This is a one-week delayed update from Theros Block Constructed Gameday in Bacolod, but I am still going to post it to inform you all. The deck that I have decided to pilot was Esper control, primarily because of my familiarization of that archetype

in Standard, whereas my teammate Oliver played Chapin’s Junk Midrange champion deck from the Pro Tour. Based on the two lists I’ve posted on Part 1, my final build was somewhat their crossbred.

Here is my version of Esper Control for Theros Block:

Maindeck
6 Island
6 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Plains

3 Prognostic Sphinx

3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

4 Hero’s Downfall
4 Bile Blight
2 Silence the Believers
4 Divination
3 Thoughtseize
3 Dissolve
1 Drown in Sorrow
1 Gild
1 Deicide
1 Banishing Light

Sideboard
1 Banishing Light
2 Dark Betrayal
1 Dissolve
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Psychic Intrusion
3 Omenspeaker
1 Gainsay
1 Fated Retribution
1 Revoke Existence
1 Thoughtseize

This lot of one-ofs makes my sideboarding open against most of the deck archetypes in the Block, though more of the cards listed were for aggro matchups.

The trip to Bacolod was an ordeal for us. We went to the ferry port late, around 10am, thinking there was a normal scheduled trip for the three fast craft companies. We then found out that Supercat canceled their trips for the rest of that day, and people were scrambling to buy tickets at Ocean Jet. I arrived to see people lining up while crowding the ticket booth. I immediately called Oliver for plan B, of going to the Dumangas Roro port.

With an extra expense and dealing with the taxi, we eventually got ourselves going to the town, and we arrived at around 11:20 am. A lot of people were also there, lining up to buy tickets for the next scheduled trip at 12 noon. We had no choice but to line up and endure the heat while hoping that we could be included as passengers on that trip. The line started moving around 30 minutes later, and we then finally bought our tickets and got on the Roro ferry before its departure.

The trip was two hour,s and we arrived just five minutes before 2 pm, the scheduled time of the Gameday tournament. Good thing we had Erson as our contact at the venue and told him that we’ll be a little late. We got the venue at Island Spoon in Lacson Street ten minutes later, and with no time even for a quick lunch. We just did the final double-checking of our decklists and sideboard. There were around 22 participants, so that means a five-round tournament is expected. Pairings were announced for Round 1, and we wished each other good luck and hoped for Team Iloilo to win.

The summary of my matchups in the preliminary rounds was as follows:

Round 1 vs Junk Midrange – Won 2-1
Round 2 vs Red Green Elspeth – Won 2-0
Round 3 vs Red Green Elspeth – Won 2-0
Round 4 – ID
Round 5 – ID

It was satisfying that the deck performed well against Junk and Red Green, which I initially presumed that I would be far behind fast mana accelerators and early planeswalkers. My cards curved perfectly well and answered their threats at the right turns. Thoughtseize helped a lot in determining their sequence of plays and my turn-by-turn decisions as well. I got first in the rankings after the 5 preliminary rounds.

I will cut this part for now so I can discuss in detail my quarterfinal matchup and the turnout of the Bacolod Gameday event. Also, I will share how the Iloilo community welcomed this format with its first Theros Block tournament yesterday.

Thanks for the reading, and until next post.

The recent trend in Standard in terms of deck tech comes from the archetype that Pro player Conley Woods previously popularized. The old build has a likeness to that of Junk Reanimator, which was an outbreak in Standard last year. This current version though, utilizes cards from Journey into Nyx

that somewhat accomplishes its deck strategy. The deck I am referring to is Black Green or Golgari Dredge/Self-Mill. Here is one of the current lists:

Lulz’s Golgari Self-Mill
Standard

Main Deck
7 Forest
4 Overgrown Tomb
6 Swamp
4 Temple of Malady

2 Courser of Kruphix
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Nighthowler
4 Nyx Weaver
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Shadowborn Demon
1 Sylvan Caryatid

1 Commune with the Gods
4 Grisly Salvage
1 Ultimate Price
2 Whip of Erebos

Sideboard
2 Courser of Kruphix
4 Herald of Torment
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Skylasher
1 Ultimate Price
1 Whip of Erebos

Source: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/1508

Similar to the Dredge mechanic, your early turns go with casting mana creatures and filling up the graveyard with Satyr Wayfinder and Grisly Salvage. It is either you dig into a Nighthowler to bestow into an attacker or ramp into Shadowborn Demon to kill off threats and have a 5/6 flyer for an early clock. Nyx Weaver helps in reclaiming an essential card that was milled to the graveyard and is also an excellent early defense.

