haganbmj
11-19-2013, 01:22 AM
(I apologize in advance to anyone with a resolution smaller than 1280xY)
bleh.. I think the table is just too big as it sits. Images are too large.
http://i.imgur.com/IerhkPx.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/EOpA0xI.png
As a bit of a forewarning, my notes are like chicken scratch and that'll probably show in my writing.
A few weeks ago some guys from my local group were talking about driving up to Grand Prix DC, at the time I wasn't too sure I wanted to go as my college schedule showed a number of larger presentations and reports due right around that time. Fortunately, I was able to get ahead on those and clear my schedule in order to make the trip up to DC.
Going into this event I was set on Maverick, with the release of True-Name Nemesis and the whispers that True-Name was going to be going into every deck in the format I was fairly sure that I didn't want to be stuck on straight G/W this event. I've never been a fan of the Dark Maverick variants because I feel they delve too deeply into the black and crutch too much on Deathrite Shaman, diluting the raw power of playing efficient creatures that simply outclass your opponents'. Lately I've been brewing with a light splash, originally just including a pair of Deathrites and using the black as a means of sideboarding targeted discard spells. This soon evolved into the list below and has been something I've been fond of recently.
Zealous Persecution was a bit of a last minute inclusion, as I realized just how bad "The Blue Hammer" (True-Name Nemesis) is for the deck when nedleeds and I played a few weeks back post-Eternal Weekend. You can check out his thoughts on the Everday Eternal Podcast #13 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?27033-Everyday-Eternal-13), I'll be assuming the role of the salty Maverick player.
Unfortuntately, I missed this past week of legacy as I was swamped with class work, so I was going into this event with a theoretical sideboard and a rough rough idea what I wanted to be doing in each matchup. I wish I had had a day to sit down and write down some notes and jam some games. As I'll touch on below though I was fairly pleased with how the sideboard played and was able to use each card in the board at some point during the day.
So we set out Friday morning at 6AM from Atlanta, Georgia. We've decided to take my car and squeeze into my Mazda 3 prepared for the 9.5 hour drive ahead of us. While on the ride we continue to try and settle on a decklist with one of our carmates, who has been between Stoneblade, BUG (all variants), and ANT the last week, unsure of which he would be willing to play in this large event. Naturally I've prepared Burn for him as well, being that it is what he took down a GPT for this event with.
We get out on the road and it's smooth sailing all the way out of the state. We were fortunate not to hit any traffic the entire way and the weather cooperated the entire trip. We stop off at Applebees along with a few gas stations and reststops along the way and end up with an 11.5 hour journey though - arriving at Chantilly, Virginia roughly 6PM. We check into the hotel and make our way back out to the "expo center" to grind some games and check out the vendors. I shop around a bit for a nice Bayou to fill out my list, but opt to purchase one in the morning.
My carmates get their decklists together and written down, with our timid man settling on Shardless BUG after a bit of testing and some coaxing. So we end up with GWx Maverick, Mono Red Sneak Attack, Shardless BUG, Pox, and Zombardment in our hotel room.
After meeting up with the rest of the Atlanta crew and phazonmutant, we walk over to a delicious Korean restaurant around the corner from the Expo Center.
Arriving at the Convention center a little before 9AM on Saturday the room is a buzz, True-Name Nemesis is making its presence known with prices creeping up from vendors around the room. 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 - the Nemesis cannot be had for less than 60 by the time the event starts. Buylist values hit $40 as vendors jump in on the buzz. Meanwhile, I continue my hunt for a Bayou and quickly find out that most vendors are low on Bayous as well. I end up with a clean Bayou for $90, with other vendors charging $110 for comparable offerings. We finally get the announcement for the player's meeting and I find my seat and talk with the nice ANT player across the table. Pairings for round 1 don't go up for another half hour, probably because they didn't actually log people into the system during preregistration and a large number of people weren't properly entered into the seatings.
I sit down with the rest of the Atlantans with byes and settle in for the long haul.
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/c13/63.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2XUl0GT.png
Round 1 - Bye
I'm still undefeated against this guy.
1-0
Round 2 - Mike with ANT (0-2)
Game 1: I win the die roll and take the play. My hand is something along the lines of... Savannah, Verdant Catacombs, Wasteland, Noble Hiearch, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Knight of the Reliquary ~ Super solid hand in all matchups. About the best I could hope for with my first hand of the day.
I lead on Savannah into Hierarch and pass the turn. My opponent plays and Island into a Ponder, then lays a Lotus Petal and Rits into Ad Nauseum with 0 mana floating. He drops to 4 life and stops having hit a Lotus Petal along the way with a clearly lethal Infernal + LED. I make him go through the motions though just to see how he does with counting storm and announcing things.
Game 2: I lead on Windswept, fetching out a Savannah and laying a Hierarch. He cracks a Polluted Delta into an Underground Sea and Ponders. He then casts Massacre to kill my Hierarch.
