Attending SCG: Los Angeles was an afterthought. After a 0-3 performance in Standard with UW Delver and 49th place in Legacy with RUG Delver (my worst record at an SCG Legacy Open thus far) at SCG: Las Vegas in July, I was left scrambling for a new deck for Standard and possibly, even for Legacy.
What was I to do?
Well, in the time between SCG: Las Vegas and SCG: Los Angeles, I floated between several decks: UW Delver, Zombies and Esper Midrange. I still wasn’t sure which deck I really wanted to play. UW Delver is probably the best deck in the format, with Zombies a close second, and when there’s a best deck, you better play the best deck, right? At least, so goes the echoes of many a pro player.
Of course, I had already spent the whole summer playing UW Delver at Indy, Vegas, and a host of local events, so I guess it was safe to say that I was a little tired of Delver. Coupling this with the fact that I was staying at family’s house instead of a hotel (thus saving $250), I felt that I could have a little fun with Standard before rotation. So this is what I brought to the SCG: Los Angeles Standard Open:
| Creatures (10) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Ichorclaw Myr 1 Blight Mamba 1 Viridian Corrupter Spells (29) 4 Rancor 3 Wild Defiance 4 Titanic Growth 4 Gut Shot 3 Mental Misstep 1 Dismember 1 Apostle’s Blessing 3 Ranger’s Guile 2 Green Sun’s Zenith 4 Mutagenic Growth Lands (21) 13 Forest 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Cathedral of War | Sideboard (15) 3 Livewire Lash 3 Spellskite 1 Mental Misstep 1 Dismember 1 Apostle’s Blessing 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 2 Beast Within 2 Ratchet Bomb 1 Viridian Corrupter |
It’s not too often that a Belcher-like combo deck happens upon Standard, so I figured, why not? Besides, my earlier logic with playing UW Delver was that I wanted to out-variance my opponents since I don’t have nearly as much experience with Standard as most of these players, so Mono Green Infect fits right in my alley. Here’s a quick tournament report from the Standard Open since I’m sure most of you guys are here to read about Legacy.
Round 1 – UW Delver – 0-2: I mulled to five & six both games.
Round 2 – Jund Ramp – 1-2: Glissa, Ghost Quarters, and Spellskites were enough to do me in.
Round 3 – GW Tokens – 2-0: A 14/14 Inkmoth Nexus was just big enough to dodge a Divine Deflection for four to deal exactsies.
Round 4 – Mono Green Elves – 2-0: Killed a Silklash Spider on my turn three with an Ichorclaw Myr, Cathedral of War, Rancor and Mutagenic Growth, then killed him on turn four with double Titanic Growth.
Round 5 – Zombies – 2-1: Got a midround deck check (didn’t know those actually happened), but I managed to take it down in three after a long chain of Gut Shots, Tragic Slips, Ranger’s Guile, Mental Missteps and Mutagenic Growths were involved in attacking and defending a couple of my guys.
Round 6 – RG Aggro – 0-2: Never got Bonfired, but multiple Arc Trails and Pillar of Flames were enough to run me out of gas in game one, and a hardcast Melira while me never drawing one of my eight to ten outs happened in game two.
Round 7 – Naya Ramp – 2-0: Killed him quickly in game one, and in game two, he topdecked Blade Splicer 3 times versus my double exalted Viridian Corrupter, but after those topdecks, he drew blanks.
Round 8 – Mono Green Infect – 2-1: The mirror match! We killed each other quickly in games one and two, but he kept a no lander in game three which had a Glistener Elf, three Mutagenic Growths, and a Dismember. He drew a land on his turn two but luckily I had triple Mental Misstep in my opener to fight it off.
Round 9 – RUG Ramp – 2-0: This match was over in 9 minutes flat. I’ve heard that the matchup is pretty terrible for the Ramp deck, and after seeing this match, I can definitely see why.
