My biggest concern is that, at face value, Elves is the absolute biggest winner from this ban. The hope is that slightly faster combo and Chalice/Trinisphere decks get an uptick in response, and we can use our solid main decks against those while having a solid sideboard to fill in the gaps against combo while also bringing back some tools to combat a likely rise in TNN and Delver decks. But, no matter what, I would expect a lot more Elves running around, and that isn't going to be good (at least in the short-term future.)
By the way, just to confirm: having 2-drop Thalia doesn't preclude playing the 3-drop Thalia, correct? This isn't a planeswalker thing, but I want to confirm nonetheless.
Correct, legendary creatures care only about the exact name. Old and new Thalia can be on our side of the board simultaneously.
I am hopeful, because a 3/2 first strike is a substantial body. Her ability is hard to evaluate. Obviously the interaction with fetch lands seems quite powerful in theory. My main concern is that the mana denial loses its value over the course of the game, so having this out ASAP is great. But I highly doubt there's room for a full playset to guarantee having it out early, and it won't be much more than a vanilla beater as a top deck.
I really hope I'm wrong because I'd love to have another legend and especially one that isn't an X/1.
Wait....how is this a three card combo? You either have Hushwing+Nought (2 cards), Hushwing+E. tutor (2 cards), or E. tutor+Summons (2 cards). Less reliably, Top+Summons (2 cards). Also, CA doesn't matter as much when you're breaking the game in other ways. StifleNought is the same negative CA, and is a viable strategy.
As to Vial and Thalia....every DnT deck runs noncreature spells. Equips, StP, Vial. The deck I posted runs a very standard number of creatures, and is still nonsymmetrical with Thalia. When they fight through the tax, they get a Ponder or Brainstorm. When you fight through it, you get a 12/12 trampler.
I wouldn't call 20 creatures a standard number - that's ~6-7 less than standard builds. Not only are all of those creatures now spells, you've also cut 3 lands, which makes playing through Thalia that much more difficult. It's possible that a deck like this can exist and work, but I think it's a safe bet that D&T is not the shell you're looking for. Or at the very least, this draft of the deck seems shaky at best. You're playing some of the same cards as D&T, sure, but I don't see why you are playing them or how they're beneficial to your game plan. For that reason, saying that this deck is taking D&T in a new direction is a bit disingenuous. If this deck does work, I see it as a new direction for Stiflenought, not a new direction for D&T.
I have no experience, but I suspect that the matchup isn't that bad. Revoker shuts down Fatestitcher and most lists I've seen don't play many basics, so Wasteland will do a good job of keeping you safe from Wind Zendikon (and if you need to get cute, Flickerwisp will as well). Playing through Thalia may prove to be difficult for them as well, but I don't know how difficult it is for them to get a second mana creature into play. Basically, the main game plan works well against them already. The sideboard games may be a little tricky, as they have the capacity to bring in a lot of removal, but we also get more must-answer cards like Canonist. Overall, I feel that the matchup on paper is well in our favor, and I think Sam Black's sideboarded Sulfur Elemental from the Invitational is testament to that. I'd test to see for myself but I've been taking a break since the GP, so I got nothing myself.
Yeah, Misdirection works that way since the only thing that Misdirection actually targets is the spell whose target you are changing. Misdirection never targets what the spell gets redirected to. Harm's Way, however, very clearly must target the creature/player that is to be dealt damage, and a Metalcrafted Etched Champion clearly cannot be targeted by a white spell.
While you can choose to redirect the damage that Etched Champion deals, that damage cannot be redirected back to Etched Champion. The target, in the context of casting Harm's Way, is where the damage is being redirected to. Harm's Way is a white spell, and thus cannot target a metalcrafted Etched Champion. The fact that the damage is coming from a colorless source is irrelevant, because Harm's Way is not a colorless spell, and for that reason, cannot target an Etched Champion. I find it very surprising that two judges ruled otherwise, when the interaction really is not that difficult to evaluate, but I'm sorry to say that they're both incorrect.
Disclaimer: I only remember some mulligans, since I'm bad at tournament reports and didn't mark any of them down.
Round 1: Bye
(1-0)
Round 2: Omni-Tell
Game 1: I mulliganed to 6 and kept a hand well-positioned against a fair matchup, but basically nothing for combo. He S&Ts Omniscience and Enters on turn 3/4 and kills with Ants.
Game 2: I kept a hand with Canonist and Mom to protect it, but other than that I really only had aggressive creatures. I considered mulliganing, but I decided to keep it and hope Canonist would slow him down enough to win with the Flickerwisp/Crusader in my hand. Unfortunately, he found a Wipe Away the turn before I would have killed him. He cast Emrakul and Enter the Infinite, and the rest is academic.
