chinEsE girl
05-05-2014, 02:26 PM
Moving up the Food Chain: Undefeated to a Top 2 split at the KDM 40 Duals Tournament
Mark my words, I will make Food Chain a $50 card one of these days. I mean, Rishadan Port is worth more than $100, and it’s also a rare from Mercadian Masques. It might see more play right now, but I’ll be changing that soon enough.
(Except not really, since Port is a land and Food Chain is a narrow colored enchantment, but I can still dream.)
Last time I played the deck in a large event I went undefeated and walked away with a sweet first place trophy and a lot of dumbstruck faces. Turns out that killing your opponents with phantom monsters will get you strange looks. The deck was so sweet to play. It’s a potent combination of value plays backed up by a crazy powerful combo that can kill anyone on the spot. It doesn’t matter if the opponent is at 10 billion life, has 4 True-Name Nemesis in play, and Lightning Bolt on top of their deck with a red land in their hand. If I have my combo pieces in play, I will take infinite turns and win the game. The issues I raised in the last report still held though, and I wanted a few ways to interact with opposing permanents. In particular, hate bears like Phyrexian Revoker and Ethersworn Canonist were super annoying. I have seen several lists playing Abrupt Decay as their answer, and it's a solid solution. It can kill most of the problem permanents that you care about. However, it would mean running more black sources and fewer basic lands. One of the greatest strengths that this deck has is the ability to run 4 or 5 basics without any real hindrance. I’ve played several games where fetching out basic lands the first several turns has helped me defeat opponents who were counting on wasteland. So to keep my deck mostly 2 colors, I decided to run some Engineered Explosives and a Krosan Grip in my sideboard. Explosives can deal with most permanents that I would care about, plus it can nab multiple things at once from decks like Death & Taxes. Considering that almost everything I really care about killing is CMC 2, and I have very few CMC 2’s in my list (one of which cycles itself anyways) it seemed like the perfect fit. The Grip is a decent hedge to beat a lot of different permanents, since it can kill Revoker and Canonist, Counterbalance and Humility, equipment, and the list goes on. To make room, I cut the Submerges, which were hot trash the previous time I played. The last small change was playing a 3rd Flusterstorm over the 3rd Cage. This left me with this current list.
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Shardless Agent
4 Misthollow Griffin
2 Vendillion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Wall of Blossoms
2 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Food Chain
3 Manipulate Fate
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Sylvan Library
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Karakas
3 Island
2 Forest
SB
1 Krosan Grip
1 Misdirection
3 Flusterstorm
2 Grafdiggers Cage
2 Pithing Needle
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Ancestral Vision
The only other change from the previous list was fixing my fetch lands to the correct BUG ones ( I mentioned this in the last report). Before the 40 dual event I was able to play in one local event to see how the updates worked. I went 2-1 at the local tournament, beating Reanimator and Death and Taxes before losing to Elves. A word of warning to anyone who wants to play this deck; don’t get paired against Elves. The matchup is abysmal. At least with storm or other fast combo decks if you lose, you lose quickly. Elves is slightly slower, but still so favored that games just drag on until they finally do you in. Or they just Glimpse and kill you that way. Considering that I was beating the other widely played decks, I decided to not worry about one bad matchup and keep the list the same for the 40 dual event.
The morning of May 3rd came around soon enough, and in the end 142 people showed up to do battle for some sweet (and really fucking expensive) dual lands. It would be 8 rounds before the top 8, and I was ready to smash some skulls in with a bunch of 3/3 fliers for 4.
Round 1 vs Death & Taxes
Game 1 I start with good old Manipulate Fate on turn 2. My opponent seemed nonplused at first, then his face turned to horror as I went to grab 3 griffins and put them in exile (actually, he was just laughing, but I’m sure he was laughing in fear of what was to come). He tries to land a Brimaz, but I force it (pitching my last griffin of course), and proceed to cast Food Chain, then Tyrant, then bounce all his permanents away. Game 2 I keep a super sketchy hand and get punished for my bad keep. Game 3 I get to run out Food Chain + Tidespout again after manipulating my fate, and even though he has swords for my Tyrant, he can’t beat all the 3/3 fliers.
