Hi all, Happy Friday. My article for today will discuss about a particular creature that has been under hyped in the current Standard metagame. The recent results in Worlds last weekend showed that Naya Lightsaber is the best deck in the format, followed by the ever popular Jund Aggro. That also would mean that Baneslayer Angel’s price will surely rise up again, with the current value at 60usd each. But we won’t focus on that hype. I’ll reveal today why not all white decks need this BS Angel (I mean Baneslayer, not the one you’re thinking. :)). Going back, I’m sure you already noticed that Wizards was going away from the regeneration thing by creating new cards like Doom Blade instead of Terror, Lightning Bolt instead of Incinerate, etc. This means that regenerating creatures, including those with Indestructibility will rise as the powerhouse beaters in Standard. Now, we look at Thornling:

What does that mean? It means you just pay one green mana and Thornling will beat the hell out of your opponent this turn. I can attest to that as I play against this card with me playing Jund. With a lot of green mana to activate its abilities, I ended up playing my creatures and chump blocked Thornling until I find an answer. It’s difficult since Jund has no answer to Indestructibility so I just ran out of blockers and succumbed to its beats.

So how do you build a deck around Thornling? Here’s what you need:

1. Lots of green mana – this is provided by mana guys like Noble Heirarch, Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves.

2. Defense against RFG removals – I’m referring to Path to Exile. The good answer to that would be Vines of Vastwood and a kicked one is very much better.

With these two requirements, I think you can go with a mono green list or similar to what my teammate Oliver made, which is a Green-White Aggro version. Here’s his list:

GW Thornling by Oliver Mastilero

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Creatures (24) 4 Battlegrace Angel 4 Thornling 4 Dauntless Escort 4 Noble Hierarch 3 Ranger of Eos 4 Steward of Valeron 1 Scute Mob Spells (17) 2 Behemoth Sledge 3 Garruk Wildspeaker 4 Path to Exile 4 Wildfield Borderpost 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 2 Martial Coup Lands (19) 6 Forest 3 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood 6 Plains 4 Sunpetal Grove Sideboard (15) 3 Acidic Slime 4 Celestial Purge 2 Day of Judgment 4 Great Sable Stag 2 Mold Shambler

This deck accelerates into either a turn three Thornling or Battlegrace Angel. The Angel is a good support once Thornling gets online, providing Exalted pump and Lifelink. This is very much preferred rather than the Baneslayer. I know you’ll say it gets killed by B. Blast but Dauntless Escort is there for the support. The main purpose here is to get Thornling online and it will single-handedly win the game, although there are other outs on this deck like Overrun with Garruk or aerial beats with Elspeth.

The sideboard is particularly against Jund with four copies of GSS and Celestial Purge, and a few cards for control and combo (the Slime and Shambler). I think GSS and purge are the deck’s default sideboard and the remaining slots are to be adjusted according to local meta.

As of the deck’s performance, it has won different match-ups with the current Tier 1 decks. See a recent result here. It is also performing very well in our local meta, having won three tournaments already. Lucky you might say, but I’d say just try the deck and see it yourself.

Until next time.

Magic: The Gathering Iloilo Championships 2009

December 5 to 6, 2009
David’s Tea House, Smallville Complex, Diversion St. Iloilo City

Tournament Schedule

Day One
Individual Standard Constructed Format Preliminary Rounds
Reg: 500php (includes lunch buffet)
update: first 20 participants will receive a Zendikar booster pack.

• 9:00am Registration
• 10:00am Start of Tournament (Rounds 1 and 2)
• 12:00m Lunch
• 1:00pm Tournament Remaining Rounds
• 5:00pm: 8-man Zendikar draft (side event)*

Day Two
3-Man Team Event Constructed (Standard, Extended and Legacy Format)
Reg: 100php per team member

• 9:00am Team Event registration
• 10:00am Start of Tournament
• 3:00pm Individual Standard Constructed Top 8
• 5:00pm Awarding Ceremony

Prize Structure for Standard Constructed and Team Event

(Pot money depending on the number of players)

1st place 40% of the pot money + Trophy
2nd place 20%
3rd & 4th 10%
5th to 8th 5%

*side event draft depends on the no. of participants.

For more details just visit the forum thread here.

Hey all! It has been another great weekend well spent and guess what, we are few days away from MtG Worlds Championships 2009. I’m sure in this 2009 season ender tournament, the Standard metagame will again shape up with possible new decks to surface. Speaking of which, Jund’s domination in Standard is still unopposed.

The deck is truly remarkable in dealing with other decks in the format. Is Jund the new fae? Perhaps, but looking at the current meta, it seems that we have forgotten an old mechanic which I think is a powerful answer to the current Standard. The mechanic I’m referring to is Protection. The printing of the cards using this mechanic has declined on the latest sets but let’s see the current ones available in Standard.

Conflux Outlander Cycle – a remake of Invasion’s protection bears, this is probably the best two drops to use for your tricolor decks. Vedalken and Valeron excels against the current meta.

Black/White Knight – these old favorites came back in M10 and seems to see play in Vampires and Soldiers deck.

Devout Lightcaster – this pro-black Kor is recently used main deck on Mono White Control and midrange decks as an answer against Jund and Vampires.

Malakir Bloodwitch – Vamp’s pro-white momma acts as the deck’s finisher on most of its matchups. A built-in Drain Life and evasion via flying are a bonus too.

Baneslayer Angel – Protection from Dragons and Demons is just an add-on to this already tough all-in-one card.

So these are the worth mentioning critters that we can use. Next up, why don’t we build a deck out of these guys. My preferred choice, which a co-player also made a deck with last Friday, is a Bant colored aggro deck filled with protection guys backed up with counters, and a few pump and spot removal spells.

Here’s a suggested deck list made by fellow player Kira:

Bant Aggro by kira

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Creatures (22) 3 Vedalken Outlander 3 Valeron Outlander 4 Deft Duelist 4 Rhox War Monk 4 White Knight 4 Baneslayer Angel Spells (13) 3 Honor of the Pure 4 Path to Exile 3 Martial Coup 3 Vines of Vastwood Lands (25) 4 Seaside Citadel 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Misty Rainforest 3 Forest 2 Island 4 Plains

The list would look so “expensive” but out of that, we can have a budgeted version. Here are the cards that I would include:

Deft Duelist
Rhox Warmonk
Vedalken Outlander
Valeron Outlander
White Knight
Honor of the Pure
Path to Exile

My replacements would be from Vines of Vastwood into Brave the Elements, Baneslayer Angel into Knight of New Alara. Here’s my first version which I call “Bant Pro”:

Bant Pro v1 by Mark Ian Alloso

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Creatures (26) 4 Vedalken Outlander 4 Valeron Outlander 4 Deft Duelist 4 Rhox War Monk 4 White Knight 3 Dauntless Escort 3 Knight of New Alara Spells (10) 4 Honor of the Pure 4 Path to Exile 2 Brave the Elements Lands (24) 4 Seaside Citadel 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Sunpetal Grove 4 Misty Rainforest 3 Forest 2 Island 4 Plains

I’ve added Dauntless Escort for mass removal spells like Day of Judgement and also act as an additional beatdown critter in the deck. The sideboard plan would probably be similar to that of a typical Bant list. I’m referring to generic sideboards like Celestial Purge, Negate, etc. Just plan out depending on your local meta. I hope you can try this suggested list on your tournaments and feel free to leave a comment for your suggestions. Until next post.

At first look at this card, you would say that its nothing more than just an improved version of Clone, that gets better when the kicker cost is paid. What is actually hidden behind are the insane combos you can play together with this card. Let us discuss today the deck uses of Rite of Replication.

The Combos

First, let’s check a few creature cards we can replicate with. I’ve got a few ideas from NG Forum’s Two Card Amazing Combos thread and here are a few of them.

RoR + Tuktuk Grunts – pretty simple but you get huge and hasty attacking Goblin Warrior allies.

RoR + Hagra Diabolist – instantly kill your opponent with a kicked Rite on this Ally.