Beating down with Nighthowler is Plan A, whereas Plan B is to use Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord’s second ability for a direct life loss kill of an opponent. He can also get Pharika online most of the time with his four Black Green devotion points.

The other version has Strength of the Fallen setup for a large pump even with a 1/1 Elf, and combo with Pharika’s Snake enchantment generation ability.

As for our local version, the card pool currently has only two Shadowborn Demons to work with. That said, I am pondering the option of including Nemesis of Mortals in the list, and maybe adding the Strength of the Fallen combo.

We shall see if the deck will be completed by tomorrow, and on what deck setup should I follow. See you in Part 2.

Reference Golgari Self-Mill decks: http://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=292&meta=52&f=ST

Wizards uploaded yesterday a video which somewhat summaries the story in the plane of Theros. The first three parts reshow the trailer videos of each of the sets in the Theros block whereas the last part previewed the conclusion of the battle of

Elspeth and Ajani to Xenagos. Just a short hint: there are cameos of the characters in Elspeth’s past. Check out the Theros Block Reels video below.

The last scene in the video somewhat gave me the creeps of what Elspeth’s future form will be or if she ever gets to be printed in a non-White color. We’ll soon see what Wizards will come up with.

The next major MtG tournament that we’ll be travelling to is on this weekend in Bacolod. Their MtG community has scheduled a second Journey into Nyx Gameday with the format of Theros Block Constructed. This will be my first tourney for Block and with only a week to prepare, I am not sure which deck will be completed first (plus the fact that we aren’t complete of the Block-playable cards).

The recent Pro Tour Journey into Nyx is our only major reference for deck archetypes, with Chapin’s Junk Midrange and CFB’s BUG Control as the top choices. My only thing to consider though is how to combat those types of decks. I am generally not a fan of Tier 1 decks unless they fall on my self-proclaimed categories of an aggro deck. That does not mean though that I am not willing to explore other archetypes.

The first deck that I am in focus as of this moment is Esper Control, referenced from the decks played by Stu Somers and Eric Damain Andrews. The deck plays Elspeth and its counter and discard plan can really get you ahead against midrange decks plus you can deal with their Elspeth before it hits the battlefield.

Here is Stu Somers list from Daily Deck List, http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/1502

And here that of Eric Damain Andrews from MTG Top 8 http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=7348&d=242095

My second deck of choice is Red Green Elspeth or more of a Naya Midrange, piloted by Andrea Mengucci and Yuuya Watanabe. The deck looked and performed well on the Pro Tour feature matches but I don’t think I would like the build. I just do not like drawing mana creatures and Lightning Strikes in the late game. Caryatids and Voyaging Satyrs ramps you early to your big creatures but they are just vulnerable to spot removals which these Tier 1 decks have.

I have also added Cifka’s Boros Heroic list for my backup decks list, though Drown in Sorrow can be a blowout for this deck.

For now my safe play is that I will just pilot a deck that I am experienced with its similar archetype in Standard. We’ll see what other decks I can build once I get help and borrow cards from Iloilo players.

In my previous post regarding my version of Black White Aggro in Standard with Journey into Nyx, the deck utilized low cost Orzhov colored Humans to get Athreos online as early as possible. Here is the explanation of the card choices:

Precinct Captain – still the best two-drop for White aggro decks as its First Strike gets in advantage to generate free Soldier tokens.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos – it would not be a White based aggro if this lion king is not in the list.

Cartel Aristocrat – the previous superstar in the Aristocrats deck gets another shot in this build, with the token generators above to get her ability online most of the time.

Underworld Coinsmith – this new Journey into Nyx Human might look ineffective at first but it can finish off opponents in stalled board states. Also, its lifegain bonus can restore the life loss from the shocklands and Mana Confluence.

