Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 21

Thread: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

  1. #1
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Part 1:

    Back in 2009, when Wizards announced to have an European Legacy GP at the beginning of this Year, it was clear to us, that we will be there. As a Team we started preparing for this Event in December: Sneaking a cheap flight, testing Decks to play and getting a room to sleep are only some of the steps performed in Advance.

    At Thursday the 25th we meet at Stefan’s place. We do some Last-Minute Testing and some Last-Minute Deckchanges for two of us, drink beer and play Highlander. In the End some strange things happen: Instead of missing additional Goyfs, which everyone thought, we are missing Path to Exile and Gaddock Teeg!
    Harald Herrlich joins us this evening, but he can’t join us in Madrid, as he has an important Test at Monday. So we are only 5 people: CZ, Heiler, Laber, Insi and me. We decide to go to sleep early, as we will not be able to sleep much during the weekend, and starting already sleepy seems like a bad idea.
    In Last Minute, a Desaster can be avoided as well. I organised our transportation to the wrong airport (Frankfurt instead of Frankfurt-Hahn), which are at least 100km apart from each other. As parking in Hahn is a lot cheaper as in Frankfurt and we are only five people to go, we decide to drive there by car and pay the parking costs. After this problem is avoided, we all go to sleep.

    On Friday Morning we wake up at 07:30 and are all still sleepy. But we need to go, to reach our Flight. It starts at 10:50, but we need to be there half an hour earlier to check-in. We start our 2h drive in a good pace and decide to eat something along the way. We stop at a random McDonald’s in the middle of nowhere. They only have Breakfast during this our, so no real Burgers…
    We continue our journey. We all think, that we are good in time, but as we reach a “30km to the Airport”-Sign, we only have 20min left, till the end of the Check-In Time. Manuel floors his car and we arrive 2 or 3 minutes before time runs out. We Sprint to the Terminal and let the guards check our luggage. I have to throw away my half-full can of Deodorant, cause it contains more than 100ml when full. No one asks about Swiss Army Knife in my Pocket or the Metal Deckboxes we all carry. Strange.
    We head to our Gate, only to find out, our flight isn’t ready yet. So we stand around for 30min after all that haste. Then we have to wait for another 20min in the Plane, till it really starts. In the End it was nearly 12 o’clock instead of 10:50.

    After we reach Madrid at around 14:20 we strive through the Airport in search of the Metro Station. We get us some tickets and enter a train, which is really packed. It seems that around this time, everybody in Madrid uses the Metro to get to his Siesta, or something.
    As we get to our final Station, we mill around to find our hostel. It was a little hard to find, as it was only marked with a little pink sign in one of the House-Entrances. We get to know, that it is not possible, to put us in one room, but instead one has to sleep in another room. We use a Dice to decide who and Insi lost the Round. We decide that of the other 4, the one with the worst standing after Day 1 has to trade with Insi for the second night. We ask for the direction to the next Supermarket and head there, to get us something to eat and some cans of beer. CZ decides to pass on the beer and instead drinks some cheap wine, he calls “the good red” all the time.
    We sit in the nearest park, eat and drink, and then decide to head for the Site. And cause it’s only 2 metro Stations, and the weather is nice, we decide to walk the way. Problem is, that we first go step down a hill to some river and then have to walk back up another Hill to the Site, which is all the Way to the Top. At least we get to see some parts of Madrid. Underway we meet some “Nerds”. People, where you can tell after the first look, that they head to the Site too.
    At the Site we see hundreds of people before the Entrance, waiting in Line to register for the GP. So we sit down at some stairs, open some more beer and wait for the Line to become shorter.
    This is obviously a dream and will never happen. After an hour, the line hasn’t changed one bit. So we decide to join the ranks, cause no one wants to stand up earlier then necessary to register. With some sneaky Ninja-Tricks (meaning standing in the right row) we need only 30min to reach the registration.
    After this, we head back to our Hostel. This time by Metro. There we resleeve some decks and try some Last-Minute-Improvements. Most of them Fails, as we have brought nearly no Cards which are not for Trade. In our 6-Person Room, where we have 4 of our Beds, we are accompanied by 2 Girls, but they are all night partying and we need some more sleep before the chaos tomorrow...

