[Deck] Food Chain Combo

[JackaBo]

Rarely does it exile the copies, but I've found it to be worlds better against Elves because they generally have mana to pay for Flusterstorm when they're ready to combo off. Also, against Storm, sometimes good pilots blind-name Flusterstorm with Cabal Therapy, so having Invasive Surgery diversifies my hate. But maybe these are too corner-case to merit playing I.S. over Flusterstorm.

I use my flusterstorms a lot to win counterwars over MF or FC versus control decks. If you don't need to fight instants I guess IS can be better.

[ORDAL]

Hi Guys, i played ovino last weekend with same lista i played at 4season summer where i won.

I make top8 in friday side event. This Was the swiss:

1 turn: 4c control WIN
2 turn: 4c control (johannes gutbrod) WIN
3 turn: 4c control WIN
4 turn: Eldrazi LOSE
5 turn: 4c control WIN
6 turn: ID
Top8: split

Ok after side event i believe food chain is the best deck right now for live event with low combo.
Vs 4c i make 3 different side in based on oppo decklist, on turn 1 i take Notion Thief on the face with 3 cards in hand, oppo go up to 7 card... and with EngPlag side i will win that game, that cards was in for pizzy. Thats mean this deck own 4c. Usually i bring in 2 beb 1 surgical but all' depends what you saw in G1


Main event didnt go well.
Turn1 won vs DT
turn 2 i found the oppo of last turn of side event. And after win g1, i had to mull g2 and G3 and play both games with 1/2 lands, happens in all cards game (this guy will win the ovino)
Turn 3 won vs Goblins, Nothing to say i won in 10 min 2 games ( post side we have beb, plague)
Turn 4 won vs 4c
Turn 5 lose to DT, i was so Sick because i think is really easy matchup, g1 i win, g2 He make revoker the turn before i gonna combo him, i have to put my ballista 100/100 on board but flicker take her. G3 i have to mull and keep nota a great hand, mother and 2 canonist with some denial lock me enough and gideon take da game

Btw guys we have a great deck, hope this deck dont go to be played a lot or gonna to lose power.

Next big legacy: Nebraska War i hope to see a lot of european players there.

Thx guys!(srry for my bad english)

[JackaBo]

Hi Guys, i played ovino last weekend with same lista i played at 4season summer where i won.

I make top8 in friday side event. This Was the swiss:

1 turn: 4c control WIN
2 turn: 4c control (johannes gutbrod) WIN
3 turn: 4c control WIN
4 turn: Eldrazi LOSE
5 turn: 4c control WIN
6 turn: ID
Top8: split

Ok after side event i believe food chain is the best deck right now for live event with low combo.
Vs 4c i make 3 different side in based on oppo decklist, on turn 1 i take Notion Thief on the face with 3 cards in hand, oppo go up to 7 card... and with EngPlag side i will win that game, that cards was in for pizzy. Thats mean this deck own 4c. Usually i bring in 2 beb 1 surgical but all' depends what you saw in G1


Main event didnt go well.
Turn1 won vs DT
turn 2 i found the oppo of last turn of side event. And after win g1, i had to mull g2 and G3 and play both games with 1/2 lands, happens in all cards game (this guy will win the ovino)
Turn 3 won vs Goblins, Nothing to say i won in 10 min 2 games ( post side we have beb, plague)
Turn 4 won vs 4c
Turn 5 lose to DT, i was so Sick because i think is really easy matchup, g1 i win, g2 He make revoker the turn before i gonna combo him, i have to put my ballista 100/100 on board but flicker take her. G3 i have to mull and keep nota a great hand, mother and 2 canonist with some denial lock me enough and gideon take da game

Btw guys we have a great deck, hope this deck dont go to be played a lot or gonna to lose power.

Next big legacy: Nebraska War i hope to see a lot of european players there.

Thx guys!(srry for my bad english)

I agree! The more midrange the better!

[biglongjohns]

4c. Usually i bring in 2 beb 1 surgical but all' depends what you saw in G1

Turn 3 won vs Goblins, Nothing to say i won in 10 min 2 games ( post side we have beb, plague)

What is "beb"? Also, what cards are you taking out against Czech Pile?

