THis is a really interesting take on the deck. Not sure how I feel about bauble though...seems like it is in there just to make the crane better
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THis is a really interesting take on the deck. Not sure how I feel about bauble though...seems like it is in there just to make the crane better
Yes, making crane better and smoothing out draws (crack bauble and see if you want to fetch in your turn or opponents).Quote:
Originally Posted by Razorwynd
The main problem with the artifact theme IMO is the lack of good 1-drops, that's why I turned to bauble.
If you have any suggestions that doesn't drop the artifact count under 20–22, that would be welcome. I'm so sad we can't play Shardless in this build. :(
From an aluren idea that looks a bit like this :P
Why not play Antiquitys War as secound win ?
Yeah that's sweet tech. Hard to fit one in main, but will try to include one for the freebies. Might be a good sideboardplan, board out Food Chains for AQ Wars.Quote:
Originally Posted by FFreak
Hi people,
I played the deck in all side events at brussels GP with BUG version and it was fine.
I saw the article on MTGgolfish about Bant food chain.
What is your opinion? Is it competitive?
Thanks for your answer.
On paper I'm wary of any list that leans too hard on the combo finish. My experience with the deck informs me the most success I had was when I weaved back and forth between the combo finish and a plain-jane BUG value deck. My opponent's would side something to cut off one angle completely, only to succumb to the other. Phyrexian Revoker or Leyline of Sanctity can't protect you from Griffin beats. Ensnaring Bridge or an army of Angel tokens can't protect you from all the damage in the world coming straight to your face.Quote:
Originally Posted by Holmen
But losing DRS was a pretty deep cut into the BUG value half, one not easily replaced. Sure Birds of Paradise ramp and feed Food Chain. People were already playing Relic of Progenitus as DRS #5 just so there was never a case of a Griffin being stuck in the graveyard. But nothing really replaces that out when the game grinds to a halt and you're both out of options and draining for 2 gets you over the line first. Liliana the Last Hope offers some help with inevitability in a vacuum, but not much more than Griffin beats were doing already.
So maybe this is the future then. We're just a combo deck with a plan B. Not sure how I like that.
I'm not sure that is how the deck will function. Ballista is a great grindy removal tool, and trinket mage works as a toolbox for explosives and other goodies. Since almost everything gives value, I think it has the potential to grind decks out. I will get back about the build after testing!Quote:
Originally Posted by PirateKing
For a while, I also played a bant version with white Recruiter and Snapcaster which also was fine. All and all, I've tested more than 20 builds of FC, from BANT to 4c, some which have given me wins in +100 player events. Best version I ever played was the Shardless+DRS-build, and I miss it greatly. :)
OK, this is the build I will try for next legacy on monday.
Main:
4 Baleful Strix
4 Coiling Oracle
2 Fierce Empath
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Fatal Push
4 Misthollow Griffin
1 Eternal Scourge
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Food Chain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Manipulate Fate
4 Chrome Mox
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Gemstone Caverns
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
SB:
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Planar Void
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Thoughtseize
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Collective Brutality
2 Walking Ballista
1 Xantid Swarm
Without the artifact theme, you can keep the grindy game plan, go down on lands and play chrome mox instead of DRS. This gives a lot more explosive openings with a t1 valuedude. The number of turn 3 wins should improve, as well as a good lategame. Relic is a sweet card for board, since it goes in both in grindy games and fast ones.
I value the non-ballista game plan since it requires fewer slots, and the gurmag is a good beater that gets toolboxed by empath. It also has freebies against snt, weird painterdecks etc. A couple of ballistas in board is sweet against any decks packing X/1s.
I guess 4 Griffons and only 2 Fates is because of mox chrome. Its a bit sad to only play 2 of the best card in the deck.
Careful with chome mox. Once you remove the imprinted card ie. casting Griffin the mox will not tap for Mana. I agree with jackbo and would cut a grif. For a Fate or even ponder number 2Quote:
Originally Posted by Holmen
I agree in theory, but when trying something new, I rather go with the full swing to get a grasp of the concept in practice, and then cut stuff after game play. My gut tells me to play 3 mox/3 griffins. That chrome mox stops being a mox sapphire when you start to deploy griffins is fine, by then you are in good shape mana-wise. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by WarpWorld
3-0-1 yesterday locally.
