Pff, who wants to reach Annecy in 5h? You wouldn't had more to do in Annecy than play more freaking Magic if we arrived earlier. So it turned out to be an EPIC trip. *g*
For all people who think: Where the hell did these guys go? Here is a Track-Log of our Tour, that my GPS captured. Just download the File and open it in Google Earth to see the Route. The Cops pulled us out at the Parking lot around 1:10 o'clock.
I wish I had a Log of our Back-Trip, cause it had real nice Mountain-Roads, but the Memory was full...
@driving fast: What should I do? When the engine don't want to accelrate, you have to keep your speed through the corners. ^^
Driving like that without people complaining, was a hell lot of fun.
If anyone is interessted, I will post my matches the next few days too...
Kragens is pretty good French thrash, although their vocals leave something to be desired. Heavenly is one of the better pure power metal bands I've heard, and they hail from France.Originally Posted by Der_imaginäre_Freund
Also, that list needs more Finsterforst. Epic German Folk metal that I recently discovered.
Yeah. I just can't help but compare it to Enlightened Tutor of your older builds, which does the same thing and more at two mana less, although, quite obviously, Card Advantage >>> Card Disadvantage.Trinket Mage fetches Engineered Explosives which simply is that good (as in utterly amazing in most matchups) - totally worth it. Being able to randomly pull out a Sensei's Divining Top against control or with a Balance on the table also wins games: there is a reason for Top being one of the most FoWed cards in this deck.
Oh gosh, they are so horrible. Well, you can't really blame them - they're only a local band after all. I saw them live together with Adorned Brood (also pretty bad), Heidevolk (decent), Týr (solid) and Alestorm (epic) some time ago at Black Sails over Europe.
For Christ's sake, listen to Ensiferum, Eluveitie or Equilibrium before Finsterforst (and that's only the bands starting with an 'E').
Sweet, Let's-kick-the-singer-in-the-balls-before-the-act Metal. Thanks for making me feel like I'm 14 again (good? were the times when Hammerfall was all you needed).
Team SPOD - ...land of the brave...
Mission accomplished! Never hesitate to provide us with moar non-MTG stuff!
We tried to copy the Source, but then we realized we're spanish
If my post results dumb or offensive, it's probably just me miserably failing at being ironic in a foreign language
The fuck? Not sure what you could find so unpalatable about ...zum Tode hin. Better than Ensiferum? Hell no; few bands are. Better than Eluveitie? Probably, although it's certainly debatable. I haven't listened to Equilibrium, but most Finsterforst reviews compare them to Equilibrium (in a positive way).
I'd switch Spell Snares for Dazes and probably add more Paths to the SB (seeing how I almost always wated to have them).
Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Not really a Legacy Team anymore.
I've been playing a full set of Paths in the board and it has been impressive thus far. I originally added them as an answer to Merfolk, and having access to eight StPs is pretty phenomenal at swaying the aggro MU in your favor.
Mental Note: Skip Shakehands at next encounter.
Ringleader into Balloon Brigade, Digging Team, Artisans, Snowman.
Thing is that the music itself is quite rousing and they would be one of the best in their art, if it wasn't for the plane BORING vocals. I still like them.
I really recommend you to try out Equilibrium, they're latest album is a masterpiece.
Just what I told the guy in a PM: Finsterforst's singer isn't really any good.
Also, Equilibrium give out free mead at their concerts - that alone is pure win.
I'll have to disagree with your assessment of Equilibrium's albums though. In my opinion, Turis Fratyr is the much 'rounder' one of the two albums: it feels like a complete piece of intertwined art, whereas Sagas is more like a collection of solid songs without a strong musical theme/leitmotiv.
Aye. While I really like Spell Snare, the full set (and no Dazes) is the wrong choice: 14 cards at converted mana cost two is just very, very, little. Too little, actually.
Someone who still has some enthusiasm for NQG work some 3 Dazes into that list and you'll pretty much have what I'd consider, to date, the optimal list.
The comparison of Trinket Mage to Enlightened Tutor is, in fact, quite solid. However, if you follow this comparison, you'll find Trinket Mage at least as good as the Tutor, if not better against anything but combo (and maybe, just maybe, the mirror). Not only does he provide card advantage over card disadvantage (as you already stated), but also Trinket Mage really isn't that much worse than Enlightened Tutor in any matchup:
- Against Aggressive decks, having more bodies for Jitte/to block/to boot is important. Fetching Engineered Explosives while having a body to chump with balances out the relative slowness of Trinket Mage if compared to the Tutor. Furthermore, Trinket Mage doing something at the time you play/draw it is also important because you often can't afford to loose a turn with Enlightened Tutor, even if what you pull out is quite broken.
- Against anything controlish, the card disadvantage provided by Enlightened Tutor is a back-breaker - the point clearly goes to Trinket Mage, especially since Sensei's Divining Top is almost as big as a bomb as anything you could fetch with Enlightened Tutor.
