Bazaar of Boxes 14
Last month, I headed to the Netherlands for Bazaar of Boxes 14, piloting Cephalid Breakfast to a 3-3-1 finish. While it's not the result I was hoping for, I adopted Reid Duke's strategy of playing the tourney until the end! This was a big changer wrt my normal way of heading to a tourney. I learned quite a few things and this is positive overall. As always, the event was really well put togheter and this is really a shoutout to the guys from Bazaar of Boxes!
~ Little montage to prove I was there as I didn't take pictures!
Let’s dive into the day’s rounds!
The Matches:
Round 1 – BG Reanimator (Win 2-0) I was directly facing the boogeyman in reanimatore. I managed to win the match. In the first game, I had a very good hand that protected me from discard and could present the combo. G2 his clock was really slow and I managed to go off after some back and forth. He managed to reanimate a troll but that was really not enough!
Round 2 – UB Reanimator (Loss 0-2) Here I did quite some missplays but I noted them down to improve next time!! In Game 1, I completely blanked on using Orim’s Chant to stop my opponent’s turn 2 Atraxa. After the angel resolved there wasn't much I could do but I played it out to see more of his deck. I had to mulligan a lot game 2 and lost in the same fashion.
Lesson learned: pay attention and map out plays ahead of time.
Round 3 – RB Reanimator (Loss 0-2) This was a brutal match. On the draw in Game 1, I essentially died on turn 1—classic Reanimator things. This was another variation of the deck and I probably didn't sideboard correctly: I did not expect the magus of the moons. I also did not fetch correctly. I managed to force the first magus but not the second. He killed me 10 turns later!
Round 4 – Mardu Tokens (Win 2-1) Finally, some fun! My opponent was a delight to play against, and the match had a lot of interesting back-and-forth. It’s always refreshing to have a round where the social aspect of Magic really shines. All in all I died quickly G1 and played around a lot of hate he didn't really have G2 but managed to present the combo. G3 was also really back and forth with a lot of interaction on both sides and as we faced time I secured my draw, by blocking and keeping myself alive as much as possible. I can combo out of nowhere as long as I have points of life but it did not happen this time. His teck was price of progress but I played around it thinking he was going to blood moon me so that was nice!
Round 5 – Boros Initiative (Loss 1-2) Game 1 he did the thing, not too fast but I got a lot of pressure early on and he managed to remove a piece of combo with solitude. Game 2 was not too fast of a start from him and I managed to keep the pressure off. He wasn't aware that I could combo on my turn and left the Nomads too long but it cost him! Game 3 here was entirely on me. I should’ve mulliganed to five, but I got greedy and kept a shaky six. That decision let my opponent lock me out of the game with a Chalice on 1. Definitely a learning moment there: I bet on him not having turn 1 chalice, sometimes it pays out, semetimes it doesn't!
Round 6 – Jewels Combo (Win 2-0) This match was… not my favorite. My opponent wasn’t particularly fun to play against, but the games themselves were fine. I comboed off quickly in Game 1 and managed to close Game 2 through combat damage after enduring some painfully long turns of nothingness. A win is a win, but this one felt more like a chore than a celebration. As I was winning the game, I didn't call the judges but there was definitely some slow play that could have been called there!
Round 7 – Cloudpost (Win 2-0) I ended the day on a high note against Cloudpost. Game 1 was a quick turn 2 win after a mulligan to five, showing just how explosive Cephalid Breakfast can be. Game 2 was grindier; I had to mulligan to five again but navigated carefully around my opponent’s potential hate. Nadu helped me stabilize, and after some durdling, I was able to close out the game.
Takeaways:
Sideboarding Needs Work: I noticed my sideboarding decisions were inconsistent. Some plans worked, but I need to map out better strategies for common matchups before heading into a competition.
Mental Mapping is Key: A few matches highlighted how important it is to visualize plays and think several turns ahead. Small oversights—like forgetting an Orim’s Chant—can be costly.
Final Thoughts:
I love my version of Cephalid Breakfastt:
Leylines? No problem—I barely cared about them.
Step Through makes fetching Thassa’s Oracle easy, which is a huge plus.
Memory’s Journey was clutch as a hedge against Faerie Macabre (though it didn’t come up).
Consign to Memory remains a threat. Always keep an eye out for it!
While 3-3-1 is less than I hoped for, the tournament was a good learning experience. Cephalid Breakfast is still one of my favorite decks, and I’m excited to refine my gameplay for the next event. Plus, there’s always a silver lining when you manage to combo off a few times and remind your opponents that breakfast is the most important meal of the day!