So it is just a few hours to go and we all bid goodbye to 2013. This year has been a roller coaster ride, with a few of major ups and downs. Anyhow, it was another productive year, with learned lessons to keep in mind.

Here is a little review of my year 2013:

-Made two top 4s in the World Magic Cup Qualifiers for PH.

-Top 8 in a few Magic Game Day tournaments.

-Played my first Limited Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

-Built a lot of Gunpla kits, trying to shift to the Master Grade line but can’t get enough of the High Grades.

-finally found a Gunpla group that is consistently fun and at the same time got me to learn lot of things in the Gunpla hobby.

-was about to join a Zaku build challenge but came up short because of:

-Gf broke up with me (so far this was the major blunder of the year)

-learned a lot of SEO stuff from one of my recent clients but worked for only a few months. I am hoping for more clients to stay longer next year.

To conclude, I’m going to say good bye to 2013 and say hello and welcome 2014.

So I wish you guys a Happy & Purphoros err Prosperous New Year.

There was another announcement yesterday on the DCI Banned & Restricted List and the latest casualty were in the Modern & Magic Online Pauper format. Bloodbraid Elf and Seething Song are banned in Modern, while Empty the Warrens, Grapeshot, and Invigorate are also banned in MTGO Pauper.

The effective date for the banning is February 1, 2013 and for Magic Online effective date is February 6, 2013. It can’t be denied that Jund is the current best deck in Modern, and its recent trend & dominance in the format might caused the banning of one of its main components. The small discussion of the banning can be found here.

Even though I didn’t got to play alot of the Modern format, I think Jund is not that affected with the loss of Bloodbraid Elf. They can surely find other cards to fill the spot like Huntmaster of the Fells.

For the complete list of all banned and restricted cards by format, see it here.

As a custom for every Magic set released in the market, Wizards recently previewed the list of the Event Decks for Magic 2013 Core set. The Event decks are called “Sweet Revenge” and “Repeat Performance.” Sweet Revenge is a graveyard-based Grixis color control deck while Repeat Performance is a Green White aggro deck which abuses the “Blink” effect to gain board advantage.

   

Here are the decklists:

Repeat Performance
Lands
12 Forest
8 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket

Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
2 Arbor Elf
3 Attended Knight
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Blade Splicer
3 Borderland Ranger
1 Brutalizer Exarch
2 Elvish Visionary
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Glimmerpoint Stag
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Mwonvuli Beast Tracker
4 Roaring Primadox
1 Stingerfling Spider
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Thragtusk

Spells
1 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Lead the Stampede

Sideboard
3 Cloudshift
2 Dismember
3 Kemba’s Skyguard
4 Oblivion Ring
3 War Priest of Thune

 
Sweet Revenge
Lands
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
9 Mountain
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp

Creatues
2 Armored Skaab
4 Fettergeist
1 Firewing Phoenix

Spells
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Faithless Looting
3 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Geistflame
3 Pillar of Flame
1 Red Sun’s Zenith
1 Rolling Temblor
1 Silent Departure
2 Slagstorm
4 Think Twice

Sideboard
2 Arc Trail
4 Bloodcrazed Neonate
2 Dismember
4 Screeching Skaab
3 Secrets of the Dead

Here is an interesting decklist that has performed successfully in the current Star City Games Standard Open in Buffalo, New York (the deck is in the top 4 as of the moment). It takes a route via the tribal Elves but with a twist of White.

The White splash is for Restoration Angels and Village Bell-Ringers which abuses tapping of the mana Elves, in turn generating a huge mana for Genesis Wave. The big guy Craterhoof Behemoth goes in for the one-attack kill.

