The Magic Workstation Diaries of Bardo Trout

[Bardo]

I have an unabashed love for bashing players on the MWSPlay.net network. It's a hobby, a joy, etc.

For the time being, the point of this blog is to document the beatings I've administered and received playing friends and random blokes on MWS and the changes I make to my numerous decks as I test out ideas.

At no point will I be cherry-picking for this MWS blog and ignoring the times I get totally mauled be Elves.dec when I'm running maindeck Plagues. Anyway, this is really the way my games have played out, so far as I can tell from my memory and notes.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Notation. In all games, the first player listed in the match record and break-down is me. My opponest(s) is/are on the opposite end of the "-" and "vs."

Starting lists are from my Deck Bazaar article.

[Bardo]

Saturday, April 28, 2007

1-0 VoroshStill (U/B/g Landstill) vs. U/B/g Tog. Wasteland recursion with Crucible after the first is countered. I'm staring down a non-lethal Tog, but Academy Ruins + Shackles + EE on 3 = <System> Player Lost.

1-0 GAT vs. Glimpse of Nature Combo. Glipse resolves, but I Daze an important Ritual; Confidant flips Counterspell and my opponent quits, seeing the writing on the wall. Deed would have eventually demolished him. <System> Player Lost

1-0 GAT vs. B/W Confidant. I'm going through all of the draw spells in my deck but can't find Island #2. He tries to Vindicate it, I Daze. Next turn, he Vindicates it again, but I have two lands set up at this point. Unfortunately though, my opponent sucks, and gets frustrated after he attacks and doesn't understand that I can respond to Cabal Coffers pumps to his Shade with Smother before damage goes on the stack. A brief rules argument ensues. Nothing new. <System> Player Lost

3-2 GAT vs. IGGy Pop. Nice opponent, finally.
Game 1: Not much of a game. I'm quickly Tendrils'd into oblivion.
Game 2: My opening hand has a Cunning Wish and I formulate a plan to Cunning Wish for Extirpate to remove Tendrils. It takes forever, but I eventually pull it off through some complex timing.
Game 3: I win somehow or the other when I keep countering IGGs after an Intuition and all four are eventually in his graveyard. My mosters make quick work of him.
Game 4: See Game 1.
Game 5: He near-fizzles, hits me with a Tendrils down for 14 with me down to 4. I sac two Deltas for some reason or another. In my upkeep, if Bob flips anything with a cc of 2+, I'm dead; luckily he reveals a Flooded Strand and I swing with a Confidant + very large Tog for the win.

1-0 UGw Thresh vs IGGy Pop. The dude can't figure out how to play around turn-2 Meddling Mage on Tendrils with his mana/Wipe Away. I put him away when he can't put back together the shattered remains of his combo attempt.

1-0 VoroshStill vs. GRB Aggro. Shackles. Bad craziness for him. Not much of a game.

2-1 VoroshStill vs. U/B Tog. Brutally long games. Tog gets me in one; but Shackles + manlands + Ruins & stuff win me the others. Basically, these particular games are too epic to document. I'll note that Fact or Fiction is not that crushing or stellar in Legacy, to the surprise of some (like me).

VoroshStill List (4/28/07)

// Lands
    4  Mishra's Factory
    3  Wasteland
    1  Faerie Conclave
    1  Academy Ruins
    1  Island
    4  Underground Sea
    4  Tropical Island
    3  Polluted Delta
    3  Flooded Strand
    1  The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

// Spells
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Standstill
    2  Fact or Fiction
    4  Force of Will
    4  Counterspell
    2  Stifle
    3  Chalice of the Void
    3  Smother
    3  Pernicious Deed
    3  Crucible of Worlds
    2  Vedalken Shackles
    1  Engineered Explosives

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Engineered Plague
SB: 4  Duress
SB: 4  Vinelasher Kudzu
SB: 2  Infest
SB: 1  Chalice of the Void

I'm looking forward to testing Tolaria West when FS patch is available!

[Bardo]

Sunday; April 29, 2007

I start the morning by fiddling around with Belcher/Warrens for twenty minutes before throwing in the towel. The deck is so inconsistent and I'm an awful combo player. Then I did an auto-update on MWS and realized Future Sight is available so I added that to the library. Yay!

I have a new GAT-like dredge deck to test, but figure I'll warm up with trying Tarmogoyf in the Werebear slots in U/G/w Threshold instead.

2-1 vs B/W Confidant
My opponent leads with a Godless Shrine into Duress. In fact, I'm hit with three Duress over the next three turns. A turn two 3/4 Tarmogoyf makes it into play, but is sent farming pretty quickly after two swings.

I eventually win with double-Goose beatdown.

Game 2. (I board in an EE and Enforcer for a CSpell + Meddling Mage)
Turn 1 Dark Ritual into Duress (nabbing FoW) + Hymn means both of our hands are pretty much shredded. All that's left of mine is a Mental Note, Mongoose and an Island. Withered Wretch is an enormous pain in the pass. I eventually stick a Neddle into the thing and get a Meddling Mage on Vindicate. Sadly, Diabolic Edict takes down the Mage (I needed the 3/3 since, by this point, I'm facing down three freaking Wretches). Ugh.

Even after having my lands messed with and my yard molested beyond belief, I begin to recover with an EE and Enforcer in hand. Unfortanately one turn before I'm able to get my plan together he topdecks Hymn and that's game--though it takes another ten or so turns for him to put me away. Tarmogoyf shows up a little later as a 5/6, but at the expense of his turn, Shade is better as a 7/6.

Game 3.
Epic. That is all. Pithing Needle is a monster, shutting down his Cursed Scrolls at a critical part of the game. Mystic Enforcer get him down to six and is killed by Edict a turn before I win. In topdeck mode, I find a Meddling Mage and set it to Vindicate; he topdecks a Confidant; the Invitation Magi trade. The next turn I find a Mongoose who delivers the final blows. Great games.

The verdict is still out on Werebear > Goyf.

Current list:

White-Splash Threshold

// Lands
    4  Flooded Strand
    2  Polluted Delta
    2  Windswept Heath
    3  Tropical Island
    3  Tundra
    2  Island
    1  Forest
    1  Plains

// Creatures
    4  Nimble Mongoose
    4  Meddling Mage
    1  Mystic Enforcer
    4  Tarmogoyf

// Spells
    4  Mental Note
    4  Serum Visions
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Swords to Plowshares
    4  Force of Will
    4  Daze
    2  Counterspell
    2  Pithing Needle
    1  Engineered Explosives

// Sideboard
SB: 1  Mystic Enforcer
SB: 1  Engineered Explosives
SB: 3  Hydroblast
SB: 3  Armageddon
SB: 2  Krosan Grip
SB: 2  Loaming Shaman
SB: 3  Chill

[Bardo]

Monday; April 30, 2007

Ah, a new set in the pool. This is always a good time to take stock on what's working, what could work better and what new cards can be used to patch holes in existing decks or outright create new decks. In Legacy, I'll be honest, if even one freaking card is playable in the format, I consider the set a success. Saviors of Kamigawa is a dud? Bullshit. Pithing Needle.

With Future Sight, though? Amazing cards abound. Tarmogoyf is what I consider "low-hanging fruit," the kind of card that doesn't need a lot deck contortions to prove its monster-ness. Tombstalker requires a little more work on that front, but in the right deck is a 5/5 flyer for BB? Solid. So, I've been wanting to put these ideas together and formulated two decks in my mind, both templated off the GAT/Threshold decks I've had great success with in the past.

