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Thread: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

  1. #1
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    Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th out of 582)

    After qualifying for Pro Tour Fate Reforged by 13-2ing Grand Prix New Jersey I was thrilled to find out there would be a two day Legacy Open the weekend before the PT and decided to attend both.

    My journey from Germany to Indianapolis took about 19 hours from door to door and involved me getting sick on the airplane from Frankfurt to Chicago (which has never happened to me before on a flight). That wasn't so pleasant, but after arriving at the hotel and lying down for a bit I felt a lot better.

    I finished sleeving up the Sneak & Show list I had developed on MTGO for the past few weeks (changed some things after the Treasure Cruise ban), got a good night's sleep and was ready to rock my first SCG Open.

    Round 1 Esper Blade
    G1 he wrecks me with Thoughtseize into Hymn into Thoughtseize.

    G2 is super close, with him deploying an early Stoneforge Mystic, while I cantrip to set up a rather late Show and Tell (think it was turn 4). He responds with Containment Priest and I decide to put nothing into play. On my next turn, I can both Pyroclasm and Through the Breach Griselbrand into play, finding Sneak Attack + Emrakul in 7 cards and finishing him off the turn after that.

    G3 he mulls to 5 and gets destroyed by a turn 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

    2-1
    1-0


    Round 2 ANT

    G1 he has the protected turn 2 kill.

    G2 goes very long, involving a lot of discard from his side. In the end, I resolve Dig through Time in response to his Xantid Swarm (having two Force of Wills + Show and Tell available), finding Emrakul + Echoing Truth. I let his Xantid Swarm resolve and cast Show and Tell into Emrakul on my turn. He puts another Swarm into play, I bounce both with Echoing Truth and annihilate him on my next turn.

    G3 I keep a cantrip-heavy hand without business, making his turn 1 Cabal Therapy miss. He goes for a Spell Pierce proof all-in Ad Nauseam some turns later, I have found a Force of Will with my cantrips and win with a Sneaky Emrakul some turns after that.

    2-1
    2-0


    Round 3 Maverick

    G1 Gitaxian Probe shows me three lands, Thalia, 2 Knights of the Reliquary and Sword of Fire and Ice. I do some cantripping, Force of Will his Thalia (which he casts on turn 3, playing around Daze since he put me on some Tempo deck), and resolve a end of turn 3 Dig through Time, which finds me the game-winning Sneak Attack.

    G2 he keeps a hand with very little interaction and some low-impact creatures, I pyroclasm his board of Spirit of the Labyrinth, Ethersworn Canonist, Deathrite Shaman and Dryad Arbor and win with Emrabrand Bros the turn after that.
    He admits he should have mulliganed more aggressively, considering he does have a lot of high-impact cards against me post-board.

    2-0
    3-0


    Round 4 BUG Delver

    G1 I cast a Daze-proof turn 3 Show and Tell with FoW-backup.

    G2 I have turn 2 Daze-proof Show and Tell, which he FoWs. Turn 3 I have Sneak Attack into Griselbrand, into turn 4 kill.

    x)

    2-0
    4-0


    Round 5 Goblins (!)

    G1 turn 3 Sneak Attack, turn 4 Emrasneak, turn 5 Griselsneak, while he deploys some green men with big noses.

    G2 he starts with turn 1 Lackey. My Gitaxian Probe shows me lands, Thalia and triple Ringleader. The Ringleader finds him Goblin Matron, rendering my Show and Tell + creature useless. I cantrip and cantrip, but can't find a Pyroclasm. I die on turn 4.

    G3 is similar to G1, with the only exciting thing happening being him ramping into Confusion in the Ranks with Skirk Prospector, for which I thankfully kept a Force of Will ready.

    2-1
    5-0


    Round 6 ANT

    G1 I could go for a Show and Tell Emrakul with Spell Pierce backup, but decide to use my cantrips to find Griselbrand or a Force of Will, since he knows about the Spell Pierce. I get rewarded by eventually finding both Griselbrand and FoW, hiding the Force of Will as low down as possible and drawing it with Griselbrand in response to his Ad Nauseam.

    G2 he has infinite mana and infinite discard, but no cantrips or business. I can recover from the discard with Dig Through Time and win via Sneak Attack afterwards.

    2-0
    6-0


    Rd. 7 ANT (Ben Wienburg, off-camera feature match)

    This was where the tournament went downhill for me, resulting in me remembering very little after that round. Sorry for that.

    G1 I win with an early Show and Tell.

    G2 is grindier. After probing me, he cast Defense Grid, I respond with Dig Through Time and mix up the seven cards from Dig with the cards in my hand while thinking about which two cards to take. I obviously get a game loss and lose all of my motivation. Words can't describe how bad I felt at this point.

    G3 he forgets about the Grafdigger's Cage on my battlefield and only notices it while searching to resolve his Infernal Tutor. Lucky for him, he has exactly enough mana and storm for Tutor into Tutor into Tendrils for 20. He almost would have gotten Past in Flames...

    1-2
    6-1


    After that disappointing loss, I get rewarded with my best matchup. Kappa

    Round 8 Death and Taxes

    G1 I Spell Pierce his Aether Vial, his Thalia resolves and I go for Show and Tell into Griselbrand a turn or two later, knowing he doesn't have Karakas, because he would have played it instead of Wasteland to protect his Thalia. Unfortunately, he does have Swords to Plowshares, which is normally not enough to stop me from winning, but with Wasteland + Thalia I can't find enough mana with Grisel and get overrun.

    G2 I win with turn 3 Sneak Attack through Karakas.

    G3 he has Karakas+Revoker+Mother of Runes+Containment Priest. My Pyroclasm hits Mom+Containment Priest+Revoker the turn after he cast Mom. Unfortunately he finds another Containment Priest, while I proceed to topdeck only garbage, while getting beat down by the Priest.

    1-2
    6-2


    Round 9 Esper Blade

    I don't remember much, except Jace winning me game 2 easily.

    2-0
    7-2


    I walk through the snowstorm back to the hotel and try to sleep off the disappointment from round 7.

    126 players remain the next morning and I need to go 5-1 to lock up Top 8.


    Round 10 Bye

    My opponent doesn't show up. x)

    8-2


    Round 11 Miracles

    We have three extremely long games, involving such great moves like me resolving Jace and passing the turn in game 2. I do manage to win game 3 just before extra-turns are called. I don't remember how, but it probably involved some big monster.

    2-1
    9-2


    Round 12 BUG Delver (Jim Davis, backup-camera feature match)

    G1 he uses his pro-shuffle techniques to give me zero lands two times in a row and barely beats my 5-card-hand with Spell Pierce+Daze+Force of Will, while only having Deathrite Shaman as a clock.

    I saw him standing in a corner after the pairings went up, frantically perusing his smartphone. He probably looked up my name to find out what I was playing. Well, being a huge spike paid off for him and I knew that he was on BUG Delver from previous feature matches, so I guess it's just fair. Plus, he was nicer than I had thought, so no offense to him.

    G2 I misboard (bringing in Defense Grid instead of Pyroclasm, since Pyroclasm is usually rather low-impact against them) and lose to Dark Confidant backed up by Thoughtseize, Daze and Spell Pierce.

    0-2
    9-3

    Gotta win out from here...

    Round 13 Miracles

    Game 1 I find out he is playing the Legends build and main deck Council's Judgement, which completely destroys my plans. Phil's Miracles build is usually a rather positive matchup, but Venser+Karakas make it a lot harder. We have a Judge call when I cast Show and Tell with Sneak Attack and Emrakul (which he had bounced with Karakas some turns earlier) in hand. I put my Sneak Attack face-down on the table, he puts a card of his down. When I reveal Sneak Attack, he pulls his card back to his hand.
    I understand his point, which is that I shouldn't know whether he wants to put something into play or not (which is how it works on MODO), but the Head Judge rules that he can't put a card face down on the table if it's not a legal target for Show and Tell.
    He gets warning for GRV and proceeds to win game 1 after using Council's Judgement to get rid of my Sneak Attack.

    G2 goes really fast with me resolving a protected turn 3 Sneak Attack and annihilating him.

    G3 goes a little longer again and I don't remember the details (both of those 50 minute rounds vs Miracles kind of blur into one).

