15th at SCG LA with White Weenie

15th at SCG LA with White Weenie

I’m relatively young for a magic player (I’m 15) and so I don’t have the ability to travel to a lot of events. And as my local store’s legacy tourneys are non-sanctioned, this was my first real event according to the DCI and first time playing with more than 20 people in the tournament. (I feel bad for the people I beat who’s DCI rankings will go way down because they got beat by ‘someone who had never played before’) Anyways, my buddy Paul and I left for LA at around 7 and arrived there at about 8:30 after some trouble finding the event center. Being our first event we were pretty nervous, but we watched the end of the standard finals, signed up, and were ready to go.

My list:

4 Squadron Hawk
4 Serra Avenger
4 Weathered Wayfarer
3 Figure of Destiny
3 Mother of Runes
2 Jotun Grunt
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 AEther Vial
4 Swords to Plowsharers
2 Path to Exile
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Wasteland
1 Rishadan Port
2 Windswept Heath
1 Arid Mesa
12 Plains

Sideboard:
4 Pithing Needle
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Runed Halo
1 Silence
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Aura of Silence
1 Oblivion Ring

*Note on the list: My deck choice and list were limited by budget, I had most of what I needed for the list but it defiantly would not have been what I played had I had a choice. (Although now I’m not so sure because I did pretty good) Also huge thanks to my friends Paul Stockdill for lending me his Sword of Fire and Ice and Paul Burroughs for lending me his Enlightened Tutors, Windswept Heaths, and his Relic of Progenitus.


Round 1: Cliff with Merfolk

Game 1:
He won the die roll and led island, cursecatcher, which is a great way to start the day. I tested a lot against Merfolk (Paul, my buddy, plays it) and it’s a pretty good matchup.
The only thing that’s really scary for you is Coralhelm. He starts off strong with several lords and beats me down to 1 and drops a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, which would seal the deal even though I had a Jitte on a Figure and a Mother of Runes, but I topdecked a swords. I was able to give Kira pro-black with Mom, and then swords it so I could remove my jitte counters to kill a lord. Once I stabilized, jitte carried me through, killing all of his creatures.

Sideboard: -4 Weathered Wayfarers +3 Pithing Needle +1 Oblivion Ring

Game 2:
He has a slow start and I swarm him with Squadron Hawks and Sword of Fire and Ice ends the game

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2: Neil with Team America

Game 1:
My opponent received a match lost for forgetting a card on his decklist form.

Game 2:
He starts Pondering and Hymning as Team America tends to do. This scares me a bit because its hard for me to deal with Team America’s creatures and their disruption is hard to fight through. The Rock and Team America are probably my worst matchups other than storm (or combo in general). I get a wayfarer to resolve and end up wastelanding him 4 times but he hardly flinches and keeps dropping lands. I swords a Tombstalker and ‘vial’ in a Jitte with a Stoneforge. He drops another Tombstaker and I hover between 1-3 life for a few turns with my Wayfarer equipped with a Jitte. Eventually I get another Stoneforge and get my Sword of Fire and Ice which allows me to finish off the Tombstalker and win the game.

2-0 (4-0)

I was feeling pretty good beating Team America even if it was just once. Testing online, the matchup was atrocious at best. (Although this tournament doesn’t show it because I end up beating another Team America later 2-0)

Round 3: Alex with Merfolk

Game 1:
Yay Merfolk again. Like usual, he drops a bunch of lords and beats me early but my fliers (Caw and Serra) win it for me pretty soon.

Sideboard: -4 Weathered Wayfarer +3 Pithing Needle +1 Oblivion Ring

Game 2:
We go back and forth for a while, until I get a jitte on a hawk. He has several lords out, and drops a risky standstill. I was at 2 and he was at 19 with 2 vials and 2 or 3 lords (few or no cards in hand) and I had a Hawk, Jitte, Mom and Figure and I am able to carry it through with Jitte and Mom chumping and protecting itself. Just goes to show how amazing Jitte can be.

3-0 (6-0)

Quick aside: Sword of Fire and Ice, although I got it once (I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t relevant) didn’t seem that good against Merfolk, I think I would almost always rather grab a Jitte with Stoneforge. Its mana cost is also prohibitive, so I don’t think I’ll be running it in the future, but I need to test it more.