I have a 4-color "Witch-Maw" deck I've been playing around with in my mind (U/G/b/w), but figured I'd start simple with a three-color deck and go from there:

Vorosh-"Thresh"
by Bardo

4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Note
4 Serum Visions

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Duress *

3 Pernicious Deed
2 Smother
2 Pithing Needle *
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Darkblast *

4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tombstalker

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Engineered Plaggue
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Extirpate
1 Darkblast
1 Dark Confidant (tuning, eh?)
1 Duress

I think the deck is more or less solid, but the * slots need work:

? Duress, Counterspell, Mana Leak ?
? Nimble Mongoose, Dark Confidant ?
? Smother, Ghastly Demise, Darkblast ?
? Pernicious Deed, Pithing Needle, Crime // Punishment ?

These are ideas I'm trying to wrestle with. There's only one way to find out. Test the hell out of them!

?-? vs. Mono-White(?) Prison

My first hand:
Pernicious Deed
Flooded Strand
Mental Note
Mental Note
Tropical Island
Tombstalker
Smother

I land a turn 2 - 2/3 goyf. He 'Geddons a turn or two later. I nab a Diamond Mox from his with Duress and see another Geddon. He lays a Chalice for 1 which doesn't concern me, I begin to rebuild my land, he does some bullshit and then quits. My closing hand:

Bardo plays Serum Visions from Hand
Bardo plays Smother from Hand
Bardo plays Tombstalker from Hand
Bardo plays Pernicious Deed from Hand
Bardo plays Engineered Explosives from Hand
Bardo plays Darkblast from Hand

Meh. Inconclusive results.

'Next three cards:
Delta
Needle
Note

1-1 vs UGR Thresh

My opening for Game 1:
Polluted Delta
Underground Sea
Flooded Strand
Pithing Needle
Tombstalker
Island
Tarmogoyf

'Bear beats and burn do me in; my 4/5 or so Goyf is repeatedly Ice'd while an oppposing Werebear claws away at me. Tombstalker is critically Dazed/FoW'd or something). I should have FoW'd back, but thought I'd hold my counter for another trump, not realizing that 'Stalker is my trump. So it goes.

Game 2: is all about the Leyline in my opening hand. Vicious. I fight against a few Crypts, but it doesn't really matter. My forces at the end of the game: a 3/3 Goose and a 6/7 Tarmogoyf (EE and Deed in the 'yard for +2/+2).

Game 3: Someone's internet connection is kicks us out (probably mine, sorry dude). The end game state:

My board:
Tropical Island
Island
Tropical Island
Nimble Mongoose (5 cards in GY)

His board:
Tropical Island
Tropical Island
Tormod's Crypt
Isochron Scepter (Fire // Ice)
(3 cards in GY)

My hand:
Daze
Smother
Polluted Delta
Flooded Strand

His hand:
3 cards

My top 5 cards:
Tarmogoyf
Force of Will
Polluted Delta
Flooded Strand
Duress

Not much to conclude from this. Odds are, I was dead, unless I dug up a Needle. My clock is faster and less mana intensive, but not so exciting with an opposing Crypt.

Tonight: Inconclusive results.

Off to walk the dogs (Jarvis & Tenzin).

Anthem of the day: "Spitting Venom," Modest Mouse.

[Bardo]

Wednesday; May 02, 2007

The train ride to and from work is probably my most productive MtG time, even more so than the time I spend beating up the proletariat on MWSPlay. For the past few days I've been working out the kinks in my Psychatog deck. Here it is, in blog form:

“Legacy Turbo Tog”
By Bardo

4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Intuition
2 Cunning Wish
2 Fact or Fiction

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
3 Chalice of the Void

4 Engineered Plague
3 Vedalken Shackles

3 Psychatog

4 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
6 Island
1 Swamp
3 Ancient Tomb

Sideboard
4 Duress / Leyline of the Void
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Chalice of the Void

Wish Board
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Echoing Truth / Stifle
1 Shallow Grave
1 Naturalize
1 Hydroblast
1 Extirpate
1 Berserk

There's all manner of awesome technology running lose here, but not in the extravagant and over the top form as my B&M (Bombs & Mana) Tog from six months ago. Basically, this is a stripped down U/B version a la Mike Clair (1.x) with a very light Green splash for Berserk or Naturalize in game 1; and Deeds as a board control bomb in games 2/3.

Particularly cool are the Ancient Tombs to accelerate a turn-1 "Chalice for 1" against Threshold, Burn, aggro, etc. Also possible is a turn 2 Engineered Plague or a turn 3 Fact or Fiction without sacrificing card advantage via Chrome/Diamond Mox. Vedalken Shackles has just proven itself to be a quite godly in a host of matches. Maindeck Plagues are obviously for Goblins (fetchable with Intuition), Empty the Warrens decks, or obnoxious shit like Slivers.

The Cunning Wish board is shaping out nicely, with Slaughter Pact looking sexy in the Ghastly Demise slot once Future Sight is Legacy-legal.

Testing will have to wait for another day, I have concert/drinking/dinner plans with my wife tonight and will be Away From the Keyboard, as they say.

Ciao for now.

[Bardo]

Thursday; May 3, 2007

'Took my Turbo Tog deck out for a spin tonight.

Changes in the above list.

MD: -4 Engineered Plague; +3 Pernicious Deed, +1 Crime // Punishment

SB: -3 Pernicious Deed, -1 Chalice of the Void; +4 Engineered Plague
SB: -4 Duress; +4 Leyline of the Void
SB: -1 Ghastly Demise; +1 Slaughter Pact

Since this isn't the GP, I swapped the Deeds in the board with the Plagues in the maindeck. The wilds of MWSPlay.net are mighty odd and extremely random. This is what some call "metagaming."

1-0 Psychatog vs. Hulk Flash

My opponent wins the roll (20/20) plays a first turn Duress and sees my hand:

Force of Will
Island
Psychatog
Counterspell
Flooded Strand
Force of Will
Accumulated Knowledge

Stocked hand. He nabs a Force and passes. I play my Island and pass.

On his second turn he Mysticals for Flash. And then casts Lim Dul's Vault instead--obviously looking for Protean Hulk. I Counterspell the LDV.

Over the next few turns, I CSpell the Flash as he must have Brainstormed into Hulk; and then Force Flash #2 (pitching Fact).

I drop a Tog, power out an AK for 4 via Intuition with Ancient Tomb. Swing for 12. He Brainstorms again, I let it resolve and he quits facing lethal damage. My two last cards in hand:

Counterspell
Force of Will

Go, go Psychatog!

The only other notable thing about this game is my opponent apologizing for being "snippy" and saying he had a "long day." Such humanity is uncommon on MWS.

Next, I switched back to VoroshStill, a deck I love.

Changes from above:

MD: -1 Smother, +1 Tolaria West

1-0 VoroshStill vs. GlimpseTheUnthinkable/Mill (?)

My opening hand:
Smother
Standstill
Standstill
Flooded Strand
Tropical Island
Tabernacle of Pendrall Vale
Fact or Fiction

A good hand against aggro and control; shit against combo. I gamble here and keep it.

I win the roll, play a land. On his second turn he hits me with Glimpse the Unthinkable. Wtf? Moving ten cards to my GY is a pain on MWS. I persevere, draw an insane amount of cards with Standstill (well, technically six) and eventually land Chalices for 1 and 2 on the board. He drops Ambassador Laquatus (sp?), I drop Explosives for 3 and blow him up. He plays Circu, I know..., I play Shackles, steal it and beat him to death with two manlands and the aforementioned Circu.

I did get hit with a Traumatize, a card I've never seen or heard of before (largely because it's bad), and win with seven cards left in my library.

Okay, tomorrow is garbage day and the trash needs taking out.

Oh, the Arctic Monkeys show at the Roseland was actually awesome last night. I'm not a huge fan of them (though "A Certain Romance" is a great song), but they were great live. The last time Sue and I were at the Roseland together we saw Coldplay just after their first album came out and they were pretty much shit. No improvisation, no riffing, just their songs really loud. Anyway, last night we hit three different bars and Sue won about $80 on video poker, which paid for our drinks. We eventually ended up at a dive bar in the suburbs near our house--the scene was too weird to describe...

Again, the trash beckons.

[Bardo]

Friday; May 04, 2007

Figuring everyone and their brother would be playing Hulk Flash, I started the night out with Threshold, making a quick maindeck change:

-2 Counterspell
+2 Stifle

And Hulk Flash hunting I a-went.

1-1 White Thresh vs. B/W Braids
These games are mirror images of each other. Game 1, I rip him apart: massive Tarmogoyfs and Mongeese pummel him while I draw cards and counter annoying stuff. Game 2, my lands keep on getting nuked and I can barely even get up to two lands. Trinisphere makes things much, much worse. I eventually get to threshold and realize my 3/3 Goose is the only thing that's going to win it for me. He plays Braids and that is game.

We get ready for game 3, but our connection is cut off just as I hit [ctrl]-s, which sucks because I really wanted to finish the match. C'est la vie.

2-0 White Thresh vs. Aggro Loam
Game 1. An early Chalice for 1 slows me down, stranding otherwise useful cantrips in my grip. A little later Seismic Assault threats to win the game right there--he has LFTL going and takes down my Enforcer, luckily I find an EE, deliberate on blowing it for 0 to remove the Chalice and a Diamond Mox, but decide to pop it for three, boosting my Tarmogoyf to 6/7 who goes on to take down my opponent's Wild Mongrel, Roar of the Wurm token, and then him.

Game 2. My opponent leads with a Forest, I drop a Delta; EOT Mental note dredging an artifact and a sorcery. Turn 2 4/5 Goyf. Two turns later I'm swinging with double 5/6 Goyfs with only 5 cards in my yard and win handily.

1-0 vs. W/G Aggro

Not much to say about this. Goys + Geese + 3x Meddling Mage. A huge alpha strike made things a little confusing, but all worked out in the end--for me, anyway.

1-0 VoroshStill vs. Mono-Green Stompy
Hidden Herd + double Bounty of the Hunt + Berserk brings me down to 1, but my opponent scoops to Chalice for 1, Pendrall Vale and manlands and stuff.

After four matches, no Protean Hulks.

2-1 White-Thresh vs. Hulk Flash
I finally get the chance to play against the esteemed Mr. Menendian.

Incidentally, Pithing Needle, Meddling Mage and a load of counters are good against the combo. FYI and all. Just watch out for ESG in response to Daze. Frown town, all around.

[Bardo]

Saturday; Cinco de Mayo, 2007

After dropping the mini-van off for servicing (yes, I have a mini-van; and so will you, if the Universe determines that you should have identical twin children in your life), I hop on on MWS after tweaking my 3c Fish deck into a Hulk stomper; aka 'Hulk Flash Mauler.' ("HFM")

"Hulk Flash Mauler"
by Bardo

4  Underground Sea
4  Tundra
4  Flooded Strand
3  Polluted Delta
1  Scrubland
1  Island
1  Plains

4  Meddling Mage
4  Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4  Dark Confidant
2  Serendib Efreet

4  Brainstorm
4  Force of Will
4  Daze
4  Duress
4  Swords to Plowshares
3  Extirpate
3  Stifle
2  Pithing Needle

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 4  Engineered Plague
SB: 4  Umezawas' Jitte
SB: 2  Pithing Needle
SB: 1  Stifle


2-0 Hulk Flash Mauler vs. Hulk Flash

Meddling Magi on Flash both games with some counter back-up. GGs.

I contemplate some way to speed the deck up with 2 or 3 Chrome Moxen, for the turn-1 Meddling Mage...

1-0 Hulk Flash Mauler vs. U/G/r Threshold

Samurai of the Pale Curtain holds off an unthreshed Mongoose. My opponent then drops an Isochron Scepter with only one land untapped, I let it resolve and then set a Meddling Mage on it a turn later. The following turn I deploy a Serra Avenger. My opponent draws a card off AK #1 then the usual "<DDD> gg / <System> Player Lost" after I Force his Fire/Ice (probably aimed at my Mage).

Realizing my blue card count is painfully low: MD -2 Serra Avenger, +2 Serendib Efreet.

0-1 Hulk Flash Mauler vs. HanniFish

An opposing Dark Confidant goes unanswered for too long, generates enormous card advantage and I go down with a Grunt, Avenger and the Confidant beating me down.

Alright, more tinkering. Back to an old project with some recent retooling, Witch-Maw Threshold (as in the Nephhilim) tuned for Hulk Flash:

Witch-Maw Threshold
by Bardo

// Lands
    4  Flooded Strand
    4  Polluted Delta
    3  Tropical Island
    3  Tundra
    3  Underground Sea
    1  Island

// Creatures
    4  Meddling Mage
    4  Nimble Mongoose
    4  Tarmogoyf
    3  Dark Confidant

// Spells
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Mental Note
    4  Serum Visions
    4  Swords to Plowshares
    4  Force of Will
    4  Daze
    2  Pithing Needle
    1  Engineered Explosives

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Engineered Plague
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 3  Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 3  Pithing Needle
SB: 1  Anaba Ancestor

Yikes, the mana makes me want to vomit with fear and loathing. And we're off!

1-0 Witch-Maw Threshold vs. Burninator

Tarmogoyf and counters for the win.

And another...

1-0 Witch-Maw Threshold vs. Reanminator

He's under too much pressure, succumbs to double 4/5 Tarmogoyfs pummeling on his face and throat. Too much. I win with four cards in my GY: two fechlands, a Duress and a Daze.

By this point, I'm thinking that Tarmogoyf will almost certainly replace the inimitable Werebear--a mainstay in this deck for years. I've always hated his flavor text and the idea of lycanthropic bears is just lame, flavor-wise. The ability to Goyf to be such an aggressive creature so early on--usually a 3/4 on turn 2 in this deck overcompensates for Werebear's ability to tap for Green. The bear's mana ability is very useful in a lot of situations and I'll be sad to see it go; but honestly, we've never played Werebear because he tapped for mana; we played him because he was usually a 4/4 for 1G and included him solely on the pure efficiency of his power/toughtness to mana cost. His mana ability was gravy.

In testing these past few weeks, I've been able to win most games with the Goyf with only have 3-6 cards in my graveyard and he can start beating with savage efficiency as early as turn 3, usually inflicting 6-9 damage before I'd reach threshold. That alone tells me Werebear's writing is on the wall.

Also, Crypt, Leyline and the like are far less scary now. A Crypt activation, always a source of anxiety, automatically makes him no less than a 1/2, safely out of Fanatic range; and usually bigger than that, since the Goyf is counting cards types in your opponent's graveyard too. Last night I even got the thing up to 6/7 against Aggro Loam and he quickly took down a 6/6 wurm token. Wow.

