Source Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Weldi

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Strawberry Shortcake

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
2 Plateau
1 Great Furnace

1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Simian Spirit Guide

4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter’s Servant
3 Goblin Engineer
3 Goblin Welder
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Ethersworn Canonist

3 Grindstone
3 Smuggler’s Copter
1 Ensnaring Bridge

1 Blood Moon

4 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast

2 Enlightened Tutor
3 Karn the Great Creator

Sideboard:
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grindstone
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Duergar Hedge-Mage

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVkUvmDQ3HY



Ahh how good it is to be back. Of course I am a big fan of the bannings, as all three cards were steadily leading to Legacy’s downfall with boring games. As soon as they were announced, I started brewing up some new lists that would restore Shortcake to it’s rightful place among the Decks to Beat. The easy cut right away was the Lightning Bolts from the maindeck. While still an insane card, the versatility of the maindeck with tutors for stealing game 1’s is likely more important. This makes it so you will need to expose your manabase to wasteland with more plateau usage for end step Enlightened Tutors, but the idea is the tradeoff is worth is as you’ll be trying to win the game off of it. To round out the build, I experimented with some numbers in the sideboard like no bolts and three abrades, three bolts and two abrades, etc, before realizing I just really like the four bolts and their ability to dome for the win and handle walkers too. Abrade is of course better against Chalice, but Karn, Cratermaker, Hedge Mage, and Engineered Explosives give a variety of ways to handle it too. Null Rod can also be answered in workaround ways like upticking Karn on Null Rod to make it a 2/2 creature. Magus is there as a different Blood Moon avenue should you choose to board out the white cards and would still like a way to tutor up the effect against decks like Post or otherwise.

There are arguments to the amount and types of grave hate in the board as well, the one Tormod’s Crypt is probably never going to get cut, but I was trying a Soul-Guide Lantern over a Surgical and I really like it. I would run one if I wasn’t as worried about random Griselbrand decks and also the new Oops deck. I think it’s extremely powerful now with the eight new lands it gets to play, it’s just a question of a proper brew taking shape. Maybe the return of Rug Delver will keep it in check, but for now I’ll probably keep 2-3 Surgical just because it’s so helpful against Uro control decks and Show and Tell too.

The rest of the board are standard Karn wish targets, Needle is another one of the flex spots that could change along with the Engineered Explosives. It was really a hedge against Oko before, but I kept it in for things like Sneak Attack and possible Depths decks, with Explosives helping against Chalice and also as a value removal spell to fetch with Karn. In a pinch, both cards are extremely mana efficient as Welder food.

Luckily in my initial testing I didn’t play against a single Valki Cascade decks during those few crossover days, and it was really interesting shaking off the rust of playing Enlightened Tutors and Lion’s Eye Diamond again. Shortcake rewards patience while waiting for a small window, which is just a nice way of saying you sit around doing nothing a lot of times. Otherwise you hope that the assortment of Goblins and Karn can piece together rebuilds and attempts at a lategame plan. The other part was switching back away from an overreliance on maindeck Bolts. Having the full playset as a safety net really lets you approach some of the more interactive matchups like Delver and Death and Taxes way different. Against control decks as well the late game is much worse once they are able to stabilize against the dork beatdown army. But that is the tradeoff. You are able to win games against a lot of completely random matchups that are unprepared for Painter in game 1, where cards like Collector Ouphe, Surgical, and Force of Vigor don’t exist. My various leagues leading up to this weekend yielded me a decent sample of the new metagame, with a win rate of 60% across fifty games. Would mono red Imperial Painter be better in the current meta? Maybe, but there are too many questions to answer about how to build the deck with how many Blood Moons and then branching out from there that I don’t really want to try, the Eternal Weekend list I ran back in October is likely to be a one off independent list for that event. None of that really matters though, as Shortcake is really the true Tier 0 deck of the meta, it just took a while to be revived. People had forgotten about it as well, it was the perfect time to remind everyone.

As for the actual events, I knew I wanted to play in the Sunday Showcase Challenge, and luckily had gotten enough entry points from a random early Prelim event that I was able to win the first week after the ban announcement, dodging a bunch of the aforementioned Valki decks. So on Friday around 11pm I figured alright I’ll warm up for Sunday by playing the Saturday challenge, which was set to start five hours later at 4am for me. Aggressive for sure, I half expected not to play and sleep through my alarm. I pass out almost instantly and even quicker than I remember falling asleep my alarm is going off around 345am, literal time travel feeling. I have a mini-debate on sleep vs jamming, and somehow the latter wins. So basically fully zombified in the darkness I begin the trek through the online wasteland that is MTGO legacy



Round 1 vs yamaG – Red Eldrazi

Game 1: I mull a no lander into a six of Mountain, Fetch, Welder, Stone, Painter, Pyroblast, bottoming a Canonist. Against the right opponent Canonist just wins, but otherwise is too sketchy in the dark and the other six are gas. I lead out on Mountain into Welder. I am met by Eldrazi Temple pass. Oh man this is going to be great. I jam out the Painter naming blue, which dunks on Temple and Eye of Ugin pretty hard. He plays Ancient Tomb and passes back, and I’m curious whether his hand is just mono Reality Smashers or if he knows Painter wrecks house here. I play out a topdecked fetch and the stone passing back with Pyroblast up. He scoops in his mainphase

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 LED, -2 REB, -1 Copter. +1 Magus, +4 Bolt, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 EE.

Game 2: I end up mulling a hand of Mountain, Plateau, Petal, Grindstone, Engineer, Recruiter x2. Very close to keeping but I wanted something a bit quicker with maybe a potential early Painter for Eye/Temple hate. I end up keeping Mountain, Plateau, Welder, Painter, Bolt, Blood Moon, bottoming a second welder. In retrospect I probably should have just kept the first hand as it would still be pretty chalice resilient and would be an easy win without one. He keeps his 7 and starts on Mountain go, revealing that this isn’t a normal Eldrazi list I’m used to. I draw a petal, but choose to sneak down Welder instead of Painter in case of said chalice. A second mountain for him and another pass back and now I’m just wondering what’s happening. I topdeck grindstone, and play out Painter. His turn three is a Grove of the Burnwillows, Chrome Mox imprinting Akoum Warrior, and a Fiery Confluence. I end up doing a double take because the modes chosen are to destroy Painter and Petal. I sac the Petal and weld it back in for Painter. Go to my turn with my Welder somehow still intact and topdeck a fetch to give me my 4th mana. I drop down the stone, activate, and weld it out for Painter to secure the match

1-0


I might have actually fell asleep while waiting for round 2, luckily I had set an alarm just in case for like half an hour later. Round 2 is starting and it’s still completely dark. Better for me I’m slightly more awake now.



Round 2 vs MM_17 - Shadow

Game 1: I win the roll and keep a super slow hand of Fetch, Furnace, Painter, Engineer, Recruiter, Bridge, Karn. Fetch pass is met by a Delta into Watery Grave into Thoughtseize taking Engineer, so we know what we’re up against. I draw a second Painter and jam out one into a Daze. Grave untapped go, life total now at 13. I draw a Grindstone and jam out Painter #2 which meets Daze #2. Fetch into Grave again and finally a Death’s Shadow sitting at 3/3. I draw a mountain and play Recruiter, but that meets Daze #3. A street wraith and a newly replayed Grave put his life total to 6 and I get bashed to 12 from the 7/7. I draw a 4th land and jam out Ensnaring Bridge. That gets forced putting him to 5, and I drop Grindstone leaving me just Karn. He attacks for 8. I draw a Blood Moon which could come in handy a few turns later, as my new plan is to drop Karn and plus on Grindstone giving me the best 1/1 you’ve ever seen to block and let me get my sideboard bridge the next turn. Except his turn my stone eats a snuff out to put him at 1 and me dead.

