HoneyT
03-27-2013, 11:32 PM
I'm going to preface this report with a little notice. There is going to be a story/non-magic related things in here. If that frightens you or you simply don't care, feel free to scroll down to peek at the deck list and report proper. And without further ado....
Our tale this time actually begins on Thursday evening. Hooray for four day weekends! I hustle home from work, clean up the apartment a bit and greet our guests Kelsey (ZO!DBERG) and David. My roommate Kirby (RandomGestures) arrives shortly after and let THE WEEKEND BEGIN! We run a few errands, drop the dog off at the rents, pick up some allergy medication and some grub. We finally convince Kirby not to play Mono Green in standard and we grab some shut-eye so we can leave for KC early on Friday.
After the obligatory car wash followed by some breakfast, we hop on the interstate for the incredibly boring 3 hour drive to KC. Thank god for good company. On the way, we stop at a gas station to relieve ourselves and Kirby and Kelsey notice a cigar shelf. After tanking shortly, we decide the correct play is to pick up some “preemptive celebratory cigars” (spoiler alert: this ends up being relevant). We get on the road again (not unlike Willie Nelson) and have a rather uneventful drive the rest of the way.
Upon arriving in the city proper, Kelsey makes the observation that we're hungry for some barbecue. We drive past our hotel and stop by Arthur Bryant's for a late lunch. I can't recommend the pulled pork enough. Simply delectable. After we had our fill of barbecue we made our way to our hotel and hammered out some Standard lists. We had to convince Kirby not to play Mono Green again. I settled on the GB Ooze deck I've been playing for awhile. David ran Wolf Run Bant, Kelsey went big with Jund + GWIZZELBWAND. After not letting Kirby audible for the 28,454,293th time, he settled on BG Zombies with which to kill people. After a few hours of testing, we decided to hit up some card stores for value. Kirby neglected to bring his pajamas, so we were forced to stop at a Gordman's to pick up some shorts. Shorts were not good enough however, as Kirby had also found a stuffed cow he simply HAD to have. The four of us and the newest member of our group, the affectionately named “Moo Moo Bear” proceeded along with our night. We hit up a few card stores, watched some terrible FNM-ing and decided we hadn't had enough barbecue for one day. TO GATES! (also delicious if you've never been). We mad our way back to the hotel, watched some March Madness and got some rest before Saturday.
We woke up Saturday morning, grabbed some value hotel breakfast and made our way to the Kansas City Convention Center for the Standard Open. We ran into Kobie Spaeth and Dylan Streater (Dark Ritual) and hung out for awhile before the tournament started. I'll spare you all the bloody details. Suffice it to say I started at 4-1 before the wheels fell off and finished out of the money. The rest of the group was even less fortunate. Oh well. Standard blows anyway. We left the convention center with the intention of meeting some Magic players for dinner and walked outside to a Winter Wonderland (read: Hellhole) of ice and snow. We found it prudent to skip dinner and focus on getting back to our hotel safely (spoiler alert: we did). We didn't skip dinner entirely though, as there was conveniently a Denny's right next to the hotel. I made a bit of value when we made bets on how many All-You-Can-Eat Pancakes David could consume. The answer is not near as many as everybody else thought. We went back to the hotel and built David a BUG Delver deck before we called it a night.
We awoke extra early on Sunday to be sure we could reach the venue through the treacherous conditions and prepared ourselves for a day of Legacy!
This is where those of you who were uninterested in the back story may start reading.
I sleeved up my Punishing Fire Nic Fit deck, registered and was ready to go!
For reference, the list:
// Deck: Punishing Nic Fit (60)
// Lands (23)
1 Badlands
2 Bayou
3 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Mountain
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Swamp
1 Taiga
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
// Creatures (14)
1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Deathrite Shaman
2 Eternal Witness
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Primeval Titan
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Veteran Explorer
// Spells (23)
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Punishing Fire
3 Sensei's Divining Top
// Sideboard (15)
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Slaughter Games
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
And without further ado, the tournament!
