In Magic, somethings just won’t stay dead.
From Zombies to Vampires to horrors like the so-quickly-forgotten [Card]Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis[/Card], those that die find a way to come back and haunt us again.
And that was the story of the weekend when the FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series traveled to Edmonton, Alberta this past Saturday for a Modern Open. Dredge came back to rear its ugly head and claim yet another trophy in the hands of Brett Steele.
With the recent banning of [Card]Faithless Looting[/Card] many thought that Dredge had seen its last days at the top of the Modern metagame. But, Steele showed on Saturday that when players skimp out on their graveyard hate, the deck can rise again to wreck havoc on unsuspecting midrange players. Steele triumphed over Daniel Goresht in the finals who played a sweet Azorius Spirits build featuring the newly freed [Card]Stoneforge Mystic[/Card].
Won the F2F Edmonton Open with Dredge.
GW Cats 🔥🔥
Spirits ❄❄
Tron 🔥🔥
Jeskai Control🔥🔥
Shadow🔥🔥
Jund🔥❄🔥
Scapeshift🔥🔥
Shadow🔥🔥UW Stoneblade🔥❄🔥
Whirza❄🔥😅 (opponent dropped go to work after game 2)
Spirits (rematch from r2) 🔥🔥— Brett Steele (@bstee) September 10, 2019
Joining them in the Top 8 was Erik Richards on the Four Colour Urza deck that has been climbing in popularity, Todd Duggan who played a sweet Gruul Eldrazi brew, Frank Hui on Azorius Stoneblade, Graham Hryniuk who also played Dredge, Andrew Wright on Burn and Shaun Pringle who played a sweet Grixis Control deck.
Last weekend we were in St. John’s for our first Open Series event since the most recent Banned & Restricted announcement, and we saw big mana decks like Tron and Valakut dominate the competition.
But this weekend — all the way across the country — it was a different story. As you can see the prominent archetypes from our Top 8 either relied heavily on graveyard synergies to take over the game like Steele’s Dredge deck, or were the midrange piles we expected after the B&R announcement. It’s interesting to see such a stark contrast from week to week, but it’s possible players are starting to figure out these Stoneforge decks with the added testing time.
Specifically, I’d like to highlight Shaun Pringle’s Grixis deck as something we should definitely be making note of. If the format devolves a little into a slew of Stoneforge decks, Urza and some linear graveyard decks, I could really see an archetype like this manage to breath some new life.
While all that action was going on during the main event, we had players on-site all day buying and selling cards at the booth and playing in side events. We had 173 players in the main event, fired a total of 10 Commander pods, eight side drafts and hosted two FREE Standard daily side events. This was maybe the most well attended event we’ve ever hosted on the series and we couldn’t be more thankful to the Edmonton community for all of your support!
Before I leave you for the week I’ve got one last reminder for you. Our Toronto MCQ is coming up THIS SATURDAY and you’re going to want to make sure to pre-register to secure your spot. This time it’s Modern so it’s sure to be packed! We’ll see you there.
Congratulations again to our champion Brett Steele from everyone at Face to Face Games! We’d also like to thank our awesome judge staff who ran a smooth event all day long!
With our tournament series growing every week we’ve added a feedback point of contact to our workflow in order to create the best events possible for you all in the future. If you there are any changes you’d like to see from our events email us at: feedback@facetofacegames.com.
The next stop on the series is also coming up this Saturday Sept. 14 when we’ll be traveling to beautiful Victoria, British Columbia for a Modern Open. Make sure to pre-register and we’ll see you there!
[Deck Title= First Place, Dredge – Brett Steele]
[Creatures]
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stinkweed Imp
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Life from the Loam
2 Golgari Thug
2 Conflagrate
4 Creeping Chill
4 Tome Scour
4 Shriekhorn
4 Cathartic Reunion
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Forgotten Cave
1 Gemstone mine
3 City of Brass
1 Copperline Gorge
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodcrypt
1 Stomping Ground
1 Stream Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Alpine Moon
1 Blast Zone
4 Thoughtseize
3 Lightning Axe
1 Nature’s Claim
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shenanigans
1 Darkblast
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Second Place, Azorius Spirits – Daniel Goresht]
[Creatures]
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Spell Queller
2 Selfless Spirit
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Rattlechains
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Giver of Runes
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Mutavault
1 Sunbaked Canyon
2 Waterlogged Grove
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
2 Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Force of Negation
2 Unified Will
3 Unsettled Mariner
3 Deputy of Detention
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Third Place, Four Colour Whirza – Erik Richards]
[Creatures]
3 Goblin Engineer
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Whir of Invention
2 Mind stone
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra’s Bauble
4 Arcum’s Atrolabe
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Chromatic Star
2 Pithing Needle
1 Galvanic Blast
3 Thopter Fountain
2 Sword of the Meek
1 Ichor Wellspring
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
6 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Inventor’s Fair
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Fatal Push
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Disenchant
1 Collective Brutality
1 Damping Sphere
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Blood Moon
1 Dead of winter
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Fourth Place, Gruul Eldrazi – Todd Duggan]
[Creatures]
2 Gruul spellbreaker
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
3 Eldrazi Obligator
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Ancient stirrings
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Domri, Anarch of Bolas
1 Abrade
1 Dismember
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 karplusan Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Abrade
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Glorybringer
1 Pithing Needle
1 Blast Zone
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Alpine Moon
2 Damping Sphere
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Fifth Place, Azorius Stoneblade – Frank Hui]
[Creatures]
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Spell Queller
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Opt
4 Spell Snare
4 Path to Exile
1 Mana Leak
2 Force of negation
2 Cryptic Command
1 Detention Sphere
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Flooded Strand
1 Prismatic Vista
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Field of Ruin
1 Blast Zone
2 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
3 Plains
3 Celestial Colonnade
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Rest in Peace
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Stony Silence
1 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Supreme Verdict
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Sixth Place, Dredge – Graham Hryniuk]
[Creatures]
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
4 Prized Amalgam
2 Golgari Thug
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Conflagrate
4 Tome Scour
4 Creeping Chill
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Life from the Loam
4 Shriekhorn
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Forgotten Cave
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
2 Stomping Ground
1 Gemstone Mine
2 City of Brass
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Collective Brutality
2 Thoughtseize
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shenanigans
2 Alpine Moon
3 Lightning Axe
2 Nature’s Claim
1 Blast Zone
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Seventh Place, Burn – Andrew Wright]
[Creatures]
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Helix
4 Searing Blaze
4 Rift Bolt
4 Skewer the Critics
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Sunbaked Canyon
2 sacred Foundry
3 Mountain
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Eighth Place, Grixis Control – Shaun Pringle]
[Creatures]
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Thought Scour
2 Spell Snare
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Fatal Push
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Logic Knot
1 Dreadbore
1 Terminate
1 Collective Brutality
2 Force of Negation
3 Kolaghan’s Command
3 Cryptic Command
1 Murderous Cut
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacombs
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Field of Ruin
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Thoughtseize
1 Damnation
1 Collective Brutality
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]