Games Haven Monthly $1K Series 2018
2nd September 2018
Games Haven Paya Lebar
Matthew (Lightning Bolt) Yee
36 players arrived for our September $1K Series event at the very start of the month to try and earn some sweet, sweet cash. The Modern season is reaching its twilight period, with Guilds of Ravnica releasing in a month, so there are precious few Modern PPTQs left, which makes every single practice session worth it. Our Jurong store PPTQ is one of these (on the 9th of September), and naturally, this timetabling was intentional. We hope that all attendees got in some good practice, especially if you're also joining us in Jurong for the PPTQ.
No image sums up the event as well as the one above. By now no one should be surprised - Burn is the island's favourite Modern deck (see the irony there? Burn? Island? Never mind). With Burn a formidable and familiar enemy, we saw plenty of maindeck tweaks to have better Game 1s against Turn 1 Goblin Guide. Maindeck Timely Reinforcements and higher numbers of maindeck Wurmcoil Engine and Scavenging Ooze were among these choices, as well as a higher number of fight-fire-with-fire similarly linear aggressive decks like YOLO One, Affinity and Kiln Fiend Prowess.
Naturally, this led to some games being decided very early, with the record going to a Game 1 that lasted only 3 minutes. The takeaway from all this is that with the early turns of a Modern game being so important, an essential skill to pick up for the format is an often-underrated skill - the mulligan decision. The rhythm of the starting hand can make or break your game, so deciding if the hand will play out well is crucial. Furthermore, with hand disruption so efficient in the format with the likes of Thoughtseize, Kitesail Freebooter and accidentally Burning Inquiry, the skill is a bit harder to pick up than one would think. Nevertheless, it is still a worthwhile skill to learn.
That's not to say that all games were finished in time for dinner though, there was plenty of grindiness to go around still. Tron and Jund put up a good fight against the non-Burn linear decks, and control had a solid presence, putting 2 different versions into the Top 8. The situation is not hopeless for you counterspell lovers out there, between Teferi and Anger of the Gods, there are still plenty of options for you yet! Special mention goes to the Mono-Red Prison deck, who bravely attempted to stall out all kinds of aggro but sadly missed his spot in the Top 8.
A notable absence from the tables were all forms of Combo, unless you are the type of player who considers Infect a combo deck. Without combo at the tables, the decks that tweaked their maindecks to fight aggro were handsomely rewarded, as their choices were all validated from the moment they saw the Turn 1 Mountain. Despite not having an entire arm of the metagame trifecta though, we had plenty of rogue decks to pick up the slack. Besides the aforementioned Mono Red Prison, we also bore witness to interesting games by Mill, Elfball and even the relative newcomer to the scene Blue Steel.
Our Top 8 was a much more focused Top 8 than our previous 2 large Modern events (i.e. less variety), but we're not too discouraged by that fact. This event was one of many, and the pool of Modern decks is so large and the room for error so narrow that today's metagame can always be overturned tomorrow. Besides, it's not as if we had 8 Burn decks in the Top 8 anyway. After a heart-pounding final between two complete polar opposites Burn and full-foil UW Control, Melvin Cheng emerged the winner after some exquisite firecrafting! Many congratulations to Melvin and all the Top 8!!
Top 8 Decklists
1st Place - Melvin Cheng
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
Burn
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
Eidolon of the Great Revel. It made life hard for everyone.
Edit after the finals: TOPDECKED EXQUISITE FIRECRAFT FOR THE WIN OMG
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Searing Blaze, the extra reach really helped to close out games.
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Hurting myself to my own Eidolon.
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
Not really, as I'm still learning and understanding the format.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
Jump-start. Because graveyard plays are good plays.
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
I'd like to keep my expectations low to be surprised.
