Magic The Gathering - Malaysia

2010 Malaysian National Championships – Semifinals
Jason Ng vs Joe Soh


Joe Soh


Jason Ng

Game 1

Joe won the dice roll and elected to start first but both players started off with a mulligan to 6. Joe led off with a Khalni Heart Expedition while a Bloodbraid Elf brought a Sprouting Thrinax for Jason. The Thrinax died to a Lightning Bolt while Cultivate ramp Joe’s mana. A Blightning forced Joe to discard a Forest and an Oracle of Mul Daya while the Thrinax sent Joe to 14.

An Avenger of Zendikar created a 7 Plant tokens shaped roadblock for Jason as a plant token sacrificed himself to block a Thrinax valiantly while a 2nd Blightning killed off the rest of Joe’s hand. A Forest off the top gave them all +1/+1 counters and did 11 damage in an attack, but a Maelstrom Pulse put an end to that and Joe had another Sprouting Thrinax to worry about.

The 2 Thrinaxes went all the way unopposed as Joe’s deck didn’t not offer any form of defense and an end of turn Bituminous Blast on his own Thrinax that cascaded into a Lightning Bolt ended the game in Jason’s favor.

Jason Ng 1 – Joe Soh 0

Game 2

A first turn Duress from Jason revealed a hand of an Obstinate Baloth, Cultivate, 2 Mountains, a Forest and a Lightning Bolt off Joe’s hand. The Cultivate was sent off Joe’s hand but a top deck’ed Rampant Growth allowed Joe to summon an Obstinate Baloth the following turn to put Joe to 24 although it was Terminate-d soon after.

Bloodbraid Elf hit an empty cascade with Jason revealing a Doom Blade as Joe went on the offence with a Raging Ravine which survived to knock 4 life points off Jason. Jason then cast a Master of the Wild Hunt while Joe summoned a Siege-Gang Commander.

Jason tried to kill the Commander with the Master’s activated ability but Joe killed the wolf token in response, ensuring the 2 damage does not go through to the Commander. Jason then played a Maelstrom Pulse to finish off the rest of the goblin tokens a tad bit too late and added a Putrid Leech to his side of the board.

An Avenger of Zendikar made 7 plant tokens and they became 2/3s with the help of a Terramorphic Expanse. Bloodbraid Elf brought along a Sprouting Thrinax and not the Pulse Jason eagerly wanted but a Terminate made sure the plant tokens does not become any bigger.



Joe animated a Ravine and attacked with his whole army. A big blood bath later and thanks to Siege-Gang Commander activation and a Mountain triggering off the Valakut, Jason’s game 2 is over.

Jason Ng 1 – Joe Soh 1

After some amount of discussion between Jason and the judges, Jason is made to replace his foil Sprouting Thrinax copies that were really bent, and before long the game soon continued.

Game 3

Jason quickly chose to take a mulligan while Joe thought long and hard before choosing to mulligan as well. Joe started off with a Khalni Heart Expedition while Jason had a Sprouting Thrinax as his first play. Joe had a Cultivate while Jason summoned Bloodbraid Elf who cascaded into a Putrid Leech as his Thrinax and elf swung in for 6. An Obstinate Baloth helped shift Joe’s life to 18. Jason attacked Joe with his Leech and Thrinax and elf which saw the Baloth going up against the Leech who died to a Lightning Bolt when Jason tried to pump him.

A second Thrinax joined the fray as a Siege-Gang Commander entered the battlefield for Joe. A late Duress revealed that Joe only had a Rampant Growth and a Forest in hand, the Growth being sent off the hand as Jason’s army thrashed in. While the Commander helped to delay Joe’s impending doom, his deck offered no help as Jason’s Sarkhan the Mad turned the battle into an even more 1-sided affair as Jason crashed his way through Joe to book his place in the Finals.

Jason Ng 2 – Joe Soh 1

Jason Ng advanced to the Finals defeating Joe Soh 2-1!