THE DECK
This is the version of the deck with which I played a 27-man Legacy tournament on April 14th, 2013, at Rio Claro city (in Sao Paulo state, Brazil).
I expected that the metagame would be composed of the following, and tried to design my sideboard (SB) accordingly to it:
- BUG and/or Bx Control
- GW Maverick
- RUG Delver
- UW Miracle and/or RIP/Helm Combo
- ...and some Reanimator, Dredge and maybe SnT.
THE TOURNAMENT
ROUND 1: vs. "Sneak and Tell" = 2-0
Game 1: I win the dice roll. On his turn 3 (T3) he casts a Sneak Attack but has no mana left. On my T4 I Natural Order (NO) into Craterhoof Behemoth and am able to kill him, since he had already lost some life due to fetchlands and Ancient Tomb. I win.
SB: In = 4x Cabal Therapy / Out =
Birchlore Rangers
, Quirion Ranger, Elvish Visionary, Regal Force.
Game 2: I keep a hand with Therapy. I try to Therapy him on my T1 but it meets Force of Will (FOW). T2 I drop a Quirion Ranger and sacrifice it to flashback Therapy. It resolves, and I name Show and Tell (SNT). He shows me a FOW and a SNT, that hits the bin. On my T4 I have double Glimpse of Nature and starts the combo. The first one eats a FOW, as expected, but the second one resolves. I mini-combo until I have plenty of creatures and 4 mana floating to cast NO into a deadly Behemoth. I win.
ROUND 2: vs. "Affinity" = 2-0
Game 1: He attacks me the first turns, but on my T3 I have Gaea's Cradle and am able to NO -> Behemoth. I win.
SB: In =
Viridian Shaman
, 3x Abrupt Decay / Out = Regal Force,
Birchlore Rangers
, Priest of Titania, Quirion Ranger.
Game 2: He hits fast, leaving me with 13 life. But on my T3-4 I am able to hardcast Behemoth, and the pumping + TRAMPLING is enough to "bypass" his metalcrafted Etched Champion. I win.
ROUND 3: vs. TES = 1-2
Game 1: I don't know what is he playing with. I mull to 6, and keep a relatively slow but stable hand. He is able to combo on his T3 and Ad Nauseam -> Tendrils of Agony, with enough storm count. I lose.
SB: In = 4x Cabal Therapy, 2x Mindbreak Trap, Gaddock Teeg / Out =
Birchlore Rangers
, Quirion Ranger, 2x Elvish Visionary, Regal Force, Natural Order, Gaea's Cradle.
Game 2: I keep a 6-card hand with Mindbreak Trap, 2x Deathrite Shaman (DRS), Green Sun's Zenith (GSZ), a fetchland and ?. T1 I start by fetching a Bayou and casting a DRS. He Duresses me, taking my Trap away. T2 I use DRS and the Bayou to cast a GSZ, that gets me another DRS. T3 I topdeck a Gaddock Teeg, and use one DRS to generate W and cast the Teeg - my opponent trembles. I cast my third DRS and start exiling his graveyard to eat his life. Two or three turns of Teeg locking and attacking him, coupled with multiple DRS activations is enough to kill him. I win.
Game 3: I mull to 6. I double-count the cards drawn, while they're on the table, and my opponent confirms there are 6. I instantly say that I keep my hand because I saw Teeg on it. While I am seing the other cards, and shuffling them in my hand, we realize that I've drawn an extra card. We call the judge and I get a warning, and shuffle away that hand. I mull again a shitty hand with no hate cards and end up keeping four merely "playable" card. It's over before it even starts. He comboes on his T1 and kills me with Tendrils. I lose.
ROUND 4: vs. RUG = 1-1
Game 1: I start with Nettle Sentinel, that gets a
Chain Lightning
. A play another one, and am able to gather some creatures (including a Priest of Titania, if I recall correctly)until T4. On T4, I play a Gaea's Cradle, cast NO with enough spare mana to pay for his Spell Pierce, gets Behemoth, and the damage is enough to kill him. I win.
SB: In = 3x Abrupt Decay, Scavenging Ooze / Out = Natural Order, Regal Force, Gaea's Cradle, Priest of Titania.
Game 2: I mull to 4, keeping a hand with 2x Abrupt Decay, a Fetchland and an elf. He starts with Delver of Secrets
. I draw a Forest, play it, and play the elf. On T2 his Delver flips (revealing FOW) and he attacks with it. On my turn I play the fecthland. On his T3 he attacks with Delver again. I fetch a Bayou and Decay his Delver. He plays a Scavenging Ooze. I draw a land and pass. On his T4 he attacks with Ooze and I Decay it. I keep drawing lands for several turns, while he has another Delver + a Tarmogoyf eating my life. When I am able to gather a blocker it's too late. I lose.
Game 3: It is a long game. In general, he has plenty of removals for my elfs (including a Pyroclasm), and counters for my other spells (including two Spell Snares for two GSZs). It is a grindy game, and we go to 5-turns countdown. I finally draw a NO, but he may have a counter for it. Since the situation is: or my NO wins me the game, or it doesn't and the game ends in a draw (because he wouldn't be able to kill me in two turns); I risk casting the NO, but it gets a FOW. He does no more relevant plays, and neither do I. We draw.
ROUND 5: vs. BWg = 2-0
Game 1: I win the dice roll and keep a hand with some elves and Glimpse. On my T2 I am able to mini-combo until I have about 10 creatures on the battlefield. He casts a Stoneforge Mystic that finds him an Umezawa's Jitte. On my T3 I play a Gaea's Cradle, that generates enough mana to hardcast the Behemoth, an my attack does a good hundred of damage. I win.
SB: In = Progenitus,
Viridian Shaman
, 3x Abrupt Decay / Out = Regal Force, Priest of Titania,
Birchlore Rangers
, Quirion Ranger, Elvish Visionary.
Game 2: I keep a 6-card hand with Heritage Druid, 3x fetchlands and double GSZ. This would make me able to get Wirewood Symbiote + Elvish Visionary, and gain card advantage, while avoiding Jitte's counters. He starts with Inquisition of Kozilek, that discards my Druid - yes! That was what I wanted!. I fetch a Forest. On T2 he plays Stoneforge Mystic and gets Jitte. I GSZ for the Symbiote. On T3 he Vindicates my Symbiote. I change my plans, GSZ for Quirion Ranger, play the last fetch and keep it to search for Dryad Arbor (at the end of his turn) - at least the Ranger + Dryad interaction would help me avoid Jitte. On my T3-4 I cast Nettle Sentinel, play Gaea's Cradle, and cast NO. In response he casts Zealous Persecution, which I respond by activating Qurion Ranger to bounce Dryad Arbor to my hand. My other creatures die to the Persecution. He tries to Mindbreak Trap my Progenitus - WTF?! After we talk for a while and I convince him that it was not possible, and neither was that NO could be a valid target, since it was my second spell that turn, he finally agreed that NO resolves, and I put Progenitus in play - hoping that on his next turn he does not cast something like Liliana of the Veil or Diabolic Edict. Turn out that he does not have these things that I feared. I got the Dryad and an elf in play to protect Progenitus, and the great Hydra Avatar wins me the game. I win.
THE RESULTS
3-1-1
10 points
9th place
There was a player with 13 points;two others with 11;and me and other six players were tied with 10 points...
... But turns out that the tiebreakers sent me down, away from Top 8 and prizes.
I got sad for this :(
