December 2019: THE EIGHT BEARS

The last modern tournament for 2019. I originally wanted to use my Mono Red Prowess deck but had a last minute change of mine. So I brought my beloved deck to the event.

REGRAN HOBBIES
QUEZON CITY
29 December 2019

Match-ups:
Copy Cat 2-1
UR Tempo 1-2
Boros Burn 1-2
Jund Oko 2-0
UW Control 2-0
Mono Red Prowess 1-2

Notes:

I had two games in which I opted to go greedy instead of taking the safest path. I failed to draw gas in both greed moment. I lose.

I had 3 games where I won in my turn three. 

I also had a game wherein I used his instant spells for my storm count. I used to do this when I was still active in legacy piloting The Epic Storm. 

Well that's all for now. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Paeng 4983

DECEMBER 2019: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

DECEMBER 2019: MONO RED PROWESS MODERN

Opponent untapped all permanents. Our life totals were at 20 (him) and 18 (mine). His board state had 2 Mountains, 2 Soul-Scar Mages, and a Monastery Swiftspear. He hastily draw for the turn, quickly glanced what's on my side of the table before zeroing-in at (the cards) his hand. 'Lava Spike you' then tapped his red army.

After a quick math, here are the possible situations that can happen: (i) immediate combat damage, so me going down to 9. (ii) He could hit me with a bolt spell + 9 combat damage. So regardless of the option he will take, I am still guaranteed another turn unless (iii) he has Gut Shots or Mutagenic Growths somewhere in his hand. 

I declared no blockers. Before damage dealing, he responded with a Lava Dart pinging me for one. Still in the same window, he sacrificed a Mountain for its flashback. Thus hitting me again for another 1 point of damage. 

"Damage dealing?" I politely asked him. I do not hear a confirmation so I echoed my question. "Damage dealing, sir?" My disrupting question while he was busy collecting his train of thought. He nods, "12 damage, down to 1. Pass the turn, sir" he replied. I was quieten for a second or two after hearing his reply. He returned the favor by interrupting my dead air, "Sir, you're down to 1. Pass." I untapped for my turn. Draw a card. Amassed spells and win the game with Grapeshot. 

Wait, I am so sorry. I this is not a storm tournament report. Let me rewind a little and begin where his red army has just dealt damage. Okay there, perfect. 

"12 damage. Down to 1." The 12-point onslaught caused me to be silent yet astonished not because I almost lost to it but because it was at that moment where I truly appreciated the power of the mono red prowess deck. 

Right there and then, I inwardly checked my red pool of cards to see if I have the necessary pieces. Base on assumption, probably around 93%-97%. The split-second infatuation was interrupted when he said, "Sir, you're down to 1. Pass." I untapped and never look back as I took game one. 

That 12-point blitz had sparked a great interest in me in yearning to pilot the deck. I consulted the world wide web and some prominent  modern prowess players about the following topics: (i) updated decklist; (ii) how to play the it right; and (iii) what match-ups it suck. 

BLOCK 101
Boni, EDSA
26 December 2019

UW Control 1-2
Eldrazi Tron 1-2
Baral-Gifts Storm 2-0
Ponza 2-0
BWg Stoneblade 2-0

ooo OOO ooo OOO ooo

MADCAP GAMING  
San Pedro, Laguna  
28 December 2019

UBw Mill 2-1
Scapeshift 0-2
UR Storm 2-0
Tron 2-1

ooo OOO ooo OOO ooo

Notes: 

Game two against UW control, I drew seven straight lands. 

I committed a misplay against the same UW control opponent. It was game three (my) second turn. Opponent allowed my Light up the Stage (Goblin Guide and a Lightning Bolt). I draw for the (third) turn (Skullcrack), I summoned the goblin (from the exile) then  swing it together with Monastery Swiftspear. And when opponent said 'take', I hastily called the iconic red spell from its oblivion before damage dealing. Then dropped my third land then shipped back the turn.  I realized my mistake when he untapped his lands, Timely Reinforcement. My red army cannot keep-up after that. 

