Participating in a Magic: The Gathering (MTG) Grand Prix can be an exciting and rewarding experience for players who want to test their skills against others in a competitive environment. Here are some general steps to follow if you’re interested in joining an MTG Grand Prix:

1. Check the schedule: Find out when and where the Grand Prix events are taking place. This information can be found on the official MTG website or through other tournament organizers.

2. Register: Once you’ve found a Grand Prix that you want to participate in, you will need to register for the event. Registration can usually be done online or in person, and may require payment of a fee.

3. Build your deck: Familiarize yourself with the tournament format and any rules or restrictions that apply. Build your deck with the required number of cards, and include a sideboard with up to 15 cards.

4. Prepare for the event: Practice playing with your deck against other players or online to refine your strategy and identify any weaknesses. Make sure you have all the necessary supplies for the event, such as sleeves, dice, and a playmat.

5. Attend the event: Arrive early and check in at the registration desk. Bring your deck and any other necessary supplies. Listen to any announcements and follow the rules and procedures for the event.

6. Play well and have fun: Compete to the best of your ability and be respectful to your opponents and other players. Enjoy the experience and try to learn from your matches, win or lose.

Remember, joining an MTG Grand Prix requires dedication, practice, and skill. But with enough preparation and determination, you can compete at the highest level and have a chance to win prizes and earn recognition as a top player.

The daily visit on my Facebook Memories reminded me of the major Magic: the Gathering tournaments I have participated in in the last years. In the range of a decade, I think I have already joined about 10 to 15 major MTG events. Those are the Grand Prix, Nationals, World Magic Cup, and the like. My last Grand Prix was in Hong Kong in 2018, in the modern format. I enjoyed that short trip though that tournament was prepared just on average because there were only two players from Iloilo and we couldn’t get enough time to playtest.

In contrast, the biggest number of participants from our City of Love was probably from Grand Prix Manila in 2017. I think about 30 of us went to Battle Standard in that event. We savored that opportunity as the Grand Prix schedule seldom includes Manila in their list. It was usually every two years that we got one. That one was memorable because our teammate Rei Coo was able to Top 8 in the event and got a Pro Tour invite.

The World Magic Cup Qualifiers was another relevant and important event to participate in as you get the chance to be part of Team Philippines in the World Magic Cup tournament. My distinctive finishes in these events were in 2013 when I got into the Top 4 of WMCQ 1 and 3. It was short but no cigar, still I enjoyed every moment of playing in the tournament with my deck brew and my favorite colors Jund.

The Philippine Nationals, while it returned for only a year or two, was the grand tournament and sort of a reunion for the best Magic players in the country. The last time I joined in 2011, it required Regional qualifiers of the participants thus it was really a survival of the fittest in order to be part of the National event. In the recent version though, players would only be required a Planeswalker Points threshold to qualify.  

The format was Standard and Booster Draft which will really test not only the deck archetype that you have thoroughly practiced with but also your deck-building skills and reading the signal on the open colors.

It was nice for Facebook to have this feature on the Memories as it brings flashbacks of good and bad happenings, probably blunders and misplays I did in the games and matches. Those memories also remind me of the post-tournament happenings with the food trips and visit the tourist spots. These are what I will cherish on my part of the MTG Iloilo Community and the Filipino Magic players overall.

That is a wrap. Until the next blog post.

I have yet to write a decent tournament report for the recent Grand Prix in Hong Kong which I participated in last month. Even though I did not make it on Day 2, I feel I needed to share the experience, the matchups, the blunders, and related stuff. For now, I will just share an album of the photos taken during the GP event which I posted at my FB page Deathmarked. Check it out below.

We almost did not make it to the main event. Yes, you have read it right. We were too relaxed to expect that the venue cap of 800 players would not be met. I based on the previous Grand Prix Hong Kong wherein there were only around 600+ attendees. I then realized that those are of Limited format GPs. The fan base of Modern this time is much higher, given that it is also the season of Modern Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers.

It was Saturday last week when I found out that the main event was capped. I instantly lost interest, was devastated, and took the blame on myself. I reasoned out that there were no freebies for the early birds, unlike those of the previous organizers.

