R/G Lands 21.07.2019 Legacy Open Series Austria

Tournament Report & Build Overview – Legacy Open Series Austria (Qualifier for the yearly Legacy Invitational) 2nd Place with Lands

So i pondered for a while what I should play in this open. I just recently moved across the country and am finally getting a shot at playing in the Legacy open Series and my goal was to qualify for the Invitational.
You need 40 Points over the year to get invited. Participating in an Open nets you 5 Points. If you Top 8 you gain more.
Since this was my first open that I could play (Just moved here recently) i knew I had to get into the finals to to score the points needed to qualify right away.
I thought long what deck I would be bringing. I tested the new 4C Control spice, I tested 4c Loam but at Saturday afternoon, I threw all my testing out the window and decided to sleeve up an old favourite and pet deck of mine: Legacy Lands.
The Metagame here in Vienna (and Austria in general) seems to be on the fairer side and with all of the 4c Decks running around, Lands seem to be a pretty solid pick. I changed my Main and Side to what I expected to face.

Build:

--Mainboard--

-Lands- 36
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Thespian Stage
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
2 Dark Depths
2 Maze of Ith
2 Taiga
2 Windswept Heath
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Karakas
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Blast Zone
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Forest
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Waterlogged Grove

-Spells- 24
4 Exploration
4 Life from the Loam
4 Crop Rotation
4 Mox Diamond
3 Punishing Fire
2 Wrenn and Six
2 Gamble
1 Sylvan Library

--Sideboard--

4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Krosan Grip
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Choke
1 Blast Zone

Some notes to my build:

Only 2 Dark Depths:
Dark Depths is the worst land in the deck {MOST OF THE TIME}. It does not do anything outside the combo. I cut back to make room for some more toolbox lands. I wanted to run the full set of Port with a Ghost Quarter and Karkas, Bog, Blast Zone and Barbarian Ring in the Maindeck. The drawback of cutting down on Dark Depths is, that we get worse against combo preboard. But as a Lands player I am prepared to lose game 1 to the likes of Storm, Show etc. anyway so why not focus the deck more?

Leyline of the Void?!:
Leyline is not really seen (and thus expected) out of Lands normally. Why did I include it? It is good against fast graveyard decks that are usually a bad matchup for us and it shuts down Wrenn and Six engines.

Only 2 Gamble:
Most of the Time, gamble is Loam 5-8. But by adding Wrenn and Six we have more effects that can replace loam. Gamble is also used to find lockpieces postboard but since I added the Leylines, that Gambles can not find (well they can but… yeah) I decided to cut down on the Gamble count.

Tournament report:

Round 1: Death and Taxes (0-1-0)
I was not prepared to face Taxes with Wrenn running rampant in the format. It was never the best matchup for lands but I have tools to beat it.

G1
I kept a hand with a good mana denial plan, a depths and a crop rotation. I regretted this when he opened with basic plains, vial go. My hand did nothing and i ended up getting beaten up by a thalia, a revoker, a mystic and a batterskull without being able to do much. My cards lined up poorly.

Sideboarding: +3 Krosan Grip / + 2 Tireless Tracker / + 1 Blast Zone // -2 Mox Diamond / - 1 Bojuka Bog / -1 Ghost Quarter / -1 Glacial chasm / -1 Ancient Tomb

G2
I knew what i had to do. I kept a good hand with punishing fire + grove, krosan grip, exploration and some lands. He opened with a vial again and I decided agains gripping it. Good call because he slams a RiP down on his t2. I Grip it end of turn and start Loaming. He then vials Tomik, Distinguished Advokist in. I still believe someone in R&D just hates us Lands Players with a passion and decided to design this. That thing stalled the game… a lot! I could control his board with Pfire + Grove while starting to tick up my blast zone planning on cracking it for 2. He sticks a Thalia and vials a Recruiter that finds a Sanctum Prelade. I drew a second Punishing Fire and knew what I had to do. I took another turn off to put my blast zone on 3 to kill his Sanctum Prelade and the Recruiter after he tried to wasteland my blast zone on 3, untapped, wastelanded his karakas and double Punishing Fired the Tomik. I then proceeded to throw a 20/20 into his face fort he next 3 turns until he ran out of Swords to Plowshares and died without a board.

