Madmartigan
07-18-2011, 09:31 PM
7-17-2011 MTG Deals, San Gabriel, CA -- 3rd with Combo Elves
I wake up at 8 AM in San Diego, wondering whether to drive 2 hours to LA for Legacy, or sleep in, watch the women's world cup, and have a relaxing day at home. What kind of question is that? An hour later I'm on the road.
I am an on-and-off player, of a mediocre level, my best results being getting to PT 2 (Los Angeles) in the junior division in 1995, and top 8'ing a Masques Limited PTQ. I haven't played much Legacy and this was my third tournament. After going 2-4 with Cephalid Breakfast last time, a friend whose opinion I regard highly told me to side with Justice rather than attempting non-interactive shenanigans that leave them cursing while scooping their one land. So I went with the Sylvan Legion and their Giant Jellyfish God.
MD:
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Fyndhorn Elves
2x Birchlore Rangers
4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Quirion Ranger
3x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Elvish Visionary
1x Viridian Zealot
3x Priest of Titania
4x Elvish Archdruid
1x Regal Force
1x Emrakul
4x Glimpse of Nature
2x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Summoner's Pact
12x Forest
SB:
2x Viridian Shaman
2x Krosan Grip
4x Relic of Progenitus
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
2x Masticore
The SB is rough. Masticore is an answer to Peacekeeper, and the Elvish Spirit Guides are designed as substitutes for Archdruids if matched up against fast combo (I never used them).
Before the tournament, Koby (handle rukcus), who completely devastated my Breakfast in the last tournament (active Jitte T3, maindeck Ooze with Green Sun's Zenith, mana denial, etc.) and I were having a friendly chat and it turns out he is, as a tourney director put it, "the grand priest of the shrine of elves." He reviews my build and gives me several pieces of advice: 1) maindeck 2 Regal Force for more consistency, 2) maindeck Viridian Shaman over Zealot (can be recurred with Wirewood and is one mana cheaper for effect), 3) Mortarpod in the SB rather than my choice, Masticore, to deal with Peacekeeper. It also is good against Dredge. He also makes other suggestions such as +1 Priest, -1 Archdruid, for enhanced speed (I like the +1/+1 for going Tribal as the backup).
While I note his suggestions for future alterations, I don't make any changes. This is the version I've tested at home and I don't want to go into the last-second scramble-to-find-cards mode.
40 players, six rounds of Swiss.
Rd. 1 Wesley with Burn
G1: I am on the play with a good hand with one Forest, Fyndhorn+Quirion, Glimpse, and other goodies. I play Forest, Fyndhorn, go. He plays Mountain and burns my dome.
I am happy because I have tested this match-up a lot and I think Elves has the overwhelming advantage if Burn doesn't maindeck Flamebreak, and a big advantage even if they do. If they try to burn all your elves, they will lose, because 1) you get card advantage via Elvish Visionary and Glimpse, 2) some of their burn, like Lava Spike or Flame Rift, can't target your elves, including Price of Progress which is dead game one, 3) you run fewer lands than them. If they try to burn only your key elves, you will inevitably go off or outrace them because the elf deck is resilient to the loss of only a couple elves. Their best try may be to race the dome, and hope you got a slow draw, which is what Wesley does.
I however have a fast draw. T1: Fyndhorn, T2: Quirion, Visionary. T3: He is tapped out and I am ready to go off with Heritage Druid, Glimpse, some elves and a Summoner's Pact. I play Glimpse, then drop Heritage and draw a card. He stuns me by casting maindeck Pyrokinesis, indicating the death of my whole board.
I quickly back up, because, confident he had no play, I had drawn the card from Heritage entering the battlefield. I ask him if he wanted to Pyrokinesis while Heritage was a spell on the stack, or after she came into play. He affirms he wanted to do it once Heritage had resolved. Either way I would have had mana, given I could have responded with Fyndhorn and Quirion if he had done it while Heritage was on the stack, though I would have had slightly less mana in that scenario. As it was, I Heritage'd for mana in response, lost my board, then successfully combo'ed.
SB: Nothing.
G2: I am on the draw with a slow start of one Forest, with my one drops being Wirewood, Quirion, and Nettle Sentinel. He starts burning me aggressively and Pyrokinesis crisps three elves, but I have a Glimpse in hand so I am setting myself up to try to go off just before he can burn me out. On my fifth turn he has three lands and two cards in hand, and I am at eight. I decide to go for it as even Pyrokinesis wouldn't stop me, and I spam my deck and bring in the Jellyfish God. He laughs and takes a picture of my final board with his phone.