Xathrid Necromancer – another way to generate advantage from Supreme Verdicts and common spot removals. This plus Athreos’ trigger can really be a headache to most opponents.

Obzedat, Ghost Council – big daddy Obzedat is the bane of most Blue White control decks. He mostly acts as a late game finisher. That is if your early assault has been blunted.

Spear of Heliod – this enchantment anthem is much needed to power up tokens created from the captain and King Brimaz as well as provide two devotion points to Athreos.

Brave the Elements – ninety percent of your creatures are White so this is an auto inclusion.

Banishing Light – the current generic removal for White and also triggers Underworld Coinsmith constellation.

Sideboard Plan

To recall, here is the deck’s current sideboard:

1 Banisher Priest
1 Banishing Light
3 Dark Betrayal
2 Deicide
2 Doom Blade
3 Sin Collector
3 Thoughtseize

My changes would be to cut one Dark Betrayal into a fourth Thoughtseize as the discard spell can also be used for Blue White control and Monsters deck matchups.

The sideboard plan vs the recent Tier one decks are as follows:

VS Black Green Devotion

-3 Spear of Heliod, -1 Athreos, -2 Banisher Priest, -2 Cartel Aristocrat, -1 Brave the Elements
+4 Thoughtseize, +2 Dark Betrayal, +3 Sin Collector

VS Blue White Control

-2 Banisher Priest, -3 Brave the Elements, -3 Spear of Heliod, -1 Orzhov Charm
+4 Thoughtseize, +3 Sin Collector, +1 Banishing Light, +1 Deicide

VS RG/Jund Monsters

-2 Athreos, -1 Spear of Heliod, -1 Banishing Light, -2 Soldier of the Pantheon
+4 Thoughtseize, +2 Doom Blade

VS Mono Blue Devotion

-3 Athreos, -1 Obzedat, -2 Brave the Elements
+1 Banishing Light, +1 Banisher Priest, +2 Deicide +2 Doom Blade

The sideboard plan is mostly basic in and outs and switch of irrelevant cards to SB cards for specific matchups. Do note that the Soldier of the Pantheon was boarded out because he is easily trumped by Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix and its multicolor protection is irrelevant in the matchup. I hope this short guide helps if ever you would try the deck in your local tournament.

Any questions or suggestion you might have, I would gladly read about them so please do comment in the box below.

I guess that is a wrap for Athreos aggro deck tech, thanks for reading and until next post.

Yesterday was MtG Iloilo’s Game Day event for Journey into Nyx. The format was Standard and eighteen players went to battle creatures and sling spells. The team did some preparation prior to the event and announced the assigned decks to the members one week before.

Here were the assignments:

Devotion to Golgari – Oliver
Blue White Control – Raoul
Naya Hexproof – Jayr
RDW – Ericson
Orzhov Humans – Jason
Jund Monsters – Mark Ian

Golgari Devotion is the recent trend in Black control decks so we also had to update our build. Oliver’s version though has a slight tech with mainboard Golgari Charm and Scavenging Ooze. Blue White Control was also updated with Planar Cleansing replacing Detention Spheres in the main deck. Quicken was also added as well as Divinations and Celestial Flares.

Orzhov Humans was based on this list from MtG Canada with a little tweak of Brimaz instead of Banisher Priest. My list of Jund Monsters was based on the current Standard list with no Journey into Nyx cards. My little upgrade on the board was Thoughtseize as I was expecting a lot of control and midrange matchups.

The overall preparations were nay but the team was successful as I was able to win the Gameday and its prized playmat. A separate tournament report will be up soon so stay tuned.

I just hope next time that we will have enough playtest sessions to harness our play decisions and sideboard plans.

Until the next post.

In preparation for the Gameday tournament this Saturday, it was my task again to build and update the decks of the card pool. Hence, I shall entitle myself as the Deck Technician. Anyway, I have finished the update of three decks so far and the latest archetype that was edited and somehow upgraded was Mono Red Aggro a.k.a. Red Deck Wins.

