Jonathan Alexander
01-14-2012, 06:05 AM
Since I didn't find the time to write an article for my blog this week, I figured I could at least write a tournament report for the latest Legacy event I played with Grinding Station. Enjoy!
Last Sunday we drove to Hanau, Germany to play some Magic. The evening before the event, one of my teammates and I were testing at my girlfriends place and to be honest, we went to bed way too late, considering we had to get up at 4:30 to be at the site in time for the event (or so they thought).
I slept for two hours before we had to get up and figured I'd sleep some more in the car, but out of the 3+ hours we were in the car, I slept like thirty minutes. Awesome! Obviously we were at the site almost an hour early. I don't get why they won't ever listen to me when I say we're driving too early when we're going to events.
When the doors opened, my girlfriend was looking for some cards for me and some friends and if I remember correctly she managed to get everything we needed. Pretty cool. This is the 75 I registered:
//Artifact
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Sensei's Divining Top
//Instant
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Rain Of Filth
1 Sudden Shock
//Land
1 Badlands
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
//Sorcery
4 Duress
1 Empty The Warrens
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Past In Flames
3 Ponder
2 Preordain
4 Tendrils Of Agony
2 Thoughtseize
//Sideboard
1 Ad Nauseam
2 Chain Of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
2 Extirpate
1 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Sudden Shock
1 Empty The Warrens
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
If you have any questions on the list, just ask. I don't feel like talking about all the changes right now, especially if no one's interested anyway.
To the best of my knowledge 242 players registered so nine rounds were to be played. At that point I was actually quite pumped so I felt pretty good going into the first round:
Round one: Henrik on Mono Blue Merfolk featuring Brainstorm
No offence, but I don't get how you could possibly think that playing Merfolk in Europe is anything close to a good idea. The field was flooded with Stoneforge Mystics, Punishing Fire and several other burnspells, and this is pretty much always the case in European tournaments. Further there's always a reasonable amount of Storm in any given event, and that's also not quite positive for Merfolk.
While he was shuffling he flashed me an Umezawa's Jitte so I decided to win the roll and play first because I put him on Maverick. Whoops.
Anyway, game one he had a draw involving two Cursecatchers and two Lord Of Atlantis. (Or some other Lord? They all look the same to me.) When I was facing lethal, I went off. Since he was playing fetches, he was at nineteen. He then forced one of my spells and I cast Tendrils for 18, being able to pay for any kind of taxing counters thanks to Lion's Eye Diamond.
-1 Sudden Shock
+1 Empty The Warrens
In game two I kept a reasonable hand with Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Ritual and Empty The Warrens. He went first and did something irrelevant. On my first turn I cast Ponder, finding lands 2&3 plus Lotus Petal. I decided to go off next turn with Empty The Warrens and left Petal on top. On his turn he cast Silvergill Adept and I went on to cast Cabal Ritual, which he countered. Again, he did nothing relevant and I cast Lotus Petal, Gitaxian Probe, Lion's Eye Diamond, some other spell and Empty The Warrens for ten Goblins. After some blocks, he was on two and I had my fifth or so landdrop and cast Tendrils for four to end the game.
I don't remember exactly what I did between the rounds, but I'm sure it involved me hurrying to the car to get some food. That's pretty much what I did after every round.
1-0
Round two: Charles on Bant Aggro featuring Tarmogoyf, Knight Of The Reliquary and Stifle.
I think he won the roll and chose to play first (poor him) and kept his seven. I mulled to six. He led with a fetchland, I copied that move and when he tapped out for Tarmogoyf on turn two, I cast Empty The Warrens for twelve Goblins, assuming it was unlikely he would also have Stoneforge Mystic after seeing two Knights and two Tarmogoyfs with Gitaxian Probe.
I don't think I actually used my sideboard for this game, but as usual I boarded fifteen in, fifteen out. He boarded several cards.
