[Report] Team SPOD @ July Hassloch Legacy Event aka. Back in Business

[diffy]

That's right: I'm back from my year of civic service at World's End (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?13976-With-a-bottle-of-rum-and-a-yo-ho-ho).

Now, I don't really want to talk about those past few months and if you are totally honest, you don't really want to hear me ramble about it either, do you. Heck, half of you probably don't even know who I am any more.
To briefly sum it up:
Never work for the German government if you want to keep even the slightest shred of respect for it.
Most expats are way more fucked up than I remember them being from my previous years abroad.
I've reached a point of saturation for all means Africa. I won't say 'never again', but 'not again for quite some time' I'll say. And I think I can in all good conscience. With the last year I've lived a full ten years in Africa after all. Ten years. And I'm nineteen. More than half of my life for Christ's sake. It simply is enough for now.
Zach, seriously, you're great.

So far, so personal. Back to the part you scum are actually interested in: Legacy and yesterday's Hassloch event.

Some days after landing back again on civilized soil, I meet with the guys at Stefan's new place. Not much has changed: Harrald is still an alcoholic bastard, Stefan is down some hair and up a job but still sure to be the protagonist of whichever homoerotic dreams I happen to have, MSC started working too but still is fat, Thomas is still a bro, Heiler is still... uh? Heiler? And, most importantly, everyone is still awesome (at least to some extent).

Something has changed though: I have.
Instead of slinging cards all night before heading out to Hassloch, I prefer to pick up my deck from Stefan's (thanks for lending me all those cards!), play just a little of Highlander and then head back home early (on bike) to substitute nerderia for a good night's worth of sleep, a shower in the morning and a healthy breakfast (self mixed Muesli with plain yoghurt and a mountain of fruit with some guarana-induced apple juice).
Those reports sure used to read differently some time ago, didn't they? Where have all those Highlander-all-nighters, the 'trying to avoid getting puked or boozed over', the over-indulgence on fast-food, the crashing in bathrooms gone to? Heck, my lunch on the tournament day? Six apples.
I'm getting old. And if not that, then at least older.

There's nothing to see here, please move along.

Thus starteth the report.


[Report] Team SPOD @ July Hassloch Legacy Event aka. Back in Business


What: Monthly Legacy Event at Hassloch, RP, Germany
When: Sunday, 18th of July 2010
Who: 48 Players

What I played: Zoo.

But not your usual Zoo. Have a look at this list:




4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Arid Mesa
1 Mountain
1 Forest
3 Taiga
2 Plateau
2 Savannah

4 Wild Nacatl
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning

1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Anger
4 Survival of the Fittest

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Qasali Pridemage
SB: 1 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Baneslayer Angel
SB: 1 Loyal Retainers
SB: 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
SB: 3 Pyroblast



That's right. Team SPOD proudly presenting: Survival-Zoo (still needs a catchy name). You heard it here first, folks.

How did it come to the list?
It all started with Stefan being psyched because of my return. Team SPOD had been pretty much under-performing during the last year but with me back on the train and some important events coming up on the horizon, Stefan actually was excited about something Legacy-related once: the return to glory. He wanted to do well again. So we talked, and talked, and then talked a little more, brainstormed lists and found that pretty much nothing was the way to go. Counterbalance: too fair nowadays. Zoo: probably the best deck but the mirror too much of a coinflip. Combo: too much Bryant-Cookness to be involved for success. Merfolk: still not an actual deck.
Wait a minute. Zoo: probably the best deck, but the mirror too much of a coinflip? What about the Zoo-list to beat all Zoo-lists then? But none of that Japanese craziness with Planeswalkers and Stoneforge Mystic for those lists sacrifice too much of Zoo's aggressiveness i.e. the reason why the deck is any good in the first place. No, something else had to be found.
I was fairly certain that Lightning Helix was the thing to cut: two mana for three damage always felt a horribly out of tempo play and immensely clunky in any matchup but the mirror.
What to add? Well, I have always had a thing for Survival of the Fittest (heck, we played Survival in Blue Aggro Control Shells (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?8184-[CaNGD-Finalist]-Not-Quite-Survival) and in Elves years before it was cool to do so, after all) and a person I greatly admire when it comes to Legacy, Karlsruhe's very own Oli Oey, taught me the value of Survival in aggressive decks, so why not give it a shot in Zoo too?

