BoomChild
04-21-2007, 02:20 PM
Hello friends and fiends. Boom's back with another report that hopefully stirs the legacy pot up again like my last one seemed to do. Now, while I did finish 7th at this event which is technically a "Top 8", at CoD top4 get prize and well, I get you to read the article more if I distort reality a bit...
Anyways this time for people who were asking I got a little more information for you all. MNL this week had 21 people register and prepare for battle. It would be a 5 round event with top4 getting prizes. I took Meat Hooks again, determined to find the shortcomings of the deck before Columbus and this is the list that I ran this week. Forgive my memory, I'm on a bus typing this from memory cause my notes are at home.
Meat Hooks v.BoomChild
Creatures:
Perfect 19
Spells:
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
2x Counterspell
4x Brainstorm
3x Portent
3x Predict
3x Swords to Plowhares
Lands:
4x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
1x Windswept Heath
4x Tropical Island
3x Tundra
1x Island
1x Plains
Sideboard:
4x Meddling Mage
3x Harmonic Sliver
2x Tormod's Crypt
4x Chill
1x Sacred Ground
1x Pithing Needle
Some questionable points of my deckbuilding which came up during the tournament are: 3 STP?!?! WTF, answer, my brother was playing terrageddon and he got the playset and I got the leftovers. Happens. Predict?!?! Yeah that card sucked. I never wanted to cast it and it was the first 3 I sided out each match. Just wanted to try it out. SB?!!? Ok the usual suspects are there in Meddling Mage and Harmonic, but 1x of Sacred Ground and Needle?? They were my silver bullet answers to a few decks that float around here at CoD such as Stax, Sui Black, and others.
Anyways.... on to the report (From memory)
Round 1 - Sui Black
Game 1: I recognize my opponent from other matches and know what he's playing. I keep a land heavy hand knowing that I will need every land drop that I can muster in this matchup. Luckily I have early slivers and a daze to save my lands from being destroyed. I power out 2 Crusade slivers and win through the combat phase of Magic.
SB: In-4x Meddling Mages, 1x Sacred Ground, 1x Needle, Out: 3 Predict, 1 Portent, 1 Daze, 1 STP.
Game 2: I fan out my opening 7 and see both Sacred Ground and Needle in there. A trop is my only land, but I have a portent to dig if I don't draw one off the first 2 turns. He leads with land go, I respond with Land Needle naming Wasteland. Half way there. Turn 2 I fail to draw a land so I portent and see my fetch is two cards down, and a FoW is in there also. How lucky. I draw the FoW on his turn and am able to deflect an Ice Storm on my Tropical and draw the fetch to get tundra to play sacred ground of sui black crotch punches turn 3. At that point it becomes getting my meat on baord so I can start smacking him around before he gets his hippies and shades going. I beat for a few turns he plays an E. Plague and my slivers shrink a lil in their chairs. I draw another crusade sliver, then meddling mage naming E Plague and He topdecks another plague and concedes.
1-0, 2-0
Not a bad start....
Round 2: Red Threshold via Kevin
Game 1: Kevin sits down and makes a statement that I get to play against threshold now and we'll see how the matchup plays out. Apparently he reads my literature here on the source. We start up the match and he wins the roll, how unlucky. Knowing each other's deck helps the start of the game, I have learned from playing thresh matchups that Slivers > Mongeese. Put the early pressure on with a Crystaline and a Crusade sliver and don't let up. Someone smart once said "No wrong threat, only wrong answers." That is what you do against threshold. I applied pressure quickly and held back the burn to my face and the blastoderm that wanted to join the party and I won game 1 in about 12 turns.
SB: 4x Chill, 3x Meddling Mage OUT: 3x Predict, 3x STP, 1 Portent, 1 Daze
Game 2: I take out my STP's cause they suck when MM is out. Not to mention that his deck can't be targeted much like mine. I hear Chill is good against red so I follow the crowd and put em in. Game 2 plays out very much in my favor. I get the early crystaline sliver and crusade sliver. The turning point in the match though is when he taps out for what I believe was a blastoderm but it ran into a daze in my hand. Next turn i played out a Chill which turned off his burn for a few turns which gave me the tempo lead. At one point he attempted a Pyroclasm with 1 mana open but a quick point to Chill reminded us all of the futility. It was academic at that point and I combat phase win. Kevin's a good guy to play against, very well thought out on all his plays. I look forward to playing him again.
2-0, 4-0
Round 3: Boros Deck Wins... :cry:
Game 1: This is not a fun matchup. Just enough creatures to make the burn get in there for the win is the modus operandi of this deck. I find myself lacking the ability to play a crystaline sliver and eventaully fold under the pressure of savannah lions and grim lavamancers. I only did 3 dmg.
