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Thread: Eternal Extravaganza 2016 w/ ANT

  1. #1

    Eternal Extravaganza 2016 w/ ANT

    I had an excellent time this weekend at Eternal Extravaganza down in Baltimore, so I thought I'd write up a report!

    The weekend began strong, with a 3-1 Legacy FNM for practice, sneaking by Eldrazi in the final to make prizes, followed by some crunch time in the office on Saturday (gross, but productive). After the office, I drove down to my buddy's place for a few casual drafts; I attempted to build a mill deck in KLD, but the only minister of inquiries I saw was my p1p1 (RIP). Suffice it to say, that draft didn't go so hot. The next one I got a sweet BUG emerge deck with Lilianna and Gisa and Geralf, but get savagely tempoed out of the game by my car buddy for the weekend. It's okay though; I won the EDH game we played afterward. We then headed off to bed.

    The next morning, I awoke to the delicious smell of breakfast sandwiches (nice) which my car buddy made! We chow them down and chat about the meta, and then head down to Baltimore. On the way, we jammed to the Floozies to get us in a nice, funky mood. We arrived with scant few minutes to spare, and hustle in to write out our decklists (after they got us into the event; we didn't show up on the first printout). Speaking of lists, here's what I played:

    ANT

    4 Dark Ritual
    4 Cabal Ritual
    4 Lion's Eye Diamond
    4 Lotus Petal
    1 Chrome Mox

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Gitaxian Probe
    1 Preordain

    4 Duress
    3 Cabal Therapy

    4 Infernal Tutor
    1 Dark Petition

    1 Past in Flames
    1 Ad Nauseam
    1 Tendrils of Agony

    4 Scalding Tarn
    4 Polluted Delta
    2 Underground Sea
    1 Volcanic Island
    1 Badlands
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Island
    1 Swamp

    Side

    3 Abrupt Decay
    2 Empty the Warrens
    2 Tendrils of Agony
    2 Disfigure
    2 Hurkyll's Recall
    1 Past in Flames
    1 Surgical Extraction
    1 Chain of Vapor
    1 Chrome Mox

    This is a fairly standard ANT list, if a bit of an older one; nowadays, people will often play a few more business spells or fewer lands, and rarely run the Chrome Mox in the main, but I find this configuration to be flexible and consistent, and fits with my playstyle, which favors more aggressive lines. I'm not sure ANT is really the best positioned deck at the moment (perhaps as evinced by its return to Established) but it's certainly the deck with which I have the most experience, and to be honest, I enjoy it (I mean, have you ever looked at a Cabal Ritual? That card has more skulls on it than a metal band album cover!).

    Pairings go up not long after, and we're off to the races:

    Round One: Wayne with Maverick

    After a bit of chatting and shuffling, we got down to it. After an early Duress, it became clear that he was on Mav, and fortunately didn't have much hate in his opener outside of a pair of Deathrite Shamans. A quick Ad Nauseam takes me to four, and I'm able to win before his DRS shakes off his summoning sickness. The second round did not go quite as hot; a mother's warm embrace keeps his Teeg safe from the forces of darkness, and we move to game three. The most amusing moment came from a cabal therapy attempt:
    "Target you."
    "Resolves, naming?"
    "Thalia."
    "...Which one?"
    "Uh, the relevant one."
    "Oh, they're both relevant..."
    ...as he reveals a KotR and the Heretic Cathar. I chuckle at my miss, but then find out later how much of a house the three mana version is; fetching is really hard with her in play, and between that and wastelands it's a real mess. Fortunately, I'm able to figure out a way to put together some other mana for a PiF loop and take the first round.

