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Thread: [TES-3rd] Starcitygames.com Open: Los Angeles

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    [TES-3rd] Starcitygames.com Open: Los Angeles

    After walking past a line of what seemed to be 200 people trying to get into Adultcon, I made my way into the room for the SCG Open. I immediately spotted one of my friends at table 13X rocking Standard in the 0-2 bracket. After watching him pull the ol' 0-3 drops, I signed myself up for the Legacy Challenge. This is what I sleeved up:

    ANT

    4 Dark Ritual
    4 Cabal Ritual
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Lion's Eye Diamond
    2 Chrome Mox

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Preordain

    4 Infernal Tutor
    2 Ad Nauseam
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    1 Ill-Gotten Gains

    4 Polluted Delta
    2 Scalding Tarn
    1 Misty Rainforest
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Underground Sea
    2 Island
    2 Swamp

    SB
    4 Xantid Swarm
    1 Tropical Island
    4 Doomsday
    1 Emkarul
    1 Shelldock Isle
    1 Wipe Away
    1 Hurkyl's Recall
    2 Chain of Vapour

    Disclaimer: I did not write down any names, so sorry about that. Also, my notes are not completely thorough, so I might get some stuff wrong.

    Round 1

    Win the roll against Affinity.

    Game 1 I cast Dark Ritual, Duress, LED, LED, Infernal, Ill-Gotten Gains (for LED, LED, Infernal Tutor), cast everything again, grabbed Tendrils.

    -3 Thoughtseize
    +2 Chain of Vapour
    +1 Hurkyl's Recall

    Game 2 He mulled once, then played land, Disciple, Ornithopter, Memnite. I cast a Ponder and shipped. He played a Ravager, attacked for 2, then shipped it back over to me. I cast Chain on his Disciple, he sacced three things bringing me to 15, then I went into the Iggy loop and killed him. Not very interactive.

    Round 2

    I won the roll against Merfolk.

    Game 1 I cast a Ponder and ship. He plays Vial and passes back to me. I cast a Brainstorm, fetch, and then end. He Vials in an Adept and played a Lord of Atlantis, he then beats me down to 4 life over a couple of turns while I shape up to this hand: Duress, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Dark Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond, Brainstorm with 4 basics in play. I then cast Duress, see Kira and 2 Daze, then Tutor chain and kill him. He casts 2 Daze on me bringing me to 10 storm at some point.

    -1 Preordain
    -1 Island
    -3 Thoughtseize
    +1 Tropical Island
    +4 Xantid Swarm

    My notes say I attacked for 20 on turn 2. Not much else to say here.

    Round 3

    I won the roll against Faeries. He was a nice guy, I think he Top 32'd the next day, I hope I see him again soon.

    Game 1 I cast an Ad Nauseam after I Thoughtseize and see blanks on turn 2. He doesn't live too much longer.

    -1 Preordain
    -1 Island
    -3 Thoughtseize
    +1 Tropical Island
    +4 Xantid Swarm

    Game 2 I spend some time casting Cantrips and he doesn't put on enough pressure. On turn 3 I stick a Xantid while he tapped out for a Sword. He is then Forced to play Jace to bounce my Swarm. On my turn I cast Duress, see no Force of Will, then proceed to Iggy Loop him and kill him.

    Round 4

    I win the roll against Dreadstill piloted by one of my friends, so we just prize split and then played for fun.

    Game 1 I decide not to Duress him on turn 2. He then drops a Counterbalance. I play a Lotus Petal and LED, they both resolve and he reveals a 1, I cast another LED and Infernal Tutor into Ad Nauseam into just enough to kill him.

    No sideboarding

    Game 2 He mulled to 5, in his 5 was 2 Force of Will, Counterbalance, Top, 2 lands, and a Goyf. Did not pull that one off.

    -1 Preordain
    +1 Wipe Away

    Game 3 I fetch and Duress him on turn 1 seeing: Stifle, Stifle, Daze, Top, Tropical, Strand, and Pierce. He then cast a turn 2 Counterbalance and proceeded to kill me. On the plus side, he never got to cast his Stifles because I drew runner, runner Basics. He was not too pleased by that :P.


