I’m sitting in the morning train on to my vacation after one of the wildest weekends i experienced in my life! But let‘s start from the beginning.
I‘ve been to two Paupergeddons before, so this time we had planned a vacation with my family around the Geddon. For this we startet on a 24h (Night)Train Journey, starting in Leipzig and ending in Palinura around midnight the following day. Next morning I started on a 7 hour train journey back to Lucca to meet with the whole Pauper to the People Crew. I arrived in good spirits and with low expectations for the tournament. I had a good evening in the local union pub close to our house where they serve Spritz and Snacks for 3,5 and played some games to get warm for the tournament.
Next morning I woke up and went for a run in the early morning sun, giving me a good calm for the tournament. We arrived at the venue at 9, got sure that I get my bye from Lega Pauper Lipsia.
The Deck
I had played Grixis Affinity during most of the last year and got continously great results with the deck, for example in the Common Island Tournament. I feel very comfortable with the deck and know it‘s variations. The addition of Utrom Monitor in advance had been quite a puzzle. After the playtesting games on Friday I decided to completely ditch the rods and play 4 Utrom Monitor (that Milan lent me) – which turned out to be the absolutely right decision. Also I play 3 Blood Fountain main and 3 Metallic Rebuke in the Sideboard, apart from that the List is quite stock.
R1 Bye
R2 on the play against Francesco on Cycle Storm (2-1)
Ouff, not a matchup I was hoping for. He starts comboing on turn 3 or four, I have nothing, the combo goes on, I lose. I board in 3 Rebuke and 1 or 2 Hydro bc they might be relevant. I have a good Hand with Refurb, Utrom and Rebuke and two spellbombs. The spellbombs just draw his siege smashes but the mixture of aggression and disruption is enough (even though I tried to rebuke the Siege Smash with split second once lol). Game 3 goes similiarly just with more Refurbs and him helping out by losing a lot of life to Rowans Grim Search and Street Wraith, allowing me to finish him off with a Galv Blast.
R3 on the draw against Emmanuele on Bogles (2-0)
Emmanuele was a super nice magic player, it was his first big tournament and he had a really cool take on his deck. I keep a seven with KCS and Toxin and am paired against… Bogles – Awesome! I take a lot of damage trying to make him spend as many Auras as possible on the Bogle before I finish it off, while clocking in the Air with Utrom Monitors quickly. I board in 3 Rebuke, 2 Extract a Confession, 1 Breath Weapon and take out Some Galv Blasts, Munitions and Spellbombs. Game two I have the absolute overkill, two KCS, Extract a Confession and a Breath Weapon and finish the game easily.
R4 on the play against Francesco on Altartron (2-1)
I need to mulligan to five but manage to recoup cards quicly and build up a good board of flyers. The game is a true grindfest, I manage to prevent him from comboing with the spellbombs, I‘ve got seven damage in the air each turn but he has two Pactdolls and keeps on gaining life. I manage to finish off the Pactdolls and push for lethal. Game two He Ancient Grudges my second land and I don‘t find a land for three or four turns, I lose. Game three I have a super aggressive start with Utrom double Myr Enforcer, but he is doing hi best to stabilize with Pactdolls, Spawns, Myr and Food. I bring him down to 6 and have Galv Blast in Hand, he goes back up to twelve and is out of reach again. I play extract a confession without collective evidence, he fumbles and sacs a Spawn into his Altar, resulting in him having to sac the Pactdoll to the Extract. I swing for 8 and have the Blast for lethal. I feel like I have finally fully arrived at the tournament and also can‘t believe I‘m standing 4-0 already.
R5 on the play against Jedrek on Familiars (2-0)
My opponent is a known control player who also turned out to make top and he was really nice. The Familiars matchup is supposed to be pretty bad
He had a slow start with some Sea Gate Oracles leading into a Murmuring Mystic after some turns. I had some Flyers, the card draw machine was humming and a KCS and some Galv Blasts in Hand, preventing him on doing any Ephemerate Shenanigans. I manage to pressure through his Birds with my Utroms and lots of Rats while emptying out his hand with Rats (I think 5 in total). Game two we both get stuck on lands but I manage to Flood the Board while he doesn‘t, I put on a lot of pressure, forcing him to scramble for answers, which he doesn‘t find, I win.
R6 I am on the Play against Dennis on U Terror (2-1)
Now this is a matchup I feel comfortable with, as I played a lot of Terror myself and have a good feeling, when to bate Counterspells and when to be cautious. You win the long game, just take care not to lose in the first turns. Well, it‘s not that easy. I manage to stick an early Spellbomb to buy me some time and answer his first threats and have a few creatures on board. It‘s looking good, but with sleep he can always tap down a creature of mine, forcing me to chump every turn and leaving me dead to a sixth Island allowing him to double Sleep. He doesn‘t find it on time though, I manage to KCS+Toxin and can finally stabilize the game. I sideboard four Pyro and two Extract against 4 Galv Blast, munitions and something elso. Game two I get runover by snakes backed up with countermagic. R3 He never manages to put up any pressure on me while I kill him in the air with Flyers. 6-0 and qualified for day two (first time in my life) – I am beyond happy.
R7 I am on the Play against Enrico on Elves (1-2)
We are both 6-0 and are playing at the Top Table. Yikes, what‘s happening here. Game 1 he mulligans to 4. My hand is Blood Fountain, Fanatical Offering and all colors of untapped lands. I play turn one Blood Fountain, draw KCS for turn two and play it, Turn 3 I Fanatical Offering the blood and map onto the KCS, it becomes a 2/2 and I wipe his board by sac‘ing the blood fountain into KCS – that‘s game. After round 1 We get deck checked. In my last tournament I accidentally played a card not in my list by not paying attention, so this time I was quite confident, had counted every card in main and side ten times and was checking the sideboard before every game (plz do this). Well – turns out I was wrong. Before the tournament I had bought altered KCS and Enforcers altered by Zippo, an Italian Artist. Because the Enforcers were slightly bent, I got a gameloss. I was a bit frustrated by this, but was able to take it with humor. Luckily Stefano was standing by watching and had four Oppressore Myr at hand to lend to me. Some other guys from LPL were standing by and shared drinks and Pizza with me, which helped me not stress out. Game 3 it is my turn to Mulligan to 4, I find KCS Wellspring and two Lands but proceed to draw into only lands and lose the game against a big Hydra. First loss, a bit unfortunate but I was still super happy about the score.
R8 on the draw against Mattia on Mono U Fae (2-0)
Mattia is a legend in the U Fae community, even though a bit unfortunate for him it was super fun games. Game 1 he has to Mulligan to 4 on the play, when I answer his Spellstutter with a Galv Blast he immediately concedes and we move on to Game 2. I board in 4Pyro, Breath Weapon and an Unexpected Fangs against Spellbombs, Toxins and a Blood Fountain. He has to Mulligan to 5 again while I can keep a full hand. He manages to Recoup some cards with some early Ninjas but I have the KCS to clear them and stabilize the board. I swing with Utrom, he Brinebarrows and triple blocks, I have the Unexpected Fangs to win this fight and proceed to slowly take over the game. Ggwp.
7-1 after day 1, I am super happy, we have some beers and Pizza and enjoy the madness of a big magic tournament, discussing and evaluating the day, laughing about our blunders and wins. After a wild ride home in Simons mobile home with appropriate musical background and exchanging my altered cards to not risk any more losses bc of that (more on this topic later) I go to bed early and fall asleep immediately.
Day2
I wake up early and immediately go for a walk around Vecchiano, to enjoy the landscape and also process the day before. After a good breakfast we make our way to the Venue and get ready for day 2.
Round 9 against Vincenzo on Red Madness (2-0)
My first Opponent of the day arrived five minutes late because he apparently had the wrong starting time in mind, which results in a gameloss for him unfortunately. We start game two without sideboarding. He lands a Guttersnipe turn four or five, but at that point i‘m still at a rather healthy lifetotal and have got Myr Enforcer on board and Reckoners Bargain in hand. When I get the chance to remove the Guttersnipe I‘m already down to 8, at which point I decide to Bargain the Enforcer to bring me up to 15. While I clock him in the air, he dwindles me down to 3 again, at which point he is out of action and I sacrifice the next Enforcer to bring me back up to 10 and I win the game. My opponent is understandably annoyed about the loss and asks me if we want to play out a best of three (after submitting results) – which I do and win 2-1 again, so justice has been restored. (I sided in 4 Hydro, 3 Rebuke, 1 Fangs against Munitions, 2 Toxin, 2 KCS, Blood Fountain, Fanatical Offering and some card I don‘t remember).
