Hi all, I hope you enjoy reading these posts as it costs me quite a lot of time typing them. You might have seen my previous 2 posts of Budget Legacy tournaments, well, tonight was the real deal! My first Legacy tournament in over a year!I was quite stoked, I found an article on a Pox deck that got me excited about it (http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/22378_Deck_Tech_Pox_with_Greg_Russell.html) and started looking things up. I made a list and got some help here from Heresy19 (thanks!) and took off for the tournament with 32 players with:
Deck:
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Sinkhole
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 SmallPox
1 Pox
2 Innocent Blood
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Nether Spirit
1 Raven's Crime
1 Worm Harvest
1 Syphon Life
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Life from the Loam
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bayou
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Swamp
1 Forest
Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Pox
1 Innocent Blood
1 Abrupt Decay
I wasn't too sure about he mana base, I had a 4th Swamp in there in favor of an Innocent Blood but changed it on the last day. (remember this, this will come back to haunt me. I made 'play'mistake number 1 and I wasn't even there yet)
So off we go to face my first opponent of the day!
Round 1: Reanimator (with a twist, I'll get to that later)
Game 1:
It's an comfortable first few turns but I quickly find out he's playing reanimator when he goes Careful Study in turn 2. As we both discard and destroy he fetches a few times to answer my Sinkhole and Wasteland combo and finally gets out Griselbrand with Shallow Grave. I need to look for an answer but he draws on and casts another Shallow Grave targeting Emrakul (trigger tech). He's quite a slow player and it annoys me.
Right. I know what I'm sideboarding:
Game 2: In 4 Ensnaring Bridge and 4 Leyline of the Void
Mulligan. I open with a Leyline of the Void (yessss!!!) and Wasteland/Sinkhole his ass off. Ensnaring Bridge gives me double safety. He is left with an Island and 2 Petals when I Pulse his Petals (yeah baby, can you feel that!) and finally Worm Harvest for 5 after a few Dredge from Life of the Loam. He scoops when at 7. Apparantly he had only 1 answer and didn't want to wait for it.
Game 3: Oddly he switches his entire Sideboard in and I fear the Reanimator gig was swapped for something else..
We both fetch after I keep a hand of double Factory. After a few blows he's at 7 and I add a 3rd, though he Wastes one. I don't get more colored mana for Decay or Pulse but I lay him flat with Sinkholes and a Hymn. Feeling pleased with myself he adds a 2nd land and starts casting all kinds of crap (Study, Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual) and with me at 12 I can see the Storm coming. His twist comes out as he easily reaches 6 spells and Tendrils me for the win.
0-1
Dang. Bastard played a trick on me, but I'll get the next one.
Round 2: An unknown deck by me with Scavenging Ooze and Veteran Exporer
Game 1:
Mulligan. I get the turn 1 Inquisition, turn 2 Hymn opening and it lays a Recurring Nightmare in the yard. Huh? What the hell is he playing? He casts Veteran Explorer and I see my land destruction gig go up in smoke. I start the Syphon Life show as his Explorer keeps me close by, until a Pox drops him to 10 and me at 12. He sends out a Scavenging Ooze and he eats enough creatures in 1 turn to become really big and it pushes on for the win.
Sigh. Losing is becoming really annoying..
Game 2: Side in Leylines, Bridges, Decay.
We swap fetches and I get a turn 2 Factory. It runs for 2 turns until his Pernicious Deed kills him. He fetches a few times but I Sinkhole and Smallpox him enough to play my 2nd Factory which gets him.
Game 3:
I get the Leyline before we start! We swap Veteran Explorer hits with my Factory and he gets a Scavenging Ooze. I Decay the hell out of him and he casts Knight of the Reliquary. I Pulse the Knight and play an Ensnaring Bridge, and me with another Factory in play and him just an Explorer I got the upper hand. I have answers in my hand and the board position when time is called and I can't finish him in the 3 turns that I have. Draw.
Holy chickenlovin' b'stards, couldn't you have waited 3 minutes? [puts on nagging voice]Noooooo, we had to play by 'Competitive Rules' so we watch timing....
0-1-1
Ok, look on the bright side, it worked and we're on the rise, now go get the next one!
Round 3: Welder
Game 1:
He mulligans (for a change it's not me) and plays a Great Furnace. I think he's playing affinity as I saw that around somewhere and think I need to blow up his artifact lands and empty his hand ASAP. He gets a Lodestone Golem turn 2 and I Smallpox it after it hits me. His Metalworker actually attacks me for a turn as my fetches bring me to 12. I get a Liliana into play and he gets double Chalice (on 2 and 4) which I happily Pulse the next turn. Hell yeah!! He has trouble finding more land after I get a triple Sinkhole and he scoops when Syphon Life gets online. 1 up!
