In the Money with Team America @ Grand Prix Providence

My crew left from Pittsburgh the day before, with the trip taking about 10 hours or so due to traffic and a few stops along the way. We get to the site too late to enter any last-chance grinders, but I am able by chance to meet and talk with Dan Signorigni and Will Eldredge about the deck and card choices. A few of their suggestions were fantastic and I honestly believe that without these changes I wouldn’t have done as well as I did. So major props to both of you!

I don’t really play much sanctioned Magic outside of the occasional FNM draft, preferring to play in Legacy or Vintage events that, at least locally, tend to allow proxies and thus are unsanctioned. I also got 2nd in a GPT, which was too small to award any byes outside of first place. Needless to say, I entered the Grand Prix with 0 byes which was going to make for a much longer day 1.

Here are the 75 I ultimately ended up registering:

3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Wasteland
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Tombstalker
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Stifle
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Daze
1 Sylvan Library
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember

SB:
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Spell Pierce
2 Seal of Primordium
1 Go for the Throat
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Darkblast
1 Perish

I’ll try my best to recount the matches, but I wasn’t too concerned with being super-detailed for a report, so there may be some mix-ups, particularly with the Merfolk games. I’ll also post my opponents’ names once the DCI updates the ratings/pairings reports. Everyone who I played against was very friendly, which is a nice change of pace from the occasional random d-bag you sometimes sit across from at big tournaments.

Day One:

Round 1 vs. Justin Valley w/ Enchantress (2-1)
G1: Hymn Hymn I win.
G2: He gets a turn 2 Blood Moon, and I’m not holding a counterspell. Scoop.
G3: He’s stuck on one land for a few turns, but amasses a ton of Wild Growths on his basic forest. I counter his relevant spells in the meantime. Unfortunately I find Deed in time to set him back to turn one, and my creatures go in for the kill.

Round 2 vs. Nate v. Simpson w/ Enchantress (2-1)
G1: Hymn + counter the relevant spells + wasteland/stifle his lands.
G2: I aggressively use Sylvan Library to try to look for a Deed, but it’s not soon enough for him to go off with massive card advantage + Words of War. I perhaps should have been more conservative with my life total, but having played Enchantress a lot, I know that once that deck gets rolling it’s very difficult to stop in time before they combo out. Enchantress is a deck you never want to get into the long game with, because they have inevitability.
G3: He tries to slow my double Goyf onslaught down with Elephant Grass, but I am still able to pay for the attacks. He opts to not pay the upkeep, but the reason is that he plays a Peacekeeper. I decide not to counter it since I’m holding a Jace, who bounces the Peacekeeper and my Goyfs swing for the kill shortly after.

Round 3 vs. Kyle Jefferson w/ Hivemind Combo (2-0)
I believe that this guy was friend’s with the eventual 2nd place player, and may have been playing close to the same 75.
G1: I counter his Intuition and other early spells, and attempt to Hymn him. He happens to be running Misdirection in the maindeck and swings it back at me. Would have been a major bummer, but hymn hits only irrelevant cards in my hand. Meanwhile, an early Tombstalker is in the process of laying the smack down and takes him down to zero before he can combo off.
G2: Concerned with the Misdirections, I actually decide to side the Hymns out and bring in more combo hate and the Seals. I also bring in Sowers since I’m concerned with Show & Tell. He leads off with turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity, which is great because... I don't care. I’m able to keep him low on mana with stifle + wasteland, and also using Seal to destroy a Monolith. Goyf gets there. I was holding a stifle for backup in case he was able to resolve a Hivemind/Pact.

Round 4 vs. Christian Calcano w/ UBg Thresh “Team America” (2-1)
This guy was playing the list with Dark Confidants and maindeck Jace. I’m fine with this matchup because Tombstalkers and Stifle are simply awesome in this pseudo-mirror.
G1/2: I forget if I win G1 or G2, but the win was thanks to stifle/wasteland and fast Tombstalker beats. The game I lost, he landed two Confidants with protection for my removal and I couldn’t recover in time.
G3: We trade back and forth for a bit, but I’m eventually able to get Tombstalker out. I opted to fetch up two Underground Seas so as to avoid getting blown out by Submerge. He has two Dark Confidants that fail to find him any removal and instead just make Tombstalker’s job of racing him to zero easier. I got a bit lucky this round, but it is after all the mirror match.