Round 1 – John Penick with ANT
I win the die roll and keep a solid seven. He does as well. I put John on a blue deck and Therapied turn 1 to make the most efficient use of my mana. I called Brainstorm, hit one (and put him on life tilt) and see a hand with lands, a Cabal Ritual, LED, Lotus Petal and an Ad Nauseam. Not exactly how I wanted to start this tournament. He simply plays a land for his first turn and passes. I cast Explorer and flashback the Therapy on the Ad Nauseam. We spend a couple turns durdling as I can't find a fast enough clock or more disruption before he finds Infernal Tutor and kills me with Past in Flames.
Sideboard: +2 Carpet of Flowers, +2 Mindbreak Trap, +3 Red Elemental Blast, +2 Slaughter Games, +3 Surgical Extraction, +2 Thoughtseize, -1 Broodmate Dragon, -1 Primeval Titan, -2 Abrupt Decay, -1 Garruk, Primal Hunter, -2 Maelstrom Pulse, -3 Pernicious Deed, -4 Punishing Fire
I bring in a bunch of cards and don't lose. Discard + Extractions on key pieces with Eternal Witness rebuys get game 2. And I managed to resolve a Slaughter Games game 3 on Tendrils that he was just dead to.
2-1
1-0
Round 2 – Cage Buntington with ANT (again =/)
I mulligan to a reasonable hand with some removal. He leads with Probe... Aaaaand kills me turn 3 with no problems. At least I still had all this removal!
Sideboard: Same as last match.
And also, same as last match, I win the next two off some well timed Extractions and him not being able to win through the DRS killing him and the Mindbreak Trap he knew I had in hand.
2-1
2-0
Round 3 – Grant Fowler with UWR Delver
A fair deck! Hooray!! Nothing super interesting here. He kept a pretty loose one and simply couldn't beat a Punishing Fire. Thrun cleans up.
Sideboard: +3 Carpet of Flowers, +3 Red Elemental Blast, -1 Deathrite Shaman, -1 Punishing Fire, -2 Cabal Therapy, -2 Maelstrom Pulse
He flips a Delver and Punishing Fire kills it. He plays a Clique and Punishing Fire kills it. I blow up his Geist of St. Traft with a Deed, resolve Primeval Titan that he proceeds to double Bolt. Huntmaster + Wolf Run kills him.
2-0
3-0
Round 4 – Shawn Dewey with Punishing Fire Miracles (Camera feature match)
Game 1 I keep a reasonable 7 with a Top and he mulls to 5. Top allows me to sculpt my hand and pressure him while he's forced to try and find a way to deal with my threats. In the end, Primeval Titan > Punishing Fire and I Wolf Run him to death. I make a beast with Garruk to put him dead on board as opposed to drawing 6. It didn't really matter at that stage of the game.
Sideboard: -4 Veteran Explorer, -1 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Deathrite Shaman, -2 Cabal Therapy, -2 Punishing Fire +2 Slaughter Games, +3 Red Elemental Blast, +3 Carpet of Flowers, +2 Thoughtseize
Game 2 he had a nuts Brainstorm and I had a hard time finding an answer to the second Geist. Many people questioned my sequencing and Slaughter Games name on Punishing Fire. I ran out the Huntmaster because I thought he would shuffle the P-Fire away with his Brainstorm. That forced me to name P-Fire with the Slaughter Games because I needed a Witness to block Geist while I got back Huntmaster or Deed. He had a follow up Baneslayer that I couldn't deal with anyway so it didn't matter.
Game 3 there's not much to say. After I take out the Jace, Thrun just takes it home. I Slaughter Games the Entreats because at that point, it's the only card that can stop Thrun and kill me on the spot.
