Archive for the ‘Decks’ Category

The Legacy tournaments at the Black Lotus Store in Barcelona are probably the biggest weekly events in the world. With an average turn out that might hit the 35 players, Black Lotus has become an excellent place to practice Legacy at a real high level. You might find there players like Lluis Restoy (GP Madrid Top8), Ricard Tudurí (GP Winner) or Adrià Romero (who recently made top9 at the BOM4).

In the past I used to go every Saturday to the Legacy tournaments, but now, due to my job I can’t hardly get any Saturdays off. And those that I can, I usually make them match with the Vintage tournaments from the LCV6.

Anyways, so this past Saturday I managed to go and I won! Well, even though I really wanted to play because I felt I could defeat easily any of the top4 decks (Reanimator, Zoo and Survi-Auriok) I agreed on splitting the Top4 because the other 3 guys really wanted to, and I was a bit tired.

I expected the following metagame: Zoo, Reanimator, ANT, Merfolks and Countertop (thopters, progenitus, etc). That’s what the usual players play around there. Then there’s always some people with random decks like Belcher, White Staxx, etc… My predictions were almost perfect since there were a lot of combo decks (ANT, Reanimator), some Zoo, and also some Thopter/CounterTop decks.

The night before the tournament I prepared my ANT deck to fight that metagame. I can advance you that this is probably the best sideboard I’ve brought to a tournament. I’m really satisfied with the result and I felt I had answers for absolutely all the matchups that I could face. So this is the list:

Main deck: 4cANT by Jordi Amat
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Brainstorm
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
3 Ponder
3 Duress
3 Orim’s Chant
2 Flooded Strand
2 City of Traitors
2 Chrome Mox
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Island

Sideboard:
4 Carpet of Flowers
3 Path to Exile
2 Nature’s Claim
1 Reverent Silence
1 Krosan Grip
1 Angel’s Grace
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tropical Island

I’m not gonna talk about the main deck choices because the list is pretty standard (15 lands – including 2 City of Traitors, 6 protection spells – including Orim’s Chant, 1 Tendrils, 1 bouncer, etc…). But I do wanna talk about the sideboard.

Path to Exile (3): This card proved to be the MVP of the tournament. And that’s the second time I performed excellent thanks to them. Let’s see it’s advantages:

• It kills Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Iona, Shielf of Emeria, as well as Tarmogoyf (BANPLZ!), Wild Nacatl, etc…
• It’s white, so you’ll probably kill Ioona 100% of the times with it.
• We run more than 1 copy, so we can use it more aggressively to kill an early menace that will save us some health points. Killing a turn 1 Wild Nacatl with a Path to Exile, if your game plan is slow, can turn into a huge advantage.
• Nobody expects Path to Exile.

Disadvantages:

• It’s white, so you’ll need to fetch for white. That usually isn’t a problem, but it’s not the same as playing Slaughter Pact (which I also run).
• It’s more sensible to Daze/Spell Pierce since it costs more than Slaughter Pact.

Carpet of Flowers (4): In a metagame where blue is everywhere, this card seems the right call. Merfolks disruption is based on the “pay X more or counter this spell” (aka, Daze, Spell Pierce and Curse Catcher), and Carpet of Flowers brings lots of extra mana for free every turn. The only spell you should care about when playing against Merfolks is Force of Will.

The other reason why I run Carpet of Flowers nowadays is because control players expect you to play Dark Confidant Side Board, and they won’t side out their removal. Like this we achieve:

1. We accelerate for free everyturn
2. Opponent is playing with dead cards

Due to this version being 4 colors, Carpet of Flowers will fix our mana base pretty nicely. You’ll have the white, the green, blue or black whenever you’ll need it.

Nature’s Claim (2) + Reverent Silence (1) + Krosan Grip (1): Our worst match up is obviously anything running CounterTop. We can’t have our silver bullets all with the same mana cost, and that’s why I opted to have Nature’s Claim, Krosan Grip and Reverent Silence.

Chalice @1 hurts us a lot, but you should be able to Mystical Tutor for Krosan Grip in response to his Chalice, and get rid of it quite easily. Else, just try to combo out with the double LED + Infernal Tutor Kill.

Angel’s Grace (1) + Tendrils of Agony (1): Since I expected some Zoo decks, Angel’s Grace was a must include! I can’t play combo decks without 2 Tendrils of Agony but it didn’t fit in the main deck, so I finally opted to add it to the SB.

Against Zoo/Aggro decks, my usual sideboard plan is: +1 Angel’s Grace, +1 Tendrils of Agony, +3 Path to Exile, +1 Slaughter Pact (and if I expect Thorn of Amethyst like from Affinity, then I add the 2 Nature’s Claim + Krosan Grip), -2 Duress (I always leave 1 Duress, just in case you need to check for a trap ), -3 Ponder, -1 Tropical Island (unless I have to add the green sideboard spells).

So this was more or less my sideboard strategy. My main game strategy was always to go for the double LED + Infernal Tutor Kill passing through Ill-Gotten Gains. I believe I killed like that around 90% of the times. I’ve been playing Iggy Pop/ iPop Negation / ANT for such a long time, that when I need to combo, I have it so clear that I know exactly what is needed to execute a certain amount of storm at any given situation. The fact that I reduced the amount of Ad Nauseam to 1 makes this plan my primary choice of kill.

I won’t explain my rounds with detail as I didn’t take accurate notes from the games. I’ll try to write about certain plays that were relevant during the tournament.

Round 1: Gonzalo Balot with random deck. 2-0

• Gonzalo was a new player in the scene and he actually didn’t know how to play at all. I helped him understand the game a bit better after I won him 2-0 in less than 10 minutes. I tried to make him understand the phases, construction of the decks, etc… He took notes and I think he’ll be better prepared next time.

Round 2: Alex Mateu with Survi/Auriok. 2-1

• Alex is actually one of the best players of the national Legacy scene. If you search him on deckcheck, you’ll discover a certain amount of good results.
• Game one I cast a turn 2 Ad Nauseam for the win. Game 2 he casts 3 Meddling Mage in 5 turns without any deck manipulation… I killed his first one with Path to Exile, then the second one named Ad Nauseam and the 3rd named Path to Exile, so my only chance was to find Mystical Tutor, for Slaughter Pact and then combo (I had Nauseam and mana enough). I never found the Mystical nor the Pact. Game 3 I believe I combo him on first turn with a Infernal Tutor Kill.

Round 3: Oscar Mesegué with Reanimator. 2-1

• Yet another excellent player with a lot of wins at the LCL/Black Lotus Store tournaments.
• He managed to get Ioona (naming black) into play game 1. I didn’t had many chances since she would kill me before I could actually bounce Ioona. But, I insisted and didn’t surrender, as I wanted to make him believe I could actually bounce Ioona. So I tried to Mystical Tutor at some point, which he obviously countered with FoW (+ Blue card when he only had 2 cards left) fearing a Wipe Away. I told him he did well countering my Mystical as I would have probably won So he actually believed me, and in second game, he put Ioona into play again naming blue! But I had Path to Exile to remove her I won the same turn I played the Path to Exile. Game 3, he had turn 1 Entomb, and he placed on his GY… Inkwell Leviathan, fearing my Path to Exile again. It was obviously a bad choice, as the squid never got to attack (I had a Path in my hand, anyways)

Round 4: My friend, and ex-team mate, Oliver Satizabal aka Owli with Zoo. ID

Round 5: Daniel Sanchez with Spring Tide. ID

Top8: Pedro Grati with ANT. 2-1

• I don’t know him that much. I know he’s performing well in pokemon formats, so I guess he’s a good player. BUT, I actually saw him play at round 5 (scouting FTW!), and I saw him play terribly bad. Misplays, wrong choices, etc… He told me after his last round, he’s not used to play combo. O RLY?
• Anyways, so Game one he casts DOUBLE duress on his first turn, and I win on my first turn! How? Check this out kids! My hand was: LED + Dark Ritual + Ancient Tomb + Lotus Petal + Cabal Ritual + Brainstorm + Sensei’s Divining Top. His double duress hits my Brainstorm and Sensei’s Divining Top. My topdeck was Infernal Tutor, and you know how the story ends
• On game 2, he had a strong play, but I slow him down with an Orim’s Chant in response to his Infernal Tutor. He searches Ad Nauseam (Mistake) which he can’t cast. I eot Mystical Tutor for Duress and take his Nauseam away. We both were at top deck but I had Sensei’s Divining Top. He drew a bomb before I found anything with the Top on 4 turns… He played Sadistic Sacrament so we moved onto game 3.
• Last game was a normal game, I Duress him turn 1 and comb on turn 3 via Ritual + LED + Infernal Tutor -> Ill-Gotten Infernal Tutor for Infernal Tutor for Tendrils for a total Storm of 10.
• As Pedro said “It happened what it should have happened”.

In the end, I accepted splitting the Top4 prizes.

The rest of the top8 went like this:

Sergi Herrero (Reanimator) VS Oscar Mesegué (Reanimator)

Àlex Mateu (Survi/Auriok) VS Daniel Sanchez (High Tide)

Jordi Amat (ANT) VS Pedro Grati (ANT)

Aldo Fernandez (Landstill) VS Oliver Satizabal (Zoo)

I’ll post the Top8 decks as soon as possible. Meanwhile, this is how the metagame looked like:

• 3 ANT (Top8 + Top4)
• 1 Landstill (Top8)
• 1 High Tide (Top8)
• 2 Merfolks
• 2 Dredge
• 2 Dark Depths (1 Countertop, 1 BG Hate)
• 3 Zoo (Top4)
• 2 Reanimator (Top8 + Top4)
• 2 Rogue deck
• 1 Alluren
• 1 Survival (Auriok Combo) (Top4)
• 1 Thopter/CounterTop
• 1 Fatestalker
• 1 Belcher
• 1 Canadian Threshold
• And a couple of lost lists

So, to conclude with something, let me just say…

REAL MEN PLAY COMBO!

Yesterday afternoon, I was taking some pictures of my deck (Dark Jace UBR) when my friend Arnau passed me a link with a picture to his deck. Lately he got some of my stuff, and I got some from him. It’s always nice to have a close partner to share/trade pimp with! Can you find the differences between both decks?

Arnau’s Dark Tezz deck!

My Dark Jace UBR!

I know I’m a bit delayed on the publishing of the 2 remaining videos from the finals! I’ve been loaded with work during the past 10 days or so and I haven’t had a day off in the past 2 weeks, so it’s been impossible to find the forces to sit down in front of the computer and spend some hours editing. I’ll promise I’ll release them soon, but just a little bit more patient please! (It also doesn’t help that I’ve been chosen for the Starcraft II beta ). Anyways, on the mean time, here you’ll find the lists from the Top8 players:

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1st – Israel Muñoz – Mono Blue Shop Aggro

3 Ancient Tomb
6 Island
4 Mishra’s Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Wasteland
4 Esperzoa
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Master of Etherium
2 Triskelion
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Chalice of the Void
1 In the Eye of Chaos
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Trinisphere

Sideboard:
2 Duplicant
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 In the Eye of Chaos
2 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus

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2nd – Guillem Ragull – Drain Tendrils

3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Gush
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
4 Mana Drain
1 Mana Vault
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Misdirection
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
4 Repeal
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Sideboard:
1 Yixlid Jailer
2 Empty the Warrens
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Pyroblast
4 Ravenous Trap
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Thoughtseize
1 Tormod’s Crypt

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Top 4 – Víctor de la Cruz – Oath

1 Bojuka Bog
1 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Progenitus
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Brainstorm
1 Crop Rotation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
1 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Impulse
1 Krosan Grip
1 Lat-Nam’s Legacy
1 Lim-Dûl’s Vault
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Null Rod
4 Oath of Druids
1 Ponder
1 Rebuild
1 Regrowth
1 Show and Tell
2 Spell Pierce
2 Stifle
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sideboard:
2 Energy Flux
3 Firespout
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Pithing Needle
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt

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Top 4 (1st unpowered, 1st budget) – Marc Bertolín – TarmoBurn

1 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mountain
2 Plateau
3 Taiga
3 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Chain Lightning
2 Fireblast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
3 Price of Progress
2 Sylvan Library

Sideboard:
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Path to Exile
3 Pithing Needle
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Tormod’s Crypt

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Top 8 – Arnau Rovira – Tezzeret Control

3 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
3 Dark Confidant
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Mana Crypt
4 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Misdirection
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
3 Spell Pierce
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Vault
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Voltaic Key
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Sideboard:
1 Mountain
2 Ingot Chewer
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Darkblast
2 Deathmark
2 Duress
1 Extirpate
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod’s Crypt

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Top 8 – Rubén Godino – Food Chain Goblins

1 Forest
7 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
2 Taiga
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Recruiter
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
3 Goblin Warchief
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Skirk Prospector
2 Chrome Mox
4 Food Chain
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring

Sideboard:
2 Krosan Grip
1 Naturalize
3 Pithing Needle
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Smash to Smithereens
2 Tormod’s Crypt

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Top 8 – Carles Miñón – Tezzeret Slaverless

1 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Sundering Titan
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Intuition
1 Mana Crypt
3 Mana Drain
1 Mana Vault
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Misdirection
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
3 Spell Snare
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Vault
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Voltaic Key
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Sideboard:
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
3 Claws of Gix
1 Duress
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Relic of Progenitus

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Top 8 – Xavier Hurtado – MUD

4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Mishra’s Factory
4 Mishra’s Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
2 Duplicant
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Razormane Masticore
1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Null Rod
2 Sculpting Steel
2 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere

Sideboard:
2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Razormane Masticore
3 Damping Matrix
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Tormod’s Crypt

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Thanks to Roger Riera again for being so devoted to our league and giving us the lists and analysis every month! Here you have the charts and numbers of the past LCV tournament:

General information:

• Players: 54
• Average points: 9,5
• Unpowered players: 9 (16,7% from total)
• Average points by Unpowered players: 9,4

Top 8 new cards:

• Arid Mesa
• Bojuka Bog
• Deathmark
• Goblin Chieftain
• Kird Ape
• Magma Jet
• Muddle the Mixture
• Price of Progress
• Smash to Smithereens
• Sylvan Library
• Wild Nacatl

Deck breakdown and average points by archetype:

15 Drain decks (28,3% from metagame, 3/8 from Top
— 3 Drain Tendrils: 12; F
— 3 Remora Tendrils: 8,3
— 2 Tezzeret Control: 11,5; T8
— 2 Remora Tezzeret: 8
— 1 Tezzeret Slaverless: 16; T8
— 1 Oath: 9
— 1 U/B/W Bomberman: 7
— 1 The Deck: 3
— 1 U/B/R Painters: 3
14 Null Rod decks (26,4% from metagame)
— 9 Noble Fish: 7,7
— 2 U/W Fish: 9
— 1 Merfolks: 9
— 1 Monoblack: 6
— 1 R/B Goblins: 0
10 other archetypes (18,9% from metagame, 3/8 from Top
— 3 Oath: 14,7; T4
— 1 TarmoBurn: 20; T4
— 1 Food Chain Goblins: 16; T8
— 1 Control Confidant: 13
— 1 Wizards: 10
— 1 Naya Zoo: 9
— 1 TezzCast: 6
— 1 Dark Depths Elves: 3
9 Workshop decks (17,0% from metagame, 2/8 from Top
— 4 MUD: 12,5; T8
— 1 Mono Blue Shop Aggro: 24; C
— 1 MUD Domination: 10
— 1 Tezzeret Transmuter: 9
— 1 Uba Stacks: 9
— 1 Black Vised MUD: 6
4 Ichorid decks (7,5% from metagame)
— 3 Mana Ichorid: 11
— 1 Manaless Ichorid: 6
1 Ritual deck (1,9% from metagame)
— 1 The Perfect Storm: 7

Unpowered Deck breakdown and average points by archetype:

1 TarmoBurn: 20, T4
1 Food Chain Goblins: 16, T8
1 Mana Ichorid: 12
1 Wizards: 10
1 Merfolks: 9
1 Naya Zoo: 9
1 Manaless Ichorid: 6
1 Dark Depths Elves: 3
1 R/B Goblins: 0

Charts:

1 – Deck breakdown (Inner ring: Top8, Outer ring: Tournament Total)

2 -Archetype’s monthly evolution

3 – Top8 Archetype’s monthly evolution

Most played cards:

Top 10 lands:
101 Wasteland
86 Island
62 Flooded Strand
62 Underground Sea
57 Misty Rainforest
50 Polluted Delta
45 Tropical Island
37 Tundra
36 Mishra’s Workshop
31 Ancient Tomb

Top 10 creatures:
43 Qasali Pridemage
40 Dark Confidant
36 Noble Hierarch
35 Tarmogoyf
34 Lodestone Golem
31 Cold-Eyed Selkie
22 Meddling Mage
16 Bloodghast
16 Golgari Grave-Troll
16 Narcomoeba
16 Stinkweed Imp

Top 10 non-creature spells:
136 Force of Will
63 Spell Pierce
60 Null Rod
55 Mana Drain
42 Chalice of the Void
41 Mox Sapphire
40 Mox Pearl
37 Mox Emerald
37 Daze
36 Black Lotus

Top 10 sideboards:
49 Tormod’s Crypt
47 Pithing Needle
32 Relic of Progenitus
27 Hurkyl’s Recall
23 Ravenous Trap
22 Red Elemental Blast
20 Nature’s Claim
19 Tarmogoyf
17 Sower of Temptation
17 Energy Flux
17 Wheel of Sun and Moon

Top 10 lands used on most decks:
Island on 32
Strip Mine on 29
Wastelandon  28
Flooded Strand on 27
Tolarian Academy on 27
Underground Sea on 22
Polluted Delta on 21
Misty Rainforest on 20
Tropical Island on 20
Forest on 14

Top 10 creatures used on most decks:
Tarmogoyf on 15
Qasali Pridemage on 11
Dark Confidant on 11
Sower of Temptation on 11
Yixlid Jailer on 11
Cold-Eye Selkie on 10
Noble Hierarch on 9
Lodestone Golem on 9
Meddling Mage on 9
Duplicant on 9

Top 10 non-creature spells used on most decks:
Mox Sapphire on 41
Mox Pearl on 40
Mox Emerald on 37
Black Lotus on 36
Force of Will on 35
Ancestral Recall on 34
Time Walk on 32
Brainstorm on 31
Mana Crypt on 30
Sol Ring on 30

Cards that appear at least 5 times at Top8 decks:
Mana Crypt, 6 copies on 6 decks
Mox Pearl, 6 copies on 6 decks
Mox Sapphire, 6 copies on 6 decks
Sol Ring, 6 copies on 6 decks
Tormod’s Crypt, 0 Copies (+10 SB) on 6 decks
Island, 15 copies on 5 decks
Ancestral Recall, 5 copies on 5 decks
Mox Emerald, 5 copies on 5 decks
Mox Jet, 5 copies on 5 decks
Mox Ruby, 5 copies on 5 decks
Time Walk, 5 copies on  5 decks
Tolarian Academy, 5 copies on 5 decks
Hurkyl’s Recall, 1 copy (+7 SB) on 5 decks
Pithing Needle, 0 copies (+12 SB)on  5 decks

Lately I’ve been tinkering ideas around Jace, the Mind Sculptor in order to abuse the amazing raw power of this card.

My first idea was to build a control deck capable of defeating MUD and Fish efficiently. To achieve that goal I had to understand that the key turns at those matchups are 0, 1 and 2. Blue has plenty of good cards but not all of them are made to win games at the early game. Cards like Gifts Ungiven, Fact or Fiction or even Tinker are pretty bad on your opening hand. The idea I had in mind was to minimize the dead draws in order to maximize the efficiency of your cards.

The first approach looked like this:

This list has a very strong mana base and the amount of plays you can do on your first turns is insane. Except from Force of Will, Inkwell Leviathan, Yawgmoth’s Will, Tinker and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, the rest of the deck has a CMC of 2 or less. This list reflects exactly what I had in mind: it’s awesome at the early game, it performs well at the mid game, but loses gas at the late game due to the lack of big bombs.

Then I thought: How could I improve the deck? If Dark Jace’s strengths were the early and mid games, then I should focus on those stages, and a card came to my mind: Mystic Remora. Remora plays as an excellent complement to this strategy and makes your opponent’s choices lot harder. I cut the Tinker/Robot plan and opted for the 4th Spell Snare since it’s incredibly good when playing controlish. Spell Pierce it’s incredibly good if you play aggressively but Dark Jace isn’t really like that.

So, the second list I put together looked like this:

I added a Mind Twist and Imperial Seal, and swapped Darkblast for Diabolic Edict. Mind Twist proved to be a very strong card at the mid/late game. I had the feeling that I needed a 2nd Jace in that deck, since every time it resolved equaled to win the game. It’s just plain awesome combined with Dark Confidant or Mystic Remora. With this deck I really felt having the control of the games, similar to playing Landstill in Legacy. The only change I would make now to that list main deck is -1 Imperial Seal + 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

The last deck I’ve tested, and I have to admit with surprisingly awesome results, is a total different deck. Well, its core it’s the same, but instead of playing control, you have to play aggro. The idea behind this new deck is to abuse, literally, the power of Mystic Remora while dropping bombs one after another.

Let me show you the list:

As you can see, JaceCast’s main deck is extremely aggressive. No bouncers, no Mana Drains and bombs, lots of bombs. Master of Etherium proved to be incredibly effective against Fish and Golems. It’s easily an early 5/5 when it comes alone and once you drop the 2nd Master you’re just giving your opponent one turn to kill you. You hit for 7 the turn you cast the 2nd Master, and then hit for 14 the next turn. If you combine them with the disruption/pressuring elements of the deck, such as Spell Pierce or Mystic Remora, it gives the feeling that you are playing a very solid deck.

The real problem of this deck is Null Rod, even though Master of Etherium solves somehow that issue. At the testing sessions, I had problems against Oath with Null Rod, because I couldn’t land my Master of Etherium.

All in all, JaceCast is a deck extremely fun to play with, that can easily surprise your opponents.

By the way, tomorrow I’m going to Zaragoza to meet Dan Frazier! Can’t wait to get my cards signed/altered!

The 12th – 13th – 14th of March took place in Firenze (Italy) a huge eternal event: The DDAY 3. 170 players gathered for each of the Legacy and Vintage tournaments to fight for the glory!

Quarterfinals:

• Zerbino VS Ciuccatosti -> Zerbino (2-0)
• Mastini VS Sanz -> Mastini (2-0)
• Hernandez VS Baruffaldi -> Hernandez (2-1)
• Ronzo VS Ceconi-> Ronzo(2-1)

Semifinals:

• Zerbino VS Mastini -> Zerbino (2-0)
• Ronzo VS Hernandez -> Ronzo (2-1)

Final:

• Ronzoi VS Zerbino -> Ronzoi (2-1)

The following are the lists from the Top8 of the Vintage event:

RONZO GIAMPIERO – Winner of DDAY 3

4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Trinisphere
4x Lodestone Golem
3x Karn, Silver Golem
3x Triskelion
4x Metalworker
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Tangle Wire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
2x Sword of Fire and Ice
4x Mishra’s Workshop
4x Ancient Tomb
2x City of Traitors
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Strip Mine
2x Mishra’s Factory
4x Wasteland

SIDE

3x Razormane Masticore
2x Crucible of Worlds
3x Relic of Progenitus
2x Duplicant
2x Sculpting Steel
2x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Platinum Angel

PIERLUIGI ZERBINO – Finalist of DDAY 3

1x Swamp
2x Island
4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
1x Tolarian Acaemy
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Crypt
1x Black Lotus
4x Dark Ritual
4x Duress
3x Dark Confidant
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Yawgmoth’s Bargain
4x Force of Will
3x Repeal
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Brainstorm
1x Ponder
1x Gift’s Ungiven
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Timetiwster
1x Mistical Tutor
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Mind’s Desire
1x Merchant Scroll

SIDE

2x Annul
2x Pithing Needle
2x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Ravenous Trap
1x Deathmark
2x Massacre
2x Spell Pierce
1x Tinker
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Sundering Titan

Rest of the decks:

RICARDO SANZ DE ARINO

3x Tezzeret the Seeker
4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Bury
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Time Vault
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Rebuild
1x Echoing Truth
1x Voltaic Key
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Tinker
1x Brainstorm
7x Island
1x Library of Alexandria
2x Underground Sea
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Darksteel Colossus
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Spell Pierce
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Gift Ungiven
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Black Lotus

SIDE

1x Razormane Masticore
2x Sower of Temptation
1x Darkblast
3x Spell Snare
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
2x Ravenous Trap
1x Yixilid Jailer
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Trinisphere

ALESSANDRO CECCONI

4x Noble Hyerarch
4x Cold-Eyed Selkie
4x Quasali Pridemage
3x Tarmogoyf
3x Trygon Predator
1x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
3x Spell Pierce
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Echoing Truth
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Misdirection
1x Regrowth
1x Time Walk
3x Null Rod
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Misty Rainforest
2x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
3x Tundra
3x Tropical Island
1x Island
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland

SIDE

1x Energy Flux
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Curfew
2x Umezawa’s Jitte
3x Wheel of sun and Moon
1x Tarmogoyf
3x Kataki,War’s Wage
3x Ethersworn Canonist

BENITO HERNANDEZ ALVAREZ

4x Misty Rainforest
1x Scalding Tarn
7x Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Tropical Island
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Mindbreak Trap
3x Meditate
3x Vendilion Clique
4x Mistic Remora
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
4x Repeal
1x Hurkill’s Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Brainstorm
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind

SIDE

4x Tarmogoyf
1x Razormane Masticore
1x Tormod’s Crypt
3x Ravenous Trap
1x Yixilid Jailer
2x Hurkyll’s Recall
2x Sower of Temptation
1x Forest

LUCA BARUFFALDI

4x Mishra’s Workshop
4x Ancient Tomb
2x City of Traitors
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mishra’s Factory
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
4x Metalworker
4x Lodestone Golem
3x Triskelion
2x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Razormane Masticore
1x Trinisphere
4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Tangle Wire
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Crucible of Worlds
4x Smokestack
1x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Ghost Quarter

SIDE

3x Duplicant
1x Razormane Masticore
2x Thorn of Amethyst
3x Relic of Progenitus
3x Ravenous Trap
2x Powder Keg
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell’s Vale

PAOLO CIUCCATOSTI

2x Windswept heath
3x Verdant catacombs
2x Savannah
2x Bayou
2x Scrubland
1x Plains
1x Forest
1x Swamp
4x Wasteland
1x Strip mine
1x Mox pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Lotus Petal
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Gaddock Teeg
3x Aven mindcensor
3x Ethersworn canonist
3x Qasali pridemage
3x Elvish spirit guide
3x Duress
3x Thoughtseize
1x Demonic tutor
1x Vampiric tutor
2x Sword to plowshares
2x Diabolic edict
3x Null Rod

SIDE

2x Choke
2x Engineered plague
1x Darkblast
2x Tormod’s crypt
2x Umezawa’s jitte
4x Nature’s claim
2x Extirpate

STEFANO MASTINI

4x Underground Sea
3x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
2x Swamp
2x Island
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
4x Dark Ritual
3x Dark Confidant
4x Duress
4x Force of Will
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1x Impulse
1x Time Walk
1x Timetwister
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Hurkyll’s Recall
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Mind’s Desire
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Bainstorm
1x Ponder
1x Night’s Wispers
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Gift’s Ungiven
1x Repeal

SIDE

1x Sundering Titan
1x Inkwell Leviathan
1x Tinker
2x Massacre
2x Pithing Needle
1x Tormod’s Crypt
2x Hurkyll’s Recall
3x Mistic Remora
1x Darkblast
1x Echoing Truth

This past weekend the omnipresent store Star City Games organized another $5K event in Indianapolis. As usual, on Saturday took place the Standard event (not so interesting for us, but you can find top16 decks here), and on Sunday near 300 people showed up to play for the big pot.

The winner of the event is Chris Woltereck who played 43 land (!) against Nicholas Montaquila with mono red Goblins. You can read the full final report here:

Finals: Chris Woltereck vs. Nick Montaquila

The top8 brackets looked like this:

These are the decks from the Top16 players:

Title	Finish	Player	Event	Date	Location
43 Land Blue	1st place	Chris Woltereck	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Goblins	2nd place	Nicholas Montaquila	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Team America	3rd place	William Nichols	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Merfolk:	4th place	Sean Gray	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Monoblack Control	5th place	Craig Wostratzky	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana
Landstill	6th place	Michael Bernat	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Reanimator	7th place	Jason Terry	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Tezzerator	8th place	Peter Smutko	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Merfolk	9th place	Joshua Cowen	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Counter-Top Survival	10th place	John Penick	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Charbelcher	11th place	Cedric Phillips	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Eva Green	12th place	Joe Bernal	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Reanimator	13th place	Michael Trent	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Counter-Top Natural Order	14th place	Nathanael Love	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Merfolk	15th place	Thomas Farrer	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Team America	16th place	David Gleicher	StarCityGames.com $5,000 Legacy Open	2010-03-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Congratz to all the Top16 players and specially to Chris Woltereck for the win!

This Saturday I’m going to play the LCV (Catalan Vintage League), finally! The guys from Igualada have prepared an excellent tournament with an awesome prize support, so I couldn’t fail to their effort. I hope the turnout of the tournament goes as they expected!

I expect a metagame with tones of Golem MUDS and Fish (Noble and UW), some Tezzeret decks (Dark Tezz, MUC, URB, etc…), some Storm Combo (Nauseam and DT), some rogue decks and few Dredge players.

For that, and with the precious help from Jason, I’ve build up this deck:

TP Chewer attack! v1.0, 13th March 2010. By Jordi Amat

Main deck:

2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring

(24 producers)

1 Inkwell Leviathan
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Ingot Chewer

(6 creatures)

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Spell Pierce
1 Tinker
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s will
1 Fire/Ice
1 Lighting Bolt

(30 Business spells)

Sideboard:

3 Ravenous Trap
1 Extirpate
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Claws of Gix
2 Duress
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Sundering Titan
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Trickbind

A visual view of the deck:

(sorry for the bad quality… iPhone camera ain’t the best to do this type of pics and I was too lazy to scan the deck)

The deck is designed to have good match ups against Noble and MUD. According to Jason, Ingot Chewer is the best main deck answer against MUD while it works also great against many other decks like fish, dredge, or even at the mirror. The fish match we got it well covered maindeck also, as we are playing 2 Sower of Temptation, 1 Lighting Bolt, Fire/Ice and Tinker + Inkwell Leviathan.

The rest of the deck is designed to be solid. No Library of Alexandria to avoid suspicious hands and to be able to have a first turn Spell Pierce or a turn 2 Mana Drain. The 4 Volcanic Island allow me to play without having to worry for the red sources against MUD or Fish. I can easily lose one or two volcanics and the deck will still be able to cast Ingot Chewer, Lighting Bolt, etc…

Anyways, I’m not going to unveil all the secrets and reasons behind the card choices now. If the deck turns out to be competitive, I might write a longer article about it. So far, I’ll be testing it today and playing it tomorrow.

If you want to follow my performance at LCV tomorrow, you can follow me at Twitter (@piZZero). And on Monday I’ll hopefully have the report of the tournament finished. So, stay tunned!

In the world of Legacy Storm combo there are a handful of shells and options available to the Real Men Who Play Combo. There are speed versions of Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT), versions with the powerful Burning Wish as a tutor (which also give you the power of Empty the Warrens), and other unique creations such as Jordi Amat’s Ill-Gotten Gains Tendrils deck (IggyPop 2.0). The version that I think offers the best balance of power, stability, and flexibility right now is a hybrid of Ad Nauseam and Doomsday strategies, or as we’ll call it ANT-Doomsday Hybrid.

ANT decks are typically only running 1-2 copies of Ad Nauseam, along with a lot of fast mana, protection, tutors, and deck manipulation spells. They’re pretty straight forward, and ideally would like to kill the opponent somewhere between the second and fourth turn. Just set up by digging or tutoring for whatever you don’t have from these components, and then fire off a piece of protection (often in the form of Duress or Orim’s Chant) and then away you go with your fast mana spells and either Ad Nauseam or Infernal Tutor. Outside of a nearly full hand of cards and the ability to do an Infernal Tutor into Ill-Gotten Gains loop, much of the time ANT will seek to use its life as a resource to power up a game winning Ad Nauseam.

But what if you don’t have a lot of life? Legacy decks are faster and more disruptive than ever, and you can easily be at only 13 life or less on turn 2 when facing a Zoo player (Steppe Lynx you for 4, Chain Lightning and/or Lightning Bolt you for 3, fetchlands, etc.). In these cases, or the cases that you facing down a quick Tarmogoyf and your first spell or three were countered, you can’t necessarily leverage the power of Ad Nauseam to generate enough of a Storm count to kill your opponent with Tendrils of Agony. This is where the card Doomsday shines. It doesn’t require a lot of life to win the game.

Doomsday Demystified
A lot of people seem to be hesitant to include Doomsday or look at it as a viable alternative in Storm decks because they either don’t feel comfortable or knowledgeable enough to abuse it. Brandon Adams (known as emidlin online) and Michael Seubert (known as cheeseburger online) have co-authored a handy guide to using and creating Doomsday piles, and have done a fantastic job at providing a list of many options and even arithmetic formulas to teach you how to craft the perfect pile for whatever scenario you’re in during a game. Victor Martinez (known as gocho online) took this a step further and used those lists to make a convenient spreadsheet available to the public.

I won’t go into all of the details of each pile because there are so many variants and Brandon and Michael have already done a great job of explaining them, but being uncomfortable with Doomsday should not be an excuse for you in the future if you read these. Doomsday is an extremely powerful and important weapon that provides the Storm player with another path to victory that doesn’t depend on a lot of life as a resource, which is often very critical in Legacy if things don’t go according to plan early in the game.

Protection
The reason to play ANT variants over something like Goblin Charbelcher is that it has a more stable manabase and offers better forms of protection in the face of counterspells and other hate. Here is a brief rundown of the commonly seen protection spells and why you might use them:
Orim’s Chant – at a cost of 1 White mana you prevent your opponent from being able to play any spells for the turn, and in rarer situations can be used to prevent combat damage if kicked; has the added bonus of being great against opposing combo
Silence – similar to Orim’s Chant without the kicker ability, this shuts off opponent’s spells for the turn and can’t be Misdirected or Diverted
Abeyance – costs and additional mana beyond Chant or Silence, but also cantrips, and more importantly prevents the opponent from interacting at all by preventing activated abilities
Duress – strips away a potential counterspell or Counterbalance, or can give you precious information about the contents of opponent’s hand
Thoughtseize – can strip away problematic counterspells, permanents, and the added bonus of creatures, but at the cost of two life
Pact of Negation – a free counterspell, but has the liability of having a cost on the next upkeep that you most likely won’t be able pay; really only great when protecting a spell to go off
Xantid Swarm – at the investment of only a single Green mana, you can effectively Orim’s Chant your opponent every turn; the disadvantage of this is that it validates any common main deck removal, so it is best relegated to the sideboard unless you are in an extremely Blue-heavy metagame

In Tomoharu Saito’s build of ANT that he piloted to a Top 8 birth at GP Madrid 2010 he chose to use a combined 6 Duress and Thoughtseize effects as his disruption suite, in order to stay primarily Black and Blue (he had no White) and presumably to gain information about his opponent’s hand. The debates about which disruption cards you choose can go on forever, but Orim’s Chant provides an ultimate finality if resolved, and if you resolve one before attempting to combo off you should win 95% of your game or more. The same cannot be said for Duress, as the opponent with other non-Force of Will spells can still interact with you, which you want to ultimately avoid.

The other advantage of playing Orim’s Chant is its usefulness against other combo matches. While Duress is certainly nice at stripping away a key spell, it does nothing in the face of Brainstorm or Mystical Tutor, and by allowing your opponent to cast a few spells and then casting Orim’s Chant you have actually made them expend or waste Storm and mana resources, which is often better and will lead to more victories for the player packing Chant. For these reasons I strongly advocate Orim’s Chant as the top choice, and your additional disruption slots can be composed of whatever you think is best.

Tutoring and Deck Manipulation
Mystical Tutor – at a cost of only 1 Blue mana you can find any of your combo pieces, protection, or removal; this is the most efficient tutor available, but comes at the cost of card disadvantage
Infernal Tutor – the restrictions of Internal Tutor are removed when you sacrifice a Lion’s Eye Diamond or two in response, but this card is great as the game goes on at fueling a number of different ways to win (sometimes by chaining multiple Infernal Tutors if you have tons of mana)
Grim Tutor – gets you any card you want for 3 mana and 3 life this is somewhat attractive, but the price is probably too steep to pay in this deck
Burning Wish – if you are into a Red splash Burning Wish allows you to create even more Doomsday piles (including pass the turn piles where you needn’t win that turn), and also unlocks access to Empty the Warrens
Sensei’s Divining Top – you want this to be your first turn play every time if possible, as it allows for reusable searching and deck manipulation and is fantastic in conjunction with Doomsday and Mystical Tutor
Brainstorm – this is on color, cheap, and can both dig for cards you need and shuffle away cards you don’t need; in short, it’s insane in here
Ponder – this is probably the second best first turn play, as it allows you see up to four cards to find whatever you need (land, Dark Ritual, tutor, protection, etc.) and you can also shuffle away the cards if you don’t like them (reducing your potentially dead draws the next couple of turns)

Most ANT decks will run a number of the cards above, but with the ANT-Doomsday hybrid deck Sensei’s Divining Top is extremely good. It is a great first turn play that can filter your draws as the game goes on, dig for mana to ensure you hit your land drops, and works extremely well with Mystical Tutor and Doomsday.

The Mana Sources
Many decks (especially game 1) are serious underdogs to your storm deck no matter what shell you are using, so it makes sense to build to also be as strong as possible against those matches that are tougher. When playing this deck you really want have as many cards in hands as possible (to generate storm) and to be able to hit your land drops. To this end you want to reduce mulligans and to make your opening hands as consistent and keepable as possible, so in this regard having more lands rather than less will be better, as will having fewer cards like Chrome Mox in your opening hand. Playing a stable manabase and hitting your land drops will strengthen your matchups against decks with Wasteland and decks with counterspells, so having the strongest manabase possible while still being able to play your powerful spells should be your goal when building this deck. So let’s jump in to building the manabase.
Chrome Mox – some people will advocate playing more of these and/or Mox Diamonds, but you really only want to see this card when going off with Ad Nauseam and you don’t want it in your opening hand too often, so after a lot of testing I’d recommend two, as this will often be one of the first cards you sideboard out against control decks
Lotus Petal – a free spell that provides any color mana is pretty good, even though it is only a single shot use
Lion’s Eye Diamond – aside from the drawback of discarding your hand (not a big deal when going off), getting 3 mana of any color for free is a huge boon to however you are trying to combo out, and this is why LED is a staple of storm combo decks of all forms
Dark Ritual – another fantastic bargain by providing 3 black mana for the cost of 1, Dark Ritual is one of the best cards in the deck
Cabal Ritual – sometimes better (with Threshold), but usually slightly worse, Cabal Ritual is still pretty good but you only need so many mana sources, so 2-3 of these are generally all you need

I tend to fetch out basic lands whenever possible to play around Wasteland (and other non-basic hate), so even though we have four colors in this deck I recommend keeping the dual lands to a minimum and including as many basic lands as you have room for. Saito’s GP deck had only one basic land, but for a deck like this you always want stable mana. Some people will question the inclusion of many basic lands or of a maindeck Plains, but this again goes back to building your deck to playing against tougher matchups (such as Canadian Threshold). You really want basic lands to keep being able to reliably cast your important spells (such as Orim’s Chant), and there’s enough extra mana sources like Lotus Petal and Lion’s Eye Diamond that you don’t really have to worry much about having the correct mana when comboing out. There is also a good amount of colorless mana in many of your spells (Meditate, Sensei’s Divining Top, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor, etc.), so keep in mind you can always use your Plains or whatever White mana source to help in casting those (or with activating Sensei’s Divining Top nearly every turn) if you aren’t using it for Orim’s Chant. You’re probably going to destroy other matchups that can’t disrupt your manabase and interact with you, so this doesn’t matter too much there.

With these options in mind, here’s what I would recommend right now.
ANT-Doomsday Hybrid 20101Q1.4, by Jaco 02-15-2010
Business (28)
4 Orim’s Chant
2 Silence
1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Mystical Tutor
2 Infernal Tutor
1 Doomsday
1 Meditate
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ad Nauseam

Mana Sources (32)
2 Chrome Mox
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains

Sideboard (15)
1 Bayou
1 Doomsday
1 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Xantid Swarm
2 Krosan Grip
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Rushing River
1 Slaughter Pact/Deathmark
3 Carpet of Flowers

The sideboard above consists of options for dealing with problematic permanents, more disruption against counterspells, and the ability to switch to the Doomsday kill as your primary kill. Xantid Swarm single-handedly invalidates a lot of hate, and I think it is great for the Green splash, which you’re already probably going to have to be able to play either Krosan Grip or Reverent Silence. Dark Confidant was also seen in both Saito and David Do Anh’s sideboards in their GP lists, and I think that has merit and is worth heavily considering if Sadistic Sacrament catches on as a sideboard card. You can tailor this to meet your needs, but here is a brief rundown of how I would attack many common matchups with the deck and sideboard above.

Playing and Sideboarding Against Merfolk
Merfolk’s only real hard counter is Force of Will, but you still have to take Daze and Cursecatcher into account when doing the math before trying to combo out. Sensei’s Top shines in this match to help you dig for more Chants and to hit your land drops. Keep in mind they may have Stifle in their deck, but if you manage to resolve a Xantid Swarm or Chant effect you can obviously ignore this. Another thing to keep in mind is that they may be boarding in Spell Pierce. Here’s how I’ve been sideboarding:
-2 Chrome Mox
-1 Ad Nauseam
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
-2 Lotus Petal
-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
-1 Mystical Tutor
+1 Bayou
+1 Doomsday
+3 Xantid Swarm
+3 Carpet of Flowers

Playing and Sideboarding Against Ad Nauseam Tendrils
There’s not too much thinking about this matchup, and you probably won’t encounter it very often. Orim’s Chant and Silence are key here in allowing you to combo out unimpeded, and also to prevent your opponent from going off. As mentioned above, it may be worth changing the sideboard around slightly to accommodate 3-4 Dark Confidants if Sadistic Sacrament or Extract starts seeing more play. Sideboarding currently looks like this:
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
+1 Sadistic Sacrament

Playing and Sideboarding Against Dream Halls
Like the ANT matchup, you want to use your Chant effects to stop them from comboing out and to allow you to. I tend to side in Xantid Swarm here, but that’s up to you and if you feel comfortable siding out any mana sources:
-2 Chrome Mox
-1 Silence
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
+3 Xantid Swarm
+1 Chain of Vapor

Playing and Sideboarding Against Naya Zoo
The Zoo player will seek to aggressively burn you out, and will most likely be bringing in some combination of hate cards in the form of Gaddock Teeg and/or Ethersworn Canonist, and maybe even Mindbreak Trap, so I tend to ditch the Ad Nauseam plan and leave in a few Chants for the protection from Mindbreak Trap and them holding a lot of burn for after your resolve Doomsday. You will have to manage your Mystical Tutors and dig spells appropriately. I tend to side like this:
-1 Ad Nauseam
-2 Silence
-1 Lotus Petal
+1 Doomsday
+1 Chain of Vapor
+1 Rushing River
+1 Slaughter Pact

Playing and Sideboarding Against Goblins
Most Goblins players can’t do a whole lot to interact with you, especially game 1. After sideboarding they may have Thoughtseize or Cabal Therapy, or possibly Pyrostatic Pillar. I like to board in better bounce and an additional mana source here to help fight against Wasteland and Rishadan Port:
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
-2 Silence
+1 Chain of Vapor
+1 Rushing River
+1 Bayou

