About Guillaume Baudois
Guillaume Baudois
Guillaume Baudois is a Swiss Magic player. He began his Magic playing career a long time ago with Urzas Saga. He then moved on to play Grand Prix tournaments when Mirrodin was released. Guillaume prefers Limited to Constructed. He qualified for Pro Tour Berlin via the LCQ and then won another PTQ for Pro Tour Honolulu.
Do you
think you have already had a crazy trip to a GP or PT ? Let me tell you a
story.
Once upon a
time…
Monday,
August 31
A group of
fearless Swiss Magic players starts the trip to GP Prague. Full of confidence, Tibo
(Thibaud Romet – played PT Geneva, has 2 GP day 2), and I, go to the airport in Geneva. Tibo
decided to leave his credit card at home, based on the fact that we have
“enough” cash.
A little
bit later, the 3rd protagonist of this tale, Mark
« Justice » [« If you misplay, God lets you topdeck »]
Schwass (Swiss National Champion 2008, played Worlds in Memphis, has 1 GP day 2) calls and
informs us that he is still in Bern because there is a technical problem with
the train to Geneva and that he will be late. Some months
ago at GP Rotterdam, Mark already skillfully missed his plane. In Lausanne
Mark discovers that the train to Geneva will not reach the airport in time, so
he has to catch a cab and pay extra to arrive at the gate 5 minutes before
closing time. So lucky!
“Hey Mark!
How are you? Do you have cash with you?”
“Yes 30€
($44).”
“Did you
bring your credit card?”
“Yeah,
obviously!”
“Ok, but do
you know your PIN code? (In Switzerland you only have to sign but in the Czech
Republic you need your PIN code)
“Hmm, let
me think... no!”
We arrive
safely at our hotel, pay for 2 nights instead of 7 and then the quest for cash
begins. We enter four different banks and ask if we can withdraw money with a signature
and our ID. Unfortunately all the bank clerks are ready with their
counterspells and we are left without money.
“What now?”
Mark is
already singing “Don’t’ worry be happy…” and instantly says : “Let’s go and eat
something”
“Yeah,
Hakuna Matata, we pay for you…”
It turns
out that this was a good play indeed, because if “all you can eat and drink”
costs 8€ ($12), that's a fair deal. 1€ is 25 Czech Crowns (koruna) or $1.47 –
which is usually the price of one beer. This small detail will be important
later on. At this point
we decide not to pay for public transport because we are running out of money.
(This details will also be important.) We get back
to our hotel room and Mark decides to call it a day because he is already quite
exhausted. Tibo and I however discover the night life of Prague.
Prague is
obviously a cool place to go out, but depending where you go to at night, you
have to pay a little attention. The first person we ask for directions, a
good-looking 30 year old woman, is probably on drugs and tells us about
Russian's influence on the Czech Republic while leading us to “bars”. Not easily
we get rid of her and enter the next restaurant: I ask the CZECH waiter for
directions in English and he answers in French: “Do you want to f*** girls?” We manage
to find a cool bar afterwards and later on visit Karlovy Lazne, a 5 floor
disco, which was pretty crowded for a Monday night, where drinks cost less than
4€.
Tuesday
Sightseeing in Prague (c) by Andreas Ganz
We check online
where we will be able to find a Swiss bank and then decide to send Mark to the
bank, while the rest of us wait in the hotel for a friend of mine, Dinara (A
Russian girl who studies in Berlin). When Mark
comes back, he complains : “I don't get it! I entered the international bank, and
thought “Let's have a last try”, and the bank clerk tells me that I can
withdraw money with my ID and a signature.” Topdeck!
“How much
money do you need ?”
“Hum, let's
say... 125’000 Czech Crowns”
“Are you
sure Sir?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Do you
mind writing down the number for me?”
“Ok, sure.”
And it
didn't work, so I tried 100’000, 75’000, 50’000 and 25’000. I don't know, maybe
there is a bill I forgot about. But there should be something like 600€ on my
card...” (Actually
Mark just messed up while calculating, because 125’000 Czech Crowns is 5000€ …) And of
course it was too late to return to the bank, so we went out for dinner and some
more partying. (You know it is like playtesting but with drinks and girls.)
