In preparation and practice for the draft portion of the MTG Nationals this coming September 16-17, 2017, we have decided to schedule a booster for each of the vacant days this coming weekend along with the upcoming holidays. So far this week is very favorable with the local holiday

as per the Iloilo City Charter Day celebration and the National Heroes Day on Monday. The HOU-AKH Booster Draft structure will be 2 HOU and 1 AKH pack and we decided with the P500 registration fee so it would be affordable to most of the players. The prize structure is rare drafting so that the players can concentrate on the draft strategy and not on the rare drafting.

Here below are the scheduled dates:

2 pm @ Friday, August 25
1:30 pm @ Sunday, August 27
1:30 pm @ Monday, August 28

New players should prepare the basic lands and card sleeves beforehand so it would be easy for the team to start the draft and deck building right away. See you at ProRei’s place.

I had piloted Monsters before during the Theros days in Magic: the Gathering Standard with Polukranus and Stormbreath Dragon as the deck’s main superstars. It is a good thing that they are still using the term again, this time with the recent addition of Amonkhet in Standard.

Here is the deck feature of the day and probably the latest version of RG Monsters, featuring Bristling Hydra and Glorybringer.

Maindeck
22 LANDS
4 Aether Hub
6 Forest
4 Game Trail
4 Mountain
4 Sheltered Thicket

24 CREATURES
3 Bristling Hydra
4 Glorybringer
4 Greenbelt Rampager
4 Lambholt Pacifist
3 Prowling Serpopard
3 Rhonas the Indomitable
3 Voltaic Brawler

10 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Attune with Aether
2 Blossoming Defense
4 Harnessed Lightning

5 OTHER SPELLS
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Heart of Kiran

SIDEBOARD
1 Arlinn Kord
1 Bristling Hydra
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Lathnu Hellion
3 Magma Spray
1 Manglehorn
2 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Release the Gremlins
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
2 Sweltering Suns
1 Voltaic Brawler

Source

Blue White Control is already one of the tier decks in the Standard metagame and was reinforced by the recent Magic set Amonkhet. One build that my friend Rey sent me had Approach of the Second Sun as its win condition, and the deck is packed with card drawers and Cycling cards to achieve that goal.

Below is his recent decklist:

Worship the Sun

Creatures (2)
2 Glyph Keeper

Instants/Sorceries (28)
2 Immolating Glare
2 Failure//Comply
4 Censor
4 Anticipate
2 Negate
3 Disallow
2 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Fumigate
2 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Approach of the Second Sun

Enchantments (5)
4 Cast Out
1 As Foretold

Lands (25)
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
6 Plains

Of the five Trials of the Gods in Amonkhet, I have only appreciated two: Trial of Zeal and Trial of Might. The Red trial fits well in a mono Red aggro deck whereas Trial of Might can be an ideal compo for straightforward Green Stompy deck or its Red-Green relative. Rey, however, has come up with a deck that can utilize the other Trials as well as a few Cartouche. The colors are Black Blue and Green.

Here below is the decklist:

Sultai Crush of Ambitions
Creatures (12)
4 Servant of the Conduit
3 Rogue Refiner
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Baleful Behemoth

Enchantments (16)
4 Trial of Ambition
4 Trial of Might
2 Trial of Knowledge
4 Cartouche of Knowledge
2 Cartouche of Ambition

Instants/Sorceries (9)
4 Attune with Aether
2 Fatal Push
3 Crush of Tentacles

Lands (23)
4 Aether Hub
2 Blooming Marsh
2 Botanical Sanctum
2 Sunken Hollows
6 Forrest
4 Islands
3 Swamps

Whew, it is two weeks late but nevertheless I’d like to post this tournament recap of the Amonkhet Prerelease here in the Iloilo community. It was a full packed Saturday at the activity area of Robinsons Place Jaro as 36 players were present & ready to experience the Amonkhet set.

I assisted Rei in setting up the additional tables as well as the player registration and the distribution of the Prerelease packs.

The tournament started at around 1 pm which is somewhat short of our scheduled time of 12:30. As I have observed from the floor as players build their decks, Red, White, and Green White are the most preferred deck builds because of the Exert mechanic. When combined with the right Untap spells and abilities, these creatures can be very aggressive early on.

The best pull that time was from the last Prerelease pack wherein Greg opened a foil Gideon along with Nissa and Rhonas. That is already twice the value of the entry fee.

Here are a few of the pics I took during the course of the Amonkhet Prerelease. Click Here.

Magic: the Gathering Iloilo Community will be having another Prerelease weekend tournament for the set Amonkhet. Playing the new cards for the first time is what the main benefit of these types of events. We get to enjoy and use cards that usually won’t be used in a Standard setting. The venue will be at Robinson Place Jaro which we are happy to have as the summer heat is very exhausting. There are 36 slots allotted for Rei and so far there are still two slots left. We might accept walk-in registrants before the start of the event. Here below are the details:

Amonkhet Prerelease at Robinsons Place Jaro
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Time: 12:30pm
Reg: P1,300
Prerelease Special Sealed
4 Swiss Rounds
1 Booster pack per win

Please be reminded to bring your basic lands and sleeves for your deck to avoid damage of the cards. Kitakits!

I am wrapping up the day with another deck brew for Amonkhet Standard. This build was referenced from a deck during the Odyssey days in Standard with the first time Madness was introduced. My second source was an article by Zvi Mowshowitz in the Channel Fireball website. The deck is nicknamed Red Green Stompy Madness:

Creatures
3 Bloodrage Brawler
4 FlameBlade Adept
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Honored Hydra
4 Incorrigible Youths
4 Noose Constrictor
2 Rhonas the Indominable
4 Voltaic Brawler

Spells
4 Lightning Axe
4 Fiery Temper
1 Fling
1 Insult/Injury

Lands
4 Game Trail
3 Cinder Glade
7 Mountain
7 Forest
2 Sheltered Thicket

Remembering that first Madness build in Odyssey in comparison with the current one, we have the following:

Wild Mongrel = Noose Constrictor
Arrogant Wurm = Incorrigible Youths
Roar of the Wurm = Honored Hydra

Fiery Temper was also first printed that time so it is an auto-add to the deck. We have no Basking Rootwalla but the rest of the two drops are mostly 3-powered so it can suffice. FlameBlade Adept just smoothen the curve and we would want to avoid clogging two-drops in our starting hand. Plus that it benefits from any discard or cycle effects and has a built-in evasion on its own via Menace.

The addition of the two Amonkhet Gods give us a late game play with direct damage of Hazoret the Fervent and pump effect via Rhonas the Indominable.

If you see any other cards that I might have missed, just comment them below so we can discuss it further.

Control decks continue to flourish for every release of a new set in Magic and the upcoming Amonkhet set is no exception. It has offered new gears, including a new White planeswalker Gideon of the Trials and a dual land, Irrigated Farmland, for the archetype to utilize. That said, here below is the first version of the deck:

Maindeck

Creatures
1 Glyph Keeper
2 Regal Caracal
3 Torrential Gearhulk

Planeswalkers
4 Gideon of the Trials

Spells
3 Anticipate
2 Blessed Alliance
3 Cast Out
3 Disallow
3 Essence Scatter
2 Fumigate
4 Glimmer of Genius
1 Immolating Glare
1 Negate
2 Pull from Tomorrow

Lands
4 Prairie Stream
4 Port Town
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
7 Plains

The deck discussion to follow.

Wizards have provided another event for introducing Magic to the newcomers, in the form of Magic Open House. This is scheduled today, April 15th, at your nearest local gamestore. If you know someone who would have interest to play this game, then suggest them to join in this event which is also sort of a welcome party to the upcoming Amonkhet set.

Here are a few details of this event:

What’s Magic Open House?

