2-Man Tournaments

[Tacosnape]

The following is a concept that a couple of other people and myself have dreamed up. It's by no means meant to indicate anything major about the state of Legacy and thus shouldn't be taken incredibly seriously.

What we're going to do is take 64 Legacy decks and put them in a massive, completely randomly generated single-elimination tournament bracket. Then we're going to play out all the matches, assigning the best player of any given deck amongst our group to pilot that deck. Then we'll post the results either in this thread or in a Tournament report (Mods, help me out here. Which would be more appropriate for this sort of thing?)

What you get to do is first help us suggest decks. We have a list of 64, but this won't be the only time we do this, and if a deck has been completely overlooked, we'll insert it in for another less likely deck.

We're also going to give you a chance to post your Bracket predictions! Pick your winners for incredible bragging rights. Remember, this is all supposed to be fun.

Anyway, the current brackets are as stands (Bracket layout courtesy of Freakish777 and his awesome self):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/201/501240960_89a0421237_o.png

[noobslayer]

No Rg sligh? That actually sees play, where as some on that list don't at all.

[Di]

EATS vs. Contract Tendrils

What is this bullshit? Tendrils round 1? You guys are sideboarding right? If so, I should win. :)

At least it's up against a bad Tendrils deck.

[Xero]

4C Landstill vs. Countersliver
4C Landstill

Truffle Shuffle vs. Red Death
Red Death

UR Landstill vs. Ichorid
Ichorid

Nostalgic Loam Control vs. Twilight
Loam Control

Duck Hunt vs. Trinket Angels
Duck Hunt

AfFOWnity vs. RW Goblins
Goblins

Anusien-Clasm vs. Junk Pile
Junk Pile

EATS vs. Contract Tendrils
Contract Tendrils

Brand Fish vs. Eternal Garden
Is there a way for them both to loose? If not, Eternal Garden.

Pox vs. Angel Stax
Pox

Zilla Stompy 2k6 vs. Aluren
Aluren

Boros Deck Wins vs. UGW Threshold
Boros

Death and Taxes vs. 2-Land Belcher
Death and Taxes

White Weenie vs. IGGy Pop
Iggy Pop

5/3 vs. Mono-R Goblins
Goblins

Orlove Reanimator vs. Uber Madness
Uber Madness

Affinity vs. Mono Black Control
Affinity

UGW Gro vs. Enchantress
Gro

GK Salvagers vs. Spring Tide
Salvagers

UGR Threshold vs. UBW Fish
Fish

The Epic Storm vs. 4C Zoo
TES

Sun Tower vs. RGBSA
RGBSA

Dragon Stompy vs. Deadguy Ale
Dragon stompy

Crazed Army vs. Molotov Cocktail
Cocktail

Faerie Stompy vs. Scepter Chant
Chant

UG Madness vs. Rifter
Rifter

RB Goblins vs. Mono Blue Control
Goblins

Terrageddon vs. Secret Force
Terrageddon.

Angel Stompy vs. 43 Land
43

Solidarity vs. Devastating Loam Control
Solidarity

RG Goblins vs. Psychatog
RG Goblins
Burn vs. Rabid Wombat
Wombat

[Tacosnape]

What is this bullshit? Tendrils round 1? You guys are sideboarding right? If so, I should win. :)

At least it's up against a bad Tendrils deck.

We're sideboarding, yes. Hell, I empathize. One of my two pet decks got paired against Deadguy Ale in round 1.:mad:


No Rg sligh? That actually sees play, where as some on that list don't at all.

We were assuming Zilla Stompy 2k6 would fill that role. If there's a list that's significantly different and arguably as good, link me.



Brand Fish vs. Eternal Garden
Is there a way for them both to loose? If not, Eternal Garden.


Rofl. Agreed. It's the best matchup since the Full English Breakfast mirror. I can't wait for this one. I think I'm set to be the Brand Fish pilot, so maybe I can skill my way through somehow.

[Caboose]

Xero, can I paypal you for some of that crack you're smoking? Death and Taxes is a pile of shit, and loses to everything. And there is literally no way in hell it can beat Belcher. NO FUCKING WAY. :mad:

[Giles]

Can you arange the decks in a bracket? So we can predict the outcome.

[Xero]

Xero, can I paypal you for some of that crack you're smoking? Death and Taxes is a pile of shit, and loses to everything. And there is literally no way in hell it can beat Belcher. NO FUCKING WAY.

Belcher losses to a goldfish like 30% of the time via Spoils. I suspected your hatred of Death and Taxes comes from your irrational dislike of its maker. Did Finn kill your father or something?

[Tacosnape]

The way they're listed is the form they're in in the Bracket. As in, 4C Landstill was slot #1, Wombat is slot #64.

But I'll edit the list to make it seem more bracketish.

Here's my picks, for the record (These are my picks only, not the actual results):

BRACKET A:
4c Landstill over Countersliver
Truffle Shuffle over Red Death
Ichorid over UR Landstill
Twilight over Nostalgic Loam
4c Landstill over Truffle Shuffle
Twilight over Ichorid
Twilight over 4C Landstill (I'm allowed to overhype my own deck.:tongue:)

BRACKET B:
Trinket Angels over Duck Hunt
RW Goblins over AfFOWnity
Junk Pile over Anusien-Clasm
EATS over Contract Tendrils
Trinket Angels over RW Goblins
EATS over Junk Pile
Trinket Angels over EATS

BRACKET C:
Brand Fish over Eternal Garden (Just because I'm piloting it.)
Angel Stax over Pox
Aluren over Zilla Stompy
UGW Threshold over Boros Deck Wins
Brand Fish over Angel Stax
UGW Threshold over Aluren
UGW Threshold over Brand Fish

BRACKET D:
2-Land Belcher over Death and Taxes
IGGy Pop over White Weenie
Mono-R Goblins over 5/3
Orlove Reanimator over Uber Madness
IGGy Pop over 2-Land Belcher
Orlove Reanimator over Mono-R Goblins
IGGy Pop over Orlove Reanimator

BRACKET E:
Affinity over MBC
Enchantress over UGW Gro
GK Salvagers over Spring Tide
UBW Fish over UGR Threshold
Enchantress over Affinity
UBW Fish over GK Salvagers
UBW Fish over Enchantress

BRACKET F:
Epic Storm over 4C Zoo
RGBSA over Sun Tower
Dragon Stompy over Deadguy Ale
Molotov Cocktail over Crazed Army
RGBSA over Epic Storm
Molotov Cocktail over Dragon Stompy
RGBSA over Molotov Cocktail

BRACKET G:
Faerie Stompy over Scepter Chant
Rifter over UG Madness
RB Goblins over MUC
Terrageddon over Secret Force
Rifter over Faerie Stompy
Terrageddon over RB Goblins
Terrageddon over Rifter

BRACKET H:
Angel Stompy over 43 Land
Solidarity over Devastating Loam
RG Goblins over Psychatog
Rabid Wombat over Burn
Solidarity over Angel Stompy
Rabid Wombat over RG Goblins
Solidarity over Rabid Wombat

TOP EIGHT:
Twilight over Trinket Angels
UGW Threshold over IGGy Pop
RGBSA over UBW Fish
Solidarity over Terrageddon

UGW Threshold over Twilight
Solidarity over RGBSA

UGW Threshold over Solidarity (I can't believe I'm picking Threshold to win it all. Boggle me.)

[Xero]

Trinket Angels over Twilight
UGW Threshold over IGGy Pop
RGBSA over UBW Fish
Solidarity over Terrageddon

UGW Threshold over Twilight
Solidarity over RGBSA

You're really pushing your deck, since you have it loosing to Trinket Angel and then Re-spawning to loose vs. Threshold. :eek:

[Caboose]

Did Finn kill your father or something?

I wish! The grief of losing a parent can subside after a while. Reading arrogant and pompous posts is something that stays with you for life :frown:

[Tacosnape]

You're really pushing your deck, since you have it loosing to Trinket Angel and then Re-spawning to loose vs. Threshold. :eek:

This has something to do with the number of Zombies I run, I'm fairly sure.

That or the fact that I make a lot of typos when sleepy. Fixed to Twilight over Trinket Angels.:tongue:

[Pinder]

-----(Bracket A)-----
4C Landstill vs. Countersliver


Dear God, and this is Single Elimination? I will be very surprised if Countersliver can pull this one out. You sure these were random o_O?

Either way, sounds like a fun idea.

[Tacosnape]

Dear God, and this is Single Elimination? I will be very surprised if Countersliver can pull this one out. You sure these were random o_O?

Either way, sounds like a fun idea.

Random as they come. The possibility of a Landstill Mirror at some point in bracket A makes my head explode. I hope I don't have to play that out.

Single Elimination makes it much more random as to what deck can sneak in and win.:tongue: Plus it would take us for-freaking-ever to play out all the matches in a 64-deck Swiss. Like, months.

Sucks to watch your pet deck get a horrible matchup right off, but you never know what can happen.:tongue:

[Eldariel]

Depending on your Rifter-list, FS should actually be the candidate to win there, at least according to the old testing done against the old Rifter-lists. I guess it just depends on whether you pack StP/Wing Shards/Wrath/Vengeance (which would be hard for FS to deal with) or StP/some red sweepers/Vengeance (which would be easy for FS to deal with).

On another note, enjoy playing out group 1 with bazillion control-decks. Just hope you don't have to play out ALL the mirrors. Oh, and funny to see WW get paired up against Iggy Pop round 1. And Solidarity in a group with literally no decks that can interact with it outside Psychatog. Really looking forward to Orlove Reanimator vs Übermadness though :P Sounds like a VERY wacky MU.

[Nihil Credo]

My round 1 predictions:

BRACKET A
4C Landstill wins vs. CounterSliver
Truffle Shuffle wins vs. Red Death, unless Anwar pilots RD
UR Landstill loses vs. Ichorid
Nostalgic Loam Control wins vs. Twilight (Twilight is the Survival/Infestation deck, right?)

BRACKET B
Duck Hunt wins vs. Trinket Angels
AfFOWnity loses vs. RW Goblins
Anusien Clasm loses vs. Junk Pile
Goldfish wins vs. Contract Tendrils

BRACKET C
Brand fish loses vs. Eternal Garden
Pox loses vs. Angel Stax
Zilla Stompy 2k6 loses vs. Aluren
Boros Deck Wins wins vs. UGW Threshold, unless Thresh runs Counterbalance

BRACKET D
Death and Taxes loses vs. 2-Land Belcher
White Weenie loses vs. IGGy Pop
5/3 loses vs. Mono-R Goblins
Orlove Reanimator wins vs. Uber Madness

BRACKET E
Affinity wins vs. Mono Black Control (sad but true)
UGW Gro loses vs. Enchantress
GK Salvagers loses vs. Spring Tide
UGR Threshold loses vs. UBW Fish

BRACKET F
The Epic Storm wins vs. 4c Zoo
Sun Tower wins vs. RGBSA
Dragon Stompy loses vs. Deadguy Ale
Crazed Army vs. Molotov Cocktail - can't remember what Molotov Cocktail is, too lazy to look

BRACKET G
Faerie Stompy loses vs. Scepter Chant
UG Madness wins vs. Rifter
RB Goblins wins vs. Mono Blue Control
Terrageddon wins vs. Secret Force

BRACKET H
Angel Stompy wins vs. 43 Land
Solidarity wins vs. Devastating Loam Control
RG Goblins wins vs. Psychatog
Burn vs. Rabid Wombat depends 100% on SB choices

[kicks_422]

I second the suggestion of noobslayer to put Rg Sligh somewhere in the bracket... Zilla Stompy is mid-range aggro, while Rg Sligh is quicker and has more focus on burn.

[Eldariel]

Meh, I'll give the predictions a shot too:

-----(Bracket A)-----
4C Landstill over Countersliver, since CS isn't particularly strong against sweepers
Red Death over Truffle Shuffle, since Truffle Shuffle has issues with LD-strategies coupled with lots of big creatures fast.
Ichorid over UR Landstill, since Ichorid is specifically built to beat up on control and Landstill makes for a poor racing deck as has been seen many times.
Nostalgic Loam Control over Twilight, since I think Twilight isn't fast enough to put Loam away quickly and Loam's long game should be strong enough to handle Twilight. Depends a lot on exactly what kind of a 'Nostalgic Loam Control' we're talking about though.


-----(Bracket B)-----
Duck Hunt over Trinket Angels, since Trinket Angels again doesn't seem like a deck that is especially fast, nor one with an especially strong long game. Few Trinketables like Pithing Needle might make for interesting games though, but ultimately I think, Landstill has the advantage here (not the least because they can easily cast a Standstill on an empty board here).
RW Goblins over AfFoWnity, since the one poor MU AfFoWnity's additions don't fix is Goblins. Granted, RW makes it a LOT more fair, but the fact that AfFoWnity sacrifices the random wins for better MUs overall makes it seem slightly in Goblin's favour, more so than with normal Affinity (especially if multiple Tinkerers are involved).
Junk Pile over Anusien-Clasm, Anusien-Clasm is built to beat the most common decks and not much else. Big creatures is bad news for deck relying on MD Clasm for removal, and Clasm has no land disruption to speak of to capitalize on Junk Pile's...well, Junkiness.
Contract Tendrils over EATS, since EATS isn't exactly the best deck to take up against combo. Still, Contract Tendrils has a non-trivial chance of fizzling out especially if going off too early. But that doesn't seem like enough reason to assume it could lose to a near-goldfish.


-----(Bracket C)-----
Eternal Garden over Brand Fish, since Brand Fish is essentially a sort of combo-deck and Eternal Garden can just focus on taking out the few actually good cards in the deck and locking Brand Fish out. Tabernacle is also awesome here.
Angel Stax over Pox, since Angel Stax tends to set up its lock faster than Pox can really start working its mojo. Doesn't help that Pox doesn't really have ways to handle all the involved artifacts and doesn't especially like opposing Crucibles either. Also, high landcount, lands tapping for 2 and Mox Diamond make LD overall very unreliable against Angel Stax.
Aluren over Zilla Stompy 2k6, since Aluren still has the Walls to deal with aggro, and it's the combo-deck so it should be somewhat faster too. Much depends on the Aluren-build, obviously.
UGW Threshold over Boros Deck Wins, since as long as Boros doesn't resolve Jotun Grunts, its creatures can really handle all the threats Boros can throw at it and it should be able to stabilize before Boros can burn it out.


-----(Bracket D)-----
2-Land Belcher over Death and Taxes, since if Belcher manages to not kill itself, it should still be slightly faster than D&T's disruption. Also, most of D&T's disruption is rather trivial here, Belcher only needs to race Glowriders and Mangaras. Also, the fact that Spirit Guides are immune to Glowriders helps, as well as the fact that Belcher can knock out Believers. Should be close, but I think the combo-deck has the slight edge.
IGGy Pop over WW, since WW is WW and IGGy Pop is combo. Again, 'WW' is pretty generic, so it'll depend on the build, but against 99% of WW-builds, IGGy is going to win.
Mono-R Goblins over 5/3, since I assume you're using the 4-Tinkerer build which can be brutal here. 5/3 certainly isn't dead in water, but it needs to win the roll and get some really broken early plays to win this.
Übermadness over Orlove Reanimator, games will be close and based largely on if, and how early, Reanimator can plop out an Akroma/Nishoba and how explosive Übermadness's draw is. I think that the fact that Orlove Reanimator plays lots of stuff like Duress and Cabal Therapy that's unlikely to do anything here gives Übermadness the advantage though.


-----(Bracket E)-----
Affinity over Mono Black Control, since I think Affinity is a tad too fast and MBC doesn't really have the ways to stop Fling to the face.
UGW Gro over Enchantress, since Enchantress doesn't enjoy having the Enchantress-effects countered. Still, the enchantments will likely be a bitch for Gro to deal with. Meddling Mage is strong if it'll be present.
Spring Tide over GK Salvagers, since both are combo-decks with disruption, but out of the two, Spring Tide is faster. Also, Snap can play a number on GK trying to win (by for example, stranding LED on the Stack or such).
UBW Fish over UGR Threshold, since Fish has MD Grunts and counters to back them up. UGr also doesn't have a single card to kill it with, so it'll likely be detrimental to the outcome of the match. Confidant seems strong too, but UGr's Burn might make that a bit risky. If Counterbalance-board is present, this MU will probably be thrown around though.


