Overcoming 1,424 other players, Florian Koch was victorious in France. See the full coverage from Wizards.

8 Mountain 10 Swamp 2 Bala Ged Scorpion 2 Bloodrite Invoker 1 Cadaver Imp 1 Emrakul's Hatcher 2 Escaped Null 1 Nirkana Cutthroat 1 Pawn of Ulamog 2 Skeletal Wurm 2 Valakut Fireboar 2 Induce Despair 1 Last Kiss 2 Surreal Memoir 3 Vendetta Sideboard 1 Baneful Omen 1 Brood Birthing 1 Curse of Wizardry 1 Explosive Revelation 1 Fissure Vent 1 Fleeting Distraction 1 Frostwind Invoker 1 Goblin Arsonist 1 Inquisition of Kozilek 1 Lagac Lizard 1 Lavafume Invoker 1 Repay in Kind 1 Soulsurge Elemental 1 Suffer the Past 3 Vent Sentinel 1 Virulent Swipe 1 Wrap in Flames 1 Zof Shade

Excited to start my first Day 2 of a Grand Prix, I got down early to play a few games against Thepths, as I wasn’t certain the matchup was as good as Mathias had sold me on. While the Dark Depths plan is not as good against me, the Thopter Foundry is impossible to beat when it comes online. Certainly I would have to play against this deck today, as it is clearly the best deck in extended.

To refresh your memories, here is my deck:

Vampires

3 Bloodghast 3 Vampire Nighthawk 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir 4 Dark Confidant 3 Bitterblossom 4 Umezawa's Jitte 4 Smother 4 Small Pox 2 Chrome Mox 2 Duress 4 Mutavault 3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 8 Swamp 3 Verdant Catacombs 3 Marsh Flats 2 Ghost Quarter Sideboard 3 Leyline of the Void 4 Extirpate 2 Darkblast 4 Deathmark 2 Damnation

Round 10 Dark Depths

Sure enough, my first opponent is playing Thepths. I am on the play, and I have very good opener that included Bitterblossom, Dark Confidant, Gatekeeper of Malakir, and Thoughtseize. I Thoughtseize him, and see the Stone Cold Nuts. He has Chrome Mox, Urborg, Dark Depths, 2x Vampire Hexmage, Dark Confidant, Thoughtseize. After pondering my options, I realize that there is nothing I can realistically do to not die without taking the Chrome Mox, so I bin that. He Thoughtseizes me back, taking Bitterblossom, then plays his Dark Confidant as a shield for my Gatekeeper, and then kills me on turn 4 with a Marit Lage token.

Game two I mulligan twice, and lose again to a turn 3 token. Gah! The reason Thepths is so good is because they have the ability to steal games in a completely unfair way.

7-3

Round 11 Paul Rietzl with WB

I’m excited to play against this guy, mainly because he is level 6 and I wanted another chance to test my mettle against the best. Paul is playing WB, and I believe he has the edge in a fair game.

Game 1 he mulligans twice, and then gets Thoughtseized by me turn 1. He draws well enough to stay in the game for a while, but after a few removal spells by me, I am able to take the game away with Jitte.

Game 2, Nobody mulligans here, and he plays a few Honor of the Pures to get his creatures to sizes I can’t exactly deal with. I put up a good fight, but end up packing it in to his army of 3/3 Flying Spectral Procession tokens.

Game 3, A removal heavy hand, and can deal with his first few threats. My Small Poxes leave us both short on mana, but I recover faster and end up winning with an active Jitte on my Vampire Nighthawk.

8-3

Round 12 Yuuta Takahashi with Faeries

I recognized Yuuta’s name. I quickly text my friend if this guy is good and his reply is “Faerie master. 2 GP wins. GL”

Yuuta was indeed playing Faeries, but better than anyone I have ever seen personally. It was much like watching a chess master play chess: Yuuta spent no time thinking, and made his plays almost reflexively, yet they were always the right play. I don’t remember much about this match, but I remember being on tilt for most of it. Faeries capitalizes on misplays, and I remember making enough of them to cost me both of the games. This is probably the only match this tournament I felt completely out played on all fronts.

8-4

Round 13 UG Scapeshift

The matchup against Scapeshift is kind of sketchy. Personally, I think that UG is pretty bad to begin with, as the deck does a whole lot of nothing without their win condition in hand. With the right mixture of Duresses and a clock, the game should be in my favor.

Game one, I Duress away a Ponder leaving his hand full of ramp spells. I play our a few dorks, but the clock isn’t super fast, so it gave him time to draw a Scapeshift before he died. I had a Ghost Quarter for one of his mountains, but he had a basic mountain left in his deck to successfully resolve Valakut triggers.

I mulligan aggressively game 2 to five cards, where I find a Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom. I slow roll the Thoughtseize until he would be able to win the following turn. The play was correct, as he had Scapeshift ready to go, and couldn’t find another one soon enough.

Game three was a blowout in my favor, as my opening hand had 3 Duresses and enough clock to kill him by turn 6.

9-4

Round 14 Thepths

This guy’s Channel Fireball shirt gives away his deck, as everyone on that team was playing Thepths.

Game one, I lose to the Thopter Foundry combo, as I have no main-decked way to deal with it.

Game two, I land a first turn Leyline of the Void, and Thoughtseize him turn one. He had the artifact combo in his starting hand, and is visibly upset that I had Leyline. I take his Thirst for Knowledge to slow his recovery. He does a whole lot of nothing, and I kill him with some vampires.

