gustoh
04-01-2007, 04:04 PM
Just Another Top 8 Report
Monster Den Legacy Tournament Report 3/31/07
Well… I guess it’s finally time to put up a report again. I’ve had pretty good success playing Legacy tournaments at Monster Den, dating back to when The Source was operating under the old message board. The first major tournament happened sometime a few years ago when I took a really bad R/G Madness Survival Deck into the top 4 and losing a close match to Welder Survival in 3 games.
Moving forward… for the past two tournaments at the Den I’ve played the same deck and pretty much I’ve received the same results. I missed Top 8 because of crappy tie breakers (9th…) and last month I top 4’d. Even with these excellent results I found myself questioning whether or not to play the same deck. Here’s the deck list
It’s not quite Hanni Fish V. LT…
Creatures:
4 Meddling Mage
4 Dark Confidant
3 Mother of Ruins
3 Phyrexian Negator
Protection:
3 Duress
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Stifle
3 Swords to Plowshares
Draw:
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
Other Stuff:
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Engineered Explosives
Manabase:
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Wasteland
Card Choices: Questions always arise about why I’ve made some of these card choices and I’ll try my best to explain.
Maindeck Negator: Besides Goblins, there aren’t a ton of decks out there that run burn. You eventually run into a FlameTongue Kavu every now and then but by that time I’ve always had an answer to counter the damage (Mother, SOFI, FOW, etc…) that’s either the case or else you’ve pretty much baited them by having your opponent FTK either a Meddling Mage or else a Confidant, so the Negator usually closes the game for you.
Maindeck Duress: Could be in the sideboard, but I’ve always been a fan of 1st turn Duress then 2nd turn Mage. The only deck Duress is weak against is Goblins. Otherwise it combats every other deck well.
Maindeck Explosives: Some decks play Chalice. Some decks run Nimble Mongoose. And sometimes you need a board sweeper to clear everything. Explosives does more than enough for the deck. You usually set it at 1 or 2 then proceed to blow the board away. Most of the time the lone copy is enough to get rid of a major threat before you start to swing momentum back in your direction.
SOFI over Jitte: Both are very strong against the most common deck in the format (Goblins…) but SOFI just seemed to fit the deck better. It works excellent with a Negator and maybe most importantly it turns your Mages and Confidants into 4/4’s and 4/3’s which makes them a lot harder to kill. Also more decks run main deck Jitte’s so chances are you’ll be gaining life from Jitte counters more than removing them to kill creatures or making your guys bigger.
Wasteland Argument: In a format dominated with non basic lands, Wasteland was just too good to leave out. I’d rather have Wasteland in the deck instead of settling for a few cantrips which was the likely choice in this slot. (Examples will occur during tournament report)
Sideboard Options: My typical sideboard goes as follows.
3 Engineered Plague (Goblins)
2 Hydroblast (Goblins and random burn/Rifter decks when they decide to show up)
2 Tormod’s Crypt (Threshold, Decks that need graveyard stuff)
2 Disenchant (Affinity, and Misc…)
2 Pithing Needle (everything…)
4 Open slots… Open slots are usually filled with metagame choices. Last month I ran Old Man from the Sea because at 2AM in the morning, your mindset isn’t all there. I was like “man… and Old Man with a Sword of Fire and Ice would be savage”
For the tournament here’s the side I ran:
3 Engineered Plague
2 Hydroblast
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Disenchant
2 Pithing Needle
1 Kataki War’s Wage
1 Engineered Explosive
2 Exalted Angel
I’ve been running a single copy of Kataki because of the random Affinity decks that like to show up once in a while. With the recent success of TES on the rise an extra copy of Explosives was a given, and I have no idea how Exalted Angel made the cut. Flipping it to a Confidant is a major “no” but I figured for the matches that I’d be siding the Angels in… I’d be siding the Confidants out.
Enough about the deck… on to the report…
I had been up till about 2AM gold fishing a few decks that I wanted to play for Saturday. I had Red Threshold, Goblins with white, Tog, TES, and my fish build all set to go. I ultimately concluded that I was either going to run Red Thresh or else Fish before I went to bed.
