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Thread: Punting to Top16 with ANT at Germanmagic 2

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    Punting to Top16 with ANT at Germanmagic 2

    Hi,

    long time reader, first time poster (or almost i guess, at least it's my first report here).
    After I really sucked with Gush Storm in the Vintage tournament on the 29th (due to the deck hating me and my general lack of sleep) I tried my luck with the Legacy part of the event.
    While not being sure if I wanted to play ANT or TES, I did choose ANT for having a more stable manabase. Seing my opponents, it really did pay off for me to be able to play four basics.

    So here's the list:

    "UHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU Barbara Str.. TENDRILS!"

    2x Swamp
    2x Island
    3x Underground Sea
    4x Polluted Delta
    2x Misty Rainforest
    2x Flooded Strand
    4x Dark Ritual
    4x Cabal Ritual
    2x Ad Nauseam
    4x Brainstorm
    4x Lion's Eye Diamond
    4x Lotus Petal
    2x Chrome Mox
    1x Sensei's Divining Top
    4x Preordain
    4x Ponder
    4x Infernal Tutor
    3x Duress
    3x Thoughtseize
    1x Ill-Gotten Gains
    1x Tendrils of Agony

    Sideboard:

    4x Dark Confidant
    3x Krosan Grip
    1x Slaughter Pact
    1x Smother
    1x Chain of Vapor
    1x Hurkyl's Recall
    1x Echoing Truth
    1x Rebuild
    1x Tendrils of Agony
    1x Tropical Island

    I did not choose a Doomsday sideboard because I really love Confidants, and also being able to shoot two Tendrils with Confidant being the advantage machine that he is strook me as really good. So, off to the tournament - of course with not that much sleep again - we go.
    I roughly translated the report from the german version, so please excuse any not-so-good language. With about 190 players, we would play eight rounds with a cut to Top8.

    Round 1: Andre - Astral Slide

    He mulligans to five and starts with a tapped Sacred Foundry. I ponder, while he plays Lightning Rift. Well, that's ok with me. I play Duress revealing Elspeth, Renewed Faith and Humility - nothing too scary. Still, Elspeth has to go and I proceed to play lands, first because he doesn't do anything and second because it's still early in the morning and I don't want to kill myself. With five lands and no landdrop this round (yeah, I had the time, so why not) I decide to go with Nauseam, punting horrible by first shuffling away a Tendrils with Ponder, then stopping at eight life because I saw Infernal Tutor - and later realizing that he doesn't help much without LED. With stormcount around 25 I still am not able to find a Tendrils or a LED, so I duress all his cards away and combo him out next turn.

    I board a Chain of Vapor because I don't really want to board too much dead cards (Krosan Grip) if he doesn't have the white Leyline.
    Turns out he doesn't. My Duress reveals 2x StP, 2x Plains, Exalted Dragon and Renewed Faith (which I take). After playing out my lands for five turns again I combo off without punting. Seems like the first game shook me up quite a bit. Exactly what I needed.
    2:0 | 1:0

    Round 2: David - UGB Threshold

    I win the die roll, mull to six and start with Island, Ponder. He just plays a Land and says go. I'm ready to go off in the next, so I play a Thoughtseize, revealing 2x Spell Snare (one of which I take), 2x Smother, Engineered Explosives and Underground Sea. He just lays another land and Explosives for zero. I bait his Snare with an Infernal, but it gets through and I search up another LED, still holding Nauseam, Infernal, now 2x LED and a Ritual. He again just plays a land and says go. I start comboing with a few plays that I was very proud of at the time, but don't quite know what they were. Something about him tapping out and anticipating Infernal Tutor plus sacrificing his Explosives for one LED in response to the other, while I just play Ad Nauseam and win.

    I board Confidants and he starts with a Mulligan to six, plays Wasteland and says go. I start with Swamp, Petal, Confidant, which he forces. After he didn't play a land again and I topdeck Thoughtseize (couldn't have showed up a turn earlier, could it?) I see a hand containing 2x Brainstorm, 2x Spell Pierce, Daze. I take a Brainstorm and proceed to cantrip to a good hand, duressing him a last time to see if he has a Force (which he didn't) and then playing Nauseam from 17 on and a bit mana floating. Revealing a Top, Tendrils and double Confidant I am quite fast at eight life and stop there, playing both Confidants and Top. He doesn't find a land, I attack two times and kill him with a Tendrils.
    2:0 | 2:0

    Round 3: Julian - Merfolk

    I win the roll and see a hand containing fastmana and a few Cantrips plus Top. Top gets down first turn while he does nothing. So I start looking for a tutor or the kill, just finding more mana and Cantrips while he goes Cursecatcher, Lord of Atlantis, Mutavault, attack. I don't see anything (my graveyard is stacked like this: Brainstorm, Fetchland, Brainstorm, Ponder, Brainstorm, Fetchland, Ponder, Preordain) but finally see Ad Nauseam.. while being at four life.