So 6-3, good enough for…83rd out of almost 400 players. Of course, my tiebreakers were the nut low since I lost the first two matches. But hey, I’d like the byes for GP: Denver (provided I can go) and actually doing alright in a big Standard event in, well, ever was kind of a cool feeling.
Now onto the real format: Legacy!
I hadn’t actually played RUG Delver since SCG: Las Vegas. Usually at the weekly Legacy events I mess around with decks. For the time being, I had been playing variations of Nic Fit, since I already couldn’t get enough of playing Standard cards like Thragtusk, Grave Titan, Garruk, Primal Hunter, and Gideon Jura. Also, Sun Titan and Pernicious Deed is a thing. A very good thing.
But I had to go back to my old standby for SCG: Los Angeles – RUG Delver. I think it’s safe to say that I’m pretty familiar with the deck. Here’s the list I took to Los Angeles:
| Creatures (14) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Nimble Mongoose 3 Tarmogoyf 2 Grim Lavamancer 1 Scavenging Ooze Spells (28) 4 Brainstorm 4 Ponder 2 Thought Scour 4 Force of Will 3 Daze 3 Spell Pierce 4 Stifle 4 Lightning Bolt Lands (18) 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Polluted Delta 3 Tropical Island 3 Volcanic Island 4 Wasteland | Sideboard (15) 4 Submerge 2 Red Elemental Blast 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Tormod's Crypt 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Rough // Tumble 1 Gilded Drake 1 Flusterstorm 1 Life from the Loam |
Grim Lavamancers are back! After losing to Merfolk and barely making it out alive versus Goblins at SCG: Las Vegas, I felt that Grim Lavamancers were good enough to be back in RUG Delver. It gives a great way for RUG to gain a little bit of card advantage. Sure, there’s a little bit…scratch that, a lot of dissynergy with Nimble Mongoose and Grim Lavamancer, but I figured for the most part, the matchups where you absolutely need the 3/3 Nimble Mongoose, you don’t need to activate Grim Lavamancer as much (UW Miracles, for example), and the matchups where you need to activate Grim Lavamancer, you don’t absolutely need the 3/3 Nimble Mongoose (Merfolk or Goblins).
The Flusterstorm was originally the second Gilded Drake, but with the rise of Omni-Tell, Gilded Drake isn’t as good. Flusterstorm wins counter wars and also is a pretty good hedge against combo-heavy Los Angeles.
Finally, let’s get down to the nitty gritty: the tournament report! Mind you, this is all from memory, so forgive me if I have some details wrong. We had approxmiately 234 players for Legacy, so that meant another nine rounds of Magic, with a cut to Top 8.
Round 1 – Kyle with UW Stoneblade/Miracles
I start off with a Delver of Secrets and a Nimble Mongoose, but the Delver doesn’t flip at all. The pair bash in for couple of turns before he lands a Stoneforge Mystic, fetching up Batterskull. I then play a Grim Lavamancer, then a miracled Terminus attempts to wipe the board. I Force, pitching a Delver, but he has the Spell Pierce to force the Terminus through. After this, it’s a race between him getting Batterskull into play and me killing him, but he has a second Mystic, fetching Sword of Fire and Ice. After Stifling a Batterskull trigger, the Sword of Fire and Ice attaching to a Snapcaster Mage is enough to end game one in his favor.
I keep a pretty durdly hand against him in game two but it has an Ancient Grudge, so I keep it. He lands a Stoneforge Mystic on two but doesn’t have any more land. Luckily I have Life from the Loam to begin to dredge back my Wastelands so he doesn’t have any more than three land. I Grudge his Batterskull, land a 5/6 Tarmogoyf, Spell Pierce a Swords to Plowshares (since he’s stuck on two land), Spell Pierce a flashbacked Swords to Plowshares off of a Snapcaster, and Tarmogoyf gets there.