    So much for Part One. The Next Part will involve actual Legacy, so stay tuned…
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  2. #2
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Part 2:

    It’s 7:30 in the morning. What a bad time to get up! We make some little Breakfast with leftovers from the last day and head to the Site again. As we got there the Line from last Evening seems to be still there. But it got even longer. The whole place before the Site is crowded. We sneak inside an place ourselves at Table 927 of 930. There we work on Boarding-Guides. While we do this, the Table-Cards are collected and new ones are being placed. We now sit on Table 1174 of 1178. This should get interesting.
    At around 10 o’clock, one hour after the Event should have started, Seatings are posted and it is called, that there are more than 2000 players. There aren’t even enough Tables for everyone and even less Chairs. There are Tables on Empores and some Table-Cards are even placed just on the ground! At this point total chaos breaks out. Every Person tries to reach one of the 5 Locations, where the Seatings are posted and then tries to reach his Table. But even worse then the people crawling in all directions, are the people standing around. Lots of them are blocking the Hangouts, to look something up, blocking the Lanes while Trading or just looking around. After half an hour most people have found their place. Judges start collecting the Decklists and Handing out the Promo-Foils. Umezawa’s Jitte really looks awesome with the new Artwork.
    Then the Headjudge starts his Welcome-Speech. There are 2227 Players at the Event, meaning it is the largest Magic-Tournament ever! There is a total of 4 Headjudges and dozen of “normal” Judges for this Event. Due to the Number of Players, the Event will be Split in two Groups, a blue and a green one. Each group will play 9 Rounds and anyone who gets at least 21 Points makes Day 2. Day 2 has another 8 Rounds of Swiss before a cut to Top8. Cause there are not enough Chairs and Tables for Everyone there is a special Rule announced. Everyone with Zero Points after Round 3 will be automatically dropped, to free Tables. In the End, this was cancelled, cause they where able to get additional chairs.

    To show you, how this chaos looked, here’s a picture. This is made during the Welcome-Speech. The people standing around are mostly players!



    After this, the Event starts. Here is what Team SPoD started with:

    • Stefan "CZ" Czolk: Cats!
    • Manuel Heiler: UBr Faeries
    • Marius Laber: UGw Aggro-Control
    • "Insi": Cats!
    • Martin "MSC" Schreiber: Bant-Survival


    My final List lokked like this:
    [SPOD] Bonding Survival
    3 Tropical Island
    2 Savannah
    1 Island
    4 Windswept Heath
    4 Misty Rainforest
    1 Plains
    4 Forest

    4 Noble Hierarch
    4 Tarmogoyf
    1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
    1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
    1 Trygon Predator
    1 Loyal Retainers
    1 Meddling Mage
    3 Qasali Pridemage
    1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
    4 Rhox War Monk

    4 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Force of Will
    4 Survival of the Fittest
    4 Ponder

    Sideboard:
    1 Genesis
    1 Faerie Macabre
    2 Krosan Grip
    2 Engineered Explosives
    2 Gaddock Teeg
    4 Spell Pierce
    2 Path to Exile
    1 Spore Frog

    The List has gone to multiple Evolutions and has served me well so far. So I head out to see, which person I need to play against first. Stefan, as the only one with Byes heads out to get some Breakfast instead.

    Round 1 Javier Montoto with Canadian Thresh
    The First Round Starts around 11:37 and I start at one of the Top Tables. To my Luck, I arrive early, so I get a Chair. The Person right to me comes one Minute Later and has to play his Match standing. While the Match goes on, the Judges slowly bring Chairs to the standing people.
    Game 1: He wins the Dice-Roll and starts with Fetchland go. I kept a Hand with Sword, Fetch, Tropical, Survival, RWM, Iona and Hierarch. So I start with Tropical -> Hierarch, which gets Bolted EOT. He draw, plays a Land and casts Goyf. I draw no Land, Fetch me a Savannah and try to Sword the Goyf. He Forces. NP so far. I Ponder and see no Land. *suck* Shuffle, No Land. He Wastes my Land and beats me down with his now 4/5 Goyf before I get anything relevant.

    SB: +2 Path +2 Explosives +3 Spell Pierce -1 Iona -1 Retainers -1 MM -2 RWM -2 Sword

    Game 2: I keep a 4 Lander with a Basic-Forest. He Burns my Hierarch, Burns my Pridemage, plays a Goose and Forces my Kira. While doing so, he screws me on white Mana, cause my Fetchlands were all Rainforest. My Draws were: PrideMage, Pridemage, Forest, RWM, Force.
    Nothing to do against that.

    0/2 - 0/1/0

    A classic. You can't stop Candian, if they have the right Answers for every of your card.
    So it's Balls to the Wall direct after the first round.

    Insi: 0:2
    Heiler: 0:2
    Laber: Draw
    CZ: Bye

    Not really the best start for the Team either...

    Round 2 Sergio Santamar with Budget-Zoo
    Round 2 starts about 13:04. I'm now at one of the Last Tables. My opponent is a very young boy who doesn't speak a word of english. At least he know's all the Cards I'm playing, so we can communicate with gestures and written Numbers.
    Game 1: I win the Dice Roll and start with a Zero-Land Hand. Mulligan into Goodstuff + Fetchland + Ponder. I don't like it, but the average 5-Card Hand is worse than this. I drop my Land and play Ponder. No Land, even after shuffling. *suck* I get beaten down really fast by Kird Ape, Watchwolf and get burned by Lightning Helix.

