A top 8 report from Emanuele Giusti

About
Emanuele Giusti

22 Years Old
Winner of GP Rimino 2008
Winner of GP Brussels 2010

More Posts (5)

Hi everybody!

I have just returned from GP Rimini and ended with an excellent top 4, so today I want to talk about my experience and the strategy that has allowed me to reach this goal.

Day1

Day 1 starts and the pool I get is this:

Artifact

1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Pyromancer’s Gauntlet
1 Door of Destinies
1 Bubbling Cauldron
1 Staff of the Mind Magus
1 Fireshrieker

White

1 Auramancer
1 Brave the Elements
1 Celestial Flare
1 Charging Griffin
1 Devout Invocation
1 Fortify
1 Hive Stirrings
1 Pay No Heed
1 Pillarfield Ox
1 Sentinel Sliver
1 Siege Mastodon
2 Solemn Offering
1 Soulmender

Blue

1 Sensory Deprivation
2 Scroll Thief
1 Claustrophobia
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Archaeomancer
1 Opportunity
1 Phantom Warrior
1 Wall of Frost
1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Frost Breath
1 Armored Cancrix
1 Merfolk Spy
1 Zephyr Charge

Black

1 Liturgy of Blood
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Quag Sickness
2 Doom Blade
1 Wring Flesh
1 Deathgaze Cockatrice
1 Accursed Spirit
2 Child of Night
1 Tenacious Dead
1 Blood Bairn
1 Undead Minotaur
1 Dark Favor
1 Duress
2 Shrivel
1 Diabolic Tutor

Red

1 Act of Treason
1 Molten Birth
1 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Lava Axe
1 Shiv’s Embrace
1 Goblin Shortcutter
1 Chandra’s Phoenix
1 Marauding Maulhorn
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Burning Earth
2 Seismic Stomp
1 Regathan Firecat
1 Striking Sliver

Green

1 Hunt the Weak
1 Trollhide
1 Enlarge
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Predatory Sliver
2 Ranger’s Guile
1 Groundshaker Sliver
2 Advocate of the Beast
1 Gladecover Scout
1 Fog
1 Windstorm
1 Bramblecrush

Lands

1 Encroaching Wastes

 

 

My pool is nothing special with no broken rares but black gives me a lot of removals so I choose to play the black for sure and I decide to also use the red because it offered me a good curve and synergies. So this is the deck that I played :

Creatures

1 Tenacious Dead
2 Child of Night
1 Goblin Shortcutter
1 Chandra’s Phoenix
1 Undead Minotaur
1 Blood Bairn
1 Accursed Spirit
1 Deathgaze Cockatrice
1 Marauding Maulhorn
1 Pitchburn Devils

Spells

1 Wring Flesh
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Doom Blade
1 Molten Birth
1 Act of Treason
1 Quag Sickness
1 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Shiv’s Embrace
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Lava Axe
1 Liturgy of Blood

Lands

9 Swamp
8 Mountain

 

 

I’m quite happy about the deck because despite not having any rare bomb I still have a good pack of removal that makes the difference. Now let’s go to the match report:

Round 1 2 3 Byes

Round 4 5 6

During these rounds I find good players but with regular decks without any bombs or powerful synergies so thanks to my many removals I go easily 6-0

Round 7 vs Kleiner Sebastian

He plays GW with rares like Archangel of Thune, Megantic Sliver and Haunted Plate Mail, in the first game I go on curve with Tenacious Dead, Child of Night, Blood Bairn and Accursed Spirit plus Mark of the Vampire close the game. The other two games are similar, he plays his angel and sliver and I kill both then arrives the Haunted Plate Mail and I lose because every creature becomes huge and I can not kill them all, my only hope is to race him with Shiv’s Embrace but in both games Plummet ends the race. 6-1

Round 8 vs Samuele Estratti

Samuele is a friend and we are teammates at worlds this year so we are not happy to play against each other, on the other end, the one who wins makes day 2 for sure, the match is covered here:
Official coverage
6-2

Round 9 vs Dahl Tina

This match is one-way, my deck is better and she can’t do much against the combo Blood Bairn plus Tenacious Dead. 7-2

I’m happy to play the draft part because I’m convinced that I have an advantage in this limited format by forcing R/B with the sacrifice strategy but I know I have to do 6-0 to reach the top8 and even if I think I have a winning strategy it is never easy to reach this score.

Day 2

1st Draft:

Creatures

2 Tenacious Dead
1 Festering Newt
1 Blood Bairn
1 Undead Minotaur
1 Dragon Egg
1 Academy Raider
2 Nightwing Shade
2 Cyclops Tyrant
1 Shivan Dragon

Spells

1 Shock
1 Altar’s Reap
1 Liturgy of Blood
1 Quag Sickness
2 Act of Treason
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Shiv’s Embrace
1 Molten Birth
2 Bubbling Cauldron

Lands

9 Swamp
8 Mountain

 

 

This is exactly what you want when you try to draft this archetype, though another Blood Bairn over a Cyclops Tyrant would have been perfect, but unfortunately the only Blood Bairn I see is my first pick in the first booster.

