Gekoratel
12-02-2009, 11:48 AM
This weekend I played some Legacy in Bethlehem, PA with a CounterTop list I've been tuning. Here's what it looks like.
22 Lands
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
6 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Spell Snare
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
2 Daze
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
3 Firespout
2 Veldalken Shackles
4 Force of Will
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Sower of Temptation
SB:
2 REB
2 BEB
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Vendilion Clique
R1 - Dave with 4c Landstill
Game one goes really long with me trying to apply pressure with CB lock and Goyf while also not over-committing into an EE@2, a bit later in the game he starts making some really lose plays like Swords a Goyf taken with Shackles and then running out another Goyf... thanks for the life. After that I stole his other Goyf and was able to start beating down before he could get an answer. I also made a mistake this game of not playing around Mana Leak I kinda forget they run the card in Landstill and could have played an Island which was just sitting in my hand before running down my first Shackles.
SB
-3 Firespout -2 Sower -1 Ponder, -2 Daze
+2 Krosan Grip +1 Ancient Grudge +3 Vendilion Clique +2 REB
My plan post-board is to try and tempo/aggro him out if I can since I know if it gets to the late game I have very little shot between EE/Ruins recursion and Crucible + Waste. Regardless this is easily one of my worst matchups with the deck.
G2 - I'm not able to apply that much pressure and he has Mana Leaks for both of my Vendilion Cliques and then Swords for my Goyfs and he was able to keep me off CB with EE. When we started game 3 there wasn't a lot of time left on the clock and the game ended in a draw but he had an advantageous board position
R2 - Slow guy with Natural Order CB
G1 - I'm able to take control of the game early with a 3-1 Firespout killing two Pridgemages and a Noble Heirarch after that I snare a Goyf and drop down CB while he’s out of relevant spells.
SB
-1 Ponder -1 Daze -1 Brainstorm -1 Firespout //Go go randomness aka bad
+2 REB +2 Krosan Grip
G2 - I'm able to Snare his attempt at CB and then when I go to play Top he goes for Force which I REB, I also have a 2-1 Firepout on him and am getting much more value out of all of my cards than he his. He has 2 Rhox War Monk which I don't fight over since my one Goyf is keeping them bay. I beat in my Goyf it trades with a War Monk after double block and my 2nd Goyf + CB lock gets the job done. Towards the end of the game he cashed in his own top and fetched EOT for the land that’s a creature and went for Natural Order but I had Force.
R3 - GB Aggro
I lose my 3rd die of the day which is quite unfortunate because I've seen this guys deck and I think it’s hard to lose on the play since I have access to dropping Top before getting Duressed or protecting my hand via Brainstorm. It also makes it easier to answer Ritual->Hyppy on the play.
G1 - He opens up on Duress taking my Top which didn't hurt me that much thankfully as I had Brainstorm, his second turn consisted of Duressing me again which I BSed in response to and then dropping the rack. At this point I'm not very worried because his draw is really slow. I drop a CB which I put on top with BS and have a Goyf hiding on top my library. Sadly I have 2 Goyfs but no green source yet. He has a decent read that I put a 2cc on top and instead of going for a 2 drop passes the turn. I draw Goyf and pass it back. He runs down a Hyppy which I don't have an answer to; I have Firepout but not Red or Green, Green being what I need to kill it and drop Goyfs. I rip Tropical like a champion and kill the Hyppy. After that I draw a Swords to go with my Tundra and drop both Goyfs which makes his life total quite low especially since he got a Bob through. I win a couple turns later.
SB
I just brought in the Vendilion to have more answers to Hyppy I also thought it might be able to ambush a Bob since all of his removal is sorcery speed. Being up a game if I see Choke post-board I'll bring in Krosan Grip but as I didn't see any artifacts or enchantments I care about I didn't bring it in. Also I never saw the card when he played vs. Dave who he likely would have brought it in, he does have Deed but I think that card is just awful in an aggro deck and don't honestly care if he resolves it.
-1 Ponder -1 X(maybe Daze?)
