First of all, big shout out to Logan Creen from the QCA for netting top 8 with TinFins! It was a big risk for him to ID in the last round, but it worked out as he snagged the eighth seed. There was a much bigger cheer for his announcement than any other competitor, and rightly so. It was unfortunate he got Crandersen’d in the quarters, but that will happen. Congrats to him for a great finish!
I knew I was playing Elves for this event the instant I was going. I’ve been off Dredge for almost three months and I don’t see myself going back. Deathrite Shaman is just too good and I don’t want to play a deck that jams less than four of him. And this version of Elves, man, I tell you... it’s powerful. I cannot believe the pre-GP Denver players didn’t want to play Natural Order in Elves. It’s such a game-breaking card in a deck packed to the brim with green creatures and mana. If NO doesn’t work here, it doesn’t work anywhere. Anyways, on to tournament-day!
My day started at 4:30 that morning with an excellent decision to preset the coffee maker the night before. I got ready as quickly as possible and was out the door by 4:45 to get over to my friend Alex’s by 5. Welcoming me at his door was his pug which was going ape shit – it had to wake up everybody in the building. We got his stuff in my car quickly and headed out to pick up our other friend David who lived just off the interstate on our way.
After we got David, we decided to stop at Hardee’s on the way for breakfast. However, the universe had other things in mind. In three and a half hours of searching, there was no Hardee’s between Davenport, IA and Collinsville, IL. I shit you not - not without going out of our way. And by the time an hour passed, it was my overbearing stubbornness that kept me looking for a Hardee’s. We went by a hundred other places we could have had breakfast, but no, I knew what I wanted, dammit! Anyways, we arrived at the convention center hungry, but with an hour to spare so we easily had time to go to Starbucks and register our decks.
Here’s the list I played: Elves by Caleb Calhoun
// Lands
4 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
2 [B] Bayou
1 [B] Savannah
1 [B] Forest
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
4 [US] Gaea's Cradle
// Creatures
4 [RTR] Deathrite Shaman
1 [B] Llanowar Elves
1 [IA] Fyndhorn Elves
4 [VI] Quirion Ranger
4 [SC] Wirewood Symbiote
4 [ALA] Elvish Visionary
4 [MOR] Heritage Druid
1 [ON] Birchlore Rangers
4 [EVE] Nettle Sentinel
1 [EVE] Regal Force
1 [AVR] Craterhoof Behemoth
1 [MR] Viridian Shaman
// Spells
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
4 [CHK] Glimpse of Nature
3 [VI] Natural Order
1 [UL] Crop Rotation
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
SB: 1 [VI] Natural Order
SB: 1 [CFX] Progenitus
SB: 4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
SB: 2 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 [LRW] Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 [CMD] Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
SB: 1 [LG] Sylvan Library
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
Player’s meeting was pretty standard. It was the largest Legacy tournament for the STL area so that was cool, but I’m sure that’ll be true again next year. Pairings go up, and the day begins.
Round 1 – Josh Dearing – Affinity
Josh is personable and makes small talk about his trip over to the Center and how rushed his group was. We were both feeling good, spirits were high, and our slates were clean. I won the roll and we both mulligan to six. I have Glimpse of Nature in my opener and enough creatures to turn it into Ancestral Recall on turn two – drawing Natural Order. He gets a Memnite and Vault Skirge in play before I NO-Hoof him for 35ish. He had no interaction with my creatures that game; the way I like it.
Out: -1 Heritage, -1 Nettle, -1 Quirion, -1 Regal
In: +1 Pridemage, NO-Pro package
We both keep seven. This game he starts with artifact land, Springleaf, Meminte, and Ornithopter. I play Bayou and Llanowar Elves, holding Cradle, fetch, Nettle, Visionary, Glimpse and NO. I’m feeling pretty confident at this point. His next turn, he plays another land, Grafdigger’s Cage and Chalice @ 1. Ouch. I’m pretty sure that means he topdecked the Cage or it would have been in play last turn. Anyways, I am now on Viridan or Pridemage or I likely lose. I try to play the fair game but his Skirge has evasion and lifelink. I start at 18 from fetches and my life total goes: 18, 16, 14, 12, 8, dead. At this point, I considered putting in Cabal Therapy to name Grafdigger’s turn one and flashback turn two for Chalice if he had it. But I decided that was playing scared and kept the deck as is.
