As you probably already know, I'm not the reigning World Champion. If you're interested in the full story, check out my last article! Today, I'm going to give you a quick rundown of my Darkmoon Faire experience which features some useful advice on how to do well in Throne of the Tides Limited formats!

Part 1: Recovery

Although I scrubbed out at Worlds, I was left with some confidence after the first 2 days of the World Championship weekend. I had tasted defeat, but I had also been able to celebrate a small triumph here and there. I remembered what it felt like to win, knowing what your deck's supposed to do and watching it work its Magic (pun intended). I was feeling greedy and wanted more of that feeling and that's how I started to approach the Darkmoon Faire. This should and would end up being my tournament again after more than one year without something to celebrate.

Lesson learned: Greed is good! If you want to accomplish something, you first have to draw a picture in your mind of yourself accomplishing that very same goal. Don't just "hold it tight", make it burn itself into your subconsciousness and see it whenever you shut your eyes!

Part 2: Emotional Roller Coaster

I sat down with more than 270 players and was dealt 6 boosters of Throne of the Tides. I registered the pool and didn't waste too much time thinking over it, knowing that it would be passed to another player anyway. I don't encourage this; if you're getting paired against the guy who's playing your pool, it's good to know what he's got in store.

Anyway, the player sitting to my right announced that his pool was sick. [Mazu'kon] and more playable rares, one of them being [Boundless Wild], promised quite a good chance at making the cut to the Top 8.

The Head Judge announced that everyone would pass their pool to the left. I felt excited! He immediately corrected himself, telling us that he meant to the right. I felt like I just took a kick in the nuts... gotta love card games, they are the best preparation for complicated relationships with girls that change their minds every other minute...

So I got passed a pool from the right and although it featured the very much playable [Stalwart Bear Form], I was rather quick to pick Death Knight as my class of choice. [Sorrow's End] was just too good a card not to play. Jörg, who has yet to lose a single match in this Limited format, told me that if you constantly hit your curve, your opponent has next to no chance to win the game even if he's featuring a number of tricks. So I went for an aggressive built that looked quite solid.

I was quite satisfied with the deck I built and thought that if I played it right, it might take me all the way to the Top 8. I sat outside and asked some of the other members of my team about their pools. Sascha, who has already made a name for himself for getting passed ridiculous pools, also had [Sorrow's End]. And [Dulvar, Hand of the Light]. And some more good cards. My hope dwindled a little, but I just thought I would make up for a lack of the second spoiler with play skill.

Jordy Van Der Gaag was my round 1 opponent and I don't remember much of the game. I think he had no answer to [Sorrow's End] and [Gilblin Deathscrounger] also applied quite some pressure. This game was over rather quickly. Some of my friends who took a look at my field were rather impressed with my deck and thought that this must be enough to make it all the way to the Top 8. I wasn't entirely sold, but hopeful.

In round 2, I had to face Evgeny Strokov. He was the first Russian player I ever got paired against and I immediately asked him if he had been a part of the all famous team "We have Nuclear Weapons!" – he told me that he was in fact a member of that very same team and we had some more pleasant exchanges before the round started.

I thought it would be cool to play [Gilblin Deathscrounger] and make my opponent believe that he could safely kill it without me having a chance to return it to the field. I would then use my Hero's flip in response to its trigger at the start of my turn so I would not only end up with a 3 / 3 Ghoul, but also [Gilblin Deathscrounger] on the field. This is rather stupid... simply discard [Gilblin Deathscrounger] for [Ghoulmaster Kalisa]'s effect and you're making a much better trade. Granted, you're missing out on the surprise effect, but raw power beats this little trick anytime.

As I didn't realize my mistake, I wasn't able to apply enough pressure. Don't get me wrong, I dealt quite some damage and got Evgeny close. Thanks to [Bottled Cunning] in my hand and [Murloc Coastrunner], I could have brought him up on 27 damage, however, but one point was still missing. Therefore, his [Ozumat] was able to finish me before I could take him out. Basically, his deck featured a couple of powerful Monsters, among them [Mindbender Ghur'sha] and [Ozumat], so he could almost always flip his hero [Grglmrgl]. That turned his monsters into even bigger threats and he easily stripped me of all my defenses.

In the second game, I mulliganed for [Sorrow's End] and it helped me to apply enough pressure to win the game. He went first in the third game for the first time and I was able to stabilize the board. That was before he invited the first [Ozumat] to his party, though.

I got rid of it and totally forgot that it would be shuffled back into his deck. I felt stupid again, but as long as he wouldn't draw into it again, I still had a shot. He used [The Culmination of Our Efforts] during my next turn and found [Thug the Hurler]. That would also mean "8 to the face", which would get me all the way up to 23 damage. I would then be in range of a million monsters of his deck that could all attack me ferociously.

He entered his following turn and drew into [Ozumat]. This wasn't so unlikely; after all, he had seen 7 cards of his remaining 15, but I was still unhappy. I basically lost that game one turn later. 1 – 1.

