{"id":2658,"date":"2026-06-16T19:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/premodernmagic.com\/blog\/?p=2658"},"modified":"2026-06-16T19:33:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:33:33","slug":"singapore-nationals-2026-winners-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/premodernmagic.com\/blog\/singapore-nationals-2026-winners-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore Nationals 2026: Winner’s Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured art: Seal of Fire by Christopher Moeller. This is a guest post by Shawn Low, reporting from the inaugural Singapore Nationals. Enjoy! \/ Martin<\/em><\/p>\n

I confess. The reports are true. This was my first Premodern event ever\u2014and some might say I spiked it. Spike or not, I came up against some of Singapore\u2019s best players and I put in some work preparing for the tournament. So here\u2019s my story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Disclaimer: my notes were sparse and I tried my best to piece together the details from my terrible handwriting and even more terrible (sometimes hazy) memory of the games. Any mistakes are mine and if you were there and think I didn’t recall the sequences correctly, please let me know!<\/span><\/p>\n

My Premodern journey<\/span><\/h2>\n

I can\u2019t exactly remember when I first encountered premodern. I started playing during the Old School era and again during the Onslaught block (briefly) so the old border cards resonated with me. I think I saw some buzz about Premodern in Singapore in 2022 and I found an old want-to-buy post from myself in January 2023 seeking two Cursed Scrolls (which I found).<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember thinking that some of the decks looked like fun and something I could pull together from my collection. So I rummaged through my collection and built Sligh, UW Landstill and Goblins, goldfished the decks a few times, then promptly shelved them. I was busy with work and other life interests. Side note: looking back, I wished I bought the old border cards instead of the modern frame ones!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I have time, I usually play EDH and Vintage on occasion with a very passionate group of players here in Singapore. I used to play Modern and Legacy, but only at FNM level. I\u2019ve played Grand Prix Bologna during the Modern Eldrazi Winter\u2014set on playing Burn with two byes from winning a GP Trial in Norway, but ended up switching to Eldrazi late in the prep and didn\u2019t get enough reps, and I didn\u2019t even make day 2. I occasionally draft and play sealed on paper and Arena.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, when Premodern leagues made it to Magic Online<\/a>, I started seeing a lot of buzz and content being created on YouTube, so I dusted off my decks and started watching lots of content to understand the archetypes and how the decks played out. Neon Mushroom<\/a>, Firetruck<\/a>, Spike Colony<\/a> are some of the creators I follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in February this year, I saw the announcement for the Premodern Nationals in Singapore and I made a comment on a post. The organizer Lionel reached out, added me to a local Whatsapp group and continued to chat about all things Premodern with me. He was also constantly encouraging me to join the Wednesday night casual games and asked me to sign up for the Nationals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nationals prep<\/span><\/h2>\n

I wasn\u2019t originally too set on playing in the Nationals. First, I am new to the format and didn\u2019t have a single game under my belt. Second, I didn\u2019t quite relish an entire day of my weekend playing \u2018competitive\u2019 Magic.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I continued to watch Premodern content and started listening to podcasts like Hardcast<\/a> (Duress Crew) and Spike Colony<\/a> and the passion the community had was infectious I guess? Seeing innovation such as Sam Black\u2019s Aluren and the run of results with Moneyball Black made me sit up. I ended up building Moneyball Black and Stasis (don\u2019t judge me) and I updated the other decks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four days before the tournament, I decided to play Premodern for the first time. I took up Lionel\u2019s offer and showed up to a Wednesday night casual. I brought UW Landstill, Stasis, RG Goblins, Moneyball Black and Sligh to test out. After getting stomped by an RG Goblins deck playing Moneyball Black, we got kicked out from the local game store Hideout as they had 54 players show up for a Riftbound FNM (!). We relocated to another store, Agora, and continued playing there.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was set on playing Moneyball Black. I guess I was drinking the kool-aid leading into Lobstercon. The deck has game against most decks with its hand disruption and a great sideboard. But in playing it, I found that there were too many edge cases where a mistake could cost you the game, e.g. deciding when to attack with Mishra’s Factory, when to pump the Nantuko Shade etc. Being new to the format, I was also worried whether I would be able to do the right calls when playing Cabal Therapy “blind”.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the night wore on, I tested Goblins. It was fine, but I found that most people are equipped to deal with turn one Goblin Lackey, and post board there\u2019s plenty of hate for it with cards like Pyroclasm. I tested UW Landstill and Stasis, both of which are fine, but Landstill is slow and I didn\u2019t want too many draws, plus I opted for Meddling Mages in the side and wasn\u2019t 100 % sure I could name the right cards. Stasis is also fine, but leads to potentially very long games if your opponent decides to keep playing and if you can\u2019t find Black Vise. Plus I wasn\u2019t too sure about which Stasis configuration or the sideboard plan. My build had Fire \/\/ Ice but I wasn\u2019t consistently finding the mana for the Fire side and worried I might not be able to cast cards like Pyroclasm.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t really want to play Sligh but for the last few games of the night, I pulled it out and gave it a spin, using a tweaked version of Stuart Ziarnik\u2019s Lobstercon <\/span>top 8 deck<\/span><\/a>. I ended up feeling completely at home with the deck and rattled off wins with it against a few different decks. I liked how it has the typical explosive finishes with Fireblast but could also be control-ish with Cursed Scroll and Grim Lavamancer. This is what I ended up playing:<\/span><\/p>\n