I was not expecting a Leyline Sanctity from an Eldrazi Tron opponent. He had the said white enchantment in his opening hand in game three. Dropped it in turn zero and my hand had the following: two mountains, a swiftspear, and three bolts.

Kiln Fiend vs Shrine of the Burning Rage. 
I opted to go with the former because of the following reasons: (i) It is more explosive and (ii) is faster than the latter. The disadvantages are as follows: (a) it dies to a regular creature removal an opponent has to offer; and (b) how I wish Kiln Fiend has its own trample ability. 

My opening hand against an unknown opponent in the first round of Tournament for a cause was: 3 Lightning Bolts, 1 Mountain, 1 Guide, and 2 Lava Darts. It was his second turn when he Path to Exiled by Goblin Guide. After I presented my deck for cutting, he showed his Archive Trap. The card put a smile to my face. I smiled not because of any insulting reasons but because of how it reminded me of my legacy UB mill deck. So I happily removed the top 13 cards from my library while reminiscing those Haunted Echoes days. 

Unfortunately, out of the 13 milled cards 6 of them were prowess creatures. And he was not yet done. He paid two life points for Surgical Extraction and targeted Lighting Bolt. I showed him my hand "3 bolts and a couple of darts". I took a deep breath before gaily conceding game one.  

I tried to collect my competitive poker face for game two. Opponent painted another smile on my face when he drop his turn zero Leyline of Sanctity. I looked at my hand: Lava Spike, Lightning Bolt, 2 lands, 2 Swiftspears, and Lava Dart. I won game two thanks to my prowess creatures. Game three, casting Lava Dart and flashbacking it while you have an attacking Kiln Fiend is gold. Win!

I lost game one against Scapeshift because I decided to keep a one land hand. I did not get my second land in time. Game two, he was down to 1 life point. He top decked Madcap Experiment - cast it  - and converted it into a Platinum Emperion.  No Smash to Smithereens, GG. 

Against the second UR Storm opponent, it was the macho 'prowess' triggers of Klin that saved me. Kiln and a Soul-Scar Mage plus bolt, Gut Shot, darts, (sac Mountains) is love! WIN! 

Versus Tron, Game one was easy. Game two was hard because he had a second turn Chalice set at one. He was able to set a Chalice for one also in the game three, but it was late because I already had a Kiln Fiend and a Soul-Scar Mage out. Yes he did counter my one casting cost burn spells, but the triggers from my creatures were enough to win me the game. 

It's 02:00 in the morning here and I am now about to sleep and recharge because tomorrow is Regran Modern Open! 

Thank you very much for reading. 

Here's the 75 by the way.



ooo OOO ooo OOO ooo

Modern Mono Red Prowess 
Main deck 
13 Mountain
4 Sunbaked Canyon

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Dart
4 Light up the Stage
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Seal of Fire
3 Gut Shot

4 Monastery Swiftsprear
4 Goblin Guide
4 Soul-Scar Mage

Sideboard

4 Kiln Fiend
4 Smash to Smithereens
4 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Skullcrack

HAPPY NEW YEAR and I WISH YOU ALL GOOD HEALTH and A VERY PROSPEROUS 2020! CHEERS!

-PAENG 4983

DECEMBER 2019: THE CITY OF PINES

JOHNSON GAMING
Baguio City
15 December 2019

Match-ups:
RD1 Mono Green Aggro 2-1
RD2 Mono Green Tron 2-0 
RD3 4c Oko 2-1
RD4 Revolt Zoo 2-0
RD5 ID

Q Scapeshift 2-0
S UW Control 2-1
F Revolt Zoo 2-0
(7-0-1)  (14-3)


Notes: 
If you are going to a tournament and you're not familiar with its meta, bring the deck that you really know the ins and outs. In my case, UR storm (the Eight Bears).

Mono Green Stumpy (2-1)
I won game one in my fourth turn. He won game two because I was not aware that his 5/4 elf is unblocable by my 1/1 goblin. Game three, Damping Sphere did not hamper in my plan because I simply bounce it and roll from there. I won without Baral. Desperate plus its splice ability was the key in ramping my red mana.

Mono Green Tron (2-0)
I won games one and two in my fourth and five turns respectively. Dropped the bear and win the game a turn or two after. 

Four color Oko (2-1)
I fizzled in our game one because I forgot to include Past in Flames in the pile. Game two, six goblin tokens were good enough to send the game in a rubber match after opponent did this to himself, twice: fetch-shock-Thoughseize.

Game three, he dropped the plague naming goblins. So I have no choice but to go the Past in Flames-Grapeshot (without a bear) route. Win. 

Revolt Zoo (2-0)
I offered a draw, and explained to him that a 3-0-2 slate in a five rounder tournament will assure both of us a slot in the top 8. He declined explaining that he (as much as possible) badly needs to be on the play in all of his top 8 matches. 

I win both games one and two, casted Baral then go-off the following turn. I had the opportunity to shoot his creatures (Nacatl and Guide) with bolts but I opted not to because I'd rather save my red spells for anti-storm creatures, such as Teeg, Thalia, and/or Ooze. 

RD5 ID

Q: Scapeshift 
Game 1, I Remand-ed his Scapeshift. After that, I went-off in my turn. Game two, after his land drop for the turn, he casted Scapeshift. I let it resolve. In a swift, he took all 8 lands - put them in the graveyard, and searched his library for a new set of 8 lands: 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and 6 mountains. 

"36 damage sir, all targeting you." I made sure that we are in the same page. That all those triggers are on the stack and are pointing at me, to which he affirms. 

I carefully checked Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle's trigger and wordings. "Whenever a Mountain enters the battlefield under your control, if you control at least five (5) other Mountains, you may have Valakut deal 3 damage to any target." 

"All Valakut triggers on the stack." I said before bouncing one of his Mountain (Stomping Ground) with Wipe Away to shut down the molten pinnacle's triggers. I untapped and shoot for the win.

S: UW Control 2-1
Game one: The tandem of Spell Queller and Teferi, Time Raveler did a good job in soft-locking me but that did not made me concede yet. I wanted to know what were the cards he was using in his deck. So I continued playing. Eventually, I saw these: Opt, Mana Leak, Stoneforge Mystics, Batterskull, Cryptic Command, Force of Negation, and Sword of Feast and Famine. 

Game two, first main phase of my third turn, I had the following: Baral and two UR lands on my table. I call out Manamorphose first to the table to test the waters. He deeply pondered on whether or not he'll allow the red-green hybrid card. He elected to counter it with Force of Negation (storm 2). I dropped a Shivan Reef and used it for a ritual (storm 3). He simply gave a thumbs up to it. The next spell I casted was a cantrip (storm 4). And finally, Empty the Warrens for 10. He had no answer. I win in two swings. 

Game three, he had lands and a Stoneforge Mystics (with summoning sickness) that just fetched a Batterskull. While on my table I only had 4 UR lands. My hand consisted of: Baral, puzzle, ritual, morphose, Empty the Warrens. 

I started my assault by summoning Baral in which he allowed to hit the table. Next, I showed a ritual. He let it resolved as well without thinking a single second. The next card I showed him was Pieces of the Puzzle. At this point I only had two floating red mana. 

Puzzle got countered by Force of Negation (spell 4). "Manamorphose?" I asked with a silent prayer that he'll not counter this one. Keranos heard my prayer. The hybrid card resolved and gifted me Wipe Away. I casted Emtpy the Warrens for a mob of 12 1/1/ red tokens. Pass the turn. 

He drew for his turn then solemnly computed for something. Probably the damage interaction between Batterskull and my red army.

He only did a land drop (Flooded Strand) before passing the turn back. As soon as I untapped for the turn, I Wipe Away his 1/2 white creature. He took a deep breath knowing he cannot do anything infront of a split second card.

In my turn, I swing the team putting his life points from 18 to 5. He cracked his fetch at the end of my turn. Searched his library for an out, and simply extended his hand. Win. 

Finals against Revolt Zoo. 
No counter spells. No discard spells. All I need to do is to survive his assault by killing his anti storm creatures and bounce those the like of Damping Sphere. 2-0. 

Thank you for reading!

Paeng_4983