[Report] N00b places well in Philly Area tourney with IGGy Pop

So a week or two ago, when I first saw the thread announcing the tourney in Philly, I put up a post asking if anyone was going up from my area and if I could bum a ride. I got a response and began talking to Evenpence about it, and he said I could definitely ride up with he and some of his friends. After a week of not hearing from him, I finally give him a call Friday night to confirm and see where they’re leaving. To my utter dismay, he can no longer take me for reasons irrelevant to this report. So after some deliberation, I decided at about 10 am Saturday that I was going to go to the 3 pm tournament in Philly. So I packed up a few decks, some trade stuff, and my trusty Portal Mountain Goat, and left for the tournament all alone.

I arrived about fifteen minutes before 3, only to find out that things have been running behind and the Legacy part won’t start until 3:15. Cool. More time to hang before I start. So I browse around the vendor tables for a bit and watch some of the Vintage and 5-Color matches that are going on, and I finally hear that Legacy is going to start at about 3:45. So without further ado, my decklist:

// Lands
2 Island
3 Swamp
1 Cabal Pit
3 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
// Enchantments
3 Leyline of the Void
// Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Echoing Truth
3 Intuition
4 Mental Note
3 Mystical Tutor
4 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
3 Tendrils of Agony
// Artifacts
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
// Sideboard
SB: 3 Duress
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Leyline of the Void
SB: 3 Massacre
SB: 1 Rushing River
SB: 1 Tropical Island
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
I would call it a pretty typical Iggy list with only three maindeck leyline because they’re not really necessary—I like the fourth Mental Note more—and sideboard Duresses mostly because I am really insecure with comboing into counters. I had seen some guys throwing together a Tog deck, so I was already worried going into the event, even though there were only about 12 or 15 people. Anyway, pairings went up and the first match began.

Round 1: Robert (B/W Reanimator)
This guy really seemed confidant. I was most definitely nervous, mostly because of my lack of experience with tournament magic. We rolled a die; I win the roll and draw seven. Complete crap. I toss that back and draw six that don’t look much better. I decided to keep, though hesitantly, and proceed to play land. He gets an early turn Cabal Therapy, seeing most notably the Ill-Gotten Gains, and we continue a lot of draw/go. Finally he plays a Buried Alive for Akroma, Kiki-Jiki, and Sky Hussar, Exhume’s the Kiki-Jiki, Reanimates the Sky Hussar, and swings for like 400,000.
Game 2 I boarded in a fourth Leyline and my Duresses. A turn zero Leyline on my part equals GG for him. I comboed out like turn 2 or 3.
Game 3 I kept the opening seven, only to draw into a Leyline since I was on the play. Turn two was fun, though, when I Ritualed out said Leyline—who would have thought you’d ever hardcast that thing? Two turns later I’m reporting and watching Evenpence finish his Legacy and Vintage games at the same time.

1-0

Round 2: Chris (43 Land.dec)
I keep my opening hand like a dummy because it has Leyline, Lotus Petal, and a Brainstorm. Only thing is, Leyline doesn’t hurt this guy, and my Brainstorm doesn’t give me a land. I proceed to get stomped on by 4 Mishra’s Factories.
Games two and three end up being very similar in my notes, having me going from 20 to 19 and him going from 20 to “X.”

2-0

Round 3: Mike (G/W Beats)
At this point I’m gaining some confidence and thanking God that I have yet to face a deck that runs any form of countermagic. I sit down across form this guy and chit-chat asking him about previous rounds and such, and finally get to the gaming. Game one I apparently had a pretty decent hand and comboed out while I had 18 life, and he had a sideways Silhana Ledgewalker. Game two was a little more interesting. Turn one he plays Fyndlhorn Elves, turn two is Rule of Law, turn three is Troll Ascetic, turn four is Rule of Law, and turn five is Ivory Mask. By this point, I’m at six life with one Echoing Truth and enough to combo out in my hand. I had a great plan to get around those Rule of Law, but apparently I needed to rethink things. I decided to Echoing Truth the Rules at the end of his turn with the intention of using it after I Ill-Gotten Gains, but as luck would have it, I drew into another. Thank you sideboard! Into the final game we go…

3-0

Round 4: Alex (Faerie Stompy)
Since this is a four round tournament with no cut to the top 8, we talk about IDing so we can both be winners, but the prizes are set and Alex beats me with tiebreakers, so we decide to play it out. Game one starts with Ancient Tomb? Jitte, Island? Serendib Efreet, City of Traitors? Chalice of the Void at 2. As this match is VERY bad for me, I renegotiate IDing after the first game. If I lose, I could easily get third and no prize, but if we draw no one can touch either of us. Acknowledging that I would have lost this match, I ask whether Alex would rather have the first place Judge Promo Grim Lavamancer or the DCI foil Phyrexian Negator. He says Negator. WHAT??? Negator? Are you sure? The value difference is pretty substantial. “I just can’t see myself ever using that card,” he says to me. He insisted. We reported. And there should be a Grim Lavamancer being mailed my way in a couple of days.

If you couldn’t tell already, I greatly enjoyed this little adventure. Even if I did have to do a lot of driving, the payout and experience were definitely worth it. The venue at the Montgomery County Community College was more than adequate, with the majority of the tables going unused while I was there. Also, they offered 5-Color, Standard, Vintage, Two-Headed Giant Sealed (TimeSpiral), and Legacy tournaments throughout the day. While I would love to say that I added some duals to my collection, I think that Judge Promo will do just fine. Thanks again to all my opponents who were great sportsmen, and most especially to Alex for drawing me into the first prize.

Peace,
Cisco

Props:
Mike for hosting this incredibly fun little event.
Alex, again, for letting me have the Lavamancer.
Iggy Pop for performing despite having a n00b as the operator.
Evenpence for playing simultaneously in both Legacy and Vintage events.

Slops:
Evenpence for favoring making out with his girlfriend in Delaware to driving me to and from this event.
Me for being stupid and keeping God-awful hands.
The PA Turnpike, for making this experience $12 more expensive.
Evenpence for losing simultaneously in both Legacy and Vintage events.