Wait, I thought you meant that Mass would die without letting Goyf turn into a 1/3. I don't care if the Mass dies as long as the Goyf turns into a 1/3 afterwards, at least that's how I read the card. When I read your response I thought you meant that the transformation trigger would fizzle in the event that the mass wasn't in the battlefield by the time it resolves which left me confused as I know that's not how it should work.
I attack with Mass, opponent blocks w/ Goyf. Mass dies by taking 4 which I expected it to, but Goyf then turns into a 1/3 as the trigger resolves after combat damage resolves. That's fine, and that's what I meant at the beginning. It's not that big of a deal if your mass dies as long as the blocker gets neutered. You guys must have misunderstood me, I always knew the mass would die, but it's a damn CMC1 creature, it would've been OP if it had first strike. As it is right now it's fine, and I'm very interested in testing it.
I think the problem is now the Goyf has the Mass' ability. Even though it turns the Goyf from big/bigger to 1/3 it is still clogging up the board and putting your ground game, with the exception of Mirran Crusader, at risk of turning into 1/3s themselves.
Once it becomes a 1/3 it stops becoming a beater and starts becoming a wall that trades favorably with most of our ground pounders the same as a goyf. Thalia, Revoker, SotL, SFM can't attack through it and it will turn a Brimaz in to a 1/3. The ways we can get through the 1/3 with that ability are equipment on a first striker, pro green from mom, through the air, batterskull, Swords to Plowshares and flyers. Maybe I'm missing something, but those are basically the same way we handle a goyf already.
Yeah but even if we flash this in via vial to surprise block a goyf and make it a 1/3 that is better post sweeper than any other creature to "answer" a goyf until we find an actual threat. It seems perfectly reasonable to me, obviously frenadol likes the idea as well. It also means we can swing through with crusader rather than having to sit him back on defense.
What do you cut to fit it in? Is it really a card you want main deck just to answer goyf? It's no good against combo or delver. If you put it in the board, aren't you just better off with RIP? I still don't see it as being that effective in the deck even if you and frenadol like the idea. Time will tell I guess.
Frenadol would likely have to elaborate on that since that user has far more experience with gw than myself. Never picked it up honestly. I definitely don't undervalue an answer to goyf though. Aside from crusader we really don't have a creature that deals with it and there are times when goyf acts as the abyss to us. This creature is another "out" that isn't a spell which can be relevant.
Can double both as help against burn and as an answer to dark depths/goyfs/griselbrand. Maybe also as a got'em combat trick, but I don't like got'em combat tricks. The only combat trick I need is a vialed in flickerwisp
Seems pretty amazing actually. Kills goyf / gurmag / smasher / griselbrand. On top of the creature kill, you can remove Counter Balance / Sylvan Library / Eidolon of the Great Revel / Animate Dead. Boosts creatures out of Dread/Gcharm range. All at the cost of 3 mana and creatures tapped. I Think this card is real, if not strong enough for legacy DnT then definitely modern DnT.
I'm on the fence about this one. We obviously love flying, especially when it trades with delver and doesnt die to -1 effects (cough cough I'm looking at you guys Flickerwisp/Vryn Wingmare), but is 3 mana for a 2/3 to expensive for not enough answer? At best it is a sideboard card, but I don't think there is room for him in the board right now.
My favorite card of the set. I hope this card is good enough to see play, having recursion on a stick seems strong, and I've noticed I lose a lot of games to an early abrupt decay on my jitte. Being able to get jitte back later in the game when the goyfs get bigger and the hands get smaller would be pretty good I think.
Probably the best chance of being maindeck playable. Thalia has the potential to be grossly good. Although she seems very lacking on the draw. It does seem t1 mom t2 thalia t3 big thalia will put away most any opponent who isn't trying to win via creature combat though. I'm excited for this one.
Honestly I like sigarda's aid. Being able to auto equip a batterskull to a crusader or flash in and equip jitte just seems like a huge blowout. I'll be testing for sure
My personal card list of potentially interesting cards for the deck (Thalia 2.0 is already a lock in at least as a 1-of):
- Collective Effort. It being a Sorcery severely hampers its usability in Legacy, as the best ability it has is the +1/+1 counters on everything. Being able to get rid of Eldrazi might still be good enough to be playable, but I'm not sure about taking down Council's Judgment for this card. Maybe as a one of instead of the second Fiend Hunter to begin with.
