B.C.
02-16-2009, 12:10 PM
Even though nobody else from Team Car wanted to go, I made the solo trip from Boston to Manchester, CT for what I expected to be a good sized Legacy tournament, and more importantly a much needed tune up for GP Chicago. It did not disappoint. 36 players, 6 rounds of Swiss, with good representation from the best of New England’s Legacy players. Here’s what I played:
BUG ANT
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Island
3 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Infernal Tutor
2 Ad Nauseam
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Krosan Grip
Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Dark Confidant
2 Krosan Grip
2 Slaughter Pact
1 Hurkyll’s Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Swamp
1 Mox Diamond
This is a pretty standard ANT list, with a couple small changes. Most importantly, I have dropped W completely, replacing the customary 4 Orim’s Chant with 4 Thoughtseize. My rationale for this decision is fourfold. 1) It allows you to drop an entire color. This lets you run a much more reliable mana base or have a stronger splash of another color, which I have done. 2) Thoughtseize is superior to Orim’s Chant against proactive disruption. This includes Duress/Thoughtseize/Hymn, Counterbalance, Sphere effects, Canonist, Meddling Mage, Gaddock Teeg, etc. 3) Against counters, Thoughtseize and Orim’s Chant often do the same thing. When playing against heavy control, making them get rid of their FOW etc. is absolutely necessary. This can be achieved just as easily by Thoughtseizing it out of their hand as by having your Orim’s Chant countered. Additionally, Thoughtseize is often played a turn before going off, so it does not tie up any of your mana on the turn that you are trying to win. 4) The “residual disruption” effect of Orim’s Chant that protects an IGG loop can be achieved post-board by Xantid Swarm. The only difference is that Xantid Swarm works every turn that it’s in play.
The other change I have made from typical ANT lists is my inclusion of G. I have 2 G dual lands and a Krosan Grip in the main, with 2 more Grips and 4 Xantid Swarms in the board. Grip is the best removal spell for Counterbalance and most other permanent-based disruption. Xantid Swarm has tested very well against heavy control decks. It is a turn 1 must-counter.
On to the tournament.
Round 1: “Judge” Joe – Survival
Game 1: I Thoughtseize early, taking a Faerie Macabre, and win on turn 3 with little resistance.
-4 Duress, +1 Swamp, +1 Mox Diamond, +2 Slaughter Pact
Game 2: I keep a good hand and attempt an Ad Nauseam on turn 3. He plays Orim’s Chant in response to Ad Nauseam. This stops my combo, but allows me to completely refill my hand. On my next turn I attempt to Infernal Tutor with lots of mana floating, but he has Orim’s Chant #2. I am left with pretty much no hand, and he Eternal Witnesses back one of his Chants just in case.
+4 Duress, -1 Swamp, -1 Mox Diamond, -1 Slaughter Pact, -1 Ponder
Game 3: I have my Duresses back to answer his Chants, but this time he goes the Cabal Therapy route. He has two, and he casts and flashes back several times, using Eternal Witnesses to refill his hand. My lone Slaughter Pact is a discard victim, and he lands Gaddock Teeg to seal it.
0-1, 1-2
Round 2: Mike – TES
Game 1: He mulligans to 5. I keep a hand with 3 LED, Brainstorm, Mystical, 2 lands. I am on the play, so I play a land and 2 LEDs and pass. He plays a City of Brass and passes. I am pretty sure he isn’t running FOW, so I Mystical up Ad Nauseam and cast it during my Draw Step. It resolves and I win.
+3 Confidant, -1 Ponder, -1 Cabal Rit, -1 Krosan Grip
Game 2: He mulligans to 5 again. I spend my first couple of turns Duressing and Toughtseizing. He casts Brainstorm each time, hiding Ad Nauseam and Cabal Rit (I asked him after the match). Regardless, I take his Cabal Rit and Mystical Tutor and cast my own Ad Nauseam on turn 3 or 4 and win.
1-1, 3-2
Round 3: Paired up against Jeff (2-0) – Eva Green
Game 1: He plays Hymn to Tourach on his second and third turns. Each time I play Brainstorm to hide my Dark Rit, Ad Nauseam. I discard some good stuff, but nothing too important. I am able to play Ad Nauseam on turn 4 or so and win.
