[Report]On the frontiers of Top 8 - 4c CBTop (3rd Legacy Tournament)

Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Mainboard: 60

Spells: 32
4x Brainstorm
4x Counterbalance
4x Force of Will
4x Sensei's Divining Top
4x Swords to Plowshare
3x Firespout
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Counterspell
3x Spell Snare

Creatures: 6
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Vendilion Clique

Lands: 22
4x Flooded Strand
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Tropical Island
3x Volcanic Island
2x Tundra
2x Island
1x Forest
1x Plain
1x Karakas
1x Scalding Tarn

Sideboard: 15
4x Pyroblast
3x Krosan Grip
3x Relic of Progenitus
2x Hydroblast
2x Pithing Needle
1x Firespout

I was predicting a lot of Survival decks in this event because it seems to be the current poster child for the format so I took out dual copies of Fire // Ice and packed in another Spell Snare/Counterspell. Spell Snare is definitely caliente right now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 1: vs. Kory - Elf-Vengevine Survival w/ Blue Splash
Game 1 - He tries to resolve Survival on turn 2 or 3 and I have the spell snare for it while he tries to maintain Aggro. I swords away a lot of Veggievines during this game and eventually locked him out with CB-Top until I was able to resolve Jace for the win.

Sideboard:
-4 Counterbalance
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

+2 Relics of Progenitus
+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Firespout

Game 2 - Wow. His turn 1 on the play was land, pitching Elvish Spirit Guide, cast Mongrel. Discard Vengevine, Discard rootwalla and cast it for the madness cost while recurring the 4/3 with haste. I was pretty much on the ropes the whole time but miraculously able to draw into more Swords and eventually won with my dual count of Tarmogoyfs all the while being at 1 life. ONE LIFE.

2-0

Afterthoughts: I remember being happy about winning such a close game but also pissed about sideboarding Relics because they did nothing for me. After drawing into it, it would have harmed me if I used the ability because they would have made my goyfs smaller.

Round 2: vs. Max (GWB Survival)
Game 1 - Max was playing a cool concoction of Survival that ran the Loyal Retainers package with a lot of discard. However, this first game was really dumb because he got me down to two - three cards in hand with Thoughtseizes and Cabal Therapies up the wazoo in the early game. Plus, the fact that I was mana screwed while he was mana flooded made the game even more stupid. I remember resolving a Counterbalance, when he played a Harmonic Sliver (lolwtf?) during his turn and we played draw-go while I was taking 1. I eventually drew into more lands and got rid of his pesky 1/1 by digging up removal with Top. A few turns later, after some countering, and a V. Clique - Counterbalance/Jace sealed the deal.

-1 Vendilion Clique
-1 Counterspell
-1 Counterbalance

+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Firespout

Game 2 - This game was relatively the same. He had early pressure, while I countered his Survival cards and StP'ed his relevant threats away while we played draw go for a few turns. I eventually stabilized with the Big Green 2-Drop Lhurgoyf on Counter backup and he went the distance for me.

2-0

Afterthoughts: I wasn't too sure about my sideboarding choices here. I chose not to sideboard in the Relics because they didn't do anything for me the previous round. I took out cards that I thought would be slow against Survival on the draw and put in more creature control and Survival-hosing effects.

Round 3: vs. Derrick (Burn)
Game 1 - I think I had played standard with Derrick once in Costa Mesa at a store called Majestix during an FTV: Relics Standard event. After taking a Lava Spike to the dome on Turn 1, I had realized he was playing Burn for this tourney. I saw more burns to the face and a Grim Lavamancer which prompted a pair of Force of Wills on my end. I remember having assembled the soft lock as quick as I could while he took me down to 4 life before I finally stabilized with Goyf taking the win for me.

-2 Firespout
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Vendilion Clique

+2 Pithing Needle
+2 Hydroblast

Game 2 - This one wasn't even close. Despite having the needles for his Vexing Shusher, I eventually got aggroed out of the game after not being able to deal with his creatures.

