Regular Standard Tournament - Jul 26, 2008

There were three scheduled tournaments yesterday -- Standard, LOR-SHM Block, and Legacy. I originally planned on joining the Block tourney (I even met up with someone to buy cards for my deck), for fear of facing the many practicing Nationals players (this year's Nats format is Standard). Unfortunately, when I signed up at NG Galleria, there were only 2 players signed-in for Block! Oh well.

Good thing I anticipated the possibility of this happening, so I brought with me the parts of my BG Elves deck. I built the deck on the venue (basically the same deck that I used last time), just in time for the start of the tourney. Here's what happened:

0-3 drop.

Well, technically, it was 1-3 drop, because I got a bye on the fourth round.


On the first round, I lost to a mono-black control deck. 2 Bitterblossoms + Korlash + Corrupt = game loss.


On the second round, I lost on a mirror match. It was actually close on both games (I lost 0-2), up until I made another huge, stupid, crucial, "makes you want to punch yourself" misplay by blocking 2 attacking Mutavaults, with my own 2 Mutavaults. The only thing was, my opponent had an Imperious Perfect in play. Duh.


On the third round, I lost to a UB faeries deck, 1-2. He demolished me in the first game with 3 consecutive Mistbind Cliques. I outplayed him in the second game (the only good game I had all day). And I had really bad luck in the third game (when I counted the cards after the match, I apparently drew 15 out of my 23 lands in the game... and the game didn't last long).

Another tournament, another "oh well".

WG Little Kid Aggro on MTGO

It took me the whole night, but I finally created a Standard deck in MTGO. I built the WG "Little Kid" Aggro deck featuring the WG hybrid cards and Shield of the Oversoul.



// Lands
22 [SHM] Forest - 0 tix

// Creatures
4 [10E] Llanowar Elves - 0.6 tix
4 [LRW] Wren's Run Vanquisher - 0.5 tix
4 [SHM] Safehold Elite - 0.32 tix
4 [LRW] Imperious Perfect - 1 tix
3 [SHM] Heartmender - 3 tix
4 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers - 1 tix
4 [SHM] Kitchen Finks - 2 tix
4 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Liege - 12 tix

// Spells
4 [SHM] Shield of the Oversoul - 0.6 tix
3 [10E] Overrun - 1.5 tix

TOTAL - 22.52 tix, or ~1,100 PhP

It's really amazing how large the disparity is between MTGO and paper Magic. If I built this deck from scratch in real life, just the 4 Lieges would cost 1,400 PhP -- more expensive than the WHOLE DECK in MTGO.

However, just like I mentioned earlier, it took me the whole night to build this deck. I had to scour the various bots and other users in the Trading section to get the best deals. Note that the Vanquishers actually cost more than the Llanowar Elves. LOL. I just couldn't find a cheaper price for black-bordered mana elves.

Anyway, I think this is enough as a starting deck for me in MTGO. It's definitely not Tier 1, but it can hold its own against Tier 2 decks. It's a LOT of fun to play, it's a really good starting point in learning how to use MTGO in general, and it will help me a lot in making an informed decision on whether to pursue MTGO for real or not.

Now I just need to hide my credit card, so I won't be able to use it for the next 6 months. LOL.

Hello MTGO

I installed Magic Online III onto Voldemort last week... and I have to admit, despite taking 8 hours to download and install, it is really getting me to think...

PROS:

1. I can play at any spare time that I have, at the comfort of my own home -- no need to pay for gas to drive to Galleria, or to get an MRT ticket to Ortigas.
2. Cards are a lot cheaper in MTGO -- Good staple cards are still expensive (Tarmogoyfs cost around 30 tickets or around 1,300+ PhP), but uncommons and even some of the good rare cards are a lot cheaper than their paper counterparts. Imperious Perfect is just 2 for 1 ticket (~25PhP each). Wilt-Leaf Liege is just 3 tix (~140PhP). Lands are also at 3, sometimes even 2 tix each (~90PhP). You get the point.
   
3. It's a lot easier to find people to play with -- You wanna play Standard? Just create a game, and within seconds, another player will come to join you. You wanna draft? Just get 3 packs and 2 tix, and you're good to go.
4. Rules enforcement -- The biggest difference between MTGO and other free MTG software (ie. MWS). No more debates as to how certain triggers stack up, or how certain card interactions affect the game. Everything just happens, as they should.

