On the bubble. Twice. A GP Barcelona Story.
So, I’ve been traveling around Europe and Japan for the last two months with a bunch of cancellations and a somewhat dismal showing in Paris. I was definitely looking for my last chance to redeem myself and to justify the months’ worth of gallivanting around the world. When I initially set out to travel for two months, my short term goal was to qualify for Pro Tour Nagoya through one of the tournaments that I could attend that would feed it. With Hamburg and Kobe being cancelled and rescheduled respectively, I was left with only one last chance before I had to return to Toronto.
This next part is copied and pasted from the travel blog notes I’ve been keeping on Facebook:
Got to Barcelona pretty much as scheduled. Got onto a train to the downtown and transferred to the subway line and made my way to the hostel. I checked in and met up with Shuhei Nakamura later at around 4. After that we walked around the downtown area a bit, did some casual sightseeing and had dinner. After that we went back to the hostel and took a nap to sort of shake off any jet lag.
The next day we went to the event site and did some GPTs for practice. We were getting crushed left and right in the grinders so we decided to stop after the 2nd one. We didn’t need the byes but just wanted the practice and for 5 Euros it was fine. We ended up meeting up with Martin Juza later and his other Czech buddies and we made our way to the apartment we rented which was literally 3 mins away. During the day I was testing the mono red goblins deck and won one round but got crushed by [card]Kor Firewalker[/card]. In the next grinder I played Esperblade but couldn’t beat Valakut. Feeling a bit dejected I decided to just play a deck that could more or less autopilot itself.
I went with this
[deck title=Boros – by Pham]
[Land]
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Teetering Peaks
5 Plains
5 Mountain
[/Land]
[Creatures]
4 Goblin Guide
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Plated Geopede
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Squadron Hawk
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Koth of the Hammer
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Adventuring Gear
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Bonehoard
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Mark of Mutiny
2 Arc Trail
2 Manic Vandal
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
I figured I wanted to play an aggro deck that could punish slow draws or sketchy keeps. I figured [card]Steppe Lynx[/card] was a good way to go. Also if I was gonna play a red deck, I want to be the one that can play Firewalker.
[/end copy paste]
Some notes on the deck:
• Petr Sochurek and Lukas Blohon convinced me to put the 2nd [card]Teetering Peaks[/card] in over the 3rd [card]Terramorphic Expanse[/card], which was common in most stock lists, in order to make [card]Mark of Mutiny[/card]s better.
• The 20 core creatures were staples but we were on the fence about [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card]/[card]Hero of Bladehold[/card]/[card]Mirran Crusader[/card]/[card]Koth of the Hammer[/card]. In testing, we found that Koth was almost always the best 4 drop against Cawblade, as after board you bring in more removal to keep it unanswered and they take out their counterspells in favour of removal which doesn’t deal with Koth. We ended up testing 3 Koths but it was a bit too much as we kept getting multiples. We cut one out for 1 [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card] as it played a similar role to Koth.
• I had 1 random [card]Arc Trail[/card] main deck but decided to play a crusader instead to hedge against Valakut. Most Valakut lists nowadays run little to no removal in the main in favour of [card]Lotus Cobra[/card]s and [card]Summoning Trap[/card]s against cawblade. Other than [card]Inferno Titan[/card], a turn 3 Crusader with anything on it is usually GG, so I made a quick change to that.
• The sideboard is more or less stock from the internet; nothing else that interesting. There was the option of playing [card]Manic Vandal[/card] over [card]Divine Offering[/card], but the creature won out in the end.
Ok, anyways, without further ado, onto the matches:
Rounds 1-3:
Byes (Thank you Norway!).