(1-1)
Round 3: UWR Delver
Game 1: He plays a Stoneforge Mystic for Jitte, which gets StP'd. He then plays True-Name, but I get a SoFaI and some flyers, and he can't win the race.
Game 2: Basically the same thing happens. He cast maybe a couple cantrips, and a True-Name. He used a Wear on my Vial on 2, which put a Stoneforge into play in response, which gets a SoFaI. He uses StPs on two creatures to keep me from getting Sword triggers, but gets so behind in the race and casts no more relevant spells after that.
(2-1)
Round 4: Mirror
I honestly don't remember much about this match. I know I got Jitte counters on turn 4 both games and, according to my lifepad, the games did not last long as a result.
(3-1)
Round 5: Junk Stoneblade
Game 1: He plays a Mom, which gets StP'd. I waste his only colored source and he doesn't draw a land for 4 turns.
Game 2: I get a Batterskull into play, and he never really finds an answer. The only thing I really can say is that the life totals at the end were 42-1.
(4-1)
Round 6: Elves
Game 1: I get Natural Ordered on turn 2. I technically lived until turn 3, but I guess that depends on your definition of "lived".
Game 2: I keep a hand of 2 lands and 5 hate cards against his mull to 5. He time walks himself by casting a Glimpse of Nature into my Canonist - I don't think this would have mattered, but happened regardless. I get a Jitte into play, Revoke the Symbiote and keep him off creatures for the rest of the game.
Game 3: I keep another hand of 2 lands and 5 hate cards (it felt lucky, but the past 5 times I've played against Elves involved mulliganing to 6/5 actual every game to find anything, so it's a welcome change.) He plays a bunch of Nettle Sentinels on turn 2 with a Birchlore Ranger and starts beating down, but Cage prevents a Natural Order. I get Canonist and Ratchet Bomb into play, holding it at 1 for a long time. He needles it, but I get Jitte online and he never finds an Abrupt Decay.
(5-1)
Round 7: Elves (again.)
I don't remember much about these games, aside from losing. I was hoping for a Council's Judgment to kill his Progenitus in game 2 and then win with Crusader+Jitte, but no dice.
(5-2)
Round 8: RW Dragon Stompy
Game 1: He plays Chalice on 1/2 and a Trinisphere. I Mangara the Chalice on 2 to unlock my hand and start beating down with Thalia, Spirit and Avenger. He plays a Stormbreath Dragon(!!!), but he's at 4 life from attacks/Ancient Tomb and can't safely attack. I attack into him and get Resto'd, but I eventually draw a couple more creatures and Jitte to get through.
Game 2: Similar thing happens, except without the Dragon. He plays a Magus which doesn't end up doing anything, so I kill him with some random creatures over the course of a few turns.
Achievement #1: Have a Stormbreath Dragon cast against me in Legacy. Achievement #2: Win with a mono-white deck against a Stormbreath Dragon on my opponent's side of the field.
(6-2)
Round 9: Moggcatcher
Game 1: Reminiscent of the previous round, my opponent plays a bunch of lock artifacts but never actually applies pressure on me. He tries to Tuktuk Scrapper my Batterskull, but I hold mana to bounce it. He hopes to Kiki-Jiki his Scrapper to keep me off it forever, but Revoker stops that plan and he has nothing left.
Game 2: I get a Batterskull into play and he never plays anything relevant. In the end, the only damage I took across the match was from my own Horizon Canopy.
(7-2)
Achievement #3: Day 2 a GP in the best format
Round 10: Burn
Game 1: It's a very close game, but I don't draw a bunch of lands. Thalia keeps his 3 creatures in check, and he almost died from his own spells, but 2 Fireblasts allowed him to not take damage from his Eidolons and win.
Game 2: I draw COP: Red.
Game 3: I Enlightened Tutor for COP: Red.
(8-2)
Round 11: Sneak and Show (against none other than Huey Jensen)
Game 1: No Karakas or Revoker, and he S&Ts in an early Griselbrand. However, Spirit keeps him from drawing cards while Mom+Serra Avenger keep him from attacking. I eventually draw a Flickerwisp to get the G-rizzle out of the way and attack for lethal.
Game 2: I get him close to dead, but again draw no Karakas or Revoker. He plays a total of 3 Pyroclasms over the course of the game, and eventually finds Sneak Attack and both fatties to kill me on the spot.