Singapore Nationals 2026: Shawn Low<\/div>
<\/i>Spoiler view<\/span><\/span><\/i>List with preview card<\/span><\/span><\/i>Show\/hide sideboard<\/span><\/span><\/i>Download photo of deck<\/span><\/span><\/i>Download text file of deck<\/span><\/span><\/div>
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MAIN DECK | 60 cards<\/h4>
Creatures: 13<\/div>
4<\/span> Grim Lavamancer<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Jackal Pup<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Mogg Fanatic<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Orcish Librarian<\/a><\/div><\/div>
Others: 8<\/div>
4<\/span> Seal of Fire<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Cursed Scroll<\/a><\/div><\/div>
Instants and Sorceries: 16<\/div>
4<\/span> Lightning Bolt<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Incinerate<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Fireblast<\/a><\/div>
2<\/span> Price of Progress<\/a><\/div>
2<\/span> Urza's Rage<\/a><\/div><\/div>
Lands: 23<\/div>
1<\/span> Barbarian Ring<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Wooded Foothills<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Bloodstained Mire<\/a><\/div>
3<\/span> Wasteland<\/a><\/div>
11<\/span> Mountain<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

SIDEBOARD | 15 cards<\/h4>
1<\/span> Tormod's Crypt<\/a><\/div>
2<\/span> Overload<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Earthquake<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Pyroblast<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Red Elemental Blast<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Phyrexian Furnace<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Pyrostatic Pillar<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Mogg Salvage<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Sulfuric Vortex<\/a><\/div>
3<\/span> Ensnaring Bridge<\/a><\/div>
2<\/span> Anarchy<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Deck downloaded from - http:\/\/premodernmagic.com\n------------------------------------------------\nSingapore Nationals 2026: Shawn Low\n------------------------------------------------\nMAIN DECK (60)\n\nCreatures: 13\n4 Grim Lavamancer\n4 Jackal Pup\n4 Mogg Fanatic\n1 Orcish Librarian\n\nOthers: 8\n4 Seal of Fire\n4 Cursed Scroll\n\nInstants and Sorceries: 16\n4 Lightning Bolt\n4 Incinerate\n4 Fireblast\n2 Price of Progress\n2 Urza's Rage\n\nLands: 23\n1 Barbarian Ring\n4 Wooded Foothills\n4 Bloodstained Mire\n3 Wasteland\n11 Mountain\n\n\nSIDEBOARD (15)\n1 Tormod's Crypt\n2 Overload\n1 Earthquake\n1 Pyroblast\n1 Red Elemental Blast\n1 Phyrexian Furnace\n1 Pyrostatic Pillar\n1 Mogg Salvage\n1 Sulfuric Vortex\n3 Ensnaring Bridge\n2 Anarchy\n------------------------------------------------\nDeck downloaded from - http:\/\/premodernmagic.com\n<\/div>
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http:\/\/premodernmagic.com<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/a>\n

