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Problem: Nationals Roundup
“Brothers in arms are fighting tonight
The forces of steel meet again
Born in the fire, they look to the sky
Power of metal unchained”
● Hamerfall – Brothers in Arms
Hail and well met my good readers. In front of you lies yet another juicy report with some more information about the event itself. You will not only find my precious deck list here, but you will also hear some of my Team’s suggestions on how to improve it in the new Core. I also focused on giving you full visibility on how important National Championships are for both local players and the distributor. So let’s roll!
1. National Championship – an event like no other.
I was always rooting for this kind of event to resume after not having it last year. In Poland when we knew that nothing like this was coming we organized an unofficial one to have a Polish National champion crowned. Even though the prizes were much below any standard and the status of the game was unknown at that time; we managed to have 22 people attend and had lots of fun.
This year the situation was different. The event was official and the rewards substantial. The whole community was looking at it as a great opportunity to check who the best player is.
Before I go on and tell you how I performed, I’d like to express why we in Poland approach Nationals with such interest. First of all it’s a Polish only event that brings a very important title and creates history. We do remember all our previous champions and they are marked with much esteem. I can easily say that the National Champion’s title bears a lot more respect than a Realm Champion’s one. There is a big difference in succeeding against them rather than succeeding against us. It might be a bit xenophobic, but it has a very simple explanation. When our community prepares for the foreign event we prepare together and train as a community. We exchange ideas and we root for each other when someone is doing well in a tournament. Each success is shared with the community and is an outcome of the collective work. When it comes to Nationals it’s a different story. Everyone is on his/her own. All of the groups become very secretive and more competitive. The whole event has a very unique feel in comparison to others. We face each other and need to succeed against each other. We need to defeat people we know very well and those with whom we hang out throughout the year traveling and playing together. It’s absolutely fantastic!
On the other hand it really shows the local scene. It’s a moment for the new players to stand up and shine. It’s a perfect research ground for any distributor who can really see the interest in the product and reevaluate his approach for the next season. This year we had 50 attendants, which was more than I expected and the whole event area was full with people.
The only thing that I would rectify for the next year’s event would be the prize support. We all remember the previous National Championships and their prizes. Also it’s really important to remember that this kind of tournament is often the biggest one for most of the local players. When I was starting to play TCGs competitively in 1997 I never thought about going abroad. My budget allowed me to travel only within our country and a simple train to a nearby city was involved with great cost. My aim for the year at that time was nothing else than National Champs and getting myself an invite. What we need is for such a high esteemed event to reward the player for the whole year of playing. Looking at the player stats we can see that 2 weeks ago we had more Polish players attending Nationals than Poznan’s DMF.
2. Deck choice
Testing in block was fresh. It was fun to look at the set with lots of new ideas and possibilities. It was also important that it partially added value to our training for the new Core. As an aggro player I was mostly testing a Horde hunter, but my build lacked the versatility that Dan Clark presented in his winning deck from Philly. I was definitely missing the equipment threat, but still the deck performed really well and I managed to take down one warm-up event with it. It also helped us a lot to tweak our version of the blue Paladin that was built by Krzysztof “ZoZo” Morzyc. It was funny how the deck evolved from having absolutely no response to Loque at one time into a beast that was able to defend and deal damage simultaneously. Before I lose you to the wall of text let’s have a look at the list:
Hero: [Auralyn the Light of Dawn]
Allies: 20
3 [Obsidian Drakonid]
4 [Obsidian Drudge]
4 [Bronze Warden]
3 [Bronze Guardian]
1 [Al'Akir the Windlord]
3 [Varandas Silverleaf]
1 [Amani Dragonhawk]
1 [Malfurion Stormrage]
Abilities: 18
4 [Holy Shock]
3 [Hammer of Justice]
3 [Inquisition]
3 [Holy Wrath]
3 [Censure]
2 [Wrath of Turalyon]
Equipment: 6
4 [Etched Dragonbone Girdle]
2 [Scimitar of the Sirocco]
Quest/Locations: 17
4 [Twilight Citadel]
4 [The Key to Freedom]
4 [Locked Away]
2 [Cleansing Witch Hill]
3 [The Worldbreaker]
As you can see there is a couple of weird choices. Let’s list them with a brief description:
[Varandas Silverleaf] – the card is just great and it can give you a tremendous tempo advantage over the aggro decks when used properly. Unfortunately the guy does not work alone and you need to back him up with loads of quests.
[Amani Dragonhawk] – it’s not a surprise, but it’s very important to shut down aggro match-ups. It’s one of the answers to Loque and is a good finisher.
[Malfurion Stormrage] – another finisher, this time more for a control vs control game.
[Wrath of Turalyon] – a card forgotten by many. Yes, it’s reprinted and it’s great for any untargetable thing charging your way. It can kill an ally before it deals damage, so it works really well on a big [Avatar of the wild] or [Tesla].
Now let’s have a look at the crazy quest selection.
[The Key to Freedom] + [Locked Away] – we wanted to abuse the best quest combination there was in block; draw 1 for 1. During testing and on the event it worked well. [The Key to Freedom] was generally used to be flipped by [Varandas Silverleaf] without us losing much as we needed just 1 of them to have the cost of [Locked Away] reduced. Also having a quest for 1 and 4 helped us to plan exhausting resources for the Bronze dragon effects.
[Cleansing Witch Hill] – we took it over [Blackout] as we wanted to have more drawing power and feared that when you draw [Blackout] in the end game you just lose a turn.
[The Worldbreaker] – flavor of the deck. It might seem like a win more card, but in reality it provided us with one more win condition and it worked as intended. Paladin can make a lot of damage out of [Holy Wrath] and [Holy Shock] + some weapon attacks. [The Worldbreaker] was helping us to make a final push without any problems.
The deck was great and I felt very comfortable while piloting it. The only thing that it lacked was early ability removal, which now can be easily amended in a form of [Righteous Cleanse]. We would also cut one [Censure] and add 2 x [Stasis] to improve the match-up against other Girdle decks. I believe that it’s a very solid deck and I invite you to give it a try. After all you don’t always draw your [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] and you somehow need to fuel your needs during the game. More quests certainly do not hurt and [Varandas Silverleaf] is a sweet addition that can win you the tempo race and hence the game.
Finally there is nothing more exciting than slaying your opponent with [The Worldbreaker]; attacking him with your hero for 10+!!
3. The Games!
Round 1 vs Lach, Michał – [Amaxi the Cruel]
Amaxi is a good match-up for the Paladin deck. If you have a regular draw, then Warlock shouldn’t be able to push through. Even though I didn’t draw either [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] or [Twilight Citadel] I still managed to control the table. I won a roll, placed my resource and passed. Michal opened with [Rosalyne von Erantor] and [Gollom Skybang] T2, then [Waz'luk] T3 and [Trade Prince Gallywix] T4. I had the following answers: [Censure] into Rosalyn, [Holy Shock] into Gollom and another [Holy Shock] into the Prince. T5 he recruited another Gollom, which was killed by my [Scimitar of the Sirocco]. The whole game I was in control and feeling pretty comfortable. With the last cards in his hand Michal managed to surprise me with a strong Searing Pain for 6 and Dagax the Butcher attacking for 5, but it was not enough to kill me. I ended up with 22 points of damage on my hero, but a solid flip and [Amani Dragonhawk] sealed the victory for me.
1-0
Round 2 vs Lasota, Artur – [Akumo of Thunder Bluff]
I won the roll again and had a perfect draw more or less. My play was T1 [Bronze Warden], T2 [Varandas Silverleaf], T3 [Bronze Guardian] and T4 [Bronze Guardian]. After that I got [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] online and there was absolutely no chance for the shaman deck to go through. Artur tried hard with [Rosalyne von Erantor] T1, [Waz'luk] T2, double [Onnekra Bloodfang] T3 and [Gerwixicks] around T4, but all his allies were stopped by my protectors. He got [Perdition's Blade], which was quickly destroyed by one of my Twilight tokens backed by the [Obsidian Drudge]. All in all Mr. Lasota got me only to 8 points of damage before I flipped and started healing.
2-0
Round 3 vs Niciecki, Kamil - [Auralyn the Light of Dawn]
This game was interesting. I knew that Kamil’s version is a bit quicker. He had [Sinestra] and [Bronze Skyrazor] to kill me faster than I could kill. I watched it give him an edge against a mirror match before. I also lost a roll, which didn’t give me much of a chance. The first 3 turns were a nightmare for me. I lost my [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] to Kamil’s [Obsidian Drudge] and he had his own belt alive. I was a couple of cards behind him. I managed to destroy his [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] around Turn 5 and he didn’t draw a second one. At one point we were both out of cards and this is where my [Scimitar of Sirocco] started to shine. Every ally I drew was able to attack immediately after getting on the table and I started building up some serious damage on Kamil’s hero. [Varandas Silverleaf] from the top killing Kamil’s [Obsidian Drakonid] and attacking for 3 was really great to get even more value out of it. I also had my [Al'Akir the Windlord] in hand, treasured there almost from T1 and I patiently kept it in my hand wanting to force [Holy Wrath]. Having 2 x [Varandas Silverleaf] on the table had finally pushed Kamil to cast it. After the [Holy Wrath] was gone I played my [Al'Akir the Windlord] and went straight for the victory. Fortunately my opponent didn’t have a second one.
