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 Ixalan Limited to mark the release of the set in paper.
If there’s anything our Top 8 competitors proved, it’s that even in a tribal set you can mix and match your Pirates with your Merfolk and still have some success. Look no further than Duncan McGregor’s tournament winning Naya draft deck in which he combined Pirate synergy with Dinosaurs to beat down and take home the top prize. This format has been a big puzzle for me, the packs tend to be low on playables and finding your lane is key because if you get hooked up in a tribe your deck can be absurd.
The Top 8 of this event was a mix of both schools, there were a few midrangey decks that looked to play the best cards in their colour pair and some very all-in tribal decks. Jeff Swaluk, maybe the person who likes tribes in Magic more than anyone in the city, went all-in on Merfolk and had what looked to be a really strong deck. However, he probably mulled to five fifteen times in his Top 8 match.
The most interesting thing to me about the elimination decklists were the two B/R decks and the U/W Skies deck that finished second. These players really proved to me that you can play traditionally powerful draft archetypes in this very synergistic format and still have success.
McGregor has really been doing well in our Limited Showdowns lately and is certainly someone you should be looking out for at the top tables in 40-card play.
With his win this weekend Duncan qualifies himself for the next Face to Face Games Ultimate Showdown and the rest of the Top 8 have started their march toward the top of the Showdown leaderboard. Join us this weekend to try to cement your spot on the leaderboard at our Standard Showdown. Come out and make the best of one of the last competitive Standard events before Nationals and see if that Pirate brew can really make it in the metagame.
First Place, Duncan McGregor, Naya
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Bishop’s Soldier
1 Brazen Buccaneers
2 Duskborne Skymarcher
1 Fathom Fleet Firebrand
1 Paladin of the Bloodstained
1 Sky Terror
2 Spike-Tailed Ceratops
1 Storm Fleet Arsonist
1 Sun-Crowned Hunters
1 Sunrise Seeker
1 Territorial Hammerskull
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Huatli, Warrior Poet
1 Rallying Roar
1 Sure Strike
1 Unfriendly Fire
1 Vampires Zeal
1 Firecannon Blast
1 Queens Commission
1 Pious Interdiction
1 Sunbirds Invocation
1 Dusk Legion Dreadnought
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Forest
7 Mountain
7 Plains
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Second Place, Shaun Cameron, U/W
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Imperial Aerosaur
1 Paladin of the Bloodstained
2 Raptor Companion
2 Shaper Apprentice
1 Shining Aerosaur
2 Siren Lookout
1 Siren Stormtamer
1 Skyblade of the Legion
1 Watertrap Weaver
1 Wind Strider
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Axis of Mortality
1 Ixalans Binding
1 One With the Wind
3 Pious Interdiction
1 Cancel
1 Perilous Voyage
1 Vampires Zeal
1 Dusk Legion Dreadnought
[/Spells]
[Lands]
8 Island
9 Plains
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Third Place, Jacob Tsafatinos, B/R
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Charging Monstrosaur
4 Deadeye Tormentor
1 Desperate Castaways
2 Dire Fleet Hoarder
2 Dire Fleet Interloper
1 Fathom Fleet Captain
2 Fathom Fleet Cutthroat
2 Headstrong Brute
1 Seekers Squire
1 Storm Fleet Pyromancer
1 Sun-Crowned Hunters
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Dinosaur Stampede
1 Vanquish the Weak
1 Raiders Wake
1 Sunbirds Invocation
1 March of the Drowned
1 Pirates Cutlass
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Dragonskull Summit
5 Mountain
10 Swamp
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Fourth Place, Anton Gillis-Adelman, B/R
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Deadeye Tormentor
1 Deathless Ancient
2 Dire Fleet Captain
2 Dire Fleet Interloper
1 Fathom Fleet Captain
1 Headstrong Brute
1 Lurking Chupacabra
1 Queens Agent
1 Sanctum Seeker
1 Seekers Squire
2 Skittering Heartstopper
1 Skymarch Bloodletter
1 Storm Fleet Arsonist
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Contract Killing
1 Firecannon Blast
1 Hijack
1 Lightning Strike
1 Skulduggery
1 Prying Blade
[/Spells]
[Lands]
8 Mountain
9 Swamp
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Fifth Place, Filipe Luis, Naya
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Drover of the Mighty
1 Frenzied Raptor
1 Lightning-Rig Crew
2 Looming Altisaur
1 Nest Robber
1 Priest of the Wakening Sun
2 Ravenous Daggertooth
1 Regisaur Alpha
1 Shining Aerosaur
1 Steadfast Armasaur
1 Sun-Crowned Hunters
1 Territorial Hammerskull
2 Thrash of Raptors
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Ixalans Binding
1 New Horizons
1 Trove of Temptation
1 Unfriendly Fire
1 Legions Judgment
1 Treasure Map
1 Dusk Legion Dreadnought
[/Spells]
[Lands]
5 Forest
6 Mountain
6 Plains
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Sixth Place, Jeff Swaluk, U/G
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Daring Saboteur
1 Jade Guardian
2 Merfolk Branchwalker
1 River Sneak
3 Shaper Apprentice
1 Shapers of Nature
2 Siren Stormtamer
2 Storm Sculptor
1 Tempest Caller
1 Watertrap Weaver
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Chart a Course
1 Crash the Ramparts
1 Depths of Desire
1 Perilous Voyage
2 River Heralds Boon
1 Run Aground
2 Sirens Ruse
[/Spells]
[Lands]
6 Forest
10 Island
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Seventh Place, Clinton Chatoor, Naya
[Deck]
[Creatures]
2 Atzocan Archer
1 Belligerent Brontodon
2 Bonded Horncrest
1 Brazen Buccaneers
1 Colossal Dreadmaw
1 Deeproot Warrior
2 Grazing Whiptail
2 Ixallis Diviner
1 Raging Swordtooth
1 Ravenous Daggertooth
2 Tishanas Wayfinder
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Commune with Dinosaurs
1 Firecannon Blast
1 Savage Stomp
1 Dinosaur Stampede
2 Verdant Rebirth
2 New Horizons
[/Spells]
[Lands]
9 Forest
6 Mountain
1 Plains
[/Lands]
[/Deck]
Eighth Place, Steve Williams, G/R
[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Blossom Dryad
1 Charging Monstrosaur
1 Colossal Dreadmaw
1 Fathom Fleet Firebrand
1 Frenzied Raptor
2 Ixallis Diviner
2 Jungle Delver
1 Nest Robber
1 Otepec Huntmaster
1 Raging Swordtooth
1 Ravenous Daggertooth
1 Tilonallis Knight
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Bright Reprisal
1 Dual Shot
1 Fiery Cannonade
1 Lightning Strike
1 Firecannon Blast
1 Legions Judgment
1 Repeating Barrage
1 Hierophants Chalice
2 Prying Blade
[/Spells]
[Lands]
5 Forest
7 Mountain
1 Rootbound Crag
3 Unknown Shores
[/Lands]
[/Deck]