Mono Black Control or Devotion is still one of the top decks in the current Standard metagame. A few slight changes on the versions though have been rising in major tournaments in the past weeks. One of which is Channel Fireball’s version that has a little spice of Red which had seen play in Grand Prix Cincinnati. Here is the list played by Eric Froehlich.

Maindeck
4 Desecration Demon
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Lifebane Zombie

2 Bile Blight
3 Devour Flesh
1 Dreadbore
4 Hero’s Downfall
2 Rakdos’s Return
4 Thoughtseize
4 Underworld Connections
1 Whip of Erebos

4 Blood Crypt
4 Mutavault
2 Rakdos Guildgate
12 Swamp
4 Temple of Malice

Sideboard
3 Doom Blade
2 Drown in Sorrow
3 Duress
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Pharika’s Cure
1 Rakdos’s Return
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Slaughter Games

As I have remembered, Eric went 8-1 on Day One but was one win short to get into the top 8 on Day 2, losing to Esper Control. His only loss in the first day was against Mono Black Aggro, which he could still handle with the gray merchants in the deck. More detail on his tournament report here.

Our version of the deck had Stormbreath Dragons instead of the merchant which we think is strong on the matchup versus Esper. I will be posting a short discussion of that list soon.

The deck is expected to see more play in the coming Grand Prix weekend, though in last weekend’s GP Beijing, the Japanese pros went back to the straight Mono Black list. We shall see what changes will happen on this weekend.

The rise of Esper back as the tier one deck of Standard made me decide on adjustments on certain decks. The first I’ve discussed was Red Green Monsters, and for this post, the spotlight will now be turned to Rakdos Aggro. First off, here is an updated decklist:

Rakdos Aggro by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
1 Rakdos Guildgate
9 Swamp
4 Mountain

Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Tormented Hero
4 Spike Jester
4 Pain Seer
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4 Lifebane Zombie
3 Mogis’s Marauder

Spells
3 Dreadbore
3 Lightning Strike
2 Madcap Skills
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
3 Burning Earth
2 Doom Blade
2 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Slaughter Games
1 Ultimate Price

The list of creature choices was somewhat a crossbred of a typical Rakdos aggro deck and that of the recent Mono Black aggro build. I like that my creatures are not only aggressive but also gain me card advantage. Pain Seer and Lifebane Zombie do the major work for that purpose. The zombie together with the playset of Thoughtseize lets me check what threats my opponent holds and which I can plan my next plays.

I bought Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch back in the party as she can hammer through defenses in the late game and can win you games by herself. She does not have Flying or Intimidate but First Strike seems decent enough.

The sideboard plan features Burning Earth again as my trump card versus Esper decks. It might not even look enough, with Duress, Erebos, and Slaughter Games already added to the list. The rest are for boarding versus the current aggro deck matchups in the metagame.

Here is what the sideboard in-and-outs would look like against the current Standard top decks. You will notice the variance in the cards that are boarded out as per the given Control matchup.

Versus Esper Control

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-3 Mogis’s Marauder
-1 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

+3 Burning Earth
+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games

Versus Mono Black Devotion/Orzhov Control

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-2 Mogis’s Marauder

+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games
+1 Ultimate Price

Versus Blue White Control

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-1 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
-2 Mogis’s Marauder

+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games
+2 Doom Blade

Versus Jund Monsters

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-1 Tormented Hero

+3 Burning Earth
+2 Doom Blade
+1 Ultimate Price

Versus Red Green Monsters

-3 Lightning Strike
-1 Madcap Skills
-1 Tormented Hero

+2 Doom Blade
+2 Mizzium Mortars
+1 Ultimate Price

Versus Mono Blue/Azorius Devotion

-2 Madcap Skills
-3 Rakdos Cackler

+2 Doom Blade
+3 Mizzium Mortars

Versus Boros Burn

-3 Dreadbore
-1 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills

+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games

Versus Orzhov Aggro

-2 Madcap Skills
-4 Spike Jester

+2 Doom Blade
+3 Mizzium Mortars
+1 Ultimate Price

I hope this sideboard plan helps if you ever pilot the decklist on your next FNM or any other Standard tournament. I also do hope that you Burning Earth those Esper net deckers lol.

