Author Archive

The 12th – 13th – 14th of March took place in Firenze (Italy) a huge eternal event: The DDAY 3. 170 players gathered for each of the Legacy and Vintage tournaments to fight for the glory!

Quarterfinals:

• Zerbino VS Ciuccatosti -> Zerbino (2-0)
• Mastini VS Sanz -> Mastini (2-0)
• Hernandez VS Baruffaldi -> Hernandez (2-1)
• Ronzo VS Ceconi-> Ronzo(2-1)

Semifinals:

• Zerbino VS Mastini -> Zerbino (2-0)
• Ronzo VS Hernandez -> Ronzo (2-1)

Final:

• Ronzoi VS Zerbino -> Ronzoi (2-1)

The following are the lists from the Top8 of the Vintage event:

RONZO GIAMPIERO – Winner of DDAY 3

4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Trinisphere
4x Lodestone Golem
3x Karn, Silver Golem
3x Triskelion
4x Metalworker
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Tangle Wire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
2x Sword of Fire and Ice
4x Mishra’s Workshop
4x Ancient Tomb
2x City of Traitors
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Strip Mine
2x Mishra’s Factory
4x Wasteland

SIDE

3x Razormane Masticore
2x Crucible of Worlds
3x Relic of Progenitus
2x Duplicant
2x Sculpting Steel
2x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Platinum Angel

PIERLUIGI ZERBINO – Finalist of DDAY 3

1x Swamp
2x Island
4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
1x Tolarian Acaemy
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Crypt
1x Black Lotus
4x Dark Ritual
4x Duress
3x Dark Confidant
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Yawgmoth’s Bargain
4x Force of Will
3x Repeal
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Brainstorm
1x Ponder
1x Gift’s Ungiven
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Timetiwster
1x Mistical Tutor
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Mind’s Desire
1x Merchant Scroll

SIDE

2x Annul
2x Pithing Needle
2x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Ravenous Trap
1x Deathmark
2x Massacre
2x Spell Pierce
1x Tinker
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Sundering Titan

Rest of the decks:

RICARDO SANZ DE ARINO

3x Tezzeret the Seeker
4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Bury
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Time Vault
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Rebuild
1x Echoing Truth
1x Voltaic Key
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Tinker
1x Brainstorm
7x Island
1x Library of Alexandria
2x Underground Sea
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Darksteel Colossus
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Spell Pierce
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Gift Ungiven
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Black Lotus

SIDE

1x Razormane Masticore
2x Sower of Temptation
1x Darkblast
3x Spell Snare
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
2x Ravenous Trap
1x Yixilid Jailer
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Trinisphere

ALESSANDRO CECCONI

4x Noble Hyerarch
4x Cold-Eyed Selkie
4x Quasali Pridemage
3x Tarmogoyf
3x Trygon Predator
1x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
3x Spell Pierce
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Echoing Truth
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Misdirection
1x Regrowth
1x Time Walk
3x Null Rod
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Misty Rainforest
2x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
3x Tundra
3x Tropical Island
1x Island
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland

SIDE

1x Energy Flux
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Curfew
2x Umezawa’s Jitte
3x Wheel of sun and Moon
1x Tarmogoyf
3x Kataki,War’s Wage
3x Ethersworn Canonist

BENITO HERNANDEZ ALVAREZ

4x Misty Rainforest
1x Scalding Tarn
7x Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Tropical Island
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Mindbreak Trap
3x Meditate
3x Vendilion Clique
4x Mistic Remora
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
4x Repeal
1x Hurkill’s Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Brainstorm
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind

SIDE

4x Tarmogoyf
1x Razormane Masticore
1x Tormod’s Crypt
3x Ravenous Trap
1x Yixilid Jailer
2x Hurkyll’s Recall
2x Sower of Temptation
1x Forest

LUCA BARUFFALDI

4x Mishra’s Workshop
4x Ancient Tomb
2x City of Traitors
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mishra’s Factory
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
4x Metalworker
4x Lodestone Golem
3x Triskelion
2x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Razormane Masticore
1x Trinisphere
4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Tangle Wire
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Crucible of Worlds
4x Smokestack
1x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Ghost Quarter

SIDE

3x Duplicant
1x Razormane Masticore
2x Thorn of Amethyst
3x Relic of Progenitus
3x Ravenous Trap
2x Powder Keg
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell’s Vale

PAOLO CIUCCATOSTI

2x Windswept heath
3x Verdant catacombs
2x Savannah
2x Bayou
2x Scrubland
1x Plains
1x Forest
1x Swamp
4x Wasteland
1x Strip mine
1x Mox pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Lotus Petal
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Gaddock Teeg
3x Aven mindcensor
3x Ethersworn canonist
3x Qasali pridemage
3x Elvish spirit guide
3x Duress
3x Thoughtseize
1x Demonic tutor
1x Vampiric tutor
2x Sword to plowshares
2x Diabolic edict
3x Null Rod

SIDE

2x Choke
2x Engineered plague
1x Darkblast
2x Tormod’s crypt
2x Umezawa’s jitte
4x Nature’s claim
2x Extirpate

STEFANO MASTINI

4x Underground Sea
3x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
2x Swamp
2x Island
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
4x Dark Ritual
3x Dark Confidant
4x Duress
4x Force of Will
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1x Impulse
1x Time Walk
1x Timetwister
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Mind’s Desire
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Bainstorm
1x Ponder
1x Night’s Wispers
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Gift’s Ungiven
1x Repeal

SIDE

1x Sundering Titan
1x Inkwell Leviathan
1x Tinker
2x Massacre
2x Pithing Needle
1x Tormod’s Crypt
2x Hurkyll’s Recall
3x Mistic Remora
1x Darkblast
1x Echoing Truth

Lately, the community (specially eternal players) has been worried about reprints due to the crazy increase of the prices of some cards. We’ve seen lots of rumors about the possibility of power 9 or dual lands being reprinted to boost eternal formats. But today, Wizards of the Coast has spoken and clarified their oficial reprint policy and the revised reprint policy.

These are the two links where they explain the new (or not so new) changes:

Oficial Reprint Policy

Revised Reprint Policy

So, the rules are quite clear now!

On the other hand, tomorrow we’ll hope to get a review on the Banned & Restricted lists. Besides of the needed changes to Vintage, I believe that some changes to Legacy might be needed as well. What do you guys think?

Use the comments to discuss whether or not Legacy needs some changes. You know how I feel, right?

Related article on TP:

Thoughts on breaking the reserved list – By JACO

If you are a Vintage player you should know by now that the Catalan Vintage League, aka LCV, is probably the biggest Vintage league in the world. During the past 5 years, the LCV has done nothing but grow. This is a thing that we’ve been really proud of, as we’ve proven how solid a community can be year after year. We’ve never allowed the use of proxies and that has never turned against us.

Last Saturday the folks who organized the LCV6 March Tournament in Igualada made an excellent effort to organize one of the nicest tournaments I’ve been around lately. Excellent prizes, good place to play, legacy side event, good menu for lunch and more. All their efforts were rewarded with the pretty low participation of 52 players.

We were used to have 70 to 90 players per tournament during the past years, but 52 seems to be the best we can do so far this year.

So, why is the participation at Vintage tournaments dropping?

The answer to that question is actually one of the hot topics being discussed in many forums. I’m not the one that has the exact answer and solution to the problem, but I do have my own opinion and I believe some things need to change as soon as possible.

First of all, I believe that the format sucks. Why is that? Well, no matter where you looked last Saturday that all you would be able to contemplate was Fish, MUD, Tezzeret & Confidants. (Of course there were few rogue decks and few Oath & Dredge players around).

Fish is too fast and too powerful. The “Selkie” deck has great elements of disruption while being able to put you a decent clock thanks to the new Exalted mechanic. The release of cards like Spell Pierce has improved their strategy to slow you down combined with others like Daze, Null Rod or Wasteland.

MUD is overpowered thanks to Lodestone Golem. You can’t stop a first turn Golem unless you have Force of Will. Sure you can pack your main deck with cards like Ancient Grudge, Hurkyl’s Recall, Lightning Bolt or Ingot Chewer, but none will actually save your ass efficiently against Lodestone Golem. If you actually manage to survive the 1st turn Golem, then get ready for what’s coming after it.

Saturday, Joe Gallego won the tournament with MUD.

Then we find Time Vault/Voltaic Key/Tezzeret the Seeker as the 3rd contender to the throne. This archetype can’t compete with the previously mentioned ones unless they get good hands. Control decks can’t really control the games anymore. The amount of restricted spells combined with the lack of drawing abilities to find answers makes it really hard for players to rely on this strategy. I’m not saying that Tezzeret decks aren’t good, all I’m saying is that you need lots of good hands in order to succeed in a tournament like the LCV. Mana Drain isn’t what it used to be. There are games that you’d probably win if you reach the second turn. Problem is that, nowadays, being able to cast a turn 2 Mana Drain is almost impossible.

When asking around to other players what’s their opinion about Vintage now, they all agree that Vintage sucks and that it needs a wash. I do agree that we need something fixed to make Vintage funny to play again. We are losing players that are actually bored of this format and prefer to play Legacy.

The obvious call is to review the banned and restricted list.

