Top 4 at Mirkwood - Arlington, WA - with Combo Elves

[danyul]

Mirkwood Legacy Tournament. August 12th, 2012. 39 players.

There is some discussion of bodily functions in this report. Reader discretion is advised.

My decklist was a carbon copy of Caleb Durward’s 6th place list, because I’m not smart enough to do anything other than relentlessly netdeck.

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckd...p?DeckID=47813

So I tricked a few friends into driving up to this tourney with me. I believe they have them every two months or so and a bunch of Legacy grinders show up. And although the turnout might not be that high at 39, the players there are all sharks. There were some pro tour guys in attendance and 5 of the Top 8 2012 SCG Seattle Open players were there, as well as another dude who got 2nd in 2011. So needless to say, I went in with low expectations. The last time I attended one of these tourneys, I got paired round 1 against a pro tour grinder and I had to leave halfway through our match to take a nervous poo (TMI?) only to end up losing the round. That guy went on to win the whole tournament. Shit happens. LOL GET IT.

I digress.

So we have 6 rounds of swiss and a cut to top 8. I planned ahead and ate nothing all day to deny my nervous stomach from distracting me. This stomach subplot might seem TMI but comes into play later.


Round 1 – Shawn Yu with some kinda UW(b?) Stoneblade

This guy, lordofthepit on these here forums, top 8’d the last Seattle Open. This is my nightmare matchup. I just don’t know it yet.

G1 – I open with a mana dude. He opens with an EE for 1. I play stuff. He plays Academy Ruins. I scoopaloop.

G2 – I make some dudes. He makes some lands. I make some dudes. He makes Perish. I make :( and dudes. He makes Zealous Persecution. I make a beeline to the nearest person who will put up with my badbeats story.

0-1

Sometimes I like to lose the first round of a big tourney. It’s part of my strategery. I’ve just always done this. The thought behind this is it allows me to dodge all the good decks and just feed off of all the other chumps playing fair decks. Then I can rise up in the later rounds and chase the top tables. However, this plan does occasionally backfire when I go 0-2 and drop, which happens more often than not. But let’s not worry about that for now.


Round 2 – Zach with Death and Taxes.

G1 – I think I turn 3 him. My notes show me taking fetchland dmg and then winning. This matchup isn’t quite fair for the other guy. JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT.

G2 – I turn 3 him again but had to use two Glimpse to do it. Rather than work through all the drudgery of trying to win that turn without decking myself, I just pass the turn with a bunch of dudes and Mirror Entity in play so I can win without thinking after I untap. While in theory this can be risky, I haven’t actually had it bite me in the ass just yet.

1-1


Round 3 – Lance Conrad with Goblins.

This dude got to the finals at the last SCG Seattle Open. I recognize him as one of the regular Seattle Legacy grinders. I saw what he was piloting earlier and ask some questions about the build, since I’m putting together a Goblin deck myself. He says that he can’t comment on the build because he was just handed the deck and he usually plays blue things that counter things. Fair enough.

G1 – As we were shuffling up I start complaining about how I don’t want to get blown out by Pyrokinesis or Goblin Sharpshooter because that’s all I can remember from the last time I faced Goblins. Then I proceed to kill him on turn 3 and feel bad for crying about what I thought was a bad matchup. You see, I have this bad habit of fearing everything. In both life and games of Magic.

G2 – I manage to combo off turn 3 or 4, a turn before he was able to drop in the Goblin Sharpshooter he Matroned for.

2-1

After this round I was starting to feel the effects of my No Food, No Nervous Poo plan. I run to a 7-11 and grab some $1 pizza slices and eat way too many of them way too quickly. Human beings shouldn’t do this. We should shop at farmer’s markets or something. I dunno. Just don’t audible into bad 7-11 pizzas. Oh, also, I’m lactose intolerant.


Round 4 – Cedric Phillips with Omni Show.

