MODERN: 13-WHACK GOBLINS

KICK ENGINES

Christmas Modern Event

December 2021

13-Whack Mono-Red Goblins

Paeng_Paeng

Main deck 

1 Castle Embereth

3 Ramunap Ruins

2 Cavern of Souls

13 Mountain

1 Signal Pest

1 Goblin Piledriver

3 Mogg War Marshall

4 Battle Cry Goblin 

4 Foundry Street Denizen

4 Goblin Bushwhacker

4 Reckless Bushwhacker

4 Goblin Guide 

4 Legion Loyalist

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Goblin Grenade

4 Lightning Bolt

Sideboard

1 Shattering Spree

1 Ratchet Bomb

2 Abrade

3 Reality Hemorrhage

2 Bloom Moon

2 Relic of Progenitus

1 Tormod's Crypt

3 Roiling Vortex

RD 1 Rakdos Tempo (win) 

RD 2 Blue Living End (win)

RD 3 Death and Taxes (win)

RD 4 BW Hammer (loss)

RD 5 BW Hammer (win)

RD 6 Ad Nauseam (win)

Q: UR Murktide Ragavan DRC (loss)

I am writing this tournament report days after my last game. With no paper pads or recordings to help me remember things, here are some of the happenings that I can still recall.

 

RD 1 vs Rakdos Tempo

The opposing deck had tons of removals for my little green men. I was just lucky that I drew into Lightning Bolt and Goblin Grenade for the reach needed.

RD 2 vs Blue Living End  

Mogg Fanatic was the MVP of this round. The opponent was down to three.  He cracked his fetchland into Violent Outburst (down to two). Cascade triggers. I let the cascade resolves. Living End on the stack. Ping him with Mogg Fanatic (down to one). Mogg goes to the graeveyard. Living End Resolves. Mogg Fanatic returns onto the table from the realm of the dead. Ping him again. Win. 

RD 3 vs Death and Taxes

The opponent had an online Batterskull on the table. I had an army  headed by Legion Loyalist. Win.  

RD 4 vs BW Hammer 

I completely missed this round. 

RD 5 vs BW Hammer 

Our last game is here. 

RD 6 vs Ad Nausem

The opponent was down to three when Phyrexian Unlife came to his aid. I topdecked a Lightning Bolt on my turn. Bolt him before combat bringing his life to zero. Summoned Reckless Bushwhacker with surge. Swung my entire warrens headed by Goblin Piledriver and its crew of Reckless Bushwhacker and Legion Loyalist. Win.   

Quarters vs UR Murktide Ragavan DRC 

Game one: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and a 3/3 Dragon's Rage Channeler were no matched to Legion Loyalist's first strike giving ability. Win. 

Game two: I decided to keep a hand full of one-drop creatures. I was a turn a way from winning when a timely Engineered Explosives single-handedly destroyed the entire warren . Then a 9/9 Murktide Regent came down the turn after and punished me for the next turns.

Game three: Lightning Bolt and Unholy Heat took care of the two and three drop goblins. Engineered Explosives took care of those one drops. Then two Murktide Regents took over from there. 

Happy Holidays and have a Safe New Year! 

Thank you for reading! 

Paeng_Paeng

LEGACY: LANDLESS BELCHER

Kick Engines 

Cubao Expo, Cubao

Holiday Legacy event 

 

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 

3 Seething Song

4 Manamorphose

4 Strike it Rich 

4 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Lotus Petal

4 Chrome Mox (1 proxy)

2 Mox Opal

4 Tinder Wall

4 Elvish Spirit Guide

4 Simian Spirit Guide 

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 Shattering Spree

1 Telamin Performance

RD 1 Lands (win)

RD 2 Yorion DnT (win)

RD 3 Yorion DnT (loss)

RD 4 4c Uro (loss)

RD 5 Death's Shadow (win)    

 

Q Yorion DnT (win)

S 12-Post (loss)

  

RD 1 vs Lands

Game one: I kept a hand that can call a mob of ten goblins. But Manamorphose had another plan because it gave me Goblin Charbelcher. Activated it two turns after, win.

