scrumdogg
08-10-2009, 08:49 PM
I enjoy playing Zoo, but getting the configuration correct for the expected metagame (if you can predict the meta...) is an ongoing challenge. Given that this seems to violate one of the tenets of gaming: make your opponent respond to your strategy and chafes at the toolbox element of my Magic soul, I wanted to try a different Zoo direction. Magic is all about doing the most unfair thing possible in the most efficient way. Two of the best unfair things not in blue or involving a combo deck are Shusher & Natural Order Progenitus (oh, and Goyf...but that's so widespread it's like a given...). So I converted the creatures to all green, added NO-Prog, and continue to tinker with the burn/spell contingent & SB. This is what I played at the Sunday FBB Revised Set Legacy at GP Boston, correctly predicting a field of tribal and aggro control.
Land: (22)
4x Taiga
4x Savannah
2x Plateau
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Forest
2x Mountain
1x Plains
Critters: (20)
4x Goyf
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Vexing Shusher (I hate Counter-Top with a passion, and Chalice is also bad for a deck with a curve of 1-2)
4x Qasali Pridemage (see also, hate, and the Exalted is just fine)
3x Kitchen Finks (surprisingly good)
1x Progenitus
Stuff: (20)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Magma Jet
3x Volcanic Fallout (was very good for me at the Boston $5K, and the GP Legacy was full of Merfolk, Elves, Goblins...none of which I faced until Round 5 >.<)
2x Umezawa's Jitte (I can't conceive of running the deck without them, unless it was a field full of combo...and then I'm just plain running the wrong deck...)
3x Natural Order (combination of all I own atm & the right number for a deck not focused on getting to 4 mana asap)
SB: immaterial except that it included no Crypt/Relic or Price of Progress
Yes, it is 62 cards...that is a problem (later rectified)...but could not trim in time.
Round 1 faced Gbw NO Survival, lost in 3, lucksack Quebecois had Turn 1 BoP, Turn 2 Thoughtseize, Turn 3 STP/Shriekmaw games 1 & 2 (had both STP AND Shriekmaw one game...) and Turn 3 NO off a Turn 2 Wall of Roots in Game 3. Outstanding...
Round 2 played LSV with ANT...kept a hand good versus Enchantress...oh boy. Except my implied burn seemed to scare him into a premature (Turn 2) Ad Nauseum that resulted in him fizzling & at 7 life (4 after an EOT Bolt). Followed by a quick Pridemage beating. Game 2 saw the same plan (after he boarded in critters & removal, except his Ad Nauseum killed him... Huh, I'll take the result though...
Round 3 I played perhaps the most fun match I've had in a long time with a guy who rarely gets to play Legacy in real life where he lives. He had a Reanimator deck that planned to Living Death multiple Hellkite Dragons back in one giant hasty ass-beating, with lots of counter & critter kill. We had 3 back & forth games and I apprently could have survived his Living Death on (3) Hellkites Game 3 but missed it. I was at 24 & he would have returned a Finks from my graveyard to play, I could have then Lightning Bolted the Finks and survived at 1, but I missed it. Oh well, helluva nice guy that was a blast to play (why did I ever take out Crypts??) and I had the odd experience of having Natural Order countered (2) turns in a row with a Shusher out (play Shusher, play NO, removal aimed at Shusher, Shusher activates with last mana, counter aimed at NO in response...two turns in a row) :cool:
Round 4 faced Tariq Zahzam with UWR Landstill...was never really in either game as he had answers to everything I did & lack of PoP spelled my doom. Oh well, can't have everything & prediction/scouting showed very, very little Landstill...but PoP is the answer to Landstill, especially with Shusher.
Round 5...Merfolk...finally! About gawddam time! Yes, I win this, although to be fair he was completely blown out after nearly annihilating me in Game 1 by a very timely Fallout (you maindeck that?!?) that more than turned the tables.
Won, dropped, went to catch train home & ponder... Several observations, Price of Progress belongs in the deck, either main or side, but it is THE answer for a number of matchups (wanna guess what I forgot at home this Sunday? >.>). 61 I am comfortable with but 62 is undefensible unless you're Wakefield (and I was NOT running 26 lands....). The manabase was subtly off so I replaced 1 Savannah with 1 Plateau which has made an appreciable difference, believe it or not. I would like to add (2) Horizon Canopy, but do not want to mess with the basics, which have been gold, or lose too many Savannahs since they power Nacatls & are fetchable. But I do have problems with too few & too many lands in some games & would like the ability to smooth if possible (and dig).
So, after a busy week, this is what was altered for the next Sunday
Land: (22)
4x Taiga
4x Savannah
2x Plateau
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Forest
2x Mountain
1x Plains
Critters: (20)
4x Goyf
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Vexing Shusher
4x Qasali Pridemage
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Progenitus
Stuff: (19)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Magma Jet
2x Path to Exile
2x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Natural Order
SB:
3x Compost (double duty against Ichorid & the mono-black/Bg/GBW Goodstuff decks that show locally)
4x Volcanic Fallout (since there are anywhere from 2-5 Merfolk decks locally plus the occassional Elves, Goblin, or other weenie swarm)
3x Engineered Explosives
3x Shattering Spree (pulled Grips in & out 14 times before tourney...)