RoR + Bogardan Hellkite – my favorite combo which I will discuss the decklist later on.

The Cards

In building a deck around Rite of Replication, the goal is to get enough mana to get to pay the kicker cost. The options? Mana rampers and card drawers. It depends which way you choose but make sure though that you won’t get to miss your early land drops until turn 7, 8 or so. In my build for today, I’ll go with card drawers and a little of mana rampers/fixers. The base color of the deck is Grixis (blue-black-red) so here are my choices.

Courier’s Capsule – Can be played on turn two and can still be activated on turn three in case you missed your third land drop.

Jace Beleren – What I like about planeswalkers is that the can be a pseudo life gainer because the opponent has to deal with them first before you. Jace has a dual purpose against aggro and control decks and I think he is the best card drawer of the current Standard.

Armillary Sphere – Act as both mana fixer and increases your chance to draw non-land cards.

Spreading Seas – I can actually consider this card as a drawer and a disruption. It slows down Jund and Vamps and gives you an extra card. Pretty neat!

Sphinx of Lost Truths – A card drawer that sticks is a good inclusion for the deck.

Next, you need cards to stop early beatdown from aggro decks, mostly represented today by Jund, White Weenie and Vampires. Black and Red can provide you with those.

Terminate – Kills almost all of the creatures in the format, including fatties like Vampire Nocturnus and Baneslayer Angel.

Pyroclasm – Your first two turns are spent on mana fixing and card draws. This is where the deck’s opening if the opponent get to stick a first and second turn creature. Pyroclasm is the perfect answer for that.

Earthquake – This is another sweeper that can deal with three toughness creatures in the late game. I’m reconsidering this though because it can also deal damage to you which is a disadvantage against aggro decks.

Lightning Bolt – The best spot removal Red can offer to Standard. Nuff said.

Wretched Banquet – For additional spot removal for single creatures on the battlefield.

Also, we need counters for discard spells and other shenanigans.

Double Negative – This answers Cascade spells as cards like Bloodbraid Elf can go past your removals and single counter spells.

Negate – Additional counter support for a low cost of two mana.

Swerve – This is a pseudo counter spell and can also benefit you well against cards like Blightning and Mind Sludge.

Finally, we have the bombs.

Cruel Ultimatum – This sorcery is undisputedly the best weapon of control since the 5cc days. This can get you back in the game in case you haven’t setup your combo yet.

Bogardan Hellkite – The deck’s replication target. You can play it at end of opponent’s turn then play a kickered Rite on your turn. Good game!

The Decklist

With a few mana and color fix, here is my initial build.

Grixis Rites V. 1.0 by Mark Ian Alloso

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Lands (25) 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Swamp 4 Island 3 Mountain 4 Crumbling Necropolis 3 Drowned Catacomb 3 Dragonskull Summit Creatures (5) 3 Bogardan Hellkite 2 Sphinx of Lost Truths Spells (30) 3 Wretched Banquet 3 Couriers Capsule 3 Jace Beleren 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Double Negative 2 Cruel Ultimatum 2 Rite of Replication 3 Terminate 2 Armillary Sphere 1 Earthquake 3 Pyroclasm

The list looks like an ordinary Grixis control with a little combo twist. The sideboard choices would be Negate, Swerve, and Countersquall for mirror matches, additional Terminate and a fourth Pyro for Aggro and probably Thought Hemorrhage. You can also add a third copy of Rite of Replication to get the combo faster.

As a conclusion, Rite of Replication is a great card waiting to be utilized and work with as the meta slowly shapes up. With the coming of Worldwake next year, we’ll see what other bombs it can replicate with.

See you in the next post.

There would always be a big question about playing this card in the main board. But for me this card has a lot of potential in todays metagame. Since there are lots of multicoloured deck as of now, and to think of JUND is the deck to beat. I’ve made some weird decks in the past but none of them made it in the Finals. Neither top 8 or top 4. The competition here in Iloilo is really tough, knowing that there are lots of good players here.

What made me think to build this deck is because of the growing numbers of jund decks not only in the Philippines but all over the world. Who would expect that this deck would find its way up to beat a top calibre deck like jund.

I didn’t made it to the number 1 seat but what makes me happy is that this deck has a record of 3-0 vs Jund match up I had in the early 4 rounder elimination match ups.

The Deck List

(No one thought this card would be that annoying until now)

Spreading Seas v.1 (WUB Seas)
by: Carl Jason Lira
2nd Place last October 24,2009

Planeswalkers
Jace Beleren 3 - Draw engine, extra life for me coz players tend to attack jace.
Elspeth, Knight–Errant 2 - Tokken serves as a blocker, players would spend spot removals to kill this.

Instants
Path to Exile 2 - Removal for creatures like Sprouting Thrinax or bloodghast.
Negate 2 - Counter spell just as I needed to protect my board and my hand.

Sorcery
Day of Judgement 4 - Decent Sweeper since Warth of God is no where to be found.
Identity Crisis 2 - Since players cant cast spell coz of their lands messed up.” d’BOMB!”

Enchantments
Journey to Nowhere 2 - For creatures like Sprouting Thrinax.
Oblivion Ring 3 - Answer for Planeswalker and Enchantments of the Enemy.
Spreading Seas 4 - Card advantage coz messing up players land plus additional draw.
Convincing Mirage 4 - this goes like the Spreading Seas messing up players lands.

Creatures
Sphinx of the Lost Truth 2 - I Love the draw ability. Refreshes my hand in late games
Sphinx of Jwar Isle 2 - this would be a Big problem for the opponent if it goes turn 6.
World Queller 3 - This would eat players alive if they are messed up with their lands.

Lands
Arcane Sanctum – 2
Drowned Catacomb – 3
Glacial Fortress – 4
Island – 5
Plains – 5
Swamp – 1
Gargoyle Castle – 1

Artifacts
Fieldmist Borderpost 4 - for additional mana fixing.

Sideboard
Tidehollow Sculler 4 - For control Decks
Negate 2 - also for control decks
Journey to Nowhere 2 - for decks like vampires
Path to Exile 2 - additional kill for fast and aggressive decks
Esper Charm 4 - Not yet sure about this. Serves as a drawer, disenchant and discarder
Jace Beleren 1 - to fill up the slot

The Tournament Report

Saturday’s tournament was 4 rounds on the preliminary and the top 4 players will advance to battle it out to the finals.

Round 1 vs Rei Coo (Jund) WIN

This is the match that I thought Rei has the advantage over me; luckily I had all the disruption in my hand. This turned out good for me since Rei mulled to 6 in Gm1 and I had made his lands into islands, he misses some couple of land drops and I casted my Queller and that was it. All of my game here had a starting hand of Spreading Seas. Luckily I had surpassed the Jund match up in Round1.

Round2 vs Marco “Mao” Gonzales (Jund) WIN

This one is not an easy opponent. A tough player to beat and I respect his top decking skills! This guy is for real. hehehe. Mao beat me up Badly in game one. But I did manage take the win in game 2 and 3 by disrupting his lands and casting Sphinx of Jwar of isle.

Round3 vs Rylan “Jheg Anderson” Minerva (Naya Agro) LOSS

Good friend of mine who is also in my Card pool here in Iloilo. But when it comes into tournaments, no more mister nice guy. This guy kicked my ass and sweeps me 2 games to none. What makes me crazy is that he had the Dauntless Escort with a bunch of creatures in the battlefield. My Day of Judgement is a mess when Dauntless Escort is in the battlefield.

Round4 vs Peter Franz Yap (Cruel Sphinxes) WIN

Franz was the top favourite of last Saturday’s tournament because of his deck ideas and deck modifications of his own versions. Since his Deck was anti for vampires and Jund, he had tons of dead cards for our match up in game one. I had limited creatures in my deck. I’ve sabotaged his land just to keep me safe from his CRUEL ULTIMATUM. I casted 2 Identity Crisis, he disrupted my 1st attempt, but the next turn luckily he ran out of Counter Spell in his hand that made my way to wrap up game 1 with a next turn Sphinx Jwar of Isle. Gm2 I’ve put up TideHollow Sculler early in the game and Elspeth on the battlefield. I made my deck aggro since I knew he would board out his Creature kills and put out more counter spells. He managed to cast Cruel Ultimatum but I manage to counter it with my Negate. That wraps our match up.

