The road to the World Championships is a somewhat convoluted one if you live in the UK. First you have to get in the top 15-20% of an English Regionals Qualifier. That gets you to the English Championships. There, you have to make top 50% to qualify for the UK Nationals. Once you make that, you have to make Top 64 on day one to get to day two. If you make day two you must finish in the top 8, and finally must win your quarterfinal to make top 4 and go to the Worlds.

Due to the fact that all of this happening seemed highly unlikely, back in May I made my mind up to not really bother with the Nationals this year. I attended only two of around eight possible Regional Qualifiers, and as luck would have it I scraped in by the skin of my teeth at the second one.

At the English Championships I took a Sligh deck that I thought probably would qualify me for the Nationals, but again I put little effort into testing or analysing the metagame. I went 5-3, and duly made it to the UK Nationals. Reports for the previous two events are on my web page, as this report is solely about the UK Nationals.

The Nationals were a two day event. Six rounds of Standard in day one, with the top 64 progressing to day two for two three round booster drafts giving a total of twelve rounds. Top 8 at this stage would play a knockout to decide the champion. The top 8 all get to go to the European Championships to represent the UK there, and in addition the top 4 go to the Worlds. That was the prize everyone was aiming for.

For some reason (I can't quite remember quite why, although certainly it was partly due to the encouragement of my girlfriend Alice) once I knew I was going to the Nationals I was determined to make as good a showing as I possibly could. I spent several weeks beforehand testing numerous decks, and chatting with other UK players in an effort to determine the state of the UK metagame. I took a day off work and spent all of it play-testing with team-mates. I tested at work using Magic Suitcase during my lunch break. My team-mates were focusing on two main decks - Sligh, and a Peaches variant. I, on the other hand, had knocked up a 4 Colour White deck to play-test against, and then found that it was very strong, and thus chose to focus my efforts on that.

A few days prior to the Nationals I thought I had the metagame pretty much sussed. Through chatting to my team and other UK players on-line, I think I had a pretty good idea what about a quarter of the players would be playing. I figured the other 75% would fall in line with that pretty much.

I expected to see a lot of mono-colour weenie decks (Suicide Black, Sligh and White Weenie primarily) and a lot of Living Death decks. I also expected to see a lot of Firestorm action as this had proven to be a tremendously strong card in testing, and I was sure I wouldn't be the only one to reach that conclusion. Sligh was the only deck that gave it a lot of grief in testing so the main deck is very anti-sligh, but there are also a few other metagame choices as well.

Without further ado…

Mega White Monkey

4 x White Knight
4 x Warrior en-Kor
3 x Soltari Priest (Yes only three cos I want three Monks vs Dauthi Slayer)
3 x Soltari Monk 4 x Uktabi Orangutan (This deck does not suffer Scrolls lightly)
2 x Man O War 3 x Hazerider Drake (Is this a Sligh deck I see before me…)
4 x Firestorm (Oh yes!)
3 x Mana Leak
2 x Incinerate
2 x Phyrexian Furnace
4 x Tithe (Fantastic with Mox and Firestorm)
3 x Mox Diamond
4 x Undiscovered Paradise
4 x Gemstone Mine
2 x City Of Brass
1 x Volrath's Stronghold
8 x Plains (Just enough to Tithe for)

A couple of explanations may be in order: Uktabis - Scrolls really hurt this deck. You have to deal with them otherwise you will die. Disenchant and Aura are dead cards against anything without artifacts and enchantments. Monkeys aren't. Very occasionally will I be forced to Monkey my own Diamond, but I've never had to do it at a point where it made any difference to the outcome of the game. Yes I have no enchantment removal main deck, but there's little I really fear. Propa'Geddon is not seen at all in the UK. Hazerider Drakes - These are key cards against Sligh. Sligh just can't deal with except for double Scroll, and I'm running four Monkeys [grin]. Freewinds just get Scrolled, the three toughness of the Drake is key. Plus they mean your Warriors are invulnerable to Scrolls too (Put the Scroll damage on the Drake as there's no way Sligh will get another colourless point in). Furnaces - Main deck is good. Kills some decks stone cold. Means you don't have to pack Wastelands to deal with Volrath's Stronghold too. Mana - I used to run 3 x UDP, 3 x Gemstone, and a Wasteland would often shut down my 4 colour stuff. With 4 of each I know if one gets Wasted I've probably got another spare. Also 4 UDP ties in really nicely with Firestorm as it keeps your hand size up. Firestorm - The best card in the deck. Won me so many games in testing I just had to run four of them. If you get multiples you can always discard one to the other anyway. Why would you bother playing Wrath when you've got these babies?

Sideboard:
1 x Man O War (Living Death, Armor, Zilla)
2 x Pyroblast (Tradewinds, Control)
3 x Aura Of Silence (Bloom, Zilla)
2 x Wildfire Emissary (White Weenie)
2 x Phyrexian Furnace (Useful against Many decks)
3 x Warmth (Anti-Burn as I can control their creatures)
2 x Sleight Of Mind (Anti Gloom/Dread mostly)

As the Nationals are a two day event the majority of the people stayed in hotels surrounding the venue. Alice and I are currently in the process of saving up to get a flat together so we couldn't really afford that, and so found ourselves driving up and down both days. Fortunately it was only 75 miles from where Alice lives and so took us only an hour or so.

The venue was the Grand Moat House in central Birmingham. A large, very nice looking hotel. WotC had three rooms on the first floor, all quite airy and not at all cramped. There was a lot more going on this year than last year, with loads of side events, a few traders present, and also Magic artists signing cards and stuff. They had a Legends + Revised sealed deck for players not in the Nationals, and an Exodus pre-release on the second day too.

The night before Alice and I simply stayed home and relaxed. There was no point in further testing at that stage as it was too late to build an entirely new deck if I found some fundamental weakness. We chilled out, listened to some music, played Magic on the PC, had a bath together and so on. This is a far better way to prepare for a tournament in my opinion. [grin]

We got up around 7 on Saturday morning, and left ourselves with a plenty of time to get there. It was easy going and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. We both said our hellos to the various players we knew, and I found my team-mates to see what they'd decided to play. They were still testing at home the night before, and didn't make it to their hotel until 11:30 pm. They were both playing Sligh. Pretty much all the regular players were in attendance, with almost all of them having qualified for the Nationals.

