So, the finals! The invite! The epic showdown at the end of the season! Has it really been a year?
I expected a lot of goblin tokens and faeries this tournament, so I build a rogue deck with 4 maindeck Engineered Plague, powered out by 4 Dark Rituals. The decklist is included below, since I made T8. This time I wrote a short tournament report, so let's kick off with that.
Round 1: 2-1 vs Jan (Mono Black Control). I lose game 1, but discard + pressure + Relic of Progenitus (nullifying Skeletal Scrying) win me game 2 en 3.
Round 2: 2-1 vs Douwe (Dirty Kitty). The weird thing is I didn't even see my Engineered Plagues in any of the games. Discard and echoing decay work wonders though if you can keep up the pressure. Two Dross Golems tend to end things fast if your opponent has no answers.
Round 3: 1-2 vs Wouter (Balance Faeries). I beat him handily in game 1, it wasn't even close! Then, somehow, it all went awry. Game 2 I had to mulligan to 5 and never could amount any pressure. Game 3 I kept Swamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Duress, Engineered Plague, Echoing Decay, Faerie Macabre and fail to draw a second Swamp the entire game. Eventually he drew an Echoing Truth to bounce Engineered Plague and start beating, a few turns later he has Counterbalance and Top online... and I still didn't draw a Swamp. This took him like 17 turns! Very frustrating, but isn't that how magic sometimes works? I was pretty miffed thought that this had to happen versus a very good matchup.
Round 4: 2-0 vs Maarten (Mono Black Control). Turn 1 Dark Ritual, Duress, Hymn. Turn 2 Hymn. Turn 3 Hymn. With a godhand like that you beat every deck. Game 2 went like the matchup versus Jan, Relic of Progenitus for the win.
Round 5: 0-2 vs Allard (W/U Blink). I had pretty high hopes at this point. 3-1 is a very nice start. Instead of winning I get paired up vs blink, which turns out to be a truly unwinnable matchup. I can't race him because of the ridiculous amount of life gain (blinking Temple Acolyte and Aven Riftwatcher) and both games end with Allard smothering me in card advantage.
Round 6: 0-2 vs Oswin (W/B Discard). I though I had a decent chance here, turns out CoP: Black sucks when you're mono black. I still think this is not unwinnable, especially with the golems (I was winning g2 until he ripped a CoP off the top of his deck), but it's certainly not in my favor.
In the end my predictions were not entirely correct, and I beat the snot out of Dirty Kitty without drawing a single Engineered Plague. In hindsight my unc slot could have been better spent. 3-3 wasn't really what I hoped to achieve either, but at least I T8'ed. In the end I managed to grab 7th place in the final standings as well. Not bad, considering that I played a different deck each time!
Also, I'm happy to have influenced the metagame somewhat. I first discovered and played Temple Acolyte, which has become a staple for blink decks. Also, I first built the W/B discard decks with Guardian of the Guildpact and Swords to Plowshares, further refined and piloted to a 2nd place in the finals by Oswin. I do take some pride in that :) Let's see if I can stumble upon similar gems in the coming season!
All in all we had 42 different players during the past season. Around 25 of those showed up more than once. I'm looking forward to the coming season, hopefully we will keep such a high attendance!
Enough of all that talk though, you were wondering about the other decks that made it into the T8, no doubt. Well, karma at least affirmed my prediction somewhat, as Faeries won the whole thing! As for the rest? Enjoy!
PS. The points haven't been published, so I don't know how many points each contestant got. Some I do know.
T8 Decklists
1. Wouter Scholtens (16 - Balance Faeries)
2. Oswin ten Brinke (? - WB Discard)
3. Allard van der Made (? - Trinket Blink)
4. Gijsbert Haaksman (12 - MUC)
5. Jasper Boelens (? - Psychatog)
6. Niels Gramser (? - Elfball)
7. Martijn Hennink (9 - Engineered Aggro)
8. Martijn Labohm (? - Blightning Beatdown)
Wouter Scholtens - Balance Faeries
1st place (16 points)
Creatures
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Pestermite
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
Spells
4 Brainstorm
2 Sensei's Divining Top (U)
3 Counterbalance (U)
4 Counterspell
3 Echoing Truth
4 Mana Leak
4 Gush
Lands
4 Desert
16 Island
Sideboard
SB: 3 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 4 Viridian Longbow
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 4 Guerrilla Tactics
Oswin ten Brinke - WB Discard
2nd place (? points)
Creatures
4 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Faerie Macabre
4 Guardian of the Guildpact
2 Kami of the Ancient Law
1 Kitchen Finks (U)
3 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
2 Ronom Unicorn
3 Shrieking Grotesque
Spells
4 Bonesplitter
1 Demonic Tutor (U)
3 Swords to Plowshares (U)
4 Unearth
3 Unmake
Lands
2 Barren Moor
10 Plains
8 Swamp
3 Terramorphic Expanse
Sideboard
SB: 2 Circle of Protection: Black
SB: 2 Circle of Protection: Red
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Echoing Decay
SB: 3 Nausea
SB: 2 Relic of the Progenitus
Allard van der Made - Trinket Blink
3rd place (? points)
Creatures
4 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Temple Acolyte
3 Trinket Mage
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Mulldrifter
Spells
1 Æther Spellbomb
2 Brainstorm
2 Condescend
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Path to Exile (U)
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Repeal
4 Swords to Plowshares (U)
4 Momentary Blink
Lands
1 Azorius Chancery
9 Island
9 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse
Sideboard
SB: 1 Dispeller's Capsule
SB: 4 Icatian Javelineers
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 Echoing Truth
SB: 2 Hindering Light
SB: 1 Wispmare
SB: 2 Deep Analysis
Gijsbert Haaksman - MUC
4th place (12 points)
Creatures
3 Spire Golem
3 Errant Ephemeron
Spells
4 Opt
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Counterspell
3 Echoing Truth
1 Isochron Scepter (U)
4 Rune Snag
3 Think Twice
1 Capsize
4 Propaganda (U)
3 Rewind
Lands
19 Island
4 Desert
Sideboard
SB: 4 Force spike
SB: 4 Relic of the Progenitus
SB: 4 Tangle Bloom
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Capsize
SB: 1 Spire Golem
Jasper Boelens - Psychatog
5th place (? points)
Creatures
4 Crypt Rats
3 Psychatog (U)
Spells
4 Brainstorm
2 Condescend
4 Force Spike
3 Ghastly Demise
3 Mental Note
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Counterspell
1 Demonic Tutor (U)
1 Echoing Decay
1 Echoing Truth
1 Engineered Plague (U)
1 Deep Analysis
2 Gush
1 Mystical Teachings
Lands
2 Desert
2 Dimir Aqueduct
11 Island
6 Swamp
Sideboard
SB: 4 Duress
SB: 4 Hydroblast
SB: 4 Mesmeric Fiend
SB: 3 Nausea
Niels Gramser - Elfball
6th place (? points)
Creatures
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid (U)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
3 Quirion Ranger
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Priest of Titania
Spells
1 Chromatic Star
2 Fireball
1 Instill Energy (U)
2 Kaervek's Torch
4 Land Grant
4 Manamorphose
4 Distant Melody
Lands
11 Forest
Sideboard
SB: 1 Kaervek's Torch
SB: 4 Magnify
SB: 2 Sandstorm
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 3 Naturalize
SB: 3 Nourish
Martijn Hennink - Plague Aggro
7th (9 points)
Creatures
4 Skittering Skirge
2 Crypt Rats
4 Faerie Macabre
4 Dross Golem
Spells
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Echoing Decay
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Vulshok Morningstar
4 Engineered Plague (U)
1 Loxodon Warhammer (U)
Lands
23 Swamp
Sideboard
SB: 4 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 4 Tanglebloom
SB: 4 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Crypt Rats
SB: 2 Pewter Golem
Martijn Labohm - Blightning Beatdown
8th place (? points)
Creatures
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
2 Ravenous Rats
4 Ashenmoor Gouger (U)
1 Hypnotic Specter (U)
Spells
4 Duress
4 Lightning bolt
2 Shard Volley
4 Unearth
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
2 Fireblast
Lands
10 Mountain
11 Swamp
Sideboard
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Hymn to Tourach
SB: 4 Nausea
SB: 3 Smash to Smithereens
SB: 3 Fearie Macabre
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