Is it any good?
You be the judges.
Prior to the event in Hassloch, I played the list a little on magic-league, 3-0ing two minis and going 4-1 in a Trial (http://www.magic-league.com/deck/62877/legacy_t15.html#Zoo101921) (placing third, loosing to a damn strong draw from Mossnought) giving me confidence in the list.

In Hassloch itself it performed like this (very schematic report, the interesting thing here is the list itself, after all):

Back in Business, a tournament report

Round 1 vs. Daniel Quanz with Mono-White Control

Game 1
He plays some Mother of Runes, Karakas, Weathered Wayfarer, Sword of Light and Shadow. I'm doing good enough (Steppe Lynx + Wild Nacatl + Qasali Pridemage) until he plays Wasteland on my one land, Mangara of Corondor on my other one and Swords to Plowshares on my two relevant guys. I put him on Death&Taxes-ish but the Reveillark he plays just before finishing me off slightly disturbs me. But then again, I've been out of the loop for a year.

-4 Steppe Lynx
+1 Qasali Pridemage
+1 Baneslayer Angel
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Loyal Retainers

Game 2
T2 Survival of the Fittest. After that: Iona. Next game. Interesting sideboard tech, those Survivals. He says. Definitely interesting.

Game 3
No broken start and Survival shenanigans for me this time. Not much for him either though. Some Mother of Runes trade with burn, I play some three power guys, he plays Magus of the Disk. Wait what? Path to Exile. Magus. Path. Magus. Path. Magus. Uh? Lavamancer, attack? He removes my board, I draw more guys, he drops in burn range. Chain. Chain. Game.

Breakin' out, about to shout
Feel the need for one more round
Don't you struggle, try to bite
You want some trouble, I'm the king of vice

1-0-0 (2:1)

Round 2 vs.Steffan Benisch with GW Survival

Game 1

I mulligan once, he mulligans twice. I have a Wild Nacatl start and plenty of land for his Wastelands. He's down on good coloured mana sources and therefore takes plenty of damage off his two Horizon Canopys, I Bolt a Goyf, swing some more with my Wild Nacatl. He plays an Umezawa's Jitte and a Maze of Ith (damn, that card is good against Zoo). Whatever, Grim Lavamacner. He plays an out-of-burn Tarmogoyf to supplement his Jitte. Whatever once more: Bolt, Mancer, untap, Mancer, next. It's a lovely day, I'm sitting outside, life is fun.

-4 Steppe Lynx
+1 Loyal Retainers
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Qasali Pridemage

Game 2

T1 Wild Nacatl (Swords to Plowshares), T2 Tarmogoyf and Horizon Canopy, bring me to 21 and him to 8. He gets Maze of Ith and Survival. I don't. He gets Iona. I don't. He gets to win. I... well. Don't.

Game 3

He has the good start: t1 Noble Hierarch, some time later Survival. I respond by having my own Survival. He activates his to get Qasali Pridemage to off my Survival. I think for about five minutes if there is any better play than discard stuff, get Iona, discard Iona, get Anger, discard Anger, get Retainers, trying very hard to involve a Faerie Macabre on his Squee along the way. I come to the conclusion that I can't and that there isn't. So Iona on white it is. And game the turn after.

I'm a wreckin' ball, I'm a stingin' knife
Steal your money, gonna take your life
You got screamin' murder, lock up your door
Double dealin' gotta have more

2-0-0 (4:2)

Round 3 vs. Fabian Freiberger with Urb Dreadstill

Game 1

I win my first dice roll of the tournament, my opponent mulligans twice but still gets a decent draw with a Dreadnought just on time to stop my assault of Steppe Lynx for whom I have plenty of fetchlands and Tarmogoyf. Too bad for him that I slow-rolled a Qasali Pridemage for all that time.