I don't remember anything from game two apart from casting a total of six Gitaxian Probes by turn three, resulting in a kill with Tendrils of Agony. I don't know how I managed to pull that off, as his hand was something like two Flusterstorm, Stifle, Force Of Will, Daze. I think he countered the wrong spells with his Flusterstorms, but I also had a lot of protection, so it wasn't entirely his fault.
2-0
Round three: Oliver on UW Stoneblade
Easy matchup. I lost the roll and he played first. Even better! At some point in game one he cast Vendilion Clique in my drawstep to see double Past In Flames, Underground Sea, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, Duress and Tendrils Of Agony. Don't remember what he took, but judging from my notes he didn't get to attack me with his Clique anymore.
-1 Empty The Warrens
+1 Sudden Shock
Game two he had Clique again, this time revealing Underground Sea, Scalding Tarn, Past In Flames, Brainstorm, Tendrils Of Agony and Thoughtseize. This time he attacked me once while Gitaxian Probe revealed Force Of Will and some Spell Snares against my hand with no Cabal Rituals.
I don't remember anything about this game as I felt super shitty and thought I was going to have a heart-attack, but I won. This is everything I can get from my notes.
3-0
Round four: Dirk on Enchantress with Chrome Mox and Green Sun's Zenith
When pairings were posted I asked if somebody knew what my opponent was playing and a friend told me he was on Enchantress. Good to know I had to go first. I obviously won the roll and chose to go first.
Game one I got a slow hand and mulled to five. Turn three he cast Solitary Confinement with one Enchantress effect on the board and one card in hand. I don't have any outs to that maindeck so I hoped he was going to lose his Confinement, as I had the kill in hand. On his next turn he cast Enchantress' presence and when it was clear he could keep the Confinement in play, I scooped it up. I have seen Green Sun's Zenith in that game though, which was valuable information.
-1 Sudden Shock
-2 Duress (?)
-1 Empty The Warrens
-1 Past In Flames
-3 Tendrils Of Agony
+1 Ad Nauseam
+2 Chain Of Vapor
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
+4 Infernal Tutor
Not sure if I really boarded out Duress, but what I brought in is definitely correct.
Game two I led with Ponder and he did something else on his turn. Turn two I cast Duress and I think he responded with Surgical Extraction on Ponder. Duress revealed Aura Of Silence, Leyline Of Sanctity, Windswept Heath, Argothian Enchantress and Forest. Seeing as my hand had several Lotus Petals, I chose the Aura. A few turns later I went off in some way.
Game three I had an early Duress again that showed me Gaddock Teeg, Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress' Presence and Sterling Grove while he was on two mana. I cast some cantrips to find a Chain Of Vapor and then killed him with Past In Flames into Tendrils.
4-0
Round five: Vincent on Nic Fit
I didn't take a lot of notes for this round, but we both mulled to six and once again, I kept a rather slow hand. His hand was quite weak, but I didn't find any business before he got to cast four Cabal Therapies on me
-1 Sudden Shock
-2 Duress
-1 Empty The Warrens
-1 Past In Flames
-3 Tendrils Of Agony
+1 Ad Nauseam
+2 Chain Of Vapor
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
+4 Infernal Tutor
Again, I'm not sure about this boarding. I could very well not have brought in the Chains and kept in the Duresses or boarded out Thoughtseize. I have to admit that I wasn't really at the top of my game that day.
Game two I kept my seven, he mulled to six and I killed him with Ill-Gotten Gains on turn two.
Game three he picked apart my hand with discard again, preventing me to kill him on turn one with the following hand: Lion's Eye Diamond, Bloodstained Mire, Brainstorm, Past In Flames, Lotus Petal, Infernal Tutor. He got my Diamond with his blind Cabal Therapies on turn one (props to that by the way, he cast two of them in our match and hit with both of them). The game went on for some time and eventually I was in a spot where I would definitely lose the game if he was going to take his next turn. I then had a super sick combo turn that involved cast Ill-Gotten Gains to get back cantrips, then flashing back Past In Flames, then casting even more cantrips and then passing the turn with eleven black mana floating. In his turn time was called. I still had the means to win the game, but my deck didn't want to give me Ad Nauseam.
