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talon7331
08-04-2010, 12:49 AM
I left my home in New Hampshire Thursday afternoon, picked up Will Chen (Oxeimon) at Dartmouth, and then headed down to the house I am renting with my college friends in Pennsylvania. There we were joined by Matthew Bevenour (tammit67) and Michael Caffrey, or Caff (mchainmail).

We headed out early and get to Columbus around 4 pm. Will and I do a grinder, He loses in the 1st round, and decides to do another grinder. I beat belcher and lose to enchantress.

We get some food and head back to get some sleep. Unfortunately, I was unsastified with the deck I had played in the grinders. It was Harry Matten Gillen’s Excalibur deck (hungry like a LION), and it didn’t fit my play style (or the meta) at all. At roughly 1:30 am I started construction of the deck I would end up playing. I kept the Excalibur shell, but I added some fatties to it to make it more able to combat the swarms and swarms of zoo and goblins that I had seen at the grinders. Also, because control decks with jace, belcher, other storm combo, and counter balance decks seemed quite prevalent, I added more counter-magic MD to improve the matchups. Here is the list I ended up playing. I will include the abbreviations that I will use in this report next to each card’s name, just in case there is anybody not familiar with legacy staples reading this.

17 Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf Goyf
3 Stoneforge Mystic SFM
2 Spellstutter Sprite SSS
2 Rhox War Monk RWM
2 Knight of the Reliquary KoTR
2 Planeswalkers
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
18 Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will FoW
3 Spell Snare
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares StP
2 Artifacts
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice SoFI
21 Lands
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
4 Mutavault

SIDEBOARD
2 Path to Exile PTE
3 Krosan Grip
3 Wash Out
1 Lightning Greaves
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Gaddock Teeg Teeg

This deck won me over quickly. It was difficult to pilot because it can play either agro or control and its role is completely dependent on the matchup. Looking back, I would have gone + 1 either RWM or KoTR and -1 Spell Pierce MD. Also I am currently testing a build with no basic island, and instead a wasteland. Moreover, I needed llawan in the board. Washout did not answer merfolk, and I would have gone to game 3 against Gaudenis Viduguris if I had had llawan in my hand rather than washout. My new board is -1 Crypt -2 Washout + 1 PTE + 2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress. Below is a rundown of how all the matches went. I didn’t take sideboarding notes but I’ll make some brief notes about how I did it here. What to board in for each matchup is usually pretty simple, but what to board out is often tough. The cards I frequently boarded out were: Jace, Spell Pierce, KoTR, SoFI or Jitte (but not both) and 1 SFM. That was usually enough to make room for whatever hate I had for the particular matchup in the sideboard.




Round: 1
Opponent: Kenneth Lechiera
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: NONE
Deck: Home-Brew (like zoo with bad cards, and a black splash, and very few lands)
Game 1: I keep a 1 land hand without a green source. I swords some dudes, I find green, and my beaters get through.
Game 2: I Curve up nicely, T1 Hierarch, t2 Tarmogoyf, t3 War Monk. He has double Grixis grimblade to trade with my beaters, but I find more beaters before he does. I win
Record in Matches: 1-0
Record in Games: 2-0

Round: 2
Opponent: Korey Age (who made top 8)
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: (unknown)
Deck: Sneak-Attack
Game 1: I land goyf, He lands sneak attack, Emrakul, and woodfall primus all at once, he wins.
Game 2: I bait his FoW with my goyf, then follow with Gaddock Teeg the next turn. I land SFM for a clock, I win.
Game 3: He turn one goes Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Island, Blood Moon. I do nothing but cast FoW on his sneak attacks for about 20 turns. I land SoFI. I find a Plains, cast SFM, find Jitte, play Jitte, equip SoFI + Jitte all in one turn. His next turn he lands a Sneak Attack, and manages to have Woodfall Primus enter the battlefield 3 times to kill both of my equipment and my Plains. He beats me down with primus before I can find another land.
Record in Matches: 1-1
Record in Games 3-2


