SPOD Worls Raiding Tour - Annecy 2011

You Asked for it! or … well … at least one of you did =)
And who am I not to deliver?
So grab yourself a beer or whatever dependence causing substance it is that keeps you going and enjoy the ride, this isn’t going to be over soon.

Not much was heard for the last few months from your friendly neighborhood pirates. No epic reports, no flaming forum posts, no hot secret deck tech. One could just get the impression that our endless quest to break the format, conquer top8s and (most importantly) annihilate the local beer supply had come to an end.
Rest assured, this is not the case.

[warning]
Oh, before I continue, a fair warning: If you’re here for actual MtG content, I have to disappoint you. This first part of our journey only touches this subject very peripherally. I know we all love reports for the play by play analysis. Wait, no.
[/warning]

So now that this is out of the way, where were we? Right:
Real life has struck and as usual it struck quite hard!

• First of all our probably most efficient deck builder and writer extraordinaire Clemens (the artist now known as diffy) has left for distant shores. And awesome shores for sure! But sadly the country of Whiskey and Haggis is not one of magical cards and so someone else had to do the dirty work. And as a team of notoriously lazy bastards we were all eager to pick up the metaphorical pen, get our creative mojo flowing and craft well sounding articles to please the audience. Yeah, that was a lie...
• Secondly, the core crew of the team got employed. And I’m saying this with the utmost disgust anybody should muster for the trivial task of labor. What this means is that Martin (MSC) and me got some decent nerdy 9 to 5 jobs as software engineers. Go figure. And it’s truly distasteful how much time being a productive member of society consumes! Don’t try this at home, kids.
• And lastly, I got an apartment together with my girlfriend. That meant leaving the beloved harbor of Karlsruhe for Mannheim (which some might see as an improvement buuuuut I doubt it!). And while this is all sorts of awesome (well apart from the “Mannheim”-part ;-) that meant significantly less time I wanted to spend sitting at home in front of my computer writing about random tourneys.

So combine fact two and three and you end up with a serious lack of time you can devote to your hobby (you know, besides actually playing it. That still works surprisingly fine =) It's just like work and social life cut down your hobbies. Weird.
It’s not even like there was nothing to write. I am running good lately. (This isn't just a blatantly obvious brag... it actually should clarify... leave me alone!) Smashing people in the face with giant creatures still works. And so does combo. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

[Annecy]
As soon as Annecy was announced, the remainder of what is left of this once mighty Legacy team decided to go there. So we immediately made plans, booked out hotel room and all was good…
(Did you catch the sarcasm in the last sentence?) Anyway Annecy was a great event last time we were there and rumors that you weren’t allowed to drink anymore because a group of pirates got shitfaced two years ago couldn’t possibly be true, could they?
[/Annecy]

Fast forward to Thursday, 12.05.11.

Day 0: Thursday
I’m sitting in front of my computer, counting the seconds. 16.00 came and went and every minute my cellphone might ring to signal the end of the working day and the beginning of an epic road trip. It’s impossible to focus on work, my head is spinning around matchups/SB plans/prize payout and beer. Well mostly beer. Heavens, how I could use one right now.

[Beer]
Latest studies have shown that drinking beer is roughly 29 times more satisfying than work. True story!
[/Beer]

Tick, tack, that imaginary clock is driving me mad. Clam down, look busy, don’t start shaking! Tick. Open another XML, scroll through it slowly. Tack. Walk to the window nonchalantly. No one will notice. Tick. OhMyRidiculousFriggingGod, come on now! Ta… RING.
Finally!

I leave the office head down to the parking lot and am greeted by my fellow pirates, drinking buddies and road trippers:

• Martin MSC Schreiber
• Harald Locutus Herrlich

We head for the highway driving northwards for an hour (which is exactly the opposite direction of Annecy from where we started), pick up the latest goodies from New Phyrexia and are finally on our way to France.

We hit the highway and Harald and I start to demolish the 12l of beer we brought for supplies. Everything progresses pretty much according to the standard road trip: epic music, eloquent and profound magic theorizing followed by an alcohol induced blackout after the supplies where annihilated.

We arrive at the hotel and I somehow manage to convince the concierge to give us the keys to the room I booked. Not really all too adept in the French language and heavily drunk, I consider this a major achievement and proudly pass out on the floor.

Day 1: Friday
I lie on a floor…
This isn’t my apartment…
The sun is shining directly into my brain…
My head hurts!
It’s way too early.

