Weeks leading up to Star City Philly, having coming off a 4-0 start in SCG Baltimore into losing every round necessary to money, I wanted to pick up a new deck. Baltimore Legacy runner up Chas Hinkle convinced me Shardless BUG was the bee’s knees (“But only if you won’t get sneak attacks for yourself!”) and so I began playing that at local events and testing sessions. I do ok, but am not quite happy with the results.

Come SCG Philly: Standard and here I am playing the good grind that is Junk reanimator to a swift 1-2 drop -> Reading terminal market -> Watching World War Z. I highly recommend that should your day go awry.
Saturday taught me a couple things: 1)Zombie movies can be worth watching and 2) I was really looking to NOT grind in legacy. I simply wasn’t comfortable with it. You have to worry about blood moon, notion thief, play around punishing fire, dodge/deal with a variety of combo decks… and while I am fine doing that with RUG or a counterbalance deck, I really didn’t want to do it with a deck I didn’t have much experience with. And you know you don’t have experience with a deck when you look at a proposed sideboard and just fail to understand what someone was doing with it.

Enter Michael Caffrey, resident L2 judge and college classmate.

Me: What would you play tomorrow out of curiosity?
Caffrey: If I was really good with everything, EtW TES, but I’m not so Geists.

Sold! I’ve been playing various storm combo decks since my introduction to the format in 2010, anything from Solidarity to High Tide to AnT to Doomsday to T.E.S.. Once I laid the cards on my bed I felt much better and went to sleep. Here is what I sleeved up and a general board plan for each matchup I expected to see. All of this is courtesy of Bryant Cook’s excellent primer for the record, including the board plans:

The Epic Storm

4 Gemstone Mine
2 City of Brass
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand

3 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Burning Wish
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Silence
2 Duress
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Ad Nauseam

3 Abrupt Decay
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Xantid Swarm
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Past in Flames
1 Diminishing Returns

Rd 1: Michael Herbig with OmniShow
Mike is a nice guy with some cool snow covered Islands. It would be really nice if they were for high tide, but alas…
G1: A couple turns spent cantripping ends with my probe revealing Force, pact, Enter the infinite, Dream halls, Emrakyl, City of traitors with 2 lands in play. My hand has only the capacity to make an amount of goblins fewer than his life total, and I am dead to a land off the top from him on either draw step he’ll get. New plan: Probe is followed by lotus petal, silence (resolves), rite of flame, chrome mox (no imprint), LED, Burning wish for diminishing returns. Mike is kicking himself for not forcing the silence now.

I probe and see nothing relevant in his new 7 should I have to pass the turn, but the blue floating and a cantrip find me the kill
IN: 2 Xantid swarm, 2 Chain of vapor
OUT: 1 empty/ponder/chrome mox/probe

G2: More cantrips and no leyline out of Mike allows me time to therapy after a probe that gets to see 2 Force, 2 Omni, Ponder, preordain with one island in play. He starts hitting land drops and I would rather not try empty the warrens, so we are on the diminishing returns plan with silence. Diminishing returns eats the other 3 wishes and I concede to save time as he knows I can’t win from there.

G3: Turn 2 probe sees Intuition, Enter the infinite, 2 islands, City of traitors and a fetch. The path is clear! Brainstorm, 2 Rite of flame, 2 Dark ritual, Infernal, Ad nauseum, draw a few cards that end in tendrils.
1-0 (2-1 games)

Rd 2: Ryan Mckinney with Shardless BUG
G1: Ryan wins the die role and suspends visions. Seeing the duress out of me elicits a sigh and he reveals Abrupt decay, Agent, Trop, U sea and is unable to stop my next turn natural ad nauseum
IN: 1 Cabal therapy
OUT: 1 Infernal Tutor

G2: Turn 1 thoughtseize sets me back while he end of turns cracks his fetch and casts brainstorm. The subsequent cascade hits a spell pierce of all things (lucky me), but I get hymned the following turn and can’t find enough to beat the rest of his hand.

G3: Probe sees the coast relatively clear, but quite a bit of discard waiting in the wings. Empty for 12 tokens doesn’t get met with pulse and he extends the hand.
2-0 (4-2 games)

Rd 3: Chris Vanmeter OmniShow
I would have put him on UB Tezzeret had I not been told that he was on OmniShow. We have an off camera feature match for the no one watching at round 3.
G1: Chris wins the role and leads with turn 1 cantrip, confirming the deck. My probe reveals 2 Force, Enter the Infinite, Preordain, brainstorm, Omniscience but 1 land at all. He hits lands and brainstorms turn three before shipping it back. Duress sees Show and tell, Omni, Enter the infinite, 2 Force and Misty. I’m pretty sure I am dead, since he should have hid the show and tell on top with brainstorm, but I take the show and tell and get empty the warrens with burning wish. Next turn he did not in fact float a second show and tell and ships the turn. My turns first dark ritual is met with force, the second resolves, then I just drop artifacts without using them for storm and make 12 goblins again, setting up the next turn to tutor chain into grapeshot for lethal.
IN: 2 Xantid swarm, 2 Chain of vapor
OUT: 1 empty/ponder/chrome mox/probe