I know that my Limited play is slightly stronger than my Standard, and I felt that if I could go 4-2 or 5-1 on the first day I'd be in with a shout in the second day. In my two limited tournaments prior to this one I'd gone 13-2-1 total so was on a roll there. Standard was definitely my weak point.

We get the typical players meeting before the first round starts. Nothing that any of us hadn't heard before. The first round pairings go up shortly afterwards, and things get underway.

Round 1 - Alex Ware (270284 - 1826) - Sligh

I've seen Alex around at several tournaments but I don't believe I've ever played him up until today. He's a nice guy, very genuine.

Game 1: Alex wins the toss, and starts with a first turn Jackal Pup. I play a Plains. He hits me for two and plays a Fanatic I think. I Tithe and go for two land at the end of Alex's turn and he points out that he didn't play a second land. I get one Plains and start to evaluate the situation a bit differently now I know he's mana-screwed. I take things slowly at first as I have a lot of good stuff in hand. I Mana Leak a Cursed Scroll the next turn, and Monkey a second Scroll shortly afterwards. A Firestorm clears Alex's side of the board, and he's left with just a Flunkie. I'm attacking with various lads, and I'm able to Man O War, and then Counter a Mogg Maniac to prevent Alex from blocking for the last few turns of the game.

Game 2: I draw seven cards and see only a Volrath's Stronghold for Land. I Paris to six, see zero land and am forced down to five cards. I draw four land and an Incinerate. I stay with it, but am beat down very quickly as Alex gets off to a flying start with Pups and Flunkies and various other gribblies.

Game 3: I get a turn one Mox, and don't play a land. Alex starts with a Pup again, and I Tithe. He plays a turn two Flunkie, and then turn three Suq'Ata Lancer I think. I sweep his side of the board with a three card Firestorm. I'm forced to Incinerate a lone Goblin Vandal as I am keen to keep hold of my Mox. Alex continues playing out his hand, and a second three card Firestorm once again sweeps him a turn or two later. Our life totals are almost even due to me Firestorming him and his Pups. I finally get my Hazerider Drake and play it. I drop the Warrior en-Kor I'd been holding on to for a while, and then draw another one a turn or two later. Alex gets an active Scroll going, but it's too little to late at that stage, and the Warriors and Drake go in for the kill.

I wish Alex luck for the rest of the tournament as he's someone I'd like to see make top 8.

Game: 2-1 Total Games: 2-1 Total Matches: 1-0

Round 2 - Ben Morrison (268554 - 1800) - Suicide Black

Game 1: Opening hand has only a Gemstone for land, but has two Furnaces. I figure I'll keep it as I can burn a Furnace to draw a land soon enough. I play it, and Ben Wastelands it immediately. A Strong play as I fail to draw land for three turns, giving him enough time to get a Foul Imp and a Sewer Rat down. I get one Firestorm off taking out three creatures, but he plays two more the next turn and I draw nothing to take care of them..

I'd playtested against Alice's Suicide Black (Her trademark deck in fact) and usually done quite well, mostly due to Firestorm, but I knew it'd be easy to lose one of the next two.

Game 2: I start. He stays with a one land draw, and plays a first turn Sarcomancy. I Man O War it with the help of a Mox Diamond on my second turn. He plays a second Sarcomancy, and the turn after plays a Dauthi Slayer. I Firestorm for two taking both the Slayer and the Sarcomancy out and ensure a win as Ben is taking two a turn without me even attacking.

Game 3: He starts with a Turn one Ritual + Hidden Horror. I look worried for a second, and then take my turn and start with a Turn one Mox + White Knight. He drops a Shadow on his second turn and I sit tight for a while. He attacks with the Shadow and an Incinerate takes care of that. I drop a Warrior en-Kor, he follows with two Glooms the following turns. I attack with my White Knight and hold the Warrior back for blocking. Eventually when Jeremy has a couple of creatures in play I attack with both the Knight and the Warrior. Ben blocks the Warrior with the Hidden Horror, and I Firestorm it and his monsters to clear his side of the table. The Glooms aren't bothering me as I don't actually have any White cards in hand, but when I Sleight one of them to Black with Ben only having three land in play the game is all over.

Game: 2-1 Total Games: 4-2 Total Matches: 2-0

Round 3 - Jeremy Peter Duck (266386 - 1795) - Godzilla Variant

Jeremy is a name I know from tournaments but I'd never met him until today. I seemed to be doing a pretty good job of avoiding the 'name' UK players so far, but judging by my opponents ratings, none of them were bad players.

Game 1: Once I work out what he's playing, I figure I might squeak an easy win. As it is I don't see a Phyrexian Furnace this game, and despite multiple Mana Leaks and Firestorms on my part, Jeremy is finally able to get a Necrosavant in play and there's nothing I can possibly do about it.

Game 2: He makes a first turn Hidden Horror, discarding some Merfolk. He's able to attack me twice before I get a White Knight out to Block. He makes a Volrath's Shapeshifter, and I start to get a little worried. He attacks with the Merfolk-Shifter and the Hidden Horror, and I block the Horror. He pays two, and discards a Sliver Queen, but I Firestorm for two in response, killing both the Merfolk-Shifter and the Hidden Horror as it takes two from my Knight. I think I mana-leaked his one Living Death as my weenies brought him down to zero.

