[Deck] Next Level Threshold

I mean, with delver rug getting very popular, I'd rather be playing NLT. You both get to play very similar cards, except you have more mana and Jace. You just get to go bigger and that usually takes down matches.

I've also thought about having at least one, maybe two scavenging oozes in the sb. I had to play the mirror in a recent tournament, and he got an ooze to resolve and it was pretty insane against me. My snapcasters were shut off, it got bigger than goyf, and I had to dig for a dismember to get rid of it but couldn't find one in time. It also works very well against any graveyard strategy, but that's obvious enough already.

I have two Ooze main right now (over two goyfs) for just that reason. He is very vulnerable though, but hopefully worth it come this weekend

Tammit, be sure to let us know how those oozes treat you this weekend. I'd really like to get some actual in game results on the ooze, so I can tell if my intial opinion (that it's really good in the right situations) is correct or not.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chinEsE girl

Tammit, be sure to let us know how those oozes treat you this weekend. I'd really like to get some actual in game results on the ooze, so I can tell if my intial opinion (that it's really good in the right situations) is correct or not.

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If there was a correct situation, I didn't encounter it today. Round 1 was the price of progress show on a mull to 5. Ooze did win me game two here by gaining some critical life, but goyf would have been a better wall and beatstick to end the game before the life entirely mattered.

Round 2 was against goblins, forgoing piledriver and war-chief for instigators and boartusk liege in addition to more chieftains. This deck can't deal with 3 Boartusk that well. I certainly misplayed game two, but I didn't have the proper hand game 1 to handle drop 4 lands then 3 lords. I knew he was goblins but I didn't know the drastic changes he made. This deck is certainly fine against regular goblins.

I am sure a lot of it was my fault, so feel free to disregard my feedback. I'm just really on tilt after having to play against blue all day with TES, only to have the one time I don't show up with it I get paired against things I don't have a sideboard plan against. Everyone and their mother was running the Punishing Fires/CB list, I wish I could play against that instead.

TL;DR: Ooze would have and is amazing in an expected meta like vestal. But very fragile and goyf is wayyyy better when you hit those odd decks you aren't specifically prepared for. I'll be going back to goyf unless I make the trip to vestal (as I am not changing my mind just yet on how good ooze is against another blue deck)

I'm going to try Life from the Loam in Chaos Warp's slot, it seems like it has potential to be awesome, we'll see though.

So, I sleeved up this deck for a Legacy 'FNM' this weekend with some tweaks for the random/aggro predicted local metagame (small shop) :

NEXT LEVEL THRESHOLD
4 Brainstorm
2 Preordain

4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
2 Counterspell

3 Vendilion Clique
3 SnapCaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Scavenging Ooze

4 Lightning Bolt
3 Fire//Ice
2 Dismember

2 Jace, TMS

3 Volcanic Island
3 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland

SB:
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Jace, TMS
3 REB
2 Spell Pierce
2 FireSpout
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Mind Harness
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Nature's Claim

As said before, I was expecting a quite random MetaGame with a bunch of aggro decks, so I wasn't confident in the denial package and added pinpoint removal and reach for the deck.

So it's basically :
+3 Fire/Ice
+2 Dismember
+ 1 Ooze in the 'Flex Slot'

With 3rd Jace in SB.

The Ooze was tested in prediction of a larger tournamanet for next week. Didn't see it from the whole (4 rounds) tournament...

The SB Claim should have been a lone Grip in retrospect. The deck has enough mana to use Grip, and Snapcaster into Claim seems a bit trivial imho.

I went 4-0 with those quick results :

Round1 - Elves Combo

Game 1 - I bolt his Turn1 Ranger then waste his Arbor, slowing him enough to take the control game with Lavamancer, Fire/Ice and a couple of SnapCaster flashing back the burn.
I won through magi beatings.

Game 2 - I knew he had Rule of Law post-Side, but I made a mistake in thinking the pesky card was 2W instead of 1W. I tapped out for a grim T1 and he drops the gamebreaker enchantment.
He combos out before i found my Nature's Claim, with 2 FiresPout in hand...

Game 3 - I started with a Grim, then chained Bolts,SCM+Bolt and so on. I Clique him at a moment and saw a Rule of Law, but with 1 land and a bunch of useless elves I made the choice of not risquing giving him a land draw, and don't touch anything. Clique+direct damages made their thing.