G2: Chris keeps his 7 but auto mulligans to 5 putting 2 Leyline of Sanctity in play. Oh well, I brought in chains. He end of turns gets intuition with cunning wish, untaps and passes. Knowing I probably don’t have another turn, I cast silence (to which he responds to with intuition for 3x show and tell), dark ritual, 2 LED, Chain targeting LED, copy chain to the second, copy chain to 1 leyline. Replay both LEDs, burning wish. If he didn’t have the other leyline here, he gets natural tendrils’d and I’m likely dead to show and tell if I pass, so Diminishing returns it is. I don’t hit a second chain of vapor in the new 7, but I do make 36 odd goblins, and He does not find a kill.
3-0 (6-2 games)

Rd 4: Garrett Fehon with UWr miracles
Garrett is a local guy who has won pretty much every Philadelphia Legacy Series event he has attended, always with miracles.
G1: I therapy away a counterbalance and go for ad nauseum. I lose 7 life on the card, then probe Garrett. He allows it to resolve, weighing information about my kill more important than knowing he runs clique, so instead of tendrils’ing him, I am able to past in flames grape shot for 22 storm. That’ll show him.
IN: 2 Cabal therapy, 3 Abrupt decay
OUT: 2 silence, 1 Empty/Infernal/Chrome mox

G2: Tundra go from Garrett is met with turn 1 probe to see enlightented tutor, Brainstorm, Geist of saint traft, and 3 lands. I follow with therapy naming geist after he enlightened tutors for canonist in reponse. (Why canonist? I don’t get it) Abrupt decay on canonist a few turns later lets me tokens it up and kill him with the untap.
4-0 (8-2 games)

Rd 5: Jeff Folinus with UWr Miracles
Jeff is a friend of a friend, we both know what each other have been on having sat next to each other in the previous round. I exchange some banter and win the roll, not looking forward to playing against counterbalance again.
G1: Luckily I didn’t have to worry about that! My 7 and 6 card hands are garbage, my 5 has no lands but a few cantrips. I pass the initial turn, rip a petal, and watch my cantrips all get countered by spell pierce or blind counterbalance flips. I don’t concede to get more info, and I get to see clique and venser out of him.
Perhaps going to four is correct?
IN: 2 Cabal therapy, 3 Abrupt decay
OUT: 2 silence, 1 Empty/Infernal/Chrome mox

G2: More probes from me reveal a hand full of counters I don’t like plus entreat the angels, and I spend the turn he taps out for Counterbalance resolving a wish for empty (notice a pattern?). I restock my hand after a couple blind flips hoping to hit abrupt decay to no avail and make 16 goblins. Oh no wait, pierce eats a copy (crack LED, pay for it) and Counterbalance after a brainstorm reveal Jace. I get 12 tokens, full expecting the card under the Jace on top of his deck to just be the entreat I saw earlier, but he didn’t do that in time. Some clique chumps and Jace bounces later he dies.

G3: I keep a hand that contains Underground, Volcanic, Gemstone, Silence + gas. Jeff Mulligans and leads with a plains. Since he can’t turn two counterbalance, I lead with a dual and ship the turn. Jeff slams a mystic gate and counterbalance. Motherfucker got me good. I try to play through it, get blind flipped 3 times in the attempt to cantrip into the decay I need to win, am forced to make tokens, get EE’d and lose.
I note I could have played this match more carefully.
4-1 (9-4 games)

Rd 6: John Sava RGBW Something
G1: My opponent is not very happy to see me across from him, and a probe reveals why: His deck has zero ways to interact with combo game 1, opting for punishing fire and loam and stoneforge and bobs and abrupt decays instead. I take some beats and IGG loop him.
IN: 2 Chain of vapor, 3 Abrupt decay, 2 Cabal therapy
OUT: 4 Silence, 2 Duress, 1 Ponder

G2: Turn 3 tidehollow Sculler takes my tutor in hand. Chain bounces it the turn after and I ad nauseam for the win.
5-1 (11-4 games)

Rd 7: Bob Mcalister Mono G Elves
G1: My elves friend mulligans into a turn one elf. I do the proper thing after I see his hand of Joraga warcaller, 2 nettle sentinels, and Quirion ranger and kill him with Ad nauseum.
IN: 2 Chain of vapor, 3 Abrupt decay, 2 Cabal therapy
OUT: 4 Silence, 2 Duress, 1 Ponder

