Hi all,

I am reporting to you from the beautiful town of Cambridge, were I am
visiting an old friend of mine, so any mail replies will not reach me
for another week or so, but you can always post them if you like...

After the German nationals I had almost no time to prepare a MiVIlite
Deck, especially as I had other things to do also, so I basically
constructed only two decks and tested them against each other.

Deck 1 was Darwin Kastle's Red/Blue deck with Fog Elementals instead of
Cloud Elementals and some other small changes. It ilementals and some other small changes. It is practically a burn
deck with Manowars. As I expected a lot of Burn and a lot of Manowars it
made for an extremely good test deck.

Deck 2 was a B/u/r Deck which I called my Weatherlite Necrodeck which
ran 3 Infernal Tributes, lots of Weenies and 6 Big Guns and blue just
for Manowars and Red just for Incinerates and a Torch. The Manowars were
supposed to work against Falcon Armor Decks and with the life-sucking
legends, but they just turned out to be strong creatures.

Deck 1 beat Deck 2, but I liked Deck 2 more, so I slowly changed it to
be more burn resistant. I added Drain Life, went down with the number of
big creatures and took out 2 of the Infernal Tribute because they were
just too slow. I added more weenies instead, among them Necratogs. Then
in the last to days I checked Frank Kusumoto's netsite (the best magic
resource on the net IMO) and saw the first Aetherflash Decks and the
really funky Necratog Decks and built my sideboard accordingly. (Though
it still sucked s**t), but the sideboard takes the longest time to test
and I had no time to spare.

I ended up with the:

Zilatog pre-Grand Prix version

3 Sewer Rats
3 Shadow Guildmage
3 Dark Rituals

4 Fallen Askari
2 Skulking Ghosts
3 Incinerate

3 Necratog
3 Manowar
1 Infernal Tribute

4 Nekrataal

1 Morifen
2 Gallowbraid
1 Necrosavant

3 Drain Life

2 Rocky Tar Pit
2 Bad River
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Undiscovered Paradiser
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Gemstone Mines
10 Swamps

60 cards

Sideboard

2 Bubble Matrix
2 Disenchant
2 Serrated Biskelion
2 Tombstone Stairwell
2 City of Solitude
2 Crypt Rats
1 Drain Life
1 Infernal Tribute
1 Ray of Command

As you can see the deck has a smooth mana curve. I put the Dark Rituals
in to combat burn decks with speed, The sewer rats were supposed to work
against U/W control decks. Manowar and Nekrataal synergize with the rest
of the deck, so do the Shadow Guildmages. The big Legends are too good
to ignore in my opinion and give the deck an additional way of victory
which is not aetherflashable, so do the drain life, which were a late
addition but huge in the tournament...
I will post a post-Grand Prix version at the end of the report...
The sideboard was mainly anti-control with some anti-weenie cards thrown
in. I overlooked discard as a sideboard possibility.

Day 1: 

I arrive 2 minutes before the official end of registration, because I
missed three busses not knowing what a request stop is. (At a request
stop you have to hold out your hand or the bus will not stop. ;)
I meet some of the Germans there, but the big news that none of the
German names have shown up. On the other hand, Olle Rade, Oliver
Schneider, the new UK Champion, and Graham Thompson are there as well as
several other top European players...
The total turn-out is 390 players. The first day will cut to the top 64
and points scored  cut to the top 64
and points scored will count towards tommorow. 3 for a win 1 for a draw.

Round 1: I have one bye because of my rating, but not two yet, as the
German national results are not yet in and I am still rated at 1793.

Round 2: Mark Vollmann B/u/r

My opponent is also from Germany and is playing the classic Zila Deck as
far as I can tell. I manage to get several three to one or two to one
business card trade offs due to some mistakes on his part and win
easily. For instance he incinerates two of my early Askari to let my
Shadow Guildmage live which then kills three of his Skulking Ghosts...

2:0 games and 2:0 matches

Round 3: U/w Floodgate deck

Game 1: I get an early Infernal Tribute which nets me 4 cards and I
still loose because of those infernal Floodgates...  a bad sign.

Game 2: I get out an early City of Solitude, Nekrataal, Manowar and
Disenchant (Biskelion) his early creatures and Drain him for the rest...
He reveals a hand not full of counters, but land.

