diffy
08-22-2010, 04:07 PM
http://www.wizards.com/tournaments/images/nationals.gif
2010 Germany National Championship
Stadthalle Am Schloss, Schlossplatz 1, 63739 Aschaffenburg
Satuarday, August 21st
Deutsche Legacy-Meisterschaft - German Legacy Champs
So it's that time of the year already? Meh. More of this Legacy nonsense.
P.S.: this piece is experimental, full of Mythenmetzsche Abschweifungen (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensel_und_Krete#Ebene_II:_Die_Mythenmetzsche_Abschweifung), lame puns and of horrid style. Deal with it.
Preamble
It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it wasn't. It should have been. Because that would have made my introduction much easier to write. Anyway; it wasn't a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, someone mentioned the German Legacy Champs and that we should go to them.
And now for something completely different.
Cupcakes. Let's talk cupcakes. Delicious, mouth-watering double-choc cupcakes.
80g (2.8oz) all purpose flour, 100g (3.5oz) sugar, 100g (3.5oz) room-temperature butter, 1 medium-sized egg, 65g (2.3oz) Dutch-processed coca powder, one teaspoon of baking soda, three sachets of vanilla-sugar.
Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy, add the egg and mix until well combined. Combine flour and baking soda and slowly add to mixture. Add cocoa powder until mixture is very dark brown, almost fully black. Fill cupcake compartments up to 3/4 of height, let bake at 180°C (356°F) for 10-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For filling heat 100mL (3.3floz) cream until just slightly bubbly at the sides of the pot and pour over 75g (2.6oz) grated bitter chocolate. Let chocolate dissolve and gently stir until combined. Refrigerate until smooth and fill into fully cooled down cupcakes using keg-method or use as frosting.
Serve immediately or store in refrigerator (keeps for 2-3 days).
This will be important later on, said the deranged eremite.
Where were we? Right. The German Legacy Champs 2010.
I started testing for the event some two weeks after the July Hassloch Legacy event (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?18282-%5BReport%5D-Team-SPOD-July-Hassloch-Legacy-Event-aka-Back-in-Business). Why such a long fore-haul, you ask? That'd be because I'd be entering totally new terrain with these Champs, having sold my Goyfs and thus having to play and tech-out Goyfless bad decks.
In the following six weeks I looked into Aeon Bridge (http://deckstats.net/deck-252268-37e7215e9dd131c97c430906378ab1cd-en.html) which was amazing but tended to loose against stuff people play a lot i.e. Stifle/Waste + Clock. And loosing to stuff people play (a lot) is generally not considered a good idea, I told myself after Stefan told it to me.
I then once again had a short fall-back love-affair with Ichorid, but we all know how that ended (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?18553-%5BReport%5D-Team-SPOD-August-Hassloch-Legacy-Event-aka-Doing-the-Menendian): I should have known before - once it's over, it's over and done for. Going back to exes: it's just not a good idea.
About a week or so before the event, I'd settled on either Dreadstill or Merfolk probably being the Goyfless bad deck to play if one were to play a Goyfless bad deck. Which, of course, is fairly ironic if you consider how I would have reacted about a year ago if you'd told me I'd ever be hesitating whether to play the former or the later one of aforementioned decks: I would have laughed. Hard. And told you that you were somewhat deranged.
But then again, there I was, contemplating Dreadstill, an Uwr List with Swords to Plowshares main and a red Sideboard, and Merfolk. Then Dreadstill dreadfully underperformed at this month's Hassloch event (and always felt kind of shaky and not-winning on anything but the back of Dreadnought + hope that it's enough in testing too) and I was able to borrow a whopping four complete Merfolk decks within seven minutes of asking people, Merfolk it was.
The obvious and unavoidable starting point: Saito's GP-Winning Merfolk list (http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=37324). Upon some first testing, I liked many things about the list: Coralhelm Commander is ridiculous, as is Spell Pierce (but only in the right matchups hence into the sideboard it went) and having enough lands (although 21 - an astronomic number at first sight - turned out to actually rather be on the lowish side).
What I absolutely didn't like ('hate with a passion' might even be more fitting) were Cursecatcher (whoever thinks 1/1s for one mana are Legacy-material should be keelhauled) and the blatant lack of Stifle (whoever plays Wastelands in blue tempo oriented decks but omits Stifle i.e. the second part to one of the currently strongest 'engines' in Legacy should walk the plank directly - no need for any keelhauling).
Thus a first, easy switch was made: -4 Cursecatcher, +4 Stifle.
I retooled the manabase along the way, cutting back on the bloated black-mana-source count while adding more basics which are awesome against the omnipresent Wastelands and Stifles: -2 Underground Sea, -1 Fetchland, +3 Island.
I liked the ensuing list a lot: the manabase was rock solid and Stife/Wast still exactly that good as it has been in the last few months. However, the Zoo matchup still induced me with horrid thoughts and Standstill remained underwhelming in the worse matchups (as did Spell Pierce). Also, 16 creatures were terrifyingly little.
Thus followed a next set of changes, more controversial this time: -2 Standstill, +2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner.
But Standstill is a 0 or 4 card, they yelled. Nay, he replied, and listen why: Standstill be no good against all decks, Standstill be no good as doubles, Standstill be no good in the opener, thus Standstill be no four-er. QED, bitches. (Also, Kira be creating virtual card advantage too.)
