My testing for these nationals kind of started already in 2001. While I was testing for the San Diego Masters series, this random Aussie messaged me on irc insisting that he has tech. Not only does he give me some hippocontrol with Sabretooth Nishoba(the t2 scene is a bit different down under), but a Trenches deck that actually looks pretty cool. I tested the Trenches a bit and contemplated playing it in SD, but at the last minute switched back to Tog since I was afraid of Balancing Tings.
Fast forward a few months. I was testing some version of Tog happily on modo, bashing people and happily waiting for Nationals. There are few things in modern magic finer than Probing with kicker. Then I contacted the same guy (Formerly known as Rob Nadebaum, nowadays self-proclaimed NowDaBomb. Don't ask) and tested some with him.
He totally destroys me with Trenches. I find this to be insanely unfair and try many of my decks vs him but just keep losing. Rob gives me a decklist so I get to test the deck on my own, and I just beat everything. It feels way too easy to win when everyone has ftk, edict, bounce and whatnot in their hand.
Unfortunately nationals isn't only t2, so I also have to do my homework about the limited format. Having accomplished a formidable 1-4 record at San Diego I was a bit uncertain about the usefulness of mododrafting, but with the irc channel #wisedraft doing no netdrafting anymore I just had to cope with it. I also do a few real life drafts at my favorite place, Pub Kannas. Not only is drafting there good times, but the owner of the bar found us to be so cool that he gave us 14 Kannas t-shirts for free. Now this is the difference in customer service between Europe and USA. I still haven't gotten over the incident when I was given a toothbrush since they had no towels left.
My draft strategy becomes pretty clear in a while. I want to get blue and I want to stay away from red. Red-Black can be good but otherwise I just fail to deliver with red. After discussing some t2 and draft strategy with my teammates I feel ready for nationals. So, without further ado:
Finnish nationals 2002 - Mad tings in junior high
I meet up with all these cool Finnish players at the venue, some junior high school. Several jokes are made about how I brought the last year's trophy with me just to boost my ego. I swear, I had to bring it! It is only given to a player for a year and so on. Also it is some heavy, I don't carry it around just for fun.
After some mindless babble about for example Mirari-LD and the bars at Thailand, the draft seatings are finally posted. I don't remember the seating order, but following people were involved: Mikko Hyvärinen, Lasse Männistö, Miika Puumalainen, Henri Schildt, Jani Klemets, Mikael Wickström, Jarkko Niemi and Tommie Walleries.
I open a bunch of good cards and choose the blue one, Windreader. Then I pick some other blue goodie, and some white card, but the fourth pick saddens me to no end. A Firebolt is left and there is not much playable. Most of you probably know that UR is only slightly better than a year in Norway, but passing a fourth pick Firebolt is just not me. I get mentally ready to play UW with a minor splash but the red stuff just keeps coming. Also other colors are nowhere to be seen, except some blue stuff like Aether Burst.
As I open a Shower of Coals I am starting to feel a bit better. Now I have some way to deal with big green guys, as UR does not have much problems getting threshold. I get a Looter and a Broker and a Puppeteer, so needless to say my deck is mostly formed from the first four picks of my second booster. I pick some cantrips and counters and a Flame Burst in the pack.
I open up a Temper in Torment, which is nice since I have looting action. I get passed a Llawan and a Temper nr 2, but after that the action slows down. I get some unimportant filler cards and head up to construct my deck.
So basically I have lots of good cards and even some synergy in the form of madness/looting and thresholded Shower, but too many of my guys are Aristocrat caliber.
Round one vs Mikko Hyvärinen playing GWR beats
Mikko is mostly known about his tendency to play weird UB builds in t2. Stuff like maindeck Engineered Plague and a die-hard preference to use Magpies over Finkels are only a small part in his battle vs mainstreamness. I am a huge fan of playing unpopular stuff so I find people like Mikko to be a healthy exception in these endless netdeck vs netdeck formats. Also my sentences are too long.
Mikko is playing a deck designed around Reckless Charge and Sylvan Might. He has gone as far as using questionable 1-drops to get full power out of his enchancers. In game one I get my mvp, Pitchstone Wall, so he has to use a Floating shield on his guy to get around it. I have my Aether Burst, and a few turns later I use Shower to get control. Get ready to read about me drawing Shower or proceed to the day 2 part of this thing.
