Tapped Out

It hit me when I received my MPR last week -- a Sign in Blood, and a Negate. What? That's it?

I guess this is it.

See you around. My Magic activities would be limited to reading the official site for now.

Magic Player Rewards - July 14, 2009

Just received the following in the mail today:



I got an oversized Lightning Bolt card, and just one textless card -- Terminate, because I hadn't played much recently. But the 'older card' that came with it was a Flame Javelin! Yeah! :)

WotC sure knows how to inspire me to play again. :)

Magic Player Rewards - Mar 5, 2009

I received the following in the mail yesterday:



Textless Remove Soul, Nameless Inversion x2, Cruel Edict, Tidings, Recollect, and a foil DCI Hypnotic Scepter. I think DCI really holds out on MPR mailings, since I have more than enough points for another foil Cryptic Command, but didn't get one. Oh well. Time to use those Nameless Inversions on our Dark Bant deck. ;-)

BG Elves Deck Performance Analysis

In preparation for the Gold Rush later today (because it's past midnight already hehe), I decided to compile the results of all my sanctioned tournaments in the past couple of months, when playing the BG Elves deck archetype. Here are the results:

Mono Red - Won 8, Lost 5 - 62%
Elves/Rock - Won 6, Lost 6 - 50%
White Weenie - Won 3, Lost 7, Draw 1 - 27%
Random Deck - Won 5, Lost 3, Draw 1 - 56%
Faeries - Won 2, Lost 6 - 25%
Mono Black - Won 1, Lost 3 - 25%
5-Color Control - Won 1, Lost 2 - 33%
Mana Ramp - Won 0, Lost 3 - 0%
Planeswalkers - Won 2, Lost 0 - 100%
Mannequin - Won 1, Lost 1 - 50%
5-Color Elementals - Won 1, Lost 1 - 50%
Land D - Won 1, Lost 1 - 50%
Merfolk - Won 0, Lost 2 - 0%

Here are my observations:
1. The poor showing against Faeries is due to my inability to pilot the deck correctly in the beginning. Most, if not all, of the losses were in my early months of playing the deck.

2. The other deck archetypes' results are not very reliable as I haven't played enough against them.

3. As expected, I do well against random decks (decks I've played only once, ever).

4. The mirror is basically a coin toss. Perhaps I need better SB to have the advantage in the mirror.

5. And last, but most definitely not the least -- I suck against Kithkins. Now I know I really need that fourth Infest in the SB.

Christmas Gift - 2008

One of the best gifts I received in Christmas 2008:



It was from my Tito Benjie in Canada, who went home for the holidays.

I just found out that despite costing just $15 (~PhP 750) in the US, this product was released on a very limited basis here in Manila and is being sold for Php 1,200. Whoa.

Merry Christmas indeed! :)

Magic Player Rewards - Nov 14, 2008

I received the following in the mail last week:



- Foil Textless Cryptic Command
- Textless Unmake
- Textless Pyroclasm
- Oversized Feral Hydra
- Sarkhan Vol DCI membership card

I should have gotten more, but Wizards/DCI decided not to use all of my rewards points in the past 3 months (I wonder why...). But anyway, it's all good. For sure, I'll be able to use that Pyroclasm. ;-)

Will the real Kenji please stand up?

2005 MTG Player of the Year, Kenji Tsumura.



2008, um, Starbucks Drinker of the Year, Kenji Bayutas...



Do I look Japanese to you? LOL.

1700

I was doing my usual morning MTG surfing when I came across this in my DCI account:



I have finally broken the 1700 constructed barrier! :)

Looking at my play history, I also discovered that my all time low was 1480, after losing round 1 of the Shadowmoor Standard Inaugural. Browsing through the matches also made me reminisce about my previous deck choices (ie. Pickles, Goblins, pre-Mirrorweave White Weenie), sideboard "strategies" (ie. Deathmark, Paladin en-Vec, Tivadar of Thorn), and play styles (ie. attempting to play a control deck with no knowledge of the metagame whatsoever).

It took almost a year to get here, but at least I now feel that I'm actually starting to accomplish something. :) I wonder when I will ever post about breaking 1800 (if I ever get there at all)...

