JULY: MODERN CHALLENGE 4 JULY 2020

MTGO MODERN CHALLENGE

4 July 2020

128 players

MONO BLUE MERFOLK

NAYA Aggro with SFM  L

DREDGE W

RUG SNOW L

ELDRAZI TRON W

SULTAI SNOW L

SNOW URO SCAPESHIFT L

then dropped from the roll 

Notes:

I hope to duplicate my June 30th result on this July 4th MTGO Modern Challenge. 

NAYA with SFM 

Game three: I casted Ashiok, Dream Render with high hopes that it was enough to deny him of whatever searching abilities his deck has. But he had a better turn three, a Choke. I did not drew blue lands after. I lost to his 4/5 Tarmogoyfs and 3/3 Scavenging Ooze. 

DREDGE

Last game, my opening seven was: Island, Vial, Benthic, Deprive, Lord of Atlantis, Spell Pierce, and Trident. Somehow I am not that satisfied with it so I decided to mull for these six: Island, Island, Cage, Relic, Benthic, and Pierce. Better!

Pierce his first turn Loam. Then Relic gets to eat it in my second turn. Dropped Cage then he conceded. WIN. 

RUG SNOW 

The game changes into his favor when he double Uro (a swing and a cast from hand) in a turn. Then fetch into Mystical Sanctuary into recycling his spot removals. GG.  

ELDRAZI TRON 

Won game one through Reejerey's trigger ability, tap those blocks and swing for the win. Game two: Spreading Seas + islandwalk, = win. 

SULTAI SNOW

Uro gave him the cushion he needed before putting the final nail in the coffin: Dead of Winter. 

SNOW VALAKUT-URO

Game three: Uros were there for the ramp and life cushion. His main win condition was through Scapeshift into Valakut for 21. GG

After absorbing that fourth loss, I dropped from the roll. 

Thanks for reading. 

Paeng_4983

JULY 2020: MONO BLUE MERFOLK

30 June 2020
MTGO Modern Preliminary 

Bloom Titan W
Grix Death Shadow W
Tron Colorless W
Mono G Tron W
Dredge W

Decklist.

Notes:
BLOOM TITAN

If my memory serves me right, I faced this archetype three times so far on MTGO. Zero wins and three losses. Converting it into games: zero wins and six losses. That's how bad it is. So the moment he did a land drop in his turn one (game one), I expected an uphill battle. I won game one because I was able to slow down his progress through three Merfolk Tricksters and a Dismember. 

Counter spells, Deprives and Spell Pierces, set the tone during game two. Spreading Seas, Merfolk Tricksters and Reejerey's trigger played big roles, after I ran out of blue instant cards, in trying to slow down his progress. And finally two lords, a summoned Trident and a vialed Atlantis, gave the last push needed to snatch my first victory not just against a Bloom Titan but also in the MTGO Modern Preliminary event. 

GRIX DEATH SHADOW

The game went to a rubber match but my school's comes into play trigger abilities from Tricksters and Harbinger plus the lord effects (+1 and islandwalks) prevailed against his spot removals and Plague Engineer. 

TRON COLORLESS

Spreading Seas denied him of having an online tron lands in both games. Damping Sphere also played a big part during game two. 

MONO GREEN TRON

Game one: No online tron lands thanks to two Spreading Seases. Game two: Countered his two Sylvan Scryings before dropping Damping Matrix thus denying him of his maps and eggs. WIN.

DREDGE

Game one: Lord effects was able to out race his zombies. So lucky there, really. Game two: I had a solid opening seven: 5 Islands, 1 Grafdigger's Cage and 1 Relic of Progenitus. Then Ashiok managed to reached my hand like 2 or three turns after. WIN. 

This is all for now. Thank you for reading. 

Paeng_4983

JUNE 2020: MODERN MONO BLUE MERFOLK

1 to 3 JUNE 2020

Untap.in

Scapeshift Primival Titan Deck W
Rakdos Prowess Lurrus W

Mono Red Prowess W
Eldrazi Tron Deck W
GWur Yorion Deck W

Notes:
I tried to upload a whole game (from games one to three 40+ minutes long) but Youtube did not let it. So I just recorded game after game. 

