December 2013 FNM Card - Sin Collector with Picture

December 2013's FNM promo foil card is Sin Collector.

Here is the Sin Collector version from Dragon's Maze.

The Dega Experiment

Dega is a midrage deck that uses the black, white and red colors of magic. Since the deck can utilize powerful cards like Boros Reckoner, Blood Baron of Vizkopa and some of the most powerful removal in the format like Dreadbore, Pillar of Flame, Warleader's Helix and the likes, I think the deck is very well positioned in an environment where midrange and aggro strives with a little bit of control.

How the deck was formed:

I initially had a list of the powerful cards in the current top decks in Standard and came up with a list of cards that are very good against them. In the end, this list of cards pointed me towards the Dega colors and I agreed that this will theoretically be a very good deck and may have very good chances against the current top decks in standard.

The Dega Experiment by Bryan Inno Wong

Lands: 4 Blood Crypt 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Godless Shrine 4 Clifftop Retreat 3 Dragonskull Summit 4 Isolated Chapel 1 Mountain 1 Ghost Quarter Creatures: 3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa 3 Lifebane Zombie 4 Boros Reckoner Planeswalkers: 2 Liliana of the Veil 3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad Instants: 1 Harvest Pyre 2 Doom Blade 2 Searing Spear 2 Warleader's Helix Sorceries: 3 Dreadbore 3 Pillar of Flame 3 Lingering Souls 1 Mizzium Mortars 3 Faithless Looting

Sideboard: 2 Assemble the Legion 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Ratchet Bomb 2 Devour Flesh 2 Slaughter Games 3 Duress 3 Sin Collector

Matchup Summaries:

MonoRed Aggro (Record: 3-2)

MonoBlack Control (Record: 2-0)

Blue-White Control (Record: 0-2)

Naya (Record: 1-4)

UWR Control (Record: 1-1)

UW Tokens (Record: 2-0)

Overall, these past 2 tournaments, the Dega Experiment deck tallied 9 wins and 9 losses. And honestly, the deck worked fine overall and I really think the deck is very good against control matchups. Although I lost to UW control badly 0-2, I thought the deck had a really good chance against those matchup. However, I really had a hard time dealing with decks with Red-Green (for example naya) and those decks with access to Burning Tree Emmisary. Aside from the sideboard Ratchet Bomb and Mizzium Mortars, virtually all the removal spells in this deck are 1-for-1 removals. No matter how strong these spells are, I really missed playing Supreme Verdict since the current meta game is Aggro. With this, I think the deck is very good against rouge and tier 2 decks, and with control decks. However, I honestly don't want to pilot a deck that is very weak against Burning Earth and no access to mass removals at this point in Standard. But on the bright side, the addition of Faithless Looting has been very sweet. Looting allows me to keep 2 land hands when I am in play, as it became a problem in the early play testing stages of the deck.

November 2013 FNM Card - Grisly Salvage with Picture

November 2013's FNM promo foil card is Grisly Salvage.

Here's a closer look at it's artwork.

Here is the original art of Grisly Salvage in Return to Ravnica.

WUR Flash - M14 Gameday Report

The M14 Gameday was held last weekend and I brought with me my WUR Flash deck. WUR decks are very well positioned in the current meta game along with Jund decks. These two decks are the most recent decks to beat and most popular decks recently. So in order to be successful in tournaments, our decks should have decent chances against these two decks. Since I am more familiar with WU, I used the WUR build instead and since I did not have enough play testing time if I decided to bring Jund.

WUR Flash by Bryan Inno Wong

Lands: 4 Steam Vents 4 Sulfur Falls 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Sacred Foundry 4 Clifftop Retreat 1 Moorland Haunt Creatures: 4 Restoration Angel 3 Augur of Bolas 3 Snapcaster Mage 1 AEtherling Instants: 4 Azorius Charm 1 Izzet Charm 3 Syncopate 2 Dissipate 3 Think Twice 3 Sphinx's Revelation 2 Renounce the Guilds 2 Warleader's Helix 2 Pillar of Flame Sorceries: 3 Supreme Verdict

Sideboard: 2 Pillar of Flame 2 Dispel 1 Negate 2 Assemble the Legion 1 Detention Sphere 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Ratchet Bomb 2 Izzet Staticaster 1 Mizzium Mortars 2 Rest in Peace

Unfortunately, I was 1 win short of the playmat. I ended up in the final round having a match with the only undefeated player after 4 rounds. And I was 3 wins, no loss, 1 draw entering the 5th round. I eventually lost the final round in 3 games and I ended up being the 3rd placer of the tournament. I fell short of winning the gameday event but I had a lot of realizations and possible decks to bring for the future tournaments that I think will be more successful.

One thing that I want to point out is that when you are playing Blue-white-red, play Assemble the Legion. Personally, I would recommend playing two of these in the sideboard. The card is simply amazing against mirror, control and Jund matchups.

October 2013 FNM Card - Ghor-Clan Rampager with Picture

October's Friday Night Magic Promo Card is Ghor-Clan Rampager.

Here's the original art of Ghor-Clan Rampager from Gatecrash.

September 2013 FNM Card - Experiment One with Picture

September's Friday Night Magic Promo Card is Experiment One.

Here's the original art of Experiment One from Gatecrash.