Friday 6pm: Antoine and I arrive in Aix-en-Provence. I’m turning 28 today, it’s quite hot in here (95f), crickets are singing, and we’re playing Five-Color Control. We say hi to everyone at the tournament site, and talk with people about what they are playing. When I ask half the favorites and outsiders for the title what they are playing, I realize most of them are playing Five-Color Control.
I start considering actually running Time Sieve, the deck which absolutely can’t lose to Five-Color Control. That’s when I hear that Grand Prix: Seattle champion Yann Massicard and his friend Selmi Creiche, two of the best players in France at the moment, are playing Time Sieve too.
I go and ask them about their tech to defeat Elves, as they must have something, and they explain that Silence totally changes the matchup. It even gives you a good chance to beat Faeries. The deck’s two negative matchups in my testing would be, according to them, 50/50 and 30/70, when I thought they were 30/70 and 20/80. This meant the deck would be an excellent choice in the metagame.
After I borrowed all the cards for the deck, I ran straight back to my hotel, and started playtesting with Antoine, concentrating exclusively on the Elves/Time Walk matchup. Fifteen games (main deck plus sideboard) with Silence and nine wins later, I had made up my mind. Antoine, who had been playtesting Quick n’ Toast exclusively for the last few days, decided to stay with his current version. After Japanese Nationals, he compared his decklist with Shuhei and realized they had, lands included, only 7 cards difference in the main deck! After a long online chat with the Japanese national champion and a few more days of testing, he was now playing something even more similar:
Creatures (8)
Lands (27)
Spells (25)
- 3 Broken Ambitions
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 1 Firespout
- 2 Hallowed Burial
- 2 Agony Warp
- 3 Cruel Ultimatum
- 4 Esper Charm
- 4 Volcanic Fallout
- 1 Doom Blade
- 1 Essence Scatter
Sideboard
The deck is very close to Shuhei’s build, but the sideboards are a lot different. Anathemancer seems a lot better than Great Sable Stag, as it’s amazing in the mirror match and almost as good as the 3/3 against Faeries. Not only does Faeries run a minimum of 75% non-basic lands, it also uses Jace as a key card in the matchup after boarding, and the 2/2 is a great way to instantly deal handle things. Anyway, against Faeries versions who absolutely want to beat aggro (like Watanabe’s deck from Japan Nationals), Five-Color Control is a favorite as they waste too many slots on these matchups to be efficient versus Toast.
Saturday morning, after a short night’s sleep, I arrive on the site with a 61-card deck. I have 15 minutes to find out what to cut. The judge arrives at my table for my decklist, and I must cut one card… is it going to be Cryptic Command? Yann and Selim advise me to only play one, but it seemed to be their only bad piece of advice. Whatever, 61 cards… That’ll do. It doesn’t make much sense in a deck which absolutely needs his Howling Mine on turn 2, but that’s the price you pay for switching decks at the last minute. It’s obviously not the right number, and I’m not happy about it, but it’s better than cutting the wrong card. Here’s the version I ran:
The tournament could now start!
Round 1: Alexandre Mallard (GB)
We both have a good draw and a non draw, so we can jump straight to game 3. I have Howling Mine on the board and two Time Warp in hand, with lots of mana. I play my first Warp, find another Mine, play it and my second Warp, find Tezzeret, search for Time Sieve and activate it, but the next draw step doesn’t reveal anything relevant, just my fifth artifact: Kaleidostone. I play it and draw land, then sac Tezzeret to search for another Kaleidostone, giving me another land. With already 25 cards drawn, I sacrifice all my artifacts except for Howling Mine to get an extra turn. My next two draws had no Open the Vault, Cryptic Command, Time Walk, or Fog. He had 9 power plus a Mutavault on the battlefield, and I was at eleven life, with 8 mana on the table and Jace in hand. I played the Planeswalker and drew… Open the Vault. One mana short. I was dead.
While I was starting to feel depressed, I realized he was so convinced he was dead he didn’t actually pay attention to the fact he was winning. I passed the turn, and he started thinking.
“So you’re on 11…”
“Correct”
“And I’ve 11 power.”
“Correct.”
As he started thinking, and touching his creatures, I took a random card from my hand and held it as if I were about to cast it.