2-1

1-0 total

I didn't event played a Goyfs those 3 games ! Go Go Tiago Sligh !! ^_^;


Round 2 - Grixis CBTop

Game 1 - I Dropped Grim and Clique before he assembled CB Top. Unfortunately, he then dropped a Schackled with backup and killed be with my own beasts (Grim killed Himself, the he took Clique)

Game 2 - I'm the control deck this time. I managed to handle a first CB with Snare +REB backup, put a goyf in play but he smothered it and combo with CB/Top. I sneak a Clique EOT and he draw with top in response, REB it, tapping Out.
I didn't play my FoW, untap, play Jace and Fatesealed his top. I then FoW his own Jace a I took the game with Jace+Goyf.

Game 3 - It's the same. He built an early CB/top and I Clique EOT. He looks then draws Force with his top, but I forced back, and dropped Jace, TMS during my turn, putting Top on bootm (!).

I then cut him from red Mana and let him with a full grip of perish as Clique+Tiago doing their job.

2-1

2-0 total

Round 3 - Punishing Thresh

Game 1 - He out me on Can.Thresh and play carefully around non-existent Stifle. After 3 turns of Draw-Go, I play Clique and see a hand with Snare and Pierce. He put Jace on bottom.

I then counter an EE and ride a huge goyf to victory.

He eventually dropped Jace at a moment, bouncing my Goyf but I bolt it and replay it unharmed and bigger the turn after.

Game 2 - He put too much focus on Goyf, switching Bolts for Perishes. Jace and Clique take the game.

Hopefully, he hasn't draw any Punishing fire this round...

2-0

3-0 total

Rounde 4 - ANT

Game 1 - I mulled into 2xBolt, 2xSnare + 2 lands. He starts with Probe+duress on bolt, then next turn Cabal Therapy on Duress but can't go off tight now.

I clique the EOT following, he brainstorms in response...

His hand is full of black rituals and i suppose he puted a tutor on top. I still put the lone Lotus Petal on bottom then waste his only red mana source, forcing him to go with the AdNauseam plan with only 10lifes.

But he has put Grim Tutor+LED on top with brainstorm and kill me with a Past in Flames routine, dropping to 1 when i bolted him in despair.

Games 2&3 - He bring in Xantids but I managed to burn them then counter his cantrips and ride Clique to victory with burn assistance.

2-1

4-0 total, granting me a scrubland.

Ok, so no janky/aggro Metagame after all, but I really liked this deck's consistency and stability.

The dismembers were garbage (even if i didn't face any KotR nor Aggro decks) but I really appreciated the extra burn Fire/Ice provided.

I didn't miss he stifle at all ! My opponent were playing around most of the time, and i don't think the mana denial plan is worth it.

StoneForge can be taken care with Fire/ice BTW, so i'll keep the burn in.

Some times, i felt i was a bit manaflooded with no business lateGame, but 21lands with 4 waste are just enough to make Jace ant SCM run well, but reusing those SnapCasters with Riptide Laboratory is tempting.

I'll surely go to -2 Dismember +1 Jace +1 Riptide Lab. in the near future, making room in SB for another REB/Pierce.

I don't know if Ooze is MD Material, but the SB is pretty clogged for now...

Thoughts ?

After speaking with folks, game results, and some consideration, I think that 4 Grim Lavamancer is right call in the maindeck right now. Grim Lavamancer is vulnerable to pretty much every piece of removal right now, so I think having redundant copies is the right way to go to ensuring that it sticks around. I'm cutting 3 Vendilion Clique (which seems to be losing effectiveness with a heavy percentage of RUG Tempo in the metagame) in favor of 2 Grim Lavamancer and the second Fire/Ice.

I would still like to fit in a second Dismember (previously in the flex slot of Chaos Warp -- which was awesome :cry:). Thoughts?

Oh, and Ooze is amazing. Would love to fit it in, just don't know where.

Played in 2tournaments last weekend. Placed 3th of 103 and split top 8 in 145pple tournament. Deck performed solid as always. I played with a Life from the Loam maindeck and really like it. Im now testing with a 3th grim MD cutting a V. Clique(going down to 2).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rancOr_

Played in 2tournaments last weekend. Placed 3th of 103 and split top 8 in 145pple tournament. Deck performed solid as always. I played with a Life from the Loam maindeck and really like it. Im now testing with a 3th grim MD cutting a V. Clique(going down to 2).

