Hi all,
finally I can write something about myself being involved in a MtG-tourney’s experience.
I missed like 6 months of real-life tourneys because of my “intense� study. For all that time, I have had only a virtual presence on Net. It was time for “MaxxMatt� to make one of his shocking and shining appearances among his disciples… In my last one, I made a 3rd place in an huge tourney in Milan and I would like to do my best to do at least Top8 another time.
I collected a lot of information about the tourney, the possible metagame, the estimated number and quality of players scheduled for it.
...Anyone I hear was trying to steal/grab/buy/exchange his possible last pieces of P9 to be fully prepared to face all the possible opponents without sub-par builds.
…Anyone I hear started testing against their worst matchups to be at least prepared to lose or win with the proper background
…Anyone I hear was continually speaking about new/old/possible deck to bring with him at this tourney.
…Anyone I hear tried to steal and test new ideas to surprise the metagame as well as they can.
The few days before the tourney were a real pain.
Surfing our sites and visiting our chat, I found people excited by the results of their decks, people worried about the “XYZ-Matchup� and people sad/happy for their new builds…
I feel really “emptied� and distant from the game because I could not remember my last REAL-LIFE Magic the Gathering’s game… One month? Two months? Six months? Have I ever played Magic the Gathering? …Bah… I was sure of being fully prepared to play ONLY my pet-deck : K-eeper.or “Whatever-You-Want-To-Call-It�.
On the other hand, I was perfectly sure that this tourney would be THE LONGEST one of my life…
I felt a real sadist on choosing THAT deck: It is the most unpredictable and fragile; the most cursed by land-flood, the one without a sure path of victory and the one with “no one turn win� deck.
On the other hand, it is the only deck that totally satisfied my hedonism. Every game with it, would be a challenge, every game would be different, every game could be won or lost by only one of my single moves…
The previsions were really intriguing.
The organizer - Enea “Phantaman� Salvaderi – told me about the possible high number of players but I could not espect “THAT� exact number. Whoa! We overrun any one other single day tourney in Europe of all the MtG’s history for prizes, number of players, quality of players and “number of hours used to play with cards� …
We played a Sanctioned, K24 REL2 event
We opened the subscriptions at 10.30 a.m.
We closed the subscriptions at 12.30 to let all the players from all the parts of Italy to safely join the event.
…We had 239 players…
…
We had 239 players!...…
We had 239 players!...…
We had 239 players!...We decided to play 9 Swiss’ Rounds PLUS Top8.
OMG! 9 Swiss’ Rounds…
My legs started to shackle and my head started to cry because I previously decided to play with my infamous 61-cards-4C-C-K-eeper’s build…
The place was literally invaded by the strangest horde of people ever assembled for a tourney. And we had an extraordinary high number of women involved on playing with cards during their Sunday Morning… ( I suspect that they were at least 8-10… �).
I left my girl at home and she decided to go for shopping during the morning planning on travelling over me “for dinner when the tourney should be finished…�… OMG! If she only would have suspected on which adventure I was involved this time…
I made a lot of scouting when I arrived there and I sent all my faithful lackeys all around the place to watch and learn important news about my possible opponents.
I was sure about the HUGE number of Combos decks and Prisons Decks because anyone seemed to talk only about MUD-Monobrown, Slavery.dec and TPS.
Speaking of popularity, Hulk and Tog, despite their good results at our tourneys, fell into a temporary limbo and none seemed to have the courage to grab and play it.
I expected some random decks and some unpowered decks but wherever I pose my eyes, I saw ONLY powered and well-know decks… Uhm.. Uhm… I was sure about the possible high number of hate.dec and Sligh.dec but I decided to cut my evergreen Cop.Red to make some space to other cards.
I knew about the sure flood of CoWs in almost every maindeck and sideboard, so I decided to swap one of them from the side into my maindeck…
I toyed a bit with my maindeck, trying to make space for them.
Adding new cards to a K-eeper.dec is one of the worst puzzle ever assembled…
I toyed at least ONE HOUR at this…
I continued to mumbled at it FOR another half of an hour…
I was tired before the tourney’s start..
In the end, I merely add it as 61st card.
What a poor choice…
On the other hand, I made some changes to the sideboard, according to what I saw until now.
I didn’t see a lot of Madness and Random-Aggro decks, so I cut the FTKs for more sideboard utilities. I saw so many Pillars, Blood Moons, Dragons and BtB that I convinced myself to take out from my card-box, my old-school Aura Fracture, only to try to able to get rid of them all at once. I puzzled a lot about adding the fourth ReB instead of something else. Of course, because of I didn’t see too many Togs builds, I chose to add another Fire/Ice to take care of the enormous number of Swarms, Welders and Fishes all around. I toyed a bit about cutting any form of grave hate from my sideboard, but I saw a lot of potential Purge’s targets so… it stayed in another time. Retrospectively, it can be good against Madness.dec and Deep Analysis too so I feel confident on it. I had ONLY two slots left and I decided to add the inevitable BeB and the second Disenchant to power both the MW’s matchup and the Dragon matchup. In my mental test against TPS, I found that only Chalices of the Void plus counters backup could be considered good sideboard choices, but they should have occupied me too much space, so I leave only my ReBs to add for that specific matchup, hoping to be able to apply the Denial-Plan as good as I can.
