Subject: German Nationals Report Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 14:11:12 +0200 From: Gregor Wernet Organization: UKT To: radermacher@netcologne.de, fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi everyone. Last week I played in the German Nationals. Remembering how I struggled to finish positive last year, I was determined to test more. So I met with some of the other qualified players from Baden-Wuerttemberg to playtest.I was quite confident in my draft skills, but I just couldn't decide on a T2 deck. Finally I decided to take along three decks: a White Weenie, a Necro-control deck and a Kastle variant tweaked to include more control. We (Stefan Unger, Matthias Cramer and myself, as well as Wolfgang Hellmich, who would be judging)drove to Dietzenbach Thursday evening and slept in Wolfgang's camper. Matthias had decided to play the control-Kastle, while Stefan was also still undecided. That evening he decided to play my Necro, but he thought it was too slow, so we joked a while about putting in Blood Pets for speed. The next morning we drive to the site and register. After a few words from the judges we were ready to play. That day would be 6 rounds of Rochester Draft, followed by a day of T2. The tables are announced and I manage to get seated fourth between Peer Kroeger and Janosch Kuehn.The rest of the table includes some other good players to Peer's left and two kids next to Janosch. Well, I had planned to try a white shadow deck, which was a good choice, as Janosch and Peer go R/B and R/G, respectively. With red blocked, I chose blue as a secondary color. The Tempest packs were quite strange, with just 1! common white shadow, which I didn't even get. I got, however, three uncommon shadows and had two excellent first picks (Tradewind R. and Orim). In Stronghold I got four flyers, so I went Shadow/Flying weenie: Tradewind Rider Orim, Samite Healer 2 Spirit en-Kor 2 Wind Drake Cloudchaser Eagle Soltari Monk Soltari Priest Soltari Crusader Clergy en-Vec 2 Hammerhead Shark (these were really good, as I needed some early Blockers) Wall of Tears Mounted Archer Hornet Cannon Gallantry 2 Pacifism Mana Leak Hero's Resolve Conviction Anoint 10 Plains 7 Islands Sideboard: CoP:Red Cloudchaser Eagle Round 1: Janosch Kuehn Janosch drafted red/black and got several Fanatics and a Fireslinger, as well as an Evincar's Justice (I think). Game 1 I get a convictioned Spirit and outrace him, as my Shark can hold off his Rats of Rath. Game 2 is similar at first, with me playing both Sharks while he gets two rats and a Slinger. I play my Tradewind but choose not to bounce, as I would've had to use my pantsed Priest, so it hangs around mostly as a blocker. He gets rid of the Tradewind by flinging a E. Screaming rat at it and we enter the damage race. He gets a Darkling Stalker with 5 Swamps, so I have to hurry. When he taps the Slinger to kill a blocking Shark, I use the chance to play the two Cloud Spirits I had in hand to do the three extra damage I needed to finish him next turn. 2-0 1-0-0 Round 2: Daniel Praetzlich One of the weaker drafters at our table with some Muscle Slivers and other weenies. Game 1 my flyers swarm him while a Shark and the Wall of Tears stop his weenies. Game 2 is the same, only faster. 2-0 2-0-0 Round 3: Dirk Baberowski Dirk drafted red/blue and had enough pingers to really ruin my day. Game 1 I get some flyers, but he gets a Fireslinger *and* a R. Hunter. Soon I have no creatures and get stomped with red fat. Game 2 I get a Priest/Crusader team with Orim backup. He manages to destroy Orim, but is too slow to stop the shadows. He did play Mawcor, however. Game 3 is over quick as I get manaflooded and then stomped. 