About Andreas Ganz
Andreas Ganz
I'm a Swiss Magic player, have been playing Magic since 1995 and began
playing tournaments in 2002. I am intrigued by the competition that
comes with high level tournament play. Some of my “magical
accomplishments” include:
- 14 lifetime pro points
- Vice National Champion
- Playing Pro
Tour London
- Top 16 GP Madrid 2010
- Top 32 GP Paris 2009 and GP Stuttgart 2007
- Team National Champion
- Playing Worlds 2005 in
Yokohama
But the achievement that meant the
most to me, at least in retrospective, was winning against Kai Budde (the then Roger Federer of Magic) in the decisive round of my first GP playing for day two. You
might also recognize me because I designed large parts of the
5CB deck promoted by Patrick Chapin and played by several pro players
at last year's Grand Prix Seattle including my Sygg, River Cutthroat
technology. I
don’t provide this information to brag about any results, but merely to
give you an idea of my magical background and experience. This allows
you to judge more accurately how you want to handle my writing and how
useful it might be for you.
GP Madrid - When 42 Points Just Isn’t Enough
Hola
It’s Thursday evening and I’m on my way to the airport, where I’ll spend the night, to catch my flight to Madrid early next morning. After reading Joel Calafell’s “Airport Survival Guide”, I brought my laptop with me and thanks to Joel’s advice, spending a night in an airport is just peanuts. I make sure that there is enough coffee, prepare Matteo’s “Draft with the Pro” and then play some goldfish games with my deck of choice. Soon after, it’s time to check in and pass airport security.
Unfortunately the security girl is too motivated and removes the plastic box (with my mobile phone still in the box) so quickly, that my phone falls to the ground and is severely damaged. I then have to wait half an hour and fill out countless forms – a great start to the GP! (Luckily they will pay me a new phone.)
I make it to the gate just in time to board my flight – not. In the end my flight is delayed by almost 6 hours because the French air traffic controllers decided to go on strike. The hardest part is to not fall asleep in front of the gate and I’m relieved when boarding finally starts. As soon as all the passengers are waiting in the queue in front of the gate, there are additional problems, and after waiting for 30 minutes they cancel boarding and restart it an hour later.
When you are running good you are running good.
Deck Selection
The format of GP Madrid will be Legacy and I’ve never played a Legacy tournament before. All I know is that the format is wide open and that you can play a variety of decks as outlined by Lino Burgold in his excellent Legacy article:
If you have no idea of the Legacy format at all, it is pretty rough to get started. Not only are there dozens of different, viable archetypes, but there are even more names for decks. And every deck again is divided into dozens of versions! I give you an overview of the ever changing puzzle with infinite different endings and solutions that is Legacy.
I don’t have high expectations, since I haven’t tested a lot, but I theorized about the format. Seeing as I haven’t really tested the format or the deck, you shouldn’t expect a lot of strategy advice and matchup analysis but rather some funny side stories and random anecdotes.
I’ve played with several Legacy decks just for fun some years ago, and I came to the conclusion that I don’t like the format that much. Legacy (just like Vintage) is not that skill-intensive compared to other Constructed formats and especially compared to Limited. I feel that you should just play one of the inherently most powerful decks, because in formats like these, it’s all about doing broken things as quickly as possible. I’ve played several Vintage tournaments quite successfully and that’s probably what affected my train of thought. In addition, I don’t want the games to last too long, European GPs are pretty exhausting and you make more mistakes the longer the games go.
In the months before GP Madrid I played some games with Zoo, Loam and Merfolk but didn’t like any of these decks. I usually prefer playing aggro or combo decks, but I’ve also played control decks in the past.
At first I was set on playing GeddonStax, because I really like the deck (not just because people often “rage quit” when playing against it online) and it was played by Nico Bohny at Worlds. Unfortunately GeddonStax has several problems to overcome:
- You run out of time too often. (Making it basically impossible to win a 50 minutes GP round as soon as you are down a game.)
- You draw the wrong cards against the wrong matchup. (Ghostly Prison vs. Combo, Crucible of Worlds vs. Aggro or Magus of the Tabernacle vs. Control)
- You draw the wrong combination of cards.
In the end Lino Burgold talked me out of playing GeddonStax and I’m really thankful for that.
