Belgian National Report, from Vincent Gieling. Okay, let's start with the standart part. After two weeks of playtest, I build a good living death deck (idea that i took from french friends: put a verdant force as quickly as possible into play), that the ADN team (Jean-Louis D'Hondt, Nicolas Fournier and Carl Devos) decide to play too. The list, of course : LOBOTOKYO deck : 4 Frantic search 4 Intuition 4 Merfolk looter 4 Animate dead 4 Living death 3 Duress 3 Lobotomy 4 Raven familiar 3 Verdant forces 1 Phyrexian plaguelord 1 Bottle gnomes (useless) 1 Stern Proctor (brokeeeeeeeeeeen !!!!) 1 Anarchist 4 Underground sea 3 City of brass 3 Reflecting pool (stupid...) 6 Island 6 Swamp 1 Volrath's stronghold SIDEBOARD: 1 Duress 1 Lobotomy 3 Gilded drake 2 Crater hellion 3 Nevinyral's disk 2 Counterspell 3 Bottle gnomes And now the first day : (ratings are composite ratings) 1rst round : Bernard Philippe-Merfolk deck-1645 1)the game is a stupid one : he plays some weenies (cloud spirit), i discard a verdant force in my discard phase with 2 swamps on the table, then animate it with... huh, an animte dead of course. But he plays some kamikaze merfolk to handle the force while the flying one beats me little by little. The game lasts and lasts, and on 19 cards i draw no blue mana (one and it's game : frantic search, raven, force, living death...). Shit, color death. 2)A fourth turn disk clear out the table, while a 5th turn intuition and a 6th turn duress-living death is the game. Easy. Soooo easy. 3)Mulligan, then on 6 cards 5 lands and a disk. Keep, of course. I draw 6 lands more on the 6 next turns.... Try to win with only one card, i swear you it's not easy... SHIIIT ! 0/3 2nd round : David Vanden Bosche-tinker colossus-1648 1)1rst turn duress, off the monolith, he just have now a key and a brainstorm, while a have intuition, raven and death. Two turns later, he plays a mishra's helix, with just an untapped mana to tap my 4th land in my upkeep. SHIT ! helix is the game. 2)Amazing one : land - land vault key - land looter - tinker colossus- looter : force discarded then animated. Duress on the wildfire, then blablabla, intuition death game. 3)duress on wildfire, he stays with a lot of mana but nothing else, then i play disk, he topdeck scrap. Whatever, frantic, force animated. 3/6 3rd round : Peter Coenen-elves-1663 1)land elf... "yessss i've won!" :-) . I play looter, then tune the deck, force animated, lyrist, re-animated. Game 2)duress on the lifeforce (anyway, disk in hand), looter, i play a gnome, then the plaguelord, kill all the elves, leaving him with two manas. Then i've all the time i want to intuition for three forces and cast a living death. 6/9 4th round : Frederic Gobert-necro-1650 1)duress on the necro, then duress on the yawgmoth's will, then (with a looter and an intuition) fill in the graveyard, he has a untapped disk but the living death brings in the proctor... And three forces. Game 2)He begins with land-beetles... Ouch. A very long game, after three lobotomies (Corrupt, Yawgmoth's will, Disks), he managed to win with and skirge. Oh fuck, when i see his deck i see that he plays only one beetles. Of course that's the only card he could have to win. Scrub i am not to play sicken in side like we wanted to :-) 3)early lobotomy on the yawgmoth's will, i play a raven, pay the echo (i saw an edict in his hand), he edicted, i animate a frantic searched force, he terrorize her, he plays disk, i living death for two forces, the after the disk i living death a second time. Game. 9/12 5th Round : Bram Daelemans-sligh-1576 1)that first game shows me he's a damned scrub !! : attack with mogg fanatic... Block with looter (anyway, he's gonna kill him)... sacrifice the fanatic on you in instant (...). Third turn, i play a raven, on his turn he attacks with his pup... okay, block with the raven. Anyway, i still lose (no verdant, no intuition) after two balls, a shock and a sonic burst. 