-2 Knight of the Reliquary
-4 Chain Lightning
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Loyal Retainers
+1 Qasali Pridemage
+3 Pyroblast

Game 2

He mulligans twice again. This time, so do I. My five are broken though: three lands, a random creature, Survival. We play the draw-go game for some time (while he slowly beats me down with one-two-three Mishra's Factories) until I find a bait for the Force I'm sure he has. He takes it. I resolve a Survival of the Fittest that once again takes an opponent fully by surprise. As I activate it the first time, he flinches as though wanting to Stifle the activation (a good play) but then refrains seeing how the creature I want to discard is a Squee. I therefore don't go for Iona/Retainers directly because I don't want to throw away my Retainers. Some Qasali Pridemage-, Fetchland- and Lavamancer-activations later, I get the feeling that after all he doesn't have the Stifle and go for Iona on Blue. Game. There, you have it. That's my problem: I always think that my opponents are better than they actually are making games last longer than they have to.

Flesh and blood, I'm a rag 'n' bone
Bad luck message on the telephone
Don't you worry, play my game
I'll do you a favor, got your soul for sale

3-0-0 (6:0)

Round 4 vs. Harrald David with Ugw Tempo Threshold

Game 1

We both take a mulligan. He has a Noble Hierarch and a Qasali Pridemage, I have a Wild Nacatl and a Tarmogoyf. He has a Force of Will for my Survival of the Fittest. We exchange blows (me: 11, him: 7) until somehow the situation gets really complicated: he has a Rhox War Monk, a Qasali Pridemage, a Tarmogoyf and a Rafiq of the Many. I somehow manage to win. I don't exactly know any more how I pulled that one off, but it involved chump-blocking for ages, counterstriking to nullify his lifelink-advantage, getting rid of his Qasali Pridemage, a Survival of the Fittest for chump-blockers (which gets destroyed sometime after), Squee hardcast, another important Force of Will for him and two Path to Exile for me. With fifteen minutes on the clock we move on to game 2.

-2 Steppe Lynx
-3 Knight of the Reliquary
+3 Pyroblast
+1 Iona, Shield of emeria
+1 Loyal Retainers

Game 2

I open with double Steppe Lynx - who needs four of those anyway? One of them and a Wild Nacatl bring him down to nine when he finds a Tarmogoyf and a Jitte. Meanwhile, I've run out of lands but have a Tarmogoyf of my own and a second Wild Nacatl (and two burnspells in my hand). A large crowd has gathered around our table and it shows that I've never really played aggro decks before in Legacy and that I haven't touched cards in quite a while: I feel that I can win this turn but have to think for five minutes before seeing the correct line of play. That didn't use to happen before, did it?

Born in trouble, they gave up on me
Teacher preachin' what not to be

4-0-0 (8:2)

Round 5 vs. René Schärling with Ugr Tempo Threshold

Game 1

I mulligan once. He mulligans twice and has only a single sad Nimble Mongooseto face my onslaught of Tarmogoyf + Wild Nacatl (How good are cats?!). He can stop something with a Force of Will but doesn't find anything else relevant in time.

-4 Steppe Lynx
-1 Qasali Pridemage
-1 Knight of the Reliquary
+3 Pyroblast
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Loyal Retainers
+1 Relic of Progenitus

Game 2

He again takes a mulligan, opens with tripple Wasteland and some Stifles. Too bad for him that I kept that five lander. He doesn't have very much besides Stifle-Waste and by the time he finds something to put in front of my Wild Nacatl plus Grim Lavamancer he's already in burn range (and I have the burn too).

I'm a cannon ball goin' down the track
Need good lovin' but I want it back

5-0-0 (10:2)

Round 6 vs. Fabian Moyschewitz with Ugr Tempo Threshold

Game 1

The sucker declines my offer of a draw so we have to play it out. I win my second dice roll of the event. I don't have much gas, he has double Tarmogoyf and I can only handle one of them via double-burn. His Goyf and my Qasali Pridemage race each other for some time dropping me to 11 and him to 12 in the process. We're both in topdeck-mode. I topdeck Anger. He topdecks Vendillion Clique. Slightly better, ain't it? I keep my Pridemage back to block, he has the Fire/Ice to tap it for the win.

-2 Qasali Pridemage
-4 Steppe Lynx
+3 Pyroblast
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Loyal Retainers
+1 Relic of Progenitus

Again he manages to be the more aggressive deck by countering and/or Submerging all my dudes who could challenge his guys. I bait out some counters, drop to 7 and resolve a Survival, asking whether it resolves. He says yes and slaps down a Krosan Grip. I point out that I didn't pass priority, discarding the Iona I drew immediately to Survival to fetch a Loyal Retainers. I set Iona on blue to avoid getting blown out by Submerge, Rushing River or Fire/Ice, block one of his Nimble Mongooses (the other one dropping me to four) get in there once with Iona - he has one card in hand and one turn to live. He draws. Smiles. Says that he's sorry. Bolt. Fire. Game. Happens, eh?

5-1-0 (10:4)

Third place due to lousy tiebreakers.

My last round opponent (Ugr Tempo Threshold) ended up taking first.
My fifth round opponent (Ugr Tempo Threshold) made second.
Harrald Herrlich (of SPOD fame) made fourth with 5c Aggro Control.

I don't remember the rest of the top8, I'll link to the lists as soon as they are up.

The other guys of the Team didn't top8:
Stefan went 4-2 with TES
Adan went 2-3-drop with LED-less Ichorid
MSC went 2-4 with Ubgw Control
Thomas went 2-4 with Zoo (sans Survival)

Thus endeth the report.


A closing note on the experiment with Survival of the Fittest in Zoo:
Survival won the game every time it resolved (sans last round).
I never wished it were a Lightning Helix i.e. the card it replaced.
Nobody expects Survival in Zoo and Iona/Retainers all the less - the surprise value alone won games. Survival adds an entire new dimension to the Zoo deck making it less predictable, less of a one-trick pony and thus much harder to beat.
Although I boarded out Steppe Lynx a lot and Iona/Retainers in a lot too I wouldn't change a card in the maindeck: with the current configuration you can still function well enough as a Zoo deck. The best proof of this are all those opponents who thought I boarded in the Survivals and congratulated me on my nifty sideboard-plan: games were won sans Survival. If you cut Steppe Lynx and replace it with more Survival stuff (i.e. Iona/Retainers or Vengevine/Rootwalla) you'd loose that dimension which would somewhat work against the reasoning behind including Survival in the first place. This is not a bastardisation of a Survival deck. It still is Zoo, only with an added dimension.
Further evidence in favour of this point is the direct comparison of this list to the one Stefan made a day 2 finish with at GP Madrid: -2 Horizon Canopy -1 Knight of the Reliquary -2 Qasali Pridemage -4 Lightning Helix +2 Savannah +1 Path to Exile +4 Survival of the Fittest +1 Squee +1 Anger are the only changes made to a well and functional Zoo list. You loose the worst burn spell and a decently aggressive two-drop, but hey, thanks to Anger Survival can act as pseudo-burn too and a turn two Survival can do as much damage turn three as a second turn Qasali Pridemage (and incrementally more in the following turns) - so in the big picture you don't lose any aggressiveness or tempo if compared to a classic Zoo list.
I'd definitely play the list again.

That being said:

Call me dirty, trash my name
Just tell the boys that I'm gonna be

Back in business again
Back in business again
Back in business again
Back in business again

Back in business! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QU-NvRWkVA)

[justMAD]

Nice report.
Think my fault was not to keep the first hand and take the muligan down to five in the first game. But I don't like to keep a hand with triple ponder, brainstorm, two lands and wasteland. Would have been better though.
Stefan only lost to tempotresh two times, bad luck for him, or not enought beer.
I forgot to drink mine after the fourth round otherwise you. Forget the beer and you lose the game. ;)

[MaFF1n]

Merfolk: still not an actual deck.
Made my day.

Gratz on the finish! :smile:

[mossivo1986]

Good stuff.

[mujadaddy]

Good stuff.

Yes, and welcome back.

[Fuzzy]

Could you post the 5c Aggro Control?

Anyway, congratz on the finish!

[diffy]

Could you post the 5c Aggro Control?




