The Breakdown of the Kettering Lotus tournament T8, brought to you by Jon Wilkerson and Phil Cape:
Here are the deck lists in order of Finish:
Winning Decklists:
Jon Wilkerson(CapitanJon)
Erayo Affinity
//Artifact Creatures//
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Frogmite
3 Myr Enforcer
3 Ornithopter
//Other Creatures//
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
//Artifacts//
4 Cranial Plating
4 Aether Vial
1 Tormod's Crypt
//Other Spells//
4 Thoughtcast
2 Repeal
//Artifact Mana//
4 Lotus Petal
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
//Other Land//
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Glimmervoid
//Sideboard//
4 Duress
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Darkblast
3 Engineered Plague
2 Moriok Rigger
Phil Cape
Ravager Affinity
//Artifact Creatures//
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
//Other Creatures//
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Somber Hovergard
2 Atog
//Artifacts//
4 Chromatic Sphere
3 Cranial Plating
2 Tormod's Crypt
//Other Spells//
4 Thoughtcast
//Artifact Mana//
3 Lotus Petal
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Great Furnace
//Other Land//
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
//Sideboard//
4 Shrapnel Blast
3 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Darkblast
These cards are cards we agree on for obvious reasons:
Ravager
Disciple
Worker
Frogmite
Thoughtcast
Citadel
Seat
Vault
Nexus
These cards are where we show variations in the number of cards:
Lotus Petal
Phil: I only played three because i played a bunch more land than Jon, lotus petal is best when you have a bunch of cards that say "
Affinity for Artifacts". Allso, I didn't want to cut the third blinkmoth nexus and i wasn't prepared to cut an artifact land.
Jon: I wanted more zero drop artifacts to maximize Erayo and lotus petal plus repeal is a combo.
Cranial Plating
Jon: There were 6 flying creatures in my deck, and I wanted to maximize plating hits.
Phil: I think Cranial Plating makes it possible for them to eat my tempo when invest 3 mana in an attack that can be thwarted by a one mana spell. Its obviously stil good at killing people, but drawing two can sometimes leave you threatless.
Myr Enforcer
Jon: Because i play Erayo I wanted some cheaper spells so that i could play more spells per turn (See- Ornithopter).
Phil: I wanted to push the aggro decks around with big creatures.
Tormod's Crypt
Phil: Every time i played somebody at the Pando Tourney I sided in three--i settled on two main to minimize the number of potentilly dead cards in my main deck.
Jon: I wanted another zero drop and tormod's crypt seemed pretty good against the format, I didn't play more because i Expected a more Aggro Meta.
These are cards the we did not have in common:
Aether Vial
Jon: Vial seems like one of the most powerfull cards in the archtype, it allows me to keep land light hands (you'll notice that i only play 16 lands and 4 lotus petals). I had 7 colorless mana sources in my deck so vial helped to smooth out the Disciple and Erayo drops. It helped once in the tournament with keeping it a zero counters and dropping an ornithopter in front of a goblin lackey.
Phil: I only have 14 creatures that i can ever play off it, and you want to play all of hose creatures early, so playing a turn one vial is the same as playing a turn one worker in terms of making your affinity spells better.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Phil: I tested Erayo for a while, but it always made me hold my affinity cards for an extra turn so I eventually replaced it with somber hovergaurd.
Jon: I play a little slower than Phil, so I like to keep cards in my hand while Phil likes to play out his hand.
Ornithopter
Jon: Erayo... Cranial Plating... Nuf said.
Phil: I wanted my cards to do something on their own, i played somber hovergard so that i still had the flyer for cranial plating though.
Glimmervoid
Phil: I didn't play Glimmervoid because it isn't an ancient tomb and it doesn't turn into a 1/1 flyer
Jon: I liked being able to play BB to attach Cranial Plating to one of my flyers for blocking tricks
Somber Hovergard
Jon: Phil used Affinity Spells more than I did, I played ornithopter because it was an artifact and Somber Hovergard
Phil: It's 3/2 Flyer for U, it doesn't die to kataki, serenity, and its very expensive to P. Diddy away
Atog
Phil: I wanted another creature that survives Kataki and Serenity, and it's good against red decks, it can also give you the quick goldfish you need vs non-interactive combo. Plus i needed something to do with the Great Furnaces.
Jon: I cut the red from the deck, which I later regretted because i would have loved shrapnel blast in the board
Chromatic Sphere:
Jon: I felt that with my two colored mana base, that chromatic sphere wasn't needed
Phil: I have a lot of colored spells (relatively), and I wanted another cheap artifact to raise the affinity count-- the cantrip was important for increasing my chances of seeing my unfair cards.