If the rumors are right and they print this:

---

Eldrazi´s Temple
Land
Tap: Add one coloress to your mana pool.
Tap: Add two coloress to your mana pool. Use this mana only to cast coloress spells.

---

With that card printed MUD needs something restricted. The cards that come to my mind that could be restricted are:

• Mishra’s Workshop
• Wasteland
• Null Rod

Restricting Mishra’s Workshop wouldn’t be such a problem as they’d replace those 3 slots probably with the new land. Still, there should be a cut on the amount of x2 x3 mana producers if you don’t want to have consistently first turn menaces landing the board.

Restricting Wasteland would allow the control/combo players to be able to consistently get the third producer and cast answers to golems/spheres (Hurkyl’s Recall or Ancient Grudge). By restricting Wasteland, we also reduce the power of Fish.

Restricting Null Rod alone would mostly hurt fish and allow control/combo players to fight against them in better conditions.

What else should be done? Well, we can’t just simply make MUD and fish worse when we have a 2 card colorless combo that wins for four mana. So…

Banning Time Vault in Vintage is safe if the previously mentioned restrictions take place. Without 4 Null Rod, 4 Wasteland and 4 Mishra’s Workshop I believe the right call would be to ban Time Vault. We need to slow down the format by not abusing the stupidly good cards.

We saw Brainstorm, Gush, Ponder, Merchant Scroll and Flash being restricted all at the same time. That made a HUGE change to the format. We adapted and we learned how to play under the new circumstances. I believe now is the right time for another big change if we want Vintage to be more appealing to the players, specially the ones coming from Legacy, that will probably try Vintage some day.

This Friday the new Banned and Restricted list should be announced and I hope something changes, else we shouldn’t expect nothing but the fall of Vintage. Which makes me sad.

(I know, I know! The poster rocks!)

On the other hand, I think the problem isn’t just about restricting or banning some cards. I believe Wizards of the Coast should actually do something bigger in favor of Vintage. I’m not asking for a Vintage GP (although that would actually rock and gather more players than some standard GP’s…), but they should find the way to organize the Vintage tournaments around the world on a similar level than other formats. If Standard gets PTQ’s, GP’s, PT’s, etc…, Extended gets PTQ’s, GP’s, etc…, Legacy gets GPT’s & GP’s, why Vintage get no official tournaments?

Of course it’s hard to have Vintage as a competitive format, but I’m not asking for that exactly. I’m asking for a better organization of the Vintage events. C’mon! They’ve got great minds working at WotC, and I’m sure they could come up with something! We’ll have to wait few days and see what happens…

Regarding my performance at the tournament, I did pretty bad even though I had a deck prepared to beat MUD and Fish. My pairings went like this:

Round 1: 0-2 VS David Carbó playing  BWG Fish

Round 2: 0-2 VS Ramón Romero playing Faeries Fish

Round 3: 2-0 VS Juan Espinosa playing Noble Fish

Round 4: 2-0 VS Leticia Sevilla playing BG Dark Depths

Round 5: 1-1 VS Lluís Perea playing UB Tezzeret (featuring Thada Adel, Acquisitor on SB…)

Round 6: 0-2 VS Arnau Rovira playing Dark Tezzeret (Got killed G1 on first turn with FoW back up, and G2 second turn…)

The Top8 players and decks were:

• Tomas Winand (Iona Oath) vs Àlex Delgado (Dark Remora)
• Joe Gallego (MUD) vs Narcís Mir (URB Tezzeret)
• Rubén González (Dark Remora) vs Omar Nieto (Wizards Fish)
• Angel Gorriana (Tezzeret) vs unknown player (Dredge)

I don’t know how the semifinals went, but I can tell you that Joe Gallego won the tournament. So congratz to him!

This past weekend the omnipresent store Star City Games organized another $5K event in Indianapolis. As usual, on Saturday took place the Standard event (not so interesting for us, but you can find top16 decks here), and on Sunday near 300 people showed up to play for the big pot.

The winner of the event is Chris Woltereck who played 43 land (!) against Nicholas Montaquila with mono red Goblins. You can read the full final report here:

Finals: Chris Woltereck vs. Nick Montaquila

The top8 brackets looked like this:

These are the decks from the Top16 players:

Title	Finish	Player	Event	Date	Location
43 Land Blue	1st place	Chris Woltereck	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Goblins	2nd place	Nicholas Montaquila	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Team America	3rd place	William Nichols	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Merfolk:	4th place	Sean Gray	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Monoblack Control	5th place	Craig Wostratzky	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana
Landstill	6th place	Michael Bernat	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Reanimator	7th place	Jason Terry	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Tezzerator	8th place	Peter Smutko	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Merfolk	9th place	Joshua Cowen	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Counter-Top Survival	10th place	John Penick	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Charbelcher	11th place	Cedric Phillips	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Eva Green	12th place	Joe Bernal	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Reanimator	13th place	Michael Trent	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Counter-Top Natural Order	14th place	Nathanael Love	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Merfolk	15th place	Thomas Farrer	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Team America	16th place	David Gleicher	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Congratz to all the Top16 players and specially to Chris Woltereck for the win!

This Saturday I’m going to play the LCV (Catalan Vintage League), finally! The guys from Igualada have prepared an excellent tournament with an awesome prize support, so I couldn’t fail to their effort. I hope the turnout of the tournament goes as they expected!

I expect a metagame with tones of Golem MUDS and Fish (Noble and UW), some Tezzeret decks (Dark Tezz, MUC, URB, etc…), some Storm Combo (Nauseam and DT), some rogue decks and few Dredge players.

For that, and with the precious help from Jason, I’ve build up this deck:

TP Chewer attack! v1.0, 13th March 2010. By Jordi Amat

Main deck:

2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring

(24 producers)

1 Inkwell Leviathan
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Ingot Chewer

(6 creatures)

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Spell Pierce
1 Tinker
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s will
1 Fire/Ice
1 Lighting Bolt

(30 Business spells)

Sideboard:

3 Ravenous Trap
1 Extirpate
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Claws of Gix
2 Duress
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Sundering Titan
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Trickbind

A visual view of the deck:

(sorry for the bad quality… iPhone camera ain’t the best to do this type of pics and I was too lazy to scan the deck)

The deck is designed to have good match ups against Noble and MUD. According to Jason, Ingot Chewer is the best main deck answer against MUD while it works also great against many other decks like fish, dredge, or even at the mirror. The fish match we got it well covered maindeck also, as we are playing 2 Sower of Temptation, 1 Lighting Bolt, Fire/Ice and Tinker + Inkwell Leviathan.

The rest of the deck is designed to be solid. No Library of Alexandria to avoid suspicious hands and to be able to have a first turn Spell Pierce or a turn 2 Mana Drain. The 4 Volcanic Island allow me to play without having to worry for the red sources against MUD or Fish. I can easily lose one or two volcanics and the deck will still be able to cast Ingot Chewer, Lighting Bolt, etc…

Anyways, I’m not going to unveil all the secrets and reasons behind the card choices now. If the deck turns out to be competitive, I might write a longer article about it. So far, I’ll be testing it today and playing it tomorrow.

If you want to follow my performance at LCV tomorrow, you can follow me at Twitter (@piZZero). And on Monday I’ll hopefully have the report of the tournament finished. So, stay tunned!

Ladies and gentlemen Legacy is on fire! GP Madrid has beaten any previously attendance record and that’s something Spain is really proud of. Well, we (eternal players) should all be proud of! Every now and then, the attendance records gets beaten but that ain’t new. What’s new and surprising is that GP Madrid was played under the Legacy format. Obviously Wotc never expected GP Madrid to be such a success. Their constant work to improve the game, has forced them to implement Legacy for Magic Online. With that many players playing Legacy on Real Life™ it was an obvious movement to release Legacy for the online fans.

The announcement came published yesterday (9th of March) on their official website.

Ron Spencer has always delighted us with his excellent Yawgmoth’s Will alterations, but he does other cool stuff worth watching and commenting. One of the most amazing things I’ve seen from Ron Spencer are his playsets of altered swamps. What makes these swamps special is that they usually connect one to each other to create a combined alteration. Last year (2009) he commissioned one playset to Dan (owner of the store Hobby Town USA, in Lincoln – NE) which is simply spectacular!

(Click on the image to zoom in)

This other alteration (whose owner I don’t know), isn’t as spectacular as the first one but it’s definitely very cool looking and well executed. No matter how you connect the swamps, they always connect between them!

(Click on the image to zoom in)

Maybe I should get a swamp altered, or two, or three, or four! (on the floor!)

On the weekend of Grand Prix Madrid (epic report) I was told that Dan Frazier was coming to Spain. Where? – I asked!

I found the answer to that question in a matter of minutes! A guy around there was handling these fliers:

The card reads:

Freak Games I – 10th & 11th of April

Saturday: 600+€ Standard tournament. Entrance fee: 12€

Sunday: 1000+€ Legacy tournament. Entrance fee: 15€

Guest artist: Dan Frazier (all moxen). He’ll be attending on Saturday afternoon to draw and sign your decks. And we weill have exclusive products on sale!