Round 5 vs. Jasar S. Elarar w/ Deadguy Ale (1-2)
G1: He has creature after creature, and I’m eventually unable to answer them all. He also has like 3-4 maindecked Mirran Crusaders, who ensure my loss once one lands.
G2: I believe I hymn him and use stifle/wasteland to slow him down enough to get there, but it’s extremely close.
G3: Stoneforge + more Mirran Crusaders. Not enough time to find the answers to them.

Round 6 vs. Elliot A. Raff w/ Deadguy Ale (2-0)
G1: I lose the roll, but keep a hand with Stifle and two wastelands in it. He leads off with a Marsh Flats, but having no idea what’s in store for him, doesn’t crack it on his own turn. I go, drop a land and pass. When he cracks his fetch, I’m able to stifle it after my own fetch resolves. His next two land drops are both Scrublands, which I waste one after the other. He’s stuck with no board while my creatures beat down. This was the only game in the tournament where I got to utterly blow someone out with Stifle, but Stifle was still an MVP both days.
G2: A bit more interaction this game, but I’m just drawing fire and smother him in card advantage with Hymn (maybe Jace too, I forget).

Round 7 vs. Josh Wilhelmi w/ Uwr Painter Stone (0-2)
He was playing a home brew version of the deck with enlightened tutor.
G1: He wins the roll and leads off with a Lion’s Eye Diamond. I’m holding Force of Will in hand, but figure that if he were playing dredge he would have opted to be on the draw. I let it resolve. Afterwards I don’t draw enough counterspells (he had his own Forces for backup) to prevent both Grindstone and Painter’s Servant hitting the board.
G2: I use ponder turn 1 to look for additional counters to go along with the rest of my hand. He leads off with a Windswept Heath, cracking it to find a basic plains. I’m somewhat confused, thinking that maybe he has some sort of bizarre sideboard plan, but it’s just to safely get white for E. Tutor. He manages to get the combo onboard (again, I’m not holding enough counters), but doesn’t yet have the mana to activate Grindstone. Eventually though he topdecks a Crystal Vein and gets there. I think I may have sideboarded incorrectly, and with more testing this matchup should become much more in favor of TA. My opponent was a great player though and I saw him in Day 2, I’d be interested to know how he ended up.

Round 8 vs. Johnathan M. Bentley w/ Ubg Hex Depths Combo (2-0)
G1: We get deckchecked before the match started and unfortunately for him he accidentally left a sideboard card in his main. Game loss. Sorry man.
G2: He’s playing a combo deck that is susceptible to 1. Hymn 2. Removal 3. Stifle 4. Wasteland. 5. Counterspells. I think Hex Depths is an awesome concept, but he got really unlucky this match both wit the deckcheck and also being paired against my build. He was both gracious and tactful when he lost, when I could totally understand someone being very upset with this sort of result. I became very obsessive about checking and double checking my deck/SB after each round to ensure I don’t give my opponents any free wins. It’s an honest mistake that I think anyone could make considering the nature of the tournament.

Round 9 vs. Tony DaSilva w/ Merfolk (2-1)
This game’s for all the marbles (or at least the potential for all the marbles). My opponent was a very friendly guy who said he didn’t actually expect to make it this far into the tournament, and like me, entered without any byes. We shake hands and say let the best and/or luckiest man win!
G1: He has a Lord and two other dudes out, while I’m sitting back with (I think) a Goyf and a Tombstalker. He attacks with both of them and I kill the Lord who’s staying back with instant speed removal (we may or may not have had a counter war), and then blocking to kill both the attackers. I’m able to safely race him down to zero.
G2: Merfolk does what merfolk does and crushes an aggro/control blue deck.
G3: Close one that involves Pernicious Deed and Tombstalker.

7-2 and 21 points are enough to lock me in for day 2 contention. Day 2 report to follow shortly.