SB: In 4 Chill, 4 Meddling Mage, Out 3 Predict, 2 Daze, 2 Portent, 1 STP
Game 2: Knowing that the general SB idea of Boros is to side into more burn and less creatures when going against a control deck (I assume) I take out some of the less relevent cards. I see one sliver the whole game which isn't a crystaline sliver while he gets a Jotun Grunt and double Lavamancer. I'm out of the match before the game even really gets started and I pick up my bloodied slivers and we head to watch my buddies play.
2-1, 4-2
Interlude:
My brother Nick is playing Terrageddon. I believe this is one of the strongest decks in this format because of it's rediculous ability to exploit 3 very potent win coditions in Legacy in Werebear, Solitary Confinement, and Astral Slide. He had a rough day playing against what seemed like all the combo players at CoD that day but still managed to pluck out a 3-2 finish. This deck imo is going to be some good at columbus. If I had to mulligan to another deck, that would be it.
Also, my friend Matt is playing my version of Spring Tide. Apparently it's the "Popular" deck for me to play when I go to CoD but I can't get the damn thing to work for me. Matt on the other hand is a combo adept and he picks it up when we get there and doesn't even fan it out. Just raw dogs the deck for 5 rounds. This deck is so much more consistent that the reset versions that I find it hard to believe that more people don't play it. With Future sight coming out soon I believe it will be legal for Columbus and the blue pact is so much better than FoW in that deck.
End Interlude.
Round 4: R/w Goblins.. RAWR!
Game 1: Well.. I want to say that I actually did something in this match up but I didn't. I forced a vial on turn 1 but that was the end of my game. I never saw a second land off of a portent and a brainstorm and couldn't get the damn green dudes outta my back yard. it was a rough game to say the least.
SB: +4 Chill -3 Predict, -1 Portent
Game 2: I go first and keep a 2 lander. He gets going with his vials and lackeys. I kill a lackey but the beats keep coming. I see a total of 5 slivers the entire match, none of which are Crystaline so I am doomed. It is in this game that I remember that my brother is also using our Tividar's Crusades which makes me cry a little because of how good that thing is.
2-2, 4-4
Round 5: Stax!!!
Game 1: So. I've never actually played against stax in Legacy but I figure it's not that much different from playing against it in Vintage. He wins the roll and gets going with ancient tomb into something which I don't see as being all that bad, probably was a crucible. I get the early beats going with a Crystaline Sliver and a Crusade sliver on board. Tanglewire hits and I can't attack for a while but he is damaging himself like crazy from the Tombs. I don't get to attack until he is already at 8 life from ancient tomb shenannigans and when I finally attack in for the win I only have to use two combat phases.
SB: In +3 Harmonics, +1 Sacred Ground, +1 Pithing Needle Out: 3 Predict, 1 STP, 1 Portent
Game 2: Well I wish this game had gone better. He gets an early lock going with tanglewires and attempts to play a stax. I FoW that annoying artifact. He plays a second wire and it leaves me in a bad position. Karn hits the baord and he is able to smash in for the win a few turns via Smokestack Beats. Oh well.
Game 3: I am able to keep a strong opening hand knowing how fast his deck can play out from his super lands. He goes for the turn 1 Crucible again off a Tomb and a Diamond. I Daze it leaving him with 3 cards in hand. I like going up a card early. I play out a turn 2 Sacred Ground which confuses him a bit but I figure if Stax comes into play, I get free sac's from it. We play out for a while and I get the slivers going and he is forced to Wildfire. Slightly taken aback by this I almost forget I have sacred ground in play. I enjoy the one sided 'Geddon and rebuild my sliver base by topdecking 2 more crystaline slivers in the next 4 draws. It gets to a point where the race is on between his Barbarian Ring and my sliver beats. IMO he could have won had he forsaken playing spells and just went for the ring activations. But he didn't and I was able to get a Crusade sliver into play and won in two swings. Great Match!!
3-2, 6-5
Well that's that. They do the final standings and this is how it laid out for my friends and the Top4
1) Boros Deck Wins (Guy I played 3rd Round)
2) Survival of Fittest RGb
3) Spring Tide played by Matt
4) Deadguy Ale
7) Meat Hooks (Me)
8) Terrageddon (Nick)
So I got to lay into Nick a little for getting paired down once so I beat his breakers. The tourny was fun and I hope that I get to head out there again sooner than later. My work schedule is changing again so I am back on work Mondays but I will be back. And if I don't, well I'll see most of you in Columbus and I'll be sporting the Hooks unless something drastic happens.