In game two Mikko has some problems getting out tings so I just cast Shower. I could write about how savage my Aristocrat was but basically after the Shower the game got a bit anticlimatic.
1-0 matches, 2-0 games
Round two vs Jarkko Niemi playing GBR
I have played against Jarkko once before, but never while sober. I mulligan game one and cast Minotaur Explorer, after which Jarkko Unhinges me. I am seriously down on cards now so I have to go for beats. Jarkko gets some blockers and we get into a stall. I Shower away two guys but then proceed to draw unneeded land for a while. As Jarkko flashbacks his Firebolt to get me down to 6 I get bad vibes. Next turn he kills me with Laquatus Champion.
I mulligan again game two, but get a decent draw. This game lasts for a long time with us trading cards but at some point I manage to win with a flyer I think.
Game three I get to keep my hand. Jarkko Manafloods rather seriously and I have no problems controlling his Lithatog and Dirty Wererat. He actually manages to draw more useful cards in the form of Werebear and Springing Tiger before I fly over him (I drew my Windreader a lot), but they fail to kill me on time.
Sometime during this match Jarkko loses the Champion to Acceptable Losses. I don't remember which game this was, but i remember that it was fun.
2-0, 4-1
Round three vs Jani Klemets playing UWr
Jani tells me some stories about how he beat three psychatogs at regionals with some four color worship deck. Then one of the Laaja brothers (it is impossible to tell which one is which) playing next to us tells about how some monowhite weenie deck went 5-0 at their regionals vs Tog. Now I have to admit that Tog players are not having an easy time in the northern Finland.
Due to the fact that Jani has a lot of 1/4 guys and the red Pilgrim, and also because my opening hand has many bombs, I decide not to play a turn 2 Explorer. This turns out to be a mistake since Jani is visibly manascrewed. I play the Explorer a turn later and eventually beat Jani with some quality guys like my man the Aristocrat as Jani fails to get sufficient mana.
I board in my second Liquify and out goes the Explorer. In game two I draw three of my four counters (Syncopate, Rites) and win by protecting my Llawan. Jani is visibly upset as I counter three of his key spells.
3-0, 6-1
Good times. My homie from Mikkeli, Lasse Männistö, is 2-0-1 having drafted at the same table as I. We congratulate each others about this best possible record for two people at a table and go get some food before the second draft.
As my friend Jussi Salovaara usually bugs me about not getting enough attention in my reports, I will devote this entire sentence to the fact that he went 3-0 in the second draft.
In my honest opinion WR is only slightly better than 24 hours at the dentist, but I am not the kind of guy who refuses to take a shower. After that I just keep getting white and red stuff but no blue. In the end of pack one I have like 5 red and 5 white cards.
My first pick here in pack two is Flame Burst over Shelter and Healer. I have no practice with WR aggro so I honestly have no idea if I screwed up. I reasoned that I need some removal and so on. After that I get some niceness, like Resilient Wanderer and Nomad Decoy. From what I learned in the next three rounds, Wanderer is one of the best possible card ever for WR beatdown. If I ever happen to be drafting this color combination again I will take very few cards over Wanderer.
Before torment I have like six good two drops and some bombs, but little burn. After an awesome first pick in the form of the overly powerful Reborn hero ( =[ ) I get passed a Violent Eruption. Good times. After that I get stuff like Petravarks and Mystic Familiars but I am nevertheless happy with my bomb count.
Anton Jonsson said it best: "I mostly play control decks, so it is incredibly relaxing to just play creatures and attack." I get ready for my next round thinking about violent things.
Round four vs Mika Nyfors playing UBw
Mika is a regular at the local shop, Safe Haven. Sometime over the years he has graduated from one of those little kids who just play and draft vs each other to a serious tournament competitor. He has a good UB deck, but for some reason he decided to splash for Second Thoughts and Aven Flock. Those play no part in the match as he draws neither them nor white mana.
In the first game I get the Explorer and naturally randomly discard my only bad card in hand, an extra plains. Then I put out some more beats as Mika struggles with his four swamps. He eventually gets an Island but as his removal is expensive like Repel he does not manage to keep up.
