After driving about half an hour with Jerôme Vilm and Fabrice Encelle from Luxembourg to Metz, we wasted some twenty minutes looking for the site until we found a local friend of us who knew where it was. When we arrived, we noticed that the competition consisted of players from Lorraine, Alsace, Paris, and the three of us from Luxembourg. The next hour was mainly spent looking for fast breakfast and cigarettes as well as talking to players from the area.

When the seats were out, I rushed to my table, opened an Onslaught starter and two Legions boosters and built the following deck:

Spitfire Handler
Sparksmith
Charging Slateback
Gempalm Incinerator
Crested Craghorn
Macetail Hystrodon
Shaleskin Plower
Berserk Murlodont
Branchsnap Lorian
Enormous Baloth
Bloodstoke Howler
Nantuko Vigilante
Needleshot Gourna
Stonewood Invoker
Shock
Erratic Explosion
Wave Of Indifference
Slate Of Ancestry
Ascending Aven
Keeneye Aven
Avarax
Spitting Gourna
Tranquil Thicket
2 Islands
7 Forests
8 Mountains

It looks okay on paper... Until you realise that Sparksmith has only two friends, one of which also works better in a group, and that my mana curve is rather high. I felt comfortable with two islands, as my blue cards are not dead draws without them. Other green or red playables were Birchlore Rangers and Leery Fogbeast.

"Pairings are up!"

In the first game, I play first and he bluffs a threat-light, non-morph hand, I fall into the trap: He Infests my Stonewood Invoker and two morphs away, staying at fourteen. My draw manages to keep the pressure going with Spitfire Handler and morphed Branchsnap Lorian. He tries to Provoke my Handler with a Brontotherium, and to Swat Branchsnap Lorian while I have one green open, which I use to unmorph the beast and save it. I attack next turn with my men helped by an Avarax and Wave his team under a turn later for the win.

Game 2 he is just screwed and Shaleskin Plower on my side makes things worse.

2-0

Round 2: Thomas Steinmetz (G/R)
Game 1: I begin the race with turn 2 Stonewood Invoker, turn 3 morphed Branchsnap Lorian, turn 4 trade Branchsnap Lorian for morph and two damage, make a morph. After some turns I play Macetail Hystrodon and attack with it; he blocks it with a morph. He unmorphs, revealing Patron of the Wild, who kills Beast by boosting himself. I win some turns later, partly due to some mana overflow on his side.

Game 2, we trade creatures for some turns, but I run out of gas after a missed Erratic Explosion on his Wirewood Savage. He finally kills me with a Goblin Dynamo.

Game 3: The usual trade race. I just remember him not drawing a card with his Savage when I played Macetail Hystrodon and me winning after some nice draws.

4-1
2-0

Round 3: Davy Loeb (G/R/W)
Game 1: There's nothing special here, we race and he has a Wave to negate my blockers.

Game 2: See game 1 round 3. Double-landscrew is handy for winning games, if not exactly satisfying.

4-3
2-1

Round 4: Christophe Torng
I know his deck features Lightning Rift, Astral Slide, Akroma's Vengeance, Silklash Spider and at least ten cyclers, even off-color ones, because I sat next to him the round before.

Game 1, he doesn't play a creature until turn 7, but he's able to survive thanks to Slide. As I knew he had Wrath, my hand had some creatures left, which helped me keep the tempo after he cast the six-mana sorcery on turn 6. With him being low on life, he didn't manage to get back in the game.

I sideboard in Naturalize.

Game 2 sees both of us in a stall, with four creatures on mine and five creatures on his side (Foothill Guide and Battlefield Medic, among others) which ends when I Shock his Battlefield Medic in response to its activation. The trades go on after the death of the Medic, until we both reach eight mana, with a Stonewood Invoker on each side. From there on it is the clash of the titans with 7/7 elves, Enormous Baloth, and Avarax against Silklash Spider, elf and Vexing Beetle. Finally, he has to Wrath. My Avens come down after and finish the game.

6-3
3-1

Round 5: Stephane Enaux (G/R/W):
I lose game 1 due to forgetting to board Naturalize out - but I told the judge about it anyway.

Game 2 begins with a mulligan on my side, but my second hand is more than good with Stonewood Invoker, Branchsnap Lorian, Shock and three different land types. The good draws keep coming and I win.

Game 3, we trade some beats until I unmorph Bloodstoke Howler, which brings him way below zero.

8-4
4-1

Round 6: Bertrand Fagnoni
He is a friend of mine and tells me he doesn't want either of us to be out of competition. He offers me a draw, with the reason that a draw would mean we both had a shot at the top 8 if we won next round, while a win wouldn't mean we could draw into top 8 because of the high number of draws at the top tables. I don't fully agree, and decide to put my destiny into a coin toss. Faith has chosen for us to draw.

We play best out of 5 to pass time, which I win 5-4 after a 0-3 start.

8-4-1

Round 7: Philippe Ingrassia
Game 1 I keep the game under pressure with Branchsnap Lorian-Stonewood Invoker... Until he drops Tephraderm. Lots of turns later, I play Slate and activate for the first time of the day, which gives me 5 cards. At a certain point I could win with wave if he doesn't hold Cruel Revival, but I decide to play an Enormous Baloth to be able to bring him within Shock range the next turn even if he holds the removal. Sure enough, he had Revival and I was ready to aim my Shock at him.

Game 2, he is somewhat mana-flooded and dies to my beasts.

10-4-1

Final result: 8^th

Before the draft, Régis told me that he was going U/R.