+2 Vendilion
G2 - He keeps a one lander on the play with Ritual -> Hyppy, my hand is 2 Top, 2 Vendilion, Firespout, 2 Lands including 1 Fetch, 1 BS. I play a land and pass the turn with the Hyppy trigger on the stack I cast Brainstorm not seeing a Swords which is unfortunate and hide one card and put 2nd Top two down with plans of shuffling it away unless he hits my other Top. He hits one of my Vendilion, I play Top and Fetch and ship the turn. On his attack step I fetch and look but don't find Swords, his next hit takes my Firespout, thank god I had 3 answers to Hyppy. I top into another land and pass the turn, in his attack step I cast Vendilion seeing Maelstrom Pulse, Goyf, 2 Krosan Grip since he has so many answers and few threats I decide to let him keep the cards rather than drawing him into 2nd Goyf or a Bob. After trading he drops Goyf which I don't have an answer to Goyf gets in some beats and then he finds a Bob which I also can't answer, I top into Shackles which doesn't do me a whole lot and then find CB. So I drop CB with Shackles on top and pass the turn he doesn't go for Grip EOT which is frustrating since its prob the correct play. It doesn't matter as I get beatdown a couple turns later, after he Pulses my Shackles. It was also pretty poor that he didn't kill my Top at any point with his Grips but he would realize this mistake and remedy it game 3.
G3 - Finally on the play, I have a decent hand while his is slow once again just Duressing me but my turn 1 Top doesn't care about Duress. On his turn 3 I cast Vendilion after his draw step and see Goyf, K-Grip, Forest, Swamp, Pulse. He knows that I have Sower so he can't afford to drop the Goyf yet, so I take the Pulse. He plays K-Grip on my top but I'm able to Brainstorm into a 2nd. He doesn't drop the Goyf. Vendilion gets in for some damage and then he drops Bob passing the turn, with an active Top and 16 life I'm not that worried and I steal his Bob. I beat down with Vendilion after stealing on his turn he drops the Goyf which resolves, I top in response to Bob get Land + my own Goyf. I top and don't see anything relevant so I play the fetch and beat with my flying Fairies. He attacks and then drops Deed which he ripped that turn, I had perfect information on hand because he played the wrong land one turn. He only has 2 Mana up so has the ship the turn to me, I reveal for Bob not taking any damage and attack with the fliers. On his turn he pops Deed @ 4 and I tap to draw with Top he goes for a Goyf which he ripped but I have hardcast Daze to stop it. After that I get both Shackles and CB/Top down to his 0 cards so clearly he draws a 2nd Deed, I'm not able to find a 3cc or Force so it resolves. He blows it up and I find a 2nd Shackles + a Goyf and play the Goyf. I attack and he’s forced to draw and animate his Factoires to block I steal one the other dies blocking and I kill him in a couple turns.
R4 - Tempo Thresh
G1 - He has a slow hand with no creature for the first 3 turns which I always love to see, my hand has Top, Ponder, 3 Lands, Goyf, Daze. I play Ponder finding 2 more lands and pass the turn. My 2nd land gets Wasted and fetch land stifles but I still have lands coming, eventually he goes for a Goyf which I'm able to Snare and a get a CB through with Force backup although he didn't have Snare or Force of his own. After that CB/Top did its thing he was able to get a Vendilion through but I killed it with the trigger on the stack. A 2nd attempt at Vendilion many turns later was stopped by BS + putting Spout on top. He ends up conceding many turns later as I have down Shackles and CB lock.
SB
I don't really like REB in this matchup and mainly brought it in if he has Trygon. Boarding in Vendilion seems weak as it gives him targets for Fire/Ice and Bolt.
-1 Ponder
+1 REB
G2 - He has an average hand and on my turn 2 I play Top he Forces I Force back mainly as the Force and blue card weren't that exciting not because I really needed top he Forces again going down to 1 cards. He drops Goyf and Goose but my hand is Goyfx2 and Swords. I kill his Goyf drop my own, draw a 3rd Goyf (Christmasland) and win shortly.
I'm forced to play round five despite being X-0-1 because it is only five rounds with 52 people. They had a time frame they needed to get finished by and therefore cut a round.
R5 - Belcher
G1 - I keep a hand without access to turn 1 Force but does have Ponder/BS/CB/Firespout if he doesn't have the turn 1 EtW or Belcher I should be fine. He ended up miscounting his mana and was off by one to go off so he passes the turn after playing a Land he found with Land Grant. But his hand was still quite strong just needs any fast mana. I cast the Ponder and find a Force. He goes all in on Infernal Tutor and I Force it. I get down CB and lock up the game. It takes me about 15 turns to find a Tarmogoyf, not an exaggeration, but I finally do and it kills him.
SB
I left in the Swords out of respect to Xantid Swarm which I didn't know if he was running it, turns out he was but he only boarded in two to force me to keep Swords but not necssarily see it that often.
