Friday 30 July 2021

MODERN: MONO-RED BURN

MTG Southside 
Modern Discord Event
20 July 2021
 
RD 1 Shardless Rhinos (Win)
RD 2 Izzet Prowess (Win)
RD 3 Boros Burn (Win)
RD 4 Humans (Win)
RD 5 Hammer Time (Loss) 

  

RD 1 Shardless Rhinos
Game one is here. Game two's MVP was Roiling Vortex.

in: +3 Roiling Vortex 
out: -3 Rift Bolt

RD 2 Izzet Prowess
I won game one because of Mr. Sonogen's words of wisdom. First: Remember, the deck will only win if it has creatures. And second: Know your Role. 

And that's what I did. I aimed whatever burn spells I had at his one-drop creatures with high hopes that the tactic will slow him down. It worked. 

Game two is here

in: +3 Roiling Vortex and +2 Dragon's Claw 
out: - 4 Rift Bolt and -1 Goblin Guide 

RD 3 Boros Burn
Game one: The opponent had one of the worst possible land combinations against a mirror game - a turn-one tapped shockland and pings from Sunbaked Canyons. And by the time the opponent was able to deal with my creatures (Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear), his life point total was within three bolts spells away. My hand then was Lightning Bolt (which I fired at the end of his turn); then Skullcrack and Flame Rift on my turn. 

Game two: Goblin Guides carried most of the scoring load for the home team. "Know your role. - Mr. Sonogen." Keeping these words in mind, I used most of my burn spells to keep the opponent's creatures at bay. 

The opponent managed to summon a Kor Firewalker in mid-game but was greeted by Pyrite Spellbomb a turn after. Soon, the opponent did manage to eliminate both of my Goblin Guides but I think it was too late for his life total was down to five. Two bolt spells won me the round.  

in: +2 Pyrite Spell Bomb and +2 Dragon's Claw
out: -4 Lava Spike

RD 4 Humans 
Game one: And just like what I did in my two previous rounds, I aimed most of the bolt spells at his creatures and let my creatures do most of the scoring.  And when his life points hit seven, I fired my last two cards, Flame Rift and Skewer the Critics. 

Game two, I got stuck with two lands (Fiery Islet and a Mountain) on the table thus slowing down my progress. To make it more interesting, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben together with pro-red creatures, Auriok Champion and Sanctifer en-Vec, were all there against my team of a goblin and Roiling Vortex. 

Game three: The opponent did not have enough gas because he opened the game with mulled to five cards in hand. 

in: +3 Roiling Vortex, +2 Smash to Smithereens, and +2 Pyrite Spellbomb
out: -3 Rift Bolt and -4 Eidolon of the Great Revel 

RD 5 Hammer Time
The opponent's build is not the typical mono-white. His build was on boros that heavily relied on spells that allow him to fling his creatures at you after it deals damage while holding a hammer. 

Game one I died to a turn two Ornithopter with two hammers on it. Game two, after the Goblin Gaveleer attacked with a hammer, he cast Thud in his second main phase to deal lethal damage for the win.

in: +4 Smash to Smithereens and +2 Pyrite Spellbomb
out: +2 Lava Spike and +4 Flame Rift   

And before I end this post, here's the seventy-five. 

Mono-Red Burn
Paeng_Paeng

Main deck
7 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
4 Sunbaked Canyon
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Fiery Islet

4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear

4 Flame Rift
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt 
4 Searing Blaze 
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Skullcrack

Sideboard
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
3 Roiling Vortex
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Smash to Smithereens

Thank you for reading!
Stay safe wherever you are. 

  

Wednesday 28 July 2021

MODERN: AD NAUSEAM

 Ad Nauseam

MTGO Modern League
29 July 2021 

RD 1 Hammer Time (win)
RD 2 GW Heliod Combo (win)
RD 3 Bant Control (loss)
RD 4 As Foretold (loss)
RD 5 Boros Burn (win)
 
Here is the seventy-five for this league.

RD 1 Hammer Time

RD 2 GW Heliod Combo

RD 3 Bant Control

What a greedy decision-keep there. *sigh*

RD 4 As foretold 

I opted not to record game two. I lost game two anyway because the opponent fed the suspended Greater Gargadon with his lands plus was able to cast the modern Balance off the blue enchantment. Thus annihilating all my lands and hands. 

RD 5 Boros Burn

I forgot to record game two. I won it because of this combo combination: Phyrexian Unlife, Thassa's Oracle, and Spoils of the Vault.

This will be all for now. 
Thank you for reading!
Stay safe wherever you are!


MODERN: AD NAUSEAM

Ad Nauseam
MTGO Modern League
27 July 2021 

RD 1 Izzet Ragavan-DRC (win)
RD 2 Grix Ragavan-DRC (loss)
RD 3 Grix Death's Shadow (loss)
RD 4 Grix Twiddle Storm (win)
RD 5 Mono White Death and Taxes (loss)
  
RD 1 Izzet Ragavan-DRC

RD 2 Grix Ragavan-DRC

Approximately fifteen minutes into the video of game three, the opponent attacked three creatures with a total power of eight. I was down to two life points and had a Phyrexian Unlife on the battlefield. Since there's no first strike in his army, I was expecting to see negative life points. But the software registered it otherwise, I got infect - five in fact. I think this is a mistake. I am correct with the Phyrexian Unlife ruling, right?

RD 3 Grix Death's Shadow
I forgot to record our live game one. And when I tried recording the recorded game from the software, for some reason the video is stopping midgame. Anyway, I lost it because the opponent had a lot of discard spells and counter spells.