4-0-1
Round six: Fabian on Canadian Threshold
I saw his name and knew he was playing Thresh, which is typically a good matchup for me. I lost the roll and he opted to play.
Again, I don't remember everything exactly. I cast Probe to see Daze, Stifle, Brainstorm, Spell Snare, Tarmogoyf, Lightning Bolt and Wasteland and cast some spells to get to a lot of mana. I did something to get rid of Stifle, then cast Tendrils for ten, which kind of confused him. Then I cast Tendrils for twelve.
-1 Sudden Shock
+1 Empty The Warrens
At some point in game two he had two Goyfs in play and was tapped out so I figured I should go off. I Probed him to find double Force, double Spell Snare and a Delver, then cast two Dark Ritual, which both got Forced, then lost. He said that I would have won against pretty much every other Thresh player, which I believe to be right.
Game three I had him with an early Empty The Warrens that he couldn't deal with due to only having one land, tapping out for Ponder and then not finding a land with the following cards in hand: Stifle, Delver Of Secrets, Red Elemental Blast, Spell Pierce, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare.
5-0-1
Round seven: Johannes on Canadian Threshold
Okay, so here my memory totally collapses. I have no idea what was going on, except that I won game two and he heavily misplayed in game three, but then I still couldn't win due to not having two lands that tap for red in my deck. Oh well. But I have some notes on which cards he had in his hand when I was going off:
Game one: Stifle, Stifle, Daze, Daze, Spell Snare, Lightning Bolt, Stifle.
Game two: Spell Snare, Red Elemental Blast x2, Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt, Stifle.
Game three: Spell Snare, Daze, Stifle, Spell Pierce, Force Of Will, Force Of Will.
He had very strong draws overall, always drawing three lands, one beater and the rest spells. Pretty good if you ask me. From here on I had to win out to make top eight. Not the spot I though I was going to be after the first few rounds.
5-1-1
Round eight: Matthias on Combo Elves
When I looked at the pairings for this round, I saw his name and thought he was likely playing some form of blue control, which would be good for me. I think he won the roll and I kept a slow hand with several cantrips, figuring he was slow as well.
He opened on Misty Rainforest wit no one drop and I opened on Preordain, putting away something I needed to win. Super dumb. I failed to draw any business then and got beaten by Vengevines coming off his turn two Fauna Shaman.
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-1 Rain Of Filth
-2 Duress
-1 Empty The Warrens
-1 Past In Flames
-3 Tendrils Of Agony
+1 Ad Nauseam
+2 Chain Of Vapor
+1 Sudden Shock
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
+4 Infernal Tutor
Game two I cast some cantrips and won on turn three with some combo engine.
Game three I had a hand with Infernal Tutor and some cantrips. Sadly I didn't manage to empty my hand for that and he went off on turn three or something, putting eleven elves into play due to Glimpse Of Nature. Two turns later I had to fire off a mini Tendrils and when I drew my business, he cast Surgical Extraction on my Tendrils in my upkeep. Whoops.
5-2-1
Round nine: Someone with Show And Tell / Sneak Attack (Sorry, I hardly took notes for this round at all, as I didn't even want to play anymore.)
After losing the previous round my girlfriend took twenty to mock me for not making top eight, so I was quite pissed going into this round. Game one I heavily misplayed, firing off a Tendrils for sixteen when he was on nineteen for whatever reason. Luckily I totally picked apart his hand with discard and he had nothing anymore. He took some damage from his lands and I killed him with Sudden Shock, which was a good laugh for both of us.
-1 Sudden Shock
-1 Empty The Warrens
+2 Extirpate
He chose to play and went down to sixteen from his lands before I went off. Didn't take notes for this game at all.
6-2-1
After a few minutes, I find out that my record wasn't even good enough for top 16, just as I expected. With the 25€ store credit I won I got a signed, slightly altered, foil T-Chinese Gilded Lotus, an Unlimited Braingeyser for my Commander deck and some other cube stuff. Pretty cool, but winning power would've been better.
