Games Haven Monthly $1K Series 2018
29th Apr 2018
Games Haven Paya Lebar
Matthew (Lightning Bolt) Yee
We’re back to the original Magic plane! We welcomed players back to Dominaria after more than a decade of heavy planeswalking, and to usher in the new standard we had 31 players for the event willing to be the testers and test-ees for the new metagame! Of course, having some sweet cash on the line surely didn’t hurt either.
In this first week of DOM testing (and surely the week before via proxies) there was a wave of excitement surrounding a certain UW Historic deck that aimed to play basically everything except lands at instant speed. Many players were excited to try the deck out for themselves, and found themselves truth-or-dared to see what the hype was about. As such, we had plenty of UW decks littering the tables, both with and without the most controversial inclusion Raff Capashen.
The general comment seemed to be that the deck was extremely difficult to pilot, as pure draw-go decks had not been a significant force for some time, and also possibly because the deck was still very new. Because of this, pilots found themselves experiencing very varied levels of success. To quote a player at Round 5, “Actually hor, you see [truthordare]’s decks, always like this one. Only [truthordare] knows why [truthordare] plays some cards.”
Speaking of DOM cards, we had a lot of interesting brews based around Karn. As one of the most hyped cards of the set, players set out to do everything they said they wanted to do with him. From spamming artifacts to breathing fresh air into Heart of Kiran decks to giving midrange decks a meat shield/draw source , we had it all.
“Karn+56 cards” decks filled up a great deal of the tables as well and was the main contributor to deck diversity, an evident strength of having a colourless planeswalker with such high loyalty and generically powerful abilities. The potential is definitely there for the decks to be tuned, even though the spotlight is currently on the hero of Dominaria Teferi.
They say that to create a new metagame, you must first overthrow the old one. Without rotation to do the overthrowing job, defenders of the old metagame were also present to present a test for the new decks to overcome. Of course, ever present, was HazoRed, giving the steepest mountain for new decks to climb (of which no one succeeded, for now).
Alongside the last standing god of Amonkhet were UR GPG decks, Snek decks and BR aggro decks, and the old guard is still truly capable of putting up a fight. If you were hoping you could save money on Standard by just throwing a few synergistic DOM cards into your old deck, you might still be able to get away with it until the next set.
After 5 $1K Series tournaments, you guys are probably sick of this writer’s questionable sense of humour already, so instead of the regular blizzard of cold jokes, we’ve decided to present to you a Top 8 profile alongside the Top 8 decklists so you can get some insights (or snark, as the case may be) from our wonderful Top 8. A special congratulations goes to Faizal, who was our overall winner! If ever you were wondering about his well-known reputation as “No-Split Faizal”, it’s definitely because he has the chops to back it up!
1st place - Faizal Rosmaruddin
HazoRed - Main Deck
23x Mountain
1x Scavenging Grounds
4x Bomat Courier
4x Soul-Scar Mage
4x Earthshaker Khenra
2x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4x Goblin Chainwhirler
2x Hazoret the Fervent
2x Rekindling Phoenix
4x Shock
4x Lightning Strike
2x Abrade
4x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Sideboard
2x Magma Spray
2x Abrade
2x Dire Fleet Daredevil
2x Fight with Fire
2x Pia Nalaar
2x Aethersphere Harvester
1x Karn, Scion of Urza
2x Glorybringer
2nd Place - Joseph Tan