There’s only approximately eight minutes on the clock after game two is done, so I tell him we should probably play game three fast. We both mulligan to 6. I have a Delver that flips and deals some damage, but he STPs it. He plays draw go for awhile. Eventually, time is called. I land a 5/6 Tarmogoyf when he’s at twelve and he has five mana. I leave up Spell Pierce instead of casting Delver (end of turn 1). He untaps, draws, plays a land and hardcasts Terminus. I Spell Pierce (end of turn 2). I swing with Tarmogoyf, putting him to 7, play Delver of Secrets, pass (end of turn 3). He untaps, draws, passes (end of turn 4). During my upkeep, I look at the top of my library, reveal a Brainstorm and that’s game. Phew.
1-0 (2-1 games)
Round 2 – Brandon with Belcher
I win the die roll and I keep a hand of Nimble Mongoose, Daze, Thought Scour, Scavenging Ooze, and lands. I play Nimble Mongoose and pass. He draws, plays Taiga and Lotus Petal then Dark Rituals. Well, crap. I haven’t played against the Dark Ritual versions in a long time so I probably should have Dazed but I let it through. He then proceeds to play two Chrome Mox, imprinting a Land Grant and a Burning Wish, then he plays the last card in his hand, a Burning Wish. Score! I Daze the Burning Wish, forcing him to pay one of his four mana left so he doesn’t have enough mana for Empty the Warrens. He grabs Diminishing Returns instead and I play out my Scavenging Ooze and Mongoose and steal the game.
For game two I stare down a hand of two Spell Pierce, Stifle, Rough // Tumble, Nimble Mongoose, Thought Scour, and Tropical Island. Is it worth mulliganing to six to try and hit a Force of Will or do I just hope he doesn’t kill me on turn one? If I survive turn one then my hand is pretty good. He ends up mulliganing to six so I decide that this hand is keepable, until he goes turn one Elvish Spirit Guide, Xantid Swarm. Argh. I draw and play Mongoose. He draws and passes. I draw a nonland card (I think it was a Tarmogoyf), attack, then pass. He draws and passes. I Thought Scour away a Force of Will and Tarmogoyf, drawing into a fetch land. I draw a Delver of Secrets off the top, play it and leave the fetch open.
He finally begins to attack with the Xantid Swarm, but I Stifle the trigger to bluff a Force of Will. He ends up passing again. I flip Delver with a Stifle off the top, attack with Mongoose and pass. He attacks with the Swarm. I Stifle the trigger and block with the Insectile Aberration to get rid of it. Then I play a Tarmogoyf and swing, bringing him down to 10 life. He draws, goes into the tank for awhile, but then he decides to pass since I only have eight damage on board (A 4/5 Tarmogoyf, a 3/2 Insectile Aberration, and a 1/1 Nimble Mongoose). Luckily, I have six cards in the graveyard. I untap, draw, cast Rough // Tumble to grow my Nimble Mongoose to a 3/3 before state-based actions are checked and swing for exactly 10 damage.
2-0 (4-1 games)
Round 3 – Justin with Goblins
Justin leads off with a Cavern of Souls into Aether Vial. Then another Vial the next turn. And a Wasteland. And another Wasteland. And another Wasteland. Turns out uncounterable creatures and triple Wasteland versus my terribad mana base is pretty darn good. Onto game two!
I have an early Delver that flips and starts to apply pressure but on four mana, he Goblin Matrons for Tarfire and gets rid of it. Luckily I have double Tarmogoyf soon after that, forcing him to lose two guys each turn. Luckily for me, he can’t recoup the lost advantage, even after a Goblin Ringleader gives him three cards.
In the deciding game, we both mulligan to six. He plays a turn one AEther Vial off of Rishadan Port. I play a Volcanic Island and pass with Stifle up. He plays no land but instead ticks up Vial and plays a Relic of Progenitus. I Daze it. I play the Volcanic Island again and he Vials in Lackey. I Bolt it. He plays another Relic of Progenitus. I play a Scavenging Ooze on my turn. He exiles his own Lackey to the Relic then vials in a Goblin Piledriver.
