There really haven't been any interesting reports lately, so figured I should get into the habit of writing one every once in a while. Tonight I played in a 14 player Legacy tournament at Superstars in San Jose, CA. This was a 10-proxy event, so was unsanctioned. I actually really like proxy legacy - it allows newer players to try to format with no investment, and lets you try cool decks involving obscure expensive cards (where else do you get to play your pet Nether Void deck?).
The metagame at Superstars is mostly Counter-top and various aggro-control decks (New Horizons, Survival Madness), with some Goblins, Dredge, and a few random other decks. There are very few combo players, but also almost never any Zoo, so I feel that Merfolk is a great choice for this metagame since almost everyone plays blue, which means I will almost always be the game 1 favorite. On average, the level of play skill at Superstars is very high (almost all of the people who play Legacy here play Vintage too) so I feel pretty confident that my result are very relevant.
I have been playing Merfolk for a while now and I feel that I am very good with the deck, and manage to win some matchups that are clearly not in my advantage. I choose to play the Mono-U version because I feel it is more consistent, more resilient to Wasteland, and can play a great sideboard for my common matchups here. The only common matchups which I am at a disadvantage in are Goblins and Zoo, which are not common in my meta. I feel that I would lose more than I gain by adding another color, since Wasteland is just about the most common card here.
Please excuse any errors here, I tend to mix up games with each other.
Here is the list I played:
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Standstill
4 Aether Vial
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
13 Island
Sideboard:
2 Hibernation
3 Submerge
1 Divert
1 Echoing Truth
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
My sideboard slightly tilted towards winning the Survival/Madness matchup with 2 Hibernations and 3 Submerge. Submerge is probably the card that goes in the most - it just randomly blows out Counter-Top (even with an active CB, they only have 4 CC 5's) and any goyf decks really. The Echoing Truth and Divert are kind of just catch-alls for when I have more cards to take out that put in, and are generally very good. Divert in reality is kind of just the 4th Spell Pierce. I almost never encounter the mirror (I don't know why...), but I leave a Llawan in there just in case. Tormod's over other graveyard hate is simply because I lose too much tempo paying mana for Relic and Ravenous Trap is bad against everything but Dredge.
Round 1 vs. Max Scott with a WUB brew
Game 1: I played a few merfolk, he basically couldn't find any action despite playing three brainstorms. I actually thought he was playing Landstill for most of the game, then he played a Vial. The only cards I saw this game were Brainstorm, Aether Vial, Force of Will, Daze, and Wasteland.
Sideboard: After seeing the vial, I decuced he was playing at least 12 or so creatures, and assumed he was playing UW tempo with a black splash so:
Out - 2 Standstill
In - 2 Jitte
Game 2: He had an early Tidehollow Sculler, which didn't really suprise me. He eventually attacked into my Vial @ 2, and I vialed a Silvergill to block. I had two lords and beat for 6 until he died, casting a timely daze on his force of will.
After the match I saw that his deck was pretty interesting - it had Meddling Mage, Dark Confidant, and Tidehollow Sculler in addition to Vial and Standstill. Basically Merfolk with worse, but more disruptive creatures.
Win 2-0
1-0 Matches
2-0 Games
Round 2 vs. Chains of Mephistopheles guy (yep) blanking on your name...sorry with Aggro-Loam
Game 1: I know from my opponent is aggro-loam from the start, and keep Cursecatcher, Vial, Silvergill, LoA, LoA, Wasteland, Island. This is just about the best hand I can hope for against him, and my only way to win is to keep him off of triple red for seismic assault and hope he draws bad, while quickly beating down. This is a terrible matchup for me pre-board (I can't see it being higher than 20%).
I manage to keep him off of the Assault for the whole game and beat him down with Reejerys. He manages to draw into a Countryside Crusher, but my clock is simply too fast.
Sideboard: I really wasn't too prepared for this, but I knew I had some cool cards which might surprise him.
