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Thread: 1st Place at Time Zone Games piloting Shardless BUG

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    1st Place at Time Zone Games piloting Shardless BUG

    Shardless BUG 1st Place Undefeated Finish at Timezone Gaming in Fords, NJ

    Yesterday, I won my first sanctioned Magic the Gathering tournament playing 74/75 of Gerry Thompson’s Invitational list. I have been playing Golgari shells for almost two years and I would like to credit my win to the continuous practice with these decks: Junk, Jund and now BUG. I was always comfortable playing midrange decks. I liked the aspect that all of these decks had some way to generate card advantage. Be it Hymns, Bob, Liliana, Bloodbraid Elf, Punishing Fire Combo or Life from the Loam. These cards allowed you to one for one your opponent till you find a two for one which allows you to start taking over the game. After going 6-3 with Punishing Jund at SCG: Edison NJ placing 37th, I knew I was going to be playing with Deathrite Shamans, Abrupt Decays, and Liliana of the Veils.
    I went back to the drawing boards with my local friends and decided to try Blue. There are so many variants of BUG but Shardless seemed to have all of the tools. Shardless BUG generates more card advantage with Ancestral Visions and Shardless Agent than BUG Delver and is less reliant on your own graveyard. I didn’t like the idea of playing Tarmogoyf, Deathrite Shaman, and Tombstalker all in the same deck competing for use of the graveyard. I wanted to put my Jaces to use, since they had been inactive for over a year and a half. Shardless BUG has a much faster and relevant clock than BUG control does. Goyf’s and Shaman’s allow you play more like Jund than a control deck. Because of Ancestral Visions, you can play your threats and one for one with Abrupt Decay or Thoughtseize without having to worry about top decking. I had piloted BUG control against some friends in the past and one of it’s biggest problems was the lack of a clock. With the uprising of combo, I wanted to be able to disrupt and clock them. I considered Reid Duke’s Invitational BUG list, but after play testing it, the list just didn’t generate the same card advantage as the Shardless list. Reid’s Midrange BUG list, to me, just felt like Jund without Punishing Fire. In the end, I decided to play the following Shardless List.

    Lands 22
    4x Underground Sea
    4x Polluted Delta
    4x Verdant Catacombs
    2x Bayou
    2x Tropical Island
    2x Creeping Tar Pit
    2x Wasteland
    2x Misty Rainforest

    Creatures 14
    4x Deathrite Shaman
    4x Tarmogoyf
    4x Shardless Agent
    2x Baleful Strix

    Spells
    4x Brainstorm
    4x Abrupt Decay
    4x Ancestral Visions
    3x Force of Will
    3x Hymn to Tourach
    2x Thoughtseize
    1x Maelstrom Pulse

    Planeswalkers 3
    3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Sideboard 15
    3x Nihil Spellbomb
    2x Baleful Strix
    2x Sower of Temptation
    2x Chill
    2x Liliana, of the Veil
    2x Thoughtseize
    1x Force of Will
    1x Maelstrom Pulse

    Not having much experience with the deck, I decided to pilot Gerry’s list virtually untouched. The only card in the 75 I had changed was -1 Hymn in the board for the fourth Force of Will. I wanted to do this primarily for two reasons. The first was to up my blue count. On average, my blue count which was between 19-21 post board. The second was due to the fact that I don’t consider Hymn to be discard spell against combo. Hymn is good against multi card combo like Storm but against something like Show and Tell, Tin Fins or Painter’s Servant combo, it may not be enough to stop them. Hymn is also slow. Again, it could be devastating if you hit with it, but you’re waiting at least until turn two before you can cast it. Sometimes you’re dead or they have already gone off and you never even had a chance to cast your Hymn. I’m not saying Hymn is bad, It definitely won me some games, I just prefer the free counter magic for the combo decks.
    I was feeling really confidant and excited going into the tournament. Time Zone Games is about a thirty five minutes drive from where I live. My good friend Johnny Um, arrived at my house about 12 p.m.. I asked him to review the deck and asked for any suggestions. He has been playing a Dimir shell for over two years and has a lot more experience with the correct amount of discard and counter magic. He ended up agreeing with me on the last minute Hymn to a Force change. I had ordered him a couple of Meddling Mages for his Esper Stoneblade list. We took a picture of our decks laid out on my bed in for nostalgic purposes. Two years ago I wanted to play Esper and he wanted to play BUG, neither of us ever thought we would actually own the decks. Two years later not only did we own the decks, but we were playing each others decks.