No board
Game 2: He plays Thoughtseize on his first turn, taking my Infernal Tutor. I don’t remember exactly what my hand was, but I remember thinking that this was the wrong card to take. He follows a couple turns later with Choke. None of my lands are tapped, so I just shrug. They’re Lotus Petals now. A turn later he plays Hypnotic Specter, and I realize it’s time to do this thing. On my next turn I am able to play Ad Nauseam and win before Hippie gets in there.
2-1, 5-2. After the match, Jeff is amiably complaining that he got paired down and lost to one of his best matchups. Frankly, I consider this matchup pretty favorable as well. Discard effects are mostly ignorable in my opinion, particularly with 4 Brainstorm, 4 Mystical Tutor.
Round 4: Jeremiah Rudolf – Transmuter Artifacts
I am excited for this matchup. Jeremiah is a very good player and always has excellent original decks. I have no idea how this will shake out.
Game 1: I Thoughtseize/Duress, seeing nothing I’m really worried about. I take his TfK, in case there is something scarier just below the surface. I resolve Ad Nauseam a turn or two later and win.
+1 Hurkyll’s Recall, +1 Rebuild, +2 Krosan Grip, +3 Confidant, -3 Ponder, -1 C Rit, -1 Chrome Mox, -1 Duress, -1 ???
Game 2: I Duress/Thoughtseize turn 1, seeing a bunch of lands, Sphere of Resistance, Trinisphere. I take his Sphere of Resistance, and don’t worry too much about Trinisphere since I drew 3 lands and Hurkyll’s Recall. A couple turns later Trinisphere hits the board. At his end of turn, I Hurkyll’s him (also getting 2 Seats) and Ad Nauseam/win on my turn.
3-1, 7-2. This matchup was surprisingly favorable. Jeremiah’s deck has FOW, and he brought in several permanent-based disruption pieces. Maybe my hands were just good.
Round 5: Brian – Goblins
Game 1: I have 2 lands, D Rit, C Rit, Ad Nauseam, but he does a remarkable job of keeping me off Ad Nauseam with a Port and a Wasteland. He has a Lackey that at first was just attacking for 1 with no effects, but finally gets a SGC in play and makes short work of me.
+2 Krosan Grip, +1 Swamp, +1 Mox Diamond, -4 Duress
Game 2: I Thoughtseize turn 1, seeing something like Badlands, Port, Piledriver, Warchief, Ringleader, Earwig Squad. I take Piledriver, leaving him with no immediate plays. Over the next few turns I play 2 Brainstorms and 1 Ponder, shuffling several times, but I am still not in a position to win. He is on 3 lands (Badland, Port, Waste), but still can’t play any of his dudes. I have 2 LED, 2 C Rit, Ponder in hand, but he keeps tapping my Island during Upkeep. He eventually hits land #4 (another Port) and plays Ringleader, attacks, then flashes back Cabal Therapy naming C Rit instead of setting up Earwig Squad the next turn. On my turn I rip Infernal Tutor off the top, then combo out with LED/IGG loop. This was a very stressful game.
Game 3: He plays Cabal Therapy blind naming Brainstorm, but misses (I had 2 Ponder). He plays Piledriver, flashes back Therapy taking my Ad Nauseam, but I am able to Mystical Tutor another one and play it for the win.
4-1, 9-3
Round 6: Jason (I think) – Goyf Sligh – ID. Jason’s friend is trying to get him to dream crush me so he has a better chance at Top 8, but I think I could have won. It seems pretty favorable. Who knows.
The Top 8 seems really good for me. The other decks are Survival, Merfolk, Goblins, Painter, Dragon Stompy, Eva Green, Goyf Sligh. Of those only Merfolk and to a lesser extent Dragon Stompy really worry me. Of course I get paired with Merfolk. And after I had jokingly told Ray I was going to crush him in the Top 8.