And followed an even more controversial change: -3 Island, -3 Spell Pierce, +1 Fetchland, +2 Tundra, +3 Swords to Plowshares.
But a second splash is too greedy, they yelled. Nay, he replied, and listen why: ye only difference to ye GP winning Manabase be two Tundra for two Underground Sea, yer not be needing black preboard anyway, yer got Stifle to protect yer manabase, yer only be needing to fetch ye white or black once to cast yer one spell little matter it therefore be if Tundra/Underground Sea be wasted afterwards. It'll work, bitches.
And thus our hero had found himself a list.
The list then was played to a second place finish in a Magic-League Trial (http://www.magic-league.com/deck/63730/legacy_t15.html#UW%20Merfolk101921), receiving the official seal of approval just three days before the actual event.
This entire hobby was then forgotten about for millennia three days, where our hero focused on other things, most notably crafting Cupcakes and rolling Sushi to entertain his fellow fellows with.
[Report] Team SPOD @ German Legacy Champs 2010 aka. Doing the Saito (almost)
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, an alarm went off. Actually, it more of came on and then was put off, but this be of no further matter here. 06:20 said the clock, splash the shower, yummy the home-made yoghurt drink, and off we go the comrades.
But you'd much rather hear me talk about Sushi, right? Because Sushi is awesome. And incredibly easy and cheap to make at home too. Take the cheapest sticky-rice you can find, overcook it, season it with a blend of soy-sauce, mild vinegar (rice vinegar works best, any other type will do too if diluted), sugar and salt, paste it as thinly as you manage onto your Nori-sheets, add the fillings you like in a horizontal line onto the centre of your sheet (Avocado works wonders), roll (buy a bamboo-Sushi-rolling mat for this, they're only about 2€ and come in extremely handily for this task), cut (sharp and slightly wet knifes recommended), eat. That easy. And delicious too. Nori-less rolls work too but require a little more handiness (and sesame for coating).
If you don't give them some more Legacy content, they'll desert you soon, son. All right, all right. No more actually interesting stuff and back to the suck. We're still playing Legacy, after all. Meh, loosing interest in writing this.
What exactly happened the night before the event? I vaguely remember something about brining some Cupcakes to Stefan's place, nomming on Cupcakes while writing a decklist, sharing some more Cupcakes and then cycling back home before strange (non-Cupcake related) things happened. I remember something about a bottle of Whiskey, a Dog, two guys and two ranges of beer (brand: 5.0). But I wasn't involved there. And you didn't get that from me either.
Two hours later, we're in Aschaffenburg. Cosy place that is, lovely old town, et. al. But that's not interesting, is it?
"This is your head-judge speaking. Before we start with the event, hear these words. 204 players signed up - we'll be playing 8 rounds of swiss and one additional round because we're lame and therefore don't play out the top8. We'll be playing at REL competitive - you'll therefore have to know what your cards do and play technically correct. I know that this probably is something new and awkward for you, but I'm a Legacy player too so I can diss all of you and you can't even get back to me on that one because I'm a Legacy player too, forgot? Also, I'm a Legacy player too. Please don't hit me for what I just said. Please?"
Nine rounds up and coming, this sleeved up, let's go:
http://www.abload.de/img/uwbmerfolk2r7t.jpg (http://deckstats.net/deck-252445-7faf34567ca473acdf89fb0ab38fd142-en.html)
(click image for decklist)
Round 1 vs. Fabian with UG Aggro Control
This report will be short. Extremely short. Nine rounds is just too much in order to remember any detail correctly - and the most interesting thing about tournaments (at least for me) is never the playing itself but rather the lists: what worked out, what didn't, what's the new hot tech, what could have been better, etc.. So we'll focus on that.
He wins the roll and chooses to play. I call him an Anfänger i.e. beginner (because he starts i.e. begins the game), he seems vexed telling me that in Legacy, he's far from a beginner. But he did start, didn't he? He doesn't get it.
He takes a mulligan, I visit Paris instead (people don't call me frenchy for nothing around here). He then goes all n-tuple Blurred Mongoose, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Root Maze and Mishra's Factory on me - yeah, Anfänger. Despite this, it looks rather good for him: I kept a one-lander with Tundra and Swords to Plowshares (hitting his Ninja of the Deep Hours) and don't draw a second land for a good portion of the early game, dropping to 3 in the process. I then find a land and start trading bad creatures (Silvergill Adept, Lord of Atlantis) for bad creatures (Blurred Mongoose) and stabilize. With all that suck out of the way, I start drawing lands and hitting with Mutavaults and Coralhelm Commanders and win shortly thereafter.
-2 Standstill (he has Vial/Factory/Standstill of his own)
-2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner (no removal in UG, yup)
-1 Stifle
+2 Perish
+2 Umezawa's Jitte
+1 Swords to Plowshares
I have an early Vial, he has early actual creatures (Tarmogoyf). He attacks me down to six. I then drop actual creatures (Coralhelm Commander) too, prove that Tarmogoyf is way too small and attack for 10 and then another infinite flying and islandwalking damage in two turns for the win. Attacking is fun. As is AEther Vial.
1-0-0 (2:0)
Round 2 vs. Frank with UWr Landstill
I have a great matchup, my opponent tells me. My opponent has a great matchup, Hausmann (the one and only my opponent got his list from) tells me. One or the other way, someone seems to have a great matchup.