Round 2 vs Show and Tell
I would like to quickly call out my friend Jorge here, who stated last month that Show and Tell was probably a bad matchup. It turns out that the feared UR combo deck doesn’t have shit on good old Tidespout Tyrant. Game 1 he doesn’t do much for a few turns, and I get out a Food Chain but have no griffins. I then use chain to hardcast Tidespout, and he resolves! My opponent then tries to run out Sneak Attack and get me, but Tidespout was having none of that shit. Game 2 is similar, except this time he cast Show and Tell like a true gentlemen. I happily oblige by showing him that I have Tyrant in hand, and then I cast some spells and put his permanents back in his hand on my way to winning the game.
Round 3 vs Show and Tell
Game 1 his hand was very powerful, having 2 copies of Sneak Attack, along with both monsters to put in on the same turn. Doesn’t take long for him to kill me from that point. Game 2 goes better for me, since I get to cast Food Chain, then griffins, then Tyrant, then his board disappears. Game 3 he can’t find a Sneak and is stuck with Shows while I have Karakas in play. In this game I finally get to live the dream where my opponent had to Force of Will my Manipulate Fate. I’ll repeat that. I CAST MANIPULATE FATE AND MY OPPONENT HAD TO CAST FORCE OF WILL ON IT!!! I’d been hoping to say those words for a while now, and I’m glad it finally happened. I could have been happy if my day ended right there, but I guess winning wasn't bad either. I eventually found some real business and killed him before he ever found a Sneak Attack.
Round 4 vs Storm
This round I played against the storm master Bryant Cook in a matchup that I didn’t want to face. Game 1 I get lucky by having the combo in hand, just needing to get to enough lands to cast my Food Chain and then go off the next turn. He cast several cantrips but never found a tutor, so my combo goythere. Game 2 he returned the favor by discarding all my actions, and then using Past in Flames to Tendrils me out. Game 3 is interesting since he spends some turns setting up, and then lays down his hand of Chrome Mox and 2 Petals in order to cast Infernal Tutor with no cards in hand. This lets me use my EE that I had boarded in to fight off goblins and kill most of his mana. This stranded his Ad Nauseam in his hand, which gave me time to find a Force of Will and put the game away.
Round 5 vs Painter
Game 1 I have a solid hand, and his is a tad slow. He eventually gets to the point where he can cast Recruiters, but I have Venser plus Karakas, so every turn he casts something it gets bounced back, all the while I’m attacking him. Eventually my soft lock got there. Game 2 he has Magus of the Moon, but I hadbasics in hand so it’s ok. He then played a Painters Servant, and I screwed up by not Forcing it. This let him cast Pyroblast on my green mana, and I proceed to lose with a Food Chain stuck in hand that was lethal if it ever resolved. Game 3 he tried to disrupt me with Revoker when I played Food Chain, but I had the EE that let me take it out, then uptap and kill him on the spot with Emrakul.
Round 6 vs BUG Delver
Game 1 I get to make the most dreaded turn 2 play in legacy. “Cast Manipulate Fate.” His hand of Abrupt Decays couldn't do shit about that. He played out a True-Name, but that card’s so bad. It doesn’t even fly. Game 2 I got tempo’d out pretty hard by a turn 1 Delver backed up by plenty of disruption. Game 3 I had a good start and I was ahead on board by a fair amount, having Misthollow in my yard, a Deathrite ready to eat it, and a Clique beating him down. He ended up Thoughtseizing me the turn before I would cast the Food Chain I was sandbagging, which made me sad since I had Emrakul in hand. Thankfully for me, I’m the luckiest motherfucker on the planet and I immediately top decked another copy of Food Chain. My dumbstruck opponent then lost to me making lots of mana and then casting Emrakul.
