I waited a bit before I wrote this, mostly because I left Fort Worth on Sunday night with a bad taste in my mouth, and I wanted to calm down a bit before I wrote anything about it.With time to clear my head, I can now say I actually had a good time, and I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone that I don't normally get to talk to.
Standard
I played Naya Midrange, because I just didn't like anything else. Sometimes I stick with a deck for too long after the meta has shifted, because I continue to have success with it. It can be hard to tell if a deck is winning because it's good or because I'm playing against bad players. I think this time it was the latter.
I added 3 Ray of Revelation in the sideboard to combat the Bant Hexproof deck. I had success in that matchup, 2-1 in three rounds played, but it was way more of the metagame than I had expected. My other two losses were to BR Zombies and Mono Red before I dropped, and my only other win was against a Bant player.
Legacy
After I dropped from the Standard Open, I joined the four-round Legacy warm-up event, or whatever they were calling it. I had been brewing a pretty exciting UW Wizards Stoneblade list (ignore the deck name on the link), but I wasn't sure if it was good. I lent the deck to Andrew Sullano to playtest while I was still battling standard. When I went to get the deck back, he told me that he could never beat it playing UW Miracles. This was a good sign. I went 3-1 in the tournament, my only loss coming against High Tide when I was stuck on two lands both games. It's legacy, sometimes that happens.
I made a couple of modifications and played it again for the legacy open on Sunday. Here's how that went:
Round 1 - Esper Stoneblade
Game 1 I flood out while he kills me with random Lingering Souls tokens. Game 2 I win the Jace war with Detention Sphere, and cruise to victory. Game 3 He forgets to flashback Lingering Souls on a critical turn that would have allowed him to attack and kill my Jace the following turn. Instead, I was able to protect it and ride it to my first match win of the day.
1-0
Round 2- Mono White Stax
Game 1 He leads with two Mishra's Factories and then a Scroll Rack. He asks if I need to read it, but I know it. It's the most difficult card to play in Magic. I'm worried he's going to take forever and we might draw, but he uses it fairly efficiently. I Spellstutter Sprite his Land Tax, and protect my Jace with Force of Will. Game 2 is similar, except he has turn two Trinisphere, but I have the Force of Will. I counter his relevant spells and he's never really in it.
2-0
Round 3 - UB Stifle-Naught
Game 1 He kills my lands with Stifle and Sinkhole, but I keep drawing them. I land two Stoneforge Mystics to get Batterskull and Sword of Feast and Famine. His Desecration Demon was no match. Games 2 and 3 are both blowouts, where he casts Stifle, Sinkhole, Sinkhole, Snapcaster on Sinkhole, etc., etc., and I never get to play any spells. Oh well, its Legacy, I'm somewhat ok losing this way.
2-1
Round 4 - RUG Delver
But I'm not ok getting an unintentional draw, especially against RUG Delver, just because my opponent takes a minute and a half every time he Ponders and Brainstorms. Game 1 took 25 minutes and he topdecked Lightning Bolt on the last possible turn before my Batterskull took over. Game 2 I had Rest in Peace, and he could never amount an offense that matter, but it took me another twenty minutes to kill him. Also this guy would shuffle almost what I would consider an excessive amount every time, and there was plenty of opportunities for this, since it was legacy. On one of his longer Brainstorms, he says "sorry I'm taking a while", and I responded "saying sorry isn't going to make the game go any quicker." Surprisingly, his pace of play picked up after that, and we finished game two with a whole five minutes left for game three. We didn't finish the last game.
2-1-1
I was very upset. I haven't been this upset in a while. I knew that with an 8 round tournament with 210 people, that unintentional draw most likely meant I couldn't top 8, even if I won out. I had all this rage, which I channeled to defeat all of my next opponents.
Round 5 - UW Miracles
I'm angry, so I crush. He counters my Vendilion Clique once, but I had used Caverns to cast it.
3-1-1
Round 6 - Death and Taxes
I had Jace, he had basic plains. Bloodbath.
4-1-1
Round 7 - Show and Tell
I had everything I needed in both games, and his draws kinda played into mine.
5-1-1
Round 8 - Esper Stoneblade
I lose game one, but win games two and three because I'm fighting a Jace war and he wants to fight over Stoneforge Mystics.
6-1-1
Predictably, I finished 10th place, missing out on top 8 on tiebreakers. The $100 prize was poor consolation, as it barely covered gas for the trip. I left still upset about drawing in round three, and instead of hanging out more in DFW, I drove home.
After playing more with the deck, including two MOCS Preliminaries where I've gone 5-1 and 4-1, I've further tuned the list. Here is the latest update:
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
3 Island
2 Riptide Laboratory
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Karakas
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Detention Sphere
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Batterskull
Sideboard:
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Detention Sphere
1 Disenchant
1 Spell Pierce
1 Hydroblast
1 Divert
1 Envelop
1 Pithing Needle
1 Familiar's Ruse
I've been very impressed with the Venser in the maindeck, along with Cavern of Souls. Both cards I added just for fun, but have earned their place in the main deck. Familiar's Ruse in the sideboard is a pet card of mine. I want to play it maindeck instead of Counterspell, but that just doesn't feel right. Familiar's Ruse + Snapcaster Mage is quite a bit of countermagic. I cut the Mutavault for a second plains. I wanted two white sources to fetch so I can Supreme Verdict and not get Wastelanded. Also, I had yet to activate Mutavault after 30 or so matches.
The deck is a lot of fun to play. Its better against combo than Esper Stoneblade, but it might be worse against BUG and Jund. The mirror is still close, I still think you need to be on the Jace side of the fight, and build my decks accordingly.
If you play this, please don't cut any Jace or the Sword of Feast and Famine from the maindeck. I don't know why legacy players want to do that all the time. I've heard several arguments, even from people who I respect, but they've yet to come anywhere close to convincing me it's right.
That's all for now!
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