Game 3: Once again Jeremy establishes early Control. I get a lot of cards in hand due to multiple Tithes, but don't see many creatures. He gets a Dread Of Night out also, which makes the Shadow monsters in my hand pointless. I am able to kill one Necromancy on a Verdant Force with an Aura of Silence, but he eventually Living Deaths with a Sliver Queen, a Verdant Force and some Traders in his graveyard. I think I manage to get one chump blocker, and a Hazerider Drake back. I Tithe to put two more land into my hand. I now have five cards. I draw and do nothing. He attacks with the Queen and the Force. The Drake blocks the Queen and lives but the Warrior dies to the Force. I tap my Undiscovered Paradise and take a point of mana burn during his discard. I draw my eighth card. Seven point Firestorm on your Sliver Queen, your Force, your two Saprolings, your Sliver Token and you. Attack with my Drake for one. The Drake proceeds to beat him down for five turns from eight life to three and I finally finish it with an Incinerate.

That was one of my most satisfying wins I've had with my deck so far.

Game: 2-1 Total Games: 6-3 Total Matches: 3-0

3-0 at this stage means I'm almost definitely through to the second day. There might be some tie-breaker action, but I should be fine with the good start I have.

Round 4 - Paul Barclay (270049 - 1807) - Godzilla Variant

Paul Barclay is the NetRep for the MTG-L e-mail list and a very good player to boot. He played Bloom at the UK Nationals and tends to favour some tricky combo deck.

Game 1: I get a turn one White Knight, and Paul starts with a Basic Island followed by a Sulfurous Springs. This confuses the crap out of me as there aren't really any R/B/U combo decks I'm aware of and surely a beatdown deck would've played something by now. On Pauls third turn he makes a Mefolk Traders and the penny drops - Zilla variant. He discards a Verdant Force. He makes some more Traders the following turn, but doesn't discard anything worthwhile. All the time I'm beating him for two a turn. He Necromancies the Force the following turn, and I Man O War it in mine. He discards it again with a third Trader I think, and I make a Soltari Monk. My attack takes him to 10 I think. He casts Living Death, in response I Firestorm for two, discarding a Man O War and a Drake, killing my Knight and my Warrior. LD resolves, I get a Drake, a Knight, a Monk, a Man O War, Paul gets his Force which I put back in hand. I attack for 8 next turn and Paul concedes. I love Firestorm vs Living Death decks. [grin]

Game 2: Paul gets out a Dread Of Night, but I see an Aura Of Silence to take care of it. Paul manages to discard and animate a Verdant Force twice, but I Man O War it both times. My attacks where held up by the Dread Of Night for a while, so it takes a while to kill Paul. On his last turn he actually manages to Ritual out the Verdant Force from his hand, killing himself in the process with City Of Brass damage (The game was over at this point). I Mana Leak it. (Sorry Paul, but I had to!)

Game: 2-0 Total Games: 8-3 Total Matches: 4-0

I've just had my first 2-0 win of the day and I'm through to day two for sure so I'm feeling pretty hyped up right about now. I hitch up with Alice who's been playing in the Legends + Revised Sealed event, and we disappear to a near-by coffee shop for a while. She's as excited about my performance as I am and we're both on a high. We start talking about the second day, and where I might finish, but I stop that conversation as I want to concentrate on finishing the first day as well as I possibly can. I'll think about the second day once I'm there.

Round 5 - Phil Pettifer (267664 - 1729) - Sligh

Phil's a regular face in the Maidenhead tournaments I usually attend. I've seen and chatted to him previously and he's a good player. Alice played him the weekend before in the Exodus Pre-release and took him in two straight games. I only hope I can repeat her perfomance.

Game 1: Opening hand has a Paradise and a Plains and I'm happy. Phil starts with a turn one Fanatic I think. I don't see a second Plains or Tithe and am forced to play a Knight with the UDP. This continues for a couple of turns, and on turn 4 I still have only one land in play as the UDP returns to my hand. I can't hold off against Phil's onrushing hoard as I haven't seen a Firestorm and I die pretty quickly.

For the third time I manage to lose the opening game of a match.

Game 2: I see Turn one Priest with the aid of a Mox and a turn two Warrior. Phil hasn't even got an attack in and he's held off by the ever faithful en-Kor. Phil gets a Havoc down, which is no great concern to me. When he drops the Flunkies, I Firestorm his side of the board, but still keep the Warrior to block in case he's running Ball Lightnings. He drops a Cursed Totem, but I start dropping more creatures. He's forced to burn them but can't get rid of the Priest. At the end of the game, the Priest has done him 20 damage, and I've taken a grand total of 4 from casting two White spells. Not bad vs Sligh.

Game 3: I get a turn 2 Warrior en-Kor which Phil doesn't kill, and a Turn 3 Hazerider Drake. I took early Flunkie damage, although I managed to sweep him with a Firestorm. I am forced to keep the Warrior back for Blocking, but attack with the Drake. Phil gets an active Scroll going, and a Goblin Bombardment in play. I don't draw a Monkey at all, but do eventually draw another Firestorm. I have only 2 other cards in hand though and decide to hold onto it for a while. Phil's Scrolling has me down to 8 or so, and then he gets a second Scroll with enough mana to use it. I pull a third Firestorm at this point, but have nothing much to target. He takes me down to four that turn and I have him on eight - I'm dead next turn, as he has both Scrolls he can play. He has a Conscript in play too for chump blocking purposes. The most I can Firestorm for is three (Him, My Warrior and his Conscript, as if I do me too I'll kill myself, and I can't target my Drake). I think carefully, and Firestorm his Conscript and him for two apiece. He sacs the Conscript to the Bombardment, putting me on three. He has no cards in hand. I attack for four and Firestorm for two again, killing him. A very tight game.

Game: 2-1 Total Games: 10-4 Total Matches: 5-0

I am sorely tempted to offer my next opponent an Intentional Draw at this stage. The way I figure it, you need to do better than 9-3 to definitely make it in. If I ID now, I'll be on 5-1-0 and 4-0-2 will give me 9-1-2 which will be enough to secure the place. If I lose I'll need 5-0-1 tomorrow to be sure of making it. Most people tell me I should just play it out, but it's finally Alice who talks me into playing. She tells me she's convinced I'll win, and at times like that there's just no arguing with her. [grin]

Round 6 - Guy Bowles (270889 - 1887) - Sligh

Game 1: He starts with a Mountain and a goblin and I sigh inwardly. I've beaten two Sligh decks so far, all in very tight matches. Can I pull out a third win? I make nothing Crucial except a White Knight, which doesn't get burnt and stalls Guys attack. He plays out every creature and has like 6 on the board, with no cards in hand. He's been getting the odd point in here and there and has me on 12. I have only a Mox, a Plains and a Paradise for land. I play a Monk with the Paradise. Next turn Guy does nothing. The Paradise goes back to my hand, and I do a 6 point Firestorm on all of Guys creatures and him, practically emptying my hand. I attack with the Knight and the Shadow taking him to 10 in one turn. He draws some burn for the Shadow guy, but can't deal with the White Knight as he draws only a Goblin Vandal and a Jackal Pup over the next four turns.

Game 2: I see two Warriors, which both get burnt whilst Guy attacks with a lone Fanatic. I then play one of my sideboarded Warmths. He Ball Lightnings me for 4. I play a second Warmth, he plays a second Ball which effectively hits for 2. He then drops two Scrolls in the following two turns and I get smacked around by them as he draws only Mountains and no red spells over the next three turns.

Game 3: This goes a lot better for me. I see a Turn two Warmth after Guy's first turn goblin. I go up to 24 life from various red spells, and then pull out a turn 4 Hazerider Drake which halts his attack. I get a Warrior en-Kor too and it's all looking a bit good. Guy gets a Scroll for a turn before I Monkey it, and I start hitting him for 4 a turn. He gets a Ball Lightning out on me but I just let it through as he's not going to burn me out from 14 life with a Warmth in play. He gets another Scroll, but it's too late and it does nothing against the en-Kor / Drake tag-team.

Match: 2-1 Total Games: 12-5 Total Matches: 6-0

So I finish the first day on maximum points. I'm second seed due to bad tie-breakers but that's pretty much irrelevant at this stage. A lot of people I know (and some I don't) congratulate me on the result. Alice is thrilled and so am I. The deck performed well for me all day really, but I think the main reason for winning was getting paired against the metagame decks I expected to face. I was up for hosing Sligh, Weenie and Living Death and that's all I faced. I get a lot of satisfaction from beating down three Sligh decks though it has to be said. [grin]

Wizards have chosen to do the first booster draft after the Swiss rounds have finished. Draft decks will be then kept over-night and we'll go straight into playing at 9am the next day. This seems a little weird, but with an un-timed knockout top eight, I can see why they might want to save as much time as possible.

I can't remember who was on my table exactly. I know I had Chris Manners seated to my left, and Guy Bowles to my right. Steve Easton, Tim Hows (The other player to finish day one on 6-0), Steve Hill were also on the table but I forget who else.

I've drafted Tempest and Stronghold many times in sanctioned tournaments, and never done really badly. I know what to look for and I know what to avoid. The draft gets underway, and I start with a first pick Rolling Thunder. I get solid green through-out the draft too, and although I don't normally fancy green other players seem to ignore it. On top of that I get good red stuff too in the First and Third boosters especially. I figure Chris was drafting red to my left as I didn't get much red in the second Tempest Booster. Here's the deck I ended up with:

Lads & Lasses (16):
Mogg Fanatic, Mogg Conscripts, Spike Drone, Wall Of Diffusion, Skyshroud Elf, Wall Of Blossoms, Seeker Of Skybreak, Convulsing Licid, Spike Feeder, Opportunist, Flowstone Giant, Lowland Giant, Skyshroud Troll, 2 x Lightning Elemental, Flowstone Salamander.

Stuff (8):
2 x Shock, Tahngarth's Rage, Phyrexian Splicer, Provoke, Broken Fall, Aftershock, Rolling Thunder.

Mana (16):
9 x Mountain, 7 x Forest.

Main Sideboard Cards: Natural Spring, Skyshroud Archer, Fling, Shatter, Shadowstorm.

I was quite happy with that selection. Lightning Elemental is a personal favourite of mine and I was very happy to have two of those. All round solid deck I thought. I figure I should go at least 2-1 with that, leaving me to need just the one win in the last draft.

Alice and I disappear fairly swiftly after the draft, as we have a reasonable drive home, and want to get something to eat as neither of us had a thing all day. On the drive back we chat about the possibilities of the next day. We know I probably only need 3-3 to make Top 8, and we also know that I have a solid first deck, and should be able to make that with my eyes closed, but I don't want to think about the possibilities…

We make it home around midnight I think, and surprisingly both fall asleep fairly easily despite the day's excitement.

A 7am start the next morning sees us arrive at the Venue around 8:30, with half an hour spare before the draft gets underway. I was quietly confident I guess, although I probably didn't seem it at the time.

Round 7 - Tim Hows (271538 - 1677) - R/W

I played Tim in the English Championships, where he was playing 5CU I think. I was playing Sligh and beat him 2-0 in about five minutes. He's obviously looking for a bit of revenge. He was the other player on 6-0 like me, so whoever won this match would go clear of the pack on 7-0.

Game 1: I get turn one Conscripts, Tim gets turn two Canyon Wildcat. I have a Shock in hand, but hold off for a while. Tim makes a Flunkie, and hits me for five on his fourth turn. I make a Lightning Elemental and hit him for 6. I then make a Wall of Blossoms which holds off his Flunkie. I Shock his Wildcat in response to a Giant Strength, and Tim goes down to a Flowstone Giant a few turns later as he runs out of blockers.