    2-1
    10-3


    Round 14 UWr Control

    Another 50 minute round, with G1 involving my deck pooping on itself and cantripping into cantrips into nothingness.

    G2 goes REALLY long and he eventually wins after casting 4 Force of Wills, 3 Dig through Times and 2 Containment Priests + Karakas (plus the obvious infinite cantrips and REBs and other stuff).

    0-2
    10-4

    So, the dream is dead.


    Round 15 RUG Delver (Temurrrrr hurr durr)

    My opponent notices my weak body language and asks me if something's wrong, I reply that I just lost my chances for Top 8 and had to play two 50-minute-rounds in a row, which I'm not used to with this deck and didn't have time to refocus yet.

    That doesn't stop me from winning game 1 after seeing he kept a hand with zero permission.

    G2 I keep a hand with 5 lands, Sneak Attack, Blood Moon (probably would have tanked about this hand a little longer hadn't it been a basically meaningless round). He starts with T1 Needle, I draw Lotus Petal, cast Daze-proof turn 2 Blood Moon, which he forces. I draw another Blood Moon ( ), which resolves and he concedes after counting the number of burn-spells in his deck.

    2-0
    11-4

    That's enough for 20th place out of 582, which I have to be happy with.

    To end this, a huge shoutout to my German Legacy friends who supported me via Facebook and WhatsApp throughout the tournament. I didn't have anyone to talk to between rounds (except Ben Wienburg, who probably felt sorry for me after the game-loss) and you gave me morale-boosts when there were needed.
    So, big thanks to Andi, Robert, Matteo, Basti, Christian, Christopher, Felix!
    Last edited by JPA; 02-12-2015 at 07:17 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Once again a fantastic result with SneakyShow. Enjoy your days in the US and rock the PT. See you soon, pal.
    WantToPonder
    former: Team SpasticalAction & Team RugStar Berlin
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    Quote Originally Posted by guillemnicolau View Post
    Since the print of dark petition grim tutor hasn't seen play in legacy (not in competitive decks).
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    I believe Maverick is still the best deck in the format and definitely the most underrated deck in the format.
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    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Sadly, we missed the chance to see you on camera.

    Anyway, great result buddy! You deserve it.
    Now grind'em all and good luck for the PT.
    TEAM MtG Berlin


    "Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."

    Quote Originally Posted by phazonmutant View Post
    So dismissive.
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    This thread is great. I've been able to save so much money on seasoning! Whenever I'm eating something bland, I just wander over here to borrow some of the infinite salt.

  4. #4

    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Gods, I'm sure it's difficult to play long drawn out matches with a deck that's supposed to win quickly. That would have been interesting matches to see though.

    Congratulations on (looking up) what you've achieved, not what you didn't achieve! Good job :D

  5. #5

    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Glad to see you were able to recover. While 20th isn't top 8 its still pretty good and next week is the more important tournament anyway. I watched the end of your match vs UWr control and it was pretty rough when he had double FOW to protect his containment priest and than wear/tear to blow out your sneak/grid.

    I also know how easy it is to mess up after not being well rested for a tournament. I was extremely lucky to top 8 because I made numerous mistakes throughout Sunday but luckily the power of my deck was able to pull me through.

    Ben
    Ben Wienburg

  6. #6
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    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Thanks guys and congrats on making it all the way to the finals, Ben!

  7. #7

    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Quote Originally Posted by JPA View Post
    Thanks guys and congrats on making it all the way to the finals, Ben!
    How did the PT go?
    Ben Wienburg

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    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Quote Originally Posted by firstshot View Post
    How did the PT go?
    Started off strong, 5-1. Lost a fast one to Finkel in round 7, got infinite mulligans into manascrew round 8. Day 2 I had a really bad cold and some other personal problems outside of Magic, which made it hard to focus. Finished 7-9 in the end.

    Still, I had a pretty good time at my first PT and I'm proud to have made day 2.

  9. #9

    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Next time we will have to rematch and play Legacy instead of Modern

  10. #10
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    Re: Sneak & Show at SCG Indianapolis (20th)

    Quote Originally Posted by akatsuki View Post
    Next time we will have to rematch and play Legacy instead of Modern
    Haha, yeah I agree. : )

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