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Topic:	Tournament report: Legacy Mill deck

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Your Reply: HTML is OFF UBB Code is ON [IMG] UBB Code Not Allowed! Smilies Legend	[QUOTE]Originally posted by JoshSherman: [B]You could try moving Archive Trap to the sideboard. I'm curious why Ponder is there. Maybe switch them? [/B][/QUOTE]
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<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="95%"><TR><td bgcolor="#2f2f4f"><TABLE BORDER=0 cellpadding=4 border=0 cellspacing=1 WIDTH="100%"><TR bgcolor="#2f2f4f"><TD COLSPAN=2><CENTER>T O P I C     R E V I E W</CENTER></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#dedfdf"><TD valign=top>AEther Storm</TD><TD>Hi all, Well, as promised, here's the tournament report you've all been waiting for. Yes, it's actually about a Mill-deck in a Legacy tournament. Yes, I knew beforehand that the chances of winning were slim, if there was a chance at all. Small background: I love mill, ever since I started playing Magic (1997, 5th Edition) when the only viable mill card was Millstone. I feel there is a lack of challenge when copying some deck that wins via Emrakul or Storm combo so I build my own deck. I've been waiting for the time that there were enough low-cc mill cards to maybe pull it off, and when they printed Breaking//Entering, I felt the time had come to give it a run for its money.The deck:4 Glimpse the Unthinkable 4 Breaking//Entering 4 Archive Trap 3 Mind Funeral4 Visions of Beyond 4 Brainstorm 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Chain of Vapor4 Force of Will 4 Spell Pierce4 Polluted Delta 4 Underground Sea 4 Ghost Quarter 4 Swamp 5 IslandSideboard: 4 Leyline of the Void 3 Damnation 3 Ponder 2 Extirpate 2 Pithing Needle 1 Wipe AwayIf you want to discuss the deck or SB options, there is a post of mine in the Deck Help section. Feel free to comment there.How it went:It was only a 30 min drive to show up at some student-infested hall (what do you call those places..?), dang, those guys are young!, where the organisation had arranged a somewhat private corner close to the bar. Score 1 for the organisation. I ordered a beer, figuring I'd need one for sure, and prepared myself for the slaughter. The aim was to win 2 games at least (not matches) and secretly I hoped for a full game win, you never know! I looked around, seeing oddly dressed people and the occassional 'I'm dressed like a college dropout but in fact I'm real smart and will out-earn you in 2 years' dudes, which confirms that I'm in the right place. 20 people present (for the Netherlands, that's not that bad for a Sunday night), and then, we're off!Round 1 Deathrite Shaman/Goyf (Forgive me, I don't know all the deck names) Game 1:We both open with Polluted Deltas and I have a Turn 2 Breaking. He tells me that he thinks it's cool I'm trying mill giving me the feeling he thinks I'm a n00b (which I can't blame him for. I explain that I sold my Vintage Power deck years ago and am playing for fun. He understands and we're all good mates from there on. You never know if you get an opponent who feels that Mill or similar rogue decks shouldn't belong there and goes all cranky). Anyway, I mill 8 away and he plays Shardless Agent cascading into Abrupt Decay, so it fizzles. Turn 3 Glimpse puts him at 20+ cards in the yard and I'm eyeing my Visions of Beyond (Ancestral!) in my hand. He plays Tarmogoyf on his T3 and I Visions hoping to get a FoW, and I don't. I'm in trouble. He hits me with the Agent and I go to turn 4. At this point I'm sitting with 2 Archive Trap in my hand and get a Snapcaster Mage. He attacks and I flash the Mage recasting my Visions, getting nothing but land and a 3rd Archive Trap. He is low on land so I play my Ghost Quarter, destroying his Bayou waiting for him to fetch so I can finish him, but he doesn't take the bait! (Later on is reveiled why). I scoop and we're off to Game 2. Dang! Victory was in my hand!Game 2: Boarded in Damnation for something.I open with an Island and he plays Bayou. T2 I Quarter his Bayou and he fetches a Forest! (yes!). I activate my Archive Trap and play Brainstorm at end of turn, reveiling