Side: -1 Tutor, -1 Karn, -1 Canonist, -1 Copter. +4 Bolt, +1 Magus

Game 2: Fetch, City, Bolt, Recruiter, Karn, Stone x2. Land and a stone are met by a pretty nice turn 1 of Fetch into Grave, Street Wraith and Thoughtseize take my Recruiter. 13 life. I draw and play a Goblin Welder and drop the second stone. Another Grave and another Thoughtseize leaves me with a lone bolt in hand to his 5 cards. I draw an Ancient Tomb and pass back, planning to start natural grinding myself looking for artifacts. My end step Welder gets Fatal pushed and my stone activation bricks. His turn is another stacked one, my City of Traitors gets wasted and an Ethereal Forger comes down looking to start bringing back Push and double Thoughtseize. I draw an Enlightened Tutor and shoot down the whale with my bolt, and then go hellbent when a third Thoughtseize is played. I topdeck Goblin Engineer, and entomb Painter. His turn is a Plague Engineer on Goblin, but luckily Engineer is a Squire. I draw a Plateau, and with the 4 mana I’m able to activate stone and Engineer for Painter to take it.

Side: -1 Tutor, -1 Moon, +1 Karn, +1 Copter

Game 3: Mountain, Fetch, Copter, Bolt, Blast, 2x Painter. Keep. Misty, go, mountain go. He brainstorms turn two and plays a Wasteland, while I drop my fetch and a newly drawn petal and play out Painter on black. I don’t want to turn on Forces this early and the second painter is insurance, plus I already saw snuff out. I get thoughtseized on his turn 3 for my second painter, but he misses his land drop. I drop the Copter, and he Fatal pushes my Painter for his turn 4, still brainstorm locked. Turn 6 sees a Petty Theft on my Copter during his main phase as not to discard. Turn 7 he cycles a street wraith going to 13 and then tries a ponder, but I use my Pyroblast on it, wanting to buy as much time as possible. By this point my hand is 2x bolt, Karn, Simian, Cratermaker and Recruiter, and I recruit up an Engineer so I can entomb a grindstone and go rescue the two painters in my yard. I’m not attacking at all yet. I feel like against Shadow you should never help them get to 12, as they’ll probably blow a bunch of resources trying to get there anyways. Turn 8 the game is finally on. My recruiter eats a Snuff out that must have been stranded in his hand from my black Painter, and he also finds a third land for an Underground Sea, playing two Shadows with his life total at 8. Figuring I could easily die from 18 from two shadows, I play my Engineer which eats a Force, putting him at 7. I use my last two lands to play a Cratermaker, putting me in a weird spot where I don’t want to attack with Copter. My only mana open is the petal, but the Monkey in hand could steal the game with the second bolt. He only has two cards, so I decide to pass and see what he does. He plays a fetch which basically represents lethal and swings with his two 6/6 shadows. I probably punt by choosing not to block and also not attacking and double bolting the turn prior as he does in fact fetch a Grave to go to 4 making the Shadows 9/9. I go all in bolting with petal putting him at 1 and then yolo the monkey bolt praying for no Daze and it gets there.

2-0


So that was pretty sloppy I guess. I didn’t really have a plan there at the end beyond letting him use cards to put him into double bolt range and I got lucky for him to have zero countermagic. I probably should have gone in with Copter and done it on my turn, but luck was on my side.



Round 3 vs ZYURYO - Uwr Mentor

Game 1: I win the roll and keep Fetch, Plateau, Monkey, Welder, Engineer, Copter, Moon. I play Fetch grabbing a mountain and play out my trusty Welder. He starts Strand into Volcanic and bolts my guy. I get the Chopper down turn two, while he passes after adding a basic island. Turn three I draw a petal, and play out the Engineer. That eats a hardcast daze, which Monkey pays for. I fire up the chopper and swing, and this actually was a really interesting turning point in the game. I was fully expecting UR Delver, so I pitched my Blood Moon because the island was already down. The next few turns I get wrecked as my Engineer dies to a bolt, and he reveals there’s white in his deck with a Karakas and a Prismatic Vista for a Plains. Yea Moon would’ve been pretty awesome. I get run over by a Mentor, backed up by Teferi and Force

Side: -1 Moon, -1 Bridge, -1 Tutor, -2 Petal, -1 LED. +4 Bolt, +1 Canonist, +1 Hedge Mage

Game 2: Plateau, Fetch, Pyroblast, Canonist, Copter, Recruiter, Karn. Our first two turns I play out the Copter, while he cantrips twice. My third turn I rip a City off the top, basically saving my hand, and I play out the Recruiter finding Painter, and getting in for 3 and a loot with the Copter. Fortunately I still had the one mana open as his turn he tries to sneak a Counterbalance into play. I get some PTSD and blast it. I try to drop Karn, but he has the Force, so I just keep bashing and looting. Just a land pass from him, and I topdeck a grindstone, getting it and my Canonist out. I fire up the Air Force again and it eats a swords. That’s why Copter is awesome. It was doing so much work that it was the priority over Canonist. He timewalks himself casting ponder, while I swing in with Canonist and Recruiter putting him to 7. I decide to wait a turn to cast Painter, instead playing a second Karn which baits another Force. He timewalks himself again playing a Mentor, leaving up only an island. I play out my Painter naming white and it resolves. I activate since I couldn’t really think of anything he might have and it gets there. The real safe play would be to just play draw go forever until he casts any spell and then just activate in response.

Game 3: Fetch, Plateau, Tomb, Welder, Pyroblast, Copter, Hedge Mage. Island pass. Against any of these Miracles style decks, keeping up the blast turn 1 for the turn 2 counterbalance is a lot of times the right play. In this case I figured screw it I want to get this Copter out, plus I have the Hedge Mage if I do end up getting screwed by the turn two balance. He plays a Vista and passes, so first bullet dodged. I play the Plateau, get a Welder down, and go Coptering again. I draw an Engineer, so decide to gamble again and pitch him, not leaving up any red. I get lucky when on his turn he brainstorms, fetches and then preordains and fails to find a third land, leaving only two basic islands in play. I’m feeling pretty good, and draw a third blast on my turn. Engineer resolves and I entomb Painter, while Grindstone gets forced. I could blast, but with double goblins I’m not as worried, and if he does have surgical, both pieces being in the yard isn’t that big of a deal. I use Engineer to get Copter going again and pitch a Canonist. He taps out for a mentor on his turn after topdecking a land. Endstep I move to weld out the Copter for Grindstone, and he actually has the surgical for it. I realize that was another punt as I could have done it with Mentor on the stack, but also he probably punted since Grindstone doesn’t really do anything there. I know he had to do it before Engineer was online too the next turn, but instead I’m able to swing with Copter putting him to 6, and then weld out the Copter for Painter, allowing me to blast the Mentor. With two blasts at the ready, I go aggro with my one power beats and blast the monk token, swinging him to 3. Second main I tap out for a Recruiter as an insurance beater, and find my Simian Spirit Guide to pair with my last blast. He ponders twice and scoops it up.

3-0


This matchup was a real throwback to the 2015-16 Legacy metagame. Luckily I was jamming a ton of Shortcake against Miracles with the OG Sensei Top battles back then. Counterbalance is still as big a joy to navigate as it was back then, this time our curve is much better against it, and our only out isn’t Jaya Ballard anymore.




Round 4 vs Ryan100495 - Hogaak

Game 1: I lose my first die roll, mulling into Fetch, Plateau, Tomb, Blast, Recruiter, Karn. He starts with a Stitcher’s Supplier and I’m in trouble. His turn two is even more nasty with an Altar of Dementia that gets him 20 cards deep with a couple Bridge from Belows doing work and a Bloodghast. He therapies me naming Painter and misses, so either its some respect or the ultimate soul read off the Plateau start lol. Like most blind therapies, they turn into Vamp Tutor for the opponenet and I topdeck a Painter. I punt again and pass back rather than killing the Altar, thinking I can just survive until I play Karn the next turn. He starts triggering some Bloodghasts and I kill the Altar, but he already started making a billion guys, getting Hogaak into play too. I don’t topdeck a Grindstone, and he has lethal. Had I killed Altar on my turn I might have had one more turn? Probably still would have lost, but still.

