KSpaeth
08-15-2012, 04:12 PM
Hey, my name is Kobie Spaeth and I'm the scrub that won the SCG Legacy Open. I don't really write reports and I didn't take notes, so this is all off of memory (which isn't the best after 19 rounds of magic with only 3 hours of sleep). Sorry if I get things wrong.
Anyway, backstory: There was a PTQ in Minneapolis on the 11th, and of the 7 people in our car 2 were playing and 1 was judging. I played 16 land Illusion-Delver (best deck in the format). Anyway, we left at about 7:30 for the 6.5 hour car ride. We had to drive through Iowa. Apparently in that state it is illegal to have sex with an animal, illegal to have sex with something dead, but not illegal to have sex with a dead animal on the highway. To those who live in Iowa, I offer my condolences and this piece of advice: move to another state. Now. That is all. Anyway, we arrive at the hotel at like 3:30 in the morning and spend a while outside waiting for the clerk to unlock the doors so we can get our rooms. We wait with a couple who look suspiciously like first cousins. Anyway, I get about 3 hours of sleep, have a sad, sad breakfast, and we're off to the convention center. The people in our car were me (UWr Miracleblade, 1st), Alex Olson (budget Lands, 2nd), Dylan Streater (Storm, 14th), Travis Olson (Moar Lands), Bennet Snyder (RUG Delver), and Brad Leonhart (Esper Miracleblade).
Decklist!
Artifacts
1 Batterskull
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Sensei's Divining Top
Creatures
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
Instants
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries
4 Ponder
3 Terminus
Basic Lands
4 Island
2 Plains
Lands
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard:
4 Counterbalance
2 Disenchant
2 Path to Exile
2 Pyroblast
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Terminus
Link (http://deckstats.net/deck-1385413-707ced9ea1d12dfa023765a5475aacfe-en.html)
The two biggest questions with this deck are (1) why red and (2) why is Umezawa's Jitte in the sideboard, you moron?
Well, I wanted Explosives as another way of dealing with tokens in the miracles mirror plus it also deals with permanents in general. I might as well be able to pop it for 3, so I added red. Then I decided red blasts are good, so I went to 2 Volcanic Island and 2 red blasts sideboard. Maybe not necessary, but the splash is pretty free and it was just as good as I expected (which was very good, if you're wondering).
Now, Umezawa's Jitte. When I had in main, I very rarely searched for it. It does 4 things: gain life, pump a creature, kill creatures, and kill Jitte. Well, Batterskull gains life and pumps a creature just fine. It also comes attached with a creature. Now look at the decklist. Does this deck look like it has problems killing creatures? Not particularly. Don't get me wrong, I love to have Jitte against certain decks, which is why it's in the sideboard, but the maindeck is really tight and everything that's in there should be there in the main, and Jitte isn't needed.
Now for the report.
Round 1: Michael Reed, Merfolk
Game 1 I durdle around while he puts out some creatures. He eventually attacks for lethal with a Lord of Atlantis, a Master of the Pearl Trident, and 2 Mutavaults. I pop top and Terminus, then land Jace, who wraps things up rather quickly.
SB: +2 Path, +1 Terminus, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Umezawa's Jitte
-2 Spell Pierce, -2 COunterspell, -2 other cards (Jaces, I think)
Game 2 I Pyroblast his turn 2 Adept, he forces. Then I make a Squire. Then I make a 4/4 vigilance lifelinker. Then I put a Jitte on it. I win.
1-0
Round 2: Cory Ashline, Dredge
Game 1 is a real grind. He puts some stuff out, I Terminus to put some tokens, 2 Ichorids, and a Narco on the bottom. He starts trying to do stuff, but I exile his bridges when he atacks with 2 zombies into a Snapcaster/Ambush Viper. I'm stuck on mana so he eventually gets down to 12 cards in library and reanimates Griseldaddy. I take a couple of hits from it, then Swords Papa Grisels. He tries to kill me with Ichorids, but with only 2 cards left in library and no bridges, I have enough life and blockers to not die before he decks.
SB: +3 Extraction, +2 Path, +1 Jitte
-3 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -1 Ponder
Game 2 is pretty quick. I make a Squire, then put a 4/4 into play, then put a Jitte on it. I counter some stuff and use Jitte to kill squire to exile bridges. He is left trying to race a Batterskull+Jitte with some Narcomoebas. He loses the race.
