[Double Report] UWb Landstill in Vestal (Top16 Saturday 6/26 + Top8 Sunday 6/27)

[RogueMTG]

First things first I suppose...

Main Deck
4x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
1x Scrubland
4x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
1x Marsh Flats
3x Mishra's Factory
2x Wasteland
1x Tolaria West
1x Karakas
2x Island
2x Plains

1x Eternal Dragon

4x Standstill
4x Brainstorm
2x Jace, The Mind Sculptor

4x Force of Will
3x Counterspell
3x Spell Snare

4x Swords to Plowshares
2x Path to Exile
3x Engineered Explosives
1x Wrath of God
1x Day of Judgment
1x Humility

2x Elspeth
2x Decree of Justice

Sideboard
3x Meddling Mage
3x Faerie Macabre
2x Negate
2x Spell Pierce
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Preacher
1x Path to Exile


My list for the Saturday event was -1 Karakas/-1 T.West +1 Factory/+1 Waste, updated the manabase for Sunday after consulting with Konsultant.

Apologies are certainly going to be in order: I can't guarantee the validity of names/specific plays as these events were right after each other and things kind of slosh together when you play Landstill for 15 rounds with just a tiny bit of sleep in between. So I'm sorry so much of this is glossed over.

So, if I missed your name or spelled it wrong or messed up a 2-0 versus 2-1 or something just let me know!


Part I - Saturday 6/26/10:

We were 69 players which meant 7 rounds.


Round 1: Jesse Krieger with New Horizons: Win 2-0. (he top8s anyway)

Game 1: I draw more StPs than he draws dudes. Standstill puts me way ahead on cards, I think I eventually land a Jace and start locking his draws out, he scoops them up to save time.

Game 2: I believe I boarded -Humility + Path. He gets stuck on mana, I land an Elsepth.


Round 2: <name fail, sorry> with Rgb Goblins: Draw 1-1-1 (1-0-1)

Game 1: Aether Vial->Force->Aether Vial #2.

It's not typically for Goblins, but I sided Preacher's in because he took a while when SBing so I gamble that he was trying to get out most if not all of his creature removal, also I saw Taiga game 1 but not Badlands.

Game 2: Epic 40 minute affair, all action, one of my favorite games played to date. I have EE to start the game which slows him down a bit and lets me build up some mana to work with using Eternal Dragon. He keeps playing Goblins but I keep killing them, Standstills helping me match his Ringleaders. Sharpshooter wrecks my Decree Tokens. I manage to Stabilize at 1 Life, and live at it for about 10-15 turns by landing a Preacher and starting to bring the BEATS. I chain Standstills to go way up on cards, eventually I get there with Preacher + Factory beats. But we only have about 4 minutes for game 3.

Game 3: This starts off similarly to game 2, I slow down his early few plays and establish a mana base, but neither of us can get anything going before time is called.


Round 3: Scottie with G/B Eva Green: Win 2-0 (2-0-1)

Game 1: He starts off with a Thoughtsieze followed by a Hymn, and proceeds to wreck my manabase (after wrecking my hand) with wastelands. Lucky for me he has all disruption and no threats. I draw out of the mana screw and drop a Standstill. When he finally finds guys and breaks the Standstill I'm all set up to dominate the game and none of them live long enough to see an attack step.

Game 2: Scott makes a ballsy one-lander two thoughtsieze keep that just needs a green source to get rolling. It doesn't pay off. I survive the thougthseize's, get to four mana and cast Jace while he's on one Swamp. I use Jace to lock him out of any mana and eventually ultimate him ftw.


Round 4: Will Fisher (...I think) with Bant Survival: Lose 0-2 (2-1-1)

Game 1: Feels like I draw everything a turn late in this game, he drops Survival, I draw Snare the turn after, etc. After several turns of no answers to Survival and seeing no Standstills I am really far behind on cards and on the board. He V. Cliques me, sees the coast is clear and gets Iona on White, I don't draw Jace and scoop it up.