1-0 (2-0)
Rd. 2 Matt with Enchantress
G1: I am on the play. He has a slow draw, and his deck cannot remove my creatures or counter my spells. I combo turn four.
SB: -1 Archdruid, -1 Birchlore, +2 Grip.
G2: He is on the play and has a fast hand. He explodes with enchantress effects, Utopia Sprawls, Exploration, and Serra's Sanctum. On my turn three has has put into play two Solitary Confinements, a Sterling Grove, and Karmic Justice, as defenses, and looks set to seal the game if he gets another turn. I have a decent draw to attempt to combo, with an active Priest of Titania. However, I do not have Glimpse, only Regal Force. Before bringing the Force, I run through some Elvish Visionaries and untap effects, then Regal for something on the order of eight. I draw no Glimpses, but I do get several tutors. I start a long procedure where I thin my deck with all the tutors I have. Having got all my Wirewood Symbiotes in play, I bounce my Visionaries, and tutor for my other Visionaries. I do not draw any Glimpses and it is starting to look bad. I draw my last card.... Emrakul. I cast It. Matt can survive the first sacrifice of six permanents, but doesn't have the resources to rebuild, given I have Viridian Zealot in play (and a Krosan Grip in hand that he didn't know about). He concedes.
As a note, Koby's suggestion of two Regal Forces would have made this one simpler, since I could have just tutored for the second.
2-0 (4-0)
Rd. 3 Jack with Merfolk
G1: On the play, I open a hand with Priest, Archdruid, two untap elves, two forests, and Emrakul. Lacking card draw, it is a dangerous hand, but I prefer to keep than to mulligan to six (where you have a significant chance of getting no-landed). He is playing a non-standard Merfolk deck with Stifle maindeck, and opens with Aether Vial turn one. I play out my hand and a few turns in, before he has any pressure, start making suspiciously large amounts of mana, without casting anything, and with only one card in hand. He figures out it is Emrakul and Stifles an Archdruid activation, then Dazes when I attempt to replay an Elf so I can Birchlore the last mana for Emrakul. I pay for Daze and pass (if there was manaburn I would have taken 13). He gets to hit me on his turn, but I still have Emrakul. Cast next turn for the win.
SB: -1 Viridian Zealot, +1 Viridian Shaman.
G2: I mulligan a no-lander and he also mulligans. He keeps a draw with two colorless lands and no vial. He sighs heavily. I keep a two land hand with no card draw. He has Dismember, Mental Misstep, and Force, and successfully keeps me from doing anything. In the phase where I need to be drawing threats, I draw lands, and he even beats in with his Mutavault a few times. When he draws Island, I have six forests. The Island opens up Submerge for him, and he uses it to further dominate me. It comes down to me at eight with Archdruid and two 1/1s, and him with two man-lands at fourteen. He attacks in with his man-lands. I smell a second Submerge, but after thinking about it, I can't see any scenario for victory if I let the damage in and he has Submerge. I could try blocking one man-land with Archdruid and double-blocking the other, in which case I think he should just let the damage happen and 2 for 3 me, keeping his Submerge as backup. In retrospect, that would probably have been a better move on my part. Instead, I block each man-land with an elf, and he does have the Submerge, which targets the Archdruid, breaking me for good.
After the game, I think: that was actually a good game for him, despite not having colored mana for a good while early. He had answers, and was able to get value out of his man-lands. If he had played out one or two threats, or even lands, instead of answers, I might have been able to get something going. On the other hand, if I had drawn action instead of land, he may have lost, so maybe he was right to be frustrated by his draw.
G3: I mulligan no lands, and keep a decent six. After his first turn he suddenly seems upset with himself. Turns out he kept a draw with Silvergill Adept, but no other Merfolk, so he can't drop it on turn two. However, he is heavy on answers. He Missteps, and Forces using the aforementioned Silvergill, stopping card draw and creatures. Later he empties his hand Forcing a Priest using a Submerge.
He is playing the game of "don't let the other guy have anything," but I think that is the wrong game. I understand his dilemma with the second Force, since if he Submerges then the Force is stranded in case next turn I get some card draw action, and there is not a good value Submerge play immediately available. However, the Priest would only produce two mana, so I couldn't immediately Regal. I think it would be better to sit on the Submerge.
I noticed through the day that opponents often didn't counter what I considered the right things. They would counter Nettle or Heritage, which I think is almost always wrong. What you should counter against Elves, is all card draw spells, and secondarily, to stop mass-mana, Priest and Archdruid. The goal should be to leave the Elves player with an assortment of underpowered one-cc elves like Birchlore, Quirion and Llanowar, which give approximately one mana each, whether or not Heritage is in play.
