Black Lotus Cup II

The black lotus cup (BLC) is a invitational garden tournament which is hosted by Wouter and Fulco, and I was very happy and honored to be one of the happy few to be invited to play this year. It would be my first BLC. Even though one might be tempted to think that we would all be writing our signatures on a black lotus for the winner, don't worry. This is not the case, but there was another nice trophy for the winner to be had. 

In the week leading up to the tournament, I was not sure what to play. The format would be core-set only (CSO) but without the power. And playing some beta cards was appreciated. This format seemed like a fun format, and I had several choices of decks that I could make that would contain some beta cards. I don't own enough beta cards to have a really working deck, even though it is possible for me to make a alpha/beta deck using my blue and white cards. If I would though, it would really suck without the beta power cards that I have, since it is already not great with them in it. I did not know what kind of decks would be played, though I heard some people would be playing more spicey builds. I was thinking about playing enchantress, but when I was looking at the possible cards to play, I ended up with something close to an enchantress/stasis deck. I was not sure I wanted to play that, and it also would contain very little beta cards (2 or 3 maybe, since I own only one beta enchantress). There were other choices, and I was thinking about just making another version of my revised only deck, which is a troll disco. Or counter burn maybe, since I have a couple of beta fireballs. The day before the tournament, I was still trying to decide and was on the fence between enchantress and trolls. In the end, I just let fate decide and my wife flipped a coin for me. It ended up trolls, so that was what I built. It would have to be a version with white and blue in it, since that would give me the most alpha/beta cards to play in the deck. 

The tournament was starting at a relaxed 11.00, so I had time to do a fitness session before getting in the car and drive over to Eindhoven. 

After I got there, I was pleasantly surprised not only by the nice garden and the familiar faces, but also meeting a cat in the garden. Since I love cats, this was good start of the day :)

After petting the cat on the couch for a short while, while other players were coming into the garden, it was time to start the tournament. 

On the first round I would be playing Edwin, who is usually playing a competitive Erhnam/Armageddon deck. Since this was CSO, there would be no Djinns, but armageddon would definitely be something I would be weary of. I was able to play out a Savannah Lions on turn one, which was answered by.... 

A wall of wood. This is actually a pretty good counter against my lions. Together with the mesa pegasi, that also came out, I was not that worried, but would definitely not be doing a lot of damage. Since I had decided to go for direct damage in the form of lightning bolts and some psionic blasts, I was hoping to get some of those. And one of my 3 Serra Angels. 

The game dragged on, and on, and on, with Edwin swords to plowsharing my Alpha Serra Angel, which left me open to the mesa pegasi. None of my bolts showed up, so I could not get passed the wall of wood, or get rid of the pegasi. As weird as this sounds, I would have probably had a better chance in this game with the AB deck :) I drew no awnsers this game, so I ended up losing to the pegasi after I missed an orb flip, which is surprisingly harder outside in a windy garden. 

So, off to a next game we went. There was a small hope for some action on turn 3 when I played a troll, but that was quickly sent away from the game by Edwin. Fortunately for me, there were no accompanying pegasi there to hit me. 

There was a war mammoth though, which could do some serieus damage if I did not draw any answers. 

I tried with Serra Angel, but that was also removed from the game, which left me no choice but to play the balance I was getting later on in the game. After the balance, I was greeted by a wall of swords. This would take a really long time.. 

A little while later, the boardstate had evolved to multiple creatures facing off to each other. Even my next Serra could not do anything due to the bands of creatures opposing it. 

Edwin was taking care of my creatures by killing them off with walls and giant growths, and swords to plowshares, of course. 

The game dragged on, and on, and even though I had a Jayemdae tome and was drawing more cards, I was wondering if I would be able to take Edwin down before running out of cards. Since there was no timetwister or feldon's cane available, there was no option to prevent that. 

In the meantime, he was playing more creatures to go on the counter attack. 

I was happy to play my personal incarnation, in hopes that that would punch a hole in his defenses. This was after my Shivan Dragon had been also removed. 

I mean really, how am I supposed to damage someone that keeps removing my creatures? 