1 Forest
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
1 Island
1 Taiga
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Mox Diamond

4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Rhox War Monk

3 Engineered Explosives
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Tribal Flames
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder

Sideboard:

2 Life from the Loam
2 Intuition
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Spell Pierce
4 Force of Will


Round 1: 2-1 vs Zoo
Round 2: 2-0 vs Aggro Loam
Round 3: 0-2 vs Ugw Tempo Threshold
Round 4: 2-1 vs Ichorid
Round 5: 2-0 vs Imperial Painter
Round 6: 2-1 vs Dreadstill

5-1 (10:5), 4th place

[Mister Agent]

Welcome back Clemens!

Also, your zoo survival build is really good. I need to give it for a spin sometime on mws.

[Enigma]

Hell yeah, you are finally back. Hope you can help put this forum in track. It seriouly lost its interest since a year or so.

Great report, great deck,

P-M

[jeanbathez]

Welcome back !!!!!

Its very nice to read reports from you again :-)

And a very interesting deck !!!!

[johanessen]

I'd definitely play the list again.


Wouldn't you replace Survival for Fauna Shaman?

[Snief]

Like...no? A card that is easier to get rid of and that you can "only" activate once per turn?

[mossivo1986]

Round 3: 0-2 vs Ugw Tempo Threshold

Decklist?

[miko]

I would try to ad a single Tin-Street Hooligan. He might be faster than Qasali .

[eq.firemind]

[list]Never work for the (insert your country here) government if you want to keep even the slightest shred of respect for it.
Fucking 200% agree!

And nice deck, I'll try it on MWS.

[dan who?]

Welcome back! I really enjoyed the report and am really liking the decklist you posted and plan to test it as well.

[Plague Sliver]

Very interesting build. Survival is a worthy replacement for Sylvan Library. Giving all your creatures Haste seems good.

[Bardo]

Good to see you back around. Great report and an awesome list.

Cheers.

[Mountain Man]

Interesting deck and great report! I really enjoyed reading. :)

I have some questions for play testing purposes:

Could you please explain why you sideboard in Iona+Retainers against Tempo Thresh? Sure it resolved in one game but i think the combination of mana denial, counters and stifle is a horror for Iona-combo. Isn't it?

What are your sideboarding strategies against the other decks to beat?

Do you missed a 3rd/4th Qasali Pridemage main or Krosan Grip in sideboard?

[godryk]

This is the first post I've writen since I'm around the US (too busy with all that compulsory gay sex here in San Francisco), but hey, wellcome back! We missed ya!

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

That is a pretty awesome list. I have some questions too, if you don't mind, since there's no discussion on it yet.

In future, would you change the sideboard to make it more transformational to compensate for the dead cards you're boarding in most games anyway (Iona, Retainers + Anger, Squee) or would you leave it to function as much like Zoo postboard as possible?

Were the dead cards ever a serious problem, making otherwise keepable hands into mulligans or dead topdecks? For a deck like Zoo, dead cards seem especially relevant because of its tendency to run out of gas anyway, so I wonder if you ever found this problematic?

Also, what's with the Baneslayer?

[pippo84]

Congratz on the list and on the finish!

I always thought that Zoo is a boring thing to play, but with the Survivals it's a completely new dimension and I really appreciate it!

[Muradin]

Nice to see you back here in Germany and still in the mood to play some Magic Clemens. The deck looks quite nice as I always felt Helix was one of the weakest links in the Zoo deck. I'll give it a try for sure.

[Skeggi]

Nice to see you back and making innovative lists C. Good job on that list and congratulations on the result. It certainly is a fun good new way to approach a fun archetype :smile:.

[spirit of the wretch]

Stefan is down some hair and up a job but still sure to be the protagonist of whichever homoerotic dreams I happen to have

Oh honey, you say the sweetest things!

[Nihil Credo]

Fuck yeah.


Also, what's with the Baneslayer?

[diffy]

The top8 decklists of the event are now available here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?2587-Top-4-s-Top-8-s-POST-RESULTS-HERE&p=475186&viewfull=1#post475186).




Uwg Tempo Decklist?

