The Beauty of Legacy: my report from Grand Prix Columbus 2016

It's been a good long forever since I reported on Magic: the Gathering, and there's good reason for it. Even back when I summarized my second-ever Legacy format Grand Prix in 2012 and a couple other events, there were still two or three events a year which I would attend. Not so anymore!

Thanks to a streak of bad timing for local tournaments and being busy with the kids and the job (plus finding my competitive outlet in Hearthstone over the same time period), I actually went my longest break between tournaments before this past weekend. It did not help that the last couple Legacy Grand Prix tournaments were too far away in New Jersey and Seattle/Tacoma. I had not played a sanctioned game of Magic since late 2014! Who would have thought I would go an entire calendar year without even a single weekend of "official" Magic?*

* To be fair, there were a couple weekends of Commander/EDH with the guys mixed in during this gap, but no sanctioned Magic.

Needless to say, I was a bit rusty even in my beloved Legacy format.

But with a Grand Prix coming to old Columbus town, I had to jump back in. Just like my last report, I'm still on Elves, albeit a much more refined version four years later. This is a relatively similar list to the one I took to Day 2 of Grand Prix Washington DC in late 2013, the most recent Grand Prix I played in:

As a reminder, despite not being able to make any Day 2 of a Grand Prix back when I and my group of friends played regularly and competitively, my record in Grand Prix in Legacy is pretty solid. Would I be able to match this success and cash again like GP Columbus 2010?

• 2010 GP Columbus - Played Belcher, finished 12-4 (35th)
• 2012 GP Indianapolis - Played Elves, finished 4-4 (660th)
• 2013 GP Washington DC - Played Elves, finished 9-6 after 9-2 start (185th)
• 2016 GP Columbus - ???

I made some choices to prepare for what I believed to be the better decks in Legacy like U/W Miracles and attrition decks like Delver and Shardless Sultai. Although I did not choose to run Choke in the SB (seriously thought about it), the main deck Sylvan Library was in there to improve my matchup against these blue style decks. Plus even without my usual Karakas in the SB, I still ran Crop Rotation to help dig out Cavern of Souls if needed. 

Without spoiling the next few paragraphs, the wide variance you can see in tournaments with 2000 players would make those decisions totally irrelevant. But let's look in detail at the games, and a conclusion I came to on the day overall, which makes me love Legacy even more than before. 

Round 1 vs. Bryan (Elves)

So many players in a Grand Prix, and you bring a somewhat under-the-radar deck...and hello mirror match in the opening match. Go figure. Although Sylvan Library was not in the deck for the mirror, it definitely won Game 1 because after Bryan races out to a good start with Deathrite Shaman etc., I am able to take two extra cards on the turn before he is going to likely win and combo out myself for victory via Craterhoof. Game two, Bryan again has a much better start with DRS while I do not, and he runs me over easily. 

Game three, I again struggle without a DRS but I have enough to force a double Glimpse of Nature combo turn right before he will likely kill me. However, my draws were super awkward during the combo, not finding Nettle Sentinels or the other key cards to keep the combo going. I end up needing to stop about 50% through the deck with two Cabal Therapy casts to try and rip apart Bryan's five card hand. Obviously I name Natural Order first, but that comes up blank. His hand is two lands with one Gaea's Cradle, a Craterhoof, a Heritage Druid, and a Green Sun's Zenith. He had four creature already on board, so there was no stopping the mana to cast Hoof or GSZ, and I went into the tank to think it over for quite some time. I finally decided to make him spend one more mana for GSZ, although I appeared to still be dead on board because of the trample damage coming. Predictably, Bryan casts GSZ for 8 and goes through his deck...and then he goes through again with a confused look on his face...could it be? Indeed, he had sided out his second Craterhoof and had to put a Xantid Swarm in play instead. Best nine mana GSZ ever, right? So my opponent mis-sideboards and that allows me to luck into the correct Cabal Therapy play to win. Mistakes are punished in Legacy. 

(1-0) (2-1 games)

Round 2 vs. Anson (Eldrazi)

My opponent wins the die roll and goes Ancient Tomb, Chalice of the Void for 1. Considering I had 5 1-mana cards in my hand, that's pretty much all she wrote in that game. Anson did not have the same luck in game 2, and I won with a Natural Order Craterhoof turn a few turns into the game. Game 3 Anson is going first again and he of course has the Chalice for 1 on turn 1, followed by a creature and an Umezawa's Jitte on turn 2. Elves just can't beat that, going second (not drawing any Abrupt Decay was painful, but one would not have been enough). Although I was pretty unprepared for Eldrazi as a new contender in Legacy, this is similar to the type of auto-losses you could sometimes take to the MUD deck also. Moving on. 

(1-1) (3-3 games)

Round 3 vs. Greg (Belcher)

Greg goes on the double mulligan game 1, which probably puts him on combo. My suspicion was correct as he still comes out of the gate on the draw with a turn 1 combo out for 14 goblin tokens. That gives me until Turn 3 to win, and I'm able to do just that with a good Glimpse draw leading to a Natural Order finish. Game 2 he went off quickly and my disruption package did not show up. For Game 3, I decided to try for consistency and took out the Cabal Therapy package. Despite being an expert with both these decks, I still made this questionable decision. That was punished when I overextended one extra creature into his slow play of Burning Wish for Pyroclasm, and I did not have the backup of discard spells to decimate the rest of his hand. About 3 or 4 turns later, I was Belcher'd out on the turn before I was going to win with Natural Order. But had I held back one of the creatures which died to the Pyroclasm or kept the discard in, I probably win this game easily. I certainly should win any game where Elves goes first and Belcher can't go off until about turn 8. Once again, mistakes are punished in Legacy.

(1-2) (4-5 games)

Round 4 vs. Joshua (Burn)

At this point when I see a Blue-red fetch land on turn 1 of game 1, I figure this is finally when I get to play against a blue-base deck (which seems to make up 70%+ of the format, maybe even more, thanks to the power of Brainstorm and Force of Will). Nope. He searched out a basic mountain and brought out the Goblin Guide. I won the game at 16 life, so it clearly went well and quickly. In game 2, he was able to combine a Sulfuric Vortex and an Eidolon of the Great Revel to stack enough damage for me to come back from. However, game 3 was your typical tight affair where Elves goes first and has just enough to win the game at single digit life just before losing to the likes of Vortex and burn spells. This guy was very salty about how the final game went down, but he also was recovering from throat surgery and so it was a strange muted type of salty response. It was interesting to say the least, but back on the winning side is a good thing. 

(2-2) (6-6 games)

Round 5 vs. Vincent (Burn)

Apparently islands just aren't a thing in this format anymore, as I find yet another opponent not on the Brainstorm plan. That's just fine with me, as this pleasant fellow from Cincinnati would share the same fate as the previous burn opponent, albeit in a different way. Game 1 was just as easy as the previous round, with me winning on 11 life thanks to the usual combo powered by Natural Order. Game 2 was a great one, probably the best game since Round 1 as far as entertainment value. He comes in with a couple of burn spells, an Eidolon, a Sulfuric Vortex, and then a Pyrostatic Pillar as well. Overkill much?

When he played the Pillar, I had five creatures, most of which were tapped from attacking: Dryad Arbor, a Quirion Ranger, two other 1/1 creatures, and a Nettle Sentinel, and I sat on 5 life. He was at 6 life with the 2/2 Eidolon left untapped to play defense. Dropping to 3 life on the upkeep thanks to Vortex, I could not play any of my green creatures to untap the Nettle Sentinel because of Pillar/Eidolon, and I did not have a GSZ or Natural Order to get around the damage to finish the job. Thus, I am forced to swing in with the four 1/1 creatures, one of which gets blocked. Opponent drops to 3. I then use the Quirion Ranger to return Dryad arbor to the hand and replay it as a potential blocker. Vincent drops to 1 on his upkeep, he can't attack through my blocker, and his own Pillar and Eidolon stop him from casting the Lightning Bolt that could have won him the game. Essentially, he could have won if he had not played the Pillar (total of 4 saved damage, 2 from Pillar when Bolt is cast and 2 from Eidolon when Pillar was cast). The theme rings true, mistakes (even small ones) are punished heavily in Legacy. It was nice to not play game 3 as well for the first time all day.
(3-2) (8-6 games)

Round 6 vs. Neeraj (R/G Lands)
You'd think playing Legacy you'd run into a deck with Islands, and especially a deck chock full of all kinds of lands, but not so. Game 1 was relatively short as I combo'd him in quick fashion without a Glacial Chasm there to stop me. Likewise, Game 2 was a quick affair thanks to his combo finish, which is Thespian's Stage copying Dark Depths for an immediate 20/20 flying Merit Lage. I had sided in Scavenging Ooze to combat a slow grindy Loam game, but seeing this plus Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale in game 2 made me sideboard it out for something else in Game 3, trying to add consistency and speed to the deck when going first. That is a massive mistake, as Neeraj relied on Glacial Chasm game 3 to hold my lethal damage at bay while he abused Life from the Loam to eventually assemble the 20/20 Merit Lage on the turn before he would have to sacrifice Chasm. I did resolve a green Sun's Zenith in the middle of this process for 2, and instead of getting the Ooze which would have dealt with Life from the Loam, or at a minimum, gained sufficient life to survive one attack from Merit Lage (which was all I needed to do to win with Chasm off the board), I had to go get another creature with the Ooze in the sideboard. Yet another example of how small misplays even in sideboarding get punished in Legacy. This also was a nice capstone to mirror my benefit from another Elves player mis-sideboarding in Round 1.
(3-3) (9-8 games)

The primary lesson, if it was not clear, is that playing clean in Legacy is vital to doing well in tournaments like this. I still firmly believe that a good pilot of nearly any deck can do very well so long as they understand the match ups and play flawlessly. It is so easy to make mistakes, especially with cards like Brainstorm, and you can take advantage of the high amount of mistakes other people make with their own decks.

I could've continued playing and may have made Day 2 at 6-3, but I had no interest in continuing with my mediocre level of play based on what was obviously the lesson of the day. Plus, how often can you tell a story in Legacy where you played SIX ROUNDS and you literally see ZERO islands, Brainstorm, or Force of Will? Unbelievable.

Maybe I should've been on Belcher like the GP in Columbus 6 years ago. I did loan that same deck to a friend Mike and he finished up 2-3 with it, ironically losing to Belcher in round 3 at the same time that I did. The People's Cannon is dangerous, but still worthwhile to play as a good time. Plus we got to grab dinner at a local German pub and played a couple of games of 1-on-1 Commander, which was a good time. That, plus going home to sleep in your own bed, was more than worth whatever satisfaction I would have gotten from trying to grind to 6-3 and/or play Day 2.

My only other major takeaway from the weekend was that Elves had a poor weekend overall, placing exactly zero copies in the Top 32 of both GP Prague and GP Columbus. Miracles is all over the place, followed by Delver and Shardless Sultai variants, and a little Death and Taxes, Storm, etc. thrown in. Interestingly, even though Infect won the Columbus GP, it looks like it only placed 2 or 3 total copies in the Top 32's of both Grand Prix combined. I think Elves is on a similar level as Infect, and probably should have seen similar results.

Bottom Line - I remain faithful that a properly tech-ed Elves (such as with Sylvan Library in the main deck and Choke perhaps in the sideboard) can do well in this Legacy format. That being said, if I wanted to burn $1,500...collecting the rest of Miracles (cost would be mostly dual lands and Jaces) and/or the rest of R/G Lands (cost would be Tabernacle, mostly) would also be a fun time. But that's not happening anytime soon with how infrequently I go to tournaments, so GO GO ELVEN TRIBE.

Also, I wonder if Divining Top eventually gets banned. If Miracles continues to be a clear best deck in the format, the slow play caused by that card may end up getting it on the radar for the ban team. For now I suspect it is safe, but when you see 50% of a Top 8 and Top 32 be one deck in a format as wide and diverse as Legacy (evidence - see my list of unexpected matchups over 6 rounds), that could signal a problem moving forward.

From Pro Tour to the PTQ Circuit (from May 2005)

Adding this to the blog as I do not know how long TCG Player will maintain archives of  10 year old MTG articles.

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Today I would like to present a two-part article that will hopefully help in your pReparations for block constructed season this summer and the current London sealed PTQ season. I am far better in constructed than limited, but I want to share the hardest deck build I have seen all year after going over my pro tour experience at Philadelphia.

Three guys from our Columbus Ohio shop, The Guardtower, qualified for PT Philadelphia, so we had almost three full months to work on the format. We started with a fast R/G spiritcraft deck but quickly realized it did not hold up against any other aggro or control deck in the format. We broke the gauntlet down to Snakes splashing all colors, White Weenie (Tallowisp and legendary), and Gifts Ungiven based control decks. We also investigated the Sway of the Stars control deck, a nice 4-5 color Honden deck, and mono-black control. Although I felt like control was the best path to victory, I ignored my better instincts and decided to run the deck I had the most practice with, G/B/r Snakes. I will not debate our team's card choices, as that is not the scope of this article. I also think we did not build the best color combination for future tournaments (see Meloku) and leaving out Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro was unintelligent. Here is the deck we used for the Pro Tour:

Snakes by David Fitzgerald II Main Deck Sideboard 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni 3 Kodama of the North Tree 3 Kokusho, the Evening Star 3 Orochi Sustainer 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 2 Seshiro the Anointed 2 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro Creatures [19] 3 Hero's Demise 4 Kodama's Reach 4 Sosuke's Summons 3 Time of Need 4 Umezawa's Jitte Spells [18] 13 Forest (306) 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse 6 Swamp (298) 2 Tendo Ice Bridge Lands [23] Deck Total [60] 15 ? Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

Round 1 vs. Tim Aten (GBUw Gifts Control)

I do not know if it was lack of sleep or Pro Tour jitters, but I end up keeping some lands and Seshiro on the draw hoping to find better cards. I drew Ink-Eyes, Kokusho, and some land and Tim responded by only playing Cranial Extraction on Kokusho the Evening Star. Despite my superb start, turn 6 Seshiro the Anointed, I actually drew well enough to put pressure on Tim's slow hand. On the turn before lethal damage would come across, Tim resolved Gifts Ungiven to find his infinite Ethereal Haze combo.

Game two started with turn 3 Kodama's Reach against a turn two Sakura-Tribe Elder from Tim. I decided to run Cranial Extraction on my fourth turn and debated between Gifts Ungiven and Soulless Revival. I hoped he would still be relying on the combo, so I named Soulless Revival and saw a hand of two land, Kodama of the North Tree, Gifts Ungiven, and Kokusho the Evening Star and a deck with no combo. Apparently Columbus did not agree with TOGIT on sideboarding strategy. His Gifts Ungiven on my end step found some legendary creatures and I could not keep up for the rest of the game. Our team has been disagreeing about what to name, but I am beginning to think Gifts Ungiven is not a bad choice.

Round 2 vs. Mattias Jorstedt (Snakes)

This mirror match was not all that exciting, but we had a great conversation over the Slaughter on the table. Game 1 he Accelerated with Orochi Sustainer and Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro. Two Sosuke's Summons and a Seshiro the Anointed later, I was easily knocked off.

Game two was pretty similar though I killed his Sachi with a Hero's Demise to try and slow him down. I had Seshiro in my hand but it came down one turn too late as his Snake tokens were allowed to attack once with his Seshiro on the table. Then, as I remember, he had Time of Need that became legendary snake lord number two. Not having acceleration stinks, but his hands were so good it would be hard to keep up. This match seemed to prove Sachi's worth in the deck, so keep that in mind if you choose to run Snakes in the PTQ season.

Round 3 vs. Conrad Duncker (GBru Control)

Another type of mirror match; however, I have the advantage because the Snake engine is simply quicker than the extra removal and legends. Game 1 was won by the creature advantage I had with Sosuke's Summons.

Game two we drew many of the same legends or Time of Needed for the appropriate answers until he had an extra legend on the table called Godo, Bandit Warlord. That was plenty to win the game and send us to a single elimination game. I sped out Kodama of the North Tree and Kokusho the Evening Star. He dropped Kodama as well to remove mine and followed it with Godo who found Tatsumasa the Dragon's Fang to play with. I played Sosuke's Summons and Umezawa's Jitte on the next turn, holding back mana for Hero's Demise and swinging with Kokusho. The race was on as he lost Godo on his attack step to my Hero's Demise and he followed that up by making a blue 5/5 dragon token out of the equipment. I found a timely Orochi Sustainer to return Sosuke's Summons and swing with a Jitte-equipped snake token. Not having an immediate answer to Jitte, Conrad joined the poor group of players who walked away from Philadelphia with no money. I felt a little bad for him in reality because I know how I would feel at 0-3, but I also felt like he (like myself) was running a slightly sub-par version of his deck.

Round 4 vs. Shuuhei Nakamura (GUR Frat PAddle)

I was feeling fine, one Benjamin in my pocket and still alive in the 1-2 bracket. Then I read my pairing for round 4 and said, "what the heck is Nakamura doing in the 1-2 bracket…didn't I watch him in the finals of the last constructed Pro Tour?" I knew he was playing the PAddle deck but still had not quite figured out how it worked having only seen strange things like Konda's Banner on Meloku the Clouded Mirror beside me in previous rounds.

Game one I had a quick start with turn four Kodama, but it did not hold up against his Meloku and Jitte. The game was very close despite me not finding an answer to his Jitte, so I felt confident bringing in more removal for the next two games.

Game two I had played turn four Kokusho, turn five Nezumi Graverobber and Sosuke's Summons, turn six Kokusho number two for the win. Shuuhei returned the favor in game three though.

I thought I had a great opening hand with turn four Kokusho and Rend Flesh and Hero's Demise backup. He played turn four Keiga the Tide Star which I blocked with my Kokusho on his fifth turn hoping to bait out more legends to kill with my removal. Well he had more than a few legends. Turn 5 Meloku found Rend Flesh, turn 6 Meloku found Hero's Demise, but there were no answers for turn 7 Meloku, turn 8 Jugan the Rising Star, and turn 9 Jugan the Rising Star (making a lot of 3/3 flying illusions to combat).

Realizing I am completely outclassed by the Japanese master, I wish him luck and remove myself from the game and tournament. As most of you already know, I was just the first victim on Nakamura's eight match winning streak and race into ninth place. I do not think I will ever find a harder opponent in the 1-2 bracket of any tournament, but I felt good because I came pretty close to knocking him out.

Well, until I realize he won about $3400 more dollars than me on the weekend, but I'm not going to complain too much. Getting $100 for a 1-3 finish and playing against three well-known Pro Tour players was a good experience and I look forward to qualifying again. Which of course leads us to the second half of this article; trying to qualify for London!

The following day, I played in a PTQ for London. This was essentially a Grand Prix with only one invite, as 260 players (over half of them pro) found their way into this sealed deck event. I opened a very hard build I would like to share with the community to spark discussion and perhaps help you qualify for future Pro Tours. Here was the set of cards I opened split by color with more playable cards at the top of the list (in my opinion):

White

Waxmane Baku
Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens
Innocence Kami
Blessed Breath
Kami of Tattered Shoji
Kami of Ancient Law
Split-Tail Miko
Devoted Retainer
Terashi's Grasp
Kami of the Honored Dead
Kitsune Palliator
Takeno's Cavalry
Quiet Purity
Vigilance

Blue

Mistblade Shinobi
Soratami Rainshaper
Callous Deceiver
Gifts Ungiven
Hinder
Hisoka's Defiance
Teardrop Kami
Graceful Adept
Wandering Ones
Hisoka's Guard
Phantom Wings
Minamo's Meddling
Lifted By Clouds

Black

Pull Under
Throat Slitter
Soulless Revival
Stir the Grave
Kami of the Waning Moon
Nezumi Ronin
Wicked Akuba
Kami of Lunacy
Hired Muscle
Blessing of Leeches
Waking Nightmare
Yukora the Prisoner
2 Psychic Spear

Red

Devouring Rage
Frost Ogre
Soul of Magma
Ember-Fist Zubera
First Volley
Glacial Ray
Genju of the Spires
Akki Blizzard-Herder
Goblin Cohort
Desperate Ritual
Sokenzan Bruiser

Green

Kodama of the North Tree
Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
Strength of Cedars
Gnarled Mass
Orochi Ranger
Orochi Sustainer
Kodama's Might
Humble Budoka
Serpent Skin
Honden of Life's Web
Dripping-Tongue Zubera
2 Moss Kami
2 Harbringer of Spring
Joyous Respite
Uproot
Vital Surge
Feast of Worms

Artifact/Lands

General's Kabuto
Hankyu
Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai

Before you take a look at the deck I built, seriously consider how you would build this set of cards. I was forced into green because I had seemingly twice as many playable cards in that color than any other. I saw a lot of synergy in the white cards and decided two solid colors with a small removal splash would work the best. Well here is the deck.

The Deck I Built - G/W/b - May 7, 2005. 1 Kodama's Might
1 Orochi Sustainer
1 Orochi Ranger
1 Humble Budoka
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
1 Serpent Skin
1 Gnarled Mass
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Strength of Cedars
1 Honden of Life's Web
2 Moss Kami
1 Blessed Breath
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Split-Tail Miko
1 Waxmane Baku
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji
1 Innocence Kami
1 Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens
1 Throat Slitter
1 Pull Under
8 Forest
6 Plains
3 Swamp

I did really poor with this deck, finding myself a tourist in Philadelphia after a 0-1-2 finish. My only complaint with the deck was how slowly it played. I dropped by the Pro Player's Lounge on the way out, which was the best part of my pro tour experience (not counting the payout structure). A couple teammates agreed with my build during the PTQ, but I still do not know if it was correct. If I built the deck again, I think I would run G/r/b to add more removal and allow time for my green beatsticks to come out and play. What mistakes did I make? How would you build the deck? I hope the discussion following this article will help, as I am no limited mastermind to say the least. Until next time, good luck in Regionals and PTQ's.

David Fitzgerald, The 888 Collective

Green Deck Wins - Trinity Green Triumphant! (from March 2005)

Adding this to the blog as I do not know how long TCG Player will maintain archives of  10 year old MTG articles.

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Hello to everyone out there. While extended season is winding down in the wake of this weekend’s grand prix and PTQ’s, I still wanted to present the deck and story behind how Trinity Green took over the Detroit PTQ. A little background here is probably a good idea. I am a senior in mechanical engineering at The Ohio State University and will be moving on to grad school next year. Regardless I have played the game since 1995 and competitively in the Columbus and Midwest area since 2001. Last extended season when the banning of Tinker changed the format, I had to change my deck to something new and I tried Trinity Green. I picked up the deck the night before a PTQ and proceeded to 7-0 the swiss the next day before losing in the quarterfinals. I had more success with the deck last season, but nothing more than top 8. My roommate Thomas Wood qualified for the Columbus PT, so we worked on Red Deck Wins and Trinity for a long time leading up to the pro tour. Despite my urgings to play Trinity, Tom switched decks the week of the tournament to RDW and then proceeded to go 1-4 or something horrible like that. Then in comes Extended season. We have made small changes throughout the season, but the core has been the same since Grand Prix Boston. Tom won another PTQ with Trinity in Boston after just missing day two of the Grand Prix, so I have continued to persevere through some bad weeks and some bad play mistakes until this weekend. Despite making the worst mistake I have made in over a year of constructed Magic, I still found a way to win with my favorite old deck. Without any further ado, let me present my winning decklist:

Maindeck:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
4 Living Wish
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Viridian Zealot
3 Call of the Herd
1 Eternal Witness
3 Masticore
4 Skyshroud Poacher
3 Deranged Hermit
3 Plow Under
17 Forest
3 Rishadan Port
2 Gaea’s Cradle

