[REPORT] Death and Taxes @ The Inquisitive 1/11/2008

[Curby]

This past Friday I got 1st out of 25 players in an unsanctioned local Legacy tourney at The Inquisitive. My deck was like Finn's except for:

-4 Rishadan Port (Don't got em)
-1 Samurai of the Pale Curtain (moved to the side)
-3 True Believer (moved to the side for some First Strikers)
+2 Plains
+2 Knight of Meadowgrain
+2 Oblivion Ring
+2 Silver Knight

The meta is very low-combo, and I chose the following side:

3 True Believer
3 Glowrider
2 Tividar of Thorn
1 Spectral Lynx (I only own one)
2 Oblivion Ring (4 Swords and 4 Rings is a great removal package)
1 Silver Knight
1 Mana Tithe
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Samurai of the Pale Curtain

We played four Swiss rounds with no cut to top4/8. The meta is really random, with very little Thresh and Landstill. Mono Black Control was popular, comprising two of my matchups and at least 4 decks there that night.

Round 1 vs Consume Spirit-centric Mono Black Control

Game 1, he gets mana screwed and my army overruns him. Game 2, I have no idea what to side in as I haven't seen much, and he ends up sending huge Consume Spirits my way. With his potent creature kill and my lack of Cataclysm, I fail to keep up and go from 15 to 0 in one hit. Game three, I just side in a bunch of creatures to outpace his removal and whomp him again. He plays well, and avoids my Mana Tithes after seeing the first (I should have sided them out after seeing his oceans of mana, but I was hoping he'd get careless and tap out against me). Cataclysm would just destroy his deck, as he relies on having many Swamps in play. Unfortunately, I never drew one.

1-0, 2-1

Round 2 vs Discard-heavy Mono Black Control

Game 1, the army does its thing and overruns him. Game 2, I side in True Believer and Glowrider, but he comes in with Extirpate, which along with Thoughtseize quickly removes them as well as Aether Vials. I end up dying slowly and painfully to Ravenous Rats and Augur of Skulls. I lost to 1/1s mostly because I kept drawing land. The Stonecloaker in my hand kept laughing at me, since I had nothing in play to bounce. Stonecloaker is great, but it's still annoying when the conditional nature of an otherwise amazing card bites you in the ass. The second game took most of our time, and we went to turns in game three. Trading creature removal and killing each others' Jittes with more Jittes, we tied but he had to go so conceded and gave me the round 2-0. Chris, if you're out there, thanks!

My mistake of the night was made in this matchup. I had a Grunt out and there were three cards in each yard. I decided to go after my opponent's yard first, but I forgot that he would likely chump my Grunt with his Rats, giving him a total of 4. After my attack his yard was at 2, mine at 3, and the Grunt was dead next turn. Noob!

Rishadan Port would have been great in this MU, as he played a low curve and a tight mana base. Thankfully this meant that Mana Tithe was very useful!

2-0, 4-1

Round 3 vs Stompy-ish Green Aggro

Double Knights of Meadowgrain go nuts on him, and as I start my last attack the life is 36 to 3. Ouch. Second game, Spectral Lynx comes in along with some other creatures. He was talking shit about how he always beats other aggro decks, so I took out Mangara and Cataclysm, added my other Rings to remove his men, and decided to race. He got me down to 11, but that wasn't enough. The problem with Stompy is that you have almost as many pumpers as you have critters, and you don't have much mana. A deck with 11 removal cards (O-Ring/Swords/Jitte) will rip up your creatures, and Mana Tithe will almost always hit.

3-0, 6-1

Round 4 vs Goblin Sligh

First round I think I'm doing alright, then Goblin Grenade and two Bolts come out of nowhere for the win. All my Pro-red comes in, and he gets screwed in game 2. It ends up 18/3 as I begin my last attack for the kill. Third game was a good race, and it went to 5/5. He could only manage 4 damage, so my Avenger and Knight come through for the win. I remember that Cataclysm was very useful here, but Samurai of the Pale Curtain prevented my Flagstones from netting me another land. Unfortunately, I never draw Tividar.

4-0, 8-2

Notes: Oblivion Ring is nuts. Silver and Black Knight are good choices for skewed metas, but whereas the protection can miss, the Lifelink from Knight of Meadowgrain is always helpful. Not a lot of poison and deck-removal decks out there. Either way, having a few First Strikers lets you own the groundgame against larger threats. Samurai of the Pale Curtain can be very powerful in some matchups and the Bushido is delicious, but it conflicts with Jotun Grunt and Flagstones.

I sided in absolutely everything at least once, which makes me happy with my sideboard choices, though obviously they're quite odd to match my unusual meta. It could still use improvement but overall it seems to be working. I'm thinking more Lynxes, cause people really like Elves and misc. green aggro. Pro-black would also be useful if they keep on playing black. Heck, I might even try Paladin En-Vec to go along with my 3-counter Vials.

Offtopic: Sudden death is very good! -4/-4 kills a lot of stuff, and nullifies pretty much any trick you might have to save your guy. Note that this also kills black targets, which is unusual for black removal. It only wounds most Goyfs, but we have Smother (and Edicts) for that. I'm still not sure if it trumps Smother, but it makes a great compliment to it.

Anyway, D&T is supposed to dominate combo-light metas, and in a meta with little combo and no Landstill, I'm glad that it came through for me in spite of my suboptimal card pool (I don't own Ports or Wastes) and occasional playing mistakes. I love decks with a lot of internal synergies and mini-combos, and D&T certainly fits the bill. Thanks for all the development on it!

[LordEvilTeaCup]

Nice job Kirby! That metagame looked pretty unusual. Still, you did a fine job for playing without Ports and Wastes. The Ports probably would have been nice against the MBC decks. Locking down Cabal Coffers is probably a bitch.

[RoddyVR]

My mistake of the night was made in this matchup. I had a Grunt out and there were three cards in each yard. I decided to go after my opponent's yard first, but I forgot that he would likely chump my Grunt with his Rats, giving him a total of 4. After my attack his yard was at 2, mine at 3, and the Grunt was dead next turn. Noob!

Did something change in Grunt rulings? I have always been told that with 2 counters grunt could take a pair of cards from each yard and be fine.

[scrumdogg]

Did something change in Grunt rulings? I have always been told that with 2 counters grunt could take a pair of cards from each yard and be fine.

Nothing changed, just new players & untrained judges/TOs making basic mistakes (and not bothering to check the rulings online).

[Curby]

Did something change in Grunt rulings? I have always been told that with 2 counters grunt could take a pair of cards from each yard and be fine.

Eek, I guess the mistake of the night was not knowing my cards as well as I should. Thanks for the heads up.

[Peter_Rotten]

In more important news, The Inquisitive is billed as "coffee and gaming!" NICE!

[Volt]

.

[Judge_Julez]

Did something change in Grunt rulings? I have always been told that with 2 counters grunt could take a pair of cards from each yard and be fine.

Yes, Roddy - that's spot on. Each Cumumpative Upkeep Ice counter triggers separately and independently.

[Jak]

Yes, Roddy - that's spot on. Each Cumumpative Upkeep Ice counter triggers separately and independently.

1 year and 11 months. Nice!

[J.V.]