The Magic: the Gathering Philippine Nationals will be in this coming weekend and my excitement is, well, quite indefinite. This is actually my second time qualifying for this event (the first one was way back in 2003) and the first time I’m actually going there. I’m quite happy because Iloilo’s attendance for this year, as compared to the previous years, is fairly high with seven players qualified.

The Nationals has two formats, Standard Constructed and Draft. The team’s practice for the draft I think is not enough as I still commit errors in choosing the right picks. As for the Standard, I’ve decided to pilot the same deck archetype I used on GP Singapore: the Black Red Vampires.

Despite the popularity and success of Cawblade in the recent SCG 5k and the recent US Nationals, I still don’t think my mindset is prepared to pilot the deck. I tried playtests on a personal list a few weeks back, but the shifting of the metagame and the limited time has forced me to discard that archetype.

Going back, here is my latest list and probably the final one for the maindeck:

BR Vamps as of 8/9/2011
by Mark Ian Alloso

Lands
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
7 Swamp

Creatures
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Pulse Tracker
2 Vampire Hexmage
3 Hero of Oxid Ridge

Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember
2 Doom Blade
3 Arc Trail

The sideboard will similarly look like this:
2 Act of Aggression
1 Arc Trail
1 Doomblade
4 Duress
2 Manic Vandal
1 Shatter
2 Sorin’s Thirst
2 Vampire Nighthawk

I’m still looking for options in solving the Cawblade matchup, as the Time Reinforcements are a tough advantage to deal with. Though I think the three artifact destructions are enough, I’m still checking in on what the ins and outs of the deck for the matchup will look like.

The matchups I’m currently concerned about, in order of priority are:
1. Cawblade
2. Blue Black Control
3. Blue Red Twin
4. Red Deck Wins
5. Birthing Pod Variations
6. Mirror match

They say Blue Black is a good matchup, but the early discards via Inquisitions are the weakness of the deck. Also, racing against Red burn is somewhat 50/50 and would depend really on the draws (at most, avoid mana flood).

My other card choices for the sideboard are:

Inquisitions of Kozilek – I think of it as a substitute for Duress, but the card yearns to be in the main and I don’t like drawing discards in the late game.

Cunning Sparkmage – This is specifically to deal with the hawks and the soldier tokens from the reinforcements. Its use though is very limited.

Vampire Outcasts – Don’t laugh. This is influenced after I read an article regarding the M12 Event Decks and it is pretty cool to cast this one against RDW. Yes, that’s Magic Christmas Land you might say.

We might run a few gauntlet matchups to test against the current decks and probably refine a final sideboard. I’m hoping this will be done before Wednesday as I will be leaving for Manila on that day. *crosses fingers*

To end, I hope the coming days will be favorable for the team and I wish the rest of the guys good luck and have fun this Nationals weekend. Oh, and follow me on Twitter for I will probably tweet updates during the event. Until the next post and thanks for reading. 🙂