I felt “nude� ONLY against Old-Style-Sligh. Their PoPs, their Burns and their own Denial Plan could be really good against me if I would have kept good but slow hands. On the other hand, after the first two rounds, the possible rate of facing them
should have been low. I hoped not to be paired with them soon…. What a prophet I am…;)
This is my Sideboard:Wishable Targets3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Disenchant
2 Rack & Ruin
1 Coffin Purge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Sword to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Gush
Non-Wishable Targets1 Crucible of the World
1 Aura Fracture
Maindeck Counters4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
Things that won me some games2 Exalted Angel
1 Decree of Justice
Things that won me every game1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Time Walk
1 Mind Twist
1 Crucible of the Worlds
1 Balance
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
Spot Removals2 Sword to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
The rest of the deck1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Skeletal Scrying
3 Cunning Wish
4 Brainstorm
Needed Coloured Mana Fonts4 Polluted Delta
3 City of Brass
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
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Round 1 – Mono Red Sligh – Heavy Hate Maindeck – “Blasts and Moons’ � Plan post sideI rolled 2 and he rolled 19. I didn’t know what I was going to face. I kept a seven cards hand with a FoW and two cheap searches, two Fetchland, a Mox and a Wish. Nothing especial but a solid one.
Game 1 Of course, he laid MOUNTAIN and then he played a Pup while I started cursing all the deities of the known Pantheon for this pairing. In my first turn, I layed only my first fetchland and then passed the turn. He laid a Mishra’s Factory, attacked for one and played both a Cursed Scroll and another Pup. I mumbled about doing something in response. My Brainstorm shoved me an extremely good Time Walk, a land and a Mana Drain. I kept them, sending the Wish and the land on top of my library. I drew land, them I Walked into another turn after having optimized my second Brainstorm with my second Fecthland. He had 4 cards in hand and 3 possible attackers on his third turn. My second Braisntorm showed me my own Ancestral that drew a FoW for me. I let him attack with both the Pups and I took 4, then he tried to resolve his own maindeck bomb: Pirostatic Pillar. I didn’t waste any time thinking at what doing and I promptly Drained it. In my draw phase I luckily drew my Exalted Angel and I tried to use all my mana to resolve it. On his turn he loaded all his burn on my fiery Angel: I poorly tried to save it with my lone FoW, but, after having resolved a Bolt and an Incinerate, he sacrificed his two Mountains for his last spell in hand: Fireblast. My Angel went to farm. He had some attackers in play while I had nothing especial in my hand. Luckily for me, he emptied his hand to kill my winner. I drew Decree, layed land and then passed. He tried to resolve, Null Rod, I cicled Decree for 2 and drew into another land. He could not attack with his Pups and I gained another turn. I need a drawer to survive or an Angel to win. I drew Brainstorm. Brainstorm showed me Demonic Tutor, land and Fire/Ice. I kept both Fire/Ice and Demonic Tutor, I Tutored for Y.Will and Killed the pups. He declared that a single PoP would have instantly killed me. I declared that his deck is not so good at topdecking. I was right. He played another Mishra’s Factory, and then passed the turn. I played land, Y.will resolved, Time Walk resolved, Ancestral Resolved, Lotus pop-up into my hand and Demonic Tutor resolved. At the end, my board consist of CoW and Strip and Drain. My deck continued to screw his lands and his deck continued to give me turns after turns to stabilize better. At some point, I Mindtwisted him to be sure of being able to win with my own Angel. Angel hit the board and I won soon after.
Out: -3 Cunning Wish – 1 Gorilla Shaman -1 Mystical Tutor,
In: +1 Disenchant, +1 Aura Fracture, +1 Blue Elemental Blast, +1 Fire/Ice, +1 Vampiric TutorGame 2 I kept an hand with a lot of “self-damaging-cards� consisting of a FoW, a Brainstorm, a Mox, 2 CoB, a Vampiric Tutor and a Gorilla. Thinking about his nasty enchantments, my goal would be tutoring for Aura Fracture as soon as I could. He mulliganed once, but start another time with Land and Jackal Pup. I played my land and passed. He missed the second turn land drop and played his Lotus Petal trying to resolve a Pyrostatic Pillar. I Vampiric Tutored for Aura Fracture but I countered it to be able to manipulate a bit with my future draws without losing too much life points or lands. I was at 15 after his first turn. I resolve Aura Fracture going down to 13 and then passed the turn. He missed the land drop again and played a Chain Lighting. I was at 8 after the Pup’s attack. My next draw revealed me my Ancestral Recall, I drew 3 cards ( Time Walk, Underground and Y.Will ). I Walked into a Mana Drain and I resolved a Gorilla Shaman, with 2 blue mana sources opened. He finally drew land and tried to resolve a Gorilla Shaman. I Mana Drained it to amplify the possible effect of my Y.Will, but he ReBed it. I luckily drew my Black Lotus on my next draw phase, that let me resolve both Vampiric Tutor for Exalted, Ancestral, Time Walk, in a single turn, untap and attack for four. My life points started to rise turns after turns, even if he tried to load all his burn on my angel tring to stop it. Luckily for me his 2 or 3 missed land drops avoided him on being able to unload all his burn spells all at once, saving my angel the time needed to win
Matches 1-0-0 – Games 2-0 Round 2 – BG-Dragon Game 1 He elected to go first and started with land and Duressed away my FoW. My remaining hand was a Strip and a Wasteland, a Fetchland, a Sol Ring a Skeletal and a Wish. Reading through his discarding choice, I suspected that he need a free path for a strong second turn play. I luckily drew Demonic Tutor in my draw phase and I resolved my Sol Ring tapping my Wasteland. In his mainphase he layed a Bayou and a Xantid Swarm as suspected. I decided for my denial mode. On my turn I Tutored for CoW and I started to Waste his mana with my own Wasteland. He dropped Bazaar on his third turn, trying to discard his combo, but he sadly ended his process with only a Squee, an Animate Spell and a ESG in his grave. My own slow winning process started on the third turn. I drew a Mana Drain. I mumbled a bit about which one would have been the best move. Of course, with no combo pieces in his grave, I have more time to set up my win, so I resolved my own CoW and I Wasted his own land, being conscious that he could have won in his next turn thanks to the Swarm’s protection only with a lucky draw. As I planned, his next move was do drop a Swamp and tutor for another Bazaar with a removed EGS. I untapped, drew another card and sit on my good board position with him without anyone of the combo pieces in the grave. Luckily for him, the next Bazaar activation provided to get into the grave his entire combo. This move rise a bit my excitement for the game and move a bit my brain too. I resolved Skeletal during his EoT and found my hand full of 7 cards and a possible active LoA to maintain an edge over him. On the other hand, I have the full potential of dealing with all his lands and with all his Xantids. He sadly tried to animate things thanks to his “one shot� mana accelerators during all the game, while I sat down only waiting and digging for one of my three winners. He conceded after a 7 Soldier Decree with zero permanents on table.
