zulander
11-12-2013, 04:48 PM
Big Zoo
Mana: 22
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Arid Mesa
1 Windswept Heath
3 Taiga
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Wasteland
Creatures: 22
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Thalia
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Other: 16
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sudden Demise
Board:
3 Mindbreak Trap
3 Pyroblast
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Krosan Grip
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Pithing Needle
Round 1: Alix - Show and Tell
G1: I put him on some sort of combo after he pays for GProbe on turn 1. I begin to apply pressure with Goyf + burn spells. He stabilizes at 7 and combo’s off.
In/Out
+2 ORing, Needle, +3 Pyroblast, -1 Jitte, 1 Demise, 1 Huntmaster, 2 Grim, 1 Library
G2: I keep a hand with bolts/thalia/swords/library/2lands. I bolt him and play thalia. Follow it up with a Library and then bolts. I get him to 7 and contemplate playing bolt. If he S&T’s putting Griselbrand into play I have the swords and he will almost always reactively pay 7 to draw 7 which would win me the game. I think about it and feel that it’s better to play well than to bank on a bad play. Sure enough he plays Show and Tell at 4 life putting Griselbrand into play, he’s now facing my board of dudes. I cast swords and he responds by trying to pay 7, I call a judge just to confirm but he doesn’t actually get to pay 7 life since he doesn’t have it. Swords resolves putting him back at 11 but he’s now tapped out and facing Thalia, Nacatl, Goyf.
G3: I keep hand of 2 lands/Sylvan/Thalia/Pyroblast/Swords/x. I play Thalia turn 2 and on turn 3 he has a board of Island + lotus petal. I’m faced with a dilemma of tapping out to play library so I can keep drawing gas or stay open with pyroblast to hit S&T. I figure he’s missed 2 land drops, and in order for him to do anything relevant next turn he’d have to rip Sol Land, plus have S&T + Emrakul in his hand. I calculate that now is the best time to play Sylvan and do it. He untaps, plays Sol Land, S&T + Emrakul. What a beating. I trigger Library hoping to find ORing but don’t see it. That was unfortunate.
0-1
Round 2: Dalton - Burn
I sit down and we begin standard chatter and he says “This is my first legacy tournament and my friend is letting me borrow a deck.” I immediately put him on burn. Thank God I’m playing swords over path LOL.
G1: He plays Goblin Guide flipping a swords. I play mountain and chain his guide. He burns me and suspends rift bolt. I untap, fetch basic and play goyf. He has lava spikes/flame rifts in hand so he can’t double burn goyf and hits me. Next few turns I play out a Nacatl along my goyf and he Prices me for **only** 4 (basics ftw). He plays flame rift and I respond by swordsing my goyf gaining 4. His flame rift puts him at 5 and I swing in for the win.
In/Out:
+2 Canonist (to stop him from burn/burn/kill turn), out -1 Sudden Demise -1 Sylvan
G2: He gets another turn 1 goblin guide and this time it flips me a land :) I kept a hand with some fast pressure so that’s great for me. I turn 1 Nacatl, he attacks again and chains me down to 12 after I fetch. I play chain lightnings while he’s tapped out and resolve a Jitte. He begins killing my creatures since he can’t burn me out when I’m at 7 so he plays Pyrostatic Pillar. I draw a Huntmaster and gain 2. He has 2 cards in hand and burns out my Huntmaster + token. His pillar brings im down and I draw dude + equip and he doesn’t find a removal spell so he scoops.
1-1
Round 3: Nick - Punishing Jund
He gets Grove/PFire out quickly, and for some reason I’ve had a hard time dealing with this deck. I get a library in play along with goyf getting him down to 9 but he plays a hymn that hits the action in my hand. Goyf + PFire kills me.
In/out: +2 Surgical, -2 x (forgot what I took out).
I keep an aggressive hand Taiga, 2x thalia, Nacatl, 2 Chain, Bolt. I know I should mulligan this hand but I don’t. Turn 1 Nacatl and rip a plateau on turn 2. I think about double bolting him here to bring him to 10 but opt for playing a thalia to timewalk him. He gets a goyf and waste turn 3 and then another waste next turn. I draw only 3 lands this game but get him to 2.
At this point I’m pretty upset at being 1-2 but don’t drop. There’s an outside chance at top 8, but fairly reasonable chance of top-64 so I play it out.
1-2
Round 4: Mike - UGInfect (same list as Tom Ross I presume) .
He’s on the play and probes me. I put him on combo or tempo until he resolves a 1/1 infect creature. I have Lavamancer in my hand and realize there’s no way I lose this game. Lavamancer does a ton of work and is followed up with a Nacatl to wrap up the game.
In/Out: I think I boarded in Canonists, but it didn’t make a difference. Main deck of 14 1cc removal spells with Jitte and Thalia win.
2-2
Round 5: Woodrow - RUG
G1: I know he’s on RUG from seeing him play it earlier. I keep a hand with Nacatl, waste, 2x chain and some other action. He plays turn 1 delver and I play turn 1 Nacatl. He doesn’t flip delver, plays ponder, and passes the turn. I waste on my turn and he doesn’t see lands for a few more turns. His delver flips and puts pressure on me attacking me down to six. He had triple force for my first three removal spells but not the 4th. Nacatl gets there.
In/Out: -1 Huntmaster, -1 Jitte, -1 Chain, +3 REB
He thinks about mulling but doesn’t do it. He cantrips first couple of turns and I get a Scavenging Ooze to stick. Sick. Every card he plays I have an answer for. Feels great.
3-2
Round 6: Dillon - Storm
G1: I keep a hand with Nacatl, Chain, and some wastes/swords/sudden demise. He probes me twice and I put him on combo once I see Underground Sea. I realize this game needs to end fast for me to win. I get him down to 3 and he storms off, but plays burning wish -> diminishing return. I have a red open and if I get a bolt I win. Sure enough that happens. Bolt get there!
In/Out: -4 Swords, Jitte, 2 Grim Lavamancer, 1 Sudden Demise, Huntmaster, Library. +3 Mindbreak Trap, +3 REB, +2 Canonist, +2 Surgical
G2: I have a great 7 but with no hate. Mull to 6 is Goyf, Smiter, 4 lands. Mull to 5 was epic. 2 Lands, Goyf, MBT, Loxodon Smiter. I play a turn 2 goyf that starts beating in with a turn 3 smiter since the only hate I have is MBT. He hits my Canonist with an Abrupt Decay and I surgical it to remove his hate cards. His turn he double rituals for Ad Nauseum. I double check Mindbreak and thank God since it’s “3 or more” and not “more than three” I play Mindbreak Trap and I swear his look was as if a dude had just kicked his baby. And that’s all she wrote!
4-2
Round 7: Jarred - Dredge
G1: He gets game 1. blarg.
In/Out: -Jitte, Libraries,xCard +Surgical/Canonist
G2: I get a thalia and goyf in play and they are too much for him after I bolt him.
G3: I keep a hand with 2x land, 2 Thalia, Ooze, Goyf, Smiter. I don’t draw another land and he gets a Putrid Imp/2x Narco’s in play. I don’t play cards so my Ooze can eat the important cards in his GY and i’m happy to see him dredge away so many sideboard cards, I counted at least 3 wear/tear and 2 Nature’s claim lol. Ooze ends up going the distance as he has no way of dealing with it.
5-2
Round 8: Daniel - Mono Black Control
Game 1: He doesn’t take a single damage from me as I resolve a library and start eating my life to get dudes on board. Stupid control cards.
In/Out: I don’t recall boarding plan.
Game 2: I keep a super aggressive hand with Nacatl, 2x Chain, Ooze, 2 duals/waste. I don’t take a single point of damage from him lol.
Game 3: This game was aggravating lol. I get creatures, he kills them. He lands an ensnaring bridge when I have Ooze, Goyf, Smiter in play and now I have to find a pridemage. I was able to use Ooze to shrink goyfs to attack him but his Liliana does work (I even got 2 smiters into play off of it lol). I find a pridemage and draw a chain lightning. At this point I have no hand and he’s at 5 life. If I chain him then my outs are 7 more bolts, pithing needle, pridemage. If I chain Liliana my outs are another creature that can stay alive + pridemage on the bridge as long as he doesn’t have another liliana. I get greedy since I’m still at 20 life and don’t want to lose to liliana again so I bolt him down to 2. I count 8 draws before I hit another bolt but it got there.
6-2
After standings are printed there seems to be a way for a single x-2 to make top 8. My breakers are terrible and I’m paired against a fellow Houstonian with UW StoneNemesis which is a bad matchup for me (same list as Ty the winner).
Round 9: Shane - UW Stoneblade with Nemesis
Game 1: He gets 2 TNN in play and I get him down to 1 before he kills me.
In/Out: -4 Swords, +3 Reb, Ancient Grudge
I get some creatures in play but he kills me with TNN equipped with Jitte and a batterskull in play.
Final standings 6-3 in 45th out of 251.
The only change I’ve made is -1 sudden Demise +1 Pridemage. I never got to play the card but it seems fun in the board. The deck was great all day, and except the last round I felt it was very competitive. I still need to test more against punishing jund though. If True Name becomes ridiculous I think Skullcracks could make it into the board since all three of its applications happen against UW. It kills their blocking TNN, kills their Jace, and removes the lifelink from batterskull for a turn. Could be a potential blowout card in the board.
