APRIL 2020: UR STORM

OLA CHIKA DORA!

Today I will share my UR Ascension Storm Untap-in results. 

11 APRIL 2020

Untap-in

RD1 BUG Control with Lurrus Companion L

RD2 URx Grinding Station and Underworld Breach W

RD3 Mono Blue Merfolk W

RD4 Esper Control W

RD5 GW Druid-Vizer Combo D

RD6 UW Spirits W
RD7 Ad Naus W

Notes:

I made a little adjustment to both of my main and sideboard. I removed Quicken from the main and replaced them with Lightning Bolts. Now that the bolts are in the main, I replaced its slot with three Madcap Experiment and a lone Platinum Emperion. 

BUG CONTROL with LURRUS COMPANION

Game one: I could have wont he game only if I had waited a little longer before firing my Grapeshot and Lightning Bolts. 

Game two: Opening hand: UR land, 4 rituals, ETW, and an ascension. KEEP and pray hard to keranos that he will bestow me a land in my next turn! But it has been five turns and no lands came to my aid. Deads due to greedy keep.

UR GRINDING STATION and UNDERWORLD BREACH

I won game one the hard way, no Pyromancer Ascension and no bear on the table, ramp my storm count to 10 with floating 9 red mana before calling Grapeshot (from hand) then flashback PIF into (the same card) Grapeshot for lethal.  

Game two: All along I thought he was on Urza Astro something, but I was wrong. He won game two with this beautiful combo interaction: Grinding Staton + Mox Amber + Underworld Breach into loop into Thassa's Oracle. Amazing!

From the opening turn of game three until (uhmmmm) the 15th turn (I think it was), he was really in total control of the tempo and board state of the game. He had cards at hand and on his table: many lands, Teferi, Grinding Station, two Engineered Explosives (set at 2 and 0), two Tormod's Crypt. Each time I drop a Pyromancer Ascension or Baral/Goblin Electromancer, he'll just recur his Engineered Explosives and blast at them. Or recur Tormod's Crypt and expel my entire graveyard.

In my last turn, our life points were him at 16 and mine was at 18. Permanents on his side of the table are those already mentioned in the previous paragraph. While for my end, hand was (after draw phase): 2 Manamorphoses, Sleigh of Hand, Grapeshot,  Lightning Bolt, Serum Vision, and 2 Pyretic Rituals. For the permanents on the table: UR lands and two Pyromancer Ascensions with no counters on it. Graveyard was: a Pyretic Ritual, a Sleight of Hand, and a fetch.

Since he had a Teferi on the table, all my cards now are technically sorcery. So with eight cards at hand, I started my assault with a Sleight of Hand then placed the two red enchantments on top of it showing the triggers on the stack.

He responded by activating his Engineered Explosive (for two) destroying my precious enchantments. Hand saw a bricks. Serum Visions (storm 2) was next. It gave me the second bolt. 

I bottomed the two scryed cards. The first Manamorphose was next. I asked him if it will resolve. He gave a thumbs up. First morphose gave me Baral. I immediately dropped it onto the table (storm 4).

I summoned the second Manamorphose (storm 5) and asked him again if  it's good. He gave another thumbs up. 

This made me realize that he had no counter spells at hand. The second morphose gave me my third copy of Manamorphose. Before I call it, I opted to go for the first of two rituals. He just allowed it. Same thing happened to the second ritual and third morphose (8 storm). The third morphose (9 storm) gave me the third bolt. All Ligthning Bolts resolved (12 storm) bringing his life points from  16 to 7. Then Grapeshot (for 13) for the win.   

MONO BLUE MERFOLK
I won both games via Grapeshot. I do not recommend going the ETW route versus these guys. 

ESPER CONTROL

Game one was rough. He had a lot of permanent removals and counter spells. Not to mention Snapcaster Mage for repeat purposes. I have no other option but to do the (I call it) dive control technique.

It is where you go 8 cards at hand then begin your assault by depleting your hand and (hopefully) he'll use his instant spells in this same turn. And when he do, it feeds your storm count and pray hard that it will reach lethal count for the win. 

If you are playing legacy storm, you'll probably have the idea of what I am saying. This is one of the ways where you can win versus Force of Will decks there. Use their spells into feeding your storm count inoder for you to come up with lethal Tendrils of Agony. 

Anyway going back, I won game one because of that technique. He was at 15 life points when I throw 2 lightning bolts and a Grapeshot for 11 storm count. 

I won game two through X damage from Electrodominance into free Lightning Bolt for lethal in his turn just to nullify Force of Negation (if in case he has it). 