    2-1, 1-0

    Round Two: Adonnys with Grixis Delver

    My opponent begins the round by intimating that he's not a Legacy regular; his deck is not his own, but the property of his friend currently attending the Pro Tour. What small hope this gives me is quickly dashed as I'm routed in two quick games, the first including a large blunder on my part: I failed to play around a Force of Will revealed by Delver, that I might've been able to bait with tighter play. Instead, I went for a line that was unable to beat the free counterspell and had to shuffle up for game two. After analyzing the situation afterward, we came to the conclusion that he still would win with correct play (he'd have to make a mistake on what he forced for me to win) but I certainly left EV on the table here. Interestingly, I think this situation may have been one in which Grim Tutor would've been better than Dark Petition. I certainly have no plans to shell out for it, but I try to keep my eye out for situations where it might matter. Game two is much worse, and I'm Cabal Therapied into the ground after a mulligan.

    0-2, 1-1

    Round Three: Bryan with Ponder Miracles

    After the loss in the last round, I find myself a little disappointed, but in higher spirits than usual and ready to try again. Unfortunately, my opponent opens on Strand into Island, and I suspect I'm up against the big blue elephant in the room. Sure enough, when I take the risky line and attempt to Ad Nauseam turn one to avoid getting counterbalanced on his turn two, he has the Force, and I die to Jace sometime later. Despite getting punished, I think I would take the same line again: there is a good chance his hand doesn't have force, and in game one, him landing a counterbalance on two, even without a top, is pretty damning. I didn't have a discard spell, so I decided to go for it. Fortunately, I was able to scrape together a win in game two with a buzzer beater Ad Nauseam from fourteen, winning with one life after a probe and a fetch. In the final game, we went to time, but I was able to sneak in the win, as my opponent did not play the counterbalance on top of his library by flipping top to make an ersatz Chalice on one, and I was able to convert a sketchy graveyard of rituals and cantrips, plus a PiF and LED, into a win. Whew.

    2-1, 2-1

    Round Four: Spencer with Nic Shift

    Round four was pretty brutal for my opponent: in game one, he had land troubles exacerbated by my duress, which took the SDT he was going to lean on to find more. By the time he found a second land and burning withed for a thoughtseize, I already had all the pieces, and made a quick Past in Flames loop for the game. The second game, similarly nasty, involved an Ad Nauseam followed by a cautious discard spell to clear the way, which revealed only four lands in his hand. Woof. On the plus side, he was very cogenial even after we had a bit of a judge call (I hadn't drawn for my Gitaxian Probe, and he asked, "good?" and I said "yeah" w.r.t. writing down his hand, and he began his turn as I was going to draw. Fortunately, the judge just had me draw and then we proceded with the game, but I need to make sure to be clear in games so that doesn't happen) and happily showed me his deck, which was super spicy.

    2-0, 3-1

    Round Five: Nathan with Lands

    Nathan, a gregarious judge with a beautiful foil lands deck, chatted with me happily before we began our match. Upon drawing his opener, he lamented that he had drawn his one-of for the third time that day. I speculated Dryad Arbor, remembering my brother's similar complaints on behalf of his GSZ's, but a duress revealed that Barbarian Ring was the spicy tech of the day. I comboed out shortly after taking a Crop Rotation, as Nathan was unable to find spells. The second game was much the same, and I was able to combo out after discarding his resistor (I think I actually kept a no-lander in this game, and my lotus petal into cantrip line found me what I needed). After getting a sandwich and a milkshake I had promised my car buddy, I actually came back and chatted with Nathan and his friends, one of whom showed me his white-bordered vintage deck () and his super nice doomsday deck (alpha rituals!).