    One of the biggest issues I saw with the deck is that I struggled to find business and can almost never beat a Top in play with in the top 3 cards of their deck, that and the fact that I know how to play T.E.S. lead me to sleeving this up for the next day:

    T.E.S.

    4 Gemstone Mine
    4 Scalding Tarn
    2 City of Brass
    2 Underground Sea
    1 Volcanic Island

    4 Dark Ritual
    4 Rite of Flame
    4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Chrome Mox
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Burning Wish
    4 Infernal Tutor
    4 Duress
    3 Orim’s Chant
    1 Silence
    1 Ad Nauseam
    1 Empty the Warrens
    1 Tendrils of Agony

    1 Diminishing Returns
    1 Ill-Gotten Gains
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    1 Empty the Warrens
    1 Grapeshot
    1 Shattering Spree
    1 Thoughtsieze
    1 Wipeaway
    1 Krosan Grip
    2 Echoing Truth
    4 Xantid Swarm

    Xantids had been awesome for me in the challenge, and I had seen 0 Counterbalance decks. At 12:00 AM, my sideboard was 14 cards. I decided to throw in the Krosan Grip because with my luck I was going to be paired against Counterbalance Round 1.

    Round 1

    I win the roll (5 times in a row...) against 4C Counterbalance. This was pretty epic. I'm really sorry that I did not take more notes about this. I seriously just outplayed him and really earned this match, after which, I knew I was going to Top 8.

    Game 1 I decided not to Duress him turn 2. He then untaps and casts a Counterbalance. I proceed to cast a Duress to which he reveals a Top. He then cast a Top. On my 4th turn I manage to get down an Empty for 8 tokens. They get in there once before they are Spouted away.

    -1 Infernal Tutor
    -1 Orim's Chant
    +1 Wipe Away
    +1 Krosan Grip

    Game 2 nothing happens early on except he established the lock. On my 5th turn I drew my 5th land for the Ad Nauseam sitting in my hand. On his upkeep he Tops, looks sour, then proceeds to his draw step. I tell him to stop and cast my Ad Nauseam at 15 life. I reveal a Grip, and the mana to get Tendrils. It gets there.

    Game 3 is the exact same as game 2 except I had to cast it all in one turn, but I was at 20. He also whiffed on a 0 for his Counterbalance.

    Round 2

    I lost the roll against my friend, Brian, playing Lands.

    Game 1 I keep a really bad hand knowing this is a good match up. I get punished by turn 1 Zuran Orb with Mana Bond and Loam. I am Forced to go for Diminishing Returns (0-1) and I completely miss while he gets back his Loam and gets to a lot of life. I did get to Tendrils him for 22, but it didn't matter.

    -2 Duress
    +2 Echoing Truth

    Game 2 I choose not to interact with him and kill him with Ad Nauseam o turn 2. Not close.

    Game 3 I get a sick read on him with Mindbreak Trap, I think that it is 4 spells and play right into it. He forgets to cast it on my Ad Nauseam, I then Silence him and he flashes me the Trap and tells me he should've cast it on my Ad Nauseam after I had Tendrils-ed him for 22.

    Round 3

    I won the roll against Frankie (who Top 4'd) playing Dredge.

    Game 1 I easily kill him with Ad Nauseam after he mulls to 4. Literally nothing else to say about this, he never got any lands or to 8 cards to discard.

    -2 Duress
    +2 Echoing Truth

    Game 2 is my deck completely shitting on itself. I mull to 5, and I never draw anything good enough, eventually, facing lethal, I'm forced to Diminishing Returns (0-2), as much as I would like to say I got the nuts, the first 7 cards I flipped over to be removed were the nuts, my hand was terrible. He then killed me.

    Game 3 He completely rapes my hand with Cabal Therapies after I mulled to 6, on my last possible turn I rip a Burning Wish and I am forced to go for Diminishing Returns. That card is 0-3 for success after I cast it.

    Round 4

    I lose the roll against Dredge. He was a nice guy with a completely wicked beard.

    Game 1 I kill him on my first turn after he passes it back to me. Not very close. I love this deck.

    -2 Duress
    +2 Echoing Truth

    Game 2 was an interesting game. I went for a turn 2 Ad Nauseam. I got Forced!?! He did his dredge thing and got some guys out, disrupting me enough to keep my from going off again, then he killed me. Force in Dredge. I double underlined that in my notes...

