diffy
06-16-2008, 09:22 AM
More, non-SPOD centric information can be found here (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=242836&postcount=653).
Photos taken during the event can be found here (http://www.magic-speyer.de/zen/index.php?album=Legacy+Turnier+im+Juni+2008&page=2).
Preamble
Not much good pre-tournament stuff as our usual driver Thomas 'Yulyn' Dörner didn't have time so that Harrald 'Locutus' Herrlich and I carpooled with Manuel 'derheiler' Heiler who only had some mediocre Iced Earth recording which I even at first mistook for Blind Guardian...
This is what Team SPOD ended up playing:
Manuel derheiler Heiler: BG The Rock
Harrald Locutus Herrlich: RG 8Moon Aggro Loam
Daniel Adan Scherer: UWb Cunning Landstill (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=242629&postcount=140)
Clemens Der_imaginäre_Freund Wolff: UWb Cunning Landstill (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=242629&postcount=140)
Short Report:
Round1 vs. Stefan Bensch with RBg Vial Goblins
Game1 (I'm on the draw)
He has a slow start after I handle his first turn drop. I then manage to take full control of the game via numerous Standstills which draw me a counter for every relevant threat he plays (alongside double Swords and a Wrath of God) until I find a Humility. I'm at 10 life at this point which is a reasonable amount. He still manages to beat me down to 6 (despite me having two Factories as blockers) before I find a Cunning Wish for Pulse of the Fields for the win. I had about 15 cards left in the library at that point - yey for broken card draw!
-3 Standstill (mediocre in the matchup and even worse when on the draw)
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
He doesn't have any one drops but double Piledriver by turn three... which I introduce to Runed Halo before they do me any damage. He then has to overextend into a Wrath of God as he can't afford to walk into Humility again: he has to play loads of creatures in order to race me as I manage to counter his two Mad Aunties which would have drastically increased his clock (meaning that he would have committed less to the board so that he would have been able to recover better after WoG). After resolving double Fact or Fiction (finding Cunning Wish for Pulse of the Fields and Decree of Justice), playing double Mishra's Factory and a Humility, he scoops.
2:0
1-0-0 (2:0)
Round2 vs. Manuel Heiler with GB The Rock
While getting paired against a team mate sucks, I am rather confidant in this matchup especially since Manuel isn't that great a player [/euphemism].
Game1 (I'm on the play)
He gets a rather decent start with multiple cmc1 discard spells and a Dark Confidant which I can't handle. He then commits a critical error: he plays a Duress revealing my 3 card hand of two Fact or Fictions and a Decree of Justice. I have 4 lands on the table. I recommend him to take the FoF which he then also does. He then swings with his Confidant. I'll repeat this. He then swings with his Confidant.
I win shortly after with Eternal Dragon beats.
-1 Fact or Fiction
-2 Cunning Wish
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
He has the same start as in the first game, this time with double Dark Confidant though. I manage to survive a little and stall into a Wrath of God which he simply ignores as he replays what he had on his board on the following turn. I drop two Runed Halos naming Troll Ascetic and Shriekmaw which he both Krosan Grips. I then proceed to draw land, land, land while getting beaten by some dudes. On the turn before I die (read: the last occasion to draw something relevant) I draw... a land. While we proceed to game3 I look at what would have been the next card I would have drawn - obviously the much needed Wrath of God.
Game3
See game2 with the exception of me starting to draw lands from turn2 onwards.
I guess I just got Heiler'd.
For those who don't know:
Heiler'd - noun.
Can be used as a synonym to pwnd! or ownage.
Definition: act of draining luck from your opponents to add it to your own in order to compensate for your deck and skill.
See also, Heilering, Heiler.
Heilering people is the way Heiler managed to win the last three Hassloch events - this is the only one and true explanation, mathematically proven by HH, PhD of Maths (well, soon enough).