I see the pairing posted and am already sad. I’m feeling sick and nervous from the pizza alone. I don’t need to face an intimidating opponent with an intimidating deck. That might just push me over the edge.

I already know what he is playing because one of the guys I rode up to the tourney with had just lost to him. Rather than let the nervous poo energy build up and overcome my soul, I resign myself to a quick defeat at the hands of the C Piddy. If I have no expectations of winning, I can’t get nervous and the pizza in my gut can’t mount a counterattack. Believe me, this is the correct play.

G1 – He makes a Sol Land, a Lotus Petal, a Show and Tell, and an Emrakul. I feel the nervous poo energy dissipate and release my soul of all expectations – in life, in love, and in Magic. I can do this. I can *not* poop my pants in front of this guy.

G2 – I make some awkward small talk and just try to crack some jokes at the guy. I’ve never really played against a high profile Magic player before so I don’t know how to be forgettably pleasant around them. For some reason, I just want the guy to like me before he destroys me, and then I want to settle back into the shadows – a fleeting memory.

Anyhow, I make some dudes, he Ponders a bit. Eventually he drops a Show and Tell into Emrakul (I drop Mirror Entity) and that empties his hand. He asks me not to kill him. I almost don’t.

I had a couple dudes out including a Priest of Titania and a Mirror Entity. I start value Glimpsing and hit a Wirewood Symbiote. So, of course, I play the symbiote and bounce a Nettle Sentinel, to keep value glimpsing, rather than winning on the spot. For those cool kids in the know, Priest + Mirror Entity + Wirewood Symbiote = win. I recognize my mistake immediately and look at Cedric for some kind of Noob Empathy. He just nods and starts helping me count my mana. So of course I just keep drawing things until I hit a Green Sun’s Zenith to get a new Wirewood Symbiote to win properly. He sees the win and scoops without making me play out what could very well have been a mistake-riddled loss snatched from the jaws of victory. Sometimes this elf deck is good enough to make up for my badness.

G3 – I keep a very greedy hand. I have a single land, two Glimpse of Nature, two dudes who don’t make mana, and two of my hate cards. He goes first and doesn’t have a lot of action outside of Ponders and Brainstorms.
I just have a Horizon Canopy and like a Birchlore Ranger or something. I build my board up to 3 dudes, taking stupid Horzion Canopy dmg all the way to 15, until he Burning Wishes for a Pyroclasm and wipes my board. I very carefully, gingerly, and affectionately drop my dudes into the yard. A bystander exclaims that he never expected the combo deck to wrath my board. After that he makes some cantrips, clearly unhappy with his inability to put together his combo. I tell him to take all the time in the world and then just tap my Horizon Canopy. I crack some bad jokes about him having all the action as he sculpts his hand and then passes to me. I keep looking at my hate cards, hiding them behind my two Glimpses, out of view of people standing over my shoulder.

At this point I’m extremely nervous and just want to play a spell, any spell, in order to feel like an interactive part of this game. I can feel the pizza fighting me and the Magic Celebrity fighting me and a small crowd has gathered and now that is fighting me and my heart is pounding out of my chest. I make an executive decision and play a Glimpse of Nature off of my single Horizon Canopy with nothing to follow it up except the lifeloss from Horizon Canopy. Cedric makes a confused frown at this play but casting a spell relieves the nervous pressure off of my stomach and I move directly into the “not gonna poo my pants yet” zone. This was the correct play.

On Cedric’s turn, he Ponder/Brainstorms and then casts Show and Tell. My heart starts going crazy and I can see some of my friends opposite me, looking over Cedric’s shoulder. He places his card face down. I place mine face down and slowly push it towards the center of the table with my index finger. I had this card in my opening hand and have just been holding it, derping on one land, waiting for the inevitable Show and Tell.

He flips over Gristlebrand.

I flip over Humility.