My deck needs to be able to do broken things and win during the extra turns if necessary. After some more playtesting, I decide that combat is too complicated anyway, especially with all those Tarmogoyfs running around. I therefore want to play a deck that doesn’t care about combat.
I then do something I’m very uncomfortable with, I copy Saito’s ANT list card by card. I decide not to make any changes to it, mainly because I didn’t have enough knowledge about Legacy and Saito, who is a very competent player, has won a large tournament with the deck in Japan. I also talk to Lois Jacquet, a talented player from France, who knows a lot about Legacy and has won a GP trial with Saito’s ANT list. Lois tells me that he thinks it’s a really strong deck, if not the best. Lois suggests adding a Swamp and maybe a Chain of Vapor to the maindeck. I think for quite some time about the suggested changes, but then decide to stick to the original list.
The Deck
This deck forms part of my feature article:
GP Madrid is in the books and I bring you a detailed round by round report of how I (once again) came close to making top 8 at the biggest event in the history of the game! Join me as I battle my way through the Legacy format to a top 16 finish.
| Colors |
|---|
| Artifact | 13 |
|---|
| Black | 21 |
|---|
| Blue | 10 |
|---|
| Land | 16 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 0 | 11 |
|---|
| 1 | 22 |
|---|
| 2 | 7 |
|---|
| 4 | 2 |
|---|
| 5 | 2 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 13 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 1 |
|---|
| Instant | 18 |
|---|
| Land | 15 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 13 |
|---|
Usually I want to completely understand a deck and all its intricacies. I want to be in a position where I can say that this is the in my opinion best version of the deck or that I can make changes to it and improve the deck. However, in this case, I must admit that I don’t have a thorough enough understanding of the deck to make changes to it. I’ve never done that before and I’ve always tested decks long enough to settle on a version I’m comfortable with and think is the best.
After finally deciding on playing ANT and ordering all the cards, my preparation consisted of around 200 goldfish games plus 20 matches against random opponents on Magic Workstation.
Sideboarding
My sideboarding plans look more or less like this. I wrote everything down but didn't always board exactly according to the plan. Feel free to correct me or tell me how you would sideboard with the deck. (Thanks to Patrick Wild for explaining me how to sideboard with ANT.)
Merfolk
+4 Dark Confidant, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Tendrils of Agony
-2 Thoughtseize, -1 Infernal Tutor, -1 Lion's Eye Diamond, -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Chrome Mox
I leave the Sensei's Divining Top in the deck because it synergizes with Dark Confidant. Thoughtseize comes out because of the lifeloss and the fact that you want to make them discard counterspells and not creatures. It’s pretty difficult to go for a fast combo with Infernal Tutor, Cabal Ritual and Lion's Eye Diamond and that’s why I board them out. The plan is to overwhelm them with card advantage from Dark Confidant. Stifle on a Chrome Mox imprint trigger can be very annoying too.
Countertop
+4 Dark Confidant, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Extirpate, +2 Krosan Grip
-2 Infernal Tutor, -2 Lion's Eye Diamond, -2 Cabal Ritual, -1 Chrome Mox
I board in Slaughter Pact in case they are playing Gaddock Teeg. Similar to Merfolk, you want to get into an attrition war with Dark Confidant after sideboarding and deal with Counterbalance via Krosan Grip. I cut Cabal Ritual because of Spell Snare.
Zoo
+1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Hydroblast, +1 Tendrils of Agony, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Krosan Grip
-4 Duress, -2 Thoughtseize
It’s not a good idea to make them discard their burn. The plan is to combo as quickly as possible and deal with Gaddock Teeg and Meddling Mage via the bounce and removal spells. The Krosan Grip is there to handle Ethersworn Canonist and Pyrostatic Pillar.
Loam
+1 Extirpate, +1 Hydroblast, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Krosan Grip, +1 Slaugher Pact
-4 Duress, -2 Thoughtseize
Bounce spells and Krosan Grip are against Chalice of the Void. Extirpate is here to deal with Life from the Loam and Hydroblast functions as a tutor target. I don’t board in the second copy of Tendrils of Agony because Loam doesn’t have a such fast clock as some of the other decks.
