Monday, 21 November 2022

MODERN: IZZET TWIDDLE STORM

Northern Clash 
Baguio Country Club
19 November 2022

Twiddle Storm
Main deck 
4 Dream's Grip
4 Ideas Unbound 
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Psychic Puppetry
4 Reach Through Mists 
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Impulse
2 Past in Flames
1 Underworld Breach 
2 Twiddle 
1 Echoing Truth
1 Grapeshot 
2 Merchant Scroll  
5 Island
4 Lotus Field
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Breeding Pool 
2 Lonely Sandbar  
1 Steam Vents 

Sideboard 
4 Leyline of Sanctity 
3 Veil of Summer   
2 Defense Grid
2 Echoing Truth 
1 Prismari Command
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Empty the Warrens

Match-ups 
RD 1 Cascade Rhinos W
RD 2 Amulet Titan W
RD 3 Cascade Rhinos W
RD 4 UW Hammer W
RD 5 Boros Burn L
RD 6 Murktide D
RD 7 UW Hammer W 
Q Tron L 

I am writing this three days after Northern Clash. Everything is from memory because I lost the piece of paper that I used not just as a life pad but also it is where I inscribed the majority of the information that transpired from my rounds. And since I'll be drawing this from what I can still recall, I'd be sharing my errors and misplays because these are the things that I can easily remember.  

Peer Through Depths. I think this is my biggest error of the event. After I resolved the blue instant Kamigawa card, the opponent informed me that I put the should be bottom four cards into my hand. The Head Judge resolved the issue by letting the opponent pick my hand from the five cards off the Peer Through Depths. Then continue to try to resolve the Peer Through Depths from there. 
 
Sleight of Hand. I sometimes bottom the two cards or put one on top and one to the bottom only to realize that I am doing Sleight of Hand instead of Serum Visions. This is my problem too whenever I play this card on MTGO. 

The situation was: I had five blue mana floating and, thanks to Serum Visions, I am aware that the top card of my library is Past in Flames. All I needed to do was to tap Lotus Field for red - summon my last cantrip to retrieve the red sorcery card. Cast it and recycle some cantrip cards to find Grapeshot. But alas. I tapped the golden M20 land hastily called blue mana off it into Impulse.

Leyline of Sanctity. I did not opt to mull for leyline because I thought my seven was good. Unfortunately, it turns out it was not. 

Quarters
Lost to Tron because Lotus Field did not reach my hand in time.

This is all for now. Thank you for reading!  


Round three featured match table: video 
Thank you Johnson Gaming for this. 


Sunday, 6 November 2022

MODERN: GW BOGLES

Hobby United
Muntinlupa City
6 November 2022

GW BOGLES
Main deck
4 Slippery Bogles
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Gladecover Scout 
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Hyena Umbra
1 Spirit Mantle
4 Daybreak Coronet
2 All That Glitters
1 Gryff's Boom
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Seal of Cleansing
4 Spider Umbra
4 Rancor
3 Path to Exile
4 Windswept Heath
4 Temple Garden
4 Razorverge Thicket
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Plains
1 Forest

Sideboard
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Seal of Primordium
3 Void Mirror
1 Sterling Grove 
2 Heroic Intervention 

Match-ups
RD 1 Tron W 
RD 2 Domain Zoo L
RD 3 UR Murktide L
RD 4 Boros Burn L
RD 5 Titan Valakut W

It has been months since I last shuffled this deck. And as a result, I had a lot of errors. From the basic of the basics of not properly sequencing my aura-enchantments to keeping one-land handers. 

Versus Boros Burn, I did not mull for Leyline of Sanctity because of fear of not drawing a creature in my next seven. 

If there's a positive thing that I had from this day, this one: Windswept Heath fetched Drayd Arbor blocking what could have been a lethal 6/7 Monastery Swiftspear. 

This is all for now. 

Thank you for reading. 

Monday, 31 October 2022

MODERN: TWIDDLE STORM

MADGEEKS 
Modern Mayhem
31 October 2022

Twiddle Storm
Main deck 
4 Dream's Grip
4 Ideas Unbound 
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Psychic Puppetry
4 Reach Through Mists 
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Impulse
2 Past in Flames 
2 Twiddle
2 Vizier of Tumbling Sands 
1 Echoing Truth
1 Grapeshot 
1 Merchant Scroll 
1 Underworld Breach

4 Island
4 Lotus Field
4 Misty Rainforest 
2 Polluted Delta
1 Breeding Pool
2 Lonely Sandbar
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Steam Vents 

Sideboard 
3 Aria of Flame 
3 Lightning Bolt 
3 Veil of Summer
2 Defense Grid
2 Echoing Truth 
1 Abrade 
1 Engineered Explosives

Match-ups
RD 1 Amulet Titan L
RD 2 Tron W
RD 3 RG Ponza W
RD 4  UB Mill Deck W


RD 1 vs. Amulet Titan
Game three, the deck ran out of gas. 