Out: Nothing
In: Nothing
I kept my seven and Josh mulled to six. I started off with Deathrite and passed. He played some zero mana dudes and a Grafdigger’s Cage on his first turn. That’s rough since I don’t have Viridan or Pridemage again. I get all the one drops out of my hand on my next turn fearing a Chalice. Sure enough, he plays Chalice on one and passes back. Luckily, I already had Symbiote in play and had Visionary in hand so I was on that plan for about five turns, drawing a ton of cards in the process. Meanwhile, he got Master of Etherium and some more dorks. Finally, he finds something to get through my wall of Elves in Cranial Plating. Once his Ornithopter picked up Plating, I figured I had two turns. His first swing took me from 18 to 11, and he had enough cards in hand that I thought the next attack would be lethal. I took my turn and drew more cards with Visionary, looking for an out. I completely whiffed that turn and had to pass back crossing my fingers. As it turned out, he had three three-drops in his hand and could only make his Thopter a 10/2, taking me to one. Phew. That gave me the extra turn I needed to find Viridan Shaman, blow up Cage, return it to my hand, blow up Chalice, Glimpse chain and NO for Hoof. This whole day could have been a lot different.
2-1 Games
1-0 Matches
Round 2 – Aaron Cross – Belcher
Aaron comments that he likes my sleeves – I use Legion “tartan” which look cool but can suck to shuffle – and I tell them I also picked them to show off my Scottish side. Then he tells me he’s Irish. Neighbors! Same! He wins the die roll, but I have no idea what he’s on yet. He keeps his seven, while I mulligan to a strong six. His first turn starts with Petal, Probe, Probe, Street Wraith, pass at 14. Okay, so he’s on Belcher and kept a hand without a win condition. Interesting. I play a Deathrite and pass back. He draws and plays Land Grant, revealing a hand of all rituals and mana sources. I draw for my turn, play Viridian Shaman and blow up his Petal. He bricks for three turns until he goes for a small Empty the Warrens and a hard cast SSG. His 1/1s and solo 2/2 cannot win against Elf beat down as his life goes: 14, 12, 6, 4, 2, dead.
Out: -1 NO, -3 Visionary, -1 Viridian, -1 Quirion, -1 Symbiote, -1 Birchlore
In: +4 Therapy, +2 Trap, +1 Thorn, +1 Teeg
He starts off the game with a mull to six and I keep my seven. Turn one, he Probes to see that I’m holding Therapy and GSZ as hate. On my turn, I play Therapy naming Charbelcher and he reveals: Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Demigod of Revenge, Seething Song, LED, and Dark Ritual. Weird. So one of his sideboard plans is to bring in Demigod? I’m not sure. He misses again on his second turn for an initial mana source. On my second turn, I take both of his Rite of Flames with a second Therapy and cast Deathrite Shaman. He had to go off his third turn, but he couldn’t get there. That gave me the three mana I needed to GSZ for Teeg and he was shut out of Demigods thanks to Deathrite’s incredible versatility.
4-1 Games
2-0 Matches
Round 3 – Tim Lyons – ANT
Tim is a cool guy and we just talk general Magic while shuffling up. My seven is a no-lander, but I can keep my six since it has NO, GSZ, creatures, and mana. Tim wins the roll and leads off with Duress and took the GSZ. I summoned Nettle and passed back. Tim went off with Ad Nauseam after another Probe of my hand.
Out: -1 NO, -3 Visionary, -1 Viridian, -1 Quirion, -1 Symbiote, -1 Birchlore
In: +4 Therapy, +2 Trap, +1 Thorn, +1 Teeg
Game two, Tim has to mulligan to five and I keep my seven. I lead off with Therapy and name Infernal Tutor. He shows a hand of LED, Petal, Dark Ritual, Delta, Island. I pass to Tim who plays his LED and Petal and passes back to me. I play out Deathrite and Quirion. The latter gets sac’d to take the Dark Ritual from Tim’s hand and I pass back. At that point Tim had only mana, and I needed to put him on as quick a clock as possible, which I didn’t really have much of one. I still get there though. His life goes 17, 15, 14, 13, 11, 8, 6, dead. I drew a Trap while slowly killing him this game for insurance.
Out: Nothing
In: Nothing
On to the third game. Tim and I both go to six. He starts off by playing out his mana sources and passes. I play a mana dork and say go. I don’t have any way to kill Tim quickly and only one Therapy as disruption. My Therapy whiffs on Tutor and hits Dark Ritual again on the flashback. Eventually, he draws Ponder, which finds Tutor and can get AdN that same turn. I die to Tendrils.
5-3 Games
2-1 Matches
Round 4 – Casey Hanford – High Tide
I saw Casey had won the Standard Open, so congrats to him on that! I also saw two rounds earlier that he beat Alex from my car 2-1 after getting there on the last card of a cantrip twice. I had to win this one. I win the die roll and we both keep our openers. I start playing out creatures while Casey starts playing lands and cantripping. I go for a Glimpse chain on my third turn, which meets a Force of Will pitching High Tide. Nice. The next turn, I go for NO, which meets FoW pitching Turnabout. Nice. I win easily from there with simple beat down and Deathrite activations.