I guess this will be a wrap on this deck update. Until the next post and thanks for reading.

Based on the tournament results this weekend both in GP and the SCG Standard Open, the deck that I think with an update that will adjust well to the new metagame is Red Green or Gruul Monsters. Why is that my deck of choice? The first clue is the decklist:

Gruul Monsters by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
5 Mountain
8 Forest
2 Mutavault
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground

Creatures
2 Arbor Colossus
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Xenagos, God of Revels

Spells
4 Domri Rade
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Xenagos, the Reveler

Sideboard
1 Archetype of Endurance
3 Burning Earth
4 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Plummet
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Shock
1 Time to Feed
2 Unravel the AEther

The main purpose of this switch to just Red and Green is to punish decks that play almost all nonbasic lands, with the Burning Earth on the board. Here are some details on the changes.

-The inclusion of Arbor Colossus in the main to deal with opposing Stormbreath Dragons, Nightveil Spectres, and Desecration Demons. Even though it’s not as efficient as Dreadbore, it is still a threat on its ow,n which you will 100% cast on your five mana.

-sticking with the Xenagos, God of Revels plan. While most Jund monster lists have already cut the god in favor of removals, having two copies increases your chances to end the game quickly when you get to curve your mana critters properly. Plus, the colossus gives him three devotion and the six walkers speed up his activation into a creature threat.

-Burning Earth, yes, it is back. The dominance of Esper Control last weekend made me conclude that this enchantment should be brought back to punish these three-color decks. Sure enough, they have Detention Sphere, but you have Unravel the AEther.

-Now for a tech card, we have Archetype of Endurance. Eight-mana is too high to set up this threat, but with eight mana critters in the deck, it will not be an issue. Giving your creatures Hexproof is just too good not to consider. It is mainly boarded versus Mono Black but it would be a challenge to dodge Lifebane Zombie.

As the metagame demands it, you should consider these suggestions in your next tournament. To conclude, Gruul Monsters is not that of a contender on its current level, but Burning Earth might be a push upward, and I think it is the only deck that can utilize this enchantment well.

Until the next post.

On another edition of the blog’s Standard deck feature, the deck I’ll present today is a recent version of the classic burn strategy in Magic. Born of the Gods has provided enough cards to have this deck a viable archetype again. Here is the list:

Maindeck
9 Mountain
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Mutavault
3 Boros Guildgate

4 Chandra’s Phoenix
4 Ash Zealot

2 Blind Obedience
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blood
4 Skullcrack
4 Warleader’s Helix
3 Shock

Sideboard
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Spark Trooper
3 Viashino Firstblade
1 Wild Ricochet

Deck source: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=6866&d=239448&f=ST

The deck basically is to burn your opponents’ life total before he/she gets a threat to kill you or win the game. You cannot miss a turn without casting a burn spell with 27 in the deck and the temple land to help fix your draws.

The sideboard plan is also very simple: switch to creatures if the opponent has mainboarded lots of removals. The tendency is that they will cut them for Duress or walkers or any big spells they have in the board.

So far the recent achievement of this deck is getting on the top 4 of SCG Standard Open in Los Angeles. That is a wrap for this deck feature. Until the next post.

Hi again guys, in Part One of my PTQ Journey into Nyx mentioned the deck archetype and on how we came up to pilot that deck for the tournament. Here in the second part will discuss the pseudo-preparation that we made, trip coverage and a tournament report summary. First up, here is again the decklist that I played.

Dark Monsters v. 1.0
Standard

Maindeck
5 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt

4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Reaper of the Wilds

2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
4 Domri Rade
1 Putrefy
2 Dreadbore

Sideboard
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Doom Blade
2 Golgari Charm
4 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Putrefy
2 Rakdos’s Return
2 Slaughter Games

The usual Magic playtest schedule that we do is after working hours and was usually held at Rei’s place. At times, we switched to other places like here in the HQ (my boarding house), at a Coffee Break branch or at Eric’s bistro.

One week prior to the release of Born of the Gods and just right after the full complete set spoiler, we decided to test the new cards into the proxy decks. The expected top tier decks that time were Mono Black and Blue White, also considering Mono Blue and Red Green Devotion variants.