In the end, I just kept pushing and eventually prevailed after a really long and grinding game, just before running out of cards. The second game was also not going great when I played 2 Serra Angels, which were both taken out by Terror. There was just so much removal in there, that I was getting a bit desperate. 

Also, my third Serra was removed, and so was my personal incarnation. Again. The game took forever, and in the end, I had a choice of playing either a Shivan Dragon when Edwin was tapped out, or braingeyser him for his library -1. Meaning he would have all his cards in his had except one, and one turn to use them. This was a risky move, but one does not play oldschool to play it safe all the time. I was just hoping there were no 2 berserks in his deck, since that would have killed me. But, there were not, and I won the third game while all the rest of the tournament was waiting for us to finish. 

The next round started immediately afterwards, giving us no time to think about our game, we were off to round 2 immediately. I played Chris, who was playing troll disco. Although my lions would be pretty useless against that, i felt I had a good chance, especially with my sideboard with some extra removal. 

Creatures were removed quite a lot in this game, and I shot at least one troll from the table when it was not able to regenerate. 

The games were a lot quicker than against Edwin, since there were no walls to take care of. My Jayemdae tome did some work before being destroyed, and that meant at some time I had 2 trolls were my opponent had just one. That meant I could get ahead in damage as long as I would carefully keep plenty of black mana open to regenerate. That worked out in the end. 

After Chris said something about hating armageddon, I was feeling a little bit sad for him, since I had boarded one in. I played some cards, he removed them. 

After a really elaborate play where I first had to do some math, then think about how he would respond, I played armageddon with no creatures in play, after he had played hypnotic specter. I had tapped all my land, then played one extra, played control magic, after which he activated his orb, after which he activated his orb, which I disenchanted with my last mana. That left me with the specter in play. I figured that would be the winning play, but the specter was bolted one turn later. That meant the game had to go on a bit longer, with this board state in the end. Again, a really long game, which I eventually won. We made good use of the time for really loooong games. OS at its best. I was not sure how I would like this format without power, but the games are definitely taking a lot longer, and that also makes them more interesting, I think. 

So, with 2 wins on the first 2 rounds that took forever, I had a feeling the deck was going to be okay, I was on to Frank, to see if I could make the Alpha Serra Angel and the personal incarnation do some damage in this next game. The first creature to try and do some damage was Sedge troll. 

One of my trolls was quickly removed from the game. I played a tome, which was destroyed, along with some other of my permanents. I managed to get through a Braingeyser though, which would make for a good chance for a win, with my troll and lions on the board. 

These were eventually also wiped out though, and there was a hypnotic specter staring me in the face. Fortunately, I had enough mana to play everything my deck could produce, including the personal incarnation. The other big creature I had in my deck showed up before that though. 

The dragon proved a successful win condition, and we were off to game 2. And there, Serra finally got her chance to do some damage after being removed over and over again. 

In fact, Serra was doing really well. Fortunately for her, there were not that many swamps at the opposite side of the table, so the nightmare was not big enough to stop her. Lucky Serra, and lucky me.. 

This meant that not only did she do some damage, she won me the game! That made up for all the time she was swept off the board by a terror or swords to plowshares. 

This gave me some time to look around at other creations, like Roy's mono black playing a Serra/Stasis deck. That did not look too friendly and a real hassle to play against. 

So, might there be a chance of me actually winning this tournament? At 3-0, the deck seemed pretty convincing so far. Then I had to play Edo, who is a) a really good player and b) was playing a CSO version of The Deck. That would be a hard one. 

After having some cards countered off the board, I managed to pull through a mindtwist, while doing some damage with a savannah lions. Edo punched a Serra of the board none the less with some good topdecking. In the end though, the first game was mine. 

The second game started off less promising, although I had a lions on the board on turn one, it was also removed turn one. Edo got his strategy working, and I was eventually down 1-1 after he had beat me with a Serra. 

I did some extra sideboarding, since I had not seen a single creature on the first game I had not expected multiple Serra's. I boarded in control magic and an extra power sink, and we were off to game 3. The game started off reasonable well, but sort of landed in a problem situation when Edo took my Serra Angel. 

