“I was told there would be fair decks” – 4th Place at CFB Legacy 3k

[Goin Aggro]

Alternative Title: “Just Split the Damn Top 8 Already”

Slightly different list than my last report – Knight has just been ok most of the times I’ve drawn it. I think I’m giving in to the reality of the Deathrite meta where my lands will not be in the graveyard. Also: Having more ways to connect with equipment via the souls, and run away with some early games (DRS → T2 Lily) was a welcome change.

As a result, I made the following change:
-2 Knight of the Reliquary
+1 Liliana of the Veil
+1 Lingering Souls

Leaving me with this:

Decklist: Junk (61 Maindeck/15 SB)

Creatures: (15)
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Dark Confidant

Non-Creature Spells (24)
2x Thoughtseize
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Swords to Plowshares
4x Abrupt Decay
2x Sylvan Library
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Lingering Souls
1x Council's Judgment
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Batterskull
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of Fire/Ice

Lands (22)
2x Bayou
2x Savannah
2x Scrubland
1x Plains
1x Forest
1x Swamp
1x Karakas
3x Wasteland
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
2x Marsh Flats

Sideboard (15)
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Hymn to Tourach
2x Duress
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Choke
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Act of Authority
1x Pithing Needle
1x Containment Priest

Additionally, for those of you who read my last report, I almost made this mistake again during deck registration.

Non-Creature Spells
3x Stoneforge Mystic Swords to Plowshares

It’s just too good, but I catch myself, and submit a correct decklist.

We sit down for the player meeting, and there’s 92 players, for a total prize pool of 3.7k. Props to CFB for hosting a great event, and for upping the prize pool when the community came out and showed their interest. Good job guys!

R1: Mono U Omni-Show (0-0)

I know the guy who I’m playing against. And I’m pretty aware this matchup is slightly not in my favor. Oh well.

G1: On the draw. I mull to 5, Confidant, Goyf, Thoughtseize, Land, Land. That’s as good as it’s gonna get. I Thoughtseize, which gets Spell Pierced. I drop a goyf and try to get there. Even though he intuitions for both combo pieces on T4 and T5, I’m just too slow. Oh well.

Side: -1 Lingering Souls, -2 Sylvan Library, -4 Abrupt Decay, -3 StP, -1 SfM, -1 Jitte, -1 Deluge
+3 Thalia, +2 Duress, +2 Hymn, +2 Choke, +1 Act of Authority, +1 Priest, +2 Surgical Extraction

G2: Discard, Thalia, Liliana and more creatures prevents him from getting anywhere fast.

G3: Mull to 5 again. One discard spell. He starts with a Leyline of Sanctity. That’s unfortunate. I think he drops the combo on T4, which is pretty fast, but it happens, and I have Ants released all over my pants.

R2: Reanimator (0-1) (1-2 Games Played)

Well, that’s a crappy way to start the day. Given the number of players, I’m pretty much going to have to win the next 6 rounds to make T8, but I’m already thinking to myself “At least they’re paying down to 32 this time.”

G1: I lucksack keep a hand with Thoughtseize, and Karakas. Thoughtseize shows me a hand of: 3 Lands, 3 Reanimate Spells, Careful study. I take the study. T2 Bob starts getting me value, and I sandbag the karakas until its my last land drop. I slap a Jitte on Bob and swing in. My opp eventually finds another careful study and bins a Norn and Ashen Rider. I drop the Karakas, and my opponent reanimates norn next turn. I pump Bob with Jitte counters, bounce the Norn, and swing for lethal next turn. (In his defense, Ashen rider probably would not have raced my hand either)

Side: +3 Thalia, +2 Duress, +2 Hymn, +2 Surgical, +1 Priest, +1 Needle
Out: -3 Souls, -2 Library, -3 Abrupt Decay, -1 SfM, -1 Bob, -1 Deluge

G2: T1 City, Petal, Show, Griselbrand. ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

G3: He mulls. I keep a hand with two discard spells, Liliana, and a Deathrite. T1 Thoughtseize shows me: Land, Reanimate, Show, Echoing Truth x2, Thoughtseize. I take Show. He thoughtseizes me back, taking Deathrite, I hit him with the other spell and strip his Reanimate. It’s a cripple fight. On turn 5 I eventually draw land #3 for Liliana, and he has to start discarding, although he only seems to be discarding lands. Goyf eventually hits the board and cleans him up.