“Whatever, just tell me when I have priority at the beginning of combat.”
“You have to have a Fog,” he said, disappointed. ” I pass the priority.”
“Sure, go ahead”
He killed Jace, left me on five life, and I killed him on the next turn.
A first miracle had happened. I turned 28 yesterday, and no offense to my Wii Fit or to the first three books of Ellis and Robertson “Transmetropolitan” series, but this is one of the best presents I received.
1-0
Round 2: Camille Brassem (Jund Aggro)
Camille is a quite good player who has played around ten Pro Tours.
I win the first game pretty easily as he doesn’t draw any Maelstrom Pulses. In the second, I play badly. I’ve two Mines on the board when I sacrifice my other five artifacts to get an extra turn and play Open the Vault. He had all his mana opened, and I thought I’d get blasted at the end of turn when I’d next pass, but what happened was a lot worse, as Jund Charm emptied my graveyard. Luckily my next two draws were Time Warp and a third Mine, and from there I could go off again. I rebuilt my hand, passed with Silence and Pollen Lullaby, played the first during his upkeep, the second during his attack, and finished him off without needing a second Open the Vault, and, therefore, staying Jund-Charm-proof this time.
2-0
Round 3: Malo Wilefert (Cryptic Command Jund)
Malo is only 16, but he has been in a couple of PTs, and he’s one of the players to watch in France. I have absolutely no idea what he is playing.
In the first game we both take a mulligan, and he opens with Vivid Marsh. On turn 2 he plays Thoughtseize but doesn’t play a land. Same goes for turn 3. On turn 4 and 5 I bounce his only land with Cryptic Command. In the end, when I kill him he still has only one permanent on the board.
In the second game he makes a crucial mistake that will cost him the game. I play Silence during my turn just to resolve a Time Warp with two Howling Mine on the stack, and he decides to play Cryptic Command in response to bounce one of them and draw. Many people have that reflex when they face an Orim’s Chant-like effect versus a combo deck. They feel thymus play a spell as long as they can. However, as this specific deck won’t kill without playing a few extra turns, this play is absolutely useless. With him tapped out, I combo off easily and take a third straight win before the draft portion. I think I’d have still won anyway, but I may have had to give him a window to get back in the game.
3-0
I’m drafting at table one along with Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, Pro Tour: Osaka Top 8 player Christophe Haim, a pair of players who have been to the Pro Tour before, and 4 players whose names won’t tell you anything.
Before the draft, Christophe, who hasn’t been playing much in the last few years, asked Antoine and I about the best archetypes to draft in the format, and we both advised him to go UW, WG, or Esper, as they are both the best and the easiest-to-draft archetypes available. When I see him sitting on my left, I fear we’re both going to be in trouble. My first pack only has one good card, Oblivion Ring. I then pick Tower Gargoyle, with a rare missing. Pack 3 gives me Executioner’s Capsule, which is not a card I like a lot in Esper, as I want it base-UW to avoid mana problems. Also, another rare and an uncommon are missing, so I can’t really speak of signals yet. When I receive a second Tower Gargoyle with two commons missing, it’s the clearest signal Esper is open, but it is also trouble. Indeed, not only did that pack contain Sanctum Gargoyle as well, but I already have three Black cards, which is really bad for my mana. I try, from that moment until the end of the draft, to pick the best control cards in the archetype and all the fixers I can. Unfortunately, I only see one fixer, Fieldmist Borderpost. Unfortunately too, Christophe tells me after the draft he is also Esper.
I still end up with a pretty good deck, in which I decide to play 18 lands (17 and a Post) to limit the risks of mana problems. But they still exist.
7 Island
6 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Fieldmist Borderpost
1 Court Homunculus
2 Deft Duelist
2 Vedalken Outlander
1 Esper Stormblade
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Kathari Screecher
1 Guardians of Akrasa
2 Esperzoa
1 Ethersworn Shieldmage
1 Wall of Denial
1 Aven Mimeomancer
1 Arsenal Thresher
1 Scornful Aether-lich
1 Sludge Strider
2 Tower Gargoyle
1 Executioner’s Capsule
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Deny Reality
We learn that one player has been DQd at the table for peeking. Is this going to be a bye?
… 16 Vautrin, Nicolas 9 vs. Ruel, Olivier 9 …
Damnit ! At least I’m not playing versus Wafo or Christophe.
Round 4: Nicolas Vautrin (Jund)
In the first game I mulligan and die without casting a spell, as I didn’t find a single Island. In game 2, I’ve better hopes as my opener is Plains, Plains, Island, Island, Mimeomancer, Screecher, Tower Gargoyle. My next draws are as follow: Plains, Island, Tower Gargoyle, Plains, Sludge Strider, Island. And I die. It only took me 7 minutes, with the shuffle, sideboarding, and mulligans included. Highlights of these game come from my opponent, who tries and block Mimeomancer with a fresh-flashed Gluttonous Slime and who, after the game, seeing I am a little disappointed, explains to me how Limited works:
“What happened is normal. You should lose half of the games in Limited to mana screw.”
I suppose throwing my deck in his face would be considered an infraction, so I just sign the slip and wish him good luck.
3-1
With that loss, I can either play against Camille-Olivier Albert, who beat Wafo but conceded to him as they are good friends and he can’t go to Worlds, or against Christophe, who apparently is running Martial Coup. Or… or I can get the bye!
… 12 Ruel, Olivier vs. Albert, Camille-Olivier…
Damnit!
Round 5: Camille-Olivier Albert (Bant)
I’ve seen the end of his match versus Wafo. Bébert (that’s what we call him) seems to have a pretty good WG deck with a splash for Rafiq of the Many. Luckily, he passed Finest Hour twice, as he didn’t know the card was good.
Both games are super fast, as I have Tower Gargoyle on turn 4 in both, and he cannot deal with it. The rest of my draws is pretty good too, while he doesn’t do much in the first game and can’t really race with a 4/4 flyer in the second.
4-1
When the minimum score you can get at a table is 1-2, the minimum you should aim for is 2-1, and that’s what I must absolutely get.
Round 6: Yves Lenain
I don’t remember anything at all about this match, except that I lost one game to not drawing a Plains, and that the match still didn’t last very long. Oh yes, and that I won 2-1.
5-1
One more draft, one more round, and we’re off to bed. I’m seated at table 2, along with Christophe again, Camille (whom I beat round 2), former French champion and about twelve-time PT player Guillaume Matignon, Guillaume is also the player I should fear the most at the table. I say “should” because, no matter how good Guillaume is, I beat him every year at Nationals. When I was asked before the event “Is there any player you want to face this weekend?” I told the coverage reporter “without a doubt, Guillaume Matignon.” He’s the man I’m 5-0 against at French Nationals, five times on day 2, and five times when we could still both make Top 8.
I seat at the table and, bad surprise, Christophe is on my right. I pray to open Broodmate Dragon or any broken rare that will keep me from going Esper.
“Vein Drinker…”
That will do!
Pack 1 goes really well, and my first seven picks are Vein Drinker, Blood Cultist, Blister Beetle, Bloodpyre Elemental, Bone Splinters, Dregscape Zombie, Grixis Panorama… when I receive a pack with Necrogenesis and a second Cultist. The enchantment is a better card, but I’ve the feeling I’ll be able to get a very good and very stable deck if I go for the safe pick.
Pack 2 offers me a second rare, Goblin Razerunners, and some pretty good cards, but not many playables which was, I guess, to be expected, being RB.
In pack 3 I open Slave of Bolas and Madrush Cyclops. I think about picking the 3/4 so I’ve first-picked my three rares, but the removal is both better and safer. It is also a pretty good combo with Bone Splinters. In pick two I must choose between two great cards which will decide my splash: Vengeful Rebirth and Spellbound Dragon. I’ve already a Filigree Fracture in my sideboard and a Grixis Panorama as a fixer. I like the rare a little more, and pick it. Later, I’ll pick two Borderposts: a UB for my maindeck and a RG for my sideboard, as I also got a Deadshot Minotaur. I’ll bring it in along with Fracture when facing Esper.