- Thalia's Lancers. Way too expensive at 3WW, but the ability to get a Jitte is pretty attractive. Finds either piece of the Mangara combo, if you want to go extra durdle. Otherwise Captain Sisay is vastly superior.
- Identity Thief. Not as good as Sakashima's Student, although it is more flexible once it comes onto play. Can sinergyze very well depending on the build.
- Wharf Infiltrator. I really like this card, although DRS is a big issue. Once it's able to connect it becomes pure gas though.
Yeah I'm not sure what would be cut for her, but I can see her working well against BUG decks since she survives -1/-1 effects and is abrupt decay proof, but is she any better than our current answers to those decks like Wilt-leaf Liege or Gideon? I'd like to say she'd be good against burn and grixis delver because of the lifelink and beating delver in combat, but that 3 toughness just glares at me. Maybe I can't just give up on her because of the dies to lightning bolt argument.
Folks, the bar for a card taking the place of another card in this deck is pretty high. Think about the cards that are not universally accepted. Gisela, Thalia's Lancers, Permeating Mass, etc. These are cards with no obvious role in the deck, to say nothing of their reduced power level. I feel pretty certain there is no need to give them serious consideration.
Thalia looks like the one obvious inclusion. Most lists have a few flex slots among the 3-drops, she can easily blow Mangara of Corondor or the 2nd Mirran Crusader according to what metagame we face, or even finds her place amongst them.
Gisela is good VS Sultai decks and Eldrazi, she acts like a pseudo-Batterskull that can race through Baleful Strix and grounders like Tarmogoyf and Reality Smasher. She's less expensive than Batterskull and Baneslayer Angel, and provides a real clock where Gideon's tokens get chumped all day. She still does her job againt D&T hate (the -1/-1 effects for example).
Many lists run 2 cards like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, so one can probably be cut, according to the meta once again. She can be brought in against Miracles and played via Aether Vial to dodge counterspells. Not as good as the 2nd Gideon when he hits though.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
I played in the Nerd Rage Gaming Legacy Trials today (link). The event was sold out with 97 people in attendance. I had a pretty spectacular run and then smashed into a pretty spectacular wall. Read on to hear my tragedies...
First up I decided to try giving the no tutor-board plan a try. I am converted. I feel like the Enlightened Tutor and friends were great training wheels as I got more familiar with the format and the deck. Now I'm converted and don't think I'll go back. I feel good about this!
Round 1: Miracles
- Notes: I could tell early on this player was new to the deck/format. Later after the game he confirmed it was his first tournament with Miracles.
- Highlights: Game 3 I'm beating down with a decent board. I cast a 'probe' Vial. He triggers Counterbalance and blind reveals a Terminus. He becomes very excited. I elect to play no more spells pass the turn and he can't reach for the Terminus fast enough. I proceed to Port him off his only white source. Dejectedly he realizes that finding the Terminus is only half the battle! Felt good. We almost went to time but finished with a minute or two left on the clock.
- MVP: Port
- Game Record: 2-1
- Match Record: 1-0
Round 2: Miracles
- Notes: Gonna be one of those play-Miracles-all-day days isn't it? A combination of failing to draw many lands and the usual D&T things let me beat him in about 10 minutes. I had enough time to re-sleeve my deck before the next round.
- Highlights: I Mangara'd his top in response to a fetch. His frown almost touched the floor. We hung out for a bit and talked afterwards. After I re-sleeved we both started packing things up together. I put my play-mat away in my backpack under the table and I looked up at the table and my deck was gone!! I checked my bag but it wasn't in there. I very calmly asked my opponent the most ridiculous question I think I've ever asked in competitive Magic: "Did you put my deck in your backpack?" He opened his backpack and checked. Yup... He did. Cool.
- MVP: Thalia
- Game Record: 2-0
- Match Record: 2-0
Round 3: Maverick
- Notes: Stoneforge mirrors are pretty insane. Things got really confusing with all of our Moms, Revokers and Equipment.
- Highlights: He totally blew me out with a Zealous Persecution, we both had a great laugh about how good of a play it was. I can't remember much about these games beyond that, It was a blurry grind the whole time. Unfortunately we stalled out in G3 and went to time. Unintentional draw.
- MVP: Revoker on Jitte.
- Game Record: 1-1-1
- Match Record: 2-0-1
Round 4: Shardless
- Notes: I always enjoy these games.
