The Realm Championship season came to a full circle with the top 8 playoffs yesterday as four Paladins, a Priest, a Shaman, a Hunter, and a Mage fought intense matches for the title. In the end, everyone’s loved/hated bovine took the crown in a finals match which featured both members from our team!

The RAMPAGE vs RAMPAGE finals was fought by one of our newer members, Lou Marvin, whose stellar performance in the core portion earned him an undefeated run, and yours truly. The matchup was of classic RCQ fare – Hordestone versus GC, with Lou’s innovative list in contrast to my somewhat generic aggro build.

Another one of our newer members, Paxi, made it to Top 4 using the Alliance flavor of our team’s Blessing and Crusade brew. Standing with him is Team Anjazz’s formidable Jay Tanhueco with his Drazul the Molten, which featured [Monstrous Frostbolt Volley].

Rounding off the top 8 is Team Anjazz’s living legend, Sonny Estrada using also an aggro GC deck. From the Netherstorm, Ramil Rama came back to his native realm to play with a different style of GC aggro. Dick Forlales on the other hand, proved that his Hunter deck stands above the rest by securing a spot in the top 8.

Last but not the least, our teammate McNhel surprised everyone by starting the tournament 0-2, then winning the rest of his games up until the last round of draft, and sneaking exactly into the 8th spot in an epic comeback performance! Well done!

You can view the Top 8 decklists HERE.

Tournament Reports can be found below, the quarterfinal and semifinal matches are already up and the rest will follow soon.

Zangarmarsh Realm Championships 2012 Quarter Finals: Paxi Alcantara vs Sonny Estrada
Zangarmarsh Realm Championships 2012 Semi Finals: Mikko Peña vs Jay Tanhueco
Zangarmarsh Realm Championships 2012 Finals: Lou Marvin Bautista vs Mikko Peña 

Pictures of the event can be found in Neutral Ground’s Facebook Page:

Day 1
Day 2 

The dream was simple: beat the opponent by turn 5 in any way possible. [Grand Crusader] can do this, but they’re susceptible to ability and mass removal, not to mention that the past few months have been dedicated to pushing them out of the top throne. Murlocs can do this even earlier, but problems in consistency simply puts everything down the drain… not to mention that [Poisoned Tip], as an ongoing ability, is directly affected by all the ability hate players are putting in their decks. Also there’s this notorious little trinket called [Miniature Vodoo Mask], which make life even harder.

Having ran out of ideas for a good aggro deck, I turned to the recent Metamart 3k tournament to check for new ideas that I can build up on. One of these caught my eye in particular, and that is Ben Isgur’s Horde [Bash and Slash] deck. The deck’s premise is simple: play rogue allies until one of them sticks long enough to deal lots of damage via Bash and Slash (or at least, that’s what I think it does). In the match report, Isgur won via a [Jadefire Trickster] that was empowered by the signature ability for two consecutive turns, and the game simply ended there.

Unfortunately, I can’t find his decklist online, so I tried figuring out the cards he played on the deck based on the match report. Without much success, I decided create a new list for the Alliance side instead.

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Horde trumps over Alliance yet again, but the latter is gaining more ground each RCQ – note the 2:2 split in factions in the Top 4!

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Holy-steak haters can now breathe easily for a bit – finally, we’re not gonna see Rohashu in a finals match! The bad news is that he’s still a dominant force to be reckoned with, as former National Champion Mark Anthony Enriquez from the much-feared Team Anjazz skillfully piloted the Tauren Paladin in a field of 10 competitors to a Top 4 finish. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him is one of our newer members (and future full-time Hunter) Godwin Cabagnot, who took a bit of time off from the Fel side of things to take out his other pets for a walk with a Simon McKey deck which emphasizes on turning the cute critters into huge, nightmare-inducing monstrosities!

