Event Overview
Tournament Name: Ascanrask III
Date: 28.-29. March 2026
Location: Wandraschek Winery, Krems a.d. Donau, Austria
Format: Constructed
Players: 51
Rounds: 6 Swiss + Top 8
My Deck: Troll Magic / Necromancer
Final Standing: 1st place
The Journey
Getting There
I heard about the Ascanrask III on our local Discord server in Croatia and decided that I was going all in on Sorcery when I asked my friends Eric & Matthias if I could stay with them in Vienna for the duration of the Tournament. I sold all my MTG cards to buy the deck. At first I wanted to go with Blue Magic by CJ but when I saw his Dank Magic deck I could not believe how much better he made the deck with the addition of air.
I packed my bags on Thursday at around 12pm and made my trade binder to try to get some trades in between games. Friday at 7:30 AM I went to get my decklist printed, and then I started my journey to Vienna.
When I was driving through Hungary around Budapest I had an itch I always get. Did I pack my deck? I must have. I couldn’t have forgotten. Well, when I get to Vienna I’ll just open my bag to check, it has to be there. When I arrived at the Hütteldorf trainstation I opened my bag and I saw I forgot my deck. I checked both of my bags and I know it’s on my desk at home. Well I was so distraught I called my girlfriend at home and my friends to tell them what I just did. I had an idea to maybe get my deck express shipped to me but It was quite late for that, I thought.
I then went to Discord for the tournament to say that I will be coming to trade and hang since I forgot my deck and this is where you see the quality of this Community. Several people reached out to offer me their spare deck and Trolls of The Realm said I can come by the booth and they will hook me up with a deck to play.
I could not believe it, I could play. From being so stressed about forgetting my deck, I was thinking of just leaving for home before I got the message that I could borrow a deck. The next morning I woke up and drove from Vienna to Krems.
The Venue & Atmosphere
Wandraschek Winery had such a cozy warm atmosphere when I arrived. You could feel the excitement as people were sleeving the cards they got from The Trolls of The Realm. I immediately hit it off with a necromancer player Dawid who was sleeving up and we wished each other luck in the tournament. You could tell people were excited to start playing and after a short Intro Announcement 51 players started Round 1.
Deck Choice & Preparation
Ron from the Trolls lend me his Necromancer water deck that he had build soon after Gothic was released. It had some minor differences from Cj’s list. But at first I was just happy that I got to play. The key changes were a Mimic, Nelly Longarms, and a Book of the Dead. I just added in 3 Whirling Blades, and I could play!
Link to the decklist: Troll Magic
Match Highlights
Round 1 – Battlemage
My first matchup ever against a Battlemage and I was lucky enough to swap and disenchant his equipment and push him away long enough to play my big threats.
Round 2 – Imposter Earth-Fire
I didn’t know how interesting his deck was. He built it to beat necro and he beat me. After I put him to Death’s Door he placed his Ironclad mask and went on a site with the Root Spider. And I did not want to risk at first a 1-in-3 then a 1-in-7 chance to hit him with my lightning bolt. I was praying to draw Atlantian Fate. But I waited too long and he got me to Death’s Door and killed me.
Round 3 – Necromancer Water-Air
This game I had Pied Piper in my opening hand that I kept the whole game just in case he plays it or if he gains the momentum. But I was able to overwhelm his positions with my Ruler of Thul.
Round 4 – Imposter Water
This Game The last 2 Turns were crucial for my victory. He is on Death’s Door but has a ward. I Mimic my own Manuscript to attack his ward and next turn I swap his Lord of Lies and my horrible hybrids to attack him without him being able to defend.
Round 5 – Imposter Water
Again I play an Imposter. But this time I went wide hoping to overwhelm him with numbers. He plays turn 3 Plague of Frogs and puts 7 frogs in range to attack me next turn. I am afraid of a turn 4, Ruler of Thul, the same card I am about to play. I play Ruler of Thul and kill 3 frogs. He puts on the Interrogator mask and attacks me with 4 frogs I defend from 1, I am forced to choose between taking 3 life loss or giving him a card 3 times. I lost 6 and let him draw 1 card. Then I play a Lilith stealing 2 Coy nixie’s over the course of 2 turns and he loses the turn after I bring him to Death’s Door
Round 6 – Pathfinder Air
Playing my first Pathfinder and it’s Mono Air. During the Match he missplayed(He had Grapple shot which he could have used to eliminate my monstrosity) leaving my Dormant Monstrosity in his corner and I Whirling Blade his Hounds of Ondaros and Ophanim after I break its ward with Riptide.
