88th at GP Amsterdam - A lesson in choosing your deck + LOTS of content

[Julian23]

88th at GP Amsterdam
A lesson in choosing your deck

by Julian Knab

Hey fellow Sourcers,

so I'm back from GP Amsterdam and got quite a lot of stories to tell. While some of you might just be interested in the tournament report, I'd like to share all my impressions and experiences outside the battlefield with the intrigued rest of you!

My journey starts on Thursday at the Munich airport. I'm currently going through my last semester at university and Amsterdam would be my last major Magic-related event before shifting my focus back onto my Master thesis. Being pretty excited about the whole trip as I had been enjoying a lot of success in local tournaments, I really did not want to scrub out like I did @ GP Madrid last year despite having 3 Byes.

This time around, things would be different! Surfing on a winrate of 80+%, NO RUG had been my deck of choice for several tournaments and I was ready to go into the last weeks of preparation just fine-tuning the sideboard when September 20th came around:


Legacy
Mental Misstep is banned


Yeah...so back to the drawing board it was. After getting hold of a playset of Candelabras, I was pretty committed on Spiral Tide. Unfortunately I had already moved back to Passau (out in the stinks, actually pretty close to Austria) as the new semester was about to come along; finding motivated/dedicated testing partners in a city where Legacy is considered awesome because you actually get to Rancor your Craw Wurm is a quest of no return.



So what's a man supposed to do?

1. Accept your ill fate and pray to run into as many Craw Wurms as possible @ Amsterdam.
2. Turn towards Finland!

In case you answered "1", chances are you're either playing Eastern Paladin or just suck. Actually, both.
Luckily, I had ran into Jori Hukka (sry bro, what's ur handle on TS again?) back at German Magic 1.5 in December. Together, we managed to put in quite a bit of testing on Magic Online. In the end I was able to master most of the matchups I'm supposed to win, but was struggling hard against non-conventional choices like Vendilion Clique in Merfolk. The increasing presence of Flusterstorm as well the mentally demanding nature of the deck always left a bad taste in my mouth when considering it for a big tournament...

+++Fast Forward+++
October, 20th: Munich airport, 2pm

Waiting for our flight, my friend Hans and I decide to play some games. Since playing against Spiral Tide provides a lot fun for both players is something only someone who's not had sex for quite a while could enjoy, I pull out GW Maverick. Always having liked the deck, I had thrown it away when Hive Mind got big on Magic Online, despite the huge success my fellow Germans had been enjoying with it over the course of the year. We play some games and the more I keep casting Knight of the Reliquary, the more I keep digging it. Maverick is a deck of no inherent unfairness (which I'm always looking for!) but offers a kind of flexibility unheard of in current midrange aggro decks. It just felt "right" in a way Spiral Tide never did for me - a quality I learned to value over time.

After getting deckchecked at security (somehow my deckboxes looked like explosives to them), Hans & I board our KLM flight to Amsterdam. I really don't get why quite a lot of people still deem flying inside Europe "too expensive". If you know what you're doing, you really shouldn't be paying three-digit for inter-EU flights.

So anyways, after arriving at the Shipol Airport we take the bus into the city and check in at the Flying Pig Uptown Hostel, where we'd be staying for the first night. The Flying Pig is a pretty hip, clean and affordable hostel located just south of Amsterdam downtown, right next to a park. We lock up our luggage and go exploring Amsterdam:



Grachten in Downtown
Yes, there's more than one
I really dig the architecture
Even more water
A fair inside a big city? Nice!...oh wait, I almost forgot I was from Munich, haha!
Starcraft strategy corner @ Downtown



We go ahead and check out the red light district, walking past an erotic museum, a sex museum as well as a hash museum. Oh, and there's hookers, too! Who would have guessed? While I'm not into that kind of service in the first place, seeing women offer themselves in windows right next to the sidewalk is a really odd sight.

Time for food! I treat myself with so-called OBELIX-sized fries at the Netherland's best place to get those. I don't know if people in the US know about Asterix & Obelix but you should at least know about Obelix fries! If you ever get to Amsterdam, check out that place close to Central Station on the left side of the main street leading up to it!!



Inside the Flying Pig Uptown Hostel



It's already getting late so we head back to our hostel for some more playtesting. Having enjoyed my fries a lot, I decide to turn back masochistic and run my Spiral Tide into Hans' Reanimator list....not...a...good...idea. At the end of the day, my sb contains 4 Flusterstorm and 3 Surgical Extraction but I hated it! Anyways, since Hans was quite tired and I was mostly just left goldfishing, we decide to call it a day and go to bed early. At the dorm we meet Jérôme, a very friendly Swiss judge preparing to take his level 3 test at the GP. We chit-chat for a bit and he reaffirms my thoughts about the dangers of playing 16 rounds of Magic with Spiral Tide...