    Gogo Confidants! I start with fetching on Underground Sea (the first and only time in this tournament) because I have Duress, Brainstorm and a Confidant in my hand. I play Brainstorm, don't see a land, he reads the Sea correct, wastes me and that is basicly all that happens in this game.
    0:2 | 2:1

    Round 4: Philipp - Staxx

    He starts with Mishra, Voltaic Key and I am quite confused. My Thoughtseize shows me Platinum Emperion, Sundering Titan (which I take) and three Stompy Lands. Oooook. I combo him out a turn or two later with no further problems.

    I fear Trinisphere, Chalice and the rest and board almost my whole Sideboard, meaning a playset Confidants (oh how I love those guys), Grips, Hurkyl's and Rebuild, but forget to side out Iggy. He starts with Chalice zero. That's ok with me, as I start cantriping and fetching for Basics, seeing his field of two Wastelands. He taps out for a Golem and in response i grip his Chalice. The Golem gets a grip in my turn and I am left with fastmana in my hand. Luckily I find Infernal Tutor the moment he plays a Wurmcoil Engine and start playing my mana and Infernal. While shuffling my library I am quite confused, seeing Iggy there (well, Sideboard was 15 cards so it's not like I had an illegal deck, I just thought I boarded it out). Doing the math, I am now quite happy because Iggy takes my stormcount easily to over ten, so i proceed to play it.. and fall into his Ravenous Trap. He laughs, mostly because I must have made a pretty stupid face (who would've guessed this trap I ask?) and tells me that he has so much dead cards against me that he thought it couldn't be wrong to bring in the traps. I lose the game shortly after.

    The third game is boring. He has to take a mulligan to five and I proceed to play first turn Brainstorm, second turn Confidant, attack four times, Tendrils for six, game.
    We play a game for fun after that and he starts with City of Traitors, Grim Monolith, Key, untap Monolith, Golem. He proceeds to win shortly after his second turn Wurmcoil Engine. Guess I've had luck there.
    2:1 | 3:1

    Round 5: Daniel - Zoo

    I start with a Duress, he sighs and reveals a hand of Hierarch, Pridemage, Mesa, Plateau, Wasteland, Mountain and Library, which I take. While taking the turns he tells me that this bad matchup for him had to happen sometime, while I tell him that I haven't won a single match against Zoo in any tournament (that is the truth.. or was *spoiler*). Shortly thereafter I Tendrils him for lethal.

    I board Smother, Slaughter Pact and Chain against Teegs. He starts with nothing and then a Goyf, Pridemage and Hierarch. Being at 12 I fear that he burns me out, so I kill his Goyf with Smother, punting again by losing my gameplan out of sight. I try to go off on the next turn and he destroys my only LED with his pridemage. But, luck is with the dumb, so I proceed to win with another LED from the top in my next turn, finally winning my first match against Zoo in a tournament.
    2:0 | 4:1

    Round 6: Jonas - UWG Countertop

    I win the roll and start with Ponder. He plays Island, go. I got enough lands on my hand, so I try to bait a Stifle, but my Fetch resolves, so I search for a Swamp and play another Cantrip, sculpting my hand for a protected win on my next turn. He plays Plains and I Duress him. He responds with Brainstorm and thinks long about which cards to put back. After he reveals his hand, I see that the first cards he wanted to put back were two Forces. I also see a Counterbalance, War Monk, Predator and some other Critter. I take a Force and ship my turn, with him playing a Stoneforge Mystic, searching for a Jitte. I play Duress, take the second Force, cast three Cabal Rits and go with Infernal on Infernal three times, with the last one searching Tendrils for the win.

    In go the Confidants and the Grips. He starts with Island, go. My start is a bit better with Land, Petal, Confidant. The last one gets sworded and he tells me with a grin that he has so much dead cards against me that he is able to leave the Swords in the deck. Good one there. A Goyf and a few well timed Counterspells destroy my chances of winning this game.

    In the last game he has to mulligan to five. I start with a Confidant, which he forces. He plays a Top and I thoughtseize him (again.. one turn to late.. meh), just seeing lands and another Top. He plays nothing and I start with Nauseam from 16 to two, finding nothing, but am still able to chain Cantrips to get a Tendrils in my hand. With about 16 copies one the stack and me on one (thanks to fetching) I am now on the point where I've done everything I could - and also where one copy of Mindbreak Trap, hiding benath the top, would cost me the game. He thinks, smiles and shakes my hand (well.. my hand was shaking alone, too).
    2:1 | 5:1

    Round 7: Jens - Gaudi Loam

    Game one is a fast one. I thoughtseize him, see Loam, Goyf, lands and kill him in my next turn with Iggy.