That was it. On Thursday and Friday, I kept tweaking and goldfishing hands on paper (I don\u2019t have a PC so I couldn\u2019t play on MTGO) and I started putting together my list. I also wrote down specific sideboard plans for the popular matchups. You can r<\/span>ead my interview with Lionel on the Singapore Premodern Society page at the bottom of this post to find out about specific deck decisions I made (Price of Progress over Volcanic Hammer, dropping Rishadan Port, going up to eight fetches, down to three Wasteland etc).<\/span><\/p>\n

The mantra from Lionel and the other Premodern players I got was \u2018we\u2019re there to have fun\u2019. That did take \u2018pressure\u2019 off. I remember someone asking me, \u2018Do you want to win or do you want to have fun\u2019 and I decided that Sligh offered me a chance to do both. <\/span>Another reason for playing Sligh is that Premodern games go long and I didn\u2019t want draws and I wanted to have some games where I finished early so that I could a) take a break, get some food and b) scout the meta. This ended up working out for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

D-Day, 9 May<\/span><\/h2>\n

Going into the day, I made sure I had enough rest, fuelled up with kaya toast, eggs and coffee (at Treasure Toast on Purvis St, highly recommended), brought a large bottle of water (staying hydrated is important) and two bananas for fuel in case I didn\u2019t get a break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to our local game store Hideout for hosting the event. The store opened at 10:30 am with the tournament starting at 11 am. There were two late registrants for the event and decklists needed to be submitted, so we only started the first round at 11:15 am.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the get-go, it was announced that all six rounds were going to be played out, i.e. no intentional draws were allowed. You could drop of course but there was also a three-round side event with nice prizes held after round 6. The Swiss rounds were 50 minutes with five extra turns when time was called. The top 8 games were untimed and needed to be played to its conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Swiss<\/span><\/h2>\n

Round 1: Roland on Enchantress<\/a><\/h3>\n

Game 1: Sligh did its thing. Turn 1 Mogg Fanatic, turn 2 Grim Lavamancer. With fetches and burn (Lightning Bolt and Incinerate), I managed to get fuel for Lavamancer. Roland tried to slow things down with an Elephant Grass and a Solitary Confinement. But I was happy to wait until he couldn\u2019t pay for those. Wasteland took out his Sanctum, whereafter Fireblast and more burn closed the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 2: Roland dropped a turn 2 Warmth, followed by a Circle of Protection: Red and then a Worship. There was not much I could do since red is notorious for not having enchantment removal. I died to Opalescence into enchantment beats.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Game 3: I dropped a turn 1 Jackal Pup and another one on turn 2 and started the beats.Thankfully, he never found an Enchantress and used a Sterling Grove to find Enchantress’s Presence to get more card draw. I think I had Wasteland for his Serra\u2019s Sanctum. I either had Grim Lavamancer or Cursed Scroll clocking him for two damage across two turns, a Mogg Fanatic chipped in, then I closed the game with Seal of Fire and two Fireblast when he was at 9 life. He didn\u2019t find a single Argothian Enchantress all game. But I had the Earthquake boarded in for those.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks Lester for taking some photos. I sat together with the same people I met on Wednesday when I played Premodern for the first time, Henry, Lionel and my opponent Roland!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Me in round 1 playing against Roland. I sat next to Henry and and his opponent was Lionel, the tournament organizer.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Round 2: Joey on Replenish<\/a><\/h3>\n

I was still shaking off my rust and nerves going into round 2. Thankfully, Joey was friendly and we broke the ice talking about Australia where we both spent time in. He was rocking a deck similar\u00a0 to Brian Siu\u2019s winning one from Lobstercon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I had a turn 1 Jackal Pup that was sadly answered by a Swords to Plowshares. I kept pointing three-damage burn spells at him and I think a Mogg Fanatic managed to chip away four times into a Fireblast. He never found the Parallax Wave combo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 2: I kept a slow hand with Grim Lavamancer and then drew and played a Jackal Pup on turn 2. I had two Cursed Scroll in my hand and a Sulfuric Vortex. But he had two Seal of Cleansing. I played out both Cursed Scrolls, hoping to bait the use of the Seals so I could drop the Vortex, but he would have none of that. He\u00a0 destroyed the Sulfuric Vortex and didn\u2019t take a single point of damage from it. I got Joey down to 13 life before I made the error of attacking with my Jackal Pup into his Meddling Mage (naming Lightning Bolt), when I had the Incinerate to clear it out beforehand. For some reason I just blanked and attacked in. From there he found Attunement and dumped some enchantments into an Opalescence, and I died.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 3: Another game with poor judgment on my part. Joey mulled to four (!) and I thought I had a good chance. I had not much action aside from a Lightning Bolt and a Mogg Fanatic. He had a Seal of Cleansing. Then I made the error of dropping Pyrostatic Pillar, thinking it would hurt him if he had spells like Frantic Search, the Exalted Angel (morphed), and Swords to Plowshares. Instead, the Pillar ended up taking myself down from 18 to 12 life. I got him down to 7 with a Fireblast but with some “help” from my fetch heavy mana base, I got trapped under my own Pillar and died to an animated Parallax Wave. We laughed about it after and Joey will never let me forget about my Pillar mistake. I also boarded in Sulfuric Vortex (a better choice) but never drew it.<\/span><\/p>\n

