MANCHESTER PTQ..4-4

This Saturday was the PTQ in Manchester….

Here’s the brake down on testing and why I went with the list I did.

Wednesday:

Wednesday is our league day (not wizards league), this time around it was standard, but the numbers said other wise they wanted to draft, so me, Ian Richardson and Fabian Quinn, went to another table to do some testing this is what I was testing:-


4 Augur of Bolas
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage

1 Dismember
2 Gut Shot
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag

2 Runecaster's Pike
1 Sword of War and Peace

4 Mana Leak

2 Cavern of Souls
6 Island
1 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Moorland Haunt
4 Seachorme Coast


This looks pretty good, no Geist of St Traft? You may ask why? I believe that the meta has shifted more to Bonfire of the Damned. The one sided wrath has knocked out the all-star. So why Augur of Bolas. Well, he has a big body for his CMC of 1U, he draws you a card as you look at the top three for a instant or sorcery and then putting it into your hand, if you miss then its fine you got rid of some cards you did not want. Also they don't what to Vapor Snag (a word I am going to get sick and tied of this weekend) as it just gives you more card draw.

The one thing that make Augur is his power, so we added Runcaster's Pike this makes him an unstoppable force (well not unstoppable just a pain in the ass). If your opponent blokes him carrying the Pike then they lose a creature due to the first strike, if they Vapor Snag him (Vapor Snag a word I got sick and tiered of hearing this weekend, followed by delver) it just means they just gave you another card to draw the next time you play him. Augur also works well with Restoration Angel, no mana leak in hand FLASH in the angel to blink out Augus and try to find the spell you need at that time. He really is that good, but look at me baffling on about a 1/3 guy, that’s blue and draws you a card.
The other part of the deck still play the flaying blue Wild vacate, yes where talking about Delver of Secrets, but we all know by now how that deck works right?

THUSDAY:

Had a break and spent some time with the kids, until it got to about 7pm when they were in bed. I was talking to Rob Catton and he said that he had a list that was rather fast for a 19 land U/W Delver deck.

But then I looked over the last 2 SCG and noticed that the midrange decks where doing rather well at holding up Delver, Naya and Zombies, so I put pen to paper................and fell asleep.

FRIDAY:

As it is for mny it was FNM tonight and i was not happy with the list above, so the list i went with was:

Maindeck: Creatures 4 Blade Splicer 3 Phantasmal Image 4 Restoration Angel 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Sun Titan Instants 2 Dismember 2 Gut Shot 4 Mana Leak 2 Thought Scour Sorceries 3 Bonfire of the Damned 3 Gitaxian Probe 4 Ponder Basic Lands 3 Island 2 Mountain 3 Plains Lands 1 Moorland Haunt 2 Evolving Wilds 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Seachrome Coast 4 Sulfur Falls Sideboard: 1 Sleep 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Celestial Purge 1 Dissipate 2 Divine Offering 1 Negate 1 Jace, Memory Adept 1 Karn Liberated 2 Day of Judgment 2 Timely Reinforcements 1 Ghost Quarter I like this deck, it has the midrage of the U/W and splashes red just for Bonfire of the Damned. Many people thought I was playing U/W Delver, as they sigh when I play turn one ponder.  The deck proved really well going 4-4. There are a few changes i would make but more testing will prove if they are right.   For those that would like to know the Top 8 deck list are here, there will be a name that you all may know from Sheffield, Fabian Quinn was attending his first PTQ and managed a top 4 finish.  Thats all folks for this time. "combo" mike Congratulations to Levi Mochan for winning the PTQ and good look in Seattle.

Testing Ground

This weekend there is a PTQ (Pro Tour qualifier), with M13 in full swing now, the meta is still as if it was AVR (Avacyn Restored) standard. the meta still looks like this:-

U/W Delver
Birthing Pod decks (Naya/Bant/4c Pod)
Naya Aggro
B/x zombie
R/G Aggro
Mono Green Aggro

With the weekend of SCG (Star City Games), where M13 was legal there came a few new decks. Mono Blue Wizards, and MBC (Mono Black Control). Here are the list:-

Mono-Blue Wizards A Standard Magic deck, by Adam Prosak 4th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in St. Louis, Missouri, United States on 2012-07-15

Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Sword of War and Peace Creatures 3 Augur of Bolas 4 Delver of Secrets 2 Phantasmal Image 4 Snapcaster Mage Instants 2 Gut Shot 2 Mana Leak 2 Mental Misstep 2 Mutagenic Growth 4 Thought Scour 4 Vapor Snag Legendary Creatures 3 Talrand, Sky Summoner Sorceries 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Ponder Basic Lands 9 Island Lands 3 Glacial Fortress 2 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast Sideboard: 2 Phantasmal Image 4 Restoration Angel 2 Dismember 1 Dissipate 1 Gut Shot 2 Negate 2 Steel Sabotage 1 Cavern of Souls This deck takes the shell of the very well domanating Dever deck, replacing Restoration Angel with Talrand, Sky Summoner in the main deck. So its just another Delver deck. (moving on) Mono-Black Control A Standard Magic deck, by Jason Bulkowski 66th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 2012-07-22 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com/ Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Batterskull 2 Grafdigger's Cage 3 Ichor Wellspring 2 Mycosynth Wellspring 2 Pristine Talisman 2 Ratchet Bomb 3 Trading Post 1 Tumble Magnet Artifact Creatures 3 Solemn Simulacrum 3 Wurmcoil Engine Instants 2 Go for the Throat 2 Tragic Slip Planeswalkers 3 Liliana of the Veil Sorceries 1 Black Sun's Zenith 2 Despise 4 Mutilate Basic Lands 21 Swamp Lands 1 Buried Ruin 2 Phyrexia's Core Sideboard: 1 Batterskull 1 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Torpor Orb 1 Tumble Magnet 1 Hex Parasite 2 Curse of Death's Hold 1 Tragic Slip 2 Karn Liberated 1 Black Sun's Zenith 3 Distress This deck looks really strong, it has a lot of removal, Mutilate is good in the deck with 21 swamps and the only creature are artifacts it will be easy to block those guys carrying swords. Now on to the good"ish" bit, as some of you may know I have been paying 4c pod, the list can be found here. So I like playing this deck, now for an updated list. Main Deck 1 Acidic Slime 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Birds of Paradise 1 Blade Splicer 1 Blisterstick Shaman 3 Borderland Ranger 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 3 Elvish Visionary 1 Geist-Honored Monk 2 Huntmaster of the Fells 3 Phantasmal Image 4 Restoration Angel 1 Solemn Simulacrum 2 Sun Titan 2 Thragtusk Creatures [31] 3 Birthing Pod 2 Bonfire of the Damned 1 Dismember Spells [6] 4 Cavern of Souls 3 Copperline Gorge 3 Forest 1 Gavony Township 1 Hinterland Harbor 1 Island 1 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Mountain 1 Plains 4 Razorverge Thicket 3 Seachrome Coast Lands [23] Sideboard [15] 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Beast Within 1 Beguiler of Wills 1 Celestial Purge 2 Ghost Quarter 2 Ratchet Bomb 1 Ray of Revelation 1 Spellskite 1 Stingerfling Spider 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Zealous Conscripts As you can see this is very Differantfron the preveus 4c Pod list. Thragtusk is really good in a deck like this, he comes in to play you gain 5 life, you pod him away you get a 3/3 beast, Restoration Angel is also really strong with Thragtusk, blinking him gets you 5 life and a 3/3 beast for 2-4 mana. The other adds to the deck are Blisterstick Shaman this is just used as a 1 damage removal  (like a gut shot) and can come back with Sun Titan.  Huntmaster of the Falls is good vs most decks, if you have a 3 mana guy and you pod into Huntmaster (and cast no spells), Huntsmaster will flip so long as you opanant does not cast any, this is a good removal and value, although you do the lose a 4 mana guy to pod away as a flipped Huntsmaster has no Converted Mana Cost (CMC). I would be careful doing this as it can alter the mana curve to get to the all inportant Elesh Norn. So thats all guys, have fun building new ideas, see you this weekend for the PTQ. "combo" Mike

EDH ELITE STYLE

Something a little different this week, today ill be talking about EDH and the deck I am building after a little break from the "casual" format.

As some of you may know I am the worst player to play against at EDH (commander in the eyes of Wizards). I like playing silly cards like Thieves' Auction, and casting an infinite fireball killing 5 other players (its a fun game right) so this led to me sitting out from playing EDH................until now.

So as I was looking though Mark Hammond's (Patriot Games Leeds store owner) folders at our monthly Steel City, for a general that suited me:-

WARNING 1: MONO BLUE

So here she is....... I like blue, I like combos and I like more combos :). This was the best general for me, so i tyred to fit as many good cards in to the deck and lots of combos, here's the deck and the combos I can pull off:-

General (1):1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls

Creature (31):

1 Aphetto Grifter
1 Apprentice Wizard
1 Azure Mage
1 Cursecatcher
1 Ertai, Wizard Adept
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Fatestitcher
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Hapless Researcher
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Magus of the Future
1 Martyr of Frost
1 Memnarch
1 Palinchron
1 Patron Wizard
1 Sage of Epityr
1 Sage of Fables
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Sea Scryer
1 Shapesharer
1 Sigil Tracer
1 Stonybrook Banneret
1 Surgespanner
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Temporal Adept
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Willbender

Sorcery (2):
1 Fabricate
1 Merchant Scroll

Instant (15):
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Capsize
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Forbid
1 High Tide
1 Hinder
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Misdirection
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pact of Negation
1 Spell Crumple
1 Turnabout

Enchantment (4):1 Future Sight

1 Mind Over Matter
1 Opposition
1 Rhystic Study

Artifact (10):
1 Diviner's Wand
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Eye of Ramos
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Knowledge Pool
1 Mana Vault
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring

Planeswalker (1):
1 Tezzeret the Seeker

Land (36):
1 Academy Ruins
29 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolaria West

So there's the deck I have linked it all so you can see all the cards. Now for the fun bit.