I left the apartment around noon since the tournament didn’t start till about 1pm. I got to the Den in a timely manner and when I arrived I had a whole bunch of goodness for people. I lent out a total of 57298357828 cards to 3 people and only got a few back before the end of the day. After lending cards out I sat down with Luke and we played a few games. I pulled out Red Thresh and played against his stupid 3 color zoo deck and we played a few splitting about 50/50. I then played a game against Will who decided that he’d pick up TES for the first time and play it at a big tournament, and lastly before the tournament started Michael Bearmon decided he wanted a head start on his day so he sat down and kicked my butt with his Goblin deck before pairings went up. Just a quick side note: Michael Bearmon has won/split the last 2 big Legacy tournaments with White Goblins. I’ve played him twice and I’ve lost every game miserably against him as well. Right before Bearmon ringleaders up double piledriver pairings go up. I wish him luck and tell him I’ll see him in the top 8.
-Round 1: Pat playing Angel Stax with Armageddon
Pat called me yesterday telling me that he was going to play Stax and needed to borrow cards from me the next day. So I do what a good friend does and I lend him the cards. Pat’s a good buddy and it sucks that we have to play against each other, but at least it’s only the first round.
Game One: It’s not even close. Pat doesn’t draw anything. I play a Mage naming Ghostly Prison and the Mage and a Mother of Ruins go all the way.
SB: Out: 3 Mother of Ruins, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
In: 1 Kataki, 2 Disenchant, 1 Engineered Explosive
Game Two: Pat gets a Crucible Dazed and sees a Negator and says that Negator is sideboard “tech.” I proceed to tell him that its maindeck which makes him frown a little. Negator takes the game a few turns later.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0
Random Quick Note: During our match someone to the right of me just casted Cranial Extraction for Stuffy Doll. The person playing Stuffy Doll proceeds to cry and then scoops his cards.
-Round 2: Alec playing Red Death
Alec’s on that one team ICBE… and apparently they’ve been talking a bunch of smack about how they would dominate this tournament. Regardless Alec is actually a good guy.
Game One: Alec gets an early Rotting Giant out and beats for a few turns. I’m sitting back with a Negator in hand and the following is out in play on his side. Rotting Giant, 1 Bloodstained Mire, 2 Swamps and a Badlands. Knowing that Negator is almost a bad play at this point of the game my next draw is Wasteland. At this point I play the Wasteland then target his Badlands. He attempts to use his Mire which gets Stifled and then proceeds to miss his land drop next turn. I drop the Negator during my next turn and 3 turns later he scoops.
SB: Out: 3 Negator, 2 Dark Confidant… In: 2 Hydroblast, 2 Exalted Angel, 1 Engineered Explosives
Game Two: We both mull. He goes to 6 and keeps and I go down to 5 and keep an optical hand with Daze, Angel, and 3 lands. Alec drops an early Negator and I eventually find a Swords for it. I drop the Angel down hoping to draw another land so I can morph her up and one turn later the land comes and I’m swinging for 4.
Games: 4-0
Matches: 2-0
-Round 3: Ron playing Angel Stax with Armageddon
So what are the chances of playing the only two Stax decks that were in the field? Since I beat Pat I was pretty sure I could beat Ron because the decks looked very similar. Ron randomly says; “Threshold” and I reply “you mean him” pointing over to Justin who had been sitting next to me the past round. Regardless we shuffle up and play.
Game One: I get out an early Confidant and Mother of Runes. He gets a Windborn Muse as well as Chalice for 1. He drops Armageddon and the game looks pretty dim for me. With life dwindling away I draw the lone Explosive. Cast it for 0 then blow up the Chalice. Fucking Chalice for 1… my hand consisted of 3 Serum Visions, 2 Brainstorms, 1 FOW and 1 Meddling Mage. All I have to do now is find that damn Swords to Plowshares. I’m at 3 when I can start to dig. I draw a fetchland and proceed to dig. Visions one is a blank and the scrye is too. Visions 2 is a blank as well and the scry sucked even more than the first one. I proceed to Brainstorm now putting 2 bad cards back and then cast my last Visions and Brainstorm. I go through roughly 15 total cards and can’t find 1 Swords to Plowshares.