2x Wickerborough Elder
Round 1 vs mono-black New kid, nice enough & wrecks me Game 1 but Composts show up Games 2 and 3 and allow me to do hideously unfair things to him...
Round 2 vs UGR CT Thresh (wweenieking). Josh is a very good player who has monied at GPs and wrecks me frequently, this week being no exception. Game 1 we dodge back & forth but he topdecks exactly what he needs a couple crucial turns in a row and exactly counters my stuff/answers, drops a Shackles, steals my Goyf and wins. Game 2 he gets some ridiculous string of events that ends starts with him tapped out with no cards, a fresh Coalt & Standstill. It ends with an 8/8 Coatl, a Shackles, MY Goyf and another Standstill...next turn...that didn't end well, surprisingly...but it was correct to break his Standstill while his hand was empty & he was tapped out....
Round 3 vs UGR Canadian Thresh which in 3 very tight games, sees the good guys (me, dammit) triumphant. Game 3 saw him stuck on low land & a Goose but with Brainstorms out the eyeballs. I saw 3x Shusher but he only got 2 burn spells & the protected Path on his Goyf saw him fetch no basics (yauss!). Goose & Goblin raced until an EOT Helix put the Goose on defense. Burn chipped away at him, a protected EE @1 dropped (he had a hand full of counter & two more Goose from his 4th Brainstorm at that point apparently according to a frustrated opponent after the match). I put him on a Stifle but he didn't have it, EOT pop EE, swing in. Whew. Shusher was MVP as he would have skullfucked me Game 3 otherwise...
Round 4 vs White Stax....huh...well, had to test this eventually. He wins the die roll & powers out a Turn 1 COTV:1...damn...then a Turn 2 COTV:2...hmm, this could suck...except my friend Shusher drops Turn 3. He tries to get the Stack plan going except Finks shows up to stall that for a turn or 2 until Pridemage can join the party. He sacs Stack to itself on his turn instead of retarding his board further but weasel beats do him in. Game 2 was more of the samebut with Wickerboroughs & Shattering Sprees added.
Round 5 to see who gets into Top 4 I get....Dragon Stompy! Yauss! Fat Man Dance of Joy! He doesn't get a Turn 1 Moon effect either game (although I had basics both games anyway) and my deck does what it is supposed to and crushes him in 2 quick & dirty games.
Top 4 split and home to contemplate how to fit 27 cards into the sideboard...thoughts on that are most welcome. Hope someone gets a chance to put this together & try it, it is a lot of fun to play and sideboarded properly can run with anything except fast combo.
Land: (22)
4x Taiga
4x Savannah
2x Plateau
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Forest
2x Mountain
1x Plains
Critters: (20)
4x Goyf
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Vexing Shusher (I hate Counter-Top with a passion, and Chalice is also bad for a deck with a curve of 1-2)
4x Qasali Pridemage (see also, hate, and the Exalted is just fine)
3x Kitchen Finks (surprisingly good)
1x Progenitus
Stuff: (20)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Magma Jet
3x Volcanic Fallout (was very good for me at the Boston $5K, and the GP Legacy was full of Merfolk, Elves, Goblins...none of which I faced until Round 5 >.<)
2x Umezawa's Jitte (I can't conceive of running the deck without them, unless it was a field full of combo...and then I'm just plain running the wrong deck...)
3x Natural Order (combination of all I own atm & the right number for a deck not focused on getting to 4 mana asap)
SB: immaterial except that it included no Crypt/Relic or Price of Progress
Yes, it is 62 cards...that is a problem (later rectified)...but could not trim in time.
Round 1 faced Gbw NO Survival, lost in 3, lucksack Quebecois had Turn 1 BoP, Turn 2 Thoughtseize, Turn 3 STP/Shriekmaw games 1 & 2 (had both STP AND Shriekmaw one game...) and Turn 3 NO off a Turn 2 Wall of Roots in Game 3. Outstanding...
Round 2 played LSV with ANT...kept a hand good versus Enchantress...oh boy. Except my implied burn seemed to scare him into a premature (Turn 2) Ad Nauseum that resulted in him fizzling & at 7 life (4 after an EOT Bolt). Followed by a quick Pridemage beating. Game 2 saw the same plan (after he boarded in critters & removal, except his Ad Nauseum killed him... Huh, I'll take the result though...
