How I Achieved My Goals and Top 8'd Worlds

Tournament Goals and Predictions

Paul van Gijssel recaps the World Championships in Paris, where he achieved his main goal: finishing as Europe’s second Player of the Year. He also made the Top 8, earning a quarterfinalist trophy, and was proud to add another Tier 4 Top 8 to his record. Jacob Clemens won Player of the Year.

Before the event, Paul predicted that Levia would be the leading deck, followed by Bolton and Gravy Bones (“Gravy”). His assessment was mixed:

• Levia: Still powerful, but its high ceiling comes with a low floor. Bad draws or early mistakes can make games collapse, and Paul thinks he underestimated that inconsistency.
• Bolton: A major force in testing and at Worlds. Paul agreed with its strong results, noting its high power and explosive turns.
• Gravy Bones: Paul remained convinced it was an excellent, high-agency deck. He was pleased that Gravy players—including himself and Evan—made Top 8.
• Fang: Paul underestimated it. He came away impressed by its consistency and its plan of lowering the opponent’s life before threatening a finish with attack reactions.
• Aurora: Paul was glad he had backed it before its strong results at the Calling and Worlds.
• Yor: It did not have the tournament Paul expected from its specialists.

Paul’s predictions about the leading heroes were broadly close to the actual metagame, though Fang proved much stronger than he expected and Aurora was more represented than anticipated.

Testing and Deck Choices

Paul tested several options, including Ira and Levia, but never became comfortable with Levia. Ira looked consistent, and he particularly praised Stoke Vengeance as a powerful block extender with disruptive on-hit potential. However, after testing Ira into Bolton and Yor, he did not feel confident enough to play it. He locked in Gravy Bones to avoid second-guessing his choice.

He also tested Gallow, which he thought could be effective into Bolton and Levia by punishing their on-hits, but ultimately did not play it.

Paul’s Gravy list was built by Evan and Bartosh. It was largely shared across the group, with some individual card choices:

• Paul added three Fearless Confrontations, which he liked against Bolton and Fang.
• He considered Circlet of Eternal End as a way to remove Levia’s Rumbling Hunger, but chose a single Ripple Away instead.
• He praised Carrying Crown for letting Gravy discard an ally without tapping the hero.
• Violent Gusters helped disrupt Fang’s game plan.
• Sloops performed well, while Cheating Scoundrels could be either very useful or awkward.

Limited Plan: Forcing Malice

For the World Championship draft, Paul decided to force Malice rather than stay open. He felt experienced with the hero, had a strong record in Malice mirrors, and believed Malice had a favorable matchup into Levia. He accepted the risk that the hero might not be open.

His draft priorities included getting a Dam of the Shadow Wake, assembling a reliable ally package, and having enough blues and discard outlets. In the first draft, being squeezed between two other Malice drafters left him short on discard outlets, making it harder to play allies efficiently. In the second draft, Malice was wide open, and he built a much stronger deck with enough allies to swap specific ones for particular matchups.

A key lesson from Malice mirrors was to attack the opponent rather than focus only on their allies when behind. Pressure can force them to block or spend cards, limiting their ability to pitch for their own board. Paul also highlighted Restless Magister as an important card for disrupting an opponent’s hand.

Tournament Highlights and Lessons

Paul started the Classic Constructed rounds 4–1, with wins over Fang, Olympia, Gravy, and Aurora, and a loss to Bolton.

• Against Bolton: He regretted gambling on a Fearless Confrontation after the opponent had already played two Luminas. He assumed a third Lumina meant he would lose, but later recognized that he could have blocked and continued playing for a win.
• In his Gravy mirror: He saw how quickly the matchup can snowball. Once one player gets ahead on tempo, catching up is difficult.
• In the first Malice draft: He won a close game against Levia after initially thinking he had lost; his opponent died to Blood Debt.
• In another draft game: He lost to Levia after his lack of discard outlets forced inefficient plays and let the opponent fatigue him.
• In his second draft: He went 3–0. In one game against Levia, he changed his line after noticing how quickly the opponent declined blocks, correctly anticipating a dangerous attack from banish.
• In later Classic Constructed rounds: He beat Gravy and Levia, lost to Fang, and then beat a Civia deck.
• In the final round: He lost to Ryan Rich’s Olympia. Paul expected aggression and arsenaled a defensive reaction, but Ryan used a fatigue/stalemate strategy. Paul took away a broader lesson: improve at reading opponents’ arsenals and shaping decisions around what they may be holding.

Paul finished sixth in the standings and reached the Top 8. In the quarterfinal, he faced the eventual champion, Nicholas Jamul, playing Fang, and was eliminated. Reviewing the game, Paul identified a possible mistake: he did not account for a Pledge of Filthy in Jamul’s arsenal, which affected how he managed the opponent’s Filthy count and his own Gusto.

Takeaways and Next Goals

Paul was pleased with his trophies and the season, but said he wants to keep setting new goals rather than dwell on past achievements. His future ambitions include winning a third Calling, taking a World Premiere Limited event, and eventually competing for a World Championship win.

He also planned to continue content creation and attend Battlegrounds in Belgium and Calling Wakefield.

Gamers and Sources Featured

People mentioned include Paul van Gijssel; Jacob Clemens; Kashi; Brody/Broady; Ryu (rendered as “Ryuk”) Uras; Evan; Bartosh/Bartosz; Jimmy Nero Damer; Maximilian Klein; Michael Hamilton; Nicholas/Nikolai Jamul; Mikuan; Lucas; PVD; Samiwax; Matias Forbake; Kelvin; Benoling; Vito Million; Alec Safier; Yuki Lee Bender; Yoros; Daniel Dryseker; Pablo Pintor; Ralph Schlari; Max Digman; Jacob Crossing; Jin Hanto; Osilio; Ryan Rich; Justin; Tomaso; Bartoolski; Gab; Kari; and Ryan Taller. Some names may be affected by auto-captioning.

The teams and sources referenced include Blueprint, Team Toxic, and Team Super Armory, as well as Paul’s testing group and the World Championships and Calling events discussed in the recap.