- Highlights: Swords on his DRS the second it hit the table. Double Rest in Peace feels great. So does having the Council's Judgement for his Dread of Night.
- MVP: Rest in Peace
- Game Record: 2-1
- Match Record: 3-0-1
Round 5: Lands
- Notes: The boogeyman. I did not go into this match feeling good about it. In my playtesting I basically always lose.
- Highlights: Game 1 I got Marit Laged. Games 2 and 3 I just went wide and kept him off Tabernacle. I top decked a RiP at the perfect moment and nabbed two Life from the Loam and a Punishing Fire.
- MVP: Rest in Peace
- Game Record: 2-1
- Match Record: 4-0-1
Round 6: Sneak & Show
- Notes: I've played this player before. Last time he was on Miracles, so when he opened with Tarn, Island, Ponder I assumed he was still on Miracles.
- Highlights: Game 1, somehow I manage to Revoke his [card]Sneak Attack[card] before he activates it. I attack with miserly Revoker and Mom beats until he dies. Game 2 was quite hairy. I had a mantra going in my head: "You are not the beatdown. You are the control. Slow. Slow. Slow". I had an early vial and a bunch of two drop dudes. I opted to vial in twin Serra Avengers because Stoneforge was just too slow. I had a Karakas in play. I attack with two Avengers and he Sneaks in a Griselbrand. I bounce it with Karakas. He's low on life so he doesn't pay any. That takes him down to 7. I tank on my hand for a long time. There are a lot of cards I can play. I have a vial on 3 and a Wisp in my hand but something about that Grislebrand was fishy... So I just play a second Karakas, sacrifice the tapped one, and pass. His soul is broken in half. He said I needed exactly that card to win, though I'm pretty sure my Wisp life insurance policy would have gotten me there. Still quite clutch.
- MVP: Karakas
- Game Record: 2-0
- Match Record: 5-0-1
Round 7: Belcher
- Notes: We all did the math scramble to see who could draw into Top 8. I was in 1st place with 16 points. Vincent and I drew into top 8.
- Highlights: Vincent ended up winning the whole thing. Glad I didn't have to play him here because he would have wrecked me!
- MVP: Math
- Game Record: 0-0-3
- Match Record: 5-0-2
Top 8 Round 1: Elves
Summary: Mortal enemy. We were the feature match and got streamed. I hope they put this game up in the archives because I want to re-watch it and note all my failures. I played so well all day, I didn't get too far ahead of myself, I took it slow. I feel like I just threw these games. Game 1 I kept him off balance long enough for a Crusader and Jitte to hit the board. Win! Awesome. I'm feeling like I totally stole this one and that I might have a shot of beating him. Games 2 and 3 were equally gross. I kept 'too fair' hands. Game 3 I opted to play a Revoker instead of a Canonist because I completely underestimate how explosive he can be. "There's no way he's going off next turn," I think. I name Deathrite Shaman even though he doesn't have one on the board and I would have really liked to name Heritage Druid but I don't know the deck at all so I don't know what any of the guys are called. I die out of nowhere the following turn with the Canonist a Cataclysm and a Plow in my hand. Sigh. So bad.
So. I cashed. I played tight. I played well. I had fun. I got 7th or 8th place in a 97 man tournament. But I still have this lingering feeling of 'not like this'. That said, the elves pilot was really good and totally deserved to win it. I know elves is a bad matchup for D&T and I haven't practiced it at all.
@Permanence nice job! Don't sweat losing to Elves too much. No matter what type of DnT you play, any advantage you give yourself in the Elves matchup is still only going to be incremental. Hell, I love Orzhov Pontiff in black-splash DnT, but the deck I'm playing is still DnT. I can't Daze/Force his Glimpse/Zenith/Natty O, nor can I recur removal a la Punishing Fire, nor can I Crop Rotation into Glacial Chasm, or just be extremely boring and cast Terminus. These are all decks that do better against Elves than DnT ever will, just by the mechanical framework of the deck. If you are an Aether Vial creature deck of any kind, Elves is likely a bad matchup. Just how it is.
That said, you should still practice against Elves, but you are mostly at the mercy of them just not having the nuts, and hopefully you get some disruption online. Definitely one of the matchups where you play the least amount of actual Magic, like against ANT, but even harder to contain even once you have hate online. I've made my peace with it; I have some Elves hate, but I'm no longer trying to make Elves an "even" match like it might have been when I was rocking 3 Gaddock Teeg in my 75. Best to make the ANT matchup better instead, because doing that will invariably bring mechanics that hate on more similar decks to ANT than you would get with similar decks to Elves (hint: there are none).
@Permanence nice job! Don't sweat losing to Elves too much. No matter what type of DnT you play, any advantage you give yourself in the Elves matchup is still only going to be incremental. Hell, I love Orzhov Pontiff in black-splash DnT, but the deck I'm playing is still DnT. I can't Daze/Force his Glimpse/Zenith/Natty O, nor can I recur removal a la Punishing Fire, nor can I Crop Rotation into Glacial Chasm, or just be extremely boring and cast Terminus. These are all decks that do better against Elves than DnT ever will, just by the mechanical framework of the deck. If you are an Aether Vial creature deck of any kind, Elves is likely a bad matchup. Just how it is.
That said, you should still practice against Elves, but you are mostly at the mercy of them just not having the nuts, and hopefully you get some disruption online. Definitely one of the matchups where you play the least amount of actual Magic, like against ANT, but even harder to contain even once you have hate online. I've made my peace with it; I have some Elves hate, but I'm no longer trying to make Elves an "even" match like it might have been when I was rocking 3 Gaddock Teeg in my 75. Best to make the ANT matchup better instead, because doing that will invariably bring mechanics that hate on more similar decks to ANT than you would get with similar decks to Elves (hint: there are none).
Thank you. I will practice against elves more. The player is local and my buddy knows him. I'm going to seek him out and ask him to to jam some games sometime. I could probably also benefit from proxying it up and learning how it works myself. HMMM. Now the wheels are turning.
Elves is gross, you have to do everything exactly right, and they have to stumble somewhere to have even a shot at winning.
Yeah. I got word that NRG is going to be posting the videos this week, so I'll be sure to link back once that's up. I was thinking about it more today and I'm pretty sure I did the exact opposite of what I was supposed to do. Doing nothing would have been better in at least one situation...
I stole a game 1 against Elves, once...It involved curving perfectly from StP, into Revoker slowing him from comboing early, getting a Jitte on Thalia, him going for a NO into Hoof since he couldn't combo off and me just surviving and going to 1. Then Jitte slowly mowed him down as I clogged up the board with Mom protection, at 1 life the whole time. I was then obliterated games 2 and 3, even with ideal draws with Ethersworn Cannonist and Revoker in them. Reclamation Sage out of the board is a beating, especially when they can bounce it. They can just grind us down without even having to combo off with the B/G lifedrain elf.
Long story short, to beat elves you need near perfect draws and they need slow ones to really have a shot.
Anywho, I am super excited for new Thalia! I think she's probably going to have a bigger impact in Modern D&T but will probably end up being a very commonly used card in the Legacy flex spot where you see stuff like Mirran Crusader, Brimaz, Spirit of the Labyrinth etc. I think I'm going to drop 2 in for Mirran Crusaders in the stock Medea Aggro list. It's almost as good of a beater and actually has a disruptive tax element as opposed to being just a beater like Crusader, can't see it not being used.
Thanks ya'll. I do feel a lot better now. BUT I STILL MUST PRACTICE ZE MATCHUP OVER AND OVER.
And yeah, I'm very stoked for new Thalia. I'm more excited for her applications in Modern, but the thought of T1 vial, T2/T3 Wasteland/Port into New Thalia (Heretic? Can we just call her Heretic?) is going to be awesome.
My plan for beating elves is to check the meta share of Chalice of the Void, realize it's very high, and then win my first 2 rounds (pretty much same gameplan as beating Belcher)
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Canadian East Coast grinder
I live for fair Magic.
My plan for beating elves is to check the meta share of Chalice of the Void, realize it's very high, and then win my first 2 rounds (pretty much same gameplan as beating Belcher)
Funny, but I think that's the right idea. Elves are at a low point now and not worth fretting over very much. It's not going to be a good matchup no matter what you do, but we should all be aware how to play the match. As Mad Mat said, we have zero margin for error here. I'm running high off two straight competitive REL wins on Elves. I should quit now.
Were any of you at SCG Worcestor? I got sick the night before, but tried to compete anyway. Won the first three matches despite that, but sloppy play and poor luck caught up to me, and I dropped soon after. Turns out it was pneumonia. Yay.
