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This is EXACTLY my point. As soon as there is a Batterskull-TNN standoff, you will be ahead due to the sheer threat density of your deck. A naturally drawn SoFaI, any SFM, any Recruiter or flyer will put you immediately ahead on the board. Mother of Runes is excellent at blanking their removal/Jace and will assist to shut down the game with Revoker.Quote:
Originally Posted by gh0st_b1rd
The Merfolk matchup actually plays out very similar.
With the uptick of BUG and the downtick in BR Reanimator, I'm axing the Faerie Macabres for a RIP and a Containment Priest. I've been missing my third RIP against Shardless and haven't found BR reanimator to be prevalent or unfavorable enough to dedicate 2 slots to it.
What are the worst cards in the deck against TNN BUG? Whenever I try to make a sideboard guide I find that most of the deck is good. it's more a matter of what's least good, and I can't come to a clear decision on it.
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As pointed out earlier, a good sideboarding approach can be axing 4 Thalias and a Jitte for 2 Council's Judgment, 2 Gideon and Pithing Needle. Jitte is inefficient against them and you want to set your Revokers and/or Needle on Jitte because TNN + Jitte is the absolute worst that can happen. Furthermore having some cards to shut down a Jace or DRS in certain situations is also important.Quote:
Originally Posted by WashableWater1
Council's Judgment is obvious, it removes TNN and Dread of Night, Gideon itself is some obesity and doubles as an out to Dread of Night as well thanks to his emblem.
Gideon is quite similar to TNN, if they attack into it, they have to face a backswing of 5-7 damage.
Won a local 41 man event going 14-1-6 in games and 7-0-2 in matches. Tournament report inc here and at mtgsalv
A consideration for the TNN deck could actually be Sunlance after board. How they get you is by playing mana dorks that have added splash damage thrown-in in addition to the TNN. Also Orzhov Pontiff if we ever already jam 3x Cavern of Souls.
Speaking of playing 3x Cavern of Souls maindeck it would be smart if we put a 2nd Plains in the sideboard or play 24 lands like bahra.
Lately being on the Red splash I have cut the Sudden Demises and Cunning Sparkmage for a Pontiff which is questionably castable and 2 REBs which are more castable. Just hope to get a BUG player with a REB whether it be an Ancestral Visions, Strix or a TNN/Leovold on the stack.
REB is also very good against Miracles. Having another answer to Jace is very good and a late game answer to Snapcaster is just as juicy. The fact that it hits Snapcasters is enough reason for me to be enthusiastic of its inclusion. Sometimes Revokers should only be on SDTs so that you dont overextend and REB helps with this.
Although DNT has historically been ok vs Delver and its myriad of variations, having REBs help there too.
And a light answer to Show and Tell. Leaving two mana up for Warping Wail is quite tough. Lets just REB them.
I top 8'd the Legacy event today. I'll do a write up in the next day or so.
lol just came here to say "Congrats" after I saw your name in 7th place. Good job. I almost wanted to come out to Baltimore just for the opportunity to play some Legacy; unfortunately my team ended up getting PSulli to play in their Legacy slot :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Medea_
I'll also add that I made the exact same switch as you.. I went down to 1 serra avenger and up to 3 crusader.. keeping SoFI but moving skull to side to bring in maindeck SoWP.
My sideboard is exactly the same... except I'm playing only 1 surgical (the 15th slot is a 2nd Prelate)... why did you decide on 2 surgicals? I'm assuming because of B/R but you wanted a card that did more in other match-ups than FaeMac?
So I went to Fire and Dice on saturday to play in their Legacy monthly. Wasn’t sure I was going to go, so I almost ended up late. Worked out though as I ended up winning the whole thing. Here’s the decklist.
Creatures:
4 Mother of runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
2 Recruiter of the guard
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Sanctum Prelate
Non Creature Spells:
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
Lands:
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Karakas
9 Plains
4 Rishadan Ports
4 Wasteland
Some quick things. Kept the miser’s Serra Avenger due to wanting the extra flier, was pretty happy. Tried something super greedy. I went up to three cavern of souls so that I could occasionally cast Kambal, Consul of Allocation while not running the black splash. Moving forward I’m not sure I’d recommend that to anyone. Finally, the 2 mirran crusaders were a concession to having something strong vs Goyfs and such.
I ended up going 14-1-6 in games (2 IDs) and 7-0-2 in matches. So I ran ridiculously hot this event for sure. Some of the matches were on stream, so I’ll link them when appropriate
Round 1 - UW Helm 2-0
Game one was fairly standard for me when assuming my opponents on miracles. He plays a top, I play a thalia. And things got strange once I he played maindeck Rest in Peace. I immediately assume helm is going to be his win con in the old enlightened tutor miracles builds. Stoneforge goes to find a SoFaI and I already had a jitte in hand. Eventually he slams an ensnaring bridge at 6 life. I attach jitte to a mom and swing in, then I get him the following turn with some pumps as he didn’t have the removal spell.
Side in: 2 Council’s Judgments, 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Sword of War and Peace
Side out: 2 Mother of Runes, 4 swords to plowshares
He was running mainboard bridge and rip, so he’s definitely not running creatures. He also has top so I want to cut some mom in anticipation for some terminuses
Game two he goes volc cantrip go. I play a turn 1 vial. He goes turn 2 tundra top pass. I waste his tundra. He plays a basic on his turn. I waste his volc. He starts to miss land drops badly. I vial in a revoker on top. Unfortunately I kind of got my opponent. I played a cavern naming kor and casted a SFM and he attempted to force unfortunately and gets caught out as I tutor up SoFaI. He goes to 12 and plays an energy field. I punt. He had 6 cards in hand due to not having any lands for a few turns. I have a vial on 3, 4 lands, and a SoWaP in hand. I miscount an attack with my team including an on board wisp, (mom, sfm, flickerwisp, revoker and sword of fire and ice which is 11 damage) and instead of just cheating in SoWaP for 8 more damage instead of 4, he manages to live at 1. He plays rest in peace and passes. But eventually I find a recruiter to be able to flicker the energy field again for game
Round 2 - 4C Loam 2-0
Game one. We both had incredibly awkward draws where my opponent ends up keeping a one lander on a mull to 6. I forget a couple things about the game, but I end up putting him down to 7 before playing Kambal. He ends up making things so awkward between the decay and punishing fires he wishes he could cast that he concedes from pure awkwardness.
Side In: 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, 2 Council’s Judgment
Side Out: 1 Prelate, 1 Kambal, 3 Revoker, 1 Flickerwisp
Cut a single x/1 and revokers are super medium. Prelate is a rough call, though it’s likely I should have left it in naming 2. Kambal though it won me game one, wasn’t good enough to get me to keep it game two
Game two I keep a hand with double rest in peace. My opponent goes turn one forest mox pass. I play vial. He plays something I can’t remember, and I get a mom and SFM into play. He punishing fires my mom, plays a knight. I slam a single rest in peace. He decays. I play the second rest in peace. He’s forced to scrap his one basic to get maze to not die. I port him off maze and the game ends
Round 3 - Food Chain 2-0
Game one he has nothing really going on until he draws some griffins, but SoFaI just ends up taking over the game quickly.
Side In: 2 Ethersworn Canonist, 2 Council’s Judgment
Side out: Kambal, Sanctum Prelate, 2 Thalias
Decided I want to cut some of the more mediocre cards, prelate doesn’t hit enough on any part, kambal is medium, cut two thalias, taxes mana but can’t interact with the combo
Game two gets very close. I get a sword of fire and ice online pretty quickly and manage to catch his food chain with a judgment. He plays two strixes and eventually finds another food chain and 2 griffins but has no payoff. Mom allows me to force a few attacks through putting him fairly low. On a critical turn he could but me down to 8 to have to second lethal attack, but forgets about food chain interaction and gives me the extra turn I need to take it using jitte counters to put me at 1 after his combat
Round 4 vs Junk 2-0
Commentators think I’m on BW taxes, but no bob and the only splash is a one of Kambal so I found that amusing watching the vod myself. The life totals aren’t perfectly accurate on stream unfortunately as well. I’m an awful card flicker btw.
Game one. Vod starts at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/123070914?t=2h9m6s
I keep a 2 lander with no one drop, but after turn 1 I remembered exactly what my opponent played with. Unfortunately for me, he had the turn 2 library, so I was very likely to just get ground out in card advantage/value. I get hymmed leaving me with double wisp batterskull and having a SoFaI in play. He thoughtsiezes me. He takes a wisp and wastes my port and super unfortunately for him I rip SFM off the top. I don’t think what he did was a mistake, but I basically drew the only card that could punish him for that. He doesn’t find a threat for a while, mostly just drawing multiple cards per turn from bob. I go all the way up to 40 life from batterskull swings before my opponent find and equips his to a fairly large goyf. He gains a ton of life now, then I rip Mirran crusader for game. I play pretty conservatively, overall though, and could have been potentially punished by like a deluge
Side In: 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Council’s Judgments, 2 Gideon,
Side Out: 1 Prelate, 3 Revoker, 1 flickerwisp, 1 Kambal
The usual outs and in, revoker only hits DRS and Lili, didn’t feel it was good enough
Game two. I have something like port, waste, plains, mom, vial, rip, stoneforge. I draw runner ports and decide to port over wasteland. Luckily my opponent flips a charm to his bob so I know to play around that. Unfortunately I get super choked on mana, but I’m able to put him a bit off his mana with a wasteland and 3 ports. The turn he misses his land drop, I decide that I’m far enough ahead to put a stoneforge into play to grab batterskull and fade not only the discard, but even him hitting another land drop, that leaves him discarding to handsize. I hold back a second mom due to charm, but then I make a mistake later once he finds some lands and drops a bitterblossom by porting before the bb trigger resolves knowing about the charm losing me some damage. I get super choked on white mana, but find the second white just in time to judgment his jitte. When I get hymmed I have a hand of swords, 2 rip, and vial, which hits the swords and a rip (curse you vial I was holding for this and lili), but luckily I still have the second and I’m able to use it to reset a ⅞ goyf to 0/1. The stream misses a fetch damage or something as the crusader is able to put robert to 1 so that he would die to the bitterblossom trigger, though I should have ported his white source to prevent the possibility of double swords to stop me, but luckily he didn’t have it
Round 5 vs Elves 0-0-3
We went to get food together, was great
Round 6 vs Burn 0-0-3
ID for top 8 securing
Ended up getting 4th seed after swiss ended.
