The Latest Trending Deck: Valakut Ramp

It seems like Primeval Titan is proving its price worth. Valakut Ramp decks has been gaining top spots recently, both in online and offline. The recent PTQs in Japan and in the US shows at least four of these decks in the top 8. As of the build, they've removed the Bloodbraid elves and the bolts and replaced with the powerful green titan and the Avenger of Zendikar. Here's a list which got 1st from the recent Magic-League trial tourney.

RG Valakut Ramp by BarneyStinso
Maindeck
12 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Evolving Wilds

4 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Primeval Titan
4 Siege-Gang Commander

4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Cultivate
4 Explore
4 Harrow
4 Rampant Growth

Sideboard
3 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Summoning Trap
2 Chandra Nalaar
4 Forked Bolt

Rob Dougherty's White Weenie at Worlds 2009

Here's the deck tech vid of Rob Dougherty's version of White Weenie in Zendikar Standard.

Budget Naya Deck for Alara Block

An online buddy of mine (or should we say my apprentice haha) has created this budgeted list of Naya Aggro for Block constructed format. He posted this on our local Magic community forums. Check out the list below.

Main deck
4 WILD NACATL
4 CERODON YEARLING
4 STEWARD OF VALERON
4 WOOLY THOCTAR
4 GLORYSCALE VIASHINO
4 BLOODBRAID ELF

4 NAYA CHARM
4 COLOSSAL MIGHT
4 OBLIVION RING

Lands
4 NAYA PANORAMA
6 PLAIN
7 FOREST
7 MOUNTAIN

Sideboard
4 CELESTIAL PURGE
3 QASALI PRIDEMAGE
1 BEHEMOTH SLEDGE
4 VALERON OUTLANDER
3 SIGIL BLESSING

The deck costs around P1,358.00 or just about 28 dollars. Pretty small price but can compete in the format. You can see his card by card discussions here.

New Blog is Up!

Finally, its here! After a few days of working and a few tweaks on the new site, I've finally done it. Whew! Its somewhat enjoyable though because I get to explore a new Revolution template and test some Wordpress plugins. Here are the features I've considered adding to the site:

Three main categories – I've decided to just stick with the three categories instead of four or five. These categories are Magic the Gathering, which covers all the Magic topics, HQ and Office Affairs, which discusses about my life and happenings at work, and Random Stuff, just about any topic I can find or think about. The sub categories will just be located via tags of the posts.

About me page – Yep, I finally got one. Its hard to recall your Magic history if you can't get to the right mood to write you know.

Featured content – This is what I really like about the Revolution themes, its cool fading and rotating images. I also get to write a short excerpt about the post and present it in the plugin.

Featured Video – Every week I'll be posting videos related to Magic or any other video I find funny and interesting.

Online contest – This one is coming soon so just stay tuned for it. :D

Regarding the old site at Blogger, I'd still left it online. I have transferred a few post I think worth reposting on the new site, then hopefully I can get back to the daily blog updates. Oh, and the new site is located here:

CLICK ME!

This will hopefully be my last post for this blog so see ya there guys!

Create Your Own Planeswalker!

I am avid visitor of the Neutral Grounds forums, specifically at the MTG General Discussions thread and the Off Topics thread. Whenever I get bored working and our tech guy has turned off the web filtering software, I would go there, read and participate to the interesting and funny posts made there by my fellow Pinoy Magic players. One particular post that they have which got my attention was the Planeswalker Design Contest, wherein you'll post your own planeswalker design with matching card art. Here's a few I would like to share with you guys.

The first two made by Kira (click to enlarge)

Next are works of mabalasik_produktionz

This is my personal favorite. Lol!

You can check the actual post in the NG forums here. You just have to register first though.

History of the Magic Term "Sligh"

Every Magic the Gathering player is familiar with “Sligh” as the term pertaining to Red decks with two main purpose, fast aggro with cheap to cast creatures and quick burn. Ever wonder where the term came from? Here are some quick facts.

The term “Sligh” was named after Paul Sligh. However, he wasn't the one who made the deck. It was actually built by Jay Schneider way back in the summer of 1994 because he needed a deck that can beat the mono blue deck created by Paul. It was when Paul piloted the deck to a Pro Tour Qualifier in Atlanta and finished second that it became famous. Here's the list of the deck.

Maindeck
2 Dragon Whelp
2 Brothers of Fire
2 Orcish Artillery
2 Orcish Cannoneers
4 Ironclaw Orcs
3 Dwarven Lieutenant
2 Orcish Librarian
4 Brass Man
2 Dwarven Trader
2 Goblin of the Flarg

1 Black Vise
1 Shatter
1 Detonate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
1 Fireball
1 Immolation

4 Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Dwarven Ruins
13 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Shatter
1 Detonate
1 Fireball
1 Meekstone
1 Zuran Orb
3 Active Volcano
2 Serrated Arrows
1 An-Zerrin Ruins
4 Manabarbs

You maybe wondering why there are sub-optimal cards in the list such as Dwarven Trader. Its because the ruling that time was "five cards from each expansion" which means you had to have a minimum of five cards from each Standard-legal expansion in play at that time (which includes Fallen Empires, Chronicles and Homelands).

The mana curve breakdown of the original Sligh deck were as follows:
1 mana slot: 9-13
2 mana slot: 6-8
3 mana slot: 3-5
4 mana slot: 1-3
X spell: 2-3
Removal/Burn: 8-10

If you aren't following the breakdown above when creating a red decklist, then you won't call the deck Sligh. Based on the breakdown and comparing that with the current Demigod Deck Wins list, I have to say that the deck is a Sligh archetype. I think the mana curve breakdown is a good basis if you want the deck to be fast and efficient.

So there goes some history lessons on Magic: The Gathering for you. Till next post....

Five Things Newbies Should Remember When Joining a Magic Tournament

Hey peeps. This topic came up in my mind and decided to write about it because I've noticed in our area that there's a lot of new Magic players who are afraid of joining our weekly tournaments. Yeah, I know they are still new to the game. I've been there too. That's is why maybe they're afraid of losing or committing mistakes or something like that.

Here are the five things or reminders I came up with that I think can clarify to the newbies, or what we call in gaming term as noob, why they shouldn't be afraid.

Experience is the best teacher – I think everybody will agree on this one. You won't grow in Magic if you can't experience the actual tournament, on how the matchup goes, etc. Just learn every new thing or play scenarios you encounter in every game. You will commit mistakes of course. Everybody does. But the experience will tell you that you'll be prepared for it the next time.

Its okay to commit mistakes – As what I've said earlier, its natural for newbies to commit mistakes. The reasons could be wrong decisions, intimidation with the pro opponent, wrong understanding of the rules, and much more. But you just have to embrace it. Embrace your mistakes because its a part of the learning process.

If you don't know it, call a judge – This one should be remembered always when you encounter complicated game states or card effects. Another thing is that don't ask your opponent. Remember that he is not a judge and he might explain things that will be in his favor. It's better to ask stupid questions than to commit stupid mistakes.

Don't get intimidated – Intimidation is one big factor or reason why they don't join. So what if he's the Champ of last week's tournament? Can he dodge a bullet? I think not. (Sorry I couldn't think of any other examples. Lol) Just think that he's just another player in the room and you will be able to beat him. Positive thinking helps I tell you.

Have fun and enjoy – This is the thing I think most players forgot when they are in big tournaments. You would say you are playing to win. Of course, I agree with that but don't forget the fun side. Magic is a game of tactics and strategies on building effective decks but the creativity and fun part is another factor. Don't frown if you lost because he outraced you before your Dominus Clouted Stream Hopper beat him to zero. At least you had fun.

To sum it up, actual Magic tournament games give much more and far better learning than casual ones. I hope these five reminders help or rather convince you now to join the Magic tournaments in your area. If you have any reactions (I hope it won't be violent), feel free to leave me a message below.

Until next time...

A Look at Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers XBLA Gameplay

This is a gameplay video of the upcoming MTG: Duels of the Planeswalkers in Xbox 360, scheduled to be released on June 30, 2009. The video started with the green player casting Overrun against the red player represented by Chandra Nalaar. Check it out.



Video courtesy of Ign.com.

Magic Artwork and Signature Banners

One thing I've noticed why people love Magic: The Gathering trading card game is its artwork. You would definitely agree to that whether you're a competitive player, a casual one, a collector or its your first time to see an actual Mtg card.

