The Christmas season is always a time to have fun and relax. But for tournament hungry players like me, it is 3 weeks of no playing time, no practice, and no grinding. The good news though is that its the best time to focus on new tech since the metagame is well defined and there is no rush to practice your deck.
The project I came up with for the next 2 weeks is coming up with a deck to fit the monster demon named Abyssal Prosecutor. In my opinion he is definitely a player in the game if only we could find him a place in this standard world. A friend of mine came up with a B/G aggro version for him comprised mostly of beats and a little disruption. I on the other hand would like something a little bit more on the control side, but still aggressive enough to make a few palms sweaty.
First thing that came to mind is monoblack control, which i think i will stick with right now. there are three major components to previous successful MBC decks: 1. lots of creature control; 2. lots of disruption; and 3. a card advantage engine. Black right now has the first two components, but lacks the final key. this led me to the other side of the coin: card advantage isn't simply drawing more than your opponent, its making your opponent lose cards without you losing any. having said this, i came up with a list of cards that would do that. my best choices are:
gatekeeper of malakir(+1rcreature for me, -1creature for opponent)
skinrender(+1rcreature for me, -1creature for opponent)
mind rot(2 cards for one)
mindsludge(X cards for one)
bloodhusk ritualist(X cards for one)
consuming vapors(2 cards for one)
consume the meek(X cards for one)
ratchet bomb(X cards for one)
lilianna vess(X cards over time)
now, mix these with a few of black's staple cards and i think we may be on to something... here's what i came up with:
3 inquisition if kozilek
1 duress
4 mind rot
1 mindsludge
3 consuming vapors
4 gatekeeper of malakir
3 skin render
3 bloodhusk ritualist
3 abyssal prosecutor
2 grave titan
3 liliana vess
2 ratchet bomb
4 everflowing chalice
4 tectonic edge
20 swamps
The one thing that sets this decklist apart from the other MBCs is its speed. When opponents cast creatures, Gatekeepers and Skinrenders rush in to kill the critter, and provide a creature to put pressure on the opponent early into the game. Plus lets not forget our powerhouse demon.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of a playing partner, I havent playtested it yet. on paper, It looks decent enough, I just dont know yet. I would appreciate any feedback on this decklist.
We may as well be on the verge of building the perfect Prosecutor deck, maybe we're one or two sets away,this much i can say though about that card: give it the right fit and it will rule the standard world.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Gold Rush 2010
The Gold Rush weekend has been nothing but full of surprises and harsh realizations. This is the Philippines year-end tournament and is one of the biggest of the season.
after weeks of preparation and a two-day brainstorming session with a fellow player and good friend Marvin(who claims to be the next pro player in the Philippines), we have come to the conclusion: UB control still has the best matchups for the metagame. Disruption in the form of duress is great against UW(or so we thought); Grave titan, Doom blades and Consume the meek makes short work of beatdown; Spreading seas and Tectonic edge takes care of Valakut, and so on...
We have come up with this decklist:
3 duress
3 inquisition of kozilek
4 preordain
2 smother
2 doom blade
4 mana leak
1 deprive
1 stoic rebuttal
3 spreading seas
2 seagate oracle
1 jace beleren
4 jace the mindsculptor
1 consume the meek
3 grave titan
4 darkslick shores
4 drowned catacombs
3 creeping tar pit
4 tectonic edge
2 misty rainforest
1 verdant catacomb
5 island
3 swamp
The battle plan was simple: construct a deck that has favorable matchups against control. Based on experience, control decks are as slow as ever in standard. So winning game one is key. Our deck had 3 duress and 3 inquisitions to prepare for the control match-ups. My sideboard was filled with nine creature control spells to win back games 2 and 3 against beats. The deck seemed pretty solid. Our play seemed very tight. Yet after the dust settled, I finished at 3-3-1. I would love to go through the details of each round, but right now I just want to point out some things I learned in the event.
1. Too few win conditions - Grave titan is an excellent card for this deck, unfortunately, it was the only one capable of finishing the opponent in a short timespan. Jace the Mindsculptor is a wn condition as well, based on experience takes too long to pull off. This proved to be a fatal flaw of the deck as it gains control fairly easily during the first few turns and fails to take advantage of the disruption during mid-late game.
