For a little blog update since I was quite busy and the turn of events in the past week was somewhat unpleasant, here is a Standard deck feature played by Luis Scott-Vargas that made into the Top 8 of Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad. The deck is a recent of the ‘artistocrats’ strategy which involves the cards Zulaport Cutthroat and Collected Company.

Below is a sample decklist:

Maindeck
23 LANDS
8 Forest
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Swamp
3 Westvale Abbey

28 CREATURES
4 Blisterpod
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Loam Dryad
4 Nantuko Husk
4 Zulaport Cutthroat

9 SPELLS
4 Collected Company
2 Ultimate Price
3 Cryptolith Rite

Sideboard
1 Caustic Caterpillar
1 Clip Wings
1 Duress
1 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Infinite Obliteration
1 Read the Bones
2 Tireless Tracker
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Ultimate Price

Green White decks is still popular as an archetype in the Standard format after Shadows over Innistrad entered. One list I have found was played by my Teammate Oliver in the Magic-League Standard Masters tournament. His nickname in the game is Mastikor and he finished in second place in the event.

Below is the decklist for G/W Megamorph:

Maindeck
8 forest
5 plains
4 canopy vista
3 evolving wilds
4 fortified village
1 westvale abbey

4 deathmist raptor
4 den protector
2 hidden dragonslayer
3 archangel avacyn
2 nissa, vastwood seer

4 gideon, ally of zendikar
4 nissa, voice of zendikar
2 silkwrap
4 dromoka’s command
2 declaration in stone
4 oath of nissa

Sideboard
2 tireless tracker
2 lantern scout
1 hidden dragonslayer
3 evolutionary leap
1 silkwrap
1 hallowed moonlight
3 clip wings
2 surge of righteousness

Bant Collected Company decks has been seeing play in the late months before the Standard rotation and also has been the deck of choice of Japanese pros. I think the trend will still continue after Shadows of Innistrad becomes legal as most of the deck’s main component will not be affected by this rotation. The land fixing can be an issue but then we have new cards from the set to substitute. The remaining cards would be:

Deathmist Raptor
Den Protector
Eldrazi Skyspawner
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
Reflector Mage
Sylvan Advocate
Collected Company
Dromoka’s Command

We have a few card options for the deck from Shadows over Innistrad, like Bygone Bishop, Topplegeist, and Rattlegeist. We just have to wait for the complete spoiler so we could sort out the best cards to use.

The new ‘Show lands’ looks like a decent replacement for the fetchlands and we have enemy color manlands to make up for the rest of the mana fixing.

As for the spells, we don’t need that much card utility as we already have our creatures and Collected Company to take the board advantage to us.

I don’t have a complete decklist for now as we are still going to assess Shadows over Innistrad once the set is complete.

That is a wrap, until the next blog post.

With the imminent rotation in Standard in the next month, we must prepare ourselves especially our card pool of the possible decks once Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged goes out. We lose the clans and the fetchlands to help our mana fixing issues and will eventually rely on the current duals and painlands as a substitute. I personally liked Abzan to leave the format so we could give way for new decks to emerge and get a few underperforming cards into use.

The deck brewing spark has got me again and the first deck that I have thought of was Jund Midrange. To recall, I have been a fan of Jund since its Shards of Alara days and it even got me one notable Top 4 finish in the WMCQ last 2013. The deck’s compo that time was Thragtusk, Huntmaster of the Fells and Olivia Voldaren. My last pilot of that archetype was a Jund Monsters version for Theros and RTR Standard.

This time and just recently, the deck has been getting good results in Magic Online dailies and even in PTTQ and Champ qualifiers. I have decided to check on some possible card components and here are some of the notables.

Goblin Dark-Dwellers – it is a solid five-drop in itself with the Menace bonus but with its ‘flashback’ ETB effect that makes its card advantage very notable. It can re-cast most of the decent spot removals in the format like Ruinous Path and Kolaghan’s Command.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet – Rally might be out of Standard but this guy still works well with all your removals in the deck. His bonus Lifelink is relevant against Mono Red matchup which will surely plague the format right after the rotation.

Sylvan Advocate – this Elf is a good early beater and defense in itself and can still be relevant in the late game once you hit your sixth land. He can also bonus pump your manlands (Hissing Quagmire) in the process.

Chandra, Flamecaller – Your late game relies on this fiery planeswalker as she does multi-function in certain scenarios. For instance like wiping the board or drawing your cards. She is like the Red version of Elspeth, Sun’s Champion.

Let us cut the list for now as we wait for card previews from Shadows over Innistrad. Here is version one of the creature lineup for Jund Midrange in SOI.