3rd and 4th Place:
Richard Frankelin
UBW Fish
//Creatures//
4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
3 Joten Grunt
3 Mother of Runes
//Other Spells//
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Counterbalance
4 Swords to Powshares
2 Duress
2 Stifle
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Vindicate
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
//Land//
1 Plains
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
//Sideboard//
3 Null Rod
3 Serenity
3 Engineered Plague
3 Perish
3 Hydroblast
Phil: Serum Visions Seems awful, as does counterbalance, mother of runes, and running two duress. If your plan is disrupting their mana, commit to that plan. If your plan is to attack their hand, commit to that. Don't play sub par cards just to fill your curve--bend our curve to accommodate better cards. Aether vial is a good one drop that advances your plan. Chrome Mox is another quality option to allow you to skip the one drops entirely. I'm not even sold on brainstorms--which is sacrilege, i know. I think the deck needs more creatures and more vindicates, I don't really like the Dazes, i would like to see Remand or Memory Lapse instead. Trinket Mage is an intersting option that opens up a lot of good cards, like cursed scroll ( At this point Paul Nicolo says"//
SARCASM// Needs more Bonesplitter..." Phil Followed with "I'll kill you"...) Either Phyrexian Furnace or Tormod's Crypt, Pithing Needle, and Engineered Explosives and it gets you a Top which is a combo with fetchlands.
Jon: I can't see why you would play Counterbalance when the only top manipulating cards are brainstorm and serum visions, also Mother of Runes doesn't seem to be doing what she is good at, which is protecting a hoard of creatures (there is only 14 creatures in this deck).
Stephen Bogemes
Not My Goblins
//Creatures//
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
//Other Spells//
4 AEther Vial
3 Swords to Plowshares
//Land//
4 Wasteland
3 Rishidan Port
4 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Plateau
4 Bloodstained Mire
//Sideboard//
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Disenchant
2 Armageddon
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
Jon: In a format with so many creatures i can't see playing less than 4 Gempalm Incinerator, and I heard you say that you took out Kiki-Jiki out in every game two... do you think there's a reason for that. Pyrokines owned me in game two, but when i had ravager on the board with two 4/4's it didn't do what you wanted it to. Playing the white version is th absolute correct decision hands down, only because Swords to Plowshares is amazing.
Phil: I wonder about the 3 Incinenerator, but with swords it may be correct. I don't think that Tormod's Crypt is better than Pyrostatic Pillar in th combo match-up. Sharpshooter looks worse without prospector in the deck but seems fine anyway. Pyrokinesis is a beating out of the board. It's just goblins, it does what it does and its a pretty much given as to whats in the list at this point.
5th - 8th Place:
5th Place goes to CancerStix--
UGW Gro
Lands-18
4 Tundra
4 Trops
4 Windswept
3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest
Trips-13
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
3 Portent
2 Mental Note
Beats-12
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Meddling Mage
1 Mystic Enforcer
Control Elements-17
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Pithing Needle
1 Disenchant
1 Naturalize ( This should have been another Disenchant…we all do dumb things sometimes)
Sideboard
2 Hydroblast
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Worship
3 Armageddon (the only card I never boarded in…High Tide combo was a no show)
1 Pithing Needle
1 Meddling Mage
1 Mystic Enforcer
3 Jotun Grunt
Kyle Boggemes (Michigan State Champion)
Badfinity
//Maindeck//
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Atog
2 Berserk
4 Frogmite
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Myr Enforcer
2 Pithing Needle
3 Cranial Plating
4 AEther Vial
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Arcbound Worker
3 Ornithopter
2 Mishera's Factory
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Glimmervoid
4 Great Furnace
4 Tree of Tales
4 Darksteel Citadel
//Sideboard//
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Engineered Plague
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Naturalize
2 Pithing Needle
At this point I would like to point out that Kyle Boggemes (our current Michigan State Champion and T8' Finisher of the very first Legacy Worlds) has very sloppy handwriting and misspelled most of his deck registration sheet. He also owes me 4 Tormod's Crypt.
Phil: Hey what's a thoughtcast? And why would you ever take it out? I like the explosiveness of a berserk for the purpose of the combo matchups, but it seems bad against removal spells. I also dislike his MD needles, as i often found them without good targets. Thus, they moved to the sideboard. Factory is worse than Nexus, in my opinion, as the flying is often relevant. His Sb seemed OK, but it probably had too may colored cards in it, diluting your game plan when you bring in several. Plague in particular seems unnecessary, as goblins is a great match-up for you without it.