Round 4: Ben Perry with Belcher (Congrats on top 8ing)

Game 1:
Ben was a cool guy, although a little scary at first. (You can see his picture on SCG) He won the die roll and proceed to kill me on turn one.

Sideboard: I don’t remember exactly what I took out -4 swords -2 path – 4 Weathered Wayfarer and some other stuff I think some vials and Sword of fire and ice +4 Pithing Needle +2 Enlightened Tutor +1 Runed Halo +1 Ethersworn Canonist +1 Silence +1 Thorn of Amethyst +1 Aura of Silence (Yep, I have 11 cards for Belcher)

Game 2:
I mulligan to 5, having only wastelands for lands and no hate in the first two hands. And keep Plains, Wasteland, Needle, Vial, Stoneforge. I needle Charbelcher and he doesn’t have the Empty the Warrens and goes into discard mode. I draw another needle and a Runed Halo which I name belcher again in case he has some sort of bounce (and I don’t think there is anything else to name) while I get a Jitte with Stoneforge and he scoops when Jitte gets to 8 counters, being unable to Empty the Warrens (although he did end of drawing one, it wouldn’t have mattered) Jitte wins the game again.

Game 3:
He kills me turn one on the play. Oh well, nothing I could have done.

3-1 (7-2)

Round 5: David with Affinity (Ravager/Burn version)

Game 1:
He gets 2 Etched Champions and but not much else business. Still, with no way to remove the Champions, they take me all the way down to 1 (I stabilize at 1 like 5 times during the tournament), at which point I get a Jitte and remove them. After that, he doesn’t have much else and I beat him down.

Sideboard: -3 Mother of Runes +3 Pithing Needle (I board in Needle without seeing anything to name, just because it is affinity and Mom sucks)

Game 2:
Of course I get a needle turn one and decide to name Arcbound Ravager because I saw a galvanic blast at some point during game 1. (Even though Tezzeret would have been much scarier) As we play it out, he ends up having 2 Ravagers so I got pretty lucky. Without the Ravagers, he only had 2 Signal Pests, which I Leonin Relic-Warder off a vial and block with Squadron Hawk. He chumps with Blinkmoths but couldn’t find an answer to my growing horde.

4-1 (9-2)

Round 6: (Another) David with Affinity (Tezzeret/Master of Etherium)

Game 1:
Really long back and forth, I get a Jitte at 5 life and finish him off

Sideboard: -3 Mother of Runes +3 Pithing Needle

Game 2:
He gets a really early Cranial Plating on a Memnite, which I have to Swords so I could Needle the Plating. He gets 2 Master of Etheriums which get chumped with Squadron Hawks and until I get Jitte again. I almost stabilized but he played Tezzeret with 8 artifacts and I was at 15. I swords a Memnite when he tried to ultimate so I only went to 1, but he drew another Master of Etherium and I couldn’t deal with it.

Sideboard: -1 Weathered Wayfarer +1 Pithing Needle

Game 3:
He has another early Cranial Plating on a Ornithopter, which I have to swords. Next turn I Leonin Relic-Warder the plating, but he gets a Master of Etherium, which I have to swords again, and he goes up to 40 (+11 from Orithopter w/ Plating and +9 from Master) I wayfarer away some of his lands while we both go into topdeck mode. I get a Jitte but it’s a while before I get a Serra Avenger. I don’t remember it, but my notes says he got a Ravager, but I had the Needle for it. I beat him down with Serra with Jitte, and he can’t attack or risk more Jitte counters. When his board is cleared and I am at 1, I start to remove Jitte counters to pump the Avenger, and get a little excited and go down to 2 counters, and in response to the trigger to get more Jitte counters, he Shrapnel Blasts me. I would have lost right there but I just removed a counter to gain life and swordsed my own Avenger. He scooped soon after that. Again Jitte and some luck won it for me.

