While I am rooting for Red Green Dinosaurs or just purely Red Green Aggro to become a Tier 1 deck after the banning of Energy and Ramunap Red compo, looking for an updated decklist is probably the best first step. I have mentioned of a list before but with the metagame fully established, it is best to check on what are the recent improvements. One decklist I have found was from the Channel Fireball article for Deck of the Day. I have also checked on the GP Memphis and they had a deck referred to as Red Green Monsters which I think is that of RG Dinos. I have yet to verify though. Anyhow, here below is the decklist from CFB.

R/G Dinos by BSWEITZ
5-0 in an MTGO Competitive League

Lands
7 x Forest
4 x Mountain
4 x Hashep Oasis
4 x Rootbound Crag
4 x Sheltered Thicket

Creatures
2 x Carnage Tyrant
3 x Ghalta, Primal Hunger
3 x Jadelight Ranger
2 x Merfolk Branchwalker
4 x Otepec Huntmaster
4 x Regisaur Alpha
4 x Ripjaw Raptor
3 x Thrashing Brontodon

Spells
4 x Commune with Dinosaurs
4 x Savage Stomp
4 x Abrade

Sideboard
2 x Carnage Tyrant
3 x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 x Chandra’s Defeat
3 x Deathgorge Scavenger
3 x Magma Spray
2 x Raptor Hatchling

Reference:
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-r-g-dinos-2/

You’ve read the header right. Tonight will be the return of Wednesday Night Magic for Magic: the Gathering Iloilo and this first event will have the Standard format. We have agreed that the venue will be at Charlie’s on Magsaysay Rd, Lapaz as offered earlier by Ralph. I am hoping for minimum attendance this time even as we have announced it with the group and page on Facebook. Below are the details of the tournament:

Wednesday Night Magic (Standard)
February 21, 2018
6:00pm
Reg. 90php
RIX booster prizes
Venue: Charlie’s burger (Free Iced tea to all participants)

I haven’t really checked Standard decklist lately as the Modern format scene seem to be more interesting given with the latest changes on the unbanning of two cards. Anyhow, looking at some Standard decklist at MTG Top 8 and one deck that I will feature for today’s blog post is this particular deck that reminds me of the Theros Auras deck. The deck is also of similar colors of Blue and White and has Amonkhet’s Cartouches. Here below is the decklist played by Yiannis Bero:

19 LANDS
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Island
7 Plains

23 CREATURES
4 Adanto Vanguard
4 Adorned Pouncer
2 Sacred Cat
4 Skymarcher Aspirant
2 Snubhorn Sentry
4 Sram, Senior Edificer
3 Warkite Marauder

3 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Djeru’s Renunciation
2 Spell Pierce

15 OTHER SPELLS
4 Cartouche of Knowledge
4 Cartouche of Solidarity
4 Curious Obsession
3 Legion’s Landing

SIDEBOARD
2 Authority of the Consuls
1 Dive Down
2 Fragmentize
3 Negate
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Sheltering Light
2 Slash of Talons
1 Unsummon

It is a Modern Pro Tour weekend which I really enjoyed watching the coverage of Wizards and that the outcome was pretty much overwhelming. Lantern control played by Luis Salvatto was able to take the crown and title of Rivals of Ixalan champion with 50,000 dollars added to his stash, and I witnessed the Top 8 matchups as a pretty close matches. The order was Traverse Shadow (3-2) in the quarters, BR Hollow One (3-2) in the semis and lastly, Mardu Pyromancer (3-0) in the Finals against Pro Star Gerry Thompson.

Here below is the winning decklist of Lantern Control:

Maindeck
1 Academy Ruins
3 Botanical Sanctum
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Glimmervoid
1 Inventors’ Fair
1 Island
1 River of Tears
4 Spire of Industry

1 Abrupt Decay
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Whir of Invention

4 Codex Shredder
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Mishra’s Bauble
4 Mox Opal
2 Pithing Needle
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
1 Witchbane Orb

Sideboard
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Collective Brutality
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroclasm
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Welding Jar

While I am back to a hectic schedule with my spare time used for doing my paper works for the graduate school, I decided to do a quick visit at the Standard decks page in MTG Top 8, looking for a possible deck update from the Pirates build that I did previously. What I am looking for is an updated Grixis-based build basing on the tribal land Unclaimed Territory which does the fixing of the tribal colors. Rivals of Ixalan have provided new components for the deck to play on.