Goblins
+1 Hydroblast, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Echoing Truth, +2 Krosan Grip
-4 Duress, -2 Thoughtseize
Goblins play Chalice of the Void and Pyrostatic Pillar to stop you.
Mirror
+1 Extirpate, +1 Tendrils of Agony, +1 Thoughtseize
-1 Infernal Tutor, -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Sensei's Divining Top
Try to take your opponent’s Tendrils of Agony with Extirpate or make his Ad Nauseam less effective with your Tendrils of Agony.
Personally I wanted to board out Sensei's Divining Top in almost every matchup, because I simply didn’t like the card in the deck.
¡Bienvenidos A Madrid!
Somehow I make it to Madrid and meet Remy Solna (a former French pro and coverage reporter for Wizards at French Nationals) at the airport, together with a couple of French players. We take a cab to the site and arrive just in time before pre-registration closes. There is still a huge queue in front of the convention center, which is a forerunner of things to come…
I’ve already visited Madrid in 2008 for the Limited GP and I’ve done some sightseeing back then, so there aren’t a lot of things I want to check out. I then take the metro to the hotel and when I arrive, the receptionist tells me that they are overbooked and will bring me to another hotel. It just doesn’t stop.
After going out for dinner, I crash completely exhausted and dream about turn 1 wins…
Day 1
I arrive early at the site to trade some cards at the dealer’s booth for 2 City of Traitors and a Tropical Island I was still missing, and then wait for Joel to bring me the rest of the cards for my deck from Blackborder. Joel texts me that he is late (as usual) and I’m already getting nervous, because with Joel “professional flight misser” Calafell you never know. Luckily he arrives only 15 minutes late and has all the cards I need.
While waiting for the head judge to start the tournament, I’m listening to my tournament song of choice: “Madrid” by Dover (Check them out! They are amazing.). I then meet Remy again, who is still drunk, having partied until 6 am, but that’s just how he rolls on an average day. I listen to his crazy nightlife stories, but can’t mention any details for obvious reasons.
And then it is time to start the biggest Magic tournament in the history of the game. It looks like Legacy is really popular in Spain and all the Spanish players I talk to, tell me that there are various Legacy leagues in the big cities such as Barcelona or Madrid. They run weekly tournaments with up to a 100 players. I’ve played in GP Paris last year, with almost 2000 players but I didn’t expect GP Madrid to be even bigger than GP Paris:
GP Paris is in the books and I bring you a detailed round by round report of how I came close to making top 8 at the biggest Magic event of all time!
With 2227 players there are various problems to be solved by Wizards. Here are some of the funniest announcements from the head judge:
- If you don’t find a chair at your table please play while standing. We don't have enough chairs.
- We reserve the right to drop players who are 0-3.
I didn’t plan on writing a report about the tournament, which means I didn’t take any notes and have to reconstruct all the matches from memory. If you’ve played against me in Madrid and notice that something is incorrect, please let me know.
Round 1: Bye
As always Bye is an easy opponent to begin the tournament with. I expect him to be playing a combo version of continental breakfast and that’s right on. He starts with an orange juice and some croissants, which I quickly devour. The coffee Bye boards in for game two isn’t a problem, since I’ve tested the matchup extensively, and I continue my winning streak against Bye.
Round 2: Bye
I’m paired against the same opponent as in round one. And despite me calling over a judge to complain about this, there is apparently nothing they can do about it, because it would mean re-pairing a 2200 player GP. Well then, I have to play versus Bye again and manage to win a close one.
Round 3: Daniel Gutierrez - Merfolk - Loss
Finally it’s time to battle, though I would have loved to face Bye again.
I have to take a mulligan and keep a rather slow hand. My opponent leads with Aether Vial and I know that he’s playing Merfolk. Seeing as I haven’t really tested the different matchups I have no idea if this is going to be a difficult match, but some of my friends told me that Merfolk is definitely one of the decks you want to avoid with ANT. The reason for this is, that they have a lot of disruption paired with early pressure to reduce your life total and at the same time weaken your Ad Nauseam.
Daniel follows that up with double Silvergill Adept and I just can’t afford to wait any longer, hoping to draw some sort of disruption (Duress) against his hand which is presumably full of counterspells. I decide to just go for it, and this is the first time that I misplay on the weekend (with many more to follow…). I’m pretty sure that he has a Force of Will in hand at this point of the game and therefore decide to keep a Dark Ritual in hand to have a slightly better chance to try and go off again next turn, in case I topdeck something. This play allows me to only play around 1 copy of Daze, unfortunately he was holding 2 Daze and no Force of Will, which means my Ad Nauseam would have resolved had I played the Dark Ritual.
In game two señor Gutierrez has a Cursecatcher and Standstill together with a manland and I have to break the Standstill on turn 3, otherwise I would take too much damage. Despite him having more than 7 cards in hand, he doesn’t have a Force of Will, just a single Daze and I mange to resolve Ad Nauseam on around 15 life. This is usually enough to win the game, but I reveal the second copy of Ad Nauseam as the first card, followed by the lonely Tendrils of Agony. Several cards later I just die to my own Ad Nauseam.
At this point I’m already thinking back to GP Madrid in 2008, where I opened the worst sealed pool in my Magic career and dropped after 2 byes and 2 losses, and it looks like Madrid isn’t the city where I should be playing Magic…
2-1
Round 4: Fernando Galán - GeddonStax - Win
Fernando is playing GeddonStax, which is a deck that runs lands such as City of Traitors and Ancient Tomb to power out Crucible of Worlds, Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void. As I’ve already mentioned, this is the Legacy deck I’ve played the most games with and therefore I know one or two things about the matchup.
Depending on his starting 7, the matchup can be horrible or a walk in the park. If the GeddonStax player keeps a hand with cards such as Ghostly Prison, Magus of the Tabernacle, Crucible of Worlds or Armageddon, it shouldn’t be a problem for the ANT player to win. However if GeddonStax has a hand consisting of Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere, paired with the 2 mana lands (Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors) the matchup becomes a nightmare.
I keep a pretty good hand for game 1. Fernando kept a hand with the Crucible of Worlds/Wasteland combo but no additional disruption. His Wasteland slows me down, but I eventually manage to go off.
Fernando has to take a mulligan for the second game and keeps a one lander with multiple Chalice of the Void. This is definitely a reasonable hand to keep. He plays the first Chalice for 0, which slows me down quite a bit. Luckily he doesn’t draw the second land for 2 turns and that’s all the time I need to combo.
I don’t hit enough gas with Ad Nauseam (but reveal the second copy of Ad Nauseam again) and as soon as I’m down to 4 life I have to stop revealing cards. I take around 5 minutes to discard down to the perfect hand (ensuring a win next turn) because I didn’t practice enough with the deck. Fernando is pretty upset (I can’t blame him for that) and calls over a judge. The judge decides to just watch the match, without handing out any warnings, and I win on my next turn.
3-1
Round 5: João Coutinho - Reanimator - Win
After checking the pairings I find out that I’m still listed with 6 points despite my win last round. I go to the main stage to talk to the scorekeeper about that and have to wait for around 5 minutes because he is extremely busy. At this point I have to extend kudos to the scorekeeper! I’ve never watched him work before at another GP, but I think he’s the hardest working person in the room. I’m pretty impressed after seeing how exhausting it is to enter all the results each round in a 2000+ players GP.
The scorekeeper tells me that he will fix the problem next round and that I just have to play this round versus the opponent I’m paired against. This makes me worry a bit about my tiebreakers, because I have to play someone with 2 losses, but seeing as they restarted the GP for day 2 with new tiebreakers, it didn’t really matter. I arrive around 5 minutes late to the table and we are given extra time.
João is playing a reanimator version similar to the one played by Blackborder’s Joel Calafell.
This deck forms part of my feature article:
Level 4 pro Joel Calafell brings you
the deck he used to make day 2 in the biggest Magic tournament in the history of the game. If you are looking for the latest Legacy technology make sure to read on.
