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A friend of mine came for the PTQ and he played with my Jund deck (with some changes) so I had to come up with a different deck. I did not have much choices as I hardly have cards for type 2 decks except for Bant and Esper control decks. Lately I just sell or trade cards but I don't keep t2 cards for myself.

I decided to play Esper Control because Bant without Thragtusk did not seem right. Building a control deck against a meta I hardly saw is difficult and the deck is difficult to pilot (without prior experience). I expected that the field would be aggro and midrange heavy. Esper and UWr would be a minority.

At first I wanted to play a version that runs Snapcaster Mage, Restoration Angel and Augur of Bolas but later switched to running 4x Lingering Souls, Sorin and Jace. I put more or less this list together and played few games against that Jund deck and it was winnable.

[DGM] Esper Control
stsung
Type II

Main Deck:
3 Augur of Bolas
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

4 Azorius Charm
2 Detention Sphere
2 Dissipate
2 Far // Away
2 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Lingering Souls
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Supreme Verdict
3 Warped Physique

4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Plains
3 Watery Grave

Sideboard:
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Duress
1 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Negate
1 Pithing Needle
2 Rest in Peace
1 Terminus
2 Tragic Slip
1 Warped Physique
1 Witchbane Orb

Round 1 - Junk Reanimator
I played against Reanimator - a deck I thought I would be facing quite a lot the day before. I main decked cards against it and did not play against a single one. Now with Esper Control having almost nothing against it I had to play against it several times. For the first ten minutes I was trying to figure out what I can do against this deck. I knew that my Revelations would be removed from the game most probably and that my only possibility how to win would most probably be hit by Acidic Slime. Anyway I decided for a plan. Wait for 2 Angels of Serenity on the table and then remove them from the game via Detention Sphere. That backed up by Dissipate saved for Acidic Slime. The game took ages. I was trying to survive and was chump blocking everything with power 5. Obzedat was trying to gain me some life and stall. Eventually my opponent played two Angel of Serenity and I could send them to oblivion. After that I was in full control of the game but was afraid to kill my opponent. When the round ended I simply had to beat him and figure out how. I had 3 turn to do so and I could either mill him or overrun him with my creatures (and his).

In this game I realized that Dissipate is hardly a card I want and I was missing 3x Syncopate that I was usually running before (with Snapcaster Mage)

Round 2 - Gruul Aggro
I played against Klara - the second girl that participated in the tournament. She was playing gruul aggro (with some white?). It was a game I should have not lost but I did not expect somebody to play Brimstone Volley. Attack with 1/1 Noble into my Lingering Soul token seemed wierd but burn spell dealing 3 damage and Rampager would do the job as well. I blocked and was hit with Brimstone Volley when I tried playing Sphinx's Revelation. I facepalmed myself and decided not to do this mistake once again. I won the remaining 2 games.

Round 3 - Junk Reanimator
I played agaisnt Junk Reanimator and that I couldn't do much because of my draws. In game 1 I played Augur of Bolas quite early and hit both Detention Spheres I had in my deck. After this my chances of winning the game were more or less 0. I went aggro mode with Lingering Souls and flash backed both Souls so I could either swing for the win (which could possibly happen) or terribly die (which was most likely to happen). At 8 life my opponent played Sever the Bloodline removing all my 8 tokens and a turn later played Thragtusk.
In game two I saw a perfect Salvage and died rather quickly.

Round 4 - Naya Midrange
Oh this deck was pure evil. I resolved 2 mulligans and my hand was still bad. In game two I tried my best to keep up but without Syncopates I would give anything to have them I was simply screwed. I managed to kill some creatures with Warped Physique and eventually played Supreme Verdict. But Thundermaw Hellkite followed as I feared. I tried playing Tamiyo to keep it tapped but 4 mana open on my opponent's side was quite fearsome. Restoration Angel showed up EOT. I couldn't deal with either flyer and lost the game.

Round 5 - Junk Reanimator
After two different pairings we finally could start playing. I knew that my opponent is a good player and that I could hardly win but in the end it showed up that I could actually win. There are things that I did not even realize. Playing Far//Away in response to Angel of Serenity's trigger is something that did not really dawn on me. Even though I know how rules work and that I've done similar play many times in my life I just did not realize it during this tournament. But at this point I already knew that Far/Away is a card that I want to play 4-of main deck and cut Warped Physique which was really bad. In the first game I quickly died and it was more or less my intention because games against reanimator take ages (in my case^^). In the second game I brought in 2 Jace, Memory Adept, Terminus (what's the plural of this?) and Rest in Peace. I hoped to play Rest in Peace and mill. I had to stay alive till I would draw Jace that did not want to show up and them win. On the last turn in which I could draw that card he finally showed up. In g3 I was completely lost and forgot to counter Restoration Angel. This meant a lost game for me and it was really a hard blow. But it was something I should expect. I can usually concentrate for about 15 minutes at most and then it gets really difficult and if I have to play under pressure I can't make good decisions. I hope that my opponent wasn't angry with me as he had to survive the whole round and additional turns playing against me.
I learned a lot during this game only and that was good. Also after this round I realized that Sin Collector is something I want to play. I missed Slaughter Games and Sin Collector can hit Unburial Rites as well Sphinx's Revelation.