After a few moments of disorientation I realize where I am and why I’m here. I also realize that working life has deprived me of the ability to sleep for more than 7-8h straight.
Boy, this sucks!
I stumble under the shower while the rest of the crew slowly awakes and we ponder what to do at this ungodly hour. Neither Harald nor I are particularly thrilled to start drinking again (still some work to do before we develop into full-blown alcoholics ;-) and the trial doesn’t start for 3 more hours.
So we head to the tournament site and battle some mean rounds of Ascension.

[Ascension]
This game is truly amazing! If you’ve never played it I highly recommend you check it out. This trip we basically spend our whole non-Magic-time battling. Highlights involved my “All-in Heavy Infanty”.dec which in the end was able to produce exactly two runes (one Wolf Shaman and a lonely Apprentice) and MSCs “Hedron Cannon for 5 each turn”.dec which both won their respective rounds.
I can’t wait to get my hands on the expansion!
[/Ascension]

After one hell of an awesome time slinging Ascension we decide to play the Legacy trial to grab two Byes for the following day. Apparently about 140 other nerds have the same idea and so the trial (!!!) would be easy 8 rounds without top8 and byes for the top 4… Yeah, nice guys… really nice!
So, if you think I’m now finally going to add some Magic content to this article, you still are mistaken. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I scrub out pretty hard and so I’ll spare me the shame of going over it all again and give just you a quick rundown:

- Round 1: Merfolk 2 : 1
- Round 2: Team America 2 : 1
- Round 3: ANT 1 : 2
- Round 4: ??? but I won
- Round 5: Big Zoo with Punishing Fires 1 : 2
- Round 6: ??? and I lost

So 3/3/0 drop. Awkward...
MSC at least manages to go one more round and ends 4/3/0 and Harald goes for the ever so solid “0/2/1 => drop => fetch Pizza for the team”-plan.

Needless to say we all are pretty much fed up with Legacy and decide to spend our time with cards more fun. Read: More Ascension!

The evening is spent in an epic barbecue next to the ancient cemetery of Annecy. We stuff ourselves with meat, drink hard liquor (because we finished all the beer during the road trip…) and witness what we can only guess was a crack deal: A man meets two women on a deserted parking lot (well almost deserted that is. There still was a crew of drinking pirates, you know), they talk secretly, no one drops pants and then they part their ways… Sounds highly suspicious if you ask me!

Once we finish feasting on meat and rum we stagger back to the hotel, finish our decks for the following day and play some final games of drunken Ascension (it’s like real Ascension, only more common where I play, and way more fun ;-).

[Deck]
Sa, 01.01.2011, Karlsruhe
People are all over the place with fancy new Legacy tech right now. Be it Junk, MUD, Show & Tell, Counterbalance or High Tide the stream of data streaming in from American 5k events is endless.

This leaves many players in an awkward position: One hell of a lot of lists but no real first-hand experience and definitely no clear "best deck".
How to find the right tool in that haystack?

I myself have a very fine tuned method of choosing the proper deck to break the metagame. It involves quite, solemn contemplation and quite a few cans of 5.0. Yeah all right, I like drinking, you got me.
This is the story of one of those sessions.

So I am sitting there on my bed spinning thoughts about how I used to own people with High Tide and Counterbalance in the days of yore.
Maybe it is time again. After over a year of abstinence from the blue cards (due to some fishy pest...) maybe it finally is time to break out the Islands again.
This is where my train of thought had arrived when an enormous shadow falls upon me. I turn my head, not too rapidly mind you, as the earth already is spinning enough the way it is, and there he stands: dressed in fur and leather, skulls of beasts hanging from his neck, tattooed and two huge-ass axes on his side:
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, jungle warrior, beastmaster and chief consultant of the green force!

"Arrrr, pirate what are those blasphemous thoughts of you I hear about?"

"Arrrr to you, alcohol induced hallucination. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Slinging the blue cards again, eh? Playing some slow-ass combo deck again, eh? Trying that pseudo soft lock again, EH? Getting fed to the friGGING FISH AGAIN, HEH?!?" (Yeah he didn't really say frigging)

"Well, there is this sweet new tech you see"

"Elfshit! What are these pathetic spells compared to sheer manpower? Force of Will my ass, force of mother frigging Slagwurm is the way to go."

"But maybe now is the time to sling the counterspells again? It's been a while you know?"

"And didn't it work out for you? Playing the guys, smashing those tiny blue decks? Wasn't it great? Ravenous Garruk! GP Madrid, German Legacy Championship, GP Bochum sideevent... Didn't you crush face? And rightfully so? Wasn't the way of the beast always a good way to you?

"Sure, but, you know, they kind of axed Survival of the Fittest..."