In short, the Goyf is here to stay. So long Werebear.

[Bardo]

Tuesday; May 8, 2007

I've been pretty busy the last couple of days and haven't had much time for Magic. Sue and I helped some friends move to a new apartment on Sunday, and there isn't much that I find crappier than moving stuff. Last night, I went to Sue's office party. The booze was free (thankfully) but as a vegetarian the chow options were awfully sparse: basically some Thai-themed wilted salad. While my tolerance for wilted lettuce is better than my affection for moving furniture and other people's crap, that wasn’t much consolation. Still, given the choice between a cash bar and crisp salad and an open bar with wilted salad, I would not hesitate to choose the latter, ten times out of ten.

MtG-wise, my only pleasure has been to watch, with amused curiosity, how the Legacy format is responding to the Hulk Flash bomb after the WoTC Rules Team dropped it on the format a few weeks ago.

While I'm not exactly sure why, I'm reminded of one of my favorite bedtime stories that I like to read to my twin girls:

"Belinda still lives in her little white house,
With her little black kitten and her little gray mouse,
And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon,
And her realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

"Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears,
And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs,
Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage."

- Ogden Nash, ”The Tale of Custard the Dragon”

Some people are running for cover, others are crying for a nice safe cage. Me? It rains a lot here in Portland--usually not very hard, but there's the occasional torrential downpour. On these occasions, I like to walk outside and instead of ducking for cover, just stand with my face fixed on the grey sky above and get very, very wet.

Cazart.

[Bardo]

Thursday; May 10, 2007

After getting my girls to sleep, I took my "Hulk Slaying" Deck out for a spin, for lack of anything else better to play and enjoy.

"Hulk Slayer" aka White-Splash Threshold
by me

// Spells
    4 Mental Note
    4 Serum Visions
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Force of Will
    4 Daze
    4 Stifle
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Engineered Explosives

// Creatures
    4 Nimble Mongoose
    4 Tarmogoyf
    4 Meddling Mage

// Lands
    4  Flooded Strand
    2 Polluted Delta
    2 Windswept Heath
    3 Tropical Island
    3 Tundra
    2 Island
    1 Forest
    1 Plains

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Hydroblast
SB: 3 Armageddon
SB: 3 Chill
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Loaming Shaman
SB: 1 Mystic Enforcer
SB: 1 Pithing Needle

2-1 vs. Mono-Blue Control

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Fact or Fiction is just not very good in this format. Splitting a FoF pile 4-1 in game, he takes the four card pile and I lose out by a single turn with double Mongeese wailing away on my opponent. On one peculiar turn of the game, my opponent has seven mana on the board, taps five for Morphling, I remove the thing with triple StP (!), bash him down to 6, but he has Superman #2 in hand. With a Shackles on the board, I can't play my Tarmogoyfs or anything but Mongeese and I 'gg' it, seeing that I'll be dead in four or so turns. Man, I miss those Pithing Needles.

If I hadn't been tuning my deck to face Wasteland in Goblins and Landstill for the past two years, Back to Basics might have killed me alone. Luckily, fetchlands and basics are plentiful in my deck.

Games 2 & 3 are all about Krosan Grip (killing Chalice, Threads, Shackles), supported by the blowout card known as Armageddon. Even without Werebear, it wasn't much of an issue resolving the thing. And once it hit, that was game.

I think I boarded more or less this way:

+3 Armageddon
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Pithing Needle
-4 Stifle
-2 Meddling Mage

My opponent, "Clown," chat for awhile about Mono-blue, Tog, Hulk, etc. but our chat is interrupted by the Grand Master of Atogs himself, Mr. Richard Shay. I make a note to build a mono-blue deck on MWS. It looked like a hell of a lot of fun to play.

3-1 vs. Hulk Flash

Rich and I talk tech and about school and life and stuff, before hopping into our games and realizing just how punishing Meddling Mage, Stifle, Daze, Force of Will and a quick clock can be for any degenerate combo deck. Two games were close, two were not. In the game that I lost, I somehow forgot who and what I was playing against, and went the beatdown route (green beaters, Mental Note) after casting a turn one or two Serum Visions. I forgot that Flash is usually the beatdown, not me: misassignment of roles and all that. Three games he even hit me with the turn 1 Duress, but it mattered not.

Then I'm off to walk my dogs, the battery in my iPod finally dies, took out the trash, off to bed. Man, I'm beat.

Song of the day: "Xtal," by Aphex Twin.

[Bardo]

Friday; May 11, 2007

The Monday after the Future Sight prerelease, I ordered a pile of cards from StarCityGames, which arrived just last Monday. Unfortunately, their arrival coincided with coming home pretty drunk from that office party on Monday night too. I opened the SCG package, marvelled at those awesome cards and then somehow lost them. I realized this Tuesday morning when I wondered "hrm, where did I leave those cards, anyway?" I've been looking ever since.

Just last night I finally found them; how and why they were in some wicker basket thingy in the master bathroom will forever have to remain a mystery. Here's what came:

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Street Wraith
3 Tomb Stalker
3 Chill
2 Starstorm
1 Blind Phantasm

The Phantasm had awesome-looking art in the textless frame, so that was purchased for flavor reasons alone. I had plans for the rest and have looked forward to building a Dredge/Gro deck for sometime now. Chills were the new anti-Goblins plan for Threshold and wanted the Startstorms for my awful R/W Rifter deck.

After I found the cards, I broke down my IRL deck at my dining room table, my U/B/g Landstill--possibly the best deck I've constructed since I retooled my version of Threshold after GP: Lille.

It's still a little rough around the edges, but here's what I have in my backpack at the moment.

Dredge-a-Goyf
by Bardo

4 Tarmogoyf
3 Tomb Stalker
3 Dark Confidant (I only own 3)
2 Street Wraith *
1 Stinkweed Imp *

4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
4 Mental Note

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
1 Counterspell *

3 Pernicious Deed
2 Darkblast *
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Engineered Explosives *

4 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Bayou
1 Swamp

* Test cards, +/- if they work or not.

Basically, it's Gro-a-Tog recast with Tomb Stalkers in the Tog slot and Goyfs in the Dryad slot. Both are a lot more robust, though I don't look forward to revealing Stalker with a Confidant.

For lunch, I got together with my buddy Dan (Belzebozo in the SCG forums) to test the thing out In Real Life, as they say. I don't know what Dan still likes to play me. I hope it's because I'm not an ass about winning, but I don't think I'd be exaggerating greatly if I said my lifetime record against Dan is somewhere in the range of 285-4. I think it's important to test against the known strong decks in any format, obvisoulsly, but especially in a format as wily and random as Legacy, it's also necessary to have a grasp and comfort level with things in the first round or x-1 bracket (if you get a bad first round pairing). I don't think Legacy is the kind of format that you can win with an aggressively metagamed deck that beats three particular decks, but loses to everything else. Because, there's a lot of "everything else" out there.

2-0 vs. U/W/B Slivers

Damn, that Crystalline Sliver is obnoxious. Still Deed + giant Goyfs go on to win game one for me. Game 2, pretty much the same. Sorry, I didn't take any notes. I did note that all through our games that Street Wraith and Stinkweed Imp were pretty lame. Darkblast was nothing to brag about either. Tarmogoyf, Jitte and Deed were champs though.