Justin then ticks Vial up to three and puts down Warchief, swinging for five and putting me down to 12. I untap, Ancient Grudge his Relic, then flash it back on his Vial, so now Justin is stuck on just the Rishadan Port, Goblin Warchief, and Goblin Piledriver. I take another five from the pair of goblins, taking me down to 7. I draw a Wasteland and Wasteland his Rishadan Port. When he attacks for five the next turn, I Stifle the Goblin Piledriver trigger, block it with the Scavenging Ooze, then eat it, taking me to 6 life. When he untaps and draws the next turn, he scoops up his cards.
3-0 (6-2 games)
Round 4 – Greg with UB Death’s Shadow
This was a featured match. Here’s the link: http://blip.tv/scglive/scg-la-lgc-rnd-4-gregory-hatch-vs-jason-abong-6359746
Let’s just say, it sucks evaluating cards for the first time on camera.
While I am primarily a Legacy player, I actually hadn’t been keeping up with recent developments in the Legacy metagame, most notably Omni-Tell and the Academy Rector/Show and Tell lists. I had briefly seen Gerry Thompson’s Premier Event winning decklist and seen the deck on Cedric Philips’ stream, but that’s about the exposure I had to the deck. The punt in game two was primarily because I wanted to Lightning Bolt him during his upkeep to avoid the Daze he revealed, but I realized that Death’s Shadow would grow and if he had an edict effect or some way to get rid of the Tarmogoyf, I would die. So instinctively, the timeframe to Lightning Bolt moved from the Upkeep to the End of Turn phase…and I didn’t account the impact that Daze would have on that play because I was so distracted by the Death’s Shadow effect.
Not my proudest moment. And it had to be captured on camera. Luckily I was vindicated by the pre-emptive scoop! A win’s a win, I guess.
4-0 (8-3 games)
Round 5 – Ricky with Merfolk (Top 8)
I win the die roll and play a turn one Delver, which he Forces, pitching a Merrow Reejerey. Knowing that Merfolk has little ways to deal with Delver, I Daze it. He plays a land and passes. The Delver fails to flip for a couple of turns, but that’s ok, since he doesn’t have land number two. Eventually it does transform, and with that, a Tarmogoyf joins the fray. When he finally draws the second land, it’s too late. I also draw a Grim Lavamancer during the game but since I was at such an advantage, I decided to hold it so he wouldn’t know that I run the Grim Lavamancer.
He just has a land for his first turn, while I have Mr. Delver of Secrets again. This time, he flips easily. On his turn three, he plays a Kira, Great Glass Spinner. Well, that’s a little problematic for my deck. I do have a Grim Lavamancer follow up my Delver. Soon, Kira and the Master of the Pearl Trident start to race my 3/2 Delver, and it appears even more so when he hardcasts Submerge on the Delver since I don’t have a Tropical Island in play.
Second main phase, I play Tropical Island into a 3/3 Nimble Mongoose with only seven cards in the graveyard. When he attacks with both the Master of the Pearl Trident and Kira, Great Glass Spinner, I send the Nimble Mongoose to block the Master of the Pearl Trident. Ricky attempts to Submerge the Grim Lavamancer, but I remove two cards from my graveyard (shrinking my Nimble Mongoose to a 1/1) to deal 2 to Kira, Stifle her trigger to get rid of that. Lastly, I Wasteland my Tropical Island to put two cards back into my graveyard to make sure my Nimble Mongoose is still alive. This turn of events leaves me with a Nimble Mongoose in play, a Grim Lavamancer on top of my library, and him with no creatures in play. I draw the Grim Lavamancer again, play it, and clock him with the Nimble Mongoose until he extends the hand.
5-0 (10-3 games)
Round 6 – Erik with Goblins (Top 8)
I win the die roll and lead off with a turn one Delver of Secrets. He Wastelands me and passes. I flip Delver of Secrets with a Brainstorm. I swing for one, tell him “You caught me,” and pass the turn without a second land. He plays a Mountain into a Goblin Lackey. For the next 4 or so turns, we draw go, our one drop creatures in a stand-off. I finally draw into a Volcanic Island, so I play it and pass with Stifle up since he has a Wasteland out. He draws and passes, so I take the risk of Pondering to try and hit a second land. I Ponder, and he chooses to let it resolve before Wastelanding me. Luckily I did hit a fetch so when he goes for the Wasteland at the end of my turn, I fetch and Stifle it. This leaves me with all three colors and a Delver while he just has a Lackey and one Mountain. When I Bolt his Lackey the next turn, he scoops it up.