Game 2: He sees a very early CoP:Red and I'm forced to play the waiting game as my only green monster is a Wall of Blossoms. He makes some things, including a Canyon Wildcat which I Shock. Eventually he gets a Shadow guy out along with a Venerable Monk and a Giant. He can't attack with the non-shadow stuff though as I'll simply block and kill. I've been holding my Thunder since my opening hand, and decide now is a good time to use it. I Thunder away all of his creatures with the help of my Opoortunist, but still can't attack because of the CoP. He then gets out a Sandstone Warrior, and slaps a Giant Strength on it. I have no direct damage in hand though. The Warrior attacks and I'm forced to chump block. Tim makes something else and taps out except for a Plains and a Mountain. I look at my hand and do the following: Attack with the Salamander, and Provoke the Sandstone Warrior. Tim blocks, and taps his last Mountain to make the Warrior a 4/5 first-striker. I tap 3 Mountains, and do three damage to the Warrior through my Salamander. I then use the Opportunist to do a further point. I then use my Seeker to untap the Opportunist, and do it again for the fifth point. It was all right there on the table, but Tim didn't see it until it was too late. He had a Kindle in hand, and could've Kindled the Opportunist had he not tapped his last Mountain to pump the Warrior. That play won me the game and the match as I draw a Troll and my Spike Feeder a couple of turns later to bypass his CoP.

Game: 2-0 Total Games: 14-5 Total Matches: 7-0

Round 8 - Chris Manners (271670 - 1878) - R/G

Chris is easily the best player in the UK. He's highly ranked in every format, and came second at the English Championships. There's no way you can ever expect a win against Chris no matter how good your deck. I'm surprised he drafted the same colours as me, but I think he was slightly heavier Green, whereas I was heavier Red.

Game 1: We both draw similar creatures although Chris is a little faster with Spined Sliver and Trained Armodon. I see my Giants, but unfortunately Chris sees a Broken Fall which I can do nothing about. I can't even kill his creatures with direct damage either. I try a few tricks and manage to take down a Rootwalla with no loss to myself, but the rest of it just overwhelms me.

Game 2: Almost exactly the same as the first except this time Chris sees two Broken Falls. Broken is the right word against my deck without enchantment removal… [grin]

Match: 0-2 Total Games: 14-7 Total Matches: 7-1

Well that's the first loss out of the way then. If I was going to lose to anyone it was going to be Chris. I tell myself that I just need to win the next game to be in with damn good chance of top 8, but I'm still nervous going into the final match of the this draft.

Round 9 - Steve Easton (270141 - 1781) - U/G

I seem to get drawn against Steve remarkably often in limited events. He was the only player to beat me at the Stronghold pre-release, although he did it twice (Once in the Swiss, then again to knock me out of the top eight). I returned the favour by putting him out of the PT New York qualifier in Maidenhead though. I know it's going to be a tight game. Steve is on 6-2 at this point so a loss will drop him to 7-3 meaning he has to win his last three.

Game 1: I see some early beatdown, and Steve gets some small blockers. On turn 6 Steve drops a Tradewind Rider and he has three other creatures out. I look at my hand and count my mana. I have exactly enough to Thunder it for 4 and that's just what I do. Steve is worried, but drops a Spined Wurm and a Spike Colony over the next few turns, and that halts my attack. I draw my Tahngarth's Rage, and seeing as how Steve has no regenerators, I put it on my Troll, turning it into a 6/3 regenerating attacker. Steve is forced to block with his Spined Wurm, and put all the Spike counters on it to make it a 9/8 as I have an Opportunist out too. I attack with everything a couple of times and I trade some creatures for some damage. I then draw my Convulsing Licid. Steve has nothing to deal with it, and when I put it on his Spined Wurm so that it can't block, the game is mine.

Game 2: Steve stalls on two land for a turn or two, whilst I'm laying out Conscript, Fanatic, Licid and Spike Feeder. He gets to four mana and drops a Tradewind whilst on 11 life. My attack takes him to 6. He makes a Telethopter which can block and kill my newly summoned Flowstone Giant. I untap and Thunder away his Tradewind and the Thopter, and attack for more than enough. A harsh way for Steve to lose, but I'll take everything I can get at this stage.

Game: 2-0 Total Games: 16-7 Total Matches: 8-1

So I go 2-1 in the first draft. It's as good as I'd dared hope for. I need one match win to make it into the top 8 for definite, and a draw may well do it.

The second draft is a lot more hassle than the first. For some reason Wizards get themselves a really duff selection of boxes and through-out the drafting numerous packs have to be sent back due to marked cards. On the second Tempest Booster, I finally got to keep the fifth booster I opened, as the previous four all had marked cards. Stronghold wasn't any better, with 4 out of the 8 boosters on our table having to be returned. I'm not sure whether the quality really is that poor or whether we were unlucky, but the repeated interruptions and stalls made it incredibly difficult to focus on what you were doing, and the cards you'd already drafted.

Somehow I pulled my way into early blue. I was getting a lot of strong blue (Fighting Drake, Capsize, Dismiss) a little way into the second booster. black, red and white were nowhere to be seen so I started getting a little green too. Before I knew it I was committed to the two colours I think have the worst potential for draft. I could only hope for Constant Mists and Provoke in Stronghold. I got some weird packs too - on the reverse there was no good red, then suddenly fourth pick I had to choose from a Fanatic, a Kindle, a Canyon Wildcat and a load of duff Blue and Green cards. I still don't know how that happened. Stronghold gave me a great first pick in Silver Wyvern, but here's the complete deck:

Lads & Lasses (16):
Skyshround Elf, 2 x Wall Of Blossoms, Wind Dancer, Hammerhead Shark, Lowland Basilisk, Horned Turtle, Pincher Beetles, Thalakos Mistfolk, Gliding Licid, Fighting Drake, Dream Prowler, Apes Of Rath, Spike Colony, Silver Wyvern, Sea Monster.

Spells (9):
Dismiss, Powersink, Broken Fall, Legacy's Allure, Capsize, Elvish Fury, Dream Cache, Sift, Rampant Growth.

Mana (16):
8 x Island, 8 x Forest.

At the time I thought the deck was quite bad, as it was lacking serious creature removal, and was very weak against Shadow. In retrospect I think it's okay. I drafted with a purpose and a strategy and I like that. I aimed to seal up the ground war with early stallers (Wall Of Blossoms, Shark, Turtle, Basilisk, Prowler), then beat them down with big flyers (Silver Wyvern, Drake, or Fatties + Licid/Wind Dancer) or a Spiked up Dream Prowler. I could Cache/Sift for my broken Buyback spells if the game progressed that far.