R3: Burn (1-1) (3-3 Games)

G1: I tell him he’s a horrible person after he Lava Spikes me T1. Thankfully I kept a fetch heavy hand so I can get basics, play deathrite, and then Liliana on T2 to kill his Eidolon. Lily sucks some burn away from my face, and I eventually get a Jitte on the Deathrite to clean him up. He had sandbagged his PoPs, but I held my wastelands open to make sure I could go to one or no nonbasics if it came to it, which it did. He scoops after I wasteland myself and fetch/fail to find, taking a grand total of no damage + 1 Fetch lifeloss from the PoP.

Side: -2 Thoughtseize, -3 Bob, -1 Deluge -1 Lingering Souls – +2 Duress +3 Thalia, +1 Act, +1 Priest.

G2: He mulls to 5 and gets Inquisitioned T1. It’s not a game.

R4: Sneak and Show (2-1) (5-3)

G1: I Thoughtseize him T2, he brainstorms, showing me a hand of 4 U/R Lands and Brainstorm. Well, I guess it’s Sneak? I drop dorks on the field, which is trumped by him dropping an Emrakul off of the Show/Emrakul he hid with his BS. I rip/lucksack/salt miracle a Liliana off the top and kill him.

Side: +3 Thalia, +2 Duress, +2 Hymn, +2 Choke, +2 Surgical, +1 Priest, +1 Act, +1 Needle.
-1 SfM, - 1 Jitte, -2 Library, -3 Lingering Souls, -1 Deluge, -2 Abrupt Decay
-2 StP, -1 CJ, -1 Bob

G2: Keep a hand With DRS, Choke, Thalia, Priest, Thoughtseize, and Lands. He cantrips. I deathrite into Thalia. Missing his 3rd land drop, I thoughtseize him next turn, and see Show, Sneak, Sneak, Emmy, Grisel, Pyroclasm. Take the pyroclasm, play choke next turn into his board of 2x tapped volcanic, Mountain, and he scoops.

R5 Gw 12-Post (3-1) (7-3 Games)

At this point, I’m slightly surprised that I haven’t played against someone who is trying to kill me with fairly priced and sized creatures. (1 Mana Griselbrand is in no economic world, fairly priced.) I sit down across from a player who has green sleeves, a green deckbox, a green playmat, and green dice.

It’s either Elves, or this guy got pinched way too many times on St. Paddy’s day.

G1: I lose the roll into T1 Cloudpost. Yeah, that’s a deck too. I guess. I deathrite into wasteland on the cloudpost. I get a lucky time walk when he attempts to Pulse of Murasa the cloudpost back with me having active Deathrite. (No no no life for you! – Dikembe-rite Shaman) My t4 Thoughtseize + Liliana + Wasteland on his other cloudpost puts him really far back, and that, combined with another DRS Time Walk on his second Pulse trying to recur Primeval Titan gets me enough time and distance to get there.

Side: I had no idea how to side for this deck.
-2 Lingering Souls, -1 SfM, -1 Jitte, 1x Deluge, -1x Bob, -2 Abrupt Decay, -1 Library
+2 Duress, +2 Hymn, +2 Surgical, +1 Priest, +1 Act, +1 Needle

G2: Keep a slightly looser hand that still has Liliana pressure. Unfortunately, He gets a disgusting T3 Oracle of Mul Daya into T4 two cloudposts off the top in addition to the one he already has. G/W/B Assorted Value has no hope in the face of Kozilek, the Great Distortion, and seven new cards. I find myself and my life total Greatly Distorted. Relevant: He casts a RiP, which makes Goyfs and Surgical very sad.

ReSide: -1 Tarmogoyf, -1 Surgical Extraction, -1 Lingering Souls - +3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

On the draw, the Thalias aren’t good enough, but on the play, he will be back a full turn or two if he has to pay extra for his Candels/Eureka/Library/RiP/Tops. If I get waste + Thalia, that’s just gravy.

G3: I try and get board presence while stalling him with Thalia and applying pressure with Bob. He gets a much delayed Eureka, dumping Prime Time, RiP, Top, and Pridemage on the board, while I get Batterskull, a 0/1 Goyf, and a land. Now that hardly seems fair. He grabs Maze and Tabernacle with the Prime Time. I plow both the pridemage and the titan, taking him to 19. I pay for my team’s Tab triggers and swing in, taking him to 10. He untaps, draws a Candle, plays it for 1, and then once he’s reminded of the Thalia tax, decides not to play it. Bob gets me a wasteland next turn. I pay the Tabernacle tax. (Damn taxes, interfering with my hard-earned beatdown efficiency! Make Tarmogoyf Great Again!) Wasteland his maze, and get there for lethal.