Sideboard:
4 Wall of Blossoms
3 Naturalize
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Dust Bowl
1 Masticore
1 Genesis
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Eternal Witness
1 Silklash Spider
1 Biorhythm


OK so now a little more on how the deck has developed and the results. I know what a lot of people say, oh this deck has no chance against Desire or Aluren. Well that assumption is completely wrong, and it is all due to Chalice of the Void mostly. This single card has win more games since we put it in the main deck than anything but Hermit and Squirrel tokens. We started with Tangle Wire in the deck, but we found that Chalice of the Void was just better for the local varied metagame. The only matchup we were afraid of was goblins, but even that matchup is winnable if they do not have the nuts draw. Well I already told you that Tom Wood made a top 4 of a PTQ and then two weeks later won a PTQ with the deck, but here is how I have fared to give you a better example of how the deck does against the field:

1/29/05 PTQ in Columbus 2-3
L to RDW 0-2, W vs. WW 2-0, L to Affinity 1-2, L vs. Goblins 1-2, W vs. RDW 2-0.

2/13/05 PTQ in Cleveland 4-1-2
L vs. G/W Cataclysm 1-2, W vs. Rock 2-0, W vs. Affinity 2-0, W vs. Reanimator 2-0, D vs. Rock 1-1-1, W vs. Enchantress 2-1, D vs. Tog (mistake) 1-1-0.

2/19/05 PTQ in Detroit 4-3
W vs. Desire 2-1, L vs. Aluren 1-2 (mistake), L vs. R/G Goblins 0-2, L vs. Rock 1-2, W vs. Life 2-0, W vs. RDW 2-0, W vs. Fecundity Saprolings 2-0.

2/26/05 PTQ in Indianapolis 4-3
W vs. Life 1-0, W vs. Gro-A-Tog 2-1, Desire 1-2 L, Aluren 2-1 W, RDW 0-2 L, Opposition 2-0 W, and Desire 1-2 L.

Overall I was not impressed after the good results the deck had put up last extended season and this year early with my teammates. In Cleveland and Detroit I made critical mistakes which cost me Top 8 berths, so I was determined to play the deck better this time around. One more thing of note was that I found a funny looking St. Patrick’s Day hat the night before the tournament at Wal-Mart, so I decked myself out in full leprechaun style: green sunglasses, silly hat, green shirt and hoodie, green deck box, green sleeves…you name it, it was green. My poor opponents had to stare at some goofball like me in that all day, but the comedic value alone was well worth what I paid at Wal-Mart. So now let’s get on to the actual tournament results. I apologize in advance as my notes are sketchy at the very best, so I will not be able to give too many details of the play-by-play, but I hope to show some helpful facts about playing the deck.

Round 1 vs. Nigel H. playing Aluren
I had played against this same crazy guy two weeks ago in Detroit, and my horrible mistake which cost me that match was not playing Chalice of the Void at the first opportunity, choosing to play Living Wish instead. We joked about the last time and then we began the day. Game 1 I did not have the nuts fast draw, but I did get Viridian Zealot on the table with mana open to stop an Aluren at least once. I play some guys and I finally have enough mana to drop Deranged Hermit while my opponent keeps setting up slowly. He plays Aluren on his turn and passes. I have more than enough to kill him, so on my turn I swing with my whole team. Then I had the worst turn in my last year of tournaments, but I will share the embarrassment. Before blockers he is at 4 life and he drops a Wirewood Savage. I could have responded right then and there and made him go off without the Savage, but I let it resolve and he blocks my Zealot. Remember I have lethal damage ON THE STACK. Anybody with any experience at all knows what fatal mistake I made then: I sacrifice the Zealot. He goes off in response, which I completely deserve. I was so angry I wanted to drop out of the tournament right then and there, but I knew I would be looking out for mistakes better after this obvious one. Game 2 had no real excitement as Nigel drew all four Alurens and no real business. Game 3 he was just a turn quicker than me, so I’m off to the best possible start. Nigel apologizes for winning again, but I know he deserved it more than I did. 0-1, 1-2
SB: -4 Living Wish, -1 Skyshroud Poacher, -3 Call of the Herd, +3 Wall of Blossoms, +3 Naturalize, +1 Nantuko Vigilante, +1 Eternal Witness

Round 2 vs. Jacob G. playing Desire
Jacob is a very good local player, and I did not know what he was playing. It became very apparent after a turn two Sapphire Medallion. I already have Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary on line at this point and I begin disrupting him with a Plow Under. The next turn I play Viridian Zealot and Eternal Witness while keeping one of his lands tapped with a Rishadan Port. The next two turns I Plow Under twice more and that was enough to win. Game 2 I lay the ridiculous Chalice of the Void for two with another Plow Under the next turn which is enough for Jacob to scoop up the cards. 1-1, 3-2
SB: -4 Living Wish, -1 Deranged Hermit, -3 Call of the Herd, +3 Wall of Blossoms, +1 Eternal Witness, +1 Masticore, +3 Naturalize

Round 3 vs. Samuel J. playing Teen Titans
This deck was launched from my home shop The Guardtower in Columbus Ohio, so there have been plenty of local players trying this deck in recent weeks. Game 1 he plays turn 1 Careful Study discarding two lands after a mulligan. Turn two he plays Careful Study discarding Reanimate and another land. I sit amazed at my good fortune and proceed to play Skyshroud Poacher which I use to go get Viridian Zealot and Deranged Hermit for the win. Game 2 went a little better for my opponent as he Reanimated a Bosh Iron Golem into play on turn two. I already have Naturalize and Eternal Witness in my hand, but I decide to play Chalice of the Void for one and pass the turn. Samuel swings me down to 14 life with the Bosh and then passes the turn. I play Naturalize and Eternal Witness. He responds on his turn by playing nothing, so I play Deranged Hermit and proceed to win the match. 2-1, 5-2
SB: -3 Plow Under, -3 Call of the Herd, +3 Naturalize, +3 Wall of Blossoms