-----(Bracket F)-----
The Epic Storm over 4C Zoo, since 4C Zoo, while potent, doesn't really seem to feature enough disruption to deal with a robust combo-deck.
RGBSA over Sun Tower, since RGBSA is rather aggressive and should have enough tools to push lethal through before Sun Tower can truly stabilize against the Survival-engine and take out RGBSA's manabase (the true key to this MU). Much will come down to Survival appearing, obviously.
Dragon Stompy over Deadguy Ale, since Deadguy has huge issues dealing with even a single large creature and Dragonstompy is packed with ways to deliver them fast. Might be a tad more difficult than with FS due to the fact that Dragon Stompy lacks evasion and that its threats tend to cost 4 or more, making LD more realistic a plan. Close, but I think Dragon Stompy is the slight favourite.
Molotov Cocktail over Crazed Army, since I think Crazed Army's mana denial isn't quite enough to stop Molotov Cocktail and once Molotov Cocktail gets going, it'll have answer to every question, Crazed Army poses. Aether Vial is a non-trivial factor here as Vindicates will probably be busy with Survivals leaving Vial to give Molotov the mana advantage to smash Crazed Army.


-----(Bracket G)-----
Faerie Stompy over Scepter Chant, since both, Chalice and Needle stop Chant's main strategy so there should be enough factors to prevent FS from getting locked out and Chant doesn't seem to play enough removal to cope with all the threats FS can pose.
UG Madness over Rifter, since the classic Pyroclasm-build isn't very good against big creatures, Rift is never resolving and it just looks like the combination of mana denial, solid counters and big creatures should be more than enough to pull Madness through.
RB Goblins over Mono Blue Control, since that's the reason it isn't considered very competitive in the first place. RB Goblins have some discard instead of artifact removal, but that shouldn't be big enough a handicap for Goblins to lose.
Terrageddon over Secret Force, since Terrageddon's sweepers hit Secret Force where it hurts the worst, the manabase. Also, classic Secret Force-builds will have issues with Confinement pre-board. Will be close still though, as Terrageddon's removal doesn't kill the mana creatures in Secret Force. Secret Force has nothing to handle a 15/15 Terravore though.


-----(Bracket H)-----
43 Land over Angel Stompy, since Angel Stompy isn't exactly strong against multiple Maze of Iths, blockers and the Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Cataclysm-build might give 43 Lands some fits, but Exploration/Manabond make for fast recovery. Post-board, Crypt of course helps Angel Stompy, but I don't think it'll be enough thanks to 'cycle in response' saving Life.
Solidarity over Devastating Loam Control, since we're talking about Solidarity going against control, and non-blue control at that. I don't see anything unclear about this MU, Remanding/Forcing Devastating Dreams is all Solidarity needs to do and even losing 2 lands isn't a big problem, it'll just delay the win a bit.
RG Goblins over Psychatog, since unless we're talking about extreme hate-variant, 'Tog won't just have enough tools to handle Goblins and Krosan Grip gives RG some ways to deal with counter-protected Plagues post-board even.
Rabid Wombat over Burn, since Rabid Wombat's cantrip damage prevention, Rune of Protection: Red and Renewed Faiths mean that Burn will probably run out of gas before Rabid Wombat runs out of life.

[Finn]

Also, most of D&T's disruption is rather trivial here, Belcher only needs to race Glowriders and Mangaras.

You forgot about Sphere of Resistence. If that comes out, Belcher can't even play a single card in the entire deck except the 2 lands and the 4 guides.

[Eldariel]

You forgot about Sphere of Resistence. If that comes out, Belcher can't even play a single card in the entire deck except the 2 lands and the 4 guides.

Yea, if it comes out T1. It'll help a lot post-board, but I'm still iffy about D&T being able to take 2 games post-board. I also imagine they'll be using an 8-Spirit Guide-version (that's what I assumed when writing that anyways), which would be much better against all the taxing effects.

[Pinder]

Random as they come. The possibility of a Landstill Mirror at some point in bracket A makes my head explode. I hope I don't have to play that out.


Just be glad there's no sliver mirror. You think the Landstill mirror is bad?



Single Elimination makes it much more random as to what deck can sneak in and win.:tongue: Plus it would take us for-freaking-ever to play out all the matches in a 64-deck Swiss. Like, months.

Sucks to watch your pet deck get a horrible matchup right off, but you never know what can happen.:tongue:

I realize this, and I was just complaining about our horrible luck. None of it is your fault. And it's 4c, too, which is the one we really can't beat (I hate Deed). Couldn't we have gotten Goblins for at least one round?

[Tacosnape]

At the requests of the masses, RG Sligh has replaced, selected at random from a group of eight lesser-played decks, Secret Force. (I'm still betting on Terrageddon though.)

We're going to start some of the round one matches today.

[troopatroop]

Belcher losses to a goldfish like 30% of the time via Spoils. I suspected your hatred of Death and Taxes comes from your irrational dislike of its maker. Did Finn kill your father or something?

30% huh? Show me the math on that one. I'm interested. I was under the impression is was below 10%.

[Xero]

That was sarcasm.

[troopatroop]

That was sarcasm.

Fair enough.

[Tacosnape]

Posting Round One results as they're finished. I'll include little notes about the matches once we're done for the day (I think we're quitting at 8, though we may get bold and try for 12 or 16. Depends on what our playing group wants to do.)

[AnwarA101]

What is this bullshit? Tendrils round 1? You guys are sideboarding right? If so, I should win. :)

At least it's up against a bad Tendrils deck.

Diablos you are welcome to lie to yourself, but I think you know better. What are you going to win with Cabal Therapy, good luck with that.

[Di]

Game 1 is an autoloss, no doubt about that. But game 2 I have Cabal Therapy, Duress, Mesmeric Fiend, and Arcane Lab. If that's enough to put TES on tilt, then I like my odds against Contract Tendrils.

[AnwarA101]

Game 1 is an autoloss, no doubt about that. But game 2 I have Cabal Therapy, Duress, Mesmeric Fiend, and Arcane Lab. If that's enough to put TES on tilt, then I like my odds against Contract Tendrils.

You mean sort of like in game 2 against me at Kaddy's last tournament where you got down 2 Arcane Labs and an In the Eye of Chaos and I bounced the Labs and decided to go off sorcery speed all over your face (LED,LED, Infernal Tutor)!!! Sorry Diablos, but I'm enjoying this one too much. Ofcourse that was Eternal Garden, but either way you weren't playing any counterspells.

[Caboose]

You forgot about Sphere of Resistence. If that comes out, Belcher can't even play a single card in the entire deck except the 2 lands and the 4 guides.

Unlikely. Belcher wins hands down. You obviously haven't tested the deck :rolleyes:

[Di]

You mean sort of like in game 2 against me at Kaddy's last tournament where you got down 2 Arcane Labs and an In the Eye of Chaos and I bounced the Labs and decided to go off sorcery speed all over your face (LED,LED, Infernal Tutor)!!! Sorry Diablos, but I'm enjoying this one too much. Ofcourse that was Eternal Garden, but either way you weren't playing any counterspells.


You ruined my day round 4. You ruined my day.

Still, that was Iggy Pop. A viable combo deck. This is "I hope to draw something good with my draw 4" deck.

[Anusien]

Decklists?

[freakish777]

Here's a bracket I wipped up without Top 4.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/freakish777/bracketformaduptournament.jpg?t=1175725101


My predictions (to top 8, unsure if you're doing this NCAA bracket style with brackets going against the bracket across from them, or if they all should have been on one side):

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/freakish777/?action=view&current=bracketformadeuptournament2.jpg


In top 8 (assuming its AvB, CvD, EvF, GvH, ABvCD, EFvGH):

Binswanger Deck Wins (and wins and wins and wins and...) vs. N Loam Control

(seriously, how does Loam deal with Jotun Grunt??!!!)

Gardens vs. Iggy Pop

Iggy gets the nuts both games.

BW Conf vs. Enchantress

Enchantress'll pull it out in 3 games thanks to fetching for basics and untargettable creatures.

Gobs/b vs. High Tide - Reset

Cabal Therapy is soooo good!

T4!:

Binswanger DECK WINS!!! vs. Iggy Pop

FoW FTW!

Gobs/b vs. Enchantress

Black doesn't have enchantment removal, HA!


FINALS:

BINSWANGER DECK WINS! vs. Enchantress

Seriously, the deck has the word Wins in the title, how can it lose.

[Silverdragon]

I really like "tournaments" like this. Does anybody know what happened to the Battle of the Sets?
How exactly are you going to play out the matchups? Just pick up the decks and play 2-3 games regardless of manascrew and stuff?
I'd appreciate it if you could link the decklists you are using or post them here.

[Anusien]

FINALS:

BINSWANGER DECK WINS! vs. Enchantress

Seriously, the deck has the word Wins in the title, how can it lose.
I wish. Sadly, I had about 1/3 bad matchups the whole tourney, but meet one in the first round.

[freakish777]

I wish. Sadly, I had about 1/3 bad matchups the whole tourney, but meet one in the first round.

LIES! Binswanger Deck Wins has no bad match-ups!

[Tacosnape]

It's difficult to post too many Decklists at 64 decks. I'll certainly post lists for the top eight, possibly top sixteen. In the meantime, assume the decklist is either the creator's list or the one with the best tournament results. IE, Red Death is Anwar's list. Faerie Stompy is Eldariel's (Although not his most recent, as we started before the thread got updated), RG Goblins is Awesomator's Build due to his recent amazing results, ditto with Enchantress and LonelyBaritone. 4C Landstill is Trudeau's (I'll miss you, LFTL, but ruleses is ruleses.) And so forth.

Freakish, that bracket is awesome. Props.

And Silver, yes, we're just playing 2/3. Nothing sneaky. This is the way real tournaments work, and keeps the element of surprise in for an unfavored deck beating a favored deck.

Anyway, here's the results so far.

ROUND ONE RESULTS:

UR Landstill d. Ichorid, 2-1
This was a huge stunner. MWS hates Ichorid (It had five mulligans over three games) and loves to give Landstill every Phyrexian Furnace ever. The Ichorid list was Alix Hatfield's 19th Placer (Check Starcity), and UR Landstill the main one on here. It's worth noting that Ichorid never got a Pithing Needle in hand.

Junk Pile d. Anusien-Clasm, 2-0
Junk Pile wins the roll and drops out turn one Trinisphere, followed by threats galore. Both decks mull to 6 next game, and Junk Pile pulls out a close one with multiple Flametongue Kavus.

Brand Fish d. Eternal Garden, 2-1
This surprised me. I take back everything bad I ever said about Brand Fish. It's amazing when it works. Garden never seemed to get anything it needed except game 2, when I had to mull Brand Fish to 3 (Stupid MWS.) Hunted Horror clonks for the win.

Iggy Pop d. White Weenie, 2-0
All the lopsidedness you thought it would be and more. Iggy owns game 1, bounces Chalice game 2, and walks on through.

Affinity d. Mono Black Control, 2-1
Pretty standard back-and-forthing. Affinity rocks game one, gets swept too many times game 2, and then rocks game three with Pithing Needle assists.

Molotov Cocktail d. Crazed Army, 2-0
Two words. Aether Vial.

Faerie Stompy d. Scepter Chant, 2-0
Trinket Mage for Pithing Needle. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Tough keeping threats out, but not enough so.

Solidarity d. Devastating Loam Control, 2-0 Solidarity was mono-blue. The Loam Control list was that weird one that won the tournament in Japan on Starcity, with Devastating Dreams and Smallpox and the like. Not that your decklist matters a whole lot when Remand is just being Remand.

[Eldariel]

Most of those went as expected. Ichorid's loss is probably a surprise to everyone, but such are to be expected when MWS is the medium you're forced to use. Brand Fish just got lucky, when it works it's strong, but the issue is, it doesn't work often enough, at least not if I have any grasp of numbers.

[n00bas4urus_r3x]

GO JUNK PILE! :laugh:

[Tacosnape]

Most of those went as expected. Ichorid's loss is probably a surprise to everyone, but such are to be expected when MWS is the medium you're forced to use. Brand Fish just got lucky, when it works it's strong, but the issue is, it doesn't work often enough, at least not if I have any grasp of numbers.

I pretty much agree. I picked Brand Fish just because I was piloting it and know very little about Eternal Garden, but after looking more closely it can't be favored in that match. Putting it against Pox or Angel Stax will be interesting.

Ichorid's loss, unbelievable as it may be, looks good for Twilight, though (Happy Dance!) If it can make it through Nostalgic Loam (Scary prospect, but Twilight's been good against Control), UR Landstill should be a cakewalk. In my dream come true world, Twilight would face Dragon Stompy for the title.:tongue:

[Anusien]

I think this is fascinating and a lot of fun.

However, I'm also in favor of running something like this that could produce meaningful results. Maybe 16 decks, weighted with Goblins making 3 appearances, and Thresh and Tide each making 2. That leaves 9 1 ofs, and you'd obviously pick the more relevant/likely decks. Something like:

Mono-R Goblins
Mono-R Goblins
Rw Goblins
UGW Thresh
UGW Thresh
Solidarity
Solidarity/r
My deck (UWR Clasm)
Affinity (normal, not FoW)
Faerie Stompy
Aluren
Iggy
TES
Hanni Fish
Red Death
Angel Stompy

Thoughts?

[Tacosnape]

I think this is fascinating and a lot of fun.

However, I'm also in favor of running something like this that could produce meaningful results.

It could definitely be done. I think next tournament I do will (some combination of) be shrunk to 32 and have more of a metagame feel.

I do like the incredible randomness of it, though, and will likely include a small amount of completely bonkers decks in the real tournaments (Brand Fish is 1-0! Victory is only 5 more wins away!), as this really happens.

EDIT: More results! Done for the night. My brain hurts from so much Magic. Zomg.

Red Death d. Truffle Shuffle (2-1)
I channeled the spirit of Anwar game three and went Mire for Badlands, Ritual, Ritual, Ritual, Hymn (Hitting two STP's!), Negator, Shade. Smash. Face.

Duck Hunt d. Trinket Angels (2-0)
Trinket Angels isn't as good as I thought. Duck Hunt's better than I thought.

UGW Threshold d. Boros Deck Loses (2-1)
Good matchup with no mulligans. All three games were a struggle for board position. UGW Threshold won two of these struggles.

Orlove Reanimator d. Uber Madness(2-0)
Wild Mongrel and Anurid Brushhopper look a little confused as Akroma flies overhead.

GK Salvagers d. Spring Tide (2-1)
Orim's Chant and Cabal Therapy bailed GK Salvagers out twice after losing game 1. (We run the 4x Chant 4x Deed 0x Colossus board.)

The Epic Storm d. 3C Zoo(2-1)
Epic Storm somehow flounders around and loses game one, then gets two first turn combos (Tendrils for 22 and ETW for 16). Ridiculous hands.

Terrageddon d. RG Sligh(2-1)
Solitary Confinement wins game one. Sligh explodes game two. Wild Mongrel is Sligh's worst nightmare game three.

RG Goblins d. Psychatog(2-0)
Two explosive games by goblins and two bad, mulligan-filled efforts by Tog. RG Goblins can celebrate by praying Burn somehow offs Wombat.

It should be noted that we held off on more heatedly discussed matchups (D&T vs. Belcher, EATS vs. Contract Tendrils) for dramatic emphasis.:tongue:

[Tacosnape]

More Round One Results. It's doubtful we finish the rest today due to the fact that I have to teach a class on how to deal Craps tonight.

