AUGUST: Modern Zoo MTG

I can play Naya Zoo again without anything to worry after that successful campaign at MDP’s PPTQ. I immediately map out August and September 2017 calendar for those non-PPTQ modern tournaments. As of August 8th I have the following:

Modern night Wednesday Fetches all month long at Cedric's

Thursday modern at Block 101 and Got Game

FNM modern at R4 and OHS

Regular Saturday modern at FQ

Regular Sunday modern at MDP

OMG’s regular modern schedule

Weekday budget meal at Urban Legends

Aug 12 Team modern event at Got Game

Madcap's Modern Leagues every Saturday

Aug 26 Pinoy Planeswalker Modern Open at Hobby Pro Central

Aug 27 Block 101’s 5/8 Modern Super Series
Sept 9 OHS Monthly Modern (set Delta at stake)

I would like to do better with zoo. The first step I must do is to understand why I had those losses and misplays from my last outing.

versus Abzan

Those pesky 1/1 white spirit tokens (off the Lingering Souls) really did a good job of keeping my troops at bay. This was the only game that I wish Rancor was in my seventy-five. Also, this game reminded me that I should not commit all eggs in one basket. 

versus Grix Death Shadow

Good lhourd! How many removals does his deck has? Out of my five opponents from OHS' PPTQ, he was the only one who managed to slaughter my army without the aid of any mass removal spell.

Misplays

Yes, I had a lot. First, fetching a shock land early in the game only to find out later that I should have fetched the other kind. I think the best shock land combination as your first two land drops are Stomping Ground and Sacred Foundry. The second misplay was about the proper sequencing between Hidden Herbalist, Burning Tree Emissary and the next spells. The key in this kind of problem is to mentally double check everything so that you will have a nice transition; otherwise you'll find yourself a turn behind. The third one technically does not fall within the text frame of misplay; but because I had so many situations wherein opponent was just down to one or two life points and I needed another combat to win but I never get that chance because he wiped my entire battalion with one blow. I am pretty sure there is something wrong with my line up. I just cannot pin point it right now. I'll discuss in the next paragraph of the adjustment I will do regarding this problem. Fourth, there were times that I have two Burning Tree Emissary + other non-Reckless Bushwhacker cards at hand. Normally what I do is I only cast one Burning Tree Emissary together with the non-bushwhacker cards it feeds; and pray hard to whomever the lord of naya zoo to bestow me Reckless Bushwhacker on my next draw phase. There are times that I get my wish, but most of the time I find myself feeling a turn late.

Adjustments

1. As I continue play testing the deck, I still experience that situation I mentioned above. Determined to find a solution, I reevaluate my sixty. After scrutinizing every one drop play, assuming of course that I do not do the BTE-reckless combo, I concluded that dealing four to seven damages by turn three is not enough. I need a one drop creature that can give the deck the push it needs. Re-reading those zoo related materials, I am certain that a set of Experiment One is a must in my roster. I’d probably cut those three Dryad Militants and that lone basic land Mountain in order to have a room for Experiment One.

2. Speed is king when you are using an all-offense deck. Four damages off the Vexing Devil’s trigger is a good thing. But with today’s removal lineup (Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push) and combined them with fat-ass creatures like Tarmogoyf, Death Shadow; or combo duos from team GW Counters, I think seeing those damages from the 4/3 niggling devil is like a thing in the past. One of my reading materials is Cedric’s. The shared twitter post from his account was enough to convince me that shoving Vexing Devil for Simian Spirit Guide is a good move for my pet zoo.

3. And lastly, for now, my side board: 4 Boros Charm, 4 Chained to the Rocks, 4 Smash to Smithereens and 3 Tormod’s Crypt. I know right now that this fifteen is not the best there is but I think with this lineup, I have everything covered.

 

As of 10 August, here's my updated Naya Zoo Deck.