SB: See Round 1
Game Two: Ron draws the uber nuts. Ghostly Prison followed by Trinisphere, Magus of the Tabernacle and then Crucible, Smokestack. I wait a few turns before Ron asks me politely if I wanted to scoop. I told him to show me his hand. He a chalice and some other goodies and I proceed to enter the scoop phase.
Games: 4-2
Matches: 2-1
Since its 6 rounds then Top 8 I can only afford one lost which just happened so more than likely I’m going to have to win out to make it.
-Round 4: Tim playing Affinity with Shrapnel Blast Maindeck
I hate Affinity. The deck goes super fast. Their creatures get very big. It’s just not a fun match up for me.
Game One: He leads with a Disciple which I FOW. I drop a Mother of Runes which eventually dies blocking a Frogmite. Enforcers soon drop afterwards and I’m screwed.
SB: Out: 3 Sword of Fire and Ice, 3 Mother of Runes
In: 2 Disenchant, 1 Kataki, 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Engineered Explosive
Game Two: He mulls to 6, I mull to 6 and I face a crisis. I have a great hand with Daze, Swords, Disenchant, KATAKI, and Brainstorm… problem is the only land I have is the wasteland… grrr… I ponder it over a few times then I yell over to Pat and he tells me to just keep it. I lead with Wasteland which gets Needled the following turn. I get Kataki down after the 3rd turn bought me my second land. He has no answers and scoops.
Game Three: He’s stuck with a bunch of land and then I drop a Mage naming Enforcer then another naming Ravager. Negator joins the party next turn and takes the game.
Games: 6-3
Matches: 3-1
Random side notes: I have playing against Affinity with this deck it’s just not a good match up… also another quick and maybe the funniest thing that happened today. In the match right next to me Mr. Goblin Snowman was playing against Derek Estelle when Derek finally got rid of Goblin Snowman’s Masticore by blocking with basically everything he had. Goblin Snowman still had an FTK out when Derek out of the blue said: “savage top decks for the win” he tapped a white and attempted to play Swords to Plowshares on the FTK only to be reminded that there was a Chalice for 1 out in play. Derek then scooped his cards… part of me is saying that if it wasn’t for Derek’s idiotic misplay… I might have lost my match because my opponent Tim laughed was laughing throughout our match and may have lost some of his composure.
-Round 5: Paul playing Erayo Affinity
I’ve never seen or played against Paul before. He says that is his first time playing Legacy. I guess beginners luck does exist for some players.
Game One: He plays a couple Ancient Tombs and I have no idea what he’s playing. He eventually cast an Enforcer which gets plowed. He doesn’t have a lot of artifacts and a Negator with a Sword of Fire and Ice go all the way.
SB: See Round 4
Game Two: I’m still kind of baffled to what he is playing. Since it looks like some sort of Affinity build I side in like I would normally side in against Affinity. He drops an early Enforcer with gets killed. I Mage a Ravager and eventually beat him with my killer army of Meddling Mage and Negator.
Games: 8-3
Matches: 4-1
Random Note: I saw Erayo come down once during our match. I asked him if he flipped Erayo during the day and he said he’s done it 3 times. That might explain why he’ at table 4 with me.
Standing go up for the final round and I’m sitting in 6th place and I’m paired up against the person who is 4th.
Round 6: I absolutely forgot his name but he played Spring Tide.
We take the ID and are in the top 8
Games: 8-3-1
Matches: 4-1-1
After the round is over the top 8 looks like this:
2 Goblin Decks (one with a white splash, one with a green splash)
2 UWB Fish decks
1 Spring Tide
1 RGSA
1 43 Land Deck
1 Angel Stax with Armageddon
I finish 6th overall and I’m paired up against RGSA in the top 8.
-Top 8: Aaron playing RGSA
I’m pretty sure that Aaron was the only person playing Survival throughout the whole day, and he also finished with a 4-0-2 through swiss.
Another real quick random note: The last 10 times I’ve played against a Survival based deck in a tournament I’m 0-9-1… seriously I have no idea what it is about playing against Survival… I just can’t seem to get over the hump. Maybe today will be the day.
Game One: Aaron gets a Troll out and starts pounding me. I have no answers to one single Troll and it goes all the way. Boo.