Game 2: I board in some of the GY hate, I don't remember what I took out. He has an early survival, I have the snare this time, but he has a second one. I draw Faerie Macabre's to pop his Iona, Retainers and Squee, effectively shutting down Survival (to a point), but I know he has Teeg in hand as he just survivaled for it. On his turn he drops Kira->Teeg->Meddling Mage on Swords. My only out is double path (no Karakas in the deck at this point), I start drawing beautiful cards, that I can't do anything with. He finds a weenie to chuck to Survival for Rafiq, and that's enough for me to pick em up.


Round 5: Dan Signorini with Team America (sort of, New Horizons -W +B is how I described it): Lose 0-2 (2-2-1) (he also Top8s)

Game 1: I keep a basic Island, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, good stuff hand. Brainstorm into 3 White cards twice, lose pretty quickly with no mana to cast removal.

Game 2: Mulligan into a similar hand to game 1, except with Waste + Factory, figure it's worth another shot. Another horrible idea, he stifles my waste on his land and I get rolled.


So those were a bummer two rounds. Time to win out for top 16!


Round 6: <another name fail, sorry again> with Countertop Progenitus: Win 2-1 (3-2-1)

This whole match is sketchy in my mind except for the last game, which I think was a game 3.

Game 1: I believe I keep one-lander double brainstorm hand (It worked so well the previous match). It costs me when I BS into nothing and he rolls me over.

Game 2: I keep a solid normal hand (yay mana!). I save EE's for CB and clear out all of his creatures with my other removal. With his back against the wall he's forced to go for NO sacing Tarmogoyf unprotected, I have the Counterspell.

Game 3: While the game plan for me is pretty simple (I would play against CB+Progenitus all day if I could) the games are still taking a while, my opponent is taking a long time on seemingly simple or obvious plays from my point of view.

There is little action in this game except for him playing creatures and me killing them. He's clearly nerve racked a little bit, but we get past the 5 minute mark and I ask him to play a little faster and he plays the Trygon predator he was agonizing over. I untap and Wrath away his board. Obviously frustrated, he gets angry that I "rushed him" into the Wrath (of course I had no idea what he was thinking about) but there's not much I can say so I just smash with Elsepth and close up the win in turns.


Round 7: Darron with Mono-Blue Merfolk: Win 2-1 (4-2-1)

Game 1: I mull to five on the play! Sweeet! My hand is basic Plans, Factory, EE, Swords, something else. I pull a sick read and drop the EE @ 1 on turn one mentioning that I hope he's either Merfolk or Goblins or that was a horrible play. He plays Island... go. (And admits he was, in-fact, merfolk, woot.) The EE play buys me turns to get out of mana screw. I have Snare for his Adept, and draw removal for all of his guys, we come to a really awkward part of the game. We both have only lands on board and no hands at all.Topdeck war! He draws Dazes + Islands, I draw Jace, Jace finds me Standstill, Brainstorms every turn under Standstill let me pull this one out on Mishra beats.

I board out 3 FoW for 2 Preacher and 1 Path, this matchup is all about card advantage and killing Lord of Atlantis.

Game 2: I think we both keep our hands, or both mulligan once, not sure. He has the Vial+Standstill start, and I don't have enough gas to keep up.

Game 3: I snap keep the Basic Plains + Preacher hand. He has turn 1 cursecatcher, I have turn 1 EE for 1. Eventually he drops a Vial which telegraphs Stifle like crazy, I wait to blow it until I have Counterspell ready for his Stifle. I have Snare for his Jitte, and drop my Preacher, we get the oracle wording and he says it doesn't sound so bad. Building his board of Curse catcher, Reejerey, Reejerey, LoA. I blow the EE and counterspell his Stifle, then I Preach him before attackers and get a Reejerey, He swings with the other Reejerey, I Swords his Lord and block his Reejerey with Mine, leaving him with an empty board. On my turn I untap, drop Standstill, and bring the Preacher beats. Preacher locks him out of the game. He has 1 or two cards to my full grip, Standstill, Preacher board when time gets called.