I untap and play Wasteland into Thalia. He fetches a Scalding Tarn into an Island when I wasteland him on my turn to cast a Brainstorm. I lay another land into a Pridemage and attack for 3 with Thalia. He untaps and plays Gemstone Mine. He taps the Island and the Gemstone for a Dark Ritual (3), Dark Ritual (4), Cabal Ritual (threshold-6), Cabal Ritual (threshold-8), LED (7), IT (4+3) -> Past in Flames (or something). He doesn't screw up his Threshold and gets there.
SIDEBOARD
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 MAze of Ith
-1 Knight of the Reliquary
-1 Abrupt Decay
-1 Mother of Runes
+1 Bojuka Bog
+1 Crop Rotation
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Zealous Persecution
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
I think I should have just taken out the second decay. I find versus ANT they lay their Lion's Eyes and Lotus Petals though if I have a Thalia, so I thought leaving the one in might be alright. I like leaving in Sylvan Library since ANT is rather slow compared to TES and I am bringing in Surgical and Crop Rotation, probably not right to take out the Mother though even with GSZ->Safekeeper being a valid line in my deck.
I brought in a Zealous Persecution in case he ended up having access to Empty the Warrens.
Rather disappointing way to come off my bye, as I felt my hands were brilliant for the matchup. I asked him why he Massacred my Hiearch and he told me he was fearful of the turn 2 Knight of the Reliquary (which would have been a 4/4). I suppose he was pretty far off lethal before that Brainstorm and needed the time. I also like the line if he was soft to Gaddock Teeg and already close to lethal. If I had a Green Sun's Zenith in hand he might have been in trouble. He also mentioned during our sideboarding that he didn't quite know what I was playing. He later told me that he had borrowed the deck and had only had a few days of goldfishing experience. I wished him the best; he certainly did a fine job representing his mana/storm.
1-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/sc/75.jpg
Round 3 - Kyle with Fish (2-1)
Game 1: I win the roll again and lead on Bayou, Noble Hiearch into Stoneforge after he shows me Island->AEther Vial. I fetch up a Sword of Fire and Ice and beat in with the Hierarch for a point.
He doesn't have many plays for the first few turns while he ticks up his AEther Vial. I play Sylvan Library on turn 3 (leaving up Stoneforge activation) and he Forces it. I end up beating him down through a True-Name Nemesis on defense after keeping his Lords in check with a Swords and the Sword.
During the game I note that my opponent has kept a log of what colors of mana I played and has written down some key cards (Stoneforge, SOFI, Scavenging Ooze). He pulls out a few pages of typed sideboard notes and beings flipping through them multiple times. I don't think he has notes for Maverick.
Game 2: He plays a Ponder and I Green Sun's Zenith into a Dryad Arbor. I play a Thalia on turn two and kind of fumble around for a few turns while he lays a Lord of Atlantis and a Silvergill Adept. I goof and neglect to Swords to Plowshares his Lord of Atlantis in response to a Cursecatcher (since I still have a superior board position combat-wise) and end up taking some unnecessary damage and losing a turn on mana. I stoneforge into a Sword of Fire and Ice get in a swing, but it's a little too late to recover from my lost turn on the Swords.
Game 3: He mulligans to 5 and I play Savannah -> Green Sun's Zenith into a Dryad Arbor. He Wastelands my Savannah and passes the turn. I play another Savannah and Stoneforge->SOFI on my turn two. He Wastelands my Savannah again. I lay Verdant Catacombs into Scrubland and drop the Sword with Stoneforge. He Wastelands my Dryad Arbor. I rip a land off the top and equip the Sword. A few turns later it's all over.
SIDEBOARD
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Sylvan Safekeeper
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Abrupt Decay
My opponent was fairly new to legacy and had some trouble understanding that Sword of Fire and Ice gives protection from blue (he tried three times to block). He also has to read Stoneforge a few times and Thalia. At one point he plays a Ponder for 1 mana, I indicate to Thalia and he reads her again... backs up and plays a Lord of Atlantis for 3 mana. I brought in the Thoughtseize as another way to strip his creatures.
2-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/be/63.jpg
Round 4 - Matt with UB Reanimator (2-0)
Matt and I start conversating before the match while the guy next to us appears to have lost his deck. He and a judge walk back to his old table and up to the lost/found, but sadly he cannot find his deck. This was the first of a number of lost decks I heard about over the weekend. The staff did a great job checking bags and keeping a vigilant staff, but theft seems to be a staple of the magic community at these large events.