Round 10 vs Giovannetti Simone

Simone plays a UB deck with a lot of flyers, in the first game I won with Blood Bairn plus Tenacious Dead (yes this combo is awesome), in the second game I lost two Tenacious Dead to Wring Flesh and Vile Rebirth and I lost by the card advantage made by Scroll Thief, the third game he goes on a flood and losses by a creature enchanted with Shiv’s Embrace. 8-2

Round 11 vs Ivan Floch

Ivan plays a UR deck but These two games are one-sided, in practice I’ve gotten much advantage by stealing his Messenger Drake and sacrificing it with the Bubbling Cauldron and I won both games this way. 9-2

Round 12 vs Robbert Menten

Robbert plays a GW deck with Primeval Bounty and Kalonian Hydra, in game 1 I mulligan down to five but I stabilized the board with Bubbling Cauldron and Tenacious Dead when he plays the Hydra and attacks for 8 I’m quite dead but in my last draw before I concede I draw Act of Treason on the Hydra and I close the game. In game 2 the board is stalled when he plays Primeval Bounty but thanks to 2 Caludrons always with Tenacious Dead I can race him with Cyclops Tyrant plus Shiv’s Embrace and won the game. 10-2

After this 3-0 I’m even more confident that this archetype is the strongest and so I decide to force it into the second draft here is the list:

2nd Draft

Creatures

2 Tenacious Dead
3 Canyon Minotaur
1 Dragon Hatchling
1 Child of Night
1 Goblin Shortcutter
3 Blood Bairn
1 Academy Raider
1 Cyclops Tyrant
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Scourge of Valkas

Spells

1 Altar’s Reap
1 Liturgy of Blood
1 Shiv’s Embrace
1 Wild Ricochet
2 Volcanic Geyser
1 Act of Treason
1 Quag Sickness

Lands

10 Swamp
7 Mountain

Sideboard

2 Festering Newt

 

 

Round 13 vs Kitanovic Miodrag

Miodrag plays a RG Sliver deck, in game 1 he starts strong with Predatory Sliver followed by two Blur Sliver but I won the race with Child of Night enchanted with Shiv’s Embrace, in game 2 I side in 2 Festering Newt for 1 Dragon Hatchling and 1 Academy Raider he mulligans down to 6 and with the help of the Newt I stall the board until Scourge of Valkas closes the game.
11-2

Round 14 vs Alberto Mattioli

The game is covered here:
Official coverage
12-2

Round 15 vs Luca Casadei

Luca is a friend and we would have preferred to draw, unfortunately we have to play because I’m 11th and he is 13th , so whoever wins goes into top 8, in game 1 I made a choice that could change the game, he missed a land drop and his board is Predatory Sliver, Elvish Mystic and Sliver Construct with two lands I choose to play a Volcanic Geyser for 1 on the elves instead of a Quag Sickness on the sliver next turn he played land and Darksteel Ingot so I went back on the race and when Scourge of Valkas hit the field a Plummet ended the game, in game 2 I side in 2 Festering Newt for 1 Dragon Hatchling and 1 Wild Ricochet my start was good and I played a turn 5 Valkas killing a Giant Spider that had blocked a Canyon Minotaur and the dragon close the game in two turns, in game 3 I play a couple of creatures and he plays Megantic Sliver on turn 5 thanks to Manaweft Sliver I kill the sliver with Liturgy of Blood and continue to attack, on turn 6 he plays Guardian of the Ages but in my next turn I play Scourge of Valkas killing Manaweft Sliver and in two turns the dragon closes again the game.
13-2

Top8

You can find my draft here:
Official coverage

This is my top 8 deck:

Creatures

2 Tenacious Dead
1 Festering Newt
1 Dragon Egg
1 Undead Minotaur
2 Blood Bairn
3 Pitchburn Devils
1 Accursed Spirit
1 Bogbrew Witch

Spells

1 Molten Birth
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Wring Flesh
1 Act of Treason
1 Shiv’s Embrace
2 Bubbling Cauldron
1 Grim Return
1 Barrage of Expendables
1 Volcanic Geyser
1 Flames of the Firebrand

Lands

8 Swamp
9 Mountain

On the site you will also find the matches of the top 8, however, I’ll quickly describe the games, in the quarterfinals I win very easily thanks to the sacrifices strategy of the deck while in semifinal unfortunately I lost without being able to do much because I missed land drops in both games.

Well, in the end forcing red black with the sacrifice strategy gave me a 7-1 record in M14 Drafts so I’ll suggest to try it on your local tournaments!

I wanted to thank Fernando and all the guys at MTGMadness who have cheered for me during the tournament.

I hope you enjoyed, Comment here and ask any question and I’ll answer them.
See you !
Emanuele