[meffeo]

What is "beb"? Also, what cards are you taking out against Czech Pile?

It's Blue Elemental Blast.
Scroll some pages to find the Czech Pile discussion.

[deaded]

This list took went Top 8 at MKM Hamburg, losing to RUG Delver in the first match of Top 8:

http://series.magiccardmarket.eu/cov...g-2017-legacy/

Main Deck:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
2 Trinket Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Eternal Scourge
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 Misthollow Griffin
3 Walking Ballista
4 Food Chain
4 Brainstorm
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
3 Manipulate Fate

Sideboard:
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Flusterstorm
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Golgari Charm
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Toxic Deluge

Of note:

• 2 Trinket/3 Ballista
• 4 Ponder
• 1 Clique main
• Only 2 Abrupt Decay main for removal, no Fatal Push
• No targeted discard in the 75 (unless you count Clique), just 4 Hymn in the SB
• Only other target for Trinket Mage is Relic in the SB, no Engineered Explosives

In the brief Top 8 interview, he says he'd cut 1 Golgari Charm from the SB because "it underperformed." If you watch the match against RUG Delver (at the link above), he had issues against a resolved Hooting Mandrills. If Mandrills gets more popular (being immune to Decay, Push, trampling over TNN/Leovold) then it could be worth running a Dismember or something in place of the Charm.

I'm also wondering if 4 Ponder is just the best build, and it's taking a little while for everyone to be won over. I'll be trying out 4 Ponder in my next games.

[theMonster]

In my experience, I never liked the 4 Hymn builds in my deck with 2 Islands, 2 Trops, and a Forest. I watched the video of the pilot facing off against RUG Delver, and he brought in Hymns against them - not sure I agree with this approach because Delver often gets its threats on the board early, making the cards in hand less relevant. Sure, RUG Delver keeps lots of permission in hand, but all their threats are so efficient, so tagging two lands early or some blue cards doesn't even hinder their board development because they just need one land to cast a creature. And trying to play a spell in the face of Stifle and Wasteland seems like an uphill battle. I can see a card like Hymn being good against combo or even a control deck like Czech Pile, but I think the Pile matchup is fine without Hymns.

I personally like two Fatal Pushes maindeck because Deathrite is everywhere, and it needs to die immediately. The games I most often lose are ones where I get flooded on 3-drops, so having early interaction instead of, say, a fifth combo piece (the second Trinket Mage) is where I'd prefer to be. I'm also trying to fit a Murderous Cut in my 75 somewhere, most likely the sideboard. It exiles dead Griffins and often costs the same as Dismember but without the life loss. 3-4 Ponders definitely feels right, too.

Also, I've decided my stance on maindeck Thoughtseize: if I'm playing maindeck Thoughtseizes because I'm afraid of combo metas, I should probably be on a different deck. So Thoughtseize will probably stay in my sideboard.

[heat_wave]

In my experience, I never liked the 4 Hymn builds in my deck with 2 Islands, 2 Trops, and a Forest. I watched the video of the pilot facing off against RUG Delver, and he brought in Hymns against them - not sure I agree with this approach because Delver often gets its threats on the board early, making the cards in hand less relevant. Sure, RUG Delver keeps lots of permission in hand, but all their threats are so efficient, so tagging two lands early or some blue cards doesn't even hinder their board development because they just need one land to cast a creature. And trying to play a spell in the face of Stifle and Wasteland seems like an uphill battle. I can see a card like Hymn being good against combo or even a control deck like Czech Pile, but I think the Pile matchup is fine without Hymns.

I personally like two Fatal Pushes maindeck because Deathrite is everywhere, and it needs to die immediately. The games I most often lose are ones where I get flooded on 3-drops, so having early interaction instead of, say, a fifth combo piece (the second Trinket Mage) is where I'd prefer to be. I'm also trying to fit a Murderous Cut in my 75 somewhere, most likely the sideboard. It exiles dead Griffins and often costs the same as Dismember but without the life loss. 3-4 Ponders definitely feels right, too.

Also, I've decided my stance on maindeck Thoughtseize: if I'm playing maindeck Thoughtseizes because I'm afraid of combo metas, I should probably be on a different deck. So Thoughtseize will probably stay in my sideboard.