The changes on the main board list was referenced from Tom Ross’ Red Blitz build from the StarCityGames.com Invitational Qualifier last December, and on various RDW lists that gained top finishes on MTGO Standard Daily events.

Here is my current version of Mono Red Aggro:

Lands
20 Mountain
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Malice

Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
3 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firedrinker Satyr
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
3 Mogis’s Warhound
4 Rakdos Cackler

Spells
3 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Sideboard
1 Boros Reckoner
3 Burning Earth
2 Harness by Force
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Fated Conflagration
1 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Skullcrack

MWS playtest sessions and tournament report to follow.

Heroic was one of the mechanic that Theros introduced and for months and two expansions that were released after that set, there has not been a valid deck that has this as a main strategy. A similar version, and also used another Theros mechanic Inspire, was that of Ken Yukihiro’s Blue Black deck on GP Beijing. His strategy is more of a control-ish aggro approach that setup removals via Agent of the Fates’ Heroic trigger.

On last weekend’s Pro Tour which had the Theros Block format, one deck reminded me again of this build strategy and that was Cifka’s RW Heroic which made top 8. That decided me to search for reference decks online, compare their builds and finally came up with this list.

Blue White Heroic by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
1 Mana Confluence
2 Island
10 Plains
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Hallowed Fountain

Creatures
2 Artisan of Forms
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Vanguard of Brimaz

Spells
4 Gods Willing
4 Hidden Strings
1 Launch the Fleet
2 Retraction Helix
2 Spear of Heliod
1 Triton Tactics

I will just leave it here for the meantime for you guys to ponder on this deck version while the card choice discussions will be on a separate post. Let me know your suggestions or point out things that I missed. Thanks in advance.

Checking around Standard decklists from various websites, I have came upon Micheal Flores’ article on TCG Player discussing and solving a board position with a specific matchup. The deck that he piloted was Red White Devotion with Iroas, God of Victory. That sparked me an idea for a similar list as we also have that deck in our card pool. Here it goes:

Devotion to Iroas by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
11 Mountain
2 Boros Guildgate
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
3 Frostburn Weird
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Iroas, God of Victory
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells
2 Banishing Light
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Hammer of Purphoros

Sideboard
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Banishing Light
3 Boros Charm
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Warleader’s Helix
1 Wear/Tear

The reason I am trying Iroas, God of Victory in the build is its ability to get your critters through blockers effectively and get more damage to be near in range with Fanatic of Mogis or Purphoros ping trigger. This deck also can get the God online as early as turn four.

The Journey into Nyx card addition aside from Iroas is Banishing Light, which I think is a better upgrade of Chained to the Rocks as it can deal with Planeswalkers and random enchantments in the format. I still considered the chains but with just two copies mainboard. These enchantment removals at times can also add a devotion point to Iroas.

I have considered Mana Confluence in the deck to lessen the tap lands but I don’t think it needed the mana ping fixer to curve out aggressively. It only has six White mana cost spells which the playset of foundry and temple can easily fix.

The sideboard did not changed a bit from its previous build as I still included generic board plans for aggro and control matchups. Assemble the Legion might be good vs control but Elspeth is also considered. What I usually do is to side out ineffective creatures like Frostburn Weird which requires mana for additional damage, cut chain and mortars and board in the big spells and Boros Charm. This though can vary in matchup with Black Devo as you should leave mortars to deal with Pack Rat, Nightveil Specter and Bloodbaron.

There is expected popularity of Abrupt Decays in Black Green Devo decks and that means you should use the Banishing Lights with caution i.e. cast it when they tap out with their threats. Boros Charm can also help and remember to leave enough mana to cast it at all times.

That is about it for this deck build. This weekend will be the Journey into Nyx Game Day and my team are preparing (more like a drinking session than playtesting) for the expected metagame which will more like be full of Black Devotion and Blue White based Control decks. Good luck to you guys playing in your respective Game Day events this weekend.

Until the next post.

The second day of the current Pro Tour Journey into Nyx has just been concluded earlier and with the last of the rounds wrapped up, four of the Channel Fireball team emerged to be part of the final top eight that will be playing on Sunday (Atlanta time).