Top 8: Ray Robillard – Merfolk
Game 1: I keep a hand with Bloostained Mire, Thoughtseize, D Rit, C Rit, Ad Nauseam, Mystical Tutor… This hand has a good chance of a second turn Ad Nauseam if I can protect with Thoughtseize and then draw a land/acceleration. Unfortunately, Ray plays Island go, and when I crack my Mire it gets Stifled. I sit on no lands for about 4 turns. When I get another land I am still in a position where I can play D Rit, Duress, C Rit, C Rit, Ad Nauseam at about 10 life, but Ray smartly FOWs the D Rit. His ever growing dudes finish me in no time.
+4 Xantid Swarm, +3 Dark Confidant, -3 Ponder, -1 Chrome Mox, -1 C Rit, -2 Duress
Game 2: I have a second turn unprotected Ad Nauseam that gets pushed to third turn because of a Cursecatcher. I play LED, at which point Ray is acting very much like he has FOW. Almost too much. Ray’s a very good player, so I think that he might just be acting like he has FOW to make me hesitate and not try to go off. I play D Rit and Ad Nauseam without activating LED. He sacs Cursecatcher, I activate LED to pay for it. He FOWs my Ad Nauseam. We both play off the top for a few turns, but he rebuilds a lot faster than I do and his fishes beat me soundly.
Merfolk was a very bad matchup for me. It had lots and lots of counters, plus all kinds of dudes that provide a fairly fast clock. I don’t know what I could have done differently. Final standings 4-2, 9-5, 5th-8th place. I get my $20 back for my trouble. If you don’t count all the gas, food, and tolls I played Magic for free.
If I were playing the deck again tomorrow I wouldn’t change the main deck at all. I only mulliganed twice all day, and I never fizzled on an Ad Nauseam. I was never in a situation where I wished Thoughtseize was Orim’s Chant, and the life loss from Thoughtseize was not an issue. I think I want Tarmogoyfs in the board, though. I would probably go +4 Tarmogoyf, -1 Swamp, -1 Mox Diamond, -1 Krosan Grip, -1 Dark Confidant/Slaughter Pact. Tarmo could have helped me a lot against Goblins and Merfolk, and maybe even against Survival. I’ll be testing it.
Anyway, it was a good tournament. I like the deck a lot. I’ll be playing it in Chicago. See you all there.
BUG ANT
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Island
3 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Infernal Tutor
2 Ad Nauseam
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Krosan Grip
Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Dark Confidant
2 Krosan Grip
2 Slaughter Pact
1 Hurkyll’s Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Swamp
1 Mox Diamond
This is a pretty standard ANT list, with a couple small changes. Most importantly, I have dropped W completely, replacing the customary 4 Orim’s Chant with 4 Thoughtseize. My rationale for this decision is fourfold. 1) It allows you to drop an entire color. This lets you run a much more reliable mana base or have a stronger splash of another color, which I have done. 2) Thoughtseize is superior to Orim’s Chant against proactive disruption. This includes Duress/Thoughtseize/Hymn, Counterbalance, Sphere effects, Canonist, Meddling Mage, Gaddock Teeg, etc. 3) Against counters, Thoughtseize and Orim’s Chant often do the same thing. When playing against heavy control, making them get rid of their FOW etc. is absolutely necessary. This can be achieved just as easily by Thoughtseizing it out of their hand as by having your Orim’s Chant countered. Additionally, Thoughtseize is often played a turn before going off, so it does not tie up any of your mana on the turn that you are trying to win. 4) The “residual disruption” effect of Orim’s Chant that protects an IGG loop can be achieved post-board by Xantid Swarm. The only difference is that Xantid Swarm works every turn that it’s in play.
The other change I have made from typical ANT lists is my inclusion of G. I have 2 G dual lands and a Krosan Grip in the main, with 2 more Grips and 4 Xantid Swarms in the board. Grip is the best removal spell for Counterbalance and most other permanent-based disruption. Xantid Swarm has tested very well against heavy control decks. It is a turn 1 must-counter.
On to the tournament.
Round 1: “Judge” Joe – Survival
Game 1: I Thoughtseize early, taking a Faerie Macabre, and win on turn 3 with little resistance.
