Picks of Pics: A Three-Tourny Special (February 28, March 7, and March 14, 2009)
Written by Oliver Mastilero
Friday, 20 March 2009 06:56
Hello once again! It had been a busy three weeks for me and I was not able to post last Feb 28 to March 14 Picks of Pics on time, so I’m deeply sorry about that. To make up to what’s been missing, I compiled the three tournament pictures to bring you a 3 Tourney Special Edition of Picks of Pics.
Let’s begin on last February 28, 2009 Standard Tournament at MSIS.
February 28 Standard Tournament
This is how crowded the Tournament scene and it was totally hot! We really need a fully air conditioned room with this kind of scenario. I was surprised to see that many players joined the tournament so it went to 5 rounds of playing Magic.
Siding in Cloudthresher (center) against Faeries is very devastating for a Faerie player like Patrick, but with the Puppeteer Clique (center-left with a dice) from Pat, he stole the Cloudthresher and another creature in the form of Kitchen Finks from Herman. How did he do that? Two creatures in 1 Puppeteer Clique? Well, thanks to the trigger ability of Cloudthresher, dealing two damage would kill the Puppeteer Clique thus persist from the Clique will let Pat steal another creature from Herman’s graveyard. This I would say “A Taste of your own Medicine!”
This is what you’ll get if you’re playing against BW tokens by Raymund. Although Knight-Captain of Eos (center-top) keeps these massive tokens at bay but for how long? Only a mass destruction would clear this out but unfortunately for JP, a call for God’s wrath isn’t coming. Maybe more prayers are needed.
Conflux really brought us new surprises like these 2 Goblin Outlanders by Martin perfectly built for white dudes. Even the bane of all red players, Burrenton Forge Tender by Zeichen couldn’t stop the Goblins from bashing. They were just passing by.
The bogeyman deck in Standard (Faeries) can do nothing against Volcanic Fall out which is one of the best anti Faerie solution by Gian. These poor Faerie tokens by me (thanks to Zeichen for providing me these pretty looking Faerie tokens) can’t be saved from the inevitable.
The top deck of the day for Mao! Yelling for Siege-Gang Commander without cards in hand and dying in the next turn of Patrick, Mao literally summons Siege-Gang Commander from the top of his deck for the win against the Faerie Master.
The top 8 competitors from the Back-Left: Patrick (Fearies), Gian (Boat Brew), Mao (Boat Brew), Rei (WR Kithkins), and Jaime (Mono Black Control); Sitting-Left: Raymund (BW Tokens), Mark “Zeichen” (Boat Brew), and Martin (Blightning Aggro).
The battle rage on and on for the top 8 competitors, each fighting for honor and glory for the semifinals slot while the spectators watch every single game.
After the grueling top 8 match, 4 of the most powerful planewalkers (From Left: Gian, Mao, Patrick and Rei) walks out the prizes and due to time constraints the top 4 match was never played out and that leaves for the standings to decide their places in the tournament. The result? Mao as First, followed by Rei, Patrick and Gian.
The next tournament was last March 7, 2009, a Standard Type 2 format at MSIS.
March 7 Standard Tournament
The weather was fine for these players as they slug it out to determine whose going to win this week’s event. There were 14 people who joined the tournament and this means a 4 rounder event.
Once 3 Planeswalkers namely Elspeth, Garruk and Chandra is on your side, this will spell trouble for your opponent. Ramon couldn’t do anything to stop the trio from Ralph once they wreak havoc in play. Four Planeswalker versus one is totally unfair!
Just like Nassif and Orsini-Jones in the quarterfinals of Pro Tour Kyoto, Mark Co “Tonton” acted as Nassif as he plays Cruel Ultimatum aiming at Mark Alloso’s (Makoy aka Zeichen) head for the win!
The Broodmate Dragon aka “Double Dragon” meets double Path of Exile from Mao to make the road clear for his Ranger of Eos to connect the final points of damage against Tonton.
The Untouchables Deft Duelist from Limited sees play in Standard tournament from JP and secure the death of Ajani Vengeant of Michael S. aka Nonoy. Only a sweeper could stop these Shrouded Chicks.
The future is not good for the Kithkins as Martin casted Broken Ambitions against Makoy’s Ajani Goldmane and won the clash were it revealed an Infest against a Wizened Cenn. The tokens and Goldmeadow Stalwart of Makoy knows they are going to die when he will pass the turn. Poor Kithies…
My big fellow Doran, the Siege Tower was easily tempted by JayR’s Sower of Temptation, leaving the Noble Hierach as a lone defender. This is the worst scenario for me.
Getting ready for the Semifinals match! After 4 rounds of Swiss Magic the top 4 competitors slug it out to determine who’ll take out the pot prize. The top 4 pairings were Mao using Boat Brew and trying to win the tournament for the 2nd straight time and facing PR Melo piloting the Naya Aggro featuring Meglonoth. On the other table was me using The Dark Bant against JP’s Blue White Lark.