I hope you enjoyed this and lack of memories didn't totally destroy this report. See you next time around!
Last Sunday we drove to Hanau, Germany to play some Magic. The evening before the event, one of my teammates and I were testing at my girlfriends place and to be honest, we went to bed way too late, considering we had to get up at 4:30 to be at the site in time for the event (or so they thought).
I slept for two hours before we had to get up and figured I'd sleep some more in the car, but out of the 3+ hours we were in the car, I slept like thirty minutes. Awesome! Obviously we were at the site almost an hour early. I don't get why they won't ever listen to me when I say we're driving too early when we're going to events.
When the doors opened, my girlfriend was looking for some cards for me and some friends and if I remember correctly she managed to get everything we needed. Pretty cool. This is the 75 I registered:
//Artifact
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Sensei's Divining Top
//Instant
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Rain Of Filth
1 Sudden Shock
//Land
1 Badlands
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
//Sorcery
4 Duress
1 Empty The Warrens
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Past In Flames
3 Ponder
2 Preordain
4 Tendrils Of Agony
2 Thoughtseize
//Sideboard
1 Ad Nauseam
2 Chain Of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
2 Extirpate
1 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Sudden Shock
1 Empty The Warrens
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
If you have any questions on the list, just ask. I don't feel like talking about all the changes right now, especially if no one's interested anyway.
To the best of my knowledge 242 players registered so nine rounds were to be played. At that point I was actually quite pumped so I felt pretty good going into the first round:
Round one: Henrik on Mono Blue Merfolk featuring Brainstorm
No offence, but I don't get how you could possibly think that playing Merfolk in Europe is anything close to a good idea. The field was flooded with Stoneforge Mystics, Punishing Fire and several other burnspells, and this is pretty much always the case in European tournaments. Further there's always a reasonable amount of Storm in any given event, and that's also not quite positive for Merfolk.
While he was shuffling he flashed me an Umezawa's Jitte so I decided to win the roll and play first because I put him on Maverick. Whoops.
Anyway, game one he had a draw involving two Cursecatchers and two Lord Of Atlantis. (Or some other Lord? They all look the same to me.) When I was facing lethal, I went off. Since he was playing fetches, he was at nineteen. He then forced one of my spells and I cast Tendrils for 18, being able to pay for any kind of taxing counters thanks to Lion's Eye Diamond.
-1 Sudden Shock
+1 Empty The Warrens
In game two I kept a reasonable hand with Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Ritual and Empty The Warrens. He went first and did something irrelevant. On my first turn I cast Ponder, finding lands 2&3 plus Lotus Petal. I decided to go off next turn with Empty The Warrens and left Petal on top. On his turn he cast Silvergill Adept and I went on to cast Cabal Ritual, which he countered. Again, he did nothing relevant and I cast Lotus Petal, Gitaxian Probe, Lion's Eye Diamond, some other spell and Empty The Warrens for ten Goblins. After some blocks, he was on two and I had my fifth or so landdrop and cast Tendrils for four to end the game.
I don't remember exactly what I did between the rounds, but I'm sure it involved me hurrying to the car to get some food. That's pretty much what I did after every round.
1-0
Round two: Charles on Bant Aggro featuring Tarmogoyf, Knight Of The Reliquary and Stifle.
I think he won the roll and chose to play first (poor him) and kept his seven. I mulled to six. He led with a fetchland, I copied that move and when he tapped out for Tarmogoyf on turn two, I cast Empty The Warrens for twelve Goblins, assuming it was unlikely he would also have Stoneforge Mystic after seeing two Knights and two Tarmogoyfs with Gitaxian Probe.
I don't think I actually used my sideboard for this game, but as usual I boarded fifteen in, fifteen out. He boarded several cards.
I don't remember anything from game two apart from casting a total of six Gitaxian Probes by turn three, resulting in a kill with Tendrils of Agony. I don't know how I managed to pull that off, as his hand was something like two Flusterstorm, Stifle, Force Of Will, Daze. I think he countered the wrong spells with his Flusterstorms, but I also had a lot of protection, so it wasn't entirely his fault.
