The big 20′s are back and will be available in our stores tomorrow; July 6, 2011.

M12 Prerelease schedule:

Midnight Prerelease at Titan Kapitolyo
Assembly time: July 8, 11:30pm
Registration fee: Php 1,200
Players will receive 6 M12 booster packs and will be awarded 1 pack per match won
Please bring basic lands as we might not have enough to accommodate all players

Saturday Prerelease at Titan Libis
Assembly time: July 9, 12:00nn
Registration fee: Php 1,200
Players will receive 6 M12 booster packs and will be awarded 1 pack per match won
Please bring basic lands as we might not have enough to accommodate all players

World of Warcraft War of the Elements fatpack (accessories only, no boosters) – Php 850

World of Warcraft Scourgewar Icecrown fatpack (accessories only, no boosters) – Php 850

Promo mechanics:
1. Print-out this card.
2. Ask our storekeepers to sign a box every time you buy a booster pack or join our weekday events.
3. You get a free booster pack OR a free entry to one of our weekday events after gathering 10 signatures from a specific branch.

* this card is a website exclusive and is NOT available in our stores.

The first PTQ for Philadelphia in Manila was concluded last weekend. It was the first major New Phyrexia legal Standard tourney in the local scene. Titan’s Jason Ascalon won the whole thing playing the most popular weapon of choice for the format; CAW-blade. 5 other CAW-blade players were also in the top 8, cementing the deck as the best deck (that got even better with NPH) in the format. The other 2 decks in the top 8 were RUG-twin and RUG. The full top 8 decklists can be viewed at Neutral Grounds’ facebook page.

Finishing just outside the top 8 (9th) was me, JT Porter, and my take on a mono-black midrange deck that was originally sketched by Patrick Chapin in 2 of his articles for StarCityGames. Chapin presented 2 different builds of a possible mono-black deck but did not really explain in detail how the deck and each of its components worked. Sure, individual black cards are pretty straightforward, but black decks should have all their cards working in unison and the pilot should know all the good combination plays. We were not too impressed by Chapin’s list as it seemed like it was only drawn on the table and has not been tested properly. We tried different other builds for the deck; splashing blue for JTMS and Creeping Tar Pit, splashing red for some artifact hate, and white for Stoneforge Mystic. The 2 color builds were very inconsistent and had a bad curve that we decided to revert back to mono-black, splashing green for sideboard Nature’s Claim. The big difference of our build and Chapin’s would be the disruption suite of choice. Chapin ran a combination of Inquisition of Kozilek, Duress, and Despise while we decided to drop Despise and put a 2/1 flying body in the form of Liliana’s Specter. Chapin also ran a set of Phyrexian Revokers which actually seems like a good idea given that majority of my build’s loses came at the back of a random creature with an equipped Sword of Feast and Famine.

PORTER, James
15 points

Lands:
20 Swamp
4 Verdant catacombs

Creature Spells:

4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Liliana’s Specter
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Pilgrim’s Eye
4 Phyrexian Obliterator

Non-Creature Spells:
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Duress
4 Geth’s Verdict
2 Go for the Throat
4 Sign in Blood
3 Lashwrithe

Sideboard:
1 Forest
3 Nature’s Claim
2 Go for the Throat
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Hex Parasite
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Grave titan
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Duress

The deck finished 5-2, losing to 2 CAW-blade decks (both made the top 8). The loses were a bit sketchy though as we were not able to test enough sideboarded games, which meant that I was trying out different sideboard strategies during the tourney. It is a really fun deck to play specially if you or your wallet is not a big fan of JTMS, Lotus Cobra, or Stoneforge Mystic. As of this build, the deck has a total of 5 mythic rares, and has a total cash value of somewhere around “cheaper than a playset of JTMS”. With a bit more work, I think the deck could be a strong contender in the format.

Community News

Our beloved MTG distributor and the big dog of local gaming; Neutral Grounds, decided to bid farewell to their flagship branch in Robinsons Galleria. The GM; Mr. Freddie Tan (aka Mr. McMahon) discusses it in detail in their website. I am sure that everyone in the local community had their fair share of good memories in Galleria, be it spotting eye candy in the days when there were tournaments at the top floor, a lot of very large prerelease tournaments, memorable Nationals tournaments, and personally, a GP win that was scored in a once empty portion of the mall. There hasn’t been any MTG tournaments at Galleria lately but the team and friends still regularly visit that mall to pickup wholesale orders or eat at Yoshinoya (we had discounts here for a while) and DQ.

