Ben here. My son Gabo finally joined the Duel Commander tourney for the first time after his perennial commander Zur got banned. Ive converted Zur to Oloro for a while now, but he chose to use Marath because its easier to pilot than Oloro. He was really not familiar with both decks and the new meta as he stopped playing Duel Commander after Zur's banning and has played only Zur in tourneys. It gave me the chance to use Oloro in the new meta. Here's a little tourney report.
Gabo just missed making top 8 with the same Marath list I used last February. He had a win-and-in match in the last round with the Skithiryx player and conceded to him as their 3rd game reached time and they would have had a draw and both miss top 8, plus he had lousy tie breaks. He beat Talrand, GST, and Oloro in the swiss rounds. He lost to GST and Doran, before conceding to Skithiryx in the last round. I don't know the details of his wins but his losses I think they were mainly due to low mana problems or mulligans to 5 or 4. His main comment with the deck is that if it has mana, it's great. If it has low mana, it's when the deck has problems.
As for DoomsdayOloro, it was great. I used a Control-Combo version. I beat Skithiryx, GST, and Ezuri in the swiss rounds. Skithiryx and Ezuri were both Doomsday combos by turn 5-6. Yey for non blue match ups! GST match was a long game of draw-go and I won game 1 on the last five turns with the Doomsday combo. I lost to GAAIV. The match up is tough when his commander is out. I could have pulled out the draw if I went for the combo when i had Doomsday and Counterspell in hand. He always had many cards in hand and mana open, so I waited for a discard spell. It turns out he only had 1 counterspell and dead cards. He had a Future Sight in play, which turned out to be the game winner. By the time I resolve the discard spell, we were both out of counters, and he had no more answer for my combo. I cast Doomsday, ready to combo next turn. He draws his card and Future Sight reveals Spell Snare on top of his library, the answer to the Abeyance I will draw next turn. Oh well, I have to wait for my next draw step to combo out. He draws Spell Snare and Future Sight reveals Trickbind, the answer for my combo, pretty much ensuring i could not win. I had a draw with Oloro reanimator. Pretty boring matchup. Game 1 I draw Doomsday early which gets discarded and I run out of answers to his reanimated creature and I can't draw a tutor to get Snapcaster to flashback doomsday. We even both had Oloro out to draw extra cards and they both just sat there as they can't attack past each other being both 4/5. game 2 I Doomsday for the win. So I was X-1-1 going into the last round and I was paired up with Kevin who was X-1, who conceded to me as he is already in the top 8. Thanks Kevin!
The top 8 was a nightmare. I just hoped to not be paired with GAAIV (though I was not afraid of this match up) or Talrand (now this match up I did not want to face). My luck sucked as I got paired with Talrand, which I know had 20+ counters. And he countered even my turn 1 and turn 2 spells. I really could not resolve a relevent spell.
Final thoughts on DoomsdayOloro:
1. Non blue match-ups are good match-ups. I combo out by turn 5-6 with no worries.
2. GAAIV can be a tough matchup if his commander sticks on the battlefield, but manageable if you can keep him off the battlefield.
3. Talrand is a bad matchup as he has more counters and better card draw.
4. GST is a good match-up, a good choice if GST remains the most played deck.
5. The Oloro reanimator matchup is ok because if you combo, you win, while you can kill/bounce their reanimated creature.
Oloro - Doomsday Combo is a really hard matchup for GST. I think the only times that I've seen GST beat OloroDoomsday is when the deck gets mana-screwed. This is mainly trough Dustbowl, but sometimes with Stifle and Trickbind too.
I think the top players are consistently there because they:
(1) Play a lot of games with their deck,
(2) Continue to tweak, and improve their lists after playing tons of games, &
(3) Love the format enough to invest their time, and finances in the game itself.
Yesterday's MNL Duel Commander May 18, 2014 tournament had 20 players.
1st place gets a badlands.
Top 8 in no particular order: (will try to get order of the top 8 later)
Oloro Reanimator - gliford
Mimeoplasm Reanimator -
Krenko, mob Boss -
Doran, siege tower - lawrence follero
Oloro reanimator - patrick k.
Geist of St Traft - gerry ramos
Talrand sky summoner - reggie jbelli
Maelstrom wanderer - richmond lim
Quarterfinals:
Doran vs Wanderer
- doran wins 2-0
Talrand vs Krenko
- Talrand wins 2-1
Oloro vs GoSt
- Gost wins 2-1
Mimeo vs Oloro
- Oloro wins 2-0
Top 4 split the prize. Will try to get decklists of the top 8 players from the organizer.
