Hey all-
My report for the SCG Legacy Open in STL is up on Facebook:
http://tinyurl.com/23833er
I'm sure a moderator will let me know if I have to move it here :)
-Anthony Avitollo
I just built goblins, last week. I'm in the midst of reading the last 100 pages of the vial goblin thread (which is actually a bit like watching seven seasons of a TV show straight on DVD--warren instigator just came out, its very exciting) and there's been a lot of discussion about the zoo matchup. The consensus was that the single most important card in the zoo match up is mogg-war mashall. I have to say, given that your game plan against zoo is stall into matron/ringleader/siege-gang commander shenanigans, a moment's peace (or even THREE fogs, rather than just two) for 1R seems pretty good. Did you miss having them in your list?
How were the price of progresses? What are they for? 43 Lands? They seem a little substandard against zoo, and you never mentioned them in your write up.
Rishadan Port is like scuba gear.
--FoulQ
Anyone who's not reading this report cause it's a fb link...you're missing out.
Great report, would read again (and I did). I also think you summed up legacy very succinctly, better than a lot of other writers. Anything on the list you'd change for GP columbus?
Here it is:
Have you ever played softball?
Beer league, work league, rec league...doesn’t matter which. If you have, you might have noticed that most runs in softball games are scored through routine ground and fly balls (especially ground balls) that people punt around the field. The most successful teams are the ones that have the ability to field, catch, throw, and hit with any sort of regularity. Im not talking about hitting bombs into the night, flashing the rich Corinthian leather in the hole and making a throw from the knees, or reaching over the wall to pull one back. I’m talking about moving two steps to your right, picking up a rolling ball, and throwing it to first; hitting a line drive instead of a pop-up; reading a fly ball correctly and getting under it. If your team can do these things, you will win almost every game of softball versus teams who cannot do these basic things consistently.
Legacy is softball.
That’s why KyleB won the StarCity Legacy 5k in Seattle; softball is easy when you are a baseball master. He pitches AND catches!
If you have a solid list, an understanding of how decks in the format work, and solid Magic fundamentals (attacking correctly, using the stack, knowing your role), then you will win a good majority of your games in any given Legacy tournament. I don’t think this is solely because Legacy players are ‘bad’ or because they jealously defend ‘their’ format and are inbred in deck design and metagaming (even though those may contribute). I think it is also due to the following:
Point the First- Legacy has a HUGE card pool, and even established archetypes can have a good deal of flux. Take Zoo, for example. Do you play Steppe Lynx or no? Fireblast or no? Lightning Helix or no? Which, if any, 3-drops? How many/which 1-drops? Bob or no?
Point the Second- Consequently, Legacy has a very large amount of semi-real decks that can appear at a tournament at any time. Decks that are tier 1, tier 2, tier fun, tier I-updated-this-from-years-ago (Affinity with Berserk, Snow White control with Moat, etc.) will all be somewhere in the room. Oh, and don’t forget tier kitchen-table that may or may not work as well on the tournament tables.
Point the Third- Most people in Legacy tournaments usually fall into one of two categories: rarely play Legacy, or almost exclusively play Legacy. I have lost count how many times people have said ‘This is my first Legacy event’, ‘This isn’t my format’, or ‘My friend just handed me the deck this morning’ after losing a game or match to me. Either way, they have holes in the game that are exploitable by playing tightly and soundly. This is why, even though ANT and Reanimator were ostensibly the best decks, they aren’t putting results up with the regularity which decks like Zoo and Merfolk are. ANT, especially, has a low looseness tolerance, and if you go under that threshold you will lose more games than you should. Meanwhile, decks that can punish bad decks/draws/mana (like Zoo, Merfolk, New Horizons, Goblins) are very effective strategies in the format, IMO.
Hit line drives. Catch the ball. Do well in Legacy.
That was my strategy in Dallas, playing a Zoo deck with some extra disruption in the form of Wasteland and black cards (for Bob main and discard sideboard). I was a misused fetch away from having a shot at top eight, but finished a respectable 14th place; good enough for some money and invitational points, ending with 4 total points.
Come Philadelphia, I had decided to switch to Goblins since I felt that it was well-positioned in the metagame as well as being consistent and disruptive for the variety of decks that Legacy brings to the table (and I used to play it almost exclusively when the format was 1.5 a.k.a. before everyone boarded into 4 Engineered Plague). I had a good list (thanks to Trevor Carr and Adam Prosak) and I had a pretty good tournament...up until the wheels came off. I started 6-1 before losing in round 8 to perfect draws and then unintentionally drawing in round 9 to finish in 17th place. What. A. Dagger. Not only did I miss making money for such a good start (when I was in top eight with a win in either of the last two rounds), but it also meant I was going to have to do well in St. Louis in order to qualify for the Invitational in December (since I only had 6 total points). I really liked my list, but tweaks were definitely coming to fix some underperforming slots and firm up some matchups.