I've always considered the mana base to be too shaky to support Hymns. However, my sideboard toolbox for Trinket Mage has been underperforming recently, and I decided to give Hymns a try. Sure, there were 1 or 2 times when I couldn't cast it asap, but that didn't really hurt. Coupled with TS/Duress, Hymns can slow down a combo player well enough, but I wouldn't rely on Hymns alone.
I agree with moving TS to sideboard in a fair meta. Did that myself for yesterday's weekly event and was pleased with the results.

A small report on the weekly itself: after giving up on maindeck TS, I wanted to add something spicy to improve the grind plan further. I considered Tasigur and some other stuff that used to work well in Food Chain previously, but finally decided to try out a Monastery Siege for the lulz. And it did deliver!

R1: Portent Miracles 2-0
G1 I get some threats on the board, but poor sequencing on my side leads to him Unexpectedly Absent'ing my Food Chain in response to my fetchland activation. I lose the engine, in the meantime resolving a Sylvan Library and a Monastery Siege (Khans). He gets a Narset on board, but cannot get value from her +1 for quite some time. I lose some life to Snapcaster beats and Sylvan draws, use a Ballista to prevent Narset's ultimate, and when he is almost tapped out with 1 card in hand, I go off thanks to all the filtering. G2 I face Ethersworn Canonist I cannot find removal for, and have to play fair. My early Leovold hinders his cantrips while he's stuck on 2 lands, then Leo goes farming and I play a Relic of Progenitus. DRS eats his spells, then he tries to miracle Entreat for 1, but I have force and griffin to pitch, and there's no counter war because of Canonist. The artifact human beats bring me down to 8, he plays Snapcaster as an ambush viper, but I resolve my ballista for 3. Next turn up ballista ticks up, attacks and shoots him in the face for lethal. I didn't see any reason to blow up Canonist with ballista while it slowed him down more than me.

R2: D&T 2-0
G1 I am stuck on a DRS and two lands, getting early Siege (Khans) and forcing his Stoneforge. Cavern lets him resolve both Thalias and I'm quite screwed, my life total steadily dropping. He protects Thalias with Karakas (I have Decay in hand), but to improve his board he taps Karakas and plays another one, getting a precious land in the bin. I get out a Sylvan Library and some lands to finally be able to cast my spells. In my final turn I see a basic forest with my draw engines, take it and get exactly the mana I need to cast Food Chain and combo off. G2 he goes wide, getting Mom, small Thalia, Canonist, big Thalia, Revoker (naming Ballista). I have Siege again, my Strix does nothing to protect me from big Thalia beats (and I am too dumb to attack with it), but Scourge keeps everything but her at bay. So I lose life in increments of 3, get Griffin on board, keep attacking with it and race (I had 2 DRS on board and a lot of lands, so that even his ports didn't slow me down). I decay a SoFaI, his second Stoneforge gets a Jitte, but two Shamans let me kill him right on time. I never drew a sideboard card, though, so the game was closer than it should have been.

R3: Soothsaying Miracles 2-0
G1 I resolve a Manipulate Fate (already enough to win in this matchup), then Food Chain, then I go off. He never finds the counterspells he desperatly needs. G2 I Hymn him, get Leo, cast Scourge and start the beats. When he's at 3, I also cast Food Chain, try to go off, he Wears the engine, but Leo draws me the Force I need to close the game. Soothsaying and Counterbalance could have found him a Terminus next turn, but that didn't happen.

R4: Turbo Eldrazi ID
We split the prizes and playtest a few games. Well, after a month of getting paired with Turbo Eldrazi, I can say the matchup is really horrible. Early disruption into TKS into All is Dust into Ulamog is my sort of hell. Out of 4 games we played that day (1 preboard, 3 postboard) I won zero. Even in a game where I resolved 2 back-to-back Hymns he managed to get back and Ulamog me into oblivion. It's annoying, but there's not much to be done.

[JackaBo]

@deaded I'm definitly in the 4 ponder camp as long as your meta is not 1) a bunch of chalice decks, then i'd play another decay 2) a bunch of Stifle delver, then i'd rather play the 20th land.

@Monster: i agree on that 2 md removal seems too few. Supporting hymn is questionable, boarding into hymn vs RUG is even more questionable. I like your stance on thoughtseize, from now that's my stance too :). I like discard in the board though.