Top 8 decks were in order
Belcher
Grixis Delver
Elves
Death and Taxes (Me)
Burn
Death and Taxes
Goblins
Death and Taxes
So I get to play burn in quarters 2-0
Game 1 I have a turn 2 stoneforge mystic to grab a jitte with a vial on turn 1. He has a triple swiftspear start, but only gets me to 6 before jitte and serra avenger stabalize, with a prelate for backup on 1
We have decklists at this point so sideboarding gets a ton easier. He had no vortexes or bridges, so no Judgments coming in, and only had 2 lavamancers
Side in: Sword of War and Peace, 2 Ethersworn Canonist, 1 Pithing needle
Side out: 1 Mirran Crusader, Sword of Fire and Ice, 2 Revokers
Only thing to name are lavamancers and I would rather have something unkillable on that, War and Peace is straight upgrade to fire and ice in the matchup.
Game 2, he leads Goblin Guide revealing my jitte, pass. I go plains mom. He suspends a rift bolt and strikes again giving me cavern, missing his land drop. I play cavern and the jitte. He bolts face, attacks with guide revealing some creature and lava spikes, missing a land drop again. I equip jitte and attack with mom to get two counters and play mystic grabbing war and peace and pass. He chain lightnings my mom, I block guide and shrink it by one. At this point he’s basically out of gas and I have an active jitte, so he concedes unable to find the 2nd land.
Top 4 Death and Taxes Mirror 2-1
Luckily for me the belcher player bricked, and even more luckily I still have play draw decision. This game was also on stream and I make some pretty huge misplays game 2 that cost me, but still nice to be able to see where I made mistakes. He is mostly on Medea’s/Phil Gallaghers SoWaP and BaM main deck version. Games start https://www.twitch.tv/videos/123070914?t=6h6m
Game 1 I have a quick jitte and my opponent misses 3 vial triggers and mis names with his revoker and ends up losing the game very quickly much to my joy. I get all 3 of my equipment into play and drop a revoker on vial to lock out my mana screwed opponent. I’m not sure if I made this clear, but I have a particular disdain for the mirror due to how little tends to happen ability wise, and how much of a headache it is to do the combat math. Not saying it can’t be fun, but in general I tend to just get very fatigued playing the matchup which is rather annoying.
Side In: 2 Gideon, 2 Council’s Judgment, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Path to Exile, 1 Sword of War and Peace
Side out: 4 Thalias, 1 Kambal, 1 Sanctum Prelate
Cut the legends and the mediocre prelate in the matchup for more reactive spells. Justifying the gideon. Yes getting to 4 mana can be incredibly hard, but I feel like being able to edge out an advantage creature wise by antheming instantly is just so great when you are playing the same creatures.
Game 2 is a complete mess and I make huge mistakes that I didn’t even realize existed. I blame tournament fatigue, but I’d recommend watching yourself. The major thing I missed was not requiping by SoWaP to revoker to block the voltron’d SFM which definitely cost me the game. I path’d my own mom as I didn’t have the third land in my hand to cast any spells in response to the swords, but I ended up drawing one, so I ended up just 2 for 1 ing myself. Life totals are a complete mess on stream due to life changing so frequently.
Game 3 I have turn 1 vial, then miss my trigger like a champ. I drop a needle on SFM as my opponent missed both mom and vial, so I want to stop any faster thing he may have with the SFM. I’m able to recruit for mystic, but due to my mistake my jitte is online a turn late. My opponent gets a gideon but I counter with revoker. I fog his judgment attempt against my jitte with a wisp so he takes my revoker. Wisp, Top Deck revoker and sword of war and peace get there in 3 turns and I’m manage to finish the match relatively unscathed. My opponent makes a very strange decision to tutor Body and Mind though, but it wouldn’t have mattered.
Finals Grixis Delver 2-0
Also on stream. This time I’m playing against Joseph Moreno (Dredge Guy or also known as Que on the source) so was exciting. I felt super confident going into the round as he didn’t have any forked bolts in the main so it was likely going to be a pretty easy game. Game starts at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/123070914?t=7h13m.
