MARCH: UR STORM

One of the best way to rake your planeswalker points is by participating in a Grand Prix Trail in a local gaming shop near you. Unfortunately, the last batch of GPTs we could enjoy are those tied to Grand Prix Las Vegas. And speaking of it, I originally planned to participate in two GPTs but due to some things beyond my control, I only got to play at MDP’s first GPT (Beijing).

MDP's GPT Beijing saw 17 players, five rounds and a top 8 playoffs. I was lucky enough to bag the top spot after the elimination swiss; but had an unfortunate game three in the quarters because I have no choice but to keep a one land mull to five hand. I used the same sixty but had a slight different sideboard line up.

Sideboard

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Blood Moon

3 Empty the Warrens

2 Echoing Truth

2 Shatterstorm

1 Pithing Needle

And here are my matches from MDP’s GPT Beijing. 

RD 1: DnT 2-0

RD 2: Bant Eldrazi 1-2

RD 3: RWu Saheeli Cat Control 2-1

RD 4: Abzan 2-0

RD 5: Coco 2-0

Q: BW Taxes 1-2

Notes:

vs. DnT / BW Taxes
This kind of match up is the only time where Goblin Electromancer, instead of Baral, Chief of Compliance, shines brighter because a couple of this golden goblin can totally negate Thalia, Guardian of Thraben's taxing power.

Empty the Warrens sideboard plan
Majority, if not all, of my opponents bring mass removal such as Engineered Explosives, Maelstrom Pulse and the like for they expected this deck to go the Empty the Warrens route for either games two and/ or three. And if that happens, usually the deck will have a hard time recovering from such.

Pithing Needle
This is my last minute addition to my sideboard primarily because it stops a lot of hate, to name a few: Engineered Explosives, Relic of Progenitus, Tormod's Crypt, planeswalkers, Scavenging Ooze, etc. It can also be utilize against those activated ability combo base decks. I brought it in against my third round opponent but I did not drew it. 


And before ending this, here is the remaining GPT modern around Metro Manila.

March 25

OHS

March 26

Madcap

Regran

April 1

Vault QC

April 2

Madcap     

April 8

Dragonforge

OHS

April 9

Madcap

April 16

Raxx

April 30

Mage Ring

May 6

OHS

May 7

FQ

May 20

Kick Engines     

May 27

OHS       

May 28

Madcap

Thank you very much for reading and I hope to see you guys in any of those GPT mentioned.

Paeng_4983

6214089146

PS.
Congratulation to Mr. Bon Miyasaka for winning the Pro Tour invite from his RPTQ (China)!
 

FEBRUARY: UR STORM modern

One of my promises for 2017 is to play once a month only on an eternal format of magic. Well for January I was able to do it in which I had a 4-2 mark. And for the 2017's love month, I intend to keep my troth by scheduling only one. Before getting the ball rolling, my updated seventy-five.

UR STORM
Paeng

4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Steam Vents
2 Shivan Reef
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Pyromancer Ascension 

3 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 Past in Flames
3 Grapeshot
4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Take Inventory
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Vision
4 Thought Scour
2 Faithless Looting
1 Peer through Depths

SB
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Blood Moon
2 Shattering Storm 
1 Echoing Truth
1 Defense Grid


Madcap Gaming
San Pedro, Laguna 

4-1-1
Burn 2-1
Ad Nauseam 2-0
BG Infect 2-0
Jund draw
RG Valakut 2-0
RG Tron 0-2

NOTES
- I replaced the golden goblin for that new kid on the block. As I see it, there's not much difference between the two (at least with that build above). Definitely Baral works well in a build that has Remand and/ or Izzet Charm in it. I will surely give it a try on March.
- I had a two turn three kills.
- Take Inventory is a house.

Thank you very much for reading!
Paeng

PS.
I am no shop owner but I wish WOTC gives back the GPT (for all formats) privileges to the shops. 

JANUARY: UR STORM

Greetings everyone!

I am sure a lot of people were saddened when they announced the ousting of Gitaxian Probe from Modern. But what can we do? We are just merely mortals playing under their roof. So instead of getting frustrated at it, I simply moved on and find a suitable replacement for our dearest sorcery cantrip. Immediately the cards like Peek, Faithless Looting, Telling Time, Peer Through Depths, Anticipate, Visions of Beyond and Lightning Bolts were the things that come into mind. Amongst them, my top three are: Lightning Bolt, Faithless Looting and Peer Through Depths.