G3
We started G3 with 10 minutes on the clock. I had an amazing start. He could not stick a single creature after i killed his vial and had Pfire and Grove online. By the time i could start throwing 20/20s into his face every turn we were in the Extra Turns. I had 1,3,5 and attacked him every turn with a Token. His 5-Card hand consisted of 3 Swords to Plowshares and 2 Path to exile. Draws feel bad so early in the Tournament.

Round 2: 4C Delver (1-1-0)
It was a rather unspectacular Round.

G1:
I was on the Draw and started with Wasteland, Exploration, Fetch, Tabernacle and some other stuff. He started with Tropical Island into Delver of secrets. I fetched a Taiga and he Dazes my Exploration, leaving him with only Delver. He untaps and plays a wasteland to kill my Taiga. I drew a Mox for the turn and played it and played the Tabernacle. He goes on a mini rage consisting of „Natural Tabernacle wtf“. He tried to play some magic but I ended up wastelanding him off both of his lands.

Sideboard: +2 Choke / +3 Sphere of Resistance // - 2 Crop Rotation / -1 Karakas / -1 Bojuka Bog / -1 Tranquil Thicket

(I should probably have left the Bojuka Bog in the Deck tbh to get rid of Wrenn Fuel)

G2
I kept a Hand consisting of a Mox, a Sphere, a Gamble and some Lands. He started with Ponder (Shuffle) go. I just slammed the Sphere and it stuck. He missed a landdrop and i got a Port online. I developed my board without him being able to do much fort he next 2 Turns. He finds his second land and plays a Brainstorm in his upkeep, locking him. He conceded relatively quickly afterwards.

Round 3: UR Delver (2-1-0)

This was a friend of mine that i drove to the event with so I knew what he was on. UR is a scary matchup. They have the burn to win after just getting in once or twice with a Delver and we can not do much against it.

G1
I knew that i could race him because he has no Mainboard answers for a 20/20. So i kept a hand that could exactly do that and made a token before he could find his first Wasteland. I was lucky that he had a daze instead of a force in his hand or he would have been able to counter my Crop Rotation.

Sideboard: +2 Choke / + 3 Sphere of Resistance // - 1 Bojuka Bog / -1 Karakas / -3 Crop Rotation

G2
My keep would make stompy players cry from joy. I had Mox, Tomb, 2 Sphere, Choke, Thespian Stage, Port. I just slammed a Sphere on Turn 1 with mana to Pay for Daze. He responded with a Surgical on my Stage. He played a Land and Passed. I played another Sphere and he was thinking long before letting it resolve. Port was doing some work while I waited to draw more Lands fort he choke. He was on 5 Lands eventually and I tapped down one every upkeep with my port. He then pays 3 for a ponder leaving only his mountain untapped. I took the window to slam the Choke without him being able to FoW or anything through my 2 Spheres and he wanted to know how i would kill him now. I said that I would either Pfire him for 4 Mana every turn or just pay 30 Mana into a Dark Depths eventually and he conceded.

Round 4: Manaless Dredge (3-1-0)

G1
He won the dice roll and let me go first so I instantly knew what was up. I was prepared and Mulled for a hand with Crop Rotation. I managed to get one backed up by Wasteland and Loam. I just Wastelanded my Bog and Loamed it back to Bog him every second turn. I eventually found a Exploration and after he saw that I could now do it every single Turn he conceded.

Sideboard: +3 Leyline of the Void / +4 Sphere of Resistance // Out I don’t remember but probably all Ports + 3 other Cards. I left in Wasteland for the interaction with Bojuka Bog and Loam.

G2
I mulled for a leyline. He was surprised and did not think that Lands plays Leyline and conceded. He showed me the Force of Vigors still in his board.

