**1st!** SCG Legacy Open Edison, NJ with Sneak and Show

Sneak and Show
Zack Mullin
1st Place at StarCityGames.com Legacy Open on 2/10/2013
Legacy

Creatures (8)

4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Griselbrand

Lands (20)

3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island

Spells (32)

4 Lotus Petal
4 Sneak Attack
4 Brainstorm
2 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Intuition
2 Misdirection
3 Spell Pierce
4 Ponder
4 Show and Tell

Sideboard
4 Defense Grid
4 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Stifle
2 Karakas






Hey everyone! I recently won the SCG Legacy Open in Edison NJ and thought you would all enjoy a tournament report. I’m going to apologize in advance because my memory sucks and I don’t remember every round so they will probably be somewhat out of order.

Saturday: I played in the standard open and drew into top 32. No biggie. I walked around and was brainstorming with my friend “Vaughan” as we call him. At one point I jokingly said “I’m just gonna win the legacy open, no problem.” Fast forward to Sunday.

Sunday: I sit down for round 1 and quickly find that I’m against Elves. Game 1 I’m a little slow finding my combo pieces and eventually setup for a turn 4 show and tell. The turn before I put Emrakul into play he goes for his combo. Turns out he had triple glimpse, heritage druid, nettle sentinel, and his cradle all in his hand. I forced the first glimpse, but obviously still died. Game he therapies me and I brainstorm in response leaving my hand all lands, a force, and a brainstorm. He takes the force and continually leaves open 1 mana for the next 2 turns so I put him on having crop rotation for karakas. I wait an extra turn before showing in an emrakul to stifle the karakas trigger. I put emrakul into play with stifle open. He ends up not having it and he goes through the motions and I stifle his draw trigger of glimpse after he uses his only symbiote to return a 1 drop elf with him only having 2 cards in hand. I figured it was my only shot to stall him because if I waited any longer he would flood the board to where annihilator 6 wouldn’t matter anymore. He ends up killing me, sadly.

0-1 Sweet now my breakers suck for the rest of the day and I can’t lose another round...

Onto round 2: I sit down across from none other than Nick Coss. If you’ve ever bought cards from anyone in South Jersey, chances are they’ve been touched by this man. He is a large dealer around here, and is at almost every event. Anyways, he always plays high tide, so I put him on it. Game 1 I show and tell turn 3 after he attempts a merchant scroll on his turn that I spell pierced. We fight over the show and tell, which consisted of something like him forcing and me forcing, and maybe a second spell pierce from me. He scoops to the giant spaghetti monster. Game 2 he mulligans to 4 and has no realistic shot.

Round 3: I believe this was my jund opponent. I force a thoughtseize game 1 and put a giant monster into play later and kill him. Game 2 is similar but he follows up with a liliana and edicts my dude away. Game 3 he thoughtseizes into chains of mephistopheles making my cantrips suck. I find my pieces and throw large monsters at him.

Round 4: My opponent goes: Turn 1 tundra and sensei’s top. I obviously put him on miracles without any question. I kept a semi loose hand with a turn 1 show and tell but no counterspells. My Grislebrand draws 14, but I didn’t draw on my turn because theres almost no reason to vs miracles since the drawing 14 at anytime just makes them lose on the spot. Anyway, i draw 14 but only 1 force for his silence. He proceeds to cast LED and dark ritual and kill me with doomsday. I sat shaking my head for not immediately drawing cards and casting lotus petals for flusterstorm and spell pierce which both would’ve won me the game. I was flabbergasted. I would’ve put money on him playing miracles. Game 2 I think I put a quick dude into play and kill him. Game 3 I have the god hand with 2 forces with 2 blue cards to pitch and a spell pierce I think. I counter his top and he doesn’t do much for a while. I put an emrakul into play and reveal double force in my hand and he scoops.

Round 5: Esper Stoneblade? I really didn’t see much. I had rather good hands with force backup and just killed him. Poor guy.

Round 6: I honestly don’t remember.

Round 7: Dredge. I counter his enablers game 1 and he doesn’t do much as I griselbrand him to death. Game 2 I side in 4 cages. I keep a double counterspell hand with a turn 2-3 creature. I draw lotus petal for turn, play my land and ponder, the last card being grafdigger’s cage. I lotus petal and drop the cage. Turns out he didn’t side in nature’s claims and he dies to an emrakul a few turns later. If he would’ve dredged the second bridge from below I actually couldn’t swing because he had hard casted enough creatures to kill me on the swing back because he sacrifices his creatures to make zombies.