Game 3 - After trading some burns and counters, he resolved a Vexing Shusher which I had the Needle for. We eventually went to turns and he brought me down to 3 life. He attempted a Rift Bolt to the dome on the last turn which I had the counter for.

Afterthoughts: I was on the ropes for a while, and I think what I probably should have done before Game 3 was sideboard back in the Firespouts after seeing more creatures from his end. I also think sideboarding in Pithing Needle payed off for me because I saw the Grim Lavamancer on Game 1. Had I not seen it the first game, I may not have even considered sideboarding it in which may have resulted in his 2/2 Vexer blowing me out.

1-1-1

Round 4: vs. Shai (Eva Green)
Game 1 - This game dragged out much longer then I wanted it to. He stabilized with a Vampire Nighthawk before I StP'ed it a few turns later. I remember having made a play mistake in this game after I played Tarmogoyf instead of Jace, TMS in this game. He eventually played the attrition war and won when his Tombstalker resolved and gave him the win.

-2 Counterbalance
-1 Vendilion Clique

+2 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Firespout

Game 2 - I found out that Game 1 took about 40 minutes to finish, so I knew I had to play quick without making any play errors. We eventually went to turns while I stabilized with two of my 4/5 Lhurgoyfs against his one. He was down to 8 life by the last turn and I knew the only card that could end the game for me was Jace, TMS. I spun with Top and didn't see a Jace, so I cracked a fetch and shuffled my deck. After I spun again and saw no Jace, he ended up with the win. The heartbreaking thing about this was that if I only had 1 more turn, I could have won this game with my Goyfs because he was in topdeck mode and I had counter backup to whatever he drew into. SHIT.

0-1-1

Round 5: vs. Tony (Lands)
Game 1 - This was one of the most awkward game we've ever played. One of the factors that contributed to this was because after I resolved Top and spun with it, I saw a Relic of Progenitus still inside the deck. So I called the judges and they made the ruling that since I called them over the first chance I had, they took the 2 cards that I saw with Top and allowed me to de-sideboard. It turned out that Relic was the only card I forgot to take out and so I inserted back the Vendilion Clique that should have been in my 60 and they allowed us to resume the game with the 2 cards being placed back upon the top of my library. I countered all of his Exploration and Manabonds before he finally sneaked one in. After having gone through half of his deck without a single loam, I was aggresively searching for a Jace, TMS cracking fetches on my turn and spinning with Top. I eventually found the Blue Planeswalker and fatesealed my bearded friend out of any relevant cards that might have helped and got the concession from him before his ultimate went off.

-3 Firespout
-2 Counterbalance

+3 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Pithing Needle

Game 2 - After a few turns of Counters, and land-go he stabilized with an Oracle of Mul Daya, Engineered Explosives at 2, a dual count of Pithing Needles (calling Jace, TMS and Sensei's Divining Top) and an army of lands. While I had a needled Jace at 9, and a needled Top with my lands eventually getting Ghost Quartered one by one. I countered Smokestack for a few turns before it eventually resolved thanks to Academy Ruins. He pretty much had this game but after he realized that there might not have been enough time for him to kill me, he had decided to just give me the win because his record was 2-2 at this point and realized that he could not Top 8 or qualify for prizes with a tie in this round. What a pal!

2-0

Afterthoughts: I was sitting at a 3-1-1 record after Tony's concession and the results showed that I was ranked nine overall. In other words, I had to win my next round to make the top eight thus making it a do or die scenario.

Round 6: vs. Liam (TES)
Game 1 - He went off with Tendrils on Turn 3 with Orim's Chant resolving. 'Nuff said.

