Grand Prix Manila Trial I - May 25, 2008

I was supposed to play in the regular standard tourney on Saturday, but due to a "medical emergency", I wasn't able to play. To feed my MTG addiction, I instead played on the Sunday Block Constructed tourney. Unprepared, I whipped up a deck (late in) the night before, and decided to go with the same BG Elves deck that I recently use in Standard, with some card replacements to make it legal for LRW/SHM Block:



// Lands
4 [LRW] Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
2 [MOR] Mutavault
1 [LRW] Vivid Grove
1 [LRW] Vivid Marsh
10 [UNH] Forest
4 [UNH] Swamp

// Creatures
4 [SHM] Devoted Druid
4 [LRW] Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 [LRW] Imperious Perfect
4 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
4 [MOR] Chameleon Colossus
3 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker

// Spells
4 [LRW] Nameless Inversion
3 [LRW] Profane Command
4 [SHM] Shield of the Oversoul

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
SB: 3 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 1 [SHM] Firespout
SB: 1 [LRW] Primal Command
SB: 2 [LRW] Spring Cleaning
SB: 3 [LRW] Eyeblight's Ending
SB: 1 [LRW] Final Revels

With no 1cc mana elf in block, I opted for the 2-drop Devoted Druid. The deck now plays more like a mini-ramp of some sort, hoping that at turn 3, I would have either one 4-drop (Liege or Colossus) or one 2-drop (Vanquisher) & one 3-drop (Perfect or Cavs).


Round 1: vs. 5-color Elementals (draw)

Our first game took a long time to finish, with him constantly killing my threats via Shriekmaw & Mannequin, and drawing more answers via Mulldrifter. I still won the long game though. With time running out, I knew I just had to delay the game and I would win the round. But then of course, I would make a HUGE mistake (I seem to be making this every week). I don't have the exact details, but my opponent was at 4 life, I was at 16 life, and I swung for what I thought was an alpha strike. Unfortunately, my opponent Mannequined 1 Cloudthresher, and hardcasted another Thresher, which blocked my attackers. On his turn, with all my creatures tapped, he swung for his real alpha strike of 2 Threshers and 1 Shriekmaw ftw. And the match draw... on the fifth and last turn.

Game standing: 1-1
Match standing: 0-0-1


Round 2: vs. WW Kithkins (lost)

My round 2 pairing was definite proof that I have the worst luck in matchups, as I was very unfortunately matched up against the defending Philippine Nationals champ. But when I saw that his deck was WW Kithkins, I knew I at least had a fighting chance (or so I thought). In game 1, he was deliberately baiting me to a race, with him swinging every turn, and with me also swinging every turn. I had him at 4 life (with me at 13 life), but then on his turn, he cast Wizened Cenn (still not enough to kill me), and with no blockers, he cast Mirrorweave on the Cenn. Ouch. In game 2, he was again on race mode. It was a pretty close game though, but in the end, I lost to a bunch of flying Spirit tokens, which I had no way of blocking.

Game standing: 1-3
Match standing: 0-1-1


Round 3: vs. GWu Aggro (won)

I was up against a player I wanted to play for a long time. I see him often in tournaments, but never got matched up against him. The cool thing is his age -- he was around 50+ years old (to my estimate). It was a sleeper though, as I easily won both games behind Garruk overruns.

Game standing: 3-3
Match standing: 1-1-1


Round 4: vs. WW Kithkins (won)

Wow. Another Kithkin deck. Where are the damn faeries??? Perhaps they were all in the winner's bracket. Anyway, this was another round that took the whole hour. I won a close game in game 1, and my opponent won a close game in game 2. I was actually on the way to winning that game 2, but I made a costly mistake of swinging with all creatures on a Garruk overrun, when I didn't have to. My opponent then casted Pollen Lullaby. Wtf. And swinging with his Kithkin army next turn ftw. Good thing, I easily won game 3 though (on another Garruk overrun). Otherwise, I would have been devastated by that Fog card.

Game standing: 5-4
Match standing: 2-1-1


Round 5: vs. BR Aggro (lost)

All I could remember was that game 1 was one-sided in favor of me. And games 2 and 3 were one-sided in favor of my opponent. I especially remember game 3, when he had answer after answer to my threats. Liege #1 - Flame Javelin. Colossus - another Flame Javelin. Liege #2 - Shriekmaw. Wow. Then Demigod of Revenge ftw.

Game standing: 6-6
Match standing: 2-2-1


Round 6: vs. BG Elves (lost)

I knew I won game 1 easily. And then my opponent came back from behind (at 3 life) to win game 2. And then in game 3, as expected, I made another mistake. Faced with a decision between killing a Shriekmaw and an Imperious Perfect, I chose to Profane the Perfect. And one turn later, Nameless Inversion on the Shriekmaw. That one turn turned out to be the difference, and I lost game 3. Learning point: Shriekmaw has FEAR and is unblockable even by an army of huge green elves.

