It was 8 am when I woke up because of a terrible sound, that was supposed to be my alarm clock...
I stumbled out of bed to hit the damn thing and crawl back in bed, when I reminded myself that today was the tourney in Castricum. So I put on my clothes, hit the shower, put some breakfast in my hair and have gel in front of the Computer. Or was it the other way around...?
Anyway, an hour and a half later me, my dad and my little brother were in the car heading towards Castricum. We drove around searching for the train station, when we discovered half Castricum was blocked due to some random event. After a quick search we arrive and a dead Menno v/d Bergh gets in the car and nearly falls asleep. He had to get up by 7 or something, after going to bed at 3 the night before..
After arriving in Castricum we greet the judge and his little helper Bram Snepvangers
, who judged the tourney the day before, give them our deck lists and spot some other players and friends. We quickly write down my brothers decklist (Sui might be dead, but he likes to play it... He's 10
).
I discuss some opening hand strategy with Menno (who plays his Brownies.dec, a Workshop Aggro deck) and I steal a Red Bull from him as he takes some Coffee (yeah, I'm still a baby and don't drink it ^^).
After some random trash talking and discovering I left my Pile at home, the pairings are up and we proceed to our tables after wishing each other Good Luck.
Hugo van Dijke
Guess it's Leviat again.dec
// Maindeck
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Flooded Strand
5 Island
1 Plains
4 Tundra
4 Intuition
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Deep Analysis
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Replenish
2 Form of the Dragon
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Humility
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Balance
// Sideboard
1 Arcane Laboratory
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Sacred Ground
2 Seal of Cleansing
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Solitary Confinement
I still play the deck, because I really like it. I think it had a good chance against Oath and CS (Castricum Meta), and because it is so fun to play. I'll play the deck one more time I think, and that is the day before Pithing Needle becomes legal...
I was feeling good about my SB today, because I also made T8 the day before at a much smaller tourney in Tiel with the same list.
Round One: Michael Karst with Burn
I've played against him before in Castricum, I played Deathlong that day, and he played Chains-Sui. He beat me with 2-1 by responding to my lethal Tendrils with a frigin' [card]False Cure[/card] :/
I won the die-roll and opened with a Mox, land, Ancestral. I drew a Lotus and played it. The rest of my hand was: Intuition, Replenish, FoW, FoW, Intuition, land, Bazaar. He started with a Mountain and a burn spell. I went, playing a second land after drawing a Drain. He tapped 2 to play some Burnspells, and EoT I tap my lands and my Mox for an Intuition for Form, Bargain, Confinement. I go, play Bazaar, draw another Form, dump them and play a Replenish, after which he scoops.
Game 2 I held a good hand with Tinker, Intuition, Recall, land, Mana Crypt and some other stuff, but no counters. He begins with a Chain Lightning (I think) and passes the turn. I draw another land, play it + the Crypt and pass the turn. He leaves his mana open and I suspect a ReB. I play an EoT Intuition to bait a little, and he ReB's it. In my turn, I play a Recall and he lets it resolve, telling me he has no counters, and I play the Tinker grabbing a Colossus, and he scoops. He tells me he has 4 ReB maindeck, and he boarded in FOUR(!) Tormod's Crypt, which I expected.
The match was over in just about 10 minutes, with us being the first one ready, so I go ahead and check how the other guys did. Menno won his game due to his maindeck Jitte, he smoked some Aggro deck with it ^^. My dad won his game, only my little brother lost his...
Teun, the Judge, hangs up the Pairings for round 2 and I walk towards my table.
Round two: Jan Jaap with BUG Oath.
I actually didn't know he played Oath until a lot of turns later...
