Orzhov Warriors Playtest

Not bad at all!

Round 1 VS Jeskai Aggro 1-0


t1 Mardu Woe
t2 Blood Chin Rager
t3 arashin

Win
1-0

Win
2-1
Round 2 VS UWB control 2-1
played t2 bloodsoaked and baited for 5t
before being bile blighted.
no threats
lost g1

g2, sbed in all discards
t1 duress remove heros downfall
t2 scry
t3 thoughtseize remove ashoik, drop chieves
t4 arashin game

g3
t1 duress foul tongue invocation
t2 bloodsoaked
t3 thoughtseize crux
t4 turtle
till... duress - slumigar counter
play bloodchin rager for 4 power on board to bait
he plays regent to freeze bloodchin rager
till bloodsoak woereaper plus arashin wins the game

Round 3 VS red heroic budget 2-1
Mulligan twice
t1 woe reaper
t2 miss land
t3 land drop into chieves
no double black leads to game lost

g2
1land hand
t4 stuck on ww, no b
t8 stabilise with one swamp
t9 cave of kolis to play two chieves
won

g3
win

Round 4 VS GR dragons 0-2
g1: t1-2 curve into blood chin
opponent curves elf into slyvan into whisperwood into xenagos
stone blocked and died into bigger creatures like dragons

g2: defeated by xenagos top decked into dromoka dragon. owell

Round 5 VS budget spirit bond deck 1-0

Round 6 VS Abzan 2-1
g1: lose to abzan curve, lion into anafenza into siege
g2: weenie rush into chieves for the win as he land jams for 4 turns. playing thoughtseize and keeping anafenza save from ultimate price
g3: win on mulligan!

Steam Black Friday!!!

Not mtg related...

But if you love games... You can't miss these great offers!

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/11/27/5152166/steam-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-deals-2013

MTG Alter 5 : Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Mighty pleased! Since one of my pals is gunning for black devotion for this weekend's tourney....figured I complete this today. I really like the way the art went for this one... the colors take it away from its black roots. This piece was really a small break through for me... as I started to work on detailing (shadows, layering, etc) and the outcome was much much better. Getting used to the brush strokes too...will keep going =). And of course, thanks to the mighty support from my wife - who continues to spur me on!

For all of you guys:

And the original card form for my non-magic friends!

MTG Alter 4 : Boon Satyr , Fleecemane Lion

Had some spare time to attempt some work on selesnya cards =) Not too please with the lion! But having fun!

Have an order for Grey Merchant... excited! shall attempt it soon!

#1 Building a better local MTG community.

Just read a delightful article by Melissa De Tora. It's sweet when she comments that (her mtg community) is: 

""Magic is a game that we all play but many players fail to realize that it is actually so much more than a game. I have been involved in this community for a long time and while there have been ups and downs, overall the Magic community is awesome. I have made many close friends through Magic and there isn't much I wouldn't do for them. I want to thank you guys for being awesome!

Hopefully, the same can be said for us in the future! Check it out at

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11511

The Magic Scene in Singapore

Recently, a sanctioned event (GPT Shisoska) held in CMG DG drew the ire of a some members of the community. For those of you who were not up to speed, the threads can be found at http://sgplayers.freeforums.org/penalty-for-drawing-extra-cards-in-a-gpt-t1673.html

and http://sgplayers.freeforums.org/in-regards-to-the-issue-that-happened-on-sunday-gpt-t1682.html.

Essentially, it was a case in which an opponent was suspected of drawing more cards than he ought to

Four to be precise. Murhur

So the matter was brought up to a judge (Ian), whom in my personal opinion...did not handle the situation adaquately. Failing to sate the desires of the reportee ( who was incidentally given a game warning too? correct me if I am wrong) , the entire situation escalated into an all out slug fest in the forums. In Ian's defence, he was a relatively new judge and a little too eager to stamp his mark. Still, the whole situation left a really sour taste in the running of the event. In the midst, it also brought out the worse of the magic scene in Singapore...and continues to showcase the horrid behind-the-scenes that continually prevent our community of players from leveling themselves up.

