diffy
03-03-2009, 03:40 PM
More, non-SPOD centric information can be found here (http://web17.accelerated.de/turniere/index.htm) (soonish to come – check the entries under 01.03.2009).
Photos taken during the event can be found here (http://web17.accelerated.de/turniere/2009-03-01/fotos.htm).
Preamble
Two weeks ago Stefan suggested we go to Iserlohn once again and therewith a plan was born: we planned to head for somewhere near Iserlohn after Saturday's Mannheim event, sleep at some random nerds place and then rock the house on the following day. It didn't quite work out like that. First of all, all of our team-intern cars (and therewith drivers) fizzled. All five of them. Then Stefan fizzled due to his sister moving flats that day. Therefore I organized Karlsruhe regular Martin Schreiber as driver and a former Karlsruhe regular back for some action, Ilpum Jherng, as additional passenger (splitting gas costs on only 3 shoulders would have made the trip extremely expensive – we live in Europe aka. €1.3/litre gas land, remember?). However, as all of our sleepover possibilities close to Iserlohn also vanished (all four of them), the outlook for the trip was rather grim.
In the end, it all turned out good though: Stefan managed to make the trip and I managed to organize a sleepover possibility near enough to Iserlohn to make the trip worth our time (at Bonn, 130km south of Iserlohn). We decided to meet at the Mannheim event and hit the road to Bonn after rocking the event on Saturday.
It all looked just fine... until Manuel Heiler, our driver to Mannheim, called me Saturday morning and said that he wouldn't be able to make it. Once again, EPIC fizzle. Luckily Germany has a pretty good (albeit horribly expensive) public transports system making it relatively easy to reach Mannheim via train. Harrald and I therefore picked a out train, called Ilpum (yeah, he missed his ride to Mannheim too) in order to tell him of the plan and off we were.
Some hours later, Harrald an I met at the train station from which we were to catch the train to Mannheim. However, Ilpum was nowhere near to be seen. Some minutes later, Harrald's cellphone rang: Ilpum was calling. I told Harrald to ask Ilpum if he was waiting at Karlsruhe main station and not at Karlsruhe Durlach which he obviously was. He therefore took another train to Mannheim whereas Harrald and me met Stefan some minutes later at Bruchsal main station from where we proceeded to Heidelberg main station. We were then told to get out of the train because only the first part of the train was supposed to continue to Mannheim whereas the later part (obviously the on we were in) was supposed to stay at Heidelberg main station. As we got off the train, the first part was just leaving the station. Great. We therefore checked the board to make out the next earliest train leaving for Mannheim which was supposed to be that second part of the train we'd just gotten off. Therefore, in we went again – to watch three other trains leaving for Mannheim before ours... however, we (or at least the whining part of we i.e. Harrald and Stefan) had beer so the entire trip was bearable.
After finally reaching Mannheim we walked another 2.6km to reach the site where Martin was waiting for us and off we were for Bonn – despite all setbacks, it did work out after all.
Musical company: Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Die%20Apokalyptischen%20Reiter&aq=f&oq=), Equilibrium (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Equilibrium&aq=f), Eluveitie (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Eluveitie&aq=f), Ensiferum (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Ensiferum&aq=f), Alestorm (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Alestorm&aq=f), In Extremo (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=in+extremo&aq=f), Fahnenfluch (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=fahnenflucht&aq=f), Dropkick Murphys (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=dropkick+murphys&aq=f), Motörhead (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mot%C3%B6rhead&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1), Korpiklaani (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Korpiklaani&aq=f), Finntroll (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=finntroll&aq=f) and Grave Digger (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=grave+digger&aq=0&oq=grave+) amongst others.
After reaching Bonn we had some pizza, Cube drafted and built Ilpum's and Martin's decks. Next morning we were off to Iserlohn, found the site relatively easily, stopped sucking (getting up before 0900 hours is hell, no kiddin') and started being awesome instead.