He (my opponent, not Hausmann) tries to go one-for-one with my threats but fails. He tries to makes his manabase not suck but fails. He tries to win but fails (an AEther Vial on my side and not overextending into bad stuff helped, too).
-2 Standstill
-2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Hydroblast
+3 Spell Pierce
Once again, going one for one (or worse i.e. removal on Silvergill Adept) as the control deck is not a good thing. Especially not if you walk your Wastelands into my Kira, your Bolts on Coralhelm Commander into my Vial + Lord and your life total into one lethal swing + Force of Will backup.
2-0-0 (4:0)
Round 3 vs. Peter with Mono-Blue Merfolk
My opponent is wearing a navy polo and most certainly doesn't look like no landlubber. Bought or earned, I therefore ask. And much to my dismay, his reply is bought. Avast, you landlubber-although-you-don't-look-like.one.
A quick summary: Vial (two of them) + Swords to Plowshares (+ ye good ole Kira/Mutavault/Wasteland trick) > the mirror.
No wait. True pirates' Merfolk > guy with bought Navy polo's Merfolk. Meow!
-2 Standstill (notice a trend?)
-4 Stifle
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Umezawa's Jitte
One win. Second game. Three Silvergill Adepts.
Sadly the Adepts are on the wrong side of the table greatly helping him in the attrition battle that was our early game. At some point we both don't have no board, no cards in hand, I'm at 9, he's at 15. I draw a Lord of Atlantis and at the time it seemed like a good idea to Vial him into play at end of turn (with one of my two Vials - yours truly, performing Vials in the mirror like a pro), don't ask me why. His next two draws proceed to be two Cursecatchers. I loose soon thereafter.
Third game is quickly summed up too: he has triple Merrow Reejerey. I have double Coralhelm Commander. Guess who won? Yep, that guy is just that good (also: Swords to Plowshares on opposing Lords).
At this point, I've run out of apples (when again was it that I fell to the delusion that 1.5kG of apples would ever get me over an entire day?). That's bad. What's worse: I've run out of truly-biological-full-time-filthy-hippy-make-the-world-a-better-place-guaranteed-animal-friendly fruit and nut bars too. Now that's really bad. Disclaimer: if you should ever happen to meet me at a tournament while run out of apples and help me out of that situation, I'll high-five you. A lot.
3-0-0 (6:1)
Round 4 vs. Christian with Show&Tell/Dreamhalls
He plays some cantrips, I slow down a turn because I want to Stifle some fetchlands (wasting some of his lands along the way). Then be dropped some beats that put him down to 15 when he decides to go for Lim-Dûl's Vault. He pays a life twice and then goes Show and Tell into Progenitus on his next turn. I put a Merrow Reejerey into play, untap, play a Merrow Reejerey, untap some lands, play a Lord of Atlantis, untap some Mutavaults and race the Progenitus with ease.
-3 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
-2 Stifle
+3 Spell Pierce
+4 Perish
I Force of Will an early Xantid Swarm, trample on his manabase with Stifle + Wasteland and on his life total with a Silvergill Adept and a Lord of Atlantis. He goes for Lim-Dûl's Vault again, dropping to 9 in the process. He tries a Show and Tell – I look at my hand of four cards: damn it, no Lord to sneak into play. But double Spell Pierce and double Daze are some good too (although not to sneak into play).
4-0-0 (8:1)
Round 5 vs. Fabian with Ugr Tempo Threshold
We know each other pretty well from Hassloch – he offers the ID and I am glad to accept. To quote Fabian: "because 8-0-1 still gets you first place".
I treat myself to a Dürüm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCr%C3%BCm) which, for some reason, is called Yufka in Karlsruhe, but only in Karlsruhe. Upon eating the greasy indulgence the hippy in me dies a little. Life is better.
4-0-1 (8:1)
Round 6 vs. Simon (Van Phanel) with Ubr Dreadstill
Simon better tell you himself how this went, because I, for one, don't remember a thing of this round and my notes only tell me that I took a mulligan, didn't take a single point of damage and that apparently a Lord of Atlantis forced an early concession.
-2 Standstill
-1 Silvergill Adept
+3 Spell Pierce
Again, Simon better tell you what went on here - the only things remaining in my memory are Simon going all-aggro on me with a Trinket Mage, me savagely mindtricking an Engineered Explosives into a Stifle (holding two Stifles and playing one on a post-Top Fetchland activating talking some smack about “not going to hit anything better anyway” and the other one as blow-out on his Explosives), being the better control deck thanks to Spell Pierce, having an AEther Vial, playing Swords to Plowshares on a Factory and a Trinket Mage at some point, him not finding a Dreadnought and Lord of Atlantis eventually getting him pretty low (with Coralhelm Commander + Silvergill Adept finish the job). Nine rounds of Magic – one is bound to forget some stuff.
5-0-1 (10:1)
Round 7 vs. Matthias with Gu Lands
He takes a mulligan to four, I keep a shaky two Mutavault, two Wasteland, three Merrow Reejerey hand with the reasoning that many lands are good against his Wastelands, Wastelands good against his Deck and the Reejerey probably the best card against him too due to being able to tap Maze of Ith and similar. I get in for some early Mutavault beats, draw the one Island I need to speed up my clock and manage to screw him on green after he plays his Loam – Mulligan to four for the win.