4C Landstill d. Countersliver, 2-1
It's worth noting that Meathooks put up a surprisingly decent fight and stole game 1 by countering every piece of removal ever, and would have won the match had Landstill not mised a second deed in game 2 after losing a Force of Will war to keep the first one in play. Landstill then swung the tide and cruised to back-to-back wins.

RW Goblins d. AfFOWnity, 2-0
Chalice decks hate losing the die roll, and Affinity hates Pyrokinesis. RW Goblins did a good job at creating both of these hazards.

Aluren d. Zilla Stompy 2k6, 2-1
This would have been 2-0 if I could pilot Aluren for shit. I got better at it quickly though.

2-Land Belcher d. Death and Taxes, 2-1
Ironically, Death and Taxes's only win was thanks to a game 2 failed Spoils of the Vault. All four Charbelchers were on the bottom nine cards of the library. The other two games Belcher won on turn 3 and turn 1.

Enchantress d. UGW Gro, 2-1
I hate Enchantress. With a passion.

Dragon Stompy d. Deadguy Ale, 2-1 (Yay Dragon Stompy!)
Game one DS crushed Deadguy, game two it crushed DS. Not even close. Game three (I'm piloting DS) my opening hand is Mountain, Tomb, Mox, Mox, Pyrostatic Pillar, Bloodrock Cyclops, Rakdos Pit Dragon. Deadguy mulls to six, so I decide to risk it all, guess there's no STP, and I go Tomb, Mox(Cyclops), Mox(Pillar), Pit Dragon. He doesn't have the STP. Next turn I topdeck Seething Song (Zomg!) and get the elusive turn 2 kill.

RB Goblins d. Mono Blue Control, 2-0
Goblins owns face. No surprise. The black splash was irrelevant since Goblins never saw a black card either game.

Rabid Wombat d. Burn, 2-1
Rune of Protection: Burn. Burn somehow won game 2 due to Wombat drawing absolutely nothing useful for Infinity turns.

[Zach Tartell]

Enchantress d. UGW Gro, 2-1
I hate Enchantress. With a passion.

I love this. HOwever, on a more serious note, how did the match go? What list did you use? I realize that every ass who's made a name playing a deck must have these same questions, but I've honestly never played a game against a gro deck for competition. I have wasted life's UGR list put together (61 cards and all) and it's usually pretty rough for me. I guess not having the reach, plus no running dragoneauts (they're hot, don't hate) makes moat a pretty good answer. Do you have any data on the match?

[emidln]

It'll be interesting to know what Sun Tower list is used and how the boarding happens. I'd imagine that it will go like this with AT1 (the list I recommend in a general metagame):

-1 Pyroclasm
-4 Trinisphere
-3 Aether Flash

+4 Pithing Needle
+4 Goblin Welder

The Original Sun Tower list would probably board like this

-2 Pyroclasm
-2 Uba Mask
-4 Trinisphere

+4 Pithing Needle
+4 Goblin Welder


while RGBSA boards in Stomphowler and Pillars. If there is a game 3, RGBSA will realize there are Goblin Welders out of the board and board out Pillars for Plagues, while Sun Tower version AT1 SHOULD board in Trinispheres on the game 2 loss or Krosan Grip/EE and the 1 Pyroclasm on the win for game 3. The original sun tower will bring in Razormane Masticores in place of Welders if on the draw game 3.

Also, which Contract Tendrils list is being used (B/g or B/u) and which board (man plan or traditional)? In any event I don't think EATS can bring enough pressure to win two straight postboard, especially if Contract Tendrils boards into Suicide Black game 3 when the creature hate is out for sure.

[Bryant Cook]

I could've had TES winning, or Goblins could've beaten Thresold and then TES > Goblins.

Edit: Just realized I messed up the Angel Stompy winning is supposed to be angel stax.

[Happy Gilmore]

Where is UGR Thresh?

[Zach Tartell]

kids at home, your brackets should look like this:

see new bracket

Imagine that TES is ahead in its bracket - I'm far too lazy to re-post for just one mistake.

[dahcmai]

Awwwww, 43 land smashes anything aggro based and it happens to hit Solidarity right off the bat, it's worst matchup. Hope it lucks out with Chants.

[Tacosnape]

I love this. HOwever, on a more serious note, how did the match go? What list did you use? I realize that every ass who's made a name playing a deck must have these same questions, but I've honestly never played a game against a gro deck for competition. I have wasted life's UGR list put together (61 cards and all) and it's usually pretty rough for me. I guess not having the reach, plus no running dragoneauts (they're hot, don't hate) makes moat a pretty good answer. Do you have any data on the match?

We used your list. Card for Card. It pretty much went fairly defensively for Enchantress (I piloted UGW Gro, so I don't know what was boarded and forgot to ask.) I lost because of the ridiculous card advantage involved in Enchantress. The one game Enchantress lost was because I managed to Daze, Counter, and Force two Enchantresses and a Presence. I remember losing game 1 to Moat (Or Confinement? I can't remember. Maybe both hit play at one time.) And I remember game three having a pair of Mystic Enforcers on the board, only to have them being chump blocked by Sacred Mesa tokens. Pithing Needle on Sacred Mesa met Seal of Primordium. Then I got overwhelmed. To my discredit, I did not know how to play Meddling Mage against this deck at all. I generally named Enchantress's Presence, which never seemed to work out. Suggestions?

Aaaanyhow, we've got the remainder of the round one results which I was too lazy to post yesterday. So here we go. I'll edit the main post to update the next matches. (Side note, what the hell did Slay do to the smilie thing?)

Twilight d. Nostalgic Loam Control, 2-1
(Beams with Pride). Screw you, Loam Control. Game one I open Land, Mox, Survival, and Nostalgo-Loam can't get Survival on the board. Game two I mulligan to six, don't draw Loaming Shamans, and can't ever generate enough offense to stop 1-for-1's combined with Witnesses. Game three I rip Loam's hand to shreds by Cabal Therapying two Burning Wishes and Two Eternal Witnesses. Tainted Pact to recover whiffs, and Brain Gorgers cruise to victory.

EATS d. Contract Tendrils, 2-0
A mid-combo Cruel Bargain into Swamp, Swamp, Swamp, Chrome Mox hands EATS a game one win. Game 2 saw Contract do its usual Swamp-Go, and Eats respond with Bayou, Tinder Wall, Null Rod. So much for all that hype.

Pox d. Angel Stax, 2-1
I refused to play in this one. Apparently, Angel Stax mulled to 5 twice and Pox mulled to 3 once. Pox won by never letting AS get more than one land, like, ever.

Mono-R Goblins d. 5/3, 2-0
Lackey, SGC. Repeat. Ugly match.

UGR Threshold d. UBW Fish, 2-0
UBW Fish can't find a Grunt to save its life game 1, and gets its lone Grunt countered game 2. UGR Threshold's Burn kept Confidant and company from being any sort of problem, and Nimble Mongeese cruise to the victory.

RGBSA d. Sun Tower, 2-1
Amazingly close match and a lot of fun. RGBSA opens with a Bird, then follows it with Duress, Therapy, Therapy. Sun Tower tries to recover with a Bridge, but Tin-Street from the hand just eats it. Game 2 Sun Tower just goes ridiculous with Chalices and Trinispheres and Staxy-shit and wipes away RGBSA's mana producers away with Rolling Earthquake (How annoying. Earthquakes hitting Birds.) Game 3 RGBSA opens with a Bird, follows with Duress/Survival. Sun Tower tries to set up lock pieces while RGBSA fights back with Witnesses and Hull Breach. Eventually, RGBSA is able to get four Werebears on the board and crunch face for 16. We used Dave Price's RGBSA list, but I reeeeeally missed the Seeds of Innocence in this matchup.

Rifter d. UG Madness, 2-0
Surprising. Game 1, Rifter draws three Humilities and UG Madness can only counter two. Rifter manages to save game 2 with a last-second Akroma's Vengeance.

Angel Stompy d. 43 Land, 2-1
Cataclysm against 43 Land is the most ridiculously funny thing -ever-. Game one it lost 15 lands. This was tricky to play though, since active player has to make choices first. I had to keep an Exalted and a Razor Golem for fear of 43 Land keeping Maze. 43 Land recovered from the Clysm and won game 2, but couldn't do it again on the third Clysm in game 3.

[Watcher487]

The Epic Storm d. 4C Zoo(2-1)
Epic Storm somehow flounders around and loses game one, then gets two first turn combos (Tendrils for 22 and ETW for 16). Ridiculous hands.

I actually have to question what version of '4C Zoo' you guys were playing. Yeah, even though I do understand the retarded hands that TES can have. TES was literally handed a bye in a bracket that either deck could run through the gambit to the Semis.

[Tacosnape]

I actually have to question what version of '4C Zoo' you guys were playing. Yeah, even though I do understand the retarded hands that TES can have. TES was literally handed a bye in a bracket that either deck could run through the gambit to the Semis.

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=15668

That one.

I realize in hindsight it would have been really cool to use the 4-Color Three Deuce (Four Deuce?) list that just T8'd. So it's been given an automatic slot in next Tournament.

Btw, Lonelybaritone, thanks for your updates on the bracket sheet.

[Watcher487]

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=15668

That one.

I realize in hindsight it would have been really cool to use the 4-Color Three Deuce (Four Deuce?) list that just T8'd. So it's been given an automatic slot in next Tournament.

Well that's 3C Zoo, so I guess I don't have to worry now. Also PM me when you get the next tourney together so I can send you the current list (I'm not posting it or making a thread about it.)

[Eldariel]

I find it surprising that people think Rifter beats Faerie Stompy. I'm willing to be the opposite, as the MU was tested rather heavily when Rifter was considered a DTB (for the purposes of the CaNGD2) and FS was favoured as Humility is the only real threat Rifter poses and FS can trump even that with SoFIs and Jittes.

[Tacosnape]

Well that's 3C Zoo, so I guess I don't have to worry now. Also PM me when you get the next tourney together so I can send you the current list (I'm not posting it or making a thread about it.)

...That's an interesting point. I'll fix that promptly. Iunno what the hell made me think that was 4-colors.:confused:


I find it surprising that people think Rifter beats Faerie Stompy. I'm willing to be the opposite, as the MU was tested rather heavily when Rifter was considered a DTB (for the purposes of the CaNGD2) and FS was favoured as Humility is the only real threat Rifter poses and FS can trump even that with SoFIs and Jittes.

It'll be a fun one, I think. I'll be amused if a pro-red guy gets through because Lightning Rift can't touch him. I think Rifter's prime strategy is to resolve an Akroma's Vengeance at any cost. I'll be piloting FS, though.

[sammiel]

lol @ both stax lists losing.

Bad matchup for Sun Tower, but I seriously have to call into question any white stax list that loses to pox.

[emidln]

Hitting a one-of off the top seems pretty good game 1. Game 2 and 3 were apparently played incorrectly because Trinisphere was still in. I don't quite understand why people refuse to board out 3sphere on the play when it's an irrelevant card. Survival is only a bad matchup when people board and play incorrectly. It's close, but it seems that either Needle and Welder were missing games 2 and 3 or something relevant was boarded out.

WTF? Contract Tendrils doesn't play Swamp. Contract Tendrils plays 2 Underground Sea/2 Delta/2 Mire or 2 Bayou/4 Land Grant. It seems that this decklist was really awful.

[Eldariel]

It'll be a fun one, I think. I'll be amused if a pro-red guy gets through because Lightning Rift can't touch him. I think Rifter's prime strategy is to resolve an Akroma's Vengeance at any cost. I'll be piloting FS, though.

Rifter's main strat will be to try to keep FS from getting equipped guys. StP is the key (which obviously makes Chalice at 1 often a rather strong play too). Vengeance comes in usually after the game is either lost or won, but it usually seals the games Rifter wins, so it isn't completely useless. Still, Rifter is usually too busy to really be cycling stuff in the early game. FS needs to be careful not to waste mana by equipping to-be-removed creatures. Also, if FS can resolve a Chalice at 2 before Rift comes down, FS basically wins. I played Rifter mostly back then and I can say that it's a headache to play, but definitely winnable.

Post-board, Winter Orb is awesome. But I'll try and refrain from delving this deeply into a single MU. It's just one I have experience in, and I doubt very few others do, so I thought I'd share my experiences.


EDIT: On another note, I'd find it absolutely awesome if Angel Stompy manages to beat Solidarity thanks to Cataclysm and SB, along with Goblins beating MWC thanks to land denial, then have Angel Stompy vs. Rg Goblins (not that obvious an MU imho, Tin Street Hooligan really leverages the playfield) playing for the win of the most aggro-hostile bracket.

[Zach Tartell]

We used your list. Card for Card. It pretty much went fairly defensively for Enchantress (I piloted UGW Gro, so I don't know what was boarded and forgot to ask.) I lost because of the ridiculous card advantage involved in Enchantress. The one game Enchantress lost was because I managed to Daze, Counter, and Force two Enchantresses and a Presence. I remember losing game 1 to Moat (Or Confinement? I can't remember. Maybe both hit play at one time.) And I remember game three having a pair of Mystic Enforcers on the board, only to have them being chump blocked by Sacred Mesa tokens. Pithing Needle on Sacred Mesa met Seal of Primordium. Then I got overwhelmed. To my discredit, I did not know how to play Meddling Mage against this deck at all. I generally named Enchantress's Presence, which never seemed to work out. Suggestions?

It's a tough call. Win conditions? I built it so you'd need like 4 needles and like 4 magi to completely lock me down. Needle: Seal of Fire, Seal of primordium, Aura of silence, seal of cleansing if they're playing that list I published with all 3 (last seal in board). Mages on: Sacred Mesa, Words of War, Solidary Confinement, Moat (if not playing fliers). Hold a hard counter for : SVG TEK. Yeah, I have an eight threat I'm about to throw out there - stay tuned for after Kadilak's D4D's. ALso, you may consider a mage on dovescape - I'm not sure if I'm ever goign to include it, but I always want to. It's just so easy to cut.

Edit: That list could be tossed around, but I honestly play like six things (main) that need to be needled. It's pretty sweet. Also, as I'm far to lazy to poke through the N&D forums, what is twilight? I don't even need a list, just like a brief overview.

Edit2: What do you guys have winning? Wastedlife's list is already shot, as I think that UGr thresh is better overall than hanni fish. Red Thresh v. White Thresh FTW?

New bracket:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/lonelybaritone/bracket-1.jpg

[Nightmare]

That Bracket is messed up. How you go from 8 decks to 2 in each division is beyond me.

[Zach Tartell]

That Bracket is messed up. How you go from 8 decks to 2 in each division is beyond me.

Top four isn't there - you've got to imagine it. Unless that isn't your problem. Did I mess up?

[Di]

Wtf is Punk Pile?

[Eldariel]

Wtf is Punk Pile?

Junk Pile, basically a many-colour (I'm not sure how many, I think it can play 5 but doesn't) Stompy.

[Machinus]

There are two decks with Hymn to Tourach and Angel Stax gets paired against one of them : (

[Phantom]

It'll be a fun one, I think. I'll be amused if a pro-red guy gets through because Lightning Rift can't touch him. I think Rifter's prime strategy is to resolve an Akroma's Vengeance at any cost. I'll be piloting FS, though.

I tested the shit out of this matchup back in the early days of FS. It is heavily in favor of FS if you know what to do. The matchup hinges on one thing: Keep Rift off the table at all costs. This means dropping your first Chalice @2 as opposed to 1 (clearly, if you have 2 in your opening grip, go nuts). I probably played Rifter 40-60 times and never lost a game where Rift didn't hit. Humility is simply a stall, and a poor one at that against us. If it hits, keep your Forces back for Vengeance and grab a needle with your Trinkets and name Decree ASAP.

I can't stress Chalice @2 enough, especially since this cuts off their disenchants as well (so Chalices and equipment stick around).

btw, this tournament is awesome. I like the triple Landstill bracket. Kinda makes me wish Truffle Shuffle had won to set up the ever exciting Truffle Shuffle vs. 4c Landstill matchup.