"AAAARRRR puny pirate, haven't you learned anything on your journey into the pits? Survival of the Fittest is not a card. It is a way to game! Embrace the Baloth and beat down! You know you want to. It's it your blood. It calls for you!"

"Hell yeah, you got it! Let's kick it with big guys once more! For Yavimayaaaaaaa!
...
...
You don't happen to have a decent idea on how to build a deck, do you?"

"Ah, little pirate, listen to the wisdom of Tooth and Nail: Remember when I said survival of the fittest was a way to game? Well, there is one creature in particular that expresses just that. Add a few big and bad ass monster and you're pretty much set."

"Oh, how very subtle of you..."

"AAARRRR you don't want subtle , you want bloody! But if you insist on some fancy tricks, might I suggest a spell to restore the natural order? It goes pretty well with my old companion Silvos!"

"Yeah, about that. There kind of is a new kid on the block. It kicks it a little better that the old elemental, you know what I mean?"

"Bah, the wilds aren't impressed with some random newcomer snake! But do what you have to do. Good luck in the battle. And let it be violent!
See you around, pirate"

At this point I doze off into an alcohol induced haze.
[/Deck]

Day 2, Saturday
Now, finally to some actual Magic content. Yeah… like anyone is here to read about that.
The usual pre-tournament routine of getting up way too early, skipping breakfast, hopping under the shower and wondering if it’s too early to grab a beer (hint: most of the time, it’s not!) is soon completed and we head to the site.
It’s a ridiculous 630+ players and so we will play 9 rounds with cut to top 16. That’s a frigging lot of players!
I’m a few points short of rating Byes so I have to do this the hard way!
Most of my opponents wish to stay anonymous (one can only assume it’s because of penis envy) so I’ll not mention any names. That or I just didn’t take notes, that’s also an option.
Here’s finally some sweet deck tech:

//Maindeck (60)
4x Windswept Heath
1x Misty Rainforest
3x Savannah
3x Forest
1x Plains
4x Wasteland
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Dryad Arbor
1x Karakas
4x Mother of Runes
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Fauna Shaman
3x Qasali Pridemage
2x Tarmogoyf
3x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Loyal Retainers
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Progenitus
4x Mental Misstep
4x Green Sun’s Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Natural Order

//Sideboard (15)
3x Gaddock Teeg
3x Choke
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Maze of Ith


Round 1: Finish guy with Mono U Merfolk
Game 1: He leads with Vial into Misstep for my Mother into Standstill. Nice one. I break it only to have him drop the second one. Definitely nice one! *cough*SonOfABitch*cough* I continue to play creatures while he continues to drop lands. And lots of them. In fact he’s so busy dropping lands that he doesn’t really do anything else and dies with like 150 of them on the table.
Game 2: I deliver quick beats with double Goyf and Knight and he just unemotionally takes it. I smell another easy win until he plays a Hibernation mid combat and suddenly my board vanishes. Those sneaky fish, never making life easy for the hard working Lhurgoyf! One/two counterspells later life isn’t that rosy anymore but I topdeck Fauna Shaman and Iona shows who’s boss.
1/0/0

Round 2: French guy with Painted Stone
Game 1: I keep a slow hand of 2x Swords, Knight and lands. He leads with Fetch -> Island, Top and on his second turn drops a Lion’s Eye Diamond. Frowntown! I mentally start counting storm until he drops a Mox Opal. Say what?!? I don’t really know any deck that would play those two but when he plays a Goblin Welder the penny finally drops. I kill the Welder, play the Knight and start my beatdown supported by “massive Wasteland massacre”™. And surprisingly that 5/6 turn clock actually gets the job done.
Game 2: I keep a land with double Zenith, Dryad Arbor and lands. The plan is to go second turn Pridemage and see what happens from there. That is until I draw my second Arbor on my first draw step… and he Intuitions for Show and Tell at the end of my second turn! Wow, right, that was the sideboard tech here. Did not see it coming, though! But being just the masterful player I am I have already drawn KotR and that allows me to live the dream S&T => KotR => untap, fetch Karakas and do the Emrakul bounce dance! It’s not really a game afterwards.
2/0/0