Game 3: I have a bunch of good cards and finally find a Karakas (but no Revoker.) I proceed to lose to my biggest misplay of the tournament. He had 4 Volcs + Petal and Sneak attack in play. I have Karakas+2 Plains, Thalia+Mom, Vial on 2 with Containment Priest in hand. He activates Sneak, I activate Vial. He sneaks, I cast Priest. He sneaks twice and puts both into play. Priest resolves. However, this was the first time I've ever gotten a Containment Priest into play, and it showed. I allowed them to attack, thinking that bouncing the Emrakul was irrelevant because he could just sneak it back in. Except, well, I have Priest in play. I instead bounce Griselbrand to prevent him gaining life, and keep my Priest in play. He then cracks his Petal to bolt my Priest EOT, sneaks in the Gbrand I bounced and kills me.
It was a frustrating misplay, but I'll accept that if I'm going to lose to Sneak and Show, it will at least be against Huey Jensen.
(8-3)
Round 12: Mirror
Game 1: I STP his Mom and get Vial online, while he draws very few lands. I equip a Flickerwisp with a Jitte and go to town.
Game 2: There was a huge standstill this game because of how many Moms we had, but he had more and better threats. I hope to win with my equipment and keep his Brimaz bounced, but he Revokes my Jitte and eventually gets Manriki-Gusari out to lock me out of winning that way. His better threats then take over eventually.
Game 3: We had 5 minutes left and played super fast. I don't think I made any misplays, but he had a better draw and won in turn 5 of turns.
(8-4)
Round 13: BUG Delver
Game 1: I StP his Deathrite Shaman, waste his Tropical Island and his only other land is Wasteland. He thankfully lets the game go on for a few turns and lets me see Daze, so I know how to board.
Game 2: He gets 2 flipped Delvers very fast, and I can't get a Batterskull online in time.
Game 3: He flips Delver quickly, I try to slow him down with Thalia. He eventually plays Goyf and I have to chump block a couple of times. I eventually top-deck a Crusader and then a Rest in Peace to win the race by 1 turn.
(9-4)
Round 14: UR Delver (FINALLY)
Game 1: I mull to 6, but he mulls to 4. He actually starts off well with double flipped Delver, but dies to a Vial curve of Mom->Stoneforge->Flickerwisp.
Game 2: He gets a Pyromancer into play and gets a few tokens out, but Mom and Thalia slow him down. He attempts to Brainstorm, but I vial in Spirit and sadness resolves. I then get Jitte a turn or 2 later and win easily.
(10-4)
Round 15: UWR Stoneblade
ID
(10-4-1)
Achievement #4: cash a legacy GP! I ended in 206th place, with cash payouts to 230th.
Notes
- I felt the pain of not having the 4th Revoker against Huey, but I think I still could have won regardless if I knew how cards worked.
- The Cataclysm is the only card I never boarded in, since I never faced Miracles. A convenient coincidence that this is the first tournament I ever play only 1 (rather than 2 or none.)
- For a long time, I have strongly disliked Ratchet Bomb as a super clunky answer to a lot of things, but this is the first tournament I ever got a Ratchet Bomb into play. It was pretty good, but not game breaking. I think it would have been a lot better if I didn't already have a Cage in play, but I will admit it made his plays more awkward.
- Similarly, I only got to put Containment Priest into play once. It definitely seems like a great card - I just need to get it into play more.
- I think for the time being I'm going to stick to Sunlance over Gut Shot as the 5th removal spell. I would like to have removal #5 for Mom, but I didn't play against that enough to warrant it.
- I have consistently lost in the mirror due to Manriki-Gusari over the past several months. I still very much dislike it as it is awful when coming from behind against Stoneblade decks, but it's absolutely destroyed me in the mirror multiple times. I won't say I'm convinced I want to play it, but this is a fact worth noting nonetheless.
- COP:Red did exactly as much as I wanted it to do. I would have rather played Firewalker, but I didn't feel like I had room for two of them, and if I can only have one, I'd rather have a Tutor target.
- The singleton Mangara was a last-minute choice my friend backed me on, and I don't regret it. I miss playing that card so much, and while I didn't get to lock anyone, it did work in a couple relevant spots.
- Playing against UR only once the entire weekend was a bit frustrating, since I feel super confident in the matchup. But I guess that's what happens sometimes.
I am a bit too lazy and tired to write down my board strategies, but feel free to ask and I'll try to remember. For now, though, I am exhausted.
Also, I hope one of us got the first two Limited Edition D&T rk post playmats - I got #3 myself.
Redirecting 2 damage when everyones playing Lightning bolt/chain of lighting/forked bolt won't even save your creature, well against forked you can save 1 creature.
