Last weekend I took a brisk drive up to Baltimore to play in one of the most +EV tournaments around: the StarCityGames.com Invitational. The Invitationals are by no means soft, but when nearly half the field makes Day 2 and half of Day 2 makes at least $500, you have to wonder why only 143 out of nearly 550 qualified players made the trip.
Trust me, you’re missing out. To give you some perspective, I went 6-6 in matches played and won $500.
Michael Jacob flew from Grand Prix Nashville to my humble apartment in Roanoke, Virginia. We spent a day recording some videos for this fine website. At night, MJ would stream Standard ideas here. It all seemed harmless. We had nothing concrete aside from the fact that I was leaning towards Delver while he favored Esper Control; little did we know how badly that would backfire.
We were looking for something to beat Lingering Souls mirrors, and Intangible Virtue was the “obvious” answer. Once we knew the gist of our Standard deck, it was time to tweak the last few slots in our Legacy deck.
Here’s where we ended up:
Creatures (11)
Lands (15)
Spells (34)
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (20)
Spells (30)
Mine and MJ’s lists differed slightly, but the cores are all that matter. Those interested can see my Standard deck tech here.
I said last week that I was looking for a way to go over the top of the creature matchups. Having played last weekend I feel like a fool for looking at high casting-cost cards when I should have been looking low. Thankfully, that’s why MJ’s around.
Anyone can beat a Lingering Souls in Standard. W/B Tokens hasn’t been performing all that well because of the hype surrounding it ala Kuldotha Red. When everyone is sideboarding Ratchet Bombs it becomes tough to win. For the most part, W/B had it right: Anthems are the way to beat creature mirrors.
I didn’t want to play W/B, though. Blue cards give you Delver, which leads to free wins on its own. Blue also gives you Ponder and Snapcaster Mage, which help you find what you need. Removal is pretty poor right now, and blue also gives you Vapor Snag. Having as many instants as possible allows you to mess with people trying to transform their Huntmaster of the Fells, so that’s also a plus.
That’s not to say W/B Tokens isn’t a good deck, because it is. I know that I’ve been in the anti-Human camp for quite some time, but if you want to play Humans I would recommend playing Tokens instead. There’s a lack of Ratchet Bombs right now and to some extent sweepers in general, so Tokens is probably good again. The hype has mostly died down.
Anyway, Intangible Virtue doesn’t seem like a big deal. After all, this deck doesn’t have any token makers right, so what’s the big deal? A single Lingering Souls makes Virtue well worth it. Previously they could fight through your tokens with Gut Shot, Vapor Snag, and Snapcaster Mage, presumably hitting you with a Delver or Geist the entire time.
You aren’t going to beat a draw that good most of the time, but Virtue stabilizes you on the spot. Against a deck like Zombies, it allows you to actually trade your guys in combat and grind them out. It even makes a card like Timely Reinforcements, which was playable but not good, into an all-star.
The Sword could have been anything. I knew that I wanted a “big” card I could dig for in the late game. Something like Sorin, Gideon, Sword, Jace, or Consecrated Sphinx that typically have a big impact on the game would be great.
While Ponder isn’t exactly Demonic Tutor, it still lets you see a lot of cards over the course of the game. With ten or more cantrips, you’ll eventually get flooded even with only 21 or 22 land. Having something that you can draw to get you back into any game, even if you’re very far behind, seems pretty valuable.
There are a few different situations where you could draw your big card:
1) You’re winning already and it doesn’t matter.
2) It’s a close game, and drawing the big card when you can’t cast it means you might lose because it wasn’t anything else. However, there are the times when you can shift your gameplan to revolve around surviving until you can cast the card, and you should be able to win from there.
3) You’re drawing slim, find your big card, and turn the game around.
I think situation three is the main reason to have it in the deck, and of the cards I mentioned Consecrated Sphinx comes the closest to locking up a close game and making it possible to come back from behind. Cards like Sorin, while good, aren’t going to pull you out of any jams.
Gideon is another possibility, but that one’s good in the creature matchups and not very good against control or ramp.
My rounds went like this:
Round 1 and 2: Byes
Round 3: Larry Swasey, U/W Delver
I lost game 1 because he assembled Geist of Saint Traft plus Batterskull. I was basically drawing dead unless I drew a long string of Lingering Souls, but instead I drew a long string of land. He never let me block down the Geist so I was never in it.
He messed up the second game by attacking with a Delver when we were in a standoff. I happily took, played two Ambush Viper Snapcasters, and attacked him with those and my own Delver. His hand had a Sword of War and Peace which gave him inevitability, but he chose to pursue an alternative route.
I looked over at Mike Flores and told Larry to read the “Who’s the Beatdown?” caption on Mike’s sleeves.
In game 1 I wasn’t in it, game 2 came down to interaction, so clearly game 3 was his turn to get flooded.
Round 4: B/R Zombies
I shipped a no lander into a no lander into a hand containing a single Plains for mana. A few turns into the game I was scooping up my one permanent.
In the second game I thought I punted on turn 4. I played Delver into Delver into Gather the Townsfolk. By the time turn 4rolled around, my hand contained a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, land, and Intangible Virtue. Without even thinking, I played my land and Intangible Virtue (because I didn’t have any black mana), attacked, and passed the turn.
Immediately after I played my land I regretted it. Sure enough, he cast Liliana, and used it plus a Tragic Slip to wipe out the remainder of my army. Naturally, I drew a Darkslick Shores and sheepishly passed the turn back.
He must have thought that there wasn’t anything in my hand I couldn’t have cast; therefore it must have been a land. I got my turn back without him forcing me to discard and proceeded to win with Sorin.
For game 3 he came out of the gates with triple Gravecrawler and a Highborn Ghoul. Without a lot of Celestial Purges, I was pretty screwed. Thankfully, I had some Timely Reinforcements and put myself in a racing situation.
I couldn’t play around a topdecked Mortarpod or red source for the Brimstone Volley in his hand, but he didn’t get there.
Round 13: Wolf Run Ramp
By turn 3 I had two flipped Delvers and several instants to mess with his Huntmasters. In game 2 he had to use a Slagstorm on two Spirits with a Virtue, and my second wave lived enough to kill him.
Round 14: Michael Jacob, Esper Delver mirror
My tiebreakers were the nut high in our bracket whereas his were the nut low. He thought X-5 would have a shot at Top 8 so he conceded, and we went to Five Guys.
Round 15: Harry Corvese, U/W Delver
This match was wild. We split the first two games, but I had a commanding position in game 3. I went Probe, Probe, into Delver, into Snapcaster a Probe. His hand had Leak, Image, and Geist of Saint Traft but not much else. When he tapped out for Invisible Stalker and then Geist of Saint Traft, I resolved a Sword, ready to go on the offensive.
Next turn I suited up my Delver, which still hadn’t flipped, and he chump blocked. Then he chump blocked again. Finally, he peeled a Vapor Snag, then had a Snapcaster Mage to Leak my Lingering Souls, and then peeled a Phantasmal Image for Snapcaster.
I was reduced to nothing despite being ahead for the vast majority of the game. Each draw step provided him exactly what he needed, and I was left shaking my head at the outcome.
Round 16: Dan Jordan, U/W Delver
If I were in a better mood or just wanted to play some Magic, I probably would’ve played it out. Instead I accepted his offer of a draw that put us both into Top 32.Â
***
For Legacy, I decided to go back to Stoneforge Mystics. In the end, I consider it a huge mistake and most likely what cost me another Invitational Top 8. I totally don’t understand how Tom Martell won the Grand Prix with this deck.
In theory it seemed so good. Lingering Souls would give me an edge if anyone was silly enough to play U/W or any other control deck, the disruption would help against combo, and Stoneforge Mystic would be good against everything else.
In reality the discard was flimsy at best. The combo decks have so much search and manipulation that taking a single card doesn’t accomplish much. In a few turns they’ll have what they need again. You either need to Hymn them down to nothing or use the discard to protect your own investments. That just wasn’t how the games played out, and the discard ended up being pretty poor against everyone.
The counterspells filled mostly the same role as the discard. I didn’t have enough to counter everything so had to use it sparingly, but that wasn’t ever enough.
Round 5: U/R Burn
We split the first two games, and I ended up on the draw with the nuts. I Thoughtseized his Smash to Smithereens, played a Stoneforge Mystic (for Batterskull), and didn’t counter his Goblin Guide with Force of Will.
Sure, he was attacking me with a flipped Delver of Secrets and two Goblin Guides, but I was going to win that race. My patience with Force won me the game, as a few turns later he drew Snapcaster Mage for Smash.
Round 6: Drew Levin, RUG Tempo
I very easily won. Legacy expert? Pshhh.
Round 7: Caleb Durward, RUG Tempo
No matter what tournament or what matchup, I always lose to Caleb, and this time was no different. While my games with Drew went long and he didn’t draw a string of gas long enough to beat me, Caleb always had what he needed.
In game 2 I decided to spice things up and start the game with a Leyline of the Void in play. He opened on Mons’s Goblin Raiders, Ambush Viper, and Delver of Secrets, but I dealt with those easily enough. He burned out my Stoneforge Mystic, played Sulfuric Vortex, and got rid of my Batterskull, but I still had Lingering Souls plus flashback.
He (presumably) peeled Sulfur Elemental and won the race.
I’m not sure if siding in Leylines is always right against RUG, but Caleb had Mongoose, Green Sun’s Zenith for more Geese, Tarmogoyf, and Snapcaster Mage. It looked good.
Round 8: Ryan McKinney, Reanimator
Ryan always plays the same deck, so I knew what was up. From my experience Reanimator has a difficult time with blue decks that also have discard, so I thought I’d be fine. I even had Leylines!
In game 1 he had the option of Exhuming an Iona or Jin-Gitaxias and chose Iona, naming white. I played my second blue source and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Despite Jace staying in play for the rest of the game, I still lost.
Second game I kept Thoughtseize, double Swords to Plowshares, and Spell Pierce. The way the game ended up playing out my cards did nothing, and I died to an Inkwell Leviathan.
Round 9: Brad Nelson, RUG Tempo
I had Brad dead in game 1, but he drew a Lightning Bolt on the last possible turn. In the second game I progressed my board slower than I probably should have, trying to play around everything. It ended up working out and I won in convincing fashion, but it felt like I should’ve won way earlier.
Third game I mostly got destroyed. Again, we were in that situation where I grinded him into dust until I had Souls plus flashback, and he had Sulfur Elemental.
Round 10: Matt Hoey, U/W Stoneblade
This is the matchup that I should’ve been favored in, but I ended up losing.
I won game 1 easily, then punted game 2 and he got “lucky” to punish me. My board was six lands with Stoneforge Mystic and a Spirit token and my hand had both of my equipments. I was at four life to his forty, as he had Batterskull in play since turn 3. He had a Batterskull with a Germ, a bunch of lands, and two cards in hand, but he had been living off the top of his deck.
I played Jitte, equipped my token, and attacked. He flashed in Vendilion Clique and targeted me, forcing me to Stoneforge in the Batterskull. He blocked my token and then used Karakas to prevent me from getting Jitte counters. Then he drew Jace, bounced my Germ, and killed me.
I probably could’ve won that game seven different ways. Naturally, he crushed me game 3.
Round 11: Ross Merriam, Maverick
Game 1 I went Swords, Mana Leak, Vindicate, Jace, Gitaxian Probe you, bounce your Mother of Runes, Cabal Therapy two of them. Despite him having a Sylvan Library, it wasn’t close.
Second game he played Noble Hierarch into Knight of the Reliquary, which I Forced. My Brainstorm didn’t yield any lands besides an Academy Ruins, so it was looking bad when he resolved Elspeth the next turn. I was very close to conceding, but we had plenty of time left.
My Stoneforge shuffled away some chaff; I drew some lands in a row and then Zealous Persecutioned away five creatures. His Elspeth finally died to a Vindicate, and an Engineered Explosives cleaned up the rest of his guys. From there, I cast and flashed back two Lingering Souls, and he had nothing.
Round 12: Reuben Bresler, Hive Mind
I got a game loss for being late, and he killed me turn 3.
***
I hated the Legacy deck I played and probably wouldn’t play it again. Lingering Souls didn’t feel good against any deck, especially those with Sulfur Elemental. The disruption and counterspells weren’t very good either. Stoneforge Mystic always died.
Nothing seemed to come together. Then again, Maverick seemed easy, and MJ went 7-1 with the same deck, and loved it. I went 3-5, and even in the matches I won I didn’t feel very far ahead if at all. I probably should’ve played RUG Tempo.
***
If I were going to Grand Prix Salt Lake City this weekend, this is what I would play:
Creatures (11)
Lands (15)
Spells (34)
For right now that Sphinx is taking the maindeck slot, but it could be anything. Again, I like having a powerful card to dig for, but it could just be another Probe if you want to keep the deck consistent. Gitaxian Probe is a good card, but I’d rather have Thought Scour at this point. Milling into a Lingering Souls is always nice, and since I upped the land count by one I get to play a Moorland Haunt as well. Having a wide variety of things to Snapcaster is pretty nice, too.
For the sideboard, I want some anti-aggro stuff, some Disenchants, some counterspells, and some trumps. I would probably play this:
2 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Steel Sabotage
2 Revoke Existence
2 Celestial Purge
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Sword of War and Peace
2 Negate
1 Dissipate
2 Nihil Spellbomb
That might not be the “correct” sideboard, but it’s what I’d play if Grand Prix Salt Lake City were tomorrow.
Good luck in the Grand Prix and the Gold Rush!
GerryT
P.S. – Random story time! I was also going to go over a few awesome stories from the Invitational, but Drew Levin beat me to the punch. At least I beat him at the Invitational!
Ben Hayes vs. Paul Lynch
These guys were locked into an epic match of Esper Stoneblade vs. Enchantress, respectively. Seeing as how they were going to game 3 with little time on the clock, they decided that if one of them had things locked up the other should concede. They even went so far as to discuss what being “locked up” meant.
Once extra turns started, Ben had Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Stoneforge Mystic with Batterskull, some discard, and some counterspells in hand. Paul had…
…a Mirri’s Guile.
It seemed like Ben did, in fact, have it locked up, but when he told Paul that he couldn’t kill him in turns Paul just shrugged. Ben asked how he could possibly get out of it, and Paul said “Replenish.” Ben flashed him a counterspell and Paul said, “Well, I’ve got a Replenish on top.”
Ben thought for a moment, started to fateseal his opponent, but then stopped himself. “No, I’m just going to Brainstorm. I shouldn’t fateseal you based on what you told me.”
Time ran out, and Ben couldn’t kill Paul so he asked for the concession, but Paul refused. His excuse was, “Well, it was pretty scummy for you to fateseal me just because I told you what was on top.”
Ben could’ve argued that he didn’t actually fateseal him and that Paul was breaching a verbal contract, but it was pointless. It was clear that Paul was just trying to freeroll him the entire time.