At some point the game comes to a state where I have three lands, Archdruid, and Wirewood. He has two Islands and Mutavault. I am at 20, he is at 12. We each have zero cards in hand. It is a stalemate because I don't want to trade my Archdruid for his Mutavault, and he can't attack given my higher life total. I draw a forest, keep it in hand, and pass the turn. He draws something, and passes back. I draw... Elvish Visionary. It is the perfect top-deck as I go to town with Wirewood Symbiote, including returning Visionary on his turn. I get another Symbiote and am ancestralling every turn. Elves start to come down. He scoops.
3-0 (6-1)
Rd. 4 Tony with Control Bant
G1: I play first with a mediocre hand, with Forests and mana elves, but no card draw, and Emrakul. I open with a mana elf. He suspends Ancestral Visions. I build up my board, while he slows me with a Spell Snare and suspends a second visions. I figure he is U/W control (I haven't seen a green mana source). He has three lands and I fear Wrath of God next turn, so I go for it. I have an active Archdruid, and I spam out my hand of multiple untappers, which go uncountered, and then drop Emrakul. He reveals after the match that he did have Wrath of God in hand.
SB: Figuring him for U/W control, I board in Masticore to stop a possible Peacekeeper, and also a Krosan Grip. -2 Birchlore.
G2: I have a good hand, with mana elves, and Summoner's Pact. He slows me by Swordsing two Priests. Then he drops Engineered Explosives for one. He decides to blow it up against my board of Wirewood and two one-cc elves, so I return one of the elves and he two-for-ones me. I think this may have been too aggressive, as he could have forced me into contortions by retaining the Explosives. As chess world champion Lasker said, "a threat is stronger than its execution." He follows up with Knight of the Reliquary, and I realize he is not U/W control. Seeking some kind of parity I release the beast and drop my Masticore.
The way it shakes down, he has two cards in hand, and I have two cards in hand. I have Priest, Nettle, Birchlore, and Masticore, and he has Knight, Maze of Ith, and three lands. We both have plenty of life.
My cards are Summoner's Pact and Forest. It is my turn. I have enough mana to kill his Knight exactly, but he could respond to Masticore's activation by sacrificing a land with Knight, going out of range (he could gain two points by finding a fetch then fetching, or even three points by finding a wasteland and wasting his own land). So I can't kill Knight. My choices are: 1) Summoner's Pact for Quirion, play forest, and kill his Knight. 2) Summoner's Pact for Regal. 3) Wait. Only 2 seems reasonable, though it does open up the possibility of a loss to Daze if I don't play my extra land (putting the Masticore on notice). If he has Force I'm in trouble. I see no reason why not to go for it all and I drop the land and Pact for Regal. It resolves, I remember all my triggers, he doesn't have Wrath plus land (which I suspected given he earlier sacrificed a Horizon Canopy, putting himself further away from Wrath mana), and I combo.
So basically, the Masticore was fun to have out but wasn't actually good. It might be good against tribal, but I was just using it as a Peacekeeper answer since I hadn't tested it in any matchups.
4-0 (8-1)
Rd. 5 Joe with Dredge
ID
Rd. 6 Tony with Painted Stone
ID
I finish the Swiss in first place! Elves!
Quarterfinals David with U/W Landstill
G1: I am on the play with a fast combo hand. I play cautiously trying to bait out counters or Swords with secondary threats, but he keeps playing fetches, not fetching, and passing. By not fetching, he is telling me he wants to draw land, and I suspect his hand includes Wrath of God and possibly Jace and stranded Standstills. On my turn I attempt to combo with Glimpse and he has no counter. I draw ten via Regal Force and I am rolling.
I draw a lot of Glimpses early. Some players would be tempted to cast multiple Glimpses to make the comboing faster and to eliminate fears of drawing a run of lands and fizzling. I think about it, and knowing how many lands are left in my deck, and that I can play with Wirewoods and Visionaries, see that I can win without multiple Glimpses. This is slower and may seem scary, but the actual thing to be scared of is Emrakul being at the bottom of your deck. Then if you've played too many Glimpses you can't win because you deck yourself. So you have to pass back --- and in this case I know passing back will likely lead to a world's record Wrath of God resulting in defeat. David offers to concede if I show him Emrakul, but I can't. I dig deep into the deck, and it comes down to the last cards. My plan is, if Emrakul is the last card in my library, I will draw It, then Green Sun's Zenith twice, failing to find, to put them back in the deck, then cast Emrakul with a sufficient deck cushion for the win (note I could not do this if there were two Glimpses active). I am not sure if this is legal as I have never had to attempt it before, but it seems like it should be legal (?). Either way, I draw Emrakul third from bottom, and win.
