Sunday, June 4: 8:01 a.m. - Back on the bus
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These guys mean business… it's not the fun trip it looks like.
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I saw the sun rise over the Alps that surround Torino. I was woken by the first rays of the sun tickling my face. I felt the fresh breeze of the cool mountain air washing through the billowing curtain of the hotel room window. I had a hard time waking up. As Dutch judge Frank Waremen noted at breakfast this morning: "It may be beautiful, but it's just too early."
The staff hotel is a 30-minute bus ride away from the tournament site, so all the judges and staff had to get on said bus at 6:45 a.m. Yesterday evening, after taking the scenic route, the bus arrived at the staff hotel at 11:30 p.m., so there was not much time between yesterday and today to sleep. Nonetheless, working ourselves awake, we will bring you everything from GP Torino today: Two drafts, each followed by three rounds of play, and the Top 8 draft and matches.
Sunday, June 4: 11:50 a.m. - Drafting with Bram Snepvangers
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Bram Snepvangers recording his Windreaver-powered deck.
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Bram made day two with a clean 9-0 record. He drafted on table one in the first draft, sitting in seat four with Enrico Torazza (Italy) on his right and Georgios Kapalas (Greece) on his left. From Bram's point of view, the draft presented a rather weak array of card quality, even though the Dutchman first-picked Last Gasp, passing Strands of Undeath, Compulsive Research, Drift of Phantasms, Viashino Fangtail and Boros Guildmage.
The second pick was from an even weaker selection, when Bram took Conclave Equenaut over another Strands of Undeath and Elves of Deep Shadow. Another Equenaut joined his pile over Helldozer, Elvish Skysweeper and Skyknight Legionnaire. As an aside, the aggresssive Boros start is definitely underdrafted, and this table was no exception with Boros Swiftblade and Sellsword Brute being shoved like hot potatoes through the later picks. (Tune in to moxradio later in the day, as they have a very interesting feature coming up on this topic.)
Pick four brought Bram a Centaur Safeguard over Boros Swiftblade (see?), Viashino Fangtail and Votary of the Conclave. Pick five brought Drift of Phantasms over Caregiver and Strands of Undeath. Two Signets (Boros and Dimir) followed, and the rest of Ravnica went uncontroversial with Courier Hawk, Courier Hawk, Convolute, Conclave Phalanx, Caregiver (as a 12th pick over Boros Swiftblade), and another Courier Hawk. The overall card quality seemed weak at this side of the table, and there were no indications that any other color would have been better than the white Bram took.
That made Orzhov in Guildpact and Azorius in Dissension the obvious choices. Guildpact gave Bram a solid first-pick in Pillory of the Sleepless (over Orzhov Euthanist, Ghost Warden, Silhana Starfletcher and Sword of the Paruns), also a very good target for the Drift's transmute. He stayed on track in pack two, with Ghost Warden over another Euthanist, Scab-Clan Mauler, Wildsize and Torch Drake. Because he shunned green in Ravnica, a switch to green at this point would have meant going four colors, and the power of the available cards didn't justify that at all.
Guildpact's pick three was Orzhov Signet over Castigate. and Ostiary Thrull (over Mourning Thrull and To Arms!) and Shrieking Grotesque followed. Then, pick six had Absolver Thrull, Train of Thought, Thunderheads and Torch Drake. It took Bram a little while to finally decide on the Torch Drake, probably for mana curve reasons.
He shunned another Absolver Thrull for Droning Bureaucrats, and then Castigate, Petrahydrox, Runeboggle, another Castigate and Infiltrator's Magemark (over To Arms!) rounded out Guildpact. Clearly, at that point, any of the Azorius goodies, Azorius Signet and Azorius Chancery, would be very welcome to Bram's as yet unexciting deck. It had an ok curve, but lacked the smashing power that can be crucial in this format.
In Dissension, Bram opened Seal of Fire, Rakdos Ickspitter, Hide//Seek and Beacon Hawk, deciding against the removal spell and going for Beacon Hawk, shipping solid Rakdos to Georgios Kapalas on his left. The second pack had Azorius Chancery, Freewind Falcon, Condemn and Guardian of the Guildpact. Bram chose the creature over the removal and went with Guardian. Another Seal of Fire passed through Bram's hands on pick three in favor of Carom, followed by a Chancery and an Aurora Eidolon (passing Anthem of Rakdos).
Then, pick six had Soulsworn Jury, Ocular Halo and Windreaver. The 1/3 was the obvious pick, but surprisingly late, indicating that the lack of higher quality Azorius came rather from the packs than from the picks. Passing a Sporeback Troll at seventh pick, Bram finished the draft with Chancery number two, Beacon Hawk, Hide//Seek (coming around), Vision Skeins, Beacon Hawk and another white Eidolon.
The draft did shape up well, with white providing the meat of the deck and a very solid mana curve, but Bram was not satisfied with the Dissension picks. "The cards I wanted didn't really come", he said: no Azorius First-Wings, no Minister of Impediments, no Azorius Guildmage. (That one was snatched away to seats before Bram, when Wesimo Al-Bacha picked the U/W powerhouse to get some shape into his four-color grab bag.) Still, Bram has a very well-shaped mana curve, a sackful of fliers, Windreaver and Last Gasp, Pillory with a Transmuter as removal. The deck is capable of at least a 2-1 record. We'll see how it goes!
Sunday, June 4: 1:34 p.m. - Feature Match Round 11: Raphael Levy - Bram Snepvangers
Bram was the last player with maximum points, and he was trying to keep it that way. Raphael, while being his friend, obviously wanted to change it.
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Bram Snepvangers, happy about his perfect score
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Raphael got a slightly faster start, with Elvish Skysweeper and Aquastrand Spider, but was stuck on three mana. Meanwhile, Bram made Centaur Safeguard, Ostiary Thrull, and Conclave Equenaut. The Thrull traded with the Spider, and the Equenaut kept hitting in the air, while Raphael was desperately trying to get to five mana so that he could use his Skysweeper. He didn't make it, and had to concede in the end.
Game 2 started bad for Raphael as well, as he had to mulligan twice. He recovered pretty nicely though, with Civic Wayfinder and Gruul Turf making up for the card disadvantage. The two started a race, with Bram summoning flyer after flyer, while Raphael got to deal with most of them with his Elvish Skysweeper. While Raphael had a Gruul Guildmage, two copies of Aurora Eidolon on Bram's side made it difficult to use it effectively. Bram got in some damage with his flyers when Raphael couldn't deal with them right away, while Raphael could make his creatures virtually unblockable by keeping mana open for his Guildmage. Raphael then improved the board position significantly by playing Twinstrike while he was hellbent, leaving Bram with only three creatures. Bram beat him to four life. Raphael attacked with an innocent-looking Guildmage, but Bram didn't feel save at eight life and blocked with Ostiary Thrull. A wise move, as Raphael revealed Psychotic Fury, which would have been lethal. Still, Bram looked in bad shape, as he would die next turn, and he only had two 1/x creatures. However, he attacked, and smiled when he revealed the good old Wojek Siren, dealing just enough damage.
Bram Snepvangers beat Rapahel Levy, 2-0
Sunday, June 4: 2:12 p.m. - Day 1 Undefeated Decks
Bram Snepvangers
GP Torino 2006 - 9-0 Sealed Deck
Georgios Kapalas
GP Torino 2006 - 9-0 Sealed Deck
Sunday, June 4: 2:48 p.m. - Drafting with Antoine Ruel
The top table at the second draft of the Grand Prix is usually a good indication of who will be in the top 8 - not surprising, since these players will have the best scores until that point.
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Antoine Ruel, planning to go for Simic and Azorius - a plan many other people at the table had as well...
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Antoine Ruel was one of the hopefuls this time. He had 30 of a possible 36 points, and the best tiebreakers, so 2-0-1 or possibly even 2-1 would be enough for him.
His first booster was quite tough: Apart from a Dimir Cutpurse, it included Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Guildmage, and Faith's Fetters. In the end, Antoine picked the Guildmage. While he thought the Fetters would be better, the Guildmage gave him most options, with white, green, and even the under appreciated Selesnya, if the cards came the right way. The next pack had Veteran Armorer and Belltower Sphinx, and Antoine stayed on course with the Armorer. Then came Trophy Hunter over Drift of Phantasms and Brainspoil, Transluminant over Screeching Griffin and Golgari Rot Farm, and Fists of Ironwood over Boros Guildmage. The rest of the first round were some Selesnya fillers.
Drafting Selesnya isn't really easy in Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension. The guild distribution does not allow for a three-color combination that includes a guild from each set. Antoine was fully aware of that, and was prepared to sacrifice his Guildpact booster for Simic- and Azorius-goodies in Dissension. So he started with Ghor-Clan Savage over Mortify and Ogre Savant, two cards that are generally considered to be better. Next up was a Shrieking Grotesque, which he valued higher than Silhana Starfletcher and Orzhov Basilica, even though he probably wouldn't be able to pay the black mana. The quality of cards he picked for the rest of the pack was - as expected - pretty low. Gristleback, Infiltrator's Magemark, and Torch Drake were the most useful.
When he opened his Dissension booster, he was hoping for some gold cards to make up for the lost booster, but after checking his pack multiple times, he had to settle for Stoic Ephemera. The Helium Squirter he took next looked better, but the rest of Dissension didn't work out as planned. He got solid cards like two Azorius Chancery, Mistral Charger, and two Guardian of the Guildpact, but as he said after the draft "I basically traded my Guildpact booster for a Helium Squirter." His deck still has enough of the stables to get him the 2-1 that may be enough, but it wasn't the monster he was hoping it would turn out to be.
Sunday, June 4: 3:27 p.m. - A taste for mayhem
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Low mana curves make a happy Bracht.
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Maximilian Bracht is not only a constructed deckbuilder, he also has interesting ideas on RGD draft. If you listened to the moxradio audio, you might have heard about Maximilian's draft strategy already. Basically, he wants to draft a red-based deck, taking all the underdrafted one- and two-drops. Because the format is very slow, Bracht wants to be attacking for six when his opponents put down their first Signet. Boros cards like Sell-Sword Brute and Frenzied Goblin ("a solid first pick") go around late, and Bracht has almost no competition at a draft table when going for his strategy.
The first draft of today did not go as well as he wanted, finishing his pod 1-2, but watching the second draft showed what Bracht wants the deck to be like. In his final deck, Bracht had the following mana curve:
1cc: 7
2cc: 8
3cc: 9
4cc: 1 (Viashino Fangtail)
His deck contains no mana fixing other than two Wild Cantors, instead relying on 15 land to make sure his low casting cost creatures and spells hit the board. Bracht says drafting the curve is crucial: "I really would have liked another one-drop creature, but four should be ok, too."
His second draft started off with Stinkweed Imp over Golgari Rotwurm, Bramble Elemental, Selesnya Evangel and Oordrun Commando. He hate-picked Golgari Brownscale second pick, with Watchwolf, Roofstalker Wight and Goblin Spelunkers in the pack. Bracht had no intention to play the two Brownscales he picked at all, but took them "because they just kill me". And his key cards will come around later in the draft anyway.
Viashino Fangtail as the third pick (other cards of note: Compulsive Research, Mausoleum Turnkey) made for a great start in red. And there were some very unusual picks to watch fro Bracht: Fiery Conclusion made it over Indentured Oaf and Oathsworn Giant. Goblin Spelunkers bested another Oaf, a Dowsing Shaman and Rally the Righteous. Spelunkers also won against Rally the Righteous and Seeds of Strength.
At the end of Ravnica, Bracht had two Spelunkers, a Stinkweed Imp, a Fangtail and a Fiery Conclusion for his deck. Guildpact opened up with Douse in Gloom over Bloodscale Prowler and Blind Hunter, continued with Orzhov Euthanist over Repeal and Hypervolt Grasp. Ghor-Clan Savage and several Burning-Tree Bloodscales and Bloodscale Prowlers could have enabled a Blood-Graft deck setting up for Simic, too, but Bracht stuck to his plan and prepared for Rakdos in Dissension.
And that was when the platinum hit Bracht's bank account. Seal of Doom (over Gobhobbler Rats and Anthem of Rakdos, which Bracht says is too expensive), Taste for Mayhem (over Jagged Poppet, which came back later), Riot Spikes, a Nettling Curse, another Taste for Mayhem and four Gobhobbler Rats total made Bracht's deck.
"I would have liked another Nettling Curse and a black-red bounceland, then the deck would have been perfect. Maybe another one-drop", Bracht commented after the draft, and added: "I think 3-0 is possible with this deck."
Maximilian Bracht
GP Torino draft deck
Sunday, June 4: 3:55 p.m. - Feature match round 14: Julien Goron (FRA) vs Guillaume Wafo-tapa (FRA)
Game 1
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Bad beats for Julien Goron!
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Players have been talking about Guillaume's deck, which is apparently batsh** insane. He's playing nine rares, at least seven of which are bombs. Just to see how that worked out, we went to see his match against fellow Frenchman Julien Goron.
Julien started off the match in typical Ravnica fashion with a bounceland opening. Calm draw-go marked the first couple of turns, until Guillaume broke the silence with the first play, a Court Hussar. Julien's answer was Stratozeppelid, quickly bounced by Guillaume's Ogre Savant.
An on-curve Niv-Mizzet from Guillaume made Julien shrug. A seven-mana Repeal brought the Dragon back to Guillaume's hand for a turn, but when Guillaume added a Windreaver to his Niv-Mizzet, Julien frowned. Two bomb rares against a Stratozeppelid with a Grifter's Blade, that was not an equal match and both players knew it. Julien played Savage Twister for four, killing Guillaume's Niv-Mizzet and evening the board a little.
Stratozeppelid stood against Windreaver, who gained Vigilance and attacked - for one. Julien added Sporeback Troll and Rakdos Ickspitter to the board, but Guillaume Pyromatic'ed them away immediately. Minister of Impediments cleared the way for Windreaver and Julien scooped.
Julien Goron 0 - 1 Guillaume Wafo-tapa
Game 2
The first plays were Guillaume's, with double Veteran Armorer. Julien had more power in Stratozeppelid and Tidewater Minion, but Guillaume could also play the wall game, dropping Stoic Ephemera. He then had Ocular Halo on a Veteran to find an answer to Julien's Sporeback Troll. Belltower Sphinx was a nice start to that. But again, Savage Twister showed up and got Julien a nice 3-for-1, killing the Sphinx, the Veteran, and the Halo. Little did Julien know that Guillaume was prepared for a bright future, with Ogre Savant, Pyromatics and Windreaver in hand, drawing Tibor and Lumia off the top!
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Super-good beats for Guillaume Wafo-tapa!
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An all-in attack from Julien brought the life totals to 10 (Guillaume) to 18 (Julien), and Julien proceeded to make a second Sporeback Troll. Time for Guillaume to deal some damage: Tibor and Lumia, Ogre Savant and Pyromatics worked together to kill both Sporeback Trolls and leave Julien with nothing but Tidewater Minion and Civic Wayfinder with Grifter's Blade.
The follow-up play from Guillaume was Niv-Mizzet. Julien, desperately, attached Pollenbright Wings and Grifter's Blade to his Tidewater Minion, only to have it blown out of the game by a six-point Demonfire from Guillame, activating Tibor and Lumia to shoot the Wayfinder in the process. The following attack took Julien to nine, and while he had the Repeal for Niv-Mizzet, there was no way Julien could pull out the game. Guillaume's insane deck won the match with Windreaver in hand, having shown four bomb rares this game alone.
Julien Goron 0 - 2 Guillaume Wafo-tapa
Sunday, June 4: 4:09 p.m. - Feature Match round14: Pierre Canali - Frank van den Hanenberg
With both players sitting at 30 points, they would need to win their last two matches to have a chance to make the play-offs.
The first play was Frank's turn two Dimir Guildmage - a card that would dominate the rest of the game. This was his only cheap card, and he spend a turn drawing, which put him behind tempo wise, as Pierre played Stinkweed Imp and Enemy of the Guildpact. Frank got a Drift of Phantasms, but Pierre sacrificed his Imp to Fiery Conclusion. This allowed him to keep hitting with the Enemy. Franks next play of Helium Squirter was destroyed as well (Disembowel,) and Frank was at 6 when he could finally deal with the Enemy, first with Ogre Savant, then with Clinging Darkness. The game was now slowing down - the Guildmage and the Enemy stared at each other, and Pierre was out of gas, while Frank used three turns just drawing extra cards. Pierre got an Entropic Eidolon on the table, which would be lethal in combination with the Cackling Flames in his hand, should he be able to empty his hand first. Frank helped him a little with his Guildmage, but when Pierre smiled and cast the Flames, he showed Muddle the Mixture. Pierre's smile faded, and he conceded after a few more turns, as the card advantage was getting too big.
Game 2 saw Frank mulligan twice, but Pierre's only offense for a while was a lonely Mourning Thrull, while he spend the rest of the time playing two Signets and Spectral Searchlight. The mulligans made Franks stumble on land, and by the time he was discarding, Pierre had found Enemy of the Guildpact again. Without any blockers, Frank died shortly after.
Pierre proved that he had learned something from Game 1, and Electrolyze'd Frank's Dimir Guildmage as soon as he could. He got his Bloodletter Quill, so this time he would be the one drawing cards. In fact, the card drawing decided the whole game again. Pierre made sure to trade one to one as often as he could, and when both players were down to two creatures, his hand was full, while Frank was only holding lands for bluffing purposes.
Pierre Canali beat Frank van den Hanenberg, 2-1
Sunday, June 4: 5:14 p.m. - Feature Match Round 15: Antoine Ruel - Felipe Saavedra
Antoine had 36 points going into this match, and would be in for sure with a draw. However, Felipe had only 35 points, and a draw might eliminate him, so he chose to play.
Game 1 was a quick affair: Both players got a few creatures, but every monster Antoine had was bigger than every monster Felipe had, and when he played Thrive, Felipe had to make some very uncomfortable blocks. He never got the cards that could level the playing field or even turn the game around, and Antoine was quickly up 1-0.
The second game was just as quick, but this time Felipe was the lucky one. Antoine got a total of four creatures, and between Steamcore Weird, Demonfire, and Izzet Chronarch, not many of them survived. He kept assembling mana on his hand, as well as Predatory Focus, but he was never close to being able to play it for anything useful.
Game 3 was a bit more exciting. Antoine got Torch Drake and Mourning Thrull, both enhanced with Thrive. Felipe had a few flyers himself, so he wasn't really happy when Antoine added a Trophy Hunter to his forces. With seven mana in play, Felipe played Demonfire on the Hunter. He played it for five, to make sure a Wildsize or anything like that wouldn't save the Hunter. However, Antoine didn't have the Wildsize - he had Overrule instead, and had just enough mana to successfully counter the spell. This decided the game - the flyers died, and a Predatory Focus a few turns later sealed the deal.
Antoine Ruel beat Felipe Saavedra, 2-1, and advanced to the top 8.
Sunday, June 4: 7:02 p.m. - Taking a good look aside: A photo essay from the side event area
The scheduled side events for today were popular enough to properly fill the side event area. The Junior Super Series had 33 players, and Vintage (30) beat Legacy (29) by just one participant. Most popular was the Two-Headed Giant tournament, with 56 teams attending. Here's a photo essay from the side events, to relax before the upcoming Top 8:
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The side event area, marked by the usual column.
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A regular side draft, this time with Japanese Ravnica block.
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Young competitors already eager to claim a prize. Apart from the JSS Foils, I mean.
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Psychatog vs. White Weenie? Only in Legacy. In fact, White Weenie? Only in Legacy.
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Antti Malin gave Rasmus Sibast an UbaStax deck for Vintage. 'Play that, it's good!'
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Duress you, and take... Spell Snare?
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My Moxen don't scrape this dirty table. My grandma knitted me a playmat!
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Faieza 'Fizz' Saleen, scorekeeping apprentice.
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Like father, like son: Every generation has its own head.
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Arnost Zidek and Karol Rehulka: Team 'This way! No, that way!', actually named after the Orcs in Warcraft.
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