Subject: TOURNAMENT - Swedish Nationals *Top 8*
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 16:41:17 +0100
From: anders.warrby@ds.rsv.se
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hi there Frank! This is my first tournament report ever, so please bear
with me.

I'd just like to share my experiences of this last weekend, which has been
one of the more incredible during my magic "career". It's a story about
dreams coming true. :)

THE QUALIFIER
-------------

There was one more chance to qualify for the Swedish Nationals, and that
was at the gaming convention in Linkoping, LinCon, about three and a half
hour's drive from Gothenburg, where I live. The same weekend the actual
Nationals would be held at LinCon. My girlfriend Robin Osborne, my friend
Jonas Kristhammar and I had decided to go there. Jonas and I had signed up
for the last qualifier, and Robin came with us for support and for the fun
of sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor, playing sideevents, boardgames,
checking out people building chainmails and strange vampire people sneaking
around in the corridors (roleplaying). :)

Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, we all got there safely,
checked in our stuff in one of the classrooms, and went down to the main
hall to playtest decks and chat with friends. Jonas and I both felt
unprepared and nervous about the qualifier... he was going to play a 5CW
and I decided to go Black Suicide... borrowing Jonas's 4 Sacromancies and a
couple of Glooms for the sideboard. After a lot of debating with another
old friend (and lvl 2 judge) Niklas Karrstrand, i decided to play with 4
Bad Moons and 3 Unholy Strengths. Niklas pointed out how Unholies can
actually help conserve provide card advantage in some situations. For
example you play your single creature and pound for 4 each turn until your
opponent wraths.. then play the rest of the horde. Or with Propaganda on
the other side of the board, an Unholied creature is a lot more effective
than just another creature. He had some good points and i agreed.

The  started on Thursday morning. It's pretty much a haze.. but i lost the
first two matches and i was devastated... I was *never* going to make it
now!! Jonas went 0-2 as well and we both shook our heads and cursed our
decks. Robin cheered me up though and told me i just had bad matchups
(first deck i met was sligh.. i was very close to winning but didn't pull
enough bad moons) and told me I could still pull myself up and qualify. I
just needed to go 5-2-1 and i'd be in... there was still a chance.

So the next 5 matches i started to win.. i can't really remember who and
what i played against.. I just remember that I took 5 matches in a row and
all of a sudden i was 5-2!!! Before the last round many of the people at
5-2 did some calculating and pondering over the standings, and many decided
to draw in their last round if possible. Among them was I... and my dream
about playing in the Nationals was slowly becoming more real. When the
pairings were announced i checked out where to sit and went there, waiting
for my opponent... there was still a risk that if he was already qualified,
he would want to play the duel... with me possibly dropping out if i lost.
Luckily he wasn't, and we agreed to draw... an hour later after biting
nails, the standings were announced... i finished 38th on 16 points and
because lots of the top players were already qualified the limit was at
50th place! I was in!!!! This was just so unreal!! I would be playing in
the Nationals!! :) :)

The Friday featured the Type 1 Nationals, won by Gustaf (something)..
playing Merfolk!!! Grats to you Gustaf!!! Robin, Jonas and I spent the
Friday playtesting a bunch of decks in Sideevents.. i was pondering my
black weenie and decided to go with something else in the nationals..
something more consistant. Sligh has always been good, but I figured since
80% of the decks in the field contain walls and lots of anti-sligh stuff...
i'd have to modify the sligh concpet a bit. I brought out my Burn deck that
Robin and I had been fiddling around with during the last month or so. I
also considered 5CSliver and even a Mono Blue PropaOrb deck which went
really well in playtesting and would be great metagame against all the
Castle decks that i knew would come up. We playtested until late late
Friday night.. i think we meant to go to sleep at midnight, but it because
2:30 am before we could finally get some rest... and i had decided for my
Burn deck! The deck looks as follows:

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Shock
4 Incinerate
4 Kindle
4 Fireblast
4 Ball Lightnings
3 Thunderbolt
3 Earthquake
2 Furnace of Rath

3 Cursed Scroll
1 Nevinyrral's Disk

20 Mountain
4 Wasteland

SB:
4 Pyroblast
3 Flashfires
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Scalding Tongs
2 Apocalypse
1 Null Rod

THE NATIONALS
-------------

Saturday morning came and I got up early to register me and my deck.
couldn't down much of a breakfast... just some cornflakes and coffee. Today
was the big day!!! The first pairings were announced and i sat down to
begin my first match. Just as the judge was about to let us start playing,
the fire alarm went off! Everybody had to evacuate the school, and fire
department
came to search through all the rooms. Now, this is not a small school.. and
 i thought
that even with 20 man (i don't know how many they were.. actually i never
saw any fire
men) it would take forever to search it all through. But instead we were
all called in
after 10 minutes or so. Later I heard the alarm had went off in the shower
rooms.. maybe
someone was taking a REAL hot shower? :) Nice timing anyways. Back to the
tables, and
trying to concentrate on the game again.