SCAPESHIFT PRIMIVAL TITAN DECK (June 1st)

I got fried in game one. Scapeshift into Valakut for twenty-four damages for the win. My defensive duo, Trickster and Harbinger, took care of his creatures in games two and three. Denying him blockers and bouncing them for more delay worked pretty fine. He tried to win through Scapeshift during game three but got blocked by Force of Negation. WIN

RAKDOS PROWESS LURRUS (June 2nd)
He had a very fast game one. Prowess plus burn spells then ended the game with Lurrus recycling Seal of Fire for the win. For the next two games, all counter spells were thrown at his burn spells with one exception, Deprive that black feline. Trickster, Harbinger, and Reejerey took care of the prowess creatures. "But Lurrus is loves graveyard." No need for Relic of Progenitus Just save a Deprive for it. If in case Deprive is not available, you still have Tricksters or Harbinger in some corner case situations.

Edit: Two hours after this game, WOTC announced its new ruling concerning companion cards.

MONO RED PROWESS (June 3rd)
Game one was fast. It only lasted for like two minutes. Here's the video of it. 

I played tight merfolk gaming during game two. Two Merfolk Tricksters and three Harbinger of the Tides made it an uphill battle for his one drop prowess troop. I forgot to record our game two, unfortunately

Game three is here. 

ELDRAZI TRON (June 3rd)
Game one was an uphill battle. He had a Chalice of the Void (for one) out by turn two when I started drawing three straight one-drop cards. He also summoned Thought-Knot Seers in turns three and five thus hence removing some of the early two-drop lords that I drew. In time things went to my favor when I started drawing Merfolk Tricksters, Reejerey, and Harbingers. 

My opening hand for game two was: two Lord of Atlantis, Reejerey, 2 Islands, Mutavault, and a Trident. In the first 5 turns I drew the following in order: Island, Reejerey, Island, Island, Phantasmal Image. I won the race using this formula: lord effects + tap blockers off the Reejerey's trigger abilities. 

GWur YORION (June 3rd)
Yorion, Sky Nomad in a GWur COCO Deck made me feels like I was playing against the then Pod Deck. The remarkable play he had was Avalanche Rider then blinking it twice with a single card, Ephemerate. Then in his upkeep, blink it again with Restoration Angel. Sweet flow of interactions. Good thing that I am familiar on how his deck works. I won two games thanks to the triggers of Reejerey and Merfolk Trickster. Force of Negation and Deprive also did a great job by denying him of his creature-tutor green cards. 

This is all for now. Thank you for reading. 

Paeng4983

MAY 2020: MONO BLUE MERFOLK MODERN

31 MAY 2020

Untap.in

As Foretold Balance Deck W 

GW Collected Company L
Mono Black Vampires W
Jeskai W

UB Tempo W

Notes

AS FORETOLD BALANCE DECK 
Game 1: I think my key play against this deck during game one was when I countered the deck's main engine, As Foretold, with a Force of Negation. I won the game through a bunch of bear merfolks plus lord effects eventually won me the game. 

Game two: I lost game two because he had another As Foretold card after I countered his first. As Foretold into Restore Balance, respond to its resolution sac all permanents to his Greater Gargadon. I concede immediately because I know what lies ahead . 

Game three: I played in a very defensive manner for I know he can go off any time after turn three. So instead of being the aggressor, I was contented with Cursecatcher and a Merfolk Trickster doing three damages at a time. And by the time I reached four lands, hand with two Deprives and a Force of Negation as back-up, it was at this time that I decided to summoned a lord to help the duo hasten things up. My tactic worked. WIN!

GW COLLECTED COMPANY

I lost in two games. Game one, he had this line of play: Collected Company into two Stoneforge Mystic fetching Batterskull and Sword of Fire and Ice. He then played both next turn and equipped the sword to germ. The same thing happened in game two, but with Giver of Runes protecting his germ.

MONO BLACK VAMPIRES
I lost game one because he out tempoed my school. Gatekeeper of Malakir, Stromkirk Condemned, Fatal Push, Vampire Nocturnus, and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord were the cards I can recall him using. I also had a misplay (sort of) during game one. I tapped Aether Vial (which had two counters on it) and bring down a Lord of the Atlantis without asking him. He immediately interrupted me that he wishes to respond to the artifact's ability. So I rewind a little until to the point of the tapping of the Aether Vial.

Games two and three, I played tight merfolk gaming. My defensive duo (Merfolk Trickster, and Harbinger of the Tides) led the school to victories! Picture below was taken when he tried to swing for the win. I bounced the biggest, Cordial Vampire. Scry for two at the end of his turn. Found a lord. Draw it for the turn. Vial it in. Swing for the win.

