Whit3 Ghost
06-14-2011, 03:00 PM
Although the event was this past weekend, this story actually begins on day two of Grand Prix Providence. I had gone 3-3 drop with Team America and had gotten rolled in a side event with Canadian Thresh, Spell Snare and eight removal spells for Stoneforge Mystic be damned. I was bummed that Stifle/Waste wasn’t nearly as strong as it had been in years prior, and even more bummed that Legacy seemed to be centered around Tundras and Underground Seas; duals I didn’t own and couldn’t yet afford.
Luckily for me, as I was watching the top eight, I ran into Jon Barber, who mentioned Reid Duke’s RUG Natural Order deck that had knocked him out to make the elimination rounds. Jon was playing the same Bant deck that he and the rest of his playgroup developed and that James Rynkiewicz ended up winning the tournament with. I hate Bant. I love Volcanic Islands. I had a Goblin deck that I was never going to play sitting in my trade binder. I pulled up a list on my phone, wandered over to the Jupiter Games booth and walked away with a brand new deck.
RUG Egyptian God Cards:
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Natural Order
4 Noble Heirarch
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Daze
3 Mental Misstep
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Ponder
2 Fire/Ice
1 Progenitus
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
SB:
3 Spell Pierce
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Trygon Predator
1 Terastadon
Two weeks later, it was time for the Jupiter Games Northeast Legacy Championship Invitational, and I was stoked to give the list a spin. Unfortunately, I only had nine of the twelve required points to qualify, so I had a long day of grinders ahead of me before the actual Invitational. I headed down to Vestal on Friday morning and sleeved up the above list with a Grip and a Seal of Primordium over the two Ancient Grudges because nobody had them.
Grinder 1:
Round One- Dan Rae- UGW Stoneforge Hawk
We had actually been playing the matchup right up until pairings were announced and it seemed to be 50/50 and almost entirely dependant on whether I could resolve an early Natural Order. Unfortunately, nerves got the better of me and several stupid plays later (such as walking an Order into a Daze with minimal pressure on the board and pitching my Trygon Predator to Force of Will on a Knight instead of just bolting the damn thing) I was waiting for another grinder to start up.
Grinder 2:
Round One: Merfolk
I’m going to apologize for forgetting names and events, this is all from memory and I didn’t keep notes. Anyway, I mull to six on the draw game one, and am pretty much a card short for the whole match. I don’t see much removal and he has some combination of unblockable guys through Islandwalk and Flying. I go to game two wondering if I made the right deck choice for the day.
Game two is infinitely better and I’m able to set up Lavamancer while never actually playing an Island thanks to two Hierarchs, a Forest and a Taiga. Natural Order comes down on turn three or four and ends things in short order.
Game three is a little more harrowing because I’m on the draw and therefore much more liable to Daze. Luckily, having nine spot removal spells postboard manages to keep his team down to a manageable size, and a Heirarch allows me to play Natural Order with a land open. He still has a flying Coralhelm Commander and another swimmer, so the race is on and I’m dead in the water if he manages to topdeck the Lord of Atlantis. Luckily, that doesn’t happen and a certain unblockable 10/10 smashes through his team.
Round Two: Eric Fry- Burn
The last time we played, he rolled me with Stoneforge Death and Taxes, so that’s what I assumed he was on, but his turn one Lava Spike quickly cleared things up. Fearing Price of Progress, I fetched a couple of basics and played Tarmogoyfs, sandbagging what countermagic I could amass. After game one, he showed me triple Price in his hand. Lucky me.
Game two is more of the same, with me picking off what I can with Missteps and Dazes and Force of Will waiting for his bombs. Some combination of Goyfs and Clique get sideways and a windmill-slammed Ensnaring Bridge is met with a Force of Will to seal the deal.
Round Three: UW Stoneforge Control
I handle an early Stoneforge and start running out my guys, but several well timed counters and removal spells keep me from applying any meaningful pressure. I think he sees something like three Swords to Plowshares early and ends the game with a Batterskull, Jace and Crucible in play and a Wasteland in his yard. I see the writing on the wall and we go to game two.
This one wasn’t particularly close. Natural Order for Progenitus happens between turns three and five and two turns later, we start shuffling up for the rubber game.
I keep a hand with little business but a lot of answers and decide to roll with it, while my opponent runs out Meddling Mage naming Natural Order. Fortunately, I have answers aplenty for the little guy and he eats a REB or a Bolt in short order. Sadly, I don’t have another protection spell for my Order and it runs headlong into a Force. A lot more draw-go later and he lands another Mage, again naming Order. I wipe it off the board as well, but at this point, my game plan involves lots of Tarmogoyfs rather than just swinging in with Exodia. The littler guys get there.
Round Four: UWR Stoneforge Control
At this point, I’m in the Invitational, but my opponent needs all twelve points from the grinder to qualify. Entry for these events isn’t cheap, so I start the match with the intention of splitting, with him taking the points and me taking the packs. We played it out for fun and Progenitus got there game one, but I couldn’t apply adequate pressure games two and three and lost to combinations of Batterskulls and Jaces. Karma paid off though and my first pack had a Batterskull. I cracked two more and called it a box.
After I qualified, I watched a couple more matches before heading over to Alex Artese’s house to play with dogs and pass out. Thanks again to Alex for putting me up on such short notice.