Main deck

4 Arid Mesa, 4 Wooded Foothills, 4 Windswept Heath, 1 Misty Rainforest, 2 Stomping Ground, 1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Temple Garden, 1 Forest

4 Narnam Renegade, 4 Kird Ape, 4 Goblin Guide, 4 Experiment One, 4 Wild Nacatl, 4 Hidden Herbalist, 4 Burning Tree Emissary, 4 Reckless Bushwhacker, 2 Simian Spirit Guide

4 Lightning Bolt, 4 Atarka’s Command

Side board

4 Boros Charm, 4 Chained to the Rocks, 4 Smash to Smithereens and 3 Tormod’s Crypt

On 12 August 2017, I finally get the opportunity to play at Madcap Gaming’s Modern League. We had it four rounds and my match ups are as follows.

Mono White aggro 1-2

UR Klin Fiend prowess 2-1

Affinity 2-1

UB mill 2-0

Mono White aggro

He is the reigning number one player in the league. I won the roll and elected to play first, fetch into Stomping Ground into Kird Ape. By just watching his body language makes me no wonder why he is the incumbent number one. With a calm facial reaction and a confident body gesture, I am certain that he’s sure of what to do when tasked to face an aggro deck. I won game one because of swarm: Kird Apes, Wild Nacatl, Narnams and that +1/+0 off Reckless Bushwhacker. Game two: my opening seven was: five fetches, Experiment One and Kird Ape. Idiot I am, I still keep it. Despite those number of fetches, I still get to draw lands for my first two turns. Not enough momentum, I lost game two. Game three, I keep this seven: 1 SSG, 1 fetch, 2 Hidden Herbalist, 1 BTE and 2 Narnam. I still lost game three because of his timely Declaration in Stone, blockers that gets bigger and Repel the Abominable.

UR Klin Fiend Prowess

I have no idea what he was on, so I kept this opening seven: 2 fetches, 1 BTE, 1 Experiment One, 1 ape, 1 Wild Nacatl and 1 Lightning Bolt. It was in his turn two after dropping Klin Fiend that I had an idea of what he’s on. I was at 14 life points (with an untapped Stomping Ground) when he decided to swing and poured all out his instant cards thus feeding his flamed dog with +3/+0 per card. For some brainless reason, I let his last spell (Mutagenic Growth) resolves. And when I asked for the total power of Klin Fiend he answered, “15 sir.” Confident as the king of the jungle, I pointed my heavy played Revised Lightning Bolt at the tapped Klin Fiend. “This is 15/4 sir.” We proceeded to game two with me carrying a heavy heart. The smell of being a winless going to round three is in the air. I bravely drew my seven for game two: 3 lands, Experiment One, Kird Ape, Lightning Bolt and Atarka’s Command. In spite of having another series of bad draws, I still managed to force a rubber match because his Klin Fiend did not come to his aid on time. Game three, a third turn Blood Moon caught me off guard. Lucky bastard I am, he did not draw any of his removals. I rode my four horsemen (both Experiment One with two counters, Wild Nacatl and a 2/3 Narnam Renagade) to my first victory in their modern league.

Affinity

We are both aware of what’s waiting on the opposite side of the table because we were seatmates from the previous round. Game one, I dealt 16 damages by round two. He did a little math before picking up his artifacts. The trio of Cranial Plating, Etched Champion and Vault Skirge headed team affinity to force a game three. Great momentum from my one drops plus Lightning Bolt for his Steal Overseer and a Smash to Smithereens for his Cranial Plating were enough to put me on sixth place going to fourth round. 

UB Mill

I won game one because the troop delivered 14 damages by turn two. Game two, Kird Ape lead the assault by delivering seven and thirteen damages in consecutive turns. At the end of the day I landed fourth becase I had the lowest breakers amongst the 3-1.

My next outing was at The Block 101. I brought the same seventy-five and faced the following.