SB: Out 4 Dark Confidant, 2 Negator
In: 2 Exalted Angel, 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Tormod’s Crypt
Game Two: I open with a Mage naming Tsunami, which I saw earlier during one of his matches. I then play Mom and I’m in good shape until Aaron plays a Baloth and a Jitte and then swings in. Aaron decides to kill the Mage with both counters which eventually cost him the match because Mom loses her sickness and can block everything that comes my way. I eventually get another Mom in play along with a Mage naming Burning Wish. Sword of Fire and Ice comes into play and it proves to be too much for Aaron.
Game Three: I have to mull to 6 and I keep a hand with 3 land, and Angel, Daze, and Brainstorm. Aaron plays a first turn Birds and passes the turn. I draw into another land which makes me satisfied because now I can drop the Angel on turn 3 and will be morphed on turn 4. On Aarons next turn he drops a Survival and since Daze is no good I Brainstorm in response and can’t find the Force. Survival eventually nets him Squee, Anger, and a few Trolls before I can get rid of the Survival. At this point I’m getting low on life and can drop the Angel but the morph creature meets Mr. FTK and Aaron swings in with everything for lethal damage.
Games: 9-5-1
Matches: 4-2-1
So I make top 8 yet again… out of the 4 big tournaments at the Den, I placed Top 4 twice, 9th on lousy tie breakers and a Top 8.
The finals were Spring Tide Vs the other WUB Fish deck. It was games three and WUB Fish looked like it was in pretty good shape by Vindicating 2 of Spring Tide’s lands.
47 people showed up. Other decks I saw in the field today included:
Goblins (green and white splashes)
Threshold (red and white splashes)
Rock bases decks (BGW with Baloth and Hierarch)
Enchantress
43 Land
TES
Angel Stax
Affinity
WUB Fish “Hanni Fish”
Red Death
Mono Black
Solidarity and Spring Tide
And some deck with Stuffy Doll
Some props:
-First to Jason at Monster Den for always having an excellent tournament
-Everyone who plays at Maplewood on Wednesdays (Lukatron, Pat, Alec, and hell even Melvin)
-Pat Mcgregor for playing 43 Land and taking 3rd
-All my opponents that day for being super cool
Some slops:
-The rest of the people who play at Maplewood who decided not to show up
-Survival of the Fittest
that’s it…
LT..
Monster Den Legacy Tournament Report 3/31/07
Well… I guess it’s finally time to put up a report again. I’ve had pretty good success playing Legacy tournaments at Monster Den, dating back to when The Source was operating under the old message board. The first major tournament happened sometime a few years ago when I took a really bad R/G Madness Survival Deck into the top 4 and losing a close match to Welder Survival in 3 games.
Moving forward… for the past two tournaments at the Den I’ve played the same deck and pretty much I’ve received the same results. I missed Top 8 because of crappy tie breakers (9th…) and last month I top 4’d. Even with these excellent results I found myself questioning whether or not to play the same deck. Here’s the deck list
It’s not quite Hanni Fish V. LT…
Creatures:
4 Meddling Mage
4 Dark Confidant
3 Mother of Ruins
3 Phyrexian Negator
Protection:
3 Duress
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Stifle
3 Swords to Plowshares
Draw:
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
Other Stuff:
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Engineered Explosives
Manabase:
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Wasteland
Card Choices: Questions always arise about why I’ve made some of these card choices and I’ll try my best to explain.
Maindeck Negator: Besides Goblins, there aren’t a ton of decks out there that run burn. You eventually run into a FlameTongue Kavu every now and then but by that time I’ve always had an answer to counter the damage (Mother, SOFI, FOW, etc…) that’s either the case or else you’ve pretty much baited them by having your opponent FTK either a Meddling Mage or else a Confidant, so the Negator usually closes the game for you.
Maindeck Duress: Could be in the sideboard, but I’ve always been a fan of 1st turn Duress then 2nd turn Mage. The only deck Duress is weak against is Goblins. Otherwise it combats every other deck well.
Maindeck Explosives: Some decks play Chalice. Some decks run Nimble Mongoose. And sometimes you need a board sweeper to clear everything. Explosives does more than enough for the deck. You usually set it at 1 or 2 then proceed to blow the board away. Most of the time the lone copy is enough to get rid of a major threat before you start to swing momentum back in your direction.