Game 1: He wins the die roll and leads on Island, Ponder. At this point I have to assume Matt is on Show/Tell, ANT, Reanimator - something that could kill me. I play a Bayou into a Deathrite Shaman - which I hope makes him think I'm on BUG Delver with access to Force of Will. Matt plays an Underground Sea and Thoughtseizes me. I lay down a hand with something like GSZ, Mother, Knight, Thalia, Jitte. He gets a little wide-eyed, clearly having put me on something else and takes the Jitte. This makes me think he's on ANT with a potential Empty the Warrens line and doesn't value my having a GSZ into Teeg for some reason? His choice makes little sense to me however I rationalize it.
I draw a Thoughtseize on my turn and opt to see what's going on with this guys hand, as I'm fairly unsure what's going on now. He reveals a Reanimate, Exhume, Griselbrand, Show and Tell, and a cantrip. I take the Cantrip and leave up my Deathrite Shaman. I end up beating him down with a Thalia and an Ooze. On his last available turn before lethal, he goes for Show and Tell and I put down Knight of the Reliquary. On my turn I tutor up Karakas and he packs it in.
I assume he's on a fairly stock Reanimator list that this point, with 2 Show and Tell main and another pair in the board. I also have to imagine that he's on the fairly common creature suite that includes Elesh Norn and Iona.
Game 2: The hand I keep is a little fragile with a Dryad Arbor as my only initial Green Source
[Dryad Arbor, Wasteland, Hierarch, Ooze, Knight of the Reliquary, Choke, Green Sun's Zenith]. I keep it thinking that he probably boarded into 4 Show and Tells after I showed him Deathrite and Ooze in game one. He Thoughtseizes me and takes the Choke. His hand might be slow. I draw a Deathrite and lead on the Dryad Arbor. He Careful Studies and discards two Force of Wills, so I assume I still have plenty of time. I play Hiearch then next turn Thalia and Deathrite. I lock the game up fairly well, keeping Knight in hand for the Show and Tell line and he shows me an Elesh Norn stuck in his hand which he drew the turn after the Careful Study.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Abrupt Decay
-2 Stoneforge Mystic
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-1 Green Sun's Zenith
+1 Oblivion Ring
+2 Choke
+1 Bojuka Bog
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Crop Rotation
The matchup felt solid regardless, I probably shouldn't have taken out the Green Sun's, but I felt it was weaker now that I had Deathrite and Discard Spells. I think I should have cut down to 1 Sylvan Library in order to leave in the Green Sun's as a ramp spell. I took out the stoneforge package because it just wasn't where I wanted to be. Pridemage was a better clock for how I wanted to leave up Deathrite mana and Ooze Mana.
3-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/avr/106.jpg
Round 5 - Jeff with RUG Delver (2-1)
Game 1: I lose the die roll and he leads on a Tropical Island and a Delver of Secrets. I play a Bayou and go for Thoughtseize, but it gets Dazed. He fails to flip his Delver, replays the Tropical, and Ponders. I play another Bayou and Thoughtseize him again seeing Ponder, 2 Lightning Bolt, Stifle, Scalding Tarn, Daze. I take the Daze thinking that it'll be my best way to resolve a Sylvan Library in my hand since I likely won't hit another land drop thanks to the Stifle. I get steamrolled.
Game 2: I have an early Wasteland and provoke a Force of Will on my Mother of Runes. I then slide into Knight of the Reliquary with Umezawa's Jitte and a Sylvan Safekeeper and close up the game rather quickly.
Game 3: He Wastelands my Savannah and I have to play a Life from the Loam in order to hit another land drop while he beats me with a 1/1 Nimble Mongoose and a 2/3 Tarmogoyf. I stabilize with a Maze of Ith, an Ooze and a Deathrite Shaman. He throws away a Goyf failing to see how I can exile the last land with Deathrite and the last creature with Ooze to profitably block his then 2/3. I keep his Goose below Threshold and land a 5/5 Knight of the Reliquary to lock up the board, eeking my way out from the single digits.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Thoughtsieze
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Qasali Pridemage
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Life from the Loam
+1 Abrupt Decay
It's always worked well for me to bring in Surgical Extraction. RUG has a limited number of threats and hitting Delver, Goyf, Tropical Island, or Lightning Bolt with a Surgical can really impact the game.
4-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/51a.jpg
Round 6 - Otis with Esper Stoneblade w/ True-Name (1-1-1)
Game 1: Otis wins the roll and leads with a Polluted Delta. He Brainstorms end of turn 1 and untaps into a Stoneforge to get a Jitte. I Thoughtseize turn 2 seeing Jitte, Force of Will, Flooded Strand, Snapcaster, Brainstorm. I'm not sure why he didn't pitch the Force on this one, but I take the Jitte anyways.. I then play a Mother of Runes and he Forces that pitching his Brainstorm.
So now he has a Stoneforge on board and a Land + Snapcaster in hand - seems fine for me. This game goes long though as I can't get a real threat on board and he finds Academy Ruins to get back his Jitte along with another Stoneforge to get Batterskull. We grind for a while and I'm able to keep Jitte from being a problem thanks to a Maze of Ith. He plays a Lingering Souls during this process and casts a True-Name Nemesis on the last turn to close out the game. Yay information.