2-0
Round 3: Robert Berni, Soulblade (Top 8 Standard)
Fake feature match, yay! I unwittingly make a joke about how they feature people who do well in standard but don't know anything about Legacy. I of course didn't know Robet had made top 8 the day before. It turns out he knows a lot about Legacy. Sorry, I completely forgot to apologize to you for that.
Game 1 my hand is slowish and awkward, he makes some Lingering Souls tokens, I die.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Disenchant, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Jitte
-4 Force, -some combination of Swords and Terminus (2 left in deck)
Game 2 I'm forgetful and don't really remember what happened, but I think it involved me winning the Jace war.
Game 3 he mulligans and we both start off slow. He Inquisitions on turn 4 and sees my Snap, Squire, Jace, land. He takes Squire, I Snap a Brainstorm end of turn to put a dude into play, to see more cards, and to punish his mulligan. I hit land, Squire, Squire. Well now. I play some skillforges and put some equipment into play, and that's that.
3-0
Round 4: Shane Campbell, UR Delver/Burn
Fake feature match, yay!
Game 1 we trade stuff off, he gets me down to 6 life and I have a Snapcaster to his nothing. He bolts me to 3, Snap bolts. I Pierce it, then draw the Batterskull I had put on top. Nobody has any cards in hand, he has a 1 turn window to hit a bolt. I die to Chain Lightning.
SB: +2 Path, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Jitte, +1 Terminus
-3 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -1 Ponder
Game 2 I get the Explosives/Ruins lock on him, the Squire him to death.
Game 3 I answer some creatures then Squire him to death.
4-0
Round 5: Erik Peters, Storm (I think Grinding Station)
Real feature match, yay! I made some mistakes, he made some mistakes. It's covered here (http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/328401753) at about 8 minutes, 30 seconds in.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Surgical Extraction
-4 Swords to Plowshares, -3 Terminus
5-0
Round 6: Matt Hoey, Esperblade (3rd/4th)
Under camera fake feature match, yay! Also, win and in!
Game 1 I mulligan and keep an iffy hand, but I don't want to go down too many cards. I miss my 2nd land drop, but put a Top in play. I proceed to make my next 6 land drops. I almost get to parity with Ruins/Explosives, but he uses counterspells and Snapcaster to tempo me out.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Jitte, +2 Disenchant
I don't remember what I took out, but I left in 3 Forces.
Game 2 I mulligan into a hand of 1 land, Jace, Force, Force, Force, other card. Long story short, I die violently. I'm a bit salty at losing to variance game 1 and to myself game 2, but I talk with some friends and walk it off. Ryan Overturf would like me to note that I would not have won had he not given me the motivation to do so.
5-1
Round 7: Kirby Kaufman, RUG Delver (10th, congrats!)
Fake feature match, yay! Also, I think it's a win and in!
Game 1 I mull to 4, him to 6. We play land go for a while. He puts a 1 mana 1/1 shroud into play. I blind miracle a couple of times (it actually feels real good) but he lucksacks into some counterspells. I eventually land a Jace, then I Clique him to trade with Mongoose. It turns out his hand is now nothing but useless counterspells. Jace eventually kills him in a game I had no business winning.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Path, +1 Terminus, +1 Jitte
-2 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -4 Force
Game 2 I Countertop him quickly then Squire wraps it up for me.
6-1
I'm feeling all good about myself for getting top 8. We look at pairings/standings. Well, with 209 players there were infinite x-1s and I'm not drawing. I also happen to be paired against someone in my car. We are not amused.
Round 8: Dylan Streater, UBr ANT (14th)
Dylan covers this much better here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?24459-Top-16-at-SCG-Kansas-City-with-UBr-ANT) than I can because his memory is better. In short, Vendilion Clique is good, Counterbalance is better, and being lucky is the best.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Pyroblast, +3 Surgical
-4 Swords to Plowhsares, -3 Terminus, -2 Jace
7-1
Alex Olson, who also top 8s (and is in our car), decides to be nice to me and prize splits in an otherwise great-looking top 8 for him. So top 8 plays out for a trophy.
Quarters: Adam Boyd, Dredge
Game 1 I have a bad start, and he gets to doing some stuff. I use my cantrips to find my outs, and eventually top into Terminus on the last turn possible. Now he has Ichorids on the bottom, which means my plan of decking him is going to be awkward. At some point I exile his Bridges with a flashy Clique in front of a Zombie. He gets down to his last cards, and once again I have to find 2 outs, Snap for Swords, or Batterskull. I miss, so Batterskull becomes my only out. I find it, I slam it, I win. Gogo being lucky.