2-1
4-0
Round 5 – Andrew Tenjum with EsperBlade
I know what he's on and keep an insane hand. I'm on the draw and he just plays a land. I lead with Mountain into Top and put him of life tilt as he has no idea what I'm on. He spent the entire end of my turn trying to figure out what I was playing. He taps out for Stoneforge on his turn. I Therapy the Batterskull out of his hand. Rip his hand apart with another Therapy and an Explorer. I get Punishing Fire online with a Huntmaster and that's all she wrote.
Sideboard: +3 Carpet of Flowers + 3 Red Elemental Blast +2 Thoughtseize, -4 Veteran Explorer, -2 Cabal Therapy, -1 Punishing Fire, -1 Scavenging Ooze
I die to a Geist of St. Traft and some Lingering Souls game 2 after he counters my Deed
Game 3 I mull to 6 and keep a pretty good hand with a Top. He fights over Pulsing his Stoneforge with a Force of Will and I REB it with my last card. This strands Batterskull in his hand long enough for me to have a board presence. I deed away a round of Souls which lets my Witness and Beast token get in there. He tries to Academy Ruins his Batterskull end of turn and taps out for it on his turn. I blow up a deed at zero to nuke the Germ and Wolf Run the Witness for exacsties.
2-1
5-0
Round 6 – Grant Wilkinson with ANT (for the 3rd freaking time on the day)
I sat next to him earlier so I knew what he was on and mulligan for business. I find none and die pretty uneventfully.
Sideboard: Same as the other two Storm matches
Game two Deathrite Shaman deals about 10 to him while he's sculpting his hand and playing through my discard and Surgicals. He eventually tries to go all in on an Infernal Tutor and I flip my Top and reveal the Mindbreak Trap I'd been floating there all game.
Game three he used a bunch of discard on my discard and Mindbreak Traps. This left him vulnerable to a pair of Huntmasters that get him before he can go off.
2-1
6-0
Round 7 – ID with Devin Koepke on Reanimator
Still in 1st place after this round.
Round 8 – ID with Jeff Rasmussen on RUG
I briefly considered playing out the last match for 1st seed and choice of play or draw in the Top 8, but decided to ID to ensure RUG makes it in as it's a favorable matchup in the Top 8.
WHOOOOO!!! Three Storm opponents (defeated without islands) later and I got Top 8 locked up.
I lounge around a bit for the last round and watch Kelsey lose his win-and-in to Lands :(
Quarterfinals – Devin Koepke with Reanimator (Camera feature match)
I obviously get paired against the only deck in the Top 8 that I actively do not want to play against. Oh well, such is life.
I keep a pretty good hand that shreds his, leaves him with just 2 lands in hand and I can cast a Broodmate in 2 turns. Aaaaaaand he raw-dogs Reanimate off the top and Iona kills me. No wonder he made Top 8.
Sideboard: +3 Surgical Extraction, +2 Slaughter Games, +2 Thoughtseize, +3 Red Elemental Blast, -2 Abrupt Decay, -3 Pernicious Deed, -4 Punishing Fire, -1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
I'm forced to mull to 6 and keep a decent hand. At one point I Thoughseize him and take his reanimation spell leaving him with Gwizzelbwand and double Force. I had 2 Surgicals in hand. I tanked about taking the demon and making him fight over the Surgical, but since I knew the top of my deck was terrible, I wanted as many cards in hand as possible to fight over more as opposed to making myself hellbent. He obviously rips Show and Tell off the top and I die a brutal, fiery death. It's hard to say what the right play was. Either way, it's a bad matchup and I had a great run. Top 8 split so there was no money on the line at least.
Afterwards, my friends consoled me. I can't stop the top of his deck. We walk outside and bust out our PREEMPTIVE CELEBRATORY CIGARS and celebrate an awesome weekend. We stop and Steak and Shake for some fine eatings and begin our return home.
Time for the obligatory Props and Slops section:
Props:
-Barbecue
-More barbecue
-Huntmaster of the Fells
-A car full of awesome guys
Slops:
-ANT opponents making me sweat on my way to Top 8
-Snow
-Ohio State basketball
Feel free to ask any questions and as always, thanks for reading!!!