Its a nice thing that people with good graphic skills are creating beautifully combined Magic artworks. I also tried a bit of that but my skills just weren't enough. Luckily, I found someone or rather a group of peeps who would do the art for you at a little cost. No, not money but only post count. If you are an avid viewer of the MTG Salvation forums then you must be familiar with the Avatar & Sig Shops thread. There you can find people who will do the signature and avatar artworks for you.

Looking on which studio to do my first signature banner, I tried my request at High Light Studios, which is handled by Zaph, Spiderboy4 & Mr. Stuff. I told them about how my banner would look like and the result:


If you would like them to do you a banner or an avatar pic, then just pay a visit to their studio thread located here. I'm sure they'll accommodate you well. Oh, and they don't bite I promise. :)

Looking for Jund Deck Ideas

While feeling bored at work again and my client hasn't been online for about 6 hours, I decided to brainstorm for decks I'm longing to pilot for our future tournaments and also in preparation for the arrival of Conflux in Standard. I've always wanted to create a Jund mana based list so I looked for ideas at Deckcheck.net. Here's a few of what I've found.

RGB Ramp by Gerry Thompson
Mainboard
4 Chameleon Colossus
3 Cloudthresher
4 Sprouting Thrinax

1 Loxodon Warhammer
4 Fertile Ground
4 Jund Charm
4 Resounding Thunder
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Rampant Growth
3 Violent Ultimatum
2 Eyeblight's Ending

3 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands
4 Treetop Village
3 Twilight Mire

Most of the list I've found are built around Jund Ramp, utilizing Rampant Growth and Fertile Ground to power up big spells like Violent Ultimatum and bomb creatures. I might consider a few test play for the list above.

The next one is from Magic: The Gathering Worlds 2008 and was piloted by Ji-Hoon Lee. The list below.

Jund Ramp by Ji-Hoon Lee
Magic Worlds 2008 - Top Standard Decks
Mainboard
2 Shriekmaw
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Cloudthresher
4 Chameleon Colossus
1 Broodmate Dragon

4 Rampant Growth
2 Resounding Thunder
2 Primal Command
2 Loxodon Warhammer
4 Jund Charm
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Fertile Ground

2 Twilight Mire
2 Treetop Village
2 Swamp
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Mountain
2 Mosswort Bridge
1 Llanowar Wastes
4 Forest
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
3 Savage Lands

Sideboard
3 Firespout
3 Guttural Response
2 Mind Shatter
1 Naturalize
1 Razormane Masticore
3 Thoughtseize
2 Violent Ultimatum

Getting on the top standard decks at Worlds is a great achievement for this list. I like the two Loxodon Warhammers main deck, thinking of the Colossus swinging with it is equal to GG.

The third list is the latest addition that I found at the site. This one, named Fatty Burny by Matthew Keene, is the 5th placer of the The Eric Beck Invitational tournament. See the list.

Fatty Burny by Matthew Keene
Mainboard
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Chameleon Colossus
3 Cloudthresher
2 Broodmate Dragon
2 Shriekmaw

4 Fertile Ground
2 Rampant Growth
3 Firespout
2 Jund Charm
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Eyeblight's Ending
2 Makeshift Mannequin
2 Loxodon Warhammer

4 Savage Lands
4 Treetop Village
3 Karplusan Forest
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Twilight Mire
3 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Swamp

Sideboard
2 Primal Command
1 Eyeblight's Ending
3 Resounding Thunder
2 Jund Charm
3 Vithian Stinger
1 Cloudthresher
3 Liliana Vess

As you may have noticed, Matthew's list got an update with regards to the metagame with the inclusion of Firespouts, which I think is for Boat Brew and B/W Tokens, to backup Jund Charm. Also, the sideboard has three Vithian Stingers for use against the tokens. I was a bit surprised with his tech of sideboarding Liliana Vess. Maybe its for 5CC. I'm not sure.

All I need now is test play these three list and maybe make adjustments to suit the metagame in our area. I hope though that I can come up with a final list before buying the actual cards. I've been buying alot lately so I needed to tighten the money belt as Conflux will be arriving in two weeks.

I'm open for suggestions for the sideboard so feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading guys. :)

Upcoming Mtg Web Comic: The Seeker's Fall

Yep, you've read it right. There will be an upcoming web comic for Wizards entitled "The Seeker's Fall", which will be released next Tuesday. That will be on January 20, 2009. They already placed a thread reserved for the discussion of part one of that web comic in the Wizards Community forum. See it here.