-2 Sower -2 Shackles
+2 BEB +1 Ancient Grudge +1 Vendilion Clique
G2 - I have a hand with Brainstorm, Force, Daze, and some other decent stuff. Lucas leads with Land into Tinder Wall and then Lotus Petal, after that he goes for Chrome Mox. I have a mental fart and don't Force it for some reason. If he has any other fast mana in the grip then I'm screwed regardless but no reason I shouldn't go for there. His 8 guys kill me and I have 0 outs anyway.
G3 - I mull into a hand of Brainstorm, CB, 3 Lands, Swords. I play a land and pass. He casts Land Grant and shows me a Grip of 1 ESG, 2 Tinder Wall, Seething Song, Belcher, LED, Chrome Mox. He runs down both Tinder Walls and plays Seething Song so that Daze wont' stop him and casts Belcher. I draw BEB, land and then ... Force of Will, how lucky. I counter it pitching the BEB land a CB. Then I draw into Goyf after fetching and hit a grudge which I use to hit his LED and Mox the turn before I would win with Goyf.
T8 - Josh with 4c Landstill
G1 - We both mull to 6 this game and I have an alright hand, which gets a CB down he plays an EE at 3 but I'm able to find Firespout to counter it. Then he goes for an EE@4 which resolves. He blows up the CB and attempts a Standstill, I top into a Snare and counter it then he plays a 2nd which resolves. He already has down a Factory so I can't really slow play anything I drop the Top he draws 3 I also play a Goyf which is killed by Swords. The game goes as this matchup usually does he answers my threats via Swords + EE and then eventually locks me out with EE + Ruins recursion. He also generated a lot of card advantage via Crucible + Fetch turning Brainstorms into Recalls pretty much.
SB - Same as R1 as their running same 75
G2 - I mull to 5 against his 7 can't apply anywhere near enough pressure and later in the game he's able to get Crucible + Waste which is GG for my deck.
I really liked my deck against most of the metagame, the last minute addition of Vendilion seemed pretty nice and had more applications than the Duress's I was thinking about running would have and let me squeeze in an Ancient Grudge in place of U. Sea also which is a plus. Not sure what to do about the Landstill matchup because piloted by a mediocre player I still felt like I was pretty far behind in the matchup.
22 Lands
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
6 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Spell Snare
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
2 Daze
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
3 Firespout
2 Veldalken Shackles
4 Force of Will
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Sower of Temptation
SB:
2 REB
2 BEB
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Vendilion Clique
R1 - Dave with 4c Landstill
Game one goes really long with me trying to apply pressure with CB lock and Goyf while also not over-committing into an EE@2, a bit later in the game he starts making some really lose plays like Swords a Goyf taken with Shackles and then running out another Goyf... thanks for the life. After that I stole his other Goyf and was able to start beating down before he could get an answer. I also made a mistake this game of not playing around Mana Leak I kinda forget they run the card in Landstill and could have played an Island which was just sitting in my hand before running down my first Shackles.
SB
-3 Firespout -2 Sower -1 Ponder, -2 Daze
+2 Krosan Grip +1 Ancient Grudge +3 Vendilion Clique +2 REB
My plan post-board is to try and tempo/aggro him out if I can since I know if it gets to the late game I have very little shot between EE/Ruins recursion and Crucible + Waste. Regardless this is easily one of my worst matchups with the deck.
G2 - I'm not able to apply that much pressure and he has Mana Leaks for both of my Vendilion Cliques and then Swords for my Goyfs and he was able to keep me off CB with EE. When we started game 3 there wasn't a lot of time left on the clock and the game ended in a draw but he had an advantageous board position
R2 - Slow guy with Natural Order CB
G1 - I'm able to take control of the game early with a 3-1 Firespout killing two Pridgemages and a Noble Heirarch after that I snare a Goyf and drop down CB while he’s out of relevant spells.
SB
-1 Ponder -1 Daze -1 Brainstorm -1 Firespout //Go go randomness aka bad
+2 REB +2 Krosan Grip
G2 - I'm able to Snare his attempt at CB and then when I go to play Top he goes for Force which I REB, I also have a 2-1 Firepout on him and am getting much more value out of all of my cards than he his. He has 2 Rhox War Monk which I don't fight over since my one Goyf is keeping them bay. I beat in my Goyf it trades with a War Monk after double block and my 2nd Goyf + CB lock gets the job done. Towards the end of the game he cashed in his own top and fetched EOT for the land that’s a creature and went for Natural Order but I had Force.