-4 Swords to Plowshare

+2 Hydroblast
+2 Pyroblast

Game 2 - There was some controversy surrounding this game because after we traded spells and he blew up three of my Counterbalances, I still had the victory in my hands with a Vendilion Clique swinging for three. When he was at 7, I casted Mr. Best 2 Drop Creature ever printed and my opponent had declared "You win next turn.". He took his turn and played an Orim's Chant during his main phase in which I casted a Force of Will on. He then said "Yup, you got it." which had made me believe that he was conceding the game to me because of what he had said on my turn. But when I realized he was still trying to cast a Rite of Flame and Burning Wish, I had already put my hand back inside the bottom portion of my library and so we called the judges. He claimed that I was conceding to him because I had put my hand back in the deck after we explained the situation. Now, at this point I had either two or three cards in my hand but I knew for sure that I had the Hydroblast to respond to his Burning Wish. One of the judges took me aside for a moment and had asked me what was in my hand. I told him that I had a few counters, and a Hydroblast which I put in the bottom of my library. The judge then peeked at the last few cards of my deck and ruled that since I was unable to correctly verify all the cards in my hand, I had to play without one. He did, however, allow the deck to be shuffled and the game to resume. I still had three lands untapped and tapped one to dig for a counter. He asked if I had one which had prompted the concession on his end. I declared yes and right as we were scooping up our cards, he asked to see it so I showed him the Spell Snare on top of my library and we went to Game 3.

Game 3 - Now, at this point my opponent was just being a douchenozzle. He started speaking in a dumb, insincere voice and was basically treating me like a five-year old by stating every card (including lands) he played and asking me if it was okay. I was also pretty shaken up with what happened the last game, so I had made some dumb play errors like not searching for a Volcanic Island or Brainstorm-ing away the Firespout in my hand despite seeing discard spells in his deck. He eventually took my boardsweeping 3 drop with his Duress and resolved an Empty the Warrens on a Storm Count for 4. I eventually died to the Goblin army and a Tendrils count at 1. (sadfrog.jpg)

1-2

Afterthoughts: I was fairly nervous about this matchup because although I had read about it, this was the first time I was paired up against TES during my two-month tenure in Legacy. In hindsight, I should have boarded in the miser Firespout from the side to neuter his Empty the Warrens. Another valuable lesson I learned from this was that there's going to be players out there who will do anything for an advantage and that I should simply focus on playing the best Magic that I can. Countertop is also a very draining deck to play so if you're playing this archetype, be sure to learn from my mistakes and pack some Energy Drinks to keep you alert!

Record: 3-2-1 (14th out of 43)
(Overall: 8-3-2)

* Shoutout to Antonius for giving me the opportunity to contend for prizes.
* Grats to PanderAlexander for making his fourth consecutive Top 8.
* Thanks to NathanS2k for letting me use his Counterspells.
* Also want to give thanks to the Judges for their professional conduct and rulings as well as Lori for hosting these awesome Tournaments.

You were literally a hairline away from top 8, it didn't help that the countertop games took you to time in almost every round, or that after 5 rounds it was do or die in game 3 in your last swiss round with a dozen people watching and that huge issue occurs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stifle

Game 3 - Now, at this point my opponent was just being a douchenozzle. He started speaking in a dumb, insincere voice and was basically treating me like a five-year old by stating every card (including lands) he played and asking me if it was okay. I was also pretty shaken up with what happened the last game, so I had made some dumb play errors like not searching for a Volcanic Island or Brainstorm-ing away the Firespout in my hand despite seeing discard spells in his deck. He eventually took my boardsweeping 3 drop with his Duress and resolved an Empty the Warrens on a Storm Count for 4. I eventually died to the Goblin army and a Tendrils count at 1.

---

After the issue, whatever the judge's ruling was should've been the end of it. But it wasn't, when you guys were playing game three and I was away organizing my deck for the judge I could hear him talking loudly to you condescendingly like an ass, very unsportsmanlike. I even shouted what the hell is going on over there and I heard judge Phil tell him to stop it. Don't take it personal, if you look at his post here (lorddotm) more than half of them he's being a dick to someone. Take what you can, you learned from the experience.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PanderAlexander

After the issue, whatever the judge's ruling was should've been the end of it. But it wasn't, when you guys were playing game three and I was away organizing my deck for the judge I could hear him talking loudly to you condescendingly like an ass, very unsportsmanlike. I even shouted what the hell is going on over there and I heard judge Phil tell him to stop it. Don't take it personal, if you look at his post here (lorddotm) more than half of them he's being a dick to someone. Take what you can, you learned from the experience.