Our very own ECS however, proved that his own brew of Simon McKey is better by taking 2nd place with a Survival-spec’d deck that’s simply made of speed and tempo… and a noticeable lack of [Aspect of the Wild]! This proved to be no disadvantage as he simply won all of his matches in quick fashion, losing only the last round (and eventually the finals match) to yours truly. I was using a Hordestone Shaman deck which isn’t very far off from the more famous lists online. [Devout Aurastone Hammer] and a ton of healing proved to be the keys in the matchup. [Jex'ali], [Riptide], and [Earthen Might] bought me enough time to stabilize my board, control his, and then push to victory with my bigger allies.

Congratulations guys!

On the other news, the much-hyped approval for the legalization of Crown of the Heavens for this RCQ went all for naught as a majority of the players who clamored for it were nowhere to be seen this afternoon. Still, that didn’t stop people from trying out some of Crown’s new technology – most prominent of which is [Jadefire Scout], which made its way to most of the aggressive decks, the quest [If You're Not Against Us...], and interestingly, [Vampiric Siphon]. In terms of radical deck design, however, there’s little to be found outside the established archetypes from Throne of the Tides. Hopefully, all of these will change in the following weeks as players discover the hidden powers of the newest expansion.

Until then!

Top 4 decklists can be found HERE.

Shifts in the metagame overseas are clearly taking effect in the local shores as Hordestone Priest, piloted by Michael Ryan Villamayor, takes the top spot in this week’s realm qualifier – effectively protecting itself from aggressors with [Power Word: Barrier], dropping huge allies ahead of their time with [Devout Aurastone Hammer] and generating huge card advantage with [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows]. One of our newer members (and part time Paladin) Daniel “Paxi” Alcantara, managed to take second place with our “Blessing and Crusade” Rohashu, dominating the swiss rounds 6-0, and wrecking the Top 8 brackets before finally falling in the hands of the Tauren Priest in the finals. Congratulations guys!

Three other guys from the team managed to secure top 8 spots – I, McNhel, and Tomii, although the latter two weren’t able to carry the flags of Shaman and Rogue past the quarterfinals. As for me, I was happily supporting teammates with Brad Watson’s version of the lovable Tauren Paladin and getting to the top 4 before falling to Paxi as well.

Meanwhile, Martin Hildawa proved yet again that his unique Paladin control deck is legit as he adds another quarterfinal finish, this time in a pool of 26 players! His latest version now includes [Triton Legplates], which works well in combination with the defensive playstyle of the deck. Two of the tournament reports featured him this week, so if you want to know how the deck runs, look no further!

Rounding up the list is Sonny Estrada with an aggressive fire ally-based version of Rohashu, and Benjamin Agay who keeps the Hunter’s dream alive with Master Sniper Simon McKey.

Congratulations to everyone!

This week’s Top 8 coverage is was provided by Insaney, who did a great job as always in delivering on time, action packed tournament reports. Check out his works:

Quarterfinals: Martin Hildawa vs Angelito Eusebio
Semifinals: Michael Ryan Villamayor vs Martin Hildawa
Finals: Danniel Alcantara vs Michael Ryan Villamayor

The Top 8 decklists were provided by JDJ and can be found HERE.

Until then!

The distant land of Alabang once played host to a number players of our beloved game, but alas, the long travel times to get to tournament venues in Manila, coupled with the recent lack of an active tournament organizer resulted in a dwindling interest on the TCG by its local community. Regardless, this leg of the RCQ was held there in recognition to that once glorious arena where the Horde and Alliance of old used to battle for hours on end on cool Saturday afternoons. With the slight hope that the news might stir some of the local folk into rekindling their passion for the game, even by just a bit, nine brave warriors heeded the call and sleeved their best creations for the weekend.

The tournament was short but action packed, and at the end of four rounds two “Blessing and Crusade” Rohashus made it to the Top 2 cut – our very own JD Choi’s, and yours truly’s. Closely following at third place is Team Dream Boys’ Martin Hildawa with a very complex Rohashu deck which features [Repurposed Lava Dredger], [Ysera the Dreamer], and [Troggbane, Axe of the Frostborne King]! Finally at the 4th spot is JDJ with his experimental [Jasmia, Nature's Chosen] control deck that utilizes the “Snobocop” combo along with a ton of healing abilities.

