Round 8 Regional Championship Qualifier Tournament Recap/Report
This past weekend we had 28 players for our Modern Round 8 F2F RCQ. In a format recently taken over by the Nadu Combo deck, there was a surprisingly large number of diverse decks in the room. In fact, only 1 player elected to play public enemy number one. This doesn’t come as too much of a surprise as many people are bracing for the extremely likely banning on August 26th. At the end of the day it was a Mono-Black Necrodominance deck that emerged victorious, piloted by none other than yours truly! Let’s look at what cards I played and the rest of our Top 8 deck lists.
Travis Benedict – Mono-Black Necro (1st)
Chris Brennan – Boros Energy (2nd)
Frank LeBlanc – Eldrazi Tron (3rd-4th)
Norm Labelle – Ruby Storm (3rd-4th)
Brad Perry – Eldrazi Tron (5th-8th)
Adam Joyce – Gruul Through the Breach (5th-8th)
Eric Perry – 4-Colour Omnath (5th-8th)
Michael Giles – Mono-Blue Tron (5th-8th)
This is where I would usually ask our winner some questions on their deck selection or thoughts on the format, so instead I’ve included a tournament report! Here’s how my matches went on the day.
Round 1 – Boros Energy: 2-1
Game 1 is a grind fest that takes about half an hour to finish, leaving us with little time for games 2 and 3. I managed to get Necrodominance and Sheoldred in play, but my opponent removed my Sheoldred and dwindled my life total away.
Games 2 and 3 I was able to enact my game plan while clearing my opponents important threats, Soul Spiking my way to a Round 1 win.
Round 2 – Eldrazi Tron: 2-0
Game 1 my opponent plays The Stone Brain and I fear for my life. He takes all the Sheoldreds out of my deck so gaining enough life to win is going to be tough. The game goes on and I get Necrodominance going, slowly finding Soul Spikes 1 at a time. I have to March a resolved Ugin, and later on have to cast my spells through a Trinisphere. Luckily, with some help from my opponent’s Rings, I find enough Soul Spikes to deal lethal damage.
Game 2 I’m able to Break the Ice an Ugin’s Labyrinth early, and apply pressure with Dauthi Voidwalker. The rest of my Break the Ice’s get Stone Brained, but I’m able to end the game from there with my creatures.
Round 3 – Eldrazi Tron: 2-1
Game 1 I keep a 1 land hand with Grief Scam. I take my opponent off all of their resources, and eventually find my second land to play Sorin, extort a Soul Spike and attack for the win.
Game 2 my opponent is able to play a Thought-Knot Seer ahead of curve and keep me off of enough cards to get going. Eventually a World Breaker joins the Thought-Knot Seer and beats me up.
Game 3 I have the Grief scam again and get to blow up an Ugin’s Labyrinth on turn 2 with Break the Ice. The game goes on for a while longer and my board is mostly clear other than Sorin, but I’m able to extort a spell and put my opponent to 4. Then I draw some cards from my trusty Necro and barely find a Soul Spike to end the game.
Round 4 – 4-Colour Omnath: 2-1
Game 1 is a weird game that goes long while neither of us can really get off the ground. My opponent’s mana is a little awkward with an Edurance in hand that they can’t cast and a Phlage they can’t bring back. I eventually find a Necrodominance and can find the win from there.
Game 2 my opponent does a good job controlling my board. I get them to 4 and I’m praying for a Soul Spike that comes a turn too late as they find Omnath and a fetch land to get out of range and start attacking me to death.
Game 3 is a close game. My opponent is stuck on 3 mana and I thoughtseize them seeing 3 Phlage’s and a Bring to Light. I take a Phlage and draw down enough that I could survive one bolt from Phlage, but I find Surgical so I can make sure that never happens. I find enough gas to finish the game.
Round 5 – Boros Energy: ID
Good friend Chris Brennan and I draw as the only 4-0’s locking up 1st and 2nd seed going into the Top 8, an absolute no brainer getting to be on the play going in.
Quarterfinals – Mono-Blue Tron: 2-0
I can’t quite remember my Game 1 hand but I know I had a lot of hand disruption, possibly a Grief Scam start. My opponent’s hand is land-light and the tempo of the game works out in my favor.
Game 2 I have pretty much everything I could ever need. I play out multiple threats with a lot of hand disruption once again. I draw multiple Necrodominance to fight through counter magic, I make sure I don’t get One Ringed, and chip away at my opponent’s life total. I Malakir Rebirth my Orcish Bowmaster after being targeted with a Kozilek’s Command’s exile ability and sacrifice it with Phyrexian Tower, saving it and getting multiple triggers.
Semifinals – Storm: 2-0
Game 1 I’m absolutely positive I’m going to die. I don’t know how I didn’t, maybe the Gods of Combo were watching over me, but turns go by and my opponent’s graveyard gets larger. I finally get Necro and Sheoldred together and draw most of my deck to find the Soul Spikes to win.
Game 2 I’m able to Thoughtseize my opponent’s artifact removal for my Damping Sphere and they miss their second land. I resolve pressure and another Sphere and eventually take the game.
Finals – Boros Energy: 2-1
Chris Brennan and I meet again and can now play out our match! I ended up being 1st seed, so I get to be on the play against 2nd seed which is crucial in this matchup. Energy can pressure Necro’s life total, making it difficult to get going. Game 1 I’m able to control the board enough for my Necro to draw me lots of cards and eventually take the game.
Game 2 I get swarmed by Amped Raptor’s and can’t quite keep up. I’m praying for a Plague Engineer that never comes. Guide of Souls enters play, and I die to the energy beaters.
Game 3 is a little unfortunate. I thoughtseize a Celestial Purge and my opponent mostly floods out pretty hard, so there wasn’t quite enough pressure to stop me from abusing my Necrodominance.
Necrodominance I believe will remain a powerful strategy even after losing the scam package with the Grief ban. It is very likely that Rings will be required in the deck as this particular version leaned more heavily on the creatures and the Grief Scam plan. If you like Midrange, drawing cards, and lots of decisions, this deck could be the deck for you!
Congratulations to our Top 4 on qualifying for the Regional Championship in Ottawa in 2025! This event was not one of our monthly Player’s Championship Qualifiers but there will be one coming up shortly! It’s time to get excited for Standard, as our next Qualifier will be the Bloomburrow Standard Store Champs on September 7th! Play for some sweet Promos, Leaderboard Points, and an Invitation to our end of year Player’s Championship!
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Written By: Travis Benedict Pro Tour Competitor, Cat Lover |