Round 4:
Bartosz Regent (Poland) RDW
G1: Opponent wins the roll and starts with a [card]Mountain[/card]. I start with a [card]Steppe Lynx[/card] which gets [card]Burst Lightning[/card]’d. I play a [card]Squadron Hawk[/card] and fetch up his buddies. He follows up with [card]Ember Hauler[/card] on his turn 2 and I continue to play the birdies. He follows up with [card]Kargan Dragonlord[/card] and leaves mana up. I play a [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] fetching [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] and he has another [card]Burst Lightning[/card] for my Mystic EOT. I respond to his tapout by bolting his [card]Ember Hauler[/card]. The game ends pretty quickly thereafter, as other than another [card]Ember Hauler[/card], he runs out of gas pretty quickly and I overrun him with birds and wolves.
G2: I keep a hand with double [card]Kor Firewalker[/card]. He has T1 [card]Goblin Guide[/card] which I take 4 from before playing a Firewalker. He doesn’t have much to go on right after, so I follow up with a Mystic getting [card]Bonehoard[/card] as I knew things were going to get out of hand soon. He plays a [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card] and I’m very happy to see that. I just play a [card]Steppe Lynx[/card] with a fetch up and he’s in an awkward spot. It gets to the point where I have [card]Bonehoard[/card] in play and he decides to put the second charge counter on his bomb. He ends up 2 for 1’ing me but still can’t get past my guys. My second Firewalker comes down post bomb and got real big real fast.
4-0
Round 5:
Shuhei Nakamura (Japan) Valakut
Sigh. My roommate and I both flew in from Japan a couple days prior only to have to play each other 2 rounds in.
G1: Mull to 5. I keep a decent five card hand with early pressure with a Lynx and [card]Plated Geopede[/card]. However, he keeps an all red three-lander with [card]Slagstorm[/card]. I untap and find a Koth and find myself sitting in a decent position. He stumbles on lands a bit, allowing me to get him to 8 until he finally finds a green source. At that point the flood gates open and he takes care of Koth with ol’ [card]Primeval Titan[/card] and eventually just Titan’d me out.
G2: At this point, sideboarding is awkward since we know each others’ deck inside and out. I start off with goblin guide and he has a bolt for it the turn after. I follow up with squadron hawks. He has a nice curve and although fully knowing my sideboard strategy, slams a turn 4 Titan. Unfortunately for me, my [card]Mark of Mutiny[/card] wasn’t enough to kill him and left him at 3. He told me it was also because he knew the only way I could kill him is if I had a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] to follow up the Mark as well but he knew very well that I boarded my Bolts out. I did some quick math and I was sure to be dead the next turn.
4-1
Round 6:
Robert Jurkovic (Slovak Republic) UW Cawblade
This time I’m not playing a roommate but the friend of one. If you didn’t know, Jurkovic is a known pro player from Eastern Europe and also writes for Blackborder.
G1: I start the game with a T1 [card]Goblin Guide[/card] and don’t draw too much business earlier on. He makes a Mystic getting [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card], but I Bolt it EOT. I reveal a [card]Day of Judgment[/card] on top on the 3rd turn and by this point, I’ve drawn a Mystic, so I decide to hold off a bit because my [card]Goblin Guide[/card] seems to be doing fine. He does in fact wrath me on turn 4 as he probably has no business going on either. I follow up with my own Mystic and a freshly drawn Geopede. I end up getting [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] and equip it to my Geopede, which goes to town. He gets a Jace going, but I ignore it and dome him for a bunch more. In the end, after 2 brainstorms he couldn’t deal with it and conceded.
G2: This game was actually surprisingly close. I thought I was losing this one from the beginning. He kept a lot of my threats off the board with [card]Oust[/card] and [card]Mortarpod[/card], while getting a [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] with his Mystic. He milled me for a bunch while I tried to fight back with [card]Squadron Hawk[/card]s. Eventually I was able to stabilize and get a mystic of my own. Luckily for me he didn’t mill my [card]Bonehoard[/card], so I jumped right onto that. I set up the abyss and he had to keep feeing me little birdies and Mystics. The game got more interesting when he drew a [card]Sun Titan[/card]. Thankfully, that 3rd Koth was changed to a Hero for this particular situation and usefulness. I slammed it down and went to town. He was forced to chump block with his titan and I got in for 4. He got another Titan but it was just meant another 6 mana fog. The turn later he conceded as he couldn’t find a way to deal with the equipment.