Here are the top eight Theros Block Constructed decks of the Pro Tour.

Leading the pack is Patrick Chapin’s Junk Midrange which went undefeated on Day One.

Patrick Chapin – Junk Midrange
Theros Block

Maindeck
4 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple of Silence
4 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Plains

4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Polukranos, World Eater

4 Hero’s Downfall
3 Thoughtseize
1 Banishing Light
4 Silence the Believers
1 Read the Bones
4 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

Sideboard
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Deicide
1 Gods Willing
2 Boon Satyr
2 Arbor Colossus
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Read the Bones
1 Thoughtseize
1 Feast of Dreams
1 Bile Blight

The complete Top 8 Decklists can be found here.

As we all know from the recent results at Starcity Games Standard Open tournament, Black Green Devotion is the next big thing on the Black-based builds of control decks. Three of that archetype made into the top 8 but was cut short by two Burn decks and a Jund Monsters build. Nevertheless, it’s the deck’s consistency that matters and with that in mind, I will come up with a list that will fit on my local metagame.

Here is Alex Bertoncini’s list for reference.

Maindeck
11 Swamp
4 Temple of Malady
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Mutavault
2 Golgari Guildgate

4 Desecration Demon
4 Pack Rat
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

4 Thoughtseize
4 Hero’s Downfall
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Devour Flesh
1 Bile Blight
4 Underworld Connections
1 Vraska the Unseen

Sideboard
1 Devour Flesh
1 Bile Blight
2 Pharika’s Cure
2 Golgari Charm
1 Doom Blade
2 Dark Betrayal
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Duress

While the list looks balanced, there are certain things that I think are needed to be changed:

A cut on the Lifebane Zombies – that means two on the main deck and two on the sideboard. I would bring in Nightveil Specters on the slot as it is more favored against the mirror and Blue White based control decks.

Devour Flesh looks ineffective – against most creature decks and RG Monsters decks, this edict effect is just a blank draw. Maybe I’ll substitute it to a Doom Blade or Ultimate Price.

Golgari Charm in the main deck – this is also my option card if I will take out Devour Flesh. This is still so far the best Charm in the current metagame. The ability to destroy random enchantments and Nyxborn critters as well as killing Elspeth’s soldier tokens and also can regenerate your guys from Supreme Verdict is just too good to pass.

With these notes, here is my planned deck list if ever I’d pilot it on tomorrow’s FNM or on Saturday’s Standard tournament:

Black Green Devotion by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Maindeck
11 Swamp
4 Temple of Malady
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Mutavault
2 Golgari Guildgate

4 Desecration Demon
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Nightveil Specter
2 Lifebane Zombie
4 Pack Rat

4 Thoughtseize
4 Hero’s Downfall
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Doom Blade
1 Golgari Charm
4 Underworld Connections
1 Ultimate Price

Sideboard
2 Dark Betrayal
1 Doom Blade
4 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Golgari Charm
2 Lifebane Zombie
2 Pharika’s Cure
1 Vraska the Unseen

At the moment, our card pool lacks Temple of Malady but I have purchased a playset earlier today and hopefully it will arrive tomorrow before the FNM. I would really love to test this deck for the local meta and see if the changes work. I will update you guys very soon.

One of our playtest decks after Journey into Nyx made it to Standard was the Black White or Orzhov aggro. I have been testing this deck since the spoiler was released and so far has been rendering good results. I just have to make it work on paper.

Here is the recent list.

Maindeck
Lands
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
4 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
8 Plains
1 Orzhov Guildgate

Creatures
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Athreos, God of Passage
4 Underworld Coinsmith
3 Cartel Aristocrat
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Banisher Priest
3 Xathrid Necromancer

Spells
3 Spear of Heliod
3 Brave the Elements
3 Banishing Light
1 Orzhov Charm

Sideboard
SB: 1 Banisher Priest
SB: 1 Banishing Light
SB: 3 Sin Collector
SB: 2 Doom Blade
SB: 2 Deicide
SB: 3 Dark Betrayal
SB: 3 Thoughtseize

I’ll be posting the card by card discussion soon so just stay tuned.