[Report] 3rd Place at Swedish Nationals with GermBus

Hi, I’m Erik Andersson and this is my report from the 2004 Swedish Vintage Nationals, held at LinCon on May 20th. If a moderator finds this interesting enough to move to the Tournament Forum, please do so. Anyway…

A number of regional trials had been held during the last months, and my 2nd place in one of them had provided me with two byes in the national tournament. This was a new system and one that a lot of players disagreed with, since the large differences in skill and card pool made some regionals a lot easier to get byes in than others. And indeed this was evident at our regionals where only a handful of fully-powered players showed up, and consequently made all the top finishes. At that tournament I went undefeated with a pretty standard Drainslaver build, but placed second due to worse tiebreakers than another teammate (there was no Top 8). I had been playing the deck on and off since it won at Dülmen and felt confident with it, but I knew that modifications had to be done before nationals. Testing showed that the deck was lacking in draw with to much weight being put upon resolving TFK’s, which made me modify the deck to incorporate the AK/Intuition engine, just like a lot of other Swedish players. This alteration made the deck run smoother, getting the combo out faster and having more counters to protect it with. In the end I was fairly confident that this was the deck I was going to play, but there would be one last trial the day before nationals and I was prepared to make more adjustments based on the meta in that final tourney.

Personally, I had decided to play something new and fun in it since I already had byes, so I borrowed a play set of Mishra’s Workshops from a friend and threw together a deck that an optimist would call a fast beatdown deck with lots of draw, and a pessimist a 3000$ Stompy deck. Here’s the decklist if anyone’s interested:

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Crusher
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Frogmite
3 Myr Enforcer
3 Genesis Chamber
2 Triskelion

4 Skullclamp
4 Thoughtcast
1 Memory Jar
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Windfall

7 SoLoMox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel

SB: 4 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Aether Spellbomb
4 Annul
3 Sword of Fire and Ice

The deck was a blast to play and made a lot of people stop by and watch my games, so I was having a great time and ended up going 4-2 before dropping out to get enough sleep before the big tourney. What worried me was the meta though…Goblin Welders were everywhere at the top tables, and I was far from the only one that used the AK engine in Drainslaver. So instead of having to face AK/Welder mirrors all day long I decided that I had to play something else. After some talk with my teammates I realized that this meta was just like the one the CAB guys had expected in the last Dülmen and conquered with GermBus. So in the early morning hours I did the only right thing; screw your own testing and netdeck. I copied the list that won Dülmen card for card, thought about adding another Gorilla Shaman for a couple of minutes but fell asleep before I could figure out what to cut.

A couple of hours later I arrive at the tournament, thanking my byes for giving me enough time to clear my head before actually playing. The meta looked a lot like yesterday: the control players using Drainslaver or Hulk, the Workshop players using Stax, the Bazaar players using Dragon, the combo players using Rector and the budget players using Fish or FCG. There was a 105 players and a severe lack of oxygen in the room. My teammates seem to be doing well, so in the third round I sit down to face my first opponent, a young gentleman who is all smiles after beating Kenny Öberg (Sweden’s highest ranked Vintage player) in the first round. He is playing Fish, so I prepare for a rough ride.

Game 1: I hate first games, I’m not really up to speed so I make enough of those little mistakes that Keeper players can’t afford to make. I end up not finding any removal for his Lavamancers, and they do me in before I get enough mana to hardcast the angel in my hand.

Game 2: Two early wastes from my side leaves him without threats for a couple of rounds, giving me time to stabilize. Once the Lavamancers start coming, I’m prepared with FTK’s and an Angel mops up a couple of rounds later.

Game 3: He gets early pressure, but overcommits and gets crippled by a balance. His mana denial stunts me of white mana however, so time is called before I can unmorph and deal enough damage to win. Bummer.

2-0-1

In round four I face the nightmare matchup: Hulk. To make matters worse my opponent has added even more draw to the AK skeleton, in the form of Thirst for Knowledge. My hope is to mulligan aggressively and go aggro-control on him with angels, but I’m not too optimistic…

Game 1: There’s no way I can fight over every draw spell he casts, so like Team Bandana did in the Psychatog World Championships I let them resolve and hoard my counters for Angels and Togs. It seems to work, and I end up with two angels on top of his Mana Crypt that is serving him pretty bad. He can’t find a Tog in time and the Angels go all the way. Yay.

Game 2: This game is a slaughter, he draws cards like a madman and counters any relevant spells I try to cast. The game is over long before a Tog finishes me off.

Game 3: I get a slow hand with reactive spells, which is not the kind of game I’m looking for, so I mulligan into a hand with first turn angel, but no white mana. I decide to throw caution to the wind and go for it, and once again the angel gambit combined with his mana crypt and my pseudo-Time Walk Wastelands go all the way. In a desperate last attempt he stifles his own Crypt, and goes on to play Time Walk. Realizing his mistake he tries to take it back, but I won’t let him and he dies on his next upkeep.

3-0-1

I’m now at the top tables, and sit down to play a guy with an unknown deck. There’s Welders all around me though, so I’m not surprised when I find out that my opponent is playing Stax. Perhaps ESG won’t be the first restricted creature after all…

Game 1: I keep a decent hand featuring Gorilla Shaman, FoW, Mana Drain, Brainstorm and lands, and it turns out that he thought that I was playing the Affinity deck from yesterday so he keeps a hand with lots of fast mana and Karn. Naturally I FoW the big guy, waste his Workshop and eat all his moxen, so he scoops turn three. Pretty fast for a Keeper deck J

Game 2: He opens up with land, Welder and I go Sapphire, Sol Ring, Pearl, balance away his board. I play control for a while, countering and removing his threats, and refilling with scrying. I’m unable to find an angel however, so the game drags on. In the end a Brainstorm turns up Yawgmoth’s will, and he concedes once I show it to him.

4-0-1

I can’t really start thinking about drawing into top 8 yet, but I’m feeling positive about my chances. I get paired against a guy from Stockholm that I remember playing Stax in a tournament earlier this year, and it turns out it’s his deck of choice today as well. He asks me if I want to draw, but since he is 5-0 and I’m 4-0-1 I need the points.

Game 1: I get a first turn Shaman and follow up with wastes, leaving him mana screwed for a while. IIRC I drop an angel and topdeck white mana just as he’s getting back into the game. Mise.

Game 2: He drops a first turn Rishadan Port and I’m like wtf? On his second turn he plays a Memory Jar, and FoW’s my FoW, but passes the turn without using the jar. In his EOT I brainstorm into a Damping Matrix which I cast on my turn. He sighs but manages to lock down my mana with wasteland and trinisphere/tangle wires, so we’re both screwed and have to discard for several turns. However he has a welder slowly pecking away at my life and out of nowhere he plays Boil which draws out my last FoW. It’s starting to look grim but I manage to Ice his Trinisphere on the next turn and tutor for a decree that kills his welder and gives me more permanents. The game drags on and he tries to go for the throat with Tinker for Sundering Titan, but I’m prepared with Rack and ruin. My lands are gone, but I have enough moxen to drop an angel and start to beat down. Eventually I brainstorm into a fetchland for Plains, and that’s the game.

5-0-1

That last game took over half an hour so I’m happy to find out that 5-0-2 will make top 8. I quickly find my opponent and draw, so I have time to eat a little before the quarterfinals. I end up in 7th place after the swiss and my teammate Martin is 3rd, so the t8 decks will be: Keeper (me), GAT (Martin), Drainslaver, Stax, Vengeur Masque, an Isochron deck and a pair of Landstills. I’m up against the Vengeur deck and after a little chatting we get down to business. Fortunately we get to look at each other’s decklists before the game and I see that he is playing an unconservative build with MD Welders and SB FoW’s. I’m feeling pretty good however, knowing that I have SB cards to deal with both aspects of his deck.

Game 1: He wins the die roll and looks troubled when he sees his starting hand. Eventually he keeps, and starts with Taiga, Ruby, Survival of the Fittest. I have no FoW, but I suspect that he kept a mana-light hand so I waste his Taiga. Just as I thought he has no more land, but topdecks Black Lotus, which enables him to discard Sundering Titan, play Mask and a Goblin Welder. I brainstorm, find no plows, and die miserably.

Game 2: I watch his sideboarding closely and see him take out eight cards, which I’m certain are masks and dreadnoughts. Thus I leave my matrixes in the board and get GY hate instead. In the end it doesn’t matter that much, since I manage to counter SotF and keep him from getting UU for his shapeshifters. Eventually I drain something big, hardcast an Angel and ride it to victory.

Game 3: He didn’t have enough threats last game, so I see him taking back those eight cards he boarded out. Of course I go for my Matrixes, and thank my lucky star when I see one in my opening hand along with two moxen. My luck is short-lived however, as he starts with Mana crypt, Pearl, Mask, summon a creature with one mask counter on it. I’m not dead yet though, since I have Demonic tutor to find a StP in time. On my turn I cast the matrix and he FoW’s. Looks like this will be the end of the tournament for me, and I’ve already changed my life counter to 8 when he flips over a Goblin Welder instead of a Dreadnought. I smile like a kid on Christmas, untap and play demonic for my second Matrix with mana drain mana up. It resolves on my next turn and he can’t do much other than attack for one and flip his mana crypt each turn. I’m down to topdeck however, and seem unable to draw anything relevant. After a couple of turns he casts tinker for Sundering Titan and Blasts my counter, so I have to balance it away, going from 5 lands to 0 in the process. He summons another Welder, and I play a morphed Angel with 2 white mana sources left in my deck. We start swinging back and forth and with him at 3 life and me at 2 he decides to attack, so with a smile on my face I attack with the angel one last time and play Ebony Charm for the win J

The semifinalists are me, one of the Landstills, the Drainslaver and the Stax deck. None of us feel like going to GenCon, so we decide to split the prize money four ways. Sure, it would be awesome to go to the US and meet all the TMD people, but it’s really rather pathetic to call it the World Championships when 95% of the participants will be Americans that haven’t had to qualify for it in any way. If it was organized like Standard (top 4 in nationals qualifies and get airfare) it would be a whole different bag, but right now there’s no incentive to send one guy while the rest of the top 4 gets peanuts. At least that’s how we reasoned.

Anyway, I’m up against Konrad who is playing the Stax deck. Like all other Workshop players he had given up on Slavery, since it’s too inconsistent and doesn’t utilize the power of Workshop as well as Stax does. My hopes in game one are basically to win the die roll and get a shaman/tutor and Force of Will in my starting hand. Otherwise, Trinisphere and/or Chalice are enough to ruin my day.

Game 1: He starts with land, welder. I have FoW, but let it resolve since I think I’ll have time to find F/I or Plow with the two Brainstorms in my hand. He then continues with Lotus, chalice for one and I have to FoW or else I’m screwed. I play land, go, and on his 2nd turn he plays Ancient Tomb, TFK. I Brainstorm in response, but see only lands and an Angel. He discards Sundering Titan, plays Mox and welds it out for the Titan. My land dies, and without acceleration I can’t stop the big guy in time.

Game 2: I mulligan twice into a hand with FoW, Mana Drain and 3 land that I keep. I drop a land, go. He goes volcanic, Lotus (again!), Trinisphere and I have to FoW it, pitching the drain. I draw a land and can’t do anything but laugh when he plays volcanic, welder, mana crypt, Tinker for Sundering Titan on his second turn. There’s just no way that I can beat hands like that. I draw two lands and a second FoW during the three turns it takes for him to kill me, so I shake his hand and congratulate him on making it to the finals.

In the other semifinal, Drainslaver has defeated Landstill so we duke it out for the Bronze. I’m just happy to play against a deck without Welders, and I think my matchup against Landstill is quite favorable since I have five strips and few permanents.

Game 1: We play land + go for a couple of turns, and he eventually drops a standstill with a Mishra on the table. It turns ugly for him however, as we both draw LoA, but I have the Waste and he doesn’t. I let it go on for a while until I’m down to 8 and he has a full hand, when I Ice one of his lands in his EOT. He has to discard stuff and I unleash the goodies I have accumulated, winning a counterwar over an Angel, refilling with Ancestral Recall and Time Walking. He tries to keep up with my angel with his Mishra and a conclave, but once I draw another Wasteland he scoops.

Game 2: He boards in a lot of cards, but I can’t remember anything relevant besides REB’s in his decklist. It turns out that he boarded in Maze of Ith’s, which probably cost him the game since my wastes left him mana screwed. I get LoA online in this game as well, and at one point I sit with 9 cards in hand and 5 of them being drawspells, while he has none after being Mind Twisted. I point out that there’s no way I’m going to lose this game, so we just laugh, shake hands and call it a night. Meanwhile, Konrad has beaten the Drainslaver deck in the finals, so once again Stax wins a major Swedish tournament (the last one being GothCon). Looks like the Welder dominance will continue until Autumn…let’s hope the next block shakes things up a bit.

Props:

· CAB, Zherb, Toad and the others behind GermBus. An awesome deck.
· The rest of Team Sunne for good results and good times. Rätt minut! ;)
· The judges for running things smoothly despite little sleep and little pay
· Everyone who showed up, great turnout and friendly atmosphere.