Grand Prix Buenos Aires

Buenos Dias

Back at Pro Tour Hollywood the word on everyone's lips was Faeries.  What's the best deck?  Faeries.  What's the most popular deck? Faeries.  Which deck can you not stand playing against?  Faeries.  What we found out at PT Hollywood was that even though it was far and away the most popular deck, there are plenty of ways to beat Faeries as long as you have the proper sideboard.  And as long as you were willing to pack said hate, then you had a number of options when choosing which deck to play.  Several weeks later here at Buenos Aires, we find that much of our conclusions regarding Hollywood still hold true.  Check out the metagame breakdown for Day Two from GP Buenos Aires.  You can see all 64 decks that made Day Two here. 

Colors Deck Name Number Percentage Faeries 21% Elves 18% Reveillark 12% Big Mana 12% Merfolk 12% Doran 6% Red Deck Wins 4% Rock 3% Tokens 3% Elves 3%   Quick'n Toast 1% Gassy Knoll 1%  - Made Top 8   - Made Day Two

Faeries is still number one, but not by the margin we've seen over the past couple of tournaments.  Two players, Santiago Guzzetti and Divaldo Domicent, were able to finish Day One with a perfect 8-0 record piloting this deck, and Paulo Vitor da Rosa found himself on 7-1 with the same deck that saw him make Top 8 at PT Hollywood.  But at the end of the Day Two, PVDR fell one win short finishing on 30 points in 20th place. Behind Faeries was  Elves, which had one perfect record on Day One in the form of Francisco Braga.  Most of the Elves decks were very similar to the Charles Gindy version that won at Hollywood (meaning Chameleon Colossus.  Then we have standard mainstays Reveillark,   Big Mana, and Merfolk.

Doran decks still seem to be on the decline, as more players choose to go the more streamline approach with Elves.  We'll have to wait and see whether an infusion of Eventide can help this deck return to prominence.  Next, we have the latest incarnation of Red Deck Wins, designed by Tomoharu Saito, played by him and Shuuhei Nakamura.  

Red Deck Wins

Tomoharu Saito & Shuuhei Nakamura, 22nd & 28th GP Buenos Aires

Creatures 4 Ashenmoor Gouger 4 Blood Knight 4 Demigod of Revenge 4 Magus of the Moon 4 Magus of the Scroll 4 Mogg Fanatic 24 cards Other Spells 4 Flame Javelin 4 Incinerate 4 Shock 12 cards

Lands 2 Ghitu Encampment 3 Keldon Megaliths 19 Mountain 24 cards Sideboard 4 Lash Out 3 Manabarbs 4 Murderous Redcap 4 Sulfur Elemental 15 cards

 

RDW, straightforward as always.  Efficient creatures, efficient burn, use Magus of the Moon to screw up your opponent's mana long enough to burn them out.  When asked about the deck, Shuuhei Nakamura said he was really unhappy with Ashenmoor Gouger, and would have preferred Tattermunge Maniac in the spot.  Apparently, playing a 4/4 is not what this deck wants to be doing on Turn 3, and he said it needs more early game.  So that's just something to think about if you're looking to tinker with this deck.  Anyway, both players had respectable Top 32 finishing allowing Shuuhei to make a little more room in the PotY race, but more on that later.

Then at the bottom of the metagame, we have a couple of Rock decks that are basically Elves decks that wanted to play more removal and less creatures, versions of the  Tokens deck popularized by Stuart Wright back at PT Hollywood, and two  Elf decks that traded in their Profane Commands for Flame Javelin.  We also find the fourth and final undefeated player of Day One, Olivier Ruel, who was the only French player to find success on Day One with the Quick'n Toast deck.  You could see it was going to be a rough day for fellow Frenchman Guillaume Wafo-Tapa when he got steamrolled in his first match against Damian Llorente playing  Big Mana.  That's two tourneys in a row that Guillaume doesn't make Day Two, after the preceding two tournaments where he fell just short of Top 8.

Last, but not least, we have a single copy of Gassy Knoll, which not only made Day Two, but went all the way to the Top 8.  Remember the deck that Pat Chapin and Gab Nassif showed up with at Worlds 2007 and got them all the way to the Semifinals where they faced off in one of the greatest matches of the last couple years?  Yeah, well it's back.