Out: -1 NO, -3 Visionary, -1 Viridian, -1 Quirion, -1 Symbiote, -1 Birchlore
In: +4 Therapy, +2 Trap, +1 Thorn, +1 Teeg
Game two, Casey and I both keep seven. He starts off with land and cantrip. I go for Therapy and hit High Tide also seeing Time Spiral, Cunning Wish, Flusterstorm, and two Flooded Strand. He plays out his lands while I play out a mana dork and another Therapy to hit the Time Spiral. I go for Glimpse on my third turn with a Cradle in play and he Flusterstorms it. I easily pay and Glimpse chain him naming High Tide again with a Therapy after he used his C. Wish for Extraction in response targeting my Glimpses. Some time later that turn, he gets the Hoof.
7-3 Games
3-1 Matches
Round 5 – Jeff Hoogland – 4c Loam
My friend Alex has this deck built based on Hoogland’s version, so I didn’t let him know that I knew it was a bad match up going in, but he saw me playing earlier and said something about it anyways. Yeah, I wish I didn’t have to sit by him during round three for that reason. I won the roll and mulligan to six and Jeff kept his seven. I play out Deathrite Shaman and he went first turn Chalice of the Void @ 1 via Mox Diamond. That happened a lot in this match (all three games). I played a Visionary and some lands, while Jeff put together Punishing Fire/Grove. He kept me down to one or two creatures all game and I finally draw NO with four mana to cast it thanks to Cradle. However, Hoof would only come down and hit him with a 1/1 dork for 10 damage total. Instead, it was more crucial to get Viridian and blow up that Chalice so I could Glimpse chain. I go for that play and hoped he didn’t have a second Chalice. He didn’t and I get there the following turn.
Out: -2 Heritage, -1 Nettle, -1 Visionary, -1 Regal, -1 Glimpse
In: +1 Pridemage, +1 Ooze, +1 Bog, NO-Pro package
His deck had access to Perish with Burning Wish which meant the NO-Pro looked suspect, but Chalice was the more prudent problem. If you can get to NO, just get Pro and put him on Wish or lose. I’m telling you, this match is just a nightmare (Chalice, P. Fire/Grove, Devastating Dreams, Wish for Perish, Wasteland recursion). Game two went more expectedly. He started with Chalice@ 1 again turn one. I try to get going but P.Fire/Grove shuts me out and Knight beats me down.
Out: -1 Birchlore
In: +1 Thorn (for P.Fire and Wish – may have been correct on the draw too)
I keep my seven and Jeff mulled to six. I go first turn Deathrite and he plays Chalice @ 1 again off a top decked Mox Diamond… -_- …every game. So I built up mana for a couple turns and used Visionary to draw an extra card. He played out Knight and Wasted one of my Cradles, but I had the second. (I loved playing four of those things) After three turns, I draw Scavenging Ooze with three one-drop-Elves in my hand. With no other play, I cast three Elves into the Chalice @ 1 because our graveyards are both creatureless. At that point, I look at Jeff who is confused beyond anything. He even said so out loud lol. Next turn, I play Ooze and activate it three times to get it out from double P.Fire range while Jeff is tapped out. That forced Jeff to wish for Perish killing my Ooze and Ranger, but also his Knight and Deathrite Shaman. Not a bad exchange. The problem is now I can’t get out from under the Chalice thanks to poor draws and he finds Bob. Bobby-Fresh finds Knight and he was enough to lock it up with Wastelands and a full grip.
8-5 Games
3-2 Matches
And there goes top 8. Everybody says the same thing: “You can still make top 64.” Great. I keep my head in it though, unlike my next opponent.
Round 6 – Jessy Hefner – Maverick
Jessy was pretty talkative before the round and game one he and I both mulled to six. He starts off with Noble Hierarch and I play Deathrite. It embraces a life of farming via Swords to Plowshares and he plays another Hierarch. I play out Llanowar Elves; it eats a StP. I play a Symbiote, and it takes StP to the face. Finally, I play Heritage (my last creature) and Jessy decides to draw all four Swords. Eternal Witness to bring back the fifth StP got a scoop from me as I was at 9 facing lethal. So Mav players, if you want to win against Elves, all you need is five StPs. Easy, right?
Out: -2 Heritage, -1 Nettle, -2 Visionary, -1 Regal
In: +1 Pridemage, +1 Ooze, +1 Library, NO-Pro package
Game two goes a lot smoother for me. Not so much for Jessy. He has to mulligan to five and his attitude really sours for the remainder of the match. I just stomp him with Hoof on turn four. All he did was play Mother of Runes and StP on a Deathrite.
Out: Nothing
In: Nothing
Jessy starts on the play with Mom. I play Fyndhorn Elves and it gets a StP from him. I don’t have to Glimpse chain or NO him to win. I just get behind Visionary/Symbiote and eventually find Deathrite and Quirion to ping him for 6 in one turn and attack for the rest. He was upset after the round, but this looked like a terrible match for him. I can’t imagine he was too surprised with the outcome.
