Local Legacy: False Cure Stompy!

A few months ago this somewhat obscure Legacy deck won a small SCG Legacy IQ. Upon seeing this, I immediately bought the few cards I was missing to build it. However, I still haven't played it. A friend wanted to give it a spin at FNM and I was all to happy to oblige as the deck looks sweet.

The meta included:

1 False Cure Stompy
2 Esper Deathblade (I was one of them)
1 Esper Stoneblade
3 BR Griselbrand Reanimator (!!)
1 Miracles w/Mentor
1 Punishing Jund
1 RUG Lands
1 A.N.T.
1 UG Infect
1 BUG "Miracle Slayer" Delver
1 Team America
1 Shardless BUG


Here is the list I designed as a first draft based off the IQ winning list:

FALSE CURE, 8/26/16
Creatures (18) 4x Deathrite Shaman 4x Dark Confidant 4x Kavu Predator 4x Skyshroud Cutter 1x Sylvan Safekeeper 1x Dryad Arbor	Noncreature Spells (23) 4x Green Sun's Zenith 4x Swords to Plowshares 4x Thoughtseize 3x Hymn to Tourach 4x False Cure 4x Invigorate
Lands (19) 4x Verdant Catacombs 4x Windswept Heath 1x Marsh Flats 4x Bayou 1x Savannah 1x Scrubland 2x Swamp 1x Forest 1x Karakas	SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Rest in Peace SB: 2x Ethersworn Canonist SB: 2x Abrupt Decay SB: 2x Duress SB: 1x Reverent Silence SB: 1x Nature's Claim SB: 1x Null Rod SB: 1x Winter Orb SB: 1x Marsh Casualties

The maindeck looks nice and streamlined but the sideboard needs work. Part of the problem with building the SB is that I have no idea what the good and bad matchups are for this deck. The most important thing right now is to get in games to see what works and what doesn't. 

Here is how my friend's rounds with the deck went:

Round 1: Esper Stoneblade (2-1)

I've played against False Cure once with Deathblade, and must say the matchup felt very lopsided in The Cure's favor. True-Name Nemesis and Batterskull are ineffective before the might of Kavu Predator.

Round 2: BR Griselbrand Reanimator (2-1)

It turns out False Cure is very powerful against Griselbrand. 

Round 3: Esper Deathblade (1-2)

My friend lost out in close games. He said he could have won this match but made a pretty bad misplay, which I believe.

Round 4: Team America (0-2)
He said this seemed like a bad matchup.

Final Record: 2-2
Its worth noting that no quick combo kills were achieved all night-right now we think this is improbable without several copies of Reverent Silence in the 75.

The manabase was reported to be problematic, and the SB will probably change as there are many other options we would like to test. Overall, we're eager to keep working on the deck.

Local Legacy: 8/9

I played Esper Deathblade at one of my weeklies yesterday. There was a good turnout of ~30 players so it was a 5-round event.

The meta was wonderfully diverse and included:

2 A.N.T.
1 Aggro Loam
1 Aluren
1 BR Griselbrand
1 Bant Deathblade
1 Burn
1 Death & Taxes
2 Eldrazi Stompy
1 Enlightened Tutor Miracles
1 Esper Deathblade
1 Grixis Delver
1 Legend Miracles
1 Loam Pox
1 Mentor Miracles
1 Miracles
2 Moggcatcher Stompy
1 Mono-Green Cloudpost
1 Mono-White Stax
1 RG Lands
2 Shardless BUG
1 UB Reanimator
1 UG Infect
1 UR Delver


Here is my generic, somewhat "retro" list:

