The first weekend of May, over 140 of the best Magic players from across Brazil gathered in São Paulo for the City Class Games Showdown, Brazil's Regional Championship. It was the culmination of months of qualifying events, and six invitations to the Pro Tour, one invitation to the World Championship at MagicCon Vegas, and the title of Brazil's Regional Champion were all on the line. After eight rounds of Standard followed by a Top 8 playoff, Jonathan Lobo Melamed from Brasilia claimed the title and the trophy piloting Four-Color Legends.
Melamed defeated Renan Corrêa on Esper Midrange in the finals. This won't be Melamed's first trip to the Pro Tour – he has a Pro Tour Top 16, three Grand Prix Top 8s, and two Nationals Top 8s already to his name, to which he can now add the title of Regional Champion.
Melamed chose Four-Color Legends, played by team Sanctum of All to great results at Pro Tour Thunder Junction, for the weekend. "I adopted the strategy to make the enemy confused by being confused at the same time," Melamed said of his choice. But he must have been less confused than his opponents, because it led him to the trophy, a spot at the Pro Tour, and an invite to the World Championship!
Congratulations to the Top 8
At the end of eight Swiss rounds of Standard, eight players advanced to the Top 8. They included William Bossaneli Araujo, who has made the Top 8 of all three Regional Championships this season, and Douglas Rosa, who took second at the RC last November, which was, incidentally, the same one that Araujo won.
The decks in the Top 8 reflected the wide net that players are casting in Standard, with no one deck significantly ahead of any others. Araujo's Mono-Red Aggro stood out from the field, and it was joined in the Top 8 by decks that the recent Pro Tour made familiar, like Temur Analyst, Boros Convoke, and Esper Midrange.
After recent changes to the RC system, this Regional Championship awarded six invites to the Pro Tour, up from the original four. You can see the decklists of the six Pro Tour qualifying players here.
The Biggest Standard Yet
With the new rotation schedule in effect, players sniffing out what's best in Standard currently have access to the format's biggest card pool in history. With every Standard legal set from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, released in September of 2021, through the brand new Outlaws of Thunder Junction in play, the recent Pro Tour and the following Regional Championships have shown that the possibilities are endless.
While longtime Standard powerhouse Esper Midrange was the top pick in São Paulo last weekend, it barely edged out Boros Convoke, which has gained traction in recent months, and Domain Ramp, another deck that has proven its staying power in a shifting format. And while Melamed took down the tournament with Four-Color Legends, also a strong performer at the PT, very few players at Brazil's RC tried the deck.
Congratulations again to this weekend's players on a great tournament of terrific and hard-fought matches and excellent competition. Catch the next City Class Games Showdown during the next Regional Championship cycle!
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!