Greetings everyone!
I'd be talking about the errors I committed while counting to twenty. I used Jonny Magic's 75. In my opinion, adopting a straightforward type of approach is the best way to dance in a combo infested meta.
January 8th
Neutral Grounds, Glorieta
FNM 12:30pm pod
RD 1 Affinity
I won the round by two zero. No error was made.
out: 1 Thought Scour, 1 Past in Flames and 1 Desperate Ravings
in: 3 Shatterstorm
January 8th
Neutral Grounds, Glorieta
FNM 12:30pm pod
RD 1 Affinity
I won the round by two zero. No error was made.
out: 1 Thought Scour, 1 Past in Flames and 1 Desperate Ravings
in: 3 Shatterstorm
1-0 (2-0)
RD 2 Esper Control
I had one error in this game. It was in my second turn and he's tapped out. On my table I had an Island while my hand had: Island, Serum Visions, Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour, Steam Vents. What I did was I casted Serum Visions (drawn Pyromancer Ascension off it) then Thought Scour then Probe. What I should have done was Probe first - take another two damage off the blue-red shock land - dropped that red enchantment. Ascension could have went online in a turn or two then win the game from there.
out: 1 Desperate Ravings, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Pyromancer Ascension and 1 Thought Scour
in: 1 Defense Grid, 3 Blood Moon
1-0-1 (3-1-1)
RD 3 URg agrgo
I had two errors. First, I kept a hand of four non-fetch lands a Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour and a ritual. I drew lands off those cantrips and irrelevant spells off my regular draw step. I should have mulled that hand.
Another mistake was, probably, when I produced 28 goblin tokens in my third turn. Sadly, his Volcanic Fallout single-handedly took care of them. Looking back at it, I should have settled for 16 goblins rather than 28. In this way, I could've saved my graveyard as a reserve resources just in case the game goes a little longer.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Desperate Ravings
in: 3 Empty the Warrens and 2 Blood Moon
1-1-1 (4-3-1)
RD 4 BW Tokens
We can still win even without our aces (Pyromancer Ascension and/ or Goblin Electromancer) on the table. Here:
(i) Make sure that You will have at least six mana on your pool if Past in Flames is in your hand; or seven if Past in Flames is in your graveyard. If you have four open mana and has two Desperate Rituals in your hand; do not forget to splice it for it will give you 7 red mana.
(ii) Make a chain of storm nine spells, then cast two Grapeshots at the end effectively dealing (1st Grapeshot) 10 damages plus (2nd Grapeshot) 11 damages, this is of course assuming we are up against a non life gaining opponent.
(iii) Sometimes it happens, grind it from 1 to 20 or whatever his life is at.
For games two and three, majority of them (BW tokens in general) do these:
i increase the number of discard spells
ii bring-in graveyard hates such
iii some bring-in Ethersworn Canonist.
iv others bring-in Zealous Persecution
out: 1 Desprate Ravings
in: 1 Echoing Truth
1-1-2 (5-4-2)
January 9th
Madcap San Pedro
I got to play test with my friend who went undefeated from today's R4 game. We only had it three games, all with our 60.
Moral lesson versus prison type decks, never fold automatically to Chalice of the Void for one and/ or to a Trinisphere on the battlefield. Yes Chalice of the Void do counters your spell, but not the copied spell off our red enchantment. As for the Trinisphere, make sure you do your math assignment correctly. Also, take note of the color you are paying. Otherwise, all your efforts will just go down the drain. Just grind him out if you can.
The night of January 14th, I did a little changes.
out: all the Desperate Ravings
in: two Faithless Looting and my third Grapeshot.
As pointed out in Andrew Shrout's article, when it comes to sculpting your hand, especially during early turns, Faithless Looting is better. This made me took out all the ravings and replaced them with 2 looting and a third Grapeshot. Sideboard stays the same. Unfortunately, FNM at Neutral Grounds Glorietta did not happened because it failed to register the minimum number of players required. I just had a play test against three persons: Jund (0-2), Goryo (1-1) and UR Twin (2-3).
From what I can recall, I committed the two mistakes: (i) versus Jund, I forgot the golden rule: never drop our goblin without any open mana. And (ii) versus twin, or against other combo in general, always fetch the shock land.
