Belgian Nationals, Part 3

Check out part 1 and part 2.

6. Veni, Vidi, Vici

One might think that I must have been feeling quite confident sitting at 5-1. Well, one would be very wrong. Unfortunately, my experience has thought me the difference between ‘almost there’ and ‘there’ is quite big in magic. Add to that the fact that, like I have already mentioned, I had hardly any experience with Eventide and you can understand that I was very cautious with getting my hopes up.

I start off the draft with Kulrath Knight and proceed to stay flexible with a Trip Noose. Subsequently I pick up a Gloomlance, Faerie Macabre and a couple of white cards in Inquisitor’s Snare and Niveous Wisps. The idea of monoblack forms when I take three Loch Korrigans over not much else. When I crack Incremental Blight in the second pack I’m only barely able to withhold myself from doing a lap dance. Bram Meulders (‘brother of’, lover of minerals and Marijn’s nemesis) then proceeds to ship me Kulrath Knight & Puppeteer Clique. I take the latter, figuring I already have a Knight and not much counter action (probably wrong? No clue). Afterwards I don’t get much else (Tatterkite, Good Old Ghastbark, another Macabre) but I’m really happy when I scoop up 2 Oona’s Gatewardens, as my curve until then appeared exponential. I had given up on monoblack at this point since I had nowhere near enough playables even when counting the white cards. Nevertheless, I should be awarded for drafting Zebra in Eventide, right? Yes sir.

Check out this beautiful odd-toed ungulate:

Oona’s Gatewarden
Nightsky Mimic
Sulture Spirit
Hag Hedge-Mage
Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
2 Faerie Macabre
Tatterkite
2 Smoldering Butcher
Voracious Hatchling
Puppeteer Clique
Kulrath Knight
Old Ghastbark

Last Breath
Trip Noose
Inquisitor’s Snare
Unmake
2 Recumbent Bliss
Incremental Blight
Gloomlance

10 Swamps
8 Plains

Zebra! Yes, you're still reading a Magic: the Gathering article.

Bombs? Check.

Removal? Check .

Fliers? Check.

3-0? Check.

Round 7, Jean Philippe Skocek with Red-Green aggro
I lose the first to mana flood and, if I remember correctly, a particularly painful Gift of Deity. After I take control of game two fairly easily I crush his hopes in the last one with a well-timed (I crack myself up) Incremental Blight.

Round 8, Wim Depickere with Red
Wim lost the preceding round and is unfortunate enough to be paired against me. I win game one swiftly with a turn four ‘Supersize me’ Voracious Hatchling. The next game is even more ugly as I topdeck a land to be able to Gloomlance his Deus of Calamity … which joins my side the next turn to kick him in the nuts, thanks to Puppeteer Clique.

Round 9, Pavlos Akritas with Green-White
I draw all my good cards at the right time: Spectral Procession? Incremental Blight. Archon of Justice? Unmake. A frustrated Pavlos has no chance. Nevertheless, let me be so generous to share embarrassing moment #2:

Pavlos attacked with all his creatures on his turn so I can safely strike back with Suture Spirit and a Hedge Mage. That is, if he didn’t have a Safehold Sentry. Oops. Pavlos obviously calls my bullshit, untaps the Sentry and prepares to block. Trip Noose saves my creature but it’s too late to save my dignity.

8-1

Finally reunited with my precious red deck, nothing can go wrong now, can it?

Reunited at last.

Round 10, Gilles Grandjean with a red deck
I told Gilles I built my deck to win the mirror so he’s curious to see what’s up my sleeve. Unfortunately I don’t have any Mogg War Marshals in game one, but two Skreds are enough to seal the deal in a tight race. In the second game he has to mulligan twice and doesn’t really stand a chance.

9-1

Round 11, Sacha Bonroy with Elves
We take an intentional draw.

Round 12, Jurgen Cleuren with 5cBlink
All the blood drains from his face when I tell him I might want to play. After one minute of pondering my inner pussy rears its ugly head and I draw.

9-1-2

In retrospect, I didn’t consider all my options at the time: I could have conceded. I knew there was a big chance I would have to play Luis or Pascal in the quarters. Both are friends, first-class players and are packing relatively good decks against me. If I had conceded I would have ended up 3rd and this would pit me against Bernardo/Pavlos or Bram/X , which might have been preferable by a small margin.

In the end the top 8 looks like this:
1 Doise, Jan 29 RDW
2 Bonroy, Sacha 29 Elves
3 Grandjean, Gilles 28 RDW
4 Siron, Geoffrey 28 RDW
5 Cleuren, Jurgen 28 5cBlink
6 Da Costa Cabral, Bernardo 27 Reveillark
7 Meulders, Bram 27 Elves
8 Vieren, Pascal 27 Reveillark

7. Veni, vidi, edi
Saturday evening we have our yearly date with ‘t Fonduehuisje. I try to impress Pascal with my chocolate fondue skills in an eating contest, which has some effect as apparently he didn’t sleep from eating too much. Try to think out-of-the-box when looking for a way to win, folks!

8. Requiem for a Dream
I agreed with Pascal to exchange decklists since Christophe already told me some of his sideboard. I know, I have to work on that inner pussy. For reference, this is his list:

4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Mouth of Ronom
4 Mystic Gate
5 Snow-Covered Island
7 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Tolaria West
2 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Body Double
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Mirror Entity
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
2 Riftwing Cloudskate
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Careful Consideration
3 Mind Stone
2 Momentary Blink
2 Pact of Negation
3 Prismatic Lens
2 Runed Halo
3 Wrath of God

Sideboard:
3 Condemn
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Pact of Negation
2 Sacred Mesa
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Teferi's Moat

I must confess I wasn’t too happy to see Kitchen Finks *and* Aven Riftwatcher, Mouth of Ronom, main deck Runed Halo, and Teferi’s Moat. But despite all that I still estimated my chances around 40%.

In the first game we both have good hands and at some point he’s at 7 when I draw a second burn spell. He has two mana open and a Riftwatcher + Cloudskate in play so I play around Blink by attacking with my Demigod to get rid of the Riftwatcher. With the life-gain effect on the stack I throw the burn at him and the first one is in the bag. Pact of Negation. Probably wouldn’t have been so excruciating if I had thought of it.