The two Warren Instigators were pretty mediocre in the deck, so they were replaced with land #24 and Gempalm Incinerator #4. As for the sideboard, I wanted Perish for the rise of the New Horizons decks as well as the ubiquitous Zoo decks (since the latter isn’t a great matchup for me, and Perish > Pyrokinesis anyway) I also needed some better options for the mirror (as I got smoked by a lack of Goblin Sharpshooter in my feature match mirror in Philly), so the Earwig Squads were replaced by Sharpshooters in the main deck and sideboard. I was so close to getting there in Philly I knew the list didn't need much help.
We decided to leave at about midnight on Friday night, but—in true Magic player fashion—wound up not leaving until around 1:30-2:00 AM for the 6-hour drive. Our intention was to arrive early enough to have breakfast, build decks, trade, and basically immerse ourselves in Magic tournament-related things (like B.O.).
Apparently, the overturned tractor trailer on the OK-MO border didn't get the memo.
We wound up stranded in standstill traffic for almost 2 hours, with none of us really able to sleep since we didn't want to burn gas for an unknown amount of time for A/C. Just as I couldn't take it anymore and trundled over to the side of the road to relieve some pressure, OBVIOUSLY a state trooper comes driving down the road to let us all know we can start moving again and should start our engines. Luckily, I won the race and was able to continue onto St. Louis without being arrested. The problem? I didn't get to sleep very much, nor were we able to eat/trade since we arrived at around 9:35 AM.
While building an abortion of a sideboard for my Jund deck because of card availability, I was able to find friends of mine who made the trip including Phoenix area Magic luminary Alex Tamblyn. I knew Alex was coming to grab the last two points he needed for the invitational, but knowing people are going to be there and seeing people who are actually there are two different things. After the tears of joy dried, it was time to see how many mirrors I could lose.
I started the tournament with a round one feature match win…followed by 3 losses (2 mirrors and a mono-green deck splashing the Sovereigns package off of mana creatures) and an early exit to work on decks for Sunday. I didn't really care that much, as the Standard 5k was really just something to do until the Legacy 5k, and Standard just isn’t that interesting to me at the moment. Quick rant:
Mythics have made it extremely difficult for me to keep up card-wise, and I was NEVER a person to be missing cards for decks I wanted to play. There are basically two tiers of cards in Standard: cards you can trade for Jace, the Mind Sculptor (which also includes Elspeth, Gideon, Vengevine, and Baneslayer Angel) and everything else. It is VERY difficult to obtain cards from the first group using cards from the second group. Even with something as valuable as Noble Hierarch ($20ish), you would have to trade an entire playset to even make someone want to trade you a Big Jace (BJ, in honor of other things that are difficult to get in trade). I still don’t own Vengevines (someone who collects planeswalkers didn’t even want a foil Tezzeret, the Seeker plus a card to be named later for one! When collectors are brickwalling your trades, you KNOW you’re in trouble.), and I’m very lucky to have foil copies for the Cube from that first group (mostly through the consideration of friends who pick them up and will trade them to me). I don’t even play on MODO, but I can only imagine the nightmare Mythics have caused there. I’m glad WotC is making their money and keeping this game that I love going, but seriously…fuck Mythics. Anyway…
I actually wound up building FOUR decks for different people on Sunday: Ben Jackson claimed my ANT deck (and then black-holed the cards by not showing up in time!), George Blankenship took my Zoo cards to assemble a pile, and Ben ‘Real Deal' Costrell claimed my New Horizons cards. After some Ponderosa for dinner (they had brussels sprouts!) and driving thru banjo player-laden roads to get to a hotel, I settled in for a few games of the mirror with Trey Ballew (he was also playing my Goblins list, and wanted to get some reps in) and some much-needed sleep.