January 16th
Madcap San Pedro
It's the first day of Pre-Release of Oath of the Gatewatch. This is the weekend wherein most of the shops do not host any event aside from PRs. I spend my day play testing again: Merfolk (3-0), Goryo (3-0) and BW tokens (2-3).
Against BW tokens, I had a game wherein on my table I only had a Steam Vents and my hand: Desperate Ritual, two Serum Visions, two Gitaxian Probes and a Sleight of Hands. I cast SoH and saw these: Pyromancer Ascension and a fetch land. Between the two, which one will you get? I elected for the red permanent; (because) mathematically speaking, the chances of drawing another red permanent is lower than drawing another land. I draw a Manamorphose for the draw step, pay two life from the peep privilege in which it awarded me an Island. Called out my red enchantment. It went online the turn after and win the game a turn more.
January 17th
Friday Quest, Mandaluyoung
Round one against Jund. Cantrips delivered the goodies that fueled my storm count to end our game three with a lethal Grapeshot.
out: 1 Thought Scour, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Grapeshot
in: 3 Blood Moon, 1 Empty the Warrens
1-0 (2-1)
For rounds two and three, I faced a Tron and a UR Twin decks respectively. Both games, cantrips did not gave the cards I needed.
I did not finish the four rounder contest. I went home for some unexpected duty which I cannot refuse.
1-2 (4-5).
A day after, at Glorieta NG, I get to play test against a GW Aura Enchantment deck. 3-1 without sideboard and 2-0 with sideboard. Also against Scapeshift 2-1 all with main deck. Against GW Aura Enchantment, I took out 1 Ascension, 1 Thought Scour, 2 Gitaxians. I bring-in 2 Blood Moon, 1 Empty the Warrens and an Echoing Truth. And against Scapeshift decks, be more careful when playing against Scapeshifts because they pack a lot of counters.
Pinoy Planeswalker Modern Series
First Leg, Madcap San Pedro
24 January
We had it 6 rounds then cut to top 8 to determine who will get the first four slots for their finale on December 2016.
My chronological match-ups were:
Burn 2-1
BG rock 1-2
8 racks 1-2
Infect 2-0
Affinity 1-2
Versus Burn
Reserve your Lightning Bolt for their Eidolon of the Great Rebel.
Empty the Warrens for at least 8 is a good route against them.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Empty the Warrens
Versus BG Rock
Disrupt plus Abrupt Decay that can hit both of our wincon (Pyromancer and Goblin) plus an Scavenging Ooze, not to mention Maelstrum Pulse, are the stuff that you need to bare in mind, always. Plus Golgari Charm from their sideboard to negate your mob of goblin route.
out: 1 Faithless Looting, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Thought Scour
in: 3 Blood Moon, 2 Empty the Warrens
Versus 8 Racks
You'll have to grind when up against this type of deck. Do not lose hope if they successfully discard your key spells. An online Pyromancer Ascension or via Past in Flames route by ramping up to six or seven mana source are the two main ways on how we will win against them. I would not recommend going Empty the Warrens.
Side board: No changes.
Infect
They are fast. So chances on winning game one is next to being lucky. Use your Lightning Bolts wisely. Empty the Warrens is also, in my opinion, is not a good route.
out: 1 Goblin Electromancer, 1 Past in Flames, 2 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt
Affinity
I kept a one lander in our game. Second land never came. Empty the Warrens route is also fine against them, but I prefer not.
out: 1 Goblin Electromancer, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Thought Scour, 2 Faithless Looting, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Grapeshot
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Shatterstorm
January 30, I solemnly pondered on the current list. Regran Open is going to be 2016's first big event for modern and I do not want to experience those errors again where my cantrips are giving blank cards. Even if there's an online Pyromancer Ascension, there's no guarantee that our cantrip will bestow us the fuel we need. So decided to give the deck a tweak. I need that digging power that can shift gear from primera to quinta, and there's one card perfect for the job - Gifts the Ungiven.
And this is the 75 that I brought.
4 Serum Visions, 4 Sleight of Hand, 4 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Faithless Looting, 4 Thought Scour
4 Manamorphose, 4 Desperate Ritual, 4 Pyretic Ritual
1 Gifts the Ungiven, 4 Pyromancer Ascension, 3 Goblin Electromancer, 3 Past in Flames, 2 Grapeshot
4 Scalding Tarn, 4 Polluted Delta, 1 Flooded Strand, 2 Steam Vents, 2 Shivan Reefs, 3 Island, 1 Mountain
Side board:
4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Shatter Storm, 3 Empty the Warrens, 3 Blood Moon, 2 Echoing Truth
Regran Open: Modern
Regran, Quezon City
January 31
80 plus players, 7 rounds of swiss plus cut to top 8. Okay UR storm, let's do this!
RD 1 Skred Red
I won two games. I am pretty sure I've made no misplays in this round.
out: 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Thought Scour
in: 3 Empty the Warrens
1-0 (2-0)
RD 2 RUG
Game three, I only needed a few storm count to win thanks to his participation: three Gitaxian Probes (take six) plus two fetches (take two), and a take two from his Stomping ground from his first turn.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Empty the Warrens
2-0 (4-1)
RD 3 Scapeshift
End of turn Gifts the Ungiven is the pivotal play of this round.
3-0 (6-1)
RD 4 Naya Burn
Game three, I was down to four and him down to two. On our table I had a bunch of lands and a Goblin Electromancer,and on his side: lands and an Eidolon. He casted a Wild Nacatl. GG
4-0 (8-2)
RD 5 Naya Aggro
Game two, I was down to 5. He put on his poker face. I assess it very carefully. Do you have a Lightning Bolt or none? I pay two, Gitaxian Probe you. He flipped the lone card, LIGHTNING BOLT. Damn. I shouldn't have done that.
Game three, I am down to 4 and he's down to 13. He's tapped out except for one Scared Foundry while I have 7 1/1 goblins and three lands (Reef, Vents and and Island) and my hand: 2 Lightning Bolts and other irrelevant cards. This time instead of looking his poker face, I check for body language. His eyes kept on looking at his standing Foundry. I asked myself, is he waiting for me to use my ouch land then respond with a bolt? Then he touches one of the tapped lands and brought it near to his Foundry. At that very moment, BOROS CHARM suddenly popped from my mind. Swing my 7. He's down to six. Tapped my mountain, bolt you. Tapped my Reef, bolt you? He extend his hand. I asked him if he has a Boros Charm and no bolt in his hand to which he confirm.
Sometimes, you really need to have a good read on your opponent's body language because it will give you hint of what he has in his sleeve.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Empty the Warrens
5-0 (10-3)
Rounds six (Ad Nausem) and seven (Hatebears), ID.
Since it was getting late, top 8 players just decided to equally split the prizes.
Thank you Regran for hosting this one!
There you have it guys! Thanks for reading!
I hope to see you guys in my last Paeng Cup modern tournament.
The Last Paeng Cup
Modern format
March 19
Madcap, San Pedro Laguna
And for those who are looking for any modern action this coming February 6th, here:
GPT modern
Battlegrounds, Pasig
GPT modern
BCI Jupiter
Harangan sa Malolos
Favorite Shop, Malolos
GPT modern
Madcap,San Pedro, Laguna
-Paeng
RD 2 Esper Control
I had one error in this game. It was in my second turn and he's tapped out. On my table I had an Island while my hand had: Island, Serum Visions, Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour, Steam Vents. What I did was I casted Serum Visions (drawn Pyromancer Ascension off it) then Thought Scour then Probe. What I should have done was Probe first - take another two damage off the blue-red shock land - dropped that red enchantment. Ascension could have went online in a turn or two then win the game from there.
out: 1 Desperate Ravings, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Pyromancer Ascension and 1 Thought Scour
in: 1 Defense Grid, 3 Blood Moon
1-0-1 (3-1-1)
RD 3 URg agrgo
I had two errors. First, I kept a hand of four non-fetch lands a Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour and a ritual. I drew lands off those cantrips and irrelevant spells off my regular draw step. I should have mulled that hand.