Both events will take place in Freakland Games (shop)

C/Sevilla 12, Zaragoza (Spain)

Phone: +34 976373571 or +34 699193636

For more information, please send us a mail to: tgplace@aol.com or info@freaklandgames.com

This is just great news! I will finally get my Mox Ruby & Mox Jet signed, and i’ll have them all double signed! Hopefully I can get him to alter them as well. Will see!

When one of my regular dealers mentioned that he would have the chance of getting some cards signed by Anthony Francisco, I told him if he had 2 Tezzeret the Seeker and an Inkwell Leviathan in stock. How could I doubt about him!

These two are going straight to my Vintage deck!

I might be selling my second Tezzeret The Seeker foil japanese signed.

Chapter 3: The rise of the golems.

So it’s finally Sunday, our last day in Madrid, and we are heading again to the GP with brand new objectives. I still need to visit Mark Poole to get some stuff signed & altered, and I’m planning on conquering the Vintage side event that starts at 9 am.

So, before we move with the Vintage tournament, let’s get in the mood:

IF you are a STAXX (my ass) player please click play on the following youtube video. If you aren’t, move on to the next one!

So if you ain’t listening the previous video, then you deserve some real good shit! How about one of the coolest Justice videos?

The deck I’m playing at the tournament is a mix between the list JACO passed me the night before and the cards I brought to Madrid. There’s a thing I loved about his list: 3 main deck “fuck-your-golem” Ingot Chewer. He also had a couple of the new Jace there, but I wasn’t gonna pay the 240€ (120€/each) that the Asian_foil_cards were asking for. So in the end, this is what I played:

TP Golem my ass! by Jordi Amat

4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Spell Pierce
2 Duress
3 Ingot Chewer
3 Repeal
1 Lighting Bolt
1 Fire/Ice
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
1 Sundering Titan
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Yawmoght’s Will
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:
3 Ravenous Trap
1 Extirpate
1 Darkblast
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Duress
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Claws of Gix
2 Hurkyl’s Recall

I’m not 100% satisfied with the decklist tho. I’ll scan my new version of the deck and post it tomorrow or the day past. So, let’s move on with the rounds!

Round 1: Roger Subirana with UW Fish

Meh! First round and I get paired with a well known player from the LCV. I know him a bit and I know he’s playing UW fish usually.

I start controlling the first game thanks to my Lighting Bolt, that killed his Ninja of the deep hours. Later on, my Gorilla Shaman manages to eat a Null Rod and my Sower of Temptation controls another Ninja. Despite all the advantage I manage to obtain, i get totally mana flooded and I can’t get to stop his Jötun Grunt. He finds a Swords to Plowshares that exiles my Sower and returns his Ninja, and it’s GG.

Game 2 I open with Polluted and pass turn. He goes for Tundra + Sage of Epytir, and I get it REB’ed. It’s super important to stop 1st turn Sage if you don’t want him to go 2nd turn Ninja. I had Mana Drain up for turn 2 but he finds Wasteland for my Volcanic. Then I’m there with 1 Island, 2 Off Color Moxen and Sensei’s Divining Top. He plays Kataki, the war’s edge and his first Meddling Mage, naming Tinker. I find Sower of Temptation with my Top, and play it protected. With it, I control his Meddling Mage, but again, he has Swords to Plowshares. He’s beating my ass hard and I can’t find any answers on time.

0-2 | 0 points | 0 wins 2 losses

Round 2: Guillem Ragull with Drain Tendrils (?)

Meh! (again). Second round and I get paired with my ex-team mate Guillem. Guillem is right now one of the strongest players from the LCV. He’s playtesting a lot more than me and he knows the business quite well.

I have a strong control hand with Spell Pierce, Duress, Mana Drain, Ingot Chewer, 2 lands and Fact or Fiction. He opens the game with Tolarian Academy + Mox Emerald. I think for a while to see what my 1st movement should be. I decide that the best opening would be Fetchland for Underground Sea + Duress. He plays only 1 Brainstorm to avoid my play. But there he goes, he plays Brainstorm in response and hides Mana Drain + Gifts Ungiven (correct me if I’m wrong). I take Vampiric Tutor from his hand. Next turn he plays land and passes.

Obviously my Duress opening was the wrong choice. I should have played Ingot Chewer to his mox. Then on turn 2, he would have had 1 land, and his play would have been Vampiric, which would have got with Spell Pierce. Anyways, let’s keep moving.

I Try to play Ingot Chewer to his Mox and he casts Mana Drain I play Spell Pierce but he plays Force of Will. He draws his Gifts Unviven and with 5 mana he finds enough business spells to leave me out of the game.

Game 2 I mulligan to 6 and he mulligans to 5. There’s some Duress played by each of us. In the end, I manage to play an eot Fact or Fiction followed by a Tezzeret with protection.

Game 3 is kind of raw He mulligans to 5 again, plays Underground and pass turn. I begin with Land + Mox Sapphire + Sensei’s Divining Top with Spell Pierce in hand. He plays Island and pass turn. I find another Mox with Sensei’s Divining Top and on my turn I play another land + another Mox and cast Tinker, he tries to Mana Drain, but I Spell Pierce it. Sundering Titan hits the board and he scoops.

2-1 | 3 points | 2 wins 3 losses

Round 3: Bagus Bender with Bomberman

Bagus isn’t exactly what I’d call a “fast” player. He took his time on every single play of this round. To that let’s add the fact that he plays with Sensei’s Divining Top and we got the right formula to tie the round.

Game 1 I’m in control of the game, even though he’s got a Trinket Mage that is beating me down badly. I manage to kill his Trinket Mage when I’m down to 4 with my Lighting Bolt. He’s got Sensei’s Divining Top and Black Lotus in play. It shouldn’t take him long before he finds Auriok Salvagers. On my last chance to win the game, I cast Fact or Fiction that brings me Mystical and Vampiric Tutor. Both tutors works for me, as I’m killing him via Yawgmoth’s will the next turn. Well, there wasn’t any “next turn” for me as he finds the Auriok and goes off.

Game 2 is getting long and complicated. He’s played 2 Pithing Needle naming Time Vault and Voltaic Key (name Tezzeret next time… plzkkthx!). He’s beating me again with a Trinket Mage. When I’m down to 4 (again) they call “Time’s up” so I have to work some Magic! I dunno how I did it exactly but I remember being able to play Tezzeret, untap 2 artifacts and play Time Walk after a Yawgmoth’s Will. Then I attacked and GG.

1-1 | 4 points | 3 wins 4 losses

Round 4: Magin Calvo with Welder Staxx.

I can’t believe how I lost game 1. I opened with Island and pass turn. He went Workshop + Sphere of Resistance which I got with Spell Pierce. I play fetchland and pass turn with Mana Drain, Spell Pierce and Brainstorm. He plays a 2nd Workshop and starts with another Sphere of Resistance. I cast another Spell Pierce to which he attempts to pay the 2 extra with his other Workshop. I tell him that’s not possible. Anyways, he does nothing else, so I cast Brainstorm but I find no third land A third land would have been lovely as I got 1 Ingot Chewer in hand and the Mana Drain! On his third turn the fest starts to go on. Smokestack + Tangle Wire. I got the Smokestack with the Mana Drain. I can’t kill the Tangle with my Chewer coz I know there’s no land coming due to Brainstorm. So I have to get tapped and pass turn. He topdecks Strip Mine and I scoop

Game 2 I first turn kill him with Tolarian, Sol Ring, 2 Moxen, Voltaic Key and Tezzeret!

Game 3 is what I call “HELL”. He opens with Mountain + Goblin Welder. Then another Goblin Welder, and then ANOTHER Goblin Welder. I get to counter 1 Sphere of Resistance with Spell Pierce and manage to counter 2 more artifacts he plays. So, all he can do is beat me with his 3 welders… LAME! When he finally manages to resolve his artifacts, I start to get trapped due to his Tangle Wire and Smokestack. I cast Ingot Chewer targeting his Smokestack and he doesn’t put Sphere of resistance in response with Goblin Welder. Chewer resolves I pass turn and then he tries to rectify the play. I say “Dude, no”. Then on his upkeep he forgets to remove a counter from Tangle Wire and to tap anything. He draws a card and plays Mox Emerald. Then I call the judge because everything that happened in few secs there. I was hoping the judge would call that as a game loss due to him having extra information from the draw, being able to change what he tapped out of Tangle Wire. It was probably my only chance of winning there but the judge just went back few steps and he actually changed what he tapped with Tangle Wire. I call the judge again telling him that that wasn’t what he initially tapped after I told him that he missed his upkeep phase. The judge was again very permissive and he just got a warning. Anyways, I found Tinker out of nowhere and plays it for Sphinx of the Steel Wind. They call “Time’s up” and we ain’t given extra time for what happened before, so my Sphinx if missing a turn to just finish the game. LAME!

1-1 | 5 points | 4 wins 5 losses

Round 5: Michael Twoun with Aggro MUD.

On game 1 I have 2 Ingot Chewer in hand and 2 fetchlands. Open with first turn fetchland + Mox and he goes with Workshop + Mox + Golem. No problem! I go fetchland again, then crack for Volcanic and cast Chewer to his Golem. He’s so surprised of my main deck Chewer that he asks the judge if I’m really playing those maindeck. The judge actually performs a deckcheck on me and he finds out I’m right. He gives Michael a warning (only?) we keep going. No extra time given neither, even after being deckcheck! I manage to resolve my other Ingot Chewer kill a Karn, Silver Golem and my Chewer kills him.