Round 7 and 8 ID
Quarterfinals vs RUG Delver
I got to play against my good friend James (JimiRynk) for the first time in a long time. He was playing RUG with True-Name instead of Goyf. Game 1 he didn’t have much in the way of pressure, and I assembled the wombo combo of Deathrite Shaman and Misthollow Griffin. Can’t stop cards that powerful. Game 2 went the other way, with him having an early Delver backed up by disruption. It comes down the game 3,and it actually hinged on a crucial mistake that happened on his second turn. After playing a turn 1 Delver, James forgot to trigger his delver on his upkeep. The card he drew was a Pyroblast, and he missed out on 2 points of damage. Fast forward several turns, and after plenty of interaction I’m at 8 life with just a Shardless Agent in play. James had a flipped Delver and a threshed Mongoose. He attack with 2 cards in hand. If I block I can survive the turn in case he has Bolt, but the next turn I would just cast Griffin and then he could still kill me if he had Bolt. I decided that the best chance for me to win is if he didn’t have it, then untap and cast Food Chain to get out my 4 Griffins in exile. I go down to 2, and I cast Food Chain on my turn. He couldn’t stop it and I ran out the air force. 2 turns later he hadn’t draw a burn spell and I came out as the victor in a super close match.
Semifinals vs Turbo Eldrazi
I hadn’t played against this deck for the past 5 years (at least), so I had no idea what would end up happening. It turns out that game 1 was pretty much decided by the most powerful 2 mana spell in legacy, Manipulate Fate. After casting it turn 2, I spent turns 4 through 6 casting Griffins. He ended up repealing one of them, but that just let me pitch it to Force of Will to counter his Primeval Titan. Eventually I drew a Food Chain and then Tidespout Tyrant decided to show up to shoo away all of his lands. Game 2 I open up my seven card hand and see the most glorious thing ever. It has Trop, fetch, Food Chain, Emrakul, Griffin, Heirarch, Deathrite. If I drew any CMC 3 or less creature I got to win on turn 2 (assuming my opponent doesn’t disrupt me). On turn 1 I drew another Deathrite, and I start getting really excited. After my opponent plays out a Vesuva to copy my Trop, I decided to go for it. After Food Chain resolved, I went through the steps to get Griffin out, then make a billion mana, then cast Emrakul on turn 2. I even drew a Shardless Agent for the turn, allowing me to attack for 20 before my opponent got to his 3rd turn.
After my match is done, Jared Boettcher and I decided to split in the finals so that we could go home. We both get 2 Volcs and 2 Seas for our troubles, plus I was the real winner by taking home the Flipside Gaming hoodie that was to go to the first place finisher. All in all, a pretty fantastic day of magic.
So 2 six-plus round events with no loses in either one. Not too bad. I feel like there is still untapped potential here, mostly with the sideboard. I think what I currently have is close to correct with an open field, but I’m not sure. At the very least, I’ve been happy to see that I’ve had game against just about any opponent that I’ve faced with this deck. What I want to accomplish next is taking home a SCG open trophy with Food Chain. Then I might attain my dream of making it a $50 card.
Thanks for reading.
Eric English
Post Report Questions:
What changes would I make/any issues that need solving?
I'm not sure how important the Visions were. The card is pretty absurd against anything trying to cast Hymn to Tourach against you, but otherwise it hasn't really been pulling its weight. I'm actually really interested in trying out a new sideboard strategy of 4 Meddling Mage. LeJay did this in his Shardless list that he finished second with at the BoM, and I feel I could easily adapt this strategy in Food Chain. I already run 7 mana dorks that make U and W, plus the Karakas. All I would need is a white dual to fetch up (probably Tundra instead of the 3rd basic island). It would also help solve some of the combo issues by giving me a sweet card to bring in for those matchups. For example, a board of Cage plus Mage on Glimpse seems real nice against Elves. If a second Mage comes out to name Visionary, I could easily see that running away with the game. For now though I'm pretty happy where the deck is, so I'm not too concerned about shaking up the deck's construction.
