Sticking to UBx

After spending the last few months trying to figure out what deck I will be using and mastering, I finally figured out the deck that I will be practicing - for this matter, I will STILL be using ^_^. For the past months (or years, aside from times when I build Red decks when I had budget constraints hehe), I have been using Black-Blue control and to be honest, I have been pretty much successful with it in my local store. And then I began to explore Solar Flare. But Solar Flare (or Esper Control) seemed pretty similar (but different in some aspects) with UB control and so I had success using it too. And then, the time came when UB and Flare went outside the Magic online Top 8 scene. Grand Prix results showed no Black-Blue(UB) nor Flare decks and so I began to think that my success in UBx control decks might be localized to my store only. With Grand Prix Manila this June 2012 as my inspiration, I began exploring decks that I thought would be more applicable / successful in the global scale. And so I began getting White-Blue(UW) Delver pieces (along with Finkel's Esper Spirits pieces) and I actually had the pieces except for Seachrome Coasts. For a moment, I actually planned on trading my Darkslick Shores for Seachromes but again, I am very happy that I didn't.

I playtested Delver decks (and Spirits) and began to adapt to its style. It definitely is a strong deck. No question about it. Reach, consistency, you name it. However, each win that I had felt differently. The play style was different and I wasn't used to the midrange tempo gamestyle that it had. However, now, I think I am accustomed to its style. What changed my perception was the deck that Paulo Vitor damo da Rosa used in GP Baltimore and the idea that there were 3 UB control decks in the Top 8. UB Control was successful! Then, in the recent MTG online top 8s, UB control is back in the 4-0s finishers.

I realized that there was no need for me to change deck since I am still loving how I play with UB control decks - I always have. Grand Prix Manila is an International-level tournament and it somehow urged me to choose the most successful deck to try to do better in my first International-level tournament. However, with a busy schedule in work, spending time with girlfriend and friends, playing time for Magic: the Gathering is not as abundant for me now compared to the luxury I had a few years back. And so I definitely want to enjoy those few moments that I play tournaments to the fullest. So I will join GP Manila with a deck that I liked - and will like - using; not a deck that finished consistently in other GP and Pro Tour events.

Tough Feb and March

It's gonna be tough. Although I am not as busy as before in terms of work, I feel more pressured in terms of completing something. I would like to take a break in MTG tournaments this month.

I would also like to spend time with Rai since she will be leaving for abroad in a few weeks.

Let me just see what I can do to balance everything out.

I will just come back with my endeavors in April, FNMs, basketball and stuffs.

For now, I will try to reduce my "selfish" times waheheh

Solar Flare FNM Results Feb 2012

I used this list in the FNM tournament last weekend and I finished 3-1.

Mainboard:
Lands:
3 DarkSlick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Swamp
4 Plains
2 Island
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Ghost Quarter

Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Massacre Wurm

Others:
2 Tragic Slip
2 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
2 Day of Judgement
1 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Think Twice
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Unburial Rites
4 Mana Leak
1 Dissipate
2 Oblivion Ring

Sideboard:
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Revoke Existence
2 Negate
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Geth's Verdict
1 Tragic Slip

Match-ups:

Round 1 VS Mono Red: WIN 2-1 (1-0)

Round 2 VS UB Control: LOSS 0-2 (1-1)

Round 3 VS GW Aggro: WIN 2-0 (2-1)

Round 4 VS Spirit Delver: WIN 2-0 (3-1)

MVC (Most Valuable Card): Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Massacre Wurm

MDC (Most Disappointing Card): Revoke Existence

March 2012 FNM Card - Tectonic Edge with Picture

Wow! March 2012's Friday Night Magic Foil Premium card is Tectonic Edge. Although some people argue that Ghost Quarter is better than tectonic edge, I can say that this card is still very powerful, back when I used it in Standard, and now it is also strong in Modern. It is like a cheaper version of Wasteland.

This is definitely a good card and the art is great and better that the original in my opinion. Already checked and marked your fridays for March? Tectonic Edge is a card definitely worth playing for.

Solar Flare 2.0 post Dark Ascension

For several months now I have been using Black-Blue Control since I have become more accustomed to how the deck operates and personally, I thought UB's ability to catch up with UW spirit decks, Delver of Secrets and Moorland Haunt made it a viable option for me in FNMs where I finished top 3 in several occasions. However, I always had deck pieces for Solar Flare and I have watched the deck rise into popularity and now see it disappearing in standard.