Game three he mulligans twice, and has mana troubles. He has no Urborg, so his Dark Depths doesn’t produce mana, and can’t cast his tutors because he doesn’t have double blue. A few good Duresses, and removal spells for his Dark Confidants, and he succumbs to my Vampire Nighthawk beat down.

Later, somebody told me he went back to the Channel Fireball crew and declared that he just lost to “a bad player playing Vampire Nighthawk.”

10-4

Round 15 Tribal Zoo

I am paired down at this point, as my tiebreakers are literally the worst out of all the people with 30 points, and I ask for the scoop. He obliges, and my tournament is over.

11-4

I end up 37th, though with better tiebreakers I would have been able to crack Top 32. My rating increased enough to award me two byes and the next Grand Prix I play in. Overall, this was an awesome tournament for me. I got to see a lot of friends, play a lot of magic, and make a little money. It certainly built the fire in me to compete at high levels even more, and I am making plans to go to Houston in April to finish of this extended season that has been good to me so far.

Although we had success with this deck, I am a bit skeptical on recommending it to anyone going forward. Two people played it in the PTQ the next day, and did horribly. It has decent matchups across the board, but every game is a grind. I am not saying that my play skill is the best, but I felt challenged against every deck. I was really playing the best Magic I have ever played, so it might be hard to replicate success with a deck like this. However, I would recommend playing Dark Confidant, Thoughtseize, and Umezawa’s Jitte, because those cards were absolutely insane for me, and are good in decks other than this one.

If anyone is interested in the next month to test or theorize for GP Houston, please hit me up. I like to play rogue decks, but lack serious a team of people who can tell me my ideas are bad, and that I suck at Magic. Twitter has been good for this, as well as Google Wave.

Thanks for reading, and good luck in the rest of the PTQs. I just made Top 8 in a Boston one with Zoo, and that would be my recommendation for the current metagame.

Mise well,
Peter Knudson
email: peterguy63@hotmail.com
Follow me on Twitter: peterguy63

The flight from Boston took the better part of 12 hours, but I wasn’t worried because I was dead set on playing RG Scapeshift, as I was so invested in the deck. I show up to the event midnight on Friday, too late to play in any grinders, and my friend Mathias Hunt waves me over. He immediately informs me that everyone and their mother is playing the thopter/depths menace and that I would be playing side events by round 5 if I chose anything that can’t beat it. Then, he hands me over this little number:

Vampires

3 Bloodghast 3 Vampire Nighthawk 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir 4 Dark Confidant 3 Bitterblossom 4 Umezawa's Jitte 4 Smother 4 Small Pox 2 Chrome Mox 2 Duress 4 Mutavault 3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 8 Swamp 3 Verdant Catacombs 3 Marsh Flats 2 Ghost Quarter Sideboard 3 Leyline of the Void 4 Extirpate 2 Darkblast 4 Deathmark 2 Damnation

Extended vampires!

Of course, I’m skeptical. Vampire Nighthawk? Bloodghast? What was he thinking? The theory behind the cards is that it can’t really lose to the Dark Depths plan. When they lay down Vampire Hexmage and Dark Depths on the same turn, and pass, you cast one of your edicts, and they have to make a choice, and they end up sacrificing the Hexmage. Additionally, Bitterblossom blocks Marit Lage every turn, which is a big plus. The zoo and Bant matchups are also very positive, and you really only lose when they play 3 one drops over the first 2 turns. Small Pox is also very strong against Zoo, as it messes with their mana, and if they kept a mana-light hand to begin with, its over.

People have qualms about Vampire Nighthawk. Although he may appear terrible, and honestly he didn’t perform as well as Mathias promised, he was very solid. The life gain is really clutch at times, and when he is equipped with an Umezawa’s Jitte, he is nigh unstoppable. Against zoo, he fights with the biggest and baddest green monsters. I never played against a slow zoo deck, so he didn’t really shine, but against those types of decks he is very, very good.

I liked the deck, mostly because Dark Confidant, Thoughtsieze, and Umezawa’s Jitte are in the Top 10 cards in Extended, so I was sold on the power of those cards. Also, when someone tells me they have “the tech” I always run with it. I did it at the PTQ at Nationals this year after Conley Woods shared his decklist, and I ran with it.

It was amazing my borrowing power from people I didn’t know at 1 am. Its nice to still be able to depend on the kindness of strangers sometimes. I got my cards ready in a surprisingly quick manor, and it was off to bed.

After the maximum amount of sleep possible, I did my normal big tournament routine of going jogging, getting a nice breakfast, and putting on some nice clothes and tie. Personally, if you want to be successful, then dress and act like someone who succeeds. Just saying.

Having played 0 games with the deck, it was time for the tournament.

Round One: Living End

Yeah I don’t have any byes. Sucks for me, I never play limited so that’s what I get.

It’s round one so everyone is pretty bad. This guy is obviously new, but he has a real deck so it’s a bit of a challenge. Game one, I don’t get a mana source until I mulligan to 4. He keeps a slow hand, and cycles so much that I almost come back. Eventually he Wraths my team and puts an army of terrible guys in play and I die.

Not a good way to start, but I board in Leylines and Damnations and hope to battle back.

Game 2 I start with double Leyline in play. He cycles for a few turns, but realizes he didn’t board in an answers and scoops to my first threat.

Game 3 I Thoughteize his only cascade spell, and proceed to kill him with my random bears before he can come back.

