Fishing for Victory in Legacy

Note: For Saturday's Gamer's Lounge tournament in Sandusky with pictures(!), click here.

I ended up staying with my parents in Vermilion on Saturday night since after dominating the draft with infinite Gathan Raiders, I didn’t leave the Gamer’s Lounge until well after midnight. Call me crazy, but I didn’t really want to drive back to Columbus after that.

So after eating breakfast, reading the Sunday comics, showering, and making a lunch, I got back on the highway and headed south for Columbus. So for two hours I had the sun in my face and the wind in my hair, all along I-71.

Again, accursed sun, why would I want to stay outside and be warmed by your sunny sunshine when I can sit inside with smelly gamers and play Magical cards?

It’s such an easy and pleasant drive. I made it to Columbus just a few minutes after registration started and threw this pile down on the counter:

4x Force of Will
4x Daze
4x Brainstorm
4x Aether Vial
3x Duress
2x Cabal Therapy
3x Swords to Plowshares

4x Serendib Efreet
4x Dark Confidant
4x Meddling Mage
3x Mother of Runes
3x Jotun Grunt

4x Polluted Delta
4x Underground Sea
3x Flooded Strand
3x Tundra
2x Island
1x Swamp
1x Plains

Sideboard
4x Stifle
3x Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Darkblast
2x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of Fire and Ice

Then I quickly collected the pile for fear of scalding hot tech leaking out and injuring someone.

The only change I made from Saturday to Sunday was cutting Silver Knights from the sideboard for Samurai of the Pale Curtain. I didn’t own the Samurai before the tournament on Saturday and hadn’t realized how good they would be against not only Hulk Flash, but also a lot of the rest of the format. It prevents IGGy Pop from abusing Lion’s Eye Diamond and Lotus Petal, it shuts off the back end of the Modular ability, and it pretty much negates Crucible of Worlds as well. Plus, it blocks and is blocked like it’s a 3/3, which is slightly bigger than a lot of the creatures used in Legacy.

I’m pretty sure that the Samurai came in from the sideboard in almost every match. More importantly, it never had a relevant effect on being able to keep Jotun Grunt alive.

Everything else is pretty standard UBW Hanni Fish type stuff. Serendib Efreet is an option over Serra Avenger. I chose the Efreet for three major reasons: First, it spreads out the casting cost of my creatures somewhat in the face of Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, and Pernicious Deed. Second, it doesn’t die to a commonly played single burn spell except for Fireblast. Third, I own them and not Serra Avenger.

Cabal Therapy is a card that I wished I’d packed more of. It’s really strong in Legacy if only for the fact that you can make your opponent discard creatures.

The other big choice for me was Aether Vial.

I’m not a fan of Aether Vial in Vintage because I think the sooner you can put down a threat or a piece of disruption (or both, as in Martyr of Frost), the better. You have a bit more time to get set up in Legacy, so Vial works pretty well. Plus, playing first turn Island, Vial, go leaves you with Daze mana.

Plus, Aether Vial is amazing against Landstill, which I played twice on Sunday.

Though I prepared more for the combo match than any other, my sideboard was still well equipped to handle the kind of aggro-control matchups I faced. In the end, I was lucky to have left Kataki in the board for Affinity rather than, say, Silver Knight for Goblins, but I’ll take what I can get.

So after hanging out with Snoop Trogg and Yangtime at the Soldiery and discussing with pretty much everyone in the room how stupid, degenerate, and format-warping Hulk Flash is, round one pairings finally went up.

This is actually how bad Hulk Flash is: Mark Trogdon is playing Islands. Knowing that his beloved Mountains really have only 16 cards against the combo (and that's including Leyline of the Void and the obscure but useful Burnout), Mark set aside Mono-Red burn in favor of Landstill. See how depressed he looks? You should have heard his outburst in round one when he realized he was playing against another player who was geared to beat Flash, rather than against Flash itself.

