I got to battle Legacy twice this past weekend and didn't do too shabby.

Before this past weekend I hadn't been able to play any legacy for quite a while.  At the Invitational I 0-4'd the Standard and dropped before the format switch.  Then on that Sunday at the Open in New Jersey, we decided to head home early rather than play.  And even though I had hoped to play the recent Legacy Open in Minneapolis while I was in town for work, said work actually took longer to finish than expected and I missed out again.  So when I saw Games & Stuff had a legacy tourney Saturday I opted for that over Xanadu's Standard IQ so I could knock off the rust before Xanadu's Sunday Legacy tourney.

The tourney at G&S drew only 9 players and we had 4 rounds of swiss w/ cut to top 4.

I brought mono-blue Show and Tell and faced Jund, Slivers, Dead Guy and Esper Deathblade.  Jund and Dead Guy are favorable and played out that way.  Against discard decks I bring in Leylines and choose to draw and my experience both Saturday and Sunday backed up that strategy.  The Sliver deck should have been favorable too, but game one he rushed me with lords while I couldn't find a Show and Tell.  Game two he boards in hate bears and was able to get me with Thalia and Meddling Mage.  Esper Deathblade is probably one of my worst matchups since fighting through discard AND counters is quite difficult.  I boarded 3 Leylines AND 3 Defense Grids which was definitely wrong.  I lost this match but decided that against U/B/x I would only board Leylines in the future and put that strategy to good use Sunday.  I finished 2-2, in 5th place and got a Noble Heirarch.

Sunday's tourney at Xanadu offered a foil Jace the Mind Sculptor to 1st with prizes down to 16th place.  42 players came to battle.

I made one change to my deck which was swapping the Sapphire Charm in the side for Wipe Away as a better answer to Thalia/Relic-Warder/Ethersworn Canonist with an active Mother of Runes.

I got to start vs Burn which I was happy about and game 1 ends with a rare Emrakul kill.  Game two I bring in Leylines and side out Pacts, completely forgetting about the existence of Pyroblast.  After my attempt at an unprotected 2nd turn win is stopped for one red mana I'm able to make another attempt while at 2 life.  This time it's a Wear//Tear on my Dream Halls in response to Enter the Infinite that lets Goblin Guide finish me off despite a hand of 40+ cards.  I board out the Leylines for Grids game three and win after he spends his turn Wear//Tearing a grid and leaving himself unable to Pyroblast more than once on my turn.

Storm takes game one from me in round 2 which is expected since they have discard spells AND a faster combo.  I bring in Leylines for game two but decide to play first, respecting their faster combo.  I mulligan and keep a 6 that includes 2 Leylines.  We draw-cantrip-go for a while until he plays 2 sorcery speed Chain of Vapors to handle both Leylines, but I follow on my turn with Dream Halls, discard Leyline to play Leyline and pass with an Enter the Infinite in hand.  He doesn't find a 3rd removal spell and I topdeck Force of Will to play Enter and win.  Game 3 I get to keep 7, on the draw with a Leyline and win turn 4 or 5 after he Wishes for Empty the Warrens.

Round three vs Shardless BUG - Game one winds up in my favor though I had no business winning that game.  I mulligan to 4 on the play, never seeing a land.  My 4 is Brainstorm, FoW, S&T and Omniscience.

Turn one: Go.

Turn two: After he suspends Ancestral Visions I draw Enter the Infinite. Go.

Turn three: After having Show and Tell discarded via Thoughtseize I draw another Show and Tell.  Go.

Turn four: After he cascades into Tarmagoyf I draw Scaling Tarn and play it.  Go

Turn five: After he swings and plays another Goyf I draw City of Traitors!  I go off AND have the Brainstorm to pitch to FoW to protect it.  Insane!

I bring in Leylines for game two, shaving Island/Dream Halls/Cunning Wish/Emrakul so I can keep in Pacts.  I go for the win turn 3 with Fow + Flusterstorm backup, but he has the same two counters to shut me down.  Each of his next two turns he naturally cascades into Ancestral Visions while I'm working toward a kill with Dream Halls.  The turn before I can go off he plays his third Ancestral (this one was suspended earlier), Brainstorm, fetch, Jace the Mind Sculptor and brainstorms with it, then casts another actual Brainstorm.  I start to get excited that he's digging so hard and I think I have a shot.  But he finally does find some action and Thoughtseizes away my win.  Shardless Agent beatdown gets the job done.  Game 3 I choose to draw first and nail the Leyline in my opening 7.  I proceed to win on turn three with exactly enough blue cards for the Dream Halls kill + Pact backup.

At 3-0 Jimmy and I get paired and decide to draw.  Now we each need to win just one of our next two to make top 8 at 4-1-1.

Against Goblins in round 5 I comfortably take some damage until I win game 1 the turn before I would die.  Game two I die on his third turn... something I didn't know the goblin deck was capable of.  If you're curious here it is:

T1: Lackey

T2: Attack and put Piledriver into play, play another Piledriver

T3: play Chieftain, attack for 20.

Game 3 I go for an unprotected turn-three win while he's tapped out hoping he doesn't have Mindbreak Trap or something like Angel of Dispair - he doesn't and he gets covered in ants.

I intentionally draw again in round 6, making top 8 as the 2nd seed.

My quarterfinal match is against Maverick and is a matchup I like, but game one is spent cantripping into non-Show&Tells and non-lands and I die to Knights of the Reliquary one mana short of being able to cast my Dream Halls for the win.  Game two I Probe a turn before going off (can't remember why and may have just been a mistake) but I see the coast is clear.. nothing worse than Gaddock Teeg and that only puts me on an Emrakul win since I do have the Cunning Wish I need for that.  The only problem is that when I go for the win next turn, his only unknown card turns out to be an Iona that he topdecked on his turn.  Fuck!  Iona's ability is an "as ~this~ enters play" ability and cannot be responded to.  If there really was no reasoning behind the premature gitaxulation I should have known about the Iona and could have wished for Eladamri's Call BEFORE casting Show and Tell.  I really wish I could remember why I would have probed the turn before going off... maybe I knew what I was probing into and wanted to play it that turn... but I can't remember.  I do remember paying a blue for the probe but I can't imagine my play was made to save two life.  It must have just been a mistake on my part that probably cost me.

I do get 6 packs of Modern Masters for making top 8 and proceed to open nothing better than a Spell Snare :(

But now I'm psyched for the SCG Open in Baltimore next week!  Hopfully I can keep improving with this deck.

e