Due to other non MTG related errands, it took me weeks before I get the chance to shuffle my seventy-five in a sanctioned event. Now that RPTQ is just around the corner, I need to put an end on my
losing streak.
5 November 2017
The Block 101
Mandaluyong City
Just hours before the event's round one, I decided to implement the following modification: (i) removed these: 1 Gifts Ungiven, 1 fetchland, 1 Increasing Vengeance, 4 Goblin Electromancer, 1 Opt and 3 Faithless Looting. (ii) Then added the following cards: 4 Thought Scour, 3 Baral, Chief of Compliance, and 4 Lightning Bolts. (iii) As for the sideboard: 3 Leyline of Sanctity, 3 Blood Moon, 3 Empty the Warrens, 2 Shattering Spree, 2 Echoing Truth, 1 Defense Grid, and 1 Dismember.
Mono Red Chalice 2-0
Dredge 2-0
Mono White Humans 1-2
Fetchless UR Storm 2-0
E.Tron ID
Q: Naya Burn 2-0
S: BG Tron 0-2
Mono Red Chalice Deck
I keep this seven-hand: 2 lands, 1 Pyromancer Ascension, 1 ritual, and 3 Though Scours. He went first, Mountain + Simian Spirit Guide into Chalice of the Void for one. I did not see it coming. I managed to snatch game one because of an online ascension. I won game two with X goblin tokens.
Dredge
Prior to this, I lost my last four dredge assignments. Keeping those experiences in mind, picking up my fifth versus this archetype is not an option. He lost game one because of a one land seven-hand keep. Game two, I won on my fourth turn thanks to an online red enchantment.
Mono White Humans
I board wipe his battalion with Grapeshot then win the game on my next turn. Game two, after wiping out his army, including that first Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with it, he dropped his second Thalia. I did not get any removal. Game three and I keep this hand: 1 Serum Vision, and 6 lands 4 of which are fetch lands. YUP! I know, that was stupid of me. So boys and girls, please, do not listen to what your math brain cells tells you that "hey look 4 fetches in a 16 lander deck, it thins your deck thus statistically saying drawing combo pieces increases. NEVER. EVER. KEEP. THAT KIND OF HAND.
Fetchless UR Storm
Good thing I had those Lightning Bolts in the main deck. I denied his chances of combing-off by bolting his medallion bear each time he drops one. I won game one with an online Pyromancer Ascension. Game two, I kept this mulligan to four hand: Leyline of Sanctity, a ritual, and 2 cantrips. For the record, I did not mulligan for than white leyline. It was just that lands were nowhere to be found in each opening hand prior to keeping that four. Leyline of Sanctity was enough to keep him at bay. It took me like eight to ten turns to reach three lands which was all I needed to fuel my Baral led squad to victory.
E.Tron
ID. Did four games of playtests. Won two games all with 60. Lost the other two with sideboards.
Q: Naya Burn
Game one: I won game one with an online Pyromancer Ascension. No Red Eidolon at sight, lucky me!
Game two: Turn two 12 goblin tokens was too much for his burn spells to handle.
S: BG Tron
Game one: Unable to go off because his (three in a row) Karn Liberated ate all my blue-red resources.
Game two: I had a good seven-hand but drew bricks in my succeeding turns. Lose.
(4-2-1) (9-4-1)
Lightning Bolt
-Bolt slows down creature base decks.
-Bolt keeps main deck storm nuisance creatures at bay (Thalia and DnT and friends, Red Eidolon, Meddling Mage, Scavenging Ooze, Spell Queller, and medallion bears).
-A great finisher when Grapeshot is not around.
-And lastly, bringing Lightning Bolt into the main opens up spaces for your side board.
Dismember
The idea is to help Grapeshot, Lightning Bolt and Echoing Truth in getting rid of those storm nuisance creatures: white eidolon, Thought-Knot Seer, and the like. I did not even had the chance to bring Dismember into the main deck during my stay at the Block 101. But that does not mean I will replace it with something else.
Back to 16 lands
I know it is a little risky. Going down to sixteen lands means I need to lower my spell curve. The downside of going 16 lands is you are prone to one land opening hand.
My next stop was at the newly opened Concealed Courtyard Hobby Shop (Maceda corner Calamba streets, Manila). I really like the venue because of how spacious it is; the room temperature is not that humid, and the venue is well lighted. I highly recommend Concealed Courtyard for those MTG players
who are looking for a new place to play or just simply meeting new
people. Also, their milk tea is a must try.
12 November 2017
Maceda St., Manila
Concealed Courtyard is hosting FQ trails. I went to the event and brought the same seventy-five I had from The Block 101's event.
Boros Burn 2-1
UR Combo 2-0
BG Elves 0-2
Mono Green Aggro 2-0
Grix Death's Shadow id
(3-1-1) (6-3-1)
My errors
I had Four. First versus BG elves. I was so focus on trying to figure out a way on how to board wipe his entire elven community that I unintentionally dropped a second land for that turn. Realizing my mistake, I simply picked up my cards and off to game two. JEE-ZUES. I felt like a complete noob at that very moment. My second error was still versus BG elves during game two. It was my second turn. I untapped for the turn. I checked his board state, him: Forest and one Elvish Mystic. I have a Lightning Bolt at hand. I need at least a fetch land in order for me to kill that dork. I paused for a second thinking (i) if I will cast Opt in my upkeep in order for me to dig a little deeper for a fetch land/ UR land; or (ii) simply draw that top card and Opt in my main phase and pray to god Keranos to hand me the land I am praying. I elected the latter. So I drew for the turn, an Island. I dropped the well experienced newly drawn Beta Island on the table, then Opt into Scalding Tarn. DAMN! I should have waited for my Opt to resolve before doing a land drop. I ship back the turn. He then called elf after elf after elf cards. I died to this Tendrils of Agony like BG elf card (except without the life gain part).