@heatwave: good work! Havent faced new miracle yet. Would you say it's easier or harder than czech pile?

[heat_wave]

@JackaBo: new miracles have less consistency and velocity than the original deck. Portent and soothsaying aren't even close to top in efficiency (and no Mentor tricks either), so if old miracles were quite favourable for us, this match is really hard to lose. As for czech pile, I haven't faced the deck much, but from what I've learned the matchup is even to slightly favourable. You can't durdle here like you can with miracles, lest you die to a random bolt-snap-bolt backed up by DRS activations. If the early game is ok (without hymns disrupting your hand too hard) and you can start deploying threats, you're probably winning that game. Btw, I added Siege to the deck with czech pile in mind (making bolts cost 3, hymns 4 and k-command 5 should really put a strain on them and make snappy not happy), but it covers so much more than that.
Edit: someone in the czech pile thread is having a hard time against food chain, so maybe I'm underestimating our strength in this matchup (again, not enough matches for me to judge). Still this is definitely not a cakewalk.

Regarding hymns, siding them in against RUG Thresh is downright suicidal. I believe hymns should only be used against combo or if you think that you need extra grinding power in a fair matchup and your opponent puts no pressure on your mana base.

[Rancor85]

So I lost in the finals of a "win a tabernacle " tournament.
This is the list that I ran and it felt really good all day.

19 LANDS

1*Bayou

1*Forest

2*Island

4*Misty Rainforest

4*Polluted Delta

1*Swamp

2*Tropical Island

2*Underground Sea

2*Verdant Catacombs

18 CREATURES

3*Baleful Strix

4*Deathrite Shaman

1*Eternal Scourge

2*Leovold, Emissary of Trest

3*Misthollow Griffin

1*Scavenging Ooze

1*Trinket Mage

3*Walking Ballista

18 INSTANTS and SORC.

3*Abrupt Decay

4*Brainstorm

2*Fatal Push

4*Force of Will

3*Manipulate Fate

3*Ponder

4*Food Chain

SIDEBOARD

2*Diabolic Edict

1*Engineered Explosives

2*Flusterstorm

1*Golgari Charm

1*Invasive Surgery

1*Pithing Needle

1*Relic of Progenitus

2*Surgical Extraction

2*Thoughtseize

1*Toxic Deluge

1*Vendilion Clique

My losses on the day were to infect, mono red prison in the Swiss rounds. In the finals I lost to ur delver with 4 chart the course lol. The card won him game 3 which was ridiculous. I did have a chance to get revenge on the infect player in top 8 so that was nice.

Round 1 czek pile (2-0)
Round 2 elves (2-1)
Round 3 infect (1-2)
Round 4 ur delver (2-0)
Round 5 mono red prison (1-2)
Round 6 lands (2-1)
Quarterfinals infect (2-1)
Semifinals cloudpost (2-0)
Finals ur delver(chart the course lol) (2-1)

The main deck felt fine, I just don't know what tweaks i want to make for eternal weekend. Ooze was underwhelming and usually drew a counter or removal spell on the spot, which I guess freed it up for other pieces to get thru. Dk if it should just be the 4 strix or a sylvan library. The all-star of the day had to be the 2 main deck fatal push. So good I'm considering cutting the 3rd decay for a 3rd push. I would like any feed back or advice in preparation for eternal weekend coming up and will take more in depth notes in the coming weeks. Thanks everyone

[JackaBo]

@JackaBo: new miracles have less consistency and velocity than the original deck. Portent and soothsaying aren't even close to top in efficiency (and no Mentor tricks either), so if old miracles were quite favourable for us, this match is really hard to lose. As for czech pile, I haven't faced the deck much, but from what I've learned the matchup is even to slightly favourable. You can't durdle here like you can with miracles, lest you die to a random bolt-snap-bolt backed up by DRS activations. If the early game is ok (without hymns disrupting your hand too hard) and you can start deploying threats, you're probably winning that game. Btw, I added Siege to the deck with czech pile in mind (making bolts cost 3, hymns 4 and k-command 5 should really put a strain on them and make snappy not happy), but it covers so much more than that.
Edit: someone in the czech pile thread is having a hard time against food chain, so maybe I'm underestimating our strength in this matchup (again, not enough matches for me to judge). Still this is definitely not a cakewalk.