Explorer makes an appearance again. Mika actually gets a Phantom Whelp out in this game but does not draw more than three mana. He played Afflict game one, and is obviously holding it in his hand this game so I just play more guys (none of them have one toughness) and pass the turn. As he keeps doing nothing I eventually Flame Burst his guy and send beats. Then Mika drops a Filthy Cur. I cast Shower on the Cur and Mika and the game ends shortly afterwards.
4-0, 8-1
Round five vs Tuomas Kotiranta playing GR
Tuomas is also one of the kids who hang around at the shop. He is more quiet than other kids, though, and does not keep yelling when he gets a good/bad draw/deck. This might not sound like a big plus, but as a person occasionally spending time at Safe Haven it is really nice not to have all the guys yelling.
In the first game I get some beats but Tuomas has a Bomb Squad. Because I am not getting the second red mana for my Shower, he gets to kill my Zealot. After that I draw the mountain and end the game pretty soon with all stars like a thresholded Mystic Familiar.
Game two is beyond all savageness as I draw both Shower and Eruption. I actually lose the Shower to Sonic Seizure (no I did not have both Shower and Eruption in hand at this point), but as Tuomas manafloods quite a bit and I get Eruption he concedes.
5-0, 10-1
Round six vs Mikko Punakallio playing UB
This round is covered at www.safehaven.fi/SM2002/SM02feature6.html. Mikko is the national champion of 1998 and a solid player. His best draft record at the Kannas Pub drafts was 2-2 though. This match was quite long and boring, so I will just say that I had more than problems with his 2 Butchers. He won game one with Doublebutcher, I win game two as he draws no Butchers in like 20 cards and he wins the last game with a Butcher. Gotta love the format. Well maybe my whining is uncalled for as I drew an insane amount of Showers today.
5-1, 11-3
I spend a few hours with my new hometown, Mikkeli, buddies playing t2 and some rather unoptimal playstation fighting game I get to hear quite a bit about the people of Mikkeli's magic scene. I will spare you from the details.
*Hover mouse cursor over pie chart to see ==>> COLOR/TYPE : # CARDS : % OF CARDS.
*Left click on pie chart or legend to isolate a field.
I played this deck simply because I beat almost everything in testing. My only bad matchup was vs CompulsionTog, and Compulsion is not very good vs beatdown.
Round seven vs Panu Ylivainio playing GR
I have never heard of Panu before, but since he went 5-1 in draft he is unlikely to be a scrub. He played well in this match, like holding back the second Raging Kavu when I had been saving the Fire/Ice.
In game one Panu's deck just doesn't give enough early threats. In testing the only thing I feared from GR is Mongrel when they go first, so Barbarian does not scare me much. I play some removal and counters and then Trenches.
In go ftks and cops. I keep a two land hand in game two but discard on turn three. Not a good sign. I start to topdeck several lands but am too low on life, so as I stabilize Panu just shoots me away.
I establish control fairly early in game three but have no Trenches to kill with. As I finally draw Trenches, Panu plays Obliterate. At the same moment time is called. This is indeed a draw. Neither me nor Panu played slowly but 50-minute rounds just sometimes get you the draw, especially with a control deck vs Obliterate.
5-1-1, 12-4-1
Round eight vs Mikko Hirvonen playing GR
Mikko is quite the party animal considering that he is a closet magic nerd. By the way, there is no end to the amount of Mikko's in Finland.
Mikko mulligans a bad GR draw and gets the worst GR draw. Hence game one is close to a joke as I just kill a random guy and drop Trenches, after which he concedes. Second game is slightly better for him as he gets several guys, but I just play Flametongues and drop Trenches. GR is not exactly the horror matchup.
6-1-1, 14-4-1
Round nine vs Jussi Salovaara playing UG
Jussi's deck is an identical copy of some Norwegian top8 deck I think. I am missing red mana game one so I have to Ice his land. Then he drops Looter which I bounce. When he replays looter I have no answers. Jussi starts playing stuff like Thought Devourer as I resolve Trenches. Jussi plays quite conservatively considering he has the beatdown deck, for example he passes a turn with two Roars in graveyeard just to leave manas open. This backfires as I win an extremely close damage race with Trenches while chumpblocking the Roars that he finally decided to play. This was one close game.