3-0
Round 4 vs Waślicki, Michał – [Huntsman Gorwal]
After reaching Top 4 on his first DMF ever, Michal was recruited to join Team Problem. I knew every card in his deck as we’ve worked on the list together, but never have I seen anyone draw that poorly after the mulligan. Michal was forced to complete quests on T2 and T3 playing an aggro Hunter against a control Paladin. How sad is that? I won the roll and had everything I needed to stop him even with a better opening hand. While he had nothing it was just a pitiful show, for which he had my full sympathy. So what was happening was that I had my protector dragons and [Etched Dragonbone Girdle], drawing cards and stacking answers on my hand. He was completing quests and playing multiple [Windspeaker Nuvu]. On T4 he played his [Aspect of the Wild], but both Nuvus were easily stopped. Aspect was destroyed and [Tesla] T5 followed by [Rolan Phoenix] T6 was nothing very impressive. On T7 I played [Scimitar of the Sirocco] followed by [Amani Dragonhawk] T8 and finishing him on T9 with [The Worldbreaker] quest and lots of stuff on the board. He tried to play [Avatar of the Wild] on T8, but the beast didn’t have Ferocity due to Dragonhwaks’s power.
4-0
Round 5 vs Sowinski, Michal – [Gurzak of Orgrimmar]
Michal was playing a control warrior destined to kill his opponent with [Sinestra] – [Shalug'doom, the Axe of Unmaking] combo. I didn’t put up a real fight here as I didn’t draw my [Etched Dragonbone Girdle]. Michal was actually toying with me and constantly returning my [Obsidian Drudge] on top of my deck with consecutive [Shockwave]s and [Chaotic Rush]. I was locked. He easily drew all his answers and finished me around T9. It took him so long only because he wasn’t able to draw into his [Sinestra] earlier.
4-1
With 4-1 I was really happy. My constructed skills didn’t go numb and I don’t think that I had any mistakes during the last game. I was given a VIP spot by the Tournament Organizer, so I felt very comfortable and pleased to play others. With such a good score I ended up in Pod 1 again for the dreaded draft.
With regards to the draft as we are no longer playing this format I will skip most of the information. On the other hand I don’t want to embarrass myself any further ;-) So let’s have it in short.
My draft deck was a rush Horde Shaman. I got 2 [Blazing Elemental Totem]s, [Prized Beastmaster's Mantle] and a handful of fire allies. What I really lacked was any kind of ability finisher that was never handed to me. So the deck was only allies + 2 totems and it worked really well with my hero’s flip – [Tazrik Crankrust].
Round 6 vs Kaleta, Erik - [Huntsman Gorwal]
With Erik the games were pretty even. Game 1 he stole my tempo with his [Magni, the Mountain King]. Game 2 my deck worked as intended and game 3 I lost to [Loque].
4-2
Round 7 vs Chiberski, Kamil – [Samael the Bloodpoint]
With Kamil we had very interesting games, but I lost to the [Volatile Thunderstick] card twice. It was one of the best answers to my deck and both Game 1 and Game 3 Kamil managed to play it and quickly stabilize the board to his advantage. He also had [Timriv the Enforcer] to help him, but the powerful goblin didn’t do as much havoc to my fields as the cursed weapon.
4-3
Round 8 vs Niciecki, Kamil – [Amaria Kelsur]
It’s amazing that in pod 1 we had 3 hunters and I had to face all 3. Kamil didn’t show up though, so I got a free win. From what he told me he had a crazy deck idea that was focused around playing [Deathwing the Destroyer] early and he even managed to do it in 1 game during the whole draft.
5-3
4. The Finale
Overall I finished on a 12th place, so don’t search for me on the above picture. Only 3 players from our Team attended and none of us made Top8. This only underlines how much our community has developed. I believe we have many great players in Poland who are yet to show what they can do on the global scene. I will be very happy to see them on the Top Tables in Rotterdam and I’m sure they will make an impact in the next Season.
Big congratulations to our new Polish National Champion Michał “Gajwer” Gajda. Below you can see him with our Tournament Organizer receiving his well deserved reward.
I didn’t make it this time, but I did have lots of fun and good competition. This event will stay in my memory forever and it will stay in the history. Michal will remain the National Champion for the whole year earning him toasts and fame. On the other hand how did your tournament go? If you are from Europe did you have the same impression over your Nationals? If you are from States can you easily compare this kind of a strong National bonding to the tournaments that you had? I will be more than happy to read your opinions on the forums.
Till next time!
Yours trolly,
Gnimsh
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