Mark my words, I will make Food Chain a $50 card one of these days. I mean, Rishadan Port is worth more than $100, and it’s also a rare from Mercadian Masques. It might see more play right now, but I’ll be changing that soon enough.
(Except not really, since Port is a land and Food Chain is a narrow colored enchantment, but I can still dream.)
Last time I played the deck in a large event I went undefeated and walked away with a sweet first place trophy and a lot of dumbstruck faces. Turns out that killing your opponents with phantom monsters will get you strange looks. The deck was so sweet to play. It’s a potent combination of value plays backed up by a crazy powerful combo that can kill anyone on the spot. It doesn’t matter if the opponent is at 10 billion life, has 4 True-Name Nemesis in play, and Lightning Bolt on top of their deck with a red land in their hand. If I have my combo pieces in play, I will take infinite turns and win the game. The issues I raised in the last report still held though, and I wanted a few ways to interact with opposing permanents. In particular, hate bears like Phyrexian Revoker and Ethersworn Canonist were super annoying. I have seen several lists playing Abrupt Decay as their answer, and it's a solid solution. It can kill most of the problem permanents that you care about. However, it would mean running more black sources and fewer basic lands. One of the greatest strengths that this deck has is the ability to run 4 or 5 basics without any real hindrance. I’ve played several games where fetching out basic lands the first several turns has helped me defeat opponents who were counting on wasteland. So to keep my deck mostly 2 colors, I decided to run some Engineered Explosives and a Krosan Grip in my sideboard. Explosives can deal with most permanents that I would care about, plus it can nab multiple things at once from decks like Death & Taxes. Considering that almost everything I really care about killing is CMC 2, and I have very few CMC 2’s in my list (one of which cycles itself anyways) it seemed like the perfect fit. The Grip is a decent hedge to beat a lot of different permanents, since it can kill Revoker and Canonist, Counterbalance and Humility, equipment, and the list goes on. To make room, I cut the Submerges, which were hot trash the previous time I played. The last small change was playing a 3rd Flusterstorm over the 3rd Cage. This left me with this current list.
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Shardless Agent
4 Misthollow Griffin
2 Vendillion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Wall of Blossoms
2 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Food Chain
3 Manipulate Fate
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Sylvan Library
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Karakas
3 Island
2 Forest
SB
1 Krosan Grip
1 Misdirection
3 Flusterstorm
2 Grafdiggers Cage
2 Pithing Needle
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Ancestral Vision
The only other change from the previous list was fixing my fetch lands to the correct BUG ones ( I mentioned this in the last report). Before the 40 dual event I was able to play in one local event to see how the updates worked. I went 2-1 at the local tournament, beating Reanimator and Death and Taxes before losing to Elves. A word of warning to anyone who wants to play this deck; don’t get paired against Elves. The matchup is abysmal. At least with storm or other fast combo decks if you lose, you lose quickly. Elves is slightly slower, but still so favored that games just drag on until they finally do you in. Or they just Glimpse and kill you that way. Considering that I was beating the other widely played decks, I decided to not worry about one bad matchup and keep the list the same for the 40 dual event.
The morning of May 3rd came around soon enough, and in the end 142 people showed up to do battle for some sweet (and really fucking expensive) dual lands. It would be 8 rounds before the top 8, and I was ready to smash some skulls in with a bunch of 3/3 fliers for 4.
Round 1 vs Death & Taxes
Game 1 I start with good old Manipulate Fate on turn 2. My opponent seemed nonplused at first, then his face turned to horror as I went to grab 3 griffins and put them in exile (actually, he was just laughing, but I’m sure he was laughing in fear of what was to come). He tries to land a Brimaz, but I force it (pitching my last griffin of course), and proceed to cast Food Chain, then Tyrant, then bounce all his permanents away. Game 2 I keep a super sketchy hand and get punished for my bad keep. Game 3 I get to run out Food Chain + Tidespout again after manipulating my fate, and even though he has swords for my Tyrant, he can’t beat all the 3/3 fliers.