I hose everything he does in turns but cannot kill him. Lucky for me Daron is awesome and he graciously offered the concession as I got paired down and he doesn't have a chance at Top16 one way or the other.


I'm wiped out after 7 rounds and head to my buddy Travy's place to crash for the night...

[RogueMTG]

Part II - Sunday 6/27/10:

67 players means another 7 round affair, but the top 4 get GP-Columbus Byes.


Round 1: ANT w/Burning Wish: Win 2-0 (1-0)

Game 1: I open a double FoW hand with no colored mana, think to myself, "I'd probably roll with this if I knew he was combo," and then mulligan into 3 Lands, Counterspell, Swords, EE. He opens on City of Brass -> Duress, I curse inside, and wave bye-bye to counterspell. Lucky for me he has pretty much no action, I eventually draw and drop a Standstill. He breaks it with a burning wish which I still can't do anything about, and he gets a Diminishing Returns, then casts Returns. DR basically screws him and gives me the nuts, I beat him to death with a Mishra's Factory.

Game 2: He makes 14 Goblins turn 1. I have the EE. MM beats wrap it up.


Round 2: Darron (again!) with mono-blue Merfolk: Win 1-0-1 (2-0)

Game 1: These are a little fuzzy because of playing the same guy with the same deck both days, but I believe he has a strong start. I'm forced to break his Standstill to answer his Vial, but my EE resolves, and I clear the coast to land my own Standstill. He eventually breaks mine for a guy. I untap, drop Jace, bounce his guy and drop a second Standstill. I use Jace to make sure he doesn't find any threats under Standstill, and eventually Ultimate him for the win.

Game 2: Preacher makes another showing. I answer his first LoA and once he ramps his Vial to 3 Preacher makes it so I'm clear to drop Standstill even with Vial on board. Unfortunately we run out of time as game 1 took quite a while.

We wish each other good luck and head to the next round.


Round 3: <erm... somebody> with New Horizons: Win 2-0 (I think) (3-0)

I really don't remember much about this round at all, I'm sorry.

I do know I sided out Humility and Day for 2x Preacher, and they were savage.


Round 4: <I'm just losing it with names> Cat Zoo: Draw 1-1-1 (3-0-1)

Game 1: He resolves an early Grim Lavamancer, and it does about 14 damage to me throughout a very drawn out game. I run out of cards quickly only seeing one or two swords effects and no card draw, I manage to live forever on top decks but eventually the 'Mancer gets there.

Game 2: I have the turn 1 send your dude Farming turn 2 Standstill opener. This puts me up in cards pretty well, he resolves a Library and the next turn pays 8 to draw a bunch of cards, and 4 to draw an extra card the next turn. I get Elspeth beats online, eventually he does manage to kill her with Swing/Burn, but Mishra's factories are able to seal it up with him doing most of the work.

Game 3: We have another Library versus Standstill CA battle. I stabilize at 2 or 3 life, he's around 4. My hand is Force, Counterspell, Counterspell, Spell Snare. I've been holding Snare all game for Price of Progress. He keeps saying he only needs one card to seal the deal, I'm clearly thinking "yeah, right." Time gets called, I'm basically down to ripping Elspeth to lift my factory and kill him in time. On the last turn he tries to Price 3 times, I counter them all just because I can, even though they would have killed us both. Supposedly he needed Fireblast to sac his duals so price wouldn't kill him, but he had so many nonbasic lands out that it wouldn't have mattered. So it ends in a Draw.