SB: +3 Surgical Extraction, +1 Umezawa's Jitte, +2 Path, +1 Terminus
-3 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -2 (Ponder?)
Game 2 he starts doing things, but I have 2 extractions to get rid of bridges and Ichorids. I'm pretty sure I made a mistake somewhere with my Surgicalling, but it didn't end up mattering. I Squire him, he is left trying to race a Batterskull with 2 Narcomoebas.
8-1
Semis: Matt Hoey, Esperblade
I will have my revenge. If I weren't playing Miracleblade, I would have been playing something very similar to the deck he was running.
This match is covered here (http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/328401753) at approx. 5 hours, 47 min, 30 seconds. I make a lot of mistakes, see if you can count them all!
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +1 Jitte, +2 Disenchant, +2 Pyroblast, +2 Surgical
-4 Swords, -3 Terminus, -4 Force
Not sure if this is right, but Force ins't great and the spot removal/wraths aren't great either. Keeping some number of Swords might have been better.
9-1
Finals: Alex Olson, Lands
Why did we split top 8 and not finals?! Oh well, I want a trophy, he wants a trophy, he's playing Lands so he probably gets it. Either way our car brings it home. Match is covered here (http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/328401753) at 6 hours 34 minutes in.
SB: +3 Surgical, +2 Disenchant
- 3 Terminus, -2 Swords
I was well aware of his plan to bring in Bobs and Thalia, which is why I kept some Swords in. I should have brought in Counterbalance, but I was dumb and tired so I didn't.
10-1
So I got the trophy and, as is tradition, bought dinner for everyone because I won. Everywhere was closed, though, so I only spent $40 for a cherry slushie at Sonic.
Props:
Alex Olson, for 2nd
Kirby Kaufman, for 10th
Dylan Streater, for 14th
Squire
Being lucky
Ryan Overturf, for being Ryan Overturf
Slops:
Iowa
Motels that keep their doors locked in the morning. How are your customers getting inside?
Beasti-ecrophilia
6.5 hour car rides
Thanks for reading, questions/comments/concerns?
Anyway, backstory: There was a PTQ in Minneapolis on the 11th, and of the 7 people in our car 2 were playing and 1 was judging. I played 16 land Illusion-Delver (best deck in the format). Anyway, we left at about 7:30 for the 6.5 hour car ride. We had to drive through Iowa. Apparently in that state it is illegal to have sex with an animal, illegal to have sex with something dead, but not illegal to have sex with a dead animal on the highway. To those who live in Iowa, I offer my condolences and this piece of advice: move to another state. Now. That is all. Anyway, we arrive at the hotel at like 3:30 in the morning and spend a while outside waiting for the clerk to unlock the doors so we can get our rooms. We wait with a couple who look suspiciously like first cousins. Anyway, I get about 3 hours of sleep, have a sad, sad breakfast, and we're off to the convention center. The people in our car were me (UWr Miracleblade, 1st), Alex Olson (budget Lands, 2nd), Dylan Streater (Storm, 14th), Travis Olson (Moar Lands), Bennet Snyder (RUG Delver), and Brad Leonhart (Esper Miracleblade).
Decklist!
Artifacts
1 Batterskull
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Sensei's Divining Top
Creatures
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
Instants
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries
4 Ponder
3 Terminus
Basic Lands
4 Island
2 Plains
Lands
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard:
4 Counterbalance
2 Disenchant
2 Path to Exile
2 Pyroblast
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Terminus
Link (http://deckstats.net/deck-1385413-707ced9ea1d12dfa023765a5475aacfe-en.html)
The two biggest questions with this deck are (1) why red and (2) why is Umezawa's Jitte in the sideboard, you moron?
Well, I wanted Explosives as another way of dealing with tokens in the miracles mirror plus it also deals with permanents in general. I might as well be able to pop it for 3, so I added red. Then I decided red blasts are good, so I went to 2 Volcanic Island and 2 red blasts sideboard. Maybe not necessary, but the splash is pretty free and it was just as good as I expected (which was very good, if you're wondering).
