My Journey to Winning the SEA Regional Championship using Azorius Control

How It All Started

It was August 1, 2022 when I asked my wife if I can buy tickets to the Dota 2 International Tournament happening in Singapore on October and she said yes. She treated it as an early birthday gift as my birthday is also on October. We agreed that I can only buy a maximum of 2 playoff day tickets as the finals ticket was very expensive. Sadly when they opened the online sale for the tickets, they were sold out in 30 minutes. The only option left was to buy from scalpers but their selling price is 3 times the original price which I was not willing to pay for.

I was trying to look for an alternative birthday gift to myself and I found out from my Team Chambaleros (group of Filipino MTG players who live in Singapore) that there is an upcoming big Modern Tournament – MTG SEA Championships Singapore Open. I actually quit MTG in 2018 when my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child so I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to join a big tournament where I had no idea what the current Modern Meta was. It was just less than a month until the tournament and I just said to my wife that if I join at least I will have a good time playing together with my Team Chambalero friends as most of them were already registered. I registered and playtested in MTGO some of the top tier Modern decks at that time which were Izzet Murktide, Hammer Time, Burn and Living End.

I was so close to playing Izzet Murktide because of how consistent the deck was and it has counterspells which I am a big fan of. But in the last few weeks leading to the tournament I saw a very interesting deck that placed 1st and 3rd on the same tournament. Ross Merriam and Corey Baumeister played the same Jeskai Breach deck with only a few cards different.

Just like any normal MTG player would do, I playtested it in MTGO and I was losing a lot as I didn’t know the “ins and outs” of the deck. Eventually with a few more practice, reading of articles and even subscribing to the patreon of Corey, I managed to somewhat master the combo deck. I decided that day that this will be the deck I will be playing in the MTG SEA Championships Singapore Open with a few key changes to the Sideboard. Now that I have chosen a deck, problem solved right? Not really! It was only 3 days left before the tournament and because it has been 4 years since I played tabletop Magic, I totally forgot I needed to buy the physical cards. Good thing I managed to buy like 99% of the deck from random people just in time. The night when I was sleeving up my deck, I noticed something missing. My deck required 2 basic lands (an Island and a Mountain) but I didn’t have any because I sold all my cards 4 years back when I quit. I immediately messaged my Team Chambaleros in Whatsapp to ask if they can lend me the basic lands. At first they thought I was trolling fortunately I managed to convince my friend Ryan Aguila to lend me very nice looking basic lands on the day of the tournament. Fast forward to the tournament itself, I ended up 6-0-2 in the Swiss rounds with the last 2 rounds being intentional draws and then I lost in the Finals to finish 2nd overall. Because of this, I was qualified to the SEA Regional Championship.

I had no idea what Pioneer format was after the MTG SEA Championships Singapore Open. I started studying the format 1 month before the tournament and I noticed it is very different from Modern. Pioneer is slower and it has a wide range of deck choices. I was a bit worried at that time because the SEA Regional Championship will be my first Pioneer tabletop tournament. After doing a lot of playtesting of the top tier decks in MTGO, I eventually decided to play Azorius Control. Same problem as before I only made the decision a few days before the tournament date so I quickly posted a WTB in MTG forums here in Singapore. Luckily, my Team Chambaleros friend Conrad Dungan messaged me and said he has most of the cards I need. Richmond Tan also let me borrow 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. I bought the remaining missing cards in Games Haven Singapore.

This is the point where it gets interesting. I already have all the cards I needed for my deck but I wasn’t registered yet. I was actually planning to register and submit my decklist after my work on Friday night, November 25th. It was 10PM of November 24th when Conrad reminded me that the deadline is already next morning for the registration and for submitting the decklist. I quickly paid the registration fee but I noticed that in Mtgmelee I was not preregistered and it was giving me the error “You must be preregistered by the organizer to register”. It was already 1AM on November 25th and still I have not yet successfully registered.

I contacted Oracle Events, MTG SEA Championship IG account and Mtgmelee support. Basically I was panicking! Again, I am saying the word luckily because it was really pure luck. Luckily, Brad Nelson helped me get preregistered and I finally was able to successfully register and submit my decklist!

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Deck Choice

How do I choose a deck for such big tournaments? I first playtest as much as possible the top tier decks of the current meta of the tournament format. This is where MTGO becomes a big advantage because you can build decks in just minutes and they are way cheaper than buying the physical copies. I also always check the recent win rates in the past 15 and 30 days of the top tier decks. I noticed that Azorius Control has a better overall win rate than Mono Green Devotion and Rakdos Midrange but it has a very bad win rate against faster decks like Mono White Humans.

