Team SPOD @ BoM3 or pirates raiding Annecy

[spirit of the wretch]

Once Annecy was announced out team almost completely decided to head there and play what would turn out to be the biggest European Legacy tournament since GP: Lille. So we leave Karlsruhe on Thursday afternoon and head for France. There is an epic road trip story to tell here, but I’ll leave that one to Clemens, as he was directly involved (spoiler alert: intoxication, getting lost and picked up by the cops). I myself drove with Adan and Manuel in an remarkably uneventful trip. We arrive in time, check in, have some food, play Highlander and Manuel and I start to demolish the beer supply. At 4 AM the rest of the crew finally joins us…
On Friday there’s the Alara Reborn Release, which none of us really gives a crap about, and some eight man single elimination queues to win the entry fee for the main events. Long story short: Most of us suck out horribly at these queues and we start hitting the booze and Highlander again. Way better than watching the Ichorid player across you masturbate on his deck…
That evening we prepare for the Legacy event our usual way: BBQ, beer and whisky (if Jim Beam may be called whisky…). Arguably the best way to prepare for any given situation! Now I could write a lot about drunken fun, epic BBQ sessions, climbing road signs and raiding a graveyard, but I think I’ll just leave you with the pictures and your fantasy =)

Enjoy yourselves

*Insert random “ I substituted sleep for booze”-comment here*

Next day arrives and so does the big event. 474 players battling for fame and glory (or the modern equivalent: e-penis), which means 9 rounds with cut to top16.
Here’s the list Clemens and I have been fine-tuning for this event:

Maindeck:
4x Polluted Delta
4x Flooded Strand
3x Tundra
4x Tropical Island
2x Island
1x Plains

4x Tarmogoyf
4x Qasali Pridemage
3x Rhox War Monk
2x Trinket Mage

4x Counterbalance
4x Sensei’s Devine Top
3x Ponder
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
3x Spell Snare
4x Swords to Plowshares
2x Umezawa’s Jitte
1x Engineered Explosives

Sideboard:
3x Gaddock Teeg
3x Hydroblast
2x Path to Exile
2x Krosan Grip
2x Relic of the Progenitus
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Pithing Needle

The weapons of choice of the other SPOD members were:

Marius “Chefkoch” Laber: BG Control
Harald “Locutus” Herrlich: Vial Goblins
Clemens ”Der_imaginäre_Freund” Wolff: Grow/w
Daniel “Adan” Scherer: Tempo Thresh
Manuel “DerHeiler” Heiler: 4C The Rock

Honorably mentioned non-member Martin “MSC” Schreiber: Hierarch Grow/w

I’m writing this report completely for my memory, so things may or may not have happened this way. The lack of sleep, bad nourishment and the amount of alcohol that weekend indicate, that most of this report probably arises purely from my imagination =)

Round 1: Bye
Yay, for eternal rating finally being good for something (except the aforementioned e-penis that is, of course!). Clemens and I head for some food. Pizza + sun + free win = totally awesome =)

1/0/0

Round 2: Ladislav Loucka [CZE] with Vial Goblins
Game 1: I win the roll, we both keep our hands and off we go. I start with a Top, while he has the Skirk Prospector into Fanatic and Lackey start. I counter with two Goyfs and we trade some blows (mostly him suiciding his tiny critters in my superior wall). I force a Wort and soon the board is two lethal Goyfs (one tapped) for me and 4 puny 1/1s for him. With me save at 10 life. He draws, grins and slams down Goblin Pyromancer for the win… nice!

SB: -4x CB, -1x Top, -1x Spell Snare, +3x Hydroblast, +2x Path, +1x EE

Game 2: He leads with Vial, I have a Goyf again and again he runs his little dudes into the Lhurgoyf while I rum my Goyf into his face. Everything goes back and forth and finally I’m in a pretty comfortable position: 5 land, a Vial at 5 and two cards in hand for him, 4 land, a 6/7 Goyf and a Blast and a Path in hand for me. I attack with the Goyf and he obviously has the Commander. This is where I screw up big time: Instead of pathing the Commander in response to his comes into play trigger, I path him afterwards and in response he cycles an Incinerator on my Goyf so I blast one of his tokens (he decides not to sac it for some unknown reason). He also decides for god knows whatever reason not to kill my Goyf in combat and drops to 4 instead with two goblin tokens in play and me at 11 life. So the 1.000.000 $ question is: How do you win next turn?
Answer: Play the Ringleader you just drew off the Incinerator, reveal and play a Piledriver, then vial in your top decked Kiki-Jiki, copy that Piledriver and swing for exactly eleven… Frowntown!