2 Den Protector
2 Dragonlord Atarka
4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Sylvan Advocate

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this deck discussion. Thanks for reading and until next time.

The recent new set announcement was for the upcoming big set next year which is the return to the plane of Innistrad and thus named as the Shadows over Innistrad. The hype is then again on this upcoming set because of a lot of speculations on what cards will be printed or reprinted. Innistrad was an awesome MtG set, but don’t get your high hopes on this one.

Here are what not to expect in the Shadows over Innistrad:

Snapcaster Mage reprint – the current spotlight is on the Blue’s two-drop dude and they are all hoping for its return in Standard. He was not at his peak during the Innistrad Standard days but he is just too good to have a reprint. You can still get you foil copies though at your nearest RPTQ next year.

A powerful one-drop Human – Humans might be a returning archetype, but with the Allies reprint that looked to be powered down by Wizards, I do think they will have the same fate. Do not expect two-drop lords and Human token-generating spells but I would love a version two of Lingering Souls.

Enemy color land reprint – I am speculating that they will have new sets of duals but it will not likely to be of the enemy colors. We currently have allied color duals and they would fit well with those land-type condition nonbasics. That, together with the fetchlands, will again speed up the Standard format and in effect compromises the midrange decks.

Liliana of the Veil reprint – If the main reason is to lower the card price for Modern peeps, I do not think it is viable enough. I guess Liliana will still be in the set but as a new and less powerful version as compared to LotV.

Another set of tribal Zombie cards – Undying is a decent mechanic and its return will again represent new set of Zombies to carry the ability. Then again, they will either be of huge casting costs or those that etb tapped but has no immediate board impact.

Let us wrap up the list for now, and I am sure there are cards on spotlight right now and are expected to be in this upcoming big set. Huntmaster version two? A decent and playable Tibalt planeswalker? We shall see in the coming months. For now, let us enjoy this set’s teaser trailer video:

In a month or so we will be bidding farewell to Innistrad block as the latest big set Theros enter Standard. I’d say it was an awesome experience to play the dark Scandinavian themed set, casting Zombies and Werewolves and the Humans as the protagonist.

In this blog post, I am presenting a less popular archetype from the Innistrad block. It almost saw play in its early days after Avacyn Restored was released, but the metagame that time didn’t favored well to it. Anyhow, this is just sort of a flashback post of archetypes from Innistrad. I present to you, Red Green Werewolves:

Lands
6 Mountain
7 Forest
3 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag

Creatures
3 Wolfbitten Captive/Krallenhorde Killer
1 Ogre Battledriver
4 Mayor of Avabruck/Howlpack Alpha
1 Instigator Gang/Wildblood Pack
2 Hellrider
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Daybreak Ranger/Nightfall Predator
3 Immerwolf
4 Gatstaf Shepherd/Gatstaf Howler
4 Reckless Waif/Merciless Predator

Spells
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Full Moon’s Rise
2 Moonmist

I would not go into detail of each card in the list but these are the standard components as based on previous Werewolves decks before the Return to Ravnica rotation. It may not look powerful compared to other aggro decks, but I am sure it’s fun to play at your local FNM. If you’d be paying tribute to the rotating set, I’d suggest this build. Go ahead and try it out.

Just a few hours earlier today, Wizards officially unveiled the complete card set of Dark Ascension. After checking each of the new cards, my general reaction regarding the set is a big “mehh…” Dark Ascension is good flavor-wise but most of the cards are not Standard-worthy.

I’ll make a separate post sometime this week for my top fave cards on the set. Meanwhile, here is the link for the complete card image gallery at the mothership:

Dark Ascension Complete Card Image Gallery

Taken from the mothership’s article earlier, entitled Sorin’s Homecoming from Savor the Flavor by Doug Beyer, the card revealed to be the new planeswalker version of Sorin Markov. The article discussed about his relation to Innistrad’s history aside from the plane’s being his birth place.

The full article can be found here. As for the card preview, here it is:

Lord Sorin looks very much fit for the Token decks in the current Standard. The -2 loyalty emblem is just very sick. I’m speculating a new black version of that deck archetype to come out by February.

Also revealed today is the Dark Ascension video trailer. Enjoy!

Shrine of Loyal Legions is the new Squadron Hawk. Yes, that is my current theory (or those things that pops on your mind out of nowhere). After trying out the artifact in Green White Tokens, I immediately knew its potential, waiting to be explored in Standard.

Since the decline of Tempered Steel decks, I can say that artifact-hate cards had also lessened or stayed on the sideboards. I can conclude at the moment that it is its time to shrine err shine.