Harm's Way stops Forked Bolt completely - it prevents damage from a source, not damage to a target. I like Harm's Way on paper quite a bit, as it can work as a removal spell misdirection or a combat trick. It may not actually be that great, but my friend tried it in modern once and liked it quite a bit. I won't hold my breath, but it seems reasonable.
I've had a couple of thoughts about this deck recently and I wanted to see what the community as a whole thinks of them. As it stands, Sword of Fire and Ice is universally accepted as a maindeck card. It seems though that True Name Decks are mostly on the decline, which was why the sword was adopted. Is it wrong to consider changing it to Sword of War and Peace, which helps us dodge Bolt and Swords, plus provides additional damage? I know Feast and Famine is seen occasionally out of boards and depending on the meta it wouldn't be a bad call. I just think that mostly Fire and Ice is really only pushing me through a Snapcaster lately and I did want to explore other options. Then again drawing cards is really good so I wanted to get some feedback.
Also not to bring Elves up again, but I did already so here goes. How do we feel about Hushwing Griff? It completely shuts off the Hoof trigger and buys us lots of time. Unfortunately, it shuts off a lot of our creatures and doesn't stop Glimpse (apparently it triggers on casting an Elf, not when coming into play). I just thought it was worth throwing out there.
Personally I have been playing SoFaI since way before TNN was printed. It's by far the best equipment against control decks like Miracles and the card advantage it offers every hit is staggering. Against Jace decks, being able to play a creature and equip so that it can't get bounced has been relevant in a very high number of games. Furthermore, I personally haven't seen a decline in TNN decks as you describe.
Hushwing stopping a Hoof trigger is fine, but I would never want to be in a situation where I draw a Stoneforge with it in play. The only reason I even play Mindcensor is to hedge in the MD against Elves, and Hushwing is much worse against Elves in general. Hushwing and Mindcensor occupy the same spot in the deck, so you have to choose between one or the other, and I would choose Mindcensor every time.
You do realize ethersworn doesn't stop cascade right?
Ethersworn Canonist does stop cascade - but it doesn't stop cascade from Shardless Agent. I still bring it in, as the tempo gain from watching your opponent cast a Visions off suspend and pass the turn is always nice, but I'm not necessarily convinced it'a "a house" as monovfox describes.
I understand the reasoning for not including Cataclysm, but in truly results-oriented thinking, I have lost exactly one game where Cataclysm resolved, and have won every other one (including one game where it was cast against me) so I have yet to feel comfortable removing it. I like that it is an incredibly high impact card and so few people play around it. It has won me plenty of games where I don't think any other card would have. I definitely agree with the sentiment that SoFaI is our best overall card against Miracles though - that's one of the main reasons I have had Sword in my main deck since long before True-Name was printed. The other pieces of equipment just aren't powerful enough against control decks.
I played against Jared Boettcher playing Infect at a local 1k and got completely thrashed due to a big mistake game 1 and him having an insane draw in game 2. The matchup in reality seems about even, but that's all I have to say towards it unfortunately.
Leyline is far too narrow, especially when we don't have a vulnerability to discard like the combo decks that normally play it. You'd basically be devoting 3-4 cards to one matchup, and I don't even do that for Elves. If you honestly feel like you need a sideboard card for Burn, I have a feeling that Warmth is your best bet, with COP: Red being a close second since it isn't affected by Sulfuric Vortex.
Personally, I am not worried about the Burn matchup very much at all. Eidolon doesn't hurt us as much as other decks, and Thalia is a huge beating for them. The only two cards in their deck that I am concerned about are Sulfuric Vortex and Smash to Smithereens, as those are their answers to our lifegaining equipment. If there were a card against Burn that wasn't so narrow, I would consider it, but I'm not in the business of having a card in my board that only comes in for one matchup that I'm not worried about anyway. And I have yet to find a card that fits that bill. Absolute Law is close, as it helps against Punishing Fire, but that doesn't stop them from their nutdraws that go to the dome for 20 by turn 3.
I think if you want a Moat effect, enchantment Moat is better than the Magus, as Magus dies to Bolt, Swords and basically everything else. But I don't really agree with the inclusion, especially with only 8 fliers in the list. It seems like the Meekstone and Moat are for True-Name matchups, while being okay against any other fair decks, but I'm not convinced that Council's Judgment isn't just better by being more versatile. The absence of Judgment completely is interesting.
I have personally never lost to affinity. Phyrexian Revoker often reads very similarly to Stony Silence. There are really only two cards that you are threatened by (Ravager and Plating) and they aren't always lucky enough to have both. They also need one or the other to ever have a shot at racing you because their creatures otherwise are just severely outmatched by ours. I've honestly only played 3 matches against it, but I have won all three handily. The sideboard games can be a little dicey if they have Dispatch, but even then I am happy for them to have a removal spell instead of another creature because very few of their creatures are good on their own. Sometimes the Tezzeret plan can get you, but it's pretty slow and they have little disruption.