In short, this event is for people who have never played Magic before, need a Magic refresher, or want to introduce a friend to the game! Show up, get a Welcome Deck, and play Magic against other newer players. Thousands of game stores will be hosting Magic Open House events to welcome players to Magic, one day only, on April 15.

What Should I Expect?

If you’re new to Magic, you can expect to get a Welcome Deck and learn to play during a fun, casual event!

If you already know how to play, bring a friend who might enjoy Magic!

We start by introducing new players to the game and welcome them into the Magic community with learn-to-play sessions, using the “Welcome Decks” that we provide. Veteran players can join in on the fun by bringing a friend or helping to teach new players!

The day culminates with a Standard Pauper event that encourages our new players to test their Pauper build decks and meet the MTG community at large! Free entry for first-time participants!

Players who participate in any aspect of the event (newbies or veterans) get one of the premium full-art basic AMONKHET lands!

Drop by at Rei’s place at around 12 noon today. See you there!

One of the cards revealed recently for the Amonkhet spoilers was an enchantment with the art that depicts the last scene in the set’s video trailer. The card is named Gideon’s Intervention and offers an effect that is quite suited for a control deck. Here below is the card:

Choosing a card name here would be easy for certain matchups. for example, versus the Copycat combo deck, you just would name one of the combo components depending on the time you’ve cast this enchantment. if the Felidar Guardian is already in play, you just name Shaheeli Rai so he can’t go off and vice versa.

The best approach here though is using discard spells so you would what to name after getting their best card in hand and in case they have two copies of a card, they would get into more trouble as you have already nullified them. The use of ‘peek’ spells in Blue could also be your other option.

The damage prevention play here is to curve from your small spot removals like Fatal Push into the intervention. Start by picking off their small critters and prevent the damage of their large threats.
The current shell that I’d recommend of the card is a B/W Control deck with Gideons, Ob Nixilis and Sorin backed by discard spells, spot and mass removals. i will come up with a decklist in a future post.

That is a wrap for now. Enjoy your Friday guys and prepare for the Magic Open House tomorrow.

Until the next post.

In one of the many brews provided by Rey for Amonkhet Standard, he made a list of a tribal deck based on Cats. The revelation of Regal Caracal was probably the main reason. Here below is his first version of the deck, whom he nicknamed as Hello Kitty.

Deck Name: Hello Kitty

Creatures
4 Sacred Cat
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Long Tusk Cub
4 Pouncing Cheetah
3 Prowling Serpopard
4 Felidar Guardian
4 Regal Caracal
2 Felidar Sovereign

Instants/Sorceries
4 Prepare//Fight

Artifacts
2 Panharmonicon

Enchantment
3 Cast Out

Lands
4 Canopy Vista
4 Fortified Village
6 Forest
6 Plains
2 Scattered Groves

The first of the five Gods of Amonkhet has been revealed and it was Red one named, Hazoret the Fervent. The towering figure with the head of a Jackal looks to be a good addition to the Red-based deck in the current Standard. Here below is the card:

Initially it will just sit there on your board as you dump your hand to cast burn spells and cheap hasty creatures. In the late game, every draw would be a three-mana Shock to your opponents’ dome and it can hit for five damage.

I see its best use would be in Madness decks and graveyard-based shenanigans and my friend Rey was the first person to pm me about the card as soon as it was previewed in the mothership website. Its other use is crewing large Vehicles like the Skyship Sovereign, and is easier now for your Consulate Dreadnought to attack as a creature.

My initial build for this card is a straight-forward Mono Red Aggro Burn deck and it will look like this one:

2 Ahn-Crop Crasher
1 Combat Celebrant
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Glorybringer
4 Lathnu Hellion
2 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Soul-Scar Mage

4 Cartouche of Zeal
2 Consuming Fervor
2 Harnessed Lightning
3 Incendiary Flow
3 Trial of Zeal

2 Looming Spires
21 Mountain