Side Note: I thought about myself being without specific threats to side in for this matchup ( if we exclude Aura Fracture ), but after a quick view at my sideboard, I realized that I could have swapped more cards than I would have ever thought. All of them, have been extremely useful against other archetypes but were perfectly adapt to this matchup
In: +1 StP, +1 Fire/Ice, +1 BeB, +1 Aura Fracture, +1 CoW, +1 Purge, +2 Disenchant, +1 Vampiric Tutor
Out: -3 Cunning Wish, -1 Mystical Tutor, -1 Mindtwist, -2 Exalted Angel, -1 Skeletal Scrying, -1 Gorilla Shaman
Game 2The game started with my opponent’s mulligan. He kept an hand with a first turn Swarm.
I looked at my cards and I see a full grip of answers ( Disenchants, Fire/Ices, Skeletals and Brainstorm ) but no lands. I mulliganed once and kept a strong but risky hand with a Wasteland, a Black Lotus, a Walk, a Brainstorm and a Demonic Tutor and a Mox. I started without any fear with my Lotus, Mox, Land, Brainstorm, Walk, Demonic Tutor for Aura Fracture. I was conscious about the risk of not seeing any other land off my Brainstorm but, luckily, I see CoB and Fire/Ice. I send to farm his own Xantid as soon as I could and then I sitted waiting for his moves. He looked at the enchantment really disappointed, knowing that his only possible winning move could have been removing it with a Naturalize or a Deed if he kept them in the maindeck. From the sad line of his mouth, I realized that my strong plays totally wrecked his strategy and he only tried to gain time with some useless search spells. I managed to set up, as well as I could, my board; after 3 turns I had both CoW and Shaman in play, with two or three instant solutions to his possible spells. I revealed my hand after a couple of turns in order to force his concession. He tried to play a bit more but after two other turns he scooped.
Matches 2-0-0 – Games 4-0 Round 3 - MUD-Monobrown – “Full Hate Set� I played against that player for the first time even if we talked a lot before any tourney. By the way, I didn’t know what deck he decided to play while he perfectly knew that I should have played Keeper because of my eternal work around that deck.
Game 1I luckily won the dice roll and kept an hand with a Fetchland, a Mox, a Fow, a Wasteland, a Skeletal, Ancestral and a Cunning Wish. I didn’t know about what he was playing, so I played only a land, a Mox and then passed the turn. He opened with MW and CoW. I mumbled about not countering it and planning on Wishing for R&R on my next turn, keeping the FoW for his next threat. On the other hand, having the possibility to Waste his own MW, I decided to resolve Ancestral first and then eventually counter the CoW. My deck revealed me my own Time Walk, a Demonic Tutor and a Gorilla Shaman. I decided to go for the Denial-Plan and I FoWilled the CoW. On my next turn I Wasted his own MW and played my Time Walk. On my Walk’s turn, I resolved both Gorilla Shaman and Demonic Tutor for CoW, leaving me completely tapped out, but with the obvious knowledge that his second turn couldn’t have been so lethal. I was completely wrong because he showed me how his deck could perform even without lands. He played Ancient Tomb, Mox and Metalworker. I cryed for not having thought about it, but he confessed me that he had luckily drawn it in this turn. I had 2 Lands and a Mox on table, a possible land from my grave and a Skeletal Scrying as only possible spell. I want to avoid anyone of his brokenness and I had to draw into one of my removals or into Mindtwist. I drew Sol Ring in my draw phase, I resolved it and then played a Skeletal for 2 ( not for 3 because I could have drawn my own F/I ). I drew one of my 2 StPs and another Skeletal Scrying. In the same turn, I recycled my own Polluted from the grave to fetch a Tundra and remove from the game his Metalworker. With my last mana I ate his Mox. He sadly played another land and tried to recover with another CoW, which I could not counter. I drew another Brainstorm and then Passed the turn. He tried to resolve his own Smokestack, I resolved Brainstorm in response and found a Drain. On my next turn I could eat his CoW and I safely started recurring Wasteland after Wasteland. He conceded a few turns later, without any chance of recovering.
