Non-working holidays turned out to be another opportunity for the Magic Iloilo hobbyist to battle and participate in a local Friday Night Magic tournament. Last Friday’s turnout is sure to be highlighted as 18 players attended the event. It was still four-round of Swiss with a Top 6 cutoff for the prizes of GRN booster packs and FNM promo foils.

I piloted Boros Angels this time and got fortunate enough to finish in 4th place with a 3-1 record, that is after a few lousy draws in my matchup to Jeskai control in the second round. My teammate Ace finished third with Selesnya Tokens and not surprising as the top 2 players were both in Jeskai Control. The metagame that night would probably revolve around Mono-Blue, Mono Red, Golgari Midrange, Jeskai and Boros decks.

Here below is the final standing after 4 Swiss rounds.

Here is a quick decklist with a similarity to that of a Golgari Midrange build in the current Standard. The only difference is that I made the build more on planeswalkers and that the spot removal I have added is the Black sorcery Settle the Score. The bonus loyalty counters effect gets your walkers to its ultimate ability faster, making you activate it a few turns earlier.

Here below is the decklist:

Lands
2 Golgari Guildgate
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
2 Memorial to Folly
6 Forest
6 Swamp

Creatures
4 Golgari Findbroker
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Llanowar Elves
2 District Guide
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Plaguecrafter

Spells
1 Find//Finality
1 Cast Down
3 The Eldest Reborn
4 Settle the Score
3 Vraska, Golgari Queen
4 Vraska, Relic Seeker
2 Vivien Reid

Here is another update I made for the deck tech I have posted last time about the Big Red archetype. The rotation of Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation has majorly affected our list especially the massive removals which is needed in the matchup against the current Selesnya tokens decks. The options we have is Fiery Cannonade which only affects non-Pirates and the splash with White to access Deafening Clarion. We stick with the mono color for now and here below is the deck list which I think would be its possible look.

Lands
1 Field of Ruin
20 Mountain
4 Memorial to War

Creatures
3 Rekindling Phoenix
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Legion Warboss

Spells
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Fight with Fire
1 Jaya Ballard
2 Shock
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Lava Coil
2 Banefire
2 Thaumatic Compass/Spires of Orazca
3 Treasure Map/Treasure Cove

Here is another deck list tech I have built last weekend, given the use of Sarkhan’s Unsealing partnered with high-powered creatures. The core color is just Red and Green and while we wait for the Gruul components in January, we can just stick to how this deck can curve out the enchantment by turn three and be useful as early as turn four for creature triggers such as Demanding Dragon. Here below is the decklist:

Lands
4 Timber Gorge
8 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag

Creatures
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Demanding Dragon
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Carnage Tyrant
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Nullhide Ferox
2 Vine Mare
3 District Guide

Spells
3 Adventurous Impulse
2 Rabid Bite
4 Sarkhan’s Unsealing

The deck has lot of ways to maintain its mana curve, with Llanowar Elves as the main mana ramp and District Guide and Adventurous Impulse as support. We try here to be as consistent as possible. The creatures to trigger the Unsealing are Nullhide Ferox, Carnage Tyrant, Demanding Dragon, Vine Mare. Curving to a Vine Mare into the tyrant is very much the ideal play scenario. The spot removals included here are Rabid Bite, the Siege-Gang Commander ability and of course triggers from Sarkhan’s Unsealing.

That is wrap. Again, comments and suggestions are very much welcome to hit them up on the comment box below.

*header pic from Liljankymtg.com

The current Guilds of Ravnica Standard metagame features variations of the Golgari deck, from the straightforward aggro up to the control version. I have found one particular build which focused on the Explore mechanic from Ixalan and as an effect benefits graveyard shenanigans. The one card in the list that has found my utmost interest is Gruesome Menagerie. It looks to be a lesser version of Patriarch’s Bidding in Onslaught but when added to an ideal deck, it becomes very relevant in the late game.

I have also thought of it as part of a combo with the M19 card Desecrated Tomb which gets you free Bats. It ain’t that much but there are other options in the deck that triggers the tomb such as Isareth the Awakener and Golgari Findbroker.

Here below is the first version of the deck build.

Creatures
2 Golgari Findbroker
2 Glowspore Shaman
3 Isareth the Awakener
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Pelt Collector
4 Plaguecrafter
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Knight of Autumn

Spells
3 Desecrated Tomb
4 Gruesome Menagerie
1 The Eldest Reborn

Lands
3 Forest
4 Overgrown Tomb
5 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Temple Garden
1 Isolated Chapel
2 Sunpetal Grove

Sideboard
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Doomfall
3 Duress
1 Eldest Reborn
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Plague Mare
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker

For today’s Standard GRN deck feature, we have a list I found from the recent competitive league results on MTGO. I have named this deck archetype ‘Radiant Goblins’ because of the White Anthem card Radiant Destiny which I think is the relevant splash component of this tribal deck.

Here below is the decklist:

Creatures
3 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
4 Goblin Cratermaker
3 Goblin Instigator
4 Legion Warboss
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Skirk Prospector
3 Volley Veteran

Spells
2 Lightning Strike
2 Response // Resurgence
2 Conclave Tribunal
3 Radiant Destiny

Lands
4 Clifftop Retreat
15 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry

Sideboard
1 Volley Veteran
1 Conclave Tribunal
1 Radiant Destiny
3 Banefire
2 Goblin Trashmaster
3 Lava Coil
2 Risk Factor
2 Vanquisher’s Banner

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-standard-constructed-league-2018-10-01

I was able to check on the Standard tournament at Rei’s Place yesterday and it was good seeing new deck builds after Guilds of Ravnica became legal to play in the format. There were ten players in attendance, mostly are tournament regulars. There were new faces I was not familiar with but the good thing is that they are playing competitive decks. Here below are some pics I took and posted to the Magic the Gathering Iloilo Community page.

While I had planned to build a Standard Abzan Knights deck for Guilds of Ravnica metagame, I decided to just check on the results from the most recent Competitive Standard League last October 1st and behold, I have found a decklist. It was piloted by the username u_mad_bro and finished in one of the 5-0 records.

Here below is the list:

Creatures
4 Conclave Cavalier
3 Dauntless Bodyguard
4 Knight of Autumn
4 Knight of Grace
4 Knight of Malice
4 Pelt Collector

Instant/Sorcery
3 Flower // Flourish
3 Assassin’s Trophy
2 Assure // Assemble
1 Status // Statue

Other Spells
4 History of Benalia
2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

Lands
3 Forest
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Plains
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
2 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard
1 Assassin’s Trophy
3 Duress
2 Find // Finality
3 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Seal Away
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2 Vivien Reid

Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-standard-constructed-league-2018-10-01