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Could you provide a short right up on the list you played and how your matches generally went?

Hey,

Here is a double report:

After the GP I only made 1change to this deck. I played the 4th spell snare(previously chaos warp) and played it in a 40 man tournament and lost in the finals vs. a teammate with Bant. Last weekend I decided to test out Life from the Loam in that slot and it worked out great as expected. Here is a quick report with my matches from both tournaments. I didn’t take too many notes so I will try to reconstruct the matches as good as I can. First off, the deck:

NLT: [Next Level *****]
4 scalding tarn
2 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
3 tropical island
3 volcanic island
4 wasteland
2 island
1 mountain
4 brainstorm
2 ponder
4 lightning bolt
1 fire//ice
2 jace,TMS
1 life from the loam
3 spell snare
4 force of will
2 counterspell
4 stifle
4 tarmogoyf
3 snapcaster mage
2 grim lavamancer
3 vendilion clique
SB:
4 REB
2 spell pierce
1 tormod’s crypt
2 relic of progenitus
1 grim lavamancer
3 submerge
2 mind harness

Saturday- Outpost Masters – Brussels(BE) 103 players
R1-Tempo ***** [2-0]
G1 he plays a t1 mongoose so I know what he’s playing, fetch basics and play around potential daze/stifle and eventually win a close game. G2 I keep him off his creatures and take over the game.
R2- Ichorid[2-0]
G1 I FoW his discard outlet and kill him some turns later. G2 2-3 goyfs finish it really quickly.
R3- UW Stoneblade[2-0]
G1 I think I have the game and decide to play clique EOT to kill his jace(instead of recasting goyf- which he bounced),but he top-decked a karakas. Some turns later I take his Jace down and win. G2 I have too much counters with reb’s etc,.. and take control of the game.
R4- Team America[1-2]
G1 I mull to 6 and he gets a goyf online at some point to finish it. G2 is a close game and now I win the counterwar and beat him with a goyf. G3 he kept a hand with 3goyfs. Unfortunately, 2 of them resolve along with a liliana…and I scoop it up.
R5- BG Control Homebrew [2-0]
Some things happen and Jace lands both games…^^ He played with veteran explorer ,recurring nightmare/witness etc..
R6- Imperial Painter[2-1]
I win g1 but he gets a t1-2 Blood Moon g2 and combos off some turns later. In G3 I mull to 5 with waste as my only land. I waste his land and draw a fetch 2turns later. He made a mistake here with painter in play and activating grindstone so I could respond with fetch-> REB painter. I FoW a SDT and Imperial Recruiter and eventually get my 2nd land and play 2 tarmogoyfs for the win.
R7-ID
QF- Pattern of Rebirth[2-0]
Both games I can LB, grim, snapcaster -> LB his guys and finish it.
SF- Combo elves[0-2]
G1 I mull to 6,counter a glimpse and cantrip but he combo’s off t3. In g2 I keep a decent hand with ponder,island,fetch,lb,goyf,clique and something else. Ponder gives me no land so I shuffle. Next turn I decide to fetch for volcanic to EOT LB his guy. But then I brainstorm into waste,goyf,goyf and I clique a goyf away 2turns later just to draw the 4th one ><

So I end up in 3th place and get a volcanic island and a FTV:Exiled box for my troubles. Team America (my R4 opponent) splits the 15 duals in final with the Combo Elves player.

