The Regional Championship cycle is in full swing, and the Standard season came to Portland, Oregon, for the first Regional Championship of the season in the United States. It was an absolutely packed field, with almost 900 players competing for the title, trophy, and Pro Tour and World Championship invitations.

When the dust settled after a weekend of Constructed Magic, it was Tristan Wylde-LaRue's Four-Color Nature's Rhythm deck that won the day. The Santa Cruz native was at the head of the class of Standard deck builders this weekend, leading the way on metagame developments that would carry through to Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed in Richmond the following week, an event that many of the Regional Championship competitors were headed to next. In Portland, Wylde-LaRue and everyone else tried to secure invitations to Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven.

Congrats to Tristan Wylde-LaRue, who won the US Regional Championship with Four-Color Rhythm.

Wylde-LaRue Cuts Through the Fresh Top 8

Wylde-LaRue is a Magic veteran with two previous Pro Tour Top 16 finishes. But his spot in the Portland Regional Championship came not from the Pro Tour but from a qualifier at the first US Regional Championship in Houston a month prior. That tournament only came after he failed to win a last-minute qualifier into the Houston event, and so Wylde-LaRue came to Portland with a bit of a chip on his shoulder—and a deck with something to prove.

The Top 8 was notable in itself, as it was every single member's first Regional Top Finish with the exception of Devon Straub, who made it his second. It was a great opportunity to meet a rising group of American Magic players, and these players will now head to what for most will also be their first Pro Tour later this year.

• Michael Byrd (Bant Airbending)
• Nico Ferrigno (Sultai Reanimator)
• Aedan Simons-Rudolph (Boros Dragons)
• Evan Vetter (Jeskai Control)
• Mason Buonadonna (Simic Ouroboroid)
• Tristan Wylde-LaRue (Four-Color Rhythm)
• Pierre Smith (Bant Airbending)
• Devon Straub (Simic Ouroboroid)

Wylde-LaRue's opponent in the finals was Mason Buonadonna, who is on a major hot streak of his own after breaking through in a big way over the last year. He earned his first Top Finish last year at Pro Tour Edge of Eternities and has been both succeeding and helping teammates level up since then. He said before the tournament he was going to keep playing in events until he didn't do well at one—then he at one point won ten straight matches on his way to the Top 8 with the popular Simic Ouroboroid, which was the second most popular deck of the weekend to Izzet Lessons but heavily outperformed the spell deck.

In fact, the Top 8 featured six different archetypes, a sign of the growing diversity of a Standard format that has come a long way in the very short time since Magic World Championship 31 last month where Team TCGplayer debuted the Izzet Lessons deck to a dominating record. Lessons was still the most popular deck in the room on Day One of Portland, but it was a far cry from the powerhouse it had been a month previous before the rest of the format had caught up (and before Wistfulness).

Learning Lessons from Lorwyn

No one could top Wylde-LaRue, who liked the stock green-blue Badgermole Cub lists going around but felt the inconsistencies in the deck could be improved on. While he shouted out Badgermole Cub as the best card in his deck, it was his expert use of Nature's Rhythm that was on display throughout his Top 8 run. With Rhythm and Formidable Speaker giving the deck added consistency to find its toolbox cards with the release of Lorwyn Eclipsed.

That addition worked perfectly in Portland as a pair of Simic players met in the finals. Craterhoof Behemoth is back to doing what it does best—and doing it faster than ever if a stray Badgermole Cub goes unchecked.

Overall, creature decks beat back spell decks this weekend, with Llanowar Elves decks of all flavors converting well from Saturday into Sunday. Beyond the Top 8, decks like Bant Omniscience, Mono-Green Landfall, and Izzet Elementals also qualified players for the Pro Tour, with Gabriel Joglar and Ryan Brozovich, respectively, missing out on the Top 8 by one match with their respective decks, while Jake Koenig's Izzet Elementals list was one of the first lists to truly commit to the powerful Lorwyn Eclipsed evoke Elemental cycle.

Congratulations to all the RC players! Find out more about how you can qualify for the Regional Championship and the Pro Tour by visiting here and learning more from your regional organizer!