So, just like to say, this means I'm totally alive again. With the next win, expect a giant finger to all of the bastards that doubted me before.
I decided to play "It's the Fear" for this tournament. Dan (nitewolf9) and I have been working on this list for awhile now, and it felt pretty solid. However, the list of choices was pretty long. Threshold, Goblins, MossNought, and Landstill were all options I was considering. I decided on "It's the Fear" in the end, because the deck is pretty solid, and shows a great deal of promise. Here's the list, with some modifications that I'm planning at the bottom in parentheses.
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Counterspell
3 Counterbalance
1 Life from the Loam
4 Intuition
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Psychatog
1 Eternal Witness
4 Force of Will
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
3 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Academy Ruins
(Recommended maindeck changes: -1 Psychatog, + 1 Meditate, -1 Swamp, +1 Flooded Strand)
Sideboard
1 Counterbalance
3 Krosan Grip
3 Yixlid Jailer
4 Engineered Plague
4 Blue Elemental Blast
(Recommended sideboard changes: -3 Yixlid Jailer, +1 Krosan Grip, +2 Meditate ((more about this later)))
Round 1 Jon Ruscieki playing RBG Vial Goblins
Game 1: Jon gets a slow start with Fanatics. The crux of this game is this scenario; Jon has 2 Mogg Fanatics, a Goblin Lackey, and a Goblin Matron has just resolved. I have an active Shackles and a Tarmogoyf. 'Goyf is a 4/5 currently, and Jon searches up a Gempalm Incinerator. He cycles the Incinerator and in response, I activate Shackles targeting his Mogg Fanatic. He thinks for awhile, lets it go, and I promptly shoot the Lackey with the cycle trigger still on the stack. Fanatic and Lackey die, the (now 5/6) 'Goyf takes 2 points of damage, and Jon draws a card. That's going to be a lose.
Game 2: Jon gets a weird start with a bunch of Vials, but no action. I proceed to drop Plague and slow him down even more. Jon's draws are pretty awful, but he's been managing to keep me from having any action for awhile. I sit on the second Plague in order to get him to play a creature. Finally, he goes for it and I steal it with Shackles. I ride that guy for awhile until Jon goes for his alpha strike. He drops double Warchief, Piledriver, Wort. I Swords both of his Warchiefs and proceed to steal Wort on my turn. With that, the game proceeds downhill (at a very slow pace) until I finally kill him.
Round 2: Kenny Mayer playing Aggro Loam
Game 1: Kenny draws 3 Wastelands. He uses them many more times than that.
Game 2: In Kenny's top 15 cards, are 4 Wastelands. He uses them many more times than that.
7 Wastelands in two games will seal the deal. He ended up Wastelanding me about 16 times total. Regardless of how it looks, the manabase is surprisingly stable.
Round 3: Zach Tartell playing Enchantress
Game 1: Zach mulligans to 5. I keep a decent opener with Intuition, Explosives, land, and a Brainstorm. Zach proceeds to draw enough Enchantress effects to keep me from blowing them away (I used Intuition to search up triple Deed which was a mistake) and lands a (maindecked!) Choke on me when I was tapped low.
Game 2: Counterbalance seals it. That card is so stupid.
Game 3: Same thing. Krosan Grips and Counterbalance are fucking stupid.
Round 4: Mark LaBelle playing RBG Vial Goblins
Game 1: I keep a questionable opening hand that will win if he opens with Vial, but loses to Lackey. Unfortunately, I lose to his Lackey opening.
Game 2: Mark draws rather poorly, and I manage to drop Plague and 'Goyf and just go to town.
Game 3: Mark draws exceedingly poorly, and I manage to get this one off of Plague and 'Goyf.
Round 5: Nick diTizio playing Dreadstill
Game 1: It takes Nick awhile to do anything. When he finally gets things situated and drops a Standstill, I'd just played Life from the Loam. He draw-go's for awhile, while I make my land drops. Finally, when he's about to discard, I break Standstill and make him discard. On my turn, I draw-pass. On his turn, he plays Dreadnought and Stifles it. My hand is thus; Force, Intuition, Engineered Explosives, Pernicious Deed, Pernicious Deed, Swords to Plowshares. So, on my turn, I drop Explosives at 1, he Forces, I drop Deed, he Forces, I drop Deed, he Forces. That leaves him with NO cards in hand. Then, I Swords it. That basically seals it for him.
Game 2: Nick mistakenly sideboards, and his Grips aren't enough to stop my engine and Counterbalance. Additionally, his Dreadnoughts can't stick because of my Grips.
All around, this was a miserable matchup for Nick. I have entirely too many answers for his limited countermagic base, and my threats are very powerful.
Round 6 Kevin Kehoe playing Survival
We draw.