ESPER  DEATHBLADE, 8/9/16
Creature Spells (14) 4x Deathrite Shaman 4x Stoneforge Mystic 2x Snapcaster Mage 3x True-Name Nemesis 1x Vendilion Clique	Noncreature Spells (24) 4x Brainstorm 2x Ponder 4x Swords to Plowshares 3x Thoughtseize 1x Inquisition of Kozilek 1x Mana Leak 1x Vindicate 4x Force of Will 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1x Umezawa's Jitte 1x Batterskull
Lands (22) 4x Polluted Delta 4x Flooded Strand 2x Marsh Flats 3x Underground Sea 2x Tundra 1x Scrubland 1x Tropical Island 1x Island 1x Swamp 1x Plains 2x Wasteland	SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Disfigure SB: 2x Meddling Mage SB: 2x Zealous Persecution SB: 1x Invasive Surgery SB: 1x Engineered Explosives SB: 1x Disenchant SB: 1x Pithing Needle SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice SB: 1x Rest in Peace SB: 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

My rounds went as follows:

Round 1: Shardless BUG (2-0)

Round 2: UG Infect (2-0)

Round 3: Burn (2-0)

Round 4: Mentor Miracles (1-1)

Round 5: Aggro Loam (2-0)

Final Record: 4-0-1, putting me in 1st place for a nice chunk of store credit.


There must be something good going on with the list for me to come out on top in 3 unfavorable matchups (Shardless, Burn, Aggro Loam), but I think I also had better luck than my opponents.
My round against Miracles, another unfavorable matchup, was very close. I won the 1st game and was in a good position to win the 2nd, but lost it due to misplaying a Deathrite Shaman activation. We didn't have enough time left to finish the 3rd game.

I've been playing something pretty similar at weeklies over the last few months, and while I don't always do great with it I never do terribly. The only change I might make moving forward is cutting the Mana Leak, which I'm trying out but has been unimpressive. There are a few cards that could replace it, including Counterspell, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, or Vendilion Clique. Another possibility is replacing the 2nd Zealous Persecution in the sideboard with a Toxic Deluge.

Local Legacy: 3/18

I've been playing Bant at my locals for the last few weeks. Its a really sweet deck and I just can't put it down. While it doesn't have many stellar matchups, most feel winnable if you play tightly. Unfortunately, I don't always play tightly...

Meta Breakdown:
1 A.N.T.
1 Bant Blade
1 Bant Lands
1 Burning Reanimator
1 Deadguy Ale
1 Esper Delver
1 The Gate
2 Grixis Delver
1 GWb Maverick
1 Mentor/Legend Miracles
2 Moggcatcher Stompy
1 Shardless BUG
1 T.E.S.
1 ??

Here is the list I played:

BANT BLADE, 3/18/16
Creature Spells (14) 4x Noble Hierarch 3x Stoneforge Mystic 1x Scavenging Ooze 1x Qasali Pridemage 3x True-Name Nemesis 2x Knight of the Reliquary	Noncreature Spells (24) 4x Green Sun's Zenith 4x Brainstorm 4x Swords to Plowshares 1x Ponder 1x Spell Pierce 3x Daze 3x Force of Will 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1x Umezawa's Jitte 1x Batterskull
Lands (22) 4x Misty Rainforest 4x Windswept Heath 1x Flooded Strand 3x Tropical Island 2x Tundra 1x Savannah 1x Forest 1x Island 1x Dryad Arbor 1x Karakas 3x Wasteland	SB: 2x Tormod's Crypt SB: 1x Detention Sphere SB: 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant SB: 1x Enlightened Tutor SB: 1x Ethersworn Canonist SB: 1x Force of Will SB: 1x Flusterstorm SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg SB: 1x Path to Exile SB: 1x Pithing Needle SB: 1x Qasali Pridemage SB: 1x Rest in Peace SB: 1x Tsabo's Web SB: 1x Vendilion Clique

Most recently I've been going a bit old-school with Forces in the side and more Green creatures main. This time I went with a very "stock" Force of Will maindeck, 3 True-Name/2 Knight split and a Ponder instead of the 23rd land.

I tried to be a bit creative with the sideboard by incorporating an Enlightened Tutor package. Lands is common at this store and is a matchup I've struggled with, so I decided to go deep with Tsabo's Web (unfortunately, fewer Lands players showed up than usual). I also played a Detention Sphere in the slot I typically play Engineered Explosives.