-4 Duress, +1 Swamp, +1 Mox Diamond, +2 Slaughter Pact
Game 2: I keep a good hand and attempt an Ad Nauseam on turn 3. He plays Orim’s Chant in response to Ad Nauseam. This stops my combo, but allows me to completely refill my hand. On my next turn I attempt to Infernal Tutor with lots of mana floating, but he has Orim’s Chant #2. I am left with pretty much no hand, and he Eternal Witnesses back one of his Chants just in case.
+4 Duress, -1 Swamp, -1 Mox Diamond, -1 Slaughter Pact, -1 Ponder
Game 3: I have my Duresses back to answer his Chants, but this time he goes the Cabal Therapy route. He has two, and he casts and flashes back several times, using Eternal Witnesses to refill his hand. My lone Slaughter Pact is a discard victim, and he lands Gaddock Teeg to seal it.
0-1, 1-2
Round 2: Mike – TES
Game 1: He mulligans to 5. I keep a hand with 3 LED, Brainstorm, Mystical, 2 lands. I am on the play, so I play a land and 2 LEDs and pass. He plays a City of Brass and passes. I am pretty sure he isn’t running FOW, so I Mystical up Ad Nauseam and cast it during my Draw Step. It resolves and I win.
+3 Confidant, -1 Ponder, -1 Cabal Rit, -1 Krosan Grip
Game 2: He mulligans to 5 again. I spend my first couple of turns Duressing and Toughtseizing. He casts Brainstorm each time, hiding Ad Nauseam and Cabal Rit (I asked him after the match). Regardless, I take his Cabal Rit and Mystical Tutor and cast my own Ad Nauseam on turn 3 or 4 and win.
1-1, 3-2
Round 3: Paired up against Jeff (2-0) – Eva Green
Game 1: He plays Hymn to Tourach on his second and third turns. Each time I play Brainstorm to hide my Dark Rit, Ad Nauseam. I discard some good stuff, but nothing too important. I am able to play Ad Nauseam on turn 4 or so and win.
No board
Game 2: He plays Thoughtseize on his first turn, taking my Infernal Tutor. I don’t remember exactly what my hand was, but I remember thinking that this was the wrong card to take. He follows a couple turns later with Choke. None of my lands are tapped, so I just shrug. They’re Lotus Petals now. A turn later he plays Hypnotic Specter, and I realize it’s time to do this thing. On my next turn I am able to play Ad Nauseam and win before Hippie gets in there.
2-1, 5-2. After the match, Jeff is amiably complaining that he got paired down and lost to one of his best matchups. Frankly, I consider this matchup pretty favorable as well. Discard effects are mostly ignorable in my opinion, particularly with 4 Brainstorm, 4 Mystical Tutor.
Round 4: Jeremiah Rudolf – Transmuter Artifacts
I am excited for this matchup. Jeremiah is a very good player and always has excellent original decks. I have no idea how this will shake out.
Game 1: I Thoughtseize/Duress, seeing nothing I’m really worried about. I take his TfK, in case there is something scarier just below the surface. I resolve Ad Nauseam a turn or two later and win.
+1 Hurkyll’s Recall, +1 Rebuild, +2 Krosan Grip, +3 Confidant, -3 Ponder, -1 C Rit, -1 Chrome Mox, -1 Duress, -1 ???
Game 2: I Duress/Thoughtseize turn 1, seeing a bunch of lands, Sphere of Resistance, Trinisphere. I take his Sphere of Resistance, and don’t worry too much about Trinisphere since I drew 3 lands and Hurkyll’s Recall. A couple turns later Trinisphere hits the board. At his end of turn, I Hurkyll’s him (also getting 2 Seats) and Ad Nauseam/win on my turn.
3-1, 7-2. This matchup was surprisingly favorable. Jeremiah’s deck has FOW, and he brought in several permanent-based disruption pieces. Maybe my hands were just good.
Round 5: Brian – Goblins
Game 1: I have 2 lands, D Rit, C Rit, Ad Nauseam, but he does a remarkable job of keeping me off Ad Nauseam with a Port and a Wasteland. He has a Lackey that at first was just attacking for 1 with no effects, but finally gets a SGC in play and makes short work of me.