1:2
1-1-0 (3:2)
Round3 vs. Richard Lessmann with NQG/w
Maybe some of you know Richard for being a Vintage pimp - he has a pretty amazing stock of pimp stuff, amongst others a World Set of Shivan Dragons (one from every edition and language ever printed), he doesn't know much of Legacy though and just randomly borrowed a deck from Harald David (who judged at this event). I playtest with Harry quite often and therefore know his list which is basically a carbon copy of the one I played at the last Hassloch event with the sole change being that he opts to play two Hoofprints where I play the split with Enforcer. I know what my opponent plays - that's the good news. The bad news is that, as we play almost identical lists, he also has Gaddock Teeg in the Sideboard which, alongside Pithing Needles in the main make the matchup much harder for me than against any other NQG Variant.
Game1 (I'm on the draw)
After keeping a rather slow hand with double Factory and Eternal Dragon, Landstill does what Landstill should do with NQG: draw some cards, kill some guys, play a wincondition and win. His only resistance were two Tarmogoyfs (-> Explosives) and a Nimble Mongoose (-> ignore) alongside a Pithing Needle naming Mishra's Factory.
-1 Eternal Dragon
-1 Fact or Fiction
-1 Decree of Justice
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
NQG does what NQG does when it's supposed to beat Landstill: turn1 Sensei's Divining Top, turn2 Counterbalance, turn3 Pithing Needle on Mishra's Factory, turn5 Gaddock Teeg. I respond to Gaddock with a Fact revealing a Force of Will - for which I don't have a blue card to pitch. I proceed to loose to the hard lock from there on.
Game3
After some pretty busted draws from his side (double Goyf, Balance), I manage to stabilize at 5 life - we then run out of time.
1:1
1-1-1 (4:3)
I seriously considered dropping after this round - loosing to Heiler (I mean, it's f*cking Heiler!) and drawing against one of your best matchups is not exactly a good start to a tournament.
I decided against dropping though because I can still top8 and enjoy my time here, especially since there's no one else who dropped until now to play Highlander with.
To calm down a little I put myself some Dvorak (Symphony n°9 (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=dvorak+new+world+symphony&search_type=&aq=1&oq=dvorak+n) is some truly great music) - I usually don't listen to music during tournaments as it is a distraction and a little but rude towards the opponent but as I just considered dropping and am rather down I guess that I might as well enjoy myself for good rather than play at my best as I don't really count on making a good showing any more anyway.
Round4 vs. Martin Schreiber with UWB Fish
Martin is another local from Karlsruhe with whom I test from time to time, he's not that great of a player though and his list is rather bad too.
Game1 (I'm on the play)
I get a rather slow hand which is worsened even further by him Stifling one of my fetchlands. He then plays a Meddling Mage on Engineered Explosives and a couple of other dorks. I attempt to Wrath, he has the Daze. I swords his Mage, play an Explosives, he has the force. I attempt to Wrath again, he has the Daze.
-2 Fact or Fiction
-1 Eternal Dragon
+3 Runed Halo
Dvorak's 9th ends just after this game - staying in the genre seems good right now so that I switch over to some assorted Beethoven.
Game2
He mulligans. Twice - it doesn't matter because I don't have a shaky hand this time. I play a pair of Standstills, kill some guys, stabilize at 16 and then kill him with some Soldiers.
Game3
He keeps a risky hand with Chrome Mox as his only manasource - and a SdT to find some more. He doesn't. I show him my hand which he can't beat if he gives me two or more timewalks. He concedes.
2:1
2-1-1 (6:4)
Round5 vs. Marcel Munerotto with Deadguy Ale
I know him from my very early Legacy days but haven't seen him since then. He's a very nice guy and the match was really enjoyable - despite some very frustrating moments it was probably the most fun one I had in the last few tournaments.
Game1 (I'm on the draw)
He mulligans once as he says that he can't keep a hand with triple Wasteland as only manasources.
