[Report] Team SPOD @ August Hassloch Legacy Event aka. Doing the Menendian

• Third Sunday of the Month? Check.
• Legacy still happening in Hassloch? Check.
• Me still in Germany? Check.
• Nothing better to do? Check.
• Time for some Magic.

What I played: LEDless Ichorid.
How I did: poorly (3-3) i.e. nothing worth writing about.

• Round 1: 2-1 Win versus GWB Hexmage-Rock with loss in game 2 to Bokuja Bog + Marit Lage.
• Round 2: 1:2 Loss to WB Stoneforge Mystic Aggro due to dredges in game one and Leyline of the Void in game 3.
• Round 3: 0:2 Loss to Aggro Loam due to dredges in game one and Yixlid Jailer in game 2.
• Round 4: 2:0 Win against Team America with Tireless Tribe beatdown against Leyline in game 2.
• Round 5: 2:1 Win against Thopter-Foundry after losing once again to my own dredges in game 1.
• Round 6: 1:2 Loss against Ichorid due to Leylines in game 3.

An underwhelming performance - that's not something to get into the way of writing, is it? Just make sure to include loads of colourful graphs... it's coverage time!


August Hassloch Legacy Event - A retrospective Coverage


Date: Sunday, the 15th of August 2010
Location: Gaststätte "Waldesruh", Hassloch, Germany
Format: Legacy
53 players: 6 rounds of swiss, no cut to top 8


Final Standings:

1. 16 points: Thomas Dörner (Team SPOD) with Rgw Sligh
2. 15 points: Christian Ludwig with Mono-Blue Merfolk
3. 15 points: Alexander Thomas with Ub Merfolk
4. 15 points: Stefan Czolk (Team SPOD) with GWr Survival
5. 14 points: Oliver Oey with Ugr Tempo Threshold
6. 13 points: Markus Neumann with Natural Order Countertop
7. 13 points: Christopher Wilhelm with GW Survival
8. 13 points: Christoph Alsheimer with Emrakul-Doomsday

• 12 points:
  
  • UG Madness Survival
  • Uwr Dreadstill
  • UG Madness Survival
  • Gwr Survival Elves
  • Ubr Dreadstill
  • GBW Hexmage-Rock
  • Rbg Goblins
• 10 points:
  
  • Ubr Dreadstill
  • LEDless Ichorid
  • Ur Dreadstill
  • GBW Rock
• 09 points:
  
  • Mono-Blue Merfolk
  • Ugr Threshold
  • Ubr Dreadstill
  • WB Stoneforge Mystic Aggro
  • Ugr Tempo Threshold
  • LEDless Ichorid
  • UBg Landstill
  • Zoo
  • WG Death&Taxes
• 08 points:
  
  • Uwb Thopter Foundry
  • Natural Order Countertop
• 07 points:
  
  • Lands
  • Rb Goblins
  • Ugw Tempo Threshold
  • Uwr Thopter Foundry
  • Ugr Tempo Threshold
  • Uw Merfolk
• 06 points:
  
  • Aggro Loam
  • Zoo
  • Ubr Dreadstill
  • UB Hexmage-Nought
  • UWg Walls
  • Mono-Red Sneak Attack
• 04 points:
  
  • Team America
• 03 points:
  
  • WG Death&Taxes
  • BW Pox
  • Gwr Survival Elves
• Drops:
  
  • The Gate
  • BG Loam-Pox
  • Uwg Goyf Control
  • UG Madness Survival
  • UWg Walls
  • Vampires
  • Aggro Loam

Metagame overview:

http://www.abload.de/img/metagamel2v3.jpg

7 Dreadnought (6 Dreadstill, 1 Hexmage-Nought)
5 Blue-Based Tempo (3 Ugr, 1 Ugw, 1 Ugb)
5 Blue-Based Control (1 UBg Landstill, 2 UWg Walls, 1 Ugw Goyf, 1 Ugr Goyf)
5 Aggro Survival (3 UG-Madness, 1 GW , 1 GWr)
4 Merfolk (2 Mono-U, 1 Ub, 1 Uw)
4 Ringleader Tribal (2 Goblins, 2 Elves)
4 Countertop (2 Natural Order, 2 Thopter Foundry)
4 Generic Aggro (2 Death&Taxes, 1 WB Stoneforge Mystic, 1 Vampires)
3 Burn-Based Aggro (2 Zoo, 1 Sligh)
3 Midrange Control (1 GWB Rock, 1 GWB Hexmage-Living Wish, 1 The Gate)
3 Life from the Loam (2 Aggro Loam, 1 Lands)
2 Dredge
2 Combo (1 Doomsday, 1 Sneak Attack)
2 Smallpox (1 BW, 1 BG)