Anyhow, it was good news days after during my birthday last Wednesday that Panda Events announced that they will be opening 200 slots on Friday, September 7 at around 6:00pm. That said, I immediately went home after that office on that day and sat in front of my PC, and waited for the 6:00pm time. I remembered that I was having trouble with the internet connection 30 minutes prior to that time and it came back at around 5:50 pm. My friend Ramon was also on standby for the registration and he was more prepared with fiber internet. The clock ticked at 6pm and I immediately clicked on the GP Hong Kong registration page and filled up my info. The order was placed but then I encountered another blunder during the payment page for Paypal. I did not know what really the cause is but when I clicked the Pay Now button, it resulted in a Paypal error. Good thing though I had Ramon do the registration for me. The perks of having a friend with fast internet and a credit card haha. He was able to sign me up before the 200 slots were filled, in just about 8 minutes after 6:00pm. Whew, that was close.

Now that the main issue has been answered, what is next? Probably a whole lot of playtesting and familiarization of the decks in the current Modern metagame. That I will talk about in Part 3.

That is a wrap for now. Until the next blog post.

It is a bit late to post this news as it is already 4 days past the recent Grand Prix in Birmingham but I am still glad to share this deck, with me being a big fan of Black Red Aggro deck archetypes. The deck was played by Simon Nielsen, who placed 8th after the 15 initial Swiss rounds. He defeated the Top seed BG Constrictor deck with the lethal Ribbons in the deciding game before winning the Semis Mirror matchup. The finals match was somewhat intense as the favor mostly goes with the UW Control player Leon Lahonen which had defeated Black Red decks left and right on the second day of the GP. Three matches later, Nielsen emerged as the winner and crowned champion of Grand Prix Birmingham. Here below is his decklist for Rakdos Aggro:

25 LANDS
1 Aether Hub
4 Canyon Slough
2 Cinder Barrens
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Mountain
2 Spire of Industry
1 Swamp

19 CREATURES
2 Glorybringer
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Rekindling Phoenix
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Soul-Scar Mage
2 Walking Ballista

9 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Abrade
2 Magma Spray
3 Unlicensed Disintegration

7 OTHER SPELLS
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Heart of Kiran
2 Karn, Scion of Urza

SIDEBOARD
1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
2 Chandra’s Defeat
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Cut / Ribbons
1 Doomfall
3 Duress
1 Fiery Cannonade
1 Glorybringer
1 Heartless Pillage
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Release the Gremlins
1 Vraska’s Contempt

The recently concluded Grand Prix Hartford featured the Top 8 decks as to why Modern still has the most diverse metagame of a format. Personally this is my favorite format of Magic: the Gathering, and this time the winning deck is a new brew of Pro Player Matt Nass. He played KCI artifact combo with the Finals matchup against an Amulet Titan Bloom deck. The rest of the Top 8 included Affinity, the usual Burn deck which performed well in this event, Elves, Bogles and the BR Hollow One deck.

MATT NASS’ IRONWORKS COMBO

Creature (6)
2 Myr Retriever
4 Scrap Trawler

Sorcery (4)
4 Ancient Stirrings

Artifact (36)
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Mind Stone
4 Mox Opal
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Terrarion
4 Darksteel Citadel

Land (14)
2 Aether Hub
3 Buried Ruin
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Inventors’ Fair

Sideboard (15)
2 Defense Grid
3 Galvanic Blast
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Guttural Response
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Wurmcoil Engine

You can check the complete decklist of the Top 8 players here at this link.

I haven’t done yet with my writeup on my Grand Prix Hong Kong tournament experience last year and here I am again announcing that I will be going back again this September of 2018. The confirmation was earlier than expected, but a big thanks to Piso fares for airline tickets

I was already planning beforehand since the announcement of the Grand Prix schedule for this year and luckily, I came upon Cebu Pacific’s Piso Fare sale last December after going home past midnight. I immediately checked the possible dates and booked the one with the lowest price possible. The total ticket price for the round trip was amounted to just P3k plus which is almost 50% off of the ticket I bought for last year’s HK trip. It was not all direct trip from Iloilo as I will be on connecting flight via Manila on the Thursday and will arrive in Hong Kong around 6pm that evening. Fortunately, the return trip is a direct flight so there would be little hassle for me and my baggage.

As for the Grand Prix tournament details, the format is Modern and so I started my preparations this month by first being familiar with the archetypes. The format is very well diverse as compared to Standard but it is a slightly changing metagame, with almost the same Tier 1 decks. That means I won’t be pressured to do regular play testing. Hoping the new organizers will be able to pull off a better event output and a cheaper registration fee than that of the previous one.