For the remainder of the match I sideboard as usual against Reveillark (Macabres, Sulfurous Blasts) and add 1 to 2 Unwilling Recruits to have an extra winning condition against Teferi’s Moat. In between games I always shuffle my sideboard into my deck to annoy him. The smallest mental edge can do it, folks!

Too bad the remaining games weren’t that interesting as each time one player drew much better than the other, the end result being a 3-1 victory for Pascal. Perhaps I should have mulliganed a questionable hand in the last game (No action before turn three) but hindsight is 20/20 hence I have no regrets.

9. Aftermath
The good: I’ve won four points and five boxes. I'm extremely motivated to do well at Berlin. I'm happy to have Pascal on our squad for Berlin and Memphis.
The bad: I’m still far away from those precious 30 points (13 to go) and I missed an excellent opportunity to earn a ticket to the US and play in the National team.
The ugly: 5 out of the other 7 decks in the top eight were >50% matchups.

Tired now,
-Jan.

Belgian Nationals, Part 2

In part one you heard all about my preparation for Nationals and how I, albeit a bit emotional, reached the tournament site.

After arriving my yoga sessions pay off since my mental condition becomes perfect and I even have an enormous lust to sling red spells. Let's get it on!

Round 1, Geert Tyssens with Red-Black tokens
I take the first game with a strong draw. During sideboarding I am actually salivating as I bring in Gargadons and Unwilling Recruits which give me hope for winning this otherwise bad matchup. In the second game things are back and forth until he gets out two Grave Pacts and draws a Mogg War Marshall. My hope wasn’t misplaced though as I manage to kill him in the decider before he has time for shenanigans.

Round 2, Tristan Pype with something including green
This match was such a beating that I don’t even remember what deck he played. I do recall him playing Primal Command, going to 16, and dying the next turn anyway. What can I say, Demigods treat other Demigods well.

Round 3, Johan Dewez with funky Quick 'n Toast
The first game is pretty even until I drop the hammer - I can't remember if it was Demigod number two or a combination of burn spells. In the second he wants to cast Sudden Death (which he fetched with Mystical Teachings the turn before) with an empty Dreadship Reef, Reflecting Pool and two other lands as I turn my Figure into a monster. He awkwardly looks at his lands and scoops.

3-0, did you expect anything else?

I sit down at a table without many familiar faces, and open Mulldrifter and Cairn Wanderer. I figure Mulldrifter is the best pick, but I’m not sure (it’s been a while). In the end Cairn Wanderer finds his way into my pile and I immediately regret it. I continue with Lash Out over Aethersnipe and then Wren’s Run Vanquisher. After I pick Lys Alana Scarblade out of an empty pack and see another one in the next pack I decide to go all-in on Elves (Going all-in is almost always the right move in this format if you are unaware).

All in.

The deck:
Bramblewood Paragon
2 Wren Run’s Vanquisher
Blightsoil Druid
Leaf Gilder
Kithkin Mourncaller
Fertilid
Moonglove Changeling
3 Lys Alana Scarblade
Gilt-Leaf Ambush
Ambassador Oak
Lys Alana Huntmaster
Final-Sting Faerie
Elvish Promenade
Cairn Wanderer
Weed-Pruner Poplar
Nightshade Schemers

Earthbrawn
Nameless Inversion
Lignify
Moonglove Extract

9 Forest
8 Swamp

I was happy with the result, nothing is really lacking and I have some powerful cards and synergy.

Round 4, Stijn Van Goethem, Blue-Red Elementals
Something went wrong with Stijn’s draft, most of his cards are mediocre and he never really has a chance.

Round 5, Julien Bernard, White-Black Kithkin
The first game is going according to plan until Final Revels wreaks havoc. I win the next even though I have embarrassing moment #1:
My Vanquisher is facing Moonglove Changeling and Kithkin Greatheart. I want to trade with the changeling and thus attack, unaware of the fact that the Greatheart is big and I have no tricks up my sleeve. Julien immediately pushes the Greatheart forward and my heart pounds as I realize my misplay, but I manage to stay cool on the outside and a fraction of a second later he takes it back and thinks some more. Finally he decides not to take the risk and trades with his changeling. Ding!

Unfortunately it was all for naught as he comes out strong in the last game, unlike myself, and I'm left defeated.

Round 6, Michael De Bosscher, Blue-Black
After losing the first game, I take the match fairly easily with my Scarblades playing a key role.
5-1

Still in the mood for more, I manage to start up a Shadowmoor draft, in the hope of having a clue tomorrow instead of spending all my pick time reading Eventide cards. I manage to draft a really solid Black-Red deck but in a close final against Peter I succumb to his monored. At least I had my first positive record in the format.

Until next time, when this epic story will come to its dramatic end,
Jan.

Belgian Nationals, Part 1

1. Foreplay

Ah, nationals. The tournament of tournaments. It’s like the Olympics, only more special. Even for people who already have numerous Pro Tours under their belt, there is something extra-ordinary about it. In theory it’s just a quadruple PTQ, but in practice everybody wants to be that guy carrying the flag come December (well, except Stan, who probably prefers sleeping).

2002 Belgian National Team. So young and naive.

 2. Vandaag is rood, de kleur van jouw lippen

 In my preparation for nationals, I had some dilemmas:

• I had almost no time for practicing
• I had almost no willingness to test standard
• I really wanted to do well, in a vain attempt to reach 30 PT points this season and regain some self-esteem

This left me with only one out: play a red deck.

I choose red.

 3. Grand Prix Copenhagen

I leave for this tournament bringing only the bare necessities: my red cards and my mobile phone. I give Frank Karsten (the man, the myth, the buffoon that played Rekindled Flame) a call and he shares his decklist, which, next to Rekindled Flame, also features Brute Force. 

The deck performs quite well, as I only lose to Red-Black tokens (bad matchup I guess), Elves (bad luck I guess), and twice to other red decks (out of four matches, seems fair).

Since my theory is that almost everybody always plays creature decks in Belgium I plan to adapt the deck to win the mirror and win nationals. 

I bought this card at a dealer. So much for my self-esteem.