Side: -1 Canonist, -1 Cratermaker, -3 Copter, -3 Karn. +1 Crypt, +3 Surgical, +1 Stone, +1 Bridge, +1 EE, +1 Magus

Game 2: Plateau, Petal, Grindstone, Painter, Pyroblast, Recruiter, Surgical. He mulls down to five. This matchup is always sketchy because they are a Force of Vigor deck. Definitely the best card in the format against Shortcake, but fortunately I have a good hand too. I power out Painter on turn 1 using petal, since if he has therapy, he’ll definitely name whatever combo piece I don’t play, and Painter in play at least lets me have Pyroblast online. I do in fact get therapied and my stone dies. I draw an Engineer and swing for 1, while he attempts to play a stitcher’s supplier for his turn. I surgical the therapy in response, and see just three lands and a hedron crab left in his hand. I draw a second Engineer, while he plays the crab which I blast. I draw and play a welder, while he draws and plays a second crab. I’m struggling, but only two mana away, but it’s still a precarious spot as he starts crabbing. I draw a land, and punt again as I play my Engineer out entombing Tormod’s Crypt. I realize how bad that was as soon as I clicked, since if I choose to blow his yard, he still has a Crab and some 2 power dudes left, and I’d lose all my artifacts in play for Goblin fodder. He attacks me to 14 as I block with Painter and weld out for Grindstone nuking a Bridge, but he essentially adds lethal to the board with Vengevine and Hogaak second main. I topdeck Ensnaring Bridge like a lucksack, although looking back at the replay now I guess I would’ve been okay with the second Engineer for it, welding out my Grindstone. I have to weld out my grindstone for the lotus petal in my yard, and I cast Ensnaring Bridge. Still unable to get below to cards, he attacks me with four creatures putting me to 6. He hardcasts a Bridge from Below second main and I cross that off my bucket list as I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen. I draw Enlightened Tutor so I still wouldn’t be able to get below two cards, so I hatch my survival plan. I play the second Engineer, entombing Lion’s Eye Diamond. He swings in again with his four guys. My two Goblin Engineers tank two hits, while I take the other two going to two. End step I weld out Ensnaring Bridge for LED, upkeep Enlightened Tutor for Grindstone, and am able to cast it off my second land, sac LED, activate stone, and weld it out for Painter to somehow escape.

Game 3: 2x City, Petal, Welder, Engineer, Painter, Etutor. Well it’s a turn two but one of the sketchier ones I’ve seen, all I could do was hope it got there and if not then its all in on the Goblin fallback plan. He mulls, and leads on Underground Sea and Cabal Therapy. I figure yep I’m done. He names Grindstone though, saving me. I draw a Pyroblast, and play City, Petal, Painter. I name blue in case I need to blast, although maybe that’s not right looking back. He plays a Gravecrawler to flashback therapy, in response I blow the petal to tutor Grindstone to the top. Welder gets binned, I go to my turn and dump the stone and second city and it’s good enough.

4-0


Pretty lucky yet again, no way I deserved to win that match but it’s also the random Cabal Therapy variance that can sometimes pop up. Whenever you lose game 1 to Hogaak or Dredge it’s always a gift to somehow steal the match with both postboard games.




Round 5 vs Kanican - Uw Bomberman

Game 1: Fetch, Petal, Monkey, Stone, Painter, Tutor, Engineer. Another turn two, this time on the play. Looking nice. He reveals Gyruda as companion, triggering another horrible flashback to the legacy metagame at the start of 2020 quarantine. I figure it has to be bomberman. I lead on fetch into mountain to be safe, and play out the petal too. He starts on Ancient Den, so I go all in with end step tutor for LED, play Painter using the Monkey and LED activate to take it

Side: -1 Moon, -1 Bridge, -1 Canonist, -3 Copter +4 Bolt, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Explosives

Game 2: Mountain, City, Welder, Bolt, Recruiter, Blast, Karn. He has a scary start: Seat of the Synod, Opal, LED, and a Ballista for one. I draw the trusty old Simian for my turn, so I know if I can get to turn two his board gets wrecked. I play Welder out, figuring he’ll have to shoot it with Ballista and I can always Monkey blast something like an echo if need be. He plays another seat, swings for 1 and shoots my Welder, and adds an Azorious Signet. I power Karn out turn two and he scoops.

5-0


Karn might be a little strong, which is another part of what makes Shortcake unique. We have a bunch of different ways to actually deal with a Karn on board, either through Cratermaker, Painter+Blast, sideboard Bolt, or dork beats




Round 6 vs Koala40 - Bant Miracles

Game 1: I lose the roll, keeping my 7 of Mountain, Tomb, Stone, Painter, Recruiter, 2x Blast. He starts off with a Misty, while I draw a second grindstone. I innocently start on the first one, hoping it eats a counter but it resolves. Another land and pass, and I play Tomb and Recruiter for a second Painter. I said it somewhere before, but having an extra unknown Painter in hand is so powerful as people are more likely to be proactive and tap out if they successfully answer the one they know about. I play Painter on my third turn naming blue, and it eats a swords. Step 1 complete. He drops a land and passes again, while I draw a third Painter. I play the second one on blue again, and swing with my Recruiter. He goes for Snapcaster, I blast back, which is met by a Force of Negation pitching Teferi. Snap blocks Recruiter, and Painter eats Swords again. Not the worst exchange considering my hand of five to his two is still stacked with Recruiter, Engineer, Blast, Grindstone, and Painter. His turn sees a second Teferi come down, bouncing my grindstone. I draw Ancient Tomb and play it slower, only playing Engineer and Grindstone out. Narset is added, and reveals a Council’s Judgment. I draw another blast, and figure I’m jamming this third Painter on white and making him have it. Worst case scenario Painter dies again, and my grindstone gets councilled, which wouldn’t be that bad even because of the rest of my hand. He instant speed ponders from Teferi, shuffles, and scoops when I activate.

Side: -4 Petal, -1 LED, -2 Tutor, -1 Bridge, -1 Moon, +4 Bolt, +3 Surgical, +1 Canonist, +1 Hedge Mage

Game 2: I know why I kept this hand, but looking at it I just say what was I thinking. Mountain, Surgical, Blast, Painter, Copter, Recruiter, Karn. So yea, it’s not good, but against ultra slow control I’m usually content to sit on a blast while waiting for mana, if the rest of the hand has everything you want. He starts on two lands and a ponder, and my first two draws are both Canonists. I surgical his ponder rather than discard anything, seeing Force of Will, Engineered Explosives, Terminus, 2x Stp, and a Sylvan Library. He draws, missing his third land drop, and plays a topdecked Relic. Pretty big turn there dodging the Sylvan Library coming down. I rip a Great Furnace that sadly isn’t part of the Ancient Den old border cycle, and play Copter. He draws again, and discards Terminus to handsize. I rip Ancient Tomb. Recruiter for a second Painter and get to the chopper for swords #1. Next turn I draw bolt, and play a Painter that meets swords #2. He finally gets a Trop and gets Library out, while I draw and play a Welder and Painter #2. He takes a card going to 13, and Painter meets swords #3. He goes to add Narset and I figure that’s too good and I blast it. With the bolt in hand and two dorks in play, I want all his selection to potentially be 4 life. Matching his Stp luck, I topdeck the third Painter. I choose to jam Karn as the highest upside play and it sticks, finding me my sideboard grindstone. Even without the topdecked Painter, Karn is so good here as two earlier Painters can be found with Karn. He greeds two cards from Library going down to 3 life. I nix my combo plan and Karn for a sideboard lotus petal to play out one of my Canonists. Once that resolves it’s in the bag. He goes to use swords #4 on my Welder and I safely bolt for the rest.

6-0


I guess this is the new remnant of the UW control shell. I’m sure the matchup will evolve, it always takes time for control decks to figure out new metagames, what removal suite to run, what card advantage engines, etc. For now it seems to revolve around not letting something like Jace or Uro or Sylvan Library get out of control.




Round 7 vs Fenruscloud - Infect

Game 1: I win the roll and mull to 6 keeping Mountain, Plateau, Welder, Grindstone, Tutor. Lead off on Plateau and the classic turn 1 welder but he eats a Force pitching a spell pierce. I’m thinking another control matchup, until he goes Tropical and Glistener Elf. Looking at my hand I figure I have to try to combo turn three, so I upkeep E-tutor, but that gets dazed. I draw Engineer, laying out grindstone. After that, I am fully committed to the Engineer. I jam him after taking an infect hit, and don’t block when the elf comes in again. I dodge a ton of kill combinations, and weld combo out on my turn.

Side: -1 Bridge, -1 Canonist, -1 Karn, -1 Copter, +4 Bolt. Not sure actually how I boarded need to think more about how I should against Infect. Either chop all Karns or board in the last stone etc who knows

Game 2: Mountain, Fetch, City, Stone, Bolt, Painter x2. Not too shabby. He leads on Trop and Glistener Elf. I have semi-learned from my mistakes and assume that I’m dead turn two, so I go to bolt the elf on my mainphase, but it gets dazed. He ponders and puts me to 1 infect, so I live another turn. I draw another blast, and play City and Painter naming blue, and go to blast the elf again. This time it’s gone, and I’m feeling pretty in control. His turn is just a second elf. I decide to move in. I put Grindstone on the stack, and his hail mary brainstorm in response doesn’t find countermagic.

7-0


My boogeyman matchup. Usually I am a half turn too slow. Nice to win it here, although this matchup was essentially free to begin with as I would already be top 8 locked.




Top 8 vs wara - Gw Post

Game 1: I win the roll and mull a hand of six mana and a painter into a new hand of Plateau, Petal, Welder, Engineer, Stone, 2x Painter, bottoming one of the Painters. There’s an argument to bottoming Engineer for the Painter redundancy, but I figured the entomb backup is worth it. I lead out Welder and Petal, only to see my Plateau get Wastelanded. Like a true champion I topdeck a Great Furnace, probably one of the best draws in the deck behind only LED. I play out my Grindstone and pass, and he drops a Savannah and my Welder eats a Swords. I’m guessing Maverick, and have some nice memories back to 2012 when we had the nice meta triumvirate of Maverick, Rug Delver, and Stoneblade. Anyways, I draw a redundant Grindstone and use my Furnace and Petal to drop Painter on blue. A Sejiri Steppe enters tapped, so I start thinking some Junk Depths deck, and Painter dies to another Swords. No matter, I topdeck a Mountain and Goblin Engineer goes and finds Painter, threatening a kill the next turn if I can topdeck LED or a Sol land. He taps out for Sylvan Library. I go to my turn hoping the stars align, and what do you know, a nice little Lion’s Eye Diamond pops off the top. I combo send it and I’m a game away from top 4.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 LED, +4 Bolt

Game 2: Plateau, Ancient Tomb, Smuggler’s Copter, Painter’s Servant, Blood Moon, Karn x2. Definitely a good hand, just could be weird if I get wastelanded early again. He opens on a Misty fetching out a Savannah, and alarm bells go off in my head. He plays a Reclaimer and passes. I draw a Lightning Bolt, making the Blood Moon plan a lot more potent, so choose to start on the Plateau over ripping out Painter or Copter. He does in fact have the follow-up Wasteland, and I bolt the Elf down. On my turn, I draw a Fetchland, and resist the urge to drop Tomb again. I just pass back, and he has a second Savannah and what normally would be a powerhouse card, Collector Ouphe. I can’t play Blood Moon fast enough. He can only swing for two, while I play out Copter, and draw a fourth land a little later and jam Karn, upticking on Copter so I can start blocking and protect Karn too. He plays out a Dark Depths as a mountain that sketches me out since he’s now just a Force of Vigor away from Marit Lage. I plus Karn on Copter to start the looting train, and find a Recruiter that goes and grabs Goblin Cratermaker. I kill the Ouphe the next turn, and use Karn to grab Grindstone from the board. I fade Force of Vigor for one more turn, and drop the Painter that had been hanging out since turn 1 for the win.

8-0

https://media1.tenor.com/images/6862...temid=16442593



Top 4 vs Ozymandias17 - UR Delver

Game 1: I lose this crucial die roll, and have to mull a non-lander into Fetch, Tomb, Welder, Cratermaker, Painter, Recruiter. He leads on Fetch into Island into Delver, which I match with the superior 1/1 of Fetch into Mountain into Welder. He natty flips revealing Lightning Bolt, and plays a Swiftspear and a Ponder to put me to 14. I draw a Canonist, and am pretty much forced to play the Tomb and try to kill the Delver using Cratermaker. He uses Daze to prevent me from activating. He swings in again, and I lose my Cratermaker to a Lightning Bolt. It’s not looking good, and my last ditch Engineer to try and find an Ensnaring Bridge gets Dazed.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -1 Bridge, -2 Karn, +4 Bolt, +1 Stone, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Explosives

Game 2: Furnace, City, 2x Stone, Cratermaker, Pyroblast, Recruiter. This hand is borderline. I decided to keep it not wanting to go to 6, plus the two removal spells I think tilt it towards a keep, but it’s really close. I lead on Furnace and Stone. He mulls to 6, and has Island into Delver. I draw a second City, and decide to go after the Delver with Cratermaker. It eats a Force, with him down to 3 cards. He natty reveals Preordain, plays a mountain and hits me to 17. I topdeck a Painter, but lead on Recruiter to Daze test and also get a backup Painter for the inevitable burn spell. He plays a third land and hits me to 14. I draw a second blast, and play out Painter. While on the stack my grindstone gets abraded, which is a pretty solid outcome considering the sandbagged second grindstone just gained a ton of value. He’s down to two cards as well. I pass back and get hit to 11. Back to my turn, I play out the Grindstone, and drop the second city going to activate with blast backup. He has two bolts and hits me to 8, playing a second delver leaving 1 card behind. I play my backup Painter, ready to go for it again on my turn. He blind reveals Abrade and swings me down to two. His last unknown card is Chain Lightning, which I now can’t counter because of the follow up abrade on Painter. That seals it.

8-1


3/75


Looking back, I easily could have just shot down the Delver and saved myself a ton of life especially since I had so many removal spells, and because he was willing to Force my Cratermaker. I guess the rationale was I could race, and didn’t know I’d draw all the running removal for the Delver. The flip side is that my hand pretty much only lost to five straight running red cards, so I’m not too upset about it. I ended up winning a handful of points and chests for the tourney, finishing up around 1pm California time or so. I did some chillin for the rest of the day before passing out pretty quick again ready to send it the next morning.




For the actual Showcase, it wasn't so early this time, I was able to actually be awake for a little bit, go for a walk, get ready to stunt, etc. No need to switch the list, felt really good and can’t be changing anything after cruising like that yesterday. I settle in ready to keep the run going:



Round 1 vs BalenciagaNBoba - UW Blade

Game 1: I start off with some more strong die roll luck and open up Fetch, Furnace, City, Tutor, Engineer, Cratermaker, Karn. I start with my Bloodstained Mire, wondering if I’ll have a window to Tutor up Blood Moon and lock it up easy. Those hopes are gone when he leads on basic Island and a ponder. I’m a bit worried that this could be Show and Tell. I draw a Recruiter for my turn, and play Engineer to maybe fetch out Ensnaring Bridge or Canonist to be safe. That gets Forced pitching Jace, so that guess was wrong, but I’ll take that trade. His turn two is a Stoneforge Mystic for Batterskull. I get a weird feeling that Jitte is already in hand, but having Cratermaker insurance is pretty nice. Karn is another card that completely dunks on Stoneforge decks, and gives us another way to prevent counters from ever getting on, since Karn can always uptick and make the Jitte a creature, and then prevent it from being equipped again with his artifact lockdown passive. My turn three I draw Goblin Welder, and play him out and the Recruiter to grab a Painter. He untaps, adds a land and passes back, while I topdeck and jam a Karn. That elicits a brainstorm, finding a Force pitching a second Jace. An end step Jitte does in fact come down, and a new Stoneforge as well to find the Batterskull back on top and get a shuffle. I don’t block although I probably should have to kill a Stoneforge since both of my creatures were going to die once Cratermaker came down next turn to kill Jitte. I offed the Jitte, and his turn is just swinging for one to then drop in Batterskull. I make my move, finally using the E-tutor to find Grindstone. Untap and play out my hand into his hand of Batterskull and one unknown and it gets there.