SOFI over Jitte: Both are very strong against the most common deck in the format (Goblins…) but SOFI just seemed to fit the deck better. It works excellent with a Negator and maybe most importantly it turns your Mages and Confidants into 4/4’s and 4/3’s which makes them a lot harder to kill. Also more decks run main deck Jitte’s so chances are you’ll be gaining life from Jitte counters more than removing them to kill creatures or making your guys bigger.
Wasteland Argument: In a format dominated with non basic lands, Wasteland was just too good to leave out. I’d rather have Wasteland in the deck instead of settling for a few cantrips which was the likely choice in this slot. (Examples will occur during tournament report)
Sideboard Options: My typical sideboard goes as follows.
3 Engineered Plague (Goblins)
2 Hydroblast (Goblins and random burn/Rifter decks when they decide to show up)
2 Tormod’s Crypt (Threshold, Decks that need graveyard stuff)
2 Disenchant (Affinity, and Misc…)
2 Pithing Needle (everything…)
4 Open slots… Open slots are usually filled with metagame choices. Last month I ran Old Man from the Sea because at 2AM in the morning, your mindset isn’t all there. I was like “man… and Old Man with a Sword of Fire and Ice would be savage”
For the tournament here’s the side I ran:
3 Engineered Plague
2 Hydroblast
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Disenchant
2 Pithing Needle
1 Kataki War’s Wage
1 Engineered Explosive
2 Exalted Angel
I’ve been running a single copy of Kataki because of the random Affinity decks that like to show up once in a while. With the recent success of TES on the rise an extra copy of Explosives was a given, and I have no idea how Exalted Angel made the cut. Flipping it to a Confidant is a major “no” but I figured for the matches that I’d be siding the Angels in… I’d be siding the Confidants out.
Enough about the deck… on to the report…
I had been up till about 2AM gold fishing a few decks that I wanted to play for Saturday. I had Red Threshold, Goblins with white, Tog, TES, and my fish build all set to go. I ultimately concluded that I was either going to run Red Thresh or else Fish before I went to bed.
I left the apartment around noon since the tournament didn’t start till about 1pm. I got to the Den in a timely manner and when I arrived I had a whole bunch of goodness for people. I lent out a total of 57298357828 cards to 3 people and only got a few back before the end of the day. After lending cards out I sat down with Luke and we played a few games. I pulled out Red Thresh and played against his stupid 3 color zoo deck and we played a few splitting about 50/50. I then played a game against Will who decided that he’d pick up TES for the first time and play it at a big tournament, and lastly before the tournament started Michael Bearmon decided he wanted a head start on his day so he sat down and kicked my butt with his Goblin deck before pairings went up. Just a quick side note: Michael Bearmon has won/split the last 2 big Legacy tournaments with White Goblins. I’ve played him twice and I’ve lost every game miserably against him as well. Right before Bearmon ringleaders up double piledriver pairings go up. I wish him luck and tell him I’ll see him in the top 8.
-Round 1: Pat playing Angel Stax with Armageddon
Pat called me yesterday telling me that he was going to play Stax and needed to borrow cards from me the next day. So I do what a good friend does and I lend him the cards. Pat’s a good buddy and it sucks that we have to play against each other, but at least it’s only the first round.
Game One: It’s not even close. Pat doesn’t draw anything. I play a Mage naming Ghostly Prison and the Mage and a Mother of Ruins go all the way.
SB: Out: 3 Mother of Ruins, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
In: 1 Kataki, 2 Disenchant, 1 Engineered Explosive
Game Two: Pat gets a Crucible Dazed and sees a Negator and says that Negator is sideboard “tech.” I proceed to tell him that its maindeck which makes him frown a little. Negator takes the game a few turns later.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0
Random Quick Note: During our match someone to the right of me just casted Cranial Extraction for Stuffy Doll. The person playing Stuffy Doll proceeds to cry and then scoops his cards.
-Round 2: Alec playing Red Death
Alec’s on that one team ICBE… and apparently they’ve been talking a bunch of smack about how they would dominate this tournament. Regardless Alec is actually a good guy.
