The whole T1 world has heard of the first
Bazaar of Moxen tournament in Annecy, France. It's 800 km away from Brussels, should I attend? Yes of course, but how? I try to convince some people to come, but it seems there will be at most one Belgian. Still undecided, I try Staxless stax at Clichy (Paris). The deck is powerful, but I am not used to it and it shows: 3-3-0. There is still a Mox tourney in Mol, Belgium where I finally opt to take good old Vengeur Masqué to an 8th place, losing to Oath in the quarters. Since the unpowered decks will get a huge prize, I expect a lot of Ichorid and Oath. Vengeur Masqué isn't at an advantage in these matchups, so back to the drawing board. Then MS Paint comes out, I am pretty sure there will be a significant number of players who will take it. Since it will be a big event, there will be at least 8 swiss rounds. I manage to find a sparring partner on Friday for some testing (thanks Shadi), but can't find anything convincing. I want to play a deck I am used to, so I think a fish deck with Null Rod could do it. But I can't find a list I like. On TMD reports forum, my eye is caught by Oliver Beaumont's 3rd place with Bomberman. Having piloted the deck to some good finishes in 2006, this could be an option. So I ask Oliver a few questions about his card choices which he promply answers. I pack the cards for a lot of decks and take the train to Annecy.
10.15
saturday night
and the tap drips
under the strip light
I quickly find my hotel, and decide I'll play Bomberman with Tormod's Crypt and Pithing Needle main deck. On site the next morning, I am happy to hear that we should be around 200 players, it was worth the trip. I see a lot of familiar faces from the Clichy events, Serge Metz introduces me to Rich (Shockwave) who flew from Canada. JB Aymes tells me there will be a lot of Shops and blue, so the 2 Misdirection stay in the main deck and the 3 Flux in the board. I am still undecided on Leyline of the Void, but finally decide to keep them in:
3 Auriok Salvagers
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
3 Repeal
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
4 Trinket Mage
2 Aether Spellbomb
1 Black Lotus
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ancient Tomb
4 Flooded Strand
5 Island
1 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
Sideboard:
1 Darksteel Colossus
3 Energy Flux
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tinker
We are 194 players, which means 8 swiss rounds.
Round 1: Christian Hoechel (Germany) - Mono-red Stax
Game 1, Christian manages to get out a Welder and starts to control the board, but has no robot. I beat him with Salvagers and he dies to his own Crypt just when he realized he could have cast Karn if he had switched Sphere of Resistance instead of Chalice with Crypt.
In go the 3 Energy Flux.
Game 2 he has a slow start, plays an early Welder again, but doesn't have any artifacts. This time I have an Engineered Explosives for it. I counter a few of his artifacts and beat with the men. He gets a Sol Ring out, then activactes Welder, I crack the Explosives and that's it.
2-0, 3 points.
Round 2: Pedro Garcia Gallegos (Spain) - Paint
He has a great start with turn 1 Grindstone and turn 2 Servant. I am ready to scoop as soon as he shows me the third land, but he doesn't have any. He draws a Mox Emerald which I happily Drain. I then get out a Spellbomb and Salvagers to buy some time. I finally draw a Trinket Mage to combo him. That was hot!
He gets a turn 1 Painter and Forces my Trinket Mage. The second one on turn 2 gets REBed but I Force it through and play Needle on Grindstone. On his turn, he taps out for Fact or Fiction and takes Brainstorm, Mox Sapphire and Grinstone while Merchant Scroll and Volcanic Island go to the bin. He then goes for the Will, but I topdecked another Force. I then draw Tinker to get Colossus. He has Explosives, but since he already played the Grindstone, he won't be able to mill my library and concedes.
Tense great games!
2-0, 6 points.
Round 3: David Beduzzi (Italy) - MUD
He has a good opening with Chalices at 0 and at 2. I force his Karn, Repeal the Chalice at 0 and play Explosives. He plays Tangle Wire to buy some time and hits me with a Factory. I sac the Explosives and combo him.
He mulligans in a turn one Thorn of Amethyst, followed by Trinisphere and Sword of Fire and Ice. I don't do much until he plays Metalworker and equips it: it's time for Explosives at 3. He scoops after a while. A spectator points out after the match that I had played a Mox Emerald without paying the second and third mana for Trinisphere, which allowed me to play the Explosives a turn earlier. David is a bit pissed off, telling the guy that he should have called a judge on the spot rather than telling him after the match. I am sorry about the misplay, but David says that anyway he wouldn't have drawn anything (he had checked the top cards from the top of his library), any so in the end it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the match. David later makes top 8 as 8th seed.
2-0, 9 points.
Round 4: Tristan Larouanne (France) - Flash
Tristan usually plays rogue decks, but I guess the loot was too tempting this time...