Courtesy of Mtgdecks.net

Using this data, I tweaked my main deck to exchange the 4 Portable Hole to 3 Temporary Lockdown to make my matchups against faster decks easier to deal with thus increasing my win rate especially on game 1. Temporary lockdown acts like a mini-sweeper compared to Supreme Verdict and Farewell but it is very effective especially against Mono White Humans where they can easily end the game in turn 4. The downside to this change is that you will be a bit weaker in your matchup against Mono Green Devotion because you will not be able to remove their first turn elf on your turn 1. But there will be games wherein they will cast multiple elves and Wolfwillow Havens and then on your turn you cast Lockdown, it is almost good as you already won the game except if they draw their Boseiju.

In my opinion, Azorius Control is the best deck in Pioneer when it is an open deck list tournament. It gives a major advantage to reactive decks like control as it makes sideboarding a lot easier.

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Playtesting

The way I playtest is very standard and some of you might think that I am an MTGO grinder which definitely I am not. I have a full time job and I also prioritize my wife and 2 daughters over MTG. The only time I can playtest is at night when my kids are already asleep. Below excel screenshot shows how I document my playtesting games. It will show which matchups I am strong against and matchups where I need to tweak my sideboard for. These were the games I playtested 3 days before the SEA Regional Championship and I noticed that Selesnya Angels and Selesnya Auras were being played a lot in MTGO which were favorable matchups for me. This also reinforced my idea of switching from Portable Hole to Temporary Lockdown is correct.

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Deck Tech

https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/260577

Let us start with Lands. Some Azorius Control decks have 27 or 28 lands but I kept mine at 26 because I have 11 cards that I can cycle (Censor, Shark Typhoon and Irrigated Farmland). My utility lands are standard but the thing I want to highlight is the ratio of Glacial Fortress to Deserted Beach. In my initial playtesting I had 4 Deserted Beach and 2 Glacial Fortress which gave me problems exactly on turn 2. I can’t cast Censor, Dovin’s Veto or March of Otherworldly Light to exile their turn 1 Elf. This is the main reason why I went ahead with 4 Glacial Fortress instead of 4 Deserted Beach.

Planeswalkers are quite standard as well with 3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and 3 The Wandering Emperor. I actually had 1 Narset, Parter of Veils in my initial playtesting but it was only good against Phoenix and in the Mirror otherwise I was always siding it out so I moved it to the sideboard instead.

For Counterspells, I was already convinced that I needed 4 Censor and 4 Absorb so I was left contemplating on how many Dovin’s Veto should I play and if I should play Make Disappear. Dovin’s Veto is a key card in certain matchups like the Mirror, Lotus Field and Mono Green Devotion while Make Disappear’s power doesn’t come from the fact that it can counter creatures or copy itself using Casualty. Its main advantage is the fear that it creates against your opponents that now they need to play around both Censor and Make Disappear. Some opponents will try to play around it by keeping up 2 mana open and this will then delay them for a turn or two. The biggest disadvantage of Make Disappear however which made me cut it from the deck is that there will be cases wherein it will be a dead card especially for games that drag out.

For card advantage drawing cards, the best 2 options for Azorius Control decks are Memory Deluge and Behold the Multiverse. I prioritized Behold the Multiverse having 2 copies because it is resilient against discard decks like Rakdos Midrange, Greasefang and Lotus Field when they use Thought Distortion. It is also easier to cast it against aggro decks because of Foretell so I normally sideout Deluge against Aggro decks but I keep Behold the Multiverse.

Probably the most controversial one is my anti-creature package. I already explained in the Deck Choice section why I chose to main deck 3 Temporary Lockdown. The other cards like 3 Supreme Verdicts, 2 March of Otherworldly Light and 1 Farewell are quite standard so no need for explanation. The only cards left are the 2 Fateful Absence which I must say impressed me a lot. There were a lot of times during the tournament when my opponent casted a creature with CMC 3 and up or a Planeswalker and they tapped out then end of their turn I cast Fateful Absence. On my turn I cast either Farewell or Temporary Lockdown which also removes the clue token created by Fateful Absence. The other reason why this card impressed me a lot is its ability to kill creature lands or some call “Manlands”.