I’ve manage to make it up to the top four with the 3-1 record. The decks were two Jund, one Naya and mine as the only Blue mage to get on top.

The Top 4

Rylan “Jheg Anderson” Minerva (Naya) vs Marco “Mao” Gonzales (Jund)

Mao Had his “A” Game here and had beaten jheg 2-1 making his way up in the finals.

Carl Jason Lira (WUB Seas) vs Gian Carlo “Mojo” Occeña (Jund)

I’ve manage to do what I do best in the early round. Disrupting my opponent’s lands and messing up his hand by playing Identity Crisis and TideHollow Sculler. I was so lucky to cast early Identity Crisis to Gian. The game turned out good for me and that was my Golden ticket to the top 2 seat in the finals.

The Finals

Carl Jason Lira (WUB seas) vs Marco “Mao” Gonzales (Jund)

Oh man! MAO again… for sure MAO had one thing in mind and that is to Beat me down to death since we’ve meet in the Early Rounds and I had won the game from him.

Game 1

Not much as good as I played in game one. Mao put early pressure on me putting in the Leech. My starting hand was 3 lands, 1 borderpost, 1 identity crisis and 1 spreading seas, 1 Convincing Mirage.
I did not stop the early push of Mao on game one. I’ve no answers to that and that made me pay.

Game 2

This is quite exciting game coz we had made some good hand here. I manage to stop the early push of Mao. We had no more hands in the long run but Mao had creatures in the battlefield but I manage to live another turn by drawing “DOJ” Day of Judgement. The next turn I drew Elspeth and played it. Giving me hopes to hold his creatures. But guess what, Mao manage to Top Deck Maesltrom Pulse and that my friend is the end of Elspeth. He Drew couple of creature Runners and it’s time to “Pi-Od – Pi-oD tyan Mode” Mao manage to avenge all the Jund I had beaten in earlier. But that was a good experience for me already. I did not expect my deck to reach as far as this.

Special Thanks to Mao’s ”Identity Crisis” and Gian’s ”Convincing Mirage” for selling some cards. My deck components was completed because of them. Also to Rei and Tonx2 for a couple playtests before the tournament and some advice before the tournament. Maybe I’ll fix this deck and improve it. I’m thinking of adding cards, thinking of some Marsh Flats and Into the Roil. Until next post.

Zendikar is finally here! The new Standard metagame is just shaping up. It has been 3 weeks since the rotation happened and that left us with fewer card choices for deck building. Let’s say goodbye to our Bitterblossoms, Cryptic Commands and other Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block cards as we embark to explore what Zendikar has to offer.

There was a big time tournament held last October 11 at Philadelphia the SCG $5000, where Jund dominates the fresh format as 5 people were able to navigate it into the top 8 which can be found here. It is apparent that the Shards of Alara Block powerhouse is dominating the Standard format for it is also the most played and believed to be a consistent deck during the Shards Block season.

Jack Wang’s Jund Aggro
Champion, StarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open
Lands
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Swamp
4 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax

Spells
2 Terminate
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Resounding Thunder
4 Blightning
3 Bituminous Blast

Sideboard
4 Duress
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Jund Charm
1 Pyroclasm
2 Thought Hemorrhage

How did Zendikar influence the deck? Well it’s off course the mana fixing, featuring the new enemy fetchland Verdant Catacombs made an awesome job in making Routbound Crag and Dragonskull Summit so consistent. One of the best additions in the sideboard for mirror or control matchup is Goblin Ruinblaster, he may be an Avalanche Riders version 2.0 or maybe better but the only difference is that this dude destroys non-basic lands in which almost all decks in Standard runs it for mana fixing and consistency. He is also great with Bloodbraid Elf since he can be cascaded to and you still have the ability to pay for the kicker cost. The best shard in Alara also felt their presence at Magic-League where almost all trials were won by the current best deck in the format, Jund! You can see it here.

Other Decks

Vampires

The new deck that I think will have a great impact in Standard and has a potential to be tier 1 would be Vampires! These bloodsuckers are so cheap, fast and effective. Thanks to Vampire Nocturnus, wherein this vampire lord pumps up your tiny vampires like Vampire Lacerator (Carnophage 2.0), Bloodghast, Vampire Hexmage, Vampire Nighthawk and Gatekeeper of Malakir to evasive monstrosity with the 8 black fetch lands and Sign in Blood guarantees that it’s always prime time nights for the vampires.

Now with the return of Mind Sludge, this helps improves the control matchups, as well as Sorin Markov, the vampire planeswalker who can easily put control players to low life by using its second skill, and with the presence of Tendrils of Corruption that can out race other aggro matchups.

A typical Vampire Deck…

Llowle’s Mono Black Vampire
Magic League Standard Trial October 21
First Place 7-0
Lands
16 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats

Creatures
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nocturnus

Spells
1 Sorin Markov
2 Mind Sludge
3 Disfigure
4 Sign in Blood
4 Tendrils of Corruption

Sideboard
4 Duress
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Vampire Hexmage
3 Marsh Casualties
3 Deathmark
2 Mind Sludge
1 Disfigure

Strength: Fast, consistent and punishes slow decks like that of control types.
Weakness: Can easily be color hosed by any other decks such as using Celestial Purge, Devout Lightcaster, Great Stable Stag, and other pro Black dudes.

Boros Bushwhacker

This deck is absolutely fresh and was first introduced at Quietspeculation.com were it abuses the coolest mechanic in Zendikar, the Landfall! The name “Boros” was actually not in standard anymore but was dubbed like that due to the deck’s colours of white and red. By simply dropping lands, you’ll earn cool bonuses from cheap creatures like Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede. They may look cute from the start but after you’ll crack your fetchlands they will turn naughty, capable of killing the opposition as fast as third turn. The deck seems to be very hungry with fetches that it was able to abuse the landfall mechanic twice. Another great bonus land card is the Teetering Peaks which goes along with the landfall theme and offers a free additional benefit as well.

It is also pack with great synergies like with Ranger of Eos, fetching more dudes while you’re out of it and with Kor Skyfisher, a cheap creature that utilizes its drawback by feeding your landfall crits and abuses Ranger of Eos by bouncing it back and is a great offense as well. Finally Goblin Bushwhacker, the namesake of the deck, ready to finish off your opponent with a surprising mini lord bonus plus haste, ouch!

An updated Boros Bushwhacker Deck from Quietspeculation.com…

Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Elite Vanguard
3 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Steppe Lynx

Spells
3 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile

Lands
4 Arid Mesa
4 Teetering Peaks
4 Marsh Flats
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Mountain
7 Plains

Strength: Very fast that can kill opponents in early turns.
Weakness: Once stopped by early kills or sweepers, the deck finds it slow to recover.

Red Deck Wins

Red Decks never dies! In all times when a block rotates out and new ones sprout, this deck came up in different versions. Now with the departure of Demigod of Revenge, Figure of Destiny and Flame Javelin, Zendikar still has some new explosive weapons to deliver. Like that of Goblin Guide, which I think is one of the best one drop for red after Figure of Destiny for this dude can deal a lot of damage early on given that it can swing once he arrives in first turn. Although it gives your opponent card advantage when if it showed lands, yet that doesn’t even matter in this deck since it can crush the opposition in a swift manner and delaying them to set up their defense. It also features the appealing Elemental Appeal, a nice follow through after Ball Lightning and Plated Geopede that get along very well with the red fetch lands.

For the burns, there is a great utility for red that Zendikar brought to it and that is Burst Lightning! It maybe a Shock early on but once you have the mana, it can turn itself into a Lightning Blast by paying the kicker cost or I may say if it was “kicked”, weird terminology for Wizards.