    Game two is more complicated. He starts with land go and I play Duress, seeing Chalice (he wasn't sure if he wanted it on zero or one and choose one), Extirpate, Goyf, Explosives and Lands. I take the Chalice (I really don't know what to take in this Situation, I thought Chalice would be the best because it locks of Rituals and Cantrips, while Extirpate just shuts of Iggy). He proceeds to play Goyf, Thoughtseize and beats me to four, with me finding Infernal Tutor in a Brainstorm. I start chaining Infernals, with him interrupting me at the third and extirpating the fourth from my library. Well.. with that, the stormcount is at nine, so I have no problem taking Tendrils. In response, he swords his Goyf, going to 21 life, then falling to one. My outs are now Ad Nauseam and Iggy, with the last one being a direct kill. Fun thing is, he rips Knight from the top, then Extirpate and my Tendrils are gone.

    In the third game he mulls to four and my Duress reveals nothing and a Chalice. I take it, then start cantripping, again - just finding fastmana. He finds a few discard Spells and takes my Rituals. Well.. that isn't so bad, because I just draw them from the top, while he gets another Chalice, placing it on zero (he knew two LED's and a Petal from my hand). I rip a Cabal Rit from the top and just hope for a Tutor so I can go for Iggy. He plays a Knight and I finally find Ad Nauseam from the top, being at 15 life. I reveal Iggy (that's where I lost focus I guess), Infernal Tutor and Hurkyl's Recall. Without a Landdrop this turn and one mana floating, I think that the best play is to let him attack for five, taking me to two, then play Hurkyl's and win from there on. Like I said, I lost focus while revealing Iggy as first card, so I didn't see that I just had to deck a land to win. Also, what I didn't take into account was his ability to waste his one Savannah. Well.. the largest mistake so far (and a reeeaaally stupid one to make, too) costs me the game and the match. I ship my turn, he wastes his land and kills me with the Knight.
    1:2 | 5:2

    Round 8: Felix - WGB Vengevival

    If I win this one I still have a chance to make Top16, so I shrug off the anger of making such a stupid mistake (just because I didn't think about every card on the board, it still gets me in my sleep, warrrrgh :D). In the first game, he takes a Mull to four, I duress, see nothing, he hits me with a Quirion Ranger two times, then dies to a Tendrils.

    I don't really know what to board, so I side in Echoing Truth and Chain. He starts with Thoughtseize, seeing Ad Nauseam, Infernal Tutor, Echoing Truth, Ritual, Land and Cantrips. He takes the Nauseam and I cantrip, seeing a bunch of Rituals. In his turn, he plays Tidehollow Sculler, taking Infernal. I draw my card, ship my turn and he plays Fauna Shaman. EoT I bounce his Sculler, get my Tutor back and proceed to kill him with a lethal Tendrils.
    2:0 | 6:2

    Soooo, I got 18 points and have to hope that my tiebreakers are good enough to get into Top16 (which means: a 50€ coupon for the local store). Like the title suggests, I do get into Top16 at 15th place, taking the coupon (basicly, taking EDH cards :D) and am quite happy with my finish.

    Thanks go to Mob for lending me LEDs (and also P9 for the Vintage section), Schuh for driving us savely (it's not as normal as you might thinkg :D), the tournament organisation and to all my opponents, for being really, really nice. I did not have one match where we didn't have a friendly atmosphere and could thrashtalk at least one bit (with round six and seven being the Trashtalk Mountains).

    Well, I hope the report was good to read, if there are any suggestions (decklist, playstyle, writing) please let me know.

    Greetings from Germany,

    Florian

  2. #2

    Re: Punting to Top16 with ANT at Germanmagic 2

    thanks to share this information

  3. #3
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    Re: Punting to Top16 with ANT at Germanmagic 2

    Quote Originally Posted by mort- View Post
    Thanks [...] all my opponents, for being really, really nice.
    Yeah, had fun during the game against you as well! Gratz on making Top16 where I failed after starting 3-0... :-(
    The seven cardinal sins of Legacy:
    1. Discuss the unbanning of Land Tax Earthcraft.
    2. Argue that banning Force of Will would make the format healthier.
    3. Play Brainstorm without Fetchlands.
    4. Stifle Standstill.
    5. Think that Gaea's Blessing will make you Solidarity-proof.
    6. Pass priority after playing Infernal Tutor.
    7. Fail to playtest against Nourishing Lich (coZ iT wIlL gEt U!).

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