Saturday, January 27th
Today, I’m flying to Geneva.
I have been looking for a way to travel to GP: Dallas and GP: Singapore without travelling back to Europe in between. I contacted online travel agencies that specialized in round the world trips. The first route I was offered was Toulouse to Dallas, Dallas to Kuala Lumpur (where I could crash at Terry Soh place for a couple of days), then Singapore to Tashkent for a two-day stop in Uzbekistan, and finally Tashkent to Amsterdam. That sounded like an amazing trip, as I’ve never been to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, not to mention Uzbekistan! Unfortunately, it would cost me twice as much to go that way around the globe. I would save a day of travel, but pay for that with more than a thousand euros. Not exactly the deal I was looking for.
Olivier and Antoine wanted to attend both GPs. We decided altogether that even though the trip via Uzbekistan sounded attractive, we would travel back to France. Oli booked the flights for himself and his brother, and I’ve just finished booking mine. It’s 5:30 in the morning, and my plane to Geneva is departing soon! A week of skiing and a Limited Pro Tour ahead… then we’ll think about Extended!
…
Wednesday, February 21st
I met Oli, Antoine, and new French superstar Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, at the airport in Paris. We all had prospective Extended decks but no real idea of what we would and should play. In my bag I had cards to build TEPS and Aggro Loam. Sincerely, I wasn’t really convinced by either deck. I remember saying TEPS was the best Constructed deck possible, and I still believe it was… back at Worlds, when the field wasn’t prepared. Now that all the decks have Ghost Quarters, Orim’s Chant, Stifle – and most of them maindeck — so you can’t really go off like you used to. Whenever your opponent has a Blue or White mana open, you don’t feel quite as confident.
I knew Kenji, Rich, and other pros had opted for Aggro Loam. I just didn’t feel like playing that deck. I had the cards in case it ended up matching my play style, but I seriously doubted it. Olivier had B/G/r Madness featuring four Angers, and Five-Color Zoo. Antoine had Affinity with Atogs and Fatal Frenzy, No Stick, and really wanted to build Balancing Act. Wafo had… well, all the other decks, including Elf Opposition, Boros, and bizarre decks that only he can pilot (like Wake or U/G Witness / Krosan Tusker / Countermagic / Gifts / Fact or Fiction).
We had all the strong decks in the format except for Tog, and as we were arriving in the U.S. three days before the Grand Prix we had some time to playtest and settle on our decks. No offense to Texas, but we really didn’t come to visit Dallas.
Thursday & Friday, February 22nd-23rd
Playtesting usually helps you find the deck you want to play. In our cases, it helped us to put aside the decks we didn’t want to play. The format was so open, there were so many decks, and we had absolutely no clue. We just wanted to skip the GP — well, not really, but we were wondering what the heck we were doing there. Except for Olivier, none of us seemed to be winning a playtest game. My constant battle cry was “I’m going to play
On Friday, just before heading to the site, Antoine built the deck he had been praising for two days straight: Balancing Act. Both he and Olivier were excited about it, and decided to head to register and buy cards for two copies of the deck, while Wafo’s sick mind decided to stick to his original plan and play Wake. As for me? I… well, I still had no clue.
At the site, I met Mark Herberholz, and asked him to help me out. He was playing a Four-Color Zoo deck, different from Olivier’s version, which ran Dark Confidants, Molten Rains and Vindicates. What I didn’t like about the deck was that his Tribal Flames could only deal four damage, and that it was just a shame not to take full advantage of that card. On the way back to the hotel, while everyone was settled on their decks, Oli told me that his version was strictly superior. He told me that his mana was better, amongst other things. As Oli was playing his Balancing Act deck, his cards were available and I decided to run his Five-Color Zoo build instead.
We had a couple of hours left before we had to go catch some rest, and I played the deck against some other decks of our gauntlet. Oli had put a lot of effort into it, and his version was finely tuned. From what I had heard, it was also a good metagame call. The deck doesn’t really have bad matchups: it performs well against Tog and Loam, and is formidably consistent. During the few hours I had the deck in my hands, I switched a couple of cards from Oli’s original build and was almost ready to go.
Saturday, February 24th
One of the most important times in a tournament is a couple of minutes before handing your decklist to the judges. From the information I collected, there seemed to be a bunch of Tog and Affinity decks, which would make Sudden Shocks a prime call in the maindeck. I decided to replace the two Lightning Helixes I had main for two extra Sudden Shocks. My sideboard also needed some tweaking, and Frank Karsten didn’t understand why Umezawa’s Jitte wasn’t there. Oli had told me they would be too expensive: I would never have access to four mana. I had added a land to his version, and I thought I should take advice from the Dutch Constructed master.