- In the mirror, being able to pull out a Counterbalance with Enlightened Tutor is really good. Totally worth the card disadvantage because Counterbalance is about the only really relevant card in the mirror anyway. However, I play this deck very conservatively/controlish: as long as the opponent doesn't win, I consider that I will win eventually. I therefore still like Trinket Mage in the mirror because he prevents me from loosing (i.e. handles a resolved Counterbalance more often than not).
- Against Combo, Trinket Mage is inferior to Enlightened Tutor in all aspects but pitching to Force of Will - no argument there. However, combo is rare enough for this to not be a very strong point in favour of Enlightened Tutor.
With these arguments in mind, I support the thesis that Trinket Mage is, in fact, superior to Enlightened Tutor in the current build: its strength in bad matchups (anything aggressive) and him providing card advantage over card disadvantage outweigh the very little edge Enlightened Tutor has over it in some of the other matchups.
Team SPOD - ...land of the brave...
Wait, do you no longer have an interest in NQG/w? Did I just read too much into that? I hope that is not the case, because I think you give some of the best input around.
If that is the case, what deck are you more interested in?
Being able to find Jitte against aggro is game-swaying. That being said, so is a body + EE. One is significantly clunkier than the other though, and I'm not as quick to give Trinket Mage the nod is this MU.
No question here. Trinket mage is quite obviously superior against control.Against anything controlish, the card disadvantage provided by Enlightened Tutor is a back-breaker - the point clearly goes to Trinket Mage, especially since Sensei's Divining Top is almost as big as a bomb as anything you could fetch with Enlightened Tutor.
Having access to CBs 5-6 is a bomb in the mirror, whereas having access to a 3cc dude who might answer CB in 2 turns is... less so. I will concede that Trinket Mage is a much more reliable CB answer, but even he is far from guaranteed to land against an active CB/Top. From my experience the mirror is largely a race of who can get active CB/Top first. Enlightened Tutor is infinitely more useful in achieving this goal.In the mirror, being able to pull out a Counterbalance with Enlightened Tutor is really good. Totally worth the card disadvantage because Counterbalance is about the only really relevant card in the mirror anyway. However, I play this deck very conservatively/controlish: as long as the opponent doesn't win, I consider that I will win eventually. I therefore still like Trinket Mage in the mirror because he prevents me from loosing (i.e. handles a resolved Counterbalance more often than not).
Agreed on both points. Combo is an already strong matchup that seldom comes up; including it in the discussion is somewhat pointless.Against Combo, Trinket Mage is inferior to Enlightened Tutor in all aspects but pitching to Force of Will - no argument there. However, combo is rare enough for this to not be a very strong point in favour of Enlightened Tutor.This is reasonable. Despite my arguments in its favor, Enlightened Tutor's card disadvantage cannot be overlooked. It is often a much worse late-game topdeck and Trinket Mage having a body is highly relevant. I'll do some more testing with them; I may find Trinket Mage the superior choice, but all of my past experience with him has led me to label him as clunky more than anything else.With these arguments in mind, I support the thesis that Trinket Mage is, in fact, superior to Enlightened Tutor in the current build: its strength in bad matchups (anything aggressive) and him providing card advantage over card disadvantage outweigh the very little edge Enlightened Tutor has over it in some of the other matchups.
Also, I just listened to Turis Fratyr. I wouldn't label it as amazing just yet, but it is very good, and it usually takes me a couple listen-throughs to warm up to any album.
It is obviously much more awesome if you're capable of the German language. The lyrics are oftentimes fun and somewhat easy to understand.
I agree with you on the point of Tyris Fratyr being much "rounder" BUT
just listen to "Mana" from the Sagas album... pure pr0n
Especially to a non-german Sagas will sound much better than "TF".
Report Part I aka. The Odyssey, take 2
Report Part II aka. First Blood
Report Part III aka. Back in Business
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a 'plop' rang through thedesertedovercrowdedabysshotel room. All awoke, for Harrald 'Tipp Dosenbier is hawt' Herrlich had taken a dump. Terrified by having witnessed this event, none but the most hung-over thought of sleep no more... and thus began the second day of the odyssey of a couple of pirates (and apineappleshit-ton of beer).
After a quick morning-routine, Stefan and I head down to what the hotel called 'breakfast'... and, major bummer, it turned out to be your below-average hotel continental standard stuff – for Christ's sake, we're in France. You know? France? Home of the most awesome pastry as in Éclairs and Croissants and God knows what else... French croissants were probably the only good thing about 1871, 1916 and 1940 and nowadays we don't even get that? Damn you, economic crisis! I definitely have to find a Pâtisserie later that day to make up for your average Joe's cornflakes soaked in €0.08/liter milk (and jeesh I did find my Éclair au Chocolat, although only on the Saturday. And jeesh, it sure was good.).