At this point we have 27 minutes left on the clock and I know we're going to have a problem with the time. Otis has been taking his time on decisions, but nothing unreasonable by my standards.
Game 2: I keep three lands, Deathrite Shaman, Sylvan Library, Choke. Yeah it's a little threat light.
I lead on the Deathrite and it meets his Swords to Plowshares. I then Wasteland him down and we play land-go for a bit. I go for Sylvan Library on turn four with mana to pay for Spell Pierce and it resolves. I pay some life, dig a bit, but still can't find a solid threat. He eventually taps a bit and I stick the Choke locking down a basic island. He plays a Rest in Peace and we sit around for a bit. I get an Ooze and a Pridemage on board and a Decay in hand and begin hitting him for a few turns. He has a Snapcaster Mage and plays True-Name, and I finally get to play my Zealous Persecution for the sweet 2 for 1. I take the game just as time hits.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Stoneforge Mystic // Scavenging Ooze
-1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Knight of the Reliquary
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Abrupt Decay
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Choke
+1 Oblivion Ring
Bleh, I had been hoping to avoid a draw. I debate scooping to Otis to avoid the draw bracket, but am content when Otis seems comfortabe with a draw and the judge sweeps in to take our match slip.
I think I might have overboarded here as I'm not sure Oblivion Ring is where I want to be.
Game two I take out the Stoneforge Mystic, placing value on Scavenging Ooze since my opponent has Snapcaster Mage and Lingering Souls and I have sufficient removal for my opponent's Equipment. With Zealous Persecution I feel I don't need the extra Stoneforge being that Sword of Fire and Ice might not connect and Umezawa's Jitte serves a mediocre roll when all my creatures are already bigger.
After I see Rest in Peace game two, I would bring back in the Stoneforge Mystic were we to have a game three with me on the draw.
4-1-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/wwk/20.jpg
Round 7 - Matt with RUG Delver (1-2)
I'm a little peaved now, knowing that I'll have to win out to even make day two. With 1700 players and being locked into the draw bracket, I'm not too fond of my chances. My notes are nearly non-existent for this match.
Game 1: Long game. He leads on Delver but can't flip it for 2 turns. I swords it after taking a single hit from the 3/2 and sit comfy at 14 for a bit. He gets me with a Stifle and a Wasteland and I can't get a solid presence on board thanks to a shortage on white mana. He brainstorms and lays Goyf + Mongoose the following turn and I can't keep up.
Game 2: Another Long Game. He gets a Delver, but I Wasteland him out of the game. I can't find a means of interaction with the Delver for a few turns, but stabilize at 12 life while he struggles to find another Green source.
Game 3: I finally show him a black source this game, but he has a solid start while I sit back with a shortage on creatures.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Thoughtsieze
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Qasali Pridemage
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Life from the Loam
+1 Abrupt Decay
Same sideboard as with the previous RUG Delver opponent. He shows me his sideboard after the match, and lays out an absolute monster of a sideboard plan. Easily the most fear-inducing sideboard I've seen recently. We have a good chat about the cutting of Stifle and the warrants of Daze and such. I recommend that he consider cutting back on Force of Wills, but admit that it honestly depends on how he wants to play the matchup.
+3 Forked Bolt (with 1 main)
+3 Submerge
+2 True-Name Nemesis
+1 Ancient Grudge
-2 Daze (4 main)
-1 Spell Pierce (3 main)
-2 Gitaxian Probe (2 main)
-4 Stifle
We keep talking he asks me about my choice on Maverick for the weekend. I state that I've been playing the deck for a while and have always felt comfortable adapting it to any environment, even having played/tested a variety of decks in the legacy landscape Maverick keeps reeling me back in. He asks if Maverick is my pet deck, and while that may be true I opt to refer to Maverick as a vicious parasite that keeps sucking the life out of me. I love the deck, it keeps giving me hope.
4-2-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/51b.jpg
At this point I drop. Fairly depressing tournament result, but I felt that all my matchups were fairly solid and that my decklist was fine. Zealous Persecution was a fine sideboard card, and I don't regret having cut the sideboard Gaddock Teeg. I only saw a handful of Miracles players in the room (half of which were from my local area), and Gaddock Teeg came out in nearly every matchup.
I'm going to fuss with Dark Maverick for a while and see where I can take the deck, but I'd certainly feel comfortable taking this same list to a tournament tomorrow.
I encountered 3 True-Name Nemesese on the day.
I had a lead mana dork in nearly every matchup - even without a third Hierarch.
Overall it was a fine tournament, wish I had prepared a bit better for it though and solidified my sideboard plans prior to this event. I believe I played good interactive magic all day though and enjoyed myself. All my matchups were great and all my opponents were very pleasant.