JDJ posted the Top 4 decklists HERE.

Pictures from the event can be found HERE.

Next week, the action returns to Manila as the RCQ schedules shift to Sundays for the month of February!

Until then!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make it to the event. However, worry not as gosubilko from the forums were able to provide the top 8 decklists for your reference!

If I heard the news correctly, it was Caesar’s aggressive Shaman which won the day. Piloting a Samaku, Hand of the Tempest probably lured his opponents into thinking that it’s the slower HordeStone variant of the deck, while in fact it was filled to the brim with Horde’s best fire allies, along with the explosive Erunak and Saurfang.

An interesting note about last week’s Top 8 is that two Warlocks were able to make the cut this time around. Both were control variants, one featuring the Soul Swap-Cerith Spire Staff combo while the other’s a 65-card monstrosity which features cards that surprisingly work together like Everlasting Affliction and Sinestra. Other than Mackie’s control paladin, the rest of the spots were filled with your usual dose of Grand Crusade, Aspect of the Wild, and Murlocs.

The next leg of the RCQ will be held at Neutral Grounds Alabang Town Center. Will a new deck emerge victorious again? Or will the current tournament staples bounce back and prove to be unbeatable? We’ll find out on the 29th.

Local Horde Hunters rejoice as Jose Maria “Sonny” Estrada took the finals in quick fashion against Jerome Tan’s control Rohashu! The big news aside, there are a lot of other interesting stories surrounding the top 8 tables – topdecking battles, new technology like [Smite's Reaver] and [Soul Cleave], numerous boardwipes, and huge comebacks made very exciting stories to cover, including one that involves four [Concussive Barrage].

[^Concussive Barrage]

Yep, you read that right. Someone got hit by Concussive Barrage. Four times. In a top 8 match.

For this tournament’s coverage, I’m very lucky to be able to enlist the help of fellow teammate John Say a.k.a. Insaney, whose way with words make up for some really exciting reads. Thanks Say!

Needless to say, we managed to cover a lot more matches than I did alone last week, and here they are, along with the results and decklists for your reading pleasure.

Top 8

Jose Maria Estrada (Gaxtro, Bildgewater Marksman) vs Paul Anthony Maraciola (Zin’sul)
Paulo Dimaranan (Amaria Kelsur) vs Lou Marvin Bautista (Grizlik Sparkhex)
Marlo Cruz (Zin’sul) vs Aaron Arpon (Samaku, Hand of the Tempest)
Jay Tanhueco (Rohashu, Zealot of the Sun) vs Jerome Tan (Rohashu, Zealot of the Sun)

Top 4

Jose Maria Estrada (Gaxtro, Bildgewater Marksman) vs Paulo Dimaranan (Amaria Kelsur)
Aaron Arpon (Samaku, Hand of the Tempest) vs Jerome Tan (Rohashu, Zealot of the Sun)

Finals

Jose Maria Estrada (Gaxtro, Bildgewater Marksman) vs Jerome Tan (Rohashu, Zealot of the Sun)

Top 8 Decklists

Pictures can be found HERE and HERE.

Congratulations to “THE LEGEND” himself, as well as the rest of the top 8, especially to our teammates Marlo and Lou!

Until then!

Here are the Top 8 decklists from the second RCQ!

Horde continues to reign supreme with 2 Zin’sul, 2 Rohashu, 1 Samaku, 1 Gaxtro, 1 Grizlik field, while Alliance only has a sole representative – Amaria Kelsur.

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It’s another glorious day for the Horde as the final table is graced by two Heroes from their faction. Jose Maria “Sonny” Estrada fought through a total of 9 rounds with [Gaxtro, Bildgewater Marksman], losing only once, and is one match away from victory. He wasn’t alone on the road though, Jerome also tackled his fair share of challenges throughout the day with his control version of Rohashu, surprising opponents along the way into thinking that the deck is a Grand Crusader variant that they’re accustomed to. And with that, all eyes are turned to the final table, where the last battle of the day begins…

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