Beardsley, Rakdos Midrange, Wins Pro Tour The Lord Of The Rings

Jake Beardsley won Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings in Barcelona, Spain with Rakdos Midrange on Sunday.

Rakdos Midrange

Jake Beardsley

1st Place at Pro Tour on 07-30-2023

Modern

Creatures (21)

• 1 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
• 4 Grief
• 4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 4 Dauthi Voidwalker
• 4 Fury
• 4 Orcish Bowmasters

Lands (20)

• 3 Swamp
• 3 Polluted Delta
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 2 Verdant Catacombs
• 3 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

Spells (19)

• 2 Terminate
• 1 Blood Moon
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 2 Fatal Push
• 3 Feign Death
• 3 Undying Malice
• 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

Sideboard

• 2 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Terminate
• 2 Blood Moon
• 3 Chalice of the Void
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
• 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Beardsley reached the Top 8 of the 268-person field as the No. 4 seed with a record of 12-3-1. Beardsley qualified for his first Pro Tour with a Top-24 finish at the Regional Championship in San Diego. He went 8-1-1 in Modern rounds with Rakdos Midrange and 4-2 in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Draft.

Beardsley kicked off the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over Marco Del Pivo on Temur Rhinos, who was one of three players in the elimination rounds on the third-most played deck in the event.

Temur Rhinos

Marco Del Pivo

6th Place at Pro Tour on 07-30-2023

Modern

Creatures (11)

• 4 Shardless Agent
• 4 Subtlety
• 2 Murktide Regent
• 1 Fury

Lands (21)

• 1 Forest
• 4 Wooded Foothills
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Island
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 2 Gemstone Caverns
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Fiery Islet
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City

Spells (28)

• 4 Violent Outburst
• 4 Fire
• 4 Dead
• 4 Force of Negation
• 4 Crashing Footfalls
• 2 Mystical Dispute
• 2 Prismari Command
• 4 Lorien Revealed

Sideboard

• 1 Blood Moon
• 1 Commandeer
• 1 Magus of the Moon
• 2 Force of Vigor
• 1 Mystical Dispute
• 2 Obsidian Charmaw
• 4 Endurance
• 2 Fury
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures

He then beat Dom Harvey on Amulet Titan, one of just four players to sleeve up the combo/ramp deck, 3-1 to reach the finals to face PT mainstay, Christian Calcano.

Amulet Titan

Dom Harvey

4th Place at Pro Tour on 07-30-2023

Modern

Creatures (15)

• 2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 4 Primeval Titan
• 4 Arboreal Grazer
• 4 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1 Cultivator Colossus

Lands (33)

• 3 Forest
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 4 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 4 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Gemstone Caverns
• 1 Vesuva
• 2 Tolaria West
• 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 2 Crumbling Vestige
• 4 Urza's Saga
• 3 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 The Mycosynth Gardens

Spells (13)

• 4 Summoner's Pact
• 1 Expedition Map
• 4 Amulet of Vigor
• 4 The One Ring

Sideboard

• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Pact of Negation
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Khalni Garden
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine
• 3 Dismember
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Endurance
• 2 Tear Asunder
• 1 Generous Ent

The final match of the weekend went the distance with the two splitting the pre-sideboard games as Calcano leveraged The One Ring in Game 1 and Beardsley wowed viewers by casting a Turn 3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger thanks to Dauthi Voidwalker and Thoughtseize stealing it from Calcano’s hand.

Mono-Green Tron (Jegantha)

Christian Calcano

2nd Place at Pro Tour on 07-30-2023

Modern

Creatures (4)

• 2 Wurmcoil Engine
• 2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Planeswalkers (7)

• 2 Karn Liberated
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 4 Karn, the Great Creator

Lands (18)

• 3 Forest
• 4 Urza's Tower
• 4 Urza's Power Plant
• 4 Urza's Mine
• 1 Gemstone Caverns
• 2 Boseiju, Who Endures

Spells (31)

• 3 Oblivion Stone
• 4 Sylvan Scrying
• 4 Chromatic Sphere
• 4 Chromatic Star
• 3 Relic of Progenitus
• 4 Expedition Map
• 4 Ancient Stirrings
• 2 Warping Wail
• 3 The One Ring

Sideboard

• 1 Ensnaring Bridge
• 1 Sundering Titan
• 1 Oblivion Stone
• 1 Pyrite Spellbomb
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Liquimetal Coating
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 1 The Stone Brain
• 1 Cityscape Leveler
• 2 Haywire Mite
• 1 The One Ring

Beardsley took Game 3 off the back of a Turn-1 Fury, killing Calcano before his Urza Tron could produce a meaningful threat. Game 4 turned out to be the most tense game of the match, as a drawn-out affair came down Calcano keeping a non-land card in hand when he was at two life to not die to a Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger trigger. As grueling as Game 4 was, Game 5 was over in a flash as Beardsley secured a Turn-1 Grief via Undying Malice to strip Calcano’s hand and apply pressure, backed up by a Blood Moon on Turn 3. Beardsley never needed another threat as Grief went the distance as Calcano failed to find a way to get out from under the Blood Moon or answer the Elemental Incarnation.

Beardsley took home the trophy and $50,000 in his first appearance at a Pro Tour, while also securing an invite to the World Championship and the next cycle of PTs. His win with Rakdos Midrange proved the power of the most-played deck at the event, having game against all matchups with fast clocks, disruption, and removal.

View the Top 16 decklists from Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings. For all decklists check out the official coverage from WotC.