Legacy week #22

Decided to ditch SnS for the time being, and work on Eldrazi stompy. It has been successful in the current local meta for me. Lets fine tune it:

[deck list via deckstats.net]
//Main
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Chalice of the Void
2 City of Traitors
2 Dismember
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Endbringer
4 Endless One
3 Eye of Ugin
3 Matter Reshaper
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Oblivion Sower
4 Reality Smasher
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Walking Ballista
1 Warping Wail
1 Mishra's factory
4 Wasteland
2 Wastes

//Sideboard
SB: 2 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 4 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 2 Ratchet Bomb
SB: 1 Warping Wail
SB: 2 Sorcerous Spyglass


A couple points about the deck:

• The Warping Wail main is a place holder for another Matter Reshaper. 
• Need to get 1-2 more Mishra's Factories. Solid choice I think.
• Love 2 Jittes
• 2 Walking Ballista is super good. 
• I know I know, 8 Leylines in the SB? My local meta has a couple devoted burn players. I want to be ready for burn to the face.

I am considering running this Sunday at Game Hunters, but I would swap out the 4 Leyline of Sanctity for something like a 3rd Ratchet Bomb, an All Is Dust, and maybe a 3rd Thorn.

Round 1 vs u/b Ninjas

Funny thing is, we were chatting before the start on what we were playing and bad matchups. His bad matchups are anything fast like Eldrazi or SnS. I've lost to him before on SnS because of bad finding of cards. We got paired up and laughed.

Game 1- I mana flooded, and got ninja'd. Not great.

Game 2- He got mana screwed, like zero lands. 

Game 3- He wasted a key Eldrazi Temple, and I proceeded to do like 12 damage to myself with an Ancient Tomb. Oh well. 

Round 2 vs r/u Delver

Game 1- First turn Jitte, followed by a river of creatures, only interrupted by a Chalice on 1, which really hampers his efforts. Turns out, Jitte in an Eldrazi deck is great. I had my doubts, but no longer. Between Jitte and a well timed, un-countered Chalice on 1, sealed his fate.

Game 2- Put in 2 Thorns of Amethyst, and managed to drop 1 turn 1. He did not counter it, which proved to be his downfall. Also cool, he did Light up the Stage and flipped a Smash to Smithereens, which he could not cast in time due to the Thorn. I had pretty much perfect mana, and hit a seem of creatures which he could not handle all of. He did Waste a Eye of Ugin, but then I topped another. Jitte provided the answers at the right times. 

Round 3 vs manaless dredge.

Same kid as last week, same deck. This time, I was PUMPED to play him. I knew my sideboard was loaded for bear against him with the Leyline of the Void. 

Game 1- Mimic and Endless Ones are a hell of a combination. Just smashed face, quick game 1. Turn progression- Temple -> Mimic, Temple -> Endless One for 4, smash with Mimic, Wastes -> Endless One for 5, smash with Mimic and Endless One. 

Game 2- Sided in my 4 Leylines, did not draw one, but had Mimic and Smasher. Seemed like a good attempt. He finally got 1 creature in to play, but I topped a second Smasher and that ended. 

I think we were done both games in like under 10 minutes. I asked him what happens if someone flopped in a Lelyine of the Void, he said- "I scoop."

Legacy week #21

That did not go as planned. At all.

I decided to dust off SnS because, well, I haven't really played it in a while. Felt like it was time to combo and launch large critters at people's face. Felt good to shuffle up.

Then it all fell apart before I even got the store. It was raining heavily and traffic sucked. I got to the store, registered, and for the second week in a row, they didn't have my credits correct from the previous week. No biggie, but I was planning to buy a Force of Will with whatever credit I had on hand. Figured if I went 2-1, it would be a great deal. If I went 0-x, then its still half off. (they had the Alliances version in the case for $80, masters for $100)

Getting the FoW thing out of the way now- there is speculation that Modern Horizons will include FoW which would mean Modern would get it. Thus, driving up the price much higher for the previously only 2 mainstream printings. (There is a Judge promo, and an Invocation, but they are at least $230)

The price has held steady at about $75-$80 until about last week.

MTGstocks.com

I decided, time to pull the trigger no matter what. I won't be able to get to the weekly next week due to family events. So, this is likely my last chance to get it at this price until Horizons is fully spoiled.


Match 1 vs D&T

Game 1: I had a good opening hand, until he placed a second turn Karakas on the board and everything went to hell in a handbasket. I couldn't find what I needed to combat that stupid card. Oh well, on the positive side, he had no real idea what I was playing.

Game 2: Way too much land, seriously. He turn two Rest in Peace. Sure, ok. Fine. Means he has the wrong deck figured. The only positive, I was able to land a Sneak Attack, threw a Grieselbrand down, drew a bunch, Show and Tell'd with 2 Lotus Petal an Omniscience, then cast Intuition to grab 3 Emrakul. Whew.

Game 3: Got ported out of existence, and found WAY too much land. How does this happen?! I barely drew any cantrips. *sigh*


Match 2 vs Manaless Dredge

Just going to say this- SnS does NOT match up well. That is all. 0-2.



Turns out, I probably should have taken Eldrazi with me for the night. I would have felt a lot better about the Dredge matchup because of the SB with 4 Leyline of the Void. I am not entirely sure how he would have beat it.

Legacy week #20

I wasn't sure I would be able to make the weekly to be honest. Some family things might have prevented, but it worked out in the end. I had considered going up to Frederick on Sunday then it was pointed out that it was St. Patricks day and well- driving home at like 8-9pm on that particular day might not be the best idea.

I was super hyped about playing a deck that Cyrus Corman-Gill (He has been on some benders in placing high in MANY paper tournaments, he loves storm!) posted on the SnS group. It "mashes" my current two favorite decks- SnS with Eldrazi. Its a classic "transformer deck":

20 Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Volcanic Island
4 Shivan Reef
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Mountain

12 Creatures
4 Grisebrand
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Simian Spirit Guide

28 Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Sneak Attack
4 Lotus Petal
4 Daze

Sideboard:
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Eldrazi Temple
-4 Brainstorm, -4 Ponder, -11 idc

Couple of notes-

• the biggest factor with this deck is the 'wtf' reaction in game 2. When you transform, throwdown a Chalice on 1, and watch their face go slack and confusion hit. 
• I don't have any Shivan Reef, but I don't feel I needed it. I replaced with Islands and a Mountain. *shrug*
• I also like to replace the 4th Emrakul with an Intuition in any SnS build now. Just makes sense. 
• The Daze doesn't seem to fit, but are valuable in those deck which eek out tiny advantage through super tight mana resources. Otherwise they are pitch bate for FoW.

Round 1 vs Miracles (Adam, same as last week)

Game 1- I just roll him up on Sneak Attack, drop Grieselbrand, pay-7 draw-7, find spaghetti, and win.

Game 2- I sideboard in everything, and promptly find mostly color producing land and huge creatures I can't get out. He finally stops playing cantrips and drops a Mentor to which I scoop. He never saw the Eldrazi side so has no idea.

Game 3- I turn 1 Chalice and he was baffled, and it sticks. It pretty much locks up his entire hand. From there I just smash face with a Smasher and he is perplexed to what happened.

To be honest, I could have just kept the deck as a SnS deck and done just as well. But I had to transform it to the second mode. We talk afterwards and he admits, Miracles has a tough time with combo, and I should have just stayed on SnS mode. 

Game 2 vs u/b Shadow

Game 1- He wins the die roll, goes- cycle Street Wrath, fetch, w grave, reanimate Wrath, I attempt to FoW, he counters back, and that's pretty much game because I can't find any answers. Booooo.

Game 2- Perfect conditions to surprise him with stuff. We both mull to 6, my opening hand had a Tomb, 2 Chalice and a Smasher. (scrye revealed a 3rd Chalice, which I kept out of spite) Alrighty, turn 1 Chalice had him SUPER confused. It got in there, and I proceeded to Smash his face and win with a second Chalice on 1. 

Game 3- My opening hand was not great. I got turn 1 ThoughtSiezed, and he pulled my Sneak Attack. However, I had 2 Smashers in hand. So ok. The down side was he Wasted one of my 2 Tombs which massively hindered me. I was really hoping to find a Chalice but it was not to be. I got him under 10, then he dropped 2 Shadows. I then drew a Chalice- DAMNIT. I couldn't get there. He was at 6, and I couldn't get there. *sigh*

Game 3 vs Miracles, again.  

(I might be flipping Game 1 and 3, but eh)

Game 1- We both Pondered and Brainstormed to sculpt hands. I threw a Show and Tell out as a bate spell to get countered. If he didn't I was going to drop Sneak Attack. He countered, which I didn't fight over because he had a to Brainstorm to find the Flusterstorm. (I had a FoW in hand, but kept it) I felt pretty good in that spot. Next turn I dropped Sneak, and Grieselbrand joined the show and I promptly drew 7, and I found Emerkul and wrecked. Sneak attack is a hell of a card. 

Game 2- I lost due to WAY too much mana and not enough threats. I did finally drop a Thought-Knot he was confused. Which is a fun place to be. His had was perfectly formed to wipe my board in the next 3 turns. From there he promptly just wiped off everything I attempted to do. Too slow.

Game 3- I removed the Eldrazi package, which proved to be the best move. Sneak Attack is still the best card in the deck. I dropped it in again, and he couldn't get it off the board and I had 1 card in hand which was a Grieselbrand. Activated, drew, Swords, found Emurkal, activated again, and he scooped. 

I might run this deck out again next week, but not entirely sure. 

Chalice is a super good card still because of the amount of 1-drops. I don't want to run any version of the mono-red prison. Just isn't what I want to do. 

I might run SnS back out, but I think Eldrazi stompy is decently placed right now. Chalice is super tough. Plus, I really like my sb with 8 Leyline!  :)

Legacy week #19

Finally got back to the weekly at MtG First. I think I figured out a goal for the weekly- build up enough credit to get a Force of Will. Seems like a decent idea. They have an Alliances one listed for $80. Walking in to the store I had $40 in credit, used $10, earned $20. Seems like a slow slog, but keeps me motivated and away from playing silly decks every week.

Still running Eldrazi aggro. Chalice and creatures that turn sideways is a good thing. Haven't seen the regular Moon Stompy guy around, and lack of Back to Basics has rewarded my choices in life.
I am going to re-sleeve my SnS deck and might run that next week, but still enjoying Eldrazi and the problems they bring. We shall see my mood.


Round 1 vs Miracles  (Adam)

Game 1 won, just ran over him. Chalice on 1, lots of remembered triggers.

Game 2 won, opponent mulligan down to 5. Life was awesome. Loved the Cavern of Souls. Nothing but good things from that!


Round 2 vs Dark Maverick

Game 1 won with big furry creatures, Thought-Knot Seer is a great card.

Sb note- I nearly forgot to remove my Chalices as he was running them as well. Ha!

Game 2 lost due to mana flood. Had 4 lands in my opening had, some action which got removed, then promptly drew like 4 more lands. I scooped, but checked and it was another 4 lands on top before I saw a spell. Good googly moogly.

Game 3 won I pre-gamed 2 Leyline of the Void. He picked off some of my creatures, but got him low. He ended the game with 3 Dark Confident on the table, and I didn't attack with my Smasher just to see if they would kill him. Got him to 1, and I topped a second bigger furry creature which helped the mimic just crush face. I felt like a cat playing with a mouse a bit, but 3 Bobs. I mean come on, he was at like 6.


Round 3 vs b/u Ninjas

We were both 2-0, and asked if he wanted to split and play for fun. Nope, he wasn't having it.

Game 1, won just trashed him. Chalice on 1 with a backup.


I boarded in 4 Leyline of Sanctity. Never drew one in my game 2 or 3 opening 7. Ugh.

Game 2, lost can't remember why. It wasn't pretty to be honest. 

Game 3, lost due to screwy land. I mean, gesh. Deck, come on. Ok opening hand, but just got cleaned out and had about 4 turns of draw-go. It was horrible. At the very end I had a SLIGHT chance to win, but could not string together the right set of cards to present pressure.


Notes from the night:

• Saw a guy playing Enchantress, and my god it was crazy.
• Saw a guy playing green 12 post with at least 3 REAL Candelabras. REAL. 
• 6 drops seem a bit heavy in my deck, they were usually the first cards to get boarded out.
• Every week I hope I get paired with the Storm player while I am running Eldazi aggro, and every week I am disappointed. 
• Some speculation on Modern Horizons set, but that's it.
• Found out, thankfully before I got them, that Frantic Search is banned in Legacy. Kinda thought it was legal because it was just reprinted in Ultimate Masters.