1/1/0

Well, this wasn’t exactly how this was supposed to work out. Now it’s balls to the wall for the next seven rounds. Ironically everybody on our team without a Bye was 2/0/0... Life’s a bitch!

Round 3: Laurent Guillaume [FRA] with Stifle Nought
Game 1: Apparently my opponent wasn’t able to register his deck correctly and is consequently awarded with a game loss. Sweet =)

Game 2: He gets an early Confidant, while I get early CounterTop and it all boils down to his fourth turn: He has four untapped lands and a Bob in play, I have I untapped land and CounterTop. So he taps his Usea to play a Dreadnought, which I let resolve (knowing there is a CC2 card on top of my library), then tries to stifle the trigger, I try to look in my Top, which he also stifles, so I attempt to put my Top on top of my library and he shows me the third Stifle… so I calmly point at the Bayou as his lone untapped land. Seems as if he doesn’t know how to tap his mana either. I win easily from here on with the lock.

2/1/0

Did I already mention that free wins are awesome? They really are =)

Round 4: Saverio Magri [ITA] with Merfolk
I honestly don’t remember much of these games.
Game 1 I’m able to win because his first play is a turn 3 Wake Thresher on the draw and his Mishra’s Factories aren’t Mutavaults.
Game 2 his deck does what it is supposed to do and simply overwhelms me with Vial into islandwalking Fish.
Game 3 he has Vial again, but I decide to slow play my EE as mass removal and manage to grind him down with Goyfs.
SB: -3x war Monk, +2x Path, +1x EE

That was a pretty hard fought win. My opponent tells me slightly disappointed, that he started with two Byes and is now 2/2/0. So life really is a bitch!

Round 5: Oddvar Raugstad [NOR] with Death & Taxes
Game 1: he wins the roll and starts with Plains, Vial, Factory, which leaves me pretty clueless about what he’s playing. I quickly assemble ConterTop and can’t help but realize, that this combo isn’t all too hot versus Vials. I manage to kill his Vial with a Pridemage but not before he gets a 3 power flier out (Flickerwhisp or Serra Avenger or something like that) and beats me down. At four life I manage to get a rhino online and he can’t race that.

SB: -3x Spell Snare, +2x Path, +1x EE
The observant reader might realize a pattern in my boarding schemes =)

Game 2: he starts with Vial again, but this time he is able to apply much more pressure: turn 2 Isamaru, turn 3 Avenger… I manage to clear his board with EE @ 1 and a Sword and he reinforces with a Grunt. Next turn he just draws a card without paying the upkeep for his critter and we call a judge. I’m pretty sure the Grunt will just go to fiery hell, but the judge rules, that the trigger goes on the stack now and can still be paid, so the grunt is allowed to stay on the not so fiery table.. Which is pretty unfortunate as I’m at two life with no blocker and no removal.

Game 3: He has the first turn Vial again, but this time I have a great creature heavy draw and am able to keep him on the defense. His deck isn’t very good at that and I quickly run him over.

4/1/0

Round 6: Christophe Miazza [???] with G/W Homebrew
Game 1: He gets a pretty usual Legacy start: Horizon Canopy, Top, Canopy, Vexing Shusher… Yeah, an obvious one =) I myself have the totally funky and unconventional start of Top, Balance, Sword for the annoying goblin. He resolves a Knight of the Relinquary which he only uses as a shuffle effect for his Top, desperately digging for something. I get a Goyf and start to beat down after killing his Knight with EE and he finally shows me, what he has found in form of a Natural Order. I have the Force and we’re on to game two.

SB: -3x Spell Snare, +2x Path, +1x EE

Game 2: I keep a pretty aggressive hand and here’s what happens:

Him: Land, Needle on Top, go
Me: Land, go
Him: Land, go
Me: Land, Goyf, go, eot Sword
Him: *incredulity*, go
Me: Land, Pridemage, Ponder, go, eot Sword
Him: *disappointment*, go
Me: Goyf, go, eot Sword (!!)
Him: *consternation*, go
Me: Pridemage, go
Him: *frustration*, go
Me: Land, Jitte, equip, swing,… GG
He shows me his hand full of Oblivion Rings, Chocks, Knights, NOs, … lucky me, I guess!

