Hello fellow Highlander players,
the Autumn The One Qualifier tournament is over and I´d like to share my experiences with you. It was the first "big" Highlander tournament I ever attended, and with 46 players fighting for t8 it was a blast.
I am a regular at the Mannheim Community and therefore used to a certain meta, being mostly 4c-blood, UR and RDW. In Frankfurt, there was a much bigger diversity. I sleeved in my BWr Planeswalker deck (https://deckstats.net/decks/68829/600463-mardu-superfriends , suggestions to improve the deck are appreciated) and hoped not to be paired against my comrades.
We played 6 rounds and top 8. Unfortunately I was not able to make the cut with 12 points going 4-2, only losing to 2 Mannheim players I regulary played with. Since my memory is already fading, I can only share the highlights, both winning and losing me games.
MVP of my deck was, by far, Queen Marchesa. While I had struggle to draw her in my preparation duels against my friend the weeks before the tournament started, I still chose to play her. Especially after many discussions with Ma Qi, who was certain that the card fits in Mardu Superfriends. And boy, was he right. I resolved the lady around 6 times, and she drew me approximately 20-25 cards. A true powerhouse. Even losing the monarch after a few rounds wasnt that big of a deal since the damage was already done and my card advantage led into 2-3 planeswalker on the board, which is hard to deal with for almost every deck. That said I managed to dodge all the RDW decks, so I have no idea wether I could have performed that well getting paired against these decks.
Since my pile is quite strong against midrange decks, I was fortunate to get paired against Boros in the first match. Both times I drew a lucky Wurmcoil soon which made the enemy swords much worse. G1 was decided by an Anguished Unmaking, which I resolved in my enemies combat phase to get my Wurmcoil out of an Oblivion Ring. Too much value and therefore a scoop. G2 I just got the value train going and won without a highlight.
2nd Matchup was Mono B Aggro. G1 was decided by Liliana, the Last hope, which took away so much pressure. Both games I resolved Marchesa and it is stupid to say the least how much I get value out of a Phyrexian Arena without downsides.
3rd Matchup was against my friend Jan-Hinrich Rabe. I hoped to dodge this pairing. Jan is the one I play Highlander the most with so he knew my deck in and out, knows my playstyle and knows the matchup. GW Eldrazi ramp has quite a strong matchup because many of my removal spells are a blank draw against his many many ETB effects and cast triggers. G1 I resolved Ajani, and with 12 points of burn in my hand I decided to burn him down to 6 hp, leaving Ajani with 2 counters and a Fiery Confluence in my hand. Unfortunately, my worst nightmare Emrakul, the promised End hit the battlefield the following turn, killing my Ajani (helix your own face), wiping my own board (Fiery Confluence mode 3 dmg to all creatures), leaving me with nothing but lingering Souls. Which is quite bad since Emrakul has trample. 2nd Game was just bonkers for me, discard into Liliana of the Veil into another discard was too much for him to handle. G3 was a close one, but Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger sealed the deal. I tried to come back, being able to exile Ulamog with Plowshares, but since Jan had a Sylvan Library in play, I just had no way to stabilize against his card advantage.
The 4th match was yet another Mannheim comrade, UR control, played by Christian Hauck. Well, this is not unwinnable, but all the Landhate makes it difficult for me. G1 was decided by an early Blood Moon, while G2 was a close one. Marchesa drew me around 4-5 cards. Ruination and Magus cut me down to 4 lands, but 2 plains, 1 swamp and 1 mountain said that I could continue playing. Then I had a tough decision. I got him down to 5 hp, and knew he had creature removal against my only thread, thalia. I could burn down the Magus and eventually win with the Monarch card advantage, or I could use my burn to end the game quickly. I chose the latter, which unfortunately was the wrong decision. Brought him down to 2, but With no lands drawn in the 10 cards I got within 5 rounds (I didnt care which land. since magus of the moon was in play, any land would have made me red mana) I couldnt play 2 burn spells in one round, and each and every of the 4 (!) lethal spells I had got countered. He took the monarch and ended the game.
5th game as against Sultai Midrange. Again, midrange matchups are favorable for me, but I had not as much exprience against the blue ones since the only Mannheim player who used to play these kinds of decks chose to adept to Mannheim UR meta, playing UBr control. After 2 close games going 1-1, Marchesa hit the field again and made the Superfriends party happen. 4 resolved planeswalkers, 2 of them in ultimate range. Tough to lose, is it? Well, I almost threw this game. My opponent was on 7 lands. Daretti, Ingenious Ionoclast was on 7 and boy, I always wanted to use his Ultimate to get 4 Wurmcoils in play. Ajani was on 7. So i could Armageddon his side and he couldnt counter - Force of will was already gone. I smiled, and used Ajani ult. 2 of my friends who watched the game took a suprised breath and ran away, not to spoil anything - it seemed they saw something I didnt. Well, it was the Titania on the opponents side of the field. 7 5/3 tokens. In the End, the 4 Wurmcoils made the cut. But one of the other planeswalker was Ob nixilis with enough counter to simply kill Titania before the Armageddon.
The Last game was against UWR. Unfortunately, none of these were real games, since my opponent struggled hard with lands, not getting double white in g1 and stuck on 2 lands g2.