Regarding hymns, siding them in against RUG Thresh is downright suicidal. I believe hymns should only be used against combo or if you think that you need extra grinding power in a fair matchup and your opponent puts no pressure on your mana base.

Czech pile is the easiest MU in the current meta IMO. They have no pressure to speak of. Snappys strixes and shamans are way to slow clock. Good to hear new miracle is easy.

[JackaBo]

Round 1 czek pile (2-0)
Round 2 elves (2-1)
Round 3 infect (1-2)
Round 4 ur delver (2-0)
Round 5 mono red prison (1-2)
Round 6 lands (2-1)
Quarterfinals infect (2-1)
Semifinals cloudpost (2-0)
Finals ur delver(chart the course lol) (2-1)

The main deck felt fine, I just don't know what tweaks i want to make for eternal weekend. Ooze was underwhelming and usually drew a counter or removal spell on the spot, which I guess freed it up for other pieces to get thru. Dk if it should just be the 4 strix or a sylvan library. The all-star of the day had to be the 2 main deck fatal push. So good I'm considering cutting the 3rd decay for a 3rd push. I would like any feed back or advice in preparation for eternal weekend coming up and will take more in depth notes in the coming weeks. Thanks everyone

Congrats! Not sure what you want feedback on. If scooze drew removal or counters I would consider it a good card. Many decks are semi-reliant on GY these days, it recurs your griffins and gains you a bit if life. Most deck have issues with at least one of these so that's no surprice.
In what way was push the alstar? Was it that you could kill one-drops turn 1? Was it that you could remove a creature and play a one more spell on turn 2? Was it that you could kill a troublesome fourdrop? Was it that you didnt need to fetch early green mana?
In my testing i always missed decay when i played pushes. I guess that's a meta question.
I would advice you to test four ponder. To me that's been great.

[heat_wave]

Czech pile is the easiest MU in the current meta IMO. They have no pressure to speak of. Snappys strixes and shamans are way to slow clock. Good to hear new miracle is easy.

Glad to be wrong on that one! Maybe I shouldn't give way to my hymnophobia, lol.

As for Fatal Pushes, every time I switched a mainboard Decay for a Push, I did regret it somehow. You might have a different experience with it, though.

[cheerios]

I played the list below in our monthly win a dual legacy event to a first place finish. Played maindeck thoughtseize and just 18 lands. Trimmed some lands cause I felt like I was drawing just lands after casting manipulate fate. First time playing the deck in an event and had a blast.


4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
1 Eternal Scourge
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 Misthollow Griffin
4 Walking Ballista
4 Food Chain
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize
3 Ponder
3 Manipulate Fate

SB: 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
SB: 1 Garruk, Relentless
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Diabolic Edict
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge
SB: 1 Pithing Needle

quick report:
rd 1: Grixis delver (0-2) L
Lost to a quick gurmag on game 1 and then lost to double yp on game 2. Felt like inexperience with sideboarding mattered in the round.
rd 2: BR reanimator (1-1) D
Almost won the match but lacked a turn for that last damage. Opponent needled my ballista instead of drs.
rd 3: enchantress (2-0) W
rd 4: Czech pile (2-0) W
I thought that this would be difficult. Felt like playing the mirror but instead of JTMS we have a combo.
rd 5: Punishing Jund (2-0) W
Combo'ed twice.

I think I was 7th/8th after swiss. So I had to be on the draw in all my matches.

Quarters: Sneak show (2-0)
Combo on g1. Too many sideboard cards on game 2.
Semi-finals: Elves (2-1)
Combo on g1 then outgrinded him on G3. DRS battles are such a headache.
Finals: Canadian thresh (2-0)
Decay, DRS, diabolic edict, and strix are good against him. Was able to combo out both games in the late game.

post portem:
a) I'm swapping Garruk and a Toxic deluge for 2 Golgari Charms.
b) 18 lands seem to be ok
c) This deck is underrated. More people should be playing this.
d) This deck can also be difficult to play. There are a lot of available lines of play in the deck.
e) I like my decays over push.