As Stefan and I head out of the hotel, we are joined by Adan and Stefan completes his breakfast with the first beer of the day. A French guy from Lyon (if I recall correctly) leads us to the site: a large room bellow a church... wait for it... church? At first I was like 'this can't be the right place', but then I saw people in front of that church, young people. I told myself that the only reason people, young people, would ever be near a church was toplay with magical cardshave an awesome weekend, and indeed, the room beneath the church was the correct place.
This is where the report starts to get boring. Because, you know, MtG gets involved.
While Stefan sits down and kills another beer, I start my Mad Trading Spree™ which, with a “¿Hola, qué tal?” and a “S'lut, ç'va?”, would only end on Sunday, after grossing in over €1k... obviously including some really good deals.
“Il est à combien ton Estuaire Pollué (how much is this Polluted Delta)?”
“Ton prix est le mien (your price is mine [as in: you tell me what you value it])”
“15. (no, not Dollars - actual money)”
“uh... seriously? Deal!”
“¿A cuanto lo ves tu Cruel Bargain en Allemán? (how much do you value that German Cruel Bargain of yours?)”
“Que sé yo... dime un precio. (I have no idea. You tell me.)”
“No voy a decirtelo porque yo se lo que vale. (I won't tell you because I know how much it is really worth)”
“Pues... 20? (Uhm then, how about 20 [to myself: I bought this for €6, let's start at 20 to then sell it for around 15])”
“Vale! (deal!)”
(a deal including some other German playables and €86 later)
“En Espana, me hubiera costado 50 (in Spain, these Bargains fetch €50)...”
“WTF! (I beg your pardon?) Pues, qué tal que te muestro mis otras cartas alemanes? (So how about I show you my other German cards?)”
“Ah, eso es muy sucio (That's dirty and downright nasty, and you know it!)”
The following two days I'd also sell my team-mates stuff on commission (the commission being 1 [one] pizza) and make another good bunch of money – so already here, after 1.5 reports, the trips was totally worth it, if alone for the incredibly awesome feeling of having a big, huge, thick bundle of money in your pocket (Stefan: 2.5cm €10 bills, Laber: 2.5cm €20 bills, me: 2.5cm €50 bills)... which, after all, isn't exactly a common feel for students.
An hour or so later, the othernerdspirates finally come along. Two of them leave relatively soon thereafter on an epic quest to find some cigarettes (on a public holiday, mind you), and the others start playing some 8-man single-elimination trials to win free entry to both main events. After watching Stefan and Heiler get beat up, in round one, by Ichorid and Enchantress respectively, Harrald and I head out to hunt down some food. Ten minutes later, we return with a truly commendable booty: nice, greasy, and, above all, large pizzas. You think your pizza is greasy? I don't think so, Tim – this pizza is greasy! (yes, that actually is mince on that pizza – all the Italians please puke now.)
Some time later, Marius and Martin return – their glorious quest was successful, although only after a long and tiresome journey: they managed to return those cigarettes to the lands of the free and therewith ensure Marius's good mood.
Also, beer. Some mad drinking starts, only to slightly slow down after a judge begs us to not leave bottles and cans all over the place: “It would not be good if this stuff were all around and the police came in to have a look at the place.”.
We poke some fun at Martin Schreiber who decided to play one 8-man queue after the other and, despite some serious skill, manages to come in second place at one. Here's a token of the mad skill you need in order to top2 an 8-man queue: playing against ANT, he has a Counterbalance down and plays a Ponder. He sees a Sensei's Divining Top and decides to shuffle it away. He drops a Gaddock Teeg and passes the turn. Next turn, he drops a Tarmogoyf and another Gaddock Teeg. He then proceeds to win the game.
We also make friends with a group of Spaniards (or, to be politically correct, Catalanes) who don't seem to quite know whether to be amazed by our awesomeness (i.e. levels of alcohol consumption + general awesomeness [one spyware-free cookie for whoever saves me the burden of playing the obvious pun is obvious pun-card here]) or disturbed by the later. One of them would tell me on the next day something about us (and especially Stefan) being “un poco loco”.
Out of a strange swing of mood, I decide to play one of these queues myself. My weapon of choice: Elves – any deck can go 2-0 or better, so why not have some fun while playing?
My decklist can be found here.
Round 1 vs. [FRA] Mathieu with AfFoWnity
I drop a first turn mana dude, he has an early Chalice of the Void. I play an Imperious Perfect and another Lord, building up a board of tokens, he plays actual broken shit aka. 2x Master of Etherium + Somber Hoverguard + Cranial Plating. Then comes along the all-deciding turn: he has a board of the aforementioned broken stuff plus an Arcbound Ravager and a Frogmite. I have two Lords and a bunch of crappy 3/3 elves. His Somber Hoverguard + Plating will take me down in two turns - I Jedi-mind-trick him into going all-in i.e. attacking with everything. I brain a little over my blockers, and after declaring them, Stefan tells me that I screwed up. It wouldn't really surprise me if I had because I'm not focused at all: I'm much too cold for that. Seriously, I was shivering like there was no tomorrow – something Stefan was already poking fun at (“Ohhh, look, lil' kiddie is all excited 'bout playin' Magic.”). Screw you, Sir, I really am that cold and not excited about playing Legacy (now why would I be that?). One quick demonstration (i.e. stone-cold hand touching arm) later, he admits that, in fact, why ever, I am friggin' cold. However, I did not screw up my combat math and therefore drop to one. At the end of my opponent's turn, I make another token with my Imerpious Perfect and tell my opponent to hit me with his best shot, turning my lethal board sideways. He doesn't have no further trick – my Jedi-powers have reasserted themselves once more.