2)Raven, raven, gnome, intuition 3 gnomes, play one, then living death with a 2nd one in my hand and no cards in his hand. Game 3)Simple : color death (hand after 6 or 7 turns : three looters, two ravens and one intuition. Not that good, anyway, huh ? Grrrrrr :-) 9/15 6th round : Juan Carlos Gonzales-necro-1604 1)he begins : ritual necro. Ouch... Hopefully, no duress so i can duress and lobotomize him his disks. I then "beatdown" him with an anarchist, and a raven, he has to edict, i re-animate the anarchist for a lobotomy, he duress it, after that he has to edict a 2nd time (he's at 4 or 5 ), i re-re-animate the anarchist for duress, this time, and duress his last drain. Game, he doesn't draw a corrupt or drain or will in his 3 last possible cards. 2)duress on necro, duress on the will, intuition on forces then animate one, that's enough ? Ohhhh, i still have two living death, that's not funny :-) 12/18 7th round : Michiel Horemans-counter oath of druids-1653 1)looter, the best beast of the deck ! i duress, tune, tune and tune again, then when i start to play he can't hold it, duress, intuition, lobotomy, animate dead etc etc... he disks once, but the next turn i play living death for the game. 2)looter again, yes ! :-) i duress a forbid, animate a force, stern proctored his disk to beat him a little bit and tap him out, then, after the disk, intuition - counter, duress - counter, intuition - counter, then living death for the game. 15/21, not that bad, i'm 11th on 53 people (49 after 7 rounds). The first 48 are qualified, sorry Bernardo (the 49th guy :-). I'm so in the 2nd draft-table, with only one other very good drafter, Dominique Coene and two good drafters, Pierre Girodroux and Carl Devos. Okay, it will be not that difficult to make 3 on the first four rounds. Jean-Louis made 16 points and is at first table, while Carl and Nicolas made only 12 points. See ya tomorrow, guys, now we have to go at a wedding ! :-) Our Friend and Teammate Antoine Rottiers get married that day (yeah, that's why he didn't come, lucky bastards ^_^ ). A memorable party, really, just one detail : we weren't that lucids or sober, see ? hum, not a good start for 7 rounds of rochester ! Back home around 3 or 4 am, didn't -humhum- remember. Sunday morning... huh? draft ? whaaaa, headache, have a hangover !!!! courage, man, that's for Tokyoooo. First draft, thus, with Coene two places at my left. ouff. No blabla, here's the (KILLLLEEEEER) deck a drafted so well : 1 Goblin spelunkers 3 Parch 1 Heat ray 1 Arc ligntning 1 Pyromancy 1 Viashino bey 1 Retromancer 1 Viashino outrider 1 Molten Hydra 1 Goblin patrol 1 Pygmy Pyrosaur 1 Blanchwood armor 1 Rancor 1 Hush 1 Treefolk seedlings 1 Citanul centaurs 1 Albino troll 1 Winding wurm 1 Treetop ranger 1 Dragon blood (oufff, no yavimaya scion!) 1 Endoskeleton ( " , " " " !) 1 slippering karst 7 forest 9 mountains 8th round : Ieong Yichao-red green-1648 1)he : land patrol me : land he : echo, land jaguar, attack me : land molten hydra he : echo, land raider, attack attack me : land outrider he : rancor, attack .... okay, he has a very good start but don't play so well and don't have any finisher (lava axe, big creature)so i managed to use the hydra for the game (with the help of a parch and an arc). 2)Nothing to say, i'm mana screw, he just play some beasts and attacks 3)i play a first turn patrol, he plays a raider, i play the mountainwalk goblin, he steam blast, then i play the centaur, attack twice and finish him with a parch. 