mrblueduck
03-22-2012, 01:25 AM
Living close to Sacramento I had decided I was going to play both the standard and the Legacy tournament at SCG. I had spent 20-30hours play testing for the legacy leading into the event, while basically ignoring standard. It ended up really costing me, as I ended up playing Delver, and it was a very poor meta game choice. I got pounded in the competitive matchups dropping at 4-3. For legacy, I was play testing my available decks, MUD, R/U Delver, Goblins, and Burn. As I tested more and more I just kept wishing I was playing Goblins, they just had answers and I was very familiar with the deck. So after testing, I switched to Goblins and continued to tweak the build to where I was comfortable with my matchups. I was looking to do 3 things
1) Be able to beat burn
2) Don’t get blown out by a single StP
3) Be able to deal with a SfM to Jitte/Batterskull
I tried a lot of different options, but eventually ended with what I considered a very solid 60. It was honestly pretty 50-50, or 55-45 against Maverick/Esperblade, but I had played tested these matchups a ton, while my opponents generally had not play tested against Goblins, especially my version. This really helped in my matches. After dropping from the main event on Saturday I decided to test this theory, and I decided to play the Legacy challenge. I went 0-2, and dropped, getting beat by both ( Blaire) RUG Delver and match two by Maverick. I however was missing some key components of my deck. I was missing my Kiki-Jiki which I had left at home, and all my wastes which I had come to buy, and were so essential to the deck. I had tried to buy some earlier but SCG was sold out all day. I was about to give up and ultimately not play the next day, but luckily found a trader at the last minute who had four. Him and a handful of other players I met that night laughed when they found out I needed them for my Goblin build. I was a little worried, I had tested these matchups a ton, but everyone kept telling that Goblins sucked or was unplayable and my 0-2 record wasn’t comforting. In general I was getting very little support from anyone, and the final 75 was made essentially entirely by me, as I had almost no one to bounce ideas off. I don’t necessarily fault them, because there is a strong correlation between bad players and cheaper decks like burn, affinity, and goblins.
Anyways: This is what I was playing
Maindeck:
Artifacts
4 Aether Vial
Creatures
3 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
2 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Mogg War Marshal
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Stingscourger
2 Tuktuk Scrapper
2 Warren Instigator
Instants
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Pyrokinesis
Legendary Creatures
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Basic Lands
16 Mountain
Lands
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Zuran Orb
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Pyroblast
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Anarchy
1 Shattering Spree
Match 1 : Bant Aggro
Game 1: Game 1 was an easy win, and I just developed the board slowly with vial and a matron, and even with some removal my opponent couldn’t really do much as matron and ringleader are such massive card advantage engines.
Game 2 : This was one of the more interesting matchups of my entire day, as it was the first and only time I had to deal with Geist of Saint Traft. He had a clique and Geist with Karakas to back them up, but when he entered combat, I wasted the Karakas and with no response, quadruple blocked the Geist, then gempalmed the Clique, which even at 2 life basically iced the game. This is one of the times I actually was glad I had 2x PIledrivers, as the pro blue was very relevant as he chumped Geist 3 times that game.
2-0 (1-0)
Match 2: G/B/W Bade
Game 1: Game one I was not familiar at all with this build. He cast Goyf, then lingering souls twice. However I was able to chump with Mogg War Mashall and buy enough time to Matron into Sharpshooter to clear his fliers. With that, the entire match flipped, and the aggressive Goyf was stuck playing defense, and he was just run over.
Game 2: A trend occurred here, as players kept land light hands against me, and I drew a lot of Wastelands. An early waste, basically shut him out from doing too much damage, and he had zero chance to deal with the massive goblin army.
2-0 (2-0)
Match 3: Re-animator
Game 1: I remember this match very well. I won the roll, opened with a lackey, that triggered into an Instigator and then I cast a second lackey. The only problem was, that’s all the pressure I could get. However three turns later, the trio forced a scoop.
Game2: I had a very very explosive hand, with a turn 3 win. Lackey, to SGC, and a piledirver. However I had no hate at all. In hindsight I probably should have muliganed, but I ended up keeping and ran into a turn 2 Elesh Norn. I did have answers, as I matroned up a stingscouger, and once he Forced it, I scooped it up.
Game 3: I had another very explosive hand, but again no hate. On the play, I felt it was very close, and ended up keeping, hitting lackey into Warchief and casting piledriver. However another turn 2 Elesh Norn joined the party blowing up my board. I answered immediately with a Stingscouger, and the board was reset. With nothing happening for a few turns, he attempts to Show and tells and ran into a red elemental blast, and then the remaining show and tells got surgical extracted. I found a clock, and cast the piledriver, hitting for 1 a turn for several turns. He had ways to bring creatures back, but with stingscouger he would just bounce them back. After fetching a few times and thoughseizing me twice, piledriver had swung in nearly lethal, and when I landed a Warchief to finish the game he scooped it up.