XoXoXoXoXo
Boomer
Anyways this time for people who were asking I got a little more information for you all. MNL this week had 21 people register and prepare for battle. It would be a 5 round event with top4 getting prizes. I took Meat Hooks again, determined to find the shortcomings of the deck before Columbus and this is the list that I ran this week. Forgive my memory, I'm on a bus typing this from memory cause my notes are at home.
Meat Hooks v.BoomChild
Creatures:
Perfect 19
Spells:
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
2x Counterspell
4x Brainstorm
3x Portent
3x Predict
3x Swords to Plowhares
Lands:
4x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
1x Windswept Heath
4x Tropical Island
3x Tundra
1x Island
1x Plains
Sideboard:
4x Meddling Mage
3x Harmonic Sliver
2x Tormod's Crypt
4x Chill
1x Sacred Ground
1x Pithing Needle
Some questionable points of my deckbuilding which came up during the tournament are: 3 STP?!?! WTF, answer, my brother was playing terrageddon and he got the playset and I got the leftovers. Happens. Predict?!?! Yeah that card sucked. I never wanted to cast it and it was the first 3 I sided out each match. Just wanted to try it out. SB?!!? Ok the usual suspects are there in Meddling Mage and Harmonic, but 1x of Sacred Ground and Needle?? They were my silver bullet answers to a few decks that float around here at CoD such as Stax, Sui Black, and others.
Anyways.... on to the report (From memory)
Round 1 - Sui Black
Game 1: I recognize my opponent from other matches and know what he's playing. I keep a land heavy hand knowing that I will need every land drop that I can muster in this matchup. Luckily I have early slivers and a daze to save my lands from being destroyed. I power out 2 Crusade slivers and win through the combat phase of Magic.
SB: In-4x Meddling Mages, 1x Sacred Ground, 1x Needle, Out: 3 Predict, 1 Portent, 1 Daze, 1 STP.
Game 2: I fan out my opening 7 and see both Sacred Ground and Needle in there. A trop is my only land, but I have a portent to dig if I don't draw one off the first 2 turns. He leads with land go, I respond with Land Needle naming Wasteland. Half way there. Turn 2 I fail to draw a land so I portent and see my fetch is two cards down, and a FoW is in there also. How lucky. I draw the FoW on his turn and am able to deflect an Ice Storm on my Tropical and draw the fetch to get tundra to play sacred ground of sui black crotch punches turn 3. At that point it becomes getting my meat on baord so I can start smacking him around before he gets his hippies and shades going. I beat for a few turns he plays an E. Plague and my slivers shrink a lil in their chairs. I draw another crusade sliver, then meddling mage naming E Plague and He topdecks another plague and concedes.
1-0, 2-0
Not a bad start....
Round 2: Red Threshold via Kevin
Game 1: Kevin sits down and makes a statement that I get to play against threshold now and we'll see how the matchup plays out. Apparently he reads my literature here on the source. We start up the match and he wins the roll, how unlucky. Knowing each other's deck helps the start of the game, I have learned from playing thresh matchups that Slivers > Mongeese. Put the early pressure on with a Crystaline and a Crusade sliver and don't let up. Someone smart once said "No wrong threat, only wrong answers." That is what you do against threshold. I applied pressure quickly and held back the burn to my face and the blastoderm that wanted to join the party and I won game 1 in about 12 turns.
SB: 4x Chill, 3x Meddling Mage OUT: 3x Predict, 3x STP, 1 Portent, 1 Daze
Game 2: I take out my STP's cause they suck when MM is out. Not to mention that his deck can't be targeted much like mine. I hear Chill is good against red so I follow the crowd and put em in. Game 2 plays out very much in my favor. I get the early crystaline sliver and crusade sliver. The turning point in the match though is when he taps out for what I believe was a blastoderm but it ran into a daze in my hand. Next turn i played out a Chill which turned off his burn for a few turns which gave me the tempo lead. At one point he attempted a Pyroclasm with 1 mana open but a quick point to Chill reminded us all of the futility. It was academic at that point and I combat phase win. Kevin's a good guy to play against, very well thought out on all his plays. I look forward to playing him again.
2-0, 4-0
Round 3: Boros Deck Wins... :cry:
Game 1: This is not a fun matchup. Just enough creatures to make the burn get in there for the win is the modus operandi of this deck. I find myself lacking the ability to play a crystaline sliver and eventaully fold under the pressure of savannah lions and grim lavamancers. I only did 3 dmg.