Sunday started in the best way possible when travelling: a delicious breakfast. The hotel in which we stayed had a waffle iron and batter machine! After a delicious waffle and some other foodstuffs (eggs, toast, and apple juice) we headed over to the event site. Turnout was much lower than on Saturday (as expected), I felt like a million bucks, and I swear I heard Eye of the Tiger playing when I walked into the room (we Philadelphians get riled up to Rocky music). It was going to be a good day. This is what I brought into battle:
4 Aether Vial
2 Warren Weirding
4 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Stingscourger
7 Mountain
2 Arid Mesa
3 Badlands
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Rishadan Port
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Stingscourger
3 Price of Progress
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Nature's Ruin
1 Perish
I got the sweet Nature's Ruin from Doug Coats in Phoenix. Thanks again! I had no idea that card existed, so maybe I’ll get someone with Meddling Mage for Perish ;)
Round 1…FIGHT!
Round 1: Brien Salley, Goblins
G1: Brien had a faster start than I did, landing a Lackey while I had an Aether Vial on turn 1. His unopposed Lackey hit for one and dropped a Piledriver into play, and he followed up with a Mogg War Marshal. My vial ticked to 1, and I played my own Piledriver. My opponent then cast Warren Weirding on me, so I put my two tokens into play.
My opponent asked, “What are those?”
“My two tokens,” I replied.
“Where did those come from?”
“...”
So I continued to take some damage as my Vial ticked up, and my opponent tapped out and attacked with the team. I made a couple of blocks, and went down to seven life. Here is the fun thing about Goblins...I played a couple of dudes and cracked him back for 19, his life total.
My opponent was not happy.
G2: I had a much better draw than his, with a couple of Vials, some Warchiefs, some Ringleaders; OH, and a Sharpshooter. I won the game at 17 life, and I was able to stay on the offensive the entire game.
1-0, 2-0
Round 2: Ian Ellis, Tabernacle Brew
G1: My opponent played a T1 Exploration, and T2 Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale. I Wastelanded his Tabernacle, and he didn’t really do anything else by the time he died on turn 4 or so.
G2: Having put him on Lands, I sided out my creature removal and went with my discard/graveyard hate package. Oh boy, was I wrong. Apparently, he was playing a green/black brew that saw him play multiple Tarmogoyfs, Kitchen Finks, and Edicts. Having kept a disruptive hand for Lands, I get rolled pretty well by his animals.
G3: Back to my original configuration, I had a Lackey opener followed by Wastelands and Ports, and killed him in about 5 turns.
2-0, 4-1
Round 3: Ryan Roecker, Miss America (9th place)
G1: Ryan’s list is here (http://tinyurl.com/22vs2l6), and is a victim of the retardo naming conventions of Legacy. I kept a slowish draw this game after mulliganing and drawing first, and Ryan is able to keep my board presence to a minimum with Maelstrom Pulse, and Daze and eventually a Bitterblossom + Umezawa’s Jitte sealed the deal.
G2: I kept his mana to a minimum with Wasteland and Port, and combined with a Lackey-fast start, he conceded on turn 4.
G3: Once again Ryan kept a mana-light hand, but managed to cast 2 Tarmogoyfs and an Umezawa’s Jitte while I tried to develop my board. I think I made a bad judgment call when I decided to Wasteland one of his two lands (he missed a land drop for 2 turns) so he would not be able to equip Jitte instead of cycling a Gempalm Incinerator to kill one of his Tarmogoyfs. I guess that I felt that drawing a fetchland would completely ruin that plan (there were no lands in the yards yet), so I decided to try to keep him off of mana and kill the goyf next turn (since I had more goblins in hand). He obviously drew a land, and starts to go to town with his equipped Goyf. I killed one of them with a Weirding, but the remaining Goyf+Jitte was really putting a damper on my board position. I continued to keep up, however, by playing Ringleaders and the resulting goblins drawn. I finally drew a Stingscourger on my last turn before the Goyf would kill me, but I had to flashback a Cabal Therapy to check for Force of Will to clear the way. He had a Spellstutter Sprite for it, but I had a Vial on 3 and played a hasty Sharpshooter with the ability on the stack to stop the counterspell, AND nab the Force of Will! From there I was able to keep his mana subdued with Rishadan Ports to prevent him from casting another spell, and I killed him a few turns later.
3-0, 6-2
Round 4: Jonathan Medina, ANT
G1: He kept a slow draw (not putting me on Goblins, he admitted) and my draw on the play was t1 Lackey, t2 attack for 1 putting Piledriver into play and a post-combat Rishadan Port, t3 Goblin Chieftain attack for 10...scooping followed.
G2: T1 Lackey, T2 attack into Siege-Gang Commander, cast Cabal Therapy twice and another Lackey, T3 Warchief attack for 8, T4 he fizzles!