Round 3: Russian guy with GW
Game 1: I play Natural Order. He can’t do anything about that maindeck. Quick one.
Game 2: I read him on Aven Mindcensor and don’t play my Natural Order Into it. He has it (yeah, I was more than a little proud here!) and I have to wait for a Sword until I can cast NO. By the time I find the Sword he has two Knights on the table but my hydra is still going to race them. That is until he casts Phyrexian Metamorph. His ONLY Phyrexian Metamorph as he assures me. Well, good game, sir, good game indeed!
Game 3: Do you like puzzles? Here’s one for you:
[puzzle]
It’s the fourth extra turn, you’re at 6 life, your opponent is at 15
Your opponents board consists of 1x Scryb Ranger equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine, 2x Mother of Runes, 2x Noble Hierarch and a 6/6 Knight, all untapped. He taps his only lands: Forest and Wasteland to cast Green Suns’s Zenith for one. You know he has Bojuka Bog and Sejiri Steppe and an additional Noble Hierarch in the deck.
Your board is: 2x 11/11 Knight of the Reliquary, 2x Mother of Runes, Plain, Forest, Horizon Canopy. Your hand is Swords to Plowshares and Aven Mindcensor.
How do you win? Or at least not lose? I’m pretty sure your opponent has to misplay for anything to work, but try it.
If you find a halfway decent solution to this problem you’re most certainly a better player than I am. I just died… Yeah, I’m bad at this.
[/puzzle]
2/1/0

Round 4: French guy with Mono R Goblins
Game 1: I keep the very loose hand of 5 land (3 Wasteland though), Mother and Goyf. He starts with Goblin Guide and I draw at least three cards off him. Yay, card advantage?!? Guess what, he rolls me! I need to work on my mulligan decisions.
Game 2: A giant Hydra comes and devours him. Doesn’t sound all that impressive? Maybe if I make some terrifying noises? RRROOOAAAARRRR!
Game 3: See game two only that I really try to throw the game away in the last two turns. I suppose you like to read how I embarrass myself (who doesn’t!), so here goes:
I just cast the Natural Order and my board consists of Goyf and Hydra with Noble Hierarch in hand. I’m at 19 life. My opponent is at 21 life and has a goblin token, a Matron, only two lands and a Vial at 4. So basically I’m in such a dominant position, it’s not even funny! Time to screw things up. Badly. “So, his life total is above 20. So little Prog here needs three turns. That sucks! Maybe if I attack him, he’ll drop to 18. Let’s just ignore this pathetic little Hierarch in my hand. That’s not going to do anything.” Something along those lines must have been my train of thought, because I mindlessly ran my Goyf into his token. Profit? Next turn he draws his third land (around turn 7. That lucksack!), ramps up his Vial, casts Goblin Chieftain and vials in Siege-Gang Commander. Yeah, that’s 13 damage out of nowhere. He sends in the team and I block the Siege-Gang with Progs. Most certainly just to give my opponent more outs with haste goblins. Because I’m just that nice. Luckily for me he doesn’t have another Siege-Gang or many Piledriver or anything really and I still win. Skill game, I tell you!
3/1/0

Round 5: Guy from the Netherlands with Affinity
Game 1: I keep another very strong hand with one land, Hierarch and Zenith. I draw the second land the turn I die… Yeah, I really learned a lot from the first game last round…
Game 2: My opponent is way better with his mulligan decisions. And to prove that to me he goes down to five, really rubbing it in. Yet he still manages to make a game off it as he has the double Plating draw. Unfortunately for him I have a fast Shaman into Elesh Norn. And there really aren’t a lot of creatures in Affinity that can live through her reign. I also get to swing for three with a Dryad Arbor. Nacatl Forest for the win ;-) Fun times!
Game 3: This one is really close. He doesn’t start off too broken and I get Knight -> Maze and Natural Order going. The Maze stalls his Etched Champion while the hydra puts him on a reasonable clock. He has 2/3 turns to topdeck a Plating and kill me on the spot but misses.
4/1/0

Round 6: Belgium guy with fast Zoo
Game 1: He has double Lynx with all the Fetchlands to back them up and a Misstep for my Mother. Let's say it was mercifully fast…
Game 2: I open a hand with double Misstep and am able to slow him down enough for my Elspeth to seal the deal.
Game 3: More cats, more burn, more pain and more fiery flames of infinite death. Mine in that particular case.
4/2/0 and out of contention for top8. Sucks terribly and I am completely demotivated to continue playing at that point. But there are prizes for the top50 so I swallow the bitter pill (actually I did swallow. With a mouthful of Jack Daniel most of the pills aren’t that bitter =) and try to make the best out of a shitty situation.
Harald dropped at 3/3/0 to go and fetch some food and more importantly beer for the team. Much appreciated!

