As a long time Pauper enjoyer but only occasional player, now is the time to write my first blog entry on my experience on the biggest ever Pauper Tournament in Germany. I think I have read all blog posts so far and love the pictures in mind that unfold, when reliving the best of Paper Pauper experiences – but so far I always had enough excuses to avoid to do the full write-up. But not so now!
Beforehand I want to say, that the whole tournament was an absolute dream – big ups to everybody involved in organizing, advertising, setting up the video, preparing the prices, putting up the venue etc. etc. – it has once again showed, what an incredible bunch of people have come together in the Pauper to the People Crew!
Before the event I
had spent several sleepless evenings, wondering about what deck to
play, what matchups to prepare for and what, whatever the deck,
should be the 15th sideboard card. I had been trying out different
Kor Skyfisher
Variations, U Fae and U Terror with middling results
beforehand and decided to return to good ol’ Grixis Affinity, which
had served me well at Common Cause in May with a Top 16 finish. Back
then I had been playing two copies of Pactdoll Terror
in the Main to
stabilize against red decks. More or less last second I decided to go
with the time and try out the Black Mages Rod technology, as I
already felt quite secure against the suite of Burn decks and wanted
to have a solution in the Ichor Wellspring
/draw two mirrors. I was
debating to prepare harder for combo decks, which had been quite
present in the Lega Pauper Lipsia and especially because High Tide
had given me two rough defeats at the end of otherwise succesful
tournaments. This would have meant running Metallic Rebukes in the
Main and some Duresses in the Sideboard, but I dropped that idea last
minute to go for a pretty stock list and sideboard, as I expected
more midrange and less combo.
Here is the list:
https://mtgdecks.net/Pauper/grixis-affinity-decklist-by-lou-anton-hauser-2672482
(Unfortunately, when writing this report I noticed, that apparently I
didn’t save this last change in my Spicerack Decklist, so in the
online decklist I still had two Duress
in the list, instead of the
Extract a Confessions. I had handed in the correct paper decklist,
but neither I nor the judges noticed it – I am really sorry about
this mistake!)
Anyhow – the only
„spice“ in the list was a one off Faerie Macabre
in the
Sideboard, to be extra prepared against Spy Decks and in the Blood
Fountain Mirror. The Card ended up helping somewhere completely
different, but more on this in a few seconds.
On to the match: As
usual I start off in a hurry beforehand, making last minute fixes to
the deck (I had registered 4 Hydroblast
and noticed last second, that
I had put 3 Hydroblast
and 1 Blue Elemental Blast
into the Board, but
I found it luckiliy) and then rode to the venue with my good friend
and long term Pauper companion Atte. Arriving at the venue was a
blast already, as basically all Friends I had made playing Magic were
around and the vibes were super good, sun was shining and I was
absolutely stoked to play a whole long day of Pauper.
Round 1 vs Castro on High Tide, on the draw
Pairings are up and
we sit down for the first round. My opponent is a super nice guy. But
he starts the game with Island into Preordain
. Even though my hopes
were high, a feeling of dread trickles into my thoughts. This
probably means: High Tide. I immediately regret my decision to take
out the combo hate and my hopes start to dwindle – please don’t
let it start like this. My hand was reasonable with a good curve and
two Refurbished Familiars, but game one is pretty difficult. Turn two
he plays a Merchant Scroll
and there is no question – I am about to
get tided. I play my familiars, draw my cards and when I get him
close enough to lethal, he starts comboing off. In the process of
comboing he goes down to only one card in hand + two Psychic
Puppetry, so in hope of him fizzling I watch the process, he finds
Peer Through Depth with Peer Through Depth, finds Ideas Unbound
and
so forth and I proceed to lose game one.
I board in 5
Pyroblast
and one Faerie Macabre
and proceed to win game two quite
clearly with some Familiars and 2 Pyroblasts and a costly blunder on
his side, missing that I had an untapped red land available after his
Gigadrows.
Game three I think I
had one Pyroblast
in the starting hand and quickly draw the second
one. I counter a Pieces of the Puzzle
and two turns later a hard cast
Lorien Revealed, whilst playing some Rods and Familiars. I get him
down to quite a low life total but have got no more counter magic in
hand. My only Interation is a Faerie Macabre
. He is forced to try to
combo off, but is always constrained on mana and cards and is
eventually forced to clear a Brainstorm
with one Stream of Thought
.
We both realise, that he cannot loop his deck and generate enough
mana for the Kill if I have the Faerie Macabre
exiling one Stream of
Thought – which I have. I gain hope – maybe I can steal this one.
Or at least that’s what I think. He then declares, that he thinks,
there is a way to play around it. I am confused and kind of
frightened. My regained faith is dwindling. He works his way through
his deck. He puts Stream of Thought
on the Stack. I discard Faerie
Macabre, exiling the other Stream. With the first copy of Stream of
Thought on the Stack, he shuffles Muddle the Mixture
back into his
deck of roughly 10 cards, to then cast Peer Through Depth trying to
find the Muddle to counter the original Copy of Stream of Thought
to
then be able to shuffle it back into the deck…
Pause… He looks at the top five cards… there is no Muddle. Five minutes in over time and in the first extra turn I win. I am relieved, but I am trembling.
Game 2 vs Zimone on Flickertron
Due to overtime
there is basically no break before round two, I am matched against
fellow PttP Player Zimone, they are on Flicker Tron. I am still
stressed to the max from last game and my body is nearly shaking, I
don’t know if from stress or from cold. I put on my super warm
jacket and we get ready for the match. Zimone is playing a super nice
all altered Deck, but begins with a slow start with Tron nowhere in
sight. I fiend Rods and Refurbs and most importantly all three
Spellbombs, blanking the Mnemonic Wall
and buying me time, before the
lock can be assembled. The second Black Mages Rod seals the deal and
I quickly ping her down. I board in 5 Pyroblast
and a Faerie Macabre
again. They have to mulligan to five and I can start with a seven
with two Pyroblasts in Hand. I snap off the first Pyroblast
at first
chance and counter an Impulse, making them stumble a bit in their
next turn and letting me build up some pressure. They topdeck into
tron a little bit later, but their Mystical Teachings
is met by my
second Pyroblast
, letting me push through the last damage necessary
to finish the game for an unexpectedly quick 2-0 and giving me some
well needed time to recover and have some lunch.
Game 3 vs Jannes on Grixis Affinity
Jannes is another
local, and even though we haven’t played before, I know that he at
least used to play Grixis Affinity. A few moments later it is
apparent: we are playing the mirror. While I find good mana and all
the Rods and all the card draw, he finds Makeshift Munitions
, Refurbs
and Myr Enforcers. I am fighting to stabilize on board but have to
make a few unprofitable blocks, and slowly get dwindled down by their
pings and getting closer and closer to death by Munitions. I never
have enough Mana available to re-equip the Rods because I am drawing
through my deck like a madman. Jannes doesn’t have any Artifacts to
sacrifice for value, so he is forced to sacrifice either lands or
creatures to get rid of my Heroes and Rats so I still have some hope
to turn the corner. He tries to Krark into Toxin my first Enforcer,
which I can bargain away, bringing me back to a little more
comfortable 15 life. In the end I concede at six life, with all four
Reckoners Bargain cast and with a little less than thirty minutes
remaining on the clock.
I am getting a bit nervous to time out, knowing that I need to win two more games.
Game two I don’t
really remember, except that we both had rods in play and I found
better mana and cycled through my deck quite easily. Game three
starts with roundabout fifteen minutes on the clock and I am playing
pedal to the metal. We both start on double Refurb and Rod, we are
both trying to race but I manage to find more threats and removal,
allowing me to push my gameplan. At 10 Jannes decides not to block my
Enforcer with a rod and a Refurb with his Hero Token, putting him
down to three and in lethal range of my Galvanic Blast
. We got there!
Round 4 vs Luca on Gruul Ramp
I am matched against
Luca, who has been mastering Gruul Ramp in every economy, even in a
world dominated by Broodscales he has put up impressive results with
the deck, so I am pretty sure to be facing a big bunch of huge
Monsters. So that means, KCS + deathtouch or bust, right?! My first
seven is absolutely reasonable, with lots of card draw and some
Refurbs, but no interaction whatsoever. Luca starts on the play and
is gracious to me and starts off rather slow, building up his mana
and rumbling in the first two turns. I manage to find a Toxin
Analysis and start eating away at his hand with my Refurbs. He lands
a Chrysalis, quickly followed up with a Hydra X=5 on a Spawn and
starts on pushing. I find a Galvanic Blast
and trade Refurb+Blast for
the Chrysalis but fail to find the KCS. After taking one more hit I
decide that I’ll try to trade Refurb+Toxin for the first half of
the Hydra – but Luca responds with a Ram Through
for the full
blowout and killing me with exactsies – gg rough beats. I board in
two Extract a confessions for a Spellbomb and the Munitions.
Game two we both
start on six, but Luca starts slow again and I can get on the board
with a Rod, an Enforcer and two Refurbs pretty quickly. He can only
play one 3/3 a turn and I start swinging out with the team, even
trading off my Enforcers against his 3/3, having a Blood Fountain
at
the ready. I Take Down
game two and for game three we are asked to
the feature match area.
He lands an early
Chrysalis into a Jewel Thief
while I am still setting up my board. He
follows it up with a small Hydra on the Jewel Thief
, which I can
answer with a Galvanic Blast
. I then stabilize the Board with an
Enforcer and a KCS. With no profitable attacks he is forced to stay
back and even commit further into my KCS, allowing me to draw some
cards and empty his hand with my Refurbs. With the discard on his
last card in hand he is forced to play his Ram Through
, making the
Chrysalis fight my KCS – so this forces the action on my side. I
don’t have the deathtouch combo and no Artifacts to sac profitably,
so I decide on sacrificing a Rod, a Land and a Spellbomb, to clear
his board except for the Chrysalis and letting my Enforcer and
Refurfbs survive. I then proceed to draw two cards, find an Extract a
confession and remove his Chrysalis. He draws a Land for turn and
concedes against my full hand and board presence. I am super stoked
to take another one down, after these three super tight and enjoyable
games. But immediately after walking away from the table it slowly
crawls into my consciousness… I draw two. Why did I draw two? I was
not supposed too, but in the stress of the action I somehow messed
up, as mostly in this deck you do not draw one, you draw two… I was
pretty bummed to make such a mistake to my advantage, and
additionally on camera against a good friend. At least it was not
game deciding as I was already in a comfortable position and would
have drawn the card a turn later. Nonetheless it annoyed me to throw
shadow on these otherwise super nice matches. But anyhow – the show
must go on.
Round 5 against Moritz on Jund Wildfire
Again, another PttP
local – but now with an undoubtedly bad matchup for me. To make
things worse, I know that Moritz is a super sharp player and won’t
be making any mistakes to take advantage of. I land an early Rod, we
both exchange some Refurbs, but no Chrysalis from Moritz. Instead
several Landscapes are being cycled, in search for action. I slowly
dwindle down his life-total, cycling through my deck at high velocity
while he fails to find his Wellsprings and has to trade of serious
resources in order to fire off his draw two’s. When he finds the
first Chrysalis I can trade it off with a Rat and a Galvanic Blast
,
always having the Spellbomb at the ready to block any recursion. Once
I put the Makeshift Munitons on the stack he is forced to concede.
To be honest, the details of the second game are lost in the blur of a long day of tournament. I cycled through my deck whilst pinging away with my Rod, whilst Moritz was struggling super hard to find any action, and flooding out pretty badly. In the end I managed to hit him for five with an Enforcer with a Rod and putting him dead on board. I can barely believe it.
Round 6 against Günni on Mono Red Rally
My next opponent is
another local legend, Günni, an above average Lightning Bolt
enjoyer, who has been playing Pauper for a good ten years, always
keeping his calm and playing to his outs perfectly. I was really
stoked to face him in such a high stakes match, but also glad, that I
was very well prepared for the matchup. He starts on the play with a
Percussionist, I play a bridge, he follows up with a rally, I follow
with untap land into Blood Fountain
+ KCS – the absolute dream. I
decide to take the next hit of three, bringing me down to 13, forcing
him to find removal for my KCS before he can play to the board any
further. Instead, he plays a Reckless Impulse
, finding a Galvanic
Blast and another Percussionist – and no third land. Next turn I
get to drop an Enforcer and keeping a Galvanic Blast
in Hand - I have
now established full control over the battlefield, exactly as I had
imagined. In his turn, he put’s the Percussionist on the stack, so
I am forced to pop the KCS to prevent him from getting metalcraft in
order to protect my Enforcer. With a second KCS in hand I can take
over the board and swiftly close out the game.
After sideboarding,
I am even better prepared: 4 Hydroblast
, 2 Breath Weapon
and one
Unexpected Fangs
come into the mix. Between the rounds we are joking
about the matchup and discussing about how many tomb raiders are
necessary to assuredly win the game. We agree on three Tomb Raiders
and a Great Furnace
. We proceed to draw our hands, I have a pretty
perfect seven, with three lands, a Breath Weapon
, a KCS and a Rod.
Günni Mulligans two six. Günni Mulligans to five, laughs, and
keeps. I feel invincible.
Great Furnace
, Tomb
Raider. 18. My turn, I play my only red Bridge. He plays another Tomb
Raider, attacks. 14. No land drop for Günni. I go to my turn and
play a Vault of Whispers
and a Rod. He attacks, I trade with a Tomb
Raider, go to 12. He then plays a land – Burning Tree Emissary into
Cast into the Fire
my Bridge – my only red source. Suddenly, I
don’t feel invincible anymore. I play a Blood Fountain
and my
second bridge, it is blue black. He plays ANOTHER Cast into Fire and
hits me down to 8. I rummage away my blood and manage to find another
red bridge. There is still hope – I am not dead yet! He goes to his
turn and drops ANOTHER Goblin Tomb Raider
and hits me down to 2.
I got to my turn,
play a Vault of Whispers
and can finally hold up the Breath Weapon
. I
just need to fade a burn spell. In combat I wipe his board, and he
plays… nothing. I can barely believe it. I play a Thoughtcast
, find
a Hydroblast
(but am tapped out of blue) and drop an Enforcer. Günni
continues to draw blank and now I am slowly regaining hope.
Apparently he has got no burnspells nor relevant creatures in hand,
but maybe a Pyroblast
to push through the last damage… An
unblockable Gingerbrute
brings me down to 1, but I answer it with a
KCS a turn later, now sitting comfortably on two Hydroblasts in Hand.
He casts an Epicure for the last point of damage, but I counter it
and he is dead on the crack back. What an insane game.
Round 7 vs JeMi on White Weenie
At this point, JeMi
and I were the only 6-0 players in the tournament – so we were
bound to finally face in the finals. JeMi is an absolute beast on his
pet deck White Weenies, but also a super chill guy and a fellow dad
(haha), so I was really happy to face him in the finals – even
though I knew that the matchup is really rough for me. Game one he
starts rather slow and I have a few Refurbs. My plan is to empty his
hand, find a spellbomb to exile his strands and Battle Screech
in the
graveyard and thensomehow taking over the game. Turns out, I don’t
find a spellbomb and also I don’t manage to take over the game. I
find an enforcer and try to gain a little time by giving him Lifelink
with Toxin, maybe that gives me enough time to find a munitions and
deal with the flyers… but JeMi has the perfectly timed Thraben
Charm and finishes me off elegantly with an additional Choco Mog and
a whole bunch of flyers.
I board in two
Breath Weapon
, Unexpected Fangs
and the Faerie Macabre
. I have to
mull to five, still failing to find the Breath Weapon
, but I get into
the game quite well, drawing the cards back, Playing some Refurbs,
and Blasting down a Skyfisher. He has a few Squadron Hawks and
Inspectors and is pecking away at my lifetotal, suspiciously keeping
up three mana and signalling a Prismatic Strands
. I have the ground
covered with a Myr Enforcer
a KCS when he slams a Choco Mog, putting
me under some serious pressure. Here he puts me into a difficult
spot, as he is still signalling the Prismatic Strands
and me having
no Artifacts to sac for Value. I end up activating KCS for 2, letting
the Choco Mog live. Next turn I try to bloud Fountain the KCS and a
refurb back, but he answers it with a perfectly timed Thraben Charm
.
He follows this up with a Dust to Dust
on my Enforcer, which I can
answer with a Bargain, but the Choco Mog keeps on beeting down,
bringing me to 8. I find a Galvanic Blast
to deal with the Choco Mog,
but am down to 5 now. I find a Refurb and try to suit it up with the
Unexpected Fangs
, but this gets answered by another Thraben Charm
. I
fall down to 3. Now is my last Chance and I have nothing left in
Hand, but if I find the Breath Weapon
, i can still turn it around.
eMi is empty handed, so no Strands to worry about. This could be the
comeback of the Century. I find… a Wellspring. Into a Refurb, I
draw another card. Another wellspring. But now I don’t have the
mana to cast a Breath Weapon
, even if I find it. That’s game, and
what a game it was.
Thanks again for this wonderful day, to all people organizing and participating and see you next time around – great games were played, mistakes were made and all together it was an absolute blast!