Round 1 – Gerry – UWB Fish

Gerry was quiet, but his demeanor belied a vicious streak piloting a deck much more aggressive than mine. I realize that, as a Vintage player whose actual aggro training ranges from dealing with one 11/11 indestructible trampling artifact creature to managing two 6-power flying, vigilant angels with scads of relevant abilities to staring down a dozen or so 1/1 little red men, my combat math is sketchy at best, but Gerry clearly knew he had the upper hand and wasn’t going to give it up easily.

In game one, I mulliganed as he dropped a fetchland for Tundra and played Mother of Runes. I fetched and sent Mom farming. With only a few cards in either graveyard, I played a Jotun Grunt my next turn, attacked the turn after and played Serendib Efreet. Grunt died to its own upkeep, and Serendib was RFG’d leaving me with no offence. He played Jitte in the meantime and had the Grunt to wield it, while the best I could do was Duress an irrelevant Stifle. I knocked him to five life, but there wasn’t that much I could do after that.

A good start. I sided out Forces, Duresses, and some other random cards to bring in Samurai of the Pale Curtain, Kataki, Dark Blasts, and the three awesome equipments.

Unfortunately, after sending my Dark Confidant back to Kansas, my opponent set Meddling Mage on Serendib Efreet and began the pounding. Fortunately with a 33% more creatures in my deck, I was able to mount a stunning offensive with a Mage of my own (set on Daze) and Kataki. When he nuked the board with Engineered Explosives at two (which also took out my freshly cast Jitte), I took the opportunity to team up Serendib Efreet and Mother of Runes to run my opponent into the ground.

In game three, the tragic story was that my opponent got creatures like Isamaru and Dark Confidant and Meddling Mage, while I just got served with beats around the head and neck. It was a short game, and my notes don’t indicate that I did anything of significance to stay my opponent’s hand.

So yeah, like in most good Fish matches, whoever took the initiative and managed to keep it won the game. Too bad it wasn’t me.

Match Record: 0-1-0
Game Record: 1-2-0

Round 2 – Dave – 4C Landstill

Dave’s a cool guy from Newcomerstown who has gone to Thurman’s with us before and would after this tournament too. His Landstill deck had some nice aggro possibilities with Nantuko Monastery, but he admitted later in the tourney that he didn’t have as much mass-board removal as other Landstill builds. That probably would have helped him out some.

Anyway, in game one, though I got in early with a Jotun Grunt and a Serendib Efreet, knocking him from 19 to 15 to 8 to 5, he was able to run me out of creatures without enough hand to rebuild on. A Mishra’s Factory and a Standstill kept me from doing anything relevant, especially since I had nothing relevant to do. When I did try to break out using a Cabal Therapy (and a counter-war over that), he had drawn enough control to knock me back down.

Looking back, I should have tried to do this at the end of his turn instead of during his attack step. My bad, I took the loss like a man. Then I sided out Dazes (it’s hard to Daze a deck with 26 lands) for Stifles and brought in Samurai as well.

This game went much better as I dropped a first turn Aether Vial. That pretty much makes Standstill and Counterspell into fairly useless cards. With the power of the Vial, I forced through Dark Confdiant (who found me a Force of Will for a quick five to the face), Jotun Grunt, and an Efreet for the win. This one was over pretty quickly as my opponent went through only five attack phases.

Game three was one of those odd statistical anomalies that make Magic player’s cringe. Dave’s deck decided to give him very few lands, despite being almost half-filled with them. Plus, he mulliganed twice and I Duressed him. Bad luck. As such Mother of Runes and a Meddling Mage (probably on Brainstorm), and then another Meddling Mage (probably on Pernicious deed) took him to school with a quickness.

Match Record: 1-1-0
Game Record: 3-3-0

Round 3 – Steve – Hulk Flash

Steve was playing one of only four Hulk Flash decks in the field of 27. Most of the decks were control or aggro control, which is about the most hostile environment you could take such a fragile combo deck into. Of course, Steve is pretty well known for playing and winning with combo decks in hostile environments.