4. Les Ardennes 

In order to fully prepare ourselves mentally (be completely Zen) for the tournament of tournaments, I organised a magical weekend (need more puns) in the Ardennes. All present: Fried, Peter, Pascal, Marijn, Kelly, Christophe, Jurgen, Stijn (although not always conscious) and myself. I once again bring only the bare necessities: my red cards, packs, and water balloons. 

A day in this soothing environment lifts me to higher spirits and I build the perfect red deck:

4 Figure of Destiny
2 Magus of the Scroll
4 Blood Knight
3 Mogg War Marshall
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
2 Boggart Ram Gang
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Skred
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
3 Keldon Megaliths
22 Snow-Covered Mountains

Sideboard:
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Unwilling Recruit
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Sulfurous Blast 

The key in the mirror is very simple:

•  Don’t take damage (Mogg War Marshall)
•  Kill their big guys (Skred, Unwilling Recruit + Gargadon)
• Let your big guys do the job (Greater Gargadon)

Not that I had any chance to test the sideboard, but it looked great in theory. 

I did test against Reveillark though, where I went funky against Marijn and brought in Sulfurous Blasts (alongside Macabres, obviously), which were surprisingly good. Since they sideboard in Condemns, Runed Halo, etc. they have to take out action cards and most of the time they are rather low on gas. The Sulfurous Blasts together with all the other direct damage ensure you can kill all their guys (obviously you need Macabres with this strategy) and eventually they’ll die. I believe it was 5-1 in testing (sample size, schmample size). 

I mentally put all the other decks in the box ‘Creature deck/Bad deck/Other’ which I considered a good matchup without having to test. 

Boosterdraft was another story. I felt comfortable with LLM, having practiced a lot for Malaysia. I only got the chance to draft SSE twice, going a combined 1-2. The sole win being against judge Jurgen who was screwed.

5. Oh such a perfect day

It’s the 5^th of September, 7:30 a.m. Together with Stan I’m cruising on cobblestone roads in order to avoid traffic. Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy?

It makes me think about all the sacrifices I’ve already made in my life, just in the hope of getting there once. Spent thousands of euros. Played 2HG with Geoffrey Siron. Slept in the same bed as Marijn Lybaert. Sat in planes & airports for 36 continuous hours. Sold my soul to the devil. Had my fries stolen by Marijn Lybaert.

But it’s just the price I pay.
Destiny is calling me.
Open up my eager eyes.
I’m Mr. Belgian Champ.

To be continued.

GP Madrid, part 3

In the previous parts, we learned that I, the hero of the story, made it to the second day.

All this glory comes with a hefty price though: I had to get up at the ungodly hour of something like 6.30 am.

There's a 6.30 in the am now?

With the GP starting at 8am (<3), I met up with Jurgen (Baert) in the hallway for our daily 45 min journey to the site.

I was going to look for my draft pod in the coverage of the GP, but I can't find them. Anyway, my first pod featured Frank Karsten and some randoms like my archnemesis Nestor Santos (who put a halt to my rise to the top at nationals a couple of years ago).

I first picked Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers. It's G and W, but I'm happy playing either of those colors. I stayed on track and after booster 1, I had mostly green cards. Including 2 Gloomwidows. I'm all about 3/3's for 3. 2/2's for 2 with extras are also totally my bag. after the first 2 packs, I had 2 Safehold Elite, 1 Safehold Sentry, 1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers and 3 (!) Gloomwidow.

Nice curve.

The Eventide booster was disappointing though. I figured I should be set up to receive lots of the green gems eventide has to offer, but I got the mix of deep packs and empty packs we all love to hate. I did manage to table a Savage Conception?



1 Duergar Assailant
1 Medicine Runner
1 Safehold Sentry
2 Safehold Elite
1 Woodlurker Mimic

1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
3 Gloomwidow
2 Hoof Skulkin

2 Rune-Cervin Rider
1 Canker Abomination
1 Desecrator hag

1 Savage Conception
1 Old Ghastbark

1 Spirit of the Hearth

1 Viridiscent Wisps
1 Curse of Chains
1 Last Breath
1 Recumbent Bliss

9 Plains
8 Forest

Actually, this is not what my main deck was, but what it should have been. I chose to play a Strip Bare main deck.
It was a leftover from the couple of SSS drafts I did, were hybrid enchantments reigned, and where I didn't mind main decking Strip. Bare.

Round 10: Tony Martins
He had Kithkin Shielddare in his RW deck. I lold.

8-2

Round 11: Andreas Nordahl
Andreas was playing a BG deck, centered around Flourishing Defenses, which seems to have gotten a lot better with Eventide.
In the first game, I curved it up, since that's what my deck does. Curse of Chains on his Ashling kept up the pressure. but he somehow started to stabilize. Rune-Cervin Rider was about to deal the final points, when he showed me Gloomwidow Feast. No problemo though, I had more random dudes to seal the deal. Or not. Sturdy hatchling showed up, bringing along 4 tokens thanks to Flourishing Defenses. Andreas topdecked Tower Above to deal lots and lots of wither damage, for 8 more tokens, and that's how he took the first game.

In the second, I came out of the gates blazing, with turn 2 Woodlurker Mimic, turn 3 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers. Andrekes first play was A farhaven Elf. On my 4th turn, I could either play Canker Abomination, with 1 counter and attack with a now 4/5 Mimic and the Cavaliers, or I could attack first and play my Abomination afterwards, as a 6/6.
The first option seemed like the best one, since there's hardly a difference between a 5/5 and a 6/6, plus I'd get more damage out of my Mimic this way.
On his fourth turn, Andreas played a Sickle Ripper and passed the turn with 3 mana up.

*insert foreshadowing music*

I got in there with all of my guys. The Sickle Ripper chumped my Cavaliers, making it a 1/2. Farhaven Elf traded with my Mimic. Canker Abomination turned into a 0/0 snake. What a blowout.
I was running out of gas, and another Snakeform later, it was all over but the crying.

8-3

I talked with Andreas afterwards. He was sitting on my right during the draft, and picked amost solely green cards. While he had the Flourishing Defenses theme going on, I managed to get a couple of good green cards in the first series of packs. But in Eventide, I had him to blame for the rather unfortunate outcome.

