Originally Posted by
Rikter
I will do you one better, and post not only the list but the tournament report for the event I just got home from!
LIST
Main
4x Metalworker
4x Lodestone Golem
4x Kuldotha Forgemaster
3x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Platinum Angel
1x Sundering Titan
1x Blightsteel Colossus
(19)
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Grim Monolith
2x Trinisphere
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Staff of Domination
1x Spine of Ish Sah
(13)
2x Warping Wail
2x Ugin the Spirit Dragon
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
3x Cavern of Souls
3x Wasteland
2x Vesuva
Board
3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Dismember
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Tsabo's Web
1x Karn Liberated
1x Contagion Engine
1x Duplicant
Overview
This is a pretty stock list, I would say. The main difference is that I always play the 3 Wurmcoils and Hellkite main, which you don't always see, but Wurmcoil is such a house, especially against Eldrazi and Hellkite is a card that can just win the game on it's own against pretty much any deck.Titan and Blightsteel are standard. I favor 2 Warping Wail over 2 of my Trinispheres. Sphere is just such an awful top deck, and is almost always the first card I take out. Wail is incredibly versatile and shores up two of the decks historic weaknesses: being able to efficiently deal with early threats and being able to interact with spells on the stack. The scion token has its uses as well. I choose not to run Staff of Nin, I feel like Domination on its own is enough. Spine is pretty standard, same with 2 Ugin. I don't want to have too many non artifacts, and Ugin can handle 99% of your game 1 troubles, so no additional walkers. I bring Karn in out of the board in anticipation of things like needle and null rod. I don't play Coercive Portal, I don't like it. Some people like to play this as a really grindy deck I think, where Portal is probably good, but that is not my philosophy. Every single card in the deck is a 'must answer' card. Someone told me today after a match that he felt like he absolutely had to answer every single card I played and he was right. All the cards are haymakers, and I am inclined to throw them out there and see if the other guy can deal with it, as opposed to wearing them down over time. I would rather have more actual gas than portal, so no portals, because I tend to close games quickly so its better to have a good card now instead of future cards.
Sideboard is heavy on Revoker, I love this card. Having 3 in against Death and Taxes, Elves, Miracles, Storm and some of the Delver (DRS, Lilly, Jace) lists is huge. The Dismembers are there for Infect, Death and Taxes, Eldrazi and other random decks like Goblins that can cause us problems if we can't answer something like a Lackey on T1 or midrangey decks. Ratchet bomb for Delver and Eldrazi or decks that play weird stuff that can't always wait for an Ugin (See match 2 below), Bridge for Eldrazi and Show and Tell MU. Tsabo's web is good against Death and Taxes, Lands, Infect and some Eldrazi lists. Karn comes in post board, when null rod, needle and such need answering, contagion engine for decks that go wide and the Duplicant for midrangey MU, as well as Eldrazi, Show and Tell or other big creature deck.
I took this list to a 27 person Legacy tournament in NYC, 6 rounds of Swiss before a cut to top 8. The meta was unknown, so I opted for a balanced sideboard. My list is lacking any graveyard hate, although the main deck has strong interactions in Chalice, Trinisphere, Lodestone Golem and Warping Wail and we can be incredibly fast too. Duplicant, Karn and Bridges are possible board options. I haven't seen a lot of Reanimator lately anyways, I felt like what I had was enough to handle Reanimator and Lands.
Match 1 (0-0) vs 4C Jori En Pyromancer
Game 1: I am on the play, I didn't see very much besides basic Island, Badlands, Lightning Bolt and Jori En Ruin Diver. I dropped two fast Wurmcoil Engines (T2, T4) and road them to victory. Decks that rely on lightning bolt have a difficult time getting Wurmcoil off the table.
Out: 2x Trinisphere, 1x Spine
In: 2x Ratchet Bomb, 1x Contagion Engine
I am anticipating a wide token/delver based attack and am on the draw. Sphere isn't great, and Engine deals with wide boards better than Spine
Game 2: I got wastelanded turn 1, which really hurt my plan. Because I was a turn short I got my Lodestone Therapied, then my Wurmcoils Therapied, then he stuck Jace. I couldn't get enough mana to play more than 1 creature in a turn, and I just couldn't get through Jace. Clique delivered the death blow. After game two I swapped the Ratchet Bombs with Revokers for DRS and Jace, and Swapped Karn for an Ugin for faster spot removal since he didn't seem to be as wide as I was expecting.
Game 3: I opened with turn 1 chalice on 1, turn 2 and 3 lodestone golems. He tried to fight back with a pyromancer, but couldn't do enough under the spheres, and I take a quick game 3 for the match.
