Ladder Tournament 2015 - Reports

[Vazdru]

after almost 3 1/2 hours of play we've got a winner
but let's start with the very first

g1: I won the roll and had: Island, Maze, Bojuka Bog, Inquisition, Jace Vryn Prodigy, Snapcaster + Shadow of Doubt after free-mulligan. Obviously my plan was to install Jace T2 and get rid of any nasty cards like Maze. He's kept a two-lander + Preordain, Dissolve, Condescend + Sensei's which was the first play in our Semis. T2 I resolve Jace and he dropped Karakas   and my plan was gone...T3 I've drawn no furter lands so far but Ponder and Night's Whisper. I decided to go the route Ponder which revealed 3 non-land cards and so I shuffled to get Glen Elendra from the top + Inquisition which took Condescend over Mystical and DTT. T4 i've got a Swamp from the top for Snappie + flashback Inquisition which took Counterspell leaving him with Mystical Tutor, DTT, Dissolve + Serum Visions. He played Maze an said go. Night's Whisper got Mana Leaked. I got Scalding Tarn from the top and smashed Glen Elendra next turn. He used Msytical + Terminus to get rid of my two Wizards but lost Sensei's during this process. I play Vendilion Clique Mainphase to put DTT on bottom of his library so he just had Dissolve + Brainstorm left and got Enlightened Tutor from the top. My Augur of Bolas found Remand and started eating his liepoints as Clique got Mazed. Finally I've got Pithing Needle naming Karakas and dropped Jace Vryn Prodigiy again which immediately got Sworded to Plowshares. When i tried to play Enlightened Tutor I've had Shadow of Doubt and his Dissolve get Remanded. Unfortunately my extra-cards were dead...Bribery + Toxic Deluge! Anyhow my Faerie Conclave + Augur + Clique are able to drain 3 lp / round so he still needed some action. Council's Judgement removed Clique and he played from the top while i've had still 3 dead cards with Maze, Deluge + Bribery. He found Treasure Cruise, dropped Vedalken Shakles + Jace I, I've had Tamiyo and tapped Maze as he was on 6 lp. He dropped Helm and i put him to 3 lp, having wasteland in hand to kill his Maze next time and so I decided to tap his Shakles for next turn win. Unfortunately he had already Muddle the Mixture in hands for transmute into Rest in Peace for the win on 3 lp.
Nastaboi leads 1:0

g2: I have 3 lands, Snapy, Dimir Charm, Lili and Clique after free mulligan. He had 2 lands, Repeal, Path, B2B, Mystical Teachings + DTT. EOT 3 i play Clique which got Pathed revealing mentioned cards + Enlightened Tutor and Muddle the Mixture. I decided to take nothing and just drop Lili next turn which started to tick up. I added Nightveil Specter next turn while he repeals Lili. I drop lili again hoping he can't find a land as he had Celestial Collonade. Specter finds Narset at first swing. He used DTT eot for Mana Drain and Council's Judgement which exiles Lili and letting him Mana for Mana Drain still open. I've got Spell Pierce from Specter which chaged the math for him and Baleful Strix into Duress which discarded Gideon Jura a turn before he started dominate the boards. Snapcaster got drained so my team can swing again. Specter hit O-Ring this time. A turn later he played Mytical Teaching with 3 Mana open for Swords to Plowshares which got Mana leaked. I have Bojuka Bog before he can Flashback Teachings and dropped Phyrecian Arena. When he found Treasure Curise from the top i have the chance to play Dimir Charm for his concession.
Match even 1:1

...more to come after a short break.

[Vazdru]

g3: He keeps 3 lands, Sensei, Wrath, Moat + Detention Sphere. I have 3 lands, Chrome Mox, Augur of Bolas, Tribute to Hunger and Mental Misstep which counters his T1 Top. I have Island + Chrome Mox (Tribute to Hunger) + Augur revealing Thought Scour T1. Next I've got Mystical Tutor and Sensei's from the top while he just draws lands and Terminus. Furthermore I can resolve a Fact or Fiction eot for pile 1: Thoughtseize and Mana Leak vs pile 2: TNN, Tectonic Edge + Cryptic Command, which i took. He still has no buisness and i just drop Sensei's and pass the turn. A few turns later Clique resolves and reveals his hand with: Wrath, Moat, Terminus  , Detention Sphere and Force Spike which he has to keep. A turn later I drop Jace II, into Tasigur with 4 counterspells open for the win.
I lead 2:1

