For some of us jumping into our endeavors can sometimes be completely head first. I decided a couple months ago with my brother getting into the game for the first time to dust off my old binders and dig up my cards, and what did I end up doing? Jump right into Eternal. No interest initially to bother dumping money into standard, and honestly I prefer a format full of cantrips, where freespell counters roam free and every small decision you could come up with becomes very relevant in ways you have no idea. I also get a lot of excitement from the almost wild west feeling of Legacy. Going through my card pool I realized one of the easiest decks to put together would be Esper Deathblade. It also seemed like the most consistent from a glance and in tune with my playstyle. Reading a few primers and watching features, checking out the rest of the decks and figuring out in theory what my best outs were to them, I jumped in playing the deck in a field I have played only two casual games with in the past 3 years.
The morning itself was an endeavor. My buddy Brandon McCormick joined up with me at almost 7am with neither of us having slept all week, last night being the exception. Dead tired we arrive at the event about 15 minutes before signups end due to running late, he helps me sleeve and get business settled just barely in time for the player meeting. I'm missing only 2 polluted deltas, a flooded strand and Wasteland. I could not get access to a wasteland, but utility is too necessary I went with a singleton. I also could not find my second relic and stuffed a foil into my sideboard one real fast. I built this list, and it's far from perfect but this is what I ended up with for the day:
There's a few options i was considering with the list up until the last minute and details can be found in the Deathblade thread on here what I was going through with the list in the last week. The deck has so much raw power and easily one of the most powerful sideboards against the entire legacy field. It is also a deck that clearly relies on extremely tight plays and proper sequencing or you WILL be punished for it during the course of the event. This made me very nervous going in without enough real preparation with the deck and trying to pilot through 8 rounds consistently. With GP Brainstorm coming up and being able to go prior to the event it was my only true testing against the field. |
Round 1: VS. Steven Hicks (Top 8, UR Delver) (0 -2)
We sit down across from each other, i'm a bit tired already and have the usual casual conversation where we are from and playing legacy. We are both players who have not spent much time with the format in years so it was a bit refreshing. Immediately we both are deck checked as the round starts. His deck is fine and the judges call me over. They show me the relic of progenitus foil and ask that i replace it because it is curled enough to make it marked and as a sideboard card gives me too much advantage and that I would be required to replace it. It sucks because I could not find a copy at home or my parents house prior and threw it in, so I overpay SCG for a now 6th copy of the card just to make sure it's not an issue going forward, all is well and the game resums with a 16 minute time extension.
Game 1 He has tempo, I try to play around Wastelands and Daze, he stifes one of the two fetches I had opening up and I brainstorm after fetching the second, it resolves, I brainstorm into no counterspells and find nothing but Jace, Batterskull, and 2nd Jace. Yay locked. He runs me over fast.
Game 2 He turn 3 blood moons with me lacking enough to stop it from resolving. with only a marsh flats to spare, I get plains to try to grind out but he has enough pressure it doesn't even matter.
Congrats on the top8 by the way! |
0 - 1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/51a.jpg |
Round 2: VS Restore Balance Combo (2 - 1)
This matchup I had never heard of. I'm guessing it was a fun deck he came across while looking for something to do without blue. He was brand new to Legacy. I had no idea what to expect.
Game 1 He cascades with Shardless Agent into a restore balance against my field, blowing me out completely and removing time counters to cast a [card]Nihilith[/card] and I have nothing to do against it.
Knowing what he was on I board in, Mages hit his restore balance and the next two games his combo locks out. Game 3 I manage to counter his big cards, he gets the nihilith win con out but I have a STP and just grind his life total ftw. |
1 -1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ts/38.jpg |
Round 3: VS Dredge (2 - 1)
Very grindy game overall. I manage to DRS and remove his ichorids, get rid of things like Bridges and stop him from getting a lot of board presence on me.
Game 2 I don't get the cards I need immediately and he gets enough zombies out on me that I just don't have the outs.
