Time to battle again! After taking down the whole thing in February’s Legacy Challenge, this month I’m back and ready to defend my crown! Since I had been travelling a ton and working on a couple cool projects I’ll hopefully soon get to tell you more about, I didn’t really have a lot of time to play lately. Because of that, I’m mostly sticking with the list that had previously carried me to the top, only exchanging 1 Cabal Therapy in the sideboard for an additional copy of Nissa, Vital Force which has always felt amazing in the matchups I wanted her the most. This in turns weakens my SneakShow and Infect matchups, but greatly strengthens the Miracles one. With the MTGO meta being the MTGO meta and nearly 20% of the winning decklists being Miracles Shiva, destroyer of worlds, this felt like a very reasonable change. Check out how I fared this month below!
Here's my videos with live commentary of my run:
http://itsjulian.com/march-legacy-challenge-with-elves/
Thanks,
- Julian
The seven cardinal sins of Legacy:
1. Discuss the unbanning ofLand TaxEarthcraft.
2. Argue that banning Force of Will would make the format healthier.
3. Play Brainstorm without Fetchlands.
4. Stifle Standstill.
5. Think that Gaea's Blessing will make you Solidarity-proof.
6. Pass priority after playing Infernal Tutor.
7. Fail to playtest against Nourishing Lich (coZ iT wIlL gEt U!).
What decks got top 8?
I know of you (Elves), thiesen (Alakazimdk, 4 predict entreat miracles), Truckis (3 predict, entreat miracles) Mzfroste (2 predict?, Mentor? miracles).
I lost in top4 to mzfroste with lethal on board to time (had to use toilet at the beginning of match ). Where did all Eldrazi decks disappear, I havent played since Overwatch was released and the meta seems to be mostly Miracle/BUG/Loam/BR Reanimator? I wish there was some shake up to the legacy meta, I dislike how Counterbalance/True-Name Nemesis/Abrupt decay warp the meta. #bring Zoo and Landstill back
Predict Miracles
Land (21)
1x Arid Mesa
4x Flooded Strand
4x Island
1x Mountain
2x Plains
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Tundra
2x Volcanic Island
Instant (16)
4x Brainstorm
1x Counterspell
4x Force of Will
3x Predict
4x Swords to Plowshares
Artifact (4)
4x Sensei's Divining Top
Creature (3)
3x Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (11)
1x Council's Judgment
2x Entreat the Angels
4x Ponder
4x Terminus
Enchantment (3)
3x Counterbalance
Planeswalker (2)
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
SB:
1x Devastation Tide (lul)
3x Flusterstorm
2x Monastery Mentor
4x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Snapcaster Mage
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Wear / Tear
So that means top 4 were all miracles...that's great.
Julian, in your videos I often see you doing math in your head and out loud. Can you summarize some of the counting tricks you have, depending on board state?
There's a couple of things you should know by hard when playing Elves, which makes combat math much easier. Most importantly, what kind of damage a Natural Order will produce, including Behemoth and 1/1s:
5 attacking creatures = 34 damage
4 attacking creatures = 24 damage
3 attacking creatures = 16 damage
2 attacking creautres = 10 damage
1 attacking creature = 6 damage
4 creatures in play, 3 attacking = 19 damage
3 creatures in play, 2 attacking = 12 damage
These are just the numbers I know by hard. If you have creatures with 2 power like Nettle Sentinel or Reclamation Sage in play, the damage goes up by 1. Same goes for activating Pendelhaven with the Hoof trigger on the stack. Those cover about 98% of the scenarios that come up. What adds a little more complexity is how much toughness your opponent's untapped creautres have and whether he can gain life. A Batterskull for example is -8 damage on your attack. A live DRS is -4. Griselbrand is -14. A Swords to Plowshares on your Behemoth when attacking for 24 is either -9 or -12, depending on whether your opponent has the awarness to use his removal spell with the trigger on the stack (I'd say that ~15% of players don't.)
Of course those are just a couple of basic things to know by hard, but they'll already help you out in most situations.
Or are you referring to other situations? Other than combat math, I think I spend most of my matches thinking about which cards I need to draw and how soon I need to draw them.
The seven cardinal sins of Legacy:
1. Discuss the unbanning ofLand TaxEarthcraft.
2. Argue that banning Force of Will would make the format healthier.
3. Play Brainstorm without Fetchlands.
4. Stifle Standstill.
5. Think that Gaea's Blessing will make you Solidarity-proof.
6. Pass priority after playing Infernal Tutor.
7. Fail to playtest against Nourishing Lich (coZ iT wIlL gEt U!).
(by heart*)
Thanks! Yes, that's mostly what I meant. What about for mana costs and tutoring with GSZ? If I remember correctly, at one point you had like a forest, a dryad, and a DRS and ended up with like 6 creatures on the board with GSZ (I may be exaggerating, I can't find the clip now). How do you work out the math for what you can play with nettle, heritage, etc.?
Keep fighting the good fight against the Miracle menace as I will continue to do. Congrats on the top 8! kiu.
Peace,
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