1-0

Round 2: Tribal Zoo

Game One: I mulligan once, and he leads with Steppe Lynx, followed by Kird Ape and Wild Nacatl. I battle as hard as I can with a Smother and a Gatekeeper, but once all his creatures are dealt with, his burn finishes me off.

Game 2: He leads Steppe Lynx again, but I have a hand of 3 small poxes and a Bloodghast, which kill his first three guys and lands, and eventually we are both stuck on 1, but I have a Bloodghast attacking and he does not. I rip a land first and play Dark Confidant to seal the deal.

Game 3. He plays Steppe Lynx, and follows up with double Wild Nacatl. Can anyone beat that start? I sure try, but I take too much damage in the process, and a pair of burn spells finishes me off before Umezawa’s Jitte can take control

1-1

Round 3 WR Control

This guys deck plays cards like Magus of the Tabernacle, Poryphry Nodes, Ghostly Prison and Boom//Bust.

I beat him in two quick games. Although his cards are anti-creature, the card advantage of Dark Confidant plus the power of Umezawa’s jitte are too much. Thoughtseizes and Duress take away his important cards. People are always looking for ways to beat the average player in big tournaments like these, and I believe the answer is to play catch-alls like Umazawa’s Jitte and Thoughtseize.

2-1

Round 4: Hypergenesis

This guy is super nice. We get to chatting and it turns out he is training for the “World’s Fittest Man” contest and tells me about his training. I start feeling really lazy by the time the game starts, but I take the first game because he keeps a one land hand on the play. The world’s fittest man needs to mulligan a bit more!

Game two, I keep a hand with Thoughtseize, but he has two cascade effects and plays one on turn 2. What gets dicey here is that we both forget that Demonic Dread needs to have a target for you to play it. Of course it resolves before we catch it, so I am stuck facing a Progenitus and a Bogardan Hellkite. I have no way to kill them in my hand, and I am at 15 from the Hellkite. Here are the next two turns:

I draw Gatekeeper of Malakir (sacrifices Hellkite)
I take 10 on his turn.
I draw…Small Pox (Sacrifices Progenitus)

You just have to believe, I guess.

3-1

Round 5 Bant

This is my first experience with an international player. His name is Elric and he is from France. Given that I started learning French last semester, I try it out on him. I couldn’t quite guage his reaction, but I have a feeling he was terribly offended. Whoops.

Game one, we both get to see the power of Bloodghast+Small Pox, which is the nuts. I small pox his first two creatures and lands, and while we both are short on mana, I have a 2/1 beating down. Eventually he lands a large Tarmogoyf, but I play a Vampire Nighthawk, and can win the race with lifelink.

Game two plays out very similar to the first. Bloodghast is very good at attacking into his team of 2/2 Meddling Mage and Qasali Pridemages. When Jitte hits the table, he packs it up.

4-1

Round 6 Teachings

Having never played with or against the Extended teachings deck, I have no idea how the games play out. I only have heard that the games are a grind, so I assume I can win with tight play, and boarded Extirpates.

I win the roll and play a Thoughtseize, taking his Spell Snare so I can land a second turn Dark Confidant. This is very powerful, and I can see that he his hand is full of slow cards like Mystical Teachings and Esper Charm. I play Jitte, and take control. He goes for a desperation Teferi when he is about to die, which turns on my basically dead edicts in my hand, and win from there.

I board in the Extirpates, and feel very confident that this matchup is highly in my favor, and I saw Doomblades in his deck.

Game two I play an early small pox, which mana screws him, and he scoops when he can’t find a fourth land.

5-1

Round 7 Hypergenesis

My opponent is from Spain, and can’t speak English very well. I lose game one quickly, as I keep a decent hand, but without Thoughtseize or a Duress, I am toast to his second turn hypergenesis.

I board in Damnations, which are pretty good against hypergensis, assuming I am allowed to play black spells afterward.

Game one I keep a very good hand with double Thoughtseize and a decent clock. I win on turn six after he draws blanks for a few turns.

Game three I thoughseize him and see that he has two cascade effects, a simian spirit guide but only an Angel of Despair and Progenitus to put down. Knowing that he is casting Hypergenesis no matter what I do, I take the Progenitus and hope that he doesn’t rip anything good. Being intelligent, he waits until he draws another creature to cascade, but it is only Bogardan Hellkite. We both resolve the Eureka, and I put down 3 creatures and an Umezawa’s Jitte, but I keep a Gatekeeper in my hand. His two creatures are good, but not quite good enough, and get there after two edict effects.

This game ran long, and almost to the end of time. He played very slow, and so I called a judge over to watch our match for proper time on decisions. However, my opponent, misinterpreting my words, thought that I was calling him a cheater. He refused to shake my hand after the match. After speaking with his friend who had better English than he, we resolved the miscommunication.

6-1

Round 8 Dark Depths/Thopter

This opponent is from Sweden. He is playing the DD/Thopter deck, which is an alright matchup for this deck, albeit not great. I can usually beat the Marit Lage plan, but not the Thopter combo, especially pre-board.

Game one is a disaster. For some reason, I am on major tilt the whole time. It may have been from being x-1 and this is the round that I need to win for Day 2, or it just might have been from it being a long day. Either way, I miss two Dark Confidant triggers in a row, which is my third total all day. It gets upgraded to a game loss and I am off to game two. He had already assembled the Thopter Combo, so really it just saved me a few turns.

Against this deck, its imperative to stop the Thopter combo, so I board in the Leylines and the Extirpates. Game two, I land a turn 0 Leyline, and Thoughtseize first turn. I see that he had both pieces to the Thopter engine, so I take the Echoing Truth, which was game over from there.

