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 »

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.

hashtagJaceHammer

I caught up with Mike the other day to discuss the online clamor about Jace, The Mind Sculptor utterly dominating finish at Grand Prix: Dallas. We went on to discuss playing in Regionals this weekend including not only what to play but what the proper spousal compensation for taking a precious Saturday afternoon to do so is. Other topics included “bird” watching, Mike’s mono-white control deck for Standard, and the impending Game of Thrones series on HBO.

Carmelo Cast

Anyone who follows me (@Top8Games) or Steve Sadin (@stevesadin) on Twitter is probably aware of how excited we were about the Carmelo Anthony trade that has brought him to the New York Knicks. Anyone who follows Mike (@fivewithflores) knows what a basketball fan he is and it was impossible for us to not get together and chat about the trade, argue about the merits of various players, and — once the dust settled — talk plenty about Magic as well.

The original plan for the podcast was to talk while Mike’s daughter Bella took her karate class. The class got canceled and Bella was available to set us straight on what cards Steve should have played in his deck for Magic Weekend in Paris, who wins in a fight between Jace and Great Sable Stag, and what the best Planeswalker actually is. Here is a hint:

This should have been posted sooner but circumstances entirely within my control conspired to delay it. Shortly after this goes up I will be headed over to Katz’s Delicatessen for what will hopefully become Katz Kast with several dozen Magic players including the likes of out-of-towners Gerry Thompson, Megan Holland, and Gavin Verhey who are all visiting for the SCG Open Series in Edison, New Jersey this weekend.

The A-B-Sieged of Mirrodin

A couple of days ago MIchael Flores and I sat down and the new Top8Magic.com offices and started talking about the cards in Mirrodin Besieged in anticipation of the coming Prerelease weekend. The podcast is largely traffic and jackhammer free but there is a section toward the end when we go and play in traffic. We wander through the at-the-time spoiled cards and talk about their impact on formats ranging from booster drafts to Standard and even a little Commander (although, to be fair,  that discussion included a lot of MIke saying “What is Commander?”)

Good luck to everyone playing in a Prerelease this weekend and choose your side wisely!