2. UW control is a monster - All of my loses came from UW. The deck simply has too many powerhouses! Gideon Jura, Jace the Mindsculptor, Baneslayer angel, Sun titan, Elspeth Tirel, and the list goes on... I gain contrl of the game early, but having that many outs in his/her deck, top-decking an out was inevitable.
3. Using a decklist based on the world championships puts a big bullseye in your forehead - I'm sure you noticed that this decklist is an improvised version of the decks that made it to the top 8 of the worlds. The bad news is that everybody else saw it and either prepared for it, or played it as well. luminarchs ascensions, leyline of sanctities, and vampires were all over the place. All of my loses came from UW, and I even consider myself lucky to not have faced a vampire deck(that would have made my record worse).
4. Two days of practice is not enough - i invited my friend over two days before the tourney to do serious playtesting. we barely covered a third the field of potential decks to watch out for. Magic requires a lot of time and commitment. 2 days with a new decklist is like dipping your toes in the water to see if you can take the cold.
5. Eat Healthy and Smart! - For those of you who dont know, the reason why we feel sleepy after eating has to do with our body's natural reaction to digestion. Our bodies only have a certain ammount of energy to release at a particular time. And digesting food needs energy. So eating a heavy meal right before a match would mean diverting some of your energy to digesting instead of focusing it on the game(imagine captain kirk telling Zulu to divert 50% power to thrusters and 50% to shields while fighting a klingon warship, that's goodbye Enterprise!). the key to sustained energy: eat small portions every chance you get. this would maintain your energy level thougout the tourney.
This weekend was a wake-up call for me. If I am to make it to the national championship this year, I would have to put some serious work ethic in my game. Otherwise this personal goal of mine to make the Worlds would just be another pipe dream. There are no failures in life, just lessons to be learned. This was a big one.
after weeks of preparation and a two-day brainstorming session with a fellow player and good friend Marvin(who claims to be the next pro player in the Philippines), we have come to the conclusion: UB control still has the best matchups for the metagame. Disruption in the form of duress is great against UW(or so we thought); Grave titan, Doom blades and Consume the meek makes short work of beatdown; Spreading seas and Tectonic edge takes care of Valakut, and so on...
We have come up with this decklist:
3 duress
3 inquisition of kozilek
4 preordain
2 smother
2 doom blade
4 mana leak
1 deprive
1 stoic rebuttal
3 spreading seas
2 seagate oracle
1 jace beleren
4 jace the mindsculptor
1 consume the meek
3 grave titan
4 darkslick shores
4 drowned catacombs
3 creeping tar pit
4 tectonic edge
2 misty rainforest
1 verdant catacomb
5 island
3 swamp
The battle plan was simple: construct a deck that has favorable matchups against control. Based on experience, control decks are as slow as ever in standard. So winning game one is key. Our deck had 3 duress and 3 inquisitions to prepare for the control match-ups. My sideboard was filled with nine creature control spells to win back games 2 and 3 against beats. The deck seemed pretty solid. Our play seemed very tight. Yet after the dust settled, I finished at 3-3-1. I would love to go through the details of each round, but right now I just want to point out some things I learned in the event.
1. Too few win conditions - Grave titan is an excellent card for this deck, unfortunately, it was the only one capable of finishing the opponent in a short timespan. Jace the Mindsculptor is a wn condition as well, based on experience takes too long to pull off. This proved to be a fatal flaw of the deck as it gains control fairly easily during the first few turns and fails to take advantage of the disruption during mid-late game.
2. UW control is a monster - All of my loses came from UW. The deck simply has too many powerhouses! Gideon Jura, Jace the Mindsculptor, Baneslayer angel, Sun titan, Elspeth Tirel, and the list goes on... I gain contrl of the game early, but having that many outs in his/her deck, top-decking an out was inevitable.
3. Using a decklist based on the world championships puts a big bullseye in your forehead - I'm sure you noticed that this decklist is an improvised version of the decks that made it to the top 8 of the worlds. The bad news is that everybody else saw it and either prepared for it, or played it as well. luminarchs ascensions, leyline of sanctities, and vampires were all over the place. All of my loses came from UW, and I even consider myself lucky to not have faced a vampire deck(that would have made my record worse).