5-1
Round 7:
Anders Melin (Sweden) Esperblade
G1: I start the game off in typical Boros fashion with face smashing on turn 1 with [card]Goblin Guide[/card]. I flip over a [card]Condemn[/card] and know my Guide wasn’t long for this world. I follow up with a Geopede the next turn, which was followed by a squad of little birdies. He answers me with [card]Day of Judgment[/card], and I just make 2 more birds. At this point, he isn’t under that much pressure anymore, so he plays a Mystic getting [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] and quickly closes out the game.
G2: This game was pretty uneventful. Every hand I saw had 1 land in it. I mulled to 5 and kept that one. I pretty much had nothing going on while stuck on one land until like turn 4 and even then I was already racing 2-3 birds and having to deal with a Jace. Not close.
5-2
Well at this point I’m not feeling so great, as I could feel that sinking feeling encroaching on me now that I was on the bubble. Starting out 3-0 makes you feel pretty good knowing that all you need to do is win 4 rounds to make day 2. I was sitting at 2-2 and feeling pretty crappy. But alas, we must persevere and continue forwards. A couple of patented Saito slaps later and I was back in the game.
Round 8:
Wim Gressens (Belgium) BR Vampires
G1: My opponent starts with a [card]Vampire Lacerator[/card] and I took it out with a Bolt on his attack. I follow up with [card]Squadron Hawk[/card] fetching up his buddies. He makes another Lacerator and Highborn to fight back, but I take out his two drop with another Bolt when he taps out. At this point, he is running low and plays his [card]Dark Tutelage[/card]. Now he has [card]Vampire Lacerator[/card] and Tutelage in play while trying to race a bunch of birdies. He ends up scooping as the damage he was taking was slowly but surely racking up.
G2: This game was pretty much over before it began. My opponent mulls to 6 and keeps a sketchy hand. He has a Lacerator and [card]Viscera Seer[/card], but that was more or less it in terms of pressure. He manages to Burst my [card]Steppe Lynx[/card] and Bolt my Geopede at some point in the game but when I read that he was pretty much running on empty, I slammed down the [card]Mirran Crusader[/card] I drew and gave it the wolf making blade. Not close.
6-2
So I have a legitimate shot at this now. Let’s keep it going…
Round 9:
Antonio Martinez (Spain) Eldrazi Green
G1: He has the nut draw with Treespeaker into [card]Overgrown Battlement[/card] into [card]Primeval Titan[/card] on turn 3.
G2: I actually make a pretty crucial mistake this game but despite it all, my opponent was pretty terrible and I managed to peel it out just barely. I start with a Lynx in play and follow it up with a [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]. He basically has no real action in the early game and I have more things to do in hand so I decide to go for [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card] over [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card], which is a mistake. I go to town on him with a suited up kitty cat but he pitches [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card] after each one of my attacks. Not only that, but he manages to cast [card]All is Dust[/card], not once, but twice as I find myself some birdies after the first one. He ends up losing when he can’t wrath me for a third time.
G3: This was the clincher. I have a wicked start with Lynx into [card]Goblin Guide[/card] but is able to catch up quickly with Baloth on turn 3. I make some birdies the next turn and find myself a [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] too. This time, I get me the wolf maker and started to go to town on him with that. Although every time I mill him he ends up hitting an Eldrazi. At the same time, he finds himself a [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] while at 12 life after a second Baloth, but thanks to [card]Mark of Mutiny[/card], and equipping it with a sword, my birds and his wurm do him in.
7-2 *phew*
At this point the rest of the people in my apartment were in day 2 except for Shuhei, unfortunately. Lukas was undefeated at the end of day 1. Petr was 7-1-1 and Juza and I were both 7-2. We headed back to the apartment pretty quickly and play tested a bit more before turning in for the night as we had to get up for 8 the next morning while having to also move the clocks up an hour due to daylight savings time. Time was not on our side. So we start the next day roughly on time around 8:30ish after all the forms have been filled out and collected.
