Saying goodbye to Shards Block

By Wagz

*Sob*. I wish that it weren't so, but it is time for Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn and M10 to rotate out of Standard. Oh sure, Bloodbraid Elf and Blightning have made things pretty miserable over the last 12 months. Between Bloodbraid Standard and Zendikar Limited I've experienced some of the worst Magic™ formats I've ever seen.

But I love Multicolour!

There - I said it, and I'm not ashamed. If you've ever seen me Cube draft (my favourite format) you'll have seen some of the 7-colour monstrosities I've put together and won with.

As a result I had to say one last goodbye to some of my favourite cards (mostly from last year's Standard). This week at WNM I played the following:


4 Arcane Sanctum
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Island
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Mountain
4 Rupture Spire
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Swamp
3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Earthquake
4 Esper Charm
1 Ethersworn Adjudicator
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
3 Sedraxis Specter
2 Wall of Denial
4 Wall of Omens
Sideboard:
2 Celestial Purge
4 Luminarch Ascension
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Slave of Bolas
2 Thought Hemorrhage
3 Wall of Reverence

I won round 1 against White Weenie and round 2 against UW Control before losing round 3 to Green Eldrazi Ramp and round 4 to Aggro Vampires (Nantuko Husk version). A 2-2 record didn't quite do the deck justice but I had a lot of fun.

Round 1 I got to cast Cruel Ultimatum and Ultimate my Ajani in a single turn to leave my opponent with no hand and only 2 Honor of the Pure in play. Two turns later I Esper Charm 2 of his 3 cards away and Jace Ultimate him for a near-flawless victory.

Cruel Ultimatum, Planeswalker Ultimates, casting Eldrazi - these are the moments I play Magic™ for! I don't like Bloodbraid into guy getting 2 Vengevines back. I like casting cool spells - if I want infinite creatures I'll play Pokemon™ thx. Shards of Alara Block, I will miss you dearly. I cannot wait for the next multicolour block. Artifacts are pretty awesome too though ;)

Guest Article: Remember to have fun, by Mick Edwards

By Mick Edwards

People who know me will know that August was a month in which I took magic very seriously. Not only was Nationals on everyones mind, but i was qualified for Pro Tour Amsterdam. This meant I spent A LOT of time testing what I expected the new extended metagame to be (special thanks to people helping me test such as Rob Catton). In the end I think a slight bad judgement in the meta (I predicted all combo/punishing fire decks) made me play a weak deck and I didnt make day 2, finishing 4-4.

However, one common theme with this event (and all other large event I have been to) was the underlying sense of 'Magic is also really fun, remember?' and by that I mean Cube Drafting! Cube drafting for those that don't know is where a player basically makes their 'own set' using whatever cards they like. The initial Cubes were based around the most powerful cards available, and its quite nice to 'open a pack' to pick from Black Lotus, Sol Ring, Treachery, Recurring Nightmares, etc. However some people make their Cubes a bit different - e.g. Rob Wagner and Seb Parker both have cubes consisting of the most powerful extended (old extended) legal commons and uncommons. The thing about cube is its purpose. When I enter a PTQ I play to win, when I sit down against my opponent I often try to play like a machine designed for winning magic games. When I draft cube I play for fun, when I sit down I have a laugh!

Thinking back, some of the most fun I've had playing magic has been weird formats that are only really played for fun: Reject rare draft, Multiplayer Winston draft, elaborate mental magic pack wars style. So when I though about how I wanted to play more magic for fun purposes it saddened me when I realised that part of what makes these formats so fun is the people involved and I was going back to playing Magic Online. Thats when it hit me! Momir Basic: http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1067

Momir basic is THE random fun format, but its actually got more skill to it that it seems and the random factors of mana screw/flood are taken away.
I strongly encourage anyone who has a Magic online account to play this format as its pretty crazy. Here are some pro tips I have found:

• Never play an island unless you have an ability that needs it as Benthic Behemoth crops up a fair amount at 8.
• There are some good one drops but your chances of hitting them are low, some good ones I've hit include goblin chirurgeon and dragonmaster outcast.
• In general its proabably best not to make a 1 drop.
• Two drops are better than three drops, this may seem weird but a lot of mana elves/myr are at 2 as well as guildmages!
• Play more mountains I currently run 15 mountains in my Momir deck, when you make dragons you want them to breathe fire.

Finally I want to mention an idea I have had for building a cube of my own, hopefully creating an entirely different cube format. I want people to vote on what they think are the worst cards in each set for inclusion in my 'Worst Cube Ever'. Keep an eye on the Leeds Facebook site for more details, or begin the voting for M11 Cards here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=7402096935&topic=13443

Tournament Report - 15 Card Highlander

By Wagz

Hi all, my exit from nationals was fairly swift this year after drawing terribly against a good matchup and facing 2 of the 5 pyromancer ascension decks in the room to go 1-3 into draft 1. A risky strategy and a loss later and I packed them up. This left me a lot of time to (immediately let off steam and) check out the side events. I borrowed a combo elves deck for the Vintage championship the next morning and after handily beating Dredge round 1 I faced 3 workshop decks who made turn 1 chalice of the void for 1 every game. After such tedium I decided I wanted to get involved with a much more fun format - 15 card Highlander.

The premise of it is similar to 100 card Highlander, your deck can have only 1 of any card which is not a basic land. However, you must have precisely 15 cards in your deck, a sideboard of 3 cards, and you don't lose the game to drawing from an empty library. It immediately became apparent that you will often draw nearly every card in your deck and if you have the right number of lands then your draws will be very smooth. Additionally, you want as many cards which interact with your opponent as possible - manlands are much better than other lands, preordain and ponder should only be played for a very particular reason or you are playing with a deck with less than 15 cards that do anything.

My first attempt at a deck was as follows:

Halimar Depths
Island
2 Mountain
Scalding Tarn
Ponder
Preordain
Tome Scour
Hedron Crab
Elixir of Immortality
Lightning Bolt
Flame Slash
Relic of Progenitus
Howling Mine
Mana Leak

The deck was a bit degenerate - it had Tome Scour and Hedron Crab to immediately mill away the opponent's deck and Mana Leak, Flame Slash and Lightning Bolt to deal with the threats they try to play. Ponder and Preordain are basically Demonic Tutor in the deck to find the answers it needs. Having eliminated the opponents threats it can set up its own graveyard to be rid of the mill spells, then the mana leak and later the ponder, preordain and flame slash so that using the howling mine it can use its 4 mana-producing lands to draw lightning bolt and elixir of immortality every turn, dealing the opponent 3 and taking 5.

I ran to tell Jason Howlett, Tim Willoughby and Rich Hagon about my deck and soon enough Tome Scour, Hedron Crab and Elixir of Immortality formed the banned list. Mark Glenister suggested they add Mind Funeral as well and we were all set to play a much fairer format. Since my deck was banned, Seb Parker and I audibled to a deck built by Mick Edwards:


Ancient Ziggurat
Seaside Citadel
Stirring Wildwood
2 Forest
Birds of Paradise
Noble Hierarch
Qasali Pridemage
Garruk's Companion
Jenara, Asura of War
Rhox War Monk
Leatherback Baloth
Rafiq of the Many
Vines of Vastwood
Oblivion Ring
Sideboard:
Path to Exile
White Leyline
Elspeth, Knight-Errant

We weren't quite sure what to prepare for in the board and took a gamble with the Elspeth but the other 2 cards seemed pretty good. We have a nice array of abilities on our creatures and some which are really hard to answer so hopefully we'd always have something to do to beat our opponent.

Round 1 I play against a mono-black deck with some nice vampires. He gets Guul Draz Assassin down turn 1 every game but I always use my removal spell on it. My mana guys are fuel for his Gatekeeper of Malakir and after boarding my other removal spell takes care of his Grave Titan. He has Reassembling Skeleton and Malakir Bloodwitch which threaten to stem my beats but the Garruk's Companion's Trample is super relevant. He has a Royal Assassin but it was too slow and my Vines of Vastwood would provide 1 turn of safety if I need it. I take the match due to Trample and Rafiq.

Round 2 was against a Burn deck and it becomes immediately obvious that if I can set up Rhox War Monk and Vines of Vastwood then I probably win because he only has so much damage he can deal and spending 2 cards twice to deal with a War Monk plus the 3 life I gain is likely to negate his entire deck. My Path over my O-Ring in boarding kills a Ball Lightning or a Hell's Thunder which significantly reduces the damage he can deal. I win the match.

Round 3 comes and I am paired against Seb Parker in the mirror. We agree a prize split and he wins the roll and then game 1. I mull to 5 game 2 after drawing only Forests for mana and so lose that one as well, the deck is 4-0 at this point though.

In round 4 my opponent is Stuart Wright and I knew he had a Grixis Titans deck he was brewing up. It is a good idea as they are the most powerful creatures you can hardcast in the format, but you immediately have to play a lot of lands to cast them so you lose some card advantage straight away when you draw all those lands. I make a few punty errors like trampling over a 2/1 for 1 with my 3/2 and not tapping a noble hierarch for green mana when it gets pyroclasmed so I am unable to save my Rafiq from a Lightning Bolt. Despite my retardedness I take the match as my deck has too many threats for him to answer and I am able to throw away excess mana to his Blightning and Liliana's Specter.

My final opponent had a cool Naya Destructive Force deck which abused Garruk, Sun Titan and Dauntless Escort to be really one-sided. Unfortunately for him I, as Seb had the round before me, figured out that I had 1 4-mana spell and 7 mana sources in my deck so if I only played out half my mana before the Force I would easily negate it. Plus my Oblivion Ring would deal with the Sun Titan and I could attack the Garruk with an evasive creature so his card quality was then worse than mine.

I ended up going 4-1 and Seb went undefeated with the same deck, so we took 1st and 2nd places in the 20-odd man event. It was a really excellent format as every card counts and you have to save cards for very particular roles. There is very little variance to decks so you should only play as many lands as you need and having cards which do more than 1 thing will significantly increase the amount of play you have. I'm probably going to run the format as the 5th Wednesday event next month in Leeds and might even show up to WNM with a few decks for people to pick up between rounds and have a go. Give it a try - it's very rewarding!

Tournament Report - Win a Mox Pearl in Fanboy3

By Wagz

Hi all! I come fresh from another foray into Lejacy Magic at the always-fun Fanboy3 in Manchester. 37 players came with their favourite deck sleeved up, resulting in 6 rounds before top 8. The prizes? A very good looking Mox Pearl to the winner, with store credit to the top 4 and 5 boosters for each of the losing quarter finalists. Legacy has undergone a lot of changes recently with the StarCityGames Open Series forcing people to make better decks than the classic Team America Control, Goblins and so on. The buzz was that the format would be Zoo, Merfolk, Goblins and New Horizons this weekend, so I picked a deck which would be good against those 4 and forsaked my usual protection against silly combo decks, since with a 9 round tournament I might only have to face it once or twice and I can afford one loss in the swiss easily. I brewed up the following, borrowing many cards from the always-excellent Rik Powell:


4 Goblin Guide
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Lightning Helix
4 Price of Progress
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Plateau
2 Taiga
1 Savannah
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Raging Ravine
1 Karakas
3 Arid Mesa
4 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard:
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Baneslayer Angel
1 Stirring Wildwood
3 Krosan Grip

Which is similar to my Madrid deck but has subbed the Mindbreak Traps for the mirror tech of Baneslayers :D. The Karakas was a last-minute addition I borrowed from Matt Light in lieu of the presence of many Emrakuls in the room.

Round 1 vs Phil Smith with Bridge-Naught

His deck is one of the new Emrakul ones. It is based on the old Stifle-Naught decks which used Stifle to cheat Phyrexian Dreadnaught into play. Using Mosswort Bridge they can hide away a good card and with the Dreadnaught in play and trigger on the stack can activate the Bridge to cast something good. They also have Show and Tell to directly cheat stuff into play. I have only a few answers for this sort of deck but I have a lot of aggression so it might not be too terrible. Game 1 he chose to not counter my Knight of the Reliquary as he wasn't sure if Zoo was playing Karakas still (most don't) so when he Show and Telled Emrakul into play I was able to tutor up my land to bounce the Spaghetti Monster. Game 2 he countered my Knight but I'd already drawn the Karakas. In any event his countering my Knight put enough card types into graveyards to power up my Goyfs for a lethal attack so it was Catch 22 really.

1-0

Round 2 vs Tomas Sukaitis with Bant

Tom brought Bant but had given up on Counterbalance-Top for a straightforward aggro-control version of the deck. My Baneslayers came in for this creature mirror and it was mostly back and forth with life totals only he has War Monks. Game 1 I played around Stifle (quite common in current Bant Decks) only to get blown out by Wasteland (far less common). Game 3 had an unusual situation: on 4 life with a Jitte versus War Monk and Qasali Pridemage I rip a Baneslayer Angel. He rips Noble Hierarch and the Exalted means I actually have to chump block :o.

1-1

Round 3 vs Thomas Robinson with Goblins

I may be mixing up rounds 3 and 4 here as I don't have any notes to go on but I definitely played these 2 matches. Goblins is a good matchup for Zoo as they lean fairly heavily on turn 1 Goblin Lackey (how lackey!) or Aether Vial, but Lackey is a 1/1 versus my 21 1 mana answers and Vial doesn't affect the board very quickly. I draw a bit of gash while he nuts off a Ringleader but his deck is set up to do that so fair enough. Game 2 I establish control of the board but only draw 3 creatures the entire game, 2 Guides and a Nacatl - Jitte helps a lot with this. Game 3 he didn't have a very explosive start and played out 2 Vials in the first two turns before Edicting me when I had a Nacatl and a Pridemage in play. I sacced the Nacatl as I was fairly sure his hand had something like Goblin Warchief, Ringleader, Siege-Gang so I kept the Pridemage to kill his 2 counter vial in his next upkeep with the trigger on the stack. This turned out to Time Walk him just enough for my guys and burn to get in before he could develope a board presence.

2-1

Round 4 vs Jason Christie with Enchantress

Another good matchup for Zoo. I was lucky enough to know what my opponents were playing every round today - having good friends at tournaments has a lot of benefits and you should always help out the people you know if you can because they often return the favour. I kept my hand despite being slow because it had a Qasali Pridemage in. I got some damage in and kept him off the right cards until he raw-dogged a Moat when he was going to tutor for it with the Sterling Grove he had in play. I'd rather he'd tutored for it as I'd been sandbagging my Pridemage in hand. I ran it out to kill the Grove as he had a card which prevented players from casting spells and activating abilities in opponents turns and had to hope to draw another Pridemage to win. Luckily I did and was able to attack in in time. My hand for game 2 had no 1 drop or 2 drop again but 2 Krosan Grips so I kept. My draws were Wild Nacatl, Gaddock Teeg, Qasali Pridemage, Qasali Pridemage; proving that it is, in fact, very nice being me.

3-1

Round 5 vs Alex Shoemark with Iggy-Pop

This is not a good matchup for me as I have to have one of my Teegs or Canonists to win, but at least if he's leaning on Ill-Gotten Gains rather than Ad Nauseam my sideboard graveyard hate has room to do something. Game 1 I mull a hand without Teeg into another one without Teeg but some aggression. I cast 2 spells before I lose (Goblin Guide and Lightning Helix) and start sideboarding. Games 2 and 3 I get a hate bear and some aggression plus a Tormod's Crypt so I am able to put him under pressure. Luckily for me his draws are terrible and I sneak the victory. Game 3 his keep was because he had Lotus Petal, Crystal Vein and Dark Confidant, which seems fair but he failed to draw any more lands. I'm not convinced Bob comes in against Zoo because he just gives me extra Lightning Bolts on my opponent but perhaps his testing revealed that he wanted more cards more than he wanted his life total - I think Bob is more for mirror matches. Ah well, no complaints as I can ID into the top 8 with Matt Light in round 6.

4-1-1, 4th after the Swiss

Quarterfinals vs Matt Light with Hypergenesis

Matt is playing another one of those Emrakul decks, only using Hypergenesis alongside Show and Tell to put Kul and the gang into play. I literally have only my main deck Karakas and my sideboard Ethersworn Canonist to interact and sure enough Matt kills me with gigantic monsters. 1 at a time, a la Reanimator I can deal with but 5 or 6 at once is too much. He kept a dog of a hand game 2, with 1 land, a cascade spell and 5 monsters on the draw, but he only needs 2 mana sources to plain win the game, against a deck with Goblin Guide, up a game and in a match where he is the heavy favourite so I think it's defensible.

Lose in the Quarters

I pack wars my 5 M11 boosters and manage to get a Fauna Shaman and am fairly happy with top 8 when I hadn't played Legacy in a while and couldn't list peoples' decklists by heart any more. I've got a new version of Zoo brewed up with a bit more metagaming involved but I'm saving it for Rik or myself to run in the Legacy event at Nats in a few weeks time - probably not me, I'll be busy being National Champion obv.

Deck Tech: RGu Aggro

By Wagz

Hi all, been a while! Sorry if this looks like filler content, but that's almost precisely what it is :). Here's the list for the deck I played at last week's PTQ to reasonable success, RG aggro splashing Jace:

4 Raging Ravine

4 Rootbound Crag

4 Misty Rainforest

3 Scalding Tarn

4 Forest

3 Mountain

2 Island

3 Noble Hierarch

3 Birds of Paradise

4 Lotus Cobra

4 Fauna Shaman

1 Nest Invader

1 Sylvan Ranger

2 Cunning Sparkmage

4 Bloodbraid Elf

4 Vengevine

2 Siege-Gang Commander

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

3 Eldrazi Monument

Sideboard:
2 Chandra Nalaar

2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

1 Clone

3 Combust

4 Obstinate Baloth

2 Cunning Sparkmage

1 Into the Roil


I went 4-2-1 on the day, IDing the last round for prizes and my 2 losses coming to horrid draws and a mull to 5, although likely some of my wins were lucky and I'm not remembering them. The field was choc-a-block full of Shaman decks and UW decks and this was definitely a good call for that field. I'm not sure how it'll cope with Titan Force decks but I'd recommend you try it out at your local FNM.

Sorry we haven't been updating much recently, Jim has been very busy and I'm an ancillary writer at best so you'd better enjoy what you're given for now. I'll have an update after a win-a-mox Lejacy tournament in Manchester this weekend where I'll be whipping out my old faithful, Zoo. Then I could be a bit quiet until after Nats, but at least I'll have a winners report for you all then.

Player of the Year Race Update 15/07/10 - 1 Month to go

By Wagz

Hi all! We're now entering the final stages of the player of the year race and things are pretty hot. The winner after WNM on 11/08 will receive a trophy for their efforts but we won't be organising a top 8 anything because it looks like it will be hard to get all 8 people in one place. Currently the top 8 is:

46 - Andy Devine
44 - Rob Catton
43 - Mick Edwards
38 - John Ingham
33 - Andy Edwards, Chris Vincent
29 - Rob Wagner, Andy Bodle

with Steve Tyson, Stephen Porritt and Andy Pemberton all snapping on the heels. Mick has left university so is unlikely to get any more points but Rob and Andy are definitely going to make a close race. My excuse is that I only played 7 WNMs since December (but I won 4 of those), so I'll try to make Pro Level 2 and then I can play in every event next year :D. Anyway, the winner will receive their trophy at nats but no more updates to the online spreadsheet will be made until then to keep it exciting.

*Live* Coverage of the Team Leeds M11 Prerelease

By Rob Wagner

ROUND 1; Andrew Pemberton vs Paul Wray

Andy comes from a local house of Magic players who throw excellent Cube Drafts and Paul Wray is a long-time playtest partner of Craig Stevenson's. Paul wins the roll and gets things started with a Blinding Mage off his Plains and Mountain. Andy has fetched up a Swamp and a subsequent Forest casts him a Child of the Night. 3rd land but no spell from Paul is suspcious but Andy can only match this with a Reassembling Skeleton. The Skeleton looks like a good limited card to me so we'll see how he gets on through the day. Paul draws a Palace Guard on defence but only has a Mountain untapped so no tapping for him. The Mage gets in for 1 but Andy Assassinates it before casting a Brittle Effigy, two good removal spells. Siege Mastodon comes down for Paul, acting as a massive road block. Not one that Andy is worried about though as he summons a Spined Wurm to begin the beats. Act of Treason steals the Wurm and the Skeleton jumps in the way. A Stormfront Pegasus joins the offensive and the Spined Wurm cracks back, making it 16-15 in Andy's favour. A second Assassinate kills the Siege Mastodon and things aren't looking so hot for Paul now. A second Blinding Mage looks to help out but the Skeleton reassembles end of turn. Doom Blade takes out the Wurm as it tries to attack and things are looking a lot more even again.



Barony Vampire becomes the biggest creature on the table, on Andy's side, but the Pegasus' evasion looks to be winning it at the moment. Stone Golem provides more beef for Andy but Paul's Mage is going to keep it tapped for now. Elite Vanguard and a swing for 2 with Paul's flier keep up the pressure but Andy still has the Effigy to blow any time he so chooses. Vampire and Vanguard trade but Andy has topdecked his Grave Titan and the crowd is going wild. 2 more from the Pegasus, Blinding Mage taps down the Grave Titan on attacks but now the Stone Golem is free to swing in with his 2 Zombie friends. One Zombie gets blocked by the Palace Guards but Paul takes 6, going to 9. The Goblin Tunneler he made the previous turn can allow a guy to get in unblocked but things are looking bad on the defence here. Pegasus again forces his way in, digging Andy down to a mere 6 life but at the end of the turn the Blinding Mage finds himself exiled by the Effigy. Palace Guard is a mass chump-blocker for the turn and after the Pegasus swings for 2 a drawn land allows Paul to make Hoarding Dragon and Fling it at Andy's face for exactly lethal damage, good game!

Paul 1 - 0 Andy

For Game 2 Paul mulligans a Swamp, Mountain, 5 White Spells hand after Andy has kept his 7. His 6 is a lot better though and he matches a turn 2 Child of the Night with his trusty Stormfront Pegasus. Andy assembles his Skeleton for the first time and gets in for 2 with Lifelink. Paul cancels out the life total then makes a threatening looking Warlord's Axe. Deathmark takes care of the Pegasus before Andy Signs his name in Blood to get ahead on cards. Just an Elite Vanguard for Paul which trades with the lifelinker. A 3/2 comes in for Andy who bemoans his lack of a 5th land. Paul summons a Siege Mastodon and Andy draws his Terramorphic Expanse and casts a Gargoyle Sentinel, your reporter's tip for a very solid limited card (and one which some people weren't putting in their decks). Vulshok Berserker comes into play and immediately enters the Red Zone with the Mastodon. The Skeleon takes one for the team and Andy takes his 3. Assassinate takes care of the Mastodon and the Gargoyle trades with the Berserker. Skeleton comes back tapped end of turn in time to swing with the Barony Vampire. A second Reassembling Skeleton makes its presence felt and Paul is unlikely to get through on the ground. Seeing this he makes a Cloud Crusader, possibly the top White draft common creature. Effigy takes care of it however and after an attack, Paul draws nothing and scoops them up.

Paul 1 - 1 Andy

The players wish one another luck for the decider and both keep their 7. Andy's turn 1 Llanowar Elves beats on turn 2 but a Palace Guard stops those shenanigans. Stone Golem faces Vulshok Berserker but a Fire Servant ("pretty good with Fling") threatens to break the deadlock. The Golem attacks into the Palace Guard and Vulshok Berserker, killing the Guard. Triskelion comes in and immediately kills the Fire Servant, leaving a not-so-threatening 1/1. The Berserker easily gets in for 3 and is joined by a Blinding Mage to help tap down those pesky blockers. Those blockers include Garruk's Packleader and Black Knight so the board has reached a small stalemate for the moment. Having seen these guys' decks I'm sure that will change. Andy's Greater Basilisk draws a card off the Packleader and the Packleader is tapped down, allowing Black Knight to get in for 2. Child of the Night also enters Andy's army but does not draw a card. Paul finds his Warlord's Axe, which usually allows you to trade your bad guys for their good guys. Paul only has his Berserker and Mage though so not much trading will be going on. Only the Basilisk is able to attack in now that the Berserker has picked up an Axe but Andy is still pushing Paul down, the life totals being 6 to 14. Paul has made a Goblin Tunneler but appears to have drawn his black spells before his black mana.

Oh wait, that's an Angelic Arbiter now. Pretty irrelevant, Paul says, but a 5/6 flier will still help get the defence on track. Sacred Wolf and Spined Wurm come in and draw cards for Andy. He can't attack but it likely won't matter at this point since he has an overwhelming army. Pegasus joins the defence but Paul can't attack for fear of a massive counterattack. Effigy exiles the Arbiter and then a Grave Titan comes in with 2/2's and a drawn card and it is surely over now. Andy swings with the team and Paul offers the hand.

Andy 2 - 1 Paul

ROUND 2; Andy Devine vs Nathan Edwards

Nathan is down from Scarborough and is an old-school player from 1995, playing with our very own John Ingham. Andy Devine is likely to win the Leeds Player of the Year Race but thinks he has a bad deck for today. Nathan wins the roll and sets things off with a turn 2 Augury Owl from his seemingly blue-black deck. Andy has a mountain and an island but no turn 2 play. Nathan's turn 3 Scroll Thief gets Lightning Bolted, can't let Ophidian get out of hand. Forest for Andy, or not as he picks it back up. No, it comes down again and casts Awakener Druid, making it a 4/5 creature. Nathan gets ahead on cards with a Foresee but just the Owl means he isn't high up on the attacking pecking order. Wall of Frost from Andy doesn't seem to do much at the moment but he gets in for the expected 5 damage. Nathan makes a Conundrum Sphinx, a very efficient beater who plays very well with the set's Scry mechanic. Andy sends only the 4/5 in, taking Nathan to 11. Andy then makes a second Forest and uses Sylvan Ranger to find a second Mountain. A second Augury Owl sets up Nathan's Sphinx to be very one-sided. Sure enough the Sphinx draws a Liliana's Specter and Andy's named Forest misses as he reveals Cultivate. The Specter comes in and forces Andy to discard his Diminish. Andy's Forest gets blocked and only the Ranger gets in but a post-combat Chandra's Outrage deals with the Sphinx in royal fasion.

Nathan's fliers continue to beat in, putting Andy at 10. He makes a Scroll Thief and a Crystal Ball, signalling an extremely card draw-centric deck. The Forest and Sylvan Ranger once more get in and Nathan pauses to consider Andy's tricks. Not falling for any of them he simply chumps the Forest with his 1/3 and now also faces a Garruk's Packmaster. Crystal Ball helps Nathan's draw step and he makes an Air Servant before serving for 2 with the Specter. Water Servant for Andy seems good and Ice Cage on the Air Servant serves as a very good answer, allowing Andy to swing in for a bunch. Nathan didn't draw anything of relevance and scooped them up.

Andy 1 - 0 Nathan

John Ingham and I were saying how we liked Water Servant as the players shuffled for game 2. He called it a "little Morphling" so I used the segue of "speaking of More Fling" to tell the story of how round 1 game 1 ended. Enough of my silliness for now, Nathan shuffles his 7 away, then his 6, but deems his 5 to be acceptable. The first play is a Cultivate by Andy but Nathan has the Flashfreeze at the ready. He makes an Augury Owl to try to draw into more gas but can't be happy to see Awakener Druid opposite him. He might be actually, as he has at Stabbing Pain ready to deal with the Druid, incidentally turning off the Treefolk. Foresee draws Nathan into even more gas and his Owl gets in for 1, not a bad mull to 5 at all. Andy discards a Berserker of Blood Ridge, clearly leaning on the Cultivate for his mana. Scroll Theif for Nathan look good but but Andy has found a Mountain and casts a Conundrum Sphinx of his own. Crystal Ball makes the Sphinx more one-sided for Nathan again and he draws a card where Andy misses, but Nathan still takes 4 from the attack. Juggernaut is yet more body for Andy so Nathan will need to do something with all these cards he's drawing. Royal Assasin clearly is something to do with those cards and he even has a Negate ready for Andy's Lightning Bolt, strong plays all round. Ice Cage really deals with the Assassin until Nathan can come up with a targetting ability. Sphinx draws Nathan an Augury Owl but deals him another 4. The Owl comes down alongside a Juggernaut on blocking duty but Sleep from Andy takes the game and the match.

Andy 2 - 0 Nathan



ROUND 3; Rob Catton vs Alex Gershaw

Alex is a relative newcomer to Leeds Magic but qualified for Nats after I made him play Time Sieve. Rob Catton is another high-runner in the Player of the Year race and is also qualified for Nats via his Blue White control deck. Alex makes 2 Islands and Rob matches it with one Island but breaks the trend with a Plains. Alex makes a turn 3 Cloud Elemental then a turn 4 Phantom Beast before attacking for 2. The Beast is thoroughly diminished by Rob and he returns fire with a very big Juggernaut. This immediately becomes Caged in Ice and Alex once more swings for 2. Augury Owl for Rob sets up his next draws, which include 2 Angels - very nice! Cloud Elemental #2 for Alex gives him some gas just before the first one runs into the Owl taking a Mighty Leap. Rob draws 3 with his Jace's Ingenuity, getting ahead in this blue mirror match. Alex decides against using the Mystifying Maze on the Augury Owl, electing to take 1 instead. His Cloud Elemental is winning that race anyway. Not any more, Angelic Arbiter is the first Angel for Rob, but Alex immediately Mind Controls it and attacks for 2.

Vengeful Archon is Angel number 2 for Rob, clearly hoping it stays on his side of the table. Aether Adept bounces the Vengeful Archon for a turn and allows Alex to swing in for some damage, which the Augury Owl takes the brunt of. Nothing from Alex might mean that Rob can start moving ahead but he chooses to make an Augury Owl rather than begin swinging (because of his own Arbiter). Alex plays his main deck Jace's Erasure as a way of punching through the deadlock but Rob's Air Servant looks like it will do the same job a lot better. Rob even draws an Excommunicate to free up his own Angelic Arbiter, which will get milled by the Erasure. He fails to attack though, probably thinking the effect still holds. It seems to be for naught though as he begins swinging the next turn. Maze takes some of the sting out of the Angel's tail but it's probably only a matter of time now. Howling Banshee for Alex brings both players' life totals down by 3, putting Rob on 5 and Alex on 10. Rob wins the flip on a previously-made Sorceror's Strongbox, bringing him 2 Islands and a Fireball. Alex chumps the Archon, neglecting to use his Maze (a bluff?) and dies to a post-combat Fireball.

Rob 1 - 0 Alex

Both keep their 7 for game 2 and Alex burns a Preordain, probably having kept a mildly speculative hand. The first real play is a Temple Bell for Alex on turn 3, clearly having played Time Sieve too much. The Temple Bell mills Rob twice as he is making lands but has little action. Turn 5 Stormfront Pegasus gives Rob some aggression but he is playing quite defensively. Captivating Vampire for Alex is unlikely to be stealing any creatures but one should always play one's rares in Sealed, even if they're Grey Ogres. Rob Excommunicates it regardless but Alex Bells it to hand at the end of the turn. Phantom Beast for Alex gets Mighty Leaped (i.e. killed) and Rob makes an Augury Owl, looking to set up his Bell draws. Rob had discarded his own Phantom Beast earlier, certainly a card I would sideboard out in the blue mirror. Nether Horror For Alex might bring him some offence as Rob has only made fliers so far, evading Alex's Wall of Frost. Rob gets ahead once more with a Jace's Ingenuity, drawing even more cards. He makes a Wall of Frost which actually does something and flies in for 3, reducing Alex to 13. Jace's Erasure looks to do a little bit more this game but Rob has very little respect for the Erasure and Cancels it. Alex has the Mana Leak, however, so it comes down. Rob gets in for another 3 and summons an Air Servant, which gets Doom Bladed. Alex Bells end of turn, turning up the mill. Alex has the Foresee, which Rob Mana Leaks to tap Alex's mana. He pays the 3, keeps all the cards on top and mills Rob for 2 more. Rob attacks in a little more but has the Fireball to Burn Alex to a crisp.

Rob 2 - 0 Alex

ROUND 4; Fu Sheng vs Mark Pinder

Fu is a native Malaysian at Leeds University and brother of a national team member. Mark comes from the Grimsby area and will be running his own Pre-release tomorrow. Fu said he wanted to draw but Mark definitely came to play. Whsipersilk Cloak from Mark was the first play and his turn 4 Giant Spider matched Fu's turn 3 Stormfront Pegasus very effectively. Fu's turn 4 Assault Griffin would normally be very good but he looks shut down at the moment. Greater Basilisk gives Mark something he can begin to swing with, Fu's Palace Guard not being enough to shut it down. The Griffin ate a Doom Blade from Mark and the Basilisk donned the Cloak, clocking Fu for 3. Stone Golem from Fu gives him some aggression, "oh joy" says Mark. Basilisk in once more and a second joins the team. Fu's Magma Phoenix is another guy on board but he still can't attack effectively. Acidic Slime destroys the Stone Golem post-combat but now Fu has a Serra Angel to take its place. Mark attacks with all 3 of his Deathtouch creatures, leaving Fu some difficult options. The Pegasus blocks the Slime, the Palace Guard puts itself in from of the uncloaked Basilisk and Fu takes 3, going to 8. Mark's Gravedigger gets back the Slime but he doesn't have the mana to replay it this turn. Angel vigilances in for Fu, before an Earth Servant (4/8) helps Fu's ground force. Just the Basilisks come in from Mark, the Earth Servant being backed up by a Lightning Bolt to finish off the Basilisk. An Elite Vanguard gives Mark yet another attacker, causing Fu to look for an answer. Not drawing Wall of Fire, Fu scoops up his cards and we move to game 2.

Mark 1 - 0 Fu

2 mulligans for Mark to start the match but his 5 seem alright for him. Fu kept 4 lands, 3 spells and is dismayed at having drawn 2 lands to begin with. His hand is responsive and has the Bolt to kill Mark's Garruk after it has made a Beast. Assault Griffin declares Fu's intention to race and with 2 more cards he is not in a bad position to do so. The Griffin flies in for 3 and then a Stone Golem comes in for Fu. The life totals are high but Mark will need to draw something relevant soon. The Golem is excommunicated (silly religious golems) and a Silvercoat Lion adds to Mark's beats. The Griffin once more gets in for 3 and the Golem gets replayed, only this time it is Pacifismed, seeing the error of its previously-religious ways. Fu brings an Excommunication of his own to deal with the Whitemane Lion and the Beast gets Pacifismed too. Fu explains that he is trying to stymie Mark's draws after Mark questions the play. Assault Griffin number 2 speeds it up for Fu but Mark has found his Incy-Wincy Spider and Fu can only wince himself. The Lion brings Fu to 5 and Mark makes a Yavimaya Wurm to beat Fu before his own life total of 8 is diminished. Fu finds his Sword of Vengeance off the top and equips one Griffin, attacking Mark to 3. Mark desperately sends in the team but Fu blocks the Lion with the 3/2 and the 6/4 with his 5/2 Akroma, taking 2 and going to 3. However it was a bluff and Mark has no defence to Fu's flier.

Mark 1 - 1 Fu

Mark mulligans again but Fu thinks long and hard. He elects to keep but doesn't look confident. Both players develope their mana and Mark makes the first move with turn 4 Garruk, this time untapping 2 lands for protection. Fu makes an Ember Hauler but Mark uses his extensive mana advantage to make a Yavimaya Wurm. Fu Pacifisms it and attacks Garruk to 3 counters but has no other plays. Mark makes a Greater Basilisk and the pain is really being brought to Fu now. The Basilisk gets Excommunicated and the Ember Hauler attacks then sacs to finish off Garruk. The Basilisk sees a second spawning and Fu matches with his Stone Golem, the life totals still very high. Giant Spider for Mark isn't as impressive as it has been and the ground is stalled. Both players continue to lay out lands and Mark uses his Excommunicate on his own Yavimaya Wurm and Fu Reverberates it to get rid of the Basilisk while he was at it. Mark makes a Cloak and doesn't block Fu's Stone Golem. Fu's Stormfront Pegasus is blanked by the Giant Spider but Mark lets the Stone Golem through, going to 12. Mark draws his Basilisk, attacks for 6 and makes the Basilisk, leaving up a single mana. Fu draws Shiv's Embrace and puts it on his Stone Golem. He attacks his Stone Golem and Pegasus into Mark's board, the Spider chump blocking the Golem and so taking Mark to 10. Mark's Wurm picks up the Cloak and he attacks Fu for 9 down to 5 life. Mark Plummets Fu's Golem, takes 2 from the Pegasus and Fu makes a post-combat Griffin. Mark's attack is Safe Passaged and when Fu doesn't draw a Lightning Bolt Mark takes the win.

Mark 2 - 1 Fu

ROUND 5; Craig Stevenson vs Andy Devine

Andy comes back from his round 2 showing with 2 more wins and facing him is former National Champion Craig Stevenson. An all-Hunslet final promises some violence here ;). Andy leads with a turn 2 Sylvan Ranger fixing his mana and passes turn 3 after playing a second Island. "Cancel mana up declares Craig" and right he is too. More lands from both players and the only action is the 1/1 beating down. Andy turn 5's a Cudgel Troll with regeneration mana up, a strong play against Craig's Red-Black deck. Craig Bolts it at the end of Andy's turn, allowing him to Deathmark it during his own. Craig makes a Sword of Vengeance with nothing to equip but when he gets something into play it will surely dominate. Andy makes an Awakener Druid, upgrading his tapped Forest so as to keep this "cancel mana up" and swings for 1 with the Ranger. During Andy's next turn Chandra's Outrage deals with the Druid and then the Forest by proxy, Craig taking 1 more from the Ranger, putting him at 15 to Andy's 18.

Craig summons a Stone Golem during his turn and at the end of that turn Andy casts Jace's Ingenuity to draw 3. It allowed him to draw is second Mountain to cast a Magma Phoenix and the Ranger stays at home for once. The Golem picks up Akroma's Sword and attacks Andy down to 12 (busted sword much) but Andy Ice Cages the Golem on his turn before attacking for 4. Cultivate for Andy draws him 2 more (and casts one for free), thinning his deck slightly. Brittle Effigy for Craig sneaks in and a re-equipped sword knocks off the Ice Cage, allowing another attack from the Golem. When Andy's Phoenix attempted an attack it became exiled due to the Effigy but a post-combat Water Serpent will do nicely too. Craig Vigilances in with the Golem and Andy chumps with the Sylvan Ranger. The Golem tramples over for 5 damage, putting Andy at 1 and asking a good draw step of him. 6 mana makes Inferno Titan for Craig but the sandbagged Cancel makes itself well-known. Andy draws a Juggernaut but cannot attack just yet. It's all for naught though as Craig Act of Treason's the Juggernaut to take the victory.

Craig 1 - 0 Andy

Both players take a mulligan to begin with and Andy goes down another one. Andy has Cancel mana up from turn 3 but neither player is doing anything too interactive with the battlefield for the moment beyond plagueing it with lands. Andy misses land #5 and Cancels Craig's Berserkers of Blood Ridge. Andy draws his 5th land and smacks down a Magma Phoenix. Doom Blade causes each player to take 3 damage and Craig follows it with a 3/2 ground pounder. Andy draws his Jace's Ingenunity and then another 3 cards, recovering from his mulligan. The next turn sees Conundrum Sphinx and Craig's "playing round a mana leak" Chandra's Outrage gets Flashfrozen. The 3/2 attacks into the Sphinx and a post-combat Ember Hauler finishes it off. Andy finally finds a Forest for foraging for a further one with his Sylvan Ranger. The rebought Phoenix comes in once more and Craig is on the back foot. Oh no he isn't, he's got Inferno Titan and kills the Ranger and a Garruk's Companion which Andy had made with his Green mana. Andy swings for 3 in the air then made an Acidic Slime (killing Swamp) and a Manic Vandal. Craig attacked, dealt 3 to the Phoenix which killed Andy's blockers and Craig pumped for the win.

Craig 2 - 0 Andy

Craig wins the Leeds Prerelease!

Guest Article: PTQ Win with Next Level Bant, by Mick Edwards

By Mick Edwards

Having missed out on my chance to play Standard at a more competitive level this year (since I was auto-qualified for Nationals), I was quite worried that the format would have changed to 'whoever has the most expensive mythics wins'. Unfortunately I was a little right. Fortunately for me, fellow Team Leeds member (or maybe he's Team York or something) Chris Vincent was unable to attend the PTQ and kindly offered to lend me some of his mythics. Here is the list I decided to play:

4 Celestial Colonnade

5 Forest

2 Island

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Plains

4 Seaside Citadel

1 Stirring Wildwood

3 Sunpetal Grove

3 Birds of Paradise

1 Borderland Ranger

4 Noble Hierarch

4 Sea Gate Oracle

3 Sphinx of Lost Truths

4 Vengevine

4 Wall of Omens

3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

2 Gideon Jura

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Oblivion Ring

3 Path to Exile

Sideboard:
2 Celestial Purge

2 Day of Judgment

2 Meddling Mage

3 Negate

2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

2 Oust

2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle


Since the PTQ was at Fanboy 3 in Manchester, as well as begging for cards I was also begging for a lift. Kindly Kenny Hall offered to drive via Leeds to pick me and Fu Sheng-Wong up. In the car Kenny told me that riding in his car would bring luck since the past 3 lifts he had given had been a winner and two finalists - I apologised to him and Fu explaining that I would be the one to continue that streak with a win. Fu joked about not bothering to register in that case.

About the deck:
Some of my many reasons for playing this deck were:
Elspeth + Path <3 (editor: it's true, Mick goes to bed with these and Figure of Destiny)
Lots of card draw means more consistency and combined with BoP/Heirach means less mulligans
Brian Kibler won a GP with a similar list
It has the option to play aggro or control depending on the match up (editor again: Mick only plays aggro)

Changes/Unusual Sideboard options:
I decided the Ranger + Scute Mob was good, but not as good as Sphinx of Lost Truths, therefore I cut the Ranger package to make room for an extra Sphinx. This also allowed me to play an extra BoP as a turn 1 mana guy is the ideal start and accelerating into a turn 3 planeswalker is key to winning alot of match ups.
Mythic seemed like the 'deck to beat' and an argueably stronger choice, and my sideboard reflects this with Ousts, Linvala and Day of Judgement. Meddling Mage can also be good against mythic as they have have little removal so it's often like a much better Thought Hemorrhage.

When we arrived at the event and met up with some other members of Team Leeds I realised I needed a 4th Vengevine. I spoke a bit to Seb Parker who told me he had just been hunting around for Vengevines and struggled to find a few so I decided to buy one and quickly scribbled down a decklist in time for Round One.

Round One: Grixis
I won the dice roll and accelerated into a turn 3 Vengevine to bash for 5 as he did nothing until turn 3 when he made a Nighthawk. I decided not to play a turn 4 planeswalker and opted to O-ring his Nighthawk and continue the beats. On turn 4 he Earthquaked away my team so when I dropped 2 creatures to get back vengevine that was pretty much game.
Side: -4 Wall -1 Sphinx LT +2 Purge +2 Negate +1 Sphinx Jwar Isle (I think)
Game two went a similar way from my side: turn 3 Vengevine but with a turn 4 Jace (using +2 to get to 5). I also managed to turn 2 Purge his turn 3 Specter which was nice. Then on his turns 5 and 6 he cast Blightning twice killing Jace and stripping me of my hand. This confused me a little as I had expected him to board Blightning out, but in this game it was surprisingly effective against me - although it didn't matter as that had given me enough time to get beats in with the Vengevine.

Round 2: Aaron Copping with Grixis
Aaron also came with us in Kenny's car so I knew he was Grixis so I was pretty confident after how round one had gone. These games went quite different to round one but ultimately his deck's spot removal wasn't enough to keep up with the many many threats I made. In game two I think he got stuck a little on awkward mana too.

Round 3: UW Control
I dont really remember this round, only that it gave me great confidence that the Bant deck crushes control decks :D
Side: -4 Wall +3 Negate +1 Sphinx Jwar Isle

Round 4: Ben Scoones with Naya Conscription
I knew Ben was playing some kind of Conscription deck so was a little worried when he won the dice roll. He made turn 2 knight but I had turn 2 O-ring. Then he didnt really do anything while I quickly ended the game. I later found out he had triple Sparkmage in hand and was stuck on red mana.
Side: -4 Wall -1 BoP -1 Ranger -1 Sphinx +2 Oust +2 Linvala +2 Day of Judgement +1 Meddling Mage
Game two I had what I thought was the god draw with turn 3 Linvala and Planeswalkers. However, since he won the dice roll he got to play his turn 3 Linvala first, meaning I was mana screwed and he had the win before I could get an answer to Linvala or a 4th land.
I game 3 I made a misplay (in hindsight) that cost me the round. Although it was game 3 I hadn't seen any red yet (though he might have played a Ravine in game 2) so I assumed he was a more conventially mythic deck but with a splash. So when I made a turn 2 Meddling Mage I named 'Baneslayer Angel', then immediately regretted it. Baneslayer Angel is usually one of the best cards to name against Mythic as it comes down easier than Sovs, but changes the board to make it very dificult to win through giving them the time to get the Sovereigns/win. However, most of the less conventional Mythic decks dont even run Baneslayer. After he played turn 3, 4 Sparkmages and turn 5 Blodbraid into sSarkmage he ripped apart my mana (and Mage) and I quickly realised I had named the wrong card.

3-1

Round 5: Turbofog
This round was quite a slog and one I'd had no practice against with Bant so wasn't sure if it was a good match up or not. Fortunately game one I was able to go ultra aggro with Vengevines, which seemed the best way to win.
Side: -4 Wall -1 Gideon +3 Negate +2 Meddling Mage
Game 2 I was able to get some advantage by discarding double Venegvine in my cleanup, but made yet another Meddling Mage blunder by naming Angelsong. The correct card to name against Turbofog is Time Warp and he proved it by 'going infinite' casting 4 Time Warps (+1 with Twincast) then discarding Emrakul to shuffle them back in. I conceded to get chance to play a third game.
Game 3 I managed to win in the first game of extra time. This time I named the right card with the Mage, he even cast Angelsong in response this time (expecting me to name the Song). I confused everyone a bit by calling for an oracle wording on Angelsong (since my oponent was using foreign cards). I was 99% sure I knew the wording on Angelsong, but knew where was one fog effect that meant you could still attack planeswalkers. Checking these things costs nothing and the judges are there to help (editor: quite right. also, it's Safe Passage).

Round 6: UW control
As with Round 3, this deck crushes control in general. In game two I even played for the long game and managed to keep all three planeswalkers so there was nothing he could do.

Round 7: ID
As I was 5-1 at this point I gladly excepted the ID. My oponent was 5-0-1 so technically could have played to try and knock me out. I was glad of the spare hour to go for a Burger King to celebrate making another top 8 at Fanboy.