---

Okay, you choose to paint me in a bad light. Thats fine. Haters are going to hate.

I wasn't being a douche to Kevin, I was just being sarcastic and flippant with my friend Phil, who was the judge who made the ruling. He said make sure that the communication was good so I went all in.

This was nothing against either of you. I'm not going to say I'm sorry you lost, but you did play badly and I was going to use everything I could, nothing against you. Bluffing is an important game of magic. I'm not doing anything I can to win. All I did was call a judge when you packed your hand away. Just recognize that I don't know you, and vise versa. I was messing with Kevin (the judge sitting next to you, you would be able to tell this because I was constantly saying "Am I being clear enough" after announcing everything) and Phil. Not trying to be a "douchenozzle" to you.

What do you expect from combo players :/

Paint you in a bad light? By being sarcastic to Phil you were directly being condescending to Kevin because you were talking to him, not Phil. I talked to Kevin after and he was upset not by the loss but by your attitude. In your words "All I did was call a judge when you packed your hand away.", that's not what you did, you called the judge to tell him right away "my opponent conceded" when he told you he didn't concede with a overly dominant board and hand position. There was a couple people after the round that told him they're surprised he didn't punch you. I have nothing against you, infact I was cool to you in the prior round when I could tell you were on tilt from the previous round and tried to help you get back in the game. I don't want anyone, not just you, scaring away new players from Knightware, this guy has been playing legacy for 2 months only, he sold all his standard cards to play legacy seriously. Knightware is our main source of Legacy in Los Angeles and I want it to grow and succeed. I know you want the samething from your posts and attempts at creating a legacy testgroup. You got the win and prize and knocked him from top 8, after the round you could've apologized to him and let him know it was all in jist. Lets just end the subject here as it's a moot point now.

Congrats to you Liam in getting in the prize, and Kevin you'll get there next time for sure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keys

What do you expect from combo players :/

---

Good thing we have very few combo players.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lorddotm

I wasn't being a douche to Kevin, I was just being sarcastic and flippant with my friend Phil, who was the judge who made the ruling. He said make sure that the communication was good so I went all in.

---

I am not going to talk to much about this, but I will say that after making the ruling, and you guys shuffling up, I wasn't standing there - so I couldn't observe you 'being funny' until I heard someone complain to me that you were being obnoxious.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keys

What do you expect from combo players :/

---

I would like to state that not all combo players are like that. I have been playing combo in Legacy for a little while, and I would hope to be known as a nice player. Sure there are bad beats every once in a while, but grouping all combo players like that seems a little inappropriate.

Anyways, thanks for the report, it was a great read. I too decided to jump into Legacy after the vintage scene died in my area (Washington State) and it has been a blast. I played combo in vintage (TPS) therefore it was a simple jump to playing legacy combo.

My friend played a deck very similar to yours for a long time, and I had a question for you about your first round opponent. How did you feel about being able to keep up with survival decks?

One thing that has drawn my friend away from playing a counter+top goyf deck was the fact that he felt he couldn't quite keep up with all the other decks around.

Well congrats again, hopefully we get the opportunity to read another report from you soon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by magicplaya10

I would like to state that not all combo players are like that. I have been playing combo in Legacy for a little while, and I would hope to be known as a nice player. Sure there are bad beats every once in a while, but grouping all combo players like that seems a little inappropriate.

---

it was a joke..



edit: kind of

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by magicplaya10

My friend played a deck very similar to yours for a long time, and I had a question for you about your first round opponent. How did you feel about being able to keep up with survival decks?

One thing that has drawn my friend away from playing a counter+top goyf deck was the fact that he felt he couldn't quite keep up with all the other decks around.

