Team Highway to Hell on the Tour Again!

QTNY Report 3/14/98 Hannover, Germany

So I hadn't gone to Dresden ans missed the occasion to qualify with only 21
people there. And I coudn't go to Dietzenbach either, since the guy with car
caught a terrible cold and could and couldn't drive. So much for trying  to go
to NY, I thought. But wait, there was still a tourney in Hannover on
Saturday...if I could convince my teammate Sven Grottke to drive... and if I
could arrange it not to work... and if I didn't stay up too long at my friend's
birdidn't stay up too long at my friend's
birthday party on friday... I might just make it there. And I did.
With the usual 2 and a half hours of sleep I arrived a my friend's house, yes
the one that just finished celebrating his birthday, and got in the car (thank
god we didn't have to stick with Sven's car, the likes of it shouldn't be
allowed on street...). Waiting for me were....

Sven Grottke of Team Highway to Hell
Claudia Loroff of Team Highway to Hell, just returning from PT LA, having gone
3:4 there
Nils Meissner, Claudia's boyfriend. Now there's one *girl who brings her
*boyfriend to a tourney....

When you're tired enough, a car is as good a place to sleep as anything else...
I only woke up when we were almost there. We got breakfast at McDonald's, it
sucked as it usually does. Then we arrived at tourney site on hour too early...
Magic tournaments just don't start before 11 am.

The site was an old storage hall for cars of some hospital...I don't know. I
just know that it was f*cking cold and that I wouldn't play my t2 deck without
sleeve on those tables...
When the 67 of us  finally got handed our decks, I opened a deck that looked
decent at first glance, but all colours were equally strong. Luckily for me, I
didn't keep it. When we changed places, they olny told us a table number, so
when I found my table, I already had some guy sitting there who took one of the
decks left there for thje two of us. I offered him to flip a coin about it,to flip a coin about it, but
he declined, so I guess he maybe knew the deck already....

To make a long story short, here's what I got....I'll  just list the deck and
the most important Sideboard cards.

Blue

2 Wind Drake
2 Thalakos Mistfolk
1 Rootwater Hunter

Red

1 Lowland Giant
1 Magmasaur
1 Kindle
1 Lightning Blast
1 Tahngaths Rage
1 Deadshot
1 Lightning Elemental
2 Wall of Diffusion

Black

1 Dauthi Horror
1 Dauthi Marauder
1 Screeching Harpy
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Marsh Lurker
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Rats of Rath

7 Mountain (+3)
6 Swamp (+2)
5 Island

Sideboard

1 Aftershock
1 Gaseous Form
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Jackal Pup

Round 1 - Jerome ?, Friend of Janosch Kuehn, B,G,R

First game we were both missing one color, but I came out best and beat him down
with Lightning Elemental (kindled) and Magmasaur, which he stopped with Dave
Grigger recursion. Lacking his green mana, the game was over when I topdecked a
swamp for the burial, and finished him when the Elemental came back the same
turn....Second game I had a really good start with Rats and Wind Drake, which he
killed. I had to put the Tahngarth Rage on my own second Wind Drake to kill him
in time, he would've thundered my away one turn later...
1:0, 2:0

Round 2 - Michael Nessler, W/G/B

He had me starting, and I promptly mulliganed, no land. Then he beat me really
hard with big green creatures. I died. Second game I mulliganed twice, so there
eatures. I died. Second game I mulliganed twice, so there
we go again, he started. I only saw the Rootwallas, Trolls and Dirtcowl Wurms
hopping around when I died Jamie Wakefield style (trampled by green creatures).
1:1, 2:2

Round 3 - Rolf Ottovordemgerschenfelde (I hope I got that name right Rolf),
R/W/G

His deck mainly seems to be land. Lots of land. And I saw them all. Plus I saw
his rolling Thunder. And he saw creatures. Land vs creatures is a bad matchup
for Land. He dies. Second game we trade back and forth, and I have a burial. He
doesn't draw the thunder, I win (Although that Blood Frenzied Rootbreaker Wurm
was pretty impressive Rolf)
2:1, 4:2