[sammiel]

There are two decks with Hymn to Tourach and Angel Stax gets paired against one of them : (


and loses to the one with a pathetic clock? I wouldn't want to play red death, but pox is a joke and I'm still having difficulty imagining the loss.

[Nightmare]

I tested the shit out of this matchup back in the early days of FS. It is heavily in favor of FS if you know what to do. The matchup hinges on one thing: Keep Rift off the table at all costs. This means dropping your first Chalice @2 as opposed to 1 (clearly, if you have 2 in your opening grip, go nuts). I probably played Rifter 40-60 times and never lost a game where Rift didn't hit. Humility is simply a stall, and a poor one at that against us. If it hits, keep your Forces back for Vengeance and grab a needle with your Trinkets and name Decree ASAP.

I can't stress Chalice @2 enough, especially since this cuts off their disenchants as well (so Chalices and equipment stick around).

btw, this tournament is awesome. I like the triple Landstill bracket. Kinda makes me wish Truffle Shuffle had won to set up the ever exciting Truffle Shuffle vs. 4c Landstill matchup.How exactly do you grab Needle with Trinket Mage as a solution to a resolved Humility?

[Eldariel]

Cleaner version of the present state with typos fixed (for round 2, I didn't bother changing round 1):
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2041/2ndroundof2mantourneyae8.png

I'll edit my predictions here a bit later.


EDIT: Nightmare, you name Decree.

EDIT#2:
My predictions (http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/5066/predictionstj8.png)

Other decks I could see pulling through:
Solidarity
Faerie Stompy
Enchantress
Red Death
IGGy Pop
Orlove Reanimator

[Nightmare]

EDIT: Nightmare, you name Decree.That's all well and good. My question was more to the point of how you fetch ANYTHING with Trinket Mage when Humility is in play.

[Eldariel]

That's all well and good. My question was more to the point of how you fetch ANYTHING with Trinket Mage when Humility is in play.

Well, optimally you kinda fetch it before Humility hits. I believe that's what he meant, although it was poorly worded.

[TheAardvark]

I am enjoying this thread. It's a fun experiment, and I appreciate the time you guys are putting into it.

EDIT: My first ever edited post! And I was even going to edit it, which is when I noticed that it had already been edited. That's pretty cosmic.

[Happy Gilmore]

Once again...where is UGR thresh. Junk pile, Rifter, and other jank is in there but no love for Thresh's red headed stepchild. :mad:

[Nightmare]

Once again...where is UGR thresh. Junk pile, Rifter, and other jank is in there but no love for Thresh's red headed stepchild. :mad:Check Bracket "E"

[Silverdragon]

Pox d. Angel Stax, 2-1
I refused to play in this one. Apparently, Angel Stax mulled to 5 twice and Pox mulled to 3 once. Pox won by never letting AS get more than one land, like, ever.


LOL this is quite funny. Did Pox lose the game it mulliganed to 3? Did AS win a game when it mulliganed to 5?
Damn that Pox list must be ridiculous when it can keep a deck with 3-4 Flagstones of Trokair, 4 Mox Diamond, 8 2-mana producing lands and 24-25 lands total manascrewed :)
Now that my favourite deck is out I hope Solidarity makes it however I think we'll see an Enchantress vs Fairie Stompy final with Enchantress winning 2-1.

[Zach Tartell]

Nightmare was right - the "I don't know what it's called but semi-finals sounds good" bracket is missing. It does go from four decks to one. I stand corrected. any photoshop guru's out there want to help various brothers out?

[Eldariel]

Nightmare was right - the "I don't know what it's called but semi-finals sounds good" bracket is missing. It does go from four decks to one. I stand corrected. any photoshop guru's out there want to help various brothers out?

If you insist :( Give me few minutes.

EDIT: This is the best I can be bothered with having such a horrible bottom-picture (the lines aren't synched, the colours are different, etc.). I'm not going to bother remaking the whole grid either. Here you go:
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/9222/2mantourneyround2resultzh7.png

EDIT#2: Fixed the picture.

EDIT#3: For real, this time.

[Xero]

Wtf is Punk Pile?

Junk Pile is this: http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5073

I'm rooting for it, since it was made in MN. :cool: R2 Predictions:

4C Landstill vs. Red Death: Red Death

UR Landstill vs. Twilight: Twilight

-----(Bracket B)-----
Duck Hunt vs. RW Goblins: Goblins

Junk Pile vs. EATS: EATS :cry:

-----(Bracket C)-----
Brand Fish vs. Pox: Pox

Aluren vs. UGW Threshold: Threshold

-----(Bracket D)-----
2-Land Belcher vs. IGGy Pop: IGGy Pop

Mono-R Goblins vs. Orlove Reanimator: Reanimator

-----(Bracket E)-----
Affinity vs. Enchantress: Enchantress :cry:

GK Salvagers vs.UGR Threshold: Threshold, close games though.

-----(Bracket F)-----
The Epic Storm vs. RGBSA: I'll go out on a limb and say RGBSA wins.

Dragon Stompy vs. Molotov Cocktail: Cocktail

-----(Bracket G)-----
Faerie Stompy vs.Rifter: Rifter

RB Goblins vs.Terrageddon: Terrageddon

-----(Bracket H)-----
Angel Stompy vs. Solidarity: Solidarity

RG Goblins vs. Rabid Wombat: Wombat

[sammiel]

-----(Bracket C)-----
Brand Fish vs. Angel Stax: Angel Stax



Fixed

[Tacosnape]

LOL this is quite funny. Did Pox lose the game it mulliganed to 3? Did AS win a game when it mulliganed to 5?
Damn that Pox list must be ridiculous when it can keep a deck with 3-4 Flagstones of Trokair, 4 Mox Diamond, 8 2-mana producing lands and 24-25 lands total manascrewed :)


Nobody won the game it fell into the Mulligan Hole. Workstation just decided to play God at this matchup.

@Eldariel: Orlove Reanimator in top 2? Seriously? If you end up right about that I officially will build you a japanese shrine and call you Sensei. Besides, there's no way it can stop the inevitable domination of Brand Fish.

@Happy Gilmore: UGR Threshold's 1-0, knocking off UBW Fish, and will most likely be on its way to the Sweet Sixteen as its now paired against GK Salvagers.

@Phantom: Interesting plan on Chalice for 2, and one I wouldn't have thought of. I'll give it a go.

@Whoever asked who we had winning: Wastedlife and I started with UGW Threshold, but that's looking fragile with Pox now on a collision course with it.

Eldariel has Epic Storm, which is tricky. It should beat RGBSA, and Molotov should beat Dragon Stompy, but if Molotov doesn't, there's almost no way Epic Storm gets through Dragon Stompy's maindecked Chalice/Pillar/Rolling Earthquake setup. Dragon Stompy was made to crush combo.

I think 4C Landstill is a strong Dark Horse, and I think Solidarity has a pretty easy run ahead of it (Its first real problem could be in the top eight against Faerie Stompy). Bracket D is wildly unpredictable, and any of the three combo decks there could make a strong run for it.

Personally, I'm still cheering for the Twilight-Dragon Stompy final. Heh. Doubt they even top eight, though. Dragon Stompy's in a bracket with two Survival decks, its worst matchup, and Twilight won't have a prayer to win the bracket unless Red Death knocks off 4C Landstill.

[Phantom]

How exactly do you grab Needle with Trinket Mage as a solution to a resolved Humility?

Sorry for the confusion. I was in a hurry posting before class and worded this poorly. I did mean that once you lay Chalice @2, Humility becomes a must for them, so you should go get needle ASAP whether it be through Trinket Mage or draw spells. Once you have needled Decree, their only outs are Vengeances, which they generally run 2 of I think? and FS run counters for.

[Eldariel]

@Eldariel: Orlove Reanimator in top 2? Seriously? If you end up right about that I officially will build you a japanese shrine and call you Sensei. Besides, there's no way it can stop the inevitable domination of Brand Fish.

@Whoever asked who we had winning: Wastedlife and I started with UGW Threshold, but that's looking fragile with Pox now on a collision course with it.

Eldariel has Epic Storm, which is tricky. It should beat RGBSA, and Molotov should beat Dragon Stompy, but if Molotov doesn't, there's almost no way Epic Storm gets through Dragon Stompy's maindecked Chalice/Pillar/Rolling Earthquake setup. Dragon Stompy was made to crush combo.

Dragon Stompy really needs to draw its Chalice against TES. Pillar would probably result in a double Tendrils through IGG-play (although if Tomb was used, it's fully possible that TES will have more life and therefore is able to go lethal with a single Tendrils) and knowing it's up against a deck with 4 sweepers, TES would probably go for Tendrils-kill if at all possible. Chalice+clock=hell though.

As for Orlove Reanimator, it should beat Mono-R Goblins unless it has absolutely horrible hands (mono-R Goblins have no outs even post-board against fast Akroma, Zombie Infestation is some good for stalling and even Nishoba is strong. Even post-board, Gobs have at best 4 Crypts) and it plays enough discard and fast enough clock that I think it should be able to beat Aluren (although Man-O'-War can be a problem). Oh yeah, I think Aluren is going to beat Pox since it just seems to have the kind of resiliency, you need to beat a board control-deck like that (it also only needs two cards to win, technically, which is good against discard). Then it's up against Faerie Stompy and again, a resolved Akroma=big trouble (FS actually has outs in form of either double Psi Blast or much pumped Efreet/Drake, but both are so unlikely that I'm not sure FS can pull it off). Post-board Tormod's Crypts are strong, but between Duresses and Cabal Therapies, I'm not sure FS can manage one early enough both games so I see Reanimator taking it in a tight game. So yea, I think the deck is rather solid. Disruption+very big threats+lowmana gameplan=good.

Oh yeah, and if Terrageddon beats Rb Goblins, it'll be a close game between FS and 'Geddon due to the SB Null Rods, but if those stay out of the field, I think FS has it. Rb Goblins I don't see giving FS much trouble, Therapies are merely useful in the MU. FS doesn't like to hold its biggest guns back anyways.

[Lego]

If you insist :( Give me few minutes.

EDIT: This is the best I can be bothered with having such a horrible bottom-picture (the lines aren't synched, the colours are different, etc.). I'm not going to bother remaking the whole grid either. Here you go:
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/9222/2mantourneyround2resultzh7.png

EDIT#2: Fixed the picture.

EDIT#3: For real, this time.

I'm confused. Your picture accounts for listing the T8, and then seems to skip from T8 to T2... what happened to the Semifinals? T8 goes on those lines in the middle, and then there's nowhere to put who wins those matches, just a blank space (no line) to put the Final two.

Beggars can't be choosers, after all :) Thanks for the hard work!

[freakish777]

It's because everyone snagged my Bracket picture and just added in text for winners. I was too lazy to figure out where to place things beforehand to make sure there was room for all the stuff, so the Top 4 are essentially scrunched.

Here's a fixed and updated version:

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/freakish777/?action=view&current=2ndroundof2mantourneyae8.png




Maybe you could put the bracket in the original post as well? A picture's worth a thousand words...

[Ewokslayer]

Why didn't you guys just take a NCAA bracket and edit it.

It seems much easier and doesn't result in bracket errors.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w154/ewokslayer101/SourceBrackets-1.jpg

[Eldariel]

@Ewok: Because I didn't want to spend 15 minutes remaking it.


I'm confused. Your picture accounts for listing the T8, and then seems to skip from T8 to T2... what happened to the Semifinals? T8 goes on those lines in the middle, and then there's nowhere to put who wins those matches, just a blank space (no line) to put the Final two.

Beggars can't be choosers, after all :) Thanks for the hard work!

It has all the rounds. The semifinals are between the two top brackets and the two bottom brackets (hence one coming from above, one from below) and the final comes between the top and bottom brackets.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

This is really cool, actually. I think I'm going to get some of the Virginians to do a second version of this on the side to verify the results with a larger sample pool.


One complaint: You listed MBC instead of Train Wreck. This seems questionable, as Train Wreck has better recent tournament results (read: any more recent than 2005), and Deed and Punishment seem highly relevant against Raffinity.


Also, why the fuck am I always paired round 1 with Anwar?

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Oh, and predictions:

Bracket 1

4cLandstill vs. Red Death: Red Death. 4c manabases with lots of colorless land aren't the win against LD and a quick clock, I hear.

URLandstill vs. Twilight: UR Landstill. I've heard nothing great about Twilight to validate the deck being amazing.

UBLandstill vs. Smart Goblins: This is a close one, but StP is almost a dead card, and Damnation + Haunting Echoes rips Goblins apart. Landstill.

Junk Pile vs. Eats: I have no idea what EATS is, but Junk Pile looks cool as Hell. So, the latter.

So, Red Death vs. UR Landstill. Red Death has way too many problems with the landtype "Mountain", so I'm going to go with UR Landstill, although it'll go to game 3.

Next is UB Landstill vs. Junk Pile. Chalice isn't that great against Landstill, and they're vulnerable to creature removal. I think I'm going to go with UB Landstill.

Finals of Bracket one is UB vs UR Landstill, and Echoes + sideboard Duress will probably lock it for UB.

Bracket 2

Brand Fish vs. Pox: Both decks are awful, but Pox is arguably less so. Pox, then.

Aluren vs. UW Threshold: Even though I remember a certain Frenchman telling me otherwise, my gut says Threshold on this one.

Belcher vs. Iggy Pop: Iggy Pop is slightly slower, but more able to cripple Belcher and less likely to kill itself. Iggy Pop.

Mono-Red Goblins vs. Reanimator: Goblins. I've beaten turn 1 Akroma with Goblins before.

Goblins vs. Iggy Pop: Iggy.

Threshold vs. Pox: Threshold.

Finals: Iggy Pop vs. UGW Threshold. Threshold by a boring lead.

Bracket 3

Affinity vs. Enchantress: Affinity has no answer to Confinement. Enchantress.

Salvagers vs. UGR Threshold: Salvagers. That extra point of toughness gives them the game by a narrow margin.

TES vs. RGBSA: RGBSA. Discard + fast beats for the win.

Molotov vs. DragonStompy: Molotov. It's slightly less inconsistent.

Semi-finals:

RGBSA vs. Molotov: Hard to tell. I'll go with RGBSA

Enchantress vs. Salvagers: Enchantress. Salvagers isn't fast enough to beat Confinement.

RGBSA vs. Enchantress: Tough call. I'll go with RGBSA in games 2 and 3 with extra discard, and with Burning Wish to answer Confinement.

Bracket 4

Faerie Stompy vs. Rifter. Rifter doesn't have many answer to Equipment. Faerie Stompy.

RB Goblins vs. Terrageddon: Game 1 is Terrageddon by a nose. RB Goblins is unlikely to recover with a reasonable sideboard games 2 and 3. It'll probably go to game 3, but Terrageddon.

Angel Stompy vs. Solidarity: Solidarity. Not even a chance.

RG Goblins vs. Rabid Wombat: Wombat. Not even a chance.

Faerie Stompy vs. Terrageddon: Terrageddon pretty much can't win if Faerie Stompy drops a Chalice for 2. So Faerie Stompy.

Solidarity vs. Rabid Wombat: Sad face. Solidarity by a wide margin.

Faerie Stompy vs. Solidarity: Close one. Faerie Stompy is slightly favored, I guess.


So my predictions for the final four:

UB Landstill vs. UGW Threshold
RGBSA vs. Faerie Stompy

RGBSA smashes Faerie Stompy with bigger creatures, UB Landstill smashes UGW Threshold with creature removal.

Finals: RGBSA vs. UB Landstill. Duck Hunt wins in game 3 with a back-breaking Echoes.

[Tacosnape]

One complaint: You listed MBC instead of Train Wreck. This seems questionable, as Train Wreck has better recent tournament results (read: any more recent than 2005), and Deed and Punishment seem highly relevant against Raffinity.