2-0 vs. G/B Survival

Our first game is the longest and most difficult. He gets the turn-2 Survival and I sit and twiddle my thumbs for long sections of the game. Opposing Survival is always a test of nerves and patience. I find a Deed but don't have enough mana to play and activate it. I'm dumb and it falls prey to some CIP enchantment buster. Luckily Bob reveals Deed #2 and I wipe the board clean, including the Confidant which was threatening to kill me. I eventually find a Tombstalker, remove a ton of my yard, but not so much that Tarmogoyf isn't a 6/7. He keeps dropping blockers, I keeping holding back counters for anything dangerous and bash him to -5 while I'm on 2 life. Toward the end I even have the dredge demon swinging with a Jitte.

Game 2 is much easier; no second turn Survival; I manage my resources tightly and win with a Jitte'd Confidant + another Tarmogoyf, 5/6 I think. Tarmogoyf is quickly becoming my favorite creature; well, not cooler than Meddling Mage--but pretty damn swell.

On the way back from the downtown library, I find a $10 bill on the sidewalk with no one around. Sweet. This $10 lets me buy some sushi from Safeway and I'm back to work.

[Anusien]

I understand why you have Street Wraiths, but man, that must be the world's WORST card to reveal with Bob.  What about Phyrexian Arena, Baloth, LHURGOYF or something?

[Bardo]

Actually, Tomb Stalker is considerably worse, vis-a-vis Bob. I ran the Wraiths primarily to give the dredge cards a hit of methamphetamine.

After testing and tinkering with ideas in my head on the train ride home:

-2 Wraith
-2 Darkblast
-1 Stinky
-1 Tomb Stalker (2 is enough; hell, 0 might be enough)
+1 Jitte
+5 Something else (possible Duress, Extirpate, Goose, Demise, CSpell, Stifle, Needle -- that's the short-list)

Incidentally, Tarmogoyf may be the new awesomeness that used to be Quirion Dryad, it is that fucking good in the right deck.

[Bardo]

Meanwhile, back in the spare bedroom... (May 11, 2007)

Alright, I rebuilt my from Dredge/Gro deck--deemphasizing the dredge thing and adopting a more focused aggro-control shell. This definitely has that distinctive smell of the decks I instinctively build: lots of cheap/massive dudes, counters, disruption, draw and a very low overall casting cost per card.

Obviously, it still needs quite a lot of work.

Dredge-Gro
May 11, 2007

4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Note
4 Serum Visions

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Duress
2 Counterspell

3 Pernicious Deed

3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tombstalker

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Swamp

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Engineered Plague
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Loaming Shaman

2-0 Dredge/GAT vs. Mono-Black Control

An early Extirpate robs me of my Deltas, but Confidants spits out of stream of awesomeness and I keep bashing away with a Goyf in game 1. Game 2 he Extirpates my Goyfs very early on (after that first turn Hymn), I Daze his Smallpox and quickly win with Tomb Stalker.

1-0 U/B/g Landstil vs. MBC

Hard to describe, though Crucible is really, really good here--as are the rest of the cards in my deck. I counter Negators when they come around. He Smothers my Conclave, then I drop Crucible and he scoops.

1-0 Dredge/GAT (above) vs. Angel Stax

He can't find enough lands, oddly; I strip the important stuff from his hand with Duress and beat him bloody with Tomb Stalker.

[Bardo]

Saturday; May 12, 2007

(This was my entry from yesterday that I somehow forgot to post.)

So I keep on mulling the perfect Threshold list for the GP in my mind and thought that Spell Snare was in dire need of testing today:

What does Spell Snare hit?

Hulk Flash: All of the important cards (Flash, LDV, Daze, stuff, etc.)
B/W: The whole fucking deck; sans StP, Duress, Ritual.
Fish: Pretty much the whole deck.
Goblins: Piledriver; Chalice for 1.

I've also been missing Pithing Needle, so dropped the Explosives for a few hours.

Grand Prix Threshold - Test Deck (5/12/07)
by Bardo

// Creatures
    4 Meddling Mage
    4 Nimble Mongoose
    4 Werebear

// Spells
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Mental Note
    4 Serum Visions
    4 Force of Will
   4 Spell Snare
    4 Daze
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Pithing Needle

// Lands
    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Polluted Delta
    2 Windswept Heath
    3 Tropical Island
    3 Tundra
    2 Island
    1 Forest
    1 Plains

// Sideboard
SB: 3  Hydroblast
SB: 3 Armageddon
SB: 3  Chill
SB: 1  Mystic Enforcer
SB: 2  Krosan Grip
SB: 2  Loaming Shaman
SB: 1  Engineered Explosives

I consider going down to 17 lands, since I only have eight freaking spells that cost 2 mana now. This is definitely the lowest the casting cost has ever been, but I'm worried about what my opening hands will look like, plus mulligans.

Anyway, how good is Spell Snare in Legacy at the moment? 'Only one way to find out.

1-1 vs. Budget Suicide Black
Spell Snare doesn't do much against Phyrexian Negator.

Spell Snare: Would be better, if his deck was better.

0-1 vs. BHWC Landstill
Pithing Needle stops Factory, but not Monastery. Spell Snare vs. Standstill was pretty cool though.

Spell Snare: Meh. Lots of targets, none of the game-breakers.

2-0 vs. Barren Glory Combo
Not sure what to say about this one... Um, yay! I won. Something to that effect...

Spell Snare: No comment.

2-1 vs. Tash in the U/G/w Threshold mirror
Long games, except for game 2, where my only fetchland gets trick-bound and I lose in wretched fashion. At least I win the other two.

Spell Snare: Better than Stifle in this match (Werebear, Counterspell, Mage).

2-1 vs. B/w Confidant

Never an easy match; not ever better than 50/50. But tight play wins me my games.

Spell Snare: Took down Hymns, Confidants and a Shade. Top shelf. Very, very good against a shitty match-up.

Overall, Spell Snare still needs a lot more testing but I prefer it over Counterspell in the current field. But you still run into the cases where your opener will contain a Spell Snare and a Serum Visions and you're not sure what to do. On the play and assuming Chalice=1 is not a consideration or you have Daze, SV is almost always going to be the right play.

But on the draw? At least Counterspell was never an option at that point in the game, so it was an irrelevant question. But when your Spell Snare is active, your options open up, but the lines of play become more complex.

If it stays, I'll probably settle on some 2/2 Spell Snare/Stifle configuration in the end, but for testing purposes, it's best to max the fucker out for the time being.

[Bardo]

Monday; May 14, 2007

Ah, what to play tonight? A part of me wants to keep on working on my new "Future Gro" deck (a retemplate of my U/B/g Gro-a-Tog with Tarmogoyf substituting for Quirion Dryad and Tomb Stalker filling in for Psychatog), but with the deck not tournament-legal for another week and with uncertainties on the awesomeness/crappiness of Spell Snare still unresolved, I feel it's best to pick up with Theshold for the time being. [Same list as above.]

0-1 vs. Mono-White Mobilization Stax

Ugh. That is all. At least the game went on for 30 fucking rounds before I threw in the 'gg' out of sheer boredom and no hope of winning after I dropped my Explosives from the main. I'll need to think about the Needle vs. EE, but not before another game.

0-2 vs. Affinity

Man, tonight is not my night. I should just throw in the towel, retool, or go to bed. Masochims, for the lose.

Spell Snaring a Cranial Plating was cool, but, jeez, not that cool.