Game One: Alec gets an early Rotting Giant out and beats for a few turns. I’m sitting back with a Negator in hand and the following is out in play on his side. Rotting Giant, 1 Bloodstained Mire, 2 Swamps and a Badlands. Knowing that Negator is almost a bad play at this point of the game my next draw is Wasteland. At this point I play the Wasteland then target his Badlands. He attempts to use his Mire which gets Stifled and then proceeds to miss his land drop next turn. I drop the Negator during my next turn and 3 turns later he scoops.
SB: Out: 3 Negator, 2 Dark Confidant… In: 2 Hydroblast, 2 Exalted Angel, 1 Engineered Explosives
Game Two: We both mull. He goes to 6 and keeps and I go down to 5 and keep an optical hand with Daze, Angel, and 3 lands. Alec drops an early Negator and I eventually find a Swords for it. I drop the Angel down hoping to draw another land so I can morph her up and one turn later the land comes and I’m swinging for 4.
Games: 4-0
Matches: 2-0
-Round 3: Ron playing Angel Stax with Armageddon
So what are the chances of playing the only two Stax decks that were in the field? Since I beat Pat I was pretty sure I could beat Ron because the decks looked very similar. Ron randomly says; “Threshold” and I reply “you mean him” pointing over to Justin who had been sitting next to me the past round. Regardless we shuffle up and play.
Game One: I get out an early Confidant and Mother of Runes. He gets a Windborn Muse as well as Chalice for 1. He drops Armageddon and the game looks pretty dim for me. With life dwindling away I draw the lone Explosive. Cast it for 0 then blow up the Chalice. Fucking Chalice for 1… my hand consisted of 3 Serum Visions, 2 Brainstorms, 1 FOW and 1 Meddling Mage. All I have to do now is find that damn Swords to Plowshares. I’m at 3 when I can start to dig. I draw a fetchland and proceed to dig. Visions one is a blank and the scrye is too. Visions 2 is a blank as well and the scry sucked even more than the first one. I proceed to Brainstorm now putting 2 bad cards back and then cast my last Visions and Brainstorm. I go through roughly 15 total cards and can’t find 1 Swords to Plowshares.
SB: See Round 1
Game Two: Ron draws the uber nuts. Ghostly Prison followed by Trinisphere, Magus of the Tabernacle and then Crucible, Smokestack. I wait a few turns before Ron asks me politely if I wanted to scoop. I told him to show me his hand. He a chalice and some other goodies and I proceed to enter the scoop phase.
Games: 4-2
Matches: 2-1
Since its 6 rounds then Top 8 I can only afford one lost which just happened so more than likely I’m going to have to win out to make it.
-Round 4: Tim playing Affinity with Shrapnel Blast Maindeck
I hate Affinity. The deck goes super fast. Their creatures get very big. It’s just not a fun match up for me.
Game One: He leads with a Disciple which I FOW. I drop a Mother of Runes which eventually dies blocking a Frogmite. Enforcers soon drop afterwards and I’m screwed.
SB: Out: 3 Sword of Fire and Ice, 3 Mother of Runes
In: 2 Disenchant, 1 Kataki, 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Engineered Explosive
Game Two: He mulls to 6, I mull to 6 and I face a crisis. I have a great hand with Daze, Swords, Disenchant, KATAKI, and Brainstorm… problem is the only land I have is the wasteland… grrr… I ponder it over a few times then I yell over to Pat and he tells me to just keep it. I lead with Wasteland which gets Needled the following turn. I get Kataki down after the 3rd turn bought me my second land. He has no answers and scoops.
Game Three: He’s stuck with a bunch of land and then I drop a Mage naming Enforcer then another naming Ravager. Negator joins the party next turn and takes the game.
Games: 6-3
Matches: 3-1
Random side notes: I have playing against Affinity with this deck it’s just not a good match up… also another quick and maybe the funniest thing that happened today. In the match right next to me Mr. Goblin Snowman was playing against Derek Estelle when Derek finally got rid of Goblin Snowman’s Masticore by blocking with basically everything he had. Goblin Snowman still had an FTK out when Derek out of the blue said: “savage top decks for the win” he tapped a white and attempted to play Swords to Plowshares on the FTK only to be reminded that there was a Chalice for 1 out in play. Derek then scooped his cards… part of me is saying that if it wasn’t for Derek’s idiotic misplay… I might have lost my match because my opponent Tim laughed was laughing throughout our match and may have lost some of his composure.
