Magic The Gathering - Malaysia

The 2009 Malaysian Nationals Coverage Report - Finals
Wong Weng Sheng vs Joe Soh


Joe Soh vs Wong Weng Sheng

Game 1

Joe won the dice roll and chose to go first and with both players happy with their opening hand, Joe started off the game quickly with a 1st turn Figure of Destiny, while Weng Sheng had Windbrisk Heights for his 1st turn play. Joe made his figure a 2/2 and attacked for 2 to bring Wong to 18 before playing a Treetop Village while Wong had a 2nd turn Bitterblossom off a painland, taking him to 17. Things look bleak for Wong as Joe played a Boggart Ram-Gang and attacked with it, taking 5 points of damage off Wong to12 while his Bitterblossom took him to 11. A Kitchen Finks tried to bring some relief for Wong but a Magma Spray dashed those hopes and with another Boggart Ram-Gang joining the fray, all Wong could do was to scoop up all of his cards for game 2.


Wong Weng Sheng

Joe Soh 1 – Wong Weng Sheng 0

Game 2

The players spent little time delving into their sideboard and shuffled up for game 2. Wong chose to go first, and chose to take a mulligan his opening 7 but was disgusted with his 6, before settling his 5 while Joe was happy to keep his opening 7. A first turn Arcane Sanctum was met with a first turn Figure of Destiny off a painland, taking Joe down to 18 after pumping it to become a 2/2. Meanwhile Wong had a Soul Warden followed by a Tidehollow Sculler which took a Kitchen Finks from a hand of a Mountain, a Forest, Snakeform, Puncture Blast, and Pithing Needle before sending his Soul Warden in to chip in for 1 after gaining a life from the warden.



Joe quickly killed off the Sculler with a Puncture Blast, taking back his Kitchen Finks before attacking another 2 life with his Figure. Wong had another Tidehollow Sculler and this time he chose to take the Magma Spray from a hand that contained a Pithing Needle, Snakeform Kitchen Finks and Forest, gaining a life from the warden and chipping off a point from Joe with her yet again.

The Figure of Destiny went into the red zone again and with Wong declaring no blocks, Joe did nothing despite having plenty of mana and just made Wong take 2 damage. On his following turn, Wong then activated his Mutavault, and before he could declare attackers, Joe decided to cast Incinerate on Wong's Tidehollow Sculler to take back his Magma Spray which was immediately used on Wong's Mutavault, effectively destroying Wong’s attack plans.


Joe Soh

The Soul Warden chipped in for another 1 nonetheless while Joe's Kithkin Spirit too attacked back for 2 points of damage before Joe played a Kitchen Finks to gain Joe 2 life. A Pithing Needle named Windbrisk Heights stopped it from giving Wong card advantage, after which he played a Kitchen Finks to himself up 3 thanks to the Soul Warden, before taking 5 damage from the attacking opposing Figure and Finks.

Joe made his Figure a 4/4, taking 1 from his Karplusan Forest before sending his army of Finks, Figure of Destiny and an animated Village into the red zone. The 4/4 Kithkin Spirit Warrior is blocked by Wong's Finks but a Snakeform made Finks nothing but a 1/1 snake and it was enough to convince Wong to pack it in for the 3rd game.



Joe Soh 2 – Wong Weng Sheng 0

Game 3



Both players kept their opening hands and Wong started but Joe made the first play with a 1st turn Figure of Destiny while a 2nd turn Noble Hierarch allowed the Kithkin, freshly turned into a Spirit to attack for 3 while Wong had a Tidehollow Sculler to see to his horror a hand of 3 Boggart Ram-Gang, a Pithing Needle and a Magma Spray which was taken away by Wong.



Joe chose not to let loose the horde of Ram-Gangs however to play the Kitchen Finks he had but not before attacking for another 3 with his Kithkin Spirit with the help of Noble Hierarch. Wong passed his turn without having a land to play and when Joe pushed in with the newly made 4/4 Figure of Destiny Wong sent it on a Path to Exile but Joe kept piling the pressure on his opponent with a Bloodbraid Elf that gave Joe a free Snakeform which turned Wong's Sculler into a 1/1 snake before attacking with his 2 3/2s who both went unblocked.

Wong managed to put a Kitchen Finks into play to gain 2 life and hopefully stop the bleeding but Joe’s 2nd Snakeform made it lose it's persist abilities as it died in combat on Joe’s following turn. Joe then added another Figure to his board while Wong had a Spectral Procession to show on his following turn.

Joe, relentless, sent an army of a newly cast Boggart Ram-Gang, Bloodbraid Elf, his 2/2 Figure of Destiny and Kitchen Finks as Wong blocked desperately to stay alive and what seemed to be an hopeless board situation for Wong. His mind was not quite in the game anymore as he accidentally took out his surviving spirit token from play and had to be reminded by Joe to put it back into play.



Wong took a look at the top card of his library as Joe passed his turn and extended his hand in congratulations as he conceded the fight to become returning National Champion.

Joe Soh 3 – Wong Weng Sheng 0

Joe Soh is the 2009 Malaysian National Champion!