The Cheering Squadron led by Ramon and Jaime gives PR Melo high hopes to defeat the unstoppable Mao!
But unfortunately for PR, Mao’s horde of Boat Brew crews are in play and giving PR threat after threat which earned Mao the win and into the Finals.
Meanwhile on the other match of the Semifinals, I manage to sneak a win in 2 games to one against JP’s very defensive Blue White Lark. Thanks to Gaddock Teeg, there will be no Wrath of God and Cryptic Commands for JP. After our match, I and Mao decided to split the prizes.
After 5 rounds of backbreaking game of Magic including the semifinal match, the Eversun Boys, consists of JP (finished 3rd), me (ended 2nd), and Mao (the Champ), and the “Hope of Legend Killers” PR Melo made it to the top 4.
And the latest tournament was held last March 14, 2009, another Standard Type 2 format at MSIS.
March 14 Standard Tournament
I was surprised to hear that we finally reached 18 players since we left our previous tournament venue at Kansihan sa Cubay. As expected, the venue goes warmer but this didn’t hinder our players as they started to play it out early. We also welcomed new planeswalkers joining the local tournament scene! And here are some highlights on this day…
A massive air attacks by the Glorified Faerie Tokens courtesy of the Bitterblossom and the Kithkins, means all business for Raymund as he flew away for the win against PR Melo.
The Valeria Boys are sitting in the same row and faced each other in Round 3; soon JayR (left) will be the new recruit. I’m sure Valeria would be the next venue for these guys after the tournament is over; time for those iced cold RH!
The triple Burrenton Forge Tender from Makoy thanks to Ranger of Eos as their official fetcher secures himself from burns, red dudes and of course the victory. This is absolutely the sickest play that was faced by Jaime.
After the exciting match between Makoy and Jaime, Makoy manage to give a nice smug to the camera as both players shows duel etiquette through hand shakes after the game. GG!
A battalion of soldier tokens by Omar came from the aftermath of Martial Coup are ready to rumble the Double Striked and Exalted Treetop Village but thanks for the Obelisk of Alara (right) standing by to shrink the ape land.
In the meantime, while other players are still finishing up the round, some were also busy selling and trading cards. Yes that is what Magic the Gathering is all about! Some of us received some textless cards from the DCI through the Player Rewards system which are mailed to players who are registered and played at least 5 DCI sanctioned tournaments. These cards were instantly trade targets for collectors and also for tournament plays.
After 5 rounds of exhausting duels of Magic, it’s time to relax for these two guys as they both listen to their favorite music on an iPhone while waiting for the final standings of the top 8.
The long wait is over as the top 8 competitors wasted no time and started the quarterfinal round to determine who will make it to top 4. The pairing were: Makoy versus Mao (top table) aiming for his 3 straight tournament wins in a row, both players are in the mirror match and using Boat Brew. The other match is between PR Melo and Tonton (center table). PR piloting a combo deck of Dramatic Entrance with Progenitus, and Tonton who is using the best control deck in Standard, the Five Color Control. Finally the last pair was JP against Nonoy (bottom table) wherein JP is playing a White Blue Tribal Rouge deck and Nonoy has the Naya Giants. Not to be forgotten was Raymund, who fortunately had free wins courtesy of Ian Setias, which made him advanced to semifinals with no sweat at all.
The Soul of the World has Returned! As PR Melo manage to summon Progenitus dramatically in turn 5 this was made possible by the uncontested Dramatic Entrance. No walls could ever stop this thing from killing Tonton in two combat attacks. Ultimately Savage!
It was in the deciding game where the play got really exciting as PR Melo top decked a Negate to secure him a win from Tonton’s Crytic Command. If only Tonton could tap Progenitus and blow his Scourglass on upkeep.
The Legend Killer Superstar himself and the crowd favorite PR Melo shows off his top two cards, the mighty Progenitus and Negate to knock Tonton out from competition and made him advanced to the top 4.
The rare appearance of the long forgotten Brion Stoutarm from Nonoy manages to bring home the victory against JP’s Blue White Tribal Rogue deck.
The mirror match between two Boat Brew players, Mao and Makoy really depended on board position and good draws. It was master Zeichen’s day as he overwhelmed Mao’s crew with his spicy goblin tokens from his Siege-Gang Commander and ended Mao’s winning streak.
It was a glorious day for these top 4 competitors as they took their victory pose. The semifinals was never played out and they split the top 4 prizes and for the result, PR Melo(top) finished Fourth, Nonoy (bottom left) ended Second, Raymund (bottom center) as the Champion, and Makoy (bottom right) for the Third Place finish.
So that’s about it for the three weeks of Magic: The Gathering experience here in Iloilo. Till next week!
Bye y’all! 
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nice tournament report oli! kudos! =)
cool pics from the master rocker itself.
cool pics !!! wahahaha!!tingbanay ba!!!