Predowntime VMA - MOX SAPPHIRE!!!

More Vintage Masters limited~

This sealed I went 0-1 and some error happened and kicked me out of the tournament. I managed to get reimbursement so I was happy.

For once, I managed to win a draft with goblins. It seemed like goblins were underdrafted so I managed to get a more decent deck this time.

So this is my last sealed before downtime (since I would not be able to play tomorrow) and I had 12 QPs prior to this. I managed to go 3-0 and split up in the finals to get my 15 QPs and the promo Gaea's Cradle (and an invite to a MOCS qualifier event). Upheaval did most of the heavy weight and singlehandedly gave me wins everytime I cast it.

I never did manage to cast Psychatog though.

AND I OPENED A MOX SAPPHIRE!!!

Also, this was my transformational sideboard for decks that I needed more meat against.

I could not get my timeslot's Vintage event to fire but we managed to get a 8 man Vintage done. I won my first round vs Oath and lost to Dredge (which I was severely underprepared for compared to my other decks).

VMA limited and Vintage thoughts

More VMA limited!

I think I went 2-2 with this. Put in Grizzly Fate over the 3 damage to all spell.
I lost to Time Walk + Rorix Bladewing (twice) and a close game.
Yawgmoth's Bargain isn't too great in limited I guess. =/

This was a VMA draft where my games were very laggy and I missed a few attacks.
Lost but was refunded (luckily). I had screenshots to prove it too.
But the deck itself was not very good as it lacked removals. I'm not doing well in drafts. I'm like 0-3?

I went 3-0 with this, split up for the win. I would always take the easier way to end the game.
The deck itself was alright. Did not have much answers to evasion but Krosan Vorine + pump is very good.

Went 3-1 with this deck, losing to a deck with Library of Alexandria, Masticore and Mox Jet.

Otherwise, double Battlescreech is quite presurring.

Having sold a foil promo Kiyomaro for 200 tix (why would I keep it?), I went to procure my set of P9.
(Opened only 1x power over all this while.)
I was excited to get into Vintage and I have to say that it feels very different from Classic to play.
I made a Bob deck and Menendian's Burning Tendrils deck to test.
P9 really change the fundamental way the game is played and to be honest, I have not gotten the hang of it.
I did get into some mana problems every now so I still need time to internalize the flow of the format.

Workshop decks have lost some steam with the introduction of Moxes on both sides.
They lose out on their threat density in favor of having more mana sources while having moxes on the other side provides more space to work around Tangle Wire and sphere effects.
I suppose having played in an era where you do not get to even cast a 2cc removal has taken a toll on my expectations of the workshops matchup.

The decks I tested did not do too well so in  the end, I took my existing Classic gush deck, moved some cards around and made it into a Vintage deck. It was much more stable with just on-color power and the deck played much more comfortably than anything else I tried. I will try to get into a DE soon (they fire only in the morning timeslots) so hopefully my list would be revealed then.

MOX EMERALD ~~~and more VMA limited

More Vintage Masters limited!

I got this deck for draft but I lost to my friend in round 1 against goblins. Badness.

Another Recurring Nightmare powerhouse. I think I went 3-1 with this. Just won games with ETB effects. Just too unfair. Especially with Predatory Nightstalker recurring another.

I tried going cycling with this pool but it did not turn out very well. I lost to large creatures and not being able to do much.
I believe that I went 2-2 for this.

MY FIRST POWER!!!
This was in a draft PE on Tuesday night where I bumped into my friend Spoony1
(2 64-man PEs in a row?!? U can do the math on the odds. (1/63^2)

I lost to him in both encounters.

Sadness.

In this sealed, I got an insane 4x Mythic cardpool with Mana Drain and SKULLCLAMP (the most unfair card on earth which I would claim can best Ancestral Recall in limited). The meat of the deck is quite good too with Marchesa, the Black Rose who has dethrone (if you attack an opponent with more life the creature gets a +1/+1 counter. If a creature with a +1/+1 counter dies, return it to play at the next eot).

Unfortunately, my decklist did not submit properly (submitted but didn't actually go through) so I ended up with a 100+ card deck and me getting my ass whooped. I dropped from that. Hopefully I get refunded. 45 tix is A LOT of tix. It's so easily 3-1 at least. Urgh. Such agony.

So this is my last sealed for the day. I got a foil Skullclamp and double Flametongue Kavu so I am expecting to do well. Nothing worth much but hopefully it goes all the way.

Vintage Master Sealed =/ where's my lotus?

I'm currently into my third VMA sealed. I have not seen any P9 yet (which is not unexpected).

I went 3-1 in my first sealed. The deck centered around the 2x Elephant Guides and low curve beaters plus removal.

For my second sealed, I started out with this, trying to go cycling and madness but I could not really appreciate it as I had too much cycling and not much action.

 In the last few minutes, I swapped over to the below after I figured that the prior deck was not going to work unless I had Astral Slide. I moved over to a more aggressive double Wild Mongrel madness deck. I went 2-2. I should not have played Armor of Thorns but the AEther Mutation instead (missed it out as I rushed through deck building).

 I went 4-0 in this one mainly riding on the power of Recurring Nightmare and Masticore.
Depending on the matchup only Keeneye Aven goes in and out of the sb to replace Simian Grunts.

Come P9!

2 Weeks to Vintage Online~

RK Post's P9~

It has been a long while since I last posted anything. Not that I have been doing much but I guess not writing anything has become what I have become as of late and it is not very healthy for me in a way.