Game three he mulligans twice, which is what that deck does from time to time. He puts up a good fight, and eventually assembles both halves of the Dark Depths combo, but its no match for my Gatekeeper of Malakir. I win easily after his plan fails.

7-1

Round 9

This is a feature match against level 8 pro, Martin Juza. You can read about it in the coverage.

I get smashed, obviously, but I win a game, and come close to winning the third game, but I do draw poorly towards the end. It doesn’t change the fact that Juza played around Extirpate the whole game, which arguably a lesser player might not have.

Day 1 record: 7-2

I am very happy with my Day 1 performance, as I have never Day 2′d a Grand Prix before. Another person playing this 75 Day Twos, and a third loses the round 9 to miss out. 40% of the people playing this deck Day 2, which speaks to the power of some of the cards. While I certainly would make some changes, I do like what I saw against the field.

The players in Day 2, as I can see from the standings, are very, very good. It seems that about half of them are professionals to some degree. Yet, instead of feeling nervous, like I usually would, I feel excited to be in the same league as the people I only have read about.

I would be swimming wish Sharks the next day, but its an opportunity to play against the best of the best. I went to bed anxious to see how many level 8’s I could take down on my way to the finish line.

I even joined the Twitter world in hopes of garnering more info about the tournament itself. I was not disappointed. I realize that for many of you ‘Tweeting’ is second nature but I was amazed at how many little bits of info players would put out there between rounds. If you missed it the hot rumor is that the Japanese were buying up Jwari Shapeshifter for next week’s Pro Tour. Anyway I’m @MtgXman on Twitter if you want to follow me. I’ll probably follow you back. That reminds me of summer camp one year when my counselor would always say “Do not follow me, I may not lead. Do not lead me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” Cheesy Huh? Anyway feel free to follow me.

The real reason that I was so riveted is because of the entire deck tech that was there. I, like many players and writers felt that the field would be dominated by Zoo and Thopter Depths. I personally like to play Zoo-ish decks and was testing a list myself. I built mine to go quick and efficient to beat the Thopter side of the combo while having answers to the Marit Lage Token. I was truly getting there and felt that there had to be someone playing nearly my list so I could see how it played out live. I really figured on a quick Zoo package winning it. Sure I figured there would be some Rogue concoctions here and there but the top 8 would be basically Quick Enough Zoo (QuEZ) and Thopter Depths (though I prefer calling it Dark Foundry or Tepths).

Wow was I and everyone else so WRONG! Sure two Zoos and a Thopther Depths made top 8 but all 5 other decks were unique and very different. That’s about as healthy and diverse as Extended can get. Aggro, Combo, and Control were all represented. I was all around fun to be seen. There was even some drama mixed in when Saito barely edging into the top 8 by hundredths on a tie break. He was on screen live in the moment for all to see. That was cool and I hope you all saw it. It probably isn’t recorded.

What I want to do today is look at the 5 decks that Top 8′d without having multitude of players run them and try to analyze which would be best for us to pick up for the remaining PTQ season. We’ll look at them in order of getting knocked out of the top saving the best for last.

The Quarterfinal losses.

1 Calciform Pools 3 Forbidden Orchard 1 Forest 3 Fungal Reaches 1 Gemstone Caverns 4 Gemstone Mine 4 Reflecting Pool 4 Tendo Ice Bridge 4 Angel of Despair 4 Bogardan Hellkite 4 Progenitus 1 Sakashima the Impostor 4 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Terastodon 4 Ardent Plea 1 Demonic Dread 3 Hypergenesis 3 Oblivion Ring 3 Thirst for Knowledge 4 Violent Outburst Sideboard 2 Firespout 2 Ingot Chewer 4 Leyline of the Void 3 Ricochet Trap 2 Sakashima the Impostor 2 Shriekmaw

Saito’s list is nearly the Hypergenesis deck that everyone raved on last summer when Cascade was revealed. The cool additions since then are the Storage Lands that allow Saito to hard cast his crew if facing a Chalice of the Void set for zero. Add the real beef of Terastodon as the new tech. That card is takes the Champions Belt in the MWF (Magic Wresting Federation). Notice the absence of the foolish Magister Sphinx/Wound Reflection combo. Hyper doesn’t need it. In a meta absent of Wrath of God just having bigger and better fatties will do. I would have liked to see a mirror match with this deck. The resolution of ETB’s after Hyper is cast must be comparable to Warp World (or even more cool).

I do have a question for you rules dudes. I can remember back in the day playing a deck that used Faceless Butcher and a rules issue to permanently exile a creature (this was before Path). What they did was play the Butcher and use some instant speed destruction to destroy him while his ETB was still on the stack. He leaves the Battlefield triggered upon his death and since it was a triggered effect went on top of the stack. Now the return clause returned nothing since nothing had been exiled yet and then his Enter the Battlefield trigger that exiled a target creature forever since the Butcher couldn’t leave the Battlefield twice. Have they fixed this? Because the same chain of events would happen with an Oblivion Ring that was removed before its ETB could occur. Saito did this live in the quarters by Targeting his Ring to remove his own Terastodon and using the Big Elephant to convert the Ring to a 3/3. If the rules are tweaked now to make this work it was a masterful play. If they aren’t then… Yurchick won out anyway.