This is what Team SPOD ended up playing:
Harrald Locutus Herrlich – Fiery Pandaburst
Stefan SpiritoftheWretch Czolk – Not Quite Balanced /r
Clemens Der_imaginäre_Freund Wolff - Not Quite Balanced /w
The other two guys in the card decided to play:
Martin MSC Schreiber – Tog SPOD Style
Ilpum unregged Jherng – UWB Fish
Here's what I sleeved up:
/// Maindeck (60 cards)
// Lands (18)
4 Flooded Strand (http://magiccards.info/on/en/316.html)
4 Windswept Heath (http://magiccards.info/on/en/328.html)
3 Tropical Island (http://magiccards.info/be/en/299.html)
2 Tundra (http://magiccards.info/be/en/300.html)
2 Island (http://magiccards.info/apac/en/12.html)
1 Forest (http://magiccards.info/apac/en/11.html)
1 Plains (http://magiccards.info/apac/en/4.html)
1 Nantuko Monastery (“http://magiccards.info/ju/en/142.html“)
// Beaters (13)
4 Werebear (http://magiccards.info/od/en/282.html)
4 Tarmogoyf (http://magiccards.info/fut/en/153.html)
2 Trygon Predator (http://magiccards.info/di/en/133.html)
3 Rhox War Monk (”http://magiccards.info/ala/en/188.html”)
// Card Advantage (11)
4 Brainstorm (http://magiccards.info/mm/en/61.html)
4 Ponder (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/79.html)
3 Sensei's Divining Top (http://magiccards.info/chk/en/268.html)
// Permission (12)
4 Counterbalance (http://magiccards.info/cs/en/31.html)
3 Daze (http://magiccards.info/ne/en/30.html)
1 Counterspell (”http://magiccards.info/be/en/55.html”)
4 Force of Will (http://magiccards.info/ai/en/42.html)
// Removal (6)
4 Swords to Plowshares (http://magiccards.info/ia/en/278.html)
2 Oblivion Ring (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/34.html)
/// Sideboard (15 cards)
4 Hydroblast (http://magiccards.info/ia/en/72.html)
3 Gaddock Teeg (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/248.html)
2 Krosan Grip (http://magiccards.info/ts/en/202.html)
3 Engineered Explosives (http://magiccards.info/5dn/en/118.html)
3 Pithing Needle (”http://magiccards.info/sok/en/158.html”)
This (http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgbs8px8_4hcj6v6g7&hl=en) page will be kept updated with the newest list.
Pretty much the same list as the one I played on last month's Hassloch event (”http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12807”) minus one basic plus one dual and plus one land total because I was experiencing slight mana problems recently. The logic behind some other changes has been summed up here (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=324226&postcount=1977).
Short Report:
57 players showed up which meant 6 rounds which is unusually low for Iserlohn.
Round 1 vs. Ilpum Jherng with UWB Fish
Okay. So why again did we travel all the way to Iserlohn? Right. To play against Karlsruhe locals.
I'm on the draw.
I keep the super-greedy but just not mulliganable hand of Forest, Sensei's Divining Top (SdT), Counterbalance, Force of Will, Swords to Plowshares, Tarmogoyf and random blue, non-Ponder card. I do know that keeping this hand is greedy, however, I do think that it was the correct choice: Tarmogoyf and Counterbalance both own Fish like there is no tomorrow, Top and a slow opposing clock make sure that I'll hit land drops eventually, and if all goes wrong, I can still Force an early threat and send the next one farming.
It didn't quite turn out like that. I have to Force an early Dark Confidant and SdT shows me no lands for 5 turns. I do find another Force for his second Dark Confidant though. I then take some mild beatings from a Jotun Grunt, and drop to 9 life before I find my second land. Jotun Grunt dies and he plays a third Dark Confidant which I can send farming thanks to the last land I savagely ripped being a fetchland. I then proceed to find my next land, drop Counterbalance and just win from there.
Jup, that card is just that silly. You do nothing for 5-6 turns and then still win. True Story.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-1 Daze
+2 Engineered Explosives
+2 Krosan Grip
This game involved neither of us finding a Counterbalance... which means that the deck with the real creatures wins. I drop an early Goyf while he doesn't really do much. At some point I Force his Dark Confidant, play Krosan Grip onto his SdT to prevent him from finding solutions in the near future (he sadly has another one), drop another Tarmogoyf and proceed to win, win, win from there.
2:0
1-0-0 (2:0)
Round 2 vs. Steffan Bell with RGB Aggro Loam
I'm on the play.
Coming to the table was a thin, Iron-Maiden shirted, overly tall and way nervous guy – a clash between the 'on the edge', introverted guy and the energetic, boasting South West German was inevitable.