Main:
4 Baleful Strix
4 Coiling Oracle
4 Walking Ballista
1 Trinket Mage
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Misthollow Griffin
1 Eternal Scourge
2 Ponder
4 Food Chain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Manipulate Fate
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Chrome Mox
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
SB
1 Pithing Needle
2 Planar Void
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Fatal Push
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Carpet of Flowers
4 Kitesail Freebooter
Sneak and Show (2-1)
Game 1 he crushed me fast as expected. 0-1
Game 2 he went for a fast SNT which i Fowed, and then started deploying freebooters to rip his hand apart. 1-1
Game 3 was the same as game 2, I played a turn one freebooter and continued to handle his game plan while deploying mine. 2-1
Infect (2–1)
Game 1 I kept a zerolander like a chump on the draw, but with a ponder, a chrome mox and a griffin. Saw one land on the ponder and zero after that. 0-1
Game 2 I played about 10 removals on his dudes, and then slowly grinded him out with my Griffins. 1-1
Game 3 was the same, a needle on inkmoth and all removal pointed and Agents. This matchup, I take out 1 Chain and 1 Fate, as well as some slower cards like ponder, and overload them with removal. 2-1
Grixis kontroll (2-1)
Game 1 I got crushed by the combination of a tombstalker and a lot of countermagic. 0-1
Game 2 I played a turn one manipulate fate, turn 2 food chain, and a turn three infinite ballista.Yummy! 1-1
Game 3 I played a turn one Planar Void which is MVP against grixis. All their delve, snappys etc, become useless, as well as removal for griff. I played the same Griffin about 10 times until he finally went out of pushes and bolts. 2-1
Zombardment
Game 1 he had the nuts and therapied my hand apart. 0-1
Game 2 I played a planar void which won me the game. 1-1
Game 3 was in time 2 minutes after we started, so we had no time to play it out.
Overall, I was no fan of ballista in main (again). Might try it one more time before switching to empath-route. Empath is sweet with Angler and with Elesh Norn in sideboard.
Iäve last all preboarded games, seems like deck is better after board...
@Holmen
Your list looks really interesting, I like the idea of the Chrome Mox. I was wondering how were the Coiling Oracles for you? From looking at the list, 4 seems kind of excessive and it feels like there might be better things to do with 2 mana? I was thinking of playing 2 Lim-Dul's Vault but haven't had the chance to try it out yet.
Hi,
Here's the list i'm toying with on my last tournaments :
http://www.lotusnoir.info/magic/decks/bug-food-chain/
I did 3-1 on my 2 last tournaments with about 25-30 players each.
On 1st tournament :
Win 2-1 Eldrazi
Win 2-0 TES
Lost 1-2 Omnitell
Win 2-0 Junk
On 2nd tournament :
Win 2-1 mono G devotion (casual deck)
Win 2-1 High tide
Lost 1-2 Infect
Win 2-0 a casual deck artifact control mono U
Here are my results for the moment.
I think i'll play MKM Series Paris with this list too !
I´m not sure about coiling, but I want to maximize on creatures for the 2-slot to make chain better. For example, 4 Freebooters in board is a sweet tech.
Lim-Dul's is not for this deck IMO, we don´t need a way to find our chain. I´ve played Lim-Dul´s in earlier iterations.
Upsides:
It is good on chrome mox
It is blue for force
It is value and can chump to buy time
It can create ramp if you use ponder och brainstorm turn 1 to set it up
It ramps for the chain
Downsides:
It has a largely irrelevant body
It is slow: a 1/1 for two that almost doesn´t impact the board is harsh when you already got manipulate on the 2-slot that doesn't impact the board
It has two colors: making it harder to chain into
Alternatives:
Wall of Roots
Wall of Blossoms
Birds of Paradise
Noble Hierarch
Adding Wirewood Symbiote to increase value and impact (might need Leo and Empath for additional Value)
GSZ
Quote:
Originally Posted by pocari79
Hi,
We'll get this new card soon :
http://www.magic-ville.com/pics/pfou/grn/152.jpg
Could this fit in our lists ?
Nvm
Hey fellas,
I created a new thread here on the source with a new version of Food Chain, please let me know what you think. It looks like hell of fun and quite powerful :laugh:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...d-Chain-Stompy
Eternal Weekend 2018 Legacy Tournament Report ("19th" Place):
***My Decklist:
(20 Lands)
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Polluted Delta
3x Verdant Catacombs
2x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Bayou
2x Island
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Gemstone Caverns
(18 Creatures)
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Baleful Strix
1x Trinket Mage
1x Spellseeker
1x Eternal Scourge
3x Misthollow Griffin
1x Notion Thief
1x Tombstalker
1x Muldrotha, the Gravetide
2x Walking Ballista
(22 Non-Creature Spells)
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Brainstorm
3x Manipulate Fate
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Assassin's Trophy
4x Food Chain
4x Force of Will
1x Murderous Cut
(15 Sideboard)
3x Leyline of the Void
2x Thoughtseize
2x Hymn to Tourach
2x Flusterstorm
1x Spell Pierce
1x Carpet of Flowers
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Pithing Needle
***Background Stuff/Deck Choice (Skip ahead to "The Matches" if this kind of stuff bores you):
*So going into this year's eternal weekend, I knew I was going to play food chain and most likely the build I had been jamming. The biggest question mark was vintage, which I ended up playing 4x notion thief and making top 8 (That tourney report is here). So on the morning of the legacy tournament, I audibled out of main deck Leovold into main deck notion thief. The rest of the deck is kind of an amalgamation of some of the greatest Food Chain minds. I took Brian's sideboard and tweaked my main deck to match his a bit more (there was only a couple card differences at that point). I still jammed 2 of my 3 pet cards (Gemstone Caverns, Spellseeker, Hostage Taker) and in the blind tried a new pet card that I always wanted to try - Muldrotha; it could also be argued that spellseeker is going to be considered stock BUG FC card, as it is insanely good.
