Congrats on the Classic win. Was a little surprised to see you on DnT for the main event, but after taking a look at the top 32 it definitely seems like it was the right call.Originally Posted by Svyelunite
SCG Atlanta Legacy Classic review:
Round 1 - Bye, So lucky...
Round 2 - R/B Reanimator, Jordon Robbins - I've played against Jordon a number of times and he's always been on Delver. He fooled me good this time however. I kept a Hierarch heavy hand and despite his turn 1 Chancelor reveal into hand disruption, I was able to get a pair of Hierarchs out and top deck a blighted agent to steal the game before the resurrected Chancellor could kill me. Game 2 I had my opponent empty handed and dead on board to Noble Hierarch attack + pumps if he misses a reanimate effect, but he found it and Sire of Insanity killed me. Game 3 I mulligan into a soft hand and get run over. Rough beats.
SB: in 2x Surgical, Cage, Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, Force; Out - GSZ, Corruptor, Wasteland, Crop Rot, 2x Vines
Round 3 - Burn, Mike Styer - Game 1 I steal through an Eidolon because my opponent doesn't have a bolt effect when I combo off on an Inkmoth (leaving myself at 2). Game 2 I get murdered by T1 Grim Lavaman, T2 Eidolon, T3 Lava Spike + Eidolon... Game 3 I have the Blue blast for his Grim Lavamancer and he dies to a quick double pump kill over 2 turns
SB: in Force, Pierce, Fluster, Blue Blast, Safekeeper, Blossoming Defense; Out - Corruptor, Wasteland, 2x G.Probe, 2x Daze
Round 4 - R/B Reanimator, Braden Crocco - I knew what my opponent was on this time around because he played my friend Drake the round before. Game 1 he has an opener of Chancellor into a Thoughtseize. I lose my only counterspell and he reanimates an Elesh Norn on turn 2. He never attacks with it unless I'm tapped out, correctly playing around the Berserk I drew. I die. Game 2 and 3 were much different affairs where I had tons of permission and the only really interesting moment is this: He has 2 lands and a Lotus Petal and a stocked GY. I have 2 Trops and nothing else on board. I draw BS and cast it to a hand of Glistener Elf, Hierarch, 2xDaze, Become Immense, W. Heath, and Foothills. I have to put 2 of them back and decide I'm safest hanging onto the two Dazes, Elf, Heath and Become Immense. I play my Heath and Elf and have BI and 2xDaze in hand. I can crack the fetch if I need to to reset the Hierarch or I can draw it. My opponent rips an Animate Dead and I double Daze it. I decide I like the math on cracking a fetch for a possible kill this turn (or more counterspells) over the sure 2 turn kill in Hierarch + Pump. I draw force and attack for 1. I decide not to pump because it means a TD Berserk isn't lethal. He draws and passes. I draw Git Probe, attack for 1 and pass (knowing he's dead with the Force + Pump unless his draws are exactly Thoughtseize + Reanimate) he draws, passes and dies. Drake thinks my line was incorrect but I'm pretty sure mathematically I was better off looking for my possible other draws of 2x Ponder, 1 BS, 2x G.Probe, 4x Invigorate, 2xBerserk, Vines or just a redraw at Hierach. If anyone thinks otherwise please gimme your reasoning because I'm not positive.
SB: in 2x Surgical, Cage, Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, Force; Out - GSZ, Corruptor, Wasteland, Crop Rot, 2x Vines
Round 5 - Temur Delver, Nocholas Moss - G1 I mull to 4 and die. G2 I have a very fast hand with multiple counterspells and blossoming defense to protect my Blighted Agent. G3 I keep a slightly slow hand with fetch, ponder, Hierarch, Force, Spell Pierce, Vines, Blossom. My opponent opens on Trop into Delver. I rip a second Hierarch, fetch and cast my first one. My opponent's delver didn't flip (for 3 turns). He opponent draws, plays a fetch attacks for 1 and passes. I draw inkmoth, cast second Hierarch and pass to protect from Wasteland. My opponent draws, makes Mongoose attacks and passes. I draw blighted Agent, cast it and pass. My opponent draws, attacks for 2 and casts a 2/3 Goyf. I draw, ponder, seeing Become Immense, Invigorate, and land. Keep draw Invigorate, attack with Agent for 3 and pass back. Opponent draws, attacks for 4, and casts Rough//Tumble with 2 mana available. I force, he forces back, I kick vines to protect Blighted Agent and let the hierarchs and goose/delver die. I untap draw Become Immense and go for it + Invigorate. My opponent dies. Got super lucky his draws were basically all land.
SB: in Pierce, Fluster, Blue Blast, Safekeeper, Blossoming Defense, 2x Submerge, Teferi's Response; Out - Corruptor, Wasteland, 2x Force, Berserk, Glistener Elf, 2x Git Probe
Round 6 - Burn, Anthony Avotillo - G1 I saw Caleb Scherer playing Anthony earlier and knew he was on burn. I mulligan into a Glistener Elf and Trop, Fetch hand with Crop Rot, Invigorate, and Ponder. I scry Inkmoth to the top. I play Trop into Elf. My opponent plays Goblin Guide, I get my Inkmoth and take 2. I draw Daze, attack for 1, play inkmoth and pass. Anthony casts Eidolon and I daze. I draw Vines, play my land and attack for 1. Anthony attempts to Searing Blood my Elf with one land up. I crop rot the Inkmoth into pendlehaven to save it and kill my opponent with the invig + vines on the following turn. G2 is almost exactly the same game except I have a hierach into agent hand that again crop rot saves from a Searing Blood. 3 + 7 from an invigorate the following turn is game.