I mulligan to five, keeping a Volcanic Island, Ponder, Brainstorm, and two Force of Will. He plays Mountain into Goblin Lackey, which I Force of Will. I draw a Grim Lavamancer and I play it. He plays another Goblin Lackey. I draw into a Volcanic Island, so I Ponder then Lavamance his Lackey on my main phase (to play around Incinerator). The Ponder and Brainstorm do an amazing job of feeding me creatures, Lightning Bolts, and enough food for the Grim Lavamancer. I kill two Warren Instigators and a Goblin Chieftain but all of them die to Grim Lavamancer. Eventually my creatures kill him as I run him out of cards.
6-0 (12-3 games)
Round 7 – Barry with Maverick
I’m paired down to Barry, who plays at my cousin’s store Majestix CCG, so I ask for the concession since I would be locked for Top 8. He would still be in the running since he was 5-0-1. After awhile he decides to do so. We play it out anyway so he can get practice for the next couple rounds. He wins those games 2-1.
Unfortunately Barry ended up losing his win-and-in to eventual winner Michael Hetrick which is a shame. It would have been nice for it to have worked out for both of us.
7-0 (12-3 games)
Round 8 – Joe Lossett with Miracles
After seven rounds of Swiss, there were only two undefeated going into Round 8: Joe Lossett and me! We ID, ensuring our spot for Top 8.
7-0-1 (12-3 games)
Round 9 – Ross Merriam with Maverick
Once again, we ID.
7-0-2 (12-3 games)
After the Swiss rounds, the Top 8 is announced. I’m in 3rd place, with 23 points!
Top 8 – Ricky with Merfolk
So we’re paired up again for the Top 8, but unfortunately he gets the better of me this time around. I have a triple Delver of Secrets start but they only flip like on turn four or five, but by then it isn’t good enough to race the triple Lord (two Master of the Pearl Tridents and a Merrow Reejerey), backed up with Cursecatchers and Silvergil Adepts.
In game two, I think I played pretty tight, but again, Kira was a nightmare for my deck, as I couldn’t draw a Grim Lavamancer to deal with it. Brainstorming away a one-of Scavenging Ooze, only to draw it again after a shuffle is pretty bad beats, but all good things must come to an end, right?
7-1-2 (12-5 games)
So all in all, a pretty spectacular weekend. Plus, Jeff was still able to attend his 9am class in the morning (we ended up arriving home at 3:30am). The obligatory props and slops:
Props:
- My deck, for carrying me throughout the whole day, but especially Grim Lavamancer
- Not playing against Maverick or Dredge (half of my sideboard was dead)
- The Arizona guys: We weren’t as well represented this time around (I feel like SCG: Las Vegas took a lot of us out of the running for Los Angeles), but it was still awesome seeing several of you guys there!
- Team Majestix CCG: Barry and Chris Top 16’d, Chuck and Derek Top 32’d, and several others placed in the money, so grats to Majestix for a strong showing.
- Brian Eaton for representing Arizona in the Top 8 of the Standard Open!
Slops:
- The lady on the loudspeaker. Just too loud. Seriously.
- Punting on camera. I wish any of my other matches were on camera.
Thanks for reading this super long tournament report! I’m not sure if I’ll be attending SCG: Las Vegas (especially since I hear the Pacquiao fight will be that same weekend…can you imagine the hotel prices?) but I’m going to try my best to attend the Invitational. See you guys then!
-Jason Abong
@mtgtwin1 on Twitter (follow me! I need more followers)
Yes, that’s me doing a baby freeze in the Top 8 picture