Round 6 - Gruul Aggro
I can't lose this match up. Or at least it does not seem likely.

Round 7 - Naya Goodstuff
Again I played against this annoying Naya deck. I had no idea what to do with it. Anyway I won by playing Lingering Souls and creating Sorin's Emblem. It was not the first time that Sorin showed up to be actually doing something and in this case (and the previous ones) he seemed to be game breaking unlike Tamiyo that proved to be good against not good players but terrible against those who can actually play well. In game two my opponent sided in 2x Ruric. I had to sweep the board but those 6 extra damage simply killed me. In game three I kept rather strange hand. It had enough creature removal but no counterspell or Sphere. I did not mind as I did not expect too many permanents I couldn't deal with. Unfortunately my opponent played Domri Rade on T2 and I was unable to deal with it. Even though he started with 5 cards he won. He always hit a creature card and got Domri to 7. At this time I drew Detention Sphere and removed him from the game but it was too late as my opponent had more cards than me. Few turns later I lost the game. There was no way of getting rid of Restoration Angel on my opponent's hand and that is what killed me. My removal would simply mean 'one more creature in play on opposing me'.

Round 8 - Reanimator with Progenitor Mimic
I played against Justin so it was at least a pleasant match. Justin had a clear plan against me. Play Garruk and keep it on the table. That was all he needed to win both games. My Souls just couldn't get past Restoration Angels and I never had Detention Sphere nor counterspell. I played till the end but I knew that it is useless.

3:5 at this tournament - a score that I expected to be the best I could manage with this deck. So I can't complain. After the tournament I at least figured out what cards I'd like to play and what cards are not good or don't feel right. Sin Collector is an awesome card that will surely go main deck. The same goes to Syncopate as I was missing that card way too much. Detention Spheres were cool and if I would have one more in sideboard I would be happy. Augur of Bolas even though in 3 copies was simply too mmuch. This card should rather be replaced by 4 Collectors. This deck needs more quality draws than looking for something which is a reason I would actually cut those Forbidden Alchemies as well and just leave Azorios Charms which is an awesome card even though Voice of Resurgence is annoying. Far//Away proved to be the best card in the deck (after Sphinx's Revelation I guess^^) so next time I'll run four of these and I'll cut Warped Physique. That card is simply meh and even 2 of those seemed to much in certain games. As for Obzedat vs Aetherling. In the end I decided to play Obzedat over Aetherling but it was a mistake. I'll probably try playing 2x Aetherling and 1x Obzedat (because I like the card not that it would be stellar in this deck). As for Sorin and Jace and Lingering Souls... I'm not convinced. Lingering souls were hardly good against even aggro decks that just ran or trampled past and I hardly managed to race someone with them even with Sorin's Emblem. Jace is a card I still don't like but it is still the best card choice that I can get on this format...

Playing with Esper Control at this tournament was a nice experience. I terribly died due to my mistakes but learned some things at the same time. It reminded me that I still have a lot to learn about Magic: The Gathering and that being a good player still means that you actively play and know what other people play. I played also against quite a lot of Reanimator decks during the past few days and it seems to me that many players don't really know what to do with the deck. It would help me to play more against players that actually know what they are doing. This happened to me at the PTQ and it was completely a different experience. I'll probably try to participate in the upcoming PTQ as well. It was worth it even though my score was really lousy but I expected that.

This weekend Cerny Rytir organized the third World Magic Cup Qualifier and PTQ Dublin at DDM Spektrum near the Cerny Rytir store. I decided to participate because finally I had a deck I could play with and actually manage to win more games than lose (unlike with Esper which is a real challenge to play, especially when I don't actively play and have no idea what to expect). I did not want to pay the starting fee so I decided to sell the promo card to get the money for the starting fee. This worked out well. So at 7am I tried to get up and get to the site. I was the second one to register so I had plenty of time for writing down the decklist etc. Many players came to me asking me if I have card x or y during that time. I'm not entirely sure what is better - players asking for cards 30 minutes before the tournament or players asking for the cards during the night before the tournament (yes, some people bothered to write me at 3am^^). That is the reason why I decided to go offline the next night.

Round 1 - BUG Aggro
I was completely caught off guard. I did not expect a deck like this and had no idea what to do with it. The game was so fast that I did not really have time to think about what to side in. Anyway I sided in Abrupt Decay, 4x Pillar of Flame and Grafdigger's Cage. I won the second game mainly because my opponent kept a one lander and that land even came into play tapped. That gave me some time and I had enough burn spells to get rid of all the creatures (as he was forced to play one spell per turn). Game three my hand wasn't so good and my opponent soon had 3 Strangleroot Geists and Young Wolf in play. My only removal was Liliana that I could hardly side out so I played her making one of the creatures bigger and 'saving' one life and lost a turn later (Dreg Mangler joined those Geists and Wolf).

