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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