Round: 3
Opponent: Chris Taylor
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Unknown
Deck: Dredge
Game 1: I lead off with a basic Island on the play. I Spell Pierce his Cabal Therapy. Next turn I SSS his Careful Study. I FoW his next Careful Study. He manages to cast Breakthrough. I use another SSS to counter a Cabal Therapy, and ping the SSS by removing a Jitte counter to get rid of his bridges, and kill his lone narcomoeba. SSS w/ Jitte gets there.
Game 2: He mulls to 4 after seeing me board in 10 or 11 cards against him. He claims he needs Leyline of Sanctity, and finds it. I keep a hand with 2 swords effects and FoW. I find 2 more swords effects, and I don’t ever let him get started.Record in Matches: 2-1
Record in Games: 5-2

Round: 4
Opponent: Gerard Fabiano
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: NONE
Deck: Rock
Game 1: I fetch Basics. We trade some removal spells. I beat him down, but he stabilizes. My SSS gets above his fatties and exalted gets enough damage through for the win.
Game 2: Game 2, I SFM for Jitte. I FoW his vindicate. I SSS his StP and I have 3 swords effects of my own, I win.
Record in Matches:3-1
Record in Games: 7-2

Round: 5
Opponent: Jimmy McCarthy
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable:Unknown
Deck: Lands
Game 1: I go agro with Goyf and War Monk, and he uses Oblivion Stone to wipe the board. I do more aggro and he gets 4 Mazes and a Tabernacle to stabilize, I still almost win. He ends the game at 3 life.
Game 2: I go aggro. I counter an early Exploration. I use Faerie Macabre early to remove Misty Rainforest and Bayou to ruin his tempo. That leaves him with only a Tranquil Thicket. 2 Goyfs beat through before he can stabilize.
Game 3: He mulls to 5. I land goyf, KoTR, Jace, and then I use SFM to find Lightning Greaves. He uses K-Grip on my greaves, but I follow up with KoTR number 2. I win.
Record in Matches: 4-1
Record in Games: 9-3

Round: 6
Opponent: Gaudenis Vidugiris
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Unknown
Deck: Mono Blue Merfolk
Game 1: he leads off with turn 1Vial, turn 2Standstill on the play. He FoW’s my jitte, and lands LOA. He wins.
Game 2: He has LoA on board, and I can’t find removal. I use SFM to get my Jitte, but he plays a Jitte to kill mine. His Mutavault gets in for the win with islandwalk.
Record in Matches: 4-2
Record in Games: 9-5

Round: 7
Opponent: Chris Pait
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Unknown
Deck: Zoo with a SFM package in the flex slots.
Game 1: I go Hierarch, Goyf, KoTR, Jace on turns 1-4. He scoops.
Game 2: I draw more STP’s and PTE’s than he does, and I use spell snare on his SFM to seal it. I win.
Record in Matches: 5-2
Record in Games: 11-5

Round: 8
Opponent: Jason Koresko
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Unknown
Deck: Belcher
Game 1: I don’t have counter magic, he activates belcher on turn 2 and gets me for over 40 damage.
Game 2: I FoW his Xantid Swarm, and use spell pierce on Belcher. I force a late Dark Ritual to seal it.
Game 3: I land Teeg on turn 2. He boarded out his Burning Wishes (because I had Spell Snare) and thus has no outs.
Record in Matches: 6-2
Record in Games: 13-6

Round: 9
Opponent: John Morris
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Unknown
Deck: Hypergenesis
Game 1: He cascades into hypergenesis, I cast SSS and he loses.
Game 2: we both keep slow hands. I get 7 lands and he cascades into hypergenesis with FoW AND misdirection backup. I play SSS, I have a FoW to hardcast, and another one to cast the typical way to make sure my SSS resolves. He loses.Record in Matches: 7-2
Record in Games: 15-6

DAY 2

Round: 10
Opponent: Richard Shay
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: The Atog Lord
Deck: Dreadstill
Game 1: He lands a turn 2 Dreadnought. I dig for removal, but can’t find it. He wins.
Game 2: He lands a turn 2 Dreadnought. I dig for removal. I find StP, and cast it. On his turn 3, he casts another Dreadnought, which I FoW using the Force that I found when I was looking for StP. He only has one card in hand, and I use KoTR + Jace to win.
Game 3: I keep Mutavault, FoW, FoW, hierarch, StP, Spell Pierce, SSS. ( just need to rip any land that makes green and I’m ok. I get a fetch and he trickbind’s it. I rip a tundra, and a mutavault, but nothing else. He uses Jace to fate-seal me until he blows up jace. I lose.
Record in Matches: 7-3
Record in Games: 16-8