-3 Sylvan Messenger
-2 Llanowar Elf
-1 Quirion Ranger
-1 Magus of the Moon
+4 Krosan Grip
+1 Viridian Zealot
+2 Elvish Champion
Second game was over real quick: he has a Force of Will for my two early Survival of the Fittest, I waste my Krosan Grip on his Chalice of the Void. He then proceeds to get an Umezawa's Jitte + a dude. I don't draw a Natural Order in time.
The third game was a testimony to what unfocused play (am I seriously the only fucking one noticing that it is frigging cold in this hall?!) can lead to.
He, once again, has a Force of Will for my Survival of the Fittest and a Chalice of the Void. I get in some early beats with Wren's Run Vanquisher. Turn four, I have an Imperious Perfect and a Krosan Grip in hand. I attack. Why the hell didn't I play that Perfect pre-combat? Right. To handle that Chalice of the Void preventing the gazillion mana dudes in my hand from entering play. At his end of turn, I don't play the Grip. Why again did I do that? Ah, right. My board position is solid and I want to prevent his random win i.e. topdeck Jitte. Next turn, I turn my Vanquisher sideways again. Why the fuck did I not play that Lord again? Seriously, F-O-C-U-S. No, Sir. Much too cold for that (I'm not using the long lost art of the hyperbole one inch if I say that my teeth were literally rattling at this point). At some end of turn after that, I finally manage to destroy his Chalice. I manage to get into quite a bad position from there on, with him again having Cranial Plating + flying dude + double Master of Etherium (that deck only wins if it gets 3+ of its 8 good cards anyway, aye?). I carefully brain over my next play, drop a Quirion Ranger, a Priest of Titania and Natural Order for... wait for it... Viridian Zealot. His attack only brings me down to 8 (from 17, mind you), thanks to Zealot preventing most of the damage by blocking + destroying a Cranial Plating. I carefully brain over my other blocks, not to die but also to still be able to win on the next turn: one other dude of mine therefore has to sacrifice himself. On my next turn, I play a Lord, tap my Priest, play a Lord, play a Lord and use Quirion Ranger to untap my Priest. I swing in for lethal.
1-0 (2:1)
Round 2 vs. [FRA] Darius with Ugr Dreadstill
First turn Llanowar Elf, second turn Llanowar Elf meet second turn Fire/Ice. Eeeeeeeeew. I proceed to loose from there on (i.e. he gets a Dreadnought down and has two Engineered Explosives to prevent my Wren's Run Packmaster-powered Wolves to take his thing down).
-2 Sylvan Messenger (damn you, Stifle!)
-1 Llanowar Elves
-1 Quirion Ranger
+3 Krosan Grip
+1 Viridian Zealot
I get a solid start with some mana dudes and an Imperious Perfect (on which he plays a Pithing Needle). I then proceed to race his Phyrexian Dreadnought with my Wren's Run Packmaster + Vanquisher. Rawr!
Third game was a fail-fest (and a testimony to what is stopping Elves from being an actual good deck): he has a Force of Will for my Survival of the Fittest and then another one for my Natural Order. Meanwhile, two Tarmogoyfs are nibbling away my life total. I proceed to draw Krosan Grip, Krosan Grip, Land, Land, Land and die a slow and green death... and that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is why Elves isn't Tier 1: Force of Will a threat and some Tarmogoyf beatdown (+possible role as The Abyss i.e. way too large blocker) is enough to defeat this deck more often than not. However, that game was also a testimony to the suckitude of Dreadstill: he revealed Pyroclasm, Pyroclasm, Fire/Ice, Firespout after the game... with a landbase of double Mishra's Factory, Wasteland and double Tropical Island.
1-1 (3:3)
- Queue Props:
- (n/a)
- Queue Slops:
- No one showing up with a Materazzi shirt on the first (actually, on any) day of the event
After this queue, everyone was more or less sick and tired of playing Magic.
Martin Schreiber brought along some meat and I have the seemingly amazing idea of going to Lake Annecy to barbecue said stuff. Seemingly amazing. That's exactly what the idea was: only seemingly amazing - we didn't manage to find a single inch of the lake that wasn't either a yacht-club or a paying-beach. Wetherefore headed outset sail for the parking space on which Martin had parked his car during the night: a classy little thing right between two graveyards – Stefan immediately felt at home (back in Karlsruhe he lives right next to a graveyard. In a basement. Yeah, I know, it doesn't really get any more cliché than that). Adan missed out on the unbelievable amount of win that would follow (due to preferring to hang out with some true mtg-nerds rather than with awesome pirates – seriously, wtf dude?).