Our tale this time actually begins on Thursday evening. Hooray for four day weekends! I hustle home from work, clean up the apartment a bit and greet our guests Kelsey (ZO!DBERG) and David. My roommate Kirby (RandomGestures) arrives shortly after and let THE WEEKEND BEGIN! We run a few errands, drop the dog off at the rents, pick up some allergy medication and some grub. We finally convince Kirby not to play Mono Green in standard and we grab some shut-eye so we can leave for KC early on Friday.
After the obligatory car wash followed by some breakfast, we hop on the interstate for the incredibly boring 3 hour drive to KC. Thank god for good company. On the way, we stop at a gas station to relieve ourselves and Kirby and Kelsey notice a cigar shelf. After tanking shortly, we decide the correct play is to pick up some “preemptive celebratory cigars” (spoiler alert: this ends up being relevant). We get on the road again (not unlike Willie Nelson) and have a rather uneventful drive the rest of the way.
Upon arriving in the city proper, Kelsey makes the observation that we're hungry for some barbecue. We drive past our hotel and stop by Arthur Bryant's for a late lunch. I can't recommend the pulled pork enough. Simply delectable. After we had our fill of barbecue we made our way to our hotel and hammered out some Standard lists. We had to convince Kirby not to play Mono Green again. I settled on the GB Ooze deck I've been playing for awhile. David ran Wolf Run Bant, Kelsey went big with Jund + GWIZZELBWAND. After not letting Kirby audible for the 28,454,293th time, he settled on BG Zombies with which to kill people. After a few hours of testing, we decided to hit up some card stores for value. Kirby neglected to bring his pajamas, so we were forced to stop at a Gordman's to pick up some shorts. Shorts were not good enough however, as Kirby had also found a stuffed cow he simply HAD to have. The four of us and the newest member of our group, the affectionately named “Moo Moo Bear” proceeded along with our night. We hit up a few card stores, watched some terrible FNM-ing and decided we hadn't had enough barbecue for one day. TO GATES! (also delicious if you've never been). We mad our way back to the hotel, watched some March Madness and got some rest before Saturday.
We woke up Saturday morning, grabbed some value hotel breakfast and made our way to the Kansas City Convention Center for the Standard Open. We ran into Kobie Spaeth and Dylan Streater (Dark Ritual) and hung out for awhile before the tournament started. I'll spare you all the bloody details. Suffice it to say I started at 4-1 before the wheels fell off and finished out of the money. The rest of the group was even less fortunate. Oh well. Standard blows anyway. We left the convention center with the intention of meeting some Magic players for dinner and walked outside to a Winter Wonderland (read: Hellhole) of ice and snow. We found it prudent to skip dinner and focus on getting back to our hotel safely (spoiler alert: we did). We didn't skip dinner entirely though, as there was conveniently a Denny's right next to the hotel. I made a bit of value when we made bets on how many All-You-Can-Eat Pancakes David could consume. The answer is not near as many as everybody else thought. We went back to the hotel and built David a BUG Delver deck before we called it a night.
We awoke extra early on Sunday to be sure we could reach the venue through the treacherous conditions and prepared ourselves for a day of Legacy!
This is where those of you who were uninterested in the back story may start reading.
I sleeved up my Punishing Fire Nic Fit deck, registered and was ready to go!
For reference, the list:
// Deck: Punishing Nic Fit (60)
// Lands (23)
1 Badlands
2 Bayou
3 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Mountain
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Swamp
1 Taiga
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
// Creatures (14)
1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Deathrite Shaman
2 Eternal Witness
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Primeval Titan
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Veteran Explorer
// Spells (23)
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Punishing Fire
3 Sensei's Divining Top
// Sideboard (15)
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Slaughter Games
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
And without further ado, the tournament!