Round 12: Ricard Tuduri
Ricard had drafted himself a UB deck.
And he mulliganned to 5 in the first.
In the second, it seemed like I was winning, until he had Biting Tether. And then I drew Duergar Assailant.
In the third, Ricard was a little shy on spells. His Soul Reap wasn't helping either versus my monogreen army.

9-3

My second draft featured Antoine Ruel to my left and some more randoms. Well, I did recognize the name Yves Sele from a couple of years ago.

My first pack had Midnight Banshee and Spectral Procession. I love white and I hate black in this format (KKK anyone?), but the Banshee is sooooo sick. Also, black decks are also able to cast Unmake and 2/4 withers for 4. My following picks were Glen Elendra Liege, Faerie Macabre and Wasp Lancers.
<3. plan. together.

In pack 2, I opened Furystoke Giant and nothing black or blue. I picked it, since I was mainly monoblack anyways... I followed it up with some more black picks.

Pack 3, was a complete disaster. Call the Skybreaker provided another bomb, but I just wanted solid playables. Which i didn't get. I also needed something cheap/some removal, but I picked Soul Snuffers > Soul Reap. I ended up with a lack of playables which made me resort to main deck Splitting Headache and Scarscale Ritual.



1 Oona's Gatewarden
1 Sootstoke Kindler
1 Sickle Ripper
1 Nightsky Mimic
1 Inkfathom Witch
1 Fang Skulkin

2 Faerie Macabre
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Rendclaw Trow
1 Gravegill Duo
1 Wingrattle Scarecrow

1 Soul Snuffers
1 Glen Elendra Liege
1 Desecrator Hag

1 Cultbrand Cinder

1 Rattleblaze Scarecrow
1 Midnight Banshee

1 Call the Skybreaker

1 Gloomlance
1 Scarscale Ritual
1 Splitting Headache

13/5 or 14/4 Swamp/Island

However, again this is what my deck should have been. My deck consisted out of a lot of dorks. And Furystoke Giant is good with a lot of dorks. I also wasn't sure how good Inkfathom Witch really is, so the deck I registered had -1 Witch, +1 Furystoke Giant, with 5 Mountains. Obviously, I was never able to cast my Wasp Lancers on turn 3, never Furystoked and boarded to the UB version every time.

Round 13: Andres Madruga
He had a GW deck, that also didn't get there and featured cards like a 3/2 for 4 that gives blue creatures shroud.
I don't really remember any exciting plays except me activating Inkfathom Witch when my opponent attacked. Because his guys had -1/-1 counters on them from the Soul Snuffers I had cast a while ago.
I won 2-1

10-3

Round 14: David Magallon Martinez
David had a nearly monoblue deck, splashing for Incremental Blight.
Basically the Banshee took down both games. Even though he got to cast his Blight, Midnight Banshee is pretty good imo.

11-3
Antoine played him the previous round, so I asked him what my opponent in the finals was playing, which tricks he had etc... But Antoine knew the guy, so he wasn't going to tell me.

"You'll know what he's playing soon enough"
*wink*

Round 15: Yves Sele
"Soon enough"
Monored?
Monored.

In the first game, Ashenmoor Gouger recieved Fists of the Demigod, and I didn't draw my single out.
I boarded in a lot of cheap dorks like a 1/1 for 1, a 2/2 for 3. In the second game, Yves didn't have the uberbroken draw and was lacking some gas in the end.
In the third, he had another blazing start again, but without 4/4's for 3 this time. But I had turn 3 Wasp Lancer and played Soul Snuffers on turn 4, netting me a 3-for-0.
BAM.
I was at 12 at this point. Yves at 17, from 1 Lancer attack. My hand was lands and a Cultbrand Cinder.
Yves played a Noggle Hedge-Mage, dealing 2 to me and bringing me to 10. He missed another land drop (3 in play) and still had some cards in his hand.
I drew another land. So what's my play here?

Wasp Lancer is definitely attacking. I want to take advantage of the temporarily edge I have here. I'm at 10 versus the red deck and have only 1 spell. I probably want to play my Cultbrand Cinder this turn, to keep up the pressure. However, it might be kind of a waste, since I can kill of ton of his guys with it.
I could also just attack with the Lancer, keep back the Soul Snuffers to trade with his 2/2 and keep the Cultbrand Cinder in my hand to kill his next play?

The clock is ticking, we all know card advantage is good, but I had to kill him fast.
In hindsight, the play to make seems to play Cultbrand Cinder before attacking, turning his 2/2 into a 1/1. This way he can't trade versus Soul Snuffers and I have maximized the amount of pressure.
What I did however, was attacking first. A mashup between the aggro and card advantage plan, I'd give my opponent the chance to trade with my 2/2. If he did, I'd keep my Cultbrand Cinder in my hand, and just pass the turn. If he didn't, I'd play it anyway.
The thing is, I think I have to be the beatdown at this point. I can't just reduce my clock to Wasp Lancer and give him a chance to catch up again.

Yves didn't block, going down to 13. After combat, I played Cultbrand Cinder. Yves played a land, a 1/1 and passed the turn with 3 mana up. I know he his Fire at Will in his deck, adn with several cards in his hand, it was pretty likeley he had it right now.
So I drew another land, and just attacked with the Wasp Lancer, to avoid getting owned by Fire at Will. Yves is at 11 now and I pass the turn.
Yves doesn't do anything relevant and ships it back to me.
I realize I want to kill him faster and attack with more than just Wasp Lancer. I can't attack with both the Lancer and Soul Snuffers though, as Fire at Will kills them both. So I attack with Soul Snuffers and Cultbrand Cinder. He chumps them both with 1/1's and finishes the job with Fire at Will. Card advantage for me, but my board position suddenly seemed a lot worse. I think I should just have attacked with my Cultbrand Cinder and deny him the opportunity to trade his 2 irrelevant 1/1s + Fire at Will for my 2 bigger guys.
Yves plays Cinder Pyromancer. I draw another land and attack him to 9.
Yves doesn't do anything. I draw another land and attack him to 7. Yves pings me to 9.
Yves doesn't do anything. I draw a spell! I attack him to 7 and play Rattleblaze Scarecrow. Yves pings me to 8. Yves playes Smash to Smithereens taking me to 5. Yves pings me to 4.
He untaps and finishes the job with Burn Trail.