SB: in Force, Pierce, Fluster, Blue Blast, Safekeeper, Blossoming Defense; Out - Corruptor, Wasteland, 2x G.Probe, 2x Daze
Round 7 - Jund Lands, Zack Dalton - G1 I get killed by my slow hand and my opponent T3 naturally Marit Lage (thanks to Riftstone Portal and Crop Rotation). G2 I keep a pump, hierarch, ponder hand with no infectors. I attack him to like 12 before getting an infect guy. I get him to 8 poison with a pump, and then on a lethal attack, he Rotates into a Glacial Chasm. He has a Molten Vortex on the board but I've Surgical'd his Loams and have a Safekeeper so he naturally draws for 3 turns before his Chasm Expires and I can finish him with the Safekeeper + Hierarch combo. Side note: Safekeeper is so good is absurd. G3 my opponent has a better opening, but I clutch Blue Blast his Molten Vortex and connect with blighted +2x Hierarch agent for 3. Next turn I suspect my opponent has a Crop Rotation, and I only have 2 lands. He has been using Loam to get me with repeat wasteland. I decide I need him to mess up so I use my fetch to get a Tropical Island and invigorate + Safekeeper sac Inkmoth to give the guy Shroud for a lethal hit. He rotates into Chasm and Wastelands my Trop eot. I hit him with the Teferi's Response and draw into Force + WastelandHe draws naturally looking for a Vortex I think. He whiffs and I waste his chasm, pump again, and sac my last land to shroud up for the win.
SB: in 2x Surgical, Blue Blast, Pithing Needle, Safekeeper, Blossoming Defense, Teferi's Response; Out - 2x Force (1 on Draw), 3x Daze (2 on Play), Corruptor, 2x Git Probe
Round 8 - ID with Evan Nyquist on Turbo Depths. This was a slightly risky decision because if the pair down player plays and wins his match one of us could have possibly been pushed out of the Top 8. I was ok with that risk because I don't like my chances against Depths. As it turned out, the pair down played and lost so it didn't matter. I am seeded 7th.
Quarterfinals - ANT, Caleb Scherer - I've wanted to get to play Caleb for like 2 years. Ever since we both top 8'd a previous Atlanta Classic but I died before we could meet. G1 Caleb keeps a slower hand, G Probes, sees my hand of pumps, elf, brainstorm, lands and daze. Not great, but not something I can throw back. I draw something irrelevant and cast my elf. Caleb plays a fetch and passes. I draw, play a land, decide not to brainstorm because I'd have hit exactly Berserk to kill and don't like the odds. I attack for 1 and pass back. He draws, plays a 3rd land and tanks. He cracks his fetch and casts Cabal Ritual without Thresh. I brainstorm, finding 2x Vines and Berserk. I put back lands and keep all the pump spells plus Daze. I daze and he pays. With his 3 mana he Infernal tutors for a second Duress, then Duress's me. He sees all the pump and knows he's dead no matter what he takes. On to game 2. G2 I have a good hand with Elf, Agent, Force, BS, Flusterstorm and 2x Lands. Caleb plays a land and Ponders, he takes the second card down and puts the top card second. I figure the 3rd card is junk and its getting shuffled away. I open on my elf, drawing a 3rd land. Caleb untaps, draws, fetches and ponders again. This one sucks and he shuffles. Then he Fatal Pushes my Elf. I untap draw a second Blighted Agent and cast it. Caleb untaps, draws, and passes back. I draw Invigorate. Attack for 1, play a third land and pass back. Caleb untaps, Brainstorms, plays a fetch, and casts Duress. I Force the Duress so he won't know I've drawn the Invigorate. I untap and draw a dud. I Brainstorm and find a Become Immense, hierarch, and land. I put the land Hierarch back and Invigorate + Become Immense for the kill. Caleb has another Push but I flusterstorm it and he dies.
SB: in Force, Fluster, Pierce; Out - GSZ, Corruptor, Wasteland
Semifinals - R/G Lands, Andrew Hampton - In the Quarterfinals one player (who got eliminated) said no to a split. In the top 4 we ask again and everyone wants to split. Once it is confirmed Andrew concedes as he has a 2 hour drive home and needs to get back to his 12 week old puppies that are tearing his house apart lol.