Felt strangely close for a game in which the opponent played no spells and never even had a mana producing land in play.
SB: +1 Masticore, +1 Grip, -2 Birchlore.
G2: I mulligan no lands, and he also mulligans. He plays first and Brainstorms early, then fails to play a third land. This gives me the green light to push as hard as possible. I don't have card draw, so I spam my elves and try to swarm him. He has Mishra's on defense and fights back with free counters.
It comes down to a situation where he has Factory and Tundra, and I have an army of Archdruid and four 1/1s. He has cards in hand and is at ten life. I have no cards in hand. My choices are to send in the Archdruid and the 1/1s, losing the Archdruid and hitting for 8, or just the 1/1s, losing one and hitting for six. Both choices seem good but I think sending the Archdruid is clearly superior as it leaves him almost no outs. He kills the Archdruid with the Factory and drops to 2. Faced with four 1/1s, he plays a fetchland, but that will cost him a life to use. At this point his only survival play would be to fetch a white source, block with Factory and self-pump, then Swords his factory before damage -- which, if he had it, would only delay the inevitable. It's curtains and he scoops.
Semifinals Tony with Control Bant
It is a rematch of Rd. 4. Now that I know his deck, I won't side in Masticore.
G1: He mulligans. I play first with a good hand. I get a few lesser elves through but he counters some and Swordses two Archdruids. Meanwhile, he has suspended Ancestral turn one, and another one later. I start attacking heavily with random elves, and his life begins to fall between their meek stings and his self-damage via Misstep and fetches.
Two turns before his Ancestral resolves I have a decision. He is at eleven. I can either swing in for four with my 2x Birchlore and 2x Quirion, or tap all of my elves and try to cast the last card in my hand, Regal Force. I decide I need to go for Regal Force, but he has Force of Will.
Ancestral resolves and he plays Jace and fateseals me, putting whatever I had on the bottom. I draw and it is Nettle Sentinel. Again I have a choice, attack Jace putting him at one, or attack Tony putting him at 6. The next Ancestral resolves next turn. Feeling far behind, and thinking that a killed Jace might just be replaced anyway, I go to his dome, then drop the Nettle Sentinel. He does not brick with his Ancestral and Jace brainstorm, dropping Maze of Ith and Knight of the Reliquary, and Swordsing Nettle. From there he seals the game with Knight and Jace.
Thinking back, attacking with the elves instead of going for Regal would have made it very close, a matter of one life at the end, as I eventually got him down to 3 before folding. I think he could have managed it just barely. I think going for the Regal was the right play, because if Regal resolves then I draw five cards and surely win. But, knowing he had the Force, I wish I would have tried the continuous elf assault.
SB: -1 Birchlore, -1 Viridian Zealot, +1 Viridian Shaman, +1 Grip (for Engineered Explosives which I know he has).
G2: He mulligans. I keep a hand with 2x Forest, Birchlore, Nettle, Visionary, Priest, and Archdruid. I have no card draw, but I have an otherwise nice hand with a variety of ccs to foil his Explosives. When I play turn 2 Visionary, he Forces -- this is an example of good play against Elves. Knowing he only has two Wraths and several Explosives as mass sweep, I spam creatures and go for aggression rather than waiting around for card draw which would probably get countered anyway. He gets sexy value out of Brainstorms. When his turn four rolls around he says, "it's not Wrath, but..." I experience a brief moment of hope, but it is Day of Judgment. I still have three weak elves in hand, and he has only two cards remaining, so I feel I have an outside chance as I drop my brigade. He crushes my hopes by casting Knight and Jace. I congratulate him.
Tony's deck not only had the tools to defeat me, he played them well. He skilfully countered the right spells and spot removal'ed the right creatures. Having defeated him earlier, I was disappointed to lose, especially as Junk went through over Hive Mind in the other semi, but I think given his level of skill and the decks we were using, it was a well-earned victory for him.
I get Timetwister as a prize and trade it and 30$ worth of cards for 2 Scrublands and a Jace TMS.
Thoughts:
1) It is nice to get good matchups.
2) It is nice not to face heavy hate (Engineered Plague, Peacekeeper, Ethersworn Canonist)
3) Elves is a combo deck but it's got a nice backup plan of just beating.
4) Elves is fun to play but you run the risk of getting exposed for playing cards like Birchlore Rangers in Legacy.
5) I didn't play or interact with a single jerk all day long, which in my experience is a rarity for M:tG tourneys. The Legacy crowd seems more mature.
