16th at SCG Nashville with Metalworker Utter Domination

[biglongjohns]

Just placed 16th in the Nashville SCG Legacy Open playing MUD. I wrote this report because I enjoy reading them and I also wanted to display that you can be successful in Legacy without playing one of the top decks of the format. Here it goes.

List:
4 Metalworker
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Sundering Titan
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Grim Monolith
4 Trinisphere
1 Staff of Nin
1 Staff of Domination
2 Lightning Greaves
1 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Karn Liberated

3 Cavern of Souls
3 Wasteland
2 Vesuva
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb

Sideboard:
2 All Is Dust
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spine of Ish Sah
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Spellskite
1 Sundering Titan


Round 1: Death & Taxes (1-2)
Game one I was facing an early Batterskull off a Stoneforge and a Revoker on my Metalworker. I was able to get out a Forgemaster and a few other artifacts. He attacks in with the Germ and I Forgemaster for Blightsteel Colossus (leaving in play my chalice on one) and block. In my turn I serve him 10 poison. Games two and three were not very good for me. This is actually a tough matchup for my deck if they get the right forms of disruption. Game two he crushed me. Game three pretty much the same story. Early Batterskull. He then got a pair of Flickerwisps, one of which flicked my Chalice on one to remove the counters. I was able to get a Ratchet Bomb out but he had so much pressure that I had to crack it to destroy his Jitte with counters and unfortunately my Greaves too. His two Wisps knocked me down to 2 life. I draw Wurmcoil and could've scooped there but played it anyways and hoped he'd Plow it so I'd have one more turn to try and draw All is Dust. Sure enough he plows it and I get one more draw after attacks. I draw dead and he kills me. My next draw would've been Staff of Nin. Too little too late.

(0-1)

Round 2: Bant w/ TNN (2-0)
My opponent told me he was a newer player and that I was probably gonna crush him. I felt pretty good about his lack of confidence. Game one I cast Greaves on turn one off a Tomb. Turn two City into Lodestone equip and attack. Despite what my opponent may have thought, Lodestone does actually have text as he attempts to cast GSZ for two, which I told him was actually gonna be for one. He gets Hierarch. I play another Golem and attack with both. He scoops. Game two involved him getting a pretty comfortable board state with SFM, TNN, Goyf, Batterskull and Jitte. At one point I Forged out my Lodestone (leaving only Ratchet Bomb) so I could cast All is Dust as I only had access to seven mana. He had been holding one card for a while and I figured he probably sided out his Dazes. Sure enough he didn't and he Dazed the shit out of my All is Dust. Woof! I was able to resolve Forgemaster and two or three irrelevant artifacts. I also had been ticking up the Ratchet Bomb. He was hellbent after attacks so I fetched Blightsteel in his end step ad ticked Bomb to two. In my turn I blow the bomb leaving him with TNN and Germ token. I attack and he blocks only with TNN and dies to ten poison. Turns out TNN doesn't prevent trample damage…haha.

(1-1)

Round 3: U/B Tezzeret (2-1)
Game one he lands turn two Ensnaring Bridge and I'm kinda taken back. I land an early Golem and in his turn he Casts Toxic Deluge (sweet card!) for three off of two lands and Mox Diamond. I remind him it will cost one more mana and he takes two damage from his Tomb. At one point he lands Tezzeret and I have Forgemaster with no other artifacts. I believe I wasteland his lands and he gets stuck with three cards in hand as I go one the beatdown plan with Forgemaster killing off Tezz and then his life total. Game two he had a Baleful Strix and Tezzeret. He turned Strix into a 5/5 and went on the attack. I drop Karn Liberated and liberate his Strix. He turned another artifact into a 5/5 and killed Karn and continued the beatdown. I lost that game. Game three's ending life totals were him at 0 and me at 6. I remember he had an early Mox Diamond and a sol land. I played Ratchet Bomb and destroyed for 0 and then Wastelanded him. Revoker on Tezzeret was pecking away after that. I eventually got a Greaves and then a Golem putting him to 1. He scoops in his next turn. One more draw would have once again provided the lethal Staff of Nin ping.

(2-1)

Round 4: Jund (2-0 *sort of)
This round I played a nice local from the Nashville area. Game one I draw useless artifacts like multiple Trinispheres and he crushes me. Game two I mull to five due to piss poor draws and then he Junds me. Goyf, Goyf, BBE into Liliana. Yep! We shake hands and I tell him good games and he signs the slip and hands it back to me and told me had was conceding to me. I couldn't believe it. He said he had to leave to tend to some family stuff and that he was giving me the win. I thanked him very much and he wished me the best. Little did he know that I would go on a tear after that and it was solely due to his concession that I was even able to keep playing and winning. Thanks again!