Game 1 I keep a 7 with no vial but a cavern and double thalia. Joe luckily doesn’t have a therapy to follow his git probe for two turns giving me the opportunity to deploy it. His sequences of draws were incredibly awkward as I draw the vial with a wasteland to play around daze, and after two brainstorm locks I’m able to take it. I do something kind of iffy with vial on 2 which didn’t get reverted, activated vial started with thalia, but before taking my hand off it switched it to revoker, but I needed to make sure to be more tight with my play for sure. I sandbagged a Karakas to be able to activate my sfm, but that was the only real special thing I did that game
Side in: 2 Council’s Judgments, 2 Path to Exiles
Side out: 1 Serra Avenger, 3 Revokers
He had no lavamancers in his board and I don’t like that serra avenger just dies to bolt, but I likely should have cut the crusader instead.
Game 2 I keep an opener of 2 lands double judgment, path, swords, and mom. He has turn one delver off a trop, misses on red while flipping a bolt. And my removal and wastelands kind of just get there
Deck was great. Kambal probably going to be a third crusader or second avenger though.
@asmodeusDM
I was very happy with the changes I made to my decklist. The third Crusader felt great, and SoWaP stole so many games; I only missed the Batterskull main in a single game all weekend (that is, one game in 18 rounds). The two Surgicals were hedging against Lands in particular, as Baltimore is a very Lands-centric area.
@elpresidente
Good stuff! Let's keep putting up finishes and get us back in the DtB section; I don't want to change my bookmark...
Congrats william!Quote:
Originally Posted by Elpresidente
Nice William!Quote:
Originally Posted by NathanS2k
Here's my tournament report from both of the SCG Balt events.
Hi. I was at the same tournament that Elpresidente went to, Fire and Dice's Monthly Legacy Staples. This is my tournament report.
Got Top 4, 4-1-1 into Top 8 & won the Quarterfinals.
Going into this tournament, I was not expecting much. I just wanted to do better than the last time I was there (2 Wins, 2 Draw, 2 Loss). I had liked the deck due to a Cardboard Crack comic. The style of Mono White control really appealed. It also had creature combat, which I am a fan of. With lots of rotations and bannings in standard (RIP smuggler’s copter and reflector mage), I started foiling out the deck to get a second copy of cards so that I didn’t have to keep moving cards between my Modern and Legacy deck.
I tried to use Craig Wescoe's Ultimate D&T guide for my sideboarding.
Reconstructing games from memory for writing tournament report is pretty hard. I’m already forgetting a lot of things. I’ll try to use life points as my marker, but that could be off due to Fetches, and Grove of the Burnwillows.
My list was the one off Thraben University's "New New Tech" Replacing [[Surgical Extractions]] for [[Faerie Macabre]].
Creatures:
4 Mother of Runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
2 Recruiter of the guard
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Sanctum Prelate
Non Creature Spells:
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
Lands:
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Karakas
10 Plains
4 Rishadan Ports
4 Wasteland
SB:
2 Path to Exile
1 Containment Priest
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Council's Judgment
2 Rest in Peace
1 Pithing Needle
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Batterskull
Match 1 vs 4C Loam
There were some mind games tech (?) before the start. We both had decklists and he was trying very hard not to look at my list. I opted to tell him I’m playing death and taxes. He said he was playing 4c loam.
Game 1
did death and taxes things. I believe i got down a mother of runes into a Thalia, guardian of thraben. I believe Sanctum Prelate for 2 also landed, locking him out of Loam, Punishing Fire, and Abrupt Decay. And a vial somewhere there. I just know that my opponent didn’t do much of anything. I also StoneRained with Flickerwisp (flickered a Mox Diamond).
Side boarded awkwardly for this match. I had notes from Craig Wescoe from his ultimate D&T guide, but i didn’t want to spend much time looking at the sideboard suggestions by others who have probably played it and studied it more than I.
+1 Pithing needle (?)
+1 Council’s Judgment
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Gideon
I really wished Faerie macabre were surgicals to remove the punishing fire.
Game 2
Opponent started off with Dark confidant. I went vial. I slowly ticked up so that I could try Thalia as a blocker vs Confidant. He StP Thalia (but not before letting me block). Dark confidant was a really good one this game. Flipping lands on upkeep trigger and then drawing an extra card during draw step. He plays a Knight of the Reliquary, which I StP. A lot of things happened in between.
His plays his first punishing fire, I wait until he attempts to get it back with the gain life trigger, on the stack, discard faerie macabre to exile that and a fetchland. (in hindsight, i should have exiled the cycling land).
There were a lot of nothings. He had Loam to restock (a dryad arbor, wasteland, and a cycling land) eventually, he hit into liliana of the veil.