Game two: I was lucky in this game because the opponent forgot to include Glacial Chasm in his seventy-five. It could have been his MVP in this round. I had no answer to it. Lucky me!

 

RD 2 vs Yorion DnT

Game one: I mulled one-less. Our first turns, him: Plains into Mother of Runes. Mine: Empty the Warrens for ten. No Batterskull came to his aid, won the race.

Game two: Opponent's drops be like, turn one Deafening Silence. Turn two Spirit of the Labyrinth. Turn three Recruiter of the Guard into Sanctum Prelate. Next turn Sanctum calling "four".  

Game three: My second to the last spell with floating seven red mana was Goblin Charbelcher. It met a Mindbreak Trap. Then Burning Wish into Empty the Warrens for eighteen goblin tokens. Win.  

RD 3 vs Yorion DnT 

Game one: I've been playing Belcher for years, if not a decade, and yet committed an unforgivable error. Wish grabbed Echo of Eons from the fifteen. Cracked Lion's Eye Diamond into flashbacked Eons in front of his Spirit of Labyrinth. I died a slow death from there. 

Game two: Mulled to six cards. Turn one Belcher. No Mindbreak Trap at sight - win.  

Game three: The opponent mulled to five cards while I kept a solid seven good enough to call ten, maybe up to twelve or fourteen depending on my draw/s, goblins on my first turn. The opponent opened the game with a Plains into Deafening Silence. I died another slow death there. 

RD 4 vs 4c Uro

Game one: Empty the Warrens for five. It met a Flusterstorm. Never recovered after that. Uro eventually won him the game.

Game two: "May the Force be with you." Force of Will and Force of Negation were with him.   

RD 5 vs Death's Shadow

Game three: Mulled one-less card and summoned the mob on my turn one. The Opponent had no answer and was not able to outrace the mob. Win. 

Q vs Yorion Death and Taxes

I only worry about three things: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Deafening Silence and Mindbreak Trap. So here's what I did. Turn one, Chrome Mox (exiling Manamorphose) into Tinder Wall - pass. The opponent's turn one: Plains into Deafening Silence. 

My turn two: brought down Goblin Charbelcher onto the table from hand. Cracked Tinder Wall for two red mana. Tapped Chrome Mox for another red mana. And discarded an Elvish Spirit Guide for green then pass the turn. Summoned a Lion'sEye Diamond on my third turn. Paid Thalia's tax with Chrome Mox. Win.  

Semis vs 12-Post

I mulled to five in our last game. A five-card hand that can call Goblin Charbelcher if I topdeck any of my artifact mana producing, except Lion's Eye Diamond. And pray that I'll activate it in a turn or turn after.

Unfortunately, he went first and opened the game with Forest into Pithing Needle naming Goblin Charbelcher. Empty the Warrens nor Burning Wish never reached my hand in time. 

 

Thank you for reading! Always stay safe wherever you are.

Paeng_Paeng

     

MODERN: BARAL GIFT STORM

Arcane South's Year-End Modern event

Pacita, San Pedro, Laguna

11 December 2021

Main deck 

2 Islands

1 Mountain

1 Snow-Covered Island

1 Fiery Islet

1 Riverglide Pathway

4 Shivan Reef

4 Spirebluff Canal

4 Steam Vents

4 Baral, Chief of Compliance

3 Goblin Electromancer

4 Opt

4 Serum Visions

2 Sleight of Hand

4 Manamorphose

4 Desperate Ritual

4 Pyretic Ritual

4 Gifts Ungiven

2 Past in Flames

2 Grapeshot

1 Empty the Warrens 

3 Remand

1 Repeal

Sideboard

3 Pieces of the Puzzle

3 Lightning Bolt

3 Mystical Dispute

3 Abrade

2 Aria of Flames

1 Empty the Warrens

RD 1 BG Deck (win)