Upon checking the cards on the new set, the new decklist would look like this one:

Creatures
3 Admiral Beckett Brass
1 Captain Lannery Storm
1 Deadeye Tracker
2 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
1 Dreamcaller Siren
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
3 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Siren Stormtamer
2 Hostage Taker

Spells
3 Abrade
3 Fatal Push
1 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Chart a Course

Lands
4 Unclaimed Territory
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Fetid Pools
3 Canyon Slough
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp

I was recently informed and assigned to conduct a local seminar or maybe a small gathering to discuss on the Policy Rules update for Rivals of Ixalan. This is a follow up event for the provincial judges pertaining to the main seminar conducted in Manila for the metropolitan MTG judges last Sunday.

Our Level 3 Judge Joel Bantiles has provided us a small amount for financial assistance in the local event. I have also asked fellow judge Mervin Go for a copy of his presentation which he used to discuss to rules policy updates as well as on the card-specific notes for Rivals of Ixalan, for instance, the abilities of the elder Dinosaurs. I have not yet thoroughly studied that document just yet as I was still looking for a date, specifically the weekend.

My initial schedule would be this coming first weekend of February. I almost forgot that I got class on a Saturday which should be my preferred day so I will be conducting this on a Sunday. My friend Ralph has offered his burger snack place to be the venue so I might go with that.

The not-yet-final date is on February 4, 2018 at 2:30 in the afternoon. I might post an official announcement in Facebook by next week so just stay tuned.

Iloilo’s renowned Dinagyang festival will be this coming weekend and that may affect the regular schedule of the weekly MTG tournaments. That is because of a few road closures and rerouting, given that our main local gamestore, ProRei’s place

, is located in the city proper near Robinsons Iloilo. As of this posting, Friday’s FNM may or may not push through, but players may attempt to drop by and play despite the traffic. Saturday Standard I think will be canceled. For Critical Hit, the Modern FNM will likely go as scheduled.

The tournament details are mentioned below:

January 26, 2018
Friday Night Magic
Standard Constructed
P90, 6pm at Pro Rei’s Place
Rivals of Ixalan booster pack prizes

Modern Constructed
P100, 6:30 pm at Critical Hit: Comics and Games
Rivals of Ixalan booster pack prizes

I initially made a decklist for Dinosaurs (Temur colors) months ago for the Ixalan Standard deck brews and this time, I am doing another list for the Jund colors. Rivals of Ixalan provided new component options for the deck and my current main candidate is Etali, Primal Storm. Here below is my initial version of the deck, Jund Dinosaurs.

Jund Dinosaurs by Mark Ian Alloso
Version 1.0
2 Carnage Tyrant
2 Etali, Primal Storm
4 Drover of the Mighty
2 Raging Regisaur
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Regisaur Alpha
3 Otepec Huntmaster
2 Tetzimoc, Primal Death

3 Commune with Dinosaurs
3 Savage Stomp
2 Thunderherd Migration
2 Unlicensed Disintegration

1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker

4 Blooming Marsh
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Sheltered Thicket
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Canyon Slough
4 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Swamp

This weekend will be the Prerelease of the Rivals of Ixalan set and the opportunity to get a firsthand experience of the new cards and the continuation of the adventures in Ixalan. The local Iloilo community has two events scheduled on Saturday and Sunday

, with Rei’s local game store and Critical Hit respectively. Rei’s venue will be at Robinsons Place Jaro. The registration fee is around P1,300 per entry and included is a Prerelease kit that includes six booster packs, a random foil Rare or Mythic Rare, a quick guide, and 20-sided dice.

If this is your first time joining a Prerelease, the basic things you would need to bring to the event are the following:

• Basic lands for the building of the sealed decks
• Sleeves to protect the new cards
• Deckbox for storage
• Dice for the counters and stuff
• Pen and paper for the life total

If preregistration is available, please do so as it will secure your slot in the tournament in cases where you are expecting a lot of walk-in players. Also, make sure that you have slept well the night before as the deck-building part might be a challenge for you.

See you all this weekend, though I won’t be around on Saturday and maybe I might be joining the Sunday PR schedule.

