GP Magdeburg Tournament Report

Intro

Hey there FOW-Enthusiasts, last weekend I won GP Magdeburg with one of the new Rulers Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) with Child of the Light Moon (NWE-003) and Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013) as companions. Here is a short tournament report with insights into the matchups I played.

Gratitudes

I’d like to thank some people, because without them I would not have been able to gather my 3rd GP win. So thanks JPK for playtesting with fair and interactive decks, where we pay Will to play our cards 😛 Also big thanks to Karl for driving that whole trip and borrowing me an almost full-art deck to outshine my opponents. Thanks to Carlo for a total of 3 boosters for the three FTKs (First Turn Kill) I managed to pull off in the GP. Last but not least thanks to the community and people who showed up and made this a wonderful event.

The Deck I played

1st Place	Lars Grams	Aristella
Ruler: Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) Child of the Light Moon (NWE-003) Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013)	Magic Stone Deck: (10) 3x Attoractia’s Memoria (SDAO1-033) 4x Water Moon Fragment (NWE-105) 3x Wind Moon Fragment (NWE-106)
Resonators: (18 of 41) 2x Dark Alice, Rabbit Princess (DBV-009) 3x Warhorse (NWE-011) 1x Guinevere, Space-Time Watcher (GRL-030) 4x Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) 1x Morgiana, the Wise Servant (MPR-065) 1x The Witch of the Fallen Kingdom (ADW-072) 4x Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079) 2x Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095)	Chants: (17 of 41) 2x Alice’s Fantastic Trick (GRL-004) 4x Birth of the Twin Princes (HSD-001) 4x Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) 3x Contract of the Water Moon (NWE-060) // Fairy Tale King (NWE-060J) 4x Night of the Phantom Moon (NWE-073) Additions: (6 of 41) 3x Cage of Mother Goose (PofA-085) 3x The Origin of the Seven Lands (PofA-112)	Side Deck: (15) 1x Child of the Darkness Moon (NWE-051) 2x Angelic Battle Barrier (NWE-001) 1x Dragon of Solari (NWE-014) 1x Rogue Spectator (GRL-021) 1x Einsberg, Mechanized Invasion Leader (GRV-027) 1x Shackles of Ice (VIN003-040) 1x Shark of Solari (NWE-032) 1x Terminator Drone (GRV-033) 1x Dreiwing, Mechanized Wind of Destruction (GRV-040) 1x Laurite, Seven Luminaries Astrologian (TSW-094) 1x Mechanized Children of Gaia (GRV-056) 1x Eternal, Artificial Archipelago (NWE-064) 1x Phantasmal Mad Hatter (NWE-077) 1x The Great Wall of the Twelve Sacred Knights (NWE-083)

My Matchups

Round 1 Violet

The tournament started vs Violet, Atomic Automaton (ADW-030) // Violet, Atomic Automaton [J-Ruler] (ADW-030J), which had no chance really. I drew into multiple Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) and the recover chant. A missed opportunity to remove Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) game 1 would’ve bought her another turn maybe, but that way I was able to close game 1 really quick. Game 2 went even quicker, after Aegis (ADW-076) on my The Great Wall of the Twelve Sacred Knights (NWE-083), I was able to pull of my first FTK of the tournament, I also drew all 4 copies of Night of the Phantom Moon (NWE-073), which would’ve resulted in around 10.000 damage.

Round 2 Shiva

Second game vs an OTK Shiva, Providence of Nature (GRL-081) // Order of Nature (GRL-081J) version based around Shaka, Shiva’s Successor (GRV-042) and Sprinting Steward (NWE-021), in game 1 he misplayed and did not take the chance to kill my Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) early, so I could start into my second turn with a Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) which could get any resonator from my deck thanks to Neverend’s ability. I managed to win even after starting with all my Warhorse (NWE-011) in hand. The second game had even less interaction on his side, so an early charge was able to seal the 2-0.

Round 3 Brunhild

Due to a reporting error (got a loss from Round 2) I found myself on table 15 vs Brunhild (SDV1-005) // Brunhild, Caller of Spirits (SDV1-005J) this round and thought I got paired down. I got curious after the match and asked the TO, he fixed the issue. I should’ve asked before the match though, so if you experience something similar, don’t hesitate to double check if the right results were reported. The Brunhild was an Artillerist of Faith (GOG-001) Brunhild, which started with Harvesting Season (AOA-091) without any follow-up. I missed the FTK on my turn, due to not finding a recover chant. He was unable to answer my board though and I won the next turn. Game 2 he started with Harvesting Season into Einherjar’s Summons (SDV1-008) to get a Pandora, Queen of Miracles (ENW-0 which gave him access to free Number Thirteen, Anti-Magic (ADW-088). Fortunately Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013) helps against that. I went a bit more reactive on my turn. He played an Artillerist and discarded a 7-drop which was treated as an 11-cost thanks to two milled Brunhild, Sign of Faith (GOG-002). He also shot my The Great Wall of the Twelve Sacred Knights (NWE-083) so my barrier couldn’t protect me. I had Barrier from Child of the Light Moon (NWE-003) as a backup though, so I was not nervous about getting hit by 2200 damage once. I also was able to Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) into an OTK on my own turn making sure his counter was nullified with Fire Moon Child and was not followed up by another card thanks to White Child. So after fixing the reporting error I was at a nice 3-0 start into the tournament.