Top 8 Kenny Mayer playing Aggro Loam
Game 1: FUCK. He was literally the only player in the top 8 I didn't want to play against. That said, there was no way for me to win this game. I should have mulliganed, but unfortunately my logic failed me. Just to clarify, here's my line of thinking. I opened a hand with four or five land, Counterspell, and other irrelevant cards (one of which was a Shackles). I think to myself, that his primary (and best) plan is to manascrew me. Thus, with a heavy land plan, after surviving his initial assault, I'll still have some left. Additionally, one of them was a fetchland, which means that I could get an Island that would be waste-proof. Poor logic here. Counterbalance (in this deck) will trump EVERYTHING. Mulliganing for Counterbalance was a significantly better plan than trying to passively let him accomplish his game plan. Anyway, I don't mulligan and lose.
Game 2: This can all be summed up in one series of plays. After dealing with his 'Goyfs, I drop a Counterbalance. Looking at the top 3 I see a Swords (that I can't cast), a Deed, and an irrelevant card (possibly a Counterspell, but I DO know that it did NOT cost 3 mana). Now, I had been pretty observant before this, and noticed that he'd been sitting on two cards previous to this. After blowing away his two 'Goyfs, he passed the turn. His board is Diamond, Wasteland, Taiga. That's enough mana to cast everything except for Seismic Assault. Thus, the likelihood is high that those cards are Krosan Grips (which I had seen before in the rounds). Unfortunately, I don't time it correctly, and logic myself into the corner that I should draw the Swords instead of setting up the Deed. This is a judgement call. It was made on a slightly flawed premise, but I DO know that it could have gone either way. Had Kenny decided to do it on the end of my draw step (which is when I like to do it), I'd have walked him right into it. However, he did it immediately on my end step and I logic'd myself into a stupid corner. I then lose the game after furiously Top'ing into 7 lands after 3 shuffle effects. Frown.
So, I lose to Kenny... AGAIN. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, but that's a bit frustrating.
Thoughts on the deck.
Very powerful. Very synergistic. Capable of adaptability. Psychatog blows donkey dick though. The new list cuts him down to a one-of in favor of adding a singleton Meditate. The reasoning behind this is simple. Landstill can out card advantage you. Standstill and Fact or Fiction are rather large hurdles. With Meditate (and it's potential re-usability with Witness/Stronghold) you can out card advantage THEM.
Also, 8 fetches. That's remarkably important. Besides smoothing a four color manabase, fetchlands are what makes Loam as good as it is in this deck. Also, the fact that Intuitioning for Loam/Ruins/Stronghold is ridiculous. I would like to note that I NEVER cast Psychatog ALL DAY. The ONLY time he was relevant was when he was a three casting cost spell on top of my library. I never pitched him to Force either.
I've also decided that playing grave-hate may not be the best plan. Ichorid and the like are highly underplayed and are rather inconsequential blips on the radar. I feel like Jailer actually encouraged worse play against Aggro Loam than if I had had a less relevant card (like Meditate). I can't tell for certain that it would have made a difference (as he swept me 2-0 in the rounds and Top8), but I feel like Meditate is going to be a better call as Landstill is a difficult matchup that sees more play than graveyard based decks. Obviously, this is only opinion. However, with there being only two Ichorid decks, 1 Cephalid breakfast, and 2/3 Aggro Loam decks there, I didn't really feel like it represented as much. Especially because Meditate is more versatile than grave hate. I could be wrong, and I will definitely analyze it, but that's my current interpretation of the metagame.
The deck is named (tentatively so far) "It's the Fear" for two reasons.
1) It's a very badass song from Within Temptation.
2) Counterbalance puts the fucking FEAR OF GOD into your opponents. ESPECIALLY when you have cards that cost 3 mana in your deck.
THAT'S the reason behind the name. Also, Nightmare stole the idea for Meditate from me. Just want to clarify that. Mine. Not his. Idea stealing jerk. :)
Props
Kenny, for not playing Doran
Dan, for being way more right than me
Zuhair for running a spectacular tournament
Akki, for judging a spectacular tournament
Anwar, for showing up in Middle Eastern robes
Me, for doing well
Slops
Me, for taking so goddamn long to win something
Dan, for not getting there
Dan, for not convincing me that he was way more right than I thought he was
Zuhair for NOT showing up in Middle Eastern robes
Kenny, for beating me TWICE
Calosso, on principle
Dave Price, also on principle
Copenhaver for being a fucking retard that proves that euthanasia should not only be legal, but encouraged (I fucking hate this kid)
All in all, it was a great time. I always enjoy seeing the New Yorkers (where were you Nightmare?) and the other people as well. Good times were had by most, and Cody's a fucking lightweight. Drunk on 8 oz. of Kahlua? Are you serious? Please tell me you're not serious. God, what a 'tard.
Still though, good times. Even Cody. But not Copenhaver. Fuck that kid.
Also, totally still alive. Just you wait for the next tournament that I go to. That should be a good time. :)
P.S. I get it. "Bring back Solidarity!" "Why aren't you playing Solidarity?" "Where's Solidarity?". Shut the fuck up. That was mildly humorous the FIRST time. After the 50th or so time, it gets stupid. Fuck off. I'll play the deck when I'm damn well ready. Not before. Stop trying to be clever. You're not.
Last edited by Deep6er; 03-31-2008 at 10:55 AM.
For the foreseeable future, expect to see less of me. I've lost my internet connection, and so I'll only be able to get on by siphoning free Wi-Fi from the surrounding areas. Which isn't always consistent.
