Originally Posted by
acman54321
Seeing as I finally have something worth posting about, I made an account for this site because I want to post my tournament report!
I’ve been playing UWR Delver for about 6 months, and I was happy to play during the deck’s short trip on the Treasure Cruise. The latest banning was a brutal reminder at just how little card advantage the deck had before TC. I was hesitant to swap my Pyromancers, Cruises, and basic lands back to Delvers, Dazes, and Wastelands, but due to my limited collection (and budget $$), it was my only choice.
In my few test games before the tournament I was quickly reminded of a few things:
- Just how fast of a clock Delver presents, and how important that is in the combo matchup
- My love/hate relationship with Daze (it’s great when you need it, but it’s a dead card late in the game)
- How versatile and powerful Spell Pierce is (and how it’s relevant a little bit longer than Daze is)
Maindeck:
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 True-Name Nemesis
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Gitaxian Probe
Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
1 Containment Priest
2 Rest in Peace
2 Pyroblast
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Wear/Tear
1 Flusterstorm
3 Meddling Mage
I expected Combo, Miracles, and BUG to be my most common matchups, and tried to prepare accordingly. If anyone has any more sideboard advice on those matchups, I’d be glad to hear it.
Tournament Report
1/24 Legacy. 34 people, 6 rounds -> cut to top 8
NOTICE: I do not remember 100% of my matches and I wasn’t taking notes. Some of the following details will be slightly off, including what I sideboarded.
I arrived to the tournament AFTER the scheduled start time, due to unexpected traffic. I paid and was copying down my decklist while they explained the rules and started the tournament. I had been planning on adjusting my deck before the tournament (adding a wasteland borrowed from a friend, and possibly including a 2nd Containment Priest in the side), but I ran out of time. When I was copying my list down, I was 1 card short. By the time I finalized my decklist, I was scrambling to my seat where my round 1 opponent was patiently waiting to start.
Round 1: BUG Delver with DTT and TNN
Still a little flustered, and trying to make up for lost time, I rushed into game 1. He won the die roll, and led with a Delver. I dropped a Tundra and passed. On his turn, he revealed a Daze off the Delver trigger, and I Swords the Delver before his draw step (should I have just done this on my turn?). He draws, and drops a Tarmogoyf. Seeing no other removal in my hand, I hastily Force of Will the goyf… He Dazes my Force… :cry: Luckily, this was by far my biggest misplay of the day.
SB: +2 Pyroblast, +1 StP, +2 RiP. -4 Force, -1 Spell Pierce?
I honestly don’t remember the rest of the match, but I lost the second game, too. BUG still does not feel like a good matchup as they have great answers for our threats, and are able to 2-for-1 us repeatedly.
0-1
After this round I was able to walk around the room and I saw a TON of combo. Lots of storm and reanimator, a few dredge and elves, and some Sneak and Show.
Round 2: Belcher
Not knowing what I’m up against, I keep a decent hand with no counterspells. I start with a Ponder. My opponent then makes 12 Goblins on his turn (I know, I’m lucky that it wasn’t more!). I drop a Stoneforge fetching Batterskull and take 11 damage the next turn. I drop a Batterskull on the next attack and am able to stabilize.
SB: +2 Pithing Needle, + 3 Meddling Mage, +1 Flusterstorm. -3 StP, -2 TNN, -1 Lightning Bolt
Game 2 I drew a hand with a clock and plenty of counters.
1-1
Round 3: Affinity
I’m lucky again that my opponent had a slow start; my opening hand was NOT suited to deal with a quick affinity start. I did almost lose the game when I grabbed a Batterskull instead of Jitte, forgetting that Jitte was the only way we have to kill an Etched Champion.
SB: +2 Pithing Needle, +2 Wear/Tear, +2 Pyroblast, +1 StP. -4 Daze, -2 FoW, -1 Spell Pierce
G2 I had an early Jitte + timely removal. And a Needle naming Tezz the turn before he topdecked it.
2-1
Round 4: Affinity/Tezzerator hybrid with Thopter/Sword and Chalice
I don’t remember much of this match other than being locked under a chalice game 1, and seeming to have all the answers in the other two. Question: Is it legal to cast spells into an opponent’s Chalice, and resolving the spell if they forget the trigger? Is it unsportsmanlike? I felt bad trying it, but my opponent never slipped.
SB: +2 Pithing Needle, +2 Wear/Tear, +2 Pyroblast. -1 StP, -1 Spell Pierce, -4 Daze on the draw/-3 FoW, -1 Daze on the play
3-1
Round 5: W/B Stax/Prison/Tokens (not sure what to call this)
Again, I don’t remember the details of this match. I think I won G1, and in Game 2 my Wasteland + soft counter plan did work. Oh, he also mulliganned to 5.
This was my first time playing against Humility, so thanks to my opponent for answering my questions!
SB: +2 Wear/Tear, +1 SoFaI, +2 Meddling Mage. -3 StP, -2 Daze (I kept in Lightning Bolt because I saw Elspeth)
4-1
Round 6: Sneak & Show
Having the worst tie-breakers, I got paired down and had to play for the top 8.
G1 my opponent had a slow hand, I Wasted as much as I could. The game was decided with a big fight over Overmaster. He ended up paying for Spell Pierce and Daze to make it resolve. I don’t know what his plan was with one mana left (he had already made his land drop), but he scooped after drawing off his Overmaster.