4 Arid Mesa 4 Flagstones of Trokair 4 Ghost Quarter 3 Mountain 1 Plains 3 Sacred Foundry 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Goblin Guide 1 Jotun Grunt 4 Plated Geopede 4 Steppe Lynx 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lightning Helix 2 Magma Jet 3 Path to Exile 4 Searing Blaze 3 Shard Volley 4 Zektar Shrine Expedition Sideboard 3 Damping Matrix 2 J Tun Grunt 1 Oblivion Ring 3 Refraction Trap 3 Smash to Smithereens 3 Volcanic Fallout

The “Brozek Deck Wins” was probably the deck that caused the most Buzz out of Oakland. At its most fundamental level it’s a Boros Deck from standard with the addition of Sacred Foundry to its mana base. At least that what people were saying early. That was before you really saw the subtle and devastating mix of Flagstones of Trokair/Ghost Quarter/Landfall. Being able to fit Ghost Quarter main is already devastating to the Dark Depths monster but to be able to sac it targeting your own Flagstone fetching a Plains and a tapped basic of your choice add and easy two to your landfall triggers making Zektar Tokens in just one turn. With that masterful stroke Petr Brozek became a true deck artist in my opinion.

Unfortunately I see the future of this deck as pretty bleak. Too many cards exist the can just hate it out and most of those serve well against ELVES as well. At Oakland the world wasn’t prepared but now the hate will be in full swing. If you plan on playing this deck make sure bring your rabbits foot because if you don’t win quick in games 2 or 3 you won’t win. I do feel you’ll have some winning numbers on game one though.

On to the Semi’s

1 Arid Mesa 2 Breeding Pool 2 Flooded Grove 2 Forest 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Island 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Plains 1 Temple Garden 1 Tolaria West 2 Treetop Village 3 Verdant Catacombs 4 Aven Mindcensor 4 Noble Hierarch 1 Stoneforge Mystic 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Vendilion Clique 4 Bant Charm 2 Cryptic Command 2 Engineered Explosives 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 4 Mana Leak 4 Path to Exile 1 Umezawa's Jitte Sideboard 1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero 1 Engineered Explosives 4 Rhox War Monk 4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain 4 Tormod's Crypt 1 Umezawa's Jitte

Oh Conley, where to begin. Let me first state that I really love the way Conley thinks. He shows that there are a few of us out there that aren’t sheep. I found it moderately amusing to hear Gerry Thompson bash on Conley’s list and watch as less that 5% of the players running Thopter Depths made the top 8 while 100% of the Bant Wagon players made the Final Four. It was even cooler when between the final two rounds of Swiss to see them both side by side and hear Conley just say “scoreboard.”

This deck is probably the best tuned a Control Deck could be for the anticipated Meta. The unanticipated Elves took it down and the surprise Brozek deck was a squeaker. Many people laughed at the inclusion of Stoneforge Mystic (my favorite art in Zendikar BTW). I know many people who said Mystic had potential to be Jitte number 5 and 6 for a deck to use but Jitte number 2 didn’t seem right. In most lists this is true but the subtle interactions with Jace and the potential extra shuffle with a Brainstorm is that extra spice that makes the recipe work for the refined Deck Palette. My favorite addition is the Aven Mindcensor. That card alone stopped many potential threats and was very frustrating to many a search engine. Cards that range all the way from fetchlands to Scapeshift are hosed by this little gem. I would go so far as to say that it’s the MVP of this list.

Should you pick this deck up? I would probably vote no. The meta at your PTQ will not match Oakland and therefore some tweaking is needed. Can a deck very similar to this win a PTQ? In the right hands, yes, but be prepared for an exhausting day. It is probably the only current deck with Potential for Wrath effects that I feel are needed in the current meta.

2 Arid Mesa 1 Blood Crypt 2 Forest 3 Mountain 1 Overgrown Tomb 2 Scalding Tarn 1 Stomping Ground 3 Swamp 4 Verdant Catacombs 4 Deadshot Minotaur 4 Fulminator Mage 4 Ingot Chewer 4 Jungle Weaver 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Street Wraith 4 Valley Rannet 4 Demonic Dread 1 Living End 3 Living End 2 Night of Souls' Betrayal 4 Violent Outburst Sideboard 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal 4 Shriekmaw 3 Thought Hemorrhage 1 Yixlid Jailer

Much like the earlier mentioned Hypergenesis deck Living End looks to cascade into its name sake. Only instead of having some huge game winning dudes in hand it looks to have some moderately cool creatures in its graveyard. The reason they are only moderately cool is because of the fact they need to get there by themselves. Cycling creatures and Evokers make the list easy. The only real issue is which ones to use? The real edge is in the cyclers. Giving the Living End deck a lot more consistency and resiliency to cards like Thoughtsieze than Hypergenesis decks have. In exchange you play with weaker critters but 20 is 20 no matter how big the hits are.

I would recommend this deck for a PTQ. It has a strong game against all forms of zoo and moderate play against the rest of the field. If they don’t pull a turn 3 win like elves, Brozek, and Thepths can do then you’re looking good. I might suggest a peak at Aethersnipe as extra Chalice/Leyline hate and maybe Mulldrifter for Lauren Lee to enjoy.

