I just returned from the event and I am completely exhausted, but if I wait to write this I will forget everything. I have already forgotten many details.
Four legacy players from the Raleigh/Durham area, including myself, planned to attend these tournaments a few weeks in advance. About a week before the tournament, one of the players let me know that he was thinking about skipping it to hang out with his ex-girlfriend. We advised against it, but sure enough, a couple of days before, he backed out, so it was down to three. Then the day before the tournament, the third player was ill and could not attend, so it was just down to me and the driver, my friend Palmer.
We started out for Roanoke on Friday afternoon, but the highway gods were not with us, and missed signs and wrong turns turned into being completely lost in the middle of Virginia. After aborting the previous plan and regrouping, and with the help of a map and a gas station attendant, I plotted a new course, and we managed to arrive an hour or so behind schedule. We stopped at the awesome new SCG tournament center before heading to the hotel. I picked up some TS stuff, and a few more copies of a certain mirage common I will be talking about more later. Being pretty exhausted from the previous day plus driving, we put together our decks and went to bed.
Palmer woke up at some ridiculous time, and I could not sleep through the morning bustle for very long, and so I managed to be up two hours before the tournament started. We killed some time by heading the local library for some internet, and then went back to the tournament center. Most of the nova crew were there, with horror stories about the campground (there was a rainstorm on Friday night).
I wrote down two decklists, but I could only play one, and on day one I decided to go with the one I had tested more. I think the list deserves some explanation, but here it is first:
4 - all the goblin cards
3 SCG
4 STP
8 fetch
4 port
4 plateau
5 mountain
The two most important things about this deck are the 4 STPs and the 0 Wastelands. The goblins player who beat me in Richmond had a much better deck than I initially realized, and partly this was due to the only two wastelands. Wasteland is dead against the best combo in the format, and it is really weak in the mirror match. Additionally, threshold can deal with it pretty successfully, just by fetching basics, holding on to fetches, or even with Needle. Wasteland dilutes the precious red mana of the deck, and actually takes up one spell slot, which is another reason why I wanted to get rid of it. The STPs came into the deck just to clear the board more in the early game. This was another way to answer lackey, and just very efficient removal for blockers.
These ideas are great if you actually play against those decks, which is what I fully expected given my opponents in July (5 Solidarity, 5 Goblins, 3 Threshold, 4 Other). As you might have guessed, I mostly did not play against these decks. Here is what I remember from day one:
R1: P1rates
Not much to say here. Boomerang doesn't really hurt goblins.
R2: Threshold (excellent player, I never wrote down your name).
I was confident going into this match, but his draws were much better than mine and I think I played pretty poorly. Losing this match set me up with randomness for the rest of the day.
R3: 43 Land
Turn 1: Taiga, Manabond -> Tabernacle, Maze of Ith, Mishra's Factory, Barbarian Ring...fuck
R4: Affinity
Awesome! I win one again.
R5: Suicide/R
This match went to three games but I lose to very early Negators in the last one.
R6: Enchantress
R7: EBA
In between losing to lands, I managed to watch some games, including the middle of a Solidarity mirror.
I finish in the 20s or something. At this point, I was pretty disappointed both in my performance and my deck, especially since NOVA owned the top 8, and I felt like I should not have lost to Threshold 2-0. We took a huge group to get dinner at some local place, so we could all hear Gearhart tell stories about how awesome he is (top 4). I tested with Anwar, the creator of Suicide/R, and did very poorly. Since I played in the losing bracket, I had no idea what the meta was for day one. The players who did well told me the environment was actually pretty typical. That night I contemplated switching decks. I tested that night against Threshold with my day one list, and got crushed, which made me want to switch even more. I went looking through my cards and realized the other deck I was thinking about playing was still in Raleigh - the only Legacy cards I didn't bring. I probably would have played Goblins anyway, but having the decision made for me helped me to focus.
Remember the other decklist I wrote down on day one?
The story of [my modifications to] this deck begins in July, when I
lost to the mirror at D4D Richmond. Afterwards, I began to focus more on the mirror, because I had a very good record against Solidarity and Threshold at those tournaments (out of eight matches, I lost one, to Solidarity). However, my loss to Goblins seemed much more significant, due to the lopsidedness of the games and the possibly the stakes. Initially this led me to consider splashing white. The white splash has had a lot of success, but I have not done well with it, and after my losses day one, I decided not to play it again.
As good as it is, Legacy Goblins has always had some mana problems. It is heavily reliant on AEther Vial, and can be susceptible to land destruction, or even it's own Wastelands, since the good spells cost three, four and five mana each. This is most clearly visible in the mana curve of the deck, which has a huge hole at two. For anyone who has played aggro in any other format, having a hole here is obviously a big problem. This inconsistency is obscured by the power of the one-drops, and the other potential turn two plays. I had played through this problem, but it has always been an issue for me and I wanted to do something about it. I have been making lists of two-drops and reassessing them for a long time now, but nothing has been applicable enough to put into the deck.
