This is the miracle story of Polype's road to Honolulu... 

Discuss this article on the forum...

Hi all,

I finally found some time to write a report about this PTQ La Table I won. It was quite incredible and amazing to have that wonderful and exciting feeling when I attacked for the kill in the finals and knowing that I would go to my second Pro Tour.

However, It was also a strange feeling this time because I was really really lucky and there were so many positive things which happened to me during the tourney and other events which could have prevented me from going to Honolulu. Also, I had the chance that all the good players were competing in Japan at the Pro Tour and that all the good French people were playing their Regional; Anyway, I made it and am very proud of that performance; I will give you a report, an analysis of the metagame and an insight of why I took the decision to play dredge eventually. It might be interesting (or not) for some of you who do not know what to play during the upcoming PTQ’s, who knows. I also hope this article could trigger some reactions on the forum and I am sure there are a lot of things which can be debated.

The beginning

I played 3 qualifiers prior to the one I won. For the first two PTQs, I decided to customize a bit more the Next level BIue I played in Berlin in October. I dedicated more cards against the mirror and against faeries and thought the deck could be good again. The field was more control-oriented and zoo was nowhere to be found. There were not so many elf decks and it was faeries/NLB all around

3-1-3

The field was heavy control oriented and I lost randomly against random decks. It also featured a robbery from my side against Mark. He won the first quite easily. In the second, he played 45 elves+ tokens or so but couldn’t get ahead because he sided out his regal foirce. So, he passed the turn, willing to kill me the next turn. I untapped, played the firespout I had in hand and he died because he couldn’t play  the pact. I stole a draw here but….

The other matches were boring like hell. I lost and drew against 2 dutchies who played NLB with blood moon main deck and that card kicked my balls twice (and it was painful). The thing I learned from Auvelais is that I wanted an active deck, which has a solid plan and which is consistent. I still wasn’t willing to take elf because I feel like it is hard to play for me. Emmanuel Delvigne reached the finals with his Dredge deck that day and lost against a dutchie..The deck was very potent but I still felt like it lacked of consistency. I built my own version of dredge since that day but couldn’t decide myself playing it at the next PTQ. I also built a faery deck and I playtested it quite a lot. The deck was good but sometimes, your deck was to slow to beat your opponent.

In Hasselt, I played a lot of mirror matches and it went like this: I win the first, lose the second and…drew some matches because no one had the time to kill the other one… In this PTQ, Peter Vieren won against Sunny Cocks Dude in the finals; I was happy for Peter as he reached his third PTQ finals out of four that day and that one was THE one!

He deserved it so much but on the other hand, I was also sad for Sung who consistently makes top8 in all Belgian PTQ’s and keeps on losing them…your day will come Sung

From that point, I felt really pissed off playing control/slow deck and wanted a deck which does something. So, I toyed again with my good old dredge and I took a list from the net and tuned it a bit. It is more or less the version Emmanuel played in PTQ Auvelais but I changed the sideboard a bit

http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=22570

I went to PTQ Amsterdam with road warrior Alexandre Darras and Tran Minh, his little asian slave J

I went 5-2 and finished 10^th out of 55 players or so. I won some games out of nowhere and I liked the fact that the deck can combo out pretty fast. In a slow environment, this deck shines so much and as expected, it couldn’t be Zoo. My only loss was against a typical zoo deck with the best card against you: mogg fanatic. I also won some games because my opponents just didn’t know how to play against dredge. I was a bit astonished by the overall low level of play in Amsterdam. Honestly, the level of play in Belgium is slightly higher, but it is just me.

Alexandre Darras made top8 and lost directly against desire.

In the car, I felt like the deck could be even better and could tunes out a bit more. I build another version of dredge. I considered playing goblin lore instead of the ideas unbound. Why? Sometimes, dredging for 4 instead of 3 was so huge and so relevant that I wanted to play; I lost some games in tournaments just because I couldn’t put a larger amount of cards in the graveyard. Discarding at random is not that a pain because if you know how to play the deck, you’ll develop first Magus of the bazaar or glimpse of the unthinkable first, meaning that you’ll have a dredge card/utility card/bridges in your hand left. So discarding wasn’t problematic. I had to change the mana base and played 4 cities of brass, a breeding pool (for the golgarigrave troll beating B plan and the flashback of ancient grudge) I just left a ideas unbound in the deck and put 2 golgari thug and one darkblast. If you expect more zoo, 2 thugs are better, if you expect elves, then play 2 darkblast instead of 1

I played some games at Outpost Brussels with Swap, Vincent, Minh, AlexDarras after our regular drafts and the deck was still very good against any kind of blue decks. I went out Friday night prior to PTQ la table with a friend of mine, came back quite late, built a deck for Swap (for nothing because he didn’t show up), took some cards from my binder for Stijn (who didn’t come as well) and made a deck for PhilipV for nothing because he found all the cards and didn’t tell me about that….So..I slept a mere 3 hours and went for action on site, a bit phased out and horribly tired..

Round1: Affinity, hakim Boudaoud, French

Game1: I won with a unexciting hand on turn 15 with narcomoeba bashing and with stinkweed imp keeping the board.

Game2: he won just before I can combo him out

Game 3:  he has the nuts draw but I managed to play a magus of the bazaar; at some point, he attacks with all, take cards into his hand, counts the artifacts cards loudly. I said “ok” each time he took a card in his hand guessing that he sacrificed it, takes back some artifact lands into his hand, I continued to say “ok” and the drama…he just could deal 12 damage and I would have stayed at 1.

Then, he noticed he miscalculated after counting for 4 times or so and put the cards from his hand onto the table and I called the judge because It was obvious that he sacked everything and that he made a mistake. He said he didn’t sacrifice…I said yes you did. I called the judge, he said that he didn’t sacrifice the permanents. I said fine. I combed out on my turn and killed him. Pissed. But I won. We both got a warning beause the game status wasn’t respected or something  like that

1-0

Round2: All-in red, Benoit Heylens, Belgian

Game1: I combo him out on the first, I do not remember

Game2: he managed to kill me with some fanatics and burns.

Game3: he mulliganed to 5 and played a trinisphere. I had just 2 lands and a chrome mox. I just could dredge for 6 each turn with no special action. At some point, he was tapped out, I put into play a fatestitcher, tapped his trinisphere, could play my goblin lore and managed to animate akroma and some tokens. The trinisphere locked him more than me and with the angel on the table, it was to hard for him Phfew!

2-0

Round 3: Death cloud, Yin Zhang, Luxemburg

Game1: I combed turn2 with a magus of bazaar

Game2: he beatdowns me to death with his sculler, played thoughseize. He pathed to exile my magus, putrefied the second one. I died

Game three, in the midgame, he extirpated my bridges but had akroma in the bin, I managed to reanimate akroma and attacked him. His only outs were pathtoexile and deathcloud. I attacked him 3 times, he didn’t draw the solution. Yes!

3-0

Round 4: Zoo, morgane kelterbaum, France

At that time, my eyes were barely open and I got a big burst of fatigue and here came the rain of warnings. I got in this game 3 consecutive warnings during this match.

I first dredged for 7 instead of 6 à warning for showing an extra card.

I attacked with a narcomoeba which was just put into play à warning for illegal attack

I dregdged with my magus of the bazaar during my upkeep but forgot to dredge during my draw step and directly put a land into play à warning for not drawing

I was really angry at myself of the first warning and since this first incident, my fading concentration faded away for good. I got the second and the third because I couldn’t focus anymore on the game. I just couldn’t think….

