Highlander Cup XIII 29.12.2013 [Hanau]

[Tabris]

Well we will collect all the informations about the HL Cup here.

We already have some decklists from the last minute trial winner

http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=6604

RDW, 4c Greed Midrange no white, 4cOath/Staxx

132 players!

[Tabris]

T8 Lists + player profile (german)

http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=6617#deth

[Vazdru]

Decklists of T8 and Trialwinners (Friday) added on mtgpulse.com as well

More lists, Metagame Breakdown, T8 Player Profiles and more to come.

[Vazdru]

Standings after 8 rounds Swiss / Archetypes Top 20

      

PLACE	NAME	POINTS	OPP-Score	Archetype
1	Felix Zarges	21	52,97%	4C Blood
2	Jan Dethloff	20	68,22%	Naya
3	Christian Hauck	20	67,85%	4C Blood
4	Patric Hinnes	19	66,31%	Izzet Control
5	Benjamin Aithaj-Kaddour	19	62,57%	Izzet Control
6	Gunnar Geißler	19	61,97%	Reanimator
7	Sven Müller	19	61,45%	Jund
8	Ronald Lehmann	19	51,38%	4C Blood
9	Julian Hessling	18	65,10%	RDW
10	Jochen Korbel	18	64,88%	Izzet Control
11	Stephan Schwarz	18	63,54%	UW Control
12	Tobias Müller	18	56,10%	WW
13	Wolff Schwarz	18	55,20%	Naya
14	Luca Doernbach	18	55,00%	RUGb-Midrange
15	Martin Thalheim	18	52,97%	UW Control
16	Bjoern Ortmann	18	51,78%	Dark Bant
17	Gerry Stahl	17	53,75%	BUGW-Goodstuff
18	Martin Zimmermann	16	61,48%	MUC
19	Kai Thiemann	16	56,99%	4C Blood
20	Christof Reuss-Klingmüller	16	51,86%	WGB-Rock

                                             
                                             

[Vazdru]

   

Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals	Highlander
Felix Zarges	Lehmann, 2:0
Robert Lehmann		Lehmann, 2:1
Benjamin Aithaj-Kaddour	Hinnes, 2:0		Christian Hauck, 2:0
Patric Hinnes
Christian Hauck	Hauck, 2:1
Gunnar Geißler		Hauck, 2:0
Sven Müller	Dethloff, 2:1
Jan Dethloff

Congratz to our new highlander Christian Hauck at this point!

131 players battled for becoming the new Highlander at Hanau last Sunday. Thereby the Highlander-Cup (GP XIII) was the biggest eternal event last weekend (Legacy 119, Vintage 38) and the second biggest recorded highlander event ever.

After loosing in last years top 8 with same archetype vs RDW, Christian did all way to victory this time. 4C Blood had its first appearances on top spots back in 2011. Maqi, Kai Thiemann and Christian Hauck piloted this archetype to several top ranks (c&p: http://mtgpulse.com/search#[informat=12&witharchetype=318]). This year most players of the Mannheimer HL community ranked 4C Blood as best deck of the field and so many of them played a similar version of this archetype:

Christian Hauck -highlander-
Ronald Lehmann / hitman -runner-up-
Kai Thiemann -19-
Giuseppe Iacono -23-
Achim Günzel -37-
Thomas Stier / Maqi -85-
Boris Hoischen -118-


HIGHLANDER TOURNAMENT HANAU Dec. 29th, 2013 - TOP 8

HIGHLANDER

NAME / NICKNAME: Christian Hauck
Age: 29
Hometown: Mutterstadt
Occupation: Student

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
Wizard's Well Mannheim

Your deck archetype:
4C Blood - Besitzer der Alphagene

Why did you choose your deck?
layed it for years

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
5

Number of HL Top 8s:
3

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:
National Team Member 2010, few PT's played

What was your record today?
6-0-2

How often do you play Highlander?
weekly

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
Ban True-Name Nemesis / Sensei's Diving Top / Mana Drain / Oath of Druids

Which cards would you change in your deck?
Maybe Thragtusk for Thundermaw Hellkite, depends on meta.

