This past weekend saw four Regional Championships held across the globe, offering high-stakes Magic across multiple continents. With almost 1,500 players competing worldwide, it was an extremely busy weekend of Magic, and one that will reverberate as it sets the tone for the stretch of Standard Regional Championships that follow it.
Congratulations to Dawson Courson, who won Canada's Regional Championship in Ottawa with Mardu Discard!
Take the Mardu Discard deck that Christopher Kral piloted and popularized. No one was watching its development in the stretch run before the Regional Championship closer than Dawson Courson, who locked in on the deck the week before the event and found there was more to it than meets the eye. The Moonshadow, Marauding Mako, Bloodghast, and Cool but Rude concoction is fascinating but complicated, making it hard to play optimally. It brings together cards that no one expected to see play alongside each other in Standard. But the deck's solid showing at the Pro Tour was no fluke, and it's now helped Courson land a Regional Championship trophy and an invitation to Magic World Championship 32.
1 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
1 Erode
2 Concealed Courtyard
2 Burst Lightning
4 Iron-Shield Elf
2 Inspiring Vantage
1 Cecil, Dark Knight
4 Starting Town
4 Practiced Offense
2 Mountain
4 Moonshadow
4 Hardened Academic
4 Marauding Mako
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Cool but Rude
2 Requiting Hex
2 Blazemire Verge
4 Bloodghast
2 Tersa Lightshatter
1 Carnage, Crimson Chaos
4 Blood Crypt
3 Godless Shrine
1 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
2 Sheltered by Ghosts
3 Strategic Betrayal
2 Seam Rip
1 Duel Tactics
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Case of the Crimson Pulse
3 Voice of Victory
Courson's finals victory came over Noah Michaud's Azorius Momo, Friendly Flier deck. Like all of Courson's matches in the Top 8, it came to a full three-game set. But with flexible sideboard options available across red, white, and black, like including Voice of Victory, Sheltered by Ghosts, Duel Tactics, and Strategic Betrayal, Courson could maintain much of his deck's explosive potential while going bigger or faster to line up against the opponent, whichever was needed. It's a potent recipe for success, and Courson showed off its power all weekend.
That weekend included a brutal Top 8 run with a pair of incredibly tight matches against Izzet Prowess. The only "reward" for Courson winning those was a finals match against Michaud, one of only two players who defeated Courson all weekend. The Top 8 also included Alexandre MacIsaac, who added another impressive finish to his résumé after winning Magic Spotlight: Spider-Man in Baltimore.
Like in the United States, Izzet Prowess led the way in Ottawa, although another Izzet list, Spellementals, was the second most popular deck at the Face to Face Games tournament. But Spellementals couldn't crack a very interesting Top 8, which broke down like this:
- 2 Mardu Discard
- 2 Izzet Prowess
- 2 Azorius Momo
- 1 Four-Color Control
- 1 Izzet Fling
Both Prowess lists in the Top 8 included the now common tech of Colorstorm Stallion, a Secrets of Strixhaven addition that has given the deck yet another powerful creature to lean on, except this one comes with both haste and ward 1, making it well worth the three-mana investment in even the leanest Prowess decks.
With more than 300 competitors in attendance, the Regional Championship in Ottawa was more than just the latest chance to earn one of the few, and coveted, Pro Tour invitations available. It was also the latest opportunity for the Canadian Magic community to gather, and the amount of innovation and successful experimentation that we saw at the Regional Championship suggests that the Canadian contingent at the next Pro Tour will be quite well-represented.
More than 300 players competed in Canada's Regional Championship, with Dawson Courson winning the title over Noah Michaud in a thrilling finals match.