I was there. I actually heard from a couple people that Elves were out in decent numbers as was Death and Taxes and Mono Red Stompy decks. Really weird.
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I attack with Mass, opponent blocks w/ Goyf. Mass dies by taking 4 which I expected it to, but Goyf then turns into a 1/3 as the trigger resolves after combat damage resolves. That's fine, and that's what I meant at the beginning. It's not that big of a deal if your mass dies as long as the blocker gets neutered. You guys must have misunderstood me, I always knew the mass would die, but it's a damn CMC1 creature, it would've been OP if it had first strike. As it is right now it's fine, and I'm very interested in testing it.
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_rnpSDViYXG.png
Can double both as help against burn and as an answer to dark depths/goyfs/griselbrand. Maybe also as a got'em combat trick, but I don't like got'em combat tricks. The only combat trick I need is a vialed in flickerwisp
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_1Y69nwRuOo.png
Seems pretty amazing actually. Kills goyf / gurmag / smasher / griselbrand. On top of the creature kill, you can remove Counter Balance / Sylvan Library / Eidolon of the Great Revel / Animate Dead. Boosts creatures out of Dread/Gcharm range. All at the cost of 3 mana and creatures tapped. I Think this card is real, if not strong enough for legacy DnT then definitely modern DnT.
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_e2MCB9iDdR.png
I'm on the fence about this one. We obviously love flying, especially when it trades with delver and doesnt die to -1 effects (cough cough I'm looking at you guys Flickerwisp/Vryn Wingmare), but is 3 mana for a 2/3 to expensive for not enough answer? At best it is a sideboard card, but I don't think there is room for him in the board right now.
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_uPJT6kgjzO.png
My favorite card of the set. I hope this card is good enough to see play, having recursion on a stick seems strong, and I've noticed I lose a lot of games to an early abrupt decay on my jitte. Being able to get jitte back later in the game when the goyfs get bigger and the hands get smaller would be pretty good I think.
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_iAgW7Hfn9L.png
I don't get the hype on this card. Doesn't protect our non-creatures. Doesn't beat terminus/swords to plowshares/golgari charm/dread of night
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_1ZXuO97Viq.png
I don't even know why I included this. I'll eat my shoe if this is legacy playable.
http://media.wizards.com/2016/ouhtebrpjwxcnw5_EMN/en_HWSn47iZj0.png
Probably the best chance of being maindeck playable. Thalia has the potential to be grossly good. Although she seems very lacking on the draw. It does seem t1 mom t2 thalia t3 big thalia will put away most any opponent who isn't trying to win via creature combat though. I'm excited for this one.
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
BG Collected Company Elves
Legacy
W Death and Taxes
EDH
GW Sigarda, Host of Herons
GW Saffi Eriksdotter
I haven't really heard much hype about selfless spirit except in modern elves as an upgrade from dauntless escort.
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
- Collective Effort. It being a Sorcery severely hampers its usability in Legacy, as the best ability it has is the +1/+1 counters on everything. Being able to get rid of Eldrazi might still be good enough to be playable, but I'm not sure about taking down Council's Judgment for this card. Maybe as a one of instead of the second Fiend Hunter to begin with.
- Thalia's Lancers. Way too expensive at 3WW, but the ability to get a Jitte is pretty attractive. Finds either piece of the Mangara combo, if you want to go extra durdle. Otherwise Captain Sisay is vastly superior.
- Identity Thief. Not as good as Sakashima's Student, although it is more flexible once it comes onto play. Can sinergyze very well depending on the build.
- Wharf Infiltrator. I really like this card, although DRS is a big issue. Once it's able to connect it becomes pure gas though.
- Permeating Mass. Has been discussed already.
- Spell Queller. Shows potential, already discussed.
- Geier Reach Sanitarium. Combos with SotL.
- Gisela, the Broken Blade. Really sweet card, legendary CMC4 Baneslayer is definitely worth considering.
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
Gisela is good VS Sultai decks and Eldrazi, she acts like a pseudo-Batterskull that can race through Baleful Strix and grounders like Tarmogoyf and Reality Smasher. She's less expensive than Batterskull and Baneslayer Angel, and provides a real clock where Gideon's tokens get chumped all day. She still does her job againt D&T hate (the -1/-1 effects for example).
Many lists run 2 cards like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, so one can probably be cut, according to the meta once again. She can be brought in against Miracles and played via Aether Vial to dodge counterspells. Not as good as the 2nd Gideon when he hits though.