Before starting game 2, I know I need to slow down a bit because there’s not a lot of time left. But, I can’t compete at all when he opens with first turn Golem again! I Force of Will his Golem, then I play Island, Mox Emerald and Sensei’s Divining Top. He plays a second Golem, I look with Top and there’s nothing worth in there. I play my second land with Mana Drain and Gifts Ungiven in hand. He plays nothing else in the game and swings me 4 times with the Golem for the Win. The last time he attacked we were already on the extra turns

1-1 | 6 points | 5 wins 6 losses

After round 5 I lost my interest on keep playing due to judges and my deck being unable to finish games fast.

I took some pictures of the vintage tournament. Here there’s the slideshow:

After the Vintage tournament there was still lot to do! I needed to get some cards re-signed and altered and I had to close the deal with Angelo for the Yawgmoth’s Will. We sit down with Menor and Angelo in a table and meanwhile I start a “Play Vintage with ante” event. I get only one victim whose promo Umezawa’s Jitte ended up in my binder Some pics of the games with ante:

So, I finally close the deal with Angelo. And get my brand new Yawgmoth’s Will altered by Ron Spencer and Terese Nielsen.

Now some pimp we had around with Angelo

This “Will” will have a new owner pretty soon, right Miguel?

This Gorilla was once mine, but was included in the trade for the Yawgmoth’s Will.

I also have one of those Islands, but mine is double signed

My Islands! I got the altered one from Antonio, and then I got them re-signed ^^

Best Island EVER! Property of Comeback.

Now that I mention Francesco, aka Comeback, when he showed me his Ancestral Recall altered by Mark Poole, I felt the need to rush back to see Mr. Mark Poole and get my cards altered the same way! I didn’t have much time left as we were soon heading back home. 20€ were needed to convince a friendly guy in the queue to accept my Library + Ancestral. I also gave him 50€ extra (just in case) to give to Mr. Poole to get my alterations done. This is the result!

In the end the 50€ weren’t needed as he made it with markers instead of paint (as he originally did with Francesco’s Ancestral). I have to admit, it’s the best alteration idea I’ve seen on any Ancestral or Library of Alexandria. There’s LOTS of Ancestrals altered after GP Madrid, but like this, there’s only 2: Francesco’s and mine.

So, it’s about time to finish this EPIC report of this EPIC weekend in Madrid. I’m not gonna end it with the typical PROS and CONS because I’m so freaking satisfied with everything that I’ve done. Of course I could have done better in the tournaments, but in the end, Magic is just a game folks!

Part I of the GP Madrid Epic Report can be found here.
Part II of the GP Madrid Epic Report can be found here.

The lists from the Top8 players from the GP Madrid were known for quite a while already. Buf if you missed them, you can now find them here as well.

Can’t stop laughing at Ruben’s T-shirt! He’s wearing it the other way around!

By the way, I’ll hopefully have the 3rd part of the report finished later today or tomorrow morning. So stay tuned!

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Rubén González Parrado (Countertop Progenitus)
Main Deck: 60 cards
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
3 Windswept Heath
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
3 Rhox War Monk
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Trygon Predator
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterbalance
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Natural Order
3 Ponder
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sideboard
3 Dispel
3 Firespout
2 Krosan Grip
2 Pithing Needle
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Volcanic Island

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Lluis Restoy (ProBant)
Main Deck: 60 cards
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Savannah
4 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
4 Windswept Heath
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Loaming Shaman
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rafiq of the Many
3 Rhox War Monk
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Bant Charm
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Natural Order
2 Ponder
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
1 Empyrial Archangel
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Krosan Grip
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Relic of Progenitus

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Andreas Muller (Reanimator)
Main Deck: 60 cards
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrial Archangel
2 Inkwell Leviathan
2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
1 Dark Ritual
4 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Force of Will
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Reanimate
1 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
1 Animate Dead
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Misdirection
2 Perish
1 Show and Tell
3 Spell Pierce
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Wipe Away
1 Woodfall Primus

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Alejandro Delgado (Zoo)
Main Deck: 60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Taiga
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Fireblast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
2 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Krosan Grip
3 Pyroblast
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Volcanic Fallout

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Tomoharu Saito (ANT – Ad Nauseam/Tendrils of Agony)
Main Deck: 60 cards
2 City of Traitors
3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
2 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
3 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
3 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mystical Tutor
2 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Confidant
1 Echoing Truth
1 Extirpate
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Reverent Silence
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Thoughtseize

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Richard Bland (Zoo)
Main Deck: 60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Taiga
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
1 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Krosan Grip
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Pyroblast
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Umezawa’s Jitte

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David Do Anh (ANT – Ad Nausum/Tendrils of Agony)
Main Deck: 61 cards
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
2 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
3 Duress
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mystical Tutor
3 Orim’s Chant
3 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Wipe Away

Sideboard
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Dark Confidant
1 Duress
1 Extirpate
2 Pact of Negation
2 Reverent Silence
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Thoughtseize

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Sven Dijt (Zoo)
Main Deck: 60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Plateau
2 Savannah
2 Taiga
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Kird Ape
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
3 Swords to Plowshares

Sideboard
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Krosan Grip
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Wasteland

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I was going to post this card within the third chapter of The GP Madrid epic report! (Part I + Part II) but I believe this deserves its own post.

I’m very, very, very proud to show you my ultimate acquisition (thanks to Angelo) at the Grand Prix Madrid 2010: A Yawgmoth’s Will altered by Ron Spencer & Terese Nielsen.

Terese Nielsen drew the C3PO and Ron Spencer did the remaining. C3PO is actually painted with Gold Leaf which the scanner can’t really get the shine of it.

This is my second alteration featuring both of them. The previous one was the one I got from eBay: Willfull Fiction.

Next step? Getting a playset of Force of Will altered by them!

Chapter 2: The assault

It’s finally Saturday and the biggest GP of the history of MtG is just about to begin. Once there, we see huge queues to register again. Luckily for us we don’t need to queue anymore so we move inside and wait, and wait, and wait, and w…

When 2220 people show up in a tournament, lots of things can happen:

• The room of the event isn’t big enough.
• There’s not enough chairs.
• There’s not enough promotional Jittes.
• The DCI reporter can’t handle more than 1000 players per tournament.
• There’s not enough waiters at the cafeteria.
• There’s lots of people who registered that weren’t on the lists once started.
• There’s lots of people with byes that were missing those, so they had to complain.
• Moving 2220 people isn’t the same than moving 1000.
• Etc…

Some of the problems were solved quite fast, some other were almost impossible to fix. Anyways,  let me introduce you my deck before I move on with the rounds report.

As you might have read in the blog before, I had very clear that I was going to play ANT with a transformer sideboard, ala french style.

TP ANT v5.0 by Jordi Amat

Main deck: (60)

4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Brainstorm
4 Duress
4 Orim’s Chant
3 Mystical Tutor
3 Chrome Mox
3 Cabal Ritual
3 Infernal Tutor
2 Ad Nauseam
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Wipe Away

3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
1 Scrubland

Sideboard: (15)

4 Tombstalker
4 Dark Confidant
3 Serenity
2 Angel’s Grace
1 Echoing Truth
1 Sadistic Sacrament

The maindeck choices are very standard. I’ve always believed that running 2 Tendrils of Agony main deck is necessary. It allows you to have a plan B against control decks and you can also use it to gain some time and life against aggro decks.

The sideboard is what might surprise you. The 4 Tombstalkers are there as a personal bet to beat a CounterTop based metagame. My predictions proved to be wrong, as it was lot more aggro than CB based, so in the end my Tombstalkers didn’t see much play.

Round 1 is about to begin but before, some speeches from the head judges staff featuring our new spanish level 4 judge Carlos Ho.

Carlos Ho before he actually gets the official Head Judge shirt.

I’m placed in the blue tournament and this is how it went:

Round 1: Pablo Capdevila (ESP) with Zoo/Burn

First game is kind of a short, as I manage to cast Ad Nauseam turn 2 being at 17 life. Nauseam brings stuff enough to end the game. Luckily, I lost the dice roll and I managed to see Taiga + Kird Ape followed by a Savannah, so I knew exactly how to side.

• In: +2 Angel’s Grace + 1 Echoing Truth
• Out: -1 Ad Nauseam  -2 Duress

The second game is a total different story. My hand has full of accelerators and a Tendrils of Agony. He has a strong hand with land + Wild Nacatl, followed by land + double Kird Ape. I can’t find any tutor to go off, and my following draws are Ill-Gotten Gains and Wipe Away.

I’m down to 11 lives and if I pass turn, he’ll attack for 7 and will probably cast a bolt or two. Can’t really pass turn, since either I die before being able to play my own turn, or either I die after casting Ill-Gotten Gains.

So, I start counting and all I can get is 9 storm. I count again, 9 storm again. I count again, 9 storm again. My opponent is getting nervous and I ask him a bit of patience since it’s either I win the game or I lose it after passing turn.

Finally I found out how to get 10 storm. I play my double Lion’s Eye Diamond, I play Lotus Petal + Dark Ritual. I also cast Chrome Mox but I imprint nothing. Then I cast Ill-Gotten Gains and in response break the 2 LEDS for UUUBBB. I bring back to my hand, Wipe Away + Dark Ritual + Tendrils of Agony. With UUU I cast Wipe Away on Chrome Mox, recast Chrome Mox imprinting nothing again, then Dark Ritual and Tendrils of Agony for a total of 10 storm.

2-0 | 3 points | Total: 2 wins – 0 losses – 0 ties

Round 2: Sergio Agudo (ESP) with Zoo/Burn

I lose the dice roll again, and he starts by fetching a Savannah to play Wild Nacatl. I follow with Duress and take a Chain Lighting as all the remaining were creatures and a Path to Exile.

When I’m at 6 life left, I’m forced to cast a 8 storm Tendrils (leaving him at 2) to gain some time and not die by passing the turn. I can’t find any tutor after that turn and his creatures end up killing me.

• In: +2 Angel’s Grace + 1 Echoing Truth
• Out: -1 Ad Nauseam  -2 Duress

The second game I first turn kill him with a Dark Ritual + Dark Ritual + Ad Nauseam. Nothing you’ve never seen before.

The final game he opens with fetchland and passes turn. I follow with land and pass turn to cast Orim’s Chant in his following upkeep. I’m just missing a Dark Ritual to be able to cast Ad Nauseam. He plays land and pass turn  (obv). I draw another Orim’s chant, so, i play land again and pass turn to cast the chant again. I’m just missing 1 mana now, since I have 2 lands, Dark Ritual and Ad Nauseam in my hand. One Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual or another land is just what it takes to go off! He answers my chant with Lighting Helix and passes turn again. I draw Wipe Away, so I’m forced to pass turn and get owned badly as he casts Gaddock Teeg AND Ethersworn Canonist.

My next draw? A Lotus Petal. I keep playing waiting for a miracle, but he’s creeps end up beating me down to 0.

1-2 | 3 points | Total: 3 wins – 2 losses – 0 ties

Round 3: Joao Souza (BRA) with Red Deck Wins

Probably the fastest round of the whole tournament, excepting those who didn’t play due to a match loss or something similar.

Game 1 I have a hand I do love to play: Lotus Petal +Lotus Petal + Brainstorm + Dark Ritual + Mystical Tutor + Ponder + Duress.

My play was: Lotus Petal + Brainstorm. Brainstorm draws what it needs to go off: Dark Ritual, Ad Nauseam and a fetchland! Can you ask for better cards? No. I follow with the other Lotus Petal + Duress, followed by Fetchland + double Dark Ritual + Ad Nauseam winning without much difficulties.

• In: +2 Angel’s Grace + 1 Echoing Truth
• Out: -1 Ad Nauseam  -2 Duress

Game 2, he plays mountain and pass turn. I first turn kill him again with double Lotus Petal, double Lion’s Eye Diamond and Infernal Tutor. Tutor fetches for Ill-Gotten Gains, replay the 2 LEDs and Tutor for Tendrils of Agony. Exactly 10 storm.

2-0 | 6 points | Total: 5 wins – 2 losses – 0 ties

Round 4: Sergio Santos (ESP) with White Weenie

I lose the dice roll, AGAIN and he opens with Plains + Mother of Runes. I look at my hand and think this game ain’t gonna last long. Well, I was wrong

I open with fetchland for Island + Ponder. I get the Nauseam I needed to go off next turn. So I pass. He plays another Plains and casts OMGETHERSWORN CANONIST!

Nerf rogue decks playing main deck canonists!

Don’t panic, I have Mystical Tutor and Wipe Away main deck, so he can’t protect the canonist with his Mother of runes.

A turn later, I cast Wipe Away on his eot and on my turn and at 14 lives I cast Lotus Petal + Dark Ritual + Dark Ritual + WAIT! -He says! He responds to my second Dark Ritual with a OMGMAINDECKSILENCE! It’s ok, I tap my 2 other lands and in response to his Silence I cast Ad Nauseam. You know what? He answers my Nauseam with OMGMAINDECKORIM’SCHANT!

I resolve Ad Nauseam and get few cards to fill my hand up to 7. You wanna know how I die in that game? Soltary Priest equipped with Umezawa’s Jitte! Pur3 pwn4g3!

• In: +4 Tombstalker +4 Dark Confidant + 1 Angel’s Grace + 1 Echoing Truth
• Out: -2 Ad Nauseam -3 Infernal Tutor -4 Lion’s Eye Diamond -1 Ill-Gotten Gains

I can’t lose this round! I can’t! I keep repeating myself those words when I start drawing my hand: 2 fetchlands + Duress + Dark Confidant + Tombstalker + Ponder and Sensei’s Divining Top. After watching my hand I thought: He’s not gonna last long in this game! So I open with Polluted for Swamp and cast Duress to see what he’s up to. GUESS WHAT? He has 3 Path to Exile!

C’mon… I lost to a guy who plays Silence, Orim’s Chant, Canonists main deck featuring Soltary Priests. And game 2 he doesn’t side out his Path to Exile. That’s Magic!

0-2 | 6 points | Total: 5 wins – 4 losses – 0 ties

I didn’t start that well… so let’s have a break and enjoy some of the pictures from the people, the place and the event on Saturday.

The goodie bag of foil japanese for the day:

Let’s go back to the rounds!

Round 5: Daniel Campos (ESP) with Rock

I don’t have many notes from this round. All I can see from my notes is that I win game one out of a Nauseam when being at 20 lives.

• In: +2 Angel’s Grace + 1 Echoing Truth
• Out: -1 Ad Nauseam  -2 Duress

I lose game 2 against Kitchen Finks and Eternal Witness. And game 3 I first turn kill him with double LED and Infernal Tutor.

2-1 | 9 points | Total: 7 wins – 5 losses – 0 ties

Round 6: José Gavaldà (ESP) with Enchantress

Yet another first turn kill on game 1! I promise you guys, I’ve never done that many 1st turn kills in a tournament before. Luckily, I lost the dice roll AGAIN and he played first turn Wild Growth

• In: +3 Serenity + 1 Echoing Truth
• Out: -1 Cabal Ritual -1 Infernal Tutor – 1 Lion’s Eye Diamond -1 Mystical Tutor

Game 2 doesn’t begin very well as he develops his game quite nice and fast. A turn 4 serenity on my side destroys 11 enchantments (including 2 Runed Halo). I kill him that same turn.

2-0 | 12 points | Total: 9 wins – 5 losses – 0 ties

Round 7: Ben Miller (CAN) with Burn

He starts with Mountain+ Mogg Fanatic and my hand, that had plenty of mana + 1 Ponder fails to get anything worth out of Ponder. He attacks and casts double Chain Lighting. I’m down to 13. My chances of winning through Ad Nauseam are getting slim. It’s either I draw it now or I’ll have to go via double LED + Infernal Tutor. Problem? I have no LED, nor the Infernal Tutor. I draw another Ponder. There’s chances! Ponder brings a Mystical Tutor which is good enough but I’ll have to pass turn. I never got my turn back

• In: +2 Angel’s Grace
• Out: -1 Ad Nauseam -1 Cabal Ritual

Game 2 I cast a first turn Duress, taking his Pyrostatic Pillar out. His hand isn’t very impressive as he has 4 lands. I can combo him with Ad Nauseam without many troubles.

My game 3 hand has Angel’s Grace + 2 Dark Ritual + Ad Nauseam. I have only one land, so I chose to cast Ponder first. I get the white producer I needed to draw the whole deck on game 2 and win the match.

2-1 | 15 points | Total: 11 wins – 6 losses – 0 ties

Round 8: Germánico Huecas (ESP) with Dream Halls

I just need 2 more wins to pass to day 2. I’m feeling confident  with my deck and my game play. I’ve lost 2 rounds to Gaddock and Canonists. I believe I can make it!

Game 1 I cast Duress and see what he’s up to: He has Show & Tell, Progenitus, Ancient Tomb, Lotus Petal, Force of Will, Ponder and Thoughseize. I take his Force of Will and wait to see how greedy my opponent is. Exactly! He casts 1st turn Show and Tell for Progenitus. His only problem was that the 10/10 never got to attack me as I had turn 2 Ad Nauseam. If only he would have cast his thoughseize…

• In: +4 Dark Confidant + 1 Sadistic Sacrament +2 Angel’s Grace
• Out: -3 Infernal Tutor -4 Lion’s Eye Diamond

Game 2 I get pwned by his first turn Progenitus (AGAIN?) as my hand was slower than I wished.

• In: +3 Infernal Tutor +4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
• Out: -4 Dark Confidant -1 Sadistic Sacrament -2 Angel’s Grace

I return to my initial configuration as I’m starting now and need to combo out. My opponent mulligans to 5. So I open with Swamp and Duress, and he stops it with Force of Will, pitching Spell Pierce. OMG, he’s down 3 to 3 cards!

