Friday 18 June 2021

LEGACY: GOBLINS and BELCHER


Kick Engines
Discord Modern Event
31 May 2021

One Land Belcher
Paeng_Paeng

Main deck
4 Goblin Charbelcher 
4 Burning Wish
3 Empty the Warrens
4 Rite of Flame
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual 
4 Seething Song
4 Manamorphose
4 Land Grant
1 Irencrag Feat 
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Chrome Mox
4 Tinder Wall
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide

1 Stomping Ground

Sideboard
4 Veil of Summer
2 Xantid Swarm
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Echo of Eons
1 Goblin War Strike
1 Pyroclasm
1 Reverent Silence
1 Telamin Performance

RD 1 MUD(Loss)
RD 2 Show and Tell Omniscience (Win)
RD 3 Eldrazi (Win)
RD 4 Dredge Gaak (Win)
RD 5 Death and Taxes (Win)
S OmniTell (Win)
F Bant Control (Win)

RD 1 MUD
G1: I was on the play. Turn one fourteen goblin tokens. The opponent did quick math and offered we go to game two. 
 
G2: The opponent mulled to four. Ancient Tomb pass. I had a series of spells before trying to end it with a Goblin Charbelcher. Unfortunately, it met Mindbreak Trap. The opponent summoned a Trinisphere on his turn. This time, I offered to go to the next game.

G3: The opponent mulled again, this time for five. I also mulled but only for six. I started with Land Grant then Rite of Flame into two more rituals then finally Empty the Warrens for five storm. It met Mindbreak Trap. The opponent dropped Chalice of the Voids for zero and another for one. Then summoned Trinisphere two turns after. GG.  

RD 2 Show and Tell Omniscience
G1: I was on the play. Turn one fourteen goblin tokens. The opponent conceded without revealing a card. 

G2: The opponent was on the play this time. Fetchland then go. I summoned twelve goblin tokens on my turn one the ship back the turn. He dropped his second fetchland then cracked them both. Summoned Lotus Petal and started cascading spells: Show and Tell into Omniscience then Cunning Wish fetching Firemind's Foresight nitpicking three instant cards with different casting costs. Cast them all and the next thing I know was that he was repeatedly pinging me for one damage: Release the Ants - Omniscience loop. Nice. 

G3: The opponent mulled to four cards, or as they say it - mull for Force. My turn one: Stomping Ground into Xantid Swarm. The green Scourge insect met Force of Will (pitching Meddling Mage). With only two cards in hand, what are the odds that the opponent still has a Force and a blue card for pitching. So I go for it on my second turn, rituals for a total of seven red mana into Goblin Charbelcher. It resolved. Win.   

RD 3 Eldrazi
G1: I was on the draw. Turn one Goblin Charbelcher with enough mana to pay for its activation.

G2: I had another good opening seven (Burning Wish into Empty the Warrens for a possible mob of goblin tokens) but the opponent had a turn one Thorn of Amethyst. I was not able to do anything from there. Eventually, Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher delivered the lethal blows to force a rubber match.

G3: My first seven can call ten goblin tokens but I am not that confident with that line of play. So I took a mull and settled for these six: Lotus Petal, Tinder Wall, Pyretic Ritual, Seething Song, Lion's Eye Diamond, and Goblin Charbelcher. A hand of six that has sufficient mana for Goblin Charbelcher's kindling. But had to pray solemnly because the Stomping Ground was still in the deck. Luckily, it did not reveal itself in the first twenty cards. Win. 


RD 4 Dredge Gaak
G1: I was on the play. Turn one: Burning Wish into Infernal Tutor into Burning Wish into Tendrils of Agony for lethal. 

G2: My hand got raped repeatedly by Cabal Therapy. Hoogaak, Arisen Necropolis, together with an army of 2/2 zombie tokens, won him the game. 

G3: My opening seven was capable of calling fourteen goblin tokens off a Burning Wish. But I remembered my round one experience against MUD in which I went all-in only to be heartbroken by the opponent's Mindbreak Trap. So to avoid such, I mulled and got this sweet second seven: Stomping Ground, two Simian Spirit Guides, an Elvish Spirit Guide, Irencrag Feat, Lion's Eye Diamond, and Goblin Charbelcher. Send LED to the bottom then began my turn. Dropped the shockland, exile all spirit guides into Irencrag Feat into Goblin Charbelcher. Win. 

