Subject: Grand Prix report
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 22:23:02 +0200
From: Olle Råde
To: webmaster@classicdojo.org

"Green is King"
Tourney Report for Grand Prix Stockholm March 21-22
By Olle Råde

I thought I´d try to write my first tourney report ever, following 
in the footsteps of so many other great PT players.

I went to Stockholm Thursday night with a couple of friends from my 
hometown Gothenburg as we had decided to be there a couple of days 
early so the 5 hours drive wouldn´t affect us as much. We spent Thursday 
night and the entire Friday playing Quake on a local network where we 
stayed and of course it wasn´t much of a fight since I had played the 
game by far more than any of us ;)

Saturday we all got up really early and cursed the starting time of 
magic events in general. And getting up at 7 am to build a deck and 
waiting for 4 hours while other people have to play the first 3 rounds 
isn´t all that amazing but whatever ..

Once at the tournament site we got our starters and boosters, luckily 
pre-opened, and the first thing I saw of my decklist was that the 
cardpool contained 2 canopy spiders, not good i thought, although I´m 
well known for liking spider i know green is the worst color in Tempest.

Anyway, here´s the deck i used :

2 Darkling Stalker
1 Gravedigger
1 Dauthi Mindripper
1 Dauthi Mercenary
1 Coffin Queen
2 Enfeeblement
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Charging Rhino
1 Crazed Armadon
1 Trumpeting Armadon
2 Heartwood Dryad
1 Seeker of Skybreak 
1 Nurturing Licid
1 Skyshroud Elf
1 Rampant Growth
1 Fireslinger
1 Rolling Thunder
1 Lightning Blast
1 Kindle
1 Patchwork Gnomes

7 Swamp
6 Forest
4 Mountain

Cards i didn´t use :

Quickening Licid, Warmth, Pacifism, Cloudchaser Eagle, Anoint, CoP: Red, 
Disenchant, Soltari Monk, Soltari Foot Soldier, Armored Pegasus, Staunch 
Defenders, Power Sink, Sea Monster, Horned Turtle Propagada, Thalakos 
Seer, Steal Enchantment, Capsize, Thalakos Sentry, Volrath´s Curse, 
Twitch, Time Ebb, Pit Imp, Servant of Volrath, Carrionette, Dark Ritual, 
Sadistic Glee, Coercion, Stun, Apocalypse, Mogg Conscripts, Stone Rain, 
Mogg Raider, Havoc, Verdigris, 2 Canopy Spider, Frog Tongue, Muscle Sliver, 
Spike Drone, Scalding Tongs, Lotus Petal, Essence Bottle, Metallic Sliver, 
Manakin.

Anyway, on to the key plays :

Rounds 1-3 Thanks to WotC's amazing bye system i didn´t need to play.

Round 4 David Linder U/W/R

I know David since he was one of the few Swedes that played in Chicago, 
and i think he made the top 64 even, he was also top 4 at GP Copenhagen. 
David had 2 byes so he was 1-0 with his deck.

First game he lets me go first since in Stockholm it´s common knowledge 
that it sucks going first in sealed, however i don´t agree .

I play second turn Seeker of Skybreak and 3rd turn Coffin Queen while he 
has nothing on the table he drops a Rootwater Hunter next turn and lets 
me know that I better have something to stop it, i do have a Kindle, and 
the Coffin Queen gets the Hunter for the Hunter/Seeker combo which wipes 
out a couple of his 2 toughness creatures before i drop a Charging Rhino 
that he can´t deal with, on to game 2. 

In game 2 once again he lets me go first and i get a fast start with Elf, 
Seeker and Licid. But on his turn 3 He plays a Hunter again, and again it 
is Kindled, but this time he has another one coming up next turn which i 
edict away after having him block my Licid with a Mogg Raider he summoned 
along with the Hunter. Once again i get the Charging Rhino out, and since 
it can´t be blocked by more than one creature it´s a bit threat to Davids 
deck, however he gets a Lightning Elemental out which hold me back a couple 
of turns until i draw a second Swamp for the 2 Enfeeblements in my hand and 
i even Rolling Thunder him for the last points not giving him an extra turn 
to draw something.