The Finals

4 Forest 3 Horizon Canopy 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Pendelhaven 1 Temple Garden 4 Verdant Catacombs 2 Arbor Elf 4 Boreal Druid 4 Elvish Archdruid 4 Elvish Visionary 1 Essence Warden 1 Eternal Witness 4 Heritage Druid 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Nettle Sentinel 1 Ranger of Eos 1 Regal Force 4 Cloudstone Curio 4 Glimpse of Nature 1 Primal Command 4 Summoner's Pact Sideboard 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender 1 Gaddock Teeg 4 Ghost Quarter 1 Loaming Shaman 3 Ranger of Eos 4 Umezawa's Jitte 1 Viridian Shaman

The final unique deck I’m going to feature is the winner of the whole thing. Elves are apparently back again. Perhaps this deck shouldn’t have been the surprise that it was. Many players wrote off the combo deck as being too fragile and Mulligan happy. I feel that what made the deck work is the absence of Grapeshot/Manamorphose. With those cars being used as the win condition the deck is just a little lacking because they take away from the critical 1 drop elves count and therefore lower the expected value from cards like Glimpse and Curio. Like I mentioned early in the lesson the absence of true Wrath Deck makes waiting a turn and attacking with a swarm just fine for the win. And that is what Matt did. Bypassing the need for Grapeshot and increasing his turn one accelerants and making Glimpse and Curio mathematically stronger. Kudos!

If you want to run this then you need to do two things. First get your cards early before everyone makes you pay. Second Goldfish, Goldfish, Goldfish, Goldfish. And the Goldfish some more! The math can be complex at times and it needs to be second nature so you’ll pull it off right. The only way to assure yourself of having flawless play is to have flawless practice. This is especially true when it’s crunch time.

Well anyway there’s my take on Oakland. Class dismissed.

Remember I’m @MtgXman on Twitter.

Where as I had predicted more Grand Prixes than ever before, 29, we instead get 18. Ouch.

That hurts.

A lot.

Magic is soaring and, well, we thought that next year we’d see them stoke the fires and really push the premier events. Alas it is not to be. Obviously Wizards has a lot of smart people working for them, and the Organized Play division is no different, I trust they have done their homework and that there is a reason we have less GPs than we’ve had in recent years. Maybe the game isn’t doing as well as we thought. Maybe GPs aren’t as empowering to new players as we thought.

When I stop to consider the numbers, I realized something. Even with this years schedule, GP attendance really is a miniscule amount when it comes to the number of Magic players. 20 events, consider each GP, on average brings in 600 unique players (intentionally low) and that means it’s really only reaching 12,000 unique Magic players. And yet, Wizards spends over half a million dollars on the prize pool! That’s rather generous if my estimates hold up.

In any case, back to my predictions. Out of 29 GPs, I correctly picked a few (and missed on a lot more.)

GP Atlanta, GP Orlando? – Wrong. The southeast sees a big fat goose egg when it comes to GPs. 0-2

GP Baltimore – Correct! 1-2. Hello Charm City!

GP NYC – Nope. 1-3. I’m looking like the St. Louis Rams!

GP Portland – Yes! It’s a great location in a vibrant city and is somewhat accessible to the west coast of the US, and of course closer to Asia than other US GPs. 2-3.

GP San Francisco – Yes! But this time it’s called GP Oakland. They’re just across the bay, don’t quibble with me, I’m taking it. 3-3.

GP St. Louis – Alas no. 3-4

GP Houston – Yes! 4-4. I’m battling, scraping and clawing my way to try and get a winning record.

GP New Orleans, GP Montreal, GP Mexico City, GP Rio, GP Santiago, GP London – Talk about a losing streak. 6 wrong guesses in a row. And I was so close with Montreal, if I had just picked Toronto. *sigh* 4-10. Ouch.

GP Madrid and GP Lyon – Correct! 6-10.

GP Leipzig, GP Zurich, GP Bologna, GP St. Petersburg, GP Shanghai, GP Seoul, GP Taipei, GP Nagoya, GP Hiroshima – Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong… 6-19. Not looking good folks.

GP Manila, GP Sydney – Yes! The last two which I guessed correctly, 8-19.

And then I missed on GP Brisbane and GP Paris. 8 out of 29 guesses correct, 28% correct. Ouches. Unless I take the 11 extra cities out of the 21 I missed, and then I’m looking at 8 out of 18… not bad. That’s.. almost.. half. Sheesh.

Maybe I’ll do better next year.

We’re expecting there to be more Grand Prixes than ever before. Magic is doing well. Really well. It is on a major upswing and they are going to try and foster that with more attendable marquee events. It’s like building a fire, once you have a solid set of embers, you must fuel it and in this case the fuel is composed of cards to play, and somewhere to play them.

So how many is that? Let’s see. The first season of GPs, 96-97, had only five Grand Prixes. The season with the most was 2006, which had 26 Grand Prixes. Recent years are sitting around 21 or 22. So if we’re looking for a new record, that would probably be near 30 Grand Prixes, but that may be greedy, so let’s say 29.

Let’s make some guesses, I’ll start near home and go from there.

GP Atlanta¹ – Atlanta just had a GP in 2008, but it’s always popular and it is quite accessible.

GP Orlando² – Here I am getting a little greedy, Orlando is a tourist destination and we haven’t had one since the 2003-04 season. But it would mean a second GP in the Southeast of the US, where normally we get, at most, one.

GP Baltimore³ – Going up the east coast I think we may make a pit stop in a city we have never had a GP in before. Baltimore. Why shouldn’t they have one?

Keeping on up the northeast normally gets 1, maybe 2 Grand Prixes. 2009 was Boston and 2008 was Philadelpha. So how about 2010?

GP NYC⁴ – We’ve never had a Grand Prix IN New York. We had Worlds there in 2007, and we’ve had Pro tours there, but the Big Apple has never played host to a GP. If 2010 is going to be a banner year, then it will probably hit NYC.