Boros Burn - Main Deck
1x Arid Mesa
1x Stomping Ground
4x Inspiring Vantage
2x Sacred Foundry
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Mountain
2x Grim Lavamancer
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Goblin Guide
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
4x Rift Bolt
4x Skullcrack
4x Searing Blaze
4x Boros Charm
4x Lava Spike
Sideboard
3x Exquisite Firecraft
1x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Rest in Peace
2x Searing Blood
2x Deflecting Palm
2x Path to Exile
3x Destructive Revelry
2nd Place - Alex Keng
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
WU Miracles
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
Terminus!! [Blind flip] saved 2x lethal attacks from Infect and Bogles.
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Baneslayer Angel, because it outpaced Burn, forced pump spells on Infect creatures. Eng
Giap just sold it (the foil) to me yesterday.
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Cantripping while [still] having difficulty finding the answer.
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
Couldn't win at all due to time call against Elves. Could only play for draw against lethal army with chaining Cryptics amd denying away the 3rd mana for Shaman of the pack post-combat.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
Jump-start! It's Madness time!!
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
Shock lands lor, what else :P
UW Miracles Control – Main Deck
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
5x Island
1x Mystic Gate
3x Plains
1x Prarie Stream
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Condemn
3x Cryptic Command
1x Entreat the Angels
2x Logic Knot
1x Mana Leak
1x Negate
4x Opt
1x Oust
4x Path to Exile
1x Peek
1x Remand
1x Supreme Verdict
3x Terminus
1x Think Twice
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Detention Sphere
1x Search for Azcanta//Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Sideboard
1x Baneslayer Angel
1x Celestial Purge
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Disenchant
2x Dispel
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
1x Negate
2x Rest in Peace
1x Settle the Wreckage
2x Stony Silence
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Timely Reinforcements
Top 4 - Koh Joon Hao
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
UR.
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
Thing in the Ice.
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Plumeveil, punishes the smelly aggro decks.
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Chau chiu (smelly hands)
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
Opponent forgot to play Deflecting Palm on my Awoken Horror before my Dispel [for something else] resolved, allowing be to Snapcaster -> Dispel [the Deflecting Palm] again.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
Surveil.
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
Reprint Lightning Helix and enemy fetches.
UR Control – Main Deck
7x Island
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
1x Spirebluff Canal
1x Desolate Lighthouse
3x Flooded Strand
1x Augur of Bolas
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Thing in the Ice
4x Serum Visions
4x Opt
1x Ancestral Vision
4x Remand
1x Logic Knot
1x Spell Snare
4x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Abrade
1x Burst Lightning
1x Electrolyze
2x Blood Moon
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Spreading Seas
1x Young Pyromancer
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Plumeveil
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Dispel
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Spell Snare
1x Rending Volley
Top 4 - Foo Zhi Jie
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
Mardu Pyromancer
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
TWICE Elemental/Zombie/Spirit/Monk tokens, is there a need to explain more?
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Hazoret...... Nah kidding, my Mina tokens <3
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Never draw Kolaghan's Command when I needed to open flood gates for my infinite TWICE Zombie tokens [Editor's note for context - board locked with Liliana emblem and 2 Ensnaring Bridges on the other side]
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
Opponent had 2 Ensnaring Bridges and locked both sides out but died to my Hazoret's burn.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
ジャンプ スタート
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
なし
Mardu Pyromancer - Main Deck
1x Marsh Flats
3x Polluted Delta
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Mountain
2x Swamp
4x Dragonskull Summit
1x Godless Shrine
2x Blood Crypt
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Young Pyromancer
1x Hazoret the Fervent
4x Bedlam Reveler
4x Faithless Looting
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Fatal Push
3x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Dreadbore
1x Terminate
1x Collective Brutality
4x Lingering Souls
3x Kolaghan's Command
2x Blood Moon
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
Sideboard
1x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Monastery Mentor
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Blood Moon
2x Damping Sphere
1x Surgical Extraction
2x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2x Stony Silence
1x Wear//Tear
Top 8 - Lim Jiade
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
Burn
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
Searing Blaze, Destructive Revelry, Grim Lavamancer.
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Jap foil Grim Lavamancer. Paid $160 and it won Affinity. Bu!
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Play sequencing. Unable to draw Goblin Guide in opening hand.
