This past weekend, I played in the Gamerzpairadice Team Constructed 1k with Haibing Hu and Aryeh Wiznitzer as my teammates. The format was Legacy/Modern/Standard. Aryeh had recently won a PPTQ with mono black zombies, so he played that in Standard. For Modern, I always try to just give Haibing the best deck and let him figure it out, whether for individual events or for team events. This time, that meant giving him Grixis Death's Shadow as played by Brad Nelson at the latest SCG Open. I was the designated Legacy expert of the team, and despite all the brews I've been trying to prepare for GP Las Vegas and the post-Top banning environment, I ended up playing a list very close to the list I had been playing a few months ago. This is what I played:
Esper Strixblade
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Thoughtseize
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Ponder
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Academy Ruins
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Marsh Flats
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
Sideboard
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Containment Priest
1 Flusterstorm
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Engineered Plague
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Council's Judgment
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
I like this list a lot. I will play some version of it at GP Vegas. I think I will cut all the cards that cost WW in the SB for something else, but I'm not certain of what the something else is yet.
Since Aryeh had access to 4 Transgress the Mind, we decided we were Team Thoughtseize. Thoughtseize is a very good Magic card. There were 22 teams at the event, which was the capacity of the store. Some people had to be turned away at the door. People love team events! Gamerzpairadice was a pretty nice store. The bathroom worked, the air conditioning worked, and there was plenty of parking. The tournament was 5 rounds of swiss with a cut to top 4. I'm not sure this is the right way to run it, but it worked out in the end.
Round 1
I'm playing against 4 color Deathblade. I win game 1 despite him resolving Jace and Stoneforge first. I was able to kill his Jace with an attack from Snapcaster Mage after I STP both his guys end of turn. Then my Jace took over the game. Game 2 he started Noble Hierarch into Leovold into Jace, and I had no effective answers and I lost. By this time, Aryeh had defeated his Marvel opponent, and Bing had defeated his Green Devotion opponent, so we didn't finish our match.
Highlight of the round: Bing's opponent cast Summoner's Pact and searched for a Whisperwood Elemental that was in Russian. He asked Bing if he knew what it did. Bing (who has won two separate tournaments with Whisperwood in his deck!) said no. Then his opponent went back into his library to find the English version and put that into play instead of the Russian one!
1-0
Round 2
I'm paired against Burn. I make short work of him with turn 2 Stoneforge for Batterskull with Force of Will backup, followed by Sword of Feast and Famine and equipping. Game 2 was exactly the same. Bing lost to burn, probably making some questionable plays along the way. He was still learning to play the deck. With 30 minutes left in the round, I put my trust in Aryeh to play his match and I went to get some lunch. He ended up losing a close game 3 to UR Control.
Highlight of the round: My opponent, facing a Germ with Batterskull and SoFF on it, "Hey teammates, what is my plan against Batterskull with Sword of Whatever Whatever on it?"
Teammate: "Go to the next game."
1-1
Round 3
I have an interesting match against Dragon Stompy (with actual dragons!). His turn 2 Trinsiphere resolved, and then I couldn't Force of Will his turn 3 Blood Moon. Mostly locked out of casting spells due to only having a Island as a basic in play. I flashed a Snapcaster to trade with a Rabblemaster. I cast Force of Will the hardest way (exiling a blue card and paying 3 mana) to counter both Avaricious Dragon and Thunderbreak Reagent. But then I drew Batterskull! I played it, and started to stabilize against his board of 2 goblins and Magus of the Moon. Eventually he drew Fiery Confluence, but I had gained too much life so even with two turns off to replay the equipment he couldn't kill me. He ended up scooping a few turns later, unable to beat the 4/4 lifelinker. I lost the next game to turn 1 Chalice on 1, turn 2 chalice on 2. Game 3 I used two Thoughtseize to take his Chandra and Sin Prodder, clearing the way for my Stoneforge for Sword of Fire and Ice, but he topdeck another Chandra and I lost. Aryeh defeated his opponent (no idea what the matchup was), and Bing was able to stop the Ally deck from going off with Return from the Ranks thanks to Stubborn Denial, and we won the match.
Highlight of the round: winning game 1 with just Batterskull.
2-1
Round 4
