Anyhow, it is currently Day 3 of the Expo and so far it was good. We had attracted some curious mall goers but only a few actually inquired on learning the game. Hopefully tomorrow, there’s more players to go by and more potential fresh recruits.

Going back, I’ve decided to join the next scheduled World Magic Cup Qualifiers which will be on the May 20th (this Sunday). As to what deck to pilot, I’ve decided to pilot Red Green White Birthing Pod, but the present concern is the appropriate list for the current metagame. Red Green Aggro has been on-fire lately so I had to turn my attention on beating those turn-two Swords.

Here is my current list I’ve been working on:

Naya Pod by Mark Ian Alloso

Lands
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Razorverge Thicket
5 Forest
2 Gavony Township
2 Rootbound Crag
2 Sunpetal Grove
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Plains
1 Mountain

Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Silverblade Paladin
2 Borderland Ranger
2 Blade Splicer
3 Restoration Angel
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Inferno Titan

Spells
4 Birthing Pod
1 Red Sun’s Zenith

I am thinking the deck’s weakness is starting slow when early mana critters are killed. Gut Shot from Delver decks is being popular lately so the birds & pilgrims are somewhat inefficient. My solution is to add Borderland Ranger to the Pod chain. Ramping up also filters your land draws late game and helps power up a deadly Red Sun Zenith.

Another thing I like about the zenith is its reusability. You can cast it early to kill an opponent’s Birds of Paradise or unflipped Delver and later on target it to the dome.

Restoration Angel is another flyer waiting to be exploited by Birthing Pod. It bounces your other creatures, a lot, and benefits surprise block or can go past counterspells with its Flash.

Zealous Conscripts is your trump card versus Ramp, and you have to be careful in maneuvering the game to lure your opponent into casting his/her Titan.

Sigarda is another stand-alone win condition and renders “edict” effects useless.

The sideboard, well, is pretty much messed up right now. I am still debating if it is a good choice to include Swords (particularly the War and Peace) or not. The auto-includes so far are the Ancient Grudge, Ray of Revelation, another Thalia, and Celestial Purge.

We’ll see what I can come up with this coming last days of preparation. Until next post and thanks for reading.

The Mtg tourney details are as follows:

Date: May 19, 2012
Format: Standard Constructed, Top 8 playoffs
Reg: 150 php
Time: Registration starts 10am, Round 1 at 11am.
Prizes: Avacyn Restored Booster packs and foil promo cards.

Hopefully this event will get to introduce to new recruits and invite more players to the community. I’ll be posting any update on this tourney in the future.

Until next post!

Anyhow, the story of this goes like a conflict between Niv-Mizzet’s research and thirst for knowledge and Jarad’s (of the Golgari) intention to prevent the dragon from disrupting their reanimation schemes.

Here are some info regarding the Duel Decks:

The Izzet League, under the ingenious mind of its guildmaster, the dragon Niv-Mizzet, has dabbled, delved, and decoded many mysteries in its insatiable thirst for knowledge. Now the dracomagus seeks to plumb the depths of Ravnica’s undercity. But the Golgari don’t welcome interlopers in their dank, moldy realm.

Under the command of the elvish lich lord Jarad, the Golgari have dwelled in darkness long enough. The Swarm grows restless and its rot farms need fresh corpses. Jarad believes the time is right to teach Niv-Mizzet’s magewrights a lesson: that there is no place for Izzet research in the vicious cycle of life and death.

Initial Deck Design: Chris Millar
Final Deck Development: Mark L. Gottlieb
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGIVG
Languages Available: English, Japanese
Release Date: September 7, 2012
MSRP: $19.99

Original post from the mothership can be found here.

See the slideshow below on the rest of the work progress and a few pose shots.

Until next post!

My plan here is to change the gray parts a bit with my experimental Metallic black colors, that is to combine Pearl Gloss White and Flat Black. I have to check this again from reference painting guides if this is the correct color combinations.

Check out the slideshow below on the preview of the contents of the kit (press Play).

Until next post!

*banner pic from a Google search on Flickr.

The kit's box art.

The 1/144 HGUC Anksha

The back view

More images here.

Here is my initial list of the post-restored version of Humans. I’ve chosen Green to pair with White to benefit the best Green mana critters and to be able to utilize Gavony Township.

GW Humans by Mark Ian Alloso
Maindeck
Lands
2 Cavern of Souls
6 Forest
5 Plains
3 Gavony Township
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove

Creatures
3 Hero of Bladehold
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Angel of Jubilation
2 Blade Splicer
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Fiend Hunter
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Grand Abolisher
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Champion of Lambholt

The list is literally a pure beatdown archetype for Humans. I’ve upped Thalia to four and removed Honor of the Pure in favor of the new Angel Crusade, Angel of Jubilation. I’ve also utilized Champion of Lambholt as a pseudo evasion provider and works well with Hero of Bladehold and Blade Splicer. Also, the singleton Elesh Norn can provide alpha strike in some situations when needed.

Cavern of Souls is well, Cavern of Souls for Humans creature type and can also name Angel or Bird at times, lol. Here is my initial sideboard:

1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Ray of Revelation
4 Divine Deflection
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Divine Offering
2 Celestial Purge
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Angelic Destiny

It is still a rough draft so I just included the generic sideboards for specific matchups. Divine Deflection offers a potential in the mirror but I’m not sure it is okay or Day of Judgment is better.

Anyhow, this list will go the usual playtesting but I am suggesting you get ahead on buying or preorder these Angel of Jubilation and Champion of Lambholt will they’re cheap.

Until next post.

As I was checking through the card image gallery, here are so far my favorites (a few are obviously Standard staples):

The complete card image gallery can be found here.

Avacyn Restored is another interesting set to explore and experiment with. Hopefully I can brainstorm a new archetype, if not maybe upgrade an existing one. I am rooting for aggro to dominate again, either Humans or BR Zombies(which I personally prefer).

Until next post!

My list update is on changing the splash color from Blue to Red, utilizing Galvanic Blasts and Brimstone Volley. Here is the list:

Galvanic Steel by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands
9 Plains
3 Mountain
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Clifftop Retreat

Creatures
4 Memnite
4 Vault Skirge
4 Etched Champion
3 Glint Hawk
4 Signal Pest

Spells
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Glint Hawk Idol
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Mox Opal
4 Tempered Steel
3 Origin Spellbomb

Sideboard
2 Celestial Purge
3 Hero of Bladehold
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Revoke Existence
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions

The deck so far has garnered me two 2nd place finish in our local FNM tournaments. Lots of removals would be its main weakness but my sb package somewhat switches it to a late game advantage. The deck can explode at turn one which is somewhat difficult to lose with.

I’d suggest this deck if you’d want a fast aggro deck but is tired of playing the typical aggro archetypes in the current Standard meta.

Until next post!

Here they are:

More info from this source.