Another mistake was, probably, when I produced 28 goblin tokens in my third turn. Sadly, his Volcanic Fallout single-handedly took care of them. Looking back at it, I should have settled for 16 goblins rather than 28. In this way, I could've saved my graveyard as a reserve resources just in case the game goes a little longer. out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Desperate Ravings
in: 3 Empty the Warrens and 2 Blood Moon
1-1-1 (4-3-1)
RD 4 BW Tokens
(i) Make sure that You will have at least six mana on your pool if Past in Flames is in your hand; or seven if Past in Flames is in your graveyard. If you have four open mana and has two Desperate Rituals in your hand; do not forget to splice it for it will give you 7 red mana.
(ii) Make a chain of storm nine spells, then cast two Grapeshots at the end effectively dealing (1st Grapeshot) 10 damages plus (2nd Grapeshot) 11 damages, this is of course assuming we are up against a non life gaining opponent.(iii) Sometimes it happens, grind it from 1 to 20 or whatever his life is at.
For games two and three, majority of them (BW tokens in general) do these:
i increase the number of discard spells
ii bring-in graveyard hates such
iii some bring-in Ethersworn Canonist.
iv others bring-in Zealous Persecution
out: 1 Desprate Ravings
in: 1 Echoing Truth
1-1-2 (5-4-2)
January 9th
Madcap San Pedro
I got to play test with my friend who went undefeated from today's R4 game. We only had it three games, all with our 60.
The night of January 14th, I did a little changes. out: all the Desperate Ravings
in: two Faithless Looting and my third Grapeshot.
As pointed out in Andrew Shrout's article, when it comes to sculpting your hand, especially during early turns, Faithless Looting is better. This made me took out all the ravings and replaced them with 2 looting and a third Grapeshot. Sideboard stays the same. Unfortunately, FNM at Neutral Grounds Glorietta did not happened because it failed to register the minimum number of players required. I just had a play test against three persons: Jund (0-2), Goryo (1-1) and UR Twin (2-3).
From what I can recall, I committed the two mistakes: (i) versus Jund, I forgot the golden rule: never drop our goblin without any open mana. And (ii) versus twin, or against other combo in general, always fetch the shock land.
January 16th
Madcap San Pedro
It's the first day of Pre-Release of Oath of the Gatewatch. This is the weekend wherein most of the shops do not host any event aside from PRs. I spend my day play testing again: Merfolk (3-0), Goryo (3-0) and BW tokens (2-3).
January 17th
Friday Quest, Mandaluyoung
Round one against Jund. Cantrips delivered the goodies that fueled my storm count to end our game three with a lethal Grapeshot.
out: 1 Thought Scour, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Grapeshot
in: 3 Blood Moon, 1 Empty the Warrens
1-0 (2-1)
For rounds two and three, I faced a Tron and a UR Twin decks respectively. Both games, cantrips did not gave the cards I needed. I did not finish the four rounder contest. I went home for some unexpected duty which I cannot refuse.
1-2 (4-5).
A day after, at Glorieta NG, I get to play test against a GW Aura Enchantment deck. 3-1 without sideboard and 2-0 with sideboard. Also against Scapeshift 2-1 all with main deck. Against GW Aura Enchantment, I took out 1 Ascension, 1 Thought Scour, 2 Gitaxians. I bring-in 2 Blood Moon, 1 Empty the Warrens and an Echoing Truth. And against Scapeshift decks, be more careful when playing against Scapeshifts because they pack a lot of counters.
Pinoy Planeswalker Modern Series
First Leg, Madcap San Pedro
24 January
We had it 6 rounds then cut to top 8 to determine who will get the first four slots for their finale on December 2016.
My chronological match-ups were:Burn 2-1
BG rock 1-2
8 racks 1-2
Infect 2-0
Affinity 1-2
Versus Burn
Reserve your Lightning Bolt for their Eidolon of the Great Rebel.
Empty the Warrens for at least 8 is a good route against them.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Empty the Warrens
Versus BG Rock
Disrupt plus Abrupt Decay that can hit both of our wincon (Pyromancer and Goblin) plus an Scavenging Ooze, not to mention Maelstrum Pulse, are the stuff that you need to bare in mind, always. Plus Golgari Charm from their sideboard to negate your mob of goblin route.
out: 1 Faithless Looting, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Thought Scour
in: 3 Blood Moon, 2 Empty the Warrens
Versus 8 Racks
You'll have to grind when up against this type of deck. Do not lose hope if they successfully discard your key spells. An online Pyromancer Ascension or via Past in Flames route by ramping up to six or seven mana source are the two main ways on how we will win against them. I would not recommend going Empty the Warrens.