1-2<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joey had a beautiful mostly foiled deck with some gorgeous original printings. A joy to see. This was Joey\u2019s opening hand in the second game against me.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Round 3: Hong on Sligh<\/a><\/h3>\n

The mirror match! Kind of, since Hong played a different version that rocked Ball Lightnings (that I was always careful to hold up removal for), Mogg Flunkies and Wasteland. With mirrors, you want to be the control deck, win the creature attrition war and get inevitability with Grim Lavamancer and Cursed Scroll.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I played a Mogg Fanatic into his Mogg Fanatic and we traded. He dropped a turn 2 Mogg Flunkies and I held a pretty controlling hand that included a Seal of Fire and Grim Lavamancers (with plenty of fuel). I kept him off creatures so his Flunkies couldn\u2019t attack or block, and just closed out the game with burn and Grim Lavamancer activations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Game 2: Hong didn\u2019t have much in his sideboard for the mirror, only two Pyrokinesis. I boarded out all my Jackal Pups (bad dog in the mirror) but he had to leave them in. I bolted his Pup and I had Seal of Fire on the board to take care of his Grim Lavamancer. He also played another Pup that was shot down by my own Lavamancer. With that said, he was stuck on a single Mountain and a Wasteland for ages. Sorry, that happens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, I decided to take a break and went to get some air, a coffee and a snack. I got back just in time and was slightly unsettled sitting down into round 4 as I rushed back. Note to self: give yourself time to settle down between rounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Round 4: Vlad on BG Contamination<\/a><\/h3>\n

Vlad looked so serious in our matchup. We played again in the semis and after the ice was broken, he was super friendly. I think we both found a common joy in dispatching our Replenish competitors in the quarterfinals. He\u2019s a seasoned Pauper player with some good MTGO Challenge finishes (despite being in a shitty timezone for challenges). <\/span>I had no idea what Vlad was on as I didn\u2019t manage to scout him. I later found out he was on a brew with a Nether Spirit-Contamination lock and Pernicious Deed to clear the board.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: The game was fairly close at the start. But he had Duress and Cabal Therapy to strip away some burn spells. He also had multiple Mishra’s Factory that could easily block my creatures. I ran out of gas from the hand disruption but I had a Cursed Scroll that was hitting for two damage a turn. His Factory and a Nether Spirit started clocking me for 5. He closed out the game with a Sickening Dreams.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Game 2: Again, another close game at the start. I had a Jackal Pup that connected until he found a Smother. Thereafter, he found the Contamination-Nether Spirit lock to nullify my hand of red spells. I think I had a Fireblast that I used as an out as well. I landed a Cursed Scroll, one of two outs to the lock and started chipping away at his life but after Fireblasting him from 11 to 7, I only had two Mountains and a fetch land. I fetched end of turn to activate the Scroll, but he Naturalize’d it. \ud83d\ude41 I then died to the Nether Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

0-2<\/strong><\/p>\n

At this point, I looked at the standings and thought that my tournament was over, but I realized that I was at the top among the 2-2 players due to my tiebreakers, so I decided to play on. If I won my last two rounds, I had a chance to make top 8, as intentional draws were not allowed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Round 5: Marc on Birds<\/h3>\n

