Hello all. Yesterday, I went to a Legacy IQ at Game Swap in Mason, OH. I took this list:
Main
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Thespian's Stage
3 Dark Depths
3 Maze of Ith
3 Tranquil Thicket
2 Taiga
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Karakas
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Mox Diamond
4 Exploration
4 Gamble
4 Crop Rotation
2 Manabond
4 Life from the Loam
3 Punishing Fire
Board
4 Krosan Grip
4 Sphere of Resistance
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Choke
1 Pithing Needle
1 Primeval Titan
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Dark Depths
I finally decided to try out thirty-five lands in the main instead of thirty-four, begrudgingly dropping a fourth Punishing Fire for a third Dark Depths, giving me a free space to try out Courser of Kruphix again. This spot perhaps should just be a third Thorn of Amethyst or perhaps a singleton Chalice of the Void. In any case, I didn't really miss the fourth Fire at all, so I'll probably stay at thirty-five lands for the foreseeable future. So, onto the matches.
Round One: Miracles
Game One: This grindfest lasted forty minutes. My opponent Enreated the Angels twice for a total of five tokens, while I made a witch token about three times, only to have it bounced by Jace once and Swords to Plowshared once. It stuck around the third time, and my opponent just couldn't do anything about it. He kept blocking with angels, but that only delayed the inevitable. Eventually, without a CounterTop lock to keep me from recurring Marit Lage, he scooped.
I board in: 1 Dark Depths, 1 Primeval Titan, 1 Courser of Kruphix, 4 Sphere of Resistance, 4 Krosan Grip, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Choke
I board out: 4 Crop Rotation, 2 Manabond, 2 Maze of Ith, 1 Punishing Fire, 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, 1 Karakas, 1 Bojuka Bog, 1 Glacial Chasm
Game Two: I keep a seven with heavy mana denial in the form of Ports, a Mox, a Gamble, lands, and a Primeval Titan. I realize that with only ten minutes left, I don't have to win this game to win the match. I just have to slow my opponent down enough to keep him from winning. I proceed to Port his lands on each upkeep, and he just doesn't draw too much of anything to do. He counters both a Sphere of Resistance I draw and cast and the Primeval Titan, but he just doesn't have anything going. The game goes to turns and neither of us has a really clear advantage.
1-0
Round Two: Shardless Bug
This match is on camera. My opponent and I got deck-checked this round and his list was messed up, so he got a game loss. You can see what happens elsewise in the video. Skip ahead in the stream to round two.
2-0
Round Three: Sneak and Show
Game One: Not knowing what I'm up against, I keep a hand with Loam, Crop Rote, Mox, Port, Waste, and some other business. I go turn one Mox and Port, Sneak and Show plays an Island and passes, I drop another land and Port him on his turn, and the game proceeds in this way for a while. I Waste all his non-basics and port some of his basics. He just doesn't have the mana to do anything, so I have enough time to find Stage-Depths and send the tentacled ice witch over to kill him.
I board in: 3 Krosan Grip, 1 Dark Depths, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Primeval Titan
I board out: 1 Bojuka Bog, 1 Tabernacle, 3 Punishing Fire, 1 Glacial Chasm
Game Two: My seven grip is as follows: 1 Tranquil Thicket, 1 Grove of the Burnwillows, 1 Dark Depths, 1 Thespian's Stage, 1 Manabond, 1 Krosan Grip, 1 Gamble. I can put Manabond into play on the first turn, lose my three nonland cards, and have a turn-two token. So I figure that's good and keep. I don't know if trying to combo out faster than my combo opponent is the right call (losing some useful cards in the process), but I go for it. My opponent plays a turn two Blood Moon and I'm toast.
For boarding, I consider trying to fit in some Spheres, but I really don't know what to cut. I don't want to lose K-Grip since I've seen Blood Moon, so I keep boarding the same.
Game Three: I keep a hand with lands, Loam, a Mox, and a K-Grip. My opponent goes for Blood Moon again, but I Grip it and Waste him off of his two Volcanic Islands. With no lands in play, he's pretty much toast, and I assemble Stage-Depths before he can recover.
3-0
Now, at this point, since I know there are five rounds of swiss, I figure I can double ID into top eight--but my fourth round opponent drew his previous round, so I have to play this round since he's only got seven points and can't double ID.
Round Four: Elves
This round is on camera. Skip ahead to the round four.
4-0
Round Five: ID
Top Eight
Quaterfinals
As the top seed, I'm on camera again.
5-0
The Semfinals match begins on the previous video concludes on the next one.
Semifinals
Yet again a feature match.
6-0
Finals
As I don't care about the SCG invite, I concede to my finals opponent and we split the cash from first and second places. He takes the invite and I take a year of free SCG premium.
Analysis
I shudder to think of the mistakes I made during this tournament that are now on camera for everyone to see. Ugh. But I did great, went undefeated essentially, and am pretty happy about the results. As I said before, I didn't miss the fourth Punishing Fire at all, so I don't imagine I'll go back to four anytime soon. Even though it never hit the field, I really liked Primeval Titan. It was a must counter for Miracles, and against Sneak and Show, my opponent told me after the match that he had a Show and Tell in his hand but couldn't cast it because my Titan and its two lands would have trumped what he'd put into play. (He'd seen the Titan with a Git Probe.) So I think Titan deserves a slot in the future. So that leaves Courser of Kruphix as the flex spot, which could be another combo hoser or even Seismic Assault. We'll see what happens next time. Live long and prosper everyone.
Results
[Aggro]
UR Delver Cruise: 0-2
Napoleonic Delver: 1-0
Merfolk: 1-0
Bug Delver: 1-0
Rug Delver: 0-1
[Combo]
Storm: 1-1
Solidarity: 0-1
Infect: 0-1
Dreadstill: 0-1
Sneak and Show: 1-0
Elves: 1-0
[Midrange]
Bug Midrange: 0-0-1
Maverick: 0-1
Shardless Bug: 2-0
Uw Stoneblade: 1-0
[Control] Death and Taxes: 5-1
Pox: 1-0
Loam Pox: 1-0
Miracles: 2-0-1
Mud: 0-1
Bug Countertop: 0-0-1
I'm at 19.5 wins out of 31 matches, or 62%.
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