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Hey ya’ll! Its been a while since the last issue of Picks of Pics, I know many awaits for the updates and the news that others missed for those who wasn’t able to join the weekly Magic Tournament at MSIS which happened last Feb. 21.

So here are the snapshots of what you have probably missed…

Ajani Goldmane plus Kitchen Finks by Raymund is totally sick! Thanks to Ajani’s second skill, it removes those persist counter of Finks, do the math: 1 + (-1) = ?. These Finks is so hard to deal with especially if your deck is aggro like what Jayr have (Jayr using a UW Merfolk). Thats why “if symptoms persist, consult Dr. Ajani”….

It is common to see Wild Nacatl being a 3/3 in early turns if your format is Extended and especially if you are playing the Zoo Deck with Fetch Lands and Shock Lands. But how about in Standard Type 2 where there’s no presence of Fetch Lands, Shock Lands or Dual Lands? It was made possible by Nonoy in turn 3, great mana fixing dude!

Five Color Control in a mirror match? Hmmm this would be a boring one, which makes Ramon (bottom right) doing Ninoy Aquino’s Signature move. Despite of the lack of excitement of the match, the spectators Omar and Martin find a way to solve long games… “Thinking”

This might be the main reason why the match took a whole round to finish a single game. The new “gayness” (pronounced as “geyn-ness”) combo since Martyr of Sands and Proclamation of Rebirth, Cloudthresher + Wall of Reverence by Mark Co, gaining him a bundle of life every turn. With Runed Halo in Play naming Cloudthresher and Scepter of Fugue keeping Tonton empty handed, the game was stalled but somehow Mark Co pulled the victory out of this situation.

Black White Tokens at its finest! Obelisk of Alara (the Swiss Knife of control decks) by Omar has no match against the beefed up Spirit Tokens of Raymund.

The shiny Platinum Angel (left) will not assure the safety for Jaime if there’s a handful of Cryptic Command (a.k.a. Blue Wrath) and Rafiq of the Many (right) in play.

After a grueling 4 Rounds of Swiss Magic, the top 4 players took a victory pose for the site. From left is Mao who finished 2nd using RW Cruise, Joseph (mid) who finished 3rd using Red Deck Wins, and the Champion himself Gian (right) using RW Cruise! Also missing in action is Herman who finished 4th but immediately left the tournament scene after the prices are split. Congratulations to the Top 4!

Here are some captured moments after the tournament.

The Hellspark Elemental pose by Joseph after finishing 3rd piloting an underdog deck in the Metagame, Red Deck Wins featuring the best addition from Conflux for the deck, Hellspark Elemental and Volcanic Fallout.

For the first time I saw Mark Ian a.k.a. Zeichen ditches his glasses while playing the game that he loved, Magic the Gathering. I wonder if he does this at disco clubs.

For the rest of the pics, click here. Until next week!

*Special thanks to MSIS for the great accommodation.