another Archive Trap! That is 26 cards, plus 1 draw, plus 7 beginning, 34 cards! Nice. T3 I fetch a Swamp and Glimpse him while a T4 Mind Funeral sets the stage. T5 Breaking finishes him off. YES!! Yes we can!Game 3:I start off with having to mulligan, twice. Crap. Here we go. I keep a hand with Island, Ghost Quarter, Swamp, Brainstorm and Damnation. I'm hoping to stall him but no luck. He plays Deathrite Shaman T1 and Baleful Strix T2. I get and Island and he Thoughtseizes, so I Storm the Damnation away for safekeeping. He gets a T3 Goyf and I have mana problems.0-1. So close, but not really. He reveils that he only plays 1 basic land that I already milled away in Game 1, that's why he didn't search then. Plus he plays Mill casual and he suspected a Trap.He wishes me the best and we're off toRound 2 Punishing Fire/Geist Game 1:A control deck. Hmm. I'm playing the guy who resembles an actual wizard more than the rest of us, but he's cool. Though he has really bad breath. He tied in Round 1 so I'm uppaired (my luck), we'll see. I have to Mulligan again and get Swamp/Ghost Quarter/Ghost Quarter as mana base. I Quarter his Tundra, but he doesn't fetch. (no Trap) He plays another Tundra and I Quarter again, no fetch again and no Trap. He is either suspecting something but he immediately states playing no basic lands. Ahh come on! My luck is somewhere else apparantly. I get an Island and Brainstorm, while T4 has me casting Glimpse that he Spell Pierces. He commends me on my effort playing Mill (see story round 1, rinse, repeat). T5 I Glimpse again and he Forces, that I Force back. Mill 10 for me. He plays a Burnwillow Grove and goes into Punishing Fire mode. I Mind Funeral him and he Forces but I have Spell Pierce, and the next turn I Funeral him again for 8. Turn 8 I have Breaking and with a Nephalia activation he goes down to 1 card in his library, and although a Geist hits it's not enough, win! Hell yeah, vs control!Game 2:I Quarter his Tundra and 2 turns later I Glimpse him, milling 3 Geists and 2 more critters. He Forces it and I Force back, dumping Spell Pierce. Next turn I Extirpate his Force and he plays Snapcaster Flashback into Surgical Extraction, removing my remaining Quarters. I cast Breaking removing at least 5 lands and I'm thinking about Funeral. He counters my 2nd Glimpse with Red Elemental Blast that I knew he had (had to draw it out) and Snapcaster meets his Spell Snare. He keeps hitting me with Snapcaster and Punishing Fire and I don't find another Mill card that I need to finish him off, I knew he had no more counters left in his hand.Game 3:I keep a, what looks like, decent hand, T2 Glimpse meets Spell Pierce that I Force. I don't draw anything decent anymore, no draws or mill and he gets Geist on the table. I'm sitting with a Chain of Vapor and draw a 2nd Nephalia Drownyard. 3 turns later, it's over.0-2. As expected, but the deck is not as walkover as I thought, although the last game was a blowout. Round 3: Land/Loam deck Game 1:He opens with Mox Diamond and Rishadan Port, playing a Grove on his 2nd turn. I Glimpsed him and he plays Life from the Loam that I Force. Next turn I Spell Pierce his 2nd Loam and play Breaking, setting him over the 20 card mark for Visions that I play directly after, netting me 2 more Visions! This can't go wrong and I hit Glimpse, Breaking milling away. He plays Dark Depths and Thespian Stage's it, but I have double Chain of Vapor and bounce his token. Next turn I cast Mind Funeral and play Nephalia Drownyard and it's over! Maybe I can get it this time!I board in Leylines, Wipe Away, Ponders and Pithing Needles for Mind Funerals, Visions and something.Game 2:I get a Turn 2 Glimpse and he plays Chalice on 2, but I Force it. I Quarter his Taiga and he claims playing one basic land and I milled it the turn before. WHY isn't anybody playing basics? Jeez! Give me a break here.. Turn 4 I Quarter his Grove but then he dredges his Loam back. I can Glimpse him again but he has gotten double Wasteland back and with Exploration he kills both my Seas from which I don't recover. 