Regionals 2009

For the MTG Cebu Regionals 2009, I played BR Blightning Aggro:

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Demigod of Revenge
1 Anathemancer

3 Terminate
4 Flame Javelin
2 Banefire
3 Volcanic Fallout
4 Blightning

4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
2 Ghitu Encampment
8 Mountain

SB:
2 Pithing Needle
4 Magma Spray
3 Infest
1 Anathemancer
2 Deathmark
1 Unwilling Recruit
3 Dragon's Claw

As what Mike Flores indicated, BW Tokens was the deck to beat. It did win the whole tournament and I faced the eventual winner in the 3rd round. I finished with a 3-3 record. Here is a summarized blow by blow of each round:

Round 1: vs. a blue-black (?) homebrew deck

Round 1 was like a bye. Here was a deck that I was so surprised to be matched up against. I was seeing the 4cc Haste Flying Drake, Architects of Will, Terramorphic Expanse, etc. I made sure I had good hands in both games to win.

1-0

Round 2: vs. Rod Osal (Faeries)

Rod was playing the only Faerie deck in the tournament. As always, Faeries are a scary match up and I wished that I had Guttural Response in the sideboard. The first game had him do a mini combo with a Mistbind Clique championing a Mistbind Clique to keep me in the ropes. Volcanic Fallout was my hero after continuous pounding with my creatures and after he ran out of gas with his Mistbind Clique mini combo.

2nd game was much better. He couldn't find a 3rd blue mana source and had 2 Mutavault in play. I made a 2 for 1 when he activated all his Mutavault and I played a Volcanic Fallout. That left him in trouble as I pounded with my creatures and he couldn't counter any of the threats. By the time I got another Volcanic Fallout, it was enough to win me the round.

2-0

Round 3: vs. Aga Suan (BW tokens)

I knew I would be having lots of trouble with BW tokens. Needless to say, I had no answer to a Glorious Anthem.

Game 2 was frustrating as I kept a 2 Sulfurous Springs hand. It took quite a while to get my 3rd land and the frustration continued as it was another Sulfurous Springs. I killed myself.

2-1

Round 4: vs. Lordan Suan (5-color Cascade)

I didn't know what to do against an aggressive 5-color Cascade deck. It was the first time that I was playing against it and game 1 was spent studying the deck. It seemed that he couldn't get his mojo going as there were no real threats encountered. My deck was too fast. I won both games convincingly.

3-1

Round 5: vs. Duane Villa (BW tokens)

Yet another BW token deck. I still faced the same problems with Glorious Anthem. A 2nd Glorious Anthem silenced me.

2nd game wasn't much as once again I had difficulty in getting my 3rd land out.

3-2

Round 6: vs. Irvin Tan (Naya Beats)

It was this round or never. I had a fast first game.

The next two games weren't that much better. I realized that the longer the game went, the bigger his creatures became. A Bull Cerodon won the 2nd game for him.

It seemed that the deck had numerous options. A Wall of Reverence saved him as it was paired with a Meglonoth. I made numerous mistakes but it was frustrating not getting to draw any of the Terminates or Deathmarks.

3-3

I won two packs for my effort.

Some observations:

For the deck, I could have main boarded the 4 Magma Spray (or on further thought, 4 Puncture Blast). BW Tokens has Kitchen Finks and Murderous Redcap. Having the Puncture Blast would have also given me insurance against the big creatures that the Magma Spray couldn't finish off.

A 4th Volcanic Fallout wouldn't have hurt. Even a 4th Terminate would have been a huge help. With that, this Blightning deck might turn out to be just a normal BR Aggro deck because the 4 Blightning is the main candidate to be removed. More Anathemancers would have helped also (but then again, I had difficulty in finding more than 2).

With the statement above, I would have space to put in Guttural Response. I was also in the crossroads thinking if Chaotic Backlash would have been great considering the number of tokens that's lurking around.

I had numerous mistakes. I was never able to put in the 2 Pithing Needle. Then it occurred to me that it would have been of great help against Ajani Goldmane.

Oh well. There's always next year. I had fun though.