Useful Sideboard Cards: Skyshroud Archer, Thalakos Seer, Tranquility, Steal Enchantment.

Round 10 - Steve Hill (270909 - 1681) - Mono-W

Steve was in the Worlds team last year too, and he's obviously looking to repeat the performance. He won the previous draft pod with a mono-white deck.

Game 1: He comes out very quickly with Shadow (A great weakness of my draft deck obviously) and a Cloudchaser Eagle. I don't see any of my flyers, or my Legacy's Allure, and eventually succumb to the onslaught.

Game 2: He gets an early Soltari Trooper and I take a couple of hits whilst he gets to 4 mana. When he does, he doesn't play a Cloudchaser, so I risk my Legacy's Allure. He doesn't have the Eagle and I get the Trooper off him next turn. The rest of the ground is adequately locked up thanks to my Shark and a Wall Of Blossoms. He draws a Falcon and a Spirit en-Kor but I drop my Silver Wyvern and I've got the air assault won too. Steve eventually gets beaten down by his own Shadow man as I Dismiss his attempt to cast another one.

Game 3: This is an incredibly long game. Once again I stall the ground early, and Steve's weenies are not able to rush me for any damage. He has a Spirit en-Kor, vs my Silver Wyvern, so he keeps the en-Kor back for blocking duty. I eventually drop my Dream Prowler, and start hitting Steve for a point per turn, although he's on 22 at this point. I know I still have my Capsize, my Spike Colony and my Elvish Fury in my deck though and they are all game winners. Steve gets two Clergy en-Vecs which neutralises the Dream Prowler, but I get my Sift and find my Spike Colony in the same turn. The next turn I shift all the counters onto the Prowler, and attack for three per turn. We only have five minutes left at this point, and I still need 4-5 turns to kill Steve. He plays fairly though, never taking more than thirty seconds for his turn, and the Dream Prowler goes through for the win a couple of minutes before time is called.

Steve could so easily have stalled this game out, but he doesn't even try it on in the slightest. He gets a lot of respect from me for doing that in what was a very tense match.

Match: 2-1 Total Games: 18-8 Total Matches: 9-1

That win puts me squarely in into the top 8. I don't even need to bother playing the next two rounds in fact. I decide that I probably ought to though. [grin]

Round 11 - Sylvain Laurial (284197 - ????) - R/B

Sylvain is a French player, who is studying in Scotland and qualified via the Scottish Championships. He needs to win one of his next two matches as he's on 8-2 at this point I think.

Game 1: I see three forests on the draw, and a Wall of Blossoms. I keep it and don't draw another land - the Wall is the only spell I'm able to cast as Sylvain swarms me with large quantities of Red and Black gribblies.

Game 2: This is better for me. Sylvain starts out with a fast Canyon Wildcat. I get a turn 4 Lowland Basilisk which halts his attack. He considers his options, and Aftershocks it, and then continues the beat down. I play turn 5 Spike Colony. He considers his options again, and Enfeebles it, and then Kindles it, and continues the beat down. I play a turn 6 Sea Monster. Sylvain considers his options for a third time and realises he doesn't have any. I draw my Fighting Drake, and am able to attack with that, whilst the Sea Monster and the rest of the stuff I draw seals up the ground. I counter or Capsize any attempts at Shadow or removal.

Game 3: Once again, Sylvain gets off to an early start, with a Canyon Wildcat. I seal up the ground after a couple of turns, but he makes a Foul Imp and a Torture Chamber. The only blockers I have are Two Walls and a Apes Of Rath though, and Sylvain chooses not to take pain from his Torture Chamber. He gets me down to around 10 when I make my Silver Wyvern, leaving a blue untapped. He attacks with his Foul Imp. I block with the Wyvern, he deals the Wyvern one damage from the Torture Chamber, and I redirect it to his Wildcat killing it. He then Kindles the Wyvern, and it dies in combat taking the Imp with it. In trade for my Wyvern I get a Foul Imp, a Wildcat and a Kindle. I'm quite happy with that. I draw my Gliding Licid, and put it on the Apes Of Rath, to fly over his Mogg Maniac and Wall Of Souls that he was holding back to block.

Game: 2-1 Total Games: 20-9 Total Matches: 10-1

I am three points clear of the second seed, and six points clear of everyone else at this stage. Alice is judging side events (She took her judges test earlier in the day) so I go and hang out with her whilst I wait for the round to finish. I joke with some people about crushing my opponent's dreams of a Top 8 finish as there's no need for me to ID at this stage.

Round 12 - Robin McCandless (Don't know)

Now Robin is someone I like. I don't know him that well, but he's one of those people who you meet from time to time and don't really know, but who you just think is an all round top bloke. He is thinking of asking me to ID but can't work out the maths. I go and get the sheets and work through it with him, and it turns out that if he ID's three people all need to win their next match for him to not make it in. He's prepared to take that risk and asks for a draw. I give him it as I think Robin would make a fine addition to the UK Team.

Game: ID Total Games: 21-10 Total Matches: 10-1-1

So I finish on 31 points. I'm clear of Chris Manners (10-2) by a point, and the rest of the Top 8 by at least four points. I'm extremely happy with that obviously! It's far and away the best result I've had at a tournament of this size and this level of play.

Alice is absolutely over the moon, and loads of players come and congratulate me. They all say I'm a sure thing for the Worlds team, but I know that anything can happen in a single match. Strangely I'm not too nervous. I feel quite calm. Whatever happens I'm travelling to Brussels to represent the UK in the European Championships and that's a great honour to start with. The Worlds is something else entirely, and I try to not let it cloud my mind, even at this stage.

Around 7pm the Top 8 are escorted into the room where we're going to play our finals. Carl Crook gives us the talk, and lets us know the rules for the Top 8 (Best three out of five, all warnings up to this point discounted, etc…). Each player is assigned a judge, and we're all sent off to have our decks checked for errors in logging and marked cards. Mr Mike Lowery checks my deck, and finds it okay except for one duff Man O War. I have to leg it out to the main room and find someone to give me a new one - none of the traders have one (!) but Guy Brew steps in and hands one over. Cheers Guy.