Finals - Sultai Death's Shadow, Justin Parnell - G1, I have a slow hand with Inkmoth and a Trop, 3x Invigorate, Ponder, and Daze. Justin opens on a Watery Grave into DRS. I'm on the draw and draw Blighted Agent. I cast ponder Turn 1 and find a Hierarch, Vines, and a Fetch. I decide to take the fetch. Justin ponders, fetches, and casts Delver. I draw the Hierarch. Play Blighted Agent and it gets Forced. Justin flips revealing a Daze and attacks for 3. He misses a land drop passes back with mana up. I assume he has a Death's Shadow and/or permission and some removal. I draw vines and play my Hierarch. I attack and trigger Hierarch. Dustin responds with Dismember. I invigorate, he dazes, I invigorate 2 more times and Dustin takes 6. EOT I get hit by DRS. Delver crashes in again and I take another 3. I untap, animate Inkmoth and attack for 2, Dustin messes up the math or gets nervous and jumps on a second Dismember. I vines with Kicker and win. It was definitely wrong to try to kill my Inkmoth in that position and he immediately recognized it, but as he said after the match, he wasn't going to be the kind of guy to try and take it back in the Finals. Good guy. G2, I don't actually remember the specifics of this game super well. I recall an early Delver that refused to flip along with a DRS and a Gurmag and a Death's Shadow, but it seemed like he didn't have any removal or permission and I basically just killed him at my leisure. Anticlimactic but a wins a win.
SB: in Flusterstorm, Pierce, Blossoming Defense, Safekeeper, 2x Submerge; Out - Force, 2x Daze, Corruptor, 2x Git Probe.
Great event and some great Magic. Legacy is awesome. If you read all this, thanks and feel free to comment or critique. I'm sorry I don't always have the best details on my matches. I'm kind of "Tom Ross"ish in that I play by gut instinct a lot and forget the specifics. Get down with the Sickness!
Congratulations Syvelunite! Id rather see our deck here instead of being a DTB and scouted for hate all the time.
Do you keep all Hierarchs when battling super fast combos? That for me was the easiest cut (I only play 3 main), as im expecting mass hate from them next way around.. Well, if somehow they do sculpt their hand too and play defensive, It'll somehow be on our favor. But then again any MASS REMOVAL vs us is a no no!
keep it up for the Infectors!
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Commission Status: FULL!!! Commission Line to open: 2019
Against something like Reanimator, Storm or Sneaky Show I usually do because I want to have the extra mana to be able to cast ponders and threats on my turn while still holding mana for Pierce and Flusterstorm and BS. I know K. Return and Pyroclasm are tough, but I think we just need the mana too badly. I'm actually more likely to cut Inkmoth in those matchups because of how much it restricts mana.
One trick I've started using against those decks is not casting Hierarch T1 when I'm on the draw. It feels so much safer to hold up the mana T1 and use my second land on T2 to cast Hierarch/Elf. This sometimes makes me cast my BS on their endstep just to be more mana efficient, but I think its a reasonable trade for the safety from combo.
Congrats Svyelunite!
Very good work with the deck (as always).
BR Reanimator: imho is 50:50 +/- but he have some strong top deck (as your g2 in the first game). I agree with you for not landing a creature in turn 1 if we're on the draw. Maybe if I have no other protection or cantrip, and just Daze in hand, I cast my creature. Sometimes cast a creature on t1 is needed to unlock Chancellor's dazing effect.
BURN: you have a great sideboard plan vs Burn, but It's not simply. In the game 3 you've report, maybe no one can survive!
The rest of the report was great!
Very yrev good work, mate!
I've noticed that you side out Corrupter in the 100% of the matchup..
You don't side out Green Sun Zenith, obv, just in the matchup where you need to tutor Sylvan Safekeeper.
Can we talk about this choice please?
To start: thanks for the Safekeeper and Teferi's Response ideas..that are great inclusion in this meta. I have try this 2 cards and are very good. Bloosoming Defense are good too, because of massive presence of Red decks.
After this: Is Viridian Corruptor the right choice for the main deck?
I've no doubt about the needed of Corruptor into our 75, I play one of in sideboard with a Safekeeper and 1 Green Sun Zenith. Maybe this is a meta dependent choose, because if you facing many Chalice decks is ok...
In you opinion is Viridian Corruptor a right insert?
Thank you for sharing your report!
____
Now I want to report my little thoughts.
For now, after reading the Poxy's post, I have try with 2 Become Immense and 2 Crop Rotation.
Before of this I play with 1 Green Sun Zenith in main but this, many times, result me good only vs Chalice deck...and, anyway, too slow.
Now i try to win the g1 in the too fast way as possible, as a pure combo.
With the double Crop Rotation i can: put into play Nexus with many safety, and give a lot of food for Become immense (in double copy) sacrify a land for a fetch and fetching this last one (total 4 cards into greave).
I think if you play GSZ you have to have both Corruptor and Safekeeper in the 75. I think one of them should be main deck. I think for this event, I chose the wrong one. In general, I find its easier to fight removal G1 and increase protection G2+G3 than it is to beat Chalice or Jitte G1. Basically, Corruptor gives you an out to an otherwise unwinnable situation, where Safekeeper is just extra of what you already have in a lot of ways.
All that said, if you have a meta with lots of Burn, Delver, and Czech Pile/BUG Control stuff, def MD the Safekeeper instead.
I agree with you.
Is too many simple to beat the removal spells in g1 then beat Chalice: we have counters and other cards who can help us.
Obv if we want 1 of this 2 (Viridian or Safekeeper) we need GSZ in main: this require two slots but save space into sideboard. I need to test this setup, thanks.