RG Land Destruction Deck 2-0
Scapeshift 2-0
BW Eldrazi 1-2
Affinity 2-0

I think in every round I was able to do the BTE-reckless combo hitting eleven to as high as 16 damages. It was crazy because after each hit, opponent concedes right after looking at the card for their draw phase. Were there misplays? Yes I had. One of them involved a fetch wherein originally, the plan was to crack it on my upkeep so that I can maximize Hidden Herbalist revolt trigger. Unfortunately, I cracked the red-white fetch at the end of his turn only to realize my mistake when I untapped everything for my upkeep. Another one, I kept a one non-fetch land hand. Normally I use a statistic probability to help me decide whether or not to keep the seven.


Magical Dream Portal Cafe 
Bicutan, Parañaque City

Mono Big Red 2-0
Jund 2-1
BW Tokens 2-0    

Highlights:
- Dealing 11 to 14 damages in every round.
- Boros Charm > Wrath of God.
-Revolt will triggers when a creature dies.
- (maybe) I committed no misplay. 

After winning 15 out of 19 rounds (or 33 out of 48 games) of modern magic from different pocket tournaments around Metro Manila, Naya Zoo gave me the following: three HOU packs in which contained all craps, PR slot which I traded for two Dragon Matte sleeves, shock lands (Sacred Foundry and Hallowed Fountain) and two Flooded Strands. Not bad considering I am relatively new to Naya Revolt Zoo Deck.

By the way if you are looking for those remaining modern PPTQ, here they are.

September

  2 – Wabshaq
  3 – NG District

10 – NG Cash and Carry
17 – PPTQ as side event during the Nationals

30 – Kick Engines
30 – Madcap
30 – NG Glorietta 

October

1 – Friday Quest
7 – OMG

8 – Mage Ring

8 – Dragonforge    


Thank you very much for reading folks!

-Paeng_4983

AUGUST: UR STORM

I have not won a modern PPTQ. So for this year's, regardless of where it feeds, I hope to book one. 

My first attempt on winning that elusive invite was on 15 July 2017 at Ongkeco's. I brought a Naya Revolt Zoo to the said event. I was a little excited not just because of the deck's capability of dealing  12 to 15 (in some instances can do up to 18) damages in one swing; but also I'll be calling out creatures to the battlefield instead of my usual thing of slinging spells after spells in one turn. We had it five rounds and cut to top eight. Unfortunately I landed 10th with a 3-2 win-loss mark.

My second try was on July 22 at The Habbit. We also had it five rounds of swiss elimination and a cut to the top four. This time, I brought my UR Storm deck. I opted to use the same seventy-five that I had from  GP Kobe. 

Slivers 

Meeting a new face at the opposite side of the table really excites me because I will have no idea what he is on. Game one, I simply slow roll on sculpting my hand into perfection before going off. Same thing happened during game two.

GW Hatebears

Game one, I wiped everything he had on the battlefield with Grapeshot before going for the win the turn after. Game two, a second turn 12 goblin tokens off Empty the Warrens won me the game.

Grixis Death Shadow

Although I did win game two due to a second turn Blood Moon, I still lost this round because he kept a very good hand (discard and counter spells) versus storm.

GW Counters
In my last turn. I was thinking if whether or not I should kill the druid (with a Lightning Bolt) or perform two cantrips - pass the turn - and pray hard to storm god keranos that opponent will not go off in his turn. I confidently proceeded with the latter. I paid dearly with my dream of landing at the top four seat.

Grixis Death Shadow
I won both games because of an online Pyromancer Ascension. After the swiss, I landed sixth.

Days before Magical Dream Portal Cafe's PPTQ, Wizard of the Coast made an announcement as to where the modern RPTQs will be. PHILIPPINES: 11/18 - 11/19 REGRAN QUEZON CITY. Perfect! I just need to win an invite. 30 July 2017, I brought the same seventy-five again to MDP's PPTQ. We had it five rounds of swiss and a cut to top four.

Boros Goat
I have no idea what he was on. All I saw was goat producing tokens cards. I won two games via an online Pyromancer Ascension.

Jund
I won both games. Game one, despite his numerous discard spells thrown at me, I was still able to power my team to victory thanks to an online Pyrmancer Ascension. Game two, a turn three Blood Moon totally shuts him down. I slow roll sculpting my hand into perfection before going for the win.