Round 1: Shardless BUG (2-1)
G1. I managed to stabilize the board with a Jace and countered Ancestral Vision to secure my victory.
G2. Turn 2 Liliana was backbreaking. I made a poor play involving Stoneforge Mystic/Jitte/Dryad Arbor, missing an opportunity to get 2 Jitte counters.
G3. I had a strong draw and overwhelmed my opponent with threats.

Round 2: T.E.S. (2-1)
G1. Very close considering how light on interaction I was, coming down to Batterskull racing Goblins. Burning Wish for Void Snare sealed the race in his favor.
G2. I got there on a potentially disastrous 6-card hand of one land (Karakas) + relevant U and G spells. He was slow out of the gates and I drew a timely fetchland to start casting counterspells and bears.
G3. He went off with Burning Wish for Ad Nauseam after trading with two counterspells but didn't draw into enough mana to finish going off, and was killed by my Noble Hierarch at 1 life.

Round 3: Grixis Delver (2-0)
G1. He had an anemic draw of triple Deathrite Shaman, and Stoneforge Mystic was able to cheat in Batterskull unopposed.
G2. He was pulling ahead with Young Pyromancer, but I got True-Name + Equipment on-line thanks to a timely Brainstorm and rode it to victory.

Round 4: Burning Reanimator (ID)

Overall Record: 3-0-1, tied for 2nd
Very satisfied with the result, not only due to prizing, but due to the fact that I triumphed against 3 different decks that have given me a hard time in the past playing Bant.

Local Legacy: 4/6

Only 2 weeks left until the IQ. At this point in my playing the only big matchups that feel extremely unfavorable are Team America and Elves. Today I played the same list as last week. We had 12 people show up tonight so it was 4 rounds again!

The Meta was:
2x Miracles
1x 4C Loam
1x Junkblade
1x Death & Taxes
1x Goblins
1x Merfolk
1x Burn
1x Team America
1x RUG Delver
1x Reanimator
1x MUD

Round 1: Reanimator (2-1)
I know this player is usually on Reanimator. I made a kinda sketchy keep Game 1 of T1 Zenith->Arbor T2 Knight in a hope to get there with Karakas somehow, but I knew my chances of winning weren't great anyway. Didn't get there.

-1 G. Teeg, -2 Loam, -3 Punishing Fire
+4 Leyline, +2 Canonist, +1 Revoker

Games 2 and 3 I mulled to Leyline which got there. This player doesn't play Show & Tell and leans on Decay for permanent hate so Leyline is pretty good against him.

Round 2; Team America (1-2)
Don't really remember game 1 but I clearly was short on answers since he had 3 Tarmogoyfs when I died.

-1 Chalice, -1 G. Teeg
+1 Deluge, +1 Thrun

Game 2 I managed to trade 1-for-1 then landed a Deluge to wipe his board. We both went into topdeck mode and I drew out of it first with a Tarmogoyf he couldn't answer. Game 3 I kept a sketchy 6 with Chalice and Liliana. Didn't draw into enough removal to answer his stuff. Overall this is a pretty worrisome matchup from my side and one that is hard to fix. I asked one of the players there who is familiar with both decks about it, and the only additional suggestion he could make was maybe bring in some G-Charm. That seems ok against builds with Bob and I'll try it in future.

Round 3: Burn (1-2)
Ahh, the Nightmare Matchup. Every Legacy deck has it. For Miracles its 12-Post, for D&T its Elves. For 4C Loam it might be Burn. Its a similar matchup to Elves in that you need to cobble some kind of lock together while keeping their board clear/irrelevant, but is even harder to interact with. Chalice on 1 seems amazing against Burn until you realize they still have Rift Bolt, Price, Eidolon, Fireblast, and Vortex. You're kind of hedged against Price with Moxes, but on the other hand they are awful against Eidolon. Game 1 was over quick.