Tuesdays – Standard Constructed at Titan Libis (Entry fee: Php 150)
Wednesdays – Standard Constructed at Titan Kapitolyo (Entry fee: Php 150)
Thursdays – Standard Constructed at Titan Libis (Entry fee: Php 150)
16k booster drafts on-demand (Entry fee: Php 600)

FNM Schedule:

Standard at Titan Kapitolyo (Entry fee: Php 150)
Standard at Titan Libis (Entry fee: Php 150)
16k booster drafts on-demand (Entry fee: Php 600)

Premier Event Schedule:

May 22, 2011 – Grand Prix Trial Shanghai at Titan Libis – Sealed deck format
Players will receive 2 SOM boosters, 2 MBS boosters, and 2 New Phyrexia boosters for sealed deck construction
Top 8 booster draft (NPH/MBS/SOM)
Lots of boosters and 3 byes to Grand Prix Shanghai will be awarded to top finishers
Entry fee: Php 1,200

Sunday pod at Libis (1:00pm) will also push through as scheduled.

Click on the image to enlarge

As for our April events, here they are:

Tuesday – Titan Libis
“Action” Prerelease passes Standard
Round 1 pairings 7:00pm
Entry fee: Php 200

Wednesday – Titan Kapitolyo
“Action” Prerelease passes Standard
Round 1 pairings 7:00pm
Entry fee: Php 200

Thursday – Titan Libis
“Action” Prerelease passes Standard
Round 1 pairings 7:00pm
Entry fee: Php 200

Friday Night Magic – Titan Kapitolyo
Booster draft
FNM cards and “Action” Prerelease passes at stake
Round 1 pairings 7:00pm
Entry fee: Php 600

Friday Night Magic – Titan Libis
Standard constructed
FNM cards and “Action” Prerelease passes at stake
Round 1 pairings 7:00pm
Entry fee: Php 200

Saturday – Titan Libis
Legacy Constructed
Registration starts 12:00nn
Round 1 pairings 1:00pm
Entry fee: Php 200

Sunday – Titan Libis
Standard Constructed
Registration starts 12:00nn
Round 1 pairings 1:00pm
Entry fee: Php 200

March 10, 2011: Mirrodin Besieged Gameday

Standard Constructed
Lots of booster packs at stake
First 30 players to register will receive a Textless Treasure Mage promo card
Top 8 finishers will receive a Textless Foil Black Sun’s Zenith

Titan Libis
2nd floor Intrepid Plaza, Libis, Quezon City (beside Citibank building)

Registration fee: Php 200
Round 1 pairings: 6:30pm

March 11, 2011: FNM @ Titan Libis

Standard Constructed
Lots of booster packs at stake
Top finishers will receive a Wall of Omens FNM card

Titan Libis
2nd floor Intrepid Plaza, Libis, Quezon City (beside Citibank building)

Registration fee: Php 200
Round 1 pairings: 6:30pm

March 13, 2011: JTQ Singapore I

Standard Constructed
Php 7,000 cash and 4 booster boxes at stake
Celphones c/o our friends from DcTech (dctech.multiply.com) will be raffled off to participants

A-Venue Mall Makati

Registration fee: Php 400
Registration starts: 11:00am

JTQ Singapore:
The main focus of the JTQ series is to help the best local Magic players compete in the international scene. We gave out cardpools, airtickets, and hotel accommodations last year. This year, we will be giving out enough cash for you to get a budget return ticket to Singapore with a few spare change for pocket money. We will be running at least 2 of these events before Grand Prix Singapore this June. The first 2 events is scheduled on March 13 at the A-Venue mall, and March 27 (venue TBD). The 3rd one has not been set yet but will probably happen in May.

Titan Libis:
We will be expanding our operations to the east of the metro this month. The new shop will be twice as big as the original location in Kapitolyo. There is also a lot more parking spaces (both free and pay-parking). The shop is still under construction and is scheduled to open on Monday, March 7, 2011.

Address: 2nd floor Intrepid Plaza, Libis, Quezon City
Landmarks: Beside Citibank building in Eastwood City

New custom deckboxes:
We will be selling custom designed and custom painted deckboxes this month. Samples will be posted here once we have them ready.

Click here for the top 16 decklists.

The next hottest thing to Jace, TMS in Standard

Legacy:

Marco Deligos is back, winning Ongkeco’s 20k Legacy tournament last Sunday. 3rd time is a charm for Team Ruthless, placing 3 guys in the top 8 and getting what seemed like an elusive win. The organizer has posted pictures on their facebook page but we still await the decklists.

There was another Legacy tournament on the other side of the globe last weekend; the other half of the StarCityGames open. Aside from the presence of Green Sun’s Zenith on almost all decks that ran green, theres no real exciting change in the Legacy metagame. Top 16 decklists can be found here.