RD 2 vs. Tron
Both players were mostly drawing bricks during game two. The home team was just lucky when I top-decked a Past in Flames. 

RD 3 vs. RG Ponza
There was a moment where I hesitated and simply passed the turn for fear of not going to draw gas on my last card drawer, Reach Through Mist. In his turn, the opponent summoned a Blood Moon. And from there I did not recover. 

At the end of turn of game three, the opponent had the following on his side of the table: a Magus of the Moon, two Relic of Progenitus, and tapped lands. I had the window to kill the Magus of the Moon at the end of his turn but I did not because I had a Lotus Field in my hand. I went for the win as soon as Magus of the Moon was killed by my heavily-played revised Lightning Bolt. 

RD 4 vs. UB Mill Deck
Veil of Summer protected the home team from the opponent's blue card that says "target player".


This is all for now. 

Thank you for reading! 

Saturday, 22 October 2022

MODERN: IZZET TWIDDLE STORM

COMPETICON MODERN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ayala Circuit, Makati City
22 October 2022

Izzet Twiddle Combo
Main deck
2 Twiddle
4 Dream's Grip
4 Psychic Puppetry
4 Peer Through Depths 
4 Reach Through Mists
4 Ideas Unbound
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Impulse
1 Echoing Truth
1 Grapeshot
2 Past in Flames
1 Underworld Breach
1 Merchant Scroll 
2 Vizier of Tumbling Sands 
4 Lotus Field 
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Lonely Sandbar
4 Island
1 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Otawara, Soaring City

Sideboard 
2 Defense Grid
4 Aria of Flame
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Echoing Truth
1 Wipe Away
3 Veil of Summer 


Match-ups
RD 1  5c Rhino W
RD 2  5c Rhino D
RD 3  5c Rhino W
RD 4  RB Scam L
RD 5  Calibrated Blast deck W
RD 6  Creativity D

Veil of Summers and Defense Grids were my last-minute additions to the deck. I originally had Force of Negations, Gigadrowses, and an Empty the Warrens. But they felt weak against today's meta. Good thing I made the switch because these cards helped me win against my first three opponents. They (rhinos) have Teferi, Time Ravelers and counter spells. I have grids and veils.

Most Izzet Twiddle modern combo deck has three Past in Flames in their sixty. Some, instead of Past in Flames, use Underworld Breach. I enlisted two sorceries and one enchantment. And it worked perfectly fine. I remember that I had this situation wherein my available mana then was three blue and one red. If the red enchantment was a Past in Flames, I could have lost that one. 

There were games where Leyline Binding tried to remove my red enchantment. I simply responded to it by summoning all the Twiddle effects from the graveyard to generate more mana to my advantage.  

I won all game-ones except one, RB Scam. This was because it has a main deck graveyard hate on-stick, Dauthi, Voidwalker. I cannot ignite the loop. 

Wipe Away was the only card that I did not use from my fifteen. If ever I will use this high-octave deck again, I'll probably replace this with Empty the Warrens, maybe. 

I committed one error: I forgot the discard three cards.  

Conclusion: Deck is very good in today's meta. I'd highly recommend to those players who have it to give Twiddle combo a try. 

Thank you for reading. 


By the way, big thanks to JB for convincing me to play Twiddle Storm. (^_^) 

Sunday, 9 October 2022

MODERN: MONO BLACK FIVE RACKS

ARCANE SOUTH
Pacita, San Pedro, Laguna
8 October 2022

Mono Black Five Racks
Main deck
19 Swamp
4 Urza's Saga
1 Castle Locthwain
2 Funeral Charm
4 Thoughtseize

4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Raven's Crime
4 Wrench Mind
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Bloodchief's Thirst 
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning 
1 Nihil Spellbomb
4 The Rack
1 Shrieking Affliction 
1 Pithing Needle

Sideboard
3 Feed the Swarm
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Break the Ice
1 Shatter Assumptions
2 Void Mirror

Match-ups
RD 1 RGU Scapeshift Titan W
RD 2 UW Hammer L
RD 3 Belcher L
RD 4 Affinity L


I committed a lot of errors. 

First. I kept some bad hands. Hands that had three swamps and two Wrench Minds but no one drop discard spell. 

Second. I had a game where I should have cast Wrench Mind to myself. Why? I had an Ensnaring Bridge on the table and the opponent swung his one-powered creature. And summoned two hammers before the combat damage-dealing step. 

This one is actually not an error but I lost the game because The Rack or Shrieking Affliction did not come in time. The opponent's Otawara soon reached his hands. Bounced the Ensnaring Bridge. Then Swing for the win. 

Opening turn Leyline of Sanctity vs a good hand full of discard spells. Feed the Swarm did not get there in time. 

I think I should go back to two Bloodchief's Thirsts. I keep on drawing it in situations I do not want it. Also the land count. I should have sleeved 23 instead of 24. Should Pithing Needle be in the main deck? 

This is all for now folks. Thank you for reading. 