Match 2 (1-0) vs HelmStill
Game 1: I am on the play I see that he is playing Landstill alongside Rest in Peace and Energy Field, so sort of like Enchantress but with Force of Will. We played a long game, he had a critical Force on Spine, and then played out a main deck needle blind calling Ugin. At that point I have no way to actually kill him left in my deck, because I can't get his enchantments off the board to get through damage. He wound up helming me out.
Out: 2x Warping Wail, 2x Trinisphere 2x Grim Monolith
In: 2x Ratchet Bomb, 1x Karn, 3x Revoker
The games seem like they will go so long that Trinisphere becomes not great and the acceleration of Monolith isn't as important when you have more time to set up. Karn is backup to Ugin, since he recognized game 1 that Ugin was the card that would end the game and needled it. Revoker to shut off helm, Wail is out because he has poor targets.
Game 2: We both sort of durdle for a few turns, building mana. He struck first with RiP/Field but I answered quickly with Karn backed up by Ugin for an easy win, with Lodestone closing it out.
No sideboard changes, and there is 10 minutes left in the round.
Game 3: Starts with less than 10 on the clock, and I open aggressively with Lodestone Golem Revoker (helm). He disenchants the Revoker and I commence to beating with Lodestone Golem. I think I made a critical error here, because on the turn I played lodestone golem I could have run out Ratchet Bomb instead. He got Rest in Peace down and got his helm off. At the time he won my Ratchet Bomb was tapped with 2 counters, and the previous turn I was stuck on spine mana. I needed a land and couldn't get there.
Match 3 (1-1) vs Death and Taxes
Game 1: I am on the play, and we both mull to 5. I open chalice on 1, he plains passes. I play Grim Monolith, he plays Wasteland Thalia. I play land Sundering Titan, he scoops.
Out: 2x Trinisphere, 2x Metalworker, 2x Monolith, 1x Blightsteel Colossus, 1x Spine of Ish Sah, 1x Kuldotha Forgemaster, 1x Chalice of the Void, 1x Sundering Titan
In: 2x Ratchet Bomb, 3x Revoker, 3x Dismember, 2x Tsabo's Web, 1x Contagion Engine
Trinisphere is generally pretty bad against Death and Taxes. They don't need to play more than 1 spell per turn, and they have a lot of ways to cheat out extra spells like with SFM and Vial. I take out a chalice if I am on the draw, it's less of a priority for me post board because I have a lot more interaction with their stuff so it's ok for them to play out a bit. Spine comes out because I want to wipe boards with Contagion Engine, which is also cheaper and has the potential to wreck their Aether Vial. Sundering Titan is out because he is expensive and only ever gets one land, Blightsteel is out because he is tough to hardcast when your mana stuff gets revoked and even when you can fetch him they have such cluttered boards that he isn't going to reliably one shot the other guy. One forgemaster comes out because I run fewer targets, and they have so much ability hate that you can't just rely on any one ability so much. For this reason 2x Metalworker comes out, because my curve is so much lower and because I don't need to ramp so much. Monolith also comes out. Basically I lower my curve and diversify my activated abilities. All the cards that come in can take their stuff off the board or seriously disrupt them and mana denial is less effective. I think the inclusions are pretty self explanatory. Revoker is huge here.
Game 2: He opens with plains vial, I open with chalice on 1. He follows this up with SFM (Batterskull), and I respond with wail on my turn. He then proceeds to drop a Serra Avenger and and Jitte. I Tsabo's web, locking down his Karakas and Port and pass, holding up dismember. He equips Jitte on Avenger and I let him attack before I kill it, since he had mana to equip again. Over the next few turns he starts beating me down with Thalia Jitte, but he is holding the counters. I stabilized a bit using glimmerposts, but at this point I am a turn away from him unloading the counters and wrecking me. I top deck a Revoker and shut down the Jitte. He continues to hit me with Thalia for a few more turns before I stick Forgemaster and tinker for Angel. I have been keeping him from totally unloading on me with my Chalice on 1 backed up by Chalice at 2 and Chalice at 5 (didn't want BSkull equipped on Avenger), and I finally hit Ugin, wipe his board and win.
Match 4 (2-1) vs Miracles
Game 1: I am on the play and open Chalice on 1 into Metalworker followed by a Wurmcoil Engine. He has played 2 lands. I start beating and stick a Chalice on 6 and he doesn't draw Jace.
Out: 2x Trinisphere, 2x Grim Monolith
In: 3x Revokers, 1x Karn
Trinisphere is kind of lackluster, Monolith is unnecessary. I keep the Metalworkers because they can attack and enable more broken things than monolith. I would probably take them out if I had something better, but I don't so it doesn't matter. Revoker is a must for top and Jace, Karn is backup for Ugin.
Game 2: I keep a slowish post hand and am punished for it by getting Cliqued and losing Lodestone. I play Wurmcoil instead and he plays a Moat. I can't hit my hate in time and I get Entreated with no Ugin in sight.
No sideboard changes.
