Liver of the Storm - Legacy Tournament Report

[Lemnear]

Now that's one question I can actually answer:

"Heart of the Storm Vol. 6 - New Frontiers" is on the desk of Eternal Centrals head editor James Jaco (JACO on this forum; @JMJACO on Twitter) and will be released on EternalCentral.com. Feel free to bump him to get the report online ;P

[Asthereal]

Marcelo has now stated three times that this isn't a hoax. That his report, though sloppily spelled and containing many jokes, is a sincere report of an actual event. I still have a hard time believing it, but maybe I should give some advice regardless. If you want to become proficient at playing this deck, start with the following:

1. Remove one Serum Visions from your deck, and add one Brainstorm.
2. Goldfish this deck for 50 games (it is important to get a feeling of what the deck can do, and opponents distract you from your own deck).
3. Read the entire primer twice (first few posts in the thread by Bryant).
4. Goldfish this deck for another 50 games.
5. Read all Lemnears reports twice (you stated you are a fan of Lem's reports, but your play gives me the idea you haven't read any of them).
6. Goldfish another 50 games, keeping in mind Lem's lines of play and mulligan decisions.
7. Attend another tournament, play according to the things you learned from steps 1-6 and then write a second report. Post it on The Source.

Before step 7 you are also allowed to start playtesting against real opponents, if you like.

Maybe you also want to keep in mind the flaws in your play and knowledge that you revealed in this report, which are:
- Mulligan decisions. I disagree with almost all of them.
- Missing obvious lines of play (examples: You can stop drawing from Ad Nauseam, pass the turn, and win next turn. & Two initial mana sources, three rituals and a Wish is enough to go for Empty the Warrens.)
- The value of cantrips in Storm is as follows: Brainstorm > Ponder > Gitaxian Probe > Preordain > wait... you ran something else still?
- Boarding out Brainstorm is always wrong.
- Removal in your sideboard is only needed to remove permanents that stop you from going off (Counterbalance, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Thalia, and so on). We don't care about Delver.

Hope this helps.

[JPA]

James Jaco (JACO on this forum; @JMJACO on Twitter)

Jason

[Lemnear]

Jason

Ups! My pardon ��

[Marcelo65]

Marcelo has now stated three times that this isn't a hoax. That his report, though sloppily spelled and containing many jokes, is a sincere report of an actual event. I still have a hard time believing it, but maybe I should give some advice regardless. If you want to become proficient at playing this deck, start with the following:

1. Remove one Serum Visions from your deck, and add one Brainstorm.
2. Goldfish this deck for 50 games (it is important to get a feeling of what the deck can do, and opponents distract you from your own deck).
3. Read the entire primer twice (first few posts in the thread by Bryant).
4. Goldfish this deck for another 50 games.
5. Read all Lemnears reports twice (you stated you are a fan of Lem's reports, but your play gives me the idea you haven't read any of them).
6. Goldfish another 50 games, keeping in mind Lem's lines of play and mulligan decisions.
7. Attend another tournament, play according to the things you learned from steps 1-6 and then write a second report. Post it on The Source.

Before step 7 you are also allowed to start playtesting against real opponents, if you like.

Maybe you also want to keep in mind the flaws in your play and knowledge that you revealed in this report, which are:
- Mulligan decisions. I disagree with almost all of them.
- Missing obvious lines of play (examples: You can stop drawing from Ad Nauseam, pass the turn, and win next turn. & Two initial mana sources, three rituals and a Wish is enough to go for Empty the Warrens.)
- The value of cantrips in Storm is as follows: Brainstorm > Ponder > Gitaxian Probe > Preordain > wait... you ran something else still?
- Boarding out Brainstorm is always wrong.
- Removal in your sideboard is only needed to remove permanents that stop you from going off (Counterbalance, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Thalia, and so on). We don't care about Delver.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your helpful post.
I will try to follow your guideline and then write another report. Eventually I am thinking of attending the Grand Prix in Paris.

I still don't understand the point of playing a full set of Brainstorm. What do you guys do if you lock yourself? Concede?

[Lemnear]

Thank you for your helpful post.
I will try to follow your guideline and then write another report. Eventually I am thinking of attending the Grand Prix in Paris.

I still don't understand the point of playing a full set of Brainstorm. What do you guys do if you lock yourself? Concede?

This deck uses Brainstorm a bit different than other decks in Legacy. The card should be played the last possible moment and never as a T1/2 cantrip because you CAN do it. That said, I "locked" myself about 3 times total since I pilot the deck on a decent level...