Round 7: French guy with Burn
During shuffling he reveals me Fireblast and Rift Bolt. Which kind of sucks as I figuratively literally can’t win against burn. It’s a combo.dec with a pretty slow clock (which still easily is fast enough for me) that’s completely unimpressed by my hate bears and Fauna Shamans. My mood officially hits rock bottom!
Game 1: I play Mother of Runes which he tries to burn. I have the Misstep and for some weird reason he doesn’t pursue the matter. Which is pretty bad for him, because that way he can’t profitably burn my Shaman. He doesn’t even try and I actually manage to get a big angel into play that prohibits him from playing spells. That was … unexpected but hey, I’ll take it.
Game 2: Turns out his boarding plan is to transform into Rg Beats. He leads with Goyfs, Burn and Lavamancers instead of just burn. So to summarize post board his clock is way worst and my removal actually has value now. That doesn’t really seem like a good plan in this matchup! Consequently I can stall him for long enough to resolve a Natural Order and he succumbs to hydra warfare. Masterfully played!
5/2/0

Round 8: Really awesome French guy with GW
Game 1: As usual in the mirror, I have the upper hand due to a possible combo finish. This game is a rather typical example of the matchup: We trade some blows, stall the board with Mother of Runes and Knight of the Reliquary (two creatures that very convincingly discourage attacking) then I have Natural Order and he has no solution.
Game 2: He keeps a decent “1 land + Vial”-hand and starts to spit out Revoker. One nails Fauna Shaman and the second names Pridemage and a Stoneforge for good measure to fetch Sword of Light and Shadow. I play mana dudes Goyf and Zenith for another Goyf. The key turn comes when he draws Cradle to play the Sword but is one mana short of equipping it (Mystic got Vialed in and was still sick). I draw the Pridemage next turn, sword the Revoker, kill the Vial and waste his Cradle. Without the Sword he can’t race my Goyfs and soon his creatures have to do the chump dance.
6/2/0

Before the last round both MSC and me are at 18 point with a very good shot at top32 and prizes with a win. So a win it has to be.

Round 9: French guy with Merfolk
Oh boy, this one still pains me. Four days later and I still can’t quite wrap my head around what happened. Well long story short, I mulliganed three times in two games and was at no point in the game. Never. NADA! Vial => Wasteland => Lords… I’m sure you know the story!
6/3/0

Such a good matchup and now this… I’m stunned, dazed, disgusted. A sheer overwhelming wave of disappointment is flooding through my body. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Not today. Not against the Fish!
Harald pitifully hands me a can of beer which I down without emotion. The beer calms me down enough to grab a second can and make my way to MSCs table to watch at least some pirate victory. Alas, it was not meant to be: Apparently Jitte-wielding Mirran Crusader are some good against zoo. Who would have thought?!?

Deeply frustrated with myself and Magic I decide to pass on the Vintage tournament the next day. Getting my unpowered ass handed to me by broken shit doesn’t sound all too much fun at the moment!
We end the day in out typical fashion: Downing alcohol, slinging Ascension (two activities that do a very good job of lightening my mood!), “improving” MSCs Vintage deck (when doesn’t alcohol fueled theorizing improve a deck?) and more alcohol. I manage to beat his Vintage deck with my Highlander four times in a row before the score evens out a little.


Day 3: Sunday
Having already decided to skip the Vintage main event yesterday, I get to sleep in on Sunday. MSC follows his inner nerd, gets up and heads out at an unspeakably early hour and I congratulate myself to my wise choice, turn around and fall asleep again.
Until there is the sun. Again. And way too early. Again! I ponder to stay in bed and try to find some much needed sleep, but in the end my inner nerd prevails and I hop under the shower. Afterward, I head to the site to have a breakfast beer and watch MSC battle some decks that cost approximately five times the money his deck costs. Fun times. I also sign up for an EDH 8 man as does Harald when he finally arrives at the site.

[EDH]
Hell, is this not a two player tournament format or what? Where I play we have a pretty competitive highlander community and a banned list that is tunes to support 1 on 1 tournaments. I understand that this isn’t the goal of the EDH banned list, but that makes this format potentially VERY broken. I mean Vampiric Tutor, Life from the Loam, Survival and Yawgmoths Will?!? Good Grief!
As none of those cards is actually legal where I play, my deck felt pretty underpowered from the start. I played my normal Junk.dec and Doran got promoted from foot soldier to general as he was the only legend that supported all the colors.
[/EDH]

Round 1: Harald with Jhoira of the Ghitu (also not a real EDH deck)
Obviously I get to play Harald, which is quite nice as neither one of us has any clue about the rules and that way we can watch and learn, but it obviously sucks to play a team mate in a single elimination tournament.
I win game one and three pretty handily, probably on the back of Sword of Fire and Ice which is pretty retarded against his deck (didn't think that, did you?!?). Game two I keep a one land, multiple mana dudes hand and they all die in a fire. I know, I suck...

