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RPTQ Weekend Recap

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 hosted both a Last Chance Qualifier Standard Showdown and the Ravnica Allegiance Standard Regional Pro Tour Qualifier.

It all began Saturday, where players battled as a part of our weekly 1k Showdown series, but this time with an invite to Sunday’s RPTQ on the line in addition to $1000 in prizes. In jaw-dropping fashion, Lucas Worrell made it a three-peat. He was able to win the Last Chance Qualifier with Mono-Red Aggro in Standard which not only qualified him for Sunday, but also happened to be his third consecutive Showdown win. This kid is on an absolute heater.

Your LCQ champ, Lucas Worrell.

Red was the consensus best aggressive deck when this Standard format started. It was then recently knocked off by the prominence of [Card]Wildgrowth Walker[/Card] and company in the Sultai Midrange shell. That said, Lucas showed us on Saturday that Red can come back and win any tournament if you’re not ready.

[Deck Title= First Place, Standard LCQ,  Mono-Red Aggro – Lucas Worrell]
[Creatures]
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Ghitu Lavarunner
4 Viashino Pyromancer
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Shock
1 Lava Coil
4 Lightning Strike
4 Light up the stage
3 Risk Factor
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Wizard’s Lightning
[/Spells]
[Lands]
20 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 electrostatic field
3 lava coil
2 banefire
2 diamond mare
1 act of treason
2 fiery cannonade
2 experimental frenzy
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Lucas’ victory lead us to Sunday, the big dance, where four competitors would earn their ticket to the Mythic Championship in London.

Your Standard RPTQ Top 8.

On behalf of Face to Face Games, congratulations to Devin Giles, Jordyn Moore, Nolan Mcdonald and Carter Shieck for reaching the Top 4 on Sunday and qualifying for the Mythic Championship in London.

When the dust settled on RPTQ weekend, there was one copy of Sultai Midrange, one copy of Izzet Drakes and two copies of Mono-Blue Tempo left standing.

Sultai was the consensus best deck headed into the event. It utilizes the extremely powerful [Card]Hydroid Krasis[/Card] to add some nice top-end to last season’s Golgari decks and has the bread and butter Explore package that we’ve come to love in Standard.

Mono-Blue is a little different. It’s not your conventional Standard powerhouse archetype. This deck looks to juke and jive in order to keep its opponent off balance and sort of creeps its way to the finish line with small attacks. To me, the existence of this archetype is pretty amazing. We’ve had years of midrange slog fests in Standard and it’s cool to see such a unique deck making headway.

Drakes is another interesting late addition to this new metagame. It’s added [Card]Pteramander[/Card] as an additional early threat, and has widely started to be regarded as a way to thwart Sultai.

Filling out the rest of our Top 8 was two more copies of Sultai, one copy of Jeskai Control, and Pro Tour champion Gab Tsang playing Azorius Aggro.

Congratulations once again to everyone who made a deep run on Sunday!

This upcoming weekend we are taking a break from the Showdown Series in favour of Grand Prix Toronto, but make sure to come by the booth and say hi! The Sunday Showdown series will continue on Feb. 17, when we’ll be hosting a Modern Showdown. Good luck at the GP and don’t forget to pre-register for the 17th.