5/1/0

Round 7: Rubén Gonzàlez [SPA] with Grow/w
Game 1: He starts with a CB but no Top. I respond with a Pridemage, that resolves but as I pretty much don’t have any relevant spell in hand I decide to just go aggro with him. Next turn I test the water with a cantrip and resolve a Jitte afterwards. Nice, I have just assembled a beatdown plan =) All he can do is cast Goyfs and War Monks to throw them into the claws of my mighty cat warrior and soon enough he runs out of them. So nice!

SB: -3x Rhox, -2x Jitte, +2x Path, +1x EE, +2x Grip

Game 2: I keep a fairly typical 1 land, multiple cantrip hand. While I search for my mana my opponents just cats his in form of double Hierarch. I finally find my second land, cast a Top and my opponent counters with… wait for it… Back to Basics! Who the hell boards in BtB in the mirror?!? It does however totally pay of, as I can’t find enough land to cast the Grip in my hand and after 10 excruciatingly painful turns his Hierarchs have finished me off.

Game 3: I have an aggressive draw with Pridemages and get in some early damage until he resolves “the great staler” aka Tarmogoyf. I make my own Goyf, but he is able to steal it with Sower and things begin to look really grim, so I desperately start digging for a Sword. He plays very defensively, only attacking with an exalted Sower and leaves his two Goyfs at home, so I have enough time to finally draw into the important removal. He has a Path of his own on my Goyf and this leaves me with 2 Pridemages at 3 life and him with a Goyf at 4. Again for some unknown reason he decides not to attack and I topdeck better than he does into CB and Trinket Mage for the win.
Wow, this was really tight and mostly my opponents loss instead of my win.

6/1/0

Round 8: Yves Gillet [TAH] with Eva Green
Game 1: I win the roll, he mulligans once and I have a pretty creature loaded draw again with Goyf and Pridemage. I apply enough pressure to send him in topdeck mode with a lethal Goyf left on my side of the table. He manages to top deck himself out of trouble for two times with chump blockers, than I draw Jitte and that’s it.

SB: -3x Rhox, +2x Path, +1x EE

Game 2: Pretty much a déjà vu of my last matches second game: a 3CC enchantment f**ks up my mana. This time it’s Choke backed up by Hyppie and Goyf for a merciful fast death. Been there, done that!

Game 3: I keep a pretty perfect hand of 2 land, top, 2 Spell Snare, Fore and Ponder. To even things out my opponent takes a mulligan. And then another one for good measure! I find a fast Goyf, sack a Jitte to his Seal of Primordium to pump him quickly, remove all his blockers, counter all his relevant spells and completely wreck him. Yeah, this one was just as one-sided as you would imagine from this description.
Yves draws better next round and also makes it to top8.

7/1/0

Round 9: Marco Camillus [ITA] ID
I do some math, figure I’m almost certainly in with a draw and as my opponent thinks so too, a draw it is.
Great finally some food again! This and the possibility to satisfy my lust for beer, that I quelled since my loss in the second round =)

So after nine rounds the team standings were:
Harald 2/4/0 drop
Manuel 4/5/0
Clemens 4/4/1
Marius 3/2/1 drop
Adan 6/3/0
Stefan 7/1/1 13th and in!

The atmosphere in the top16 was simply awesome! Half of the hall got evacuated to make room for the players, the spectators piling up at the gallery. Damn sweet! Especially in my case, when the spectators are waving a pirate flag =)

Top16: Guillaume De Sauza [FRA] with Burn
Game 1: This game worked like the matchup in my experience usually plays out: He burns me down to very low life, then I stabilize and win. In this special case via CB and double rhino. Funny scene: I’m at 1 with a Force in hand he has one card in hand and passes (you can’t possibly imagine how relieved I was to hear him say “go”!). I connect with my monk, go up to 4 and pass back. He draws, sacs two mountains and points his Fireblast at … my loyal rhino! Yeah, one could have probably played that a little better =)

SB: -2x Trinket Mage, -1x EE, +3x Hydroblast

Game 2: I get two fast Goyfs and start racing him. He largely ignores my effort and shoots me in the face instead. I attempt to cast a rhino, he blasts it, I brainstorm in response seeing: CB, Top, Rhox… Jup, I win that one! In the end I have to send one of my own Goyfs plowing to survive, but that does the trick.