Round 5: Dominic with crazy meta-gamed Zoo that went undefeated into top8: Lose 0-2 (3-1-1)

Game 1: We play a little back and forth, he swings with dorks, I kill them. Eventually I drop Elsepth and make a token for chump blocks, then the next round I cycle Decree for bunch of dudes. He EOT slams SULFUR ELEMENTAL, wipes my board, and starts the beats with goyf + elemental. I hard cast Decree for a 4/4 (5/3) and trade with the elemental on the next attack. I don't find an answer for his goyf fast enough, and die to beats + chain lightning.

My mind was blown at the awesomeness of that card against me. Not gonna lie, I heard him mention something about Landstill right after pairings went up so now I was a little suspicious that he was pre-sided. I asked to speak to the judge away from the table just to be safe, he came back and said everything was kosher, which was fine by me. Dominic seemed a little cold after I got back from talking to the judge (I would probably have been too if we had been in opposite seats) but he lightened up after game 2 got rolling and things were fine after the match when I explained what I asked about.

Game 2: My hand isn't bad, he plays a bunch of dudes, I kill a bunch of dudes but I'm stuck on 3 lands, eventually I tap them to kill a guy and drop Standstill. He fires back with Choke... and I was still worrying about Sulfur Elemental, yikes. I don't draw the Force and frown at the Counterspell in my hand. I have a basic Plains so I'm not totally locked out but it makes me stumble enough that when he does draw another Sulfur Elemental, I've got nothing and die.


Round 6: James Rynkiewicz, Counter-Top Progenitus: Win 2-0 (4-1-1)

I get paired up again. But that's OK, probably better than getting paired down.

Game 1: He drops turn 1 Hierarch, I Swords it, he Forces, I figure that means he really needs it for mana, so I Force back, he Forces Again and it lives... until my next turn where I swords it again. With him out of cards and me up just a few I believe I find a Standstill. He picks them up pretty quickly.

Game 2: This game is more interesting, things seem to be going well, I answer a few of his guys. He drops a goyf, I drop an Elspeth and make a blocker. But he has Pithing Needle for her, boo hiss. I shrug, un-tap and drop Preacher, he spins his top, finds ~another~ needle for preacher, super boo hiss. Now I'm in trouble. He follows that with Meddling Mage on Wrath, and Meddling Mage on something else. I take a few hits, drawing nothing, and eventually have to chump with my token, and then with a Factory. On the last turn before I would have to chump with Preacher I rip Tolaria West. Transmute it for EE, drop EE @ 1, and blow it. I then make a token with Elsepth, and on his turn I Preach over one of his Mages. He swings, I block, and he scoops it up, seeing no real outs.

We both agree afterwards that at least one of the MMs probably should have named EE, but them's the breaks. James makes top8 anyway at X-2 with awesome breakers.


Round 7: Win and In battle versus David Gearhart, I'm calling it "Moon Thresh": Win 2-1 (5-1-1)

Game 1: He opens on turn 1 Top, turn 2 CB. I try for a Jace, we have a counter war, and he wins. On the next turn he drops his own Jace and starts filtering my draws. I pick them up quickly to save time.

Game 2: Not really sure where to start with this game, it was long, and riddled with counter wars and excessive Topping/Fetching/Topping. One play I do remember was towards the end of the game, he is low on cards but drops a Goyf. I drop Jace, bounce his goyf, he untaps, plays Goyf again. I play Standstill, and bounce his Goyf again. I brainstorm every turn under Standstill, and eventually get there with Factories.

Game 3: We're down to about 10-12 minutes, so I need to kill him fast. I open the nuts, Land, Elspeth, Double Force. I get to four mana and cast Elspeth, he Forces, I Force back, he REB's, I Force again. Our hands are wrecked but Elspeth resolves for me. I start beating him for 4 a turn. I answer a Goyf, and he drops to 4. He tries a Jace to buy time, but I have the Counterspell for it, and he picks them up.

X-1-1 was good enough for 4th place coming out of the Swiss. Feels good to get there again finally.


