… I found that I should probably never again try my hand at a turbo Fog deck. But that is getting very much ahead of things.
The important thing here is to say that it happened again! Yet another insanely well-crafted tournament on the Jutland peninsula. A lovely well-crafted tournament indeed. Indeeeeed (get it?).
Jonas Brincher, the man behind the ever-so-successful and immensely enjoyable tournament series At the Mountains of Madness (Link, Link and Link) had created a new format with a lot more room than his normal endeavors.
Normally, one of the things that appeal to me At the Mountains of Madness, is that it is a rather small gathering. It is also very loose and has a reputation of being one of the “easiest” tournaments to win, because there is a very casual atmosphere. In short, it is the closest thing one gets to a “kitchen table” vibe in a tournament in Denmark. At least that I have experienced. It really feels like a gathering of friends around some tables, just playing Magic to have a great time.
This tournament, The Whisperer in Darkness, on the other hand, had room for more than a 100 players, so I must say that even though I have all the the faith in Jonas’ ability to create a great tournament, I was uncertain whether it was possible to get the same feeling with almost a 100 players, as you are able to get with 40.
As always, my considerations and worries were in no way needed. As I should have come to expect nowadays, the tournament was a complete blast! 82 people had decided to show up, making it one of the largest Danish Old School tournaments to date. 82! That’s a lot, and this was even during a snow blizzard in the part of Denmark, the tournament was held.
And suffice to say, those 82 people were not there to be all too serious about playing. At least not all of them. It was a three-day spectacle going down from Friday afternoon with a two-headed giant tournament; over the main OS Swedish B/R, Ravenna reprint rules tournament Saturday; unsleved madness Saturday evening and then a Premodern tournament Sunday.
I was only there for the main tournament. You know, family and work obligations and all. Blahblah. No-one-is-interested.
But when fellow team Metageyser member Teis and I arrived at around 10-o-clock after a full two-and-half-hours drive, the place was already buzzing, and I instantly knew that this would be exactly what Brincher tournaments are now known for: a relaxed atmosphere; great prices; an organizer in complete control making everything look easy and just space to feel free to enjoy the game of Old School Magic exactly like you like most – either playing for the top8, or acknowledging that the real party is around table 36-41…
Some preparations were in order
So, as I have already hinted as well as the name of the tournament did, there was a Lovecraftian theme to this tournament as well. It seems to very much be a thing for Brincher.
He promised prices for the most H.P. Lovecraft inspired deck(s) on the day. I have to admit, that I have actually never really read anything by Lovecraft, but when Brincher announced that the price for this exact feat was a collection of short stories by the man himself, I of course had to try to win it. Which meant three things: I had to go to the brewery; I had to figure out which cards could be said to be Lovecraftian; I would probably stay around table 36-41 all day…
The first card I knew I wanted to play was Darkness. It was in the title of the tournament, and I have been brewing on a Fog-less Turbo Fog for some time now (LINK). I then came to realize that another Fog-effect was also within the Lovecraft theme: Festival. Then it was on. But how to build the rest of the deck?
I didn’t feel like Millstone would really do it, but Underworld Dreams was very Lovecraft to me. Ivory Tower also has some merit here. And then, of course, Demonic Hordes, the black restricted cards, The Abyss, some Mazes of Ith and Howling Mine. I topped it off with white removal and a single Armageddon, just to have some relevant cards in there. For the sideboard I chose to stay somewhat within theme when I added Ankh of Mishra and Worms of the earth. Another Armageddon was also part of the theme, and then I wanted to add a set of Black Vise to be able to sideboard out all the Fog Effects and Abyss for something more relevant against creature-light decks.
It ended up looking like this:
It is actually a very tight list. As long as you acknowledge that you have to play seven Fog-effects. Otherwise, not so tight.
I tested the deck a couple of games against some of my Wednesday Wizards and it was okay. If it gets going, it is difficult to kill. But “gets going” means resolving and keeping Ivory Tower, Howling Mine, Underworld Dreams and a Maze of Ith or two on the board.
So the plan was not to run into any decks playing Disenchant or artifact removal. Let’s see how that went…
Round 1 against Brian Dam
But first, we have to know what we were aiming to do. For this tournament I had set the following succes criteria:
- Win at least one round
- Win at least one game with the main board and one with the sideboard plan (Ankhs, Vises)
- Armageddon!