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ddk/23.jpg
bleh.. I think the table is just too big as it sits. Images are too large.
http://i.imgur.com/IerhkPx.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/EOpA0xI.png
As a bit of a forewarning, my notes are like chicken scratch and that'll probably show in my writing.
A few weeks ago some guys from my local group were talking about driving up to Grand Prix DC, at the time I wasn't too sure I wanted to go as my college schedule showed a number of larger presentations and reports due right around that time. Fortunately, I was able to get ahead on those and clear my schedule in order to make the trip up to DC.
Going into this event I was set on Maverick, with the release of True-Name Nemesis and the whispers that True-Name was going to be going into every deck in the format I was fairly sure that I didn't want to be stuck on straight G/W this event. I've never been a fan of the Dark Maverick variants because I feel they delve too deeply into the black and crutch too much on Deathrite Shaman, diluting the raw power of playing efficient creatures that simply outclass your opponents'. Lately I've been brewing with a light splash, originally just including a pair of Deathrites and using the black as a means of sideboarding targeted discard spells. This soon evolved into the list below and has been something I've been fond of recently.
Zealous Persecution was a bit of a last minute inclusion, as I realized just how bad "The Blue Hammer" (True-Name Nemesis) is for the deck when nedleeds and I played a few weeks back post-Eternal Weekend. You can check out his thoughts on the Everday Eternal Podcast #13 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?27033-Everyday-Eternal-13), I'll be assuming the role of the salty Maverick player.
Unfortuntately, I missed this past week of legacy as I was swamped with class work, so I was going into this event with a theoretical sideboard and a rough rough idea what I wanted to be doing in each matchup. I wish I had had a day to sit down and write down some notes and jam some games. As I'll touch on below though I was fairly pleased with how the sideboard played and was able to use each card in the board at some point during the day.
So we set out Friday morning at 6AM from Atlanta, Georgia. We've decided to take my car and squeeze into my Mazda 3 prepared for the 9.5 hour drive ahead of us. While on the ride we continue to try and settle on a decklist with one of our carmates, who has been between Stoneblade, BUG (all variants), and ANT the last week, unsure of which he would be willing to play in this large event. Naturally I've prepared Burn for him as well, being that it is what he took down a GPT for this event with.
We get out on the road and it's smooth sailing all the way out of the state. We were fortunate not to hit any traffic the entire way and the weather cooperated the entire trip. We stop off at Applebees along with a few gas stations and reststops along the way and end up with an 11.5 hour journey though - arriving at Chantilly, Virginia roughly 6PM. We check into the hotel and make our way back out to the "expo center" to grind some games and check out the vendors. I shop around a bit for a nice Bayou to fill out my list, but opt to purchase one in the morning.
My carmates get their decklists together and written down, with our timid man settling on Shardless BUG after a bit of testing and some coaxing. So we end up with GWx Maverick, Mono Red Sneak Attack, Shardless BUG, Pox, and Zombardment in our hotel room.
After meeting up with the rest of the Atlanta crew and phazonmutant, we walk over to a delicious Korean restaurant around the corner from the Expo Center.
Arriving at the Convention center a little before 9AM on Saturday the room is a buzz, True-Name Nemesis is making its presence known with prices creeping up from vendors around the room. 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 - the Nemesis cannot be had for less than 60 by the time the event starts. Buylist values hit $40 as vendors jump in on the buzz. Meanwhile, I continue my hunt for a Bayou and quickly find out that most vendors are low on Bayous as well. I end up with a clean Bayou for $90, with other vendors charging $110 for comparable offerings. We finally get the announcement for the player's meeting and I find my seat and talk with the nice ANT player across the table. Pairings for round 1 don't go up for another half hour, probably because they didn't actually log people into the system during preregistration and a large number of people weren't properly entered into the seatings.
I sit down with the rest of the Atlantans with byes and settle in for the long haul.
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/c13/63.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2XUl0GT.png
Round 1 - Bye
I'm still undefeated against this guy.
1-0
Round 2 - Mike with ANT (0-2)
Game 1: I win the die roll and take the play. My hand is something along the lines of... Savannah, Verdant Catacombs, Wasteland, Noble Hiearch, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Knight of the Reliquary ~ Super solid hand in all matchups. About the best I could hope for with my first hand of the day.
I lead on Savannah into Hierarch and pass the turn. My opponent plays and Island into a Ponder, then lays a Lotus Petal and Rits into Ad Nauseum with 0 mana floating. He drops to 4 life and stops having hit a Lotus Petal along the way with a clearly lethal Infernal + LED. I make him go through the motions though just to see how he does with counting storm and announcing things.
Game 2: I lead on Windswept, fetching out a Savannah and laying a Hierarch. He cracks a Polluted Delta into an Underground Sea and Ponders. He then casts Massacre to kill my Hierarch.