Here is my initial list:

UW Shrine Control v. 1.0
By Mark Ian Alloso

Lands
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Seachrome Coast
7 Plains
1 Shimmering Grotto
7 Island
2 Ghost Quarter

Creatures
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Gideon Jura
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Consecrated Sphinx

Spells
1 White Sun’s Zenith
3 Dissipate
3 Mana Leak
2 Pristine Talisman
1 Dismember
2 Gut Shot
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Think Twice
2 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Day of Judgment
1 Timely Reinforcements

The core list is similar to the Esper Control from Worlds, just without the black spot removals. Similar with Green White Token Town, a turn-two Shrine is very important. This is in both case with agro and control. There is no worry on tapping out early as the big spells to counter come in the late turns.

The shrine nulls creature spot removals and if ever it gets answered with Beast Within or Oblivion Ring, then they have trouble later on on dealing with the Sphinx or an EOT Swarm of cats.

The two approach of the deck is first via the fish type, which is activating the shrine on 4 or five counters and deal attack damage early, backed up by counter spells. The second one is through a control type, sandbagging the shrine to a high number of charge counters, enough to kill the opponent in one swing. Also Elesh Norn hastens this type of kill and a good bomb against creature swarm.

The deck is still on the testing stage so the sideboard cards would be based from the typical Blue White builds at the moment. There will be updates so just stay tuned.

Until the next post and thanks for reading y’all.

I just love Goblins. My deck in Magic had Goblin Patrol and Goblin War Buggy in it. Those echo cost was a bit clunky but casting them on first and second turns felt really good. These little critters attracted me to become a red player in my early years in the game.

As I’ve noticed, it seemed that Wizards has not left behind Goblins in its Magic sets. You can just find a little crowd of them on each expansion. They were even introduced as a theme tribe during the release of the Onslaught and Lorwyn blocks, in which I made decks during those periods.

Anyhow, what I am introducing today is my latest variation of the Goblins archetype for Innistrad Standard. Here is the list:

With great power comes great risk
of getting yourself killed.

Creatures
4 Goblin Arsonist
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Goblin Wardriver
4 Goblin Fireslinger
3 Goblin Chieftain

Spells
2 Shock
2 Brimstone Volley
3 Incinerate
2 Arc Trail
2 Gut Shot
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Goblin Grenade

At first it may look like a “meh” typical Rdw list but here is a quick detail of my card choices.

Wardriver and Berserker – the first two turns is very important of your every opening match. Ten one-drops and eight two-drops is your solution for that. Curving into a blood thirsted berserker is a good start. Wardriver’s Battlecry can push additional damage early on.

Three chieftains – Only three? I think it’s the ideal count. You would not want them to clump up in your hand and they die easily. They just act as a pump support in case you’ve curved to turn three.

Brimstone Valley and Goblin Grenade – These two is you ideal burn compo piece. Combined with an arsonist, it can shoot a total of 11 damage in one turn, and pretty much a high percentage of an early kill if you got critters damaging as early as turn two. The other burn choices are based on the rdw list. Also, the shrine is very important to drop on turn 2 so as it is another threat needed to answer with.

Sideboard is basically the card choices to anti your local metagame. Since Standard has not changed much since Worlds, it is best to run generic sideboard components. My choices would look like this:

2 Act of Aggression
1 Arc Trail
2 Dismember
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
4 Manic Vandal
4 Vulshok Refugee

2 Dismember, 1 Doom blade, 1 Go for the Throat – the Black splash is for these cards. Specifically to kill the current fatties like Hero of Bladehold, Sphinx, Primeval, Inferno titan, and also removal for the color-hoser Phyrexian Crusader.

Manic Vandals – your generic answer to artifacts. Wurmcoil Engine is pretty much a nuisance in the matchup but the right card combination is your key here.

Arc Trail and Aggression acts – the third Arc Trail is for other red decks, GW tokens, Illusions and other random aggro decks. One use of the acts except for “threatening” fatties’ is to answer Geist of St Traft. Get the Angel token and use it to block the Geist. Problem solved.

Vulshok Refugee – the pro-red against Slagstorm and rdw. Nuff said.

I am trying to experiment Olivia Voldaren on the board, though I’m not sure if the four drop will fit well with the 21 lands in the deck. For now she’ll just be under plan B. This is also the same with Koth, although I think he is quite good against control.

Your comments and suggestions are very much welcome (as always :)) for the improvement of the deck. Just hit it up below.

Until the next post and thanks for reading.

The third set of Innistrad, code-named “Roll”, is now revealed as Avacyn Restored. This announcement was made at the mothership last Thursday, stating that this expansion will be a large set and considered separate when drafted. Quoting from the announcement page,

This means that Innistrad Block Constructed will be composed of all three sets, but Avacyn Restored will be drafted by itself. Sealed events will use six Avacyn Restored booster packs.