Round 5 Anders "Flerp" Herlitz R/B/W

As Anders is a friend of mine that didn´t have any byes and is already 4-0 
with his deck, that among other good things include a Torture Chamber and 
eight good shadow creatures we decide to intentional draw since 4-1-1 is 
enough to make 2nd day. Anders then won the last round to finish 8th seed 
for the day.

Round 6 Kristian "Elof" Hellman R/B/W

Kristian was also one of the Swedes that qualified for PT Chicago by making 
top 8 at GP Copenhagen, and he also drew last round to make sure he made top 
64. We both knew the winner woul probably make top 8 for the day and have a 
good chance of making the top 8 tomorrow. Kristian had 1 bye for the day. 
First game he goes first and casts shadow creatures on turn two, three and 
four, but it´s still a close game as i kindle one of them away and cast Coffin 
Queen the next, but he has an anoint to save his attackers, and my Elephants 
can´t keep up with the low casting cost shadow creatures. 

Second game i go first wih a great start, second turn Heartwood Dryad, third 
turn Dauthi Mercenary, fourth turn Crazed Armadon, and the game isn´t even 
close as i even have Rolling Thunder to kill him 3-4 turns before he can kill 
me with his shadow creatures.

Third and Final game he goes first and casts second turn Dauthi Horror which 
i Kindle, he then casts a third turn Wall of Diffusion and i know he is already 
out of Shadow creatures so things look good.
However his next draws are Soltari Lancer, Soltari Lancer and a Soltari Priest, 
and after three more turns he has them all out and i have Coffi n Queen, 
Trumpeting Armadon, Darkling Stalker and Heartwood Dryad. I do the Math and 
because of his slow (?) shadow start I´ve dealt some early damage with the 
Dryad and Elephant i can outrun his shadow creatures and i attack him with 
everything including the Coffin Queen, and my next draw is a Lightning Blast 
that i didn´t even need although he had cast Endless Scream for 3 on his Wall 
of Diffusion and summoned an Orim Samite Healer.

Record for the day 5-0-1 with only 1 game loss ;) , i end up 6th seed and 
figure i have to go 3-1-1 the next day as it was only 5 rounds of Swiss. Got 
to bed early that night with dreams about opening Torture Chamber, Cursed 
Scroll or Helm of Possesion.

The deck I open up the 2nd day didn´t seem as good as my first deck, but it 
was still pretty good to be a deck with green in it :

1 Heartwood Giant
1 Skyshroud Troll
1 Krakilin
1 Muscle Sliver
2 Skyshroud Elf
1 Skyshroud Ranger
2 Elvish Fury
1 Broken Fall
1 Magmasaur
1 Lowland Giant
1 Sandstone Warrior
2 Canyon Wildcat
1 Giant Strength
1 Kindle
1 Angelic Protector
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Advanced Scout
1 Repentance
1 Pacifism
1 Helm of Possesion

7 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Plains

The cards i didn´t use were all so bad that i didn´t even concider using 
any of them, but i´ll list them anyway :

Thalakos Mistfolk, 2 Spell Blast, Giant Crab, Dream Cache, Winged Sliver, 2 
Thalakos Seer, Steal Enchantment, 2 Manta Riders, Insight, Fylmarid, Pit Imp, 
Spinal Graft, Servant of Volrath, Reckless Spite, Gravedigger, Perish, Endless 
Scream, Dauthi Ghoul, 2 Dark Ritual, Blood Pet, Disenchant, 2 Talon Sliver, 
Sacred Guide, Soltari Foot Soldier, Orim´s Prayer, CoP: Blue, 2 CoP: White, 
Hero´s Resolve, Light of Day, Rootbreaker Wurm, Choke, Stone Rain, Heart Sliver, 
Ancient Runes, Metallic Sliver, Squee´s Toy, Watchdog, Sky Spirit, Vhati il-Dal.