Round 10 vs. Mark D. Schmit w/ Hypergenesis (2-0)
I had been talking with this guy the day before because in the later rounds we had been seated close by and I got to observe him crush his opponents with a truly ‘wtf where did that come from’-type deck. I didn’t really want to face him because we became ‘semi-friends’ and were rooting for each other’s continued success, and I have a soft spot for weird combo decks. He was also a very honest player who called himself out in one of the matches day 1 when he accidentally revealed an extra card when he was going off with hypergenesis and received a warning. – just seemed to be an all-around great player. I’ll have to check how he ended up.
G1: Hymns and counters stop him cold for a few turns. He does swing one Hymn back at me with misdirection, but yet again I get lucky and it doesn’t hit anything useful. I am applying pressure with a Tombstalker, so he has very little time to go for it. I pretend to be holding counterspells with three cards that actually are just 2 lands and a Tombstalker. He resolves a Hypergenesis at two life, which ends up getting him Emrakul and me the second Tombstalker I needed to close out.
G2: I start applying early pressure with Tarmogoyf. He sided in Oblivion Ring, which I stifle to protect my Goyf. I’m sandbagging a Hymn, Daze and a Spell Pierce, but know that it wouldn’t yet be safe to cast it into an opponent likely to be holding Misdirection. I wait until I he’s tapped out and I find a Force of Will to successfully resolve the Hymn. I cast Hymn, he misdirects, I cast Daze, he removes Elvish Spirit Guide to pay for Daze, I force back, he forces back, I spell pierce. Hymn leaves him essentially handless, and Goyfs beat down before he can rebuild. Great game and among the two most memorable rounds of the tournament.

Mark finished in 65th. Ughhhh sooo close, sorry you didn't place!!

Round 11 vs. Michael Braverman w/ Ub Merfolk (2-1)
This guy was running the black splash for dark confidant and removal. Having fetchlands and duals made him a much easier matchup for me than the mono blue version, but he still put up a good fight. I can’t remember the details, but racing with Tombstalker seems to be the best option for a tempo deck to beat Merfolk. Maybe Llawans in the board would help more, but Deeds have more utility elsewhere and are just as much of a blow-out.

Michael placed 122nd.

Round 12 vs. Paul C. Serignese w/ 12Post Eldrazi (2-1)
My opponent was running a pimped-out foil/Japanese deck with all the goodies. I was lucky to have tested against this deck a handful of times, so I knew what his gameplan was, and honestly it’s not that bad of a matchup for TA. I did call a judge a few times to get oracle wordings on a few cards, just to make doubly sure about what some of his cards did. A very professional and friendly opponent.
G1: I had all the counters, hymns, and stifles at the right time, and my creatures raced him down to 20 before he could resolve any Eldrazi.
G2: This was a back-and-forth attrition game where I played the control role. I was holding a Jace, Stifle and a Sower, so I wasn’t yet too concerned about Emrakul. I countered two Primeval Titans – my idea was that, yeah I could steal it next turn with Sower, but I’d much rather steal his Emrakul and not let him get two free lands of his choice. I land Jace and brainstorm until I feel comfortable with my hand, and then begin to fateseal in hopes of just ultimating him. He’s eventually able to ramp up enough to hardcast Emrakul, but he doesn’t have the counterspell for my stifle on the extra turn trigger. I untap, and brainstorm with Jace in hopes of finding another counterspell to safeguard my plan. Nothing, even after using a few Ponder/Brainstorms. I decide to just go all in for it and cast Sower, which resolves. Unfortunately for me, he’s able to find a Dismember on his turn and kills my Sower. I lose to the Aeons Torn.
G3: I decide to attempt going on the beatdown plan and keep a hand with two Goyfs and some mild disruption. My turn 2 goyf is met with his turn 2 engineered explosives at 2. Luckily I have my Seal of Primordium which handles the explosives and I can continue applying early pressure. I’m able to stifle his exploration map and misstep his candelabra. A second Goyf joins the race and it seems like I’ll be able to get there very shortly. Unfortauntely my plan is slowed down a bit when he uses crop rotation for Bojuka Bog one turn to RFG my graveyard, and Vesuva copying the bog again keeping me off of ‘Stalker and my Goyfs small. He’s in the single-digits and lands a Trinket Mage (I forget whether or not I stifle its trigger this game, but I know I did it one of the games..) In any case, I topdeck a Maelstrom Pulse which is enough to grow the Goyfs +2 by killing the Mage and let me swing in for the win. A bit lucky I must say.

Paul placed 102nd.

Round 13 vs. Kevin Garosshen w/ Mono Blue Merfolk (1-2)
I race him game 1 with Tombstalker, but G2/3 I can’t find enough removal to stop his onslaught. I think I also kept a risky hand the one game that didn’t pay off.