1-0 vs. RectorFlash / Barren Glory-thing

Weird game. I did Spell Snare a Flash though. Props to me.

I think I'll quit while I'm ahead--I predict grim times ahead.

Unreal City
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet,
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying, "Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
You! hypocrite lecteur!--mon semblable!--mon frère!"

Word.

[Bardo]

The more I think about it, the more it's sinking in that Parcher is probably right, and Threshold is not the right deck for the Grand Prix. I'm not exactly sure what I'd play if I were going, and would probably just end up playing Threshold anyway--hoping that my experience with the thing would get me through many rounds.

Without having proven itself in the field, my #2 favorite deck, Vorosh Control, seems ill-advised as well. It's awesome, but also molassesly slow and I just have a warm spot in my heart for a solid aggro-control deck (hence, the Threshold thing).

Staying blue-based and getting away from the graveyard as an important resource seems to bring us to Fish, as so many things do. The thing about Fish is that it's amazingly plastic. The form has a certain reliable structure, as well as an enormous range of modular space to tweak for specific and over-bearing threats, such as, oh, let's just say combo.

So, tonight is going to be a Fish night and the Fish deck I'm using is Hanni's recent version with a few minor tweaks.

HanniFish

// Lands
    4  Flooded Strand
    4  Polluted Delta
    4  Tundra
    3  Underground Sea
    1  Scrubland
    1  Island
    1  Plains

// Creatures
    4  Meddling Mage
    4  Dark Confidant
    3  Jotun Grunt
    3  Mother of Runes
    2  Serra Avenger

// Spells
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Serum Visions
    4  Swords to Plowshares
    4  Force of Will
    3  Daze
    3  Duress
    2  Stifle
    2  Umezawa's Jitte

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 4  Engineered Plague
SB: 2  Pithing Needle
SB: 2  Perish
SB: 1  Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1  Duress
SB: 1  Stifle

Those Mothers of Runes are begging to be dropped, but they can stay for the time being. I'd rather not admit this publically, but I do like a good cup of tea...

1-0 vs. Threshold (?)

I have an otherwise awesome hand, but the game doesn't last long.

My opening hand:

Tundra
Polluted Delta
Scrubland
Daze
Brainstorm
Stifle
Dark Confidant

I win the roll, drop the Delta and pass. My opponent plays an Island, casts Portent and passes. I draw Jitte, play the Scrubland, fetch a Tundra with Delta and drop Confidant on the board. My opponent fiddles with more cantrips and quits the game with my Jitte on the stack.

2-1 vs. Chalice Affinity

Not an easy match.

G1: My opponent scoops to Jitte with a Mage on Plating. (W)
G2: Plating + Thopter + Bob Damage + Myr Enforcer. (L)
G3: StP + Daze + Mage on Plating + cheap draw. (W)

Enough for now. Off to walk the dogs. Good deck. Incidentally, Mother of Runes is ass against Arcbound Ravager.

Watchlist:

Mother of Runes, #1-3.
Jotun Grunt #3.

[KrzyMoose]

Mother of Runes might be expendable, but I'd keep her around, as there's bound to be those Aggro decks who just thought they could add Leyline of the Void maindeck and have a decent Hulk Flash matchup.

I like the column (or whatever you would call this), but I'd like to see you expand even farther - maybe a more matches a night and more discussion on tweaks you consider during the sessions.  I don't know if you have the time for that/whatever, but it'd be very interesting to see.

Keep it up.

[Bardo]

Mother of Runes might be expendable, but I'd keep her around, as there's bound to be those Aggro decks who just thought they could add Leyline of the Void maindeck and have a decent Hulk Flash matchup.

Re: MoR. Even though she's been an annoyance on occasion when seeing her on the other side of the board, I still can't help fighting this "Really? There's got to be something better" kind of feeling. Power-wise she just seems out of whack with the rest of the deck, which is otherwise very strong. Also, she doesn't do squat to opposing Jitte counters / SoFI damage, Ravager and friends, though I won't deny that she's great against goblins and other aggro, where she can stall until you draw into Jitte or Avenger, etc. Otherwise, I don't know, I'm just not digging her.

Re: Avenger. She's so very good and I've thought about dropping a Grunt to +1 her. Grunt in multiples is pretty dissapointing, since you can only really support one at a time.

[Bardo]

Saturday; May 19, 2007

In the end, being 1500 miles from Columbus, Ohio is what made me skip the GP. Also, the travel expenses and that Sue, the girls and I are going down to San Francisco at the end of the weekend. All of these things conspired to keep me in Portland for the weekend. So it goes.

It's disappointing that GP: Strasbourg (Time Spiral Block Constructed) is also happening this weekend. Yet another thing that's going against the first Legacy Grand Prix in a very long time. I do wish I was there though, Flash and all.

Anyway, updates to several decks.

Tin_Mox5831 suggested a few solid suggestions for the Fish deck after I mentioned being underwhelmed with MoR and Grunt #3. His suggestions:

If I were to build the deck today, I'd make the following tweaks:

-1 Jotun Grunt
-3 Mother Of Runes
+1 Serra Avenger
+2 Serendib Efreet
+1 Stifle (I firmly believe that Stifle's magic number is 3. It comes up just often enough.)

I can get behind this, but will trade +1 Efreet for +1 Jitte, which is such a nut-buster in and against a deck like this.

0-2 U/B/g Tarmo-Gro vs. R/G/w Survival.

Game 1. I mulligan a vaguely promising hand (multiple Bobs + Jittes) into a very sketchy hand with 1 Delta and several blue cards. I die to Viridian Zealot, Genesis and some other crappy cards-beatdown and a single Island in play.

Game 2. It goes long, I ramp up enough lands to drop and activate Deed, nuking his Survival, Vial, Birds, Witness and another permanent or two. Anyway, my opponent is very talented with the deck, rebuilds with another Survival (after I foolishly FoW a baited Rofellos) and I die to massive Survival-Squee powered army (FTKs, Hierarchs and stuff).

Ah well. I decide to take White Threshold out for a spin, with the following permanent change:

-4 Werebear
+4 Tarmogoyf

Otherwise, I'm still testing out the Spell Snares in the Stifle/Counterspell slots.

1-0 White Thresh vs. U/W Fish

He wins the roll, leads with Delta/Tundra -> Brainstorm.

On his second turn he plays a blind Meddling Mage on Flash. Heh.

On my next turn I drop a Mage on Jitte.

I eventually win with double-Tarmogoyfs (4/5s) with only 5 cards in my graveyard. I also Daze some stuff, Spell Snare a Jitte (my first Mage was RFG from Swords to Plowshares) and do some other boring stuff.

2-0 vs. Ankh Sligh

These were fast games. I win the first one with double-Goose + Goyf.

Game two was a bit more difficult, but I win at two life and Mystic Enforcer.

Oh, that was a recent change in the deck:

-1 Spell Snare (3 left)
+1 Mystic Enforcer

Increasing the threat density and having a mid/late game bomb helps in many matches.

Gonna take a break for now.