Top8 Cardstats:

… 23 Wastelands (for a total of 44 in the top16)
… 16 Force of Wills (and 15 Dazes)
… 16 Tarmogoyfs (and 2 Scythe Tigers and 3 Aven Mindcensors!)
… 12 Lightning Bolts (for only 8 Swords to Plowshares)


Notable trends:

Mana disruption is everywhere!

http://www.abload.de/img/manadisruptionwv13.jpg

The five highest placing decks all starred the full playset of Wastelands, with Wastelands, Stifles, Vindicates, Smallpox and even Blood Moon or Back to Basics well represented from the first to the very last table. Time to get those manabases right and learn how to play around Stifle!

http://www.abload.de/img/manadisruption-bytypefuo5.jpg

Dos and Don'ts for the successful Legacy player in south west Germany:

• Do play Combo. But better don't be losing to Wasteland and be prepared to fight through Stifle all day long.
• Do play something aggressive. Preferably with Wastelands and a backup plan (Standstill, Survival of the Fittest).
• Do revisit your manabase and think twice about that awesome 5c-Goodstuff.deck you've always wanted to rock.
• Don't play Phyrexian Dreadnought.
• Don't play Counterbalance.
• Don't play midrange control.

Decktech: "[SPOD] hat Style und das Geld" aka. Cat-Sligh by Thomas Dörner

http://www.abload.de/img/catsligh7com.jpg

(click image for decklist)

The list that took it all home with a flawless 5-0 start (followed by an ID in the last round). And what a list it is! You thought Zoo was aggressive? Think again and have a good look at this!
Originally created by yours truly to answer the current all-time low of Tarmogoyfs in our team, the list eschews Zoos emblematic Lhurgoyf for maximum aggressiveness (exing the other slower cards along the way too) and apparently to good profit, doesn't it, Thomas?

TD: It most certainly does.

CW: Thomas, you're a member of Team SPOD, however one can't really say that you're on the radar of the general Internet-crowd. Tell us a little bit about yourself (as a Magic player).

TD: Well most of the time I play Highlander. I'm more a casual player but sometimes I like to play some tournaments too. I'm known to pilot decks I enjoy playing, regardless of whether they are well situated in the meta or not.

CW: Why did you chose to play Cat-Sligh?

TD: I like Zoo and Burn, but I don't own Tarmogoyfs. And I couldn't find anyone to lend me any. So I had to find something else. So I talked to you and we had the idea of speeding the deck up.

CW: What did you like best about the deck?

TD: The deck is awesomely fast. You can play turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Fetchland and Guide to deal 6 damage and you can play even more that turn: Nacatl, Bolt, doesn't matter what. Wasteland is devastating too and complements the beats-plan really well. The deck is just so full of win. And redundancy. (grins)

CW: What were your best/most awesome plays?

TD: Every time you play Scythe Tiger your opponents jaw drops so hard onto the table. (grins) It's awesome.

CW: What were your MVPs Main and in the board?

TD: In the Maindeck that would be Lightning Bolt: it fries fish and finishes opponents. In the Sideboard the best card was the Red Elemental Blast because every deck I played against had blue cards in it.

CW: What would you change?

TD: I would add another green source; a Taiga or maybe a Forest. It happened once that my opponent had two Wastelands on my two green sources. That sucked.

CW: What did you play against and how did you feel about those matchups?