    SB: +2 Path +2 Explosives +1 Genesis +4 Spell Pierce -1 Iona -1 Retainers -1 MM -2 Brainstorm -4 Forces

    Game 2: I keep a solid Hand with Survival. He Paths my First Goyf, but has now Removal for my RWM. I dig for Exalted-Cards, which he burns out one by one. He somewhere finds another Path, but it is just a last struggle, as he has no way to handle my Survival.

    Game 3: Game 3 is really similar to Game 2. Big Goyfs and Warmonks just overrun him.

    2/1 - 1/1/0

    I realy want to praise this boy. He calmly played his game, making no visible Mistakes and never getting Angry over Bad Topdecks. If he gets a decent Deck, he can play for Day 2 the next time.

    Insi: 0:2
    Heiler: 2:1
    Laber: 2:1
    CZ: Bye

    Insi is now in the worst possible position. And this after Round 2! *suck*

    Round 3 Andreas Almozara with Bg Sui
    Round 2 starts about 14:31. This means Rounds need nearly 1,5 hours to finish.
    Game 1: I win the Dice Roll and start with a fair hand. He Wastes me, but I'm able to land a Survival. He has the Maelstrom Pulse. I don't want to let it die without a use, so I discard Retainers, to get a Goyf. I Land the Goyf and he has a Hymn, which discards my remaining Business. He gets a Gatekeeper for my Goyf and has a Jitte. I'm able to find a Pridemage for his Jitte, but he finds a Goyf and this kills me really quickly.

    SB: Havn't writen it down. Propably Genesis, Faerie and some Counters.

    Game 2: I have the Turn 3 Iona-Hand and a Force to protect it. He has only 1 Discard-Spell which i Force and after getting Iona he concedes.

    Game 3: Game 3 I have to fight a little harder for my Iona. I need to hide my Survival with Brainstorm from his Discard and need to Force his Pulse. He gets a Deed, but I can get Iona In the Grave and Retainers to my Hand in Response to the Activation.

    2/1 - 2/1/0

    Insi: 2:1
    Heiler: 2:1
    Laber: 0:2
    CZ: Bye

    Heiler is Back against the Wall too. And the CZ hasn't even started playing.

    Round 4 against Survival with NoPro
    Up to this Round I was confident, that you can win with Skill and a good Deck. Then I have to play at Table 914.
    Game 1: I loose the Dice Roll. He starts with Savannah -> Vial. WTF? I think about Forcing it, but I would have to Pitch Trygon Predator. As it isn't Goblins or Merfolk, I decide to wait. He Swords my Hierarch, Swords my Goyf and I need to Force through my Trygon. I Sword his Goyf and kill the Vial with the Trygon. He chains Brainstorms and Ponders and in my next upkeep he Paths my Trygon. The he plays a Survival. Of course he also has 2 Creatures left in Hand. I find Pridemage to Disable his Survival, but I now stand before Goyf and Hierarch. I find my Survival on the Last possible Turn and have to Discard Retainers, to get a RWM. This one gets Pathed as well and I loose.

    To put it together, he found 3 Swords, 2 Paths, 3 Brainstorm, 1 Ponder and Force and Survival to handle every Thread I had.

    SB: +1 Gensis +1 Faerie -2RWM

    Game 2: I have a good hand with 3 Creatures +Iona + Lands. Drawing my Survival or a Ponder will likely let my instanly Win. He handels my Goyf, but I beat him with double Pridemage to 7. At this point he has 4 Mana and plays ... Natural Order for Progenitus.

    Screw you. Playing a Deck with tons of Spot-Removal, Vials, Survival and NoPro and than drawing like he needs to...

    I was realy mad at this point. I was at least at the same Level as that ANT-Player left of me. He was playing against wug-Allys. Game 1 he just runs over this Deck. Game 2 he lost against boarded Meddling Mages. And than comes the strange Part: Game 3 his opponent has an Ally in Play and plays Halimar Excavator, milling the ANT-Player for 2. What was milled: Tendrills and Il-Gotten Gains. Talk about being unlucky (or lucky)...

    0/2 - 2/2/0

    Insi: 2:0
    Heiler: 0:2
    Laber: 2:1
    CZ: 2:0

    Heiler is out and for me it's do or die...