As based on the title, the story I guess will focus on Tezzeret's search for power and discovering the secrets of the Etherium citizens of the Esper shard. I'm not sure though if this is related to the people that hired Jace Beleren to retrieve the artifact that Chandra stole. We'll just see on Tuesday.

Till next post... :)

Merry Christmas Y'all!

In this season of merry making & endless parties, always remember.. "thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator."

During the ESPC Xmas party.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

The MTG "Card Wizard"

A friend and fellow Magic player sent this video link from YouTube and I must say I was pretty shocked on how this person was able to know where the hard to find Mythic rares like Ajani Vengeant and Tezzeret are located in the Shards of Alara booster box. He said the reason was about a map which is some sort of a card printing pattern that he created and he is selling this ebook at a cost of about $15. See one of his videos below.



Does Wizards knew about this? And if they do, what would be their responsive action?

Red White Deck Option Completed

Yahoo! we finally had been able to buy the card components to complete our Red White deck. A big thanks to Nong Lori for selling to us his Rugged Prairies and Ajani Vengeant, as well as Jace Beleren for our Faeries deck. Now our next stop would be looking for the perfect build of the R/W deck. We were thinking if we would go with the Aggro based list, popularly known as Vengeant Weenie, or go with the control version, known as the recent Boat Brew.

I was looking at different sites for the deck list, including the results from States and at the recent World championships and here are my choices (although I really want to create my own list, its preferable to use the tried and tested versions).

Vengeant Weenie by Corey Mann
1st Place, StarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open 12/08

Maindeck
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Wizened Cenn

4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Spectral Procession

6 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mutavault
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Rustic Clachan
4 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Reveillark
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Unmake
3 Ajani Goldmane

Its the list I like because its Kithkin based although we are still lacking of Wilt-Leaf Lieges.

Vengeant Weenie by James Hess
Top 16, StarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open October 2008

Maindeck
4 Akrasan Squire
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Sigiled Paladin
4 Stillmoon Cavalier

4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
4 Puncture Blast
4 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

5 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Mutavault
4 Rugged Prairie

Sideboard
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Loyal Sentry
2 Ranger of Eos
3 Wispmare
3 Runed Halo
3 Wild Ricochet

The first list of Vengeant Weenie way back in October. I like it for more burn it had on the list, which makes it more like RDW.

Vengeant Weenie by David Van Arnum
3rd place, State Championships 2008 - New Jersey

Maindeck
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Figure of Destiny
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
3 Mirror Entity
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Sigiled Paladin

2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Crib Swap
2 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
3 Puncture Blast
2 Spectral Procession

4 Battlefield Forge
2 Ghitu Encampment
3 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Rustic Clachan

Sideboard
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 Manabarbs
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Ranger of Eos
2 Story Circle

This list is somewhat a breakdown between the Kiths and RDW which I think makes it more flexible.

Boat Brew by Aaron Nicastri
2008 World Championships, 6-0 Standard

Maindeck
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Mountain
5 Plains
3 Reflecting Pool
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Windbrisk Heights

1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Murderous Redcap
4 Ranger of Eos
3 Reveillark
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Stillmoon Cavalier

4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Mind Stone
4 Spectral Procession

Sideboard
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Guttural Response
1 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Vithian Stinger
3 Voice of All
4 Wrath of God

This is the list that got an impressive undefeated record at Standards in Day One of the Worlds Championship, thinking of it as a high level tournament. Based on the list, we can actually construct it lacking only of Wrath of God. I'm sure I can borrow from my fellow players but that would reveal the deck I will use on the tournament. Lol.

We'll see if which decklist I will decide to follow and build for this Friday's tourney. Till next time. :)

Antti Malin is the 2008 Magic the Gathering Worlds Champion!

Finally, after four days of grueling battle of Mtg players from around the world and in all the formats, it has been concluded. Antti Malin's (from Finland) Faeries deck defeated Jamie Parke's (a resident of New York, USA) Five Color Control in the Finals match, three games to one.

Before that though, he had to struggle till the deciding Game 5 with Hannes Kerem's Kithkins in the Semis and also had triumphed over Akira Asahara's Faes in a mirror match in the Quarterfinals.