-3 Loam
+3 Canonist

You can't actually afford to take out Bob in this matchup since you need to draw a bunch of specific cards. Game 2 we were both on 5 cards. I lived the dream of answering his board then sticking Chalice on 1 and Teeg. That basically put him on Price, which I was insulated from, and Vortex. He got Vortex but I was able to kill him first. First game I've won against Burn with a Loam deck! Got wrecked again game 3 though. Its kind of sobering to have your $3,000 deck get trounced by a Burn deck. To add insult to injury, he was an inexperienced player on a WIP build with no fetches, no Blazes, and only 2 Goblin Guides. Every deck I play in Legacy loses to Burn, so I'm pretty used to this by now and was a good sport since he was a cool guy. I know this kind of thing drives some Legacy players up the wall but its just part of the format, and maybe one that contributes to its greatness.

Round 4: RUG Delver (2-1)
I saw this player was on RUG earlier and drew a God hand on the play with Chalice and removal.

-1 G. Teeg, -1 Loam, -1 Treetop Village
+1 Deluge, +1 Thrun, +1 G-Charm

Game 2 I kept a hand of P-Fire, Deluge, and lands. I decided to go for P-Fire on my second turn for his Delver but it got Dazed. I had to use the Deluge to kill his flipped Delver after he Forced my Library. He drew another Delver but I had Decay into Ooze. Ooze is a house in this match-up and I felt favored at a healthy 8 life and both of us low on cards. I knew he had a Bolt from his Delver flip so I planned on leaving up GG for the rest of the game to eat his 2 Delvers and basically kill him with a 2/2. He somewhat surprisingly went for Bolt on the Ooze. I figured he had Stifle or something but I went to eat a Delver anyway. In response, he cast Surgical targeting his Delver...welp, he got me. We both went into topdeck mode. I found a Bob which unfortunately took me to 2 hitting a Knight. He drew a Bolt to kill me! Game 3 I had a God hand again with Thrun action to back up my Chalice. Thrun is a good man.

Final Record: 2-2

I already had 2 losses but he was live for prizes still so I conceded at the conclusion of the last match. Good night and good games overall even if I didn't perform the best.

Local Legacy: 3/30

Unfortunately there was no Legacy last Monday due to the store being wiped out from Prerelease weekend (curse you, Standard players!). I was able to get some games of Legacy in during the week with friends but was definitely craving more when I showed up tonight. I played the same 4C Loam list from when I last played with the minor change of -1 Stirring Wildwood +1 Treetop Village. I've felt for a while now that the marginal benefits of White mana production and the extra point of toughness don't justify the Wildwood in Legacy (being out of Bolt range is fantastic in Modern though). Part of the reason I clung to it so long is that I have a $wag artist-signed Japanese copy, but I think my ego will survive it. I also changed the basic Forest in the deck from this impossible to fetch Masques foil to a more ergonomic white-bordered one.

Turnout was more than usual with a whopping 10 players, so we had 4 rounds. The meta was:
1x Casual Mono-Red: a kid showed up with this deck, happens from time to time.
1x 4C Loam
1x Miracles
1x Punishing Jund
1x BUG Delver
1x T.E.S.
1x Goblins
1x Sneak & Show
1x Reanimator
1x MUD

Round 1: T.E.S (0-2)
Didn't know this player so kept a "lands and spells" type hand in the dark. By his second turn he was clearly on Storm. I happened to have G. Teeg in my opener but he had double Therapy to bin it. He made a bunch of Goblins shortly thereafter and I was ded.

At this point, alarms should have been going off in my head at maindeck Empty and to a lesser degree fetching nonbasics in the face of Wastelands he knew about, but seeing Bayou made me decide he was on A.N.T. for some reason.
-3 P-Fire, -3 Decay, -3 Loam, +4 Leyline, +3 Canonist, +2 G-Charm, +1 G. Teeg

Game 2 I decided to keep a hand with Leyline, Wasteland, and Liliana, still laboring under the delusion that he was on A.N.T.. He Duressed my Liliana and quickly Emptied out some Goblins again. I had a few turns to draw G-Charm, but didn't. Lesson learned.