Well, he draws and guess what? Ancient Tomb + Lotus Petal + Show & Tell to place Progenitus on the board!!!!!!!!!!111111oeneneneneleven

Don’t panic, I still have a couple of turns to sculpt my hand and try to go off. I also have an Orim’s Chant that will gain me a turn. So, I draw, cast Ponder and pass turn. I can’t pay the kicker yet, so he draws and swings for 10. On my turn, I can’t do much, as I need the 2 lands to play the chant with kicker. So I pass turn, I cast the Chant and he draws & passes turn. I draw what I needed! My 2nd Lion’s Eye Diamond! So there we go to the final round! WELL WAIT! I cast 2 LED’s Infernal Tutor and in response I sac the LEDS and he FORCE OF WILLs my Infernal Tutor!!!!!!!! NERF YOUR LUCK BROTHER! Progenitus kills me, again.

1-2 | 15 points | Total: 12 wins – 8 losses – 0 ties and I drop.

All in all, my performance didn’t go quite as I expected. I would have loved to play against more tier 1 decks, but I found myself playing against few rogue decks that did some heavy damage to my final score. But that’s Magic folks!

Some of us (“the losers” xD) decided to move back to the hotel area with 2 goals in our minds:

1. We wanted to eat some dinner.
2. We wanted to watch F.C. Barcelona game.

Achieving the first one wasn’t hard. Worst was finding a place to watch the soccer game in Madrid. (In Barcelona is actually very hard to find a public place to watch Real Madrid games). We succeeded and just next to the hotel we had dinner in a bar while watching the 1st half of the game, and then we moved on to another one, where some other were waiting for us, to have some drinks.

And then the fun began!

To summ up the day:

• Entrance to GP Madrid – 18€
• A pork & cheese sandwich – 3€
• A Tanqueray + Sprite – 4.5€
• Singing the F.C. Barcelona anthem in a bar in Madrid with lots of supporters from Real Madrid  – PRICELESS!

To be continued…

You can now read the third part of the report:

The GP Madrid epic report! Part III

2010′s Grand Prix Madrid has been an EPIC and LEGENDARY weekend. It isn’t easy to explain everything that happened this past days. There’s too many stories, too many great moments, too many friendly moments, too many people!!!!

I’m going to divide this report in three chapters. Each chapter represents one day: Friday, Saturday and Sunday (How smart!). So, before we begin with the first chapter, let’s get the picture of it:

Chapter I: You sir need forces!

My plain takes off at 11:40 from BCN’s new airport terminal. On the way to the airport I was listening the latest album from MIA to start getting in the mood. I unexpectedly meet many of my eternal mates there (including Ruben González, who managed to top8 at the GP as you will read in chapter 3). They were taking a plain a bit earlier tho, so I moved to my boarding gate and kept listening my music.

Once in Madrid, David Menor (a crazy taxi driver from Madrid and one of the best spanish dealers we have), came pick me up with his mercedes SLK. Dude, that was fast! He took me to his place and he packed his stuff before we went to a local “burger” (they call restaurants like that in Madrid) and had a 10€ menu: Raviolis with Pesto for starters followed by “Huevos fritos con chistorra y patatas” (go google translate it!).

That’s the kind of meal you do expect when you travel abroad. If you go to Italy, you want to eat good pizzas. If you go to germany, you want to eat good sausages. And if you go to Madrid you want to eat many things, including the “not-so-greasy-and-almost-cholesterol-free” eggs with chistorra and french fries. I forgot to take pics of it! Anyways…

After lunch we moved to my hotel, where I checked in and left my bag, and then we headed to the GP location. It wasn’t far.

Once there, we started greeting many well known friends, some other less-known came greet me, and we finally placed ourselves at the registration queue. It was around 17:30 when we arrived and it was crowded already. Four hours later, it was as crowded and the queue was the same or even longer. Before leaving, we were told that there was around 1600 pre-registered players, and that they got around 1500-1600 chairs only.

If lunch wasn’t enough energies to play properly during the GP, what comes next will actually make it. I can promise!

At 21:00 my friend Angel (aka Angelo) calls; he’s waiting for me downstairs at the hotel hall. I properly dressed for the occasion with a not-so-formal jacket + shirt + tie. Dressed enough for what was coming next.

We ask the taxi driver to take us to Hotel Hesperia, which he didn’t know… Once there, and while waiting for David, we moved to their lounge and asked the barman for a couple of cocktails. I went for a G’Vine + Sprite with natural grapes and Angelo tasted a London Gin with Tonic.

Minutes after, David shows up and asks for a Belvedere Vodka with raspberry juice that seemed quite tasty, actually.

David and Angel enjoying their drinks.

So, after the drinks we moved next door. Our destination was the 2 star Michelin graded restaurant Sant Celoni from Santi Santamaria. The place was nice, chic and really classy. Initially we were supposed to be four for dinner, but our friend Miguel (aka Juzam2) finally couldn’t make it.

We decided to go for the Menú Gran Gastronómico. I got real shocked with the outfit from the sommelier. He was walking around with a skirt-like thingie and with a HUGE GOLD necklace that was holding a big golden cloister. He looked more like Puff Daddy than a wine experte, I gotta say! Actually, we laughed when I suggested he looked like a mix between Gravesen (from R.Madrid) and John Malkovich.

What would you like to drink for starters? – He asked.

Catalan Cava - I answered.

There’s nothing better than drinking a good catalan cava. Well, there is: Drinking a good catalan cava in Madrid! Ok, drinking champagne beats both!

I took some pictures of the dinner, so I’ll just place here a slideshow for those of you who’d like to watch:

Food was excellent, seriously. We paid a lot for the whole meal (including the drinks and stuff), but it was definitely worth it. It’s a thing you should do once in a while, or present somebody you care or love with it.

We started around 22:00 and exited the restaurant around 1:00. It was probably one of the best eating experience I’ve had lately. 1000% recommended to any of you guys!

So, after the dinner we had the thought of going out and drink some cocktails at the new Sergi Arola’s lounge/bar. They supposedly have the best cocktails in Madrid… BUT! (there’s always a BUT), I had to be fresh and ready for the Grand Prix, so I decided to skip the fun and we headed back to the hotel.

If you ever drive with David, don’t expect to have a calmed ride! He decided that the best way to return was going through some creepy neighborhood that was filled with transsexuals, bitches and weirdos. Best moment was, when David decided to stop next to a guy/girl über tanned that looked like a boxing fighter just to piss us off and then a police car came  with the bells and lights on. Hahahaha, they scared the hell out of us!!!!! Anyways, in the end, we managed to scape from Moria land, and no creatures of the devil assaulted our car.

Minutes after I close the door from the hotel, Sergi and Toni knock the door. They were finally there, after a 5-6 hour road trip from Cabrera to Madrid. They went straight to bed because they were tired, and I still had some sleeve’ing up to do.

At 2:30 I finally go to bed.

To be continued…

You can now read the second and third parts of the report:

The GP Madrid epic report! Part II

The GP Madrid epic report! Part III

I’m back home from Madrid. WHAT A WEEKEND! We’ve had one of the greatest mtg parties of all times. Insane amount of people, including the new World Record of attendance in the history of mtg (2220 players); excellent organization, who solved quite well all the problems generated by having 2K+ players; tournaments ran very smooth all weekend; queues for Mark Poole were long but not endless, etc…

I got some really cool PIMP stuff to show you guys, lots of alterations (including another card altered by Terese Nielsen and Ron Spencer together!), some foil japanese and few other stuff.

I will write a more elaborated post tomorrow or the day after. I just wanted to let you know that I survived! Let me finish this post with a Michael Jackson classic!

The February tournament of the Third Catalan Legacy League (LCL3) was held in Ripollet (town near Barcelona) with a turnout of 92 players. As usual, Enric Luzán has released the videos of the Top8 games. So far there’s the quarterfinals and semifinals. The videos from the final will come up shortly. You’ll find the decks from the top8 after the videos.

Top 8 LCL3 Febrer – Enric Luzán vs. Rubén Pérez G1

Top 8 LCL3 Febrer – Enric Luzán vs. Rubén Pérez G2

Top 4 LCL3 Febrer – Daniel Rodríguez vs. Francisco Fernández G1

Top 4 LCL3 Febrer – Daniel Rodríguez vs. Francisco Fernández G2

Videos from the final will be posted as soon as they are released.