I had my generator as Gideon, ally of zendikar. Made 2 tokens. He drew his second punishing fire, and suddenly all my 2/2’s disappeared. And then +1, all the way. In hindsight, I wonder why he didn’t just spend a lot of mana to kill off gideon. 2 dmg to gideon, have me gain 1 life, 2 dmg to gideon, and so on until gideon is dead. 1RR deal 2, opp gains 1 is pretty good.
I believe I got 1 hit in with [[Sword of Body and mind]] because my opponent milled 10 cards or 20 cards. Perhaps decking was very real (dredge from Loam + cycling).
Any 2/2s without pro red were essentially dead on sight. (which was everything). The game went on forever, and I had just attacking with Gideon as a 5/5 (that was surprisingly not a legendary creature vs his Karakas). Dryad Arbor was on Chump Block Duty.
I think maybe the super super long game, this game would be eventually his. But time was not there, and I ended as a draw, 18 health vs 11, with 1-0-1.
Match 2 vs Red Stompy
Game 1
I forget who was on the play or draw, but I did remember seeing a flurry of spells. Something like Chalice on 1, Chrome Mox (using blood moon), and then followed up by Goblin Rabblemaster.
I believe I either had a mother of runes, and vial, a recruiter of the guard. Chandra (KLD), torch, -3, is pretty awkward vs mother of runes. I was able to vial in a serra avenger on t3 to stabilize a bit. It was still pretty awful blocking, chump, pro red, etc. I was getting pecked for 1 or 2 damage a turn.
A spicy card I saw was [[Heart of Kiran]]. Enter combat, make a 1/1 goblin. And then use the crew, to keep it tapped, so that it does not need to go to the red zone.
I played a Recruiter of the Guard to see what I could fetch to stop Heart of Kiran. The bottom card was Phyrexian Revoker.
After playing that card, I proceeded to kill Chandra, played Sword of war and peace (probably from Stoneforge Mystic), and then got lethal.
Game 2
I don’t remember what I sided in. Probably some Council’s judgment to get around chalice on 1. And 1x pithing needle. -2 Swords to Plowshares
My opponent was on the play, and then went off with a blast. Got T1 koth of the hammer. Or something similar.
Then into more haymakers, T2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance. And then T3 or T4 Inferno Titan. At this point, most of my small white creatures were dead, so I scooped and went to game 3.
Game 3
I think I went T1 wasteland. Vs his budget 2 mana land. (it comes into play tapped, and you get 2 uses). He somehow gets out Chandra, torch of defiance. And has a chalice on 1. I believe I somehow got a Mother of Runes into play (thanks Cavern of Souls), and it was able to protect my creatures. He proceeded to use the +1, to exile top cards, but their CMC’s were too high, 4 6, etc, so they could not be cast. And they kept whiffing. One was a Shattering spree, but the two artifacts that were in play, (chrome mox and chalice) were his.
Here, I punted. I play a Pithing needle into a Chalice, and it got countered... I follow this up with a Serra Avenger.
I believe i had a mother of runes, a serra avenger, and a swords of war and peace. (that killed chandra). He had a ratchet bomb. It was pretty awkward to choose which CMC to blow up. He settles on blowing up Serra Avenger.
I believe a rabble master enters the play sometime here, and I flickerwisp the chalice, and then StP the rabble master. The next turn, flickerwisp gets attached to war and peace, and I gain 5 life with every creature connect. He plays inferno titan, targetting Mom, thalia, and 1 to me. I bounce thalia with karakas, have mom give pro red to itself.
He gets one final attack in, and firebreathes his inferno titan to deal 14 damage, knocking me to 8. Flickerwisp then closes the deal. In hindsight, I should have had Mom give Pro Red to Thalia, and then have Thalia block Inferno Titan. It doesn’t matter in this case because I was very high in health total. I'll do better next time .
Match 3 vs Sultai Midrange
I’m not sure how this is supposed to go. I just played stuff, and my opponent just played cantrips. I believe that Mirran Crusader is just naturally good against this deck, and that fetching out Sword of Body and Mind really helped. He had to use his abrupt decay on the Swords.
I believe he had seen a Serra avenger, but still did T4 Jace -> brainstorm. (His hand was empty).
Did D&T things, and eventually he scooped -> game 2.
Most memorable play in Game 1.
Stoneforge to fetch a Sword of body and mind.
Next turn (with Stoneforge no longe summoning sick),
He snapcaster -> abrupt decay, targeting stoneforge.
I use stoneforge’s ability, and while that’s on the stack, vial in Flickerwisp to save stoneforge. Sword of body and mind is now on the battlefield, and stoneforge comes back in at end step, fetching another piece of equipment. Probably jitte.
Game 2
I believe I bring in Pithing needle, and maybe gideon / council’s judgment? I don’t remember.
My opp on the play, plays Pithing needle on Aether Vial
I play pithing needle, Jace, TMS
A whole lot of nothing. I believe I swords his deathrite shaman. He plays Cantrips. I play Stoneforge mystic to fetch a Sword of Body and mind. He plays toxic deluge for 2. I play a useless Aether vial. I was forgetting Vial triggers sometimes.
