Hi there,

So long time I didn't post here, I juste wanted to share with you my last performance with an original deck, at the biggest Legacy tournament in Japan, AMC.

24 February, Tokyo Akihabara, 44 guys.

My list:

Magus of the Agony

4 Magus of the Jar
4 Corpse Dance
4 Shallow Grave
3 Tendrils of Agony

4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Dimond
4 Lotus Petal
2 Chrome Mox
2 Mox Diamond
4 Land Grant
4 Bayou
4 Tropical Island

4 Lim Dul's Vault
4 Careful Study
4 Ponder

1 Chain of Vapor

SIDE
2 Tombstlalker
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Phyrexian Negator
2 Flesh Reaver
2 Echoing Truth
1 Chain of Vapor


Brieves explanations:
It's a combo deck supposed to kill turn 1,2 but more often 3. The combo is simple : pu a Magus of the Jar (MotJ) in the yard, reanimate it with a Shallow Grave or a Corpse Dance, play a bunch of spells for a lethal Tendrils.
The concept has already been explored on the end of 2006 by kobefan, but the deck never showed up in any Top8. I gave it a try with a list I built a while ago.
The biggest problem of the deck was to fizzle once you sacrified a MotJ. decreased the number of lands to the strict minimum, and play with Land Grant, which gives you Storm + reshuffle your library + give you a land for Mox Diamond even if you already land-dropped.
LDV is the best card of the deck, stacking the cards the need as you want. (The best pile when you have nothing in hand is Careful Study, MotJ, Shallow Grave). No Brainstorm, because Ponder reshuffles your deck when you wasn't able to dig into somtheing intersting, when BRainstorm doesn't.
Tons of tricks with the deck:
-Play a reanimator and crack LED to put a Magus on the yard and get it back.
-Play a reanimator and sac a Magus in response to reanimate it.
-With 2 Motj in the yard, pay the buyback cost of Corpse Dance to cast 2 Magus.
-Play Ponder, in response a reanimator, in response a LDV...
Etc etc.
Kobefan was looking for something with Brainfreeze, but I stuck on the ToA kill because it's so easy to make 10 storm with only one Magus.
The build surprisingly doesn't fizzle, thanx to the 12 library Manipulator and the few number of lands.

Just a few word before talking to the deck : it's weak. Yes, it is. It dies to FoW, to graveyard hate, to Extirpate, to Pithing Needle, to everything that's blue... I played with Defense Grid first, but it's so useless I decided to cut them to improve the goldfish of the list. The only solution I found for the side board was an aggro transformational side-board. And it worked :).


1/ Game Keeper
G1: he starts with Thoughtseize. I got a reanimator and a MotJ in hand. He definitivly doesn't understand the concept of the deck, and makes me discard ...the Magus. At my turn 1, I reanimate my Magus with LED, and combo-off for a 28 life ToA.
G2 : No side. He starts with Duress and takes a LDV. Top-deck mode, but he doesn't draw a single forest in 5 turns, I combo-off.

2/ Truffle Shuffle
G1 : Turn 1, land + Mox Diamond + LED, LDV for a set that allows me to combo-off the next turn.
G2 : I side-off 15 cards and become the beat-down. Tarmo, Tarmo, Tarmo, Tombstalker, he has of course nothing to handle with.

3/ Feary Stompy
Oops.
G1 : I mull to 3, he plays CotV 1 and 0 and beats me with Feary equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice.
G2 : Aggro side, but I mull to 4. THis time : CotV 0, 1 and 2...
No regret, this MU is anyway impossible to win.

4/ Red Stax-like
G1 : he plays Blood Moon early, but I play Lotus Petal and combo-off with a Dark Ritual.
G2 : No aggro-side. He plays very fastly CotV 1 + 3sphere. with only 8 lands in the deck, mission impossible...
G3 : Aggro-mode. Turn 1, Flesh Reaver! He plays CotV 0 and 3sphere, ok no prob, I play Tarmo for 3 and kill him with my big beasts.

5/ Feary Stompy
Dooh.
G1 : He saw me in the previous round, and play on his turn 1 Pithing Needle, naming MotJ... :(
G2 : Aggro-mode. He mulls and keeps a bad hand. I play Negator turn 1, then Tarmo, he scoops.
G3 : I mull to 4, no mana, he beats me with a 4/3 flying...

6/ WG Control
G1 : He plays a land go, me land go, he plays land go, I play a Mox and LDV for the win next turn.
G2 : Don't know if I should keep the combo mode, I was him side-out tons of cards, so I decided to beat him with big critters. Negator, Tarmo, Negator, he has nothing to kill them...

4-2-0, TOP8! The lists:
http://f18.aaa.livedoor.jp/~nameless...MC_33rd_E.html

The concept is simple : you win against anything that doesn't play Force of Will, and loose against anything that plays Force of Will.
The deck is a lot of fun to play, just give it a try if you play in an aggro meta.

MotJ ftw!