5-1 (11-3)

Round 7: Patrick Sullivan with Burn (Congrats on 5th)

Game 1: I was pretty nervous playing some who I actually knew from coverage and respected, and it was made worse because AJ Sacher was watching our game the whole time (I think he dropped after losing to Dredge and something else). He won the roll and went Wooded Foothill, basic mountain, Goblin Guide. I put him on Zoo, but wasn’t sure because he fetched a mountain. I led with vial, and he played a Grim Lavamancer but no land. He bashed for 2 until I got a Serra Avenger with a Jitte off of a Stoneforge, at which point he scooped. The only other card I saw was a bolt, so I wasn’t sure if he was playing Zoo and just wanted to avoid getting Wastelanded. In any case he kept a one land hand and it didn’t get him there.

Sideboard: I thought about boarding in Relics, but didn’t because he might not be playing Zoo

Game 2:
We traded Figures and Guides for Squadron Hawks, until he burns me out on turn 5-6

Sideboard: I didn’t have anything I wanted to board in… wasn’t expecting to see burn…

Game 3:
He got 3 Goblin Guides, and I had led with Vial so I was a turn slow, and he killed me really quickly.

5-2 (12-5)

Round 8: Edgar Flores with Team America

Game 1: Going into this round I was in 19th, so I needed to win this match to top 16, so I was not stoked to sit down opposite Edgar Flores. I see he is on Team America right away, and decide to drop a turn two Jotun Grunt which is usually extremely bad, but it ends up living for 4 turns and shrinks his double Goyfs to nothing. I draw enough creatures to get through his removal and beat him down.

Sideboard: -1 Figure of Destiny -1 Sword of Fire and Ice -2 Leonin Relic-Warder +2 Relic of Progenitus +1 Runed Halo +1 Oblivion Ring

Game 2:
Turn one I play a wayfarer, and then a turn two I play a wasteland and a Stoneforge getting Jitte, while he is brainstorming and fetching. He plays a Tombstaker and Snuff out on my Stoneforge. He has 2 Underground Seas and I have a Wasteland and Plains. In my upkeep, I go to waste his Sea and in response fetch with Wayfarer. He reads Wayfarer and calls a judge. The judge rules that I can’t do that because we would have the same amount of lands when the Sea goes. I was really frustrated because I knew it worked and it was a pretty basic Wayfarer trick, I was going ask the Head Judge, but the floor judge came back like ten seconds later to say that it was in fact possible. So I fetch a waste and waste both of his lands, then end up drawing my Rishadan Port. Next turn I play Jitte and port while he has no permanents except Tombstaker. He gets a fetch, but can’t pop it because of the Port, and can’t attack for fear of Jitte counters. We draw go for a few turns until I topdeck a Path, which gets Forced, and then topdeck a Swords which resolves. He gets another land and Ponder and Brainstorms for an answer but scoops after not seeing anything.

6-2 (14-5)

I was so happy to beat both Team America and Edgar Flores.

So that was it, after 8 rounds of swiss, I was in 15th place and went home with $125 and four open points. I played really tight, making few mistakes, so I was really proud of that. I don’t feel I could have done much different, and my only loses were to people who top 8ed so that was cool.

Thanks to my Mom for driving us down there, for the Pauls for letting me borrow their stuff, and for my deck for being a boss and getting Jitte like every game.

Also Paul Stockdill for the awesome deckname: The StotenSquawk

Nice job on the finish~

Hard to complain when you lose to two guys who topped 8.

Any changes u would make to your deck after the tourney? (SB/Main)

Awesome you did so well for your 1st event and props for getting into events so young.
Why did you pick WW over Death and Taxes?

Things i would change: I would take out plains and play more fetches, I just didn't have any more fetches. I will most likely take out Sword of Fire and Ice but for what i don't know yet. Also, I might cut some or all of the Figures, as they are really only good against Merfolk and a few other decks, but again I'm not sure yet what to put in.

Really, I didn't test much with Death and Taxes. Mangara seemed really slow and Flickewisp not really amazing. To me it seemed like a 'danger of cool things deck' but it is an actually established deck so it must be pretty good, I just didn't test enough. Also, with my budget I didn't want to get Karakas, especially since the SCG new buylist. It helps against Show and Tell decks and Dredge sometimes (sideboard Iona?) but I already have decent tools for Show and Tell and wasn't expecting a whole lot of dredge. (Although I was dead wrong, there was a TON of dredge in LA, but luckily i didn't have to play any)

Congrats on your finish, but I have to play my "bad guy" card and remind you that you (and your R1 merfolk opponent) made a terrible mistake if you indeed gave your opponent's Kira protection from black with your Mother of Runes. That is, by the wording of your mom, impossible.

I'm fairly interested in how SquadHawk did play out. What I read from your report is that you mostly used them as meat shields, occasionally carrying an equipment. Did you ever tried to used them as carddraw engine (other than the effect of the hawks itself), like with Brainstorm or Scroll Rack?

PS: I get the "The Stoneforge Mysticten Squadron Hawk"-part of the deckname, but what's the "ten" for?

Wow, thanks for catching that, but I feel really bad now. I didn't know, but thats still cheating.

I didn't test Hawk with anything else, I think its good enough on its own.

The -ten is for Jotun Grunt

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Originally Posted by Wizened Cenn

<Crazy long post deleted> Don't do that. - Bardo

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I believe Alex B has no Standstills main. If he was the one you are pertaining to. Solid T16 finish, btw! Not bad on your first big event!

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Originally Posted by Wizened Cenn

He has 2 Underground Seas and I have a Wasteland and Plains. In my upkeep, I go to waste his Sea and in response fetch with Wayfarer. He reads Wayfarer and calls a judge. The judge rules that I can’t do that because we would have the same amount of lands when the Sea goes. I was really frustrated because I knew it worked and it was a pretty basic Wayfarer trick, I was going ask the Head Judge, but the floor judge came back like ten seconds later to say that it was in fact possible. So I fetch a waste and waste both of his lands, then end up drawing my Rishadan Port.

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Heheheheheh. I am so glad this happened.


Congratulations on the finish. How was the singleton Harrier over the fourth Mom? Did two E. Tutors feel like enough for you? Would you ever play more fetchlands?

It wasn't Alex Bertoncini, but thank you.

EDIT: I really liked the Harrier, I was happy to see it whenever it popped up, but glad I only played one. 1 Figure will likely become a Mom. And I will definitely get more fetches with my winnings, I think 6 is probably a good number. I also want to test a singleton Mishra's Factory, so you can grab it with Wayfarer. 2 tutors is probably enough, it helps you get the hate but a lot of the time its to slow and you are losing a card. I think I only boarded it i once (against Belcher)

Gratz on the finish!!! Reminded me of when I was like 14 and wrecking everyone in vintage with Stax. lol. good work, WW is a force. haha. Factory would be a pretty good target. Was it hard, not having WW open on turn 2 at all? How bout a side against combo...Ethersworn Cannonist much?

Grats again.

EDIT: I mean I only noticed one, but would you want more cannonist? lol

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Originally Posted by magicplaya10

Gratz on the finish!!! Reminded me of when I was like 14 and wrecking everyone in vintage with Stax. lol. good work, WW is a force. haha. Factory would be a pretty good target. Was it hard, not having WW open on turn 2 at all? How bout a side against combo...Ethersworn Cannonist much?

Grats again.

EDIT: I mean I only noticed one, but would you want more cannonist? lol

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He has Enlightened Tutor to go find them.

And yeah, Ben is a fucking teddy bear that looks like someone who would mug you.

Congratulations for doing so well! It's nice to see white weenie lists kicking butt in Legacy proper. :)

Team America seems like a very good matchup for your deck, I would feel more confident in it. You're basically immune to Stifle and Wasteland, and play way too many creatures for them to deal with. This report is a great example of how any deck can win in Legacy. It just takes good matchups.

Congrats man! For you at 15 to take a archetype like WW and top 16 with it, amazing job! When I was 15 I'm pretty sure I would've ended up near last, my first two packs Magic I opened contained volcanic island and shivan dragon, I threw the volcanic aside thinking it sucked and built a crappy deck with the dragon containing black vice and other cards I thought were cool lol.

BTW, 15th at 15 ;)

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Originally Posted by troopatroop

Team America seems like a very good matchup for your deck, I would feel more confident in it. You're basically immune to Stifle and Wasteland, and play way too many creatures for them to deal with. This report is a great example of how any deck can win in Legacy. It just takes good matchups.

