Nth Dimension: Comics and Games have recently decided to add Magic: The Gathering tournaments in their store on a weekly schedule. The owner asked me of the possible tournament formats that he could have and so I have one that will accommodate the new players to get a playing feel in the tournament and that is the Pauper format or what we call as the All-Commons tournament.

Most new players are somewhat shy to compete and become overwhelmed with the power level of the cards and decks in a competitive environment. That is why they need an environment to enjoy and improve their spell-slinging skills at the same time. I think that Standard Pauper is the right format for them. We will also accommodate their deck building by providing card components of our spare cards from older but Standard-legal sets. This is a follow up of the Magic Open house event that was held last weekend of June. I was not able to attend that one at Rei’s Place due to the weekend class but I do hope that there were a lot of new players and those eager to join and learn to play.

Going back, Nth Dimension has scheduled the Standard Pauper tournament to be every Wednesday but I suggest to him that most of these new players are still in school and probably would not be able to play late on weekdays. I said that Saturday at around lunchtime would be the right schedule because they have no class and usually goes to school for assignments and side activities. He would still consider my suggestion and will try to run an initial tournament this coming Wednesday. We will see how it goes and how many participants it will be. Just stay tuned on the announcements at their Facebook page and on the Magic: the Gathering Iloilo Community page.

The current Standard Pauper tournament is gaining popularity recently as the second event was held last Saturday, June 17th. The new players and previous fans of the format have been enjoying the current metagame decks that were popularized based on Magic Online.

The recent attendance was 11 players and the rounds of gameplay were four. As for the prizes, it was the same Amonkhet boosters along with some foil promo cards that Rei provided.

The metagame I observed from the sidelines were Blue White Monster Control, Mono Black Vehicles, and Blue Red Prowess decks. I have also let one player, Romielyn, borrow my brew deck which is a version of Red Green Wolves with a sideboard plan suited for the current top-tier decks. She started strong with a 2-0 record but fell short of the top 4 as she lost the last two rounds to Mono Black and Blue White respectively.

Below are the Top 4 finishers of the Standard Pauper tournament:

1st, Christian (Mono Black Vehicles)
2nd, Ace (UW Monster Control)
3rd, Jan (UW Monster Control)
4th, Raffy (BG Emerge)

I am hoping on this coming Saturday another high attendance as well as new faces so that we could teach Magic as well as give out some of our spare commons and uncommons. I guess I should post a detailed announcement next time.

Scheduling tournaments for the new players can be hard at times as you should check and adjust to their schedule at school. Last Saturday’s Standard Pauper tournament was attended by 8 players, and the number was completed at the last minute.

The day before it was only two players that confirmed attendance and at that time I was already prepared to cancel the event but then I was not lost in hope. I then inquired again that night for the other possible players and even offered them to lend decks for them to use. Good thing two to three players from WVSU agreed to play and I just adjusted the tournament start time for them, from 11am to around 12 noon.

Arriving at Rei’s place the next morning at 11:30am, there were already 5 players available to play. I gave one deck I built which was a Black White midrange deck to Romielyn for her to pilot. I made another spare deck, Red/Green Aggro, which I also lend to Benedict and he was the last player to complete the 8 slot. That means a quick three rounds of gameplay and I expected it to be done just before the main Standard event in the afternoon.

After three rounds of gameplay, here are the Top 3 finishers:

1st, Jan Bedia (B/G Reanimator)
2nd, Benedict Esperancilla (R/G Aggro)
3rd, Ace Baron (U/R Ping)

8 players, 3 rounds gameplay

Here are some pics I took during the course of the event: