Innovations - Surviving Grand Prix: Columbus

“BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ”

I pick the phone up and set it back down on the receiver. There is no hurry to drive back to Milwaukee, I am sleeping in.

“BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ”

This time Tom “The Boss” Ross just knocks over the phone. My mind immediately starts racing, trying to put facts together, as things have just taken a turn for the unusual. The reason this is so strange is that I was under the impression I was alone.

I look around and realize this isn’t my hotel in Columbus. What is going on here?

I look over again to see Tom curled up asleep in bed with me.

It is then that it dawns on me that I am in Indianapolis, and that we left Columbus days ago. I don’t think vivid dream is an apt enough phrase, so let’s just say I found it somewhat surprising that it was Thursday, and not Monday as I thought half an hour earlier.

As I said, our story takes place Thursday, as Gen Con is about to unfold, but to make sense, we need to go back to the beginning.

Seven Days Earlier

I arrived in Columbus the day before the day before the Grand Prix, splitting a room with Guillaume Wafo-tapa and the Darkest Mage, Michael Jacob. We met up with poker superstar Eric Froehlich and did a little “playtesting.” I used quotes there because Efro had zero-land Belcher. I was on my take on Survival, and Wafo was on U/W Control for a change.

I learned quite a bit during my playtest games, but Legacy is such a deep format that one does not simply acquire expertise in a matter of hours. One interesting dynamic that I hadn’t really appreciated was that Survival of the Fittest can actually race and beat Elspeth plus Mishra’s Factory plus Humility, mostly with Squee plus Anger, though also aided by cards like Big Game Hunter on account of Madness and Emrakul, to continually re-up.

Friday rolled around, and Wafo and I decided it was probably a better use of our time to just play Extended and Standard, getting ready for upcoming events, since Legacy was super diverse and we both had a basic understanding of our decks, but little chance of reaching a new plateau in an afternoon. When you have as many different formats to prepare for as we currently do, managing how much time you allot to each is an important skill. Even though there was a Legacy Grand Prix the next day, I am also preparing for U.S. Nationals (Standard plus M11 Draft), Gen Con (Vintage), Grand Prix: Gothenburg (M11 Sealed), and Pro Tour: Amsterdam (New Extended plus M11 Draft).

I generally like to already have my deck built before the day of the event, but Legacy is a little bit of a special case, simply because so many of the cards are particularly valuable and I don’t own any of them, nor do I want to, especially when my deck changes as often as it does in Legacy. For this event, I was borrowing cards from RIW Hobbies and the Counsellor, Vintage Master Matt Sperling. The trick was, Sperling’s flight had been cancelled, so it was unclear if and when he was showing up. Still, this is what I registered:

Combo Survival

Patrick Chapin

Test deck on 08-08-2010

Legacy

Creatures (21)

Lands (23)

Spells (16)

Sideboard

First of all, please realize that I appreciate the irony that 356-ish people played Jace, the Mind Sculptor and I was not one of them, nor did I adhere to the rule of playing Brainstorm and Force of Will. The thing is, I would like to win more than play Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and I thought this deck gave me the greatest chance to do that. The Blue decks have such a target on their heads, and I hate the Blue mirrors in Legacy. Additionally, I think Survival is a very underrated card, one of the most powerful in the format. Some recent new additions have given it new tools that I believe elevate it to Tier 1 status, which I will discuss in a moment.

One of the things I like so much about Survival decks is that Survival is a “One-Card Combo,” meaning if you have Survival of the Fittest, it is its own engine and will win the game for you, if unchecked. So many other decks struggle to assemble two- and three-card combos. Survival is a single two-mana spell that, if you stick, will generally win it for you. Obviously, fetching Squee lets you draw two cards a turn, but it is not just a card draw engine, it is a machine that deals with each type of problem and grinds you down until there is an opening to stick Loyal Retainers (which is often immediately).

Loyal Retainers is an obscure Portal: Three Kingdoms card that basically amounts to a reanimation spell. Most Legacy players that have seen the card realize that it enables quick turn 3 Ionas, but what most didn’t realize was that this trick also works on Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

For reference:

Turn 1: Land, Bird
Turn 2: Land, Survival, endstep go get Iona
Turn 3: Land, Pitch Iona, go get Loyal Retainers, use it to make Iona

Alternatively:

Turn 1: Land, Vial
Turn 2: Land, Survival
Turn 3: Land (need a Taiga at some point), Get Squee, Pitch Squee to get Mesmeric Fiend, Use Vial to Fiend them during their draw step, Endstep get Loyal Retainers
Turn 4: Return Squee, Pitch Squee to get Emrakul, Vial down Loyal Retainers, Pitch Emrakul, respond to reshuffle trigger by using Loyal Retainers, Call a judge to prove to opponent that this works since they won’t believe that Loyal Retainers works this way even if your card is in English. After reshuffling your library (including Loyal Retainers), get Anger from resolved Survival trigger, Discard Anger to Survival, attack with Emrakul.

Most players read Loyal Retainers and assume it is played as a Sorcery, but it is actually just some Portal gibberish that amounts to an instant that can only be played on your turn before you have declared any attackers (which could even include your upkeep if you are so inclined).

While it is often a race to make an Iona or an Emrakul as fast as possible, against resistance, it is often best to fetch Squee, then just keep casting Mesmeric Fiends and other disruptive creatures as long as it takes to leave your opponent completely powerless. If he plays a Tarmogoyf, you can spend two mana to include Big Game Hunter in the loop as a removal spell that doesn’t even cost you a card. Pretty much any problem is solvable with the right creature, and if you need to solve the same type of problem multiple types, it is not that hard to kill your own creatures either with Cabal Therapy or with Bone Shredder, or even combat. You can reshuffle your library and graveyard for one mana at will by including an Emrakul discard into the mix. You have no need to fret the loss of Squee, as when the Emrakul discard resolves you can go fetch Squee again. In fact, if you are playing against a card like Tormod’s Crypt, it is pretty awesome at times to discard Emrakul to go get himself, a reshuffle later.

In fact, I actually defeated one opponent that had two active Relic of Progenitus when he tapped four of his five mana to cast a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I put a couple cards in my yard then on my upkeep I went to return Squee and looked at him, prompting him to blow a Relic, which I responded to with the Emrakul reshuffle trick. I then fetched Harmonic Sliver to destroy the other Relic. I then Fiended him, clearing the way for Emrakul, which he bounced with Jace. The thing is, with the reshuffle ability of Emrakul you can just go off over and over until they die. In fact, in this case it was the fifth Emrakul the beat him. Remember, it is nice to Anger someone when you have an Emrakul, but you do have to get the Anger into the bin after Emrakul, since he would just reshuffle it. Fortunately, when you discard Emrakul you are generally on your way to getting another guy, which can just be Anger.

Another powerful interaction to keep in mind is how Cabal Therapy works with Loyal Retainers (and Anger). Survival is not the only way to get a fatty into the bin, so watch for lines of play such as:

Turn 1: Land, Sensei’s Divining Top
Turn 2: Land, Wall, activate Top.
Turn 3: Land, Therapy opponent name Force of Will, then Loyal Retainer, then sacrifice Wall of Roots to Therapy yourself naming Emrakul or Iona (just make sure you are right).

Interestingly, you can also do a similar play with Anger. For instance:

Turn 1: Land, Vial
Turn 2: Land, Survival, they Force it, Vial down Birds.
Turn 3: Land, Therapy them for Force, Vial down Wall of Roots, Cast Loyal Retainers, flashback Therapy yourself for Emrakul, Use another Therapy to make yourself discard Anger.

As you can see, this list is capable of a lot of quick ways to make an unbeatable Legend, though you will often be more inclined to “go off” around turn 5 since you may spend the first several turns destroying their hand and baiting countermagic. I often sideboard out Iona (generally against any deck against which it doesn’t win the game, such as decks with Swords to Plowshares and Jace, the Mind Sculptor). However, I never sideboard out Emrakul. You may not make an Emrakul against everyone, but it is too important to your endgame inevitability to be able to reshuffle at will.

Aether Vial is a card that many people asked me about and whether it was good or not. This was a surprise to me, as Aether Vial was by far my second best card, behind only Survival (which was twice as good as any of my other cards). Aether Vial in this deck generally taps for two or three mana of any color, gives your creatures flash, and makes them uncounterable. That is pretty awesome, especially considering how many ones and twos this deck has, mana wise. Despite this handicap, the Counterbalance match-up is quite good, with tight play. PV and I played something like 10 games during the byes, and I won 7-3 or 8-2, despite him being a stronger player.

Something to consider is how good example of a common phenomenon it is to have an advantage against a player in a match-up that diminishes once the match-up becomes more familiar. In this case, Paulo did not have experience playing against my strategy, and perhaps struggled a bit during our casual games as he experimented with ways of combating my deck. Afterwards, someone asked him if he “won,” to which he replied with a sublime wisdom, “No, but I learned.” Sure enough, in the very last round of the tournament, PV and I squared off, ending with him victorious, at least partially aided by the experience he gained earlier against me.

Did I somehow get the short end of the stick as a result of my casual games with Paulo? No. On the contrary, I defeated at least four other Counterbalance decks during the tournament, and there is no question I put to use some tricks I learned from Paulo in our 10 game set.

Good teaching is one-forth preparation and three-fourths theatre.
Gail Godwin

When using Aether Vial, the biggest decision is generally when to move it to three. Most of the time, you will want to do this immediately, but occasionally it is worth keeping it on two for an extra turn to Vial down a creature like Mesmeric Fiend. It is rare that you want a Vial to go above three. To answer the question that dozens have already asked me: no, I have never successfully Vialed in Emrakul, though I have stuck an Iona before.

While Survival is game-winning against Blue decks, they often have many counters that can stop it. As such, we generally want to use Top to find ways to disrupt the opponent and sneak in a Vial. If we have a Vial, we often can eventually just Vial in game-winners like Fauna Shaman after they have been Fiended of their Plow. An important note with Fauna Shaman: as you can only use it once a turn, you generally are not going to have the time to go get Squee in a lot of situations, instead just getting the best creature you can every turn to gain advantage. Always keep Eternal Witness in mind, as it is your solution to Firespout, etc. As a corollary, against decks with Green mana, make sure to fetch an Eternal Witness as soon as you can after sideboarding, to protect against Krosan Grip.

I would not change much about my list, as I was very happy with most of the card choices, and it was primarily the difficulty of piloting a deck that involves tutoring several times a turn that brought me several of my loses. How hard is this deck? Well, it’s definitely “too hard” for me, so I try to just play the best I can without thinking about too many things, as I find it very exhausting to try to min/max every turn with a deck like this.

Some changes I would suggest include cutting a Savannah for a Taiga. I had just the one Taiga for Squee and Anger, but with Magus in the main and Pyromancer in the side. It’s important to make sure that they can’t just Wasteland you to stop Anger, so I think a second Taiga is in order. Additionally, there just aren’t many White cards in the deck.

The only other change I would really consider is moving Spore Frog to the main. I would have won at least two more matches had I the Frog main, perhaps even three. Who knows how much it would have hurt me against other opponents, but with Survivals and Faunas, I think it is hardly much of a risk. I am not sure what to cut for it, but I suspect that it might be the fourth Top. I sideboard the fourth Top out a fair bit, but the primary reason I decided to keep it in was that there aren’t very many hands I keep without Survival, Fauna Shaman, Top, or Vial. I wouldn’t really want to cut any of the creatures, as I was happy with each and every bullet main, including Wall of Roots and the second Mesmeric Fiend.

The Spore Frog is super awesome with the combo set-up because sometimes you just need to buy enough time to make Emrakul or Iona. You don’t just get a one-shot Fog, remember, since with Emrakul, you can Spore Frog every turn, pitching Squee to get Emrakul, Emrakul to get Squee, then Squee to get Spore Frog, which doesn’t cost you your draw step, allowing you to advance your game plan. In fact, a Vial on one helps cement the lock against many opponents who would try to kill your Frog on your end step. Obviously this is a key plan against Zoo and Goblins, but Spore Frog is also your answer to a Natural Order Progenitus (Fleshbag Marauder is too unreliable and narrow). It could help against Show and Tell as well, but that match-up is usually pretty easy. Outside of all the disruption, you also have Fauna Shaman or Survival to go get Emrakul when they try to Show and Tell, which is generally pretty embarrassing for them.

I was also super happy with my manabase, minor adjustment aside. The two Wastelands were totally awesome for helping make sure I have enough mana to do things like Top, but have me less likely to get flooded. Having lands that are like spells is important for Legacy decks without Brainstorm, as you are so much more likely to get flooded or screwed than they are. I actually had Brainstorm in my deck for quite a while and I was pretty happy with it, but I eventually decided to stick with the slightly less greedy build that you see here, a decision I am glad I made. Outside of giving me more outs to Karakas, the Wastelands were at their best when fighting Blue decks and when combined with a turn 1 Vial.

Sperling showed up in just the nick of time and I assembled my deck. I considered Spinal Villain, but ended up not including him partially because of card availability, which is a problem I have never really had before. Fortunately it worked out for the best, as the card would have been bad against the one Merfolk opponent I faced, Saito.

I ended Day 1 at 8-1 (3 byes), but a poor Day 2 left me at 11-4-1, good for 37th place. Some interesting plays I encountered:

Round 4, I was on the play against Ken Adams of StarCityGames.com, an opponent about whose deck I had no information. My opening hand was Cabal Therapy, Mesmeric Fiend, Mesmeric Fiend, Survival of the Fittest, Bayou, Misty Rainforest, Wasteland. Now, I am not always a blind turn 1 Therapy guy, but with this hand, I think it is definitely the play. I crack my fetchland and as I am searching for a Bayou, look my opponent in the eyes, and ask, “Do you have the turn 1 Lackey?”

Brainstorm is my usual turn 1 Therapy in the dark, but this hand would be a little soft to Lackey, so I am looking for a little info. He looks at me confused, in a “What are you talking about?” kind of way. I respond with, “Just curious… Bayou, Cabal Therapy you. He lets it resolve, and I name Brainstorm, which is a hit from his Bomberman/Painter’s Servant Grindstone deck. In case you were wondering, Emrakul really is that good against Grindstone. Having the ability to Survival up Faerie Macabre ends up being game-winning for me after sideboarding.

Another interesting sequence took place when I squared off against an Aluren opponent. He knew I had two cards and that one was Emrakul, but he wanted to know the other. He Therapied me, to which I responded by Vialing down Fauna Shaman. Now that he knew my other card, he decided to show off a little and named Chimney Imp so that I wouldn’t get a free reshuffle. I revealed my hand, and he saw that I did not have Chimney Imp yet… however, it was at this point that he looked at the Fauna Shaman and realized that if he let me keep my Emrakul, I would have access to Chimney Imp next turn, so he sucked it up and flashed back the Therapy, this time naming Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Now, it is obviously a comical line of play, but I have to give him credit, as many players would tilted and tried to cover up their misplay with more misplays, such as shipping the turn and letting me keep the Emrakul, rather than “admit” they made a mistake.

Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.
Chuck Norris

I actually made a terrible blunder against Josh Utter-Leyton in a later match, when I had Survival going but no cards in my hand. On my upkeep, I went to return Squee and he Plowed my Loyal Retainers. I was intoxicated with the Danger of Cool Things and sacrificed my Loyal Retainers in response, getting Squee back. I was so proud of myself, I didn’t even realize until the stack resolved that I now had no creatures in my hand and had traded in my Survival engine for a 1/1 creature. I drew lands my next two turns, but fortunately finally hit a creature the turn after Josh played a Jace, trying to work his way back into it. Legacy is hard! I still wonder if Wraptor (Josh) waited until my upkeep just to bait me into making this exact play. If so, I am truly impressed. Time travel is not common, and this would be proof that Wraptor is from the future.

I actually punted against Goblins as well, but that mistake actually cost me the game, which was the simple fetching of a Bayou instead of a Forest. I had a turn 2 Fauna Shaman to block his Lackey, and we just kind of hung out for a couple turns. I went several turns without drawing any land, but if I had just got a basic Forest the first time (my other two land were Wasteland), I easily would have defeated him, setting up the Spore Frog lock or Wrathing him with Pyromancer after making more mana with Birds and Wall of Roots.

Speaking of my punts, I actually played pretty loose against Saito in our feature match, at least partially as a result of a lack of familiarity with the Merfolk match-up. Merfolk is a popular enough strategy that I should have tested it, but with so many decks in the format it can be hard to find time to play against them all, especially when you are trying to prepare for other formats. The primary mistake I made against Saito, I suppose, was not focusing on killing his Merfolk as fast as possible. The Merfolk deck can snowball out of control very quickly, and a timely Submerge that I didn’t play around cost me.

After the tournament, I ended up going out with 23 gamers or so, including LSV, Gabe Walls, Brian Kibler, Gerry Thompson, Tom Ross, David Ochoa, PV, Steve Sadin, Tom Martell, and countless others, ending in a sick catch-phrase show-down, but not before getting to spend several hours battling and chatting with Drew Levin, the player that got DQ’ed after making a comment about betting on himself at 50-1 to make Top 8. Obviously it sucks to have a joke disqualify you, but at the end of the day, maybe next time you don’t make jokes about bombs when you are getting on the airplane, if you know what I mean.

Magic tournaments walk a fine line, and while you and I may know that Magic is a game of skill and should not be regulated by gambling laws, we cannot be sure that the people running the gambling laws will feel that way unless we do our due diligence and strive to adhere to the letter of the law. Wizards of the Coast is fighting the good fight for us to help make sure that Magic is never perceived as gambling in the eyes of the law, so I think they can be forgiven a few awkward hard-line stances. They have won two court rulings in which it was decided that Magic is a game of skill and not gambling, but it only takes one loss to make it really awkward for us as a community.

That said, Drew seemed a reasonable enough fellow with a good head on his shoulders. He was obviously devastated by the turn of events, but I think he is already seeing the bigger picture, and his love of the game is in no way diminished. He realizes his mistakes, and I think we have not seen the last of him. I could tell during our casual games afterwards that he was intrigued by the additional layers of game play he found unfolding in our games that never came up in practice. For instance, I Cabal Therapied him flawlessly, using it as a Thoughtseize that doesn’t cost life, hits multiple copies, and has flashback. His eyes lit up with awareness as he realized what I was doing to glean the information from both his actions and the game state. That spark is the spark that ignites The Fire you have heard so much about.

As far as slow play goes, that is a great downside to the currently super-popular Legacy format. With so many fetchlands, not to mention other tutors and effects like Sensei’s Divining Top, the format can slow to a crawl. In the words of one former “old-school pro:”

“If I win game 1 and lose the match, I have nobody to blame but myself.”

Obviously, he is insinuating stalling, which is illegal, but tough to enforce at times and one of the most rampant shady activities (in fact, my one draw came from an opponent that did just this, running the “read all the cards” when he was in a hopeless position game 2 to make sure we didn’t have time for game 3). I have no easy solution, because it definitely sucks when judges pressure players to play fast in reasonable situations, but at the end of the day, I think it is important to use a little discretion to watch for situations that are highly abusable. The way to fight it is to clearly define what it is so that judges can know it when they see it. Simply saying “taking too long” doesn’t work that well, at least not without guidelines about what “too long” is. I will say, all things considered, the judging staff did a reasonable job of keeping the tournament moving, which is best evidenced by PES’s ability to finish Day 1 before 10pm, truly remarkable for a tournament this size.

As I said, I am sitting in a hotel room in Indy, and it’s about time I go check out Gen Con, i.e. the best four days in gaming. I am not yet sure if I will be playing in Vintage Worlds, but if I do, I am surely playing Trygon-Tez.

Props
Matt Sperling– For cards, general mastery, and using powers in Vintage for Good rather than Evil

Pam of RIW – She is pretty much the Absolute Best
Brian Kowal and Michael Jacob – Helping me tune the Survival deck
Paulo and Wafo – Magic Lessons
Brian Kibler, Brad Nelson, and Tom Ross – Coming up to Milwaukee to kick it for a couple days between the GP and Gen Con, general awesomeness
Jaime Parke – Sped Lingo 2010 coming soon!
PES – Running an excellent event
Gerry Thompson – Good Sportsmanship
Haters – Much love!
Patrick Sullivan – For Playing

Slops
Tim Aten – For Not Playing
Sperling – For not knowing that even Pernicious Deed is no match for Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Me – Who doesn’t fetch a basic against Goblins? That one was just bad.

Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”