Opening New Season - Prague 2. 9. 2012

[Han]

There was Highlander Tournament yesterday in Prague. It was supposed to be the last possibility to test before new Season, which will start in October, so several players tried new deck and new ideas (me as well - Bw pox, but without any success really;)). 17 players, entry fee 2 euros. For prices Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Watery Grave, Magus of the Moon and Serendib Efreet. We don't collect decklists, so I can't give you any.

1. Naya aggro (CORRECTED)
2. 5c aggro
3. BG rock
4. 4c control
5. MonoG ramp
6. WG midrange
7. 5c Oath
8. 5c aggro
9. WB control
10. MonoR aggro
11. UB control
12. MonoB aggro
13. WBG rock
14. MonoR aggro
15. Bw stax
16. Ub High Tide
17. MonoB aggro

Report from my point of view (i have played Bw stax including cards like Pox, Ensnaring Bridge or The Abyss)

1 round (vs 5c aggro - totally 2nd place)
First game I have made really a bad play. Opening hand was like 2 lands, Coldsteel Heart, Pristine Talisman, Magus of Tabernacle, Stoneforge Mystic, Crucible of Worlds. On turn 2 I have played Stoneforge Mystic for Batterskull, but he was killed. Turn 3 I draw The Abyss and played Coldsteel Heart, that was destroyed by Renegades and then I was wastelanded. I didn't draw any land several next draws. But I cannot blame fortune, I was supposed to play T2 Heart, T3 Talisman..!
Second game I had the opposite problem - too many lands, I really didn't have any chance.

2 round (vs monoB aggro - totally 14th place)
Game one he managed to dodge Academy Rector with sacrificing blocked creatures to Carrion Feeder. He had Reccuring Nightmare, too bad.
Second game he started with Gate to Phyrexia! (half of my deck are artifacts..) I was able to "kill" him with Abyssal Prosecutor but didn't draw any sack outlet.

3 round (vs monoB aggro (again;)) - totally 17th place)
No big deal - I have won quite easily.

4 round (vs UB control)
I have locked game with The Abyss, Ensnaring Bridge, Trading Post and other friends. But on the other side, there was Liliana Vess and Jace, TMS. Quite long game and quite close (most important was countering my Pox with daze, really).
Second game I have again created quite locked my opponent. With tutor I have found Armageddon, which gets resolved leaving me with 3 manastones and opponent with nothing. But it was end of round and I didn't kill my opponent in time.

Not wonderful success really, but it was fun deck to play with.

Han

[MMD]

Thanks for your report!

I wonder if there are any issues with the organizers decision of not collecting decklists. I mean if someone is eager to win he can "adjust" his deck to the metagame after the first round.

It's just a small tournament with (sorry) small prices but there are always people who cheat to win.

[Han]

Basically, I am the organizer;-)

Our tournaments were established on demand of our relatively close HL community (about ten people), but then we have opened them to other people. So I would say most of the players know each other, and we somehow trust each one to be honest. The same is applied to the prices. We just throw back to the prices every money we collect on entry fee minus some ammount we give for the "venue". There really isn't any support.

I think some players won't be happy they have to write down decklists with 100+ cards. Another reason being that some players want to keep their "secret techs". But I would like to have decklists sometime in the future. It's not good only against cheaters but for more information you can throw back to the community to adjust their decks. Or for example for some bigger tournaments with bigger entry fee and prices.

[MMD]

Analyzing Top x lists and metagaming his own deck is an interesting part of the game as well as getting inspiration from other Highlander communities.

I don't see a problem regarding the work of writing a deck list even for a 100/1 format in digital age.

[Ball.Lightning]

I also attend this tournament serie in Prague and I have realy never felt, that collecting decklist is something necessary. Prices are more than OK in respect to realy small entrance fee. I have complained, even thought I won several tournaments last season.

In comparison: in Prague there are tournaments in legacy(20-30 players attend) every week. Entrance fee is 4euro and prices are highly sponsored by the shop owner. Noone collects decklists there and noone complains about that either. In this regard, I think, that decklist are unnecessary in this type of tournament(HL). For big tournaments they are propably must, but not in small friendly highlander community like ours.

