🏆 RCQ Champion Report: Phoenix Dredge Strikes Again!

Tuomas "Tjuppus" Ronkainen shares his RCQ-winning Modern tournament report

Hello!

I’m Tuomas “Tjuppus” Ronkainen! I have been playing for approximately nine years now.

I started with Standard at my LGS and am currently playing too many formats (Pauper, Premodern, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, European Highlander, and Canadian Highlander), but the more the merrier!

Last year was quite a successful one:

• Won the Finnish Legacy Nationals with Mystic Forge

• #5 in the Vintage Championship at Eternal Weekend EU with Dredge

• Qualified for RC Antwerp with Domain Zoo

I have been following Mahfuz’s YouTube content for a long time already, but just recently started playing Dredge in Modern and Legacy! Love the archetype in all three formats!

For the last two months, I have borrowed a stack of Phoenix Dredge cards to my good friend so he could jam it in the RCQs! To be honest with you, I was jealous while watching him play the deck, and I continued to play Affinity. In this RCQ season, I Top 4’d one of the three events I attended, and with two more remaining, I decided to bring Phoenix Dredge! Both my friend and I got our missing cards purchased, so now there are two Phoenix Dredges to terrorize the local meta!

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Decklist HERE.

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RCQ

Me and three local friends drove ~300 kilometers to attend this RCQ, and two of us got into the Top 8!

I’m writing this based on memory! Zero notes with me, so I only remember some specific information about how the matches went.

I sideboarded according to Mahfuz’s guides on Patreon + YouTube videos, but had to use my own brain at least once during the tournament.

R1 — OTP vs Boros LD (Ponza)

G1: Mull to 6, and opponent mulls to 5. I play fetch -> shock -> Tidecaller -> pass. Opponent plays Plains -> Relic of Progenitus. Turn 2: land -> Talent -> pass to possibly win next turn. Opponent destroys my Steam Vents and taps Relic, and I just go ham next turn, not killing the opponent but getting a huge lead, which resulted in victory.

G2: I didn’t see any graveyard hate, only land destruction. Won slowly but surely.

R2 — OTD vs Domain Zoo

G1: Leyline dodged. I play turn 1 + turn 2 Tidecallers, and my opponent played zero removal targeting them, which was wild. Pretty much won on turn 3; turn 4 was just the finishing touch, and my opponent had Kavu, Frog, and Binding (exiled Phoenix) at that point.

G2: Leyline dodged again! I start with Tidecaller (which survives again). Opponent plays turn 2 Kavu with domain set up, and I Axe it in my upkeep and continue to play three spells on turn 2 with Tidecaller enabling our shenanigans! It took me two turns to finish things up.

R3 — OTD vs Blue Belcher

G1: Mull to 5: two lands, Inquiry, Looting, and Gaze. Turn 3 was go time to force through some pressure with two Phoenixes, and my opponent didn’t have their combo available in time.

G2: I kept 7: three lands, two Thoughtseizes, Inquiry, and Looting (holy moly). Discarded Preordain first and then Whir. Opponent had only two counterspells and "lands." I kept dredging, and on turn 4 I cast Loam targeting Boseiju and two lands, which got countered, but continued to cast two more spells to get Phoenix onto the table for pressure.

Next turn I started Boseiju-locking the mana, and on turn 6 my opponent decided to Surgical my Boseijus (not Loams). Opponent was out of resources and died to Phoenix beats.

R4 — OTP vs Jeskai Control (opponent was 2-1 and had to play the match)

G1: Strange game. I just did my thing, and I wasn’t sure what exactly my opponent had besides Jeskai lands and Wan Shi Tong. Easy win!

G2: During sideboarding, my opponent was chatting that they didn’t bring Rest in Peaces today. Wasn’t sure if this was a bluff or what, but it didn’t change my sideboarding plan! The game was slow. I just kept dredging slowly and cast Gazes and Loams to set up.

Opponent kept mana open all the time, turn 3 Flame of Anor to draw cards, and turn 5 cast Teferi with Hallowed Fountain + fetch open. Opponent was already quite low on life from all the shock lands and Creeping Chills. I started my turn 5 with Loam, which got Snared, and I continued with Conflagrate for X=5 with Darts in my graveyard. Opponent just scooped before the barrage of damage happened.

R5 — ID

4-0-1 in Swiss to start the Top 8 as the #1 seed!

Quarterfinals vs Merfolk

G1: Turn 1 Tidecaller + turn 2 Talent, but whiffed terribly! I think I only saw one dredge card and had to hope that two Phoenixes would be enough to finish things up (and they did).

G2: Opponent cast turn 2 Tide Shaper and turn 3 one-drop + Chalice X=1. I was just in setup mode to that point: Conflagrated the fishes off the board and got two Phoenixes again. Opponent had to build up again, but didn’t have the time!

Semifinals vs Eldrazi Tron

G1: Game was quite fast without resistance from my opponent’s end!

G2 (my only game loss in the tournament): Turn 1 Grafdigger’s Cage -> turn 2 land, Mind Stone, Dismember to kill Tidecaller -> turn 3 Tron Karn to start destroying my lands with Liquimetal Coating. Next turn my Loams and Boseiju got exiled by Kozilek’s Command, and I got locked out pretty fast.

G3: Couldn’t recall what happened in the first two turns, but on turn 3 I got two Phoenixes in for pressure, and some Creeping Chill triggers! Opponent assembled Tron again and cast Kozilek’s Command for X=5 to exile Phoenix and make Spawns to cast Karn -> Tormod’s Crypt and exile my graveyard.

G3, Turn 4: Opponent is at four life with Tron + Karn. I have Tidecaller, Phoenix, and two lands in play, with Stinkweed Imp and three lands in my hand. I topdeck another Phoenix, so I kill Karn and cast the Imp to pressure lethal without having to worry about Karn shenanigans. Opponent casts Devourer of Destiny to exile Phoenix and passes. I just play land and Phoenix to win!

Finals vs Black Saga

Opponent offered to split and gave me the invite since he wasn’t able to go!

Post-tournament thoughts

Phoenix Dredge was an excellent choice for the tournament! Totally went under the radar of players, which wouldn’t have happened with Affinity.

The most important factor was choosing the deck I enjoy playing the most! And the decision was correct based on the result and the tasty aftertaste from dredging in Modern!

I will play Phoenix Dredge in the Modern PTQ at MagicCon Amsterdam! Wish me luck!

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Find Tuomas on X/Twitter here: @Tjuppus

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Huge congrats, Tuomas! Keep dredging!