Wednesday
We kick
Mark out of our room at 10am after 4 hours of sleep, so he can finally withdraw
more money. Mark went to bed again while we took a tour around the city. In the
evening, we found a incredible restaurant which was pretty cheap and Mark and I
had a delicious “Chateaubriand” for 480 Czech Crowns. Later that
night Dinara proceeds to kick our butts at poker, which is definitely another
way of being broke in Prague.
Thursday
On Thursday we go shopping and then visit the beautiful castle overviewing the
city. After another crazy night, I bring Dinara to the bus station and then
crash (almost clinically dead…).
Friday
After
sleeping for 5 hours, the hotel manager opens our door and he is accompanied by
Andreas Ganz, who, despite almost missing his flight, is ready for a crazy
weekend. Unfortunately it is time for Tibo to leave, as he hasn't played
Magic in a year and has to attend a birthday party on the weekend. Shortly
afterwards, Marcel “La Chatte” Arndt (Runner-up at Swiss Nationals 2008, played Worlds
in Memphis) joins us.
To survive
our hangover, we relocate to the GP site in order to look for a team to “money
draft”. After an hour of fruitless searching, we take the “bad beat” and return
to the hotel. And guess what; at the entrance we meet some German guys with a
display, ready to money draft. Such a topdeck!
Saturday
Guillaume Baudois at GP Prague
Finally it
is time for GP Prague 2009 and with more than 1500 players it is one of the
biggest GPs ever. I have 1 bye which makes it quite difficult to reach day 2. I open a
mediocre pool with “OK” cards in each color but nothing to splash for. In the
end I decide to play Red-White because of the high number of playable cards and
bombs. My MVPs are Earthquake, Captain of the Watch, 2 Dragon Whelp and Serra Angel.
Unfortunately
I still only have 20 cards, damn it! It took me 10 more minutes to select the last
3 cards. I have a Silvercoat Lion, an Elite Vanguard and a Goblin Piker; but I
don't like those cards in sealed. So I decided to play Glorious Charge and
Angel’s Mercy, which can be great and so funny tricks!
Round 2
I play
against an opponent from Portugal (Narciso Ferreira) who, despite already
playing on the Pro Tour, didn’t have more than 1 bye. He had a nice WU evasion
deck with a lot of flyers and I was never in the games.
I then proceed
to win 4 matches in a row against some subpar opponents.
Round 7
At 5-1 I
play a mirror match, against Lino Burgold, whom I have already met on the Pro
Tour. I assume that I can win the match, but I underestimate his deck, because
he got nice bombs too. In the
first game I manage to set up a three for one trade with Earthquake, I think, I
can’t possibly lose that game. He then plays Lightwielder Paladin and I add a
Siege Mastodon to the board. He has a Pacifism for my Mastodon plus a
Stormfront Pegasus. I proceed to play Serra Angel (I'm on 6 life and he's on 8
while I am holding the secret tech Lava Axe)
Then it
happens: “Uh, ok, Earthquake for 3, attack with my two creatures, you
chumpblock the Lightwielder Paladin with your Serra Angel and take 2, you go
down to 1. Second main phase Fireball you for 1...”
Fair
enough.
For the
second game, he switches White for Black, and on the last turn before I move in
for the kill, he plays Earthquake for 3 again and we both fall down to 1. He
looks at me with 2 Swamps and a Mountain “Um, ok, Consume Spirit for 1, you're
dead...”
Fair
enough.
Round 8
On 5-2, I
play against a Red-Green deck and lose the first game due to manascrew. I
manage to win the second game with some nice uncommon fliers. He then
sideboards in one card and I ask him:
“Windstorm?”
He looks at
me and smiles confused.
I proceed to crush him and after the match he tells me that the card was indeed
a Windstorm.
The master
read him…
At the end of
round 8, we meet the other Swiss players, Marcel “lucky boy” Arndt was 7-1, and
most of the high-level Swiss players such as Nico Bohny, Ryan Caroll, Manuel
Bucher, Matthias Künzler, Mark Schwass and I had records of 6-2 or better.