*And no, food chain isn't dead! Sure, it's not as good as it used to be pre-DRS ban, but all the other decks lost him too. DRS drains was only plan C back then. Plan A is still value 3/3 beats with supports from 1/1s and occasionally a 5/5. Plan B is combo. The thing I miss most about DRS isn't the drain 2; it's actually the incidental valuable GY hate that hurts a lot of decks. Losing DRS made me play Relic, which made me play trinket mage, and thusly walking ballista. Otherwise, I might still have registered some shardless agents with Ms. Emrakul and her friend tidespout tyrant. Overall, I don't think food chain moved much in terms of meta tiers after DRS banning: it's still a tier 2 deck, which is plenty good enough in legacy. Of all the DRS decks, I think Food Chain and Elves were probably least affected by the ban.
*Regarding other card choices, I don't think I'm playing anything too new that I haven't played before except the following.
1) Muldrotha: She seems excellent in grindy matchups and with BoP getting to 6 mana in the long games isn't unreasonable. She allows you to rebuy lost food chains and ballistas used as removal spells. Also, baleful strix can be cast as a creature or artifact for more value.
2) Carpet of Flowers: I was initially down on this card, but it plays a huge role versus delver decks and control decks. The extra mana makes it tough for them to fight everything, plus BoP usually come out vs. the control decks. Sorry Carpet for doubting you!
3) Leyline of the Void: Brian told me there was a lot of Dredge out there and online. Plus it just replaces my 2x Surgical + Cage I had been using before, so it hits most of the same matchups.
*I chose to exclude all names of opponents unless it was already given to the public (via top 8 decklists or camera matches). Apologies that all is done from memory, as I didn't even think about tournament report until late in day 1 and even then I was too tired to take copious notes. I also don't remember exactly on most of my SB'ing choices, but they'd only be a card or two off (for all SB where I take out BoP it is replaced by gemstone out for 1 BoP on the play). Now onto the matches!
***The Matches:
**Round 1 - 4C No Red Leovold Stoneblade (Favorable):
*Game 1 (Draw): He gets a t2 leovold which is annoying and beats down with exalted for 4 a turn, but it is not enough to stop me from assembling the combo, though 9 power would have stabilized even without ballista.
*Game 2 (Draw): He gets another t2 leovold, this time it is triple exalted and the beats for 6 a turn is too much, especially backed up by a timely force of will.
*Game 3 (Play): This game is a grind fest. He starts the beats early with ethersworn canonist and friends. My earlier food chain had eaten a force of will and I cannot find another to help stabilize the board. Canonist stifles my ability to do both griffin making and casting removal for stabilization. I EOT brainstorm into carpet and EE. I have just enough mana to cast EE on 2 then also cast carpet on main phase 1. Attack with strixes, then main phase 2 use carpet mana to blow up the canonist, allowing me to also have mana to cast manipulate fate and fade a draw step of noble hierarch while I am at 3 life (he already has a BoP with 2 hierarch and me without fliers). He does not draw a hierarch, so I get to untap and cast a griffin on each turn, stabilizing and winning at 1 life.
*SB In: Carpet, 2x TS, Needle, Deluge, EE, Liliana, 2x Hymn, Spell Pierce on the play
*SB Out: 3x BoP, 4 FoW, 2x Ballista, Gemstone Caverns on the play
*Overall Record 1-0, Won 2-1
**Round 2 - G/W Maverick (Favorable):
*Game 1 (Play): He mulls to 6. We trade off force of will and removal for his threats, but then he is able to land a library to catch up. A scyrb ranger and scavenging ooze are unable to race my flock of griffins, cast in a fair fashion.
*Game 2 (Draw): This game was a massacre. He had Ooze, Scryb Ranger, and equipped Jitte by turn 4. I curved t2 strix into t3 food chain, chaining the strix for scourge + griffins from hand into t4 EE on 2 and blow it up.