I've been a bit burned out the past 2 months, hence the lack of updates. I'm back to fighting form this month though! We've got a tourney scheduled on the 22nd, so I'll update from there
Dustin Sta. Maria - Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Janji Naling - Doran, the Siege Tower
Louie Siongco - Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Gerry Ramos - Geist of Saint Traft
Jasper Perez - The Mimeoplasm
John Daroen Sahagun – Kaalia of the Vast
Richmund Lim - Maelstrom Wanderer
Juan Carlo Lita - Krenko, Mob Boss
QUARTERFINALS
Dustin (Skithiryx) vs. Juan Carlo (Krenko) - Juan Carlo wins
Janji (Doran) vs. Richmund (MW) - Richmund wins
Louie (GAAIV) vs. John (Kaalia) - Louie wins
Gerry (GST) vs. Jasper (Mimeo) - Gerry wins
SEMIFINALS
Juan Carlo (Krenko) vs. Gerry (GST) - Gerry wins
Louie (GAAIV) vs. Richmund (MW) - Louie wins
And again UW decks top the tournament, I expect the meta would be shifted to UW.
IMO, that cannot be concluded yet. It's just that after Oloro stabilized after Zur banning, the other UW decks lost its following, and it's just returning again.
Back from the grave! SOrry was still on Legacy mode.
We had 35 players last weekend.
TOP 8 AFTER SWISS:
Dustin Sta. Maria - Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
janji Naling- Doran the Siege Tower
Louie Siongco - Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Gerry Ramos - Geist of Saint Traft
Jasper Perez - The Mimeoplasm
Jarbs Sahagun - Kaalia of the Vast
Richmund Lim - Maelstrom Wanderer
Juan Carlo Litan - Krenko, Mob Boss
QUARTERFINALS:
Dustin (Skithiryx) vs. Juan (Krenko) - Juan wins
Janji (Doran) vs. Richmund (Wanderer) - Richmund wins
Louie (GAAIV) vs. Jarbs (Kaalia) - Louie wins
Gerry (GST) vs. Jasper (Mimeo) - Gerry wins
SEMIFINALS:
Louie (GAAIV) vs. Richmund (Wanderer) - Louie wins
Gerry (GST) vs. Juan (Krenko) - Gerry wins
I saw him beat an olivia voldaren deck during the 3rd round. I think they ran out of cards in hand at one point due to both having liliana of the veils on their boards, but the kaalia player drew a skeletal scrying and took back 7 cards from the graveyard to win the 3rd game.
I saw him beat an olivia voldaren deck during the 3rd round. I think they ran out of cards in hand at one point due to both having liliana of the veils on their boards, but the kaalia player drew a skeletal scrying and took back 7 cards from the graveyard to win the 3rd game.
Because they're good at what they do?
+1 on this , maybe luck is better on their side?
Credits to avatarz of Dissapointing signet inc. for my sig.
Duel:
Maelstrom wanderer
Narset, Enlightened Master
" A Small Price to pay, for a limitless power. -Nixj
"Happy as a meal" - Team happy meal
Ben here. My son Gabo finally joined the Duel Commander tourney for the first time after his perennial commander Zur got banned. Ive converted Zur to Oloro for a while now, but he chose to use Marath because its easier to pilot than Oloro. He was really not familiar with both decks and the new meta as he stopped playing Duel Commander after Zur's banning and has played only Zur in tourneys. It gave me the chance to use Oloro in the new meta. Here's a little tourney report.
Gabo just missed making top 8 with the same Marath list I used last February. He had a win-and-in match in the last round with the Skithiryx player and conceded to him as their 3rd game reached time and they would have had a draw and both miss top 8, plus he had lousy tie breaks. He beat Talrand, GST, and Oloro in the swiss rounds. He lost to GST and Doran, before conceding to Skithiryx in the last round. I don't know the details of his wins but his losses I think they were mainly due to low mana problems or mulligans to 5 or 4. His main comment with the deck is that if it has mana, it's great. If it has low mana, it's when the deck has problems.
As for Doomsday Oloro, it was great. I used a Control-Combo version. I beat Skithiryx, GST, and Ezuri in the swiss rounds. Skithiryx and Ezuri were both Doomsday combos by turn 5-6. Yey for non blue match ups! GST match was a long game of draw-go and I won game 1 on the last five turns with the Doomsday combo. I lost to GAAIV. The match up is tough when his commander is out. I could have pulled out the draw if I went for the combo when i had Doomsday and Counterspell in hand. He always had many cards in hand and mana open, so I waited for a discard spell. It turns out he only had 1 counterspell and dead cards. He had a Future Sight in play, which turned out to be the game winner. By the time I resolve the discard spell, we were both out of counters, and he had no more answer for my combo. I cast Doomsday, ready to combo next turn. He draws his card and Future Sight reveals Spell Snare on top of his library, the answer to the Abeyance I will draw next turn. Oh well, I have to wait for my next draw step to combo out. He draws Spell Snare and Future Sight reveals Trickbind, the answer for my combo, pretty much ensuring i could not win. I had a draw with Oloro reanimator. Pretty boring matchup. Game 1 I draw Doomsday early which gets discarded and I run out of answers to his reanimated creature and I can't draw a tutor to get Snapcaster to flashback doomsday. We even both had Oloro out to draw extra cards and they both just sat there as they can't attack past each other being both 4/5. game 2 I Doomsday for the win. So I was X-1-1 going into the last round and I was paired up with Kevin who was X-1, who conceded to me as he is already in the top 8. Thanks Kevin!
