View the full Top 8 decklists and metagame breakdown at http://azmagicplayers.tumblr.com. View our live tweets at @azmpcoverage.
This past Sunday, thirty-six Crusaders retreated from the weekend to compete in the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series – February Event (see what I did there?). In the end, Kyle Henriksen with UWR Delver took the title as champion, smashing the Swiss rounds with a record of 4-0-2.
| Creatures (10) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Stoneforge Mystic 2 True-Name Nemesis Spells (30) 4 Brainstorm 4 Ponder 1 Gitaxian Probe 4 Daze 4 Spell Pierce 4 Force of Will 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Swords to Plowshares 1 Umezawa's Jitte 1 Batterskull Lands (20) 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Arid Mesa 4 Tundra 3 Volcanic Island 4 Wasteland | Sideboard (15) 2 Meddling Mage 2 Ethersworn Canonist 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Swords to Plowshares 2 Rest in Peace 1 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Red Elemental Blast 1 Pyroblast 1 Wear // Tear 1 Grim Lavamancer 1 True-Name Nemesis |
The rest of the Top 8 was pretty diverse (eight different decks total again!):
- Elves
- Sneak and Show
- Jund
- Junk Depths
- DeathBlade
- Death and Taxes
- OmniTell
Two players from the January event managed to repeat their Top 8 – Trevor Carr with Death and Taxes and Matt Czuzak with Junk Depths. Both played with the same decks as last month. Deck familiarity is huge in a format as wide as Legacy. Even if you’ve never seen your opponent’s deck before, knowing how to sculpt or evolve your game plan with the cards in your own deck is important as you see more and more of your opponent’s decks. All those corner interactions, such as Flickerwisping a Sneak Attack during your end step to prevent your opponent from sneaking in a creature could suddenly be applicable when anything could happen.
Trevor’s Top 8 alongside his finals split put him at 13 Series Points, though Kyle isn’t too far behind, with his Top 16 at the January Event awarding him 2 points. Here are the Top 5 players in the race for an FTV: 20:
| Trevor Carr | 13 |
| Kyle Henriksen | 12 |
| Phimus Pan | 10 |
| Kai Ruan | 8 |
| Matt Czuzak | 8 |
We’ll have the full standings up soon.
So how did the overall metagame end up?
Out of 36 different decks, 23 ended up be unique decks. The most represented deck by far was Death and Taxes with five pilots, and then ANT with three pilots. Last month, Death and Taxes was also the most represented deck (tied with Elves), so it’s certain that you must prepare for the various X/1s and AEther Vial. In fact, I think that Chris Worman made a pretty good metagame call, splashing Zealous Persecution in his Death and Taxes decklist to fight the mirror as well as Elves. He nearly Top 8’d, losing his win-and-in to eventual finalist Kai Ruan:
| Creatures (26) 4 Mother of Runes 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 4 Phyrexian Revoker 4 Stoneforge Mystic 3 Serra Avenger 2 Aven Mindcensor 2 Flickerwisp 1 Spirit of the Labyrinth 2 Mirran Crusader Spells (11) 4 AEther Vial 4 Swords to Plowshares 1 Umezawa’s Jitte 1 Batterskull 1 Sword of Fire and Ice Lands (23) 4 Marsh Flats 4 Plains 4 Scrubland 4 Wasteland 4 Rishadan Port 3 Karakas | Sideboard (13) 3 Zealous Persecution 2 Cataclysm 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege 2 Rest in Peace 2 Oblivion Ring 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Sword of Light and Shadow |
He goes very light on the splash, choosing not to play Dark Confidants, Lingering Souls, or other cards that BW Deadguy/Stoneblade variants opt for. It’s a smart idea not to change it up too much– Death and Taxes is already a strong deck with a lot of synergies that you don’t want to necessarily break up by adding a ton more black, but you have to deal with Elves and True-Name Nemesis somehow, and the fact that it’s also insane in the mirror can’t be discounted either.
ANT, Delver, Elves, and Show and Tell (all variants) also keep up their strong appearances, so definitely get your sideboard ready for these decks. With so many different viable archetypes (12 of the 16 possible decks in the Top 8 are unique!), it can be hard to find a good sideboard. Picking cards that are applicable in multiple matchups (such as the Zealous Persecution example listed above) is probably the safest option.
So, what’s next?
The AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series continues next month at Desert Sky Games on March 15th – this is a Saturday everybody! Will Kyle take home his second title? Or will Trevor maintain his lead in the race for an FTV: 20? Only you guys can decide that!
See you all there!
AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series – February Event
- Date: March 15, 2014
- Time: 12:00pm
- Location: Desert Sky Games, 2531 S Gilbert Rd Ste 106, Gilbert, Arizona
- Entry Fee: $15
- Format: Legacy
Prizes:
- 1st Place: 1 Tropical Island
- 2nd Place: 1 Bayou
Prizes will scale on attendance.
Decklists required. Top finishing decklists will be posted online.
See you all there!
How to win an FTV: Twenty
We will be awarding the highest Series Points finisher at the conclusion of these four events (January, February, March, and April). You can earn Series Points by attending the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Events. The point payout are as followings:
16 or fewer players:
- 1st Place: 8 Series Points
- 2nd Place: 6 Series Points
- 3rd & 4th Place: 4 Series Points
- 5th+ Place: 1 Series Points
17-39 players
- 1st Place: 10 Series Points
- 2nd Place: 8 Series Points
- 3rd & 4th Place: 6 Series Points
- 5th to 8th Place: 4 Series Points
- 9th+ Place: 1 Series Points
40 or more players:
- 1st Place: 10 Series Points
- 2nd Place: 8 Series Points
- 3rd & 4th Place: 6 Series Points
- 5th to 8th Place: 4 Series Points
- 9th to 16th Place: 2 Series Points
- 17th+ Place: 1 Series Points
In the event of a tie, we will go through the following tiebreakers, in order, from top to bottom:
1 – Highest finish in an AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Event
2 – Cumulative Match Points throughout the Series, including Top 8 playoff points (ex: a record of 4-0-1 in the January event is 13 points, a record of 4-1 in the February event would give you 12 points, for a total of 25 points across the two events)
3 – Highest match win % after Swiss rounds across all 4 Events