What an anticlimax. The game & match seemed to be mine after my fourth turn. But I drew land after land after land. And Rattleblaze Scarecrow is not that good when your opponent has been waiting for it with a Smash to Smithereens for the last X turns.

I opened the Soul Snuffers, passed it and was sure I could never beat the person who had it.
I never thought I'd win that last match, phew.

-Yves Sele


I never thought you'd win it either.

11-4, 41th

And that kids, is how Jeanke de Coster became the best Belgian at GP Madrid.

BONUS:
This should have been up half a year ago, but then I suddenly stopped writing. I was bored and my inner Kyle Sanchez got the upper hand.


Greggie McG:



Jan:



Marijn Bitching at the end of last PT season (when his hair was still longer):

Grand Prix Copenhagen observations

Hey boys, hey girls! I'm alive and blogging, here we go:

• I am the king of consistent mediocrity: ten gp day two appearances in a row, not a single quarterfinal played. I might stick to pre-releases and other single-day events for the future.


• Be careful when you’re running to the pairings board with a hot dog in your hand. You might end up at your table with a hot dog sans tasty sausage (a.k.a. dry bread).


• Frank Karsten and Stan van der Velden have shady ethics - I confronted them on their split with RvdM:
  “Then, would you buy stock in weapons industry if you knew you’d make profit?”
  “I guess I would.”


• Seeing Florian Pils made me think about my last name. Everybody agreed with me that being called Jan Pils would have been considerably worse than Jan Doise.


• On one hand, Denmark has really high taxes on alcoholic beverages, but on the other hand, streets, metros and even Grand Prix are filled with drunks. This made me wonder:
• I am a big fan of high taxes on alcohol: as I’m reminiscing after a heavy night I can always conclude that I at least supported the state financially. Maybe the Danish really like to help the state and have a little fun at the same time? No wonder their social system works so well.
• Then again, I wasn’t a big fan of the drunk that greeted me in the hotel lobby at 8 a.m. with “Hello, I didn’t sleep all night, mind if I breathe in your general direction?”.
• There were pros and contras to the drunken girls in the metro. Sometimes funny, at other times annoying.
Conclusion: support the state, but be cautious. Friends that put you in bed at the right time are a good to have around.

See y'all at Nationals.

P.S.: Leave your comments on the blog here, much more practical than the forum.

GP Madrid, part 2

Soo....


I had just built my deck. I was unsure though whether I did the best job I could. Another advantage of having 3 byes though (they keep feeling like cheating to me), is that you have lots of time play some games and discuss the job you did , building your deck.
You can also relax and take your time to have breakfast/lunch en get ready for the big show.

LET'S GET IT ON.

Round 4: Alberto
I was about to make a Samson & Gert joke to him, but since he was Spanish or whatever, it would have been a waste of my comical talent.
Oh, did I mention he was Spanish or whatever? And he had 3 byes. Yup, I was living the dream.
But of course Alberto crushed me for my arrogance. Both games were: turn 3 or 4 Augury Adept, followed by a Steel of the Godhead the following turn. Having outs doesn't make always make you a winner.

3-1

Crybaby as I am, I was immediately depressed. Losing to some random, because of Steel of the Godhead, while all the hybrid enchantments have gotten worse! I mean... Could I be any unluckier?

Round 5: Ivo Silva
I'm sure Ivo is a nice guy. But he was also pretty bad. He started game 1 with a Madblind Mountain.

Fo rizzle?
Fo shizzle.

Nuff said.

4-1

Round 6: Riccardo Bertellini
In the first game, he was manaflowed and didn't have Spitting Image. So he lost.
In the second game, I was manaflowed. But I however, did have Spitting Image. I had to bash through 2 Recumbent Bliss, but Spitting Image can do that...
The funny thing is that he sighed and complained every time I had another land. Starting from land # 7, all the way to # 14. Good times.

5-1

Round 7: Victor
He had what appeared to be a sick sealed deck. Nearly monored, splashing black for some nasty surprises.
In the first, I get completely demolished, by his Ashenmoor Gouger, RW Liege, Demigod of Revenge, Flame Jab, retrace, retrace draw...
To make things even worse, I had to mulligan to 5 in game 2, on the play. Victor kept his initial 7. Luckily, I went 2 drop, 3 drop, Noggle Bridgebreaker. Victor had the less impressive turn 4 Horde of Boggarts, turn 5 Beseech the Queen for Incremental Blight. I drew Sturdy Hatchling, and while I got 3-for-1'd, the untargetable Hatchling took it down.
In the third game, the villain had another subpar draw.

6-1

Round 8: Fabian
A chatty German, who assured me his deck was bad. But his opponents have been mulliganing all day long. So I went to 5 in the first game. But with a series of good spells, I was able to stablize: River's Grasp on his turn 4 play, discarding his Wickerbough Elder (since I had Recumbent Bliss in my hand). Gloomlance took out another fatty and his last card: Burn Trial. Recumbent Bliss swung the game in my favor. But a timely topdecked Wickerbough Elder # 2 later, I was shuffling for game 2. Which I won, since I drew the answers for his quality creatures like the previously mentioned Elder, but also guys like Wilt-Leaf Liege, Witherscale Wurm, etc...
In the third however, I didn't.

6-2

Fabian apparently felt bad for me.
"Do you want some candy?"
"Sure, I'll accept candy from strangers."
And then he gave me a cookie and some chewing gum. I declined an apple, since that's too healthy for a Magic tournament.

Round 9: Bruno
In the first game, Bruno got a decent start with some early beats. I was playing really tight to race his couple of fliers with my bigger creatures on the ground. When Selkie Hedge-Mage bounced one of his fliers, the game appeared to be in the bag. But Bruno had Hallowed Burial. I ran out of gas to win the game, so he easily dealt the last couple of points.
I won both the second and the third with a combination of draws a little less stellar on Bruno's side and me knowing that he has a Wrath in his deck.

7-2

And since 3 byes really is like cheating, my tie breaks were good enough to make day 2.

Pukkelpop

Bonus: Fried's guide to Pukkelpop
This is how I'd spend my time at Pukkelpop if it was just up to me!