Round 10:
Peter Vieren (Belgium) Naya
G1: This game is rather interesting. I actually thought I was going to lose. I amon the play, and in the dark I keep a hand with [card]Goblin Guide[/card], one Bolt and [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card] for business spells. I play a turn 1 [card]Goblin Guide[/card] and get him with it a few times and he makes a [card]Fauna Shaman[/card], before lightning is pointed at its face rather quickly. However, one thing that I should point out is that every time I attack, I give him a free land and he actually has to discard after turn 1 and 2, both cards being [card]Vengevine[/card]s, hence why I am pretty sure I am going to lose. I beat my opponent down to 14 with the [card]Goblin Guide[/card] before he comes back with [card]Squadron Hawk[/card]s and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]s, at which point I am loving the fact that my 3rd Koth got the axe again and he was taking 7 unblockable damage. I end up drawing a Journey the turn before, so I hold it and wait. He knows he has to leave both his [card]Vengevines[/card] up to have a shot. I rip a Bolt and take out his only 2 possible blockers and that was that.
G2: This game is interesting as we clog the board up something fierce until he eventually fetches up a [card]Bonehoard[/card] and starts to work my [card]Squadron Hawks[/card] to death. I eventually get my own [card]Bonehoard[/card] out too and now the real fight is on. The board just stays stalled for awhile until one of us finds a [card]Cunning Sparkmage[/card]. I actually find a [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] and a [card]Mirran Crusader[/card] at a later stage in the game, but he actually has [card]2 Tumble Magnets[/card] in play to answer them both. Eventually I find a Sparkmage and the Mystic for the Collar and close out the game pretty quickly after that.
8-2
Round 11:
Gregory Cassini (France) RUG
This was a fun match as when we sat down at the table we started with introductions asking where each was from. He asked if I could speak French since I was from Canada and I said yes. So the rest of the match was conducted in French in a somewhat friendly manner. We both seemed to have enjoyed it.
G1: I burst out of the gates with a [card]Goblin Guide[/card] revealing [card]Halimar Depths[/card] which pretty much gives away the entire matchup right away. He takes care of it quickly with a Bolt and I follow it up with a [card]Squadron Hawk[/card]. He doesn’t have many answers after the initial Bolt and just plays [card]Explore[/card] and build his mana. I get an [card]Adventuring Gear[/card] on my birdie and go to town on him. He spends the turn after tapping out to [card]Preordain[/card] and [card]Explore[/card]s some more, actually missing on land drops after it all. I slam down a Koth and go to town on him. He eventually succumbs to Koth as he can’t stop it from going ultimate.
G2: This game is actually somewhat one-sided. I have nearly the perfect draw with Lynx and Geopede, but he takes care of my early threats with Burst and Bolts. I get him down to 13, but he then makes 2 [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card]s, one turn after another. He follows that up with [card]Frost Titan[/card] and I am pretty much done for.
G3: This one is pretty savage. I play turn 1 [card]Steppe Lynx[/card] and the conversation goes:
Him: “T’en as un chaque fois!” (You’ve had one every time!)
Me: “C’est comme j’en ai huit de ces choses.” (It’s like I have eight of these things)
Anyway, I follow that up with a turn 2 Mystic getting [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card]. I grind him down to 14 until he plays a Baloth back up to 18. I smash back at him with a sworded up Mystic and I’m now racing 3 damage versus 4, but making wolves in the process. Every time I mill him, however, I was hitting a bunch of [card]Pyroclasm[/card]s, Bolts and [card]Acidic Slime[/card]s. I later get a Firewalker in play and give it the blade to carry, make it “protection from your deck.” He tries to fight back with a [card]Frost Titan[/card], too but it was to no avail. I end up taking 4 point life chunks out of him at a time until he eventually scoops. Who knew pro U and G were so good against RUG?
9-2
Round 12:
Pedro Dores (Portugal) UW Cawblade
G1: We both start the game with 6 cards and I am on the play. I keep a bit of a slow hand with turn 2 Geopede, but he has a [card]Condemn[/card] for it the next turn. I end up making a [card]Squadron Hawk[/card] with [card]Adventuring Gear[/card] and follow it up with a [card]Goblin Guide[/card] the next turn. He decides to [card]Condemn[/card] my Guide the next turn, so I get in for 5 with the Hawk. He ends up getting stuck on 4 mana for awhile but finds a wrath while he is at 10. I end up finding a [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] and put another bird in play. He eventually scoops to the [card]Bonehoard[/card] I got with the Mystic and shows me the multiple Gideons he had in hand that he couldn’t play.
G2: I start off with [card]Goblin Guide[/card], getting him down to 16, and follow it up with Lynx on turn 2. He doesn’t have much action until he finds a Jace and brainstorms. I completely ignore it and take him down to 5. He digs some more, [card]Preordain[/card]s and concedes as he seems to have just gotten flooded out. This is why this deck is so good. Fast hands will punish slow and sketchy keeps.
10-2
Round 13:
Carlos Oliveros (Spain) Sparkblade
G1: This game was very memorable mainly for the start. Unfortunately for my opponent, he has to mull to 5. I start off with a [card]Goblin Guide[/card], but not much else in terms of early game. I have some removal to support it and Koth and Hero for later in the game. My opponent starts with white and red mana and Mystic into [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card]. At this point, I make a small note on my scorepad that he’s playing Boros. After I dispose of his blocker I attack on my 3rd turn and fetch on my second main phase. While I’m shuffling, I announce that I want to cast the [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] I just drew and just shortcut the searching and shuffling motions, but he tells me “no, hold on.” He cracks his [card]Scalding Tarn[/card], and gets an island and [card]Mana Leak[/card]s my Mystic. The jig is up. So, I get my land anyways and ship it back. He passes the turn back again, so I try for a Koth which gets leaked too. After that, I stick my Hero and go to town on him. He nearly stabilizes with a topdecked [card]Cunning Sparkmage[/card] with the [card]Basilisk Collar[/card] he has in hand. I eventually am able to find a [card]Journey to Nowhere[/card] and take his visara out, finishing him off with some birdies later on.
G2: This game was so close. I start off with [card]Goblin Guide[/card] and Geopede, taking his life down pretty quickly. He eventually stabilizes with enough chump blockers and removal to set up a turn 6 [card]Inferno Titan[/card]. I get him down to 3 with an [card]Arc Trail[/card] in hand, but can’t find another piece of direct damage, so I pack it in after a couple turns.
G3: This game was pretty tight as well. Turn 1 [card]Goblin Guide[/card] as usual, followed by a second one. I flip over a [card]Day of Judgment[/card] at around the 3rd turn mark, so I decide to not commit anything else. Sure enough, he is forced to wrath my two bears away and I follow up with some birdies. I gradually take him down one peg at a time, but he slows me down with a [card]Cunning Sparkmage[/card]. Luckily, I force him to use it on my birds during combat, to let me take his out with my own [card]Cunning Sparkmage[/card].He has the answer to that too and [card]Twisted Image[/card]s my Sparkmage. I am able to take him down to 7, but he eventually deals with my stuff and sets up Mystic with [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card].
10-3
Now I find myself on the bubble AGAIN! Not only am I guaranteed to not make top 8, but if I lose again I’m out of top 16 which was my initial target. Sigh. *Saito slap frenzy initiated*
Round 14:
Gorka Fernandez (Spain) Valakut
G1: This game was a little upsetting as it was an unpleasant reminder of how powerful Valakut can be. I keep a reasonable hand on the draw. In the dark, I would still keep it considering it had a lot to go on, it just wasn’t the fastest hand possible since it lacked a turn 1 play. I start with [card]Squadron Hawks[/card] and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]s getting [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card]. He sets up walls and [card]Lotus Cobra[/card]s while Bolting a few of my 1 power creatures. When I finally get my sword going, in one turn, he sets up Titan followed by Trap into another Titan. Must be…
G2: T1 [card]Goblin Guide[/card], attack – op life 18. T2 [card]Plated Geopede[/card], attack – op life 16. T3 land, attack, play [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] – op life 11. T4 equip sword, fetchland, attack – op life 2. No resistance entire game. Scoop.