Round Top 8 – Pathfinder Air
Rematch with a much more interesting game. I had garden of eden in my opening hand and a manuscript which I used as often as I thought I could to get me something to always trade with his big beaters. I drew a book of Dead and so did He. I Disenchant his Book of the Dead and proceed to get cards from my manuscript and the Book of the Dead to Defeat him. We went to Turns as the game went for a long time I think on my Last turn before he conceded I had 8 mana my last site I played was the Garden of Eden. And he had 13 mana. His last card Drawn is a Grand Wizard. He concedes.
Round SemiFinal – Imposter Earth-Fire
We meet again and this time my opening hand has an Atlantian Fate. I go first and on turn 5 I place Atlantian Fate on his 4×4 turning all his sites to water. After a few more turn he was on Death’s Door and conceded as he gave me a handshake.
Round Final – Pathfinder Water
I went first and he aggressively mulliganed, putting all 3 spells at the bottom fishing for a pied piper. I kept a Mimic and a Shapeshift, mulliganing Atlantian Fate. He casts a Aquamarine Core which puts him in the tempo and me on the backfoot and I hoped he wouldn’t play some great beater before I can mimic his core.
On turn 3 I play a tower which gives me the mana I need to Mimic and I feel better. The mimic is killed by his Order of the sacred Tree. He sinkholes my troll bridge, and I play Maelstrom in its place. The turn after he plays lady of the lake and he attacks my maelstrom with his order that I broke a ward a turn earlier.
On my turn I moved my skeleton and his lady of the lake on my maelstrom and draw a site. I hit a Kelp cavern. I play it and I hope that I find a Lord of Lies. I do. I put it on top and cast a shapeshift. I find 2 Lords of Lies – I chuckle in my head. I killed his 2 cards. Next turn I play Plague of Frogs because the turn after I will play a lord of unland and use all my minions to bring him to Death’s Door. He plays a Sacred Stag moving his Pathfinder to get more sites to begin out pacing me in mana. I played the Lord of Unland and put him to Death’s Door. Next turn my plan is to Whirling Blade with any of my frogs or The Lord of Lies to win. He plays His Lord of Lies and says They will fight. I go to pick up my lord to put him to the graveyard and then I remember he has 7 power due to the Lord of Unland I tell him that. He looks a bit disappointed in the misplay and then he smiles(before the start of top 8 we met and talked about how funny it would be if we met in the finals due to the fact we are both from Croatia) and gives me a handshake. I can’t believe what I just did. I won and it’s not even my deck.
Deck Analysis
Link to the decklist: Troll Magic
How the Deck Performed
The deck performed so well for me. I could not imagine how many times each of the cards would save me from the Book of the Dead against the air pathfinder and the mimic taking the water pathfinders Aquamarine Core.
Cards That Overperformed
Mimic — A monster who destroys key artifacts and can attack as soon as summoned in most cases. It won me at least 2 games
Book of The Dead — Well it gave me the edge in the long game as it gave me another way to get card advantage. 5 is a lot of mana for an artifact but it paved the way to my victory against the Air Pathfinder.
Cards That Underperformed
Watery Grave — It’s effect was never triggered in my games, I counted it as a basic Water site
Tadpole Pool — In the matchup where I could have used the frogs to make horrible hybrids it was too slow. It seems too slow for its effect.
Meta Observations
Well I can say that I encountered a lot of Pathfinder and Imposters. Water and Air definitely dominated in my opinion. I wish I could have stayed longer and played with a lot more people. There were some very interesting builds I wanted to play against.
I also want to say that to anyone playing their next tournament experiment with cards that you think will give you that edge on your opponent, the Book of the Dead seems so good in the end game so if you think the meta will be slower I would recommend the book. And to beat the book, run the Mimic if you are in water.
What Went Well
I was quite lucky in a lot of my matchups with my card draws.
Trolls of The Realm provided an excellent deck which only required a minimum of changes to play effectively.
What I’d Change
I’d remove the Watery grave and pond from the deck and put in 2 Wuthering heights as free movement is a premium
Not forget my deck
Overall Thoughts
What can I say? I was very fortunate in many aspects. From Trolls providing me a deck, my luck in getting the cards in the deck that solved the problems my opponents gave me like a scalpel. I want to thank all of the people at Ascanrask, Wandraschek Winery, and Ron and Richard of Trolls of The Realm for being the true heroes of this story.
Written by: Davor Peurača/ Dado
