Collectibles Unlimited is going host new, bi-monthly Legacy events at thier Concord NH store. The first will be on Sunday, August 16th, and the second will be August 30th.

Entry fee for both will be $10 each, and the base prize will start out as a dual land or store credit, sliding up with more entrants. This is the initial Legacy startup here, so these first few events are to gauge interest, and get an established set of tourneys up and running.

Tourney will start at noon, swiss rounds based on attendance as normal, and it will be sanctioned.

Collectibles Unlimited is on South Street in Concord NH, conveniently off both I89, and I93.

Thanks, and we'll see you there!

-Chris

God bless your Mana Drains Mr. Diaonic, God Bless them all.  Thanks for letting me swipe them for the day.  (Depsite the unlimited proxy rule)

Here's the funny thing:  In playtesting, I kept drawing the scroll and saying "This card sucks".  I was also testing a LOT against FCG and GAT. If they won a counter war and resolved threats in Gat, or if FCG resolved a Piledriver, I basically let it eat away at my life total if I sputtered on finding a win condition.

I can thank that testing for the 2 main deck Powder Kegs which were AWESOME for me, as I saw Sligh, and FCG in Swiss. I also used the Keg to eat Moxes against TPS (huge tempo swing) and even used it to blow up Eastman's Sundering Titan in Top 8.  The testing was also great in giving me the sideboard Propagandas, which were house against the aggro decks, and against GAT round 1.  He could either attack, or cast his cantrips, but not both...

Huge play mistake.  I should not have gotten Drain, way, way huge mistake.  I just needed a way to resolve Belcher or COlossus to win.  I felt like I had established a fairly strong control of the board, and wanted to get a win condition, and had a giant lapse of intelligence.

I think that Intuition ultimately cost me the game.  

The nice thing for the Ground Seals in my deck, is if they are down, they do slow you down.  That can buy me the crucial time to set up severance and Belch.....  Stealing a win.

Sadly, that didn't happen.

lol

@ Urza:

Hey, we played a few weeks ago at Hadley when I was playing 5/3 and you crushed me with that deck.  I went with one Belcher main, one Belcher off the board and Colossus main because so many times, I drew Tinker, and just won.  Colossus is such a house against so many decks, it's ridiculous.

I hate to say this, but I was hoping to not face you in the finals, because I thought a mirror match would be horrendously complicated, and take forever...  With my Ground Seals off the board, I felt like I had a better matchup against the Slaver deck, but, it didn't happen that way... lol Congrats on getting Top 4.

Nick: Congrats again, you definately won that Mox with a solid topdeck!  I literally prayed for about ten turns that the Echoing Truths in your deck were all on the bottom, but sadly, God does hate me, and you drew one...  Congrats again.

Heya, Moderators: I'm still too much a newb to post in the tourney forum, so if you guys want to move it, that'd be swell.

I wanted to take some notes for a report, and did, but my notes are really frigging sporadic in places, so I'll write what I did write down.

We lost power at my place last night, so my fiance, friend Gary, and I wound up playtesting in the candle light.  We're dedicated.  After testing against GAT and FCG, I made the random last second choice to toss back in two Powder Kegs to my list.  Team NH with our awesome playtesting the night before....  lol

Here's the list I played tonight:
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
7 Island
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

// Broken-ness
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor

// Stuff that keeps people from winning
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Leak
2 Powder Keg
3 Back to Basics

// Stuff that makes me draw cards and stuff
2 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
2 Cunning Wish

// Stuff that makes me win
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Mana Severance

// Stuff that I side in occasionally, or wish for, occasionally.
3 Propaganda
1 Tropical Island
3 Ground Seal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 BEB
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Deep Analysis
1 Belcher

The report, for what it's worth:
Gary, the guy who drove two hours with me playing GAT
Game 1:  I mulligan to 6. He doesn't do much to the first couple of turns.  I Turn 1 Timewalk off a mox, and in my second turn I waste his Trop, which really throws him off.  He resolves a Vamp Tutor, and then I resolve a Belcher.  
I let him cast a Yawg Will, which he proceeds to draw ludicrous amounts of cards with , but still doesn't find a threat.  I Belch him to death over a few turns, with him never resolving a threat against me.
Game 2 He mysticals, then casts Tog. We fight a counter battle, Tog resolves.  I cast Propaganda to slow him down.   A turn later he's managed to ping me a bit with the Tog, but can't attack AND cast spells because he's not drawing lands.  He casts Dryad, which I Drain, but he Forces and it resolves.  I draw Mana Severance the next turn holding a Belcher. I cast Severance. He attacks for 1 with Tog.  I topdeck AK, cast AK for 4, cast Belcher, lotus and win.