Marc is another long-time Premodern player in the scene and hails from the UK. He was apparently rocking a really interesting Birds deck similar to this one that GrantFly piloted<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I saw birds and remembered a couple of videos on birds but wasn\u2019t sure which build he was on. He landed a turn 1 Birds of Paradise and I did what you always do\u2014bolt the bird! The rest of the game was him putting a bird on the battlefield and me killing it. He had a Battle Screech, but I made sure he couldn\u2019t flash it back. A Fireblast and a Grim Lavamancer activation took him down from 16 to 10 and I closed the game out with Lavamancer activations after he ran out of creatures.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Game 2: Rough, as he had a Goblin Bombardment, meaning he could just shoot me or my creatures in response to anything that tried to kill his creatures. He landed a Freewind Falcon, a 1\/1 flyer with protection from red! He then proceeded to suit it up with not one, but TWO Armadillo Cloaks. I kept playing it out to see more of his deck before moving to game 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 3: I had Cursed Scroll for the Freewind Falcon. And again, tried to control the board. I closed the game out with Cursed Scroll and a Mogg Fanatic that connected a few times, casting a Fireblast at some point too.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-1<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During this round, we had a raffle and I got lucky and won a foreign Sarcomancy<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Round 6: Ian on Aluren<\/a><\/h3>\n

I moved back to Table 5, a sign that my breakers were good. We were all chatting at our table and worked out that one of the players was on 3-1-1 while the rest of us were on 3-2. For two of us, it was down to breakers to make the top 8. I sat next to Kelvin, one of Singapore\u2019s veterans who has played Worlds and Pro Tours on numerous occasions. He was playing Stasis, facing White Weenie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I didn\u2019t know what Ian was on as I didn\u2019t manage to scout him. He won the die roll and played a turn 1 Havenwood Battleground and I was worried he would have a turn 2 Aluren. Thankfully, he followed it up with a second Havenwood Battleground. I decided to cast Price of Progress, for four damage. He proceeded to cast Aluren and I thought I was dead, but he didn’t seem to have all combo pieces and likely wanted to use his mana. I ended up benefitting from the Aluren as I cast a Grim Lavamancer and a Mogg Fanatic for free, and the game ended quickly after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Game 2: I had a\u00a0 turn 1 Mogg Fanatic into a burn spell and then I started getting in with creatures. He cast a Raven Familiar to dig for cards and to have a blocker. I decided to kill it and swung in. He cast a Show and Tell at 5 life but I Pyroblasted it, whereafter he died to a Fireblast and Lavamancer activation with two Akroma, Angel of Wrath in hand. Oh, I\u00a0 also managed to cast and activate the Orcish Librarian<\/a> my first and only time all day. I used it once in my upkeep but I ended up exiling a Fireblast, land, bolt and Mogg Fanatic. The other four cards I stacked were fine\u2014I think there was a Lavamancer in there but also lands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s so typically red isn\u2019t it? The floor can be really low, but the ceiling is high. Also, more fetches helps as you can shuffle away four shitty cards from an Orcish Librarian activation.<\/span><\/p>\n

2\u20130<\/strong><\/p>\n

My record after the Swiss was thus 4-2<\/strong>. <\/span>Nailbiting, but in the end I squeaked into the top 8 due to better tiebreakers. Sorry Kelvin, Stasis was not meant to make top 8 this time. Funnily, the top 4 were all Replenish players on 4-0-2 as they had unintentional draws due to going to time in the mirrors. <\/span>As the eighth seed, I was going to be on the draw every single game\u2014not where Sligh wants to be! But this was the first time all day where I seriously considered that I could possibly go all the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The top 20 decks can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The top 8 competitors from left to right: Shawn, Julian, Stamford, Joris, Joey, Vlad, Jia Wei and Claire<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quarterfinals: Claire on Replenish<\/a><\/h3>\n