JESKAI

I have no idea what kind of URW he was on. Unfortunately, we had no game two because he had to go. Here is the video of our game one. 

UB TEMPO

I think he was drawing bricks in both of our games. I never saw a lot of cards from him other than these: Island, Watery Grave, SpellStutter Sprites, Drown in the Loch, and Fatal Push. 

This is all for now. Thank you for reading! Stay safe everyone!

PAENG_4983

MAY 2020: FIRST VIDEO

Finally! I recorded my first online MTG game! 

Here it is. Enjoy!

Well, it is not actually the whole game. It is just a part of game two wherein I was forced to combo-off. Luckily, I deck gave me the pieces of the puzzle. 

I am so happy that I learned a something new today!

Paeng_4983

MAY 2020: MONO BLUE MERFOLK MODERN

17 May 2020

Untap-in

UWrg with Yorion L

GW Boogles W

ABZAN W

Notes:

UWrg with YORION

Game one: I ran him over with a school of fish with islandwalkers. 

Game two: I keep a 4 land hand, a Cursecatcher, and two lords. I draw three straight lands.

Mystical Dispute is strong versus merfolk. Eventually, he was able to do the soft lock on me, Cryptic Command and Mystic Sanctuary. Then I expected this to end with Uro but, he used Scapeshift into Valakut and Mountains to force a rubber match.

Game three: He did a very job in playing defense by countering my blue cards (Mystical Dispute) and killing them with Lightning Bolts. His Uro played a critical role by giving him six life points and doing extra land drops for the turn. He then blasted me with Scapeshift into Valakuts and Mountains. 

GW BOOGLES

Game one: Since my best defensive duo is sort of useless in this match up, it was a good thing that I added two Force of Negations and a Brazen Borrower into the main deck. I countered his tempo enchant-creatures, Ethereal Armor and Daybreak Coronet. And bounce the second Ethereal Armor. 

Game two: I denied his Slippery Boogle of the following enchancers: Rancor, Ethereal Armor, and  Daybreak Coronet. 

ABZAN

Game one: I had a misplay. I should have had let his Kitchen Finks tapped during the declare attackers step. Then summoned my Merfolk Trickster at the end of his declare attackers step so that it nullifies his Fink's persist ability. It was a very important point of the game because he was able to blink it twice with his Restoration Angel. Thus giving him enough cushion to out tempo my school. 

Game two: With that misplay in mind, I did not let the same mistake happen again. I let his Finks swing. Called trickster. Turned off Fink's persist ability. And win from there. 

Game three: Thassa is a house versus BG decks. WIN.

It's 12:30am here. I am a little sleepy now. Thank you for reading! 

Paeng_4983

MAY 2020: IZZET AGGRO

12 MAY 2020

Untap.in

UG Kinnan Deck W

Mono Black Aggro W
Ubg Rogue Deck W

BUG Uro Deck W

Notes

I replaced Light up the Stage with Sprite Dragons. And I lessen by one the Tormod's Crypt (in the sideboard) and replaced it with a Disdainful Stroke. 

UG URO NISSA RAMP

Game two: He had the following in his turn three:  Three UG lands and a Llanowar Elves. He summoned a Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy. Dropped a Mox Amber. Tapped it for two mana then dropped his second Mox Amber tapped it as well for another two mana. Tapped elf for another two mana. Then a land for a total of seven mana. Into look top five cards off the library into Kogla, Titan Ape. Wow. He won the race. 

Game three: I won the race with 3 one drop prowesses and a Sprite Dragon with Shocks and Wild Slashes backing them up. 

MONO BLACK AGGRO

Game one: Spookie44 raged quit during my turn three because of this play: Swiftspear (1/2) plus prowess trigger off the Curious Obsession (2/3). Then the buff off the Obsession (3/4). Then the prowess off the Wild Slash (4/5). Then I let him know that I am attacking for four. He strongly argued "No! Only two" then I explained to him the whole situation. He then left the room. After a minute, I saw him waiting inside a new room. I entered it and dropped the entire explanation  again for him to read. Then left the room. 

UBG ROGUE DECK
He had a bunch of rogue creatures.

BUG URO DECK
I won by two games. I had three prowess, all one drop, with back-up shocks and Wild Slashes. He kept a bad opening hand. 

This is all for now. Thank you for reading. 

Paeng_4983