Playing and Sideboarding Against CounterTop
When battling CounterTop the ultimate goal is to combo off without a Counterbalance in play, so to accomplish this I’ve been rotating back and forth between a main deck Wipe Away and Krosan Grip. Krosan Grip is the best at dealing with Counterbalance or the occasional main deck Chalice of the Void you’ll run into (from AggroLoam, for example), but Wipe Away can also hit a Reanimated Iona or some other problematic permanent, so that’s currently what I’m playing main. In the sideboard I have access to a couple more copies of Krosan Grip. An argument can be made for Reverent Silence in this slot because it costs nothing to play, but the problem is that the CounterTop player can still just Force of Will it, whereas they have almost no answer to Krosan Grip other than constantly floating a card with converted mana cost equal to 3 on top of their deck. In this matchup I also tend to ditch the Ad Nauseam plan, because you have are brining in cards that cost more mana which equals more life lost to Ad Nauseam, not to mention the fact that you’re probably going to be staring down a Tarmogoyf or something else nibbling at your life while you try to deal with Counterbalance. That’s debatable though, so here are a couple of different sideboard plans:
-2 Chrome Mox
-2 Lotus Petal
-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
-1 Mystical Tutor
-1 Ad Nauseam
+1 Doomsday
+1 Bayou
+2 Krosan Grip
+3 Xantid Swarm

Playing and Sideboarding Against Canadian/Tempo Threshold
The Ad Nauseam plan against Threshold is a struggle, as they often have a quick clock in the form of Tarmogoyf, along with Lightning Bolt, Fire/Ice, Nimble Mongoose, and sometimes things you’ll have to play around like Vendilion Clique (when Sensei’s Divining Top tricks are most important). After sideboarding they’ll often be bringing in something like Red Elemental Blast and/or Spell Pierce (more common now), but these can still be invalidated by Xantid Swarm. Because of this they may be forced to keep in their removal against you, and I would definitely force the issue because if they don’t have removal your Xantid Swarms are going to win you the game. You’ll have to battle through Stifle, Force, Spell Snare, and more so Xantid Swarm and Chant effects are the best path to victory. Another key resource here is Carpet of Flowers, which Wizards’ recently changed the Oracle text for during the January 2010 Update Bulletin. The new wording is as follows:
“At the beginning of each of your main phases, if you haven’t added mana to your mana pool with Carpet of Flowers this turn, you may add up to X mana of any one color to your mana pool, where X is the number of Islands target opponent controls.”

So this allows you to cast Carpet of Flowers during your first main phase and then get the mana during your second main phase the same turn. This is incredible, and it gives you multiple mana every single turn (albeit without upping your Storm) for a one time investment of a single Green mana. This can prove critical in playing around their mana denial plan, as will all of the basic lands we’ve conveniently included. With the battle raging for mana resources and the fight to resolve spells against Threshold I’ll often sideboard out temporary mana sources in favor of more protection and permanent mana sources like this:
-2 Chrome Mox
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
-2 Lotus Petal
-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
-2 Cabal Ritual
+1 Doomsday
+1 Bayou
+3 Carpet of Flowers
+3 Xantid Swarm

Playing and Sideboarding Against Bant Aggro (ProBant)
This is an interesting matchup for you, because their deck can be all over the board. They may have Wasteland, Stifle, Daze, Force, or they may eschew the mana disruption plan altogether for stuff like Spell Snare. They can have a quick clock in the form of Tarmogoyf or Rhox War Monk, not to mention Progenitus if they find a Natural Order before you’re able to kill them. I can’t give you a solid sideboarding suggestion here, because a lot of it will come down to what you’ve seen from their deck. You’ll want Slaughter Pact/Deathmark for any potential hate creatures they may have (Meddling Mage, Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg), or even to deal with a quick Rhox War Monk. You can look at the Threshold and CounterTop matchups for tips if you’re really clueless, but Xantid Swarm, Carpet of Flowers, and the Doomsday plan all have merit here depending on you’ve seen or suspect they might have, so play this one by your gut.

Playing and Sideboarding Against Dredge
I used to have random cards like Mindbreak Trap or Extirpate in my sideboard to Mystical Tutor for, but after testing against many different versions of Dredge I just found it unnecessary after a while. They will have Cabal Therapy and possibly Iona, Shield of Emeria as a Dread Return target main deck to interact with you, and that’s about it. After sideboarding they could have stuff like Mindbreak Trap, Force of Will, or Unmask, so I like to leave my Chant effects in just in case, which can also act as Time Walks against them and buy you more turns if necessary. Unless I see something really weird from their deck this is usually my plan:
-1 Plains
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
-1 something else you don’t care about (depending on what you’ve seen from them)
+1 Bayou
+1 Chain of Vapor
+1 Slaughter Pact (if they don’t have Iona this probably isn’t justified)

Playing and Sideboarding Against Lands.dec
This is a pretty good matchup in general, and outside of an absolute bomb draw by them you should defeat them game 1 without problem, as they can’t interact with you outside of Wasteland and Rishadan Port. If you’re playing the list above you have 4 basic lands main deck so this isn’t much of an issue. The Lands player will know they are a massive underdog to combo, and will likely have some combination of Mindbreak Trap and Chalice of the Void, and if they’re really desperate they could try to bring in Leyline of the Void too, but they probably don’t have enough slots to side out for that many additional cards. For this reason I’d advocate keeping in most Chant effects to hedge against Mindbreak Trap, and I also board in some bounce like this:
-1 Wipe Away/Krosan Grip
-2 Chrome Mox
+1 Bayou
+1 Chain of Vapor
+1 Hurkyl’s Recall

Rather than hoping to be able to tutor or draw for Ad Nauseam and the accompanying Angel’s Grace after sideboard against a lot of decks where life is an issue, you can simply use the mana and Storm instead to leverage the power of Doomsday. I highly recommend reading Brandon and Michael’s Doomsday primer in the link provided earlier. I feel that this hybrid strategy is currently the best way to pilot a Legacy Storm deck, given what we’ve been seeing from late 2009 into early 2010. You can expect to face Zoo and Merfolk and a myriad of other decks in each tournament you attend, so this approach allows you to have a consistent manabase and to be able to easily shift your plan of attack. Doomsday is an important and powerful piece of the Storm players’ repertoire that should not be overlooked, and works exceptionally well in the context of this deck.

The lists from the Top8 players from the GP Madrid were known for quite a while already. Buf if you missed them, you can now find them here as well.

Can’t stop laughing at Ruben’s T-shirt! He’s wearing it the other way around!

By the way, I’ll hopefully have the 3rd part of the report finished later today or tomorrow morning. So stay tuned!

---

Rubén González Parrado (Countertop Progenitus)
Main Deck: 60 cards
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
3 Windswept Heath
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
3 Rhox War Monk
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Trygon Predator
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterbalance
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Natural Order
3 Ponder
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sideboard
3 Dispel
3 Firespout
2 Krosan Grip
2 Pithing Needle
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Volcanic Island

---

Lluis Restoy (ProBant)
Main Deck: 60 cards
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Savannah
4 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
4 Windswept Heath
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Loaming Shaman
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rafiq of the Many
3 Rhox War Monk
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Bant Charm
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Natural Order
2 Ponder
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
1 Empyrial Archangel
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Krosan Grip
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Relic of Progenitus

---

Andreas Muller (Reanimator)
Main Deck: 60 cards
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrial Archangel
2 Inkwell Leviathan
2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
1 Dark Ritual
4 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Force of Will
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Reanimate
1 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
1 Animate Dead
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Misdirection
2 Perish
1 Show and Tell
3 Spell Pierce
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Wipe Away
1 Woodfall Primus

---

Alejandro Delgado (Zoo)
Main Deck: 60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Taiga
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Fireblast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
2 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Krosan Grip
3 Pyroblast
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Volcanic Fallout

---

Tomoharu Saito (ANT – Ad Nauseam/Tendrils of Agony)
Main Deck: 60 cards
2 City of Traitors
3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
2 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
3 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
3 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mystical Tutor
2 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Confidant
1 Echoing Truth
1 Extirpate
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Reverent Silence
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Thoughtseize

---

Richard Bland (Zoo)
Main Deck: 60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Taiga
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
1 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Krosan Grip
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Pyroblast
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Umezawa’s Jitte

---

David Do Anh (ANT – Ad Nausum/Tendrils of Agony)
Main Deck: 61 cards
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
2 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
3 Duress
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mystical Tutor
3 Orim’s Chant
3 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Wipe Away

Sideboard
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Dark Confidant
1 Duress
1 Extirpate
2 Pact of Negation
2 Reverent Silence
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Thoughtseize

---

Sven Dijt (Zoo)
Main Deck: 60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Plateau
2 Savannah
2 Taiga
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Kird Ape
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
3 Swords to Plowshares

Sideboard
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Krosan Grip
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Wasteland

---

The February tournament of the Third Catalan Legacy League (LCL3) was held in Ripollet (town near Barcelona) with a turnout of 92 players. As usual, Enric Luzán has released the videos of the Top8 games. So far there’s the quarterfinals and semifinals. The videos from the final will come up shortly. You’ll find the decks from the top8 after the videos.

Top 8 LCL3 Febrer – Enric Luzán vs. Rubén Pérez G1

Top 8 LCL3 Febrer – Enric Luzán vs. Rubén Pérez G2

Top 4 LCL3 Febrer – Daniel Rodríguez vs. Francisco Fernández G1

Top 4 LCL3 Febrer – Daniel Rodríguez vs. Francisco Fernández G2

Videos from the final will be posted as soon as they are released.

Top8:

• Daniel Rodríguez (Elfeir) (Dark Depths) – Adrià Bosch (Bant Treshold)
  
• Francisco Fernández (U Merfolks) – David Miñarro (MinasS) (Supreme Blue)
  
• David Gómez (Inexistente) (Survival RGB) – Adrián Cañadas (Renimator)
• Rubén Pérez (Robinho) (UB Faeires) – Enric Luzán (Enric) (SurviBant)

Top 4:

• Daniel Rodríguez (Elfeir) (Dark Depths) – Francisco Fernández (U Merfolks)
• Enric Luzán (Enric) (SurviBant) – David Gómez (Inexistente) (Survival RGB)

Final:

• Enric Luzán (Enric) (SurviBant) – Francisco Fernández (U Merfolks)

Decklists: (I just copy/pasted them, sorry if there’s cards in spanish)

ENRIC LUZAN 19PTS
4x noble hierarch
4x brainstorm
4x force of will
4x tarmogoyf
3x rhox war monk
2x qasali pridemage
4x survival of the fittest
1x squee,goblin nabob
3x ponder
4x daze
1x kitchen finks
1x eternal witness
1x loyal retainers
1x iona,shield of emeria
4x sword to plowshares
4x misty rainforest
3x windswepth health
1x flooded strand
3x tropical island
2x taiga
2x savannah
1x tundra
1x forest
1x island
1x plain

SB

3x natural order
1x progenitus
3x firespout
1x llawan,cephalid empress
1x etherswon canonist
2x gaddock teeg
2x enlightened tutor
1x wheel of sun and moon
1x loaming shaman

ADRIA BOSCH 18 PTS

4x mago dela manada qasali
4x tarmogoyf
4x mangosta agil
4x force of will
4x daze
4x brainstorm
4x ponder
4x reprimir
4x trampa de hechizos
2x spell pierce
4x espadas en guadaña
4x erial
4x tropical island
3x polluted delta
3x flooded strand
1x island
3x tundra

SB

3x tormod’s crypt
2x depredador trygon
2x rafaga de agua
2x abrazo krosano
2x aguja medular
3x kitchen finks
1x rhox war monk

FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ 17 PTS

13x isla
3x mutavault
4x erial
4x ofuscar
2x reliquia de progenitus
4x perito branquia plateada
4x frasco de eter
3x triton soberano
4x merrow reejerey
4x force of will
2x jitte de umezawa
4x atrapamaldiciones
3x parada
4x señor de la atlantida
2x trillador de la estela

SB

2x la tentacion del legado
2x threds of disloyalty
3x espinas de amatista
1x tormod’s crypt
1x jitte de umezawa
2x reliquia de progenitus
1x verdad reflejada
1x rafaga de agua
2x rafaga elemental azul

DAVID GOMEZ 17 PTS

4x verdant catacombs
2x taiga
2x bayou
1x badlands
6x forest
2x swamp
1x mountain
4x veteran explorer
2x birds of paradise
1x scryb ranger
1x stingscourger
2x tarmogoyf
1x sakura-tribe elder
1x squee,goblin nabob
1x eternal witness
1x big game hunter
3x kitchen finks
1x fleshbag marauder
1x viridian zealot
1x masticore
1x anger
1x spike weaver
2x bloodbraid elf
1x genesis
1x shriekmaw
2x greater gargadon
1x faerie macabre
1x chameleon colossus
4x survival of the fittest
4x aether vial
3x maelstrom pulse
1x sword of light and shadow

SB

1x magus of the moon
3x krosan grip
3x engineered plague
3x tormod’s crypt
1x iona,shield of emeria
1x doomed necromancer
2x reanimate
1x life/death

ADRIAN CAÑADAS 16 PTS

4x underground sea
4x polluted delta
4x verdant catacombs
2x swamp
2x island
2x bayou
4x force of will
4x daze
4x brainstorm
4x entomb
4x mystical tutor
4x exhume
3x reanimate
1x show and tell
3x dark ritual
1x wipe away
2x iona,shield of emeria
1x blazing archon
1x empyrial archangel
1x inkwell leviathan
1x sphynx of the steel wind
4x careful study

SB

2x echoing truth
3x perish
3x duress
3x infest
3x krosan grip
1x hellkite overlord

DAViD MIÑARRO 16 PTS

4x force of will
4x brainstorm
2x ponder
4x sensei’s divining top
4x counterbalance
4x swords to plowshares
3x firespout
4x rhox war monk
4x tarmogoyf
2x trygon predator
4x daze
1x path to exile
4x misty rainforest
2x island
1x forest
1x plain
3x tropical island
3x tundra
2x volcanic island
4x flooded strand

SB

2x tormod’s crypt
2x llawan,cephalid empress
1x treads of disloyalty
2x pithing needle
2x krosan grip
2x gaddock teeg
2x relic of progenitus
2x dueling grounds

DANIEL RODRIGUEZ 16 PTS

4x dark confidant
4x tarmogoyf
3x vampire hexmage
3x gatekeeper of malakir
4x hymn to tourach
4x thoughtseize
4x smallpox
3x living wish
3x sensei’s divining top
2x grim discovery
2x smother
3x dark depths
3x wasteland
4x verdant catacombs
2x bloodstained mire
4x bayou
4x urborg,tomb of yawgmot
3x swamp
1x forest

SB

1x tombstalker
1x vampire hexmage
1x gatekeeper of malakir
2x extirpate
2x perish
3x infest
4x krosan grip
1x ()

RUBEN PEREZ 16 PTS

1x riptide laboratory
3x mutavault
4x polluted delta
4 underground sea
3x wasteland
3x island
1x swamp
2x flooded strand
4x spellstutter sprite
3x vendilion clique
4x dark confidant
4x force of will
4x brainstorm
2x umezawa’s jitte
4x bitterblossom
4x daze
3x spell snare
3x smother
2x ghastly demise
2x sensei’s divining top

SB
3x spell pierce
3x engineered plague
3x hydroblast
4x thoughtseize
2x relc of progenitus

Normally on TP we focus on Magic for big boys, that being the Eternal formats of Legacy and Vintage. But that won’t stop us from dropping the knowledge about some Extended tech for our loyal readers who are trying to take their game to the next level by qualifying for the Pro Tour. Extended is almost as good of a format as Vintage and Legacy, but the power level of the cards is a bit less.

I played in an Extended PTQ in Madison, Wisconsin (USA) this past weekend, and 168 players showed up to battle for an invitation. I had been brainstorming some decks the night before, and this is what I rolled with to the tournament:
BUG Faeries 20101Q 1.0, by Jaco 02-19-2010
Business (38)
4 Ancestral Vision
3 Bitterblossom
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Thoughtseize
4 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
2 Cryptic Command
3 Repeal
3 Smother

Mana Sources (22)
3 Mutavault
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
6 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest

Sideboard (15)
2 Extirpate
2 Shred Memory
2 Darkblast
2 Damnation
1 Deathmark
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Glen Elendra Archmage

I figured that Zoo and ThopterDepths variants would be the most played decks in the room. There ended up being a lot of those as well as everything else you could imagine. I ended up 4-2 then dropped to head home on a long drive. I beat Dredge, Tooth and Nail (with Iona+Painter combo), RW Landfall, and 4C Zoo (with Bant Charm, etc.). I ended up losing to another RW Landfall (he drew 4 burn spells in a row to kill me) and also lost to someone playing the Living End cycler deck (I drew ZERO counterspells of any sort in two games, although I had 3 Thoughtseizes in my two opening hands).

The deck is very good, and can play the aggro-control game very well. Smother is quite nice right now in such a creature heavy format, and can help you combat nearly every deck you’ll run into. I prefer this over Doom Blade because Smother also hits Dark Confidant and Vampire Hexmage, which is extremely important since I consider ThopterDepths to be one of the best decks in the format (and most played by those who have the cards). The protection package seemed very good, and I always seemed glad to have a counterspell handy to deal with things like Path to Exile or Lightning Helix. The Tarmogoyfs seemed better in theory than Mistbind Clique, as they cost half as much mana and are generally as big (although they don’t fly), but with four mana I often found myself casting a Tarmogoyf and protecting it with Spellstutter Sprite. The only drawback is that Tarmogoyf doesn’t fly and it doesn’t tap out your opponent’s lands. That slot is up for debate, but I felt the addition of Tarmogoyf main and Kitchen Finks out of the sideboard went a long ways towards helping combat the early rushes that aggro decks can present.

The sideboard was very good to me, but next time I would probably drop the third Glen Elendra Archmage and add the fourth Kitchen Finks to increase the odds of seeing those early against Zoo and aggro decks. I somehow didn’t get paired against ThopterDepths, but the Darkblasts are great at dealing with their Confidants and Hexmages, while Shred Memory (and even Extirpate) is good at dealing with the Thopter portion, and Glen Elendra Archmage is just fantastic in general against Blue decks. Damnation proved very useful against Zoo, as they almost have play out as many guys as possible against you to get through your creatures and Bitterblossom, and then you can just Damnation away a lot of their resources. Darkblast was the MVP against RW Landfall, and is also fantastic against Elves (which was everywhere after Matt Nass’ recent GP Oakland win).

If you are looking for something a little different, I think this deck is a viable option for the current Extended climate and current round of PTQs. If I was to play the deck again I would max out the number of Kitchen Finks available in the sideboard, but everything else seemed great at combating a field of ThopterDepths, Zoo, Elves, Dredge, and the combo decks out there (Hypergenesis, Scapeshift, Living End, etc). Good luck in your battles!

Following up on our previous Focus on Legacy columns Constructing Bant Survival and Playing Bant Survival, we can now look at some alternative sideboarding strategies with the deck. This can provide opportunities to shore up weak matchups, throw an opponent off guard, and take the deck in a new direction with different and unexpected lines of play for your opponent to account for on the fly during a tournament match.

In the previous articles I presented a version that is uncommitted to punishing against any one strategy and seemingly trying to guard against a very broad field. Spellstutter Sprite is a card that people will either love or hate depending on what they face, but as an experiment let’s drop the 2 Spellstutter Sprite from the main and replace them with the third Rhox War Monk and 1 Sensei’s Divining Top. While very mana intensive, Sensei’s Divining Top is one of the best cards in Legacy, and could potentially work very well with 8 fetchlands, 4 Survivals, and all of your other cantrips. With Top and all of your shuffle and manipulation effects you can see tons of different cards and really dig through your deck in no time, helping to find Survival or that key counter or removal spell. That would bring us to this list.
Bant Survival 20101Q 1.1, by Jaco 02-011-2010
Business (41)
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Rhox War Monk
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Trygon Predator
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

Mana Sources (19)
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
3 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
1 Tundra
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island

If we dropped the Spellstutters and added Rhox War Monk, this would theoretically give us a little bit better game against aggro decks, while slightly weakening our combo matchup. So what about changing the sideboard in accordance with this, and to potentially give us better game against other decks as well? Check out this sample sideboard:
Sideboard B (15)
3 Counterbalance
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Path to Exile
2 Krosan Grip
1 Meddling Mage
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1 Loxodon Hierarch
3 Relic of Progenitus

While I and many others don’t necessarily like diluting the power and focus of a Survival deck with the CounterTop package, it has a few interesting uses. First of all, it can really help to hammer the combo matchup, and can also aid against things like Loam decks, Burn, Threshold, Zoo, etc. With this sideboard you still have access to extra removal in the form of Path to Exile, as well as graveyard hate in Relic of Progenitus. You could also drop the fourth Counterbalance for another Meddling Mage, Path, or whatever else you’d find handy.

I won’t go as in depth as the previous article talking about matchups, but here’s a brief look at potential sideboard use with this version:
Sideboarding Against Merfolk
+2 Path to Exile
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
-2 Ponder
-1 Sensei’s Divining Top
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Noble Hierarch

Sideboarding Against Ad Nauseam Tendrils
+3 Counterbalance
+2 Sensei’s Divining Top
+1 Meddling Mage
-1 Trygon Predator
-2 Qasali Pridemage
-3 Noble Hierarch

Sideboarding Against Dream Halls
+3 Counterbalance
+2 Sensei’s Divining Top
+1 Meddling Mage
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
-4 Tarmogoyf
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Rhox War Monk (or Ponder)

Sideboarding Against Naya Zoo
+3 Counterbalance
+2 Sensei’s Divining Top
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Loxodon Hierarch
-4 Force of Will
-1 Trygon Predator
-1 Noble Hierarch
-2 Ponder

Sideboarding Against Goblins
+2 Path to Exile
-1 Trygon Predator
-1 Sensei’s Divining Top

Sideboarding Against CounterTop
Totally dependent on what else is in their deck besides CounterTop, but your own CounterTop is pretty good here.

Sideboarding Against Canadian/Tempo Threshold
+3 Counterbalance
+2 Sensei’s Divining Top
-2 Ponder
-1 Trygon Predator
-2 Qasali Pridemage

Sideboarding Against Dredge
+2 Path to Exile
+3 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Meddling Mage
+1 Loxodon Hierarch
+1 Sensei’s Divining Top
-3 Spell Snare
-4 Noble Hierarch
-1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Sideboarding Against Lands.dec
+3 Counterbalance
+2 Sensei’s Divining Top
+3 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Meddling Mage
-2 Rhox War Monk or Tarmogoyf (depending on number of Blue cards you want for Force)
-1 Eternal Witness
-3 Spell Snare
-1 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Ponder

As you can see, your lines of play and defense will be slightly different in a number of matches. Counterbalance has value in about half of these matches, and in a few matches it will really shine. Its inclusion is definitely debatable, but it may have merit depending on your tournament scene.

The Natural Order + Progenitus Package
Another interesting sideboard (and possibly main deck) option is the Natural Order package, which allows you to cheat Progenitus into play. The usefulness or necessity of this is questionable when you have the Iona package, but it provides another angle of attack that your opponent has to take into consideration. Like Tinker in Vintage, Natural Order can be a fantastic topdeck or can be a card you actively search out with your Brainstorms and Ponders to serve as a trump card or provide a quick win, rather than struggling in a protracted battle of resources.

So what matchups does the Natural Order package actually improve? Well, that’s tough to answer, because getting Progenitus into play doesn’t guarantee you a win. What it does do though is put your opponent on a two turn clock, meaning they have to find an answer immediately or the game will be over, provided they don’t have lethal damage on board or have enough burn in hand to finish you off in conjunction with their existing attackers. This can be very daunting for the opponent to always have to simply worry about the threat of Natural Order into Progenitus once you’ve hit four mana, so the fear of this can also possibly lead to a change in how your opponent plays the game against you, what he counters, what he uses removal spells on, and more. A two turn clock can be very relevant against nearly every deck in the format, but it is not without problem. For one thing, you can often be stuck with a dead card in hand (either Natural Order if you are short on mana, or if your singleton Progenitus also winds up in your hand), although this risk can be mitigated by the ability of Brainstorm to shuffle away dead cards. If you are playing against a deck with a lot of counterspells it will be difficult to get Natural Order to resolve, and the loss of a creature and card in hand if it gets countered can really set you back.

The next logical question related to Natural Order is if it is good enough to play in the sideboard, is it or is it not also good enough to play in the main deck? I cannot answer that for you, but if you play in a field with a lot of aggro decks and little in the way of Blue decks or CounterTop variants the Natural Order package can be very effective at speeding the game up if you don’t have Survival of the Fittest. In a way it’s almost like a 5th, 6th, and 7th copy of Survival, because if either one resolves and you’re not facing lethal damage on the board you’re most likely going to win the game in short order. One advantage of not playing this in the main deck is that you can sideboard it in as a surprise to overwhelm an unsuspecting opponent, meaning their other potential hate cards (likely graveyard or enchantment hate) would be rendered useless. I can definitely see the reason that Natural Order Bant decks have become increasing popular and successful, so this is certainly worth testing and investigating further if you think it would be good in your area as a tweak to the Survival style Bant deck.

Generic Sideboard Cards vs. Narrow Sideboard Cards
When constructing a deck and sideboard, there seems to be a couple of different schools of thought which I’ll try to briefly outline here. One school of thought would entail constructing your sideboard with cards that might not be quite as potent, but have more general application against a larger pool of decks. Cards like Pithing Needle, Ghostly Prison/Propaganda, Meddling Mage, and Relic of Progenitus are pretty good examples of this. They can each answer different strategies effectively, even though their might be a more powerful but narrow card which would be sided in less frequently.

The other school of thought eschews having more generic answers for trying to isolate perhaps the most difficult matchups and give you stronger game against those decks you’re convinced you need major help against. The reasoning behind this is often that your main deck should be good enough to beat deck X and Y (or perhaps the players you consider to be easy), so you will devote specific cards to those matchups you know you’ll have to beat in the Top 8, or against those couple of really good local players who you want to have that ace up your sleeve for. Examples of this would be the use of Engineered Plague (at the height of Goblins’ popularity) and Mindbreak Trap (against Storm combo).

One card that has escaped serious discussion in Bant Survival sideboards could potentially fall into either of the aforementioned groups of sideboard cards above, and that card is Back to Basics. Many decks in Legacy run anywhere from 0 to 3 basic lands maximum, and Back to Basics can be crippling against these decks (a number of which are often difficult matches for Bant Survival). Decks like Canadian Threshold, Lands.dec, Mono White Stax (and WG Stax), Dredge, and many others usually run 0 to 2 basic lands maximum. Back to Basics has the potential to really turn the tide and shut down an opponent in a close game, especially if the opponent does not see it coming. For example, in game 1 if you play a couple of basic lands and a couple of dual lands, your opponent will likely never expect non-basic hate coming in. In games 2 and 3 you have the potential to fetch up to 5 basic lands and potentially ruin your opponent if you land a Back to Basics from turn 3 onwards after they have tapped out to play something important on their turn. If all of their lands are single usage only, Back to Basics has the opportunity to swing these matches far in your favor against an unprepared opponent.

Building the Unexpected
In a recent interview with legendary Magic player Kai Budde, who many consider to be the best player or constructed player of all time, I read a very interesting theory of Kai’s that I agree with. When asked for advice about succeeding in constructed Magic tournaments, Kai responded “The best strategy is to know what the others are going to play and come with something that nobody else expects.”

In terms of Magic theory this is relatively profound and often true. When people are accustomed to playing against commonly played decks they are able to predict what will come next, what your lines of play are, what your (and their) potential outs are, and so on. When you play unorthodox choices you take this advantage away from your opponent. That doesn’t mean you should play sub-optimal cards, but introducing uncertainty and uneasiness to your opponent in the middle of a potentially tense match just might gain you the edge you need to be victorious.

Cards like Counterbalance, Natural Order, and Back to Basics are a few examples of unexpected yet potentially very potent sideboarding strategies that you can use in your bag of tricks from tournament to tournament. Whether you choose to play more generic answers in your sideboard or to get creative and run with the innovative and unexpected, keep these options in mind when you build your next sideboard. If you play in an area with regular tournaments keeping a fresh or rotating approach to dealing with your opponents can give you an advantage and can lead to more wins, especially in corner cases.

In the previous Focus on Legacy column we analyzed the common choices for constructing Bant Survival. This companion article will hopefully shed some light on playing against some of the common matchups you might find to expect in your upcoming Legacy tournaments, whether it’s a smaller weekly tournament or a massive tournament like GP Madrid.

Here’s the decklist I presented as a suggested starting point for your adventures with Bant Survival.
Bant Survival 20101Q 1.0, by Jaco 02-01-2010
Business (41)
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Rhox War Monk
2 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Trygon Predator
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

Mana Sources (19)
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
1 Tundra
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island

Sideboard A (15)
3 Spell Pierce
2 Path to Exile
2 Krosan Grip
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Meddling Mage
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Loxodon Hierarch

As mentioned in the previous article, this is built for a mixed metagame where I’d expect to face a range of aggro, control, combo, and other random decks that always show up at Legacy events. The deck and sideboard should obviously be tweaked for what you expect to play against and expect to have trouble against. So for example if you think Naya Zoo and aggro will be heavily represented and you won’t be running into much Counterbalance, you could easily drop a Qasali Pridemage or Trygon Predator and ramp up the number of Rhox War Monks. Or if you think you’ll be playing against a lot of Storm combo it might make sense to leverage the number of Spellstutter Sprites or Meddling Mages to combat that.