Last weekend held two Magic: the Gathering tournaments that were not of the regular Standard format. It was the Modern FNM and Saturday Team Unified Standard. Critical Hit catered Modern as its format of choice for FNM and I was able to join this time, playing Black White Zombies. There was a high player attendance with 13 in count and also, most of my teammates were there. I finished in third place with a 3-1 record with the only loss against Raoul’s White Hatebears. The rest of the Top 4 are:

1st, Allin (Red Green Ponza)
2nd, Raoul (Hatebears)
3rd, Mark Ian (B/W Zombies)
4th, Ace (Grixis Deathshadow)

Saturday’s Team Unified Standard was attended by four teams. Unfortunately, we were not able to form a team for our group as most of the members are not available due to class and other events. I was able to drop by Rei’s place to check the tournament and as expected, Ramunap Red and Energy decks were still the top choices. After the Round Robin Swiss and Top 2 teams cut-off, the team of Co-Coo-Dy grabbed the championship and PR pass prize for Rivals of Ixalan prerelease. Their decks I think were:

Rei (U/W Cycling)
Mark Anthony (Ramunap Red)
Speedy (4C Energy)

I am hoping for another regular weekend report of the local MtG scene so I’d guess this is a wrap. This weekend will be the Rivals of Ixalan prerelease and players will get a firsthand experience of the new set as the story continues to the struggle of the Pirates, Vampires, Merfolk, and Dinosaur tribes.

Until the next post.

The complete Rivals of Ixalan is up at the mothership site and I was able to browse through the new cards and on the possible new deck archetypes to be created, not to mention deck upgrades of the current tribal in the set. I have mentioned before that Merfolks is going to be a thing in Standard with the completing card components here in RIX and now I am looking at a possible Black White Vampires build for the tribe.

The notable Vampires from the set are as follows:

White
Bishop of Binding
Famished Paladin
Forerunner of the Legion
Martyr of Dusk
Paladin of Atonement
Skymarcher Aspirant

Black
Oathsworn Vampire
Champion of Dusk

Multicolor
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Legion Lieutenant

Spells
Radiant Destiny
Arterial Flow
Baffling End

Non-Vampire notables
Dire Fleet Poisoner
Ravenous Chupacabra

As based on the previous Ixalan set, Black and White are the primary colors of the tribe and that also Lifelink is the common ability.

Legion Lieutenant and Radiant Destiny will be your anthem effects to get you to deal more damage on your curve. I am noting at least twelve one-drops in the decklist.

Champion of Dusk is already a solid 4/4 for five, plus the card draw etb effect is a bonus to replenish your hand after your first wave of Vampires. I do also take note of Elenda, the Dusk Rose, but with 1/1 for four mana, I do not think she will fit in the slot as there better and more aggressive four-drop Vampires available.

With those in mind, here is my first version of the deck B/W Vampires for Standard:

Creatures
3 Adanto Vanguard
2 Champion of Dusk
2 Duskborne Skymarcher
2 Forerunner of the Legion
3 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Legion Lieutenant
3 Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
4 Sanctum Seeker
4 Skymarcher Aspirant
4 Vicious Conquistador
1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Spells
2 Legion’s Landing
3 Radiant Destiny

Lands
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Forsaken Sanctuary
2 Shefet Dunes
1 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Plains
6 Swamp

The first wave of the official previews of the set Rivals of Ixalan which is scheduled to be released this month has been posted on various websites since Monday. In this regard, the previewed cards so far revealed that the slithery Blue swimmers are back in Standard once again.

The notable new Merfolks for this archetype are the following:

Merfolk Mistbinder – a two-drop Lord, nuff said.

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca – the 2/4 body protects this legend from Lightning Strikes and given three tap activation abilities, your options to maximize your turns give you a lot of variances.

Seafloor Oracle – the cost might be a bit high but curving on the fourth turn and drawing tons of cards from damage dealt is very good.

Silvergill Adept – a decent two-drop and a cantrip in itself. It has already seen play way back in Lorwyn Standard and it is no surprise that it will be the same now.

Swift Warden – a 3/3 body with Flash is already a good deal and the bonus Hexproof is a blowout card advantage in most situations.

With these new additions given that there is a new Merfolk lord, it seems that the deck is almost 90% complete. For the lands, Botanical Sanctum and Unclaimed Territory can fix the mana base and for a consistent one-two-three curve. The possible spells to include are Blossoming Defense, the new Raid Counterspell, Admiral’s Order, Unsummon for tempo, and maybe card draw spells like Chart a Course.

The deck has a lot of potential to become Tier 1 despite the dominance of Energy-based decks in the current metagame. I will develop a final UG Merfolks decklist once the spoiler is complete.

That is a wrap for now until the next post.