Anything else you would like to say?
Obzedat is broken            

[Vazdru]

   

	GP XIII	GP XIII	GP XIII	GP XII	GP XII	GP XII
ARCHETYPE	Appearance	TOP 8	TOP 16	Appearance	TOP 8	TOP 16
4C-Blood	20	3	3	6	1	2
Izzet	10	2	3	5	1	1
RDW	10		1	5
Dark-Bant / Goodstuff	9		1	11	1	1
Naya	9	1	2	6
Esper-Control	9			3		1
UW-Control	8		2	3	1	1
WGB-Rock	7
Artifacts	5			1
UG-AggroControl	4
Bant-Midrange	3			9		1
Jund	3	1	1	3		1
MBC	3			1
WG-Maverick	3
ComboControl	2			4		1
4C- / 5C-Control	2			4
Captain America	2			4		1
Pattern Rector	2			3
Other / Missing	2			2
WW	2		1	1
Mono-Blue-Control	2			1
BUG-Aggro / BUG-Midrange	2			1
RG-Beatz / RG-Landdestruction	2			1
Grixis-Midrange	2
Boros	1			5
Oath	1			4	1	1
Reanimator	1	1	1	1		1
Goblins	1			1		1
YingYang (OrzhovAggro)	1			1
RUGb-Midrange	1		1
Scapeshift	1
WBR-Control	1
5C-Aggro				8	1	1
Elves				2	1	1
Bant-Aggro				2	1	1
Hermit-Combo				2
RUG-Aggrocontrol				1
BUGR-Goodstuff
Total	131	8	16	101	8	16

[Vazdru]

Runner-Up

NAME / NICKNAME: Ronald Lehmann / hitman
Age: 24
Hometown: Mannheim
Occupation: Student

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
Wizard's Well Mannheim

Your deck archetype:
4C Blood / Hauck-Deck

Why did you choose your deck?
rock solid / no bad match-ups

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
5 or 6

Number of HL Top 8s:
1

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:
3rd place on Santa-Claus-Tournament 2003

What was your record today?
6-1-1

How often do you play Highlander?
several times weekly

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
Oath of Druids / Mishra's Workshop / Mana Drain / Price of Progress

Which cards would you change in your deck?
playing less lands

Anything else you would like to say?
keep up the good work @ hl-council   

[Vazdru]

Here is a short summary of my HL GP:

I piloted this deck: http://mtgpulse.com/event/15482#217446

As Patrick Richter / firestarter was away from HL GP first time and I played his favorite archetype of the last tournaments I call this deck "Tribute to Patrick Richter". Now I'm the last guy attended at all 13 GPs  

My aim for the tournament was to reach Top 16 as my best result was place 16 back in 2008 with UW-Skies (http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=93.0) so far. Last year I reached 20th rank after starting 4-0 but stumbling on my last step to Top 8 (http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=914.0).

FAIL 1:  I started the tournament w/o any byes so the inevitable happened:

Round 1 vs Ronald Lehmann / hitman (4C Blood, runner-up):

G1 I was screwed on 2 lands while he reached his fifth. Furthermore he got Arena online. After I've countered some of his big dudes Garruk, Primal Hunter hit the board eventually.  Nevertheless I had a good hand with True-Name Nemesis and so on but hitman's card- + tempo-advantage leading to the inevitable end: 0-1

G2 I start with Land + Pilgrim, he played a tapped land, I play Land + Geist, he played Inquisition and see a hand full of goodies (Snapcaster, Counterspell ...) and he conceded T2.

Now he offered me a draw...

FAIL 2: I accepted but haven't asked for a price-split  

...as he's a buddy of mine and I tested a lot vs 4C Blood which comes out that the game would be some kind of coin-flip with light favors for him as he may start I said "ok".

FAIL 3: I didn't asked for a deck-check  
...as it turned out, Ronald had only 99 cards on his decklist, the game-loss in the finals haven't harmed him much I guess because Top 4 have had a price-split  

0-0-1 / 1:1

Round 2: Oliver Salten (UG-Plaeswalker, 40th place):

G1 was like land-go for a while since I've tried to play Bitterblossom on an empty board. Of course he tried to counter it...