4-0, 8-2
Round 5: Cody Damm, Zoo (Top 8)
G1: I stabilized at 8 life, with 3 cards in Cody’s hand. I tried to make a move to get the game over before he could draw another burn spell, and sacrificed a Scalding Tarn…then promptly died to Fireblast/Lightning Bolt. Man, this is hard when they play 3-toughness one drops.
G2: More of the same; I stabilized at 9 life but have to let an errant Loam Lion through the red zone in order to try to get back in the game with my Goblin Warchief. Once again he has Fireblast/Lightning Bolt as the last 2 cards in hand to finish me off.
4-1, 8-4
Round 6: Michael Pozsgay, Show and Tell (Top 8)
G1: T1 Lackey meant a fast start for me, but Pozsgay got a Form of the Dragon into play off of Show and Tell...good thing I had a Siege-Gang Commander to shoot him EOT after the Form trigger resolved, then twice more when I untap.
G2: A long drawn-out affair that saw me start with T1 Lackey with a Ringleader and an extra Lackey in hand (to go with a Cabal Therapy). Unfortunately, the Ringleader got Thoughtsiezed and I have a rough time drawing any creatures...for about 10 turns! Needless to say, I didn’t win that one.
G3: We run out of time, and realized that we both have to win out to make Top 8. BTW, Pozsgay looks WAY older than 21...just saying. He does have the best birthday ever, though.
4-1-1, 9-5-1
Round 7: Michael Dougherty, Zoo (24th place)
G1: He kept a one-lander on the play (Savannah) and played 2 Wild Nacatls but nothing else. I started with a Vial followed by some Rishadan Port action. He is stuck on one land, and I got to jump his kitties with a 3/3 Stingscourger from the Vial (thanks to a T3 Chieftain). I Wastelanded his only land the next turn, Sharpshot the 1/1, and game one was mine.
G2: My opponent has ‘the fear’, stating that this is the one matchup he didn’t want to face. I’m glad he thinks it is bad for him! His draw, however, of multiple 3-toughness one drops and removal is way too fast for me to stabilize. I think I had a chance with my 2-Vial draw, but he blew both of them up with Pridemage/Krosan Grip before I could play a single creature from them.
G3: He kept a land-light draw again (which I think he realized right after he agreed to keep, then asked me if he could change his mind after I played a turn 1 Vial!), and I completely brutalized his mana while grinding out card advantage through Goblin Ringleaders. Most of the spells he played were 1-mana removal spells in response to my Porting/Wasting of his land.
5-1-1, 11-6-1
Round 8: Joshua Hensley, Zoo (17th place, dagger!)
G1: How do you win the Zoo matchup? Have them not play a creature until T3!
G2: How do you lose the Zoo matchup? Have them play 2 Wild Nacatls and 2 Tarmogoyfs in the first three turns backed up by removal!
G3: I kept an opener of double Lackey, Incinerator, three lands (including Rishadan Port and a fetch) and...Perish. My plan was to stall the game long enough to force my opponent into over-extending into Perish. Another part of the plan was to draw an important goblin in the forseeable future, to help sell the stall game. The Port will help to slow him down, as well. I opened on Lackey, and he started with fetch into Taiga into Grim Lavamancer, a perfect turn one play for my game plan. I cycled my Incinerator (killing his dude), attacked and put my other Lackey into play (two draws, no goblins yet) and played the Aether Vial I drew to help set up the long game I wanted. A Tarmogoyf followed for Josh, while I drew a Goblin Ringleader (hooray!) and sacrificed a Lackey for the greater good, and peeled three goblins off of the fresh Ringleader in play. The game was afoot! My opponent continued to play green creatures, and I continued to establish my board presence to keep everything going according to plan. Eventually, it was time to execute my plan as I had enough creatures on board to kill him in two attacks (and I revealed a Nature’s Ruin on my last Ringleader trigger...it gave away the punchline!). When I pull the trigger on the Perish, it nets me two Wild Nacatls, two Knights of the Reliquary, and two Tarmogoyfs. Nice sideboard card.
6-1-1, 13-7-1
I’m in! It’s a great feeling, especially with what happened in Philly in Legacy. Now I am definitely qualified for the big invitational in December as well as having a shot at getting one of those fancy trophies that my wife wouldn’t let me display.
Top 8: Noah Swartz, Goblins
Noah seemed like a nice enough fellow, asking for some water pre-match and having the judges bring over some water bottles for the entire top 8. We shuffled up, and got ready to battle. I knew it was the mirror, and I felt as though I had an advantage with having played the mirror a lot as well as having a Goblin Sharpshooter main and more support in the sideboard. Top eight split was denied, so we had a lot on the line!
G1: I led with Aether Vial, and produced a nice curve of creatures while all Noah managed in the game was a Mogg War Marshal and a couple of Goblins Piledrivers (a.k.a. worst card in the mirror). On turn 4, I Vialed in a Goblin Sharpshooter, gunned his board, and cracked him down to single digits. On that turn, I got a warning for not paying enough for my Goblin Warchief (I had a Chieftain in play instead and had a senior moment, mistaking it for another Warchief), but I had the mana and play resumed as normal. The next turn, with my opponent tapped out, and his 2 Piledrivers facing down my board of Sharpshooter, Warchief, Chieftain, Lackey, and Piledriver, I cycled an Incinerator to remove a blocker to swing for the win. I cycled, killed his guy, drew my card, and went to resolve my untap trigger on Sharpshooter, to which Noah took exception.
What followed was about a 10 minute judge call based on whether or not I paused in my process of trying to untap Sharpshooter. It was ruled that I looked at my card and paused before trying to untap (which I honestly don’t remember if I did or not), so I didn’t get to untap my Sharpshooter...which was completely irrelevant as he was dead on board regardless of the tapped status of the Sharpshooter. Afterwards, Noah tried (in vain) to get me penalized for it, all the while mumbling ‘that would be a warning on the Pro Tour’, ‘on the Pro Tour, that would be a warning...just saying’, and ‘this one time, on the Pro Tour, I stuck a warning in my...’ (2/3 of those are actual quotes). I understand he was trying to ‘get into my head’ or play the ‘psychological game’, but that kind of crap just doesn’t work with me and I was tempted to ask the judge if it was unsportsmanlike conduct for fishing for the warning. Instead I just laughed, waited for him to stop complaining to let me kill him, and moved onto game 2.
G2: I don’t remember a whole lot about this game other than just being out-tempo’d because of being on the draw, and drawing a lot of lands. I was starting to stabilize, had 2 Aether Vials in play that were about to start crapping out dudes, and only had 2 cards in hand, and then I made a pretty big mistake by not Wastelanding one of his six lands before what would wind up being the final turn of the game. I knew he had Pyrokinesis in his deck, and I just gave him a chance to hard-cast it instead of needing another red card in his hand. He killed both of the blockers that I vialed in with it, and while it might not have mattered there was no reason for me to give him that chance.
G3: Most of the vicious beating that was game three was covered by GGSlive, and can be seen here: . I have a few thoughts and observations about that game, however.
As you can see on the coverage, Noah kept a one-lander that turned out to be sketchy at best. What you don’t know, however, is that I kept a one-lander as well: Port, Vial, Lackey, Incinerator, Chieftain, Matron, and Ringleader. THAT, my friends, is how you keep a one-lander (especially when you are on the play). That one-lander was so scary, in fact, that when I opened with Port/Vial, Noah got a very strange look on his face and requested to use the bathroom! I’m sure he just had a sudden case of...something (turn 1 Vial is pretty scary, but scare the crap out of you scary?), but I admit I was half expecting him to try to talk to someone who was standing behind me while he was in the bathroom after his game one shenanigans. After deciding not to appeal his bathroom break to the Head Judge, we were moved into the video coverage area. My first two draws were lands, and I was off to the races. Once he missed land drop #2 without a one drop, I knew he had at least one Pyrokinesis in hand so I played around it instead of just throwing away creatures for no reason. Instead of going for any sort of quick kill involving Piledrivers, I just decided to play the card advantage game and start chaining Ringleaders just in case he somehow had a way to climb back into the game.
On turn 4, Noah tried to play another ‘mind game’ by asking me if it was his turn after I searched up Goblin Chieftain with my Matron. What is this, 1999? I thought he was going to ask me if he could Lightning Bolt me next. After a hearty, ‘NOPE!’ it was a swing for 10. On the next turn, after Vialing a Ringleader into play, I figured I would save him the trouble by telling him that it wasn’t his turn yet...and he got salty about it! No one likes losing, but if you are going to run the ‘is it my turn’ game, then you can’t get mad when you don’t win it. Just saying. Game, blouses.
7-1-1, 15-8-1 (2-0 vs. the Swartz family in feature matches!)