I untap and play Wasteland into Thalia. He fetches a Scalding Tarn into an Island when I wasteland him on my turn to cast a Brainstorm. I lay another land into a Pridemage and attack for 3 with Thalia. He untaps and plays Gemstone Mine. He taps the Island and the Gemstone for a Dark Ritual (3), Dark Ritual (4), Cabal Ritual (threshold-6), Cabal Ritual (threshold-8), LED (7), IT (4+3) -> Past in Flames (or something). He doesn't screw up his Threshold and gets there.
SIDEBOARD
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 MAze of Ith
-1 Knight of the Reliquary
-1 Abrupt Decay
-1 Mother of Runes
+1 Bojuka Bog
+1 Crop Rotation
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Zealous Persecution
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
I think I should have just taken out the second decay. I find versus ANT they lay their Lion's Eyes and Lotus Petals though if I have a Thalia, so I thought leaving the one in might be alright. I like leaving in Sylvan Library since ANT is rather slow compared to TES and I am bringing in Surgical and Crop Rotation, probably not right to take out the Mother though even with GSZ->Safekeeper being a valid line in my deck.
I brought in a Zealous Persecution in case he ended up having access to Empty the Warrens.
Rather disappointing way to come off my bye, as I felt my hands were brilliant for the matchup. I asked him why he Massacred my Hiearch and he told me he was fearful of the turn 2 Knight of the Reliquary (which would have been a 4/4). I suppose he was pretty far off lethal before that Brainstorm and needed the time. I also like the line if he was soft to Gaddock Teeg and already close to lethal. If I had a Green Sun's Zenith in hand he might have been in trouble. He also mentioned during our sideboarding that he didn't quite know what I was playing. He later told me that he had borrowed the deck and had only had a few days of goldfishing experience. I wished him the best; he certainly did a fine job representing his mana/storm.
1-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/sc/75.jpg
Round 3 - Kyle with Fish (2-1)
Game 1: I win the roll again and lead on Bayou, Noble Hiearch into Stoneforge after he shows me Island->AEther Vial. I fetch up a Sword of Fire and Ice and beat in with the Hierarch for a point.
He doesn't have many plays for the first few turns while he ticks up his AEther Vial. I play Sylvan Library on turn 3 (leaving up Stoneforge activation) and he Forces it. I end up beating him down through a True-Name Nemesis on defense after keeping his Lords in check with a Swords and the Sword.
During the game I note that my opponent has kept a log of what colors of mana I played and has written down some key cards (Stoneforge, SOFI, Scavenging Ooze). He pulls out a few pages of typed sideboard notes and beings flipping through them multiple times. I don't think he has notes for Maverick.
Game 2: He plays a Ponder and I Green Sun's Zenith into a Dryad Arbor. I play a Thalia on turn two and kind of fumble around for a few turns while he lays a Lord of Atlantis and a Silvergill Adept. I goof and neglect to Swords to Plowshares his Lord of Atlantis in response to a Cursecatcher (since I still have a superior board position combat-wise) and end up taking some unnecessary damage and losing a turn on mana. I stoneforge into a Sword of Fire and Ice get in a swing, but it's a little too late to recover from my lost turn on the Swords.
Game 3: He mulligans to 5 and I play Savannah -> Green Sun's Zenith into a Dryad Arbor. He Wastelands my Savannah and passes the turn. I play another Savannah and Stoneforge->SOFI on my turn two. He Wastelands my Savannah again. I lay Verdant Catacombs into Scrubland and drop the Sword with Stoneforge. He Wastelands my Dryad Arbor. I rip a land off the top and equip the Sword. A few turns later it's all over.
SIDEBOARD
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Sylvan Safekeeper
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Abrupt Decay
My opponent was fairly new to legacy and had some trouble understanding that Sword of Fire and Ice gives protection from blue (he tried three times to block). He also has to read Stoneforge a few times and Thalia. At one point he plays a Ponder for 1 mana, I indicate to Thalia and he reads her again... backs up and plays a Lord of Atlantis for 3 mana. I brought in the Thoughtseize as another way to strip his creatures.
2-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/be/63.jpg
Round 4 - Matt with UB Reanimator (2-0)
Matt and I start conversating before the match while the guy next to us appears to have lost his deck. He and a judge walk back to his old table and up to the lost/found, but sadly he cannot find his deck. This was the first of a number of lost decks I heard about over the weekend. The staff did a great job checking bags and keeping a vigilant staff, but theft seems to be a staple of the magic community at these large events.
Game 1: He wins the die roll and leads on Island, Ponder. At this point I have to assume Matt is on Show/Tell, ANT, Reanimator - something that could kill me. I play a Bayou into a Deathrite Shaman - which I hope makes him think I'm on BUG Delver with access to Force of Will. Matt plays an Underground Sea and Thoughtseizes me. I lay down a hand with something like GSZ, Mother, Knight, Thalia, Jitte. He gets a little wide-eyed, clearly having put me on something else and takes the Jitte. This makes me think he's on ANT with a potential Empty the Warrens line and doesn't value my having a GSZ into Teeg for some reason? His choice makes little sense to me however I rationalize it.