Game 3: My opponent is mana-screwed. I am such a good player... :(

Lucky win! I think my deck should have lost this match-up...

4:1 games 3:0 matches

Round 4: Madog Williams G/w Llanowar Sentinel-Uktabi Efreet Deck

He lets me desleeve, because I use black-backed sleeves, even though his
sleeves are more marked than mine which we realize as he desleeves too.

Game 1: He gets a great draw with Uktabi Efreet plus Tariffs to kill my
big creatures and no fs to kill my
big creatures and no Nekrataals from me.... Still he only barely wins
the damage race. I think I can take him though if I start drawing
Nektrataals.

Game 2: I draw 2 Nekrataals.... and my fourth land the round before I
die in a long drawn out game :(...

4:3 games 3:1 matches

Round 5: U/R Celerity Burn

This is the deck I tested against extensively and I win the necessary
two games, losing once to a god draw of 3 manowars and 3 lancers plus a
Talruum.

6:4 games 4:1 matches

Round 6: A U/W deck but without Floodgates! My opponent lets me desleeve
again. The Black Backed Sleeves seem to have a bad reputation...

I win two straight, without the Floodgates U/W can't stop me in time
especially not my sewer rats. Manowars and Nekrataals take care of his
Hazeriders...

8:4 games 5:1 matches

Round 7: Cyrille de Foucaid (Team Lotus Noir)

Game 1: He plays Land, Land Diamond. I say "Ohh no, a Sandsipoise Deck".
He just smiles and puts down an Equipoise and a Sands of Time in the
next two rounds...
I think about it for a minute or two and concede...

Game 2: Again he gets out the lock fast. Then he E-tutors for two
diamonds in the next two rounds... I am looking at my disenchant in my
hand and think, "Go ahead..." Then I disenchant the Sands of Time, he
has a second Equipoise but no second Sands of Time!!! A Shadow Guildmage
pings him to death while a Fallen Askari stares down his Taniwa (the
reason he tutored for the aniwa (the
reason he tutored for the diamonds probably...). Who says Askari need to
block.... :)

Game 3: Cyrille is dissatisfied with his playing last round and mentions
that he played too fast... So we take it a little bit slower this game
especially as he Abeyances me 4 times, casts a Gerrads Wisdom for 12
life, a Magaras Blessing for 5 and a Peace Talks! I bring him down to 11
(i.e. -6) anyway but then the game stalls at a Sands of Time and an
Equipoise. I am able to disenchant the Equipoise this time, then Taniwa
enters the board... My life dwindles rapidly as Taniwa refuses to phase
with the sands out and Toggling hinders my blockers. Yet I manage to
survive for three rounds. I am at three life. I have drawn three lands
and a Dark Ritual and am waiting for the Drain Life, but it will not
come. He attacks once more but valiantly my Necratog steps in the way,
eats two creatures (all there is) and dies... I am at two life. Mana
burn for 1, Toggle, no Drain Life .... Then the judge says you have 5
seconds left, active player ends his turn... I take my turn.

This is now the third time I have survived to a draw due to time out
(once in a PTQ, once in the German Nationals and now at the Grand Prix).
Each time I took the time left and did not let my opponent kill me and
each time I felt bad about it and even worse because my opponents then
accused me of not letting them win. When the same happens to me I do not
ask my opponent to let me win anponent to let me win and I certainly make no scene about it. I
consider it part of professional play to be able to play with the time
limit in mind.  Yet the strict time limits are easily abusable. You hear
a lot of accusations about stalling in the upper tournament echelons. I
consider stalling to be one of the blemishes of the game and do not
stall. The problem is that it is very hard to differentiate between
stalling and not playing fast. In this case Cyrille admitted himself
that I did not stall, yet he was dissapointed with me that I did not
give him the one extra turn he needed to kill me.

 What do you other people out there think about this?

 What would you consider stalling?

 What is the professional or sportsmanlike thing to do in such
situations?

Anyway I get the draw and therefore finish the first day at:

9:5:1 games 5:1:1 matches 16 points.

16 points does get me safely into the Top 64, while 2/3 of the 15
pointers do not make it in. Infact I sneak in at place 36.