Round 1 – John Penick with ANT
I win the die roll and keep a solid seven. He does as well. I put John on a blue deck and Therapied turn 1 to make the most efficient use of my mana. I called Brainstorm, hit one (and put him on life tilt) and see a hand with lands, a Cabal Ritual, LED, Lotus Petal and an Ad Nauseam. Not exactly how I wanted to start this tournament. He simply plays a land for his first turn and passes. I cast Explorer and flashback the Therapy on the Ad Nauseam. We spend a couple turns durdling as I can't find a fast enough clock or more disruption before he finds Infernal Tutor and kills me with Past in Flames.
Sideboard: +2 Carpet of Flowers, +2 Mindbreak Trap, +3 Red Elemental Blast, +2 Slaughter Games, +3 Surgical Extraction, +2 Thoughtseize, -1 Broodmate Dragon, -1 Primeval Titan, -2 Abrupt Decay, -1 Garruk, Primal Hunter, -2 Maelstrom Pulse, -3 Pernicious Deed, -4 Punishing Fire
I bring in a bunch of cards and don't lose. Discard + Extractions on key pieces with Eternal Witness rebuys get game 2. And I managed to resolve a Slaughter Games game 3 on Tendrils that he was just dead to.
2-1
1-0
Round 2 – Cage Buntington with ANT (again =/)
I mulligan to a reasonable hand with some removal. He leads with Probe... Aaaaand kills me turn 3 with no problems. At least I still had all this removal!
Sideboard: Same as last match.
And also, same as last match, I win the next two off some well timed Extractions and him not being able to win through the DRS killing him and the Mindbreak Trap he knew I had in hand.
2-1
2-0
Round 3 – Grant Fowler with UWR Delver
A fair deck! Hooray!! Nothing super interesting here. He kept a pretty loose one and simply couldn't beat a Punishing Fire. Thrun cleans up.
Sideboard: +3 Carpet of Flowers, +3 Red Elemental Blast, -1 Deathrite Shaman, -1 Punishing Fire, -2 Cabal Therapy, -2 Maelstrom Pulse
He flips a Delver and Punishing Fire kills it. He plays a Clique and Punishing Fire kills it. I blow up his Geist of St. Traft with a Deed, resolve Primeval Titan that he proceeds to double Bolt. Huntmaster + Wolf Run kills him.
2-0
3-0
Round 4 – Shawn Dewey with Punishing Fire Miracles (Camera feature match)
Game 1 I keep a reasonable 7 with a Top and he mulls to 5. Top allows me to sculpt my hand and pressure him while he's forced to try and find a way to deal with my threats. In the end, Primeval Titan > Punishing Fire and I Wolf Run him to death. I make a beast with Garruk to put him dead on board as opposed to drawing 6. It didn't really matter at that stage of the game.
Sideboard: -4 Veteran Explorer, -1 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Deathrite Shaman, -2 Cabal Therapy, -2 Punishing Fire +2 Slaughter Games, +3 Red Elemental Blast, +3 Carpet of Flowers, +2 Thoughtseize
Game 2 he had a nuts Brainstorm and I had a hard time finding an answer to the second Geist. Many people questioned my sequencing and Slaughter Games name on Punishing Fire. I ran out the Huntmaster because I thought he would shuffle the P-Fire away with his Brainstorm. That forced me to name P-Fire with the Slaughter Games because I needed a Witness to block Geist while I got back Huntmaster or Deed. He had a follow up Baneslayer that I couldn't deal with anyway so it didn't matter.
Game 3 there's not much to say. After I take out the Jace, Thrun just takes it home. I Slaughter Games the Entreats because at that point, it's the only card that can stop Thrun and kill me on the spot.
2-1
4-0
Round 5 – Andrew Tenjum with EsperBlade
I know what he's on and keep an insane hand. I'm on the draw and he just plays a land. I lead with Mountain into Top and put him of life tilt as he has no idea what I'm on. He spent the entire end of my turn trying to figure out what I was playing. He taps out for Stoneforge on his turn. I Therapy the Batterskull out of his hand. Rip his hand apart with another Therapy and an Explorer. I get Punishing Fire online with a Huntmaster and that's all she wrote.