We both made bad magic jokes in this game, with Jussi expressing his fear for Second Thoughts while I mentioned Deluge more than once.
I keep a six land, cop draw hoping that Jussi has few answers. Unfortunately he resolves both Mongrel and Devourer. I Earthquake a few guys and the Mongrel, but Jussi keeps bringing Devourer beats. He has two counters in hand but chooses to play a looter. This lets me resolve a freshly draw Flametongue. I start serving with the ftk and as I get Trenches into play Jussi concedes.
Jussi is a bit depressed about blowing both games, and he admits to having no experience at all with the UG deck. We talk a bit about the importance of playtesting and he promises to test more in the future. He went 5-1 in the draft and had worked hard for it, so that work really paid off.
7-1-1, 16-4-1
Round ten vs Mike Wall playing GR
Mike is the man. For a fennoswede who is occasionally way too serious, Mike is rather good times. Mike has been in the national team for two years in a row, with Finland finishing in the money both times. This match is also covered but I will not tell you the url since Tuomo wrote some mean things about us.
First game is the prime example of "Some guy draws several Flametongues, runs out of steam". I kill with Trenches after having had more fun than ever before at a junior high. My mana is a bit sketchy in game two, with an Island and several Forges preventing me from countering his Spellbane. This is bad times as I have Repulse in hand as only removal while Mike serves with Barbarian and Spellbane. I drop Trenches and he stops attacking after a while, but Necropolis and Ring do me in.
Game three is nice. Mike is not pleased when I play three Flametongues in a row. I also have some Goblin tokens beating down. Filled with euphoria I make the fine play of casting Prophetic Bolt targeting Yavimaya Barbarian. That is far from optimal but I manage to win somehow anyway.
8-1-1, 18-5-1
Round eleven vs Mikko Punakallio playing GR
He started 8-0. What a miser. Nevertheless I agree to take a draw.
8-1-2, 18-5-1
Round eleven vs Tuomas Kotiranta playing Probatog with red
Tuomas is 4-0-1 today, having just taken an ID the round before. I don't find anything funny to say about us taking an ID
8-1-3, 18-5-1
The top 8 is as follows:
1 Tomi Walamies - Trenches
2 Mikko Punakallio - GR
3 David Farkas - GB beef
4 Tuomas Kotiranta - Probatog w/ red
5 Mike Wall - Confessor-Lich with Overgrown Estate
6 Arto Hiltunen - Braids with green
7 Petri Nuutinen - UGr Norway style
8 Jonne Kukkola - UG counter-threshold
Gulps! I have to play my worst matchup already in the quarters. Jonne's deck is an exact copy of a regional deck that won somewhere in the States. He even has three Tinder Farms that the original creator kept mocking in his report, so looks like Jonne just looked at the decklist. :)
Hint: If you copy a deck straight from some report, it is usually helpful to read the whole thing. There might be good tips.
Quarters vs Jonne Kukkola
I am pretty nervous about this matchup, but Jonne looks rather relaxed. Jonne has some mana issues in game one. This helps me a lot as I get to resolve Trenches. After that I kill him pretty soon having countered an Upheaval.
I screw up in sideboarding. I figure that I have to go for beats since otherwise Jonne will Mana Short/Upheaval me. Hence I do not board in the cops, deeming them too defensive. I pay for this in game two as a weak counterdraw by my part lets him resolve the Enforcer. It beats me up pretty fast.
On to game three. I board in one cop. I get out several Mages naming Upheaval and Werebear, but he also gets multiple Mongooses. For the third game in a row he out-Facts me, but I get to resolve a crucial Fact at some point. After huge beats on both sides, it comes down to me being forced to draw a two mana counter. I draw Memory Lapse and manage to resolve a yet another Mage after a counterwar. The next turn I topdeck an Absorb, but that isn't needed as he taps out to Repulse/Mystic Snake my Mage so I get to shoot him out with Fire/Ice.
Phew, that was insanely close. Just when I needed to topdeck I draw my favorite counter of all times.
Mike and Punakallio lose their quarters, but David wins. We were hoping for a 4-0 result for team Kannas in the quarters, as we were lucky enough not to get paired vs each others. Grr.