Sunday – Dutch Legacy Championship-Eindhoven(NL) 145 players
R1-Rock[2-0]
G1 we trade some removal and I counter some spells and she lands a Bitterblossom somewhere but I am able to race with 2 goyfs and a grim lavamancer. In g2 I go t1 grim,t2 goyf,t3 clique and a t5 jace while fow’ing something in between.
R2- TES[2-0]
Same person I played in GP day2. One of the best combo players out there so I know I still have to focus. But I have a good MU and have enough counters both games. He also made t8.
R3- Reanimator[2-1]
This is a very good MU, as I was currently 12-0 against it in games . I win g1 with a V. Clique after stifling an animate dead and snaring an exhume but lose g2 against a t2 reanimate for Jin with double counter backup. G3 goes like it is supposed to go and I have way too many counters/disruption.
R4- NO rug[0-2]
G1 he gets out 2goyfs,one which he fow’ed trough and my jace gets active too late and I have to start chumping.. G2 I waste+stifle/bolt him down to just a single forest(he had 4cards in hand then) vs. my 5land in play and 2 submerge in hand. Unfortunately I draw 7 land in a row without fetching.. so I lose..This was very disappointing. He also made it to t8.
R5- ANT[2-0]
Good MU as usual so nothing exciting here. I have stifles for his fetches along with a big counterwall. He almost goes off g2 but I drew a clique somewhere to make sure that didn’t happen.
R6- UW Stoneforge[2-0]
We both counter stuff and I eventually get him down to 11,then my clique gets fire//ice’d. But I have enough card advantage already and proceed to burn him out with 3bolt+FI. In g2 the REB’s come in and I take control of the game again at some point. He played very solid, but my counters are cheaper and REB does its job post side..
R7- Burn[2-1]
I didn’t see this guy in the rounds before so I really had no idea what he was playing.. I expected something combo like because I didn’t get a chance to scout his deck.
In G1 I kept a hand with fetch,waste,other spells and drew 2 wastes so my Jace only landed t6 .I almost got back in the game with my Jace and Goyf but he had 1 turn to topdeck a burnspell, which he promptly did. G2 I can counter/remove his guys at the right time and finish him with a Goyf. G3 I have a good hand, but as it turned out I needed all my counters because he topdecked everything he needed(reb,pop,fireblast)… and I win in some very close games.
R8- ID

We decided to split t8 and each get 175 euro. At the end I was very satisfied with the deck and I will keep the MD like it is now. In the 4 tournaments I played this deck in post MM I am 30-8-4(W-L-D;t8 included).The loam was definitely worth the slot. It allowed me to come back in games and fetch the extra lands away. Besides that, it can just win or help a lot in certain MU’s like Team America or Tempo *****. I am testing some different cards in the SB at the moment, because the only things I don’t want to see are Tarmogoyfs and KotR’s and the submerges have been underperforming lately.

Congratz for your finishes !

Funny thing : I was too at the Brussel Outpost Legacy with NLT (stifle-less) and lost back to back games vs TempoThresh (better players) after a 4-0 start (Reanimator, SneakShow, Burn and Reanimator again)

I really liked the MD Dismember to take care of opposing goyfs, but Knights are sure a lot of pain (lost vs Maverick to a Turn3+Turn4 Knight and Mother + Knight G2) and mind 2 SB Harness sure weren't enough in my build.

If the Submerges weren't good enough, and SB Ooze are bad due to the low Green mana count in the deck, I hope you do not plan into go back to Chaos Wrap to face those KotR ! ^^;

I played an experimental list of NLT today at a small local so I could prepare for the SCG Invitational. There hasn't been much Legacy in Columbus, so I took a car down to Cincinnati.


21 Land:
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Wasteland

11 Creatures:
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Grim Lavamancer

28 Spells:
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
2 Counterspell
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
2 Preordain
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Fire/Ice
2 Dismember
2 Jace, TMS


SB:
3 Submerge
2 Krosan Grip
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Pierce
1 Life from the Loam
1 Gut Shot


My matchups:
2-0 UBr Past in Flames (Made Finals)
2-0 GW Elves
0-2 Burn (Made Top 4)
2-1 UW Stoneblade
Top 4: 2-0 NoFoW Bantblade
Finals: 2-0 UBr Past in Flames


Some things about the list, basically it reflects what I commented on from my last post here. The Cliques were very underwhelming as of late and I wanted to max out on Grim Lavamancers to improve on the Delver Tempo matchup, as well as against all of the other decks playing tons of x/1 and x/2 creatures right now. The Chaos Warp slot became Dismember, and the third Clique became a second copy for consistency. This helped rationalized the cut of Clique, which I felt helps against the Knight decks in g1 (post-board 3 Submerge helps too).

I also took a page from my pre-Misstep banning NO RUG list and I changed the burn suite from 4 Lightning Bolt, 1 Fire/Ice to 2 Lightning Bolt, 3 Fire/Ice. I feel like the amount of x/3's you need to kill right now are low, and Fire/Ice serves the same function in occasionally 2-for-1'ing someone with x/1's, killing stuff like SFM, or winning a Goyf war.