R6: “The Eldrazi Menace” or “Eldrazoos” (4-1) (9-4 Games)

I’m hoping this is a win and in, but given my loss in R1, I doubt it.
G1: He starts slow with Thorn into Mimic. I play goyf and thoughtseize a Thought-Knot. (Thought you were going to play that? Thoughtseize you, I thought not!) Leaving him with Smasher, Sphere and Endless one. When he plays the Smasher and pumps his Mimic, I decay the thorn, making my Goyf a surprise 5/6, and kill the smasher. I manage to stabilize at a reasonable life total and chip him down with goyfs and Lilianas.

Side: The deck is already in pretty solid position to beat Eldrazi, so I don’t really side. (Most likely subpar)

G2: No chalice, but he gets a much faster start with T2 Displacer into T3 Smasher. I try and stabilize with SfM/Goyf/Souls, but a RiP combined with another Smasher makes my life very, very short as my blockers start getting displaced out of existence and not stopping trample damage.

Side: +1 Pithing Needle / -1 Lingering Souls – Displacer is a goober.

G3: I keep a slightly weak hand with double deathrite, wasteland, thoughtseize, and batterskull. Plan is to disrupt and topdeck like a champion or play batterskull on T4.
I end up disrupting, but not topdecking like a champ, and after the deathrites and thoughtseizeing another Thought-knot, my first play is the batterskull after getting a few more lands and the pithing needle, which names Displacer. The turn after, he plays a displacer. (Got there) A reality smasher and a 4/4 endless one join his side of the board, while I get a 4/5 goyf. Our teams kinda stare at eachother for awhile. (Advantage: Eldrazi, they’ve got way more eyes in much creepier places than my biologically normal elf-shamans and eyeless germ-thing) But he keeps his team home until I get a liliana and start ratcheting up the pressure. He has to run out Thought-Knots for no or negative value as I’m hellbent, and I’m chipping him down with goyf while holding the rest of the team at home. Eventually, Liliana + Extra TKS draws let me break the staring contest, and he unfortunately can’t find a RiP to stop the Green Dominator from Dominaria.

R7 Death and Taxes (5-1) (11-5 Games)

Standings show ten people in contention, and I’m #10. Losing R1 sucks, guys and gals. It’s all business when we get to the table, and my opponent is pretty depressed that we can’t draw in. I know that feel.

G1: He gets Mom, Thalia, Jitte, Equip, beats for counters, kill some of my guys in the first four turns. Unfortunately, by the time I find an Abrupt Decay to stop the beatdown, I’m at single digit life, and can’t stop Mom from forcing Thalia and Brimaz through for my remaining life.

Side: +1 Deluge, +1 Act, +1 Priest, +1 Needle, +2 Hymn. // -2 Thoughtseize, -1 Goyf, -1 Bob, -1 Library, -1 Inquisition

G2: I get a faster start with Deathrite and Sylvan Library, which is slightly negated by his RiP. Oh well. At least goyf chump blocks. I find the first Stoneforge, and get Jitte on the board, but I can’t quite get damage through his Mom and Thalia combo. Eventually I find in order: Toxic Deluge for 1 to sweep his guys away, and then all three lingering souls (No flashback due to RiP) to power an Aerial Jitte victory.

G3: We both start slow. His first spells are Jitte T2 and SoFaI T3, and my first spells are Needle T2 on Jitte, and Act of Authority T4 on Sword. Thems the breaks. I sandbag my removal for his mother of runes, and he can’t get anything to really stick on the board besides a lone displacer. I eventually get onboard with SFM/Batterskull and my own SoFaI on a DRS. Time is called, and I get him down to 1 on turn 4 of turns and pass with my board being Batterskull/Germ, SfM, DRS/SoFaI, Library, Act, and Multiple Lands to his 2 white producing lands and an Eldrazi Displacer. He draws for turn five and concedes.

I’m very thankful that he offered the concession. While I was locked to win on board, he had the better chance to make it off of tiebreakers (I think he was 9th prior to R7, compared to me at 10th) if we simply drew due to the time out, so I definitely appreciate him giving it to me versus trying to see if the breakers worked out for him.

Well, I ran the table after losing R1. Not bad. Looking at my breakers is funny though. I go into T8 as 2nd seed, but you have to go down to 18th Place to find someone with breakers that are even close to as bad as mine. Well, that’s what you get for kicking people into the x-2 bracket all day.

