37 people sign up for the event.
Having had decent success in my last outing with the Green Men and Women and their Giant Jellyfish God, I register the following list:
12x Forest
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Birchlore Ranger
4x Quirion Ranger
3x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Elvish Visionary
3x Priest of Titania
4x Elvish Archdruid
1x Viridian Shaman
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Summoner’s Pact
3x Green Sun’s Zenith
1x Regal Force
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
SB:
3x Tormod's Crypt
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
2x Krosan Grip
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Viridian Zealot
1x Mortarpod
4x Thorn of Amethyst
This is the same list, called “random” and “seemingly poor” by Liam Kane, that I used to 3rd place a 40-person MTG Deals tourney in LA, except that I took Koby’s (rukcus, who T8’ed StarCity with his Maverick recently) suggestion and swapped out Viridian Zealot for Viridian Shaman, MB, and traded 1x Birchlore for 1x GSZ (wise moves). I also changed the sideboard from my old amateurish one, to a new amateurish one.
I did not add the second Regal Force, as Koby suggested, as I did not like the idea of diluting the raw speed. I also stuck will a full set of Archdruids against advice, as I’m a big fan of both abilities. I did not play the 4th GSZ because the tutors slow the action down, and even though Summoners’ is worse against removal heavy control, it’s way better for the combo (extra untap on Nettles, you get to cast creature from hand for Glimpse, one mana cheaper).
Gaea’s Cradle? I have heard it is a “must have.” I’ve also heard that you need a sideboard plan in multiple colors, like Intuition-Vengevine. But being immune to Wasteland is a big deal too.
Basically I was sticking to my guns: 7x tutors + Regal is enough, combined with Glimpses and Visionaries.
Emrakul, like Washington, is coming, coming, coming for you!
Actually I felt I was going to get blown out by T1 storms (no Mental Misstep any more!) and T2 Ionas (Reanimator everywhere). But it wasn’t raining so I decided to make the trip…
Round 1: Brandon with Reanimator.
G1 [play]: I have a medium hand. He T3 reanimates, and if he would have had Iona, it would have been game. Instead it was Angel of Despair, blowing up an Archdruid. He whacks me once with the Angel and I combo.
SB: -4 Archdruid, -1 Viridian Shaman, -1 Birchlore, +3 Tormod’s, +2 Relic, +1 Wheel.
G2 [draw]: I keep a medium hand with no graveyard hate. He gets Jin-Gitaxias on his third turn, counters all my third turn action, leaving me to pitch my hand with two humble elves in play. Next he Entombs Iona and I scoop.
G3 [play]: I keep a hand with some small elves, a Tormod’s, and no card draw. I lay a mana elf and the Tormod’s. He says ok and draws. Then he clutches his head and groans – he wanted to Force the Tormod’s. He’s already drawn so it’s way too late. He plays land. Next turn I topdeck and play Relic. He doesn’t Force, making me wonder if his previous despair had been an act. He might have Show and Tell. With Emrakul in hand, I am happy at the thought.
I assemble a small elf brigade and bring him down by a couple a turn. He induces me to Crypt by pitching Grave Titan and Exhuming (since I’m going for elf attack rather than combo, I needed to prevent Titan.) He can’t get past the remaining Relic and the elves kill in two more hits.
After the game he says he punted, as he could have played Show and Tell. I tell him about the Emrakul.
1-0
(2-1)
Round 2: Castro with U/W Snapcaster.
G1 [play, he mulligans to 6]: I have an outstanding hand. I go off on my turn 3 with his only play of the game having been a Swords to Plowshares on a random elf.
SB: -1 Birchlore, +1 Viridian Shaman.
G2 [draw]: I have a medium hand. We fight back and forth through the early turns. At some point on my turn the table is untapped Nettle, tapped Fyndhorn, tapped Llanowar, tapped Priest, and he has a Jitte and four lands. I end turn, he flashes Snapcaster, flashes back Path to Exile on Priest, untaps, equips Jitte, and attacks. I block with Nettle, trading, and he then removes the Jitte counters to wipe my board.
At this point, I thought it was done as I had two cards and he had four. But I did have two extra forests from the Paths. He lacks counters and I am able to get a Regal Force for two. My army starts to go to work, and though he struggles I spam enough creatures and get him low enough that I only lose to Wrath – which he doesn’t have in deck.
This was an example of a game where a second Regal Force would have helped. I had resolved one Regal but not yet stitched up the victory, and had tutor. However --- 1) how common is this situation? 2) If I was able to win anyway, isn’t it moot?
2-0
(4-1)
Round 3: Jonathan Job with Maverick.
This guy is a known name; some kind of Star City games player.