Round 4 vs. Di Shi playing Aluren
He watched my loss to Nigel in round 1, but he did not know exactly what my deck did I think. Game 1 I double mulligan and never recover as Aluren does exactly what it is supposed to do. Game two involves some serious shenanigans, but he gets Aluren on the table and tries to combo out. I respond to the announcement of Cavern Harpy with a Naturalize and Di’s subsequent Raven Familiar does not find another Cavern Harpy. Now around the time of middle of my next turn, we realize he did not return a creature when Cavern Harpy finally made it into play. The judge was called and a warning handed out, but Di was allowed to return Raven Familiar to his hand. At this point I did not care as I had a Viridian Zealot on the table thanks to Skyshroud Poacher and Deranged Hermits followed for the win. Game 3 I kept a one land hand with 3 mana accelerators, Wall of Blossoms, and Chalice of the Void. Thankfully Di cannot go off on turn 3, so I am allowed to drop all my creatures followed by Chalice of the Void for two. He Vampiric Tutored up a Pernicious Deed a couple turns later, but I forced him to sacrifice it the turn he played it with Viridian Zealot which left my hand of Deranged Hermit and Eternal Witness in good shape to win the game. 3-1, 7-3
SB: see round 1

Round 5 vs. EDT playing Gro-A-Tog
This was a very interesting match. My first turn was Forest and Birds of Paradise, which incited a Meddling Mage to name Pernicious Deed on his second turn. I agree to ban the card from this game and he groans the next turn when I drop Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. He goes have a quick draw with Psychatog and Quirion Dryad joining the battle. He also played Fire/Ice to kill my mana creatures. At this point he has no cards in hand but 3 Islands and a Mox Diamond in play. I have a choice between playing a sacrificing Viridian Zealot to stop his Mox or a Skyshroud Poacher and Llanowar Elves. I choose the Poacher and regret it as he topdecks Gush into an Armageddon on the next turn. The mistake did not cost me though as I had a Gaea’s Cradle left in my hand which allowed Poacher to find a Deranged Hermit which turned the game around just enough to stabilize. I win the game sitting at 1 life. Game two was less exciting, but EDT had turn 1 Meddling Mage followed by Psychatog on turns 2, 3, and 4. He named Rofellos with the Mage and I punished the decision with a Skyshroud Poacher. He topdecks Engineered Plague and makes another mistake by calling Squirrel. I poach out a Deranged Hermit which leads to a judge call that affirms the squirrels survive as long as one Hermit is in play. I proceed to poach out two more Hermits to make 3/3 Squirrels and that is enough for the victory. PS – Against Trinity, always call Elf first with Engineered Plague. 4-1, 9-3
SB: -3 Plow Under, +3 Naturalize

Round 6 vs. Paul N. playing White Weenie
Looking around the top tables, Paul could not have drawn a worse matchup. He does get Mother of Runes and Meddling Mages into play both games, but even naming Masticore was not enough to stop me from victory. His only other loss on the day was to another Trinity player, so he is just very unlucky. 5-1, 11-3
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -3 Call of the Herd, +4 Wall of Blossoms, +3 Naturalize

Round 7 vs. Brian B. playing U/G Madness
My opponent shows up two and a half minutes late and then tries to get a draw out of me for another 5 minutes before starting to shuffle. I have to play as a draw will knock me out of the top 8 due to my tiebreakers, while Brian has great tiebreakers and can draw in. We play a long and drawn out first game where the only notable play was swinging a Masticore right into a fresh Roar of the Wurm token I had neglected to realize was untapped (slips of paper for tokens stink as a sidenote). I proceed to lose the Masticore due to running out of mana, and the game falls to him with 20 minutes left on the clock. A judge decided to start watching our match at this point and we play the second game that I win easily in front of the judge. Brian begins to ask for a draw again, but I tell him again I cannot afford a draw and that I have come here to make top 8 and play for the win, not settle for Amateur Prizes. He laments that the loser will not win anything and then shuffles up. He mulligans and pile shuffles. He thinks again and then mulligans, to which the judge watching responds “you do not need to pile shuffle.” Brian is obviously irked at this comment, but shuffles up and we finally get going with 7 minutes left. We play at a considerable pace and he scoops once I get superior board position over his lackluster hand. I did keep a remarkable 1 land hand on the draw again this match, and for the second time I won with that hand. He was lucky to almost pull a draw, but I moved on into the Top 8. On a sidenote, he ended up with amateur prizes anyways.
6-1, 13-4
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -1 Viridian Zealot, +1 Eternal Witness, +4 Wall of Blossoms

Quarterfinals vs. Lloyd playing U/R Welder
Game one he double mulligans and proceeds to play two Sun Droplets. That is all though as I have turn 3 Plow Under which I proceed to repeat 2 more times for the victory. Game 2 he Careful Studies a Duplicant into the graveyard on turn one with Goblin Welder on turn two. I cannot get to six mana to play Masticore and shoot Goblin Welder before he sets up a Crucible of Worlds and Mindslaver lock with Tangle Wire and Sundering Titan for backup. Game 3 he plays turn 1 Goblin Welder but I play turn two Chalice of the Void for one. This was the third time I had kept a one land hand game 3 and won with it. He never recovers and I easily move to the semifinals. 7-1, 15-5
SB: +3 Naturalize, +3 Wall of Blossoms, -3 Plow Under, -3 Call of the Herd
(The other quarterfinals saw Trinity Green defeating another U/R Welder deck, Kiki-Jiki Control defeating RDW, and Temporary Solution defeating something unknown)

Semifinals vs. Steven playing 5-color Tradewind Kiki-Jiki Control
Steven is a great local player, so I knew we were in for a good match. I will sum up game 1 by saying an hour and a half later, I finally drew my Gaea’s Cradle to shoot down his 8-counter Spike Weaver. He had 25 turns to draw Armageddon or Tradewind Rider and I had just as long to draw Gaea’s Cradle, but in the meantime I set up the Genesis and Masticore and Eternal Witness lockdown to keep going while disrupting his Kiki Jiki and Eternal Witness silliness whenever it popped up. I do not know if he played the game perfectly, but Masticore was good enough to win. I probably activated his shooting ability 40 times this game. Game 2 was much more uneventful as I played meaningful cards before turn 4 this time and won easily. 8-1, 17-5
SB: +3 Naturalize (for Aether Vial), +4 Wall of Blossoms, -3 Plow Under, -4 Chalice of the Void

Finals vs. Jesse playing Trinity Green
I had been talking to Jesse and so knew he ran Sword of Fire and Ice. In the mirror match this card is amazing, so I offered him the travel award and he offered me the slot and we both walked away happy. This was his first ever PTQ so I probably could have outplayed him, but I chose to take the guaranteed slot and move on to my first Pro-Tour.