R3 - GB Aggro
I lose my 3rd die of the day which is quite unfortunate because I've seen this guys deck and I think it’s hard to lose on the play since I have access to dropping Top before getting Duressed or protecting my hand via Brainstorm. It also makes it easier to answer Ritual->Hyppy on the play.
G1 - He opens up on Duress taking my Top which didn't hurt me that much thankfully as I had Brainstorm, his second turn consisted of Duressing me again which I BSed in response to and then dropping the rack. At this point I'm not very worried because his draw is really slow. I drop a CB which I put on top with BS and have a Goyf hiding on top my library. Sadly I have 2 Goyfs but no green source yet. He has a decent read that I put a 2cc on top and instead of going for a 2 drop passes the turn. I draw Goyf and pass it back. He runs down a Hyppy which I don't have an answer to; I have Firepout but not Red or Green, Green being what I need to kill it and drop Goyfs. I rip Tropical like a champion and kill the Hyppy. After that I draw a Swords to go with my Tundra and drop both Goyfs which makes his life total quite low especially since he got a Bob through. I win a couple turns later.
SB
I just brought in the Vendilion to have more answers to Hyppy I also thought it might be able to ambush a Bob since all of his removal is sorcery speed. Being up a game if I see Choke post-board I'll bring in Krosan Grip but as I didn't see any artifacts or enchantments I care about I didn't bring it in. Also I never saw the card when he played vs. Dave who he likely would have brought it in, he does have Deed but I think that card is just awful in an aggro deck and don't honestly care if he resolves it.
-1 Ponder -1 X(maybe Daze?)
+2 Vendilion
G2 - He keeps a one lander on the play with Ritual -> Hyppy, my hand is 2 Top, 2 Vendilion, Firespout, 2 Lands including 1 Fetch, 1 BS. I play a land and pass the turn with the Hyppy trigger on the stack I cast Brainstorm not seeing a Swords which is unfortunate and hide one card and put 2nd Top two down with plans of shuffling it away unless he hits my other Top. He hits one of my Vendilion, I play Top and Fetch and ship the turn. On his attack step I fetch and look but don't find Swords, his next hit takes my Firespout, thank god I had 3 answers to Hyppy. I top into another land and pass the turn, in his attack step I cast Vendilion seeing Maelstrom Pulse, Goyf, 2 Krosan Grip since he has so many answers and few threats I decide to let him keep the cards rather than drawing him into 2nd Goyf or a Bob. After trading he drops Goyf which I don't have an answer to Goyf gets in some beats and then he finds a Bob which I also can't answer, I top into Shackles which doesn't do me a whole lot and then find CB. So I drop CB with Shackles on top and pass the turn he doesn't go for Grip EOT which is frustrating since its prob the correct play. It doesn't matter as I get beatdown a couple turns later, after he Pulses my Shackles. It was also pretty poor that he didn't kill my Top at any point with his Grips but he would realize this mistake and remedy it game 3.
G3 - Finally on the play, I have a decent hand while his is slow once again just Duressing me but my turn 1 Top doesn't care about Duress. On his turn 3 I cast Vendilion after his draw step and see Goyf, K-Grip, Forest, Swamp, Pulse. He knows that I have Sower so he can't afford to drop the Goyf yet, so I take the Pulse. He plays K-Grip on my top but I'm able to Brainstorm into a 2nd. He doesn't drop the Goyf. Vendilion gets in for some damage and then he drops Bob passing the turn, with an active Top and 16 life I'm not that worried and I steal his Bob. I beat down with Vendilion after stealing on his turn he drops the Goyf which resolves, I top in response to Bob get Land + my own Goyf. I top and don't see anything relevant so I play the fetch and beat with my flying Fairies. He attacks and then drops Deed which he ripped that turn, I had perfect information on hand because he played the wrong land one turn. He only has 2 Mana up so has the ship the turn to me, I reveal for Bob not taking any damage and attack with the fliers. On his turn he pops Deed @ 4 and I tap to draw with Top he goes for a Goyf which he ripped but I have hardcast Daze to stop it. After that I get both Shackles and CB/Top down to his 0 cards so clearly he draws a 2nd Deed, I'm not able to find a 3cc or Force so it resolves. He blows it up and I find a 2nd Shackles + a Goyf and play the Goyf. I attack and he’s forced to draw and animate his Factoires to block I steal one the other dies blocking and I kill him in a couple turns.