An example of a sizzling hot Red Deck Wins…

Zach Barker’s Red Deck Wins
3rd Place, StarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open
Lands
12 Mountain
4 Teetering Peaks
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa

Creatures
4 Ball Lightning
4 Plated Geopede
1 Obsidian Fireheart
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Hell’s Thunder
4 Goblin Guide

Spells
3 Earthquake
3 Elemental Appeal
1 Resounding Thunder
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning

Sideboard
2 Mark of Mutiny
1 Earthquake
2 Act of Treason
2 Chandra Nalaar
4 Unstable Footing
4 Goblin Ruinblaster

Strength: Too fast too furious! It can deal a tremendous amount of damage in no time. It also avoids sweepers since most of its dudes have haste and can deal a lot of damage in one swing.
Weakness: Life gain (gain pronounces as “gay-n”) combined with card advantage.

Sphinx Control

The exit of Cryptic Command really downgrades control decks. Zendikar is not that kind for blue mages since it doesn’t give any spectacular cards for them, especially for control decks. Lack of permission spells and high quality card drawers cannot be seen on the set but in another angle, there is Sphinx of Lost Truths aka “Bob Marley with wings”, a comfortable defender and card filter, once you can pay for its kicker cost, then it’s totally awesome! Card advantage at its best, Yeah Man!

One of the best finisher I saw since Meloku the Clouded Mirror was Sphinx of Jwar Isle. This dude means business, swing for the kill. A perfect finisher for control decks since it is untouchable and has a big body or a fatso for just six mana.

The deck features the controlling nature of Grixis, still remember Cruel Ultimatum? Yeah! and it’s still kicking some ass although 5 Color Control is gone. I kind of like the Refuge lands for control deck since it gives you life as well as fixing your colors.

Peter Franz Yap’s Sphinx Control
MagicIloilo Standard Tournament Oct. 17, 2009-10-24
Champion
Lands
4 Mountain
4 Jwar Isle Refuge
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
5 Swamp
4 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Akoum Refuge

Creatures
3 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

Spells
3 Wretched Banquet
4 Pyroclasm
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Chandra Nalaar
3 Jace Beleren
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
3 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Courier’s Capsule
2 Terminate
3 Negate

Sideboard
2 Terminate
1 Negate
3 Countersquall
3 Essence Scatter
1 Liliana Vess
1 Twincast
2 Double Negative
2 Mind Control

Strength: Contain aggro decks with cheap kills and card advantage, and can guarantee you a win in a long run.
Weakness: Quite slow that can be outclassed by super fast aggro deck with burns.

The Expectations

The domination of Jund decks in standard will surely affect the way we tune up our decks. We will be forced to build decks that could cripple Jund and at the same time will also do good against other matchup’s. I expect a lot of control decks will be rising, like the return of Angelfire or maybe the 5 Color Control Cascade that once showed in Shards Block.

Aggro plan has plenty of options may it be Naya, Bant or the WG Beatdown. We could even see the potential of Lotus Cobra to fuel up Baneslayers in turn three. In the combo department, Warp World could have a shot as well as the Archieve Trap plus Twincast of Blue White Turbo Mill. The format is still fresh and Zendikar offers lots of powerful tools to use and experiment.

The metagame is indefinite since there is no big events in standard that shows what decks are most used by the pros. It’s time to innovate and improve our deck building skills!

Hey all. After a significant number of Zendikar drafts I decided to write a weekly column about my drafts, my picks, game play, and everything about Zendikar limited. This is my first article and my first time writing about limited strategy. Let’s go! *Evan Erwin’s tone*.

Pack 1

Pick 1: Day of Judgement

*Definitely a first pick. No questions asked. I had to pass a Gatekeeper of Malakir though.

Pick 2: River Boa

*I really don’t like WG on Zendikar drafts but the boa is a really good card once unanswered. Passing a lot of blue good cards like Welkin Tern, Into the Roil and a Misty Rainforest.

Pick 3: Cobra Trap

*I was choosing between this card and Territorial Baloth. The beast is a good 5th turn drop but I think Cobra Trap is more flexible and has a huge advantage on the board. It gives you a defensive and offensive edge over the opponent.

Pick 4: Adventuring Gear

Pick 5: Zendikar Farguide

Pick 6: Cobra Trap

*Another trap, looks like no ones choosing green. Great sign.

Pick 7: Pillarfield Ox

Pick 8: Marsh Flats

*Money card!

Pick 9: Hellfire Mongrel

Pick 10: Misty Rainforest

*Wow I got 2 fetches, must be my lucky day.

Pick 11: Relic Crush

*Great sideboard card.

Pick 12: Seismic Shudder

Pick 13: Scythe Tiger

Pick 14: Basic Land

Pick 15: Basic Land

So far I’m gearing towards WG based deck.

Pack 2

Pick 1: Emeria Angel

*Very nice pack 2. Emeria Angel is a bomb when unanswered. I’m still thinking if I can do UW but since I’m passing another Welkin Tern, blue will not be an available color.

Pick 2: Mold Shambler

*Pick this over Welkin Tern. It was a risky move to switch to blue because I have passed a couple of Terns before and I think blue won’t be available anymore.

Pick 3: Territorial Baloth

Pick 4: Pitfall Trap

*Not really a good removal but I have to stick to white. Still a lot of good blue cards in the pack, Welkin Tern, Windrider Eel, and Paralyzing Grasp.

Pick 5: Nissa’s Chosen

Pick 6: Frontier Guide

*Nice, good mana fixer. Looks like green is really wide open.

Pick 7: Nissa’s Chosen

*I’m pretty lock into green. Got already 2 Chosens. I hope to open Nissa in pack 3. =)

Pick 8: Æther Figment

Pick 9: Graypelt Refuge

*Wow, a mana fixer as late as pick 9 and with in favor with my color choice.

Pick 10: Turntimber Basilisk

Pick 11: Cliff Threader

Pick 12: Paralyzing Grasp

Pick 13: Timbermaw Larva

*Very nice pick 13 assuming I go with GW with lots of forest.

Pick 14: Basic Land

Pick 15: Basic Land

My deck is looking good so far. I got a lot of goodies in pack 2.

Pack 3

Pick 1: Shepherd of the Lost

*I really love this card. Its like a pseudo Serra Angel with the advantage of first strike. Passing a Mold Shambler and another Welkin Tern over this. I think Oliver got tons of Welkin Tern. Lol.

Pick 2: Oran-Rief Recluse

*Yes, a card that can hold on Welkin Terns.

Pick 3: Kor Skyfisher

*Choosing between this and Vines of Vastwood. I pick the Kor because I was still low on creatures and figuring that no one plays green so maybe the vines might still come back.

Pick 4: Bladetusk Boar

*Hate pick. This will be a problem because I’m low at removal and there were no good green/white cards in the pack.

Pick 5: Mold Shambler

Pick 6: Zendikar Farguide

Pick 7: Oran-Rief Survivalist

Pick 8: Vines of Vastwood

*Just as expected.

Pick 9: Piranha Marsh

Pick 10: Blood Tribute

Pick 11: Expedition Map

Pick 12: Vines of Vastwood

*Wow this is a really great late pick.

Pick 13: Molten Ravager

Pick 14: Desecrated Earth

Pick 15: Basic Land

After analyzing my picks clearly I am geared for GW. I have some decent aggro like Nissa’s Chosen and Kor Skyfisher and have big time spells like Shepherd of the Lost and Emeria Angel. And when things goes out of hand I have a reset button in the form of DOJ. Here what I’ve come up.

Lands
8 Forest
6 Plains
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Graypelt Refuge

Creatures
1 Timbermaw Larva
1 Kor Skyfisher
2 Mold Shambler
2 Zendikar Farguide
1 Cliff Threader
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
1 Shepherd of the Lost
1 River Boa
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Pillarfield Ox
1 Emeria Angel
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Frontier Guide
2 Nissa’s Chosen

Spells
2 Vines of Vastwood
1 Day of Judgment
1 Pitfall Trap
2 Cobra Trap

Sideboard
1 Expedition Map
1 Paralyzing Grasp
1 Bladetusk Boar
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Molten Ravager
1 Blood Tribute
1 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Hellfire Mongrel
1 Relic Crush
1 Seismic Shudder
1 Scythe Tiger
1 Adventuring Gear
1 Æther Figment

The only Sideboard cards that were useful were Relic Crush and Oran-Rief Survivalist (Sideboard in for Cliff Threader for none mountain decks).