Here is my second draft deck, clearly aiming for the 3-0:
7 Swamp
8 Mountain
1 Island
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Mistvein Borderpost
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Blister Beetle
1 Dregscape Zombie
1 Grixis Grimblade
2 Blood Cultist
1 Kathari Bomber
1 Goblin Razerunners
1 Infectious Horror
1 Bloodpyre Elemental
1 Spellbound Dragon
1 Vein Drinker
1 Jhessian Zombie
1 Bone splinters
1 Ignite Disorder
1 Fiery Temper
1 Drag Down
1 Suicidal Charge
1 Slave of Bolas
1 Deny Reality
1 Elder Mastery
1 Absorb Vis
Round 7: Simon Mathieu (Jund)
He seems like he has drafted very well, as he has many fixers, a good curve, and good cards. However, Simon didn’t play well in this match. He seemed intimidated – maybe by me, maybe by the audience – as the more we were advancing in the match, the more people were watching us, and the worse his plays became. The first game was a fierce battle.
My deck’s plan clearly is:
A – Kill everything they have.
B – Play a bomb.
C – Win with the bomb.
In the first game it took me over twenty cards to get to B, and only another two to go from B to C.
Three turns before, we reached a situation when the first to draw a removal spell would instantly win, while the first to draw a land when his opponent drew a spell would lose immediately. I drew land, and so did he. I drew land again; he smiled, tapped four mana, and cast Sewn-Eye Drake and attacked, assuming it was for the win. That’s when I smiled as well… as I had, from my opening hand, an Ignite Disorder of which I could eventually make a good use. I killed his flyer, drew Vein Drinker, and took the first game.
The second game should have been his, as I was a little land screwed at the beginning, but I managed a miracle comeback. At first, when I reached my fifth land, I played Deny Reality on Ember Weaver into Blister Beetle, killing a Jund Hackblade. On my next turn, the situation was as follows:
Him – 20 life, 3 cards in hand
5 lands, Druid of the Anima, Ember Weaver
Me- 6 life
Hand: Vein Drinker, Voices From the Void, Elder Mastery, Bloodpyre Elemental
3 Swamp, 2 Mountain, Island, Blister Beetle
From the way he’s playing (neither attacking nor blocking with the Elf), I assume he has Absorb Vis in hand, and therefore that the other two cards he’s holding are spells. As I saw Bituminous Blast in game 1 and didn’t give him any decent window to play it, I’m almost convinced he has it in hand too. Therefore, despite how tempting it is to play the Vampire, I play Voices from the Void (which I took in instead of Ignite Disorder) and get Absorb Vis, Bituminous Blast, and Drumhunter. Now, if he draws a red permanent I’m pretty much dead. At least, by not cycling Vis in response, he’s reduce his chance to topdeck.
He attacks with both guys, the 1/1s trade, and he plays Monstrous Carabid in his second main phase, basically giving me an extra point of life! I play Bloodpyre Elemental, kill his 4/4 and pass. I need him to draw his sixth land, absolutely. He attacks, put me down to 1, plays Swamp and passed. YEEEES!
I play Vein Drinker, then kill him in five turns before he gets the chance to draw any removal.
I finish day 1 in 7th place, three points from the leaders Guillaume Wafo-Tapa and Yann Hamon.
Here is the Top 8 after day 1, and the performance of the other major players at the event:
1 Hamon, Yann 21 66.66%
2 Wafo-tapa, Guillaume 21 65.98%
3 Deltour, Louis 18 71.42%
4 Parent, Victorien 18 67.34%
5 Haim, Christophe 18 64.28%
6 Matignon, Guillaume 18 61.90%
7 Ruel, Olivier 18 59.86%
8 Allouche, Yohan 18 59.18%
…
17 Menard, Antoine 15 65.98%
27 Bornarel, Nicolas 15 59.18%
32 Fortier, Remi 15 57.82% 33
43 Levy, Raphael 15 51.02%
45 Caumes, Benjamin 15 44.89%
46 Massicard, Yann 14 56.00%
49 Ruel, Antoine 12 67.34%
97 Canali, Pierre 12 45.57%
See you next week for the second and final part of my report, featuring two more rounds of Limited, four more rounds of Standard, an Top 8 report, and the updated Time Walk decklist!
Until then, have a wonderful weekend!
Oli