Round 3 I played perhaps the most fun match I've had in a long time with a guy who rarely gets to play Legacy in real life where he lives. He had a Reanimator deck that planned to Living Death multiple Hellkite Dragons back in one giant hasty ass-beating, with lots of counter & critter kill. We had 3 back & forth games and I apprently could have survived his Living Death on (3) Hellkites Game 3 but missed it. I was at 24 & he would have returned a Finks from my graveyard to play, I could have then Lightning Bolted the Finks and survived at 1, but I missed it. Oh well, helluva nice guy that was a blast to play (why did I ever take out Crypts??) and I had the odd experience of having Natural Order countered (2) turns in a row with a Shusher out (play Shusher, play NO, removal aimed at Shusher, Shusher activates with last mana, counter aimed at NO in response...two turns in a row) :cool:
Round 4 faced Tariq Zahzam with UWR Landstill...was never really in either game as he had answers to everything I did & lack of PoP spelled my doom. Oh well, can't have everything & prediction/scouting showed very, very little Landstill...but PoP is the answer to Landstill, especially with Shusher.
Round 5...Merfolk...finally! About gawddam time! Yes, I win this, although to be fair he was completely blown out after nearly annihilating me in Game 1 by a very timely Fallout (you maindeck that?!?) that more than turned the tables.
Won, dropped, went to catch train home & ponder... Several observations, Price of Progress belongs in the deck, either main or side, but it is THE answer for a number of matchups (wanna guess what I forgot at home this Sunday? >.>). 61 I am comfortable with but 62 is undefensible unless you're Wakefield (and I was NOT running 26 lands....). The manabase was subtly off so I replaced 1 Savannah with 1 Plateau which has made an appreciable difference, believe it or not. I would like to add (2) Horizon Canopy, but do not want to mess with the basics, which have been gold, or lose too many Savannahs since they power Nacatls & are fetchable. But I do have problems with too few & too many lands in some games & would like the ability to smooth if possible (and dig).
So, after a busy week, this is what was altered for the next Sunday
Land: (22)
4x Taiga
4x Savannah
2x Plateau
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Forest
2x Mountain
1x Plains
Critters: (20)
4x Goyf
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Vexing Shusher
4x Qasali Pridemage
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Progenitus
Stuff: (19)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Magma Jet
2x Path to Exile
2x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Natural Order
SB:
3x Compost (double duty against Ichorid & the mono-black/Bg/GBW Goodstuff decks that show locally)
4x Volcanic Fallout (since there are anywhere from 2-5 Merfolk decks locally plus the occassional Elves, Goblin, or other weenie swarm)
3x Engineered Explosives
3x Shattering Spree (pulled Grips in & out 14 times before tourney...)
2x Wickerborough Elder
Round 1 vs mono-black New kid, nice enough & wrecks me Game 1 but Composts show up Games 2 and 3 and allow me to do hideously unfair things to him...
Round 2 vs UGR CT Thresh (wweenieking). Josh is a very good player who has monied at GPs and wrecks me frequently, this week being no exception. Game 1 we dodge back & forth but he topdecks exactly what he needs a couple crucial turns in a row and exactly counters my stuff/answers, drops a Shackles, steals my Goyf and wins. Game 2 he gets some ridiculous string of events that ends starts with him tapped out with no cards, a fresh Coalt & Standstill. It ends with an 8/8 Coatl, a Shackles, MY Goyf and another Standstill...next turn...that didn't end well, surprisingly...but it was correct to break his Standstill while his hand was empty & he was tapped out....
Round 3 vs UGR Canadian Thresh which in 3 very tight games, sees the good guys (me, dammit) triumphant. Game 3 saw him stuck on low land & a Goose but with Brainstorms out the eyeballs. I saw 3x Shusher but he only got 2 burn spells & the protected Path on his Goyf saw him fetch no basics (yauss!). Goose & Goblin raced until an EOT Helix put the Goose on defense. Burn chipped away at him, a protected EE @1 dropped (he had a hand full of counter & two more Goose from his 4th Brainstorm at that point apparently according to a frustrated opponent after the match). I put him on a Stifle but he didn't have it, EOT pop EE, swing in. Whew. Shusher was MVP as he would have skullfucked me Game 3 otherwise...
Round 4 vs White Stax....huh...well, had to test this eventually. He wins the die roll & powers out a Turn 1 COTV:1...damn...then a Turn 2 COTV:2...hmm, this could suck...except my friend Shusher drops Turn 3. He tries to get the Stack plan going except Finks shows up to stall that for a turn or 2 until Pridemage can join the party. He sacs Stack to itself on his turn instead of retarding his board further but weasel beats do him in. Game 2 was more of the samebut with Wickerboroughs & Shattering Sprees added.
Round 5 to see who gets into Top 4 I get....Dragon Stompy! Yauss! Fat Man Dance of Joy! He doesn't get a Turn 1 Moon effect either game (although I had basics both games anyway) and my deck does what it is supposed to and crushes him in 2 quick & dirty games.
Top 4 split and home to contemplate how to fit 27 cards into the sideboard...thoughts on that are most welcome. Hope someone gets a chance to put this together & try it, it is a lot of fun to play and sideboarded properly can run with anything except fast combo.