Hi all. I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. As for this blog post, I’d like to highlight and discuss my performance in our local tournaments from yesterday’s FNM and today’s Saturday Standard. As for this week, I piloted aBlack White Tokens aggro deck with reference from Tom Valkeneers of GP Lille.

The deck was created a few weeks ago by my Teammate Raoul and I noticed how it performed well with the meta, even with the danger of Ratchet Bomb.

Here is my current list:

Black White Tokens
by Mark Ian Alloso
2 Blade Splicer
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Hero of Bladehold

1 Elspeth Tirel
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
2 Midnight Haunting
3 Oblivion Ring

4 Isolated Chapel
12 Plains
1 Shimmering Grotto
4 Swamp
3 Vault of the Archangel

Sideboard
1 Celestial Purge
1 Day of Judgment
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Nevermore
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Revoke Existence
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Timely Reinforcements

I made changes for Saturday’s tourney by swapping two hauntings with two Blade Splicers (the orginal list had 4 Midnight Hauntings). As for the FNM tourney, here is a short recap of the event.

Round 1 vs John Carlo (RG Werewolves) won 2-0
Game Highlights: Just overwhelmed him with pumped up flying Spirits.

Round 2 vs Charles (Mono Green Aggro) won 2-1
Game Highlights: I was able to race his Sword of War and Peace equipped critter with Vault of the Archangel. Good thing his sideboard Bomb didn’t came out.

Round 3 vs JR (BR Zombies) won 2-1
Game Highlights: Tokens without the virtue or honor are just mediocre chump blockers for his undead army. Spell clumping can sometimes can’t be avoided.

Round 4 vs Raoul (Tempered Steel) drew 1-1-1
Game Highlights: We made some playtest games and the tokens can really hold the fort against Steel’s aggressive start. You just need to answer the enchantment later on.

Overall record: 3-0-1, 1st place.

That turned out pretty well. I’d really wanted to test play it against Delver Blade which we did after the tourney. It was somewhat a 50/50 matchup as the slow draws can be quickly out tempo with. My concern at this time was on how to stop an early Delver or other similar threats.

Saturday Standard

My little change on the list with Blade Splicer was to test how it would work with Champion of the Parish, which I think needs more Humans to get it pumped early. I only added two to make it flexible on sideboarding and stuff. Let’s see if it will work.

The tournament today had 18 players so it’s five rounds of gameplay. Here is how I performed on the event:

Round 1 vs Mao (Wolf Run Ramp) won 2-0
Game Highlights: I had to play it safe against his Slagstorms and Whipflares, and reserve my removals for his Titans.

Round 2 vs Raymund (Bant Pod) lost 0-2
Game Highlights: The deck is pretty slow against ramping with Birds and Pilgrims. An online Birthing Pod is much worse. He just crushed me on both games with better creatures; one in particular is the double Frost Titan on game two.

Round 3 vs Ramon (UB Control) won 2-0
Game Highlights: Playing around counterspells and mass removals is just very hard. The best gameplay I think is to stick with an early Doomed Traveler with Honor of the Pure and burned out his Mana Leaks with Lingering Souls. Reach the ‘Mana leak mana’ as soon as possible before spending your big spells.

Round 4 vs Rei (UB Control) won 2-0
Game Highlights: Same gameplay with that of Ramon. Play around with counterspells as much as possible. Black Sun Zenith is okay as long as you don’t over commit or if you have reserve token generators in hand.

Round 5 vs Franz (Delver Blade) won 2-0
Game Highlights: Take advantage of the life payment for Phyrexian mana. It helps you to out-aggro him and end the game quickly. Also burn out his Mana Leaks with Lingering Soul. Sword of War and Peace can be a nuisance preboard so reserve your Oblivion Rings for that (most of the critters are hexproof anyway).

Overall record: 4-1, 2nd place.

The deck’s performance was impressive, even with a few mana flooding at times. One thing I’ve majorly noticed is that I sided out the champion almost all of the time, maybe because of my matchups. I don’t really know which deck he is good against, maybe versus Humans. He is okay but mostly don’t coordinate well with the draws, because of the lack of Human spells. Anyhow, he is the one I’m looking to replace in the future playtests.