[JPoJohnson]

Thank you for your helpful post.
I will try to follow your guideline and then write another report. Eventually I am thinking of attending the Grand Prix in Paris.

I still don't understand the point of playing a full set of Brainstorm. What do you guys do if you lock yourself? Concede?

Therer are 11 shuffle effects in the deck. I've rarely been Brainstorm locked before.

Also, there are quite a few games where you could have played much MUCH better. This isn't a deck you can just pick up and go to an event with. You have to know a little bit about how it works first.

[Marcelo65]

This deck uses Brainstorm a bit different than other decks in Legacy. The card should be played the last possible moment and never as a T1/2 cantrip because you CAN do it. That said, I "locked" myself about 3 times total since I pilot the deck on a decent level...

Well, thanks for the advice. Is it possible to learn this deck till GP Paris? I mean I can go off with 1-land Belcher instead. How long does it take to achieve a "decent" level?

Therer are 11 shuffle effects in the deck. I've rarely been Brainstorm locked before.

Also, there are quite a few games where you could have played much MUCH better. This isn't a deck you can just pick up and go to an event with. You have to know a little bit about how it works first.

Yeah, I slowly begin to see the point? But you can also try out Visions in this slot. It isn't bad at all.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Hey Marcelo, welcome to The Source, where everyone is an expert on cheating, game design, economics, personal finance, self defense, statistics, and is generally smarter and better than you. Enjoy your stay, and be sure to stop by our Banlist thread for our perennial discussion of how Brainstorm is ruining the format but Survival can fix it.

[Lemnear]

just because I'm bored at the office:

Liver of the Storm I.

(Title stolen from my favorite poster and reporter, Lenmaer. I hope this is ok, dude.)

That is not my username. Aside from that, feel free to do

Since this is my first post on this site (although I am a passionate reader of this page), I would like to introduce myself to the community. I have been a Legacy enthusiast for a couple of years and I would call myself a good player. That does not mean that I am flawless or some kind of a poser. I would like to share with you a report from a Legacy tournament I participated in and of course I would be glad to hear what you guys and girls think about it. So let’s get it on. My local tournaments consist of mostly 10 till 20 people playing in a small, shady room in the back of a bar because we can’t afford a better location…(tribute to the liver). Nonetheless, we are a bunch of experienced players. At this day, I was picked up by a friend with his new Moto Guzzi V7 (jezzz… what a sound) and he took me to the location. That was a hell of a ride, feeling the vibrating motor under my butt and hugging my friend’s body of steel. After a little drink at the bar we got to business and then played Magic. (The day couldn’t start better :P) So, what is important now? Yeah, you’re right, the deck. Let’s have a look:

TES Visions
Mainboard:

4 Gemstone Mine
2 City of Brass
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
3 Polluted Delta

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

Sideboard:
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Chain of Vapor
2 Xantid Swarm
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
1 Diminishing Returns

outdated list;play 4 brainstorm

This is predominantly a net decked list which plays only 3 Brainstorms (bad with just 3 fetchlands) in favor of one Serum Visions which I think is pretty underrated at the moment. It draws a card and then becomes a Magma Jet. To sum this up, Serum Visions is a mix of a cantrip and a burn spell which can remove hate bears. If you guys have any questions about the list just feel free to write a comment and we can discuss my choices. The main reason I played TES is my financial state. I wanted to pilot a budged deck which is strong enough to win games fast so I can pry about the other decks at the tournament. In my honest opinion ANT is much better but unfortunately USeas and other stuff is too expensive for me right now. By the way, look what arrived just in time:

no idea what this magma jet discussion is about

Attachment 208



Round 1 – Sneak Show
Game 1
I win the dice roll and state that I would like to begin. Since he is fine with this decision I pick up these 7 cards.

1 Underground Sea
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
1 Dark Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Burning Wish
1 Silence

Would you keep this hand?
I feel very uncomfortable with this starting seven since. Keep in mind that I don’t know what he is playing but nevertheless I keep. I start off with a nice Sea into Ponder revealing me 2 lands and a Brainstorm. I shuffle and draw Lotus Petal which falls on the table as I am unable to keep the card in my hand thus my opponent knows that I am on combo. Damn it, bro. Throughout the game I don’t see the correct line of play that would ride me to victory. He wins with Emmi per Show and Tell.
Boarding time:
-2 Probes, +2 Swarm (should be fair enough)
Game 2
Let’s have a peek at my starting seven.

start with probe into ponder. You cant hide the fact that you are a combo deck. Boarding is off in every game you present in this report. Neither me or Bryant advice such Boardings

2 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Xantid Swarm
1 Chrome Mox
2 Lion’s Eye Diamond

Would you keep this hand?
Well, this is a pure snap keep as it was one in the previous game. I see Swarm but unfortunately no land but hey it’s TES so you don’t need shitty lands to win a simple game of Magic. I grin and my opponent takes a mulligan. I start with an easy “go” without playing anything. I am not sure if this is a mistake but I feel pretty comfortable that it is the right decision here. He durdles around with cantrips in the following turns and I am able to find some lands and go off of Silence (1) > some crappy Rituals (2,3,4) and Burning Wish (5) with LED support (6) into some green dudes out of the board. I then pass the turn and he, lucky as he is, topdecks the card that he needs and wins via Annihilator trigger. Jeezzz what a luck.

imprint Ponder into mox and cast ponder here. If you can resolve silence and several rituals + LED into Wish, go for DimRet or PiF. Goblins are bad in this matchup.

0-2
Dice rolls won: 1


Round 2 – Burn

Game 1

I totally own him on the dice roll and go first.

Let’s peek and opt:

1 Volcanic Island
1 Ponder
1 Lotus Petal
1 Burning Wish
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Rite of Flame
1 Polluted Delta

Would you keep this hand?
Hard to say since I don’t know what my greedy-looking opponent is playing. At this point I decide to take a mulligan into a faster hand.

1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
3 Chrome Mox
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond

Would you keep this hand?

Well, at least some fast mana and some cantripping action in sight. Let’s start the bashing.
I lead with Chrome Mox > imprint nothing. He slams Goblin Guide on the table, literally slams it, and attacks for 2 revealing another Lion’s Eye Diamond. Not exactly what is needed now. Damn it, bro, again. I really struggle against Burn strategies because they are so fast and all I can do is trying to win faster which is very hard even if my deck is tuned like some Nascar bolide. Goshhh. He eventually takes home the win after some spells to my face.

Boarding action: none

no clue why you mull that hand #1 and keep #2. Playing mox without imprint for no reason screams troll-post all over the report, sorry.

Game 2

I draw these precious cards:

1 Underground Sea
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Brainstorm
1 Burning Wish
2 Rite of Flame
1 Dark Ritual

I start with USea into Brainstorm lock. GG.

0-4
Dice rolls won: 2

start with USea, go. The hand can do everything if you tank 1-2 turns here

At this point of the tournament I am feeling very fit and optimistic although I lost to easy decks. Nonetheless I have the will to finally step ahead and dominate my Meta with TES. The judge prints out the pairings for round 3: Bye. I was confused because I didn’t know a person with that strange name so I asked some fellaaas and they told me to sit down and goldfish a bit. Nice idea. Maybe I can learn some new tech due to that. Sooo:

Round 3 – Bye

Game 1
Well, my opponent is unable to roll the dice (what a retard) thus I go first. I shuffle my decks and peek at this starting hand.

1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Underground Sea
2 Dark Ritual
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Ponder

Would you keep this hand?

I see an easy turn one kill you too? I start with Petal (1), LED (2), Underground Sea, Dark Ritual (3), Dark Ritual (4), Ad Nauseam (5) in response crack LED for BBB. Party time.

Attachment 209

Empty the Warrens (16)
Infernal Tutor (14)
Burning Wish (12)
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Chrome Mox
Lotus Petal
Burning Wish (10)
Serum Visions (9)
Silence (8)
Silence (7)
Infernal Tutor (5)
Infernal Tutor (3)
Brainstorm (2)
Gosshhh I just need LED. What are you doing to me, deck?
Ponder (1)
Burning Wish > loss

i count 6 mana after you flipped the Lotus Petal. No idea where your problem was here. You could cast a lethal tendrils even after cantripping into a mana source

I thought that TES is able to and for the kill on turn one with BBB floating but maybe I am not that experienced as I thought.

Boarding action: none, I don’t know what he is playing. At this point I try to convince my enemy to intentionally draw which he does. Strange enough that the judge gave me a win for this round but hey no one cared. 

1-5-1
Dice rolls won: 3

Round 4 – UGB Homebrew

Game 1

I win the dice rolls and decide to let my opp dude start to play because throughout the tournament I was very unlucky with the pairings and the outcome of the games where I played first.

2 Gemstone Mine
1 City of Brass
1 Serum Visions
1 Burning Wish
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Silence

Would you keep this hand?

I ask if is score is 1-2 and he says that some guy dropped in favour of real life and in consequence he has to play the last round of the tournament while having 0-3. He lost all of his rounds? Should be easy to win against him! Conclusion is conclusion and sometimes wrong but sometimes true. He goes USea > Thoughtseize picking my Wish. I draw an Infernal Tutor for the round, land a Mine and pass. He plays Bayou, Hymn me and hits Infernal and Visions = lucky guy. I start thinking about going off in the next couple of turns but he has Shaman/Delver clock and I figure it out that it is a better decision to concede at this point and to not give my opponent some extra information about my deck.

posterchild situation why visions is bad ... brainstorm would have hidden the gas.

Boarding action:
-3 Brainstorm
+3 Abrupt Decay, jey
I want to destroy his Delvers and in order to do so I need some mighty cc2 removal although it is hard to support sometimes against Wasteland decks.

do i have to comment on that boarding or the previous ones? No

Game 2

Spread it out, dude.

2 Abrupt Decay
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Serum Visions

Would you keep this hand?
It is awesome, I have starting mana, a win condition and some library manipulation. I go first and play Visions via Mine drawing an amazing Rite of Flame (EtW gets better and better) and scrying some random shitty cards away. (Sorry, dude but you are gonna to be dead soon.) He lands a Delver and I peek at my Decays waiting to deal with this guy. On my turn I use the Petal and a Mine counter to destroy his greedy scientist and pass the turn. He then deploys pressure personalized by another Delver of Secrets and Deathrite Shaman. I pass the turn due to being one mana short from the unprotected kill. In the end I don’t want to lose too many words on this game because I acted like a farmer giving the easy win away.

Dont board decay; dont 2-for-1 yourself with decay+petal for delver. You die to wasteland with this hand. Mull such hands

1-7-1
Dice rolls won: 4

Some impressions:
I hope that you have enjoyed my short report. Special thanks go to my Legacy crew that supplied me with the cards I needed in order to play TES. I really like the one off Visions because Brainstorm tends to lock this deck and Vision does not. I think I will play some more TES in the future because as you could read in my report it is pretty consistent in winning die rolls which is an important factor in Legacy.
I would like to hear some feed-back and maybe if you wish I can provide you with further TES reports from the liver. But till then: Keep on storming!!!

Well, thanks for the advice. Is it possible to learn this deck till GP Paris? I mean I can go off with 1-land Belcher instead. How long does it take to achieve a "decent" level?

Reaching a "decent" level takes about half a year I dare to say, if you are new to the mechanic

['Nilla Pac]

Is it this one?
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-with-turbofog

Yeah, that one. Thanks for digging it up, I just read it again and had a good laugh.

[JPoJohnson]

In regards to the Magma Jet discussion... I think it's because it adds 1 to storm and eventually becomes 2 'damage' via Tendrils of Agony. Not that I agree it should be played, but that's the reason why he stated that I imagine.

And serum visions. Please no. I'm done here, there's no way this guy is serious.


Haters gonna hate because this guy is far too obvious in his trolling.

[anakyn]

I'm absolutely astonished that someone took this report seriously for more than 10 seconds.

Maybe it's just trolling and next-level countertrolling, I don't know... it seems to me it's like being in a Samuel Beckett piece.

[Marcelo65]

Thank you for over 1000 clicks, dudes. I am really proud, especially since it is my first tournament summary.

[Morgenstern]

Since this is my first post on this site (although I am a passionate reader of this page), I would like to introduce myself to the community. I have been a Legacy enthusiast for a couple of years and I would call myself a good player.


At this day, I was picked up by a friend with his new Moto Guzzi V7 (jezzz… what a sound) and he took me to the location. That was a hell of a ride, feeling the vibrating motor under my butt and hugging my friend’s body of steel.

The main reason I played TES is my financial state. I wanted to pilot a budged deck which is strong enough to win games fast so I can pry about the other decks at the tournament. In my honest opinion ANT is much better but unfortunately USeas and other stuff is too expensive for me right now. By the way, look what arrived just in time:

I shuffle and draw Lotus Petal which falls on the table as I am unable to keep the card in my hand thus my opponent knows that I am on combo. Damn it, bro. Throughout the game I don’t see the correct line of play that would ride me to victory. He wins with Emmi per Show and Tell.

Hard to say since I don’t know what my greedy-looking opponent is playing. At this point I decide to take a mulligan into a faster hand.

Damn it, bro, again. I really struggle against Burn strategies because they are so fast and all I can do is trying to win faster which is very hard even if my deck is tuned like some Nascar bolide. Goshhh. He eventually takes home the win after some spells to my face.