Day 0 - GP Amsterdam
Friday, 21st October 2011

The next "morning" I wake up at about 5:30 am since I'm not used to going to bed as early as we did the day before. After showering I go downstairs and enjoy my free breakfast. I finally manage to beat the last level of "Luxor Quest" on my cell phone and go wake up Hans. We check out and take the tram to the RAI where we'd be meeting the rest of the Munich Legacy crew.

While waiting for the doors to open it becomes apparent that Flusterstorm and Surgical Extraction are the most sought after cards as everybody's paranoid about Reanimator and Combo. Even though I got my playsets well in advance, I still join the mob of players stampeding towards the trader's booth once the doors are opened. I scour their binders for some sweet deals and somehow manage to get 4 Flusterstorms at 6,50€ each - believe me or not but people were paying up to 30€ for them (each!) some hours later. Same for Surgical Extraction which sold as high as 8€ later on.

I enter one of the first GP Trials with Spiral Tide but punt myself out in the very first round against Dredge. Didn't really matter since I already had 3 Byes from the Munich GP Trial but having a single Ravenous Trap in my board would have won me at least one game. These are the losses you take when you clump up your wish-board with several copies of cards you don't actually wanna wish for.

The next GPT I enter, I easily dispatch Junk in the first round, this time remembering to put my High Tide second from the top with Brainstorm. He almost makes me discard my whole hand while beating with Knight but High Tide into Time Spiral does the trick. So I advance into round2, where I am paired against another very friendly Swiss L2 judge, Joel, who had actually been tutored by Jérôme. He's playing Reanimator yet I somehow manage to steal game1. Game2 I fizzle pretty hard halfway through the combo and actually have to pass the turn. He doesn't do anything on his turn though and passes back to me. I untap, almost draw, then remember having resolved a Meditate. We call a judge and the game gets backed up. I subsequently lose game2 & 3 but would have scooped to him anyways since he seemed to be a really nice guy.

At the end of the day I enter a 8-man Legacy queue but lose the first round 1-2 to Canadian Threshold with Counterbalance from the sideboard.

That's it! I'm done with Spiral Tide! Vendilion Clique in Merfolk, Counterbalance in Threshold and everyone and his brother playing Flusterstorm! I'm not gonna turn this Grand Prix into torture!

We met up with the rest of the crew and head towards the Ibis Hotel at the airport. Despite being a regular hotel, Ibis is quite cheap compared to other places. We only paid 78€ per person for 3 nights in a twin room. When checking in, someone handed me the credit card of one of the guys we traveled with and told me "Just use this" - uhm...works for me. Have you ever checked into a hotel using a credit card that didn't belong to you? Let me tell you: it’s a great feeling!


Illuminated neon escalators? What is this place?

Day 1 - GP Amsterdam
Sunday, 22nd October 2011

We get up early, take the bus to the airport and ride the train to the RAI after picking up some sandwiches and Sushi for breakfast. Our crew consists of:

• Marius 'Wasteland' Hausmann - GW Maverick
• Anton 'Enton' Karlinski - GW Maverick
• Julian 'Julian23' Knab - GW Maverick
• Christian 'Reuschel' Reuschel - GW Maverick
• Hans 'Shivi' Schiefereder - Reanimator
• Michael 'Wuaschti' Thiel - Wuascht Ramp (Veteran Explorer Junk, as the coverage called it)
• Felix 'Chainer' Weishaupt - BW Aggro
• Vincent Weinzierl - BW Aggro

In the end I decided to go with Maverick since it's the most teched-out deck I knew of. It felt strange not to play Brainstorm (which is way more important than Force of Will or what bad people consider to be the best/most unfair card in Legacy) but the raw power of the deck just made up for it. Here's what we decided on:


4 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
3 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Thrun, the last Troll
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Birds of Paradise

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte

SB:
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Choke
2 Krosan Grip
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant


Maindeck and Sideboard are 99% identical to what all good Germans were using in Amsterdam. As I said, the deck is pretty teched out. The only slight differences were Hausmann using a Batterskull instead of the Sword and Fire and Ice and Karlinski and Kronberger putting in the 2nd Scryb Ranger over its Quirion cousin. Kronberger also used a Mortarpod and Wing Shards in the sb while Karlinski opted for a Phyrexian Metamorph.

Bonus: Right before the tournament I sit down with a friend who's playing Spiral Tide and actually pull out a 2-1 win, ripping not one, not two but three Mindbreak Traps and a Surgical Extraction post-Time Spiral. MMD


When seatings are posted, I take my place in the blue bracket and met up with Jori, who decided to go for RUG with a sideboard that causes wet dreams. Since he only decided on the deck right before the tournament (sounds familiar, hu?) he's only got some M10 Lightning Bolts with him. No self-respecting Legacy player should be forced to play with those, so I hook him up with a playset of German Black-Bordered "Bitch Slaps", as he calls them.