To conclude, the deck is in good shape with the current meta and the benefit of not being the center of attention (and hype). I am looking to pilot this in Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur while the anti tokens sideboard are not yet considered. I’ve got to work around the sideboard again, like adding Mortarpod vs Mana critters or maybe a fourth Oblivion Ring. We’ll just see.

Thanks for reading and until the next post.

The Standard metagame still continues to evolve after each Grand Prix and other major tournaments. Last weekend revealed the triumph of Blue Black Zombies at Lille, France, while the control version of the same colors dominated SCG 5k at Tampa Florida.

Here is the winning UB Zombies of GP Lille.

With that, we’d expect sideboard hate against Blue & Black as the hype is currently focused.

As for my Naya Aggro list, I was thinking of including two Mirran Crusaders versus U/B and tweak the mana base a little bit. Here is my recent list:

Naya Aggro by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands
2 Rootbound Crag
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Gavony Township
4 Copperline Gorge
7 Forest
1 Plains

Creatures
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Blade Splicer
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Llanowar Elves

Spells
2 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Sword of War and Peace
3 Garruk Relentless
1 Mortarpod

Sideboard
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Mortarpod
2 Celestial Purge
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Dismember
2 Ancient Grudge

I’ve had a few playtests with Blue Black Control earlier, and I must say, it is hard for the deck to beat on preboard. Mana flooding is partially responsible, though it takes a lot of tricks to play around the counterspells and Black Sun Zenith. I might tweak the sideboard again and maybe include cards like this against control.

Anyhow, what I need atm is lots and lots of playtest to discover more flaws while monitoring the metagame in the next two weeks before Kuala Lumpur. Also, might as well monitor my health and diet and avoid sickness. These things I needed to take note of.

Until next post.

Just a week after the release of Dark Ascension, Tournament Organizer Rei decided to hold an 8-man draft for that week’s Sunday tournament. We’ve invited players, old and new, via Facebook to sign up in the event. A lot confirmed that they are playing but during the time of the actual event, a few did not show up so we had to fill some to complete the eight persons.

I personally do not prefer to draft all three DKA boosters but stick to the original Dark Ascension / Innistrad combination. Unfortunately, I had to join to complete the eight so on to the picks.

First pick of the first pack offered me a Blood Feud as the best card. In my observation of the spoiler, Red and Black is DKA’s best color combination so I had to linger around those cards. The second pick changed that though, as Jay passed me a Requiem Angel to my surprise.

I shifted to White for a bit but still maintaining my picks for best cards as the first booster rounded up. It is basically the first pack picks were pretty messed up, me almost picking all of the colors.

The second booster’s first pick nailed me with White as I opened a Thalia, which I obviously chose right away. I followed those picks with more cards like Loyal Cathar, Burden of Guilt and Midnight Guard. At that time, I am still opting for my second color. It was still in the decider between black and red. So far the goodies being pass were Black cards so I got quite a lot with Highborn Ghouls and a Tragic Slip.

The third pack finally shaped up Black as my second color. Limited bombs like Vault of the Archangel and Lingering souls were my best picks at that round, while filling up the curve with Black Cat and Gather the Townsfolk.

As for the deck building, I’ve decided to splash Red for additional removals and I could not get myself of not playing Nearheath Stalker.

Here is my final list:

Lands
8 Plains
6 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Vault of the Archangel

Creatures
1 Nearheath Stalker
1 Black Cat
1 Farbog Boneflinger
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Vengeful Vampire
1 Chosen of Markov
3 Highborn Ghoul
1 Requiem Angel
1 Midnight Guard
4 Loyal Cathar
1 Thraben Heretic

Spells
1 Tragic Slip
1 Fires of Undeath
1 Wrack with Madness
1 Heavy Mattock
1 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Burden of Guilt
1 Lingering Souls

My match summary is as follows:

Round 1 vs Rino (Red Green) – Won 2-1

Round 2 vs Emilio (Mono Green) – Won 2-1

Round 3 vs Franco (Black Red) – Won 2-0

I am happy the deck turned out just fine with the color splash. The best part of the games was beating up your opponent with a Heavy Mattock equipped Loyal Cathar. That equipment is a sure pick if you are going on a White splash other color Humans draft plan.