The third deck is UWR Delver. It's been a well-known deck for a while but hasn't been as popular lately. It's generally the hardest Delver matchup because they have more removal and True Name, but they still have the same weaknesses as other Delver decks - weakness to Thalia and Wasteland.
What is your reasoning for not bringing in Wing Shards against the other creature matchups? It may not be that great against affinity, but it's almost certainly better than Mom, and better than Revoker against RUG. I don't see what it's in the board for if not for most creature matchups.
The issue with Wing Shards is you have to use it on attacking creatures, where Celestial Flare hits blockers as well. The extra mana can be relevant when we have Thalia in the deck, and while I cannot say from experience, I doubt that you will get the extra value out of storm very often.
One of my friends plays Scapewish (that deck you played in round 4) and I can throw in some pointers, though I wouldn't expect to see it very much. It's mostly just a couple people on the east coast that play it, but they do play it quite well.
At its core, Scapewish is a Nic Fit deck, so anything that applies here applies there. You will get plenty of lands to cast your spells most of the time - they'll likely side some number of Explorers out for g2/3, but in my experience, they will not avoid casting them in game 1. Revoker on Pernicious Deed is probably the most important card at any point in the game. Protect it with your life.
Take advantage of the intervening if clause on Valakut. If they don't play around your Wastelands, hit a mountain and fizzle them. Vial in a Flickerwisp, flicker a mountain and fizzle them. Given how fringe the deck is, don't expect the people playing it to make these mistakes, but make sure to take advantage of them should it happen.
Mindcensor is close to as good here as it is against Elves. Fetches, Green Sun's Zenith and Scapeshift all flop, the latter two of which are some of their most important cards. Thalia can be great or underwhelming, it really depends on how greedy their hand is. It makes their Wishes a bit worse, since they essentially have to pay two extra mana, but they are a big mana deck. They could potentially play through it very easily after an Explorer or two.
The Scapeshift Nic Fit variants often are very light on spot removal - there's no room for Grove in a deck whose main win con is Scapeshift, so often it's just a few Abrupt Decays if anything at all. However, expect plenty of mass removal in their Wish board. Pyroclasm, Massacre and Virtue's Ruin are all potential cards to get wrecked by.
Sideboard Cataclysm is amazing. No surprise here. Unfortunately you didn't have it, but most of the time, it is absolutely backbreaking against them the same way it is against Miracles. They do have the potential to play to the board with Huntmaster and Thragtusk, and those draws make it not so great, but their chances of winning through Scapeshift after that point are basically zero. I have also found this to be one of the best decks for Mangara, as they have few ways to deal with it and every land that gets exiled is another land that they need to play for a Scapeshift win.
Correct, legendary creatures care only about the exact name. Old and new Thalia can be on our side of the board simultaneously.
I am hopeful, because a 3/2 first strike is a substantial body. Her ability is hard to evaluate. Obviously the interaction with fetch lands seems quite powerful in theory. My main concern is that the mana denial loses its value over the course of the game, so having this out ASAP is great. But I highly doubt there's room for a full playset to guarantee having it out early, and it won't be much more than a vanilla beater as a top deck.
I really hope I'm wrong because I'd love to have another legend and especially one that isn't an X/1.
I wouldn't call 20 creatures a standard number - that's ~6-7 less than standard builds. Not only are all of those creatures now spells, you've also cut 3 lands, which makes playing through Thalia that much more difficult. It's possible that a deck like this can exist and work, but I think it's a safe bet that D&T is not the shell you're looking for. Or at the very least, this draft of the deck seems shaky at best. You're playing some of the same cards as D&T, sure, but I don't see why you are playing them or how they're beneficial to your game plan. For that reason, saying that this deck is taking D&T in a new direction is a bit disingenuous. If this deck does work, I see it as a new direction for Stiflenought, not a new direction for D&T.
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Flickerwisp
2 Serra Avenger
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Mangara of Corondor
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
Lands 23
10 Plains
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Karakas
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sunlance
1 Cataclysm
2 Containment Priest
2 Council's Judgment
Disclaimer: I only remember some mulligans, since I'm bad at tournament reports and didn't mark any of them down.
Round 1: Bye
(1-0)
Round 2: Omni-Tell
Game 1: I mulliganed to 6 and kept a hand well-positioned against a fair matchup, but basically nothing for combo. He S&Ts Omniscience and Enters on turn 3/4 and kills with Ants.