What we did was that we gauntlet each deck to a certain matchup, all three games with sideboard if possible. Let say we have this deck tech, and we have it to battle Blue White, Mono Blue, etc and note down some observations of the matchups.

The Manila Trip

We booked the flight one month before and since we didn’t to fly at the same day of the tournament due to that we are not yet familiar with its location, we decided to schedule it on February 14th afternoon. My companions were Oliver, Rei and Tonton. What was expected was the heavy traffic as because it was a special day because of (commercialized) Valentines’ Day, in addition that it was a payday Friday and we will be arriving within rush hours.

Surely enough, the scenario happened but the good thing was that we were saved of the inconvenience of getting the cab from the airport thanks to Rei’s sister who sent her driver to fetch us. We then proceeded to Glorietta for a quick dinner and to check the Neutral Grounds branch there for the sleeves. Bought some Chandra Nalaar designed card sleeves to serve as my lucky charm sleeves and also got to meet Randy Semana there, who was an old time suki card dealer.

Next was the torment part. We were deciding of a quick way to get to SM Megamall and our two options were riding the MRT and getting a cab. It was past 9pm that time so we thought that it was already past the rush hour in the train station. We were wrong. We proceeded to the Ayala Avenue station and saw whole lot of people also rushing to get ride tickets, and with these huge lines (of Humans) going to the ticket counters.

Buying the tickets let say is just the easy mode of the game. The hard more was on getting to ride the actual train. As we proceeded down the stairs to the train ramp, we saw the people clumping. Most of the crowded part was on the men portion of the ramp. The arrival of each of the train was the chaos of people pushing just to get in. We eventually get to ride after about five trains that passed. All of those push efforts weren’t gone to waste.

We got off a Shaw Boulevard station and walk around Megamall as we met up with Eric, our place sponsor for the trip. We got a little rest and then went on with the last minute preparation of the decks that we opted to use. I got to sleep past 2am after all those finalizations and edits.

The Tournament Day

Not sure if slept well that on short time span but I think I was the first to get up at 7am and went to grab myself some coffee as my normal morning routine. The rest of the team (Mao, Mark and Yammy) was to arrive that time and probably will contact us any moment. They arrived around 8am, saved from the traffic inconvenience unlike us from yesterday. It was the usual deck discussions again before we left to find the venue at past 9am.

Glimpse shot of the crowded NG Santo Domingo

We registered right away and I remember that they were already 50 players that signed in before I wrote my name as participant. The player count later on went as a high as 150 before Round One pairings were posted.

The venue was rather small for this type of event and their resort was to rent the neighbor tea store and a sort-of-a meeting room for some religious group. Even the second floor of KFC on the corner side was also rented.

Anyhow, I decided not mind these inconveniences and just went one to double check my deck list on the registration to avoid misspelled words and game loss. Round one started past 12noon, did check my table number and was assigned to that table range that was in KFC’s second floor. Sigh, so much for that rant.

I did forget the detail on how each of my matchups went so I will just give you a short overview.

The PTQ Matchups in 8 Rounds,

Round 1 – Mono Green Devotion lost 1-2
Round 2 – American Control won 2-0
Round 3 – Devotion to Gruul won 2-0
Round 4 – Mono Black Control won 2-1
Round 5 – Mono Black Control lost 1-2
Round 6 – Blue White Control won 2-1
Round 7 – Mono Green Devotion won 2-1
Round 8 – Blue White Devotion won 2-0

I finished 19th place with the 6-2 record and got three BNG booster packs for prizes. I was glad that I never got paired to a team mate but the two losses did cut me short on getting into the top eight. Starting with a loss was disheartening but that did not distract me and went to win my next three matches. The Round-five loss was a severe deck blunder on the deciding game three. I did draw and play an early Domri but that didn’t provided creatures and just revealed more Domri on the top cards. I think I got a playset of that planeswalker on that game and was about 90 percent creature less.

Anyhow, on the matches that I’ve won shined the correct decision of splashing Black in the deck. The sideboard plan also worked in most of the matchups, although we did have a few cards that we missed to take note. The sideboard of Rakdos’s Return and Slaughter Games were superstar against control decks. Golgari Charm was also a blow out versus Supreme Verdict and on destroying Detention Spheres.