    Game 3 I went Dark Ritual, LED, LED, Infernal, and got Forced, but because he mulled to 6 and had to cast Force, he couldn't DDD, so we played draw go for 4 turns until I went Dark Ritual, LED, LED, Infernal again. Love this deck!

    Round 5

    I won the roll again Merfolk.

    Game 1 I Silenced him on turn 3, it resolved, so I went for Diminishing Returns (1-3), I ended up casting my 9th spell, Burning Wish, with BBR floating and announcing that I was grabbing Tendrils. He promptly scooped. Jedi mind tricks.

    -1 Ponder
    -2 Orim's Chant
    -1 Infernal Tutor
    +4 Xantid Swarm

    Game 2 I once again went for the Silence on turn 3, he Pierced it, because I had Duressed him a turn earlier, I knew he didn't have extra countermagic, but I paid for it anyways. Ended up 1 mana short of killing him. Karma.

    Game 3 I chant him on turn 2, he doesn't have the Force, I then proceed to cast a series of spells into Ill-Gotten Gains and then cast the same spells again into Tendrils of Agony for 20.

    Round 6

    I lose the roll again Elves. I knew what he was playing, and when I sat down to play him, he seemed like a completely arrogant player, so I decided I was going to Grapeshot him.

    Game 1 he played Forest, Elf. I play land, go. He plays another Elf, no second land. I cast Ad Nauseam, get to 21 storm, cast Burning Wish (22), into Grapeshot (23), I was at 2 life so one of them targeted me, 2 targeted his elves, and 20 went to his face. This was the only game I have ever wanted Eye of Nowhere to bounce his 1 land. Oh well.

    -2 Duress
    +2 Echoing Truth

    Game 2 He mulled to 6 and played Forest, Elf. I Duress him seeing, Pact, Glimpse, Nettle, Quirion Ranger, and Gaea's Craddle and take Glimpse. On my next turn I use Ill-Gotten Gains to kill him.

    Round 7

    I lose the roll against Merfolk. He is 0-X, and is paired down and doesn't feel comfortable scooping me in, so we play a game.

    Game 1 I keep a loose hand, and he just rolls me with fishes after I miscount an attack. He offers me the draw again. I take it .

    Round 8

    You can read about this here.

    This was a completely savage down pair. The DCI reporter used the formula for pairing as if it was a 9 round event. Alex was by far one of the coolest guys I've met at a Legacy event. I spoke to him quite a few times, and I felt bad that I had to play him, but what can you do?

    At this point I do not know if I have made Top 8, so I turn on my music, and go and trade with one of my friends for his FBB Volcanic. After that is complete, I turn up Radiohead so that I drown out everything around me. At this time Top 8 gets announced. After a little bit I see everyone around me start clapping and patting me on the back. I got 7th. Looks like Patrick Sullivan was to be my opponent.

    Top 8

    I was told to go under the camera. I was no excited to do that. I doing the ol' "check if he has Mindbreak Trap on his decklist" check, he didn't. Normally I would say that burn is a complete bye and I don't ever have to worry about it, but this man is a beast with Burn, so that doesn't apply here. You can watch that here.


    Top 4

    Once again, the coverage reporters write a lot better than me. Enjoy.

    -3 Orim's Chant
    -1 Infernal Tutor
    +4 Xantid Swarm

    Game 3 he got the absolute perfect hand. Nothing I can do about that except kill him faster. Didn't happen, so I lost. Watch that one here.

    Props
    -Top 4 split.
    -Ben Perry going X-0 drunk with Belcher.
    -Alex Kwan for taking it all down.
    -Knight Ware for showing dominance in the Top 8, putting 4 there, and then 2 into Top 4, and then having the winner be from Knight Ware.
    -Alex Bertoncini for trading me some Spanish Foil Duresses. Also for being a good sport when I spoke to him later, might see you in Indy man.
    -Obligatory Bryant Cook since he made this beast.

    Slops
    -2/5 with Diminishing Returns.
    -God draws.
    -Not having time to turn in my dealer credit because of Top 8 :(. SCG is a super nice store though, and I worked it out via e-mail.
    Last edited by lorddotm; 03-31-2011 at 01:25 PM.
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    West Coast Legacy

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