Top 4: Josh Guibault, Enlightened Tutor
This was covered quite well by Starcitygames.com here: http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...cle/19628.html
I really have nothing to add here, except that my opponent was very nice and I was happy for him that he won (always better to lose to the champ, ya know?). The games were not remotely close, as he played T4 Moat in game 1 using only a Brainstorm, and then drew an Enlightened Tutor for it game 2 IMMEDIATELY after I Cabal Therapied him for it (and wound up taking CoP: Red...it WAS 1999!).
Good thing the top four split was in! Nothing like maximum value for your finish!
Since I will be moving to the ATL area before the end of July, I am looking at possibly playing at the Nashville 10K weekend to see if I can nab 3 extra points so I can get that 1st round bye at the Invitational (oh, and have fun playing Magic: the Gathering...that too!). See you there…?
Thanks for reading!
-AA
In honor of old school reports everywhere:
Praps
- Adam Prosak & Trevor Carr: for the list and tuning help
- Trey Ballew, Ben Jackson, & Alex Tamblyn: for resleeving me pre-top 8
- All my friends who sent me happy messages all day...that I didn’t get
until afterwards because of the lead-lined walls at the site.
- Trey again: for gummi bears when I had nothing to eat since breakfast
- GerryT: For helping me find gamers/shops in the ATL
- Cedric: For the Zoo list advice that wasn't heeded anyway!
Slaps
- The event center: for the aforementioned lead-lined walls
- Trey, Ben, George, & Ben: for going a combined 1-7. :B
- The drivers of the rigs that overturned and held up traffic on BOTH ends of the trip. I know they call it an accident for a reason, but tighten up! Stop flipping your rig when people have Magic events to attend on time.
- My cell phone: For not sending the text about my winning of money to
my wife. All the other texts go thru, but not that one? Loose.
Hey all, thanks for the comments. I guess I just assumed most people had facebook who prowl the internet for magic information :P I really wish MarkBris didn't post it here, because it was without my permission...public domain be damned, I don't appreciate it. That should have been my decision, not yours (I would have posted it once people asked).
LostbutSeeking: The Prices are mainly in there for Lands, but they have some other applications as well, AKA decks with Moat, Form of the Dragon, or other matchups requiring some more reach. I don't bring them in against Zoo, because I literally don't want to take any more damage than needed. I actually have never missed Goblin War Marshal in the deck, because I think my list is too tight for them. What would I cut? All of the other cards were too important in a metagame with Reanimator, I think. For the GP and forward, however? Well...I'll get to that in a sec.
Say no: The GP is going to be a little tricky, since the format should shift significantly. I do still like the black splash for Perish/discard spells, but I was actually thinking about using a green splash as well (using 2 Taiga and 2 Badlands) for some anti-enchantment measures. Steve Menendian is completely wrong thinking that the CT deck I lost to in T4 is a good matchup for Goblins...you literally can't do a thing about Moat, and then just have all day to find ways to shut off your other avenues to winning.
Let me start off by saying that I have not played War Marshal in my deck, ever. As much as I liked the Warren Weirdings and Stingscourgers, I would cut one of them moving forward at least (for me, I think weirding is my first cut) but only because in the past two 5Ks, Stingscourger has actually been really good vs. a lot of creature strategies. But if you are expecting a lot of Zoo at the GP (a fair bet), then maybe you just want 4x War Marshal in those slots. If you do, I think you have to be willing to not pay the echo a lot, so you get some mana freed up to Incinerate their dudes. You want to be the control deck in the Zoo matchup, but you can't just stall and let all their 3/3s stay on the board forever. After boarding, you can play the stall game when you have Perish etc. in hand, but Stingscourger is a card that is surprisingly useful vs. Zoo (especially at instant speed out of Vial) since it can keep counters off a Jitte (which makes life REALLY difficult for you) as well as disrupt their tempo, allowing you to slow them down a LOT (and also functions as 'fogging' two of their creatures). I definitely wouldn't have won my Round 3 matchup with Marshal over Stingscourger.
Personally, I would start testing the matchup/deck with 2x Stingscourger and 2x War Marshal, and see how the matchup goes...you also need to keep an eye on the Dreadnaught/Eldrazi cheat decks, because if they get popular then you might still want those Weirdings too.
I feel like the sideboard is going to need some changes, but it is going to be mainly speculative towards the predicted field. Possibilities:
Tormod's Crypt: Dredge?
Discard: Combo/show and tell?
Price: Lands?
Shattering Spree: Artifact decks (Grim Monoliths)? (Don't use Tin Street, SUPER non-bo with Warchief)
Perish: Play these if you play black! Good vs New Horizons and Zoo, both of which I would expect to see. 2-3 is enough.
Krosan Grip: The reason to splash green. Useful vs. Monolith, Moat, Form...but are they going to be a big enough part to worry about them?
Sharpshooter: Play some.
Anarchy: 4 mana is a bit slow, but could be good vs. Enlightened Tutor decks (since 4 is an odd cost for CB, also).
I'm just not sure how big a piece of the meta enchantments are going to be.
Sorry for the long-winded reply.
-AA
I don't understand why you couldn't untap your Sharpshooter.
It's not optional. Whether you paused, looked at your card, went to the bathroom, etc. it doesn't matter, it automatically goes on the stack and automatically resolves. What the hell kind of judge made that decision?Originally Posted by Oracle
By the way, I know you're miffed at MarkBris for posting your report here, but that's pretty standard etiquette on these boards to post free content that should be accessible to all. No one would post premium (or, not free) content here, but a link to a tournament report is kind of bad etiquette especially for those of us who cannot access Facebook/some other website. Thanks for sharing, but in future, can you please just post the report here? Thanks.
Who says the Internet isn't full of <3?
I would just like people to ask first before reproducing my words...I didn't think that was too unreasonable. Is it?
-AA
Sweet writeup, Anthony, and congrats on the finish. Trevor has been playing the same list and has been winning some duals with it :D
It's not unreasonable for you to feel that way. I think it's kind of silly that markbris posted it in *your thread* and I also think it's silly that people are actually afraid of clicking on the link...and I still find it hard to believe that Magic players posting on a forum don't have a facebook profile. :D Having said that though, nobody should make a big deal about it.
This thread should now just be about the damn report and how awesome it is...and about how much Noah was an ass. :)
Like MMogg, I too am confused about the Sharpshooter issue.
"Game, blouses." That made the report. Congrats on the finish!
Best deck in the format.
Last edited by Patrick; 07-11-2010 at 10:06 AM. Reason: I'm retarded.
"Michael opens with Lotus Petal, Academy Ruins, Phyrexian Dreadnaught, and Stifle. I Force of Will the Stifle, but he has Force of Will backup. I Ponder on turn one and again on turn two, but fail to find a Swords to Plowshares before he has smashed me twice. " That's losing to Mike Sanchirico.
Team Bad Guys.
Fair use.
Honestly, it seems far more reasonable to post your report here, responding to the shit pile of posts above, than whine about it when somebody did.
Thanks again for the comments. I didn't make a big deal out of the Sharpshooter incident for 2 reasons:
1) He was dead anyway on board, and couldn't do a thing about it
2) He was fishing for warnings to try to win an unwinnable game, and I wasn't willing to dwell on it and give him that chance.
In other matters: Whining is a word people use when trying to be derogatory/inflammatory, and I'm a little surprised that as an administrator you would use such language. I think I even commented on the fact that I gladly would have posted it once I saw people requesting that I do exactly that. I posted my report, then when I came back the next time to read, there were posts asking for it and someone else actually posting it. All I asked for was a little respect, and the reply you gave was to be purposefully disrespectful. I was not threatening lawsuits or anything like that; I was just stating my dislike for not being the one to make that step (since it was my work).
I guess I'm just a little surprised by the whole thing, since my intent was to share something with the community here on which I spent a lot of time. If it isn't appreciated, I'll be sure not to post things like that here again. If it is, I will gladly share it with you guys (which is what I thought I was doing by posting the link).
-AA
Nothing derogatory was intended.
You posted a link to your report (which many people could not read). Seven people asked that you post it here. You didn't. Two days after you posted your link, someone c/p your report here. I don't see the issue. Many people don't have FB accounts and you shouldn't expect they do.I think I even commented on the fact that I gladly would have posted it once I saw people requesting that I do exactly that. I posted my report, then when I came back the next time to read, there were posts asking for it and someone else actually posting it.
Why 4 SB Tormod's Crypts? Why not 4 Leyline of the Void?
I think Leyline is great, because it's a card I've always wanted to mull into in dredge/lands/reanimator/ and makes them have to have an answer to it. It also forces thopterfoundry/sword, survival, and new horizons to play around it. It can't be countered when you start the game with it in play, and once it's in play it cannot be Stifled.
Also, Gempalm v Lightning Bolt.
I really like Lightning Bolt since there is SOOOO much Zoo now. Gempalm has been getting awkward... plus it can't knock out that damn Mishra's Factory that always seems to be ready to block my Lackey. Any thoughts on their comparative merits?
AND-
Leyine of Sanctity
I know some people are against using this SB as it would be "splashing white", but I don't think it really matters since you intend on mulling into it anyway against Belcher/ANT/Combo. It's going to be more effective and faster than discard or counter (which you would also have to mull to anyway), your opponent can't make you discard it (a la Mindbreak Trap) and it's sooo much faster than Pyrostatic Pillar or Thorn of Amethyst, but less susceptible to counter/discard. If you draw dead into it late-game it doesn't matter that much because, well, are any other anti-combo options worth playing once you've gotten past turn 2?
I own 4 Tormod's Crypts, and 0 Leylines. Also, i can draw crypt in the first 3 turns and still have it mean something, while Leyline is only good in the opener. I don't think starting with it in play is required for it to still be good, and giving you 10-11 cards at finding it is better than 7. I'm more than OK with a little less power in order to have more consistency. Moving forward that may be different, if Thopter/Sword and Dredge spike in popularity. Also, I would NEVER side it in vs. New Horizons...you have much better cards vs. them and marginalizing their creatures (since goyf and vore count your yard as well) seems like a terrible idea in trying to improve the matchup. In my build, the Stingscourgers/Weirdings/Perishes are all so much better. I would side in the Therapies before siding in graveyard hate.
Lightning Bolt doesn't go into your hand when you cast Ringleader/Matron. The more non-goblin cards you add to the deck, the weaker the synergy becomes and the weaker your inevitability is. I think this is a mistake that a lot of Goblin players make; adding cards that seem like they help, and wind up diluting the entire deck so that is in fact weaker.Also, Gempalm v Lightning Bolt.
I really like Lightning Bolt since there is SOOOO much Zoo now. Gempalm has been getting awkward... plus it can't knock out that damn Mishra's Factory that always seems to be ready to block my Lackey. Any thoughts on their comparative merits?
Gempalm, on the other hand, is just a great card in the deck. So much so that I added another before STL. It isn't as good as it used to be, because now we have all these 3 toughness creatures for 1 mana, but that doesn't make it cuttable my any means, IMO. I have won games and matches because of the removal as well as the cycling ability by itself. It is all about synergy, and Gempalm has that in spades. Being able to tutor up a cycling removal spell is a great feeling.
Yes, discard spells; specifically Therapy since it will net you some number of cards (and works around their discard still). You can't just play the mulligan game HOPING to hit Leyline. You still need a clock in order to put pressure on them, and the matchup isn't unwinnable without it (see round 4). Having them on less life to fuel their Ad Nauseum is very important. I'm always willing to try things, but with the format changing significantly moving forward I'm not sure how fast the combo decks are going to be anyway. Belcher will be the same...super fast and inconsistent, and siding in an anti-targeting card only shuts off one of their win conditions. On top of that, if you are mulling to it, you might just die to 10+ goblin tokens in the meantime before you get enough gas to kill them.Leyine of Sanctity
I know some people are against using this SB as it would be "splashing white", but I don't think it really matters since you intend on mulling into it anyway against Belcher/ANT/Combo. It's going to be more effective and faster than discard or counter (which you would also have to mull to anyway), your opponent can't make you discard it (a la Mindbreak Trap) and it's sooo much faster than Pyrostatic Pillar or Thorn of Amethyst, but less susceptible to counter/discard. If you draw dead into it late-game it doesn't matter that much because, well, are any other anti-combo options worth playing once you've gotten past turn 2?
-AA
I completely agree with you about siding Leyline of Void against New Horizons. I hadn't really thought that through.
About Gempalm you may be right. It is a bummer that it can't clear the way for Lackey t2, but it is pretty impressive in the mid-late game. Maybe I've just been playing too aggressively.
AA, you said "You can't just play the mulligan game HOPING to hit Leyline." Well that's exactly what you're doing with discard, right? If you don't have discard in your openning hand then you're dead to combo too. So the drawback (mulliganing) is exactly the same for both cards. But the speed advantage goes to Leyline of Sanctity, as it can prevent turn 0 loss game 3. I will concede that Cabal therapy is better against Empty the Warrens, but what else?
The reason is that you can't actually PLAY the Leyline if you draw it after turn 0, whereas you can still draw the discard and have it be useful if you keep a strong opening 7 without it. You actually aren't dead to combo without it; like I said, a good clock prevented my ANT opponent from winning my round 4. Belcher still sucks, but the new leyline only prevents one avenue of victory anyway.
-AA
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