Player’s Championship Qualifier/2025-26 Round 2 RCQ Recap
This past weekend we had 24 Standard players battling it out for 4 slots to the 1st Regional Championship of 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia as well as 1 coveted position in our end of year 16-player, invite only, 2nd Annual Player’s Championship in December! If the online metagame is to be believed, the format is a hellscape of Izzet monsters adding unfathomable amounts of mana, drowning all who dare oppose them in countless pings to the face. Well, Nova Scotia said the online metagame is a big fat liar! Vivi Ornitier? Never heard of ‘em. This Top 8 was dominated by blue mages, but not the kind you’d expect! It’s Esper city here at HFXGames, not a Forest or Mountain in sight. If this was a field of Esper though, Connor Cheney is the Espest, taking down everyone put in front of him with his take on Esper Pixie. Let’s take a look at Connor’s list and the rest of our Top 8 performers!
Connor Cheney – Esper Pixie (1st)
Zach Nauffts – Dimir Midrange (2nd)
Phil Samms – Azorius Control (3rd-4th)
Patrick DeMone – Dimir Midrange (3rd-4th)
Adam Joyce – Mono-Blue Tempo (5th-8th)
Kosta Alekseev – Dimir Midrange (5th-8th)
Mike Giles – Azorius Control (5th-8th)
Michael Cameron – Azorius Aggro (5th-8th)
As always, I got the chance to catch up with our most recent Qualifier Champion and beautiful hair haver, Connor Cheney!
T: Sweet, okay. So, having been a large proponent of Izzet Prowess previously, what made you decide to choose Esper Pixie over the obvious choice of Izzet Cauldron? Is it card availability or just a preference in the current metagame or something totally different?
C: I don't own Cauldrons or Vivis so that really solved that problem for me. I don't think it's the kind of deck I'd want to show up with even if I had it, most people would be taking inspiration from online lists and have more than enough answers for the deck.
I'd been playing Orzhov Pixie leading up to rotation, so I figured I'd play something similar to that.
Esper Pixie looked like a strong choice with the addition of tragic trajectory and Cosmogrand Zenith, so I figured I'd give it a go.
T: Nice, was there anything specific that made you decide to fully go Esper and not stick to BW?
C: Mainly Stormchaser’s Talent and Stock Up, they're both pretty insane cards that play well together. Plus, people were putting up results with the deck online, so it seemed like a reasonable choice.
T: Makes a lot of sense! So, having picked up a nice win with Pixie, what are your thoughts on Standard right now? Many people think we need drastic measures like an emergency ban on Vivi or Cauldron. What are your thoughts?
C: Standard seems to be back in a rock paper scissors meta that somewhat mirrors standard pre rotation/bans. Vivi, Dimir, and UW control.
I don't like the ban everything solution. People haven't been given enough time to cook but I do think the Vivi deck is doing things much stronger than the rest of the field when they're not properly checked.
T: Solid analysis, I agree with that especially with another set coming soon(ish).
So, on a more personal note; what led you to start playing competitive magic?
C: I've been on and off magic for a bit, but after the pandemic I started playing more seriously. I think the introduction of RCQs and the community around them here really helped get me more committed to playing competitive magic.
There are more bigger events now in the Spotlight Series so I'm excited to play in more larger scale comp REL events.
T: It's really good to see Comp Magic thriving again! Now that you have your RC Vancouver invite, do you think you'll be playing it? What does prep for these large-scale Comp REL events look like for you?
C: I'll absolutely be going to Vancouver, hopefully the long trip will be worth it!
For the bigger tournaments the prep is mainly playtesting and keeping up to date on what's going on in the format. A lot can change between each RC for each region so it's good to stay on your toes and be ready to make some kind of meta call.
We have a good group of players here, so I normally try to capitalize on play testing with them since I don't play online much.
May be worth firing up the Manatraders account again sometime haha.
T: Now that you're qualified for your 2nd Player's Championship in a row, what would winning the whole thing and becoming the reigning Champ mean to you?
C: It would be pretty cool; I mainly like the challenge that comes with the event since you're playing with the other best players in the area. Winning would be sweet, but I think just doing well in the event overall would just be a reaffirming sign of good progress for me.
T: Do you have any closing thoughts you’d like to give to the people?
C: Just a thank you to HFXGames for putting on these events and bringing people out to play some magic.
We had 24 which was a bit more than I thought would show up so it's always nice to see people getting out there and trying the events outside of weeklies (RCQs and PCQs).
There you have it! Connor Cheney is our latest Player’s Championship attendee, and we wish him and the rest of our Top 4 good luck in Vancouver! Congrats to all of our Top 8 and all the players who came out to game. If you’d like a shot at getting an invitation to the most prestigious event in the Maritimes, the HFXGames Player’s Championship, join us on August 30th for our Standard Store Championship! There will be 3 At-Large Leaderboard invites as well, so every event counts!
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Written By: Travis Benedict Pro Tour Competitor, Cat Lover |