(3-1)

Round 5: BGw Dark Depths (2-0)
My opponent was a nice dude from Switzerland who had come over just for this tournament and a Nashville Predators game. Sweet! He ended up making top 16 as well. We got to playing and I realized he was on an all-in Dark Depths deck. I have recently put together a similar deck so I know most of the tricks. Turn one he lays land and passes. Then in my end step Enlightened Tutors for Sprit of the Labrynth (also a sweet card) but I do not care as it barely affects me here. I go up to 24 off of post lands and he makes Marit Lage in my end step. He swings in for 20 and I go to 4. In his end step I sac my Forgemaster for Staff of Domination. I had an active Metalworker and three artifacts in my hand. I proceeded to go infinite and went to 8 million life. He quickly assessed that he would not be able to beat that and he scoops on spot. Game two was not as strong for him. He had two Sprits out and was attacking me. I can't remember this game too much but I remember he was hellbent at one point and I killed off his whole board except Knight of the Reliquary. I then cast Revoker on his Reliquary and beatdown with Wurmcoil for the win.

(4-1)

Round 6: Deadguy Ale w/ green splash (0-2)
I recognized my opponent from having seen him around the Atlanta area card shops. I had no clue what he was on though. I don't remember the details too much but I saw the following cards: DRS, Thoughtseize, Hymn, Liliana, Dark Confidant, and much later a SFM package. His first three land drops were two fetches for two basic swamps and a Bayou. At one point in the game he had a tapped out board state with an active DRS and a Dark Confidant. I have Forgemaster, Greaves, and one other artifact. After much deliberation I decide to go for it in his end step fetching Blightsteel. He taps DRS for white and Plows my Colossus. I didn't even see it coming! What a blowout. I never suspected STP as I had never seen a white card or Scrubland. I went from having what I would've considered a favorable board state to losing in a few short turns. I was then left with one useless card as he killed me with card advantage and DRS activations. Damn. In hindsight I either could've waited to activate or fetched up Staff of Nin to kill Bob but I like to be the aggressor and sometimes it backfires. Game two I didn't really have much of a shot. He Thoughseized away my first play, Hymned me, Liliana got rolling, Vindicated anything relevant and then Lingering Souls (which I bombed away) and then lost. Maybe I need some Witchbane Orbs in the board. Or perhaps that's too slow? Dodecapods? I'm not sure. He unfortunately went on to miss his win and in, but still placed in the top 16 somewhere. Congrats dude.

(4-2)

Round 7: Affinity (2-1)
Game one he was on the play and played a few Affinity cards but had no creatures so it was a slow start for him. I dropped a Chalice on 0 to blank some of his creatures and attacked in with Wurmcoil until he was at 0. Game two he had an explosive start with an early Inkmoth Nexus into Cranial Plating. I had a sol land and a Revoker but for some reason played something else instead of Revoking his Plating. That came back to haunt me because he hooked up his Inkmoth with the plating and poisoned me for 6. I then revoked it but it was too late as he then cast Arcbound Ravager, sac'd some artifacts, moved the counters to Inkmoth for the kill. Now I know see how much it sucks to die to poison counters haha. Game three I was on the play and my opponent was staring at me while I looked at my opener so I downplayed my incredible hand in my facial expressions. I told him I'd keep and he kept as well. I lay City of Traitors, Grim Monolith, and Trinisphere. Game over! I eventually got Greaves, hooked up Metalworker, activated for a lot of mana, cast Forgemaster, hooked him up, activated him for Blightsteel and then equipped him up for the infect kill.

(5-2)

Round 8: Bant w/ TNN (2-1)
My notes aren't that good for this match but I remember resolving Karn Liberated and exiling some things, and then Steel Hellkite wiped his board of anything else. Game two he landed a Humility and a Jace. He was able to keep matching my 1/1's so I was never able to kill Jace. He didn't have a quick kill here but I looked at the clock and we didn't have much time left so I scooped so we could start the next game. Game three my opponent fetches and cast GSV for 0 for Arbor. I play a sol land and cast Greaves. He lays a land and GSZ for Gaddock Teeg. Wtf? That card might as well have no text at that point cuz I was about to go off. I lay Cavern naming Construct and lay a Metalworker, equip, activate for a lot of mana, cast Forgemaster and other artifacts, equip, fetch for Blightsteel and realize for some strange reason that I mistakenly sided him out. Instead, I grab a Sundering Titan and nuke all three of his lands. I equipped the Titan and started attacking. He was never able to recover from that one-sided Armageddon.