g4: Quite a long long game, have a look at the replays   His starting hand contains 3 lands, Preordain, Portent, Banishing Light, Shakles. I have 3 lands + Maze, Visions, Stifle and Ponder (so casting cost 2 altogether  ). He starts T1 with Preordain followed by my suspended Ancestral Visions. He played Portent, me Ponder. We both gather some Counterspells for the war around Ancestral Visions. Ancestral Vision on the stack, Nastaboi plays Mana Drain and has 2 untapped lands, I play Miscalculation, he has to fetch, I play Stifle. As reward I received 4 cards this turn and he lost a land-drop. Should be the beginning of a good victory story but somehow Nastaboi recovers from that point on. My Jace, Architect got countered, his Fact or Fiction resolves. Glen Elendra resolves but Force Spike force me to tap last U, so he can play Shakles. I play Needle, he took control of Glen and I have Venser to bounce Shackles. With Repeal, Banishing Light, Spell Snare and Dissolve he is able to overwhelm my defense with Glen Elendra, Mana Drain, Cryptic Command, Mental Misstep + Daze   and furthermore drops Jace II just after the dust of the counter-war has settled. Jace fights vs Ashiok and wins with some help of Elspeth.
Match tied 2:2

g5: Even a longer game than the ones before   my first 7: 4 Lands, Spell Pierce, Wurmcoil Engine, Tasigur ... new one: 2 lands, Dimir Charm, Spell Snare, Clique, Hero's Downfall and Gitaxian Probe which reveals his 6: 2 islands, 1 plains, Counter Spell, Humility + Jace Architect. T2 i have Augur for DTT but haven't third land drop next turn but only Inquisition which got countered. I pondered to use Spell Snare but I was knowing most of his hand cards I didn't played it. Fortunatly I've got 3rd land for eot Clique but he had Force Spike  . On my turn I have Trinket Mage but he had Miscalculation for this one. He was already at 5 lands and dropped first Planeswalker Jace Architect while i was on 3 lands just an Augur in play. Additionaly I missed forth land drop so i can't cast my own Jace II and has to say go with Dimir Charm, DTT, Spell Snare, Jace II and Hero's Downfall in hands (no BB on board). Should be the beginning for a good victory story for him but this time I recovered somehow....he droped Humility I've got Wurmcoil Engine from the top   Eot i play Dimir Charm hoping to find a land to put on top of it and arrange a good moment for DTT. He refused to counter Dimir Charm which was unlucky for him in retrospect as I can't find a land in next three cards but only Pithing Needle. I played Needle, he had to counter this which opens the gate for DTT giving me Land + Hymn. I plays Treasure Cruise in his turn. I have Thoughtseize, Hymn, Spell Snare, Hero's Downfall to get rid of Jace II in his hands and Jace Architect on board. We playing from the top for a while. He has Gideon on board, I have Tribute to Hunger   Meanwhile Ashiok ticks up and tries to exile his win-conditions. In the end I have Ashiok with more than 20 counters, a Batterskull, Sensei's in play, Mana Drain in hand and win with Stifling his Maze. He was flooded in late game while I've found some buisness with SDT. Nevertheless he had already Rest in Peace in play and as Ashiok refuses to find Helm it was still thrilling till the end....

I try to upload this game too.

Thanks for the intense and thrilling games!
I guess I've never had such a long highlander-match ever! and I play hl for quite a while now.

[TaZi]

TaZi 3:0 r4nd0m

game 1
=======
We both take our free mulligan and keep the following:
me: 6 lands, personal tutor (as I know his decklist, and playing lands vs. control is good)
he: 3 lands, brainstorm, tithe, repeal, mystic confluence
I start with brainstorm, which draws another 2 lands, but after shuffling it gave me a Port and a mana leak. I draw top on the next turn and are able to counter back to basics with mana leak. So I now have the plan to just play 7 lands and then combo when my opp. is tapped out. This plan is getting better, as a huntmaster of the fells forces r4nd0m to react. I also draw three visits and can win "out of nowhere" when he taps out for elspeth.

game 2
=======
He keeps 4 lands, spellpierce, miscalculation and gideon
I take a free mull and keep: probe, bring to light, goyf, bolt, mana drain, thespian stage, mountain. So my hand is a bit shacky, but I'm on the draw and have a very powerful draw, when lands are showing up. The first turn the gitaxian probe draws a polluted delta and all problems are gone. I can now play aggro control with goyf, and drain, which are later joined by huntmaster and venser. He draws oust and council's judgement and miracles terminus, but it's not enough.

game 3
=======
he keeps: 5 lands, preordain, lat nams legacy.
I keep: nissa, merchant scroll, miscalc, cryptic command, island, vesuva, badlands
We both start slowly. He is digging for the right cards, with preordain, legacy, ponder, see beyond while I draw green mana and slowly throw baits for eventual counters (sylvan library, nissa). The library gets bounced but I miscalculate the remand for the nissa and she sticks. In the meantime I also draw scapeshift and cryptic command. The back to basics is also quite useless as I got too many basics. Eventually Nissa flips but I also got enough counterbackup for a scapeshift.