Round: 11
Opponent: Dave Fitzgerald
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: NONE
Deck: Belcher w/ grim monolith
Game 1: He gets 1st turn belcher, activates it, and finds a bayou 2 cards down. I manage to stop him from re-activating and I win.
Game 2: I mull to 5, he belches the whole deck after casting 2 land grants.
Game 3: I mull to 6. I keep a hand with no land, but I do have FoW and spell pierce and Rhox War Monk. I rip lands off the top, and have trop and mutavault. I counter his set-up. We both get back to 7 cards after he empties for 8, but I force it down to 6 which saves me the game. I stabilize and land the War Monk. I attack into tokens, he blocks. I follow with Teeg. He wishes for pyroclasm, and casts it. Next turn I land another Teeg. He scoops. He shows me Seething Song and Belcher in hand and he has enough mana sources to play the Song.
Record in Matches: 8-3
Record in Games: 18-9

Round: 12
Opponent: Matt Fisher
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Jakolhops
Deck: Zoo (with reckless charge)
Game 1: He opens nactal on the play. I open hierarch, which he bolts. He uses tempo and reckless charge for the win.
Game 2: I open with hierarch on the play. SFM for Jitte. He removes my SFM, but Hierarch picks up the Jitte and gets there with it.
Game 3: He gets Jitte, I get KoTR. My knight is better than his creatures with jitte, and I beat through for the win. My removal keeps him from getting too many Jitte counters.
Record in Matches: 9-3
Record in Games: 20-10

Round: 13
Opponent: Dominic Lodovichetti
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Happy Gilmore
Deck: Zoo
Game 1: G1 I mull to 4. 7, 6, and 5 had NO LANDS of any sort in them. He does the typical crazy zoo aggro and Sylvan Library helps him on to victory.
Game 2: I mull to 6. I get Jitte and a creature, and my Jitte manages to beat down his whole field despite a Sylvan Library helping him along.
Game 3: He has tempo, I keep a hand with 5 lands, Jitte and StP (which I figure will buy me some time to find ANYTHING else in my deck. I rip more lands off the top and lose.
Record in Matches: 9-4
Record in Games: 21-12

Round: 14
Opponent: Ben Steiner
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: Kuma
Deck: Survival Bant
Game 1: I get a fattie blocker and Ride Jace to the win. He Meddling Mages cards he has already seen, but fatesealing is deadly.
Game 2: I keep a hand with k-grip. I grip his Survival. He plays another Survival, which consumes me.
Game 3: I mull to 5 off no lands in 6 or 7 and he goes aggro with path/swords backup. I can’t keep anything on the field.
Record in Matches: 9-5
Record in Games: 22-14

Round: 15
Opponent: Corey Baldridge
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: NONE
Deck: Mono Blue Merfolk
Game 1: He dazes KoTR and dazes Jace on turns 2/3 which I am ok with because that means he loses crazy amounts of tempo (which clearly is bad for tribal aggro). I land a Goyf and Jace # 2 and Jitte and won the game. Jitte let me kill Kira, Great glass spinner as well as the 3 lords he played.
Game 2: He top decks lands all game. I have SFM and I grab Jitte. I have pte, StP and FoW to keep my board advantage.
Game 3: NONE
Record in Matches: 10-5
Record in Games: 24-14

Round: 16
Opponent: Nathan Bramlett
Opponent’s Source ID If Applicable: NONE
Deck: Legacy Burn
Game 1: I land a Warmonk and win with exalted beats. I FoW the fireblast that tries to kill War Monk to seal the game.
Game 2: I use SFM to find Jitte. I equip it to Goyf. Burn can’t fight the 4 life per turn that I am gaining.
Game 3: NONE
Record in Matches: 11-5
Record in Games: 26-14



All things considered, this was a great event, and I quite enjoyed getting my first relevant finish in a legacy event. Matt finished 4-3 drop, Will finished 6-3, and Caff judged all weekend (whenever they paged Judge Michael over the PA system, that was for him).

