Yesterday, I joined a 60-man Legacy Open and I reached the top 8 with the list below. As I was expected a Delver metagame, I sleeved up the following:
4x Gaea's Cradle
4x Windswept Heath
3x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Bayou
1x Tropical Island
2x Forest
2x Dryad Arbor
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Quirion Dryad
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Wirewood Symbiote
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Birchlore Rangers
3x Nettle Sentinel
3x Heritage Druid
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4x Green Sun Zenith
4x Natural Order
4x Glimpse of Nature
Sideboard:
1x Meekstone
1x Tormod's Crypt
3x Thoughtseize
1x Cabal Therapy
2x Swan Song
1x Progenitus
1x Worldspine Wurm
2x Pithing Needle
3x Abrupt Decay
Here's a summary of my matches:
Round 1 - MUD (2-0), I was on the draw.
Game 1: Despite the presence of Trinisphere and Lodestone Golem, I was able to get rid of both by using a topdeck GSZ for a Viridian Shaman and combo out after two turns with Natural Order.
Game 2: At one point, I had a decision of using a Pithing Needle to name the Lightning Greaves that was already in play or hold it for a future threat. I decided to hold it and luckily I did since on his next turn, he placed a Ratchet Bomb as I had three elves in play already. The went for an NO to Worldspine Wurm as he was at a precarious 14 life due to Ancient Tomb. Despite him doing multiple artifact shenanigans with his remaining cards (metalworker, forgemaster to steelhellkite), I had lethal on board the next turn with the Worldspine Wurm.
Round 2 - Show and Tell (2-1). I was on the play.
Game 1: SnT player casts Show and Tell on turn 2 and plays Griselbrand. It came to a point where he casts Sneak Attack and he activates Griselbrand twice (!) to find an Emrakul but he never got one. Unfortunately, I never drew any other business spell but one natural order and so Griselbrand attacked three times total.
Game 2: I Thoughtseize his hand with the following cards:
Pyroclasm, Sneak Attack, Emrakul, three lands (one being a City of Traitors), Force of Will
I took the Sneak Attack and the SnT player never did anything for six turns (he topdecked land after land). Though he used pyroclasm to clear three of my creatures, I recovered by holding back a Glimpse of Nature and a couple more elves. It came to a point that he had a Griselbrand in play through SnT while he was at 11 life. However, as he activated his Griselbrand, I responded by activating Deathrite Shaman twice to drain him for 4 life even with just one Bayou in play, all thanks to Birchlore Rangers.
Game 3: This was the highlight game of the day as I survived a turn 2 SnT to Griselbrand.
Turn 1: Fetch for Volcanic Island, go
Turn 1: Bayou, Deathrite, go.
Turn 2: Ancient Tomb, Show and Tell into Griselbrand, I only put an Elvish Visionary from SnT.
Turn 2: On my turn 2, i was able to cast (if i remember correctly) Quirion Ranger, Heritage Druid, Wirewood Symbiote, Glimpse of Nature (countered by FoW with Griselbrand activation), GSZ, 2 more elves and a Natural Order. I cross my fingers at this point because if the NO resolves, I will be swinging with a large Hoof and D.Shaman. Else, he will be going for sneak attack with lotus petals into Emrakul. He didn't get the second FOW!
Round 3 - Death and Taxes (2-0). I was on the play.
Game 1: I was able to N.O for one Craterhoof for 19 damage and then hardcast another one for +++ damage.
Game 2: I couldn't use Glimpse of Nature because of Spirit of the Labyrinth but with my Wirewood Symbiote and Deathrite Shaman in play, I used my first N.O for a Progenitus and a second N.O the following turn for a Craterhoof Behemoth. DnT never stood a chance.
Round 4 - Punishing Maverick (2-1) I was on the draw.
Game 1: Mulligan to 6. He kills three of my creatures and I never recovered from that.
Game 2: He taps out turn 3 for KotR. I comboed out with Glimpse + nettle + heritage shenanigans for a lethal Hoof.
Game 3: He uses Punishing Fire on a Wirewood Symbiote but on the next turn, I was able to use Deathrite Shaman to exile it immediately with the help of Birchlore Rangers. On his next turn, he plays a Grove (thankfully i exiled the spell instead of using D.Shaman to cast another one-drop) and then passes. I fetched end of turn but he casts Aven Mindcensor. I still got a land and then next turn, I went for a Glimpse with three elves in my hand. Suffice to say, I was able to hard-cast Craterhoof Behemoth for 19 damage. He was at 18 from fetching twice prior.
Round 5 and 6 - ID
Quarterfinals - URW Delver (0-2) I was on the draw.
Game 1: Didn't stand a chance as he killed four of my creatures (!) and counters a GSZ and a N.O.
Game 2: I open with a GSZ for Dryad Arbor. He plays Volcanic Island and plays Delver. I cast Thoughtseize and see the following:
2x Swords to Plowshares, 1x Stoneforge Mystic, 1x Brainstorm, 1x Wasteland, L.Bolt.
I took the Brainstorm as he had no white mana. I play Quirion Ranger and used the remaining mana to cast Abrupt Decay on Delver. He hastily casts wasteland on my Dryad Arbor which I save with Q.Ranger. I cast a DRS and an Elvish Visionary on my next turn. He topdecks a G.Probe into a Tundra () and used his Swords. After a couple more turns, he then uses his SFM to fetch for a Jitte. I topdeck a Pithing Needle and name Jitte. After a couple more sequences, I was able to N.O but unfortunately, as I had Craterhoof Behemoth, I had no choice but to get a Progenitus instead (A hoof trigger would have been lethal). I was able to swing Prog for one and I needed one more turn. I was at 7 life at this point and he has an activate Grim Lava and a flipped Delver. If he gets a L.Bolt off the top, it's over. Well, he did get the bolt that he needed to kill me for lethal.
I was the only Elves player and I was very happy with my accomplishment though the UWR player ran really well against me. I was discussing with my friends about the Thoughtseize play. Some say that discarding Brainstorm was a good call but then the others argue that it should have been SFM and that would have led to me saving the Pithing Needle on something else (such as the Grim Lava). Any comments on this?
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Regarding the decklist, I was never able to use Ruric Thar. Viridian Shaman was MVP when it mattered. Discard's good. I was not able to use Meekstone and I'm kind of skeptical with Worldspine Wurm although I know it is supposed to be good against SnT.
Played at a SCG Legacy IQ today, ended up 11th out of 32 (3-2). Two of the 4 Elves players made Top 8. Here's what I ended up playing
Yes only 3 Cradles, that's because I only own 3. 4th is coming on Monday. Though Crop Rotation worked out rather well, even when I played it into a Chalice on 1 (so I could use Deathrite to deal the last 2 damage). The Trop to represent Swan Song.. I changed to Traps after seeing a few Tendrils decks laid out being registered.2x Birchlore Rangers
2x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Crop Rotation
4x Deathrite Shaman
1x Elvish Mystic
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Green Sun's Zenith
3x Heritage Druid
3x Natural Order
3x Nettle Sentinel
4x Quirion Ranger
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Tropical Island
2x Verdant Catacombs
1x Viridian Shaman
4x Wirewood Symbiote
2x Bayou
2x Dryad Arbor
2x Forest
3x Gaea's Cradle
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
Sideboard
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Cabal Therapy
1x Meekstone
2x Mindbreak Trap
1x Natural Order
1x Null Rod
1x Progenitus
1x Sylvan Library
2x Thoughtseize
1x Worldspine Wurm
Overall I'm happy with how I played out the matches, I made a few minor misplays that didn't come back to bite me. I do know I need to work on sideboarding, ran into some decks I didn't know all that well. The big thing I learned is how good Reclamation Sage will be. The two matches I lost, if my Viridian Shaman had been Sage I would have either won or been in better position to win.
So here's how the rounds went, funny enough I won the die roll in each round which was quite nice (actually used opponents dice 3 of the rounds)
Round 1 Metalworker
Game 1
I started out with a fetch to forest casting out Deathrite. Opponent noted, "Shit Elves off the bat" as if I was going to stomp him. His first turn plays Ancient Tomb into Chalice on 1.. yeah I'm going to stomp him....
I thankfully draw my Scavenging Ooze, cast it smile and attack with DRS for 1.
He played Lightning Greaves and Passes.
I draw Viridian Shaman, destroy the Chalice and GSZ for 0 getting Arbor
He plays another Chalice on 1 (noting he shouldn't have kept a 1 lander)
I draw Natural Order on time, cast it and hoof him, he glares at his Ancient Tomb which ultimately lead to his demise.
I side in Null Rod, Discard package and Progenitus.
Game 2
He starts out with Ancient Tomb into Greaves
I play fetch into deathrite
He plays Chalice on 1 again.. I sigh.
Turn 2 I play Null Rod, he looks at it and I can see instant tilt coming on. He looks at his Greaves and sighs.
He drops a Metalworker, looking at it with the face of a disappointed parent.
After a few turns I was able to chain together a few GSZs for a board state and won with a Natural Order.
Record 1-1
Round 2 JUNK Nic Fit
This was a deck I wasn't really familiar with. I mostly knew it played Veteran Explorer and some good value cards. The Opponent was James Hammes who lost to Sam Black playing Elves at SCG Milwaukee not too long back.
Game 1
I'm able to combo off pretty fast at Hoof on Turn 3
I sideboard in some Abrubt Decays, Discard Package, Progenitus and Natural Order.
Game 2
Game is going well, he cabals a couple times to take apart my hand a bit but I still have presence and just need to find a Natural Order. He lands Moat, I draw Natural Order the next turn. I note in my hand is a Viridian Shaman and I wish it was Reclamation Sage with all my heart. Moat was definitely not something on my radar to deal with and I paid for it.
Game 3
Nearly the same thing, he lands Moat the turn before I had enough mana to GSZ for Hoof. Again I had a Viridian Shaman in hand when he landed the Moat. He also had a Spirit of the Labyrinth out which Sage could also have hit.
Record 1-1
Round 3 Bug Delver
Game 1
He lets me combo out, building up my board. I try to Natural for Hoof but he Forces. He then lands a Lilliana making me discard my other NO, I kill Lilly with my 4 elves. He lands a Goyf but my Wirewood Symbiote is able to hold it off and I slowly build up the board and my hand again through a combination of Wirewood's and Visionaries. Eventually I was able to assemble a GSZ and a Natural Order in hand plus a legend rule Cradle combo. He daze's the NO and I land the GSZ.
I side in Meekstone, Abrubt Decay's and discard package.
Game 2
I was able to take advantage of his stumbles. Delver turn 1, I drop an Elvish Mystic. He brainstorms on upkeep and Delver doesn't flip, I take great notice of that. Turn 2 I drop a Ranger and Heritage Druid off the Mystic and forest. I bounce Forest to my hand, untap the Mystic. Tap the 3 elves, replay the forest and NO for Progenitus. Before dying he pondered and brainstormed again to no avail. He mentioned that he was looking for his Ensnaring Bridge.
Record 2-1
Round 4 Imperial Painter
This match completely showed me how much Sage is going to impact our match ups against various decks.
Game 1
I'm able to Glimpse out turn 3 into 9 elves and then Hoof turn 4. He played a Painter and had fetched up the Grindstone but I was one turn too fast.
I side in Null Rod, NO, Progenitus, Wordspine Wurm and Abrubt Decay.
Game 2
He lands an early Painter, Pyro and Red Elemental Blasts my board away. After his 4th one I try to land Null Rod, nope he has a 5th. I end up drawing Progenitus, he Grindstone's me to just a Wurm left in my deck but not enough to cast it. I have Abrubt Decay in my hand the entire game but never able to cast it due to not finding a DRS.
Game 3
This one was very long. He lands an early Blood Moon, thankfully I had a chance to fetch for 1 basic. Then he lands Trinisphere. I'm able to get Viridian Shaman and Wirewood set up for a few turns before he Pyroblasts the Wirewood. He struggles finding his Grindstone but is able to set up Revoker on Heritage Druid. I'm able to build up a board and lots of "Mountains". I'm using up most of my mana per turn bouncing Elvish Visionary and playing it for 3. All I need is a Natural Order. We make it to about turn 15, still no NO. I finally draw NO after bouncing Visionary 3 times, next turn I can cast NO. He finds his Grindstone his next turn. He mills me till I just have Wurm and Progenitus in my library, of course it took a Judge call to make sure we were handling those two right.
The Blood Moon really held me back early on and being able to destroy it would have set me up in a much better position. Unfortunately we only had 1 land in the yard that game and I used it to drop my Visionary turn 2. Next turn he landed the Moon. I drew Viridian Shaman within the first 4 turns and it would have helped me quite a bit to be able to destroy it, unlocking my Abrubt Decays, DRS and just being able to play more than 1 elf per turn.
Record 2-2
Round 5 Bug Delver
This ended up being much easier than it should have been.
Game 1
I turn 3 Hoof past his delver. No counter spells, feeling confused. I turn one play Tropical Island, he perks up that it may be a mirror match. Even more so when we both have a Bayou and Trops on board. I had a DRS turn 1, he had a delver. His face sank turn 2 when I played a Quirion Ranger. He notes his 2 losses on the day were to Elves, I feel fuzzy inside.
Game 2
Turn 3 Progenitus, threatened turn 4 Hoof.
Record 3-2
So all in all nearly every time I played my Shaman I was wishing it was Reclamation Sage. I took many notes of the things that Sage can hit and realized it's going to be a huge swing for Elves. From being another way to deal with Blood Moon, Counterbalance, Spirit of the Labryinth it also hits the edge cases of Moat.
Pretty awesome gameday Promo. I definitely want a few. Are these usually foil and how do you get them?
I have a feeling they're going to be pretty popular, not just for us, but in other Legacy Decks running Harmonic Sliver and Standard Decks...
Generally Gameday goes like this...Originally Posted by MegaManR
The Gameday promos are available to all participants of Game Day (August 9th-10th I believe). It's up to your store to schedule the event.
The Uncommon promo (Reclamation Sage) is given to all players for entering and is non-foil.
The Rare promo (Chief Engineer) is given to the top 8 and is foil.
So no foil promo Sages.
There will be an abundance of these things though, so even if you can't make it out to Gameday (or don't want to enter a standard tournament with a pile of forests), you should be able to pick one up locally.. or online pretty easily.
Tusk up.
(Not so) Current Decks: GB Elves, GW Maverick, GWb Maverick, LED Dredge, ANT, TES, Jund Storm.
Awesome - Thanks. I actually am glad they're not foil. I tend to dislike foils, though my Scavenging Ooze and 2 Cabal Therapy are Foils. Good to hear they'll be pretty readily available, so I'll first check with my store, then go from there.
The easiest way to get one is to go participate in Magic Game Day the weekend of August 9th. It's a standard event, everyone that enters gets a Reclamation Sage.
Technically stores aren't allowed to sell the ones they got as promotional material. But it's to their discretion how to give out any extras after Game Day. They also can resell ones that people sell or trade to them. The store I frequent tends to keep the Rare promos to give away to random players at other events down the road, like FNM or other Game Days. All of the other non-rare promos they tend to just put out in a pile once in a while and let people take one. This way I've ended up with playsets of all the Game Day uncommons without having to buy them.
Can't wait to get this new powerful elf, having a maindeck answer to counterbalance,moat and omniscience is just so good.
Are 4 gaeas cradles enough for you?
Sometimes i feel like 4 aren't enough and that i rather wanna have 5 or even 6.
I know it sounds pretty greedy but have you ever considered additional crop rotations?
(By the way, most of the time greed is not a bad thing )
Nidalee its you?
Pretty awesome gameday Promo. I definitely want a few. Are these usually foil and how do you get them?
I have a feeling they're going to be pretty popular, not just for us, but in other Legacy Decks running Harmonic Sliver and Standard Decks...
Its a fantaastic card, suck this viridian :D
And I think 4 craddles 0 crop its nice, I dont know what cut to add the crops D:
And how is the Packmaster? You guys consider the build with 1 ruric and 2 craterhoof? or 2 craterhoof and ruric in the sideboard or out of the 75?
Regards!
So until yesterday I only owned 3 Cradles so I was running a Crop Rotation. While no one can deny when you're able to cast it and use it you are most likely winning the game on the spot. If it gets countered you are most likely giving your opponent a good tempo swing. I'm wary of running it against Wasteland and counter-heavy decks, by just the fact of casting it you are doing some of their work for them. Leaving them more opportunity to utilize their own denial pieces. I sided it out (even though it put me down to a virtual 19 lands) against the control decks, because if it gets countered I'm really running a 18 land deck at that point.
Still, the greed in me will most likely drive me to at least try it out in my sideboard for the non-attrition match ups. It can be quite amazing when racing other combo decks, makes a turn 2 kill more likely with one or two in the deck.
After discussing the Miracles matchup with Philipp Schönegger and Marcus Olson (okok, you married, "Ewaldh") for a bit, this is what I've been using to a 12-1 over the last three Daily Events I played.
To me, crafting the sb is always a dance of shuffling around cards between the unholy trifecta of worrysome matchups: Combo, Delver and Miracles. The main object is to have as many crossover cards as possible while staying true to my general philosophy of playing as many HIGH IMPACT cards as possible. First, not having the 4th NO fealt really awkward and made me not want to launch Operation Hydra at all; for now I'm content with how Sylvan Library counteracts this problem rather well by avoiding the ending up with Progenitus in your hand thus increasing the general value of your 3 NOs.
Needless to say and as you can see yourself, the current list has decided to trade some edges in the Delver MU for a solid plan against both Combo and Miracles. My reasoning behind this is that out of those three matchups, Delver is still by far the "easiest" to beat without finding your sb cards. Meekstone of course is super awesome and I definitely recommend it for anyone struggling in that MU but be well aware that you will be making a deal with the devil coming back to haunt you when your opponent brings Tundras and Gemstone Mines to the table.
With Reclamation Sage coming up, I could see a Cavern of Souls making it into the deck as it allows us to BYO Abrupt Decay. Generally speaking, Cavern of Souls is super un-smooth though and often causes problem with your mana development. For now I really prefer Pendelhaven or another Forest or Fetchland.
/EDIT: The choice of pure Discard spells over my beloved 2 Mindbreak Traps this time is a concession to the ever increasing presence of #Elves in the metagame. I'll be playing at Prague Eternal this weekend and from what I've gathered, Elves is the most played deck in that meta. And even in general, for every Sneak and Show I face, I run into about 4 #Elves. The mirror is much more of a concern that Sneak and Show and Discard is often criticial at least on the draw; I also bring it in on the play even though I could see not doing that. Mindbreak Trap is utter crap in the mirror.
The seven cardinal sins of Legacy:
1. Discuss the unbanning ofLand TaxEarthcraft.
2. Argue that banning Force of Will would make the format healthier.
3. Play Brainstorm without Fetchlands.
4. Stifle Standstill.
5. Think that Gaea's Blessing will make you Solidarity-proof.
6. Pass priority after playing Infernal Tutor.
7. Fail to playtest against Nourishing Lich (coZ iT wIlL gEt U!).
Great post Julian, I've been trying to lose the Taiga+Ruric Thar couple times but every time I replace it I loose to storm out of nowhere.After discussing the Miracles matchup with Philipp Schönegger and Marcus Olson (okok, you married, "Ewaldh") for a bit, this is what I've been using to a 12-1 over the last three Daily Events I played.
To me, crafting the sb is always a dance of shuffling around cards between the unholy trifecta of worrysome matchups: Combo, Delver and Miracles. The main object is to have as many crossover cards as possible while staying true to my general philosophy of playing as many HIGH IMPACT cards as possible. First, not having the 4th NO fealt really awkward and made me not want to launch Operation Hydra at all; for now I'm content with how Sylvan Library counteracts this problem rather well by avoiding the ending up with Progenitus in your hand thus increasing the general value of your 3 NOs.
Needless to say and as you can see yourself, the current list has decided to trade some edges in the Delver MU for a solid plan against both Combo and Miracles. My reasoning behind this is that out of those three matchups, Delver is still by far the "easiest" to beat without finding your sb cards. Meekstone of course is super awesome and I definitely recommend it for anyone struggling in that MU but be well aware that you will be making a deal with the devil coming back to haunt you when your opponent brings Tundras and Gemstone Mines to the table.
With Reclamation Sage coming up, I could see a Cavern of Souls making it into the deck as it allows us to BYO Abrupt Decay. Generally speaking, Cavern of Souls is super un-smooth though and often causes problem with your mana development. For now I really prefer Pendelhaven or another Forest or Fetchland.
/EDIT: The choice of pure Discard spells over my beloved 2 Mindbreak Traps this time is a concession to the ever increasing presence of #Elves in the metagame. I'll be playing at Prague Eternal this weekend and from what I've gathered, Elves is the most played deck in that meta. And even in general, for every Sneak and Show I face, I run into about 4 #Elves. The mirror is much more of a concern that Sneak and Show and Discard is often criticial at least on the draw; I also bring it in on the play even though I could see not doing that. Mindbreak Trap is utter crap in the mirror.
How do you find the miracles match up without any token generators? I find them very help full even though choke was better. I play 2 Decay + 1 Krosan Grip because people in my LGS started playing Moat to mess with me. :D I was winning too much.
As you mentioned, I'm really skeptical about only playing 3 NO. I'll try to test it out and will let you know how it went. Good Luck in Prague and #Elves4Life
Also has the secret tech of being a 60-card Elf deck on MTGO. Nobody expects the normal-sized Elf deck.
One matchup I really want to crush is Show and Tell, I despise that POS so damn much. Been trying to find elegant solutions to it, but I guess shutting down their Islands works well enough. Maybe 1 Null Rod, 2 Needle then, but meh.
I've been running 4 NO 1 Packmaster maindeck and it hasn't really been troublesome to me thus far.
How's Storm without Ruric?
For the record, 2 cards for the sideboard are hidden due to cropping :/
2x Thoughtseize. You can zoom in and out with your browser.
thanks
Also, the 1 Sylvan Library.
Speaking of that, what matchups are you bringing Sylvan Library in for? I can see it being useful against any combo to help speed your own digging/draws up, and for anything running discard against you. Do you bring it in with the NO/Prog package every time, too?
Library is for grindy matchups like Miracles, Blade, Jund, the like. Too slow vs. combo.
I played 2 Sylvan Library in my board last week and it was fantastic against Miracles. It allowed me to keep up with Sensei's Top and continually apply pressure to the board post-Terminus. One of the most interesting Miracles matchups I've played with Elves, mostly because it never felt like I was locked out of the game.
Tusk up.
(Not so) Current Decks: GB Elves, GW Maverick, GWb Maverick, LED Dredge, ANT, TES, Jund Storm.
I have been playing with Sylvan Library since 4th edition. I don't know why I was thinking combo.
Thanks for clearing it up. I'm thinking of running close to Julian's list up there at the Legacy Open this coming weekend.
Thanks everyone.
Going to play the 61 card special tonight at Legacy.
Creatures - 30
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Birchlore Rangers
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
Spells - 11
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature
3 Natural Order
Lands - 20
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Forest
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
2 Dryad Arbor
4 Gaea's Cradle
Sideboard - 15
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Natural Order
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Krosan Grip
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Worldspine Wurm
Will let you guys know how it goes. It starts at 7pm, so if you guys have any input on this list let me know. I'm playing at Mead Hall so there is a chance I may be playing on stream tonight if I do well ;)
Legacy:
Combo Elves
WB Tokens
Cheeri0s
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