Top 8: Eric English with Next Level Thresh: Lose 0-2 (5-2-1)

I make a TON of mistakes over these two games, could blame it on the headache, could blame it on the lack of food, could even blame it on the fact that I was just happy to be there. But anyway you look at it I just played like shit.

Game 1: I try for the turn 2 Standstill, he has the Snare. He then drops two Goyfs on consecutive turns. I have EE to clear them after taking a hit and after doing so have Standstill and Counterspell in hand with UU up. I get ahead of myself and just rush Standstill down into his 3 open mana, he responds with Vendillion Clique (derf). I should have just waited a turn and dropped Standstill safely with counter mana up. Alas. Clique gets in there and I'm forced to break my own Standstill with WoG. He draws into Fire/Ice and finishes me.

Game 2: We play draw-go for a while, I have a Tundra, Plains, and 3 fetches in play. I don't really want more lands, and I have Negate up for a stifle, so I stupidly EOT crack all three fetches at once. More of a time saver than anything but I should have been smart and played them one at a time. He naturally has double stifle, I negate one, and he Dazes it, (derf. derf.). So I get my one land (basic Island), he wastes my Tundra, dropping me from 5 lands to 2. I proceed to draw 4 drop after 4 drop instead of lands and die to a random dork.


So, I didn't Top4, and didn't get GP byes, but I still got a set of Duals.

I didn't have long to wait as the T4 Split. I picked up a set of Bayous for my efforts and trade two in for two Badlands because I already owned two Bayou and certainly didn't need six.


Props:
Eli & Jupiter Staff, for doing running these two days in a row.
Mike Caffrey, for judging two days in a row.
Krieger & Crew, for being pleasant opponents win or lose and wrecking both days.

Slops:
My top8 Performance.
Sulfur Elemental, what a jerk that elemental is.
Syracuse, for going home.

[Tammit67]

Congrats on your placement! Looking forward to the second part. If I got your name right in my head, it's always a pleasure to see you at Eli's tourneys.

[Rancorous Fool]

You got my name right for bant survival. The only notes I would mention are that I believe I played 6 forces in game 1. But against one of these, i just kept shuffling them back in with survival.
I played 4 landstill decks this past weekend, so that could be wrong. I do remember having infinite Hatebears locking out like humility elspeth E.E. Wrath of god.

[RogueMTG]

The second part is up finally! Sorry about that.

@Tammit67:

Thanks! The name is Ben. Who are you?


@Rancorous:

I think in our match it was playing your 2x V. Cliques about 4 times, shuffling in with Emrakul or some such shenanigans, I can't really remember the details.

[Tammit67]

I'm Matt. That crazy kid you beat who was running Dreadstill like 4 months ago. Since then i got a mox with merfolk a month ago, and brought thoptertop this last time.

Always happy to see landstill top 8

[RogueMTG]

I'm Matt. That crazy kid you beat who was running Dreadstill like 4 months ago. Since then i got a mox with merfolk a month ago, and brought thoptertop this last time.

Always happy to see landstill top 8

I remember :D, cool, congratz on the Mox. Thanks for the support.

[Vested1]

Hey it's Darron (Mono blue merfolk) thanks for the mention, i do have to say i had a blast playing agaisnt you, it was the most enjoyable match i had all day and definately the most testing long game match up, i look forward to being paired agaisnt you again once i have more expirience under my belt this was my first serious legacy event ever.

[Jim Higginbottom]

Do you typically leave the standstills in against goblins? They seem pretty bad in that matchup.

[RogueMTG]

Do you typically leave the standstills in against goblins? They seem pretty bad in that matchup.

Honestly, if I can help it, I never side out Standstill. (Occasionally I'll side 1 out if I'm running 4 and need a slot.)

You absolutely need it to keep up on cards against a CA machine like Goblins, not resolving card advantage is how Landstill loses.

If you don't answer Vial you're most likely dead anyway, and that's the only card from Goblins that really presents a problem for Standstill.