2-0
Round three: Oliver on UW Stoneblade
Easy matchup. I lost the roll and he played first. Even better! At some point in game one he cast Vendilion Clique in my drawstep to see double Past In Flames, Underground Sea, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, Duress and Tendrils Of Agony. Don't remember what he took, but judging from my notes he didn't get to attack me with his Clique anymore.
-1 Empty The Warrens
+1 Sudden Shock
Game two he had Clique again, this time revealing Underground Sea, Scalding Tarn, Past In Flames, Brainstorm, Tendrils Of Agony and Thoughtseize. This time he attacked me once while Gitaxian Probe revealed Force Of Will and some Spell Snares against my hand with no Cabal Rituals.
I don't remember anything about this game as I felt super shitty and thought I was going to have a heart-attack, but I won. This is everything I can get from my notes.
3-0
Round four: Dirk on Enchantress with Chrome Mox and Green Sun's Zenith
When pairings were posted I asked if somebody knew what my opponent was playing and a friend told me he was on Enchantress. Good to know I had to go first. I obviously won the roll and chose to go first.
Game one I got a slow hand and mulled to five. Turn three he cast Solitary Confinement with one Enchantress effect on the board and one card in hand. I don't have any outs to that maindeck so I hoped he was going to lose his Confinement, as I had the kill in hand. On his next turn he cast Enchantress' presence and when it was clear he could keep the Confinement in play, I scooped it up. I have seen Green Sun's Zenith in that game though, which was valuable information.
-1 Sudden Shock
-2 Duress (?)
-1 Empty The Warrens
-1 Past In Flames
-3 Tendrils Of Agony
+1 Ad Nauseam
+2 Chain Of Vapor
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
+4 Infernal Tutor
Not sure if I really boarded out Duress, but what I brought in is definitely correct.
Game two I led with Ponder and he did something else on his turn. Turn two I cast Duress and I think he responded with Surgical Extraction on Ponder. Duress revealed Aura Of Silence, Leyline Of Sanctity, Windswept Heath, Argothian Enchantress and Forest. Seeing as my hand had several Lotus Petals, I chose the Aura. A few turns later I went off in some way.
Game three I had an early Duress again that showed me Gaddock Teeg, Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress' Presence and Sterling Grove while he was on two mana. I cast some cantrips to find a Chain Of Vapor and then killed him with Past In Flames into Tendrils.
4-0
Round five: Vincent on Nic Fit
I didn't take a lot of notes for this round, but we both mulled to six and once again, I kept a rather slow hand. His hand was quite weak, but I didn't find any business before he got to cast four Cabal Therapies on me
-1 Sudden Shock
-2 Duress
-1 Empty The Warrens
-1 Past In Flames
-3 Tendrils Of Agony
+1 Ad Nauseam
+2 Chain Of Vapor
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
+4 Infernal Tutor
Again, I'm not sure about this boarding. I could very well not have brought in the Chains and kept in the Duresses or boarded out Thoughtseize. I have to admit that I wasn't really at the top of my game that day.
Game two I kept my seven, he mulled to six and I killed him with Ill-Gotten Gains on turn two.
Game three he picked apart my hand with discard again, preventing me to kill him on turn one with the following hand: Lion's Eye Diamond, Bloodstained Mire, Brainstorm, Past In Flames, Lotus Petal, Infernal Tutor. He got my Diamond with his blind Cabal Therapies on turn one (props to that by the way, he cast two of them in our match and hit with both of them). The game went on for some time and eventually I was in a spot where I would definitely lose the game if he was going to take his next turn. I then had a super sick combo turn that involved cast Ill-Gotten Gains to get back cantrips, then flashing back Past In Flames, then casting even more cantrips and then passing the turn with eleven black mana floating. In his turn time was called. I still had the means to win the game, but my deck didn't want to give me Ad Nauseam.