The sideboard was pretty generic, except for the Gut Shot that I wanted to try. Apparently, that card is all right in this format and pretty good with Snapcaster Mage. Would have liked to have all the crazy stuff I usually have with Eric's list (Gilded Drake, Phantasmal Image, Mind Harness, Firespout, etc), but this was a good opportunity to experiment.

How are the Relics of Progenitus in the SB? It is strong against graveyard strategies, but with lists running Goyf, Grim and Snapcaster it seems pretty anti-synergistic. I guess with burn as primary removal one wants a way to reset opposing Goyfs and KotRs?

I played this list today in a 32 player tournament and finished 5th or 6th with 4-2 record.

21 Land:
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Wooded Foothills (didnt have another blue fetch around)
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Wasteland

4 Tarmogoyf
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Vendilion Clique

1 Sylvan Library
4 Force of Will
4 Spell Snare
2 Counterspell
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Fire/Ice
2 Jace, TMS


SB:
3 Submerge
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
1 Pongify


6 rounds of swiss:
Rd1 Punishing Fire Maverick 0-2
Rd2 Affinity 2-1
Rd3 Merfolk 2-0
Rd4 Bant 0-2
Rd5 UBwg ANT 2-1
Rd6 UW Stoneblade 2-1

My plan against knight of the reliquary decks sucked, need some advice on those MUs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by from Cairo

How are the Relics of Progenitus in the SB? It is strong against graveyard strategies, but with lists running Goyf, Grim and Snapcaster it seems pretty anti-synergistic. I guess with burn as primary removal one wants a way to reset opposing Goyfs and KotRs?

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I could have split the GY hate there actually. I tend to think that Goyfs can be regrown rather quickly, and I'm not likely to bring in Relic against Goyf/Knight because I have access to Dismember (previously not in the stock list) and 3 Submerge post-board, not to mention more narrow answers like Jace/Counterspell.

I chose Relic since most of the GY based decks in the room were weaker to GY sweepers, but were decks where I likely needed the extra card in the attrition battle anyways.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rancOr_

R4- NO rug[0-2]
G1 he gets out 2goyfs,one which he fow’ed trough and my jace gets active too late and I have to start chumping.. G2 I waste+stifle/bolt him down to just a single forest(he had 4cards in hand then) vs. my 5land in play and 2 submerge in hand. Unfortunately I draw 7 land in a row without fetching.. so I lose..This was very disappointing. He also made it to t8.

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If you are who I think you are, then this opponent of yours just missed the top-8. :tongue:
Because that was me... Lost the last round against EsperBlade (the champ) and went 5-2-1. I was a bit lucky against you, I must admit. But then again NL Threshold does have trouble with a row of big dudes, I think.

I piloted a similar-esque deck to the top 4 of a Jupiter NELC this month, forgoing the green splash that the Delver Tempo decks have been playing, yet not playing Price which a lot of these UR Delver decks have been doing.

Here's a link to the report: http://jupitergamesonline.com/2011/8...rnament-report

And here's the decklist:

Main deck:

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Chain Lightning
2 Dismember
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
3 Preordain
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
3 Daze
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
4 Volcanic Island

Sideboard:

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Smash to Smithereens
2 Shattering Spree
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Submerge

Hi everyone my name is Ning and I’ve been playing legacy for a couple years now, mostly with Eric’s RUG control list. Here’s my tournament report for a 24 person tourney in Elmira, NY on December 10th, 2011.
First, my list:
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
3 Preordain
4 Force of Will
4 Stifle
3 Spell Snare
2 Counterspell
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Dismember
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Spell Pierce
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ancient Grudge