2-0,  1-0

Round 2 Travis playing TPS(I think)
Travis casts a turn 1 Timetwister which I force. He unfortunately has Force backup, and we both draw a new hand. My second hand does have three FOW's, but only a mox Pearl for mana sources.   He attempts a Windfall for 3 or 4 cards, which I force. He then tutors, plays lotus, and I force the lotus.  Later, he admitted if I didn't force it, he casts the tendrils in his hand for the win.  A turn or two later he Yawg Wills, casts LED, Demonics, Duresses me, taking Back to Basics(only good card I had), and does little more.  Next turn, I cast Keg, and pop it for 0, taking three moxes of his and a Lotus Petal.  I play Belcher, and say go.  He attempts Memory Jar, which I Drain.  I use the Drain mana to Belch for 0 and burn for 2.  Next turn he Dark Rits into Necropotence, which I leak, but he pays.  He then sets aside 4 cards, taking him to 4 life.  The next turn he manages to Tendrils me for 10, but then scoops as he's got no win condition left.
Game 2 He wins somehow. All I have for notes is us fighting over a Welder on the first turn.  After seeing the Welders, I board in the trop and Seals.
GAme 3.  He Tinkers for Pentavus on the second turn.  I tinker for Colossus on my second turn.  Colossus > Pentavus.

2-1,  2-0

Round 3 John playing Goblin Sligh
Game 1 he casts a few Goblins, which he turns sideways a few times.  I Drain a Lackey, and then Tinker for Colossus.  Colossus > Goblins
Game 2 I keep a HORRIBLE hand because it has Powder Keg.  Like the retard I am, he casts a first turn Lackey, which drops a Seige Gang, and then casts a Piledriver.  In typical fashion, I die a horrifying death.
Game 3  He cast a first turn lacky.  I cast a second turn Intuition after he drops a Seige Gang. I intuition for 3 Propagandas.  I cast propaganda, and he doesn't draw another land for about 8 turns.  I manage to not draw a single threat until he pings me to 2 life. I then HARDCAST COLOSSUS.  Moxes are so tech.  He can't attack into Colossus, and I'm holding like 4 counters anyway.  I build two Kegs to 1 and 2, blow all of his goblins off the table, and swing for 11.  He casts a Warchief, which I let resolve.  I then cast a Belcher, Belch the Warchief.  He responds by Fireblasting me, which I drain, then proceed to win by attacking.
2-1, 3-0

Round 4 David (Eastman on TMD) with Cerebral Assassin
I win the roll and play first.  He cast a Welder, which I force.  He casts a second Welder, which I Drain.  He then resolves a Welder and a Ancestral, and welds in a Platinum angel.  He draws a Bazaar, discards a Sundering Titan, and Welds out something for the Titan, and proceeds to do this several times and destroys all my land.  I enter my scoop phase.
Game 2 I take a walk on the first turn, and on the second drop Back to Basics which he counters after Ancestralling himself.  I peter out after that, and he proceeds to violate me in humiliating fashion. I think the Angel showed up again.

0-2, 3-1

Round 5, Jeff, playing some form of Workshop deck
I win, play island go.  He strips island.  I play island, go.  He plays worskhop, Crucible, I brainstorm in response, but find no FOW.  He then casts a second COw, and turn or two later tinkers it out for a Sundering Titan, which I can't do drap about.
Game 2 I keep a questionable hand with all wastelands and a FOW. I force his first turn welder, but he drops Worskhop turn 2 and Chalice for 2.  Very much not cool.  I draw a third waste and my strip the next three turns, but eventually he gets another welder resolved and welds in Platinum Angel. Beats ensue, and I yet again become a loser.

0-2, 3-2  I'm actually not that bummed, because my tiebreakers are phenominal, and if I win, I can squeek into top 8.  So, I try to win.