Now, Umezawa's Jitte. When I had in main, I very rarely searched for it. It does 4 things: gain life, pump a creature, kill creatures, and kill Jitte. Well, Batterskull gains life and pumps a creature just fine. It also comes attached with a creature. Now look at the decklist. Does this deck look like it has problems killing creatures? Not particularly. Don't get me wrong, I love to have Jitte against certain decks, which is why it's in the sideboard, but the maindeck is really tight and everything that's in there should be there in the main, and Jitte isn't needed.
Now for the report.
Round 1: Michael Reed, Merfolk
Game 1 I durdle around while he puts out some creatures. He eventually attacks for lethal with a Lord of Atlantis, a Master of the Pearl Trident, and 2 Mutavaults. I pop top and Terminus, then land Jace, who wraps things up rather quickly.
SB: +2 Path, +1 Terminus, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Umezawa's Jitte
-2 Spell Pierce, -2 COunterspell, -2 other cards (Jaces, I think)
Game 2 I Pyroblast his turn 2 Adept, he forces. Then I make a Squire. Then I make a 4/4 vigilance lifelinker. Then I put a Jitte on it. I win.
1-0
Round 2: Cory Ashline, Dredge
Game 1 is a real grind. He puts some stuff out, I Terminus to put some tokens, 2 Ichorids, and a Narco on the bottom. He starts trying to do stuff, but I exile his bridges when he atacks with 2 zombies into a Snapcaster/Ambush Viper. I'm stuck on mana so he eventually gets down to 12 cards in library and reanimates Griseldaddy. I take a couple of hits from it, then Swords Papa Grisels. He tries to kill me with Ichorids, but with only 2 cards left in library and no bridges, I have enough life and blockers to not die before he decks.
SB: +3 Extraction, +2 Path, +1 Jitte
-3 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -1 Ponder
Game 2 is pretty quick. I make a Squire, then put a 4/4 into play, then put a Jitte on it. I counter some stuff and use Jitte to kill squire to exile bridges. He is left trying to race a Batterskull+Jitte with some Narcomoebas. He loses the race.
2-0
Round 3: Robert Berni, Soulblade (Top 8 Standard)
Fake feature match, yay! I unwittingly make a joke about how they feature people who do well in standard but don't know anything about Legacy. I of course didn't know Robet had made top 8 the day before. It turns out he knows a lot about Legacy. Sorry, I completely forgot to apologize to you for that.
Game 1 my hand is slowish and awkward, he makes some Lingering Souls tokens, I die.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Disenchant, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Jitte
-4 Force, -some combination of Swords and Terminus (2 left in deck)
Game 2 I'm forgetful and don't really remember what happened, but I think it involved me winning the Jace war.
Game 3 he mulligans and we both start off slow. He Inquisitions on turn 4 and sees my Snap, Squire, Jace, land. He takes Squire, I Snap a Brainstorm end of turn to put a dude into play, to see more cards, and to punish his mulligan. I hit land, Squire, Squire. Well now. I play some skillforges and put some equipment into play, and that's that.
3-0
Round 4: Shane Campbell, UR Delver/Burn
Fake feature match, yay!
Game 1 we trade stuff off, he gets me down to 6 life and I have a Snapcaster to his nothing. He bolts me to 3, Snap bolts. I Pierce it, then draw the Batterskull I had put on top. Nobody has any cards in hand, he has a 1 turn window to hit a bolt. I die to Chain Lightning.
SB: +2 Path, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Jitte, +1 Terminus
-3 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -1 Ponder
Game 2 I get the Explosives/Ruins lock on him, the Squire him to death.
Game 3 I answer some creatures then Squire him to death.
4-0
Round 5: Erik Peters, Storm (I think Grinding Station)
Real feature match, yay! I made some mistakes, he made some mistakes. It's covered here (http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/328401753) at about 8 minutes, 30 seconds in.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Surgical Extraction
-4 Swords to Plowshares, -3 Terminus
5-0
Round 6: Matt Hoey, Esperblade (3rd/4th)
Under camera fake feature match, yay! Also, win and in!
Game 1 I mulligan and keep an iffy hand, but I don't want to go down too many cards. I miss my 2nd land drop, but put a Top in play. I proceed to make my next 6 land drops. I almost get to parity with Ruins/Explosives, but he uses counterspells and Snapcaster to tempo me out.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Jitte, +2 Disenchant
I don't remember what I took out, but I left in 3 Forces.