Faithless Looting and Peer Through Depths

Faithless Looting gives you the speed needed for you to dig in your first two turns. Peer Through Depths will give that deep plow you badly need, especially if there is an active online Pyromancer Ascension.

Lightning Bolt

My top pick is this card because of two reasons: (a) serves as a removal for his x/3 and below creatures; and (b) serves as the second win condition especially if Pyromancer Ascension is online.

Speaking of cards to be included in the deck, Baral, Chief of Compliance seems a neat pick but only if you are packing yours with a Remand for that Remand-Manamorphose loop combo. Otherwise, I'd say 3-1 split with Goblin Electromancer with the blue-red goblin at three.

For the month of January, only two ascension decks partake around Metro Manila’s GPT modern. Aside from me, Ian Rombawa did a great job on landing fifth (out of 45+ players) on Kick Engine’s GPT Vancouver. Faithless Looting was the card he picked as replacement for Gitaxian Probe and his match-ups are as follows:

4-1-1

RD 1 Abzan 2-0

RD 2 Boros 2-0

RD 3 Grixis Control 0-2

RD 4 Esper Control 2-0

RD 5 Eldrazi Taxes 2-0

RD 6 ID

And here's mine from the Finale Series of Pinoy Planeswalker Open:

4-2

RD 1 Grixis Control 2-0

RD 2 Eldrazi Bant 1-2

RD 3 Affinity 0-2

RD 4 Reanimator 2-0

RD 5 BW Tokens 2-0

RD 6 UW Thopter 2-0

Some notes that I would like to share from my experience:

- Lightning Bolts in the main are great except during my round fourth.

- I have no Faithless Looting, so my first turn cantripping maneuver was lessen. There were times that I felt the effect of not digging in my first turn. I'll definitely give the deck some changes in which I'll include a couple of this.

- Thing in the Ice is a Wrath of God with legs that flies. Super awesome against aggro base decks.

- I had a turn two win. Also, I had two turn three wins.

- Won against Disallow.

- Opponent forgot to pay for his Pact of Negation upkeep trigger.

-The eight cards at hand technique works well with four Grapeshots in the sixty.

Thank you very much for reading!
Until next time!

-Paeng4983

 

JAN 2017: MODERN GPTs around the Metro Manila

Before we get the ball rolling, I wish you all the best things in life for this 2017!

I did not post that much during the last quarter of 2016 because I was not performing well in all of my outings with my Prison Deck. It was also during this time that I saw my worst modern output: a 13-game losing streak from two 0-5 (win-loss standing) GPTs and a regular four rounder! 

Anyway enough of those unfortunate memories, let me end my first post for 2017 with a compilation of Modern GPTs around the metro. Enjoy!

MTG Vault (near Banawe St., Quezon City)
February 4
March  4
April 1

Friday Quest (Gabbys, Mandaluyong)
January 7
February 5
March 5

Kick Engines (Cubao Expo, Quezon City)
January 21

Dragonforge (Katipunan, Quezon City)
January 8

Raxx (Marikina)
April 16

OHS (Vito Cruz, Manila)
February 4
March  4

Magical Dream Portal (Bicutan, Parañaque)
February 26

Oh My Games! (BF Home, Parañaque)
January 8
February 25

PC Butler (Sta. Rosa, Laguna)
January 7
February 5

R4 (Zapote Road, Las Piñas)
January 28

Mage Ring (Dasmariñas, Cavite)
January 8
February 24
March  5
April 2

-Paeng
6214089146

NOVEMBER: Prison Deck (Modern)

 
Hello! For today's post, I'll be talking about my newly find love: Mono White Enchantment (modern). It all started in one modern GPT at Madcap Gaming when Felix Capule lend me his UW Pillow Fort deck. I did not do good on my first whack. If I recall it correctly, I only had one win (Naya Burn) and four loses (Grixies, UWr control, DnT and Reanimator). I get to dance the same seventy-five again when his PPO Modern Open Series went to Magical Dream Portal. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the decks I faced, only the standing: two wins and three losses. After those two contests, I think I have found my replacement deck for the mono red goblins. I began to scout the internet for its deck list. There are a lot of pages that explains how to use this and that; why this cards are in the 75, and some even talks about how the deck will do against a certain archetype. In my opinion, here are the best pages that elucidate the deck: Patrick Chapin's, Frank Lepore's and David Lane's.

