Subject: Grand Prix Antwerp report by Stephan Valkyser * winner Date: 29 Apr 1998 08:16:00 +0100 From: stephan@valkyser.oche.de (Stephan Valkyser) Hallo, without any further ado I will proceed right to the tournament. Let me just say that, when going from Aachen, Germany, to Antwerp by car, you'll quickly notice the differences between Dutch autobahns and Belgian autobahns. Nevertheless we arrived right on time and to my surprise the registration had already started (at 8.30 as announced). Whoever, like me, remembers GP Amsterdam one year ago, should have feared worse. The players with byes were sent to a separate room, to construct their decks. My deck for the first day was as follows: 5 Forest 6 Mountain 6 Plains 1 Vec Townships 1 Heartwood Dryad 1 Pincher Beetles 1 Rampant Growth 1 Seeker of Skybreak 1 Spike Colony 1 Spined Wurm 1 Tempting Licid 1 Enraging Licid 1 Fireslinger 1 Flowstone Blade 1 Flowstone Giant 1 Flowstone Shambler 1 Lightning Blast 1 Shock 1 Anoint 1 Cloudchaser Eagle 1 Lancers en-Kor 1 Master Decoy 1 Repentance 1 Smite 1 Soltari Trooper 1 Warrior Angel 1 Warrior en-Kor 16 creatures, 18 lands plus 1 Rampant Growth as 41st card. A good deck that really shines with its creature base. Every creature (maybe Enraging Licid the lonely exception) poses a considerable threat to the opponent. A good Tempest deck does not necessarily need spoilers like Cursed Scroll, Living Death, or Corpse Dance, and still can be very strong. The sideboard contained: 1 Deadshot (often used instead of Enraging Licid) 1 Skyshroud Archer (sometimes versus blue flyers) I did not play, among others:: Jackal Pup, 2 Mogg Maniacs, Seething Anger, Mogg Bombers, Mulch, Adcance Scout, because I really do not like any of these. I should definitely mention Recycle, which surely can be a game breaker. But I was afraid of making the deck even more expensive, and I did not want to remove one of the big creatures. Maybe that was wrong, but I did not have enough experience playing with Recycle (I've never played it myself and encountered it only once in Type II): By the way, Black was not bad either, with Disturbed Burial, Diabolic Edict, Perish, but aside from Rats of Rath, Pit Imp, Foul Imp, and Serpent Warrior it had no useful creatures. That's not enough for me. Blue had Power Sink, Dream Prowler, Mana Leak, Cloud Spirit, Sift, and Walking Dream. I got a bye for the first round, so I used the time to practice with Martin Langfeld from Berlin. I think we split our 7 or 8 games fairly even. But it was more important to get a feeling for the deck. 2.Round: John van der Cruycen (B) A friendly, but not rather experienced player. I won 2-0 without any problems. I made a mistake, which gave John a card for free, but fortunately it had no effect on the outcome of this match. I've always appreciated to have some kind of "warm up" versus weaker opponents. 3.Round: Benjamin Martin (B or F ?) Again I win 2-0. In Game 1 there was a notable situation, when he attacked with a Marauder and cast Elvish Fury. I played Shock in response, and now I faced the problem to explain to an only-french-speaking player, that he could not cast the Fury a second time within the same batch. I don't speak a word of French, you know. Fortunately there are judges who speak English and French. In the second duel Benjamin sacrificed 12 lands or so to Constant Mists, but in the end it did him no good, since I managed to prevent him from maintaining any dangerous creatures on the table. Eventually, he ran out of mana... 4.Runde: John Ormerod (GB) Finally, all the PT players with 3 byes entered the tournament. Ormerod finished within Top 8 in Mainz. Since I color commented his quarterfinal match at the monitor then, he was no unknown to me. I managed to win the first duel, but I don't remember any details. In the second duel he showed me Flowstone Hellion, Flowstone Wyvern, and Silver Wyvern! I could get rid of all three fatties (I sideboarded Deadshot), but I was already at 1 life at the time I could stop him. Eventually, he drew something I could not handle. In the third duel at first I took a lot of damage, too, but again I stopped his onslaught being at 4 life. Within the next seven turns John drew six lands in a row (!) and a Squee's toy (completely useless), while I played three creatures and held a removal in my hand. 5.Round: Jeremies Lagarde (F) I only remember that he faced mana problems in all three games. He could not get onto the offensive and had to use his removal early. His Wall of Souls gave me a lot of headaches, though he did not realize that he could use it really well with his Bullwhip. I manage to win 2-1. 