(6-2)

Round 9: Sneak & Show (2-1)
I knew at this point that I was gonna get some amount of cash but I wanted to play my match to see if I could beat my personal record of 20th at one of these tournaments. Game one I had an early Golem that knocked him down to 3 life. He was eventually able to cast Show & Tell and I was ready with my miser's maindeck Spine. He reveals Sneak Attack and with the Spine trigger on the stack activates bringing in Emrakul. I count my permanents at 6 and life at 14 and lose on spot. Games two and three were much better for me. Game two I get a second turn Metalworker off Cavern naming Construct. I powered out a Karn Liberated and exiled cards from his hand. Karn exiled an Emrakul and Griselbrand which took him to 14 loyalty. I then cast Chalice on 3 and play a Revoker on Sneak Attack. He scooped before I could restart the game. Hah. Game three I played kinda sloppy but it was the ninth round so that's expected. I remember landing a turn one Chalice for 1, eventually casting two Revokers naming Sneak Attack and Griselbrand. On my opponent's turn before I was going to attack for lethal he casts brainstorm and I say it's countered, he responds with brainstorm, which was countered as well. Then a ponder followed by Spell Piece, which were both countered as well. Haha. He must have kept an opener with many cantrips and was hoping to draw in to the combo. He was a good sport about it. I still hate his deck and wish it would go away forever.

(7-2) Final Record

Shoutouts: Team Tusk, RHBM, Team Nest, Nedleeds for driving and letting us turn his car into a fart factory, Bill Clinton and Waffle House. Thanks for reading.

[feline]

Nice top 16 finish, now you have to beat that, 15th or better, at the next one 8-). Always nice to accomplish the goal you'd set for yourself with beating 20th!

[kingtk3]

Grats for the finish! I usually don't run the kuldotha version, but I have to tell you that your build looks very solid: how many mulligan you took in the tournament? What do you think are your worst matchups?

[(nameless one)]

If you don't mind, I added this tournament report as a reference on the MUD primer.

Btw, great job on the finish.

[biglongjohns]

Grats for the finish! I usually don't run the kuldotha version, but I have to tell you that your build looks very solid: how many mulligan you took in the tournament? What do you think are your worst matchups?

I didn't actually take note of my mulligans but it wasn't that much. I remember mulling to five against Jund. Deciding whether or not to mulligan is actually extremely important to the success of this deck. I always try to consider how my hand would survive after T1 Wasteland or Thoughtseize.

As far as worst matchups I'd say anything with targeted discard can be rough. I lost to both Jund and Deadguy due to them stripping my hand. It's very draw dependent. If they don't treat you like a combo deck then you can go off like a combo deck. Also, if I'm facing Delver decks and they cast T1 Delver on the play and flip it, sometimes that can ride them all the way to victory. That's mainly what the Ratchet Bombs are for. I feel very good about my matchups against anything that has been placing top 8 in Star City lately as most decks suffer under Chalice at 1. One main problem with MUD is that it will just lose to itself sometimes. You have very little library manipulation so sometimes your top deck will provide endless lands when you need gas, or multiple Trinispheres after your opponent has plenty of mana.

[Jon]

Good job bro, I saw your place and was excited! Time to crush SCG ATL by getting T8. Are you gonna be on MUD then aswell?

[biglongjohns]

Good job bro, I saw your place and was excited! Time to crush SCG ATL by getting T8. Are you gonna be on MUD then aswell?

Thanks dude. It's very possible but I could always call an audible...

[nedleeds]

#TEAMTUSK #ZE_KEY_IS_ZE_METALVERKER #TOMAS #CONSTANTMISTSWITHBUYBACK #BILLCLINTON

[JACO]

Congrats on the finish. I had a couple of quick questions regarding the decklist for you:
1) Why only 2 Vesuva? I thought the point of playing that manabase was to have the 4 Vesuva, 4 Cloudpost, 4 Glimmerpost loots at all times to make copious amounts of mana.
2) One card that Legacy artifact players have had success with in the past was Cursed Totem to deal with Maverick, D&T, etc. out of the sideboard; did you consider this and discard it as not good enough, or what? Your 2 losses were to those type of decks, so it may have been useful or pulled its weight; no?