What I saw:

Lands: Plains, Island, Forest, Tropical Island, Tundra, Flooded Strand, Misty Rainforest, Wasteland
Creatures: Noble Hierarch, Qasali Pridemage, Tarmogoyf, Rhox War Monk, Rafiq of the Many
Spells: Brainstorm, Ponder, Stifle, Daze, Force of Will, Swords to Plowshares, Umezawa's Jitte


I would try to ad a single Tin-Street Hooligan. He might be faster than Qasali .

I really like Tin-Street Hooligan as a three- to four-off in the Sideboard of normal Zoo builds: you can board him in against pretty much anything with mildly relevant Artefacts because you never feel bad when you cast him - even if you only happen to hit a 'minor' target such as a Mox Diamond or similar he leaves behind a body which is fair enough.
However, I don't like him as much as a Survival target: space in the board is tight and Qasali Pridemage costs only a mere mana more while offering much more functionality. Being able to play the Pridemage proactively is also another point in his favour: you do not want to give your opponent one round of Umezawa's Jitte or whatnot only because Tin-Street Hooligan is a sorcery-speed-only solution.


Could you please explain why you sideboard in Iona+Retainers against Tempo Thresh? Sure it resolved in one game but i think the combination of mana denial, counters and stifle is a horror for Iona-combo. Isn't it?


You're spot on. In retrospect, I'd also say that it was wrong to board Iona/Retainers in against Canadian Threshold: Submerge, the Ice side of Fire/Ice, Force/Stifle on Retainers and Stifle/Wasteland preventing one from hitting three mana sure make resolving the combo a little awkward.



Do you missed a 3rd/4th Qasali Pridemage main or Krosan Grip in sideboard?

I didn't miss Krosan Grip in the board at all due to it being slow, reactive, and Qasali Pridemage doing a much better overall job than the Grip. More Pridemages main would be nice though: Exalted and another 3/3 body are just that good.


Wouldn't you replace Survival for Fauna Shaman?

No, I would not: Fauan Shaman is too weak in the mirror because he dies to everything from Grim Lavamancer to Burn to Path to Exile and makes Anger or Iona/Retainers considerably worse.



In future, would you change the sideboard to make it more transformational to compensate for the dead cards you're boarding in most games anyway (Iona, Retainers + Anger, Squee) or would you leave it to function as much like Zoo postboard as possible?

I don't see much stuff one could play in the sideboard in R/G/W to make the Survival-plan more reliable (I really don't see myself boarding in Sensei's Divining Tops or Enlightened Tutors) so I think that I'll keep Survival as a 'splash' only.
What kind of cards to compensate for the dead draws were you thinking about?



Were the dead cards ever a serious problem, making otherwise keepable hands into mulligans or dead topdecks? For a deck like Zoo, dead cards seem especially relevant because of its tendency to run out of gas anyway, so I wonder if you ever found this problematic?


I was never unhappy to draw a Survival. I was never unhappy to draw a second/third/fourth Survival either (because that meant that I already resolved one and was on my way to the W).
I had to mulligan two weak hands because of Anger/Squee. I kept three otherwise strong hands despite having Squee/Anger and didn't regret it.
I topdecked Anger/Squee rather often and it was quite sad, however, in no occasion a topdeck Qasali Pridemage (i.e. the card I'd drawn instead of Anger/Squee if I hadn't been playing the Survival-list) instead would have saved the day. In fact, a topdecked Squee was flat-out better than topdeck Qasali Pridemage on two occasions due to being a recurring chump-blocker.



Also, what's with the Baneslayer?

There originally were more Baneslayer Angels in the sideboard (for the Zoo mirror), however, I could only come up with one prior to the event - so one in the board it was.
Don't see it as a Survival-target, see it as some additional gas for the mirror (that happens to be fetchable with Survival too).

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

double post

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

I don't see much stuff one could play in the sideboard in R/G/W to make the Survival-plan more reliable (I really don't see myself boarding in Sensei's Divining Tops or Enlightened Tutors) so I think that I'll keep Survival as a 'splash' only.
What kind of cards to compensate for the dead draws were you thinking about?
Maybe "compensate" is a bad word, I definitely agree not running SDT or Tutors. I think the beauty of the main is the low investment in Survival. I think I was mostly referring to Vengevine/Rootwalla. You mentioned this isn't a bastardized Survival deck, but if you board out Lynx almost every game anyway, it looks easy to switch -1 Squee -1 Anger -4 Lynx, +1 Rootwalla +3 Vengevine +Iona/Retainers (or something).