Another question about the 2nd Ponder: for now i test 1 Ponder + 1 Sylvan Library.
For now Silvan is very good because there are no many removal for enchantments in the opponent's 75.
The card, as you know, generate an incredible advantage if activated...
Why you don't play her?
Hey Zachary,
Congratz on the win. You didn't face a lot of Grixis Delver that day, which did help you to win the classic I suppose?
I have a question: do you really think Turbo Depths is that bad of a matchup? I never lost a match to them and Games 2 + 3 are getting a lot easier with access to Karakas (or Submerge or StP). The only annoying thing is, when they make a 20/20 on turn two-ish. Then again, Inkmoth slows that one down and we can potentially just kill them with Blighted Agent.
Best
Drinkme
Infect | Elves
Congrats on the fine result. I miss playing Infect. You call a potential turn 2 kill slow? ;-)
Well I knew what he was on and knew it had Wasteland, so there was no way on the Draw that I was leading on Inky lol. I see what you mean though
Sylvan Library is very powerful, but I think more of our matchups are likely to be aggressive and pressure either our Life total or our ability to keep mana free nowadays. For that reason I don't like spending 2 mana and a turn casting a slower draw spell. It was so much different with Miracles around.
I've said before that I think the second ponder is really strong, and I actually would like go to 3 or 4 (likely in the place of G.Probe) but I can't give up the velocity. The information is great, fueling delve is great, and occasionally building storm for an aggro-fluster is useful.
Finally, I like having 21-22 blue cards for Force. Every card you cut for green spells makes Forcing critical spells that much harder. Even if you have one, sometimes its Blighted Agent and even though we don't just die to Blood Moon, we have no pressure as a result. Ponder slightly helps keep the count up.
Avoiding tons of Delver in general was definitely a big bonus, no doubt. That said, I also didn't get paired against the myriad of Elves and DnT players I saw all around me which would have made it even easier... Maybe that's where all the Delver went
I don't know for certain if Depths is a good or bad matchup, but its a potentially fast combo kill with hand disruption. I would assume its about as 50/50 as Storm feels and I was pretty confident my chances were just as good taking the draw. Also, Evan is a friend and I'd hate to have knocked him out if I didn't absolutely have to. Maybe Karma is a real thing, maybe it isn't. Doesn't hurt to hedge
Yeah, screw these stupid Elves playersAvoiding tons of Delver in general was definitely a big bonus, no doubt. That said, I also didn't get paired against the myriad of Elves and DnT players I saw all around me which would have made it even easier... Maybe that's where all the Delver went
I don't know for certain if Depths is a good or bad matchup, but its a potentially fast combo kill with hand disruption. I would assume its about as 50/50 as Storm feels and I was pretty confident my chances were just as good taking the draw. Also, Evan is a friend and I'd hate to have knocked him out if I didn't absolutely have to. Maybe Karma is a real thing, maybe it isn't. Doesn't hurt to hedge
Now I can see what you mean - 50/50 sounds pretty reasonable. Your statement just sounded like you thought of Depths as a horrible matchup.
Infect | Elves
Hi guys,
So I had another good go last weekend with infect as I've been having a lot lately. I went first in a 36 player event on the same day Zachary won the SCG Classic, so it was a fine poisonous evening. This is my first tournament report even though I've been playing infect for a while now but I've only recently joined The Source. Hope to post more in the future though I should start taking better notes then I guess. My most notable performance was in the Legacy European Championship this year (the eternal weekend), where I just missed top 16 going 7-2 and winning the trial the following day providing me with 2 byes for the 2018 championship. I'll definitely be playing infect there as always, so hope to see some of you there!
Anyway, enough introductions, on to the report. I basically rolled from one bad matchup to the other so I was pretty happy at the end of the day. Be sure to ask any questions wherever you want. I didn't make any notes during the tournament so I don't remember the earlier matches pretty well anymore. Link to the event: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=16337&f=LE
Round 1, win - awkward....
I don't even remember the matchup. I swear I don't do drugs. But I did win, yay!
Round 2, loss - 4c Czech Pile
Man, talk about a bad matchup. I lose the die roll so I start G1 vs an early deathrite. I follow with a noble hierarch which he fatal pushes in his turn with a baleful strix follow up. I watch my hand with a glistener elf and a nexus and die a little on the inside. He pretty much kills every creature I play while draining me with DRS. G2 I start with a noble but then he pitches away my blighted agent with a thoughtseize. I ponder into nothing and draw a land after shuffling. He plays another thoughtseize and takes away a pump with a DRS follow up. I draw probe and with I see a lightning bolt, an abrupt decay and a toxic deluge. I try to do something but It's pretty much useless.
Round 3, win - UR Delver
I win the die roll and get a T1 glistener elf. I daze his lightning bolt and manage to keep the elf alive while he doesn't find any threats. G2 he starts with a delver and i keep a slow hand but a responsive one. I start with a noble turn one, which he dazes. Delver doesn't flip and crashes in for 1. I play a nexus and pass. Delver refuses to flip again and I start counting how many spells he has at max since I know he hasn't drawn any instants or sorceries. I attack for 1 with my nexus. His delver again doesn't flip and doing the match, I know he can only play 2 responsive spells at max, while I have 3 so I'm good to go. I attack, no block from him, I invigorate, he bolts, I invigorate again, he bolts again, I counter the bolt.
