Player’s Championship 2025 Qualifier #2 Recap
Our second Qualifier of the year throws us back into the Modern format! Our first Modern event post-banning and unbanning shows us a format with a lot of the same decks, but also some new contenders. Our Top 8 happens to feature copies of every card that was unbanned in December! The deck that came out on top, however, didn’t include any cards from the recent unbans. That was none other than our Player’s Championship 2024 runner-up Tijler de Jong, piloting the same archetype he played in that tournament, Broodscale Combo. Tijler had to defeat the Underworld Breach Combo deck that has recently put up results in Modern thanks to Mox Opal, in the hands of combo deck expert, Chris “CBreeze” Brennan. These two decks might appear quite different in composition, with the Underworld Breach deck playing 3 colours compared to the Green and Colourless Basking Broodscale deck, but both decks have the ability to present a Combo kill on turn 3 while also being able to keep pace in a longer, grindy game thanks to the card Urza’s Saga. Let’s take a look at our winner’s weapon of choice along with the rest of our Top 8!
Tijler de Jong – Broodscale Combo (1st)
Chris “CBreeze” Brennan – 4-Colour Breach Combo (2nd)
Matt Bailey – Izzet Through the Breach (3rd-4th)
Kyle Lees – Golgari Yawgmoth (3rd-4th)
Nick Bourque – Azorius Affinity (5th-8th)
Leah Wiseman – Domain Rhinos (5th-8th)
Brad Perry – Rakdos Hollow One (5th-8th)
Travis Benedict – Tarmotwin (5th-8th)
As always, I checked in with our most recent champion to get some insight into Broodscale Combo and it’s position in the Modern format!
TB: With the recent changes to Modern, how did you update your Broodscale list compared to the version you played at the Player’s Championship in December with The One Ring?
TDJ: My swaps were straightforward, 2 Agatha’s Soul Cauldrons for the graveyard matchups, and some number of Spellskite to add to the Cauldron theme as well as protect my combo a bit more, as I lost to targeted removal a lot more than I should have.
TB: That makes sense! Did the metagame match your expectations? Are there any particular choices you made for an expected metagame?
TDJ: I pregamed way too hard for Breach Combo, 7 main deck pieces of hate and another 7 in the side. Worked well for the finals but didn’t have another matchup against it the entire day.
TB: Well, at least it helped out in the end! Do you have a favourite play or line you took in the tournament with the deck?
TDJ: In the semifinals I had a turn 3 combo against Matt Bailey which is the first time I pulled that off! Turn 1 Springleaf Drum, turn 2 Broodscale, tapping it to play the blade. Turn 3 go off! I didn’t realize I could go that fast because I was only playing 1 Springleaf Drum.
TB: Oh, that’s awesome! Do you think this deck is well positioned in the post-BnR Modern world?
TDJ: I think everything is pretty turbulent right now, but I feel like it’s a very resilient combo deck that can do really well in the right hands.
TB: Sweet, thank you for the answers, congrats and welcome back to the Player’s Championship!
There you have it! Tijler de Jong joins our first Qualifier winner, Chris Brackley into the Player’s Championship in December. Keep an eye out for our next Player’s Championship Qualifier on March 8th where we’ll be battling in Standard with the newest set Aetherdrift!
|
Written By: Travis Benedict Pro Tour Competitor, Cat Lover |
