[Report]On the frontiers of Top 8 - 4c CBTop (3rd Legacy Tournament)

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Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Mainboard: 60

Spells: 32
4x Brainstorm
4x Counterbalance
4x Force of Will
4x Sensei's Divining Top
4x Swords to Plowshare
3x Firespout
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Counterspell
3x Spell Snare

Creatures: 6
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Vendilion Clique

Lands: 22
4x Flooded Strand
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Tropical Island
3x Volcanic Island
2x Tundra
2x Island
1x Forest
1x Plain
1x Karakas
1x Scalding Tarn

Sideboard: 15
4x Pyroblast
3x Krosan Grip
3x Relic of Progenitus
2x Hydroblast
2x Pithing Needle
1x Firespout

I was predicting a lot of Survival decks in this event because it seems to be the current poster child for the format so I took out dual copies of Fire // Ice and packed in another Spell Snare/Counterspell. Spell Snare is definitely caliente right now.

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Round 1: vs. Kory - Elf-Vengevine Survival w/ Blue Splash
Game 1 - He tries to resolve Survival on turn 2 or 3 and I have the spell snare for it while he tries to maintain Aggro. I swords away a lot of Veggievines during this game and eventually locked him out with CB-Top until I was able to resolve Jace for the win.

Sideboard:
-4 Counterbalance
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

+2 Relics of Progenitus
+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Firespout

Game 2 - Wow. His turn 1 on the play was land, pitching Elvish Spirit Guide, cast Mongrel. Discard Vengevine, Discard rootwalla and cast it for the madness cost while recurring the 4/3 with haste. I was pretty much on the ropes the whole time but miraculously able to draw into more Swords and eventually won with my dual count of Tarmogoyfs all the while being at 1 life. ONE LIFE.

2-0

Afterthoughts: I remember being happy about winning such a close game but also pissed about sideboarding Relics because they did nothing for me. After drawing into it, it would have harmed me if I used the ability because they would have made my goyfs smaller.

Round 2: vs. Max (GWB Survival)
Game 1 - Max was playing a cool concoction of Survival that ran the Loyal Retainers package with a lot of discard. However, this first game was really dumb because he got me down to two - three cards in hand with Thoughtseizes and Cabal Therapies up the wazoo in the early game. Plus, the fact that I was mana screwed while he was mana flooded made the game even more stupid. I remember resolving a Counterbalance, when he played a Harmonic Sliver (lolwtf?) during his turn and we played draw-go while I was taking 1. I eventually drew into more lands and got rid of his pesky 1/1 by digging up removal with Top. A few turns later, after some countering, and a V. Clique - Counterbalance/Jace sealed the deal.

-1 Vendilion Clique
-1 Counterspell
-1 Counterbalance

+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Firespout

Game 2 - This game was relatively the same. He had early pressure, while I countered his Survival cards and StP'ed his relevant threats away while we played draw go for a few turns. I eventually stabilized with the Big Green 2-Drop Lhurgoyf on Counter backup and he went the distance for me.

2-0

Afterthoughts: I wasn't too sure about my sideboarding choices here. I chose not to sideboard in the Relics because they didn't do anything for me the previous round. I took out cards that I thought would be slow against Survival on the draw and put in more creature control and Survival-hosing effects.

Round 3: vs. Derrick (Burn)
Game 1 - I think I had played standard with Derrick once in Costa Mesa at a store called Majestix during an FTV: Relics Standard event. After taking a Lava Spike to the dome on Turn 1, I had realized he was playing Burn for this tourney. I saw more burns to the face and a Grim Lavamancer which prompted a pair of Force of Wills on my end. I remember having assembled the soft lock as quick as I could while he took me down to 4 life before I finally stabilized with Goyf taking the win for me.

-2 Firespout
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Vendilion Clique

+2 Pithing Needle
+2 Hydroblast

Game 2 - This one wasn't even close. Despite having the needles for his Vexing Shusher, I eventually got aggroed out of the game after not being able to deal with his creatures.

Game 3 - After trading some burns and counters, he resolved a Vexing Shusher which I had the Needle for. We eventually went to turns and he brought me down to 3 life. He attempted a Rift Bolt to the dome on the last turn which I had the counter for.

Afterthoughts: I was on the ropes for a while, and I think what I probably should have done before Game 3 was sideboard back in the Firespouts after seeing more creatures from his end. I also think sideboarding in Pithing Needle payed off for me because I saw the Grim Lavamancer on Game 1. Had I not seen it the first game, I may not have even considered sideboarding it in which may have resulted in his 2/2 Vexer blowing me out.

1-1-1

Round 4: vs. Shai (Eva Green)
Game 1 - This game dragged out much longer then I wanted it to. He stabilized with a Vampire Nighthawk before I StP'ed it a few turns later. I remember having made a play mistake in this game after I played Tarmogoyf instead of Jace, TMS in this game. He eventually played the attrition war and won when his Tombstalker resolved and gave him the win.

-2 Counterbalance
-1 Vendilion Clique

+2 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Firespout

Game 2 - I found out that Game 1 took about 40 minutes to finish, so I knew I had to play quick without making any play errors. We eventually went to turns while I stabilized with two of my 4/5 Lhurgoyfs against his one. He was down to 8 life by the last turn and I knew the only card that could end the game for me was Jace, TMS. I spun with Top and didn't see a Jace, so I cracked a fetch and shuffled my deck. After I spun again and saw no Jace, he ended up with the win. The heartbreaking thing about this was that if I only had 1 more turn, I could have won this game with my Goyfs because he was in topdeck mode and I had counter backup to whatever he drew into. SHIT.

0-1-1

Round 5: vs. Tony (Lands)
Game 1 - This was one of the most awkward game we've ever played. One of the factors that contributed to this was because after I resolved Top and spun with it, I saw a Relic of Progenitus still inside the deck. So I called the judges and they made the ruling that since I called them over the first chance I had, they took the 2 cards that I saw with Top and allowed me to de-sideboard. It turned out that Relic was the only card I forgot to take out and so I inserted back the Vendilion Clique that should have been in my 60 and they allowed us to resume the game with the 2 cards being placed back upon the top of my library. I countered all of his Exploration and Manabonds before he finally sneaked one in. After having gone through half of his deck without a single loam, I was aggresively searching for a Jace, TMS cracking fetches on my turn and spinning with Top. I eventually found the Blue Planeswalker and fatesealed my bearded friend out of any relevant cards that might have helped and got the concession from him before his ultimate went off.

-3 Firespout
-2 Counterbalance

+3 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Pithing Needle

Game 2 - After a few turns of Counters, and land-go he stabilized with an Oracle of Mul Daya, Engineered Explosives at 2, a dual count of Pithing Needles (calling Jace, TMS and Sensei's Divining Top) and an army of lands. While I had a needled Jace at 9, and a needled Top with my lands eventually getting Ghost Quartered one by one. I countered Smokestack for a few turns before it eventually resolved thanks to Academy Ruins. He pretty much had this game but after he realized that there might not have been enough time for him to kill me, he had decided to just give me the win because his record was 2-2 at this point and realized that he could not Top 8 or qualify for prizes with a tie in this round. What a pal!

2-0

Afterthoughts: I was sitting at a 3-1-1 record after Tony's concession and the results showed that I was ranked nine overall. In other words, I had to win my next round to make the top eight thus making it a do or die scenario.

Round 6: vs. Liam (TES)
Game 1 - He went off with Tendrils on Turn 3 with Orim's Chant resolving. 'Nuff said.

-4 Swords to Plowshare

+2 Hydroblast
+2 Pyroblast

Game 2 - There was some controversy surrounding this game because after we traded spells and he blew up three of my Counterbalances, I still had the victory in my hands with a Vendilion Clique swinging for three. When he was at 7, I casted Mr. Best 2 Drop Creature ever printed and my opponent had declared "You win next turn.". He took his turn and played an Orim's Chant during his main phase in which I casted a Force of Will on. He then said "Yup, you got it." which had made me believe that he was conceding the game to me because of what he had said on my turn. But when I realized he was still trying to cast a Rite of Flame and Burning Wish, I had already put my hand back inside the bottom portion of my library and so we called the judges. He claimed that I was conceding to him because I had put my hand back in the deck after we explained the situation. Now, at this point I had either two or three cards in my hand but I knew for sure that I had the Hydroblast to respond to his Burning Wish. One of the judges took me aside for a moment and had asked me what was in my hand. I told him that I had a few counters, and a Hydroblast which I put in the bottom of my library. The judge then peeked at the last few cards of my deck and ruled that since I was unable to correctly verify all the cards in my hand, I had to play without one. He did, however, allow the deck to be shuffled and the game to resume. I still had three lands untapped and tapped one to dig for a counter. He asked if I had one which had prompted the concession on his end. I declared yes and right as we were scooping up our cards, he asked to see it so I showed him the Spell Snare on top of my library and we went to Game 3.

Game 3 - Now, at this point my opponent was just being a douchenozzle. He started speaking in a dumb, insincere voice and was basically treating me like a five-year old by stating every card (including lands) he played and asking me if it was okay. I was also pretty shaken up with what happened the last game, so I had made some dumb play errors like not searching for a Volcanic Island or Brainstorm-ing away the Firespout in my hand despite seeing discard spells in his deck. He eventually took my boardsweeping 3 drop with his Duress and resolved an Empty the Warrens on a Storm Count for 4. I eventually died to the Goblin army and a Tendrils count at 1. (sadfrog.jpg)

1-2

Afterthoughts: I was fairly nervous about this matchup because although I had read about it, this was the first time I was paired up against TES during my two-month tenure in Legacy. In hindsight, I should have boarded in the miser Firespout from the side to neuter his Empty the Warrens. Another valuable lesson I learned from this was that there's going to be players out there who will do anything for an advantage and that I should simply focus on playing the best Magic that I can. Countertop is also a very draining deck to play so if you're playing this archetype, be sure to learn from my mistakes and pack some Energy Drinks to keep you alert!

Record: 3-2-1 (14th out of 43)
(Overall: 8-3-2)

* Shoutout to Antonius for giving me the opportunity to contend for prizes.
* Grats to PanderAlexander for making his fourth consecutive Top 8.
* Thanks to NathanS2k for letting me use his Counterspells.
* Also want to give thanks to the Judges for their professional conduct and rulings as well as Lori for hosting these awesome Tournaments.