Thursday
15.15 - 15.55 Santogold: not my usual cup of tea, but kinda like it
15.55 - 17.00 Uffie & Feadz: No SebastiAn or Justice, but still Ed Banger and I'm curious...
17.00 - 18.30: DJ Mehdi : Ed Banger
18.30 - 20.00: Switch: got to know him this year, and apparantly he was responsible for some tracks I already knew
20.00 - 22.00: SebastiAn: unlike Uffie & Feadz, SebastiAn is SebastiAn (and his capital A in the middle of his name, is so badass)
22.45 - 23.45: Roisin Murphy: I was a Moloko fan, and Roisin on her own is still good. Although I have to be in the mood for it.

23.45 - 00.15: De jeugd van Tegenwoordig
00.45 - 2.00: The Subs of The Killers
2.00 - 4.00: Mish Mash Soundsystem

Friday
13.45 - 14.25: The Count & Sinden
16.00 - 17.30: Brodinski
17.30 - 19.00: Surkin
19.00 - 20.30: Diplo
20.30 - 22.00: Erol Alkan
23.00 - 01.00: Boys Noize

Saturday
13.00 - 14.30 : The Bloody Beetroots
14.30 - 16.00 : Crookers
En met pijn in het hart ga ik waarschijnlijk Kid Sister missen:
18.00 - 19.30 : A-Trak: zou geniaal moeten zijn, scratcht nog wat en laat eens zien wat hij allemaal kan in zen sets en heeft ook een hoop eigen remixes
Hij mag ook Kid Sister binnendoen.
20.05 - 21.05 : Bloc Party of Simian Mobile Disco, met een heel mooie clip
21.30 - 23.00 : 2manydjs
0.00 - 1.00 : Soulwax

GP Madrid, part 1

The only reason I play Magic is to ctrl+f my name in Rich Hagon's latest Starcity article. The one about Hollywood was titled "Yet More Disappointments", I was sure on of his disappointments was that I wasn't there. When in fact the search result in the article turned up to be "fried chicken", I knew it was time for action.

Madrid would be the big comeback. Summer Series, mo' money, mo' pro points. I practiced with daily modo drafts, went to pre-releases and even got together in Ghent for a whole day of drafting.

That doesn't mean I/we had a clue though. I "kinda liked" monored, but had no idea it was going to turn out to be everyone's pick for "best draft archetype" I read about in the coverage of various events on magicthegathering.com.
I also knew I'd like to draft a deck that was able to cast Unmake.
That's about it.

I somehow tricked StanV into buying a ticket to Madrid. His sudden rise in spellslingin' appetite quickly switched to

Man,
I hate

Spain
GPs
Spaniards
Magic
Spain

You can still be a racist when you're black, Stan!

But it was too late, he bought his ticket, so he was going. Only the legendary Gert Coeckelbergh had the balls to buy a ticket and then not go because "he didn't feel like it".

(true story)


Saturday
I absolutely hate it when people talk about the 'broken sealed deck they openened & registered, but then had to give away', so I'm not going to do that.

What I am going to do is list my card pool and try to go through my deck building process. But doing so in real life is hard enough, I have no idea how much you can learn from the textual approach. I think it's pretty hard to build a deck when you can't pick up the cards...

The Pool
Artifacts
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Thornwatch Scarecrow
2 Shell Skulkin
1 Wingrattle Scarecrow

Lands
1 Sapseep Forest

White
1 Strip Bare
1 Pale Wayfarer
1 Barrenton Medic
1 Rune-Cervin Rider
1 Armored Ascension
2 Recumbent Bliss

Blue
1 Deepchannel Mentor
1 Put Away
1 Cerulean Wisps
1 Ghastly Discovery
1 Whimwader
1 Merrow Wavebreakers
1 Parapet Watchers
1 Dream Thief

Black
1 Ashenmoor Cohort
1 Blowly Infestation
1 Disturbing Plot
2 Meroow Bonegnawer
1 Gloomlance
1 Syphon Life

Red
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Bloodmark Mentor
1 Power of Fire
1 Boggart Arsonists
1 Knollspine Dragon

Green
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Monstrify
1 Flourishing Defenses
1 Viridiscent Wisps
1 Hungry Spriggan
1 Aerie Ouphes

UW
1 Worldpurge

GW
1 Medicine Runner
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Raven's Run Dragoon

UB
1 Gravegill Duo
1 Helm of the Ghastlord
1 River's Grasp
1 Wasp Lancer

BR
1 Emberstrike Duo
1 Fists of the Demigod
1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Murderous Redcap

GR
1 Scuzzback Marauders
1 Morselhoarder
1 Manamorphose
1 Giantbaiting
1 Runes of the Deus

RW
1 Fire at Will

UR
2 Inside Out
1 Clout of the Dominus
1 Noggle Ransacker
1 Noggle Bandit
1 Noggle Bridgebreaker

UG
1 Fable of Wolf and Owl
1 Favor of the Overbeing
1 Spitting Image
1 Shorecrasher Mimic
1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
2 Sturdy Hatchling

BW
1 Restless Apparation
1 Nip Gwyllion
1 Beckon Apparition
2 Nightsky Mimic

Should be 75 cards, if it isn't, an irrelevant card is probably missing.

I'll go through the steps I took to build me deck. Maybe you can learn something that way. Or maybe you can teach me something, if you point out my mistakes!

1) I sort my cards by colors because the dumbass who registered my pool didn't. I think he gets a warning or whatever if I call a judge and I might get some extra time. But I'm not sure about this, so I just quickly sort the cards...

2) I cut the crap.
I make one 'if I really have to' pile, which contains crap that might make the deck if certain conditions are met (eg. I want to make a 2 color deck and need an extra 'playable': cards like Pale Wayfarer, ...). The hybrid aura's without enough ways the get there also find their way quickly in this pile.
I sort my other cards by color, and thanks to the hybrid card this means a lot of piles. I seperate the really good cards, cards that draw my attention, from the other playables in that pile.

3) I try recognize the most powerful cards in my pool. I'll be trying to play as many of these as possible, as long as they are supported by a solid base of other playables.

