Yesterday, I joined a 60-man Legacy Open and I reached the top 8 with the list below. As I was expected a Delver metagame, I sleeved up the following:
4x Gaea's Cradle
4x Windswept Heath
3x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Bayou
1x Tropical Island
2x Forest
2x Dryad Arbor
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Quirion Dryad
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Wirewood Symbiote
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Birchlore Rangers
3x Nettle Sentinel
3x Heritage Druid
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4x Green Sun Zenith
4x Natural Order
4x Glimpse of Nature
Sideboard:
1x Meekstone
1x Tormod's Crypt
3x Thoughtseize
1x Cabal Therapy
2x Swan Song
1x Progenitus
1x Worldspine Wurm
2x Pithing Needle
3x Abrupt Decay
Here's a summary of my matches:
Round 1 - MUD (2-0), I was on the draw.
Game 1: Despite the presence of Trinisphere and Lodestone Golem, I was able to get rid of both by using a topdeck GSZ for a Viridian Shaman and combo out after two turns with Natural Order.
Game 2: At one point, I had a decision of using a Pithing Needle to name the Lightning Greaves that was already in play or hold it for a future threat. I decided to hold it and luckily I did since on his next turn, he placed a Ratchet Bomb as I had three elves in play already. The went for an NO to Worldspine Wurm as he was at a precarious 14 life due to Ancient Tomb. Despite him doing multiple artifact shenanigans with his remaining cards (metalworker, forgemaster to steelhellkite), I had lethal on board the next turn with the Worldspine Wurm.
Round 2 - Show and Tell (2-1). I was on the play.
Game 1: SnT player casts Show and Tell on turn 2 and plays Griselbrand. It came to a point where he casts Sneak Attack and he activates Griselbrand twice (!) to find an Emrakul but he never got one. Unfortunately, I never drew any other business spell but one natural order and so Griselbrand attacked three times total.
Game 2: I Thoughtseize his hand with the following cards:
Pyroclasm, Sneak Attack, Emrakul, three lands (one being a City of Traitors), Force of Will
I took the Sneak Attack and the SnT player never did anything for six turns (he topdecked land after land). Though he used pyroclasm to clear three of my creatures, I recovered by holding back a Glimpse of Nature and a couple more elves. It came to a point that he had a Griselbrand in play through SnT while he was at 11 life. However, as he activated his Griselbrand, I responded by activating Deathrite Shaman twice to drain him for 4 life even with just one Bayou in play, all thanks to Birchlore Rangers.
Game 3: This was the highlight game of the day as I survived a turn 2 SnT to Griselbrand.
Turn 1: Fetch for Volcanic Island, go
Turn 1: Bayou, Deathrite, go.
Turn 2: Ancient Tomb, Show and Tell into Griselbrand, I only put an Elvish Visionary from SnT.
Turn 2: On my turn 2, i was able to cast (if i remember correctly) Quirion Ranger, Heritage Druid, Wirewood Symbiote, Glimpse of Nature (countered by FoW with Griselbrand activation), GSZ, 2 more elves and a Natural Order. I cross my fingers at this point because if the NO resolves, I will be swinging with a large Hoof and D.Shaman. Else, he will be going for sneak attack with lotus petals into Emrakul. He didn't get the second FOW!
Round 3 - Death and Taxes (2-0). I was on the play.
Game 1: I was able to N.O for one Craterhoof for 19 damage and then hardcast another one for +++ damage.
Game 2: I couldn't use Glimpse of Nature because of Spirit of the Labyrinth but with my Wirewood Symbiote and Deathrite Shaman in play, I used my first N.O for a Progenitus and a second N.O the following turn for a Craterhoof Behemoth. DnT never stood a chance.
Round 4 - Punishing Maverick (2-1) I was on the draw.
Game 1: Mulligan to 6. He kills three of my creatures and I never recovered from that.
Game 2: He taps out turn 3 for KotR. I comboed out with Glimpse + nettle + heritage shenanigans for a lethal Hoof.
Game 3: He uses Punishing Fire on a Wirewood Symbiote but on the next turn, I was able to use Deathrite Shaman to exile it immediately with the help of Birchlore Rangers. On his next turn, he plays a Grove (thankfully i exiled the spell instead of using D.Shaman to cast another one-drop) and then passes. I fetched end of turn but he casts Aven Mindcensor. I still got a land and then next turn, I went for a Glimpse with three elves in my hand. Suffice to say, I was able to hard-cast Craterhoof Behemoth for 19 damage. He was at 18 from fetching twice prior.
Round 5 and 6 - ID
Quarterfinals - URW Delver (0-2) I was on the draw.
Game 1: Didn't stand a chance as he killed four of my creatures (!) and counters a GSZ and a N.O.
Game 2: I open with a GSZ for Dryad Arbor. He plays Volcanic Island and plays Delver. I cast Thoughtseize and see the following:
2x Swords to Plowshares, 1x Stoneforge Mystic, 1x Brainstorm, 1x Wasteland, L.Bolt.
I took the Brainstorm as he had no white mana. I play Quirion Ranger and used the remaining mana to cast Abrupt Decay on Delver. He hastily casts wasteland on my Dryad Arbor which I save with Q.Ranger. I cast a DRS and an Elvish Visionary on my next turn. He topdecks a G.Probe into a Tundra ( :eek: ) and used his Swords. After a couple more turns, he then uses his SFM to fetch for a Jitte. I topdeck a Pithing Needle and name Jitte. After a couple more sequences, I was able to N.O but unfortunately, as I had Craterhoof Behemoth, I had no choice but to get a Progenitus instead (A hoof trigger would have been lethal). I was able to swing Prog for one and I needed one more turn. I was at 7 life at this point and he has an activate Grim Lava and a flipped Delver. If he gets a L.Bolt off the top, it's over. Well, he did get the bolt that he needed to kill me for lethal. :eek:. Oh well...
I was the only Elves player and I was very happy with my accomplishment though the UWR player ran really well against me. I was discussing with my friends about the Thoughtseize play. Some say that discarding Brainstorm was a good call but then the others argue that it should have been SFM and that would have led to me saving the Pithing Needle on something else (such as the Grim Lava). Any comments on this?
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Regarding the decklist, I was never able to use Ruric Thar. Viridian Shaman was MVP when it mattered. Discard's good. I was not able to use Meekstone and I'm kind of skeptical with Worldspine Wurm although I know it is supposed to be good against SnT.