1-2 2-1-0 We use the break to eat something. Stefan is 2-1 as well, while Matthias went 0-3 due to some very bad luck. The second table is announced, and I don't see any known players, so I figure this could be an easy draft. Stefan, who is also at the table, is first seed, while I am once again fourth. I got a Lightening Blast abd a Kindle before I had even openened my own pack, so I went for red, which I wanted to avoid at first, as there are usually many players competing for red. I drafted a lot of removal spells, but the player to my left tried to force red for himself, which left me with very few creatures. I try both black and green, but I still get few creatures. In Stronghold I get passed a Spitting Hydra, then later *two* flame waves. I still lack creatures and have to draft Slivers to get a few creatures. Well, if I remove all his creatures, I can win with anything... Due to lack of cards in red/green, I splash black for a Burial and some stuff. Here's the deck: Craven Giant Spike Drone Spined Sliver Acidic Sliver Canyon Wildcat Chaotic Goo Spitting Hydra Pallimud Lowland Giant Rootwalla Firefly Mogg Recruits Heartwood Dryad Spined Wurm Tempting Licid 2 Lightening Blast 2 Flame Wave Kindle Dark Banishing Disturbed Burial Harrow 10 Mountains 6 Forest 2 Swamp Sideboard: Shatter The deck's obvious problem is the mana distribution, I wished I could reduce black and play more green or red, but the draft was very wierd with several people drafting seemingly without a plan (Like the red player who passed me the Flame Waves :-) ) Round 4: Janos Korzak This was the drafter to my left, who had to play 3 colors (w/r/u), as he tried to play red as well. Game 1 is over quickly with him having only two lands. Game 2 We both play some creatures, I harrow and hit him with a Chaotic Goo while he hits me with a Spirit en-Kor. He puts out some more creatures and a Puppet Strings. I play a Lowland Giant and wait. He finally taps his blue to cast something. Next turn I Flame Wave and hit him for 7 more. He only has his Spirit left and has to tap/block so I just Flame Wave again for the last points. 2-0 3-1-0 Round 5: Thomas Schneider He played w/u slivers with shadow/flyer beatdown, so if I can Wave, I should win. Game 1 we go into damage race, as he hits me with flying Slivers and I hit him with Rootwalla and Pallimud. He makes a crucial mistake which leaves me at 1, so I attack/wave for the win. Before Game 2 he tries to tell me that I'm not allowed to shuffle his deck, while really torturing my deck. A judge sees what he is doing to my cards and replaces *two* cards for having real folds in the corner. This guy was quite unnerving. In Game 2 he gets all his flyers while I draw only weak critters, so he wins. Game 3 is a stalemate at first, with me drawing lots of mana and him playing only few creatures in fear of Flame Wave. I, however, have no Flame Wave but draw my Spitting Hydra. This, the 11 mana I have and the Burial in my hand make for quite a combo :-). 2-1 4-1-0 Round 6: Florian Ecker He played r/w with weenies and Ensnaring Bridge. Game 1 he quickly gets the Bridge and locks me up. He then finishes me slowly with a Spirit en-Kor that I can't kill as he has a Wall of Diffusion. Game 2 he gets few creatures but again the Bridge. I have Shatter in hand, but wait and play my fatties and then Flame Wave. I then shatter the Bridge and stomp him. In Game 3 I have the Hydra/Burial combo and beat him with Slivers, Shatter in Hand. I win easily. 2-1 5-1-0 So I finish the first day 5-1, a result with wich I am quite satisfied. 4-2 should get me to the finals. Stefan is 4-2 and Matthias made quite a comeback and is now 3-3. That evening we test a little more and I decide to play 5CBounce/Kastle. Stefan trades for a German Blood Pet and actually plays it (this is where we gave up and just let him be). The following morning we test a little and then go and register. Here's the deck: 4 Tradewind Rider 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Birds of Paradise 3 Spike Feeder 3 Man-o'-War 3 Living Death 3 Firestorm 3 Intuition 3 Armageddon 2 Granger Guildmage 1 Uktabi Orangutan 1 Fallen Angel 4 Mana Leak 9 Forest 4 Island 4 City of Brass 3 Gemstone Mine 2 Underground River 1 Undiscovered Paradise Sideboard: 2 Dread of Night 1 Armageddon 1 Firestorm 1 Scragnoth 1 Intuition 2 Null Rod 4 Pyroblast 2 Hydroblast 1 Uktabi Orangutan Round 7: David Brucker, 5CBlue Game 1 he has to mulligan