G1 [play, he mulligans to 6]: I get a good draw. I open with Qurion Ranger, he drops Dryad Arbor. My turn two, I can play Wirewood, but I hold it back. I attack with the Ranger to scout if he truly wants to block. When he does, I see he probably has a land heavy hand. I am happy about the turn of events as he goes back to zero land and I continue with Wirewood. At some point, I have only Wirewood and he has nothing. I cast Green Sun Zenith for three. He screws up his face – “three?” – and after some thought, he Swords’es the Wirewood in response. A good move, since I had been planning to get Visionary to play with the Wirewood (three was a fake-out). Without the Wirewood, I elect to get Archdruid. He gets a Knight out and hit me once with it. I combo out without difficulty.
G2 [draw, he mulls to 6, I mull to 5]: I have a good five with Visionary, Wirewood, two forests, and a mana elf. I don’t get Wirewood-Visionary working in tandem due to his Swords, but I drop an Archdruid and things are looking up until he summons Ethersworn Canonist. I begin to play one spell a turn and he drops Knight. However at this point I have seven mana. I Summoner’s for Viridian Shaman EOT, pay trigger in upkeep, and drop Shaman shattering Canonist.
I have a small army of elves captained by Archdruid, he has a 7/7 Knight. In this situation, I could start suicidally attacking in, to force damage at the cost of 1 elf per turn. Usually that is a bad idea as almost any action on his part breaks the balance unless it is heavily skewed in your favor. He could attack and start a race --- this is what he chooses to do. I decide to not block the first time around, falling to 14 as opposed to his 16. I plan to swing back, drop two more elves, and chump his next attack. Plan canceled: he is visibly disgusted as I topdeck a Regal, play two more elves, Regal, and combo on the turn.
Me: “That was a topdeck.”
Him: “Of course it was.”
3-0
(6-1)
Round 4: Luke with Merfolk.
G1 [draw]: I set up my board. He gets Coralhelm, levels up, and hits me for three. I combo.
SB: -1 Birchlore, +1 Viridian Shaman.
G2 [draw]: I have a fast hand. He Forces one Glimpse but I have a second. I combo before he can do anything.
4-0
(8-1)
Round 5: ID.
Round 6: ID.
Swiss record: 4-0-2, I get 1st in the Swiss on tiebreaks.
Quarterfinals: Luke with Merfolk.
It is the same guy from round four. I am happy because Merfolk is a favorable matchup, and he never showed me maindeck Dismember, while his board-in was 2x Jitte, 2x Submerge – by no means unmanageable.
G1 [draw]: He plays turn one Cursecatcher. He gets a Lord of Atlantis and takes me to 14 before I combo out.
SB: -1 Birchlore, +1 Viridian Shaman.
G2 [draw]: He opens with Wasteland and Vial. His next turn, he does not drop another land, and plays a second Vial. Without Island he cannot Daze or Submerge, so I start to develop unmolester --- not attacking in lest he Vial in Cursecatcher, which he does EOT. He finds the second Island, and I really strain to bait any counter magic. I Green Sun Zenith for two, and he submerges my Priest in response, so I search it back out. Finally, with him down to two cards in hand, with a board of Lord-Cursecatcher, I go for a game-ender, but he has held the Force to the bitter end and stops me. Next turn he adds Reejery, but he can’t get through my Archdruid-led army. I pummel him with elves and his life drops 19-13-4-0.
5-0
(10-1)
Semifinals: Ray with W/U/B Stoneforge.
G1 [draw, he mulls to 6]: He Swordses my turn one Heritage. That’s not usually a good play. He gets out Batterskull, but I combo.
G2 [draw]: I keep a terrible hand: Forest, Wirewood, Nettle, Heritage, Summoners, Archdruid, Glimpse. If I draw relevant stuff the hand can turn good, but I don’t. He tomahawk jams me by dropping Standstill on my board of nothing except a forest. I break it and he Dazes and follows with another. I break the next and he counters. Then he mauls me to death with Batterskull. So far I haven’t seen Jitte, which I am relieved about, at least.
G3 [play]: I have a solid hand. Turn two I resolve Visionary and he drops Standstill. I think for a long time about playing the waiting game, but decide to break out. He counters one of my elves and plays a second Standstill. The big difference between this and last game, is that I have a hand that can develop a board. I play around Spellstutter Sprite, which I’d seen him ambush other people with, and power through his counters with a second Glimpse after he stops the first. Resolved Glimpse is Goodnight Irene because you get to draw even if the creature is countered. I play precisely with my tapping and untapping to combo with an economy of means.
At some point I have many elves, forty or so mana in pool, and I show him Emrakul. “Well then play Emrakul,” says he. I understand he’s hoping I’ll forget Pact triggers. So far I have never forgotten a Pact trigger. It is my habit to tap my Priest and say “upkeep, pay for the Pacts,” to the degree that I did it earlier in the tournament even though I hadn’t Pacted. I’m sure someday I’ll forget, but this isn’t the day. I play a few more elves for good measure, drop Emrakul, pay for Pact, and he smiles and shakes my hand.