FAIL 4: As I had FoW, Removal + more counterspells I decided to counter it with Will as I thought early Bitterblossom is a nice threat vs. UG.

...Bitterblossom resolved and he played True-Name Nemesis (TNN) turn after. Nothing more has happened in this game but TNN won the damage-race vs. Bitterblossom.

G2 he had early preasure and I was low on lands. I can stabilize on 3 LP and had the much better board position as he played Garruk Wildspeaker adding a forth counter. I've had 4 creatures like Kitchen Finks, Fauna Shaman, Voice of Resurgence and BoP (7 Toughness altogether) and he had 2: Dryad Arbor and Spike Weaver with 2 conters (3 Power altogether). I have G and G/B lands open and Brainstorm on hand...

FAIL 5: I didn't played the Brainstorm with BoP-Mana bc I calculated 3+6 power after Garruk's overrun vs. 7 toughness = 2 Lifeloss so I needed BoP as blocker as i was on 3 lp – brainstorm would have given me Tarmogoyf.

FAIL 6: I blocked 4 toughness vs Spike Weaver and 3 toughness vs. Dyrad ... omg ... miscalculation is a boon, obv. he moved the 2 1/1-Counter from Spike Weaver to Arbor Dryad and won.
...otherwise it would have been an easy win turn later as he had nothing but 3 counterspells on top of library and I've had still a better board position.

0-1-1 / 1:3

Btw: same is true for hitman who lost vs 5C-Combo-Control feat. Kiki-Jiki-Combo in second round

Round 3: (UW-Control)

G1 I eventually played TNN and countered his solutions.
G2 I simply overwhelmed him and countered the relevant spells.

1-1-1 / 3:3

Round 4 vs. Andrej Gallus from Slovakia (MUC, 42th place)

G1 When he played Nightveil Specter I eventually dropped TNN and countered / handled his solutions for (Evacuation).
G2 I lost while he was still on 17 lp, he had just great draws and I had nothing impressive (TNN missing)
G3  I started with T1 BoP on the play, T2 Geist and he never find a solution for.

2-1-1 / 5:4

Round 5 vs Andreas Keupp (4C Oath/Staxx http://mtgpulse.com/event/15481#216789, 91th place)

G1 We are  both low on lands, I have Explosives to get rid of Chrome Mox, Mox Opal so his Academy don't do anything at all. I had some hand disruption and counterspells to control the game and some little critters trying to kill him meanwhile. When he almost reached a lock with Tolarian Academy, Sharrum, Mindslaver, Academy Ruins, Trading Post I was able to kill him, fetching for Trinket Mage + Needle first and Pridemage afterwards, removing Propaganda and go all in.

G2 He was unlucky and I had a nice start so he lost and dropped afterwards.

3-1-1 / 7:4

Round 6 vs Thomas Kannegießer / kenshin (Esper-Control, 36th place)

In one game TNN beats him for a while. He probably waited too long but wanted to make sure his Wrath won't be countered. So I was able to bring him down to 0 somehow. In the other game he had the better card quality (TNN?!) and won so we've had a decider in which I bring him down to 1 lp with Thragtusk and Rhox Warmonk on table but out of cards and he had nothing relevant on board but 3 or 4 handcards. He played Wurmcoil Engine and I wasn't able to find a solution for to win next round. Meanwhile we reached extra turns, as I was on almost full lifepoints we moved towards a draw...

FAIL 7: we both were aware that a draw would cost both of us the change to reach Top 8 but both of us find some reasons (in silence) why he deserves the win and the other should concede ...so after a few seconds thinking we dropped a 1-1-1 on the result slip...even more bitter because we know eachother as he comes from Karlsruhe, we are playing at TNM together from time to time and he even played with a few cards of mine

3-1-2 / 8:5

Round 7 vs. Sascha Stein (Scapeshift-Ramp, 64th place)

G1 He had 9 lands while I was on 4. So he played Runescarred Demon with Counterbackup (Muddle) and I conceded.
G2 I've had T2 Fauna Shaman which fetched Aven Mindcensor which was a good choice bc it totally wrecked his hand. So Mindcensor + Geist did the job.
G3 After free Mulligan I had 5 lands and just little business on starting hand. As I draw a land I come to the decision to use T1 wasteland on his GB-Land. That gamble was successful and he haven't found a second green mana for a while which gave me enough turns to win this game.