All in all I had a very pleasant experience, only losing to comrades and getting to play against decks I never faced before. Kudos to Ma Qi, Kai Gonzales and all the other tournament organizer!
the Autumn The One Qualifier tournament is over and I´d like to share my experiences with you. It was the first "big" Highlander tournament I ever attended, and with 46 players fighting for t8 it was a blast.
I am a regular at the Mannheim Community and therefore used to a certain meta, being mostly 4c-blood, UR and RDW. In Frankfurt, there was a much bigger diversity. I sleeved in my BWr Planeswalker deck (https://deckstats.net/decks/68829/600463-mardu-superfriends , suggestions to improve the deck are appreciated) and hoped not to be paired against my comrades.
We played 6 rounds and top 8. Unfortunately I was not able to make the cut with 12 points going 4-2, only losing to 2 Mannheim players I regulary played with. Since my memory is already fading, I can only share the highlights, both winning and losing me games.
MVP of my deck was, by far, Queen Marchesa. While I had struggle to draw her in my preparation duels against my friend the weeks before the tournament started, I still chose to play her. Especially after many discussions with Ma Qi, who was certain that the card fits in Mardu Superfriends. And boy, was he right. I resolved the lady around 6 times, and she drew me approximately 20-25 cards. A true powerhouse. Even losing the monarch after a few rounds wasnt that big of a deal since the damage was already done and my card advantage led into 2-3 planeswalker on the board, which is hard to deal with for almost every deck. That said I managed to dodge all the RDW decks, so I have no idea wether I could have performed that well getting paired against these decks.
Since my pile is quite strong against midrange decks, I was fortunate to get paired against Boros in the first match. Both times I drew a lucky Wurmcoil soon which made the enemy swords much worse. G1 was decided by an Anguished Unmaking, which I resolved in my enemies combat phase to get my Wurmcoil out of an Oblivion Ring. Too much value and therefore a scoop. G2 I just got the value train going and won without a highlight.
2nd Matchup was Mono B Aggro. G1 was decided by Liliana, the Last hope, which took away so much pressure. Both games I resolved Marchesa and it is stupid to say the least how much I get value out of a Phyrexian Arena without downsides.
3rd Matchup was against my friend Jan-Hinrich Rabe. I hoped to dodge this pairing. Jan is the one I play Highlander the most with so he knew my deck in and out, knows my playstyle and knows the matchup. GW Eldrazi ramp has quite a strong matchup because many of my removal spells are a blank draw against his many many ETB effects and cast triggers. G1 I resolved Ajani, and with 12 points of burn in my hand I decided to burn him down to 6 hp, leaving Ajani with 2 counters and a Fiery Confluence in my hand. Unfortunately, my worst nightmare Emrakul, the promised End hit the battlefield the following turn, killing my Ajani (helix your own face), wiping my own board (Fiery Confluence mode 3 dmg to all creatures), leaving me with nothing but lingering Souls. Which is quite bad since Emrakul has trample. 2nd Game was just bonkers for me, discard into Liliana of the Veil into another discard was too much for him to handle. G3 was a close one, but Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger sealed the deal. I tried to come back, being able to exile Ulamog with Plowshares, but since Jan had a Sylvan Library in play, I just had no way to stabilize against his card advantage.
The 4th match was yet another Mannheim comrade, UR control, played by Christian Hauck. Well, this is not unwinnable, but all the Landhate makes it difficult for me. G1 was decided by an early Blood Moon, while G2 was a close one. Marchesa drew me around 4-5 cards. Ruination and Magus cut me down to 4 lands, but 2 plains, 1 swamp and 1 mountain said that I could continue playing. Then I had a tough decision. I got him down to 5 hp, and knew he had creature removal against my only thread, thalia. I could burn down the Magus and eventually win with the Monarch card advantage, or I could use my burn to end the game quickly. I chose the latter, which unfortunately was the wrong decision. Brought him down to 2, but With no lands drawn in the 10 cards I got within 5 rounds (I didnt care which land. since magus of the moon was in play, any land would have made me red mana) I couldnt play 2 burn spells in one round, and each and every of the 4 (!) lethal spells I had got countered. He took the monarch and ended the game.
5th game as against Sultai Midrange. Again, midrange matchups are favorable for me, but I had not as much exprience against the blue ones since the only Mannheim player who used to play these kinds of decks chose to adept to Mannheim UR meta, playing UBr control. After 2 close games going 1-1, Marchesa hit the field again and made the Superfriends party happen. 4 resolved planeswalkers, 2 of them in ultimate range. Tough to lose, is it? Well, I almost threw this game. My opponent was on 7 lands. Daretti, Ingenious Ionoclast was on 7 and boy, I always wanted to use his Ultimate to get 4 Wurmcoils in play. Ajani was on 7. So i could Armageddon his side and he couldnt counter - Force of will was already gone. I smiled, and used Ajani ult. 2 of my friends who watched the game took a suprised breath and ran away, not to spoil anything - it seemed they saw something I didnt. Well, it was the Titania on the opponents side of the field. 7 5/3 tokens. In the End, the 4 Wurmcoils made the cut. But one of the other planeswalker was Ob nixilis with enough counter to simply kill Titania before the Armageddon.
The Last game was against UWR. Unfortunately, none of these were real games, since my opponent struggled hard with lands, not getting double white in g1 and stuck on 2 lands g2.
All in all I had a very pleasant experience, only losing to comrades and getting to play against decks I never faced before. Kudos to Ma Qi, Kai Gonzales and all the other tournament organizer!