Knowing that he plays Flash, I play Explosives at one, then grab a Needle naming Carrion Feeder. He flashes anyway, getting a body double on Protean Hulk and goes for the beatdown. I am able to combo him just in time.
Game 2 I mulligan into Leyline, but he Tinkers for DSC. I am about to get back my Spellbomb from the graveyard when he Extirpates them. On to game 3.
He drops an early mighty Mogg Fanatic, I answer with Salvagers. I pop explosives to get rid of the Goblin and beat with the Salvagers. Time is called, Tristan finishes at one life with no outs :(
1-1, 10 points.
Round 5: Jean-Baptiste Aymes (France) - merchant.dec
JB dusted off his good old control deck that won him some power cards.
I have a good opening with Recall. He casts Mystical Tutor on his own Recall, but I misdirect it, he Forces and I Force back. I Drain his next bomb and Salvagers go in beatdown mode. JB is out of gas and can't come back.
In the second one, I run out of counters and he plays Platinum Angel which I can't stop. In the third one, I have Spellbomb and Tormod's Crypt on the board, he plays Needle. Since his graveyard is fat, I crypt him. He names Spellbomb and follows with Tinker on Sundering Titan which is unmatched.
JB will enter top 8 as 6th seed but will fall in the quarters.
1-2, 10 points.
Round 6: Benjamin Crozet (France) - Aggro workshop
Benjamin opens with Ornitopter and a Sphere of Resistance. I am fighting for control losing a lot of lives to Ancient Tomb and stabilize at 5 with Salvagers. He plays Smokestack and tries to clean the board. Fortunately, I am able to get back 2 artifacts each turn and his board is empty while I keep Salvagers and 2-3 mana, which is enough to get all my artifacts back. Without Sphere of Resistance, I go into combo mode.
He opens with double Tormod's Crypt, Wasteland, Mana Vault, Crucible of Worlds. I play Island, Mox, Mox, Energy Flux.
He has a second Wasteland and plays a Sphere that slows me down as I am stuck on 2 lands. After some time and much discard at the end step, he draws Factories followed by Juggernaut which makes me play a second Energy Flux. Benjamin has only one out: Factories beating. Time is called.
1-0-1, 13 points.
Round 7: Grégoire Vienne: Tyrant Oath
Grégoire chose to play a mix between Oath and TPS (he has Rituals and Mind's Desire), but plays only 11 lands.
He keeps a one land hand, and it's an Orchard. Brainstorm doesn't help him. I beat him with 3 spirit tokens and Trinket Mage.
Game 2 I have to mulligan twice (no blue mana). He starts with Lotus, Oath of Druids which meets Force. He has only a Gemstone Mine, Mystical tutors for Ancestral which goes through with the last counter of the Mine. He stalls on 2 lands, I play 2 Trinket Mages, bounce one to get a Crypt since his graveyard has already a Tyrant and 2 Tendrils after a Wheel of Fortune, meaning his lone win condition is a Tyrant. After Lim-Dul's Vault he casts Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Thoughtseize, I have 2 blue open a Force of Will but no Drain: I brainstorm and hide a Force of Will on the top, he grabs the Mana Drain I just drew (leaving me with 2 Repeal and stuff) and tries to cast the Tyrant. I tap out to Repeal a Mox to get the Force and he concedes.
2-0, 16 points.
I am at 13th place, meaning I could pull it with some luck if I win (I've got good tiebreakers).
Round 8: Simon Fassl (Germany) - Gush Tendrils
I keep a slow hand while Simon plays Dark Confidant. I am soon behind, but he successively reveals Gush, Gush and Mind's Desire and dies. How dumb.
Game 2, we both sculpt our hand, I play a Trinket Mage and grab Lotus. He gushes twice at my end step (I Drain one), then goes for Yawgmoth's win: he wins the counter war, tutor for Tendrils and we go to game 3.
I have to mulligan to five (again no blue mana source) and start with Tundra, Crypt, Trinket Mage for Top. He duress the Top and it's likely I won't come back. He plays Library of Alexandria, drawing extra cards while I get hit 3 times in a row by my Crypt. Down to 10, Simon shows me his hand with Will, counter backup and Tendrils after we fought over his Recall. A mini-Tendrils will do it.
1-2, 16 points.
Simon ended 9th while I finish at
26th place with the best tiebreakers at 5-2-1.
I am obviously disappointed with the way I lost in the last one, but overall satisfied with my performance.
We then go out to have dinner in the last restaurant opened after 11 pm. Too bad Rich was too tired to join us.
This report brought to you early thanks to the French railway company which sucks big time as the first train was 30 minutes late and I missed the next one.
Thanks to Oli for the advice, to the staff (Stéphane and the judges) for organising a well-rounded event, and to the T1 French community for a nice trip to Annecy.
See you at Bazaar of Moxen II,
--
Carl