TS/CS Out, ALA In

Today marks the first time that I will be experiencing a set rotation in Magic.

To give a short background -- the most commonly played format in Magic: The Gathering, Standard Constructed, utilizes the latest core set (10th Edition, as of today) and the two latest expansion blocks (Time Spiral/Coldsnap and Lorwyn/Shadowmoor). Now, today marks the release of the newest expansion block -- Shards of Alara. That, in effect, means the "rotation" of Time Spiral/Coldsnap OUT of Standard Constructed. Meaning, goodbye to tournament staples such as:

Snow-Covered lands
Using snow-covered lands didn't give any drawbacks whatsoever, and it even gave access to powerful cards such as Skred, Phyrexian Ironfoot, Mouth of Ronom, and the snow dual lands.


Dragonstorm
This card was such a big hit among combo, as well as budget players, because the deck was relatively cheaper to build than other tournament-worthy decks -- even making the finals of the 2007 World Championship.


Momentary Blink
Blink-Riders, Blink-Riftwing, Evoke-Blink, Reveillark-Blink... this card was in every control player's deck.


Rune Snag
The rotation of Rune Snag marks the removal of a decent 2cc counterspell for blue mages everywhere. For now, I guess we will have to put up with Remove Soul and Negate.


Damnation
The color-shift of Wrath of God to black made white unplayable. With Damnation rotating out, will white once again reclaim its old glory?


Tarmogoyf
The big daddy. The card smackers dream of, going from being a crap rare to a chase rare. For a while, it was in every deck that had green mana. The hype went down though, but the price tag didn't change. And I doubt that it will, as "the most powerful 2-drop ever" is still usable in older formats like Extended.


Which card in the new Standard will impact the format the most? Will any card mimic Tarmogoyf in terms of price and usability? How will current decks adapt to the rotation? Will the meta be control-based, as many people predict?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but I sure am looking forward to this brand-new Standard. :)

Magic Player Rewards - Aug 14, 2008

Last night, I was surprised to find the following in the mail:



My first ever Magic Player Rewards! :)

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to 20 tournaments before their cutoff (some events didn't get reported... :( ), so I didn't get a foil Damnation. It was still all good though, as I got a textless Incinerate, Harmonize, Corrupt, and 2 Ponders.

Getting these last night most certainly encouraged me to play even more... so I'll be playing in tonight's FNM at Galleria (if the weather will cooperate). ;-)

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?

Doran or Perfect?

The City Championships will be tomorrow, March 29. Top 8 players will win a Doran EA card, while top 9 to 120 players will get the Imperious Perfect EA card.



Which deck will be most prevalent?

Which deck will win it all?

Will it be the new combo deck?

Or will it be the recent GP champion deck?

Or perhaps the world champion deck?

Or maybe one of the decks gaining popularity?

One thing is for sure -- I'm playing with a different deck this time around (no more teenie weenie Kithkins tomorrow). I've set my goals high, and I expect to have a fun time (hopefully by winning a lot of games) tomorrow.

Will it be a Doran or a Perfect? We'll find out soon. :)

Shadowmoor Previews

Shadowmoor is the next Magic expansion after Morningtide. To be released on May 2 (just in time for my birthday, woohoo!), with pre-releases on April 19-20, it will be the large set of the next mini-block after Lorwyn.

The official MTG website has recently shown a sample booster pack of the upcoming set -- and it was very interesting, to say the least, because of the presence of:

A White Elf:


A Blue Kithkin:


A Colored/Colorless Hybrid Mana:


And this seemingly annoying/powerful card:


I wish it was April 19 already... ;-)

Lignified

Learning points from the Gold Rush:

• Have enough sleep before the tournament. A well-rested mind could spell the difference between victory and defeat.
  
• Come to the venue early, in anticipation of any possible traffic jams. Cramming to fill-up your decklist can ruin your game preparations.
  
• Never concede. There's nothing wrong with waiting until you've REALLY lost the game.
  
• Don't follow your opponent's game pace. You're not a pro. Don't act like one.
  
• Think twice before casting anything. Even pros think first, before doing anything.
• You need a new deck. Or at least, add/build on your current deck's winning conditions.