6) The tournament was well run.
7) Elves!
I wake up at 8 AM in San Diego, wondering whether to drive 2 hours to LA for Legacy, or sleep in, watch the women's world cup, and have a relaxing day at home. What kind of question is that? An hour later I'm on the road.
I am an on-and-off player, of a mediocre level, my best results being getting to PT 2 (Los Angeles) in the junior division in 1995, and top 8'ing a Masques Limited PTQ. I haven't played much Legacy and this was my third tournament. After going 2-4 with Cephalid Breakfast last time, a friend whose opinion I regard highly told me to side with Justice rather than attempting non-interactive shenanigans that leave them cursing while scooping their one land. So I went with the Sylvan Legion and their Giant Jellyfish God.
MD:
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Fyndhorn Elves
2x Birchlore Rangers
4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Quirion Ranger
3x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Elvish Visionary
1x Viridian Zealot
3x Priest of Titania
4x Elvish Archdruid
1x Regal Force
1x Emrakul
4x Glimpse of Nature
2x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Summoner's Pact
12x Forest
SB:
2x Viridian Shaman
2x Krosan Grip
4x Relic of Progenitus
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
2x Masticore
The SB is rough. Masticore is an answer to Peacekeeper, and the Elvish Spirit Guides are designed as substitutes for Archdruids if matched up against fast combo (I never used them).
Before the tournament, Koby (handle rukcus), who completely devastated my Breakfast in the last tournament (active Jitte T3, maindeck Ooze with Green Sun's Zenith, mana denial, etc.) and I were having a friendly chat and it turns out he is, as a tourney director put it, "the grand priest of the shrine of elves." He reviews my build and gives me several pieces of advice: 1) maindeck 2 Regal Force for more consistency, 2) maindeck Viridian Shaman over Zealot (can be recurred with Wirewood and is one mana cheaper for effect), 3) Mortarpod in the SB rather than my choice, Masticore, to deal with Peacekeeper. It also is good against Dredge. He also makes other suggestions such as +1 Priest, -1 Archdruid, for enhanced speed (I like the +1/+1 for going Tribal as the backup).
While I note his suggestions for future alterations, I don't make any changes. This is the version I've tested at home and I don't want to go into the last-second scramble-to-find-cards mode.
40 players, six rounds of Swiss.
Rd. 1 Wesley with Burn
G1: I am on the play with a good hand with one Forest, Fyndhorn+Quirion, Glimpse, and other goodies. I play Forest, Fyndhorn, go. He plays Mountain and burns my dome.
I am happy because I have tested this match-up a lot and I think Elves has the overwhelming advantage if Burn doesn't maindeck Flamebreak, and a big advantage even if they do. If they try to burn all your elves, they will lose, because 1) you get card advantage via Elvish Visionary and Glimpse, 2) some of their burn, like Lava Spike or Flame Rift, can't target your elves, including Price of Progress which is dead game one, 3) you run fewer lands than them. If they try to burn only your key elves, you will inevitably go off or outrace them because the elf deck is resilient to the loss of only a couple elves. Their best try may be to race the dome, and hope you got a slow draw, which is what Wesley does.
I however have a fast draw. T1: Fyndhorn, T2: Quirion, Visionary. T3: He is tapped out and I am ready to go off with Heritage Druid, Glimpse, some elves and a Summoner's Pact. I play Glimpse, then drop Heritage and draw a card. He stuns me by casting maindeck Pyrokinesis, indicating the death of my whole board.
I quickly back up, because, confident he had no play, I had drawn the card from Heritage entering the battlefield. I ask him if he wanted to Pyrokinesis while Heritage was a spell on the stack, or after she came into play. He affirms he wanted to do it once Heritage had resolved. Either way I would have had mana, given I could have responded with Fyndhorn and Quirion if he had done it while Heritage was on the stack, though I would have had slightly less mana in that scenario. As it was, I Heritage'd for mana in response, lost my board, then successfully combo'ed.
SB: Nothing.
G2: I am on the draw with a slow start of one Forest, with my one drops being Wirewood, Quirion, and Nettle Sentinel. He starts burning me aggressively and Pyrokinesis crisps three elves, but I have a Glimpse in hand so I am setting myself up to try to go off just before he can burn me out. On my fifth turn he has three lands and two cards in hand, and I am at eight. I decide to go for it as even Pyrokinesis wouldn't stop me, and I spam my deck and bring in the Jellyfish God. He laughs and takes a picture of my final board with his phone.
1-0 (2-0)
Rd. 2 Matt with Enchantress
G1: I am on the play. He has a slow draw, and his deck cannot remove my creatures or counter my spells. I combo turn four.