HazoRed - Main Deck
23x Mountain
1x Scavenger Grounds
4x Bomat Courier
4x Soul-Scar Mage
4x Goblin Chainwhirler
4x Rekindling Phoenix
4x Earthshaker Khenra
2x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1x Pia Nalaar
2x Hazoret the Fervent
3x Shock
3x Abrade
3x Lightning Strike
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Sideboard
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Abrade
2x Aethersphere Harvester
2x Puncturing Blow
2x Fiery Cannonader
2x Magma Spray
1x Squee, the Immortal
3x Glorybringer
1x Scavenger Grounds
Top 4 - Calvin Ong
UW Flash - Main Deck
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Irrigated Farmland
3x Field of Ruin
1x Scavenger Grounds
7x Island
6x Plains
1x Memorial to Genius
3x Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage
3x Lyra Dawnbringer
2x Torrential Gearhulk
3x Walking Ballista
3x Syncopate
2x Negate
3x Supreme Will
3x Settle the Wreckage
1x Commit//Memory
2x Glimmer of Genius
2x Search for Azcanta//Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
4x Seal Away
1x Cast Out
2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Sideboard
2x Negate
2x Urza’s Ruinous Blast
2x Essence Scatter
1x Cast Out
2x Fumigate
2x Forsake the Worldly
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
3x Authority of the Consuls
Top 4 - Lucas Wong
BG Beatdown - Main Deck
4x Woodland Cemetery
4x Blooming Marsh
4x Hashep Oasis
11x Forest
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Scrapheap Scrounger
4x Steel Leaf Champion
4x Jadelight Ranger
4x Walking Ballista
3x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
3x Thrashing Brontodon
2x Rhonas the Indomitable
3x Ghalta, Primal Hunger
3x Ripjaw Raptor
4x Blossoming Defense
Sideboard
1x Carnage Tyrant
1x Nissa, Vital Force
2x Aethersphere Harvester
2x Lifecrafter’s Bestiary
2x Hour of Glory
2x Doomfall
1x Heroic Intervention
1x Atzocan Archer
2x Cartouche of Ambition
1x Plummet
Top 8 - Conrad Dungan
Boros Midrange - DECKLIST WITHHELD BY REQUEST
Top 8 - Jason Loh
BG Snek - Main Deck
2x Swamp
2x Ifnir Deadlands
4x Aether Hub
4x Blooming Marsh
4x Woodland Cemetery
7x Forest
4x Scrapheap Scrounger
4x Thrashing Brontodon
3x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
3x Verdurous Gearhulk
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4x Winding Constrictor
4x Jadelight Ranger
4x Walking Ballista
3x Fatal Push
Sideboard
1x Fatal Push
2x Duress
2x Karn, Scion of Urza
2x Vraska’s Contempt
2x Heroic Intervention
3x Cartouche of Ambition
3x Doomfall
Top 8 - Foo Zhi Jie
UW Flash - Main Deck
4x Irrigated Farmland
4x Glacial Fortress
1x Memorial to Glory
1x Scavenger Grounds
3x Field of Ruin
7x Plains
6x Island
2x Torrential Gearhulk
3x Lyra Dawnbringer
2x Raff Capashen, Ship’s mage
3x Walking Ballista
1x Commit//Memory
3x Settle the Wreckage
3x Glimmer of Genius
3x Supreme Will
2x Negate
3x Syncopate
2x Search for Azcanta//Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
1x Cast Out
4x Seal Away
2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Sideboard
3x Authority of the Consuls
2x Essence Scatter
2x Gideon of the Trials
1x Karn, Scion of Urza
2x Forsake the Worldly
1x Fumigate
2x Negate
2x Urza’s Ruinous Blast
Top 8 - Joshua Yang
UR God-Pharaoh’s Gift - Main Deck
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Ipnu Rivulet
4x Aether Hub
4x Island
5x Mountain
1x Field of Ruin
4x Bomat Courier
4x Minister of Inquiries
4x Fanatical Firebrand
4x Warkite Marauder
3x Walking Ballista
4x Champion of Wits
4x Combat Celebrant
2x Trophy Mage
2x Vizier of Many Faces
1x Siege-Gang Commander
4x Gate to the Afterlife
2x God-Pharaoh’s Gift
Sideboard
3x Abrade
2x Silent Gravestone
2x Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2x Sweltering Suns
2x Jace’s Defeat
2x Spell Pierce
1x Negate
1x Aethersphere Harvester