[stsung]

hello there,
when I first came to the tournament series I was quite surprised that the organizator was not collecting decklists. But after few tournaments I understood why. The community is quite closed and most players know each other pretty well. that also means that they know who plays what deck. these people don't cheat and have already prepared for opponent's decks anyway...

I was an outsider and had no idea what to expect but my aggro control deck was capable of winning some games and getting some 1:1 results.

Ad prices. The entry fee is low and the prizes we get are good (equivalent). It's not an old dual land we could get if we go to local legacy tournament but it is still good. it's nice, considering the fact that one person does all this and it costs him time and money as well.

I can also understand why some people would not want to post (or even submit to the organizer) decklists. I've spent quite some time trying to make my decks work and it would certainly feel pretty awkward if the decklists would show up on some server. Not knowing your opponent's deck is actually quite good.

[MMD]

It's nice to read that your Highlander community can trust each other, so that decklists are not necessary at all. I would like to say the same for the tournaments I play. Even if this is "just Highlander" I think that some people in the tournaments I attend are so eager to win, that I would not swear that all of them would play fair. 

Oh, I hadn't wanted to make fun about the prices at all. They are fair in regards of the entry fee (and I personally don't care for prices that much at all).

But I don't get the point with the super secret decklists. I personally like to study winning decklists and search for new ideas which I could test in my decks and I am nearly sure that this is what everyone likes to do and also does. Posting winning lists is IMO an important part of the Highlander community. Studying other's decklists (to either metagame or to make general improvements) but wanting to withhold his own list seems quite egoistic to me. But hey, I can live with that   
...and what could be good on not knowing the opponent's deck list? 

[MarcMagic]

It's nice to read that your Highlander community can trust each other, so that decklists are not necessary at all. I would like to say the same for the tournaments I play. Even if this is "just Highlander" I think that some people in the tournaments I attend are so eager to win, that I would not swear that all of them would play fair. 

Oh, I hadn't wanted to make fun about the prices at all. They are fair in regards of the entry fee (and I personally don't care for prices that much at all).

But I don't get the point with the super secret decklists. I personally like to study winning decklists and search for new ideas which I could test in my decks and I am nearly sure that this is what everyone likes to do and also does. Posting winning lists is IMO an important part of the Highlander community. Studying other's decklists (to either metagame or to make general improvements) but wanting to withhold his own list seems quite egoistic to me. But hey, I can live with that   
...and what could be good on not knowing the opponent's deck list? 

I can only agree to this. And I think especially in HL there is not THAT much of net-decking or copying other ppl's lists because the metagame can be completely different even between communities inside one city! another point is that in HL ppl like to adjust their decks and play semi-optimal cards and/or pet cards which can be a reason for strange card choices. thus I don't think ppl have to hide their techs because imo HL is all about community. and deck lists do a great job to achieve this : )

[stsung]

To make you happy (just kidding, my decklists are online at tcgplayer for quite some time so if anyone would care he could easily find them) I can provide my own decklists. I won the tournament this thread is about and I was second in the tournament that preceded.
So here's my Naya Zoo and Dark Bant, that kinda started as BUG aggro control.

Naya Zoo
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Kird Ape
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Loam Lion
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Mother of Runes
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Primeval Titan
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveillark
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Serra Avenger
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Student of Warfare
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Vengevine
1 Watchwolf
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Wild Nacatl
1 Woolly Thoctar
Creatures [38]

1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Planeswalkers [6]

1 Arc Trail
1 Batterskull
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Burst Lightning
1 Chain Lightning
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Incinerate
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Lightning Helix
1 Magma Jet
1 Natural Order
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Path to Exile
1 Punishing Fire
1 Staggershock
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
Spells [22]

1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Raging Ravine
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Treetop Village
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills

Dark Bant
1 Arbor Elf
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Dark Confidant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Mulldrifter
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Primeval Titan
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Shriekmaw
1 Skinshifter
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Wall of Roots
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Creatures [36]

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Planeswalkers [5]

1 Ancestral Vision
1 Batterskull
1 Brainstorm
1 Bribery
1 Counterspell
1 Damnation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Force of Will
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Mana Leak
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Path to Exile
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Putrefy
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Wrath of God
Spells [23]

1 Arid Mesa
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Savannah
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Treetop Village
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills