HL GP 7: Place 5-8, Jonny Al-Saidi, UG-AggroControl Report + Deck

UG AggroControl

• Lands
• Creatures
• Spells

Introduction

This report will describe the 7th Highlander Grand Prix from my view. With my view I mean our and with that I mean six guys from the capitol of Germany, Berlin. Three of my friends who already attended to two Grand Prix´s were convincing me to come with them this time. So it was settled. I choose to play my UG-AggroControl which did a good job in the Highlander League. Actually I wanted to play UG/r Heartbeat because I liked this deck so much and was improving it many times. But a friend of mine which was also coming with us decided to play it so I my desire to see this kind of deck on the Grand Prix was satisfied. Here is the list of decks we´ve chosen to play:

Jacob WW

Patrik G/wb Elves

Oliver UG/r Heartbeat

Stephan UW-Control

Cédric Boros

Jonny UG-AggroControl

Since we had to drive about 550km we´ve decided to drive on Friday to Frankfurt so we have enough time to get some sleep and enjoy the view of this unique city. If you living in Berlin you aren’t this much impressed by Frankfurt but to see some skyscraper was still cool. We started 1.00 p.m. and with some stops at well known “restaurants” the whole journey took seven hours. We saw some awesome landscapes known as the Thüringer Wald and also a lot of beautiful villages through our trip. Some kilometers before Frankfurt we saw even a dead body on the road, also a unique experience I guess… As we arrived the sun was going down. So Cédric and I decided to take a walk through the city with a friend of him which was so kindly to give us a place to sleep. Thanks Thomas . The other four guys were settling down on their hostel which was in the center of the red-light-district. Also an experience which was not expected. Many weird people were there and make us thinking about the fragility of life…not.

Before we could get some rest from our journey we were eager to find some Club Mate but couldn’t find some. It’s a very delicious soda which got as much caffeine as coffee and is essential for a good magic game at least for me. I was suggesting buying some in Berlin forebodingly Frankfurt is not “cool enough to have some” (no offense) but the guys didn’t want to so I was complaining about this fact seeing my victory for the Grand Prix melting away. Jacob was kindly enough to lend me two bottles which he was smart enough to bring with him.

The next day we were meeting at 9 a.m. and starting to drive to Hanau. I think at this point Patrik was going to berserk (not until end of turn but for the rest of the journey and not destroying him) because the signposting on Frankfurt´s streets was driving him nuts. Our GPS doesn’t work properly so we had to follow the signs which lead us about 50km trough Frankfurt before we got to the express highway. Finally we arrived at the location and meet three people who were also coming from Berlin. They decided to play Naya-Zoo, Hypergenesis and 4c-Control. So at this point we were nine people from Berlin and brought our own little “Meta” to this event. We were astonished how many people were there. We took the last barrier at the entrance paid our 15 Euro and couldn’t wait any longer. So the Grand Prix was going to begin.

Tournament Report

In the next part I will describe my games as good as I can. I didn’t take any notes so my memory has to do the job. After playing 14 hours of magic maybe I´ve forgot a lot of things or mixed them up with other games, so please if any of my opponents are reading this correct me if I am wrong.

Round 1 GRW-Zoo

This kind of matchup is my best one I think. My whole deck is originated in a heavy aggro-meta which is usual for Berlin. So I´ve got a lot of cards against this kind of deck. Threads of Disloyality (I will cut this for a Master of the Wild Hunt) and early critters are the results of this. My opponent is starting with a viable one drop. I got nothing but an Island and holding a Spell Snare which getting his Turn 2 Tarmogoyf. After some beating and a Wall of Blossoms and a Tarmogoyf on my side I was able to lay down an Engineered Explosives for one which gets three of his guys. After this he don’t had any answers and was conceding. Game 2 was very brutal for him. I got a Maze of Ith, Shackles, Control Magic and even a Sower of Temptation. So he couldn’t handle this much control effects and was holding the whole time an Armageddon waiting to blow me off but since he got no creatures it was just a dead card. So 2-0 after the first round. So far so good

Round 2 BGW-Doran and Friends

This matchup is also a very good one. Most of the time this kind of deck tries to beat the opponent with pure card quality and graveyard recursion but need some time for this. My deck is constructed to just beat those kind of mid-range decks. In the first game I start with nothing exciting. He was ramping up and I was collection all the nice counter I need against his big creatures/spells. So I was waiting for something big to get my hands on (holding Treachery and Bribery). He just had some little creatures which get handled by my Beastbreaker (love this guy). I played also a Vendilion Clique seeing he got Kokusho and victimize I think. So his legendary dragon had to go. After that I could beat him holding enough counter and also a Treachery on my hand. Game 2 he decided to give me the aggro start. He played Noble hierarch, Watch wolf and so on. I was able to stabilize me with Maze of Ith. Later I was getting a Baneslayer Angel which refilled my Lifepoints. He had to play Damnation which resolved but after that I´ve got enough gas to beat the rest of his life with Gargoyle Castle. 2-0 again, more please.

Round 3 GW-Elves!

This can be difficult. Most of the time those little green things aren’t that much exciting but they are capable to create such an explosive start. My opponent was beginning with a mana elf. After that he played an Elvish Visionary and of course Wirewood Symbiote. So he was able to generate some huge card advantage. I was holding Engineered Explosives hoping to get his three one drops including the insect. But he got also Dauntless Escort so I had to bounce it with Man-o-War and destroying his only white source with Wasteland. I was hoping he couldn´t cast it again but unfortunately he summoned a Deranged Hermit instead which was even worse. I´ve decided to set the Engineered Explosives on one because this way he was forced to pay the echo costs and can “just” attack me for 8 damage and maybe I get some time to find answers. I was. I´ve got my Engineered Explosives back and was able to blow his token off. So he got nothing than a Priest and his Deranged Hermit. But he just drew Natural Order which finds him a Progenitus and I just died to it.

Going to game 2. I was confident to get him this time. I was holding daze also a Noble Hierarch and Bribery. Yes Bribery was the key I thought. His stupid Progenitus would be mine. I don’t recall the first four turns but I do remember getting his legendary Avatar and beating him with it to death. So game 3 was coming. This game was very frustrating. He got anything he needs. I don’t have any counter or critters for his massive army of tokens. He had Wirewood Symbiote, Deranged Hermit and Priest again. So he was making a lot of token and don’t even had to pay any upkeep costs. I´ve got Engineered Explosives again but he was able get his Progenitus later in the game. Since my deck can’t answer this kind of creature I was just dead.

Great 2-1 after three rounds. My motivation was not the best at this time losing two times against this stupid 10 mana monster.

Round 4 5c-Staxx

I can´t say much about this matchup. I think countering the key spells is the best thing I could do against this kind of deck. It has a lot of anti-aggro cards and of course the staxx elements.

He starts with Mishras Workshop but nothing else. I was holding my Spell Snare thinking it’s always good to have this if you don’t start but at this point I thought its one nice dead card you have there. Turn two he got a Lodestone Golem. I was thinking, well at least I know I am dead in four turns if I don’t find anything fast. He was beating me two times with this monster but haven´t played anything else. So I´ve got Into the Roil. Sadly I had to play it without kicker but it saved my ass and there was no time for my greediness. Unfortunately for him I´ve got Force of Will backup for his Golem. After that he couldn’t resolve and important spells because I had enough counter and also a critter. He got a Tabernacle down but it was answered by my wasteland. I think I drew even a Life from the Loam later, so he couldn’t do much against my Wasteland shenanigans.

Game 2 he was simply screwed. Easy game for me. Nothing more to tell about.

Round 5 BG-AggroControl

Thanks to Oliver I was experienced against this matchup (he played a similar list many times). Of course I didn’t know what kind of deck my opponent was playing but seeing the land base I´ve got a good idea what he was up to. In the first game I was able to counter his Tarmogoyf with a Spell Snare and putting my own Goyf on the field. At this point I was able to dominate the board. Thanks to my creatures I was ahead in the damage race with Tarmogoyf, Beastbreaker and even the Coralhelm Commander (also very impressing creature). So I thought the game was clearly in my favor. But at this point he got Death cloud for three. That was simply the game. Since I had no counterbackup and only four lands he beat me with his Volrath´s Stronghold and Tarmogoyf. I was drawing three Islands in a row after that but wasn’t able to cast anything since my whole hand was discarded by the cloud. I was really stunned that he had this spell in his deck since he got a lot of creatures in his deck. But maybe it’s a good spell against control with that much recursion stuff he´s playing. Sadly I can’t remember game two and game three well. I think I had my whole control package. Sower, Shackles and even Bribery for his best creature. So 4-1 after round 5.

Round 6 UGB/w Dark Bant

I don’t like the Bant matchups. They do have better creatures, removal and even the counter spells. He got in Game 1 a Dark Confident which provides him infinite card advantage and I was simply going down against this huge advantage. I think game one was very intense since we both used all our resources but at the end I couldn’t handle this little 2/1 guy. Game two was decided by my Life from the Loam + Wasteland. I can’t remember game 3 well but I know Back to Basic was winning me the game. This card is always the key to victory against this 3-4c control aggro decks. As you can see the land base of his deck get me the win. I want to thank him for the games, since he was very friendly and it was a pleasure to play with him. Unfortunately he got a cold and had to take antibiotics. So his lack of concentration was maybe useful for me.

Round 7 UGW Bant

This was the final game. It decided my Top 8 appearance. I think at this point no one from Berlin had a chance to get in except for me. From the beginning I was eager to get in Top8 and make this journey a successful one. So I had the responsibility to get in for me and my friends.

I was playing against Timo also known as Malz77 who is also an author on this site and active member of the Highlander community.  Sadly my whole concentration was pointed at the games at this time. I can’t remember much of these three very intense games. Maybe Timo is able to add some interesting parts. As far as I know all games were decided by a control magic, Sower of temptation or another control-magic effect. Timo didn’t draw enough business in the last game and I was playing passive. Maybe a bit too passive. Game two which I´ve won was decided by Back to Basic again. So my favorite blue card is Fact of Fiction but I simply owe Back to Basic a lot of games this day.

The job was done. I had only to draw in Round 8 to get in the Top 8. I was very excited and tried to look some games which were played in Round 8. At the end I was on the 3rd place after eight rounds of swiss. Jacob was on place 30 with his WW and Patrik got the 15th place. My Heartbeat deck piloted by Oliver was sadly not as successful as I had hoped for. Neither was the Boros deck from Cédric because he got two losses against MonoR.

Top8

So finally the tournament was going to end. It was 11 p.m. and I wanted nothing more than to win this event.  I was paired against Sebastian Reich. He played a similar list. So this can be called as a mirror match. He was playing UG-ControlAggro. I call it that way because he got more late game cards than me. I play a lot of creatures which should put the opponent on pressure in the early game. He instead tries to get the control and put quality cards on the table like Rampaging Baloths, Masticore and Sphinx of Jwar Isle. I prefer my list over his (obviously) but he told me he saw my thread which I started right before the Grand Prix to get some advice for my deck from the community and he was telling me that he got some ideas from me so it was a bit ironic to get paired against the UG deck which was influenced by myself.

Jacob was kindly enough to support me with another bottle of Awesomeness aka Club Mate and my friends were supporting me to get the job done. The first game started very bad for me. I didn’t have enough pressure on the table but I was able to stabilize my board. Garruk, Coralhelm Commander and even the Beastbreaker were on my side supported by a Wall of Blossoms. Sebastian didn’t have much except for a Phantom Centaur (I wonder if anyone would play it over the Cameleon Colossus like I do) and a Lotus Cobra. At the point my Crystal shard enters the battlefield the game was complete under my control. I was able to bounce my wall or hold his creatures back and prevent any lethal combat damage. So after 30 minutes or so I get this game.

Game two was going also very well for me. But at some point I´ve lost my creatures to his control-magic effects. Since the deck lacks on removal for creatures his Sower was in complete control over my creatures. Later he got a Sphinx of Jwar Isle on the table. I was holding a Sword of Light and Shadow which helped me this day a lot but not at this point. I was simply dead by his mass of creatures. He could block my Wickerbough Elder which was equipped with the sword and attacked me for lethal.

Game three was really intense. I played an early Coralhelm Commander which gets stolen by his Control Magic. I was hoping he spend his mana to level him up since I´ve had a Repeal to get my commander back. But unfortunately I had something else to counter with my Force of Will which ate my Repeal. I had also a Serendib Efreet which gets also stolen by Sebastian. So my plans had changed. Since we got in overtime the player with the most life points will win after the five extra turns. I was trying to do as much damage as possible with my Wild Mongrel which gets blocked by the Efreet. So I had to discard three cards (mostly lands) but he got enough gas with his lotus cobra and Sower. I can play a Fact of Fiction which shows me a Jace 2.0 and some other stuff. I don’t know what I had taken but it wasn’t going to help me much. Additionally he gets a Masticore on the battlefield which sealed the deal for him. The fifth extra turn was over and I´ve lost.

The End

So at 12 p.m. my friends and I was able to drive back to Frankfurt. We played some magic at the hostels lounge because 13 hours of magic weren’t enough . At 3.30 a.m. I was finally in the bed. 6th Place at the Grand Prix at my first appearance. Not bad not bad. The next morning we were heading to Berlin and getting there in five hours. Jacob was constantly driving 180km/h I think. So we got there in the early noon. We all enjoyed this journey very much. To meet some people from the highlander community and talk with them about the format and decks were really interesting. I hope we will be on the next Grand Prix. Greetings from Berlin and thanks to Stefan who lend me his Library of Alexandria (which I saw only in one game).