Round 2: MUD (1-2)
Game 1 on the play I had Wasteland, removal for Metalworker, and dudes.

-4 Chalice, +1 Revoker, +1 K-Grip, +1 Rec. Sage, +1 Deluge

Game 2 I kept 7 with good spells but only 1 land and 1 Mox. He played a Lightning Greaves which I elected to ignore, and on his second turn played Lodestone Golem and started beating me. I didn't draw much mana and Lodestone managed to lock me out of casting relevant spells and killed me.
Game 3 I seemed favored but let him untap with Metalworker while sandbagging a Revoker for his Ratchet Bomb instead. My reasoning was that I had a Library in play and the Bomb would have killed the Revoker on Metalworker when popped on 2, and he had only 1 or 2 cards in hand. At any rate, he untapped and slammed Platinum Emperion. I happened to draw Deluge and cast it but had no answer to his Forgemaster the next turn. He was able to untap with Forgemaster and activate it to get a Wurmcoil. That card is the scariest card in his deck for me. I had Bob and Library so I had sweet card selection and started cobbling together a plan playing big Knights to trade, but he drew a second Wurmcoil. At that point I was just trying to force a draw by chump blocking his army in turns, but he drew a Lodestone Golem which threw a wrench in my now Bob, Library, and Loam shenanigans. I forgot about the tax on turn 4 and did something wrong that couldn't make enough chump blockers to live.

Round 3: Bye
Booooo!

Round 4: Miracles (1-1)
I had a fine hand but never hit BB for Liliana and he removed my other threats with Plow/Terminus. A fast Entreat closed things for him.

-1 P-Fire, -1 Decay, -1 Ooze, -1 Mox, -2 Loam
+1 K-Grip, +1 Rec. Sage, +1 Thrun, +1 Canonist, +1 Revoker, +1 G. Teeg

Game 2 I had the unique turn 1 Liliana off 2 Moxes. That put a lot of pressure on him and I drew further gas. We were the last people there and were tired, so we decided to call it quits for the night after.

Final Record: 1-2-1 I guess. A bit of a disappointing night overall, but had some good games. With the SCG 5K IQ less than 3 weeks out, I just want to get in as many games with the deck as possible.

Local Legacy: 3/16

Unfortunately I was unable to attend my local Legacy last week. I have decided to lock in 4C Loam for an SCG 5K IQ that is now just over a month away. With that in mind, I decided to play something different this week for the last time before the IQ: Jund.

Here is my "I Can't Believe Its Not Jund" Jund special:

4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tarmogoyf
1x Scavenging Ooze
3x Bloodbraid Elf

4x Thoughtseize
2x Lightning Bolt
4x Abrupt Decay
3x Punishing Fire
3x Hymn to Tourach
1x Sylvan Library
4x Liliana of the Veil

4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
1x Wooded Foothills
3x Badlands
2x Bayou
1x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Grove of the Burnwillows
3x Wasteland

SB 1x Scrubland
SB 2x Ethersworn Canonist
SB 2x Gaddock Teeg
SB 4x Leyline of the Void
SB 2x Red Elemental Blast
SB 1x Krosan Grip
SB 1x Duress
SB 1x Golgari Charm
SB 1x Toxic Deluge

Yes, I have a bit of a problem. Getting away from White all together is nearly impossible for me. While I love Punishing Jund, I'm discouraged from playing it much because, well, the sideboard cards aren't great. Perhaps I should to make a greater effort to get away from my Gaddock Teegs, but it wasn't to be tonight. White cards or not, I gravitate towards playing a bunch of relatively narrow but high impact anti-combo cards in the board for Jund. Jund's fair matchups are good enough that there's no point trying to improve them much.

There were 8 of us so it was a 3-rounder:

Round 1: Goblins (0-2)
Game 1 I was surprised to find myself staring down a T1 Gobin Lackey on the draw. I fortunately had a Deathrite for blocksies, but he removed it and chained Matron into Ringleader into a swarm of little green men.