GW DRUID-VIZIER COMBO 
The game was split into one win a piece when he said he need to leave for an errand. DRAW. 

UW SPIRITS 
Game three: My second turn, ritual into Blood Moon. His second turn Damping Sphere. OMG! I think I left my Abrades and bouncers in the sideboard. I checked my 15 and there they are. This mean that I have no out for this artifact hate. Luckily, just after two turns, I draw Madcap Experiment. Cast it and revealed Platinum Emperion. Basic land (Plains) did not reached his hand on time, I win in three swings! 

AD NAUS with THASSA'S ORACLE
Game one: Second turn Goblin Electromancer into third turn kill. No Angel's Grace from his side. I win the race. 

Game two: Discard spells + well timed Angel's Graces really made sure that team UR storm will not fly from the ground. He won the game through his solid combo: Unlife + Ad Naus + Veil of Summer + Thassa's Oracle.

Game three: He tried to use the same combo route but I have Trickbind waiting for the comes into play trigger of his Thassa's Oracle. 

Opponent argued that his merfolk is proteced by the green spell but I explained to him that it is "the comes into play trigger ability" and not the creature itself is what the Trickbind is after. 

His remaining mana resources were not enough to call another Oracle. 

And when he passes the turn, the moment I untapped, I pointed out that state base effect comes into check, he had a ton of poison counters in his life points from his Phyrexian Unlife and Ad Nauseum. WIN!

This is all for now.

Stay safe people! 

Stay at home!


Paeng_4983

APRIL 2020: IZZET WIZARDS PIONEER

Hello again fellow quarantined planeswalkers!

For this post, I will share my pioneer results from my untap in adventures! I am still on the same seventy-five. 

10 April 2020

Untap in

RD1: Jund W

RD2: Izzet Phonex W

RD3: Boros Aggro L

RD4: Mono Black W

RD5: Niv-Mizzet Reborn Deck W 

RD6: UR aggro W

RD7: Mono White Aggro W

RD8: Mono Green Aggro DRAW

RD9: GW Enchantment L

RD10: Lotus Breach L

Notes:

JUND

Game three on the play and I keep a fast opening hand: Canal, Canal, Spell Pierce, Swiftspear. Swiftspear, Crash Through, and Wild Slash. Prowess + shocks is a very good combination against an opponent who loves dropping untapped shocklands in his first two turns. 

IZZET PHOENIX

Game one: He cannot do anything against my lone god in the deck. Hazoret + Curious Obesession is king! For game two, he got stuck with two lands. Although he managed to bring Damping Sphere out on the table on his turn two. Two scars + Crash Throughs refilling my gas led the way to victory.

BOROS AGGRO

I enjoyed our game one battle because I learn a lot in it. It had combat interactions + triggers + respond to this and respond to that situations. I lost game one because he was able to remove my entire army. I won game two in a similar scenario. Game three, we were both successful in removing creatures but he had a leverage, Path of Mettle. Wow! This boros enchantment is a house! I highly recommend this enchantment to all boros pioneer players out there!  I lost to its (Path of Mettle's) ping ability. 

MONO BLACK

Game one, my initial opening seven had two lands, 3 cantrips, and the rest burn spells. I pondered deeply if I am going to keep this no creature in hand. I decide to mull after like 30 seconds because speed through your creatures is better than fixing hand with cantrips. 

So my second seven was: Hazoret, scar, scar, three UR lands, and an Opt. God to the bottom. I won game one because of scar's prowess. Speed is king!

I lost game two because he had a lot of removals for my team. I cannot outrace him anymore when his two Gifted Aetherborn connected for like three or four times.

It looked like he keep a lot of spot removals (again) in game three but my counter spells were there to save my creatures. 

Treasure Cruise did great in game three giving me all gas to sustain my momentum for the win. 

Dreadhorde Arcanist's trigger ability + one casting cost burn spells in your graveyard + prowess triggers equals speed. And speed is king. WIN!

NIV-MIZZET REBORN DECK

If not because of Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath's gain three life points, I could have won the game one by two or three turns earlier. 

Game two: He was able to deal with my little red army (two scars and a Stormchase). There was a time that I started to draw lands for 3 or 4 turns. By the time the flooding stopped, it was to late because he already had a strong board presence: Uro, Nahiri, and Teferi. 

Game three: Mystical Disputes were there to deny him of blue bombs: Teferi, Bring to Light, and Niv-Mizzer Reborn. 