Also, why the fuck am I always paired round 1 with Anwar?

Fair point. I picked MBC because you had Truffle Shuffle and in my head I sort of considered Truffle Shuffle to be what Train Wreck evolved into. Train Wreck will grab a seed in Tourney 2 amongst the also-slighted Four-Deuce and UW Landstill.

As for Anwar, no idea. Maybe it's just because what with all the insane matchups and wacked out results we needed a constant. I actually thought Truffle Shuffle would beat Red Death. Usually whenever I pilot Death I get crushed by solid control decks.

Working on setting up a bracket pic for the main post as we speak. Also will post updated results.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Usually even Anwar doesn't open with triple Ritual into Hymn (for two Swords), Negator, Shade.


I'm curious what sb you used for Truffle Shuffle. After SB you should have 7 StPs, in the form of 3 Condemns + the actual StPs.

[Bryant Cook]

RGBSA doesn't beat TES.

[Zach Tartell]

RGBSA doesn't beat TES.

'Scept for day two, unless my math is incorrect.

[Tacosnape]

Usually even Anwar doesn't open with triple Ritual into Hymn (for two Swords), Negator, Shade.

I'm curious what sb you used for Truffle Shuffle. After SB you should have 7 StPs, in the form of 3 Condemns + the actual StPs.

We didn't have the Condemns. We had the list with Smothers. Oops.

If it's any consolation, though, I don't think Truffle Shuffle saw Smother the whole match. Could be wrong. Memory fails me a bit. I still think Truffle Shuffle would win the rematch.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I take it you used Matt's list from World's?

[Tacosnape]

First Round Two results are in:

Junk Pile d. EATS (2-1)
Junk Pile wins the roll and opens with a turn one Chalice for 1, followed by Chalice for 2 the next turn, and EATS has an entire hand that can't do anything and loses quickly. Eats strikes back game 2 with ridiculous Survival shit that Chalice Aggro cringes at. Game 3 Junk Pile gets a slow start, but EATS can't dig up a Survival. Then, in possibly the funniest series of plays in magic ever, Junk Pile FTK's EATS's Confidant, EATS FTK's the FTK, Junk Pile FTK's the FTK, and Eats FTK's the FTK again. Junk Pile then peels Sword of Fire and Ice off the top, drops it on a Call of the Herd token, clobbers through, picks off the FTK, and rides the Sword-wielding Elephant to a narrow victory.

2-Land Belcher d. IGGy Pop (2-1)
Belcher won the die roll (2 to 1, interestingly enough) and Belched for exactly 20 on turn two. IGGy Pop struck back next game, also on turn two. Belcher then got game three, also on turn two, with IGGy set to go off the next turn. Boring match. IGGy'd have won if it had won the die roll.

Molotov Cocktail d. Dragon Stompy (2-0) :cry:
Game 1 Molotov runs DS over with Survival tech. Game 2 DS Smashes an Aether Vial, only for a second Vial to hit. Meddling Mage on Rolling Earthquake hurts Dragon Stompy, and Swords to Plowshares on Razormane is the nail in the coffin.

Solidarity d. Angel Stompy (2-0)
Not even close. Game 1 Solidarity Remands a Cataclysm, then goes off in response to it next turn. Game two Angel Stompy mulls to 6, then opens with Mother of Runes, followed by Chalice, which Solidarity Forces. Glowrider next turn gets similarly Forced, Solidarity meditates for the refill, Angel Stompy doesn't have the Cataclysm, and Solidarity goes off with ease two turns later.

[Tacosnape]

I take it you used Matt's list from World's?

Correct. We debated between that and your list from the Mana Leak Open in September. But we figured top 8 at Worlds was definitely worthy of being used.

[Eldariel]

First Round Two results are in:

Junk Pile d. EATS (2-1)
Junk Pile wins the roll and opens with a turn one Chalice for 1, followed by Chalice for 2 the next turn, and EATS has an entire hand that can't do anything and loses quickly. Eats strikes back game 2 with ridiculous Survival shit that Chalice Aggro cringes at. Game 3 Junk Pile gets a slow start, but EATS can't dig up a Survival. Then, in possibly the funniest series of plays in magic ever, Junk Pile FTK's EATS's Confidant, EATS FTK's the FTK, Junk Pile FTK's the FTK, and Eats FTK's the FTK again. Junk Pile then peels Sword of Fire and Ice off the top, drops it on a Call of the Herd token, clobbers through, picks off the FTK, and rides the Sword-wielding Elephant to a narrow victory.

2-Land Belcher d. IGGy Pop (2-1)
Belcher won the die roll (2 to 1, interestingly enough) and Belched for exactly 20 on turn two. IGGy Pop struck back next game, also on turn two. Belcher then got game three, also on turn two, with IGGy set to go off the next turn. Boring match. IGGy'd have won if it had won the die roll.

Molotov Cocktail d. Dragon Stompy (2-0) :cry:
Game 1 Molotov runs DS over with Survival tech. Game 2 DS Smashes an Aether Vial, only for a second Vial to hit. Meddling Mage on Rolling Earthquake hurts Dragon Stompy, and Swords to Plowshares on Razormane is the nail in the coffin.

Solidarity d. Angel Stompy (2-0)
Not even close. Game 1 Solidarity Remands a Cataclysm, then goes off in response to it next turn. Game two Angel Stompy mulls to 6, then opens with Mother of Runes, followed by Chalice, which Solidarity Forces. Glowrider next turn gets similarly Forced, Solidarity meditates for the refill, Angel Stompy doesn't have the Cataclysm, and Solidarity goes off with ease two turns later.

So much for my predictions. It'd be so funny to have Faerie Stompy vs Junk Pile for the win :D

[Tacosnape]

So much for my predictions. It'd be so funny to have Faerie Stompy vs Junk Pile for the win :D

Die roll win, Chalice for 0 = Best play ever.:laugh: And your record for Round Two is as good as mine right now.

My repick from the Round of 32, just for the record, looked like this.

4C Landstill over Red Death
Twilight over UR Landstill
Duck Hunt over RW Goblins
EATS over Junk Pile
Pox over Brand Fish
UGW Threshold over Aluren
IGGy Pop over 2-Land Belcher
Orlove Reanimator over R Goblins
Enchantress over Affinity
UGR Threshold over GK Salvagers
TES over RGBSA
Molotov Cocktail over Dragon Stompy
Faerie Stompy over Rifter (Eldariel and Phantom convinced me to have faith)
RB Goblins over Terrageddon
Solidarity over Angel Stompy
MWC over RG Goblins

Sweet Sixteen:
4C Landstill over Twilight
Junk Pile over Duck Hunt
Pox over UGW Threshold
Orlove Reanimator over IGGy Pop
Enchantress over UGR Threshold
TES over Molotov Cocktail
Faerie Stompy over RB Goblins
Solidarity over MWC

Final Eight:
4C Landstill over Junk Pile
Orlove Reanimator over Pox
TES over Enchantress
Faerie Stompy over Solidarity

4C Landstill over Orlove Reanimator
Faerie Stompy over TES

4C Landstill over Faerie Stompy.

[Zach Tartell]

Updates? We get two in one day, then nothing for four?

[Tacosnape]

Sorry. Got a bit behind. Plus I had to take a day off from magic due to my brain melting down from so many matches.

Anyway, here's teh result0rz of round two.

4C Landstill d. Red Death, 2-1
Red Death wins the die roll and goes Swamp, Rit, Rit, Negator, Hymn. Easy win, right? Landstill Brainstorms into what it needs, picks off Negator and a Giant with STP and Edict, and Red Death doesn't draw a threat for six turns while Landstill stabilizes with Standstills and manlands. Topdecked burn puts Landstill down to 2 before it finishes off the Death. Game two Red Death Sinkholes three lands and Cruises on a Specter and a Shade. Game three Landstill Brainstorms out of a Duress, gets down a quick Standstill, and the Standstill trigger draws into two more Standstills. Red Death can't cope with the card advantage.

RW Goblins d. Duck Hunt, 2-1
RW Goblins cruises to game one after Lackey-SGC backed by lots of Ports, and Duck Hunt can't find a plague or the mana to cast it. Duck Hunt fires back with a complete Plague lockout. Game three results in Duck Hunt stabilizing at one with a Plague on the board and a horde of Mishra's Factories that can't get through a horde of Rishadan Ports. Goblins topdecks a Siege-Gang Commander and throws it at Duck Hunt's face.

Twilight d. UR Landstill, 2-0 (Yay again!)
This was ugly. Game one involved mass clobberings from Survival and Zombie Infestation with no Disk. Game two, Twilight blind Therapy's for Standstill and hits three of them. Mongrels and Brain Gorgers follow. Landstill almost stabilizes, but a topdecked Survival followed by a barrage of Arrogant Wurms seals the deal.

Brand Fish d. Pox, 2-1 (God help us, it can't be stopped)
Pox wins game one with total land shutout. Game two Brand Fish manages to Divert a Hymn and completely screw Pox, while following with Hunted Phantasm/Brand and Smallpox is useless against Faerie Tokens. Game three went much longer, with both decks running out of cards in hand and Brand Fish managing to get a Phyrexian Furnace down and keep Pox off Crucible lands -and- Nether Spirit. Brand Fish peels a Confidant and Pox hits lands for three turns, allowing Brand Fish to Vial out a Gilded Drake on a Mishra's Factory and Brand the Drake back for the win.

UGW Threshold d. Aluren, 2-0
Four Meddling Mages on Aluren hit the board in this match. Countermagic keeps me from doing anything with Man-O-War and Pernicious Deed. Aluren stalls with Wall of Roots, but STP clears the way for Bears. I get the distinct feeling Threshold had two very godlike hands.

Orlove Reanimator d. Mono-Red Goblins, 2-0
Goblin Lackey, meet Akroma, Angel of Wrath. She'll be your dominatrix this evening.

I'll post the remainder of the match writeups in a bit. Results are on the main post though.

[Eldariel]

So wait, are all the games for round 2 played already, just lacking reports? That's what the first page makes it seem like.

[Tacosnape]

Correct. I was being a slacker in both departments though. Heh.

[Xero]

Godamn Brand Fish. You ruined my bracket!

[Tacosnape]

Godamn Brand Fish. You ruined my bracket!

Brand Fish is some tier 1 shit.:laugh:

Anyway, here are the rest of the results that I got interrupted before I could finish.

Enchantress d. Affinity, 2-0
Affinity gawks at back to back Solitary Confinements, helpless. Rather than concede game 2, it artistically Flings a 22/23 Atog at itself.

Salvagers Game d. UGR Threshold, 2-0
Salvagers wins the roll and opens with Duress, which gets forced. A second Duress rips a second Force, and Ritual-Salvagers wins game 1 with no Gamekeeper necessary. Game 2, Salvagers gets needled right off the bat, and Orangutan off a Living Wish gets countered despite hand disruption. Dual Mongeese beat in, but Salvagers finds a Deed and clears both Mongeese and the Needle. Night's Whisper then rolls into a Gamekeeper, which Therapies into another Keeper, which Therapies into a Salvagers.

RGBSA d. The Epic Storm, 2-1
Game 1, RGBSA opens with Bayou, Bird, pass. Epic Storm goes Land, Mox, Burning Wish for Diminishing Returns. RGBSA then unleashes Duress, Duress, Therapy, Flashed Therapy, leaving Epic Storm with Hellbent. Epic Storm goes draw-go a few turns while RGBSA beats with a Kavu that kills its own bird. then Epic Storm manages to ETW for 8 while at 4. RGBSA Burning Wishes for Pyroclasm, sweeps the board, then drops a Bear next turn which finishes the game. Game 2, RGBSA mulls to six and gets virtually no disruption and gets Tendrils'd to death on turn three. Game 3, Epic Storm mulls down to 5, RGBSA gets a Survival out, and proceeds to play Mesmeric Stompy, eating an entire hand with three Mesmeric Fiends and a Therapy or Duress (I forget which). Three Fiends and a Baloth eat face for the win.

Rifter d. Faerie Stompy, 2-1-1 (Stupid control decks)
Game 1 Rifter has to mull to six. FS Chalices for 1 -and- 2, drop a Serendib, SOFI it up, and just walk all over Rifter. Game 2, FS has to mull to 4, and Rifter just keeps every threat off the board. Game 3 FS opens explosively, dropping turn one Sea Drake, turn two Sea Drake, Winter Orb. Rifter Disenchants the Orb, STP's a Drake, gets a Rift out, and stabilizes. It's about to win, but FS topdecks a Psionic Blast and draws the game. Game 4, Rifter REB-counters a Trinket Mage, Disenchants a Winter Orb, REB's a Sea Drake, then Rifts away a Cloud of Faeries before it can be equipped. FS topdecks three straight lands and loses with three SOFI on the board.

Terrageddon d. RB Goblins, 2-1
I lost my notes for this match somehow, but from what we remember, Terrageddon cleans house game 1 with double Terravore / Geddon. Goblins wins game 2 after Therapying Tivadar's Crusade and Solitary Confinement, and game three, Terrageddon wins with a Genesis / Confinement lock.

Rabid Wombat d. RG Goblins, 2-0
RG Goblins wins the roll but doesn't have the lackey, and Rune Red quickly puts Rabid Wombat in position to control the game until Decree of Justice calls forth a barrage of Angels. Game 2, Rune Red meets with a midgame Krosan Grip, but double Wing Shards (!) eats the entire assault, and a hardcast Eternal Dragon ends up winning.

[Di]

Game 1, RGBSA opens with Bayou, Bird, pass. Epic Storm goes Land, Mox, Burning Wish for Diminishing Returns.

Someone needs to learn how to play this deck correctly.

[Zach Tartell]

Someone needs to learn how to play this deck correctly.

Don't hate - now I might win! Yeah, that is kind of a weird play, though. And what is brand fish?

[Tacosnape]

Someone needs to learn how to play this deck correctly.

I don't doubt it. I dunno enough about Epic Storm to know. I was piloting RGBSA and don't quite remember what the hand was as I was ripping it to shreds. (I played this game at about 2 or 3 in the morning.) I probably could have played Aluren better against Threshold if I was more familiar with the deck, too (Although Threshold did sort of have some godlike hands). Playskill's a bizarre variable in these sort of tournaments.


Don't hate - now I might win! Yeah, that is kind of a weird play, though. And what is brand fish?

Brand Fish is this completely janky monstrosity that's somehow advanced to the Round of 16. You know how every tournament has a deck that places really high and you're like "How the hell did that happen?" Brand Fish may be that deck.

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=19174

I'm either going to link or post the Round of 16's decklists (A couple we don't have links for) sometime in the next day or so.

[Eldariel]

Well, at least Faerie Stompy lost in the closest MU to the date, and basically to drawing a lot of excess lands, so I don't feel bad.

[Bryant Cook]

This tournament is flawed. I wasn't playing TES.

[Tacosnape]

This tournament is flawed. I wasn't playing TES.

True. Quicksilver and Mulletus weren't playing RGBSA, either. Nor was Eldariel playing Faerie Stompy. Hence the Title and why I said in advance it shouldn't be taken too seriously. It's by no means meant to say "RGBSA beats TES" or the like.

On the bright side, in our tournaments we charge no entry fee and fully allow and encourage the hurdling of tables in fits of rage.:cool:


Well, at least Faerie Stompy lost in the closest MU to the date, and basically to drawing a lot of excess lands, so I don't feel bad.

I was sure I had it after 1-0'ing, too.:frown: Then I got MWS'd and Rifter had every REB and Disenchant -ever-. Drawing game 3 with the Psionic was definitely a classic moment though.

Oh well. S'good news for Solidarity, anyway. With FS gone and the brackets the way they are, it'll be a shock if it fails to top 2.

[Zach Tartell]

Oh well. S'good news for Solidarity, anyway. With FS gone and the brackets the way they are, it'll be a shock if it fails to top 2.

I was gonna refute this, then I remembered how lucky I've been in my matches against solidarity. So... Yes. Solidarity will probably make it in the top 2.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Hm. Actually, FS being knocked out means Solidarity might win the entire thing. Does Solidarity beat RGBSA?


So much for my prediction of Duck Hunt for the win.

[troopatroop]

Can I play RGBSA in the next match?

[Ewokslayer]

Hm. Actually, FS being knocked out means Solidarity might win the entire thing. Does Solidarity beat RGBSA?


So much for my prediction of Duck Hunt for the win.

Solidarity should be favored in the matchup but it is actually winnable for RGBSA since Survival added black

[Silverdragon]

Is there a chance Solidarity could be moved back to the LMF if it wins this fake tourney? I mean it's 64 participants and not a single random pile.dec (ok some lists sure look like piles to me but whatever).

[Eldariel]

Let's try a bit better for the next round.

4c Landstill over Twilight. One word: Deed. Oh, MD Disenchants are pretty good against Survival/Infestation too.
Rw goblins over Junk Pile. As much as I hate to make this prediction, Rw Gobs pack StP, Lackey, Rishadan Port and Wasteland. Those are bad news to Junk Pile. Now, Junk Pile can steamroll Goblins, but I think it favours Gobs a bit thanks to the ability to attack the manabase.
UGw Threshold over Brand Fish. Meddling Mage naming Brand sounds pretty good, suddenly making a good 70% of Brand Fish unplayable. Also, counters on Brand sound pretty good. All in all, I don't think Brand Fish likes playing against UGw at all.
Orlove Reanimator over 2-land Belcher. 2-land Belcher can still kill itself and Orlove Reanimator has a hugely fast clock and 8 discard-spells MD. It should be able to beat the Belch.
Enchantress over Salvagers Game. Hard one to predict. Maybe Enchantress on back of it's disenchant-effects (for Deed before it gets troublesome) and rather fast kill, along with some disruption.
RGbSA over Molotov Cocktail. I think the more aggressive approach and the discard of RGbSA should put it at an advantage here.
Terrageddon over Rifter. I sense an Armageddon closing the Rift. Probably in multiples.
Solidarity vs MWC=LULZ Fahniehst Mätchap Evör!

Let's see, from that point onwards:
4c Landstill>Rw Goblins, it should be slightly favoured in spite of the manabase, thanks to Stifle.
Orlove Reanimator>UGw Threshold, Duress and Therapy should keep any offending StPs and FoWs away and the beats should commence
Enchantress>RGbSA, RGbSA doesn't look like a deck that could pile up enough pressure to beat Enchantress.
Solidarity>Terrageddon, Chant is cute and all, but we're talking about Solidarity here.

4c Landstill>Orlove Reanimator, removal overload.
Solidarity>Enchantress, Solidarity is Solidarity.

Solidarity>4c Landstill, Solidarity is Solidarity.

[Tacosnape]

Let's try a bit better for the next round.

4c Landstill over Twilight. One word: Deed. Oh, MD Disenchants are pretty good against Survival/Infestation too.
Rw goblins over Junk Pile. As much as I hate to make this prediction, Rw Gobs pack StP, Lackey, Rishadan Port and Wasteland. Those are bad news to Junk Pile. Now, Junk Pile can steamroll Goblins, but I think it favours Gobs a bit thanks to the ability to attack the manabase.
UGw Threshold over Brand Fish. Meddling Mage naming Brand sounds pretty good, suddenly making a good 70% of Brand Fish unplayable. Also, counters on Brand sound pretty good. All in all, I don't think Brand Fish likes playing against UGw at all.
Orlove Reanimator over 2-land Belcher. 2-land Belcher can still kill itself and Orlove Reanimator has a hugely fast clock and 8 discard-spells MD. It should be able to beat the Belch.
Enchantress over Salvagers Game. Hard one to predict. Maybe Enchantress on back of it's disenchant-effects (for Deed before it gets troublesome) and rather fast kill, along with some disruption.
RGbSA over Molotov Cocktail. I think the more aggressive approach and the discard of RGbSA should put it at an advantage here.
Terrageddon over Rifter. I sense an Armageddon closing the Rift. Probably in multiples.
Solidarity vs MWC=LULZ Fahniehst Mätchap Evör!

Let's see, from that point onwards:
4c Landstill>Rw Goblins, it should be slightly favoured in spite of the manabase, thanks to Stifle.
Orlove Reanimator>UGw Threshold, Duress and Therapy should keep any offending StPs and FoWs away and the beats should commence
Enchantress>RGbSA, RGbSA doesn't look like a deck that could pile up enough pressure to beat Enchantress.
Solidarity>Terrageddon, Chant is cute and all, but we're talking about Solidarity here.

4c Landstill>Orlove Reanimator, removal overload.
Solidarity>Enchantress, Solidarity is Solidarity.

Solidarity>4c Landstill, Solidarity is Solidarity.

That looks pretty solid and could easily be perfect. I think it's a safe bet that UGW Threshold will Top 4 (It could lose to Orlove, but I doubt it), then likely lose to whatever top 4's in the AB Bracket (The only deck up there that I think Threshold's favored against is Twilight, and if Twilight gets past 4C Landstill I'll be stunned and gloating.) The GH Top 4 slot should almost definitely go to Solidarity. The top 4 slot for Bracket EF's completely up for grabs, though, with three decks all having a good shot and Molotov Cocktail being an interesting dark horse.

It's worth noting in advance that Salvagers has an Orzhov Guildmage in the board over the Maga, should Confinement become an issue, and also that 4C Landstill has the Duress board as opposed to the Sacred Ground one, which may or may not make any difference from this point on (It already got by Red Death.) I'd say Landstill's chances are solid.

This is assuming 4C Landstill can get by Brand Fish, which apparently has the matchup percentages of Thunder Bluff, only with real cards.


Is there a chance Solidarity could be moved back to the LMF if it wins this fake tourney? I mean it's 64 participants and not a single random pile.dec (ok some lists sure look like piles to me but whatever).

Only if it knocks off Brand Fish in the inevitable finals clash.

Seriously, though. That'd be really funny. I highly doubt it though, nor is there a good argument to back it up based on the absurdity of this tournament's results thus far.

Some of the lists are definitely piles, mostly because it's hard to find sixty-four highly established decks, which is why we're doing 32 next time.:cool:

[sammiel]

I put salvagers over enchantress, and belcher over reanimator, otherwise I agree with Eldariel

[Xero]

4C Landstill vs. Twilight: Landstill. Deed + Stifle=bad times for Survival based decks.

Goblins vs. Junk Pile: Goblins. Pile certainly can win, but I don't think it usually does.

Threshold vs. Brand Fish: Threshold better win, or I'm calling shenanigans on this whole tourney.

Belcher vs. Reanimator: I think Belcher fights through the discard just enough to win.

Sal. Game vs. Enchantress: Sal Game. It has a relatively quick clock, and can win through Confinment. Plus, most versions run Pernicious Deed.

RGBAS vs. Cocktail: RGBSA. Yep.

Rifter vs. Terrageddon: Terrageddon. All it needs to do is float some mana, play Geddon, and then lay down a fattie.

Solidarity vs. MWC: Solidarity. Its Solidarity vs. MWC.

[Zach Tartell]

Sal. Game vs. Enchantress: Sal Game. It has a relatively quick clock, and can win through Confinment. Plus, most versions run Pernicious Deed.


How does it win through confinement? Maga targets. And I'll admit that deed poses a threat, but I have MD'd aura of silence. Haters.

[n00bas4urus_r3x]

How does it win through confinement? Maga targets. And I'll admit that deed poses a threat, but I have MD'd aura of silence. Haters.

Orzhov Guildmage

[noobslayer]

So Solidarity gets a bye this round, and if rifter beats out geddon (unlikely) gets another one. I could see it making the top 4 at this point if piloted well.

[Lanfeng]

4c landstill should win if you don't get screwed by draws and your mana doesn't kill you. as long as it overtakes goblins then it should be an easy win, thing is, the deck should be playing darkblast in the place of edict.


This tournament is flawed. I wasn't playing TES.

and on this note, I think the tourney should be redone, its a great concept, but invite the appropriate players to play the matches with their deck over mws, hopefully eliminating the playskill factor as much as possible.

[Zach Tartell]

Orzhov Guildmage

Touché. I hadn't updated my salvagers list since like... betrayers.

[Ewokslayer]

I suppose those Rule of Laws in Enchantress are good for something after all.

[Tacosnape]

And I'll admit that deed poses a threat, but I have MD'd aura of silence. Haters.

Aura of Silence could be really funny here. Completely shuts down the entire combo -and- removes Deed.

[Tacosnape]

Results for Round Three be in! No real shockers, except Gamekeeper Salvagers sneaking by Enchantress. (Well, and the complete decimation of the incredible Brand Fish by a janky UGW Threshold deck.:laugh: )

4C Landstill d. Twilight, 2-0 :frown:
Game one Landstill drops Underground Sea, go. Twilight Duresses, Landstill Brainstorms, and I see a hand of four land and three Forces. Lovely. Landstill draws, plays a Standstill. Twilight breaks it with a Mongrel, which gets STP'd, and another Standstill hits. This quickly escalates out of control with all four Standstills hitting in succession as Twilight doesn't get a single permanent to stick and gets crushed by Factories. Game 2 Twilight explodes with Land, Mox, Survival, and no Force. It Krosan Grips a Deed, then sticks a Chains of Mephistopheles, but can't get beyond 3 mana and Landstill manages to topdeck a second Deed. Zombie Infestation meets with Mishra's Factory in a long clash until Landstill resolves a Fact or Fiction into Deed, Standstill, Standstill, Force, Disenchant. The sun sets on Twilight.

RW Goblins d. Junk Pile, 2-1
Junk Pile wins the roll, but mulls to six and can't get an explosive start. Goblins gets a Vial down and sneaks in Matrons galore, while Gempalm Incinerator halts the masses. Disenchant on a Masticore seals game 1. Game 2 Junk Pile goes ridiculous with Turn one Chalice, turn two Plague, turn three Plague, turn four, five, six and seven, Call of the Herd. Elephants smash! RW Goblins avenges with a game 3 Lackey, followed by Pyrokinesis on a Sea Drake, Lackey into Siege-Gang Commander, Piledriver. Engineered Plague clears Lackey and Tokens, but Goblins has the Disenchant, and manages to Incinerator a Masticore the moment it hits. Goblins finishes it by throwing a Siege-Gang Commander to the face.

UGW Threshold d. Brand Fish, 2-0
Threshold opens with a Mongoose, followed by a Mage on Brand. Brand Fish tries to Mystical Tutor for Echoing Truth, but the Echoing Truth gets Dazed and Threshold cantrips around until it drops a Bear. A desperation Hunted Horror gets STP'd and Threshold swings in for 15 and cruises. Game two went no better for the dark horse contender. Turn one Duress snagged a Force, but Brainstorm recovered quickly for Threshold. STP nailed Hunted Horror and Counterspell stopped Brand cold. No more Brand Fish.

Orlove Reanimator d. 2-Land Belcher, 2-0
Orlove Reanimator goes Land, Mox, Careful Study, Reanimate, Akroma for 6. A second turn Last Rites for 2 ensures this will be enough. Game 2 Belcher mulligans to 6, then to 5, then to 4, before opening with Land Grant, LED, LED, go. Then it does nothing for the remainder of time and space while Reanimator Therapies out a Belcher, Then goes Zombie Infestation, Akroma for the easy win.

Gamekeeper Salvagers d. Enchantress, 2-1
This was pretty much a back and forth brutal face smashing. GK Salvagers goes Land, Duress away Utopia Sprawl, go, and followed it turn two by going Land, Ritual, Salvagers, LED, with a Chromatic Star in hand. Enchantress returned fire by going Savannah, Utopia Sprawl, followed by turn two Aura of Silence, followed by turn three Rule of Law. Enchantresses followed soon after and Confinement wasn't far behind, and Enchantress went crazy before Salvagers could find Deed mana. Game 3 GK Salvagers manages to Duress away a Confinement, then Therapy away double Argothian Enchantress. Sterling Grove managed to dig up an Aura of Silence, but Living Wish snagged Nikko-Onna for the pick-off. Enchantress gets out a Confinement as Salvagers can't find a Gamekeeper, but Night's Whisper digs one up before Enchantress can get rolling. Salvagers flashes Therapies at itself to roll the Keeper, gets the Salvager/LED/Chromatic combo going, then Living Wishes for Orzhov Guildmage for the Confinement-breaker.

RGBSA d. Molotov Cocktail, 2-0
Both games, RGBSA got Survival and explosive draws and Molotov mulliganed to 6 and didn't. Tin-Street munched on Aether Vial happily. It's worth noting that in game 2 Molotov dropped a Meddling Mage on Survival, which would have been a brilliant play had RGBSA not managed to Flametongue Kavu it into oblivion a few turns later, then drop Survival and go nuts.

Terrageddon d. Rifter, 2-1
Surprisingly close. Rifter won game one after getting down back to back Lightning Rifts, Swordsing a Terravore, and quickly demonstrating to Terrageddon how bad a Loam/Cycling draw engine is when the opponent can Char you every time you cycle a land. Game two, Terrageddon was near crisis when Rifter managed to cycle a 5-token Decree of Justice, but topdecking back to back Terravores and Krosan Gripping Humility put Rifter in dire Straits, as STP on the first Terravore gave Terrageddon 17 life, and the other 17/17 trampler clobbered through. Game three, Terrageddon suddenly decided it was playing Armageddon again, Geddon'd Rifter at 3 Lands with a Mongrel on the board, get a second Mongrel out after the first got STP'd, then Geddon'd Rifter again once it got back up to 3 lands. Puppy swings for the win.

Solidarity d. Rabid Wombat, 2-0
Game one involves mass crushing as MWC can't even find an Abeyance and Gilded Light gets Forced easily. Game two involves one of the more amusing plays of the tournament. Solidarity casts High Tide with six lands, and MWC plays Orim's Chant. Solidarity Twincasts the Chant, and MWC casts Abeyance. Solidarity then waits a turn and goes off with a Tideless Reset/Meditate barrage, countering a Gilded Light en route.

Top 8 Decklists will be up tonight.

(Sigh) My dreams of Twilight or Dragon Stompy winning are shattered.

[Eldariel]

Well, my predictions of Orlove Reanimator in T2 are coming closer and closer. I just think the deck is vastly underpresented and played, considering how awesome it is against the meta. The next round will be the true test though, with StP, Force and Daze on the opposite side.

[Bane of the Living]

Go Go Gamekeeper!

[Tacosnape]

Well, my predictions of Orlove Reanimator in T2 are coming closer and closer. I just think the deck is vastly underpresented and played, considering how awesome it is against the meta. The next round will be the true test though, with StP, Force and Daze on the opposite side.

It may happen. It needs to edge out Threshold, then needs Goblins to beat Landstill. Then it theoretically has a fighting chance against everything on the right hand side of the tournament in the finals. Threshold will be hard, though, and I struggle to see it getting through 4C Landstill if 4C Landstill gets through Goblins.

I was piloting Orlove Reanimator this time (First time I've done much with the deck since it came out, and I was too poor to build it back then.) I must say I'm starting to agree with you. The deck is pretty amazing and very underrated. All those cards you think about Reanimator dying to tend to die to Duress and Therapy, and Last Rites is ridiculous. I don't see why Life from the Loam decks aren't playing Last Rites.

[Eldariel]

It may happen. It needs to edge out Threshold, then needs Goblins to beat Landstill. Then it theoretically has a fighting chance against everything on the right hand side of the tournament in the finals. Threshold will be hard, though, and I struggle to see it getting through 4C Landstill if 4C Landstill gets through Goblins.