He then gets a rather slow start with only one discard effect and two guys (Yixlid Jailers), he has the tools to not scoop to my 4th and 5th turn Humilities though as he has a Vindicate for both of them. I basically get 'the nuts' after this: I play four Standstills one after the other (the two Facts I played helped great deal to find them too) - it was only a matter of time that I win after this crazy card advantage. I do so via Eternal Dragon beats.
-1 Decree of Justice
-2 Cunning Wish
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
I keep a questionable hand with 6 lands (including Academy Ruins and a Factory) and a Standstill. I though that the hand would be pretty great against his deck as it can essentially ignore his entire mana denial strategy.
Unfortunately he draws the other half of his deck meaning Duress into triple Gerrard's Verdict (now that's lifegain!) into double Hymn to Tourarch accompanied by a sharp clock (Nantuko Shade). I guess you can't really beat that with any hand anyway.
Game3
Just before the game I moved away from classical music but not from music classics as I switched over to Ensiferum (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=ensiferum&search_type=&aq=f)'s Album Iron (http://youtube.com/watch?v=1cJ3k7yTNqk) which I regard as a modern classic.
He catches me off guard with his first turn Hypnotic Specter which beats me down to 3 as he handles my Runed Halo naming it. Alongside this savage beating (tm) he also Wastes my two Mishra's Factories and Extripates them alongside my WoGs. A DoJ also falls prey to the Specter so that I'm left with only one wincondition in the entire deck. I then stabilize at two life (after Forcing his next threat, a Nantuko Shade) due to the awesomeness that is Tolaria West into Academy Ruins+Engineered Explosives softlock. After getting rid of his relevant threats and handling every single one he plays from there onwards, I continue drawing cards. After some time, I have about 10 cards left in my library - I need to draw the Eternal Dragon soon as he's drawing into business again and already restarts to point some discard spells at me. I know that I can't use any of my Counterspells because I need them to protect my Eternal Dragon from his Swords to Plowshares and so play very tightly. I draw the Dragon, he has the Swords, I have the Counterspell. He then stalls the Dragon further with a Tombstalker, draws into another Swords to Plowshares but again, I have the Counterspell. Dragon beats him down from there onwards, undisrupted.
The entire game lasted about 4 minutes despite none of us playing particularly fast.
2:1
3-1-1 (8:5)
We finish pretty early and Marcel tells me that I'm probably the fastest Landstill player he's ever met - we trashtalk a little waiting for the others to finish their rounds.
As I can still top8 if I win the next round, I stop the good music.
Round6 vs. Patrick Hinnes with Mono Red Painters
He plays the Japanese variant.
Game1 (I'm on the play)
While shuffling up, I talk trash predicting his first turn: Ancient Tomb, Chrome Mox, Magus of the Moon, rfg Simian Spirit Guide to Pyroblast my Force of Will.
He then exactly does this in his turn. I'm like 'wtf' at first but then quickly realize that this is actually an advantage for me as I have a fetchie for Island in play, a Plains and an Eternal Dragon in hand so that I can simply ignore the Moon - the tweaking of the manabase did have a positive effect after all.
He then drops an Imperial Recruiter for Painter's Servant on the next turn, I can turn off his combo with my Humility though. He still beats me down to 5 life before I find a removal (Engineered Explosives in this case) but I stabilize easily from there on and kill him with some Soldiers.
-3 Wrath of God
-1 Standstill
-1 Counterspell
-1 Fact or Fiction
+3 Meddling Mage
+3 Runed Halo
This was a terrible boarding plan as I have never played against the deck, it worked out rather well though - I wasn't happy with boarding only 3 Meddling Mages, I didn't find anything else to board out though.
Game2
He mulligans once and has a rather decent hand that keeps me busy with disrupting his combo while his guys beat me down as I have to play my only reamoval (a Runed Halo) on Grindstone in order to not die immediately. On one of my last possible draws, turn4, I finally find another removal, an Engineered Explosives, which I have to play at three. He has the Needle for it on his turn though. Him having 6 Red Blasts for my draw didn't make my job easier either.