The top 8 was a nightmare. I just hoped to not be paired with GAAIV (though I was not afraid of this match up) or Talrand (now this match up I did not want to face). My luck sucked as I got paired with Talrand, which I know had 20+ counters. And he countered even my turn 1 and turn 2 spells. I really could not resolve a relevent spell.
Final thoughts on Doomsday Oloro:
1. Non blue match-ups are good match-ups. I combo out by turn 5-6 with no worries.
2. GAAIV can be a tough matchup if his commander sticks on the battlefield, but manageable if you can keep him off the battlefield.
3. Talrand is a bad matchup as he has more counters and better card draw.
4. GST is a good match-up, a good choice if GST remains the most played deck.
5. The Oloro reanimator matchup is ok because if you combo, you win, while you can kill/bounce their reanimated creature.
Duel Commander:
GWRMarath, Will of the WildGWR
BUWDoomsday OloroBUW
I think the top players are consistently there because they:
(1) Play a lot of games with their deck,
(2) Continue to tweak, and improve their lists after playing tons of games, &
(3) Love the format enough to invest their time, and finances in the game itself.
1st place gets a badlands.
Top 8 in no particular order: (will try to get order of the top 8 later)
Oloro Reanimator - gliford
Mimeoplasm Reanimator -
Krenko, mob Boss -
Doran, siege tower - lawrence follero
Oloro reanimator - patrick k.
Geist of St Traft - gerry ramos
Talrand sky summoner - reggie jbelli
Maelstrom wanderer - richmond lim
Quarterfinals:
Doran vs Wanderer
- doran wins 2-0
Talrand vs Krenko
- Talrand wins 2-1
Oloro vs GoSt
- Gost wins 2-1
Mimeo vs Oloro
- Oloro wins 2-0
Top 4 split the prize. Will try to get decklists of the top 8 players from the organizer.
- H. L. Mencken
French Duel Commander
WBR Kaalia of the Vast WBR
RUG Maelstrom Wanderer RUG
I've been a bit burned out the past 2 months, hence the lack of updates. I'm back to fighting form this month though! We've got a tourney scheduled on the 22nd, so I'll update from there
35 Players
TOP 8 AFTER SWISS
Dustin Sta. Maria - Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Janji Naling - Doran, the Siege Tower
Louie Siongco - Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Gerry Ramos - Geist of Saint Traft
Jasper Perez - The Mimeoplasm
John Daroen Sahagun – Kaalia of the Vast
Richmund Lim - Maelstrom Wanderer
Juan Carlo Lita - Krenko, Mob Boss
QUARTERFINALS
Dustin (Skithiryx) vs. Juan Carlo (Krenko) - Juan Carlo wins
Janji (Doran) vs. Richmund (MW) - Richmund wins
Louie (GAAIV) vs. John (Kaalia) - Louie wins
Gerry (GST) vs. Jasper (Mimeo) - Gerry wins
SEMIFINALS
Juan Carlo (Krenko) vs. Gerry (GST) - Gerry wins
Louie (GAAIV) vs. Richmund (MW) - Louie wins
Finals:
Top 2 split the Prize.
Top 8 decklists, and Metagame to follow.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
IMO, that cannot be concluded yet. It's just that after Oloro stabilized after Zur banning, the other UW decks lost its following, and it's just returning again.
It's always been UW. There was just usually some other color added in before those commanders got banned (Oloro, Derevi, Zur).
(R/W)WRAnax and Cymede: RW AggroRW(R/W)
WWWThalia, Guardian of Thraben: White Weenie AggroWWW
BUGThe Mimeoplasm: Graveyard ComboGUB
(W/B)BWAthreos, God of Passage: Orzhov ShinnanigansBW(W/B)
a card border extended by me, commissions are open.
I think UW will always be favored against decks with no counterspells, as both UW players did not meet until the finals.
- H. L. Mencken
French Duel Commander
WBR Kaalia of the Vast WBR
RUG Maelstrom Wanderer RUG
We had 35 players last weekend.
TOP 8 AFTER SWISS:
Dustin Sta. Maria - Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
janji Naling- Doran the Siege Tower
Louie Siongco - Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Gerry Ramos - Geist of Saint Traft
Jasper Perez - The Mimeoplasm
Jarbs Sahagun - Kaalia of the Vast
Richmund Lim - Maelstrom Wanderer
Juan Carlo Litan - Krenko, Mob Boss
QUARTERFINALS:
Dustin (Skithiryx) vs. Juan (Krenko) - Juan wins
Janji (Doran) vs. Richmund (Wanderer) - Richmund wins
Louie (GAAIV) vs. Jarbs (Kaalia) - Louie wins
Gerry (GST) vs. Jasper (Mimeo) - Gerry wins
SEMIFINALS:
Louie (GAAIV) vs. Richmund (Wanderer) - Louie wins
Gerry (GST) vs. Juan (Krenko) - Gerry wins
FINALS:
Split with win going to Gerry
Decklists can be seen here: http://www.mtgmanila.com/
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Haha, Skeletal Scrying is so amazing.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.