In: 2 R&R, 2 Disenchant, 1 Fire/Ice, 1CoW
Out: -3 Wish, -1StP, -1 ExaltedGame 2He mulliganed once and started, snorting a bit, with Ancient Tomb, Mox and Trinisfere. I luckily had a FoW to stop it. My remaining hand consist of Stripmine, Jet, Fetchland, Demonic Tutor, Skeletal. I thought a lot about Demonic Tutoring for CoW on my first turn or simply Wasting his land. I take out my balls, and I played Stripmine, Jet, Demonic Tutor for CoW and then passed, hoping that he would have not Wasted my own land on his second turn. On the other hand, he should have kept a not so stellar hand. He layed a Mana Vault and a Smokestack but no other lands. I luckily drew into another Mox, resolved my CoW and then Wasted his land. He was completely stalled but tried to reset the board with his Smokestack, planning to grow the number of counters on it. I sacrificed a land and then I recurred it thanks to CoW to nullify the Smokestack’s effect. In order to amplify a possible increase of my permanents’ number, I resolved my own Skeletal with sorcery speed, that luckily for me gave me a Black Lotus and an Exalted Angel. He sacrificed one of his permanents and then upped to 2 the Smokestack’s counters. He managed to resolve another Mox and a land, possibly not to stop the Smokestack’s effects on his next turn. I lost my first permanent only in this turn while my deck gave me another drawer: FoF. Without counters to protect me, I resolved it and it showed me Gorilla, StP, FoW, Mintwist, Y.Will. He mumbled a bit about a possible division but after a bit he realized that he could have not won this game. He gave me a pile with 4 cards and Y.Will. I kept the Will, I stripped another land and then passed. He draw-go for the first time but put 3 counters on the Smokestack. I sacrificed two Mox and my Sol Ring, only to replay them from my grave thanks to Lotus and Y.Will. All the goodies in the grave quickly came on board again and he conceded the game and the match, shaking my hand with satisfaction.
Matches 3-0-0 – Games 6-0 Round 4° - Sligh – Usual Hate and Denial Plan �Game 1I kept a good hand with Ancestral and Skeletal and a lot of accelerations. He played first and resolved a Gorilla on his first turn. This move slow me down a bit but I resolved my own Ancestral on his next upkeep. He let it resolve without doing nothing and then played a Null Rod. Doh! I had 2 artifacts in my hand and no istant way to deal with it. I played a fecthland and then passed the turn hoping to optimize it, as well as I could, with my lone Brainstorm. He played another land, a Pup and a Goblin Vandal. I played Brainstorm, it showed me Cunning Wish and 2 lands, which were good. I played one of them and passed the turn. He started beating me with his critters and Wasted my land. I responded Wishing for Disenchant. My next draw was pure gold: Time Walk. I Disenchanted the Rod, Layed my own artefacts, played another turn and I managed to kill the Gorilla with a StP. He had 3 cards in his hand and I had only a Skeletal to “fuel� my future survive. He attacked and I took all the damage with a fiery face. He tried to kill me now and load in my face 2 Bolts and a PoP. I had to draw a counter from my last skeletal for 3. I drew both FoW and a blue card that let me survive. On my next draw step I drew into Brainstorm that showed me Y.Will and I started to recur all the goodies in my grave. I ended up my two turns with 3 mana opened, a Drain in hand, an Angel waiting to hit the board and him without any attackers and with only a card in hand. On the other hand, I was only at one life and I was not in my “safe heaven� yet. He tapped 2 and resolved a Null Rod and another two to resolve a Pyrostatic Pillar. I Drained it in order to be able to resolve my Angel. I played Exalted on my nxt mainphase and bluffed a bit leaving 3 mana opened holding a useless fresh Mox in my hand. He draw go for the first time and I started to gain life points. In 3 turns he collected a lot of cards in his hand, but I put attention only on his PoPs and he could not harm me anymore.
Game 2I kept a not so good hand with too few manipulations and a lot of blue spells. He started with land and Gorilla Shaman. I played land and then passed the turn. He played Wasteland and I played Brainstorm in response. He Rebed it and I started to feel bad. I untapped, played another land and then passed again with a Mox in hand ready to be used at the proper time. He played another mountain and a Pup. With my clunky hand, I tried to FoW the Pup, but he ReB my counter another time. Pup resolved and Gorilla attacked for 1. I luckily drew my Demonic Tutor and used my Mox to resolve it for Ancestral and then I played my last land to draw 3 cards. I found another FoW and a Fire/Ice and a Vampiric Tutor. I feel more relaxed but not safe of course. In his turn, with his hand full of spell as usual ( he played Sligh really well, without wasting his resources in a non productive way ), he tried to resolve his expected Pyrostatic Pillar. I would have tutored for Aura Fracture on my next upkeep step, but this plan would have cost me too many lives. On the other hans, without too much gas, I could have FoWilled the Pillar being unable to deal with the critters for too much time with the same result. I let it resolve, I Vampiric Tutored for Aura Fracture and I reolved it. He looked at that card interrogatively, but watching at his hand he didn’t feel so much worried. He ate my Mox, and load a Bolt and a Pop in my face. My lives went down and on my next turn I was able to resolve only my Fire on the critters. I drew a drain too, but on his next turn, he showed me another Bolt and a Fireblast with another ReB backup.