Kevin placed 26th. Congrats!!

Round 14 vs. Garrett M. Clemmer w/ Junk (0-2)
I really punted it this round. At this point in the day I am tired as all hell and have accepted the fact that I’m certainly not making top 8. I don’t want to take away any credit from my opponent though; he played fantastically and deserved the win.
G1: I keep a semi-risky hand on the draw. He turn 1 thoughtseizes me, taking away my daze so that he can land a turn 2 Dark Confidant. I put up a bit of a fight, but he just smothers me in card advantage. I was hoping that his Bob would end up killing him after revealing all those Vindicates and KotR, but really they just ended up killing me when he cast them.
G2: May or may not have had to mulligan down to 5, either way it’s another game that Bob draws him tons of free cards and I don’t have the answer. As a side note, I think Dark Confidant is a fantastic card in the right deck (like Junk), but I really don’t think it belongs in Team America, or at least the tempo version I was running.

Garrett placed 25th. Congrats!!

Round 15 vs. Joshua P. Ravitz w/ Mono blue Merfolk (2-1)
This is truly it, whoever wins gets into the top 64. I try to get my mind in the game but I really wish I had some more sleep. I can tell my opponent is likewise tired and we are both kinda just going through the motions this round.
G1: Merfolk stomps me.
G2: He is extremely unlucky because 1. I have a great hand, and 2. He has to mulligan down to 5 and doesn’t have a blue source for enough turns. When I summon Tombstalker to join Tarmogoyf, he scoops it up and we go to game 3.
G3. A very close game that was ensured with a timely Perncious Deed – such a great card in this matchup. Don’t leave home without it!

Joshua placed 96th.

And so there you have it, I finished up 11-4 in 61st place. Due to having no byes, my tiebreakers were probably terrible and part of the reason I was so low in the 60s. But I certainly can’t complain, having won the money and 1 pro point for making top 64.

I would like to thank the following:
All of my opponents: You guys were great, friendly, and it was a pleasure to play against all of you. I hope lots of you made it into the top slots, and I’ll be sure to check the standings once the DCI gets updated.
My teammates/play group (including the guys who couldn't make it to Providence): Such a great trip, I think we all had a blast even though I’m the only one who made it to day 2. I wouldn’t have survived without the food/water you guys brought me in-between rounds, and also the countless hours of playtesting we did in preparation for the tournament – an extra thanks to Norm who played Merfolk and let me get a better handle on how to solve this particular matchup.
Dan and Will: thanks for the suggestions on the sideboard/main deck. I can’t think of any game where I would have preferred having a Vendilion Clique in my hand, and the Seal of Primordiums and going up to 3 Pernicious Deeds in the sideboard was an excellent call.
The source as a whole: I’ve spent tons of time reading this website trying to catch up on the legacy metagame and various decks, and without the discussion here I would be just a scrub with no idea what I’m going up against.

I know 61st isn't like the best finish, but for me it was a proud personal achievement, especially going in with no byes. I think I learned a lot from this experience and have even higher hopes of doing better at the next big legacy tournament!

what is the secret sideboarding tech?

Still in the process of typing up Day 2, I took a break.

Well it's really not that secret, but it was very, very effective: Seal of Primordium. If you land it before an opponent casts their Choke/Blood Moon, you have a pre-emptive answer to what is otherwise an auto-loss. Plus, it costs one less than Krosan Grip and gives +1 to your Goyfs. Artifacts/enchantments seem to be on the uprise in the Legacy metagame, and forgoing graveyard hate for this was a good/lucky call at this tournament.

Sower of Temptation was another all-star sideboard choice that's not typically seen in TA sideboards.

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Originally Posted by wcm8

Still in the process of typing up Day 2, I took a break.

Well it's really not that secret, but it was very, very effective: Seal of Primordium. If you land it before an opponent casts their Choke/Blood Moon, you have a pre-emptive answer to what is otherwise an auto-loss. Plus, it costs one less than Krosan Grip and gives +1 to your Goyfs. Artifacts/enchantments seem to be on the uprise in the Legacy metagame, and forgoing graveyard hate for this was a good/lucky call at this tournament.

Sower of Temptation was another all-star sideboard choice that's not typically seen in TA sideboards.

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oh thats it...

what if some people run a package of sinkholes/wastes?