Round 2 vs Show and Tell
I would like to quickly call out my friend Jorge here, who stated last month that Show and Tell was probably a bad matchup. It turns out that the feared UR combo deck doesn’t have shit on good old Tidespout Tyrant. Game 1 he doesn’t do much for a few turns, and I get out a Food Chain but have no griffins. I then use chain to hardcast Tidespout, and he resolves! My opponent then tries to run out Sneak Attack and get me, but Tidespout was having none of that shit. Game 2 is similar, except this time he cast Show and Tell like a true gentlemen. I happily oblige by showing him that I have Tyrant in hand, and then I cast some spells and put his permanents back in his hand on my way to winning the game.
Round 3 vs Show and Tell
Game 1 his hand was very powerful, having 2 copies of Sneak Attack, along with both monsters to put in on the same turn. Doesn’t take long for him to kill me from that point. Game 2 goes better for me, since I get to cast Food Chain, then griffins, then Tyrant, then his board disappears. Game 3 he can’t find a Sneak and is stuck with Shows while I have Karakas in play. In this game I finally get to live the dream where my opponent had to Force of Will my Manipulate Fate. I’ll repeat that. I CAST MANIPULATE FATE AND MY OPPONENT HAD TO CAST FORCE OF WILL ON IT!!! I’d been hoping to say those words for a while now, and I’m glad it finally happened. I could have been happy if my day ended right there, but I guess winning wasn't bad either. I eventually found some real business and killed him before he ever found a Sneak Attack.
Round 4 vs Storm
This round I played against the storm master Bryant Cook in a matchup that I didn’t want to face. Game 1 I get lucky by having the combo in hand, just needing to get to enough lands to cast my Food Chain and then go off the next turn. He cast several cantrips but never found a tutor, so my combo goythere. Game 2 he returned the favor by discarding all my actions, and then using Past in Flames to Tendrils me out. Game 3 is interesting since he spends some turns setting up, and then lays down his hand of Chrome Mox and 2 Petals in order to cast Infernal Tutor with no cards in hand. This lets me use my EE that I had boarded in to fight off goblins and kill most of his mana. This stranded his Ad Nauseam in his hand, which gave me time to find a Force of Will and put the game away.
Round 5 vs Painter
Game 1 I have a solid hand, and his is a tad slow. He eventually gets to the point where he can cast Recruiters, but I have Venser plus Karakas, so every turn he casts something it gets bounced back, all the while I’m attacking him. Eventually my soft lock got there. Game 2 he has Magus of the Moon, but I hadbasics in hand so it’s ok. He then played a Painters Servant, and I screwed up by not Forcing it. This let him cast Pyroblast on my green mana, and I proceed to lose with a Food Chain stuck in hand that was lethal if it ever resolved. Game 3 he tried to disrupt me with Revoker when I played Food Chain, but I had the EE that let me take it out, then uptap and kill him on the spot with Emrakul.
Round 6 vs BUG Delver
Game 1 I get to make the most dreaded turn 2 play in legacy. “Cast Manipulate Fate.” His hand of Abrupt Decays couldn't do shit about that. He played out a True-Name, but that card’s so bad. It doesn’t even fly. Game 2 I got tempo’d out pretty hard by a turn 1 Delver backed up by plenty of disruption. Game 3 I had a good start and I was ahead on board by a fair amount, having Misthollow in my yard, a Deathrite ready to eat it, and a Clique beating him down. He ended up Thoughtseizing me the turn before I would cast the Food Chain I was sandbagging, which made me sad since I had Emrakul in hand. Thankfully for me, I’m the luckiest motherfucker on the planet and I immediately top decked another copy of Food Chain. My dumbstruck opponent then lost to me making lots of mana and then casting Emrakul.