2-1 (3-0)
Match 4: Denny Maverick (Feature Match)
Game 1: I have watched this match now twice and there was nothing Denny could do for the opening. Pyrokenesis really showed its strength and blew up the board clearing the way to lackey into Kiki-Jiki. However Denny missed a really big play, when he landed Karakas. This happened a few times, where the player did not realize the interaction of Karakas with Kik-Jiki. If he bounced Kiki-Jiki, I would have been really really set back, but instead it was tapped for Jitte. With a clone of Warchief plopped into play from my second lackey strike, I was able to get him close to lethal, and then I wasted the Karakas, to ensure Kiki would be safe. That forced a scoop.
Game 2: I had a much slower start, but bolt, Pyrokensis, and a vial is a very strong hand against Maverick. I attempted to get Denny to overextend, but he either wasn’t falling for it, or simply didn’t have the cards. But I really didn’t mind too much, since I had an active vial, and with that I felt this matchup really favored me. I was able to slowly build up the board position, and kill Pridemage before his activation on vial. Stopping that activation was key, since I was really tight on mana, and when Kiki hit the board, like in most games it was all but over.
2-0 (4-0)
Sidenote:
This is how I traditionally sb against maverick
-2 Piledriver
-1 Sharpshooter
-1 SGC
-1 Stingscouger
+1 Relic
+1 Shattering Spree
+2 Anarchy
+1 Pyrokensis
I really like taking out SGC when I win the first game. He is great, but often pretty clunky in an opening hand when on the draw. It was also interesting to note that the commentators weren’t too thrilled with me bringing in Shattering Spree. But from what I have noticed, is if Jitte is on the board I am a massive dog, and when Jitte is in the graveyard, I am a big favorite. These matchups are won and lost on the back of Jitte, it is very powerful. Extra precautions seem necessary for this matchup.
Game 5: Jacob Kory (Maverick)
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/round_5_jacob_kory_vs_brett_pa.html
Game 1: I played game 1 poorly. I deserved to lose this game, and I did. I misplayed a land early meaning to play wasteland instead of a mountain, and then got confused by the judge when discussing damage, which cost me an early piledriver and any hope to win that match. I was on 5 hours or sleep the last two nights, but really I blame game 1 on playing too fast. I really tightened up my play the next two games, and really slowed down every match after that.
Game 2: Jacob makes a key mistake, when attempting to save one point of damage at nearly full life. He blocks and activates mom to give him pro red. However they all are destroyed, when I cast pyrokensis.. A few turns later I had matroned to ringleader then to Kiki-Jiki which ended the game.
Game 3: I get really lucky to win this game. He opened with Arbor and Ooze, while I had a lackey and Warchief. Instead of pathing my warchief and blocking the lackey, he did the opposite. This line of play traded the creatures, and with Jacob stuck on lands a wasteland and fistful of goblins were enough to finish the job.
2-1 (5-0)
Rounds 6-7
I ID into the top 8.
5-0-2
Semifinals Louis Corso Esper Blade
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/quarterfinals_brett_parise_vs_.html
I felt very fortunate with this matchup. I have had the luxury to test this again and again, while there is no way Louis has played this match up very often
Game 1 and 2 were very one sided. I just overwhelmed him Game 1, and Game 2, got locked out by a very early engineered explosives and Batterskull/Jitte combo.
Game 3: This game was pretty epic. Multiple times in this game it looked like I was going to lose, however ringleader and kiki-Jiki kept pulling me back in. Yes I had lethal on board at the very end, but I had miscounted. But with gempalm and Sharshooter in my hand, I could do no wrong, and Louis scooped when I attempted to cast sharpshooter.
Quarterfinals Galen Lemei Storm
Game 1: This one hurt. I felt like I had a very good idea of the speed I needed to play storm. I just wish I would have got there. I had good hands at 7 and 5, but they were unwinnable against storm. At 2 cards, I even had a chance, when he vapored back my matron. I couldn’t believe that, but he was able to combo out.
Game 2: A land, chalice for 0, led into a wasteland and surgical of the underground seas. Although it sucks he had a volcanic island, I had forgotten about that. I was only allowed to look at the deck list for 2-3 minutes, and didn’t exactly study his land count. But I was able to trigger instrigator into matron into kiki-jiki into matron for a piledriver, which presented a one turn clock, which even the announcers didn’t see. And I drew another wasteland for show.
