Last weekend, over 200 of the best Magic players from across western Canada met in Edmonton for the second Face2Face Tour Weekend of the summer. It was Canada’s second Regional Championship with eight invites to Pro Tour: The Lord of the Rings on the line, as well as a seat at the World Championship. After thirteen rounds of Pioneer play followed by the Top 8, Robert Anderson emerged victorious. Congratulations to Robert Anderson, western Canada’s Regional Champion!

Congratulations to Champion Robert Anderson!

It was a battle of the Roberts in the finals, as Anderson faced off against Robert Smith in the final match of the weekend for the title and the World Championship seat. Anderson piloted Izzet Phoenix to his win, while Smith made it to the finals with Azorius Spirits.

Robert Smith and Robert Anderson face off ahead of the finals.

Izzet Phoenix has been a staple of multiple formats since the introduction of Arclight Phoenix in Guilds of Ravnica, but the deck hasn’t seen as much of the limelight in the past few years. It’s fallen prey to effective graveyard hate and a slew of other Pioneer options. It made up only 5 percent of the field at Pro Tour Phyrexia, the last Pioneer Pro Tour, was less than 4 percent of the field in Athens the weekend before the Regional Championship in Edmonton, and was not among the dozen most popular decks in Edmonton. Anderson was undaunted, taking his offbeat choice all the way to the top.

THE TOP 8 & THE PRO TOUR

Congratulations to the Top 8 of the Face2Face Tour Regional Championship, who earned invites to Pro Tour: The Lord of the Rings. Six different Standard archetypes made the Top 8, including one copy of players’ favorite choice for the weekend, Rakdos Midrange, as well as Rakdos Sacrifice and the surprising Neoform Atraxa piloted by Kevin Anctil.

Last fall, during the first round of Pioneer Regional Championships, Mono-Green Devotion started off strong but steadily declined in popularity as the season continued and it failed to live up to expectations. It had a dynamite comeback in Edmonton, putting three copies into the Top 8.

No players from last cycle’s Top 8 made the Top 8 this time around, a first for Canada’s Regional Championships, which have seen multiple back-to-back qualifiers. Michael Van Vaals, who made the Top 8 of Canadian Regional Championships both last fall and this past spring, was just outside, finishing in ninth place. In an event that brings together the best of Canadian Magic, it’s an impressive run for Van Vaals.

Congratulations to Daniel Goresth, Kevin Anctil, Linden Koot, Dustyn Noguiera, Robert Smith, Travis Benedict, Robert Anderson, and Edgar Magalhaes!

See the decklists the Top 8 players used to secure their seat at the Pro Tour here.

THE METAGAME

While the metagame at the Regional Championship in Edmonton reflected the Pioneer metagame’s continued refusal to be defined by a single archetype. Rakdos Midrange was the most popular choice, but still only made up 12 percent of the field, and put only a single deck into the Top 8. Mono-Green Devotion, the fourth most popular pick with only 9 percent of the field, made up 38 percent of the Top 8.

Azorius Spirits saw the most growth from the weekend prior to the event. At the Legacy European Championship last weekend, only 4 percent of players were on the deck. Przemyslaw Olszewski, however, piloted it all the way to a second-place finish there in Athens, putting the deck on the map. As a result, it saw a jump in popularity, all the way up to 9 percent of the field in Edmonton.

It was a great weekend full of terrific and hard-fought matches in Edmonton, and we can’t wait to see how these players fare at the Pro Tour in Barcelona in just a few weeks! Congratulations again to Robert Anderson, and to Canada on another great Regional Championship.

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!