So how exactly do you play this beast? Bant Survival has a number of methods to attack the opponent. It can play the aggro-control game by beating down with a (hopefully Exalted) Tarmogoyf or Rhox War Monk, and counter and/or Swords the opponent’s relevant threats. If it lands a Survival of the Fittest it can play the long game and just overwhelm the opponent with good creatures and an avalanche of card advantage created by Survival and Squee, or it can try to go the combo route by powering out the unfair Loyal Retainers + Iona, Shield of Emeria couplet to lock the opponent out. The addition of Loyal Retainers to the deck has really pushed the Bant Survival archetype into overdrive, and has also pushed the card Loyal Retainers into the $75-125 bracket, unfortunately. If you are unable or unwilling to obtain Loyal Retainers, you could also drop Retainers + Iona from the deck and load up on things that might be good in your metagame, such as more War Monks, Pridemages, Spellstutter Sprites, or other useful things like main deck Meddling Mage or Rafiq of the Many.

Playing Against Merfolk
Mono-Blue Merfolk is a relatively cheap and effective deck to build in Legacy, and for this reason it is one of the more commonly played decks. It has a tough time against Naya Zoo, but excels against Blue-based aggro control (such as Threshold and CounterTop variants), and also has decent game against combo. Bant Survival is kind of a Blue-based aggro control deck, but the flexibility outlined above is what gives it game against so many decks. It can be flexible in how it attacks or defends against the opponent’s strategy, and against Merfolk this is no different.

Depending on the build of Merfolk you run into, you will definitely see Force of Will and Daze, and could also see Stifle, Umezawa’s Jitte, and even Back to Basics. Getting a threat Force of Will’ed really isn’t that big of a deal, because you have a good number of threats and also have Force of Wills of your own if you really wanted to punch something through. I would always recommend taking your time if possible to play around Daze, because you’d rather slow play your threats to make sure they resolve rather than recklessly try to curve out as fast as possible. Umezawa’s Jitte is probably the best threat Merfolk has against you, so this should be one of the things that your Spell Snares and Qasali Pridemages are saved for, because an active Jitte can effectively render your creatures all but irrelevant. The second thing you really need to watch out for is Lord of Atlantis, because it provides all of their creatures Islandwalk. You will either want to keep Islands off the board on your side, or more realistically do everything you can to keep Lord of Atlantis off the board on your opponent’s side (Spell Snare, Path to Exile, etc.). All of their other Lords (+1/+1 creatures) are decent, but this is the one you really care about because it creates the ability for them to easily alpha-strike you to end the game in a single turn if the ground seems stalled with creatures.

When sideboarding against Merfolk with my list above, I’d lean towards the following:
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Krosan Grip
+1 Rhox War Monk
-2 Spellstutter Sprite
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Noble Hierarch

Spellstutter Sprite won’t counter much against Merfolk and is smaller than all of their guys. Rhox War Monk is actually pretty good because of the lifelink to buffer against their attacks, and the fact that he’s generally bigger than their guys unless they’ve got a couple of Lords out. Having a total of 6 Swords and Paths will go a long way to keeping their board relatively clean, and Krosan Grip can aid your Pridemages to help out against AEther Vial, Back to Basics, and most importantly Umezawa’s Jitte. While I don’t like siding out Noble Hierarch in general, it’s the weakest remaining card in the deck against Merfolk. I realize that some people would argue for siding out Survival stuff here because of the mana investment, but I would argue that if a Survival sticks you’re going to win the game, by either overwhelming them with card advantage or landing an Iona naming Blue. You could also potentially remove Kira, but I would guess that my opponent would bring in their own Kira from the sideboard, so having your own could be helpful to Legend-rule theirs out of play.

Playing Against Ad Nauseam Tendrils
Depending on the build of ANT you’re squaring off against, you can be a real underdog in game 1. They could be sporting up to 6 Orim’s Chant effects main for protection, which is bad news for Bant Survival’s light protection package. There are really a lot of different permutations of ANT and Burning Wish hybrid decks running around now, so you could also see Duress or Xantid Swarm maindeck. If they don’t have Swarm main I would expect them to board it in against you. When sideboarding against ANT with my list above, I would do the following:
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Meddling Mage
+1 Rhox War Monk
-1 Trygon Predator
-2 Qasali Pridemage
-4 Noble Hierarch

While Spell Snare might not seem great against them, it can still counter Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Cabal Ritual, and whatever else they might have in the 2 slot. It’s not the best option, but you need to assume a more controlling role here to try to stay alive. Similarly, Swords to Plowshares could potentially be dead, but you can’t run the risk of being overrun by a Xantid Swarm (or even a Dark Confidant), so I’d be leaving in 3-4 Swords. Noble Hierarch can provide you with acceleration here, but doesn’t really do anything else, and again is the weakest card. A lot of people will be loathe to side it out but you really would rather have every other card in the deck instead. Kira is decent in the deck here because when paired with Ethersworn Canonist it means your hate creatures can’t be removed by the Chain of Vapor/Deathmark/Slaughter Pact that was sideboarded in against you by the combo player.

When playing this match you need to assume the control role if possible and actively dig for counters with Ponder, while saving Brainstorms for hiding your counters if need be, shuffling away junk you don’t want, or to dig for a counterspell in an emergency. Play this slow and carefully, and if you can keep mana open and then land either land Survival or some Rhox War Monks ideally. Rhox War Monks can push your life to a problematic number for an opposing Storm player if they start swinging early. If you have the early Survival draw you can chain out an Iona to shut off Black or Blue spells from the combo player, and either follow up with your other hate creatures (Meddling Mage, Teeg, Canonist) in whatever order you see fit, or you can dig for Spellstutter Sprites to shut down things like Orim’s Chant or Dark Ritual.

Playing Against Dream Halls
This is one of the few matches where you’ll want to sideboard out Swords to Plowshares, as it does nothing against their deck. Spell Snare is also relatively weak here, countering only Lim-Dul’s Vault. They will probably have 8-10 Duress, Thoughtseize, and Spell Snare effects after sideboarding, as well as 4 Force of Wills, so you’ll have to try to do everything in your power to play the control role and prevent them from busting either a Show and Tell into Progenitus or Show and Tell into Dream Halls, or just hard casting Dream Halls and trying to go off. I would look at sideboarding with the above list like this:
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Meddling Mage
+2 Krosan Grip
-4 Tarmogoyf
-4 Swords to Plowshares

Your anti-combo suite will function well here, as Spell Pierce will be very good at protecting you in the early turns and stopping a quick Show and Tell. If possible try to play around the opposing Spell Pierces and keep mana open. Tarmogoyf is just a random beater that does nothing else against this deck, and because of this all of your creatures that do something else are much better at limiting the opponent’s lines of play. Pridemage can kill Dream Halls, Gaddock Teeg can prevent them from going off with Dream Halls, and Meddling Mage can shut down Show and Tell. Your best bet is to go for the Survival into Iona package if you can find a Survival, and naming Blue will shut them off of both Show and Tell and Dream Halls. When possible keep your mana open to play around Spell Pierce and save your Brainstorms for hiding counterspells against opposing Thoughtseizes and Duresses, or to shuffle away junk you don’t want to see.

It is also worth noting that if you do have 1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress in your sideboard for Merfolk it would also be worth sideboarding in here as well, because it can bounce a Progenitus to the owner’s hand if they are able to force through a Show and Tell.

Playing Against Naya Zoo
Naya Zoo is both a popular and well performing deck, and because of the efficiency and speed of every one of their spells this can be a tough matchup if they get a fast draw. As noted above, if you expect a lot of Naya Zoo in your area it is probably worth ramping up the number of Rhox War Monks and maybe even Loxodon Hierarchs, as these can both present critical life buffers to swing games back your way after the Zoo player comes out fast and aggressive. Loxodon Hierarch in particular can be brutal when landing, because it effectively functions as a 3-for-1 against Zoo, because it negates 1-2 of their burn spells and will also block and kill one of their creatures (or draw a Path to Exile out). When sideboarding with the list above this is what I would recommend:
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Rhox War Monk
+1 Loxodon Hierarch
-1 Trygon Predator
-1 Noble Hierarch
-2 Ponder

Having access to as many Swords and Paths as possible for sideboarded games is important, as these can knock out early Wild Nacatls and Tarmogoyfs to buy you time to set up, or to clear an opposing Qasali Pridemage from the board if you have a Survival to drop and go nuts with. Kira is great in this matchup as they will have to use two removal spells to get rid of it if they want to be able to combat the rest of your creatures on a one for one basis with their removal spells. Spellstutter Sprite can be great at countering an important Path to Exile or Lightning Bolt from the opponent to try to remove your War Monks, so I would keep them in hand until necessary.

I like to leave in Qasali Pridemage in this matchup, because aside from the Exalted bonus it can provide to your Tarmogoyf or Rhox War Monk it can also destroy Sylvan Library or more importantly Umezawa’s Jitte if the opponent brings it in against you. Ponder is really your weakest card here, so while I don’t like siding out Blue cards that can find cheap answers, it’s actually better to just draw more threats and removal than to have to dig for it when you’re racing against the clock that Zoo presents. Along these lines one might ask why not side out Survival, but if you can land a Survival you should win the game, and Zoo has no counterspells to prevent you from landing Survival if you draw it. Chaining out War Monks or even the Retainers into Iona combo is fantastic here.

Another debatable sideboarding option here is to board out your 4 Force of Will and try to become the midrange deck and just have better threats than your opponent. Instead of siding out Ponders and creatures you could drop the Forces and then just play creatures, removal, and use your Ponders and Brainstorms to dig for removal and Survivals. Pitching any of your Blue creatures to Force can really suck your resources out on the first or second turn here, so it is worth consideration.

Playing Against Goblins
Like Zoo, Goblins is a fast an aggressive deck that you will need to fight to stay alive early and then stabilize by dropping creatures that are bigger than theirs. Tarmogoyf, Rhox War Monk, Swords to Plowshares, Qasali Pridemage, and Force of Will are all very good cards that you have main deck against Goblins, and with the list above we have some decent sideboarding options:
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Rhox War Monk
+1 Loxodon Hierarch
-1 Trygon Predator
-2 Spellstutter Sprite
-1 Spell Snare

Depending on the build of Goblins you are facing Spell Snare can be very good or very bad. If they are playing some number of things like Stingscourger, Umezawa’s Jitte, Mogg War Marshall, or Warren Weirding in addition to the standard 4 copies of Goblin Piledriver this can greatly increase the value of Spell Snare. Siding it out or not will be based on what you’ve seen and what you expect, but in the example above I’ve sided out 1 copy.

Playing against Goblins is relatively straight forward. You obviously don’t want Goblin Lackey to connect and start dropping creatures in for free, so Swords, Path, and Force are your best friends here. Your opening hands will greatly dictate how these games play out, because for example if you have a Qasali Pridemage you may be far more inclined to let an AEther Vial resolve, or if you are on the play and have a first turn Noble Hierarch to power out a second turn Rhox War Monk or Tarmogoyf you will probably let a Goblin Lackey resolve and not blink an eye.

My main recommendations here would be to fetch basic lands whenever possible to play around Wasteland, and to use Swords and Paths to handle Goblin Lackey and Goblin Warchief. Try to save your Force of Wills for Goblin Ringleader if at all possible, because the card advantage it provides can really push the Goblins player ahead. Obviously if you have the Survival draw chaining Loyal Retainers into Iona naming Red can be backbreaking against the Goblins player, and if you have Survival and can buy yourself the turns I would strongly recommend this.

Playing Against CounterTop
As the weeks and months pass by there seem to be more and more CounterTop variants popping up, but not nearly as many people playing the deck in terms of a percentage of the field at large Legacy tournaments. Development is splintering into a lot of different directions, but not nearly as many people seem to be playing it or playing it successfully. The kill condition will almost always be Tarmogoyf plus whatever else (whether it’s Dark Confidant, Vedalken Shackles, Natural Order into Progenitus, etc.), and they will seek to lock out an opponent with Counterbalance coupled with Sensei’s Divining Top.

Against these decks your Qasali Pridemages and Trygon Predator will shine and you will obviously want to bring in whatever number of Krosan Grips you are packing, but what else? The answer is that it really depends on what you’ve seen or expect from their deck. The more non-creature spells they have the stronger Spell Pierce becomes, and if they are playing Natural Order your Meddling Mages can be more potent as well. Depending on your opening hand and how aggressive their build is this can dictate how aggressive you are. Major things to watch out for (besides CounterTop) are Threads of Disloyalty, Vedalken Shackles, Dark Confidant, and Natural Order.

One last thing to note about these decks is that they are relatively slow, and so if you think they are packing Daze it is worth keeping your mana open and playing around their potential Dazes to cut off half of their counterspells and to make sure your spells stick. If you don’t think they are packing Daze then you can push the envelope and try to resolve spells before they have CounterTop in play or maybe when they’re tapped out to avoid Spell Snare if they are running that. Landing a single Survival of the Fittest after baiting with stuff like Tarmogoyf and Rhox War Monk can be a very strong line of play for you that will lead to a quick win.

Playing Against Canadian/Tempo Threshold
Like Goblins, the Threshold player will try to attack your manabase, so if you can help it you should be fetching for basic lands whenever possible, and when fanning open your starting hands keep Stifle and Wasteland in mind when determining if your hand is keepable. Because of this and the Merfolk match I’m considering tweaking the manabase slightly to drop 1 Tropical Island and adding 1 more basic Forest, which will help make your manabase more bulletproof. You realistically don’t need to be fetching multiple Tropical Islands in a game very often, so it merits serious consideration.

Most of the Tempo Threshold decks are only playing Lightning Bolt and Fire/Ice for removal, so you need to be weary of how you engage in creature combat in these games. Losing two of your creatures to a Fire/Ice after combat damage can easily lose you a game. Another combat trick to keep in mind is thinking you’ll have a bigger guy than theirs and attacking, only to have the Threshold player Stifle the Exalted trigger from one of your Noble Hierarchs. Be careful and play cautiously here. Also be on the lookout for opposing Submerges from the Threshold player after sideboarding (if they’re good they’ll do it in response to you sacrificing a fetchland to shuffle away your dude). This is how I would sideboard with the list above:
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Rhox War Monk
+1 Path to Exile
-2 Ponder
-1 Trygon Predator
-2 Qasali Pridemage

Some people will have a tendency to side in too many Swords/Paths against an opposing Threshold player. I don’t think you need more than 5 or a max of 6, because you can’t target their Nimble Mongooses and the only thing you’ll really need them for is Tarmogoyf and possibly Trygon Predator or Vendilion Clique. Some of the European builds are running Grim Lavamancer, and if you do see that then it will definitely be worth siding the additional Paths. Just don’t go overboard here and end up with dead cards if you can help it.