The Quarter-Finals get underway around 7:30. We're all sat down at our tables, and the spectators pile in. Alice sits off to my right and looks more nervous than I do I think. From my point of view this is the only important match. If I win this I get to go the Worlds. I'm not fussed about being UK Champ, despite being number one seed. Chris Manners is the best player in the UK in my opinion, and I think he deserves the title more than any of us in the room.

My opponent is Paul Hawkins. I have no clue what he's playing at this point.

Quarter-Final - Paul Hawkins (263118 - 1843) - Donais Variant

Game 1: I win the roll, have a reasonable hand and play first. I drop a second turn White Knight, and for the next couple of turns Paul stalls at two land (City and Pool) despite an Impulse, and has to discard at least once. When Paul's down to 13 from three attacks and CoB damage. I have a handful of cards and 4 land on the board. I drop a Monk. Paul counters, so I drop a Priest instead. Paul does nothing. Next turn I attack, taking him to 8, and hold off as I have a Mana Leak and Firestorm in hand. Paul attempts a Wall Of Blossoms next turn, and I Mana Leak. He has three land now, but only one untapped. Next turn I attack and Firestorm him to one life. He concedes.

I'm a little worried about the pairing here. I am not running a single Wasteland or Geddon so can't disrupt Paul's mana supply. I don't have any amazing speed like Shadow/Armor either. I board in Aura's (He discarded an Awakening first game), Furnaces (Donais needs it's recursion), Wildfires (more damage), Pyros, and take out Monkeys and some Firestorms/Incinerates.

Game 2: A real long one this, it lasted around 50 minutes so I won't give a play by play. I got one Furnace working early and was able to remove around ten cards from the game I think, before it got Disenchanted. Paul had a Humility down which was controlling my Creatures, and was able to get multiple Wisdoms off. I slipped another Furnace through his Counters, but not until after the Disenchant had been Blessed back in, so that one got Disenchanted after a while too. I was never going to get decked as I was using my Volrath's Stronghold to put creatures on to my library whenever I needed one. Paul had to burn me out, and he was able to do so with just two cards left in his library (I'd removed two Blessings from the game, and a third was in the graveyard, not sure if he was running four…).

Game 3: Paul has to Paris twice. I have a Mox, a Plains, two monsters and three Phyrexian Furnaces in my opening hand. I keep it. [grin] I drop a first turn Furnace. Paul doesn't seem too concerned. I top deck a land on turn two and drop the Mox and a White Knight. Paul doesn't do anything for several turns other than play land as he doesn't want to lose cards to my Furnace. He pulls the Disenchant though and takes out the Furnace before it does serious damage. Eventually, he makes a Wall Of Blossoms, leaving three mana untapped. I have 6 mana in play because of Tithes. I still have the two Furnaces in hand as I've been waiting for a chance to slip them through his counters. I draw - it's my fourth Furnace! I look at my hand, tap three for an Aura Of Silence, telling Paul I'm going to stop him playing his Humility on me. He taps two mana, Counters, and now has one land untapped. I tap my remaining three mana and drop triple Phyrexian Furnace. He looks visibly shocked. The game proceeds for a while longer, but everything he plays gets removed from the game (including his Disenchant which I think he only had one of…). Eventually Knights beat him down as he's unable to recurs the spells necessary to keep him alive.

I'm 2-1 up now and feeling confident.

Game 4: Once again I get a first turn Furnace. I know now that Paul's only way of killing me is via his burn (He can't deck me as I have a Stronghold in my deck and I'm sure he doesn't have a Wasteland) so I aim to protect the Furnace and remove his burn from the game should he ever use it. I start off with some early monsters too, and I draw two of my three Mana Leaks, Leaking a Wall Of Blossoms and an Awakening so I can continue beating him down without him getting massive Whisper advantage on me. I squeak a second Furnace through his counters at some stage here. Paul Wraths at one point, and I drop a monster, and then the third Furnace I'd just pulled a turn or two earlier. I continue attacking. Paul's forced to Intuition for a Gerrard's Wisdom to stay alive, and I remove two of them from the game immediately after the Intuition resolves. I think he only has three so when the third gets removed when he casts it for 8 life to take him up to 10 I'm happy. I draw and play Furnace number 4 and Paul doesn't bother countering as the difference between 3 and 4 furnaces is irrelevant at this stage. He takes a couple of points over the next turn, whilst Whispering frantically. He Whispers during his turn, and then Impulses too. I wonder what he's searching for so badly. He smiles and drops a Null Rod with three mana left untapped. I have a Mana Leak in hand. I know that I'm around 20 cards through my deck and I haven't seen an Aura Of Silence yet, so there's probably one pretty close. I decide to Mana Leak the Null Rod, hopefully tapping Paul out. He Counters my Leak leaving him with one untapped land. Now I still have a chance to respond with fast effects, so I decide to tap two Furnaces, and sacrifice the other two to draw two cards, removing the rest of his graveyard from the game in the process. I draw my two cards. First is a Plains. Second is Aura Of Silence! I untap, draw, play the Aura Of Silence. Paul looks at his hand and his one untapped land. I sacrifice the Aura to kill the Rod then tap one Furnace to remove it from the game. Paul shakes his head and offers me his hand. It's all over!

That's it! I'm off to the World Championships!! I could not believe it! Paul's the first to congratulate me, and loads of people come up and say well done and so forth. I turn round to see Alice and she's very emotional, and gives me a huge hug. She's delighted, but I'm still waiting for it to sink in I think!

Only one of the other matches has finished, with Nicholas Moss-Allison beating Robert Bown. We have some time so I go out for a quick breather. I really don't care about winning any more at this point, I'm off to the Worlds and that's more than I'd dared hope for at the start of the first day. Alice is absolutely ecstatic. We'd both said that whenever one of us qualified for a Pro-Tour or some such, we'd split the costs of for the other one to attend, so we know we're off to Brussels and Seattle together. Alice has been wanting to go to a big event for a while (I was at Paris, and played in Mainz, but Alice only started playing seriously in January of this year and so hasn't attended a Pro-Tour or Grand Prix yet) and finally when it happens we get to go to the biggest one of all!