 
RD 4 Twiddle Storm 

RD 5 Death and Taxes
I lost this round in three games. Thalia and friends really made it an uphill battle. But the biggest contributory factor probably was when the software asked me to restart itself because of an ongoing update in its data. And by the time I got back, I lost a lot of minutes. 

Sorry, no video because I forgot to record it live.  




Friday 16 July 2021

MODERN: FETCHLESS STORM


MTG Southside 
Modern Discord Event
6 July 2021
 
RD 1 Boros Burn (Win)
RD 2 Izzet Prowess (Win)
RD 3 Jund Death's Shadow (Win)
RD 4 Blue Living End (Win)
RD 5 Yorion Death and Taxes (Loss) 
  
RD 1 Boros Burn
I won both games because of the same reason: the opponent is tapped out. Game one via Grapeshot - Remand - Grapeshot route. While game two via Grapeshot - Past in Flames - recycle some instants and sorceries then ending it with the same Grapeshot. 

RD 2 Izzet Prowess
Game one: at point, the opponent tapped all his lands. And since I am aware that the opponent's seventy-five do not carry a Force of Negation, thanks to open decklist policy, I seized the perfect moment to go off. Gifts Ungiven into me presenting the pile: Desperate Ritual, Pyretic Ritual, Manamorphose, and Past in Flames.  

The opponent won game two because of two reasons: (i) I did not have any answers and (ii) was not able to block his flying prowess creatures, Stormwing Entity and Sprite Dragon. 

Game three is here

RD 3 Jund Death's Shadow
The opponent aggressively used his life points setting up a potential Death's Shadow game ending. But a mob of goblins off an Empty the Warrens turned the tide into my favor. 

I won game two via an Aria of Flame plus a small unit off an Empty the Warrens for four. 

RD 4 Blue Living End
I won game one via Grapeshot - Remand - Grapeshot. I won Game two via Aria of Flame.
  
RD 5 Yorion Death and Taxes
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and her condition-giving cavalry made it an uphill battle, again, for the home team. 

That will be all for now. Thank you for reading.
Stay safe always!


Tuesday 6 July 2021

MODERN: FETCHLESS STORM


Neutral Grounds Vertis North 
Quezon City
27 June 2021
 
RD 1 Soul Sister (Win)
RD 2 Rakdos Asmora Cookbook (Win)
RD 3 Shardless Rhino (Loss) 
  
RD 1 Soul Sister
I summoned a mob of goblins. He had an Abiding Grace and a Martyr of Sands (four white cards at hand) combo out in his immediate turn. I did a quick mental computation and concluded that the mob cannot beat that life gain combo. So instead of wasting time trying to outrace such, I conceded and offered to go to game three. 

I won game three via Aria of Flame. 
 
RD 2 Rakdos Asmora Cookbook
It was game three and it was my second to the last turn. Our life points were: mine six and his thirteen. My hand: Opt, Aria of Flame, Rebuild, and an Empty the Warrens. And I had the following on my table: Aria of Flame (with five counters) and three lands: Island, Silundi Isle, and Shivan Reef. On the other side of the table, the opponent had a lot of artifacts: food tokens, the cookbook, and a construct token creature with equipment (Shadowspear) on it just waiting for his turn so that it could swing for lethal. 

I had two options. Either (i) play defensively, Rebuild in his turn or (ii) aggressively aim for the win this turn starting with Opt; let Aria of Flame trigger plus let it deals six with high hopes that I will get an instant or sorcery off the Opt. 

Better safe than sorry, so I went with the former. Bounce every artifact the opponent has in his turn. And when I got my turn back, I drew into a Manamorphose. Win.   

RD 3 Shardless Rhino  
The opponent knows what to and when to fire his Force of Negations. The first Force of Negation stopped my Aria of Flame from hitting the table. And the second one was used to deny my Echoing Truth from bouncing the rhino tokens.


MTG SOUTHSIDE
Modern Discord Event
28 June 2021

RD 1 UR Prowess (Win)
RD 2 Bring to Light Deck (Win) 
RD 3 Esper Control (Win)
RD 4 Affinity (Win)
RD 5 Yorion DnT (Lost)
 
RD 1 UR Prowess 
Game three: I summoned a mob of goblins by turn four. But the opponent's Kozilek Return took care of them in his turn. I topdecked a land, ritual, and Past in Flames in succeeding turns and ended the turn with another mob of goblin tokens. This time, the opponent had no answer. Won in two swings.  

RD 2 Bring to Light Deck
I won both games. Game one through Gifts Ungiven ending it with Grapeshot. And in game two, I used his instant spells to fuel my Empty the Warrens's storm.

RD 3 Esper Control 
I recorded games one and three. I forgot to hit the record button during game two so I have no upload of it. Here is the video of our game three. Enjoy.       

RD 4 Affinity 
Rain started pouring moderately and was non-stop for fifteen to twenty minutes. This caused repeated fitful internet connections. And one of the unfortunate intermittent moments in game three happened when I was about to cast Rebuild at the end of his turn. Then went off unmolested in my turn. I hate losing internet connection at the crucial point of a game.

RD 5 Yorion DnT
My Lands were nowhere to be found during the rubber match. And to make it worst, Thalia and friends were giving me a ton of conditions before I can do anything. Not to mention, they keep on hitting me for five every turn. 

Here's the seventy-five that I used for both events.       
This is all for now. Stay safe wherever you are! Thank you for reading!