Since I had no blue mana, my only hope was the red elemental blast. Since I expected Edo to have counterspells ready, I decided to try and wait for blue mana before using it. The mana never showed up, and neither did one of my 4 disenchants. I tried the red blast, and as expected, it was countered while I had powersink in my hand. Oh, and psionic blast. And control magic. Oh, and I forgot to mention, blue mana was produced by the most lands in my deck. They just did not show up. Well, as I know too well, you can't win this game without a bit of luck, but you sure as hell can lose it with bad luck. So 1-2 it was, and I was 3-1 and out of a chance of winning. Staring at the solutions in your hand without being able to cast them felt a bit bad, I must admit. 

That gave me a chance to watch another really long drawn out wall of swords game though. And did you notice the sea serpent there? I mean, how awesome is that?

Oh, and when was the last time you saw a Serra Angel being spell blasted? That certainly has been years for me. 

Smiles all around, OS at its best

In the meantime, the stasis deck was still going strong, and this was the longest match of this round. 

When that last really long match was done, it was time for the last round, where I could see if I could make it to 4-1, with a chance that if Edo lost his last match (okay, not really a chance here, but there's always hope) I could still win. Well, theoretically. We were off to a pretty quick start when I played a first turn lions and could actually start attacking with it for a change, since there were no bolts or walls of wood in the way. Even though that last option would be nice to see again, but I do not expect that anytime soon. One of my lands was quickly destroyed, but the lion could keep going. 

I was happy with the plenty of lands in my deck, which let me cast more stuff. And even though plenty of my cards were destroyed, there was more where that came from, due to the small advantage of a small braingeyser in the beginning of the game. My tome did not get that far unfortunately, but it had been in play at least. Meanwhile, my trolls were on a rampage in a group. 

The group of trolls was hindered a bit by blockers like other trolls and a bolt here and there, but eventually, they managed to get through and the first game was mine. 

The second game, there was no blazing start from my side. 

An icy had shown up just before my Shivan, unfortunately. But I was confident I would get rid of that due to my 4 disenchants in my deck. 

I had kept one disenchant on hand, which was needed for another target than the icy, when control magic hit the board. 

I managed to get rid of the icy pretty quickly as well (4 disenchants and a shatter should work, and it did). I was expecting swords and terrors from the colors on the other side, so I decided to not wast time and just attack for 10. If he topdecked an elimination card, I would have to play something else. If he did not, the game would be over next turn. 

And it turned out, the elimination card did not show up! Swing twice with the dragon was enough for the win :) my inner Timmy was happy, though I was a bit disappointed at not damaging someone through the entire day with my Personal Incarnation. But hitting someone with a big Shivan feels like a really close second choice to that. Meanwhile, other games were still going, including this really "nice" vise matchup. 

Somewhere during the day, I spoke to Kobus about my not doing damage with the Incarnation, and he told me he had hoped to do some damage with his Dingus Egg/demonic hordes, but had not managed to do that so far. I told him to keep up his spirits and it would happen eventually. And I was lucky enough to witness this Egg damage. 

Kobus was of course, very happy with this. So was I, really :) How cool is that. I love spice like this. 

A triumphant pair of Dingus Eggs

And then it was time to announce the winners. Edo won, of course, since he is a phenomenal player wielding a really good deck.  Kobus won the spice price, rightly so!

I was second, and I won the guy who was not first and not last - trophy. At least I would be taking something home :) The trophies were really nice branded wooden constructions. A nice addition to my magic-stuff. 

Fortunately, there was time to play some more games, while snacks were being ordered for dinner. I played Roy, and finally got Personal incarnation into play without it being removed right away. 

And I managed to do damage with it! At least it had done something this day :) 

After a couple of games, the food arrived and we had dinner together with typical Dutch junk food. 

Roy with a Frikandel speciaal. It is just something we eat here, don't ask. 

After dinner, some of the guys helped out clearing out the tournament tents and stuff, and then it was time to leave. 