    Round 5 against MonoU Merfolk
    Game 1: I win the Dice Roll and start with Fetchland go. He goes Island -> Vial. Great, the Worst Matchup of this Deck. I Fetch, drop a Forest and play a Goyf, hoping he forces it and I can resolv my Survival on the next Turn. Instead he drops a Standstill. I wait till his Hand is full and EOT Brainstorm. He doesn't Force and discards. I drop Survival followed by RWM, but he has double Lord of Atlantis an 2 Reejeries, which is enough to kill me.

    As he hasn't had a single Stifle Game 1 i board Explosives instead of Genesis + Frog

    SB: +2 Path +2 Explosives -Iona/Retainers -MM -Kira

    After Presenting our Decks we receive an InGame Deck-Check. I have to replace a sleeve, but then we can continue.

    Game 2: I start with Land, Fetch, go. He Land go. I draw a Hierarch, drop it and say go. He plays his second Land and Standstill. WTF? Seriosly? I start Attacking him with my Hierarch, pulling him from 20 to 7! Then he finds a Mutavault, followed by a Mutavault and another Mutavault. Great Shuffling Skills! I Sword one of them End of Turn and he Discards. I drop Survival and Goyf. In his Turn, he drops 3 Lord of Atlantis and 2 3-Mana Lords and hits me with his 2 Mutavault from 15 to one. I have an Explosive for his Lords, but not enough Blockers, to Survive the Second Strike. I really wished, I had boarded Spore-Frog here. I think I would have won this.

    0/2 - 2/3/0

    Insi: 2:0
    Heiler: 0:2
    Laber: 0:2 drop
    CZ: 0:2

    Laber dropped after this game, to fetch some Beer, Tobacco and something to eat.

    Round 6 Adrian Canadas with Bu-Reanimator
    Its now 18:46 and there are still 4 Rounds to go.
    Game 1: I win the Dice Roll and keep an Aggro-Hand. My Opponent reanimates a Turn 2 Archon and has 2 Forces for the 2 Swords I can find. Nice...

    SB: +4 Spell Pierce +1 Faerie Macabre +1 Gensis +1 Spore Frog -2 Ponder -4 RWM -1 Island

    Game 2: I prevent his Iona with a good timed Faerie and cast a Survival. His next Attemp with Exhume brings him an 8/8 Overlord and me a Iona.

    Game 3: He Reanimates a Turn 2 Iona on white and the RWM, I used to activate my Survival. I stall the Board with Spore Frog and get me a Goyf with lots of Exalted Dudes. Somewhere in the Game I cast a Pridemage. A full Turn passes, until we note it. We call a judge and both get a Warning. As the Turn can't be reverted, everything stays as is. I get my Goyf bigger than his Iona and he has to block. He tries to get her back with Exhume, but I have one in my graveyard as well...
    2/1 - 3/3/0

    Insi: 0:2
    Heiler: 2:1
    CZ: 2:1

    Round 7
    In this Round my Opponent doesn't show up. So is the opponent of my left neighbor.

    I'd like to use this point, to thank the Judges for all their hard work. At this point, at least half of the starters were playing and a lot of people were running around. Even then there was always a judge nearby, if you had a problem. For us two Players, who just had no opponent, a total of 3 judges helped us.
    I met a lot of Judges over the Tournament. Everyone was freindly, allways helpfull, very competent, and everyone spoke good, understandable English. Thanks Guys, for making this Event work!
    2/0 - 4/3/0

    Insi: 2:0
    Heiler: 2:0
    CZ: 1:2

    I use the rest of the round, to get something to eat. I wasn't able to obtain more beer, but at least found a shop, which had decent Sandwiches.

    Round 8 Ruben Gonzalez with ANT
    Game 1: I win the Dice Roll and my Opponent takes 2 Mulligans. I'm dropping some early beaters and a Survival. My opponent drops 4 USeas, Duresses me and plays a Brainstorm. I have no Idea what he is playing and cause I can kill him the next round, I decide not to get Iona.
    To make it short, he combos with Ill-Gotten Gains loop and kills me.

    SB: +4 Spell Pierce +2 Teeg +1 Faerie Macabre -4 Sword to Plowshares -2 RWM -1 Island

    Game 2: I Force his first Attemp to go off and drop a Turn 3 Iona on Black. He EOT bounces it with Wipe-Away. I get Teeg and MM on Wipe, but he tutors for Slaughter Pact. He kills my Teeg and goes for Ill-Gotten Gains again, but I search for the Faerie with Survival and take away the cards he needs.