Round 6, Mark playing Food Chain Goblins
I draw Ticker after draining a piledriver.  Colossus > Goblins.
Game 2 He gets a first turn Lackey, which I let resolve because my hand is broken.  He attacks, drops Seige Gang.  He casts piledriver, which I leak.  I then cast Mana Severance with 6 mana in play holding Drain, Brainstorm, and Belcher.  He attacks, drops a piledriver off the Lackey and says go.  I brainstorm, which he pyroblasts.  I take my turn, cast Belcher and win.

2-0, 4-2

We sit around for half and hour and after the final round ends, I squeek in as the 8th seed on tiebreakers.  I am so lucky.

What I saw of Top 8 was this:
Cerebral Assassin
Control Slaver
Mono U Control/Belcher
TPS
Trinistax
Mono U Control/Belcher
Workshop aggro(Jeff from round 5)


Top 8, Eastman, again.  Before we sit down to play, he laughs, and says that I'm gonna crush him now because my deck sucked in Swiss. I laugh because I know that's false because God hates me.
Game 1 I keep an alright hand, and he mulligans to 6.  He resolves a Tinker for Sundering Titan after a few turns, and begins smashing my face. I then Intuition for Belcher, Cunning Wish, and Sol Ring.  I'm holiding Leak, Walk, Colossus, fetchland, island.  He agonizes, and gives me the "obvious" choice of SOl Ring. I cast the Ring, Time Walk, and play my fetch.  In my walk turn, I draw FOW, play island, HARDCAST COLOSSUS.  Yeah, that's right baby.  So we play draw go for a few turns, and I eventually build a Powder Keg to 8, which kills the Titan, which allows me to win Game 1.  I made a lot of mistakes that game, and I'm lucky Eastman didn't drwa himself back into the game with Bazaars.  But, a win is a win.
Game 2 I get a second turn Colossus wchich we FOW fight over. He then has to animate a Titan to block. I get a Back to Basics down, and Waste a few of his lands.  I counter a second animate, and win.

I find it ironic that he called the match before we sat down.  Definately a great match for me, and I want to thank David for being a great opponent.

2-0, 5-2
Top 4
Steve with what looked like trinistax.
I win the roll, and get a second turn Colossus.  I then force his next spell, and Drain a Tinker, and the 11/11 guy tramples in for the win.
Game 2 I get a broken hand after he mulligans to 5 I believe.  He cast s turn 1 Crucible off a workshop, which I let resolve.  My turn 1 is jet, lotus, island, tinker for Colossus(holding force, drain, Wish.  His turn 2 is mox, smokestack, which I Force.  I draw an island, play it.  He casts Tangle wire, which I drain, and then win...  WOW...  Tinker, is SOME GOOD.  But we know that.  Steve was a great opponent and well, thanks.

2-0, 6-2
Finals, I forget his name, but his TMD name is Yokomoto playing Control Slaver
I win the die roll.  We fight over an Ancestral Early, which he wins.  We then fight over my ancestral, which I win.  Sadly, he draws Tinker for Pentavus, and I can't find an answer.
Game 2, my tech off the board is pretty good.  I establish really solid control of the game, even casting Mana Severance.  I Drain a hardcast slaver, and try to dig for a Belcher, but can't find one.  Eventually he resolves a Pentavus, and makes 5 1/1's. I wish for Hurkyl's recall and bounce the tokens and all his artifact mana. I resolve a Ground Seal, then a second as he beats me with a welder for 5 turns, taking me to 4. Eventually I get a Belcher, but but on the turn where I would Belch him for the win, he topdecks Echoing Truth, bounces the Seals, and takes my turn.  
I made some horrible play mistakes that game, and my opponent capitalized on most of them, to his credit.  I managed to score 17 packs over the course of the day as prizes, so my $15 went quite a way.  Sadly, I really wanted the Sapphire as it's the last Mox I needed for my set, but oh well.

I want to thank Diaonic for letting me borrow his Drains for the day, they were very, very good to me.

//Comments:
The deck was very, very good to me.  I stole at least one win of the day playing combo with the Belcher, but the majority of my wins came off the Colossus.