4-0-1
Round six: Fabian on Canadian Threshold
I saw his name and knew he was playing Thresh, which is typically a good matchup for me. I lost the roll and he opted to play.
Again, I don't remember everything exactly. I cast Probe to see Daze, Stifle, Brainstorm, Spell Snare, Tarmogoyf, Lightning Bolt and Wasteland and cast some spells to get to a lot of mana. I did something to get rid of Stifle, then cast Tendrils for ten, which kind of confused him. Then I cast Tendrils for twelve.
-1 Sudden Shock
+1 Empty The Warrens
At some point in game two he had two Goyfs in play and was tapped out so I figured I should go off. I Probed him to find double Force, double Spell Snare and a Delver, then cast two Dark Ritual, which both got Forced, then lost. He said that I would have won against pretty much every other Thresh player, which I believe to be right.
Game three I had him with an early Empty The Warrens that he couldn't deal with due to only having one land, tapping out for Ponder and then not finding a land with the following cards in hand: Stifle, Delver Of Secrets, Red Elemental Blast, Spell Pierce, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare.
5-0-1
Round seven: Johannes on Canadian Threshold
Okay, so here my memory totally collapses. I have no idea what was going on, except that I won game two and he heavily misplayed in game three, but then I still couldn't win due to not having two lands that tap for red in my deck. Oh well. But I have some notes on which cards he had in his hand when I was going off:
Game one: Stifle, Stifle, Daze, Daze, Spell Snare, Lightning Bolt, Stifle.
Game two: Spell Snare, Red Elemental Blast x2, Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt, Stifle.
Game three: Spell Snare, Daze, Stifle, Spell Pierce, Force Of Will, Force Of Will.
He had very strong draws overall, always drawing three lands, one beater and the rest spells. Pretty good if you ask me. From here on I had to win out to make top eight. Not the spot I though I was going to be after the first few rounds.
5-1-1
Round eight: Matthias on Combo Elves
When I looked at the pairings for this round, I saw his name and thought he was likely playing some form of blue control, which would be good for me. I think he won the roll and I kept a slow hand with several cantrips, figuring he was slow as well.
He opened on Misty Rainforest wit no one drop and I opened on Preordain, putting away something I needed to win. Super dumb. I failed to draw any business then and got beaten by Vengevines coming off his turn two Fauna Shaman.
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-1 Rain Of Filth
-2 Duress
-1 Empty The Warrens
-1 Past In Flames
-3 Tendrils Of Agony
+1 Ad Nauseam
+2 Chain Of Vapor
+1 Sudden Shock
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
+4 Infernal Tutor
Game two I cast some cantrips and won on turn three with some combo engine.
Game three I had a hand with Infernal Tutor and some cantrips. Sadly I didn't manage to empty my hand for that and he went off on turn three or something, putting eleven elves into play due to Glimpse Of Nature. Two turns later I had to fire off a mini Tendrils and when I drew my business, he cast Surgical Extraction on my Tendrils in my upkeep. Whoops.
5-2-1
Round nine: Someone with Show And Tell / Sneak Attack (Sorry, I hardly took notes for this round at all, as I didn't even want to play anymore.)
After losing the previous round my girlfriend took twenty to mock me for not making top eight, so I was quite pissed going into this round. Game one I heavily misplayed, firing off a Tendrils for sixteen when he was on nineteen for whatever reason. Luckily I totally picked apart his hand with discard and he had nothing anymore. He took some damage from his lands and I killed him with Sudden Shock, which was a good laugh for both of us.
-1 Sudden Shock
-1 Empty The Warrens
+2 Extirpate
He chose to play and went down to sixteen from his lands before I went off. Didn't take notes for this game at all.
6-2-1
After a few minutes, I find out that my record wasn't even good enough for top 16, just as I expected. With the 25€ store credit I won I got a signed, slightly altered, foil T-Chinese Gilded Lotus, an Unlimited Braingeyser for my Commander deck and some other cube stuff. Pretty cool, but winning power would've been better.
I hope you enjoyed this and lack of memories didn't totally destroy this report. See you next time around!