To conclude, I am rooting for more draft tourneys maybe after Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur. Hopefully at that time, Innistrad boxes will be back on stock.

Here are a few pics during the draft (courtesy of Mao).

Until next post.

As the Standard decks continue to evolve in the metagame, it’s normal that we look at a few archetypes before Dark Ascension entered the format. One, in particular, is the Esper Control archetype. I remembered that this was one of the favorite decks from last World’s championships and from Iloilo Champs 2011 & I think that this still has potential and needs a little tweaking.

Here is a reference list from Andrés Cordero Rubio who got 1st in the Liga Madrileña de Standard last January 21, 2012.

Maindeck
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3 Snapcaster Mage

1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
2 White Sun’s Zenith
3 Dissipate
4 Doom Blade
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Think Twice
3 Day of Judgment
1 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Gideon Jura

2 Darkslick Shores
2 Isolated Chapel
3 Drowned Catacomb
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
4 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp

Sideboard
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Mental Misstep
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Negate
2 Celestial Purge
1 Phantasmal Image
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Curse of Death’s Hold

The list seemed balanced enough with the card drawers, Counterspells, and removals. The next thing we consider is the popular decks in the current meta. We start with:

Wolf Run Ramp – the deck is suited well with the seven Counterspells, Day of Judgement and Ghost Quarters for the Nexuses. Its main issue is with Thrun, which is only answered by a singleton Phantasmal Image on the sideboard.

Esper Spirits – I think it’s slightly in favor of the control since the new versions of Spirits tend to tap out a lot, so the Counterspells and DOJs come in handy. Post sideboard can be a mess but Ratchet Bomb might help a bit in the early turns.

Haunted Humans – the deck this control is very favored with. Early aggro can be adequately held off with Counterspells and Doom Blades. Post-sideboard Timely Reinforcements also is an additional headache.

Monoblack Zombies – matchup depends on the version. If it’s the discarder one, it can be difficult if the relevant spells are not countered, such as Liliana of the Veil, Geralf Messenger, Sword of War and Peace, etc. Good thing the sideboard has two Celestial Purges and Surgical Extraction to mess up the undying recursions.

Blue Black Control – boredom activated in 3, 2, 1. Seriously though, this is a complex type of matchup in which you’ll set up a good hand through card drawers while forcing your relevant spells to counter wars. Surgical Extractions, Negate and a lone Jace, Memory Adept is your best sideboard for this matchup.

Though I am not that keen on the playing style of control decks (and being an aggro player myself), I came up with an updated and suggested list for Esper Control post-DKA. Here it is:

Esper Control by Mark Ian Alloso

Maindeck
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3 Snapcaster Mage

1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
2 White Sun’s Zenith
2 Dissipate
1 Doom Blade
3 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Go for the Throat
4 Mana Leak
4 Think Twice
3 Day of Judgment
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Gideon Jura
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Tribute to Hunger

2 Darkslick Shores
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Drowned Catacomb
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
4 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp

I’ve divided the options on the spot removals by adding Go for the Throat and Tribute to Hunger. Zombies are getting popular, and Tempered Steel I think is on the decline. Tribute to Hunger gives you access to kill Geist of St Traft, Thrun, and one-half of the Drogskol hexproof lock, and option for Mr. Chow (Snapcaster Mage).

Adding a second Curse of Death’s Hold maindeck is necessary to seal your matchup with Spirit tokens. Plus it helps kill those who survive Elesh Norn.

White Sun’s Zenith is still your main win condition so it is best to set up your game play for that.

My initial sideboard would look like this one:

1 Celestial Purge
1 Flashfreeze
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Negate
1 Nephalia Downyard
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Timely Reinforcements

I prefer to be a generic plan of sideboarding for popular decks so yeah, that’s the list. Your comments and suggestions are very most welcome. Just hit it up below.

Thanks for reading and until the next post.

Here are the top 8 decklists of the currently running Standard event of the Starcitygames.com Open Series in Charlotte. The meta, defined by the recent PT Dark Ascension in Honolulu, has featured improvements to the Tier 1 decks specifically Delver and Wolf Run Ramp.