In game one, he mulled down to five cards and Duressed me, taking Force of Will. When he played the Underground Sea, I worried that he might have been playing IGGy Pop, which is a slightly worse matchup for me. I played Mother of Runes, and the beats commenced as best they could. Steve played a Tropical Island, to which I responded, “Uh oh,” expecting Flash to get me right there. Instead, he passed the turn, allowing me to cast Meddling Mage chanting Flash, then Jotun Grunt. At one life, Steve tried to kill my Mage with a hardcast Elvish Spirit Guide, but Mom sagely gave the Mage protection from Green, and he waltzed in for the win.

I brought in Stifles and Samurais again, taking out a combination of Vials, Mothers, and Swords.

We started the second game by trading cards—he took my Daze with Duress then Dazed the Duress I played on him. So he knew I had a Samurai in hand and was waiting for a second white mana. My deck was nice enough to provide double Meddling Mages instead, and he forced the second one. Then I played a Grunt, got a Tundra to play Samurai, and played an Efreet. With that, it was all over but the cryin’.

Seriously, though, pre-Future Sight Hulk Flash just doesn’t seem that scary. I’m much more afraid of IGGy Pop’s recursion, multiple threats, and multiple paths to victory than I am of Flash’s one threat, various pieces of protection, and multiple dead cards.

It’s a fine deck, and still threatening, but people who think playing it in a tournament will be a walk in the park will be in for a surprise.

Match Record: 2-1-0
Game Record: 5-3-0

Round 4 – Eric – Sea Stompy

Eric was a great opponent and even gave me some pointers on playing my deck and considerations for future builds (namely that I shouldn’t switch Serendibs for Serra Avengers, a move I was considering). I always appreciate when opponents are willing to do that. It was too bad that his deck decided to not play well for this match, because I’m sure he has a better matchup against me than the results showed.

I’m pretty sure everything came in from the board except Stifles.

Game one saw him mull to five and get hit with a Duress that nabbed Force of Will. He cast Sea Drake (a 4/3 flying beater for three mana?!), but I let it hit me once to cast Dark Confidant (which he Forced) before I sent it farming. I put a Meddling Mage on Sea Drake, and then the Serendib Efreets started showing up for me, not for him. As his hand was empty, I turned the game around and swung in for the win with a Mage and an Efreet.

In game two he had plenty of colorless mana, but none of the blue stuff. As such, he was able to cycle Cloud of Faeries off Ancient Tomb (Street Wraith, anyone?) and play Powder Keg and Jitte, but that was pretty much it. I put a Mage on Sea Drake again since that was pretty much the biggest threat he had that I didn’t, and Eric scooped to the Mage, a Vial, an Efreet, Mom, and no blue mana.

Match Record: 3-1-0
Game Record: 7-3-0

At this point, I was in the running for top 8, but I wasn’t a lock by any means. Therewere a lot of 3-1’s at this point, and my opponents hadn’t done especially well. My scheduled fifth-round opponent—Daniel, the guy I was supposed to drive to Sandusky the day before—was confident in his placing and wanted to draw, and I was already pleased enough with my finish to draw as well, whatever the outcome. As such, I marked 0-0-1 and IMD on the match slip and turned it in.

Then, the greatest thing happened, all of my previous opponents won in the fifth round boosting their win percentages and knocking me into the top 8 at eighth, and in a strange twist of karma, knocking out the guy I was supposed to drive to Sandusky. Actually, it’s just great that it put me in. I don’t really have anything against Daniel. I met him at the tournament, and he seemed decent, so I hope he holds nothing against me.

Match Record: 3-1-1
Game Record: 7-3-1

Top 8 – Chris – Affinity

I hadn’t seen Chris playing before this round, so I had no idea what he was packing. His defining character trait seemed to be exhaustion, though.