I played in the Nerd Rage Gaming Legacy Trials today (link). The event was sold out with 97 people in attendance. I had a pretty spectacular run and then smashed into a pretty spectacular wall. Read on to hear my tragedies...
First up I decided to try giving the no tutor-board plan a try. I am converted. I feel like the Enlightened Tutor and friends were great training wheels as I got more familiar with the format and the deck. Now I'm converted and don't think I'll go back. I feel good about this!
Here is today's list:
4 Mother of Runes
4 Flickerwisp
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Serra Avenger
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Mangara of Corondor
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Æther Vial
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Karakas
1 Mishra's Factory
9 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
2 Council's Judgment
1 Disenchant
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Path to Exile
1 Pithing Needle
3 Rest in Peace
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
Round 1: Miracles
- Notes: I could tell early on this player was new to the deck/format. Later after the game he confirmed it was his first tournament with Miracles.
- Highlights: Game 3 I'm beating down with a decent board. I cast a 'probe' Vial. He triggers Counterbalance and blind reveals a Terminus. He becomes very excited. I elect to play no more spells pass the turn and he can't reach for the Terminus fast enough. I proceed to Port him off his only white source. Dejectedly he realizes that finding the Terminus is only half the battle! Felt good. We almost went to time but finished with a minute or two left on the clock.
- MVP: Port
- Game Record: 2-1
- Match Record: 1-0
Round 2: Miracles
- Notes: Gonna be one of those play-Miracles-all-day days isn't it? A combination of failing to draw many lands and the usual D&T things let me beat him in about 10 minutes. I had enough time to re-sleeve my deck before the next round.
- Highlights: I Mangara'd his top in response to a fetch. His frown almost touched the floor. We hung out for a bit and talked afterwards. After I re-sleeved we both started packing things up together. I put my play-mat away in my backpack under the table and I looked up at the table and my deck was gone!! I checked my bag but it wasn't in there. I very calmly asked my opponent the most ridiculous question I think I've ever asked in competitive Magic: "Did you put my deck in your backpack?" He opened his backpack and checked. Yup... He did. Cool.
- MVP: Thalia
- Game Record: 2-0
- Match Record: 2-0
Round 3: Maverick
- Notes: Stoneforge mirrors are pretty insane. Things got really confusing with all of our Moms, Revokers and Equipment.
- Highlights: He totally blew me out with a Zealous Persecution, we both had a great laugh about how good of a play it was. I can't remember much about these games beyond that, It was a blurry grind the whole time. Unfortunately we stalled out in G3 and went to time. Unintentional draw.
- MVP: Revoker on Jitte.
- Game Record: 1-1-1
- Match Record: 2-0-1
Round 4: Shardless
- Notes: I always enjoy these games.
- Highlights: Swords on his DRS the second it hit the table. Double Rest in Peace feels great. So does having the Council's Judgement for his Dread of Night.
- MVP: Rest in Peace
- Game Record: 2-1
- Match Record: 3-0-1
Round 5: Lands
- Notes: The boogeyman. I did not go into this match feeling good about it. In my playtesting I basically always lose.
- Highlights: Game 1 I got Marit Laged. Games 2 and 3 I just went wide and kept him off Tabernacle. I top decked a RiP at the perfect moment and nabbed two Life from the Loam and a Punishing Fire.
- MVP: Rest in Peace
- Game Record: 2-1
- Match Record: 4-0-1
Round 6: Sneak & Show
- Notes: I've played this player before. Last time he was on Miracles, so when he opened with Tarn, Island, Ponder I assumed he was still on Miracles.
- Highlights: Game 1, somehow I manage to Revoke his [card]Sneak Attack[card] before he activates it. I attack with miserly Revoker and Mom beats until he dies. Game 2 was quite hairy. I had a mantra going in my head: "You are not the beatdown. You are the control. Slow. Slow. Slow". I had an early vial and a bunch of two drop dudes. I opted to vial in twin Serra Avengers because Stoneforge was just too slow. I had a Karakas in play. I attack with two Avengers and he Sneaks in a Griselbrand. I bounce it with Karakas. He's low on life so he doesn't pay any. That takes him down to 7. I tank on my hand for a long time. There are a lot of cards I can play. I have a vial on 3 and a Wisp in my hand but something about that Grislebrand was fishy... So I just play a second Karakas, sacrifice the tapped one, and pass. His soul is broken in half. He said I needed exactly that card to win, though I'm pretty sure my Wisp life insurance policy would have gotten me there. Still quite clutch.
