Last weekend almost 500 of the best Magic players from across Canada gathered in Ottawa for the Face to Face Tour Weekend and Canada's Regional Championship. It was the biggest Regional Championship yet in Canada, and represented the culmination of months of qualifying events. Eight invitations to Pro Tour Thunder Junction, two invitations to the World Championship at MagicCon Vegas, and the title of Canada's Regional Champion were all on the line. After thirteen rounds of Modern followed by a Top 8 playoff, Ulysse Gagnon Paradis claimed the title and the trophy piloting Living End.

Congratulations to Ulysse Gagnon Paradis, winner of the Face to Face Tour Weekend in Ottawa!

Paradis celebrated his win with friends, including Kevin Anctil, who also made the Top 8, and Pascal Maynard, who narrowly missed the Top 8 and placed 9th. It was an outstanding set of finishing for their group, who test and play together in Quebec City.

Ulysse Gagnon Paradis and friends celebrate his win.

Paradis defeated Patrick Wu on Azorius Control in the finals. This was Wu's third Top 8 finish at the Regional Championship level, and his metagame call of Azorius Control, with cards like Trickbind to foil Rhinos players, earned him both another Pro Tour invite and a spot at the World Championship.

Patrick Wu plays in the finals.

Congratulations to the Top 8

Congratulations to Randall Barber, Nam Dang, Andrew Kidston, Lawrence Bouzane, Patrick Wu, Jonathan Dery, Ulysse Gagnon Paradis, and Kevin Anctil

At the end of thirteen Swiss rounds of Modern, eight players advanced to the Top 8, including Andrew Kidston, who was the last remaining undefeated player on Day 1 of the event, and Nam Dang, who finished fourth at GP Vegas in 2019. Congratulations to the Top 8 on making the Pro Tour!

Temur Rhinos dominated the Top 8, with four copies making the cut, plus a fifth five-color Rhinos deck that also cascades into Crashing Footfalls. Two copies of Azorius Control were also represented in the Top 8, and while Dang chose it for its strength against Rhinos, both copies ultimately fell to Paradis and Living End.

You can see the decklists of the Top 8 players here.

The Modern Post-Ban Metagame

With the December 4th bans of Fury and Up the Beanstalk, Modern players wondered if Rakdos Grief could survive losing one of its key Evoke creatures. While the deck performed well at the City CLass Games Showdown in Brazil two weeks ago, it suffered in Canada. It was the fifth most popular deck in the field, a far cry from the top spot it used to hold. It also failed to put any copies into the Top 8.

Instead, Temur Rhinos has become Modern's most-played deck, at least at the moment. It accounted for nearly twenty percent of the field, and converted that into a stunning half of the Top 8. It was a fortunate metagame for Paradis, however, who chose Living End in part based on the hope that players wouldn't choose the powered-down Rakdos Evoke for the weekend.

As the Modern metagame continues to evolve, one of the questions that might persist is whether Temur or Domain is the best build of Rhinos. While Temur accounted for half of the Top 8, Domain Rhinos had the better match win percentage of the weekend, 67.6% to 52.8%. There are still half a dozen Regional Championships before Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3, and with the impact that Modern Horizons 2 had on Modern, it's still a mystery what may happen in Amsterdam.

Congratulations again to this weekend's players on a great tournament of terrific and hard-fought matches and excellent competition. Catch the next Face to Face Tour Weekend 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!