Since I was going into this essentially blind, I of course whiffed when I cast Cabal Therapy on turn one for Force of Will. He revealed a really good hand for Affinity: Arcbound Worker, double Disciple of the Vault, Great Furnace, Chromatic Star, Seat of the Synod, and Frogmite. I flashed the Therapy back to get the Disciples, but it wasn’t long before he drew into a Cranial Plating, which I Forced. Then he found Ravager and it was pretty much over.

I looked at my deck and looked at the sideboard and looked at my opponent and asked him, “Do I really bring in all fifteen cards against you?” It turned out I did. I think I may even have taken out Brainstorms.

In game two, I took out his Ornithopter with Swords to Plowshares knowing that I wouldn’t be able to block it very well. Then I turned off Ravager with Meddling Mage. Serendib Efreet showed up (hey, I would have been able to block ‘Thopter after all!) and so did Jotun Grunt with plenty of food. My opponent scooped at twelve life to nine power on the board and no hand.

Game three made me really glad I had Kataki in the sideboard. He pretty much won it for me. I put Meddling Mage on Engineered Plague when I should have put it on Darkblast, but I wanted to use Darkblast to kill a 3/3 Frogmite with a Samurai of the Pale Curtain. My opponent used the Darkblast to break out of Kataki-lock, but it was too late.

Did I mention that Samurai shuts down the back end of Modular?

Match Record: 4-1-1
Game Record: 9-4-1

Top 4 – Josh – UBG Landstill

The match between Chris and me was over relatively quickly, considering Josh and his opponent were still in game two when I got there. So I had lots of time to scout, I guess, which isn’t technically legal, but I was already too tired to pay much attention anyway. I went in confident; Josh also seemed exhausted, and I had already beaten a Landstill deck.

In game one, he drew a bunch of early control and played it off of his eventual clock, triple Faerie Conclaves. I put a Meddling Mage on Pernicious Deed and one on Standstill, but I found no more threats or answers. We were trading 2/X beats for a while, but he pulled ahead and knocked me out with manlands.

I sideboarded as before—Dazes out for Stifles and extra stuff out for Samurai. Stifles seemed pretty good against Pernicious Deeds and Engineered Explosives, and I didn’t want any crazy Crucible tricks.

Game two started out really well as I dropped an Aether Vial and he Duressed a Stifle as his only acceptable target. I Vialed in a Mage against Damnation and the numbers suggest an Efreet was involved as well. Unfortunately, as it was the end of the day, my notes were getting a little sparse. I think the only real play of note was that I Stifled an Engineered Explosives. Maybe. I don’t know.

I had two Vials in Game three, and he set Engineered Explosives at two instead of one. That mistake cost him greatly as he couldn’t destroy my Vials, which were shutting down his draw engine, and he couldn’t destroy the Serendib Efreets I was Vialing in, either. Eventually he had to Explode a Jotun Grunt I was attacking with, just to stay alive. It wasn’t enough as I had advantage enough through the whole game to even overcome multiple mistakes.

Match Record: 5-1-1
Game Record: 11-5-1

Not too shabby.

Paul Mastriano was the other player who made it into the finals. He was playing Flash, which I was confident I could beat, but ugh, I was so tired. And there was a Thurmanburger-sized hole in me that was just aching to be filled.

Paul offered the split, and I immediately decided that the $50 difference between first and splitting wasn’t worth the possible difference between first and getting combo’d out by Hulk Flash in a match lasting two turns. Plus, if Paul had made it that far, he might have had something going on that I didn’t know about that would push him over the top.

Really, playing would have been fun and fine with me, but Thurman’s.

Thurman’s in war; Thurman’s in peace; and Thurman’s in the bellies of my countrymen.

I collected my $150 prize and, Mark and Jerry and Dave and I headed for German Village for the thirteenth best burgers in the nation.

Let me tell you, I don’t know whether the chefs at Thurman’s were just on top of their game that night or whether food just tastes better flavored with victory, but that was quite possibly the best Thurmanburger I’ve ever had.