I actually started to change opinion about green in Tempest sealed after 
opening 2 sets of cards that both had strong green in them, green isn´t so bad 
if you get a lot of it :)

On to the details :

Round 7 Ilja Podgornykh  R/B/W

I had heard about this guys deck before the match and i didn´t have much hope 
of beating him since he had 2 Reckless Spite, 2 Diabolic Edict, Spontanious 
Combustion, Rolling Thunder and a good assortment of creatures. I believe that 
even this duel my opponent let me play first but it it didn´t really matter as 
he would edict and/or spite away all my early threats. Around turn 8 or so i 
did draw the late game bomb, Krakilin, but it was spited away along with a Jackal 
Pup on the other side of the table and next turn i faced a Phyrexian Hulk that 
killed me in 3 turns. Second game i went first and got a really good start, 
second turn Skyshroud Elf followed by a third turn Lowland Giant and a fourth 
turn Skyshroud Troll. As Ilja didn´t seem to draw enough lands this game he did 
kill both the Elf and the Troll with a Perish, but i proceeded to cast a 
Heartwood Giant and he was dead before he saw his 5th land. Third and final 
game Ilja let me go first again, which he soon would regret as i got first turn 
Skyshroud Ranger and third turn Skyshroud Troll which he had a really hard time 
dealing with, actually the Troll was the only creature i casted until Ilja 
finally got two Swamps in play so he could enfeeble it, but then he was already 
in Kindle range, and as i had been holding it for a while i finished him with it.

Round 8 Antti Kokkonen G/W/B

An unknown finn playing g/w/b,  i thought this would be an easy match, but 
i was quite wrong :(

The first game he went first, but still i got a very good start. Second turn 
Skyshroud Elf followed by a Canyon Wildcat and a Muscle Sliver the next turn 
and another Wildcat and Giant Strength on the Muscle Sliver while all he had 
in play was a Darkling Stalker which he had tapped out on black to cast. Next 
turn i used Pacifism to deal with a Servant of Volrath and attacked to deal 
as much damage as possible even if it would cost me a creature since i had 
both Magmasaur and Heartwood Giant in my hand. Next turn he casted some creature 
that would hold my offense back for a while, but he was already to low so he 
died to my Heartwood Giant, Magmasaur combo.

Second game he went first and i got the first mulligan of the tournament as 
my first hand contained no lands, my second hand contained one Forest, a 
Skyshroud Ranger and a Muscle sliver among other high casting cost spells, 
and as he was playing first i decided to keep it. I did draw one more Forest 
that game but it was never even close as he got a fast start with ritual 
Servant of Volrath followed by a third turn enfeeblement on my Muscle Sliver, 
i didn´t cast any more spells that game. 

Third game my opening hand was Magmasaur, 2 Elvish Fury and 4 Lands, not very 
good, but good enough too keep. I didn´t cast anything until turn 5 and by 
then Antti already had a Clot Sliver, Broken Fall, Darkling Stalker in play 
and the spell i cast was a 3/3 Krakilin. Next turn he summoned a Pincher Beetles 
and attacked with the Stalker. On my next turn I did cast the Magmasaur now 
holding nothing but lands in my hand this didn´t seem to be a winning game. 
As the ground creatures couldn´t deal any damage anymore Antti decided now 
was the time to go for the kill and cast Skyshroud Vampire, fine i thought, 
i have ways to deal with that in my deck as i had even sideboarded the Light 
of Day in against him. Two turnslater i had cast nothing but a Skyshroud Troll 
and Antti had attacked with the Vampire for three two turns in a row where a 
strange scenario appeared. During my upkeep i could sacrifice the Magmasaur 
to deal 4 damage to all creatures and players which would cause all of his 
creatures being either dead or tapped by regeneration and as i was holding 
two Elvish Fury and had enough mana to buyback one of them once i could make 
both my Krakilin and the Troll survive the Magmasaur and attack for a total of 
ten, casting the 2nd fury without buyback dealing a total of twelve, sixteen 
including the Magmasaur damage, but as i hadn´t dealt any damage this game 
there was no point in dealing only sixteen so instead i drew a card, hoping 
for Light of Day, Pacifism or Helm of Possesion but didn´t get one of them 
and died next turn to the Vampire.