SB: In 4 Chill, 4 Meddling Mage, Out 3 Predict, 2 Daze, 2 Portent, 1 STP
Game 2: Knowing that the general SB idea of Boros is to side into more burn and less creatures when going against a control deck (I assume) I take out some of the less relevent cards. I see one sliver the whole game which isn't a crystaline sliver while he gets a Jotun Grunt and double Lavamancer. I'm out of the match before the game even really gets started and I pick up my bloodied slivers and we head to watch my buddies play.
2-1, 4-2
Interlude:
My brother Nick is playing Terrageddon. I believe this is one of the strongest decks in this format because of it's rediculous ability to exploit 3 very potent win coditions in Legacy in Werebear, Solitary Confinement, and Astral Slide. He had a rough day playing against what seemed like all the combo players at CoD that day but still managed to pluck out a 3-2 finish. This deck imo is going to be some good at columbus. If I had to mulligan to another deck, that would be it.
Also, my friend Matt is playing my version of Spring Tide. Apparently it's the "Popular" deck for me to play when I go to CoD but I can't get the damn thing to work for me. Matt on the other hand is a combo adept and he picks it up when we get there and doesn't even fan it out. Just raw dogs the deck for 5 rounds. This deck is so much more consistent that the reset versions that I find it hard to believe that more people don't play it. With Future sight coming out soon I believe it will be legal for Columbus and the blue pact is so much better than FoW in that deck.
End Interlude.
Round 4: R/w Goblins.. RAWR!
Game 1: Well.. I want to say that I actually did something in this match up but I didn't. I forced a vial on turn 1 but that was the end of my game. I never saw a second land off of a portent and a brainstorm and couldn't get the damn green dudes outta my back yard. it was a rough game to say the least.
SB: +4 Chill -3 Predict, -1 Portent
Game 2: I go first and keep a 2 lander. He gets going with his vials and lackeys. I kill a lackey but the beats keep coming. I see a total of 5 slivers the entire match, none of which are Crystaline so I am doomed. It is in this game that I remember that my brother is also using our Tividar's Crusades which makes me cry a little because of how good that thing is.
2-2, 4-4
Round 5: Stax!!!
Game 1: So. I've never actually played against stax in Legacy but I figure it's not that much different from playing against it in Vintage. He wins the roll and gets going with ancient tomb into something which I don't see as being all that bad, probably was a crucible. I get the early beats going with a Crystaline Sliver and a Crusade sliver on board. Tanglewire hits and I can't attack for a while but he is damaging himself like crazy from the Tombs. I don't get to attack until he is already at 8 life from ancient tomb shenannigans and when I finally attack in for the win I only have to use two combat phases.
SB: In +3 Harmonics, +1 Sacred Ground, +1 Pithing Needle Out: 3 Predict, 1 STP, 1 Portent
Game 2: Well I wish this game had gone better. He gets an early lock going with tanglewires and attempts to play a stax. I FoW that annoying artifact. He plays a second wire and it leaves me in a bad position. Karn hits the baord and he is able to smash in for the win a few turns via Smokestack Beats. Oh well.
Game 3: I am able to keep a strong opening hand knowing how fast his deck can play out from his super lands. He goes for the turn 1 Crucible again off a Tomb and a Diamond. I Daze it leaving him with 3 cards in hand. I like going up a card early. I play out a turn 2 Sacred Ground which confuses him a bit but I figure if Stax comes into play, I get free sac's from it. We play out for a while and I get the slivers going and he is forced to Wildfire. Slightly taken aback by this I almost forget I have sacred ground in play. I enjoy the one sided 'Geddon and rebuild my sliver base by topdecking 2 more crystaline slivers in the next 4 draws. It gets to a point where the race is on between his Barbarian Ring and my sliver beats. IMO he could have won had he forsaken playing spells and just went for the ring activations. But he didn't and I was able to get a Crusade sliver into play and won in two swings. Great Match!!
3-2, 6-5
Well that's that. They do the final standings and this is how it laid out for my friends and the Top4
1) Boros Deck Wins (Guy I played 3rd Round)
2) Survival of Fittest RGb
3) Spring Tide played by Matt
4) Deadguy Ale
7) Meat Hooks (Me)
8) Terrageddon (Nick)
So I got to lay into Nick a little for getting paired down once so I beat his breakers. The tourny was fun and I hope that I get to head out there again sooner than later. My work schedule is changing again so I am back on work Mondays but I will be back. And if I don't, well I'll see most of you in Columbus and I'll be sporting the Hooks unless something drastic happens.
XoXoXoXoXo
Boomer