Hi everybody,
my name is Maarten Ferguson and because I just won the local Grand Prix
Trial and I have nothing to do while watching the top 8 results in GP
Valencia, so I decided to write this report. Go Noah Go!
I had four reasons to participate in this Grand Prix Koln trial in
Enschede, the Netherlands:
Because I felt pretty confident in the format, going 13-3 in two pre
releases and winning quite a few drafts (though against local players mostly)
Because I had nothing better to do
Because it was in my hometown
Because I hadn't enough cash to buy many Plainshift packs, so winning a
few more after the pre release would be nice.
Planning to go to Grand Prix Koln was NOT one of the reasons to play, (I
balance between 0 and 1 bye on rating) because I had just promised to attend
a friendly gaming day with some buddies on the same weekend. However I think
I may have to cancel that now.
Turnout was rather low (only about 30 players I think) because at the same
day a PTQ for Barcelona was held in another nearby city. This was quite nice
because it gave me a good chance on winning the tournament. I felt I was one
of the strongest players today with only a few serious Dutch players and
some visiting Germans whom I didn't recognize. (I heard the single slot PTQ
had over 100 players, which is huge in Holland.) Everything went smoothly under
the experienced level 3 judge Jaap Brouwer who after judging Pro Tours and
head judging Grand Prix Amsterdam still isn't above judging smaller events.
He did a fine job as usual and was assisted by two newbie level 1 judges who
are now official judges after this tournament.
I registered a fine deck without really broken stuff but it had great green
and white creatures, a green master, some great multicolored Planeshift
cards, and 3 Giant growth-like cards. I didn't pay much attention because I
newer got the same deck back in any event...
... Until today; I wasn't very pleased, but not upset either.
So I took a better look and although I knew few removal, no battlemages and
no dragon, it seemed to be a basically ok deck upon close examination. I had
some powerful black and blue cards but quickly set them aside when I saw the
chemistry in Red-White-Green.
This was the card pool:
Bloodstone Cameo Red
Alloy golem Zap
Ancient kavu
Gold Crown of Flames
Cpt Sisay Maniac rage
Shivan Zombie Slimy kavu
Simoon Stun
Ordered migration
Recoil Kavu recluse
Vodelion Zombie Slingshot Goblin
horned cheetah Singe
Yavimaia Barbarian Insolence
Strafe
Riths Charm
Radiant kavu Blue
Marsh Crocodile Zanam djinn
Horned kavu Shimmering Wings
Cloud Cover Mana Maze
Lava Zombie Probe
Steel leaf Paladin
Sea snidd
Sisay ingenuity
Green Escape routes
Tranquility
Sulam djinn Black
Serpatine kavu Adle
Thornscape master Urborg panter
Llanowar Cavalry Firescreamer
Wallop Duskwalker
Explosive growth Tainted well
Scavenged weaponary
Falling Timber Agonizing demise
2x Gaea's might
Primal growth Death bomb
Root Greevil Volcanic imp
Mirrorwood treefolk Bog Down
White Land
Sunscape apprentice Tinder farm (green tap land)
ardent soldier Geothermal crevice (red one)
obian acolyte
Protectiing sphere Treva Ruins (G/W/U)
Strength of unity
Banalish Lancer
Rewards of diversity
Razerfoot griffin
Orim touch
Lashknife barrier
Heroic defiance
Disciple of kangee
Honour scout
Samite pilgrim
It was pretty hard to make my deck. I settled for a G/R/W design because of
the Master, the MIRRORWOOD HERO, the gold Kavus and the giant growths. In
white I had quite nice weenies for defense and in green I had a couple more
fatties. I am still not sure if this is the correct build. Please mail me if
you have another opinion, I would love to discuss the deck and my build. I
spent ten minutes considering splashing either blue for the Djinn (since I
have few flyers) or black for Agonizing demise and the death bomb because as
you will see my deck virtually hadn't any 'good' removal. In the end I
decided not to splash a 4th color and I am happy with that because I had
color problems all day. Fortunately my opponents had their share of bad luck
as well.
This was my deck:
Treva Ruins
Tinder farm (green tap land)
Geothermal crevice (red one)
5 mountains
5 plains
5 forest
Zap
Ancient kavu
Strafe
Sunscape apprentice
Ardent soldier
Obsian acolyte
Banalish Lancer
Razerfoot griffin
Samite pilgrim
Sulam djinn
Serpatine kavu
Thornscape master
Llanowar Cavalry
Explosive growth
2x Gaea's might
Mirrorwood treefolk MVP!!!!!!
Alloy golem
Simoon
Yavimaia Barbarian
Riths Charm
Radiant kavu
Horned kavu
17 land, 16 creatures, 6 utility.
I didn't play Slingshot goblin, Honourable scout, Steelleaf Paladin and
Maniacal rage. I found my deck too controllish for the Rage. the Paladin too
expensive. The scout too weak without gating and the goblin...... well I
really wanted the goblin, but what to take out? I decided to keep him in the
sideboard after 5 minutes thought.
As usual I finish my deck list just AFTER the judge calls time, but this
time I really needed the time to think about my deck.
Round 1
Jan Willem Barends
Great! I start against a good friend and good player. He has an insane deck that is
probably much better than mine with tons of removal and good creatures in
Red, Black and Green. However he is so badly manascrewed!
Playing 3 lands total in 2 games is not very good. Of course he mulliganed
and mulliganed again but couldn't find more than 1 land in his opening hand.
He only loses to manscrew all day, finishing 3rd or 4rd.
1-0, games 2-0
Round 2
German player whose name I forgot
Another bad match. First game I never draw a red source with all my red
removal in hand. Second game is very close. I manage to win with good play
in an exciting game, but it took a long time. His deck was very
good but B/U/R, and I have a lot of hate against those colours. 3rd game it
was his turn to be screwed. He draws 5 islands in a row and never sees
another color.
2-0 games 4-1
Round 3
Maarten Jacobs
There are 2 more Maarten's in town and I always win against them although
this one is a decent player. I draw great, playing the charm on the 3rd
turn, playing the Radiant Kavu with still R-G-W mana available on turn six.
This means most of his creatures can't do any damage anymore and because I
have the acolyte out as well he can't terror my Kavu. The Treefolk is
another great creature I drew both games. He has to cast Tsabo's Decree to
get rid of it, but I had already taken control of the game. He is a bit
frustrated about my good luck with the mana, but I think my deck usually
wins against his colours anyway.
3-0 games 6-1
Round 4
Tomas (?)
He plays 5 color green to have access to more of his bombs like Nishoba, Do
or Die (which is great against my stalling deck) and some other stuff, but
in the end his mana problems (color) gave me the win. I am beaten like hell
by a 4th turn Nishoba in one game though, but still win 2-1
4-0 games 8-2
Round 5
Rinke Koopman
We have always great fights, but I managed to win all of them I think.
However he is a skilled limited player. It's hard to say which one of us is
better because we seem to have different opinions about the strength of some
cards. He likes beatdown decks like me, and got one today. Green red and
black with Kavu all over the place and the usual black and red removal. Key
play in this match is early in game 3 when I decide to use a 'Giant Growth'
to save my Obsidian Acolyte.when he tries to fry it with some red removal.
He has nothing black on the table and I am a bit manascrewed and can't use
the W:target creature gets prot. black, but I feel I have to keep him and
hope to draw into some plains. This pays off when I finally draw (after 6
turns struggling) a second plains and can start using my Treefolk HERO of the
day. This stops his attack altogether, and I use the Honourable scout from
the sideboard to gain 8 life and be safe. With 7 mana my force kicks into
play with back to back Djinn, kickered Lancer and Golem I believe.
I drop my second Growth face up on the table and he sees it (silly me) and
after I draw the third growth (he sees that as well because of another
Decree) he knows he is in trouble. I have total control with Healer,
Treefolk and Acolyte. I pummel him some more with my 4/4 first strike Lancer
until he finally dies. It had been close, very close, but he is a good sport
and tells me I will win the event and wishes me luck in Koln.
Rinke wins his last match and ends up finishing 2nd.
5-0 games 10-3
Round 6
Vincent
Vincent is a casual player, who won't be offended if I say he came this far
based on his Crosis and strong deck and not his play skillz. He knows it
himself because he told me he screwed up in our match by keeping a one land
hand while thinking he had 2 (and an opt). He opts into no lands and dies
quickly in game 3 because of this bad mistake. I beat him up in game 1 and
he really beat me up a bit better with Crosis in game 2. I had a few
answers, wallop, Radiant kavu and maybe some more, but never drew them.
However 2-1 win is still a win so I win the 3 Byes and the Planeshift
Boosters as well!
6-0 games 12-4
Well, looks like I am going to Koln after all. I heard they have 'Carnival'
in Koln and every place else in South Germany in the same weekend. A bit
like the Rio the Janeiro festival but without the naked beauties and with a
lot of fat Germans in 'Lederhosen' Brrrrrrrrrrrrr..... I hope I can find
a place to stay.
The Dutch are on a hot streak nowadays (Boeken, Cornellissen, Snepvangers
and many more), kicking foreign butt all over the world. Some are so scared
of us they live under the motto 'If you can't beat them join them' (Ryan
Fuller is transforming into a Dutchmen, I met him at a local Pre release and
he is listed as 'the Netherlands' at his top 4 Valencia finish today) and I
hope I can contribute to our success. My three byes will certainly help me!
I am your regular 'good enough for one bye guy' and it will certainly be
nice to sit and play with the pros when the rest are already struggling
through the first 3 rounds.
Please mail me if you have anything to comment or if you have a place to
stay for me at Grand Prix Koln. (I ask this because I fear most hotels are
full because of the Carnival)
You can reach me at [email protected]
Greetz,
- Maarten Ferguson