Having tasted the magic scene in Japan and the States... I am just so disappointed at the wasted opportunities that our local scene continues to squander. We have a reasonable fan base... a huge slew of event organisers and shops...so why do we continue to find ourselves lack-luster in the community driver arena? Vis-a-vis say countries nearer to us? Well... here are my thoughts:

1. Collaboration is Zitsch amongst our biggest event organisers and shop owners. Being competitive is fine, that's good for us - the consumers. But it becomes silly when the major players in the scene are at open wars with each other. Name me one other event other than the GP Singapore where we saw the entire community having fun with one another? How many times have event organisers under-cut each other, copy and paste each other's ideas...in a bid to simply remove each other? Instead of being communal driven, too many of them are lost in their innate hatred for each other. Yes, I understand it is a business...but when you are talking about one that depends on a striving community - it's honestly blind faith to think killing the competition is the only way out. Collaboration! That was the buzz word 10 years ago. Sigh. 
2. Professionalism in the running of events has slowly dwindled over time. Major events must be run on an impartial manner and shop owners/organisers must make an effort to do so. Sure, I could be great friends with the organiser... but it should never give me an edge or advantage. Professionalism also runs into the administration of events. Stick to timings? do you check the deck lists? Are enough seats catered? Table numbers ordered? Event prizes in stock? Etc. When a Judge decides to keep mum over a spotted error because one of the players is his mate...that's when things are in serious contention. ( Yes, it happened to me..sigh!)
3. Support trading. Magic is a community driven game. And it is pretty clear that Wizards tow the same line as well. Trading between players is the core of the entire experience. It invites people to be participative. It invites people to congregate. It invites people come again. And eventually, it invites people to trade and sell at your shops.
4. Be creative. I have got to hand this to CMG Beauty World... at times they put in some of the best effort in making the scene fun and lively. Being competitive is fine, but it can be repetitive. Event organisers can really spruce things up by simply rewarding innovative play. That gets people willing to engineer new decks. Need new cards. 
5. Be receptive to new players. This is the biggest bug-bear that differentiates the experience here and the ones I had abroad. We forget that the player base can only grow if people jump on the band wagon. Remember the feeling when our friend brought us a deck and invited us to try it first hand? That's not happening now! Kudos to Epic Gamers @ Bishan...that continues to issue out fun decks to beginners and making an effort to enlarge the community. We need that. The biggest barrier is to have the local scene crumble into having seasoned veterans facing each other over and over again. It happened 10 years ago and resulted almost in the death of our local scene as players found it hard get into the game. Wizards reworking of magic has greatly encourage new beginnings. Lets work on that! FNMs are the best starting point - reward mentoring/tutoring! 
6. Lastly, be FRIENDLY!  We are all in this game for the fun of it. The difference between a Kiebler/Sullivan match and us is that they do remain to strike a banter, learn from each other's deck, share some tips and move on. Yes we are competitive but we can extend open friendship to one another. It isn't tough to say a nice 'Hello' and 'Good Luck' when playing. A simple handshake would suffice to end an excellent match. Being all grumpy face and sore in losing only turns the opposing player off...and there's one more player gone from the community! Understand the context of your event. If it's a simple FNM, there isn't a point to rush your opponent, critique him for his lack of patience, hide mistakes and so on. Yes, you aint under any moral obligation...but what does that do for you at the end of the day? One more booster pack?

Let me end this by saying that I LOVE our local scene for magic....but like all things Singaporean...I simply want it to be much better! For the benefit of everyone and all the wonderful people I have met during my time playing MTG. =)

MTG Alter 3 - Stormbreath Dragon

Today's attempt was a little tougher...had a little trouble with the details..but still pleased with the blending of colors for the background.

Hehe. Opened this outta a booster and thought...why not?

I'm currently offering to alter for anyone who might desire to customise their cards, for a token fee of course.This would allow me to gain some additional experience/fun in the process. If ya interested, send me a tell or email...or pm azzurias in SGcards forum and we can bring it ahead from there. =)