    Here’s the short report if you do not wish to read the breakdown

    Round 1 - Eric - TES - 2-1
    Round 2 - Jesse - Mono White Midrange - 2-1
    Round 3 - Johnny - Esper Stoneblade - 2-0
    Round 4 - Stuart - MUD - 2-1
    (Top 4)
    Semi-Finals - Matt - GW Enchantress - 2-0
    Finals - Stuart - MUD - 2-0

    Final Record 6-0//12-3

    We arrived at Time Zone Games just ten minutes before, enough time to get a Brazilian sandwich from the local BBQ shop. Not having been to Time Zone Games before, we scouted for the singles that the shop had. I saw a Liliana of the Dark Realms and a Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, which I wanted for my Dimir EDH deck. Right on time pairings went up and I was paired up against Eric.


    Round One - Eric - TES

    I had meet Eric at SCG: Edison for the Legacy Challenge. At the time I was piloting TES and he was playing Sneak and Show. I defeated him than 2-1, I was hoping for a similar victory.

    Game 1 - Eric opens up with Underground Sea into ponder and ships me the turn. I open with fetch land for Deathrite Shaman. Eric than Brainstorms and plays out a lotus petal Lion’s Eye Diamond and ships the turn. He silence walks me on my upkeep. This is a real bummer because I had drawn my only disruption spell, a Hymn, the turn before. So I play my land and pass the turn. Eric proceeds to go off with a storm count of six and makes twelve goblins. I play the turns out in hopes of seeing my one of Maelstrom Pulse which I don’t and we move onto game two. 0-1

    Sideboarding In: + 1 Maelstrom Pulse +1 Force of Will + 2 Thoughtseize +2 Chill + 2 Liliana of the Veil
    Out: -2 Baleful Strix - 3 Abrupt Decay -1 Jace, TMS - 1 Shardless Agent -1 Ancestral Visions

    Game 2 - I mulligan to five and see this hand, two Ancestral Visions, Deathrite Shaman, Hymn to Tourach and Tropical Island. I decided to try. The match was blurry, but in the end I didn’t get a chance to Hymn. I never saw double black man because of the Tropical Island, but I had three Visions suspended. I was actually attacking Eric with my Deathrite Shaman. He ends up going off on turn 4 with Infernal Tutor LED into Ad Nauseam. He was at 13 when he attempted to go off. His life total was so low because of the Deathrite Shaman and his City of Brass, which had been pinging him to cantrip. He goes down to four life, flips his next card and shows an Empty the Warrens. Talk about dodging a bullet. 1-1

    Game 3 - I open with the following hand, Underground Sea, Thoughtseize, Brainstorm, Ancestral Visions, double Force of Will and Maelstrom Pulse. Snap keep, no way is he wining through this. Eric opens with a Ponder pass turn. I draw a Polluted Delta and go Thoughtseize seeing the following, Land, double Rite of Flame, Burning Wish, Infernal Tutor. I take the Burning wish so he cannot use Past in Flames from the board to go off. He silence walks me on my next upkeep and probes me to see my double Force double blue card and Hymn hand. I attempt to Hymn, he tries to brainstorm, I Force it, he’s left with Rite of Flame and the Infernal Tutor. I drop a Goyf next turn and he goes off for a storm count of two giving him six goblin tokens. I proceed to draw a Maelstrom Pulse and rid the board his tokens for the win. 2-1

    Record: 2-1

    Round Two - Jesse - Mono White Midrange

    Game 1 - Jesse decides his seven is not good, so he ships it back. I have Abrupt Decay, Thoughtseize, lands and an Ancestral Visions. He goes land go. I play Thoughtseize see Honor of the Pure, lands and Mirrian Crusader which I take. He exclaims that the Crusader was the only reason he kept his six. He drops down a Student of Warfare passes. I play a Goyf pass. He plays Honor passes. I play Decay on Honor with a suspended Visions and then he scoops his cards. 1-0


    Sideboarding In: +2 Baleful Strix +2 Liliana of the Veil +1 Maelstrom Pulse
    Out : -3 Force of Will - 2 Thoughtseize

    Game 2 - Jesse Opens with an aggressive start. He eventually lands an Honor of the Pure with a Mirrian Crusader and the Tarmogoyf nor Deathrite Shaman can chump block in time for him to swing for a six a turn. I tell him lets do a game three. 1-1