Some explanations on the numbers:
I cut one clique from Eric’s list to run an extra grim lavamancer, I found that I was boarding him in a lot and I wanted him over the mana heavy clique against the delver decks out there. I cut the life from the loam / sylvan library for the third preordain because I didn’t like loam the couple times I’ve tried it, it just seemed too durdly, and sylvan was clunky and not a great topdeck. I really feel like the deck doesn’t want to tap out for something that doesn’t affect the board. Anyways, here are the matches:
Round 1 against Greg Komar
Greg is a great guy I know from Vestal, and I put him on the U/R delver list that gave him top 8 last weekend at the NELC at Jupiter games. He reveals during shuffling that he’s playing some green idiots, so I put him on the popular delver list from the SCG opens. Game 1 he has a threat light, disruption heavy hand. I play around stifle/waste, and he stifles my attempt to waste him out of a color on his turn. I’m forced to dismember a delver and snapcaster into dismember on his snapcaster, and it costs me a lot of life. I’m light on lands and he plays a goyf I can’t answer and throws bolt + snapcaster bolt at me to kill me.
Board:
+2 REB +2 pyroblast +2 spell pierce +1 ooze +1 surgical extraction
-4 Force of will, -2 Vendilion Clique, -2 Counterspell
I wanted to board out cliques because of how vulnerable it is to his daze / REBS, as is my counterspells for his snares and REBS. Ooze is good against his snapcaster and goyfs and life gain, and mise the one surgical for countering snapcaster or getting a trop. The surgical might be bad. He also told me afterwards that he didn’t play spell snare!!!! Sigh.
Game 2 I fetch a basic mountain and lead with grim lavamancer. He cantrips, and on turn 3 I have an interesting play. I’m holding goyf and spell pierce, and he has one mana up. I play goyf, expecting a spell snare, and instead he force of wills. I spell pierce his force, and he looks sad. Sweet. On his turn, he plays crucible of worlds, and proceeds to try to waste me out. I’m on 2 basics and im beating down with goyf + grim. He accidentally plays a land from his hand instead of from his yard (oops), and im able to hit 4 lands. I draw Jace, and slam it down (if he had daze he would’ve dazed my pierce on his FOW, or he needed to draw it in those 3 turns or so), then I tank on playing around REB or bolt (he has no red up). I decide that if he had bolt he would’ve bolted my grim, so I brainstorm into some stuff to play around REB, but he untaps and draws into REB to kill Jace. Should I have fatesealed? Him drawing bolt or REB punished me for brainstorming, but I avoided him untapping and REBing Jace if he had it in his hand. Not sure whether it was the right play or not, if you have thoughts let me know. Anyways, he can’t answer my goyf and grim and I kill him.
Game 3 he basically handed to me on a silver platter. He plays island (!!! Basics??) then passes. I make a land drop. On his turn 2, he draws, says “crap I think I lose” and discards submerge. Sweet. I make another land drop, and he discards goyf. I’m holding surgical, and I smile and decided to go deep. BAM! Good bye to your goyfs. He reveals snapcaster mage, submerge, goyf, spell pierce, sylvan, and something else I can’t remember. He discards goyf, and on my turn I get some goyf beats on. I REB a brainstorm, and then a ponder, and then snapcaster REB on another ponder while he bricks on lands. Goyf and snappy get him.
Round 2 vs Chad with merfolk
He was playing next to me last round so I know what he’s on.
Game 1 I mulligan an borderline hand of grim, fetchland, brainstorm, and some other uncastable stuff. My 6 is meh but I have to keep. He has the turn 1 vial, which I force, and he forces back, pitching a kira, which I find odd. Isn’t kira just going to be insane against me? Turn two he wastes me back down to one land, and I misplay by preordaining, which he dazes, and afterwards I shamefully play my fetchland that I could’ve played first to avoid being dazed. Yuck, I still suck at this game. He vials in a silvergill and then another kira (thaaaat’s why he pitched it) and beats with those while I try to find gas. I’m forced to clique him on three lands to try and block kira, but he dazes. Yuck. I’m forced to bolt + stifle his kira, and then snapcaster bolt a coralhelm. He rips another guy while I rip lands and I die.
Boarding:
-4 FOW -4 Stifle -1 Counterspell, +2 REB, +2 pyroblast, +2 spell pierce, +2 ancient grudge, +1 ooze
