He deserved top eight, but still.
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa shows again that he is the best.
round 1 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Eric Neilson
round 2 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Shougo Sunada
round 3 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Mandee Peralta
round 4 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Martin Juza (Doran)
round 5 - W, 2-0-0, vs. David Felske (GW Big Mana)
round 6 - W, 2-0-0, vs. Yuuya Watanabe (UW Reveillark)
round 7 - W, 2-0-0, vs. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Faeries)
round 8 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Kenny Oberg (Faeries)
round 9 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Stan van der Velden (Faeries)
round 10 - L, 0-2-0, vs. Shuuhei Nakamura (Elves)
round 11 - D, 1-1-0, vs. Thomas Enevoldsen (Faeries)
round 12 - W, 2-1-0, vs. Nicolay Potovin (Faeries)
round 13 - L, 1-2-0, vs. Jan Ruess (Merfolk)
round 14 - L, 0-2-0, vs. Yong Han Choo (UWr Reveillark)
round 15 - W, 2-0-0, vs. Aaron Nicastri (Elves)
round 16 - L, 0-2-0, vs. Nico Bohny (Doran)
total matches: 10-4-1
total games: 24-16-0
I am pleased with Wafo-Tapa's day one finish.
His day two finish seems alright but a little suspicious.
The DCI must keep a closer watch on Shuuhei Nakamura, Jan Ruess, Yong Han Choo, and Nico Bohny. It is a good thing Charles Gindy kept them all from winning the Pro Tour.
Also Thomas Enevoldsen should be watched for stalling.
[All pictures in this post stolen from the Sideboard.]
Quick'n Toast
by Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
4 Wall of Roots
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
3 Firespout
4 Careful Consideration
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
3 Cloudthresher
3 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Dreadship Reef
2 Fungal Reaches
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Mystic Gate
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Grove
SB: 3 Mind Shatter
SB: 1 Detritivore
SB: 3 Wispmare
SB: 1 Cloudthresher
SB: 3 Teferi's Moat
SB: 2 Primal Command
SB: 1 Shriekmaw
SB: 1 Murderous Redcap
This link lets you draw sample hands.
This link shows most of his opponents' decks.
I would talk a lot about this deck except Manuel Bucher made it so it is kind of boring. What is more interesting is the changes between ManuelB's list and Wafo-Tapa's:
- 1 Slaughter Pact
+ 1 Cryptic Command
- SB: 2 Riftsweeper
+ SB: 1 Cloudthresher
+ SB: 1 Murderous Redcap
These changes clearly made $1500 of difference. Wafo-Tapa wet 4-0-1 against Faeries; he doesn't need Riftsweeper. He needs Cryptic Command of course. ManuelB might have made a nice 72-card decklist, but only Guillaume knew how to make it sing.
Round 7 versus PV
covered by Nate Price
In game one Wafo-Tapa falls to eight early. He stabilizes with Cloudthresher but PV has Terror. Wafo-Tapa draws Oona the Queen on the last possible turn and PV runs out of gas.
The coverage makes him sound really lucky, but he probably would have won if he'd drawn Cloudthresher or Mulldrifter or Makeshift Mannequin.
In game two both players get slow starts and PV plays Spellstutter Sprite as a Bog Imp for some reason. Wafo-Tapa makes a nice play of Careful Consideration into Slaughter Pact to kill Mutavault to fizzle Spellstutter #2. Then he gets Oona for the kill again.
Ancestral Visions is good, but not as good as Wafo-Tapa.
Round 9 versus Stan Van Der Velden
coverage by Ted Knutson
Ted Knutson starts the coverage by pointing out that Wafo-Tapa has probably just set a record, for best constructed rating ever. That sounds only fair.
In game one Van Der Velden gets a fast draw, but Guillaume has Wrath-untap-Wrath to get past the counters. Van Der Velden keeps getting Bitterblossom tokens so Guillaume has to Slaughter Pact a Mistbind Clique. He plays Careful Consideration but doesn't find any black mana so he has to die.
The coverage has an excellent paragraph about why Guillaume was making the right play, even though the play came back to kill him.
In game two the luck evens out and Van Der Velden draws no lands. Hooray!
Game three is weird for luck. Van Der Velden mulligans to four but gets Ancestral and Bitterblossom on the first turns. Cryptic Command and Cloudthresher are more powerful spells than Bitterblossom and Scion of Oona.
There are a few interesting things about this game. First is that Van Der Velden drew dead Rune Snags in the late game, when Wafo-Tapa had all kinds of mana. That might be because storage lands are so insane.
Second is that Van Der Velden was frustrated by Wafo-Tapa drawing Cryptic Commands. Maybe this is a sign that Guillaume Wafo-Tapa is a lucksack, but more likely it shows that he is a genius to put four Cryptic Commands in the deck. Manuel Bucher would not have won this match, but Guillaume did.
Round 15 versus Aaron Nicastri
covered by Tom LaPille
In game one Guillaume uses Firespout to kill all of Nicastri's mana. Nicastri plays Tarmogoyf, Guillaume plays a good card, and Nicastri scoops.
Game two they both get Kitchen Finks which means a long game which means Guillaume wins. Nicastri's deck had a lot of small creatures.
Round 16 versus Nico Bohny
coverage by Nate Price
In game one Guillaume got flooded and Bohny just played creatures and won.
In game two Bohny had a fast draw with Doran and spare Doran. Wafo-Tapa stabilized and Bohny resolved Bitterblossom and Profane Command.
It's kind of nice that by now everyone agrees that Wafo-Tapa is the best player. He's been the best player for a long time now, but up until this Pro Tour the reporters just said, oh, he's almost as good as Kenji.
148 Finkel, Jon [USA] 3
74 Tsumura, Kenji [JPN] 4
13 Wafo-tapa, Guillaume [FRA] $5,000 8
I'm writing this during GP Birmingham the next weekend, and Wafo-Tapa is 11th after day one. What a good player.
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