Danish Premodern Nationals report

My good times at the Danish Premodern Nationals

A wonderful spring weekend in march, me and a friend took the bus down to Copenhagen to have a couple of beers and play some magic.

It was the Danish Premodern Nationals, and I had decided a couple of weeks ago to play Rabid Wombat.

I might not remember all the details, so if any of my opponents read this, feel free to correct anything I got wrong.

I thought I had a grip on how to play this deck, but as anyone that continues reading this will find out, that might not have been the case. I knew I would have a hard time against Terravores, fast combo decks, Enchantress and grindy survival decks, but the rest of the decks I’d tested against, I could beat.

Round 1

First game was an easy win

2-0, (1-0) let’s get on to the next game.

Round 2

In the second game I met a nice opponent who were younger than most of the cardboard in my deck, who played a cool Rg list with Quirion Dryads and Lava Darts. It ended up being two pretty grindy games, where I tried in vain to find my Rune of Protection Red, or Renewed Faith. Having 2 Naturalize main and destroying my Humility in the first game got me. For the second game I made the mistake of boarding out Tsabo’s Web, and immidiately stared down a treetop village.After some tricky plays with destroying my own Humility to swing in with an Eternal Dragon to try to win, I got beat 2-0.

0-2, (1-1) on to the next game!

Round 3

Oh joy, Gr Oath Terravore! Somewhere here my brain betrayed me, and spent the game holding back lands to stay safe from an Armageddon that my opponent couldn’t cast. The game went long after I got a Humility on the field and my opponent desperately digging for a naturalize. When I Ray of Distortioned it myself end of opponent’s turn to swin with an Eternal Dragon, followed by Bandage and Wing Shards on the crack back, we went to game 2. In came the Exalted Angels from the sideboard, and the second game went much quicker. I got a sacred ground out to protect my lands, managed to keep control, and finished the game with soldiers and dragons.

2-0, (2-1)

Round 4

Oh look more Terravores, this time in a deck that could cast Armageddon! The great thing about playing some weird ass deck is that your opponent never knows what to name. First game went to my opponent, after we spent a couple of minutes looking for a missing Call of the Herd, and I had to call the judge since I apparently forgot to board out my Rune of Protection: Green from the last game. In the end, a Meddling Mage on swords let a Terravore through to close the first game. The second game, wonder over wonder, a Sacred Ground managed to hit the field before an Armageddon hit! Not being able to find an answer to the pesky enchantment, I could deal with all the threats and close the game. Last round went to time, in the five time rounds two of my Eternal Dragons that would have closed the game got sworded by top decks, and in the last of the extra time rounds we got, I lost the game. Oh well.

1-2 (2-2)

Round 5

Got another game where it looked like I would be favoured. I took the first game, with my opponent being stranded on one land, and me maindecking Rune of Protection: Red. Second game, I got Anarchied in the face and the round after the game was done. Third game, I was in command, but down to 10 life. I had a cycled one Decree of Justice, and played one, having a board with 3 soliders and one angel, six plains, a Swords to Plowshares in hand. I ripped an exalted angel from the top, my brain went boing boing boing, that’s gonna win me the game, I tapped out, and then I died. So that was a punt.

1-2 (2-3)

Round 6

Mono black clerics is usually a pretty good matchup for me, and I won the first game nice and slow, but then it went downhill from there. Early Glooms had me cycling for answers, and while I did get some soldiers out, they got Engineered Plague’d, and back getting beat up we went. I did draw almost all the lands in my deck though, which both helped and stjälped, as we say in Swedish.

1-2 (2-4)

Round 7

This matchup is excellent for me. BW control does not have the threat density needed without Decree, and I took down both matches without losing a single life point.

2-0 (3-4)

A 3-4 record is not great, but at least I have some more insights about my deck now. Mobilization was an all-star during the day, without the risks involved with playing Kjeldoran Outpost. Ray of distortion keeps impressing me in most matchups. Specially when I flashback it, opponent picks it up and reads it and says wait, it had flashback!? If I stop misplaying things, I might have a better chance of placing well (duh). I was hoping to meet some of the Goblin decks that were harassing the rest of the field, where the matchup is pretty good, but alas that was not to be.

The Danes pulled of a great tournament! The food was great, the beer was cheap-ish, the people were friendly and the venue was fantastic! Hoping I’ll be able to stop by next year again.

Potential changes to the deck would be to add 4 Windswept Heath, 2 Gaea’s Blessing and take out… I don’t know, really. But getting to shuffle your cards back in seems good, and it spares me the stress of winning with 5 cards left in the deck.

After the tournament I got to play the black Dandan I copied from someone in the premodern discord with a real friendly German guy who had biked a quite insane distance to the tournament, and we brewed at it a bit and now it looks a lot better!

See you all at GothCon, where I just might enter Rabid Wombat again.