Abzan
I wiped his board first with Grapeshot before shooting for the win via Baral - ritual - ritual - manamorphs - cantrip -PiF - repeat until storm count reached lethal. Game two, Blood Moon sealed the game into my favor.

With only two more rounds left in a five rounder tournament, having a 3-0-2 record will secure me a seat for the top four play offs.

Semis: Merfolk
He's on the play for being the higher seed. He had a turn two Silvergill Adept. My hand during turn two: PIF, 2 rituals, Manamorphose, Baral and lands. I see a potential second turn play but opted not to go for it yet. He untapped, draw for the turn, dropped his third Island into another Silvergill Adept before shipping the turn back with an untapped Island left. I know him since our legacy days. I vividly recall on how good he was in handling counter magic base decks then. Keeping in mind those experiences, I watched him attentively for any sign that would tell me that he's holding a counter spell (Pierce, Snare and the like) or at least a creature removal (at this point I was only thinking of Dismember) before untapping my Blue Red shocklands for my third turn.

I drew for the turn: Desperate Ritual. I looked at him again trying to fish-out any last minute body language that would tell me he has the stuff I am thinking. I came to a conclusion that he has one. I am just not sure which of the two it is. Instead of starting my combo with the Baral-ritual way, which I am certain that he will kill my Baral with whatever one to cast removal spell by just responding to my first ritual spell; or will stop me by  just responding with a counter spell trying to nullify that kick-off ritual, I lay on the table the first spell - Pyretic Ritual - then asked him if it will resolve. If this one resolves, I could safely conclude that only a creature removal spell is in his hand. He immediately gave me the go signal for my ritual. I dropped Baral as my second spell. He simply gave me another go signal while giving my blue chief a predatory stare.

Now I have 2R floating and a Baral while my hand has: PiF, 2 rituals, 1 Manamorphos. At this point I am certain that he only had a creature removal so I call out Manamorphose first before any of the remaining rituals. In this situation, I think this is the best spell sequence in order for me to have the would be maximum number of floating mana I will need. "In respond, Vapor Snag" then point his instant blue spell to Baral, Chief of Compliance. With one red floating I responded with Desperate Ritual into another Desperate ritual (5R). I let his Vapor Snag bounced my Chief. Manamorphose produced two blue mana floating (5R 2U) and bestowed me Thought Scour in which I used (5R 1U) milling two cards (one of them was Gifts Ungiven) off my library. I called out my blue Chief of Compliance again (4R) into casting Past in Flames from hand (1R). I recycled every instant and sorcery from the graveyard until I presented to him a pile that has Grapeshot. He did a little math and started to pick up his cards for game two.

He won game two with a school of merfolks, two of which are Cursecatchers. He also maintained a minimum of three cards at hand throughout game two which tells me that he reinforced his 60 with counter spell cards. I won game three because Defense Grid kept his counter magic spells at bay.

Finals: Jund
Game one, he was able to discard my key cards. He even had a very good board presence: Dark Confidant, Scavenging Ooze, Tarmogoyf and a Liliana of the Veil. He did pinned me down to one life point in his last combat phase. Before drawing for my last turn, I only had the following on my table: 6 blue and red lands and my graveyard had almost half of my library in it. I just needed a Past in Flames to ignite my combo. I prayed to god keranos to hand me the card I needed, I peel the top card of library and there it is, Past in Flames. I slammed the red sorcery on the table and, as expected, he responded with Scavenging Ooze's ability. He immediately got frustrated to himself after a quick scan of my graveyard - there was a Baral Chief of Compliance sitting there like a boss. He could have won the game in his last combat phase if only ooze eat my blue chief from the graveyard. From there, I simply counted fourteen spell to win game one of the finals.

Game two, a timely resolved Blood Moon assured me of that RPTQ invite. Mission Accomplished! See you Regran on November 19!

-Paeng 4983