In retrospect on this season, I am very happy that I chose to stick with the deck I knew all season. I really think knowing a deck and playing well is rewarded fully in this format. I definitely saw some luck in not playing Goblins all day, but Trinity can beat anything in this format. I would like to mention a couple more things before finishing this long article and report for those who want to play Trinity in the last couple PTQ’s of the season. I know my finals opponent and another Trinity Green player who made top 8 in Denver last weekend played Tangle Wire and Sword of Fire and Ice in their decks, but they cut the consistency of the deck down by removing one of every other good card in the maindeck or Wall of Blossoms from the sideboard. I would rather run a more consistent deck and having 12 mana-producing creatures is an absolute must-have since hands without a mana producer are nearly always mulligans. Tangle Wire used to be in our deck, but Chalice of the Void is necessary in the maindeck since it makes the matchups against Desire, RDW, and Aluren much more winnable. The only card I would consider cutting for Sword of Fire and Ice would be Plow Under, but that card is a last defense against Rock and is almost never a dead draw (late game it stalls the opponent from topdecking a useful card). The sideboard is very well tuned and even Dust Bowl carries its own weight when Living Wishes come into play. If you are looking for a really fun deck to play for the remainder of the extended season while staying very competitive, I recommend tapping the Elves and poaching out Hermits. Best of luck in all your PTQ’s!

-Dave Fitzgerald, The 888 Collective

Adventures in Legacy: Format Introduction and GP Indianapolis 2012

Ever since quitting competitive magic when I got married and busy with law school in 2007, I have only attended a couple of tournaments a year.  Just enough to scratch the itch that remains when you play and love a game for 12 years.  I finally decided in 2010 that I did not really want to continue playing limited formats only, and a Grand Prix in the Legacy format was coming to Columbus. 

So I did a little research into the format at the time and invested in my first real Legacy staple: Lion's Eye Diamond.  I built Goblin Charbelcher to give the format a run and learned another storm deck inside and out.  I have been a huge fan of storm and similar combo decks, and they probably hold my heart even more than the elf tribe and that little deck called Trinity Green.

At the time of Grand Prix Columbus, Survival decks and Aluren decks were the hot trend and blue decks were struggling.  In other words, a great time to be on the quickest combo deck in the format, even if it has a huge glass jaw in its vulnerability to Force of Will.  For the first time in my long magic playing experience, I had a couple real dual lands (which was admittedly, a mistake as you only need 1) and a good feel about a format that looked dead years before.

I certainly do not remember the exact match ups I faced, but I started 0-1 and 2-2 before ripping off five straight wins against the likes of Zoo, Enchantress, and Elves Combo.  My deck was just faster than other combo decks and only lost when it shot itself in the foot.  My poor start killed my tiebreakers, but my first real taste of Legacy gave me something I'd never experienced before: Day 2 of a Grand Prix.  And despite starting 0-2 on Day 2, I stuck it out and won four matches in a row to close the Grand Prix and manage a 35th place finish and cashed out despite my terrible tiebreakers (I was tied for 18th place with the worst tiebreakers of the bunch).

Just like that, a love affair with Legacy was born.  This is a format I can enjoy watching and keeping track of throughout the year at Star City events while planning my 1-2 events a year or so.  Although Modern has my group of friends excited in 2012 and rightfully so as a fixed extended, Legacy is far more interesting to me.

Between that first Grand Prix and this past weekend, I attended a pair of Star City events in Cincinnati.  In those events I upgraded to Ad Nauseam Tendrils thanks to the ability to borrow Underground Seas from Dave Bruce.  ANT does not have nearly the glass jaw as Belcher but has just as much fun in it, as you are still counting to a high number with storm.  The first SCGO was right after Mental Misstep was printed, and that card was just beginning to warp a format leaning blue heavy at that moment already.

I finished that event 5-3, which was pretty good fighting through effectively 8 copies of Force of Will (to my deck, it might as well have been).  The second SCGO came a few months later in February 2012, and I managed to talk Mike and Mike and Joey to come down for that event.  Joey audibled to drafting at the last minute, but Burton played Pox and Villa played Burn.  Despite the removal of Mental Misstep from the format, blue is still heavily played enough to make Belcher a highly risky choice at best.  I had built Elves and wanted to run that, but stuck with Tendrils because I knew it better.  The results were not good, as the deck just had a very bad day.  I squeaked out a .500 record somehow (including one of my best played matches of magic ever against Affinity, where I stormed off for 7 one turn and kept an Ill Gotten Gains back to storm for 5 the next turn when I needed to get to 12 total) and called it a day.

So with four weeks to prepare for Grand Prix Indy, I kept working with the Elves deck.  Basically, I thought the format set up well for fair decks (UW Stoneforge, Maverick, and RUG Delver) which had made up about 35-40% of the format in the previous month.  Although Elves is like drawing dead in poker when it plays against other combo decks, it is built to dominate the "fair" decks at the top of the format.  I decided to roll the dice and play an elf deck for really the first time since my Trinity successes in 2004 and 2005.  And man, did it feel good.