On a general note, I noticed that most of the peeps of Iserlohn (not you, Lazo. Not you either, Dennis R..) couldn't really handle typical South West German behaviour (i.e. constant, semi-violent trashtalking + much more extroverted approach) which is somewhat strange but created some funny situations.
I keep a solid hand with two fetchlands and a Werebear meaning that the entire Waste-lock thingy won't work at all which is a nice point to start at. He doesn't do much in the first few turns but play Loam, cycling lands and sadly look at his 3 Wasteland. At some point he plays Burning Wish for Devastating Dreams but never gets around to play it because he's low on business and because he gets the message that I'm holding back some lands (since I stopped dropping them after seeing that play – 2 lands + Werebear are enough anyway). I eventually cantrip into a Counterbalance and drop it, dropping a fetchland alongside. He plays a Mox Diamond to test Balance and I decide to take the bait because Mox Diamond would make Devastating Dream much less symmetrical (I didn't have any cantrips in hand at that point to prevent it via Counterbalance). The Mox doesn't resolve. He then plays a Burning Wish to fetch something to handle my Counterbalance. I fetch, do that savage Frenchman shuffle trick (or at least he thought I did), and reveal for 2. He didn't even try to hide his demoralization. After savagely ripping another a cantrip into SdT + random beater (Rhox War Monk) and consecutively revealing for 2 and 3 he can't do anything until I finish him off.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-3 Daze
+3 Engineered Explosives
+3 Hydroblast
My hand is pretty strong (Werebear + Tarmogoyf + 2 lands + Force of Will). I decide to Force his early beater. In the following turn a cantrip into Counterbalance makes it the situation all the better by revealing a Counterbalance. I drop it. And a fetchland (anyone get a feeling of Déjà Vue?). He baits again, I reveal and don't hit it. He tries to resolve a Burning Wish, I fetch and present him the deck, telling him to please cut something costing two to the top. He mumbles something about “not being one of those guys” - hence I take the deck back, energetically cut (a habit of me – I always cut my own deck after shuffling), and reveal... for two. He literally died in his chair. Soon thereafter, Tarmogoyf and Werebear finish him off.
2:0
2-0-0 (4:0)
Round 3 vs. Harrald Herrlich with Fiery Pandaburst
I'm on the draw.
This is a joke, right? Like I'm travelling 600+ km in order to play locals? We actually did not plan to knock each other out of contention but rather envisaged being awesome, bashing Iserlohn and stealing all their price money!
The game itself was pretty dull. And by dull I obviously mean that I had the God Draw™, starring Force of Will, double Swords to Plowshares and double Tarmogoyf.
However, he just counter-God-Draw™-ed and had more fat guys than I could handle.
-3 Daze
-2 Trygon Predator
+3 Hydroblast
+2 Engineered Explosives
See game1. Only that his time his supply of Fat Dorks™ did run out after some time so that double Tarmogoyf + Rhox War Monk could finish him off in time.
Third game I succumb to Deus of Calamity combo i.e. turn 3 Lumbering Satyr (Oblivion Ring), turn 4 Deus (Swords to Plowshares), turn 5 Deus (Hydroblast), turn 6 Deus (Force of Will) turn 7 Blastoderm (errr...), turn 8 Krosan Grip on Oblivion Ring (errr...²), turn 9 massive in my face actions (errr...³).
1:2
2-1-0 (5:2)
Round 4 vs. Micha Schulz with GBW Survival
I'm on the play.
Blablablacounterbalanceblahgoyflablablabla.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-2 Trygon Predator
+2 Krosan Grip
+3 Engineered Explosives
Blablablacounterbalanceblahgoyflablablabla.
2:0
3-1-0 (7:2)
Round 5 vs. Philip Schröder with RGWB Aggro Loam
I'm on the play.