- MVP: Karakas
- Game Record: 2-0
- Match Record: 5-0-1
Round 7: Belcher
- Notes: We all did the math scramble to see who could draw into Top 8. I was in 1st place with 16 points. Vincent and I drew into top 8.
- Highlights: Vincent ended up winning the whole thing. Glad I didn't have to play him here because he would have wrecked me!
- MVP: Math
- Game Record: 0-0-3
- Match Record: 5-0-2
Top 8 Round 1: Elves
Summary: Mortal enemy. We were the feature match and got streamed. I hope they put this game up in the archives because I want to re-watch it and note all my failures. I played so well all day, I didn't get too far ahead of myself, I took it slow. I feel like I just threw these games. Game 1 I kept him off balance long enough for a Crusader and Jitte to hit the board. Win! Awesome. I'm feeling like I totally stole this one and that I might have a shot of beating him. Games 2 and 3 were equally gross. I kept 'too fair' hands. Game 3 I opted to play a Revoker instead of a Canonist because I completely underestimate how explosive he can be. "There's no way he's going off next turn," I think. I name Deathrite Shaman even though he doesn't have one on the board and I would have really liked to name Heritage Druid but I don't know the deck at all so I don't know what any of the guys are called. I die out of nowhere the following turn with the Canonist a Cataclysm and a Plow in my hand. Sigh. So bad.
So. I cashed. I played tight. I played well. I had fun. I got 7th or 8th place in a 97 man tournament. But I still have this lingering feeling of 'not like this'. That said, the elves pilot was really good and totally deserved to win it. I know elves is a bad matchup for D&T and I haven't practiced it at all.
That said, you should still practice against Elves, but you are mostly at the mercy of them just not having the nuts, and hopefully you get some disruption online. Definitely one of the matchups where you play the least amount of actual Magic, like against ANT, but even harder to contain even once you have hate online. I've made my peace with it; I have some Elves hate, but I'm no longer trying to make Elves an "even" match like it might have been when I was rocking 3 Gaddock Teeg in my 75. Best to make the ANT matchup better instead, because doing that will invariably bring mechanics that hate on more similar decks to ANT than you would get with similar decks to Elves (hint: there are none).
Death and Taxes
Pauper
UB Teachings
Tortured Existence
Murasa Tron
Modern
Pod (RIP)
Bloom(RIP)
Merfolk
Thank you. I will practice against elves more. The player is local and my buddy knows him. I'm going to seek him out and ask him to to jam some games sometime. I could probably also benefit from proxying it up and learning how it works myself. HMMM. Now the wheels are turning.
Yeah. I got word that NRG is going to be posting the videos this week, so I'll be sure to link back once that's up. I was thinking about it more today and I'm pretty sure I did the exact opposite of what I was supposed to do. Doing nothing would have been better in at least one situation...
Long story short, to beat elves you need near perfect draws and they need slow ones to really have a shot.
Anywho, I am super excited for new Thalia! I think she's probably going to have a bigger impact in Modern D&T but will probably end up being a very commonly used card in the Legacy flex spot where you see stuff like Mirran Crusader, Brimaz, Spirit of the Labyrinth etc. I think I'm going to drop 2 in for Mirran Crusaders in the stock Medea Aggro list. It's almost as good of a beater and actually has a disruptive tax element as opposed to being just a beater like Crusader, can't see it not being used.
And yeah, I'm very stoked for new Thalia. I'm more excited for her applications in Modern, but the thought of T1 vial, T2/T3 Wasteland/Port into New Thalia (Heretic? Can we just call her Heretic?) is going to be awesome.
I live for fair Magic.
Legacy: D&T/Lands
Modern: BGx
Funny, but I think that's the right idea. Elves are at a low point now and not worth fretting over very much. It's not going to be a good matchup no matter what you do, but we should all be aware how to play the match. As Mad Mat said, we have zero margin for error here. I'm running high off two straight competitive REL wins on Elves. I should quit now.
Were any of you at SCG Worcestor? I got sick the night before, but tried to compete anyway. Won the first three matches despite that, but sloppy play and poor luck caught up to me, and I dropped soon after. Turns out it was pneumonia. Yay.