Round 4, draw - Lands
Another horrible matchup. Our games were pretty weird. G1 lasted forever. Eventually we have a board state where I have him at 9 infect and he has glacial chasm which he keeps getting back. The game end in a pretty cool way where I have and elf and some lands and he assumes he is perfectly safe. He makes a marit lage token at the end of my turn and sacrifices chasm to be able to attack. I crop rotation for a nexus, blocking the token and getting the last infect in at my turn. G1 lasted so long we went in time in G2. I get some early infect damage in and he gets chasm again. I can't do anything and he takes the damage for a while to the point where he is at one life. He has to sac the land and I'm at 3 life. I try to catch him of guard attacking with my noble hierarch but he kept a punishing fire. I die in turn 3 of time because of punishing fire.
Round 5, win - Death and taxes
A good matchup! Finally! G1 i get some early damage in with a T1 glistener elf but he finds jitte. Luckily I kept my Green sun's zenith and get a viridian corruptor to solve that pesty stick. I love the corruptor main. G2 he finds jitte again but I nature's claim it while poking with a nexus. Easy wins overall.
Round 6, win - Shardless BUG
G1 I have the nuts. He starts with a land and passes, I have both a noble hierarch and a glistener elf in hand and while I normally like to play the noble first, my hand wants me to play the elf first. He plays a strix in his turn and i follow up with land + noble hierarch, attack + invigorate + berserk and trample 11 infect damage through. G2 He pretty much destroys me. I see a removal spell everytime I play a creature and he kills me easy. G3 is a nice back and forth but I don't remember the details very well. Lots of interaction and I win the turn before he would kill me.
Get into top 8 as 7th with 4-1-1.
Quarter finals - Eldrazi aggro
G1 he plays a T1 chalice and I have no counter for it. I resolve an agent and have a inkmoth but he finds both his one offs removal spells. Game over. G2 I get to stick an agent and he can't get rid of it. I win the race. G3 ends pretty sweet where I resolve a blighted agent and get a sylvan library on the board. He has a thought-knot seer and a reality smasher so I have to find a pump fast. He puts me to 6 and I can chump block one so I've got 2 turns. I find 2 vines and a land. I have him at 5 so I opt not to pump and put him at 6. He plays jitte and tries to equip it on TKS but I vines it. I've never likes blossoming defense over vines and this is one of the many reasons why. I finish in my turn with a kicked vines.
Semi finals - free win
A free win in the semi finals?! Yeah, I know. What the hell? The opponent I was supposed to play dropped. Weird, but I'm not complaining. I've had enough bad matchups to feel like it's good karma.
Finals - UR Delver
I played the same player I've played in round 3 in the finals. Funny but I have to face delver again so I'm curious about the game. G1 is the typical delver game. He keeps all my threats in check while attacking me with his delver. I lose hard. G2 is a weird game. My opponent plays Harsh Mentor, a new card from kaladesh. It's pretty good since my nexus activations start to hurt. The key moment in the match is when I searched for sylvan safekeeper with my zenith after my opponent played a grim lavamancer. I protect my nexus with it but I have to use all my lands. He's at 9 infect, I'm at 3 life and with only one land left apart from my nexus he tries to shoot my safekeeper with the lavamancer in his turn and I have to choose between letting my safekeeper die and keeping my land to animate nexus or saccing the land to save the safekeeper. He has only 1 card in the grave and 1 in hand. I think about it for a while but I opt to sac the land to protect the safekeeper since I believe the odds are greater of me drawing a land and being able to save my nexus than him not having a spell or land in hand to fuel his lavamancer. I draw a land for the turn and get the last infect in. Phew! G3 He plays delver, I play noble which gets dazed. His delver flips and he passes after attacking. I play an agent and counter his bolt with FOW. He attack and passes. I probe see the coast is all clear. Invigorate + berserk FTW!
Damn, I love this deck so much. I always feel like every single match is different and super intense. Let me know what you think and feel free to comment or ask questions. It's my first tournament report so any advice for future posts is always welcome! Cya!
Still on a winning note last night, though my streak of making the Top8 ended via an inferior tiebreak, as 5-6 players on the bottom half finished with an identical 3-1-1 card. Really had a feeling coming in to game 3, luck wasnt on my side that day as ive played the whole tourney losing all die rolls : ). Somethings you cant control : ).
9th place on D4D Legacy Majors
Matchups were:
1 - 0 (2-0) Dark Maverick
1 - 1 (1-2) Grixis Pyromancer
2 - 1 (2-1) DnT
3 - 1 (2-0) UGInfect (3x stps had really been a huge advantage here!
3-1-1 (draw) MUD
We did what we need to do. The tiebreak did it's computation. Something's we can't control : ). Awesome finish still!
Another awesome run last night (8-9-2017), posting a 3-1 record.
My matchups were:
1 - 0 (2-0) Grixis Pyromancer; I inserted in Hydroblast/Rule of Law replacing 2 Surgicals... as im not expecting GY.decs. Never drew them, but multiple flusterstorms did its job both games.