I'm excited, but I try to focus on the games ahead. I'm playing Nicholas Moss-Allison in the semi-final, and I'd heard he was playing "14". That's not a good match-up for me again, but I have Firestorms (Kill Monsters, or put all mine in the graveyard in response to the Living Death), Mana Leaks, Furnaces and Men O War so I know I'm in with a chance.

The next match starts around half an hour later. Robin McCandless (U/W Control I think) beats Steve Hill's red deck in one quarter-final, and he faces Chris Manners (playing Bloom) who beat Sonny Schneider in the other.

Semi-Final - Nicholas Moss-Allison (292514 - 1804) - "14" (Or rather "10" as he was only running one Volcanic Dragon)

Game 1: I get an early Knight, and have a Man O War in hand so I think I might be in with a chance. I play mostly land to start with as Nicholas takes pain from Cities and Tutors in an effort to find his combo. He Buries (Spirit Of the Night, Volcanic Dragon, Staunch Defenders) on turn 3, and Rituals out the Living Death on turn 4. I take 10. I play the Man O War and put the Spirit in his hand. I have a Hazerider Drake in hand to block the Volcanic next turn. He Vampirics during his upkeep, and sits with two Gold land untapped. I realise he must've gone for a Counterspell. I have no Mana Leak and don't have the mana for it anyway. I try to cast the Drake, he Mana Leaks. That's game one to him.

I bring in the Furnaces, the Man O War and the Pyro's, taking out Monkeys and Soltari Monks and maybe an Incinerate.

Game 2: I have an okay hand. It has coloured mana but no Leaks or Man O War. I keep it and drop turn 1 (Via Mox) and turn two monsters, hoping to draw a good card. I don't see a Firestorm, Man O War, Furnace or Mana Leak (Total of 14 of these cards in my deck now…), and when Nicholas Living Deaths off two Lotus Petals a few turns later there's not a thing I can do about it.

Game 3: I get a good draw with coloured mana, Plains, Knight and a Mana Leak. Nicholas takes a lot of early pain from Cities and Ancient Tomb, in addition to my White Knight and Priest attacking him. He Living Deaths on turn 4 or 5 again I think with the three fatties buried in his graveyard, but this time I have the Mana Leak and he concedes.

Game 4: My opening hand has three Plains, and 4 Knights/Warriors. I know Nicholas will just roll me over with that hand, so I Paris and get a Firestorm and a Man O War on the draw, but little mana. I play it anyway, but don't draw any early beat down. Nicholas Buries successfully, but doesn't LD next turn as he doesn't have the 5 mana necessary. I draw and play a Phyrexian Furnace. Nicholas Mana Leaks it despite me having 3 mana untapped. I haven't played a land this turn, but I'm scared of a second Mana leak should I pay for the first, so I Mana Leak him. He has two mana untapped, including a City, but lets it go so I figure he's out of Counters and Pyroblasts at this point. He Living Deaths next turn. I have mana to Firestorm (Discarding Man O War) and use the Furnace, but I figure I might as well hold onto the Firestorm as I can simply play the Man O War next turn. I remove the Volcanic Dragon from the game with the Furnace (He practically has mana to cast that anyway, so I want to bounce the Spirit to his hand), and he gets a Spirit and the Defenders, and attacks, putting me on 14. I untap, and play the Man O War. He has one City left untapped, and Pyroblasts it. WTF? There's nothing I can do at this stage, and the Man O War hits my graveyard. He attacks for 9 next go. I untap, and am one mana shy of being able to put the Man O War back on top of my deck with my Volrath's Stronghold and cast it. I draw needing a miracle, but all I get is a White Knight. Not much good against Spirit Of the Night [grin]

So I lose the semi-final. To be honest I'm not that bothered. I asked Nicholas why he didn't Pyro my Mana leak to stop my Furnace from entering play. He said that he thought there was a reason, but that he probably just forgot because he was tired. In retrospect I could've had that game had I Firestormed in response to the Living Death (Putting the Man O War in the graveyard so it came into play and bounced the Spirit), as I think I could've dealt with the Defenders fairly easily once the other two were gone.

His deck was not a good match-up for mine, but with even half-way decent draws in the first two games I would certainly have been able to make more of a match of it.

Nicholas goes onto meet Chris Manners in the final, and Chris takes him 3-2 with a draw as well. Chris is the UK Champion and rightly so IMO. He showed his form throughout the two days, and was second seed going into the Finals, only a single point behind me.

I still find it difficult to believe that I'm going to be representing the UK in the European and the World Championships over the next two months, but there we go. After the amount of testing I did on the deck, and my performance in the Swiss I kind of feel like I deserve it a little bit though.

My congratulations go to everyone who made the teams, I look forward to seeing you in Brussels or Seattle, if not sooner.

Props:

- Alice: For coming along despite severe reservations, and for encouraging me to always play my best game. Hope it was good enough for you babe! [grin]
- Team WALOP (now deceased): For excellent play-testing time, and some not so sound advice (Remind me why I shouldn't play with four Undiscovered Paradises Mr Nicoll?). [grin]
- All members of the UK Teams: Congrats on your respective success.
- WotC and the Judges: There were obvious problems through-out the tournament, but the whole event was still one of the best I think Wizards UK have ever run.
- Jamie Wakefield: For continued excellence in the field of writing tournament reports. Long may you continue. When's the next book BTW?
- Gordon Benson & Phil Mattingly: For great on-line advice in the weeks prior to the UK Nationals.
- Steve Hill: For not stalling in Round 11. Many players I know would've done so.
- Guy Brew: For lending me a much needed Man O War.
- I'm sure there are others but I can't think right now - apologies if you feel forgotten!

Slops: - No-one springs to mind!

Scott.
http://www.alman.co.uk/Scott/ - Photos should be appearing here soon.