9-1-3, 20-6-1
Semis vs Tuomas Kotiranta
I did ok versus Probatog in testing. It was not one of my best matchups though, I won like 55 %. I would much rather play against Stillatog, but they were nowhere to be seen in the top8 due to a format full of Barbarians and Spellbanes. Mikko Snygg was 9th with Stillatog but he had 4 FIre/ice and 3 ftk main.
This match is covered at www.safehaven.fi/SM2002/SM02features1.html. I am kinda low on counters in the first game. This leads to hims resolving a Probe with kicker, after which I get to play Trenches. Facing more guys than a girl in a polytechnic's party, Tuomas is forced to cast Upheaval. He has nothing more to follow it up with but a lone Familiar. I manage to Fire it away so we get back to square one. Only this time I actually have drawn some counters. After him casting some guys and me doing some Repulsing I manage to resolve a Trenches. This wins me the game pretty soon with the help of an Urza's Rage.
Game two is kind of peaceful. Both of us draw a lot of land and we keep killing each others' guys. I don't have enough counters to protect my Mages. We both have one Coliseum in deck, and as he draws his, the game is pretty much solved. I am unable to fight the manaflood so he Pyroclasms my guys and beats me down. I kept waiting for the Analysis that never came
I board out Mages for game three but keep in some ftks. I resolve a main step Fact that gives me 4 lands over an Absorb. This proves helpful as Tuomas Probes with kicker. I resolve a Trenches which Tuomas Recoils. I counter his Mana Short during my upkeep and replay the Trenches. After that Tuomas can just watch as I generate mad dudes and serve.
10-1-3, 22-7-1
Finals vs. David Farkas playing BG beef
David is a good guy from Hungary, who has recently made it to the finals of three limited ptqs. He won one of them but the Hungarian embassy in Finland did not let him go to San Diego.
Political statement: the people at the Hungarian embassy are not exactly in the zone.
This matchup is good for me. I have the right answers for David's guys in the form of Repulse and Prophetic Bolt. Nest can be problematic but then I can draw my way to Wrath/Quake, blow up stuff and then make mad Goblins.
I mulligan in game one, but get to use Fire to kill two managuys. This slows down David considerably. As I play a fact there are five good cards, and after that the game becomes a formality. Game two is a bit tougher as David gets to upgrade his Edicts with like Duress and Echoes. He gets a few Duresses in the last game but without Echoes he is unable to capitalize on my counterlessness. I ftk a few guys, play Trenches and beat him down as he waits for the Deed.
11-1-3
It feels really good to get the trophy back. We have formed quite a bonding during this year, even though the damn thing weighs too much. After some pictures and quite a few handshakes we go to Pub Kannas (go figure) to party. I somehow manage to get home at 4 am and get to sleep till 6 am before I have to wake up and take the train to Mikkeli. I have no idea how I managed to pass the test that we had in school that day. Maybe I mised.
On to props and slops.
Props:
My homies in Sweden: "dumb bassist" Anton, "leftist punk" Thomas, "the rain man" Jens, some Mattias guys and Sadegsomething.
My homies in Mikkeli: Keep up the small town spirit! These guys are good times.
My general homies: Tuomo, Jussi etc. You aren't too shabby.
Team Kannas: 50 % of the top8. Not bad.
The judging staff and organizers: Everything went well. Head judge Rune Horvik might not look as sexy in the judging shirt as he thinks, but nevertheless he ran the show without any troubles.
Pub Kannas: One hell of a place. Now I have to admit that the place has some disadvantages, like when they have old people's karaoke or the time when some guy was playing the saw (?!), but still it is a great draft environment.
Everyone in the top8, even Mike.
Dances with kangaroos: For giving me t2 tech. Thanks Rob.
Slops:
Me: For Bolting a Barbarian. Also for not boarding cops.
Violent Eruption: Obviously worse than Shower since it is harder to draw.
My school's vacation policy: I had to skip Osaka because of this.
Everyone who bashes Deep Analysis: Scumbags.
Well that's about it. See you guys in Nice. Please don't pass me red :( If you have any comments about this report, just hit me at tomi.walamies@mli.hkkk.fi.
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