T8: (6-1) (13-6 Games) Deathblade

T8 Split is 315$. Some Goober or Goobers does not want to split. As a result, I end up playing a good friend of mine, who just wants to go home. We agree to an individual split, and then play three very lighthearted games that are pretty much decided by who goes first. It’s also his birthday, so we’re giving him a hard time about how he should be celebrating instead of playing magic. Although I do catch some flak for not taking it easy on him because it’s his birthday.

G1: I DRS turn 1, establish board presence with Lilianas and Stoneforges and force him into really bad chump blocks to keep his life total intact. Eventually, he runs out of chumps and dies.

Side: -2 Inquisition, -2 StP, -1 Goyf. //+1 Act, +2 Hymn, +2 Choke.

G2: He gets DRS into double stoneforge into Jace. I can’t answer multiple equipment backed up with Jace card advantage and we go to G3.

G3: He mulls to 5. It’s a pretty solid 5 though, and I misplay a few times. I start with a DRS into a Goyf and Hymn. My Hymn gets the batterskull he grabbed with his T2 SFM and a Jace, leavung him with a TNN, which he plays out. I end of his turn attempt to remove a StP from his GY, which gets immediately punished by the Snap he drew. He gets a few hits in before I find my own SfM which grabs Jitte to clean his dorks up. Lingering Souls gives me a way to force the jitte over TNN, and soon he’s on his way to a birthday dinner while I’m praying we split the semis.

Semis (7-1) (15-7 Games) Mono-U Omnishow.

It’s the same guy from R1. And apparently he’s one of the THREE guys who no-sirred the quarters split. The t4 split is $500, and the judges are commenting that if they stay for another 25 minutes they get double overtime, so I’m hoping for a split. No such luck.

This guy’s line is “Well, this is a really good matchup for me, so I’m going to play it.” >.< Ok dude
I don't know if there's any matchup that is good enough for me to risk $250 on. Sometimes you run bad, sometimes your opponents run good. Seems like bad value in the long run.

G1: I mull to 4 looking for something that has interaction, but after my 6 and 5 have no lands, I end up keeping something that has lands. 3 Lands + Abrupt Decay. Whee. I lose after he intuitions for both combo pieces on turns 5 and 6. Slow as heck.

Side: -2 Lingering Souls, -1 Sylvan Library, -4 Abrupt Decay, -3 StP, -1 SfM, -1 Jitte, -1 Deluge
+3 Thalia, +2 Duress, +2 Hymn, +2 Choke, +1 Act of Authority, +1 Priest, +2 Surgical Extraction

G2: I keep a hand that has a lot of hate (Priest, Lily, Surgical) but not too many lands. He starts with a Leyline of Sanctity in play. Well, at least I got the hate that’s still live. I get choked up on mana even with a DRS as he won’t fetch and end up flashing in the priest EoT to swing in as a 2/2. He helps me along with a few Probes for life. Priest swings and DRS drains take him to 6, putting him dead next turn, so he has to go for it. He fetches (5) and intuitions for his Omnis. He plays out the tomb he’s been sandbagging and taps out for the Show (3). In response, I extract the Omnis. He thinks out loud, “I wonder if I can actually Force that” I tell him he can, he’ll just be dead. He drops the Force (2) and quickly/loudly asks if the Show resolves. I point at my active Deathrite, and we go to Game 3.

G3: I keep a reasonable hand with Choke, Discard, Library, Goyf, and some lands. He goes land-pass. I inquisition him and see he kept 4 lands, Emmy, FoW, Pierce. Seems loose, but I have to take the pierce. I run the goyf out, and try to get some devastating enchantments to stick, Unfortunately he draws another pierce for the choke, and a blue card to power the FoW on my Library while I draw 4 lands. At 9 life, he shows the Emmy into play versus my board of 6 lands, Goyf, Deathrite. I’m live to most creatures, Lilys, Equipment, Souls, Karakas, but unfortunately, I draw another land and deathrite, and die one turn short of killing him after getting my lands annihilated with my swing back of Goyf and DRS taking him to 2. It was close/I doubt its as good of a matchup as he thinks it is.

I end up with $250 3rd/4th Place prizing. Which is less than both the T8/T4 split. I’m slightly salty, but am made happy an hour later when I hear he no-sirred the $750 Finals split, and got crushed by an Elves player. (Karma? I’d like to think so?)

Overall: Very happy with the deck’s performance. Especially given the fact that this deck is designed to combat fair decks (Delver, Shardless, D/T) and ended up doing pretty reasonably against decks it is not favored against on paper. (Combo)

I think I’m getting close to a finished version of this, but I’ll be tweaking the lands to see if the base can handle the 4th Wasteland in addition to potentially rotating the Hymns into the mainboard to open up space in the sideboard.