Gassy Knoll

Felipe Alves Pellegrini Grand Prix Buenos Aires Top 8

Creatures 0 cards Other Spells 4 Empty the Warrens 4 Grapeshot 4 Lotus Bloom 4 Manamorphose 4 Pyromancer's Swath 4 Rift Bolt 4 Rite of Flame 4 Shard Volley 4 Shock 4 Tarfire 40 cards

Lands 4 Fungal Reaches 4 Molten Slagheap 8 Mountain 4 Spinerock Knoll 20 cards Sideboard 4 Guttural Response 3 Ignite Memories 4 Magus of the Moon 4 Martyr of Ashes 15 cards

 It's the deck everyone forgot about.  In this version, Felipe choose to play Empty the Warrens as the alternative win condition in place of Dragonstorm.  But the questions he was asking were the same as with Chapin's deck: Can you kill me before my Lotus Bloom comes into play?  And for most, the answer was... No.  Following 14 rounds of Swiss, this Brazilian sat on 35 points (11-1-2), tied at the top of the standing with 3 other players.  Joining him in the Top 8 were fellow countrymen Ivan Fox playing  Big Mana, Francisco Braga with   Elves, and Adrian Degaspare playing Rock.  From Argentina, we had both Nicolas Bevacqua and Sebastian Pozzo playing Reveillark, and Damian Buckley with Faeries.  These 7 men had a combined total of ZERO GP/PT Top 8's before this event, and standing in their ways was Olivier Ruel with the French concoction, Quick'n Toast, and his 26 previous Top 8's.  You can find the player profiles here and Top 8 decklists here. 

Top Ocho

Quaterfinals
Damian Buckley ( Faeries) vs Ivan Taroshi Fox (  Big Mana )

Both players started slow with suspend Ancestral Vision and Harmonize.  Fox had Chameleon Colossus, which was bounced and then sent to the bottom of his library by Cryptic Command into Vendilion Clique.  Ivan got a second Colossus on board, and tried to pump it for lethal damage, but Buckley had another Command, and some Scion of Oona-enhanced Faerie tokens flew in to take Game 1.  Buckley had Scion of Oona followed by Bitterblossom to begin Game 2 while Fox accelerated his mana.  An evoked Cloudthresher promised to buy Fox a couple of turns, but with no answer to Bitterblossom, Faerie tokens and counter magic from Buckley was enough to take Game 2 and advance 2-0.

Sebastian Pozzo ( Reveillark ) vs Francisco Braga (  Elves )

Pozzo had to mulligan twice to start Game 1, while Braga had Wren's Run Vanquisher, Civic Wayfinder, and Imperious Perfect.  Game 1 quickly goes to Braga.  Game 2 saw a much slower start for Braga, while Pozzo had Sower of Temptation, which stole a Vanquisher, and a Mulldrifter allowing him to be the beatdown.  A removal-less hand for Braga forced him into unfavorable blocks on several turns until he finally conceded.  In Game 3, Braga had the good start with a Llanowar Elves, Treetop Village, and Tarmogoyf.  The players traded creatures for several turns, leading up to the following scenario: it was Braga's turn with Mutavault and two Llanowar Elves, while Pozzo was on 2 Life with a Faerie Conclave and a Greater Gargadon sitting in limbo with 2 suspend counters on it.  Braga sends in the team, Pozzo activates the Conclave, then sacrifices his mana sources to the Gargadon.  As the Gargadon hits play, Braga has the Terror to take care of it, allowing him to force through 2 damage and take the match 2-1. 

Nicolas Bevacqua ( Reveillark ) vs Felipe Alves Pellegrini ( Gassy Knoll )

In Game 1, Pellegrini got stuck on 2 lands, one of which was a Molten Slagheap that got bounced by a Venser, Shaper Savant after a few charges.  Bevacqua wins easily.  Game 2, Pellegrini got lands.  While tapped out, Bevacqua tried to stop Pellegrini from going nuclear with a Pact of Negation on Pyromancer's Swath, but double Tarfire, Grapeshot, second Swath, second Grapeshot meant we would see a Game 3.  A Magus of the Moon by Pellegrini saved his early game after having to mulligan to five.  He attacked with the Magus for several turns until Bevacqua found a couple of Coldsteel Hearts to cast two Reveillarks.  Facing lethal damage, Pellegrini went for the combo with Lotus Bloom, Tarfire, Shock, and then Ignite Memories.  At 10 life, Bevacqua did not survive when Reveillark and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir were revealed.  Pellegrini advances 2-1.

Olivier Ruel ( Quick'n Toast ) vs Adrien Degaspare ( Rock )

 When last we saw Olivier Ruel in a Top 8, it was GP Shizuoka and Olivier was making his record setting 22^nd GP Top 8 where he lost to Yuuta Takahashi in a Faerie mirror match.  This time around Olivier was playing the deck designed to beat Faeries at PT Hollywood.  Game 1, Olivier had no early game to contend with Degaspare's double Llanowar Elves, Treetop Village, and Kitchen Finks.  Olivier's Wall of Roots was removed, and his Firespout wasn't enough to stop the Finks and man-land.  Degaspare leads 1-0.  A less aggressive hand from Adrien in Game 2 allowed Ruel to setup.  That meant Degaspare's creatures were first stopped by a Teferi's Moat and then Damnation from Olivier after Adrien found a Krosan Grip for the Moat.  That's when Olivier played Platinum Angel.  Adrien tried to Profane Command the Angel, but Ruel had a Pact of Negation to stop the Command. Ruel didn't even need to pay for the Pact because of the Angel, what a deal!  Several beats from the Angel tied the match at 1.  Degaspare had the quick start in Game 3 with Turn 1 Treetop Village, Turn 2 Tarmogoyf, Turn 4 Chameleon Colossus.  Olivier had to Damnation.  Adrien used Mind Shatter to empty Ruel's hand, but Olivier had a Pact of Negation to keep his cards.  But this time Olivier did have to pay the cost, meaning he was tapped out for Degaspare's next turn, which was double Treetop Village pumped with Garruk Wildspeaker.  With no way to deal with the man-lands, Ruel lost to the next attack.  Sorry Olivier, that record-extending 23^rd GP Top 8 does not end in victory; Degaspare advances 2-1.

Semifinals
Damian Buckley vs Felipe Alves Pellegrini

Game 1 started as one would expect from this matchup, with Buckley sitting on counter magic as a small army of Faeries dwindling Pellegrini's life total.  The first time Pellegrini tried to go off, Damian had a Spellstutter Sprite to stop a Rite of Flame.  The next turn, he had Cryptic Command to counter Felipe's Lotus Bloom and bounce a Spinerock Knoll.  On the following turn, all Pellegrini could muster was four measly goblin tokens from Empty the Warrens and a second Cryptic Command sealed Game 1 for Buckley. 

Game 2 saw a much better start for Pellegrini who had the perfect Spinerock Knoll and Lotus Bloom Turn 1 and then Magus of the Moon on Turn 3.  A Vendilion Clique from Buckley removed a Pyromancer's Swath from Felipe's hand.  Pellegrini drew, and Buckley tried to Mistbind Clique by championing his other Clique, but the card Felipe just drew was a Shard Volley, which he used on the first Clique to fizzle the second Clique.  Then Pellegrini went to go off; he sacrificed his Lotus Bloom, played Pyromancer's Swath, which met Flashfreeze, which met Guttural Response... Swath resolves.  Then Manamorphose got countered by Rune Snag, meaning Pellegrini was out of mana to play a massive Grapeshot and instead had to discard it to the Swath.  With both players now gassed, it was the Magus along with a top deck Tarfire that evened the match for Pellegrini.

The third game was a completely lop-sided affair, with Buckley missing land drops while Felipe built up mana on two Molten Slagheaps behind two Spinerock Knolls.  When Pellegrini when off, he burned for 5, then made 8 goblin tokens off Empty the Warrens and attacked for the win on the next turn.  Felipe Pellegrini advances 2-1.

Adrien Degaspare vs Francisco Braga

Adrien had Llanowar Elves, Kitchen Finks, and Chameleon Colossus to Francisco's Llanowar Elves, Civic Wayfinder, Garruk Wildspeaker to make a Beast token in the almost-but-not-quite-mirror-match.  The two armies went smash and Braga was left with only the 1/1 elf and a diminished Planeswalker.  Garruk made another Beast and went away, and both players made Tarmogoyf.  Adrien smashed again, and when the dust settled, he was only left with Colossus, while Francisco had another Garruk.  When he found a Colossus of his own, Francisco attacked with everything, forcing a concession from Degaspare.  Braga opened up Game 2 with double Thoughtseize, forcing a Chameleon Colossus into the yard.  Adrien had Turn 4 Garruk, untap for Thoughtseize and dump Braga's Garruk.  Braga played Civic Wayfinder and passed.  Profane Command killed the Wayfinder, and brought Degaspare's Colossus back to life.  Then it was simply an Overrun from Garruk plus a pump to make the colossus a 14/14 trampler.. on to Game 3.

The decider saw Braga make an army with double Goyf and a Garruk, while using some Black removal spells to take down Degaspare's own Goyf.  This forced a Damnation from Adrien, but the Beast tokens kept coming from Francisco's Planeswalker, taking him to the 2-1 victory.