Affinity Legacy Deck

It is Legacy Month here in Davao City and for the first time this month I spent a friday night here in my hometown. I basically had several choices on what deck to use for legacy tonight but, in the end, I brought with me my artifact affinity deck.
The ravager affinity deck is a good choice because, based on previous tournaments, no one used affinity as their legacy deck so it might be a good surprise for other players. Second, the affinity deck can match up aggro decks in terms of speed, it can race burn decks for damage and its early drop creatures can really can stomp on control decks. I finished 4th place tonight with a 3-1 standings. Here is the list for my Ravager Affinity deck:



Artifacts:
4 cranial plating
4 springleaf drum
2 chromatic star

Artifact Creatures:
4 arcbound worker
4 arcbound ravager
4 frogmite
4 ornithopter
3 myr enforcer
3 master of etherium

Creatures:
4 Disciple of the vault

Spells:
4 thoughtcast
2 shrapnel Blast

Artifact Lands:
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Ancient Den
4 Great Furnace
3 Darksteel Citadel

Sideboard:
3 Pithing Needle
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Pyroblast
4 Duress

Round 1 vs Monoblack Vampire-Discard (W 2-0) : 1-0
Notes: Mulled to 6 in each game. Vamps had no answer for an early game ornithopter equipped with cranial plating.

Round 2 vs Cheesy Monored (L 1-2) : 1-1
Notes: Bad sideboard. Should have chosen Hydroblast over Pyroblast before the tournament started since the deck basically doesn't fear blue decks. The deck basically isn't in perfect condition since I only had 2 chromatic stars. Given there should be 3-4 chromatic stars in the main deck, the sideboard for red should be +4 duress and +4 tidehollow sculler. But the fear of the possible lack of mana-fixing cards in my version limited me to siding in duress and leaving the scullers in the bin. In game 3, got his life down to 10 in turn 3 with an 8/2 ornithopter and an 8/8 master of etherium. But he got 2 fireblasts (1 topdraw) in his hand to finish me in his turn 4.

Round 3 vs Monoblack Vampires (W 2-1) : 2-1
Notes: Game 1 was really bad. Mulled to 5 and had 3 cranial platings in play with no creatures to equip (autoloss). Sided in pithing needles to pacify his jitte and he basically had no answer for the master of etherium.

Round 4 vs Monowhite Aggro (W 2-0) : 3-1
Notes: I basically do not have any answers for soltari priests so I should be able to race with his damage. Although his Parallax Wave gave him extra turns, but as the wave's effect ended, he can't race with my creatures equipped with cranial plating. Game 2, I sided in Pithing needle and names Parallax Wave and that's 1 threat off for me. He got jitte online but I still managed to squeeze out the win with the ravager/disciple of the vault combo. ^_^

Why does the neighborhood buck?

Why does the neighborhood buck?

Mixed Emotions

Today, I am at the 3rd government hospital that I visited this week. Assisting the system users before the Governor visits to check if the users are using the system.

Mixed emotions came rushing to me. I have always been having travel sickness and all these traveling passed through my defenses. I want to go home already and miss the comfort the office gives me. I miss my family and my friends. I miss my bed, which is far greater than the one I am sleeping on right now.

I want to take on a different career or maybe find another company and learn as many new things as possible. I feel as though I am eating PHP, java and javascript everyday. I feel tired of adjusting to people that are very unprofessional and immature. But I don't want to leave yet because I am a software developer and part of the reason why I am a developer is because I want to make things easier for our clients. When all this is done, maybe next month or next few months, I think I can free myself from the worry of leaving the client before everything is set 100%.

February 2010 FNM Card - Ghostly Prison

Two months in a row now that the selected FNM cards are very cool and usable! Ghostly prison is a very good card that is definitely usable in legacy and in EDH format. Personally, I would be playing FNMS this Feb to get a play set of these cards. Usable both in control White-x decks and also aggro white decks, this February's FNM card is Ghostly Prison.

Feb 2010 FNM Card - Ghostly Prison

Competitive Tournaments

Against a monster proceeds an intentional unfortunate...

The statement above may be the reason why several players continue to prefer playing casual decks rather than competitive tournament-level decks. I have started as a casual player and I have been afraid to engage in big tournaments before. But As I joined tournaments, I looked at it as an avenue to improve my deck and to explore the different styles to be a better player.

January 2010 FNM Card - Tidehollow Sculler

Finally, a very useful FNM card that runs in standard. This is a great start to begin the New Year. This month's fnm card is Tidehollow Sculler from the Shards of Alara set. With the minimal number of playable discard cards in standard, Tidehollow sculler is a great option for Esper decks as it has a 2/2 body that can pressure combo decks.

Jan 2010 FNM Card - Tidehollow Sculler