4-1-2 / 10-6

Round 8 vs. Benedikt Schäfer (UG-AggroControl, 34th place)

In both games I've had impressive hands and better card quality so it was an easy 2:0 in the end.

5-1-2 / 12-6

FAIL 8: 17 points and 17th place, so i missed my target   for the tournament shortly

Too many FAILs to reach Top 8. I'm pretty sure Patrick Richter would have reached it with this deck so  

Altogether I enjoyed the tournament very much as always and I'm looking forward for the next HL Cup.

[Vazdru]

Quarterfinalist

NAME / NICKNAME: Gunnar Geißler
Age: 38
Hometown: Jena
Occupation: IT

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
Battlecry Jena

Your deck archetype:
Reanimator

Why did you choose your deck?
someone has to play it

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
3 maybe

Number of HL Top 8s:
1

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:
-

What was your record today?
6-1-1

How often do you play Highlander?
once in a year

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
Unban Entomb / Ban Scavenging Ooze

Which cards would you change in your deck?
new sleeves

Anything else you would like to say?
I had some fun   

[Vazdru]

Quarterfinalist

NAME / NICKNAME: Felix Zarges
Age: 23
Hometown: Groß-Gerau
Occupation: educator-apprentice

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
Paladin's Place Darmstadt

Your deck archetype:
hell-Jund

Why did you choose your deck?
build for testing, too lazy to resleeve

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
first

Number of HL Top 8s:
first

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:
-

What was your record today?
7-1 after 0-1

How often do you play Highlander?
once in a year

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
Unban Stoneforge + Pod / Ban Sensei's DT

Which cards would you change in your deck?
- Aurelia's Fury + Bonfire of Damned

Anything else you would like to say?
   

[Vazdru]

Semifinalist

NAME / NICKNAME: Patric Hinnes
Age: 28
Hometown: Stuttgart
Occupation: croupier

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
playing with friends

Your deck archetype:
Izzet Control

Why did you choose your deck?
playing this deck for quite a while now, recognized its potential quite early before it became tier 1

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
4

Number of HL Top 8s:
3

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:


What was your record today?
6-1-1

How often do you play Highlander?
~ twice weekly

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
Unban Stoneforge / Ban True-Name Nemesis // Demonic and Sensei's are debatable

Which cards would you change in your deck?
cut Twin-Combo / Steam Augury add Tamiyo and new Chandra /

Anything else you would like to say?
   

[Vazdru]

Quarterfinalist

NAME / NICKNAME: Benjamin Aithaj-Kaddour
Age: 19
Hometown: Cologne
Occupation: student

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
Hiveworld

Your deck archetype:
Izzet Control

Why did you choose your deck?
because it's the only deck I have

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
2

Number of HL Top 8s:
1

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:
Top 64 GP Bochum

What was your record today?
6-1-1

How often do you play Highlander?
never, not at all

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
Unban Natural Order / Ban True-Name Nemesis

Which cards would you change in your deck?
add Treachery (hadn't one for the tournament)

Anything else you would like to say?
Without Treachery it is very bad against Treachery   

[Vazdru]

Semifinalist

NAME / NICKNAME: Jan
Age: 30
Hometown: Berlin
Occupation: copywriter

Shop and/or community where you usually play Magic:
Funtainment / ASL / Berlin

Your deck archetype:
Naya Aggro

Why did you choose your deck?
Played this forever, lost Pattern/Rector now, but beatdown also works very well

Number of Times Playing on Highlander GPs:
1

Number of HL Top 8s:
1

Other previous Magic Accomplishments:
2nd Place of HL Capitol Cup, Top 8 of 5-Years-MKM

What was your record today?
6-0-2

How often do you play Highlander?
once a week

Is there any card you would like to nominate for Ban / Unban in Highlander?
unban mystical tutor

Which cards would you change in your deck?
i would like another big trample-pump-spell ... go wizards

Anything else you would like to say?
I had a lot of fun! thx to the organizers.