Top8:

• Daniel Rodríguez (Elfeir) (Dark Depths) – Adrià Bosch (Bant Treshold)
  
• Francisco Fernández (U Merfolks) – David Miñarro (MinasS) (Supreme Blue)
  
• David Gómez (Inexistente) (Survival RGB) – Adrián Cañadas (Renimator)
• Rubén Pérez (Robinho) (UB Faeires) – Enric Luzán (Enric) (SurviBant)

Top 4:

• Daniel Rodríguez (Elfeir) (Dark Depths) – Francisco Fernández (U Merfolks)
• Enric Luzán (Enric) (SurviBant) – David Gómez (Inexistente) (Survival RGB)

Final:

• Enric Luzán (Enric) (SurviBant) – Francisco Fernández (U Merfolks)

Decklists: (I just copy/pasted them, sorry if there’s cards in spanish)

ENRIC LUZAN 19PTS
4x noble hierarch
4x brainstorm
4x force of will
4x tarmogoyf
3x rhox war monk
2x qasali pridemage
4x survival of the fittest
1x squee,goblin nabob
3x ponder
4x daze
1x kitchen finks
1x eternal witness
1x loyal retainers
1x iona,shield of emeria
4x sword to plowshares
4x misty rainforest
3x windswepth health
1x flooded strand
3x tropical island
2x taiga
2x savannah
1x tundra
1x forest
1x island
1x plain

SB

3x natural order
1x progenitus
3x firespout
1x llawan,cephalid empress
1x etherswon canonist
2x gaddock teeg
2x enlightened tutor
1x wheel of sun and moon
1x loaming shaman

ADRIA BOSCH 18 PTS

4x mago dela manada qasali
4x tarmogoyf
4x mangosta agil
4x force of will
4x daze
4x brainstorm
4x ponder
4x reprimir
4x trampa de hechizos
2x spell pierce
4x espadas en guadaña
4x erial
4x tropical island
3x polluted delta
3x flooded strand
1x island
3x tundra

SB

3x tormod’s crypt
2x depredador trygon
2x rafaga de agua
2x abrazo krosano
2x aguja medular
3x kitchen finks
1x rhox war monk

FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ 17 PTS

13x isla
3x mutavault
4x erial
4x ofuscar
2x reliquia de progenitus
4x perito branquia plateada
4x frasco de eter
3x triton soberano
4x merrow reejerey
4x force of will
2x jitte de umezawa
4x atrapamaldiciones
3x parada
4x señor de la atlantida
2x trillador de la estela

SB

2x la tentacion del legado
2x threds of disloyalty
3x espinas de amatista
1x tormod’s crypt
1x jitte de umezawa
2x reliquia de progenitus
1x verdad reflejada
1x rafaga de agua
2x rafaga elemental azul

DAVID GOMEZ 17 PTS

4x verdant catacombs
2x taiga
2x bayou
1x badlands
6x forest
2x swamp
1x mountain
4x veteran explorer
2x birds of paradise
1x scryb ranger
1x stingscourger
2x tarmogoyf
1x sakura-tribe elder
1x squee,goblin nabob
1x eternal witness
1x big game hunter
3x kitchen finks
1x fleshbag marauder
1x viridian zealot
1x masticore
1x anger
1x spike weaver
2x bloodbraid elf
1x genesis
1x shriekmaw
2x greater gargadon
1x faerie macabre
1x chameleon colossus
4x survival of the fittest
4x aether vial
3x maelstrom pulse
1x sword of light and shadow

SB

1x magus of the moon
3x krosan grip
3x engineered plague
3x tormod’s crypt
1x iona,shield of emeria
1x doomed necromancer
2x reanimate
1x life/death

ADRIAN CAÑADAS 16 PTS

4x underground sea
4x polluted delta
4x verdant catacombs
2x swamp
2x island
2x bayou
4x force of will
4x daze
4x brainstorm
4x entomb
4x mystical tutor
4x exhume
3x reanimate
1x show and tell
3x dark ritual
1x wipe away
2x iona,shield of emeria
1x blazing archon
1x empyrial archangel
1x inkwell leviathan
1x sphynx of the steel wind
4x careful study

SB

2x echoing truth
3x perish
3x duress
3x infest
3x krosan grip
1x hellkite overlord

DAViD MIÑARRO 16 PTS

4x force of will
4x brainstorm
2x ponder
4x sensei’s divining top
4x counterbalance
4x swords to plowshares
3x firespout
4x rhox war monk
4x tarmogoyf
2x trygon predator
4x daze
1x path to exile
4x misty rainforest
2x island
1x forest
1x plain
3x tropical island
3x tundra
2x volcanic island
4x flooded strand

SB

2x tormod’s crypt
2x llawan,cephalid empress
1x treads of disloyalty
2x pithing needle
2x krosan grip
2x gaddock teeg
2x relic of progenitus
2x dueling grounds

DANIEL RODRIGUEZ 16 PTS

4x dark confidant
4x tarmogoyf
3x vampire hexmage
3x gatekeeper of malakir
4x hymn to tourach
4x thoughtseize
4x smallpox
3x living wish
3x sensei’s divining top
2x grim discovery
2x smother
3x dark depths
3x wasteland
4x verdant catacombs
2x bloodstained mire
4x bayou
4x urborg,tomb of yawgmot
3x swamp
1x forest

SB

1x tombstalker
1x vampire hexmage
1x gatekeeper of malakir
2x extirpate
2x perish
3x infest
4x krosan grip
1x ()

RUBEN PEREZ 16 PTS

1x riptide laboratory
3x mutavault
4x polluted delta
4 underground sea
3x wasteland
3x island
1x swamp
2x flooded strand
4x spellstutter sprite
3x vendilion clique
4x dark confidant
4x force of will
4x brainstorm
2x umezawa’s jitte
4x bitterblossom
4x daze
3x spell snare
3x smother
2x ghastly demise
2x sensei’s divining top

SB
3x spell pierce
3x engineered plague
3x hydroblast
4x thoughtseize
2x relc of progenitus

Grand Prix Madrid is coming soon, very soon! At this point, no one  doubts about this tournament being the most important event on eternal this year.

Europe has a huge tradition of playing Vintage and Legacy. Tournaments like the Eurovino, Bazaar of Moxen, UAL Power9 Series, DDAY, etc… had proven to be successful at gathering eternal players from all around the continent. Those tournaments had turnouts between 100 and 400 players. Some (standard) GPs hardly get better turnouts than some of the previously mentioned tournaments. I believe, GP Madrid is going to set a new participation record on any eternal tournament ever done.

GP Madrid is an excellent movement by WotC. They knew in advance than placing a Legacy GP in Spain would be a total blast. They made the small mistake of placing it in Madrid instead of Barcelona, but we can forgive them about that. Spain is a well connected with the rest of the world. The east american coast is just 6-7h by plain from Madrid. Biggest cities in Europe are about 2h away as well.  All in all, it seems to me that WotC is experimenting the impact of an eternal format in the professional scene. They couldn’t have chosen a better moment, a better place.

Spanish players are motivated and excited about the GP. The eternal communities in Spain are all moving to Madrid to play this event. There’s no reason to not show up there unless you can’t really make it. Traveling to and sleeping in Madrid isn’t expensive at all. You can sleep 2 nights and go by plain there for less than 100€ from almost any point of the country.

Personally, I’m also very excited about this event. I know I haven’t playtested a lot, but I feel confident about my 75 card choice. I’ve played combo for years already, and no matter what pro is sitting in front of me, that I’ll go for the win. I trust in myself and in my deck, as it is probably one of the most competitive decks at the moment.

Of course, to win a Grand Prix you need more than a deck. You need to stay calmed and focused, you need to play well during many rounds, you can’t make lots of mistakes/misplays, and of course, you need a bit of luck.

I always liked how Mike Flores uses this illustration to express a state of mind of a winner player:

Believe in yourself, believe in your luck & believe your deck.

While being totally sure what and how to play in Legacy, something different happens to me with Vintage. If my performance at the GP aren’t as I expected, there’s a very interesting Vintage tournament I’d like to play on Sunday.

http://www.team-pataners.com/gp-madrid-vintage-side-event-info/

I’m not certain about what decks are the decks to beat in Vintage at the moment. I love playing control, but decks like Tezzeret start to lose power against some other archetypes such as Noble Fish and the Golem Aggro Staxx.

Shall I…

… play Confidants?

… play Spell Snare?

… play Spell Pierce?

… play DSC, Sphinx or Leviathan?

… play red or green for SB?

… play none, 1 or 2 Tezzerets MD?

… play Misdirection?

And these are just a few of the questions I get while building a control deck. If I start thinking of building a combo deck, then I’d get even more.

People say that Spell Pierce are good. People say that Tarmogoyfs are good. People say, people say.

I can’t say what’s the right thing to play because I haven’t played enough lately. I would have loved to play every Vintage tournament held lately, but my work has made it impossible for me to attend to most of them. Anyways, no matter what 75 cards I sleeve (if I play that Vintage side event), I’m sure it’s not going to be good enough. Not good enough, because there’s no deck capable of not losing stupidly against Time Vault + Voltaic Key in the early game. Some times, you have an excellent hand with Force of Will, 2 lands, Mana Drain + some bussiness spells, and you get owned by first turn time vault + key with FoW backup from them. Ok, it’s a 2 card combo, and he got lucky… but dude, your hand was fucking awesome and you still lose without being able to play a fucking turn.

Two years ago, when Time Vault wasn’t working as it is right now, I was 100% sure of my deck being able to defeat ANY deck in the format. I was playing Gifts Tendrils and had great success with that deck. I knew what to play, how to play and when to play it. Now I’m a bit lost as the format is a bit random, luck depending and less skilled based. Of course skill counts, but when they Vault/Key you first turn, there’s nothing much you can do rather than Force of Will.

I hope we get some changes to the restricted/banned Vintage list in June. I hope they fix the problem, and I also hope they finally print some good business spells for the control players. All we do now is watch how all blue cards get restricted while awesome creatures and artifacts are printed collection after collection.