The first place after the Swiss rounds is the Wolf Run Ramp deck piloted by Bert Purvis.

Maindeck
3 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Acidic Slime
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Inferno Titan
4 Primeval Titan
1 Thrun, the Last Troll

4 Galvanic Blast
4 Sphere of the Suns
2 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Rampant Growth
4 Slagstorm
1 Whipflare

5 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rootbound Crag

Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Autumn’s Veil
2 Beast Within
2 Combust
2 Naturalize
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Karn Liberated
1 Whipflare

It is a carbon copy of the winning deck of Team Fireball member, Brian Kibler. The original deck builder still gets the privilege. The rest of the top 8 decks and also the 9th to 16th decklists are found here. 

Hi guys, here is part two of my post as I explore the archetype of Black and Red as the metagame shapes up in post Dark Ascension Standard. With the recently concluded PT Honolulu a.k.a. PT Dark Ascension, I am pretty sure the meta will change again.

The top deck from the PT was Wolf Run Ramp piloted by Brian Kibler, and as I look at the build, it was Huntmaster of the Fells that defined that deck archetype. The Tier 1 decks after the PT would probably be Wolf Run Ramp, Delver Spirits, Mono Green Aggro, Naya Pod and maybe an updated Esper Control.

As for the Black Red archetypes, I’ve looked on similar decklists at the Pro Tour Top performing decks and found two major variations:

1. A Black Red aggro with Zombies as core components.

2. A Mono Black Zombies deck with Cemetery Reapers & Lashwrithes. One particular version is with Skirsdag High Priests, which I find awesomely unique.

Here is the Pro Tour decklist that I’m planning to test and maybe change a bit:

Black Red Aggro by Eric Meng
Pro Tour Dark Ascension, Standard Constructed

Maindeck
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Mountain
10 Swamp

4 Diregraf Ghoul
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Fume Spitter
4 Geralf’s Messenger
4 Gravecrawler
3 Porcelain Legionnaire
4 Stormblood Berserker

2 Arc Trail
2 Brimstone Volley
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Gut Shot
4 Incinerate
1 Sword of War and Peace

Sideboard
1 Act of Aggression
2 Distress
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Manabarbs
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Sword of War and Peace

The list fitted well to my preferred critters to include in my build. The major problem here though is the proper mana fix. Even with the eight BR duals, it is not enough to properly curve out into a turn-three Geralf’s Messenger with its 3-Black mana cost.

My best resort here is to lower the count of the red cards. Meng’s build already compensate that, even with Gut Shots that are pseudo-zero to cast.

I don’t like 1 damage burn spells so I cut these instants and lower down to 3 berserkers. Also, Falkenrath Aristocrat is not that good with all the Spirit Tokens flying around so I replaced her with my ol’ time fave, Hero of Oxid Ridge.

Here is my version 2 list:

Black Red Zombie Aggro by Mark Ian Alloso

Maindeck
10 Swamp
4 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs

4 Gravecrawler
4 Diregraf Ghoul
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Stormblood Berserker
4 Geralf’s Messenger
1 Skinrender
2 Porcelain Legionnaire
2 Highborn Ghoul
2 Fume Spitter

2 Arc Trail
2 Brimstone Volley
3 Geth’s Verdict
2 Galvanic Blast
4 Incinerate
1 Sword of War and Peace

To balance the creature count, I’ve decided to vary it a bit by adding two Highborn Ghouls. I’ve wanted to take advantage of the Intimidate to deal in damage for burn range or be a berserker-enabler.

Geth’s verdict is also a personal choice as Hexproof is still quite popular and there’s a bonus life loss. The singleton Skinrender is to deal with three toughness critters, like the Dungeon Geist for example.

I’m still planning on a good sideboard list just yet, but it will definitely reflect on our local metagame. Meng’s SB list would still be my major reference for that.

To conclude, the deck will still undergo major playtesting to refine some loopholes and maybe adjust it a bit to other decks as the meta progresses.

Until next time and thanks for reading.

Pro Tour Dark Ascension just concluded with Brian Kibler emerging on the top. He piloted an updated version of Iyanaga’s Wolf Run Ramp last Worlds 2011, courtesy of Team Fireball. In the finals, he faced a teammate, Brazilian Pro Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and it took a deciding fifth game for him to win the mirror match.