And the crowd goes wild! My friends flip out and have to run to the other corner of the room to let their laughter out. Cedric gets a super frown on his face and all my nervous energy is released. I am at one with the world and the world is at one with me. I am everything and nothing. I am the cosmos. No nervous poos for this guy. No sir.

He passes the turn. I topdeck a Karakas because why not?

I bounce his legend dude, make a dude, and then play an Umezawa’s Jitte. He forces it. On his turn he cantrips a bit. On my turn I play two more dudes, emptying my hand of threats. He cantrips, Burning Wishes, and then Grape Shots for 3 storm, burning all my dudes. But that’s okay.

I topdeck a Wirewood Symbiote. Then I fetch up a Dryad Arbor and Crop Rotate my stupid Horizon Canopy into a Pendelhaven. This card might be the best card in Magic. You can read more about Pendelhaven and how good Pendelhaven is on my post (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post656136) about my performance at the SCG Open in Seattle.

So I just beat for 3 for several turns as he cantrips into stuff, looking for an answer. At one point he Burning Wishes for a Petals of Insight, looking for a way to get rid of my Humility. But I guess all the bounce spells in this game are instants and he has no out to the card. He scoops a turn before lethal.

So I run outside to find my friends and start flipping my shit. It took a lot out of me not to just shout “HUMILITY!” nonstop after I drew my opening hand. I felt like I was working to contain my Humility Shouts just as hard as I was working to contain my pizza poos.

TMI? It’s okay because now I’m

3-1!


Round 5 – Matt with Goblins.

G1 – I remember starting off with more paranoid talk about how bad this matchup is for me. He lands a Pyrokinesis but it isn’t enough to slow me down. I only took damage from fetchlands.

G2 – My notes here are just confusing. I guess we started trading alpha strikes. He got to 10. I got to 11. Then I guess I combo out.

Again, I feel bad for acting like a huge jerk and talking down my matchups right before I combo out. It just feels like a dick move. But Matt is gracious in defeat. Apparently he sided in all the cards I’m afraid of and just never drew into them.

4-1


Round 6 – Intentional Draw against dude with Reanimator.

I’ve never actually done well enough in a tourney to ID into top 8 so I asked like five people to check the math and make sure I could get in. Apparently determining intentional draws is as easy as adding 3 to some numbers below you and seeing if that number is higher than your number? I dunno. People said I could draw so I did. Scrub a dub dub, top 8 for this schlub.


Top 8 Quarterfinals – Steve with Death and Taxes.

My plan of losing the first round is working out.

G1 – I go off when he just has an Aether Vial and a Mom on the table. I took a few too many shortcuts here and had to slowdown to actually show how the combo works rather than just assume my opponent would scoop.

G2 – I make some dudes. He makes a Mom and two Phyrexian Revokers, naming Wirewood Symbiote and Heritage Druid. Those would ordinarily not be terrible choices but I had a Priest of Titania on the board. To be fair, I’m not 100% sure what I would name if I was in his position. But the Priest of TItania and a Glimpse get me into a Mirror Entity and enough mana to overrun for the win.


Top 8 Semifinals – Peter with RUG.

I’m not too thrilled about this matchup. I just have bad luck against decks packing Daze. And Forked Bolt.

G1 – he Dazes and Forked Bolts me and just beats me up real proper like. But he’s a nice enough guy and the few people sitting around watching are good natured about me being nubby. I played a morph Birchlore Ranger, more than once, more for the lulz than to progress the gamestate. If I’m feeling safe, with no nervous poo feelings or mean stranger feelings, then my play gets really sloppy. That definitely happened here.

G2 – I take some beats, down to 10, but am able to combo out. There is some cross chatter between the people watching the match and myself and I mess up a few plays, but this deck is stupid and you can do that sometimes. However, the vibe was turning into friendly playtest vibe more than a “shut up and let these guys make real hard decisions and shit” vibe.