Game3
See game1 - sole variation: I didn't even attempt to counter any one of his 4 (!) Blood Moon effects and just owned with Humility + Decree of Justice. The game was rather close though as in responce to me cycling the DoJ he bolted me down to 3 which I didn't see coming at all as he didn't play any in the first two games. I promptly play a Runed Halo naming Bolt on my next turn and proceed to win.
2:1
4-1-1 (10:6)
Random Trivia: boarding out a single Fact or Fiction while leaving the Cunning Wishes in is often a great move - while Fact or Fiction is too bad to warrant a slot in the normal wishboard, having access to one is still very useful in stalls against some decks.
Other Tournament Stuff
I get fourth and pick two Extirpates out of the price pool which I then use in a trade for some Japanese Pithing Needles which are going to replace my normal ones in my NQG (those going into my Ichorid's sideboard).
Overall Team SPOD performance:
[1st] Heiler: 5-0-1
[2nd] Adan: 5-1-0
[4th] Me: 4-1-1
Harrald: 3-2-1
Heiler got a BB Bayou for his efforts, Adan a random Dual (German Unlimited Volcanic).
Generally speaking the price support was much better this time.
Random Trivia: some people drove all the way from Würzburg to Karlsruhe (around 200km) only to play the tournament - I knew the people from the Nuremberg events and was really surprised to see them showing up.
Props:
For the deck for still being great
3/3 UWb Cunning Landstill top8ing
75% of the present SPOD members top8ing
For Highlander
Slops:
For my non-wins
25% of the present SPOD memebers for not top8ing - HH you fail!
For way too many people for getting Heiler'd
Postlude
After the tournament, it basically all was business as usual which means EPIC (not the American Legacy Team one) Highlander session with Stefan - who albeit not being able to attend the tournament because of having a hangover from 4 days of Whisky+Fiddles (some random open air festival we didn't know anything of and therefore couldn't go to as it was booked out) was still fit enough for some Highlander...
Random Question:
Did someone besides me realize that since team SPOD members that aren't Adan or I are starting to do well in tournaments, team SPOD is totally dominating every top8?
Photos taken during the event can be found here (http://www.magic-speyer.de/zen/index.php?album=Legacy+Turnier+im+Juni+2008&page=2).
Preamble
Not much good pre-tournament stuff as our usual driver Thomas 'Yulyn' Dörner didn't have time so that Harrald 'Locutus' Herrlich and I carpooled with Manuel 'derheiler' Heiler who only had some mediocre Iced Earth recording which I even at first mistook for Blind Guardian...
This is what Team SPOD ended up playing:
Manuel derheiler Heiler: BG The Rock
Harrald Locutus Herrlich: RG 8Moon Aggro Loam
Daniel Adan Scherer: UWb Cunning Landstill (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=242629&postcount=140)
Clemens Der_imaginäre_Freund Wolff: UWb Cunning Landstill (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=242629&postcount=140)
Short Report:
Round1 vs. Stefan Bensch with RBg Vial Goblins
Game1 (I'm on the draw)
He has a slow start after I handle his first turn drop. I then manage to take full control of the game via numerous Standstills which draw me a counter for every relevant threat he plays (alongside double Swords and a Wrath of God) until I find a Humility. I'm at 10 life at this point which is a reasonable amount. He still manages to beat me down to 6 (despite me having two Factories as blockers) before I find a Cunning Wish for Pulse of the Fields for the win. I had about 15 cards left in the library at that point - yey for broken card draw!
-3 Standstill (mediocre in the matchup and even worse when on the draw)
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
He doesn't have any one drops but double Piledriver by turn three... which I introduce to Runed Halo before they do me any damage. He then has to overextend into a Wrath of God as he can't afford to walk into Humility again: he has to play loads of creatures in order to race me as I manage to counter his two Mad Aunties which would have drastically increased his clock (meaning that he would have committed less to the board so that he would have been able to recover better after WoG). After resolving double Fact or Fiction (finding Cunning Wish for Pulse of the Fields and Decree of Justice), playing double Mishra's Factory and a Humility, he scoops.
2:0
1-0-0 (2:0)
Round2 vs. Manuel Heiler with GB The Rock
While getting paired against a team mate sucks, I am rather confidant in this matchup especially since Manuel isn't that great a player [/euphemism].
Game1 (I'm on the play)
He gets a rather decent start with multiple cmc1 discard spells and a Dark Confidant which I can't handle. He then commits a critical error: he plays a Duress revealing my 3 card hand of two Fact or Fictions and a Decree of Justice. I have 4 lands on the table. I recommend him to take the FoF which he then also does. He then swings with his Confidant. I'll repeat this. He then swings with his Confidant.
I win shortly after with Eternal Dragon beats.
-1 Fact or Fiction
-2 Cunning Wish
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
He has the same start as in the first game, this time with double Dark Confidant though. I manage to survive a little and stall into a Wrath of God which he simply ignores as he replays what he had on his board on the following turn. I drop two Runed Halos naming Troll Ascetic and Shriekmaw which he both Krosan Grips. I then proceed to draw land, land, land while getting beaten by some dudes. On the turn before I die (read: the last occasion to draw something relevant) I draw... a land. While we proceed to game3 I look at what would have been the next card I would have drawn - obviously the much needed Wrath of God.
Game3
See game2 with the exception of me starting to draw lands from turn2 onwards.
I guess I just got Heiler'd.
For those who don't know:
Heiler'd - noun.
Can be used as a synonym to pwnd! or ownage.
Definition: act of draining luck from your opponents to add it to your own in order to compensate for your deck and skill.
See also, Heilering, Heiler.
Heilering people is the way Heiler managed to win the last three Hassloch events - this is the only one and true explanation, mathematically proven by HH, PhD of Maths (well, soon enough).
1:2
1-1-0 (3:2)
Round3 vs. Richard Lessmann with NQG/w
Maybe some of you know Richard for being a Vintage pimp - he has a pretty amazing stock of pimp stuff, amongst others a World Set of Shivan Dragons (one from every edition and language ever printed), he doesn't know much of Legacy though and just randomly borrowed a deck from Harald David (who judged at this event). I playtest with Harry quite often and therefore know his list which is basically a carbon copy of the one I played at the last Hassloch event with the sole change being that he opts to play two Hoofprints where I play the split with Enforcer. I know what my opponent plays - that's the good news. The bad news is that, as we play almost identical lists, he also has Gaddock Teeg in the Sideboard which, alongside Pithing Needles in the main make the matchup much harder for me than against any other NQG Variant.
Game1 (I'm on the draw)
After keeping a rather slow hand with double Factory and Eternal Dragon, Landstill does what Landstill should do with NQG: draw some cards, kill some guys, play a wincondition and win. His only resistance were two Tarmogoyfs (-> Explosives) and a Nimble Mongoose (-> ignore) alongside a Pithing Needle naming Mishra's Factory.
-1 Eternal Dragon
-1 Fact or Fiction
-1 Decree of Justice
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
NQG does what NQG does when it's supposed to beat Landstill: turn1 Sensei's Divining Top, turn2 Counterbalance, turn3 Pithing Needle on Mishra's Factory, turn5 Gaddock Teeg. I respond to Gaddock with a Fact revealing a Force of Will - for which I don't have a blue card to pitch. I proceed to loose to the hard lock from there on.
Game3
After some pretty busted draws from his side (double Goyf, Balance), I manage to stabilize at 5 life - we then run out of time.
1:1
1-1-1 (4:3)
I seriously considered dropping after this round - loosing to Heiler (I mean, it's f*cking Heiler!) and drawing against one of your best matchups is not exactly a good start to a tournament.
I decided against dropping though because I can still top8 and enjoy my time here, especially since there's no one else who dropped until now to play Highlander with.