In summary, it was 1-1 and in the deciding game, I managed to reanimate akroma and attacked her twice, killing her the next turn. She fetched a land end of my turn, I cut, she drew, laughed, and played tribal flame and ANOTHER tribal flame she’s just drawn from the top!! A Craig Jones topdeck in my face..I wasn’t that pissed because I really didn’t deserve to win that one..I drank a cola to boost me up a bit

Round 5: Sunny Cocks, BEL, elf

He concedes to me because he is a nice guy. He was downpaired to me. So lucky..So we were both 4-1 and had to draw in the last to make top8

We play for fun and bashes me 2-0 of course. Then, I kindof panicked because I lost my deck, I couldn’t find it anymore!!…Of course, it was standing two tables next to me..I was really really tired guys….

Round 6: Benoit Cavez, aka Puk

We drew and I made top8. Not really deserved but yeah…Then, I watched all the decks in the top8 and there were 4 elves, 1 death cloud and 2 zoos….ALL REALLY BAD MATCHUPS apart from the clouddeck; My morale wasn’t that high as I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get a shot. Besides, Sung killed me quite easily when we played for fun and of course in the quarters…..

Quarterfinals: Sunny Cocks (of course), elf

I had to play my good old friend Sung. We were a bit pissed because there were no big names in the top8 (no offense for the other players) and we had to play directly each other. Each game we play is usually epic and something weird always happens and this time was no exception.

Game1: he mulligans to 4, I mulliganed to 6. I comboed out just before he kills me.

In his first opening 7, he had 3 chord of callings, in his next 6, just 1 land, in his next 5, no land and nothing relevant. He kept his 4 but it wasn’t enough

Game2: he combos out turn 2 with a mulligan 5. The god draw like land llanowar elf, land glimpse + elf = I die

Game 3: he mulligans to three………………………………………….man, you cannot imagine, really, how this was so bad….he had one landers, no landers…I was really ashamed of this situation. Of course, it can happen but it is always horrible that games are lost just on mulligans…Of course, I had thoughtseize turn1 and I managed to reanimate a blazing archon and he extended his hand. I made a promise to him that I would win this PTQ so he the bitter wouldn’t be so high from his side

Semi-finals: Benoit Cavez, aka Puk, Elf

Game 1 : He won the toss and kills me very fast. His thoughtseize was devastating

Game 2: I managed to combo out; my thoughtseize really shone here

Game3: the incident…

He mulliganed to 5 and I play thoughtseize and  a magus of the bazaar turn2. I start to use the ability of my magus at my upkeep and dredge my card at draw step BUT a 7^th card was revealed while I dredged the golgari-grave troll. Puk called head judge Arnaud Bourdoux and he knew that I had a warning earlier for the same infraction (and also that I might get a game loss for the same warning)

Arnaud indeed told me I receive a game loss and I was so down…Then, I said to Puk, “well look, ok I showed you an extra card and I deserve a warning and the game loss; I accept that ruling fully but I had a full graveyard and a goblin lore in hand meaning that I would kill you this very turn and there’s nothing you can do”. I asked him to kindly concede to me because despite that sticky-randomly-revealed card, I would have won. He thought a bit and said, “ok I concede, good luck in the finals”.

I have to underline Benoît’s honesty and sportsmanship. Few would have done what he did and I really respect him for his decision. Fair-play is still present in this game, even at that level, and I must tell you that he behaved in a very noble way.

Also, Arnaud took the hard decision to cancel his own ruling and told me that Puk conceded before I got the game loss BUT for the next warning, I would get a match loss directly. I also respect Arnaud for this decision and it wasn’t an easy one. He thought that Puk would have lost despite that extra showed card and accepted that Puk conceded.

So, boosted from this sacrifice from Puk, the support from Sung Cocks, and all my friends in the place, I just couldn’t lose that finals. I didn’t have the right to..

Finals: Mathieu jolly, death cloud, France.

He played BG deathcloud and I knew this would be an easy matchup; he told me during that game that he didn’t expect dredge at all and that he basically had nothing special to stop me. He made a lot of suboptimal plays. He also joked o the fact that a warning could mean a free ticket for him to Honolulu.