Side board: No changes.
InfectThey are fast. So chances on winning game one is next to being lucky. Use your Lightning Bolts wisely. Empty the Warrens is also, in my opinion, is not a good route.
out: 1 Goblin Electromancer, 1 Past in Flames, 2 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt
Affinity
I kept a one lander in our game. Second land never came. Empty the Warrens route is also fine against them, but I prefer not.
out: 1 Goblin Electromancer, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Thought Scour, 2 Faithless Looting, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Grapeshot
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Shatterstorm
January 30, I solemnly pondered on the current list. Regran Open is going to be 2016's first big event for modern and I do not want to experience those errors again where my cantrips are giving blank cards. Even if there's an online Pyromancer Ascension, there's no guarantee that our cantrip will bestow us the fuel we need. So decided to give the deck a tweak. I need that digging power that can shift gear from primera to quinta, and there's one card perfect for the job - Gifts the Ungiven.
And this is the 75 that I brought.
4 Serum Visions, 4 Sleight of Hand, 4 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Faithless Looting, 4 Thought Scour
4 Manamorphose, 4 Desperate Ritual, 4 Pyretic Ritual
1 Gifts the Ungiven, 4 Pyromancer Ascension, 3 Goblin Electromancer, 3 Past in Flames, 2 Grapeshot
4 Scalding Tarn, 4 Polluted Delta, 1 Flooded Strand, 2 Steam Vents, 2 Shivan Reefs, 3 Island, 1 Mountain
Side board:
4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Shatter Storm, 3 Empty the Warrens, 3 Blood Moon, 2 Echoing Truth
Regran Open: Modern
Regran, Quezon City
January 31
80 plus players, 7 rounds of swiss plus cut to top 8. Okay UR storm, let's do this!
I won two games. I am pretty sure I've made no misplays in this round.
out: 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Thought Scour
in: 3 Empty the Warrens
1-0 (2-0)
RD 2 RUG
Game three, I only needed a few storm count to win thanks to his participation: three Gitaxian Probes (take six) plus two fetches (take two), and a take two from his Stomping ground from his first turn.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Empty the Warrens
2-0 (4-1)
RD 3 Scapeshift
End of turn Gifts the Ungiven is the pivotal play of this round.
3-0 (6-1)
RD 4 Naya Burn
Game three, I was down to four and him down to two. On our table I had a bunch of lands and a Goblin Electromancer,and on his side: lands and an Eidolon. He casted a Wild Nacatl. GG
4-0 (8-2)
RD 5 Naya Aggro
Game three, I am down to 4 and he's down to 13. He's tapped out except for one Scared Foundry while I have 7 1/1 goblins and three lands (Reef, Vents and and Island) and my hand: 2 Lightning Bolts and other irrelevant cards. This time instead of looking his poker face, I check for body language. His eyes kept on looking at his standing Foundry. I asked myself, is he waiting for me to use my ouch land then respond with a bolt? Then he touches one of the tapped lands and brought it near to his Foundry. At that very moment, BOROS CHARM suddenly popped from my mind. Swing my 7. He's down to six. Tapped my mountain, bolt you. Tapped my Reef, bolt you? He extend his hand. I asked him if he has a Boros Charm and no bolt in his hand to which he confirm.
Sometimes, you really need to have a good read on your opponent's body language because it will give you hint of what he has in his sleeve.
out: 4 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Grapeshot, 1 Faithless Looting
in: 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Empty the Warrens
5-0 (10-3)
Rounds six (Ad Nausem) and seven (Hatebears), ID.
Since it was getting late, top 8 players just decided to equally split the prizes.
Thank you Regran for hosting this one!
There you have it guys! Thanks for reading!
I hope to see you guys in my last Paeng Cup modern tournament.
The Last Paeng Cup
Modern format
March 19
Madcap, San Pedro Laguna
And for those who are looking for any modern action this coming February 6th, here:
GPT modern
Battlegrounds, Pasig
GPT modern
BCI Jupiter
Harangan sa Malolos
Favorite Shop, Malolos
GPT modern
Madcap,San Pedro, Laguna
-Paeng
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