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Thread: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

  1. #1

    1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    I apologize for poor formatting in advance. I tried to use capitalization, punctuation, and proper card names, but I abbreviated a few times, my bad.

    So the day started out at 9:00 when I was supposed to wake up (totally exhausted and hungover from going to bed drunk at 3, and getting to sleep around 6. By 9:40 Randall had made it over, and we started the process of borrowing cards from my housemate caff who was asleep with his girlfriend, but grudgingly got up and helped us. By 10:00 am (30 mins after our hopeful departure time, and 15 minutes after our absolute departure time) we finally headed towards Blue Bell. As we were running late we naturally hit just about every light although with some skills I’ve learned from my friends in NJ and MA I managed to run a few red-lights and get us there only a few minutes late. Our car included: Ben Ketel, Randall (sleeping beauty Lam, Matt Bevenour, and Me.

    Before the tournament (with the help I talked myself out of running the SB I had planned because I saw no merfolk in the room (guess I wasn’t looking hard enough). The only change I made was to swap one of my 2 Llawans for a pithing needle (a good choice). After a week or two of testing (although I have played this deck extensively in the past) I ended up with this list because it has a very good survival matchup, and is solid against agro and rock, which I expected:

    4 Noble Hierarch
    4 Tarmogoyf
    4 Spell Stutter Sprite
    3 Stoneforge Mystic
    2 Vendillion Clique

    4 Spell Snare
    4 Force of Will
    3 Spell Pierce
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Ponder
    4 Swords to Plowshares

    1 Umezawa’s Jitte
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Plains
    1 Island
    1 Forest
    3 Tropical Island
    2 Tundra
    1 Savannah
    1 Horizon Canopy
    4 Misty Rainforest
    3 Flooded Strand
    4 Mutavault

    SB:
    3 Kitchen Finks
    3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    2 Krosan Grip
    2 Path to Exile
    1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Spell Pierce
    2 Meddling Mage

    I will explain some choices briefly, if you have any questions about something I don’t mention, ask and I’ll try to answer them.

    MD:
    This pretty much Harry Gillen’s Excalibur list but it’s tweaked my way as far as number of equip/SFM and I ran the spell pierces main over 1 ponder and 2 Jace/Sower of Temptaion because of Survival and Storm Combo in the meta.
    SB:
    Kitchen Finks are amazing, they win agro matchups.
    Jace TMS, great against control and landstill decks
    Krosan Grip, DO NOT PLAY GREEN IN LEGACY WITHOUT THEM, EVER Some people will say that nature’s claim was better against survival, we can get into whether or not that is true later, but I didn’t even bring it in in that MU.
    Path to Exile: Sometimes you just need a bit more removal, mostly fish/zoo, but also good against survival, elves, goblins, etc.
    Pithing Needle: Great against survival, vial decks, decks running planeswalkers, it’s a great catch-all for odd stuff.
    Meddling Mage: Should have been Gaddock Teeg, would have won round 4 if they had been Teegs. I just couldn’t find them that morning.

    That is the list, I registered it, and waited for my round 1 pairing.

    Rd. 1. Guw Survival (and maybe there was black for ooze? Didn’t see it)
    Game 1: He doesn’t have a survival or shaman in his opening 7, his mana dorks and turn 3 vengevine get ended easily by Swords to Plowshares and an equipped beater.
    During sideboarding he kept telling me how survival was the best deck and had a 60% matchup against any other deck in the format, while I chuckled and sided in the following: +2 path, +1 pithing needle, -1 ponder -1 vendilion clique, -1 spell-stutter sprite
    Game 2: He keeps a turn 2 survival with force backup but I keep a Spell snare and a Force + brainstorm so I win the counter war, play SfM, get equipment, and win easily. He doesn’t do anything relevant the rest of the game.
    1-0
    Rd. 2: Ur Fish (I really like this list except that he cut cursecatcher)
    Game 1: He manages to get me low in life, I stabilize with goyf + jitte. He uses lavamancer to blast his dudes and get prevent me from getting jitte counters and then at the last possible moment rips LoA of the top to swing for lethal with his mutavaults.
    SB: +1 Llawan, +2 Path to Exile, +3 Kitchen Finks -4 Force of Will, -2 Vendilion Clique
    I think I could have done a better job boarding, maybe taking out a spell pierce and leaving in a Clique or both, not sure.
    Game 2: I try to create a non-island manabase with savannah, canopy, and basic forest/plains as well as a noble hierarch to find blue. Unfortunately I drew lots of dead blue cards (at one point I had 3 spell snares, 3 spell pierces, and a SSS in hand. I drew poorly, he never got the LoA so my lack of islands was irrelevant and he stomped me by using vial and a critical hibernation
    1-1 Overall
    Rd. 3 Gbw Survival (with ooze)
    I honestly don’t remember what happened in this round except that neither game was close at all, it was a quick and easy 2-0 for me with almost no thought. Similar/same SB plan as before.
    2-1 Overall
    Rd. 4 Storm Combo (the biggest storm noob ever, his first time playing the deck)
    Game 1: I won on the back of early pressure coupled with force of will, spell snare, spell pierce, and spell stutter sprite (or some combination of the 4).
    SB: -4 Swords to Plowshares + 1 Spell Pierce, + 2 Meddling Mage, +1 Pithing needle: (I know needle doesn’t work on LED, but I figured it was more useful than swords against a UB combo deck, and also I knew that last week the guy playing it boarded into DDT which frequently runs sensei’s divining top, so I thought I could name that, or even shelldock isle.
    Game 2: I got out meddling mage naming ad nauseam, he igg-looped and killed me (if I had my gaddock teeg, I would have won)
    SB: He used Xantid swarm to win protected game 2, So I boarded back in a few Swords for Vendillion Cliques and a land.
    Game 3: He fizzled three times trying to go off (once was because he thought he knew my cards and didn’t) and we ended up drawing in extra turns. He had no way left to win in his deck and I had a win on-board (clique exalted) so if he hadn’t been so slow, I would have won the match
    Overall: 2-1-1
    Rd. 5 Gub Survival: (He won the Lotus at TOGIT the week before)
    He agreed to scoop me in because I got a pair-down, but we played it out, and I easily rolled him 2-0. Neither game was close, he never had a survival in play, and his shaman never got un-summoning sick.
    Overall 3-1-1

    Top 8.
    Quarter Finals: Ur Merfolk, same guy as before.
    Game 1: I get out an early jitte and he gets mana-screwed after I forced his vial (I think).
    SB: Same as before
    Game 2: I get mana screwed, kept a 2 lander, he wasted one of them and I never saw another land.
    Game 3: This game was a little more interactive. I ended up winning by beating down with an exalted kitchen finks, then an exalted goyf, while keeping his board relatively clear, I grabbed a SoFI for the last swing to make sure he didn’t pull any tricks.

    Semi-Finals: Matt Bevenour playing Ubw Dreadstill:
    Matt scoops me into the finals because we came together, and I have great matchups against both of the other Semi-Finalists (goblins and survival) and he has a decent survival MU but not as good as mine, and not a favorable goblins MU. Thanks Matt .

    Finals: Kurt Madeuse playing goblins:
    I offered to split, but since we couldn’t get ahold of caff to give us a cash offer on the mox that was the first prize, Kurt changed his mind and wanted to play it out. I warned him that my goblins MU is really favorable, especially post board, but he seemed confident enough with his MD miser blood moon that he wanted to play.
    G1: He wins the roll. I swords a t1 Lackey, he plays another lackey. I play goyf, he uses stingscourger to bounce my goyf, lackeys in his siege gang commander, next turn plays chieftan, and that game was over quick.
    SB: As I was boarding, I realized how much of a cock I would look like if I lost this match after telling him in no uncertain terms that if we did not split, that I would beat him, thus with my words sitting in my throat, not wanting to be swallowed, I made the following changes.
    +2 Path to Exile, +3 Kitchen Finks, -3 Spell Pierce , -1 Ponder, -1 SSS (you may think I should keep the ponder in favor or cutting a SSS but fliers are pivotal in this MU so they can’t sacrifice goblins and keep me from getting jitte counters.
    Games 2: I had a force of will and swords to plowshares for his lackey, then my kitchen finks + equipment took over the game.
    Game 3: He got mana-screwed after I dealt with turn 1 lackey, and I got equipment early to get the game under wraps.

    End of the day I was 6-1-1, 1 mox richer, and had a lot of fun. The only sad part is that now survival is banned, and I was really hoping it wouldn’t be since I’m fairly certain this list just dominates it.
    Matt was 4-2-1 but conceded
    Ben was 3-2
    Randall was 0-4, but he insists he lost at least 3 matches to lucky top-decks by his opponents who were at 1 or 2 life while he had a goyf on the board and they had nothing
    Props:
    First to Matt for scooping me into finals, we didn’t play it out officially, but we should. Also, for making the world’s longest Wendy’s trip to get me that crispy chicken sandwich taste I so desperately craved.
    Joey for scooping me into top 8, although that one we did play out so I don’t see that as much of a charity, but still nice of him after I gave him hell the previous weekend.
    AU for running a timely event
    Ben and Randall for filling up the car.
    Caff for lending randall cards
    Harry Gillen, for suggesting the list in the first place
    Harry, Caff, Matt, Ben, Benning, Anders, Ken, Randall, and anyone else who helped in testing.
    Gina, for the lucky shirt, SP is the best.

    Slops:
    PA highway system… always under construction, too many traffic lights. Rt. 309 sucks.
    Jace the Mind Sculptor: you stayed in my board all day
    Wizards: For banning survival (I know that’s not part of the tourney, but who cares)
    Randall for chronically over-sleeping.
    Ken for rubbing vicks vapor rub on everything.
    Last edited by talon7331; 12-24-2010 at 03:21 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    I skimmed over it, looks pretty good. Congrats again, dude. Slops for me for over-sleeping and missing the event entirely. Also, in PennDOT's credit, at least the fucking construction in Quakertown is finished (IIRC).

  3. #3
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    coulda summed it up like this:

    Hey I'm allen and I played a bunch of downies and got scooped into the finals to beat a smelly samoan. I also love rubbing Vic's Vapor Rub all over my taint and balls.

    edit: jk luv u

  4. #4
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    Congrats!! If you for some reason make it down to Pa during break, let me know

  5. #5
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    I don't understand why you think you have a good matchup against Goblins.

  6. #6
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    I don't understand why you think you have a good matchup against Goblins.
    It could be the Maindeck "3 copies" of SoFI + Jitte, or the 2 Path, 3 Kitchen Finks out of the board. Sounds pretty hot to me.
    Delver enthusiast and avid practitioner of blind flipsmanship.

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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    I don't understand why you think you have a good matchup against Goblins.
    It is the maindeck equipment package, combined with a few evasive beats as he stalls out the ground with what have you. The addition of mutavault as another way of trading with piledriver or lackey if on the play.

    Out of curiousity, why do you think otherwise?

  8. #8

    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    Grats again and nice report. Still glad you beat Kurt after his Blood Moon kicked me out of the tourney (I'm Ben, went 3-2 with Zoo after he landed Blood Moon G3...I had no basic forest :/).

  9. #9

    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    Quote Originally Posted by mossivo1986 View Post
    I don't understand why you think you have a good matchup against Goblins.
    Maindeck jitte is very good, especially with 3 tutors for it. My ability to stop turn 1 lackey with either force, swords, or (on the play) any creature or mutavault.

    The finks really shore things up out of the board. Spell snare hits a lot of goblins' busines spells in thresh matchups. What is your oppinion on the MU?

  10. #10
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    I have no opinions. I was simply asking.

  11. #11
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    :D Grats on the win, I always like seeing my deck do well. I agree that it's a shame vengies are gone since we have such a great matchup, but I think we're still pretty well positioned with great goblin, merfolk, threshold, and zoo matchups.
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  12. #12
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    Re: 1st Place at AU legacy Showdown Mox Ruby

    no offence, but:
    "I win, I lose, I draw... a couple of guys scoop to me - oops, I win the tourney" is kinda lol.
    I do like your MD & SB, though.

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