    Game 3: I Spell Pierce his first Tutor, but he can go off on his third Turn. Ad-Nausseam from 20 Life...
    He reveals for 16 Life but only has Cards for a Stormcount of 8. But this includes a Brainstorm. If he finds anything for Zero Mana or a black ritual he wins.
    He found Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual...
    1/2 - 4/4/0

    Insi: 0:2 drop
    Heiler: 2:1
    CZ: 2:0

    Round 9 against Canadian Thresh
    Game 1: He wins the Dice Roll but is short on Mana-Denial. I can Fetch me a solid Manabase and he needs 2 Force Survival and Goyf. I drop more Creatures and overrun him.

    SB: +2 Path +2 Explosives +3 Spell Pierce -1 Iona -1 Retainers -1 MM -2 RWM -2 Sword

    Game 2: he has more Business, but I have more Lands. A Lavamancer is eating my Life, but I resolve a RWM and start getting it Back. He's able to handle my Creatures even with Kira on the Board, but a Topdecked Goyf is able to finish him off.

    2/0 - 5/4/0

    Heiler: 2:1
    CZ: 2:0

    So in the End, I get a 5/4 together, Heiler gets 6/3, Insi dropped 4/4 and Laber 1/3/1. CZ makes Day 2 with 7/2.

    We head back to our hostel and are all pretty wasted. As CZ has to be at the Site at 8am, we directly go to sleep. As he had the worst result, Laber has to sleep in the other room.
    Last edited by MSC; 03-03-2010 at 06:31 AM.
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  3. #3
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Part 3:

    It's around 7 o'clock as Insis Handy goes off, to wake up the CZ. The Evening before I decided to join him in his Quest on Day 2 but im still sleepy, so after the Ringing stopped, I continue to sleep...

    I wake up with the Rest at around 10 o'clock. We pack our things and head to the Site. There we find the CZ standing 2:1 on Day 2. After some chatting, Insi and I join the Lines for the Artist Station. He goes to Alan Poole to get some Birds signed and I go to Steve Argyle, for some signed Ponders. As you can expect, based on the number of Cards made by these Artists, the Line before Steve is a lot shorter. After around 10min, I have a nice talk with Steve and get my Cards signed. As I return to CZ, I see, that Insi hasn't moved one Spot since he joined the Line. At least this Line has Chairs, so you can sit down while waiting.

    I walk back to see how CZ is doing and have to watch 3 Mirrors in a row. Like most Mirror-Matches, the Zoo-Mirror isn't really entertaining for Players or Spectators. Everything that Enters the Battlefield gets Nuked and the First one to Have no Answer to a Thread is likely to loose. To this adds the Fact, that CZs Decklist isn't build to Fight the Mirror. In the Mirror Creatures that Survive Burn, Maindeck Paths or Tricks like Sylvan Library or Planeswalkers win the Game. CZs List on the other Hand is build to be as Fast as possible, meaning he has only 2 Knights Main and 3 Paths in the Side for the Mirror. Still, even with his List it's more Luck-Based than anything else. It's not only important that you draw certain cards, it's importent in which order you draw them...

    While Wandering around, you see some really strange Decks and some even stranger plays happening. Some things I remember:
    Uw Merfolk playing against ANT: He wants to board out 3 Paths, but has only 2 Anull to board. As third Card he boarded Baneslayer Angel. If this isn't a Manly Boarding-Plan, I don't know what is...
    43 Lands slaughtering ANT. With Ports, Wasteland and Chalice at Zero he denies him every possible Mana and eats him alive with Manlands.
    Bant-Survival (strang List with Wonder, NoPro, Daze and Snares) boarding against TheRock: Boarding Grips, Crypts and Meddling Mages for Counters and Natural Orders, but leaving the Progenitus in the Deck.

    I really would have liked to play some Sideevent. But there wasn't something interesting. 8 player Swiss Legacy for 5€ sounds okay. But if the Winner gets 5 Boosers of Worldwake, it's not interesting for Legacy-Players.
    15€ for a Draft is to much for me, too.

    After the CZ played against the third Zoo in a row and has dropped, we play some rounds of Highlander and trade some cards with other people. After CZ has cooled down we get something to eat, something to drink (but no beer, cause the little shops doesn't seem to have any) and head back to the Site. Someone has the great idea to just get some Zendikar-Boosters and make our private Draft. We get them for 8€ a Draftset, but can't play in the Hall, cause they already begun carrying away the Tables. So we head back to our Hostel, where we all are put together in one Room for our last night.
    We draft the Set and play it out everybody vs. everybody. As we seem to have used up all our luck, no one opens anything usefull. Highlight is a Day of Judgement...

    After that it's still to early to go to sleep. So we shuffle together 3 Highlander Decks and start playing with a single Library and a single Graveyard. It fast turns out, that we need additional rules. Search-Effects and Library Manipulation are way to strong. So we decide, that Fetchlands produce the Mana, they would search, and anything searching for something just draws a card. Rearanging the Library Order is also forbidden. Some crazy Games take place, as powerlevels of some cards have dramaticaly changed...