CONS:

1. A brand new investment to an empty card pool -- I just tried to draft SHA-SHA-SHA last weekend, so basically my binder just consists of those 45 cards, plus the initial set of cards that I got free from the 9th edition starter kit. My most (and only) "expensive" card at the moment is a Mystic Gate, which I even have a hard time selling at 3 tickets. (Note: 1 ticket = $1)
2. Making a new investment means I have to, at least, partially say goodbye to my paper magic collection. *sob sob*
3. Playing against someone over the Internet is no match to actually seeing your opponent face-to-face. You don't see their violent reactions when they topdeck... or their sad faces when they lose... or their jubilant faces when they win.
4. Magic is a CARD game. But the fact is, in MTGO, you don't actually get to HOLD the cards.

Oh yeah. This is really making me think. Perhaps as a "middle ground", I'll just draft every now and then (maybe once a month) in MTGO. That's something that I never get the chance to do in real life, and it's something that I really had fun doing last weekend.

But I have to admit, I WAS seriously computing the amount I would need to build a decent Standard deck in MTGO last night. And from my computation, a fair investment of 1,500 PhP would get the job done (spent on a GW Aggro or a mono-red deck).

Hmm... should I take the plunge?

Eventide Prerelease - Jul 12, 2008

I went 2-2 with a BG Wither-Persist deck featuring Blowfly Infestation. It's really funny how my current deck (BG Elves) and the podcast that I regularly listen to (Monday Night Magic) both influenced me into making this deck. Anyway, here was my decklist:



// Lands
10 [SHM] Swamp
7 [SHM] Forest

// Creatures
1 [EVE] Odious Trow
1 [EVE] Woodlurker Mimic
1 [EVE] Stalker Hag

1 [SHM] Sickle Ripper
1 [SHM] Dusk Urchins
2 [SHM] Gravelgill Duo
1 [EVE] Smoldering Butcher
1 [SHM] Sootwalkers

1 [SHM] Tattermunge Duo
1 [SHM] Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
1 [EVE] Wickerbough Elder
1 [SHM] Heartmender
1 [SHM] Foxfire Oak
1 [SHM] Morselhoarder
1 [SHM] Loamdragger Giant

// Spells
1 [EVE] Gift of the Deity

1 [SHM] Torture
1 [SHM] Rite of Consumption
1 [SHM] Fists of the Demigod
1 [SHM] Blowfly Infestation
1 [EVE] Unmake

1 [SHM] Shield of the Oversoul


Unfortunately, I can no longer remember too many details from each of my matches (despite the tourney being just a couple of hours ago), so I won't be able to post my usual tourney report. I just remembered a couple of key moments:


1. In round 1, my opponent at one point had two Recumbent Bliss in play on two of my creatures. It sucks to have 2 of your creatures getting Pacified, and it sucked even more that he was gaining 2 life in each of his upkeeps. Good thing I still won that game. :)


2. In round 2, my opponent cast a second turn Talara's Bane - with a Foxfire Oak in my hand. Haha! Discard my fattie, and he gained 7 life. :)


3. In round 3, I was able to cast a 2nd turn Woodlurker Mimic, to a 3rd turn Stalker Hag (I was up against a BGr deck, so swampwalk/forestwalk!), then swing for 4. :) Too bad he cast a Puncture Bolt 1 turn later. :(


4. In round 4, I had 2 Gravelgill Duos in play, and I cast black spell after black spell, to "fear my way" into victory. :)

My lone Blowfly Infestation actually came into play only once in the entire tourney. And I found out the hard way, that the card really does suck. Haha. At one time, I had like 2 wither guys attacking, and my opponent blocked one of them -- dying in the process. Blowfly triggers, and with no other creatures in play other than mine, I had to put a -1/-1 counter on my Sickle Ripper. Haha. I think I sided out the card on the next game.

Anyway, prereleases are still a bit on the more casual side of tourneys, so overall, I still had fun despite the "a little bit disappointing" finish. Besides, getting a total of 8 packs, for just 1,000 PhP, that's not bad at all. :)