Round 4 Zeus

There’s always the time when you have to play against people you know. This GP it happened in round 4 vs Lukas, who drove with me to Magdeburg and was playing Zeus, the First Olympian (GRV-087) // Order of the Olympians (GRV-087J). In Game 1 he went first and immediately used Zeus Enters the Game of Gods (GRV-010) to search for Apollon, the Third Olympian (GRV-001) and removed my Cocoon from the game to prevent me from having a target for my Contract of the Water Moon (NWE-060) to go for first turn Contract into Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) and a potential FTK. He was unlucky though since I had a free Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095) which was then bounced by the Contract after using a Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013) God’s Art on the Contract to get Fairy Tale King (NWE-060J) one the field and follow it up with a charge in response to his enter trigger to make everything Fairy Tale with the Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) before his search resolves, that way I was able to search for a Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079) plus another Warhorse (NWE-011) to deal even more damage, which resulted in a quick FTK.

Round 5 Wolfgang

I was prepared to face an early Fallen Angel of Terminus (ADW-063) with Swiftness thanks to a Warhorse (NWE-011). It never came to that point though. The Wolfgang, Guide of the Demonic World (ADW-075) // Wolfgang, Guide of the Demonic World [J-Ruler] (ADW-075J) player started with The Origin of the Seven Lands (PofA-112) Dreiwing, Mechanized Wind of Destruction (GRV-040) ramp into a Wolfgang effect to search for the The Sixth Boon: Requiem, Jewel (TST-092) Addition, which happened to pretty much turn off my God’s Arts and therefore make my Contract of the Water Moon (NWE-060) worthless. In Game 1 I was able to build a big board after a Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) and had free Barrier to protect my Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) with Birth of the Twin Princes (HSD-001) after digging deep for it. Which was enough to close out game one. Game 2 he again started with Origin Dreiwing ramp into Boon. Lucky me I again had an Origin on my part to turn off his additional ramp with my Dreiwing. On his second turn he went for The Forest of Darkness (ADW-092) which caught me a bit off guard, because it was a very strong answer to my Neverend Dragon, I could handle the addition with a Cage of Mother Goose (PofA-085) by tapping Dark Alice, Rabbit Princess (DBV-009) and managed to build a board with a Neverend and enough stuff to give my board eternal. A Necronomicon Barrier (ADW-066) on his part shut off my Warhorse though, which gave him another opportunity to answer my board. He went for Wolfgang’s effect into Amadeus, Fallen Kingdom (ADW-077) and removed all my 2-cost cards, namely The Great Wall of the Twelve Sacred Knights (NWE-083) and Cage of Mother Goose, which returned the Forest back to his hand and he immediately played it for a total -500/-500 on my field. I protected my board for that turn with Neverend’s effect but was also forced to find an Alice’s Fantastic Trick (GRL-004) to destroy the Forest. After unsuccesfully digging with Birth of the Twin Princes, I had to go for more draw with Dark Alice and also had to banish a Stone to fix my last Wind Moon Fragment (NWE-106) to white, to finally find my Alice Trick and destroy his Addition. He was tapped out after that and I started my turn with a full board, which was enough to win the game.

Round 6 Machina

The matchup I feared the most… Machina, the Machine Lord (SKL-087) // Machina, the Mechanical Emperor (SKL-087J). Somehow JPK gets attracted to fair decks, and a deck which basically has infinite resources thanks to Horn of Sacred Beasts (SKL-099), can play most of his cards for free and draw a bunch of cards each turn, while having cheap and strong interaction sounds pretty fair. I lost the first game, but managed to win game 2 after starting with a sided Shackles of Ice (VIN003-040) in combination with Eternal, Artificial Archipelago (NWE-064) as my starting Cocoon to protect Shackles. Another tech card I maindecked mainly against that matchup was Guinevere, Space-Time Watcher (GRL-030), to shut off his free interaction during my turn, like Machina’s search effect, Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079) discard ability, or sacrificing resonators to Selective Decapitation (TST-060). Since there was not much time left in the round anyways, I conceded and we didn’t start a third game. That way we managed to finish first and second (me) after swiss, which means we were not able to take out each other before the finals…

Top 8 Zeus

My good friend Minh, who was on Zeus, the First Olympian (GRV-087) // Order of the Olympians (GRV-087J) and again not able to cut his deck to a proper amount of cards. I can’t remember any special moments of that match. I drew into my Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) and thanks to his deck size, the odds of drawing Zeus Enters the Game of Gods (GRV-010) to prevent damage with Athena, the Seventh Olympian (GRV-076) to save him were low. So I could quite easily advance into the Top 4.