[Barsoom]

I play a 2x of Bottled Cloister in the sideboard against Jund/discard decks, usually they come in replacing the 2x of Staff of Nin i play main; it's a really good card.

[nedleeds]

As a fellow Tusk and member of Tusk Elite Council I can maybe answer a #2. Cursed Totem is a beating, but I think Revoker is the substitute here. Metalworker, KFM are almost unbeatable once activated and the Cursed Scrotum cuts those off. The plays I fear most are SFM into Skull when I'm on the draw and Aether Vial go on the draw. Revoker deals with those, and Rachet Bomb can sort of. We also really talked about Triskelion, but Andrew ended up with Titan #2.

Triniball, Chalice, Ratchet Bomb and smartly played Revokers can all hose elves. Chalice and 3Ball also cross cut vs. Reanimator.

The night before we talked about gravehate and just said fuck it, and Andrew used the slots on other bombs. Dredge is very winnable game one with 3ball, KFM and Chalice. Putting a one of gravehate piece like a Crypt that's KFMable seemed silly when you can just get a Hellkite or a BSC and kill a dredge player dead.

re: #1 I hate the posty manabase but it makes the deck less reliant on the first land drop. It think if you aren't playing Crucibles anywhere they are a nice hedge against getting wasted out. So does playing 24 lands, which is of course a ton for a non Brainstorm deck to stomach. There are a ton of options from vein, to DSC, to man lands. I think when building a MUD mana base in legacy the pull is between explosive turn 1, and having a better turn 2 or 3. Crucible or not also plays into it. Mostly with respect to wasteland. If I'm running 4 wastes in MUD I want Crucible because sometimes it's a free win.

[biglongjohns]

I'm aware that the two Vesuva is pretty goofy. One of the main problems I've been having with the Post land base is multiple Vesuvas in my openers. I used to play MUD without the Post lands and it always felt like one Wasteland blew me out. The Post lands are more resilient to Wasteland as you can rebuild your mana much quicker. As far as the numbers go, I really wanted to play some amount of Caverns because I don't wanna give my blue playing opponents the option to counter my early Metalworker or whatever threat I need to power out. I needed to cut a few lands to fit them; 2 Vesuva and 1 Wasteland seemed like the most reasonable option. Never once did I wish I had another Vesuva all day. T1 sol land Greaves into T2 Cavern on Construct into Metalworker, however, happened once against Bant and once against Sneak & Show and it was a blowout.

[kc.hogan]

Another SSD comes to light! Good job bro!

[nedleeds]

We theorycrafted a number of scenarios on the Tuskboards. We laid out the various multivariate hypergeometric distributions and ran the scenarios thousands of times, we determined 2 Vesuva was optimal given the decks position in the meta and the number of available flexslots.

[biglongjohns]

We theorycrafted a number of scenarios on the Tuskboards. We laid out the various multivariate hypergeometric distributions and ran the scenarios thousands of times, we determined 2 Vesuva was optimal given the decks position in the meta and the number of available flexslots.

Precisely! 2 Vesuva is where we want to be. Hahaha.

[(nameless one)]

I ran 3 which is complimented by Mishra's Factory (in place of your Caverns) and Mox Diamond.

Mox Diamond is to fix early useless Vesuvas. While Vesuvas can be Factory 5-8 when needed.

I do agree with permission on your robots but my rational was 3ball can protect them.

[Exuberance]

I think I played against you in the Legacy challenge; if so, then I was the guy on RUG Delver and you absolutely crushed me. I didn't even know what was going on when you played a Glimmerpost and a Wasteland; I had no idea MUD played posts. Either way, congrats on top 16!

[biglongjohns]

I think I played against you in the Legacy challenge; if so, then I was the guy on RUG Delver and you absolutely crushed me. I didn't even know what was going on when you played a Glimmerpost and a Wasteland; I had no idea MUD played posts. Either way, congrats on top 16!

Thanks man. Being that I only played against one RUG player in the challenge, you must be the guy who won the Legacy Open. Congrats on that!

[Megadeus]

Ze metalvorker is too strong

[L10]

Congrats on the finish! Are there any changes that you would make moving forward? What do you think are some of the weaker aspects of your deck? Moving the Vesuva count to two seems like a great move. It also seems Karn did a lot of work. Would you consider adding a second copy?