[twndomn]

Congrats~, but don't hate on Burn, could be his first Legacy tournament.

Did someone try to steal tournament reporter's thunder by shamelessly plug-in gf stuff?

[Que]

Nice job.

I'm not sure why people think not splitting is a dick thing to do. I can understand wanting to hedge your bets, but not everyone has the same motivation for playing in a tournament. I rarely split because
1) I play better and have more fun when something's on the line, even though the prizes at a magic tournament aren't exactly life changing money.
2) Most people play the same or worse when something's on the line.
3) My girlfriend gave me no end of shit when I split in the finals of a lotus tournament. Even though I won the match, she said the trophy was meaningless since I didn't have the balls to play for it all. She can be brutal sometimes...
4) Playing more Magic is fun.

Rofl sounds like a keeper.

1,2, and 3 are all subjective. Payout (money) is ultimately the biggest motivator, unless someone really wants to play out the top 8 for serious bragging rights; I would say the majority don't care about that.

[Goin Aggro]

Congrats~, but don't hate on Burn, could be his first Legacy tournament.

I said it pretty jokingly. We were talking back and forth before the match pretty lightheartedly, so I don't think he took it seriously.

Nice job.

I'm not sure why people think not splitting is a dick thing to do. I can understand wanting to hedge your bets, but not everyone has the same motivation for playing in a tournament. I rarely split because
1) I play better and have more fun when something's on the line, even though the prizes at a magic tournament aren't exactly life changing money.
2) Most people play the same or worse when something's on the line.
3) My girlfriend gave me no end of shit when I split in the finals of a lotus tournament. Even though I won the match, she said the trophy was meaningless since I didn't have the balls to play for it all. She can be brutal sometimes...
4) Playing more Magic is fun.

I'm ok with the no-split, (Title's a joke more than a serious statement) but his attitude in general was surprising to me. Especially that interaction at the end of our G2, where I had told him exactly how I was going to kill him, and he tried to rush through and resolve his Omni anyways was pretty offputting.

[Tokugawa]

Did Act of Authority work well? Did it have the chance to kill 2 targets for you?

[Goin Aggro]

Did Act of Authority work well? Did it have the chance to kill 2 targets for you?

I like the card a lot. Batterskull can be one of the problematic cards for the deck if they roll SFM early, and this does a very good job stopping batterskull.

I rarely exile 2, but the threat of doing so often buys me a lot of time/space. Having it on the field means opponents have to get immediate impact from their important artifacts/enchantments, otherwise I'll just hit them on my upkeep if they're truly that devastating.

I think the most common application is exiling a vial or equipment from D/T on T3, and then sticking around to slow them down on the rest of their equipment. But its come in handy against MUD, Sylvan Library decks, and sometimes Omni when they don't have the wish in hand.

Edit: And if I were going to replace the card with something more traditional, it would not be a Krosan Grip. I'd probably replace it with another Pithing Needle.

[ESG]

Alternative Title: “Just Split the Damn Top 8 Already”

...

I don't know if there's any matchup that is good enough for me to risk $250 on. Sometimes you run bad, sometimes your opponents run good. Seems like bad value in the long run.

Yeah, I almost always vote to split. Anyone who's played Magic for a long time knows the perils of variance. I believe there's better EV in splitting, but I know several people who will always play.

[jimmythegreek]

Real men play it out.....too much splitting goin on.

[Goin Aggro]

It was meant to be humorous, you moron. A personal anecdote about winning some local tournament six years ago and having a girlfriend isn't really trying to steal anyone's thunder.

Ugh, there he goes again, talking about the girlfriend. We get it dude.

/s

[Echelon]

Did you know that many of the people that post here not only have girlfriends, but are <gasp> MARRIED?!?!?

SSsssssshhh! Don't let my wife find that out!

Oh, wait...

Playing Magic with her is funny, silly casual. She shoots down a bunch of my creatures? That's cool. I kill her Curiosity-driven Gelectrode with an Oblivion Ring or Day of Judgment? I'm being too competitive. And her favorite deck? A 5C monstrosity that powers out the legendary dragons from Invasion and Planar Chaos, because "Dragons".

[Dice_Box]

Guys, no one is hurting anyone. Let a guy have a joke.

[Echelon]

@Dice: Do you want to build a snowman?

[Dice_Box]

In July, could try it and see how long it takes to melt. Middle of winter, I give it an hour. (Glad you got it.)

[Echelon]

Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle,
But put me in summer and I’ll be a...happy snowman!

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

The water mages never bothered me anyways