I played in the Meandeck Open (Legacy) this last weekend. I usually flop in big legacy events so it was no surprise when I flopped in this one. I think it has something to do with my habit of running homebrews over “legit” tier one decks. I know that my skill level is such that I can run a tier one deck and (with some luck) do pretty well, so I chose to play “for fun” by running what some would call a “bad” deck. I am not sure what the “real” reason is that I always run Homebrews at “bigger” tournaments. It probably has deep rooted psychological implications in regards to my fear of failure. Maybe it gives me an excuse to lose, but if I have psychologically manipulated myself into preemptively making excuses for losing then I must believe that winning is not really important to me. Maybe, Maybe Not- these are the places I don’t want to go – after all magic is the place I go to run from real life. Exploring my insecurities is a buzz kill.
Anyway here is a list of what I ran in the main event at the mean deck open. Notice it’s a homebrew with safe, respectable choices:
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Rhox War Monk
3 Baneslayer Angel
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Spells
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
2 Treetop Village
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest
Sideboard
4 Meddling Mage
3 Spell Pierce
2 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Control Magic
My record was 0-3- 1 drop. Ouch! My games were all very close, but the deck never closed the deal. I signed up for the second side event (it was free if you signed up in time), then I went to Chipotle with my buddy Adam for a strategy meeting. Here are some things that we talked about with regard to choices:
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner + Umezawa's Jitte
I got some crap about this one. Jitte and Exalted help me win the Tarmo-war but with Kira on board I can’t equip the Jitte without paying for and making my guy venerable to removal. Kira was originally Vendilion Clique and when I replaced the Clique my inner mono-lounge struggled with the same question but my thought was this: If Kira is on board then that’s a good thing, if I draw into a Jitte hopefully I won’t need it at that point and if I do I will simply pay the four mana. The other possibility is that I never see the Kira and then there is not a problem.
This touches on the question, “Should you ever include anti-synergetic elements in the same deck?” Another example would be Jotun Grunt and Tarmogoyf like my third round opponent Stephen Menendian. I don’t think it’s fatal but it’s probably not good practice, Stephen’s Grunt “got there” for him but I was bummed to have a Jitte, a Tarmo, a Kira and only three mana.
Qasali Pridemage
I only have one word to say about this guy. Amazing.
Baneslayer Angel
This card is truly a myth. I can’t say how good or bad it was in my deck because despite my petitions to the Lord – It wasn’t His will that I would ever draw it, even though on many occasions I had 12 lands on the board to my opponent’s one creature and empty hand.
Counter Magic
I feel funny saying this because I love Force of Will but at this tournament I didn’t feel like it’ helped much at all. Daze was much better but also became less relevant as the game progressed. I found myself just wanting more creatures
After some shop talk and tasty chicken burritos it was time to go back to work and I had a plan. I came up with this “bad” deck and I ended up crushing in a side event. I went 3-0 Split, I beat Bitterblossom Tempo, Train Wreck, and Zoo. Here is the list, I just cut counter magic for more dudes and Aether Vial:
Creature
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Rhox War Monk
3 Rafiq of the Many
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Spells
3 Aether Vial
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
2 Treetop Village
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest
Sideboard
4 Force of Will
4 Meddling Mage
3 Spell Pierce
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Control Magic
I think Gaddock Teeg needs to make it into the sideboard but I don’t like how he plays with Engineered Explosives (Anti-Synergetic remember). Anyways thanks for reading.
JM Tweet this!