1-1Game 3:I start with new courage playing Sea, Brainstorm. I get 2 turn 2 Glimpse and on turn 3 I Flash in Mage to block his Mishra's Factory, Flashbacking Brainstorm that gets me hardly anything useful at that point. He Wastes my Sea and I ponder into a Delta, get me another Sea and Glimpse him. I Quarter his Grove of the Burnwillows on the next turn and Spell Pierce his Loam. My hand is almost dried up now but manage a Breaking. next turn it is finished as he has Exploration again, playing Dark Depths and Thespian Stage putting the 20/20 token into play. I don't get my Vapors or Wipe and it's done. 0-3I'm bummed that I didn't see much of my SB cards. I had a Pithing Needle in game 2 but didn't really had a good target for it, eventually setting on Wasteland after it was too late.Round 4: Affinity! Game 1:He explains it's only his 2nd tournament and I can see the clouds gathering above my head. This is going to be one of those matches. He mulligans and gets off to a fresh start with Land, Springleam Drum and a T2 Frogmite. I Spell Pierce his Cranial Plating and go T2 Glimpse, T3 Mind Funeral. He only plays 14 lands so I get a good chunk of his cards. He gets an Arcbound Ravager and I Visions into Glimpse, that puts him at 17 lands left. He plays Arcbound Worker and Sword of the Meek saccing to Ravager. I cast Breaking to put him at 8 with a Trap in my hand and 5 land on the table, but my Chain of Vapor fizzles one way or the other as he attacks with the Frogmite and Ravager hitting me for enough. So close, again!Side in Damnations for Archive Traps.Game 2:I have to mull twice and see my fears being just. He gets a Memnite and I Spell Pierce Thoughcast, but the next turn he has another. He gets a land and plays Mox Opal, Frogmite, Myr Enforcer and I need more land and a Damnation, none of which show up. I stall Vaporing his Enforcer that he Cranial Plated and Brainstorm, but don't draw (colored) land with a Damnation 2 turns away.Figures. Exit, stage left.Well, I can't say I ever had this much fun losing 4 in a row really <IMG SRC="http://classic.magictraders.com/ubb/smile.gif">. The deck wasn't bad at all! I'm not sure where to tweak it yet, the Archive Trap/Ghost Quarter combo was a big disappointment. It might need more draw to get your Mill cards out there as it can be pretty fast, though some cards would be a problem for me (Emrakul, side Extirpate for it or Leyline). My sideboard let me down today, didn't draw it when I needed it alas. The Drownyard would be enough as a 1-of as there were several matches where I had 2 in my hand.The Spell Pierces were nice, but I feel those can be better. It could be Mana Leak or anything of the like, not sure there yet. If you have any ideas, just visit the Deck Help Forum and let me know.It's a shame really, I was on the verge of winning 2, maybe 3 rounds but couldn't push through the last cards, and I didn't get to do my First-Turn-Mill (<IMG SRC="http://classic.magictraders.com/ubb/biggrin.gif">, quadruple Archive Traps with either a fetch from opponent or a Ghost Quarter fetch from me).Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed reading it, please let me know what you think. Cheers, __________________ I'm a geek, you're a geek. Let's trade.Lord Flasheart: Enter the man who has no underwear. Ask me why. Lieutenant George: Why do you have no underwear, Lord Flash? Lord Flasheart: Because the pants haven't been built yet that'll take the job on! </TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#f7f7f7"><TD valign=top>JoshSherman</TD><TD>You could try moving Archive Trap to the sideboard. I'm curious why Ponder is there. Maybe switch them?__________________ *<A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/24u9gm" TARGET=_blank>My LJ</A>*<A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/333o3f" TARGET=_blank>Letter Bombs!</A>*<A HREF="http://facebook.com/mafiaBass" TARGET=_blank>FB</A>*<A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/36jkel" TARGET=_blank>Logout</A>- <A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/logoutproof" TARGET=_blank>MM is a copycat! (So am I)</A>*<A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/7f3yvl2" TARGET=_blank>CKGB</A> </TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#dedfdf"><TD valign=top>AEther Storm</TD><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by JoshSherman: You could try moving Archive Trap to the sideboard. I'm curious why Ponder is there. Maybe switch them?