I'm very bad at remembering names, so please forgive
me for that.  I will try to recall the matches one by one as follows:

Match 1 vs U/G/w Tradewind/Blossom deck

1st duel:
I burn him down quickly and once i play a Furnace of Rath with a bunch of
Incinerates and Kindles on my hand it's game. He looks a little shocked
when i play the Furnace. It's looking good. :)

2nd duel:
I burn him down to 4 life when he has a tradewind out and a couple of walls
along with a Chill. During his round he decides to Geddon... on my hand i
got a Fireblast!!! Unfortuneately i only got one untapped mountain...
aarghhh!!!!! I hate Chill!

3rd duel:
Pretty much like the second... except for that i think i had him down to 1
or 2 life when he finally manages to get in the lock. Arrghh!!! First match
loss isn't very good for tiebreakers as i've learned from before.

0-1-0

Match 2 vs U/w Propa/Orb/Geddon

1st duel:
This guy is really nice and we chat a little bit before the match. I think
we both needed to relax a little to get rid of the nervousness. This was a
very important match. When he plays first turn island i sigh a little
within.. i'd most likely face chill again after sideboarding. First duel i
roll him over easily as he thinks i play sligh. He drops a bunch of
propagandas and intruder alarms.. i fry him with my instants. :)

2nd duel:
I tell him how i think he really made a good choice of deck.. and that i
had been thinking of playing propa/orb myself... it seems to cheer him up a
little bit. I chuckle nervously and say "well i guess you don't need to
worry... 4 chills will do me in". He starts out a little land light and i
can wasteland his Adarkar wastes... i get to 3 mountains and play a ball
lightning. All he has for land is one Quicksand... so he chooses to take
the ball lightning and keep his land. I won a turn or two later. :)

1-1-0

Match 3 vs Johan Cederkrantz playing something will Stampeding Wildebeests

I found out before going to the table that this guy ended up 4th in last
years nationals... ouch! This would get tough.

1st duel:
I incinerate him down to 17 and on my 5th turn i play a furnace of rath
with 4 fireblasts on hand plus 2 more land. 5 lands in play. Since i can
only fireblast him down to 16 and he has countermana, i decide to let it be
his turn. Before his turn he disenchants my Furnace.. tapping out. :) In
response i go "fireblast fireblast in you" and he takes 16! :) With plenty
of more land to play i just had to wait for the next burn card... wich
happened to be a Mogg Fantastic! Heh. :)

2nd duel:
I can't remember this too clearly.. but i think i kept shocking his birds
and wastelanding his land until i could leasurily stroll along the path of
victory! Something i will always remember and cherish are the moments when
i played the Furnace of Rath... and my opponents would let out a big sigh.
:)

2-1-0

Match 4

Unfortunetaly i can't remember who or what i played against here.. only
that i won! :)

3-1-0

Match 5 vs Martin Lepik, playing B/R Weenie

I'm paired against another fellow Gothenburgian, Martin Lepik.. one of the
top players. I feel confident because he's playing a deck type i should
beat easily. Unfortuneately, the Mana Gods decided to play a trick on me
this time.

1st duel:
I have to mulligan once and decide to play with the hand i get, which
includes a wasteland and a mountain for mana... i wasteland his multiland
and hope to draw more mana... i do draw more mana but by then he has three
guys out to my 0 and the 2 point earthquake comes too late to save me.

2nd duel:
I get a hand with 4 mountains, a wasteland, a fireblast and a shock. Well,
i thought, better this than mana screwed... Big mistake! I kept drawing
land land land land land land laaaaaaand until i was dead! A ball lightning
was about as close as i got to kill him. I had to use all the burn for
defense.

3-2-0 and looking pretty grim

Match 6 vs Johan Disenborg, playing U/R counterburn

1st duel:
I surprise him with the Furnace and he can't counter all my burn. A quick
win.

2nd duel:
He's more prepared this time and at one point he wins a great counterbattle
where i thought i would be sure to force through my Furnace with two backup
Pyroblasts... not so. I run out of juice and he kills me with a Shard
Phoenix(!) among other things.