WARNING 2: COMBOS

Combos:1. Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind Over Matter

Filter through your deck.

2. Future Sight/Magus of the Future + Etherium Sculptor/Helm of Awakening + Sensei's Divining Top
Draw your deck.

3. High Tide + Palinchron
Generate infinite mana.

4. Combo 1 + Diviner's Wand
Swing for lethal general damage.

5. Combo 2 + Combo 3 + Blue Sun's Zenith
Deck everyone but yourself.

6. Sage of Fables + Glen Elendra Archmage
Counter wall.

7. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir + Knowledge Pool
Spell lock.

Here are seven combos that I can pull off, these may seem boring ( I guess they look it in black and white), but I like combos ask anyone that knows me I am "Johnny combo".

 

She has to be one of the best generals and only costing £1.50 I think she is worth getting jumped on buy the fellow players.

WARNING 1: mono blue

It isn't just mono blue that makes decks silly its any mono colour deck, although mono blue is the best. Some people like to go for two colour or three, and some like 5 colour. Mono colour EDH decks are really strong and hated out by other players this is the reason for the WARNING. 

WARNING 2: combos

Although combos are good, a lot of people just want to have fun and play the game, not sit there and watch you combo off, but combos have found there way in to almost every EDH deck i know, some combos only work well with 1 v 1 EDH and others in multiplayer and some in both, combos can be fun, but the next time you play you will probably die first. This is the reason for this WARNING. 

That's all guys and gals, next week I be bringing you the low down on the PTQ and the deck I played

thanks again for reading.

"combo" Mike

THE BEGINING.........

Hi there guys and gals, welcome to the new FNM ELITE, as some of you may now know there will be 2 FNMs on Fridays, one for the more competitive players I bring you FNM ELITE and the other for the more relaxed players i like to introduce FNM RELAX. This will be run be by a close friend Richard Tinsley. He has a good understanding of the rules, and will be on hand to ask any questions you need.

As you may know I "sometimes" change my deck from time to time, I like the help from people improving the deck, as I find it is a great factor to what magic is, this is the list that I have been playing for some time now and will keep playing until M13 is legal and maybe after (who knows what the meta will be like).

MAIN DECK

4 Birthing Pod
4 Abundant Growth

4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Elves
2 Blade Splicer
2 Restoration Angel
2 Sun Titan
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Zealous Conscripts
1 Acidic Slime
1 Phyrexian Metaporph
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Borderland Ranger
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Solemn Simulacrum

2 Gavony Township
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Razorverge Thicket
2 Hinterland Harbor
2 Sunpetal Grove
6 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain

SIDEBOARD 

3 Hero of Bladehold
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Blade Splicer
1 Restoration Angel
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Stingerfling Spider

So there it is, this can be awesome to watch going up the chain. It can go from a Strangleroot Geist to Elesh Norn in two turns heres how,

Play Strangleroot Geist, sacrifice it to Birthing Pod to get Deceiver Exarch, untapping Birthing Pod. Then sacrifice the Deceiver Exarch to Birthing Pod to get Solemn Simulacrum. Then the following turn you sacrifice Solemn Simulacrum to get Zealous Conscripts, targeting your own Birthing Pod (and untapping). You then sacrifice the Zealous Conscripts to get Sun Titan, which gets back the Deceiver Exarch from your graveyard that we sacrificed the previous turn. Deceiver Exarch's ability then untaps the Birthing Pod again, allowing you to sacrifice the Sun Titan to find Elesh-Norn, Grand Cenobite. For ease of reference, here is the chain:

Strangleroot Geist > Deceiver Exarch > Solemn Simulacrum (in one turn). Then:
Zealous Conscripts > Sun Titan > Elesh-Norn, Grand Cenobite (in one turn).

It has the Naya Pod shell and then adds blue to the deck for things like Phantasmal Image that can take down Geist of St Traft as can Metamorph, the Exarch is there for tapping one of your opponents permanents down and is there for the Birthing Pod.

Zealous Conscripts is a house, one game i podded away my 4 drop in to Conscripts to steal Gideon Jura, used Gideons 0 ability and then cast Restoration Angel to blink out Gideon, there for i keep him for good.

What i like doing for the sideboard is take out 4 Abundant Growth and 1-2 Birthing Pod and add the 3 Hero of Bladehold, 1 Blade Splicer and 1 Restoration Angel, there for i can go 4 colour Naya Aggro. This has worked out well so far.

That's all guys keep a look out on the website for upcoming events and the full FNM ELITE and FNM RELAX schedule at www.patriotgames.ltd.uk/store/content/119/FNM-at-Patriot-Games/ 

Thanks for reading.

MIKE

"Ill update the next deck i am looking to be playing for the next PTQ in Manchester on the 28th July."

P.S I would also like to use this blog for anyone that would like to talk about deck ideas and help improving there decks. Please post you decks below.