Mini Amsterdam Re-Post Report

So, 
We went to Amsterdam for the legacy grand prix, i felt pretty well prepared, i was comfortable with my deck and felt it could definitely win games.
however...





Round 1 - unexpected bye.
I found my table and sat down, waiting for my French opponent, he eventually arrived, confirmed I was his scheduled opponent and then told me I'd be getting a bye as he was supposed to have 2 byes, the judge arrived and confirmed that, top stuff! I milled about a bit and relaxed before round 2.

Round 2 - team America, 1-1 draw
Game 1 i hit a turn 1 hexmage into a turn 2 dark depths, my opponent read it a few times and dropped and activated a wasteland on my depths, i wondered if he didnt get how it worked or if he had another plan, i wasnt sure but figured it wouldnt hurt to just go for it.
I activated the hexmage and made the token, he then tapped out for a phantasmal image, legend ruling my token away, oh well, the game went ridiculously long, at several points I considered just throwing in the towel to make sure I would be able to get 2 more games in but I always felt I was one spell away from turning it around, he eventually won the game though. Jaceing me to death.
Game 2 I hit a turn 0 leyline of the void to prevent his snap caster tricks and my turn 3 choke went unanswered, I fairly quickly mopped up with double knight of the reliquary. We started game 3 as time was called, surely that was the draw, neither of us could win in extra turns, right? Except my hand was able to drop a turn 1 hexmage with dark depths in hand. I was feeling pretty chuffed until he inquisition of kozileked me for the hexmage and we did indeed draw.

Round 3 - regular junk, 1-0 win
this one started off with a bit of a wasteland war, but my loams meant i was always winning that battle, it went hella-long anyway, there were knights on either side, i made a 20/20 only to see it swallow a swords to plowshares, thankfully the second 20/20 stuck and won me the game. 
game 2 also went very long but a maze of ith kept me in it long enough for me to find a hexmage and a crop rotation. that was turn 5 of extra turns however. and as it transpired in the post game discussions, my opponent was also still sitting on a swords, so that game probably wouldve gone on for another half hour 

2-0-1 and feeling pretty good, but pretty frazzled already, no time to rest however as we're straight into the next round.

round 4 - stoneblade, 2-0 loss
i win the roll and lead off with a turn 1 thoughtseize, i see he only has 1 land and his relevant spells are a mystic, snapcaster, StP and a force of will, i take the force as i want to be able to get my hexmage and hymn to tourachs through, 
he drops his land and passes, i hymn him, he draws and passes, no more land, i drop a hexmage which eats a swords and i wasteland his land, he doesnt see another for a few turns but i cant get any pressure on him either, the game goes quite long with him eventually drawing into enough lands to get mystic and batterskull down and a clique online, my tower of the amgistrate keeps the equipment at bay, but i eventually die to the 3/1 flier.
game 2 i choose to play, draw my 7 to see 6 lands and a mox, shuffle it back to get 5 spells and a mox, shuffle that back to find 2 land and a confidant, thats fine. the confidant eats a force of will and thats pretty much it.
2-1-1

i assume im probably out of contention with another loss as i dont think x-2-1 would be enough. but id pledged to play on as long as i could regardless.

round 5 - team america, 2-0 loss
i cant remember much about this match to be honest, except i remember getting my early hexmage countered and not being in it at all after that game 1, and game 2 i thoughtseize him twice turn 1 and 2 taking away brainstorm and dark confidant only for him to rip another bob straight away. i hit an early choke only for him to drop 2 bayous and a goyf which makes pretty short work of me. i drop my maze of ith to stall but sadly bobs next flip reveals..wasteland. ggs

2-2-1
id kinda like a 'proper' win at some point, lets play on.

round 6 - stoneblade, 2-0 loss
cant remember many details but there were cliques and batterskulls and jaces and i lost 2 quite long games.
2-3-1

round 7 - eldrazi exploration (?) 2-0 loss
my opponent wins the dice roll and his turn 1 is land, mox diamond, exploration, wasteland.
i drop 1 of the non basics in my hand and he kills it, his turn 2 he drops a wasteland and casts life from the loam. uh oh. my hand of non basics is looking pretty shitty at this point.
he eventually hard casts emrakul and i die.
we shuffle up for game 2 and get a mid round deck check, bit annoying.
game 2 i make more of a game of it but i never really wrestle control at any point and he eventually hardcasts emrakul for the win.

2-4-1 and my headaches got to the point where i cant really concentrate anymore so i drop to go back to the hotel and get some food.

evaluating the event afterwards, i think id practiced my deck enough, i was very comfortable playing it, however i dont think id tested enough against the popular decks. i was comfortable in my plans against things like storm, merfolk, zoo, reanimator and gobbos but as it turned out, i didnt play against any of those decks, i did play against lots of U/X decks, which i clearly struggled against. 


Day 2 i entered the standard championship with my somewhat untested bant blade concotion, but the holes in the deck in regards to the latest meta were rather glaring, after a first round loss to GW poison (yeah, what?) a 1-1 draw with wolf run red and a loss to solar flare (game 1 i lost to an inkmoth nexus, yep, just an inkmoth) i dropped. 
I make a few tweaks with some instant speed removal and stick myself in the queue for a standard 8-man which fired fairly quickly, 
first round i get paired against the local 12 year old and mash mono-green face to make myself feel like a real man. Round 2 i play a Belgian guy whos running mono white humans, i take it down 2-0 with lots of timely oblivion rings.
In the final i play fellow brit from liverpool whos rocking straight UW, we have 2 really epic games but he has the slight edge with druidic satchels and batterskulls. 2-0 loss but good games regardless. I walk away with 3 packs, finally! success!!


All in all a good experience, and we got to spend the following 4 days seeing the sites of amsterdam.
Now im just keeping my eye on the grand prix schedule for next year. i wonder where the european legacy GP will be this time.