1 - 1 (0-2) UB Deathshadow; Wrong scouting paid dearly, expecting opp to be on Storm. A crit light keep vs tons of Push and Dismembers was too much for our infectors.
2 - 1 (2-0) UGInfect; Again, 3 STPs in my helpers and Flusterstorms made the huge difference.
3 - 1 (2-0) Miracles (orim's chant) I countered all relevant cantrips leaving him blind topdecking most of times.
Hope I'll continue this streak on a positive note come saturday Legacy majors.
Last edited by poxy14; 08-08-2017 at 09:46 PM.
Poxy14 ALTERED CARDS:
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Commission Status: FULL!!! Commission Line to open: 2019
1st place last night Ongkeco Hobby Shop Legacy Majors (20+man) with UGW Infect
decklist same as before:
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=16508&d=302080&f=LE
Matchups were:
1 - 0 Round 1 (2-0 MUD) = Just went on countering early taxes, and my croprot to wasteland after probing made a huge difference delaying TKS. Invis are just huge bombs!
2 - 0 Round 2 (2-1 GrixisDelver) = Facing our toughest matchup... the STP built proved its worth by eliminating early delvers that serves as bolts too vs our valued inkys. The 2 croprot built is just annoying too for any wasteland deck. REBs are basically not much of a use here since our crit protection comes in color green.
3 - 0 Round 3 (2-0 BGDepths) = Again it's an STP story. Ive managed to stop early combo via a lone wasteland and several countered croprots, but this deck only needs that single turn... they can comeback fast, and with triple STP, we're somehow safe. They carry sylvan safekeeper too and I did counter 1 of them when I dont have any of my STPs yet but have the croprot/wasteland removal package.
3 - 1 Round 4 (1-2 declared vs BGDepths) = I was the only unbeaten deck coming in to round 4 and paired to a teammate (with a 2-0-1 card) I gave the match to him securing him too of a TOP8 slot, once we both draw our final matches.
3-1-1 Round 5 (ID vs Grixisdelver) time to grab a quickie dinner : ) (6th seed after 5rounds Swiss)
Quarterfinals = This time its was the other way around! Got paired with the BGDepth teammate of mine (R4), and he gave the match to me! It really was a nice story of sharing haha!, and we both discussed we gonna share what ever we both get in the prize pool. He was so thankful to me making room for him to have a piece of the cake in that 8 slices. The story now is, can I get more for both.....
Semis = (2-1) Chaos Elves; Game 1 my bluff paid well again... I landed Glistener, he casted quirion ranger.... On my turn before I attack, I croprot'd to pendelhaven... intentionally showing no combat tricks but making sure i'll kill the quirion via pendel'd glistener if he decides to block. I attacked. He declares no blockers. This time I pumped via Pendelhaven and threw in 2 Invi kabooooms! Game 2 he got me via jitte (chaos elves doesnt have NO's inside but atleast 2 maindecked jittes).. Game 3, I had a 2nd turn blighted vs a late DRS, which he cant activate the turn I can attack and will defintely miss black mana... I croprot to fetch, then fetch to another land... with an Invigorate and Bimmense on hand, HOMERUN baby! Opponent hand shows an abrupt decay.
FINALS (2-0) UWR Stoneblade
I was up for a very tough challenge! I was able to scout his deck in one of his earliest matches that shows a maindecked bloodmoon/magus of the moon and ran lots of basics. The removal suit of RW is too overwhelming, then how bout 3-4 snapcasters? Seems fun right!
game1 - I felt he got greedy by fetching a Tundra, and he paid for it... I was able to establish quickly with 2 Nobles, and did resolve a croprot to wasteland, getting his Tundra, leaving him short for recurring removals via Snaps.. I managed to slip a Sylvan Library and the card advantage vs a slow deck is HUGE!
game2 - Mulled to 5, but shows a crit heavy hand in glistener/blighted/inky/noble/fetch.... my scry shows brainstorm. Somehow a perfect hand for a 5 card hand haha! My turn 1 glistener got stpd, but managed to sculpt my hand with crit protection. I pressured him with a Blighted on it's 2nd attack going in for 4 poison, combat stage where I fired off another brainstorm drawing an Invi to possible 8 poisons.... He STP'd, I Bdefense.... he casted snapcaster, I let it resolve, with him getting STP, that's where I fow'ed (I did resolve Snap, so he can exile another copy of STP)... He got 8 poisons on this turn and drew blank afterwards, awarding me the handshake : )
Our share of the cake got way upgraded as we took home packs from my teammate's 6th place finish (got a Nicol Bolas God Pharoah! crazy night!) and our top prize Savannah, which I bought half from my teammate. It was an awesome win for both of us!
And us too Infectors!
(prior to the tourney, I was about to sneak in a hydroblast for the Bdefense in my sides, and Dissenter's Deliverance for my 2nd Naturalize... Changed my mind and stick to my original built! Hydroblast will really be huge vs moon effects, same way I have 2 anti-enchantments, that's why I dropped Deliverance last minute.. But then again REBS/Pyroblasts in this Grixis/UR becoming world will have an easy time picking vs our blue spells... Can they counter green will be the question : )
Have fun infecting!
