Tournament report
Karlsruhe 01.04.2006
Tobias Egelhof
Horden Tendrils
2nd place
After having played different incarnations of Horden Tendrils (
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=25381.0 http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=26019.0) with some success I settled on monstercombo again for this month's Karlsruhe event.
After a lot of testing within my team we found that Horden Tendrils could use some changes. We did not want to change the manabase, as it played quite well, and also the number of disruption slots seemed to be ok. Nevertheless we felt that Duress might not be the disruption we need to be as quick and as solid as possible when aiming for first turn kills.
The solution that came to our minds was Force of Will, which would enable us to force through critical turn 1 spells as well as generate storm count. Of course it could also be used to counter opposing hate, which Duress can oftentimes not.
The problem we faced was the number of blue cards to support Force of Will, so we began changing some slots:
- 2 Infernal Contract went for Mind's Desire and Timetwister
- 1 Tendrils was swapped with one Brain Freeze
- Tinker, Memory Jar and Tolarian Academy were included for 3 Spoils of the Vault
- Mystical Tutor replaced Demonic Consultation
So we reached the threshold of 16 blue cards while retaining the deck's power to kill quickly.
This is the list I finally took to Karlsruhe:
Tobias Egelhof
"Horden Tendrils - hoeher, schneller, weiter!" - Horden Tendrils
4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Brain Freeze
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
3 Tendrils of Agony
2 Infernal Contract
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
60
Sideboard
4 Duress
3 Defense Grid
2 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Brain Freeze
1 Island
1 Swamp
15
The sideboard was konfigured to change the deck into more persistency against Null Rod and Chalice, and to fight the massive combo hate some Fish incarnations bring along.
Brain Freeze served as alternative kill condition, as well as secret tech against the infamous "Reinsel Leissende Buls" deck and some TPS builds
I felt very confident with the deck since we really had some tough testing against evil combo matchups. And not at least, I wanted to have some fun with combo, and that is what happened...
Karlsruhe filled with 25 people, meaning 5 rounds of swiss. A very nice afternoon lied before us.
1st round
Benjamin Ackermann
UBR Slaver - partially powered
The round began and I sat there waiting for my opponent. I called a judge who explained me that Benjamin had some trouble getting his decklist together and will start with some "handycap" into our match, and even "more handycap" if he takes too long to get started.
Some minutes later Benjamin came to play and excused his delay. He received a gameloss for that and told me that his sideboard was not ready, so he'd play without it. I felt he wouldn't need it at all
I didn't take many notes on that match. He forced something and I killed him round 2 or 3 with Tendrils.
Games 2:0:0
Matches 1:0:0
2nd round
Christian Hangel
UR Stax
Christian is a nice guy and I was glad to see him again after a long time where he was absent from Karlsruhe tournaments. Since he is almost always with Workshops (nickname "Hangelshop"), I guessed we would be so again. He was.
I win the die roll and keep a slow hand with some land. He gets a Welder out and Intuitions for Trinisphere, Lotus and Mindslaver. I give him the Slaver and he welds in the Trini. In response I mystical for Hurkyl's Recall and take my turn, lay another land and pass. He plays Workshop and Tangle Wire and I know I have to bounce and win now. EOT I play Hurkyl's Recall and take my turn. I dont have enough gas to kill right away, so I have to spend some ressource to draw cards in form of Ritual and Contract, which takes me down to 8 life. I draw some crap and Yawgmoth's Bargain. Again, I don't have enough spells to kill, so my only chance is to somehow cast Bargain and draw six cards. Nothing that helps me showed up. I spend my last black mana for another ritual and Contract, fail to draw something helpful again and concede.
I board in my two lands for Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond, and Rebuilds for some Chromatic Spheres.
Second game I win first turn. Something involving a lot of artifacts and bounce...
Third game we run into timeout in my turn. I manage to Tendril him for 18 leaving him at one life, but he caps me for 2 Tendrils and Will. Sadly, I pitched the Brain Freeze for Force of Will some turns earlier...
