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.

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.

Happy Friday all, I hope you are all excited for tonight’s Theros Beyond Death prerelease as I am. I am posting today a Standard deck update that on another Standard deck that gains much with the new card components from the Theros Beyond Death set: All the Glitters Aura deck. The recent set has support for enchantments and some cards are a part of the old Heroic mechanic. I have identified a few cards that are as follows.

Making your Auras cost one colorless mana less means one more open mana for your protection spells, or more Auras to cast on that turn. The flying evasion ability also helps to get past blockers or maybe chump blockers in cases of lethal damage.

Karametra’s Blessing is a good addition to the deck which helps protect our creatures from spot removals and destroy effects. The +2/+2 also helps you reach damage output to kill off opponents. This plus God’s Willing I think is enough and valid number for the deck build.

Here is a creature that reminds me of that Merfolk in Blue Aggro deck in the previous Standard format: Siren Stormtamer. A 1/1 Lifelinker if buffed with Auras can be a good threat and helps you prolong the game. Plus the protection that it can give to your main creature threat is very relevant.

Here below is the updated GlitterBrute decklist:

Creatures
3 Alseid of Life’s Bounty
2 Arcanist’s Owl
4 Gingerbrute
1 Heliod’s Pilgrim
2 Shambling Suit
4 Transcendent Envoy

Spells
4 Karametra’s Blessing
4 God’s Willing
4 All that Glitters
3 Angelic Gift
2 Banishing Light
4 Sentinel’s Mark
1 Heliods Punishment

Lands
17 Plains
2 Castle Ardenvale
3 Temple of Enlightenment

For the Azorius version, we can add the card Staggering Insight to our build. The decklist would look like this one.

Creatures
3 Alseid of Life’s Bounty
2 Arcanist’s Owl
4 Gingerbrute
4 Shambling Suit
4 Transcendent Envoy
1 Heliod’s Pilgrim

Spells
2 Angelic Gift
4 All that Glitters
4 Karametra’s Blessing
4 God’s Willing
4 Staggering Insight
2 Sentinel’s Mark

Lands
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Castle Ardenvale
13 Plains

I would prefer the latter build because we have access to use powerful Blue counterspells and instants in the sideboard. I think the first one would be more consistent though going the Mono color route. Either way, I will be testing this deck on paper once I got the components. The probable date will be next week and I will have another blog post for that.

That is a wrap for now for the updated Glitterbrute Standard deck. Until next time and thanks for reading.

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. 

I have thought about this deck tech as I checked on the Youtube videos about the reviews and top cards of the upcoming Theros Beyond Death set. The card to serve as the centerpiece of the deck is Purphuros, Bronze-Blooded. In the Commander format, they mentioned that the card’s “Sneak Attack” ability which is a lesser version can be partnered with a few Red or artifact creatures that have good ETB abilities.

The initial creature lineup would look like this one.
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Skarrgan Hellkite
4 Terror of Mount Velus
4 Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
4 Purphuros, Bronze-Blooded

Take note that we only have them as a playset in which later on we can cut one or two to give way spells or creatures with lesser mana cost to maintain a viable mana curve. The combo will take a while to setup so we must also consider our early turns on how we will handle our combat situations.

Drakuseth and the Terror of Mt Velus are your best creatures here to sneak in with Purphuros. The legendary flying Dragon’s 7/7 power along with its attack trigger can instantly deal huge amount of damage to opponents even with just one good timing of activation. It can also power your Devotion to Red by 3 so most likely that your God will also be attacking alongside.

The other creatures I am considering to have in my lineup are Phoenix of Ash, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Runaway Steam-Kin. Each of them has its specific purpose in the deck.

As for the spells, the usual burn Instants and Sorceries are inline to deal with early threats or for lethal damage to the life total.

I will follow up this blog post with a decklist once the needed assessments are done. Wrapping up for now, see you on my next one.

The complete Theros Beyond Death card image gallery is already out at the Wizards Daily MTG website and so we start with our take on the Standard deck brews. Going first in the list is the Mono White Devotion deck, which sounds pretty basic but will be fun to play once implemented on paper.

Here below is the first version of the deck build.

Creatures
4 Alseid of Life’s Bounty
3 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
4 Daybreak Chimera
3 Eidolon of Obstruction
1 Faerie Guidemother
3 Giant Killer
3 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
2 Reverent Hoplite
2 Taranika, Akroan Veteran
3 Venerated Loxodon

Planeswalkers
1 Ajani, Strength of the Pride
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
2 Gideon Blackblade

Spells
2 Conclave Tribunal
2 Phalanx Tactics
1 Unbreakable Formation

Lands
2 Castle Ardenvale
21 Plains

Card-by-card discussion to follow.