Edit - I'm back after walking the dogs and watching some Sprout with my kids

1-0 U/G/g Landstill vs. U/w Landstill

Recent changes to U/B/g Landstill:

-2 Smother
+1 Maze of Ith
+1 Stifle

For the first time I actually use the transmute ability on Tolaria West, fetching a Wasteland to kill an opposing Mishra's Factory. Most of the game is spent with us playing lands and not doing anything while his Standstill sits on the board. He eventually plays a morph, I Force (pitching Stifle), he Forces (pitching Mana Leak), I Force his Force (pitching another Stifle) and look in horror at the Deed in my hand. What a waste of good cards. He eventually plays another morph and this time I Deed it for 0 and then play Crucible, the single most important card in the mirror. It's all downhill for him. Looking at my deck, I'd really like to squeeze in another basic Island, running 1 seems sketchy in a deck like this.

Re: GP Columbus. I'm very happy it has an attendance of nearly 900 people! That is fantastic and should show WotC there is enough support for Legacy to run these events more than once every year and a half. It indeed seems like it will be the Day of the Hulk and I see myself losing $20 to GodzillA. While I was trashed at the time, I made a 2-1 bet (his favor) that Flash would not make the cut to the Top 4--well, I'm pretty sure that's what our bet was, Pat can correct me if I'm wrong. I can only hope that several converging events occur to make me $10 richer: the Flash decks hit the top of the standings collectively and begin to weed each other out; 2) the Hulk Flash-hate decks (Fish and Thresh) keep them from getting enough points to make the cut to the Top 8 (though probably enough to make Day 2); 3) otherwise secret non-Flash tech has an important impact over the next two days to also keep Hulk manageable (admittedly, this is something of a long shot).

Looking back, I really shouldn't have given Pat any odds. C'est la vie.

Update - After Dinner

Without much data, I don't feel like speculating much on results of Day 1 of the GP. I'm more in the state of mind to just play some blokes on MWSPlay.

Going back to one of my favorite recent decks, Vorosh Control, I make a bunch of changes, starting with fitting in two more basic Islands in place of two duals, since the black and green demand in the deck is limited to Pernicious Deed at this point. Here's where I'm at right now:

// Lands
    4  Mishra's Factory
    3  Wasteland
    3  Polluted Delta
    3  Flooded Strand
    3  Underground Sea
    3  Tropical Island
    3  Island
    1  Faerie Conclave
    1  Academy Ruins
    1  Tolaria West
    1  The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
    1  Maze of Ith

// Spells
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Standstill
    4  Force of Will
    4  Counterspell
    2  Spell Snare
    2  Stifle
    3  Chalice of the Void
    3  Pernicious Deed
    3  Vedalken Shackles
    3  Crucible of Worlds
    1  Engineered Explosives

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 4  Engineered Plague
SB: 4  Duress
SB: 2  Massacre
SB: 1  Chalice of the Void

I dropped the Facts because they're just not that good in this format. I've made that point before and I stand by it. Fact provides solid CA at a slightly unreasonable cost (4 mana is a lot when it doesn't win you the game) and I dropped the Smothers since the format is moving away from a more aggro-centricity; enter Spell Snare, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite counters. It's only problem here is that it obviously conflicts with Chalice, which is another ball-buster.

On to the games.

2-0 vs. BardoGro

He said his deck was a lot like mine, but I didn't see any differences, down to the basic Plains, Mental Notes, maindeck Magi, etc.; I suggest he upgrade the Werebears to Tarmogoyfs.

G1 is a nail-biter. Many turns into the game he has a Needle on Shackles and a Mage on Deed, where my board is all Shackles and my hand is all Deed. Ugh. Eventually I find a Crucible and that's enough to solicit the GG, as my infinite army of Factories, always amazing on defense, is basically impregnable (sp?) to his Werebear + Mage. Eventually I would have found my EE to remove the Mage, Deed the Needle and take more authoritative control over the board, but it wasn't necessary.

G2 is pretty much a rout for him. On the play, he plays a Trop, I Wasteland it on my first turn, he cast Mental Note; next turn he plays a Tundra, Brainstorms and indicates he hasn't found any land ("ugh"). On my second turn, I play a Factory and foolishly drop a Standstill which falls prey to Daze. But this is fine, since I'm still keeping him far away from 'Geddon mana. I think he just replays the Tundra and passes the turn. After that I transmute Tolaria West into an Chalice and then play the Chalice after a brief counter-war. That's basically game, but I finish it up with a couple of Factories working him over.

I think I boarded in Chalice #4 + 4x Leylines for the Crucibles and a Stifle.

2-0 vs. Glimpse of Nature

What the fuck is it with people playing these shitty Glipse decks? They're way, way too fucking common on MWS. Game 1 I Waste his first non-basic right of the bat, then CSpell a Glipse, land Crucible and begin Wasteland recursion on his Cities of Brass. "gg" quickly ensues.

Game 2. On his first turn, he plays a land, removes two spirit guides from his hand to play Cloudstone Curio. I just drop a Chalice on 0, then another on 1. He says he can't beat Chalice and that is that.

[Bardo]

Sunday; May 20, 2007

And so, Future Sight is now Legacy-legal. Cool set. I look forward to stomping much butt with Tarmogoyfs in the next year.

The Day 1 breakdown of GP Columbus is not well documented at the moment and I don't feel like speculating idly on it. Once we have some reports, a breakdown of the field and how it all shook out in the end, I'll begin to think about it. But even then, I'd probably save those thoughts for my June article on SCG.

Recent change in Vorosh Control:

SB: -2 Infest
SB: +2 Massascre

'Not sure how I missed that before... If I can reach 1BB, I might as well make it 2BB with the option to play it for free half of the time.

2-1 Vorosh Control vs. Bardo-GAT

A pleasant opponent is not to be taken for granted on MWS. I don't mind playing jerks, but would much, much rather play with someone friendly.

G1 is a nail-biter, playing against one of my own decks. I'm always poised to get the situation under control, but in a very critical turn when I need to chump with some of my Factories vs. Dryads, one factory is critically Smother'd and that is game. Otherwise, Maze of Ith is proving very, very awesome--Tog would have killed me long before.

G2 was peculiar. Working around Daze, I resolve the sacred "Chalice for 1," have Tabernacle, Maze of Ith, a nice assortment of lands, and my opponent "G3?s" me with about 10 cards in his hand--having drawn loads off double-Confidant. Maze is at the ready for Psychatog; and Factories on defense are able to hold off the Bobs.

G3 was squarely in my favor. I lead with a Duress, pluck a counter, nuke the board with Deed when things are looking grim, and my opponent eventually concedes facing my double Factories + a Shackle'd Bob when he's at six life. Cool games though.

Okay, off to check out the GP coverage.

A little later...

1-0 Vorosh Control vs. Goblins

I suffer some minor bleeding in the early turns from a Mogg Fanatic, but end up dominating the game in a way that only a screen capture could describe:

[Image] Pwnage.

I held onto a stray Stifle for Ringleader or SGC, which never materialized.

Edit II

Okay, today's going to be a Landstill vs. the World day; it's official.

I'm not seeing a need to change anything in the 5/19 list just yet; though the 2/2 Spell Snare / Stifle split is obviously a consession for testing purposes.

The sideboard isn't going to win any metals either, but it's serviceable for the time being:

Sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Engineered Plague
4 Duress
2 Massacre
1 Chalice of the Void

I do contemplate a transformational Hulk Flash board for the next ten days:

4 Protean Hulk
4 Flash
1 Karmic Guide
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Kiki-Jiki
[4 other cards]

Meh. Odds are we won't be seeing Flash, post-6/1, so I'm not going to spend too much time thinking about. If it remains legal on June 2, I'll revisit the idea.