I also got the replays. Maybe we should set up a dropbox where everyone can also upload his replays.

[Vazdru]

updated

Pairings: (seed)

Quarterfinals:

a) Payron 2 Artifact Combo-Control (one) - Vazdru 3 Dimir Control (eight)

b) Nastaboi 3 Creatureless Azorius Combo-Control (four) - ChristophO 0 Abzan Pattern-Rector (five)

c) r4nd0m 3 Azorius Control (three) - Maqi 2 4c Blood (six)

d) goblinpiledriver 2 Azorius Control (two) - Tazi 3 UGr-Scapeshift (seven)


Semifinals:

Vazdru 3 Dimir Control (eight) vs Nastaboi 2 Creatureless Azorius Combo-Control (four (four)
r4nd0m 0 Azorius Control (three) vs TaZi 3 UGr-Scapeshift (seven)

Finals:
Vazdru Dimir Control (eight) vs TaZi UGr-Scapeshift (seven)


Highlander:


gl to the partipants:

1. Payron - Runner-Up Metagame Masters, Online Champion 2013
2. goblinpiledriver - Champion HL Grand Prix Nr. 8, Runner-up HL Grand Prix Nr. 9, Runner-Up German HL Nationals 2011, Reigning Online Champion
3. r4nd0m - Top 8 + Top 16 Austrian Nationals, Online Champion 2012
4. Nastaboi - Champion Finnish HL Nationals 2011, Runner-Up Finnish Legacy Nationals 2013, Online Champion 2009 and 2010
5. ChristophO - Legacy GP Gent Top 32, German HL Nationals 2011 semifinalist
6. Maqi - Champion HL Grand Prix Nr. 15, Four-times HL Grand Prix Top 8, Runner-Up Metagame Masters
7. Tazi - Top 8 GP Utrecht, Champion HL Grand Prix Nr. 10, Top 20 German Nationals 2009, Reigning HLL Champion
8. Vazdru - HL Grand Prix Top 8, Top 24 German Nationals 2011, Runner-Up Online Championship 2014

[TaZi]

TaZi 3-2 Vazdru


game 1
=======
we both take a free mulligan and I start with a top. Next turn comes treetop village and I response to a gitaxian probe of gerry with a brainstorm to hide my savage knuckleblade. He goes on with a duress and takes my force. The knuckleblade next turn resolves but gerry has a toxic deluge right away. I start building up a DD combo with a sylvan scrying for thespian stage, as I drew DD from the top. Unpleasantly gerry has allready a karakas which I have to tap down with port for my Marit Lage token not to be bounced immediately. So evntually I produce the DD token eot, but Gerry has the best answer in form of tribute to hunger, which not only kills the 20/20 flyer but also gives him 20 life which makes a favorable race with my treetop against his TNN quite unfavorable. Nevertheless I start looking for Scapeshift combo, which I find some turns later. Meanwhile the TNN starts kicking me and in the end its very close with counterwar about my tutor and gerry topdecking a removal for my maze to atk with his venser too.

game 2
=======
The first play of the game is my sylvan library which slips under the counterwall. On the turns 3 and 4, this wall prevents Goyf and Solemn Simulacrum to join the team while Gerry is able to resolve tasigur. This guy becomes a serious threat, which is even flamtongue-proof. I play yavimaya elder which chumpblocks and draws a card. Then I play intuition eot for jace, bring to light and primeval titan. I get the jace, which bounces the Tasigur and the library finds a lightningbolt for the mishra which would otherwise have taken out my Jace right away. In this way I have a Jace on an empty board which is able to seal the game, after some Shenannigans

game 3
=======
We start with land go for three turns. On his fourth turn, gerry tries a trinket mage, which I want to misscalculate. Gerry spell snares this, but I have spellpierce and want to play my huntmaster on the next turn, but even then, I havn't drawn the fourth land. Gerry plays Jace, I play huntmaster, but then the madness begins, as Gerry plays in short intervals treasure cruise, wurmcoil engine (which trades with the huntmaster), dig through time, hymn and liliana. Eventually I sit there with 4 lands and no hand, while he still has the nuts and I concede.

