Three and a half months into 2026, and we haven’t had a real tournament report yet. Yes, I know, there was the infamous GeyserMeister 2025 back in January, and that was all the rage. But that was really more of a club party.
Nope, this time, we are in it for real. On Saturday, April 11 2026 I went to Haderslev in the Dano-German borderlands to fight my way through the 2nd Gathering. A tournament that has now become a part of a series, as there was also The Gathering back in October 2024.
Last time it was a complete joy to attend, even though I did not manage to squeeze out as many wins from my RUG Burn deck, as I have sometimes done. This time, it was to be (a bit) different…
My deck
… In several aspects of the word, but for starters because I had chosen another deck as my weapon for the day. On the surface of it, maybe not very far from my deck from last time – at least not in terms of cards – but even though both decks try to win without ever using the combat step, more than a fourth of the cards are different, and the two decks are very different beasts to handle.
Last time I played a deck, where I would simply try to play as many direct burn spells as possible – as fast as possible.
This time, I went with a little more finesse, and assembled this beautiful beast:
Yes, as mentioned, I recently finished my playset of Beta Forks, and of course I had to use them, first chance I got.
This is a deck I have been playing on/off for some time now. I have played an iteration of it at a tournament once before, and it is a deck that really requires practice – and some luck…
It is a deck with a rather wild playstyle – I have never played another deck that uses its life total as a resource as much as this one does. It may look like a fast combo deck, and I assure you it has the possibility to play as such with the right hand, but often you simply take as many turns as possible to assemble the needed cards, and then just try to go off, right before your opponent pushes through the last points of damage – much to several of my opponents’ chagrin.
I’ll admit now, that it was also quite a stressful day in Haderslev, this Saturday, because of the whole “using my life as a resource” thing.
But that is getting ahead of ourselves. I haven’t even introduced the sideboard yet. It looked like this:
The Tranquilities was mostly there to combat Underworld Dreams and to some extent Circle of Protection: Red. The Blood Moon+Islands package was something I wanted to try, because I had discovered that the deck often runs just fine in the face of an opposing Blood Moon, so why not try to surprise my opponents by playing one myself? The rest of the cards are hopefully pretty self-explanatory, as I am not about to go more into detail about them…
What, how, when, who?
The very important token praise of the tournament organizers! THANK YOU! It was a great setup – again – with free beer, and already paid-for food. The price structure was vast and I may have been a bit lost, at all the different ways one could win in the tournament, but I like the style.
All in all it was a blast! And of course the company was absolutely mind-blowing. I think we were 66 players from all over Denmark (and a couple from Germany/Spain) and from my first entry into the club house, where the event was hosted, I felt in good hands and among friends. I could ask for no more.
This tournament had a bit of a different start for me. Normally you would see a roadtrip picture here, but no. Not this time. This tournament coincidentally fell on the same day, my family had other business in Haderslev, so I was going there with them. That was not as fun as the normal roadtrip, but I got there, and five minutes later team mates Teis, Rasmus and Per arrived. What a day we had in front of us!
I had set the following goals for my participation in the tournament. Besides having fun and doing crazy shit with very old cardboard, I wanted to:
- Win at least three out of seven rounds
- Take at least four extra turns in one game
- Play Fork on something broken from my opponent
- Win without using Fireball – preferably by Forking my own Braingeyser
- Use Blood Moon to great effect
- Use Tranquility for something relevant
Yes, I know: ambitious targets. But let’s see, how I did then…
Round one: Asge on LionAtog
Getting cast right into the frey, I was up against Asge with a very aggressive and potent LionAtog deck in round one. I don’t know if he also played Dibs, I never saw any, but he did play a helluva lot of burn. Including Ankh of Mishra, Black Vise and Psionic Blast.
In game one I manage to stick a Howling Mine until I am able to go Time Walk – Fork in turn four. It takes me seven turns in a row, before I am able to actually create a lethal Fireball. But I manage!
In game two I keep quite the hand. After Asges turn one Lion I go Black Lotus, Library of Alexandria, Timetwister. Unfortunately the seven cards I draw contain no restricted goodness, and I have to spend several Lightning Bolts and a Fireball to try to stop Asges onslaught of Lions (three) and Atogs (two). My life totals goes down, and I simply don’t get to do anything relevant before it is too late.
Asge is fast out of the gates again in game three. Vise, Ankh, and several burn spells. I don’t do much, after a game one with seven turns in a row, my deck is taking a breather I guess. At one point Asge plays his Timetwister, which gives me an absolutely insane hand. I am at six life. Asge has tapped out except for his Black Lotus, but I manage to play around a potential Psionic Blast and take the win. With a heavy breath. That came very close.
2-1
1-0
Round two: Asbjørn on UR “something”
As you may figure from my description of Asbjørns deck, this was a bit of a strange round. I never really got to understand what he was playing, and he is known to not play stock lists.
Asbjørn muligans the first game, and I start out with a Library of Alexandria. Unfortunately he has kept a hand with a Strip Mine. In his turn three he follows up with a Blood Moon. I have to orb the moon to get my game going, and at some point he plays Braingeyser x=2 which I can Fork for good measure. He has Black Vise in play, but I am able to Time Walk Fork play a Mirror universe and Channel Fireball Asbjørn to death. I love double Time Walk into Mirror Universe!
Game two is a bit longer. I keep a shaky hand. Asbjørn plays turn one mox Walk into Orb my first land. He follows up with Vise and two Factories all while my life totals just keeps dwindling. Asbjørn plays no less than two Blood Moons, which I am able to somewhat ignore. At six life I play my Mirror Universe and hope for the best. I go to two, Asbjørn plays Timetwister and a Black Vise. I am able to Mirror with lethal Vise damage on the stack, and kill him. But it was a VERY close game.
4-1
2-0
Round three: Jeppe on ErhnieGeddon
I played against Jeppe the last time I attended The Gathering too. I think he was somewhat eager for revenge, as I won that match with a no-lander in game three…
In the first game my life total has an eerie tendency to downward spiraling. Lions and green monsters beat at me. At some point I manage to land a Mirror Universe which saves me when I am only at five life. I win the game without the use of Fireball!
In game two I bolt some birds, but I do not get a second land until round four or so. Jeppes’ onslaught is too much this time, and when I am finally getting into it, he slams an Armageddon…
In game three it is somewhat back and forth. I try to keep his monsters at bay, orbing and then Earthquaking two Erhnam Djinns. I manage to squeeze a win out of a Pisonic Blast and a Lightning Bolt with double Fork. Just before Jeppe was able to relieve me of my last couple of life points.
Phew.
6-2
3-0
Round four: Vince on Robots
In round four I am up against a new friend. A very friendly Spanish guy from Germany, Vince.
We were playing on table one, and I think it was streamed somehow somewhere. Unfortunately my side of the table was not that interesting TV…
In game one I keep a turn one Sylvan Library hand. Unfortunately the Sylvan doesn’t really show me anything but Forks and lands. Vince, on the other hand, leads with Factory Sol Ring, into Factory Su-chi and then another Su-Chi in turn three. Vince was never able to produce any colored mana, I think, but he didn’t need it, because I didn’t do anything.
Unfortunately game two looks a lot like game one. I mulligan and keep a bit of a bad hand. I have no red mana sources, a Fork and couple of Lightning Bolts and a Library of Alexandria. I hope the Loa will get me out of the pickle in a timely – and stylish – fashion.
Vince has another plan. He mulligans into turn two Triskelion… And then Orbs my Loa before I get to use it. It was a very short game…
The two games were so fast, I didn’t even get to take a picture!
6-4
3-1
This round was a bit sad – not because I didn’t win, but because the deck really didn’t behave – but it is expected from the deck that it will fail sometimes. And it was a great pleasure to meet and play against Vince. Will recommend!
Round five: Simon “I sleep to dubstep” on the Deck
As always, I was happy to see, I was paired against Simon. Because of the always great company. I was less happy to see, I was paired against Simon, because he plays a great deck and he does so very skillfully.
But we shuffle them up, we both mulligan, and I go first.
Right into turn one Sylvan into turn two Wheel of Fortune after Simon has spent his first turn playing Ancestral Recall.
My wheel was apparently very lucky – not that I drew an insane hand, but it left Simon mana screwed as he didn’t play his second land before round four or so. And at that point I Fork his Demonic Tutor and play more or less all my restricted cards, but not really doing anything to win, while Simon struggles with his mana. It was a very strange game that I end up winning after Forking my Fireball some turns later.
In game two I play a turn one Library of Alexandria, which Simon swiftly Tutor-Strips. After this, I don’t do much, and I lose to some Factories some card-advantage and a Psionic Blast.
Game three is also interesting. I lead with turn one Blood Moon (!). In my turn two I am able to Fork my own Tutor into Sapphire Ancestral Recall. I draw a lot of lands. Luckily my Moon keeps Simon from doing much the whole game, even though he draws extra cards from his book. He never finds a white source with a Disenchant. And he never finds one of the THREE Shivan Dragons in his deck. One of those would probably have done great against me. Lucky again, I guess.
8-5
4-1
4-1 is really not what I am used to. I was quite happy at this point. The deck was really behaving and I was doing all sorts of crazy things. Even the sideboard Moon plan had worked!
Round six: Søren on non-powered MonoBlack
What a time to be alive! Another new friend, I have never played against before. Such a pleasure. Søren was all you want in an opponent at a tournament: Polite, interested, well-playing and friendly. It was great meeting you.
In game one I keep a rather sketchy hand with no real plans other than a turn two Sylvan. Søren plays a Black Knight and I get some bad vibes, as one of the worst cards I can face is the Underworld Dreams…
And yes, he slams an underworld four or five turns in, when I am still not doing anything. Then I die…
Game two is very close and full of me trembling. I do crazy shit: Turn two Tutor into turn three Fork my Ancestral, but I am so worried that Søren will just play and Underworld Dreams and kill me. At one point I am able to Mana Flare into Time Walk and deal just enough damage with Channel Fireball to win the game (at two life). It took some time to do the math and I was almost passing the turn with the Mana Flare in play, to make sure I had enough mana the next turn. Søren had a Drain Life in hand, so lucky I didn’t pass…
Game three is even more close! It is a long one. Søren plays Vise and Dreams. I play Fastbond, Moxes and Mine. I play a Mirror Universe at some point and have to change our lives (14 – 20) because Søren plays a Disk. He blows the disk and kills my Mines. I am able to Tranquility his Underworld Dreams, but he rebuilds the board with several knights, and I end up at four life with Søren at two, and have to draw some kind of direct damage (Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Psionic) to win the game.
I take my turn and simply plays the top card of my library.
A Lightning Bolt…
Phew!
What a round of Magic that was. I am sorry, Søren, that you had to experience the “bolt-from-the-top-for-the-win”-move twice in the tournament. It was really, really close!
10-6
5-1
And with that, we are on to…
Round seven: Jakob on some kind of Erhnam on Ice maybe? A really cool UGW deck
Let’s be honest, I owe Jakob one. The last time we met, I dealt eight damage to his face in his first upkeep of the game…
I was not exactly going to let that hinder my chances of winning this round, but being the good guy I am, I started the round by apologizing. Jakob is a wall-to-wall great guy and he accepted my apology.
And then he continued to whoop me.
The first game is a rather long one. I play some draw spells, while he plays some creatures and a Mind Twist. I try to go of through a forked Walk, but I die to his Mana Drain on my Fireball…
In game two, I have a bit more luck. I Fork Jakobs Demonic Tutor (one of my all time favorite plays by now), and find my Time Walk. I Time Walk, Fork – Timetwister into Channel Fireball…
In game three my notes simply say “turn one Howling Mine.” But it gets destroyed, and the rest of the notes are just my life totals going down rather quickly until reaching a zero…
11-8
5-2
Qualifying for top8!
Yes! I did it, I qualified for top8 in the tournament. Seventh out of 66 players!
I very rarely place among the top players in the tournaments I attend, but this was a welcome surprise. Especially because my deck and my opponents, as well as the atmosphere, the teammates and everything in between had been top-notch the whole day.
Unfortunately I had not anticipated anything near a 5-2 streak, so I had plans to go home after the swiss. Plans that were not easily changed. So yes, I dropped… Unfortunately. I would have met Vince in the quarter finals, and it would have been a joy to get a rematch against him. But no such luck. I guess Team Metageyser now have two modes: We end up at the very bottom of the scale, or we drop out of top8 (as Rasmus did at LIC last year)…
Anyway, I was very happy with the day, and I got to ride home with my family. It had been a great day.
I also achieved all of my goals for the day – even though my win without Fireball was not with a Forked Braingeyser. The day will come!
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