The deck though at times act as the control player in RG Monsters mirror and on aggro deck matchups. Curving slow is the usual play to avoid damage on your shock lands, especially facing Mono Red. The sequence would be tap lands, elf or caryatid, spot removal, courser, spot removal # 2 and more tap lands.

As of this posting, the deck strategy is now clearly out in the open with a few top finishes in recent SCG events and in GP Melbourne. Reaper of the Wilds is now the card choice over Rampager but I think there should be a balanced slot of the two in the deck. Surely Reaper is a good standalone four-drop but the Rampager has its uses in dealing the final points of damage or trampling over the 1/1 token blockers or used with Domri to fight your elf against an Archangel of Thune. My updated list would probably look like this:

Dark Monsters v. 2.0
Standard

4 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
1 Mutavault
1 Temple of Malice

4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Xenagos, God of Revels

4 Domri Rade
3 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Putrefy
1 Xenagos, the Reveler

Sideboard
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Doom Blade
1 Dreadbore
2 Golgari Charm
3 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Putrefy
2 Rakdos’s Return
1 Ruric Thar
2 Slaughter Games

Wrapping up, the deck is a strong contender in the current Standard metagame of Blue White Control and Black Devotion. I’ve also checked that it has won a Grand Prix in Buenos Aires. Adjustments though should be made in the sideboard in the case should aggro decks rise again in popularity.

That is about it for this PTQ Report, thanks for reading.

*click here for Part One.

Another idea sparked as I saw this list referenced from Sam Stoddard’s column today regarding the test decks they played in FFL Standard. Fyi, FFL or Future Future League is where the WotC guys test and revise/fix the cards that are to be released in the upcoming sets, the future of the Standard and Block format. To quote, “our main job is to try out as many cards and combinations of cards as possible, and to give the overall strategies enough to make things interesting—not to pinpoint balance everything against each other. “

The list that caught attention was a sort-of Boros Burn deck, but utilizes Mogis God for additional/bonus damage. Here it is:

RW Burn by Ian Duke
FFL Standard

4 Blood Crypt
2 Boros Guildgate
1 Mountain
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Triumph

3 Mogis, God of Slaughter
4 Satyr Firedancer

4 Bolt of Keranos
4 Boros Charm
2 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blood
4 Shock
4 Warleader’s Helix

Mogis somewhat addresses the issue of most burn decks which is not within lethal range of damage. The firedancer then helps clear the critters so as the God’s trigger condition will be consistent.

As for my version, I’d go with this list:

4 Blood Crypt
1 Boros Guildgate
4 Mountain
2 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Triumph

4 Chandra’s Phoenix
3 Mogis, God of Slaughter
4 Satyr Firedancer

4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blood
4 Skullcrack
4 Warleader’s Helix
2 Toil/Trouble

Bolt of Keranos is an obviously weak burn for three mana, so it is replaced by Chandra’s Phoenix and the flames with Toil/Trouble since we have already enough access to Black to use both sides of this split card. Shock is then replaced by Skullcrack.

Overall, I liked this idea of having Mogis in this list which is another version of a deck that uses the God of Slaughter. Would he somehow make the deck have more consistent finish in future tournaments? Let me know what you think. Post them on the box below.

Three to four times per week I will be featuring some Standard decks with decent finish both on online & paper tournaments around the world. This is to check if people have been doing updated versions of the tier one decks or has their own tech of an archetype to combat the recently popular decks. To start, we have this list of the Golgari Control deck from MTGO Standard Premier (#6834222). The deck was played by Tinefol_Ru and got second place, losing to Mono Black Aggro.

Here is the decklist:

Maindeck
6 Swamp
4 Forest
4 Golgari Guildgate
4 Mutavault
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of Silence

4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Pack Rat
2 Reaper of the Wilds
1 Desecration Demon

4 Thoughtseize
4 Hero’s Downfall
3 Golgari Charm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Devour Flesh
2 Read the Bones
1 Ultimate Price

3 Vraska the Unseen
1 Underworld Connections

Sideboard
1 Devour Flesh
2 Underworld Connections
3 Lifebane Zombie
3 Duress
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Doom Blade
1 Bile Blight
2 Mistcutter Hydra

Deck source: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=6817&d=239200

Burn decks have been getting popular in online MtG Standard events with the inclusion of Born of the Gods cards Satyr Firedancer and Searing Blood. The builds have added White as the second color in favor Boros Charms and Chain to the Rocks. The version that I’ll introduce though is sort of a funky tech that I think the deck needs. This list utilizes the popular critter card in Storm decks in Modern: Goblin Electromancer.