Here is Kibler’s winning decklist, RG Wolf Run Ramp:

Maindeck
4 Copperline Gorge
5 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
6 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag

1 Acidic Slime
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Inferno Titan
4 Primeval Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Thrun, the Last Troll

4 Galvanic Blast
2 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Rampant Growth
4 Slagstorm
4 Sphere of the Suns
1 Whipflare

Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Autumn’s Veil
2 Beast Within
2 Combust
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Karn Liberated
2 Naturalize
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Whipflare

The complete Pro Tour Dark Ascension coverage is found here.

The recently concluded Day Two of the Pro Tour Honolulu a.k.a. PT Dark Ascension has featured Hall of Famers and tough Mtg Players on the Top 8. First to mention is the legendary Jon Finkel, with his 13th PT Top 8 on his resume. He piloted a unique Delver Spirit deck. Also in the final eight is the Dragonmaster Brian Kibler with Team Fireball’s take on the Iyanaga Ramp. The rest of the deck archetypes were composed of Delver Blade decks, a Jund Ramp, and a Naya Birthing Pod.

Here is Finkel’s Delver Spirit list:

Maindeck
5 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Moorland Haunt
3 Glacial Fortress
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Seachrome Coast

4 Drogskol Captain
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Dungeon Geists

4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Vapor Snag
4 Lingering Souls
2 Mana Leak
1 Divine Offering
1 Revoke Existence
1 Gut Shot

Sideboard
1 Celestial Purge
1 Divine Offering
1 Revoke Existence
2 Dungeon Geists
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
1 Dissipate
1 Dismember
2 Gut Shot
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Demystify

His deck tech video:

For the rest of the Top 8 decks, click here. I can’t wait for the exciting Top 8 match coverage tomorrow morning.

Hi all. I just want to share with you my latest version of the Magic: the Gathering Birthing Pod deck archetype. It is quite obvious that I’ve been addicted to exploring the possibilities on the builds of this deck. The reason is that I need to know which kind of build is suited to defeat the delver decks.

So far, in terms of consistency, Red Green White, or Naya has proven a fast start for the deck, though it still faces problems with the updated decklist of the Delver Blade. That’s why I decided to take on another color combination, the Green White Black.

Here is the initial list:

Lands
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Isolated Chapel
5 Forest
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Sunpetal Grove
3 Woodland Cemetery
1 Vault of the Archangel

Creatures
2 Blade Splicer
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Acidic Slime
3 Viridian Emissary
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Fiend Hunter
1 Bitterheart Witch
3 Strangleroot Geist
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Grave Titan
1 Sun Titan
2 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Skinrender
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Phyrexian Metamorph

Spells
1 Curse of Death’s Hold
4 Birthing Pod
1 Gideon Jura
2 Oblivion Ring

From the looks of it, it still needed the right creature curve combination to maximize the Birthing Pod. I am still looking for other critters in black that are suited for the deck.

Suggestions are very much welcome. Just hit the comments below. Thanks for reading and until the next blog post.

Which Pod should I take? This is my current dilemma as to what build of the Birthing Pod should I look up and to test which one is the winning list. Dark Ascension introduced the Undying mechanic which is very essential to the core theme of the deck.

This mechanic at most supported almost all of the colors in the set, though I think Green is the most beneficial in the form of Strangleroot Geist. This spirit is just the current powerful two drop for Green.

With that, we look on the two versions of the Birthing Pod archetype. These lists I’ve found through the various websites and articles (both free and premium).

First of is the Bant Pod. This list was suggested by Jeremy Neeman.

Bant Birthing Pod
Maindeck
2 Acidic Slime
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Hero of Bladehold
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Skaab Ruinator
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Sun Titan
1 Tower Geist
3 Viridian Emissary
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum

4 Birthing Pod
4 Ponder

5 Forest
3 Island
1 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Sunpetal Grove

This build suggests an aggressive version of Bant Pod with the four Strangleroot Geists (far from the typical gameplay of Bant Pod which is midrange control-ish type). Ponder and Evolving Wilds make sure you hit the right mana base for the early beats. One thing I don’t like in the list is its lack of main deck answers to big critters and Planeswalkers. Maybe one or two Oblivion Rings should be included.