Pairings are posted and off we go. Please note that I took hardly any notes during the games so most of this is based on my (partially flawed) memory. In case you spot an error, just let me know. Also, in case you're one of my opponents, I'd love to hear from you.


Round 1-3: Bye

Byes are such a treat. On top of 9 points, you also enjoy better tiebreakers and are able to preserve a lot of mental energy. Never leave home without them!
I spend my time relaxing, actually not watching my friends' games. At some point I leave the venue in search for some decently priced food (0,5l water for 3€, anyone? >_>). I pick up the best cookies in the entire world, chocolate with lemon flavor. On my way back to the site, I once again run into Jori. We take a short walk through the city, eventually ordering some Chicken Teriyaki at Subway. When we arrive back at the RAI, there’s still about 25 minutes left in round 3.


Round 4: UWr Stoneblade : 2-1
Johan Lindenbaum (SWE)

G1: We both remember playing against each other in a sideevent in Madrid and I really love how playing Magic makes me run into certain people from all over Europe time and again.
Game1 wasn't much of a fight. He StP's my mother, Spell Snares my Stoneforge Mythic, then proceeds to drop his own Kor Artificer and follows it up with Jace while FoW'ing a Knight. Next game.

G2: I try for a turn3 Aven Mindcensor in response to a Fetchland but his wise use of Brainstorm (or just luck?) plays around it. He gets Jace, the Mind Sculptor online but doesn't have the Force for GSZ=4=Thrun and it goes all the way.

G3: My hand is stacked with everything, including Thrun, but only contains a Plains, Karakas and Wasteland for lands. I decide to keep and run out a Mother on turn1. On his turn, he plays Tundra, casts StP's and I hate life Path to Exile, not only fixing my mana but also accelerating me into turn2 Choke! Still, he manages to put up some resistance playing basic Plains and putting his Islands to good use. At one point he Firespouts my board but just doesn't have the ressources to fight Thrun+Elspeth.
4-0


Round 5: NO Bant: 0-2
Paco Benlloch (ESP)

G1:He goes first, has Savannah into Hierarch while I drop a Mother which he StP's on his turn. I SFM for Feast and Famine while he proceeds to play 2 Knights. I run out the Sword but lose even more tempo when he StP's my guy in response to Equipping the Sword. His Knights go all the way.

G2: Up until now, I only saw Savannahs, Forest and Plains so I'm sure it's the mirror and side out Gaddock Teeg. I go T1 Mother, T2 SFM for SoFF while he has T1 Tropical->Hierarch. On his 2nd turn he mainphase brainstorms, plays a Fetchland and intents to pass the turn but suddenly changes his mind ("no wait!"), picks up his Fetchland again, draws the two cards put back from BS, puts two (likely other) cards back then plays a Savannah. I allow it. What's wrong with me?! He did everything in such quick fashion and I just untapped, when I realized my mistake. I was holding Aven Mindcensor for his Fetchland which he would very likely use at the end of my turn. Getting him with Aven Mindcensor would have been huge. On top of that, had I called a judge, I think he would have received a game loss for drawing extra cards. The game goes on, I drop my Equipment at his eot and proceed go into beatdown mode. When he goes for Natural Order (did I mention I sided out Gaddock? ) I try for Aven Mindcensor but he has the Force for it and I barely lose the damage race.
4-1

At this point I felt really bumped but quickly regained confidence by telling me how the last game would not become my story of the weekend and I could still easily Day2.


Round 6: BUG Snapcaster: 2-0
Joao Mota (POR)

G1: Joao is a really nice guy from Portugal. While he manages to Ghastly Demise, Spell Snare and Force most of my early aggression, his deck has no maindeck answers for Thrun, who's soon to grab a SoFF and just annihilates his life total.

G2: He has Bob on turn2, but I StP it on my turn and drop a SFM for SoFF. He kills the SFM while I resolve GSZ=4=Thrun two turns later. He fails to find Perish/Damnation on his turn, while I Choke 2 of his lands, wastelanding the 3rd, leaving him with only 1 Bayou.
5-1


Round 7: MonoU Merfolk: 2-0
Marco Santopadre (ITA)

G1:Marco is a L2(3?) Pro from Italy looking to level up at the GP. I ramp on T1 with Dryad against his T1 Vial. He then quickly floods the board with creatures while two Mother of Runes do their best trying to hold the fort. I land a Knight, draw a Maze and StP's his Lord. At 4 life I completely stabilize and start chipping away at his life total with Scryb Ranger. When he resolves another Lord, I try to bait his attack by dropping a Tropical but he's too good for that. Once the Ranger picks up a Jitte, he concedes.

