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4/10: Athens, Greece Regionals Report *Champion*
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Dimitris Foteinakis
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I decided to write this article after finishing first in the regionals in Athens, Greece a couple of days ago. There were about 120 competitors and 7 rounds of swiss. My one draw was intentional and I didn’t lose a single duel in the entire tournament, finishing with 12-0 in duels. What deck did I play? I played the hardcore version of turbohaups.
When I first saw the decklist here on Mindripper Magic I laughed. Maybe you will do the same as well. But after I started playtesting it, I quickly got hooked and I decided it was the right deck for the enviroment. I made several changes to it and here is my final decklist:
4 Nether Spirit
3 Chimeric Idol
3 Tsabo's Web
4 Vampiric Tutor
3 Obliterate
4 Jokulhaups
3 Seal of Fire
2 Urza's Rage
2 Ghitu Fire
3 Cave-In
2 Geothermal Crevice
4 Sulfer Vent
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Sandstone Needle
4 Peat Bog
4 Crystal Vein
4 Dwarven Ruins
4 Ebon Stronghold
SIDEBOARD:
2 Urza's Rage
3 Unmask
2 Tectonic Instability
3 Smoldering Tar
3 Cremate
1 Obliterate
1 Perish
The best card in the sideboard is without doubt the smoldering tars. Tectonic instability won me some games as well. Unmask was useless. I would recommend dark suspicions as well since the opponent has always 7 non-land cards in hand. The sideboard is only devoted to nether-go, u/w control and counter rebels, since the main deck beats fires 99% without need for SB.
1st match: U/W control with Blinding Angel
First duel I beat him down with a nether spirit and an idol after I obliterated at 9 life. (I try to cast a kicked rage but it gets misdirected on me) I obliterate again soon after that and beat him down a bit more with a second idol. I finish the game with a rage, while my opponent was left with 3 cards in his library. Second duel I side in the entire sideboard except the 3 cremates and perish. The only thing I remember is that I obliterated 4 times! A smoldering tar got him down to 10 and an idol finished the job.
2-0
2nd Match: R/B LD
Not much to write about this game. Since I played 30 lands LD was certainly not a problem. There was a steady flow of lands and I won both games with a spirit and idol beat down.
4-0
3rd match: Fires
This was my favorite matchup. First game he gets a blasto through which gets blocked by my spirit. He also casts a burst and I get to nine, but I cast a haups and start the beatdown with the spirit and a fresh cast idol. He casts a second blastlo a couple of turn later and I answer with a jokalhaups next turn. The second game was even easier than the first, with him not recovering from the first jokalhaups at all. Idol and spirit finish the job once again.
6-0
4th match: Nether-go
This was one of my worst match-ups since there was another spirit I had to deal with. But since he played no thwarts, things got better. First game he beats me down to one with multiple recoils on my spirits and undermines to my spells. I obliterated two or three times and with a combination of burn and idol attacks I managed to win, when he was left with 2-3 more cards to draw. Second game I side in everything except the unmasks and perish. After one obliterate he allows a tectonic instability through not fully understanding its potential I guess. After that I cast a smoldering tar and idols for the quick win.
8-0
5th match: U/W control.
Another tough match-up for me. First game an early spirit started the beat down and an idol got disenchanted. I managed to deliver some damage but then he cast a story circle for black. After that I had to obliterate frequently to deliver some spirit damage until he got white mana. A second idol came in to help and delivered the win with the aid of a rage and seals of fire. Second game I sided in 2 rage, 2 tectonic instability, obliterate, 3 tars. The game didn’t look good since he casted 2 early story circles on black and red, but I obliterated 3 times that game and I played one jokullhaups after he tapped out. I won the game with a smoldering tar (until it got disenchanted) and idols attacks (see tar). I finished the game with a 3 point rage when he tapped out for a fact or fiction and couldn’t prevent the damage.
10-0
I’m in the top 4 and sure to qualify. There were 3 fires players and I. I draw Round 6, although it would be a amusing for me to play it.
6th match: Fires
Intentional draw.
10-0-1
7th match: Fires
I decide not to draw this one, since I wanted to win the tournament. I won easily in both duels with him never recovering from the first jokulhaups I cast, and spirit + idol beatdown taking him to zero life both games.
12-0-1
If you haven’t played in your regional by now, I strongly recommend this deck. Its only problem is ivory mask, but if you play 3 dark suspicions in SB instead of the unmasks you’ll do fine. Also consider playing a keldon necropolis for the annoying circles instead of the perish in SB. I didn’t play it, since I couldn’t get one... Counter rebels are also quite an easy matchup (in playtest 80%) since they tap out often and you can play vampiric tutor for the obliterate without concern for counterspells. 30 lands are absolutely necessary for the deck to function correctly, so if you decide to play the deck, leave those the way they are.
Skies are difficult, but who plays skies? And if someone does he will most probably lose to the other decks and never play against you. The only matchup I didn’t test was turbochant, but those decks are few. The amount of mana this deck can produce is enormous so you can even win with a huge ghitu fire or kicked rage with only 6 lands on the board.
Play this deck, have fun with it and qualify. Don’t forget: This is your last chance to play with your vampiric tutors in standard !!
PROPS:
John and George: The teammates, who insisted on playing the smoldering tart.
George: For finishing 4th with a fires deck we built in the car on our way to the games.
For playing blood oath in SB and offering the evening's highlight by wining a game with blood oath for lands !
Panos: For giving me the cards to finish the deck.
SLOPS:
ME: For failing to successfully cast a kicked rage in the entire tournament.
- Dimitris Foteinakis
el97170@mail.ntua.gr
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