Game 3: The one that got away. I opened with a solid 7. But it was unwinnable against storm. I managed to hit a no lander on mulligans 6-5-4 which basically sealed the match. I did have one out, a misplay, and Galen nearly cost himself the match with a brainstorm with a tutor uncast in the graveyard. But what I can say, it wasn’t meant to be.
I don’t want to make this too long, so I will end it here. If anyone has any questions on cards choices or whatever just post here.
1) Be able to beat burn
2) Don’t get blown out by a single StP
3) Be able to deal with a SfM to Jitte/Batterskull
I tried a lot of different options, but eventually ended with what I considered a very solid 60. It was honestly pretty 50-50, or 55-45 against Maverick/Esperblade, but I had played tested these matchups a ton, while my opponents generally had not play tested against Goblins, especially my version. This really helped in my matches. After dropping from the main event on Saturday I decided to test this theory, and I decided to play the Legacy challenge. I went 0-2, and dropped, getting beat by both ( Blaire) RUG Delver and match two by Maverick. I however was missing some key components of my deck. I was missing my Kiki-Jiki which I had left at home, and all my wastes which I had come to buy, and were so essential to the deck. I had tried to buy some earlier but SCG was sold out all day. I was about to give up and ultimately not play the next day, but luckily found a trader at the last minute who had four. Him and a handful of other players I met that night laughed when they found out I needed them for my Goblin build. I was a little worried, I had tested these matchups a ton, but everyone kept telling that Goblins sucked or was unplayable and my 0-2 record wasn’t comforting. In general I was getting very little support from anyone, and the final 75 was made essentially entirely by me, as I had almost no one to bounce ideas off. I don’t necessarily fault them, because there is a strong correlation between bad players and cheaper decks like burn, affinity, and goblins.
Anyways: This is what I was playing
Maindeck:
Artifacts
4 Aether Vial
Creatures
3 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
2 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Mogg War Marshal
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Stingscourger
2 Tuktuk Scrapper
2 Warren Instigator
Instants
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Pyrokinesis
Legendary Creatures
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Basic Lands
16 Mountain
Lands
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Zuran Orb
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Pyroblast
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Anarchy
1 Shattering Spree
Match 1 : Bant Aggro
Game 1: Game 1 was an easy win, and I just developed the board slowly with vial and a matron, and even with some removal my opponent couldn’t really do much as matron and ringleader are such massive card advantage engines.
Game 2 : This was one of the more interesting matchups of my entire day, as it was the first and only time I had to deal with Geist of Saint Traft. He had a clique and Geist with Karakas to back them up, but when he entered combat, I wasted the Karakas and with no response, quadruple blocked the Geist, then gempalmed the Clique, which even at 2 life basically iced the game. This is one of the times I actually was glad I had 2x PIledrivers, as the pro blue was very relevant as he chumped Geist 3 times that game.
2-0 (1-0)
Match 2: G/B/W Bade
Game 1: Game one I was not familiar at all with this build. He cast Goyf, then lingering souls twice. However I was able to chump with Mogg War Mashall and buy enough time to Matron into Sharpshooter to clear his fliers. With that, the entire match flipped, and the aggressive Goyf was stuck playing defense, and he was just run over.
Game 2: A trend occurred here, as players kept land light hands against me, and I drew a lot of Wastelands. An early waste, basically shut him out from doing too much damage, and he had zero chance to deal with the massive goblin army.
2-0 (2-0)
Match 3: Re-animator
Game 1: I remember this match very well. I won the roll, opened with a lackey, that triggered into an Instigator and then I cast a second lackey. The only problem was, that’s all the pressure I could get. However three turns later, the trio forced a scoop.
Game2: I had a very very explosive hand, with a turn 3 win. Lackey, to SGC, and a piledirver. However I had no hate at all. In hindsight I probably should have muliganed, but I ended up keeping and ran into a turn 2 Elesh Norn. I did have answers, as I matroned up a stingscouger, and once he Forced it, I scooped it up.
Game 3: I had another very explosive hand, but again no hate. On the play, I felt it was very close, and ended up keeping, hitting lackey into Warchief and casting piledriver. However another turn 2 Elesh Norn joined the party blowing up my board. I answered immediately with a Stingscouger, and the board was reset. With nothing happening for a few turns, he attempts to Show and tells and ran into a red elemental blast, and then the remaining show and tells got surgical extracted. I found a clock, and cast the piledriver, hitting for 1 a turn for several turns. He had ways to bring creatures back, but with stingscouger he would just bounce them back. After fetching a few times and thoughseizing me twice, piledriver had swung in nearly lethal, and when I landed a Warchief to finish the game he scooped it up.