Round 2: Sapling of Colfenor
He seems to be piloting his normal multiplayer deck that also seems to have a hard time against equipment.
First game I assemble Bitterblossom + Sword of Feast and Famine (which for some obvious reasons is pretty nuts against his deck. Yeah, another shocking revelation). He repeatedly nukes the board but I tutor for Recurring Nightmare to close the deal.
Second game I get a fast Spectral Lynx going that he can’t really control, especially as I back it up with a Baneslayer Angel. After he finally manages to nuke the board I have Volrath’s Stronghold to start the fun all over again. He plays it cool but I can see the nerd rage burning within him. He tries to fend off the angel as if his life depended on it (because, actually it sort of does) but all in vain.

Round 3: Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Yeah, this deck is broken! Like REALLY frigging absurdly overpowered.
First game I control him with hate bears and planeswalkers quite well until he casts Ulamog. Who does that? I don’t really win from there. Some games, your opponent resolving an Eldrazi against you isn't the worst... Yeah, I'm just kidding, don't try this at home either, kids!
Game two and three I get there with second turn Fauna Shaman (once tutored via Green Sun’s Zenith) into Gaddock and Aven Mindcensor (you'll be shocked to hear the hate bears tear this deck to shreds). He doesn’t draw obscenely large tentacle monsters this time and I somehow manage to defeat the Über.dec. Wow, I rock at this!

At least one magic related success this weekend I guess ;-) I win 25€ in store credit and spend them on a Phyrexian Dreadnought. Maybe it’s time to finally break out the islands again. Cause that might just be what an island.dec needs today: More 12/12 trampler! I guess I’ll need another 5.0-session soon.
The rest of the day is an uneventful journey back home (uneventful for me: Harald gets drunk on the backseat alone, as I have to drive to Mannheim and MSC tries his best to simulate a true GTA-experience in the middle of the French Outback) and then finally falling asleep in my own bed.

All in all the weekend was stone-cold awesome. The road-tripping, sail-setting, rum-drinking and gaming sort of awesome!

Props

• The team: awesome drinking buddies and travel companions!
• Alcohol. Oh sweet, sweet alcohol.
• That awesome French guy, I played in round 8.
• My Highlander. Seriously, this deck is the tits, demolishing a way more broken format and MSCs Vintage deck alike.
• Fauna Shaman. You’re not quite a Survival but really pretty damn frigging close.
• Whoever it was that invented Pizza
• Barbecue

Slops

• Me for sucking at this game. Even worse: sucking Fish dicks.

Take care and see you around

Stefan 'Cezet' Czolk

insanly hilarius as usual congrats stefan

Hi Stefan,

congrats on your finish (and props to your really cool partner I met in round 8).
This particuliar round was nice playing against team SPOD, and, though the results were not in our favor, we really look forward for a future encounter ! We both ended 6/3 as well.

BTW, I'll link your post in our private forum, so that flugubluk (the nice guy you were talking about from round 8) will get to see once again your really cool decklist.

[puzzle]
It’s the fourth extra turn, you’re at 6 life, your opponent is at 15
Your opponents board consists of 1x Scryb Ranger equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine, 2x Mother of Runes, 2x Noble Hierarch and a 6/6 Knight, all untapped. He taps his only lands: Forest and Wasteland to cast Green Suns’s Zenith for one. You know he has Bojuka Bog and Sejiri Steppe and an additional Noble Hierarch in the deck.
Your board is: 2x 11/11 Knight of the Reliquary, 2x Mother of Runes, Plain, Forest, Horizon Canopy. Your hand is Swords to Plowshares and Aven Mindcensor.
How do you win? Or at least not lose? I’m pretty sure your opponent has to misplay for anything to work, but try it.
[puzzle]


There is only one reason for your opponent to play the Green Sun's Zenith for one: He wants to attack with the Scryb Ranger for exactly 6 damage with the possibility to give the Ranger 3x protection (2x Mother, 1x Sejiri Steppe). So you just wait until he declared the attacker, than Swords on your own Knight, even if he grabs the Bojuka Bog, you will still be at 2 life.