I handed in my decklist.
Creatures (24)
- 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 1 Savannah Lions
- 4 Kird Ape
- 2 Wild Mongrel
- 4 Grim Lavamancer
- 2 Kataki, War's Wage
- 4 Boros Swiftblade
- 4 Watchwolf
Lands (20)
Spells (16)
The deck takes advantage of the Fetch Lands as much as possible, to thin away the lands and gain access to the Domain. It therefore gets the most out of Tribal Flames and Gaea’s Might. The creatures are solid enough to resist Boros, and fast enough to put enough pressure on any control deck. It’ll need to find an answer fast, while you can hold some guys in your hand for the second wave.
This list is probably not the optimal version of the deck, but without having a real idea of what the metagame would be like, it was good enough.
Off to the Swiss:
Round 1-3: Bye
Round 4: David Paschal, with W/G Slide – 2-1
Round 5: Nikkoli Willson, with Boros – 2-1
Round 6: Carlos Zambrano, with Rock / Destructive Flow – 2-1
Round 7: David Howard, with Aggro Loam – 2-1
Round 8: Luis Scott-Vargas, with Aggro Loam – 2-1
Round 9: John Pelcak, with Affinity – 1-2
I never won a match 2-0, and most of them were really tight, but I never felt like I had a bad matchup.
Sideboarding with this deck isn’t that hard. The thing you have to keep in mind is that you have to keep the same ratio of creatures and spells. When you want to bring in Lightning Helixes, take out Sudden Shocks and not creatures.
The day went smoothly. I lost my last match to John Pelcak, which was probably due to tiredness. I made a very greedy play in game 3 that ended up costing me the match. Just like in Geneva, playing out the last round at a late time never turns out well for an old man like me!
Both Oli and Antoine failed to make Day 2 with Balancing Act. Wafo met the same fate, piloting Wake.
Overall, it was a satisfying day, but as always there was the bitter taste that remains when you feel you could have done better. [Not much better, it seems. — Craig, amused.]
Score after Day 1: 8-1
Sunday, February 25th
I got enough sleep last night to hopefully be able to play after 5pm.
Round 10: Clayton Gillette, with W/G Good Stuff – 0-2
Round 11: Tomoharu Saitou, with U/W Tron – 2-0
Round 12: Kyle Sanchez, with “King in the Castle” – 2-0
Round 13: Thomas LaPille, with Trinket Tog – 1-1-1
Round 14: John Penick, with Trinket Tog – 2-0
Round 15: Analynn Bustamente, with Boros – 2-0
Compared to the first day, I had definitely tightened up my play. But I also met the only matchup that felt impossible to win in round 10. Clayton Gillette was playing a W/G deck with Troll Ascetics, Call of the Herd, Chalice of the Void, Umezawa’s Jitte, and Armadillo Cloak… Zoo’s total nightmare match.
After twelve rounds, I knew how to sideboard correctly with the deck. When you lack time for preparation with the deck you’re playing, you have to catch up during the three minutes you have between games. Intuition and an accurate knowledge of the format will be your best ally there.
Against Aggro Loam:
In: 2 Jotun Grunt; 2 Lightning Helix; 3 Meddling Mage; 1 Loxodon Hierarch
Out: 2 Sudden Shock; 2 Armadillo Cloak; 2 Kataki, War’s Wage; 1 Savannah Lions; 1 Boros Swiftblade.
In this matchup, using your pump spells correctly is the key to winning. Keeping a land up during your opponent’s turn will make him believe, accurately or not, that you can save one of your creatures after his Devastating Dreams. The games often go too fast for him to dig into all the pieces he needs to win, and that’s also why I didn’t bring in the Krosan Grips against them. Krosan Grip only has three targets, and it’s very likely that most of your guys, or just you, will die when they hit the board. The actual odds to have three mana open when you have the Grip (and him not knowing about it because of a Cabal Therapy) when he plays his Seismic Assault are too low. He can also fire once with it after he had cast it. Overall, I believe it’s a fine choice to leave them in the board.
Against Boros:
In: 2 Umezawa’s Jitte; 1 Loxodon Hierarch; 2 Jotun Grunt; 2 Lightning Helix; 1 Brute Force
Out: 2 Kataki, War’s Wage; 2 Sudden Shock; 1 Savannah Lions; 2 Grim Lavamancer; 1 Armadillo Cloak
The reason why I took out some Lavamancers and Savannah Lions is that I didn’t want to give my opponents a juicy target for their Lava Darts.