Check out the deck tech video below:

Source: http://starcitygames.com/events/120729_buffalo.html

Pauper fever has hit the Magic: The Gathering Iloilo community once again. The first tournament was a success with 15 participants. Various archetypes were explored, with Mono White Aggro emerged victorious. Another tournament is then scheduled for this coming Sunday

and I am hoping I can finally join it. Anyway, with Magic 2013 going legal tomorrow, I am pretty sure a lot of new commons are added to be used for the pauper decks. Here is my first decklist for the format:

Mono Black Aggro by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands
1 Haunted Fengraf
19 Swamp

Creatures
3 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Undead Executioner
4 Highborn Ghoul
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Liliana’s Shade
3 Phyrexian Rager
3 Perilous Myr
3 Gravedigger
1 Moriok Replica

Spells
1 Sign in Blood
1 Skeletal Grimace
2 Murder
1 Undying Evil
1 Tragic Slip
4 Geth’s Verdict
4 Doom Blade

As Black does best, control the opponent’s critters with spot removal and discard while you set up your own and finish them with intimidating Highborn Ghouls or pumped up Liliana’s Shades. A few of the one-ofs are just for situational use. Sideboard is not yet finalized. I apologize for that.

Let me know what you think of the deck. Just hit the comments below.

Until next post!

As the usual routine for each new set released, a patch is also posted for the Magic Workstation (MWS) software. This is to update the database of the software, fix the filters and add the new card set. Here are the patching directions on updating to Magic 2013.

1. Get a Back-Up Master Base.
2. Put MWS in Deck Edit Mode.
3a. Click on the Library (Top Panel or Left Panel), save.
3b. Analyze/Add/Remove Sets
4. Add Magic 2013 with key M13.
5. This should say added 1-249 cards.
6. Click a card in the left hand column (top), from the library, then go to File, Save Deck/Library.

You can download the Magic 2013 Patch text file here.

As an added bonus, here is the download link for the low-resolution card pics of Magic 2013 coreset. Big thanks to Zanam of Mtg Salvation forums. Click here

The big news yesterday was the reprinting of Mutilate in Magic 2013. This revealed the high chance of Mono Black Control to become a powerhouse deck again in Standard. With the combination of the two core sets until October, its somewhat viable to come up with a decent list.

Here is my initial decklist for Mono Black Control post M13:

Maindeck
2 Evernight Shade
1 Griselbrand
2 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Batterskull
1 Black Sun Zenith
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
1 Despise
4 Distress
3 Doom Blade
1 Duress
1 Murder
4 Mutilate
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pristine Talisman
3 Sign in Blood
1 Staff of Nin

2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Liliana of the Dark Realms

25 Swamp

The M13 cards that I included are Duress, Murder, Mutilate, Sign in Blood, Staff of Nin and the latest Liliana of the Dark Realms. I’ve balanced the number of discard to the spot and mass removals.

I am thinking of other options like Grave Titan but I think lifegain sources are very much needed in the deck. Also, I am hoping Nantuko Shade be reprinted to replace Evernight Shade but the Undying ability gets me to consider it. Staff of Nin is a late game card draw/pseudo removal/finisher in one.

Tutor cards can also be included in the deck but that will depend later on as the spoiler list completes. Hopefully I can preorder a set of Mutilate for cheap price and avoid the hype. Anyhow, let’s see if their prices will stabilize.

Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Until the next post!

As what the current spoilers from the upcoming corset reveal, White aggro has a promising potential. Well it is already, but with new tools to utilize. The exalted mechanic is the new ability waiting in the wings and the latest Ajani Planeswalker is also a good support card. Here is my list of potential White cards from the Magic 2013 coreset to include in the deck.

1. Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2. Attended Knight
3. Aven Squire
4. Knight of Glory
5. Serra Avenger
6. Sublime Archangel
7. Captain of the Watch

Including the current Magic 2012 coreset, here is my proposed list for Mono White Aggro post-M13:

Maindeck
1 Attended Knight
3 Blade Splicer
1 Captain of the Watch
3 Champion of the Parish
3 Doomed Traveler
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Grand Abolisher
1 Hero of Bladehold
2 Nearheath Pilgrim
3 Restoration Angel
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Serra Avenger

4 Honor of the Pure
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride

4 Cavern of Souls
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Moorland Haunt
10 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast

I think this list is solid enough though it’ll be just until October. I am hoping that Grand Abolisher and Honor of the Pure will be reprinted in M13. Aside from Blade Splicer, other critters are staying which is a good investment. Cavern and Restoration are the somewhat expensive components that are needed and can be utilized if ever on other deck archetypes.

Overall, I’d suggest and recommend building a White Weenie deck once M13 goes legal and for the post-rotation. Until next time.