R4 - Tempo Thresh
G1 - He has a slow hand with no creature for the first 3 turns which I always love to see, my hand has Top, Ponder, 3 Lands, Goyf, Daze. I play Ponder finding 2 more lands and pass the turn. My 2nd land gets Wasted and fetch land stifles but I still have lands coming, eventually he goes for a Goyf which I'm able to Snare and a get a CB through with Force backup although he didn't have Snare or Force of his own. After that CB/Top did its thing he was able to get a Vendilion through but I killed it with the trigger on the stack. A 2nd attempt at Vendilion many turns later was stopped by BS + putting Spout on top. He ends up conceding many turns later as I have down Shackles and CB lock.
SB
I don't really like REB in this matchup and mainly brought it in if he has Trygon. Boarding in Vendilion seems weak as it gives him targets for Fire/Ice and Bolt.
-1 Ponder
+1 REB
G2 - He has an average hand and on my turn 2 I play Top he Forces I Force back mainly as the Force and blue card weren't that exciting not because I really needed top he Forces again going down to 1 cards. He drops Goyf and Goose but my hand is Goyfx2 and Swords. I kill his Goyf drop my own, draw a 3rd Goyf (Christmasland) and win shortly.
I'm forced to play round five despite being X-0-1 because it is only five rounds with 52 people. They had a time frame they needed to get finished by and therefore cut a round.
R5 - Belcher
G1 - I keep a hand without access to turn 1 Force but does have Ponder/BS/CB/Firespout if he doesn't have the turn 1 EtW or Belcher I should be fine. He ended up miscounting his mana and was off by one to go off so he passes the turn after playing a Land he found with Land Grant. But his hand was still quite strong just needs any fast mana. I cast the Ponder and find a Force. He goes all in on Infernal Tutor and I Force it. I get down CB and lock up the game. It takes me about 15 turns to find a Tarmogoyf, not an exaggeration, but I finally do and it kills him.
SB
I left in the Swords out of respect to Xantid Swarm which I didn't know if he was running it, turns out he was but he only boarded in two to force me to keep Swords but not necssarily see it that often.
-2 Sower -2 Shackles
+2 BEB +1 Ancient Grudge +1 Vendilion Clique
G2 - I have a hand with Brainstorm, Force, Daze, and some other decent stuff. Lucas leads with Land into Tinder Wall and then Lotus Petal, after that he goes for Chrome Mox. I have a mental fart and don't Force it for some reason. If he has any other fast mana in the grip then I'm screwed regardless but no reason I shouldn't go for there. His 8 guys kill me and I have 0 outs anyway.
G3 - I mull into a hand of Brainstorm, CB, 3 Lands, Swords. I play a land and pass. He casts Land Grant and shows me a Grip of 1 ESG, 2 Tinder Wall, Seething Song, Belcher, LED, Chrome Mox. He runs down both Tinder Walls and plays Seething Song so that Daze wont' stop him and casts Belcher. I draw BEB, land and then ... Force of Will, how lucky. I counter it pitching the BEB land a CB. Then I draw into Goyf after fetching and hit a grudge which I use to hit his LED and Mox the turn before I would win with Goyf.
T8 - Josh with 4c Landstill
G1 - We both mull to 6 this game and I have an alright hand, which gets a CB down he plays an EE at 3 but I'm able to find Firespout to counter it. Then he goes for an EE@4 which resolves. He blows up the CB and attempts a Standstill, I top into a Snare and counter it then he plays a 2nd which resolves. He already has down a Factory so I can't really slow play anything I drop the Top he draws 3 I also play a Goyf which is killed by Swords. The game goes as this matchup usually does he answers my threats via Swords + EE and then eventually locks me out with EE + Ruins recursion. He also generated a lot of card advantage via Crucible + Fetch turning Brainstorms into Recalls pretty much.
SB - Same as R1 as their running same 75
G2 - I mull to 5 against his 7 can't apply anywhere near enough pressure and later in the game he's able to get Crucible + Waste which is GG for my deck.
I really liked my deck against most of the metagame, the last minute addition of Vendilion seemed pretty nice and had more applications than the Duress's I was thinking about running would have and let me squeeze in an Ancient Grudge in place of U. Sea also which is a plus. Not sure what to do about the Landstill matchup because piloted by a mediocre player I still felt like I was pretty far behind in the matchup.