*SB In: 2x TS, Needle, Deluge, EE, Liliana
*SB Out: Notion Thief, 4x FoW, 1x Ballista
*Overall Record 2-0, Won 2-0
**Round 3 - Czech Pile (Favorable) - Christopher Walton (Top 8 Player):
*Game 1 (Draw): I mull to 6. We exchange resources by my mulligan is a difference maker. He has force for my manipulate fate so I never get a chance to make up CA through the hymns. Game 1 takes a whle but a toxic deluge ultimately ends me.
*Game 2 (Play): I mull to 6 again. This one is another grindy affair but I believe I resolve manipulate fate to undo my mulligan and his hymns.
*Game 3 (Draw): I mull to 6 yet again, but this time Chris does as well. We only had 9-10 minutes left when starting this match, and I should have boarded 1x ballista back in knowing that a combo kill might be needed to win. My opponent isn't a fast player, but at least he also isn't a slow player; however, there is no way his deck is going to kill me in 9 minutes so at least I'm pretty sure I'm walking away with at least a draw (though I am wiling to concede to board state). This game is again a grindfest. We trade resources and it comes down to turns where he uses removal to stave off death. I am playing a warp speed, but one of his ponders takes about 30 seconds, for which he apologizes. I bring him down to 2 life on turn 5. He is hellbent with nothing but lands and top decking. I have a griffin, baleful strix, carpet of flowers that just cast muldrotha. I am able to cast the food chain from GY and chain into trinket mage (without ballista in deck). There is no out he could draw for my board. I ask for the concession not realizing he doesn't know that I could do all that with Muldrotha. Based on his initial response, I knew that trying to convince him that the win should be mine was futile so I don't put up any arguments further as the tournament must move on. We talk after I sign the match slip and he tells me he doesn't realize what Muldrotha did; either way he said he was playing for the draw and would not have conceded anyway. I'm just a tad annoyed as he had used more of the game clock in my opinion overall, but there is no time to dwell on it as the next round was going to start soon. After all, I did not defeat him in the time alloted and a draw puts me in the draw bracket, where I get to play favorable matchups all day (ie. miracles, pile, grixis control, D&T)!
*SB In: 2x Hymn, 2x TS, Spell Pierce, Liliana, Deluge, Needle, Carpet
*SB Out: 3x BoP, 4x FoW, 2x Ballista
*Chris and I talked later in the tournament and there are no hard feelings either way. Each player has every right to refuse a concession in the face of lethal. I am glad that the draw instead of a loss mattered for Chris to get into the top 8!
*Overall Record 2-0-1, Draw 1-1-1
**Round 4 - AK Miracles (Favorable) - Hans Jacob Goddik (Camera Match):
*Yay a camera match vs. another draw, should be a fun grindfest on camera: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/331045367?t=02h18m35s
*Game 1 (Play): I open with fetch or basic into BoP. Hans plays a flooded strand and passes, so I am expecting miracles with back to basics. I jam a dual land anyway for a t2 food chain with force-griffin backup, which I use for Hans' force. Hans then plays plains pass. I untap and play a basic swamp to cast griffin, to which there is an AK response (but resolves). Hans predicts himself and doesn't hit a 3rd land. I untap and start the 3/3 beats (without vigilance, as I don't have a way to fight countermagic or to put griffin back into exile from the GY); add a fetch and pass. Hans finds a 3rd land and casts council's judgment, which I have hardcast force for (no other blue card). I topdeck a manipulate and it resolves, bringing the flock. Brainstorm finds nothing fun but there is a force of will, so I pass. This is enough to finish it.
*Game 2 (Draw): Hans leads with fetch basic for ponder. I go basic island and pass. Hans plays 2nd island and passes, so I go EOT brainstorm. I play a verdant and pass, to which Hans goes EOT AK. He then plays a arid mesa and passes, so I go EOT fetch a swamp to shuffle the brainstorm'd card. I fetch up a basic forest to cast food chain to eat countermagic, having more food chains in hand; Hans finishes my turn with another AK. He leads his turn with a brainstorm plus fetchland and passes. I untap and play brainstorm to see how I want to plan this turn. I find a carpet of flowers to break mana barriers, which baits a force of will but I have the flusterstorm. Carpet mana gets me manipulate fate, which gets pyroblast'd and I'm sad. So I finish the turn with a pithing needle on JTMS. Hans starts his turn with a preordain and finds himself a council's judgement (only know that because I saw it on the camera in review afterwards) then passes. I lead my next turn with thoughtseize, to which Hans brainstorms hiding the judgement. I see flooded strand, brainstom, and snapcaster so I take the mage; I finish my turn with food chain and leyline of the void. Hans plays the flooded strand and passes. I draw nothing, so pass back and Hans fetches plains to shuffle his brainstorm'd card. Hans starts his turn with a brainstorm which finds mentor, for which I have no answer; Ponder makes a token and Hans passes. I find a manipulate fate, but Hans has the force of will for it, making another token. Hans gets his council's judgment on my food chain, which takes most of my outs away to the mentor beats. I draw nothing twice and die to monks.