Claire is one of the players to beat on the scene and she recently qualified for her first Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven. We chatted about it and then it was all business with her game face on. <\/span>Having lost a Replenish matchup earlier, I felt I learnt from my misplays and I revisited my sideboard guide and my gameplan. It\u2019s a RACE! Go fast and furious, and put them under pressure before they find the combo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I was looking for hands with creatures to get in early. I had Mogg Fanatic and I think a Jackal Pup that was unanswered for a couple of turns. Claire cast and activated Attunement twice to find the combo. I think I had a Wasteland to slow her down, though, and Incinerate into Fireblast closed the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 2: I had the early Jackal Pup that whittled down her life but she cast a Chill pretty early on. I had the Pyroblast and made a mistake. I was so fixated on finding a window to destroy the Chill, so when she tapped out end of turn to cast Frantic Search, I cast Pyroblast and targeted the Chill. Claire seemed surprised, and she was right as she went Frantic Search into Frantic Search, digging six cards deep before landing a Replenish into the Opal-Wave combo the next turn. And the Chill also came back, haha. That was such a misplay and we discussed it after. I would have had another couple of extra turns if I had blasted the first Frantic.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Game 3: I dropped Jackal Pup on turn 1 and another one on turn 2. Claire found a Swords to Plowshares for one. I dropped a Grim Lavamancer. Then a Lightning Bolt and a Fireblast. Then an Incinerate. She cast a Parallax Wave (without Opalescence) and removed my creatures to stem the bleed. But it was a little too late. She managed to cast a Chill. The Wave died and I got my Pup and Lavamancer back. I think I had a Bolt, and a Fireblast in hand. She then cast an Opalescence but her board was only a Chill. She then cheekily swung in with the Chill. I was confused for a second. I checked my life total, 19, and then checked the board and graveyard. I had fuel for the Lavamancer and could also back swing for lethal with the Pup. I went, \u2018Erm, no blocks\u2019 and she went \u2018Congrats, you got it!\u2019 and offered a fist bump.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every turn, I could see Claire mentally working out every permutation, looking for specific outs based on the board state based, her hand, etc. Sign of a next level player and I was likely encouraged to think more deeply about every line that both myself and my opponent could have at each point in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was one step closer!<\/span><\/p>\n

Semifinals: Vlad (again) on BG Contamination<\/a><\/h3>\n

We had a bit of a break as the other quarterfinals between Joey on Replenish and Stamford on <\/span>Zombie Infestation<\/span><\/a> was taking a MAMMOTH time to complete. It holds the record of Singapore\u2019s longest Premodern match at two hours! Poor Joris, the other semifinalist, had to wait around for quite a bit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the ice broken, the game was really friendly. Having played and lost to Vlad earlier, I spent some time between rounds thinking about how to sideboard for the top 8 or matches where I had gaps in my guide. I also had time to think about his deck composition (that I further scouted when he was playing in round 6, a benefit of ending games early when you play Sligh). I believe he 2-0ed the other Replenish player Julian with the Contamination-Spirit lock.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought our decks were evenly matched\u2014he could strip away my hand and have answers to my outs… but when Vlad started talking about packing it up and going to dinner since it was a long day, I thought, man, I could actually win this match and get to the finals. <\/span>A fellow player recorded the match and I uploaded it on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I was getting tired and wanted to just race out as fast as I could. I played a Mogg Fanatic on turn 1, but he dropped a Mishra’s Factory. I pivoted to Ponza and decided to slow him down if he decided to ever activate the Factory as a blocker. He did so to block a Grim Lavamancer and I incinerated it. Later, I used a Wasteland on a second Factory to stifle his mana development. This is where my memory gets hazy\u2014his life total went down in two-point increments from Grim Lavamancer or Cursed Scroll, adn then I top decked a Lightning Bolt to close the game.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 2: My sideboard plan was to bring in Tormod\u2019s Crypt and Phyrexian Furnace to stop Nether Spirit, Earthquake as a finisher and to kill two Nether Spirit if he decided to land two, and three copies of Ensnaring Bridge to buy time. And hope he doesn\u2019t find the Contamination lock.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Things were not looking good for me when Vlad cast turn 1 Cabal Therapy, taking a Jackal Pup, whereafter the Nether Spirit-therapied away the two Incinerate I also had in my hand. Later he would complete the triefecta by flashing back therapy with his Nether Spirit and taking the Earthquake and Scroll. I managed to land an Ensnaring Bridge and since my hand was low thanks to his discard, I just sat back and activated Grim Lavamancer. He eventually found his Pernicious Deed and popped it, but it took a turn to cast it and another to activate. This gave me time to cast Price of Progress and a Lightning Bolt to end the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I got my \u2018revenge\u2019 for losing in the Swiss and it was now on to the finals!<\/span><\/p>\n

