My road to victory at the StarCityGames.com Los Angeles Legacy Open was fairly stressful, at least as far as Magic goes. Ha! I’d had a terribly upset stomach all weekend, and I’ve recently been questioning my diet and what I eat, so that surely didn’t help.
I played Mono-White Control in the Standard portion of the Open weekend, on Saturday. I started out with a credible 3-1 result, and I felt I was getting a groove going, when my final three Jund opponents showed me why Bloodbraid Elf is arguably the best card in the current Standard format. I don’t care for the Standard format right now. Cascade is simply bonkers.
After dropping with a 3-4 record, I was feeling really down about Magic. I don’t know many West Coast Magic players, so it was just me and Eric (my current testing partner and good Magic buddy). It lacked the social aspect of the game I love, and overall it wasn’t very satisfying.
The thing is, though, I was here to play Magic and to win a trophy. So I turned that frown upside down, and got to it.
I’m very familiar with Enchantress, and have been tuning it for a few months for the event. I was maindecked to beat both aggro and control. The combo match can be a bit tricky, but I hoped my sideboard cards would help here.
I will start with the list I ended up at:
Creatures (4)
Lands (20)
Spells (36)
On to the report!
Round 1 — Adam Tetlow with Elves
As I was counting out my deck, I noticed I only had 59 cards main. I called a judge over and let him know. The head judge let me go to the side, pile out my cards, and find what I was missing. I’d somehow dropped a Serra’s Sanctum into another box. The judges confirmed my list was okay, deemed I had no ill intent, and let us carry on. Whew.
Game 1 sees me drop to 2 life from elf beats before I find Moat. Sigil followed by Solitary Confinement – and enough cards in hand to discard for a few turns -wrapped this one up.
Game 2 Adam tried to go off turn 2, but fizzled and couldn’t pay for his two Pacts during his next upkeep.
1-0
Round 2 — Steven Thompson with Belcher
What the f***? Two combo decks back-to-back?
Game 1 I get turn-oned. GG.
Game 2 was super interesting. I had to mull to 5. I had a turn 2 Runed Halo for Goblin Charbelcher so long as he didn’t win turn 1. He dropped 10 Goblins on me instead. I kept 2 Elephant Grass in, knowing he still had Empty. I had one and just kept making land drops as he failed to find enough mana to do me in before I got a Confinement lock.
Game 3 was frustrating. He led with Bayou, pass. Oh sh**, this couldn’t be better. I had a turn 1 Ethersworn Canonist off a Chrome Mox. On his turn he made Lotus Petal, remove Simian Spirit Guide from the game, Desperate Ritual, Goblin Charbelcher. I beat down for two turns, still doing my thing, before he found the Dark Ritual to activate Charbelcher and hit me for 28.
1-1
Round 3 — THE Ben Seck with Goblins
Game 1 I get an early Moat, and Ben has is cold.
Game 2 Ben makes turn 1 Goblin Lackey, turn 2 swing, drop Goblin Piledriver, drop Goblin Piledriver. I can’t beat that very often.
Game 3 was another early Moat to wrap it up.
2-1
Round 4 — Jacob Flores with Mono Black Aggro
Oh man, this was a beating.
Game 1 I get multiple Elephant Grass and he can’t do anything.
Game 2 was much the same.
3-1
Round 5 — Jeremy Flores with Bant
I face brothers back to back! I’ll give them something to bond and talk about on their drive home. Double the beats! They were both good guys.
Both games 1 and 2 I was able to get a Runed Halo on Vendilion Clique and a Moat to wrap it up.
4-1
Round 6 — Jeff “Fob” Huang with Bant
Game 1 came down to a Vendilion Clique hitting a Sigil of the Empty Throne I tutored for with Sterling Grove.
Game 2 I had double Sterling Grove with Moat, and Runed Halo on Vendilion Clique.
My notes for game 3 are sketchy. I have both of us breaking two fetches and then him being dead.
5-1
Round 7 — Pat Sullivan with Bant
Game 1 played just like it should. I played threats Pat had to answer, and when he couldn’t answer them all, I overwhelmed him with card advantage and an eventual Confinement lock. He scooped with me at 4 life, while he had 28.
Game 2 was the worst game of the day. It was going the same way as the previous game, but I punted. I had Moat down, and multiple Runed Halos on Tarmogoyf and Vendilion Clique. I drew a third one, and named Rhox War Monk after much deliberation, while he had a Meddling Mage in play. He ripped a Qasali Pridemage and blasted the Moat to get in for the final two points of damage with the Meddling Mage. Terrible.
Game 3 was epic. It was back and forth, a war of threats and answers. With me at 10 life, he Ponders and finds Vendilion Clique. After my draw, he Cliques me and takes away the Replenish I needed in hand to get back Moat and Sigil with plenty of mana to start dropping the 2 Enchantress’s Presence I have in my hand and start making 4/4s. A turn later, I ripped another Replenish and the game was over.
6-1
Round 8 — Adam Prosak with Countertop
ID
6-1-1 and I’m in Top 8 as the seventh seed.
I didn’t take very good notes for the semifinals or quarterfinals, as I knew it was being recorded.
After the semifinals the judge asked us what we wanted to do. My opponent offered a split. I accepted. The judge asked about the championship. I asked my opponent to concede to me. My opponent asked how much the title was worth. I told him I’d give up a hundred bucks. The more I think about it, I’m happy with a split. Second was $600 to the $2000 for first. Fairly substantial disparity.
A good weekend, all in all.
Big thanks goes to StarCityGames.com for holding a wonderful weekend and generating so much interest in Legacy with this new tournament series. I’d also like to thank Eric Weeden for helping me test, and all my team mates for doing what they do.
Thanks for reading…