On my turn I use the Petal and a Mine counter to destroy his greedy scientist and pass the turn. He then deploys pressure personalized by another Delver of Secrets and Deathrite Shaman. I pass the turn due to being one mana short from the unprotected kill. In the end I don’t want to lose too many words on this game because I acted like a farmer giving the easy win away.

I think I will play some more TES in the future because as you could read in my report it is pretty consistent in winning die rolls which is an important factor in Legacy.
I would like to hear some feed-back and maybe if you wish I can provide you with further TES reports from the liver. But till then: Keep on storming!!!

Ok, I'm bored too but hopefully all of you guys see the (funny) trolling now.

[DarkJester]

Thank you for over 1000 clicks, dudes. I am really proud, especially since it is my first tournament summary.

Do you get paid for your clicks or is it just wasted time?

[Marcelo65]

Do you get paid for your clicks or is it just wasted time?

Excuse me but I just wanted to say thank you to all the people reading my report. My favourite poster Lemnaer did the same in one of his reports and I thought that it is nice to do the same.

[jin]

Although the report isn't of a more skilled player, I think these reports still serve as good reads as it definitely brings up issues with new storm players. I think it is a good post to reference of what common mistakes new storm players make and help other players (mostly new players) learn how to play storm better.

I also feel that the poster is genuine in the post and that it doesn't seem like a "troll" post. Although some of his decisions may be controversial, the overall detail of the post deserve praise. I'm glad this is not a "Ritual, Ritual, Ad Nauseam got there" type of post, which serves no purpose except to show off.

I would suggest to the OP to write a disclaiming detailing your inexperience with the deck, so that new comers to the archetype don't take your decision-making as the correct or proper choice.

Now to address your report: it is useful for beginners because of several reasons.
1) Proper mulligan
2) Proper use of Brainstorm
3) When to go off
4) Sideboarding choices
5) Decision making with storm combo

These are all relevant teaching points to storm apprentices. This post should be used as a reference for what not to do and the correct line of play should be pointed out so that future apprentice and the OP can learn from it. Your idol made some pretty good comments here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post790229). You could take some notes and make the changes. He could have done more to elaborate, but if you have any questions, I think this forum is pretty good at sharing that information.

The whole thing about Magma Jet, I understand. You like scrying, but the benefit of Brainstorm is that it can transform your hand. You can put two cards back and these cards can be any two cards. Meaning if you had a 4 card hand with 2 lands (ie. fetch, mine, Chrome Mox, Brainstorm), this could be a really bad hand. But with Brainstorm, you can change this into a winning hand (ie. fetch, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Ad Nauseam). Of course this is a very extreme example, but this would be impossible with Visions. You'd have to wait 2 more turns, and that matters when you are playing storm.

[JamieW89]

I also feel that the poster is genuine in the post and that it doesn't seem like a "troll" post. Although some of his decisions may be controversial, the overall detail of the post deserve praise.

Really? Is this trollception? :P

"Deck:
3 Brainstorm
1 Serum Visions

This is predominantly a net decked list which plays only 3 Brainstorms (bad with just 3 fetchlands) in favor of one Serum Visions which I think is pretty underrated at the moment. It draws a card and then becomes a Magma Jet. To sum this up, Serum Visions is a mix of a cantrip and a burn spell which can remove hate bears."

"I lead with Chrome Mox > imprint nothing." (and then passes)

etc

Combined with all the stabs at Lemnear (misspelled name, LED pic, taking the piss out of his report style etc) there is no way this is legit.

[jin]

Really? Is this trollception? :P

"Deck:
3 Brainstorm
1 Serum Visions

This is predominantly a net decked list which plays only 3 Brainstorms (bad with just 3 fetchlands) in favor of one Serum Visions which I think is pretty underrated at the moment. It draws a card and then becomes a Magma Jet. To sum this up, Serum Visions is a mix of a cantrip and a burn spell which can remove hate bears."

"I lead with Chrome Mox > imprint nothing." (and then passes)

etc

Combined with all the stabs at Lemnear (misspelled name, LED pic, taking the piss out of his report style etc) there is no way this is legit.

I don't know what trollception means. I'm guessing it's an amalgamation of trolling and inception, but even then, I don't see the meaning behind it. Anyway, I think Lemnear's style is a detailed style and I think there is no problem with copying it. Misspelling his name is a genuine mistake. Not everyone's strength is English and given the uniqueness of his name, I wouldn't be surprised if anyone misspelled it.

His plays are questionable, but I feel it is unnecessary to be hostile to learners of the archetype.