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 Modern to see who could take down the top prize.
Over the past few years we’ve watched the Modern format twist and turn from [Card]Aether Vial[/Card] to [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] to [Card]Mox Opal[/Card] and back again.
On Sunday, Roland Kiss showed us that right now [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] is the format staple you should be playing with by taking down our Modern Sunday Showdown.
Kiss piloted a fairly stock version of Grixis Shadow over Liam Kane’s Bant Spirits deck in the finals. Shadow has been slowly generating buzz over the past few months. There’s been a lot of talk about Izzet Phoenix, but just last weekend Shadow took down Grand Prix Tampa amidst a field filled with Izzet.
Liam is of course no stranger to the Top 8 here in our Showdown series and has been playing Spirits for the better part of the past six months. The kid has got serious game and showed that again here.
The rest of the Top 8 featured Andrew Gordon betraying all of his friends by putting [Card]Zacama, Primal Calamity[/Card] in his Amulet Titan deck, one copy of Whir Prison, two copies of Hardened Scales, Pete De Vries playing his trusty Merfolk deck and the coolest looking Mono-Black Prison deck I have ever seen in the hands of Trevor Cordingly.
With his win on Sunday, Roland cements his spot in the upcoming Ultimate Showdown, while the rest of our Top 8 have begun their march up the leader board to qualify. If you’re interested in your Ultimate Showdown point total, you can check it out here. If you’d like to inquire about your point total or report a discrepancy, please email Toronto@facetofacegames.com. This upcoming weekend at Face to Face Games Toronto we’ll be hosting a Legacy Showdown. Get your [Card]Brainstorm[/Card]s ready and make sure to pre-register!
[Deck Title= First Place, Grixis Death’s Shadow – Roland Kiss]
[Creatures]
4 Death’s Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Fatal Push
2 Dismember
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Temur Battle Rage
4 Thought Scour
4 Stubborn Denial
2 Serum Visions
3 Mishra’s Bauble
1 Faithless Looting
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Steam Vents
2 Blood Crypt
2 Watery Grave
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Ceremonious rejection
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Hurkyll’s Recall
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Kolaghan’s Command
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Second Place, Bant Spirits – Liam Kane]
[Creatures]
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Supreme Phantom
3 Selfless Spirit
2 Rattlechains
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol Captain
3 Deputy of Detention
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Flooded Strand
3 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
2 Botanical Sanctum
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Moorland Haunt
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Rest in Peace
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Stony Silence
2 Unified Will
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Dromoka’s Command
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Third Place, Hardened Scales – Stephen Perron]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Hangarback Walker
1 Spellskite
4 Steel Overseer
4 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Hardened Scales
2 Animation Module
4 Mox Opal
2 Throne of Geth
3 Welding Jar
4 Ancient Stirrings
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
5 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Llanowar Reborn
1 Pendelhaven
1 Phyrexia’s Core
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Spellskite
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
3 Damping Sphere
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Dismember
4 Nature’s Claim
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Fourth Place, Amulet Titan – Andrew Gordon]
[Creatures]
4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Primeval Titan
1 Zacama, Primal Calamity
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Summoner’s Pact
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Serum Visions
4 Amulet of Vigor
2 Coalition Relic
1 Pact of Negation
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Tolaria West
3 Botanical Sanctum
3 Forest
1 Slayer’s Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Khalni Garden
1 Boros Garrison
1 Vesuva
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Cavern of Souls
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Path to Exile
1 Tragic Arrogance
1 Negate
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Ghost Quarter
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Fifth Place, Merfolk – Peter De Vries]
[Creatures]
4 Benthic Biomancer
2 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of Waves
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Silvergill Adept
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Spreading Seas
4 Aether Vial
2 Spell Pierce
4 Wizard’s Retort
[/Spells]
[Lands]
16 Island
3 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dismember
3 Hurkyll’s Recall
2 Surgical Extraction
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Sixth Place, Whir Prison – Zachary Ryl]
[Creatures]
1 Spellskite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra’s Bauble
3 Welding Jar
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Pithing Needle
1 Damping Sphere
1 Witchbane Orb
2 Collective Brutality
1 Battle at the Bridge
4 Thopter Foundry
3 Sword of the Meek
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Whir of Invention
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Academy Ruins
2 Tolaria West
1 Inventor’s Fair
1 Underground River
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Watery Grave
3 Island
3 River of Tears
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Battle at the Bridge
1 Damping Sphere
3 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Spellskite
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Torpor Orb
4 Unmoored Ego
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Seventh Place, Mono-Black Prison – Trevor Cordingley]
[Spells]
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Collective Brutality
2 Cast Down
2 Lost Legacy
2 Hero’s Downfall
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Damnation
2 Mastermind’s Acquisition
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Dark Petition
1 Sorin Markov
4 Chalice of the Void
[/Spells]
[Lands]
18 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Torpor Orb
1 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Damnation
3 Leyline of the Void
1 The Eldest Reborn
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
[Deck Title= Eighth Place, Hardened Scales – Jeff Kam]
[Creatures]
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Hangarback Walker
1 Spellskite
4 Steel Overseer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Animation Module
4 Mox Opal
1 Throne of Geth
3 Welding Jar
4 Hardened Scales
4 Ancient Stirrings
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Pendelhaven
2 Llanowar Reborn
1 Phyrexia’s Core
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
7 Forest
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Warping Wail
3 Damping Sphere
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Dismember
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Ensnaring Bridge
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]