Hello, this is Dave Feinstein. I haven't been excited with t1 lately but have been frothing at the mouth to play legacy, since turn 1 kird ape is not actually a laughable play in this format. I decided to try my hand at the format by attending a GP Philly trial in the outskirts of massachusetts with my friends Paul Lyons and Dirty Mexican. 2 and a half hours later and we arrive at a store called fantasy realms, which might as well be in Albany since it's teetering on the line. A very healthy turnout of 20 people show and I recognize plenty of faces, which is not a good thing since I really want to go to Philly but won't do it without byes.
For those who know me, the following decklist will shock and surprise as there are no green cards in the maindeck. For those who really know me, it won't be shocking to find out what the starring creature is in this MONO RED deck.
Ape Shit4 Kird Ape (yeah, I'll splash for him!)
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Jackal Pup
4 Incinerate
4 Hearth Kami
4 Magma Jet
3 Fireblast
1 Forest
2 Wasteland
1 Barbarian Ring
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga
9 Mountain
Sideboard:
3 Red Elemental Blast
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
(^High Tide can kiss my ass)
4 Naturalize
4 Lava Dart
The deck is not exactly rocket science, but there are actually some tricky plays that need to be made at least once a match and they usually involve magma jet and correctly scrying. Early drops are very very key, particularly knowing what turn 1 creature to start with. If my opening hand is Kird Ape and Jackal Pup, I'm going to usually start with the pup believe it or not. It's hard for me not to run out my favorite and most broken creature of all time on turn 1, but against a non-red deck the pup basically reads 'This creature deals four damage before it is bent over by a more superior creature.' Now Kird Ape, he has no equal, so you can run him out there on turn 1 or turn 21 and the result will be the same (the death and destruction of your opponent and hearing the screams and lamentations of their women). Also, with the very high ratio of wastelands in this format I find that the most broken play in any format ever (turn 1 taiga/kird ape) just isn't the greatest. So unless I'm holding 2 green sources I think it's always correct to play Puppy before Kirdy.
The sideboard is very straightforward, with hate being aimed squarely at control and combo. Sadly, no combo showed up (if you don't count the horn of greed/honden of each color deck <same person>)which shocked the hell out of me. High tide is a freaking wrecking ball but no one had the balls to play it. The field was predominantly Red, with goblins and burn clashing all over the place. My favorite metagame deck, white weenie, only had one player representin'. I like white weenie because it just smacks around red decks and can go toe to toe with most of the field... I knew facing white weenie would not be a picnic and just hoped to dodge it.
Round 1: Dan /w White weenie
So much for that. Normally, I'd cringe at this matchup, espeically since I've played Dan before and he's a Pro tour caliber player. When he sits down and starts complaining about having to run the deck, I was puzzled.Â
Game 1: I lead with kird apes. he drops the pro black soltari guy. He taps 3 to cast empyrial armor. I win the race with just enough damage.
Game 2: He drops crusade and some guys. I burn the guys. I have yet to see silver knight. He has a full grip and passes the turn. I'm holding a legion of burn and can start going to his dome, but my memnarch sense tingles and I realize he has no silver knights and is instead running honorable passage. Sometimes you just know. So I pass for a bit and wait for him to play another guy and try to armor it. This is why I hate e. armor... if you know it's coming you just can't lose. This doesn't apply for just burn either, as most other decks have a way to totally negate the spell. The most popular non burn removal spell is definitely plow, and I saw plenty of it at the trial. Just that reason alone makes e. armor totally not worth it in my opinion. Back to the game, I burn the guy in response, he taps 2 to honorable passage, I burn it in response again. He says I still take 3... I inform what the words "In response" mean and we settle that without a judge call. I think I'm in the clear but he drops soltari priest and then worship. I ignore worship and start the burn at his head, since my entire hand is burn except for naturalize. Another race situation occurs as I have to topdeck that last burn spell to finish him off and do it just before I do to a crusading priest. Tip: Destroy the worship before aiming lethal at your opponent, or it isn't lethal. I almost forgot to do that :p
1-0
Round 2:
Paul Lyons with Goblins
Paul and I lent each other cards for our decks, and our sideboards are almost identical. The key difference is that between the two of us we only had 4 cursed scrolls and 4 lava darts. Cursed scroll costing you your first born will do that. We both agreed pre-tourney that he would need the scroll more than me, so I settled for the darts. After the tourney, I must say I don;t think the darts are going anywhere. They were being sided in almost every time and were doing things that scroll just couldn't do (mostly because getting to and staying at 3 mana reliably is a challenge for my deck).