Plus, the guy that I used to leech off of has now instituted password protection. This means that I effectively do not have internet at home. :(
Congrats on the finish!!!
Also, have you tested high tide?
Yea man, sorry about those games. I drew extremely well against you (I think I had Mox turn 1 all four of our games, and always had Wastelands early on). I really do like your deck though, as Intuition seems very powerful with cards like Academy Ruins and Stronghold available, and of course the Top/Balance combo is always saucy.
-Kenny Mayer
So this is the Chase Rare Control port we were waiting for.
YOU'RE GIVING ME A TIME MACHINE IN ORDER TO TREAT MY SLEEP DISORDER.
DAVE GEARHART! Nice job figuring out how to win at legacy again. I'll have to try this deck out some time in the very near future.
The Fear is also the hiccups you get when you're drunk.
Nice deck. I still hate Counterbalance and Deed in the same deck, but hey, it looks like it worked ok here.
Also, I needed a weekend off from travel/Magic. Sorry to dissapoint.
For the foreseeable future, expect to see less of me. I've lost my internet connection, and so I'll only be able to get on by siphoning free Wi-Fi from the surrounding areas. Which isn't always consistent.
Plus, the guy that I used to leech off of has now instituted password protection. This means that I effectively do not have internet at home. :(
Aww, thanks for the kind words Gearhart, good to know youll be playing Solidarity again someday, hopefully soon!
Nice work and good finish, I'm glad we were able to come up with something that ran psychatog and could do well, even though I think between the two of us in 3 tournaments he was cast once. That's a shame, he is so freaking cool.
At least intuition is kind of like gifts...if you squint really hard.
And yeah, I need to draw better against control decks apparently Be mad at Anwar as well, he failed to avenge me against Dave price. Although to be fair, Dave Price was avenging himself on me...so I guess Anwar needs to do some avenging in the near future.
Wasteland is a bitch in multiples I guess...but more playing of counterbalance against aggro loam in the future. You are on notice.
they haunt minds...
I'll keep this brief as I don't exactly play control as an archtype very well, however, Congrats and very interesting deck. I'm glad someone played even 1 Tog in this format as he is one of my favorite creatures, even if he sucks ass in this environment.
Also, If I could award lesbian points or pinders to people, Gearheart would definitely be awarded a bunch for excellent use of both a WT song title, and lyrics from "The Islander."
Team Albany: What's Legacy?
You cannot know the sweetness of Victory, without first dwelling in the agony of Defeat.
HUZZAH! VICTORY! Man, <3 Nightwish and Within Temptation.
@Nitewolf9: You know, you're probably right about the Counterbalance thing. Although, I may have come to that conclusion as well. :). Also, less need for vengeance and instead win. I think that's a better plan. :).
For the foreseeable future, expect to see less of me. I've lost my internet connection, and so I'll only be able to get on by siphoning free Wi-Fi from the surrounding areas. Which isn't always consistent.
Plus, the guy that I used to leech off of has now instituted password protection. This means that I effectively do not have internet at home. :(
Congrats on the Finish David.
+1 counterbalance, -1 other bad card. I hear this is a good plan. Also, -56 bad cards, +56 gagomy cards. Only add 56 though since goyfs are already in the deck. lol.
Grats on the finish though, glad you had a good time.
Oh, damn! How could I have forgotten. GAGOOOOMEEEEE!
Incidentally, the second Counterbalance is usually a dead draw. Three is a good number.
For the foreseeable future, expect to see less of me. I've lost my internet connection, and so I'll only be able to get on by siphoning free Wi-Fi from the surrounding areas. Which isn't always consistent.
Plus, the guy that I used to leech off of has now instituted password protection. This means that I effectively do not have internet at home. :(
Congrats on the finish, Dave.
Early one morning while making the round,
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down;
I went right home and I went to bed,
I stuck that lovin' .44 beneath my head.
Dave, you know you already have my undivided (except for Zach) love, so why did you decide to play Psychatog in Legacy? I promise I didn't doubt your awesomeness!
PS - I would have gladly sent you the Cookie Monster himself if you had asked :(
Originally Posted by Bryant Cook
I think you're underestimating the value of Counterbalance (with cards that cost 3). Plus, Krosan Grip is way more relevant than Yixlid Jailer. Also, a fair number of sweepers tends to help in dealing with Ground seal (which only shuts off 4 cards).
The real point is that he'd already beaten me. I didn't want to walk into that kind of disheartening beating again.
@Ebinsugewa: If I had gotten my way, Psychatog wouldn't even be in the deck. You need to give props to Dan (nitewolf9) for 'Tog being here. Also, I am awesome. This is just more confirmation. :)
For the foreseeable future, expect to see less of me. I've lost my internet connection, and so I'll only be able to get on by siphoning free Wi-Fi from the surrounding areas. Which isn't always consistent.
Plus, the guy that I used to leech off of has now instituted password protection. This means that I effectively do not have internet at home. :(
Early one morning while making the round,
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down;
I went right home and I went to bed,
I stuck that lovin' .44 beneath my head.
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