18/24 9th round : Coene Dominique-red black-1845 1)he plays his phyrexian reclamation, then a parched raptor, i play a 2nd turn troll, parch his phyrexian seedlings when he replays his reclamated raptor, then attack and arc for the game. 2)he plays the raptor, i play the treetop ranger, he plays fog of gnats, i arc the raptor and attack with ranger-rancor, he plays a skirge, i parch it (i'm at 6 and he's at 11), then play the viashino bey, he's now at 7 and no cards in his hand with just the gnats on his side. The bey is dead (don't remember how), and he topdecks his heat ray for the ranger, attack with gnats. I play pyromancy with rancor and heat ray in my hand, he's at 4 and i'm at 4 too. He attacks, i'm at 3, he just topdecked... a ghitu slinger... I'm at 1. I draw : parch i have 7 lands on the table (2 for parch, 3 for one pyromancy and... one missing to kill him ! ). Next turn, he pays echo, attacks, i heat ray the ghitu and pyromancy the gnats, he don't regenerates...oulah... He has now 6 untapped lands, one to cast his last topdeck : phyrexian reclamation, two to bring back the ghitu and three to cast it for game. Ohhhh, so he's at 2 and i've a parch in my hand but only one land !!! aaaaaargh ! Next draw for me : winding wurm.... Zen... Stay Zen :-))) 3)i start, mulligan, mulligan, then colordead... Oh shit, he agree (everybody agree) that i should have won, my deck is better than his deck. 18/27 10th round : Girodroux Pierre-white blue black-1762 1)i play pygmy pyrosaur, attack for three, next turn he plays a defender of law instant to kill him and a second one the turn after, he plays a 2/2 with serra's embrace, i double parch it, i play the wurm, then play rancor on the wurm, that's game. 2)he plays opal gargoyle, then defender of law, then the second one, then embraced one of them... Try it again, Vincent... ^_^ 3)second turn hydra, then troll, outrider, he has only one defender so a can beatdown with a rancor and finish him with a parch. 21/30 11th round : Manuel Swaegemaekers-red green-1612 1)Pygmy pyrosaur, attack boost, attack boost, blanchwood armor attack boost, then he has two big blockers, i play molten hydra, start killing his blockers (arc, parch, and of course hydra) then attack with my 7/7 boostable criter. 2)2nd turn troll, 4th hydra (game...), winding wurm, mountainwalk goblin, endoskeleton. That's enough, i play lands and lands and counters on hydra and kill slowly his creatures... he has only one removal in his deck : one parch, and don't see it. 24/33 End of the first draft, 3/4 i really could make 4/4, hey don't cry that could have been worst.Now i draft at first table, with Coene at my left (killer drafter) and Evan Van Lissum at my right (One of the best drafters too), while Jean-Louis D'Hondt is facing me. Strange draft for me, my 8-9 first cards (i was the last one to open my booster) were : white : pacifism and opal gargoyle blue : hermetic study and a 2/1 merfolk black : a skittering skirge and spined fluke red : patrol, raider and jagged lightning green : 2 playable cycling cards yeah, not choosen my colors yet, waiting the other one to define THEIR colors. Good, at my rigth white blue, at his right red green, at my left white blue, at his left white black. I chose then to draft black red, a choice a little bit helped by my booster : pestilence ^_^ the deck : 1 Mobile fort 1 Lava axe 1 Retromancer 1 Shiv's embrace 1 Scrap 1 Viashino bey 1 Jagged lightning 2 Parch 1 Viashino sandscout 1 Goblin raider 2 Goblin patrol 1 Viashino sandswimmer 1 Unnerve 2 Skittering skirge 1 Phyrexian debaser 1 Corrupt 1 Pestilence 1 Phyrexian reclamation 1 Spined fluke 1 Eviscerator 8 mountains 7 swamp 1 smoldering crater 1 spawning pool 12th round : Evan Van Lissum -blue white-1791 1)He plays two weatherseed faeries, i play a skirge, a debaser to get rid of them, then play a fluke, he plays a disciple of grace, i parch it, and the fluke made his job. 2)he plays a thornwind faeries, i play shower of sparks (side in), then he plays a ... oh, the only thing you need to know, anyway, is that i won with pestilence, he couldn't do anything against it (no erase in the draft). 