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Tips and Tricks

I included some non-MTG related tips because we are playing a control deck, expect that some games will go to the last 5 turns so you wont have enough time to eat a proper meal.

  • Get a good night’s sleep the day before, you will definitely need it
  • Have a heavy breakfast
  • Bring enough food and water
  • Go to the toilet every after match
  • Manage the clock wisely, concede the game if you think you are way behind
  • Treat the game like poker, players always give tell signs and you need to spot them for your advantage. Watch your opponent’s tell signs especially when they are drawing a card. This was very helpful to me during my matches against reactive decks like Rakdos Midrange and Azorius Control
  • This is quite obvious but don’t give tell signs yourself by keeping a “poker face”
  • Know which cards to counter because you only have a limited number of counterspells. For example, I rarely counter Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner when playing against Mono Green Devotion unless if I can counter it using Censor and then I have a backup counterspell for their Karn
  • You can Foretell a card at any given point of your turn so you can cast Teferi, Hero of Dominaria untap 2 lands on your end step and Foretell a card
  • If you know you will cast a board wipe next turn, you should use your Field of Ruin on your opponent’s end step to destroy their “Manland”
  • Know when it is reasonable to hard cast Shark Typhoon. I did it twice in the tournament and it won me both games.
  • Make sure you don’t waste your opportunity to attack with Hall of Storm Giants if given the chance
  • You can exile your own creature using Wandering Emperor’s ability to gain 2 life. I actually did this once during the tournament to seal my Semi Finals win
  • Farewell exiles each card type based on the order it is listed in the card which means be careful not including enchantments if you have Temporary Lockdown in play
  • You can bounce Hullbreaker Horror using its own ability. This is useful in cases wherein you need to protect it from removal

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Tournament Report

ROUND 1 – Mono Green Devotion (1-0) Win

I lost the die roll. He opted to play first.

Game 1 – It took a while to finish and we were basically both top decking at a certain point. I won by attacking him with my Hall of Storm Giants and a Samurai.

Game 2 – We were left with less than 15 minutes and we ended up not finishing the game even with the additional 5 turns.

ROUND 2 – Rakdos Midrange (2-1) Win

I lost the die roll. He opted to play first.

Game 1 – He was able to resolve a turn 3 Bonecrusher Giant which managed to attack me 3 times before I was able to kill it using Wandering Emperor. I managed to counter the other threats and I was able to stabilized the board soon after. I won by attacking him with my Hall of Storm Giants 3 consecutive times.

Game 2 – He curved out pretty nicely with turn 2 Bloodtithe Harvester and turn 3 Bonecrusher Giant. Eventually he was able to resolve a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse which sealed my fate.

Game 3 – He was stuck with 3 lands that all generated only black mana. I was able to create human tokens out of Castle Andervale and I resolved a Wandering Emperor to close out the game.

ROUND 3 – Azorius Control Mirror (2-0) Win

I won the die roll. I opted to play first.

Game 1 – I actually thought I was going to lose as he has 1 main deck Hullbreaker Horror which is also by its name the mirror breaker of Azorius Control matchups. He was able to resolve a Wandering Emperor which I was able to kill with a Flying Shark. I was able to draw my singleton Castle Andervale and the game was pretty over when I had 4 human tokens.

Game 2 – It was a waiting game as we both sided out our anti-creatures cards and we were either holding threats or counterspells. Before the end of my turn 4, he flashed in Wandering Emperor which I countered with Censor and then he tapped out on his turn to cast Teferi, Hero of Dominaria which I countered again with Dovin’s Veto. On my turn, I casted my own copy of Teferi as he was tapped out, drew a card with his ability, untapped 2 lands with a Dovin’s Veto backup in my hand. The game was over when I was able to ultimate Teferi.

ROUND 4 – Selesnya Angels (2-1) Win

I lost the die roll. He opted to play first.

Game 1 – I actually thought that I was going to sweep this match as this is one of the best matchups of Azorius Control but I was wrong. We were exchanging blows wherein he will cast multiple creatures on his turn or cast Kayla’s Reconstruction then I will use one of my sweepers on my turn. Until the point where I was down to 6 life, he had Bishop of Wings and a Righteous Valkyrie in play. I was holding a Land, Shark Typhoon and Farewell so my plan was to pass my turn and use the Shark Token to block, let him commit a few more creatures before I cast Farewell on my next turn. He casted Collected Company on his turn and he got 2 more Righteous Valkyrie which gained him a bunch of life. It brought his life total to higher than 26 which means all his creatures now has +6/+6. I tried to cycle my Shark Typhoon to get a 1/1 Shark to chump block and draw either a March of Otherworldly Light or Fateful Absence but I drew a land.