Round 8: Feature match vs AJ Sacher. View: http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/366152645
Apparently a friend had told him I was on UR Delver so he sculpted his hand accordingly, which ended up kill him game one. Game 2 he pierces my turn 1 defense grid. I put emrakul into play 2 turns later. He swings with 2 goyfs and a 1/1 goose hitting me for 5 (i blocked a goyf). I swing and he stifles the annihilator trigger which leaves me dead on the swing back. Game 3 was really sweet. We basically knew eachothers hand card for card. I put him on double stifle which is why i held my fetches back till the last second. He eventually finds a threat and taps 1 land for a goose. I know this is my best chance and go for it. I fetch in response to his fetch to play around stifle. he pyroblasts my show and tell and I force back putting griselbrand into play. He doesn’t swing with goyf the first turn which signals to me he doesn’t have a lightning bolt to kill the griselbrand if I block. Since I “know” he still has 2 stifles I refuse to use Griselbrand’s ability which in this game was actually “burn myself for 7“. I draw sneak attack and play it post combat as AJ laughs and says “cute”. Next turn I draw defense grid, cast it, and draw some cards and emrakul him out after some brainstorms.

Round 9: Off camera feature match vs Edgar Flores. I offer a draw hoping to sneak into top 8. He refuses and we play. He thoughtseizes me turn 1 and I misdirection to him and he reveals zero counterspells. I go for it 2 turns later and he concedes to a large creature. Game 2 he plays karakas after we both miss 2-3 land drops. I end up drawing my karakas but it doesn’t matter as I put sneak attack into play with both emrakul and griselbrand drawing many many cards.

Yay top 8!

Round 1 of top 8: I get paired against “13 post”. I have a miserable hand and just go for a show and tell knowing he has MB karakas as well as a few eldrazi and primeval titan. He has the titan, gets karakas and we move to game 2. Game 2 goes pretty long which consisted of him having 5/7 of his post board counterspells but i miraculously draw the third sneak attack and kill him. Game 3 was a weird one. I pithing needle naming the expedition map which ended up working out very well since he stalled for a while afterwards. Eventually I put a sneak attack into play with flusterstorm and stifle backup. I flusterstorm back for some reason even though he had infinite mana to pay for it not allowing me to stifle the Oblivion stone he played the turn before. He untaps and I thought I was just dead. Then he says “ok you’re turn”. I look up and ask him what he just said. He repeats and I ecstatically untap my lands knowing I can now stifle the oblivion stone. I put griselbrand and emrakul into play and stifle when he goes to blow it up.

Round 2 of top 8 vs UWR: View text version: http://starcitygames.com/events/cove...emifinals.html

Specific parts to note: Game 2 if I would’ve just put griselbrand into play instead of emrakul I would’ve won. I was playing around him having swords to plowshares to kill my griselbrand, but he didn’t even have a white mana source which I overlooked. He put geist into play off of show and tell and kills me. Game 3 I hide behind a defense grid and eventually put emrakul into play, again playing around swords to plowshares because I can’t counter it on his turn because of defense grid. He puts geist into play again and swings all out. I block the delver putting me to 2. I block this way because if he has a second geist he can cast it and kill me on the swing back. He obviously could’ve had almost any other creature to kill me, but at least this plays around a second geist. He ends up having nothing but 1 mana counterspells which he couldn’t cast 2 of on my turn because of defense grid..

Finals: View: http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/366179683 . Starts at 2:45:00. Basically I misdirection 2 hymns during the match and thats about it.

Sideboarding: RUG Delver: - 3 spell pierce, -1 flusterstorm, -1 intuition. +4 defense grid, +1 REB

Esper Stoneblade: (on the play) -1 intuition, -1 island, -1 lotus petal, + 1 REB, +2 karakas. (on the draw) -1 intuition, -1 island, -1 lotus petal, -3 spell pierce, -1 flusterstorm, +1 REB, +2 karakas, +4 defense grid. You need to counter their discard, so I generally change it up depending if I’m on the play/draw since they will cast their discard spell on turn 1 turning off your pierces and flusterstorms.

BUG: -1 intuition, +1 REB. Again you have to counter their discard spells, but they have hymns so I keep in all the 1 mana counterspells.

Jund: -1 intuition, -1 lotus petal, -1 flusterstorm, +3 Stifle. Stifles are almost solely for Liliana of the Veil as, besides discard, is the scariest card they can cast against you.

Mirror: -1 intuition, -1 lotus petal, -1 island, +2 karakas, +1 REB. This is kind of hard because you’re almost solely on sneak attack, although you can karakas their creature if you show and tell. I don’t know if stifle is worth it in this matchup because you can stifle griselbrand draw and emrakul annihilator. It probably is.

Maverick: -2 misdirection, -2 flusterstorm, -3 spell pierce, -1 island, +3 stifle, +3 grafdigger’s cage, +1 pithing needle, +2 karakas. Kill karakas at all cost! Cage is to stop green sun’s zenith for their hate creatures. If you’re on the sneak attack plan needle pridemage and annihilate them!

Thanks for reading everyone, and please feel free to ask any questions you may have!

Zack Mullin (feel free to add me on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zack.mullin.1)

Very nice report, once again congrats!

Must feel awesome to turn a 0-1 into 11-1 :smile:

Wouldn't leyline of sanctity have been a useful sideboard card, considering both the popularity of jund and Bug as well as the fact that it would have helped a lot vs doomsday and storm?
I understand that it is a bulky card and turns off the misdirections you used to great effect, but it can help a lot.

