So here I am, in front of my laptop and enjoying the remaining hours of 2011. Recalling the happenings this year, I can say that I was quite successful and happy with my Mtg vice err career err hobby. I will cut this drama short and discuss with you the purpose of this blog post.
We’ve just concluded the Magic the Gathering Iloilo Championships 2011 and I’d say thank you very much to you guys for the support and had participation in the event. Also, congratulations to all the winners in both the main event and the team event.
As for my coded “battle report”, I was just able to make it to the top eight only to face my card pool partner Oliver. I lost in that quarterfinal (which I’ll go into detail later), quite upset with my game errors but still happy that my teammate made it into second place.
Anyhow, the deck I’ve piloted is somewhat between an upgrade and a brew on the Green White Tokens list which I’ve read from Paul Rietzl’s article on Channel Fireball. His presented list was quite unusual, which he explained in detail on each card component. I’ve noticed the deck’s weakness against Iyanaga Ramp in the late turns, and also against decks packing with countermagic so I decided to add blue for Mana Leaks.
Here is the list that I’ve played:
“Token Town”
by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands: 24
1 Island
3 Forest
6 Plains
3 Gavony Township
2 Hinterland Harbor
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Artifacts: 5
1 Mortarpod
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Spells: 11
1 White Sun’s Zenith
2 Day of Judgement
2 Midnight Haunting
3 Rampant Growth
3 Mana Leak
Planeswalkers: 6
3 Elspeth Tirel
3 Garruk Relentless
Creatures: 7
1 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Blade Splicer
4 Hero of Bladehold
Enchantments: 7
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Intangible Virtue
Sideboard: 15
1 Dismember
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Day of Judgement
1 Mana Leak
2 Mental Misstep
2 Naturalize
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Celestial Purge
3 Timely Reinforcements
I’ve utilized Rampants Growths for mana fixing and early ramp for my four-drops and five-drops. Honor of the Pure doesn’t work 100% on my critters so I decided to ditch it and just use a set of the virtue. Also, Timely Reinforcements is well, and timely, so it goes to the board for red decks and other aggro.
The turn-two Shrine is very important here so I needed to have it as a set. It was just a one-day deck and playtest, which I just made against two deck archetypes. It was also obvious with the sideboard choice. The Mental Missteps there should’ve been Gut Shots, but since we had no extra, I had to resort to that. Anyhow, the rest were pretty basic and the spell bomb were a late inclusion (because of control’s recursion shenanigans).
The Matchups
I could not exactly recall all of what happened in the matches during the first five rounds of the tourney, so I’ll just give you the match results.
Game 1 vs Ericsson (4 Color Control)
Drew 1-1-1 (This was a mistake decision since we didn’t take into account the number of rounds.)
Game 2 vs Pete (UW Illusions)
Lost 1-2
Game 3 vs Greg (Grixis Control)
Won 2-0
Game 4 vs RD (Bant Humans)
Won 2-1
Game 5 vs Krisner (Wolf Run Ramp)
Won 2-1
Despite the main decked shrines and the sideboard plan, the deck still faces problems against control. The resiliency of the Esper colors makes it a very tough matchup. Another thing is the breakout card Pristine Talisman gives more headaches and prolongs the matches with the life gain. I’ll jokingly assume that it is the next card to be banned lol.
As for the sideboard improvement, Gut Shot is definitely needed on the list. Still, the problem with control is difficult to handle. I suggest you ditch some purges, and spellbombs and replace them with the Thrun and Sword package, though I am not sure it will do great with a lot of Phantasmal Images around. Just check your metagame beforehand.
To conclude, Token Town is still my favorite archetype to explore and do experiments out of. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you all. May you have more shuffling in 2012! 😀
PS: Here are the pics from the event courtesy of Nob Equiña.