Long time reader, first time poster, but I suppose I can make some kind of tournament report.

I've played legacy twice before. Once at a Lotus Recall Tournament at Kettering and at Pandemonium's Ruby tournament. I typically play the pro tour formats, and as there is a GP coming up, decided to pick up legacy. I'm not particularly adept at combo, didn't like threshold, and felt the Loam deck was probably slow and underpowered. Naturally this led me to Goblins. I've always been a fan for beatdown strategies and I really felt the mana denial in Ports and Wastelands were very efficient when coupled with the possibilites of Vial and Lackey.  I got a list from Owen Turtenwald/Jeff Rabovsky and they both had great success with it. It had green for tin street hooligan and sb'd krosan grips, but after testing a little, I felt that I really wanted strenght of the mono colored mana base. I also played 23 lands, which I think is a must. Goblins can be really mana hungry.  So I tested the list a little. Originally it had SB'd Tormod's Crypts, however I felt that the metagame in Michigan, especially for this tournament would shy away from combo and feature more creature strategies, so I replaced them with Jittes. I had read a lot of forums and articles on Legacy as I wanted to be as prepared as possible. I liked Coppola's list and really thought Tinkerer had an advantage over Tin Street.

I had spent the weekend in Chicago looking at colleges and got home late Saturday night. I had worked over the decklist in my head on the way back. orignally I had maindeck Kiki Jiki, but upon further examination it seemed to be quite win more. It's a card that never helps you when you're behind, so I replaced it with the 3rd Siege Gang Commander as it always has the ability to swing games around.

Woke up early, but felt pretty sick so I popped a few aspirins, grabbed a few waters, and was off.

Showed up and Pando and thought about buying some Patron of the Akkis in case Engineered PLagues showed up in full force. Eh, whatever.

Deck Registration:

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Warchief         
4 Goblin Matron
2 Goblin Tinkerer
4 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 AEther Vial
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
2 Mountain       
5 Snow-Covered Mountain

2 Pyroblast
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
1 Goblin King
3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Goblin Tinkerer

Before the tournament I helped my friend, Mike Shanks, assemble a decklist almost exactly like mine. Also talked with Paulie about his deck. He was supposed to play another deck, but audibled into his U/w creation. I'd played against it a few times before in testing, but it seemed a little more complete in real life. There was the obligatory smack talk the night previous. I told him i'd bring anarchies for his little white creatures and plains.

Round 1: Canadian Nats Runner up Mike Vasovski with R/g Goblins.

Game 1 is kind of a blur, but I remember containing his resources and attacking him with Goblins.

Game 2 was pretty lopsided. He attacked with a sizeable crew but I had a timely Pyrokinesis. He didn't have any in his deck, and instead had FTK. I believe a guy with Jitte took it down.

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2: Mike Shanks with the near 75 card mirror match

Game 1 was a blur of goblins being thrown at each other. Basically my team and 2 Siege Gangs traded for his team and 2 Siege Gangs. Then I Matron'd the 3rd up and it went uncontested.

Game 2 I had 2! Pyrokinesis and my alpha strike won.

2-0 (4-0)

Round 3: Vintage All- Star Paul Nicolo with U/w Control

Game 1: I had a solid beatdown crew that got him down to just under 10. He Wrath'd then I rebuilt with a Ringleader and Siege Gang

Game 2: Sigh. By the end of the game 3 Tivadar's Crusades had been cast, mulitple StP's and a Wog. I still could have won, but he had 3!!!! Ghostly Prisons out and I couldn't beat through it in time before a Morphling flew over and kicked me around.

Game 3: My t1 Lackey goes unopposed and brings in his buddy Siege Gang. This coupled with a Port and 2 Wastelands ensures the match.

3-0 (6-1)

Round 4: Craig Wescoe with B/G/W aggro

Game 1 was really close. He had a sizeable beatdown crew and on one turn attacked with a rootwalla, mongrel, and mishra factory to put me at around 7. I stabilized with Siege gang. On his next attack i threw them in front of rootwalla and factory, as he had 1 card in hand. I then chained some ringleaders and was soon attacking him back for lethal.

Game2: Jitte. Didn't matter how terrible my men were. They had Jitte. One turn my Jitte'd Fanatic traded with his Mongrel and whole had (3 cards). With damage on he asked if i was sacking fanatic to deal a damage (thus giving me no jitte counters) tricky tricky. I decline the damage and gain 2 counters on Jitte.  Another Fanatic from my hand picked up the stick and took down the match.