    Game 3 - I start out with a turn one Visions. He plays a turn one Vial. I play land go. He plays a turn two Thalia and passes. I play a turn three Baleful Strix and pass. He plays a Knight Exemplar go. On my turn I play a decay on Thalia so I can cast the Visions free next turn. Beat with Strix pass. We go one for one the next few turns to till I am able to land Jace and then bounce his Knight Exemplar so that I can push through for damage. Goyf and a Deathrite Shaman push through for enough damage and I win the round. 2-1

    Record: 2-0 // 4-2

    Round Three - Johnny Um a.k.a. Umchi - Esper Stoneblade

    Johnny is my go to play test buddy for legacy. He has been playing legacy for as long as I have. He has always been able to play as my devil’s advocate, I consult him for his overall awareness of possible scenarios. Umchi is playing Esper Stoneblade which he has been since July of 2012. He knows the deck inside and out. Unfortunately for him that means I do as well. I have play tested against Esper Stoneblade piloting Maverick, TES, RUG Delver, Jund, and a couple of silly home-brews. Since I had just ordered the cards I was missing for Shardless BUG this past week, neither of us had any experience with the match but I knew it was going to be an interesting one.

    Game 1 - I win the die roll and open with a Deathrite Shaman Pass. Johnny plays Sensei’s Top on turn one, go. I cast Hymn on turn two which hits a land and a Snapcaster. Johnny casts Jitte and passes. I play a Bayou and cast a Jace to see a pair of Goyfs which I intend to cast next turn. He plays souls on turn three and passes. I forget the extract the Lingering Souls in the graveyard with the Shaman, which proves to be difficult later on. I turn three Agent into a Visions and proceed to Jace bounce one of his tokens. On his turn he equips the token and swings at Jace. I decide to let it happen even though I have Decay mana for the Jitte a choose not to do it. Looking back I probably should have took his Jitte out there. My turn I bounce his Token with my last counter on Jace and play another one. His turn he flashes back the souls which I had still forgotten about and equips one with Jitte. My turn I Jace storm, find a Goyf in hand, a Goyf in the top three with a Pulse. I proceed to cast double Goyf and swing with the Agent. He goes Verdict, wow I walked into that, into Stoneforge. My turn I Jace storm and find a Thoughtseize for his Batterskull. He plays a Jace and we both lose our Mind Sculptors. For the next few turns we are playing draw go until I find a Brainstorm which leads into an Agent into Visions. This leads to the card advantage I need to push through with a Deathrite Shaman and Goyf. 1-0

    Sideboarding In: +2 Thoughtseize +1 Maelstrom Pulse +3 Nihil Spellbomb
    Out: -3 Force of Will -3 Hymn to Tourach

    Game 2 - The game is very blurry to me. I remember he misses his third land drop and I am able to punish him with a wasteland to strip him of his black mana. This inhibits him from flashing back his Lingering Souls and I am just able to overwhelm him with board presence. Though a win is a win, I was looking forward to actually playing against him in a game three. 2-0

    Record: 3-0 // 6-2

    Round Four - Stuart - MUD

    Game 1 - Stuart wins the die roll and opens with a City of Traitors into Chalice of the Void. I foolishly cast a Force of Will pitching Brainstorm. I completely forget that the Decay in my hand can answer the Chalice. I play turn one suspended Visions pass. He goes turn two Grim Monolith into Lodestone Golem which I am forced to pitch Force of Will. At this point I’m regretting Forcing the Chalice since I could have Decayed it. I play turn two Deathrite Shaman that I draw and pass. He plays turn three three metal worker and passes. I play a Goyf and pass. He plays a Kuldotha Forgemaster plus Chalice at one and ships me the turn, end of turn I Decay the Chalice. I attack with Goyf as a bluff he blocks and I pass turn. Now my lack of experience against this deck truly shows when I didn’t decay his Metalworker. He choses to sac the Forgemaster, Metalworker and a Darksteel Citadel for a Blightsteel Colossus, which punishes me over the next two turns. 0-1

    Sideboarding In: +1 Maelstrom Pulse +2 Sower of Temptation +1 Force of Will
    Out: -2 Baleful Strix -1 Shardless Agent -1 Ancestral Visions