Quarterfinals: Some Scottish guy (not Guy) called Andy with UW control
For some reason he thought I was playing red (he said it was the red sleeves). Then I managed to confuse him further with a start that looked like it could have been Naya/Mythic. Eventually I lost game 1 because I played too aggressively, being too careless with my planeswalkers when I probably could have used their card advantage for victory.
Side: -4 Wall +3 Negate +1 Sphinx Jwar Isle
I got a fairly fast win and he 'punted'. This caused him to get really annoyed at himself to the point of slamming the table in anger. The Situation: I had lethal on the board including a manland (I think it was Borderland Ranger + Elspeth). He had 6 lands (1 was Tectonic Edge). He made Gideon and made me attack it, so I O-ringed
Gideon and swung for the win. Aparently he could have played Jace instead and bounced the ranger and blown up my wildwood so I can see why he was annoyed.
He never really gained control in the 3rd game as I just played threat after threat. When he knew was dead he tried to claim I had tapped my mana wrong to make a Gideon I shouldn't have. This annoyed me as I had made special care to show clearly which mana I was using for what as I knew it was a mistake that could easily happen. Fortunately a judge had been watching the whole time (and many other people), but the guy even had the cheek the argue with the judge and claim that the judge hadn't actually seen!

As the our game in the Quarters took longer than the other three, Amar Dattani (my semis opponent) had seen how the game had ended and told me that I could have as much time as I wanted to relax before we started. This was very nice of him as he had probably been waiting around for some time.

Semis: Amar Dattani with Naya Conscription
The first 2 games were fairly straight forward. He had a great hand game one and flattened me with a giant BoP. Game two I had Linvala to help me out, followed by a Sphinx and a Gideon which I used to make his 2/2 Knights have to attack into my bigger flyers :D
Game 3 was much more close. He made no play until turn 3, and had a similar multiple Sparkmage hand to Ben in round 3. I also had a slow hand, too many tapped lands (and him shooting my mana guy) meant that my first real play was Day of Judgement to get rid of the Sparkmages. He followed up with another Sparkmage (from a Bloodbraid I think) so was quickly able to deal with my Elspeth. A second Day of Judgement from me allowed me to begin to stabalise on 3 life since his Bloodbraids + pings had been adding up. I then drew mostly card draw so gave him a worrying amount of time to topdeck a Sovereigns to finish end the game. I eventually Ousted a Linvala to buy me the time to win. After the game he flipped the top card to reveal Sovereigns so the Oust really made the difference.

Finals: Tom "End Boss" Harle with Next Level Bant
Game one took a long time and Tom made me realise I may have been too hasty to dismiss Ranger of Eos as he used 2 to gain huge army that eventually swarmed round my team which was about half the size. Before the game I had decided not to board in Day of Judgements but based on how game one had ended I quickly changed my mind.
Side: -4 Wall -1 bop -1 Sphinx +2 Oust +2 Linvala +2 Day of Judgement
Game two I won by being able to stick and protect more planeswalkers, I was slightly surprised by Toms sideboard choices though as he had brought in Deprives, Negates and several Jace Beleren. I personally don't like bringing in counterspells in against this matchup as it doesnt suit the way I play the deck and I find the Bant deck has a lot of solid creature based threats that Negate obviously doesn't answer.
Game three I kept something amazing like 3 land, Heirarch, Oust, Jace, Elspeth while Tom was not so lucky. He mulled to 6 before playing turn 1 Scute Mob.
Although I expected the game to end quickly in my favor, since he got stuck on lands. However while I was making planeswalkers he was answering them with Deprives, Negate, O-ring etc. On Turn 8 I cast Day of Judgement + Gideon to put him further behind on mana, Then he finally started drawing lands, but this meant he had stopped drawing his answers so I was able to kick Sphinx of Lost Truth for the win.

Editor: Mick didn't supply an ending so I assume he's very happy to have won the PTQ and wishes all members of Team Leeds, and to a lesser extent the other readers of this blog, luck in their future PTQs to join him in his trip to Amsterdam. Mick's too cool for real endings.

Pro Tour San Juan - *182nd place*

By Wagz

Not the most astounding of positions but one I am reasonably chuffed with for my first Pro Tour. I want to write this article to give a taste of the Pro Tour to one who has not yet experienced it, so there will be less Tournament Report and more story if I get it right ;).

My trip started way back in January but began in earnest on Monday 24th. Matt Light had come up to stay the night before and we went over to Manchester to catch our plane to Puerto Rico. There was a long stop in Newark where we had to wait for several hours but it gave us a chance to walk about after the long flight and we met up with Manveer Samra and Stuart Wright at the gate. We chatted for a while about the format and had a bit of a laugh getting to know each other. After a while we got bored of the gate not being called and it not going up on the display so we went to check what was going on. Turns out they're a bit more `relaxed' about domestic flights and didn't bother to call it, so we had in fact missed our flight. After a bit of controlled panicking on my part we sorted out a hotel room for the night which was close-by and had a free taxi service. We were (unchargedly) put on the first flight the next morning and finally arrived at San Juan early on the Tuesday afternoon.


Matt and I went to our hotel, leaving the others to go back to theirs, and we shared a taxi with an American who had the intelligence to work out we were Magic players :). We met a different American in the hotel lobby who was there with his Mum and this guy ended up hanging out with us a lot as he didn't really know anyone else it seemed. Good for us as he was a nice guy and made our hotel room 4 people for playtesting. Our room-mate Mark Mc Govern was waiting for us at the hotel and we quickly made our acquaintances.


San Juan is beautiful in parts and slightly slummy in parts. The natural elements are truly wonderful and there are some very nice rustic-style buildings, but there is also a lot of more ghetto-style areas. I didn't feel unsafe anywhere except inside some of the taxis at night, but I did feel like I might have hurt myself on broken glass or something. Due to it being Tropical Storm Season we didn't venture too far into the countryside or anything as it accelerates from sunny to downpour in seconds a couple of times a day. Another thing - the sun was very warm but not stiflingly so. I don't enjoy the sun in England as I feel suffocated but in Puerto Rico it felt a lot more natural.


The rest of the Great Britain team were in a rented flat a short taxi ride away (and a long walk, we tried it). We had a bit of trouble getting to them on day 1 as there is little phone signal there and the person who had rented them the flat was not supposed to do so, leading the security guards to be hesitant to rush to our aid. Also staying in the same complex were Ben Rubin, Brian Kibler, Pat Chapin et. al., you will meet these people at the pro tour so don't be weird about it. The advantage to hanging out with so many people at once are twofold: 1) there is always something to do - football, draft, playtest, drink beer etc and 2) someone will have a deck you want to play. In our case it was Marco's UW Loldrazi control deck which peaked our interest. Mike Flores is currently advertising this as Dan Gardner's deck, lol.

We changed the sideboard a little bit after testing showed a few of their cards weren't quite up to scratch. They disagreed with our picks but at the end of the testing process it's just about personal preference anyway. Here's the list:

4 Eldrazi Temple

2 Eye of Ugin

4 Celestial Colonnade

4 Sejiri Refuge

6 Island

1 Misty Rainforest

4 Plains

1 Tectonic Edge

2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

4 Sea Gate Oracle

2 Sphinx of Lost Truths

2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

4 Wall of Omens

4 All is Dust

1 Day of Judgment

4 Everflowing Chalice

1 Into the Roil

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Oust

2 See Beyond

Sideboard:
3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Narcolepsy

2 Domestication

2 Perimeter Captain

2 Tectonic Edge

3 Spell Pierce


The only real differences are that they have Spreading Seas over our Tectonic Edge and they have Gideon Jura. We like casting our All is Dusts so we didn't go in for these permanent-based spells because of the tension they cause. I would have played another Narcolepsy over one of the Perimeter Captains given another chance, but I was definitely happy with Spell Pierce over Cancel as it costs about 3000 less mana. This format really wants Negate :/.


We went to the venue the day before the Pro Tour for the Pro Players Party. This typically involves a buffet, some music, some drinks, a free t-shirt, a free draft set, and tables to play on. The food was nice and the view was beautiful. It was during this evening that I really reflected on how much of a good thing™ being On Tour is. If you manage to get there some day then I advise you enjoy the moment. Don't necessarily go out of your way to do things you don't want to do but have fun doing what you are doing and be happy that you are where you are.

On Day 1 we went to the venue to write up our decklists and join the player meeting. I had my deck all sleeved up and sorted the night before so it was just a case of writing it up, checking it and buying the last couple of cards from the dealers. I sat down for the player meeting (this is when all the players sit down before round 1 pairings are announced for the Head Judge to make a few announcements about what they expect from players etc) opposite Guillaume Wafo-Tapa but a quick look around confirmed that being next to somebody famous is pretty normal at this level of event.

Richard Hagon came by us on his usual Podcasting run and interviewed us both, asking if I would be up for the challenge of facing Wafo-Tapa round 1. I said no, since although I was pretty sure he was classic UW and our deck was good against that, Wafo-Tapa is good against everyone regardless. I go to find pairings for round 1 but somebody's head is covering my opponent's name. It's usually good form to check this to help make sure you're at the right table but I could see my name and table number so I just went with it. I sit down facing towards the timer and then Hall of Famer Rafael Levy comes and sits down opposite me.

Ouch.

Thankfully he was extremely friendly and chatty and I had a really good time playing him. We had very clear communication all through the game, confirming life totals a few times (we had a few discrepancies but I was always right :)) and I managed to get through a win via Felidar Sovereign beating down into his Monument Green guys. This was a great first match for me as I pulled out a win against a Hall of Famer and I really felt like I could actually compete at this level.

I won't bore you with a round-by-round report since this is not what I intended to write about, but to summarise: I lost to Robert Van Medevoort (Vampires), beat a random (UW), lost to Petr Brozek (Brozek Red obv), beat a random (UW) then in the draft beat Tomoharu Saitou (UBr control), lost to David Ochoa (Ur levellers) and finally lost to a random (RG tokens). The last match and the Vampires match were pretty unwinnable but I punted slightly against Ochoa (basically played for the second best line rather than the best line) and drew infi-lands against Brozek. I also kept a speculative anti-control hand against Vampires game 1 and mulled to 4 game 2, so I feel like I had a bunch of opportunities to make day 2 run away from me.

Day 2 I didn't want to play any real life events as my rating was qualifying me for Nats and I didn't want to ruin it. I joined the Magic Online Live Series Championship on a whim and got through the first round with a terrible WR control deck with only really Keening Stone and Mammoth Umbra on a flier to win the game, with Hedron-Field Purists, Lightmine Field and a bunch of removal spells to save me from dying. I had a Hellion Eruption if I clogged the board up but I was slightly creature-light and often sided it out (you can see me playing the matches in some of the feature coverage). In the Semi-Finals I drafted the nut-high UW levellers deck with Lucas Siow on my left drooling at the card quality. I then got flooded+screwed to go straight out of contention but it happens so I walked away calm. I also got a few Team Drafts in and watched people play in various side events.


On the Sunday (top 8 day) I did a survey and entered the Champion's Challenge twice to get myself a free draft set, got my picture taken with Ulamog, the Infinite Gayer and did a small judge questions thing to get myself a foil Broodmate Dragon before a few more Team Drafts. We cubed at the guys' flat that night and then prepared for coming home the next day.

So, I had a few unlucky moments but basically the Pro Tour is the most fun thing ever and I hope this gave people an insight into what goes on. Don't beat me in the next PTQ, because I want to go again :)

Drafting with Team Leeds: Rise of the Eldrazi

By Wagz

Hi all, this weekend I got 7 of my good local friends together for a draft with some boosters I have of the latest set. While I won't provide an in-depth tournament report, I will give you the decklists and the results for you to draw your own conclusions from:

Results:
1) Rob Wagner
2) Rob Catton
3) Andy Devine
4) Chris Vincent
5) Jim Marlow
6) Rick Meeson
7) Mick Edwards
8) Robertas Aluzas

Match Results:

Round 1:
Rob W 2-0 Robbie
Chris 2-1 Mick
Rob C 2-1 Jim
Rick 0-2 Andy

Round 2:
Rob W 2-0 Andy
Chris 1-2 Rob C
Robbie 1-2 Rick
Mick 1-2 Jim

Round 3:
Rob W 2-0 Rob C
Chris 2-1 Rick
Jim 1-2 Andy
Mick 2-0 Robbie

Decklists (not including basic lands):

Rob Wagner:
1 Zulaport Enforcer

2 Goblin Tunneler

2 Kiln Fiend

1 Tuktuk the Explorer

1 Gloomhunter

1 Battle-Rattle Shaman

2 Escaped Null

1 Zof Shade

1 Valakut Fireboar

1 Sarkhan the Mad

1 Devastating Summons

2 Vendetta

1 Virulent Swipe

2 Last Kiss

2 Surreal Memoir

1 World at War

1 Heat Ray


Rob Catton:
1 Overgrown Battlement

1 Mul Daya Channelers

1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Rage Nimbus

1 Sporecap Spider

2 Vent Sentinel

1 Ondu Giant

2 Kozilek's Predator

1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

1 Flame Slash

2 Ancient Stirrings

1 Ogre's Cleaver

1 Warmonger's Chariot

1 Growth Spasm

1 Snake Umbra

1 Bear Umbra

1 Heat Ray

2 Eldrazi Temple


Andy Devine:
1 Enclave Cryptologist

2 Skywatcher Adept

1 Caravan Escort

1 Kor Line-Slinger

1 Ikaral Outrider

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

3 Halimar Wavewatch

1 Hada Spy Patrol

1 Dawnglare Invoker

1 Venerated Teacher

1 Hedron-Field Purists

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Smite

1 Guard Duty

2 Hyena Umbra

1 Deprive

1 Time of Need

1 Drake Umbra

1 Evolving Wilds


Chris Vincent:
1 Renegade Doppelganger

1 Overgrown Battlement

3 Sea Gate Oracle

1 Phantasmal Abomination

1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Merfolk Seascout

2 Kozilek's Predator

1 Nema Siltlurker

1 Artisan of Kozilek

1 Gelatinous Genesis

1 Might of the Masses

1 Naturalize

1 See Beyond

2 Narcolepsy

1 Regress

1 Awakening Zone

1 Drake Umbra

2 Dreamstone Hedron


Jim Marlow:
3 Zulaport Enforcer

1 Null Champion

1 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Lavafume Invoker

1 Lagac Lizard

1 Zof Shade

3 Battle-Rattle Shaman

1 Valakut Fireboar

2 Emrakul's Hatcher

1 Pestilence Demon

1 Hand of Emrakul

3 Last Kiss

2 Wrap in Flames

1 Heat Ray


Rick Meeson:
1 Joraga Treespeaker

2 Soul's Attendant

2 Stalwart Shield-Bearers

2 Nest Invaders

1 Ikaral Outridre

1 Umbra Mystic

2 Aura Gnarlid

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Prey's Vengeance

1 Demystify

1 Hyena Umbra

1 Naturalize

2 Eland Umbra

1 Boar Umbra

1 Gravity Well

2 Repel the Darkness


Mick Edwards:
1 Null Champion

1 Runed Servitor

2 Bloodthrone Vampire

1 Gloomhunter

1 Arrogant Bloodlord

4 Cadaver Imp

2 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Soulsurge Elemental

1 Bala Ged Scorpion

1 Virulent Swipe

2 Staggershock

1 Last Kiss

1 Surreal Memoir

2 Consume the Meek

1 Corpsehatch

1 Eldrazi Conscription


Robertas Aluzas:
2 Skywatcher Adept

1 Enclave Cryptologist

2 Champion's Drake

2 Halimar Wavewatch

1 Nirkana Cutthroat

1 Sea Gate Oracle

1 Guard Gomazoa

2 Venerated Teacher

1 Merfolk Skyscout

1 Crab Umbra

1 Emerge Unscathed

1 Distortion Strike

1 Ogre's Cleaver

1 See Beyond

1 Puncturing Light

1 Eel Umbra

1 Narcolepsy

1 Survival Cache

1 Reality Spasm