I started out with a land and a Sol Ring, passing the turn with him playing only a Fetchland. We draw-go for some time, with me playing Intuitions, EoT, getting my Bazaar online with 3 Squee's, creating massive card advantage. He tries to play something on turn 6 or something, which I Drain. He passes the turn and then says he forgot to play a land (before I untap). I'm not in a bad mood and I let him play it. It's and Orchard, telling me exactly what to expect. In my turn, I draw with Bazaar and hardcast a Humility and a Seal of Cleansing. He hasn't got any counters left, so they come into play. The judges announce that some of the decklists are incomplete and that they will be awarding game losses, after which they directly walk towards my table. I look at my opponent, and the Judges ask if they can take a look at my SB. I'm like, oh my god, why me -_-, and hand them over my SB. They point out that the Solitary Confinement in my SB is not on my decklist and that I get to choose: or, the next game I start ends up in a loss for me, or the Confinement gets replaced by a basic land. I tell them I have to take a quick look at my current boardposition in the game (
) and ask for the game loss, because I felt like I might need the Confinement later on... We continue to play and I resolve a deadly Replenish a couple of turns later. We start SBing, when Bram tells me that I can begin the following game because I 'lost' the last game (so it was 1-1). I open strong with a first turn Seal, which he Forces, but I have another one in hand. I don't remember a lot of this game, but I know it took me about 20 minutes to Force through a Replenish that puts all my enchantments back in play... He gives up.
We play some more games for fun, and the pairings for round 3 are up.
Round 3: Stefan Gussenhoven with GOD-Oath (Bringer-Slaver)
He won the tourney a day before with his deck, and I took home the decklists, so I knew his list already. I still felt like I had a pretty good shot against Oath, so I started the game with confidence.
I won the roll and we both started off slow. Eventually I pass the turn and he plays an Intuition, dropping his hand by accident (it was only a Drain), but he had no mana left to counter, so I play a Mana Drain. I say pass again, but he says: 'Then we're going to the second mainphase'. I call over the Judge, and explain what just happened. He says from now on we have to be way more clear with phases (this turn I had a Draw-go, So I didn't announce the second mainphase), and that I got 3 mana in my pool. I can't do anything with it and I take the burn. I go, and lure out his Drain by playing an Intuition (had 2 others in hand), and he Drains. His hand is empty and it's his turn. He taps 3 and plays a Mindslaver (lucky bitch
), and activates it. I play an Intuition to find something, and hopes he doesn't find white mana to cast my Replenish, returning Bargain to play, instantly killing me. He doesn't and I pass the turn. He draws crap and I topdeck a Flooded Strand, search a Tundra and I cast Replenish, and he concedes.
The second game, I truly don't remember. The only thing here is that I got a Seal of Cleansing in play, and after a lot of time he throws a Ray of Revelation at it. I have a Replenish in hand, and a lot in my GY, so I decide to Drain it, forcing him to use the flashback and then drop his Oath (I had more counters in hand). I cast Replenish and destroy the Oath and kill him some turns later.
I walk around a bit and I see my dad playing against, yes, my little brother!
He of course wins 2-0, but at least my brother had some fun (My dad lets him play some of his stuff
)
The new pairings where ready, and I see who I have to play against: My dad
As I put together his deck (he's playing Control Slaver) and his SB, I knew exactly what to expect.
Round 4: Henk van Dijke playing Control Slaver
I win the dice roll and start REALLY strong with Lotus, Intuition --> Squee, Squee, Humility, Bazaar. He baits something, and I FoW it (had only 1 FoW after 2 Bazaar activations), and he plays a Turn 2 Tinker. I hope he gets Platz, but he goes after something way bigger, a Darksteel Colossus (Yeah, he knew my deck pretty good as well). I have to say my dad plays purely for fun, and that is why he runs the Colossus
I'm getting pretty scared now, because I draw 3 lands on my turn, having only an Intuition in hand. On his turn, I cast it at end of his first main phase, and he drains it. He uses the Drain mana + some mana from lands to play something, and I explain to him that because he is doing this, he is apparently in his second mainphase, so - also apparently, he has decided not to attack... I feel pretty bad about this, because I'm screwing my dad, but he assures me it's OK: rules are rules. He passes the turn and I draw a Form and a Replenish, casting it getting 2 Forms and a Humility back, and win. Eventually, It wouldn't have mattered whether he attacked or not, but I still felt bad.
I knew that he had a lot of graveyard hate in his Board, together with Jester's Cap, so I decided to board in Tinker-Colossus backed up with 8 counters and StP, because I needed all the win conditions I had... I kept a hand with Recall, Land, Form, Form, Tinker, StP and something else. I play the Recall during his upkeep, drawing myself a FoW and a Mana Crypt, and I play the Tinker turn 2. He hasn't got any counters, and I beat him to death.
Round 5: Hero 't Mannetje (Pyromaniac) Playing Hyper-MUD
I honestly do not remember these games, I only remember him drawing 7 cards with Well of Knowledge in one turn and then combo me out with Metalworker/Staff, and in game 2 I draw a lot of counters but no additional counters, and I scoop when his Smokestack hits the table with a Time Vault in play.
I'm at 4-1 with some other players, and hope to win the next game for a high place in the T8. Menno is at 3-2, and my dad is at 2-2-1. My brother had collected his first 3 points due to a Bye, and we proceed to the final round:
Round 6, Tristan Krap with Control Slaver (no Intuitions w/ Black)
I know Tristan pretty well, and I knew that he was playing Control Slaver with Phyrexian Furnace in his Board, because my dad lost a match against him.
I have a quick Bazaar in play, and I know he doesn't run a Strip Mine so I'm safe. I dig a little bit, and play a very small Replenish that puts Yawgmoth's Bargain and a Confinement in play. I draw like 12 cards with Bargain, fetching other combo pieces and playing another Replenish that puts 'm into play. I have to tell that Tristan failed to find his second blue land, and with 3 Drains on hand, he couldn't do much...
Game 2 is insane. It really is. I begin with a mulligan and keep a mediocre hand. Tristan begins strong with a LoA, while I draw Absolute CRAP for around 7 turns. I have like all my enchantments in my hand, but not a single drawspell/Intuition.
Tristan keeps playing more and more drawspells. At some point, his GY contains some 3 Thirsts, 2 Brainstorms, lots of fetch and a Recall. Some people gather around us to watch the game at this point. I topdeck a Bazaar, and I immediately start drawing cards, dumping all of the crap in my hand. I find the first 2 Squee's very quick, gaining massive card advantage, baiting all kind of things to Tristan's counters. He has a Furnace in play for some time now, which removed my Confinement and a Form. I cast a Humility and notice that he's out of counters. I start drawing again, but I can't use Intuition because at this point, he has TWO furnaces out.
Eventually I find my Form (with a Lotus in play) and I make the hardcast. I hardcast a Confinement the same turn, to make sure he wouldn't slaver me, but leaving only mana open for a single counterspell.
Tristan casts all sort of things during his turn to search for 'something'. He plays a FoF, and I Drain it. He uses his Boseiju to hardcast a FoW to make sure his FoF resolves. It does and he turns around:
Yawgmoth's Will, Tinker, land, land, land. I sigh and put the Will in one pile and the rest in the other. He thinks for a second and then grabs the pile with the TINKER! He has LOADS of mana and a Black Lotus in play, but he forgot about Confinements ability that says 'You can't be the Target of spells or ability's' and he Tinkers to Mindslaver. He ask me 'Do you see it already?' and I respond with 'I'm not seeing anything... Wanna continue?' At this point Tristan sees it as well, and passes the turn and in 3 turns he's dead. If he had only grabbed the Will he could replayed his entire GY, sac a Furnace on my last Squee (which I desperately needed to keep my Confinement alive - he sacked both Furnaces on my other two Squee's a turn ago), Time Walk, Ancestral, Tinker to find a Slaver, leaving me with only 2 cards in hand and I have to shoot him 3 or 4 times with a Form, but I will have to sack my Confinement after two turns, after which he could Slaver me and kill me with my own Form... Well, to bad. I win 2-0 which made a final score of 5-1.
I'm finishing in 5th, but with the same amount of points the numbers 2, 3 and 4 have... Oh well, resistance huh?
I win some boosters and we head home. It was a great tourney again!
Prop's
- My first time 5-1 in Castricum...
- The judges, Teun and Bram, it was a GREAT tourney!
- All the players, there were a lot of great people
Slop's
- Crappy mistakes... N33d... M0r3... Sl33p...
- That I can't even write down a correct decklist ^^
- That they sealed like very single street in Castricum, making it nearly impossible to get to the train station
Please be a little bit gentle with me when reading the report. I'm Dutch, I'm 14, and I make the occasional typo...
Hope you've enjoyed my report!
Greetz,
Hugo