Asi-(as in totally asocial)-Time aka. barbecue on a parking space!
The following involved pirates making fire, the manly way (1, 2, 3), pirates fighting (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), pirates chilling in cars (1, 2), booze (1, 2), drinking (1, 2), traffic sign climbing [with ensuing wounds] (1, 2) and meat (1).
At some point, someone also had the amazing idea to climb the graveyard's walls and explore its crematory (picture backstory: Pirates Raiding Annecy ('s Gravyard))
Long story short: it was one amazing evening.
Back at the hotel, one sad-panda Adan, waiting in front of the room for hours (yup, graveyard raiding does, in fact, take quite a while), couldn't even reckon what he'd missed.
Due toall wanting to get in as much sleep as possible in order to be fit for the Legacy event on the next dayeveryone being tired/drunk as hell, we all fell asleep rather quickly.
Tune back in tomorrow (as in sometime next week after I sit my Math and ICT finals) for the incredibly boring fail-story of an NQG-player. Now with even more actual Magic content.
Last edited by diffy; 07-22-2009 at 09:51 AM.
Team SPOD - ...land of the brave...
There WAS a guy with a Matterazi Shirt. I was standing beside him when checking out the trader for Ichorid-Stuff.
Team SPOD
<Der_imaginäre_Freund> props:
Adan for being the NQG God (drawer)
Disclaimer:
I reckon this comes pretty late – better late than never, I guess: it's been an extremely busy time for me, sitting A-Levels and organizing my post high-school way through life i.e. one year of civil service in Togo and further education at Edinburgh University.
Also, please don't be surprised if any of this doesn't make much sense - I'm writing this report while drugged as if there where no tomorrow with a rather large bunch of different vaccines.
_____________________________________________________
Report Part I aka. The Odyssey, take 2
Report Part II aka. First Blood
Report Part III aka. Back in Business
...and that was when the awesome stopped.
Getting Up? Check.
Way too early? Check.
Horrible breakfast? Check.
Walk to site? Check.
Be pre-registered? Check.
Decklist? Check.
Round 1 vs. [FRA] Pâtisserie with Éclair au Chocolat
I have a pretty good matchup thanks to my first-round rating bye. Stefan comes along and gives me some outside assistance. We move togame twothe exterior.
-1 One Euro Coin
-1 Twenty Cents Coin
-1 Ten Cents Coin
+1 Delicious Pastry
+1 Good Time
We find a Pâtisserie, get some food and be awesome instead of playing Legacy - there is absolutely nothing he can do.
1-0 (0:0)
Round 2 vs. [GER] Christian Reuschel with Rb Goblins
He has one of these 'non-Vial, non-Lackey but strong (?) midgame' starts. I do what I always do and throw a Tarmogoyf at the problem. Then, Tarmogoyf does what he always does and gets gunned down. Then, I throw another Tarmogoyf at the problem. Then, he gets gunned down. Then, I throw another Tarmogoyf at the problem. Then, he gets gunned down. Then, I loose.
I now know how Americans felt in and after Vietnam.
-1 Trinket Mage
-4 Counterbalance
-2 Sensei's Divining Top
+2 Hydroblast
+1 Blue Elemental Blast
+1 Pithing Needle
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives
He gets all Vial-y on me. Twice. I play it Bogart and drop a Pithing Needle. I then proceed to introduce my opponent to Mr. Tarmo 'Cheaper than Wall-mart' Norris and his dear friend Umezawa's 'World of Pain' Cheatee while Spell Snaring his two consecutive Warren Weirdings.
Oh and yes, I won that one.
-1 Rhox War Monk
+1 Trinket Mage (I saw some Relic of Progenitus, being able to get to that Pithing Needle therefore is even more important)
Once again, he doesn't have a fast start while I have a seemingly amazing hand: I hit double Tarmogoyf (topdecks turn 3 and 4), double Qasali Pridemage, double Spell Snare and double Umezawa's Jitte in the first few turns. I drop one of the Jittes turn two, he Tin Street Hooligans it. I then proceed to drop another one, followed by a Tarmogoyf on the next turn. As I didn't hit a third land, he can safely Warren Weirding my dude and Wasteland my only green mana source (Tropical Island). He doesn't do anything in the following turns. I draw another Tundra and drop my second Jitte, ready to kick some shiny metal ass.
Obviously, I don't hit another green mana source that game.
1-1 (1:2)
Round 3 vs. [FRA] Richard Dumetz with RGw Zoo
I mulligan once. He has an early Figure of Destiny and then another one. While they hit me, I assemble Counterbalance + Sensei's Divining Top and send one of his dudes farming. The turn before I get my soft-lock active, he resolves a Woolly Thoctar and the outlook is rather grim for me. I play a Tarmogoyf - he's too small to be a challenge for his guys.