4-0 (8-1)

Round 5 vs. Austin Durling (MATCH LOSS)

Between rounds I ventured to McDonalds for food and drink as I was really feeling quite bad. After I laid in my car with the air conditioning on until I got a phone call from Paulie. I ran in, but sure enough the clock was at something like 41 minutes. Sigh. Judge Dave gave me a match loss for disrespecting his tournament. Whatever, 4-1 will make it and I shake it off.

In all honesty, I probably would have played this match out, as I had a friend at table 5 fighting for a berth.

Top 8 was:

Me vs. vasovski (goblin mirror)
paulie (u/w control) vs. todd davis ( thresh)

chris walton (truffle) vs. Austin durling (landstill)
Shawn Cyr (landstill) vs. Craig Wescoe (b/g/w)

Top 8: Vasovski with the mirror (again)

Game 1 he overcomes me as he is able to stick a warchief and his spells come out a turn faster than mine.

Game 2 Kinesis

Game 3 Jitte + kinesis

5-1 (10-2)
I won, Walton won, Todd won, and Craig won.

me vs. todd
craig vs. walton

Top 4: Todd Davis w/ UGW Thresh

Game 1 I just keep attacking. I figure I have the inevitability in the matchup with Siege Gang and Ringleader so I just keep beating down. He gets to like 3 before he has to seriously start chump blocking. He drops to 2 and I play a warchief for the win.

Game 2 I get him down to around 5 then he Hail Storms my team. I lead with a Pyro Pillar which resolves, then follow up with a matron for siege gang. I had also Pyroblasted 2 of his FoWs.

6-1 (12-2)

Finals vs. Chris Walton w/ Truffle Shuffle

Going into the finals I was actually kind of worried about this matchup. He simply just killed all of Wescoe's creatures. Also, I seriously considered scooping to Walton, as I can obtain 2 byes off my constructed rating, however Judge Dave intervened once again. In all honesty, I just wanted the box for drafting. Genuinely sorry Chris.

Game 1. Bunch of removal spells are flung. He plays a Grave Shell which I can't get through. He taps out though, on his next turn for something I can't remember, which enables me to Gempalm his Scarab and swing for 10+. he drops to like 5 and I'm able to finish him with a Siege Gang.

Game 2. I play Lackey, he StP's. I play fanatic and wasteland his bayou. He simply doesn't have another land. I hit him with the fanatic a few more times while porting his land. He discards a few times, but I'm only beating down with a Fanatic. I eventually tap out to play Siege gang, at which point he has drawn land #2 and 3. He taps out to vindicate my Siege gang. I use my on board Wasteland to kill his scrubland, leaving him with just 2 plains. I have 2 ports for his 2 lands and 4 1/1 goblins attack for the win.

7-1 (14-2)

I lost 2 games with this deck. I think Goblins is an insane deck. I forget where I heard this, but someone said of goblins that for any given tournament, there is a best deck. And the second best deck is Goblins. I'd have to agree with this. Goblins feels like the Aggro Loam of Legacy. In extended, loam had virtually all favorable matchups and a slightly weak combo matchup. I loved loam and played it all season (to a 3rd place in Butler and 9th in Cleveland). I will for sure be bringing Goblins to the Grand Prix, however I'm pretty confident I'll be sporting the green splash for SB'd grips. I think Tinkerer has the advantage over Tin street and Tinkerer won me multiple games. Scenarios where he blew up multiple things or simply the ability to PLAY him with a warchief out. 

My thoughs on the deck:

I really liked 3 maindeck Siege Gangs
I'm pretty sure the green splash is the optimal version. I played mono red because I was scared of having a shakier mana base
The Jittes were suprisingly good in the sideboard.
All my matchups felt favorable, especially considering I didn't play vs. any combo

Props:
RIW Hobbies for sponsoring me and providing a playtest group of michigan's finest
playtest partners including Paulie, Ari, Boggemes, and DJ Kastner
Owen turtenwald for giving me the initial list and bring right about hte kiki jiki/siege gang thing
me, for telling paulie my hand in game 3 was lackey, siege gang, and 5 lands just to see his reaction. (hehe)

Slops:
me for missing my 5th round match
dj and kyle for missing hte event
people who yell at me for my love of goblins and red mana in general