RD 5 Death and Taxes
G1: I was on the play. Turn one: Land Grant (into Stomping Ground paying two life points) - Tinder Wall - Rite of Flame - Seething Song - Manamorphose (draw: Rite of Flame) - Rite of Flame - Lion's Eye Diamond - Burning Wish (crack LED) to Infernal Tutor fetching Burning Wish then Tendrils of Agony for lethal. 

G2: The opponent had a turn one Deafening Silence and a turn two Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. After that, no other defensive card was called onto the battlefield. It took me like five turns to summon the Goblin Charbelcher. And took two more turns to activate it. Win. 

SEMIS: OmniTell 
Game one: 
I was on the draw. My hand after the draw phase: two Rite of Flames, two Lotus Petals, Land Grant, Seething Song, Manamorphose, and Burning Wish. Proper sequencing of your spells is extremely important if you are facing a Force of Will deck. With this in mind, beginning the turn with a Land Grant, revealing your entire hand, is not a smart thing to do simply because the opponent will know what and when precisely to use his counter spell. 

So I started with a petal and asked him if it is good. It resolves. Then the first Rite of Flame and asked for his permission. The opponent paused for a second or two before letting it resolves. The pause there was an indication that he is holding the counter spell. 

I showed him the second Rite of Flame and asked again if it will resolve. The opponent revealed Flusterstorm. I let his storm counter spell resolve. Then dropped the second petal. After that, I finally revealed my hand (Land Grant's alternate casting cost): Seething Song, Manamorphose, and Burning Wish. Fetched the lone land from the deck and put it on the table paid two life points for it to comes into play untap into Seething Song. Now if Seething Song gets countered, I am doomed. HOLY KERANOS Seething Song resolves! Which means the coast is clear. 

But the celebration was cut short because I immediately realized that I only have five red mana floating with only two cards remaining at hand, Manamorphose and Burning Wish. Short by one mana for Burning Wish into Empty the Warrens. So I summoned the red-green hybrid card first with a solemn prayer that I will draw into any of the following: (i) any of the rituals, an Elvish Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide; (ii) a Lotus Petal so that I can do Burning Wish into an Empty the Warrens; or (iii) Tendrils of Agony if in case of Lion's Eye Diamond. Manamorphose gifted Empty the Warrens

Game two: 
I had a resolved turn one Xantid Swarm. Turn two, I swung the green insect first for protection before outpouring non-creature spells into a Goblin Charbelcher. Win. 
 
FINALS
Game one:
I was on the play. I summoned 14 goblins tokens. Won the game in two swings.

Game two:
I tried summoning Goblin Charbelcher thrice in this game. And each attempt got denied by Force of Will (the first and the third) and Force of Negation (the second). 

Game three:
Turn one: Stomping Ground (taking two) then Lotus Petal. Tapped the red-green shockland into Xantid Swarm. The opponent lets it resolve. But the bug got swatted by Swords to Plowshare on his turn. I started my turn two trying to summon Tinder Wall into play. After carefully assessing his hand, the cards on the table, and the possibilities of what will take place in the near future if in case he allowed this green plant wall, the opponent decided to deny its entry. I sacrificed the petal for green mana into Veil of Summer in response to Force of Will, then asked for his permission. My green instant spell resolves (storm count is now on three).  

After Tinder Wall resolved, I checked my hand: two Lion's Eye Diamonds, one Rite of Flame, one Burning Wish. Looked at our life points: both players are at eighteen life points. Now that my turn is fully protected, I carefully evaluate the possible Burning Wish routes: (i) wish into a mob of goblins was the first thing that I thought of. But I am not so sure about this because the opponent might have an Engineered Explosive and/or Echoing Truth in his hand. (ii)  Wish into Echo of Eons into a new set of seven is the second route popped out of my mind. But my worry is that there's a possibility that I might draw bricks and that the opponent will get the chance to draw good defensive cards again.  (iii) Another wish route possibility is that wish to Infernal Tutor to Burning Wish into Tendrils of Agony for ten storm. PERFECT! 