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Originally Posted by bracer028

oh thats it...

what if some people run a package of sinkholes/wastes?

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Sinkhole doesn't really seem to be played in Legacy much anymore, and to be honest with this deck I'd typically much rather they have Sinkhole resolve against me than Hymn to Tourach. You can also "auto" Daze Sinkhole -- even if they can pay for daze, the targeted land is now safely in your hand and the sinkhole fizzles.

Regarding wasteland: Even when stifle is only marginally useful in a matchup, it can still protect you from wasteland. But with 9 fetches, it's not too hard to just wait to break them until you need to cast a spell. Because your deck effectively runs on two mana, you don't tend to care as much if they waste one land as long as you are holding or can cantrip into more.

Seal of Primordium is more for Blood Moon, Choke, and Back to Basics which have begun to see a lot more play, even in some maindecks. Seal is also very useful in other matchups like Enchantress, Affinity, Uw Control, etc. I didn't face any Standstill decks this tournament, but I imagine it's also a pre-emptive answer to that card as well the other cards in that deck like Shackles, etc.

Grats on the finish! Thanks for the shout out, I'm glad you got there and all of NoVa will be stoked to hear you hating on Clique.

Glad to hear you made day 2 with Team America. I played a similar version (even had 3 byes) and only went 6-3. I faced so much hate, mono-red burn with Price of Progress, then mono-blue with MD Back to Basics, and took my 3rd loss to Martin Juza's UW Batterskull list.

Really nice ! congratz ! thanks for this great report !!
I would like to know your thoughts about the MD Maelstrom Pulses! was it a good call ?didn't you miss the instant speed of other removals ?

I was your round 1 Enchantress opponent, and you did leave one thing out of your game 3 report... the 3 hymns you cast on me in the first 5 turns to strip my hand bare. Congrats on the finish though.

My original removal configuration was 2 GftT, 1 Snuff Out, 1 Dismember. But my discussion with Dan and Will led me to realize that having an out to any permanent is relevant, and sometimes you can also two-for-one with it. There was a Merfolk game where I got to hit 2 silvergill adepts, and the pulse also helped in matches where my opponent was playing artifacts or enchantments. It is admittedly not as good against creature decks as lower cmc instant removal, but those are only part of the expected metagame. I was more worried about stuff like Vedalken shackles, because I know Tombstalker can typically race most creature decks.

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Originally Posted by niknight

I was your round 1 Enchantress opponent, and you did leave one thing out of your game 3 report... the 3 hymns you cast on me in the first 5 turns to strip my hand bare. Congrats on the finish though.

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Yeah, I definitely got lucky there. How did you end up doing with Enchantress? I love the deck, but my tournament experiences with it have been somewhat frustrating: somehow I don't get paired against any of the 20 Merfolk, goblins, affinity or zoo players in the room an instead face Doomsday Emrakul or Ad Nauseam.

I believe we may have played round 5. If you were my opponent, it was a pleasure facing you and congrats on the money finish. Unfortunately things didn't go as well for me, but I was pretty happy with my first GP.

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Originally Posted by bfeingersh

I believe we may have played round 5. If you were my opponent, it was a pleasure facing you and congrats on the money finish. Unfortunately things didn't go as well for me, but I was pretty happy with my first GP.

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Jasar, right? Great metagame choice with the Crusdaders, sorry to hear you didn't place. I do recall seeing you still in it on day 2, and that itself is quite an accomplishment in my opinion.

[edit: might be thinking of the wrong guy though..]

Nice report dude, and you strike yourself as a very nice and polite player in games and from the report. Take more credit to yourself! Grats and glad you had a great time!

Also I love how streamlined and straightforward the maindeck is. These few days, too many people want to try too many 'cute' slots in Team America, like Bobs + Tombstalkers + Jace + Loam all in one deck. This list serves to remind me how streamlined tempo decks with a very firm and confident plan of execution will win games (e.g. Canadian Thresh).

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Originally Posted by wcm8

Jasar, right? Great metagame choice with the Crusdaders, sorry to hear you didn't place. I do recall seeing you still in it on day 2, and that itself is quite an accomplishment in my opinion.

[edit: might be thinking of the wrong guy though..]

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Nope, not me (I missed day 2 by a point or so). I was rocking the Crusaders as well though, they did a ton of work for me.