Game 3I proposed an ID because we had too few time to finish a third game and he happily accepted because he told me that he lost only against me while fighting against keeper. My “Aura of Power� did the rest for me �
Matches 3-0-1 – Games 7-1Round 5° - 3C-Control-Madness – Walter Zarà Here in Italy, this extremely skilled and honest player is one of the “master� of this deck. This Madness version is a blast in his hands and you have to fear his aggressive strategy as much as his good defences. He is too skilled to play aggro decks…
Game 1I won the dice roll and opened a goodly hand against him. I had a possible first turn UNMORPHED Exalted Angel and a Brainstorm. I decided to try my luck and I loaded my entire hand on board in order to resolve my monster. Astonishingly for me, it resolved and I passed really confident about the results of that game. I was wrong. Totally wrong. He had a MUCH MORE GOODLY hand, consisting on a nasty turn one play AND a way to deal with my Angel. He resolved two Moxen, a Lotus, a Bazaar, drew two discarding Wurm, and double Squee. With all the mana opened he resolved his Wurm and a Walla. I drew land and attacked with my Angel, beating him a bit and rising my life a bit more. He layed another land, Walked and attacked, drawing cards from his Bazaar. He drew again, layed a Mongrel and I Braisntormed in response finding only stupid thing such as land, mox and Skeletal, and he resolved Regrowth on his Time Walk. The things are really bad for me. I had only a turn of life and no way to race with the two monsters from the other side of the board, especially because he had two more turns if compard with me. He had a card in hand and 2 Squees and a Mox Sapphire opened. I tried my own luck resolving a Skeletal during his EoT, but he countered it with his Logic. I had two dead cards on the top of my library and I have only two turns of life. He attacked once and then replayed his Time Walk attacking me another time. I was at 8 thanks to the Angel but I have to chump his Mongrel hoping to draw Balance. I drew a Wish that gave me a StP but he showed me another counter and I scooped.
In: +1 StP, +1 Fire/Ice
Out: -1 Cunning Wish, -1 MindtwistGame 2I went first and played land, mox, mox demonic tutor for Lotus, holding it in my hand not to show him my second turn Angel plus FoW backup plan. He decided to Waste my land and then passed the turn. I considered that one as one of his possible moves, but I had another land in hand and I would have had 6 mana for sure on my second turn. I played land, resolved Lotus and Angel another time. He was disappointed this time and tried to Force my monster. I Forced his FoW and Angel resolve. Retrospectively he showed me that he could have played in a different way, laying both Bazaar and Mox Sapphire to be sure of having a double counter for my huge threat. He tried to recover from this position, but he only had 2 Wallas in play and a Wonder into the grave. They chumped a bit but my Wastelands get rid of his Bazaars and my Angel of life points.
Game 3He started with a first turn Bazaar plus Walla. I had an hand with 2 removal and some manipulations. He started bating me with his Walla and a fresh Mongrel. My second turn Braisntorm revealed me a golden Black Lotus and a Mox, that let me play my own FoF with a Drain backup. He Forced my FoF and I Drained his FoW. FoF revealed, StP x2, Cunning Wish, Skeletal Scrying and Balance. He split this terrible ( for him �) FoF in this way: StPx2 on a side and the three other cards on the other side. I mumbled a lot around that choice. The safe one and the risky one. I had a superior land count and Mongrel would have forced me to discard all my hand if I would have thought about resolving my Balance. Skeletal is really life-intensive and the Cunning Wish would have had a StP as target only if I would have removed it from the grave with a medium sized Skeletal. Uhm.. too risky and I have to get rid of that Mongrel. He could have held in hand a counter and I would have had my pants down. I choose the “safer� pile with the two StPs. I killed his Mongrel and luckily for me I drew another F/I to kill his Walla too. He seemed a bit mana light this time, while I had only a StP and a Land in hand. He cursed some deities for his unlucky draw and my next turn Wasteland stopped his Bazaar from digging through his deck. I continued to draw land for two turns, but his deck didn’t capitalize my own stop. I recovered with a fresh Ancestral that chained a Walk and a Brainstorm into a medium sized Y.Will after two turns. He died some turns later without too many permanents on board and I killed him on my last additional turn thanks to my Angel.
Matches 4-0-1 – Games 9-2Round 6° - T1Tog – UBR-VersionI was totally disappointed. This deck smashed my face without too many problems. He passed through my counters, though my drawers, thought my denial strategy nearly untouched and I finished both two games with him with 7+ cards in hand and me with zero cards in hand. He outplayed me both the times and the deck helped him a lot on doing it. Props to him for his build and his skills.
Game 1I keep a solid hand with FoW, Drain, Brainstorm, Wish, and 3 lands. He simply went land mox walk ïƒ land, duress, mox intuition for deep deep duress ïƒ land brainstorm deep, deep ïƒ another intuition, lotus, duress, wish for something redundant ïƒ ak for 3, ak for 4 ïƒ some counters, Y.Will… won. During all this process, I drew 2 FoW, a Drain, Mindtwist, a Wish, a Y.Will, a Skeletal and I had a lot of mana to use them. All my bombs were discarded and countered. NO WAY to deal with his winning process.
I boarded in my Rebs, leaving one of them in my sideboard to Wish for it or for smoothing different ( Gush, Purge, StP and so on ). I tried to add to the maindeck the second CoW for my Mystical Tutor too.
My own Angel finally arrived after her travel from Bologna to Piacenza. I was able to see his shining smile directed to me, among the other putrescent players… She sat down aside me while I starting to shuffle my deck… 
Game 2Bah… I was totally outplayed. My only good move had been Wishing for Purge with two of his Deeps in his grave. This move stopped him a bit, but his hand was FULL of Duress, Drains and FoWs. I was unable to play around them because he continued selectively disupting my hand and trying to resolve other istant bombs. The game ended after Y.Will another time.
Side Note. Retrospectively, I could have packed in my sideboard the 4th ReB and the 4th Skeletal in order to rise the number of defences and drawers. The real difference between our two decks were 4 Duress and 4 Wish. The first ones free his path to victory and the latter ones added to his deck the needed consistency. His mana base is really solid and ONLY a difficult and infrequent interaction of CoW AND Strip could slow him down. He had a lot of basic islands and can use undergrounds and volcanics “one shot� if needed without losing any capability of winning with his MonoU’s structure.