3rd duel:
This duel was so close!!! I start with early burn... he somehow manages to
take control of the game.. but i slip out of his grip and finishes him in
the end!! Woohoo i consider this my hardest victory and i was VERY relieved
afterwards... i also heard Johan finished 5th at last year's Nationals. Now
I just needed one more win to be sure to be in the top 64 and qulaify for
day 2!

4-2-0

Match 7 vs Ihab Asad playing 5cB (i think)

Before the match we chat a little... chuckling over the difference between
going 4-3 and 5-2. It's quite big. :)

1st Duel:
I get a good hand and wasteland three of his lands and then continue to
burn him while he is mana screwed.

2nd Duel:
This duel takes a little longer... he plays a Tombstone Stairwell to bring
back a bunch of tokens for all the creature's i've earthquaked away. I get
two tokens myself, for the Ball Lightning and Mogg Fanatic i've played. In
my upkeep i bring up the 2 tokens.. and draw another Ball lightning!
Hehehee... i play it and deal another 4 to him... during his turn he has 5
tokens and i have 3.. he does 4 damage to me. Before my turn i burn him
with something and then during my turn i finish the game!! :) I can't
believe it!!! I'm in the top 64!!!!

5-2-0

Summary of the first day of Nationals:
I end up 17th on 15 points. The second day is 4 rounds of Rochester Draft..
something i've never even tried before... and didnt even know all the rules
on. But hey at least i made top 64! I'd be very happy with a 64th place in
the
Nationals. :)

Sunday morning comes and i've had a headache all night... Robin gives me
her last aspirin and i try to eat as much as i can in the morning. I am
VERY VERY nervous about the drafting... it looks complicated and i'm afraid
of doing something wrong.. On my table i get a good friend though, Jonas
Mattiasson, who explains some of the rules to me a little bit before the
drafting starts. Then the judges explain the rules again and i feel pretty
okay... i just wish i could concentrate more on the cards than the drafting
itself. Oh well... some time has to be the first. :) just too bad it was
the top 64 in nationals. :)

Now this is where the really incredible things start to happen, dear
reader.

When playing sealed deck (yeah i've done that twice before) i've always
been fond of red and black cards... using quick shadow creatures with
spinal grafts and giant strengths. I figured people would go for those
cards today so i had decided beforehand to try for something blue/whiteish.
This is the deck i drafted:

WHITE:
2 Armored Pegasus
1 Soltari Priest
1 Soltari Monk
1 Soltari Trooper

1 Soltari Lancer
1 Nomad en'kor
1 Mounted Archers
1 Staunch Defenders
1 Conviction
1 Hero's Resolve
1 Samite Blessing
1 Orim's Prayer

BLUE:
1 Spindrift Drake
1 Manta Rider
1 Wind Drake
1 Dream Prowler
1 Propaganda
1 Counterspell
1 Powersink
1 Dismiss

ARTIFACT:
1 Bullwhip

OTHER:
1 Card that i can't remember :)

LAND:
9 Plains
8 Islands

Sideboard included circles in all colors except blue, a Spellblast for
extra counterpower, Smite, a Mind Games that i should have played with in
main deck, plus some other white and blue creatures that i found too slow.

This deck seemed okay to me.. and i felt that maybe i would have a chance
in the 4 rounds that were coming up, after all. :)

Match 1 vs Stefan "W" Wrammerfors playing W/B

1st duel:
I play a 1st turn Spindrift drake and have him deal 10 damage or so...
playing other weenies to follow.. "W" plays the black spell that buries 2
creatures and deals 5 damage to him.. a desperate move i think. I win the
first duel comfortably. I sideboard in the spellblast plus circle black and
white.

2nd duel:
This duel drags out forever as i have both my circles out and he has
Ensnaring Bridge!!! Agh! I count cards in my library and then in his...
since i drew card first this duel i'd lose if i didn't do anything.. he
didn't fall for my little tricks and soon after he played Stalking
Stones... we were the last two playing by this time.. lots of spectators
behind my back making me nervous... i just conceded as i couldn't handle
his Stones and i wanted to finish him off in the third duel before time was
called.

3rd duel:
Much like the first, but much faster. I play tons of Shadow creatures that
march through his defenses.. i Counterspell an Endless scream he tries to
cast on his flier, and i win quickly.

1-0-0


Second match vs (?) Hedberg playing Black and Blue

1st Duel:
Can't remember too much except for that i am very close to winning when he
takes control and eventually wins after a long duel that went back and
forth.