1^st pick: Nantuko Husk

2^nd pack, I get passed Insurrection; an uncommon is missing. Here is where I possibly made a mistake: Fred is obviously not drafting red, which means he is black. If I take the red spoiler, I'll have to fight with Régis; otherwise, I'll fight with Fred. The point is that I'd rather fight my left neighbour than my right one, because the former gives me two packs. I leave the Insurrection in the pack, because of the arrangement I had with Régis and take a Spitting Gourna.

Later I get Basilisk, two Symbiotic Elves, Elvish Warrior, Vitality Charm, Wirewood Pride, and some other playables - but nothing really impressive. This locks me into green, but my second color isn't certain at that point.

The second onslaught boosters are very good, as they give me Snarling Undorak, Elvish Warrior, Barkhide Mauler, Spitting Gourna, Smother, Crown of Suspicion, and so on.

At this point I am mono green with a splash of black.

Legions is insane. It gives me these cards, in this order: Timberwatch Elf, Timberwatch Elf, Gempalm Strider, Stonewood Invoker, Stonewood Invoker, Branchsnap Lorian, Patron of the Wild, Patron, Patron.

I end up with one of the fastest decks I've ever played in OOL:

Taunting Elf
2 Stonewood Invoker
2 Elvish Warrior
Gempalm Strider
Branchsnap Lorian
Spitting Gourna
Serpentine Basilisk
3 Patron of the Wild
2 Timberwatch Elf
Barkhide Mauler
Nantuko Husk
Snarling Undorak
Symbiotic Elf
Vitality Charm
Wirewood Pride
Smother
Crown of Suspicion
Aphetto Dredging
6 Swamps
10 Forests
1 Tranquil Thicket

I should have played a second Spitting Gourna instead of a third Patron and seven swamps, but I was too concerned about playing Elvish Warrior one turn 2.

Quarterfinals: Philippe Prosper
His deck is the opposite of mine: zombies with a splash of green.

Game 1: He starts, and on his fourth turn, the board consists of two elves and two Severed Legions. The damage race begins (and ends) on a Smother on his last blocker after making me discard two cards and bringing me down to four with a Silent Specter.

Game 2: Is fast as well, but I make a mistake somewhere during a big block as I blocked his double-amplified Zombie Brute with a Patron-of-the-Wild-boosted Barkhide Mauler, somehow thinking the beast could survive it. I lose three creatures to him; in the end, I couldn't overcome the card advantage and the tempo advantage I lost.

Game 3: My opening hand is very good, and the good draws come turn after turn. I am even able to punch through his second-turn Crypt Sliver, third-turn Wall of Mulch. The good tricks keep coming on my side and battle after battle they throw off his math.

10-5-1

Semifinals Alban Weiten
Before the match I am told that I couldn't win this, because his deck is G/W with lots of high-toughness creatures, elves, and Silvos.

Game 1: I start off with turn 2 Stonewood Invoker, turn 3 morphed Patron, turn 4 Smother his Timberwatch Elf, play Elvish Warrior, turn 5 make Timberwatch and Stonewood Invoker. Turn 5 he taps Birchlore Rangers and another elf, then puts six mana in his pool to summon Silvos.

He is at ten life. On my turn, I attack with everything, he doesn't block, I unmorph Patron, then tap Timberwatch Elf to put him at zero.

Game 2, I can't get rid of his third-turn Timberwatch Elf, which gives enormous boosts with elves on both sides. The race is over fast.

Game 3, I mulligan to six and keep a hand containing Forest, Forest, Stonewood Invoker, Smother, Vitality Charm, Wirewood pride. The game takes off as usual with turn 2 Stonewood Invoker on my side, turn 3 Timberwatch Elf on his side - and there are two other elves in play! Even with Smother in my hand, I can't get rid of this Giant Growth on a stick, because I don't draw a Swamp the whole game.

A few turns later I screw up badly, as I could have killed him by boosting my attackers with my own Timberwatch Elf, Wirewood Pride and Vitality Charm. But I forget to play Taunting Elf before the attack, which would have boosted my creatures by two. On my next turn, I am at two life, while he is at twelve.

I declare an attack phase, he taps my taunting elf with Whipcorder; Stonewood Invoker and morphed Patron go to the red zone. He has untapped Timberwatch Elf, Pearlspear Courier, and the 1/1 trampling elf. He blocks Stonewood Invoker with Pearlspear Courier, the morph with a 1/1. My only chance to kill him is if he makes a mistake in the boost of his creature. As I can't let the damage go on the stack, I boost the Stonewood Invoker. I pray, and....

He boosts the 1/1 elf! Yes!

Wirewood Pride and Vitality Charm are cast before damage, and the elf mutant deals twelve trample damage. The Magic Gods were on my side.

In the other semi, Fred Courtois beats Régis Lavoisier.

Results: 1 Fred Courtois, 2 Charles Delvaux both are invited to Yokohama.

Card of the day: Branchsnap Lorian.
I can't stress enough how good this guy is. His low morph cost makes a Swat immune face down card when the opponent is least expecting it. Trample is a very good ability as Vitality Charm has shown us in countless games, acting as green's only evasion-like ability. At worst will people block it on turn 4, at which point it can be unmorphed for one, traded with a morph and 2 damage, and you'll still be able to play a morph. The fact it is a beast is good for the Savage, Vitality Charm, Skirk Outrider, and the likes. I may overvalue him because he dealt more damage than any other creature today - but then again, isn't that a reason to love the Lorian?

The good:

• The organisation
• Branchsnap Lorian
• Denis Valot, for making top 8 as a beginner

The bad:

• Denis Valot, who sent the third member of our team out of top 8 with his G/W Jareth, Leonine Titan, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Silvos, Rogue Elemental, Symbiotic Wurm deck
• The judges, who needed a FAQ for every question asked