Against Trinket Tog:
In: 2 Umezawa’s Jitte; 2 Krosan Grip; 3 Meddling Mage; 1 Lightning Helix
Out: 2 Armadillo Cloak; 1 Kataki, War’s Wage; 1 Brute Force; 2 Wild Mongrel; 1 Gaea’s Might; 1 Boros Swiftblade
Unless they lock you really fast with Counterbalance / Sensei’s Divining Top, and sweep the board with Damnation or Engineered Explosives, you’re putting too much pressure on them early in the game for them to recover efficiently, especially as you can Sudden Shock the grinning beast.
I fought my way to the top 8, defeating an enthusiastic but somewhat nervous Analynn in the last round. Don’t feel too sorry for her… she made Top 16 and therefore qualified for Yokohama!
Score after the Swiss: 12-2-1
I had made it! My second GP Top 8 in Constructed! The first one I played was also the only GP I’ve won. Back then, I knew I would win. This time, I had the feeling that I had the deck to win it all. The Top 8 was played around 4 or 5pm, and I had slept sufficiently to play at my best level.
You can find these matches in the online coverage.
Quarterfinals: Mark Herberholz.
It’s fun to know that the two last decks I was intending to play — Mark’s and Oli’s — both made it to the Top 8. I wasn’t sure how the matchup would go, but after thinking about it – and I don’t only say that because it was a blow out – it was definitely in my favor. Molten Rain sound good to kill a part of the Domain, but losing a turn to destroy a land in this match is crucial. Jittes and Cloaks are a lot to handle, pump spells negate his removal, and Dark Confidants are so exciting against my deck.
Match score: 2-0
I had played this matchup twice in the Swiss, and had been practising against Rasmus Sibast during the byes. It’s a hard matchup, but not a bad one… I don’t really know if that makes much sense, but that’s how I feel about it. The three games were tight, and it took me about ten minutes to catch my breath and still my frantic heartbeat after the match.
Match score: 2-1
The same matchup for the finals. Paul’s version was better against me than Kenji’s, with more ways to deal with early threats and Meddling Mages – like Smothers, Putrefies, and Explosives – and Ravenous Baloth to stabilize.
What the coverage doesn’t say about game 3 is that I was holding two lands in hand when he played his Devastating Dreams…
Match Score: 2-1
That tournament was incredible. I got to pick my deck at 11pm the night before the tournament, made crucial sideboard changes a minute before handing out the decklist, didn’t play so well on Day 1, and tightened up for Day 2. All in all, the circumstances came together. It was definitely the deck to play. I talked to the right people, each of who could advise me well. I sometimes made wrong decisions while I played, but fortunately they didn’t cost me too much, and they helped me play later games better.
I finally made it!
After nine years, I finally added another tournament to my résumé. I’d never have thought it would be a Constructed tournament, as I’m definitely not the brain behind the decks I’m playing. But I guess choosing the right deck and tweaking it is part of the game, right?
Tuesday, February 28th
Antoine, Olivier, Wafo, and I arrived back to France. I’m currently at the Ruel’s mystic hideout in Aubervilliers near Paris. We’ll be trying to rest for a day before going to Singapore on Thursday. What am I going to play there? I don’t know. It’s very likely that I’ll play the same deck again, with a couple of changes.
Which changes? I guess I’ll know more about that on Friday. Looking back at what I played, I would say the following changes are possible:
– Kataki, War’s Wage: Affinity wasn’t that popular in Dallas. It’s just a metagame call whether you want them maindeck. If you expect a lot of Affinity in your tournament, then run them. But I honestly doubt players will bring their artifact lands to the tournament tables now that Five-Color Zoo is getting quite popular, especially as my list runs four of them after sideboard.
– Armadillo Cloak is a really good card against Boros, and in the mirror. While I originally thought I would take them out of the maindeck if I had to play GP: Dallas again, I’m not sure I would do so now that Five-Color Zoo will see a lot of play. The same thing goes for Umezawa’s Jitte… once again, a metagame call.
– Jotun Grunt: I wasn’t sure how good the Giant Soldiers were. I don’t think I lost a game in which I played them. Probably a hint?
And that’s about all my tired brain can give away at this late hour.
Overall, the trip was wonderful. My travel buddies were fun and friendly companions, and this win pumps me up for the rest of the season. I’ll be ready to battle in Singapore, where you can expect Antoine and Olivier to take their revenge. Frank Karsten will be there with us too.
Thanks for your support, everyone, whether it’s been given in Dallas or online. And a special thanks goes to Olivier for… well, you know what!
See you in Singapore!
Raph