TD: I faced 2 Merfolk which was a very good matchup because bolts fry fish. If you kill every lord he plays it's a walk in the park, really. I also played against Stiflenought: if you're fast enough this matchup is not a problem. And after boarding you have 9 outs against a resolved Dreadnought if you happen to need them. I also faced UG Madness: I didn't see much of my opponents deck because he died that fast. Then there was Bant: the only relevant card he had were dub Umezawa's Jitte. Lifegain sucks. (grins again) My last round was against Tempothresh: this was the hardest matchup because of Pyroclasm, Burn and Wastelands.

CW: Would you play the deck again?

TD: Yes but with some changes. Maybe with Rancor or Reckless Charge.

CW: Does your hand still hurt from all those high fives you got for the finish?

TD: Never high five the younger one of the Freiberger-brothers. Seriously, just don't.



Decktech: "[SPOD] Still funny!" aka. GWr Survival by Stefan Czolk

http://www.abload.de/img/gwrsurvivalx4dn.jpg

(click image for decklist)

Do you remember last month's Hassloch event where we brought to you an innovative Survival-Zoo list? Well, feast your eyes on the next step on the tech stairway to the holy metagame grail.
After my finish, Stefan became intrigued with the concept. Having had good results with GW-Survival in the past and seeing how I boarded out Steppe Lynx and Chain Lightning a lot, he suggested to move further into a Survival-based midrange sort of direction. At first, I was against this because I felt that the Survival-Zoo list drew a lot of its strength from its unpredictability and the duality of its threats - further cutting down on the Zoo plan and moving more into a monocultural Survival direction seemed counter-productive. However, after playing the initial drafts we drew up a little, I became enamoured with the possibility of playing good lands rather than fetchlands and then some more fetchlands,a Steppy Lynx induced design constraint: Wasteland and Horizon Canopy are just that good right now.
The deck won a lot in testing - against pretty much anything but Combo, in fact. However, it required Goyfs which are not abundant in our Team's cardpool, so I moved on to testing decks without Goyfs and left the project entirely to Stefan.
Now I don't agree with some of his most recent choices (Aven Mindcensor, mainly) and would most certainly play a small Stoneforge Mystic toolbox in the Deck (1 Stoneforge Mystic, 1 Umezawa's Jitte, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice) alongside a singleton Maze of Ith, however, the deck remains very strong and is extremely well positioned in the current metagame: it has access to the very best threats currently available (Wild Nacatl, Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary), eight removal spells trump Zoo and Merfolk strategies, Wastelands are better than ever, and on top of all of that you have a random "I Win" button in Survival and incredibly consistent draws due to a truly slim build with little chaff and bad todecks. Being able to play the best sideboard cards in the current meta (i.e. red ones) goes without mention.
Keep your eyes open for this one!



Decktech: "Und wieder voll gegen die Mauer gelaufen" aka. UWg Walls by Harrald David

http://www.abload.de/img/uwgwalls7pgg.jpg

(click image for decklist)

Harrald didn't do well at this event, dropping early, however, he took the top spot at last month's Mannheim Legacy event with the same 75 and the list is yet another very interesting and innovative concept going through the baptism of serious tournament heat at this event - and this time it's not even Team SPOD bringing it to you!
The list traces back to Marius Hausmann, Germany's very own control mastermind per excellence; since Harrald David, the pilot, was unavailable at the time of writing, I contacted the deck's original creator for some insight and thoughts on the list and concept.

CW: Marius, you're a well known Legacy Control player, one of the driving forces behind the German UWb Cunning Landstill lists, and more recently, the Ubr Dreadstill lists. Apparently you really love Standstill - which is nowhere to be seen in this list. What's the story behind the list? How did it come to this rather unusual approach to Legacy Control? Control is often said to be dead in Legacy: why is your list different? Where does it fit in the metagame?

