I got up at 8am and went to Salzburg together with two friends. After arriving and trading a bit, the packs were handed out and everyone had to register the cards. I opened an almost perfect deck (white/green/blue) and it was exactly that kind of deck I prefer to play, but we had to swap decks…

I was almost sure that I wouldn't get that good cards again and I was right…

Here's what I got:

Gold:

Kangee, Aerie Keeper
Spinal Embrace
Shivan Zombie *2
Riptide Crab
Samite Archer
Wings of Hope
Plague Spores

Black:

Tsabo's Assassin
Tainted Well *2
Urborg Phantom
Hypnotic Cloud
Scavenged Weaponry
Ravenous Rats
Phyrexian Slayer
Cursed Flesh *2
Mourning

Blue:

Well-Laid Plains
Dream Thrush *2
Phantasmal Terrain *2
Zanam Djinn
Essence Leak
Disrupt
Shimmering Wings
Vodalian Merchant
Tidal Visionary
Tower Drake *2

Red:

Ghitu Fire
Kavu Aggressor
Shivan Harvest (foil)
Slimy Kavu
Rogue Kavu *2
Stun
Skittish Kavu
Pouncing Kavu
Tribal Flames *2
Lightning Dart

Green:

Sulam Djinn
Fertile Ground
Llanowar Vanguard *2
Llanowar Cavalry
Whip Silk
Quirion Elves
Thornscape Apprentice
Sulam Djinn
Scouting Trek
Aggressive Urge

White:

Benalish T(r)apper *2
Crimson Acolyte
Obsidian Acolyte
Rewards of Diversity
Protective Sphere
Prison Barricade
Rampant Elephant
Restrain
Holy Day
Sunscape Apprentice

Artifacts/Lands:

Alloy Golem
Dromar's Attendant
Geothermal Crevice
Tinder Farm
Elfhame Palace
6 of each Basic
2 Foil Swamps

Now it's

time for you

to think about

the deck you would have

built out of these cards

Already finished?

Really?

Ok, here is what I came up with:
(W/G/R/U)

4 Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains
Tinder Farm
Elfhame Palace
Alloy Golem
Rampant Elephant
Crimson Acolyte
Obsidian Acolyte
Benalish T(r)apper *2
Fertile Ground
Quirion Elves
Thornscape Apprentice *2
Sulam Djinn
Pouncing Kavu
Tribal Flames *2
Ghitu Fire
Lightning Dart
Tower Drake *2
Dream Thrush *2
Zanam Djinn
Samite Archer
Wings of Hope

I was not quite satisfied with a four-color deck like that, due to the danger of getting mana-screwed. Therefore I played not only obvious helpers like Fertile Ground and Quirion Elves, but also cards like Dream Thrush, because they can change land types to give you certain mana…

The strategy of the deck was stopping the opponent and his creatures with tappers, acolytes and burn, and finish him off with fatties and flyers.
The problem was not the quality of the cards I got, they were quite ok, but 4 colors, all with about the same amount of cards, is just a too high risk…
I didn't really expect to be able to make it top 8 with this deck, all I wanted to reach was at least 2-4, although I had always won more games than lost in limited before, which is also my favorite format.

First Round:

Wiest, Joerg (W/U/b)

I had an acceptable start and solved mana problems with Quirion Elves. After casting 2 tappers I was easily able to stop Wiest on the ground and steadily dealt him damage because I had a Dream Thrush and he had not a single flyer. I played a Tower Drake and afterward he casted a Razorfoot Griffin which would easily have been able to stop my attack. But I played the Lightning Dart I had on my hand, he didn't draw anymore flyers, and I won.

Game 2 was about the same, the only difference was, that this time the Lightning Dart had to kill a kickered Faerie Squadron.

1:0, 2:0

Second Round:

Sereining, Christoph (G/B/R)

That was a really hard one, as this guy managed to play Darigaaz in both matches I needed to beat him
I would have been helpless in game one without the 2 tappers I drew, which made it possible to kill him with flyers despite the fact that he had the dragon…

Game 2 was even closer: After having a decent mana screw I was able to play 2 tappers to stop the dragon and a Serpentine Kavu. But even that wouldn't have been enough, if I hadn't drawn a Obsidian Acolyte. This card could give one of my flyers protection from black to block the dragon and so my 2 tappers could handle the Serpentine Kavu and an Alloy Golem my opponent casted. How I beat him? Fly, fly again, fly once more, victory!

2:0, 4:0

I was quite surprised how easily my deck beat two opponents having better cards than I did without losing a single game. I was still in doubt if I really had any chance to reach top8.

Round 3:

Joebstel, Markus (R/B/u) (Top 8, Winner)

Game 1 gave me a decent start without any mana problems, a tapper, 2 flyers and some burn in the first rounds. I decided not to play the burn as the 2 tribal flames and the Ghitu Fire would have dealt 12 damage to my opponent and I tried to bring him to 12 with creatures. My strategy failed as he played an Ancient Kavu (with Manical Rage), a kickered Duskwalker and a Kavu Aggressor with Sleeper's Robe. I would have been able to kill all of them, but only one per turn (mere one mountain in play). But I made 2 (in words: TWO) fatal mistakes…

First of all I used my pro-red Acolyte to block the Ancient Kavu, as I hadn't seen his ability to become colorless because the enchantment covered it and so simply forgot it. The second error was to think of Tribal Flames as an instant and wanting to play it during my opponents attack. So I wasn't able to kill a creature and was to slow with removing all of his threats and finally lost a game I should have won.