Game 2 – This went quite long and his life total went up as high as 57. I was able to stabilize the board after that. He was already topdecking at this point and I had Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Wandering Emperor in play. He conceded and off we go to the next game.

Game 3 – This was pretty close as he managed to bring my life down to 5 before I was able to sweep the board and killed off his “Manland”. It was clear skies all the way after that for me. I was able to resolve a Wandering Emperor and I won by attacking him with a Samurai and Hall of Storm Giants on 2 consecutive turns.

ROUND 5 – Mono Red Aggro (2-1) Win

I won the die roll. I opted to play first.

Game 1 – I was lucky to win the die roll as this is one of my worst matchups and playing first is key to win game 1. He mulled to 6 and his hand was a bit slow. He was only able to bring down my life total down to 11 before I was able to stabilize the board and he was topdecking after that. I managed to bring down a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Wandering Emperor then he conceded.

Game 2 – I mulled to 6 and I was stuck at 3 lands. He played 2 early Eidolon of the Great Revel and then played a few more threats before I conceded.

Game 3 – He was only able to bring down my life total to 12 before I cleared the board then casted Baneslayer Angel. He said he had no way of killing it in 1 shot so he conceded after that.

ROUND 6 – Mono White Humans (1-2) Lose

I lost the die roll. He opted to play first. This was a win-and-in game to top 8.

Game 1 – It was a quick game, he curved out nicely and ended the game in 4 turns. I didn’t manage to draw Temporary Lockdown.

Game 2 – He managed to bring my life down to 8 before I stabilized the board and killed his Mutavault. I resolved a Wandering Emperor and cycled Shark Typhoon to create a 3/3 Shark to win the game.

Game 3 – I mulled to 5 and then I was stuck on 4 lands with him having Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in play. He brought me down to 5 and I had one out which Temporary Lockdown because all of his creatures in play were 2 CMC and below but I didn’t draw it.

ROUND 7 – Golgari Devotion (2-1) Win

I lost the die roll. He opted to play first. I need to win this match to guarantee my seat in the top 8.

Game 1 – It took a very long time for us to finish game 1 as it was very close until the time that he was finally able to resolve a Karn, the Great Creator. He fetched The Stone Brain and exiled all my Wandering Emperors. I killed Karn using Fateful Absence and swept the board using Supreme Verdict and he had Old-Growth Troll in play. I was down to 4 and he used the ability of Old-Growth Troll before the end of my turn to create a 4/4 Troll Warrior creature which killed me on his next turn.

Game 2 – I was able to counter most of his threats but he was still able to bring my life total down to 4 before I was able to stabilize the board. I managed to cast a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and soon after use his ultimate ability. My opponent conceded after that.

Game 3 – We only had 5 minutes left and we agreed before the game that we will play as fast as we can and the person who thinks he is super behind will concede if we reached the last 5 turns. We played fast for the next 6 turns until the judge came to our table to say that I am turn zero. I was down to 12 life because he managed to attack me 2 times with Old-Growth Troll in the previous turns. I was holding a land, March of Otherworldly Light, Shark Typhoon, Supreme Verdict and Dovin’s Veto. I played the land and hard casted Shark Typhoon and passed my turn. He then casted on his turn a Cavalier of Thorns which netted him a Lair of the Hydra. On my next turn I drew a land, played it and now I have 7 untapped lands. He attacked me with his creatures on his turn and I used March of Otherworldly Light, tapped all my lands (exiled Supreme Verdict to increase the Mana Cost to 9 total) to exile his Cavalier of Thorns. I also got a 9/9 Flying Shark in return because of the hard casted Shark Typhoon in play. On my turn I attacked him for 9 damage and passed the turn. On his turn which was also the last turn of the match (Turn 5), he drew and casted Storm the Festival which I countered with Dovin’s Veto netted me a 2/2 Flying Shark. I now have 11 power on the board that he cannot block and he is down to 11 life. He graciously conceded and I thanked my him for that.

ROUND 8 – Intentional Draw

QUARTERFINALS – Selesnya Auras (2-0) Win

He was seeded higher than me so he plays first.

Game 1 – He mulled to 5 but still managed to bring my life down to 2 because of Sram, Senior Edificer he was able to recover. But in the end I had too much board wipe – Temporary Lockdown, Supreme Verdict and Farewell. I won by attacking with Hall of Storm Giants once I stabilized the board.