MH: Well, first of all, I did play Landstill for more than 5 years and so I'm aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this deck... While Standstill is an amazing card in the right deck, it can be a dead card, for example if your opponent has an Aether Vial in play, more manlands then you or even just a Sensei's Divining Top and the option to get a much better manabase than you under your own Standstill...
That, among others, is why, around the time when ANT was the Deck to Beat I switched to Dreadstill (which turned out to be great at GP Madrid, where I was able to make the 41. place)...
Now the meta is changing again, Mystical Tutor has been banned and combo has started to play other, most of the time less powerful combos and cards (Shelldock Isle for example, which looses against Wasteland) and slower control decks seem to become better again, while Dreadstill has massive problems against good creatures like Tombstalker, Qasali Pridemage, etc...
That's why I switched to Landstill again and am currently fiddling around with this Walls.dec that tries to compensate for the lack of carddraw resulting of the loss of Standstill with the Repeal/Top-"combo" and 0/4 carddraw-walls (that happen to be amazing versus Merfolk and Zoo too and can also function as card-draw if you have Repeal - while Repeal for itself is a blue card that handles Counterbalance. Which is awesome.).
In comparison with Landstill, the Walls.dec has less impressive card-draw but less cards which are sometimes dead and more blue manasources because you don't need to play Mishra's Factories or Wastelands. While I have no problems with my actual Landstill list versus any sort of aggro-deck (that's why I play red in the Sideboard - which is just great against Merfolk/Zoo - just think Lightning Helix and Red Elemental Blast), the Walls.dec is even better in these Matchups: 0/4 Walls force the Zoo-player instantly into making card-disadvantage with attacking and subsequently bolting it or even give you an additional land with Path to Exile, or force him to overextend into Wrath of God, or..., or..., or...

CW: Jace, the Mind Sculptor is lately often referred to as the saviour of Legacy Control. What is your stance on this?

MH: Jace is indeed an extremely awesome card for every blue Legacy-controldeck (yet another reason for running red blasts in the Sideboard (laughs))... with this guy Landstill is able to win against its old Nemesis, Loam, preboard easily while creating card-advantage in every matchup if he survives for more than a round. Just think of the possibility to bounce an Iona naming white or even a Show-and-Tell-ed Emrakul (or a Tombstalker) and so on. For the Walls.dec all of this is true too, but Jace is even more win due to you being able to easily protect him with your walls.





- Until next time, this is Clemens Wolff, writing the reports, so that you don't have to.

Scythe Tiger blew my mind.

Thanks for the information!

You should at least get paid for the insane amount of information, like Smmenen

Pure awesomeness, some of these lists keep my head spinning round. With the wall list, what is the Land next to Academy Ruins?

Miren, the Moaning Well

Dear Clemens,

That was a FANTASTIC Report/Event coverage. Thank you for sharing all that information with us. One day I hope to make the trip up to meet the SPOD crew.

My dear Mr. Singing-Club^^,

I really enjoyed this awesome coverage, wishing to have more time joining monthly Hassloch consistently! "Unfortunately", you are not in the league of players going 3:3 more often ;-), or will you -nonetheless- hold on writing this great coverages (besides/in addition to your reports)?


Greetz, K1LO

The problem is that Hassloch's metagame has got a higher mutation rate than any virus. However, you're still awesome Dif. Good job and gratz to Thomas!

Wow. I am really impressed. I really like the way you displayed your decklists too, though seeing the sideboards face-up would have been nice.

impressive report! really awesome.

Wondering how good the birds are in the survival list ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waikiki

impressive report! really awesome.

Wondering how good the birds are in the survival list ;)

---

They have actually been pretty awesome for me! I really want that first turn acceleration EVERY single game, thus I upped the count of 1-Mana-drop accelerators to seven, to ensure I have them available (almost) every game which worked out quite well. The deck is so mana hungry and this way it gets a lot faster and also more consistent. Dropping KotR or Finks 2nd turn is what the deck wants; or obviously even better: going for Survival with one mana open to use it or be "Daze-safe". So for me, it worked out very well and is the way to go now where the meta is that fast!

I was actually talking about the tripple aven mindcensor. There are no birds of paradise in that list posted above.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waikiki

I was actually talking about the tripple aven mindcensor. There are no birds of paradise in that list posted above.

---

Yeah, Clemens didn't like them (at all), but they won me two games against opposing Survival decks (going to write a report probably). I actually like them a lot:
- Shutting down Fetches (and consequently improving Wastelands)
- Disable Survival, which this deck just straight up loses against
- Decent anti-(storm)-combo card maindeck

So I'll play them again, they worked out pretty well for me.

*lol* Ok, never mind. I thought you were talking about my list (GW Survival) which is also linked above (place 7), since I actually DID play 3 Birds of Paradise. ;))