-1 Liliana, -1 Hymn, +1 Golgari Charm, +1 Toxic Deluge

I punted Game 2. I had a good mix of spells but a combination of weird attacks with Deathrites instead of activating them and jamming a Liliana and going up while I had removal in hand put me in an awkward place. I was a bit light on lands and he cast Goblin Settler targeting one of my Black sources. I used the floating mana to activate Deathrite Shaman instead of cashing in an Abrupt Decay on one of his men. I couldn't cast it for the rest of the game and lost with him at 2 and no spells in either graveyard.

Round 2: MUD (2-0)
Game 1 I had double Thoughtseize for his stuff and men + Liliana cleaned up the leftovers.

+1 Krosan Grip, +1 Toxic Deluge

Game 2 he was on a double mulligan of double Metalworker, Ensnaring Bridge, and lands. I had double Thoughtseize again and elected to take both Metalworkers even though I had a Liliana to answer one of them. He stuck Bridge and I began to amass a small army while having no way to remove it. I was able to keep him from doing stuff (timely Bloodbraid cascading into Hymn) until Liliana went ultimate, but I made bad piles and allowed him to keep Bridge and 2 Ancient Tombs when I could have put Bridge in a pile alone and forced him to take it since he was facing lethal from my 7/8 Tarmgoyfs. I managed to draw a Deathrite Shaman and kill him that way over a few turns instead.

Round 3: Miracles (2-0)
Game 1 he had Countertop but I had a Bob and Ooze in under it. I went for Bloodbraid and he countered both spells, which put creatures in my yard to give me a reasonable clock. Between not drawing many lands and fetching a basic Island to play around Wasteland he was off White mana while I beat him down. He found White and Terminus at 2 life. I had a leftover Liliana which managed to sneak past Countertop and got to ultimate. I went with the old "Lands VS Stuff" piles. He kept lands and I ended him with the Punishing Fire I drew that turn.

-1 Grove, -2 Bolt, -1 Decay, -1 P-Fire, -1 Ooze, -1 Hymn
+1 Scrubland, +2 G. Teeg, +2 REB, +1 Krosan Grip, +1 Duress

Game 2 he had his Top and I saw Clique, Brainstorm, double Terminus, and lands with my T1 Thoughtseize. I took Brainstorm and followed up with another Thoughtseize for one Terminus. I drew Duress next turn and cast it. He cast Brainstorm but I REB'd it, and my Duress snagged his last Terminus. Clique gave me some trouble but I was amassing a board unopposed. He found RIP which shut off my Tarmogoyf and reduced my Shamans to Squires with Pithing Needle to add insult to injury. I had two Deathrites and two Bobs clocking him while he blocked and bounced Clique repeatedly looking for an out. He found Explosives and decided to blow it on 2 to kill my Bobs and Goyf but unlocked my Shamans from RIP, which coupled with a timely Decay on Pithing Needle got there.

Final Record: 2-1. I made some sloppy plays due to my inexperience with the deck but all in all had a good time. I'll find time to play Jund more in the future after the IQ.

Local Legacy: 3/2

Tonight I went back to my normal 4C Loam build:

4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
2x Bayou
2x Scrubland
2x Taiga
1x Savannah
1x Forest
1x Dryad Arbor
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Karakas
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Barren Moor
2x Tranquil Thicket
4x Wasteland

4x Mox Diamond
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Life from the Loam
1x Sylvan Library
2x Green Sun's Zenith
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Punishing Fire
3x Liliana of the Veil

4x Dark Confidant
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Tarmogoyf
4x Knight of the Reliquary

SB 4x Leyline of the Void
SB 2x Golgari Charm
SB 1x Toxic Deluge
SB 3x Ethersworn Canonist
SB 1x Gaddock Teeg
SB 1x Reclamation Sage
SB 1x Thrun, the Last Troll
SB 1x Phyrexian Revoker
SB 1x Krosan Grip

There were 8 of us, so it was a 3-round tournament:

Round 1: Reanimator (2-1)
Game 1 I had Chalice on 1 but he had a Hapless Researcher under it and eventually pitched and Exhumed Elesh Norn. Hapless Researcher: good Magic card.