Joel also includes his
thoughts on the first card from Rise of the Eldrazi!
| Colors |
|---|
| Artifact | 4 |
|---|
| Black | 16 |
|---|
| Blue | 19 |
|---|
| Gold | 2 |
|---|
| Land | 16 |
|---|
| White | 3 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 0 | 4 |
|---|
| 1 | 23 |
|---|
| 2 | 8 |
|---|
| 5 | 4 |
|---|
| 8 | 2 |
|---|
| 9 | 3 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 4 |
|---|
| Artifact Creature | 1 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 2 |
|---|
| Creature | 4 |
|---|
| Instant | 20 |
|---|
| Land | 14 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 15 |
|---|
I keep a hand with fetchlands, Brainstorms and some acceleration but don’t manage to find business spells, and after drawing more lands he destroys me with a quick Iona, Shield of Emeria on Black. Seeing as I’ve no outs to the angel in the maindeck, I just scoop.
While we are shuffling for game 2, João tells me that he has seen the reflection of a Chrome Mox in one of my sleeves. The transparent side of the sleeve must have been a bit curved, while I was holding the Chrome Mox in my hand and that was enough to see a reflection. I’ve never heard that before or even noticed that this is possible, but thanks for telling me João.
I get the god draw in game 2 and kill him on turn 1. João has to mulligan to 4 in game 3 and I’m already thinking that I’ve this match in the bag. Not a bit of it! He has a Force of Will for my first Ad Nauseam and then topdecks another Force for my Ill-Gotten Gains. Luckily I topdeck my second Ad Nauseam on the following turn and go off.
4-1
Round 6: Jorge Villagrasa Martinez - Bant - Win
Jorge is a really cool guy and we chat a bit in Spanish. I find out that I definitely have to improve my Magic related Spanish vocabulary. He is playing some sort of Bant deck with the Natural Order combo. I keep a subpar hand for game one, while he has various disruption spells and then kills me with Natural Order into Progenitus.
In game 2 he hits me with a Rhox Warmonk to gain some life. I manage to resolve Ad Nauseam but can only cast a Tendrils of Agony for 22 instead of the needed 23 and have to pass the turn after discarding down to a perfect hand. As planned I win on my next turn with Ill-Gotten Gains.
I once again get the perfect draw for the decider and it’s not close.
5-1
Round 7: Mariano Rodríguez - Mono-Green Aggro - Win
Mariano seems really nice and is playing a mono-green aggro rogue deck, featuring Giant Growth, Silhana Ledgewalker, Berserk, Kavu Predator, Slippery Bogle, Might of Old Krosa and Invigorate among others. It feels weird to play against Slippery Bogle in Legacy...
I have no idea what I’m playing against and a Duress doesn’t really help. I kept a slow hand for game 1 and he gets me into single-digits pretty quickly, rendering Ad Nauseam basically useless. I have to cast a desperation Ad Nauseam and die to it.
While sideboarding I’m asking myself how Mariano managed to go 5-1 with such a (in my opinion underpowered) rogue deck and I’m thinking that it should be impossible for Ad Nauseam to lose to mono-green aggro. This proves to be true when I win games 2 and 3 fairly easily.
6-1
Round 8: Jorge Roman Sanchez - Zoo – Win
This is it! If I mange to win this round I’m already through to day 2.
I don’t remember that much from this match other than that Jorge was playing Zoo, which is a pretty good matchup, especially in game 1. I get solid draws, resolve Ad Nauseam, make sure not to be too greedy and not to go down below 5 life in order to play around Fireblast (I’ve actually lost to this card while playing some test games against Zoo), and win in 2 games.
7-1
Yes, I did it! I’m through to day 2 in the biggest Magic tournament ever. It’s also the first time I’ve managed to make day 2 in a Constructed GP. I try not to lose focus and concentrate on winning the last round.
Round 9: Mathieu Deloly - Bant - Loss
Mathieu is a French player and after speaking a mix of Spanish and English all day long, I find out that it’s quite difficult to change to another language yet again and start speaking French for the last round. Being extremely tired doesn’t help and my French is mixed with the occasional Spanish “palabra”, which seems to be quite entertaining judging from Mathieu’s reaction.
The games don’t go according to plan, though I mange to win game 1. I board in Chain of Vapor, Echoing Truth, Slaughter Pact and probably 1 Krosan Grip to deal with the expected hate.
In game 2 I have the win in hand and all I need to do is Mystical Tutor for Infernal Tutor. However I make the worst misplay of the day when I play Mystical Tutor for Ad Nauseam, which I can’t cast with the Lion's Eye Diamond in my hand. As soon as I put the Ad Nauseam on top of my library I realize my mistake and go bright red with shame. It might have something to do with being extremely tired or already thinking about going into day 2 with an 8-1 record, but I can’t really explain nor excuse this horrible misplay.