2-1 (3-0)
Match 4: Denny Maverick (Feature Match)
Game 1: I have watched this match now twice and there was nothing Denny could do for the opening. Pyrokenesis really showed its strength and blew up the board clearing the way to lackey into Kiki-Jiki. However Denny missed a really big play, when he landed Karakas. This happened a few times, where the player did not realize the interaction of Karakas with Kik-Jiki. If he bounced Kiki-Jiki, I would have been really really set back, but instead it was tapped for Jitte. With a clone of Warchief plopped into play from my second lackey strike, I was able to get him close to lethal, and then I wasted the Karakas, to ensure Kiki would be safe. That forced a scoop.
Game 2: I had a much slower start, but bolt, Pyrokensis, and a vial is a very strong hand against Maverick. I attempted to get Denny to overextend, but he either wasn’t falling for it, or simply didn’t have the cards. But I really didn’t mind too much, since I had an active vial, and with that I felt this matchup really favored me. I was able to slowly build up the board position, and kill Pridemage before his activation on vial. Stopping that activation was key, since I was really tight on mana, and when Kiki hit the board, like in most games it was all but over.
2-0 (4-0)
Sidenote:
This is how I traditionally sb against maverick
-2 Piledriver
-1 Sharpshooter
-1 SGC
-1 Stingscouger
+1 Relic
+1 Shattering Spree
+2 Anarchy
+1 Pyrokensis
I really like taking out SGC when I win the first game. He is great, but often pretty clunky in an opening hand when on the draw. It was also interesting to note that the commentators weren’t too thrilled with me bringing in Shattering Spree. But from what I have noticed, is if Jitte is on the board I am a massive dog, and when Jitte is in the graveyard, I am a big favorite. These matchups are won and lost on the back of Jitte, it is very powerful. Extra precautions seem necessary for this matchup.
Game 5: Jacob Kory (Maverick)
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/round_5_jacob_kory_vs_brett_pa.html
Game 1: I played game 1 poorly. I deserved to lose this game, and I did. I misplayed a land early meaning to play wasteland instead of a mountain, and then got confused by the judge when discussing damage, which cost me an early piledriver and any hope to win that match. I was on 5 hours or sleep the last two nights, but really I blame game 1 on playing too fast. I really tightened up my play the next two games, and really slowed down every match after that.
Game 2: Jacob makes a key mistake, when attempting to save one point of damage at nearly full life. He blocks and activates mom to give him pro red. However they all are destroyed, when I cast pyrokensis.. A few turns later I had matroned to ringleader then to Kiki-Jiki which ended the game.
Game 3: I get really lucky to win this game. He opened with Arbor and Ooze, while I had a lackey and Warchief. Instead of pathing my warchief and blocking the lackey, he did the opposite. This line of play traded the creatures, and with Jacob stuck on lands a wasteland and fistful of goblins were enough to finish the job.
2-1 (5-0)
Rounds 6-7
I ID into the top 8.
5-0-2
Semifinals Louis Corso Esper Blade
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/quarterfinals_brett_parise_vs_.html
I felt very fortunate with this matchup. I have had the luxury to test this again and again, while there is no way Louis has played this match up very often
Game 1 and 2 were very one sided. I just overwhelmed him Game 1, and Game 2, got locked out by a very early engineered explosives and Batterskull/Jitte combo.
Game 3: This game was pretty epic. Multiple times in this game it looked like I was going to lose, however ringleader and kiki-Jiki kept pulling me back in. Yes I had lethal on board at the very end, but I had miscounted. But with gempalm and Sharshooter in my hand, I could do no wrong, and Louis scooped when I attempted to cast sharpshooter.
Quarterfinals Galen Lemei Storm
Game 1: This one hurt. I felt like I had a very good idea of the speed I needed to play storm. I just wish I would have got there. I had good hands at 7 and 5, but they were unwinnable against storm. At 2 cards, I even had a chance, when he vapored back my matron. I couldn’t believe that, but he was able to combo out.
Game 2: A land, chalice for 0, led into a wasteland and surgical of the underground seas. Although it sucks he had a volcanic island, I had forgotten about that. I was only allowed to look at the deck list for 2-3 minutes, and didn’t exactly study his land count. But I was able to trigger instrigator into matron into kiki-jiki into matron for a piledriver, which presented a one turn clock, which even the announcers didn’t see. And I drew another wasteland for show.
Game 3: The one that got away. I opened with a solid 7. But it was unwinnable against storm. I managed to hit a no lander on mulligans 6-5-4 which basically sealed the match. I did have one out, a misplay, and Galen nearly cost himself the match with a brainstorm with a tutor uncast in the graveyard. But what I can say, it wasn’t meant to be.
I don’t want to make this too long, so I will end it here. If anyone has any questions on cards choices or whatever just post here.