I've been rather out of touch with MTGO ever since their MOCS stopped. It was my usual motivation to go in and get the rare promo foils but I guess that pretty much died down.

In any case, Vintage Masters is coming to MTGO. Its full spoiler list is here and its events are here.

The granddaddy of all MEDs is finally here and with a bang with tons of $ cards.

The P9 seem to be of an insane rarity so getting a foil playset (of 1 each) is close to impossible.

In any case, I look forward to getting one set of them to start playing. I don't foresee a very large attendance in Vintage tournaments but I suppose the hype would get enough people out and I do hope that they have event timings that are favorable for me.

I don't have a proper strategy on how to go about obtaining cards from this set yet. I will try some limited events but I know that that would take a very long commitment to naturally get the p9. I have to bend over my lifestyle to accommodate limited games as well. I just have to hope that people generally have some interest in Vintage as a format to get the card supply up. It is incredibly difficult for the majority to have sustained interest in a non-PT format even if the money is good (as seen from Modern Masters to tempest block drafts).

Let's see how it goes.

Solforge

I was under the impression that Solforge was only available on the ipad like the Mtg games.
I randomly saw Solforge being promoted on starcitygames' e-mailer so I tried searching it up in the apple itunes store and there it was.

I downloaded it, spent 3 minutes figuring out what was going on, then played a few games and was elated to find that I had some free packs, cards and silver along the way. I went online to try understand how deep the reward program went.

So daily, I would have to login (1 bonus), win 3 games (1st win and 3rd win bonus) and win an online game (to get an event ticket). I would be able to slowly get more cards and play in a free draft weekly.
(This is my current plan.)

I did find out that starcitygames is giving away free draft tickets to people who spend >$5 for physical product at their store and for their SCG opens. Unfortunately, they still do not have free shipping overseas but it does make me want to get something next time. I was considering getting digital products (like e-books) but they only give it to physical products so I'll pass. They seem to be doing some free local shipping so perhaps they will do free international shipping soon.

The game mechanics are good and simple to understand but there are 2 dimensions to figuring out how they work since you have to make plays that would be good later on because of the leveling system of throwing the next level card into your discard pile when you play one, to be reshuffled when you level up every 4 turns. You see 25 cards out of the 30 card deck at level 1, then the deck size increases as the game progresses. The diluting of the deck functions similarly to that of Ascension (without the exile functions) so you might end up with crappy level 1s facing level 3s. (eep)

I'm still pretty new to the game and am reading up what people are saying so that I can prepare for my first Solforge draft. =) I look forward to it.

3-1, 2-2 Legacy Wednesdays~

I took my 4c control deck (the same deck played in Kyoto ) to a 3-1 finish and a 2-2 finish.

I won round 1 versus RWU deck that had Delver of Secrets, Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, True Name Nemesis, Stoneforge Mystic. It was not too difficult if I kept True-Name nemesis off and used Punishing Fire to clean up.

I lost round 2 versus an Esper deck with True-Name Nemesis, Stoneforge Mystic, sideboaded zealous persecution (with the intentions to guard against Toxic Deluge). My general matchup against this deck should be in my favor since I am generally very prepared against such a deck but I just could not pull out my much needed answers.

I won round 3 versus a pauper storm deck. (It might not be pauper in the true sense of it but the style is like the pauper version.) I knew he was on a combo deck so I kept a single Wasteland hand with double Force of Will. I did not draw my lands for awhile and managed to stabilize for abit before I lost to an Empty the Warrens plus Goblin Bushwacker (which I already saw but did not take note of). It was a very big mistake as I had Engineered Explosives in hand.
I managed to come back in the other 2 games with my mass removal.

I won round 4 2-0 versus mono blue Omniscience. Game 1 went long (hardcast Omniscience countered by Spell Pierce) and I eventually managed to control the game with counters and a Maelstorm Pulse on an Omniscience.
Game 2 my opponent wanted to go turn 2 Show and Tell after a turn 1 Defense Grid but did not get an Island out. I soon cast Intuition for Duress, Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, made him discard Show and tell and Dream Halls and Surgical Extractioned both without any disruption (because of Defense Grid).

On a different week, I changed my Relic of Progenitus to Kiora, the new planeswalker, and also got a Spellskite to replace a Pernicious Deed as there was a mono red player and I did not want to lose that matchup too easily.

Round 1, I faced Sneak and Show where I lost game 1, won games 2 and 3 on the back of discards and counters.
Thankfully my opponent did not get to pull a fast Show and Tell and I managed to control the games long enough for inevitability.

Round 2, I faced Mono white which I managed to dispatch 2-0 via Toxic Deluge and Punishing Fires.
I had too many removals ready.

Round 3, I lost 0-2 to the GW that I keep mentioning. I lost to some mild mana problems in game 1, sealed when Aether Vial put down the 3/1 enchantment creature when I cast Brainstorm and lost game 2 to an Umezawa's Jitte with 2 counters versus my 3 Toxic Deluge hand where I had to over pay to stay in the game and eventually got crippled.

Round 4, I lost 0-2 to an Esper True-Name Nemesis deck. My cards did not come game 1 and game 2 I misboarded in Spellskite along with my other cards and it sat there as a dead and useless card. My mana was attacked and I could not do much.

I have not been actively about Magic lately and the new set does not excite me much.
I have my eyes set on Kiora along with the 3/1 enchantment creature that stops players from drawing cards out of the natural draw..