Round 4 - Sven Grottke, b/G/R

Every report must feature a match against a teammate, so here's mine. We have to
play since only some 4:1:1 will make it in. First game we do beatdown. He can't
block me, I can't block his really fat guys. I go chump blocking and creature
blasting and win the race. Next turn a Wild Wurm (key: arrived only at the third
attempt), a Lowland giant and a Heartwood Treefolk would've killed me. In come
the Aftershock, the Gaseous Form and the Gnomes for Elemental, Deadshot and
Magmasaur. Second game his single stone Rain hoses me (clever Side move, I'll
get back on that one later). A Giant Strengthed Flowstone Giant (do you see a
combo here?) makes short work of me. You could hear the screams all over the
hall. Third game I get the draw. I open with Marauder and make his
shadow-ignoring make his
shadow-ignoring Driad so angry it dies (T-Rage). Then I proceed to Kindle his
Rootwalla, Edict a Conscript, and beat him down with Marauder and Drake which
are just faster than a Treefolk.
3:1, 6:3

Round 5 - ? R/G

There he sits. A tall guy. I don't know him, but he goes first. He goes
Mountain, Jackal Pup. Hmm. I pull the rats and give him that damage back as I
block. He has a mana Elf And keeps pulling 4-Mana-Creatures from then on. I
can't beat that and die. Second game I go first since his deck is too fast. I
put the Gaseous and the Aftershock plus the Gnomes in again. He goes Jackal Pup.
I seem to be in the wrong film. This time though, I Rage his mana Elf since I
figure if he's playing two colors he must running really low on land. How right
I am. He stops laying land for one turn, and that's enough for me to overwhelm
him as he can't get past my walls.
Third game he doesn't do the Pup thing again, but seems to be a little mana
short. I pull the gnomes and sac them as he tries to kill them with and
unbuybacked Elvish Fury on an Elf. Then he slams down a Goblin Bombardment and
starts taking out my stuff. I still play creatures, though, since I'm holding a
burial. I recycle a Wind Drake, and by the time he gets his beatdown, I have the
burial/Gnomes recursion going. A Marsh Lurker and the Drake finish him.
4:1, 8:4

Round 6 - Markus Lemke, B/U/R

At table two, I see exactly my colors, and I see a player that tried I see a player that tries to get me
into trashtalking. I don't do him the favor. He stalls at two creatures, and I
never put doem more than three, always holding back my black mana. We trade
creatures back and forth, and my Wall does a great job blocking his shadowy
stuff. He goes down in life 2 per turn, and I still hold back creatures, Since I
can smell that mass removal. At one point I have two creatures and a mountain in
my hand when he casts Coercion. He sees my hand, winces and takes the mountain.
Now I know what he's up to, and right, next turn he goes Living Death which has
him getting only one card advantage. In the end he can't stop me second Wind
Drake. Next game I side the Pup and an Aftershock for the Deadshot and the
Magmasaur since I saw no big creatures. He plays all land and complains loudly,
but I can't  quite get the beatdown going either. I only offer him two creatures
at a time, only when I play a third he pulls a buybacked Evincar's Justice,
which nets him one card. I keep the Mistfolk and do like 2 Damage turn until he
puts down Rootwater hunter and manages to kill a Horror before I draw a
Lightning Blast. I can now play no creatures save one Marsh Lurker that he won't
kill sine he has a Dauthi Slayer on the board. I deal him 9 damage with it via
sacing a swamp to get past his Wall of Diffusion, always holding back one swamp
(he already coercioned). When he kindles it with the next swamp saced I know I'm
probab I know I'm
probably going to lose and play a little slower. The judges were cool about it,
though. Ten minutes to go. When he sacs his Bottle Gnomes to block my Lurker, we
are both at 7 life. The judge says three turns for each of us. With the land he
probably has on hand he can pay his Justice twice. I pull a Tim, and he pulls a
Screeching Harpy. I ping him three times, he attacks twice, then taps out to
Justice twice. I am at -1, he is at 2. I tap two mountains and...Jackal Pup him.
When I flip over the next card in my library it's a Kindle....
He was really playing a copy of my deck only without the Blast but plus Living
Death, Justice and
4:1:1, 9:5

4:1:1, but my Buchholtz is pretty good, and I haven't lost all hope. After some
minutes, a judge comes over and tells me I'm... IN!!!