I get a fairy aggressive start with an early Threshed Werebear + Tarmogoyf. Sadly, my disruption is limited to a lone Force of Will and my cantrips seem to be clumped somewhere at the bottom of my deck meaning that eventually he drops a Tarmogoyf. My beer err Bear death-defyingly attacks alongside Mr. T, bringing him down to 5. He drops another Goyf and wants to race me. I then proceed to drop a Trygon Predator and kill him in three turns.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-3 Daze
+3 Engineered Explosives
+3 Hydroblast
He mulligans once and gets rewarded with Fetchland, Mox Diamond, Mox Diamond, Raven's Crime, Loam, go. That's solid. I then proceed to drop a Tarmogoyf, force his Tarmogoyf, and play like a total moron, not playing that last card in my hand, Engineered Explosives for 0, that would have totally shut down all of his green manasources for Loam and 2/4 manasources for Raven's Crime too. I realize the grave misplay the fraction of a second after saying “go” (I was like "go... eerrr... wait a minute") and he decides to be a douchebag (okay, let's be politically correct and replace this with “good player”) about it. That's fine with me but still douchebaggy which he also admits. I proceed to loose to being a total moron. Take that, ego! Still fine with me though: misplays should be punished, especially if they are that bad slips of concentration. Learnt my lesson, won't happen again - that's worth something too, right?
Game 3 I get the third turn kill: t1 SdT, t2 Counterbalance, game.
2:1
4-1-0 (9:3)
Round 6 vs. Sebastian Mücke with UWB Cunning Landstill
I'm on the play.
t1 Ponder, t2 Counterbalance (I see a third turn kill coming up!), response Brainstorm (awesome!), Force, Daze. Take that! He plays a Standstill - hey there, my Ponder did really stack those cards back correctly. Oh, it'll also counter that StP you'll play on your next turn, following my Tarmogoyf. Nice. So Nice.
Due to not seeing a Top in time, my further aggressive start can be handled. A topdecked Top eats a Counterspell. I still manage to get him down to 5 life before he assembled Crucible of Worlds + triple Mishra's Factory against my Werebear + Tarmogoyf. He has a Swords to Plowshares for my Trygon Predator + Counterspell for my exemplary of the later. I then have to overextend and only manage to counter four of his mass removals (quad Force for the morale-win! Three of those hardcast thanks to Beer *Bear* [Damn you, recurring typo! And I don't even drink.]). His last card, Engineered Explosives wipes my board, his triple Mishra's Factories kill me in a matter of no time at all.
-3 Daze
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-3 Rhox War Monk
+2 Krosan Grip
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+3 Pithing Needle
t1 Needle on Engineered Explosives puts me off to an excellent start. He then manages to get an early Elspeth and start racing my lonely Trygon Predator. I eventually draw another Needle, for which he has a Counterspell. I cantrip into Oblivion Ring, solve the Elspeth problem at a solid 7 life, draw into SdT, find Counterbalance and Gaddock Teeg. Game.
Third Game: see second game. Only that he didn't have Elspeth and that I didn't manage to kill him in 7 minutes (that first game was epic long, however, scooping earlier would have been folly as only that last Engineered Explosives thwarted my victory).
1:1
4-1-1 (10:4)
Other Tournament Stuff
I come in seventh and pick a Maze of Ith from the price pool (over beat a Plateau/Badlands). Horrible price payout.
However, that one time Iserlohn was way better for trading/selling stuff than Hassloch ever will be, making the trip also worth totally it from an economic point of view (I managed to sell stuff for around €150 in total, which is awesome, covering the trip's cost by far).
Also, on a random note, I have absolutely no clue why two (!) consecutive people I never saw before asked me whether I could give them some Hash. And it's not like they aimlessly asked a number of random people; both, independently picked me out of the crowd of people and asked me and only me... seriously, do I look that much like someone doing drugs/hippie/dutchman? C'mon, there's more to a dealer than long hair...
Postlude
Performance of the rest of Team SPOD :
3-3-0 Stefan
3-2-1 Harrald
Ilpum ended up 3-3, Martin went 1-5.
Props:
The deck for being something like the most consistent deck in the format
Roadtrips. Like the best part of MtG. And it's not even close. Now if it only were summer already - that would make for even more major profit road-trips.
Slops:
Adan for not coming along
Only 57 players showing up
Iserlohn's metagame for being backwards (their meta is like Hassloch's 3 months ago – and I always thought the south was the slower part when it comes to Legacy)
All the guys for failing. C'mon, we planned something totally different, didn't we?
All the guys but Harrald for snoring. Incredibly loudly. Like “OmgIJustCan'tSleepHere” loud. Eventually the problem was solved by a spatial dislocation of meself, however, the solution was not truly satisfactory.
I apologize for the report being rushed - I have a job interview coming up and a week worth of school stuff to catch up on so that my time is pretty limited right now.
Anyway, Peace Out & you people'd better rock that GP (I don't want to whine, but I want to whine...) or I'm going to be even more mad at that Ocean and at the US for being so far away.
Photos taken during the event can be found here (http://web17.accelerated.de/turniere/2009-03-01/fotos.htm).
Preamble
Two weeks ago Stefan suggested we go to Iserlohn once again and therewith a plan was born: we planned to head for somewhere near Iserlohn after Saturday's Mannheim event, sleep at some random nerds place and then rock the house on the following day. It didn't quite work out like that. First of all, all of our team-intern cars (and therewith drivers) fizzled. All five of them. Then Stefan fizzled due to his sister moving flats that day. Therefore I organized Karlsruhe regular Martin Schreiber as driver and a former Karlsruhe regular back for some action, Ilpum Jherng, as additional passenger (splitting gas costs on only 3 shoulders would have made the trip extremely expensive – we live in Europe aka. €1.3/litre gas land, remember?). However, as all of our sleepover possibilities close to Iserlohn also vanished (all four of them), the outlook for the trip was rather grim.
In the end, it all turned out good though: Stefan managed to make the trip and I managed to organize a sleepover possibility near enough to Iserlohn to make the trip worth our time (at Bonn, 130km south of Iserlohn). We decided to meet at the Mannheim event and hit the road to Bonn after rocking the event on Saturday.
It all looked just fine... until Manuel Heiler, our driver to Mannheim, called me Saturday morning and said that he wouldn't be able to make it. Once again, EPIC fizzle. Luckily Germany has a pretty good (albeit horribly expensive) public transports system making it relatively easy to reach Mannheim via train. Harrald and I therefore picked a out train, called Ilpum (yeah, he missed his ride to Mannheim too) in order to tell him of the plan and off we were.
Some hours later, Harrald an I met at the train station from which we were to catch the train to Mannheim. However, Ilpum was nowhere near to be seen. Some minutes later, Harrald's cellphone rang: Ilpum was calling. I told Harrald to ask Ilpum if he was waiting at Karlsruhe main station and not at Karlsruhe Durlach which he obviously was. He therefore took another train to Mannheim whereas Harrald and me met Stefan some minutes later at Bruchsal main station from where we proceeded to Heidelberg main station. We were then told to get out of the train because only the first part of the train was supposed to continue to Mannheim whereas the later part (obviously the on we were in) was supposed to stay at Heidelberg main station. As we got off the train, the first part was just leaving the station. Great. We therefore checked the board to make out the next earliest train leaving for Mannheim which was supposed to be that second part of the train we'd just gotten off. Therefore, in we went again – to watch three other trains leaving for Mannheim before ours... however, we (or at least the whining part of we i.e. Harrald and Stefan) had beer so the entire trip was bearable.
After finally reaching Mannheim we walked another 2.6km to reach the site where Martin was waiting for us and off we were for Bonn – despite all setbacks, it did work out after all.
Musical company: Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Die%20Apokalyptischen%20Reiter&aq=f&oq=), Equilibrium (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Equilibrium&aq=f), Eluveitie (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Eluveitie&aq=f), Ensiferum (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Ensiferum&aq=f), Alestorm (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Alestorm&aq=f), In Extremo (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=in+extremo&aq=f), Fahnenfluch (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=fahnenflucht&aq=f), Dropkick Murphys (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=dropkick+murphys&aq=f), Motörhead (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mot%C3%B6rhead&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1), Korpiklaani (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Korpiklaani&aq=f), Finntroll (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=finntroll&aq=f) and Grave Digger (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=grave+digger&aq=0&oq=grave+) amongst others.
After reaching Bonn we had some pizza, Cube drafted and built Ilpum's and Martin's decks. Next morning we were off to Iserlohn, found the site relatively easily, stopped sucking (getting up before 0900 hours is hell, no kiddin') and started being awesome instead.