The Threshold player will have a counterspell base 4 Spell Snares and 4 Force of Wills to deal with your Tarmogoyfs and Survivals, and may be siding in Spell Pierce and/or Red Elemental Blast in lieu of Daze. You have a number of similar size threats to them, but if you can bait and then land a Survival it will push the game out of reach, so take your time in this match and play around Daze or Spell Pierce if you can afford it.

Playing Against Dredge
Similar to the Dream Halls matchup, Tarmogoyf is just a regular dude in this matchup and doesn’t really do anything to cripple the opponent or prevent them from going off like some of your other creatures can. He’s got a big backside and can block or swing through all the opponent’s creatures, but he doesn’t prevent the Dredge player from continuing their game plan. Noble Hierarch accelerates but doesn’t provide much else against a match that you generally don’t need much mana against. Outside of a Breakthrough for 2 mana Spell Snare is also pretty underwhelming in this matchup. With this in mind, this is how I would sideboard with the list above:
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Path to Exile
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Meddling Mage
+1 Rhox War Monk
+1 Loxodon Hierarch
-3 Spell Snare
-4 Noble Hierarch
-2 Tarmogoyf
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Trygon Predator
-1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Dredge generally needs their few creatures available to either beat you down or to start generating tokens with Bridge From Below. Your Paths and Swords can be really handy in removing their Ichorids, Bloodghasts, and Narcomoebas from the game to even prevent them attacking or getting tokens. Relic of Progenitus is probably the best anti-Dredge card available, and Faerie Macabre can remove critical cards and is obviously better than what you’re siding out. As for the other cards, Gaddock Teeg can shut down Dread Return, and Rhox War Monk and Loxodon Hierarch can provide a life buffer and a big backside to either hold off opposing creatures or to swing through with the win. Spellstutter Sprite isn’t great here, but it can counter the Chain of Vapors, Pithing Needles, Firestorms, or whatever opposing hate cards the opponent will bring in.

My plan in this matchup is most often to stay alive to either swing through with Rhox War Monk and gain a lot of life, or to land a Survival and pump out the Loyal Retainers into Iona combo and name Black to shut down or dramatically slow down the opponent. If you suspect they will be bringing in Leyline of the Void or Pithing Needle against you to shut down Survival you can always sideboard in Krosan Grip instead of something like Spellstutter Sprite or the 2 remaining Tarmogoyfs.

Playing Against Lands.dec
Depending on the opening hand for the Lands player they will try to come out extremely fast (first turn Manabond, dump hand, start dredging back Life From the Loam), or they will have to take a few turns to set up with Gamble and/or Intuition and start trying to grind out board advantage. In this matchup both Iona and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner are your maindeck trump cards. Kira prevents them from using Maze of Ith and Barbarian Ring effectively, and Iona can just name Green to shut off the Loam engine.

The Lands player will seek to drop their combo pieces and also seek to weaken your manabase. Fetch basic lands to play around Wasteland and use Noble Hierarch to try to play around Rishadan Ports. Their Tabernacle of the Pendrell Vale is obviously very good at tying up your mana resources, but it’s not backbreaking if you don’t overextend into it. Play smart and aggressively use your Ponders and Brainstorms to dig for a Survival to try to lock up the game. Here’s how I would look at siding against this match:
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Meddling Mage
-2 Rhox War Monk or Tarmogoyf (depending on number of Blue cards you want for Force)
-1 Eternal Witness
-3 Spell Snare
-1 Swords to Plowshares

Spell Snare is marginal here because the only thing it counters in their deck is Life from the Loam (which keeps coming back) and potentially Burning Wish if they play that (but that’s mostly relegated to AggroLoam nowadays). Spell Pierce does a better job in the first couple of turns by possibly keeping them off of an early Manabond, Exploration, Gamble, or Intuition. Spellstutter Sprite can also prevent their important 1 casting cost spells from resolving, so it also relevant here. Swords to Plowshares is hit or miss because it can only hit their man lands, but it removes a lot of their win conditions and also serves as land destruction, and can clear out a blocker at a critical juncture. I’m torn on its value because I don’t like sitting around with multiple Swords in my hand here, so I’m currently siding out 1, but that could change based on the exact configuration of the opponent’s deck and the better feel I get for how this plays out. Relic of Progenitus is obviously very powerful for you in this match, but keep in mind they’ll probably be siding in Krosan Grip for your Survivals and graveyard hate.

Other Tips and Strategy
You may notice that I rarely sideboard out Eternal Witness, and this is for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that Witness can easily get back a destroyed Survival once your opponent tries to get rid of it with the hate they have inevitably sided in. The second reason is that it basically acts like a Time Walk against a lot of decks, because it gets back a nice card for you (probably an important creature, a Swords to Plowshares, or a Force of Will) while acting as a blocker or can trade with the opponent’s attacking creature.

Your sideboarding will obviously depend a lot on how you construct your deck and sideboard, as well as what is very prevalent in your local metagame, but hopefully this article has served as an insight into playing against some of the most common matches you’re likely to see. For a lot more discussion on the subject check out the fantastic Bant Survival thread on TheSource, where posters Jak, Waikiki, Kuma, Windux and others have provided a lot of insight. Join us again next time as we’ll delve into some alternative and outside-the-box sideboarding strategies for Bant Survival.

I’ve always focused on gathering cards to play combo decks. My only problem is that I like to play with “pimp” cards only. That makes my playable card pool much smaller than average.

Few months ago, I thought it would be a good idea to build up another Legacy deck. Something different! The chosen deck was the so-called “budget” Affinity deck. Well, not so budget for me LOL.

The deck still needs some tunning, but so far is looking as intended xD

TP Affinity 2K10 by piZZero
As a not-so-budget deck to play in Legacy

Sideboard:

Gotta admit that those Perish Japanese Signed ain’t mine. My friend Arnau lend them to me so I could use them at this weekend’s GPT. I know they were originally from JACO and I hope they end up being mine.

Survival of the Fittest has long been one of the most powerful spells available in the Legacy format. Decks such as RecSur, Full English Breakfast, Angry Tradewind Survival, RGB Survival Advantage, Survival Elves, Welder Survival, and countless other variants have all utilized the powerful tutoring capability and overwhelming card advantage that Survival of the Fittest can provide. A relative newcomer to the scene, Bant Survival is the latest in a long tradition of decks that seek to abuse the powerful Green enchantment. Coupling the power of Survival with the strengths of the Bant archetype, this contender has been tearing up European tournaments for the past year and is starting to rear its head across the ocean in the United States now as well.

So what exactly makes up modern Bant Survival? Typically these decks are all Blue/Green/White (Bant) and utilize the most efficient spells Bant colors have to offer. Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile provides the most efficient removal in the Legacy format, Force of Will and Brainstorm are some of the most efficient and powerful spells Blue has to offer, and no one could seriously mention creatures without bringing up Tarmogoyf. So what else makes up these decks?

Creatures
Most Survival of the Fittest decks have a tendency to be relatively light on lands, but be very mana hungry to power up Survival and power out creatures. For this reason the older variants often included some mix of mana producers and accelerants in the form of Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Wall of Roots, Quirion Ranger, and/or Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. With the Alara Block came the printing of Noble Hierarch, who seems custom made for this deck, as it provides colored mana to accelerate spells out faster, pitches to Survival, and is equipped with the Exalted mechanic to make your creatures bigger in the omnipresent Tarmogoyf standoffs that frequent Legacy. Alara Block also brought another Legacy staple to the scene in the form of Qasali Pridemage, which has really single handedly changed the Legacy landscape. It also is quite mana efficient and equipped with the Exalted mechanic to make your creatures swing harder, but where it really shines is dealing with problematic enchantments and artifacts such as Counterbalance, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Seismic Assault, Survival of the Fittest, Vedalken Shackles, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Arcbound Ravager, Chrome Mox, and countless others. This has balanced the format and has brought back true aggro strategies from the face of extinction (Naya Zoo, for example).

Aside from these Bant staples, the deep card pool in Legacy has nearly limitless options when it comes to Survival applications, so let’s take a look at some of the other creature options when crafting a Bant Survival deck for our local scene.
Rhox War Monk – an efficient body with a big back side out of Lightning Bolt range, the lifelink and pitchability to Force of Will are the key factors that make this a near unanimous choice for Bant aficionados. The more Naya Zoo and aggro decks you see, the more Rhox War Monks you tend to include.
Spellstutter Sprite – while this will never have the power in this deck that it does in Faeries decks, Spellstutter can provide protection from key removal spells, and can also improve the match against Storm-based combo decks. Some oft-seen spells that can potentially be problematic for Bant which Spellstutter Sprite can help address include: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Kird Ape, Wild Nacatl, Spell Snare, AEther Vial, Grindstone, Stifle (on Loyal Retainers, Qasali Pridemage, or Exalted trigger, for example), Dark Ritual, Orim’s Chant, Silence, Xantid Swarm, Pithing Needle, Relic of Progenitus, and more. The drawback with Spellstutter is that it requires you to keep mana open and not be as aggressive with the deck, but with the aforementioned list of spells that it can counter you can see why it is often included by Bant pilots.
Trygon Predator – this is an absolute beast against some decks, and can really help shore up some of the deck’s weak spots. While Qasali Pridemage is really good at what it does, what it doesn’t do is keep destroying cards every turn like this can. A lonely Trygon can single-handedly wreck the board of an opposing Stax deck, Enchantress deck, Affinity deck, Painter’s Servant decks, and turn around unfavorable matchups once he starts swinging. Predator can also help deal with cards like AEther Vial, Umezawa’s Jitte, and Back to Basics from an opposing Merfolk player, helping to even out an otherwise tough (and common) matchup.
Eternal Witness – card advantage is a key concept of both Magic and Survival decks, and Witness does a fantastic job of providing card advantage. It will most often grab a destroyed or countered Survival of the Fittest or other threat, and can be key in grabbing a timely Brainstorm or Swords to Plowshares.
Vendilion Clique – another efficient body with a useful effect, Clique often finds its way into Bant decks as a 1-2 of, and can help go aggro or fly over ground standoffs. It is very useful against combo and control, but less so against aggro when you’ve spent 3 mana for a creature and your opponent will just spend 1 mana to Bolt or Path it in response to the comes into play ability.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner – the inclusion of this in any main deck serves as protection to removal heavy decks in the field (Naya Zoo, Landstill, Tempo Threshold, BGW, etc.), and it is fantastic at what it does, which is protect your creatures. One notable interaction is also the protection it provides your creatures from Maze of Ith, which is one of the main tools that the powerful Lands.dec has against you.
Loyal Retainers + Iona, Shield of Emeria – while these cards basically do nothing on their own, their interaction with Survival is what makes them extremely powerful, and can often turn losing game states into winning ones. Shutting off all removal from an opponent, or the ability of the Merfolk player to play Blue spells, or the ability for Loam decks to cast Green spells, or Storm combo to cast Black or Blue spells are all extremely powerful interactions that make the inclusion of this two card combo very strong.
Squee, Goblin Nabob – this is a staple of Survival decks as the ability to keep coming back and provide continued fodder for Survival activations means it’s an auto-include.
Genesis – like Squee, Genesis can provide card advantage and also provides a great long game against control decks by bringing back threats from your graveyard, but is relatively mana hungry in a deck without Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. It also doesn’t do much to address problematic matchups and scenarios for Bant Survival in general.
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary – the mana boost that this card can provide is noteworthy, but it really only shines when used in conjunction with Anger, Masticore, and/or Genesis. The trend in Survival deck building theory lately has been to exclude as many cards that are Survival dependent as possible (unless the effect is truly broken, like with Iona), so you will rarely see people include Rofellos in their Bant Survival decks as they are currently constructed.
Gaddock Teeg – shutting down all X spells and spells that cost more than 3 mana (including your own Force of Wills) is a very powerful effect in Legacy, as this often cripples combo deck, control decks, Dread Returns, Engineered Explosives, and more. This is very good, but is best used when in conjunction with other hate cards to create a barrier against your opponent’s line of attack.
Meddling Mage – one of the most skill intensive cards in Magic, this can shut down entire strategies or specific lines of play and individual cards that can hurt you. Bant pilots will often include 1-3 copies of this between the main deck and Sideboard, depending on how they feel about using the card, and also how much combo they expect to face.
Ethersworn Canonist – another useful tool in shutting down combo, this can also be used in combination with Kira, Great Glass-Spinner to form a hard lock on any targeted removal of your creatures (but obviously does nothing against mass sweepers such as Firespout).
Rafiq of the Many – this card can often create wins out of nowhere, turning your otherwise 4/5 vanilla Tarmogoyf into a 5/6 double-striking behemoth, or can create single-turn victories by turning Iona into a 8/8 flying double-striking winner. While easily removed, the effect that Rafiq can have with a creature such as Rhox War Monk is undeniably powerful, and curries favor among many Bant players because of the ability to steal wins from otherwise losing positions.
Llawan, Cephalid Empress – while this card is very narrow in application, what it provides is incredibly powerful. The effect that Llawan provides against Merfolk or an opposing Progenitus can make this a very important sideboard card.
Jotun Grunt – the 4/4 body is a nice complement to the graveyard cleaning ability that Grunt provides. He can also recycle threats from your graveyard back into your deck, but is relatively slow at cleaning out an opponent’s graveyard, and does relatively little to prevent a Dredge or Loam opponent from dredging a lot in one turn.
Loaming Shaman – like Grunt, this card provides a powerful effect, but it simply does it once when coming into play, and doesn’t permanently remove Bridge From Belows, opposing Squees, or anything else. It merely pumps them back into an opponent’s library, which might be good for the surprise effect in a single turn, but is not very good over the long haul.
Faerie Macabre – this graveyard removal effect is permanent, and can’t be countered (only Stifled or Trickbinded), so while this relies on Survival being in play to find most often, it usually ends up in Bant Survival sideboards because the other options are also fundamentally flawed.
Trinket Mage – this can find a number of useful artifacts like Pithing Needle or Engineered Explosives (or even Grindstone if you wanted to include Painter’s Servant and really try to be cute), but as mentioned with Rofellos, the trend in Survival construction has been to move away from cute tricks and toolbox packages and towards making the deck more consistent and powerful when Survival is not in play.

AEther Vial, Daze, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, or other?
There are a handful of available slots when looking at options besides creatures in Bant Survival, and some people will often fill these slots with either AEther Vial or another form of counterspell or protection. While AEther Vial is great at slipping creatures in under counters and creating cute combat tricks, it really doesn’t do much to advance the agenda of Bant Survival’s strategy, which is to either overrun the opponent with threats or to play out threats and protect them. Another counterspell will go a long ways towards protecting you from the opponent as well as increasing the number of Blue cards to potentially pitch to Force of Will. Daze, Spell Snare, and Spell Pierce are most often under consideration for slots in aggro-control decks, so let’s examine what they can each provide.