I was quite sad that it was removed from the Competitive decks list and that nobody were running them (in my local store, only my friend Irvin runs the deck) anymore. You barely even see the deck perform in the recent top 8s in magic online. What drove it into extinction? Many say that the current meta game made it impossible for flare to catch up. Its relatively slow nature and late game strategy became overrun by fast Delver decks, Humans and now Spirits that are emerging into the action with the recent Pro Tour Dark Ascension's top 8 decks featuring mostly UW variants and Kessig decks. But for me, Solar Flare is still a very strong deck; it's just that we need to give it the right weapons to compete in the current meta game. I will discuss my takes on the deck techs of the Solar Flare deck that I will run in this week's FNM.

Ratchet Bomb:

Most of us already know the power of ratchet bomb. It can kill tokens, flipped cards and effectively kills Hexproof creatures and other nonland permanents. Usually, it is just how we use Ratchet Bomb that dictates how effective it is in giving us a victory. Currently, we usually end up popping the Ratchet Bomb to deal with multiple tokens. But I say, just if we have the luxury to do so, given the matchup with UW or BW tokens, we wait for the charge counter to be 2 and destroy Honor of the Pure and Intangible Virtue instead. Why? Because solar flare has other cards to deal with the tokens like Elesh Norn, Day of Judgement or Black Suns's Zenith.

Massacre Wurm:

Grave Titan is really far more better than this but given the current meta game, grave titan can just be bounced or removed (although the zombies it leaves behind it still great). When you need to deal with tokens and other aggro decks, Massacre Wurm is a great choice since it actually gets the job done once it enters the battlefield.

Sideboard: Revoke Existence over Curse of Death's Hold

Indeed Curse of Death's Hold is a very strong card in the format, no doubt about it, I used that card in the main deck in my UB deck for so long. But in my battles with UW, once your opponent plays honor of the pure or intangible virtue, your Curse pretty much lost its value. And white decks pretty much expect all black decks to run curse, so you are pretty sure that they will board in oblivion rings and enchantment destroyers to deal with it and usually, you are forced to tap out in the fifth turn anyway to drop this card early. With enchantment removals like Revoke Existence, you can deal with the enchantments that pump up creatures and , again, the creatures are not a porblem for flare. Just let your other cards deal with them if you have the luxury to do so.

Sideboard: Surgical Extraction over Nihil Spellbomb

Although Nihil Spellbomb works better with Sun TItan, this is just my opinion and my personal preference, Surgical Extraction gives you the advantage to look at the hand and library of your opponent to check what he/she sided in from the sideboard to deal with your deck. 2nd reason is, both of them can deal with the Snapcaster Mage target or flashback cards but Extraction prevents the opponents from using that card that you hate very much again by removing the extra copies in the deck and hand. Of course, the drawing ability of spellbomb is definitely card advantage but in recent decks, only a few cards have graveyard interaction and those are the cards you want to remove, not the entire graveyard except of course if you are fighting against Solar Flare, but then again, oops, nobody runs Solar Flare anymore :D

Hmm, I think the article is very long already, I will just give you my full list and let us discuss and learn from the experiences that we gather while using Solar Flare.

Mainboard:
Lands:
3 DarkSlick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Swamp
4 Plains
2 Island
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Ghost Quarter

Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Massacre Wurm

Others:
2 Tragic Slip
2 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
2 Day of Judgement
1 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Think Twice
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Unburial Rites
4 Mana Leak
1 Dissipate
2 Oblivion Ring

Sideboard:
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Revoke Existence
2 Negate
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Geth's Verdict
1 Tragic Slip

Enjoy! Thank you for your time reading my entry.

Update: Solar Flare FNM Results Feb 2012

The 7.5 Php Minimum Fare

Unlike in Davao City wherein the Jeepney fare is different for Normal passengers (8 Php) with students, disabled and elderly citizens (6.xx Php), in Cebu there is only one fare price and it is 7.50 Php at the moment.

I understand that because of lack of 50 centavos, people sometimes tend to pay 7 Php only. Most of the time drivers get 8 Php when you pay 10 pesos or any bill. Okay, I understand that they may not have 50 cents and that it would compensate for the people who paid only 7 Php as jeepney fare. Other people pay the exact amount of 7.50 Php and this is when the jeepneys have 50 centavos and they give you your exact change.

What somehow made me unhappy the other day was when I paid 20 pesos, I received 12 pesos of change. Sure, nothing wrong about that because I understand the 50 centavos may be negligible or the "conduktor" might not have 50 cents. But what I received was 2 pesos worth of 25 centavos and a ten-peso coin. And so I asked myself, what is the reason they put a "Minimum Fare is 7.50" inside the jeepney? Just so that people will pay 7.50 and when they have the exact change, conduktors will still get 8 pesos?? BTW, I checked the hand of the conduktor afterwards, and I definitely saw a lot of 1 peso coins there. Tsk tsk. O_o