Dear legacy players,
first and foremost, let me introduce myself for those who are unfamiliar with me. I'm Johannes Gutbrod, a legacy enthusiast from Nürnberg, Germany. Over the last four or five years I became addicted to Miracles. Playing a controldeck in legacy, is an incredible satisfying feeling. Moreover this deck rewards thight play, and sticking to it for a longer period of time.
After finishing second @ BoM Straßburg earlier this year, I was motivated to attend the next big tournament, too. Fast forward into September, BoM Paris was approaching very quickly. Unfortunately it turned out, that none of my close friends were interested in going. So I considered if the event was worth a 10 hours busride for me. This is where I hit up with Julian Knab, who convinced me to stay with him and two friends together in a hotel in Paris. Now I'm really happy I made the right decision and made my way to la ville lumière.
But let's dive into the content you all came for, shall we?
Right now, there are a plethora of different Miracles lists out there, many proclaiming themselves as being superior to the others. Let's assume you're quite new to this archetype, this point will make it hard to decide for a particular list. Well, as trivial as it sounds, my advice is to play what fits your playstyle best and stick to it. Regarding myself this is the flowing nature of the Ponder-Predict lists.
This is what I played during all three days:
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Arid Mesa
2 Volcanic Island
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
3 Monastery Mentor
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
1 Counterspell
2 Predict
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Ponder
4 Terminus
SB: 2 Wear / Tear
SB: 3 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Pyroclasm
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
The Mountain is a necessary evil against all decks, where you want to board in many red cards and your opponent has wastelands (Death&Taxes, Shardless, Midrange-Delver lists...). To hedge against Death&Taxes I incorporated 2 Pyroclasms in my list.
I want to focus on some interesting situations that arouse during the tournaments, instead of giving you an exact matchdescription.
Friday Trial (~60 Players)
MonoR Painter 2:0
Goblin Stompy 2:1 (In these rounds, the Pyroclasms where integral even allowing me a 4:1-trade)
Canadian 2:0
Shardless 2:0
Shardless 2:0
BRW Reanimator 2:0
Saturday Main Event (~210 Players)
2 Byes from Friday
Miracles 1: 0:1 (We fought an exhausting 45 minute G1, where we both resolved CB+Top+Jace. While I used my Jace to brainstorm, he started to fateseal aggressively. The watershed was, when his Jace was on 11 counters and I played Mentor. In response he brainstormed with his last mana open and announced his CB trigger. I used predict to clear his top card (Entreat), resolved my Mentor and won from there, floating a Terminus in my top 3.
LegendMiracles 2:0 (Predict once again came to shine: Turn 2 I left CS open after having Pondered the turn before. My opponent had to face a dilemma: Does he play a CB into my open mana or give me a window to Predict? He didn't so I predicted. Should he counter it, and maybe be dead to a followup CB from my site? Or should he let it resolve instead, and grant me an extra card? You can probably imagine similar situations applying the same principle, which show the power of the the instant from Odyssey)
BlackReanimator 2:0 (I managed to win against T1 Griselbrand with a timely Terminus followed up by CB)
Eldrazi 2:1
Oppostion 2:0
Elves 2:0
MentorMiracles I.D.
Quarters: ManalessDredge 2:0
Semis: Shardless 2:1 (Got totally wrecked by an unexpected Spell Pierce G2. Lesson: Always be on guard!)
Meanwhile it was very late in the evening - the top 8 already splittet - so it was decided that we wouldn't play a final. Instead I was announced the winner of BoM Paris 2016, as I was first after standings, too!
Sunday Trial (~25 players)
Shardless 2:1
Grixis Delver 2:0
Grixis Control 2:1 (We initially drew, but my opponent scooped, because he had to leave, thanks again!)
DarkDepths 2:0
Infect 1: 1:1
It really was a blast meeting so many awesome people, making new friends and visiting beautiful Paris again.
Let me know what you think and take care,
Johannes Gutbrod
Originally Posted by zerzab11
Congrats on the win Johannes!
Just a few questions about your list:
1) Are you missing the maindeck council's judgement and entreat the angels
2) I understand you board in pyroclasm against elves, dnt, infect and maybe grixis delver. Would you board them in against rug delver or shardless/jund?
3) Would you board pyroblast in against delver strategies? Rug/grixis mainly
and lastly just for kicks, when are you returning to aggro loam again? :p
I was wondering what are the advantages of Pyroclasm instead of Kozilek's Return against Death & Taxes?
@mike:
Thank you!
1.) I think the decks runs much smoother without them. This fits my playstyle very well, as it's streamlined and doesn't rely on clunkier spells.
2.) Against Jund/ Shardless I bring 1-2 depending on their particular build. Against RUG i bring none, as they just hit Delver reliably without RIP.
3.) Depending again, 1-2 if I anticipate TNN/ Clique or heavier blue tempo builds (e.g.: Snapcaster)
Regarding AggroLoam, maybe one day :P I still like that deck!
@Varal: They're easier to cast against Thalia, otherwise Pyroclasm is worse against D&T than Kozileks Return. Pyroclasm is just much better in all the other MU's where the instant speed doesn't matter all that much, that's why I prefer it.
Oh ya any tips to deal with the Eldrazi menace?
The Eldrazi MU is really hard. My basic plan is to overrun them with Mentor/ Clique after having stopped their first onslaught. This includes taking fairly aggressive lines, too.
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