On Saturday, the 31st of May I got to participate in the second round of Pauper Hassel in Magdeburg. I once again had my Familiars with me: It was the exact same list as for the Common Cause tournament in Leipzig two weeks prior, since I didn’t get to put anything new in. I have set out to always strive for better relative results whenever I’ve achieved some personal record in tournament, which this time was making Top 16.
Match 1 was against a comrade from Leipzig on White Weenies:
Game 1 he unfortunately flooded very badly and so it was more of a non-game. Still, it was always gave me quite the rush to block his creatures, expecting a Guardian’s Pledge to completely blow me out, only for him to play a land and pass. Phew…
Game 2 the math didn’t work out in my favour and Guardian’s Pledge absolutely broke my back while I didn’t hold up interaction.
Game 3 was actually quite a bit of back and forth (considering there is not a lot of forth to be expected from the Familiars side). At some point he tapped out so I was good to go off…2:1
After the tournament he once again reiterated how much he loathes the Familiars deck, having played Pauper for about 8 years and having never liked the shell, but I happily took the abuse since he was so kind to take us all home to Leipzig in his bus. ^^
For Match 2 the impossible happened: THE MIRROR! This was quite significant to me since seeing another Familiars player out in the wild is already so cool. And surprisingly, the mirror is very exciting to play. For those interested, it mostly revolves around depriving your opponent of their Sunscape Familiar while protecting your own and accumulating advantage this way.
My opponent was also very new to the deck (3 days in) and didn’t know a lot of the core mechanics yet (like flickering your Mulldrifter with the Evoke trigger on the stack after resolving the draw two), so it was very fun to share a few insights into the play patterns with him after our games.
Game 1 he unfortunately couldn’t draw any other land but Mortuary Mire for the first few hands, so he mulliganned to four while I kept a cozy seven….it was over quickly.
Game 2 was a bit more grindy, but I was able to practice what I preach and deny him his Familiars while keeping mine around and was soon able to combo over him…2:0
My Match 3 was against Poison Storm and unfortunately rather boring. Both games I kept solid hands (6-7 cards, two of which were lands and the rest spells along a nice curve), but couldn’t manage to draw a single land until turn 7 or later and was therefore not able to combo faster, which is how to win matchups like these…0:2
Match 4 was against Mono U Faeries:
Game 1 was a bit of back and forth, but I was able to resolve an early Mystic and after making 4 birds, my opponent scooped.
Game 2 was off to an alright start, but my opponent was at each relevant spot able to bottleneck me super hard by holding up just enough interaction to outlive my attempts at countering their spells. Well played!
Game 3 was a real slug-fest. I gained a bunch of life off a God Pharao’s Faithful, but my life total got continuously chipped at with little flying pests. Eventually it was my turn, the fourth turn of overtime, and I was missing a single mana to combo, which felt super bad. I was still able to play solitaire with myself for a good while to at least not die on their last swing. It turns out they also held up a Dispel for my High Tide, so going off was never on the table…1:1
Match 5 was against Dimir Control:
This match is best summarized by the rolling eyes emoji: I couldn’t resolve a single meaningful thing and when I did, it was instantly killed to 2-for-1 me. I guess that’s what you get for playing combo. ^^
Game 1 all of my spells get countered until my opponent so generously decides to let a Mulldrifter resolve. Of course, it was promptly sent to the afterlife when I tried to Ephemerate it: How foolish my elation had been! Shortly thereafter I followed my beloved to the graveyard.
Game 2 nothing resolved again. At some point I was able to defend my Sunscape Familiar on the stack by using THREE (!) Prohibits. The following turn they tap out for a Lorien Revealed and when the turn passed to me, I just went for the combo, risking a Snuff Out. My gamble was rewarded when I was able to go to 2*10^16 life, which discouraged my opponent from continuing the game.
Game 3 I was, and I hate to repeat myself, again not able to resolve a single thing. Every time we fought over one of my spells, they had exactly one more counterspell than I did….1:2
Match 6 against Mono Red Burn was easily the funkiest match of the day:
Game 1 I was on the play and kept a really solid seven: Island, Ash Barrens, Counterspell, 2 Prohibit, Sunscape Familiar, Meeting of Minds. I played the Island and unfortunately turned off my brain for the next game action, because in my opponent’s end step I cycled the Ash Barrens for another Island…this unsurprisingly left me stranded on two blue mana with 3 Counterspells. Good thing for me was that my opponent then exclusively drew lands, so countering what little they had to put on the stack was enough of a stall until turn 8, when I drew my next land. At around the same they also started drawing non-lands again, so we were finally able to actually play the game. From here on it was rather grindy: They killed my Familiars with their burn spells and I Ghostly Flickered my Mortuary Mire to get them back, which I eventually did, leading to a quick combo kill.
Game 2 they were really going at it with the aggressive plays, which I did my best to hold up against with control spells, most prominently killing their Kessig Flamebreather, so my Counterspells would at least trade 1-for-1. I did the foolish thing and tapped out at 14 life on turn 5, which was adequately rewarded with exactsies to my face.
Game 3 they kept a one-lander, while I kept Counterspells and quickly drew into an Archaeomancer. I can’t recall them even resolving a single impactful spell except for one Demand Answers…2:1
I ended up in 12th place with a 3:2:1 record, which also was a new personal record, and I met the goal I set myself before to place in the Top 16, but I had kind of hoped to place in the Top 10 after seeing the prizes; they were nothing too fancy, just a few playsets of cards I am particularly fond of. Regardless, it was a very enjoyable day with great company and I will definitely try to make it to the next one.
When it comes to my list, I’m excited to test out 1 or 2 copies of Nature’s Chant in the sideboard (to crack Spellbombs and the like when it’s convenient for me) as well as Circle of Protection: Blue for the Terror matchup.