Game1: he manages to play a bitterblossom. Me I managed to play my lonely ideas unbound and put some dredge cards in the bin. Then, he played jitte, and equipped a token. I was just bahsing him with narcomoeba, gaining some time by darkblasting his tokens before he could block. He was constantly losing life thanks to the bitterblossom and with my little narcomoebas bashing. Then, I managed to reanimate a golgarigrave troll, he took the card and read it for the first time I guess. Then, he tapped out to play a tarmo. I pumped the fist, dredged my darkblast, killing his token, playing fatestitcher from graveyard, tapping his tarmo and attacked.

Game2: I keep a good hand and play magus f the bazaar turn 1 and it got darkblasted. Then I played a thug, he dredged his darkblast, MISSED a land drop and just kills my thug. Then, I dredged it for 4, putting a narcomoeba. At some point, I put a golgari grave troll in my bin and hoping to dredge for more than 4 and to get better utility cards in the graveyard. I had a bridge and the troll. End of turn, he played an EXTIRPATE…on THE BRIDGES and not on my troll!!! He was still stuck at 1 land and me at two. So, I just could dredge for 6 each turn, putting some dudes and he didn’t want to draw and chose instead to dredge his darkblast on my creatures. At some point, he plays a ghost quarter on my land and just have my chrome mox left as mana..My deck cannot win with just one mana. I had a goblinlore in my hand. Thought a bit and decided to draw……A STEAMVENTS! I played my thug, he killed it eot obviously with darkblast. I put a narcomoebas on top and this was key. He went for the drawing plan as well at that moment. He drew his second land, passed and managed to dredge, putting the narco on play directly from the top and played goblin lore, succeeding in putting three creatures on play, sacking all and playing a golgari gravetroll 14/14. I knew he had putrefy and slaughter pact. He was still stuck at 2 mana. He drew, A SPELL. Passed. I attacked for 14. Then, he drew A TARMOGOYF!! At my turn, I played the tapper from my graveyard, attacked him and he extended the hand.

It was so great; I shouted out and all the people came to congratulate me. I needed some time to realize that I qualified for my second pro tour and to THE best location ever! Honolulu!!! The place to be!!!

My props:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Thank you Sung for having conceded to me in the swiss. I know you’ll finally make it!

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Thank you Benoit Cavez for having conceded to me whereas I should have lost the match. Again, I respect your decision and your fair-play

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Arnaud Bourdoux for having changed his ruling. It wasn’t easy to interpret but he took his responsibilities.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Thanks to my opponent in the finals who didn’t want to go to Honolulu

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Thanks you lady luck! No one played a tormod’s crypt or relic against me in so many games.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->I kept the slot in Belgium and will go to my second Pro Tour J

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Raphaël Hermant for having arranged the flight ticket “troubles”

My slops:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->I hate playing while doing mistakes. I really hate that and my fatigue shouldn’t be an excuse of my poor plays but I was really tired.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->Not so many players in that PTQ. We were about 43 players (due to PT Kyoto, due to a big regionals in north of France and Belgian NQ in Destelbergen).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-          <!--[endif]-->My French opponent in round1 who thought I learned to play the week before

There are still some PTQ’s to go in Belgium and Holland! I wish all of you good luck! The dredge deck is good when unexpected but I  wouldn’t play it anymore. Joffrey Patriarca and Vincent Lemoine played it at GP Hannover and got crushed. I do think that it is not a good choice anymore because I feel like many people will take zoo and honestly, it is really your worst matchup. I also suspect people playing some more hate against dredge in their sideboards and to me, Elf is still the best deck; When you just do not think it will be played anymore, good players still post good results with it. It is so consistent and so fast..So, in a zoo-elf metagame, dredge is certainly not a good choice.

Thanks for reading and for posting any feedback or comments on the forum

Polype