4) I eliminate at least 1 color, but I keep in mind possible splash options (for example, if your red is clearly not going to make the deck as a main color, you might still want to play that Puncture Blast).
This step reduces the number of piles, since you will also rebuild your hybrid piles (say you remove red, you can put you can merge your UR pile with the blue cards, etc...).

5) I stare at the cards still on the table for 10 minutes, until I can 'see the matrix'.
Well maybe not for the whole 10 minutes, but I see the people around me already building, when I'm still sitting there, staring. I try to see which colors are deep enough to be a base color of the deck, I keep in mind the cards that 'excite me' and keep in mind possible options for splashing.
Obviously removal is crucial, but also some plan, the way your deck will be winning.

6)I iterate through a couple of builds and hope I made the right decisions when I start writing down my deck with 5 minutes left on the clock.

In practice, for this pool, it means something like this:
(exciting cards get tagged with a *)
The Pool, filtered

if I really have to
2 Shell Skulkin
1 Thornwatch Scarecrow
1 Pale Wayfarer
1 Put Away
1 Ghastly Discovery
1 Blowly Infestation (might be good in the right deck, not a bad per se, more kind of a possible flagship -to use the Floresian term)
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Bloodmark Mentor
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Flourishing Defenses (again, possible flagship. I underrated this card, and it seems to have gotten better with Eventide).
1 Gravegill Duo
1 Helm of the Ghastlord
1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Manamorphose
1 Giantbaiting
1 Runes of the Deus
1 Noggle Ransacker

White
1 Barrenton Medic
1 Rune-Cervin Rider
*1 Armored Ascension
*2 Recumbent Bliss

Blue
1 Cerulean Wisps
1 Whimwader
1 Merrow Wavebreakers
1 Parapet Watchers
1 Dream Thief

Black
*1 Gloomlance
1 Syphon Life

Red
*1 Power of Fire
1 Boggart Arsonists
*1 Knollspine Dragon

Green
1 Viridiscent Wisps
1 Hungry Spriggan
*1 Aerie Ouphes


GW
1 Medicine Runner
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Raven's Run Dragoon

UB
*1 River's Grasp
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Wingrattle Scarecrow

BR
*1 Murderous Redcap

GR
1 Scuzzback Marauders
1 Morselhoarder

RW
1 Fire at Will

UR
2 Inside Out
1 Noggle Bandit
1 Noggle Bridgebreaker

UG
*1 Spitting Image
1 Shorecrasher Mimic
*1 Selkie Hedge-Mage (only when you play enough Islands)
*2 Sturdy Hatchling

BW
*1 Restless Apparation
1 Beckon Apparition
2 Nightsky Mimic

So now the pool is somewhat filtered and easier to grasp.

The UG package was a clear standout, I would be trying to play at least one of those colors.
White has 2 Recumbent Blisses, Armored Ascension + Restless Apparation. The latter two require a heavy white commitment though, and it's clear that this pool coudln't really pull that off.
Red has Power of Fire, Murderous Redcap, Scuzzback Marauders and a Dragon. But pretty shallow and no real splashing options, except for maybe Power of Fire.
Blue is pretty deep and a fine candidate for a base color.
Green has the UG cards and a couple of really solid guys.
Black has Murdurous Redcap and Gloomlance, but again, pretty shallow.

So I started with a Blue base. The easiest next step, was adding green. Splashing 2 Recumbant Bliss was kind of a no brainer for me. That was the deck I had when 15-20 minutes of the 30 we had for deck building, had passed.
The deck looked ok, but didn't have a lot of removal. And I still had a couple of good cards in my sideboard, which I'd love to play: River's Grasp, Gloomlance and Murderous Redcap.
I looked at the green cards I was about to play, and noticed that they were mostly 'just guys', except for Aerie Ouphes, which is way more.

So I tried UBw. I wasn't really satisfied, but it seemed better than the UGw deck.
Here it is:



The Deck
1 Beckon Apparition

2 Nightsky Mimic
1 Shorecrasher Mimic

1 Wingrattle Scarecrow
1 Parapet Watchers
1 Dream Thief
1 Noggle Bandit
1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Syphon Life
2 Recumbent Bliss

1 Noggle Bridgebreaker
1 Murdurous Redcap
2 Sturdy Hatchling
1 River's Grasp

1 Merrow Wavebreakers
1 Whimwader
1 Gloomlance

1 Spitting Image

The mana is a little icky, and I'm not really sure what the optimal configuration is. 3 lands for 2 splashed cards has always been my rule of thumb, so 3 Plains. I chose for 9 Islands and 6 Swamps instead of 8/7, because I although I don't need a lot of blue, I'll need at least one every time. 6 Swamps for a couple of BB cards, seemed reasonable to me, since they're still good late game (although Redcap is a much bigger beating on turn 4).

Another thing I wasn't sure of, is Syphon Life. It seemed decent in testing, but this isn't an aggro deck that needs somethign to deal the last points. Also, I already had something to do with my spare lands. This should probably have been a Cerulean Wisps or Inside Out, and I boarded it out most of the time. When Peter Vieren pointed out that 'it's just an Urborg Syphon-Mage without the body', I felt pretty awkward. I hadn't thought of it that way.

That's it for part 1...

Daily drafts

I'll be doing a daily draft on magic online to get back into shape. I've been playing a little better compared to a week ago. But I still can't get past round 2 of a 4322 queue :) My opponent's decks always seem bad/worse then mine. But I still manage to lose to a couple of gamebreaking cards every time (Incremental Blight, Howl of the Night Pack...). I'm not going to blame those cards, I just have some more learning to do.

Draftcap doesn't work for Magic Online 3, but when I think I have kind of a clue, I'll probably do a draft with my old friend PrtSc.

PT Kuala Lumpur, part II

So, I guess I'll pick up where I left off. I wonder if anyone still cares, but hey, I promised a second part... However, due to the x month span of procrastination, my memory is a little fuzzy (I have some notes though).

I was busy feeling pretty 8 Mile. The fact that my first draft got covered, confirmed that this PT was going to be epic.

The first draft

You can find the coverage here , but it's down while I'm writing this...

EDIT: It's up and when I look back at the draft 6 months later, I think I drafted like shit.

The draft left me pretty confused. The Guile in the first pack especially. In the end, I was pretty pleased with the deck nonetheless. Crib Swap is godawful in WG beats though.