Round 5: ID for Top 8 (3-2-0)

TOP 8:
I was close! I just needed to win 2 more games to be qualified for the Invitational in December.
The Decks in the Top 8 worried me a little but I was prepared. The T8 consisted of:
BUG Snow Nic Fit (I know it is wonderful)
Eldrazi
ANT
BR Reanimator
Lands
RUG Delver
4C Delver
4C Delver

Quarterfinals: RUG Delver (WIN)

Both games were over in 10 Minutes.

G1
I played some lands and made a Token on Turn 3 after he tried to Wasteland me off Green mana. I crop Rotated for an Ancient Tomb in response and made a Token that killed him quickly after he attacked me with a 1/1 Mongoose for a couple turns.

G2
He started with a Ponder, go. I opened on Mox Diamond and cast a Gamble to bait a Counter. He forced it pitching Delver of Secrets. I then slammed a Sphere of Resistance off my Ancient Tomb and started to Wasteland him in the upcoming turns. He conceded quickly.

Semifinals: ANT (WIN)
I already said good bye to my run after I realized I had to play against ANT next. It is one of Land’s worst matchups out there. But it was pure luck that let me win this game.

G1
He got a Gameloss from the Judge because he had Sideboardcards in his Deck

Sideboard: + Everything except the Blast Zone // - 3 Punishing Fire / - 2 Maze of Ith / - 1 Karakas / -4 Life from the Loam / - 1 Tranquil Thicket / - 1 Glacial Chasm / -2 Wrenn and Six

G2
I mulled to 4 without finding a Sphere or a Leyline and kept a hand that had 2 Crop Rotation and an Ancient Tomb. He Duressed one of the Crops so he knew about the second one. It was pure skill that let me rip my Sphere from the top of my Deck on Turn 1 (if you read this: I am still sorry lol). We proceeded to play some draw/go. I managed to ghost quarter him off his basic swamp. His mana was: 1 Underground Sea, 1 Bayou, 1 Volcanic Island, 1 Island. At the end of my turn, he bounced my Sphere. He untapped and drew for his turn. He then cast another Echoing Truths on my Mox diamond (only green Source). He tapped the Bayou and his Island (mistake). I floated green and picked it up. He was thinking and said „go to combat?“ either forgetting i had a Port or not seeing that he tapped wrong. I then ported his Underground Sea and he realized that he could not go off this turn and just wasted 2 Bounce spells.
I slammed the Sphere again. Next turn he decided he hast o go for it with the sphere in play. He had 3 Lands untapped becuase i Ported him in Upkeep this time.
He cast 3 Dark Ritual and 1 Cabal Ritual going up do 8 Mana available. He then Cast Ad Nauseam with 2 Mana floating. He had to exaclty hit his 4th Dark Ritual because anything else was useless at that point. He did not and died to his own ad naus after getting near the bottom of his Deck.

With that Win I was qualified!

Finals: BUG Snow Nic Fit (LOSS)
The finals were… a slaughter. I did not stand a chance against this abomination.

G1
He is on the play and cast a blind Therapy and hit my Gamble. My hand did not do much anymore because I kept the value plan and did not manage to find a recursion. He beat me down with an Ooze, a Tracker and an Ice Fang Coatl.

Side: + 2 Krosan Grip / + 2 Tireless Tracker / + 2 Choke // - 1 Bojuka Bog / -1 Karakas / - 1 Tabernacle / - 3 Crop Rotation

G2
I mulled and kept a hand of Life from the Loam, Mox Diamond, Dark Depths, Forest, Punishing Fire.
I cast Loam t1 and passed. He missed a Therapy on me. I proceeded to dredge: Wrenn and Six, Krosan Grip, Mox Diamond. I cast an empty Loam and passed. He made Nic Fit stuff and Ramped with Veteran Explorer. I dredged Wrenn and Six, Tracker and Choke. So i cast an empty Loam again. He makes an Ooze and could outgrow my Punishing Fire by eating the Tracker i dredged. He then slammed a Back 2 Basics and i extended my hand.

I was very happy with the build I ran. I feel Lands might be better positioned than it actually looks like. I will definitely tune the list more and can’t wait for next Friday. Our weekly FNM are full of good and dedicated Legacy players and an amazing place to test! I went home with a beautiful Foil Mirrodin Chalice of the Void! (First place was a Badlands)