Actually, 4C Landstill won't be much harder than Threshold, since Standstill is frighteningly bad against an active Zombie Infestation or Akroma, and Deeds are very weak against 8-mana creatures so 4C Landstill is left with StPs and Diabolic Edicts (as it runs no Daze) against Duress, Therapy and Rites. Now sure, not relying on StP is a huge plus compared to Threshold (a single Therapy can knock out multiple StPs completely crippling Threshold's defensive capabilities, but when there're Edicts added to the mix, such becomes harder without some total hand wreckage), but Edict puts Akroma just back to 'hand' for Thresh so she can keep coming back with new reanimation spells. I actually think, UW Landstill would be better off here, as Vengeance and Wrath are both relevant (albeit slow) unlike Deed (although the ability to knock off tokens, Moxes and Zombie Infestation might force Reanimator to Therapy it out), but yea. I'm getting ahead of myself, as I said, the true test will be against UGw Threshold, which, unlike Landstill is optimally poised against the deck.

[Tacosnape]

Interesting points about Reanimator matchups.

Reanimator struggles in the draw department, though. UGW Threshold might indeed be the real challenge for Reanimator (Can't say I've ever tested that matchup thoroughly), but Landstill's also packing Force and Counterspell in addition to STP and Edict, and a pair of Disenchants and the Deeds for Brains Party 2k7. And Duress in the sideboard. And possibly Meddling Mage, in case I happen to figure out what the hell to name.:cool:

I run a 4C Landstill deck in real life and haven't ever had problems against Reanimator (And when you're in a scrubby meta, -everyone- has Reanimator decks.) On the other hand, nobody around my meta has a Reanimator deck quite as good as Orlove Reanimator, either. Should be interesting.

Gamekeeper Salvagers is having an interesting run, too. The Salvagers list we're using is actually one that dominated a lot of Legacy tournaments in Alabama for a long time (The differences are more or less nonexistant except in the sideboard, which packs 4 Pernicious Deed and 4 Orim's Chant.) I got crushed by it in enough tournaments to feel compelled to stick that particular list in despite most list conditions. We didn't think when we tossed it in it would survive long at all, as in my mind it was about as outdated as Rifter.

The other six decks I'm not surprised to see, though. Goblins, Threshold, Survival, Terrageddon, Solidarity, and Landstill. That could easily comprise six of the top eight at a real tournament.

On another random note, while perusing old decks, we decided to stick Burninator in the next tournament. Elgin Dragonstorm will be an incredibly fun choice.

[Xero]

4CLandstill vs. Goblins: Goblins

Thresh vs. Reanimator: I've been wrong about Reanimator 3 times now. I'll say it wins.

Sal Game vs RGBSA: I'll bet that RGBSA gets enought discard to push a win through.

Terrageddon vs. Solidarity: Solidarity :cry:

I'm rooting for Terrageddon to win, since its fun and I have it built. Unfortunately, Solidarity is a loosing match-up.

Tacosnape, maybe you could talk about your feelings/experiences with the decks? The Top 8 maybe? That would be awesome.

[Tacosnape]

Tacosnape, maybe you could talk about your feelings/experiences with the decks? The Top 8 maybe? That would be awesome.

Can do.

The Top Eight

4C Landstill (Or BHWC Landstill)
List Taken From: Nick Trudeau
Notable Appearances: Gencon 2006 (4th), Various SCG Duel for Duals (8th, 9th)
Reason for List Selection: Trudeau's sort of the master of this deck.
Chances of Winning: So-so. Its hardest match is in the quarterfinals against RW Goblins, which will almost certainly win game one. Should it win this, however, the Semifinals should be close to a bye. The finals won't be too bad unless Solidarity gets through.
Thoughts: I still hate Crucible of Worlds in this deck and I'd feel much more comfortable about the Goblin match with my own build. However, Trudeau knows his shit, and those maindeck Disenchants are kind of nifty. I might have to look into those. This deck has piloted beautifully so far and only struggles when its own manabase eats itself.

Decklist:
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
3 Fact or Fiction
3 Stifle
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Disenchant
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Nantuko Monastery
3 Wasteland
1 Plains

4 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Engineered Plague
4 Meddling Mage
3 Duress


RW Goblins
List Taken From: Jacob Baughman
Notable Appearances: SCG Duel for Duals (1st)
Reason for List Selection: One of the first to win a tournament with Chalice of the Void in the board.
Chances of Winning: Good. With Disenchant, Pyrokinesis, STP, and Chalice of the Void, Goblins has the tools to win it all. A possible Semifinals with Orlove Reanimator could derail Goblins' train, however, and the lack of any combo hate other than Chalice will make a finals match with Solidarity difficult.
Thoughts: This build is ridiculously good. Mirror match aside, playing with this deck has made me want to go back to a white splash.
Decklist: http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=17984


UGW Threshold
List Taken From: Bennett Toms
Notable Appearances: SCG Duel for Duals (1st)
Reason for List Selection: Solid, traditional-looking list with maindeck Mages.
Chances of Winning: Good. Orlove Reanimator will be a fight, but a favored one. The semifinals will be unfavorable, but Threshold is only minorly unfavored against RW Goblins. With a very high chance of a combo deck being the finals opponent, Threshold's equipped to win if it gets there.
Thoughts: UGW Threshold is like the proverbial bad penny, only with a brick. You kind of forget how amazing it is, then it turns up like bad pennies do. Only this one smashes your face with said brick. Daze is the most annoying spell in existence.
Decklist: http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=18323


Orlove Reanimator
List Taken From: Jacob Orlove
Notable Appearances: 8th Place in an early Legacy Tournament[?]
Reason for List Selection: Orlove's the only one who ever really made a splash with the deck.
Chances of Winning: Who Knows? Ask Eldariel.
Thoughts: Orlove Reanimator is really the dark horse to make top eight in this tournament, and the insanity could continue. It's not terribly hard to envision it winning, but it's also not terribly hard to envision it getting crushed in the next matchup. It's a rather unfamiliar deck to more recent Legacy players, and probably deserves some attention.
Decklist:
2 Mox Diamond
1 Phantom Nishoba
4 Zombie Infestation
3 Intuition
3 Akroma, Angel Of Wrath
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Burning Wish
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Careful Study
4 Duress
4 Exhume
1 Last Rites
3 Reanimate
1 Island
1 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Mire
2 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

3 Petradon
1 Plated Slagwurm
3 Disrupt
1 Buried Alive
1 Echoing Ruin
3 Last Rites
1 Pyroclasm
1 Reanimate
1 Sickening Dreams


Gamekeeper Salvagers
List Taken From: Daniel Oravet
Notable Appearances: Domination of Legacy in Alabama for a few months.
Reason for List Selection: Personally lost to it enough times. Only sideboard varies from 2nd Place Worlds list. Oravet's Eternal Rating is top ten in the world. (With bribery, but I digress)
Chances of Winning: Not so hot. RGBSA provides a lot of hand disruption, and the prospect of a showdown with Solidarity is a bit scary. There's almost no deck it could meet in the finals where it would be favored, either.
Thoughts: I've forgotten how much of a blast GK Salvagers is to play, despite that about a hundred cards that see play disrupt it.
Decklist:
4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Gamekeeper
4 Dark Ritual
4 Tainted Pact
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Duress
4 Innocent Blood
4 Living Wish
2 Night's Whisper
2 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Snow-covered Forest
1 Snow-covered Plains
2 Snow-covered Swamp
2 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Windswept Heath

4 Pernicious Deed
4 Orim's Chant
1 Gamekeeper
1 Auriok Salvagers
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Nikko-Onna
1 Bone Shredder
1 Orzhov Guildmage
1 City of Brass


RGBSA
List Taken From: Dave Price
Notable Appearances: Top 8 in multiple recent, decent sized tournaments.
Reason for List Selection: See Above
Chances of Winning: Fair. Gamekeeper Salvagers will be as tough as any match, because as amazing as this deck is at answers, none of said answers show up at instant speed, which is what you need to mess up Salvagers. Beyond that, Solidarity won't be a walk in the park either. RGBSA will need incredible Duress/Therapy/Fiend power to cruise to the finals.
Thoughts: Still one of my favorite decks in existence. It's a shame it's about to run into combo galore.
Decklist:
6 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Bayou
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Werebear
4 Burning Wish
4 Survival of the Fittest
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
4 Eternal Witness
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Flametongue Kavu
2 Ravenous Baloth
1 Anger
1 Genesis
1 Indrik Stomphowler

3 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Cabal Therapy
4 Engineered Plague
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Pyroclasm
1 Regrowth
1 Tsunmai
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Anarchy
1 Hull Breach


Terrageddon
List Taken From: Hugo Van Dijke
Notable Appearances: Dutch Nationals, Worlds Side Event (1st, 1st)
Reason for List Selection: We didn't know about the changes Hugo made for Combo at the time.
Chances of Winning: Bad. Solidarity is going to be an almost insurmountable foe. However, should it squeak by, things get better from there, as both RGBSA and GK Salvagers are winnable, and anything can happen in the finals.
Thoughts: Dear America, Play this deck. It's really good. Sincerely, Tacosnape.
Decklist:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Werebear
4 Terravore
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
4 Armageddon
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Life from the Loam
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Tranquil Thicket
2 Secluded Steppe
1 Nantuko Monastery
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
1 Plains
4 Savannah
3 Wooded Foothills

4 Tivadar’s Crusade
4 Null Rod
3 Krosan Grip
2 Loxodon Hierarch
2 Last Breath


Solidarity
List Taken From: David Gearhart
Notable Appearances: You ought to know. David Gearheart's the center of the universe.
Reason for List Selection: We don't like color Splashes and they haven't won any major tournaments yet. We also liked his 12th Place build better than the 1st place one.
Chances of Winning: The Best. Terrageddon shouldn't be too much trouble, and Solidarity can probably handle RGBSA and Gamekeeper Salvagers. Only UGW Threshold on the opposite side fills Solidarity with any sort of nervousness. Or maybe a really good Orlove Reanimator hand.
Thoughts: Metagame forum aside, Solidarity's still a deck to beat in the right hands.
Decklist: http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=18655

MY PREDICTIONS:
RW Goblins over 4C Landstill
UGW Threshold over Orlove Reanimator
GK Salvagers over RGBSA
Solidarity over Terrageddon
RW Goblins over UGW Threshold
Solidarity over GK Salvagers
Finals: Solidarity over RW Goblins

[Eldariel]

Orlove Reanimator
List Taken From: Jacob Orlove
Notable Appearances: 8th Place in an early Legacy Tournament[?]
Reason for List Selection: Orlove's the only one who ever really made a splash with the deck.
Chances of Winning: Who Knows? Ask Eldariel.

Fair. It'll meet the hardest remaining MU next round, but it definitely has a game against Threshold and it'll very much depend on the number of StPs Thresh draws, and the amount of discard, Reanimator can accumulate (as well as playskill, some waits on a Brainstorm hiding StP can be necessary). I don't know percentages since I haven't truly tested the deck too much (I've just acknowledged it and its power, which is why I've been trusting it all tourney), but obviously the large number of StPs is bad news, but the low amount of powerful graveyard hate is good.

And Reanimator-strategies in general are rather underestimated, whenever the archetype is played, it seems to put up some fair finishes (thinking back to the Bg and Bu lists from the D4D where 2 Top 8d). They certainly deserve more players and are more potent than most are aware of.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

The top 8 is surprisingly non-janky. The only deck I really don't like there is O-Reanimator; I think one of the builds of Reanimator that Top 8'd at the first Mana Leak Open would've been a stronger choice.

[Tacosnape]

Semifinals Time. The once named "Big Three" prevail, accompanied by...Gamekeeper Salvagers? Boggle.

RW Goblins d. 4C Landstill, 2-0
Game 1, Landstill mulls an all-colorless hand into Strand, Tropical, Factory, Fact or Fiction, STP, Counterspell. Landstill drops Strand and passes. Goblins gets down a Vial, then next turn Wasteland on the Tropical and Vial out Lackey. Lackey gets STP'd, then Goblins drops out Ports and begins locking down lands while Vial brings out Warchief, Ringleader, Siege-Gang. Landstill can't find the second blue source until managing to Fact or Fiction in response to Rishadan Port triggers, but before it can get an untap step, Piledriver joins the party to wail away for the win. Game Two, Landstill keeps a hand with Tundra, Strand, Plague, Plague, Crucible, Brainstorm, Blue Elemental Blast. Turn one Blast meets turn one Lackey, and Brainstorm nets it the Tropical, but Goblins manages to hold Landstill off Plague mana with a single port, then a double port. Goblins gets a Vial down around turn five, then gets a third port on the table as its sixth land, as the Vial gradually squeaks out Goblins. The game ends with Landstill having a two Seas, a Tundra, a Tropical, and a Factory all on the table, with three Plagues, a Crucible, and a Deed all stuck in hand.

UGW Threshold d. Orlove Reanimator, 2-1
Threshold goes Fetch, Tropical, Mongoose. Orlove Reanimator tries a Duress, but it gets dazed. Threshold drops -another- Mongoose, then Orlove Reanimator drops Zombie Infestation. Threshold drops a Needle, but Orlove dumps its entire hand, including two Akromas and a Squee and excess land, for Zombies in response. Threshold then begins cantripping around for Threshold, drops a Werebear, and Forces Reanimator's attempt at a Reanimate. Mongeese swing in for the win.

Game two, Orlove goes Careful Study, ditching Nishoba/Akroma, Mox, Reanimate, swing for six. Ouch. Threshold fetches a Tundra and STP's Akroma, and Orlove Exhumes up the Nishoba. Brainstorm digs into a second STP after one hit from Nishoba. Orlove fires a Therapy on Counterspell and hits, then Careful Studies again, pitching Mox/Slagwurm. Another Reanimate brings the Slagwurm up. Werebear chumps for a turn, then a third STP of the top gives Orlove a rather ironic victory.

Game three Threshold goes Land, Needle Zombie Infestaion, Crypt, Crypt, go. Ouch. Orlove's Therapy on Force of Will misses, showing a Counter-Free hand. Threshold untaps, plays a land, and passes. Orlove Burning Wishes. Threshold Brainstorms, then Mental Notes. Burning Wish resolves, and grabs Echoing Ruin. Threshold drops Land, Werebear, pass. Orlove attempts Echoing Ruin, only to have it met with Blue Elemental Blast (!). The Bear gets backed up by a Meddling Mage on Burning Wish and Threshold sails through.

I have to say, boarding in the Blasts when Wish/Ruin is the answer to Tormod's Crypt was a solid bit of tech I wasn't expecting, and I might have pulled that game out otherwise.

Gamekeeper Salvagers d. RGBSA, 2-0
Despite disruption, RGBSA has -no- answers to this combo whatsoever. Gamekeeper Duresses away a Duress, then completely whiffs on a Tainted Pact by hitting back to back Lion's Eye Diamonds (Zouch.) Night's Whisper recovers, Therapy snags a Baloth, but RGBSA has Survival online at this point, grabs the Rofellos chain, and begins to go to town with Witnesses and Werebears. Gamekeeper comes down as a desperation blocker, then it rolls into another Gamekeeper, making RGBSA's Flametongue unable to stop the combo. Salvagers untaps, peels an Innocent Blood off the top, and goes ballistic.

Both decks mull to six game two, and it's ugly. Survival misses on a blind Therapy for Gamekeeper, but flashes back a Bear to stop two Living Wishes. Salvagers pops Chromatic Spheres and mana burns to find land, then refuels off Night's Whisper. Mesmeric Fiend for Survival is stuck having to snag an Innocent Blood, but a second Innocent Blood recovers the first one. Gamekeeper whiffs on a Tainted Pact while Survival goes Beatdown, then Gamekeeper finds an Auriok Salvagers on top of its library at 2 life. LED's in play, Sphere's in the yard.

Solidarity d. Terrageddon, 2-0
Game one Terrageddon gets down a Bear, while Solidarity cantrips. Then over the span of four turns, this happens:
Terrageddon: Armageddon.
Solidarity: Remand.
Terrageddon: Armageddon?
Solidarity: Remand.
Terrageddon: Armageddon? Pretty Please?
Solidarity: Hint. Starts with R, ends with Emand.
Terrageddon: ARMAGEDDON?! YOU CAN NOT HAVE THE FOURTH REMAND.
Solidarity: Sure don't. I'll just deck you and Stroke you instead.

Game two Terrageddon puts up more of a fight, between Confinement and a Mongrel/Terravore clock. Solidarity Forces the Geddon this time, and I forget that the Terrageddon List we used didn't run Chant so I'm sculpting my hand to go off around Chant the whole time. Oh well. Better to err on the side of caution. Solidarity goes off with lethal damage imminent, bouncing Confinement en route. And it could have gone off with one (But probably not two) Chants in Terrageddon's hand.

So now we have the ever-classic battle between Goblins and Threshold, as well as a bizarre combo match between Salvagers and Solidarity.

[Ewokslayer]

Game three Threshold goes Land, Needle Zombie Infestaion, Crypt, Crypt, go. Ouch. Orlove's Therapy on Force of Will misses, showing a Counter-Free hand. Threshold untaps, plays a land, and passes. Orlove Burning Wishes. Threshold Brainstorms, then Mental Notes. Burning Wish resolves, and grabs Echoing Ruin. Threshold drops Land, Werebear, pass. Orlove attempts Echoing Ruin, only to have it met with Blue Elemental Blast (!). The Bear gets backed up by a Meddling Mage on Burning Wish and Threshold sails through.

I have to say, boarding in the Blasts when Wish/Ruin is the answer to Tormod's Crypt was a solid bit of tech I wasn't expecting, and I might have pulled that game out otherwise.
Echoing Ruin is a pretty crappy answer to double Crypt as they can always sac the one being targeted to stop the Echo effect.

[Tacosnape]

Echoing Ruin is a pretty crappy answer to double Crypt as they can always sac the one being targeted to stop the Echo effect.

That's an interesting point and very true. I didn't even think of that.

[Bane of the Living]

It doesnt surprise me at all that Keeper is in the top 4 of a 2 man source tourny. Its not like it top 8's Grands Prix.

[Eldariel]

Pretty expected, although the Orlove Reanimator-MU coulda really gone either way just as predicted (it seemed to have a pretty bad hand G1, where it's at its strongest). Funny how UGw Threshold managed to dodge all the Threshold-hating decks and Rw Goblins did the same to Goblins-hate.

[Silverdragon]

Funny how UGw Threshold managed to dodge all the Threshold-hating decks and Rw Goblins did the same to Goblins-hate.

And Solidarity did the same to Combo-hate :laugh:

[Tacosnape]

Pretty expected, although the Orlove Reanimator-MU coulda really gone either way just as predicted (it seemed to have a pretty bad hand G1, where it's at its strongest). Funny how UGw Threshold managed to dodge all the Threshold-hating decks and Rw Goblins did the same to Goblins-hate.

RG Goblins and RB Goblins didn't share that fate, however, and here we come to the crux of how Goblins T8's so often. If there's enough Goblin decks, one's going to dodge the hate.

We're fixing to get to doing the T4 matches. Been a nightmarish week for getting time to play magic. Should be done in the next day or so.

[Nihil Credo]

I was already thinking about Solidarity's chances if Goblins won (IMO good: Chalice alone is insufficient) and if Thresh won (IMO bad: SB Disrupts are annoying), then I looked at that Salvagers list: dear God, postboard it's going to be a pain in the arse, with 4 of Duress, Therapy, Chant, *and* a fast kill.

[Blaukreuz]

me and a friend played the contest. It was awesome!

Some results seem weird, maybe because we aren't used to play all the decks (i.e. TES...)

Hannifish took the win:

check this: http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8162/bracketformaduptournameqd3.jpg

[Tacosnape]

Semifinals are in. We'll have a couple days dramatic buildup before the finals.

RW Goblins d. UGW Threshold, 2-0
Game 1, RW Goblins opens with Mountain, Aether Vial. Threshold Needles it, then dazes a Piledriver, STP's a Warchief, Forces a Ringleader, and gets a Werebear down. Goblins hits Disenchant on the Needle, though, and the Vial starts dropping out Siege-Gang Commanders. Things get out of control quickly as Threshold gets down a Mystic Enforcer only to watch it get Gempalm Incinerator'd into oblivion.

Game 2, Threshold starts with Tropical, Mongoose, go. Goblins gets a Lackey down, which meets with Hydroblast. Chalice for 1 gets Forced, but a second Chalice for 1 sticks. Meddling Mage comes down on Ringleader and Goblins gets all the way down to four before stabilizing with Matrons and Gempalm Incinerators. Once the Mage is gone, Ringleaders chain into more Ringleaders, while Threshold is left standing helpless as its threats get run over.

After game 2, Threshold's hand consisted of Hydroblast, Hydroblast, Brainstorm, Serum Visions, STP, Mongoose, Needle. Chalice of the Void's a biiitch.

Gamekeeper Salvagers d. Solidarity, 2-1
Game 1 Solidarity laughs in the face of Duress and Therapy with Brainstorm and Meditate, Hijacks Salvagers' storm count, and proceeds to eat its face. Solidarity could taste tournament victory, especially with Goblins already knocking off Threshold.

Game 2, Solidarity and Salvagers both mulligan to five. Salvagers opens with Duress, then Night's Whisper, while Solidarity brainstorms into three basic islands and runs out of gas. Orim's Chant draws a Force, but Solidarity has nothing to back it up as Salvagers chains Gamekeeper into Gamekeeper into Salvagers.

Game 3, Solidarity keeps a one-land hand with double Opt and Brainstorm. Opt misses a land, as does a desperate main phase turn 2 Opt to avoid missing the land drop, and then the Brainstorm gets Duressed (Ouch), and Salvagers has a Gamekeeper down on turn 3 with a topdecked Ritual while Solidarity can't hit a second land to save its life. Fortunately, Salvagers can't seem to -kill- the Gamekeeper and is missing LED, so instead it drops out a Salvagers too and starts going aggro. Solidarity finally starts getting land, but by this time the pressure's on at 4 damage a turn and it's forced to try to go off with three land. Solidarity goes Tide, Salvagers Chants. Solidarity Forces. Salvagers Chants again. Solidarity Tides again, Resets, Meditates into Island/Island/Delta/Turnabout, and completely fails to go off while Gamekeeper Salvagers swings for the match.

And so our final match is RW Goblins against Gamekeeper Salvagers.

[Eldariel]

We all know how Solidarity should eat Salvagers, but alas, things like this happen, and are only amplified on MWS. Ultimately, I think Salvagers will win as Goblins, especially with Disenchant over StP, really are just slower than a combo-deck even if that combo-deck is something like Salvagers. Post-SB, Gobs have Chalice and whatnot, but even that might not be enough.

[Tacosnape]

Strangely enough this is a match I've played a lot of times from both perspectives. To win game 1, Goblins usually needs to connect Lackey into SGC and have an Incinerator ready for Auriok Salvagers. It doesn't do this very often and therefore doesn't win game 1 very often. Postboard, though. can be a nightmare for Salvagers, between Chalice, Pyrokinesis, STP, and Incinerator all with the potential to mess things up. Especially since this Salvagers list doesn't run Infest.

But yeah, MWS hosed me playing Solidarity (I piloted Solidarity every match.) Double Chant hurt, but I'd win that match if the lands hadn't uber-clumped and Meditate and Brainstorm didn't hate me. At least it was amusing to get beaten to death with a Gamekeeper and a Salvager. I don't think I've ever had that happen.

I kind of hope Goblins doesn't win. It'd be a shame for the most ridiculously overplayed and popular deck to win a tournament like this. Plus I had a hand in the Salvagers list and could redeem some pride from it winning, since Dragon Stompy and Twilight ran into their respective nightmare cards, Survival and Deed.

[Silverdragon]

Sad to see Solidarity didn't make the finals but bad luck just happens sometimes. For the finals I think Gamekeeper will take it all in a close 3rd game. Goblins just doesn't have enough hate to fight through.
All hail the mighty Gamekeeper ^_^

[Bane of the Living]

Ive been saying Keeper is underplayed for like 2 years now. It doesnt even have the bad Solidarity matchup as most people expect. You just need to hit correctly with your discard and mulligan correctly. I think complaining about MWS is futile since it still got Solidarity to top four. Shit happens irl too.

[Phantom]

Ive been saying Keeper is underplayed for like 2 years now. It doesnt even have the bad Solidarity matchup as most people expect. You just need to hit correctly with your discard and mulligan correctly. I think complaining about MWS is futile since it still got Solidarity to top four. Shit happens irl too.


Agreed. I think the deck has simply suffered from a lack of vocal proponents and people actively working on changes. I never went near it because it always seemed so easy to hate out, but then it would be difficult to explain its T8 appearances in the largest Legacy tourneys ever played.

Something may be wrong with MWS, I really don't know, but the cream rose to the top in this tourney, so I'm not blaming any losses on the system.

[Solpugid]

I definitely agree with the underappreciation of salvagers. In testing I consistently beat both goblins (though it was w/out splash) and UGW thresh. Hating on the deck, as it turns out, is rather difficult. I ended up putting the deck down when I kept losing to a vial-wizards deck (massively janky, but the permanent-based counters made it immune to discard). So basically, the deck can fight through dedicated hate, but certain strategies just run through it.

That said, I can only imagine salvagers winning the finals, since it has proven so resilient.

[troopatroop]

Ive been saying Keeper is underplayed for like 2 years now. It doesnt even have the bad Solidarity matchup as most people expect. You just need to hit correctly with your discard and mulligan correctly. I think complaining about MWS is futile since it still got Solidarity to top four. Shit happens irl too.

Like you've ever contributed to the deck. Be real.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I know we're all kind of splooging over actually broken decks, but I'd like to see how this turns out. If nothing else, to remind me of a format that didn't suck.

Also, what the fuck? Why does Gamekeeper keep doing so well and suck so much in testing?

[freakish777]

I know we're all kind of splooging over actually broken decks, but I'd like to see how this turns out. If nothing else, to remind me of a format that didn't suck.

Also, what the fuck? Why does Gamekeeper keep doing so well and suck so much in testing?

Because you aren't playing it with Flash!

[Tacosnape]

We'll be finishing this up Monday, guaranteed. We all kind of got sidetracked by Legacy being chainsawed in the testicles.

[Tacosnape]

The results are in.

Despite our temptations to give the automatic win to Hulk Flash despite the deck not existing at this tournament's inception, we piloted our finalist decks like the Flair and Hogan of their day.

The die roll happened, as die rolls often do. GK Salvagers got the roll 16-3.

Game 1:
Salvagers mulliganed to 6. A turn one Therapy on Lackey hit, leaving Goblins without much of a play for a few turns. Goblins stalled with Rishadan Ports, but Night's Whisper and Tainted Pact got Gamekeeper Salvagers to enough lands to go off. Gamekeeper came down, Flashed Therapy, and hit a second Gamekeeper after rolling another Therapy. The Therapy took Gempalm Incinerator out of the equation, and Salvagers comboed out immediately after. (1-0 Salvagers)

Game 2:
This time it was RW Goblins mulliganing to 6. Turn one went Plateau, Lackey, Chalice for 0. Salvagers nailed the Lackey with Innocent Blood. Piledriver and Warchief came soon thereafter, but were met with Pernicious Deed which cleared the way for a victory. Therapy ripped out a Swords to Plowshares and showed a clear hand, and GK Salvagers dropped the Gamekeeper and flashed. The Salvagers was six cards deep, but left Salvagers without a Chromatic or Spellbomb. A few creatures later, Goblins drew into Pyrokinesis, cleared the way, and was able to swing through for the victory. (Series Tied, 1-1)

Game 3:
Goblins had to mulligan to six again. Salvagers opened with a Duress on Swords to Plowshares, while Goblins went Plateau, Lackey. Salvagers followed with another Duress on Pyrokinesis, leaving a clear hand. Goblins dropped out a second land and a Piledriver and Lackeyed into a second Piledriver. Salvagers Living Wished for Auriok Salvagers and Duressed again, showing only a Mountain in Goblins' hand.

Goblins untapped, drew a card, attacked for 11, played the Mountain, and passed the turn.

Salvagers untapped, played a land, dropped an LED, cast the Salvagers, and showed the Chromatic Sphere.

Goblins showed the lone card in its hand. The Swords to Plowshares it had peeled off the top.

RW Goblins d. Gamekeeper Salvagers, 2-1.

Hope you guys enjoyed the tournament. Thank you guys very much for your interest, support, and patience!

----------------

Oh, and, Start suggesting decks for next tournament. All the big names will be there, as well as UW Landstill, Train Wreck, 4-Deuce, and BWR Aggro.

Also, make your suggestions as to whether or not Hulk Flash should be allowed to participate in this tournament.

[Atwa]

Nice to see goblins win the whole tournament. Now I do hate Goblins with a fiery passion, but it pretty much proves what most of us have been saying for over 1.5 year: Goblins is the best deck in the format.

I really want to thank you for putting the effort into playing al these games, and giving us some real statistics about matchups, something you can't always trust in a just opened thread, since most people tend to thinks their latest project will warp the metagame.

I hope you had a lot of fun playing out these matches, and altough I haven't really been following it the whole time, I've surely enjoyed it.



Also, make your suggestions as to whether or not Hulk Flash should be allowed to participate in this tournament.

I think you guys need to take a rest, work a little on your own decks, maybe participate in the GP (good luck if you do, I'll be watching all the coverage) and wait at least until june 1st until you start preperation for another 2-man tourneys again.

Hopefully at that time flash will be banned (my personal opinion, don't start another discussion about the topic over here) and maybe where will be some unbannings (in Land Tax, Mind over Matter, etc). Let's see what the GP and June 1st brings us, let some dust settle, and then start it again.

[Bane of the Living]

Golden Grahams with Flash in it. Duh..

[Phantom]

Don't you guys know that Goblins is inevitably doomed by fast combo? Hadn't you heard the gods of Legacy declare it so? Aggro should just completely be left out of the next tournament because of all the inevitability.

Aside from my bitter sarcasm, I really enjoyed watching this, and it has even inspired me to proxy up GK and she how she rolls.

I'd like to see ERA in the next one, but I'm not sure it deserves a slot as no one has ever played it, ever. I did get 2 people who were going to play it at the GP, but then something happened a while ago. Can't remember what...

(Man, I am SO bitter)

[Tacosnape]

I hope you had a lot of fun playing out these matches, and altough I haven't really been following it the whole time, I've surely enjoyed it.

I think you guys need to take a rest, work a little on your own decks, maybe participate in the GP (good luck if you do, I'll be watching all the coverage) and wait at least until june 1st until you start preperation for another 2-man tourneys again.


It was a blast. I'm glad people enjoyed it. I think the absolute most fun part about it was that the decklists spanned the entire history of Legacy. It creates a whole new Legacy metagame that could never really exist.

The real problem here is that if Flash gets banned, it's going to be really hard to take lists from GP Columbus due to the warping Flash is going to have on that tournament's decklists. But ah well. It'll be at least a few weeks before we start the next one. Just wanted to get an advance list for possible decks we overlooked or possible new decks.


I'd like to see ERA in the next one, but I'm not sure it deserves a slot as no one has ever played it, ever. I did get 2 people who were going to play it at the GP, but then something happened a while ago. Can't remember what...

(Man, I am SO bitter)

I'm sure Eldariel and I have you beat. At least people didn't hijack and butcher ERA like they've attempted with Faerie and Dragon Stompy.:cool: Although Dragon Stompy's probably as much your deck as mine now.

[Brushwagg]

I just have to give you two props for doing this. I like playing Magic in all, but god damn what a marathon you did. I look foward to reading the next one, if there is one. Oh and I was totally surprised you included Molotov Cocktail in this thing.

[Tacosnape]

I just have to give you two props for doing this. I like playing Magic in all, but god damn what a marathon you did.

This is why our next one is only going to be 32 decks instead of 64. Heh. We just kind of wanted to capture the March Madness feel.