Game 2: As I was thinking about my Bridges all game long how they would safe me here, I make the biggest mistake of the evening and NOT board in my Leylines!! I would kick myself in the teeth if I was agile enough.
Anyway, he sets a Chalice at 1 knocking out my Cursed Scroll, Inquisition and Innocent Bloods. He gets a Welder and Metalworker as I Smallpox one and hit him with a Factory but it's not enough. A Moltensteel Dragon does the job.
Game 3: Still not thinking about the Leylines....somebody smack me..
Mulligan.
C'mon, we can do this! I get a turn 2 Smallpox and turn 3 Liliana. Turn 4 is an Ensnaring Bridge for me and with Liliana in play and 2 land in my hand I have a good position. We are both short on mana (him 1 land, me 2) so I Dredge a few turns until I can cast Life from the Loam as I've Liliana'd Syphon Life into my yard. I take him to 9 and myself to 23 when he Tormod's Crypts me and I have to dredge for either a Nether Spirit or Worm Harvest (or a Factory). I find a Worm Harvest eventually and he Crypts me again before I can use it (4 land). The situation becomes more grim with him having 2 Welders, a Metalworker and 2 Chalices on the board when I Ultimate Liliana. He keeps the Welders and quickly gets back on his feet with that Moltensteel Dragon again. I'm still safe behind my bridge thinking about my next win condition (Nether Spirit) and answers to that Dragon. Unfortunately he topdecks his one and only answer to my Bridge, Karn Liberated, and exiles my bridge and my hopes of a tournament with dignity. I have 1 turn to topdeck my last Bridge (dredged the others) and .. .
0-1-2 (wins-draws-losses)
Let's not give up, I stay for the last round trying to get more acquinted with the deck and a shot at regaining my honor somewhat.
Round 4: Goblins
Game 1:
I get a turn 1 Cursed Scroll and silenty chuckle when I see his playing Gobbo's. He sighs and plays on, not getting much into play at first. I Sinkhole and Hymn and with Nether Spirit, Factory in play ánd Liliana I go on the assault, hitting him to 6. In the meanwhile his Goblin Ringleaders have given him an Instigater, Matron, and 2 other blokes that I slowly ping and block with Spirit, but he's found his draws and when a Siege-Gang Commander enters the fray it becomes hairy. I kill the Commander and block the Piledraver (Liliana was gone by the Insigator earlier), but I have to little time as I get him down to 2 when his Goblins run me over.
Game 2: Side in Bridges, Innocent Blood, Decay, Pox.
Mulligan. Again.
I have a hand with Swamp, Factory, Wasteland with Smallpox, Smallpox, Hymn but I have to keep it. He gets a turn 1 and turn 2 Vial and I need to find a Pulse, quickly! I draw an Inquisition on turn 3 land and see a Goblin Ringleader and 3 land. I get a Pulse in time but fail to find a Catacombs, Bayou, Forest or at least another colored land that could save me somewhat.
I get swarmed in 3 turns (still 3 turns, he got unlucky on the Ringleader hitting only another Ringleader that got Chieftain and Matron).
0-1-3
I pick up and head for home. Glad to have played the deck, I was fully unprepaired but feel comfortable playing it now for a next tournament. It needs some tweaks here and there, especially the mana base.
Cons:
The Mana base needs work. Heresy19! Where are you? You...you set me up with this manabase! . Seriously, I had numerous occasions where I needed colored mana but got stuck with a Swamp and 2 others. I know there are 12 cards in there that should fix this, but maybe I just got unlucky. I had to mulligan too many times as well. Again, maybe just unlucky.
Pro's:
Nice opponents (mostly);
Finally getting to play Legacy without having to drive 200 km;
Heresy19 for helping me with the deck . Cheers man! Much appreciated!
Conclusions:
I had fun, but could have way more fun. With a little more luck on the mana I could have taken 1 or 2 legs more, and with more thinking through I could and should have taken Match 3 with ease. It was just not my day, being the first time I played this didn't help and in the 4th Match I made a whole lotta playmistakes (tired).
I loved playing Sinkholes and Hymns and they were quite abundant, but it wasn't enough.
I never used Sanctity and Ensnaring Bridge is a silver bullet in here.
Well, I hope you enjoyed it. It's getting late and I still need to mast.... eeh, something that rhymes with.. ah nevermind.
Until my next report, if you want it. I hope I have better news then.
Cheers,
__________________
/Thunder in the wind/No rain/Peace mourns its passing/"Be who you are and say what you feel because those
who mind don't matter and those who matter don't
mind." -Dr. Seuss
[Edited 1 times, lastly by AEther Storm on January 14, 2013]