I played the Mardu Knights again last Friday in the Standard FNM event at Pro Reis Place after failing to completely assemble the Rakdos Sacrifice deck that I initially intended to pilot. There were about eighteen players in attendance that night and I expected there will still be Mono-Red Aggro decks which is my bad matchup.

In that sense, I made some slight changes in the deck into which I updated the spot removals in the main deck. I unintentionally placed one-ofs of the spells and here is the new list: one copy each of Angrath’s Rampage, Legion’s End, Mortify and Noxious Grasp. I also added one Judith, Scourge Diva as my fourth Midnight Reaper.

My first two matchups were against Gruul Aggro and Esper Doom which I probably got my quick and somewhat uncontested wins. I was able to outrace in damage the Gruul aggro deck while killing their ideal creatures with the grasp and the paragon’s deathtouch. The Esper Doom was pretty slow and I just play around the Kaya’s Wrath and was able to deal lethal before he stabilized. Mortify was very useful in this game as I was able to deal with the Doom Foretold at end of turn and before it got its trigger in my upkeep. A turn-two Duress was also able to take away the Cry of Carnarium which is very devastating to my board if resolved.

My next two rounds were composed of a concession from my Teammate and an intentional draw with the other player with the 3-0 record. I then finished in first place after the Swiss as the two 2-0 records in my first two matches got me ahead in the OMW% (Overall Match Wins Percentage). I was also lucky to dodge the four Mono-Red players wherein the last one that I drew the match with was one of them.

****MTG Iloilo Tournament Results****
Friday Night Magic (November 8, 2019)
Top 6:
1st, Mark Ian (Mardu Knights)
2nd, Nonoy (Mono Red Aggro)
3rd, Mark T (Esper Doom)
4th, John Dee (Gruul Aggro)
5th, Ralph H. (Mono Red Aggro)
6th, Tonton (Esper Doom)

18 players, 4 rounds game play.

I might play the deck again this week and with another new update which I still have to sleeve later on. The new build will have similarities to the one on the Mythic Championship Qualifiers and hopefully, its strategy will work in the local metagame.

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

Despite the rainy weather in the past few days, local MTG players still gathered at Nth Dimension: Comics and Games to participate in their Wednesday Night Standard tournament. A total of fourteen people were present, I included as I was able to complete my Mardu Knights build. A big thanks to my teammates Ace and Ericson for providing the card pieces.

The first round started a quarter before 7 pm and I was faced against Speedy playing Mono-Red aggro. I initially thought he was in the control route as it was his favorite archetype. Game 1 I kept a decent hand with three shocklands for mana fixing but those life losses mattered as his board outraced mine. Game 2 was my comeback win as my Rotting Regisaur went all the way and he was not able to set up a decent board. The highlight of that game was me getting rid of his three Fervent Champions with Legion’s End.

The decider Game 3 was the most intense match as we were trading attacks but I eventually stopped to stay for defense. He got his fourth land for Torban and attacked with all his dudes. He got me down to one life with the pings from the two Scorch Spitters but he traded them in the attack. Back to my turn, I played an Acclaimed Contender and got another Knight creature and still decided to play defense. He drew his card, hoping it was a burn spell, but he just passed the turn. Inspiring Veteran got me to attack or trade to his Torban but he just took the damage. Two turns of no action his part later, he extended the hand. It turned out that he just draw Mountains. That is one lucky outcome for me.

Record: 1-0

Next Round was against my teammate Ericson who was playing Blue-White Control. The decklist was from GP Nagoya. I was able to win preboard by playing around Time Wipe. Game 2 and 3 were the worse for my part as he was just able to answer every threat I made, Glass Casket, Prison Realm and Deputy of Detention and I could not get a good board of attackers. I lost that match.

Record: 1-1

Round 3 was versus Gus, a pilot of Grixis Fires of Invention. It was another control deck, and I was hoping to auto loss game one once he sticks the enchantment. He did and the next turn my board just got swept by Time Wipe and Chandra. I boarded in my Drill Bit and Duress and also the Murderous Riders for his planeswalkers. Game 2 was just the right timing of the discard spell plus the early threats did the trick. He didn’t have the card to follow up with the Fires of Invention and died with the attacks. In the decider game, luck sided with me again. That is because he got stuck in three lands while I pinched in my damage. I made it to just two creatures to avoid the sweep in case he drew the fourth land. I just Drill Bit his Murderous Rider and my creatures, Knight of the Ebon Legion and Weaselback Redcap, just did the rest of the damage.

Record: 2-1

The last round was against John playing Boros aggro. I got paired down unfortunately and I politely asked him if he can concede the match so in case my finish will get me to the Top 4. He gladly agreed.

Record: 3-1

My final record was 3-1 and luckily the finish got me in fourth place. The prize was an ELD promo booster and one regular ELD booster pack. I joined the rest of the top 4 who were composed of Ace with Sultai Food control, Ralph with Mono-Red and Christian with Gruul Aggro.

Mardu Knights is a decent deck per se, but my tweaking did not go well. I made the changes right after the tournament and just followed what is listed on the deck websites. I am considering to sideboard Mortify as an answer against Fires of Invention in the battlefield and also on other enchantments. I might pilot the deck again this coming FNM, we will see.

Here are the pics I took during the course of the Wednesday Night Magic and spell slinging session.