-2 Standstill
-1 Stifle
-3 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Spell Pierce
He has a pretty awesome start with Manabond (I look at the Spell Pierce in my hand and wish it were another Force of Will), but doesn't activate it. I smell the Intuition and therefore slow down my board development in favor of holding open Spell Pierce mana. At some point before casting the Intuition he simply draws Life from the Loam and goes for it with Manabond (discarding the Intuition he did in fact hold). He dredges some, Wastes some of my lands, plays some other irrelevant lands and in the end has three Loams in his graveyard. Good thing I was holding that Relic of Progenitus since some time. He looses his graveyard plus his board is irrelevant equals I win.
6-0-1 (12:1)
Round 8 vs. Alexander with Faery-Horizons
Alex is yet another Hassloch player (regular of old, stopped playing the monthly events about a year and a half ago) and piloting an interesting take on New Horizons: Spellstutter Sprite over Terravore.
The first game is quickly told: he has a big Goyf and a big Knight of the Reliquary and a big Umezawa's Jitte (and a Force of Will for my Swords to Plowshares) – and I only have small fish who can't really swim with the sharks.
-4 Silvergill Adept
-2 Standstill
+1 Swords to Plowshares
+4 Perish
+1 Relic of Progenitus
Second game Kira is plenty of game being an awesome flyer and removal dodger, Force of Will gets rid of his dudes, Perish of some more, Coralhelm Commander and Mutavault then get there despite Jitte.
Third game is quickly summed up: according to Stefan (who positioned himself behind Alex), Alex had the nuts (counters for all of my dudes and more Goyfs than I had removal). And I failed to draw a black mana source for Perish all game long (early-game triple Wasteland hitting a Tundra and an Underground Sea with me consequently fetching an Island with my last fetchland probably didn't help too). I manage to stall with a Relic of Progenitus but Tarmogoyf eventually gets there. That's it. Not a nice way to loose the penultimate round. But it happens nevertheless. Now the motto is: too big good to fail (again).
6-1-1 (13:3)
Round 9 vs. Mark with Uwgr Columbus Countertop
One word: Kira. She (It)'s the nuts against removal. Kira and a Mutavault (and a Force of Will on a blocker) were all I needed.
-2 Standstill
-1 Island
+3 Spell Pierce
Second game I thought that playing Merfolk sucked and switched to Mono Blue Control instead: Force of Will hardcast (twice) off not a single Mutavault or Wasteland is not a good sign. Also: Kira didn't get there because he had his singleton Karakas (which happens to be awesome against Kira: having to counter every removal-spell instead of every second is no good news). He then proceeds to Needle my Aether Vials and Vendillion Clique/Karakas lock me. Not pretty, I tell you. Karakas – it wins games single-handedly.
With ten minutes on the clock we shuffle up for game three and I talk smack about a draw being the worst possible outcome for both of us prize-wise. He nods and signs the slip 2:1 in my favor, talking something about me normally having to win this anyway. You, sir, are awesome.
7-1-1 (15:4)
Fifth!
I collect my booty - 18 lousy packs of M11 -, head for my last round opponent (who still received 3 packs for his finish) and hand him nine packs. Karma. It works, bitches (being nice too).
The top 8:
Bernhard Klinger (Muradin) with Jace/Predict Dreadstill
Christoph Alsheimer with Doomsday
Michael Seubert with Doomsday
Michael Steinecke with Uwg Loam (interesting list)
Yours truly with Uwb Merfolk
Alexander Würtz with Faery-Horizons
Gabriel Kocanck with Enchantress
Gunnar Radzom with Death&Taxes
Lists can be found here (http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=5551).
Performance of “the fella's”:
Daniel 'Adan' Scherer (of SPOD fame) dropped early with Ichorid. Told you so.
Martin 'MSC' Schreiber (also of SPOD fame): 4-4-1 with GWr Survival
Oli Oey (not yet but probably very soon to be pirate): 6-3 with Ugr Tempo Threshold
Christopher 'venice' Wilhelm (rocking his epic yoga instructor dress): 6-3 with GW Survival
Stefan 'spirit of the wretch' Czolk (obviously of SPOD fame too): 7-2 with GWr Survival
Post-tournament notes on the list:
Double-splash works very well. Both Swords to Plowshares and Perish were well worth splashing for, the manabase always worked, only two Islands never were an issue. That one game where I couldn't cast Perish due to not having an Underground Sea I would have lost too with a more conventional Ub manabase.
Kira and Coralhelm Commander were the MVPs in the Main all day long.
I boarded out Standstill a lot – although that was very probably matchup-related, the slot goes onto the watchlist.
The Sideboard worked really well.
The deck mulligans exceptionally.
That's all I have to say – you be the judges whether this is any good or not.
Props & Slops (because I haven't done any of these in ages):
Props:
204 players.
My last round opponent.
Fifth place.
Marco for borrowing me 90% of the list.
The other guys for lending me the rest.
SPOD for being awesome.
Oli Oey for being awesome too.
Slops:
Top 8 not being played out.
Nine rounds being way too much Legacy.
Price support.
Adan for not listening to me. Do it and you will do better. Seriously. By now this has been proven countless times (and then some more).