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I'm thinking of more fetches and Hedron Crab next time, not sure yet. But the Ponders were there in case I had to side in Leyline. Visions would become just U, draw a card. So I removed some cards for Leyline and dropped 3-4 Visions for Ponders to keep the cards coming that I needed.__________________ I'm a geek, you're a geek. Let's trade.Lord Flasheart: Enter the man who has no underwear. Ask me why. Lieutenant George: Why do you have no underwear, Lord Flash? Lord Flasheart: Because the pants haven't been built yet that'll take the job on! </TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#f7f7f7"><TD valign=top>amalek0</TD><TD>the best way I've found to pull off legacy mill is to run it more like a burn deck and ignore their counterspells:tome scour hedron crab breaking mind funeral glimpse the unthinkable archive trap brainstorm visions of beyondNo need for force of will in the mainboard--it's card disadvantage. I'd run them in the side. Some slot removal that mills would just be better instead, there's a couple decent ones from llorowyn and RTR block.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#dedfdf"><TD valign=top>mgoodridge</TD><TD>Here's something to think about. If you are open to playing Modern and if there is a modern scene in your area you could give modern mill a try. I've seen a couple pop up from time to time on mtgo. Good report though and better luck next time!</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#f7f7f7"><TD valign=top>AEther Storm</TD><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by mgoodridge: Here's something to think about. If you are open to playing Modern and if there is a modern scene in your area you could give modern mill a try. I've seen a couple pop up from time to time on mtgo. Good report though and better luck next time!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Thanks! I will surely play this again sometime, whenever a Legacy tournament pops up in the neighbourhood.I appreciate the deck tips, but please use my post in the Deck Help Forum for that. Cheers,__________________ I'm a geek, you're a geek. Let's trade.Lord Flasheart: Enter the man who has no underwear. Ask me why. Lieutenant George: Why do you have no underwear, Lord Flash? Lord Flasheart: Because the pants haven't been built yet that'll take the job on! </TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#dedfdf"><TD valign=top>Atahualpa</TD><TD>I've played the Modern version of this deck. After much consideration, I have moved to a 2-3 Surgical extraction MB and board in the rest plus a full 4 SB Extirpate as an answer to things like Emrakul.Yes, you lose everything you'd already milled prior to the Emrakul reveal to the shuffle effect. But, once you've dealt with him, you can use the duplicate extraction effects on other things (like Life from the Loam, here, or steal all the splinter twins, birthing pods, or RIPs).I know this suggestion is tantamount to blasphemy. However, I like it better than mulliganing to find Leyline and then having duplicate copies be dead and losing the power of visions.Also, at least in modern, I have had much success with mesmeric orb. Also hedron crabs, oboro, and fetches. [Edited 1 times, lastly by Atahualpa on September 18, 2013]</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#f7f7f7"><TD valign=top>ardeay</TD><TD>I have practically the same list, i love to play the deck. I'm glad im not the only one.Main differences are creatures and path'sI splash white for path's, they do the same as quarter and removalIm playing 4 hedron crabs. That's four on a fetch/crack and you can quarter your own land if you have too. and they chump block. 4 jace's phantasm.I go 4 surgical 2 extirpatesso im not running forces, breaking, chains, and not 4 of every card you are.same manait makes me think a white blue deck with 4 paths and 4 wraths would get there on the stall, and still run surgicals. Maybe chants? </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table>

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