Game 2 – His starting hand had his sideboard cards to destroy Temporary Lockdown but not enough creatures. I didn’t draw my Lockdowns which means he had 2 dead cards in hand. I stabilized the board quickly and won again by attacking with Hall of Storm Giants.

SEMIFINALS – Rakdos Midrange (2-1) Win

He was seeded higher than me so he plays first.

Game 1 – He was able to bring down an early Misery’s Shadow on turn 2 and then he was also able to resolve a Bonecrusher Giant at a later turn. My life total went down as low as 8 life before I was able to sweep the board. Then he casted Sheoldred, the Apocalypse on his turn. On my turn I drew Wandering Emperor, lost 2 life now I am down to 6 and passed the turn. He then surprised me by not attacking Sheoldred because he was playing around Wandering Emperor and he just passed the turn back to me. Before end of his turn I flashed in Wandering Emperor to create a Samurai. I drew another card, lost 2 life now I am down to 4. The card I drew was Absorb which cannot kill Sheoldred but good thing I had in my hand March of Otherworldly Light from one of my previous draws to finally exile the Legendary Sheoldred. I attacked with my Samurai and created another one. Next turn he didn’t play anything and on my turn I just attacked with 2 Samurais and Hall of Storm Giants to bring him down to 4. Next turn he scooped.

Game 2 – This game ended quickly as he was able to curve out with Misery’s Shadow, Bonecrusher Giant and then Sheoldred. I conceded a few turns later.

Game 3 – This was the hardest game for me in the entire tournament. I still remember what had happened very clearly in my mind as I spent close to 5 minutes in deciding my next play. It was my 6th Turn and I had a Hallowed Fountain, Shark Typhoon, Fateful Absence and Starnheim Unleashed in hand. He had Graveyard Trespasser and Reckoner Bankbuster in play. I was down to 16 life, I payed 2 life so that Hallowed Fountain comes untapped then I hard casted Shark Typhoon then passed the turn. He casted on his turn a Bonecrusher Giant using it as well to crew Reckoner Bankbuster and attacked me for 7 to bring my life down to 7. On my turn I drew March of Otherworldly Light, I casted Starnheim Unleashed to get a 4/4 Angel with Vigilance and a 4/4 Flying Shark then I passed the turn holding Fateful Absence as a backup. He casted Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger and I discarded March of Otherworldly Light. He attacked with Bonecrusher Giant and I used Fateful Absence to kill it and I got a 2/2 Flying Shark. On my turn I topdecked a Wandering Emperor and I swung for 10 bringing his life total down to 6. After which I casted Wandering Emperor, I get another 4/4 Flying Shark and I used her ability to exile my 2/2 Flying Shark to gain 2 life. Now I am back up to 7 life. He draws for his turn, escapes Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger bring my life down to 4 then he attacks Graveyard Trespasser to exile one of his creatures in the graveyard to bring me down to 3 and I blocked it with my Angel. He conceded after as he was dead on board.

FINALS – Mono White Humans (2-1) Win

He was seeded higher than me so he plays first. He was the same player who beat me during Swiss in Day 1. He is also one of the top players in Singapore whom I respect.

Game 1 – He managed to bring my life total down to 3 before I was able to stabilized the board and casted a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria plus Wandering Emperor. He eventually scooped when I was able to ultimate Teferi.

Game 2 – We both mulled to 6. I was able to cast Temporary Lockdown to get 3 of his creatures, 2 Supreme Verdicts but I still lost the game to a Wedding Announcement and 2 Mutavaults.

Game 3 – He mulled to 6 and I kept my hand which has a Temporary Lockdown and a Supreme Verdict. I was able to stabilize the board early with Lockdown and later casted Verdict. I managed to cast Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and he was already topdecking at that time with no threat on board. He conceded after a few turns later.