If Counterbalance and Goyf aren't any good, NQG is no good either, I reckon.
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-1 Trinket Mage
-1 Spell Snare
-2 Qasali Pridemage
+2 Hydroblast
+1 Blue Elemental Blast
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives
He has a first turn Aether Vial - I certainly didn't see that coming and therefore Force of Will it. On his second turn, he has another one of the nasty artefacts and drops some random one mana dork. I find an Engineered Explosives, buying myself close to infinite time. I drop a Rhox War Monk which he Red Elemental Blasts. I then find a Sensei's Divining Top to go with my Counterbalance – everything looks very good. I drop a Tarmogoyf and kill his two Vexing Shushers, while swinging in for the win.
-1 Plains
+1 Qasali Pridemage
After a swingy first few turns involving a Rancored Wild Nactal (I totally didn't see that coming - again), a Rancored Tarmogoyf, and me handling the two: triple Rhox War Monk. 'Nough said.
2-1-0 (3:3)
Round 4 vs. [AUT] Jacob Ederer with Rg Sligh
You know why I dislike writing tournament reports with me playing Threshold? Because you always write the same thing – or you loose. I guess, I can write the same old stuff again this round: Goyf + Goyf + Counterbalance + Sensei's Divining Top = Win (after stabilizing from early Mogg Fanatic + Keldon Marauders + Rift Bolt bleeding).
-3 Qasali Pridemage
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-1 Trinket Mage
-1 Tropical Island
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Hydroblast
+1 Blue Elemental Blast
He has a solid start with some burn sending me down to 6 life and some three peasant Tarmogoyfs sending him to 29. I then proceed to drop two Tarmogoyfs of my own and get an Umezawa's Jitte active. I Force of Will two of his Price of Progress and proceed to tell myself that it's a good thing we invested so much time into improving this deck's matchup against Aggro!
3-1-0 (5:0)
Round 5 vs. [ITA] Coruzo Manera with Geddon Stax
Long (and tiresome) story short: I trade some Qasali Pridemages for Smokestacks (2) and a Trinisphere (1) plus a Force of Will for an Armageddon while he has a Ghostly Prison and Crucible-Wasteland out. Meanwhile, damage from Ancient Tomb, Horizon Canopy and my Tarmogoyf bring him down to 6 life. He gets a Magus of the Tabernacle out (Swords to Plowshares) and then another one. He proceeds to resolve Armageddon the turn before I draw another Force of Will - I have no lands left in my deck and therefore move on to game 2.
-4 Counterbalance
-1 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Umezawa's Jitte
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Pithing Needle
I get a fairly solid start, Spell Snaring a Chalice of the Void of his and beating down with a Tarmogoyf and a Qasali Pridemage. At one point, I have to sacrifice my Pridemage in order to get rid of his Trinisphere blocking my cantrips to find more lands. He then proceeds to drop double Magus of the Tabernacle. I manage to get rid of one of them via Swords to Plowshares and then something really goofy happened: he moves through his phases rather quickly, untaps, draws, and plays a Ghostly Prison, tapping four mana – I was going to say that there was something wrong regarding Magus of the Tabernacle, pointing at the mana my opponent just tapped. My opponent was already on his way to put his Magus into the graveyard when a judge stops us, saying that we both get a warning for missed triggers and that the Magus lives, with my opponent not even having to pay the mana – if he wanted to pay the mana that'd be 'very fair good sports' of him, but he didn't have to: the game state had advanced too far to 'repair' the situation. I look weirdly at him and he proceeds to draw out an even stranger allegory for the situation stating that if he played an Akroma on his first turn and I as his opponent didn't notice it immediately (i.e. until another action is taken) the Akroma were to stay in play. Stefan, watching the match, can't believe it and says that he has a new deck idea: Progenitus Trashtalk. I protest saying that back in the day when I was still following the rules, a missed trigger was to be put on the stack the moment one notices it, with the default action (i.e. not paying) taken. The judge says that I'm wrong - I ask him if this is some recent rules change and he says that yes it was rather recent. I therefore don't appeal the ruling. I proceed to point out to the judge that this ruling opens the doors wide open to cheating and abuse, stating that by his ruling I'd never have to pay the upkeep costs again if I manage to move through my upkeep fast enough. The judge gets angry and says that if I were to do it, it'd be cheating and he'd disqualify me on the spot, au contrary to if my opponent did it. Yeah, that's right. Anyway, my opponent and I both can't understand the judge's verdict, I proceed to play a Swords to Plowshares on said Magus and swing in for the win – not that it made any difference, but the situation was really goofy.
Third game was over real quick – the only damage he took was from his Ancient Tombs: he gets down an early Trinisphere and Magus. I get rid of the Magus – he plays an Elspeth, Knight Errant and a Crucible of Worlds (+Wasteland). He goes for Armageddon - I don't have the Force of Will (but triple Spell Snare) and am left with no non-basics. Not drawing a single Gaddock Teeg all two postboard games long makes this matchup way more swingy.
