HobbyMaster Blog!

This past weekend Hobbymaster was proud to host New Zealand’s final World Magic Cup Qualifiers for 2014. The winner of this event joins 3 other qualified players to represent New Zealand at the World Magic Cup being held in Nice, France in December 2014. 75 players from all over New Zealand filled the Pioneers Women's hall in Auckland (in not-so great wet & windy conditions) to battle out 7 rounds of swiss with a cut to top 8. At the players meeting, head honcho Nick revealed that Vagabond Takapuna has rebranded to Hobbymaster!

With the exciting news of our rebrand, we also introduced a New Zealand first; Live coverage and streaming of the entire event at this competitive level!

Coverage team from L > R : Joe Zheng (NZ team captain for 14), Alan Hale & Douglas Moore! (with our streaming producer Leo Yeung who isn't pictured) Our livestream was hosted through twitch (http://www.twitch.tv/hobbymasternz) which we will continue to use for future live streams. On with the show! Photos from the 7 rounds of swiss.

After 7 rounds of swiss, your top 8 are!

Christopher Hollman (R devotion) Tony Matthews (G/W aggro) Richard Tasker (R devotion) Jason Chung (R/w burn) Dan Bretherton (R/w burn) Zen Takahashi (Naya Planeswalkers) David Williams (G/r devotion) Ranjith Constantine (B/u devotion) Your top 8 matchups are: Christopher Hollman (R devotion) vs Ranjith Constantine (B/u devotion) Tony Matthews (G/W aggro) vs David Williams (G/r devotion) Richard Tasker (R devotion) vs Zen Takahashi (Naya Planeswalkers) Jason Chung (R/w burn) vs Dan Bretherton (R/w burn)

4 big matchups but red decks reign supreme! The top 4 matchups are: Christopher Hollman (R devotion) vs Jason Chung (R/w burn) Richard Tasker (R devotion) vs David Williams (G/r devotion)

Your finalist of the last WMCQ for NZ are: Richard Tasker (R devotion) vs Jason Chung (R/w burn)!

In the 3rd match, Jason topdecks a shock to deal the last 2 points of damage! The winner of the 3rd WMCQ for NZ is.. Jason Chung with Red White burn!

Jason wraps up his win with an interview with Alan and Joe. A big thank you to all the players, judges and staff for putting on a memorable event. A special mention goes to Henry Moore, who came 9th, losing to Ranjith Constantine (who came 8th) by 2%. Stttiinnkkk!

On Saturday, Vagabond Takapuna ran a HUGE standard event with an awesome 28 people taking part! A HUGE amount of store credit & additional prizes for top finishers was on the line as the players battled it out for Standard supremacy!

After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found!

From L > R: Jin Kim (UWR Control), Alistar Harford (BR Minotaurs). Oscar Coombes (Mono B Aggro), Kane Packer (Naya Hexproof), Marius Grossmann (UWR Control), Cayle McCreath (UWR Control), John Miller (Mono B Devotion) and Chang Kim (JUND Monsters)! Kane and John’s FIRST Top 8! Woop!

Our top 4 matchups were Marius Grossmann (UWR Control) vs Chang Kim (JUND Monsters) & Jin Kim (UWR Control) vs Oscar Coombes (Mono B Aggro)

Our finalists are found! Marius who dispatched Kim Chang with his UWR Control deck vs Jin Kim, also with his UWR Control deck. Oh boy. A control mirror! AMERICA!

LETS GET IT ON!

(Land go land go land go)

And your winner is.. Jin Kim! The Champion has returned! (editor:Jin wanted me to write that).  Jin’s hasty stormbreath dragon in game 3 sealed the victory.

On Saturday. Vagabond Takapuna ran it’s largest in store Modern event to date with a massive 53 people taking part! 1st place taking home a HUGE $500 store credit, with additional prizes for top finishers!

Here are some photos taken during round 6.

A big congrats to the top 4! consisting of Matt Rogers, Aaron Sewell, Alex Young and Xin Shen who ended up splitting the top prize! Join us this coming Saturday as we host our STANDARD $500 Super series!

Last Saturday, Vagabond Takapuna hosted it’s Grand Prix Trials Taipei! With a strong showing of 18 players, we had 5 rounds of swiss, cutting to a top 8.

After 5 rounds of swiss, here are your top 8!

From L to R: Jin Kim (B/W midrange), Seph Xie (JUND Monsters), Cayle McCreath (UWR control), Leo Yeung (Mazes End), Alistair Harford (R/B Minotaurs), Tony Matthews (G/W Aggro), Shayne Eyre (JUND Monsters) and Richard Kuoch (G/W Aggro!)

(mazes end top 8! shot Leo)

After a top 8 filled with Minotaurs, Guildgates, Pack rats and pesky Experiment One’s, your finalists are found!

Jin Kim piloting B/W Midrange vs Richard K piloting G/W Aggro!

Jin’s Pack Rats weren’t enough as Richard’s 1 and 2 drops crashed through! Your GPT Taipei winner is Richard!

Congrats on your first GPT Win! Our next HUGE event is the Vagabond Takapuna $500 Super Series!