In my own testing, I found the mirror was extremely easy with Survival online so I turned attention to more even/ difficult matchups like ProBant and U/x control and aggro-control because they all board very heavily now to win the Zoo matchup. Vengevine is sometimes slow, but harder to counter and recurring anyway against nonwhite removal. It makes RWM, Finks and counterspells much less scary.


I was never unhappy to draw a Survival. I was never unhappy to draw a second/third/fourth Survival either (because that meant that I already resolved one and was on my way to the W).
I had to mulligan two weak hands because of Anger/Squee. I kept three otherwise strong hands despite having Squee/Anger and didn't regret it.
I topdecked Anger/Squee rather often and it was quite sad, however, in no occasion a topdeck Qasali Pridemage (i.e. the card I'd drawn instead of Anger/Squee if I hadn't been playing the Survival-list) instead would have saved the day. In fact, a topdecked Squee was flat-out better than topdeck Qasali Pridemage on two occasions due to being a recurring chump-blocker.
Maybe it's a bigger problem on MWS and its ridiculously shitty shuffler, but I keep drawing Squee and Anger in my opener or early topdeck. Without Survival they're just expensive chumps, when I really would prefer gas (Pridemage, Knight) or land. It's more just an observation than a question, but seems unavoidable otherwise. The answer seems to be "Just deal with it. Drawing 1-ofs sucks, but it happens." If you have a different insight, I would be interested to hear it.


There originally were more Baneslayer Angels in the sideboard (for the Zoo mirror), however, I could only come up with one prior to the event - so one in the board it was.
Don't see it as a Survival-target, see it as some additional gas for the mirror (that happens to be fetchable with Survival too).
This was kind of confusing, since I've only used Baneslayer so far against the Hypergenesis deck from Dazed and Confused articles. Without it I wouldn't have won g2/3 (and the match), but the slot seems more useful as another Pridemage or more blue hate.

I understand the point is to win the mirror, but Survival makes it really, really easy. In the mean time, blue decks can still be pretty difficult because of how heavily they board against Zoo now. I noticed you played mostly blue tempo decks, but no pure control in the tournament report. Most of my testing games were against more controllish CBtop or landstill type decks and I keep wishing I had more red blasts and pridemages against all of the U/x decks running lots of counters/ removal/ sweepers to beat Zoo. In Columbus I expect to see both, so if Survival reliably wins the mirror, something needs to reliably beat blue with heavy anti-Zoo mains/ boards.

I have been trying different combinations of -1 Lynx -1 Lavamancer -1 Baneslayer -1 Faerie Macabre -1/2 Teeg and +1 Pridemage +2/3 REB +1 Knight, +2 Elspeth. I'm conscientious of staying aggressive with lots of 1-drops, but when I can't find or resolve Survival, I always wish I had topdecked something better than another Lynx, Lavamancer or Teeg. Especially 4 Survival + 4 Teeg seems too redundant since he's only a temporary solution with a small body when I really need to keep a fast clock. The list is extremely tight in my opinion, so cutting cards that become obsolete quickly seemed to me like a good way to make room for the extra Pridemage, another Knight and more blasts (none of which I'm ever sad to see).

[Cenarius]

Maybe it's a bigger problem on MWS and its ridiculously shitty shuffler, but I keep drawing Squee and Anger in my opener or early topdeck. Without Survival they're just expensive chumps, when I really would prefer gas (Pridemage, Knight) or land. It's more just an observation than a question, but seems unavoidable otherwise. The answer seems to be "Just deal with it. Drawing 1-ofs sucks, but it happens." If you have a different insight, I would be interested to hear it.

Keep getting the same problems over and over. For several games. Even had several games where I either had 2,3 or 4 Survival and no creature to link with.
Also, boarding out Steppe Lynx on the play seems an horrible idea. You really loose all of your tempo.