Southern Ontario Magic converged on Niagara region this past Saturday to battle Modern as the FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series made another stop. Modern’s been in a really healthy place over the last little while and Alex Bianchi took his U/W Control deck to the number one spot in this event.

Aside from Bianchi’s winning decklist, this Top 8 could be defined simply as colourless cards and big mana. There were certainly a lot of copies of Primeval Titan and even more copies of Cranial Plating. It’s becoming quite clear that the linear specialists of the Modern format have found the best ways to defeat Death’s Shadow and other fair decks. Valakut and Affinity are just running rampant all over Modern right now, along with Eldrazi Tron which was surprisingly absent from this Top 8.

Bianchi certainly came prepared for this metagame, sporting four copies of Supreme Verdict and a full four Ghost Quarters for Valakut decks. Maybe these kinds of catch-all answers are the place for fair decks in Modern to come back around and deal with the Affinitys of the world. Decks like traditional Jund and B/G Midrange with a Ghost Quarter package as well as U/W Control can sport the kind of versatility capable of beating these kind of metagame shifts.

This Top 8 event also featured the always great to poke-fun-at Edgar Magalhaes who has repeatedly claimed that his Amulet Titan deck has “no bad matchups” despite losing in the quarterfinals.

If you’re looking to solve the constant puzzle that seems to be Modern right now Face to Face has got you covered with our first ever FactoFaceGames.com Open+ event taking place on Sept.16. This event will be a Modern 5k tournament with both first and second place receiving $400 travel stipends and invitations to the StarCityGames Invitational. So if you you played this event or are reading to keep up with the metagame I’ll see you on Sept. 16 to battle !

First Place: Alex Bianchi, U/W Control

[deck]
[Creatures]
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Wall of Omens
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Serum Visions
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Condemn
3 Cryptic Command
1 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
4 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
1 Supreme Will
1 Think Twice
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Detention Sphere
4 Spreading Seas
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
5 Island
1 Mystic Gate
2 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Temple of Enlightenment
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Celestial Purge
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Negate
1 Rest in Peace
1 Runed Halo
1 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Vendilion Clique
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Second Place: Steve Verheyn, Merfolk

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Cursecatcher
3 Harbinger of the Tides
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Master of Waves
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aether Vial
2 Smuggler’s Copter
3 Vapor Snag
4 Spreading Seas
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Cavern of Souls
12 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
1 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Negate
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Unified Will
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Third Place: Ian Zdrojewski, Affinity

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Etched Champion
1 Glint-Nest Crane
1 Master of Etherium
2 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Glimmervoid
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Island
1 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Dispatch
2 Ghirapur AEther Grid
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spellskite
2 Thoughtseize
1 Torpor Orb
1 Wear
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Fourth Place: Ian Heezen, Affinity

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
2 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
1 Welding Jar
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Glimmervoid
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Mountain
2 Spire of Industry
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Dispatch
2 Etched Champion
2 Ghirapur AEther Grid
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Rest in Peace
1 Spell Pierce
2 Thoughtseize
1 Wear
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Fifth Place: Raymond Li, G/R Titan Shift

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Wood Elves
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Farseek
2 Hour of Promise
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Beast Within
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Summoner’s Pact
2 Prismatic Omen
2 Relic of Progenitus
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Cinder Glade
3 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Acidic Slime
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Beast Within
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Nature’s Claim
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Tireless Tracker
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Sixth Place: Andrian Farkavec, Affinity

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
2 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
1 Welding Jar
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Glimmervoid
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Mountain
3 Spire of Industry
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Blood Moon
2 Dispatch
2 Etched Champion
1 Ghirapur AEther Grid
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Rest in Peace
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spellskite
2 Thoughtseize
1 Wear
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Seventh Place: Nick Cummings, G/R Ponza

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Chameleon Colossus
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Inferno Titan
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Primal Command
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Blood Moon
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Beast Within
[/Spells]
[Lands]
8 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Stomping Ground
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Burning-Tree Shaman
1 Choke
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Shatterstorm
4 Stone Rain
2 Trinisphere
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Eighth Place: Edgar Magalhaes, Amulet Titan

[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Amulet of Vigor
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner’s Pact
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Explore
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Gruul Turf
1 Khalni Garden
1 Radiant Fountain
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Slayers’ Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
3 Tolaria West
1 Vesuva
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Chameleon Colossus
3 Dismember
1 Hornet Queen
2 Kozilek’s Return
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Swan Song
1 Thragtusk
2 Tireless Tracker
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]