We sit down with esteemed writer AJ Hale to pick his brains on the upcoming multiplayer format Conspiracy, and how it will impact Commander! June 6th, Conspiracy will stand revealed and we will get a chance to play with a set like we have never seen before. If you haven’t heard the news; Conspiracy is this year’s Multiplayer release! Unlike Planeschase and Archenemy before it, this sets unique mechanics means it is destined to be a draft set. The set has cards that actually interact with you while drafting and looks to be a release unlike any other. So whilst this set isn’t aimed at Commander, it seems steeped in treasures for the format. Today I’m going to touch on some of the important cards which will fall into two categories, the brand new cards and the reprints. The new cards are of course the most exciting but there are a bunch of great reprints that deserve highlighting and should be high on your list of cards to pick up from this set.

To check out the current official spoiler check here

The New Legends

Conspiracy brings us some amazing legends and they will become very important to the format. Brago, King Eternal is the leader of the pack. He’s a four mana U/W flyer who blinks any number of non-land permanents you control when he deals combat damage to a player, this is the nuts! Being able to blink a permanent is one of the best ways to get value in Commander and Brago can do it to your entire board. He will need to be protected but I’m confident he will become one of the best U/W Commanders of all time.

Selvala, Explorer Returned is a mixed bag. Green decks value among all things the ability to create more mana to feed spells like Genesis Wave, Tooth and Nail and Primal Surge. Selvala’s ability doesn’t always guarantee that and the cost, letting your opponent’s draw a card seems too high. She is definitely a fun card but I see her value in group hug decks (of the Bant variety most likely) rather than as a true powerhouse commander (but by all means prove me wrong).

Marchesa, the Black Rose is a welcome addition to the ranks of Grixis commanders. She gives all her team Dethrone (one of the sets new abilities) and I could easily see an aggressive Grixis archetype using her. He second ability to bring back creatures who die with a +1/+1 counter seems easy to abuse, bringing back anything from a Mulldrifter to a Rune-Scarred Demon seems like excellent value. *ahem* Hi Wizards, I see what you wanted to do here, you wanted to design a fixed version of Arcum Dagsson. So you went and designed Muzzio, Visionary Architect. Nice try WOTC but you still created a degenerate blue legend that interacts unfairly with artifacts. Arcum will still be better but in a Muzzio deck it’s going be easy to set up the typical unfair combinations that will often include Darksteel Forge and Mycosynth Lattice.

Grenzo, Dungeon Warden is actually the card that makes my heart flutter. He’s as big as you want him to be and his ability is genuinely something I haven’t seen before. Grenzo has my mind buzzing with possible builds. My first idea is to focus on some sick mana generation combinations. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers and Doubling Cube to start with and then pack the deck out with the best goblins in the format. Mix these together and use Grenzo to do a backwards impersonation of Genesis Wave. Sounds Crazy…can’t wait to try it out. The Rest

Dack Fayden is finally here and he doesn’t disappoint! The greatest thief in the multi-verse has some sweet abilities, he throws away useless cards for fresh ones and has the ability of being able to steal anything from a Sol Ring to a Blightsteel Colossus! Now that’s worth losing two loyalty points for. Dack’s ultimate isn’t nearly as good as the first two, however, I compare it to Venser, the Sojourner’s ultimate that allows you to exile a permanent when you cast a spell. In Commander if you’re targeting a permanent with a spell you’re most likely destroying it or stealing it anyway. Magister of Worth was the secret preview card for this set and it was a great choice. It showcases the Will of the Council mechanic with two huge effects, vote for grace and everyone resurrects all their dead creatures, vote for condemnation and she clears the board. All this on a 4/4 flyer for only six mana. I really like the tension between its two modes and can easily see votes swinging both ways during matches.

Fertilid has always been a staple of the format; Realm Seekers seems like a massive upgrade. Coming into play with +1/+1 counters equal to number of cards in all players hands would seem to guarantee making it a huge beater, add to that you can remove those counters to search for lands is top notch. Need to tutor for Gaea’s Cradle, Maze of Ith, Winding Canyons… Realm Seekers have you covered. I’ve never been a fan of Cruel Edict effects in Commander unless they hit the whole board and Reign of the Pit certainly does that and potentially gives you a massive demon token to boot. Treasonous Ogre automatically breaks one of the rules of Magic, it provides you with free mana! Ok, ok there is a cost, but in general life is just another resource and in Commander and it is often plentiful. Pair this with Children of Korlis and you could be playing some insane haymakers very early in the game. The Reprints Now while there are plenty of new cards to be excited about, another major part of its value for Commander Player’s is in the reprints. So far Conspiracy has not disappointed in this department! the list below covers some of the more important cards you should be on the lookout for:

Reflecting Pool – Excellent fixing for any deck running three colours or more. Exploration – This is the big reprint in my opinion. Breaking the one land per turn limit for only one mana has always been easy to abuse. This is a genuinely hard card to find having only been printed once and now we get the chance to find it in foil. Rout – This has always been a staple mass removal spell and now it has incredible new kick ass art with your favourite Praetor, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite! I’m going to be making sure I have a playset.

Misdirection – This only see’s fringe play in Commander but once again it’s a hard to find card that’s definitely welcome. Brainstorm & Swords to Plowshares – Both of these cards have a number of printings and are well known staples of the format. However in Conspiracy you get the chance to find these in foil! If you open one of these in foil do not pass! Take these first pick!

To celebrate the release of Journey into Nyx, the third and last set in the Theros block,  Vagabond Takapuna held 2 Games days this past weekend! With playmats, full art foils and friendly in store rivalry on the line, 47 players from all over Auckland battled it out in this Standard Constructed event over 2 days!

Day 1! Saturday 24th May 2014 with 31 players

After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found! they were:

From Left to Right: Kim Chang (W/u dukes), Barry Huang (W/r weenie), Egard Ullrich (U/W Control), Josh Commons (W/B humans), Richard Kuoch (Naya Brushstrider Aggro), Gerard Telles (W/B Aggro), Kim Jin (UWR Control) and Shawn Yap (WBR midrange aka ‘screw the rules, i got money’)!

Barry Huang (piloting W/r aggro) and Kim Jin (piloting UWR control) fought through a sea of players to make it to the finals!

Finals! Lets go!

Sheep + Archangel of Thune. too strong.

With no outs in game 3, Barry ulti’d his Ajani for 18 2/2 cats in hopes Kim didn’t have a boardwipe. Kim, being the topdeck master of masters, topdeck’d an anger of the gods to seal the deal!

Kim Jin! Your Saturday Journey into Nyx Games Day winner! Day 2! Sunday 25th May with 17 players.

John’s impressive My Little Pony sleeves.

Your top 8 for Sunday are!

from L to R: Peter Chen (G/R Monsters), Jin Kim (UWR Control), Simon Metcalf (Naya goodstuff) , Robin Jung (Izzet me or Izzet you), Calix Shi (B/W Midrange), Andrew Fuji (UWb with no thoughtseize control), Marius Grossmann (UWR Control), Barry Huang! (W/r weenie)

Our Sunday finalists is a rematch of Saturdays! Kim Jin piloting UWR Control up against Barry piloting W/r aggro once again!

Rematch! rematch!

This time round, Barry’s dukes were superior over Kim’s UWR Control! Congrats on the revenge! We also had some Defeat a god goodness going on as well!

Oh.. and Shawn opened a FOIL Dark Confidant from a Ravnica tournament pack.. such luck. so shiny.

After a year of fierce competition starting in 2013 and stretching into the first quarter of 2014, we have our Eternal League top Eight showdown!

These players rose to the top and after multiple Legacy and Vintage tournaments proved their mettle in the grandest of formats. On Sunday; they battled for the grand prize; a Mox Ruby! Playing a double-elimination Legacy format, two of the eight will make it to the final, where the winner takes home this piece of Vintage jewelry. Your Eternal Series Top Eight are the following players:

From Left to Right: Zen Takahashi (Sneak and Show), Matt Rogers (Shardless), Henry Moore (JUND), Gary Lynch (Esper Deathblade), Michael Trevelyan (BUG Delver), Øystein Kålås (MUD), Alan Peng (Miracles), Adrian Kitto (Dredge).

Nick holding the prize for first place; A Mox Ruby!

After an intense double elimination finals, the 2 last standing were…

With Modern being the hottest format, we’re super excited to be offering a new modern segment in our blog! Here’s the first installment of ‘The Modern Age’ by AJ Hale! The modern format is beginning to kick into overdrive! Grand Prix Richmond had over 4000 players in attendance, and with Modern Pro Tours and Pro Tour qualifier seasons part of the magic calendar; this format is really taken a hold!

The current meta has certainly become dominated by the various Birthing Pod decks since the demise of Jund (the loss of Deathrite Shaman has certainly dented the decks power level). The pod decks are divided into the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and the Melira, Sylvok Outcast versions. Both are able to pull off combo wins, the Kiki version creating infinite attackers with Restoration Angel/Zealous Conscripts and the Melira version hosts both infinite damage and life gain with the interaction of Melira and Kitchen Finks/Murderous Redcap. While both decks offer combo finishes. they can also get it done with their creatures just heading to the red zone. The deck has so many ways to find the tools it needs to win with Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling give the deck un-parralled access to the solutions it may need. The decks main weakness is when it’s bereft of Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling, sometimes the deck can just stall out. So if Pod is at the top of the food chain then isn’t the rest of the article about the deck? Maybe another time… The modern deck I want to talk about is one I feel is pretty well positioned against Pod and the other unfair decks in the format and the one that I believe is the premiere aggro deck in the format…Affinity.

This deck has a very special place in my heart, it took me to my only top four at a Pro-Tour Qualifier and I’ve played various versions of it for years. While the deck is pretty far from its origins (it contains only one card with the Affinity ability) in terms of cards it still retains the same spirit, a quick aggressive deck that can often empty its opening hand on turn one. The deck fared very well in the pod dominated field at Grand Prix Richmond placing two players into the top four.

This last weekend at the Vagabond Takapuna Eternal Series – Dark Confidant Challenge, Affinity once again proved its merit and took Ka Wing Lau to finals and the win over Marius Grossmann who played UWR Tempo. Here is Ka Wings list:

Affinity by Ka Wing Lau 1st Place Eternal Series – Dark Confidant Challenge 22/3/14

Creatures 1x Spellskite 2x Memnite 2x Etched Champion 2x Master of Etherium 3x Steel Overseer 4x Vault Skirge 4x Arcbound Ravager 4x Signal Pest 4x Ornithopter Artifacts/Instants/Sorceries 4x Cranial Plating 3x Galvanic Blast 3x Springleaf Drum 4x Thoughtcast 4x Mox Opal Lands 1x Island 3x Glimmervoid 4x Inkmoth Nexus 4x Blinkmoth Nexus 4x Darksteel Citadel Sideboard 1x Dispatch 1x Pithing Needle 1x Ancient Grudge 1x Spellskite 1x Ethersworn Canonist 1x Grafdigger’s Cage 2x Whipflare 2x Blood Moon 2x Welding Jar 3x Torpor Orb  

So breaking down the main deck, what makes it tick?