Dreadhorde Arcanist's trigger ability fueled scar's and swiftspear's offensive onslaught. WIN. 

UR AGGRO 

All I can remember was that his lands can produce blue and red and all the UR creatures that he summoned were not the usually set of creatures you will see in a normal UR net deck. I won by two games by a swarm of prowess creatures. 

MONO WHITE AGGRO

We only played one game because he changed his deck after. I won that lone game because of swarm of prowess creatures. 

MONO GREEN AGGRO with a splash of Black

We only played two games then he left the room, 1-1. Maybe because he got disconnected from his internet connection, I do not know. 

This game refreshen me about the Hazoret's attacking/ blocking condition. Okay, noted. I was so focus on blocking either his 5/5 or 8/8 with my indestructible 5/4 god. 

GW ENCHANTMENT

We only played one game. He suddenly left the room for some reason right after  our long game one. 

I thought I was winning during the early part of the game until to the point that his enchantment army was slowly getting the control of our board state. His life points eventually improved to a safe distance thanks to two Courser of Kruphix. 

LOTUS BREACH 

Game one, I keep a one land hand (swiftspear, scar, CT, CT, WS, vents, and WL). I thought I will draw one in the next two turns, but I was wrong. It felt like forever waiting for that second land card to reach my hand. 

And when it did, opponent had already around six (or seven) lands in which two of them were Blast Zones with one counter each. I think from that point on I already accepted my defeat but I opted not to scoop yet because I want to know how he will win. 

Three or four turns after, there it is, breach combo. 

In as much that I would like to continue playing against it, he said that he needs to go. No game two. Sad. 

Anyway, that's it for now guys. 

Please stay safe wherever you are!

Stay at home!

Paeng_4983

APRIL 2020: LEGACY, VINTAGE, and EDH

Greetings fellow quarantined planeswalker!

For my 37th year on Earth, I am going to play the three formats that I haven't played in a paper tournament in a very long time. 

Here are the results. 

LEGACY: The Epic Storm

vs. BG Control

Grand Prix Kobe Team Event (Modern Legacy Standard) was my last legacy tournament wherein my personal record was at X-1 for day one with AnT Storm.  

Game one: He had Chalice of the Void set on one and two. I had no choice but to concede.

Game two: In my last turn, life points were: him at 16 and me at 2. He had the following relevant cards on his table: Leyline of the Void, Chalice of the Void set at one, and a Collector Ouphe. On my table I had: 4 Lands and LED. My hand after the draw: two Mox Opals, a petal, and two Burning Wishes.

Burning Wish fetching Grapeshot (storm 1). Dropped 1st Opal followed by petal (storm 3). Then Grapeshot his green Null Rod and two damages to him (14life 4 storm). Artifacts can finally move. I tapped Mox Opal for R, then bings down the 2nd Mox Opal tapping it for another R (storm 5) into Burning Wish - crack LED and petal for BBBB. Wish to Tendrils of Agony for the win.

Game three: Turn two Chalice of the Void for one. Turn four Chalice of the Void for two. Abrupt Decay never reached my hand in time. GG.

VINTAGE: Zoo

vs. MUD

It has been more than 10 years since I last played in a Vintage MTG tournament. So before I creating an untap in room for this, I updated myself of the following: (i) BnR cards and (ii) rules/meta.

Game one: He was dropping hate for non-creature spells. I was dropping pets. Not just ordinary pets, but pets with hates. Such as Tin Street Hooligans and Qasali Pridemages. 

Game two: I started fast: Black Lotus, Mox Ruby + SSG into Eidolon of the Great Revel, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.  Yeah! Speed! But after that, I never get to draw a land or mox. GG.

Game three: Mox monkey won me the game by eating his zero casting cost artifact creatures. No blockers? I swing in all my creatures for the win!

EDH: Mono Red Burn

I only have three 1v1 EDH (or commander as others call it) tournaments experiences. A total of 15 rounds in which I lost all but one. Yeah that's how bad I am with this format. And like Vintage MTG, it has been many years since my last EDH game. 

So I had to update myself of the rules, the banned cards for 1v1 tournament, and other more rules relating to this format before creating a room over at untap in. 

I decided to go with Mono Red deck because I do not know really what to expect from them.

vs. Avacyn, Angel of Hope (Mono White)

He asked me if what life do I prefer. Well, I really don't know what to say so my reply was, "whatever you want." "40" he said.  Then 40 it is.