He blows up Pithing needle with maelstrom Pulse (which also blows up his pithing needle). Luckily, forgetting vial triggers left it at 2. I then Vial in Revoker, naming Jace, TMS.
I equip swords to Revoker and attack to make wolves. After attacking some more, my opponent concedes.
After the match was over, opponent tells me he sided out Tarmogoyfs because he thought I was bringing in Rest in Peace. (I didn’t see the goyfs, so I didn’t bring it in).
Match 4 vs Goblins
I had considered building a goblins deck before. Same Vials, same ports. But from what I’ve been told, goblins are dead. Thanks deathrite shaman. They do very well against blue based decks though.
Game 1
we both played creatures.
He has a goblin warchief, into a second goblin warchief. While I had vial, mother of runes, and thalia. And creatures.
We both played creatures, except he had more by virtue of Goblin recruiter. With goblin warchief reduction, it was 1R, draw 1-4 goblins.
Eventually, we both had sizable board states. He makes a sick play. He used Goblin matron fetched a [[Goblin Sharpshooter]], played it, at the very cheap price of 1R, and then started gunning down my creatures (haste, courtesy of Warchief). I had too many x/1’s. I scooped after the battlefield was clear.
I learned some fun interaction of Thalia + Goblin warchief + Tarfire. After the +1 addition, -1 reduction, the cost is the low price of R.
Game 2
+2 gideon, (expecting a long grindy matchup), +1 pithing needle -1 vial, -2 stuff?
I tried to keep him off the enablers. Goblin Warchief, Goblin Lackey. Revoker (if possible) on Gempalm Incinerator. I believe I get either a Jitte or Sword of War and Peace and slowly whittle down his life total.
Game 3
Things are slow.
A memorable play was using Swords on his (Sac a goblin: add R to mana pool) to avoid x =3 that was going to kill Serra avenger. But my board still got wiped by Pyrokinesis.
Gideon makes an appearance. The board has reached a state where I’m able to have a Flickerwisp in play attached to Sword of War and Peace. 2 knight ally tokens. There is a sharpshooter on the other side. I play serra avenger.
At this point, my opponent attacks with some of his goblins, and I elect to block 1 of them, thinking my Serra avenger is not going to die. Ping (sharpshooter), 1 from goblin token, untap sharpshooter, ping again. Kill, untap sharpshooter.
The next turn, I emblem gideon, and just alpha strike. Opponent was forced to chump block with things. And the next attack the turn after just ends it.
Gideon is surprisingly good! Perhaps a sword of fire and ice would be better in this case, because Shock could kill off relevant things, and draw more cards.
Match 5 vs Burn
On stream - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/123070914?t=3h6m
Game 1
Notes: playing vs burn is scary. Also, opp didn’t play much of any cards in t1 t2 t3.
I did not know what my opponent was on. Red sleeves (probably burn), but it is not sure. I see my hand of 7, with a White Source and Colorless Source, and I decide to keep. I believe I should have StP his lavamancer at the end of his turn, but I drew my card too quickly.
I began the very slow sequence of Recruiter -> SfM -> Sword of War and Peace.
I lucked it out in G1. was at 1 life, then swung with war and peace and stabilized at 7 health, and opp with 0 cards in hand. No burn spell can kill (Price of Progress would hit for 4).
I had 2 flickerwisp stranded in hand. No WW to cast it, and probably not enough time.
Game 2
Had wasteland a barbarian ring.
Also, used pithing needle on Bloodstained Mire. Opponent didn’t crack a fetch in response, so I caught him on that.
I fetched a jitte with stoneforge mystic. I believe i had batterskull, but opted for the cheaper option.
(Talking to a friend later, I should just fetch for Batterskull. If they bolt the stoneforge, that is 3 dmg that isn’t going to face. Could also try to sneak in Batterskull with 3 mana open to dodge Smash to Smithereens.)
I did not play Jitte even though I had the two lands for it. My opponent was pretty suspicious. I think he played very conservatively after seeing SoWaP mainboard. Maybe there is some other spice that he hasn’t seen.
During the next turn, I play a land, (5 total), 2 to Cast Jitte and 2 to Equip.
Burn opp had smash to smithereens for the Jitte (could also have been batterskull. Batterskull would totally be the better play here.). I believe I maybe should have sandbagged some non-basics, so Pop would only have dealt 2-4 dmg instead of 6.
On the next turn, I play yet another land, and SoWaP. In response, my opponent bolted both my creatures while I was at 5 health. I believe he didn’t bolt face because he was cautious. Already seeing Sword of war and Peace Main Board, what else could be hiding? If he did bolt my face twice, I would have had to swords my Crusader to be at 1 life and gained more life from SoWaP. I’m not sure why he didn’t just let me waste my Mana trying to equip the Swords to a Creature and Bolt them in response.