Round 10 on the play against Leonardo on Grixis Affinity (2-1)
Unfortunately I start game 1 on a mulligan to four, he plays a lot of threats and I lose quickly. Game two we both start with a full hand, but my opponent fails to find his third landdrop after turn 2 Wellspring into turn 3 Dispute effect. We have the reverse of game 1, I land a ton of threats and close the game fast. Now it comes down to Game three and this one is the real deal. We draw cards and trade off resources for quite some while, both shutting off the opponents Blood Fountain with our Spellbomb. As we are both running lower on cards in hand I bate hi into using his first Spellbomb a bit early and then uses his Pyroblasts as removal. I am clocking him over 6 turns with just one Refurbished Familiar. In hand I have two Pyro and one Hydro, without any targets in sight but the finally my blasts pay off – I get to counter a Cryogen Relic, a Thoughtcast and a Munitions, whilst finding my own draw spells and taking over the game. This is one reason I am convinced, that you definitely play 4 Ichor before the first Cryogen Relic.
Round 11 on the draw against Carlo on Gruul Storm (1-2)
I know beforehand against whom I most probably will be playing and check out some Rubystorm decklists and feel kind of prepared. So game 1 the plan is to find early threats and KCS, post board I become a control deck with 7 Counterspells. We play at table 1 with a big crowd watching us all along.
He starts the game rather slowly, and then starts storming off turn four or five. At this point I think I have a Spellbomb, a Utrom Monitor and a Myr Enforcer in play. He plays Seize the Storm creating a 19/19 hasty Elemental and I… take the hit. Go down to 1. I have Toxin Analysis in Hand, try to find the KCS, draw off Spellbomb, draw of a dispute effect – I don‘t find it and concede. After the game my opponent tells me, I could cracked the Spellbomb and just blocked the Elemental. Ooopsies. I thought I had understood the card, but apparently I hadn‘t. I board 4 Hydro, 3 Rebuke and take out some Utroms (to have more blue for countermagic), Fountains and the Munitions
Anyhow on to Game 2, I don‘t remember exactly but I have good mana and find threats and Hydroblasts and win quite easily. Game 3 I have a risky seven: Furnace, Vault, KCS, Ichor, Hydro, Hydro and something else. If I draw a blue land soon I am 100% winning the game. If I draw black card draw or other lands I am atleast playing the game. I decide to keep. I find another Wellspring which I play on turn 3 and see myselve forced to sacrifice both Ichor into the KCS to clear his cost reducers and ind lands. I don‘t find lands. I find blue spells. Lots of blue spells. I end the turn by discarding two Metallic Rebukes and feeling pretty bad about my spot. I can kind of keep his board in check for a bit but continue to not find lands for one or two more turns, never find the blue mana and lose the game. I am still not sure, if I should have mulliganed (please tell me). Rough beats but at this point I was 9-2 with the best Tiebrakers among players with this score and took the loss rather easily. In addition, Carlo was a realy nice opponent and he had an absolutely insane run, not losing a match until the semifinals!
Round 12 on the play against Marco on Dimir Snacker Terror (2-0)
I know my oppnent is on Dimir and I have got a super strong hand with double Spellbomd double Refurb. I play Spellbomb into Refurb turn two, he discards a Snacker and Brainstorms end of turn. Yikes. I am pacient with the Spellbombs and wait a bit longer before I cash it in, we trade of some resources, when he drops a Murmuring Mystic. Game 1 this is a big problem for me as my only (reasonable) hard removal is KCS+Toxin or double Galv Blast. I have neither of those and the Mystic stays on the board for several turns. I am trading of Refurbs and Utroms to keep the birds in check and try to wear down his hand – which does not really work. He goes through several hardcast Lorien Revealed and a Deep Analysis throughout the game, but at least I can keep his bird army in check. He also finds a Terror and puts Unexpected Fangs onto it, bringing him up to a comfortable life total again and putting me under more serious pressure. I find KCS and Toxin, Wipe his Big Creatures and stabilize in the Air and start drawing cards. I bring him down to 10 life, with him beeing nearly empty handed and me having a full hand. A full hand of seven lands. Now he starts popping off again, bringing all Snackers into play. At this point of the game we are already playing for nearly thirty minutes and are down to the last quarter of our decks. I rip Munitions from the top, knowing that he doesn‘t have Countermagic and win the game. I board in Pyroblasts and Extracts and take out Galv Blasts, Munitions and a Bargain. I don#t exactly remember Game two, but we both knew that playing three games is very unlikely with less than twenty minutes on the clock. Luckily I find some good threats and better carddraw than him and win the game.