Until next time, this is your truly, baking the Cupcakes, so that you don't have to.
2010 Germany National Championship
Stadthalle Am Schloss, Schlossplatz 1, 63739 Aschaffenburg
Satuarday, August 21st
Deutsche Legacy-Meisterschaft - German Legacy Champs
So it's that time of the year already? Meh. More of this Legacy nonsense.
P.S.: this piece is experimental, full of Mythenmetzsche Abschweifungen (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensel_und_Krete#Ebene_II:_Die_Mythenmetzsche_Abschweifung), lame puns and of horrid style. Deal with it.
Preamble
It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it wasn't. It should have been. Because that would have made my introduction much easier to write. Anyway; it wasn't a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, someone mentioned the German Legacy Champs and that we should go to them.
And now for something completely different.
Cupcakes. Let's talk cupcakes. Delicious, mouth-watering double-choc cupcakes.
80g (2.8oz) all purpose flour, 100g (3.5oz) sugar, 100g (3.5oz) room-temperature butter, 1 medium-sized egg, 65g (2.3oz) Dutch-processed coca powder, one teaspoon of baking soda, three sachets of vanilla-sugar.
Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy, add the egg and mix until well combined. Combine flour and baking soda and slowly add to mixture. Add cocoa powder until mixture is very dark brown, almost fully black. Fill cupcake compartments up to 3/4 of height, let bake at 180°C (356°F) for 10-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For filling heat 100mL (3.3floz) cream until just slightly bubbly at the sides of the pot and pour over 75g (2.6oz) grated bitter chocolate. Let chocolate dissolve and gently stir until combined. Refrigerate until smooth and fill into fully cooled down cupcakes using keg-method or use as frosting.
Serve immediately or store in refrigerator (keeps for 2-3 days).
This will be important later on, said the deranged eremite.
Where were we? Right. The German Legacy Champs 2010.
I started testing for the event some two weeks after the July Hassloch Legacy event (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?18282-%5BReport%5D-Team-SPOD-July-Hassloch-Legacy-Event-aka-Back-in-Business). Why such a long fore-haul, you ask? That'd be because I'd be entering totally new terrain with these Champs, having sold my Goyfs and thus having to play and tech-out Goyfless bad decks.
In the following six weeks I looked into Aeon Bridge (http://deckstats.net/deck-252268-37e7215e9dd131c97c430906378ab1cd-en.html) which was amazing but tended to loose against stuff people play a lot i.e. Stifle/Waste + Clock. And loosing to stuff people play (a lot) is generally not considered a good idea, I told myself after Stefan told it to me.
I then once again had a short fall-back love-affair with Ichorid, but we all know how that ended (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?18553-%5BReport%5D-Team-SPOD-August-Hassloch-Legacy-Event-aka-Doing-the-Menendian): I should have known before - once it's over, it's over and done for. Going back to exes: it's just not a good idea.
About a week or so before the event, I'd settled on either Dreadstill or Merfolk probably being the Goyfless bad deck to play if one were to play a Goyfless bad deck. Which, of course, is fairly ironic if you consider how I would have reacted about a year ago if you'd told me I'd ever be hesitating whether to play the former or the later one of aforementioned decks: I would have laughed. Hard. And told you that you were somewhat deranged.
But then again, there I was, contemplating Dreadstill, an Uwr List with Swords to Plowshares main and a red Sideboard, and Merfolk. Then Dreadstill dreadfully underperformed at this month's Hassloch event (and always felt kind of shaky and not-winning on anything but the back of Dreadnought + hope that it's enough in testing too) and I was able to borrow a whopping four complete Merfolk decks within seven minutes of asking people, Merfolk it was.
The obvious and unavoidable starting point: Saito's GP-Winning Merfolk list (http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=37324). Upon some first testing, I liked many things about the list: Coralhelm Commander is ridiculous, as is Spell Pierce (but only in the right matchups hence into the sideboard it went) and having enough lands (although 21 - an astronomic number at first sight - turned out to actually rather be on the lowish side).
What I absolutely didn't like ('hate with a passion' might even be more fitting) were Cursecatcher (whoever thinks 1/1s for one mana are Legacy-material should be keelhauled) and the blatant lack of Stifle (whoever plays Wastelands in blue tempo oriented decks but omits Stifle i.e. the second part to one of the currently strongest 'engines' in Legacy should walk the plank directly - no need for any keelhauling).
Thus a first, easy switch was made: -4 Cursecatcher, +4 Stifle.
I retooled the manabase along the way, cutting back on the bloated black-mana-source count while adding more basics which are awesome against the omnipresent Wastelands and Stifles: -2 Underground Sea, -1 Fetchland, +3 Island.
I liked the ensuing list a lot: the manabase was rock solid and Stife/Wast still exactly that good as it has been in the last few months. However, the Zoo matchup still induced me with horrid thoughts and Standstill remained underwhelming in the worse matchups (as did Spell Pierce). Also, 16 creatures were terrifyingly little.
Thus followed a next set of changes, more controversial this time: -2 Standstill, +2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner.
But Standstill is a 0 or 4 card, they yelled. Nay, he replied, and listen why: Standstill be no good against all decks, Standstill be no good as doubles, Standstill be no good in the opener, thus Standstill be no four-er. QED, bitches. (Also, Kira be creating virtual card advantage too.)