    Game 2 - My memory is blurry on this match. I remember that we go one for one for about the first five or six turns. I remember Thoughtseizing him and seeing three lands which made me chuckle. I have a Deathrite Shaman in play and a Shardless Agent and have no cards in hand. I end up drawing a Brainstorm somewhere and find a Sower of Temptation. He plays Forgemaster into Steel Hellkite. I cast Sower of Temptation and take his Hellkite, Stuart is extremely surprised to see this sideboard card. I swing at him with his own Hellkite and destroy his two two casting cost artifact, Grim Monolith and a Revoker naming Deathrite Shaman. We play till his life total is zero. 1-1

    Game 3 - He starts off with a turn one Ancient Tomb and a passes. I play turn one Ancestral Visions and put him on a clock. He goes turn two second Ancient Tomb Lodestone Golem, I Force of will it. My turn two is played with a Deathrite Shaman. He plays a turn three Grim Monolith and a Metalworker. I play a turn three Thoughtseize and see Staff of Domination, Blightsteel Colossus, and Sundering Titan. I opt to take the Colossus, looking back I should have taken the Titan. I completely forgot that all three of my lands would be wasted. I proceed to drop a Goyf and pass. He casts his Titan, mind you he has been using his Ancient Tombs to be around a life total of 14. I scoop my lands to the yard. At this point the Visions resolves and I drops two lands and a Visions. I cast the Visions and pass. He plays his staff and swings with Titan putting me to 12. I draw Deathrite Shaman and pass. Stuart swings again putting me to 5 life and passes. At this point things are looking poorly and I haven’t a clue what gets me out of this. I top deck a Liliana of the Veil, which I had completely forgotten was in my 60 at this point, and proceed to have him sacrifice his Titan. This triple wastelands me yet again but at least I dealt with his Titan and I have my two Shaman up and running. I attack with the Goyf which is 6/7 and he uses his Ancient Tombs to tap it with the Staff. He drops to 10 pass. He plays land go. I play land attack he goes to 6. He passes with a land drop. I attack with everything and he scoops up his deck. 2-1

    Record: 4-0 // 8-3

    Top 4

    My opponent was someone named Matt who actually found me on The Source while I was looking at the Time Zone Gaming thread. He was playing G/W Enchantress and defeated Johnny. I knew I needed to avenge my friends defeat.

    Semi Finals - Matt - GW Enchantress

    Game 1 - We both Mulligan to six. And he sighs. I tell him it’s ok because he’s playing EDH instead of Legacy. Matt opens with a turn one forest into a Wild Growth. I play a Deathrite Shaman and pass. His turn is Utopia Sprawl on his Forest, into a Savannah followed by Sterling Grove. I play a turn two Shardless Agent, I figure at worst I hit a Decay for his sprawl, and find a blind Visions. He plays turn three fetch for a Taiga.On my turn I cast Hymn and leave him with one card in hand. End of turn Matt opts to sac his Sterling Grove for a Moat, I start to panic and remember to keep it cool. On his upkeep I ponder my options and Abrupt Decay his Utopia Sprawl in hopes he misses land drops for the next two turns. I drop a Goyf into a Hymn which puts his Moat into the graveyard and he scoops his cards. 1-0

    Sideboarding In: +2 Liliana of the Veil +2 Thoughtseize +1 Force of Will +1 Maelstrom Pulse
    Out: -2 Baleful Strix -1 Shardless Agent -3 Hymn to Tourach

    Game 2 - He starts out with land Utopia Sprawl go. I play land go. He fetches and attempts a turn two Blood Moon and I Force of Will it. Due to the low land count in my hand, I draw a Brainstorm and cast it. I see land Pulse and Decay. I opt to keep all three giving me access to two Pulses and one Decay. I then proceed to Thoughtseize and see a Leyline of Sanctity which I take. His turn he plays a Helm of Obedience. I play Pulse on my turn to ensure no Rest in Peace tricks happen. He plays Enchantresses Presence pass. I play a Tarmogoyf pass. He plays another Wild Growth and plays Serra’s Sanctum giving him about 8-9 mana then He plays an Elephant grass and passes. I draw and play a Deathrite Shaman and pass. I hold up Abrupt Decay mana for the Helm Rest in Peace combo since he has the mana to do both. His turn he pays for the Grass plays another Grass and plays Helm of Obedience and Solitary Confinement, yet another card I forget about. I end of turn destroy the Confinement. On my turn I Pulse the Helm and pass. He draws a bunch of cards and passes. I find a Liliana and start ticking her up. He plays more lands and passes. End of turn I double Shaman him down. I get lucky enough to have him stumble till Liliana can ultimate and he extends his hand for the shake. Off to the Finals. 2-0

    Record: 5-0 // 10-3

    Finals

    My opponent was Stuart again, and we both have this, “Oh my god, I really would rather verse another deck besides this one” look on our faces. We are both excited because neither of us had ever made it to the finals so we were both eager to play.

