So, none of us Maryland guys have played any Legacy since the Virginia Fuddrucker's tournament. About 2 months prior to this event Gearhart PMs me and tells me that I should come to this thing. I agree, call up Ditizio and James Buckingham, and decide we should really playtest the format since none of us have played any legacy in a while... Fastforward to a week ago: None of us had played any legacy yet, but I do get pretty bored at work and read the Source, so whatever. I was pretty much set on playing ITF, but a few games against Loam quickly change my mind. The decisions are too complicated and the combo match seems like it couold be pretty bad. So instead I sleeve up Emidln's latest Doomsday list. I like it, but I'm worried about the lack of speed. I liked how the old FT list could reliably go off on turn 2. I also really wanted to play Ad Nauseum if I was going to play combo. So, I sleeved up Bryant's latest T.E.S. list, goldfished a few turn 1 kills, and never looked back. James Buckingham settled on Aggro Loam, and Ditizio decided to play URg Dreadstill.

* Portion of tournament report about Calosso riding up with us *: OMITTED

We leave Frederick, MD at 6 AM, we have a 266 mile trip. Smooth sailing except for the 11 mile stretch of I-81 that is one lane due to "construction." Oh yeah, and the part about getting pulled over 2 miles over the New York state line.

NYSP - "I pulled you over for speeding. Do you know how fast you were going?"
Me - "Umm maybe 82"
NYSP - "84, pretty close though. Where are you heading to?"
Me - "Vestal/Binghamton"
NYSP - "Ok. Do you have any problems with your license in New York or Maryland? Unpaid tickets or anything?”
Me - *Thinks about ticket I got in New York when I drove to the Running GAGG* *Thinks about how I threw the ticket away* *Thinks about how I threw away the thing I got in the mail about the unpaid ticket* : "Nope"
...14 minutes later....
NYSP - "Ok, you've been issued a citation for speeding"....etc

Thank God. Figured I would have had a bench warrant or something else equally bad, especially since he specifically mentioned unpaid tickets, oh well, must have been my lucky day.

So we get to the tournament site at 10:30ish, figure out that registration hasn't started yet, so I talk to Bryant and get the last minute decklist changes. Two hours later or so pairings are up:

The list - The Epic Storm - by Bryant Cook
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Ad Nauseum
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Orim's Chant
2 Duress
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Forbiddan Orchard

SB
3 Pyroblast
3 Vexing Shusher
3 Shattering Spree
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Tranquility
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot!!
1 Tendrils of Agony

Please note: All the stuff in my report is from memory, it may or may not be exactly right. If you were one of my opponents and I screwed something up, please post or PM me so I can fix it.

Round 1 - Zach - Dragon Stompy
I win the die roll

G1 - Duress him seeing Trinisphere, Seething Song, City of Traitors, Pit Dragonx2, Gathan Raiders, Mountain - take Trinisphere
He proceeds to draw nothing of relevance so I win a few turns later, off of LED -> IT -> IGG

G2 - board (-3 chants) (+2 Spree +1 ETW)
He starts with Chalice on 1
He then has a Pit Dragon, then on turn 3 or maybe 4 jitte/equip
I'm able to set up burning wish -> spree to blow up the chalice and the jitte
Two turns later my hand still sucks and I have to go for Burning Wish -> Diminishing Returns with only 1 mana floating. I draw the ETW I boarded in and am able to make 20 Goblins, which was good enough to kill him from 18 the next turn.

Round 2 - Somebody - GoyfSligh/Burn/RDW?
G1 - He wins the die roll and plays grim Lavamancer
My hand is pretty bad, especially after I brainstorm into trash
He plays a turn 2 Keldon Marauders and attacks me to 19 with his Lavamancer
I play my 2nd land and I believe a ponder, with which I shuffle my library
Turn 3 he attacks with Marauders and Lavamancer, and suspends Rift Bolt x2
I rip LED, which allow me to IGG loop off of burning wish x2 (I believe I had 3 lands in play; in hand: petal, LED, Wishx2, Dark Ritual, Rite of Flame, and a Chant)

G2 - I'm on the draw and my hand is Dark Ritual x2, City of Brass, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox x2, and Brainstorm; I rip Ad Nauseum off the top - Turn 1 WIN!

Round 3 - RoddyVR - Slivers
Can't remember the die roll

G1 - I don't remember much about my hand or plays, but he gets me on a pretty quick clock with Muscle + Sinew Sliver + Random other sliver. I think I win on turn 4 with a Chant protected IGG loop.

G2 - Roddy mulls to oblivion (3 I believe); I play ETW for 16 Goblins on turn 2.