Here is a list:

Lands
4 Temple of Triumph
7 Mountain
2 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Steam Vents
2 Sacred Foundry

Creatures
4 Satyr Firedancer
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
4 Goblin Electromancer
2 Spark Trooper

Spells
3 Warleader’s Helix
4 Searing Blood
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack

Cheaper burn spells is the deck’s benefit in of access the goblin. That compensates your plays with the ten tap lands and lets you curve out your draws well. A two powered two-drop is also an added bonus. Blue mana also gets you to board in Turn/Burn for most fatty creatures in the format.

While the sideboard list is still being brewed, let us take a look on the breakdown of the mana base. Currently we have eight sources for Blue mana, whereas it also the same number for White. We have nine cards with White in the casting cost so the ratio is somewhat balanced. Most the build have at least two Mutavaults but I’ve decided to cut it since this version is colored mana intensive.

What do you think of this build of Boros Burn, and what sideboard you’d want to add or suggest? Is Chained to the Rocks still viable as sideboard on this version? Send out your comments on the form below this article.

Thanks for reading and until the next Standard deck tech.

The scheduled FNM here in Iloilo will be tonight 6pm at Rei’s Place. It will be the usual Standard Constructed format with 75php entry fee, and four rounds of gameplay. It is kind of inexpensive for a local tournament. Our regular player count is around 12 to 16 players, which is half of the actual attendance whenever there’s a big event or prerelease. Hopefully there will be new players joining tonight.

As for the decks’ updates, I built two new archetypes to be played (or tested). These are the Mono Black Aggro and Boros Burn (or aggro as they named it in MtGTop8). The changes of the build from the traditional Rakdos are the inclusions of the Thoughtseize, Hero’s Downfall and Lifebane Zombie in the main deck. Red was cut in favor of these powerful spells.

Boros Burn on the other hand, has been gaining popularity and finishes in the recent weeks in MTGO and Born of the Gods greatly improved the deck. The new cards included were Satyr Firedancer and Searing Blood which were very effective in the meta of aggro decks. Here is a link of the decklist for reference.

The other decks that were also upgraded were Blue White Control switching to Esper and Mono Blue Devotion gaining access to the God Ephara and Detention Sphere. Here is the list of the current decks in the Team:

– Esper Control
– Mono Black Devotion
– Azorius Devotion *new*
– Jund Monsters
– Mono Black Aggro *new*
– Boros Burn *new*
– Selesnya Aggro

I am hoping for good draws and plays tonight for our team. Wish us the best of luck.

So I have tested this Naya Aggro list at yesterday’s Wednesday Night Magic and I would like to discuss a few of my observations and possible changes in the list. My result by the way is 2-2, losing to Selesnya Aggro and White Weenie. Here is the decklist referenced from Jacob Van Lunen’s March 2 article.

Maindeck
4xSoldier of the Pantheon
4xDryad Militant
4xVoice of Resurgence
4xFleecemane Lion
4xBoros Reckoner
4xLoxodon Smiter
4xGhor-Clan Rampager

4xBrave the Elements
2xBoros Charm
4xSelesnya Charm

4xTemple of Plenty
3xTemple of Abandon
1xTemple of Triumph
4xTemple Garden
4xSacred Foundry
4xStomping Ground
2xPlains

Sideboard
2xUnflinching Courage
4xSkylasher
2xXenagos the Reveler
4xMizzium Mortars
1xBoros Charm
1xLast Breath
1xMistcutter Hydra

The maindeck is already built to be of advantage against the current Tier 1 control decks, with the obvious built-in Boros Charm. What I will point out though is the lack of creature removal. Sure 4 of Selesnya Charm is sort of like one, and Brave the Elements highlights combat tricks to your side, but there are just certain situations wherein you should fend off your opponents’ creatures before they overwhelm you.