After which we played some more with a smaller group over at Robbie his house, which was also really nice for the rest of the evening. I got home pretty late, but it was worth it. It was a great day of playing oldschool again. Many, many thanks for Wouter and his family for sharing their backyard for this great event, and thanks to Wouter and Fulco for the organisation. I absolutely loved it and hope to be invited again some next time!

Dual Brews I - a take on underappreciated cards

First off, an introduction: Welcome to The Dual Brews, a series where we shine a light on Old School Magic: The Gathering cards that never quite made it out of the binder. Along the way, we might uncover a hidden gem—or more likely, just confirm why these cards were forgotten in the first place.

Either way, Bjorn and Johan are up for the challenge. In each episode, they independently brew a “budget” deck (by Old School standards) built around a single, underappreciated card. This means, no power, no excessive expensive cards. 

This episode’s focus: Personal Incarnation.

Among the classic Core Set fatties, White definitely drew the short straw. While Mahamoti Djinn, Lord of the Pit, Shivan Dragon, and Force of Nature evoke both power and nostalgia, Personal Incarnation rarely gets the same recognition—deservedly or not. 

Can Bjorn and Johan craft a deck that brings this oddball avatar into the limelight? A deck that might even win a game or 2 in a tournament? Or will it just confirm that this card just kind of sucks, and deserves its place in, well, the binder. 

Johan’s take on Personal Incarnation

Let’s be honest, Personal Incarnation is one tough nut to crack. Keeping the Swedish Old

School format in mind (i.e., modern Oracle rules apply), let’s examine the current wording of

the card:

{0}: The next 1 damage that would be dealt to this creature this turn is dealt to its owner instead. Only this creature’s owner may activate this ability. When this creature dies, its owner loses half their life, rounded up.

Naturally, the death trigger is something we want to avoid at all costs. Like the activated ability, the life loss and damage redirection apply to the owner of the card, not necessarily the controller. And while Terror is usually seen as the bane of Personal Incarnation, I’d argue that Control Magic is an even worse offender.

VS How to deal with the drawbacks

To mitigate the card’s inherent downsides, we need to prioritize two key things:

1) Instant-speed creature exile or bounce effects

2) Enchantment removal (specifically to deal with Control Magic)

The second requirement is straightforward. Since we're running white, at least three Disenchants are a no-brainer. The first challenge is trickier. Scouring the legal card pool, here’s what I found:

For bounce effects, we’re mostly limited to blue (Unsummon, Boomerang) or the clunky and largely unplayable Obelisk of Undoing. 

Because of budget constraints, I chose to stick with white and colorless solutions. Martyr’s Cry was rejected, since it is ultimately too detrimental to our game plan. That said, Swords to Plowshares is nearly an auto-include in any white-based deck. So, we begin with this core package:

4x Personal Incarnation (well, obviously!)

4x Disenchant

4x Swords to Plowshares

Filling in the slots

Now let’s look at some supporting pieces. Two cards stood out: Safe Haven and Tawnos’s Coffin. These let you reuse powerful "enters the battlefield" effects. In our format and colors, that mostly means Triskelion and Tetravus. They are expensive, but potent. 

To support these heavy hitters, we need affordable mana ramp. Enter: 4x Mana Vault and 4x Fellwar Stone. To offset the life loss from Mana Vault, I’ve included Dust to Dust. Not only can it remove one of our Vaults, but it can also target an opponent’s Su-Chi or similar threats.

Furthermore, to help stabilise against aggressive decks, I added two copies of Spirit Link. And since we’re not running any Arabian Nights cards (due to budget, yes, Library of Alexandria, I’m looking at you), City in a Bottle becomes an essential inclusion.

Rounding out the deck

Serra Angel: the white creature that arguably overshadowed Personal Incarnation itself. 

Balance: a potential equaliser in rough situations.

Maze of Ith: to stall aggro and protect your life total.

 Is This Deck Competitive?

In high-powered tournaments? Not likely. But in budget-restricted or points-based events, this could turn heads. More importantly, will you have fun? Absolutely. Catch your opponents off guard with the raw, unpredictable power of Personal Incarnation and leave them scratching their heads in disbelief.