Cranial Plating This card is often the power behind this deck. The deck is able to spam out a lot of artifact creatures between Memnite, Ornithopter and Vault Skirge. Cranial Plating can make almost any creature in the deck lethal. Equipping it to an Etched Champion or an Inkmoth Nexus will rapidly run your opponent out of options. Affinity as a deck may change but it is unlikely it will ever lose Cranial Plating.

Mox Opal & Springleaf Drum These allow you have some of the most busted opening hands with Affinity. Both cards allow you to chain spells and with the change to the Legendary rule, Mox Opal has gotten better allowing you to chain multiple copies. Any combination of these will allow you have a full board before your opponent can even crack their first fetchland.

Master of Etherium & Steel Overseer This duo gives the deck some extra punch in the mid game. If the Overseer gets active, even Ornithopter can get into the redzone without the help of a Cranial Plating. Master of Etherium is a great anthem effect for your team and will generally out power almost any other creature in the modern format.

Arcbound Ravager While numbers on this card often rise and fall, it has always made the main deck. It helps blank your opponent’s removal and allows for some great tricks in combination with Inkmoth Nexus (dumping all your counters on an Inkmoth can allow for some quick poison kills). Ka Wing definitely believes in its power and packs the full number of copies.

There are a number of other cards I could talk about but many of them are staples for the deck, of interest is the main deck Spellskite. This card has become one of the all-stars of the format. It can re-direct a Lightning Bolt or Splinter Twin with ease. Having one main deck seems a great decision on Ka Wings part.

The Sideboard nicely rounds out the deck. Blood Moon is one of the game breaking sideboard cards to rise to prominence post Grand Prix Richmond and the Pro-Tour. Affinity can easily work around the colour requirements with Mox Opal and Springleaf Drum (although it does cancel out its Nexus plan). Torpor Orb and Pithing Needle are great answers to the pod decks; Torpor Orb simply shuts off all of their combo options. Welding Jar is a card I often included in my main deck while Ka Wing has it in the board. It’s a favourite of mine acting as a free counter spell for your opponents removal. It can act to protect your team at instant speed; it represents excellent value out of the sideboard.

On the Sunday 23rd of March 2014;  Vagabond Takapuna held the last of it’s Eternal Series tournaments, the format? Modern!  With top finishes winning Modern staples including Fetchlands, a Dark Confidant & original Ravnica shocklands. 29 players from all over Auckland battled it out in this Modern constructed tournament!

After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found!

From L-R Marius Grossmann, Kim Jin, Kawing Lau, Eric Viola, Calum Gittins, Johnson Lau, Alan Peng and William Li! Our Quarterfinal pairings were:

Marius Grossmann vs Jin Kim

Eric Viola vs Kawing Lau

Johnson Lin vs Calum Glittins

and Alan Peng vs William Li After a tough Quarter finals, the top 4 are! Marius Grossmann vs Alan Peng & Calum Glittins vs Kawing Lau!

Marius’s UWR Geist Tempo wins over Alan’s Storm! Yourrrr finalists aarreeeee: Marius with his UWR Geist Tempo vs Kawing Lau’s Affinity!

The Prize?! Winner gets first pick of these + an original Ravnica shock land!

After an intense final, your winner is…

Kawing Lau piloting Affinity! Congrats!! During the top 8, we held something a little special and spicy for our drafters..

That’s right! an UNHINGED draft! Our mad participants drafted triple Unhinged. Oh and how hilarity ensued!

Literally reading EVERY card.

Some of the Unhinged shenanigans that took place were:

Shoe counters. +2/+2 counters never looked so comfy.

Playing your land on your arm. Shot Peter.

A spot of Arm wrestling (Sorry Calix, Nicolette wins)

Stiff arms (participants can’t bend their elbows)

Participants unable to touch resolved cards with their skin or fingernails (thus resulting using a pen to tap creatures)

We’re super excited to be offering a new segment on our blog! Here’s the first installment of ‘Alan’s Commander Corner’!

Welcome to the first article for the NEW section, dubbed ‘Alan’s Commander Corner!’ To preface this article, let me say I am a committed Commander player. I’ve been among one of the first players in Auckland to play the format and have done my best to spread the Commander gospel.

So without further a due, let’s get down to what I’ve been brewing this week! My deck for this week is titled Marath of the Tokens.

Marath of the Wild is one new legendary creatures from the Commander 2013 decks. The Naya combination of colours (red/green/white) is not one I’ve considered before despite it having a number of strong commanders like Hazezon Tamar, Mayael the Anima and Uril, the Miststalker. However, Marath has a number of things going for Elemental Beast; its cheap to play and like a number of the new commanders there is no downside to recasting it. With three different abilities, it has the feel of a swiss army knife. However it’s the ability to make elemental tokens that is the starting point of the deck. For one mana you can remove a counter and make a 1/1 elemental token, it’s very efficient and every time you recast Marath he takes on additional counters. Naya is the colour combination that can really take advantage and support Marath.

