Sneaking into top 8, Attacking for 15, Showing up in Boston, Telling you all about it

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

Do you know what it's like to fill out a deck registration sheet with "4 Sneak Attack" on it? I imagine it's exactly like Urza block Extended when the Megrim Jar players had to write "4 Megrim" on theirs. You know the deck is completely broken, you know the metagame is woefully unprepared, but the only thing you can think is, "my god this card fucking sucks... am I seriously going to hand this to a judge?"

Rewind to last weekend, when I was dead set on playing Team America or Canadian Threshold in Boston. Both seemed well-positioned to roll vengevival and still maintain positive matchups against actual good decks. The only problem was I just kept losing. I couldn't even put up a fight during playtest sessions. To be fair, I asked my friend to play decks that cause TA problems, namely Zoo, Goblins and Merfolk. I'm perfectly willing admit to pilot error, but the pilot is the one thing I couldn't change. By Wednesday, I was so tired and frustrated with the format that I thought about just running 4c CBtop again, despite its weakness in the current metagame, since the cards for my next project, SneakShow, probably wouldn't arrive in time. As it happened, I lucksacked into a package from Singapore on Friday with enough cards to put together SneakShow if I could trade for Sneak Attacks. I'd never played the deck before in my life; in fact, the only time I'd even seen it was when I passed by Korey Age at the GP top 8 on my way to watch Saito. But it looked fun.

We got to Boston on Saturday around 3pm, just in time to catch the Legacy side event at 4. I went to the SCG booth, traded for what I needed and sleeved up this list. R1 G1 would be my first time ever playing the deck. I got rolled 2-0 by BUG-top-still... an inauspicious start. But then, I just... stopped losing. My next 3 matches were against Canadian, TES and BUG-top-still (same 75 as r1, different pilot). I went 2-1, 2-0, 2-0 for a 3-1 finish and 6 packs of M11 to restore my confidence. After the event my friends and I went back to our room and tested into the wee hours of the morning, during which I started to get a legitimate feel for the deck, its amazing strengths and gaping weaknesses.

On Sunday I decided that my grievances with the deck were largely (if not entirely) addressed by Yuuki Ookubo who piloted this build to a top 4 finish at Tokyo's Eternal Festival, among which were "not enough vowels in my name." Despite (again) having never played the list and with only 3-4 hours of SneakShow experience under my belt, I decided to run it. Oh well, this should be fun...

Round 1 vs. BGW Rock
I win the roll and keep a t3 SnT-> Emrakul with FoW but no pitch card. He plays a couple of lands, a vial and a Confidant over the next 3 turns while I play land, go. By turn 5, he's got some serious action on the board and I still haven't found a pitch card, so I just go for it. Emrakul faces down Confidant, 2x Goyf, 2x Serra Avenger. He swings into Emrakul putting me at 11, then scoops.

Game two, I play t1 Island, t2 Ancient Tomb-> SnT-> Emrakul. His lands cannot stop the flying spaghetti monster.

1-0 matches, 2-0 games

Round 2 vs. 4c CBtop
I once again win the roll, keeping a hand with t3 SnT-> Emrakul with no protection. I Brainstorm EOT at the end of his second turn to find something, but don't and just go for it. SnT resolves, he draws for turn and scoops.

Game two I kept 2 Sneak, Emrakul, Tarn, Pyroblast, Force and Brainstorm on the draw and topdecked lands like a champ after Brainstorm yielded a second fetch and a pair of Progenitals. After developing his board and losing CB to Pyroblast, he's down to 3 cards in hand and I've ramped to 3 mana+ petal, so I decide to resolve Sneak. I probably should anyway, since a 4/5 goyf is beating my face in. I FoW his SDT to prevent him finding an answer and go for it. He shows me the force, drops Trinket Mage tutoring Top and I die. Shoulda held that Force...

Game three I have the nuts: 2 SnT, Pyroblast, Petal, Progenitus, City of Traitors, Misty. I decide to wait for turn 2 because he doesn't play Daze and I'll have protection. Turns out his only counter was Pierce, so either way I had it. Turn 2 SnT into Progenitals gets the scoop.

2-0 matches, 4-1 games

Round 3 vs. Glimpse Elves
I lose the roll and my opponent plays Forest, Fyndhorn Elves. I am glad. I Force Glimpse turn 3, which lets him to dump the rest of his hand and Pact for Regal Force, drawing 7. I Enlightened Tutor for Sphinx and SnT it, while he uses his turn to grow his army from 8 creatures to... much more. I get one attack in and watch as he proceeds to ramp to some ungodly amount of mana, bounce Warcaller, kick it for something high and kill me.

Game two I draw the nuts again. Emrakul, Progenitus, Sneak, Petal, Tomb and lands. He mulls to 5 into Leyline of Creatures Can't Be Countered but no lands, I ramp to 6 on turn 4 and cast Sneak, Prog, Emrak, win.

Game three I draw an OK hand that needs some work, but has t2 Meddling Mage naming Nettle Sentinel. I topdeck another one, naming Glimpse (which he apparently sided out) while I ramp up to Sneak Attack. He topdecks two consecutive Elvish Archdruids and decides to go aggro, dropping me to 9. Emrakul hits play and wipes most of his board except for 9 power worth of elves. The Meddling Mages chump, I upkeep Intuition for triple Emrakul, activate Sneak and win.

3-0 matches, 6-2 games

Round 4 vs. this deck (featured match!!)
I win the roll and play Island, go. He plays shockland, Hierarch, then I t2 Tomb, SnT-> Emrakul.

Game two, my opponent plays t1 Bayou, Birds to my t1 Island, go. He follows up with Plague Stinger and I t2 Tomb-> Emrakul. He (at 15 life exactly) swings, no blocks, pump with Vines of Vastwood. I'm at 6 poison counters, draw for turn and attack.

4-0 matches, 8-2 games

Round 5 vs. BGW Junk (Brad Nelson's t8 list)
I win the roll and play an Island, good enough to hide some cards from a t1 Thoughtseize with Brainstorm. He proceeds to Thoughtseize and Verdict me several times, draining our hands and leaving me with just Emrakul and something else. Topdecked Ponder shows nothing, shuffle, draw Brainstorm into Sneak Attack-> Emrakul next turn. He draws and scoops.

I keep a t3 SnT with t4 Sneak Attack backup, plus Emrakul and Progenitus to play. He plays land, go for 3 turns just as I do. I now know the exact contents of his hand. I need to ramp to 6 mana (3 red) to play and activate Sneak Attack twice or find another SnT to survive the Edict and dodge the (at least) double Vindicate. He tries to apply pressure with a goyf, I snap-play Perish and we continue to play draw, go for a couple turns until I E. Tutor for my second Petal to get 6. Edict snags Progenitus, Emrakul lands and he scoops.

5-0 matches, 10-2 games

Round 6 vs. BGW Junk (similar to Nelson's)
I win the roll and play Island, go. He plays a land and passes back, I t2 Tomb, SnT-> Emrakul. He drops a KotR (oh fuck...), draws and scoops. Whew. Apparently it's not in his 75.

We get deckchecked before game two and apparently there's a problem with my sheet. My sideboard reads 2 Pyroblast, 1 Pyroblast, etc. where it should read 2 Pyroblast, 1 Pyroclasm, etc. I'm forced to switch out the Pyroclasm for another Pyroblast, which fucking sucks. I also receive a game loss, which is moronic for an obvious clerical error, despite the fact I recited my exact sideboard correctly. Whatever.

For game 3 I again play first, we both drop lands and say go for 3 turns until SnT-> Progenitus. He draws and scoops.

6-0 matches, 12-3(2) game

At this point some people are telling me I can draw in, others are saying I can't, I'm nervous because I'm not supposed to make my first ever t8 with a deck I've never played, etc.

Round 7 vs. BGW Ooze Survival (Gerry Thompson)
He asks if I want to draw, I ask the judge if we can definitely draw in. Apparently he can't answer that, but Gerry explains how it works. I'm really not sure and reeeally don't want to miss top 8 again.