---

Survival is definitely a scary matchup but I think that Spell Snare really helped in keeping up the pace against Survival decks. In game one, my opponent chose to rush in while he was on the draw and tried to get Survival to resolve without knowing what I was playing. Had he known, I'm sure he would have played it out differently but I do feel that adding more counters in CBTop is the correct call. It gives the deck more answers against the 2-drop green enchantment and that's very important because most 4c CBTop decks don't run enchantment removal in the main. Once Survival resolves, the game is pretty much lost because even if you have the firespout, good UG Survival players will play around it and either kill you in a game of attrition or go off when they know they have lethal on board. Not gonna lie, CounterTop is not an easy deck to play but one thing that I learned from experience was that it rewards tight technical play. Hope your friend changes his mind and tries the deck out again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saspook

I am not going to talk to much about this, but I will say that after making the ruling, and you guys shuffling up, I wasn't standing there - so I couldn't observe you 'being funny' until I heard someone complain to me that you were being obnoxious.

---

Kevin was sitting right there, so honestly it was more to Kevin (the judge) than to you, but you also.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PanderAlexander

Paint you in a bad light? By being sarcastic to Phil you were directly being condescending to Kevin because you were talking to him, not Phil. I talked to Kevin after and he was upset not by the loss but by your attitude. In your words "All I did was call a judge when you packed your hand away.", that's not what you did, you called the judge to tell him right away "my opponent conceded" when he told you he didn't concede with a overly dominant board and hand position. There was a couple people after the round that told him they're surprised he didn't punch you. I have nothing against you, infact I was cool to you in the prior round when I could tell you were on tilt from the previous round and tried to help you get back in the game. I don't want anyone, not just you, scaring away new players from Knightware, this guy has been playing legacy for 2 months only, he sold all his standard cards to play legacy seriously. Knightware is our main source of Legacy in Los Angeles and I want it to grow and succeed. I know you want the samething from your posts and attempts at creating a legacy testgroup. You got the win and prize and knocked him from top 8, after the round you could've apologized to him and let him know it was all in jist. Lets just end the subject here as it's a moot point now.

---

I was not speaking to Kevin (the player, holy fuck this is confusing... new rule, judges and players cannot have the same name when this is the situation), I was in fact speaking to the judge sitting next to him. I'm sorry if he felt like he was being disrespected.

Him not punching me was a very good move by him. Typically, punching people isn't a good move. It is worse when they are larger than you. It is even worse when there are a bunch of his friends around who are also rather large.

Hopefully Kevin will not quit Legacy. That would be really lame. He seemed like a nice enough person, just needs to be able to deal with pressure. Being in the spotlight twice really affected his play. In round 2 he went to time against a Burn deck where he had the win. Another thing that could have aided him would be playing faster. Also, had he won, you might have been knocked out, depending on what had happened.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keys

What do you expect from combo players :/

---

HEY. I love you.

Good tournament, it's nice to see you're markedly improving from your last report so a t8 finish shouldn't be too far off. It sucks you got tilted in round 6, but that kind of behavior is par for the course from most johnny combo players. You could always call a judge on crap like that, or ask one for a quick bathroom break between games just to calm down. CBtop is not, as you mention, a forgiving archetype. Practice makes for faster/ better play, so that should come with time too. Anyway, good report and good luck next time!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IsThisACatInAHat?

You could always call a judge on crap like that, or ask one for a quick bathroom break between games just to calm down.

