When preparing for the Karlsruhe tournament, I felt very unsure about what to play. Since I do not own power, I had to stick to some budget deck. I have been playing RG Beats and Ur Landstill in the past, and chose to play Beats this time, mainly because of the fast games
Landstill has some very long matches against control, and I wanted to play quickly to have more time in between rounds. It is really as simple as that...
But I wanted to improve the RG list, so I could beat Landstill more consistently (which I expected to be played a lot) and have a better chance against fatties. I replaced 4 Blurred Mongoose with 4 Mishra's Factory, tweaked the sideboard, and the following list was born:
Die Regierung im Einfluss des industriellen Fortschritts
aka RG Landbeats
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
3 Cursed Scroll
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate (DCI Promo, feat. Bob Marley and his exploding microwave)
4 Naturalize
4 Kird Ape (now black bordered)
4 River Boa (MVP!)
4 Gorilla Shaman (Mox muncher)
1 Grim Lavamancer (Tim, the Wizard)
2 Troll Ascetic (begging for Rancor, but I don't like it)
4 Treetop Village
4 Mishra's Factory (industrial influence)
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Mountain (one foil)
4 Forest (two foil)
SB
4 Maze of Ith (handle fatties)
4 Red Elemental Blast (blast the Tog)
3 Rack and Ruin (Chalice proof)
2 Krosan Reclamation (Dragon tech)
2 Tormod's Crypt
Marcus Quandt, Stefan Rychlewski, Maik Hofmann and me started the journey to Karlsruhe and had to miss the burger lunch, because Marcus had heen stuck at the flower shop for Muttertag. Marcus opted to play the newly developed Angel-Keeper, also known as Germbus, which proved to be very strong in testing. Stefan stayed with his Food Chain Goblins, and Maik with his Trix-build.
The event started a bit late, and with quite few players, though enough to stay with 5 rounds of swiss.
I talked to some people before the start and realized, this field will be very rough for me. At least 3 Togs, 2 FCG, 2 Angel-Keeper, 2 TNT. I am sure I will face a lot of tough matchups, and only one (!) Landstill around, my favourite matchup.
1st round, Thilo Mothes
Blue Scepter Control
Thilo is playing Elves since I know him, but this time he decided to try something else, so he build a blue control deck with Scepter, Ensnaring Bridges, Grafted Skullcap and Millstone. Still some way to go for him...
First game he is mana-screwed, second he has Bridge in play, but casts Gush at one point, enabling my creatures to hit for the win.
Life:
Thilo: 20 18 17 16 13 10 6 3 0
Me: 20
Sideboarding:
out: 4 Naturalize (I only saw Millstone in the first match and wasn't afraid of it
)
in: 4 Red Elemental Blast
Thilo: 20 19 13 7 0
Me: 20 19
1:0:0 ; 2:0 ; 3 points
2nd round, Maik Hofmann
Trix
Combo is by far the worst matchup RG Beats can get, though my deck included some answers to the Illusions, especially after sideboarding. I joke with Maik about just going out and have a smoke instead of playing...
First game I start, mulligan to 6 and decide to play conservatively, leaving 1 green and a colorless open for Naturalize, regardless of what may happen. Maik starts slow too and seems to be afraid of Naturlaize. He tinkers up a Jar, but the combo doesn't seem to get going. I beat him down slowly, holding a single card in my hand: Naturalize
Second game I mulligan again to 6, and start the same procedure, beating him down slowly while leaving mana for answers open. He digs for the combo, but doesn't seem to find it, plays Illusions, and I have to beat down another 20 life.
Never tought I could win this, but that's tournament play. You don't need to have matchups you can win most of the time, just twice in a row
Life:
Maik: 20 19 18 15 13 12 11 10 8 2 0
Me: 20
Sideboard:
out: 3 Cursed Scroll, 1 Troll Ascetic
in: 4 Red Elemental Blast
Maik: 20 19 18 17 13 9 8 28 25 19 13 7 0
Me: 20 19 15 11 0
2:0:0 ; 4:0 ; 6 points
3rd round, Philipp Mayer
Ur Landstill
Lucky me! Philipp is the guy I beat at the last tournament, when I played Ur Landstill and he was with Vengeur Mask. He did not have a chance back then, and he will have none today, too. Poor him
Both games I lay pressure on him with Boas and Ascetic. He manages to activate a Disk and stifle the regen-ability, but in the end, he has to concede to too much beats.
The second game I win, because he stifles my Wasteland, targeting his Library (of Alexandria). Sadly, he has Standstill in play, which he did not think about, and I draw 3 cards. It's a Red Blast for the counter, and a Scroll for the win.
Yes, Landstill is unforgiving when you make mistakes, I read about it in the primer
Life:
Philipp: 20 19 17 16 14 7 4 1
Me: 20 19 18
Sideboard:
out: 4 Gorilla Shaman
in: 4 Red Elemental Blast
Philipp: 20 18 16 15 13 11 9 6 3 1 0
Me: 20 19 18
3:0:0 ; 6:0 ; 9 points
4th round, Marcus Quandt
Angel Keeper
We are the only two players with 3 wins, so we ID, maximizing our chances to top 8 both. I am very happy about this, because in testing, I lost to his deck very consistently. We play some matches for fun though.
First game I win with 2 Wastelands, a Shaman and some beats.
Second game I win.
Third game I win.
Fourth game I loose (boo).
Damn, I should have played against him for real
So, we are both happy about having ID'd, and proceed to the last round as first and second in the field.
3:0:1 ; 6:0 ; 10 points
5th round, Oliver Salten
TNT
I lost to Oliver at the last tournament in Mannheim, and I know it will be very hard for me. TNT is a pain for RG Beats.
Fist game he mulligans to 6, but starts fast, first turn Su Chi. I have to mulligan to 5 and struggle, taking early damage. He proceeds with third turn, second Su Chi, Trinisphere. Ouch. I cast Ascetic and a Shaman to block one Su Chi, then later a second Shaman to kill the second Su Chi (by blocking together with the Troll). He welders away his Trinisphere and brings back a Su Chi, which I Naturlaize, and burn his Welder. He has a Solemn, which brings me down to one life, but then I manage to stabilize and kill him, which is a lot easier, since he got 12 damage from Su Chi burn.
Second game Oliver has to mulligan twice, but starts strong again, playing Survival first turn. I naturalize it, and he plays Trisk and Trinisphere. I cast a Sol Ring for 3, take beats and double Incinerate his Trisk for 6 mana (Yes, I think "toast" is an appropriate description). He plays Survival and gets Platinum Angel, which I double Bolt for 6 mana. He proceeds with his next Triskelion, which he now needs to block my attacking hordes, killing some, but not enough. 2 turns later, I take revenge for Mannheim, and win.
Life:
Oliver: 20 17 13 9 8 4 3 0
Me: 20 16 12 11 3 1
Sideboarding:
out: 4 Mishra's Factory, 2 Wasteland (savage sideboard tech, I would leave the Wastelands in if I had to play this again)
in: 3 Maze of Ith, 3 Rack and Ruin
Oliver: 20 18 16 8 3 1
Me: 20 16 12 11 8
4:0:1 ; 8:0 ; 13 points
Marcus won his last match, too, so we both are with 13 points, and I win with the better opponent score. Whew, first tournament win! 7 boosters of Darksteel are the prize, which reveal no Ravager...
Rych and Maik end up midfield, but are happy and had fun and tight matches.
We start the journey home, and end with burger-dinner, which was really needed after a long day of brain-work.
Props:
T1 Magic-People, for being friendly and funny, regardless of match results and loosing or winning.
Fabian, for congratulating me for winning with crappy decks.
Marcus, for IDing. I just cannot see him loose
Slops:
Nothing this time! This tournament was just fun!