So the stage was set: hope to avoid combo decks and make Day 2, where the field would be littered with players on the top 3 decks in the format.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  Here's the recap:

Round 1 vs. Sneak and Show: Game 1, he is on the play and comes out slow with a couple Islands and ponder, brainstorm.  I actually had him on Tendrils and tried to set up for a turn 3 win.  On turn 3 he played Show and Tell and Emrakul, while I awkwardly had a hand full of Chords and GSZ's which meant the heavy creature deck had no action on a Show and Tell (how lucky).  I could not get there on turn 3.  Game 2 he went off for a Progenitus on turn 2 and then Firespouted me on turn 3, wrecking any hope I had of a comeback.  I could not win on turn 3 through that.  Not a great matchup for me and his deck performed ideally. (0-1)

Round 2 vs. Reanimator: Lucky me, a second straight deck running Show and Tell.  On the play, he laid a turn two Jin-Gitaxis and I was not able to put enough pressure on the board on turn 2 to overcome his advantage with drawing seven cards a turn.  I mulliganed once to try and find a Leyline of the Void but missed and just went for it.  That did not end well, as I faced a turn 2 Elesh Norn and a turn 3 Iona.  There's no out for that in Elves, no matter how you build it. Sigh. (0-2)

Round 3 vs. RUG Delver: This guy had triple sleeved his deck.  Triple sleeved...which means it looked like Battle of Wits despite only having 60 cards in it.  Ridiculous!  Game 1 he put some board pressure on with Tarmogoyf and Delver of Secrets, but I managed to combo out through his limited countermagic on the turn before he was lethal.  In game two, I again fought through his countermagic to partially combo off and finished that turn with a Choke that locked the game down.  A fair deck goes down in flames and hope is still alive. (1-2)

Round 4 vs. Goblins: When I see turn 1 Mountain, Goblin Lackey, I know I am in for a race.  I laid out Nettle Sentinel and put the big elf on defense as I tried to assemble the combo pieces quickly.  However, my deck came out incredibly slowly and was unusually decimated by a Gempalm Incinerator when I fell slightly behind on creature count.  In game 2, I began comboing off in turn 3 and despite playing Regal Force, I completely whiffed on my draws.  I had seen nothing but Mountains and Wastelands to this point and wanted to overwhelm my opponent while I had the advantage, so I went ahead and put most of my hand on the board.  My opponent then goes: fetchland, B/R dual land, Perish.

Well played, goblins player. Well played.  I cannot beat that.  I lost a few long disappointing turns later to a deck I probably should beat.  (1-3)

Thought about dropping for side events at this point but decided to keep playing to enjoy my entry fee rather than risk more money on a draft or a commander game that might not last long, since the girls were at an Indianapolis museum and would not pick me up until the evening.  Might as well see if I can get on the winning side of the ledger, as I told myself I'd be disappointed with anything worse than a 6-3 finish on the day considering how well positioned Elves was for the format.

Round 5 vs. Burn: This matchup is all about winning the die roll, as the deck is just about as quick as the Elf deck.  Game 1 I won the die roll and managed to stick a Mirror Entity on turn 3 with 4 mana available to protect it should that become necessary.  It was not necessary and I swung for 33 on turn 4 to win.  Game 2 my opponent went first and crushed me before I could combo out.  Game 3 the first turn was back to me and I put about 6 elves on the table on turn 3, including Ezuri.  I also had five mana available so when my opponent tried to kill Ezuri the next turn, I did the Overrun effect and forced him to use another burn spell.  I still ground out the victory because he was inexperienced and played a second Pyrostatic Pillar when he was behind on board position and equal in life total.  I swung over with the team and made it impossible for him to win without killing himself via Pillar, which he did. (2-3)

Round 6 vs. UW Stoneforge: Another fair deck I wanted to face, yay! These two games went a lot like the RUG Delver games, except that this player had slightly more countermagic and slightly less early threats.  By the time he played Jace on turn 4 of game 1, I had lethal staring at him and even bouncing Ezuri was not going to stop that.  In game 2 he played a stoneforge mystic on turn 3, which opened the door for me to force through a Choke after having my Glimpse of Nature countered on the following turn.  Despite having the Wrath of God in hand, his tapped out Tundras made him an easy target to pick off from there. (3-3)

Round 7 vs. LED Dredge: Despite coming out a bit slow in game 1, the Dredge deck has a huge advantage here and he finally crushed me on his fourth turn.  I boarded in my six hate cards and managed to pull a Leyline for game 2.  That was enough when going first to allow me to win quickly while he stumbled to find an answer.  In game 3 I mulliganed a great hand because I had a sneaking suspicion I needed Leyline on the draw to have any chance.  A double mulligan later and I had one, and I followed that up with a second one after I comboed out Birchlore Rangers and some other elves on turn 5.  As it turns out, my opponent had the enchantment kill for one of the Leylines, but the second one made the game academic. (4-3)

Round 8 vs. High Tide Combo: I went into round 8 knowing this was likely my last round, as the girls were picking me up and Pastimes ran way too slow for us to manage even 8 rounds in 10 and a half hours.  Unfortunately, I ran into my worst nightmare in a quicker combo deck.  He wrecked me both games and had the Candelabra tech, so his deck was high quality.  I could see myself playing High Tide someday because it is a lot like Tendrils...deck manipulation to find the pieces and countermagic (instead of discard) to protect the combo.  Anyway, not much to speak of here as I was one turn away from comboing each time he went off.  Par for the course.  (4-4)

Despite the terrible finish, I really would stick by this deck choice if I had the choice to make again.  If the format stay pretty much the same, I still think Elves is one of the best options because it has such good game against the top decks in the format with their limited countermagic and their limited mass creature kill.

And in the end, I did enjoy playing the little elves again.  Unfortunately my old nemesis Goblins was there to absolutely wreck my day, just like back in 2001 when Tom Wood wrecked me with Goblins against Elves in the finals of the MML league.  So I have no idea when the next Adventure in Legacy will be, but that's OK because I've had a couple mediocre events in quick succession and have scratched the itch for now.  I'm now going to eventually turn my attention to brewing for Modern with the boys, and then also to playing with the Commander decks, which you can still pick up at your local Target, Wal-Mart, and Meijer.  Epic finds this late after release, but I'll take it.