-Round 5: Paul playing Erayo Affinity
I’ve never seen or played against Paul before. He says that is his first time playing Legacy. I guess beginners luck does exist for some players.
Game One: He plays a couple Ancient Tombs and I have no idea what he’s playing. He eventually cast an Enforcer which gets plowed. He doesn’t have a lot of artifacts and a Negator with a Sword of Fire and Ice go all the way.
SB: See Round 4
Game Two: I’m still kind of baffled to what he is playing. Since it looks like some sort of Affinity build I side in like I would normally side in against Affinity. He drops an early Enforcer with gets killed. I Mage a Ravager and eventually beat him with my killer army of Meddling Mage and Negator.
Games: 8-3
Matches: 4-1
Random Note: I saw Erayo come down once during our match. I asked him if he flipped Erayo during the day and he said he’s done it 3 times. That might explain why he’ at table 4 with me.
Standing go up for the final round and I’m sitting in 6th place and I’m paired up against the person who is 4th.
Round 6: I absolutely forgot his name but he played Spring Tide.
We take the ID and are in the top 8
Games: 8-3-1
Matches: 4-1-1
After the round is over the top 8 looks like this:
2 Goblin Decks (one with a white splash, one with a green splash)
2 UWB Fish decks
1 Spring Tide
1 RGSA
1 43 Land Deck
1 Angel Stax with Armageddon
I finish 6th overall and I’m paired up against RGSA in the top 8.
-Top 8: Aaron playing RGSA
I’m pretty sure that Aaron was the only person playing Survival throughout the whole day, and he also finished with a 4-0-2 through swiss.
Another real quick random note: The last 10 times I’ve played against a Survival based deck in a tournament I’m 0-9-1… seriously I have no idea what it is about playing against Survival… I just can’t seem to get over the hump. Maybe today will be the day.
Game One: Aaron gets a Troll out and starts pounding me. I have no answers to one single Troll and it goes all the way. Boo.
SB: Out 4 Dark Confidant, 2 Negator
In: 2 Exalted Angel, 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Tormod’s Crypt
Game Two: I open with a Mage naming Tsunami, which I saw earlier during one of his matches. I then play Mom and I’m in good shape until Aaron plays a Baloth and a Jitte and then swings in. Aaron decides to kill the Mage with both counters which eventually cost him the match because Mom loses her sickness and can block everything that comes my way. I eventually get another Mom in play along with a Mage naming Burning Wish. Sword of Fire and Ice comes into play and it proves to be too much for Aaron.
Game Three: I have to mull to 6 and I keep a hand with 3 land, and Angel, Daze, and Brainstorm. Aaron plays a first turn Birds and passes the turn. I draw into another land which makes me satisfied because now I can drop the Angel on turn 3 and will be morphed on turn 4. On Aarons next turn he drops a Survival and since Daze is no good I Brainstorm in response and can’t find the Force. Survival eventually nets him Squee, Anger, and a few Trolls before I can get rid of the Survival. At this point I’m getting low on life and can drop the Angel but the morph creature meets Mr. FTK and Aaron swings in with everything for lethal damage.
Games: 9-5-1
Matches: 4-2-1
So I make top 8 yet again… out of the 4 big tournaments at the Den, I placed Top 4 twice, 9th on lousy tie breakers and a Top 8.
The finals were Spring Tide Vs the other WUB Fish deck. It was games three and WUB Fish looked like it was in pretty good shape by Vindicating 2 of Spring Tide’s lands.
47 people showed up. Other decks I saw in the field today included:
Goblins (green and white splashes)
Threshold (red and white splashes)
Rock bases decks (BGW with Baloth and Hierarch)
Enchantress
43 Land
TES
Angel Stax
Affinity
WUB Fish “Hanni Fish”
Red Death
Mono Black
Solidarity and Spring Tide
And some deck with Stuffy Doll
Some props:
-First to Jason at Monster Den for always having an excellent tournament
-Everyone who plays at Maplewood on Wednesdays (Lukatron, Pat, Alec, and hell even Melvin)
-Pat Mcgregor for playing 43 Land and taking 3rd
-All my opponents that day for being super cool
Some slops:
-The rest of the people who play at Maplewood who decided not to show up
-Survival of the Fittest
that’s it…
LT..