Most lists run Jitte, and grudging vials is not the absolute worst. Ooze is another goyf + life gain, and REBs are obviously insane. I make land drops and he goes turn 1 vial. I say fine, but then I realize how completely idiotic that is because a spell pierce is in my hand. Brain fart. Gotta calm down and play magic, not be nervous and freak out. I end up not getting punished for it, as he plays vial 2 on turn 2, which I’m fine with. At least they’re not creatures. He vials in a silvergill and plays a jitte while I’m holding bolt and goyf. My plan is to get his guy during combat, but I draw an ancient grudge so my plan changes. I don’t play the goyf to go with the grudging his jitte plan. He vials in coralhelm, plays land number 3, equips silvergill, and swings. I grudge his jitte, bolt his coralhelm, and take 2. He passes the turn with 1 mana up. I think I have a read on dismember, so I play goyf with spell pierce up (good thing I didn’t use it on the vial). He dismembers, I pierce, he dazes. Meh. I draw more bolts, REBs, and snapcasters while he draws dumb dudes that I kill. I beat down with a snapcaster vs his empty board, he draws a mutavault, I waste it. Then he draws another mutavault, I waste again. I draw a clique and clique his draw step, letting him keep his daze. I draw a spell snare, so I flashback grudge on his vial on 2 (his other vial is on 3). Then he dies. 
I jokingly ask him while shuffling up for game three to draw a hand without turn 1 vial, but secretely, I’m completely fine with him drawing vials instead of creatures, as most of my countermagic is boarded out. He has no turn 1 vial. I preordain turn 1. He plays a turn 2 silvergill, revealing reejery. I make a land drop. He plays a second silvergill, revealing the same reejery. I REB counter it. He passes without a 3rd land. I play a goyf, he has no answer for it. He plays vial and passes without a third land. I attack once with a 4/5 goyf, he doesn’t block. He draws his third land and plays coralhelm instead of his reejery, neglects to level it. From here, my memory is a little bit fuzzy. I have a window and I resolve a Jace, and I brainstorm into a million goyfs. I end up with 3 goyfs plus my scavenging ooze plus Jace to his board of adept, adept, reejery, and vial on 2. I bounce his reejery and slam with my team. He chumps a goyf and goes to 2. On his turn, he concedes.
This matchup is really good for this deck. Game 1 might be decently even, but they flat out lose to an unanswered grim. Games 2 and 3 all you have to do is not mess up horribly and your infinite removal will get them.
Round 3 against Tom Leger
Tom’s part of my Ithaca playtest group (and my housemate) so we both know each other’s decklists pretty well. He’s on Junk, and the matchup is pretty tough. KOTRs are insane against NLT (this deck), and hymns and bobs are also must-counters. He wins the die roll, I keep goyf, goyf, land, land, FOW, FOW, brainstorm. He thoughtseizes turn 1 and takes a brainstorm, so I put him on at least 1 swords. I draw another brainstorm and play my land and pass. He plays bob on turn 2. My options include force of will pitch force of will, which I don’t want to do because he might have taken brainstorm because he thought the KOTR in his hand would blank my goyfs, or force pitch brainstorm, or try to brainstorm into a bolt (didn’t have enough mana for a snare). I decide to brainstorm, I hit the bolt like a pro, so I untap and bolt. He plays a top with no third land, and I play the first goyf. He swords it and untaps, topping. He hits his third land, and I play my 2nd goyf. He plays kotr into the double force of will he knows I have, and I force it pitching force. I draw clique and clique him while beating with goyf. I see in his hand: goyf, vindicate, mox diamond. I take the goyf and beat with goyf + clique on my turn. He tops, untaps, and slams KOTR. Crap. I beat with clique in the air, he untaps and passes. I play goyf 2 and he fetches maze of ith for my clique. He vindicates one of the goyfs. Then, he kills the clique with a plow. Luckily, I have another clique. He doesn’t know, so he bashes with KOTR and mazes his KOTR post combat. I clique him end step, take something irrelevant, and untap and fly over for damage. The damage race gets really close until he’s on 6 with goyf bob maze to my clique. He untaps and rips scavenging ooze!!! I’m in a tough spot, and I think about what I need to rip. Probably a brainstorm. Like a boss, my draw step reveals a brainstorm. I brainstorm into wasteland, Jace, and land. Wow. I play Jace bounce knight, crack a fetch, waste his maze, attack with clique, put him to 2. Unfortunately, this leaves me dead to pump ooze, untap pump ooze x2, attack me with ooze + bob. He fortunately doesn’t see this line, and makes a small misplay by topping in his upkeep with one of his green mana. He kills Jace with bob and bashes me down with ooze, the lifegain from ooze put him slightly out of reach. I need to rip again. Brainstorm, preordain, snapcaster, or bolt would do it. I draw a…..scalding tarn, and concede. I peek, and the next one is preordain. I peek some more, and there’s a bolt 1 down. What an epic game.