Side: -3 Petal, -1 LED, -1 Tutor, -1 Moon, +4 Bolt, +1 Hedge-Mage, +1 Canonist

Game 2: Fetch, City, Stone, Painter, Tutor, Recruiter x2. Just a basic island go, while I draw Ancient Tomb and figure with double recruiters coming down later I can at least have the option of a turn two. He drops a Prismatic Vista for a second island, and I’m thrown off by a Counterbalance. That’s a throwback I wasn’t expecting. All of a sudden this game was way more interesting. I draw a Plateau, and figure he has to have a Force of some kind as backup, but know I should at least see if I could try the turn two. I tap my tomb and play Grindstone, but he natty shows a Swords to Plowshares. I just lay down my Fetch and swing, before Painter dies the next turn. We do some draw go, while I just develop mana trying to find a window through the counterbalance. I get a Karn, and test the waters, but that eats a hardcast Force of Negation. An end step brainstorm tries to set up some topdeck nonsense, and he just passes back. I now have a chance, and jam out an Imperial Recruiter. A fetch clears the top and I’m in the clear with Rest in Peace on top. Recruiter finds Duergar Hedge-Mage, and my double plateaus are able to snipe the balance after another brainstorm fails to find an answer. From here, I go on the aggro train, beating for three while my follow up recruiter gets Counterspelled. In the meantime I’ve added a Canonist, bolt, and Painter to my hand, and he has to step the bleeding and my Hedge-Mage eats a swords. From there, Canonist generates insane value. I end step tutor going for the combo, but a disenchant kills the stone with Painter on the stack. I keep the beats train rolling. A Teferi bounces my Canonist to stall for some time. I swing and kill Teferi, and replay the Canonist. Fortunately, I topdeck a Copter to add to the field that is able to swing through his next turn of Stoneforge and hardcast Batterskull. I draw an insurance Red Blast, and the Air Force is able to put him into Bolt range. I play it safe and blast the batterskull for my spell for my turn, so if it’s countered I can bolt upkeep. No need, I get the scoop.

1-0


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Round 2 vs Griselpuff – Bug Delver

Game 1: I win the roll and open up a keep of Mountain, Plateau, Welder, Stone, Pyro x2, Karn. I figure I am up against some kind of blue red delver nonsense. I open up with the classic Mountain Welder and am matched by Underground Sea into Delver. I draw the best card in the matchup, the sole Simian Spirit Guide. I lead on Grindstone off the Plateau, and then go for the blast on the Delver trying to bait Daze. It just dies, and my Plateau eats a Wasteland. I draw another basic and just get in those Welder beats. His next turn is a little better, a Tropical and a Bob. Somehow I draw even better, and am greeted by a fresh Painter. Jam. Bob reveals a fatal push, but after some thinking a mainphase Abrupt Decay gets pointed at my Grindstone. Wasteland comes down, meaning there wasn’t that extra black source for the Push. I have it wrapped up, end step I weld out my Painter for the dead stone, topdeck a blank extra Karn, and am able to weld combo using the Monkey.

Side: -1 LED, -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Karn, +4 Bolt, +1 Magus

Game 2: Sketchier keep of Tomb, City, Welder, Painter, Copter, Monkey, Recruiter. He opens Tropical and Delver, while I draw a Fetch and find a Mountain for the Welder. Fortunately no flip, and just a Misty for the turn. I draw a Goblin Engineer, and decide to play City instead of Tomb. If I might be getting domed by Delver for a while, I’d rather see how long I can operate off of Mountain and City and wait for it to be wastelanded, instead of losing Tomb right away and then being put in a weird situation of needing City and then possible drawing more lands later. If City sticks around I end up saving a bunch of life too. I start testing his hand out, playing Recruiter that doesn’t get dazed, and grab Magus of the Moon to threaten his manabase should he decide to tap out completely. Turn three again no flip, and an Uro is played from hand, adding another Misty for what I assume is a Fatal Push. I draw a Lightning Bolt, and use City to play Copter out and just pass. Delver finally flips to a Force of Negation that he shuffles away and plays a Pithing Needle. I crew in response, and Smuggler’s Copter is the name. I end step bolt the Delver, as I don’t want to worry about it once I ditch Copter. I draw a Plateau, and play Engineer for a Grindstone, and weld Copter out ASAP to dodge anything weird that could be drawn. City finally eats a Wasteland, and he escapes Uro. I draw a Fetch and develop my basics, prepping for either a combo coming up or Magus as the end game if needed. Painter gets dazed, but the backup Monkey pays for it. Uro crashes in looking for answers, a Ponder looks for answers, and my next turn I ask the question of Grindstone using Tomb leaving up Welder and Engineer. Painter gets pushed, and I use Goblin Welder to swap Stone for Painter. He also has the Abrupt Decay for the swapped Painter, so I reset by ending it with Goblin Engineer, sacrificing my Painter to bring back the Grindstone and prep it all again for the next turn. Uro digs again, finding a Wasteland for my Ancient Tomb. I draw a blank, and figure I can’t risk another turn of multiple drawn cards. I play the Plateau, activate Grindstone, and go for the Goblin Welder win. Boom.

2-0


A really interesting matchup. Seems to blend three separate early, mid, and late game plans together into a classic legacy value shell reminiscent of some older Shardless Bug lists. I was concerned the Confidant was going to carry the game, and this ended up being one of the only times an Uro was ever attacking me in these tournaments. The presence of a ton of red blasts gives us a big safety net other decks don’t have, and the lack of Deathrite Shaman means our Goblins have a lot more room to operate. It’s always a crapshoot as to what artifact and yard hate you end up seeing out of these Delver builds, so you can always hedge out some Goblins or Karns, it’s really all about what you see and guess at.



Round 3 vs alemmora - Maverick

Game 1: I win the roll and see Mountain, City x2, Tutor, Blast, Engineer, Karn. Eh kinda weird hand since the mana is pretty messed up but the allure of an early Karn is always a nice thing to fall back on if the matchup luck is on your side. I just play a Mountain, while a Windswept Heath gets a Savannah for a Mother of Runes. My mana problems are suddenly fixed when I draw a Plateau, and I play Engineer for a Painter, so I can turn on the Blast in hand, and because Karn is able to find Grindstone. The tutor is just icing on the cake at this point. A Blast Zone and a Thalia come down on turn two, so I’m not in the clear yet. I draw another blast, play City and pass. He plays a fetch and swings with Thalia, while I end step tutor for Grindstone. I untap, and play Stone through Thalia tax using City of Traitors. No responses or anything, so I play the second City out and pass. I guess my opponent didn’t know the interaction for Painter combo, as he goes to add Blast Zone counters at my end of turn. I activate stone and Goblin Engineer Painter back in for the win.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Reb, +4 Bolt

Game 2: Fetch, Tomb x2, Cratermaker, Recruiter, Blast x2. Strong hand. Has the quick Painter find with multiple removal spells, plus insulated against Wasteland and Ouphe draws. Heath, go, I draw Great Furnace and drop Fetch. Heath goes and gets a Dryad Arbor, and a Savannah is played to cast a Sylvan Library. I wish I could use Cratermaker on the Arbor, but that’s just not really good enough value as Library is about to pull way ahead. I play Ancient Tomb and recruit up a Painter. Library instantly takes two cards, and a Noble Hierarch joins the Arbor, while Wasteland nukes my Tomb. I play out Painter and pass, and he moves to Swords my Painter. I point my blast at the Library. I get laughed at as his follow up play is a Palace Jailer hitting my Recruiter to start Monarch draws. I can only play a Goblin Welder and Cratermaker out to hope to try to get Monarch at some point. He has a Knight of the Reliquary the next turn. I rip Goblin Engineer, and entomb Painter. I can’t profitably attack and don’t want Cratermaker to be able to shoot an equipment if need be, so leave Welder up and Painter in the yard for now. His next turn, he mainphases Knight to grab Bojuka Bog, so I Weld out Great Furnace to lose that instead, but a hardcast Force of Vigor prevents Painter for real. The only problem was that now the only dude untapped was Palace Jailer. I go to my turn and draw Karn. Cratermaker shoots down Jailer, and swing with Engineer to get Monarch. That returns Recruiter to play, and I go find another Painter. I play the second Ancient Tomb, and play out Karn and the Grindstone from my sideboard. A nice little endstep Monarch draw gets me a backup fetchland. Still not out of the woods yet, a huge Gaea’s Cradle threatens some nasty stuff. He plays Sword of Fire and Ice and I can tell is trying to equip, but Karn shuts that down big. He can just play Thalia. I untap, jam out Painter on blue, and move to blast his only untapped white source in Karakas. Mana gets floated and when I go to change phases that forces the Swords to Plowshares. I activate grindstone to take it.

3-0



Round 4 vs helvetti – UR Delver

Game 1: I win the die roll and mull a land heavy hand into 2x Fetch, Welder, Tutor, Copter, City. I forego the trusty Welder and just play a Bloodstained Mire in case I can get a turn two Blood Moon cheese win. My opponent mulliganed to five, and turn 1 was just a Wasteland. I draw a Blast, and play the second Mire, fetching for a Mountain to get Welder down, except it eats a huge Force of Will pitching Pteramander. Whoa. He passes back again and I say screw it I’m going to Moon lock blue red delver. I fetch Plateau and tutor up Moon. Wasteland snipes the Plateau, but the City of Traitors ensures Moon gets down. Now it’s just a race of can I get Copter beats going quick enough before Hail Mary Young Pyromancers and Lightning Bolts come running off the top. He actually finds a Young Pyromancer soon after, but scoops a couple turns later after I get an Ensnaring Bridge down and find a Painter.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -1 Bridge, -2 Karn, +4 Bolt, +1 Stone, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Explosives

Game 2: Mountain, City, Stone x2, Copter, Blast, Karn. Really hoping that the first Grindstone baits some countermagic. He starts on Volcanic and Delver, and I am able to blast it before it gets out of hand. The second Delver, however, does me in. A bunch of free countermagic and two wastelands prevent me from finding any dudes to crew my two copters in time.

Side: -1 Stone, -1 Canonist, +1 Karn, +1 Bridge

Game 3: Mountain, Plateau, Petal, LED, Stone, Bolt, Canonist. Mountain and Grindstone is met by a Polluted Delta. I draw an Ancient Tomb and play out the Plateau, Petal, and Canonist. It resolves, step one complete. Step two is topdeck Painter. His turn two is a Wasteland on my Plateau, and I draw a Pyroblast. I hold Ancient Tomb in my hand to help show mana weakness and to protect it from Wasteland. I just swing with Canonist and pass back. Delta gets cracked for a basic island and he taps out for Young Pyromancer. I lightning bolt with Canonist protection end step. I move to my turn and draw Goblin Engineer and jam it out for Painter. Unfortunately, a follow up bolt takes care of the Goblin and also lowers the probability of the two step plan topdeck a Painter. Still no other threat on their side, I draw a Plateau and just keep swinging. Another Young Pyromancer is played, while I draw another Ancient Tomb. I keep it in hand with my LED and Blast. My opponent plays a mainphase brainstorm, makes a token, and finds a Wasteland for the first Ancient Tomb in play. The master plan finally gets completed, as I topdeck a Painter. He Force of Wills and my blast locks it up. I play out LED and combo out safely under the Canonist blanket.

4-0




Round 5 vs GGoggles - Eldrazi

Game 1: Mountain, Tomb, City, Blast, Stone x2, Painter. Easy turn two, or a safer turn 3 with backup. I go for the latter because of the blast. Mountain and Stone. His turn 1 is a Once Upon a Time revealing a Thought-Knot Seer, before playing an Eldrazi Temple and passing. Ouch this is definitely going to hurt him. I play Tomb and Painter on blue. My tomb gets Wastelanded. I play City and just go for it and nothing happens. Nice little game 1 to steal there, especially nice since the Painter-Eldrazi interaction wasn’t actually revealed yet.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 LED, -2 REB, -1 Copter. +1 Magus, +4 Bolt, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Explosives

Game 2: I mull a slower goblin hand into Mountain, Tomb, City, Painter, 2x Engineer. He starts with Eye of Ugin and a Mimic, while I draw a Blast and Tomb out my Painter. His turn two he plays an Eldrazi Temple and my guess was probably had a Thought-Knot, except now his two lands only produce one mana, which are used for a literal Endless One. I draw a second Blast and decide to wait on the Engineers to be safe. His turn three is a Wasteland on my Ancient Tomb, so I return the favor with a Red Elemental blast on his Eldrazi Temple. I draw a third blast for my turn, but decide it’s time for an Engineer to find a Grindstone. His turn is only a Mishra’s Factory, while I rip the perfect Engineer food in a Lotus Petal. That’s good enough for the scoop.

5-0


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Savior of Zendikar, Slayer of Eldrazi




Round 6 vs Stryfo – 4c Dack

Game 1: I lose the roll and mull a hand with a ton of fast mana and no action into Mountain, Fetch, Welder, Engineer, Recruiter, LED. I know he’s on this ultra weird and greedy Punishing Fire Dack Fayden deck and am kinda worried, there are a lot of avenues this deck can interact with us. He starts on Grove of the Burnwillows, and I decide to see if there’s an accompanying Punishing Fire. I had drawn Lotus Petal for my turn 1, but just lead the normal Mountain Welder. Basic swamp and my Goblin does in fact get burned down. My Engineer is looking pretty dead too. I also draw Ensnaring Bridge for my turn, and my hand looks horrible, especially so when he lays down a basic forest too, turning off any random Blood Moon draws. I draw another Fetch, and all I can do is play Recruiter and go find a Painter to see what happens. He returns Punishing Fire and finally shows a blue source, to play out Uro, getting a second Blue into play as a Volcanic too, leaving up Punishing Fire. I draw for my turn and it’s a Grindstone. Too funny. I jam out my hand culminating with LED and it’s good enough.

Side: -1 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -3 Petal, -1 Bridge, +4 Bolt, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Magus

Game 2: Mountain, Fetch, Tomb, 2x Painter, 2x Blast. Our first three turns are just draw go. He gets don a Swamp, Grove, and Verdant Catacombs, while I had drawn another Fetch, a City of Traitors, and a Magus of the Moon. He starts the action at the end of my turn with a Brainstorm, and proceeds to play a Pernicious Deed for turn 4. Whoa. That thing dunks on Painter. I draw Lightning Bolt for my turn and offer up a trade and play my first Painter. No dice, he plays his fifth land and passes back. I rip Karn off the top, and jam him down using City and Tomb to go find Grindstone from my board. Karn eats an Assassin’s Trophy end step, and I go fetch out my fourth and final basic. He has another brainstorm in his mainphase and plays out another land, passing back with four cards in hand. I draw a Recruiter and figure it’s only going downhill from here, I have to see if I can sneak through a window here. I start with the Grindstone I sandbagged from the turn before, and that is met by a Fatal Push for the Painter in play. I blast that. Grindstone resolves. I wasn’t really expecting that. I’ve gone too far and committed to this line so I have to continue. I put the second Painter on the stack, as insurance against something like a second push or who knows. That resolves too so the final test is here. I use the last Blast in my hand and aim it at the Pernicious Deed. With the ability to combo out in response to the deed activation now and no other answers for both Painters I take it down.

6-0


This was an example of deciding to go all in, knowing I could beat an additional removal spell but probably losing to a final counterspell. Once the first Painter was in play as the sacrificial lamb, any Grindstone put on the stack starts to get really uncomfortable. It just so happened that my mana aligned to be infinite really early, and I was able to find a window through a deed. It might be tempting to wait and maybe there might have been a better point later, but I wagered that further developing their manabase would only let deed gain more and more value.



Round 7 vs bcs8995 – Dragon Stompy

Game 1: I lose the roll and see Fetch, Stone, Painter, Recuiter, Karn, Bridge, Cratermaker. I keep Mountain, Plateau, City, Engineer, Canonist, Painter. He starts with just a mountain and I do the same. He then plays a Legion Warboss, and I play my Engineer. Only problem is the next turn is a Fireflux Squad that exiles a token and puts in a Hanweir Garrison. I get domed for 10 and can’t block and live to weld out Painter for stone and try to combo the next turn.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -2 Blast, +4 Bolt, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Explosives

Game 2: 2x Mountain, Welder, Pyroblast, 3x Painter. I guess it’s a keep and has blockers but it could be tough. I open with Mountain Welder and turn two Painter, while he’s just played two Ancient Tombs. Turn 3 he pitches two Simian Spirit Guides to cast a Fiery Confluence, and I lose my board. I draw a Lightning Bolt and play the second Painter. He can only play a third Ancient Tomb, and eventually another Spirit Guide for a Legion Warboss. I have my third Painter in play and get in a staring contest while I draw an Explosives, Recruiter and another bolt. I decide to go proactive and try to smash for two a turn to make his three Ancient Tombs a win con. I bolt the Warboss, and allow my Engineer to be stomped so I can blast the Giant later and force Ancient Tomb activations. He gets a Mountain, and I swing him down to 6. A topdecked City of Traitors makes this more of a game, and a Hanweir Garrison comes down to block. I have a Recruiter to go find another Engineer to threaten a Grindstone kill, with just my lone lightning bolt left in hand. I swing with both Painters and put him to 5. On his turn he has to play a Shatterskull land untapped and pay three life to cast a monster Fiery Confluence to wipe my board, but that puts him to two and my bolt steals the game.

Game 3: 2x Mountain, Fetch, Petal, Welder, Engineer, Painter. Well it can provide a pretty resilient kill, but I’m still really hoping I can stick this Goblin Welder and there is no Chalice. He opens with the Shatterskull land tapped, while I draw Explosives and can freely play Mountain and Welder. I play the petal too. His turn two is a Mountain and my Goblin gets his head stomped on. I draw Karn, and run it back with Engineer finding Grindstone, only to have his head stomped in too. I draw another Petal and turbo out Karn finding the sideboard Grindstone to hand. I’m hoping to have Karn live for at least one more activation, getting Ensnaring Bridge to stall if needed, but ideally hoping to wrap up the game in the next few turns. He plays a Goblin Rabblemaster that swings Karn to two, and I topdeck Ancient Tomb for the nut and now have six mana to jam out both Painter and Stone.

7-0



Round 8 vs ziofrancone – UR Delver

Game 1: I lose the roll and see a strong hand of Fetch, Tomb, City, 2x Red Blast, Recruiter, Painter. He starts on Misty into basic island and a preordain, so I’m curious whether it could be some control variant or even something like ANT. I skillfully draw Grindstone making this hand straight gas now and play it out off a fetched Mountain. His turn two is a Scalding Tarn for a Peezy. My turn sees another Painter drawn off the top, so the current gameplan is jam Painters and blasts every single turn until it’s good. He forces, and I use the first blast. He has the Daze, and I wonder whether he just drew it or didn’t want to use it on Grindstone. After drawing he’s down to three unknowns. He swings, and replays the land to play the Delve Whale. I rip another blast off the top, and drop City of Traitors. Painter meets no resistance so I can just activate easy.

Side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -1 Bridge, -2 Karn, +4 Bolt, +1 Stone, +1 Hedge Mage, +1 Explosives

Game 2: Stone, 2x Painter, 2x City, Petal, Monkey. Not too shabby. Very strong when going through early game Delver countermagic where they might think they’re safer than they are. He has a Volcanic and a Delver, while I draw Smuggler’s Copter and jam a City and a Painter on white. Delver doesn’t flip, and a Wasteland takes out my City. A second Delver joins the team. I draw a plateau, but with shields down I have to at least peek at the win. I play Petal, and the second City. I tap and put Grindstone on the stack. Resolves! I sac petal and exile Monkey from hand to activate for the win.

8-0

Round 9 vs mechint - Bant Control

Game 1: I win the roll and keep Fetch, Tomb, Painter, Blast x2, Recruiter, Moon. Ideal game flow here is a Moon lock turn two and cleanup with Painter and double blast whatever annoying stuff is left over. He starts with a Tundra and a preordain. I draw another fetch, and decide to slow play it, although rewatching I’m not sure why I didn’t just jam Moon, as he untaps and plays a Misty. My Moon plan gets complicated further when I draw an Enlightened Tutor, and all of a sudden don’t want to turn off my white mana. I play Recruiter instead, going and finding a second Painter. He plays a Basic Forest and a Sylvan Library. Now I end step tutor and go find Grindstone. After drawing, finally now I play the Blood Moon to turn off the Tundra and play stone too. He takes an extra card off Library and Uro’s, putting in a basic island and playing another one too. I draw an Ancient Tomb, and play a Painter out with double blast at the ready. I aim at the Library to stop the digging, and it gets Force of Negation’d pitching a Snapcaster. I point the second blast and it resolves. He does a flurry of digging on his turn for a white source, Ice Fang and a cycled Sharknado, but scoops it up.

Side: -4 Petal, -1 LED, -2 Tutor, -1 Bridge, -1 Moon, +4 Bolt, +3 Surgical, +1 Canonist, +1 Hedge Mage

Game 2: Mountain, Fetch, City, Red blast, Canonist, 2x Engineer. Two ponders are his first two plays while I draw a Recruiter and a Surgical. Turn two I start the bear train, and play Goblin Engineer out. I put a Copter into the yard because I expect Engineer to die to something and don’t want to expose anything else to potential surgicals. Engineer does in fact find some plowshares, and I go to Surgical them, which dies to a Force of Negation pitching Force of Will. Guess that means there is at least one more swords in hand. He has a turn three Teferi to just draw a card, while I play the second Engineer out to entomb a Grindstone. He passes, and I draw another blast. I put Canonist on the stack, and the second swords takes out my Engineer. I blast Teferi to take back some stack control with Canonist. He can only pass back, while I draw a Painter for turn and play out Recruiter to find a Goblin Welder, with the longer term plan of rescuing the earlier entombed Grindstone. He is starting to flood out, while I draw Hedge Mage and play Painter on my turn to assume full control of the stack now with the blast in hand. He tries an Ambush Viper Snapcaster that I blast. I punt away the advantage and don’t respect another Snapcaster and lose both Painter and Canonist to a block and Swords. I’m a little worried again when he has a follow up Sylvan Library. I draw another Surgical so at least I’m Uro protected. I lose Goblin Welder to yet another Swords, with my only real game plan being a Recruiter bashing for 1, with him now at six. I have a Grindstone, and topdeck another Welder, which eats a Force of Will. He passes again, I topdeck Karn, which eats Force of Negation. Pass. I topdeck a fetch and get my second plateau to cash in on this Hedge Mage. Last card in hand is another Force of Will. Man I really played this game horribly. Not even counting the Snapcaster, if I had surgicaled anything at some point I could have resolved these game enders Instead, my hand is a Great Furnace and a Surgical, and I have the same Recruiter bashing and a lonely Grindstone. Recruiter gets in for another hit putting him to two. Library and a Brainstorm find a Council’s Judgment for the Recruiter. I draw and jam a lethal threatening Goblin Cratermaker off the top. Library activation and another Brainstorm. This time no answer and the Cratermaker gets the beatdown win. What a horrible win to complete the Swiss Sweep haha

9-0



So now at this point Shortcake delivered an unreal 16-0 Swiss run. I started prepping for Top 8, and hopped on Twitch to stream it. I definitely played way looser just laughing and talking with all the people sweating with me, but no excuses. It was time to redeem yesterday's run and not choke in the semi's


Top 8 vs duke12 - Sharkstill

Game 1: I lose the roll despite being 9-0 and start with Tomb, Petal, Monkey, Copter, Painter, Stone, Welder. He leads on Tarn into Island and Ponder, while I draw a Mountain and play that and the Grindstone. He taps out for a turn two Standstill. There’s an argument to just going natural Grindstone until he has to crack Standstill, but I decide to crack using Painter because only Force of Will beats me here otherwise the game is over. He does have the Force pitching Narset, and I play Welder to threaten the kill the turn after. He Ponders on his turn and doesn’t kill Welder. I untap drawing a land. I figure I have to go for it, but start with Lotus Petal. That gets Force of Negation’d pitching Spell Snare. I debate that the Welder would have eaten removal had there been any, and go for the Grindstone activation welding out for Painter on white. It gets there.

Side: -4 Petal, -1 LED, -2 Tutor, -1 Bridge, -1 Moon, +4 Bolt, +3 Surgical, +1 Canonist, +1 Hedge Mage

Game 2: This game goes long. I keep Mountain, Fetch, City, Karn, Recruiter, Welder. I draw another land on my turn and play out Mountain and Welder. He plays lands his first three turns with a ponder, while I do the same and play an Imperial Recruiter for my turn. By this point I had drawn a second recruiter and an Engineer, so really I’m just looking to start finding combo pieces. Recruiter gets Forced pitching Spell Snare. Turn four Welder dies to Council’s Judgment, and my Karn eats another Force of Will, this time pitching Standstill going hellbent. I figure I have it locked, with Welder, Engineer and another Recruiter coming down next. He topdecks Standstill to instantly get back into the game. I crack instantly, playing Recruiter and Engineer to find Painter and Stone respectively. The next few turns he plays Jace and easily represents swords. I could have played an extra Welder the turn before for protection, but now I’m in trouble with active Jace going and a shark big enough to protect. Jace bounces a Goblin and the Swords kills the other. I try to recover with double Engineer the next turn after Surgicaling swords, but some Jaceing and cantripping find another Council’s Judgment for my Grindstone. I don’t have any artifacts left to weld and am stuck. I get buried under Jace and a pair of Sharks beat me down.

Game 3: Fetch, City, Painter, Recruiter, Blast, Bolt, Surgical. I draw another blast for my turn, and jam Painter out turn two. He Force of Wills pitching Supreme Verdict, which I answer with a blast. He Force of Negations pitching Jace. Classic legacy painter stack right there. He has the follow up Standstill, so I resolve to play draw go until my manabase is developed. Fetchland, Tomb, Grindstone, Engineer, Karn, before I crack playing Engineer and Grindstone. Stone eats Counterspell, and a Rest in Peace comes down next. Me playing sloppy as ever, doesn’t surgical anything. Stony Silence follows and I’m in trouble. I untap, and play Karn. He gets Forced. I blast. Another Force. All of a sudden it’s not so bad anymore. Always take two for fours. Engineer beats for 1 putting him at 14. He taps out for Jace on his turn and brainstorms. I untap, and bolt down the Jace. Next, I use Recruiter and go search up Hedge-Mage and snipe the Stony Silence. The premier aggro beats are fully underway. I draw a Welder, and bash for four to 8. I add the 1/1 to the army. He can only pass. I draw yet another Welder. I swing with the dorks to three. He untaps and packs it in.

10-0


So yea not exactly the most inspiring play, but I will never complain about being gifted wins despite insane punts. The round of redemption was now here



Top 4 vs mechint - Bant Control

Game 1: I win the roll and have to mull into a sketch six. I maybe should have gone to five but knowing it was bant control I was okay with keeping Fetch, 2x Blast, 2x Recruiter, Copter. Any land and Copter can come down, sol land is obviously great. I was hoping the two blasts would be enough to stall until lands and really didn’t want to go to five against control. I do topdeck another fetch, and jam Copter. One more land and the Air Force is online. I find a Welder, but Copter gets plowed. I end up drawing the worst cards in the matchup consecutively to basically break my back: 2x Enlightened Tutor and 2x Lotus Petal. That’s the rub of playing Shortcake. The majority of the stretches you can just be unstoppable, but every now and then it just doesn’t line up. I draw another Welder but he has the removal lined up. With no real board presence, no manabase and a hand full of garbage I get buried by a Jace. With where Legacy has been for much of the past two years, it’s almost refreshing to see Jace again.

https://media4.giphy.com/media/oYjJa...&rid=giphy.gif

Side: -4 Petal, -1 LED, -2 Tutor, -1 Bridge, -1 Moon, +4 Bolt, +3 Surgical, +1 Canonist, +1 Hedge Mage

Game 2: I have to mull again and keep an even worse six. Plateau, Tomb, Surgical, Bolt, 2x Copter. You gotta love how horrible this deck can appear at some points. I start Tomb and Copter, in case I draw a dude. I only draw a Grindstone, so play that out. His turn two is way better. Sylvan Library and I know I’m screwed. My hand sucks relative to Library. I draw a Plateau and can only play the next Copter. He’s content to not pay any life, and ponders and plays a Relic of Progenitus. I draw a Pyroblast, while he develops more. I draw a second Surgical, he pulls even further ahead. I finally draw a Goblin Engineer and play it. I crew Copter and go to combat, he has the swords, so I use Copter to crew the other one. He has a Wilt to kill the other as well. I punt here, and go to surgical his Swords. Relic is still untapped and he taps to exile it. I use the other Surgical and he Forces. I pyroblast back, and he finally pops relic to nuke yards. Even still, I’m basically done. I need to topdeck Painter asap and even then I can’t win right away. Library keeps doing serious work on me, and pretty much my only out was greed at that point. He got as low as four but never at the magical three for the bolt in my hand. A late game Uro finally puts an end to my struggle.

10-1


3/231


https://i.stack.imgur.com/lWo0f.jpg

An unfortunate end to an insane run but once again I can’t complain. I punted a bunch at the end there, but overall it feels good to be slinging Shortcake again and the deck continues to surprise with it’s resilience and speed. Or maybe it's just the luckiest deck of all time. I took home a bunch more chests and play points, also winning a full set of Kaldheim that I redeemed for a paper copy. I also got a random invite to some super VIP Legacy tournament. Shortcake should be on the DTB radar at that point I'm thinking. Either way, I’m excited to keep testing. I am pleasantly surprised that Wizards decided to buff Shortcake further by printing Goblin Engineer in old border. I will for sure be scooping up the necessary copies. I don’t have any other major changes to the list, and if anything I just need to tighten up the play, as I should have been 22-0 on the weekend 😊


As always keep Painting

And #FreeNedleeds

As always, the most entertaining and enlightening report!

Just curious, but where do you see the EE and needle slot? It feels like 2 slots that are taking space where something more useful could be (spontaneously, extra blast, abrade). Didn’t seem very useful.

That being said, I did have times where needle wish naming vial saved me, and I can imagine that EE vs some token army could be a life saver. But are they concerns for you?


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Originally Posted by schweinefettmann

As always, the most entertaining and enlightening report!

Just curious, but where do you see the EE and needle slot? It feels like 2 slots that are taking space where something more useful could be (spontaneously, extra blast, abrade). Didn’t seem very useful.

That being said, I did have times where needle wish naming vial saved me, and I can imagine that EE vs some token army could be a life saver. But are they concerns for you?


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Not sure yet. Needle and Explosives provide a lot of coverage. Something like a Great Furnace might help against Delver. Lion’s Eye Diamond or Monolith are much more proactive. I never tested Liquimetal Coating, maybe it’s time to. The easy fallback is more blasts or varied yard hate

Thank you for the reports, yours are always entertaining reads! (And such a nice throwback to tournament magic - oh how I miss thee! :))

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Originally Posted by colo

Thank you for the reports, yours are always entertaining reads! (And such a nice throwback to tournament magic - oh how I miss thee! :))

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Thanks G, paper tourney magic will be back soon :) Catch Shortcake at the top tables haha

Is it really not worth the single sideboard slot to play Mycosynth Lattice?

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Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee

Is it really not worth the single sideboard slot to play Mycosynth Lattice?

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It's an interesting Flex spot for the board and a lot of people run it. The secondary related card others run too is Liquimetal Coating.

I was running a Lattice for a while when Karn first came out, but after seeing how a lot of games played out, I decided to lean less on Karn and take out the specific cards related to him. We don't really have the explosiveness of decks like Bomberman or Urza Echo with the set of LEDs to really go turbo lattice, so a lot of times I'd play Karn into a board where he likely wouldn't live, and when that's the likely case having a wincon that depends on him living felt like a wasted slot. Lattice lock is probably best against control decks and stuff like lands, which should normally be good matchups. I also have been building more towards overall utility rather so I could fit in things like more surgicals, but that's just me right now and having a Karn specific card is always appealing

This was excellent. A joy to read. Gratz on the great runs! Hopefully I'll be able to play some legacy in paper soon as well, it's been too long...

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Originally Posted by UseLess

This was excellent. A joy to read. Gratz on the great runs! Hopefully I'll be able to play some legacy in paper soon as well, it's been too long...

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Thanks :) also wanted to give a shoutout to the latest upgrade in rip apart. Catch Shortcake in the decks to beat


http://mythicspoiler.com/stx/cards/ripapart1.jpg