The two-drop hole is obscured further by another issue. Almost every deck has developed ways to prevent turn one Lackey from ending the game. Cheap removal and cheap blockers are everywhere. I only triggered Lackey a handful of times this weekend.
At the same time, there was another problem. AEther Vial is a card that can determine the outcome of games - when active, it provides a huge advantage, and when stopped, can turn off an entire hand. Goblins runs its own AEther Vials, and Threshold runs Pithing Needles to stop it.
Now, it's definitely not new tech by any means, especially since it was widely publicized after GP Philadelphia, but using it as a threat instead of a toolbox answer is quite different. Goblin Tinkerer addresses both of these problems at the same time. I really wanted to play it on day one, even telling my hotel roommate as much, but experience is usually more important, so I went with white. On day two, I no longer had these reservations.
We picked up another guest at the tournament the day before - Calosso. I managed to get a little more sleep on Sunday morning. I was still disappointed with my losses day one, and I wasn't really feeling good about my chances. I finalized my sideboarding after registration, and just hoped for some good matchups in the early rounds. Here is what I played day two:
2 SGC
4 Ringleader
4 Warchief
4 Matron
4 Incinerator
4 Tinkerer
4 Piledriver
4 Fanatic
4 Lackey
4 Vial
4 Wasteland
4 Port
4 Foothills
4 Mire
6 Mountain
At last, the pairings went up, and I receive this gift:
Round 1: RGW Control, Kevin Binswanger
Definitely a matchup I was happy about. Game one goes very quickly as he spends all his turns cycling lands. Game two goes much longer. He gets out rift, slide, four wall of blossoms, heirarch, grunt, and lots of mana. I sneak in damage here and there, and eventually SGC for the final eight points.
Winning round one makes a huge difference for me, and I'm glad to be on the right track.
Round 2: Threshold
I lost to this deck and this player round two the previous day, so I was not excited. However, I manage to be aggressive, and I think I played much better. I traded piledrivers with his blockers and kept the pressure on. He can't stop the beats game one, and I move on to my sideboard. During either game one or two, a needle is down on something important, and then a second one comes down on a resolved Tinkerer, which I thought was awesome. Game two, an REB backs up my Lackey, which may have actually connected. I play very aggressively and win game two as well.
2-0
Round 3: RW Goblins
I think I take game one here, but the match goes quickly. My opponent opens with Lackey every game, and he draws too many cards with Ringleader. I take my first loss.
2-1
Round 4: TNT?
I am a little surprised by this deck, and lose game one to Triskelion recursion. In game two my opponent is not very sportsmanlike and calls the judge a couple of times on me. He is up a game and stalling, but I manage to find a win with a few minutes left in the round. Game three goes to time, but I figure out how to pull off enough damage in extra turns. Close match.
3-1
Round 5: Goblins
This is the winner from day one. Game one he is completely manascrewed, and he can't put together a defense. I think game two is well in his favor, but I get to go first in game three, and take advantage of every attack window. He clears my board, but I cast fanatic to do the last point.
4-1
Round 6: Goblins
I am paired with the only 12 who cannot ID. There is a complicated series of cut dependencies, and I can't focus on this issue while I am playing my match, which I have to do. I get the story beforehand, but do not receive critical information until I have already defeated my opponent this round. I would have preferred not to risk losing a game three, but I was not aware of the circumstances. With the help of Tinkerer on Vial, I knock this Goblins player out.
Since I was the only one who played it out, I make first seed.
Top8: RGB Survival - quicksilver
Game one I get a strong hand, and keep him off enough mana to stop my attack. In game two, he resolves double plague and beats with huge guys. Game three I focus on mana denial. I use port almost every turn, waste as soon as possible, and try not to let him untap with mana creatures. Matron beats for one for six turns while I keep him off enough mana to completely hate me out. Eventually I have enough lands to finish him off. It is a good thing too, since he had triple plague in his hand, along with either burning wish or pyroclasm.
Top4: Affinity
I am happy to be playing against Affinity. I liked playing this matchup before I added the Tinkerers, but obviously they help. He wins the roll and opens by dropping about five cards on the table. On turn two he swings for ~6 flying, and I can't do anything. Game two, I blow up some of his stuff, and attack every turn. He sacs his manabase to save a Ravager, which costs him when I pyrokinesis it away. Game three I have a great hand with lots of removal. He gets one plague down, but I play through it and scramble to put pressure on. He has used up his hand to reach a high affinity, and he is in topdeck mode almost from the beginning. I kill his Ravager with Tinkerer, and deal with the counters with Incinerator. He is forced to block with Orinthopter, and soon after I swing through for the win.
The other top 4 match was RW Goblins vs. Iggy Pop. When I was told Iggy Pop lost in two games, I didn't believe it at first, but in fact Calosso was in the finals with me. In keeping with D4D precedent (except my last top 2
) and with people's wishes to get started back home, we worked out a split.
Even after playing my new list, I'm still excited about the changes. Playing with two-drops just feels better, especially since they deal with important permanents. I had a great time at this tournament, and hanging out with all the people. Congrats to everyone who did well, (you too Calosso).