Out - 2 Daze, 3 Spell Pierce
In - 3 Submerge, 2 Blue Blast
Game 2: I keep a pretty sweet hand with 2 Mutavaults, Silvergill, Cursecatcher, and Coralhelm, but no sideboard cards. He of course opens on my least favorite card in magic, Vexing Shusher. Then he plays a Jitte. I pretty much mentally scoop at this point. I had a great hand, but I just could not stop him from destroying me here.
Out - 2 Vial
In - 2 Jitte
I don't know if it was right to take out Vials here, but they seemed like my worst card when he doesn't play counters and I just need to have a fast clock. I wanted the Jittes to kill his, since his will just straight up beat me if it hits.
Game 3: I open on a threat-light hand with Vial, into Jitte. He plays his Jitte to kill mine. I play a Coralhelm and a Reejery. He drops a Countryside Crusher and a Vexing Shusher. I know at this point I just have to win the race, so I level my Commander all the way and start beating for five a turn. He almost comes back, but a timely Blue Blast on his Countryside Crusher seals it.
Win 2-1
2-0 Matches
4-1 Games
Round 3 vs. Again, blanking on the name (I should start writing them down) with Lands
Game 1: He mulls to 6. I keep a triple-lord hand with a wasteland and daze. He plays a quick Manabond, which I let resolve, and then attempts an Intuition, which I daze. I drop all my guys and waste his only Maze (getting through an extra 3 damage), and he cannot find a chasm or tabernacle fast enough to stop my assault.
Sideboard: Didn't really have much here
Out - 3 Daze
In - 3 Tormod's Crypt
Game 2: We both keep out 7. I got off to a fast start with double Lord of Atlantis. He found Tabernacle and Two Mazes of Ith. I find a Coralhelm and begin getting in for 2 a turn, but not being able to play more threats due to the upkeep costs. Eventually I get him down low enough to where vialing in another Lord and wasting a Maze gets though exacties.
Win 2-0
3-0 Matches
6-1 Games
Round 4 vs. Josh Utter-Leyton with Counter-top
We agreed to a prize split even though I know I was the favorite (U.S. National champ and such), but play it out anyway.
Game 1: I mull Silvergill, Cursecatcher, Mutavault, Wasteland, 3 Island into Island, Wasteland, Aether Vial, Reejery, Force of Will, Cursecatcher. KEEP. First turn Vial gets forced, but my force (pitching Cursecatcher) saves the day. Next turn I waste his Tropical Island, making sure he has a hard time finding a Goyf for defense. I end up drawing Reejery, Reejery, Lord of Atlantis of the top, and hit for lethal before he can make another interactive play.
Sideboard:
Out - 3 Daze
In - 3 Submerge
Game 2: I keep Vial, Vial, Wasteland, Island, Force, Reejery, Island. All skill. I vial on turn one, baiting his force. He doesn't have it. I end up drawing into a few Spell Pierces and a Force with a bunch of dudes, and am able to protect my lords.
Win 2-0
4-0 Matches
8-1 Games
My prize was 9 packs of Scars, which resulted in 9 of the worst rares I have every opened in sequence. I blame the fact that the prize packs were from Fat Packs since the store is sold out of Scars Booster Boxes (stop ordering from Channel Fireball, my prizes are suffering!)
Thanks for reading, comments are appreciated!
i live in saratoga and am taking a break from college for a quarter, when are the tournaments? id like to bring my gw vengevinal for a test run :), i also have solidarity, bryant's TES and uw landstill that i can bring
We play 10-proxy unsanctioned legacy every Thursday, and also as of last Sunday, one santioned event every month on a Sunday. All of the events are listed at http://www.superstarsgamecenter.com, along with the decklists after events.
That is nice to hear. Do you have more info of when will be the next sanctioned legacy event?
I would assume it is going to be Nov. 21st, Eric said that he would do another one "next month", but you might want to ask him.
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