Round 1: Oliver (UB Skies)

As expected Oliver was piloting UB with 5 welkin Terns. Game 1 he had a really fast start but I hold on until I got some of my big guys out. Game 2 he had another fast start but luckily I cast DOJ to reset the board. I drop in an Emeria Angel and a couple of turns I win.

1-0

Round 2: Mark (UR Aggro)

I can’t really remember what happened with this match. He was running early aggro with Ruinous Minotaur backed up by Goblin Shortcutter and Caller of Gales but I was just casting threats which outmatched his critters and he couldn’t answer. I easily win 2-0.

2-0

Sometimes you are really lucky in drafts and get big bombs just like myself. I also got a value financially on my draft getting 2 fetch lands, DOJ, and an Emeria Angel.

Until next week. =)

Yowza! Hi guys! It’s my first time writing an article here. Hope you don’t mind my way of writing and making stuff up. Ever since I began entering sanctioned tournament, I have never, ever, not even once, stepped on the most coveted of places for an M:tG player, the TOP 4. Last saturday, October 17, 2009, as luck would have it, was my chance, and was given to me.

I wasn’t aiming to be on the top 4 (must have been the oh! so many times, I’ve tried and failed). I was piloting deck modeled after “Sphinx Control” edited and customed by Marco “Mao” Gonzalez to suit my taste of game play. I nicked it “4 Horsemen” because of the 4 Planeswalkers that are on the deck’s mainboard and sideboard. Here’s what happened:

Round 1: Michael “Nonoy” Semoria
G1 - Playing first, I got Lucky here, piloting a “Naya” deck, Nonoy mulliganed to 5 and played 2 lands for 8 consecutive turns, until Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker arrived. Nonoy Scoops and it’s a win
G2 – Sideboard was -3 Negate, +3 Essence Scatter, -2 Wretched Banquet, +2 Terminate. Controlling the board with pyroclasms and Terminates, with life total down to 2, Chandra Nalaar coming in at 5th turn eating away Nonoy’s life, Sphinx of Jwar Isle came at 6th, all I could do was play defensively and it was a win. Shake Your Opponent!

Round 2: Pete “Loxodon Heirarch” Faytaren
- Pete is a close friend of mine ever since college and a part of the pool. He conceded and gave this round to me.

Round 3: Marco “Mao” Gonzalez
- A member of the pool and good friend, he always challenges me to do better. Thanks to him, I learned alot about game plays and strategies. unfortunately, he wouldn’t give this round up without a fight and this is how I went down.

G1 - Mao’s turn 3 hurt me a lot by playing Blightning, and it turned out to be more painful when he played blightning at turn 4 and 5(talk about ouch!). Playing Bloodbraid Elf at turn 6. Scooping, time for game 2.

G2 - The usual, blend of sideboards came in, but as luck would have it, a combination of mana screw and Mao’s ruinblasters the game was over. Shake me!

Round 4 - Mark Anthony “Tonton” Co
G1 - Our game started slow, but since I had, Courier’s capsules to replenish my dwindling hand and boost my mana supply, I overtook him by playing Chandra shooting him slowly, and wasting away his lightning bolts. Also negating his Jaces and playing my own, card advantage was mine. Finally playing Sphinx of Jwar Isle at the Nth turn gave me my hard earned win.

G2 - all the Critter kills came out, in came the dozens of counter spells from the sideboard. The exchange was fierce, countering one spell after another and finally ton2 caught me with a cruel ultimatum at the Nth round. Luckily I had 4 cards and hand, and one of them was a cruel ultimatum itself, when my turn came, ton2 was tapped out and I answered a cruel of my own.

After a few turns, Ton2 played Thought Hemorrhage naming Cruel Ultimatum. having 2 in my graveyard, and one inside the deck, I take no damage but had to show him my hand and my life was in great perile. Lady luck was smiling at me again as the top card was a Sphinx of Lost Truths and I played it with kicker. Attacking the first time, I finally dealt damage to his once impregnable defense. His turn came and he played Ajani Vengeant, stupifying my Sphinx. A turn came around and he played identity crisis, losing everything I had on my hand and also my graveyard. I top-decked Chandra, played her and had Ajani under control. At that time, we were both wishing at our top decks. Luck gave me the first top, giving me Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Turns turned and I had Ajani Dead. Tonton, after eating away his life and causing it to fall to 9, he played Obelisk of Alara, gaining life and making my damage dwindle down.

After a Couple of turns, Tonton played a Sphinx of Jwar Isle of his own, causing me to lose what damage I would be making and stalling the battlefield. My top deck turned out to be quite lucky as Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker came out. Having 2 Countersqualls in hand, and Ton2 down to 4, I played Nicol, him answering wth negate and me playing Countersquall, twice. Shake Your Opponent!

Top 4 against Mao again
G1 - This time around Mao’s luck turned sour, dominating the game, we ended up 2-1.

Top 2: Ramon “Master” Alivio
G1 - I got unlucky here, Ramon swarmed me with birds from Emeria angel, couple of turns later. I was a goner.

G2 - Luck turned about as Ramon only had Lands and a few “easy to pick on” critter, playing Sphinx of Jwar Isle on the 6th turn. The game was mine. One highlight was a Mind Control on his Emeria Angel and playing a land for a free Landfall trigger.

G3 - Ramon playing Knight of the White orchid on turn 3 and me, answering with Pyroclasm. Kor Sanctifiers on turn 5 with Lightning Bolt as the response, the game crawled until I played Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Ramon played Baneslayer Angel on his turn, I answered with Mind Control on my turn, with out any answers to give, Ramon shook my hand. GG

Well, that’s what happened and i know i got you bored to death. So here’s the deck list and a little explanation of my own

4 Horsemen by Peter Franz Yap
(I’ll explain it in a little while why i gave it a nick like so)

Maindeck
// Lands
4 Mountain
4 Jwar Isle Refuge
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
5 Swamp
4 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Akoum Refuge

// Creatures
3 Sphinx of Lost Truths - Mulldrifter ain’t got nothing to say to this baby!
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle - The Life Saver, Saving himself to save his master

// Spells
3 Wretched Banquet - for those little peckers who are just damn hard to kill
4 Pyroclasm - to many to handle? to little to waste a bolt? call Pyro
4 Lightning Bolt - big crits, little crits, when you got none, it’s yours
2 Chandra Nalaar – Codename: War; Eating away your opponent’s life, and having 6 loyalty points could prove difficult for your opponents to deal with.
3 Jace Beleren – Codename: Famine; Card Advantage is the way to go.
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker - Codename: Plague; Eat away your opponent’s resources and give them hurt, a lot of hurt.
3 Cruel Ultimatum - Here’s the finishing touch! Paint the table red, black and blue!
4 Courier’s Capsule - Card Advantage, this guy’s an insurance policy
2 Terminate - kill em all!!!
3 Negate - Na-uh! no way!

Sideboard
SB: 2 Terminate - a bit more kill
SB: 1 Negate - additional charge
SB: 3 Countersquall - Counter with hurt
SB: 3 Essence Scatter - for those pesky little critters
SB: 1 Liliana Vess - Codename: Death; Let’s bring em back to life, shall we?
SB: 1 Twincast - I just placed it to counter Cruel Ultimatum and never had the chance to use it.
SB: 2 Double Negative - Pesky Cascade
SB: 2 Mind Control - Last Minute addition(and a damn good one) this guy saved my ass from Baneslayer Angel.

Prelude. It was a disappointing finish for me in Regionals at Cebu last May wherein I lost in a match where I believe I had the favor, using BW Tokens deck and playing against the BG Elves. I finished at 12th place and just hope to qualify again for the next year.