And followed an even more controversial change: -3 Island, -3 Spell Pierce, +1 Fetchland, +2 Tundra, +3 Swords to Plowshares.
But a second splash is too greedy, they yelled. Nay, he replied, and listen why: ye only difference to ye GP winning Manabase be two Tundra for two Underground Sea, yer not be needing black preboard anyway, yer got Stifle to protect yer manabase, yer only be needing to fetch ye white or black once to cast yer one spell little matter it therefore be if Tundra/Underground Sea be wasted afterwards. It'll work, bitches.
And thus our hero had found himself a list.
The list then was played to a second place finish in a Magic-League Trial (http://www.magic-league.com/deck/63730/legacy_t15.html#UW%20Merfolk101921), receiving the official seal of approval just three days before the actual event.
This entire hobby was then forgotten about for millennia three days, where our hero focused on other things, most notably crafting Cupcakes and rolling Sushi to entertain his fellow fellows with.
[Report] Team SPOD @ German Legacy Champs 2010 aka. Doing the Saito (almost)
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, an alarm went off. Actually, it more of came on and then was put off, but this be of no further matter here. 06:20 said the clock, splash the shower, yummy the home-made yoghurt drink, and off we go the comrades.
But you'd much rather hear me talk about Sushi, right? Because Sushi is awesome. And incredibly easy and cheap to make at home too. Take the cheapest sticky-rice you can find, overcook it, season it with a blend of soy-sauce, mild vinegar (rice vinegar works best, any other type will do too if diluted), sugar and salt, paste it as thinly as you manage onto your Nori-sheets, add the fillings you like in a horizontal line onto the centre of your sheet (Avocado works wonders), roll (buy a bamboo-Sushi-rolling mat for this, they're only about 2€ and come in extremely handily for this task), cut (sharp and slightly wet knifes recommended), eat. That easy. And delicious too. Nori-less rolls work too but require a little more handiness (and sesame for coating).
If you don't give them some more Legacy content, they'll desert you soon, son. All right, all right. No more actually interesting stuff and back to the suck. We're still playing Legacy, after all. Meh, loosing interest in writing this.
What exactly happened the night before the event? I vaguely remember something about brining some Cupcakes to Stefan's place, nomming on Cupcakes while writing a decklist, sharing some more Cupcakes and then cycling back home before strange (non-Cupcake related) things happened. I remember something about a bottle of Whiskey, a Dog, two guys and two ranges of beer (brand: 5.0). But I wasn't involved there. And you didn't get that from me either.
Two hours later, we're in Aschaffenburg. Cosy place that is, lovely old town, et. al. But that's not interesting, is it?
"This is your head-judge speaking. Before we start with the event, hear these words. 204 players signed up - we'll be playing 8 rounds of swiss and one additional round because we're lame and therefore don't play out the top8. We'll be playing at REL competitive - you'll therefore have to know what your cards do and play technically correct. I know that this probably is something new and awkward for you, but I'm a Legacy player too so I can diss all of you and you can't even get back to me on that one because I'm a Legacy player too, forgot? Also, I'm a Legacy player too. Please don't hit me for what I just said. Please?"
Nine rounds up and coming, this sleeved up, let's go:
http://www.abload.de/img/uwbmerfolk2r7t.jpg (http://deckstats.net/deck-252445-7faf34567ca473acdf89fb0ab38fd142-en.html)
(click image for decklist)
Round 1 vs. Fabian with UG Aggro Control
This report will be short. Extremely short. Nine rounds is just too much in order to remember any detail correctly - and the most interesting thing about tournaments (at least for me) is never the playing itself but rather the lists: what worked out, what didn't, what's the new hot tech, what could have been better, etc.. So we'll focus on that.
He wins the roll and chooses to play. I call him an Anfänger i.e. beginner (because he starts i.e. begins the game), he seems vexed telling me that in Legacy, he's far from a beginner. But he did start, didn't he? He doesn't get it.
He takes a mulligan, I visit Paris instead (people don't call me frenchy for nothing around here). He then goes all n-tuple Blurred Mongoose, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Root Maze and Mishra's Factory on me - yeah, Anfänger. Despite this, it looks rather good for him: I kept a one-lander with Tundra and Swords to Plowshares (hitting his Ninja of the Deep Hours) and don't draw a second land for a good portion of the early game, dropping to 3 in the process. I then find a land and start trading bad creatures (Silvergill Adept, Lord of Atlantis) for bad creatures (Blurred Mongoose) and stabilize. With all that suck out of the way, I start drawing lands and hitting with Mutavaults and Coralhelm Commanders and win shortly thereafter.
-2 Standstill (he has Vial/Factory/Standstill of his own)
-2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner (no removal in UG, yup)
-1 Stifle
+2 Perish
+2 Umezawa's Jitte
+1 Swords to Plowshares
I have an early Vial, he has early actual creatures (Tarmogoyf). He attacks me down to six. I then drop actual creatures (Coralhelm Commander) too, prove that Tarmogoyf is way too small and attack for 10 and then another infinite flying and islandwalking damage in two turns for the win. Attacking is fun. As is AEther Vial.
1-0-0 (2:0)
Round 2 vs. Frank with UWr Landstill
I have a great matchup, my opponent tells me. My opponent has a great matchup, Hausmann (the one and only my opponent got his list from) tells me. One or the other way, someone seems to have a great matchup.