Game 3 We go into time when i'm leading after drawing well and playing around his non interaction. Being an awesome guy, he decides to give me the win rather than draw out because he didn't want to stay in the event all day anyway with the deck. Thanks a lot man. |
2 - 1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/tr/65.jpg |
Round 4: VS UR Delver (1 - 2)
This was another serious game, and probably some of the best matches I played all day. Game 1 he does what Delver does best and wins the tempo game. Game 2 I jam enough threats onto the board and he doesn't have the answers in time. Game 3 He probes, sees my lack of aciton, then blood moons my 3 non basics and now officially dead hand and I am able to get rid of his guys, left with just a 1/1 token and blood moon against my nonbasics. I draw plains after a couple turns and then finally follow with an SFM and enough mana to hard cast batterskull. I make a misplay in sequencing and batterskull before thoughtseize allowing him to have an out to it. I eventually draw my other basics once he grinds me down to 3 life. NEaring the end of the match I finally can start setting up a comeback, but he just needs to draw one of the 3 remaining bolts in his deck. He does and we offer the handshake.
At this point its solid to me the UR Delver matchup is my biggest threat in the meta right now, and I think to prepare for GP I will be more aggressive to figuring out the match up. The deck is also cheap for legacy standards so i feel it will see a rise in play. |
2 - 2
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/51a.jpg |
Round 5: VS Miracles (1 -1 - 1)
Another very grindy matchup. Game 3 I have too much pressure for him to have much options. Game 2 swings both sides until he can lock me down. Game 3 I have pressure again that he could not answer to and a lot of bad top spins leaving him without much to do other than durdle around. Just before time is called I pithing needle his top in play, he spins and miracles in a terminus while at 9 life against my 2 mini progenitus. I can't get enough pressure now with time against us and we go into a draw. |
2 - 2 - 1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/chk/268.jpg |
Round 6: VS Miracles (2 - 1)
Once again this matchup. Game 1 he gets the lock then jace locks me and goes to ultimate. Game 2 while I'm ahead and he has removed my meddling mages he manages to brainstorm and miracle a terminus. This is where things get weird, while resolving the brainstorm and he fetches to miracle the terminus shuffling his deck before drawing the last two cards. He goes to draw and put them back when I ask why we were shuffling, he mentions fetching, I mention he never drew the cards from brainstorm before shuffling and judges get involved. It turns into a huge mess of course but the head judge finally rules with a strong warning rather than game loss, but at this point I was still winning so he eventually scoops and we go to game 3. I win game 3 during out 8 minute time extension on this match as he doesn't get the things he needs to stay alive and I put him in an early and fast clock |
3 - 2 - 1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/chk/268.jpg |
Round 7: VS Infect (2 - 0)
I'm a bit nervous about this matchup because it can really blow out, however I have the right hands and answers to his threats and he can't swing in any creatures at all, and play around all of his pumps, while I keep laying threats in the mean time. |
4 - 2 - 1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/nph/29.jpg |
Round 8: VS Manaless Dredge (2 - 1)
So i find out it's only 8 and not 9 and basically I'm guaranteed money if I can win out this round, but if i lose might rest entirely on solid breakers, I take a deep breath and plunge into my bubble.
He wins the dice roll and opts to draw. I know exactly what he's on. I've got no experience with manaless dredge, but having dredge experience and reading cards I figure out where to go with it. Game 1 I make a crucial misplayer in fetching and he combos off after I have durdled long enough. I also forgot about chancellor.
I opt to be on the draw and he comments how that happened exactly 3 times all day against him and we had a friendly chat how people don't realize these little things in the matchup. I draw my hate game 2 and he can't get around it, very grindy game nonetheless.
Game 3 was a total upset. I lay down threat after threat, he misses a ton of dredges only having access to a shambling shell, and at this point just concedes knowing he can't do anything. After the match ends I ask if naming Contagion or Dread Return with Meddling Mage was better, he did say Dread Return is good, but having contagion hit first he would have no answer to a second one, and i still can have options against him if he tries to dread return with counters and GY hate. Good to know. |
5 - 2 - 1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/dka/89.jpg |
| Standings go up and I placed 31st overall winning $100 cash. Pays for my entry gas and put some cash into my pocket. Brandon and I take off. He got a lot of nice trading in and therefore had a solid day. I apologize for missing a lot more details and hopefully if I think to do so I can fill out a lot more of this tournament report. It has been a rather long day in and out of magic. The event was really a learning experience delving into the format, and I'm much more confident grinding out into the GP now and hopefully can start figuring out where to go with the deck. Thanks to Benjamin Coursey and Brandon McCormick for loaning the 5 cards I was missing as well. Feel free to share some thoughts as well. |
