It was a huge weekend for Canadian Magic when 322 players gathered in Toronto last weekend to compete in the Face2Face Tour Championship. The anticipated event was also one of three Regional Championships over the Nov. 24-25 weekend and came with Pro Tour invites and a seat at the World Championship on the line.

There were four seats available at Pro Tour Murders at Karlov Manor coming at MagicCon: Chicago in early 2024. The format of choice, Pioneer, would determine who would earn those seats – and to do that, players had to grapple with the format-warping additions from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. When the dust settled on 13 rounds of Pioneer, it was a Pioneer classic that stood out: Arclight Phoenix decks made up five up of the Top 8 slots, several with key The Lost Caverns of Ixalan additions.

The Top 8 that followed was stacked with talent, and as players navigated Phoenix mirrors throughout an intense Top 8, it was a new innovation that took down the title: Ha Pham with Grixis Phoenix, sporting Bitter Triumph.

Congratulations to Regional Champion Ha Pham, who won the title with Grixis Phoenix!

The Montreal native entered the Regional Championship with some Pro Tour experience to his name, and a new twist on a classic archetype that was clearly well-positioned on the weekend; Arclight Phoenix decks were tied for the most popular choice among competitors. Things didn't start perfect for Pham – he dropped his second round on Day One – but he rallied to win out from there before returning on Sunday and converting it into a Top 8 appearance.

In the finals, Pham defeated Ryan Primdahl, who was also running an Arclight Phoenix list, albeit the more traditional Izzet build.

Ha Pham faced off against Ryan Primdahl's Izzet Phoenix in a pseudo-mirror for the title of Regional Champion and a spot at the Magic World Championship.

The win not only will see Pham head back to the Pro Tour with some hardware to his name, but the 39-year-old's clutch three-game victory in the finals was an impressive way to earn a spot at next year's World Championship.

The Top 4 Qualify for the Pro Tour

When Pham and Primdahl squared off for the trophy and the qualification in the finals, they had both already clinched what was the ultimate goal for many coming into the event: to earn a spot on the Pro Tour. A stacked Top 8 field that was headlined by five Arclight Phoenix decks also saw a pair of new Geoform combo decks and one Rakdos Midrange advance to the elimination rounds.

Once there, winning a quarterfinals match meant an invitation to Pro Tour Murders at Karlov Manor, and players responded in kind with some high-level Magic. And while Geological Appraiser certainly made its mark in this tournament as well as other Regional Championships, it was four Arclight Phoenix decks that earned the coveted spots on this day.

Joining Pham and and Primdahl at the Pro Tour are Max Dore and Simon Carisse, who finished in the Top 4!

You can see the decklists they used to secure their seats at the Pro Tour below:

The Metagame

Pioneer saw a fair amount of deviation across the trio of Regional Championships, and in Canada it was a two-deck show: Rakdos Midrange and Izzet Phoenix both led the way with 36 players each (11% of the field).

Between the two, it was Phoenix that saw more success. It posted a higher winrate and sent five players through to the Top 8, including all four Pro Tour qualifiers.

Boros Convoke was the next most-popular archetype, but the Venerated Loxodons were closely followed by a pack of Trumpeting Carnosaur. The Geological Appraiser combo deck (or "Geoform") was the breakout deck of the weekend. It placed Jean-Philippe Goyet and Larry Bouzane into the Top 8, though neither player was able to get through the recurring army of birds in the quarterfinals.

Find out more about how you can qualify for the Regional Championship and the Pro Tour by visiting here and finding out more from your regional organizer!