G3: I keep a slow but somewhat conservative hand. My first play is [card]Kor Firewalker[/card]on turn 2. He sets up a wall the turn before, so I go ahead and grab a [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] with my Mystic. The next turn, I set up the Sword and he makes another wall so I still haven’t been able to get through for damage. I then find a well-timed [card]Adventuring Gear[/card] and equip it to my Firewalker and let him carry the Sword for a nice 8 points of damage. I follow it up with some [card]Squadron Hawk[/card]s. However, when I have a nice squad of Hawks and pack of wolves in play, he [card]Pyroclasm[/card]s them away, but thankfully, the Firewalker proved to be too much for him and ended up breaking his back.
11-3
It’s down to the wire now. Pressure is on. *Saito slap overdrive*
Round 15:
Pau Pons Herrera (Spain) Valakut
G1: Looking at my score pad makes me laugh as I instantly remember how I won this game. Here’s the notes: Me: 20-19-18, Op: 20-18-16-13-(-2). The game was basically him doing his own thing and setting up his combo with mana acceleration into Titan. In the meantime, I start with [card]Goblin Guide[/card] into Geopede. I lay a fetch and he chumps my Geopede with his [card]Lotus cobra[/card] and Bolts my Guide, so I leave the fetch uncracked and make a [card]Mystic[/card]. The next turn he gets a quick [card]Primeval Titan[/card] into play. I topdeck [card]Adventuring Gear[/card] and after some quick math, give the insect some pants, a sword, then play another fetch and crack both of them for 15 points of unblockable fun.
G2: He mulls to 6 and tanks for awhile and ends up keeping what I think was probably a sketchy hand. My hand is pretty conservative, but slow. I keep double Firewalker and [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card]. I beat him down with bears for awhile until I get one giant turn with sworded up Firewalkers with gears and take him down to 6. He [card]Pyroclasm[/card]s away the rest of my team but realizes he can’t deal with the one man army and extends the hand.
12-3
I nearly leapt out of my seat. I couldn’t grab the result slip fast enough. I then quickly apologized for being overzealous, but he was really good about it and congratulated and wished me good luck for the PT.
After handing in the result slip, I went to go look at the standings again. Going into round 15, I was 25th in the standings, so it was sketchy still. I did what I needed to do, and all that was left at this point was to cross my fingers and pray not to get sucked out.
After the final standings came out, I looked from the top to the bottom and let out a giant sigh of relief when I finally saw my name at 15th. It was really cutting it close but I got there! The long and stressful road was finally done and I got to my desired destination, the next PT!
So what’s the moral of the story? Enough talk about these silly blue cards. Just smash face with dorks and dome them. Why mess around am I right? Seriously though, Cawblade is the real deal, but this deck is a serious contender as well. Don’t take bashing for 4 on turn 2 lightly.
Props:
• The Czech for helping refine the final list
• Shuhei Nakamura for helping with the sideboarding strategy
• Petr Sochurek for teaching me random Magic lingo and slang in Czech
• Martin Juza/Lukas Blohon for booking a sweet apartment so close to the venue for so cheap
• Saito for his patented concentration slaps
• Free wifi on site
Slops:
• Me for miscellaneous misplays here and there
• Daylight savings stealing my hour of sleep
• The venue for looking like the inside of warehouse
• The venue for having ridiculously overpriced food
• Spanish players in the finals for being terrible – some plays made me facepalm so hard
Until next time,
Pham
Canadian originally from Toronto who currently lives in Western Japan. Been playing Magic since Tempest block. Notable finishes include PT Nagoya top 100, GP Barcelona top 16, GP Shanghai top 8, GP Hiroshima top 32 in 2011. PT Honolulu top 32 in 2012.