SB: -1 Archdruid, -1 Birchlore, +2 Grip.
G2: He is on the play and has a fast hand. He explodes with enchantress effects, Utopia Sprawls, Exploration, and Serra's Sanctum. On my turn three has has put into play two Solitary Confinements, a Sterling Grove, and Karmic Justice, as defenses, and looks set to seal the game if he gets another turn. I have a decent draw to attempt to combo, with an active Priest of Titania. However, I do not have Glimpse, only Regal Force. Before bringing the Force, I run through some Elvish Visionaries and untap effects, then Regal for something on the order of eight. I draw no Glimpses, but I do get several tutors. I start a long procedure where I thin my deck with all the tutors I have. Having got all my Wirewood Symbiotes in play, I bounce my Visionaries, and tutor for my other Visionaries. I do not draw any Glimpses and it is starting to look bad. I draw my last card.... Emrakul. I cast It. Matt can survive the first sacrifice of six permanents, but doesn't have the resources to rebuild, given I have Viridian Zealot in play (and a Krosan Grip in hand that he didn't know about). He concedes.
As a note, Koby's suggestion of two Regal Forces would have made this one simpler, since I could have just tutored for the second.
2-0 (4-0)
Rd. 3 Jack with Merfolk
G1: On the play, I open a hand with Priest, Archdruid, two untap elves, two forests, and Emrakul. Lacking card draw, it is a dangerous hand, but I prefer to keep than to mulligan to six (where you have a significant chance of getting no-landed). He is playing a non-standard Merfolk deck with Stifle maindeck, and opens with Aether Vial turn one. I play out my hand and a few turns in, before he has any pressure, start making suspiciously large amounts of mana, without casting anything, and with only one card in hand. He figures out it is Emrakul and Stifles an Archdruid activation, then Dazes when I attempt to replay an Elf so I can Birchlore the last mana for Emrakul. I pay for Daze and pass (if there was manaburn I would have taken 13). He gets to hit me on his turn, but I still have Emrakul. Cast next turn for the win.
SB: -1 Viridian Zealot, +1 Viridian Shaman.
G2: I mulligan a no-lander and he also mulligans. He keeps a draw with two colorless lands and no vial. He sighs heavily. I keep a two land hand with no card draw. He has Dismember, Mental Misstep, and Force, and successfully keeps me from doing anything. In the phase where I need to be drawing threats, I draw lands, and he even beats in with his Mutavault a few times. When he draws Island, I have six forests. The Island opens up Submerge for him, and he uses it to further dominate me. It comes down to me at eight with Archdruid and two 1/1s, and him with two man-lands at fourteen. He attacks in with his man-lands. I smell a second Submerge, but after thinking about it, I can't see any scenario for victory if I let the damage in and he has Submerge. I could try blocking one man-land with Archdruid and double-blocking the other, in which case I think he should just let the damage happen and 2 for 3 me, keeping his Submerge as backup. In retrospect, that would probably have been a better move on my part. Instead, I block each man-land with an elf, and he does have the Submerge, which targets the Archdruid, breaking me for good.
After the game, I think: that was actually a good game for him, despite not having colored mana for a good while early. He had answers, and was able to get value out of his man-lands. If he had played out one or two threats, or even lands, instead of answers, I might have been able to get something going. On the other hand, if I had drawn action instead of land, he may have lost, so maybe he was right to be frustrated by his draw.
G3: I mulligan no lands, and keep a decent six. After his first turn he suddenly seems upset with himself. Turns out he kept a draw with Silvergill Adept, but no other Merfolk, so he can't drop it on turn two. However, he is heavy on answers. He Missteps, and Forces using the aforementioned Silvergill, stopping card draw and creatures. Later he empties his hand Forcing a Priest using a Submerge.
He is playing the game of "don't let the other guy have anything," but I think that is the wrong game. I understand his dilemma with the second Force, since if he Submerges then the Force is stranded in case next turn I get some card draw action, and there is not a good value Submerge play immediately available. However, the Priest would only produce two mana, so I couldn't immediately Regal. I think it would be better to sit on the Submerge.
I noticed through the day that opponents often didn't counter what I considered the right things. They would counter Nettle or Heritage, which I think is almost always wrong. What you should counter against Elves, is all card draw spells, and secondarily, to stop mass-mana, Priest and Archdruid. The goal should be to leave the Elves player with an assortment of underpowered one-cc elves like Birchlore, Quirion and Llanowar, which give approximately one mana each, whether or not Heritage is in play.
