Kaya Gregg Silences Ottawa: A 31-3 Run to the Canadian Regional Championship Title
A year after a rough Calgary RC pushed her toward quitting, Kaya Gregg won in Ottawa on a seven-copy Silence/Orim's Chant lock backed by a single Isochron Scepter
Kaya Gregg won the Canadian Regional Championship in Ottawa, going 31-3 in games played, a 91% winning percentage, on an Azorius Control list built around seven copies split between Silence and Orim's Chant. The win caps a roughly year-long arc for Gregg: a disappointing finish at a Calgary Regional Championship last year had her considering quitting competitive Magic, and she took four months off before a friend's strong finish at the Vancouver Regional Championship pulled her back into the game. Wizards' Corbin Hosler told the story in "The Week That Was," published October 9, 2026.
A teched-out Azorius Control list
Gregg's winning deck was Azorius Control, built around seven copies split between Silence and Orim's Chant: three Silence, four Orim's Chant, per the published decklist. Both say, at heart, "opponents can't cast spells this turn" (Orim's Chant can also be kicked to shut off attacks). She paired them with a single Isochron Scepter, letting her imprint one of the two and recast it every turn to lock an opponent out of the game. Hosler calls it a plan to time-lock the game to 2008.
The run was close to flawless. Per the piece, Gregg didn't drop her first game until round 9, the last match of the day, and her only losses on day two both came in round 10, against Will Shayne's Mono-Green Broodscale. She swept the Top 8 without dropping a game.
The comeback angle
This was also a bounce-back, from a longer break rather than a single bad tournament. Gregg told Hosler that after a disappointing finish at a Calgary Regional Championship last year, she considered quitting competitive Magic and took four months off. She returned after watching her friend January Adams make the finals at the Vancouver Regional Championship earlier this year, then worked with Adams and a testing group called Faerie Miscreants to get back into the lab. At the next Regional Championship, in May, she piloted Dimir Excruciator to a 7-0 start before finishing 9-5 (Top 32), a result Hosler calls "by most metrics a success," even though Gregg felt a better finish had slipped away. That near-miss fed into the prep for Ottawa. The win earns her invitations to both the Pro Tour and the World Championship.
Mark your calendar
- October 4, 2026: Kaya Gregg crowned Canadian Regional Champion in Ottawa.
- October 9, 2026: "The Week That Was" recap published by Wizards.
Isochron Scepter, the engine behind Gregg's lock, is in stock on our shelf today (Double Masters, NM, $12.07) if you want to build toward the same trick.
Filed by the Harlequins Market newsroom.