Sunday, 2 October 2022

LEGACY: AnT


Legacy OctoberFest 
SMDC South Residences
2 October 2022

Ad Nauseum Tendrils Storm
Main 
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Swamp
1 Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou 

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Preordain
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
1 Veil of Summer
4 Infernal tutor
2 Wishclaw Talisman
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
1 Ad Nauseum

Sideboard
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Carpet of Flowers
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Dress Down
2 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Veil of Summer 
1 Bosuiju, Who Endures  


Match-ups
RD 1 Cloudpost L
RD 2 Mono Red Chalice Trinisphere W
RD 3 Cloudpost W
RD 4 Mono Blue Delver W
RD 5 RB Reanimator ID

Top 8 split 

I patterned my seventy-four cards from Eduardo's list. The only difference is he enlisted Rain of Filth while I sleeved Empty the Warrens. 

My first round was a disaster for I committed a lot of misplays and miscalculations. 

Versus Mono Red Chalice deck, I managed to win the game despite a strong defensive board from the opponent: Chalice of the Void for one, Blood Moon, and a 4/3 pressure. In my last upkeep, I had the following on my table: four non-basic lands and my hand was: a Lion's Eye Diamond, two Cabal Rituals, and two Infernal Tutors. The opponent was at fourteen life points. I draw for the turn - Swamp. I ended the game summoning Tendrils of Agony for lethal. I won game two because I summoned a mob of goblins in front of a Chalice of the Void for one and Trinisphere.

versus Mono Blue Delver, I lost game one because the opponent had a ton of defensive cards: Wastelands, Stifle, Dazes, and Force of Wills. Name it. He had it all. His tag team of 3/2 flying Delver and 7/7 Murktide Regent won him game one. Game two, I was at fourteen life points when he let Ad Nauseam resolves. I already did a land drop for the turn so I was hoping for Lotus Petals off the Ad Nauseam resolution. But alas, no Lotus Petal yet. So I continued flipping cards until I was at one life point. Amongst the revealed cards are: two Dark Rituals, a Lion's Eye Diamond, and a Past in Flames. Since there's no point in tanking at that moment, and all I needed was either a petal or LED, I decided to flip the top card and uttered, "talo kung talo". LION'S  EYE DIAMOND. Stopped the instant black card's Resolution. Dropped both LEDs then cracked them for three black and three red. Discard everything. Flashback Past in Flames to which he gave a green light. Used the remaining black mana to reignite the engine into Tendrils of Agony.  

Game three, discard spells took care of the opponent's counter spells. In my last turn, Ponder gave me a Dark Ritual. Wishclaw searched for the Ad Nauseam. Summoned it. Reloaded my hand with goodies. Chained some more spells before ending the turn with lethal Tendrils of Agony. 

Top 8 players decided to split equally the prizes so that we can all go home early. 

Here are some of the misplays I committed. (i) I tried protecting my fetchland ability with Veil of Summer from Stifle. I read my green instant M20 card while it is on the stack and it says there "spells". Abilities not included. Well, at least I get to draw a card. (ii) mob is not a good win condition versus cloudpost deck. (iii) Misty Rainforest must fetch Island and Polluted Delta, as much as possible, must fetch Swamp. And (iv) I miscalucated my floating mana. 

This is all for now folks. Thank you for reading. 

Saturday, 1 October 2022

MODERN: BARAL GIFTS STORM


GOT GAME MODERN NATIONALS 
Ayala Mall Circuit
Makati City 
1 October 2022

I used the same seventy-five.

Match-up
RD 1 *No Show W
RD 2 GGW CoCo W
RD 3 RB Goblins W
RD 4 5c Creativity L
RD 5 Living End W
RD 6 Esper Hammer L
RD 7 Boros Burn L 

I remember a game where I won without using a Gifts Ungiven, Past in Flames, and even had no bear on the table. How? I used his spells to feed my storm count and finish the game with a double Grapeshot. 

I summoned twenty-four goblins by turn four. Violent Outburst into Living End simply ended the warren's existence. 

Pact of Negation won me some games. Here are some of the crucial spells that I can recall Pact of Negation denied. Endurance, Force of Negation, Lightning Bolt, and Searing Blaze. If it was Remand, the chances of those spells getting cast again in that same turn are likely. And if that happens, I will most likely lose that game.

I lost my win-in round versus Esper Hammer. My hand had six cards and amongst them were two Lightning Bolts and a bear. I tapped my two blue-red lands. Dropped the bear in my second turn with me thinking that I will not die in his immediate turn. I was so correct. I did not die in that turn. The opponent simply shipped the turn back with a Kor Outfitter with a Colossus Hammer attached to it. And in his next turn. Urza's Saga fetched another hammer. He summoned a Shadowspear. And swung his lone Kor at me.

Versus 5c Creativity. The opponent kept a very strong defensive hand in our last game. Flusterstorm, Leyline Binding, Spell Pierce, Lightning Bolts, and Veil of Summer. 

This is all for now folks. Thank you for reading!

Paeng_4983