The next morning, I drove back down to Jupiter, picked up the two Ancient Grudges for my board, and shot the shit with whoever I didn’t see at the qualifiers. Eli makes some announcements, pairings go up and before long it’s time for…
Luckily for me, as I was watching the top eight, I ran into Jon Barber, who mentioned Reid Duke’s RUG Natural Order deck that had knocked him out to make the elimination rounds. Jon was playing the same Bant deck that he and the rest of his playgroup developed and that James Rynkiewicz ended up winning the tournament with. I hate Bant. I love Volcanic Islands. I had a Goblin deck that I was never going to play sitting in my trade binder. I pulled up a list on my phone, wandered over to the Jupiter Games booth and walked away with a brand new deck.
RUG Egyptian God Cards:
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Natural Order
4 Noble Heirarch
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Daze
3 Mental Misstep
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Ponder
2 Fire/Ice
1 Progenitus
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
SB:
3 Spell Pierce
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Trygon Predator
1 Terastadon
Two weeks later, it was time for the Jupiter Games Northeast Legacy Championship Invitational, and I was stoked to give the list a spin. Unfortunately, I only had nine of the twelve required points to qualify, so I had a long day of grinders ahead of me before the actual Invitational. I headed down to Vestal on Friday morning and sleeved up the above list with a Grip and a Seal of Primordium over the two Ancient Grudges because nobody had them.
Grinder 1:
Round One- Dan Rae- UGW Stoneforge Hawk
We had actually been playing the matchup right up until pairings were announced and it seemed to be 50/50 and almost entirely dependant on whether I could resolve an early Natural Order. Unfortunately, nerves got the better of me and several stupid plays later (such as walking an Order into a Daze with minimal pressure on the board and pitching my Trygon Predator to Force of Will on a Knight instead of just bolting the damn thing) I was waiting for another grinder to start up.
Grinder 2:
Round One: Merfolk
I’m going to apologize for forgetting names and events, this is all from memory and I didn’t keep notes. Anyway, I mull to six on the draw game one, and am pretty much a card short for the whole match. I don’t see much removal and he has some combination of unblockable guys through Islandwalk and Flying. I go to game two wondering if I made the right deck choice for the day.
Game two is infinitely better and I’m able to set up Lavamancer while never actually playing an Island thanks to two Hierarchs, a Forest and a Taiga. Natural Order comes down on turn three or four and ends things in short order.
Game three is a little more harrowing because I’m on the draw and therefore much more liable to Daze. Luckily, having nine spot removal spells postboard manages to keep his team down to a manageable size, and a Heirarch allows me to play Natural Order with a land open. He still has a flying Coralhelm Commander and another swimmer, so the race is on and I’m dead in the water if he manages to topdeck the Lord of Atlantis. Luckily, that doesn’t happen and a certain unblockable 10/10 smashes through his team.
Round Two: Eric Fry- Burn
The last time we played, he rolled me with Stoneforge Death and Taxes, so that’s what I assumed he was on, but his turn one Lava Spike quickly cleared things up. Fearing Price of Progress, I fetched a couple of basics and played Tarmogoyfs, sandbagging what countermagic I could amass. After game one, he showed me triple Price in his hand. Lucky me.
Game two is more of the same, with me picking off what I can with Missteps and Dazes and Force of Will waiting for his bombs. Some combination of Goyfs and Clique get sideways and a windmill-slammed Ensnaring Bridge is met with a Force of Will to seal the deal.
Round Three: UW Stoneforge Control
I handle an early Stoneforge and start running out my guys, but several well timed counters and removal spells keep me from applying any meaningful pressure. I think he sees something like three Swords to Plowshares early and ends the game with a Batterskull, Jace and Crucible in play and a Wasteland in his yard. I see the writing on the wall and we go to game two.
This one wasn’t particularly close. Natural Order for Progenitus happens between turns three and five and two turns later, we start shuffling up for the rubber game.
I keep a hand with little business but a lot of answers and decide to roll with it, while my opponent runs out Meddling Mage naming Natural Order. Fortunately, I have answers aplenty for the little guy and he eats a REB or a Bolt in short order. Sadly, I don’t have another protection spell for my Order and it runs headlong into a Force. A lot more draw-go later and he lands another Mage, again naming Order. I wipe it off the board as well, but at this point, my game plan involves lots of Tarmogoyfs rather than just swinging in with Exodia. The littler guys get there.
Round Four: UWR Stoneforge Control
At this point, I’m in the Invitational, but my opponent needs all twelve points from the grinder to qualify. Entry for these events isn’t cheap, so I start the match with the intention of splitting, with him taking the points and me taking the packs. We played it out for fun and Progenitus got there game one, but I couldn’t apply adequate pressure games two and three and lost to combinations of Batterskulls and Jaces. Karma paid off though and my first pack had a Batterskull. I cracked two more and called it a box.
After I qualified, I watched a couple more matches before heading over to Alex Artese’s house to play with dogs and pass out. Thanks again to Alex for putting me up on such short notice.
The next morning, I drove back down to Jupiter, picked up the two Ancient Grudges for my board, and shot the shit with whoever I didn’t see at the qualifiers. Eli makes some announcements, pairings go up and before long it’s time for…