Round 1
Taru, Genki [JPN] UW Merfolk
I lost a first to the synergy of infinite merfolks and Fallowsage made sure no comeback was possible. The other 2 were a different story. One I can't remember.

1-0

Round 2
Nakano, Yoshitaka [JPN], UB Rogues
In the first game, he had rogue nuts, prowling a Latchkey Faerie on turn 3. And 4.
In the second, his start was a bit slower. And it appeared like I was going to take that one down, but I was lacking more gas. Yoshitaka found Latchkey Faerie again, and combined with an evoked Aethersnipe and 2 Disperses, he won an extremely close race.

1-1

Round 3
Tsumura, Kenji [JPN] BG
A covered draft, but this wasn't even a feature match!
I started off by being the aggressor, but Kenji stabilized and began 2-for-1'ing me with his Dreamspoiler Witches. But I managed to keep drawing spells and eventually overwhelmed him. In the second he mulliganned and was mana screwed.

2-1

The second draft
I ended up with a GB deck. During the draft, I felt like I was really going with the flow, and drafted what I should have drafted. Also, 4th pick Oblivion Ring in pack 1, really?

Although I thought I had a good read, I didn't end up with a real tribal focus that is characteristic for the really broken decks of LLM. The morningtide part of the draft was also kind of unfortunate. I had some shallow packs which made me doubt that I was in the right colors, followed up by some really deep packs with 4 picks for my deck! But ok, I'm sure we've all been there.

Of particular interest was Obsidian Battle-Axe. I think this card is sick. But obviously you need to have enough Warriors. I picked the first Axe pretty early (1-3th pick). I got another one soon after that (4th?), and after a long time I chose to pick it instead of Elvish Warrior. Sixth pick, I received another Axe... This time I had no other options. It made me regret met Axe > Elvish Warrior pick, but I can't predict which exact cards will be passed to me. I figured it was more likely to receive Elvish Warrior, Treefolk Ambassador, Winnower Patrol or Game-Trail Changeling. All warriors, and the way the draft was going, I seemed like I was in a good position to get green.

But the packs weren't cooperating the way I wanted. Here's what I ended up with:

1 Vivid March
1 Vivid Grove
5 Swamp
10 Forest

2 Elvish Warrior
2 Blightspoil Druid
1 Leaf Gilder
1 Wren's Run Vanquisher
1 Wolf-Skull Shaman

2 Fistful of Force
1 Fertile Ground
1 Nameless Inversion

1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Battlewand Oak

2 Obsidian Battle-Axe
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Oblivion Ring

1 Moonglove Winnower
1 Leaf-Crown Elder
1 Cloudcrown Oak

1 Warren Pilferers
1 Orchard Warden
1 Oakgnarl Warrior

(with Axe #3 in the SB).

Round 4
Nassif, Gabriel [FRA] UB Rogues

He kept a 2 lander and missed land drops on turn 3 and 4. I guess he had a really good rogue start, if he'd draw a land. But he didn't and I won an easy first game. The second was a lot closer. Warren Pilferers was crucial here, being a 2 for 1 and blocking creatures with fear. Orchard Warden put the game out of Nassif's reach.

3-1

Lookin' good.

Round 5,
Lombardi, Paolo [ITA] UW Merfolk
I won the first versus a couple of mediocre Merfolks. I was also winning the second, versus a couple of better Merfolks (Judge of Currents, Stonybrook Schoolmaster), but Paolo didn't have a way to tap them. Until in one of his last drawsteps of the match, he mised Summon the School. Gaining like a gazillion life & tokens every turn made it hard for him too lose at that point. In the final game, I was battling versus Jace Beleren, and it seemed like I was winning an uphill battle. Sower of Temptation put a halt to that, and when I couldn't draw one of my outs in time...

3-2

Time for the bubble match...

Round 6
Barra, Giulio [ITA] BR
Giulio had himself a weird looking deck, part Elemental/part Goblin, with mediocre cards in both tribes. Both unfortunately he also had some good ones. Both games were pretty much the same: turn 3 Tauren Mauler, turn 5 Shriekmaw, and that was the end of my PT.

3-3

I was very disappointed, since I came pretty prepared to the PT, but it wasn't meant to be.
Kuala Lumpur was an awesome experience though (see pics in part 1 of the report). And that's what it's all about.

Although winning some $$$ at a PT adds a lot to the fun. I can't even remember the last time I cashed a PT...

Blogging

Blogs are hip.
I am hip.

A perfect match.

No seriously, the point of this blog is to make it easy for me and a couple of other writers to post some magic related ramblings. New entries should be linked to on mtgbelgium.be

I have been slacking a lot lately, magicwise. Haven't written an article in a long time. Haven't played a lot either. GP Brussels was kind of a disaster, partially because I almost hadn't played since Kuala Lumpur (aside from GP Vienna -66th).
I was busy with univ and oher things, and I slightly started losing my magical appetite. But skipping a PT and Marijn top8ing again, made it clear to me that I loved the travelling to big tourneys. And guess what. These tournaments are even more fun when you win.

I'm not a 'natural'. I need to play a lot to stay in/on top/somewhere in the middle of the game. That's why I'm getting used to the new Magic Online and I'll be trying to do a draft every day to get to know the cards again. I swallowed my pride and it'll be 4322's to begin with.

Yesterday was the first draft. I drafted some kind of monoish white deck with Pili-Pala and Power of Fire. Nice combo apparently.
Here's today's draft. Where I lost round 1:



I was about to disconnect. I mean, 'gg?'. COME ON!
But then I realized the world would be a happier place if we all just got along. So I just conceded.

It's funny how awful the plays I make during these drafts, are. I'm not blaming misclicks. I just miss some obvious plays. And I make assumptions about shadowmoor cards instead of reading them. Yesterday I played Niveous Wisps on my 2/2 to take down a 3 thoughness guy.

Huh? what?
Modo bugged again? Man, always the same...

Oh wait, Niveous Wisps doesn't make a guy white and give it +1/+0.
Awkward.
Concede in disgust.
/w


I don't know how much & what I'll be posting here on this blog.
I kinda like the possibilities though. You'll be able to search for certain posts & comment directly beneath the article/report.

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