Valuing 4c-C and Hulk, I found that:
4C-C usually do better against MW.dec and Dragon.dec while Hulk would do better against almost every other deck. With this build, Lorenzo Fedeli really superposes his predecessors and had better winning rates against the decks against which 4C-C shines, including Control Mirrors of course. It is so hard to fight as it is that it resembled me an old style-GroATog but with a solid mana base and a spread range of valid solutions.
I drop my hat towards him. Matches 4-1-1 – Games 9-4TPS-UB – My combo’s nightmare…I knew really well my opponent and but I didn’t know about what he was playing. He, like me, usually choose to play control decks, but this time he surprised me with this combo.
Game 1I kept a slow and with only a FoW and a Drain as good spells, thinking about the slow development of the game. He went first and Duressed away my FoW, forcing me to change my strategy. I layed land and passed the turn. He Demonic tutored for something and then Brainstormed. His next sequence of spells was sadly well known. He dropped his black lotus, dark ritual, resolved Y.Will and then replayed his entire graveyard tutoring and drawing enough to win on his second turn with more then 10 spells.
In +3 Reb +1 Vampiric Tutor
Out: -2 StP, -1 Cunning Wish -1 Mystical Tutor
Game 2My only way to deal with him is to kick him on his mana base or to discard some of his bombs in some ways. I kept an hand with Mox Jet, Mox, Ruby, Land, Fetchland, Balance, Brainstorm, ReB, and Wasteland. I mumbled a bit about forcing a first turn Balance. I would have lost a land while he would have lost 4 cards. He should have FoWilled it and I would have had better results with my own ReB. I tried to resolve my Balance and he mumble a bit about Forcing it. He let the Balance resolve and I had a Red mana open for his possible recover. He could have kept in hand a black mana source and a Duress or a Ritual, but luckily for me he had not enough bombs to explode in his first turns. So, he decided to lay land and to resolve a Braisntorm. I ReBed it, totally ending his own turn. In my second turn of play I drew ma Gorilla Shaman. I Wasted his land and then passed, with a Braisntorm ready into my hand to be used. He draw go for two turns without drawing into any other land, leaving me totally undisturbed. I collected a Drain and another ReB in my hand and my Gorilla was waiting for his fast mana. I was a bit stalled, without drawers but with a lot of answers to his possible future attacks. When he drew a land, I was able to Drain his Dark Ritual and then ReB his own FoW. He had a lot of cards in hand yet while I have only one. I drew Cunning Wish which fetch for me Gush that gave me 2 new fresh cards. I Wasted his lone land and then passed the turn. This stalling part of the game ended when I was able to Tutor for Mindtwist and use it on him with a counter baskup. He was reduced to topdeck and I have a good board position. He conceded when some soldiers hit the board.
Game 3I don’t remember a lot of this game, excluding that he tried an unprotected first turn Necropotence. I luckily had a FoW and a Wasteland followed my counter. My board position grew fast and my CoW slowly started eating his lands, reducing him to nothing but a Swamp, an Islands and a bounce of unplayable spells. I managed to Wish for Purge away his 2 bombs in the grave when he attempted to resolve a deadly Y.Will, but I was without gas another time, while he was only waiting for more accelerations to steal me that game. This time, I luckily drew into my own Ancestral Recall that went unresolved. It revealed me a Walk, a Gorilla an another spell. Here I lost memories of what happened. Maybe his unlucky draws, maybe a good combinations of my spells, he could not be able to resolve a single spell for at least 4 turns until a Stripmine went into the grave, forcing him to concede.
Matches 5-1-1 – Games 11-5Round 8° - UNDEFEATED Powered-Mono-Red-Hate – SlighGame1He Won. Burns, Pups, Cadets and Shamans. Not much to say. It is one of my worst matchups among the aggro decks.
Game 2°That game changed a bit my point of view towards Crucible of the Worlds. I had an hand with a first turn CoW and a possible second turn Demonic Tutor for stripmine to shut down his mana development. I had a removal in had for his possible first turn creature and I could have screwed him a lot. I thought about the bad thing of this move. I could have Tutored for another bomb such as Aura Fracture or Ancestral or Angel, but it would not have had the same impact to the midgame. So I planned to do it and it function really well. He drew 4 lands before stopping playing mana for the same amount of turns. I took some damages from Mishras, Pups and Shamans, before my denial and my Fire/Ice got rid of them all. He had an hand full of unplayable spells while I have an hand full of answers and a good mana development. I won with ease.
Game 3The game was decided by his screw this time. He mulliganed twice and kept and hand with a Mox Ruby, a Mishra factory and a Pillar. I FoWilled it and then resolved my Mox Monkey. He had a couple of two cc spells ready to be used but after those ones and my denial he scooped to his own deck.