- Build a prison: Ankh, Howling, Vise, Underworld Dreams
- Resolve Demonic Hordes
- Play every Lovecraft-themed card
I know, I know, not the most exciting aims, but it was clear already when designing the deck, that this would not be a deck capable of doing great things. But luckily we play Armageddon.
As always, I will try to keep it rather short in the description of the matches, but probably also as always, it will probably be rather long anyway.
In the first round I was up against Brian Dam whom I also met At the Mountains of Madness. He is still on a really cool green-blue control deck with Counterspells, Power Sinks, Amnesia, Sylvan Library, Ivory Tower, Crumble and Su-Chis and Mahamothi Djinns to finish things off. I really like his deck. It did kill me again though. And in two rather short games even. It was never really close. Brian’s deck is filled with great albeit not-played-enough cards, and I simply never stood a chance. Not even after I boarded out most of the creature removal.
It was a great game though, and I enjoy playing against Brian – both because he is a really friendly guy, but also because it is so cool to see these kinds of decks that are not looking like every other deck out there. Maybe especially because Brian has been working on it for a long time – it is always great to see people working on something out of love.
Round 2 against Kjell Aker
I have never had the pleasure to play against Kjell before. He was playing a The Deck kind of deck with a lot of great cards.
Somehow I manage to win game one on the back of no less than four Howling Mines and three Underworld Dreams. At one point I played a rather important Armageddon. In the end Kjells two Disenchants were just not enough.
Game two was over fast, as I drew almost nothing but lands and do-nothings (quite a problem in this deck!) even though I had of course boarded out most of my creature control package.
Game three was long and fun. I drew all my Howling Mines, Ankhs, Vises and Underworld Dreams throughout the game, but Kjell had removal for the important ones. And I think he got around 15 life out of a Fountain of Youth! We ended up going in time. In the fourth extra round I drew the last cards in my library and said go. Kjell drew three out of six cards in his library. Played Demonic Tutor to search his remaining three cards for Recall to play it for one to retrieve his Ancestral Recall and play it on me for his last available mana to kill me! Such a great way to end a fun game.
I am still not sure how I could have drawn more cards throughout the game than Kjell, he played his Ancestral Recall twice in the game (thrice, actually, but the last time it was aimed at me). Maybe we’ve missed some cards from Howling Mines, maybe there is something else I am missing. It doesn’t matter, it was a fun game, and a great ending!
On to…
Round 3 against Karsten Korsgaard
I have played Karsten a couple of times in the past. It is always an enormous joy. And often he has build something really crazy. That was also the case this day.
Karsten had brought a really spicy mono white deck with great highlights like Personal Incarnation, Cyclopean Tomb, Healing Salve, Equinox!
Game one goes really long! At some point I manage to resolve Demonic Hordes. Karsten destroys my Howling Mines, but I am also able to hold his Personal Incarnation and his Factories at bay. In the end he draws out!
Game two was a bit more simple. Karsten is a bit screwed at the beginning of the game. I screw him somewhat more by mind twisting his five cards away, and even though he plays an early Equinox that is very annoying because it hinders my Armageddon, he taps out at some point to get into the game before I lock everything down. That’s when I get my chance and play a really back-breaking Armageddon that Karsten is not really able to recover from. I have an Ankh of Mishra and an Underworld Dreams in play. It is quickly over from here!
In round five I walked down to look at Karsten play. He was playing against another guy playing Equinox! What are the odds?! Only around table 36-41. That game ended with Karsten tapping his land on which his opponent had played a Psychic Venom, only to Eye for an Eye the damage from the Venom to kill his opponent! This is the really awesome part of Old School in my book.
Round 4 against Teis Syvsig
Not exactly impressive, but the only other team member in the room was also 1-2. So we met to fight with everything on the line.
But it was really fast. Teis played a cool blue-black midrange aggro deck with Hypnotic Specters, Serendibs, Psionics and other cool stuff. The two games took around 20 minutes. And I lost. Badly. Even though this matchup should be the one good matchup my deck should have. I drew a lot of Darkness and Festivals, but it was not enough as I was just drawing out time and then was beaten to a pulp. This is the central problem with Fog decks, if you only draw the Fog effects, you will never really do anything.
I didn’t even get to take a single photo before I was destroyed.
Round 5 against Anders Olesen
I am up against Anders. I have never played him before, but he is a regular at the Danish Old School scene. He was a joy to play against, and we had also been sitting at the same table when eating lunch talking about the insanity that is modern cards – and much more.
Anders was playing a rather spiky Robot deck! That was not what I was expecting, being up against in round five after going 1-3. Anders mentioned that it wasn’t exactly what he was expecting either…
Anyway, it was a couple of fast games. The one thing I want to highlight is the end of game one where I have two Dreams and a Howling Mine in play. After his draw, Anders is at three life, and I am at two. His draw was… A Psionic Blast. He shoots me dead and ends up with just one remaining life. Close!
Game two is over very quickly. I simply don’t draw enough of my white removal, and then Su-Chi is too much for me. So much, in fact, that again I had not time to take a photo of the slaughter.
With a glorious record of 1-4 (thanks Karsten!), I am on to
Round 6 against Jocke
And just as in the last round, how is it possible to meet an Atog deck at this point of the tournament and with a measly record like mine! I was ready to meet unpowered decks playing Psychic Venom and Cuombajj Witches at this point. Not a fully powered, very deadly deck with a potent player behind it!
Anyway, I don’t think I have played against Jocke before, but he seems to always attend the tournaments Jonas Brincher organizes – Jocke is a wise man like that! It was not a great joy playing, as I was getting a bit tired of my very poor deck, and Jocke quite ruthlessly squashed me in two short games where I had nothing to do.
But it was an immense pleasure to talk with Jocke afterwards about anything and everything Magic related. And to look at his crazy, altered cards. It does take some amount of insanity to order an altar of an Alpha Mox!
And then it was time for the last
Round 7 against Jeppe Nielsen
I have never met Jeppe before, but as you would think, he was a great guy. He was also the guy who died to an Eye for an Eye’d Psychic Venom against Karsten in round five. So I had some knowledge as to what I was getting into.
Game one was a really long one that ended with me having three Dreams and two Howling Mines in play alongside an Ivory Tower and the Abyss. It was too much for Jeppe, even though he had played two Copy Artifact copying my Ivory Tower. I had to find the Disenchants before it was possible to get the job done.
Game two was more of the same, but now also with Ankhs. But the combination of Underworld Dreams and the different lock parts showed to be enough to close an epic tournament in the Jutland RIdge with a win for me!
2-5 and all goals achieved except for one: I did not get to play all my Lovecraft-inspired cards. Worms of the Earth was never played. What a pity. I will have to play that soon to remedy this!
Prices and afterthoughts
After this, it was time for some prices. As tradition will have it, Jonas always makes sure to make several people win something at his tournaments. Often rather cool things even. The person who finished last got a playset of unlimited Ironclaw Orcs. Best spicy decks got some spice sauce. And then there was the price I was there for! The price for best Lovecraft-themed deck.
And finally I won something! Yes! My torment playing hopelessly bad cards throughout an entire seven-round tournament was over, and it resulted in the exact outcome I had hoped for. The price for my misery was a collection of short stories and a really sweet Unlimited Zombie Master. So nice. Worth it! As mentioned, I have actually never read Lovecraft, so it is most certainly about time!
Of course, the other Lovecraft prize went to Simon “I-Sleep-To-Dubstep” Rokkjær. He still owns and plays an almost fully Cthulu altered The Deck. I had him sign my new book. Jonas Brincher too. What a treasured relic this is to me now!
For the afterthoughts there is not much to say, really. The deck was bad – not least in a sea of Disenchants! – and there are simply some intrinsic and very basic problems in playing Fog effects. They are not removing any problems. They just prolong the suffering. It is rather the same as if you keep Twiddling your Time Vault but don’t have any Howling Mines in play. It may look cool, but it will not really further your game plan. So what should one have in play to make it work? Well, The Abyss is an obvious answer. Often Millstone is also played – I tried Underworld Dreams – but none of these remove the problems. Wrath of God does and is also relevant, and I often play one to two in this kind of deck, but couldn’t find the room for it here.
As mentioned in the beginning, the tournament was awesome though. And I genuinely enjoyed every minute of it, even though my deck was not necessarily what one would call a joy. Around so many so great people, and with a very assuring feeling that the organizer is in control and has arranged everything with an apparent aim of making every attendee have the greatest possible time, it is a real challenge to stay bitter.
As always a big thanks to my opponents and all the great people in the room. I talked to several people I have not met before, and felt I made new friends. What a gift that is!
Now I will crawl back into the dungeon, read my new book and start brewing on something new with all the great cards I traded for with the awesome guys at Tier1MtG who were also present. But I will get back to you on that.
Until next time!
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