Edited, inserting list link
Poxy14 ALTERED CARDS:
https://www.facebook.com/earlgrant.deleon
Commission Status: FULL!!! Commission Line to open: 2019
Hi everyone, first post here for me, I play infect singe nearly 2 years. I recently discover I play a list really similar Zac 's one.
I start to play Safekeeper MD instead of corruptor, it's maybe not good but go to 3 mana with corruptor is a hard and he's rarely usefull. Go to 4 mana to tuto him with Zenith is the end of the world.
In your side Zac , you don't play Karakas anymore and you switch to 3 submerge.
Why did you have so much submerge ?
Did you use them only against Lands/Dark depths ?
I see only one gravehate in your side in the last SCG Classic you win, did you feel so confortable against Reanimator ?
What do you think about the 2 blossoming défense in your side ?
The meta dont encourage you to play 2 blue elemental blast ?
I hope you will win soon a big SCG, having a Zac infect token will be awesome ! :)
@Zac in your report of SCG Atlanta you say you side in surgical but in the list i found in MTG top8 there isn't any surgical.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=16327&d=300814&f=LE
Yeah, this list looks wrong.
Check this podcast out though: https://www.topdecked.me/articles/te...lanta-classic/
In the linked list over there, there are 2 Surgicals in there - something along those cards I would register for a tournament.
Best
Last edited by Drinkme; 08-17-2017 at 03:20 AM.
Infect | Elves
Went 9-3 over two 6 round Legacy events this weekend.
First was Saturday Legacy at Hareruya. 6 rounds of Swiss, went 5-1, good enough for 2nd place overall.
List was as follows: http://www.hareruyamtg.com/jp/k/kD08655W/
Some thoughts on the card choices:
0 Crop Rotation, 0 Wasteland. I wanted to clean the deck up a bit. Crop Rotation is obviously powerful in the deck, but it is card disadvantage and bad against counterspells. I have seen lots of fair decks and combo where I don't need the nonsense. With 9 cantrips 18 lands is enough, and Wasteland never really serves as a land anyway.
1 Green Sun's Zenith, 1 Viridian Corrupter. There were my only two durdle slots. Corrupter is awkward, but when it is good its off the charts. Zenith ends up digging out an Elf or Hierarch ~90 percent of the time, but I like to think of it as an extra Ponder-type effect to dig for what you need.
4 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Become Immense. I don't think I have to convince anyone that Probe is great in this deck, but I see a lot more 2s and 3s than 4 recently. I wanted an extra pump spell, and with the decision to go to the second Become Immense I wanted to make sure I could fuel it in the absense of Crop Rotation. This all felt quite good.
Blossoming Defense. I like this card a lot. Vines is probably still more powerful and versatile but quite mana hungry, and 2 from this plus 6 from Become Immense often adds up to the magic number.
All of my artifact destruction gets through Chalice. I wish I could just play 3 Nature's Claim, but thats just asking for trouble. Dissenter's Deliverance has been very impressive.
I am a bit fuzzy on the matchups but remember some things.
Round 1 I lost 2-1 to a Bant Stoneblade deck by the thinnest of possible margins. He buried me with a Jitte one game, I get off a key Flusterstorm game two, and in game three he Brainstormed digging for a counter to back up his removal spell and hit exactly Daze, otherwise I untap and win. Very fun and close match.
Round 2 I beat ANT 2-0. He knows what I am playing and in the face of a Glistener Elf he Empties for 10 Goblins early on. I land a Blighted Agent and ride it home. Game two he has a decent base of spells and 2 Fatal Pushes, but not enough to stop my clock.
Round 3 against Elves my Flusterstorm snipes a Glimpse, but I never draw a pump spell and he nickel and dimes me to death. Games 2 and 3 Blighted Agents and Inkmoths do all the work while Vines stops Decay and his blind Therapies whiff.
I honestly forget what I played the rest of the day. I know I played against a Leovold deck that messed with some Probes and Ponders but otherwise spun its wheels while I smashed with 1/1s
Overall, the deck felt good. Lots of blue and lots of fair decks, so I never needed the Wasteland and not having to jam Rotation into any Spell Pierces was nice. The full set of Probes were excellent while playing against Pushes, Bolts, and Decays, and turning on Become Immense was never an issue.
I briefly considered switching over to my old trusty White Girl Tribal for a Win-a-Dual the next day, but Phyrexia was serving me well. I made the following tweaks:
-1 Become Immense, +1 Might of Old Krosa
-1 Gitaxian Probe, +1 Ponder
I wanted to try out Might as an additional pump spell, as it give the deck some extra velocity and is great with Berserk. Without needing the extra delve fuel, I bumped one of the Probes for an extra selection cantrip. Ponder is great and like reasons to play more. I also cut the Jitte for a Teferi's Response. These are probably all me being way too cute in the sideboard, but you have to have a little fun in life.
Round 1 I lost to Goblins. I was achingly close to a kill in game one. It took him a long time to draw the second land for his main deck Chalice (which I Dazed), but he used his double vial to Matron for Stingscourger, and with that in hand all of my pump spells were basically blanked. After that Krenko went crazy. Game two I kept a one lander with 3 cantrips, never drew a second land, then got Wastelanded. Oh well.