Round 13 on the draw against Edoardo on White Weenies (2-1)
These games were maybe my highlight of the Tournament. Not just because I am getting increasingly close to the Top8 (about which I was joking but not really consdering as a real possibility) – but also because White Weenies is played a lot in our local playgroup and the Matchup against Affinity is really swingy (and I know how to play it). I start with a really strong 7, allowing me to land some early Utroms and Refurbs. He starts with an Inspector, into Informant discard Battle Screech into Skyfisher, Flashback Battle Screech. Next turn he attacks me and brings Leonardo into play, bringing me down to 8 after blockers. With a second Thoughtcast I find more Flyers and get to cast an Enforcer, just about being able to hold up a Galvanic Blast to protect me from another Leonardo. I barely stabilize the board at three life, the board stalls for a bit, until I find a Blood Fountain to get back some Refurbs to empty out his hand. I can only attack withone creature for a few turns as my life total is so low and I am dead to so many things. He starts cracking his Clues, tapping out of Mana for removal and I attack him for exactsies with my Flyers. That was a nailbiter. I board in 3 Rebukes, Breath Weapon and a Fangs against 3 Spellbomb, a Fountain and a draw spell I think. Game 2 we both keep 7, he leads of with an aggressive start and I have got a Breath Weapon looking really Juicy. I cannot play around Dust to Dust, so I decide not to worry about it. I play Wellspring into Dispute effect – and fail to find a third land. He is committing to the board really hard with a Battle Screech and lots of Inspectors. I find my land. It taps for red. But it is tapped. I play some creatures. Pass to him. He grows an Inspector with Idillic Grange and brings in Leonardo in Combat – putting me from 15 down to 4. Inspector and Leonardo Survive the Breath Weapon and hit me exactly for four. So I play a Utrom Monitor and Bargain it after blocks, leaving me at two life. I realize, that I have no outs with just one red mana and no more Toxin Analysis and concede. Game three He has to Mulligan to 5 and looks very unpleased. He has no turn 1 play, turn 2 he plays a Skyfisher and bounces his land. Yikes. After this turn I have got Rebuke up every turn, block his board with my Utrom (and cutting him off Spiderman this way) and am developing my hand. He continues with another Skyfisher bounce land a few turns later I take down the game.
Round 14 – ID
After the game Clemo and Günni are frantically discussing if I can draw into top 8 and agreeing that it is 99% safe. I can‘t really follow but as I have the best Tiebrakers of all 11-2 Players it seems safe. My opponent offers the ID, we draw, I am in my first Paupergeddon Top 8 after my first ever day two. I cannot believe what‘s happening, my phone is exploding and everybody is cheering. I go for a little walk during my free time and grab some food, before Top 8 starts.
Our decks are checked before the beginning of the Top 8 and the same Judge who gave me the gameloss the day before is checking my deck. As I exchanged all altered cards I am quite relaxed. We have a really nice conversation, I get through the deck check without problems (unbelievable!) and he tells me, that these alters were the most beautiful Myr Enforcers he ever saw, but rulings are rulings. Before top 8 begins, all agree to split prices and just play for the glory, which obviously takes a lot of pressure from the games.
Top 8 – on the draw against Lorenzo on Grixis (1-2)
I mulligan to five, have a reasonable hand, but he has more card draw resulting in more Refurbs and Galvanic Blasts, resulting in me losing the game. Sometimes it be like that. I board in one more Pyroblast because of his Gorilla Shaman and to push my advantage as his List was only playing 2 Utrom Monitor. This time I find more Rats and removal than him, putting me in a position to push damage and forcing him to get back only one Utrom with his Blood Fountain to try and stabilize. I find Munitions and Galvanic Blast and win game two. Game three we both start on six, both with reasonable hands and a some threats. But he has a bigger board and a Blood Fountain lying around and I am scrambling to find a Spellbomb, before fireing of my Galavanic Blasts to answer his threats. When I find the Spellbomb, he can activate the Blood Fountain in response. He finds a Munitions, I answer it. He has a Shaman, but that is not really doing much. But most importantly he has got more creatures than me. I end up not being able to keep up with his pressure and lose the game.
Before the game I was wondering if I prefer to win or lose the game. Of course the glory of potentially winning the Geddon is a great perspective. But making top 8 already was more than I had dreamed of. And on the other hand, finally being able to truely rest and recover from these intense days was also a good perspective. So I decided, that either outcome is a win :) I cashed in my prices, got some food and beers and went on celebrating with the LPL crew and enjoying my life.
Thanks a lot to Boose and all of the Paupergeddon Team for this awesome event once again. Thanks to all of the Pauper to the People Crew for supporting me with testing, advice, jokes, food, coffee, cards, cheering and for the great time in general – without this incredible crew I would never have come to the Geddon in the first place. Thanks to my wife Hedda for taking care of the kids so that I could play the tournament at all. Thanks to Zippo for the beautiful alters, I think they were my lucky charms. And thanks to Stefano for exchaning them when luck ran out. And thanks to myself for not registering an illegal decklist and (mostly) playing well :)
PAUPER TO THE PEOPLE FOREVER