Last Sunday, me, my brother and five friends decided to join the fifteen edition of Beermander, one of the most famous Centurion Commander 1vs1 Tournaments near me. The fusion of Magic, good beer and good food surely is the right recipe for a successful event!
For the tournament I went again with my Wilson deck as it is a deck that I enjoy playing and I need both to learn more and test more as I think it still needs to be improved.
You can click here to see my list.
We were 47 players and we started playing after the announcement that there will be six rounds and the top 8.
Match 1 vs Maelstrom Wanderer
Game 1
I’m able to set up a race but I’m not able to cast a Wilson big enough to be able to survive a Wildfire, that also leaves me without lands to be able to restart. I concede as he has a race with his Commander already on the field.
Game 2
I try again to start with Wilson but he is able to remove it as I’m not able to protect it. Luckily I have Urza’s Saga on the field that creates my two tokens that let me race once equipped with Shadowspear. My race is too fast and I bring home the second game.
Game 3
Already this third game was maybe the hint that the day wasn’t going to be good at all as I get distracted on my turn 1 while thinking how to play the following turns and I forget to play a Llanowar Elves and this effectively slows my race by one turn. This gives him enough time to be able to cast his Commander that gives him an extra turn in which he is able to find Wildfire that again removes Wilson and obliterates my lands, giving him the game.
0 wins – 1 loss
Match 2 vs Dihada, Binder of Wills
Game 1
I’m able to set up an early race with Wilson enchanted with Ordeal of Thassa and Unstable Mutation that quickly gives me a powerful bear hitting my opponent. I’m able to stop his reanimator plan and I’m controlling the game even when he tries to quickly hit me we Sneak Attack, but luckily the creatures he is able to drop aren’t too dangerous and this gives me time to win.
Game 2
I keep a hand with both Force of Will and Force of Negation that gives me control of the game in the early phases of it. I’m also able to bait him by tapping out to pump Wilson as, in his turn, he also taps out to play a big creature that, however, I stop him with a Daze. This gives me freedom of pump again Wilson in the following turn and win the match.
1 win – 1 loss
Match 3 vs Tiamat
Game 1
I start a race with Wilson equipped with a Shadowspear that gives me a nice edge speaking about my own life. I knew how the deck of my opponent was going to play as one of my teammates faced it during the second match but totally I wasn’t expecting him to be able to do that much damage in one turn. He plays Dream Halls and uses it to cast Tiamat that gave him Bladewing the Risen, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm plus two other dragons that let him create an army on the field with haste that is able to deal me more than forty damages in that same turn.
Game 2
I mulligan down to five but I’m able to find the right spells at the right time. He tries pretty early to destroy Wilson by casting a Toxic Deluge with X equal to Wilson’s toughness+3 but I’m able to save my Commander with Embiggen. This gives me a nice edge that I’m able to use to win the second game.
Game 3
Again I mulligan down to five (my opponent for sure had some gold hands in cutting my deck) but I’m able to have a nice start. Unfortunately I start drawing too many lands and I use the few counters I found to protect my Commander and so, when he plays Dream Halls he is able to safely do the same trick as before and win the game.
1 win – 2 losses
Match 4 vs Dihada, Binder of Wills
Game 1
I’m on the play and I’m able to decide the sort of the game in the first turn by casting Stifle on his fetchland. This basically gives me a free turn that gives me all I need to get ahead and win the first game.
Game 2
The karma of casting Stifle on his land hits me back on the second game when he starts with a turn 1 Ragavan and the mana dork in my hand is Birds of Paradise… I would have happily traded one of my mana dorks for the Monkey but the 0 power of the Birds really put me at disadvantage. I have to let him attack me and create a Treasure and I have to waste one turn to play True-Name Nemesis to be able to stop a second attack from Ragavan. This lets him freely play Dihada that he uses soon after to make Ragavan indestructible before wrathing the board. This puts me even at more disadvantage and so I decide to concede and go to game 3.
Game 3
I start a race that goes on for quite some time but he is able to stop it right before I go lethal. I try to restart but he is full of removal and he is able to stop all my further attempts and he is able to win the match by going with the reanimation plan and dropping some powerful creature on the field.
1 win – 3 losses
After this really close game I was a bit mortified and I considered dropping for the tournament as I wasn’t going to be able to get any prizes; however I still had to wait for my friends that were still playing. I drank some good beer and played the last two matches. Probably I shouldn’t have done it… not for the beer but because, if I felt unlucky and not good already, these last two games really annihilated my morale.
Match 5 vs Elmar/Wernog
Game 1
He starts off with Drannith Magistrate and that immediately puts a full stop to my race (even worse for me when he tells me that he didn’t have it in his starting hand but it was his first draw. I have Otawara but this still slows me down four turns and gives him all the time he needs to set up his board and close the game.
Game 2
He starts with a turn 0 Gemstone Cavern that nullifies the boost I would have by going first. I’m able to set up a race but again I draw too many lands. I end up using my only way to protect Wilson on my end step from Abrupt Decay. In his turns he top decks a Comet and activates his ability, rolling a 3 with the die that gives him back the Abrupt Decay that he immediately uses to destroy Wilson. I’m not able to recover and he wins the game.
1 win – 4 losses
Match 6 vs Grist, the Hunger Tide
Game 1
I have a slow start as he immediately kills my mana dork and has his Commander right away on the field. I use Gitaxian Probe and I see a removal on his hand. I decided to immediately concede as I didn’t have a way out with Grist already on the field as Wilson would never survive.
Game 2
I have a better start but I’m not quick enough and he is able to stop my race with a Plaguecrafter. I try to restart my race but he sets up the perfect lock for me with Volrath’s Stronghold, forcing me to continuously sacrifice my Commander. He reveals to me that he had only sacrifice spells in his deck and so it was an unwinnable match up for me. It was a deck mostly set to face Dihada Reanimator and ended up being a perfect counter for mine… but probably bad against any other deck…
1 win – 5 losses
An awful result and I was quite tilted by how the game went. Luckily the company and the food were amazing and I was still able to enjoy myself and end the day with a smile.
I will surely try to play in some of the next Beermanders too!
Raven の Nest 