Tag Archives: Theros Beyond Death

Magic: the Gathering Wednesday Night Magic (Feb 5th) Recap

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I was able to join a local Magic: the Gathering tournament again last Wednesday and all I can say is that I got very rusty. The new Standard with Theros Beyond Death looks to be more appealing to me if I have done playtesting. All I did since the start of the year was to brew possible decks and read through some of the new cards’ functionalities. 

Time constraints is my main reason so just this week I decided to play and they scheduled the Wednesday Night Magic which is just coincidental.

I asked Ace for available decks and he provided me with the Rakdos Knights deck which we completed just before Theros arrived in Standard. Here below is a sample decklist of the archetype:

Mainboard
24 LANDS
4 Blood Crypt
2 Castle Locthwain
9 Mountain
9 Swamp

28 CREATURES
4 Blacklance Paragon
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Fervent Champion
4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
4 Rotting Regisaur
4 Spawn of Mayhem
4 Stormfist Crusader

4 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Drill Bit

4 OTHER SPELLS
4 Embercleave

SIDEBOARD
3 Duress
2 Epic Downfall
2 Legion’s End
2 Murderous Rider
4 Noxious Grasp
2 Sorcerous Spyglass

Source: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=24554&d=371686&f=ST

There were fourteen participants that night and I am quite happy with the turnout. It seemed that they were enjoying the new metagame of the format. Below are the results of my matchups.

Round 1 vs PR Melo (Golgari Oven) – Lost 0-2

Round 2 vs Ruel (Gruul Adventures) – Won 2-1

Round 3 vs Ralph (Mono Green Stompy) – Won 2-1

Round 4 vs Mossy (Mono Red Aggro) – Lost 0-2

Most of the losses were purely due to mana flooding even with my several attempts to randomly shuffle the deck to prevent it. I guess I just got very unlucky that time and my hands were cursed. Lol. My teammate, Ace, also didn’t win his last two matches. He was playing Blue-White Control.

Here below are the top players after 4 rounds of gameplay:

Wednesday Night Magic Tournament Results
Top 5:
After 4 rounds of awesome magic the gathering
1st AJ – Mono-Red Aggro
2nd Raymund – Mono-White Aggro
3rd Mossy – Mono-Red Aggro
4th Ace the Snake – Blue-White Control
5th Christian Wonderboy – Orzhov Doom

I do hope this player attendance can become a regular thing on Wednesday nights. The local game store really needed the support so that it could level up later on and organize higher-level types of tournaments.

Until the next blog post.

THB Booster Pack Openings Part 1

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I went to Rei place yesterday to check on the Special Standard tournament held there that includes special promo boosters and foil Theros Beyond Death full mana art basic lands. There were about 20 players in attendance and entering the second round of competition when I arrived. After depositing my card loots from the Theros Beyond Death prerelease, I decided to crack some booster packs of the new set.

Check out the short videos of the Theros Beyond Death booster pack openings below.

I got the Rare Shadowspear along with a foil Hateful Eidolon. The equipment is currently looking for an ideal deck to be used in Standard and if ever the All that Glitters deck becomes popular then surely it will become the first choice of the sideboard to against that strategy.

Haktos was my superstar card during the Prerelease. It might see Standard play soon but you should be lucky enough on the random roll on the protection for it to be effective.

Last but not least, the Rare I’ve opened was Mantle of the Wolf. It is considered a crap card at the moment, but am planning to build a Naya-based Auras deck with Storm Herald that can bring them back in the late game. The deck list to be posted soon.

That is a wrap for the first batch of Theros Beyond Death booster pack openings. Those were average cards unlike what I opened the last time off-camera and hoping on the next I would have at least one Mythic in my packs.

Until the next blog post.

Theros Beyond Death PR Weekend

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I am hoping that this weekend’s scheduled Theros Beyond Death Prerelease will be held with no delays whatsoever. Why am I saying this? That is because of the recent disaster that struck the country last Sunday, the eruption of the Taal volcano. The local and international flights were canceled that night as the airport was within the range of the ashfall. It was sudden and unexpected but I am hoping that all of those affected can safely evacuate and be taken care of by the concerned agencies. Our local prerelease is scheduled this Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. 

As for those who plan to go to their local prerelease, there are a few things of note, especially to the first-timers. 

Read about the new cards.The Theros Beyond Death full spoiler has been published since last Friday and the players got a chance to read through each card in the set, getting familiar with each ability and mechanic, and knowing which ones are doable to use in their decks.

Prepare card sleeves, containers, and dices. It is better to prepare these materials beforehand so that you can protect the cards you’ve opened as well as for easy shuffling and life tracking uses. 

Do not be afraid to ask questions. whether it is the game rules or combat scenario, people are there to answer your inquiry, especially your local MTG judge. They are accommodating to get you to know more about the gameplay, how card interactions can turn out, and also to avoid card misinterpretations. 

Stay refreshed. That is, bring water and snacks if your local game store does not have them. Bring energy drinks if you have to. A typical prerelease can last about five to six hours with deck construction and four rounds of gameplay. Do not forget to eat your lunch if the schedule is in the early afternoon.

Have fun. Enjoy each moment of the prerelease starting from deck construction up until the last match of the last round. Playing to win might be your main goal but the learning experience is still the basic benefit of joining this event. 

Enjoy your Theros Beyond Death prerelease guys.