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
[Watched] an opponent at 15 life, while [Peigen] Collected Company into 2 Shaman of the Pack, dealing 16 points of damage to win the game. Affinity would have won the next turn if not for that. Kudos to Yu Peigen and Elves!
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
Convoke.
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
Shocklands
Naya Burn - Main Deck
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Inspiring Vantage
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Mountain
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon Of Great Revel
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Searing Blaze
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Helix
3 Skullcrack
Sideboard
3 Path to Exile
2 Searing Blood
2 Rest In Peace
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Atarka's Command
2 Ensnaring Bridge
Top 8 - Yu Peigen
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
BG Elves
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
Collected Company, Collected Company into two Shaman of the Pack for 16 damage
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Nettle Sentinels. Pretty good beats early + crazy synergy with Heritage Druid
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Deck is fighting a 85-degree uphill battle against Terminus.
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
Buddy Destructive Revelry'd a Spirit Link against Bogles. Thought he was a goner.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
Convoke. I don't know what all the new mechanics do, not updated with the spoilers.
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
Shocks are back! Guilds are back! Bling walkers are here!
BG Elfball - Main Deck
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Blooming Marsh
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
2x Horizon Canopy
1x Westvale Abbey
3x Forest
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Dwynen's Elite
4x Elvish Clancaller
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Shaman of the Pack
2x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3x Lead the Stampede
1x Chord of Calling
4x Collected Company
Sideboard
3x Damping Sphere
2x Reclamation Sage
2x Shapers' Sanctuary
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Stain the Mind
1x Fracturing Gust
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Thoughtseize
Top 8 - Nicholas Lee
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
Burn - lucksack deck.
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
All burn cards are as good as each other. They all deal 3 to face.
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Rift Bolt. Topdeck after Kelvin Chew named the Lightning Helix in my hand [for Meddling
Mage].
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Worship.
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
My Round 2 opponent Abrupt Decay'd his own Tarmogoyf so that he could gain life with Scavenging Ooze.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
The mechanic where you get to pay 2 life and have your dual land enter untapped.
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
The set-release day pack war.
Naya Burn - Main Deck
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Arid Mesa
4x Mountain
3x Inspiring Vantage
2x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Goblin Guide
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Rift Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Helix
4x Searing Blaze
2x Shard Volley
2x Skullcrack
Sideboard
2x Deflecting Palm
4x Destructive Revelry
3x Path to Exile
2x Rest in Peace
2x Searing Blood
2x Skullcrack
Top 8 - Daston Lam
Top 8 Profile
What deck did you play today?
Bogles
What would you say was the best card in your deck, and why?
Slippery Bogle. New best friend.
What card in your deck would you say performed unexpectedly well today, and why?
Leyline of Sanctity. Trump card against Burn.
What were some of the challenges you faced while piloting this deck?
Counting combat damage. Math is hard.
Any interesting plays you made or witnessed today at the $1K Series?
Joon Hao playing the surprise blocker Plumeveil versus Humans.
Guilds of Ravnica spoilers have begun! Which of the 5 guild mechanics are you most excited about? (Returning mechanic Convoke, Mentor, Jump-start, Overgrowth, Surveil)
Jump-start!
Anything else you're excited or hopeful for about Guilds of Ravnica?
More powerful cards for my Standard deck.
GW Hexproof Bogles - Main Deck
4x Windswept Heath
4x Razorverge Thicket
4x Horizon Canopy
3x Temple Garden
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Plains
1x Forest
4x Slippery Bogle
4x Gladecover Scout
2x Kor Spiritdancer
2x Silhana Ledgewalker
2x Path to Exile
4x Spider Umbra
4x Daybreak Coronet
4x Rancor
4x Ethereal Armor
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Spirit Mantle
2x Hyena Umbra
2x Gryff's Boon
1x Cartouche of Solidarity
Sideboard
3x Stony Silence
2x Gaddock Teeg
2x Rest in Peace
2x Seal of Primordium
2x Spirit Link
2x Damping Sphere
1x Dromoka's Command
1x Path to Exile