6.Runde: Mats Clays (B) He tells me that up to this point he'd won all his matches without a single bye. Concerning his deck I feared the worst. He jump started with Land, Lotus Petal (!), Fireslinger, followed up by Soltari Priest and Shamen en-Kor. The only spell I could cast, was a 4th turn Flowstone Giant, which does not worry him because of the Shaman. But in the next couple of turns, I can trick him with my Heartwood Dryad. Then he makes a mistake by not realizing that I could pump the unblocked Giant to 5/1, and I win without having to show him my Lightning Blast. I won the second duel without any bigger problems. After the first day I'm in third place with 6-0. Brian Hackes is first, because he has an unbeatable tie breaker due to his three byes. Fortunately, they reset all resistance points to zero on the second day, so the advantage of having byes disappeared. Second day: I think, 16 Germans placed in the Top 64, among them three from Aachen (Franz Heidbuechel, Timo Meimberg, and myself), and Peer Kroeger, Daniel Brickwell, Kai Budde, Jan Brandenburg, Thomas Menke, Michael Huellecremer, Lars Tietjen, Janos Korzak; Jonas Siehoff, Matthias Lerch, and some more. You can look up the complete list on the website of Wizards, Belgium. Andre Konstanczer, who was also in the running with three byes and a strong deck, got ejected from the tournament for having only 39 cards on his decklist. Even if this penalty may appear rather harsh, it is correct (illegal deck) and Andre really has noone to blame but himself. At a professional tournament you should check your decklist *twice*. My deck on Sunday: 1 Maze of Shadows 4 Mountains 6 Plains 7 Swamps 1 Bullwhip 1 Coiled Tinviper 1 Phyrexian Hulk 1 Clot Sliver 1 Dark Banishing 1 Dauthi Marauder 1 Dauthi Slayer 1 Dungeon Shade 2 Stronghold Assassin 1 Wall of Souls 1 Canyon Wildcat 1 Lightning Elemental 1 Searing Touch 1 Shock 1 Wall of Diffusion 1 Lancers en-Kor 1 Mounted Archers 1 Pacifism 1 Spirit en-Kor 1 Winds of Rath 1 Youthful Knight 16 creatures, 18 lands, 40 cards. Add the spoilers Winds of Rath, Bullwhip, and *two* Stronghold Assassins. Perfect. I was a bit worried about having so many creatures with toughness 1, but this should definitely take me into Top 8. At least, I thought so ... But more on this later. The sideboard contained: 1 Death Stroke (used it versus offensive black decks. I did not play it main deck, because creatures are better removal concerning my Assassins.) 1 Bandage (sideboarded versus Bombardement) 1 Disenchant (always useful) I did not play, among others: Telethopter (I already had enough toughness 1) Servant of Volrath (Normally, I play him always, but he's no combo with the Assassins.) Scalding Tongs (nice, but not really necessary) Jackal Pup Aftershock (double red) Foul Imp (not necessary to play 2 Life, furthermore double black) Change of Heart (I can remove creatures, so no need for this) Dauthi Trapper (nobody but Janos Korzak seems to like this one ;-)) 2 Duct Crawler Rabid Rats Serpent Warrior (worse than Foul Imp) Blue had also some cards that could be taken into consideration: Cloud Spirit, Wind Drake, Spindrift Drake, Wall of Tears, Mana Leak, Counterspell, Spell Blast. Those three flyers are really alluring. Green had a Fury and a Constant Mists, but not enough strong creatures: Trained Armodon, Spike Drone, Endangered Armodon, Skyshroud Elf, Skyshroud Archer. Nothing that overwhelmed me. Some really good material, maybe once again *too good* for me, as in the past I have been known with such spoiler decks to finish worse than with some comparably inconspicious decks 7.Round: Frederik van Saet (B) A young, talented Belgian (with 17 years a little bit more than half of my age). He had a really strong deck, which beat me twice with Bombardement and Thunder. I lost 1-2. In the third and deciding game, I drew the second plains for my Wind of Rath not before he had the bomb already on the table. So, the Winds were only semi-effective. It really surprised me, that in the end Frederik placed "only" 16th. 8.Round: Jan Brandenburg (Cologne, Germany) Again, I lose 1-2, because Jan got to play his Thunder all three games, which allowed him to compensate some smaller mistakes. Sometimes, it's really good to get the second red mana late, because then the Thunder increases in its effectiveness ;-) His Shifting Wall posed a severe problem. I could not pass it for a long time. 9.Round: Janos Korzak (Wuppertal, Germany) Now, I have to win my remaining three matches, if I want to make it into Top 8. I do not despair yet, because this deck normally should provide me with three wins. Janos helps me by having mana problems in both games. His Craven Giant gets sentenced to inactivity by my Wall of Diffusion and he is sorely missed in Janos' defense. Slowly, but steady I squeeze a win out of him, without having drawn one of my Assassins. 10.Round: Franz Heidbuechel (Aachen, Germany) Great, now one team member has to drop the other one out of contention. Franz wins the first duel with a fast Blood Pet (arrrghhh!) and Shadow Beatdown. Years of Training and Enlightment have been futile. They nevertheless play Blood Pets and Dark Rituals!!! ;-) Fortunately, I can stop Franz' early beatdown in the next two games. It is cleary seen that his deck has not enough staying power. Skimming through his cards after the match I could not detect anything that he missed on. He had a bad deck and his achievement (Top 32) is really something to aplaude to. 11.Round: Phillipe Jean (F) Good. I don't have to play the deciding round versus a countryman. Phillipe goes R/G/W, and in both games both of my Assassins dominate the field. I keep my patience and let them untapped all the time, so that I could responde to removal with the Assassin. Eventually, the card disadvantage does him in. An easy 2-0 victory. After 11 rounds I finish at 7th place with a match record of 9-2. This means qualification for PT Chicago! Finally, my PTQ curse has disappeared. ;-) Top 8: 1. Brian Hacker (USA) 2. Randy Buehler (USA) 3. Peer Kroeger (Hamburg, Germany) 4. Lucas Ladra (Czech Republic) 5. Timo Meimberg (Aachen, Germany) 6. Michael Sochon (France) 7. Stephan Valkyser (Aachen, Germany) 8. Michael Debard (France) The Boosterdraft starts with the following seating order: Hacker Sochon Ladra Buehler Valkyser Meimberg Kroeger Debard The Quarterfinalist are as far apart from each other as possible, and one can meet one's left and right neighbours not before the finals. This is the usual seating order for a Final 8 draft, where the matchups are known in beforehand. I start the first Tempest Booster with a Disturbed Burial, followed up (if I remember correctly) by a Kindle, a Master Decoy, Perish, Sandstone Warrior, Endless Scream. Apart from this the first booster was really, really weak. This extends to Blue and Green. At the end of the first booster I got some nice white creatures, so I think I could go got R/W with the Burial maybe splashed. In the second booster I get something in Black: Gravedigger, Dauthi Slayer, Marsh Lurker. I pass on a second Burial for a Soltari Lancer, because I had been low on creatures at that time. White added a second Master Decoy and a Cloudchaser, while Red offered a late Wall of Diffusion. Now it rather looks like B/W with maybe a splash of Red. In Stronghold I get a Warrior Angel (gotta love this baby). Strange: With the fourth pick I take a Venerable Monk, because there had been nothing useful (not even off color), and after that I still get two (!) Smites. In the end my deck was as follows: 3 Mountain 6 Plains 1 Scabland 7 Swamp 1 Dauthi Slayer 1 Disturbed Burial 1 Endless Scream 1 Gravedigger 1 Leeching Licid 1 Marsh Lurker 1 Morgue Thrull (thought on combo with Burial+Digger, never happened) 1 Pit Imp 1 Flowstone Shambler 1 Kindle 1 Wall of Diffusion 1 Cloudchaser Eagle 1 Disenchant 1 Elite Javelineer 2 Master Decoy 1 Nomads en-Kor 2 Smite 1 Soltari Foot Soldier 1 Soltari Lancer 1 Venerable Monk 1 Warrior Angel Sideboard: Flowstone Shambler (four red cards splashed would have been too much), Perish, Cop:Shadow, Mob Justice, Rabid Rats, Duct Crawler, Change of Heart, Stone Rain, Sandstone Warrior (double red). I admit that this deck looks rather thin and is violating some principles, that I strongly defend otherwise. For example, nobody had ever seen me playing Soltari Foot Soldier or Nomads en-Kor before! Furthermore I play with only 17 lands !!! (Normally, 18 lands is a fetish for me) ;-) Pit Imp and the Thrull are no heroes either, but with all the shadows, flyers and the Marsk Lurker I have no small hopes for an Endless Scream raid. Furthermore, a Foot Soldier is great for blocking Marauders. I think, the deck is really not that bad. In the quarterfinals Randy Buehler is missing red mana in the first game, so he can only cast his blue spells. I start with some weenies, so he has to tap out to summon Wind Drake and then Fighting Drake. I use this opportunity to play Master Decoy and then Marsh Lurker. Later, Randy draws a Mountain and summons a Fireslinger, but it's too late. The Leeching Licid deals damage in his upkeep as long as it resides on his Fighting Drake. When he thinks that his life total is diminishing too fast (two points by the Licid jumping off and on again) he casts Capsize on his own Drake in his Upkeep. I exploit this and cast a huge Endless Scream on my Marsh Lurker in my next turn, and I am more than happy to sacrifice a swamp for it. Although I only get Randy to 1 Life, he concedes nevertheless. In the second game Randy shows me, what his deck is really able to do. Searing Touch, Fireslinger , and enough Mana for Mind Games. I really have no chance. In the third game Randy stalls at two Mana and even has to discard. He cannot come back from this. Although he draws some land, every time he taps out to play something, I summon new creatures, he cannot counter. Ladra wins versus Meimberg and Sochon versus Kroeger. That means, that two out of three Germans are already out. Frank Jaeger (of DCI Germany) gives me an encouraging "thumbs up". I proceed to the semifinals versus Michael Sochon. Sochon is playing Blue/Black and also seems not to have more than three mana in the beginning. Even though he has not to discard like Buehler, he's obviously uncomfortable. Despite of that I am satisfied wit a Shadow and the Cloudchaser, because I do not want to run into the Justice I assume on his hand (and rightly so, as it turns out later!). I win. In the second game Sochon has a Legacy's Allure with three counters in play. I hold the Angel in my hand but only have five mana. I seek for an opportunity to get rid of the Allure. I play Burial with Buyback on my Dauthi Slayer and summon it next turn. Sochon, who already has a Marauder in play, falls for it and grabs the Slayer. Next turn I draw the sixth mana and show him the Warrior Angel. Still, this should not worry him too much, as he is doing five per turn, but two turns later I topdeck Endless Scream. Huiii! The Angel attacks for 9 and puts him down to 1. In the next turn Michael attacks with everything he has: Giant Crab, Marauder, Slayer, and Hibernation Sliver. I decide to block with my Pit Imp (my only creature besides the Angel), because a) I have no mana to pump it anyway and b) I hold a Burial in my hand. I go to 8 (without blocking I would have gone to 5), but heaven knows what devil took a ride on me, because after the attack Sochon cast his second Edict (the first one killed the Licid in the beginning of the match). Doh! My Angel's gone. Now, I have but one chance: Topdeck a blocker! And right enough, I draw a Shadow. I cast Burial without Buyback on the Licid and summon both creatures. Michael again attacks with everything he has. I just block his Marauder with my Shadow. He asks me whether this would constitute all of my blocks. I smile and say yes, taking 7 damage from Crab, Slayer and Sliver. Now we're both on 1 life. In my turn I draw a land (a Kindle would also have won it for me) and let the Licid jump on the Slayer. Sochon dies in his own Upkeep. Puh! Finals versus Lukas Ladra, who managed to squeeze by Hacker 2-1. Best of five. Slowly my concentrations starts to fade, and I make two small mistakes in the first game. Nevertheless I can win it. The second and third duel goes to Lukas, mainly due to his two Enchantments Goblin Bombardment (again) and Invasion Plans (!). In the second game, he does me a favor and casts a Winds of Rath, that did not appear to be necessary at that time. It's good to know he has something like that. Small break, which I use to collect myself. I win the fourth game, although he again has the Bombardment on the table, but this I time I draw my Disenchant in time. Later, Lukas commits a severe error, when he does not cast his Invasion Plans to kill my Master Decoy. In the next turn my Decoy had lost summoning sickness and I never tapped out again from that point on. Fifth and deciding game: As in all four duels before Lukas plays first. This is fine with me. I have to take a Mulligan (my first in the Final 8), but I get a decent hand, among others the Angel. I am able to stop his initial onslaught and an early Burial gives me the game. Although he can get rid of the Angel once, I dig her out again the next turn. That's game, set, match and championship! I win the qualification for Chicaco, $ 2,000 and 6 Pro Tour Player Points. All the Germans congratulate me and say that I really deserved a success like this for a long time. Finally, I make it to my first Pro Tour (not counting World's 96). But one may not forget, that with a little more luck on Buehler's side, it could have been all over in the quarterfinals. After the mandatory photo sessions and interviews we start our home trip shortly before midnight. Monday the normal life waits for me, but I sleep my fill to 8 o'clock. My boss will understand it, if I spend a bottle of champagne... Stephan ************************************************************************** * Stephan J. Valkyser email: stephan@valkyser.oche.de * * Pfalzgrafenstr. 20 * * 52072 Aachen voice: + 241/456-2469 (work) * * Germany + 241/175107 (home) * **************************************************************************