Round 2 - Zombies
At first I had no idea what my opponent was playing. The first card I saw was Bloodthrone Vampire. I just couldn't figure out what kind of deck would play this (unless it would be Vampire combo^^). My opponent was mana flooded and hardly played some cards. Falkenrath Aristocrats dealt some damage but without Gravecrawlers or other creatures to make them indestructible they did not last long. After killing all the threats I simply overwhelmed my opponent with my own creatures. In game two I sided in yet once again 4x Pillar of Flame and Grafdigger's Cage. Pillar of Flame just worked wonders and soon the game was over.

Round 3 - Bant
Round 3 was quite unfortunate for me. In game one I was overrun by a set of Loxodon Smiters. 'Where did you go Blightning' was ringing in my head during the whole game but still I had to try my Rakdos's Return (to be honest I did not expect those Smiters that much). Some Voice of Resurgences joined these 4/4s and I just died. After such game I thought that the deck is more aggro than control so sided in more removal and got rid of those Returns. My opponent did not play much creatures so I tried to play my own creatures but my Tusk was countered by Dissipate. Second Dissipate got rid of another card and then my opponent finally started playing some creatures. Once again I was facing Voice of Resurgence. My opponent was down to 6 and I was hoping to draw something that could deal the remaining 6 damage. I was in top deck mode. The next 5 cards I drew were lands unfortunately and my opponent played Thragtusk that killed me few turns later.

Round 4 - Zombies
Once again I was facing zombies. This time I found out why Bloodthrone Vampire is a good card. I let the Vampire sitting there and my Huntmaster was stolen from me and then sacrificed. I encountered two more Mark of Mutiny cards but still won the game. After siding in Pillars and Cage I easily won.

Round 5 - Possibility Storm deckMy opponent played Abundant Growth on turn 1 so I was trying to figure out what kind of deck I was facing. Some kind of Enchantress? Type 2? The next card he played was Mana Bloom so I picked that card from the table and started reading it. Head Judge of the event was passing by and asked my opponent if there was a single player that did not actually need to read the text on the card. I played Olivia Voldaren but she was rendered useless (some enchantment that gives -5/-0 and can be returned to its owner's hand for 2U). Later he played Possibility Storm and that was more or less end of the game. I still wondered how such a deck could win so continued drawing cards and playing Farseek after Farseek usually hitting Mizzium Mortars though (via Possibility Storm). I was extorted down to 9 via Blind Obedience. When my opponent played another Obedience I conceded (I was wondering if Assemble the Legion was in the deck..it was). Game 2 I sided in Acidic Slimes, Rakdos's Return, Slaughter Games and Abrupt Decay (Dreadbore did not seem to be doing anything). On t3 I played Liliana and started discarding cards. I was sure that this would kill my opponent. I used her ultimate ability and later played Sire of Insanity and in few turns won.
My opponent brought Pithing Needle in for the next game but I did not mind. I played Garruk and all the creatures I had and simply attacked and attacked. Backed up by Acidic Slime and Slaughter Games I could hardly lose. (but my opponent helped me with that as he did not manage to draw more lands and thus couldn't deal with my threats)

Round 6 - Gruul Aggro
I was overrun by Gruul Aggro. After first attack I went down to 13 and after the second one I was down to 4. In game two I managed to stop the attack and played Huntmaster of the Fells. I stabilized and then managed to get rid of all the threats. Game 3 was quite fun^^. My opponent was attacking with some creatures and killed anything I played (Huntmaster once again). He played Thundermaw Hellkite when I had 14 life. I took 8 damage. I had Olivia Voldaren on my hand so I played it and hoped not to die. Single burn spell would kill me no matter what. I let Hellkite deal another 5 damage and blocked the 3/3 creature that was attacking alongside it (I pinged it so Olivia would survive). Next turn I stole Thundermaw Hellkite and wondered if I could still win. I attacked for ten, played Garruk, put a 3/3 beast into play and still had Abrupt Decay to deal with the lonely attacker if it would be pumped by Bloodrush ability. In my next turn I attacked once again and won the game.

Round 7 - UW Spectral Flight
2 Mulligans and it did not look good. Actually it did look good until my opponent was capable of attacking with a single creature for 10 the first turn and for more the next one. I did not draw Liliana so I could get rid of it and died a turn later. In game 2 I somehow won as I was able to get rid of all the creatures that could be enchanted and I removed Geist of Saint Traft from the deck. In game three I kept a hand with Dreadbore and Abrupt Decay. I thought that this would be sufficient as removal. Unfortunately the first creature my opponent played was Knight of Glory. I did not draw Liliana of the Veil nor Pillar of Flame nor Mizzium Mortars. Later the creature was enchanted and hit me few times. I could still play Abrupt Decay on Spectral Flight so I could block it but for that I would need a creature in play and the only one I managed to play was countered.