Jon: While testing the deck i wanted berserk but when i went down to 2 colors i couldn't play them. Phil and I both agree on the nexus over the factory. I can't wrap my mind around playing an affinity deck without playing thoughtcast.
Nate Hulley
Rg Goblins
//Maindeck//
4 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Tinkerer
1 Skirk Prospector
3 Siege Gang Commander
4 Aether Vial
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Wasteland
3 Rishidan Port
2 Stomping Grounds
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
6 Mountain
//Sideboard//
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Tranquil Domain
3 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
Jon: I saw Goblin Tinkerer so some great things. IMO this is a much better goblin build because the number of gempalms is correct and the Sharpshooter+Prospecter combo is great especially with 3 Siege-Gang Commander. Phil and I were talking and we think that goblins in Legacy could be Mono Red and be much more explosive and rely less on a splash for swords, or tranquil domain, to keep the mana base stable.
Phil: First of all, this guy probably shouldn't have top8ed, not because of anything he did, but rather because i watched my Friend playing my RDW completely misunderstand his sideboard plan and spend over ten turns scrolling and double scrolling with an ensnaring bridge in play... except he kept hitting irrelevant monsters rather than his opponent, who was at 11. Finally, he drew a siege gang commander and murdered him across the bridge. Then he got a good draw g3 and bashed. As to his list, i cant understand the 3/3 waste/port split. One has got to be better than the other, and i suspect that less than four wastelands is a mistake. I guess tranquil domain from the board is there to beat the hate, but i would rather just try and run through it than add another color. At least twice i saw stomping grounds be relevantly worse than taiga, so obviously that would've helped. His goblin selection seems fine, but i would probably put in a bullet breaker for the mirror, like Pyromancer or King.
Nam Tran
RGSA
//Maindeck//
4 Ravenous Baloth
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Eternal Witness
3 Troll Ascetic
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Anger
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Viridian Zealot
4 Survival of the Fittest
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga
12 Forest
2 Mountain
//Sideboard//
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Pyroclasm
3 Tangle
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Genesis
Phil: I can't possibly believe that 4 FtKs is correct maindeck, regardless of how aggressive this format appears to be. I also can't see why this deck would not play another color, as it is very easy to do and gives you a lot of power. Wastelands aren't a good enough reason, as a green deck should not care much about it, given its ability to accelerate mana. I also wonder abut the sideboard pyroclasms--i guess no one will ever see them coming, as they kill most of your men too. Tangle seems quite janky against aggro- your game plan doesn't appear to be tempoing them out but rather to gain incremental card advantage off cip guys. Tangle buys you a little time, but it doesn't really solve any problems or further your own plan. Pillar MD might be OK, but it seems like a clear cut sideboard card. I would rather play something that fit my engine to disrupt combo decks.
Jon: I never really got a chance to watch this deck in action, so I can't really say much... I cant imagine that wastelands are good enough not to run black for Recurring Nightmare, and P-Diddy from the board to kill affinity. I'd also like to add more squee's.
Props:
RIW Hobbies.
Pam Willoughby, for being awesome.
Disciple of the Vault and Arcbound Ravager, for being unfair.
The Michigan Legacy community, for embracing us.
John Scamihorn and Brandon Adams, for putting the Event together.
The Store that let us trade Marit Lage tokens for duals straight up.
Kettering University for hosting the event.
Brian De-Mars for helping us test and allowing us to bask in his awesome presence. Viva la scarf!
Paul Nicolo for getting us into this format, and for pushing that Drunk guy at Wheat and Rye when he was talking shit.
John Scamihorn, for guiding me to the tournament, lending Brian De-Mars cards, and playing the 43 land deck. 'cause that deck's sweet.
RIW Hobbies.
SpencerforHire, for having insight into an archetype that is not yet ready for the format.
Cancerstix, for being a leader in the legacy community, and also for giving De-Mars cigarettes so i didn't have to.
Jacob Gillham, for lending Wilkerson cards.
KrzyMoose, for kissing my ass hard in his tourney report.
Slops:
Chrysler ave, for having a crane on it instead of a bridge.
Josh Wyludka, for pointing 130245483619746397 points of burn at his opponents creatures with active Ensnaring Bridge.
That one guy who yelled fuck 961984369 times in one sentence. Dude, chill.....
That drunk guy at Wheat and Rye, as well as the clowns with penis balloons at same... it made everything very surreal.
Ari Lax.
Dennis Barger.
Onelovemachine, for not coming with.
"Dirty" Di Shi.
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