The Deck Marath brings Friends – Naya Tokens

Creatures Marath, Will of the Wild Trostani’s Summoner Rampaging Baloths Dragon Broodmother Wolfbriar Elemental Terastodon Hornet Queen Dragonlair Spider Avenger of Zendikar Regal Force Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Vigor Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre Solemn Simulacrum Oracle of Mul-Daya Craterhoof Behemoth Acidic Slime Eternal Witness Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Seedborn Muse Essence of the Wild

Planeswalkers Garruk Wildspeaker

Enchantments Parallel Lives Doubling Season Mana Reflection Mirari’s Wake Aura Shards Bow of Nylea Goblin Bombardment Hammer of Purphoros Spear of Heliod Rest in Peace Sylvan Library Fires of Yavimaya

Artifacts Akroma’s Memorial Eldrazi Monument Thran Dynamo Doubling Cube Strionic Resonator Chromatic Lantern Gilded Lotus Sol Ring Coalition Relic

Instants & Sorceries Martial Coup Devout Invocation Austere Command Titanic Ultimatum Ranger’s Path Far Seek Cultivate Explosive Vegetation Worldly Tutor Enlightened Tutor Boros Charm Howl of the Night Pack Eladamri’s Call Tooth and Nail

Lands Windswept Heath Arid Mesa Wooded Foothills Command Tower Opal Palace Homeward Path Reflecting Pool Gaea’s Cradle Kessig Wolf-Run Fire-Lit Thicket Rugged Prairie Wooded Bastion Stomping Ground Temple Garden Sacred Foundry Terramorphic Expanse Evolving Wilds Gavony Township Temple of the False God Plateau Taiga Savannah Winding Canyons Gruul Turf Sunpetal Grove Clifftop Retreat Selesnya Sanctuary Boros Garrison Secluded Steppe Tranquil Thicket Forgotten Cave Jungle Shrine Mountain x4 Plains x4 Forest x4 The Lands

The land base is pretty simple. It’s stocked with Fetchlands and dual lands. Playing magic for a number of years has let me accumulate a lot of cards. If you don’t have a collection as extensive as mine, never fear. Return to Ravnica dual lands are easy to get at the moment. Guildgates, Theros block scry lands or the core set duals are staple replacements. Three of my favourite non-basic lands in the deck are Winding Canyons (allowing you to cast creatures on other players turns), Kessig Wolf-run (a great way to make any attacking creature a threat) and Gavony Township (Allows you to pump up any horde of tokens). The deck isn’t all non-basics, it runs a healthy number of basic lands as many of your ramp spells only search up basic lands and it also allows you to have some game when all your non-basic lands get destroyed. The Ramp

There is a simple reason green is the best colour in Commander, RAMP! If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it simply means the ability to either put additional lands into play or have permanents that generate additional mana. Green has access to spells like Kodama’s Reach, Cultivate and Ranger’s Path, each allows you to get to your big drops quicker. The usual band of artifact ramp is included with Sol Ring, Coalition Relic, Gilded Lotus and Chromatic Lantern (with the last two smoothing your mana as well as ramping it). We also make use of enchanments such as Mirari’s Wake and Mana Reflection to keep the mana plentiful as we play our big spells. The Creatures

In Commander, creature selection is vital to making your deck perform. This is now the place for vanilla creatures! Every creature either works for the token theme or provides utility. Creatures who bring friends with them (In this case tokens) are our choice for the deck, we run Avenger of Zendikar, Dragon Broodmother, Hornet Queen and Rampaging Baloths to name a few. Many of these creatures can seal games by themselves with the right assistance. The others are the utility creatures. They either have fantastic come into play affects such as Eternal Witness, Regal Force, Craterhoof Behemoth and Acidic Slime or they provide static effects like Oracle of Mul Daya (I could easily write an article on this as my favourite creature in Commander!), Vigor and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or activated abilities like Kiki-Jiki, The Mirror Breaker. Each creature has terrific value and resolving any of them should put your opponents in a tough position. The Spells

The deck doesn’t have a huge number of instants and sorceries but they all pack a punch. Several are straight token generators with Martial Coup (which doubles as Wrath of God effect), Devout Invocation and Howl of the Night Pack. We run several tutors to find both creatures and enchantments with Eladamri’s Call, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor and the most feared tutor in Commander, Tooth and Nail! It is a brutally efficient spell, entwined and costing nine mana is a steal to tutor up two creatures and put them directly into play. Many decks just use this as a finisher as there are a number of infinite kills that can be pulled off. Putting Kiki-Jiki and Restoration Angel into play allows you to create an infinite number of hasty angels allowing you to kill every player at the table. My deck purposely avoids this (for reasons I shall cover later) but combinations like Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force are still very powerful. Token Support

The deck also supports the token theme with a number of enchantments and artifacts designed to buff your horde. Eldrazi Monument and Akroma’s Memorial often will blank any removal your opponent has to deal with your team while Doubling Season and Parallel Lives will simply double your team. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Marath brings Friends.

The Strengths This deck simply packs in every good token generator and plenty of mana ramp to make sure you can play it early in the game. It has a superb mana base between its dual lands and fetchlands. The deck can simply put out an overwhelming number of creatures and turn them sideways very quickly.