[mike1987]

Been on and off the food chain wagon for a few months now. Got a large tournament in my country this friday and i decided to sleeve this bad boy up. My metagame if i predicted correctly will be made up of Delvers (grixis, rug), DnT, Czech Pile, Reanimator, Show and Tell, Lands and some others. Quite varied in my opinion. Below is my decklist (quite similar to ORDAL's) and some sideboarding choices i have been making as far as i am on this deck, would appreciate all your response if deem wrong.

Creatures [18]
1 Eternal Scourge
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 Misthollow Griffin
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Walking Ballista

Instants [11]
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will

Sorceries [8]
3 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
3 Manipulate Fate

Enchantments [4]
4 Food Chain

Lands [19]
1 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard (i am really fickle-minded on this):
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Duress (good against burn too lol)
1 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Diabolic Edicts
2 Engineered Plague (this is a contentious one, not sure to play this or deluge or golgari charm, does anyone have any advice on this?)
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Flusterstorm
2 Hydroblast (another contentious one, i think i am having at least one, still undecided to go up to 2)
1 Vendillion Clique

Sideboard Choices:

Show and Tell
-3 Abrupt Decay, -4 Food Chain, -4 Walking Ballista
1 Thoughtseize, 1 Duress, 2 Surgical Extration, 1 Vendillion CLique, 2 Flusterstorm, 2 Diabolic Edict, 2 Hydroblast

Reanimator
-3 Abrupt Decay, -4 Food Chain, -4 Walking Ballista
1 Thoughtseize, 1 Duress, 2 Surgical Extration, 1 Vendillion CLique, 2 Flusterstorm, 2 Diabolic Edict, 1 Hydroblast, 1 Grafdigger's Cage

ANT/TES
-4 Strix, -3 Decay, -1 Walking Ballista
1 Grafdigger's Cage, 2 Surgical Extraction, 1 Thoughtseize, 1 Duress, 1 Vendillion Clique, 2 flusterstorm

Elves
-4 Baleful Strix
2 Engineered Plague, 1 Grafdigger's Cage, 1 Liliana, the Last Hope

Lands
-2 Baleful Strix, -1 Abrupt Decay, -1 FOW
2 Surgical Extraction, 2 Diabolic Edict

Eldrazi
-2 Leovold, -2 Ponder
2 Engineered Plague, 2 Diabolic Edict

Death and Taxes
-4 FOW
2 Engineered Plague, 1 Liliana's Last Hope, 1 Diabolic Edict

Grixis Delver
-4 FOW
+2 Engineered Plague (pyro, delver), +2 Diabolic Edict (TNN). Here for Grixis, i feel like boarding in the hydroblast but i am not too sure what else to board out? Thoughtseize?

RUG Delver (Mandrils, Mongoose, TNN version)
-4 FOW
+2 Diabolic Edict, +2 Hydroblast (protect strix against a bolt, reb or grudge)

Czech Pile
-3 FOW
+2 Hydroblast, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope

Apologies for the long post. TLDR summary below:

1) Not sure if engineered plague is better than toxic deluge in the sideboard.
2) Should we always board out FOW in fair matchups like delver? After all if we get to pitch FOW to griffin, it isn't half shabby
3) What do you guys think of hydroblast in the current legacy meta now?

[JackaBo]

1) Not sure if engineered plague is better than toxic deluge in the sideboard.
2) Should we always board out FOW in fair matchups like delver? After all if we get to pitch FOW to griffin, it isn't half shabby
3) What do you guys think of hydroblast in the current legacy meta now?

1) I run e plague, deluge and gcharm. I like sweepers.
2) I say no. I rarely board out the whole playset. Versus death n taxes I rather board out 3 strix (who doesnt block thalia, mirran or anything with a SoFaI strapped on) and in with 3 sweepers. I keep fow versus delver since card disadvantage doesnt matter too much, we will win the long game anyway, and survival is key. I keep fow versus control decks since we want to win through combo. We can not grind out czech pile so i take the combo role. Out goes the strixes again, since they run no real beaters.
3) I like it! But maybe not as a two-off.

[JackaBo]

Played FC again after a hiatus tsting different brews to a disappointing 2-2 last night.