2nd duel:
Again we are one of the few pairs left playing... we have a Judge watch our
whole duel. Again it looks as if Hedberg will win... he has Gaseous formed
my early Wind Drake and Weaknessed my Hero's Resolved Pegasus. I have two
useless creatures and he has a Knights of Dusk in play. I have Propaganda,
Orim's Prayer and Bullwhip in play though... holding him off fairly good.
:)
He plays Endless scream on his Foul Imp and attacks with the creature to
deal 6 damage. He Mind Games my Wind Drake and the Pegasus and attacks. I'm
almost ready to concede.. then look at the board again. Well at least i can
block with my Mounted Archers and survive another turn.. next turn i would
counterspell his Mind games anyway. I block, put my Archers in the
graveyard... my opponent look confident and declares that he's finished. I
untap and draw my card... and the judge goes "hold it a little".. and he looks at
my Mounted Archers, then at the Endless Scream and finally at the Imp. He
orders my opponent to bury his imp and also gives him a warning. I get it after a
second or two.. DOH! The Endless scream doesn't make the imp a 6/6 darnit. :) It's
a 6/2 and therefor is killed by the blocking Archers. I'm sure my opponent
didn't forgot this on purpose as i'm almost sure i could have forgotten it too
The judge said he didn't think it intentional either, but he still had to
give a warning. Anyway after this I turn the game to my favour with a
Staunch Defender and a Mind Games of my own... coming out victorious!

3rd Duel:
By now we're the last to players that haven't finished (again!), so we have
like three judges watching. I apply fast beatdown with my flyers and
shadows dudes and it's over in maybe 5 minutes. PHEW! My opponent got
another caution here for drawing an extra card at some point. I think he
was just nervous... after the game i told him I was okay with it all and
that I know how your body can sometimes refuse to follow orders. I hope
those warnings and cautions didn't affect the game too much.

2-0-0

Third match vs Johan Franze'n playing MONO GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :)

Johan Franze'n is a cool guy I playtested a little with on Friday night. He
made Top 8 in GP Stockholm, and was known there for wearing a clown nose
during the finals. When we sat down to play his clown nose was on again. :)
I didn't even notice until we had finished the first duel though. :)

1st Duel:
I get a quick start with a bunch of shadow dudes... he pounds on me once
with a trained armodon, but after his second attack with it, my Staunch
Defenders decide to defend me and bring me back up to 17 life. Meanwhile i
pound him with my Priest and Monk and Troopers and his Volrath's Gardens
doesn't help him much. I couldn't believe this was happening! :)

2nd Duel:
I side in a CoP Green and a Smite for his big dudes... When I pull the CoP
on my starting hand my head almost starts spinning, and i have to fight
hard to keep a normal face. :) Again my shadow dudes go all the way while i
protect myself with a Propaganda and the CoP Green! I win again and I can
draw myself into the Top 8!!!!!

3-0-0

By now people were starting to notice me for real. Olle Råde came up to me
and asked to check out my deck. So did Gustaf Jönsson, the Type 1 champion
from the day before. He asked me if he could interview(!) me for his report
to something... not sure if it was a web site or a magazine. Anyway many
people were coming up to me patting my shoulder and congratulating me for
making Top 8, asking to look at my deck, or just to chat.. it was
incredible! Robin and Jonas were there the whole time too and it felt very
very good! :)

I didn't dare to think I could draw myself in though, until I saw the
standings after the third round. When the standings came up I was in the
top 8!!! Everybody told me to draw my last match, and after checking the
scores again I finally realized that I could, and that I had made Top 8!

Fourth Match vs Jonas Mathiasson

In the 4th match I was paired with Jonas Mathiasson who was at the exact
same points as I was, just with slightly worse tiebreakers. We drew and
both made top 8! Way to go Jonas!

3-0-1

After the 4th round was over the standings came up fairly quickly.... I was
4th!!!! 4th in Sweden!!!! WOO WOOO!!! By now I was up above the clouds and
probably somewhere way out in deep space!! All these weird feelings.. mixes
of JOY and SURPRISE and NERVOUSNESS!!! I knew i'd have to come down to
earth as soon as possible.

THE FINALS
-------------------

In my quarter final I was paired against Jonas Mathiasson again... typcial!
I didn't want to play against him for two reasons. First off because he's a
good friend, and second because I hate to play against his deck; "5CKastle
with an edge", I think he called it. :) I pull out my good old Burn deck
and hope it will serve me once again.

Well the final rounds began... me and the other top 8 players sitting at 4
tables in a sealed off area and the spectators outside. Each quarter final
had its own judge that even counted out lives (nifty!) and I felt stranger
and stranger... thinking "hey i'm right now playing a game of magic to see
if i'll go to Seattle or to Brussels". Worlds or European Championships