Top 4 Shiva

Antoine was the only non German/Austrian player in Magdeburg, and performed quite well with his Shiva, Providence of Nature (GRL-081) // Order of Nature (GRL-081J). I started game 1 and forgot to use The Origin of the Seven Lands (PofA-112) into Dreiwing, Mechanized Wind of Destruction (GRV-040) on my first turn and just played Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) instead. He started with Origin Dreiwing on his own, but passed the turn back with two Will open (Stone + Energize). Since he played Magic Stone of Moon Shade (MPR-100), I did not have to play around Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079). I decided to go for a turn 2 Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) to potentially OTK him, since I was not feared of Rigveda (GRL-080) thanks to Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013). I was a bit surprised to see a The Wind of Zeus (GRV-046) which I was not able to “negate”. So my turn ended again and he again did nothing on his turn and passed with 2 open Will. I think I went for another Charge or Dark Alice, Rabbit Princess (DBV-009) play, to make Neverend’s effect live with 10 Fairy Tale cards on my field and in my grave. When attacking I used Night of the Phantom Moon (NWE-073) after block step to pump Neverend with +200/+200 and recover him and used his effect to turn every card into a Fairy Tale, to go for a potential lethal attack. He used a 2 mana Rigveda in response to shoot my dragon and negate the recover chant. I had the Birth of the Twin Princes (HSD-001) to protect my Neverend though, and the Rigveda cancel was nullified by Child of the Fire Moon. So I took game 1. He started game 2 with an Origin revealing Mechanized Fenrir (GRV-030) (which I was a bit concerned of at first, because the deck was known for his Fenrir The Witch of the Fallen Kingdom (ADW-072) lock) and playing Shackles of Ice (VIN003-040). Since that was not really a problem for me, I just went for charge and FTKd him on my turn to proceed to the final. Which would be either vs JPK’s Machina or Adrias with his Zeus.

Final Machina

JPK won his Top 4 match and we had to play again in the finals (as planned in Round 6 xD). I started the first game with The Origin of the Seven Lands (PofA-112) Dreiwing, Mechanized Wind of Destruction (GRV-040) into The Witch of the Fallen Kingdom (ADW-072), after JPK already searched his first Warhorse (NWE-011) and a Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095). I played Witch proactively instead of playing Witch reactively to prevent him from turning off my Will fixing ability from Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013) by his own Dreiwing. He tried to answer Witch with a Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079), but I had the Barrier from Birth of the Twin Princes (HSD-001) to protect it. If he had searched a Typhon, Asteroid Cluster (NWE-100) instead of trooper, he might had a better chance this game. But in the end I was able to win the first round with a Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) on my next turn.

Game 2 I was slowly falling behind even though I started with an early Shackles of Ice (VIN003-040) to prevent him from using his search ability. On the other hand, it also prevented me from using my Child of the Fire Moon (NWE-013) God’s Art, which lead to his Fiethsing, 100 Years of Wizardry (GOG-047) canceling my Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023). At one point he got a pretty decent board and pumped it up with Magic Stone Research Institute (MSW-087), I also was not able to protect my graveyard with Dark Alice, Rabbit Princess (DBV-009), so he could remove my graveyard, which caused my Fairy Tale count to go below 10, so my life was no longer protected thanks to an indestructible The Great Wall of the Twelve Sacred Knights (NWE-083) Cocoon. I also hesitated to block, because I would’ve survived with 500 life left, and didn’t think he had a Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079), because he didn’t use it on the attempt to break my Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) eternal wall lock. Unfortunately for me he drew it from his Dispelling Stone (EDL-001) and we went into the final game 3.

In game 3 I managed to resolve a Contract of the Water Moon (NWE-060), and in response to the search of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-060J) I played a Warhorse (NWE-011) and in response to Horse’s trigger I played Charge of the Fairy Tale King (NWE-023) to play around Angelic Battle Barrier (NWE-001) and make sure my Neverend, Fairy Tale Dragon (MSW-043) gets Swiftness this turn. I also had another Charge and Night of the Phantom Moon (NWE-073) in hand, so I could recover my Contracted Ruler and play another charge for free with the mastery. I turned everything into Fairy Tales, to search for Guinevere, Space-Time Watcher (GRL-030) and The Witch of the Fallen Kingdom (ADW-072). That way I could lock him out of searches, and also force him to deal with Guinevere, otherwise he would not have been able to have enough Will for interaction thanks to Guinevere’s ability, which makes him pay 1 Will every time he plays a spell or activate ability. He was not able to break such a big board and I was able to do an OTK the next turn and win GP Magdeburg.

Outro

Thanks again for such a great event. I’m excited to see this format developing with this GP result as a initial starter after about one week after set release. I hope you liked those tournament insights. If you have any questions, feel free to comment, or contact me via Discord. See you all at the next GP’s and hopefully at Worlds in Japan next year.

Cheerz
Lars