Game 2: I kept a hand with Canonist and Mom to protect it, but other than that I really only had aggressive creatures. I considered mulliganing, but I decided to keep it and hope Canonist would slow him down enough to win with the Flickerwisp/Crusader in my hand. Unfortunately, he found a Wipe Away the turn before I would have killed him. He cast Emrakul and Enter the Infinite, and the rest is academic.
(1-1)
Round 3: UWR Delver
Game 1: He plays a Stoneforge Mystic for Jitte, which gets StP'd. He then plays True-Name, but I get a SoFaI and some flyers, and he can't win the race.
Game 2: Basically the same thing happens. He cast maybe a couple cantrips, and a True-Name. He used a Wear on my Vial on 2, which put a Stoneforge into play in response, which gets a SoFaI. He uses StPs on two creatures to keep me from getting Sword triggers, but gets so behind in the race and casts no more relevant spells after that.
(2-1)
Round 4: Mirror
I honestly don't remember much about this match. I know I got Jitte counters on turn 4 both games and, according to my lifepad, the games did not last long as a result.
(3-1)
Round 5: Junk Stoneblade
Game 1: He plays a Mom, which gets StP'd. I waste his only colored source and he doesn't draw a land for 4 turns.
Game 2: I get a Batterskull into play, and he never really finds an answer. The only thing I really can say is that the life totals at the end were 42-1.
(4-1)
Round 6: Elves
Game 1: I get Natural Ordered on turn 2. I technically lived until turn 3, but I guess that depends on your definition of "lived".
Game 2: I keep a hand of 2 lands and 5 hate cards against his mull to 5. He time walks himself by casting a Glimpse of Nature into my Canonist - I don't think this would have mattered, but happened regardless. I get a Jitte into play, Revoke the Symbiote and keep him off creatures for the rest of the game.
Game 3: I keep another hand of 2 lands and 5 hate cards (it felt lucky, but the past 5 times I've played against Elves involved mulliganing to 6/5 actual every game to find anything, so it's a welcome change.) He plays a bunch of Nettle Sentinels on turn 2 with a Birchlore Ranger and starts beating down, but Cage prevents a Natural Order. I get Canonist and Ratchet Bomb into play, holding it at 1 for a long time. He needles it, but I get Jitte online and he never finds an Abrupt Decay.
(5-1)
Round 7: Elves (again.)
I don't remember much about these games, aside from losing. I was hoping for a Council's Judgment to kill his Progenitus in game 2 and then win with Crusader+Jitte, but no dice.
(5-2)
Round 8: RW Dragon Stompy
Game 1: He plays Chalice on 1/2 and a Trinisphere. I Mangara the Chalice on 2 to unlock my hand and start beating down with Thalia, Spirit and Avenger. He plays a Stormbreath Dragon(!!!), but he's at 4 life from attacks/Ancient Tomb and can't safely attack. I attack into him and get Resto'd, but I eventually draw a couple more creatures and Jitte to get through.
Game 2: Similar thing happens, except without the Dragon. He plays a Magus which doesn't end up doing anything, so I kill him with some random creatures over the course of a few turns.
Achievement #1: Have a Stormbreath Dragon cast against me in Legacy.
Achievement #2: Win with a mono-white deck against a Stormbreath Dragon on my opponent's side of the field.
(6-2)
Round 9: Moggcatcher
Game 1: Reminiscent of the previous round, my opponent plays a bunch of lock artifacts but never actually applies pressure on me. He tries to Tuktuk Scrapper my Batterskull, but I hold mana to bounce it. He hopes to Kiki-Jiki his Scrapper to keep me off it forever, but Revoker stops that plan and he has nothing left.
Game 2: I get a Batterskull into play and he never plays anything relevant. In the end, the only damage I took across the match was from my own Horizon Canopy.
(7-2)
Achievement #3: Day 2 a GP in the best format
Round 10: Burn
Game 1: It's a very close game, but I don't draw a bunch of lands. Thalia keeps his 3 creatures in check, and he almost died from his own spells, but 2 Fireblasts allowed him to not take damage from his Eidolons and win.
Game 2: I draw COP: Red.
Game 3: I Enlightened Tutor for COP: Red.
(8-2)
Round 11: Sneak and Show (against none other than Huey Jensen)
Game 1: No Karakas or Revoker, and he S&Ts in an early Griselbrand. However, Spirit keeps him from drawing cards while Mom+Serra Avenger keep him from attacking. I eventually draw a Flickerwisp to get the G-rizzle out of the way and attack for lethal.
Game 2: I get him close to dead, but again draw no Karakas or Revoker. He plays a total of 3 Pyroclasms over the course of the game, and eventually finds Sneak Attack and both fatties to kill me on the spot.
Game 3: I have a bunch of good cards and finally find a Karakas (but no Revoker.) I proceed to lose to my biggest misplay of the tournament. He had 4 Volcs + Petal and Sneak attack in play. I have Karakas+2 Plains, Thalia+Mom, Vial on 2 with Containment Priest in hand. He activates Sneak, I activate Vial. He sneaks, I cast Priest. He sneaks twice and puts both into play. Priest resolves. However, this was the first time I've ever gotten a Containment Priest into play, and it showed. I allowed them to attack, thinking that bouncing the Emrakul was irrelevant because he could just sneak it back in. Except, well, I have Priest in play. I instead bounce Griselbrand to prevent him gaining life, and keep my Priest in play. He then cracks his Petal to bolt my Priest EOT, sneaks in the Gbrand I bounced and kills me.
It was a frustrating misplay, but I'll accept that if I'm going to lose to Sneak and Show, it will at least be against Huey Jensen.
(8-3)
Round 12: Mirror
Game 1: I STP his Mom and get Vial online, while he draws very few lands. I equip a Flickerwisp with a Jitte and go to town.
Game 2: There was a huge standstill this game because of how many Moms we had, but he had more and better threats. I hope to win with my equipment and keep his Brimaz bounced, but he Revokes my Jitte and eventually gets Manriki-Gusari out to lock me out of winning that way. His better threats then take over eventually.
Game 3: We had 5 minutes left and played super fast. I don't think I made any misplays, but he had a better draw and won in turn 5 of turns.
(8-4)
Round 13: BUG Delver
Game 1: I StP his Deathrite Shaman, waste his Tropical Island and his only other land is Wasteland. He thankfully lets the game go on for a few turns and lets me see Daze, so I know how to board.
Game 2: He gets 2 flipped Delvers very fast, and I can't get a Batterskull online in time.
Game 3: He flips Delver quickly, I try to slow him down with Thalia. He eventually plays Goyf and I have to chump block a couple of times. I eventually top-deck a Crusader and then a Rest in Peace to win the race by 1 turn.
(9-4)
Round 14: UR Delver (FINALLY)
Game 1: I mull to 6, but he mulls to 4. He actually starts off well with double flipped Delver, but dies to a Vial curve of Mom->Stoneforge->Flickerwisp.
Game 2: He gets a Pyromancer into play and gets a few tokens out, but Mom and Thalia slow him down. He attempts to Brainstorm, but I vial in Spirit and sadness resolves. I then get Jitte a turn or 2 later and win easily.
(10-4)
Round 15: UWR Stoneblade
ID
(10-4-1)
Achievement #4: cash a legacy GP! I ended in 206th place, with cash payouts to 230th.
Notes
- I felt the pain of not having the 4th Revoker against Huey, but I think I still could have won regardless if I knew how cards worked.
- The Cataclysm is the only card I never boarded in, since I never faced Miracles. A convenient coincidence that this is the first tournament I ever play only 1 (rather than 2 or none.)
- For a long time, I have strongly disliked Ratchet Bomb as a super clunky answer to a lot of things, but this is the first tournament I ever got a Ratchet Bomb into play. It was pretty good, but not game breaking. I think it would have been a lot better if I didn't already have a Cage in play, but I will admit it made his plays more awkward.
- Similarly, I only got to put Containment Priest into play once. It definitely seems like a great card - I just need to get it into play more.
- I think for the time being I'm going to stick to Sunlance over Gut Shot as the 5th removal spell. I would like to have removal #5 for Mom, but I didn't play against that enough to warrant it.
- I have consistently lost in the mirror due to Manriki-Gusari over the past several months. I still very much dislike it as it is awful when coming from behind against Stoneblade decks, but it's absolutely destroyed me in the mirror multiple times. I won't say I'm convinced I want to play it, but this is a fact worth noting nonetheless.
- COP:Red did exactly as much as I wanted it to do. I would have rather played Firewalker, but I didn't feel like I had room for two of them, and if I can only have one, I'd rather have a Tutor target.
- The singleton Mangara was a last-minute choice my friend backed me on, and I don't regret it. I miss playing that card so much, and while I didn't get to lock anyone, it did work in a couple relevant spots.
- Playing against UR only once the entire weekend was a bit frustrating, since I feel super confident in the matchup. But I guess that's what happens sometimes.
I am a bit too lazy and tired to write down my board strategies, but feel free to ask and I'll try to remember. For now, though, I am exhausted.
Also, I hope one of us got the first two Limited Edition D&T rk post playmats - I got #3 myself.
Harm's Way stops Forked Bolt completely - it prevents damage from a source, not damage to a target. I like Harm's Way on paper quite a bit, as it can work as a removal spell misdirection or a combat trick. It may not actually be that great, but my friend tried it in modern once and liked it quite a bit. I won't hold my breath, but it seems reasonable.
Personally I have been playing SoFaI since way before TNN was printed. It's by far the best equipment against control decks like Miracles and the card advantage it offers every hit is staggering. Against Jace decks, being able to play a creature and equip so that it can't get bounced has been relevant in a very high number of games. Furthermore, I personally haven't seen a decline in TNN decks as you describe.
Hushwing stopping a Hoof trigger is fine, but I would never want to be in a situation where I draw a Stoneforge with it in play. The only reason I even play Mindcensor is to hedge in the MD against Elves, and Hushwing is much worse against Elves in general. Hushwing and Mindcensor occupy the same spot in the deck, so you have to choose between one or the other, and I would choose Mindcensor every time.
Ethersworn Canonist does stop cascade - but it doesn't stop cascade from Shardless Agent. I still bring it in, as the tempo gain from watching your opponent cast a Visions off suspend and pass the turn is always nice, but I'm not necessarily convinced it'a "a house" as monovfox describes.
I played against Jared Boettcher playing Infect at a local 1k and got completely thrashed due to a big mistake game 1 and him having an insane draw in game 2. The matchup in reality seems about even, but that's all I have to say towards it unfortunately.
Personally, I am not worried about the Burn matchup very much at all. Eidolon doesn't hurt us as much as other decks, and Thalia is a huge beating for them. The only two cards in their deck that I am concerned about are Sulfuric Vortex and Smash to Smithereens, as those are their answers to our lifegaining equipment. If there were a card against Burn that wasn't so narrow, I would consider it, but I'm not in the business of having a card in my board that only comes in for one matchup that I'm not worried about anyway. And I have yet to find a card that fits that bill. Absolute Law is close, as it helps against Punishing Fire, but that doesn't stop them from their nutdraws that go to the dome for 20 by turn 3.
The third deck is UWR Delver. It's been a well-known deck for a while but hasn't been as popular lately. It's generally the hardest Delver matchup because they have more removal and True Name, but they still have the same weaknesses as other Delver decks - weakness to Thalia and Wasteland.
What is your reasoning for not bringing in Wing Shards against the other creature matchups? It may not be that great against affinity, but it's almost certainly better than Mom, and better than Revoker against RUG. I don't see what it's in the board for if not for most creature matchups.
The issue with Wing Shards is you have to use it on attacking creatures, where Celestial Flare hits blockers as well. The extra mana can be relevant when we have Thalia in the deck, and while I cannot say from experience, I doubt that you will get the extra value out of storm very often.
At its core, Scapewish is a Nic Fit deck, so anything that applies here applies there. You will get plenty of lands to cast your spells most of the time - they'll likely side some number of Explorers out for g2/3, but in my experience, they will not avoid casting them in game 1. Revoker on Pernicious Deed is probably the most important card at any point in the game. Protect it with your life.
Take advantage of the intervening if clause on Valakut. If they don't play around your Wastelands, hit a mountain and fizzle them. Vial in a Flickerwisp, flicker a mountain and fizzle them. Given how fringe the deck is, don't expect the people playing it to make these mistakes, but make sure to take advantage of them should it happen.
Mindcensor is close to as good here as it is against Elves. Fetches, Green Sun's Zenith and Scapeshift all flop, the latter two of which are some of their most important cards. Thalia can be great or underwhelming, it really depends on how greedy their hand is. It makes their Wishes a bit worse, since they essentially have to pay two extra mana, but they are a big mana deck. They could potentially play through it very easily after an Explorer or two.
The Scapeshift Nic Fit variants often are very light on spot removal - there's no room for Grove in a deck whose main win con is Scapeshift, so often it's just a few Abrupt Decays if anything at all. However, expect plenty of mass removal in their Wish board. Pyroclasm, Massacre and Virtue's Ruin are all potential cards to get wrecked by.
Sideboard Cataclysm is amazing. No surprise here. Unfortunately you didn't have it, but most of the time, it is absolutely backbreaking against them the same way it is against Miracles. They do have the potential to play to the board with Huntmaster and Thragtusk, and those draws make it not so great, but their chances of winning through Scapeshift after that point are basically zero. I have also found this to be one of the best decks for Mangara, as they have few ways to deal with it and every land that gets exiled is another land that they need to play for a Scapeshift win.