When choosing amongst the three options above for additional protection in the deck, one must ask what the spell must do and what it will accomplish in its role. Daze is often best within the first two turns of a game, when forcing through an important early spell or stopping the opponent from curving out an explosive draw in the early turns. This will force you into fetching a Blue producing land very early and set you back a land drop when cast, which must be carefully weighed in a mana hungry but land-light deck such as Bant Survival.

Spell Pierce is relatively limited in that it can’t stop creatures from landing on the board (which will nibble away at your life and thus provide you less turns), but it can also be used to force through an important early spell (like a Blue Duress, essentially), and can also stunt the development of important early plays from opposing decks (such as Counterbalance, AEther Vial, Force of Will, Manabond, etc.). It is naturally very good against combo decks, as they generally rely on either chaining together cheap spells or hitting a certain mana point and then casting a powerful spell (Show and Tell, for example). For this reason it would probably be better served as a sideboard card against these matchups, as Legacy is a creature-centric format in general and this does nothing to address that.

Spell Snare is relatively limited as a counterspell in that it can only stop spells with a converted mana cost of 2, but a large chunk of the Legacy format’s best spells are ringing in at the 2 mana slot. Problematic spells for Bant Survival that could potentially be solved by Spell Snare include: Devastating Dreams, Counterbalance, Qasali Pridemage, Fire/Ice, Hymn to Tourach, Smallpox, Dark Confidant, Engineered Explosives for 2, Umezawa’s Jitte,Tarmogoyf, Lord of Atlantis, Arcbound Ravager, Survival of the Fittest (mirror), Painter’s Servant, Standstill, and a few others. Because of this, I’ve chosen to go with Spell Snare in the listing I present below, as it just does the best job of dealing with these potentially problematic cards, and there is no playing around a Spell Snare like there is by waiting another turn to make a land drop and then play around Daze.

Mana Sources
As noted above, Noble Hierarch is a natural fit as a mana source for this deck, and can help reduce the number of lands to play. Most modern Survival variants play 18-20 lands, depending on what other search and accelerants they sport. In the version below I have 19 lands, which I feel is a good number with the amount of cantrips (Brainstorm and Ponder) also being employed. While any deck may occasionally get mana flooded, it is very important to hit your land drops early with this deck, and also to have enough basic lands to play around Wasteland, Blood Moon, and Back to Basics. There is little reason not to have a solid manabase, because extra lands can always be shuffled away with Brainstorm or Ponder, but lack of lands can lead to game and match losses.

With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at a sample decklist.
Bant Survival 20101Q 1.0, by Jaco 02-01-2010
Business (41)
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Rhox War Monk
2 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Trygon Predator
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

Mana Sources (19)
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
1 Tundra
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island

Based on the options I’ve laid out above, this is a relatively straight forward main deck, balanced for an open tournament where I’ll expect to face against Aggro, Combo, Control, and any other random decks that you run across in tournaments. There is no over-reliance on Rhox War Monk, Spellstutter Sprite, or Survival, and the deck’s manabase is constructed to be able to fetch any basics I may need and also play very well with Brainstorm and Ponder. Here’s a sample sideboard to examine in conjunction with the deck above.
Sideboard A (15)
3 Spell Pierce
2 Path to Exile
2 Krosan Grip
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Meddling Mage
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Loxodon Hierarch

Spell Pierce, Canonist, Meddling Mage, and Gaddock Teeg is a nice suite of cards to bring in against combo, and things like Path to Exile and Rafiq are great against random tribal, aggro, and aggro-control decks. Hierarch is a pretty good card against aggro and combo alike, because the life boost is instant once it comes into play (unlike Rhox War Monk), and can really change the opponent’s calculations on how to deal with your life total. Other great sideboard options are extra Rhox War Monks, Relic of Progenitus, Llawan, Cephalid Empress, as well as catch-all answers like Propaganda, Pithing Needle, and Umezawa’s Jitte. Opponent’s will often target your graveyard and/or Survival of the Fittest, so options like a second Squee or more Eternal Witnesses can also provide value out of the sideboard to offset hate you might face. Like any deck, you’ll want to tailor your sideboard to shore up your weakest matchups that you actually expect to face that day in a tournament.

With these choices in mind you’re now armed with the knowledge of how to construct Bant Survival for your next tournament. Two massive Legacy Grand Prixs are on the horizon, as well as the StarCityGames $5K series, as well as countless large monthly tournaments across Europe and the USA. Join us again soon as we’ll take a look at how to actually play Bant Survival against common matchups you’re likely to see.

Gracias al esfuerzo de Jorge Román, aka the_juzam_djinn, ya tenemos disponibles las barajas del Top8 del torneo de Legacy que se celebró el pasado domingo en el GP de Legacy y al que acudieron un total de 163 jugadores. Os dejo con el enlace al blog del Team Axis, donde han sido publicadas:

Decks del Top8 del Side Event de Legacy del GP Barcelona

[ratings]

Tras testear y testear, finalmente me he decantado por jugar la vieja iPop Negation en el side event del GP de Barcelona. Viendo el auge de las barajas con chispas, jugar Nauseam no me parece la mejor opción. Sin embargo, esta versión comba como siempre y sin depender de tus vidas Le he hecho algunos cambios para mejorar algunos pairings, pero la baraja es más o menos como la de siempre. Bueno, es más pimp!

SB:

[ratings]

Ya tenemos las primeras notícias desde el GP Chicago. Para empezar decir que 2 de nuestros españoles han hecho un papel EXCELENTE. Raúl Talavera y Pablo Díaz lucharon de tú a tú en las mesas de arriba hasta la última ronda (15), en la que si ganaban podían tener opciones de entrar en el Top8, en especial Pablo. Finalmente ambos perdieron y se quedaron en las posiciones:

29 Diaz Diaz, Pablo David 34 61.2259%
32 Talavera Martínez, Raul 33 71.0297%

Sin orden alguno, estas son las listas del Top8:

Brian Kowal
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

4 Bayou
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Plains
4 Scrubland
1 Swamp
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
4 Dark Confidant
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Tombstalker
4 Dark Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
4 Vindicate

Sideboard

4 Duress
4 Engineered Plague
3 Extirpate
4 Pernicious Deed

Paul Rietzl
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

4 Bayou
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
6 Swamp
4 Wasteland
2 Dark Confidant
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tombstalker
4 Dark Ritual
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
2 Snuff Out
4 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa’s Jitte

Sideboard

1 Choke
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dodecapod
4 Engineered Plague
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
3 Seal of Primordium

Gabriel Nassif
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
4 Dark Confidant
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Trygon Predator
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterbalance
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Krosan Grip
2 Ponder
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Vedalken Shackles

Sideboard

1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Darkblast
1 Energy Flux
1 Engineered Plague
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Hydroblast
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Krosan Grip
1 Perish
1 Planar Void
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Umezawa’s Jitte

David Caplan
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
1 Rushing River
4 Spell Snare
4 Stifle
1 Wipe Away

Sideboard

4 Disrupt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Krosan Grip
2 Pyroblast
1 Pyroclasm
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Submerge

Tommy Kolowith
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

1 Badlands
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
2 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Burning Wish
2 Cabal Ritual
3 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
3 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Mystical Tutor
1 Orim’s Chant
2 Ponder
4 Rite of Flame
1 Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard

1 Empty the Warrens
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Infernal Tutor
2 Meltdown
1 Orim’s Chant
2 Pyroclasm
1 Rushing River
1 Telemin Performance
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
3 Vexing Shusher

Andy Probasco
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

2 Academy Ruins
4 Flooded Strand
6 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Trinket Mage
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterbalance
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Force of Will
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pithing Needle
3 Ponder
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
3 Spell Snare
2 Vedalken Shackles

Sideboard

2 Ancient Grudge
3 Duress
3 Firespout
2 Hydroblast
1 Krosan Grip
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod’s Crypt

Brian Six
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mountain
2 Plateau
3 Taiga
3 Wasteland
3 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Chain Lightning
3 Fireblast
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Lightning Helix
4 Magma Jet
4 Price of Progress
3 Rift Bolt

Sideboard

3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Krosan Grip
2 Pyroblast
4 Pyroclasm
3 Vexing Shusher

James Mink
GP Chicago 2009 Top 8

Main Deck

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
11 Mountain
4 Arc-Slogger
4 Gathan Raiders
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Rakdos Pit Dragon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Taurean Mauler
2 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
4 Seething Song
4 Trinisphere

Sideboard

1 Blood Moon
4 Boil
1 Pithing Needle
3 Powder Keg
4 Pyroclasm
2 Umezawa’s Jitte

Tal y como apunté hace tiempo, 6 de las 8 barajas del Top8 juegan 4 Tarmogoyf, por sólo 3 decks con FoW’s. Nada, sólo quería apuntar este dato xDDD

Mañana por la mañana os informo del ganador, finalista, etc…

**Edit** La final la juegan Probasco vs Nassif. Ambos con 4 Goyfs, 4 Counterbalance y 4 Sensei’s Divining Top. Mega entretenido, vamos

[ratings]

Nuevamente y gracias al trabajo hecho por Oliver Satizábal, aka Owli, ya podemos disfrutar de las barajas del Top8 del último torneo de la LLBL (Liga Legacy Black Lotus). Ahora no sé el número exacto de jugadores (creo que ronda los 35), pero cuando tenga el dato os lo confirmaré.

Decir también que yo fui a jugar 3 rondas y dropeé. Empecé ganando las 2 primeras y en la tercera tras perder la primera y ganar la segunda, perdí la tercera por una cantidad inhumana de counters en la mano inicial de mi oponente. Es lo que tiene tirarse a combar de turno 2 con Cabal + Infernal Tutor + 2 LED + Duress + Pacto backup y que el otro tenga 2 Daze + Spell Snare. Para pagar el Pacto debí sacrificar mi LED y perder la mano. Tal y como ya os anuncié, anoté todas las jugadas de cada turno, y próximamente haré el report completo de esas 3 rondas.

Así que de momento, os dejo con las barajas del Top8:

Winner: Alex Mateu – Ad-Nauseam

3 underground sea
4 Polluted delta
2 Flooded strand
1 Badland
1 Volcanic island
2 swamp
1 island
4 Cabal therapy
2 Braistorm
4 Chrome mox
4 Shield sphere
4 Culling the week
4 Phyrexian walker
4 Lotus petal
4 Lion’s eye diamond
4 Infernal tutor
4 Mystical tutor
4 Darck ritual
2 Ad Nauseam
2 Tendrils of agony

Side

4 Dark confidant
4 Duress
1 Brain freeze
1 Empty the warrens
3 Hurkyl’s recall
2 Echoing truth

Read the rest of this entry »

Gracias al excelente trabajo hecho por nuestro compañero Oliver Satizábal, aka Owli, ya podemos disfrutar de las listas del top8 del último torneo de la LLBL (Liga Legacy Black Lotus). Decir que al torneo acudieron 30 jugadores y que finalmente pactaron el top4.

Top4: Oliver Satizabal – Goblins
18 Mountain
4 Wasteland
3 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Skirk prospector
4 mogg fanatic
2 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Aether Vial
1 Stingscourger
1 Kiki-Jiki, mirror breaker
1 Goblin king
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
Side
4 Pyroquinesis
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Pyroblast
3 Shatering spree

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Hoy se celebra en la tienda Black Lotus el tercer torneo de la LLBL. Mientrastanto, os dejo con las listas de las barajas del Top8 del segundo torneo, al que acudieron 41 jugadores.

Winner:Ricard Tuduri – Zoolander 2K9
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Tropical island
1 Volcanic island
2 Bloodstained mine
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
1 Isamaru Hound of Konda
2 Tin street hooligan
3 Gae’s might
3 Grim lavamancer
3 Lighting helix
4 Lighting bolt
4 Kird ape
4 Wild Nacatal
4 Tribal flames
4 Darck confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Vindicate
Side
1 Gaea’s blessing
2 Tormod’s crypt
2 Pithing needle
2 Yixlid jailer
2 Gaddock teeg
3 Pyrostatic pillar
3 Krosan grip

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Ya tenéis aquí las listas de las barajas del primer torneo de la LLBL (Liga Legacy Black Lotus), al que acudieron 52 jugadores.

LLBL#1 – 07 Febrero 2009

Winner: Sergio López – 2 Land Belcher
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Tinder Wall
4 Dark Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Manamorphose
3 Seething Song
4 Rite of Flame
4 Duress
1 Infernal Tutor
4 Land Grant
3 Burning Wish
2 Empty the Warrens
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Goblin Charbelcher
SB:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Innocent Blood
1 Hull Breach
2 Shattering Spree
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Pyroclasm
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Empty the Warrens
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Pyroblast

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El calendario de torneos de Eternal está realmente apretado últimamente. Si la semana pasada tocó jugar Vintage (LCV5), esta toca Legacy. Mañana se celebra el primer torneo de la LCL2 (2ª Liga Catalana de Legacy) y a su vez, se celebra también el torneo de Legacy de la tienda Black Lotus.

Personalmente, este año me he propuesto jugar tantos torneos como pueda de la LLBL (Liga de Legacy Black Lotus, que empieza el 7 de Febrero), y es por este motivo que veo un poco absurdo ir a jugar el primer torneo de la LCL2. No por que no me parecezca atractivo (que lo son, y mucho), sino por por que prefiero los torneos de Legacy del Loto. El ambiente, las risas, la comida del mariona, Cortijo Wars, etc…

Dicho esto, ayer quedé con Owli y Paquito para testear un poquillo Legacy. Me monté una nueva versión de mi deck de Painter’s Servant, con bastante cambios al respeto. Vamos a ver la lista y a continuación explico un poco cómo me fue la cosa:

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Como siempre, y gracias al excelente trabajo de Roger Riera (nunca nos cansaremos de agradecértelo Roger!), ya podemos disfrutar de las listas del primer torneo de la LCV5 (5ª Liga Catalana de Vintage) celebrado en Badalona y al que acudieron 77 jugadores:

1st – David Pla – U/R Stacks
Maindeck:
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Mishra’s Factory
4 Mishra’s Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Goblin Welder
1 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Razormane Masticore
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mana Crypt
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
3 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Tinker
1 Trinisphere
Sideboard:
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 In the Eye of Chaos
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Pithing Needle
2 Pyroclasm
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Tormod’s Crypt

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Ya disponemos, gracias a Roger Riera (aka gRR!!) de las listas de las barajas del Top8 de la Gran Final de la LCL1 celebrada en Badalona el pasado 10 de Enero:

1st – Àlex Mateu – Merfolks
3 Flooded Strand
4 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Tidal Warrior
4 Æther Vial
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Standstill
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
Sideboard:
3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
3 Krosan Grip
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Umezawa’s Jitte

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