Boarding:
-1 FOW, -4x Stifle, +1 clique, +1 ooze, +2 mind harness, +1 relic.
We used a ton of time for game 1 so we both play a bit quicker this game. All I remember from this game is that we trade some spells and I play a goyf. He plays his goyf, and I mind harness goyf. I make sure not to be a scrub and forget the cumulative upkeep, and he dies. It mustve taken under 5 minutes.
Game 3 starts off with a mulligan on both sides. He plays mox diamond, land, top. I tank on whether or not I force his top pitching spell snare. He knows I don’t have daze, so there’s a decent chance that if he had a 2 drop he would’ve played it. The game will most likely go long, and he went down cards for his mox diamond, so I end up deciding to force it. I play a land, he wastes. I play another land, he plays another land. I brick twice on lands, have to discard a bolt. He is annoyed that he is land flooding out. I hit my 2nd land, and counter a vindicate on one of my lands. He draws more lands, and cantrip into lands and I finally resolve a Jace, fateseal him, and let him keep a bob with a bolt in my hand. I kill his bob, fateseal him again, and he concedes. What an intense match.
Round 4 against Mark (paired down, im 3-0 hes 2-1)
My opponent shows me a bolt and a price of progress accidentally during shuffling so I put him on either burn or U/R delver. He has mountain into turn 1 goblin guide. Turn 2 I bolt it after seeing the guide reveal, and he suspends rift bolt. I play a lavaman, and he has another guide. I bolt it again after seeing the trigger, and he’s stuck on one land. I clique him, and he asks what’s that, so it’s obvious my opponent hasn’t played a lot of legacy. I see a billion 2 drops and a bolt, so I let him keep. He bolts me instead of my lavaman or clique. I Jace fateseal him, and let him keep a keldon marauders. I’m holding 2 spell snares, and so I play an end of turn snapcaster bolting him, and race him keeping him off lands. He rips a land through fatesealing, and plays something. I snare. Next turn, before he dies, he plays a flame rift that would kill him. I make the odd decision of snaring it, because I know he can’t do anything other than fireblast (I’m holding force). He concedes.
Boarding: -4 stifle +ooze, +2 spell pierce, +1 clique. Dismember sucks but I don’t have a better card.
Game two he leads with guide, I play a grim. I find a land off the guide, and bolt it. I snare a price of progress, then snapcaster snare another one. I beat down with my random dudes, and he floods out with 2 barbarian rings while im at 6. It’s close, but my random assortment of dudes kill him.
From there, I ID into top 8, getting a split of 90 in store credit, which I use to pimp out my omnath edh deck. Oh yeah, if anyone has Jon Barber’s contact information, let him know I have his avenger of zendikar which I dupliant’d during an edh game. I end up seeded first, yay! I’m getting better at this, but still need to stop making dumb misplays every once in awhile. The deck was awesome, the only thing I was unhappy with were the stifles. They didn’t do much, and I boarded them out a lot. I’ll still keep them in for awhile, and reserve judgement on them for later. What do you guys think?

I went 5-4 in the Legacy Open this weekend with NLT, and not really much to report, I beat: Mono-White TurboFog, Combo Elves, Hive Mind, Spiral Tide, the Gate. I lost to: RUG Delver in a really close game 3 that involved me wastelocking him and then drawing five lands in a row to lose to his delver, Dredge, ThopterControl, and UW Stoneblade in the last round.

Against Dredge and ThopterControl there wasn't much I could do, against RUG Delver I neglected to waste his Volc before casting Preordain and he Pyroblasted it which could have potentially saved me, and against UW Stoneblade I was just so tired that I was playing sloppier than I had in awhile. The deck overall was a blast to play, and I'll probably keep playing it.

What game plans people have against Punishing Fire (Maverick)? I also find Mother of Runes pain in the ass despite having 2 Fire//Ices and 3 Bolts maindeck (game 1) meaning I use them aggressively on Nobles/Arbor/Stoneforge Mystic, is this wrong? Should I save them for MoMs and hope I can handle the rest in other ways?