*Game 3 (Play): I lead with island into needle on JTMS because that card is too scary. Hans goes fetchland and pass. I play a fetchland and pass back. Hans goes volcanic and passes, so I take the opportunity to brainstorm for a 3rd land, which gets fluster'd. Fortunately, the topdeck gives me a misty, so I am able to fetch for swamp and trop to cast food chain (and have a 2nd blue to cast griffin later), which resolves. Hans fetches up a tundra to confirm that back to basics is boarded out and casts a ponder, plays his third land then passes. I draw a 4th land, so I shoot for trinket mage for relic which also gets cast; I pass to leave Force + Griffin in my hand, Hans fetches for EOT AK. Hans then snapcasters his ponder while I'm tapped out but chooses not to exile ponder to relic (good choice, Hans!); he finishes his turn with a preordain into JTMS in hand (only seen to me on camera). I untap and draw a 2nd FoW so I decide to just cast griffin instead of trading mage, so I can eat Hans' FoW and still recast griffin using the mage and relic, which is exactly what happens. Hans starts his turn with AK and brainstorm then land pass. I untap and start the delver beats, then show vigilance post combat to protect against snapcaster crackback and baiting more counters, which it does; Relic allows me to replenish the Griffin and pass. Hans casts mentor, which I fight with force pitching force; Hans then ponders and shuffles on ponder with another brainstorm then passes. I attack again, bringing Hans to 10 then cast my leyline and pass, so Hans fetches down to 9 to cut it to a 3 turn clock. Hans draws and passes. I continue my delver routine to bring Hans to 6 and cast my 2nd FC to insulate against losing the first. Hans draws and passes again, so I swing for another to bring Hans down to 3. Here, I make a mistake trying to bait more counters for no reason, as I have lethal next turn and snapcaster crackback doesn't do anything. We have a fight over the AK in response and Hans uses FoW to kill my griffin, I do get to relic it back but cannot recast it. I eventually end the game by griffin grind, as terminus only buys a turn each time. Muldrotha does get to make it on camera though to replay a fetch before getting terminus'd!
*SB In: 2x TS, 2x Fluster, Spell Pierce, Liliana, Needle, EE, 2x Leyline, Carpet, 2x Hymn
*SB Out: 3x BoP, 2x Walking Ballista, 4x Baleful Strix, Murderous Cut, 1x Decay, 1x Traverse, 1x Trophy
*So Hans was the monarch (as the defending champ), meaning my victory makes me king of the hill: all my matches will be featured until I lose to the new monarch. Yay for VIP seating at the feature area! Of note, I am unsure about how I feel about the Leylines; having brought 2 in, they would have been insane if I started with one, turning off snapcasters and AKs completely. Still unsure if I should bring these in against future AK miracles.
*Overall Record 3-0-1, Won 2-1
**Round 5 - Dredge (50/50 depending on SB games) - Matt Sperling (Played Yesterday in Vintage Swiss):
*So much for the draw bracket, as there's no other draws I can play in the bracket at the top, so I get matched down to Matt who stomped me in the vintage swiss yesterday. A friend gave me a heads up that he was likely on dredge, which doesn't matter in knowing because my g1 interaction is just 4 forces and a relic or fast combo, so I am heavily unfavored g1. We sit down in the same seats as our feature match yesterday, so that I can break any superstitious curses in that seat if one exists.
*Game 1 (Draw): I mull to 6 because my 7 is no lands anyway. My mull to 6 is okay and has a relic and force blue card with 1 land, so I keep. I force the first dredge payoff spell and land a relic. The nexy payoff spell allows Matt to ignore the t1 relic, so I die.
*Game 2 (Play): I start with Leyline. His 1/1 hardcast beats are no match for my 3/3s.
*Game 3 (Draw): I mull to 6 and he mulls to 5. My 6 is blue land, Fow, blue card, Relic, Fluster, Scourge. My scry is a 2nd land so I leave it on top. Matt leads with a t1 faithless looting, which I Force pitch blue card. I draw my 2nd land and play the first & pass. On t2, he has a 2nd faithless looting which I fluster; this is followed up with a breakthrough for X = 0, discarding the entire hand. I untap and draw my 3rd land: I play my 2nd land and play + crack relic to gain a huge lead. My next turn 3/3 scourge eventually cleans up the match before Matt can rebuild his graveyard.
*SB In: 3x Leyline of the Void, 2x Fluster, Spell Pierce, 2x TS (only on the play)
*SB Out: 2x (3 on the play) Food Chain, Muldrotha, Traverse, Spellseeker, Notion Thief, Gemstone on the play
*Overall Record 4-0-1, Won 2-1
**Round 6 - Miracles (Favorable):
*Game 1 (Play): I mull to 6 and we trade resources off. Back to Basics slows me down and JTMS ultimately puts the game out of reach.