to 5 cards and doesn't have the blue to counter my Geddon, so I win with Feeders. I side the Pyros, Geddon and Scragnoth. Game 2 I have a slow start and get lobotomied with a geddon in hand. I stall and he gets his stuff going to finally kill me with a Shard Phoenix. We start the third game with 20 Minutes left. I have an incredible hand, with Forest, City, Birdx3, Geddon, Pyroblast. And I draw... Scragnoth! I win. 2-1 6-1-0 After this round, I met Stefan and found out that he had won his match with his Blood Pet by blocking a Ball Lightening and then sacrifising the Pet in Damage Prevention (which takes the 6 trample damage with it, but you get 1 mana burn). This was really depressing . . . Round 8: Dirk Hein, Sligh aka Ms. Julie Not much to tell here. Game 1 he kills me. Game 2 I manage to Firestorm a Miner and a Pup, but still get killed before I reach 5 mana. In both games I didn't get any Walls and had generally slow starts, wich was fatal. 0-2 6-2-0 Round 9: Gregor Wollny, 5CBlue Game 1 is quite wierd: I get fast Granger/Feeder assault going while he counters the rest, but whenever his life gets low, he Wisdoms, then I Geddon and continue. Sometime after the third Wisdom/Geddon I win as he still hadn't drawn a single Wrath. In Game 2 we both get a lot of land, but he is off worse, impulsing in his own turns to draw counters. When I play Fallen Angel and have 2 lands untapped, he casts Lobotomy with two blue left. Normally this should have worked, but, being the lucky scrub I am, I have two Pyroblasts in hand, so I proceed to attack with the Angel. I manage to sneak through a Geddon and win with the Angel. 2-0 7-2-0 Round 10: Dirk Baberowski, Bloom In Game 1 I get 5 lands in my opening hand and continue to draw lands. He seems not satisfied with his hand and obviously thinks I have a handful of counters; when he Abeyances me in turn 8, I still haven't got anything useful, so I relax and watch as he drains me. In Game 2 I have another slow start, but at least I have a Leak and a Pyroblast when he goes for the combo, but he has enough counterbackup and drains me again. 0-2 7-3-0 Round 11: Florian Dworak, 5CKastle We had playtested together and were the last two from our region with a chance for the final eight. We agreed not to go for a draw, as this would have eliminated both our chances. Game 1 still takes a while, as he Tradewind-locks me which I escape with a bird, but I can't get a Firestorm or Intuition while he slowly kills me. I side out the Living Deaths and go for the Tradewind lock, as his deck is mere centered on the Living Death. Game 2 is strange; I play a Tradewind in round 4 and get lobotomied next turn(he removes my Tradewinds). He the Living Deaths to get my Tradewind in play, which is then removed with Ebony Charm. I can Geddon with a Feeder and a bird in play, while he has a Man-o'-War and a Bird. He, however is at 7 while I have 18, so I transfer the Feeder on the Bird and kill him before he can recover. Game 3 is close; we still have 2 minutes and he is beating me with an Angel, while I have a Tradewind with Bird and 2 Walls and Geddon + Man-o'-War in hand. I Geddon and bounce/Man-o'-War both birds instead of the Angel, as this would either let him finish me or concede to a hard Tradewind lock. He has a Firestorm and a Mine, so I die. 1-2 7-4-0 Round 12: Matthias Cramer, Kastle-Control Somehow we always manage to get paired against each other. . . I win Game 1 with a Tradewind lock,I can't remember more. I know he will side out the Living Deaths, so I do so as well, as usually the threat is enough. In Game 1 we both start out good, but he hits an incredible land pocket of more than 10 lands while I win with Tradewind beatdown. 2-0 8-4-0 With 24 points I missed the finals by one match. Well, at least I get 16 boosters (among them my very first Antiquities booster). Stefan finished 6-6, which is still good considering that he played Blood Pet. :-) Till next time. PS: I just have to mention Harald Laiss, who wanted to be mentioned on the net for NOT going 0-7 this year . . . -- Gregor Wernet