Finals: Joris on Replenish<\/a><\/h3>\n

Given that Joris had to wait a while for his semifinals match, I took the opportunity to get a snack and a coffee as it was nearly 9 pm, and we had been going for about ten hours now. Joris also took a small comfort break and a quick snack.<\/span><\/p>\n

After some small talk, it was off to the races. Joris is apparently another familiar mainstay and was a Grand Prix top 8 competitor back in the days. He was on a similar Replenish build to Brian Siu and Joey. Having now played against Replenish twice, I felt better equipped to pilot the matchup. Again, it\u2019s about forcing them to find the answers to a quick start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1: I had a turn 1 fetch into a Jackal Pup. Joris played a turn 1 Adarkar Wastes and I wished I had a Wasteland as I thought mulling to six cards with a painland on turn 1 was a sign of weakness. He Plowed my Pup but I followed up with a Mogg Fanatic on turn 2. He took two damage from Ancient Tomb to play a Frantic Search. He then found a quick turn 3 Replenish-Opal-Wave. I shot him with the Fanatic.<\/span><\/p>\n

From there, I was slowly running out of burn while he was clocking me for four damage each turn. I managed to get him from 13 to 10 with an incinerate, then to 6 with a Fireblast. \u2018It\u2019s a bit scary\u2019 Joris remarked. But I was down to one land in the race. I developed land and got to three mana to cast Urza\u2019s Rage, getting him down to 3. I followed up with a Cursed Scroll that I had been sandbagging until I was able to play around Mana Leak by developing my fourth land, a Wasteland. I then scrolled him end of turn down to 1. He Intuition’ed for three Swords and plowed his Parallax Wave to gain four (well played).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I tried to close it out with Cursed Scroll on my upkeep and got him down to 2 life. I peeled a land instead of a burn spell (I needed a Lightning Bolt or Seal of Fire). He top decked an Opalescence and swung for lethal with his other animated Opalescence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 2: I mulled to 6 on the play and again played turn 1 fetch into Jackal Pup. On turn 2 I got in with the Pup and followed up with a second Pup and a Grim Lavamancer. On turn 3 I swung with the team and dropped a Mogg Fanatic. He was down to 10. Joris cast a Frantic Search end of turn and dumped two Parallax Waves into the graveyard. I swung in with the Pups and the Fanatic to take him down to 5. End of turn he taps out to cast Intuition, likely for Opalescence to clear my board. \u201cAm I dead?\u2019 Joris asked, but just Pyroblasted the Intuition. He untapped, played a fetch. \u2018A bit scary\u2019 he remarked. Then he casts Replenish. In response I activated the Grim Lavamancer to shoot him for two and popped the Fanatic. He waved all my creatures. I play a fetch and pass the turn with one card in hand. End of turn he tries to Intuition and I cast a Price of Progress in response to kill him (he had an Adakar Wastes and took two damage, which was lethal).<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 3: I had a great hand with two Fireblast, two Mogg Fanatic and three lands. I played a turn 1 Mogg Fanatic and Joris cast a turn 2 Meddling Mage naming Lightning Bolt. I untapped, played a second mountain and Pyroblasted the Mage, got in with the Fanatic and played the second one. Joris casts Frantic Search and dumped Wave and Attunement. He passed the turn. I play another land and swing in for another two damage with the Fanatics. He casts a morph on his turn and I Urza\u2019s Rage it end of turn\u2014it\u2019s an Exalted Angel that I cannot allow to flip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I untapped and played another land. This was it. I had four lands in play. I swung with the two Mogg Fanatics to take Joris from 15 to 13. I floated all my mana and cast a\u00a0 Lightning Bolt, then Fireblast, Fireblast, and shot him with the two Mogg Fanatic for the final 13 damage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joris said \u2018Oh my God,\u2019 then offered the handshake and said congrats. With that I was the Singapore Nationals Champion!<\/span><\/p>\n

2-1,<\/strong> overall match result 7-2 <\/b>over 9 rounds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sometimes all you need is Lightning Bolt and Fireblast<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My finals opponent Joris<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Champion token with the gold crown. The runner-up got a silver crown and the\u00a0 other top 8 players also got<\/span> custom tokens<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Prize packs!<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Tournament reflections<\/span><\/h2>\n