[Deck Title= Top 4, Sultai Midrange – Nolan Mcdonald]
[Creatures]
2 Carnage Tyrant
3 Hydroid Krasis
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
2 Midnight Reaper
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Seekers’ Squire
4 Wildgrowth Walker
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Vivien Reid
2 Vraska’s Contempt
2 Cast Down
3 Find // Finality
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Breeding Pool
1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Memorial to Folly
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
4 Woodland Cemetary
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Biogenic Ooze
1 Crushing Canopy
2 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Disdainful Stroke
4 Duress
2 Negate
2 The Eldest Reborn
1 Vraska’s Contempt
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 4, Mono-Blue Tempo – Devin Giles]
[Creatures]
2 Chart a Course
1 Benthic Biomancer
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Pteramander
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Tempest Djinn
1 Warkite Marauder
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Curious Obsession
2 Essence Capture
1 Quench
2 Spell Pierce
4 Wizard’s Retort
4 Dive Down
4 Opt
[/Spells]
[Lands]
19 Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Sleep
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Exclusion Mage
4 Diamond Mare
1 Essence Capture
1 Blink of an Eye
2 Negate
3 Entrancing Melody
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 4, Mono-Blue Tempo – Carter Shieck]
[Creatures]
4 Pteramander
4 Siren Stormtamer
2 Surge Mare
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Tempest Djinn
1 Sphinx of Foresight
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Essence Capture
1 Chart a Course
4 Wizard’s Retort
4 Opt
4 Curious Obsession
2 Spell Pierce
4 Dive Down
[/Spells]
[Lands]
20 Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Negate
1 Essence Capture
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Selective Snare
2 Entrancing Melody
2 Deep Freeze
2 Warkite Marauder
1 Diamond Mare
2 Exclusion Mage
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 4, Izzet Drakes – Jordyn Moore]
[Creatures]
4 Pteramander
4 Enigma Drake
4 Crackling Drake
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Opt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Dive Down
4 Shock
4 Lava Coil
4 Discovery // Dispersal
4 Chart a Course
1 Beacon Bolt
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Blood Crypt
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Mountain
8 Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Entrancing Melody
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Star of Extinction
2 Treasure Map
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Shivan Fire
2 Fiery Cannonade
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 8, Sultai Midrange – Michael Van Vaals]
[Creatures]
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
3 Wildgrowth Walker
1 Incubation Druid
4 Jadelight Ranger
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Hostage Taker
1 Carnage Tyrant
3 Hydroid Krasis
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Vivien Reid
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Vraska, Golgari Queen
1 Cast Down
2 Assassin’s Trophy
2 Vraska’s Contempt
3 Find / Finality
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Forest
1 Memorial to Folly
4 Breeding Pool
4 Watery Grave
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Drowned Catacomb
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Carnage Tyrant
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Thief of Sanity
2 Thought Erasure
1 Wildgrowth Walker
1 Assassin’s Trophy
1 Cast Down
1 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Thrashing Brontodon
1 Plaguecrafter
1 Duress
1 Cry of the Carnarium
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 8, Azorius Aggro – Gab Tsang]
[Creatures]
3 Adanto Vanguard
1 Tithe Taker
4 Benalish Marshall
2 Unbreakable Formation
2 Hunted Witness
4 Skymarcher Aspirant
4 Snubhorn Sentry
4 Venerated Loxodon
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Conclave Tribunal
4 History of Benalia
4 Legion’s Landing
[/Spells]
[Lands]
12 Plains
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Tocatli Honor Guard
3 Baffling End
3 Negate
1 Spell Pierce
3 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Island
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 8, Jeskai Control – Morgan Kain]
[Creatures]
2 Crackling Drake
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Deafening Clarion
2 Settle the Wreckage
1 Cleansing Nova
3 Expansion // Explosion
3 Chemister’s Insight
2 Revitalize
4 Absorb
1 Negate
1 Syncopate
2 Justice Strike
1 Seal Away
1 Lava Coil
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Island
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Glacial Fortress
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Negate
1 Mass Manipulation
2 Ixalan’s Binding
1 Invoke the Divine
2 Revitalize
2 Lyra, Dawnbringer
3 Legion Warboss
1 Murmuring Mystic
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Top 8, Sultai Midrange – Jason Critch]
[Creatures]
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Incubation Druid
4 Jadelight Ranger
3 Hostage Taker
3 Merfolk Branchwalker
2 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
4 Hydroid Krasis
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Cast Down
2 Find // Finality
2 Hadana’s Climb
2 Vivien Reid
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Forest
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Watery Grave
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Assassin’s Trophy
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Find // Finality
1 Cast Down
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Negate
1 Moment of Craving
2 Duress
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

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