8/1/1

Top8: Filiberto Piernoli [ITA] with U/g/r Painter
Game 1: I win the roll and keep a hand of 3 Pridemages, 2 land, a Brainstorm and a Force and lead with a second turn cat into third turn cat, which my opponent chooses to force pitching force. I think about this move for a while and decide to go for it and force back. He drops a Goyf that looks pretty unimpressive compared to the cat armada I have next turn. Nice to outgrow a Goyf with your bears! We trade my CB for Force (pitching his fourth Force), his Painter for my Force and suddenly we’re in a stalement again: his Goyf versus my kittens. As the true pro I am, I top deck Jitte and kill him. Man, I can’t even say how often that card saved my ass today!

SB: -3x Rhox, -2x Jitte, +2x Path, +1x EE, +2x Grip

Game 2: This is where the fatigue and the beer really kick in and I start to play like crap… REALLY crap!
Basically I lose my CB to his Grip which I could easily have avoided with the correct use of my Top and consequently am not able to counter his Trinket Mage, which tutors up the Grindstone, that combos really well with the Painter on the table and that’s it. Damn my lack of play skill!

Game 3: I try to focus and concentrate more on the game. We shuffle, cut and I start shuffling again, earning me some strange looks from my opponent and the friendly suggestion from the head judge I might want to switch to water. Yep, that additional concentration worked out really well…
I don’t even have exact memory of what happened in this game. I played less than optimal (which my team mates make very clear after the game), but am able to compensate quite well by drawing optimal and ninjaing (that isn’t a word now, is it?) my opponent into drawing bullshit. Better lucky than good, I guess.

9/1/1

Top4: Benito Hernandez Alcaraz [SPA] with ANT
Game 1: I keep a hand of 2 land, 2 Goyf, 2 Force and Brainstorm, which is arguably one of the best possible hands but my opponent easily trumps me. His first turn Ad Nauseam gets obviously forced and second turn he ponders and decides to play a Chrome Mox and a LED afterwards. That never is a good sign! Sure enough he cracks the LED in his upkeep to pay for the Ad Nauseam he draws. I haven’t drawn another blue card for my force and so he starts flipping cards. Here the situation balances out, as he flips pure, untainted, undiluted crap and dies miserably to his own Ad Nauseam. That was unexpected but I take what I can get =)

SB: I don’t remember but it was terribly wrong! Yeah, that’s foreshadowing. Somehow I take the Gaddocks in the main.

Game 2: He opens up with first turn double Confidant. I get CounterTop, but that can’t beat the Psionic Blast/Inspiration combo he has going on. He finishes me with a lot of fast mana into tendrils for 12.

Game 3:I mulligan into 2 land, 2 Top, 2 Rhox… not exactly the hand you want to keep against a player who immediately says “keep” sounding quite confident.
I lead with the top, while he goes for another first turn Mage. I use my Top in the upkeep and realize three things:
1.) No countermagic whatsoever
2.) No third land for my rhinos
3.) Why on god’s green earth is that Jitte still in the deck?!? And why haven’t I boarded in my Paths instead as I did in almost every other match? WHY?
I manage to find a Teeg but he wishes for Wipe Away and finishes me with a Tendrils…
Oh well, you can’t win them all and my stroke of luck had to run out eventually.

9/2/1

As the third and fourth place are distributed according to the standings after swiss I end up in the fourth place and win an unlimited Ancestral Recall.
After the event we head for our room and celebrate with champagne that Manuel won at the event. Good times!
The only change I would make to the list is cut the Spell Snares for Dazes. Apart from that the deck is really solid without any too bad (or too good for that matter) matchups.

Probs:
Team SPOD for being awesome fun to hang out with!
Clemens for his imba trading skills ™ making me way more money off that Ancestral than I was supposed to get.
Everybody who helped to organize and run the event! Really good work.
Beer!
The hotel room.
Qasali Pridemages because they really are THAT good.
Jitte for the same reason.

Slops:
Me for not winning against ANT
Jim Beam for probably being the worst brew under the sun.