In the decider, Mathieu draws Meddling Mage plus Gaddock Teeg, which is too much hate to deal with, and after bouncing Meddling Mage and not topdecking a solution to Gaddock Teeg, I extend the hand with a “Thanks for the games, I’m tired and want to go home”.
Lino was playing at the table next to me and made several mistakes too, so at least I wasn’t the only one…
Our Rookie of the Year is back from GP Madrid. He analyzes his performance at the biggest tournament in Magic history and tells you what lessons he
learned. In addition Lino explains his deck choice and presents an updated version!
7-2
It’s already past midnight and I take the metro back to the hotel, quickly check the coverage, post some content and then hit the hay at around 2am. I’m pretty disappointed with the 7-2 record and my misplay in the last round.
Day 2
The alarm goes off at 6am, which is definitely too early and I don’t feel at all like playing day 2 in the biggest GP ever. Still I’m motivated and believe that I can make top 8 with this deck after having learned how play it during day 1 :).
After getting off the metro I walk into a bakery, where they are preparing their stuff, and ask in my best Spanish if I could buy some croissants. I don’t know if it is my Spanish or just that they don’t like foreigners in general, but the store clerk tells me that they are still closed and can’t sell me any of the croissants I see in front of me…
I arrive at the site 20 minutes early, still hungry, and have to wait outside in the cold with all the other players. Finally the doors are opened and pairings for round 10 go up shortly after.
If you’ve played in a GP before, you should know that on day 2 there are usually 6 rounds. But not this time! Because so many players made the cut to day 2, we had to play 8 additional rounds for an epic total of 17 rounds before the top 8.
Round 10: Miguel Hidalgo - Zoo - Win
Luckily I start day 2 with another easy matchup. Miguel might have made a small mistake when he did not “destroy” my Sensei's Divining Top with his Qasali Pridemage in response to me cracking a Fetchland. This would have slowed me down considerably but I would have probably won anyway.
8-2
Round 11: Yann Barsamian - Canadian Threshold - Loss
Yann is playing Canadian Threshold and for the first time in the tournament I somehow feel outplayed on every single turn, but can’t really explain why. Yann slows me down with Spell Snare, Stifle and Vendilion Clique in the first game and buys himself enough time to kill me with Nimble Mongoose.
In game 2 I have to fight through Spell Pierce, Divert, Daze and Force of Will and just don’t get there.
8-3
I’m pretty disappointed that I’ve picked up loss number 3 this early. I try to motivate myself by telling myself that I won’t lose another round.
Round 12: Alejandro Millán - Zoo - Win
I get another easy Zoo matchup for round 12 and add 3 more points to my total.
9-3
Round 13: Juan Francisco J. Carrion Valverde - ??? - Win
Looks like I’m getting old and don’t remember anything from this round other than that I won. Sorry.
10-3
Round 14: Ernest Sanchez - Zoo - Win
Zoo again, how lucky! And 3 more points.
11-3
Round 15: Dmitry S. Moiseev - Dredge - Win
Dmitry made the trip from Moscow and tells me that he’s an experienced Legacy player. He’s piloting Dredge and seeing as I’ve never played against Dredge with ANT, I’ve no idea if this is a good matchup. At least in theory it should be quite favorable. Dmitry takes a mulligan down to 4, while I keep a hand with Brainstorm and Fetchlands. I don’t find gas with the Brainstorm, multiple Ichorids get resurrected and that’s all she wrote.
I can’t believe that I actually lost the first game, but it looks like I’m running good again and I get the god draw for games two and three (Read: Turn 1 and 2 kills while Dmitry’s Cabal Therapy misses). It feels like I’m playing Vintage.
12-3
Round 16: Alexi Catelain - Dredge - Win
Alexi is a really cool guy from France who’s playing Dredge. In the first game he does his thing and I do mine, which means I’m just faster than the Dredge deck and win with a huge Tendrils of Agony.