10-6 Games
4-2 Matches
Round 7 – Darren Rucker – 4c Good Stuff
Darren’s deck is essentially Deathblade removing the Stoneforge package for Goyf and adding a couple more pieces of disruption for the equipment slots. I win the roll and keep my seven, so does Darren. My start is fetch for Bayou, GSZ for Arbor. He goes first turn Thoughtseize and takes my Glimpse of Nature. My second turn gets Symbiote and Visionary in play. I use it to draw another Glimpse and chain into lethal Hoof with him at 16.
Out: 2 Heritage, -1 Nettle, -1 Visionary, -1 Regal
In: +1 Pridemage, +1 Library, NO-Pro package
Since Darren was on some homebrew, and I thought it was Bant at this point actually, I decided to be safe and bring in the Pridemage. He wins game two on the back of Goyfs and removal for my Symbiotes. He counters a NO that would have locked up the game. His deck looked impressive game two.
Out: Nothing
In: Nothing
I’m still confident in my deck. He drew pretty well last game, and I’m on the play with an aggressive strategy that his fair deck can’t handle. Game three is a blowout. My life total never leaves 20. I go Forest and Fyndhorn. He fetches and plays Deathrite. I play Arbor and Quirion. He plays Goyf. Turn three, I ask “Natural Order?” …. “Okay.” Progenitus enters play and I win in two turns.
12-7 Games
5-2 Matches
Round 8 – Joe Corrucini – Elves
Ahh, the mirror. I wondered if this might happen. It’s not something I have played more than a couple times, but I really liked my chances since I was playing 4 Cradles and 1 Rotation. That was really, really good here. Things looked even better when I won the roll. I start out with fetchland into Deathrite Shaman and Joe fetches into Symbiote. I drew the first Cradle on turn three and I Glimpse chained him for the win.
Out: -1 NO, -3 Visionary, -1 Quirion, -1 Symbiote, -1 Viridian
In: +4 Therapy, +2 Trap, +1 Teeg
The Traps were only for the spell what would search up Hoof. That was my plan, at least. I drew my seven and it had both Traps in it, GSZ, Cradle, fetch, Nettle and Deathrite. He starts with Ranger and I play Deathrite. He plays another land and a Symbiote. I play Nettle and wait on the Cradle – I should have played it in hindsight. His next turn, he plays Cradle and two Elves and Priest as the last one, which I use a Trap to exile. That was weird, but pretty good actually. I play my Cradle on my turn and play a Glimpse, followed by a second Nettle and Heritage and then chain off into Teeg to ice the match.
14-7 Games
6-2 Matches
Round 9 – Scott Blumenkamp – Merfolk
Scott wins the roll and goes first turn Aether Vial off Island. I’m elated. I’m in 32nd place going into this round and with that opening, I smelled blood in the water. Scott’s life total does not change from 20 until he is dead to a Hoof on my fourth turn. I went for Glimpse on my third turn as bait to draw out his Force of Will.
Out: -2 Heritage, -1 Nettle, -1 Visionary, -1 Regal
In: +1 Pridemage, +1 Library, NO-Pro package
I keep my seven and Scott mulligans down to six. He started with Island, pass; and I went fetch into Deathrite Shaman. Scott played a Spreading Seas on my Cradle at one point. He used a Force of Will – pitched Master – on my Symbiote second turn. And he used another Force on my Glimpse –pitched another Master – on my third turn. He had no cards in his hand and I won easily from there with anemic beat down plus Deathrite activations.
16-7 Games
7-2 Matches
It was a great weekend, and I was happy to finish out the way I did. I was extremely satisfied with the list and don’t have any changes I want to make yet. I brought in all my sideboard cards, yet I didn’t draw Thorn so I don’t know how it would have performed versus Thalia, which is info I’d like to know. Otherwise, thanks for reading! It was a llong one, and it took more than a couple hours to type it all up, so sorry if it felt rushed. Some games weren’t all that interesting honestly. Natural Order just wins sometimes and anybody can do it. That’s how you know it’s a powerful spell. So everyone, peace out and PLAY MOAR GREEN!
Last edited by igri_is_a_bk; 06-16-2013 at 04:37 AM.
The Quad Cities: twice as nice as the Twin Cities.
Nice finish, sir. Way to winout and get that sweet, sweet SCG money.
You know about Google Maps right?
Grats on the finish!
Primary legacy deck High Tide primer
Originally Posted by igri_is_a_bk
Team Trademart!
There were a lot of people from the QCA at that tournament, it was great seeing the lot of you that only show up to TCGPlayer events.
Tinfins & Bizarro Stormy & Belcher & DDFT
@acclimation6 on twitter
Back to back t1 kills at SCG STL 2013:
https://youtu.be/kk3crCPsNLg
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