I draw a Thoughtseize on my turn and opt to see what's going on with this guys hand, as I'm fairly unsure what's going on now. He reveals a Reanimate, Exhume, Griselbrand, Show and Tell, and a cantrip. I take the Cantrip and leave up my Deathrite Shaman. I end up beating him down with a Thalia and an Ooze. On his last available turn before lethal, he goes for Show and Tell and I put down Knight of the Reliquary. On my turn I tutor up Karakas and he packs it in.
I assume he's on a fairly stock Reanimator list that this point, with 2 Show and Tell main and another pair in the board. I also have to imagine that he's on the fairly common creature suite that includes Elesh Norn and Iona.
Game 2: The hand I keep is a little fragile with a Dryad Arbor as my only initial Green Source
[Dryad Arbor, Wasteland, Hierarch, Ooze, Knight of the Reliquary, Choke, Green Sun's Zenith]. I keep it thinking that he probably boarded into 4 Show and Tells after I showed him Deathrite and Ooze in game one. He Thoughtseizes me and takes the Choke. His hand might be slow. I draw a Deathrite and lead on the Dryad Arbor. He Careful Studies and discards two Force of Wills, so I assume I still have plenty of time. I play Hiearch then next turn Thalia and Deathrite. I lock the game up fairly well, keeping Knight in hand for the Show and Tell line and he shows me an Elesh Norn stuck in his hand which he drew the turn after the Careful Study.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Abrupt Decay
-2 Stoneforge Mystic
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-1 Green Sun's Zenith
+1 Oblivion Ring
+2 Choke
+1 Bojuka Bog
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Crop Rotation
The matchup felt solid regardless, I probably shouldn't have taken out the Green Sun's, but I felt it was weaker now that I had Deathrite and Discard Spells. I think I should have cut down to 1 Sylvan Library in order to leave in the Green Sun's as a ramp spell. I took out the stoneforge package because it just wasn't where I wanted to be. Pridemage was a better clock for how I wanted to leave up Deathrite mana and Ooze Mana.
3-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/avr/106.jpg
Round 5 - Jeff with RUG Delver (2-1)
Game 1: I lose the die roll and he leads on a Tropical Island and a Delver of Secrets. I play a Bayou and go for Thoughtseize, but it gets Dazed. He fails to flip his Delver, replays the Tropical, and Ponders. I play another Bayou and Thoughtseize him again seeing Ponder, 2 Lightning Bolt, Stifle, Scalding Tarn, Daze. I take the Daze thinking that it'll be my best way to resolve a Sylvan Library in my hand since I likely won't hit another land drop thanks to the Stifle. I get steamrolled.
Game 2: I have an early Wasteland and provoke a Force of Will on my Mother of Runes. I then slide into Knight of the Reliquary with Umezawa's Jitte and a Sylvan Safekeeper and close up the game rather quickly.
Game 3: He Wastelands my Savannah and I have to play a Life from the Loam in order to hit another land drop while he beats me with a 1/1 Nimble Mongoose and a 2/3 Tarmogoyf. I stabilize with a Maze of Ith, an Ooze and a Deathrite Shaman. He throws away a Goyf failing to see how I can exile the last land with Deathrite and the last creature with Ooze to profitably block his then 2/3. I keep his Goose below Threshold and land a 5/5 Knight of the Reliquary to lock up the board, eeking my way out from the single digits.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Thoughtsieze
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Qasali Pridemage
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Life from the Loam
+1 Abrupt Decay
It's always worked well for me to bring in Surgical Extraction. RUG has a limited number of threats and hitting Delver, Goyf, Tropical Island, or Lightning Bolt with a Surgical can really impact the game.
4-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/51a.jpg
Round 6 - Otis with Esper Stoneblade w/ True-Name (1-1-1)
Game 1: Otis wins the roll and leads with a Polluted Delta. He Brainstorms end of turn 1 and untaps into a Stoneforge to get a Jitte. I Thoughtseize turn 2 seeing Jitte, Force of Will, Flooded Strand, Snapcaster, Brainstorm. I'm not sure why he didn't pitch the Force on this one, but I take the Jitte anyways.. I then play a Mother of Runes and he Forces that pitching his Brainstorm.
So now he has a Stoneforge on board and a Land + Snapcaster in hand - seems fine for me. This game goes long though as I can't get a real threat on board and he finds Academy Ruins to get back his Jitte along with another Stoneforge to get Batterskull. We grind for a while and I'm able to keep Jitte from being a problem thanks to a Maze of Ith. He plays a Lingering Souls during this process and casts a True-Name Nemesis on the last turn to close out the game. Yay information.