I completed my very own a day before Grand Prix Guangzhou but took another month before I use it in a tournament. Regran Modern Open (September) was its debut tournament. I did not do good, one win and three losses before dropping from the event. Won against a Titan-shift deck but lost to Scapeshift, RD Tron and Abzan. I spent the next three outings at MDP. The first outing, the deck performed well. I won all my matches: BUG, Mono Red Burn, Naya Burn and Jund. However, on the second contest I was not that lucky because I only had one win out of four games. I won against a Naya Burn and lost to: Ad Nauseam, BUG and Bant Eldrazi. And for the third try, I was not able to finish the whole four rounds because I started to feel unwell after round two. I won against my first round opponent (Ad Nauseam) and lost the second one (Bant Eldrazi).

Modern GPT at Friday Quest was my next appearance with the deck. The said GPT had five rounds and not surprisingly, I did not do well - again. I lost to Abzan, Mardu and UR Kiki. Draw with another Mardu before enlisting my lone win against a burn deck. Got Game's weekly Thursday modern session was my next opportunity to pilot the same. I won all but one (Bant Eldrazi). Grixis, Mono Green Aggro and Naya Burn were the decks I defeated. Next stop was at Mage-Ring Hobby Shop's 27 man modern GPT. I ended up with a 3-2 win-loss mark. I won against Infect, Naya Burn and Mono Green Aggro. I lost to Through the Breach Titan and UW Spirits.

Remember these things:

Just in case somebody is planning to acquire similar to this, I enumerated some valuable points he need to know.

1. The deck loves long games. There will be times that you'll only have a Ghostly Prison or Sphere of Safety and opponent will normally have the resources to pay the taxes required. Make sure that you will fetch (off Idyllic) a Ghostly Prison or Sphere of Safety. I prefer the later because the opponent will feel its weight as the game progresses.

2. Rune Halo or Nevermore: make sure you'll name the correct card otherwise you are just wasting resources. Just remember that you cannot name a whatever token for Rune Halo because tokens are not considered "cards".

3. Suppression Field is a must in the sixty. I tried a list without them, twice, and I got punished. As a result, I had two 1-3 win-loss mark. Drop this baby on turn two and there's a chance that you'll win the game from there for he will not be able to use his succeeding fetch lands because of his failure to pay two mana for its activation.

4. As much as possible avoid spending those precious Oblivion Rings as removals for his creatures. Let Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety and Wrath of God take good care of them.

Well, that's all for now. I hope to see you in any of these events below.

November
12 - GPT at OHS
12 - GPT at PC Butlers 
13 - Modern Mayhem at Got Game
13 - GPT at Raxx
20 - PP Modern Open at OMG
27 - Modern Gold Rush at Glorietta Makati
30 - GPT at Madcap

December
3 - GPT at Madcap
10 - GPT at R4
10 - 70K Modern Tournament at MTG Vault
11 - GPT at Mage Ring Dasmariñas Cavite
17 - MDP's Modern Open at BCI Jupiter Makati
18 - Regran Open at Regran


Mono White Prison
Paeng

4 Ghostly Prison 
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Nevermore 
4 Rune Halo
3 Oblivion Ring 
3 Sigil of the Empty Throne 
3 Sphere of Safety
3 Suppression Field

1 Rest in Peace

2 Wrath of God 
4 Idyllic Tutor 

18 Plains 
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Nykthos Shrine of Nyk 

SB 
2 Rest in Peace 
1 Open the Vaults 
3 Kataki, War Wage 
3 Stony Silence 
1 Wrath of God 
2 Timely Reinforcement 
1 Rule of Law 
2 Greater Auramancy

-Paeng Paeng
6214089146

SEPTEMBER: Trinket Mage and Friends

I'll just leave it here.

UWr  Trinket Mage and friends

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strands
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Steam Vents
3 Island
1 Plains         

1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Trinket Mage
3 Vendilion Clique 
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage

1 Basilisk Collar
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Ancestral Vision     
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
1 Cryptic Command

Sideboard
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Blood Moon
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Torpor Orb
1 Echoing Truth
1 Spellskite
1 Timely Reinforcement
1 Rest in Peace
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Stony Silence
2 Negate
2 Wear / Tear      

I hope you like it!

-Paeng Paeng