The Ultimate Guard European Magic Series – Regional Championship in Ghent, Belgium, brought together 1,182 competitors, all vying for a share of a $130,000 prize pool, 36 Pro Tour qualifications, and two coveted seats at Magic World Championship 33. After fourteen intense rounds of Modern followed by a hard-fought Top 8, Alexander Rosdahl emerged victorious with Broodscale Combo!

Congratulations to Alexander Rosdahl, the new Regional Champion!

Alexander Rosdahl, a 30-year-old player from Malmö, Sweden, arrived in Ghent after an excellent string of recent finishes: 11th at the previous Regional Championship in Prague and 24th at Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes. He chose Broodscale Combo, stating, "It was the best performing and most played the last few events," a trend that he couldn't ignore. When asked about the best card in his deck, the one he always wanted to draw, he singled out Eldrazi Temple: "Two mana is a lot," he explained. "I drew a lot of Kozilek's Commands, a lot of Eldrazi Temples ... I was running hot!"

Alexander Rosdahl in the Regional Championship finals.

Broodscale Combo was the most popular archetype, making up 18.6% of the field in Ghent, and its 56% win rate in non-mirror, non-draw, non-bye matches was the best among all archetypes with at least 20 pilots. Rosdahl's build stood out for running zero main-deck copies of Dismember. He opted instead for three copies of Glaring Fleshraker, a choice that performed well and paid off by enabling fast combo finishes.

The finals featured a Broodscale Combo mirror match between Rosdahl and Timothée Blondiaux, a 28-year-old player from Paris, France, who had reached the Top 8 of Magic Spotlight: The Avatar in Lyon earlier this year. In the first game, Rosdahl assembled the game-winning combination of Basking Broodscale and Blade of the Bloodchief as early as turn four. It's an elegant loop: Sacrificing an Eldrazi Spawn for mana triggers the Blade, which puts a +1/+1 counter on the Broodscale, and that counter creates another Eldrazi Spawn. Since each new Spawn also triggered Rosdahl's Glaring Fleshraker, the loop dealt infinite damage.

Timothée Blondiaux in the Regional Championship finals.

Yet Broodscale Combo is not a single-minded combo deck, as the second game demonstrated. Ramping ahead with Sowing Mycospawn and Kozilek's Command, Blondiaux cast Emrakul, the Promised End on turn five and took control of Rosdahl's next turn. He forced Rosdahl into terrible attacks, and Boseiju, Who Endures was no help. With nothing left, Rosdahl conceded, and the players moved to Game 3.

In the deciding game, Rosdahl assembled the Basking Broodscale and Blade of the Bloodchief combo by turn three, generating an infinitely large Broodscale and infinite mana, but this time he lacked a payoff to win outright. Blondiaux fought back valiantly, but chump blocking every turn rapidly drained his resources. Seeing no way out, he extended his hand in defeat.

Alexander Rosdahl's friends and compatriots rushed in to celebrate his victory in the finals.

A group of Swedes, including Rasmus Enegren, winner of the previous Regional Championship, immediately stormed the stage to congratulate their compatriot. They proudly celebrated that the trophy was heading home to Sweden for the second Regional Championship in a row.

The Broodscale Combo mirror between Timothée Blondiaux and Alexander Rosdahl for the trophy.

Rosdahl secured the title along with the $20,000 1st-place prize. Both finalists earned invitations to Magic World Championship 33, the pinnacle of organized play, which will take place at MagicCon: Amsterdam in December 2027. "It will be a long way to Worlds still," Timothée Blondiaux acknowledged after reaching the finals, but he looked ahead with excitement: "Playing Magic in Europe with the greatest feels so good!"

Rosdahl echoed that sentiment: "It feels great ... I'm missing this year, but happy to be there next year. I'm going to do my best and try to get my face on a card."

Insert "Top 8 Group & Individual Photos / Top 8 group.jpg", caption: "Congratulations to the Top 8 players! Top row, left to right: Anthony Pav, Gerardo D'Elia, Cristobal Abril Navarro, Alexander Rosdahl. Bottom row, left to right: Sebastian Sachse, Timothée Blondiaux, Filippo Dello Iacovo, Nils Gutiérrez von Porat."

While the Top 8 featured three Broodscale Combo decks in total, with archetype expert Sebastian Sachse joining the two finalists, it also showcased the remarkable depth of Modern's current metagame. Alongside Broodscale Combo, the Top 8 elimination rounds featured five other deck archetypes: Living End, Devoted Druid Combo, Azorius Chant, Jeskai Chant, and Boros Energy.

Azorius Chant emerged as one of the best answers to Broodscale Combo. Instead of relying on traditional control tools like Counterspell and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, these decks turned to Orim's Chant and Silence to disrupt opponents while setting up the game-winning combo of Narset, Parter of Veils and Day's Undoing, which leaves the opponent with at most one card in hand. With a 66% win rate against Broodscale Combo, the archetype did exceedingly well in Ghent.

Another breakout was the novel Rakdos Delirium archetype, which uses the new Dark Matter Manipulator from Reality Fracture to fill the graveyard and fuel cards such as Fear of Missing Out, Detective's Phoenix, and Nethergoyf. Although the deck started at merely 1.6% of the metagame, it posted an exceptional 62% win rate against the rest of the field and placed two players in the Top 16.

A wide variety of other strategies, including even a surprising Five-Color Creativity deck, also appeared among the Modern decklists of the top players in the final standings. Congratulations to the 36 players who earned invitations to Pro Tour Nauctis, which will take place at MagicCon: Detroit in February 2027.

NOTE TO EDITOR: In the preceding paragraph, please have "Modern decklists" link to the event's decklist page on magic.gg and have "final standings" link to the event's standings page on magic.gg.

Neither Azorius Chant nor Rakdos Delirium was a major part of the metagame at the start of the tournament, yet both thrived, converting those performances into multiple Pro Tour qualifications. They were well-positioned choices in a field where Broodscale Combo stood as the deck to beat, and both posted favorable records against it. Their success underscores how quickly Modern continues to innovate and evolve from weekend to weekend.

Insert "Additional photos / Ghent2Saturday-046.jpg", caption: "A crowd of 1,182 players converged upon the Flanders Expo in Ghent to test their mettle in the Ultimate Guard European Magic Series – Regional Championship."

Ghent delivered an outstanding weekend brimming with high-level competition. The hall buzzed from start to finish as hundreds more players joined side events, battled in Last Chance Qualifiers, or earned qualifications for upcoming premier events. Live coverage aired on Fanfinity's YouTube channel, allowing fans at home to follow every twist and turn.

A viewing area allowed attendees to catch all the feature match action on the live stream.

While the Regional Championship spotlighted the remarkable talent of players across Europe, the side events also drew huge crowds. On Sunday, 296 players entered the Limited Championship Qualifier, competing for four invitations to the 2027 Magic Limited Championship. Pro Tour Champion Simon Nielsen punched his ticket, alongside Simeon Todorov, André Santos, and Francesco Latorre. Meanwhile, 544 players battled in the $20,000 Ultimate Guard Open Modern tournament, which awarded seventeen invitations to the next Regional Championship.

An excellent team of judges and staff members worked tirelessly to keep the tournaments running smoothly.

All in all, it was a memorable weekend of competition, and we eagerly anticipate the next Ultimate Guard Regional Championship in Bilbao on February 12–14, 2027!