Legacy week #25

Back at it!

Sneak and Show felt really good to get going. I stole Jerry Mee's 75 from his Top 8 performance. I also got his sideboard guide, which to be honest- I need. Lol. I tried following his performance via the pairings site, and watched has he stumbled with two losses a little early then just ROLLED in to top 8. Amazing stuff, was super pumped. (equally annoyed with no coverage)

Things before 3 rounds of magic:

• Pre-release for War of the Spark this weekend, w00t.
• Still tracking my package of cards to Card Kingdom, come on big money!
• I need to get a new set of sleeves for my SnS deck. Thank goodness Eclipse realized players want more than 80 cards per purchase. Time to buy a new 100 for that silky smooth shuffle.
• MagicFest Dulles is Fathers Day weekend. Main event is sealed Modern Horizons. *ponder*

Round 1 vs Maverick

Game 1- Mulligan with 1 Tomb in 7, keep sketchy hand. I had 1 try hard moment when I Show and Tell'd in an Emrakul but he dropped a Knight, which promptly found a Karakas and that was that. I couldn't' come back. It was embarrassing. Wish I had the Griselbrand so I could have at least gotten 7 cards out of the bounce. Oh well.

Game 2- Mulligan with 1 Tomb in 7 again, mulligan with no land, and forced to keep my 5. It was an extremely poor 5 with a City of Traitors and Lotus petal as my only mana sources. He dropped a turn 2 Thalia which pretty much sealed my fate. I would never get enough mana together to do ANYTHING. This was pretty much a non-game from me. It happens.

Funny note, I asked him since we were done so quickly, could I play a different deck for fun. He said sure, I brought out D&T, and promptly just rolled him. I kept a 1 land opening hand because of Vial, and just ripped lands and had all the answers to his threats. Ya know what is good against Maverick? Crusader with a Jitte on it.


Round 2 vs Eldrazi Post

Game 1- Mulligan with no lands, keep a fairly strong 6. I fetch for a Volcanic, Ponder. There it was- the holy Trinity between my hand and the Ponder- Show and Tell, Omniscience, Griselbrand. Light shined down, flower petals were thrown, life was amazing. Turn three I dropped it. He flopped in a Kozilek, and I dropped an Omniscience. I cast Griselbrand for free, he didn't even try to use Kozilek's counter ability. I drew 7, found Emrakul, dropped that, and won. It felt good after my mulligans in the first round.

Game 2- I mulligan'd again to 6. Kept a so-so hand, no SB hate like Blood Moon. I countered an early Grim Monolith. But then he had a metric ton of cloudpost mana and I couldn't find my combo. He proceeded to then double Thought-Knot me and that was that.

Game 3- Keeping with the theme, I had no lands in my opening 7, mulled to 6 and saw my lines. I did pretty much the same thing as game 1. My opening hand had fetch, tomb, Show and Tell, Omnscinece and Griselbrand. I kid you not. This time however, I had to WORK to find Emrakul. It was like he was playing hide and seek. He did a turn one Candlelabra, which meant I could easily go off turn 2. The amount of cards I dug through was stupid. The final board state was like 2 Blood Moons, 3 Sneak Attacks, Jace, Goblin Cratermaker. I actually had to pass the turn because I couldn't find the Grieselbrand. I used the Jace to bounce his Ulamog!


Round 3 vs u/w DelverBlade  (Frank)

As he said, he has never played a deck without Delver. This was the perfect deck to do round 3 for me.

Game 1- I kept my opening hand because it had 2 lands and all cantrips. It was the first hand I did not mulligan. I did not have any pieces of the combo, but a counter and a whole lot of digging. He did what Delver does. Turn 1, did not flip until turn 3. He dropped a Stoneforege, found a batterskull. I kept digging and found my Sneak Attack, dropped that without any fight. He kept plugging away, but I dropped a Grieselbrand, and found Emrakul to blow up his board and deal lethal. As he said, "I did everything right, and still you crushed me."

Game 2- My opening hand had amazing stuff. Emrakul and Griselbrand, but no method to get them in to play. I Ponder'd and found Arcane Artisan. I played it turn 2, and he had to stop and read the card. He honestly didn't know what it did. With the monsters in my hand, I was super happy. I activated Artisan, drew, exiled Emrakul and his face went slack. He was like, "wait, you just have that in play now? I can't beat that."

Possible serious upgrade

As I pointed out in last week's post, I am tired of DeckBox and the number of people asking for 20% trade in their favor.

Also last week during the Leaving a Legacy podcast, they talked about how to upgrade while getting in to Legacy.
First, I have no doubt where my finances are. I am not a single dude with a ton of disposable income, or free time to do whatever or whenever I please. I can't just take my tax return and plow it in to foil Japanese versions of cards. I am a bargain hunter. I want to play different decks, and the biggest hold up right now are the mana bases. Reserve list duals and City of Traitors, I'm look at you two!


Well, I bit the bullet spent about 3-4 hours Saturday and Sunday and compiled a rather length list of trade material from my list on Deckbox. Stuff I will never play, most likely. (for the record, I don't do Commander.) So 90% of those cards I have are basically trade material. And instead of hoping and poking around various lists- I threw them all at Card Kingdom.

After double checking I had what I said I had, and removing lesser condition cards the grand total of trade value would be north of $600. Which is insane.

So what to do with that trade value? Basically I plan to acquire at least 1 Volcanic Island. And if I can find some cash for my impending birthday, a second might be in my near future as well. (SWEET!)

Why those instead of City of Traitors? I just think Volcanics are a better investment right now. With this sort of trade value, I gotta maximize my long term investments.

Things I learned during this process:

• I have a lot trade stock being unused
• My trade binder was nearly cleared out
• I had many cards not listed on DeckBox, doh.
• I still don't like foils.
• My value engine worked, but it took 2+ years to get here

Legacy week #24

I missed last week due to kids/family obligations. It happens. I'm lucky to get out as often as I can. Heck, next week isn't great. I'd say 60/40 in favor of me not being able to go.

I've noticed an uptick in DeckBox people saying they only want 20% trade in their favor. They won't even consider a deal unless that is true. What the heck people?! Why are you running your trades like a store now? This is usually player to player, direct trading. Not some bulk buy list sort of thing. Whats the point of the site if everyone is scheming off others. I am really annoyed with the people abusing that right now. Gah.


I honestly didn't know what to play at legacy. I was considering the following:

• Eldrazi stompy
• Sneak and Show
• Death and Taxes

Part of me wanted to take all 3 to the store and see who was there before picking the deck to play. Why? Cause I could. lol.

I am slowly putting together a w/u Stoneblade variant deck. I don't have the True-Names yet, but at $10 a pop, shouldn't be too hard to get them. (literally just ordered 1, 3 more to go!) I like the nature of this deck. I could actually put it together without the Tundras I think. Would be a shame, but the Back-to-Basics re-printing really helped out there.



I think the wheels are starting to fallen off my Eldazi deck. It gets RIGHT to the edge of winning, and so often it is a half turn too slow. Last night was no different. I went 1-2 in both of the games I play. (no point in sticking around for round 3 if I can't recoup cost of entry)
Need to change it up, likely back to SnS... might even show DnT.

Cool note of the night, I saw a guy cast Grip of Phyresis. Erh, mer, gerd. Great sideboard choice currently with the metric ton of equipment being thrown around between DnT, Stoneblade, and generally all the u/w builds out there. Even if it is just to grab a Jitte and let the germ die, to remove it from the opponent.


Not going to post the results but I will say I lost to TeS and R/U Delver. I could have had both matches, but the cookie crumbled the other way. That's the life of Eldrazi Stompy.

Legacy week #23

Back at it again, MtG First weekly. Really good showing, 20+ players. Lots of variety in the field. One interesting turn of events- D&T has shown a resurgence due to no small feat in that equipment has shown to be REALLY good again. With the rise of the w/u decks with Stoneforge, Jitte and Batterskull have taken charge. I think there were at least 3, maybe 4, different pilots of D&T at the weekly. I have much love for D&T, and still have my deck sleeved up. (It is still my only non-proxy involved deck) Honestly though, I haven't played it in about 3 months.
Though, having a True-Name equipped with a Jitts is, pardon the pun, truly horrifying. Oh, and to top it off, saw someone running u/w vial version of stoneblade. Yup.

Couple notes from the night:

• Never drew a single Spirit Guide. Never sided it out, just never drew it.
• When I had decent mana sources, life was good. When mana was bad, life was bad. 
• Weird match 3 vs g/b dark depths. Just weird.

Match 1 vs Grixis Delver (Frank)

Game 1- Good player knows his match-ups, and he did against me. I kept a hand in which I had a turn 1 Chalice, which was forced. When he saw a turn 2 Mimic, he removed it. That card can get out of hand in an Eldrazi deck. Seriously, it is my all-star card, with Cavern of Souls coming in a CLOSE second. He got a Delver out, and proceeded to "protect the queen." What really did me in though was a key wasteland on my Eldrazi Temple. I was 'stuck' on a Tomb, which helped kill myself. He seemed to have all the answers for my threats, which sucks- but that's what Grixis delver does. 

Game 2- Flip the script on him. I found my Cavern of Souls, and left his counter magic just floating in his hand. He couldn't deal with the flow Eldrazi coming at his face. It also helped I had a Walking Ballista named on my second Cavern. That helped remove his Strix problems. 

Game 3- Honestly, I don't recall how this game went. I believe I got stuck on mana a bit. I recall the game ending with him having a True-Name and flipped Delver. He was on like 1 life at the end. That's how Eldrazi rolls sometimes. 

Match 2 vs 4 color something

Game 1- I spent most of the game trying to figure out what exactly he was doing. I thought maybe he was on agro-loam when he launched Punishing Fire at my Mimic. But that theory went out the window when he played Dack Faden. Apparently he had no counterspells, which made my life a lot easier. So I wound up beating up any creatures he landed, and mauling the planeswalkers. I did land a Thought-Knot and saw two MORE planeswalkers in Jace and can't remember. 

So, for the first time in a while, I had perfect mana. In that I played an Eye of Ugin, then Urborg, then City of Traitors. I was able to cast an Oblivion Sower off that! 

Best play of the night, I went to attack with a Thought-Knot against his Dack, he flashed in Snapcaster, punishing fired my Thought-Knot. I responded to the Snap trigger by Dismembering it with perfect black mana, THANKS URBORG!

Game 2- I wasn't exactly sure what to side in, but Leyline of the Void seemed good against any Punishing Fire build. Adding in the Thorn of Amethyst also felt good for his army of non-creature spells. 

I don't recall most of the game to be honest. What I do recall is that I smashed face with Eldrazi creatures, and he killed himself with a Punishing Fire. I respect that. 

Match 3 vs g/b Depths

Game 1- It was a weird game. Both of us had nothing normal. My opening hand had creatures, and 3 lands. But they were an odd mix. Wasteland, Cavern, and Mishras. Not great for the explosive start you want with Eldrazi. I kept it, because of Mimic, and other critters which could get there. He had 2 Mox Diamonds in his opening hand. And then drew, dare I say, nothing else. I just kept smashing and he had nothing else in terms of combo pieces, tutoring pieces, just blanked. 

Game 2- He had everything, and I had nothing. Basically I could draw in to a Karakas as my only out, and I died to a Flying indestructible black Avatar. It happens.

Game 3- My opening hand was 6 lands. And I kept it. Why? It had a Wasteland, it had a Ratchet Bomb. And most importantly, it had a Karakas. My one of Karakas. From the top I just drew in to threats, which helped. I landed a Thorn. He found a Bob, which helped him find pieces. I put him in a position at the final turn where I had a Smasher from the previous turn, and I top decked a second Smasher. I turned them sideways, he flopped the 20/20 on the board, killed one smasher, then chumped the other. I went to second main, and dropped my Karakas to return his Legendary critter. Whew. (moral of the story, that's why you play Karakas in Eldrazi. And I should have a second in my SB)

Lesson learned for the night- Ratchet Bomb does nothing against indestructible.

Legacy week #22b

I had the fortune of some time Sunday evening to go up to Game Hunters in Frederick for a little weekly Legacy. It nearly didn't fire, but they found an 8th to make it happen. Normally they have over 10 for their weekly, so it was slightly weird to barely make the 8 person field up.

I rolled out with my Edralzi aggro deck, which has been treating me fairly well recently. I still need to pick up some minor pieces to round it out, but overall, I like its make up. I think one of the few decks it has little or no game against is SnS. (ironically) Pieces to be found, another Mishra's Factory, and another Matter Reshaper.
Honestly, I have yet to cast a Dismember. Weird.



Round 1 vs goblins (Mike Shank)

Game 1: I mulliganed on the play, and still applied a lot of pressure. The turn 1 eye to Mimic was good. Turn 2 Thought-Knot was even beter. From there I just keep the gas pedal mashed down and kept rolling.

Game 2: He did what goblins does with an Aether vial, and then successfully Ported me in to the stone ages. Hard to get creatures out when you have no mana. Blech.

Game 3: Continued with my previous weeks theme of having Ancient Tombs dealing a bunch of damage to myself. Seems to be the theme, and really couldn't stop the Goblins from leaking in the edges. I had a small crack to stabilize and kept blanking on the draws. Tombs, damnit.


Round 2 vs Pox (Travis from the Legacy Pit!)

He and I were chatting before the round about the state of Legacy and where he was going. He also mentioned how he was going to eat Jerry Mee under the Sushi table this coming weekend at the LaL Open.

Game 1: He does what Pox does, just strips all my threats to I get him to 2. He slaps a Ensnaring Bridge down and I am just peeling cards off to the top hoping for a Walking Ballista. No such luck. Though I did feel good about Wastelanding his Tabernacle. I call that a moral victory if nothing else.

Game 2: Eldrazi SMASH... well, somewhat smash. Spyglass names Lilly Last Hope. Early pressure, then he somewhat stabilizes, until I top 2 Smashers. I have his life totals go like this:  20-18-12-8-3.

Game 3: See game 1. Seriously. He had an ultimate Lilly Last Hope, and I had a board of critters that could not attack through TWO Bridges. I had some outs, Ratchet Bomb, or Walking B. Nothing happening like that.



As it was an 8 person grouping and another person had dropped, there was no point for me to stick around. Not the results I was hoping for, but it is what happened.
I think next time I head up there, I am running SnS. Apparently the meta up there doesn't handle that very well. Combo it is!

Though I was secretly hoping to play the Dredge player who was there. Bring it! (Leylines, HOOOOOO!)