To end this post, I’d like to tell you guys that I’ll try to update the blog during this weekend with news about the GP. I probably will be broadcasting some games (you’ll find that at the top menu labels – “live TV“) live from there.

Stay tuned and wish me luck!

And no, it’s not a paradise island in Hawaii! Raphy from Paris (France) showed us in the SCG boards his awesome Island.

It’s a Guru Island that’s been sun color faded for a long time (probably a year or so), signed and altered by Terese Nielsen.

I love how Terese Nielsen altered it! It’s a very simple but well integrated drawing, that fits perfectly with the guru island theme.

The only thing I’m missing to Raphy’s Island, to make it a perfect 10, would be the missprint logo, like in this other one:

Sorry for the offtopic here but, today while searching for some images I managed to find this awesome Pentavus illustration ala M.C. Escher style, and couldn’t resist sharing it.

I’m a huge huge fan of M.C. Escher since my early days at the Architecture University. I’ve always reproduced his impossible illusions myself in order to find out the geometry of his art. Mixing Magic: The Gathering with M.C. Escher in one image really made my day!

Whoever did it, coz I haven’t found out yet, deserves my special mention for his/her excellent photoshop skills!

This is the original art from M.C. Escher’s “Reptiles” illustration:

I wonder why he deleted the book at the top right corner though…

When it comes to games such as MtG, Poker, Settlers, etc… where’s the edge between playing casual or doing it like a pro?

When you play a game, no matter which, you should always be able to distinguish the line between fun and competition. The real key to answer the question is finding the right balance of how much fun you have while playing competitive. How so?

Let me go a bit back in the time, and explain you something about my childhood first.

Back in 1993, I was a 13 year old boy with lot to learn and not much to lose. We had this math teacher, named Patiño, who challenged us every day by playing what he called “El Ruedo” (the Bullring). El Ruedo consisted in a very simple but efficient way to motivate the students. Everyday, Patiño would be asking questions and, if you would answer them correctly then you would move one desk forward closer to the teacher; if you would answer wrong then you would lose one position and move back to the end of the classroom.

We were part of a living ladder everyday, where best students would play at the top of it, while the worst ones would be sent back to the end. Being at the beginning had rewards while being at the end punishments (extra homework, etc…). I’m sure Patiño had his own statistics from his students: % of answers correct, % of answers wrong, number of seats gained, number of seats gone, etc…

For me, El Ruedo was motivating, self-challenging and, most important, fun. I loved being at the top tables, competing with the most brilliant students, while others were also trying to compete to get my seat. It was fun being there, but, was it only fun because of me, or was it also because you could see others go down in the ladder?

Ladder systems ain’t nothing new. Chess is using it, MtG is using, all sort of sports are using it, even teachers are using it. What’s behind ladders that makes them so interesting? Very simple, they are self-breaking.

Let’s move now to our game, Magic: The Gathering. When we start playing the game, we don’t even know about the existence of the DCI rankings. We play purely for fun and we don’t care much about losing, because you play with your friends (who have a similar level than yours) and they also lose often.

When you sign in your first tournament you are informed about the DCI. You fill in that paper and, from that point, you are now interested about rankings and your stats.

At the beginning you lose and lose points, and that isn’t fun at all. Then you wonder why you are doing that bad. You start reading magazines and copy/paste decks from them. You begin to feel the improvement, but that’s not enough to make you go up, because your winning % won’t be any bigger than 50%. Then you start reading articles from pro’s on the internet, you read tournament reports, you prepare your decks based on the metagame, etc… At that point you can start feeling the improvement, and your winning % will be over 50% for sure.

From that level to the one where you become a winning player there’s an abyss. What makes someone a competitive player just like any pro? Do pros enjoy the game and have fun just like when we were casual players?

There’s few things you should do and know about competitive players:

1. They play a lot. Experience is important, because it will make easier to you certain choices. It’s very simple how to react to a certain situation when you’ve experienced it in the past.
2. They read a lot. You think you read enough? Meh, you are wrong! They read more.
3. They are people with huge self-confidence. This is probably the most important thing when it comes to being competitive. You have to believe in yourself from game 1 of round 1, to game 5 of a Pro Tour final. If you ever doubt of your chances of beating a certain player just because he’s a pro, then your putting yourself in a losing-position from the very beginning of the match.
4. They never surrender. If there’s any slim chance of winning a match, no matter how small it is, they’ll go for it. If you need to topdeck a card to win a game you are otherwise losing, you have to believe in the chance of drawing it.
5. They act like pro’s. Being competitive means behaving competitive. It’s not the same talking like a kid than saying the right words at the right moment. It’s not the same to blame your opponent’s luck when he’s beaten you, than accepting the lose, shake hands and afterwards analyze your own mistakes.
6. Winning is fun, therefore pros have more fun than any other players. Losing ain’t specially nice or funny. The more you lose, the less fun you have. So, the other way around makes lot of sense as well: The more you win, the more fun you have!
7. When they start a tournament, no matter which one it is, they play to win it and they believe they can win it. If you attend any event, and you see a pro signing in, you shouldn’t be worried about him/her, you should be encourage to defeat him, because you know you are going to win the tournament.

These are few, but not all, facts that you should know about competitive players. To become one, you need to train your mind specially. First thing to do to become a winner is believing you are one, and thinking like one. Any thoughts of losing will always put you in a disadvantaged position. Losers ain’t losers just because of their bad luck, they are, because they don’t know how to become a winner.

First step to become a winner is to think like one. Change your mind, be positive and never doubt about yourself! These are few tips I could share with you and I hope it makes you guys better players in the near future.

I know this issue of the price of some Legacy staples has been discussed enough over The Source and other forums on the net. So, I’m not gonna give you my opinion here but instead I’ll show the latest vignette from Pro MTG Online, the ultimate self-aware Magic strategy web comic, that updates itself.

I just love what the Good Gamery guys can do!

Terese Nielsen is back for all of you Avatar fans! This time, she’s released an alteration on an Eternal Witness featuring NEYTIRI from Avatar.

Click on the image to go to the eBay auction!

Did you missed her last Avatar alteration on a Force of Will? Don’t worry, you can see it here!

JACO asked me if I could repost the video we recorded 2 years ago at GP Madrid. In the video, mr. Tedin draws JACO’s playmat, what I believe, is the best art he did in the whole weekend; a Drain-hearted Necropotence. I hope you guys enjoy the video again!

Once you reach a certain age, the concept of winning might be different than it was 10-15 years ago. I’m 100% sure I’m gonna win GP Madrid, in many different levels. Let’s have a look at what winning would be depending on your age.

When I was 16-19 year old, my “win” concept was:

• Reaching day 2 at the GP main event.
• Playing a metagame deck (rogue style)
• Get those white borders dual lands I’m missing to complete a certain deck.
• Get my junky commons signed by the artists attending.
• Eating my mum’s sandwhich, who made it with tones of love in order to wish me luck
• Saturday’s night party takes place at the hotel, with cheap vodka and a nameless “cola”. Your hangover is the only thing you will remember from that night.
• Travelling for 100€ including bus and hotel/hostel.

When I was 20-25 year old, my “win” concept was:

• Winning a GPT in order to start with some byes and increase the chances of making day 2 and fight for the money.
• Playing the best deck of the moment. You copy/paste from pro’s on the internet and no longer from ink-printed magazines.
• Get those FBB dual lands I’m missing to complete a certain deck.
• Get your playable rares and playmat signed by the artists attending. I would buy something from them to seem nicer.
• Finding a good Kebab/McDonnalds/Burger King nearby to eat.
• Saturday’s night party takes place at cheap bars and later at the wrong disco. The ugly girls at the disco is all you will remember from that night.
• Travelling with your friends by car, find a nice 2 star hotel and share 2 rooms.

When you are my age, soon 30, teh win concept is:

• Finding the Side Events board to see when the Vintage events are starting.
• Real men play combo, and you love it.
• Get those beta duals and foil jap fetches from your usual dealers.
• Queueing less than 3 hours and getting all your beta/foil japanese playable cards signed and altered. You also want the artists alter your playmat. Instead of buying their art like younger noobs do, you give them a 50€ bill straight away so you don’t have to worry about that piece of paper all day.
• Finding a Michelin graded restaurant in the area to enjoy a good meal. If you are doing well at the main event, who cares? You drop and go score a good meal.
• Saturday’s night party takes place at the most glamorous places. First a good cocktail in some chick lounge and then some champagne at the best club in town. You’ll remember hardly anything, but then your friends will find out you did crazy stuff! No hangover, indeed.
• Travelling by car/bus or cheap train ain’t an option. You want to be there fast and comfortable, and that’s why you go by plain or high-speed train. You want the hotel to be at least 3 stars and  no longer share beds.

No matter how old you are, remember:

There’s levels and levels among this “pimp” movement. Luckily for me, i’m not a big fan of white borders, aka Summer, aka Edgar. But, there’s other people like magic61983 who love the white sh*t.

The news now come from this italian collector named Morgan who recently showed us this Summer Edition Sol Ring altered by Mark Tedin with a Juzam Djinn on it.

This is real pimp sh*t we are talking about here! There’s LOTS of $$$$$$$$ in this Sol Ring, and i really mean LOOOOOTS.