game 4
=======
I start with serum visions to find some lands, and gerry plays chrome mox land and baleful strix, I find the lands, and see with peek, that he has jace and force, where I have not even one answer to the upcomming jace. But I topdeck vendillion clique which gets forced and I find bolt the next turn. But Gerry doesn't play the anticipated jace, but instead topdecks shadowmage infiltrator and plays him. I suspend ancestral vision and gerry atks with the infiltrator. But he still refuses to play the jace, so I bolt the infiltrator which is in fact only a bounce, as gerry has riptide lab. Nevertheless I'm back on the board with a solemn, that is able to block the mage, which would soon come back. Now I try mystical teachings for the combopieces, but the mystical tutor gets dimir charmed. Now the infiltrator is back, and jace somehow found its way to the table. I have found snapcaster with teachings flashback and are now looking for backup. I hope to find more business than he finds counterspells, which evetually works out, after an epic counterwar and me on 2 life.

game 5
=======
Gerry keeps a fast hand, with 2 lands, mox diamond, thoughtseize, mana drain, force, miscalculation. The thoughtseize takes away the mana leak from my hand which has also into the north , solemn, cultivate, mystical tutor, and 2 lands. He counters into the north and three visits, and I can't find a third land to play the cultivate. Luckily he also draw no further mana and so, we are stuck for 2 turns. then Cultivate resolves and he also finds lands now. I tap out the next turn for solemn, which gets killed instantly. Now Gerry taps out for Glen Elendra and I see some serious problem coming, but I have venser which gets forced. I try to counter the force, so, the elendra gets her first -1/-1 counter. I can't play my scapeshift with Elendra on board, but I have 2 treetop villages which start beating gerry down to five, when he slams Wurmcoil engine with 1 blue mana open for the archmage. On my turn I draw 3 cards with sylvan library, ponder, merch. scroll for fire/ice, fire ice his elendra and have the remaining 4 mana to scapeshift him to death.


alright, 5 epic and close matches, which were quite entertaining for both of us.

[Vazdru]

yeah right, I enjoyed the finals like the whole tournament
like every round before I played again a final 5th game, but this time it didn't worked out. When I played DTT in that final game and revealed 5 lands, Ancestral Visions and Nihil Spellbomb i was aware, the luck I've had in last rounds has gone 

congratz TaZi - definately a worthy Online Player of the Year with 3 league finals and two wins

here you can find the decklists: http://mtgpulse.com/event/23165#318198 

Pairings: (seed)

Quarterfinals:

a) Payron 2 Artifact Combo-Control (one) - Vazdru 3 Dimir Control (eight)

b) Nastaboi 3 Creatureless Azorius Combo-Control (four) - ChristophO 0 Abzan Pattern-Rector (five)

c) r4nd0m 3 Azorius Control (three) - Maqi 2 4c Blood (six)

d) goblinpiledriver 2 Azorius Control (two) - Tazi 3 UGr-Scapeshift (seven)

Semifinals:

Vazdru 3 Dimir Control (eight) vs Nastaboi 2 Creatureless Azorius Combo-Control (four (four)
r4nd0m 0 Azorius Control (three) vs TaZi 3 UGr-Scapeshift (seven)

Finals:
Vazdru 2 Dimir Control (eight) vs TaZi 3 UGr-Scapeshift (seven)


Highlander: TaZi


gl to the partipants:

1. Payron - Runner-Up Metagame Masters, Online Champion 2013
2. goblinpiledriver - Champion HL Grand Prix Nr. 8, Runner-up HL Grand Prix Nr. 9, Runner-Up German HL Nationals 2011, Reigning Online Champion
3. r4nd0m - Top 8 + Top 16 Austrian Nationals, Online Champion 2012
4. Nastaboi - Champion Finnish HL Nationals 2011, Runner-Up Finnish Legacy Nationals 2013, Online Champion 2009 and 2010
5. ChristophO - Legacy GP Gent Top 32, German HL Nationals 2011 semifinalist
6. Maqi - Champion HL Grand Prix Nr. 15, Four-times HL Grand Prix Top 8, Runner-Up Metagame Masters
7. Tazi - Top 8 GP Utrecht, Champion HL Grand Prix Nr. 10, Top 20 German Nationals 2009, Reigning HLL Champion
8. Vazdru - HL Grand Prix Top 8, Top 24 German Nationals 2011, Runner-Up Online Championship 2014