*Game 2 (Play): Standard Food Chain value game with hymns make grind out work of miracles. I have a single griffin and food chain and draw trinket mage. He scoops to me casting trinket mage as we are starting to run low on time. It didn't matter that I boarded out ballistas as I was going to win that game anyway, just needed a few more turns.
*Game 3 (Draw): I mull to 6 but hymns and other things equalize my CA. I do the food chain grinds miracles thing and beat down with a single unkillable griffin + food chain for the win.
*SB In: 2x Hymn, 2x TS, 2x Fluster, Spell Pierce, Needle, Deluge, EE, Liliana, Carpet
*SB Out: 3x BoP, 4x Baleful Strix, 2x Walking Ballista, Murderous Cut, Traverse, 1x Decay
*Overall Record 5-0-1, Won 2-1
**Round 7 - AK Miracles (Favorable):
*Game 1 (Play): I mull to 6 but manipulate fate is insane. We grind out some value, but drawing 4 cards is too much for miracles early.
*Game 2 (Draw): I sculpt a good food chain grinds miracles plan and 3/3s get there.
*SB is same as Round 6
*Overall Record 6-0-1, Won 2-0
**Round 8 - Esper Miracles (Favorable) - (Daniel Miller, Camera Match):
*Another Camera Match, this time with an opponent I've played before and we always have good laughs: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/331045367?t=07h39m58s
*Game 1 (Draw): Dan goes flooded strand pass. I go Verdant for basic into BoP. He goes island pass. I crack delta for swamp into strix. He plays another fetch and passes. I attack for 1 deathtouch but Dan is not a creature and add another fetchland before passing. Another fetchland from Dan and passes. I add a land and attempt a food chain, which eats a counterspell. We play draw go for 1 cycle, then I go for a ballista on X = 2 to apply some pressure, as the instant win part of the card isn't as important in this matchup. This is met by terminus, so Ballista gets in for 2 pings. Also a back to basics, which I answer with decay. Travese the ulvenwald is with delirium because of ballista, which gets spellseeker getting manipulate fate. I cast birds and pass, leaving the manipulate fate open to discard. Dan draws and passes. I get the turn back and first cast strix which draws me food chain, so I decide to bait out countermagic because I still have relic and manipulate is the more important spell in this matchup at this point. (Also, oops tapped wrong for the strix, but obv had mana for it.) Dan plays a strix and passes. My fate gets spell snare'd, so tinket mage finds the last ballista for more damage. Dan draw goes again, so I swing for weenie beats for 3. I decide to hold onto the ballista and pass. Dan uses both fetches to likely thin deck and goes to 5. He finds a mentor which meets my decay. I swing for 3 more and cast ballista for lethal, which is forced. Dan vindicates my mage at 2 life and I get in with spellseeker for 1 to bring him to 1. I add a strix (again almost failing to tap properly, dunno why I kept thinking my forest was an island, maybe the light glare?) to make it 2 lethal threats. Dan doesn't draw an out but finds a fetchland to go out on his own terms.
*Game 2 (Draw): Dan leads with flooded strand for underground into inquisition. I have a one-lander with carpet to protect, so I force pitching spellseeker. I fetch up a trop and go for the carpet, which resolves. Dan goes plains into TS and sees myhand of spell pierce, hymn, fluster, and food chain. He takes my hymn. I topdeck an island and play out a food chain. Dan replies with his council's judgment on his turn. I draw a FoW and pass. Dan plays brainstorm and passes. I draw EE and pass. Dan plays draw go and passes. I draw Delta and play it then pass. Dan draw goes still on 4 lands. I draw a notion thief and pass, prompting Dan to flash in notion thief on my end step (which is why he kept passing with 4 mana up). Dan finds a 5th land and attacks for 3. I draw a TS but decide to just go EE on 4 with carpet mana and blow it up to be the only one with notion thief. Dan goes land into JTMS, which I try to fight with FoW pitching the now dead spell pierce; that gets disrupted so Dan gets his JTMS with a cantrip plus JTMS activation! I draw my 4th land to get notion thief online. Carpet casts my TS to take StP, leaving Dan with 2 strix and a mentor. Dan draws for turn and attempts jace-storm, which I notion thief. I draw 3 but they are bad and I assume Dan puts 2 strix back on top. My assumptions are confirmed when he plays out his hand of mentor and counterbalance. Unfortunately my draw 3 was 2 lands and a manipulate, the 2 strix on top stops me from casting manipulate due to counterbalance. I play out needle on JTMS. We play draw go twice and I get to eat two punches from mentor. After Dan draws the 2 strix and I draw even more lands, I go for the manipulate which gets countered by a blind snapcaster on top for counterbalance, which is backbreaking. Dan goes snapcaster and I forget about the StP in the GY, which is a huge mistake, as I should've hardcast force on snapcaster. And it stops a prowess trigger which is more important as I forgot about my life total for a second, having been so blown back by the blind flip and not seeing any lines that would win me the game. Oops... That being said, my hand was of no gas and I would die the following turn even had I forced the snapcaster. Shake it off, onto game 3!
*Game 3 (Play): I mull to 6 on the play which can be bad in this matchup. I keep a medium hand a scry brainstorm on top. We have draw go for the 1st two turn cycles. On t3 I TS and Dan disrupts to cycle which I pay for. I see a hand of swamp, plains, FoW, Snapcaster, vindicate, council's judgement, and terminus. So I take snapcaster. Dan plays a land and passes after drawing a hidden snapcaster. I lead with a brainstorm with fetchland available then play other land and pass. Dan plays a land and passes. I try a food chain, to which Dan responds with a snapcaster into brainstorm, which I spell pierce (playing fast, probably should not have done this to save for Jace or a stack fight). Dan untaps and plays Jace, which I have to Force pitch Force. I topdeck manipulate fate, which resolves. Here, I am playing and thinking fast and there are two lines. One is to just pass and griffin grind over the next turns, because I know Dan has an answer for food chain and access to terminus, or just cast tombstalker and use that to get 3 griffins. But manipulate fate draws me into hymn, which I make a quick decision to cast to hope to hit his answers to food chain, which I don't. Dan ponders and then vindicates my food chain. I start to slow cast my griffins. Dan plays Liliana, so I trade griffin for snapcaster having tombstalker in my hand. I play another griffin and it gets snap-vindicated. I flash in notion thief to finish off liliana and cast scourge from hand and tombstalker to delve the 2 griffins. Dan hardcasts terminus to reset the board. I topdeck my 6th land and get excited and cast Muldrotha. While Dan is reading it, I'm looking through my GY to see what I can play, absolutely forgetting that I played a land already for turn and try to play a misty rainforest from the graveyard (this is caught a few turns later but I never cracked it, so Dan and I wanted to just put it back in the GY but judges could not allow that, so I throw it off screen to never use for the rest of the match. Oops playing extra land, my bad! A GRV well deserved here; again this is trying to play fast in a matchup that becomes a grindfest). Dan plays a mentor and council's judgement my muldrotha. I brainstorm to find EE and use that to threaten mentor and other 3 drops. Dan finds a strix into another land. He attacks with mentor, so I blow up EE. I untap and cast griffin on my last turn. We discuss if anyone is obviously going to win and agree to a draw, since I am hellbent and Dan's last card is spell snare. I believe I am slightly ahead, as he can no longer attack through my griffins, but I cannot clock fast enough to not give Dan a bunch of draw steps. So we agree to a draw and hug it out, as neither of us wanted this outcome. We flip over the top 3-4 cards of our decks and turns out I had food chain there to guarantee the win, whereas Dan had 3 bricks. Oh well, Dan is a great guy and hella fun opponent, so at least we had a bunch of laughs in our match.
*SB is same as Rounds 6 and 7
*Overall Record 6-0-2, Draw 1-1-1
**Round 9 - Sneak & Show (Unfavorable):
*Game 1 (Play): He brought Emrakul to school early. I was not prepared.
*Game 2 (Play): We both mull to 5 in a slow game, but my timely thoughtseizes, hymns, and forces allow me to get my beats through.
*Game 3 (Draw): A thoughtseize and 2 lucky hymns take all the business cards as I coast to a win.
*SB In: 2x Hymn, 2x TS, 2x Fluster, Spell Pierce, Needle, Carpet
*SB Out: 3x BoP, Muldrotha, Murderous Cut, 2x Decay, 1x Ballista, 1x Food Chain
*I end day 1's 9 swiss rounds at 7-0-2 and still alive for the double top 8 if I go 2 for 2 in rounds 10 and 11. We go get some dinner and sleep, while also talking a bit about my vintage quarterfinals MU.
*Overall Record 7-0-2, Won 2-1
**Round 10 - Miracles (Favorable):
*Game 1 (Play): My hand is good versus miracles but I am short on mana. My first land had to be a dual and I was able to get a basic for land number 2. He does have back to basics, stranding my first land. I draw a 3rd land but it cannot fetch the 2nd basic to cast baleful strix, so I fetch up a dual to cast it to dig 1 deeper. This is a mistake, as I should have just passed and waited, because even though I dig 1 deeper for another land I just stone rained myself. Mistakes were made. I drew out of it a turn or 2 too late and died to JTMS.