SB: +1 Containment Priest, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Flusterstorm, +3 Meddling Mage, +2 Pithing Needle. -3 StP, -4 Lightning Bolt, -2 TNN
G2 he mulliganned to 4, and I won.
5-1. 15 points, putting me into first place, ahead of those who were able to draw into the top 8. Being on the play in the top 8 really helped.
Quarterfinals: ANT
I matched up my friend who was happy to get into the Top 8 on tiebreakers. This was a fun matchup we have played before.
He wins game 1 after I keep an iffy hand with some soft counters, a couple Brainstorms, but no clock.
SB: +2 Pyroblast, +2 RiP, +1 Flusterstorm, +3 Meddling mage. -3 StP, -2 TNN, -1 Lightning Bolt, -1 Jitte
I win Game 2 with a Delver and a Meddling Mage. He tried to go off with a mini natural Tendrils to buy time, but I topdecked the Flusterstorm the turn before.
Before Game 3, the other three semifinalists (who had finished their matches), my opponent, and I all agreed to split the top 4 prizes once a winner was determined. My friend and I decided to further split the prize so that we both left happy.
Game 3, my opponent mulliganned, and we both seemed to have slow hands. I started by wasting his Tropical Island because my hand was full of soft counters. The game went on and I found a clock in Meddling Mage (on Infernal Tutor), and a Rest in Peace. It came to the point where my counters were useless (double Carpet of Flowers) and my opponent needed to force a win through Ad Nauseam. He spent his hand to get storm and mana, but when he went to Abrupt Decay my Mage, he fetched and realized I had already wasted his only green source! Another dodged bullet…
6-1
Semifinals: BUG Delver with 1 maindeck Tasigur!
Game 1 I forget, but I think I won. I remember Dazing and Spell Piercing some key cards like Liliana and Hymn.
SB: +2 Pyroblast, +1 StP, +2 RiP. -2 Force, -3 Daze
Game 2 was pretty back and forth, but he was able to stick a Goyf, knocking me low. He landed another Goyf, seeming to lock up the game, but I had Pondered into a Rest in Peace the turn before. RiP stuck around, and I got a Jitte online. I wiped his board in response to an Abrupt Decay on RiP, and sealed the game with a second RiP.
This matchup is one of the reasons I love RiP as my grave hate, and why I’m hesitant to add Snapcaster, DTT, or anything of my own that relies on the graveyard.
7-1
Finals: TES
Game 1 we both had slow hands again. The turning point was when he attempted Dark Ritual -> Dark Ritual -> Ad Nauseam in response to me cracking a fetch after a brainstorm, and I Dazed the AN. I went on to win.
SB: +2 Pyroblast, +2 RiP, +1 Flusterstorm, +3 Meddling mage. -3 StP, -2 TNN, -1 Lightning Bolt, -1 Jitte
I think he won Game 2 without much interference.
Game 3 I was able to land a Meddling Mage naming LED (which I had seen through a Probe, and it was his only mana source). He kept cantripping and I landed a Rest in Peace. I cast another Meddling Mage to quicken my clock and I chose to name Burning Wish because it’s a combo piece, and I didn’t want him to Wish for a boardwipe from his sideboard. That proved to be enough, and I won! After the game he showed me 2 LED and 2 Burning Wish in his hand…
Final record: 8-1 and my first Legacy tournament victory!
Conclusions:
1. I’d really like to put some sort of CA into this list besides the Stoneforge package. I may start testing -1 Probe +1 DTT in the main deck. The problem with DTT is that it’s slow, reactive, and it makes our grave hate worse.
2. Maybe it’s time to switch Sword of Fire and Ice for Sword of Feast and Famine? With the rise of BUG and fall of UR Delver, the protections might be more relevant.
3. I’d like to add another piece of GY hate into the sideboard. Likely either a 2nd Containment Priest or a Relic of Progenitus. Maybe removing the 2nd Pithing Needle?
4. This might be a metagame call, but I might switch the 4th StP in the sideboard for the 4th Spell Pierce or a 2nd Flusterstorm. Some more reliable counters against combo decks would make me feel more at ease.
5. I got really lucky the whole day. I didn’t take a single mulligan the entire tournament (which might be more of a statement about the iffy hands I sometimes kept), and combo decks seemed to have very slow hands against me.
6. I definitely want to play more legacy! The store I go to offers great prize support and all of my opponents were friendly, knowledgeable, and fun to play against. The only downside is that the store is 50 minutes away from me.
Decklist Changes:
-1 Fetchland, +1 Wasteland. Wastelands are great, and the only reason I didn’t run 4 was because I ran out of time to sleeve up the one I borrowed.
-1 Probe, +1 DTT. I want to see how this goes. It might turn out that Dig is just too slow for this deck, or it might mess up the GY hate options too much, but we’ll see.
-1 StP, +1 Flusterstorm in the sideboard. Based on this tournament’s meta, I expect more combo decks than creature decks in the future.
As I test out DTT, I’ll see how it effects my GY hate. And I’ll possibly dedicate another slot in the SB towards it.
Thanks for reading! I hope it was enjoyable and informative.