Lessons learned: Know how to make the best use of your hero's flip. If your deck is featuring a solid curve and it's unlikely that you'll not draw into some plays for your first few turns, mulligan aggressively for your spoilers (e. g. [Sorrow's End])!

OK, so I lost a game. That meant I couldn't afford to lose another game. I was paired against Thomas Dollas the following round and I got beaten by [Bloat the Bubble Fish] in the first game. This was extremely embarrassing, however, I was certain that I could beat his deck.

On the play, I managed to win the second game as I saw quite a few of my better cards. He was on the play in the last game, but he was missing one of his turn 1 – 3 plays while I hit all of them. [Jex'ali] meant more card advantage for me and after finding [Sorrow's End], this game was in the bag!

Lesson learned (after the round): If somebody beats you with [Bloat the Bubble Fish], do not mention it to your friends...

Round 4 would be me vs. Anthony Chambas. He won the die roll, but I still managed to turn the first game around. Since he took quite a few "3 damage" packets according to my scoresheet, I guess I found my weapon that game.

The second game, he left me no chance and simply stomped over me. I never got into that game. I was on the play again in the last game, however, and after I had a better start and followed it up with the weapon, this game was quickly decided in my favor. I moved up on the tables and got closer to the front once more.

Something I found quite funny was the spoiler distribution among the tables in the tournament. Tables 1 – 20, you would see players with [Mazu'kon] AND [Ozumat] or [Sorrow's End]. Tables 20 – 35, you would see players with one of these cards and / or [Grand Crusader]. After that, the average quality of the decks dwindled a lot.

Rob Victory was my opponent in the fifth round. I knew I had heard his name before, so we had a short, but fun conversation before the match started. He asked me if I were "soulwarrior" and when I pointed to the printed name on my shirt AND on my playmat, he was like: "Oh, yeah, that's a little obvious."

By now, I realized that it wasn't the worst idea to mulligan for [Sorrow's End] and [Gilblin Deathscrounger]. I had the weapon in the first game and smashed him properly.

In the second game, I attacked with my one drop on my 2nd turn and announced: "2 Damage on your hero and I flip." We both noted the change in damage totals, I discarded [Gilblin Deathscrounger] and play was back to Rob. He didn't pay enough attention and hadn't realized what I just discarded. I had no Monster in my graveyard at that time, but he helped me speed up the game when he played [Bottled Mind]. I discarded one of my monsters and returned my aggressive 2 drop at the beginning of my turn 3.

Rob was a little shocked: "Oh, I guess I should have checked your graveyard first..."

He had to use one of his [Glacial Tomb]s for my recurring threat, which meant my other allies could continue to reduce his remaining health. He got overwhelmed quickly and wished me luck for my remaining rounds.

Lesson learned: If you're making your opponent discard a card, it's not the worst idea to check his graveyard first.

Kamil Chiberski was my opponent in Round 6. I remembered that his deck was rather aggressive, but I still managed to out-aggro him the first game. Thanks to the advice of my friend Jörg, I now knew that I could attack with my hero, strike with [Sorrow's End] and THEN Delve to give it a rather cheap 6 ATK. This was neat advice that would prove useful later in the tournament (Jörg learned this when HaJo Höh did it to him a couple of times in their match).

In the second game, I could heal my hero twice with [Jex'ali] and [Brighteye], so I was never over 10 damage. At the same time, I kept applying pressure with [Sorrow's End], so I stole the initiative and won that game!

Lesson learned: There are probably a couple of nice Delve synergies in your deck. Get familiar with them!

I went outside and learned that most of my friends were X – 2 or worse at the time. It seemed like I was the only one left with a chance of making the tops. I also exchanged quite a few words with some nice players from Emsdetten, among them Holger Michel, who's basically acting as the Champion for this playgroup, keeping them together and motivating them to attend events.

You probably already guessed what was coming next: I had to play Holger. He was running [Rohashu, Zealot of the Sun], so I correctly figured that his bomb (there were next to no players without a bomb at these tables) was [Grand Crusader].

Fortunately, I won the die roll. I always tried to make sure he couldn't develop much of a field and this worked in my favor in the first game.

The second game was a different story, though. He found [Grand Crusader] turn 3 and wiped my field. I never stood a chance, also thanks to [Alana the Woebringer]. I was surprised he had two huge bombs...

In the third game, I was on the play once more and it was pretty much the same as in the first game. Even though he had [Grand Crusader], I had already traded most of his allies and was quickly up on 5 resources, so my beefier protectors could jump in the way of his small allies.

What surprised me the most was that he was playing 34 cards. If you have 2 cards in your pile that you ALWAYS want to see, never play more than 30 cards. I thought long and hard what to cut, but still I never considered running more than 30 cards with [Sorrow's End] in my deck.

Lesson learned: If you got sick cards, make sure you will likely draw into them and don't play more than 30 cards!

(stay tuned next Friday for the final part of Oli's Rotterdam reports!)

-Oliver Gehrmann