Another thing I would edit is the change of one Skaab Ruinator to Stormbound Geist. Ruinator sure is a fatty but is weak against Vapor Snag while the blue geist can hold off Spirit Tokens and can even block Chandra’s Phoenix and live.

Here is the Naya version of Pod, from Dee’s article in Magic Game Plan.

Undying Naya Pod
Maindeck
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Viridian Emissary
1 Spellskite
3 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Hellrider
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Vorapede
1 Acidic Slime
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Inferno Titan
1 Flayer of the Hatebound
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

4 Arc Trail
4 Birthing Pod

4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Sunpetal Grove
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Evolving Wilds
5 Forest
2 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Gavony Township

I think it is with the same aggressive level with Bant, except the inclusion of the four Arc Trails main deck which I personally like. The two-mana sorcery in my opinion is a good answer to hault the Delver assault in the early turns, kills almost all of their critters and can single handedly answer a Midnight Haunting. Huntmaster of the Fells and Daybreak Ranger are good inclusion in the deck though I am not sure with Vorapede. It’s because of the same problem of Vapor Snag.

To conclude, I am thinking of auto including Sunblast Angel in the mainboard, as the deck still can’t cope up with Delver and RDW (based on the playtest earlier). I am also planning on switching Oblivion Rings and Mortarpod, though the final list may still look vague.

We’ll just see in the coming weeks. Until next post.

Exploring the creature tribes in Innistrad, I’ve checked upon those that are represented by the two color captains in Dark Ascension. One in particular that I’ve checked is the Drogskol Captain which represents the Spirit creature tribe.

Out of the four captains (not from Bleach), I am sure you would also agree that he is the strongest. The pump and Hexproof bonus is just very hard to deal with. I’ve browsed through the current legal sets in Standard and came up with this list:

Blue White Spirits
by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands
13 Plains
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Island
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Seachrome Coast

Creatures
2 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Drogskol Captain
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Niblis of the Urn
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Spectral Rider

Spells
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Mana Leak

It is hard to find the correct curve for the creatures but I am sure this is the stable look of the deck. The Nibilis and the Rider are good two-drop evasion critters on their own, and can also be boosted by Honor of the Pure. Midnight Haunting provides the additional beats.

The best combo in the deck is the Captain and the Phantasmal Image. Its a pseudo-Illusion lord combo and the bonus of flying makes the two an early clock. The geist monk is of course for late game bombs. I also included the generic blue/white cards like Mana Leak and Oblivion Ring.

Basing on the current Standard meta, my sideboard would look like this one:

1 Celestial Purge
2 Dissipate
2 Mortarpod
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Revoke Existence
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Timely Reinforcements

Its still looking generic I guess. The meta will still evolve in the next few weeks so it is best to play it safe.

I guess that’s about it for this deck tech. Until next post and thanks for reading.

Dark Ascension Prerelease had just been concluded last weekend so I guess its about time to brew decks and test the cards from the latest set. For online playtesting, I’m pretty sure you are all familiar with the Magic Workstation. This blog post is for helping you guys update your MWS to the Dark Ascension patch. Here is how you do it (with help from the Mtg Salvation forums):

1. Update your MWS Master Database by downloading this patch (courtesy of Metagame.it).

2. Unzip the files and copy them to the Magic Workstation folder in your Program Files. Make sure you have Administrator access to successfully update the files.

3. Download the Dark Ascension Text patch. You can add the set using Analyze/Add/Remove Sets in the MWS Menu under Tools. Add Dark Ascension with key DKA. Make sure to Save Library on the File menu before restarting MWS.

4. Download the Dark Ascension card pics. (DFC edits made by Dantalion of MTG Salvation forums. I’ve changed them to the correct filenames) Unzip, copy and paste this in the Pics folder of the Magic Workstation in the Program Files. Also, you should have Admin access to do this.

5. Click or search for a Dark Ascension card to check if the picture/s are correctly installed.

I hope this post helps ease up your Dark Ascension MWS patch update. Enjoy playtesting!