Props:
Harry Matten Gillen for suggesting the deck to me.
Matt/Caff/Will for a pleasant ride there/back
Caff for editing this whole report
The Convention Center for having lots of room and clean facilities with lots of toilets
All my opponents (except for one) who were classy and polite.
Alex Bertoncini whose opponent’s jaw dropped to the floor when he saw him doing that crazy two handed pile-shuffle.

Slops:
The Ohio road work crew that cost us an hour of bumper to bumper traffic in hot weather with no AC
All the restaurants in the area for closing so damn early and not opening until too late.
The pizza delivery man that took 90 minutes to deliver us cold pizza.

jrsthethird
08-04-2010, 01:00 AM
Congrats again, nice report. LOL @ Belcher player siding out BW, and at Burn making Day 2 and winning some.

I realized how awesome Woodfall Primus was with Sneak Attack a few years ago, and I'm glad it's catching on.

Will you be joining us in Vestal this month?

Tammit67
08-04-2010, 01:24 AM
Congrats on your finish. I'm still pissed about 4-0 -> 0-3. Thank you goblins, thank you.

Do you think the deck is good in an abstract meta? What does it prey on, what are it's bad matchups?

jakolhops
08-04-2010, 09:01 AM
Those were some fun games we played, i liked how the guy a few tables over commented on how relaxed our match was. I made some mistakes in our match but still it was a good time, and im not 100% sure it would have effected the outcome. Either way congrats on the finish, i ended up going 8-5 and dropping, even though a 3-0 the last 3 rounds would have put me in the $$$, i was just tired and not doing well on day 2. This was my first GP and you were a great opponent, again congrats on the finish.

Kuma
08-04-2010, 11:04 AM
It was great playing against you! Glad to see you finished in the money.

talon7331
08-04-2010, 03:03 PM
Congrats on your finish. I'm still pissed about 4-0 -> 0-3. Thank you goblins, thank you.

Do you think the deck is good in an abstract meta? What does it prey on, what are it's bad matchups?

I chose this build of the deck because I was unsure about what the meta was going to be and my results were fairly consistent between the different archetypes that I faced. This deck 'preys' on tribal aggro. I got beaten by a pro running merfolk but I think with the new build/sideboard I am testing now I think it would have been a much closer matchup. This deck is extremely vulnerable to early stifles and wastelands which has prompted me to fetch basics on a regular basis because the manabase can be fragile. The key to matchups that invlove stifle/waste is getting a basic forest and a noble hierarch and then the rest of the game goes much easier. I have not done extensive testing against heavy control decks like landstill or counter-top thopters but based on the limited testing I HAVE done it looks like they are roughly equal to maybe slightly unfavorable. The maindeck spell pierces help to keep things off the field early and let my equipped dudes get through for some card advantage via SoFI. Landing a stoneforge mystic is key. After that it is just baiting counters properly and making sure i save my counters for their sweepers. Mutavaults are also good.


Will you be joining us in Vestal this month?

Yeah, I should be able to make it up there. I am planning on playing this deck, but I am also testing another that i'm interested in.

Plague Sliver
08-04-2010, 03:16 PM
Nice report. That was a lot of Zoo and Belcher you faced.

Did having all that equipment hurt you at all in the Zoo matchups? I know you had some details, but I'm wondering if Zoo playing Pridemage Game 1 was able to consistently deny you Jitte/SOFI beats.

talon7331
08-04-2010, 06:04 PM
Nice report. That was a lot of Zoo and Belcher you faced.

Did having all that equipment hurt you at all in the Zoo matchups? I know you had some details, but I'm wondering if Zoo playing Pridemage Game 1 was able to consistently deny you Jitte/SOFI beats.


You make a really good point. Pridemage was by far the worst creature for me to see when facing zoo. I did not struggle as much as I might have with this for a few reasons.

1) By the time my equipment comes down it is almost always turn 3 or 4 and frequently its 5, by which time they have already played out their pridemage in an attempt to go aggro vs. me and beat me before i can stabalize with bigger beats and equipment. Since they almost always want to get that exalted nactal/steppe lynx attack in on turn 2, I was often able to use a StP (or PTE post board) on their pridemage and then run out my equipment.

2) Zoo frequently taps out especially early in the game to get lots of pressure in the form of small swarming dudes on the field, and then a few larger dudes. If they ever tapped out with a pridemage in play i was able to drop a jitte or a SoFI and swing and then either use the trigger or the counters to get rid of the pridemage before they untapped and could use it to destroy said equipment.