G2: Rob mulls aggressively to something and keeps at 5 with a turn 1 heritage druid. Therapy naming glimpse of nature from me whiffs and I see living wish, fetch, Regal force. My hand isn’t fast and he is able to cast deathrite shaman, then summoner’s pact on the following turn for elvish visionary with still 2 lands in play. I abrupt decay the heritage druid and he can’t pay for pact.
Bob was an extremely nice player to play against. Apparently the switch to elves was a last minute decision so much so he couldn’t find/afford the Gbw version. I was amazed at how deep he had gone with a watered down deck. Since it turns out he doesn’t have the hatebears, leaving in silences sounds fine if that is known.
6-1 (13-4 games)

Pairings and standings go up, and I see am at 8th place and need to play to top 8. I check who I am going to beat as I hear Brad Nelson asking Todd Anderson “Who is Matt Bevenoh? What’s he on?”. Todd just shrugs, and I lock eyes with Brad. I say “It’s Bevenour” and walk over to the feature match area.

Rd 8: Brad Nelson on Deathblade
On camera feature match which at the time of this writing can be found here:
http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/420833875
at time 4:51:00
Brief recap for those too lazy to click:
G1: His stoneforge for the jitte leads me to believe he has the batterskull already in hand, but my hand is fast enough he won’t get it online so I name force with my therapy and hit. Brad wastes the wrong land on his turn 4, allowing me to silence and go for diminishing returns, which he has to read quite a number of times. Geist prevented me from taking a safer line of play. As I remove ten cards, Brad says “well that looks good for you” to which I reply like an idiot “It is actually pretty bad for me, almost exiled all my burning wishes” Free information! I have enough mana and and LED post returns to find and cast Infernal for the last wish for tendrils.
IN: 1 Tendrils of Agony, 2 Cabal therapy
OUT: 1 Empty the warrens, 1 ponder, 1 Infernal Tutor

G2: Well Brad certainly picked up on wish being the win condition, as he names it with his turn 2 meddling mage. Fortunately for me, I board in the tendrils for the maindeck empty and get to keep playing. I probe reveals the coast is clear if I find the mana. I brainstorm into the mana necessary next turn. I keep 2 Rite of flame, 2 dark ritual, 2 infernal tutor instead of simply a duress over the infernal. I get punished for it when the last infernal gets top deck’d flusterstormed. What a dumbass.
In: 3 abrupt decay Out: 2 silence, 1 chrome mox

G3: My duress whiffs and sees a dubious keep from my opponent of Snapcaster, flooded strand, deathrite shaman, wasteland, stoneforge mystic, misty rainforest, batterskull. I get to ad nauseum and win from there, double and triple checking it is in fact lethal.
7-1 (15-5 games)

I end the swiss in 3rd place, noting the only matchup I feel nervous about would be Chris Pikula on RUG, the deck he was pried from the womb with in this format.
Top 8 Chris Pikula on RUG (Dammit)

Thanks to being the higher seed, I am on the play and keep the following hand:
G1: 2 lotus petal, LED, Infernal tutor, ponder, brainstorm, gemstone. This is easily turn 1 for 10 goblins and a win, or it’s a probable turn 1 win if we hit certain cards off brainstorm, or it is an unprotected turn x win. I keep. I can hear Chas (from earlier in the story) whispering “You didn’t go for it? …bitch”. The line I took was wrong.
I go for the 10 goblins plan because I am not a bitch :( Chris had the force then wastelanded my only land and won simply from there.
I think in hindsight should have cast a cantrip, and I think in particular the brainstorm is the correct cantrip. I was up against a RUG opponent who knows what I am on and kept his 7 with little thought, he probably has what he wants against me. My line of play avoids the headache playing through stifle/daze/waste/pierce and there is merit in that, but being at good odds to get to brainstorm into a mana source I can play this turn to even just increase storm count is enough to convince me I played the hand wrong.
In: Cabal therapy
Out: Infernal tutor

G2: My first 5 spells over the course of 3 turns are countered, including cantrips and probe. He lets a probe resolve and I see Stifle, Rough//tumble, Lightning bolt, Volc, Thoughtscour to complement his active delver, and a 2 turns later things aren’t looking much better with me at an effective 2 life. Dark ritual, Dark ritual, Chrome mox imprint burning wish (red was necessary I think) LED, Burning wish, crack LED for UUU. He lets it resolve, and I think about whether I want to Diminishing return (allows for an even worse hand for me to fight through, and if he hits bolt I just die on the spot) or past in flames to cantrip into the win. I take past in flames, but he has a sandbagged flusterstorm for it and wins.

7-2 (15-7 games)
My run was good for 5th place out of 220 players.

Props:
• Bryant Cook for having the best primer ever
• Chas Hinkle and Alternate Universes Blue Bell for the testing you guys help me with.
• Mike Caffrey for putting me on the road to victory
• Reading Terminal Market
• My opponents for being great people
Slops:
• Being a bitch
• Shitty sequencing
• People not knowing the deference between T.E.S. and AnT