Magic The Gathering - Malaysia

The top 8 players listening to the pre-draft briefing by judge, TO and recent PTQ winner, Wearn Chong

PTQ Kyoto @ Ipoh November 30 2008 - Quarterfinals
Yau Mun Yip vs Terry Soh

The 2005 Invitational winner and top finisher in numerous Pro Tours and Grand Prix, Terry Soh faces off against veteran Yau Mun Yip, who makes the top 8 single elimination rounds in PTQs with terrifying consistency in what has to be the biggest match-up in the top 8 rounds.

Terry Soh drafted a very aggressive Jund deck splashing white for Naya Charm and Rakeclaw Gargantuan with Feral Hydra, double Resounding Thunder, double Blightning and a Branching Bolt standing out from Terry’s deck.

Meanwhile Yau Mun Yip has drafted an Esper concoction that is anchored with black with cards like Archdemon of Unx, Infest and Executioner’s Capsule amongst others, while the deck is headlined by cards like double Tower Gargoyle and double Sanctum Gargoyle, an Agony Wrap and an Oblivion Ring.

Game 1

As Terry Soh wins the dice roll, he chose to start first and when he chose to mulligan his opening hand, Yau Mun Yip took a victory dance around the room.



“When you fight Terry Soh, you need all these little help” - Mun Yip

Terry could only grin as he draws his next hand while Mun Yip crosses his fingers over Terry's 6 cards and when he chose to mulligan again Mun Yip jumps up and did another dance around the room much to the amusement of most present.

Terry felt compelled to keep his 5-card hand while Mun Yip is happy with his opening 7.


Yau Mun Yip

Terry drops a first turn Wild Nacatl while Mun Yip has an Executioner's Capsule for his first turn. Unfortunately for Terry, he missed his 2nd and 3rd land drop as Mun Yip plays an Obelisk and a Skeletal Khatari who halted Terry’s Wild Nacatl offense. A Kiss of the Amesha pulls the game even further away from Terry as Terry is forced to discard a card from his hand as it reached 8, but after short moment’s consideration, Terry simply decided to scoop up his cards for game 2.



Yau Mun Yip 1 – Terry Soh 0

Game 2

Terry chose to start again, undeterred. As Mun Yip kept chanting and cursing Terry for another land screwed hand, Terry playfully puts his deck in front of him like a shield ‘deflecting’ it off of him. Terry decided to keep his opening hand, prompting a gasp from Mun Yip who also kept his opening 7.

Crumbling Necropolis and Jungle Shrine starts off Terry's game as Mun Yip drops a Dregscape Zombie on his second turn. Terry then plays Blightning hitting Yau for 3 and forcing him to discard two cards. His opponent then sends his Zombie to hit him for 2 as he lays down an Obelisk before a Feral Hydra joins Terry’s side as a 3/3 beast.



Mun Yip then attacked into Terry’s 3/3 with his 2/1 zombie, causing him to pause and consider what Mun Yip could have for quite a while before choosing not to block in the end, as Mun Yip plays a Deft Duelist into his side of the board. Terry attacked with his 3/3 hydra, after getting no blockers from Mun Yip, decided to pump it for another +1/+1 counter, and passes his turn after playing Naturalize to take out Mun Yip’s Obelisk of Esper to take out his only blue source of mana. Yau then attacks Terry to 12 with his 2 2/1s before simply passing the turn with just 2 Swamps and 1 Plains on his side of the board. The Feral Hydra hits Mun Yip hard as Terry pumps it to be a 6/6, taking Mun Yip to 7. Mun Yip found an Island which allowed him to play his Tower Gargoyle, but not before hitting terry to 10 with his Deft Duelist.



Terry now finds himself in a precarious position as he faces off against a 4/4 flyer, a 2/1 first striker with shroud and a 2/1 with unearth. After some consideration, Terry plays Jund charm, clearing the 2/1s, forcing Yau to block the potentially lethal 6/6 (as Terry has the mana open to make it a lethal 7/7) with him at 7 life left. Grudgingly, Mun Yip sends his Tower Gargoyle to block the Hydra, and as Mun Yip tries to draw a solution to the beast, he failed to and could only scoop up his cards for the next game.

Yau Mun Yip 1 – Terry Soh 1

Meanwhile, the other 6 quarter finalists battled on.


Allan Chong vs Ong Dun Chuan


Muhd Hazim vs Eddy Ng


Rick Lee vs Loco

Game 3

This time, Mun Yip chose to start first. As the players shuffled up for game 3, they talked about the Blighting in Terry’s deck and its quality. Yau is happy with his opening 7 and after some consideration, so did Terry. A Cylian Elf from Terry on this second turn starts off the game’s action while Mun Yip has an Executioner’s Capsule. Terry hit Mun Yip to 18 with the 2/2 elf before playing an Obelisk of Naya. Yau has a Viscera Dragger to stop Cylian Elf’s offense but Terry plays a Carrion Thrash which prompted Mun Yip to express disgust for the 4/4. Nevertheless he presses on, attacking with his with his 3/3 Dragger with a laugh into Terry's 2/2 and 4/4, which caused Terry to take some time to consider before deciding not to block the 3/3. Mun Yip then adds a Skeletal Kathari to his board while Terry attacked him with his 4/4 and 2/2, taking him to 12 while Terry stands at 17.



Another Obelisk joins Terry’s side of the board, which was then used alongside the other remaining two lands to play Resounding Thunder on Mun Yip’s Dragger. A Guardians of Akrasa is played by Mun Yip who then attacked Terry with his 3/2 flyer, who became a 4/3 thanks to the Guardians, taking Terry down to 13. After he passed the turn, Mun Yip laments on his mistake on why didn’t he spent his remaining 2 mana to unearth and swing with his Dragger with its unearth ability. Terry’s 4/4 and 2/2 pressed on, prompting a block with the Guardians from Mun Yip, and piles up the pressure on Mun Yip with another Carrion Thrash. Mun Yip uses his Executioner’s Capsule to kill off the Elf while his Skeletal Kathari hits for another 4 before playing a Sanctum Gargoyle to take back his Capsule from the graveyard.


Terry Soh

Terry however has a Naya Charm and plays it at the end of Mun Yip’s turn to seal up the game, tapping all of Mun Yip’s creatures to make way for his army to attack for lethal damage.

Yau Mun Yip 1 – Terry Soh 2

Terry Soh advances to the semifinals defeating Yau Mun Yip 2-1!

Meanwhile, Rick Lee defeated Loco 2-0, Eddy Ng defeated Muhd Hazim 2-1 and Allan Chong defeated Ong Dun Chuan 2-0 to proceed into the semifinals.