2-0 vs. B/W Control

Shit, these were hard. My opening hand game 1:

Crucible of Worlds
Island
Tropical Island
Counterspell
Wasteland
Maze of Ith
Mishra's Factory

My opponent wins the roll and leads with a Swamp + Duress taking my Crucible. The game goes on forever. But I have my Maze holding off an Eternal Dragon long enough that I can finally get 5 Islands into play to steal the Dragon. He StP's it, but I eventually get Chalices on 2 and 3 and that's all she wrote.

Game 2 was equally epic, starting with him leading with a Swamp, Ritual, Duress (taking Crucible) plus Hymn. I couldn't look and shielded the monitor from everything but the menutbar: Action -> Discard a card at random.

Luckily, my Delta and a Standstill were intact, post-Hymn. Which I hid behind to rebuild my hand and periodically stripping his duals with Wasteland. Eventually, I land another Chalice for two and lock him out when he's under serious board pressure and I reveal triple C-Spell backup.

Great games.

For the time being:

-2 Stifle
+2 Spell Snare

2-0 vs. U/W Fish

Holy shit does Spell Snare own the living hell out of Fish. These were long but savage games. Game 1 was kind of text book. Chalice on 2. Vedalken Shackles. Crucible. Wasteland. GG.

Game 2 was much more complex. With an opposing Mage on Shackles, another on Chalice, plus a Scepter with imprint Counterspell, the battle lines looked complex, but I had a plan: Pernicious Fucking Deed. It took me a dozen turns to realize my plan, but once I finally landed the Deed and activating it; removing 2x SoFI, 2x Meddling Mage, 1x Isochron Scepter, that was game. Though my Parisian opponent insisted on playing it out and after dropping a Chalice on 2, so it went.

Nice opponent. Good games.

[Bardo]

Edit III - 5:45 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)

So, yeah, I'm out $20. I don't want to spend much time thinking about the meaning and value of the GP results right now. Though I can take a little solace knowing that I put GodzillA away, 2-0, a short while ago.

2-0 vs. U/W Fish

Game 1. Samurai of the Pale Curtain is a pain, but manageable. Pat concedes with Maze of Ith + Vedalken Shackles making the board a quagmire.

Game 2. Much more complex. You can see a pivotal battle when one of Pat's Pithing Needle's hits the stack:

[Image] Counter-War!

But I get a hold on the situation, Spell Snare is a monster, but Pernicious Deed is the real game winner in this match, turning a perilous 45-55 match, into something much closer to 2-98.

[Image] End Game.

(Note that the Brainstorm resolved before I played the Chalice. The board was so cluttered that I just missed it.)

But I'm still out $20.

Incidentally, this deck is awesome.

Current list: May 20, 2007:

"Vorosh Control"
by Bardo

// Spells
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Standstill
    4  Force of Will
    4  Counterspell
    4  Spell Snare
    3  Chalice of the Void
    3  Pernicious Deed
    3  Vedalken Shackles
    3  Crucible of Worlds
    1  Engineered Explosives

// Lands
    4  Mishra's Factory
    3  Wasteland
    3  Polluted Delta
    3  Flooded Strand
    3  Underground Sea
    3  Tropical Island
    3  Island
    1  Academy Ruins
    1  Faerie Conclave
    1  Tolaria West
    1  Maze of Ith
    1  The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Engineered Plague
SB: 4  Duress
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 2  Massacre
SB: 1  Chalice of the Void

[Matt]

Eventually, I land another Chalice for two and lock him out when he's under serious board pressure and I reveal triple C-Spell backup.

Heh what?

Love the screencaps.

[Bardo]

Eventually, I land another Chalice for two and lock him out when he's under serious board pressure and I reveal triple C-Spell backup.

Heh what?

Love the screencaps.

I meant "C-Spell" as a class of counters. I believe I was holding 2x Force + 1 Spell Snare; not "Counterspell" (cmc 2).

Edit III.

Wow, a long day for MtG. I think it's called transference. It's also called a "weekend."

And so it finally happens...

2-0 Vorosh Control vs. Hulk Flash*

Game 1. Chalice of the Freaking Void @ 2. GG.

Game 2. I start the game with double Leyline. Yeah... I Spell Snare his Confidant. Drop a Standstill and my opponent "<System> Player Lost"s after I Wasteland his Underground Sea.

Cards left in my hand at this point:

Force of Will
Standstill
Polluted Delta

Go, go Vorosh!


* I'm guessing this was the first place GP list, since it was so oddly techy. Though, honestly, I haven't looked at the final reports yet--being on dial-up and all.

Edit - It was indeed the Sadin list, after I've had the time to review the coverage.

[Bardo]

So, as I mentioned, the fam + I are taking a vacation down to California this week. We're leaving tomorrow morning to meet some friends and spend the night in Ashland, Oregon; on Wednesday we'll make it to a San Francisco and will be there to either Sunday or Monday. Luckily, Monday is a State holiday, so I'll have that day off.

Long story short, I'll be away from the keyboard for a the rest of the week. I might have sporadic internet use, but nothing serious.

Have a good week, all.

[Bardo]

Sunday; June 10, 2007

While this blog got off to a good start, my trip to San Francisco really interrupted its flow. Suffice it to say, we all had a blast on vacation. I won't bore you with the details of my personal life, but our time in California was extremely awesome. Getting back to Oregon, I then received one of the best phone calls in my life when I was offered a fantastic job that I interviewed for just before leaving for San Fran. I've been kinda floaty since then.

MtG-wise, all of my spare time has been channeled into my SCG article that's coming out this Thursday. It's just about done and needs only a couple of read-throughs for style and grammatical tweaks. Otherwise, I'm quite proud of it.

Given the topic of said article, I'm thoroughly sick of playing Threshold am going back to my "Mostly Monoblue Standstill," which has always treated me right.

1-0 vs. Mobilization.dec

Yes, after [image] 49 freaking turns, a casual Soldier-theme decks succumbs to my creature-crushing juggernaut... Praise be!

(Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's a Chalice of the Void for 4!)

Incindentally, Tabernacle + Shackles is a juicy mini-combo; Engineered Explosives plus Academy Ruins is rather silly too.

'Off to walk the dogs.

[Bardo]

So, last Saturday night I turned on the old pc in our spare bedroom to log another blog entry and was sad to find that my dial-up Internet connection was finally cut off by my former employer. Frown town, indeed. Does MWS or APPR have a version for Mac (PM me, if so)? If not and given that I'm too much of a techno-newb to run a pc-emulator on Sue's iMac (this computer), my blog is going to langor in limbo for a bit (I hope no longer) while I figure out my Internet options.

All of this experience with MWS and logging my results here culminated in my last StarCityGames article that you can read here. While that was quite a labor to write, I'm happy with the way it came out and is basically a proxy for three-four days worth of posts here in early June.

You can see as far a I got with Vorsosh Control aka "Mostly Mono-Blue Control" in that article and where I ended up with U/G/w Threshold, which is sleeved up, card for card, in my closet at the moment:

White-Splash Threshold
by Bardo

4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Note
4 Serum Visions

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Spell Snare

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Pithing Needle

4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Meddling Mage
1 Mystic Enforcer

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains

Sideboard
3 Armageddon
3 Chill
3 Hydroblast
2 Loaming Shaman
2 Krosan Grip
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mystic Enforcer

Try it out.

Ciao for now.

[Mr. Nightmare]

No such luck.  MWS does not work on Macs, nor does Apprentice, nor does Modo.