Sorry for the lack of details but the games against Sligh aren’t funny to describe…
Matches 6-1-1 – Games 13-6Round 9° - Mishra’s Workshop Slavery – “Jessy�He is one of the funniest players of our circuit of tourneys and it is always a challenge playing against him. Our decks can wreck the opponent’s one if some key spells hit the board soon. I can avoid him locking me down with my Gorillas, my Wastelands and my Counters while he can reduce me to a state of impotence with Chalices, Welders and Drawers. This time we played for entering into the Top8, so we are both extremely concentrate but with a large predisposition for any fair-play
Game 1°He started with land and Welder. I started with a strong land and mox sapphire. He tried to resolve a CotV for 2 on hi second turn. I Braisntormed in response and found one of my faithful Gorillas and a Drain. I let it resolve and he passed the turn. I optimized my own fetchland searching for Volcanic Island and I drew an Ancestral Recall. I resolved Gorilla which he tried to force. I Ancestralled back and found a FoW for his own FoW. A that point I Wasted his own MW and passed the turn, with him with no possible strong play. I was wrong. He emptied all his hand in play and resolved Lotus, Mox, another land, Gilded Lotus and Thirst discarding Midslaver. I had an huge problem on my next turn. I have to get rid of that pesky Welder AND minimize the damage of a possible use of the Mindslaver. My hand at that that point consist on Balance, Skeletal, Drain. I drew a Brainstorm and found Fire for his Welder. My only other play of the turn was to eat all the eatable things on his boards with my Shaman. He drew land, swapped Lotus with Mindslaver and then played my own turn, wasting a Skeletal for zero and luckily for me being unable to capitalize the Balance because of the lack of a white mana source. He tapped me out and then continued to play his own turn. He luckily drew another Welder and resolved it. I knew the card on top of my library. I drew Brainstorm, finding no bad cards to hide and being forced to stack a FoW and a landon top of my library. He tried to slow me down again with a not so productive Mindslaver recursion, until he drew into his Wheel of Fortune. He tempted it in order to drew some artifacts to lay on table and win. Astonishingly for me he tried to resolve a Mox which I FoWilled and then sadly he passed the turn without being able to recur his Mindslaver again. Thrilled for the good cards in hand, I started to abuse of my mana superiority, with a Drain always ready to be used and a R&R for his possible interactions and recursions. He drew and tried a Thirst. I countered it and then he passed. Completely embed for my near win, I completely forgot about his remote possibility of having drawn another FoW and not having used it yet. I had Mindtwist, R&R and a lot of mana I pool. I stupidly decided to resolve R&R first AND THEN Mindtwist his hand… he countered it with his last two blue cards and saved his Gilded Lotus. I sadly Mintwisted away the remaining hand but he topdecked Timetwister and resolved it without any problem. The crazyness of his deck went on for too few before I conceded the entire game HUNGRY AS A COYOTE with myself.
I completely lost the game by myself, but I think that after 10 hours of Keeper, it could be accepted..
Game 2This time K-eeper went to town after four turns of the game. I played some accelerations on my first turn and Mana Drain with FoW backup on his second turn Memnarch. It fuelled a medium sized Skeletal Scrying that gave me the needed control elements to disrupt all his mana and resolve a Morphed Exalted. I don’t risk to unmorph it because of some possible brokenness, but this time I won without too many problems.
Game 3We started playing, the time was called in the middle of the game and none of them would be able to win in 5 turns. He decided to concede to me the game and the Top8 because he is a great player. We decided to split the possible prizes won as well.
Matches 7-1-1 – Games 15-7TATATADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
After more than 14 hours of Magic we approached the Top8 matches. We had to change place because it was to late to play here and all the Top8ers and a little crew moved to another “city�.
15km and some bad situations among the players divided me from my first Top8 match.
My girl was slowly dying near to me, totally annoyed, wishing “WHY� she accepted to follow me into this adventure… It was my birthday, so that’s ok…
We kissed each other a bit, in order to recharge my brain and my body…
I had 3 bad pairings ( 3 identical UBR-Tog ) but luckily for me I was paired with a Dragon deck.
Sorry…
I’m not able to write about Magic matches anymore….
Quarterfinals – BR-DragonGame 1 I had an Angel in play, a FoW in hand and my opponent was at 4 life points. Of course, he knew it was dead. He tried to win being conscious of the counterspell in my hand. I joked a bit with him revealing the FoW but asking him what target he would have chosen. The judge [ AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!! AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!! AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!! AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!! AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!! AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!! AT 4.00 a.m.!!!!!!!
( correctly of course.. but… )] decided that I should have countered it before asking the target. GROAN!!! No Joke Allowed at 4.00a.m….
Game 2 & 3I side out my Angels, leaving only my Decree as winning condition. 9 cards came from the side. HE COUD NOT HAVE WON THAT MATCH excluding a possible celebral-ictus of mine.
I won the first by concession because he had a Gorilla beating him down and no permanents on board
I won the second game because I cycled a 50th turn Decree for 20 little but nasty Soldiers and he had no permanents on boards another time.
Matches 8-1-1 – Games 17-8The exhausted top 4 split the prizes and I went home circumvented by my own personal angel…
I arrived at the home of my darling at 6.00 a.m.
We played with cards ONLY for 16 hours…
I woke-up at 11.30 with so many howling apes into my head that I needed two full bath-session and some of my darling’s massages to completely come back to real life…
I read through your mind… Fly down.. don’t travel with your brain… I HAVE SAID “massages�.