After we got home to Iloilo, we are talking about drafting for our teammate Mao for Nationals, we already had the packs from his winnings combined with my little share as a 12th placer. But we can’t easily organize the draft since the Shards of Alara Boosters is still out of stock and so we decided to wait for some time for the Shards to be available again.

Came in the first week of June, my family planned to go to Manila to ready our house for a business rental of our relative as well as to get some of my important documents. This family trip opened the opportunity of me joining the Nationals qualifiers in Manila held every Saturday of June which started last June 13 so I started thinking about what deck to use in case I’ll be able to participate. I was convinced to use BG Elves after reading some articles and evaluating the results at Grand Prix and PTQ’s. I tweaked some deck list and tested them on MWS and at our local store with friends and teammates. Everything went remarkable for the deck except that I couldn’t keep up against Makoy’s Kithkins, which is quite similar to the build that won GP Sao Paolo. We then tweaked the sideboard a little bit and decided that it would be the final deck I’ll use.

The family’s trip was supposed to be on June 19 but something important came up hence it was rescheduled for the following week instead. With the flight being cancelled, I was able to join our local tournament and had the opportunity to test my deck The result turned out to be disappointing, having just a 2-3 record which made me unsatisfied with my deck. But I still have a few days remaining before the National’s qualifier’s event so I sought an advice from my friend on what deck to use. Makoy offered me a deck list from Noah Weil but I didn’t like some one-ofs and other cards on his list. After some deep analysis we came up with this list…

Maindeck
Lands
3 Twilight Mire
3 Graven Cairns
1 Karplusan Forest
2 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands
1 Sulfurous Springs
4 Treetop Village
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Mountain

Creatures
3 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Putrid Leech
1 Garruk Wildspeaker

Spells
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Jund Charm
2 Terror
2 Terminate
4 Maelstrom Pulse

Sideboard
1 Anathemancer
2 Bituminous Blast
2 Thought Hemorrhage
4 Thoughtseize
2 Primal Command
2 Infest
2 Pithing Needle

The Changes

+2 Boggart Ram-Gang. This guy is awesome when you flip it with Bloodbraid Elf. Gives early pressure damage, keeps out Finks from coming back and stops opposing Chameleon Colossus. I added the last piece in replacement for the lone Loxodon Warhammer before jotting my deck list in the event at Manila

2 Terror and 2 Terminate: I think this is the balanced number when using them both, Terminate could kill what Terror couldn’t like Doran and Putrid Leech. Terror is of course meant for Burrenton Forge Tender.

+1 Reflecting Pool. I personally don’t like playing with 10 filter lands because chances are big that you’ll get multiple mulligans for drawing all filter lands in your opening hand. Since I’m boarding in Thoughtseize, this land will help a lot.

-1 Bituminous Blast. I know this card is a Flametongue Kavu but it’s too clunky if you’re running lots of this in the sideboard so I think two is the right number.

-2 Thought Hemorrhage. Having 4 of this is irrelevant, once you named your most hated card, I’m sure your already winning anyway, like in Swans Combo, naming Seismic Assault once may do.

+4 Thoughtseize. I really like card disruption for this deck since it is good for control decks wherein discarding their answers or winning conditions would cripple them.

+2 Primal Command. The perfect answer for mid-range decks, BR aggro with Anathemancer and BG Elves.

+2 Infest. Now that Kithkins are in popular demand, this card will hit Burrenton Forge Tender together with her Kithkin buddies. It is also awesome against all kinds of Token decks.

+2 Pithing Needle. I’m not sure about this one but it’s an assurance for Fulminator Mages and answer to early Seismic Assault shenanigans. I never used this one on my matches so I would recommend swapping it with Snakeform to deal with Chameleon Colossus war in the mirror or BG Elves.

After we finalized the deck list, we borrowed some cards that I didn’t have, specially the filter lands and Thought Hemorrhage from our friends.

I only got little time left before leaving and I do not have the time to play test my deck for real since I still have work on weekdays. My only outlet was to play MWS at the office during break time, sometimes sneaking a match while I’m waiting for some uploads to finish.

All of my match ups were doing great and I’m glad to say I only lose to multiple mulligans, so I thought me and my deck are all set for the National qualifier’s battle.

It was Thursday and I was chatting with my friend Alex(currently at Manila) through Skype and asking when I’m leaving and so I said on Friday and will be back to Iloilo on Sunday, telling him I was excited to play on Saturday for the Qualifiers.

But I got it all wrong because the Qualifier is on Sunday instead. I got confused and a bit irritated for I have to reschedule my flight once again. Good thing was that before leaving for Manila on Saturday, I still was able to visit the new tournament venue at Rei’s place which I think was a great area since there are lots of spaces.

Moreover, I also got some good luck greetings from fellow magic players and got a hold of Franz’s mystical score sheet and Makoy’s magical ballpen as my good luck charms.

I arrived at Manila around 9:30pm, Alex and I set for a meeting place at Glorieta Mall. We are able to meet up together with Jonathan, who is one of the popular Batchoy players in Manila also known as the “Ankle Breaker”. We brought our deck with us and find the right place to unwind and at the same time play Magic. We talked a lot about the metagame as well as their life there in the metro while enjoying some pizza, beers and cool live music.

After some relaxing moment, we headed at Alex’s apartment and did a lot of play testing and we also brew a deck for him for the next day’s event. We felt exhausted and slept at around 5:30am. After a well rested 3 hours sleep, we started to fix things up and headed directly to the venue.

We registered on time and got some spare moments to have a heavy meal at Robinson’s food court. After eating lunch, we finalized the deck list with my last minute change on Loxodon Warhammer to Boggart Ram-Gang.

It’s Game Time!

We arrived at the tournament venue and it was infested by Magic players and their friends, others were just spectators while some have already qualified for Nationals. Most probably, they were there to scout some decks or cheer for their teammates. We also met our Ilonggo friends Nathaniel and Omar getting ready to cheer for my side.

As we roam around, Jonathan secretly pinpointed players that are good which we call “Mga Makahang” and then introduced me to his teammates from Philcoa. I didn’t really spent a lot of time talking with them since I’m more focused on how to beat the “Mga Makahang” guys. The moment the pairings were up, me and my teammate Alex got good luck cheers from our circle of support.

Round 1 vs Kenneth Hernandez (BW Tokens)

Athan already introduced him to me a while ago, he is a friendly guy and according to Athan, he’s going to provide a deck for him for Nationals. Well, that’s great news for he doesn’t need to spend money anymore for the upcoming Nationals. Geez, I wish I could have a sponsor too. As expected I’ll be facing lots of token decks. Without further ado, we started the match as the time clock begun.

He opened up with Tidehollow Sculler and exiled one of my sweepers in the form of Jund Charm while my first play was the second turn Putrid Leech and followed it up with Boggart Ram-Gang, dealing a large amount of damage in a single turn. I had all the removal in the world to deal with his threats and he quickly scoops to my hasty dudes.

Sideboard Plan:
-2 Terror, -1 Kitchen Finks
+2 Infest, +1 Anathemancer

Another impressive start for Kenneth as he opened up with Tidehollow Sculler against my sweepers. I got a slow start as my Putrid Leech showed up in turn 3. He was able to summon Murderous Redcap and scratched me for two damage. But I got my defense set-up with Kitchen Finks and some spot removals for his Cloudgoat Ranger and sweepers for his comrades, finishing it off with the hasty goblin and Bloodbraid Elf.

Record:
1-0, 2-0

Round 2 vs Briggs Miraflor (GW Tokens)

Another token deck but of a different variant for it has green on it. He is also one of the players on the event who finished in the top 8. I don’t have any background of him neither my scouts so I tested his skills in this round.

In game 1, I started with a mulligan and kept a mediocre hand of 6. He began the game with a curve, turn 1 Noble Hierarch, turn 2 Spectral Procession and turn 3 Ajani Goldmane pumping up his dudes and bashed me to the skies. Unfortunately for me, I was not able to draw any of my removals and I quickly got scooped.