One example for instance was what happened yesterday in Round 1 against Mono White Aggro. I was on turn three Boros Reckoner against his turn two Precinct Captain but he has Banisher Priest to remove get in some damage and token trigger. I killed the priest with the mortars but he has another one to remove again the reckoner from the battlefield. The captain dealt damage again, and after two more turns of dealing with the priest, I got overwhelmed by the Soldier tokens and his other critters.

You can say that the correct play would be to kill off the Captain instead of casting the reckoner, but I needed board presence to gain advantage and to hold off his other creatures.

What I’d suggest on the board is to be more flexible in other archetype matchups. Mortars are good, but it ain’t enough. The changes should be to remove the Last Breath and Mistcutter Hydra and add two Flames of the Firebrand. This sorcery can surely two-for-one early X/1 creatures, or slow down RG by burning their Elvish Mystics or even kill Elspeth’s soldier tokens to swing in for the win.

I’d also add one Banisher Priest in the board replacing one Xenagos walker. This is for random creature threats that the opponent might have. The updated sideboard would look like this:

1xBanisher Priest
1xBoros Charm
2x Flames of the Firebrand
4xMizzium Mortars
2xUnflinching Courage
4xSkylasher
1xXenagos the Reveler

I am waiting for Jacob’s part two article on the updated list and sideboard plan so I could check if we share the same sentiments. We shall see what more he has to offer.

I was again in charge of taking pics of the Gameday event, in which the photos should’ve been better if I haven’t forgotten to borrow a DSLR camera from the players. Anyhow, it was still a successful event with 28 participants that almost jam-packed Rei’s place. I think next time we should preregister the players first so as we could know the number of attendance.

As for the decks played & metagame, the expected tier one decks again finished in the top rankings with combinations of Blue White Control, Mono Black, Monsters with Black, Mono Blue and Black White Midrange. I was fortunate to get to the top eight players with the 3-1-1 record in the preliminary rounds, with the single loss in Round 3 from Black White Midrange. A total of four of the team got in.

My quarters match was against teammate JayR playing Selesnya Aggro, and he finished me in just two quick games. I had removals for his critters but the instant God’s Willing is just too hard to play around with, plus that he always has the aggressive start.

Good thing though that Oliver and Raoul also won their quarter matches, making it three members in the final four. All JayR had to do was to defeat Tonton to secure the finals spot, which he did with flying colors. That Wurm and Ajani combination is just too good. The team has finally won the Gameday playmat after a few attempts on the previous expansions.

Here are the Gameday event pics that I took:

Here is another edition of budget deck suggestions for the current MtG Standard format. This time, we shall check on an aggro archetype that has been my personal deck choice in Vampires in the days of Zendikar Standard. A suggested list with the corresponding card prices after the cut.

Budget Rakdos by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
4 Blood Crypt – P300 each x 4 = P1200
7 Mountain – P1 each – P7
7 Swamp – P1 each – P7
4 Temple of Malice – P150 each x 4 = P600

Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler – P15 each x 4 = P60
4 Spike Jester – P10 each x 4 = P40
4 Gore-House Chainwalker – P1 each x 4 = P4
2 Hellhole Flailer – P10 each x 2 = P20
4 Tormented Hero – P10 each x 4 = P40
4 Firedrinker Satyr – P50 each x 4 = P200
4 Mogis’s Marauder – P10 each x 4 = P40
4 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch – P50 each x 4 = P200

Spells
4 Lightning Strike – P5 each x 4 = P20
2 Magma Jet – P15 each x 2 = P30
2 Doom Blade – P5 each x 2 = P10

Total deck price: P2,478

Roughly half of the total deck price covers the cost of the Black Red shockland Blood Crypt, which we can cut into two basic Mountain and Swamp if the budget is really constraint. The 300 price tag though is the cheapest since the card is a reprint and the current demand for it isn’t that high.

Firedrinker Satyr first came out at 200 peso each and is now at a disappointing 1 dollar price tag because of unpopularity in the format. Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch on the other hand, is a powerful card in the deck and is cheaply priced at just 50 to 75 peso each. As for the rest of the cards, they are at the fair price so it will just be easy for you to buy them at your local card shop or from fellow MtG hobbyists.

The deck actually has won a Grand Prix so why not have a budgeted version of it, while maintaining it to be competitive. Your suggestions are always welcome so just post them on the comment box below.

Thanks in advance and until next post.