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| Finally got my sticker! |
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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