Games 3:1:1
Matches 1:0:1
3rd round
Tobias Schein
EBA
EBA is a bad matchup, but hope dies last, so I go for it.
I win the die roll and elect to start. Tobias knows what I am playing and mulligans desperately to 5, keeping a mediocre hand. I win 2nd turn.
Second game he starts with Confidant and Vampirics for Ancestral Recall but fails to draw something that can stop we from winning. A Tendrils for 16 is enough.
Games 5:1:1
Matches 2:0:1
4th round
Alexander Thomas
5c Oath, partially powered
Alexander is the one I always face when playing Horden Tendrils, and it was always tough because he was with Bird Sh*t. This time he had Oath and I was far less afraid of this matchup. Oath is too slow
I win the die roll again and win 2nd turn with Bargain.
Second game Alexander takes one mulligan and I fan open the following hand: 1 Force of Will, 2 Fetchlands, Will, Tendrils, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual. I draw another Force and drop a land. Even with Will and forcing his counter would not get me to lethal storm. So I wait and draw... Mana Crypt. Still not enough. I drop my other land and pass. I don't remember what he was doing, playing combo keeps you so focused on yourself... Third turn I draw another Force and still cannot kill him. Having 8 cards I have to drop something, which is the Mana Crypt. He tells me to stop, thinks a moment and counters the Crypt. That was his mistake, because now I can go for the Will, Force his Force and Tendril for 22. If he hadn't got that Force for my Will I would have had to counter my own Crypt after Will, but that didn't matter.
Games 7:1:1
Matches 3:0:1
So now it's me and Fabian (and someone else?) standing 3:0:1 and Paul 4:0. Fabian is paired against Paul and I wish him luck. My paring comes up and it is...
5th round
Peter Sieb
UB Tendrils
I saw Peter playing in the first round and he was casting Infernal Contract! In between rounds we had some talk about combo, so I know roughly what he is playing. Anyway, I know I have to be fast. Very fast.
Peter wins the roll and starts with a mulligan to 6, having nothing very spectacular. He vampirics for Anc and resolves. I vampiric myself, also for Anc, but Peter hardcasts Force of Will. Not a mess because now I can Tinker for Jar and win.
Second game I hold a hand with 6 mana and Will. I know I probably should mulligan, but anything I draw next can turn into a first turn kill. I decide to keep, since I am a game ahead and anyway feel like noone can stop me (but they try).
Peter goes Polluted, fetch, Duress. Ouch. He takes the Will and leaves me with Lotus, Mox Diamond, Polluted, Mana Vault, Chain of Vapor and Dark Ritual.
So its up to my next topdeck. I look at my library and as my hand moves towards the top card I think to myself...
You know that scene from that poker movie with Mel Gibson "Maverick" where he topdecks and wins without looking? I could have done so myself, somehow I KNEW I was going to draw that Mind's Desire - and I did.
Lotus, sac for 3 U, Mox Diamond, discard land, Mana Vault, Ritual, tap Vault, Chain of Vapor on Vault, re-cast Vault - Mind's Desire for 7. Desire reveals (in order) Academy, Memory Jar, Underground Sea, Tendrils, Ritual, Mox Ruby, Ritual. Peter concedes...
It turns out that Peter had Force, but there was nothing he could do. First turn kill through Duress and Force - whew!
Games 9:1:1
Matches 4:0:1
Fabian won against Paul and so we are both 4:0:1. He takes the win beacuse of the better tiebreakers, his first Karlsruhe win btw.
My teammate Rych, who was playing TPS, went 2:2:1 but says himself he had a lot of fun. I think he did not even notice I placed second.
Prizes were some single cards, a Tundra for Fabian and a Pithing Needle for me.
Props:
- My wife for letting me go play with little paper cards while she took care of our daughter.
- My deck for doing well.
- My teammate for having fun despite of loosing.
- Fabian for winning.
- Karlsruhe for beeing nice and competitive as ever.
Slops:
- Nuclear weapons, poverty and hunger in the third world.