Started out good:
Lands 2-0
UW Stoneblade 2-1
Then things went south:
Omnisneak 1-2
New miracle 0-2

The games versus Omnisneak were very exciting.
Game 1 I won with beatdown from a 2/2 balista and a shaman, after he had wiped a board with Kozileks return. Neither of us saw any combo and I crucially countered a intuition.
Game 2 I were in a spot were I hade Clique, Leo and Surgical in hand. I had the opportunity to surgical in respons to SnT to see what he'd put into play then choose between Leo (for gris) and Clique (for omniscience). I love those kind of lines.
I ended up with both in play but he won with a sneak + emrakul through half combo. Rough.
Game 3 I had combo plus Leo in hand. When he show n tells on turn 3 I debate wether to put Leo or FC into play. FC would speed up my combo win, Leo would stop Gris from drawing. I wrongly decide to put FC into play and he cheats in Griselbrand. Thanks to that mistake I never get to resolve another spell even if I drew a flusterstorm. I dont mind loosing if there's a lesson to be learned and the games are fun.

The game versus Miracle wasn't all that exciting. I kept a two lander with 2 strixes and the whole combo. I never draw another land until it's way to late.
Game 2 I sideboard too conservatly (is that the word?). I keep 2 decay and bring in 2 sweepers for Mentors. I should have boarded in thoughtseize and possibly surgical. I ended up gettting MF countered and didn't get any action from there on.

It was a day of either drawing few lands and floofing alot.. so variance surely had a thing to do with the results. I still feel the deck is great in this midrange meta. However with DnT on the decline I fear Sneak'n'show are comming back.

[janchu88]

Played some clicking against the clock in the legacy challenge yesterday and made it to the semi finals where i lost to some of the stronger draws of BR Reanimator. However, still fine with the Performance.

Decklist will follow when im home

Played against :

ANT 2-1
Czech pile 2:0
UWR control with pfire
Grixis 2-1
TES 2-1
Grixis 1-2
Czech pile 1-2

Quarter grixis 2-1
Semi BR Reanimator 1-2

Deck felt good, but BR had some of the non interactive opening 7 otp with Ramp, discard, chancelor and stuff where it didnt really matter which cards i kept

The most Noticable thing Was 4 flusterstorm in the sideboard. Played 2 Mindbreak Traps before but fluster seems superior to me and the Leovold interaction with trap is nice in theory but since i play the deck never actually occured

[pocari79]

Played Food Chain for the first time at a legacy side event at Canadian Nationals this past Sunday. Here's the list I ran:

4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
4 Food Chain
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Walking Ballista
3 Baleful Strix
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 Misthollow Griffin
1 Eternal Scourge
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize
3 Manipulate Fate

2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Flusterstorm
2 Hydroblast
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Golgari Charm
1 Engineered Plague
1 Liliana, the Last Hope

Wanted to try out 18 lands, I actually took out one land for one Ponder. At the end of the tournament, I felt like that might be wrong as I had to mulligan a lot for lands a lot and had to keep a lot of one landers with a Ponder, so maybe it should be 19 lands and one less Ponder. The sideboard also felt like a total miss. My initial idea was to try to have all my counters to be free but the Mindbreak Traps felt pretty bad. Maybe it needs to be a Misdirection and something else. I'm also kind of iffy about the Hydroblasts and felt like I might need more removal spells again Delver decks so maybe they should be Fatal Pushes?

Round 1: Joseph (Grixis Delver)
It looked like he started out fairly slow and initially I thought he was on Grixis Pyro and I didn't need ballista to win game one, just attacked for 9 in the air for a couple of turns to win. Game two, he had a turn one delver and I was on the backfoot trying to play around Daze and Stifle and died before I was able to combo off. Game three we just traded cards one for one and then he just ran out of resources and I was able to resolve the food chain combo playing around Daze.

Win 1-0 (2-1)

Round 2: Mu Yang (Sneak/Show)
Game one, the maindeck Thoughtseizes do a ton of work by taking his only draw spell (Brainstorm) and then took away his other business card (Omniscience). It was just a lot of draw go as we both tried to assemble our combo and I was able to resolve a Deathrite and a Leovold before he was able to kill me. Game two, I took out all the Food Chains as even putting in a Food Chain through a Show and Tell won't win you the game immediately so I was going to try to grind them out with counterspells instead. It ended up working but it felt like he was also drawing fairly poorly so....

Win 2-0 (4-1)

Round 3: Matthew (R/G Lands)
Game one, I keep a rather sketchy hand that needs to find lands through Ponders and I didn't get there and he had the Wasteland lock on me from turn 2 on so I conceded quick. Game two took a long time as I had the full combo on board with the Ballista in my hand but he had recurring Glacial Chasm + Thespian Stage lock so I had to wait for to draw my Surgical Extraction to exile the Chasm and then hoping he doesn't dredge another Stage to keep on copying Chasms over and over again. He ended up not getting the second Stage and I won on my turn. Game three, I was able to exile one Life from the Loam with a Deathrite and surgical his Punishing Fires but I didn't have any pressure in hand and he had a Dark Depths in play with no cards in hand so we were just trying to topdeck and he ended up topdecking a Stage a couple of turns later and won.

Lose 2-1 (5-3)

Round 4: Justin (Infect)
Game one and two were fairly similar, I drew a ton of Baleful Strixes and just kept on blocking his infect guys and was able to either fully combo off or just cast all the Griffins with Food Chain in play. It was kind of weird how I didn't see any counterspells from him in both games but he had Sylvan in play.

Win 3-1 (7-3)

Round 5: Ryan (R/G Lands)
ID since it's a 5 round event so I can draw in to top 8.

Draw 3-1-1 (7-3-1)

The top 8 is: R/G Lands x2, Food chain, Grixis Delver, BUG Control, B/G HexDepths, Eldrazi and Infect.

Quarterfinals: Niall (Initially BUG ??)
Game one it looked like he was playing some normal BUG deck until he busts out a turn two U/G Nissa and starts to scry and I was like what is going on here. I try to bait out his Decays by playing it out a bit slower as it looks like he should be a slower deck if he's playing Nissa and just constantly scrys. I just ended up resolving Food Chain combo with no resistance as he didn't counter anything or make me discard anything. Game two, I still have no idea what he's really on so I sideboard some Edicts and Liliana just in case. I turn one Thoughtseize him trying to see what exactly he's playing and I see a Bojuka Bog in his hand?? Still not sure what other spiciness he could be playing with so I try to assemble my combo quickly and I had to discard my Eternal Scourge to a Liliana of the Veil which was kinda bad. I'm trying to find a Deathrite or Manipulate Fate and end up finding a Deathrite and I'm hoping it can live through to my turn so I can exile the Scourge but then he ends up playing a Jace 2.0 and i'm like like ugh, there goes this game, but then he ends up fatesealing me instead of bouncing the Deathrite and then passing the turn!! I try to exile my Scourge asap and he ends up exiling it instead with his Deathrites and then I just combo kill him immediately since I had the Ballista in my hand the entire time. After the game, he shows that his last card was a Stifle and he thought that he could Stifle the Food Chain ability but a judge and I remind him that it's a mana ability so it doesn't work. He could have instead used his deathrite to stifle my deathrite and then he probably would have won the game from there. Afterwards, he said that he was on a BUG control deck with a ton of removal and sweepers which seems like a good strat as well.

Win 4-1-1 (9-3-1)

Semifinals: Justin (Infect)
Game one, I manage to kill off all of his infect creatures early on and then we both just keep on drawing lands and he ends up drawing an Inkmoth before I draw my combo pieces and I just died. I was also playing around Daze the entire game but then decide to try to resolve a Ballista for 2 tapping out and then he Dazed me. Yeesh. Should have just tried to resolve a Ballista for one and then on my turn give it a counter and then start shooting things down. Game two, I make a misplay on turn three where I didn't use my Edict when he was tapped out and I had Daze protection but for some reason I decided to not Edict on that turn but instead try to do something else? It was bad.

Loss 4-2-1 (9-5-1)

It was a pretty productive day at the end and I'm wondering what other people think about the R/G Lands matchup? I feel like a ton of people will be playing the deck at Eternal Weekend so do people think that the matchup is good or bad? It feels to me that I need to try to shore up the matchup but I'm not too sure how to do that. Suggestion??