lucas and the rest of the Top 8 competitors, here are the Standard decklists from the 2017 Canadian National Championship:

Temur Energy – Kale Thompson (1st)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Sheltered Thicket
3 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Abrade
4 Attune with Aether
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Confiscation Coup
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Bristling Hydra
3 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
3 Negate
2 Vizier of Many Faces
2 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Abrade
1 Supreme Will
1 Chandras Defeat
1 Confiscation Coup
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Glimmer of Genius
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Temur Energy – Lucas Siow (2nd)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
1 Blooming Marsh
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Sheltered Thicket
3 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Abrade
4 Attune with Aether
1 Commit Memory
1 Confiscation Coup
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
3 Bristling Hydra
1 Carnage Tyrant
3 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Abrade
1 Chandras Defeat
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Jaces Defeat
2 Negate
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Slice in Twain
1 Supreme Will
2 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Temur Energy – Morgan McLaughlin (T4)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Sheltered Thicket
3 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Spells]
2 Abrade
1 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Attune with Aether
2 Confiscation Coup
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Spell Pierce
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
3 Bristling Hydra
3 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Chandras Defeat
1 Confiscation Coup
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Magma Spray
4 Negate
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1 Slice in Twain
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Spell Pierce
1 Torrential Gearhulk
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Temur Energy – Maxime Auger (T4)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Abrade
4 Attune with Aether
2 Confiscation Coup
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
1 Struggle Survive
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
3 Bristling Hydra
3 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Abrade
1 Chandras Defeat
1 Vizier of Many Faces
2 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Supreme Will
3 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Rivers Rebuke
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Temur Energy – Jonathan Dery (T8)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Abrade
4 Attune with Aether
1 Commit Memory
1 Confiscation Coup
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
3 Bristling Hydra
4 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Abrade
1 Confiscation Coup
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Negate
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Supreme Will
1 Chandras Defeat
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Ramunap Red – Omar Beldon (T8)

[Deck]
[Lands]
15 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Sunscorched Desert
[/Lands]
[Spells]
2 Abrade
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Bomat Courier
4 Earthshaker Khenra
2 Harsh Mentor
4 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Rampaging Ferocidon
4 Soul-Scar Mage
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Chandras Defeat
3 Aethersphere Harvester
2 Harsh Mentor
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Glorybringer
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Key to the City
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Abzan Tokens – Philippe Gareau (T8)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
2 Ifnir Deadlands
5 Plains
3 Shefet Dunes
4 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Anointed Procession
2 Arguels Blood Fast
3 Cast Out
4 Fatal Push
3 Fumigate
4 Hidden Stockpile
3 Legions Landing
4 Renegade Map
2 Start Finish
2 Vraskas Contempt
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Anointer Priest
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
4 Duress
3 Solemnity
2 Angel of Sanctions
3 Authority of the Consuls
3 Lost Legacy
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

BR Aggro – Alan Ngo (Top 8)

[Deck]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mountain
12 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Spells]
2 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Bontus Last Reckoning
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Vicious Conquistador
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Abrade
1 Vraskas Contempt
4 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Doomfall
1 Bontus Last Reckoning
1 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Duress
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

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