Game 3: I open with turn 2 Lodestone in Metalworker into Ugin. My opponent doesn't have an answer and my guys make short work. There was a little back in forth but I came out hard and stayed in front. Pretty uneventful.
Match 5 (3-1) vs Red and Taxes
Game 1: He falls victim to chalice 1, 3spher into sundering titan. I can see that he has imperial recruiter in his deck, and plateau, although he recruiters for magus of the moon which is strange.
Out: 2x Trinisphere
In: 2x Revoker
Game 2: He came out swinging in this one, following up a Vial with a wasteland on my post and dropping Thalia into Wispmares. I have gotten my revokers down and have been interfering with his vial, and shutting off SoFI but he's hitting hard. I stabilized with a Steel Hellkite and Lodestone Golems but he is on a wide board with multiple Magus of the Moon at this point. I start banging in with the Lodestones, wearing his board down. I finally get rid of the Magi and land Ugin, wiping the board and allowing me to kill him with Hellkite.
Match 6 (4-1) vs Eldrazi
So this is typically a situation where you get to draw in to top 8. I get paired down against a guy who can't draw in, and am forced to play.
Game 1: I am on the draw. He opens with Chalice on 1, I respond with Grim Monolith. He plays a Mimic, I play a second grim Monolith and a Wurmcoil engine. I don't really remember what he did with his last 2 turns because before the Wurmcoil could finish him I went off with Metalworker Staff.
Out: 2x Trinisphere, 2x Ugin, 4x Chalice of the Void, 1 Titan
In: 3x Dismember, 2x Ratchet Bomb, 2x Ensnaring Bridge, 1x Karn, 1x Duplicant
Trinisphere can sometimes get there against Eye but its bag. Chalice always comes out against other chalice decks. 8 Mana is too much for a lightning bolt on a stick or a vanilla 7/10. I put in 6 cards to remove their dudes, plus 2 defensive bridges.
Game 2: He goes temple pass, I go turn 1 Ancient Tomb into Grim Monolith, Grim Monolith, Grim Monolith, Kuldotha Forgemaster. He does not have dismember for the forgemaster, and he doesn't have an answer for Blightsteel Colossus either.
Final swiss: 5-1, 1st place. It ended up working out having to play; everyone else drew to 14 points and it turns out it was not possible for me to get breakered out even if I lost.
Top 8 (5-1) vs Death and Taxes
Game 1: I open with cloudpost and get wasted. As I rebuild my mana he Revokers and blind calls candelabra. I follow up with chalice on 1 into Forgemaster. This stalls his attack out, and I find extra artifacts to power out Blightsteel and kill him.
Sideboarding is identical the the first death and taxes match.
Game 2:: He opens on vial, which I revoker. He follows with a Mangara which I wail. He plays a few creatures and I run out Metalworker. He lets me untap with Metalworker, which turns into 10 mana and my hand unloaded (Forgemaster, Greaves, Monolith, Revoker), to his one card with 2 mana up. I activate Forgemaster and in response he flashes in containment priest. I search up contagion engine and decimate his board before killing him with a Wurmcoil.
Top 4 (6-1) vs Eldrazi
Different Eldrazi Deck
Game 1: Game one I open with Tomb and chalice on 0 (I knew what he was on and saw petals earlier). He opens on Eye. I follow with a Trinisphere, which keeps him off of Thought Knot the following turn, then drop Hellkite. He doesn't have dismember and gets killed by the hellkite.
Sideboarding the same as earlier Eldrazi
Game 2: I mull to 6 and keep a mana light hand that is strong on interaction with Bridge, Wail, Dismember and a Monolith. I held off his early threats and stuck a Forgemaster, unfortunately he has Dismember and I fall to thought knot seer backed up by smasher.
No sideboard change
Game 3: I mull to 6 on the play, keeping a hand of City of Traitors, 2x Monolith, Wail, Bridge, Dismember and scrying to the bottom. It may seem greedy but I didn't see wasteland from him, and I can play all my spells. All I need to do is draw a land. I don't draw a land, but I do draw Wurmcoil and I drop a turn 2 Wurmcoil. He has Mimic/ Thought Knot seer and trades them for my wurm. I proceed to not draw any lands, and eventually my Wurm tokens are bested by an Endbringer which drew a ton of extra cards and allowed him to get through.
I finished in 3rd place, and got an nm Bayou.
Overall the list played well. I'm thinking about ditching bridge, and in the future I will probably side out warping wail vs Eldrazi, killing mimic isn't enough to keep it in. I may swap them out for Torpor Orbs, which shut down mimic as well as thought-knot, and have a use vs elves. Eldrazi have a hard time with fast Wurmcoil. The deck hits hard, you can't screw around going long. I just run my combo stuff aggressively, they have no library manipulation that is fast enough to be relevant and if they don't have the Dismember it's a fast game.