If your opponent wants to attack with both creatures there is no way of winning for him. You just block the creatures with Knights, Aven M, Dryad Arbor (off the Knight) or Sword in respone to his Mother activation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by schniggaz

[puzzle]
It’s the fourth extra turn, you’re at 6 life, your opponent is at 15
Your opponents board consists of 1x Scryb Ranger equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine, 2x Mother of Runes, 2x Noble Hierarch and a 6/6 Knight, all untapped. He taps his only lands: Forest and Wasteland to cast Green Suns’s Zenith for one. You know he has Bojuka Bog and Sejiri Steppe and an additional Noble Hierarch in the deck.
Your board is: 2x 11/11 Knight of the Reliquary, 2x Mother of Runes, Plain, Forest, Horizon Canopy. Your hand is Swords to Plowshares and Aven Mindcensor.
How do you win? Or at least not lose? I’m pretty sure your opponent has to misplay for anything to work, but try it.
[puzzle]

There is only one reason for your opponent to play the Green Sun's Zenith for one: He wants to attack with the Scryb Ranger for exactly 6 damage with the possibility to give the Ranger 3x protection (2x Mother, 1x Sejiri Steppe). So you just wait until he declared the attacker, than Swords on your own Knight, even if he grabs the Bojuka Bog, you will still be at 2 life.

If your opponent wants to attack with both creatures there is no way of winning for him. You just block the creatures with Knights, Aven M, Dryad Arbor (off the Knight) or Sword in respone to his Mother activation.

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Cookie for you =)
Yeah, it's not that hard to stay alive in that situation.
Of course this only shows what a complete moron I am (didn't see the life gain from swords at all...).

Another cookie if you can figure out how to win from that spot!

I think there is an option.
He casts Green Sun's Zenith, in response you cast your Aven Mindcensor. But tap your Horizon Canopy and go down to 5 life. He will think: Allright, doesn't matter if I do not find my Noble Hierarch because he is only at 5 life and Scryb Ranger beats for 5 damage. He will probably not use his Knight in response because he is not in real danger.

Now there are two options:

First option: He does not find a Noble ---> He will attack with the Scryb Ranger and give him Protection from White. Now you activate your Knight, get a Fetchland, Fetch, get a Savannah and Sword your Knight ---> You will be at a X life. End of turn activate your other Knight and sac the Savannah, get a Wasteland. Go in your turn. Make your Knight a 15/15 by using the Wasteland on your own Land. Give the Knight protection from White and Green and attack. Your opponent will activate his Knight and has to hope that in his top 4 cards is the Bojuka Bog.

Second option: He finds a Noble Hierarch ---> Scryb Ranger beats for 6 ---> activate your Knight, get a Fetch, fetch, Savannah, swords on your Knight ---> you still will win. The game will only end in a draw if he finds his Bojuka Bog. Even if you go down to 4 life by tapping the Canopy and using your Fetchland, you will get a draw even if he finds his Bojuka Bog in response to the Swords to Plowshares. Just let the Bojuka Bog trigger resolve and after that use your second Knight to make your Knights 3/3. Thats enough to survive.

Hopefully I didn't make a mistake

After we missed BoM4 last year, cause of timing problems, we were eager to go and raid Annecy once again. So when BoM5 was annouced, we got ourself a room at the hotel and prepared another epic roadtrip

With this plan in Mind, I head out thursday afternoon, to pick up Harald Herrlich and Stefan Czolk. And now you think, we were headed straight for Annecy. No, first we drive in the complete opposide direction to Weinheim, to pick up some cards we're missing. After we retrived everything, it's already evening, when we start heading south. Nothing special happend on our way: Drinking booze (at least the other 2), flaming at other cars and thinkering with last minute Deck improvements. 6h later we arrive at Annecy...

We awake the next morning and head for the side. We play some games of Ascension, which is a really brilliant board-games, where you kind of draft a deck and win honor points with it. At eleven, the registration is announced and we head over to register for some grinders. Only, there were no grinders. Instead, there was a 150 people tournament for some Last-Minute Byes. Yeah, playing 7 rounds of Legacy for Byes sounds fair. :-(

Okay, I play Fast-Zoo for the Trial with 3 Terravore as big beaters. Yeah, to make a long story short, I crap out 4:3 drop, loosing against Meerfolk, Team America and ... hell I forgot.
Afterwards we cool down with some ascension and head to the parking space near the graveyard we found 2 years ago and make a little BBQ. The Booze is opened, meat gets grilled and the suckyness of Legacy fades away. Afterwards we play some more Ascension and do some last minute Deck improvements.


The next day we have to get up even earlier. We head over to the side and its already cramped as hell. We meet some people and chat a little, as the tournaments starts as late as ever. As it starts, the first fail is evident: Putting a third of the Standings at the intersection, where you can go outside, into the back room, to the lower floor and the back plateau isn't a good idea. Nothing moved for some minutes. Then some players couldn't find their names on the list, cause the orga has switched Pre- and Surname. I was on the list, but my table didn't had a chair. As the judges announced the second delay, I was happy to get me one.
630 players startet, meaning 9 rounds with cut to top16.