    After this it's time to sleep. In the Morning we check out and search around the Area to fetch something to eat. After a visit to Burger King we head to the Airport to get our Flight home. We arrive at the Terminal where we arrived, but are unable to find our flight. We search around and start asking people and are send to another Terminal.
    Now panic arrives, as the other Terminal is some Kilometers away and the next Bus there starts at the time, where we should finished our check in. We run for the Bus and hope it's the right one, as we don't know for sure, if we got told the right Terminal. In the Bus we meet someone from the Airport-Staff, wo means, Terminal 1 is right so we head there. We are realy happy to see, that our Flight really goes from this Terminal. We get through the Security-Check and have to wait for Laber, as he has a Can of Beer left in his Backpack and it looks supicious on the X-Ray. As were finished we run to our Gate and see that the Last Call has already been done. We enter our Flight as one of the last people...
    ... only to then wait 40min on the runway for our Flight to Start. :-/

    Nothing interesting happend on the Rest of the Trip so our story ends here
    The Rest are just some random Comments from me...

    The Tournament:
    Pro:
    • Trips with the Team: Always Awesome
    • Meeting interesting people who know me or the Team
    • Being at the largest Magic-Tournament EVER
    • CZ for making Day 2


    Slops:
    • Not making Day 2
    • Not getting nearly enough beer
    • No good Sideevents


    The Deck:
    What would I change on the Decklist after this Event? Nothing. The Deck is really balanced and runs really well. There were Months of testing involved in creating this List and I really like it.
    The Problem is, that it isn't the right Deck for such a Tournament. It has some good Matchups (Monocolored Decks) and some bad Matchups (Merfolk) and everything else is roughtly 50:50. But this means you need to fight for every win and every wrong decision can cause you to loose. And even if you make everything right, your opponent can just Luck you out and win.
    I think for such a large Tournament it's better to get something like Zoo or ANT, which have a lot of really Good Matchups and some really Bad and then hope for good Pairings. Without Luck you won't get anywhere regardless...


    Whoever got till here: Thanks for reading this and I hope to meet you people again at the next big Tournament!
    Last edited by MSC; 03-03-2010 at 03:17 PM.
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  4. #4
    Merkwürdigeliebe
    jazzykat's Avatar
    Join Date

    Aug 2006
    Location

    Vienna, AT
    Posts

    913

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    This sounds like it will be epic. Did anyone get a chance with the drunk chicks?

  5. #5
    Ur tears of nerdrage taste so sweet to me.
    Wargoos's Avatar
    Join Date

    Feb 2008
    Location

    Do not care.
    Posts

    319

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by jazzykat View Post
    This sounds like it will be epic. Did anyone get a chance with the drunk chicks?
    I bet 10$ on CZ - you see he is the master of the pussy (cats).
    Team Legal Actions.

  6. #6
    Shake that.
    Skeggi's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2008
    Location

    Amsterdam
    Posts

    2,047

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Amagad! Pirates!

    If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably delicious.
    Team ADHD-To resist is to piss in the wind. Anyone who does will end up smelling.

  7. #7
    Folk Punk Pirate
    spirit of the wretch's Avatar
    Join Date

    Oct 2007
    Location

    Mannheim, Germany
    Posts

    3,951

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by EaD View Post
    I bet 10$ on CZ - you see he is the master of the pussy (cats).
    Safe bet =)
    Although I have a cat at home, that wouldn't take kindely to me petting other pussies *wink, wink* If you catch my drift

    I thought about writing a report to refresh you with the sparkling rays of my awesomeness, but then again 10/5/0 drop isn't the most awesome achievement...
    So I'll keep it quick and dirty:

    Round 1-3: Byes
    Round 4: Zoo with Planeswalkers win
    Round 5: Merfolk. Very cool guy, I suck at mulliganing the first game and draw a total of 4 spells in the second loss. At this point I'm frustrated beyond good and evil. Losing my best MU like that truely sucks!
    Round 6: Elves. After somehow losing the first match, Cats demolish him. win
    Round 7: Tempo Thresh. He mulls to 5 Game 3 and stills wins... I must have fucked that one up somewhere down the road! He was a pretty good player though. loss Balls to the wall from now on. What a pathetic start to the tournament.
    Round 8: Merfolk. Everything resolves as planned win
    Round 9: Aggro Loam. I play terrible, he plays even worse so I win. Goddammit this was late!
    Lack of sleep
    Round 10: Loam with Bolts, Swords, Finks, DDreams, Assault, KotRs,... loss
    Round 11: Wu Fish with Silver Knight?!? win
    Round 12: UBr Tempo Fearies. Tough fight, awesome win
    Round 13: Zoo loss
    Round 14: Zoo win
    Round 15: Zoo loss