Game 1: I lead with Kird Ape. He leads with Lackey. That's like Aces against Two's pre-flop. My Aces hold up.Â
Game 2: I fall in love with a one land hand that has plenty of one drops, including my muse. It doesn't help that the one land is a taiga, so I foolishly keep. He has the wasteland, my Kird ape is circumcised and I hang my head in shame.
Game 3: I lead strong with some guys, he's starting slow. I burn his first few threats and get him to 13. He taps out to drop a second warchief with 4 cards in hand. I'm holding a magma jet . Remember when I said the tough plays usually involve magma jet? Well this one wasn't so tough, but I still screwed it up. I tap 2 and cast the jet, he starts to put chief in the yard when I inform Paul that I was aiming it at him. Why did I do this? Who knows. I probably thought that I could scry to a fireblast to finish him off, but even if I scry to it I still can't hill him unless I draw a fireblast and random bolt consecutively. As is mathematically correct, I do not scry to fireblast + 3 damage spell. I swing in and he lets the guys through. I let him untap. He drops a hasted lackey and piledriver and just bends me over. A sharpshooter also finds its way in here and I lose a game I shouldn't have. I'm not mad at the deck because I screwed up trying to go for the fancy play when I should have just cleared jetted the damn chief.Â
1-1
Round 3: Nick with burn
Nick was a very nice guy and gracious opponent. Game 1: He leads with Jackal Pup. I chain it. He gets stuck on one land and I burn him out. Game 2: We Both fire burn spells at each other back and forth, basically racing to a fireblast. He draws his first.
Game 3: we again both fire the same spells at each other, with chain lightnings getting passed around like a slut on prom night.
It again comes down to who can draw fireblast first, but this time I luck out and draw it before him.
2-1
Round 4: forgot his name with Non ATS survival. Forgot his name wasn't a bad guy, he had showed up with his buddy Also forgot his name. Both of them ran very techy Survival builds that swapped out the blue for white. this meant that I was not only up against brushopper, but also his good friends ravenous baloth AND exalted angel. Yippee.
Game 1: Forgot his name comes out strong with turn 1 birds, turn 2 survival and squee pop. He is holding baloths but never reaches that crucial fourth mana and I eek out the win with my random barbarian ring. W00t.
Game 2: Forgot his name shows leads with a chalice for 1. Ruh Roh george. I skillfully peel a naturalize then drop an army of weenies. He draws a mountain of lands.
3-1
Round 5 I draw with Also forgot his name. Paul glides in as 4-0-1 and dirty went something like 0-11. Good old Suicide black.
The top 8 was predominantly red, with variations of burn and goblins making it in. I don't like Ball lightning red but two of them made it in there so I guess it can't be that bad. There was also a landstill and a pure block affinity in there. Notably, Forgot his name and Also forgot his name both make it with their techy survival build. This spells pure and utter doom for this top 8, because other than the landstill I think both survivals will just pillage and plunder their opponents. Lucky for me and Paul, we are the first round opponents for Also forgot his name and the sneaking into top 8 om two losses forgot his name.
Quarterfinals: Also forgot his name. Also was very friendly, even more so than Forgot his name. I really do wish I remembered their names. If his deck does what its supposed to then I should be crushed.Â
Game 1: I give it a go with some early drops and burn/waste his resources where and when I can. This unfortunately only goes so far, as he eventually draws that fourth mana source and the writing is on the wall. Baloth and angels come out to play and I get THWOMPED.
Game 2: I guess this can be called a game. He bent me over so bad here that not only did baloth and angel come out to play, but squee was HARDCAST just for kicks.Â
Oh well, no byes this time around. Paul also predictably get destroyed by Forgot his name. Forgot and Also forgot face off in the semis while Block affinity faced off against landstill. 20 minutes later and the finals was Forgot his name versus affinity. I don't know who won.
All in all I was very pleased with the deck. I love this format to bits and pieces. the rounds go by so fast. The only changes I see making in the forseeable future is sulfuric vortexes in the sideboard and possibly one more wasteland in the main. That's really it, as I think the deck is picture perfect otherwise. As much as would love to lay claim as being the guy behind the mono red kird ape deck, I modified this from a list played by the mysterious 'Dev the ninja', who finalsed a 73 person legacy tourney 3 weeks earlier. The changes were very minor, with the main one being incinerates in the main. How could you not maindeck that card? The hearth kamis were also new additions and were stellar. I really think this deck is tier one and is a 'blast' to play.Â
Man oh man, what a pun. Well I'm off, comments always welcome. Tootles.
- DAVE FEINSTEIN