I then played Phyrexian Revoker to get a creature out. He then PoP. I had to Swords my Revoker to stay Alive.
I then played another creature, and had to hope my opponent would brick the next two turns. He did not, and won.
Game 3
Opponent had a great start. And the burn to hit the last few points.
After this match, my goblin opponent asked me how come I didn’t opt to draw with my opponent. I find out later watching the VODs that my opponent was 3-1, so the Burn player didn’t have the option.
Match 6 vs Elves
Talked to elves player. Drawing is safest bet. ID into top 8.
Did not want to play it out. Would probably lose.
At this point, i get something to eat. I didn’t expect to be playing magic this long. I get something to eat. I’ve been drained. Don’t want to eat too much, and be too full though.
Top 8
Match 7 vs Belcher - Quarter Finals
Uh. I did not expect to be playing against this deck. We get decklists at top 8, and I ask my opponent to clarify some cards.
Game 1
Storm count 7, got 14 goblin tokens off Empty the warrens. & had goblin war strike for overkill.
+1 pithing needle
+1 containment priest
+2 canonist
??? anything else?
Game 2
I had a great hand with T1 pithing needle. I punted here. I should have named Goblin Charbelcher, but I was thinking i could disable mana sources. (i can’t). I named Lotus petal.
He stormed off, and made enough to play & launch belcher. I dodged a bullet. After flipping 7 cards, it hit a taiga. And that was 14 damage. I live at 6 life. I proceeded to play thalia, canonist, and that is lights out. Luck was on my side.
Game 3
He is on the play. Mull to 6. Contemplates. Mulls to 5. Never got there.
After the match, he was discussing with friends. On his mull to 6, he probably had a 50/50 chance, but he did wrong math and mulled to 5.
T2 thalia, and that was probably lights out.
Match 8 vs D&T mirror - Semi finals - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/123070914?t=6h6m
Game 1
I had vial.
I missed Vial triggers. Probably the first time I’ve missed them. It’s been a very long day.
He had natural turn 2 Jitte. I had not played the matchup, but having a missed vial trigger really hurt. Had Recruiter and other things in Hand that would have been much better had I remembered my vial trigger.
I was also not very familiar playing this mirror, so I named a lot of wrong things on Revoker.
Once Jitte was active, and I had no creatures, things were lights out.
I also had 3 Thalia’s stuck in my Hand. If they were played on curve (maybe cheated out with Vial), it could have delayed my opponent. But having multiples in hands in this match up felt really bad.
-4 thalia.
+2 Path, +2 Gideon, +1 council’s judgment
(I forget what else i cut, maybe 1x aether vial?)
Game 2
Things turned really grindy when we both had Sword of War and Peace both out on the battlefield. I missed yet another vial trigger. If I had everything done right, Serra avenger would have landed and been equipped and attacked one turn earlier. This additional attack would have probably ended the game much faster.
There was one very very long turn. He flickerwisp tricks to pull off sword of war and peace until my end step. I was trying to go through the motions, and see what my opponent would do. If I did nothing, and there was an alpha strike (or even just 2x Flickerwisp and 1 Stoneforge attack), I would be dead. I didn’t have enough blockers. I think my opponent probably wanted Serra avenger to die, so he double-blocked with Flickerwisp. I also looked at the very useless sanctum prelate in hand. It should probably have been a Council’s judgement (Will sideboard this out next time). Remove the Revoker, use Jitte to kill off the Flickerwisps, and that would have been game. But it lasted a couple more turns before a wolf was able to be Voltron’d up and go in for the kill.
Game 3
I had a lot of basic plains and had StP and Path to Exile in hand. My goal was to try to get Gideon out and see if I can win through 2/2’s.
On ~T5 I did play Council’s Judgment with the intent to remove Revoker. My opponent Vials in Flickerwisp to protect his Jitte in response. The Judgment removed Revoker, but then he rips one off the top of the deck.
Flickerwisp equipped with Jitte was unblocked for 2 turns, and that was lights out.
Post mortem thoughts:
For D&T mirror:
I’m a Legacy newbie. Umezawa’s Jitte is super important in the matchup. Once it connects, it snowballs out of control. I did not know this. Kills pretty much everything in the D&T deck, and is colorless to boot.
Things to do differently next time (for D&T mirrors) after watching the VODS:
G1: Hit Vial Triggers. Think a bit more carefully about what to name with Revokers
G3: On T4, look at Gideon vs Stoneforge + Jitte. If I had a Jitte in play, things would have gone way differently.
On Burn:
I'll have to look into the nuances of what to do in this match-up. A friend said that it is right to fetch for Batterskull even if they kill the Stoneforge. I believe it makes sense, since this essentially removing one burn spell that could have gone to face.
Post Tournament:
The deck was running hot. I drew what I needed to draw, and tutors to find what I didn’t draw. It has a surprisingly amount of good play against random things. I love the deck. Survived a blast from Belcher. Much luck.