So I sacrificed Tinder Wall for two red mana into Rite of Flame (three red mana and four storm). Then dropped the two Lion's Eye Diamonds (three mana and six storm) into Burning Wish (one red mana and seven storm). While in the middle of cracking both LEDs, in a split second, I suddenly see a miscalculation in my math. That I will be one-mana short for Tendrils of Agony. So before declaring the colors from the LEDs, I checked my sideboard for any possible remedy. Good thing I boarded out a copy of Burning Wish. So instead of taking the original wish - tutor - wish - tendrils plan, I went wish (storm seven) - wish (storm eight) - tendril (storm nine). Just enough storm count for me to win the game. WIN

If in the near future I am going to sleeve this marvelous deck again, I will make sure to include artifact hate in the fifteen either Hull Breach or Shattering Spree, or both. I had games where I lost the round right there and then when Trinisphere, Chalice of the Voids, or even a Thorn of Amethyst hit the table. 

And before ending this post, let me share one of my MTGO Legacy 2-Queue video. Here.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading!


Sunday 13 June 2021

MODERN: MONO WHITE DEATH and TAXES

Paeng_Paeng

Kick Engines's Modern Discord Event
Cubao Expo, Quezon City
30 May 2021

RD 1 Boros Burn (win)
RD 2 Grix Death's Shadow (win)
RD 3 GW Heliod Combo (win)
RD 4 UG Infect (win)
RD 5 Esper Control (loss)
Q Infect (win)
S UBg Control (win)
F Esper (win)

Lichi's Modern Discord Event
Los Banos, Laguna
3 June 2021
RD 1 GriselShoal (win)
RD 2 Death and Taxes (win)
RD 3 Inverter Combo (win)
RD 4 UR Prowess (loss)

Things that I can still recall from the Kick Engines discord event.

RD 1 Boros Burn
It was the trio of Thalia, Guardian of ThrabenCharming Prince, and Giver of Runes that helped me win me the game. Tax to slow the opponent's aggressive tactic. Cushion for longevity. And protection.    

RD 2 Grix Death's Shadow 
I cannot recall how the game went. All I can see on my notepad are the details of how our game three life points. He started at twenty into seventeen (probably fetch into shock). After that another fetch to shock, fourteen. Then it became twelve probably because I swung for two. Shock himself (maybe) into ten. Then it went down again from ten to six pressumably because I attacked two 2-powered creatures. Then followed by the letter w indicating win.

RD 3 GW Heliod Combo 
Leonin Arbiter, Ghost Quarter (destroying a Forest with an enchantment attached to it), and Path to Exile (removing his lone dork), dictated the tempo of the game. 
  
RD 4 UG Infect
In both games the opponent mulled to four cards. Path to Exile and Skyclave Apparition took care of his creatures. Leonin Arbiter also took part by adding another layer of cost for his fetchlands. 

RD 5 Esper Control 
This was actually day-two of my stomach cramps. I had to concede to my fifth-round opponent because of it. 

Quaters: Infect
Win.

Semis: UBg Control
Taxation, limiting to one spell per turn, blinking one of his lands in his turn, and the protection from Giver of Runes were the tools I used to win the semis. 

Finals: Esper Control 
The opponent did not draw any removals for both games one and two. The team took advantage of the situation and got the win. 


And here are details from the Lichi's Shoppee discord event, that I still recall. 

RD 1 GriselShoal
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben giving the usual taxation problem. Charming Prince's scry two helped sculpt my top deck. And Flickerwisp denying him some lands in his turn. Win. 

RD 2 Death and Taxes
I won the mirror because the opponent cannot search thanks to the Leonin Arbiters. Also, I had two Giver of Runes active on the table. Thus effectively denying the opponent the opportunity of using any of her spot removals. Win.

RD 3 Inverter Combo
G1: For the first time I felt that my taxing power was useless against a combo deck. I had Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Archon of Emeria, and Leonin Arbiter out on the battlefield and yet Inverter of Truth and Thassa's Oracle simply did not care. 

G2: You know what, I cannot recall much of game two except when I top deck a Mirran Crusader and it went all the way to force a game three.

G3: The opponent was not able to assemble his combo in time. Also, my turn two Charming Prince went all the way starting from seventeen down to zero. Win!  

RD 4 UR Prowess
I had to concede to my fifth-round opponent because my stomach cramps were really so bad that I cannot stand or even sit straight. So bad it was still bothering me the day after and I had to concede again to my fifth-round opponent from another discord event.   

I also piloted Death and Taxes on MTGO. I used the same seventy-two cards. The other three cards were three Auriok Champions replacing Kor Firewalkers. Here are some of the games that I uploaded on my Youtube Channel

Modern Leagues

Modern 2-queues

Modern practice tournament

My seventy-five could be found here in case anyone is interested. 

Thank you for reading! 

Paeng_Paeng