Heading west from there, we’ve hugged the eastern seaboard, so let’s nudge west.

GP Portland⁵ – Portland is a happening city, it would be a great host to a Magic tournament.

GP San Francisco⁶ – A little birdy told me that this one was happening, so this isn’t really a guess. Supposedly the weekend right before Pro Tour San Diego. Rather awesome synergy there.

GP St. Louis⁷ – In the heartland it is a great city (my fiancee is from there) and the city hasn’t hosted a GP since 2006. They got a SCG5k this year, but they’re ready for another GP I think.

GP Houston⁸ – Heading south Texas provides us with a likely destination. Pro Tour Austin was well attended, and Houston is perhaps even slightly more accessible.

GP New Orleans⁹ – Haven’t been back since the horrors of Hurrican Katrina, but it is a popular location and would do quite well I imagine.

And that wraps up the US Pro Tours. Except I expect we have one more North America, in Canada. We had Vancouver in 2008, Montreal in 2007 and Toronto in 2006. All of these are likely destinations, but I am going to pick the middle one.

GP Montreal.¹⁰

Only 19 more to go. Let’s head South of America.

GP Mexico City¹¹ – It’s only played host to one GP, while poorly attended it could likely have been tied to the format being Kamigawa Block Constructed.

And then heading to South America I think I see…

GP Rio de Janiero¹² – We haven’t been there since 2001, it’s high time we head back.

GP Santiago¹³ – Same as above, in fact it was the same year when we were here last.

Now we travel across the ocean to Europe.

GP London¹⁴ – It seems critical. We haven’t been there for a GP since 2003-04 season. We need to return and see the Queen.

GP Madrid¹⁵ – In Spain two cities have really dominated in terms of the numbers and those are Madrid and Barcelona. Recently they have been nearly swapping off on the GP location and this year should be Madrid’s turn.

GP Lyon¹⁶ – It’s like a greatest hits album, if it worked last time, and we haven’t overplayed the song let’s bring it back! Lyon was last in 2003 and it had over 1000 players, I bet we blow that attendance out of the water.

GP Leipzig¹⁷ – Last time we were there it was one of the most heavily attended Grand Prixes ever, and we haven’t been back since. Time to return!

GP Zurich¹⁸ – Another multiple GP city which we haven’t been too in several years.

GP Bologna¹⁹ – Rome is a hard act to follow for a country, but if any country can it’s Italy and within it we can return to Bologna for another outstanding attendance GP.

With that we turn eastwards.

In Russia there have been precious few Grand Prixes for Magic but this year I think they will give it a go and we’ll see one. Of the potential cities we’ve only been to a few and I think they’ll test the waters in a new city with GP St. Petersburg²⁰.

Then we’ll zip over into south-east Asia.

GP Shanghai²¹ – China is an imposing location, but I have to believe that Wizards dearly wants to make headway into that country, so we may likely see a GP there.

GP Taipei²² – Perhaps the most popular location for a GP, they have held one nearly every other year since the 98-99 season.

GP Seoul²³ – This is me day-dreaming. Seoul has a vibrant and huge professional gamer league, the most successful in the world I believe, and I can only imagine Magic in that sort of environment where gamers are celebrities known on street corners. I wish it were a Pro Tour but for whatever reason this has never happened, so perhaps we’ll start with a GP.

Japan is a stronghold for Magic in Asia, the Japanese pros are well known and well respected for strong methodical play and surprising deck technology, the country the size of California will play host to the World Championships in 2010, but what does that mean for GPs? Not much I still expect to see them get two.

GP Nagoya²⁴ – Having been there before and having decent enough attendance, it seems a prime spot to return.

GP Hiroshima²⁵ – Hiroshima has been quite popular as a Japanese GP destination, but we haven’t been there since 2006.

Then traveling into the Philippines where there is a very healthy growing interest in Magic, I think we return somewhere we have been in 2006 and 2008, GP Manila²⁶. The last GP there was nearly 700 attendees, and had doubled since just two years before, I must believe this is a prime location for 2010.

Then we head to the land down under, Australia.

GP Sydney²⁷ – Since 2006 we haven’t been down there, but Australia always gets at least one GP. Sydney would make a prime spot.

GP Brisbane²⁸ – One of the premier locations for Australia, this would be its fourth GP the first being in the 2001-02 season.

And then, the cherry on top, the final GP location I think we’ll see is: GP Paris²⁹. We’ve been there often and it has continued to deliver top attendance numbers of anywhere in the world. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So let’s keep hitting the city of lights until those lights go out.

There you have it, my guesses. We should have the real 2010 GP schedule out soon, and when we do I’ll compare notes to see how I do (I’ll be happy if I get 10 of these right.)

– Trick

Update: Replaced ‘Malaysia’ with ‘the Philippines’

• Expanded GP system in 2010
• Possibly another subsidized event on a large scale in 2011
• More local store support
• Added support for states
• More “surprise bonuses” for existing players.

This could be a sizable shift after seeing the organized competitive play contract with the removal of a fourth Pro Tour stop, the loss of a day at Worlds, and the removal of States/Champs. This message, if true, suggests a shift towards feeling ready to expand organized play again given the upswing in interest and players.

We will reach out to Wizards about these points today to see if there is any comment that can be shared with us.