I was satisfied with Serra Avenger. Getting it out on T3 feels really good. It was usually unblocked and triggering Equipment effects. I had 2x Faerie Macabre, but I might do a 1-1 split with Surgical Extraction or replace it all. I can tutor a Macabre, and it can’t get Force’d, but the one time I used it in tournament was against 4C Loam. I’d rather get rid of all the Punishing Fires...
On Sword of Body and Mind. I specifically got the From the Vault version. Foil looks horrible. Should have gotten the original foil, or Kaladesh Masterpiece. The Wolves were cool. They were Green, so that I had a different color creature to block Pro White creatures with. The milling effect did not matter too much. It could actually make my opp’s cards better. It does help remove tutor targets. Having said that, I might move back Sword of Fire and Ice to main board. The shock effect can kill off a Mother of Runes, and I should be expecting to face more D&T’s.
Played Legacy, got a [[City of Traitors]] for my Troubles. Might be on the path to Build some Eldrazi’s. #feelsgoodman.
@Medea_: Thanks for running and maintaining Thraben University! You were a big help on the starting foundations for playing the deck.
@elpresidente: Mirror was interesting. Hope to play better next time! Will work on better targets for Revoker.
Hey marvin. in my experience vs burn, jitte is the best piece of equipment. if it connects they lose, and if the bolt the creature it minimum gained you life, but you still have it in play. the issue with batterskull is that if they bolt mystic then, you have a brick in your hand. mirror is hard, we both made some pretty big mistakes, but that happens after 8 rounds
@azeotropes
Congrats on your good run! You managed to get paired against Elves when you could intentionally draw AND you also lucked out against Belcher. I'm glad you found the site helpful.
If you have questions about sideboarding, the stuff you'll read on my site in the matchups section or advice you'll get from the forums here might be better than Wescoe's article. I disagree with a good portion of the boarding choices outlined in the article, but it's a fine starting point.
With R/B Reanimator on the decline, I don't like Faerie Macabre as a sideboard option anymore. Your gut feeling is correct.
The mirror often comes down to an equipment war. Cards like Jitte and SoWaP warp the game, and Revoker/removal battles are often about trying to connect with these cards.
Against Burn, I'll usually fetch Jitte unless I have an active Mother of Runes or a backup Stoneforge; in those cases I'll fetch Batterskull.
The FTV:SoBaM is hideous. Mistakes were made.
Just went 3-0-1 at the Legacy Challenge in Indianapolis. Ran Wescoe's list from GP Louisville minus the Palace Jailer and the Spirit of the Labyrinth, and added an extra Mirran Crusader and Serra Avenger. Did not regret those choices at all.
I also tried Medea's moving Batterskull to the board and ran Sword of Body and Mind main. I think its probably a good idea, but my match ups werent exactly good for testing it.
I faced a deck called "turns" or something, that I think was ported over from modern. Won game one easily, didnt see much, and didnt know how to board. Game two he got there, game three I knew what was going on and was fast and got there.
Round two was BUG Delver. Game one he had three delvers and almost got there, but. I was able to get mom protecting serra avenger to start cleaning up. Game two he was fast and I wasnt. Game three he had a lot of answers but no board. We danced until time.
Round three was burn. Game one I got there just in time. I packed no burn hate in my board, so I just had to bring in the batterskull and some disenchants. I think i brought in Canonist too. Game two he dropped an ensnaring bridge pretty quickly and zorched me hard and fast. Game three was nice as I was able to get batterskull on board within a few turns. He dropped the ensnaring bridge and I played Sanctum Prelate on 1. His hand backed up with spells and I smashed with the germ token.
Round four was sneak and show. I misplayed hard game one and lost. Games two and three I was able to mount a good defense with Karakas, Revokers (on griselbrand and sneak attack) and porting/wasting his land. Game two had some great moments where I kept ripping flickerwisps and vialing them in during my end step depriving him of his Griselbrand.
All in all, Flickerwisps and Revokers are awesome. So are mirran crusaders and serra avengers. Some new toys like Palace Jailer are interesting, but some of the classics are just too good.
100% agreed. I see many players going up to 3 Recruiters and 2 Prelates, wondering why they can't close out the game when, "They have it locked up so well." The answer is usually because the muscle of the deck got cut for too many of the flashy new cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrimoirePath
Yeah, I am thinking about just dropping recruiters altogether for the time being, running two prelates, and maybe even giving Thalia 2.0 another spin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Medea_
I think Recruiter is still good enough to play and I wouldn't drop it myself but I currently play only two copies and feel this is correct. Some are good but I don't want too many since he's slow and thus your opponent might already done it's work by the time you find whatever you need with Recruiter and play it.
I agree with not overloading on Prelate too. I play 1 and wouldn't play more unless I was in a land heavy metagame or something similar to that. She's great against some decks but bad or a lot worse at least against many others.