At some point the game comes to a state where I have three lands, Archdruid, and Wirewood. He has two Islands and Mutavault. I am at 20, he is at 12. We each have zero cards in hand. It is a stalemate because I don't want to trade my Archdruid for his Mutavault, and he can't attack given my higher life total. I draw a forest, keep it in hand, and pass the turn. He draws something, and passes back. I draw... Elvish Visionary. It is the perfect top-deck as I go to town with Wirewood Symbiote, including returning Visionary on his turn. I get another Symbiote and am ancestralling every turn. Elves start to come down. He scoops.
3-0 (6-1)
Rd. 4 Tony with Control Bant
G1: I play first with a mediocre hand, with Forests and mana elves, but no card draw, and Emrakul. I open with a mana elf. He suspends Ancestral Visions. I build up my board, while he slows me with a Spell Snare and suspends a second visions. I figure he is U/W control (I haven't seen a green mana source). He has three lands and I fear Wrath of God next turn, so I go for it. I have an active Archdruid, and I spam out my hand of multiple untappers, which go uncountered, and then drop Emrakul. He reveals after the match that he did have Wrath of God in hand.
SB: Figuring him for U/W control, I board in Masticore to stop a possible Peacekeeper, and also a Krosan Grip. -2 Birchlore.
G2: I have a good hand, with mana elves, and Summoner's Pact. He slows me by Swordsing two Priests. Then he drops Engineered Explosives for one. He decides to blow it up against my board of Wirewood and two one-cc elves, so I return one of the elves and he two-for-ones me. I think this may have been too aggressive, as he could have forced me into contortions by retaining the Explosives. As chess world champion Lasker said, "a threat is stronger than its execution." He follows up with Knight of the Reliquary, and I realize he is not U/W control. Seeking some kind of parity I release the beast and drop my Masticore.
The way it shakes down, he has two cards in hand, and I have two cards in hand. I have Priest, Nettle, Birchlore, and Masticore, and he has Knight, Maze of Ith, and three lands. We both have plenty of life.
My cards are Summoner's Pact and Forest. It is my turn. I have enough mana to kill his Knight exactly, but he could respond to Masticore's activation by sacrificing a land with Knight, going out of range (he could gain two points by finding a fetch then fetching, or even three points by finding a wasteland and wasting his own land). So I can't kill Knight. My choices are: 1) Summoner's Pact for Quirion, play forest, and kill his Knight. 2) Summoner's Pact for Regal. 3) Wait. Only 2 seems reasonable, though it does open up the possibility of a loss to Daze if I don't play my extra land (putting the Masticore on notice). If he has Force I'm in trouble. I see no reason why not to go for it all and I drop the land and Pact for Regal. It resolves, I remember all my triggers, he doesn't have Wrath plus land (which I suspected given he earlier sacrificed a Horizon Canopy, putting himself further away from Wrath mana), and I combo.
So basically, the Masticore was fun to have out but wasn't actually good. It might be good against tribal, but I was just using it as a Peacekeeper answer since I hadn't tested it in any matchups.
4-0 (8-1)
Rd. 5 Joe with Dredge
ID
Rd. 6 Tony with Painted Stone
ID
I finish the Swiss in first place! Elves!
Quarterfinals David with U/W Landstill
G1: I am on the play with a fast combo hand. I play cautiously trying to bait out counters or Swords with secondary threats, but he keeps playing fetches, not fetching, and passing. By not fetching, he is telling me he wants to draw land, and I suspect his hand includes Wrath of God and possibly Jace and stranded Standstills. On my turn I attempt to combo with Glimpse and he has no counter. I draw ten via Regal Force and I am rolling.
I draw a lot of Glimpses early. Some players would be tempted to cast multiple Glimpses to make the comboing faster and to eliminate fears of drawing a run of lands and fizzling. I think about it, and knowing how many lands are left in my deck, and that I can play with Wirewoods and Visionaries, see that I can win without multiple Glimpses. This is slower and may seem scary, but the actual thing to be scared of is Emrakul being at the bottom of your deck. Then if you've played too many Glimpses you can't win because you deck yourself. So you have to pass back --- and in this case I know passing back will likely lead to a world's record Wrath of God resulting in defeat. David offers to concede if I show him Emrakul, but I can't. I dig deep into the deck, and it comes down to the last cards. My plan is, if Emrakul is the last card in my library, I will draw It, then Green Sun's Zenith twice, failing to find, to put them back in the deck, then cast Emrakul with a sufficient deck cushion for the win (note I could not do this if there were two Glimpses active). I am not sure if this is legal as I have never had to attempt it before, but it seems like it should be legal (?). Either way, I draw Emrakul third from bottom, and win.
