Thomas Van der Paelt reports on GP Lille

 

 

 

I don't have much experience playing legacy so I had no idea what to play. To have a somewhat expected meta-game I looked at the last SCG and the magic-online results which showed that the most played decks would probably be Omni-Tell, Miracles Control and Delver variants. I expected RUG delver and Grixis delver with Young Pyromancer to be the most represented of the delver decks. Apart from that it's legacy so people will just play their pet decks and it's a GP which basically means you can face anyone and anything. I quickly ruled out Show and Tell since I had a bad experience with it in the past and I generally don't really like playing combo decks. I liked the idea of playing Counterbalance top, but I had to be a realist. I'm not the fastest player in the world. I wouldn't be able to navigate the Miracles deck in a suitable way in an acceptable time-frame.

 

So then there was one: the Insectile Aberration. I actually felt pretty good about playing a delver deck very soon. This was a very good omen since I usually twist and turn for ages and am always very doubtful about my deck choices. Playing delver would be good though. It felt very much like Splinter Twin in modern: which I enjoy a lot. This was not a combo-control deck, but an aggro-control deck, this felt close enough.

 

About three weeks before the GP Benjamin Descamps was kind enough to allow me access to his Magic Online account so I could test some legacy matches there. I quickly built stock lists of RUG, BUG and Grixis Delver and hopped in the queues. Things went great right from the start to be honest. I tested out all decks and after a week I was about 15-4 in matches. Granted this was mostly 2-man queues, but for a format I had very little experience in it felt great.

Now that I had decided Delver was the way to go and had the means to test it I had to choose a specific version. I asked our local legacy specialist for advice and Baptist Matthys very strongly recommended 4 colour delver as piloted to a top 2 finish in a recent tournament in Prague.

 

The list looked horrible. I mean … 3 goyfs, 1 random Snapcaster together with 3 DTT killing your own graveyard, a 1 of of Sylvan Library (I didn't even know what the card did) and then the manabase! Two of each land! This looked so clunky and awkward. I was hesitant to say the least. 

RUG delver just seemed so much cleaner. It had 4 of each and a very well defined game plan. This four colour deck … god knows what it was trying to do. It did have dig through time however ...

 

In the last 2 weeks leading up to the GP I tested one night with MCG and we organised a few testing sessions at Stijn van Goethem's house. I tested the different Delver decks and for some reason the BURG delver deck didn't feel clunky. Dig through time was the nuts. I had already addressed my concerns to Tist regarding the clunkyness of the deck and had wondered if sylvan library should be in the deck. During testing he would stand behind me and mock my concerns when I was resolving a dig through time into another dig through time or when I drew 8 cards of my sylvan library in the miracles matchup ... he did make his point.

 

The last day of testing was the day before the GP where I took a day off work and Christophe Gregoir and Stijn Van Goethem came over to test some more. Stijn came over but spent all night trying to fix my computer (we had briefly pondered using magic online to test out a BUGCounterbalance deck to win the mirror with Abrupt Decay) so I basically just jammed some games against Xof playing miracles after spending most of the afternoon trying to fix the beach umbrella on my patio. The deck was awesome. I had abrupt decay for the counterbalance. I had DTT late in the game and I had a bunch of efficient threats and answers. I think the fact that Christophe last minute audibled into his own (albeit slightly more controlling) version of BuRG that night is saying a lot ... I was happy with the deck I was gonna play. I was gonna have fun, be able to play magic most of my matches and feel like I had some control over what happens in most games.

 

This is the deck I Registered for the event.

 

 

 

It was only a 40 minute drive to the tournament center so I decided to drive there both days. On Saturday Sophie came with me so she could do some shopping while I played. This proved to be very important in my GP since she brought me food and drinks every now and then when she came back to the tournament halls. I feel like getting to eat some real food when I was 6-0 really helped me a lot since you get so tired and drained after all those hours of Magic.

 

I started the tournament with 2 byes and went to the city to have a croissant with Sophie and visit some shops while some of my friends were already battling it out.

 

 

 

3-0 ( 2-0 in games played)

 

 

 

who has to 2 for 1 himself before the game starts when he forces my t1 DRS. Four maindeck hate-cards: check!

 

4-0 (4-0 in games played)

 

 

 

I played against a BUG mirror match and won 2 easy games. Turns out having dig through time is a trump in the mirror! Who’d have thought, right?

 

5-0 (6-0 in games played)

 

 

Finally a good start in day 1 of a GP. I’m starting to feel a little nervous. I start thinking if it could be today I end my streak of punting and failure? But I try to shake of the jitters and tell myself to just play one match at a time. I feel like I’m playing fine and focused and I want to keep it that way. Luckily there’s plenty of water to drink and I have a lot of snacks to eat to keep myself fired up.

 

 

Round 6: 2-1 against R/B reanimator 

 

I have no idea what’s in my opponent’s deck, but after the games my opponent tells me he really likes how I played. A pivotal point in the game being when I daze a Dark Ritual with a Lotus Petal in play. Pat myself on the back and we’re 6-0 !

 

6-0 (8-1 in games played)

 

In between rounds my friends joke how I’ll still manage to 6-3 and I’ll be shaking at the start of my next round (Meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself this might actually come true).

 

 

Round 7: 1-1-1 against lands 

 

I play against Alex Mortimer: the lands player that made the top 8. Game 1 he crushed me by making a 20/20 on turn 3 with me having zero ways to interact. Game 2 stalls out very long after my opponent has very little pressure but has fast mana and triple Rishadan Port to keep my lands occupied. I really feel I’m playing well and having lock pieces on board for the combo and for all his graveyard shenanigans, but I have to figure out everything as we’re playing since I don’t really know his deck very well so I don’t play at an absolute fast pace. This combined with my mana being occupied means we don’t have too much time left for game 3.

 

Game 3 I grasp control over the game after I have to jump through some hoops to be able to hardcast a submerge on his 20/20 after chumping it a bit. But as I’m about to setup a lethal attack in the last turn of the game my opponent plays a Glacial Chasm and it ends up in a draw.

 

Baptist watched this match and encouraged me by saying he liked how I played. I know I definitely could’ve put some more pressure, played differently, faster and won the game! Nevertheless the encouragement still feels good. Furthermore, lands is a very bad matchup so I content myself that getting a draw here might not be the worst thing that could’ve happened.

 

6-0-1 ( 9-2-1 in games played)

 

Pleaseee let me win one more and make day 2 again!

 

 

Round 8: 2-1 Against Grixis Delver  

 

I get to play in the feature match area against Jean-Mary Accart. I don’t really know him, but I guess he’s kind of a known player. He’s playing the grixis delver variant and I win 2-1 because he twin bolts my ¾ Goyf (Instant sorcery land) and a delver and afterwards bolts my goyf…. WOOHOO Got there! Oh trusty goyf with ever changing power and toughness.

 

7-0-1 (11-3-1 in games played) Finally made day 2 again.

 

 

 

I play against a Dutchman who had no byes and is clearly tired and makes several obvious mistakes. I’ve been eating and drinking consistently all day and had to play 2 fewer rounds so I am still a lot more mentally fit than my opponent. He’s playing Esper Stoneblade and I win game 1 in remarkable fashion on the back of a sylvan library (thank god I’m playing one mainboard, thx Tist) after he had a turn 3 or 4 Batterskull in play (thank god I’m not playing RUG delver which has no way to win from such a position! Thx Tist). Game 2 is not close and I win, I think, by resolving several dig through times.

 

8-0-1 ( 13-3-1 in games played). We did it! And what a record. Meanwhile both Xof and Branco are also in great shape to start day 2. I’m satisfied, high five some people and drive home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I get to start the day in the feature match area but not on camera. It’s very hot in the venue and my hands are sticky so for the rest of the day I have a towel with me so I don’t have to keep drying my hands on my t-shirt.

I win a mirror match in 2 grindy games where I feel my deck is very well set-up to do so.

 

9-0-1 ( 15-3-1 in games played)

 

 

 

I was featured again and got to play against Brice Berna: a merfolk player who went 9-0 on day one. I understood merfolk wasn’t my best matchup, but I hadn’t lost yet so I figured I’d have to do at some point. Game 1 I actually won rather quickly on the back of two quick goyfs and some removal.

When we are shuffling up for game 2 my opponent notices he’s missing some cards … five to be exact! We have the same sleeves so I quickly check my deck, sideboard, etc but I have 60 cards and none of them are merfolks or basic islands. He keeps counting and checking but we can’t find them and call a judge. Brice and the judge move away from the table to confirm which cards are missing and replace them. Meanwhile I’m left alone at the table for a very long time wondering what’s going to happen. Since my opponent never presented his deck and we noticed before the game I suppose he’ll get to replace the cards.

Meanwhile I get to look at the match next to me where Tomoharu Saito is playing against Petre Sochurek. It almost feels like Saito is playing a modern deck when I see him casting Young Pyromancer into Kolaghan's Command … My opponent stays away for an extremely long time and when he comes back we get moved to camera and are told we have a 20 minute extension. In hindsight I really feel this was not enough and I’m sure at least 30 minutes passed between my opponent noticing something was wrong and us actually getting to start game 2.

 

Either way games 2 and 3 were on camera so I was able to review them after the tournament. In game 2 I get smashed quickly with merfolks into lords and there’s very little I can do. 

I knew my opponent played chalice and I also knew that without abrupt decay chalice on 1 it basically killed my hopes to win the game. For game 3 I decided to side out my FoW's since I felt the match could end up being kind of attrition-based with me killing and REB all of his threats and I didn’t really feel like '2 for 1'-ing myself to kill a random lord. Furthermore I didn’t like counters against an opponent with vial and caverns. I kept in some Spell Pierces and I had the abrupt decay so I figured I’d be able to deal with a chalice should he draw one … I guess that turned out to be a mistake.

 

Game 3 ended up actually being very interesting: several things happened:

 

1) I keep a hand with a lot of action but all 1 drops and basically dead to an early chalice.

2) My opponent lands an early chalice, I Brainstorm in response without a fetchland and don’t find an answer but instead I have a hand with nearly only 1 drops and a DTT. My opponent at this point has two non lord merfolks and is at 20. I realise I won’t be able to cast a spell for at least the next 2 turns and my hand consists of nearly zero castable spells unless I find an abrupt decay. At which point it will probably be too late ... I realise it will be impossible for me to control the board. I have a delver which I can flip using my brainstorm and I also have a DRS. I know my opponent has a very hard time dealing with my flyer and I decide my best line is to hope I can hit my opponent to death with delver and DRS activations before he kills me. The commentators are very surprised when I bolt my opponent to the face in response to the vial, but I believe it was my best line to have a shot at winning the game since a flipped delver and a deathrite shaman means 5 damage a turn.

 

3) I have to fill up my graveyard with the unresolvable 1 mana spells to fuel my deathrite shaman, but before I start throwing away cards I stand up from the table and ask the judge if I can let my opponent forget his chalice trigger (who knows nowadays with triggers, right ...), she confirms that I can and 10 seconds later I kill my opponents merfolk lord with REB! In his defense, he was probably still tilted from losing his cards minutes earlier when he started 9-0 at a GP …

4) Because of some questionable plays from my opponent (I think missing the chalice on camera tilted him even more) and managing to race executing my plan by bolting the opponent to the face and resolving my REB I actually put myself in a position to win the game with my opponent at 4 life and me only having to activate DRS twice after my opponent kills my delver with his jitte counters.  Then he plays Back to Basics …

 

I honestly don’t remember what I was thinking, I know I thought a lot: about what was in my deck, abrupt decay, how many turns were left, jitte etc … But for some reason I decided not to use my land and DRS to have it untapped for the next turn. This obviously makes no sense because now I can’t just draw a fetchland to kill the opponent. I believe I may have forgotten the jitte.  Punted so bad and it's all on camera! Didn't feel great. The match ends up in a draw, I feel like it shouldn’t have if we got a proper time extension though.

 

9-0-2 (16-4-2 in games played)

 

 

 

Finally for the first time in the grand prix I get to play against a matchup I actually tested! 

At one point I make an interesting play when I show my opponent I shuffled away an abrupt decay I put on top to flip a delver while I have another one in play and get my opponent to commit some mana to a counterbalance.

 

10-0-2. (18-4-2 in games played)

 

Still undefeated somehow, I slowly begin to realise that I might be doing it, but I quickly shake it off and decide to just keep playing one match at a time. It had worked so far.

 

 

 

It’s the BURG delver mirror. The match goes to three games where I keep a one lander with double Ponder on the draw. I miss on my first ponder and my opponent goes delver into wasteland. I move to discard to hand size 2 or three times while I look back at Christophe Gregoir watching my match. I look at him with visible disappointment that my run has to end “LIKE THIS”. He looks at me and shrugs: “it happens, that's life, that's magic, what can you do?“

But as I'm almost slumped down into my chair so deep I may never hope to see daylight again I realise there might still be hope ... my opponent is also stuck on one land. I draw wasteland into fetchland. I bolt his delver and take over before my opponent finds a land and the game’s not even close! Sometimes … everything just goes your way

 

11-0-2 (20-5-2 in games played)

 

 

Round 14: Against Petr Sochurek (or how I misplay myself to the top 8 of GP Lille)

 

Penultimate round of a GP and I’m playing on table 2! Can you imagine? I briefly consider if I can't just draw but decide I’ll have to play when I finally realise what’s happening: I’m playing for a GP top 8 this match! I’m playing a PTQ finals this match! I’m playing for a trip to America this match! If you know me, you know I can be quite nervous internally. Well boy was I nervous!

 

Next to me on table one eventual winner Claudio Bonnani refuses to draw against his opponent, who goes out of his mind and literally keeps on arguing for over 6 minutes with his opponent that it’s stupid not to draw and that they would both 99% sure make the top 8. This is so unbelievably annoying and shows so little sportsmanship it prompts my opponent to ask him to stop and eventually call a judge to stop it.

 

My opponent is a young guy who is clearly way less nervous than myself. Which I think to myself is funny considering the grand scheme of all things and considering what I deal with in my day to day job. I should really be able to see the relatively little meaning all this has. But I can’t, at this point, this is just so important to me and I’m nervous. I ask my opponent if he is already qualified and go through no effort whatsoever to hide my anxiousness. 

 

Game 1 I gamble on the play and have turn 1 DRS into Delver + wasteland, I flip the delver and he can never come back from the tempo swing.

 

Game 2 starts the opposite way when my opponent flips 2 delvers by turn 3. I have a good hand luckily and am able to setup bolt into abrupt decay. I map out my plays in my head ahead of time and can feel myself getting back into the game. Take 3 from a delver, bolt one delver, take three again. Have abrupt decay ready, opponent attacks, take 3 .. 'O .. I actually say something like 'O shit' out loud after I pause after I took the damage with abrupt decay in hand … My opponent looks at me, thinks I forgot I didn’t have red mana up and plays a sylvan library.

 

Hey! There’s an abrupt decay target I can never beat in a milion years from this position… abrupt decay your library EOT…. The rest of the game is unexciting but I take over the game and WIN AND IN!

 

12-0-2. (22-5-2 in games played)

 

 

 

I get to start round 15 on table 1. I'm second in the standings and draw into my first ever GP Undefeated at 12-0-3 :D

 

 

 

 

I get to play my quarters against HoF member Olivier Ruel. I could blame it on a lot of things but bottom line: I make several suboptimal plays game 1. 

 

1) At one point I only have 1 red mana source and have Redblast and two bolts in hand. I decline (basicly just brainfarted and forgot) to kill a snapcaster at the end of turn using my volcanic, which forces me to do it mainphase and tap out of red. I should’ve just done it EoT or after I’d made my mistake just waited one more turn and taken 2 more from the snapcaster, eventhough he was pressuring my life total quite a bit (5 a turn). it’s not like it really mattered.

2) I played a bit too conservatively late in the game when my opponent was in topdeck mode, not wanting to get two for oned by Terminus, which is my default mode in the matchup. This gave my opponent the out of topdecking a Swords to Plowshares. As was later pointed out to me I could have used my opponents blind counterbalance as information on his next draw step and baited with a delver when I played a tarmogoyf which revealed terminus.

3) At the end of the game I have a bolt and brainstorm in hand when my opponent at one point only has one top in play. Even though it probably won’t work since my opponent was floating a one drop with his top and he had some counter backup. I never even put my opponent to the test by brainstorming in response to a fetchland, hoping to make him shuffle away his top and resolving a bolt. It probably wouldn’t have worked, but I should’ve at least tried.

 

In game 2 I just play horribly. I completely underestimate the speed at which Monastery Mentor will kill me and refuse to take fetchland + bolt on a dig through time. I was planning too much for the late game, failing to realise that I wouldn’t even get there lest I kill the monastary mentor straight away.

 

And that was that. Luckily I wasn’t the least bit dissapointed after this match and was still on a high of the tournament on a whole. Watching the matches on coverage in hindsight is definitely a humbling experience as I get to see the many misplays I make on camera. I am however satisfied with how I played over the course of the weekend. I had a great time and I can finally say I’m qualified for the Pro Tour!