On my right side, Christoph Alsheimer (DDFT) was playing some Sneak & Show guy. Having Show and Told Emrakul into play on turn 3, he tries to educate his German opponent about how he wasn’t going to win the game anymore, to which Christoph (Nevamera) just responds to with “maybe”. He combos off through 2 Forces on his next turn – MMD :D

G2: I gladly trade my T1 GSZ for his T1 Cursecatcher. He has no Vial but builds a board of 2 Silvergil, 1 LoA and 1 Coralhelm Commander@4 against my 2 Mother of Runes and a Knight. He threatens to swarm me when he uses Phantasmal Image to copy his Coralhelm and levels it up all the way to 4 while also finding a 2nd Mutavault. On his next turn he goes all-in on an alpha strike that would very likely win him the game on the subsequent turn.

Time to play some Magic: I swords one of his Coralhelms, flash in Scryb Ranger and "untap" the copied one (thereby killing it), use Knight to Kill his LoA, dig up a Wasteland for his Mutavault and take out both his Silvergils with one Mother and the Ranger.



Talk about blowouts!!
6-1


Round 8: Reanimator: 2-0
Felix Heptner (GER)

G1: Win-and-in time! Felix is from Hamburg, "where all the good players come from" or something like that. I go first,T1 Hierarch, T2 GSZ for Scavenging Ooze on turn2, trading with a Force while he Entombs at end of my turn for Jin-Gitaxis. Luckily, he spends his 2nd turn Brainstorming, then Thoughtseizing me for Swords to Plowshares. On my 3rd turn I rip Aven Mindcensor and pass the turn. He Reanimates Jin-Gitaxis, falling to 7 life. With his Draw-7 trigger on the stack, I cast Aven Mindcensor and beat him down to 4 on my turn by the help of Noble Hierarch. I run out Knight of the Reliquary, thinking that even if it was to get Force'd, it would shut down Exhume for him. It resolves anyway and he Animate Dead's Inkwell Leviathan(?) but dies to me ripping Qasali Pridemage for exactly 4 damage in the air.

G2: He thoughtseizes me on turn1, taking Ooze. On his next turn he Careful Studys but only discards 2 lands. Smelling weakness, I just drop a Knight and try to race him, playing a Mother on my next turn while he Entombs for....Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Reanimates it on his turn. Do I really care? A friend of mine has a theory about how Reanimator can't actually win once Maverick untaps with Knight and it proofs true once again as I just dig up a Maze of Ith and keep the Sphinx in check. However, I don't really want to attack with Knight since this might lose to Submerge, so I GSZ for Scryb Ranger. On his turn, he Animate Dead's a Inkwell Leviathan while I level my Knight at eot. On my turn, he's got 1 card in hand and I decide to go for it: Mainphase grant protection blue to my Knight, then swing into him with 1 Exalted trigger, wastelanding my own Savannah for exactly 11 damage.
7-1


Round 9: Veteran Explorer Ramp: 0-2
Michael “Wuaschti” Thiel (GER)

G1: Playing a teammate always sucks but at least we don't have to eliminate each other. Going into the event actually just wanting to Day2, I played this match in very lose fashion. In fact both of us played what I call "Burger King Magic", fooling around at every point of the match, having a hell of a good time and just enjoying the game. While judges were busy pushing back the crowd gathered around us, we were just laughing louder than anyone of the railbirds ;-) Best moment: when he played a Pernicious Deed onto a board clustered with my creatures, I just couldn't resist and called him out: "CHEATER!"...which turned quite a lot of judge's heads - haha, MMD!

G2: Hope you don't expect a real report for these games, as there's no value to be had here. Well, you rarely see someone ripping Vindicate from the Top against Elspeth at 8 counters, but who cares? I concede when a friend of us asks us to end the game already since the rest of the crew is really hungry and they want to go to get some food. Sounds like a plan.
7-2


At the end of the day, half of our crew made it into Day2:

• Marius 'Wasteland' Hausmann - GW Maverick - 6-2-1
• Anton 'Enton' Karlinski - GW Maverick - 6-0-3
• Julian 'Julian23' Knab - GW Maverick - 7-2
• Christian Reuschel - GW Maverick - 4-3-1
• Hans 'Shivi' Schiefereder - Reanimator - 2-5
• Michael 'Wuaschti' Thiel - Wuascht Ramp - 8-1
• Felix 'Chainer' Weishaupt - BW Aggro - 7-2
• Vincent Weinzierl - BW Aggro - 4-4