Felt strangely close for a game in which the opponent played no spells and never even had a mana producing land in play.
SB: +1 Masticore, +1 Grip, -2 Birchlore.
G2: I mulligan no lands, and he also mulligans. He plays first and Brainstorms early, then fails to play a third land. This gives me the green light to push as hard as possible. I don't have card draw, so I spam my elves and try to swarm him. He has Mishra's on defense and fights back with free counters.
It comes down to a situation where he has Factory and Tundra, and I have an army of Archdruid and four 1/1s. He has cards in hand and is at ten life. I have no cards in hand. My choices are to send in the Archdruid and the 1/1s, losing the Archdruid and hitting for 8, or just the 1/1s, losing one and hitting for six. Both choices seem good but I think sending the Archdruid is clearly superior as it leaves him almost no outs. He kills the Archdruid with the Factory and drops to 2. Faced with four 1/1s, he plays a fetchland, but that will cost him a life to use. At this point his only survival play would be to fetch a white source, block with Factory and self-pump, then Swords his factory before damage -- which, if he had it, would only delay the inevitable. It's curtains and he scoops.
Semifinals Tony with Control Bant
It is a rematch of Rd. 4. Now that I know his deck, I won't side in Masticore.
G1: He mulligans. I play first with a good hand. I get a few lesser elves through but he counters some and Swordses two Archdruids. Meanwhile, he has suspended Ancestral turn one, and another one later. I start attacking heavily with random elves, and his life begins to fall between their meek stings and his self-damage via Misstep and fetches.
Two turns before his Ancestral resolves I have a decision. He is at eleven. I can either swing in for four with my 2x Birchlore and 2x Quirion, or tap all of my elves and try to cast the last card in my hand, Regal Force. I decide I need to go for Regal Force, but he has Force of Will.
Ancestral resolves and he plays Jace and fateseals me, putting whatever I had on the bottom. I draw and it is Nettle Sentinel. Again I have a choice, attack Jace putting him at one, or attack Tony putting him at 6. The next Ancestral resolves next turn. Feeling far behind, and thinking that a killed Jace might just be replaced anyway, I go to his dome, then drop the Nettle Sentinel. He does not brick with his Ancestral and Jace brainstorm, dropping Maze of Ith and Knight of the Reliquary, and Swordsing Nettle. From there he seals the game with Knight and Jace.
Thinking back, attacking with the elves instead of going for Regal would have made it very close, a matter of one life at the end, as I eventually got him down to 3 before folding. I think he could have managed it just barely. I think going for the Regal was the right play, because if Regal resolves then I draw five cards and surely win. But, knowing he had the Force, I wish I would have tried the continuous elf assault.
SB: -1 Birchlore, -1 Viridian Zealot, +1 Viridian Shaman, +1 Grip (for Engineered Explosives which I know he has).
G2: He mulligans. I keep a hand with 2x Forest, Birchlore, Nettle, Visionary, Priest, and Archdruid. I have no card draw, but I have an otherwise nice hand with a variety of ccs to foil his Explosives. When I play turn 2 Visionary, he Forces -- this is an example of good play against Elves. Knowing he only has two Wraths and several Explosives as mass sweep, I spam creatures and go for aggression rather than waiting around for card draw which would probably get countered anyway. He gets sexy value out of Brainstorms. When his turn four rolls around he says, "it's not Wrath, but..." I experience a brief moment of hope, but it is Day of Judgment. I still have three weak elves in hand, and he has only two cards remaining, so I feel I have an outside chance as I drop my brigade. He crushes my hopes by casting Knight and Jace. I congratulate him.
Tony's deck not only had the tools to defeat me, he played them well. He skilfully countered the right spells and spot removal'ed the right creatures. Having defeated him earlier, I was disappointed to lose, especially as Junk went through over Hive Mind in the other semi, but I think given his level of skill and the decks we were using, it was a well-earned victory for him.
I get Timetwister as a prize and trade it and 30$ worth of cards for 2 Scrublands and a Jace TMS.
Thoughts:
1) It is nice to get good matchups.
2) It is nice not to face heavy hate (Engineered Plague, Peacekeeper, Ethersworn Canonist)
3) Elves is a combo deck but it's got a nice backup plan of just beating.
4) Elves is fun to play but you run the risk of getting exposed for playing cards like Birchlore Rangers in Legacy.
5) I didn't play or interact with a single jerk all day long, which in my experience is a rarity for M:tG tourneys. The Legacy crowd seems more mature.
6) The tournament was well run.
7) Elves!