Here is the follow up blog post from my previous entry on the topic of unboxing a War of the Spark booster box. I already discussed the first two batch of card pulls and this time, I will show to you the opened relevant cards of the remaining booster packs.

For the third batch of opened War of the Spark booster packs, here they are below.

Karn, the Great Creator, Ugin, the Inefitable and a second copy of Chandra, Fire Artisan are probably the money Planeswalker cards here along with The Elderspell and Dreadhorde Arcanist which are played in Esper Control and Boros Feather decks respectively.

Solar Blaze can be an optional board sweep and Narset’s Reversal is pretty much a sideboard card of Blue tempo or Blue White control decks.

I did not took a picture of the remaining six booster packs after this batch as I opened only a bunch of regular rares that are at their least play is to be added as a single card sideboard of midrange and control decks. One or two card can be playable in the Commander format.

Overall, the booster box was quite below the average value. I did not opened a Teferi, Gideon or Liliana that might have increased the price but the decent number of playable rares and planeswalkers quite validated it.

Until the next blog post.

This recent book haul update is actually one week late due to the board exam that I had to prepare and take on the previous week. The book is the recent story of the lore of Magic: the Gathering’s planeswalkers and is titled as the same with the newest set, Ravnica: War of the Spark.

Since its announcement on the Wizards page, I planned on ordering a copy but the issue is that it is only sold online on the Amazon website and on stores abroad. I had yet to check on the Manila sellers if they can get a batch order for this one.

Fortunately, I found one at the MTG Damnation FB group with its admin Irv Rai. He posted the first batch order good for ten copies of the book, priced at P1350 each. I had second thoughts at that time but decided to go for it and ordered. I was then told of the arrival date to be two to three weeks later. I am not on a rush at that time since I was on the board exam preparation mode.

Anyhow, I finally got the book here in the office last Friday. Looking at the sleek hardcover with the artwork of the four planeswalkers and Nicol Bolas on the background, Wizards had definitely made this product very special for the fans of the game and the story itself. Of course, the story was already spoiled with the release of the MTG set which on specific cards depicting the fate of the heroes and heroines. I might need to read on how it came upon and on what specific significant events. Perhaps a book and story review soon?  We shall see.

So yeah, I decided to test my luck again with sealed MtG products. This time on War of the Spark where I loaned a booster box from Rei’s store. The card pool had decided before to skip buying a box from the set but upon seeing the value of the uncommon Planeswalker, I might get some good stuff and maybe the foil ones to open.

I dropped by Reis place after receiving a message that his new WAR boxes has arrived. I decided to have the payment in two gives, paying the initial 2K. I chose which box from the crate, dropped by the laundry to finish drying my clothes and went home to the bhaus.

I then intended to open the War of the Sparks booster packs by batches so as to sort and discuss the playable and relevant cards for the Standard format. I wanted to do a Facebook Live unboxing but my internet connection that time has been acting up and so, back to the old school pics.

Here below are the rares or mythics of the first ten booster packs.

The walkers are the auto pic cards here as Vivien, Sarkhan and Chandra are all playable in their respective deck archetypes. Next in line are Soul Diviner and Dreadhorde Arcanist, with the latter being played in Mardu or Boros versions of the Feather+pump spells deck.

The next ten booster packs opened had the following cards:

This is where I got the two Finale mythics along with a foil version of the Black Finale and Bontu Eternal God. What they said about the rumors were true. Having one Finale as your mythic means the rest of the mythics opened are also one of the Finale card cycle.

I wanted Bontu as the top curve in a Rakdos aggro shell but I haven’t seen an actual list that finished well in major tournament. Maybe I will have my own deck list soon.

The cards seeing Standard play in this batch are Domri, Nissa, Finale of Promise, Enter the God-Eternals and Planewide Celebration. The first two walkers are known to be part of the latest version of Big Gruul deck and also Nissa are in the lineup of Mono Green or Simic Ramp builds. I have seen the Red Finale in two copies in Izzet Phoenix decks, having it as a late game Phoenix trigger source.

There are no money cards in this first two batch of booster packs with Chandra as the highest cost based on the current price but for the playability, they are evenly placed.

There are sixteen booster packs left so I will just reserve the discussion on the next blog post. That is a wrap for now. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Apologies for this late tournament report of the local Iloilo Prerelease for War of the Spark set but still, I am sharing my experience nonetheless. First off, the War of the Spark Prerelease event for the Philippines has been delayed by a week because of the logistics issues which were caused (according to their FB page post) by the recent earthquake in Pampanga and the holy week holidays. My excitement lessened that time but hey, we got no choice but to abide by their decisions and so, the Prerelease weekend was last May 4-5, 2019.

Saturday Prerelease at Pro Reis Place

Saturday schedule was by Reis local game store in which he supposedly planned to have it at an activity area in Robinsons place mall. Because of the delay, we had to have it back at their place which barely accommodated the 36 participants and given that it was a hot summer afternoon. A few complaints were heard but it cannot overcome the excitement of the players to open the new cards of the set.

I dropped by the place as they are starting the deck construction to give the card sleeves to a pool mate. I initially did not plan to play but Rino told me that he’ll sponsor the entry fee. There were a few slots left so I agreed and got a Prerelease kit to start opening and building my deck.

The rares and promo foils didn’t coordinate well in the colors unfortunately so I had to resort with the best build out of the pool. I ended up with a mediocre Boros midrange deck that caters a lot of high-casting spot removals and a few basic creatures as threats.