We play a game in which Gerry rolls me while I sit there a tilted, nervous wreck. By tilted, I mean he casts t2 Thoughtseize with Bayou and Savannah/ Hierarch open. My board is Tomb, Petal and my hand is Petal, Force, Daze, Emrakul, City, Tarn. I could've sworn I'd kept t1 SnT, but was literally so nervous I didn't realize it had no SnT until I drew for my turn. I crack Petal and activate Tomb to hardcast Daze, then realize the obvious. He has two mana open, dumbass. So I Force it pitching Daze. He's... confused, to say the least. Thoughtseize? No, sorry, let me bolt and hymn myself instead. He Survivals up the Ooze combo over the next two turns and I scoop. Then, Gerry T did something really classy. He assured me I would make the cut, walked me through the math and offered me the draw again. I took it and thanked him. Turns out he was right; after round 7, he was seated #1, I was #2. I could not mathematically draw out of top 8. I really need to figure out how that shit works, but thankfully he was understanding of my position.

Round 8 ID

I finish the swiss at 6-0-2 in 5th place behind Gerry in 4th and the 3 guys on the bubble who went X-1.

Quarterfinals vs. BGW Ooze Survival (Gerry Thompson)
Fuck. Alright, just shuffle up, take a deep breath and play. I mull to 6 and keep a t2 SnT-> Progenitus. He goes first and plays a Hierarch, then on turn 2 he plays a Fauna Shaman and Birds of Paradise. I SnT the Progenitus, he drops a Forest. Hell yeah, I got this. The next 2 turns were a blur... on his turn, he thinks for about a minute, then goes through an elaborate process of tutoring up Quirion Rangers, untapping his mana guys to tutor up some more and play another one. His board at EOT is 2x Fauna Shaman, Hierarch, Birds, 2x Ranger. I swing for 10 and pass. He does the untap-> retap-> Fauna Shaman up 4 Vengevines and attacks for 20, outracing my turn 2 Progenitus. Whoa...

I keep a strong hand that only needs a creature to win. Gerry is stuck on a single Bayou, but manages to cast 3x Thoughtseize, Hierarch, Cabal Therapy, flashback (sac Hierach) and another Hierarch. My hand is torn apart, but I topdeck a Perish for his second Hierach to keep him on 1 mana. Eventually I ramp up to 8 and hardcast Sphinx, which relevantly has pro-G and is a black artifact (read as: pro-Nature's Claim, pro-Shriekmaw). I attack him to 5 and he does the elaborate Fauna Shaman-> Ranger-> untap retap thing and swings for 18 with 4 Vengevines and some little guys, netting 8 damage after Sphinx blocks. He EOT Nature's Claims a Tree of Tales to go to 9, I attack him to 3. He does some combat math and scoops.

Game three I'm again a nervous wreck and keep an extremely loose hand of Island, Volcanic, Brainstorm, SnT, Emrakul, Perish, Extirpate. Somehow I think Brainstorm without a fetch will deliver me, but I draw into double Sneak Attack, Progenitus. Awesome. His hand is very slow too but with lots of disruption, so he tears mine apart until I eventually draw another Volcanic. I figure fuck it, might as well go for SnT. He's only got 1 Shriekmaw and not enough mana for it anyway, so I got this. SnT-> Emrakul-> O Ring. Awww. He takes an uneventful turn and I draw Brainstorm. He does more Fauna Shaman shenanigans, drops Necrotic Ooze and is now 2 turns from winning. I EOT Brainstorm into Pithing Needle, Echoing Truth, something. EOT Truth on O Ring, draw and swing. Stop.

After annihilator, his board is Bayou, Necrotic Ooze, Quirion Ranger with O Ring in hand. Mine is 2x Volcanic, Island, Emrakul with Island, Progenitus, Needle in hand. What happened next cost me $650, an invite to Virginia and a top 4 finish. I said go.

Float G with Bayou, activate Ooze for W, return Bayou with Ranger untapping Ooze. Play Bayou, tap for G, cast O Ring targeting Emrakul. Game, set, match. The Pithing Needle in my hand is Japanese, but an Oracle ruling on the text says "Target Quirion Ranger cannot bounce Bayou to recast O Ring next turn."

By all means, I did not deserve to win that match. Gerry is an insanely good player, a fact which I never fully appreciated watching him and other pros from the sidelines. Actually playing against a level 6? 7? pro is such a different experience from playing against literally anyone else, I just felt horribly outclassed. Even with a deck that should probably be a 60/40 favorite or better with pilots of equal skill. The guy was just a smooth operator all match, playing all the right spells in exactly the right order, even if it wasn't fully apparent until turns later when he always had exactly enough mana to do everything at once, including making a Fauna Shaman look like Survival of the Fittest with help from some Rangers. Not dick riding, just observing. That shit was unreal. Still, I had it... the game, the match, the money, the invite, the finish and I let it slip away. Oooh well. Gerry was a really cool guy and was happy to sign my Lotus Petals for me to commemorate my epic round 7 misplay.

The 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds all won their quarterfinal matches, landing me a 5th place finish. Not bad. Not too bad at all. So much for brevity. I'll be glad to answer questions about the deck/ games/ other stuff, or just to hear comments about whatever. Hopefully I'll have another successful report for you next week after Vestal's big power tourney!

[NesretepNoj]

Watched it live. Getting Gery to sign those Lotuses was so cool :)

[Filth]

I watched it live too. IIRC, dropping Needle on Ranger in the last game wouldn't have helped anyway, because he had another Ranger in the 'yard, and Ooze had its ability so it could have untapped itself. Needle on Ooze wouldn't change anything either, because it could still tap for mana, and he had the second Ranger.

[elof]

Congrats on your finish! Would you recommend any changes to the deck?

[Arew]

I watched it live too. IIRC, dropping Needle on Ranger in the last game wouldn't have helped anyway, because he had another Ranger in the 'yard, and Ooze had its ability so it could have untapped itself. Needle on Ooze wouldn't change anything either, because it could still tap for mana, and he had the second Ranger.

This is correct, though I think Needle on the Ooze probably would have still been the correct play though it wouldn't have done much.

[Scordata]

I think it was Gerry's turn to Enoch it with that O-Ring.

Who runs that?

Grats Sam.

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

I watched it live too. IIRC, dropping Needle on Ranger in the last game wouldn't have helped anyway, because he had another Ranger in the 'yard, and Ooze had its ability so it could have untapped itself. Needle on Ooze wouldn't change anything either, because it could still tap for mana, and he had the second Ranger.

That actually makes me feel a looot better. During the entire 4 hour ride home, I must have made dozens of comments about Pithing Needle. If it wouldn't have mattered, then I just should've mulled the hand.

@Elof, I'd probably change Pierce in the board for 2 more bounce spells because of how awesome E. Truth always was and because of how little to never I used Pierce. You've just got so much protection against blue postboard and you're probably slowrolling them anyway until they tap out. If they don't land pressure and are sculpting a protective hand, there's no reason to go off until you can too. Being able to Intuition for bounce would also be awesome. In G1 against Gerry, the only play that would've saved me is Intuition for it and E. Truth the 'vines (though I was 1 mana short anyway, I'm just saying: it would've been the play). I'd also consider switching the Personal Tutor for Intuition #4. I mentioned in the SnT thread that neither was exciting, but there was never a time when I thought, "You know what I need? A mothafuckin' sorcery-speed tutor for a sorcery! They'll never see it coming!" I literally only used it for its shuffle the one time I saw it all tournament. At least Intuition puts a card in your hand EOT.

@Scordata, Yeah man... when I saw his list on SCG and only 1 I was like oh snap total Enoch, but I can hardly complain after basically running good all day. I Enoched the Truth anyway, so all's fair!

[thranmonster]

Nice bro!! I'm 3x Progenitus away from finishing that deck! I think your insight about personal tutor is spot on. I've been playtesting it and it never shows up when you need it. So you would replace spell pierces with echoing truth? I seriously love this deck and almost every hand I play seems God-awesome.

[PanderAlexander]

Rewind to last weekend, when I was dead set on playing Team America or Canadian Threshold in Boston. Both seemed well-positioned to roll vengevival and still maintain positive matchups against actual good decks. The only problem was I just kept losing. I couldn't even put up a fight during playtest sessions. To be fair, I asked my friend to play decks that cause TA problems, namely Zoo, Goblins and Merfolk. I'm perfectly willing admit to pilot error, but the pilot is the one thing I couldn't change. By Wednesday, I was so tired and frustrated with the format that I thought about just running 4c CBtop again, despite its weakness in the current metagame, since the cards for my next project, SneakShow, probably wouldn't arrive in time. As it happened, I lucksacked into a package from Singapore on Friday with enough cards to put together SneakShow if I could trade for Sneak Attacks. I'd never played the deck before in my life; in fact, the only time I'd even seen it was when I passed by Korey Age at the GP top 8 on my way to watch Saito. But it looked fun.