Round 9 Erik Leander R/G/W/B

The only thing i remember from this match is the series of mistakes Erik 
made, and the fact that he made those and that he played four colors made 
it a match i would have won no matter how bad i played, although he did 
win game two with a Rathi Dragon protected with an Elvish Fury after 
blocking my Skyshroud Troll and me casting Kindle on the Dragon. Anyway 
the mistakes i remember :

At one point he had a Lowland Giant and a Fireslinger out (i think he got 
2nd turn Fireslinger all three games) and i had a Skyshround Elf, as he 
forgot to use the Slinger on his turn he decided to use it during my upkeep, 
as i was holding 2 Elvish Fury and he was already down to 10 or so from 
taking damage from Fireslinger and me attacking with creatures that had 
all been killed by the Fireslinger, i decided to cast Elvish Fury without 
buyback to save the Elf for a turn and deal some extra damage. I then cast 
Broken Fall and attacked with the Elf, Erik choosed not only to block with 
the Giant, but also forgot that my Elf had 3 power, so he didn´t sacrifice 
a Mogg Raider he had in play so the Elf killed the Giant and was regenrated 
with Broken Fall.

Another minor mistake was in game three when he used Fireslinger to kill 
an attacking Soltari Trooper, three damage for free = strong ;)

Round 10 Mikko Mäkipää R/B/W

This report is already becoming too long, so i´ll be short and just say 
i beat Mikko two straight games after casting 2rd turn Light of Day the 
second game and using the combo Skyshroud Elf, Sandstone Warrior for the kill. 

Round 11 Johan "FågelBoas" Franzén U/R

I was in for sure with a draw, but Johan could be 9th if another guy would 
have won his last match. I really didn´t want to play since i knew Johan´s 
deck contained 3 Mogg Fanatic, 3 Rootwater Hunter, a Cursed Scroll and was 2 
colors with only 14 lands. But after telling Johan that being 9th would mean 
he would still qualify for New York since i was already qualified Johan agreed 
to draw and play in his second Pro Tour in a row .

As i said the report is getting really long, at least so it seems, and i 
know how boring it can be reading this kind of stuff, so i´ll just list the 
contents of deck deck i drafted to go 3-0 with and become the champion of 
Grand Prix Stockholm :

1 Heartwood Giant
1 Apes of Rath
1 Skyshroud Troll
1 Trumpeting Armadon
3 Trained Armadon
2 Heartwood Dryad
1 Canopy Spider
1 Muscle Sliver
1 Flailing Drake
1 Needlestorm
1 Broken Fall
1 Elvish Fury
1 Wind Drake
1 Thalakos Seer
2 Time Ebb
1 Phyrexian Hulk
1 Mogg Cannon
1 Cursed Scroll

13 Forest
5 Island

Sideboard :

Twitch, 2 Ancient Tomb, Anoint, Bayou Dragonfly, Coercion, Dauthi Marauder, 
Disenchant, Ancient Runes, 2 Blood Frenzy, Emmessi Tome, Giant Crab, Horned 
Turtle, 2 Reality Anchor, 2 Sadistic Glee, Stone Rain, Verdigris, Soltari 
Crusader, Lobotomy, Shadow Rift.

That´s all Folks !

/Grand Prix Champion and 2000 $ richer Olle Råde