Then the first round finaly could start. Here's what i played in the end:
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Windswept Heath
3 Plateau
2 Taiga
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Gaddock Teeg

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Rift Bolt
1 Lightning Helix
4 Mental Misstep

//SB:
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Tin Street Hooligan
4 Pyroblast

Round 1:
I win the diceroll and keep a hand of 2 lands, 2 1-mana-creatures and 3 Mental Misstep. Normally, that isn't a keep, but my opponent was really unhappy with his hand. In the end, it was the right keep. I counter a brainstorm, a ponder and a entomb, while beating face. He is able to cheat an archon into play, but at this time, I can just burn him down.
Game 2 I have a fast start with a Crypt, and this is enought to beat him.

From here it's all a blur: 6 Rounds happened and I have only a loose recollection, what I played, but not when. I put it on 3 Facts: No Breakfast, meaning hungry Pirates, No alcohol, until Harald dropped and got uns "Backup" and the absence of space.
[Space-Ramblings]
Overall the Tournament Organisation was great, but space was the one thing that sucked. To fit 630 people in a location, that was allready full with 440 people two years ago, they had to fit more tables in the lower area. It's not Tablespace that was missing, but space behind you. If you and the player behind you sat down, the corridor was blocked. For other players to get through to your tables, they had to bend the back of the chairs, to get a little room.
Okay, so space was tight, I can live with it. But why are the top tables up front, where there is the least Space? On the higher level and in the backroom, it was not only quieter, but there were lots of space. If the higher tables would have been there, everyone would have fought harder for wins, to get out of the cramped areas...
As a Sidestory, how tight the lower area was: In the Qualifier Event, one of the judges had to get to a table in the middle of a row. He got there, while the players were still sitting down. Afterwards he wasn't able to get back out, and had to stand the half round in between the rows.
[/Space-Ramblings]

Back to Magic:
I've won 4 of the six rounds, I can't realy remember: Beating Reanimator, Merfolk and some sort of GW-Deck I think.
Another win was handed to me from another Reanimator player, who scooped game 3, after what I heared throwing his game away.
I've lost 2 times too: Once against Sneak and Show, getting Show-And-Telled Emrakul 2 times for exactly my 6 permanents in play. Sad times :-(
The other loss was against a Loam/Knights/Punishing-Fires Deck. I really don't think it's a good Deck, but drawing your 2-Toughness-Dorks all game doesn't help. Game 2 he had chalice and I didn't draw any Siedeboardhate, before it was to late. Why can't I get a Nacatle+Goyf start, against a Deck like this?

Round 8:
I get to my table and I'm sitting next to Stefan Czolk. And my Opponent is from a french team (Sorry forgot the Name). The same Team, Stefan's opponent is from. So it's a two player Team vs. Team Match!
The First Game he totally demolishes me with Stoneforge and Jace, swording and countering all the right stuff. Well played!
Second game I have a relly fast hand and I'm able to Misstep his first removal, so he goes down fast...
Third game I'm lucky to topdeck the Redblast for his War Monk, or the game would have swung in his direction. This way, I can get the Win.
Yeah. Team SPoD Double-Win! And Props to Orgy: It was a great game!

Round 9:
My opponent start with Land go and Missteps my One-Drop. The Second one resolves and he plays Stoneforge, grabbing jitte. I bolt the stoneforge and attack. He plays the pro-green doublestriker, which completely stops my attack, as I have no non-green creatures on board or in hand. I don't find a burn in time and just die.
Game 2 I overrun him with fast beats and burn.
Game 3 we trade some beats, but he has that stupid Double-Striker and brings in a Sword of Feast and Famine, so I have to throw my Pridemage at it. Next Turn he has Jitte and gets 4 Counters on it. I draw a Hooligan and Stomp on Legendary Artefacts, but they take down my board with them. My opponent is at low life at this point, so a topdecked Burn would just win. Well .... I didn't... :-(


Sunday report will follow shortly...

MSC : Congrats for the nice finish and gg for our 3 games. Those were about as good as you can hope a Magic game to be ! No shame for the REB topdeck, that's Magic. As the old saying states, if you cannot take a badbeat, quit playing Magic and switch to Chess.
Hope we'll see you on another tournament !

Till then, SPOD team earns the checkmark against Daddy Team. We'll get our revenge one day or another, muhahahaha !

:)

Nice report :)

Also to point out. I've made all my decks have at least about 50-50 matchups against fish and most usually score a 60-40 against Fish. However, when Fish draws the nuts, they will always win. Guess what fish does? Yeah, they draw the nuts every game. How can other decks in Legacy not draw the nuts but Fish draws the nuts everytime?

Fuck'em all!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spirit of the wretch

4x Mental Misstep

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Oh boy.