My opponent has to take a mulligan for game 2 and then plays a sideboarded Unmask to slow me down. Fortunately I topdeck another Infernal Tutor and that’s game. He bluffs a Ravenous Trap during my combo turn, when asking how many cards were put into my graveyard (Though it doesn’t really matter at that point). A security Duress makes sure that the coast is indeed clear, and I move to 39 points!
13-3
Round 17: Carlos Fernandez Baillo - Bant - Win
Once again I’m in the same situation as at GP Paris some months ago. It is unlikely that I can make top 8 with a win but at the same time I’m out of the top 16 with a loss. My opponent has only 38 points and can still make top 16 with a win, which means I’m under a lot of pressure.
Carlos on the other hand doesn’t have a lot of pressure in game 1 and forgets to put a counter on his Aether Vial. He then misses his third land drop and loses the game because he can't vial out his Vendilion Clique to prevent me from going off.
He boards in Spell Pierce and Gaddock Teeg but doesn’t have an early creature and gives me enough time to tutor for hand disruption spells and make sure that my Ad Nauseam resolves. As soon as the powerful instant goes on the stack he extends the hand (This might have been a bit premature, though with me still at 20 life it almost always means game).
14-3
And that’s it. I’ve just made top 16 at the biggest Magic tournament ever. I’m extremely happy that I’ve once again qualified for a Pro Tour. Had I lost the last round like in Paris I would have probably gone on lifetilt for quite some time.
At this point, various thoughts rush through my mind: I guess I didn’t deserve to make top 8 because I was making mistakes every other round. It feels as if I’ve never made as many mistakes in a tournament as in this GP. Though that doesn’t really matter right now. All that counts is that I’ve finally posted a good finish at the beginning of the year (unlike in previous seasons) and I will definitely try to get beyond level 1 in the Pro Players Club :). Seeing as I’m also ranked in the top 100 DCI Total players, I might qualify for PT Amsterdam on rating if I don’t suck too badly at the upcoming GPs and the PT. Hopefully I can finally make day 2 at a Pro Tour. I think I’ve developed quite a bit as a player, but there are still a lot of things I need to work on and several areas where I can improve.
After calming down, I talk to level 5 judge Riccardo Tessitori about 2200 player GPs, what he thinks about the logistical difficulties connected to such tournaments and what changes could be made in the future. All I can say is that he has some very interesting suggestions and you should make sure to check out the next installment of Ask the Judge, where he will be detailing his ideas. Apparently a convention center for 3000 players is in a completely different league (cost-wise) than one for 2000 players.
We leave the convention center and celebrate with some “cervezas”, but after that I’m just too tired to do anything else and crash at the hotel, seeing as my flight is scheduled for around 8 next morning.
Closing Thoughts
Here are some random thoughts that didn’t fit anywhere else:
- I definitely need to work on my focus when there is a lot on the line, and I need to improve my mental game. This has always been a problem for me when I'm under a lot of pressure.
- I’ve never had an active Dark Confidant, so I can’t really say anything about them and how good they are.
- It always felt like you don’t want to sideboard too many cards (less than what I mentioned in my sideboarding plans) and just want to go for the turn 1 or 2 combo.
- The deck is really powerful and it feels like playing 4 Black Lotus. I would definitely play it again and can recommend it to all of you (if you manage to get the cards). I suggest copying Saito’s most recent version (His sideboard looks much better now):
This deck forms part of my feature article:
GP Madrid is in the books and I bring you a detailed round by round report of how I (once again) came close to making top 8 at the biggest event in the history of the game! Join me as I battle my way through the Legacy format to a top 16 finish.
| Colors |
|---|
| Artifact | 13 |
|---|
| Black | 21 |
|---|
| Blue | 10 |
|---|
| Land | 16 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 0 | 11 |
|---|
| 1 | 22 |
|---|
| 2 | 7 |
|---|
| 4 | 2 |
|---|
| 5 | 2 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 13 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 1 |
|---|
| Instant | 18 |
|---|
| Land | 15 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 13 |
|---|
Hasta Luego
My flight back home is again delayed by more than two hours due to technical problems with one of the doors. We eventually have to change to a different aircraft. I guess when you don’t run good in real life, you run good in the tournament.
Thanks for reading,
Andy
And don’t forget: Playtesting is overrated.
Black
Blue
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