3-2-0 (6:5)
Round 6 vs. [GER] Didnttake Namedown with Ugw Progenitus Threshold
All-right, if there was any low-point to my mood at this tournament, it definitely was this round. My opponent mulligans. Twice. And leads with some Counterbalance action I can Force of Will. I then get Counterbalance + Top of my own and lock him out of the game, with a two- and three-costed card floating on top of my library at all times. The only thing bugging me: a Werebear is slowly nibbling away my life total. I drop to four life and do have a Swords to Plowshares in hand, but don't want to use it since my now active Rhox War Monk + Qasali Pridemage will more than neutralize the threshed Werebear – I'll rather save that StP for a random, uncounterbalanceable threat like Mystic Enforcer he might be playing alongside those oldschool Werebears... I thought. And then he went for Natural Order. And then I turned pale (didn't see that coming, did I?). Activate Top, no Force. Fetch, activate Top, no Force. Fetch, activate Top, no Force. Fetch, activate Top, find Force. What, I'm on one (and now tapped out)? Screw you.
-2 Umezawa's Jitte
-3 Rhox War Monk
-1 Ponder
+2 Path to Exile
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Relic of Progenitus
Second game I'm paranoid about Natural Order: I know that I am the better and more experienced player and therefore will definitely win the mirror if nothing stupid and swingy (like Natural Order, for instance) happens. I therefore sword every single green critter he gets into play. He swords every single green critter on my side of the field (Pridemage, Goyf, Pridemage) simply because he can. Eventually he runs out of gas because I can Spell Snare his Counterbalances and therefore have some excess Krosan Grips for his Sensei's Divining Tops, unlike him, and Goyf gets there once again.
Third game, we both get CounterTop online. I totally can't figure why we went to time.
3-2-1 (7:6)
I'm out of contention at this point, but I continue playing just for the hell of it – not that Legacy is any fun, or anything, there just was nothing better to do: it was France after all. They speak French there, I hear. God, that place is a mess.
Round 7 vs. [CZ] Jan Zusak with Ugwb Landstill
I keep one of these typical Threshold hands with a land and some cantrips. Cantrips resolve, finds a fetchland and a nonbasic, land gets Wasted, fetchland Stifled, next two Lands wasted and two Fetches stifled. Meanwhile, I'm getting killed by a Tarmogoyf and a Mishra's Factory - I didn't get into the game at any point.
-2 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Rhox War Monk
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Pithing Needle
He gets an early Pithing Needle on Sensei's Divining Top - I can't handle it and so have to do it the oldschool way: Rhox War Monk, Goyf, Swords to Plowshares his Goyf, Force of Will a Deed, get him on low life, let him clear the board, drop another beater – game. Like back in... uh... 100 b. C.? (before Counterbalance, that is)
Third game was bo(o) wait for it. Actually, that doesn't need the '...ring' to be correct. Basically it came down to me Counterbalance+Top-locking the living hell out of him until he dropped his super (?) secret (!) sneaky (?) tech of Masticore? After my initial perplexity I thankfully accepted my Krosan Grips and Swords to Plowshares now getting in for two cards for the price of one (only today, special offer!). After me dropping a Pithing Needle on Pernicious Deed and starting to slowly beat him down with a Trinket Mage he conceded.
4-2-1 (9:7)
Round 8 vs. [GER] Marc Tobias with Ugb Crystal Shard
I dropped some Goyfs. And Counterbalances. Thankfully I saw what he was playing before the only way NQG can win let me win: Intuitions, Accumulated Knowledge, Volrath's Stronghold and the like.
-3 Rhox War Monk
-2 Umezawa's Jitte
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Relic of Progenitus
No, wait, actually his deck doesn't loose to Counterbalance? It is quite good against it, too, I hear – Mystic Snake, Kitchen Finks, Shriekmaw and Crystal Shards oblige – but how the hell did He Who Plays The Deck Whose Curve Starts At Three make it to this table? I want to play against all the Threshold decks he played against too!
Meh, see game 2. Not being able to kill people with Tarmogoyf (Kitchen Finks + Volrath's Stronghold/Crystal Shards) and a curve mostly outside of Counterbalance range really are no good news for Threshold. True story.
The deck that had already induced panic and terror into my team-mate Manuel Heiler in some previous round found another victim – me. Harald Herrlich (also of epic SPOD fame) was so impressed by the deck's sneakiness that he built it himself. He is still playing it to date. Although he still is due to top8 with it, many, many people have been added to the 'Official List of People Traumatized by Crystal Shards' list – walking straight into limited tricks (“Cute Goyf you have there, guess what my Briarhorn will do with it? Right!”) and loosing to stuff you didn't even play in block constructed is no fun, I tell you!
4-3-1 (10:9)
Round 9 vs. [ITA] Ronzo Gampiero with Team America
Before the round, Fabian Moyschewitz, a Hassloch regular, had a little chat with my opponent – apparently an old friend. Fabian told him to watch out for my mad playskill – Ronzo's only reply: “Don't worry, I'll fuck him.”