He went first but I had a Leyline of Punishment out by turn zero. He then continued with Plains into Serra Ascendant. Early in the game I thought he was on something like Soul Sister deck, but as soon as the game progressed, he was more of like a mono white enchantment base control deck. His deck reminded me of the Modern Mono White Enchantment deck I once had.  Eventually he assembled his enchantment-lock-army headed by the legendary Moat.

Fortunately, Zo-zu together with a small army of burn spells at hand, artifacts, and red enchantments, Fireblast, Lava Axe, Mind's Eye, Manabarbs, and Sulfuric Vortex, were enough to keep him at bay. I am now at 2 wins and 14 loses, EDH-ly speaking.

Well, that is all for now. 

Stay safe everyone! Stay at home!

Paeng_4983

APRIL 2020: IZZET WIZARDS PIONEER

After three days of playing modern with UR Storm and Merfolk over at untap in, I decided to do five rounds of MTG pioneer. The list (in toto) that I used was from the winner of the Magic Fest Nagoya.

8 April 2020

Untap in

RD1 UB Heavy Control L

RD2 Mono Red W

RD3 Boros Prowess W

RD4 Bant Aggro W

RD5 Mono W Aggro L

Notes:

If in case you will encounter an aggro red  deck, Reckless Rage is the best card against them. I won against two of them because of it. It removes his blockers and pumps your whole team at the cheapest. 

That first round opponent had a lot of removals. I had a feeling that decks like this (the one I am using) are its favorite food.

That Heliod and Balista combo is nuts! 

That is all for now. Thank you for reading and stay safe people! Stay at home!

Paeng 4983

APRIL 2020: MONO BLUE MERFOLK

Hello there again fellow quarantined planeswalkers especially to those citizens of the Atlantis City, merfolk fans! 

After playing 10 rounds of untap in modern magic with UR Storm, I'll be shifting to Mono Blue Merfolk for my next set of games! 

Here are my untap in merfolk gaming results for April 7th. 

7 April 2020

Untap in

10:00 until 15:00

RD1 Eldrazi Tron W

RD2 Prowess W

RD3 Eldrazi Tron W

RD4 Grixis Tempo W

RD5 BW Junk W

Notes: 

ELDRAZI TRON

I faced two Eldrazi Tron and won against both of them. 

I won against the first round Eldrazi Tron by a combination of seas + lords effects. Rejections played a vital role during the late game of game two in which I denied him of the artifacts he fetched off the Karn, the Great Creator's ability. 

I won against the second Eldrazi Tron through the tandem of Trickster and Harbinger. Tapping and bouncing his 5/5s and 4/4s were a huge tempo loss for his side. I eventually draw one Sea's Claim and a Trident for the win.

MONO RED PROWESS

Game three, I keep a hand of 3 Islands, 2 Tricksters and a Harbinger.  The three defensive merfolk cards were enough to keep his troops at bay not to mentioned that I draw Wipe Away after two (or three turns it was). I soon draw a Spreading Seas and two Merfolk lords to give my school the necessary lift to win the game. 

GRIXIS TEMPO

Him having islands was a big help. I just dropped those lords either casting them naturally or with the aid of Aether Vial. Game two, I just brought in the protections (counter spells). Tricksters, Reejerey, and Harbinger are enough defensive cards against his creatures.   

BW JUNK 

I know that W offers Stoneforge Mystic and other defensive cards. So I denied him of it thanks to the seas. WIN. 


7 April 2020

Untap in

18:00 until 23:50

RD1 Bant Control W

RD2 Mono Red Prowess W

RD3 Jund W

RD4 Scapeshift-Bring to Light W

RD5 8-Bears UR Storm W

Notes: 

For the evening games, I made a little adjustment to the main deck. I removed the two Master of Waves and replaced them with a Kira and a Wipe Away. 

BANT CONTROL

PTE and Snapcaster to PTE is on the best defensive combo a UWx deck can have against team merfolk. But having a Kira, The Great Glass-Spinner in the main deck somehow gives you an assurance that opponent will have to do better than that. I won both games thanks to Kira's protection! Yeah! 

Also, there was a situation during game two that I do not have any Lord of Atlantis or Trident, so what I did was I tapped his big blockers (Uro and germ with Batterskull) with Reejereys's trigger abilities. 

MONO RED PROWESS

Tricksters and Harbingers are the MVP cards in this match up. 

JUND
Seas led the way to victory! Turned his early BG and RG lands into islands. Then lord effects took over the game a few turns after. 

SCAPESHIFT-BRING TO LIGHT
The opponent had trouble fixing his colors during our last game. One of his land was Breeding Pool. No need for seas effect. Natural islandwalk for the win. 