The Weaknesses Despite having powerful cards, it has a few issues (some of which are built in on purpose). The deck has very few answer cards, by this I mean cards that can deal with problematic permanents under your opponents control. Acidic Slime and Aura Shards can deal with artifacts and enchantments but we only run two mass removal spells in the form of Martial Coup and Austere Command. The reason for this is that I so often like to play my own game rather than my opponents game. I like to be the one making the big plays rather than trying to stop my opponents plays. Of course depending on your play group you could adjust this in your own build. The second weakness is simply a lack of card draw, the deck runs Sylvan Library and Regal Force but this simply too few options. Despite all the powerful cards the deck can run out of gas in the long game. The final weakness is a lack of a combo kill. This is on purpose as I’m simply not a fan of killing everyone at once. I won’t deny having plenty of powerful cards but combos like Melira, Sylvan Outcast/Woodfall Primus or Kiki-Jiki/Restoration Angel really don’t do it for me. I prefer games were everyone gets to play with their toys that and there is nothing like the thrill of getting down to yourself and just one opponent on a table.

So that’s my Monster in a hundred cards. Is it perfect? Not by a longshot! The mana base requires some refining plus squeezing in a few extra basic lands would be nice. The main deck could do with a few more answers cards with more ways to remove troublesome artifacts and enchantments plus the deck could benefit from the Theros planeswalkers Elspeth, Suns Champion and Xenagos, the Reveler. But the only real way to improve the deck is to get more games in, so far it’s been a blast. So if you’re looking for a Naya Commander look no further than the little elemental that could!

Next Time: Whose the best Commander for you? Is there a best Commander?

To celebrate the release of Born of the Gods, the second set in the Theros block,  Vagabond Takapuna held 2 Games days this past weekend! With playmats, full art foils and friendly in store rivalry on the line, 59 players from all over Auckland battled it out in this Standard Constructed event over 2 days!

Day 1! Saturday 1st March 2014 with 37 players

After 6 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found! they were:

Left-Right) Pheonix Taku (Boros Burn), Andrew Fuji (R/G Monsters), Alexander Shmagin (Esper Control), Sephiroth Xie (Bant Walkers), Marius Grossmann (W splash U devotion), Peter Chen(R/G Monsters), Richard Kuoch (BW Midrange) and Alex Lim(R/G Monsters)!

After a knockout Quarter finals, Pheonix Taku (Boros Burn), Andrew Fuji (R/G Monsters), Alex Lim (R/G Monsters) and Sephiroth Xie (Bant Walkers) all advancing to the Semi’s! The Semi final pairings were Pheonix Taku (Boros Burn) VS Andrew Fuji (R/G Monsters) and Alex Lim (R/G Monsters) VS Sephiroth Xie (Bant Walkers).

With both Alex Lim and Andrew Fuji advancing to the Finals, we have a G/R Monsters Mirror! Lets see who turns sideways first!

And the person with the most sideways turningness is…

ALEX LIM! Alex was so excited he couldn’t stay still for his victory photo. All goods Alex, all goods. We also had some Face the Horde action going on!

DAY 2! Sunday 2nd March 2014 with 22 players. (the photographer apologises for the lack of photos on Day 2. Here’s a tip, don’t play Esper Control if you have to take photos inbetween rounds :P)

We had 5 rounds of swiss on Sunday, here’s your top 8!

From Left - Right (Not including the photobombers.. Thanks John and Ryan..) Robin Jung (Esper Control), Sephiroth Xie (Bant Walkers), Andrew Fuji (R/G Monsters), Marcus ‘forgothisobzedattrigger’ Wong (Esper Midrange), Chris Grimshaw (U/W control), Simon Metcalf (Bant Walkers), Marius Grossmann! (R/G Monsters) and Chang Kim (Naya, not pictured).

Phew! The semi finalist matchups were Marcus Wong (Esper Midrange) vs Chris Grimshaw (U/W Control) vs Marius Grossmann (R/G Monsters) vs Andrew Fuji (R/G Monsters). R/G monster mirror again! (turn sideways faster Marius).

After a long winded Semi Finals, your finalists are: Marius Grossman vs Chris Grimshaw!

A decision between the players was made, and your winner of Sundays Born of the Gods Games day is..

Marius Grossman! A BIG Thank you to all of our players who joined us for both our Games Days. Congrats once again to Alex and Marius for being our Born of the Gods Games Day champions! Our next event This Saturday (8th March 2014) is for our under 16 Magic Players!

On the Sunday 23rd of February 2014;  Vagabond Takapuna held it’s yearly big vintage tournament; the Andy Fletcher type 1 tournament! With 1st place winning the coveted Andy Fletcher Cup , over 20 players from all over New Zealand battled it out in this no proxie Vintage constructed tournament.

After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found!

The top 8 are (in no particular order) : James White, Gene Brumby, Luke Melhuish, Alan Peng, Dan Adam Sy, David McCurdy, Glenn Louis and Adrian Kitto! Here are some snaps of the Quarterfinals & Semifinals.

After an intense Quarter and Semi finals, we’re left with 2 finalists!