    After the third mirror in a row, I'm completly demotivated and drop. This MU is simply way too draw dependend/luck based. I could have played the last two rounds and probably earned three more points, but the mere possibility of facing yet another coin-flip MU just digusts me.
    I end up in 142th place and although that is an ok result, I think I should have done better. Maybe next time =)

    Props
    Team SPOD obviously, for the awesome trip.
    Me for beeing awesome!
    Skeggi. Cool guy, way taller than I expected. And he got me a beer =)
    Beer and especially the "good red".
    Christopher, Sven and Anna for being great company.
    2200 people for showing up.
    The Cats for living the dream.
    Everybody who recognized me and said "hi". Nothing like internet fame =)

    Slops
    Zoo Mirror.
    2200 people, for showing up... seriously, what the hell?!?
    The Zoo Mirror!
    Me for not placing higher.
    The fricking Zoo Mirror!
    Madird Airport
    Ohmygod, words can't express how much I loathe the Zoo Mirror.
    Last edited by spirit of the wretch; 03-03-2010 at 11:57 AM.
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Not really a Legacy Team anymore.

  8. #8
    Colonizer of Dreams

    Join Date

    Aug 2009
    Posts

    203

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Still waiting for Adan to write a report about last Hassloch!

  9. #9
    Member

    Join Date

    Jan 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    80

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by spirit of the wretch View Post
    Christopher, Sven and Anna for being great company.
    Thanks! It´s always nice hanging out with you pirates, too! ;)

  10. #10
    Team Bad Guys
    mossivo1986's Avatar
    Join Date

    Sep 2007
    Location

    Michigan, specificly Lansing
    Posts

    1,105

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Spirit when is DIF comming back from said 3rd world country?

    MSC Why are you not playing more maindeck counter magic? It seems like it would be necessary. Especially in a room of zoo ant and nobant.

  11. #11
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    MSC Why are you not playing more maindeck counter magic? It seems like it would be necessary. Especially in a room of zoo ant and nobant.
    I've tested Spellstutter Sprite and Spell Snares. I also throughoutly thought about Daze.

    Sprites just don't cut it. Without Survival they never Counter anything over One, which was never really relevant. And with Survial Online you don't care about their Spells, as you generate real Cardadvantage and can get Iona.
    Spell Snares were fair, but never spectacular. Outside countering a Pridemage, they don't help protecting Survival and they are awefull against Combo. They are nice countering Chalice at one and Goyfs, of course.
    Daze was bad even on paper. Yeah, it helps you resolv your Survival turn 2 or your early thread. But without even a little Mana-Denial, they are normally just dead after Turn 4. Practically missing a Land-Drop isn't what you want with this Mana-Hungry Deck either.

    So I have gone to a List with as much creatures as possible. This gives you a solid Aggro-Mode without Survival, and you have a high chance of finding Creatures to activate a Lategame Survival.
    If you realy think you need additional Counters, you should test with Spell Pierce Main, propably 3 over 2 RWM and 1 Pridemage. They help you resolve Survival and are great against Combo. This way, you also get additional Sideboard-Slots...
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  12. #12
    Plays green decks
    Jak's Avatar
    Join Date

    Nov 2006
    Location

    Portland
    Posts

    2,184

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    I agree with MSC in a way. I've had success playing without additional counter magic and I have with. The problem with the latter is that nothing is really up to par. Daze is dead late, Spell Snare is narrow and requires mana left open, Spell Pierce is narrow as well since it can't hit creatures, and anything else is too expensive. I am definitely not saying it is bad, but nothing is good all around like Force.

    I think Spellstutter Sprite is decent still. Combo is going to be huge, at least for a while with the recent successes of ANT and Reanimator. Sprite hits LED, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Ponder, Brainstorm, Mystical Tutor, Entomb, Thoughtseize, Lotus Petal, etc and they are all important cards. It is also good against Zoo (or at least better than the alternatives; Meddling Mage and the counters) which is the most played deck in Legacy right now.

    I think currently, it is right to play any setup if your meta warrants it. Playing without any of the five options (Sprite, Mage, Daze, Snare, and Pierce) is wrong just because there is so much combo and decks with disruption out there.