To calm down a little I put myself some Dvorak (Symphony n°9 (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=dvorak+new+world+symphony&search_type=&aq=1&oq=dvorak+n) is some truly great music) - I usually don't listen to music during tournaments as it is a distraction and a little but rude towards the opponent but as I just considered dropping and am rather down I guess that I might as well enjoy myself for good rather than play at my best as I don't really count on making a good showing any more anyway.
Round4 vs. Martin Schreiber with UWB Fish
Martin is another local from Karlsruhe with whom I test from time to time, he's not that great of a player though and his list is rather bad too.
Game1 (I'm on the play)
I get a rather slow hand which is worsened even further by him Stifling one of my fetchlands. He then plays a Meddling Mage on Engineered Explosives and a couple of other dorks. I attempt to Wrath, he has the Daze. I swords his Mage, play an Explosives, he has the force. I attempt to Wrath again, he has the Daze.
-2 Fact or Fiction
-1 Eternal Dragon
+3 Runed Halo
Dvorak's 9th ends just after this game - staying in the genre seems good right now so that I switch over to some assorted Beethoven.
Game2
He mulligans. Twice - it doesn't matter because I don't have a shaky hand this time. I play a pair of Standstills, kill some guys, stabilize at 16 and then kill him with some Soldiers.
Game3
He keeps a risky hand with Chrome Mox as his only manasource - and a SdT to find some more. He doesn't. I show him my hand which he can't beat if he gives me two or more timewalks. He concedes.
2:1
2-1-1 (6:4)
Round5 vs. Marcel Munerotto with Deadguy Ale
I know him from my very early Legacy days but haven't seen him since then. He's a very nice guy and the match was really enjoyable - despite some very frustrating moments it was probably the most fun one I had in the last few tournaments.
Game1 (I'm on the draw)
He mulligans once as he says that he can't keep a hand with triple Wasteland as only manasources.
He then gets a rather slow start with only one discard effect and two guys (Yixlid Jailers), he has the tools to not scoop to my 4th and 5th turn Humilities though as he has a Vindicate for both of them. I basically get 'the nuts' after this: I play four Standstills one after the other (the two Facts I played helped great deal to find them too) - it was only a matter of time that I win after this crazy card advantage. I do so via Eternal Dragon beats.
-1 Decree of Justice
-2 Cunning Wish
+3 Runed Halo
Game2
I keep a questionable hand with 6 lands (including Academy Ruins and a Factory) and a Standstill. I though that the hand would be pretty great against his deck as it can essentially ignore his entire mana denial strategy.
Unfortunately he draws the other half of his deck meaning Duress into triple Gerrard's Verdict (now that's lifegain!) into double Hymn to Tourarch accompanied by a sharp clock (Nantuko Shade). I guess you can't really beat that with any hand anyway.
Game3
Just before the game I moved away from classical music but not from music classics as I switched over to Ensiferum (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=ensiferum&search_type=&aq=f)'s Album Iron (http://youtube.com/watch?v=1cJ3k7yTNqk) which I regard as a modern classic.
He catches me off guard with his first turn Hypnotic Specter which beats me down to 3 as he handles my Runed Halo naming it. Alongside this savage beating (tm) he also Wastes my two Mishra's Factories and Extripates them alongside my WoGs. A DoJ also falls prey to the Specter so that I'm left with only one wincondition in the entire deck. I then stabilize at two life (after Forcing his next threat, a Nantuko Shade) due to the awesomeness that is Tolaria West into Academy Ruins+Engineered Explosives softlock. After getting rid of his relevant threats and handling every single one he plays from there onwards, I continue drawing cards. After some time, I have about 10 cards left in my library - I need to draw the Eternal Dragon soon as he's drawing into business again and already restarts to point some discard spells at me. I know that I can't use any of my Counterspells because I need them to protect my Eternal Dragon from his Swords to Plowshares and so play very tightly. I draw the Dragon, he has the Swords, I have the Counterspell. He then stalls the Dragon further with a Tombstalker, draws into another Swords to Plowshares but again, I have the Counterspell. Dragon beats him down from there onwards, undisrupted.
