Splinter For The Win with MichaelJ

Kudos to our own Michael J Flores for winning the TCGPlayer.com WWS Big Apple this past weekend with the long-threatened Splinter Twin/Deceiver Exarch combo deck. Mike fought his way through a 200+ person field that was split into two separate flights which merged into a single elimination Top 16. There, he squared off with Chris Leveque and Grixis Twin, GP winner Dave Shiels with Caw-Blade, MOCS competitor Reid Duke with Blue-Black Control, and finally — in a show down between the grizzled veteran Flores and the young upstart Flores — Edgar Flores with Caw-Blade.

We talked the Monday after the tournament about the big win, his individual card choices, and the operational techniques he used to get through the very long and grueling event. Here is the decklist he used and as a bonus I have included Top8Magic intern Matt Ferrando’s Bant Blade list which he played to a Top 16 finish — after winning a SCG IQ qualifier with it last week.

Splinter Twin
Michael Flores — Winner
2011 TCGplayer.com WWS Big Apple

4 Deceiver Exarch
2 Inferno Titan
2 Jace Beleren
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Pilgrim’s Eye
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Into the Roil
3 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
2 Spell Pierce
4 Splinter Twin
10 Island
8 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard:
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Dispel
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace’s Ingenuity
2 Manic Vandal
2 Pyroclasm
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spellskite
1 Trinket Mage

You can find all the Top 16 decklists here but I have singled out Matt Ferrando’s Bant Blade and longtime friend of Top8Magic.com’s Luis Neiman’s Dark Blade below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

Talking PyroTwin Combo

Mike Flores and I sat down for a nice windy cup of coffee to discuss his burgeoning love affair with the new PryoTwin decks that will be emerging from the post-New Phyrexia Standard format. Mike has always been a proponent of Pyromancer’s Ascension in Standard, going all the way back to last year’s Nationals season, and with the addition of free spells and the extra Splinter Twin combo thanks to the printing of the flashy new Deceiver Exarch he has declared it to be the deck to beat in the coming weeks. Why does he feel so strongly about it? I guess you will have to give a listen to find out.

Freeking Without Flores Part 2

Limited Information author and Star City Games Content Manager Steve Sadin and I pick up where we left off — more or less — with Michael J Flores in talking about the individual cards from New Phyrexia. We look at different decks the cards might go in ranging from 40 card draft decks to 99 card Commander vessels. It is an exciting and deep set with cards that shake up just about every format. Hope you enjoy it!

PS If you are going to be at the Gray Matter Conventions Prerelease in New York City on Saturday, May 7th both Steve and I will be there.

Freeking Without Flores Part 1

Limited Information author and Star City Games Content Manager Steve Sadin and I pick up where we left off — more or less — with Michael J Flores in talking about the individual cards from New Phyrexia. We look at different decks the cards might go in ranging from 40 card draft decks to 99 card Commander vessels. It is an exciting and deep set with cards that shake up just about every format. Hope you enjoy it!

PS If you are going to be at the Gray Matter Conventions Prerelease in New York City on Saturday, May 7th both Steve and I will be there.

Spoiler Alert (or Freeking with Flores)

Still reeling from the news that World Champion Guillaume Matignon and Worlds Finalist Guillaume Wafo-Tapa — along with two other players — were being suspended from the DCI for their involvement in leaking the New Phyrexia “godbooks” out to the Magic community, Mike and I sat down for a cup of coffee to discuss. We were joined mid conversation by Steve Sadin and then moved on to discuss the blue and white cards from the new set that were made public earlier that week.

Look for some permutation of me, Mike and Steve to talk about the remaining colors later in the week.