Round 2 was 4 color Delver. He has a lot of good tools but they didn't line up correctly. The scariest moment of the match was on turn two when I almost got all 4 of my Tropical Islands Surgicaled on turn two, but Flusterstorm saved the day. Double Invigorate beat Lightning Bolt, and that was that.
Round 3 was Stoneblade, but it honestly just looked like Miracles before I killed him on turn two or three and only saw Flooded Strand, Tundra, and Plow. I didn't board in all the Disenchants because I didn't know how much there would be, and I was promptly punished by a turn two Stoneforge for Jitte with Force backup. A Germ Token holding a both a Batterskull and a Jitte even connected once. As you guys probably know, the first Jitte hit isn't always fatal, but the second usually is. This is where my buddy Jace steps in and does WORK. After the first two Jitte counters ate an Agent and a Nexus, the germ came rumbling in again. I was able to block and then flip Jace before damage, preventing the damage. My opponents last card is an EE for one but doesnt have the mana to blow it. My hand is poop, but I still have a Hierarch, an Elf, and a dream. Draw forest. Gross. Flashback a Brainstorm with Jace. Become Immense, Berserk random card. Attack with a 16/8 elf against my opponent's 6 toughness. Mise.
Round 4 was a Bant Spirits deck. Game one his hand is clunky but full of pesky creatures. I hit for 9 on turn two while he is tapped out, then his blockers cost too much mana to do any goo. Game two he draws a bunch of plows but I draw even more Blighted Agents.
Round 5 is Eldrazi Post. He wins the die roll and comes out way too fast. TKS and Smashers smash me good. Game two he lands a turn two Trinisphere, but I already have an Elf and kill him over two turns. Game three goes looonng. I stop his lock pieces, but he gets a board of Seers and Oblivion Sower. Oblivion Sowers EIGHT toughness is infuriatingly high. I draw all 4 of my Noble Heirarchs, so even Glistener Elf is scary and he has to play defense as well. I'm off the charts dead to an Ulamog or All is Dust but nowhere near in a spot to play around it. My Nobles chump a few times, and I eventually draw an Nexus. He has a Nexus that he stole with Sower that can block, but I rip an Invigorate to go with my Berserk and Nexus tramples through to victory.
I am 4-1 going into round 6, which would be good to draw into T8, but the tourney is cutting to top 4. I have a clean win and in at table three. I know sitting down that my opponent is on RG lands. I wish I had my Crop Rotation floating around, but my deck can still win on turn two so lets rumble.
Game one he makes a Marit Lage as soon as he gets a chance. He has enough to dodge my Daze to get Port or Wasteland to tap down Inkmoth Nexus as a blocker, and I take 20 in the sky. Oh well.
Game two I lead on Elf, he jams a Sphere of Resistance. I play another elf, and he makes another Marit Lage. I play a third land and jam my Elves into the red zone. He correctly tanks for a bit because I can poison his 20/20 enough to buy a lot of time, but eventually blocks. 1 mana Invigorate and 2 mana Berserk on the unblocked Elf takes it down.
Game three goes longer, which is bad, but he is tight on mana. He has Punishing Fire but can't use it every turn. I manage to get a 5-shot in, but once he starts getting his stuff together the game gets way trickier. He lands a Maze, which is a huge pain. I draw a Vines of Vastwood, which is excellent but I make a big mistake with it. Into the face of Maze and Taiga, I jam Elf into the red zone. He Mazes, I vines, and he Rotates into a second maze for the blowouts. I needed to play the Vines in my main phase to shut off maze as an Option, which would have forced him to go get Glacial Chasm. As it is I am close to helples. He evetually draws loam and once I am down to one permanent I throw in the towel.
I realized my mistake with the Vines right after the match ended. With Maze and Chasm and Loam soon to come it is possible that I die anyway, but it also might have been just enough for me to squeak through. Hard to say either way, but making a very clear mistake in game three of a win and in wasn't how I wanted to end the day.
All in all, though, I played a lot of really fun games and the deck felt great. I wouldn't recommend just mindlessly copying the 75 I played without understanding the reasoning for the weird selections, but I liked a lot of my decisions and I think there are a lot of good ideas. the 55th to 60th cards in Infect is a really, really interesting space for experimentation and deckbuilding. Outside of the 16 creatures, 4 Invigorate and 4 Brainstorm I don't think there are really any uncuttable sacred cows in the deck. You need some mix of protection, cantrips, counters, and utility, but don't be afraid to go a little bit of the deep end. Just be sure to know why you are making the choices. Anywhere between 0 and 4 copies of both Gitaxian Probe and Ponder can be correct. Vines and Blossoming Defense are both excellent. Crop Rotation and Green Sun's Zenith offer a lot of utility but also slows the deck down and have very real drawbacks.
Just promise that if you try anything crazy, you will take notes about why and when it was good and bad, and report back to all of your buddies here.
Really great stuff, congratulations on both tournament finishes.
How'd the Might of Old Krosa work out for you? With the high fetch count, I'm inclined to believe that Groundswell might just do the same thing in a better way.
How's JVP working out for you? I'm trying him alongside some other spice atm, but I'm still not sure about how strong I feel he is in the deck.
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