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These are the list of the Top8s
1° Place – Davide aka “Deva666� Torneri – Stacker-Monobrown 4 mishra’s workshop
4 ancient tomb
2 city of traitors
2 mshra’s factory
1 tolarian academy
4 wasteland
1 strip mine
1 mox emerald
1 mox ruby
1 mox jet
1 mox sapphire
1 mox pearl
1 black lotus
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
4 trinisphere
4 smokestack
4 chalice of the void
3 tangle wire
3 crucible of worlds
1 sundering titan
2 karn, silver golem
3 juggernaut
3 triskelion
2 staff of domination
4 metal worker
Sideboard
4 tormod’s crypt
3 arcbound crusher
1 triskelion
4 jester’s cap
3 damping matrix
2° - Filippo aka “IG^Twister� Grigatti – UBR-Tog – T1Tog – New Version4 underground sea
4 volcanic island
3 island
4 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 mox sapphire
1 mox ruby
1 mox emerald
1 mox jet
1 mox pearl
1 sol ring
1 black lotus
4 force of will
4 mana drain
3 duress
1 mind twist
4 cunning wish
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 ancestral recall
1 time walk
1 yawgmoth’s will
4 brainstorm
4 accumulated knowledge
3 intuition
2 deep analysis
1 engineered explosives
2 psychatog
Sideboard
1 fling
1 engineered explosives
1 coffin purge
1 snuff out
1 firestorm
1 gush
1 fact or fiction
1 stifle
1 hurkyl’s recall
2 rack and ruin
1 shattering pulse
1 red elemental blast
1 pyroblast
1 misdirection
3° - David Besso – WelderMUDMaindeck
4 mishra’s workshop
4 wasteland
1 strip mine
1 tolarian academy
2 wooded foothills
5 mountain
4 goblin welder
2 karn, silver golem
1 sundering titan
3 triskelion
1 wheel of fortune
1 memory jar
1 sword of fire and ice
2 crucible of worlds
3 smokestack
4 tangle wire
4 metalworker
4 trinisphere
4 chalice of the void
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 black lotus
1 mox jet
1 mox ruby
1 mox pearl
1 mox sapphire
1 mox emerald
Sideboard
1 shattering pulse
3 red elemental blast
3 viashino heretic
3 rack and ruin
1 triskelion
4 tormod’s crypt
4th Placed – Massimo aka “MaxxMatt� Mattioli – 4C-C-K-eeper4 force of will
4 mana drain
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
3 cunning wish
1 fire/ice
1 balance
2 sword to plowshares
1 decree of justice
2 exalted angel
2 gorilla shaman
1 yawgmoth’s will
1 mind twist
1 crucible of worlds
1 timewalk
4 brainstorm
3 skeletal scrying
1 ancestral recall
1 fact or fiction
4 polluted delta
1 library of alexandria
4 wasteland
1 stripmine
3 city of brass
2 undrground sea
3 tundra
2 volcanic island
1 mox sapphire
1 mox jet
1 mox ruby
1 mox pearl
1 black lotus
1 sol ring
Sideboard
3 red elemental blast
2 disenchant
1 aura fracture
2 rack and ruin
1 crucible of worlds
1 sword to plowshares
1 gush
1 vampiric tutor
1 blue elemental blast
1 coffin purge
1 fire/ice
5°-8° - Alessandro aka “Filo� Filippini 4 bazaar of baghdad
4 bayou
4 swamp
2 bloodstained mire
2 polluted delta
2 wasteland
1 stripmine
1 lotus petal
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt
4 elvish spirit guide
4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 squee, goblin nabob
3 xantid swarm
1 ambassator laquatus
1 caller of the claw
4 duress
3 necromancy
3 animate dead
2 dance of the dead
2 night's whispers
1 pernicious deed
1 buried alive
1 desperate research
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 entomb
1 crop rotation
Sideboard
3 null rod
2 verdant force
2 rapid decay
2 naturalize
2 ghastly demise
2 oxidize
1 pernicious deed
1 engineered explosives
5°-8° - Luca aka “Mitrhandir� Lo Bianco – TPS-UB1 ancestral recall
1 time walk
1 time twister
1 windfall
1 tinker
1 memory jar
1 skeletal scrying
1 mind desire
1 yawgmoth’s will
4 brainstorm
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 mystical tutor
4 duress
4 force of will
2 rebuild
2 cunning wish
1 hurkyl’s recall
1 necropotence
1 yawgmoth’s bargain
2 tendrils of agony
4 dark ritual
1 mox jet
1 mox sapphire
1 mox emerald
1 mox pearl
1 mox ruby
1 black lotus
1 lotus petal
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt
4 polluted delta
4 underground sea
3 island
1 swamp
1 tolarian academy
1 library of alexandria
Sideboard
2 misdirection
2 blue elemental blast
2 stifle
1 echoing truth
1 echoing decay
2 tormod’s crypt
2 hurkyl’s recall
1 gush
1 fact or fiction
1 decompose
5°-8° - Husson – UBR-Tog – Old Dulmen’s Version 4 underground sea
4 volcanic island
4 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
3 island
1 swamp
1 black lotus
1 mox ruby
1 mox jet
1 mox pearl
1 mox sapphire
1 sol ring
1 time walk
1 mind twist
1 yawgmoth’s will
2 psychatog
1 ancestral recall
2 deep analysis
4 accumulated knowledge
4 brainstorm
2 intuition
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
4 cunning wish
4 duress
4 force of will
4 mana drain
1 engeneered explosives
Sideboard
1 gush
1 shattering pulse
2 rack and ruin
1 blue lemental blast
3 pyroblast
1 fling
1 fact or fiction
1 stifle
1 chain of vapor
1 star storm
1 misdirection
1 fire/ice
5°-8° - Lorenzo aka “Aj3j3� Fedeli – T1Tog - UBR-Tog – New Piacenza’s Version 4 underground sea
4 volcanic island
3 island
4 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 mox sapphire
1 mox ruby
1 mox elerald
1 mox jet
1 mox pearl
1 sol ring
1 black lotus
4 force of will
4 mana drain
3 duress
1 mind twist
4 cunning wish
1 engineered explosives
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
3 intuition
1 time walk
1 yawgmoth’s will
4 brainstorm
4 accumulated knowledge
2 deep analysis
1 ancestral recall
2 psychatog
Sideboard
1 fling
1 engineered explosives
1 coffin purge
1 snuff out
1 firestorm
1 gush
1 fact or fiction
1 stifle
1 hurkyl’s recall
2 rack and ruin
1 shattering pulse
1 red elemental blast
1 pyroblast
1 misdirection
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I would add more statistics, a breakdown and some reports as soon as I could.
MaxxMatt
EDIT> All names translated in English. I was wrong on cut-copying some lists