With the Theros Beyond Death cards spoilers almost two-thirds of its total cards in the set, I think we can now able to brew some decklists out of the current cards. Being a Standard format player, we start with the one archetype that had the history of being one of the powerful decks in its Theros days. The deck I am referring to is Mono Blue Devotion.

I can still recall the creature curve of the deck that can go aggressive early on and also has a late-game plan with Master of Waves (card posted above).

While those days past isn’t the same as of now in Theros Beyond Death, I provided an initial deck of what I think it will look like in the current Standard.

Here below is the decklist:

2 Agent of Treachery
4 Brazen Borrower
4 Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea
3 Cavalier of Gales
1 Dungeon Geists
3 Gadwick, the Wizened
3 Spectral Sailor
4 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling

1 Ashiok’s Erasure
4 Quench
4 Opt
1 Charmed Sleep
1 Mystical Dispute
1 Negate

2 Castle Vantress
18 Island
4 Temple of Epiphany

Do take note that this list will continue to update and subject to changes as the Theros Beyond Death spoiler is nearing completion. There are still a few notables cards which I think are the deck’s staple components. Ideas and suggestions are pretty much welcome so just comment them on the box below.

I finally got a spare time to check on the card previews of the upcoming Theros Beyond Death and there were a few that me interested in terms of gameplay in the Standard format. For this blog post, I have chosen one card that featured the return of Saga which started on the Dominaria set. The Saga is The Akroan War which depicts one of the major events in the history of Theros.

Let us check on each step of the card’s Saga ability.

I — Gain control of target creature for as long as The Akroan War remains on the battlefield.

While the 4 casting cost is quite high for a steal creature ability, a few turns of possession is quite vital and can provide an advantage in board position. You might want to wait until the opponent cast his/her best creature before taking control of it.

II — Until your next turn, creatures your opponents control attack each combat if able.

This will likely mess up their board position given that they have creatures with lesser power and toughness than yours. This may be very situational as you would need to cast your blockers during the turn before its effect.

III — Each tapped creature deals damage to itself equal to its power.

This is a very good follow up when those surviving creatures that attacked the previous turn is dealt itself damage equal to its power. Again, this is a very situational so proper timing is needed. Also, this is tricky as you might forget that this also can kill your tapped creatures if you carelessly attack the previous turn.

In terms of sideboard use, this can be viable against Green or Gruul stompy deck matchups. Stealing their biggest creature such as a Questing Beast for a few turns can be crucial in dealing a huge damage or even an alpha strike to the opponent.

As for the price value, it might be around 3 to 5 USD (150-200php) initially but I think once the Theros Beyond Death stocks would be sufficient to supply the single cards, it will stabilize to I think 2 USD only.

That is a wrap for this Theros Beyond Death card preview. Until the next blog post.

The upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Theros Beyond Death is scheduled to be released on January 24, 2020. The set will focus on the Underworld of Theros over the normal world of the plane, with the return of Elspeth Tirel after being killed by Heliod, the Sun God. Her unlikely rival will be the planeswalker Ashiok who is also in-charge of managing the underworld.

Check out the official trailer below.

One of the things of noted on this newest set will be the return of the Theros-block mechanics and these are Constellation and Devotion. I have personally seen these two had created very powerful deck archetypes in time of their Standard days. Devotion to Red, and Devotion to Green were my most favorite and I am excited to come up with a similar build once the complete Theros Beyond Death spoiler has been released.

The new mechanic to be introduced by this set is Escape and spells with escape can be cast from the graveyard for their escape cost. This cost includes exiling a number of other cards from the graveyard. Certain creatures receive an additional bonus as they escape. That defines the possibility of a Dredge-nature kind of deck or sort of a “self-mill” for that matter.

No news of the mechanic Heroic’s return in the set, given that God’s Willing in Magic 2020 already a hint but then it can turn out to be another imbalance archetype. Yes it was powerful back in Theros Standard but the setup was different and it was well-supported.

Another thing to expect is the variance of Enchantment-based decks that will be built around on Constellation mechanic. It might or might not be that efficient but we will not expect the likes of Whip of Erebos being a late game strategy.

That is a wrap for now. Theros was a successful set I would expect Wizard to do the same on this updated version.