The maindeck Kegs were awesome for me, against TPS, and the Sligh/Goblins decks.  I also managed to kill a Sundering Titan with one, and that's just, frigging, cool.

I boarded the DA's in, like once, the second Belcher never.  The rest of my sideboard was good stuff.

Gifts Ungiven was only cast two or three times over the course of the whole tourney, and all three times, it was really, really good to me.  I definately think that I'll invest more time in testing the card.

So, that's it.  Thanks to the Wizard's Duel for hosting a good event, and thanks to all my opponents. Everyone was really cool.

I look forward to seeing everyone at Hammer's tourney the first weekend of December, and possibly before that at another event.

NH:

Manchester:
Double MIdnight Comics

Hammer'x Comics

Nashua
The Wizard's Tower

A second day would be very cool.  In fact, it'd make the trip down from NH ever better, as we wouldn't have to drive there and back in one day.

Plus, there's always a way to share a room with a few buds, so it wouldn't be that much more money.

I also like Zherbus' suggestion of a day 2 mox only tourney, as that'd make the trip more worth it

Awesome discussion guys, thanks so much for participating.

I'd love to hear more people's opinions.

Another comment:  I attended Kowal's last tourney in Hadley, and finished I think 11th at 4-2, and had a great time.  The two matches I lost were to Dragon, and to Mono U Belcher, and both losses were awesome. Very fun matches, and a strain on playskill.  I really enjoyed myself.  

I also thought the way Kowal did the prizes was excellent.  A low entry fee, and as they number of participants grew, so did the prizes.

Personally: I want to thank Kowal for running it. Depsite the fact I didn't win crap, it was still good times.


@Kl0wn:  Excellent reply, thanks.

I'm glad people are chiming in, thanks.

Adding more fuel to the discussion fire:  What are the bulk of Type 1 players playing for?  

Fun?

Or Prizes?

Myself, I love to play competitive Magic for fun, and if I win something, that's great. The deeper the prizes go, the more likely I am to pay $15, because I have a better shot at winning something.  And, players with less cards, or who are newer to the format won't complain or hesitate about paying $5 to play, which means more players, which is good for the format, right?

I'd love to play in a weekly Type 1 tourney with 20 people that only charged $5, even though the prizes might be much lower, simply because I want to play.  If I feel like forking $15 over, I can drive the two hours and try for Power.

Any more thoughts?

I've been playing Magic for quite some time now. I started buying packs at the tail end of Unlimited, and have been collecting and playing ever since.  There have been times where I've played less, and bought less, but I always seem to come back to Magic as my primary hobby.

I never played in a single Sanctioned event for any format until two years ago.  I played casually amongst several friends and my fiance, and we really enjoyed doing so.  I started playing Type 2 sanctioned tournaments when we started playing with new friends, and we really enjoyed meeting new people, and seeing new decks other than what we made at home, whether it was home-brew, or something that we put together from the 'net.

Within the last year, year and a half, we've really started to sour on the Type 2 format.  The prevalance of Affinty based decks really takes away from the diversity of the format, and the fact that we keep sinking hundreds and hundreds of dollars has made me analyze playing Type 2.  

Several of my good friends have been playing competitive Type 1 for awhile now, and they've given me the Type 1 bug.  The two main culprits are Diaonic, and Nosre.  
I'm finishing off my set of power, and getting all the important chase cards needed to play Type 1 competitively, and to tell you the truth, I've spent less money than when we were sinking cash into box after box after box of cards.

Getting to my main point, I've attended many Type 1 events the last year or so.  I've hit the last two Waterburys, made a pilgrimage to Hadley, played in five or six other random mox tourneys, Library tourneys, Workshop tourneys, etc etc etc. I've had good times at pretty much every one to tell the truth.

My main complaint is twofold, and they're not real, full complaints, but more observations.

1)  Most of the Type 1 events are $15+  That's a lot of jing for someone that's getting into the format.  $10 is better, as I can take that $5 I saved, and that pays for gas to the event.  And, if I want to hit one tourney each weekend(in a perfect world) Every 3 tourneys means I save $15, which potentially means I go to another tourney.