Round 7 and 8 ID
Quarterfinals vs RUG Delver
I got to play against my good friend James (JimiRynk) for the first time in a long time. He was playing RUG with True-Name instead of Goyf. Game 1 he didn’t have much in the way of pressure, and I assembled the wombo combo of Deathrite Shaman and Misthollow Griffin. Can’t stop cards that powerful. Game 2 went the other way, with him having an early Delver backed up by disruption. It comes down the game 3,and it actually hinged on a crucial mistake that happened on his second turn. After playing a turn 1 Delver, James forgot to trigger his delver on his upkeep. The card he drew was a Pyroblast, and he missed out on 2 points of damage. Fast forward several turns, and after plenty of interaction I’m at 8 life with just a Shardless Agent in play. James had a flipped Delver and a threshed Mongoose. He attack with 2 cards in hand. If I block I can survive the turn in case he has Bolt, but the next turn I would just cast Griffin and then he could still kill me if he had Bolt. I decided that the best chance for me to win is if he didn’t have it, then untap and cast Food Chain to get out my 4 Griffins in exile. I go down to 2, and I cast Food Chain on my turn. He couldn’t stop it and I ran out the air force. 2 turns later he hadn’t draw a burn spell and I came out as the victor in a super close match.
Semifinals vs Turbo Eldrazi
I hadn’t played against this deck for the past 5 years (at least), so I had no idea what would end up happening. It turns out that game 1 was pretty much decided by the most powerful 2 mana spell in legacy, Manipulate Fate. After casting it turn 2, I spent turns 4 through 6 casting Griffins. He ended up repealing one of them, but that just let me pitch it to Force of Will to counter his Primeval Titan. Eventually I drew a Food Chain and then Tidespout Tyrant decided to show up to shoo away all of his lands. Game 2 I open up my seven card hand and see the most glorious thing ever. It has Trop, fetch, Food Chain, Emrakul, Griffin, Heirarch, Deathrite. If I drew any CMC 3 or less creature I got to win on turn 2 (assuming my opponent doesn’t disrupt me). On turn 1 I drew another Deathrite, and I start getting really excited. After my opponent plays out a Vesuva to copy my Trop, I decided to go for it. After Food Chain resolved, I went through the steps to get Griffin out, then make a billion mana, then cast Emrakul on turn 2. I even drew a Shardless Agent for the turn, allowing me to attack for 20 before my opponent got to his 3rd turn.
After my match is done, Jared Boettcher and I decided to split in the finals so that we could go home. We both get 2 Volcs and 2 Seas for our troubles, plus I was the real winner by taking home the Flipside Gaming hoodie that was to go to the first place finisher. All in all, a pretty fantastic day of magic.
So 2 six-plus round events with no loses in either one. Not too bad. I feel like there is still untapped potential here, mostly with the sideboard. I think what I currently have is close to correct with an open field, but I’m not sure. At the very least, I’ve been happy to see that I’ve had game against just about any opponent that I’ve faced with this deck. What I want to accomplish next is taking home a SCG open trophy with Food Chain. Then I might attain my dream of making it a $50 card.
Thanks for reading.
Eric English
Post Report Questions:
What changes would I make/any issues that need solving?
I'm not sure how important the Visions were. The card is pretty absurd against anything trying to cast Hymn to Tourach against you, but otherwise it hasn't really been pulling its weight. I'm actually really interested in trying out a new sideboard strategy of 4 Meddling Mage. LeJay did this in his Shardless list that he finished second with at the BoM, and I feel I could easily adapt this strategy in Food Chain. I already run 7 mana dorks that make U and W, plus the Karakas. All I would need is a white dual to fetch up (probably Tundra instead of the 3rd basic island). It would also help solve some of the combo issues by giving me a sweet card to bring in for those matchups. For example, a board of Cage plus Mage on Glimpse seems real nice against Elves. If a second Mage comes out to name Visionary, I could easily see that running away with the game. For now though I'm pretty happy where the deck is, so I'm not too concerned about shaking up the deck's construction.