+2 Krosan Grip, +1 Swamp, +1 Mox Diamond, -4 Duress
Game 2: I Thoughtseize turn 1, seeing something like Badlands, Port, Piledriver, Warchief, Ringleader, Earwig Squad. I take Piledriver, leaving him with no immediate plays. Over the next few turns I play 2 Brainstorms and 1 Ponder, shuffling several times, but I am still not in a position to win. He is on 3 lands (Badland, Port, Waste), but still can’t play any of his dudes. I have 2 LED, 2 C Rit, Ponder in hand, but he keeps tapping my Island during Upkeep. He eventually hits land #4 (another Port) and plays Ringleader, attacks, then flashes back Cabal Therapy naming C Rit instead of setting up Earwig Squad the next turn. On my turn I rip Infernal Tutor off the top, then combo out with LED/IGG loop. This was a very stressful game.
Game 3: He plays Cabal Therapy blind naming Brainstorm, but misses (I had 2 Ponder). He plays Piledriver, flashes back Therapy taking my Ad Nauseam, but I am able to Mystical Tutor another one and play it for the win.
4-1, 9-3
Round 6: Jason (I think) – Goyf Sligh – ID. Jason’s friend is trying to get him to dream crush me so he has a better chance at Top 8, but I think I could have won. It seems pretty favorable. Who knows.
The Top 8 seems really good for me. The other decks are Survival, Merfolk, Goblins, Painter, Dragon Stompy, Eva Green, Goyf Sligh. Of those only Merfolk and to a lesser extent Dragon Stompy really worry me. Of course I get paired with Merfolk. And after I had jokingly told Ray I was going to crush him in the Top 8.
Top 8: Ray Robillard – Merfolk
Game 1: I keep a hand with Bloostained Mire, Thoughtseize, D Rit, C Rit, Ad Nauseam, Mystical Tutor… This hand has a good chance of a second turn Ad Nauseam if I can protect with Thoughtseize and then draw a land/acceleration. Unfortunately, Ray plays Island go, and when I crack my Mire it gets Stifled. I sit on no lands for about 4 turns. When I get another land I am still in a position where I can play D Rit, Duress, C Rit, C Rit, Ad Nauseam at about 10 life, but Ray smartly FOWs the D Rit. His ever growing dudes finish me in no time.
+4 Xantid Swarm, +3 Dark Confidant, -3 Ponder, -1 Chrome Mox, -1 C Rit, -2 Duress
Game 2: I have a second turn unprotected Ad Nauseam that gets pushed to third turn because of a Cursecatcher. I play LED, at which point Ray is acting very much like he has FOW. Almost too much. Ray’s a very good player, so I think that he might just be acting like he has FOW to make me hesitate and not try to go off. I play D Rit and Ad Nauseam without activating LED. He sacs Cursecatcher, I activate LED to pay for it. He FOWs my Ad Nauseam. We both play off the top for a few turns, but he rebuilds a lot faster than I do and his fishes beat me soundly.
Merfolk was a very bad matchup for me. It had lots and lots of counters, plus all kinds of dudes that provide a fairly fast clock. I don’t know what I could have done differently. Final standings 4-2, 9-5, 5th-8th place. I get my $20 back for my trouble. If you don’t count all the gas, food, and tolls I played Magic for free.
If I were playing the deck again tomorrow I wouldn’t change the main deck at all. I only mulliganed twice all day, and I never fizzled on an Ad Nauseam. I was never in a situation where I wished Thoughtseize was Orim’s Chant, and the life loss from Thoughtseize was not an issue. I think I want Tarmogoyfs in the board, though. I would probably go +4 Tarmogoyf, -1 Swamp, -1 Mox Diamond, -1 Krosan Grip, -1 Dark Confidant/Slaughter Pact. Tarmo could have helped me a lot against Goblins and Merfolk, and maybe even against Survival. I’ll be testing it.
Anyway, it was a good tournament. I like the deck a lot. I’ll be playing it in Chicago. See you all there.