27/36 13th round : Dominique Coene-blue white (with worship)-1845 1)incredible game, really ! he plays an early cathodion with launch, and i've a viashino bey, he starts attacking, i attack and play an unnerve, he discards... a stupid card and... his worship (!!!!) leaving him with two cards in his hand. I try to kill the cathodion, intervene, i play the sandswimmer and attack with it and the bey, he plays hope and glory, i play then the fluke sacrificing a just casted patrol, he's dead next turn, he plays congregate, ouch ! he's no more dead next turn ! (missing : two damage) he attacks, i'm at two. I could draw then about 8-9 cards in my deck to win... Hope so, Vincent ! shit ! yeah, i lose. 2)i play an early pestilence, but he managed to destroy it (sacrifice his creatures blocking mine, then cast a curfew with just the bey on the table). I play back the bey, he plays his cathodion, i try to corrupt it but he plays hope and glory, attack-block-burn, then i cast the fluke for the game. 3)He plays his worship early, but i managed to kill all his creatures :-) Parch, corrupt and debaser, then attack with biiiig creature (embrace). 30/39 and top 8 14th round : Horemans Michiel-white black-1653 1)amazing : he starts with land-duress (bad play, in limited), removing my jagged lightning, i draw... pestilence, and win with it, of course. 2)two turns without the 3rd land for me, he plays defender of law and a charger, then a ravenous skirge, at this moment i draw my 5th land (i'm at 4) to cast jagged lightning on the two flyers, then he attacks and played an another flying, i corrupt the defender (only 2 swamps), then die. 3)land-land skittering skirge and beatdown, he doesn't have his white mana (anyway, he just had an expendable troopers and i had a parch), the skirge makes 9 points, then he plays a debaser-parch, 3 more points and the axe, he's at 3... he plays his troopers and dies. 33/42 and first place top eight after 14 rounds : 1)Vincent Gieling (yeah, that's me!) (ADN team) 2)Jean-Louis D'Hondt (ADN team) 3)Dominique Coene (team Avalon too) 4)Michiel Horemans 5)Evan Van Lissum (Team Avalon too? not sure, sorry) 6)Kurt Foket (Team Outpost) 7)Schrijvers Alexander (Schrijvers Clan ^_^) 8)Pierre Cools THIRD DAY : double elimination best out of five QUARTER FINAL against Pierre Cools, sligh. sorry, don't have any courage more to report those games, i lost the first game because he has a good hand and mana curve, won the second by an intuition on three gnomes to reach the 5th mana to living death for 4 gnomes and 2 ravens and 1 looter, won the third and the 4th that were very very close (saw no gnomes on those two games). 3-1 SEMI FINAL against Michiel Horemans, lots of counters, disks, oath of druids and morphling, i won 3-0 easy, he just can't do anything if i play well what i did. Why? Because he had to counter nearly all the spells of my deck (duress, lobots,animate dead, counters, living death etc etc) FINAL against Dominique Coene for the title of belgian champion won the first by duress on his hatred (yes, suicide black ^_^ ) and a living death clearing out the table and bringing verdant-raven-raven into play. lost 2nd by hatred 4th turn (city of traitors), i would have won if he didn't have the city, shit (next turn, duress then death for game) lost 3rd one by ritual-ritual-hatred... won 4th after a nevyniral (planar void and 3 creatures) lost 5th one by topdeck : he starts with sarcomancy, i duress a sarcomancy leaving hil with skirge and carnophage and lands, he draws an unholy strength, shit ! without THAT card, i would have had an extra turn, my 5th one, to cast living death for game. BELGIAN TEAM FOR WORLDS : 1) Dominique Coene 2) Vincent Gieling (me again ^_^ ) ADN team 3) Jean-Louis D'Hondt ADN team 4) Alexander Schrijvers Sorry for all the mistakes, i'm not that good in english. Thanks for all for that very friendly national Thanks for you for reading this report And see you, Vincent Gieling