The first weekend of June, 95 of the best Magic players from across South America gathered in Santigao, Chile for the South America Magic Series, South America's Regional Championship. It was the culmination of months of Regional Championship Qualifiers played at local game stores across South America, and four invitations to the Pro Tour, one invitation to the World Championship at MagicCon Vegas, and the title of South America's Regional Champion were all on the line. After seven rounds of Standard followed by a Top 8 playoff, Pedro Perrini from Piracicaba, Brazil claimed the title and the trophy piloting Mono-Red.
Perrini defeated Carlos Torrico from Bolivia in the finals. Perrini's win means the longtime player will be heading back to the Pro Tour for the ninth time. His top finish so far came just last year, when he placed tenth at Pro Tour March of the Machine in Minneapolis. Perrini qualified for the Regional Championship by winning a last-chance qualifier on the Friday before the event.
Perrini chose Mono-Red Aggro for the event, a deck that has held a small but steady percentage of the Standard metagame in recent months. It proved enough to take down Torrico on Esper Midrange in the finals. While Torrico chose Esper Midrange because the deck has so many answers to threats, Mono-Red Aggro still had too many threats to manage.
Congratulations to the Top 8
At the end of seven Swiss rounds of Standard, eight players advanced to the Top 8. In addition to Perrini and Torrico, the Top 8 included Matias Leveratto, winner of Mythic Championship III in 2019. The decks in the Top 8 reflected the wide net that players are casting in Standard, and included everything from different flavors of Aggro and Midrange to Azorius Control.
After recent changes to the RC system, this Regional Championship awarded four invites to the Pro Tour, up from the original two. Congratulations to the Top 4 at the South America Magic Series: Pedro Perrini, Carlos Torrico, Pedro Gonzalez, and Alekzander Lordan. You can see their decklists below.
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.
Longtime Standard powerhouse Esper Midrange was only the third most popular deck in Santiago, with both Azorius Control and Domain Ramp claiming a larger share of the metagame. It was a strong weekend for aggro, with both Bant Toxic and Mono-Red Aggro putting decks in the Top 8 and slowly climbing the metagame ladder.
Congratulations again to this weekend's players on a great tournament of terrific and hard-fought matches and excellent competition. Catch the next South America Magic Series 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!