Mana: 22
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Arid Mesa
1 Windswept Heath
3 Taiga
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Wasteland
Creatures: 22
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Thalia
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Other: 16
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sudden Demise
Board:
3 Mindbreak Trap
3 Pyroblast
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Krosan Grip
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Pithing Needle
Round 1: Alix - Show and Tell
G1: I put him on some sort of combo after he pays for GProbe on turn 1. I begin to apply pressure with Goyf + burn spells. He stabilizes at 7 and combo’s off.
In/Out
+2 ORing, Needle, +3 Pyroblast, -1 Jitte, 1 Demise, 1 Huntmaster, 2 Grim, 1 Library
G2: I keep a hand with bolts/thalia/swords/library/2lands. I bolt him and play thalia. Follow it up with a Library and then bolts. I get him to 7 and contemplate playing bolt. If he S&T’s putting Griselbrand into play I have the swords and he will almost always reactively pay 7 to draw 7 which would win me the game. I think about it and feel that it’s better to play well than to bank on a bad play. Sure enough he plays Show and Tell at 4 life putting Griselbrand into play, he’s now facing my board of dudes. I cast swords and he responds by trying to pay 7, I call a judge just to confirm but he doesn’t actually get to pay 7 life since he doesn’t have it. Swords resolves putting him back at 11 but he’s now tapped out and facing Thalia, Nacatl, Goyf.
G3: I keep hand of 2 lands/Sylvan/Thalia/Pyroblast/Swords/x. I play Thalia turn 2 and on turn 3 he has a board of Island + lotus petal. I’m faced with a dilemma of tapping out to play library so I can keep drawing gas or stay open with pyroblast to hit S&T. I figure he’s missed 2 land drops, and in order for him to do anything relevant next turn he’d have to rip Sol Land, plus have S&T + Emrakul in his hand. I calculate that now is the best time to play Sylvan and do it. He untaps, plays Sol Land, S&T + Emrakul. What a beating. I trigger Library hoping to find ORing but don’t see it. That was unfortunate.
0-1
Round 2: Dalton - Burn
I sit down and we begin standard chatter and he says “This is my first legacy tournament and my friend is letting me borrow a deck.” I immediately put him on burn. Thank God I’m playing swords over path LOL.
G1: He plays Goblin Guide flipping a swords. I play mountain and chain his guide. He burns me and suspends rift bolt. I untap, fetch basic and play goyf. He has lava spikes/flame rifts in hand so he can’t double burn goyf and hits me. Next few turns I play out a Nacatl along my goyf and he Prices me for **only** 4 (basics ftw). He plays flame rift and I respond by swordsing my goyf gaining 4. His flame rift puts him at 5 and I swing in for the win.
In/Out:
+2 Canonist (to stop him from burn/burn/kill turn), out -1 Sudden Demise -1 Sylvan
G2: He gets another turn 1 goblin guide and this time it flips me a land :) I kept a hand with some fast pressure so that’s great for me. I turn 1 Nacatl, he attacks again and chains me down to 12 after I fetch. I play chain lightnings while he’s tapped out and resolve a Jitte. He begins killing my creatures since he can’t burn me out when I’m at 7 so he plays Pyrostatic Pillar. I draw a Huntmaster and gain 2. He has 2 cards in hand and burns out my Huntmaster + token. His pillar brings im down and I draw dude + equip and he doesn’t find a removal spell so he scoops.
1-1
Round 3: Nick - Punishing Jund
He gets Grove/PFire out quickly, and for some reason I’ve had a hard time dealing with this deck. I get a library in play along with goyf getting him down to 9 but he plays a hymn that hits the action in my hand. Goyf + PFire kills me.
In/out: +2 Surgical, -2 x (forgot what I took out).
I keep an aggressive hand Taiga, 2x thalia, Nacatl, 2 Chain, Bolt. I know I should mulligan this hand but I don’t. Turn 1 Nacatl and rip a plateau on turn 2. I think about double bolting him here to bring him to 10 but opt for playing a thalia to timewalk him. He gets a goyf and waste turn 3 and then another waste next turn. I draw only 3 lands this game but get him to 2.
At this point I’m pretty upset at being 1-2 but don’t drop. There’s an outside chance at top 8, but fairly reasonable chance of top-64 so I play it out.
1-2
Round 4: Mike - UGInfect (same list as Tom Ross I presume) .
He’s on the play and probes me. I put him on combo or tempo until he resolves a 1/1 infect creature. I have Lavamancer in my hand and realize there’s no way I lose this game. Lavamancer does a ton of work and is followed up with a Nacatl to wrap up the game.
In/Out: I think I boarded in Canonists, but it didn’t make a difference. Main deck of 14 1cc removal spells with Jitte and Thalia win.
2-2
Round 5: Woodrow - RUG
G1: I know he’s on RUG from seeing him play it earlier. I keep a hand with Nacatl, waste, 2x chain and some other action. He plays turn 1 delver and I play turn 1 Nacatl. He doesn’t flip delver, plays ponder, and passes the turn. I waste on my turn and he doesn’t see lands for a few more turns. His delver flips and puts pressure on me attacking me down to six. He had triple force for my first three removal spells but not the 4th. Nacatl gets there.
In/Out: -1 Huntmaster, -1 Jitte, -1 Chain, +3 REB
He thinks about mulling but doesn’t do it. He cantrips first couple of turns and I get a Scavenging Ooze to stick. Sick. Every card he plays I have an answer for. Feels great.
3-2
Round 6: Dillon - Storm
G1: I keep a hand with Nacatl, Chain, and some wastes/swords/sudden demise. He probes me twice and I put him on combo once I see Underground Sea. I realize this game needs to end fast for me to win. I get him down to 3 and he storms off, but plays burning wish -> diminishing return. I have a red open and if I get a bolt I win. Sure enough that happens. Bolt get there!
In/Out: -4 Swords, Jitte, 2 Grim Lavamancer, 1 Sudden Demise, Huntmaster, Library. +3 Mindbreak Trap, +3 REB, +2 Canonist, +2 Surgical
G2: I have a great 7 but with no hate. Mull to 6 is Goyf, Smiter, 4 lands. Mull to 5 was epic. 2 Lands, Goyf, MBT, Loxodon Smiter. I play a turn 2 goyf that starts beating in with a turn 3 smiter since the only hate I have is MBT. He hits my Canonist with an Abrupt Decay and I surgical it to remove his hate cards. His turn he double rituals for Ad Nauseum. I double check Mindbreak and thank God since it’s “3 or more” and not “more than three” I play Mindbreak Trap and I swear his look was as if a dude had just kicked his baby. And that’s all she wrote!
4-2
Round 7: Jarred - Dredge
G1: He gets game 1. blarg.
In/Out: -Jitte, Libraries,xCard +Surgical/Canonist
G2: I get a thalia and goyf in play and they are too much for him after I bolt him.
G3: I keep a hand with 2x land, 2 Thalia, Ooze, Goyf, Smiter. I don’t draw another land and he gets a Putrid Imp/2x Narco’s in play. I don’t play cards so my Ooze can eat the important cards in his GY and i’m happy to see him dredge away so many sideboard cards, I counted at least 3 wear/tear and 2 Nature’s claim lol. Ooze ends up going the distance as he has no way of dealing with it.
5-2
Round 8: Daniel - Mono Black Control
Game 1: He doesn’t take a single damage from me as I resolve a library and start eating my life to get dudes on board. Stupid control cards.
In/Out: I don’t recall boarding plan.
Game 2: I keep a super aggressive hand with Nacatl, 2x Chain, Ooze, 2 duals/waste. I don’t take a single point of damage from him lol.
Game 3: This game was aggravating lol. I get creatures, he kills them. He lands an ensnaring bridge when I have Ooze, Goyf, Smiter in play and now I have to find a pridemage. I was able to use Ooze to shrink goyfs to attack him but his Liliana does work (I even got 2 smiters into play off of it lol). I find a pridemage and draw a chain lightning. At this point I have no hand and he’s at 5 life. If I chain him then my outs are 7 more bolts, pithing needle, pridemage. If I chain Liliana my outs are another creature that can stay alive + pridemage on the bridge as long as he doesn’t have another liliana. I get greedy since I’m still at 20 life and don’t want to lose to liliana again so I bolt him down to 2. I count 8 draws before I hit another bolt but it got there.
6-2
After standings are printed there seems to be a way for a single x-2 to make top 8. My breakers are terrible and I’m paired against a fellow Houstonian with UW StoneNemesis which is a bad matchup for me (same list as Ty the winner).
Round 9: Shane - UW Stoneblade with Nemesis
Game 1: He gets 2 TNN in play and I get him down to 1 before he kills me.
In/Out: -4 Swords, +3 Reb, Ancient Grudge
I get some creatures in play but he kills me with TNN equipped with Jitte and a batterskull in play.
Final standings 6-3 in 45th out of 251.
The only change I’ve made is -1 sudden Demise +1 Pridemage. I never got to play the card but it seems fun in the board. The deck was great all day, and except the last round I felt it was very competitive. I still need to test more against punishing jund though. If True Name becomes ridiculous I think Skullcracks could make it into the board since all three of its applications happen against UW. It kills their blocking TNN, kills their Jace, and removes the lifelink from batterskull for a turn. Could be a potential blowout card in the board.