    Finals - Stuart - MUD

    Game 1 - I win the die roll this game and keep my seven as does Stuart. This time I’m feeling more confidant in what I need to stop. Turn one I open with a Deathrite Shaman pass. He plays turn one Goblin Welder pass. My turn I play a land and cast Tarmogoyf. On his turn he plays Chalice on one, which I opt not to Force due to the Decay in my hand. My turn I play Decay and Thoughtseize him. Stuart’s biggest threat is a Wurmcoil Engine which I opt to take. I realize that he can Metalworker the Wurmcoil end of turn and keep open a Green Mana to exile it with Shaman. He misses this detail and is punished for it. He plays Kudoltha Forgemaster and passes. I play Jace and Jace bounce his Forgemaster. Attack with Goyf. He from here on in is locked out of the game and Deathrite and Goyf finish the job.

    Sideboarding In: +1 Maelstrom Pulse +2 Sower of Temptation +1 Force of Will
    Out: -2 Baleful Strix -1 Shardless Agent -1 Ancestral Visions

    Game 2 - We both keep our hands. Stuart starts with a Darksteel Citadel pass. I play Deathrite Shaman pass. He casts a Phyrexian Revoker and names Jace, which I thrilled about. I cast Hymn to Tourach pass. He plays out a Goblin Welder and Metalworker passes. I Decay his Goblin Welder so I do not have to deal with any of his tricks. He plays reveals his hand with the worker and tries to cast a Karn but I Force it. He plays a second Metalworker with the remaining mana. I play an Agent into Goyf and cast Thoughtseize after the cascade revealing another Karn which I take. He plays land and Voltaic Key. I play Pulse on the Metalworkers and attack with Goyf which he blocks with his Revoker. He plays Forgemaster on his turn and passes. I cast Jace and Jacestorm to find a Pulse for the Forgemaster. He plays land go and another Forgemaster. I find Liliana and make him sacrifice his creature and then waste him off of five mana. He draws and goes. I have him dead on board next turn I just have to not mess up. I draw a Maelstrom Pulse and debate Jacestorming to find another card to pitch to the Liliana effect or Fateseal him and lose the Maelstrom Pulse. I choose to Fateseal and see All is Dust. I have him put it on the bottom for obvious reasons. I make the play error and have him discard when I know he has a Blightsteel in his hand. He shuffles up and hopes to put the All is Dust on the top. It doesn’t find it’s way back up and I am victorious. 2-0

    Record 6-0 // 12-3

    I won $35 store credit which I decide to save. I want to thank my close friends for testing with me over the last two years and helping me become a better player. The shop owner for staying about 45 minutes over close time so we can finish the tournament. All the players for being really friendly and welcoming to a new player. And lastly, for Golgari colors for finding its way into my heart.

    Props
    Force of Will.
    Multiple Blind Agents into Ancestral Visions.
    Blue for helping me win my first tournament.
    Not knowing how to Sideboard but getting me there anyways.
    Fatesealing to see an All is Dust and saying no.
    Gerry Thompson for piloting such a sweet deck and inspiring me to play it.
    Empty the Warrens for killing my opponent during Ad Nauseam.
    Deathrite Shaman for being a 1cc Planeswalker all day.

    Slops
    Not knowing how to sideboard properly.
    Failing to remember the Blightsteel in my opponents hand, and having him reshuffle the All is Dust back into his Library.
    Poor Umchi for having such a bad Game 2 with me,
    The BBQ place giving me a sausage sandwich with no peppers.
    Not remembering all the exact details for this tournament report.
    Last edited by Darkness; 04-25-2013 at 08:36 AM.

  2. #2

    Re: 1st Place at Time Zone Games piloting Shardless BUG

    Very nice tournament report. Glad you had such a fun time and I am very glad you did so well . Look forward to seeing everyone play again and maybe next time I will join in.

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