Here is the additional information about the set:

Set Name: Avacyn Restored

Block: Set 3 of 3 in the Innistrad block

Number of Cards: 244

Prerelease Events: April 28-29, 2012

Release Date: May 4, 2012

Launch Weekend: May 4-6, 2012

Game Day: May 25-26, 2012

Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Dates: May 11-13, 2012

Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Location: Barcelona, Spain

Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Formats:
Swiss:
Innistrad Block Constructed
Avacyn Restored Draft
Top 8:
Innistrad Block Constructed

Official Three-Letter Code: AVR

Twitter Hashtag: #MTGAVR

Design Team:
Brian Tinsman (lead)
Mark L. Gottlieb
Dave Guskin
Kenneth Nagle
Bill Rose
Mark Rosewater

Development Team:
David Humpherys (lead)
Mark Globus
Dave Guskin
Erik Lauer
Billy Moreno
Matt Sernett

And here is the set’s expansion symbol:

While preparing for the Innistrad block portion of the Team tourney format for Iloilo Champs 2011, I’ve decided to browse the web for reference lists of the trending decks in the format. After a few clicks, I found a lot of the lists from recent Magic Online tournaments. Here are a few of what I’ve found:

Township Tokens by Torako (4-0)
MTGO ISD Block Daily (4-0) – Week of 11/28/11

Maindeck
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Mayor of Avabruck
1 Mentor of the Meek
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

4 Garruk Relentless
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Midnight Haunting

10 Forest
4 Gavony Township
11 Plains

Sideboard
2 Creeping Renaissance
2 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Mentor of the Meek
4 Naturalize
2 Nevermore
4 Slayer of the Wicked

Boros by Legit Boy (4-0)
MTGO ISD Block Daily (4-0) – Week of 11/28/11

Maindeck
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Cloistered Youth
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Elite Inquisitor
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Instigator Gang
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

4 Brimstone Volley
3 Devil’s Play
4 Midnight Haunting

4 Clifftop Retreat
7 Mountain
13 Plains

Sideboard
2 Blasphemous Act
1 Fiend Hunter
2 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Geistflame
2 Silverchase Fox
4 Slayer of the Wicked

BG Werewolves by FlankYou007 (4-0)
MTGO ISD Block Daily (4-0) – Week of 11/28/11

Maindeck
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Daybreak Ranger
4 Gatstaf Shepherd
2 Kessig Cagebreakers
4 Mayor of Avabruck
1 Skirsdag High Priest

4 Garruk Relentless
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Dead Weight
4 Sever the Bloodline
2 Victim of Night

8 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Shimmering Grotto
8 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard
4 Bramblecrush
1 Creeping Renaissance
4 Curse of Death’s Hold
3 Lumberknot
3 Witchbane Orb

Jund by _Batutinha_ (4-0)
MTGO ISD Block Daily (4-0) – Week of 11/28/11

Maindeck
4 Bloodgift Demon
3 Olivia Voldaren
2 Reaper from the Abyss

4 Garruk Relentless
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Brimstone Volley
1 Dead Weight
4 Devil’s Play
4 Geistflame
4 Sever the Bloodline
2 Traveler’s Amulet

2 Forest
8 Mountain
2 Shimmering Grotto
10 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard
3 Blasphemous Act
3 Falkenrath Marauders
3 Naturalize
3 Night Terrors
3 Witchbane Orb

4C Control by Zwischenzug (4-0)
MTGO ISD Block Daily (4-0) – Week of 11/28/11

Maindeck
4 Bloodgift Demon
3 Olivia Voldaren

4 Garruk Relentless
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Devil’s Play
3 Geistflame
3 Rolling Temblor
3 Sever the Bloodline

7 Mountain
4 Shimmering Grotto
2 Sulfur Falls
9 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard
1 Brimstone Volley
3 Falkenrath Marauders
1 Geistflame
3 Naturalize
3 Night Terrors
1 Rolling Temblor
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Tree of Redemption

Dredge by Santana (4-0)
MTGO ISD Block Daily (4-0) – Week of 11/28/11

Maindeck
3 Ambush Viper
3 Armored Skaab
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
3 Boneyard Wurm
4 Deranged Assistant
4 Kessig Cagebreakers
2 One-Eyed Scarecrow
4 Splinterfright

4 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Mulch
2 Spider Spawning

6 Forest
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
4 Shimmering Grotto
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard
3 Blasphemous Act
3 Bramblecrush
1 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Memory’s Journey
1 Naturalize
1 Rolling Temblor
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Spider Spawning
1 Sulfur Falls