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):