So we go on booster drafting, TEMPEST of course. I was pretty exhausted after
the last game which took a lot of thinking... I figured I would go for red and
either black or green, or whatever the others gave me save blue. Others in the
top 8 feature

Gunnar Refsdal
Markus Lemke
Michael Mueller

We sit down and open our packs. I take a first pick Fireslinger over a Searing
Touch, arguably the wrong choice, but I expected a lot of speed out there. Then
I went for a Lightning Blast and a Flowstone Giant and Lightning Elemental (the
judge watching me said later there was a 1/3 pumper in the pack, but I didn't
see it). Then I noticed no one it). Then I noticed no one seemed to take white in my area of the table, so
I took pacifism, Eagles and Staunch Defenders. On  the way back in the second
pack, I saw no red, so my neighbor to the left probably went for it. I got some
shadow, Puppet Strings and Chaotic Goo. Gunnar, seated to my right, had neither
red nor white (my best guess was black since I had handed him a burial) and gave
me everything I wanted. Like 12 cards from the last pack went into the deck! I
got Pacifism pretty late, more Elementals, and a late Patchwork Gnome no one
seemed to like. I took it gladly since I was probably going to play 17 land or
over and needed a way to use my land late in the game.

Anyway, this is what I build...

Puppet Strings
Patchwork Gnomes
3 Lightning Elementals
Firesliger
Canyon Wildcat
Chaotic Goo
Flowstone Giant
Giant Strengh
Lightning Blast
2 Wall of Diffusion
Advance Scout
Soltari Trooper
Soltari Lancer
Staunch Defenders
2 Cloudchaser Eagle
Master Decoy
2 Pacifism
Anoint
9 Mountain
8 Plains

Round 7 - Mister X (sorry no names), who was seated to my left, friend of ? from
Round 5,  B/R

He isn't doing much as  I pop creatures on the board, Advance Scout/ Lightning
Elemental causes him trouble. With four creatures on the board an two in my
hand, I win. The second game he put Sadistic Glee on his Opportunist, then
proceeds to Blood Frenzy his Blood Pet which kills itself and the Wall of
Diffusion blocking it. Now the Wall of
Diffusion blocking it. Now he has a 4/4 Opportunist who is destined to grow. I
play Flowstone Giant. Next turn I Giant Strenth the Giant, pacify the
Opportunist, play Lightning Elemental and Attack for 13. He is very dead. I wipe
the blood from my hands and reshuffle my deck.
5:1:1, 11:5

>From the eliminated opponents I hear what my potential opponents are playing.
There is a monogreen Deck, a w/B/R deck. The so-so-I
-cannot-kill-creatures-W/G-deck of Markus got eliminated, and the monogreen deck
played by some kid manascrewed Gunnar badly. So my worst oponent was out, since
Gunnar had a B/U killer Deck (the only one to take Blue!!).

Round 8 - Michael Mueller w/B/R

Michael is one of the german top limited players. My second turn fireslinger
held back his two Marauders, and I hold a lot of land, so everything I have is
on the board. He anymates two Stalking stones and has a Wall of diffusion, but
Advance Scout, Lightning Elemental, Cloudchaser, Lancer and Fireslinger kill him
quickly. In goes the Stone Rain for an Elemental. I start with only two mountain
and stall at two land, but I have Fireslinger and Wall. With the third land
comes the Stone Rain on his only Swamp, and the beatdown begins. He
pulls...nothing. Nothing at all. With five creatures on the table, I beat him
down. Patchwork Gnomes, Giant and Elemental hurt. When he finally draws his
second swamp, he is at four, and he Justices. I regenerazte my Gnomes and they
wal my Gnomes and they
walk all the way to New York.
6:1:1, 13:5

I'm in! Qualified! Back on the tour after 6 top eights! (lots of cheers)

When I ask ,What about the flight" my teammates lift me up and carry me all over
the room. So I got my flight.... and I get the real ticket from the organizer.
We don't play the finals, the kid with the monogreen Deck qualified. We didn't
talk much, but I gave him my number to talk some draft. In retrospect, I think I
drafted the second-best deck after Gunnar's.

So then, see you all in New York, I'm the german with the shirt with the demon
on the back...

Martin Luedecke
Team Highway to Hell

Card of the day: Wall of Diffusion
No time for props/slops, gotta be going...