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And a decent pilot, giving some credits to Wizened Cenn. Grats for doing well and a nice report!

+1 Engineered Explosives in the board would go a long way against Dredge and Belcher.

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Originally Posted by Wizened Cenn

+1 Engineered Explosives in the board would go a long way against Dredge and Belcher.

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Since you're monocolored, I would suggest Ratchet Bomb instead. Both would cost 2 anyways to blow up anything 0. But Ratchet Bomb can be ramped up if needed.

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Originally Posted by lorddotm

He has Enlightened Tutor to go find them.

And yeah, Ben is a fucking teddy bear that looks like someone who would mug you.

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I am surprisingly nice under most pretences. Congrats... I was happy to see so many people I beat finish so high. Your other loss (Patrick Sullivan) was also one of my wins.

Game two was a total mistake for me. I needed a red mana to keep my hand, or any mana to turn a manamorphose into it, to empty for twelve turn one on my hand of six. My odds of getting it in one turn were almost 3 out of four the way I was thinking, but in retrospect it was actually more like 2 out of five. What a disaster.

Congrats on the finish and your play, you were a great opponent and I hope that legacy continues to be a success for you.

grats on finish nice to see WW lol

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- Bardo

Grats! Great success for your age and budget! I'd advise starting your legacy collection from either a Black base or a Blue base as Hymms and Force are good in any metagame. You can then tune your deck to beat whatever meta you are expecting without having to spend too much on new cards.

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Originally Posted by ivanpei

Grats! Great success for your age and budget! I'd advise starting your legacy collection from either a Black base or a Blue base as Hymms and Force are good in any metagame. You can then tune your deck to beat whatever meta you are expecting without having to spend too much on new cards.

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This is a pretty solid idea... though with the current price of blue duals and force of will black may prove easier than blue. There are b/w aggro decks that can lead to b/w/g decks that use mostly staple cards... eventually expanding out into an array of options.

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Originally Posted by PanderAlexander

BTW, 15th at 15 ;)

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Hopefully that's not a trend for his placings :)

Hey mate, congratulations on your performance!

Just a note for the future, you say that you targeted Kira with your Mother of Runes in the first game first round you played against Merfolk. Mother of Runes can't target creatures you don't control, only creatures you control, so you can't legally make that play.

Man I wish I could have slung cards as good as you at 15! I'm still not as good and I'm much older than that now! Keep it up!

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Originally Posted by pandaman

Hey mate, congratulations on your performance!

Just a note for the future, you say that you targeted Kira with your Mother of Runes in the first game first round you played against Merfolk. Mother of Runes can't target creatures you don't control, only creatures you control, so you can't legally make that play.

Man I wish I could have slung cards as good as you at 15! I'm still not as good and I'm much older than that now! Keep it up!

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Wow, I actually didn't know Mom's oracle text read like that. That's pretty ridiculous!

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Originally Posted by Uncoordinated

Wow, I actually didn't know Mom's oracle text read like that. That's pretty ridiculous!

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Yeah, otherwise you could destroy your opponent's enchant creature spells, etc.

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I was able to give Kira pro-black with Mom

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This is where i stopped reading...

It's already been addressed, dude. Kind of unnecessary dickishness there, don't you think?

Just wondering if you considered Retribution of the Meek for the sideboard, especially since you mentioned Rock and Team America were bad match-ups. Also, the one copy of Silence in the SB seems like it could be space better spent.

Anyhoo. Congrats on the finish. :)

I would think Leyline of Sanctity would be a good sideboard option for this deck on a budget. Stops most storm options in one card. There are lots of other things for goblin tokens.

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Originally Posted by kusumoto

I would think Leyline of Sanctity would be a good sideboard option for this deck on a budget. Stops most storm options in one card. There are lots of other things for goblin tokens.

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It also stops random things like heavy discard decks and Burn decks.

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Originally Posted by kusumoto

I would think Leyline of Sanctity would be a good sideboard option for this deck on a budget. Stops most storm options in one card. There are lots of other things for goblin tokens.

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What does it stop against storm that you particularly care about?

Tendrils? It may not stop Empty the Warrens, but it's an option, to say the least.