Day 2:

We are supposed to be there between 8:30 and 9:00. Therefore I arrange a
wake-up call for 6:50 a.m. I wake up at 6:48 and decide to close my eyes
until the telephone rings... I open them again at 7:10. There goes my
safety time...
Later I hear that there were some problems with the internal phone lines
that day and that the porter tried to knock on my door instead. That
simple task was complicated by the fact that my room had no room e fact that my room had no room number
because somebody had removed the roomnumber sign outside.... No working
phone lines no wake up call, no Room number no wake-up knock...
Ofcourse I miss the first bus by a few steps. With my stomach growling
because breakfast starts at 8:00, I decide to cross the street to buy
some blueberry muffins and some orange juice. As I leave the store the
next bus passes the station... I catch the third bus and drive to Sloane
Square only to find out that Circle Line is not running this of all days
because of repairs.... After 5 minutes of searching I find the
replacement bus station and take the next bus to South Kensington which
is the nearest subway station. There I find out that there are no trains
at all between South Kensington and Embankment. Too bad the Grand Prix
is behind Embankment.... I should have taken the replacement bus in the
other direction. My fault for playing a deck with the name Zila in it!
;) Anyway 25 minutes after I left Sloane Square I am passing it again in
the other direction.... To make a long story short... I arrive at 9:30
totally out of breath. The players have already started playing .... Uh
Ohhh! I tell them about the circle line and I am ready to take my loss
of game, but after some discussion they just retrieve the one person who
has gotten a Bye and I am allowed to play against him... Whew!

Round 1: U/W with Tefris Honors Guard, Hazerider Drakes and Azimaet
Drakes.

ManoAzimaet
Drakes.

Manowars, Incinerates, Nekrataals combine in a nasty mix, and I win in
two straight, relieving my conscience....

11:5:1 games, 6:1:1 matches, 19 points.

Round 2: U/W with Abeyances

Game 1: I run over him...

Game 2: Eventhough he Abeyances twice I can still attack and do; even
though an abeyed Necratog can't eat I simply overwhelm him by numbers...

13:5:1 games 7:1:1 matches 22 points.

Round 3: B/u My opponent is playing a mono-black deck with Manowars and
discard and Infernal Tribute. I am playing a mono-black deck with
Manowars and Incinerates and Infernal Tribute... 

Game 1: I win eventhough I draw more land than him because of my big
critters...

Game 2: I lose to Drain Life.

Game 3: I win due to Drain Life... In black aginst black Drain Life is a
deciding card.

15:6:1 games 8:1:1 matches 25 points. I am now at 6th position and
calculate that 29 points will make it in. I need a win and a draw...

Round 4: Oliver Schneider (U.K. Champion)

I know Oliver from the Amsterdam Grand Prix. Oliver has 27 points and
needs 2 Draws to make the Top 8. I need a draw and a win, so like the
Pro Tour Players we are we intentionally draw and talk Extended Strategy
for the Worlds...

15:6:2 games 8:1:2 matches 26 points.

Round 5: Marius, Team Green Machine from Norway U/R Hammer-Celerity.

Game 1: He draws two Islands and starts discarding. I hit him for 12
with a Sewer Rat I am such a good player
with a Sewer Rat I am such a good player... :(

Marius is understandably upset and starts three pile shuffling my deck.
I do the same and turn around his cards so that they point in the same
direction. We both do three ending riffle shuffles. I then give him the
deck to cut after I cut mine. And he shuffles his again. I mention that
he can only cut if I do the last shuffle, but he gets all suspicious on
me and tells me that I can call a judge to shuffle if I want. I tell him
that it his perogative to not trust me and let it go.

Game 2: He just over runs me with Sand Stalker and Talruums.. augh! I
have 2 Disenchants and two Bubble Matrix on hand because I feared Aether
Flash...
I sideboard them out.

Game 3: He doesn't draw a second red mana but can cast everything on his
hand except for two cards. I Drain for three-Shadow Guilmage two Fog
Elementals and win. He has an Aetherflash and a Hammer on hand... Better
Lucky than Good! 

17:7:2 games 9:1:2 matches 29 points

With that I make it into the Top 8 as 5th seed.

The Top 8 are:

1. Robin McCandless Mono-red with Borgardan Firefiend and other
creatures...

2. Graham Thompson Mono-red California Deck copied straight from the
net...

3. Ben Possimiers U/W 4/4 Flier Deck... probably with 4 Abeyances...

4. Michael Sonchon U/w control with Powersinks, Desertions, Dissipates,
Serrated Biskelions, Manowars plus 4 Abeyances...