Round 9
I play
against Simon Luposchainsky from Germany . He had no byes, which means his deck
must be really good. He had a nice UG deck with a lot of flying creatures, Cudgel
Troll and Sleep. After crushing me 2-0 he advances to day 2 where he has a
solid 4-2 performance and ends up in place 84 with 33 points. The standings are
quite funny, because the highest placed player with 33 points was number 40 and
the lowest was in place 86! When you have no byes it's always harder....
Guillaume Baudois, Ryan Caroll, Marcel Arndt and Mark Schwass at GP Prague (c) by Andreas Ganz
Of course I
was a bit “sad” and disappointed and disoriented but a lot of the Swiss players
made it, such as M. Bucher, R. Caroll, N. Bohny, M. Arndt, M. Kunzler and Y.
Sele. Solid performance.
And now it
is time for the more serious stuff…
We leave
the tournament site to eat at our favorite restaurant. I am extremely tired,
but after 2 liters of Hoegaarden beer I feel a lot better. We then head back to
our room, because Marcel has to get some sleep for day 2 and Mark was too tired
to do anything else.
Andreas however
looks at me: “Let’s go party!”
“Obviously…”
We take a
cab and arrive at one of the best nightclubs in Prague, called SaSaZu at around
2 am. It was a really nice and big club, but there are only around 40 persons
on the dancefloor. – Saturday evening, come on? We find out that there was a
huge concert just before we arrived and almost everybody left at the end. After
several drinks, we move downtown to “The Duplex Club”, where a crazy party is
in full swing. Later on we relocate to another club to enjoy some additional
“adult entertainment” and celebrate till the early morning...
Sunday
So it was
Sunday and we arrive at our hotel room at 7.30 am, where Marcel is
already awake and ready to battle in day 2. Andreas heads straight to bed,
while I just say : “Let me take a shower and then I will be ready for some
railbirding.”
“Ok, I get
a cab and you join me in 10 minutes”
Obviously
when I arrive at the reception desk, Marcel already left, so I have to take the
tram. I almost
pass out in the tram, when suddenly:
“Excuse me
Sir, can I see your ticket ?” (Come on, it's Sunday 8 am!)
“Sorry I
don't have one”
“Why ?”
“I didn't
find the ticket machine, I have no money and I am still half drunk...”
They tell
me I have to pay 700 Czech Crowns and ask for my ID. At that point they realize
that they will never send me the bill to Switzerland, they scoop and let me go.
After
several cups of coffee I was ready for another day of Magic…
I watch a match of Matthias Künzler. Matthias has a Rhox Pikemaster on his side
of the table and plays a Captain of the Watch. but he was still in a losing position
because of the opposing and his opponent was on 17. However Künzler has access
to mana 7 plus Clone and Safe Passage in hand. This means he can survive
another turn and then has to somehow kill his opponent. On his turn Matthias casually
“clones” the Captain of the Watch and then attacks with the other 5 soldiers.
His opponent looks at the board and sais “OK, no block, I take it, how much
would that exactly be?” - “Um, 18 you're dead!” “Ah, ok...” The guy forgot the
boost effect... and this is day 2?
Later on I
watch friends playing in the PTQ for Austin, and then the 3 remaining rounds.
Then we money draft, watch the top 8 and eat dinner. At this time I feel kind
of like Living Dead...
After
dinner I feel better, but I still want to go to bed and Marcel is tired too.
Mark is perfectly awake, and Andreas – the guy who slept- says: “Party time”.
Mark
instantly agrees.
“Guillaume,
let’s go!”
“No,
please, let me die in my bed!”
Ten minutes
later, I am walking in the streets; don't ask me why. We go clubbing again
until sunrise and then head directly to the airport.
Monday
At the
airport we meet Loïs Jacquet, a judge from France and another judge, playing
cube (including P9). On the plane we tell the other passengers to change seats,
so that we can sit near each other and Cube draft.
Thanks for
reading, I hope you like the fact that I don't mention a lot of cards and
decklists or talk about strategy, because everybody knows enough about the
tournament itself and you can find the Wizards coverage here.
See you in
Paris!
Guillaume
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Who says Magic players don't know how to have fun? Other than my wife...
Very nice site!
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