He (my opponent, not Hausmann) tries to go one-for-one with my threats but fails. He tries to makes his manabase not suck but fails. He tries to win but fails (an AEther Vial on my side and not overextending into bad stuff helped, too).
-2 Standstill
-2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Hydroblast
+3 Spell Pierce
Once again, going one for one (or worse i.e. removal on Silvergill Adept) as the control deck is not a good thing. Especially not if you walk your Wastelands into my Kira, your Bolts on Coralhelm Commander into my Vial + Lord and your life total into one lethal swing + Force of Will backup.
2-0-0 (4:0)
Round 3 vs. Peter with Mono-Blue Merfolk
My opponent is wearing a navy polo and most certainly doesn't look like no landlubber. Bought or earned, I therefore ask. And much to my dismay, his reply is bought. Avast, you landlubber-although-you-don't-look-like.one.
A quick summary: Vial (two of them) + Swords to Plowshares (+ ye good ole Kira/Mutavault/Wasteland trick) > the mirror.
No wait. True pirates' Merfolk > guy with bought Navy polo's Merfolk. Meow!
-2 Standstill (notice a trend?)
-4 Stifle
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Umezawa's Jitte
One win. Second game. Three Silvergill Adepts.
Sadly the Adepts are on the wrong side of the table greatly helping him in the attrition battle that was our early game. At some point we both don't have no board, no cards in hand, I'm at 9, he's at 15. I draw a Lord of Atlantis and at the time it seemed like a good idea to Vial him into play at end of turn (with one of my two Vials - yours truly, performing Vials in the mirror like a pro), don't ask me why. His next two draws proceed to be two Cursecatchers. I loose soon thereafter.
Third game is quickly summed up too: he has triple Merrow Reejerey. I have double Coralhelm Commander. Guess who won? Yep, that guy is just that good (also: Swords to Plowshares on opposing Lords).
At this point, I've run out of apples (when again was it that I fell to the delusion that 1.5kG of apples would ever get me over an entire day?). That's bad. What's worse: I've run out of truly-biological-full-time-filthy-hippy-make-the-world-a-better-place-guaranteed-animal-friendly fruit and nut bars too. Now that's really bad. Disclaimer: if you should ever happen to meet me at a tournament while run out of apples and help me out of that situation, I'll high-five you. A lot.
3-0-0 (6:1)
Round 4 vs. Christian with Show&Tell/Dreamhalls
He plays some cantrips, I slow down a turn because I want to Stifle some fetchlands (wasting some of his lands along the way). Then be dropped some beats that put him down to 15 when he decides to go for Lim-Dûl's Vault. He pays a life twice and then goes Show and Tell into Progenitus on his next turn. I put a Merrow Reejerey into play, untap, play a Merrow Reejerey, untap some lands, play a Lord of Atlantis, untap some Mutavaults and race the Progenitus with ease.
-3 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
-2 Stifle
+3 Spell Pierce
+4 Perish
I Force of Will an early Xantid Swarm, trample on his manabase with Stifle + Wasteland and on his life total with a Silvergill Adept and a Lord of Atlantis. He goes for Lim-Dûl's Vault again, dropping to 9 in the process. He tries a Show and Tell – I look at my hand of four cards: damn it, no Lord to sneak into play. But double Spell Pierce and double Daze are some good too (although not to sneak into play).
4-0-0 (8:1)
Round 5 vs. Fabian with Ugr Tempo Threshold
We know each other pretty well from Hassloch – he offers the ID and I am glad to accept. To quote Fabian: "because 8-0-1 still gets you first place".
I treat myself to a Dürüm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCr%C3%BCm) which, for some reason, is called Yufka in Karlsruhe, but only in Karlsruhe. Upon eating the greasy indulgence the hippy in me dies a little. Life is better.
4-0-1 (8:1)
Round 6 vs. Simon (Van Phanel) with Ubr Dreadstill
Simon better tell you himself how this went, because I, for one, don't remember a thing of this round and my notes only tell me that I took a mulligan, didn't take a single point of damage and that apparently a Lord of Atlantis forced an early concession.
-2 Standstill
-1 Silvergill Adept
+3 Spell Pierce
Again, Simon better tell you what went on here - the only things remaining in my memory are Simon going all-aggro on me with a Trinket Mage, me savagely mindtricking an Engineered Explosives into a Stifle (holding two Stifles and playing one on a post-Top Fetchland activating talking some smack about “not going to hit anything better anyway” and the other one as blow-out on his Explosives), being the better control deck thanks to Spell Pierce, having an AEther Vial, playing Swords to Plowshares on a Factory and a Trinket Mage at some point, him not finding a Dreadnought and Lord of Atlantis eventually getting him pretty low (with Coralhelm Commander + Silvergill Adept finish the job). Nine rounds of Magic – one is bound to forget some stuff.
5-0-1 (10:1)
Round 7 vs. Matthias with Gu Lands
He takes a mulligan to four, I keep a shaky two Mutavault, two Wasteland, three Merrow Reejerey hand with the reasoning that many lands are good against his Wastelands, Wastelands good against his Deck and the Reejerey probably the best card against him too due to being able to tap Maze of Ith and similar. I get in for some early Mutavault beats, draw the one Island I need to speed up my clock and manage to screw him on green after he plays his Loam – Mulligan to four for the win.