Game 2 I mulligan into a hand of 1 land, Jace, Force, Force, Force, other card. Long story short, I die violently. I'm a bit salty at losing to variance game 1 and to myself game 2, but I talk with some friends and walk it off. Ryan Overturf would like me to note that I would not have won had he not given me the motivation to do so.
5-1
Round 7: Kirby Kaufman, RUG Delver (10th, congrats!)
Fake feature match, yay! Also, I think it's a win and in!
Game 1 I mull to 4, him to 6. We play land go for a while. He puts a 1 mana 1/1 shroud into play. I blind miracle a couple of times (it actually feels real good) but he lucksacks into some counterspells. I eventually land a Jace, then I Clique him to trade with Mongoose. It turns out his hand is now nothing but useless counterspells. Jace eventually kills him in a game I had no business winning.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Path, +1 Terminus, +1 Jitte
-2 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -4 Force
Game 2 I Countertop him quickly then Squire wraps it up for me.
6-1
I'm feeling all good about myself for getting top 8. We look at pairings/standings. Well, with 209 players there were infinite x-1s and I'm not drawing. I also happen to be paired against someone in my car. We are not amused.
Round 8: Dylan Streater, UBr ANT (14th)
Dylan covers this much better here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?24459-Top-16-at-SCG-Kansas-City-with-UBr-ANT) than I can because his memory is better. In short, Vendilion Clique is good, Counterbalance is better, and being lucky is the best.
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +2 Pyroblast, +3 Surgical
-4 Swords to Plowhsares, -3 Terminus, -2 Jace
7-1
Alex Olson, who also top 8s (and is in our car), decides to be nice to me and prize splits in an otherwise great-looking top 8 for him. So top 8 plays out for a trophy.
Quarters: Adam Boyd, Dredge
Game 1 I have a bad start, and he gets to doing some stuff. I use my cantrips to find my outs, and eventually top into Terminus on the last turn possible. Now he has Ichorids on the bottom, which means my plan of decking him is going to be awkward. At some point I exile his Bridges with a flashy Clique in front of a Zombie. He gets down to his last cards, and once again I have to find 2 outs, Snap for Swords, or Batterskull. I miss, so Batterskull becomes my only out. I find it, I slam it, I win. Gogo being lucky.
SB: +3 Surgical Extraction, +1 Umezawa's Jitte, +2 Path, +1 Terminus
-3 Jace, -2 Counterspell, -2 (Ponder?)
Game 2 he starts doing things, but I have 2 extractions to get rid of bridges and Ichorids. I'm pretty sure I made a mistake somewhere with my Surgicalling, but it didn't end up mattering. I Squire him, he is left trying to race a Batterskull with 2 Narcomoebas.
8-1
Semis: Matt Hoey, Esperblade
I will have my revenge. If I weren't playing Miracleblade, I would have been playing something very similar to the deck he was running.
This match is covered here (http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/328401753) at approx. 5 hours, 47 min, 30 seconds. I make a lot of mistakes, see if you can count them all!
SB: +4 Counterbalance, +1 Jitte, +2 Disenchant, +2 Pyroblast, +2 Surgical
-4 Swords, -3 Terminus, -4 Force
Not sure if this is right, but Force ins't great and the spot removal/wraths aren't great either. Keeping some number of Swords might have been better.
9-1
Finals: Alex Olson, Lands
Why did we split top 8 and not finals?! Oh well, I want a trophy, he wants a trophy, he's playing Lands so he probably gets it. Either way our car brings it home. Match is covered here (http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/328401753) at 6 hours 34 minutes in.
SB: +3 Surgical, +2 Disenchant
- 3 Terminus, -2 Swords
I was well aware of his plan to bring in Bobs and Thalia, which is why I kept some Swords in. I should have brought in Counterbalance, but I was dumb and tired so I didn't.
10-1
So I got the trophy and, as is tradition, bought dinner for everyone because I won. Everywhere was closed, though, so I only spent $40 for a cherry slushie at Sonic.
Props:
Alex Olson, for 2nd
Kirby Kaufman, for 10th
Dylan Streater, for 14th
Squire
Being lucky
Ryan Overturf, for being Ryan Overturf
Slops:
Iowa
Motels that keep their doors locked in the morning. How are your customers getting inside?
Beasti-ecrophilia
6.5 hour car rides
Thanks for reading, questions/comments/concerns?