Sideboard Plan:
-4 Kitchen Finks, -1 Chameleon Colossus
+2 Infest, +1 Anathemancer, +2 Bituminous Blast

In game two, I kept a hand with a sweeper and removals with some Boggart Ram-Gangs and Bloodbraid Elf. The first play was the Steward of Valeron from Briggs and I had the goblin running on turn 3. He managed to drop Burrenton Forge Tender and Kitchen Finks but I had the answer for them in the form of Infest. He still got gases after the sweeper as he dropped the Cloudgoat Ranger quickly followed by Ajani Goldmane. Fortunately, I was able to hold the line with my crits and then I sense I was in deep trouble for I had no sweeper in hand to deal with the horde of tokens, so I must rely on my top deck. A miracle happened as I was able to draw Jund Charm hence I waited for the right time to cast it since his deck has no disruptions. On his turn he dropped his second Cloudgoat Ranger then bestowed them with Ajani’s counters but before that happen, the ceremony was disrupted as I windmill slammed Jund Charm choosing the pyroclasmic effect. That left him with 2 Giants, and on my turn, the long awaited Maelstrom Pulse makes his price worth as he ended the joyful moments of the Giants. Moments later, Bloodbraid Elf and company finished off the game.

I was a bit disappointed as I shifted back my hand to 5 cards playing on draw. To my surprise, it played well as I had the curve. Turn 2 Putrid Leech then followed by Boggart Ram-Gang, although he was able to drop tokens, I still had the pulses ready to sweep off the floor, keeping my beats down running. Turns later I earned the W!

Record:
2-0, 4-1

Round 3 vs Lewie Dimapilis (GW Tokens)

I faced another GW Tokens in two matches in a row. Coming from a victory before this match raised my morale a little bit. It was a bad start for me as I mulled to 5 again, so I kept a not so impressive cards with two lands but without a black source. I was on play but didn’t have an early threat as his first play was Qasali Pridemage. My third land appeared but still no black source so I unleashed my Boggart Ram-Gang for some beating. He was able to drop multiple Wilf-Leaf Lieges and without spot removals to deal with them, I was quickly scooped.

In post board, my first play was a turn 2 Putrid Leech as he answered Kitchen Finks and the BFT as defense. I was able to react back by sweeping the pesky pro-red Kithkin and the persisted Finks off the battlefield with my Infest. Lewie still got some reinforcements with Cloudgoat Ranger plus Ajani Goldmane to pump up his guys. Unfortunately for him, I got answers for his threats, Anathemaner for Ajani, Pulse for the tokens and Bituminous Blast for the Ranger and cascading into Bloodbraid Elf and Boggart Ram-Gang for the win.

For the deciding game, Lewie had a good start with turn 1 Noble Hierarch and turn 2 Kitchen Finks but taking some bite from his painlands. I was able to Volcanic Fallout the board and dropped threats after threats on the form of the Ram Gangs and Bloodbraid Elf. He tried to come back by summoning Cloudgoat Ranger but I have drawn multiple Pulses to deal with his army. With a little help from my Anathemancer the game was over in no time.

Record:
3-0, 6-2

Round 4 vs Jo-Dale G. Matias (5 Color Control)

According to my scout Athan, this guy is playing 5 Color Control for a long time. Well this means he’s more experienced using it. I’ve already tested with Athan back in Alex apartment about this matchup and my deck did well if being played smartly.

Game one was very impressive as I started with turn 2 Putrid Leech on play and turn 3 Boggart Ram-Gang. He doesn’t have an answer to it and he quickly scoops.

Sideboard Plan:
-2 Volcanic Fallout, -2 Jund Charm, -1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Anathemancer, +4 Thoughtseize

In game 2, my Putrid Leech came out early but this time Jo-Dale came prepared with his timely Agony Warp on my Leech in response to my pump. Multiple Kitchen Finks came through as I play around his Broken Ambitions to secure myself to have threats against him. Wrath of God from Jo-Dale shrinks my Finks but thanks to their persist for they still remained in play for some action. Some Plumveils also showed up but with my spot removals, they won’t last for long and I secured my army with Thoughtseize for Cryptic Command and dealt the final damage and won the match.

Record:
4-0, 8-2

Round 5 vs Arvin T. Botin (Faeries)

Going to this round, a win will secure me the top 8 slot. I saw this guy playing Faeries during round 4 as I was seated just next to his previous match. I will be facing the nemesis of the Standard decks and I think this could be the final test for my deck. I have played Faeries before and I know how it works as well as its weaknesses.

He won the die roll and started off with turn 2 Bitterblossom and I match him with my Putrid Leech. He continues to attack me airborne and took some Faerie bites. I manage to spray insecticide with Jund Charm to clear off the skies and connect with my Leech. Not to be out done, Arvin was able to drop Faerie armies with Spellstutter Sprites and Scion of Oona but I got a weapon to stop this madness which is Volcanic Fallout that cleared the board while Boggart Ram-Gang and the Leech finish it off.

Sideboard Plan:
-4 Maelstrom Pulse, -1 Garruk Wildspeaker, -1 Anathemancer
+2 Bituminous Blast, +4 Thoughtseize

In game two, Putrid Leech made his first appearance. Arvin passes the turn with open mana and I know he has Agony Warp thus I made it certain that my Leech will survive by not pumping it. He dropped a late Bitterblossom and he was stuck on three lands for a moment. With one mama open, I grab the opportunity of casting my Boggart Ram-Gang and connect with Leech for seven damage. He found his fourth land and he was able to stall for a turn by tapping out my dudes with Cryptic Command. He also managed to Thoughtseize my hand and discarded my Bituminous Blast which I still couldn’t cast anyway having only four lands in play and that left me with Jund Charm. I made a stupid mistake by not clearing the board while he only got one mana open when he summoned his Scion of Oona to pump his guys while blocking my Leech, which I was forced to pump in order for it to survive, so I instead kept my Charm to have my Leech alive on that turn. On my main phase, I casted Charm to sweep all the pesky blockers but this time Spellstutter Sprite stands on its way as the tokens keep on chumping my Leech and the Goblin fall to Agony Warp. The game is looking grim as he Mistbind Clique me on upkeep and I didn’t draw enough answers, so we packed up for the deciding game.

I was haunted with my mistake in game 2 wherein I could have won that game if I didn’t committed that blunder. Feeling a little bit bothered by the previous game, I tried to forget it and instead focus to the deciding game. Starting off with Putrid Leech on turn 2 and followed by Boggart Ram-Gang, vanished my regrets on the previous game. He was able to stabilize his defense with Bitterblossom but I caught him off guard with my Volcanic Fallout for his tokens. He got stuck with only three lands early on so it was an easy victory for me.

Record:
5-0, 10-3

Round 6 vs Kirsten C. Golpeo (BG Elves)

After round 5 was over, I was amazed and glad to see my name in the number 1 spot, I and the rest of the Iloilo Boys were very happy about the results because I was the only one who got a 5-0 record. Our plan was for me to draw the rest of the games to secure the top 8 slot. The pairings are up and I was paired against the number two seed, which in my surprised was a girl. I offered her a draw but the problem is, she already got four wins and one draw and she can’t risk to draw another game and must win the last one, as a result, we were obliged to play the match.

Before the game begun, we were stopped for a deck check and were called for a Featured Match. It was my first time to be on the featured match so no room for errors and other stupid stuff. People from NG were covering our match so here is the story of what happened:

Not a good sign to start the game as I shipped back my first seven cards, but my six was a keeper. I won the die roll and going first as the first play was turn two Putrid Leech, which quickly follow by Boggart Ram-Gang. She was able to drop Wrens Run Vanquisher, so I was forced to trade my Leech with it since I don’t have any spot removals. A turn later, Bloodbraid Elf showed up and brought along another Boggart Ram-Gang for a raiding party.

Sideboard Plan:
-2 Volcanic Fallout, -2 Anathemancer
+2 Bituminous Blast, +2 Primal Command

In game 2, we both started the game with Putrid Leech, stalling the game until both of us got Chameleon Colossus. She was able to fetch lands thanks to Civic Wayfinder and she was ahead on land count. We were able to trade Colossi but she replaced them with Kitchen Finks. Although I had some Maelstrom Pulses for her double Finks and Loxodon Warhammer, the Profane Command brings back her Colossus from the grave and I was out numbered by the Elves.

