Hello guys,

After the good performance at GP Warsaw only two weeks before, I felt all the more motivated to chain top finishes, with the goal of getting Gold level in a year (that is getting to 35 pro points that you can earn in GPs or Pro Tours).
The semifinals finish in Warsaw earned me 5 points, with a bonus qualification to PT Dublin in October. This qualification also allows me to be invited for the second Pro Tour of the season in Valencia thanks to my Silver level reached last season. Attending a PT gives you 3 extra points, which puts me to a virtual 11 points before GP Prague.

The trip starts in the worst way since my travel mate was refused from boarding the plane for invalid ID card… I eventually traveled by myself and I am so disappointed for him.
Fortunately the rest of the trip was a success, both in terms of performance and atmosphere, thanks to the many great people you can meet at Grand Prix (Especially MTG Madness team Players).
Once in Prague, I joined a group of players from Toulouse that I did not know, but being both focused on the competition and having a good time, they were the ideal crew to enjoy this journey.
Also were present at the event some famous French players like Raphael Levy or Yann Guthmann (recent World Champions), or Elie Pichon, Pierre Dagen and Loic Lebriand, who participate in all major events in Europe.

Day 1: M14 Sealed

The tournament starts and I realize I have only two Byes for this first day. Surprising, but we’ll have to make do. What’s a little more problematic is the weaker than average pool I received. I have two possibilities: UB control or WB life combo. After a long period of hesitation, I finally decide in favor of the safe deck, UB control that I know better. Nevertheless, I sleeve up my “second deck”, that is 7 plains and 10 different cards than the main, so I can switch after sideboard without giving too much information to my opponents.
During my two Byes, I test both decks in order to see which one of them is the best, impossible to evaluate properly without many games of practice. The conclusion I reach is that the UB deck is not very good against green based decks, whether it is Simic or Grull, which are commonly played in sealed, but the WB combo deck seems to have the better weapons against them. On the other hand, UB control is very good in control matchups like Azorius, Dimir or Izzet, thanks to late game cards like Corrupt or Opportunity .

I am not going to tell you about every game in details, but just give a few anecdotes:

It starts on round 3, when I am paired against a UG player with a deck full of bombs and mythics, including the dreadful Jace, Memory Adept . We are tied 1-1, and starting game 3 I don’t know how I am going to beat him with my poor deck, except if he misses land drops like in the first game.
I finally play a Lifebane Zombie on turn 3, ready to see a hand full of the best bombs in the game, and it is the case… except my opponent had 8 cards in his hand! After calling a judge, my opponent got a game loss and I won the round. Luck is with me, and winning your “first” round is always good for morale.
I win my next 3 rounds, beating notably Jean-Baptiste Aucler, a French judge/player who won a trial on the day before, and pro player and MTG Madness player Michael Bonde.
At 6/0, I lost to Hall of Famer Frank Karsten who was certainly the only player I met with a worse deck than mine, then to a Simic player, UG arguably being the best color combination in M14 sealed.
I have to play my last round to have the 21 points necessary for playing Day 2. By chance, my opponent is playing the UB control mirror, and as I thought at the beginning of the day, my weapons were pretty good against him, and i win this round.
I am now qualified for day 2, with a record of 7/2, which is far from ideal, so I will have to step up my game if I want a top finish.

Day 2 : M14 Draft

First Draft : WB Life

The rest of the tournament is played in draft format, which is much less random than sealed and requires a more in-depth knowledge of the set and its archetypes to perform well. During my tests on Magic Online the weeks before the GP, one deck caught my attention, that is WB life combo.
Yes, combo.
This deck is based on the synergy between Angelic Accord and Bubbling Cauldron , which allows you to gain 4 life and put a 4/4 angel on the battlefield each turn. Black brings lifegain cards like Mark of the Vampire , Corrupt , to which you can add
Elixir of Immortality . The goal is to draft creatures that hold the early game thanks to their toughness like Angelic Wall or Gnawing Zombie .
One of the most impressive cards in the archetype is Tenacious Dead , that you can sacrifice each turn to Bubbling Cauldron , granting you a steady 4 life plus one angel a turn. It is also synergetic with Gnawing Zombie since you can drain your opponent after blocking his creature.