-3 Punishing Fire, -1 Loam, -1 G. Teeg, -1 Liliana, -1 Abrupt Decay
+4 Leyline, +2 Canonist, +1 Deluge

Kept Decays around in case Pithing Needle showed up. Brought in Canonist for Tidespout Tyrant and Deluge as a random panic button. I stole games 2 and 3 on double mulligans to Leyline. He had Echoing Truth in his deck so it wasn't a hard lock, but I got there.

Round 2: RUG Lands (2-1)
Game 1 I got killed by a fast Marit Lage. I saw Trop, Tar-Pit, Exploration, and Tolaria West. For some reason I decided he was on a BUG Depths brew that probably had cantrips and Force even though it would have been simpler to just put him on RUG Lands (which frequently plays Tar Pit). Based on this erroneous assumption, I brought in 2 Canonists, which did nothing. Game 2 was a grind-fest and I eventually prevailed with unkillable Knights. It was satisfying to see Tabernacle be ineffective compared to when I'm facing it with Maverick.

-3 Punishing Fire, -1 Liliana, -1 G. Teeg,
+4 Leyline, +1 Rec. Sage

When Game 3 started I realized I should have boarded out Chalice but forgot to. I probably should have also taken out a 2nd Liliana for Krosan Grip. Game 3 was another grindfest, got there in extra turns with giant Knights again. I think I misplayed game 3. There were some weird turns where he had Punishing Grove and Academy/Explosives and I was trying to jam Ooze or Leyline to break it up while constrained on mana. Later he had Loam, Manabond, and double Maze for my 2 Knights, but I managed to find a probably sub-optimal line through it.

Round 3: Death & Taxes (2-1)
Game 1 he had a great start on the play and I fell victim to typical D&T shenanigans. I followed the advice of some posts on The Source for this matchup, cutting Chalices and Mox Diamond for the post board games.

-4 Chalice, -2 Mox Diamond, -1 G. Teeg,
+2 Golgari Charm, +1 Toxic Deluge, +1 Krosan Grip, +1 Rec. Sage, +1 Phyrexian Revoker, +1 Thrun

I inadvertently brought in Thrun even though he's poor in this matchup. In future I think I'd rather have a singleton Chalice. Game 2 he was light on action and I got to Punishing Fire lock + Loam lock. Game 3 he conceded to a 3-for-1 from Golgari Charm while on 1 land. After my bad beats against DnT last time with the Burning Wish version, I solicited some matchup advice from the friendly folks in the Aggro Loam thread on The Source which was quite helpful-I didn't realize how bad Chalice and Moxes are against DnT.

Final Record: 3-0. There was another 3-0 player and I ended in 2nd on breakers. All in all deck felt good as usual, though I still have plenty of room to improve with it.

Local Legacy: 2/23

I am fortunate enough to have a convenient outlet to play Legacy, my favorite format, every week on Monday nights. Unfortunately, we have been besieged by snowstorms for the last few weeks that always seem to happen on Mondays. As a result, I haven't gotten my weekly Legacy fix for about a month now (during this period I was able to play at my University's Magic club or bully my roommates into playing with me instead). Today the stars aligned and I finally got to play sanctioned Legacy again!

I plan on starting to chronicle the results of my weeklies in this medium so I might have a chance to look back at the results and learn from them rather than just scribbling notes in my notebook that I never actually look at again. My LGS has a small but devoted following of experienced Legacy players who have several different decks which creates a high quality testing environment.