Congrats on the result, that round 4 feature match my friend said he was watching it and went to get something and came back and the round was over already. I too think TA or CT is situated well in this meta but seems like SneakShow was it for you. Sucks for that deckcheck in round 6 and for the pithing needle in the top 8, otherwise sounds like you had a blast and a great experience. You order Asian cards from ebay? Is that why they came from Singapore?

[Stifle]

It must have been very nerve-wracking seeing GerryT on your way to the top 8 and then being paired up with him the next round after you've made top 8. For the most part, it definitely looked like you knew what you were doing with the deck and I was rooting for you during the live coverage. You did some really crazy shit during your games... and only someone of GerryT's caliber could have outplayed a turn 2 Progenitus & live after an Emrakul swing the way he did. Congrats on the finish, you had a great run and I'm definitely looking forward to your next report. Cheers!

edit:
P.S. A friend pointed out that StarCityGames named your deck Reanimator. lol

[aTn]

I stopped playing Legacy for a while but stumbled on your report for a reason I don't remember. I planned on spending 5 minutes on thesource to satisfy my curiosity, but I managed to read your whole report and miss the bus (yeah, I sound like an 8 year old and I'm a slow reader). Anyhow, thanks for the entertainment, keep up the good work and props for the Top5 !

[GerryT]

First of all, I lost my original account information, so I just made a new one.

I feel pretty stupid for not remembering that your list was in Saito's article. I lost game two because I sided out the Ooze combo, figuring that I would need the slots for Disenchants for either Crypt/Relic/Leyline if you had them, or Sneak Attack if you just ran it out there (which you correctly never did). Once I saw you had Extirpates and didn't expose your Sneak Attacks, I swapped it back in.

Second, there isn't much you could have done game three. Brainstorming, if it was turn one, but I think it was turn two, might have been a little loose. Regardless, I kept my hand because it had Oblivion Ring, and after you just Personal Tutored for Show and Tell and I didn't take Emrakul, you have to know that something is up. If I didn't have that Oblivion Ring in my hand, I'm not sure I would have kept.

With the Pithing Needle thing, I still get to do what I did, except I can't attack you for four, down to five with five power in play. That's why I had you check your top card to see if it mattered, but it was an Enlightened Tutor.

The only thing that I think REALLY mattered was Force of Willing my Enlightened Tutor instead of FOWing what I would have gotten. I drew Thoughtseize for that drawstep, which helped a little bit that game.

A more thorough version will be my article this week, but I figured I'd chime in and tell you not to beat yourself up over it too much.

Congrats on your finish!

[itomarhernandez]

Congrats Sam!! See you on Sunday!

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

Second, there isn't much you could have done game three. Brainstorming, if it was turn one, but I think it was turn two, might have been a little loose. Regardless, I kept my hand because it had Oblivion Ring, and after you just Personal Tutored for Show and Tell and I didn't take Emrakul, you have to know that something is up. If I didn't have that Oblivion Ring in my hand, I'm not sure I would have kept.

With the Pithing Needle thing, I still get to do what I did, except I can't attack you for four, down to five with five power in play. That's why I had you check your top card to see if it mattered, but it was an Enlightened Tutor.

The only thing that I think REALLY mattered was Force of Willing my Enlightened Tutor instead of FOWing what I would have gotten. I drew Thoughtseize for that drawstep, which helped a little bit that game.

Thanks for the advice, Gerry. I didn't even consider that Emrakul would shuffle the SnT away; I thought you were going to race me, so having an uncastable SnT on top would give you an extra turn to develop your board. In hindsight that's clearly wrong because the delay in finding a combo piece and a new monster would obviously be longer than just a land. I'll definitely work on being more diligent about understanding the information my opponents give me by choices like that.

I FoWed the E. Tutor for fear of a Thoughtseize already in your hand to protect whatever you got; it seemed like a now-or-never decision and the quickest way to lose the game, even if it meant you'd get to take something else. It turned out to be a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, since the topdecked Thoughtseize convinced me I had made the right play!

[teamenoch]

jank deck i love it

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Report was a good read. Congrats on the finish =)

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

jank deck i love it

Hate hate hate

[Ziveeman]

Just wanna say your deck was featured on the mothership, if you didn't know it already - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazin...daily/deck/578

Congrats on the finish! Good report too.