This is what Team SPOD ended up playing:
Harrald Locutus Herrlich – Fiery Pandaburst
Stefan SpiritoftheWretch Czolk – Not Quite Balanced /r
Clemens Der_imaginäre_Freund Wolff - Not Quite Balanced /w
The other two guys in the card decided to play:
Martin MSC Schreiber – Tog SPOD Style
Ilpum unregged Jherng – UWB Fish
Here's what I sleeved up:
/// Maindeck (60 cards)
// Lands (18)
4 Flooded Strand (http://magiccards.info/on/en/316.html)
4 Windswept Heath (http://magiccards.info/on/en/328.html)
3 Tropical Island (http://magiccards.info/be/en/299.html)
2 Tundra (http://magiccards.info/be/en/300.html)
2 Island (http://magiccards.info/apac/en/12.html)
1 Forest (http://magiccards.info/apac/en/11.html)
1 Plains (http://magiccards.info/apac/en/4.html)
1 Nantuko Monastery (“http://magiccards.info/ju/en/142.html“)
// Beaters (13)
4 Werebear (http://magiccards.info/od/en/282.html)
4 Tarmogoyf (http://magiccards.info/fut/en/153.html)
2 Trygon Predator (http://magiccards.info/di/en/133.html)
3 Rhox War Monk (”http://magiccards.info/ala/en/188.html”)
// Card Advantage (11)
4 Brainstorm (http://magiccards.info/mm/en/61.html)
4 Ponder (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/79.html)
3 Sensei's Divining Top (http://magiccards.info/chk/en/268.html)
// Permission (12)
4 Counterbalance (http://magiccards.info/cs/en/31.html)
3 Daze (http://magiccards.info/ne/en/30.html)
1 Counterspell (”http://magiccards.info/be/en/55.html”)
4 Force of Will (http://magiccards.info/ai/en/42.html)
// Removal (6)
4 Swords to Plowshares (http://magiccards.info/ia/en/278.html)
2 Oblivion Ring (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/34.html)
/// Sideboard (15 cards)
4 Hydroblast (http://magiccards.info/ia/en/72.html)
3 Gaddock Teeg (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/248.html)
2 Krosan Grip (http://magiccards.info/ts/en/202.html)
3 Engineered Explosives (http://magiccards.info/5dn/en/118.html)
3 Pithing Needle (”http://magiccards.info/sok/en/158.html”)
This (http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgbs8px8_4hcj6v6g7&hl=en) page will be kept updated with the newest list.
Pretty much the same list as the one I played on last month's Hassloch event (”http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12807”) minus one basic plus one dual and plus one land total because I was experiencing slight mana problems recently. The logic behind some other changes has been summed up here (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=324226&postcount=1977).
Short Report:
57 players showed up which meant 6 rounds which is unusually low for Iserlohn.
Round 1 vs. Ilpum Jherng with UWB Fish
Okay. So why again did we travel all the way to Iserlohn? Right. To play against Karlsruhe locals.
I'm on the draw.
I keep the super-greedy but just not mulliganable hand of Forest, Sensei's Divining Top (SdT), Counterbalance, Force of Will, Swords to Plowshares, Tarmogoyf and random blue, non-Ponder card. I do know that keeping this hand is greedy, however, I do think that it was the correct choice: Tarmogoyf and Counterbalance both own Fish like there is no tomorrow, Top and a slow opposing clock make sure that I'll hit land drops eventually, and if all goes wrong, I can still Force an early threat and send the next one farming.
It didn't quite turn out like that. I have to Force an early Dark Confidant and SdT shows me no lands for 5 turns. I do find another Force for his second Dark Confidant though. I then take some mild beatings from a Jotun Grunt, and drop to 9 life before I find my second land. Jotun Grunt dies and he plays a third Dark Confidant which I can send farming thanks to the last land I savagely ripped being a fetchland. I then proceed to find my next land, drop Counterbalance and just win from there.
Jup, that card is just that silly. You do nothing for 5-6 turns and then still win. True Story.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-1 Daze
+2 Engineered Explosives
+2 Krosan Grip
This game involved neither of us finding a Counterbalance... which means that the deck with the real creatures wins. I drop an early Goyf while he doesn't really do much. At some point I Force his Dark Confidant, play Krosan Grip onto his SdT to prevent him from finding solutions in the near future (he sadly has another one), drop another Tarmogoyf and proceed to win, win, win from there.
2:0
1-0-0 (2:0)
Round 2 vs. Steffan Bell with RGB Aggro Loam
I'm on the play.
Coming to the table was a thin, Iron-Maiden shirted, overly tall and way nervous guy – a clash between the 'on the edge', introverted guy and the energetic, boasting South West German was inevitable.
On a general note, I noticed that most of the peeps of Iserlohn (not you, Lazo. Not you either, Dennis R..) couldn't really handle typical South West German behaviour (i.e. constant, semi-violent trashtalking + much more extroverted approach) which is somewhat strange but created some funny situations.
I keep a solid hand with two fetchlands and a Werebear meaning that the entire Waste-lock thingy won't work at all which is a nice point to start at. He doesn't do much in the first few turns but play Loam, cycling lands and sadly look at his 3 Wasteland. At some point he plays Burning Wish for Devastating Dreams but never gets around to play it because he's low on business and because he gets the message that I'm holding back some lands (since I stopped dropping them after seeing that play – 2 lands + Werebear are enough anyway). I eventually cantrip into a Counterbalance and drop it, dropping a fetchland alongside. He plays a Mox Diamond to test Balance and I decide to take the bait because Mox Diamond would make Devastating Dream much less symmetrical (I didn't have any cantrips in hand at that point to prevent it via Counterbalance). The Mox doesn't resolve. He then plays a Burning Wish to fetch something to handle my Counterbalance. I fetch, do that savage Frenchman shuffle trick (or at least he thought I did), and reveal for 2. He didn't even try to hide his demoralization. After savagely ripping another a cantrip into SdT + random beater (Rhox War Monk) and consecutively revealing for 2 and 3 he can't do anything until I finish him off.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-3 Daze
+3 Engineered Explosives
+3 Hydroblast
My hand is pretty strong (Werebear + Tarmogoyf + 2 lands + Force of Will). I decide to Force his early beater. In the following turn a cantrip into Counterbalance makes it the situation all the better by revealing a Counterbalance. I drop it. And a fetchland (anyone get a feeling of Déjà Vue?). He baits again, I reveal and don't hit it. He tries to resolve a Burning Wish, I fetch and present him the deck, telling him to please cut something costing two to the top. He mumbles something about “not being one of those guys” - hence I take the deck back, energetically cut (a habit of me – I always cut my own deck after shuffling), and reveal... for two. He literally died in his chair. Soon thereafter, Tarmogoyf and Werebear finish him off.
2:0
2-0-0 (4:0)
Round 3 vs. Harrald Herrlich with Fiery Pandaburst
I'm on the draw.
This is a joke, right? Like I'm travelling 600+ km in order to play locals? We actually did not plan to knock each other out of contention but rather envisaged being awesome, bashing Iserlohn and stealing all their price money!
The game itself was pretty dull. And by dull I obviously mean that I had the God Draw™, starring Force of Will, double Swords to Plowshares and double Tarmogoyf.
However, he just counter-God-Draw™-ed and had more fat guys than I could handle.
-3 Daze
-2 Trygon Predator
+3 Hydroblast
+2 Engineered Explosives
See game1. Only that his time his supply of Fat Dorks™ did run out after some time so that double Tarmogoyf + Rhox War Monk could finish him off in time.
Third game I succumb to Deus of Calamity combo i.e. turn 3 Lumbering Satyr (Oblivion Ring), turn 4 Deus (Swords to Plowshares), turn 5 Deus (Hydroblast), turn 6 Deus (Force of Will) turn 7 Blastoderm (errr...), turn 8 Krosan Grip on Oblivion Ring (errr...²), turn 9 massive in my face actions (errr...³).
1:2
2-1-0 (5:2)
Round 4 vs. Micha Schulz with GBW Survival
I'm on the play.
Blablablacounterbalanceblahgoyflablablabla.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-2 Trygon Predator
+2 Krosan Grip
+3 Engineered Explosives
Blablablacounterbalanceblahgoyflablablabla.
2:0
3-1-0 (7:2)
Round 5 vs. Philip Schröder with RGWB Aggro Loam
I'm on the play.
I get a fairy aggressive start with an early Threshed Werebear + Tarmogoyf. Sadly, my disruption is limited to a lone Force of Will and my cantrips seem to be clumped somewhere at the bottom of my deck meaning that eventually he drops a Tarmogoyf. My beer err Bear death-defyingly attacks alongside Mr. T, bringing him down to 5. He drops another Goyf and wants to race me. I then proceed to drop a Trygon Predator and kill him in three turns.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-3 Daze
+3 Engineered Explosives
+3 Hydroblast
He mulligans once and gets rewarded with Fetchland, Mox Diamond, Mox Diamond, Raven's Crime, Loam, go. That's solid. I then proceed to drop a Tarmogoyf, force his Tarmogoyf, and play like a total moron, not playing that last card in my hand, Engineered Explosives for 0, that would have totally shut down all of his green manasources for Loam and 2/4 manasources for Raven's Crime too. I realize the grave misplay the fraction of a second after saying “go” (I was like "go... eerrr... wait a minute") and he decides to be a douchebag (okay, let's be politically correct and replace this with “good player”) about it. That's fine with me but still douchebaggy which he also admits. I proceed to loose to being a total moron. Take that, ego! Still fine with me though: misplays should be punished, especially if they are that bad slips of concentration. Learnt my lesson, won't happen again - that's worth something too, right?
Game 3 I get the third turn kill: t1 SdT, t2 Counterbalance, game.
2:1
4-1-0 (9:3)
Round 6 vs. Sebastian Mücke with UWB Cunning Landstill
I'm on the play.
t1 Ponder, t2 Counterbalance (I see a third turn kill coming up!), response Brainstorm (awesome!), Force, Daze. Take that! He plays a Standstill - hey there, my Ponder did really stack those cards back correctly. Oh, it'll also counter that StP you'll play on your next turn, following my Tarmogoyf. Nice. So Nice.
Due to not seeing a Top in time, my further aggressive start can be handled. A topdecked Top eats a Counterspell. I still manage to get him down to 5 life before he assembled Crucible of Worlds + triple Mishra's Factory against my Werebear + Tarmogoyf. He has a Swords to Plowshares for my Trygon Predator + Counterspell for my exemplary of the later. I then have to overextend and only manage to counter four of his mass removals (quad Force for the morale-win! Three of those hardcast thanks to Beer *Bear* [Damn you, recurring typo! And I don't even drink.]). His last card, Engineered Explosives wipes my board, his triple Mishra's Factories kill me in a matter of no time at all.
-3 Daze
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-3 Rhox War Monk
+2 Krosan Grip
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+3 Pithing Needle
t1 Needle on Engineered Explosives puts me off to an excellent start. He then manages to get an early Elspeth and start racing my lonely Trygon Predator. I eventually draw another Needle, for which he has a Counterspell. I cantrip into Oblivion Ring, solve the Elspeth problem at a solid 7 life, draw into SdT, find Counterbalance and Gaddock Teeg. Game.
Third Game: see second game. Only that he didn't have Elspeth and that I didn't manage to kill him in 7 minutes (that first game was epic long, however, scooping earlier would have been folly as only that last Engineered Explosives thwarted my victory).
1:1
4-1-1 (10:4)
Other Tournament Stuff
I come in seventh and pick a Maze of Ith from the price pool (over beat a Plateau/Badlands). Horrible price payout.
However, that one time Iserlohn was way better for trading/selling stuff than Hassloch ever will be, making the trip also worth totally it from an economic point of view (I managed to sell stuff for around €150 in total, which is awesome, covering the trip's cost by far).
Also, on a random note, I have absolutely no clue why two (!) consecutive people I never saw before asked me whether I could give them some Hash. And it's not like they aimlessly asked a number of random people; both, independently picked me out of the crowd of people and asked me and only me... seriously, do I look that much like someone doing drugs/hippie/dutchman? C'mon, there's more to a dealer than long hair...
Postlude
Performance of the rest of Team SPOD :
3-3-0 Stefan
3-2-1 Harrald
Ilpum ended up 3-3, Martin went 1-5.
Props:
The deck for being something like the most consistent deck in the format
Roadtrips. Like the best part of MtG. And it's not even close. Now if it only were summer already - that would make for even more major profit road-trips.
Slops:
Adan for not coming along
Only 57 players showing up
Iserlohn's metagame for being backwards (their meta is like Hassloch's 3 months ago – and I always thought the south was the slower part when it comes to Legacy)
All the guys for failing. C'mon, we planned something totally different, didn't we?
All the guys but Harrald for snoring. Incredibly loudly. Like “OmgIJustCan'tSleepHere” loud. Eventually the problem was solved by a spatial dislocation of meself, however, the solution was not truly satisfactory.
I apologize for the report being rushed - I have a job interview coming up and a week worth of school stuff to catch up on so that my time is pretty limited right now.
Anyway, Peace Out & you people'd better rock that GP (I don't want to whine, but I want to whine...) or I'm going to be even more mad at that Ocean and at the US for being so far away.