G3 – I keep a really loose hand that is only viable because of the Green Sun’s Zenith. He spends his first three turns playing fetchlands and not popping them. For whatever reason I get really cocky or conversational or whatever and just start swinging into him with my dumb 1/1s. I try to Crop Rotate with no mana up for Daze, and he cracks all his fetches, makes a Vendilion Clique, puts my GSZ on the bottom of my library, and Dazes my Crop Rotation. Now I have a bunch of bad 1/1s and no outs, but a second Crop Rotate in hand. After drawing lands for a few turns as he amasses two Delvers and a Goyf, I figure I should Crop Rotate for a land so I don’t draw into more land. That resolves and I draw into an Umezawa’s Jitte, with a single dude on the board after chumping his guys. I play the Jitte. He has Ancient Grudge, of course. Then I draw more lands and died.

So I split 3rd/4th with one of the guys I rode up with. I lent him the Merfolk deck he was playing so he just let’s me hold both the duals we won (Tundra and Volcanic Island) as collateral towards buying the Merfolk deck off me. I can live with that. We ride off into the sunset with some sick trades, some prizes, and another Pendelhaven story to add to my mantle.

My apologies for acting like a bitch in any of my rounds. I don't know how to correctly handle victory, or defeat, in this game. I just like to tap cards and draw cards.

[Dark Ritual]

...what the hell happened at that tournament? The world may never know. Very interesting report though quite vivid at times.

[danyul]

Thanks Lance. I appreciate the reassurance that I'm not a jerk. I wish you could follow me around and tell me that after I buy stuff at grocery stores or eat at a restaurant.

And I just assumed you were a grinder because I recognize your face at big events. But I don't get out to many events myself. I'll give you the casual player nod of casualness next time I see you.

[berksowl]

Mirkwood

Top 8 Quarterfinals – Steve with Death and Taxes.

My plan of losing the first round is working out.

G1 – I go off when he just has an Aether Vial and a Mom on the table. I took a few too many shortcuts here and had to slowdown to actually show how the combo works rather than just assume my opponent would scoop.

G2 – I make some dudes. He makes a Mom and two Phyrexian Revokers, naming Wirewood Symbiote and Heritage Druid. Those would ordinarily not be terrible choices but I had a Priest of Titania on the board. To be fair, I’m not 100% sure what I would name if I was in his position. But the Priest of TItania and a Glimpse get me into a Mirror Entity and enough mana to overrun for the win.

That was me on Death and Taxes. I'm pretty sure your deck was clicking to the extent that I wasn't going to win, regardless. But, I most definitely second guessed myself all the way home, especially about not naming Priest of Titania. Fact is, I really should be able to confidently assess the Phyrexian Revoker rules when I'm playing the card in my deck. I was somehow 1% more confident I could name Heritage Druid than I was that I could name Priest of Titania. But I could have named either, since Revoker is not Pithing Needle.

[danyul]

@Nilla Pac

Yeah I like him too. I just wanted to get across how exciting that round was. At least for me and my cohorts.

@berksowl

I was running pretty hot that day. It's a toss up when choosing between naming the Priest or the Heritage Druid. Depending on my hand, one can be much nicer than the other. But naming the Wirewood Symbiote was the right call, definitely.

See you at the next Mirkwood? In the top 8?

[danyul]

The funniest part of that story is I've heard it before. I actually thought of it as I played that round. I didn't know that was you. You sneaky guy. And yes, Cedric was a complete gentleman after our game.

I will be at Portland. I'm towing along the elusive ESG as well. You should go and play blue spells for those of us who lack the duals.

[Einherjer]

Very vivid and enjoyable report! I know these feelings aswell - lactose intolerant too! This shit puts another level of difficulty on the whole game!

Greetings

[danyul]

We are kindred spirits, you and I.

[ESG]

FYI, I'm more of a casual player who goes to tournaments once in a while and not really a grinder.

Some casual players summon angels and dragons, some win Black Lotuses?