4. Two days of practice is not enough - i invited my friend over two days before the tourney to do serious playtesting. we barely covered a third the field of potential decks to watch out for. Magic requires a lot of time and commitment. 2 days with a new decklist is like dipping your toes in the water to see if you can take the cold.
5. Eat Healthy and Smart! - For those of you who dont know, the reason why we feel sleepy after eating has to do with our body's natural reaction to digestion. Our bodies only have a certain ammount of energy to release at a particular time. And digesting food needs energy. So eating a heavy meal right before a match would mean diverting some of your energy to digesting instead of focusing it on the game(imagine captain kirk telling Zulu to divert 50% power to thrusters and 50% to shields while fighting a klingon warship, that's goodbye Enterprise!). the key to sustained energy: eat small portions every chance you get. this would maintain your energy level thougout the tourney.
This weekend was a wake-up call for me. If I am to make it to the national championship this year, I would have to put some serious work ethic in my game. Otherwise this personal goal of mine to make the Worlds would just be another pipe dream. There are no failures in life, just lessons to be learned. This was a big one.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Gold Rush trials...
Its Thursday night again, time for another Gold Rush trials at Titan Hobby Shop. there wasn't too many people(8 to be exact), but still a good place to earn some points and gain some experience. The payout is a few packs and one Gold Rush bye for the winner. Gold Rush by the way is a 64k tournament coming this December. So the goal is nothing less than a 1st place finish. later on in the tourney I heard news that the bye may be waived due to the lack of attendees. Lets just play hard and hope for the best.
The tourney started at around 8pm. 4 rounds. This should be fun...
I wont go into detail with the games since the ambiance was very casual. There were 2 other UB control decks, a RUG Ramp, a Boros Landfall, and a few rogues. These rogues were particularly fun since one of them was a poison deck, the other was a metalcraft concept. Nevertheless, I ran though both of these concepts like a freight train. Poison decks in my opinion is still too young to be a threat(although it did win one game against me). One set is just not enough for it to be formidable. Metalcraft is the same. It may have a bunch of nice components, but that's about it for now. I had the most problems with the mirror match. the games were simply too long and the advantage shifted so many times that we were only able to manage a draw. RUG Ramp as usual was very explosive and needed a 3rd game for me to become victorious.
To sum it all up, I won the tourney with a record of 3-0-1. not bad,since it gave me the confidence to play the deck even more! I'm starting to get the hang of the pace and slowly realizing the strength and synergy of the deck. UB control is really about gaining small advantages at the start and start gaining momentum at the very late game(when I say late game I mean turn 20+).
All successful people say that all successes, no matter how big or small, should be celebrated. This is to strengthen the heart, and nourish the spirit. this may be a small victory for me, but it is mine to enjoy!
The tourney started at around 8pm. 4 rounds. This should be fun...
I wont go into detail with the games since the ambiance was very casual. There were 2 other UB control decks, a RUG Ramp, a Boros Landfall, and a few rogues. These rogues were particularly fun since one of them was a poison deck, the other was a metalcraft concept. Nevertheless, I ran though both of these concepts like a freight train. Poison decks in my opinion is still too young to be a threat(although it did win one game against me). One set is just not enough for it to be formidable. Metalcraft is the same. It may have a bunch of nice components, but that's about it for now. I had the most problems with the mirror match. the games were simply too long and the advantage shifted so many times that we were only able to manage a draw. RUG Ramp as usual was very explosive and needed a 3rd game for me to become victorious.
To sum it all up, I won the tourney with a record of 3-0-1. not bad,since it gave me the confidence to play the deck even more! I'm starting to get the hang of the pace and slowly realizing the strength and synergy of the deck. UB control is really about gaining small advantages at the start and start gaining momentum at the very late game(when I say late game I mean turn 20+).
All successful people say that all successes, no matter how big or small, should be celebrated. This is to strengthen the heart, and nourish the spirit. this may be a small victory for me, but it is mine to enjoy!
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