- Win a PTQ (Thanks Delver!)
- Play on the Pro Tour
- Play in an SCG event (Thanks Delver!)
- Top 8 an SCG Open (Thanks Delver!)
- Crush some local tournies (Thanks Delver!)
- Play more legacy (More Delver!)
- Travel some and make more Magic friends
- Trade for more Miscuts (No Delvers :( )
Unfortunately 2013 was not quite so fruitful (from a Magic point of view). Though from a personnel standpoint - I did get engaged, buy a house with that very same special lady and buy a business. Turns out this also made 2013 a very expensive year. So travelling for Magic was tough/impossible. A good example of how little Magic I played in 2013 is that I drafted exactly twice the whole year...Fortunately for me both of those drafts were on day 2 of GP: Houston. I was pretty happy with going 2-1 in both but thats a different story.
As the year drew to an end I finally decided I would regret not making use of my invitation. That was it, I am now off to Vegas while listening to Spanish Xmas songs.
The invitational went poorly because of standard. Long story short, I had played exactly 10 rounds of Standard in 2013 prior to the invitational. For this I had played RG Nykthos monsters at SCG: Dallas (7-3). For the invitational I choose to see how well I could do with mono black pack rat! (Answer: Terrible) The legacy portion went much better:
I played against the following:
Round 5 - UWR Delver (2-0)
I made my deck and sideboard to beat this deck. When I reality ripple him he actually knows what it does. :)
Round 6 - Dredge (2-1)
Three close games. I dont believe in graveyard hate which makes this matchup pretty bad for me. Sometimes counterspells and a quick clock are enough to get there though.
Round 7 - Storm (2-0)
I have played this matchup a lot and feel very comfortable with it. Highlight in game 2 when he goes to attack with xantid swarm and I tell him to hold on. I then bolt and he put swarm in the yard. Then I tell him no - "I bolt you." He takes 3 going from 11-8. Attacks with swarm...then does nothing...I untap and attack him to 5 with goose. Win that game but the soul read on him not being able to combo was awesome.
Round 8 - Dredge (1-2)
G1 - He Cabal Therapies me and sees reality ripple. A judge is called. phasing is explained. He then Cabal Therapies for reality ripple because he is not quite sure why I want that card. :)
G2 - I cast rough/tumble when he has lethal on board.
G3 - He does a bunch of Ashen Rider shenanigans to blow up 2 lands on turn 2. I never draw a red source. :(
So what did I learn? Play more legacy that's what!
Saturday I play in the standard open just for fun and I decide to stick with mono black. I drop late in the day when I could still make my money back but I want to go eat.
Sunday is legacy and this is what I am here for.
The list:
Creatures (12)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Tarmogoyf
1 True-Name Nemesis
Lands (18)
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
Spells (30)
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
1 Forked Bolt
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
4 Stifle
1 Spell Snare
1 Reality Ripple
4 Ponder
Sideboard
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Gilded Drake
2 Divert
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Flusterstorm
2 Rough //Tumble
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Tarmogoyf
1 True-Name Nemesis
Lands (18)
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
Spells (30)
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
1 Forked Bolt
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
4 Stifle
1 Spell Snare
1 Reality Ripple
4 Ponder
Sideboard
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Gilded Drake
2 Divert
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Flusterstorm
2 Rough //Tumble
The list is pretty much basic RUG -3 Gitaxian Probe that have beecome card de jour lately and with +1 Spell snare + 1 Spell Pierce and + 1 Reality Ripple. I also trimmed a goyf for a True-Name Nemesis. This was totally untested but it didnt seem bad.
R1 UW Blade (Batterman, Daniel) 2-0
Pre-Game - I learn that he is a judge and he knows Craig Wescoe who is sitting next to us.
G1 - He starts fetching lands and I see that he is UW but I dont know til later if he is control or not. I stifle a land and play a goose who pecks for 1. He jams a SFM which I let resolve since I have the bolt and need to get threshold anyway. Kill SFM then start attacking for 3. He tries to resolve Counter Balance which I Spell Snare. He raises his eyebrows and comments on the card.
G2- Similar to g1 except he gets an early top. I almost never fight over top in these matchups unless I have the mana free or its a good tempo play. The only card you care about them topping into is Terminus and you have stifles for those. Since I know he is on control this game I let him get all his lands and keep my stifles for his RIP and his Terminus. At some point in the game he resolves a RIP. The next turn I draw a Spell Snare but then right after that he plays SFM which gets countered and he pretty much slumps in his chair knowing he needed that to resolve.
Post Match - We speak for a little bit and he comments again on how good spell snare is. Also Craig Wescoe gets crushed by Oops all spells.
R2 UWB Esperblade (Sardinas, Oscar) 2-0
G1 - I play a delver which flips and hits him once but then gets STP'd. Then the same thing happends with a goyf. We play draw go for a turn or two then he plays SFM getting Jitte. I land goose and tempo him out with Bolt and soft counters.
G2 - He leads with turn 1 Thoughtseize. My hand is pretty good but I have a lot of redundancy. He takes a dude and I just follow - up with another. Goose beats him from 18 life to 5life 1 point at a time. All the while I just tempo to control the game.