RD 2 GW Heliod CoCo (win)

RD 3 Revolt Zoo (win)

RD 4 and RD 5 (id)

F: Belcher (win)

BG Deck 

The opponent had two Dauthi Voidwalkers out on the table. So taking the Gifts Ungiven-Past in Flames route is not an option. Good thing storm cantrips have scry in them. Scrying to the bottom hastened me to find Remand and Grapeshot. Grapeshot-Remand-Grapeshot, win. I summoned eight goblins tokens by turn three (or four) in our game two. And since a Voidwalker cannot block, and cannot outrace them, plus the opponent was not able to find any answers - I win in three turns.

out: 1 Repeal, 2 Sleight of Hand, 3 Remand and 4 Gifts Ungiven

in: 3 Abrade, 1 Empty the Warrens, 3 Pieces of the Puzzle, and 3 Lightning Bolt 

GW Heliod CoCo 

I faced the same issue in this round, main deck graveyard hate on-stick, Sanctifier En-Vec. Taking an Empty the Warrens route is also not a good option here because Heliod-Weaver can outrun them. So I won this round by doing Grapeshot-Remand-Grapeshot route in both games. 

out: 2 Sleight of Hand, 1 Repeal, 1 Opt, 1 Empty the Warrens, and 4 Gifts Ungiven

in: 3 Lighting Bolt, 3 Abrade, and 3 Pieces of the Puzzle 

Revolt Zoo 

The opposing player had a miserable game one because he kept a one-lander mulled to five hand. Storm played defensively in game two. I aimed all removals, Lightning Bolts, Abrades, and Grapeshot, to his creatures before aiming for the win two turns after.

out: 1 Repeal, 2 Sleight of Hand, and 3 Remand 

in: 3 Lightning Bolt and 3 Abrade 

Since the event only had five rounds, ID-ing the next two rounds was safe enough to guarantee myself a slot in the playoffs. 

No Quarters and SemiFinals happened. .

Finals: Belcher

Remand foiled his plan at one point. And when he was a turn away from winning, I topdecked a Gifts Ungiven. Win. 

As I was sideboarding, I remembered that some belchers do transformational into some type of Dredge deck. I carefully watched the opposing player for any telltale sign if he's on something like that. He took out probably three/four pieces from his box and swapped them with the same number of cards from the main deck. It seems like he's not doing what I was thinking. 

So I checked my sideboard, Abrades automatically stood tall amongst my fifteen. But, in my opinion, Abrades are useless in this match-up. Why? Because by the time belcher hits the table, you do not have priority yet to destroy it. The opposing player will get to activate it first then that's the only time you will have the chance to demolish it. So I brought in three Mystical Disputes instead. I took out two Sleight of Hands and one Empty the Warrens. 

I won game two because of two key decisions. (i) I used my counter spells to deny the resolution of his engine, Goblin Charbelcher.  And (ii) aimed for the win when he only had one card in hand, Goblin Charbelcher. Also in game two, the chain of spells was epic. Baral's ability plus Remand and Mystical Disputes actually served as my cantrips. 

It started when I used Repeal to bounce his Leyline of Sanctity. Then Past in Flames. Flashbacked everything in the graveyard. Recast Repeal this time for Goblin Charbelcher. Summoned my last ritual, stack without passing the priority. Counter it with my own Remand. Ritual returned to hand. Draw off Remand. Draw (Grapeshot) discard (another Baral copy) off Baral's trigger. Cast the same ritual. Stack it again without passing priority. I countered it with Mystical Dispute. Dispute resolves. Ritual got denied. Draw-discard off Baral's trigger. I double-checked the storm count, twenty-two. Cast Grapeshot. Target opponent. Announced storm trigger. Storm trigger resolves. Aimed every copy at him. No Stifle or Mindbreak Trap or anything to stop those copies from resolving, win!  

Thank you reading! 

Paeng_Paeng

.