First off, kudos to Neutral Grounds!
For staging Gold Rush 2011 with a very successful attendance of 468
participants. And with that big number of players, they were flexible
enough to accommodate all the attendees and even made special arrangement with a famous
"burger chain", just to address the additional playing areas/tables
needed for all those who joined. The venue wasn't that "comfortable" though, but the good thing was, they (tournament organizer) acknowledged that fact and have plans for a better run next year. And what's even better was, those who made Day 2 and were still on a winning streak, were all smiles during the event, as seen from the NG album (Gold Rush '11 Day 2 pics).
As for me, I was lucky enough to have a longer sleep, than those who made Day 2. I'll probably try my luck again next year and hopeful for a better showing. For the mean time, allow me to share the deck that I used and how my games went.
Deck List by Jun'ya Iyanaga
Just a brief background on my deck choice. It's more of practically in terms of finances. Since I already have a play set of both the Red-Green lands, Solemn, Thrun and 2 SoFaF. It'll be more wise and will require a lesser investment on my end to acquire the rest of the Wolf Run deck pieces, than opting for the White-Blue Haunted Humans (my primary choice). Even though I liked the Haunted Humans better, based purely from the higher winning percentage against the field (not the Philippines meta) and it's proven success on MtGO. The reality is, it may not be that worth it, to spend that much (cost of the deck) just for one event (Gold Rush 2011). As I don't and can't regularly play constructed in paper magic. With that in mind, I decided to push through with Wolf Run. Besides, it was undefeated during Day 1 of 2011 World Championships and it's winning percentage against the field comes close to to Haunted Humans. So, off to my game results.
Round 1: Won against Brian Acabado, playing Red-White Artifacts (2-0)
>>> I wasn't actually familiar with his build, he's probably running a rogue deck with a mix of Tempered Steel creatures and RDW burn spells? But at the back of my head, my only concern was not losing to a rogue build... ;p
Round 2: Drawn match with Kristian Legaspi, playing Blue-Black Control (1-1-1)
>>> The draw was a consolation, as my opponent told me that he wasn't expecting to lose in our 2nd game as my deck was one of his better match-ups. Oh well, good for me then... :)
Round 1: Won against Brian Acabado, playing Red-White Artifacts (2-0)
>>> I wasn't actually familiar with his build, he's probably running a rogue deck with a mix of Tempered Steel creatures and RDW burn spells? But at the back of my head, my only concern was not losing to a rogue build... ;p
Round 2: Drawn match with Kristian Legaspi, playing Blue-Black Control (1-1-1)
>>> The draw was a consolation, as my opponent told me that he wasn't expecting to lose in our 2nd game as my deck was one of his better match-ups. Oh well, good for me then... :)
Round 3: Lost to John Dahingo, playing Green-Red Wolf Run (0-2)
>>> Just like any mirror-match, whoever had the better draws wins the game. He ramped early to 2 Inferno Titan and that was enough to seal the round, as I was slapped with a game loss for SB issue. Thanks to Vic Lim. Note to self, TRIPLE CHECK your list... ;p
Round 4: Lost to Adrian Ordonez, playing Esper Blade (0-2)
>>> This is where the lacked of play test kicks in. I sided out my spot removals (Galvanic Blast & Shock) and realized it too late. With 2 straight losses, pre-Planeswalker Points system, I would have dropped already, but decided to just continue playing for points and level-up purposes... :)
Round 5: Won against Jonathan Te, playing Green-Red Wolf Run (2-0)
>>> Second mirror-match and my turn to have the better draws. Devil's Play to the face (of my opponent) for both games. My apologies though to Jonathan (a nice guy from Dumaguete and just in case he'll come across this article) if I may have appear to be rude (not intentional), by showing him Devil's Play at end of his turn... :(
Round 6: Won against Mark Zarcadias, playing Blue-Red Counter Burn (2-0)
>>> Opponent got a game loss for showing up late and one game was enough to win the round... :(
Round 7: Won against Jeffrey Kua, playing Bant Pod (2-1)
>>> Lost game 1 to the usual suspects, 3rd turn Pod and the 7
drop Legend. SB card worked their wonder for games 2 & 3. Top deck
moments in game 3, Viridian Corrupter for his Pod and Devil's Play for
Elesh Norn... ;p
Round 8: Drawn match with John Gonzales, playing Grixis Control (1-1-1)
>>> Too tired to remember about what happened in this game, zzz... ;p
>>> Too tired to remember about what happened in this game, zzz... ;p
MVP (Card)
And the end of that grueling hot day, I was 4-2-2 and way too far to make the X-2 Day 2 cut-off. It may have been a bad day for me, but it surely was fun and a great day for the MtG Philippines community, as there were a huge turnout of players and even those outside of Manila (like Olongapo, Dumaguete & Cebu) were represented (which some of them I met during the event). Hopefully next year's Gold Rush will be a cooler venue (literally speaking), a bigger attendance and a lot more fun!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Pinoy Magikero!!!
