The next major MtG tournament that we’ll be travelling to is on this weekend in Bacolod. Their MtG community has scheduled a second Journey into Nyx Gameday with the format of Theros Block Constructed. This will be my first tourney for Block and with only a week to prepare, I am not sure which deck will be completed first (plus the fact that we aren’t complete of the Block-playable cards).

The recent Pro Tour Journey into Nyx is our only major reference for deck archetypes, with Chapin’s Junk Midrange and CFB’s BUG Control as the top choices. My only thing to consider though is how to combat those types of decks. I am generally not a fan of Tier 1 decks unless they fall on my self-proclaimed categories of an aggro deck. That does not mean though that I am not willing to explore other archetypes.

The first deck that I am in focus as of this moment is Esper Control, referenced from the decks played by Stu Somers and Eric Damain Andrews. The deck plays Elspeth and its counter and discard plan can really get you ahead against midrange decks plus you can deal with their Elspeth before it hits the battlefield.

Here is Stu Somers list from Daily Deck List, http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/1502

And here that of Eric Damain Andrews from MTG Top 8 http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=7348&d=242095

My second deck of choice is Red Green Elspeth or more of a Naya Midrange, piloted by Andrea Mengucci and Yuuya Watanabe. The deck looked and performed well on the Pro Tour feature matches but I don’t think I would like the build. I just do not like drawing mana creatures and Lightning Strikes in the late game. Caryatids and Voyaging Satyrs ramps you early to your big creatures but they are just vulnerable to spot removals which these Tier 1 decks have.

I have also added Cifka’s Boros Heroic list for my backup decks list, though Drown in Sorrow can be a blowout for this deck.

For now my safe play is that I will just pilot a deck that I am experienced with its similar archetype in Standard. We’ll see what other decks I can build once I get help and borrow cards from Iloilo players.