Game 2 never gave me a chance, my deck showed it's true character, namely being crap and granted my opponent an easy win.

2:1, 4:2

While still being angry about myself and the chance I threw away, I knew that I wouldn't be able to win games with a not-that-good deck combined with bad play like that (of course…).
So I tried to concentrate myself and read cards BEFORE trying to cast another sorcery during my opponents turn…

Round 4:

Aljiaj, Wasti (R/B/u)

So I had to face yet another very aggressive deck. It was that much better than my deck and I still don't know whether I had had ANY chance without my 2 Acolythes, which protected my creatures from red AND black. My tappers handled his flyers and so I won, although he had powerhorses like Skizzik, Djinns, Dustwalker etc.
It should have been impossible for me to beat that deck with that many killer cards; I was able to claim the victory, however.

3:1, 6:2

After this round I talked to a friend who also had won 3 games at that point of time and also was wondering how that was possible with his deck (He sat next to me during deck construction and had about the same crap as I had). We agreed that in case we would have to play against each other he would let me win due to my way better opponent score (best one at that point of time), since 3-1-1 wouldn't have been sufficient for him and he wouldn't have had any real chance to win also the last game .

Round 5:

Loh, Mark (G/W/u)

And there he was! Yet another 2:0 for me, but I had won any ways I guess. Testplaying ended 3-2 for me, and he only won twice because of drawing all his fatties: jade leech, a faerie squadron and 2 4/4's in both games.

4:1, 8:2

Round 6:

Florian "Fly" Oberauer (G/W/u) (Top 8)

After looking at the current standings we decided to draw. It was a big risk for me, though, as I could become 7th, 8th, 9th or even 10th…

But as I knew that he had got the packs I registered I was sure that it was not possible to beat him unless I had a great start and he mana screw(in this case no more than 2 lands in the first 10 rounds…)

4:1:1, 8:2

I watched the other games and saw one of the top8 aspirants(10 points) lose to a player without any chances(9 points). So I was at least 9th…

Final Standings after Swiss: (Place/Points/Opponent Score/Game %WIN)
7. 13 / 55,4% / 66,7%
8. 13 / 55,4% / 58,8%
9. 13 / 54,5% / 58,8%

You see, it was pretty close…
It isn't really fair to decide who's allowed to play top8 that way, but it has to be done some way…

My opponent score and high match win percentage (4 times 2-0) brought me place 7.
So I was in second position for the Rochester Draft (not quite good).
I managed to get a very aggressive black red deck including 3 Manical Rage, Crown of Flames, Firescreamer, Kavu Aggressor and lots more.
My first round opponent drafted a green/white/blue deck which also allowed aggressive play (Armadillo Cloak *2, Power Armor…) in addition to control through tappers and such.

My problem was that the players on my right had swapped colors after a few boosters, one adding black, one adding red which cost me a lot of good cards. However I had a chance, I thought.

I would have had one, but I couldn't even start playing…
Why? I had to take mulligan in both games because of drawing only 1 land, just to get the same amount afterward. I never had more than 3 lands in game 1 and 4 in game 2, although I played 19 lands in a 40 card deck, as it was very mana intensive…

I don't know how this could happen, all I know is that it cost me the chance to win…
But since I didn't even expect to make it top8 after opening the packs I had to play with, I'm quite satisfied with 7th place.
It is, however, quite strange that I managed to get around bigger mana problems in 6 rounds of swiss with a four-color deck but was killed by mana short in a 2-color deck with almost 50% land.

I wish you all good luck for your qualifiers,
thanks for your time,

Christoph

__________________
Posted by Christoph

The trader in Germany with the most refs

MOTL columnist

Splashing green for the elf, ground and apprentices made his deck a little more mana consistent and enabled him to use a little control as the thornscape apprentice allows you to tap creatures for the same cost as the trapper, giving him 4 creatures that enable him to tap either clearing him to attack or taking out 4 of his opponents biggest creatures. The rest of the green I believe are all colorless and g mana to cast letting him use the salum djinn to help against other fatties or to use as a kill card once his tappers were in play. White and blue were no brainers in his deck because of the flyers and samite archer(one of the better creatures for limited) I agree that red should have only been splashed for the direct damage, and the kavu should have been replaced with the attendant to further gain mana consistency.

My deck

spells 7
ghitu fire
tribal flames x 2
lightning dart
wings of hope
shimmering wings
fertile ground

creatures 16
samite archer
dream thrush x 2
zanam djinn
tower drake x 2
salum djinn
quirion elf
thornscape apprentice x 2
benalish trappers x 2
obsidian acolyte
crimson acolyte
alloy golem
dromars attendant

lands 19
elfhame palace
6 plains
5 islands
4 forests
3 mountains

In this deck everything is maximally useful with few cards wasted and those few only if you had no creatures. Your cards either produced mana to help out, were fat (or could fly) enough to block or deal damage, or helped slow the game down for you to get out a fattie or ghitu fire to win with.

How did you draft in the draft? If you started and choose one main color with the opening of your pack, then you should have been fine...

__________________
Posted by Christoph

The trader in Germany with the most refs

MOTL columnist