Louis Glenn piloting Dredge vs Alan Peng piloting Storm! In addition to winning the coveted Andy Fletcher Cup, both players are playing for the bonus prize of either a Foil Sol Ring or Mana Crypt! (shiny)

And your Andy Fletcher cup winner for 2014 is..

Alan Peng! Woo! Go on Alan, strike a pose!

This past weekend Vagabond Takapuna held a it’s second big tournament of 2014; the Grand Prix Trials: Melbourne! With byes at the GP Melbourne, a VIP package and a full booster box on the line, nearly 30 players from all over Auckland battled it out in this Standard Constructed event.

After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found!

From L-R: Eric Viola (Mono Black Devotion), Alan Grooby (R/G Monsters), Jacob Snellaert (R/W Devotion), Nic Andisen (B/W Devotion), Matt Rogers (Mono Black Devotion), Will Hemmington (W/R aggro), Gerrard Telles (W/R aggro) & William Li (Mono Black Devotion). Our pairings for top 8 are: Alan (G/R) vs Matt (mono B), Eric (mono B) vs Will Hemmington (W/R), Jacob (W/R) vs William Li (mono B) and Nic (B/W) vs Gerrard (W/R).

A long quarter finals was had, and our semi finalist match ups were found. They were: Matt Rogers (Mono B) vs William Li (Mono B) & Eric Viola (Mono B) vs Gerrard (W/R aggro).

The mono black mirror saw Matt Rogers victorious over William Li (sorry buddy!) and Gerrard with his W/R aggro victorious against Eric with his Mono black. YOUR FINALISTS!

Gerrard piloting his W/R aggro against Matt Rogers pack rats. Get in. A decision between the 2 players was made and a deal was struck! Matt Rogers received his 2 GP Melbourne byes and the box was split between Matt and Gerrard. What nice guys! Your GPT MELBOURNE WINNER IS..

Matt Rogers winning once again with Pack Rats and Co! Mono Black is still the deck to beat! Congrats Matt! A HUGE thank you to all players who attended our GPT! We were also happy to reveal (and tease) our new Hobbymaster token designed by illustrator PodgyPanda ; the Pack Rat!

They weren’t ready at the GPT, but our shipment JUST came in! EXCITED! Place any order on our online store (www.hobbymaster.co.nz) or purchase anything at our retail store here in Takapuna and we’ll give you a rat token, FREE! whilst stocks last. EXCITEEEE! With Mono Black being the top tier deck to beat, we don’t think our rat tokens will stick around for long! A few of our readers have asked for decklists, so here they are! Our finalists decklists MATT ROGERS MONO BLACK DEVOTION 4x Desecration Demon 4x Nightveil Specter 4x Pack Rat 4x Gray Merchant of Asphodel 4x Thoughseize 4x Underworld Connections 4x Devour Flesh 2x Pharika’s Cure 4x Hero’s Downfall 18x Swamps 4x Temple of Silence 4x Mutavault SIDEBOARD 2x Erebos, God of the Dead 3x Dark Betrayal 3x Duress 3x Lifebane Zombie 3x Doomblade 1x Ratchet Bomb GERRARD TELLES W/R AGGRO 3x Dryad Militant 3x Imposing Sovereign 4x Boros Elite 4x Soldier of the Pantheon 4x Precinct Captain 4x Banisher Priest 3x Daring Skyjek 2x Azorius Arrester 1x Cavalry Pegasus 3x Spear of Heliod 3x Boros Charm 4x Brave the elements 10x Plains 4x Sacred Foundry 4x Temple of Triumph 4x Mutavault SIDEBOARD 2x Boros Reckoner 2x Fiendslayer Paladin 1x Pacifism 1x Boros Charm 1x Celestial Flare 2x Mizzium Mortars 1x Wear/Tear 2x Skull Crack 2x Last Breath 1x Chain to the Rocks We’ve got some SUPER DUPER Born of the Gods prerelease’s planned this weekend!

AAANNND We’ve still got our pre-orders open for our Born of the Gods booster boxes and packs!

This past weekend on the 18th of January 2014, Vagabond Takapuna held a special Standard and draft tournament named ‘ALAN’S BIRTHDAY super Saturday Standard’. This was a FREE event and winner got to take home a FULL booster box. Happy Born Day Alan!

We had a packed store with close to 30 players from all over Auckland, playing out 5 rounds of swiss, cutting to a top 8.

Peter. SO excited to see Danny. After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found! They were:

From L-R: Zoran Senicic, Chris Grimshaw, Nigel Lee, Chris Baker, Marius Grossmann, Peter Chen, Xin Shen and Robin Jung (his first top 8. Yeah buddy!). Oh yeah, with birthday boy Alan too. Our Quarter-final matches were:

Chris Baker (R/W Devotion) vs Zoran Senicic (R/W Devotion)

Xin Shen (Mono Blue) vs Nigel Lee (W/x aggro)

Marius Grossmann (W/B aggro) vs Robin Jung (Mono Black)

and Chris Grimshaw (U/W Control) vs Peter Chen (Naya Hexproof) After a knock out top 8, Our Semi-Final match ups were:

Chris Grimshaw (U/W Control) vs Marius Grossmann (W/B aggro) and..

Xin Shen (Mono Blue) vs Chris Baker (R/W Devotion) Both U/W Control & Mono Blue were victorious in their semi finals! After an exhausting top 8, the finalists for Alan’s Birthday Extravaganza is..

Xin Shen piloting Mono Blue vs Chris Grimshaw piloting U/W Control!

A grindy finals match was had, our winner of the FREE full booster box was..

Xin Shen! With his Mono Blue goodness. Valueeee! Whilst the top 8 was being battled out, we held a special birthday draft for the other players, which consisted of..

1 Theros pack, 1 Innistrad pack, and 1 Modern Masters!

Players waiting for the draft to start. With 3 full pods participated in Alan’s special birthday draft, there was much fun to be had. Lots of value was pulled from the modern master’s pack, which added to a fun day of magic.

Zoran even won a Commander 2013 deck as a spot prize! Sweet! We here at Vagabond Takapuna would like to thank all the players that turned up to help celebrate Alan’s Birthday! Happy Birthday ALAN!! Our next BIG Saturday event is THIS SATURDAY! Grand Prix Trials: Melbourne!

This past weekend Vagabond Takapuna held a it’s first big tournament of 2014; the Grand Prix Trials: Kuala Lumpur! With byes at the GP KL and a full booster box on the line, 22 players from all over Auckland battled it out in this Standard Constructed event.

After 5 rounds of swiss, our top 8 was found!

Your top 8 are: Zen Takahashi, Eric Viola , Xin Shen, Matt Rogers, Jacob Snellaert, Barry Huang, Ryan Welson and Isaac Oldham! Our pairings for top 8 were: Zen vs Ryan, Barry vs Jacob, Eric vs Isaac & Mat vs Xin.

After an intense quarterfinal, we’re left with our top 4! The semifinal matches are Eric vs Jacob & Ryan vs Matt.

Your Grand Prix Trials: Kuala Lumpur finalists are…

Eric Viola piloting G/R Monsters & Matt Rogers piloting Mono-Black!

With the score tied up at 1-1, an unfortunate mulligan to 6 saw Eric loose to some scary Desecration demons.. which means.. your GPT KL winner is..

Matt Rogers! Mono black strikes once again (pack rat anyone?) Matt takes home a FULL booster box of Theros + 2 GP byes for Grand Prix: Kuala Lumpur. Congrats Matt! Interested in our future events? Stay up to date by liking our facebook page! Our next 2 BIG events coming up are:

Our store manager Alan’s BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA! Saturday 18th of Jan, And the week after that..

This past weekend Vagabond Takapuna held a Vintage tournament as part of it’s ‘Eternal Series’. The weekend saw 13 players compete which cut to a top 4, battling it out for a rare Italian Mana Drain and store credit.

After 5 rounds, our top 4 players were found!

From L to R: Alan Peng, Adrian Kitto, Jonathan Lee and Matt Rogers. Our pairings for the top 4 were: Matt Rogers vs Alan Peng, and Jonathan Lee vs Adrian Kitto.

Our finalists were: Matt Rogers vs Jonathan Lee!

And the winner is..

This past weekend on the 7th of December 2013, Vagabond Takapuna held a special Standard and draft tournament dubbed ‘NICK’S BIRTHDAY super Saturday Standard’. The difference between this and other Saturday tournaments held at Vagabond Takapuna? There was no entry fee.. AND the winner walks away with a FULL standard legal booster box of their choice. FREE. zomg so much value. 

We had a strong number of 30+ players showing up from all over Auckland, playing it out in 5 rounds of swiss, cutting to a top 8.

(I’d just like to point out Robin and James’s Capt’ America bromance..)

After 5 rounds of Swiss, we ended up with our Top 8!

In no particular order, we have Alan Peng, Henry Moore, Jin Kim, Aaron Sewell, Barry Huang, Jacob Snellaert, Joochan and Sophie Dyson! After a ‘hair raising’ top 8, we ended up with our finalists:

Henry Moore with Mono black and Jacob Snellaert with Mono red! (look how happy Henry is with his pack rats.. damn pack rats..) And our winner of the mono matchup is..

Henry! Above we see Nick awarding Henry with his loot. Fulll boooster box. awwww yeah! Whilst the top 8 of standard was going on, we had a unique ‘NICK’S BIRTHDAY’ draft, where 25+ players drafted these 3 beauties..

awww yeah! with 3 full pods drafting a pack of Modern Masters, pack of Innistrad and a pack of Theros, it was an interesting draft indeed! Unfortunately we didn’t have photos of the draft as our photographer scrubbed out hard.. *cough* Lots of value was pulled from the Modern Masters packs storewide, with echo’s of oo’s and ahh’s and “what’s this worth?!?!” chanting across the store. The play of the day award goes to young player Quinn (seen on the left) against our Vagabond Takapuna regular Douglas (seen on the right)

Both Quinn and Douglas had each a resolved Boros Reckoners on the board, with Doug sitting on 6 life. Quinn swung in with his Boros Reckoner, which Doug blocked. Quinn TITAN’S STRENGTHED (+3/+1) DOUG’S Reckoner, which dealt 6 damage to Quinn’s Boros Reckoner, in turn redirecting the 6 damage to Douglas’s face for lethal. VALUE. We here at Vagabond Takapuna would like to thank all the players that turned up to help celebrate Nick’s Birthday! Happy Birthday NICK! For more information about future events like this, stay tuned to our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VagabondTakapuna ! P.S CAKE. (thanks Nicolette for the cupcakes and Jess for the cake!)