Round 4 - Someone - Goblins
G1 - He starts with a fanatic, while I play a turn 1 Gemstone Mine -> Ponder
He plays a wasteland and kills my Gemstone mine on turn 2. I have no more lands so I play draw -> go for about 5 turns needing any mana source to win the game, while he's swinging at me with just 2 fanatics (I can't remember but I think he was stuck on 2 lands). I eventually rip Chrome Mox and am able to win the game with Infernal Tutor -> IGG
G2 - He starts with a turn 1 Lackey. I play City of Brass -> Ponder and see no more lands. He bashes me with Lackey, and a Piledriver joins his attack, then he plays a Wasteland and blows up my only land. I believe he also resolved a Null Rod at some point this game, while I draw no lands and get beaten by Lackey + Piledriver.
G3 - Turn 1 - I play land -> brainstorm, putting Ad Nauseum back on top of my deck, then play LED, LED. He plays mountain, lackey. I untap, break LEDs in my upkeep and play Ad Nauseum in my draw stp FTW. My opponent would have had a Null Rod on Turn 2, so it's a good thing he never got another turn :)

Round 5 - Quackenbush - GBwr Survival
G1 - He starts with a Thoughtseize, taking away something that would have enabled a Turn 1 or 2 win. In my turn I play duress, seeing: Top, Survival, Masticore, and non-land x2. I take the top. He doesn't draw land for a few turns, but I'm not drawing anything either. I finally win on turn 6ish (I don't remember exactly how).
G2 - He has a birds to start the game. He then plays Thoughtseize and and Gaddock Teeg by turn 3. My hand is basically the sickest ever though and with 3 lands in play I'm able to play Dark Ritual, Duress, Rite of Flame, Petal, LED, Burning Wish for Grapeshot, Grapeshot 2 at Teeg 4 to the dome, Burning Wish breaking LED in response for Tendrils, Tendrils for Storm 9.

Round 6 - ID
Round 7 - ID

So at 5-0-2 I enter the top 8 as the 8th seed.

Quarterfinals - Hunter - Goblins
G1 - I don't remember exactly how, but I have a turn 2 win off Ad Nauseum
G2 - I mulligan to 5. My hand is LED, Ponder, Brainstorm, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox. I don't remember my first draw (Maybe a lotus petal), but I played Mox (Imprint Brainstorm) -> Ponder, seeing LED, Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual. I win on turn 2 via IT -> Ad Nauseum.

Semifinals - URg Dreadstill
G1 - I went for it with a turn 2 unprotected Ad Nauseum which resolved. I draw myself down to 4 life and stop. I only had one free mana source (Petal), so I play Petal, Rite, Rite, Rite, Burning Wish -> ETW, which gets Stifled :(. He plays a Standstill over my 2 Goblin Tokens and I comment how I'm not going to break standstill until he draws Mishra's factory. For inexplicable reasons I decide to break standstill with an EOT brainstorm 2 or 3 turns later. I then proceed to somehow lose. What a beating :(
G2 - He keeps a one land hand, plays an EOT brainstorm and sees no more land. I have a chant protected win on turn 3 I think.
G3 - My hand is Land, Land, Rite, Rite, Chant, Chant, X (not a business spell, maybe another land, or LED). My opponent keeps another 1 land hand, so he doesn't play a second land on turn 2. I draw a Burning Wish on turn 2, and played Orim's chant to draw out a Force of Will even though I couldn't go off. Next turn I draw a brainstorm, and brainstorm into some type of chant protected win (can't remember if it was wish -> IGG, or Ad Nauseum).

Finals
G1 - I have 2 lands in play. I play Rite of Flame -> Burning Wish for ETW. I then use my other land to play Dark Ritual (I have 2x SSG in hand), so I was really hoping for him to Daze it, which he does, so I pay for daze removing SSG, but then he forces the ritual pitching Stifle!! So I have to pass the turn. Next turn I'm able to ETW for 6. He plays a factory the next turn. I'm able to get him to 1 or 2, but he gets CB down, and a few fortunate flips later the game is over.
G2 - I get thrashed. My only real chance is that he doesn't get a Counterbalance to go with his top. In the upkeep of his 3rd turn (I think) he spins top, takes the 3rd card down and puts it on top. Frowntown: population me. I make some attempt at going off, but without drawing a Shusher or Pyroblast I really have no chance. :(

So I got some FBB duals for 2nd place. Then we ate at Denny's, and drove back to Maryland immediately.

Thoughts on the deck:
The list felt pretty tight. 3 Ad Nauseum was definitely right. 4 Chrome Mox makes me sad though. While they're great after Ad Nauseum, 4 Mox feels like too many in a deck that can rarely shuffle after it brainstorms. I have no clue what I'd put in that slot though. Also, I really wanted a MD Empty, I really wanted it 3-4 times and it wasn't there for me :(


Props:
Ad Nauseum and TES for being awesome
DCI Reporter for letting me play against creature decks all day
Bryant for the last minute deck changes
Ditizio for taking over on the driving on the way back so we didn't crash and die
Everyone who set this up
Everyone who came out and played to get this thing to 127 people!
Me for only playing poorly in one game all day

Slops:
No split in the finals, so we couldn't go to Tully's with everyone else
New York state police - Really? 2 for 2 in trips to New York + speeding tickets
Calosso, and me for driving Calosso
Me, for never taking match notes
Eternal DCI rating for being completely irrelevant