Decklist
2 Brushland
3 Forest
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Murmuring Bosk
1 Plains
3 Treetop Village
4 Wooded Bastion
21 lands

3 Dauntless Escort
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knotvine Paladin
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Qasali Pridemage
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
29 creatures

1 Behemoth Sledge
4 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Nameless Inversion
4 Path to Exile
10 other spells

Sideboard
1 Aura of Silence
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Everlasting Torment
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Pithing Needle
3 Thoughtseize
4 Zealous Persecution
15 sideboard cards

Saito (or Saitou, the proper spelling is unknown) played his Naya Zoo to the championships and beat Yuuyu Watanabe’s TEPS deck. This is his second Grand Prix victory in a row, having used the same (or very similar) deck to win Grand Prix Singapore just a few weeks ago.

Top decklists forthcoming…

Tomoharu Saitou’s deck

4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

3 Gaddock Teeg
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar

2 Incinerate
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
3 Seal of Fire
2 Umezawa’s Jitte

Sideboard
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Ranger of Eos
1 Rule of Law
3 Volcanic Fallout

We’ve done episodes of ManaNation discussing pre-releases and what to do to prepare for them, but a few fans have emailed asking about other events, bigger or more competitive events. They’re absolutely right. Pre-releases are the wading-pool, everyone plays nice, there’s very little serious rules enforcement and lax play abounds. So what happens when you’re ready to get into the real pool? Well, let me guide you. Starting out, let’s learn about the events itself.

The first thing to understand is how the DCI sees the competitiveness of events, they do this by assigning events “REL”s which are ‘Rule-Enforcement Levels.’ The REL is a sign of how hard the judges are going to push the rules and what level of penalties are assigned for infractions. There are three categorizations for RELs: Regular, Competitive and Professional.

The following definitions are taken from ‘DCI Penalty Guide 2008.’

These are the three levels of events. FNM and most Pre-Releases are ‘Regular’ events, which is why they’re the ideal introduction to competitive play. But PTQs (Pro Tour Qualifiers) and GPTs (Grand Prix Trials) are run at a ‘Competitive’ level so the rules are more tightly enforced. Grand Prixes and Pro Tour stops run at the ‘Professional’ level where you must know the rules and procedure of the game.

A Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) is a regional tournament run by an individual or organization that has coordinated with the DCI to setup this event. Sizes vary depending on where and when it’s being held, as well as what the format is for the tournament. Players are playing for an invitation and a plane ticket to the Pro Tour. A PTQ is only good for a specific Pro Tour, it isn’t an invitation that you can decide when to redeem.

Grand Prix Trials (GPTs) are similar, however instead of getting a plane ticket and an invitation, since Grand Prixes are open to all players, winners of Grand Prix Trials are given three byes for a specific Grand Prix.

States (US)/Champs (Canada) is a regional based event where players come together to compete, usually playing ‘Standard.’ They’re playing for foil cards, commemorative plaques, and other prizes as offered by the tournament organizer. These used to be official DCI events that fed into Nationals but it was retired for a short period before the Tournament Organizers restarted the events series with Wizards’ blessing.

Magic is a truly international game, and every year the Nations of Magic players around the world hold individual National Championships. They give invitations to the top X rated players in the country as well as anyone who is Pro Tour level 2 or higher. We don’t yet have any information regarding when or where US Nationals will be held, historically it’s on the east coast though.

Grand Prixes are larger tournaments, usually drawing near 1000 players when held in the States and regularly drawing near 1500 players when held in Europe. These are larger events that extend over two days, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is open to all players who wish to play, played in a Swiss style, so players can play all through the day. This year the rules are being modified that rather than a strict fixed number of people making it to day 2, instead they are inviting everyone with an X-2 record to continue into day 2. The top 64 players at a Grand Prix win money, ranging from several thousand USD to a couple hundred. Also the top 2 players are invited to the next Pro Tour.

Pro Tours are invitation only events, currently the DCI is holding three a year. In 2009 the Pro Tour stops are Kyoto Japan, Austin Texas and Honolulu Hawaii. Pro Tour events are the peak of competitive play where players who have qualified at Pro Tour Qualifiers or Grand Prixes, as well as players who have performed well enough at past Pro Tours and Grand Prixes to automatically be invited to the next stop. Pro Tour stops extend over three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday night before a Pro Tour stop there is usually a tournament called a ‘Grinder’ which is a Pro Tour Qualifier which usually draws a few hunder competitors hoping to slip into the last slots for the Pro Tour event. These events are wildly fun and usually go late into the night, leading the competitor who wins to end up very short on sleep.

Now, because Pro Tours are invitation only, it does not mean you can go and enjoy the event. At both Pro Tours and Grand Prixes there are numerous “side events” for players to participate in. Everything from 8-man drafts, to Pro Tour Qualifiers. So if either of these larger type of events come near to where you live, or if you can make it out to one, I highly recommend going even if you’re not going to play. Fridays at Pro tour events usually feature a big Friday Night Magic event with promo cards and such.

Above Pro Tour stops is the grand event every year, Worlds. The World Championships is what it sounds like, it’s the top of the food chain where the best from around the world gather and battle out to be named Player of the Year as well as for a team of players to win the Team championships. The 2008 World Championships were held in Memphis Tennessee USA with Antti Malin winning the individual world champion title, and the US team winning the world team title. I’ll get into the specifics of the formats and how it runs in one of my next articles, but let me say that if there is one event for a Magic player to attend, Worlds is perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had at a Magic tournament.

There are numerous other events, either local to the tournament organizer or regional. Also there are discontinued events such as the Magic Invitational. which is on a temporary leave of absence.

Next time I’ll write about what formats are played at these events. Discuss the rules, card pools, and other information that new players may not know or may be overcome by.