R3 4 C Cascade (Rembert, Isaac) 2-1
G1 - He wins the die roll and I get totally crushed. He plays the game very smartly as I put him on Shardless BUG since he never showed me red lands. I misplayed on turn 1 when I used Spell Snare to counter his Hymn rather than a spell pierce. I was thinking that I needed the spell pierce to counter his lilliana but I think the better play is to keep the Spell Snare for his Goyfs. He then proceded to play Goyf into Goyf.
G2 - I control his mana by killing lands and deathrite which really constrains what he can do. Then I land a goose and attack for 3 a turn. Now I see red and so know his mana base is even worse than BUG - Score!
G3 - I stifle his first land and land a goyf. Then I try and keep him off double any colour for the rest of the game.
Post- Game- I speak to him and some of his friends after our match. I tell him that he played very well G1 and he tells me this is his first big legacy tournament. Colour me impressed.
R4 UWB Esperblade (Wijaya, Vidianto) 2-0
G1 - I control the game by keeping him off his mana then I play a thresholded goose and attack for 3 a turn.
G2 - When he thoughtseizes me early in the game I write down the cards so I know what he is playing around - they were good ones (Goyf, Mongoose, Bolt, Ancient Grudge and Ponder). Not the most interesting game but I do get RIP'd. Major misplay - I was talking to SDMatt from The Source and not paying full attention to the game. He is mana light and plays a snapcaster mage with 1 mana open, I stifle the CIP trigger...yeah RIP is still in play. It ends up not mattering but it would have it the game went longer. I get a raised eyebrow one turn when I attack with my 0/1 goyf and before damage blow up RIP with destructive revely and crack a fetch.
Post-Game - "I hate 1 mana stone rains."
R5 Elves (Harduvel, John) 2-1
G1 - I get killed by Craterhoof on his turn 3. Notes - Cradle is good.
G2/G3 - These games are nail biters. I think he turn 1 GSZ all 3 games we played. G2/G3 I try to sculpt around drawing Rough/ Tumble so that I can get the most amount of value. This includes wastlanding his Bayou instead of his Dryad Arbor since I planned to Rough/Tumble the next turn.
Post-Game - I compliment him on his miscut forest and he says how sweet my deck looks.
R6 RUG (Sidher, Ricky) 1-2
G1 -I lose the die roll and know what he is playing. Not the best matchup to lose the die roll on. He goes Volcanic Island, Delver Pass...oh great. I play land, ponder looking for removal. He natural flips off stifle and attacks. He fetches for another land. I untap play a wasteland, I have the red source and bolt in hand so now I just need mana to play around his counters. I waste on his upkeep and he uses his stifle. He attacks again and plays a ponder/brainstorm. I untap and waste and we counter war over delver. I win and the next turn I land a goose. which attacks him down to 5. My board is two goose and I am at 8. He has goyf and 5 life. He scoops up his cards one turn saying I know you have the bolt. Oh yeah...I'll take the win...
G2 - He turn 2 LFTL's back a scalding tarn. My hand is solid but a little land light. I ponder and see Goyf, Goyf and Goose. If my green source gets wastelanded then I lose this game. I shuffle, play 2 more cantrips that game but never see another guy. He also never wastelands me. I think my play was the correct one but maybe I should just be willing to go to g3 if he has the waste and if he doesnt then I get a free win? These is definately some debate here. It is a little unluck for me not to draw any threats after 3 cantrips but oh well.
G3 - My hand is fine but just doesnt progress well and he has all of the good spells for the mirror.
Post-Game - I try to talk about g2 a little bit but he isnt too interested.
R7 UWR (Paglia, Vincent) 2-0
G1 - I tempo him out of the game. This matchup is great because you have stifle and they dont.
G2 - Same again.
R8 DNT (Logan, Colin) 1-2
G1 - I lose game 1 but he sees TNN.
G2 - I tempo him out G2.
G3 - Ulimtely he has too many fliers and takes the game. He gives me a window to get back into the game which I take. Then the very next turn I make a wrong decision which probably loses me the game. I am a little bit frustrated but dont super tilt like my opponent does when he almost lets me back in the game. Note: Rough//Tumble is nowhere near as good as it used to be against DNT since they switched to more fliers.
R9 Elves (Yu, Jarvis K) 1-2
G1 - We get off to a bad start in this matchup to be honest. He fusses at me because of how my exiled/RFG cards are displayed while I am in the middle of resolving a Ponder. I am not very happy but comply with his request. Then we I ask him to flip his wirewoods when he uses them he flat out refuses since "there is only one in play." There is some confusion between the two of us next turn and a judge comes over to cool things off. We start playing a little more clearly and its fine. We get to a really interesting part of the game where I have a flipped Delver and Tarmogoyf x2. He has a symbiote, quirion ranger, deathrite shaman and a couple other elves. I am at 10 and he can kill me in two turns with deathrite activations but he is also dead if I have a bolt. I make the attacks each turn like I have the bolt and eventually win a game where I have just 3 lands in hand.
We get called over for a feature match which you can view below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5_viiuMen8
G2 - Yup you saw that daze correctly.
G3 - Not sure if I can sequence anything too differently to be honest. :(
All in all it was a long few days playing Magic in Vegas and I wish I could have had a few more rounds of legacy to go. I wouldn't change the main deck or the sideboard. I certainly wouldn't play mono black in Standard either.
Merry Christmas!
-Cheers-