And that's what he did, all-right.
Thoughtseize, take your Swords to Plowshare, Goyf, Goyf, Goyf. Spell Snare your Tarmogoyf, Force of Will your Swords to Plowshares, Stifle your Engineered Explosives, Tombstalker, game.
-1 Trinket Mage
-2 Rhox War Monk
-2 Umezawa's Jitte
+2 Path to Exile
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Engineered Explosives
See game 1 (replace the Spell Snare with Snuff Out, though) – quick and painful. Apparently not only Canadians have the fundamental skill of always drawing more than half of their winconditions in a very limited amount of turns, when playing Tempo decks.
4-4-1 (10:11)
4-4-1. With one Bye. What an inglorious outcome, especially if contrasted to Stefan's performance. I guess this shows how Threshold nowadays works, though: sometimes Counterbalance and Tarmogoyf win, sometimes you loose.
As always, to end a report:
- Props:
- Roadtrips
- Slops:
- Magic – if it wouldn't be such a convenient excuse for road-trips, it'd be downright unbearable
- Motivation - it's a bitch (especially the 'to write a report' type thereof)
That's it gents, this should be the last extensive report you'll be getting from me - I hope you enjoyed that gibberish I like to call English writing you got from me in the past.
Bonus Section aka. What I went on to play after the Annécy-NQG-overdose
After a whopping (and rather disappointing too) nine consecutive rounds of Threshold, and way too many hours (and top8s) logged with that deck anyway, I needed something else to put my teeth into.
I therefore looked through my archives and found Bardo's Vorosh Landstill which arose my curiosity once again - I went on to butcher the deck. To date, it doesn't bear much resemblance to what I started with any more, and could rather be seen as a mutation of NLU or ITF – nevertheless, the deck is very strong and enjoyable to play. I am currently holding back to back top8s with it at Hassloch.
With no further ado, here's Vorosh Landstill bastard child aka. Team Canada (name courtesy of Bryn Jones):
This page will be kept updated with the newest list.Code:/// Maindeck (60 cards) // Lands (22) 4 Polluted Delta 2 Flooded Strand 4 Tropical Island 3 Underground Sea 4 Island 1 Swamp 1 Academy Ruins 3 Mishra's Factory // Dudes (4) 4 Tarmogoyf // Card Advantage (15) 4 Sensei's Divining Top 4 Brainstorm 1 Ponder 2 Standstill 1 Life from the Loam 3 Intuition // Permission (11) 3 Spell Snare 4 Counterbalance 4 Force of Will // Removal (8) 2 Smother 1 Diabolic Edict 1 Vedalken Shackles 3 Pernicious Deed 1 Engineered Explosives
The haters (i.e. my team mates) will, after only two pints of beer, tell you that the deck is a pile of crap, and after only one more pint add “just like any other deck you have ever conceived” to their statement, however, I find it very enjoyable since, thanks to its hybrid approach, it has more gas than either Landstill, NQG or ITF individually while maintaining a high density of control cards and minimizing the angles from which it can be attacked (i.e. less reliance on the graveyard thanks to Landstill-component).
Current record: 8-3-1 (4-1-1, 4-2)
- At the May Hassloch event I defeated Threshold/w, Hypergenesis-Cascade Combo, Aggro Loam, and Goblins loosing to Imperial Painter due to non-Blood-Moon-caused colour screw. I drew one round intentionally.
- At this month's Hassloch event, I defeated Imperial Painter, Belcher, White Weenie and Affinity, loosing to Bgw Sui's Tombstalker and quite bad-beats-style to Ugr Thrash (he has three cards in hand, three Tarmogoyfs on the table, I have a Tarmogoyf, a Relic of Progenitus and a Pernicious Deed – block Goyf, pop Relic, Stifle, pop Deed, Stifle, Force, Red Blast - I loose).
I personally think that the deck is promising, but apparently also hard to play – to date, everyone, but me, failed miserably with the list.
Since I won't be around long enough to optimize the deck, feel free to give it a shot – I'd hate to see potential wasted.
Last edited by diffy; 07-22-2009 at 11:53 AM.
Team SPOD - ...land of the brave...
team canada's cute. Nice report. Need more spod remarks.
edit:
and pictures.
Very nice report, DIF.
I continue to tweak Vorosh (now VoR/osh) as whim and fancy strike me.
“VoR/osh”
'Glint-Eye' (no /w) Landstill with Counter-Top/Goyf
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
3 Standstill
3 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Counterbalance
3 Spell Snare
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Doom Blade
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Dark Confidant
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
Sideboard
4 Hydroblast
3 Pyroblast
3 Firespout
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Krosan Grip / Annul
Again, great report.
I really like glint eye.
We're all pretty awesome! Brillant players, visionary deck-builders, excessive drinkers, mean pirates...
Glad to be of service.
Sneaky Pirates of Doom - Not really a Legacy Team anymore.
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