-2 Standstill
-1 Stifle
-3 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Spell Pierce
He has a pretty awesome start with Manabond (I look at the Spell Pierce in my hand and wish it were another Force of Will), but doesn't activate it. I smell the Intuition and therefore slow down my board development in favor of holding open Spell Pierce mana. At some point before casting the Intuition he simply draws Life from the Loam and goes for it with Manabond (discarding the Intuition he did in fact hold). He dredges some, Wastes some of my lands, plays some other irrelevant lands and in the end has three Loams in his graveyard. Good thing I was holding that Relic of Progenitus since some time. He looses his graveyard plus his board is irrelevant equals I win.
6-0-1 (12:1)
Round 8 vs. Alexander with Faery-Horizons
Alex is yet another Hassloch player (regular of old, stopped playing the monthly events about a year and a half ago) and piloting an interesting take on New Horizons: Spellstutter Sprite over Terravore.
The first game is quickly told: he has a big Goyf and a big Knight of the Reliquary and a big Umezawa's Jitte (and a Force of Will for my Swords to Plowshares) – and I only have small fish who can't really swim with the sharks.
-4 Silvergill Adept
-2 Standstill
+1 Swords to Plowshares
+4 Perish
+1 Relic of Progenitus
Second game Kira is plenty of game being an awesome flyer and removal dodger, Force of Will gets rid of his dudes, Perish of some more, Coralhelm Commander and Mutavault then get there despite Jitte.
Third game is quickly summed up: according to Stefan (who positioned himself behind Alex), Alex had the nuts (counters for all of my dudes and more Goyfs than I had removal). And I failed to draw a black mana source for Perish all game long (early-game triple Wasteland hitting a Tundra and an Underground Sea with me consequently fetching an Island with my last fetchland probably didn't help too). I manage to stall with a Relic of Progenitus but Tarmogoyf eventually gets there. That's it. Not a nice way to loose the penultimate round. But it happens nevertheless. Now the motto is: too big good to fail (again).
6-1-1 (13:3)
Round 9 vs. Mark with Uwgr Columbus Countertop
One word: Kira. She (It)'s the nuts against removal. Kira and a Mutavault (and a Force of Will on a blocker) were all I needed.
-2 Standstill
-1 Island
+3 Spell Pierce
Second game I thought that playing Merfolk sucked and switched to Mono Blue Control instead: Force of Will hardcast (twice) off not a single Mutavault or Wasteland is not a good sign. Also: Kira didn't get there because he had his singleton Karakas (which happens to be awesome against Kira: having to counter every removal-spell instead of every second is no good news). He then proceeds to Needle my Aether Vials and Vendillion Clique/Karakas lock me. Not pretty, I tell you. Karakas – it wins games single-handedly.
With ten minutes on the clock we shuffle up for game three and I talk smack about a draw being the worst possible outcome for both of us prize-wise. He nods and signs the slip 2:1 in my favor, talking something about me normally having to win this anyway. You, sir, are awesome.
7-1-1 (15:4)
Fifth!
I collect my booty - 18 lousy packs of M11 -, head for my last round opponent (who still received 3 packs for his finish) and hand him nine packs. Karma. It works, bitches (being nice too).
The top 8:
Bernhard Klinger (Muradin) with Jace/Predict Dreadstill
Christoph Alsheimer with Doomsday
Michael Seubert with Doomsday
Michael Steinecke with Uwg Loam (interesting list)
Yours truly with Uwb Merfolk
Alexander Würtz with Faery-Horizons
Gabriel Kocanck with Enchantress
Gunnar Radzom with Death&Taxes
Lists can be found here (http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=5551).
Performance of “the fella's”:
Daniel 'Adan' Scherer (of SPOD fame) dropped early with Ichorid. Told you so.
Martin 'MSC' Schreiber (also of SPOD fame): 4-4-1 with GWr Survival
Oli Oey (not yet but probably very soon to be pirate): 6-3 with Ugr Tempo Threshold
Christopher 'venice' Wilhelm (rocking his epic yoga instructor dress): 6-3 with GW Survival
Stefan 'spirit of the wretch' Czolk (obviously of SPOD fame too): 7-2 with GWr Survival
Post-tournament notes on the list:
Double-splash works very well. Both Swords to Plowshares and Perish were well worth splashing for, the manabase always worked, only two Islands never were an issue. That one game where I couldn't cast Perish due to not having an Underground Sea I would have lost too with a more conventional Ub manabase.
Kira and Coralhelm Commander were the MVPs in the Main all day long.
I boarded out Standstill a lot – although that was very probably matchup-related, the slot goes onto the watchlist.
The Sideboard worked really well.
The deck mulligans exceptionally.
That's all I have to say – you be the judges whether this is any good or not.
Props & Slops (because I haven't done any of these in ages):
Props:
204 players.
My last round opponent.
Fifth place.
Marco for borrowing me 90% of the list.
The other guys for lending me the rest.
SPOD for being awesome.
Oli Oey for being awesome too.
Slops:
Top 8 not being played out.
Nine rounds being way too much Legacy.
Price support.
Adan for not listening to me. Do it and you will do better. Seriously. By now this has been proven countless times (and then some more).
Until next time, this is your truly, baking the Cupcakes, so that you don't have to.