At this point we have 27 minutes left on the clock and I know we're going to have a problem with the time. Otis has been taking his time on decisions, but nothing unreasonable by my standards.
Game 2: I keep three lands, Deathrite Shaman, Sylvan Library, Choke. Yeah it's a little threat light.
I lead on the Deathrite and it meets his Swords to Plowshares. I then Wasteland him down and we play land-go for a bit. I go for Sylvan Library on turn four with mana to pay for Spell Pierce and it resolves. I pay some life, dig a bit, but still can't find a solid threat. He eventually taps a bit and I stick the Choke locking down a basic island. He plays a Rest in Peace and we sit around for a bit. I get an Ooze and a Pridemage on board and a Decay in hand and begin hitting him for a few turns. He has a Snapcaster Mage and plays True-Name, and I finally get to play my Zealous Persecution for the sweet 2 for 1. I take the game just as time hits.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Stoneforge Mystic // Scavenging Ooze
-1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Knight of the Reliquary
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Abrupt Decay
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Choke
+1 Oblivion Ring
Bleh, I had been hoping to avoid a draw. I debate scooping to Otis to avoid the draw bracket, but am content when Otis seems comfortabe with a draw and the judge sweeps in to take our match slip.
I think I might have overboarded here as I'm not sure Oblivion Ring is where I want to be.
Game two I take out the Stoneforge Mystic, placing value on Scavenging Ooze since my opponent has Snapcaster Mage and Lingering Souls and I have sufficient removal for my opponent's Equipment. With Zealous Persecution I feel I don't need the extra Stoneforge being that Sword of Fire and Ice might not connect and Umezawa's Jitte serves a mediocre roll when all my creatures are already bigger.
After I see Rest in Peace game two, I would bring back in the Stoneforge Mystic were we to have a game three with me on the draw.
4-1-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/wwk/20.jpg
Round 7 - Matt with RUG Delver (1-2)
I'm a little peaved now, knowing that I'll have to win out to even make day two. With 1700 players and being locked into the draw bracket, I'm not too fond of my chances. My notes are nearly non-existent for this match.
Game 1: Long game. He leads on Delver but can't flip it for 2 turns. I swords it after taking a single hit from the 3/2 and sit comfy at 14 for a bit. He gets me with a Stifle and a Wasteland and I can't get a solid presence on board thanks to a shortage on white mana. He brainstorms and lays Goyf + Mongoose the following turn and I can't keep up.
Game 2: Another Long Game. He gets a Delver, but I Wasteland him out of the game. I can't find a means of interaction with the Delver for a few turns, but stabilize at 12 life while he struggles to find another Green source.
Game 3: I finally show him a black source this game, but he has a solid start while I sit back with a shortage on creatures.
SIDEBOARD
-2 Thoughtsieze
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Qasali Pridemage
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Life from the Loam
+1 Abrupt Decay
Same sideboard as with the previous RUG Delver opponent. He shows me his sideboard after the match, and lays out an absolute monster of a sideboard plan. Easily the most fear-inducing sideboard I've seen recently. We have a good chat about the cutting of Stifle and the warrants of Daze and such. I recommend that he consider cutting back on Force of Wills, but admit that it honestly depends on how he wants to play the matchup.
+3 Forked Bolt (with 1 main)
+3 Submerge
+2 True-Name Nemesis
+1 Ancient Grudge
-2 Daze (4 main)
-1 Spell Pierce (3 main)
-2 Gitaxian Probe (2 main)
-4 Stifle
We keep talking he asks me about my choice on Maverick for the weekend. I state that I've been playing the deck for a while and have always felt comfortable adapting it to any environment, even having played/tested a variety of decks in the legacy landscape Maverick keeps reeling me back in. He asks if Maverick is my pet deck, and while that may be true I opt to refer to Maverick as a vicious parasite that keeps sucking the life out of me. I love the deck, it keeps giving me hope.
4-2-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/51b.jpg
At this point I drop. Fairly depressing tournament result, but I felt that all my matchups were fairly solid and that my decklist was fine. Zealous Persecution was a fine sideboard card, and I don't regret having cut the sideboard Gaddock Teeg. I only saw a handful of Miracles players in the room (half of which were from my local area), and Gaddock Teeg came out in nearly every matchup.
I'm going to fuss with Dark Maverick for a while and see where I can take the deck, but I'd certainly feel comfortable taking this same list to a tournament tomorrow.
I encountered 3 True-Name Nemesese on the day.
I had a lead mana dork in nearly every matchup - even without a third Hierarch.
Overall it was a fine tournament, wish I had prepared a bit better for it though and solidified my sideboard plans prior to this event. I believe I played good interactive magic all day though and enjoyed myself. All my matchups were great and all my opponents were very pleasant.
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ddk/23.jpg