2) The prizes are awesome, but usually, it's winner take all.  For those folks that win, hey, that's the best way to go, but I'd LOVE to see more tournaments with smaller prizes that go deeper into the Top 8.  This would (IMHO) entice players into paying the $10, $15 or more to play, as they've got a much higher shot at making thier entry fee back.

I would be much more likely to go to an event that was only $10, but offered, say, an Abyss, and packs through top 4, then pay $15 for a 1 in 40 shot at a mox.  Many times, there's a higher chance, but it's still pretty slim.   Imagine telling my fiance that she's sinking $20 into a 1 in 35 chance at winning anything.  It's daunting to someone who doesn't have a lot of disposable income.  However, it'd be nice to go to a more major tournament with a greater prize every so often.

In theory(going out on a limb here) if we hosted more events that were cheaper to play in, we would be promoting the format to newer players, building a larger player base, which would allow us to host more tourneys, that are cheaper, with decent prizes.

So, I'd really like to hear the community's thoughts on this.  Tournament organizers as well are welcomed to share their thoughts.  I fully recognize that many people will disagree with me, and I think that's fine and dandy, but I think it'd be nice for us to talk about, to see if maybe we can make this format stronger.

I thank everyone who shares thier thoughts, and maybe I'll bump into a few of you at the Brockton tourney this Saturday for a Sapphire, or at Hammer's tourney the first weekend of December.

Thanks.

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the replies.

@arj: Thanks for the reply.  I only own one Taiga, hence the single one in the decklist.  Ideally, I'd like to run at least 3-4, sacrficing mountains.

@snotball007: Thanks for the reply.  If I get some spare time, I'll toss it fully together.
Ankhs/Fetches:  I agree totally, that's why I said the Ankhs might go.  I'm thinking the ankh could be replaced with the new Darksteel card "Shunt" it's a Misdirection in red.  Can't be all that bad.  I'm imagining sending a Ancestral my way with it... Lol...
Shrapnel blast:  5 to the face is always good.  Plus, it takes out many a beefy creature like Arrogant worms, Morphlings(only occasionally) etc etc...  I play a lot of Type 2, and it almost always goes off for 5.  My thoughts would be that after laying an early Lavamancer/Firewalker, the Blast becomes a "must counter" and if it resolves, puts the control type player on a very short clock.....

As for the "I dont think this will win anything........" line, I play in the Northeast, and the bulk of my regular opponents are ridiculously good Tier 1 players.  It's an uphill battle that I'm ythankful for. The better players you play against, the better a player you'll wind up becoming.  Also, the line was half a joke.

Thanks again for the conversation.  I'll try and test this and post some results.

I have absolutely no expectation that this deck will win any games, let me get that out of the way.  However, burn decks are... Well.  Cool.  Cool in that "hey, watch your life total shrink" Type of way.

Anyway, I give to you, Velveeta on the counter
//Mana
Mox Ruby
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Black Lotus
Lotus PEtal
Chrome Mox
4 Wooded Foothills
1 taiga
7 Mountains
4 Great Furnace

//Hate
2 Naturalize
1 Pillage
4 Blood Moon
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Molten Influence
4 Ankh of Mishra(up for debate, not sure if this is a great card)

//Dorks
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Slith Firewalker

//Cheddar
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Lightning Bolt

//Draw
4 Browbeat

Sideboard
1 Forest
3 Artifact Mutation
4 Tormod's Crypt(or Krosan Reclamation)
2 Naturalize
2 Molten Influence
3 Stone Rain

Obviously, this is a WEIRD Sligh-type deck.  It's metagamed to face a lot of blue, but here in the Northeast, control is by far and away the norm, so in our environment, it's awesome.  Non-control decks are on a short clock, and the Browbeats are seriously awesome cards.....  

Ideally(as I imagine)  you'd want to resolve an early Lavamancer or Firewalker, then protect him using the Influences and REB's.  The burn becomes "must counter" cards, and there are a LOT of burn cards.  Blood Moon obviously being high on the list.
The maindeck Naturalizes are sort of a no-brainer, and the pillage can be a game winning card versus stuff like Ith, Academy....

The Stone Rains could easily become Xantid Swarms, but then I'd want to make the deck slightly more green, and it's already meta'd to be versus blue....

Anwyway, please feel free to post any thoughts, and thanks!