  13. #13
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by Jak. View Post
    Sprite hits LED, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Ponder, Brainstorm, Mystical Tutor, Entomb, Thoughtseize, Lotus Petal, etc and they are all important cards.
    I hear this very often when discussing about Sprite. The Problem is, that in the ANT-Matchup the first 3 Turns are Crucial. Doing nothing on a Turn to keep Mana for Sprite open isn't the best play. If you want more Combohate it's Daze > Spell Pierce > Meddling Mage > Sprite > Snare.
    Meddling Mage is still on the really Strong Side, as he's a beater, can shut down ANT singlehandedly and isn't dead in other Matchups. I really understand, why some people started playing up to 3 Main...
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  14. #14
    Survivalist
    Waikiki's Avatar
    Join Date

    Sep 2007
    Location

    Netherlands
    Posts

    398

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post

    MSC Why are you not playing more maindeck counter magic? It seems like it would be necessary. Especially in a room of zoo ant and nobant.
    I got #50 without any counter beside force, it reall isn't needed imo.

  15. #15
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by Waikiki View Post
    I got #50 without any counter beside force, it reall isn't needed imo.
    Gratulation for that!
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  16. #16
    Folk Punk Pirate
    spirit of the wretch's Avatar
    Join Date

    Oct 2007
    Location

    Mannheim, Germany
    Posts

    3,951

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    Spirit when is DIF comming back from said 3rd world country?
    During summer, I think. But he won't stay for long, as he plans to study in Scotland. True pirate, raiding as many shores as possible =)
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Not really a Legacy Team anymore.

  17. #17
    Team Bad Guys
    mossivo1986's Avatar
    Join Date

    Sep 2007
    Location

    Michigan, specificly Lansing
    Posts

    1,105

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    I got #50 without any counter beside force, it reall isn't needed imo.
    in a field of 20% ant. Good choice. That doesn't mean mm is correct for the American Circuit nor does it mean that a 2/2 hate bear will take you the distance. Every creature in your survival deck should either be a win condition or a stand alone threat. MM serves neither of these roles well. Pierce on the other hand is very much good against most of the format and serves it's role strictly better then that of snare. The only problem your having is that it doesnt hit critters. boo hoo you run the most efficient per cc creatures in the format. suck it up and play daze and pierce. they allow your survival to resolve and they push your opponents game plan further out of wack while mantaining those sick ant matchups you want.

  18. #18
    Endgegner
    MSC's Avatar
    Join Date

    Dec 2008
    Location

    Karlsruhe, Germany
    Posts

    2,807

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    in a field of 20% ant. Good choice. That doesn't mean mm is correct for the American Circuit nor does it mean that a 2/2 hate bear will take you the distance. Every creature in your survival deck should either be a win condition or a stand alone threat. MM serves neither of these roles well.
    Good Luck trying to fight against Loam-Strategies with Counters. This is the Point where most people start playing some numbers of Meddling Mage. That he's good against Combo and Dredge is mostly a Bonus.

    About the bad ANT-Matchup. Most ANT-Decks I've seen tend to go All-In Preboard, so it's mostly have that Force or die. A Matchup with Piecre will be only minimal better, cause you normaly don't keep Mana open against an unknown opponent. Postboard, theres enough Hate in the Sideboard for this Matchup...
    Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Everything is better with Pirates!

    Driver of the Team SPOD World Raiding Tour

  19. #19
    Survivalist
    Waikiki's Avatar
    Join Date

    Sep 2007
    Location

    Netherlands
    Posts

    398

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    in a field of 20% ant. Good choice. That doesn't mean mm is correct for the American Circuit nor does it mean that a 2/2 hate bear will take you the distance. Every creature in your survival deck should either be a win condition or a stand alone threat. MM serves neither of these roles well. Pierce on the other hand is very much good against most of the format and serves it's role strictly better then that of snare. The only problem your having is that it doesnt hit critters. boo hoo you run the most efficient per cc creatures in the format. suck it up and play daze and pierce. they allow your survival to resolve and they push your opponents game plan further out of wack while mantaining those sick ant matchups you want.
    Your opinion sounds good for a threshold player. The thing is you should start letting go. This isn't threshold. Our mainplan involves creatures. Which Meddling mage is. Im not saying meddling mage is the optimal choice in each meta cause its not. This deck changes according to the meta.

    The more countermagic you are adding the less effective Survival will get. A resolved Meddling mage wil give alot of time to seal the deal.

    Even with the creaturebase I play, I somtimes had a survival out but no creature in my hand. I will not recommend removing another 3. IMO there is nothing you want to spell pierce MM or some other creature can't fix.

  20. #20
    Not Banned
    THEchubbymuffin's Avatar
    Join Date

    Sep 2007
    Location

    Portland, OR
    Posts

    218

    Re: Team SPoD World Raiding Tour: GP Madrid

    This is slightly unrelated but regarding survival, has anybody considered running a second squee out of the sideboard? I have seen so many times a person blows a relic or crrypt just to remove the squee, because squee is always a one of. If they wasted their grave hate on one squee then you can just get another.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)