*Game 2 (Play): I do the food chain + manipulate fate for a quick beatdown and game win.
*Game 3 (Draw): Mistakes were made in a thoughtseize for this game... So he goes land pass. My t1 needle meets a spell pierce, and I am sad. He makes a 2nd land and passes. I play my 2nd land and my hand now is 2 lands, FoW, Manipulate, TS, Liliana. One line is to TS now to set up T3 Liliana and hope to ride to ultimate or wait until T3 for TS + Manipulate. I choose to TS now, because passing means I may have to FoW pitching manipulate. My TS shows: Mentor, JTMS, FoW, no lands and 3 other cards that don't matter and are not blue (probably some numbers of disenchant and swords). I opt to take the FoW to guarantee that my Liliana resolves and not having to use my FoW. Taking JTMS means he would have to draw a blue card for turn to stop my liliana and I get rid of one of the cards I have a lot of trouble answering, especially with my only needle countered. However, taking mentor would have been the best move, because if he draws a 3rd land then I have to force the mentor anyway. Then if there is a fight over Liliana, I still have the FoW for his FoW (which may have to cause him to pitch JTMS anyway!). So he ended up drawing the 3rd land and I have to FoW Mentor. My Liliana resolves, but on the turns prior to hitting her ultimate, he is able to find the lands needed for JTMS, which then found council's judgement in time. An unanswered JTMS grinds me out to my first loss.
*SB is same as rounds 6-8
*Mistakes were made in this match that were costly! Dream for top 8 is dead. But at least I should be a lock for min prizes even with a loss and live for playing for top 16/32. Either way, with the prizes being so tiered and often down to breakers, I would (as I always do) plan to offer prize split with my last round opponent.
*Overall Record 7-1-2, Lost 1-2
**Round 11 - G/W Maverick (Favorable):
*I offer prize split, to which my opponent agrees. He asks me for the concession, as he thought he was live for top 8 (I told him highly unlikely as his breakers were worst of his bracket AND he got matched down to me who had 1 less point) but still would really like to add a top 16 to his name. I told him that I would not right now but may consider to do so later after at least games 1-2 (what I really wanted to do was feel out his personality and whether I would be okay with conceding to him, as I do not like to concede to someone who is a jerk). Also, making him earn the win is important too.
*Game 1 (Play): I win the die roll AND open with Gemstone Caverns, how unlucky! My only 2 lands are underground sea and caverns and opt to keep. I immediately get punished with wastelands and never find another land as I succumb to a large knight.
*Game 2 (Play): We have a close fight where he is ahead early, but ultimately my 3/3 and 5/5 fliers are too much and stabilizes the game. I am able to pick away at his life with 1 flier at a time while not dying at 5 life to his massive ground force.
*Game 3 (Draw): I get an early food chain out with 2 griffins. He manages a decent ground force, but I am able to post-combat exile my griffins and cast a deluge as plague wind and recast my griffins. A turn later as I am able to swing 2 griffins at his 6 life, I concede before he can scoop up his cards.
*SB is same as in round 2
*I ended up conceding to my opponent because the prospect of an official top 16 seemed so important to him. Also, he was a fantastic and humble opponent and I decided after game 1 that I was going to do so, but wanted to see if he could earn it himself. Unfortunately, he ended up 19th but it was a pleasure to meet him. Oh, and we also had a mutual friend in Brian, who helped convince me to play the current SB, so that's funny.
*Overall Record 8-1-2, Won 2-1 (Would have been 19th, our final standings would have been exactly swapped)
*Actual Reported Record 7-2-2 (62nd)
***Final Thoughts:
*I always have fun playing food chain, which is why I haven't put it down for the past 5+ years. Overall my opponents were fun to play against. The deck still feels fine despite losing DRS and it still probably is a tier 2 deck like it was before. It was overall a fun weekend!
*Changes to the deck moving forward are as follows: I'm not sure how much I like the spell pierce in the SB, but it probably stays. The Gemstone Caverns is a pet card, but could easily be replaced by a 4th Polluted Delta or 2nd Basic Swamp (I'm leaning towards Delta). Still unsure about Muldrotha right now as she is good in the grindy games but not impressive versus miracles (though servicable), she may be swapped out for Leovold, as I did like Notion Thief a lot (though he may be better in the SB).
*The commentators were on point and made watching these matches afterwards a blast. Great event overall, though the EV was pretty bad; hopefully, it is increased next year.
*Cards that overperformed: Carpet of Flowers, Notion Thief (I got to notion thief a couple miracles players but can't remember all the times it happened so I didn't put it in the matches above, except the one on camera)
*Cards that underperformed: Maybe Muldrotha but that may be because of all the miracles...
*Until next time! -Cosmo Kwok
Is Traverse used as a another tutor to find ballista or do you use it find more land drops?Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmosis
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