Sideboard: +3 Carpet of Flowers + 3 Red Elemental Blast +2 Thoughtseize, -4 Veteran Explorer, -2 Cabal Therapy, -1 Punishing Fire, -1 Scavenging Ooze
I die to a Geist of St. Traft and some Lingering Souls game 2 after he counters my Deed
Game 3 I mull to 6 and keep a pretty good hand with a Top. He fights over Pulsing his Stoneforge with a Force of Will and I REB it with my last card. This strands Batterskull in his hand long enough for me to have a board presence. I deed away a round of Souls which lets my Witness and Beast token get in there. He tries to Academy Ruins his Batterskull end of turn and taps out for it on his turn. I blow up a deed at zero to nuke the Germ and Wolf Run the Witness for exacsties.
2-1
5-0
Round 6 – Grant Wilkinson with ANT (for the 3rd freaking time on the day)
I sat next to him earlier so I knew what he was on and mulligan for business. I find none and die pretty uneventfully.
Sideboard: Same as the other two Storm matches
Game two Deathrite Shaman deals about 10 to him while he's sculpting his hand and playing through my discard and Surgicals. He eventually tries to go all in on an Infernal Tutor and I flip my Top and reveal the Mindbreak Trap I'd been floating there all game.
Game three he used a bunch of discard on my discard and Mindbreak Traps. This left him vulnerable to a pair of Huntmasters that get him before he can go off.
2-1
6-0
Round 7 – ID with Devin Koepke on Reanimator
Still in 1st place after this round.
Round 8 – ID with Jeff Rasmussen on RUG
I briefly considered playing out the last match for 1st seed and choice of play or draw in the Top 8, but decided to ID to ensure RUG makes it in as it's a favorable matchup in the Top 8.
WHOOOOO!!! Three Storm opponents (defeated without islands) later and I got Top 8 locked up.
I lounge around a bit for the last round and watch Kelsey lose his win-and-in to Lands :(
Quarterfinals – Devin Koepke with Reanimator (Camera feature match)
I obviously get paired against the only deck in the Top 8 that I actively do not want to play against. Oh well, such is life.
I keep a pretty good hand that shreds his, leaves him with just 2 lands in hand and I can cast a Broodmate in 2 turns. Aaaaaaand he raw-dogs Reanimate off the top and Iona kills me. No wonder he made Top 8.
Sideboard: +3 Surgical Extraction, +2 Slaughter Games, +2 Thoughtseize, +3 Red Elemental Blast, -2 Abrupt Decay, -3 Pernicious Deed, -4 Punishing Fire, -1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
I'm forced to mull to 6 and keep a decent hand. At one point I Thoughseize him and take his reanimation spell leaving him with Gwizzelbwand and double Force. I had 2 Surgicals in hand. I tanked about taking the demon and making him fight over the Surgical, but since I knew the top of my deck was terrible, I wanted as many cards in hand as possible to fight over more as opposed to making myself hellbent. He obviously rips Show and Tell off the top and I die a brutal, fiery death. It's hard to say what the right play was. Either way, it's a bad matchup and I had a great run. Top 8 split so there was no money on the line at least.
Afterwards, my friends consoled me. I can't stop the top of his deck. We walk outside and bust out our PREEMPTIVE CELEBRATORY CIGARS and celebrate an awesome weekend. We stop and Steak and Shake for some fine eatings and begin our return home.
Time for the obligatory Props and Slops section:
Props:
-Barbecue
-More barbecue
-Huntmaster of the Fells
-A car full of awesome guys
Slops:
-ANT opponents making me sweat on my way to Top 8
-Snow
-Ohio State basketball
Feel free to ask any questions and as always, thanks for reading!!!