---

It has been made fairly clear a judge was sitting right there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stifle

Game 2 - There was some controversy surrounding this game because after we traded spells and he blew up three of my Counterbalances, I still had the victory in my hands with a Vendilion Clique swinging for three. When he was at 7, I casted Mr. Best 2 Drop Creature ever printed and my opponent had declared "You win next turn.". He took his turn and played an Orim's Chant during his main phase in which I casted a Force of Will on. He then said "Yup, you got it." which had made me believe that he was conceding the game to me because of what he had said on my turn. But when I realized he was still trying to cast a Rite of Flame and Burning Wish, I had already put my hand back inside the bottom portion of my library and so we called the judges. He claimed that I was conceding to him because I had put my hand back in the deck after we explained the situation. Now, at this point I had either two or three cards in my hand but I knew for sure that I had the Hydroblast to respond to his Burning Wish. One of the judges took me aside for a moment and had asked me what was in my hand. I told him that I had a few counters, and a Hydroblast which I put in the bottom of my library. The judge then peeked at the last few cards of my deck and ruled that since I was unable to correctly verify all the cards in my hand, I had to play without one. He did, however, allow the deck to be shuffled and the game to resume. I still had three lands untapped and tapped one to dig for a counter. He asked if I had one which had prompted the concession on his end. I declared yes and right as we were scooping up our cards, he asked to see it so I showed him the Spell Snare on top of my library and we went to Game 3.

---

I really hope your opponent was not committing Fraud by giving you the impression that he was conceding in hopes that you would scoop up your cards first so he could claim that you were conceding. Doing so is a DQable offense. Hopefully the judge investigated what your opponent said/did. I wasn't there, so I don't know what really happened, but judges need to be very suspicious when someone says something like "you got it" and then claims the other guy is scooping.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdr

I really hope your opponent was not committing Fraud by giving you the impression that he was conceding in hopes that you would scoop up your cards first so he could claim that you were conceding. Doing so is a DQable offense. Hopefully the judge investigated what your opponent said/did. I wasn't there, so I don't know what really happened, but judges need to be very suspicious when someone says something like "you got it" and then claims the other guy is scooping.

---

I did not go down this road as Liam says "you got it" all the time. It was nothing unusual or suspicious.

Ok, as I said, I wasn't there and don't know the people involved.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdr

I really hope your opponent was not committing Fraud by giving you the impression that he was conceding in hopes that you would scoop up your cards first so he could claim that you were conceding. Doing so is a DQable offense. Hopefully the judge investigated what your opponent said/did. I wasn't there, so I don't know what really happened, but judges need to be very suspicious when someone says something like "you got it" and then claims the other guy is scooping.

---

This.

If your opponent gestures in any way that he or she is conceding the game by either verbally or physically implying a concession, then turns around and states you as the opponent loses due to a concession because you picked up your cards and shuffled them away, you have every right to call a judge and inform them of the scenario.

And, as cdr pointed out, it generally doesn't end well (or shouldn't, for that matter) for the player implementing the infraction.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lorddotm

It has been made fairly clear a judge was sitting right there.

---

Not to throw that judge in front of a bus - because he did very well for his first event, but it was his first event.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saspook

Not to throw that judge in front of a bus - because he did very well for his first event, but it was his first event.

---

Either way, what happened was just ridiculous and if he really did insinuate that you had conceded, well then obviously that is incorrect and false information (according to witnesses and your own testimony).

Sorry, it just irks me when things like this happen, which they do often. There really is no place for that and if you're going to lose, take it like a man.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdr

I really hope your opponent was not committing Fraud by giving you the impression that he was conceding in hopes that you would scoop up your cards first so he could claim that you were conceding. Doing so is a DQable offense. Hopefully the judge investigated what your opponent said/did. I wasn't there, so I don't know what really happened, but judges need to be very suspicious when someone says something like "you got it" and then claims the other guy is scooping.

---

I never scoop up my cards until after I'm certain that the opponent has conceded. After the handshake, usually.

EDIT: Nice report by the way, hope to see more in the future from you and also, congratulations on the finish.

I was the player that played the "weird" variant of survival (GBW Survival). Sucks to see what happened man, that guy gives players a bad image and really played the stereotypical MTG nerd. The funny thing was that if you T8, I probably would have T10 since I lost to one of the T8 Merfolk and yourself.

Hopefully I'll see you there next time, and actually get to show you how the deck goes off :D.