It was a horrible start for me in game three as I was mulligan down to three, the worst ever due to no lands on my opening draws, so I kept a one lander, a Finks and a Terminate. She started very well and was able to drop Colossus on turn three. I had the chance to catch up with Kitchen Finks on defense but with card disadvantage due to a mulligan to 3, I easily got out of gas. It was so disappointing of being unlucky on my last game and not even having a good fight. Well that is Magic; you really need some luck in order to win.

Record:
5-1 , 11-5

Round 7 vs Orlando J. Ampo (Bant Aggro)

Checking the standings after round 6, I found out I’m still on the top 4, hanging at the number 3 spot, so me and my opponent agreed to draw the match since both our ratings are higher compared to any of those guys with a 5-1 record.

Record:
5-1-1, 11-5-1

I felt very exhausted and hungry after 7 rounds of Magic. We decided to have dinner early on so we could come back before the top 8 starts. We were so glad about the results that I made it to Top 8, my friend Alex was unfortunate who only got a 3-3 record hence, he just dropped in the tournament. Even though he didn’t make it, he did enjoy the experience.

After we ate, it’s time for us to go back to the venue. The moment we arrived, people are already crowding the final standing’s corner. We tried to sneak peak at the standings and I was at the top 4 and was very happy about it. But there is still one more game to go and that is the top 8 playoffs.

Well I’m once again faced against the only person who gave me defeat and that was Kirsten. Looks like it would be a rematch and it’s my chance to avenge my downfall and grab a spot in the Philippine Nationals, which after all is my main goal in joining the event.

Top 8 vs Kirsten C. Golpeo (BG Elves)

I won the die roll and this time I kept my opener. I had the curve on this one as I play Putrid Leech on turn two and turn three Boggart Ram-Gang. Although we traded Leech for her Wrens Run Vanquisher, my Goblin hero keeps on ramming through. I got answers for her blockers and it was soon over as the Anathemancer made the final blow.

She started fast on game 2 as Wrens Run Vanquisher showed up early on her second turn. I got some defensive stop with the Ram Gang but it was quickly Pulsed out of play. She continued to drop threats while I haven’t drawn any of my removals, giving her the win

In game 3, I started off with Putrid Leech. She got an early Llanowar Elves and got Pulse for my Leech, while she continues to beat me with her 1/1 Elf. We trade a couple of critters with Ram Gangs, Bloodbraid Elves, Kitchen Finks and Vanquishers until I dropped Chameleon Colossus which she was obliged to chump blocked. She summoned Puppeteer Clique and stole the Bloodbraid Elf from my grave and attacked me bringing down my life to 9, then summoned Garruk and put a Beast token on her side. I keep on attacking with my crits and brought her down to 12.

With my life dwindling down and her having an airborne dude, all I needed was to gain life and return Garruk to Kirten’s library with my Primal Command which could delay her so I’ll have time to setup my offense. My next offensive strike brought her down to 4 but she quickly established her defense with Beast token and some elves. A timely Bloodbraid Elf and cascaded Maelstrom Pulse on the Beast token secured my way through the top 4.

Record:
6-1-1, 13-6-1

Ending

I was overjoyed about my win against Kirsten, avenging my downfall and earning a slot for Nationals. My other comrades were also jovial and Athan got excited about the Nationals where we will play together with Mao as the Ilonggo group. The top 4 was not played; we just claimed our prizes of booster packs and went home.

It was an extraordinary experience joining the National Qualifiers in Manila. I was also happy that my deck did well despite I lack the time to play test with it. I never expected to make it to the top four since there are lots of good players also hungry to qualify. Maybe I was just lucky enough to make it through.

Here are a few of the pics taken during the event.

(From Left) Athan, Me, Omar, Nathaniel and Alex

Me and Kirsten pose during the Top 8 Match (Image from NG Facebook)

Serious playing on Game 2 of the match

Special Thanks to:
Alex – for the accommodations and everything
Jonathan – for the encouragement and scouting
Nathaniel and Omar – for the support
Makoy – for convincing me to pilot this deck ^:)^
Bossing – for some advices
To All Magic Iloilo players – for the support and lending of cards
Elena – for the inspiration and support

Here’s the budget Naya deck version made by our guest writer and active forum member Ronron.
Hi guys. This is my budget Naya deck suggestion for Alara Block constructed format. I have no school for 10 days (due to swine flu) wheeee~! So here’s the build.

CREATURES: 27
4 WILD NACATL - PhP40.00set
4 CERODON YEARLING - PhP40.00set
4 STEWARD OF VALERON - PhP40.00set
4 WOOLY THOCTAR – PhP150.00
4 GLORYSCALE VIASHINO – PhP150.00set
4 BLOODBRAID ELF – PhP350.00
3 ENLISTED WURM - PhP90.00

SPELLS: 11
4 NAYA CHARM – PhP120.00set
4 COLOSSAL MIGHT – PhP50.00set
3 OBLIVION RING – PhP15.00-PhP20.00ea

ARTIFACT: 2
1 BEHEMOTH SLEDGE – PhP70.00
1 MAGE SLAYER - PhPp20.00

LANDS: 24
4 NAYA PANORAMA - PhP40.00set
7 PLAIN – PhP 14.00set
6FOREST – PhP14.00set
6 MOUNTAIN – PhP10.00set

SIDEBOARD: 15
2 CELESTIAL PURGE – PhP 80.00
3 QASALI PRIDEMAGE – PhP30.00
2 GLORY OF WARFARE - PhP120.00
4 VALERON OUTLANDER – PhP40.00
3 SIGIL BLESSING – PhP30.00
1 MAGE SLAYER - PhP20.00

TOTAL: P1,578.00

The Beaters

Wild Nacatl - is a 1/1, 1 drop that becomes a 2/2 at turn 2 and 3/3 by turn 3.

Cerodon Yearling - a 2/2 2 drop that has haste and vigilance. A head on attacker and can defend during your opponents turn.

Wooly Thoctar - a 5/4 3 drop. Come on, this card isn’t hard to not like.

Bloodbraid elf - a ‘one-for-two’ creature that has haste. So if lucky enough, you drop Bloodbraid then get a Cerodon Yearling, a 5 damage on offense and you can top it of with Colossal Might.

Gloryscale Viashino - now here’s one heck of a threat. A 4 drop 3/3 with a +3/+3 for every multi-colored spell played. So here’s a nice scenario:

TURN 1: 1 forest, drop Wild Nacatl
TURN 2: 1 plain, drop Steward. Nacatl is now 2/2
TURN 3: 1 mountain, drop in Gloryscale. Nacatl is now 3/3 & attacks with Valeron.
TURN 4: 1 (land), play Sigil Blessing on Gloryscale(now a 9/9), Nacatl at 4/4 and Valeron at 3/3. Then play Colossal might on Gloryscale now its a 13/11 with trample!

Enlisted Wurm - a 5/5 6 drop with cascade. If lucky you’ll be dropping another beastie or playing a ‘Steroid Spell’ at the same time pumping your Gloryscale Viashino.

Spells

Oblivion Ring - a budget version of Path to Exile. A decent spot remover.

Naya Charm - can be a spot remover with the 3 damage to creature. a card returner. or tap all creatures so all your beaters can pass through.

Colossal Might - a good pumper with Trample.

Sideboard

Qasali Pridemage - is anti enchantment and artifact. Bye, bye scourgalss
Celestial Purge - is another decent spot remover. Affecting Esper, Naya and Jund and anything with black and red in their color.
Valeron Outlander - Goblin Outlander! Eat your heart out..
Glory of Warfare - is a pumper for both ofense and defense. Pumps up all critters, especially your Gloryscale.
Sigil Blessing + Glory of Warfare = Stampede

Price based on card pricings here in Manila. Have a happy playtest!