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Originally Posted by JPAnghelescu

Very nice report, once again congrats!

Must feel awesome to turn a 0-1 into 11-1 :smile:

Wouldn't leyline of sanctity have been a useful sideboard card, considering both the popularity of jund and Bug as well as the fact that it would have helped a lot vs doomsday and storm?
I understand that it is a bulky card and turns off the misdirections you used to great effect, but it can help a lot.

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I generally don't like leylines, but I understand they would be pretty good. I feel like they force you to keep bad hands. I guess you can make the same argument for almost any sideboard card like that though. Maybe I'll try them out.

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Originally Posted by JPAnghelescu

Very nice report, once again congrats!

Must feel awesome to turn a 0-1 into 11-1 :smile:

Wouldn't leyline of sanctity have been a useful sideboard card, considering both the popularity of jund and Bug as well as the fact that it would have helped a lot vs doomsday and storm?
I understand that it is a bulky card and turns off the misdirections you used to great effect, but it can help a lot.

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I agree with kao, I generally don't like leyline, I tried it in a different version of Show and Tell (Omni + Dream Halls + Enter the Infinite) and like he said it influences you into loose keeps and is a very very dead draw. Worst feeling in the world is having the combo in hand stuck on 2 lands and your draws are leyline, leyline. Also we have the most powerful card against discard already, Misdirection. Misdirection on hymn is just gg as you guys saw in the finals vs Bug. Misdirection is one of the most powerful cards against an open field.

Going forward I could see -1 flusterstorm, +1 misdirection.

Congrats. What's up with all the goofy pictures?

I apologize if someone had already asked this, but 99 out of 100 sneak show decklists run 19 lands and you're on 20. Did you have any mana issues at all? I've been running near identical maindeck except -1 flusterstorm, -1 island, +1 preordained, + 1 intuition. Leyline whites are also tremendous in the sideboard and I wouldn't hesitate to include 4 in board.

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Originally Posted by Tammit67

Congrats. What's up with all the goofy pictures?

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The "duck face" is a running joke with a bunch of my friends. Couldn't resist :)

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Originally Posted by Sunday Funday

I apologize if someone had already asked this, but 99 out of 100 sneak show decklists run 19 lands and you're on 20. Did you have any mana issues at all? I've been running near identical maindeck except -1 flusterstorm, -1 island, +1 preordained, + 1 intuition. Leyline whites are also tremendous in the sideboard and I wouldn't hesitate to include 4 in board.

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This deck is very mana hungry and you don't want to miss land drops. The more mana you can produce the easier it is for you to play around daze and spell pierce, or cast your own counterspells. I like 20 lands and wouldn't look back.

Nice read!

I also agree on cutting 1x flusterstorm for a 3rd MisD
I might also cut the leftover Flusterstorm for a 4th Spell Pierce (meta choice for me and I prefer Spell Pierce!!)

I'll try to give feedback, I might play this deck on a Team Trio event @ Pro Tour Montreal this weekend.

I'm curious to know if you had the mirror in mind when u made the sideboard. I top 8ed a 5 round tourney and faced the mirror 3 times (2-1). With the popularity of sneak show on the rise, have you considered through the breach? To be honest, I used to hate it but realized it does come in not only for the mirror, but against ALL show and tell decks.

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Originally Posted by Sunday Funday

I'm curious to know if you had the mirror in mind when u made the sideboard. I top 8ed a 5 round tourney and faced the mirror 3 times (2-1). With the popularity of sneak show on the rise, have you considered through the breach? To be honest, I used to hate it but realized it does come in not only for the mirror, but against ALL show and tell decks.

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I could definitely see through the breach out of the board as a 2 of or so. There are some matchups where show and tell is pretty miserable. The problem is finding room for them.

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Originally Posted by kaosjr

I generally don't like leylines, but I understand they would be pretty good. I feel like they force you to keep bad hands. I guess you can make the same argument for almost any sideboard card like that though. Maybe I'll try them out.

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Leyline seem awesome not only against Hymn, but also against decks that run a lot of Cabal Therapy, Thoughtseize, etc., where Misdirection is a bit lackluster. Would you agree with this assessment?

Granted, there is a significant cost to running Leylines as well and eschewing them seems to have worked very well for you. Congrats!

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Originally Posted by lordofthepit

Leyline seem awesome not only against Hymn, but also against decks that run a lot of Cabal Therapy, Thoughtseize, etc., where Misdirection is a bit lackluster. Would you agree with this assessment?

Granted, there is a significant cost to running Leylines as well and eschewing them seems to have worked very well for you. Congrats!

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I could see leylines being very good, I'm gonna pick some up and try them out.

Congrats on the 1st place win! I feel compelled to ask, where, are you going to put the trophy? I assume in your room, but where, will it get it's own mantle, will you just set it on your desk if one is in your room, etc. I don't know why I want to know this I, just do!

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Originally Posted by feline

. . . I don't know why I want to know this I, just do!

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Still haven't figured out where to put yours, huh? :laugh: :wink: :tongue: