Legacy week #34

Holiday/Christmas week!

I got some cool gifts, of which included the Magic equivalent of scratch-offs- packs. I got several loose Modern Horizon packs... was hoping for a Force of Negation. Instead, I got 3 sets of doubles. Sunbaked Canyon, Tectonic Reformation, and Lightning Skelemental. Well, at least I got the Sunbaked Canyons... right? I couldn't get doubles on Force of Negation, or even Force of Vigor. 

Also got some new sleeves to try out- Ultimate Guard's Katana. Heard good things about them, so wanted to try. Will review in a bit.

Went out to the weekly because of the holidays... there was no traffic. Though the weekly fired with only 6 people including someone visiting from New York looking for some legacy. 

I busted out my Eldrazi stompy, which has been putting in the work. (I need to put the deck list up at some point) I removed the two Null Rods, and put in two Sphere of Resistance. I have never used the Rods for any match-up. Still considering them, but the use cases are edge ones. 

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Round 1 vs Kevin

He was testing out a delver build with Dreadhorde. 

Game 1- Got down a turn one Chalice and locked him out of most of his stuff. Got creatures down and beat face. Non interactive game.

Game 2- He got a Delver turn one, I got a Thorn on mine. He Wasted my Tomb, and I couldn't find more land to launch my armada of Eldrazi stranded in my hand. Non interactive game.

Game 3- The most interactive game. I wound up with a Chalice on 1, and 2 Thorns out at one point. He used Brazen Borrower to buy some time, but my Eldrazi were not to be denied. Even the Looter Scooter was out, being piloted by an Endbringer. When you have to pay 3 for a Ponder, etc, its not going well. Even with a Plague Engineer out, Thought-Knot and Smasher are a heck of a combo.

Round 2 vs Jay

Damn you Oko. You are stupid.

Game 1- He got an Astrolabe first, then I got a Chalice. That effectively locked him out of most of his game. He did try to bounce things and gum up the works, but just didn't work out. My opening hand with 3 Wastelands were pointless vs a basic only deck. (sad trombone) Still, Eldrazi does what Eldrazi wants.

Game 2- I got mana flooded. I had early disruption, then just a metric ton of land. He got an Oko out, and made food. I couldn't find a threat to do anything. I scooped to the slightest breeze.

Game 3- Chalice got forced turn 1, which is fine by me. (Chalice seems pretty darn good right now vs these blue based decks. muahahaha) I picked apart his hand with consecutive Thought-Knot. 

He admitted after the game that Eldrazi is a really tough match-up. I seem to hear that against almost every blue deck, which is a lot recently.

Round 3 vs TK

He was on his Maverick build, which was half proxy. Turns out, cars need working brakes. The only emergency money he had to fix was selling off parts of his deck to pay for repairs. 

We split to both go 2-0-1, but played for fun anyhow.

Game 1- I had a clunky hand, and it showed. He got a very large Knight going, and I had no disruption. 

Game 2- Opening Leyline of the Void helped, followed by disruption and large Eldrazi. 

Game 3- Can't recall exactly how it went, but I Wasted his one white source and a Thought-Knot revealed his hand needed another to turn the corner. (two Swords and a Giver of Runes) All I could was spawn Eldrazi and pray he didn't top deck- he top decked and took over. Damnit. Its how it goes.

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Sleeve review- The sleeves shuffle well. Not too stiff, good feel. Right now, with inner-perfect fits, the deck is "puffy." It can be squeezed to be more compact, but puff back up. I don't know if that is a function of the double sleeving or just the sleeves themselves. Its disappointing.

Other point, I literally put the new sleeves on Christmas and did some shuffling with them. I've noticed face scuffing already. How the heck does that happen after one 3 round even and some practice shuffling?

After these get trashed, and they will, I think all my future sleeves will only be Dragon Shield. 

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From the week before and this week, I wound up with $42 in credit. I cashed in because I didn't know when I would be back for the weekly. I got some perfect fits, some odds and ends, but the big winner for the selection of cards was a nice new Force of Negation. Been wanting one for a while. Sweet.

I think I basically wound up with about $100 worth of stuff for $10 in the past 2 weeks. Gonna take that all the time. Its been a good run of games. 

Legacy week #33

A couple buddies from north of the city made their way down, a VERY long way down, to play in the MTG First weekly. I was able to attend, and it was a very good evening.

Went to the store last night, did well enough... but when I went to pay with credit at the store, I was super pleasantly surprised. I told the guy my info, said I was going to pay with store credit, and his response was, "You have $40 left in credit." I thought I misheard him, and said, "come again?"

Yup- something happened, and I had, somehow, $50 in store credit. I asked him to double check because it seemed like a mistake. He said, nope- you have that much.

So I did well enough for the evening, and was able to get a bunch of cards I was not expecting to.

The cards are for a smattering of things. The cheapest ones are for a possible cloudpost Eldrazi deck. Not saying it is good, but it will be interesting at the very least.
The Sphere of Resistence is a possible additional piece for my Eldrazi Stompy deck. If Thorns are good, and they are, then more taxing effects should be fun. Mud it up. The Displacers are for a white Eldrazi build I am trying to figure out. I will never have the Mox Diamonds which it would REALLY need to hum, but I'm kicking around the idea of Astrolabe instead.

Even after paying for the event, buying these cards, and going 2-1, I still have about $25 in credit. Not too shabby.


On to the results from the evening! I was running my Eldrazi Stompy with Once Upon a Time, which is turning out to be really good.


Round 1 vs 3 color reanimator?

He admitted before we started that he threw the deck together 30 minutes before he came to the weekly.

Game 1- Don't remember a lot, I smashed him with Eldrazi pretty good and I didn't see much from his deck. I honestly wasn't sure what he was doing and didn't put my Leyline of the Void.

Game 2- He got his combo going, and I had WAY too much land. I got crushed.

Game 3- I wasted his early mana source, and he didn't find another for a while. I played it slower to build up the threats and just crushed hopes and dreams. My Thorn won me the match. He couldn't save himself from a horrible death due to the tax. Sweet.


Round 2 vs buddy Dan on Elves

Game 1- Don't recall how this went to be honest, I think I won? Did I go 1-2 or 0-2? If I went 1-2, then I won this game... *shrug*

Game 2- I thought I had a chance, I really did. Got him down to like 4 life. Had threats on the board, but as Elves does, I got Natural Order into Hoof.

Game 3-  Also thought I had a chance. Got a Chalice on board at 1, which locked out most of his Elves... Wastelanded his Cradle but then he found his Scooze. Which allowed him to eat countered creatures, gain life, and stay afloat long enough for me to make a mistake. Which is how I usually lose to Elves.


Round 3 vs Sam on Lands/Field of Dead
Nice guy, he apparently only plays Lands. Came up from Manassas VA to play. Which is a LONG way to travel for a legacy weekly.
We were both 1-1

Game 1- He is on the play, gets Exploration down. He is not entirely sure what I was on when he saw Once Upon A Time, and I dropped a Chalice on 1. I hadn't actually seen the Field of the Dead build of Lands, but I knew I had to just keep the pressure on. Find a Wasteland, and hope to hell he didn't find a second Field. He was able to clear my Mimics with the Grove/P.Fire combo. But I found an Endbringer and that sealed the deal.

Game 2- I removed all my Chalices, and put in Leylines. About the only thing I could think of that made sense in this match up. My opening hand had 2 Leyline, lands, and a Smasher. Felt decent. Drop the Leylines. We both went land-go for 3 turns, I dropped my Smasher, he dropped a Drop of Honey. I topped a second Smasher and just crushed hopes and dreams.
To be honest, I think Smasher was really the only good solution to the Drop problem, and to get 2 is insane. Rather be lucky than good.

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Really cool idea some of the regulars did at the local last night. They did a White Elephant legacy deck exchange. You enter, saying you will partake, then build a viable legacy deck, and you blindly pick a deck (not the one you brought) and play it for the evening. I saw two Sneak and Show decks and a merfolk. No clue what else was brought, but a very cool and fun way to play. Props!


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Bonus goodness, during their annual "Gavmas" podcast (#268)- Leaving a Legacy podcast interviews Gavin Verhey. They asked folks to submit questions either via Twitter or their FB group. I submitted two thinking they would never get asked, but LO-AND-BEHOLD, they did!
Check them out starting at 51:54.

Muahaahahahaha! Everything is coming up Milhouse!

Legacy week #32

Got a chance to run it out to MTG First for the weekly. Wasn't sure what the crowd would be like for two reasons... first, I hadn't been there since Sept 20th, and second, there was a tournament Saturday. Turns out, most of the guys at the weekly were not going Saturday because the entrance fee was $45, and we were functioning adults. I know there was no way I could because I was a functioning adult, and was WAY out of tune with play paper legacy at anything more than a couple friend meetups for Saturday night cards and beer. There were a grand total of 16 players, on the lighter side as of recent. (at least from reports)

I decided I was gonna run out an Eldrazi stompy splashing for Once Upon a Time. (basing it roughly off this MTGO decklist) I got a play set just a couple weeks ago as part of my upgrades recently. Threw in the Elvish Spirit Guides, both for helping power out Once Upon a Time, Eldrazi, or even one of my 'whoa there partner' cards in 4x Chalice of the Void or 3x Thorn of Amethyst.
I had done zero testing on this deck, but mentally I knew where I wanted to go with the deck.

Side note while I was getting the deck all prim and proper, aka no proxies, I discovered I was fluxed by my own 'good' proxies. I do own 3 City of Traitors, but I went to put one away, I realized that one was the proxy. Good thing I have a fool proof plan to keep my proxies separated from the real ones.

Dangit.

Round 1 vs r/u delver/dreahorde arcanist

Game 1 Honestly don't recall what happened, just trounced him with the Smasher and a Mimic. I do recall him getting unlucky in trying flip his delver. I was fine with that.

Game 2 More of the same, too much beats. I was like down to 6, he had finally flipped a delver and he had a dreadhorde cast the previous turn. I dropped a Thorn of Amethyst, which meant- the Lightning Bolt he had just revealed did not kill me. He could not pay the tax twice. I was literally saved by my on-board hate. Sweet.


Round 2 vs Oko and friends

Game 1 I mulled down to 5 cards, which is a BAD way to start. I had a little pressure, but he Elk'd me out of the game. I had slim to no chance and just scooped. It happens.

Game 2 I promptly went- Once, found Temple, dropped Mimic with Eye of Ugin.  Dropped Temple, Thought-Knot Seer. Smush for 4 with Mimic. Topped a second Thought-Knot, ripped another card, smushed for 8. He scooped

Game 3 I totally screwed the pooch. I thought I had an opening hand of Eye of Ugin and Temple, but in reality I had two Eyes. This was AFTER I Once Upon A Time and went past a basic land I could have used and grabbed a Smasher? I thought I was utterly screwed do to my land misplay. Turns out, variance was my friend. He saw something like 12 cards and could not find a third land. I was lucky and dropped another land or two and smushed his face. He entire hand was 3 drops. Oh man. Like I said often- rather be lucky than good.

Interesting note for this match, each game I had an opening hand Once Upon A Time which, honestly, REALLY helped. It allowed me to see some cards I couldn't count on, and find either a sol land or beater. It worked very well.


Round 3 vs g/w pseudo maverick with Depths
Brian Mears is a very good player, and we decided to split and play for fun. Back in the win column for the week. Likely to head back to the store soon to cash out for some cards I need and totally blanked on before leaving. (4 Eldrazi Displacers to run something like this deck)

We played 3 games. Game 1 and 3 my deck decided I either needed all lands or no lands. And I mulliganed and got crushed. The 2nd game things went better and I took it down with Mimics and a Smasher. Thats how Eldrazi does sometimes.


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Last note for the post- I think if I could get any higher priced cards, it might be Grim Monoliths. I think those would allow me to run a hybrid of big Eldrazi and Stompy. Vesuva would be nice, but they would need to be cheaper than $25. We shall see. I've always wanted to have a hybrid Eldrazi deck, but no Candelelabra will ever grace my presence without co-signing for it. (got $500 for a 1 drop?)

Upgrades

Yes, it has been two months since I reported out Legacy anything. Due to some unforeseen issues, I couldn't make my weekly legacy at MTGfirst. It happens, and I hope to be back as soon as I can. In he mean time, I have filled the itch with swapping another large set of cards to upgrade. I've watched streamed Legacy, I've tried to draft Throne of Eldraine, and listen to podcasts. Nothing really fills the need like playing in person though. Nothing.

In May I did my first Card Kingdom card swap for a single Volcanic Island and some other cards. So, with my new found free time in Legacy I threw a bunch of cards into the trade material. After I got done, I found over $300 in trade material. Most of which I would never use in decks I cared about.

Here is what I got:

2 Ultimate Masters Cavern of Souls
2 Ultimate Masters Dark Depths
1 Force of Will
1 Surgical Extraction
4 Once Upon a Time
4 Elvish Spirit Guide


I liked the art on the new Dark Depths to be honest. Thats why I got that version.
I got the two Ultimate Masters Cavern of Souls because they were the cheapest by about $10. Made sense.

I needed the 2nd Surgical extraction for sideboards. The price had finally fallen below $25 again. I wanted the Once Upon a Time for two different decks, the first an Eldrazi stompy deck. Really appeals to me.

So what happens with these cards? I finished my paper legal Eldrazi deck. I am now 4 cards away from my Sneak and Show paper legal deck. (2 Volcanics and 2 Scalding Tarns)
My Depths deck might never be paper legal, but I really enjoy playing the proxied up and understanding it.

Paper legal for the first time since 2000

Play set of Caverns of Souls, even if my ocd is not happy

Legacy week #31

After a week away, I was able to head back out to the weekly. This time, no sol lands. Pulling out my only fully paper legal Legacy deck- death and taxes.

I went with what is pretty stock for the current meta. I took what xjcloud ran in a recent mtgo league and made one change- I didn't have a fourth Giver of Runes. (step-mom!) So I subbed in a Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Thought maybe that might slow down some of the W6 decks, or the Depths decks a smidge. I am sure there were about a dozen other options I could have put in, but that one felt good.

Pulled up to the store and noticed there were a few more empty spots than normal. Walked in, and realized quickly that we were at most, 7 people. At least half of the regulars were not there, which was quickly determined was due to legacy in Atlanta this weekend. While it might have been nice to go, no way I could go.

It was nice just to have a small group which basically chatted the entire time. We were serious about our play, but having fun. Always the best way to go. Funny note- my second match held up the entire round. First, and likely only, time that has happened.


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Round 1 vs Burn

Relatively new player to legacy, and this is the go to deck for that. He was nice, and curious about matchups, decks, and generally trying to figure out the format.

Game 1- Bit of a blur, but I believe I won due to a galaxy brained Swords my own Thalia equipped with SoFI to keep me from dying. Shocker, I know, that I was able to win game 1 vs burn.

Game 2- Trying to recall how it went down, but I believe even with a Chalice out on 1, he killed me with two Skewer the Critics.

Game 3- I took down when he nuked his own lands for a desperate Fireblast on my Batterskull.

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Round 2 vs an extremely shiny Wrenn and Six four color control with Punishing Fire.

Game 1- I almost had it game 1. I really did. However, my deck didn't let me have more than 3 lands to operate on. There was a turn where I thought I had a chance: on his end step, Vial'd in my Flickerwisp, target W6. Go to my turn, I had a Vial, but had to uptick to 4 in order to play my Jailer to remove his Knight. Attacked his W6 with Flickerwisp, got the monarch, and proceeded to beat face some. Then he turned the corner, and my plans fell apart. This was all with pretty much 3 lands, and my vial on 4 screwed me. *sigh*

Game 2- I was patient, and was able to get an early Rest in Peace, and the grind started. He took 8 from his own Sylvan Library to attempt to answer some of my threats. He plopped down a Tabernacle and tided up my mana a bit. But my lands hit the table, I was able to Recruit a Crusader, and start applying pressure. He got two Liles out to remove my threats. However, I completely brain farted and forgot about Port and Maze. It was fairly late in the game and I could have ended it about 3 turns earlier. Oh bother. 

Game 3- He attacked in with a Knight while I had a Thalia out, forced me to pop my Crypt and his Knight died. I got my Rest in Peace out, and just found all my answers with a Vial to help cheat on mana. He couldn't find enablers and I just rolled. 

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Round 3 vs Ford on Eldrazi Karn?

We were both 2-0 and decided to split and play for fun.

Game 1- Almost get there, but lack of pressure via creatures doomed me. I knew to remove his non-Tomb based lands. Was my only hope that he would help kill himself, didn't happen. I died.

Game 2- MANA, so much mana. Died.


Went home fairly happy with how the evening progressed. Happy to know my deck could perform, and that I saw some lines. Happy to be able to play a full paper legal deck for a change.

how do you chose?

Hi, my name is Phil, and I have a problem with picking a deck to play.

       I get easily distracted between various cool things. New decks show up all the time, and some number of them seem interesting to me, and a few of them are something I wouldn’t mind trying out. Here are my current limiting factors:

• I only play paper decks
• Limited budget to slowly build out decks to make them paper legal
• NUMEROUS proxies to help enable my deck building non-focus, not limiting but rather enabling my choices
• Time to play paper magic, usually once a week at a local store. Maybe once every other months with friends

      I read about decks, I listen to podcasts to understand things, watch legacy play videos, I play when I can… and yet, I cannot focus. I cannot convince myself to just buckle down and play one deck, to master it, to tweak it, to really just work out it out.

       Yes, I know I could play on-line. However my other limitations really bite me in the butt- money and time. I’ve got elementary aged kids, and thus I have limited time and money to throw at my current hobby of choice. I’d rather go someplace and play than just sit at home scraping out some time to play a couple rounds if possible. I can’t do both, no chance.

       Since I got back in to play, my first focus was on Death and Taxes. I liked the tool box approach it had. It wasn’t super swingy, and was just resilient. It remains my only fully paper-legal deck I fully own outright. I’ve even got a large pile of ‘for consideration’ cards which seems to grow every time I turn around. It’s nice to always have that go to deck, and to stay on top of the tech. However, I just don’t play it enough.

       I also like Sneak and Show, which is a problem. I like doing Timmy things- big stupid things. It is something I don’t have to have a galaxy brain to play, and it can win from literally no-where. I am short the biggest pieces, 2 Volcanic Islands and the Scalding Tarns. Something like $1,000 in cards currently. I have everything else paper legal at this time. It’s a swingy deck. Often I say, “live by the combo, die by the combo.”

       And recently I got in to Eldrazi stompy. My recent deck of choice because of Chalice and Thorns. I never said they were amazing or soul crushing, just that they were well placed. They still seem to be. I like causing havoc with stupid cards. However the problems are plenty with this deck, without a turn one play it has an almost impossible time coming from behind. I am two Cavern of Souls from a completely paper legal deck. Feels good.

      What is missing in all of this? A real blue deck, one that makes you actually think. I play magic, generally, so I don’t have to think TOOO much. I do enough of that at work.

So I have the question of- do I just play one deck for the forseeable future, master it, ride it out and learn. Or do I just find interesting decks I like and be a wishy washy “hot deck of the month” fan-boi?

Pardon me, I have to go scour for value in order to build up my library of possible. Damn you collectible cards.

     Note to self- if the next set is a good draft set, I may take a break from regular Legacy play and get my draft on for a bit. Stop paying attention to Legacy as much, and just focus on limited for a while to take a short break. Not stop playing all together, or looking for deals... just draft instead of Legacy. Then again, I didn't try for Core 2020 at all... but really enjoyed War of the Spark draft tremendously.. 

Tournament for fetches, a report

I ran my eldrazi stompy list. Which had been doing fairly we over the past few weeks, but the variance of my winning finally caught up with me. I made a couple errors, and it bit me.


Round 1 vs Goblins

He was running late, and I might have even picked up a game win if he was 5 more minutes. However he showed within 30 seconds of being told that. He was completely flustered, but one of the best goblins players in the area. Entire deck was foiled out where it could be. Including Masterpiece Vials.


Game 1- I just flooded the board, and he had no answers to 2 Smashers

Game 2- Got lite mana and he overwhelmed me.

Game 3- A back and forth, and the end showed me at 9 life and him at , and him able to swing for 4 a turn. I needed one of my 4 answers, Smasher or Walking Ballista. I flipped the top card, Smasher and extended my hand.



Round 2 vs White Eldrazi

We had been talking before the round, and explained some of our decks. Good local player. He was usually on D&T, so we talked recent variants. Hawks, and Avengers with Force of Virtue.

Game 1- Did have it, a Displacer got him out of a tough spot.

Game 2- He wasted a critical Temple, and I couldn't catch up. I had the right cards in hand, but couldn't cast to get even.

Displacer for the win!

[note- I watched him play the next round vs G/B depths with David Long at the helm. I caught game 3, and on the back of a single Eldrazi Displacer, take down the round. Locking up the top seed. There was a critical turn where Long fetched a waste up, removed the only Temple he had up, and Chris top decked another Temple which saved his Displacer activation.]



Round 3 vs Burn

My first ever deck check! Everything was hunky dory.

Game 1- Wiped the board when a Thorn hit the table.

Game 2- Had no early ability to stop his burn, and I got burned out.

Game 3- I was a COMPLETE idiot and did not aggressively mulligan to my hate. Turns out, a simple Chalice on 1 would have won me the match, but NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo, I brain farted HARD and that was that.



Round 4 vs Grixis

Both games I mulliganed, why? 5 lands, then no lands. Really bad matchup for me.

Game 1- Don't even recall, just everything kinda went sideways. Hymns suck.

Game 2- Lands didn't bother showing up. He didn't Waste me out of existence, I just didn't draw them.It was embarrassing.



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I need to get off the sol land merry-go-round for a bit. Between Sneak and Show, and now Eldrazi Stompy... I haven't had a "stable" land base in, AGES.
I do have D&T to fall on if need be, but that is my back up to understanding the meta. For this coming week I am going to run out this B.A.E build that was talked about on LaL podcast.
When I proxy, I proxy HARD:

Homemade foil tokens.

Cheap white core proxies.

Legacy week #30

One last time at MTG First before running out to Titan for a smaller legacy event at Titan Games. Playing for fetch lands, but honestly- I don't think I will make top 8 to cash. I am hoping to just have a winning record.

I have confirmed my buddy is coming to the event, and is bringing the two cards I need to use- 2 Cavern of Souls. Thats all I need to use. I made the last adjustment to my SB, tossing out the Pithing Needle and buying a Smuggler's Copter. Why that trade? Why not a 3rd Spyglass? I felt I needed something more against the Delver decks. I needed a flyer of some sort, and my deck can get 1/1s alright enough. Between a Mimic, or Walking Ballista. Or even in a pinch, an Endless One. I kinda like the idea of having the Looter Scooter, but we shall see. Eldrazi wants to be pumping out multi-honed threats and getting pressure down while providing roadbumps like Chalice and Thorn.


My tune up night was a bad night. r/u Delver had all the answers, and the new g/w depths also just got there. All my roadbumps were a turn late, and their answers were just there. It happens.

Not gonna get in to the particulars of the bad night. Needed to get those loses out of my system I think. Good to know the deck can have bad lines.


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While I love Counterspell, and I do, I like what it represents- disruption and some sort of stop sign. I think thats why I have enjoyed this build of Eldrazi stompy so far. It can really muck with the other players game plan between Chalice, Thorn, and some disruption in the form of Thought-Knot. It can usually push its creature beat down plan fairly well, provide different play patterns from the opponent, and has general game. There are some strategies that it can't beat like blood moon and back to basics. However, it can just give them complete headaches and have to mulligan aggressively to find them.

Legacy week #29

After being out for family vacation, I was back at it.

Well, I have to be honest, I also played in a Sunday tournament before I left for vacation almost two weeks ago. I went to Gamer-Corps in Ellicot City. It has been open only 100 days, but they are pushing hard to support as much as they can. Even if the payouts are what I would call, "meh" for now.

I didn't write up the games because, well, I don't remember them and had no time to do so. However, I was the only 4-0 that day. Felt good. I do know I beat Goblins again, a Delver deck, a W6 deck minus Goyfs... and something else.
One important thing that stood out vs W6 deck, Thorn of Amethyst is a MASSIVE pain for them.


Last night I ran out to MTG First for their weekly. Couple regulars were out, but still had 14 I believe.

Eldrazi stompy or bust


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Round 1 vs Arena Rector-Curse deck

Its an off beat deck to be sure. Not something I would expect, nor really sure how to board for.

Game 1

Lost due to curses.

Game 2

Kept a STUPID hand of 3 Leylines... I really shouldn't have, but I don't know how else I would have combated against his plans. There were small windows to win, but I just drew a freaking metric TON of mana. *sigh*

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Round 2 vs u/w stoneblade
very good player, Brian. He is usually piloting a couple different decks, wasn't sure what he was on.

Game 1

Just got out valued, he had all the right answers for anything I tried. It was embarrassing. I scooped when he played double stoneforge.

Game 2

Wasn't exactly sure how to SB, removed Karakas, put creature hate in via Dismember. Put in Ratchet Bombs and Spyglasses.

It was back and forth until we were both under 10. He had two True-Names down. And I finally found a Smasher. I had a metric ton of mana out because my wastelands were pointless vs a virtually all basics deck. Due to early Thought-Knots, I knew he had two Supreme Verdicts. And he had deployed two True-Names, which meant removing his own creatures. HOWEVER, that turned out to be a positive because I was fetching up more Smashers at the end of his turn via Eye of Ugin. I had 3 Wastelands, 3 Cavern of Souls... There was one critical turn where I was holding a Dismember because of True-Name. However, I knew he had to have a StP or Snapcaster in his hand. He was going to have to block at least one Smasher, Snapcaster the StP, pitch a card to target a Smasher. I also had played a Blast Zone. And was at about 9 life. So I could take the 6 from the True-Names, gain 5 from the StP to a Smasher, and kill the Snap with the Dismember. Next turn pop the Blast Zone and grab the 4th Smasher on his turn. He had zero creatures, and was down to 1. Even playing his last StoneForge and deploying Jitte without equipping did not save him from trample. It was a nail-biter. I felt REALLY good being able to pull it off.

Game 3

Less exciting, an early Thought-Knot removed a Council's Judgement, but saw Back to Basics. A card nearly impossible for me to beat. He was mana light however, and I dropped a Thorn of Amethyst and kept dropping lands. He was one off from getting the BtB down. I wasted his dual land, keeping him off 4 mana but he StP my Thought-Knot. I got a Walking Ballista down with 3, but then he topped his forth mana source and dropped the BtB. I then proceeded to beat his face with the Ballista for 4 straight turns. Meanwhile I kept dropping lands somehow. It didn't really matter as he couldn't find answers to my threats.


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Round 3 vs G/W knight-depths
He was 0-2 and I was 1-1. He was kind enough to give me the match because even if he won he literally couldn't take advantage. However we played it out anyhow.

Game 1

I never saw any of his dark depths, so I thought he was on Maverick or. I found an early Jitte which honestly won me the game. He got out a reclaimer, but then I started picking his stuff off by me blocking and picking his things off. Mimic was also good because Smasher and Mimic are like "peas and carrots."

Game 2

FUNNIEST turns of the night.

He drops a stage.
I drop a tomb and chalice on 1
He drops a dark depths
I wasteland it
He drops a dark depths
I wasteland it
He drops a dark depths

I am out of wastelands... and I have to hope he doesn't find more mana... he drop a tomb. DAMNIT.
His opening had was 3 dark depths, a stage, and a tomb. Shoots.

Game 3

Don't recall what happened, but I pulled it out. Just too much fire power turning sideways.
(update) I also know I drew my one of Karakas which completely nullified his Dark Depths that he had attempted to unleash. Whew.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-

Notes- never drew my spatial contortion to evaluate it. Seems like a good card, either get in for extra damage to push the issue, or remove a threat on their side.


I picked up 3 Giver of Runes with some of my credit. Gonna run Squawk & Taxes at some point for the hell of it. Missing some of the pieces, like a 2nd Hallowed Spirit Keeper and Sword of Light and Shadow... but have pretty much everything else. Oh, no second Surgical Extraction. Ouch
The deck is in direct reaction to the Wrenn and Six decks roaming the planes.

Legacy week #28

Back at it with Eldrazi Stompy. Thankfully MTG First was open and ready. Fancy change, they have table clothes. Lets see how long that lasts.

I made one change to the deck list, I dropped the Ulamog for the Jitte. I just don't see how I will ever have the mana to cast it even with the Temples and sol lands.
One thing I have noticed is that I am just about always dropping the Sower and Endbringer in game 2. Might have to think about effectiveness in 60.
I might drop a Sower and Endbringer in favor of 2 Dismembers... or some other hate. They feel pretty ineffective. For now, a Spatial Contortion in, Sower out in the main.
Might drop a Blast Zone for a Karakas main. Not entirely sure.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Round 1 vs TES (Shawn)

Shawn is someone I usually talk with between rounds, good guy. He is 98% of the time on TES. And he admits, this is one of his toughest matchups.

Game 1
Don't recall much of how it went, got down a Chalice on 0 and hosed his plans good, like tried to play an LED into. Wasted his Sea. Dropped a Thought-Knot, picked off a Past in Flames, better once than twice? He really didn't have much else to choose from. Just beat him up good, and he couldn't get there.

Game 2
Mimic, into 4/4 Endless one, into Smasher. Got him to 1 with a Chalice on 1. However, Hurkyl's Recall is a lifesaver. He got there, and I lost.

Game 3
Dropped a Leyline pre-game... then turn 2, I think, I dropped a Spyglass. In response, he Brainstormed and hid some things. I looked at his hand, I named Scalding Tarn as he had TWO. So he sat there as I dropped more hate, a Chalice on 0, a Thorn, and proceeded to beat his face. He couldn't find his Recall to save his hand. It was a massive mistake with the Brainstorm response to Spyglass. eep.


Round 2 vs Hogaak/bomberman?
Not Hogaak/depths, thankfully.

Game 1
My deck poops on my opening 7, and second 7... I got to 5 cards, and really couldn't do much. He took control and beat my face. I really didn't have anything working.

Game 2
WAY better. I had all the answers this time. Leyline pregame, Chalice, Thorn. All out by turn 3. He then proceeded to drop Hogaak. ALRIGHT! I had put a sideboard Karakas in for this. I had drawn it the turn before. I almost guarantee he was not expecting it. I proceeded to wipe his board state, and just beat it all up. Galaxy brain for the win.

Game 3
Had the Leyline again, and he tried to go wide with a Young Pyro. I had the answers again. There was a state where he could live. On my turn he generated a bunch of tokens hoping to block my Eldrazis about to turn 90. What did I have in my hand? Ratchet Bomb for the win.

My deck felt purpose built for the meta in that room. So much hate, just so much hate. Chalice, Thorn, Leyline, Bomb... I wanted to take on one of the two W6 decks in the room.


Round 3 vs R/U Delver (Logan)
While I was 2-0, he was 1-1. I offered to split so he could at least get his entry money back and we would play for fun.

I don't recall game 1-2 to be honest. We split.
Game 3 he drew 2 critical sideboard cards, Price of Progress and Smash to Smithereens. It was a coin toss to be honest. We were both at below 10 life. Considering it was a Delver deck, I was happy with the result.
I do recall Blast Zone being good in one game I won. Lol.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Before leaving the store, I picked up my 3rd Thorn I needed. (still have $20 in credit, leaving it as credit for now) Gonna borrow two Cavern of Souls from a buddy of mine. Thats it. Got everything else.

Legacy week #27 (try again!)

Have been trying out my Eldrazi Stompy deck recently. Did well last week, and I tweaked it slightly.

Right now, I like it because the meta hasn't shifted to the Blood Moon and Back to Basics answers to the 4c piles running around. They are coming my friends, much like winter.
Chalice and Thorn seem REALLY good right now. I am powering them out, hopefully, on turn 1 to really muck up the board for all those high efficient decks. Thanks Tomb and City! Also, just turning creatures sideways is always nice.

Thought- the player who removes a Mimic, I am super worried about. They know what I am doing and how powerful that card is.

I need to get a 3rd Thorn, which is over $20 currently. Gesh. If I earn some more credit next week at MTG First, I will pick it up. Leaning towards running this deck at the event at Titan in a couple weeks. Need to borrow two Caverns though.

=-=-=-=-=-

Packed up, went to MTG First for Thursday legacy, and I arrive to an empty parking lot. I knew something was wrong. I checked all the sources I could, nothing stood out. I messaged several people- turns out, the store lost power due to an epic hail storm earlier in the day. The downside to all that, all their social media account information was stored on computers in the store. *sad trombone*

=-=-=-=-=-

HOWEVER, because I live in an awesome area, I went to Game Hunters out in Fredrick for some Saturday afternoon Legacy. Woot! Had 10 people show up, which meant 4 rounds.



Round 1 vs Hogaak Depths

Game 1- Was on the draw, he drops a Urbog Tomb, Stitcher and puts a Hogaak in the bin, and I am WAY behind already. My feeble draw, Chalice on 1, go, was bad. He then proceeds to drop a Dark Depths, and a Vampire Hexmage turn two. F-me.

Game 2- Even worse, I mulligan twice because I had 1 land hands, and promptly got rolled again. Just a complete crap fest. He had it all.

We wound up playing a couple more games with my D&T, and game 1 was 100% longer than my entire match, I still lost. I felt I had a chance against it in any event.


Round 2 vs Pox (Travis)

Before hand I knew we were going to be paired because, that is what always happens when we are in an event together. Go figure. I was on the backfoot because if I lost again, I was basically out of the payout system.

I honestly don't recall how the games went. I believe I won the first game. Chalice and Torns was super oppressive.
Lost the second due to a very angry fish. Just couldn't turn the corner and he got me. Couldn't produce enough blockers for my Ratchet Bomb to grow big enough. Seven is a really bad CMC.
Last game I got him with an early Chalice, followed by Thought-Knots picking off critical pieces, and followed by a Smasher. And for the first time that day, my Walking Ballista was cast and won the match.



Round 3 vs Shadow?

I felt bad for her. A friend dragged her to the event, which she was not really interested in playing. But she had an interesting Shadow based deck. Theoretically she could have killed me on turn 3, but everything had to go right. She also wasn't aware of the complete criminality that is Legacy and how insane things can be.

Both games I just put out big bad Eldrazi and stomped. It wasn't even much of a match.


Round 4 vs Goblins.

Really nice guy, he was 2-1, and I was 2-1. He scooped me in to value town and we played it out for fun. His deck was playing EXTREMELY poorly, as I watched him flip twice from a Goblin Ringleader, and hit ZERO goblins. The odds of that, wow. After that happened he said, "I am just getting up and leaving my deck here... gawd!"

I think I won game 1? His deck was running cold, and I had some early Thought-Knots to pick apart his hand. Turned creatures sideways, and created problems.

Game 2 I know I lost, Gempalm is a bitch.

Game 3 he played loose to be honest. I kept throwing stuff at him to force blocks and kill off his creatures. I didn't want him to go wide. I knew if I kept creatures on the board at least 4/4, I could get there. Which did happen. I just wore down his ability to block my Eldrazi.



With my winnings I picked up the following: (they were out of both Torn and Force of Negation)
1x Teferi, Time Raveler
1x M13 Omniscience (needed a 4th of the same printing)
2x Grand Architect
2x Master of Waves

Why those last two cards? Cause I am a nut who has a deck problem and I want to run this Wizards deck for fun.

Relative fun

Finally got my sticker!

On 7/19 I went to MTG First to play in 'Legacy for a Tabernacle' event. I honestly didn't think I would place, but I wanted to have fun and finish with a .500 record. I carved out plenty of time that day to play, but things fell apart.
I took the deck I was most familiar with it, and could win from no-where: Sneak and Show. The only difference between mine and Jerry Mee's, was I swapped the Jace for a Narset. Why? The static ability might get me a turn, and it is one less mana to cast. Oh, and I removed the Flusterstorms in favor of Spell Pierces. This is due to a heavier planeswalker meta.

I thought I could do well, but I went 1-2, 1-2, 1-2. I was dead for top 8 after my second loss. SnS did what SnS does, lives by the combo, dies by the combo.
I kept notes about my matches, and how things went in the hopes of producing an interesting write-up, sideboard decisions, etc. But I was pretty bummed about scrubbing hard.

I haven't picked up SnS since to be honest. I just moved it to the side, offered to return my borrowed cards, and moved on. (note, my friend who has pretty much given me these cards on semi-permanent loan, you are a saint.)


Note from the event, a couple guys I talked with had thought the prize structure was WAY too top heavy. Maybe next time spread out the love some more. $60 in store credit for 5-8 is a bit of a bummer.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Last week I tried out a u/r Arcanist/Delver build with Stifle. I went 0-2 drop, it was awful. Couple things I realized-
- Stifle is not in a great place
- I have no idea how to mulligan with a u/r Delver build
- Chain Lightning is better than Stifle in this build
- I could NOT get a first turn Delver to save myself
- Main decking a Winter Orb is not a bad idea, but not a great idea either

Still willing to work on this deck, but right now, I just need to get some reps in to figure it out. I rarely play this style of tempo deck.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Last night I decided I need to bust out some Eldrazi stompy. Whoa boy.

Did some research and decided on a mana-base to include 4 Cavern of Souls, 3 City of Traitors, and 2 Blast Zone. I also had 3 Thorn of Amethyst main! I wanted to get disruption out as soon as possible. I trimmed a Spirit Guide for an Ulamog. Maybe there would be a case where I needed to clear the board like an Ensnaring Bridge, etc. (side note- under the build I used last night, I would be 3 cards short of a paper legal deck. Thank goodness for proxies)

Round 1- vs Stax
He hadn't played in a while and it showed a bit. He dropped a turn on Chalice and I thought- Oh boy, this is good for me! I quickly dispatched him with Mimic's doing what they do, Thought-Knot (still the most powerful card in my deck I believe) , and a Smasher. Ugly.

Game 2, I honestly didn't know what to sideboard in, so I did two Ratchet Bombs. I figured between the blast zones and them, I could clear out any permanent based disruption he was attempting.
I also kept a silly hand, 6 lands and a Thought-Knot. It turned out to be the Galaxy-brain thing to do. He wound up casting Armageddon, which I quickly recovered from because of all the lands I had. He also had a bad misplay which was just due to lack of playing recently. Btw, Magus of the Tabernacle is an annoying card. Not great, just annoying.

We played a third game for fun, and I basically killed him when he didn't drop a second land. He first turned me with a Trinisphere, Ancient Tomb and Mox Diamond. I then dropped a first turn Matter Reshaper powered by mana-monkey. From there he missed his land drop and I Wasteland'd his only land, and promptly crush his hopes and dreams. It happens.


Round 2- vs High Tide!

I didn't know he was on it as typically he plays big Eldrazi and I thought it was gonna be a slug fest. He said- "on something different tonight!" Boy was he right.

Game 1- He shows island and brainstorm... I am thinking some sort of permission base, maybe w/u. So I am playing it safer with Cavern of Souls. I did get a Chalice out on 1, then started in with the creatures. Turns out I was a turn too late, and realized a bit too late, that I should have played my second Chalice in hand. He combos, and I die.

I wasn't exactly sure how to sideboard vs High Tide, but Leyline of the Void feels ok because he wants a high density of his good spells to be available and just keep cycling. Turned out to be the right call.

Game 2- Don't remember how it happened. Pre-game Leyline came down, and put an interesting dynamic to the game. There was a Thought-Knot involved, and a Mimic. He did land a Thing in the Ice which flipped, but I re-deployed and beat his face.

Game 3- Was the most interesting game of the match, and night. Once again, started with a Leyline in play. I thought he might have me at once point. He had a FoW in hand, but never used it. I think that was an error on his part. I had plenty of mana to use, and use it I did. He would bounce my Thought-Knot, draw a card, and I would re-play it picking off another key-card. We did this at least twice. With the Leyline out, all his cards were going away. The end of the game went something like this: Trying to remember how this went. I had like 16 life when he flipped Thing in the Ice, I had 2 Mimics and a Thought-Knot? I had an Endless One in hand. I drew a third Mimic, dropped all 3. I said pass. He tried to do find his combo, but my Leyline and 3 Thought-Knot triggers really hampered his hand. He wound up misplaying a Turnabout, and only left 1 land untapped. He did not attack with his Awoken Horror as he was waiting for his combo again, I think. I then counted mana, I had 11 available with my Tombs and such. I decided it was kill time, I made an 11/11 Endless One and swung in with 3 11/11 Mimics. He could only block one, and he died a horrible death.

We talked afterwards and he is a good guy. Wound up talking art, and photography for a bit, and it was a good talk. All it took was me asking my new favorite question, "so, how long you been playing Legacy?"


Round 3 vs Burn
We split because we were both 2-0. But played for fun.

I took it in 2 quick games. Even though I had 4 Chalice and 3 Thorns, I saw none of them in the games they would be most effective in. Didn't matter, just got there.

Mimic into Thought-Knot, then Smasher gets you there.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Notes: Seems I was wrong on the Prismatic Vistas. Damn things never fell below $20. Dead wrong.

Still need to pick up a copy of Force of Negation or two. Though I need to get my fourth Force of Will too. Lets see what happens first.

I bought 3 packs of Modern Horizons on my way out of the MTG First event, pulled a The First Sliver. Could not get that out my hands fast enough, traded it (and a couple other bulk rares the guy wanted) for a Boseiju.  Still plotting to try out either a u/w or mono-blue Omni-Tell deck. Slowly picking up pieces I need for it. (Got a Teferi, Time Raveler you wanna trade me? They are only $13 now... might just buy them)

Unexpected pre-release- Core 20

I wasn't planning to attend this weekend's Core 20 pre-release events. A buddy of mine said he was going to the early event, and turns out- I went as well. I literally had done nothing for the release. I knew some of the reprints like the Leylines, and the 3 different Chandras, but that was the limit of my knowledge.

It was damn humid outside, glad I didn't need to mow the lawn today!


My pre-release promo was the rare Chandra. Turns out, it isn't good in pre-release. After first match I threw it out of the deck.

Funny thing is- my buddy and I played each other the first round. HAHAHAHA!
I lost 1-2 to basically Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. Good god that thing is crazy.
My 1 win was basically due to Planar Cleansing. Shrug.
Also of note- Cavalier of Flame is INSANE. Just insane.

Second round opponent had some crazy life gain. However, I seemed to have answers for them. First game was a win due to Planar Cleansing. Second game I just kept top decking answers for his threats. I think I removed about 3-4 in a row. Enteral Isolation, Meteor Golem, Reduce to Ashes...

Note, Marauding Raptor. Horrible limited card. Removed and put in Ember Hauler. Duh.

Third round was vs also life gain via G/W, and good golly they had plenty. They were using Angel of Vitality. First game was to clean out some early threats, but I misread Cavalier but still cleared the board and finished off with big idiots. Oh, they also had an Ajani, Strength of the Pride.
Second game was faster win after they mulligan'd twice. I presented threat after threat and just cleared the board but kept pressure on via flyers.


I wound up winning 3 packs and one of which had the box foil rare. Nice. Also, nabbed the Cavalier of Dawn is also crazy.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Got my new sleeves in from Ultra-Pro. Lets see how long these last. Hopefully they make it through next week's legacy event!

MH Draft

I drafted Modern Horions for the second time only last night. I honestly haven't studied the set and know what to expect in terms of card selection/themes, combos, etc. And boy howdy did it show.

I wound up in R/U, and I think no one was actively drafting white at all. How did this happen? There were only 5 drafters. It happens. Its a new shop, it was a Tuesday night.
We all did get one of the fancy new Core 2020 promo packs. I got, ummm, nothing interesting. Meh.

The young kid at the table did land a Wrenn and Six, nice $50 pickup. He had no clue it was worth so much.

Not going to bore anyone with the maturations of  matches, but I went 1-2. My deck decided I needed lands at the worst times, a lot of them. sigh. Variance. Didn't win a pack, but did manage to draft value of my cost of the draft by accident. (did someone say pack 3, pick 1, Fiery Islet?!)  So that was a win in terms of drafting.

This small shop wants to move in to Legacy sooner than later, but I think it really ought to concentrate on the Standard/Commander/Draft crowd. They don't have enough dedicated space, or product, to make the Legacy crowd happy right now. That takes several years of consistent growth to make it happen. The legacy scene wants to see dual lands for sale, not Ixalan rares. (Sorry Gamer-Corps)


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It will have taken just under 2 months, but Ultra-Pro is sending me replacement sleeves. I complained about both the new set I got and my old ones. Today I received an email saying, "Replacement sleeves have been approved and here is your shipping number."
Lets see what shows up.

A week's worth

I wasn't going to be able to make the main event for DC MagicFest. Just too much going on with the family. However I might be able to make some of the side events. So I was hoping to make the Legacy events, because that's my format of choice. Well, I didn't get to the venue until after the 1pm Legacy event fired. The drive was supposed to take me about an hour, wound up being like 1hr 15-20 range. Bad traffic on 495, go figure.
What I did wind up doing was playing in a Modern Horizons draft for $30. I thought I drafted ok, wound up with the color pair I dislike- g/w. (just a personal preference) Then promptly lost two very tight games to a r/b agro deck. He topdecked killed me both games when I had him dead next turn. It happens.
I pull a First Sliver, so that offset the cost quiet a bit. I also nabbed a Force of Vigor, and a Eladamri's Call. Both of which I was looking to add to my pile of possibly usable cards in legacy.

Then I looked a the time, the traffic, and most importantly, the new payout for Tickets at the event. This is where my brain leaked a bit.

They doubled the cost of everything on the prize wall while not really increasing the payouts at the same rate. I believe, according to one friend, everything now cost about 50% more on the prize payout. *sigh*
That put me in a foul mood for sure. I was already cranky from the drive, and soon to be drive. The next legacy side event was to be the double dip, double the cost and double the payout! However, at $40 for 3 rounds and effectively less prize, I said screw it, and left. It wound up taking me about 1hr 30min to get home. I didn't want to spend that much money on side events.
I was grumpy, and annoyed. Mostly at myself. I spent about 4-5 hours to play one match of magic. I did catch up with a couple local legacy players. (Super huge shout out to Eternal Witness Podcast!)

*sigh*


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I was lucky to get to my weekly legacy last night. End of year school stuff has been messing with the regular play, and will be out of town next week, so I am gonna miss that one as well. The funny thing is, MTG First is going to hold a "Legacy for a Tabernacle" event in 3 weeks. Really want to try for that. Maybe I can build up some store credit to help offset the likely $60 entry fee. *gulp*

I took DnT last night because I hadn't played it in FOREVER. I was running 3 Revokers main due to the number of walkers out and about. I had 3 'flex' slots which were, Tomik (vs the new Wren and Six decks), Hallowed Spiritkeeper (vs Miracles), and Brimaz, King of Oreskos (vs r/u Arcanist Delver decks)  I felt ready, deck was fairly tight... and I promptly got paired against a guy who hadn't played Legacy in about 6 months. Been busy grinding Standard.

Round 1 vs Grixis Arcanist Delver (Tomas)

Game 1- He was a little unsure of the deck, but was getting back in to playing. He missed a couple triggers, and promptly got out valued by 3 Moms on the board. I kept the pressure on by taxing and putting threats on the table he had to answer. He couldn't deal with the various levels of protection.

Game 2- I had a good opening hand, got two Vials down which were locked in to 3 and 2, and just promptly out valued the value deck. Oh, and a Chalice on 1 really screwed with everything. I throttled his graveyard with a Tormod's Crypt, I locked down the red source with Ports, and made all his cantrips cost more due to Thalia. He finally took out Thalia with an Engineered Plague, but then promptly forgot he had done so! For 3 turns he could have cast Jace, but did not. I had a Prelate out, which got a Sword of Fire and Ice locked on to it, and promptly mowed down his Strix and crushed his hopes and dreams. (man, Prelate with a sword on it. So good.)

Round 2 vs Grixis Control

Game 1- How do I put this, he simply out valued me. He does what Grixis control does. Once he landed Jace, I had no viable threats. He had removed my Vial, and basically mowed down my field and I was land light. It was not a pretty site.

Game 2- The most embarrassing game I've seen in a while. My opening had was 1 land, a Port. Ship it. My 6 turned out to be ALL land. ALL. Good god. I had to go to 5. I had a crack of a chance with two Thalia, but they got mowed down. He Hymned me, and that was pretty much it. He had a full grip, and I had nothing with 2 lands in play. God that was awful.

Round 3 vs Grixis Delver

Game 1- I honestly don't recal how it went. It wasn't great, I got value-towned. He was running True-Names and Young Pryos.

Super secret sideboard tech time- Holy Light. God how I hate playing against True-Names.

Game 2- I tried a turn 2 Thalia, which got countered. I was counting on that, as I had a Holy Light in my hand. He ran out a True-Name, and I promptly kept up Daze mana and threw out Holy Light. He, stopped, looked at the card, and just shrugged, putting the True-Name in the bin. That gave me the breathing room to lock things down enough and gave me wiggle room for the win. He had a Young Pryo out pumping Elementals but a Flickerwisp and Tomak took him out.

Game 3- How do I describe this. He had a GREAT opening had, but I had all the answers to be honest. I made a huge early gamble when he had both a Young Pryo and True-name on board by casting a Holy Light. I was praying he didn't have a counter- which he did not. That cleared the way for me to stabilize. He then mana flooded, HARD. Even Brainstorm locked himself. I felt bad, but that's the variance of Magic. After my round 2, game 2, complete cockup, its what happens. Not even the London Mulligan would have saved him.


Note from the night- Angrath's Rampage = K Command lite. All the decks I played against had them. Ick.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I have yet to play a single game of Legacy with the London Mulligan. Guess I should start testing that. SnS here I come!  :)
Side note- I am going to start figuring out Omni-Tell as well. Will need to if Griselbrand gets the ban hammer after the new mulligan takes hold. 

Little drafting, and aquistions

After last week's slump, I decided to draft this week. Tried out a new local shop that is exactly 1 month old. Hello Gamer-Corps. It was a Tuesday night, and they were drafting. Plus, its in excellent Old Ellicott City. Lovely night, great atmosphere.
Only complaint about the location- the seating is a bit tight for 3 people a side. Just throwing it out there. We could fit three playmats with NO other room on one side. We had a 6 person pod fire off. Only two other gamers in the store doing miniatures.

Pack one, open up the rare is Karn. Cool! Wanted that for my legacy stuff... HOWEVER, there was a foil rare in there:

Yup- a FOIL Ugin. Wtf. I wanted both of the rares. I know Ugin is 10x better in limited over Karn, and it was actually a better value, but ugh. Still. Not too shabby to start with.

I wound up going blue/black amass. Not where I was hoping, but I had plenty of creature negation. Something like 6 pieces. Felt good.

Not going to go over each round, but I went 1-2 and didn't win anything. Though if I had, no way would it have been any better than that first pack anyhow.  Not too shabby for $15 on a Tuesday night draft.

Best part of all this, the store is about 10-12 minutes from my house. As long as I can find parking in the free lot near the store, or on the road, this should be a good start to a new store to draft with. No clue if they are going to support Legacy as it is very pricey, but time will tell. I will keep asking.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Funny story from registering for the first time at the store. They asked for my DCI, I gave them my 6 digit number. The guy said, "We need you to register to get a 10 digit version."
My response was- Just put the 6 digit in and see what happens.

Low and behold- it worked. Guess the guy hasn't had to deal with old DCI numbers yet. Welcome to the thunder-dome dude.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

New cards acquired!

Check these babies out! I was looking for just two, and wound up with three. One English, one Spanish, and one Portuguese. I didn't even know they printed City of Traitors in Portuguese until I looked it up via this sale. One is in LP, the other two are in MP condition. (though I've had some sketchy evaluation and definitions of conditions over the years)
Got them at a very good price via "Sick Deals" on the Facebook group. Guy was moving completely in to Old School and selling all his Legacy and Modern stuff. Final price in Dollars after everything, about $360. Which about $20 more than I was going to pay for 2 LP- English copies.

Super happy with the pick-up!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Lastly, why does D&T run a single copy of Ancient Tomb and not a City of Traitors. Asking for a friend.  :)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Not sure if I’m going to attend the Modern Horizons pre-release. Something about a draft for a pre-release has me skeptical. I might go to one Sunday. *shrug*

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There is an outside chance I’m going to MagicFest in Dulles on Father’s Day weekend. If I do go, it will be for side events only. A big maybe.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

And for those of you with too much money.

In. A. Funk.

Nothing is going right. Even my sleeves are going against me recently. Sneak and Show was running hot for me, then massively cold. I swapped decks and got run over last night.

Maybe the meta is against me? Maybe I need to find a new deck to play? Maybe its just my time to lose for a bit? Or maybe my loses are magnified because I don't play as much as I would like? Maybe I am playing poorly? Maybe my opponents are just that much better? Maybe variance is getting to me?
Or, more likely, its a combination of all of them...

I don't play Magic Online. I don't need another money sinkhole (no pun intended) in order to play. I have spent a grand total of $5 for the intro-pack on Arena. That's all I intend to spend on the on-line version.
My point being, I don't get a ton of reps in. I see others who play in 2-3 local legacy weeklies, and are on-line. I get it, you play a TON of magic. There are several others who play just at the weekly, like me. This is our bowling league, or weekly round of golf.  (I would argue, Magic is a nerd's golf, but with money after we are done with playing)


My two go-to decks currently craping the bed for me... what do I play? For me, I am likely going to "plow" ahead with Death and Taxes. Yes, I know its not a top tier deck. However, it has a decent game against most decks, and it is likely more consistent than the mercurial SnS. My Eldrazi stompy needs an overhaul, almost TOO much mana in it right now. (eeps!) I did get two Blast Zone for the deck, and I kept drawing both of them last night.

In the meantime, I am very curious/interested in the 2nd place deck in the weekly challenge:

Creature (14)
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dreadhorde Arcanist
2 Grim Lavamancer
3 True-Name Nemesis
3 Young Pyromancer

Sorcery (5)
1 Forked Bolt
4 Ponder

Instant (23)
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
4 Stifle
1 Vapor Snag

Land (18)
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland


Looking at Modern Horizons, I am currently interested in the following cards for the pile of things to play:

- Echo of Eons, just to have 1. Love the artwork.
- Shenanigans, GREAT name and solid buyback.
- Sword of Truth and Justice, another card for DnT. Didn't say it was great, just for the pile of possible.
- Giver of Runes, adding to the pile of possible DnT.
- Force of Negation, could pitch or could just cast. Slightly more narrow focus, but interesting.
- Prismatic Vista, I think this is the sleeper of the set. People, its ANY basic including Wastes.  Currently clocking in at $21 for pre-order. If it settles below $10, gobble them up.