The entire game lasted about 4 minutes despite none of us playing particularly fast.
2:1
3-1-1 (8:5)
We finish pretty early and Marcel tells me that I'm probably the fastest Landstill player he's ever met - we trashtalk a little waiting for the others to finish their rounds.
As I can still top8 if I win the next round, I stop the good music.
Round6 vs. Patrick Hinnes with Mono Red Painters
He plays the Japanese variant.
Game1 (I'm on the play)
While shuffling up, I talk trash predicting his first turn: Ancient Tomb, Chrome Mox, Magus of the Moon, rfg Simian Spirit Guide to Pyroblast my Force of Will.
He then exactly does this in his turn. I'm like 'wtf' at first but then quickly realize that this is actually an advantage for me as I have a fetchie for Island in play, a Plains and an Eternal Dragon in hand so that I can simply ignore the Moon - the tweaking of the manabase did have a positive effect after all.
He then drops an Imperial Recruiter for Painter's Servant on the next turn, I can turn off his combo with my Humility though. He still beats me down to 5 life before I find a removal (Engineered Explosives in this case) but I stabilize easily from there on and kill him with some Soldiers.
-3 Wrath of God
-1 Standstill
-1 Counterspell
-1 Fact or Fiction
+3 Meddling Mage
+3 Runed Halo
This was a terrible boarding plan as I have never played against the deck, it worked out rather well though - I wasn't happy with boarding only 3 Meddling Mages, I didn't find anything else to board out though.
Game2
He mulligans once and has a rather decent hand that keeps me busy with disrupting his combo while his guys beat me down as I have to play my only reamoval (a Runed Halo) on Grindstone in order to not die immediately. On one of my last possible draws, turn4, I finally find another removal, an Engineered Explosives, which I have to play at three. He has the Needle for it on his turn though. Him having 6 Red Blasts for my draw didn't make my job easier either.
Game3
See game1 - sole variation: I didn't even attempt to counter any one of his 4 (!) Blood Moon effects and just owned with Humility + Decree of Justice. The game was rather close though as in responce to me cycling the DoJ he bolted me down to 3 which I didn't see coming at all as he didn't play any in the first two games. I promptly play a Runed Halo naming Bolt on my next turn and proceed to win.
2:1
4-1-1 (10:6)
Random Trivia: boarding out a single Fact or Fiction while leaving the Cunning Wishes in is often a great move - while Fact or Fiction is too bad to warrant a slot in the normal wishboard, having access to one is still very useful in stalls against some decks.
Other Tournament Stuff
I get fourth and pick two Extirpates out of the price pool which I then use in a trade for some Japanese Pithing Needles which are going to replace my normal ones in my NQG (those going into my Ichorid's sideboard).
Overall Team SPOD performance:
[1st] Heiler: 5-0-1
[2nd] Adan: 5-1-0
[4th] Me: 4-1-1
Harrald: 3-2-1
Heiler got a BB Bayou for his efforts, Adan a random Dual (German Unlimited Volcanic).
Generally speaking the price support was much better this time.
Random Trivia: some people drove all the way from Würzburg to Karlsruhe (around 200km) only to play the tournament - I knew the people from the Nuremberg events and was really surprised to see them showing up.
Props:
For the deck for still being great
3/3 UWb Cunning Landstill top8ing
75% of the present SPOD members top8ing
For Highlander
Slops:
For my non-wins
25% of the present SPOD memebers for not top8ing - HH you fail!
For way too many people for getting Heiler'd
Postlude
After the tournament, it basically all was business as usual which means EPIC (not the American Legacy Team one) Highlander session with Stefan - who albeit not being able to attend the tournament because of having a hangover from 4 days of Whisky+Fiddles (some random open air festival we didn't know anything of and therefore couldn't go to as it was booked out) was still fit enough for some Highlander...
Random Question:
Did someone besides me realize that since team SPOD members that aren't Adan or I are starting to do well in tournaments, team SPOD is totally dominating every top8?