September Player’s Championship Qualifier Recap

September Player’s Championship Qualifier Recap 

This past weekend we had 20 players battle it out for an invitation to our end of year Player’s Championship tournament. This weekend also happened to be the Modern Pro Tour, which had a slightly different landscape than our local scene. The Pro Tour consisted of mostly combo decks, whether that’s the combination of Goryo’s Vengeance and Atraxa, Grand Unifier, or the combination of activating Goblin Charbelcher without any real lands in your deck. Can it be called a combo deck if the card wins the game by itself? This will remain a question for philosophers to debate for millennia, but that’s a problem for the Pro Tour. Locally however, it seems our Top 8 has run RAMP-ant with UrzaTron! Maybe to some, adding Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Power Plant, and Urza’s Tower could be considered a combo. None of these wielders of Tron or anyone else in our Top 8 could stop Doug Maguire with his wild Phoenix Dredge deck! Taking elements of Modern’s past, Doug took the old Dredge shell and added the hard-hitting Arclight Phoenix with spells you can cast from the graveyard like Lava Dart, to create a hyper-aggressive version of the deck. Let’s take a look at Doug’s masterpiece as well as the rest of our Top 8 competitor’s decks! 

Doug Maguire – Jund Phoenix Dredge (1st)

Adam Joyce – Gruul Eldrazi (2nd) 

Michael Giles – Mono-Blue Tron (3rd-4th)

Connor Cheney – Esper Goryo’s Vengeance (3rd-4th)

Matthew Bailey – Eldrazi Tron (5th-8th) 

Justin Hockney – Izzet Prowess (5th-8th)  

Brad Perry – Mono-Green Tron 

Cody Leblanc – Esper Blink (5th-8th) 

You already know I absolutely had to get a hold of Doug to figure out how and why he landed on this peculiar deck instead of one of the many established decks in the format.  
 
T: Dredge seems like a weird choice in the current metagame, I haven’t seen this deck put up any results in forever, so what made you choose it for this weekend? 

D: Dredge is a deck that is great for a weekend and one weekend only. Every city has that “Dredge” person that plays Dredge every event, so everyone plays 8-10 pieces of graveyard hate in their sideboard. There does not seem to be that person in the city, so during the week I looked in the mirror, and I asked myself: “Could I be the Dredge person?” And for one weekend, I was that person.   

T: Your list is quite different than a normal Dredge deck. You’ve added Arclight Phoenix and some spells to go along with it, are these differences what led you to pick this deck? 

D: That is why I picked that list. Why wait for Prized Amalgam and Bloodghasts to come back when you can just win the game with birds?  

T: Very good point! So, what was the MVP in your list for you on Saturday? 

D: The best cards were Lava Dart and Void Mirror. Lava Darts did so much damage and helped to kill Solitudes. We are a Tron/Eldrazi city and some of the versions have difficulties getting Void Mirror off the table if resolved.  

T: I know you said this deck is a one weekend kind of deal, but with our next Modern event coming up soon on October 11th, do you think this is a deck you could run back?  

D: You can’t be that person so soon. In the future maybe, but I also prefer the one and done and see whatever catches my eye the night before.  

T: One last question for you, Doug! How do you think the results of the Modern Pro Tour might change the local metagame, if at all? 

D: I don’t feel the results will have much impact at all. Modern is such an expensive format that everyone can’t just switch to a new deck every event, especially when prices spike due to Pro Tour results. No team busted the format, and you have to have strong limited results to make the Top 8. Play the deck you love, you learn what is important and will win more with the confidence that reputation gives you. Be the Belcher person, be the Tron person, set the world on fire as the Burn player, just know when it is your weekend to be the Dredge person. 

And thank you to HFXGames for putting on an incredible tournament series for the community. After playing in the event last year, all I wanted was the opportunity to compete again and I’m thrilled to take part again. 

Wise words from our latest Player’s Championship Qualifier Winner, and now 2-time Player’s Championship Competitor Doug Maguire! Congrats Doug and the rest of our Top 8 on their performance! Do you want to qualify for the highest value tournament on the East Coast? There are still 3 Qualifier events left, the next one being Modern on October 11th! Even if you don’t get 1st place, there are 4 At-Large Leaderboard invitation slots, so come play, earn points and maybe you’ll get your invite! 

Written By: Travis Benedict Pro Tour Competitor, Cat Lover