UR STORM BEARS
Game one was fast. Turn three lethal Grapeshot for the win. I Brought in all the love for my beloved deck. In our last game, I waited for the correct timing before cracking my Relic of Progenitus. Force of Negation put the final nail in the coffin when he attempted to cast Past in Flames from hand. WIN

Stay safe merfolks fans. Stay at home guys! I hope to see you guys in untap in!

Paeng_4983

APRIL 2020: UR STORM

Hello there fellow quarantine citizens of planet earth!  I hope you are all fine!

As promised, here are the results of my Untap-in modern magic gaming.

6 April 2020

Untap in 

Morning 

RD 1 URW Control W

RD 2 Boros Burn W

RD 3 Tron W

RD 4 UW Control W

RD 5 8-Whack L

Notes:

I thought I will have a perfect 5-0 before going to lunch until I lost to my fifth opponent, 8-Whack. Game three, in his first turn: 2 Memnites, 1 Ornithopter, 1 Signal Pest, 1 Mountain, 2 SSG and  1 Reckless Bushwacker. So Crazy! I was not able to assemble my combo in the next two turns.

URW Control

Game one was easy because most of his hates are intended for creatures. Game two, instead of having 8 goblin tokens, I ended up calling 12 goblins thanks to his two counter spells. WIN.

Boros Burn

Game three, my second turn: 12 tokens. His second turn: Eidolon. I won the race. 

TRON

Game two, he mulled for Leyline of the Void. I had a turn two Blood Moon out. He never recovered from it. Win!

UW Control

Game one, Teferi on the stack, an online Pyromancer Ascension +  a lot of instant spells, then Quicken + PIF + Quicken again + Grapeshot equals win. I have to do this in order to negate his Force of Negation's alternate casting cost. His mana was not enough to cast whatever counter spell he had in his hand. Game two, I was able to out race him with a turn two 12 tokens. 

6 April 2020

Untap in 

Evening

RD 1 UR Delver W

RD 2 Allies L

RD 3 Hardened Affinity W

RD 4 GW Hardened L

Notes:

GW Hardened was able to assemble his combo: Heliod + Hardened + Spike = 10 millions lives and a 10 million / 10 million Spike Feeder. I defeated him by milling his whole deck out, three online Pyromancer Ascension + Though Scours + Increasing Vengeance. I lost game three though in the same combo set up. 

Allies are so fast! I cannot out race it. 

UR Delver, used Grapeshot as a board wipe first before aiming for the win in the next turn. 

That's all for today folks!

Stay safe everyone! Stay at home!

Paeng_4983

APRIL 2020: UR STORM

Greetings! 

I hope you are doing well in this time of quarantine. 

Being at home does not stop other planeswalkers from playing the game. Others did it by playing (with themselves or with a partner whether it be your child or significant other) two decks or simply gold fishing/ shadow boxing. Others through video chat (with friends), MTGO, and/or MTGA. And others, like me, through Untap in. 

5 April 2020 

Untap in

I played five rounds of modern before going to bed. I used my beloved UR Storm and here are the five decks that I faced.

Ad Nauseum W

Mono Prowess L

Ponsa L

Death Shadow W

UG Combo W

AD NAUS

It seems that team Ad Nauseam is using a new win condition route, via inverter. Unfortunately for the opponent, he was drawing lands. 

PROWESS

Game three was fast. I was down to 11 (or 10) by turn two. I was a turn short from assembling my combo. 

PONSA

Game three, I draw bricks. And his Bloodbraid Elves were calling creature cards with haste to speed-up my demise. Maybe I am wrong to call his deck PONSA and I think I should call it RG ramp instead.

DEATH SHADOW

Game three, mob of eight goblins was enough to get me the win. 

UG COMBO

I have no idea how this deck run, but from what I can recall, his deck was so slow in assembling his combo (or lock) pieces. 

UR STORM
Here are some of the highlights of my deck.

End of turn of my opponent's turn: Quicken into Past in Flames into Quicken (same card) into Grapeshot for the win. 

Some opponents had multiple hates for my graveyard, so my mob of goblin tokens took over.

Win through: Electrodominance plus an online Pyromancer Ascension.

That's all. I will play another rounds of modern games at untap in tomorrow. So if you have an account with untap in, add me up (handle: PAENG) or we can simply meet there at past 13:00 Manila time.

Stay safe people! Stay at home until quarantine is over! We can beat this virus!

Paeng_4983