Round 8 - UWR
Sire of Insanity and GG. In second game I played Thragtusk after Thragtusk and played Slaughter Games on Sphinx's Revelation. That was all I needed. My opponent in top deck mode wasn't a threat.

I went 5:3 which was quite ok. I did not win anything nor placed well but it felt nice. The deck was working well except occasional mana flood or mana screw and I think that I can get some better results with it at another tournament. But a friend of mine will play with it so I'll have to come up with some thing else. Everyone was nice to me and there was no real tension there among the players. I enjoyed the tournament and I'm glad that I participated. I also got my hands on some Japanese cards. ^_^

Decklist was similar to the one I posted in the previous post. I would do some more changes..like cut 1 Rakdos's Return and add one more Olivia Voldaren and play Curse of Death's Hold and Gaze of Granite in SB...etc.

Jund Control
stsung
Type II

Main Deck:
2 Arbor Elf
3 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Olivia Voldaren
2 Sire of Insanity
3 Thragtusk

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dreadbore
4 Farseek
2 Ground Seal
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Putrefy
2 Rakdos's Return

4 Blood Crypt
3 Dragonskull Summit
2 Forest
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
4 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard:
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Acidic Slime
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Sever the Bloodline
3 Slaughter Games
1 Tragic Slip
1 Vraska the Unseen

Another WMCQ is almost here (in two days) and that is a reason to put together some type 2 deck. I played with Bant Control and Esper Control but I would not dare to show up with such a deck at another tournament. Esper has some really nice cards like Warped Physique and Aetherling but still I would fear playing against some crazy blitz decks. So I tried Jund. Sire of Insanity is a card that I immediately liked. Liliana of the Veil is a really nice card as well and that's why I wanted to try Jund. Many players came up with different Jund builds before me so it's nothing new for you I guess but for me it was exploring something new.

Some time ago I wrote some post about my Bant deck and I think that I compared it to Jund... I build a Jund deck at first and then switched to Bant because the Jund deck did not feel like control at all. It was a midrange deck that needed some luck and a style of play I don't like and was more dependant on creatures. But the deck that follows is different. It feels completely different. This is a deck that can be pure control or be aggressive.

Liliana of the Veil is awesome against UWR and Esper. T2 Liliana means a win usually. She can also deal with some nasty creatures like Geist of Saint Traft or just reanimated [anything]. Her discard ability is good against almost any deck. Running a play set is something I do not regret. That card is really strong and even against reanimator decks. I can't imagine a card that I would run main deck that would be as good as her. I know it sounds wierd but she wins games.

Mizzium Mortars is a card that I find much better than Bonfire of the Damned. I hated this card when everyone was playing Naya with 4 Bonfires. It was a race who would play his or her Bonfire first. I did not like that. When I was trying the Jund midrange deck Bonfire of the Damned wasn't showing when I wanted it and it did not really give me much control over what was going on. It either came when I needed it (wasnt happening often) or it was completely a dead card. It's a card I hate seeing on my opening hand. I could't kill a single creature with it which could be sufficient in most cases. Mizzium Mortars though gives us choice and thus control. It's a two mana Flame Slash or global removal. A bit of acceleration helps so I can play it early and deal with some annoying board. It cannot deal with 5/5 Trample Wurm but for that I still have Putrefy and Dreadbore (or Decay).

I decided to try out Dreadbore. Many decks run Garruk, Jace or Liliana and lately Sorin so I decided to try this. After some games though I'm thinking about playing 1 or 2 Abrupt Decays. Still it kills a creature and it deals with a 'walker as this deck lacks burn spells that can target a player.

Ground Seal main deck seems quite normal to me. But people seem to be surprised. Well there are many reanimator decks and are usually winning tournaments so this helps against this match up. It does not really take the space in the deck. It replaces itself even though it costs 2 mana. It is also good against decks running Snapcaster Mages.

Sire of Insanity is awesome agaist control decks but it can kill other decks as well. Against some match ups the card is completely useless as its usually about staying alive during early/mid game. In late game anything is good enough to kill the opponent. Sire can be played quite fast and is a big body. That's simply awesome and Jund top decks are usually good. Even though I managed to draw 10 lands straight in few games already^^. I still won though.

Pillar of Flame and Abrupt Decay against any fast aggro decks and GW tokens are a must (Bant Auras included). I would probably cut that Rakdos's Return from sideboard and added yet another removal or Olivia. She's awesome as well when used well.

Well I'm just glad that I finally found a Jund deck that I can actually play. It feels like playing control and not a deck that with random (even though strong) effects. So here's the list.

Jund Control
stsung
Type II

Main Deck:
2 Arbor Elf
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Olivia Voldaren
2 Sire of Insanity
3 Thragtusk

1 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Dreadbore
4 Farseek
2 Ground Seal
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Putrefy
2 Rakdos's Return

4 Blood Crypt
3 Dragonskull Summit
2 Forest
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
4 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Acidic Slime
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Sever the Bloodline
3 Slaughter Games
1 Underworld Connections

Today the last tournament of the Highlander Series took place. I was second in the series till the last tournament when everything simply went wrong and I moved to fourth place from which I could hardly reach the top. I wasn't even sure if I would want to go to the last tournament. In the end I decided to go... Few days before the tournament I realized that it is in just few days! And I wasn't even at home nor did I have a deck ready. At the last tournament I played with Izzet Control which is a very good deck, but it wasn't my day. My very bad mood did not help things much. I also tried few games with a Control Combo deck. It worked against the players I played but I did not find the deck competitive.

So the day before the tournament I put a deck together. It was once again the crazy Necrotic Ooze combo (+ Phyrexian Devourer and Triskelion). I tried few games with it but lost every one of them. (Actually 3:0 against one deck and 0:3 against another one). After the 0:3 I decided to try a different deck...I decided to play good stuff once again but this time with blue.

After a very long talk with my flat mate I went to sleep early in the morning. At 8:45 I woke up for some reason and headed for the tournament.

Round 1
I wasn't entirely sure what I play against. At first I thought and hoped it would be some kind of GW aggro because against that I have a good match up but when Selesnya Signet showed up I was caught offguard. From this moment on I knew that I should be expecting anything and Sigarda was one of the cards I did not expect. Soon I was facing Advent of the Wurm token and some other creatures, Master of the Wild Hunt among them. There wasn't much I could do with it. In game three I tried as I could to gain tempo but I did not really manage it and it came down to a moment in which I should decide either I would be killed by Sigarda or Silverblade Paladin. I decided that getting rid of Paladin is easier but in the end it was vice versa because my next draw was Enlightened Tutor which could fetch Phyrexian Metamorph and thus get me rid of Sigarda. Timely Reinforcements and Snapcaster Mage were trying to keep me alive but in the end I was facing both paired Paladin with Eternal Witness and Sigarda. I lost 2 games (and obviously won one...) but at least I was forced to use my brain and think. This helped me quite a lot because I decided to win the remaining games. (it came true^^)

Round 2
In this round I played against Lukas. He has a burn deck and mono green but today he decided to play mono blue artifact deck. This deck can be pretty annoying but without the right mana acceleration it cannot keep up with the competitive highlander meta (Bitterblossom backed up by a counterspell and Sword of Fire and Ice did the job). I won the first game quite quickly and in the second game my opponent was stuck at 3 lands. We played a third game in which I let him live for 3 more turns then was necessary and he managed to beat me. But I have to admit that was he showed me was pretty impressive. But Creeping Tar Pit is still the number 1 card against mono blue (along with Bitterblossom that won me the first game).

Round 3
I played against some dark bant deck. It was surely less aggressive than my build. I don't really remember what was going on in the games. In the game two I mulliganed several times because I couldn't manage to have some lands. This lasted for another few rounds and Putrid Leech was dealing me 4 damage each round. I still had a chance to possibly win (if my opponent would not have more counterspells than me) but I did not draw a card that would help me. When my opponent played Restoration Angel I decided to play Remand and deal with it later. That was most probably a mistake because at that time I could still play Snuff Out and don't die from it (I was at like 7 life). A turn later I lost the game.

In game two I had relatively ideal hand (that means it had 4 lands, 2 creatures and a counterspell). It was my turn to be aggressive and it worked and Evasive Action worked wonders. I attacked as I could and countered what I could and won. In game three it wasn't clear who would win till the very end in which it was either me being faster or my opponent. In this game it was my turn to attack with Putrid Leech. It took my opponent down to 7 life but then he played Kitchen Finks and my poor Putrid Leech attacked twice and killed the Finks. I took 4 damage and had to counter Stifle in order to kill the annoying creature^_^. After this my opponent couldn't do much and lost the game few turns later.

Round 4
Next I faced a control deck. In game 1 I kept a hand with one land and it wasn't a good one either. So I played my Treetop Village. It was hit by Wasteland. Five turns later I still had no lands and Baneslayer Angel showed up. I had Dismember to deal with it but no land to kill to play it. I played Creeping Tar Pit. Ajani Vengeant took care fo that land. I drew another land - Island. I tried to play Dismember but it was Daze'd or something. (note that against this player I usually play without lands^_^ or completely mana screwed)

Game two was pretty quick. I started with a mana dork, followed by some 3 drop. I simply attacked and that sufficed (more or less). In game three it was quite tense but I kept my opponent under pressure from the beginning. He was facing two threats - from my creatures and from my manlands (fetched by Primeval Titan). He played Consecrated Sphinx, Jace TMS and Brainstorm but was unable to find a response to both of these. He managed to play Swords to Plowshares on my Tarmogoyf (I did not attack with Creeping Tar Pit to avoid the Sword or Path) and deal with the last creature. But still the unblockable manland was a problem. In the meantime I played Dark Confidant and hoped to draw some counterspells. I had Force of Will and Evasive Action so I felt quite safe. Wasteland would be a problem but still I was hardly dead.

Round 5
Adam Koska and Zoo. Kird Ape was the first creature he played. Then he added Goblin Guide and attacked. I did not hit a land and was incapable of dealing with those creatures...it was a question of time till I would lose. In game 2 I slowed my opponent by playing Timely Reinforcements. He couldn't attack till he played River Boa that simply went past my soldiers, Baleful Strix and Shadowmage Infiltrator (oh yeah I was playing Esper^^). I was attacking with Jon Finkel, drawing an extra card each turn. Later I played Lingering Souls and flashbacked them. I did not expect Maelstrom Pulse but I still could easily win. I just totally messed the game up^_^. I also had Maelstrom Pulse and with that I could deal with lonely blocker taking my opponent to 1 and I could deal the last damage by alpha strike if I would have played Arbor Elf. But instead I did not play anything...(because I chose to draw a different card via Sylvan Library.) Few turns later in which I managed to mess what I could and played yet another Timely Reinforcements I won.

The last game was pretty quick. I played Geist of Saint Traft on t3 and Dismember'ed Lotus Cobra standing in the way. That dealt 6 damage to me (Ravnica dual land + 2 black Phyrexian) but it did not matter. In three turns my opponent was down to 0 as he couldn't deal with the spirit.

BUGw Good Stuff
1 Arbor Elf
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Baleful Strix
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Dark Confidant
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Delver of Secrets
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mother of Runes
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Primeval Titan
1 Putrid Leech
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Shriekmaw
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Thragtusk
1 Tidehollow Sculler

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Bitterblossom
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Daze
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Detention Sphere
1 Dismember
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Evasive Action
1 Force of Will
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Into the Roil
1 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Mana Leak
1 Memory Lapse
1 Mental Misstep
1 Miscalculation
1 Mox Diamond
1 Natural Order
1 Path to Exile
1 Remand
1 Snuff Out
1 Spell Snare
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
1 Thoughtseize
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Vindicate

1 Bayou
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Karakas
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Swamp
1 Treetop Village
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills

So it was time to redeem my credit. The total being 950CZK (for the series) for which I could afford Thoughtseize. Along the way I got Urborg, Watery Grave (these were expensive at that time) and some other less expensive cards.

Friday

I wanted to participate in Legacy GP for quite a while but it was never close enough for me. So finally this time I got the chance to go to Strasbourg to play Legacy.

We were leaving Prague at 9am. I went there with Pavel Matousek and Jirka Rehak. We arrived at the site at 5 pm more or less. I could decide whether I want to play in a GPT or Legacy Warm Up tournament. I decided to give the Trial a chance.

I wrote down my decklist (BWg Stoneblade) and waited for a really long time till our Trial was announced. It took another ten minutes before we could start. The very first game I played was against BUG control. The player did not speak English so it was a bit difficult to communicate and I wasn't even sure if I should call judge to solve our Tarmogoyf problem. But no matter how the situation would be solved I would win by just attacking with my Batterskull. It seems that BUG Control is a good matchup. Waiting for the second round was even worse. We waited an eternity and then we were told that there are technical problems and that we need to wait even longer. When the judge came once again he told us that we would get new pairings and once again we had to wait. The third round was starting when the previous Trials were already in their fifth round. After I lost to a creature with creature type - Ally - I could go anywhere I liked. As the rounds took ages though I couldn't participate in the Legacy Warm Up and I was late even for another GPT. At 8 pm I wanted to participate in the Magic Game Show. After a nice walk with Jirka we came back to the site and headed for the Chandra banner where the Magic Game Show took place.

This GP's Magic Game Show wasn't that fun as the previous ones I participated in. Richard Hagon looked in a pretty bad shape. Not sure if that was a jet lag problem or anything else.

There were 6 rounds. Round 1 was about Charms. There are many charms in the Magic: The Gathering history. They all start with a certain letter of alphabet. There are 8 letters that are not used as the first letter of a charm name. We got 7 out 8 right and we won some KMC sleeves.

Round 2 was about Mythics. There are 14 Mythic Rares that have cmc 9 or more. So we started writing some down. I couldn't remember how Omniscience is named and we did not that Darksteel Colossus was reprinted in some core set. We managed to list 7 out of those 14 Mythics. That wasn't enough to win the round.

Round 3 was meh. Well there are always questions like this but it wasn't fun. We were told the names of the WMCQ winners and we were supposed to write down the countries they would represent at WMC. In this round we also got half of it.

Round 4 was even worse. The question was good but we had no idea what those cards were. We were supposed to name 7 0/0 cards from Standard. We came up with Evil Twin and Clone but we couldn't come up with all those creatures that work with counters or Cryptborn Horror. But we weren't the last^_^

In the fifth round we were asked to write down decklist (rather the cards fromt he deck) of Shardless BUG that won the last StarCity Games Open. We got 18 out 20 cards right but it wasn't enough to win the round.

In the sixth round Hagon showed us his own drawings of certain cards. Writing down the names was quite difficult for us. We managed to get some of the obvious ones right but the rest was mystery to us. (all the cards were from Gatecrash)

After the Magic Game Show we played some Legacy with Jirka and after that we went back to our hotel. We got lost on the way so I parted them and went back and retraced the same route we took to the site. I was pretty angry and felt pretty sick but I promised a game of EDH to Kumano so I knocked on their door.

We played a multiplayer game that turned pretty badly as we were overrun by elves. I played another game with Honza Jestribek as we were eliminated first. We went to sleep after that.

By some miracle I actually managed to fall asleep but I woke up early in the morning. I was going through my deck and wondering if I shouldn't be playing more dual lands and change my sideboard. I did that in the end. Michal and Jirka lent me their cards and my deck was complete.

Saturday

(I add this later hopefully)

Sunday

After the Grand Prix main event I wanted to play more legacy and thus I wanted to participate in the Legacy Championship. I got up early once again as I couldn't sleep. When I got really bored in my room I went downstairs to eat my breakfast. Some Czech players were there already so we talked about the day before and ate our breakfasts.

We arrived to the site few minutes before the end of registration for the Championships. I registered and waited for the first round to begin. There were about 230 players or so.

In the first round I played against mirror. I knew this after I played my first discard spell and got a peek at his hand. Unfortunately I played Inquisition of Kozilek and not Thoughtseize so I was incapable of discarding Batterskull. In the upcoming turns I still did not get Cabal Therapy or Thoughtseize so I could get rid of that Batterskull. It landed in play few turns later and I did not have any response to that. So I tried to survive. Lingering Souls were helping me in that. Finally Stoneforge Mystic showed up, I tutored Batterskull and put it into play later. I was at 6 life at that time. I equipped my only creature with the skull (Mystic) and started attacking as well. This allowed me to survive long enough till I managed to get rid of all the opposing souls. The last one was hit by Liliana's second ability and the opponent conceded the game. We did not have much time for the remaining games. The second game was quick though and it was not in my favor. We asked some judges when the round ends. We got few answers like 1 minute, 2 minutes or 3 minutes. So we signed the result slip and waited for round 2. By having a draw in the first round there was a pretty high chance that I would play against yet another stone blade.

In the second round my opponent mulled to five. I played Cabal Therapy on Force of Will as that's probably the most played card (considering all types of deck). I hit it. The remaining cards were Counterspell, Karakas, Island and Plains. I decided that this deck is most probably a miracle deck. I played Bitterblossom and hoped that it would suffice. It did. In the second game I sided in Pithing Needle, Enlightened Tutor and what not but it was not even necessary as I managed to discard all his counterspells, play Stoneforge Mystic, fetch Batterskull and kill with it.

In round 3 I ended up really badly. I played Inquisition of Kozilek as my first spell and peeked at a hand full of Bloodbraid Elves. I hoped to draw a Cabal Therapy but it did not show. On turn 4 the first Bloodbraid Elf ended up on the table and cascaded into Baleful Strix. The next one brought Scavenging Ooze and the last elf brought Brainstorm. I did not have any removal and my only chance was to block the creatures and kill them in combat. But my 1/2s were not capable of stopping the elves. In the second game my first discard hit Umezawa's Jitte. But still I was under quite some pressure from Shardless Agents and creatures they brought in play. I had Jitte in my hand and drew Batterskull. This card could have saved me but my opponent top decked Tower of the Magistrate and played it. My only chance of survival was thus doomed to fail and I conceded.

Round 4 - Stone blade. Not entirely sure what was happening in these games except that I played Dark Confidant after Dark Confidant and it was always hit by Swords to Plowshares. I was discarding equipments and Vendilion Cliques and I was getting rid of other cards by playing Dark Confidants^^.

Round 5 was really interesting. I looked at my opponent's hand and I had no idea what he was playing - Ethersworn Canonist, Pernicious Deed, Enlightened Tutor, Phyrexsian Tower, Verdant Catacombs, Forest, Scavenging Ooze and Eternal Witness. Later in the game Veteran Explorer ended up on the table that's when I realized what I play against (or at least I had an idea). A turn later Grave Titan showed up. I played Swords to Plowshares on it but still the little zombies beat me. In the second game I tried as hard as I could and tried to avoid Pernicious Deed. My equipments got hit by Harmonic Sliver and my sideboard cards did not show up. I really needed Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage. Anyway everything looked quite ok when I managed to play Lingering Souls, flashback them and attack with them (and Jitte) but turn before my opponent's death he drew Pernicious Deed and swept the board. He played Sun Titan and Recurring Nightmare then. I did not drew graveyard hate and died few turns later.

My opponents hand in round 6 consisted of 6 lands and Life from the Loam. Unfortunately all the discard cards force to discard so the Loam ended up in graveyard. I won this game but I did not really know what I was facing. I did not see any creatures so I was siding out Swords to Plowshares. In game two my opponent sided in many cards. Not entirely sure what they were but the card that certainly killed me was Tarmogoyf. I got overrun by three of them and Jace TMS was yet another problem I couldn't deal with. Game 3 I reevaluated my sideboard but my opponent did the same and the game did not end up good for me. I could fight Jace TMS and discard some annoying Cliques but what killed me this time was Life from the Loam + Wasteland. I did not get the chance to remove Life from the Loam nor the land.

Round 7 was the best match I played^_^. I played against yet another Esper Stone Blade. In the first game I simply got rid of my opponent's Stoneforge Mystic and then played Lingering Souls and yet another Lingering Souls. These managed to win. In the second game it did not look good for me. I managed to play Pithing Needle forbidding Jace TMS but that did not stop my opponent dealing damage to me. When I finally managed to look at my opponent's hand it looked like this: Stoneforge Mystic, Jace TMS, 2x Supreme Verdict, Darkblast, Perish, Snapcaster Mage. That was even worse for me than I thought. My souls and Stoneforge Mystic would simply die to Supreme Verdict. It would take some time till I would draw more creatures and then it would get swept once again. Anyway I played the SFM and fetched Batterskull. My opponent then played Thoughtseize. I was ready to discard the equipment but my opponent decided to discard Liliana of the Veil while having four spirits in play. After that he managed to mess it up once again by playing Jace, the Mind Sculptor and thus losing one whole turn. His friend standing next to him seemed that he wants to kill him after such play but he didn't say anything. I pointed at my Pithing Needle and my opponent realized what he did. He passed me the turn. I drew Umezawa's Jitte and put it in play, equipped it and attacked. My opponent was down to 2 life. He had Stoneforge Mystic in play, 4 spirits and Jace TMS. He played Brainstorm and found Disenchant and Swords to Plowshares. Anyway he drew something and let me play. I expected him to play Snapcaster Mage and flashback Swords to Plowshares and then simply kill me. But to the surprise and entertainment of all present he did not do it. My draw was Wasteland, so I decided to destroy a blue source. I thought that he had Underground Sea untapped, but when targeting the land I realized that it was actually Scrubland. Anyway he tapped it for mana and played Disenchant on my already charged Umezawa's Jitte. After this my opponent's friend started yelling at him because this was already too much for him^_^. Me and Honza we started laughing so badly that I couldn't even talk for a while. I pumped my Mystic, killed the opposing Mystic and swinged for the win. My poor opponent was listening to his friend who just couldn't understand how he managed to mess the game so much. Judge came to us wondering what the hell happened so we filled in the result sheet and gave it to him.

Round 8 was not so much fun. But I've met a really cool guy. He came late and was given a game loss. But I knew that this would not stop him from winning the round. Japanese and German combined that can't be a bad player^_^. I looked at his hand and found 2 cards I did not like at all. Terminus and Moat. There was Repeal, Jace and some lands as well but those cards did not really concern me. Entreat the Angels was what would kill me and I knew I couldn't do a thing against that. I knew that this match up is rather unwinnable for me but I tried anyway. I played what creatures I could and attacked but after a third Terminus there was nothing I could play or attack with. Soon I was facing several 4/4 angel tokens. In game two I sided in all I could against this deck but I did not have Engineered Explosives in my hand. My opponent played the Entreat pretty soon where x was 3 and that was all he needed. I got rid of one angel and extracted the Entreat. But no decay, no sword, no liliana nor explosives for me. After the game ended we discussed my deck a bit. I had some free time before the next round for the first time during the tournament.

When I arrived to my table I was already too tired to take the game seriously. I did not even mulligan when I was supposed to. I played against Maverick. My top decks though were good and I won even though I certainly did not deserve that. In game 2 I had to mulligan to five. I managed to get two lands but one of them was Wasteland. This land was destroyed and I was left with one Swamp. I couldn't do much. In game 3 my hand was quite ok. But my opponent wrecked my plan with Pithing Needle on turn 1. The card I couldn't use was Liliana of the Veil and that was a problem. I needed to get rid of the needle so I could destroy Knight of the Reliquary. But my opponent was one turn ahead of me and played one more creature. So I decided to play Abrupt Decay on Knight of the Reliquary and hoped to draw something that would help. Unfortunately my following draws were only lands.

After the tournament I wanted to play more legacy and I decided that this deck is what I like. I should have played more Scrublands than Bayous but it did not kill me during the tournaments anyway. Having more duals though was ok except for the game against Life from the Loam + Wasteland. Also I was lacking more Pithing Needles.

We left the site about 9 or even later. We arrived to Prague round 3am and then we went to some Nonstop Bar. The first bar was closed. The second one as well...the third though was open. So we ordered some drinks and had some fun. This time finally I had the chance to play against Kumano. We played EDH till 6 am and then we left and parted our ways.

I'm really glad that I went to Grand Prix Strasbourg even though it cost me a lot of money that I would need now. It is something I really needed to get some energy and will to continue surviving in this madness of a world. This GP felt small and it was pretty expensive. Other GPs I went to where far better. For the money you paid you got something extra, could play in many different events and there was always something to do. Here it was rather meh, but as I spent the day playing Legacy anyway it was fine.