Recap Stage 5, 6, 7 and 8 (Top7 Overall, January 10th 2026)

Preface

After the first 4 Stages I was 2nd place overall, just behind Pit. Then Stage 5 (2-3), Stage 6 (1-4) and Stage 7 (sickness) happened and my overall standing went down to 8th, going into Stage 8.

Stage 5 (2-3, with Elves)

In order to get a feeling for Matchups in Leipzig, I went through all the top24 players of Stage 4 and just quickly wrote down how the matchups looked from an elven, Terror and Ponza perspective:

It's just a rough estimation and obviously it's not great data, but it's a start in order to get a feeling. Elves looked clearly the best, and then I mapped out SB choices and wanted to get a feeling for how good Wellwishers are in Leipzig:

So I ended up with this Elf List going into Stage 5. The possible Matchups looked largely good eventhough I’m afraid of any burn variant, but the rest looked really good. Outside of 2 go-wide brews, my 3 real matchups that I got were Izzet Terror, High Tide and Pinger Burn. Or to put it in different words:

As soon as I touched Elves again, I got paired against my homie Castra on High Tide again:So I thought "okay, this is the Stage where everything goes wrong, that happens, it can only get better from here on!". I really thought that.

Stage 6 (1-4, with Ponza)

This was right after the High Tide Ban. Jund and midrange in general was on the rise, and even slower decks came out of their holes in which they have been hiding from the Tide.

So I chose the good old Ponza List.

I dont have fond memories of that day anymore, but fortunately someone took a picture of me that day:

All I remember is that I got exactly the midrange matchups that I wanted and chose Ponza for, but then unimaginable things happened during the games. I got RW Skyfisher (L), Faeries (W), double Affinity (double L) and Dredge (L). In order to not retraumatize myself with it, all I can say is that triple Refurbs on Turn2+Turn3 hit different when you already mulliganed to 4 or 5. And experiencing that exact same pattern back-to-back by 2 different Affinity players kind of broke something in me. Ban Refurbs! I must admit though, the Dredge matchup really is way harder than I initially thought.

But whatever! Now I know my two “bad” days that’ll be off the record. It can only get better from here on! Is what I thought…

Stage 7 (sickness)

4 days before Stage 7 I got really sick and had to let Stage 7 go. I wasnt even on my feet that saturday. And recovering until christmas was now my top priority. Unfortunately, that meant my 6p day at Stage 5 will now be in my record for sure, which really hurts for a possible Top7 performance. I was devastated. The Stage 5 matchups already felt like some really strange variance. What happened in the games of Stage 6 broke all records in that regard again. And now the Magic Gods keep me off the venue by targetting my health! They pulled the whole trinity. Bad matchups. Then good matchups but bad draws. And now bad health.

Stage 8 (4-1, with Terror)

After Stage 7 and looking at the overall standings, I was 8th overall. The good thing was, I had a 3p day in my record, which meant real good potential for improvement! That also holds true for Marcel Günther right behind me though. In order to sort out, how exactly the strategic situation I was in looks like, I made this:

Later, Max M. corrected me, his worst in-record was 6p not 7p. But this was the strategic situation. My thoughts going into Stage 4 were: If only I can make a 3-2, that would give me 9p, so +6p, so I'd be at 63. Lukas Wunderlich would need a 5-0 in order to beat that, Dennis Dieser would need a 4-1 in order to beat that, and Max M. would need a 3-2 to beat that. So if 2 out of these 3 dont reach these goals, my 3-2 would be enough. Otherwise, I'd probably need a 4-1. Meta wise I'm convinced Caw Gates is the best deck in the format right now, but I know Elves are good right now too, and I expected more Gardens. One week before Stage 8, I worked 3+ hours on a Delver-less Terror list where I tried to have more SB cards against Elves but also Jund. Trying to sneak 1 or 2 Steel Sabotages into my SB and wiritng down my SB plan for every single relevant matchup, and really figuring out what exact card I would sideout in these cases. I realized that Steel Sabotages just dont actually make the Jund/Affinity matchup much better, because I'd be cutting cards that are already solid in these matchups.

That weekend I ended up with a list that would later be my pick, which I didnt know then: Delver-less Terror

The 2 Force Spikes serve a really interesting role. On the one side, its a list with Dispels, Spell Pierces and Force Spikes. Opponents cant really know what’s coming and they kinda have to guess. On the other side, I noticed that Force Spikes basically acted like flexible SB cards in the maindeck. They are playable in so many different matchups, they allow me to always preserve a bigger core of interaction than I was used to. When my Spell Pierces were bad, I still had Dispels + Force Spikes + Counterspells as a core of interaction - plus the SB cards of course. When my Dispels were bad, I still had a core of Force Spikes + Spell Pierces + Counterspells left. The 2 Force Spikes made me feel like I have a much higher chance of some kind of useful, early interaction than usually. Then I tried out 3 Envelops plus 3 Gut Shots, so I have 6 cards against Elves. And the Envelops kind of act like blue blasts in the Madness matchup for example. But later more about that.

As I said, I think Caw Gates was the best deck. And the night before Stage 8, I was still entirely unsure of what deck to play. There is footage of my friends during that phase:

That friday I tested Madness Burn again, which I also prepared during the week. I tested Elves again. And then I tried out Caw Gates myself, because Castra would have borrowed it. During that testing I realized I'd be too slow for Caw Gates. My brainstorming with that deck takes too long, because Im not super familiar with it.Late that night, I went home, still not knowing what to play next day. Also, I knew these damn Magic Gods hold a grudge against me, so I have to trick them, too. Thats quite a task. In my mind, I made a thought experiment. I was ready to flip a coin in order to decide my deck choice. But everytime I imagined the coin toss telling me to play Radness, Elves, Cawgates or Ponza, I noticed that I wouldnt want to go with that coin toss. Which made me realize, my heart only wants one thing, and that is blue Terror. But my brain already explained to me several times, how bad of a choice that would be.

But then it stroke me: I had to trick the Magic Gods. How do I trick the Magic Gods? Exactly! I will act like a casual and they wont find me among the tryhards! I AM SMARTER THAN THE MAGIC GODS! So I registered mono blue Terror, knowing that literally all matchups in the expected meta would be bad for me, but I followed my heart and went for the deck that I piloted the most in recent months.

Disguised as a casual, I could count on a regular amount of luck in terms of matchmaking, while the Magic Gods would be busy throwing their variance thunderbolts at the tryhards who made the right deck choices. This time I was smarter. I had figured it out. I saw through the matrix!

Match1: Mirror (1-0)

During my last mirrors at Common Islands and then on Modo too, one of my learnings for the mirror is: The draw spells decide the lategame, because just drawing one more Terror/Serpent/Counterspell decides who gets a lethal clock and wins. Which is why Im so confident with my 3 Envelops here, because they do hit some Lorien Revealeds.

Match2: Ub Terror (1-1)

One of the matchups that I was afraid of. In order to not draw the Magic Gods’ attention, I just quickly lost in silence and trusted in the power of my disguise.

Match3: Wheenies (2-1)

I’m familiar with this matchup. Several months ago I already practiced this matchup with one of my fellow locals whom I already shoutouted in the Ponza-Blog: Jonas! He plays Wheenies, and during our testing I became really confident in boarding in Annulls and how to approach this matchup sequencing wise. The Force Spikes helped here out, too. For instance, Game1 went:

T1: Island Ponder Go / Thraben Inspector

T2: 2Drop -> Force Spike, Mental Note

T3: 2Drop -> Brainstorm into Counterspell, untap, double serpent, game over.

Red Madness (3-1)

Yummie, this is my favorite matchup with Terror. Over like 5+ matches now, I did not get pinged by a Guttersnipe even once, and postboard I usually win these games with like 3 Counterspells in hand. The Magic Gods were busy throwing Jemi under the Caw Gate bus. Dont mind me. ‘corrects his badminton nose’

At this point, Lukas Wunderlich was 3-0 and now busy in a Dredge Mirror, Max M. has a 3-1 record too, and Dennis Dieser was still playing on a 2-1 record I think. I was nervous, because all the guys were performing. Maybe they would make me have to win a 4th match even. But little did they know, the grumpy Magic Gods couldnt identify me today.

Synth Burn (4-1)

What a great and fitting ending for such an intense matchday and league entirely. My opponent, Sascha Summer, became a friend of mine during this season. He was probably the guy I spoke to the most in between rounds and we always enjoyed chatting. Stage2 we met the first time. At table 7, right in the corner, me with the back to the room, him facing the room. Now, at the last match of the last matchday, we both face at table 7 again, me with the back to the room, him facing the room. What a beautiful outro.

Given the full results of Round4, I was quite sure I made Top7 overall, but I never trust calculations, especially not on the fly, so I go into this match just giving my best as always. I punted Game1 in a winning position but it was left unpunished, because as I said, my disguise was working. I lost Game2 in a nailbiter, and then won Game3.

My mission of dodging the unwinnable matchups was done. My Neo-Cosplay was working.

Given the meta cake

that was quite a fortunate ride.

TL;DR:

Thanks

I am incredibly relieved. And also, consistently beating red decks with Terror is therapy for my elfish inner child.

I wish I could do more for the organizers and make their life easier, because I want to support this beautiful Pauper community where I can. It is truly incredible what you guys built here. Until then I write some memes into a blog and maybe make someone smile =)

Much love to everybody I met. Much love to all the organizers! Much love to all my Chemnitz people. Going on our monthly Leipzig trip has become such a great part of my day-to-day life. I love traveling with you to Leipzig. I couldnt imagine doing all of this alone.