14th/210 at MKM Prague with Elves! - Back to the Future!

[Julian23]

http://i1.wp.com/itsjulian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/FeatureImage.png?zoom=1.5&resize=714%2C364


Did you know that in Back to the Future II, Marty McFly travels to the 21st October 2015? That is this Wednesday! I’m already super excited for my new hoverboard and all the other awesome toys we are about to get! But did you know also that one of the most relevant parts of the entire series was actually omitted from the final cut?


Thursday – Arrival in Prague
Friday – Big Legacy Trial
Saturday – Legacy Main Event
Sunday – Duel Commander
Epilogue – Payouts in Prague


Check out my article on http://itsjulian.com/?p=1792

[Tammit67]

Congrats on the finish!

Looking at your list and several other elves pilots' lists (http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/deckshow.php?t%5BT2%5D=3&event_ID=&feedin=&start_date=09%2F24%2F2015&end_date=10%2F25%2F2015&city=&state=&country=&start=&finish=&exp=&p_first=&p_last=&simple_card_name%5B1%5D=glimpse+of+nature&simple_card_name%5B2%5D=&simple_card_name%5B3%5D=&simple_card_name%5B4%5D=&simple_card_name%5B5%5D=&w_perc=0&g_perc=0&r_perc=0&b_perc=0&u_perc=0&a_perc=0&comparison%5B1%5D=%3E%3D&card_qty%5B1%5D=1&card_name%5B1%5D=&comparison%5B2%5D=%3E%3D&card_qty%5B2%5D=1&card_name%5B2%5D=&comparison%5B3%5D=%3E%3D&card_qty%5B3%5D=1&card_name%5B3%5D=&comparison%5B4%5D=%3E%3D&card_qty%5B4%5D=1&card_name%5B4%5D=&comparison%5B5%5D=%3E%3D&card_qty%5B5%5D=1&card_name%5B5%5D=&sb_comparison%5B1%5D=%3E%3D&sb_card_qty%5B1%5D=1&sb_card_name%5B1%5D=&sb_comparison%5B2%5D=%3E%3D&sb_card_qty%5B2%5D=1&sb_card_name%5B2%5D=&card_not%5B1%5D=&card_not%5B2%5D=&card_not%5B3%5D=&card_not%5B4%5D=&card_not%5B5%5D=&order_1=finish&order_2=&limit=25&action=Show+Decks&p=1) since a month ago, it seems the maindeck is pretty much set in stone (which makes sense). The sideboard however is in much more flux. Can you describe the process of how you arrived at your specific configuration?

[Julian23]

For the sideboard? Most Elves pilots agree that you want 7 cards minimum to fight combo, of which at the very least 5 should be discard spells; better probably six. I still went with the 2nd Surgical over the 6th discard spell as I value it almost equally against Storm while also being applicable to some other difficult matchups like Lands, Reanimator, Dredge etc. It's also decent against Miracles.

The two Needles have traditionally been a mix of those and Null Rod. I recently switched to 2 Needles because of how much work they do vs Infect, Sneak Show and some other decks. The previous weekend Infect was one of the most played decks in a 145 people tournament in France, which contributed to that decision. I still wish I had some permanent based hate vs Storm, but you can't really have everything.

The 2 Chokes are there because they are pretty good against all those super greedy 3/4c Delver manabases, while also being ok against Miracles. I've lost my fair share of games to Miracles despite getting Choke down on turn2 with them never removing it, so I'm not thrilled about the card; it's definitely worse than Krosan Grip in this matchup. Grip however is something that's very hard to make room for, now that OmniTell is pretty much gone and that slot's purpose once overlapping with Needles, which is a good thing. In the end there's Miracles, which sucks, but I can't really justify it as a pretty much dedicated hate card. It's also ok against D&T, but for the most part, so is Abrupt Decay.

I tried reducing the number of Decays earlier but I always run into some kind of trouble. You will notice how I specifically mention the need for it against Shardless BUG if they have Meddling Mage (pretty much everyone in Europe does because of Jean-Mary). In the trial I only played 2 instead of 3 Decay and it definitely costed me. Also against all those super aggressive 4c Delver variants, the more Decays I run, the better I feel.

Last but not least Ooze is the card that on Paper always looks like an easy cut and pretty much every tournament I'm happy I didn't cut it. It's just such a house vs Tempo and able to seal games vs all kinds of decks like dedicated graveyard combos as well as Storm. It's really good and there have been times where I played one in the main and 1 in the side.

If there's anything I would like to add now, it's the 2nd Sylvan Library and an additional Thoughtseize.

[Manipulato]

Can you tell me what deck Maximilian Lorenz played? And what kind of 4c Delver lists you faced? YP or Goyf versions?

Greetings

[Julian23]

Max played 4c Delver as he usually does.

By 4c Delver I mean 4c decks with Delver and Goyf. There was one guy who actually didn't run Delver as he told me so I called his deck "4c Goyf" :wink:

[Plague Sliver]

Great read!

I LOL'd at the "Maverick vs. Nic Fit -- are they trading or playing?" statement.

[Minniehajj]

Excellent report Julian! looking forward to seeing you stream once again!

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Great read!

I LOL'd at the "Maverick vs. Nic Fit -- are they trading or playing?" statement.

+1 :cool:


The payout was a bit surprising. Slosh won some 15€ for being 6:2. And the cross-format payout comparison definitely looks strange. I'm also under an impressions
1) that the "sign here or gtfo" deal was highly unnecessary and unwelcoming from the TO, and
2) that the MKM vouchers bring a word starting with an "in-" and ending with a "-flation" to my mind, and finally
3) that I'd switch half of my matchups for a half of yours.

Congrats on your Top16 finish.