6-0
(12-2)
Finals: Jonathan Job with Maverick.
It is 10 PM, I am tired, and have to walk 25 minutes to my car, drive home, and work the next morning. I am ready for a split even though I feel I can beat him. He says he’ll split, but makes it very clear that “I only consider doing this because I think he’s got a great matchup against me.” This comment activates my killer instinct, because it is a veiled insult, even if not so intended, --- like saying that I’m a moron for making a split, and that he wouldn’t in my place.
Nonetheless, I say “ok,” to the judge, and pack up. Realities of life.
On the way up to collect our prizes, he asks “do you care about Planeswalker points?” I say no. He asks if I’ll concede the official victory to him. As an amateur, all I have to value is the memory of glory, so I don’t really want to concede, especially with a good matchup. I want to look back and say, “I was the champion.” At the same time, I recognize that the points matter to him. I remember a guy, John H., conceding to me once when I still had a shot at Top 8 and he didn’t. I concede the official victory.
I pick up five packs of Revised and nine packs of Innistrad from the tournament sponsor, MTG Deals. Still haven’t opened…
Thoughts:
Sideboard: +1 Viridian was so common, it may be worth putting a second in the maindeck at the expense of Birchlore. If I could find more, I’d add another to the board in place of the Zealot as well.
I used to side in Mortarpod against anyone who *might* bring in Peacekeeper. Since I’ve never seen Peacekeeper, I’ve stopped doing that. Probably better only to board it in after having dropped a game to Peacekeeper. Even though Reanimator had Blazing Archon, I didn’t bring in the ‘pod because I figured graveyard hate would be better --- though that may have been a mistake and -1 Priest +1 ‘pod might have been the right move.
Never got to try the Thorns due to not facing Storm.
6x Graveyard hate is nice, and the variety is good since the Reanimator guy I played did bring in Pithing Needle. You can’t go overboard though as they always have Show and Tell, so you can’t slow your deck down to complete zero.
Maybe a second Regal in the board for the control matchup?
Best play seen:
By Joe Lossett. This guy is an animal of Cephalid Breakfast; his list is super evolved, and he’s always grinding a win out some long grueling battle that seems like it should be completely lost.
He’s playing for top 8 with Reanimator. It is the decisive game. The guy mulls down to a 5 card one land hand. But eventually his draw picks up. He manages to bin Jin-Gitaxias, and go for Exhume. Gg?
Joe brainstorms. He stacks the top of his deck with Lord of Extinction, and then activates his Cephalid Illusionist targeting itself to mill the Lord. Next, he discards Faerie Macabre to remove Reanimator’s lone graveyard creature.
Reanimator now needs to stop his Exhume, or face extinction by Lord of Extinction. He tries to Daze his own spell, but Joe counters, and wraps up victory.
Last edited by Madmartigan; 11-14-2011 at 10:45 PM. Reason: forgot sideboard in first post
Nice report. Congratulations on the finish!
Nice of you to give the guy the points, even though he could have been more polite about it (?)
What do you think about running a singleton forestwalk lord? Is it irrelevant since when you go off you just get Emrakul anyway?
Also, does anyone play Caller of the Claw against Wrath or whatever any more? I haven't been reading the elves threads.
Update
Opened packs. The rares in the Revised packs were:
Nether Shadow
Smoke
Ankh of Mishra
Purelace
Deathlace
--- remember boys and girls, packs from Revised and before can be searched without opening... if you're going to buy them, at least make sure it's out of a sealed box (even this can be faked).
Thanks.Originally Posted by brattin
I think the forestwalk lord is irrelevant except as a surprise trick -- but it doesn't seem like a great trick anyway.
Caller of the Claw seems like a good surprise... but you have to really set it up, since you usually tap down to less than three mana on any given turn. It could be a good sideboard card against creature kill heavy control... but those matchups are so bad anyway...
Joe wasn't going to lose that game. I think I knew about the Faerie and was just trying to get one more answer out of his hand. But the play after he binned the Lord of Extinction was even more interesting than you make it out to be.
Me: Daze my Exhume.
Joe: Force your Daze.
Me: Dispel your Force.
Joe: Force your Dispel.
Great report, dude. I really enjoyed the read.
I had always dismissed Elves as being weak in Legacy, but one of my friends was showing me how the deck really works, and how intricate playing it can be. It is definitely something I'm going to look into in the future.
For the record, before you had 2 Zenith, and you still don't have 4 Symbiotes. Until then, I will call this list worse than lists with 4 Zenith and 4 Insects. Also the second Regal Force is insane.
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