And the third one was on game two against a Mono Green Aggro deck. I drew for the turn, Pyromancer Ascension. Great! I dropped my third land into Thought Scour. Then grabbed my dice from my pocket onto the table. And when I was about to place a counter on my red enchantment, geez it's not there. I checked my hand and it is still there sitting like a boss. I checked the lands to confirm to myself if I somehow casted it first but only saw a tapped Island (which was intended for Thought Scour). And lastly, I hesitated (again) and this time its against a Mono White Enchantment deck.
I ended Concealed Courtyard's event with a loss to that enchantment deck.
My last tune up tournament was at Madcap Gaming.
14 November 2017
Madcap Gaming
San Pedro, Laguna
Before heading to the shop, I asked some storm troopers online for their option about Pieces of the Puzzle. Most of them suggested that I should try it because of how good it is versus discard base decks. Alright then, I'll give Pieces of the Puzzle (replacing those white enchantments) a try.
4c aggro 2-0
URw control 2-0
Affinity 2-1
Bant Eldrazi 2-1
(4-0) (8-2)
4c Aggro
Game one: I board wipe his dorks to slow whatever he was up to. I won this with the help of an online ascension.
Game two: Killing his dorks plus Blood Moon shuts down his land resources.With him under control, I sculpt my hand into perfection before storming for the win.
URw Control
Usually he uses a deck that has the colors blue, white and fro time to time with a splash of a third color: red. So I put him on either UW control or Jeskai tempo/ control.
Both players decided to keep their opening seven. He went first by bringing down Scalding Tarn on the table. I try to read his body language looking for any sign that will tell me that he kept a hand with counter spells and/ or Baral removal spells. I sense he has both. I simply lay a Spirebluff Canal into a cantrip then pass. He dropped an Island into a cantrip before shipping the turn back without cracking his blue red fetchland. This is an indication that he has a very strong defensive hand. I started to think of those one to cast cards that can interact with me: Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Spell Pierce, and Spell Snare.
I draw for the turn, dropped my second land (island) into Pyromancer Ascension and asked him if he will allow it to resolve. Without having any second thought, he cracked his Zendikar land - bolting himself with his own Steam Vents into Spell Snare. That's nice. I am pretty sure he will be on this position throughout the game. I assess my hand: a Grapeshot, 2 Manamorphose, 1 Pyretic Ritual, and 2 Desperate Rituals. I simply pass the turn after that brief interaction. He just dropped a Plains and pass the turn without spending that much time. Again, a sign that he is holding another defensive spell.
I draw for the turn, Flooded Strand. Dropped it and pass. He dropped a fetch (bolting himself again) into a Hallowed Fountain into a cantrip before passing the turn with an untapped Island, Plains, and Steam Vents. Spell Queller base something deck comes into mind. I checked our life points: him 14 me still at 20. I cracked my KTK fetch into a tapped Steam Vents at the end of his turn. I untapped. Draw (my second Grapeshot). Now I have: 3 lands on my table plus cards at hand: 2 Grapeshots, 3 rituals, and 2 Manamorphoses. I mentally double check the favorable would be situation in a terse. I begin my assault by tapping two lands into a Pyretic Ritual; and asked him if it's good. He thinks for a second before giving a thumbs up. The next spell was a Manamorphose. Not wasting any time, Spell Queller goes onto the table and is ready to eat it. Perfect! Now he's tapped out. Morphose and queller on the stack, I responded with the two remaining rituals followed by the second Manamorphose (4R 6s). I let his 2/3 flash creature resolve before firing my last two sorcery cards.
The first Grapeshot dealt seven; and the second one for eight. I won our game two because Blood Moon shuts his resources down; plus, Defense Grid kept his Negate and friends at bay.
Affinity
I lost game one due to Arcbound Raveger's ability to pass modular counters to its teammates. Shattering Spree is a house. Games two and three: A second turn ritual/s into spree destroying his robots and friends really put affinity's momentum into an almost complete halt.
Bant Eldrazi
I lost game one because of a third turn TKS. Another contributory factor was due to not getting the proper card combination for me to combo off. Game two: a third turn 18 goblin tokens were to much for his team to handle. Game three: he keeps a one land hand. I sculpt my hand into perfection before aiming for the win.
Finally! I'm back into the winning column after spending weeks at the bottom of the sea! It feels great losing only three games out of sixteen games played. I hope the deck will perform to my expectation in the upcoming RPTQ which will be at Regran on 19 November 2017. Before I end this, if you are new to UR Storm and is looking for an updated primer, I strongly recommend Emma Handy's SCG articles dated
8/17/17 and
9/11/17. Her articles contained a lot of valuable insight which is perfect for those who wishes to get their feet wet. And if you are still looking for more UR Storm reading materials, here are CWS MTG's
updated articles.
Thank you for reading.
November 25 
Mandaluyong