3) I run 3 maindeck spell snare and I would let a goyf resolve if I thought they had pridemage or if I had removal because snaring a late pridemage can win me the game and i can allow goyf to resolve as long as I don't let it beat my face more than once before Swords or Path remove it.

Game 2/3 it did seem like they held onto their pridemages a little more cautiously but that is also ok with me because when zoo starts holding back threats they lose their best attribute which is their ability to overwhelm the opponent with threats and removal and keep pressure on always. Another interaction that is worth noting is using SFM to bring an equipment in during their end step if they're either tapped out or havn't yet played pridemage because that lessens the single turn mana requirement of getting a swing in with an equipment, and usually if i could get one swing in with an equipped creature it was enough to turn the game in my favor, or at least balance it out and I have a better late-game than zoo so dragging it out was a welcome option.

oxeimon
08-05-2010, 04:11 AM
so it looks like that sneak attack guy you lost too was actually the guy that top 8'd.

congrats again.

I like this sentence:
"Will and I do a grinder, He loses in the 1st round, and decides to do another grinder."

loll, *facepalm*

That was a craaazy time though. I seriously hope I have time for magic this coming year.

btw you spelled my screen name wrong

talon7331
08-05-2010, 09:32 AM
so it looks like that sneak attack guy you lost too was actually the guy that top 8'd.

...

btw you spelled my screen name wrong


I'll edit the post for both errors.

Plague Sliver
08-05-2010, 11:50 AM
You make a really good point. Pridemage was by far the worst creature for me to see when facing zoo. I did not struggle as much as I might have with this for a few reasons.

1) By the time my equipment comes down it is almost always turn 3 or 4 and frequently its 5, by which time they have already played out their pridemage in an attempt to go aggro vs. me and beat me before i can stabalize with bigger beats and equipment. Since they almost always want to get that exalted nactal/steppe lynx attack in on turn 2, I was often able to use a StP (or PTE post board) on their pridemage and then run out my equipment.

2) Zoo frequently taps out especially early in the game to get lots of pressure in the form of small swarming dudes on the field, and then a few larger dudes. If they ever tapped out with a pridemage in play i was able to drop a jitte or a SoFI and swing and then either use the trigger or the counters to get rid of the pridemage before they untapped and could use it to destroy said equipment.

3) I run 3 maindeck spell snare and I would let a goyf resolve if I thought they had pridemage or if I had removal because snaring a late pridemage can win me the game and i can allow goyf to resolve as long as I don't let it beat my face more than once before Swords or Path remove it.

Game 2/3 it did seem like they held onto their pridemages a little more cautiously but that is also ok with me because when zoo starts holding back threats they lose their best attribute which is their ability to overwhelm the opponent with threats and removal and keep pressure on always. Another interaction that is worth noting is using SFM to bring an equipment in during their end step if they're either tapped out or havn't yet played pridemage because that lessens the single turn mana requirement of getting a swing in with an equipment, and usually if i could get one swing in with an equipped creature it was enough to turn the game in my favor, or at least balance it out and I have a better late-game than zoo so dragging it out was a welcome option.

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense that Zoo wants to use all its mana in its turn. I can see holding on to equipment until the turn you're ready to swing as being quite effective.

Totally agree with you on game 2/3 - if they're holding back, then you're probably winning already. It's not a huge commitment in terms of maindeck cards. Plus Goblins has no easy way to deal with it, short of Tin Street Hooligan.

talon7331
08-05-2010, 11:59 AM
Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense that Zoo wants to use all its mana in its turn. I can see holding on to equipment until the turn you're ready to swing as being quite effective.

Totally agree with you on game 2/3 - if they're holding back, then you're probably winning already. It's not a huge commitment in terms of maindeck cards. Plus Goblins has no easy way to deal with it, short of Tin Street Hooligan.


And tin street hooligan runs right into my spell snares and the occasional spell stutter sprite. Krosan grip in the board is really the only thing they have against me, but i'm totally ok with them boarding in k-grips because there are only 2 targets in my deck and despite how good SOfI is against them i can board it out because i really only need jitte, and I'd rather have a PTE early than SoFI in order to keep them from going bonkers and killing me in 4 turns.