My matchup summary is as follows:

Round 1 vs Blue-Black – won 2-0
Round 2 vs Grixis – won 2-1
Round 3 vs Red-Black – won 2-1
Round 4 vs Esper – won 2-1

The toughest match was on Rd 2 and 4 but lady luck somewhat favored in my way and along with some crucial top decks and decisions, I was able to turn the tide of board position to my advantage and eventually got em on lethal damage.

Sunday PR event at Nth Dimension

Sunday was the scheduled PR I had and so I brought enough materials this time such as the dices, card sleeves, basic lands, and playmat. It was set to start at 1:00pm but the good is the place is air-conditioned so there were no worries about any possible hot situation. I arrived just in time as I completed the 18 participants. The PR kit I opened was very good, that is so far my best card pool in all of my PR event experience. You can check in the photo gallery below. I checked if it is possible for a Naya color build but the Red and Green card pool seemed to be enough to cater on my deck plan of midgame planeswalkers and valuing the Proliferate ability. So Red-Green aggro with late-game Planeswalkers it is.

Here below is my matchups on that PR event:

Round 1 vs Temur – won 2-1
Round 2 vs Red Green – won 2-0
Round 3 vs Black White splash Blue – won 2-0
Round 4 vs Jeskai Planeswalkers – won 2-0

It was an easy route on the deck’s game plan and the card value is just unstoppable. It can go with a fast curve while still dropping bombs in the midgame and pressuring opponents’ life total.

Last but not the least and to wrap up this post are the pics I took during the course of the WAR PR event at Nth Dimension. Enjoy and until next time.

As mentioned to me previously by Rei, he scheduled this weekend to be the open house event for War of the Spark. That means that there will be special promo card foil giveaways for the participants as well as for the new players that will be visiting to learn more of the game or maybe to check on the local MTG Iloilo scene.

There will be a special Standard tournament (not the Showdown type) where all the players will get a special promo foil card while the Top finishers will get the exclusive foils for that event aside from the usual booster packs of the newest set.

Wizards has also provided Welcome decks for the new players for their learn-to-play sessions although I am not sure if Rei has already requested for a new batch since he ran out of those decks last time. I have provided a few premade decks as backup just in case. What is important is that those players will be introduced in a casual and friendly way on the game and encourage them later on to build and play their first Standard deck.

The complete details are provided below:

War of the Spark Release Party/Open House
May 11, 2019; 2:00pm
Standard Tournament, 100php reg.
All participants will receive the promo foil card Bolas Citadel.
First place gets the Liliana’s Triumph promo foil card as additional prize.
WAR Booster pack prizes depending on number of participants.

One of the card story spotlight of the upcoming set War of the Spark is this Black Sorcery with the art that depicts Liliana leading the horde of undead. This scene has similarities with the one I saw on the War of Spark trailer released weeks ago and the next followed was Liliana leading them to attack Nicol Bolas while defying the curse of the Chain Veil.

Back to the card preview, the details are below:

Choosing any number of target creature and/or planeswalker cards in graveyards and returning them to the battlefield under your control is already a powerful effect. We just yet have to lessen the damage drawback. Putting into an old school perspective, we can instantly have an Orzhov midrange deck where we can place Circle of Protection: Black enchantment to solve this issue. It is not the case though in terms of Standard. We have to look for cards like Pariah to redirect the damage or go with the lifegain plan. Our current card candidates are The Wanderer, Gideon’s Sacrifice

At the moment, Esper control would be the best-fit deck to use this card. They have cards like Absorb, Moment of Craving and Kaya’s Wrath for lifegain access. It can be effective for matchups like White Aggro or Stompy Green as they have bigger creatures for lesser mana cost. For planeswalkers, unless you are returning the likes of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, then I think the five damage is maybe worth it as the late game can be grinding for a control deck matchup.

Overall, I would rate the card 5/10 as it is more impactful in the late game and you would not want it stuck in your opening hand especially on a random opponent. I would have one or two copies in the mainboard but if you wanted to play it safe or be funky but explosively in the late in Game 2 or 3, have one copy of it in the sideboard.  

That is wrap for this card preview. Until the next blog post.

I have not yet really checked the card spoilers for the War of the Spark these past few days due to my Manila trip and a lot of other stuff to do and I have thought to really start on one. Thus, I opened the MTG Salvation card spoiler page for some newly previewed and found this one.

The Boros dude Tenth District Legionnaire reminded me of the Heroic deck archetype back in Theros Standard days and think a similar strategy can be possible in the current meta. A Hasty 2/2 for two is already good enough & you can partner it with a few pump spells for an early opponent kill. The two colors has a lot to offer as of the Standard legal sets such as Sheltering Light. Also, the core components of the deck can be based on the existing White weenie deck.

I would not want to come up with a decklist just yet as we wait for the full reveal of the War of the Spark spoilers so we can have it more comprehensive.

I apologize for this short post as I needed to prepare for another work week.

Until the next blog post. Ciao.

This is some good news for those who are attending their local gamestore War of the Spark Prerelease, as it was revealed that each Prerelease pack will contain one foil stamped premium Planeswalker. That is aside from the usual foil premium card found in the previous guild-specific packs. Here below is the full list of the PR kits’ contents:

6 War of the Spark booster packs
1 Insert
1 Foil Stamped Premium Planeswalker
1 Foil Stamped Premium Card
1 Spindown life counter

I have not yet reserved my slot at our local game store at Pro Reis place but probably they will release the total slots capacity soon, which most likely is 36. I would expect the price would slightly increase though. It is also the UNICON weekend so the Sunday’s Prerelease will be at Nth Dimension: Comics and Games.

Anyhow, this is another unique take of the WOTC to garner people into the game. In terms of paper Magic that is.

I am excited as to what new planeswalkers will be featured in the coming set. Will we be expecting an Uncommon or Rare planeswalker? We shall see.