Another good card for this deck is Festering Newt . As it stands, it is an average card, but in this format, many creatures have only one toughness. If you have a cauldron, you can benefit from this this -1/-1 on a creature, which changes a lot during combat (not to mention the 4 life drain on your opponent). As for any combo deck, you are looking for stability, which means you want as many copies of Angelic Accord and Bubbling Cauldron as possible. Unfortunately both these cards are uncommon, and even if these cards are not drafted very much outside of this archetype, it is likely that the amount within 24 boosters will be very limited. You should not hesitate to draft Diabolic Tutor to increase your chances to assemble the combo.

Draft 1 decklist :

Lands

11 Swamp
5 Plains

Creatures

2
Angelic Wall
1
Tenacious Dead
1
Xathrid Necromancer
1
Griffin Sentinel
1
Gnawing Zombie
1
Festering Newt
1
Lifebane Zombie
2
Nightwing Shade
1
Minotaur Abomination
1
Accursed Spirit
1
Blightcaster
1
Corpse Hauler

Spells

1
Doom Blade
2
Mark of the Vampire
1
Angelic Accord
1
Altar’s Reap
1
Quag Sickness
2
Diabolic Tutor
2 Bubbling Cauldron

 

With this deck, I only lost one game to Matej Zatlkaj (top 8 from last PT San Diego) in the first round of the draft. Neverthelss, I won that match with double Bubbling Cauldron, Angelic Accord and Tenacious Dead, which is 4 life and an angel per turn, yours and your opponent’s.
During another match, after drawing a little too many lands, I also managed to defend while waiting for Angelic Accord thanks to double Bubbling Cauldron, Gnawing Zombie and Tenacious Dead (+9 life and -1 for my opponent each turn)

Draft record: 3/0

Second draft: UW flyers/mill

UW flyers is an archetype that exists in M14 and has been in most draft formats for a long time. It is pretty consistent but in M14 it loses to other blue based decks. I don’t recommend drafting this archetype unless you have the good white uncommons like Serra Angel. Most blue flying creatures are quite powerful in this set, such as Messenger Drake , Air servant , Warden of Evos Isle , or Nephalia Seakite .
On the contrary, UW mill is not something I consider viable, the only reason why I went into this direction was the presence of two Traumatize , two Archaeomancer , two Tome Scour and a Millstone , these card being superior to what I could play instead in my UW flyers.

I hesitated a lot before choosing the mill plan for the maindeck, but the upside is that you get to see a lot of cards from your opponent’s deck, which is valuable information for your sideboarded games.
A member of the Wizards coverage interviewed me about this build that I had to defend, but I would have preferred talking about my first draft, which was definitely better than this one.

Draft 2 decklist :

Lands

10 Island
7 Plains

Creatures

2
Serra Angel
2
Messenger Drake
2
Warden of Evos Isle
1
Wall of Frost
1
Fiendslayer Paladin
1
Seraph of the Sword
1
Wall of Swords
2
Archaeomancer

Spells

2
Sensory Deprivation
2
Tome Scour
1
Cancel
1
Claustrophobia
2
Disperse
2
Traumatize
1
Millstone

 

7 sideboard cards to replace the mill cards:

Creatures

1
Dawnstrike Paladin
1
Suntail Hawk
1
Pillarfield Ox
1
Soulmender
1
Trained Condor

Spells

1
Show of Valor
1
Illusionary Armor

 

I end up going 2/1 with this deck, losing to Wenzel Krautmann, winner of GP Warsaw. His deck was a RG agro build, way too fast and efficient for me to have a chance in our match.
Then I beat an opponent who took a game loss for keeping his draft 1 with his draft 2 in the same box, after a deck check. That is always good to take, especially when your deck is not the best.
A decent result with this deck, that seemed to have its chances against blue control decks, but not against aggressive decks.

In the end, this tournament is a success, a 22nd place finish with 2 additional Pro points and $400 of prize money. This is a satisfying result considering the light amount of preparation for the event.
Raphaël Levy and Eliott Boussaud, the two Frenchmen in the top 8, ended up losing in the quarterfinals.

Next step: Pro Tour Dublin.

See you next time,

Jérémy Dezani