For full reference, this is the decklist:

As for the sideboard, it’s a meta call, but Karma and Circle of Protection effects are solid, flexible options. 

Bjorn’s take on Personal Incarnation

I've always like brewing with cards you don't see that often, and I like the challenge that Johan proposed, thinking about 2 different takes on a card that you don't see that often. One of the first ones I proposed was personal incarnation, since one almost never sees it on a OS tournament. Maybe that is because it just is not that good. I must admit, mine don't see a lot of play either. But I do have them, and I have played with them. 

The beta obviously has seen a lot of play, though mostly before it came into my possession

Figuring Johan would not use any green, since it is the color he least likes in the game, I decided the deck would be white/green. 4 duals could be considered "budget", but that is already pushing it. So, maximum of 2 colors it was. 

First off, how many incarnations would I play? I would be tempted to say 4, but chances of success with 4 might be a bit dim. So, I decided I would go for 2, as big finishers in a deck. So, I don't want the incarnation to die. Actually, it is a fate I want to avoid at all cost. So, there you have it. 

Avoid Fate is one of those cards that I also am a bit wary of. I kind of like it, though it doesn't do much in many games. In this setup however, it might be just right. When you play it, the most likely responses will be instants. Terror, Swords to plowshares. Double bolt if your opponent does not understand how it works. Or control magic, which would also be bad. Either way, Avoid Fate might just work. 

Obviously, since we're deeply invested in white, we're going to use the good cards like Disenchants and Swords to plowshares to give the deck a fighting chance. Also, we need stuff to have it not die, so why not a Safe Haven and a Sword of the Ages. 

Thinking of how to use a big creature in white, I decided I wanted to go for an Armageddon deck, since that would be the way to winning if you get the incarnation in play. Play it. Counter the instant removal. Wait your opponents turn, play Armageddon, win. Right? 

I would need some ramp to pull that off, so I went for Birds of paradise (if you get 4th edition ones there still kind of affordable) and Fellwar stones. Then I added some Sylvan Libraries and Land Taxes to get to a lot of land and doing some reshuffling. Serra Angels to play before, so those can be destroyed to give the incarnation more of a chance. I had Su-Chi's first, but then decided to go for more budget friendly chronicles Erhnam Djinns, who basically have the same function. Just play them first, let them be killed, then play the Personal Incarnation. 

Since I would not be playing blue and most of my opponents in OS do, I added one main deck Tsunami, and a Wrath of god just in case things get out of hand before I play the incarnation. Also, one Disrupting Scepter. This card can me really annoying but might tempt your opponent to get rid of an elimination spell if he has not seen a lot of creatures, or just force him to if he has just few cards left. If you get to zero cards in hand, than the incarnation is pretty safe. 

A Dust to dust to get rid of those nasty moxes helps to further cripple my opponent when I play Armageddon. And if he has a Su-Chi and a Mox (one of the most seen images in OS games these days), it is also good. If you can use Land tax to your advantage, a Jalum tome might also not be bad. If the game takes longer, the scepter and the Jayemdae Tome are pretty good. 

The end result might look weird, but I think it might have a chance if played correctly and your opponent does not draw too much power. Could this be better? Yes, probably. Will it get you into the top 8? Unlikely. But if you do manage to pull it off and start hitting with the incarnation, it will be very satisfactory! I think I will build this deck and give it a try, maybe coming back with an improved version. Or not, if it feels like it is really bad :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the idea! Tell us what you think on magicancients@gmail.com if you want to, or maybe leave a comment. 

To be fair, this would probably be better, but less creative and more predictable. By the time you reach the Incarnation, you would think your opponent is out of removal because he used them all on the other creatures. But you might also be tempted to play the armageddon without the incarnation, and that is sort of defeating the point. 

On an end note: Turns out, Johan did not use blue. Oh well, let's just see what the next one brings. I am sure he will play blue sooner or later :) I've enjoyed this idea, and am already thinking about a new card to start thinking about.