Game standing: 7-8
Match standing: 2-3-1


Round 7: vs. UW Merfolk (won)

Here's another first. I was up against a woman Magic player. There's not very many of them in the local Magic scene (based on my count, there are only 4 of them -- and 3 of them were playing yesterday). Anyway, I won game 1 undamaged. Then perhaps, like many men out there, I became over-confident, and was shocked when I lost game 2, with my opponent undamaged. In game 3 though, it was all serious. Luckily, I found answers to her Reejereys in time, and I won a close game.

Game standing: 9-9
Match standing: 3-3-1


Despite another disappointing finish (when the hell will I ever be able to finish above .500???), I was just fine after the tourney. My excuses -- I wasn't able to plan on my deck (in fact, my sideboard was horrible, I wasn't able to play more than half of them the whole day), one of my losses was from the reigning nationals champ, and my 1 other loss and 1 draw were due to puny mistakes that I made late game. More learning points.

Regular Standard Tournament - May 17, 2008

I used this BG Elves deck for the tourney:



// Lands
4 [LRW] Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 [10E] Llanowar Wastes
1 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
2 [MOR] Mutavault
1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 [TSB] Pendelhaven
4 [10E] Treetop Village
4 [10E] Forest
2 [10E] Swamp

// Creatures
4 [10E] Llanowar Elves
2 [CS] Boreal Druid
4 [LRW] Wren's Run Vanquisher
2 [MOR] Bramblewood Paragon
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [LRW] Imperious Perfect
4 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
2 [MOR] Chameleon Colossus
3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker

// Spells
4 [LRW] Profane Command
4 [LRW] Nameless Inversion

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 1 [TSP] Squall Line
SB: 2 [LRW] Primal Command
SB: 4 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [LRW] Eyeblight's Ending


I found out from the previous night that I had too much black mana sources, so I replaced 1 Swamp with 1 Forest. I also removed all Extirpates in the SB, in favor of additional SB against Faeries and RDW, which usually flood weekend tourneys.


Round 1: vs. UB Faeries (lost)

I really have bad luck in matchups, as I was paired against a good player in round 1. Good thing I knew his deck though, because I watched him playtest with his teammates before the tournament started. And I did pretty good in the beginning, with me quickly winning game 1, still at 19 life. For game 2 though, my opponent sided-in Damnations and I lost a close game. In game 3, I lost the race of life, with him attacking with his flyers, and with me attacking with my ground creatures. I also made some misplays by overextending, when I knew he could cast Damnations (which he did).

Game standing: 1-2
Match standing: 0-1


Round 2: vs. RGw Landie? (won)

I was up against the guy who beat me using the RGw Landie deck the night before. This time though, things went the other way around, with me easily winning 2 games unscathed. Both games were so one-sided that I didn't even know if he used the same deck, because he wasn't able to cast much spells, other than some Harmonize.

Game standing: 3-2
Match standing: 1-1


Round 3: vs. Mono-White Kithkin Soldiers (lost)

I knew my opponent used a Kithkin soldier deck before we started, because I had a lot of time to watch other matches, with my quick win in round 2. Unfortunately for me, his Soldier engine was in all gears in the first game and I wasn't able to keep up with a barrage of first striking Soldiers (via Field Marshal). For game 2, I was coasting my way to winning it, up until he was at 2 life. That's when he stopped the bleeding by casting Stonecloakers (after stacking damage), and casting Armored Ascension to make a huge flying kithkin soldier attack me every turn. Unfortunately, I didn't draw my Profane early enough and he beat me 0-2.

Game standing: 3-4
Match standing: 1-2


Round 4: vs. WG Ramp (lost)

I hate seeing Kitchen Finks on the other side of the board. I lost in 2 games because my opponent kept on casting the persistent lifegainers, while ramping up his mana. In the end, I would lose to a huge creature -- a Cloudthresher in the first game, and a Crovax (swiping my 1/1 elf army) on the second.

Game standing: 3-6
Match standing: 1-3


Round 5: vs. Mono-Black Rogues (won)

Both of our games were races, with him attacking and prowling, and me... just plain attacking. I won in 2 games thanks to Profane Command, which my opponent did not have. :)

Game standing: 5-6
Match standing: 2-3


Round 6: vs. Mono-White Kithkins (won)

My opponent was using a subpar Kithkin deck, pretty much like the one I used to take to tourneys -- the one with Forbidding Watchtowers, Oblivion Rings and Temporal Isolation. I knew exactly how this deck worked, having used it a lot of times before, and I easily won in 2 games.