I have not decided yet of the side trips in the city but I am eyeing of going to Macau on a one-day trip. For the meantime, I was looking and browsing on travel blogs for reference and tips. Hoping my friends could also book the same schedule as mine.

Overall I am happy to be able to book my abroad trip this year as early as January and that I will have enough time to plan out my budget and day by day schedule.

That’s a wrap for now. Back to finishing my tournament report I guess.

I continue to find interesting deck builds in Magic: the Gathering Grand Prix tournaments around the world. Another sighting is this midrange build of the Grixis colors (Black/Red/Blue) from GP Atlanta.

The deck, played by Sergio Ferry, almost made it in the Top 8 with just a few decimal points short of the cut-off. Anyhow, here is the decklist:

Maindeck
4 Aether Hub
3 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Fetid Pools
1 Island
2 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Swamp

2 Champion of Wits
2 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Glorybringer
2 Hostage Taker
1 The Scarab God
1 Vizier of Many Faces
3 Whirler Virtuoso

1 Abrade
2 Doomfall
4 Fatal Push
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Vraska’s Contempt
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Sideboard
1 Abrade
2 Chandra’s Defeat
4 Duress
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Negate
1 Never / Return
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 River’s Rebuke
1 Supreme Will
1 Vizier of Many Faces

Arriving early morning in Hong Kong on Friday, we are planning to rest in the airport until around 8am and then go directly to the GP venue at KITEC. The reason because the check-in at the apartment will still be around 3 in the afternoon so we can burn time by joining the events on the first day.

For early registrants, the organizer CL events have provided 50% discount vouchers for ODE (on-demand events) which we availed three as we registered before the end of August. JayR opted for a sealed Trial event as practice for the main event while my choice would be to play a Standard Trial or maybe join him in the Sealed event.

My priority would be to choose which format is easier for me to get byes so I am considering Standard but then again the main event’s format is Sealed so I needed that additional as well. If time permit then maybe I can join both, we shall see on Friday.

I will secure my Standard deck this afternoon after office and I think I will be piloting Temur or Sultai Energy as it is one of the best decks in the current Standard metagame.

Until the next post.

Blue White Flash edged the competition and other deck archetype as it grabbed the trophy and championship in last weekend’s GP Warsaw in Poland. The deck was piloted by Gabrielius Kaklauskus which he dominated the Top 8 filled with Black Green Delirium and a lone Rakdos Aggro played by Andreas Ganz.

Here below is GP Warsaw’s winning decklist:

Maindeck
6 Island
10 Plains
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
1 Westvale Abbey

4 Archangel Avacyn
4 Reflector Mage
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thraben Inspector

1 Declaration in Stone
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Smuggler’s Copter
4 Stasis Snare

Sideboard
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Fragmentize
3 Gisela, the Broken Blade
2 Immolating Glare
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Negate
4 Spell Shrivel

It was a major achievement for Brandon Burton on last weekend’s Grand Prix in Indianapolis as he claimed the championship trophy. The format was Modern and he brought a deck which speed and a burn to the face as its foremost features. The deck was Naya Burn and here below is the decklist:

Maindeck
20 LANDS
3 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills

17 CREATURES
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Wild Nacatl

23 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Atarka’s Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Rift Bolt
4 Searing Blaze

SIDEBOARD
2 Deflecting Palm
3 Destructive Revelry
3 Kor Firewalker
1 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
2 Skullcrack

The result of Grand Prix Taipei just came in tonight and let us give a round of applause to Yuuki Ichikawa for claiming champion of the tournament. He is piloting a Bant Company deck which I will share the decklist below. Ichikawa defeated Huang Yung-Ming’s Green White Tokens in the Finals and before that he toppled number 1 seed and HK Pro Lee Shi Tian in the Semis.

Here is the GP Taipei winning deck, Bant Company:

Maindeck
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Reflector Mage
4 Tireless Tracker
3 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

4 Collected Company
4 Dromoka’s Command
1 Ojutai’s Command

3 Canopy Vista
4 Prairie Stream
4 Yavimaya Coast
2 Lumbering Falls
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Wastes
1 Island
4 Forest
3 Plains

Sideboard
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Ojutai’s Command
4 Lambholt Pacifist
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Tragic Arrogance
3 Negate