Photo taken from Magic.gg

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Sideboard Guide

Mono Green Devotion – This matchup I think is fairly matched and it will come down to who has better draws. I am still not 100% sure about this sideboard plan so please use it to your own discretion. The card I am not sure about is Rest in Peace. There are games it is good because it prevents their combo and it makes our Fateful Absence and Supreme Verdict much better. But there are games when it is just a bad card to draw as it doesn’t affect the board state. Feel free to leave a comment below on what has worked for you.
+1 Veto +1 Farewell +2 Gust +2 Dispute +2 RIP
On the Draw -3 Lockdown -4 Censor -1 Shark
On the Play -3 Lockdown -3 Shark -2 Censor

Rakdos Midrange – Hard matchup as they have a lot of early threats and they also get stronger in the mid game. Your best chance here is to delay the game as much as possible for you to win the late game. If you notice that they are keeping a lot of their 2 drops then you can keep 1 lockdown and remove the remaining Censor.
+1 Starheim +2 Gust +1 Lyra +1 Farewell +1 Baneslayer -3 Lockdown -3 Censor

Izzet Phoenix – Very easy matchup and we have a lot of hate in the sideboard. Just be wary of Temporal Trespass with Galvanic Iteration. You can cast Narset’s Reversal on the copy created by Galvanic Iteration to basically counter it and then get a copy for yourself.
+2 RIP +2 Narset +1 Reversal +2 Dispute +1 Veto +1 Lyra +1 Baneslayer -1 Farewell -2 March -2 Fateful -1 Absorb -3 Lockdown -1 Deluge

Azorius Control Mirror – Basic rule of any Control Mirror matchup, usually the first one who taps out on their turn loses the game.
+1 Horror +1 Veto +2 Narset +1 Reversal +2 Dispute +1 Starnheim
-3 Lockdown -1 Farewell -2 March -2 Verdict

Mono White Humans – With the addition of 3 Temporary Lockdown in the main deck I can safely say we are slightly favored in this matchup. In this matchup, prioritize in killing Mutavault as much as possible. The other threats they have can easily be taken care of by your sweepers.
+1 Farewell +1 Lyra +1 Baneslayer +1 Starnheim
-3 Veto -1 Deluge

Lotus Field – This is the worst matchup for Azorius Control so make sure you play tight by not tapping out unless necessary. They can tap your mana by using Hidden Strings at the end of your turn so watch out for this.
+2 RIP +2 Gust +2 Dispute +2 Narset +1 Reversal +1 Veto +1 Horror -2 Fateful -3 Lockdown -3 Verdict -1 Farewell -2 March

Selesnya Angels – This is an easy matchup as the only card you need to watch out for in their main deck is their instant speed Collected Company. Sideboard games will be a bit trickier because of Guardian of Faith so make sure you play around it otherwise you are going to waste your sorcery speed sweeper and most likely lose you the game.
+1 Farewell +1 Lyra +1 Baneslayer
-3 Veto

Selesnya Auras – This is our easiest matchup in my opinion. Temporary Lockdown hits almost all of their threats but be careful of their Boseiju on your end step.
+1 Farewell
-1 Deluge

Mono Red Aggro – Tough matchup because they are so fast and they have burn cards which can target face. Closely monitor your life and make sure you don’t get Embercleaved by timing your March of Otherworldly Light or Fateful Absence correctly.
+2 Gust +1 Lyra +1 Baneslayer
-1 Deluge -1 Teferi -1 Farewell -1 Veto

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Conclusion

You need to be mentally prepared if you want to play Azorius Control in a big tournament as it will definitely wear you out. The good thing about the SEA Regional Championship schedule was we played the Top 8 matches on day 2. It at least gave us time to recharge for one night before the big day. If you ask me if I would change anything in the deck right now, I would add another Starnheim Unleashed in the sideboard and remove 1 Narset. This way it will improve our matchup against Rakdos Midrange which is one of our toughest matchup while Narset is mainly there for Izzet Phoenix where we are already favorable.

I leave it to you to decide if it was luck or fate that brought me here.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed and maybe learned a thing or two. See you guys at the Pro Tour in Philadelphia this coming February!

Mabuhay ang Filipino MTG Players!!!

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Appreciation and Shoutouts

  • First of all, I want to thank my wife ANN for allowing me to play at the Singapore Open Tournament and the SEA Regional Championship
  • Thank you to Wizards of the Coast, Oracle Events Singapore and MTG SEA Championship for giving us this opportunity to battle against the best of the best in a highly competitive environment.
  • I want to thank my TEAM CHAMBALEROS for always being there to support me especially to RYAN AGUILA for lending me those lucky basic lands for my Jeskai Breach deck, RICHMOND TAN for lending me his lucky Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and of course to CONRAD DUNGAN who let me borrow most of the Azorius Control cards I needed for the Regional Championship
  • Thanks a lot to BRAD NELSON for helping me preregister in Mtgmelee
  • Shoutout to these MTG shops in both Singapore and Philippines

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