Game standing: 7-6
Match standing: 3-3


Two consecutive days, two consecutive .500 and below finishes. :( Now, I don't feel THAT bad (I still do) that I won't be able to play at the Regionals today. That will probably end up as another Treefolk Shaman day anyway. At least yesterday, I was a Hill Giant.

FNM - May 16, 2008

I used this BG Elves deck for the FNM:



// Lands
4 [LRW] Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 [10E] Llanowar Wastes
1 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
2 [MOR] Mutavault
1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 [TSB] Pendelhaven
4 [10E] Treetop Village
3 [10E] Forest
3 [10E] Swamp

// Creatures
4 [10E] Llanowar Elves
2 [CS] Boreal Druid
4 [LRW] Wren's Run Vanquisher
2 [MOR] Bramblewood Paragon
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [LRW] Imperious Perfect
4 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
2 [MOR] Chameleon Colossus
3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker

// Spells
4 [LRW] Profane Command
4 [LRW] Nameless Inversion

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [LRW] Primal Command
SB: 2 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
SB: 3 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 4 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 2 [LRW] Eyeblight's Ending


Basically here are the mainboard changes that I made in the deck (compared to what I used in the Shadowmoor Standard Inaugural):

-3 Civic Wayfinder
-1 Bramblewood Paragon
-2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
+4 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
+2 Chameleon Colossus


Round 1: vs. GWb Doran (lost)

Everyone else had already started their games when my first round opponent arrived. Someone had to call him (I think he was smoking at the Old Manila coffee place) to tell him that round 1 pairings had been up. When my opponent arrived, I knew immediately what his deck was - Doran Rock - because Joven had played against him before. And I knew I was right, when he cast his first spell of the day - turn 1 BOP. Then, I made the first of my many misplays of the day, by not Inverting the mana bird. I paid for it with a turn 2 Doran, and me getting a beating and losing very quickly in game 1. I sided in 2 Eyeblights and 2 Grips (because he had Shield of the Oversoul) for game 2. It was not enough though because I did not draw my Grips early enough to remove the indestructible aura. Also, my opponent had a mini combo going with multiple Saffi's and evoked Shriekmaws. GG.

Game standing: 0-2
Match standing: 0-1


Round 2: vs. Mono-Red Beats (won)

Our 2 games were almost identical. Turn 1 Maniac. Turn 2 Mudbrawler Cohort, swing for 4. Turn 3 Lurebound Scarecrow. And then his Maniac would die attacking to a much larger defender. I would Invert his Cohort. Scarecrow dies. And then I would overrun him with my elf army with no more defenders on his side.

Game standing: 2-2
Match standing: 1-1


Round 3: vs. RGw Landie (lost)

Our first game took a loooooong time. He would destroy my lands via Riders or Acid Moss. But by the time he would cast a huge threat, like a Deus of Calamity, I would have a huge Tarmogoyf on my side. Our giant creatures would battle, and die. Then repeat. Eventually, I ran out of gas and lost game 1. For game 2, I made a HUGE misplay -- 16 damage HUGE -- by not blocking a Chameleon Colossus. I thought, with 7 lands, he only had enough mana to pump the Changeling once, but forgot the Boreal Druid that he had on his side. :( GG.

Game standing: 2-4
Match standing: 1-2


Round 4: vs. RG Elf-Wolves Deathtouch (lost)

My opponent had a unique RG elf deck with the red elf being Taurean Mauler. And he would of course have access to red burn like Incinerate. I thought my deck was better though, at least in game 1, when I easily overran him via Garruk. Game 2 became a battle of attrition though, with his 2 Wren's Run Packmasters and 1 Imperious Perfect, and with me with an army of deathtouch Vanquishers. I still lost though despite being able to kill his token generators just because he had more elves and wolves, than I had creatures. In game 3, I made another huge misplay. With time up and us in our last 5 turns, I knew I had no chance of winning, so it was either I lost or I drew with the guy. All I had to do was survive in the 5 turns, and I could go home 1-2-1. But no, I miscalculated my math and took enough damage - 8 damage - on the 5th and last turn. And what was on my hand? 2 Kitchen Finks. Oh well.

Game standing: 3-6
Match standing: 1-3

Grand Prix Manila

In less than 4 months...



Grand Prix Manila
August 30-31, 2008
SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 1
Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed Format

Shadowmoor Standard Inaugural - May 3, 2008

I should change the subject of this post to:

I Am Treefolk Shaman.



I joined the Shadowmoor Standard Inaugural yesterday with this BG "Semi-Post Shadowmoor" deck:

// Lands
1 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
4 [LRW] Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 [10E] Llanowar Wastes
1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 [TSB] Pendelhaven
2 [MOR] Mutavault
4 [10E] Treetop Village
3 [UNH] Forest
3 [UNH] Swamp

// Creatures
4 [10E] Llanowar Elves
2 [CS] Boreal Druid
3 [MOR] Bramblewood Paragon
4 [LRW] Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
3 [10E] Civic Wayfinder
4 [LRW] Imperious Perfect
2 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker

// Spells
4 [LRW] Nameless Inversion
4 [LRW] Profane Command

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [LRW] Primal Command
SB: 2 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
SB: 3 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 4 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 2 [PLC] Damnation
SB: 1 [TSP] Sudden Spoiling


Round 1: vs. UB Faerie-Mannequin (lost)

I had my opponent all the way down to 8 life in game 1, until he was able to put down 2 Scions in play, making all his faeries untouchable. Game 2 started with him putting down 2 Bitterblossoms (scary). But he was killed by his own enchantment, and I never got any damage to win game 2. I got the worst surprise in game 3 -- with me at 6 life, and him at 4 life and tapped out, I swung with all creatures... and then he suddenly cast... Mannequin the Mistbind Clique championing the tapped Mistbind Clique. And he suddenly had a 4/4 flying blocker that killed my attacker, and can attack the next turn to finish me off. I knew the Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw he cast earlier were weird... Too bad it took me until the last play of the round to realize it.

Game standing: 1-2
Match standing: 0-1


Round 2: vs. RDW Splash Goyf (won)

Won easily in 2 games. I just had too many threats that he had to split his burn between me and my creatures. He eventually always runs out of gas and I would still have enough creatures to finish him off.

Game standing: 3-2
Match standing: 1-1


Round 3: vs. RDW (won)

Lost game 1 in a fairly close game. Won game 2 in another close game. Won game 3 with me at 22 life.

Game standing: 5-3
Match standing: 2-1


At this point, I was feeling quite good about my standing... and then these happened:


Round 4: vs. RG Mana Ramp (lost)

My opponent was flawless in winning game 1 via Tarmogoyfs and SGCs. I was on the way to winning game 2 flawlessly myself, until he was down to 1. And then he finished my creatures one by one via Skreds, SGCs and finally Cloudthresher. He killed me at 15 life, in a single turn.

Game standing: 5-5
Match standing: 2-2


Round 5: vs. UB Faerie-Mannequin (lost)

I won game 1 easily. In game 2, my opponent kept on blocking with Faerie tokens and stabilized at 13 life. I lost when he timewalked via a Mistbind Clique (championing the Blossom), and killed me eventually with the huge flyer. Learning from my Round 1 defeat, I knew that my opponent also had the Faerie-Mannequin hybrid deck (he was most probably teammates with my Round 1 opponent), after seeing the Mulldrifters and Shriekmaws in the first 2 games. The Mannequin didn't come out though, but I still lost in a tight game, with both of us at 4 life, and with me unable to block his tiny flyers.

Game standing: 6-7
Match standing: 2-3


Round 6: vs. UW Merfolk Wizards (lost)

My opponent kept a 1 land hand and paid for it with a quick game 1 loss. In game 2, his Merfolk Wizard engine was in all gears, emptying his hand via 2 Bannerets and untapping lands via Reejerey. And then he would draw via a resolved Ancestral Visions, and he would cast more merfolk/wizards. It was still a close game though (him at 1 life, me at 5 life), but I eventually lost via a Sower of Temptation on my Tarmogoyf. Game 3 was pretty much like game 2. On the final turn of the game, with him on 7 life and me on 6 life, and creatures on both sides of the board, I thought for a moment on my final play. I casted Profane for 2, him losing 2 life, and giving my 2 creatures fear -- a Vanquisher and a Paragon (total 5 damage). GG right? But no. He cast Pollen Lullaby (yes, Pollen Lullaby) for the Fog effect... and the win.

Game standing: 7-9
Match standing: 2-4


Round 7: vs. WG Mana Ramp (lost)

My opponent won game 1 on yet another close game with me at 3 life and him at 6 life. I won game 2 undamaged via a Garruk overrun (23 damage!) on turn 5. On game 3, his mana ramp engine was in full gear. I got face to face against an Oversoul of Dusk, the protection from 3 colors guy. I was able to kill it though via a Nameless 7/2 Tarmogoyf. But then he cast another fatty, and his name is... wait for it... Akroma Angle of Wrath. GG.

Game standing: 8-11
Match standing: 2-5

Like I said, I Am Treefolk Shaman.

The good thing that came out of this tourney was that most of my losses (except for the one vs. RG Mana Ramp) were close games. If not for some small mistakes that I didn't notice, or a little bit of luck that went in the favor of my opponent, I could have gone from being a Treefolk Shaman to:



I just don't know when that will eventually happen.