Here's a few info of Antti Malin's record at Worlds and his Faes decklist:

Standard: 3-3
Booster Draft: 6-0
Extended: 5-1

Faeries by Antti Malin
2008 Worlds Champion

Maindeck
6 Island
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Secluded Glen
4 Underground River
2 Swamp
4 Mutavault
1 Faerie Conclave

2 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
2 Sower of Temptation

1 Terror
4 Agony Warp
3 Broken Ambitions
3 Remove Soul
4 Cryptic Command
4 Thoughtseize
4 Bitterblossom

Sideboard
4 Flashfreeze
4 Infest
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Jace Beleren
1 Mind Shatter
1 Ponder
1 Sower of Temptation

*photo courtesy of Magicthegathering.com

Mtg World Championships 2008 Started

As of the writing of this post, its in Round 3 of the six rounds of Standard as the Magic players from all over the world gather and battle it out in Day 1 of the four day Magic: The Gathering World Championships 2008 event in Memphis. It will be 18 rounds of individual play, along with four team Constructed rounds spread out over the next three days.


This is gonna be exciting coz I'm sure new decks will be innovated and we will find out if the Faes will still dominate the Standard meta and also the same with the Elf ball in Extended.

I'm wishing good luck and God bless to our very own Team Philippines who qualified and joined the event. To Earl Cirujales, Joselito Alberto Jamir, and Ramon Allan Oca, let the world know that the Filipino Magic Player can do it. Go for gold guys! (olympics???) ^_^

Check out the full coverage here.

Duel Decks: Divine vs Demonic Announced

Wizards has announced today in Magic Arcana about the next Duel Decks, which is to arrive in April 2009. It is named Divine vs Demonic, regarded as the battle between good (White) and evil (Black). The deck design and development will be Nate Heiss and Erik Lauer and the exact date of release is April 10, 2009.


They also featured an art of a demon in the announcement, which I believe resembles Lord of the Pit. See it below:


They will also include two alternate art foil mythic rare cards. I hope they are Conflux cards. It would be a good addition to the Standard decks and not only for collection purposes. Hehe... We'll just stay tuned for it. Check out the official announcement here.

Dealing with the Forge Tender

I’m sure every red deck’s bane in the current Standard when facing the Kithkins or any other decks with white cards is the 1/1 pro red Burrenton Forge-Tender. This kithkin can really stop your early assault and can even prevent your last ditch burn or the damage of your Demigod. However, every problem has a solution so I was thinking of the possible card options in dealing with it and here’s what I came up with:

1. Everlasting Torment – This B/R hybrid enchantment nulls the red damage prevention of the forge-tender therefore making it vulnerable in combat. The problem though is that they are aware of this and they are boarding in Wispmares to deal with it. Right timing of the alpha strike is recommended for this scenario.

2. Moonglove Extract – If you are going mono red and not splashing black, then this artifact is the right answer for you and you can shoot your opponent for the win if there are no forge-tenders around.

3. Splash black – this is my preferred solution and I’m currently implementing it to my RDW deck. This gives you access to a lot of black removals, both spot and mass. My current black sideboards are Shriekmaws and Infest, which also deals with other weenie decks such as the Elves and Merfolks. You just have to adjust your manabase though to avoid the mismatching of your colors. I suggest you use Auntie’s Hovel and Graven Cairns.

That’s it for now and I hope this can be a great help to you. Now go forth and burn off those little white men. Just kidding… ^_^

Promo Cards for Pro Tours and Grand Prix in 2009

Today's episode of the Magic Arcana revealed the promo cards that players and participants will be getting on next year's Pro Tour and Grand Prix season. For the Pro Tour, it will be Treva, the Renewer and for the Grand Prix, the promo card is Chrome Mox. Check it out below:

Pro Tour 2009 Promo Card

Grand Prix 2009 Promo Card

A Glance of "The Mark Ian Show"

I have been doing some "video coverage" of our local tournaments for my segment "The Mark Ian Show" at our Magic The Gathering Iloilo community site. This is made possible thanks to my friend, officemate and Magic Iloilo's official maniniyot JayR, who owns the cam and does the video editing.

The show is actually our version of Evan Erwin's (if you are a mtg player then I'm sure you are familiar with him) famous "The Magic Show", less budgeted, less effects and less talk. The latest so far is episode three wherein I covered the finals (Elves mirror match) last Nov. 8 between Oliver and Mao.

Presenting.... The Mark Ian Show Episode Three!