    2-0; 4-1

    Round Six: A Philly Sourcer (!) with Sexy Moon Stompy

    A friendly face greets me at the table for round six; another Philly regular I've seen around. It becomes clear I've confused him (and his deck choice) multiple times with some other guy, and I still can't guess what he's on. I do notice his classy MtG: the Source mat, and casually ask him what his username is. He coyly declines until after the match, and we get started. First game, I'm unable to put anything together, as I'm immediately chaliced out; fortunately, I led on Volcanic > Brainstorm, and concede to try to put him off the scent. We're iced as the judges come over to perform a deck check (the second in a row for my opponent) and we amiably chat about the format. Once we get our decks back, we go to round two, and I quickly combo out, my quick concession in game one apparently having the desired effect ("he jedi-mind-tricked-me," he'd later remark ). I'm able to take the last game despite a small blunder: I go quickly for goblins, hoping to sneak by any additional hate pieces (he starts on a blood moon) and make 18, rather than 20, when I had a gitaxian probe available in the yard post-PiF to get the extra storm for a single lethal attack. Fortunately, I dodge the ratchet bomb and the green men get there. Afterwards, Ace reveals his alter ego, and we chuckle about some of our sweet tech and our guilty enjoyment of the B&R thread. Next time I'll remember your deck, Ace - I've got your number now

    2-1, 5-1

    Round Seven: Alex with Elves

    A peculiar, particular vexation of mine is that I have always seemed to come up short against Elves with ANT when playing sanctioned Magic. I know it's supposed to be a pretty decent matchup for the guy on the Dark Rituals, but for whatever reason, I never seem to be able to find a tutor, or my opponent always has the double cabal therapy in one of the post-board games. Sure enough, game one, I play no fewer than four cantrips, including two shuffled ponders, but am unable to find a tutor before dying. Amusingly, I again failed to reveal any of the particularly characteristic cards in my deck, and am able to simply demur when my opponent jokes, "I almost had a heart attack for a second, thinking you were on storm" as he packs up game one. Game two, I go into a quick ad nauseam, but end up making it just barely, surviving one deathrite activation to combo at one life. In this and the last game, I have to convince myself my opponent can't do anything on board; Elves is really complex, and it seems like there's always a way that they can squeeze out a bit more mana with quirion rangers and symbiotes and the like. The last game goes similarly, as my opponent keeps a fast hand with little disruption hoping to race, and I'm able to pick up my first sanctioned match against elves! I'm doubly excited, as the sixth victory puts me into the prizes, so regardless of what else happens, I made my entry back.

    2-1, 6-1

    Round Eight: Ross, with Legends Miracles

    Unfortunately, round seven turned out to be the caboose of the matchup lottery gravy train, and I sit down with Ross, another regular of my LGS. The last time we played, it was the miracles mirror, and I was able to eke it out during extra turns, so I hoped that he put me on the same deck to perhaps give me some breathing room. His first hand turns out to be a little slow, and I'm able to take it despite a lousy ad nauseam; unfortunately, he's able to shut me down pretty heavily in the latter two games.

    1-2, 6-2

    Round Nine: ?

    "Hey, wanna split?"
    "Yes!"

    0-0, 6-2-1

    Fortunately my final round opponent is of similar mind (well, I might've played for the funsies, but he had to go), and we fill out our sheet and collect our prizes. I spend half of mine on a flusterstorm after convincing myself that buying a candelabra for EDH might be kinda silly, and my buddy and I head out to a local bar for some celebratory Natty Boh.

    Props:
    - Tales of Adventure, making Philly great for Legacy, as always
    - The Floozies, for excellent funk on the car ride
    - Natty Boh, for being better than expected and charmingly "Baltimore," and bartender guy for excellent brisket sandwich recommendation
    - Dark Ritual, card is so sweet
    - Sesame Street, for teaching me to count to ten

    Slops:
    - City of Baltimore parking machines, for taking my eight dollars despite parking being free on Sunday

    Hope everyone else who made it had a good time as well!

  2. #2

    Re: Eternal Extravaganza 2016 w/ ANT

    Hey man it was nice to see you again. That elves match was crazy, winning on Turn 2 on a mull.

  3. #3

    Re: Eternal Extravaganza 2016 w/ ANT

    Quote Originally Posted by brenden2000 View Post
    Hey man it was nice to see you again. That elves match was crazy, winning on Turn 2 on a mull.
    Likewise! Yeah, that was kinda nuts; it's one of the reasons I like ANT - even when things look a little grim, sometimes you can just win out of nowhere.

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