Anyway, to celebrate my "return" to sanctioned Legacy I decided to mix things up a little and play a variation of my current go-to deck, 4C Loam. I just started playing the Loam archetype last December and have been enjoying it a lot :

2x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
2x Taiga
1x Savannah
1x Bayou
1x Plateau
1x Badlands
1x Forest
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Karakas
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Maze of Ith
2x Forgotten Cave
2x Tranquil Thicket
4x Wasteland

4x Mox Diamond
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Life from the Loam
2x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Burning Wish
1x Sylvan Library
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Punishing Fire
2x Devastating Dreams

2x Dark Confidant
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Tarmogoyf
4x Knight of the Reliquary

SB 4x Leyline of the Void
SB 2x Ethersworn Canonist
SB 1x Gaddock Teeg
SB 1x Life from the Loam
SB 1x Devastating Dreams
SB 1x Maelstrom Pulse
SB 1x Toxic Deluge
SB 1x Reverent Silence
SB 1x Shattering Spree
SB 1x Slaughter Games
SB 1x Uh-oh

As I am typing this and counting I have discovered that in my haste to put this together before the event I had a 14 card sideboard and a 61 card maindeck. Whoops. Anyway, the version I usually play splashes Red instead of Black and basically has Liliana instead of Burning Wish/Devastating Dreams. Having played the Burning Wish version before I have basically concluded the Liliana version is better. Tonight reaffirmed this conclusion, and I will vow (for the 2nd time) to never be tempted to play Burning Wish again.

There were only six of us so it was a 3-round tournament:

Round 1: Death & Taxes (0-2)
This was pretty miserable. Game 1 on the play he had Aether Vial into double Aether Vial. I stared at the Chalice in my hand in resignation, and decided to spend my second turn casting it anyway to turn off Plows. I realized a turn later that this shut off the line of Burning Wish ---> Shattering Spree. I cast a Bob an untapped with it, but by this point he had a small army and was Porting me every turn. I was forced to try and Abrupt Decay his Flickerwisp but he Vialed in a Flickerwisp in response. I died soon after. I might have messed up my sequencing somewhere and could have gotten rid of the Vials, but not before he got value out of them.

-1 G. Teeg, +1 Maelstrom Pulse

Game 2 I had turn 1 Chalice on the play and an Abrupt Decay for his Stoneforge. I felt pretty good but he went on some weird LD plan, wasting my only Green land, Stone Raining my Mox Diamond with Council's Judgment, and Mangara-ing another one of my lands. He was attacking me this whole time and I just died with Green spells in hand. Turn 1 Chalice on the play doesn't always get them folks. I think I definitely played poorly and misunderstood the matchup here.

Round 2: Esper Deathblade (2-0)
Not much to say here. Both games a combination of removal on his relevant stuff and Chalice to shut off Plows got there.

-1. G. Teeg, +1 Maelstrom Pulse

He has Jace, Dig, and Force, but I decided I would rather blow up something random than try and fight over that stuff with G. Teeg.

Round 3: Big Rakdos (2-0)
This homebrew deck is played by an older player who just got back into the game after a ~12 year hiatus. Its basically a Mono-Red Sneak Attack deck splashing Black for a Reanimation package, discard, and some Rits. Game 1 he had some early discard but I stuck a Bob, drew action, and Wasted him into oblivion with Knight as he stumbled on lands.

-3 Punishing Fire, -2 Devastating Dreams, +4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Gaddock Teeg

I opened on double Leyline and Chalice game 2. However, he had some fast mana and ran out a naked Sneak Attack. In the only awesome Burning Wish action of the night, I Wished for Reverent Silence and blew it up along with my Leylines. He didn't have much action after that, and Knight wasting all his colored mana sealed the deal. He showed me a hand full of Emrakuls afterwards. Thanks, Burning Wish!

Final Record: 2-1


Three of us had 2-1 records but I ended up in 2nd place on breakers, so yay store credit. While obviously a small sample, the parts of the deck that functioned best were the parts that weren't Burning Wish/Devastating Dreams. I believe I drew DD twice, once I couldn't cast it and the other time I had better things to do. I will definitely be slinging Women of the Night again for the foreseeable future.