5. Daniel Brickwell, Zilatog

6. Oliver Schneider U/W WateZilatog

6. Oliver Schneider U/W Waterspout without Abeyances (Which was a
mistake, as Oliver admits, Quote: "I didn't know it was a Timewalk...")

7. Frederick Banach, R/W with 4 Abeyances...

8. Cyrille De Foucaid - Sandsipoise with 4 Abeyances

I clearly have the rogue deck, everyone else is either playing
Abeyance-Control or Burn...

Quarterfinals

Cyrille de Foucaid beats Robin McCandless 
Graham Thompson beats Frederic Banach
Oliver Schneider beats Ben Possimiers

Daniel Brickwell against Michael Sonchon

Game 1: I draw no small critters at all just land, a Gallowbraid and a
Necrossavant.... I cast the Gallowbraid...he desertions it. I cast the
Necrosavant ... he desertions it. I cast a Manowar and get the
Necrosavant back... I cast the Necrosavant. He Manowars it. I cast it
again. He Manowars it again... I die ....

Game 2: I surprise him by drawing small creatures. He manowars one. I
try to Manowar something of his he desertions it. He is beating me down
with the Manowars and just counters everything I try to stop it.
Especially my Ray of Command. Before it is almost over I draw a City of
Solitude, after he has already cast 2 Powersinks, a Desertion and 2
Dissipates of course... I die.

Oh well 5th place nets me a place for Chicago and 375 Dollars and with
the German Nationals and now the Grand Prix, my rating should now start
breaking the 1900 mark...

Semi-finals

Cyrille de Foucaid beats Oliver Schneider
Michael Soncd beats Oliver Schneider
Michael Sonchon beats Graham Thompson

1066 encore une fois.

Finals:

Cyrille de Foucaid concedes to Michael Sonchon, because he "doesn't like
him". I don't know what was going on there at all....

For anyone stupid enough not to play a Abeyance or Burn Deck I will give
you a Post-Grand-Prix Listing of the Zilatog Deck...

Zilatog Version 2.0

4 Shadow Guilmages
2 Sewer Rats

4 Fallen Askari
2 Skulking Ghosts
3 Incinerates or 4 Abeyances even ???

4 Manowar
4 Necratog

4 Nekrataal

1 Morifen
2 Gallowbraid
1 Necrosavant

4 Drain Life

11 Swamps
1 Mountain
1 Island
2 Rocky Tar Pit
2 Bad River
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Gemstone Mines

Perhaps you should also play with Time Wa... I mean Abeyance in this
deck. You can also try to put in Ertais Familiars. I just didn't have
any... If you go with the familiars try out a Vampiric Tutor and a
Tombstone Stairwell perhaps. I found the Tombstones to be useless as
either your opponent was also playing with a lot of creatures or didn't
kill yours just phase them out or take control of them... I barely had
enough creatures in the graveyard for my Necratogs... Drain Life was
very good in the deck as you can Drain the Manowar or the Suqata Lancer
and gain back the life you lost because of him. Later on they counter
burn damage and even kill the 4/4 fliers...

Sideboard

2 Disenchant
1 Serenity
2 City Of Solitude
1 Ray of Command
2 Bubble Matrix
2 Eb City Of Solitude
1 Ray of Command
2 Bubble Matrix
2 Ebony Charm
2 Crypt Rats
2 Serrated Biskelions 
1 Infernal Tribute

As you can see I dropped the Stairwells for Ebony Charms and the 4th
Drain has to go in the deck. I put in an extra Serenity as you need
something against Sandsipoise with this deck or you will just lose...

See you at Worlds or at Chicago, though I still have to win a plane
ticket for Chicago...

Friendly Greetings

Daniel

PS: At the rewards ceremony Graham Thompson gave a little speech I want
to pass on.

Paraphrased: "I think Wizards made a huge mistake when they
profesionalized the game. It was way too early. Now we have problems
creeping up like cheating and stalling... I want to use this opportunity
to remind everyone that this is still a game. We play it for FUN. So go
back to your respective nations and tell the other players that this
game is about FUN not money."