By Sam Chapin
To understand my decision for what to play at magic tournaments one must first understand what I've played, what I like, and most importantly what I think I like. I started looking at legacy in the summer of 2013. It was my first real experience with a format that went outside of standard sets, so it was a very different experience. I had one taste, fell in love, and never looked back. Over the last year and a half my intensity with magic has waxed and wained, but my love for Legacy has remained constant. My relationships with different decks, however, have not.
I began my journey into the legacy meta-game with a classic beginner legacy deck. I had a fair bit of cash and trading stock at the time, so I was able to push and make Goblins. My first Legacy tournament was an SCG Legacy Open in Philadelphia. I went 3-5 drop because I had to leave, and I loved my deck more than anyother I had ever played. Goblins felt like the right deck forever. Goblins felt powerful, it felt fun, and, more than anything else, it was different. My original Goblins list was the following:
Goblins by Sam Chapin
Creatures (33)
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Goblin Piledriver
3 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Goblin Chieftain
1 Stingscourger
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
Artifacts (4)
4 Aether Vial
Lands (23)
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Mountain
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Platuae
1 Taiga
This was my favorite and only Legacy deck for several tournaments. The “Death of Goblins” was trumpeted after the printing of True-Name Nemesis. I was skeptical about the decline of such an old and fun deck. At GP DC, I beat every True-Name deck that I played against (and still have only lost to one True-Name deck with Goblins), but I lost to the True-Name hate. At SCG Baltimore, I experienced the same scenario, accept I was losing terribly to match-ups that I previously beat because of the new hate that they were packing for True-Name Nemesis.
The last round of the tournament that I played I lost to a Death and Taxes opponent and was on some mega tilt. Before the tournament, I was beginning to look into other Legacy decks because it had been a few months and I thought that I might want to try something different alongside Goblins. After I lost to the Death and Taxes player I dropped from the tournament and began to tear apart Goblins.
A life note from me: Never decide anything when heavily emotional, especially decisions that involve significant amounts of money!!!!!!
I began to buy and trade for cards for a slew of different decks, but, primarily, I was looking for pieces of Doomsday or DDFT.
Thus began the downward spiral, which I am still recovering from, of my different attempts in Legacy. Doomsday is a beautiful deck; however, it is beautiful the way a golden sword is beautiful. It looks very nice, but can't cut for shit. I constructed Doomsday after many months of soul searching and I sleeved it up for an SCG open. Doomsday is a very complicated storm deck that essentially wants to construct a very simple position. It is trying to have an Lion's Eye Diamond in play with a Sensei's Divining top or a Gitaxian Probe in hand and to stack its deck to become: Ideas Unbound, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, LED, Tendrils of Agony. To achieve this, however, Doomsday must jump through several hoops. Here is the list that I played.
Doomsday by Sam Chapin
Instants and Sorceries (32)
4x Brainstorm
4x Burning Wish
3x Cabal Therapy
4x Dark Ritual
3x Doomsday
3x Duress
4x Gitaxian Probe
1x Ideas Unbound
4x Ponder
1x Rain of Filth
1x Tendrils of Agony
Artifacts (11)
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
3x Lotus Petal
4x Sensei's Divining Top
Lands (17)
2x Swamp
2x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Badlands
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Island
4x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
Sideboard (15)
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Cabal Therapy
1x Cruel Bargain
1x Doomsday
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Massacre
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Time Spiral
1x Tropical Island
3x Xantid Swarm
Doomsday was a very hard deck to pilot. I was expecting it to be fairly easy after having mastered the piles that were needed. I found Doomsday to require strong maligning decisions, strong Brainstorming and Pondering (which I had no practice in before Doomsday and my practice with the deck), and fairly draw dependent. What I listed above is a three card combo. Doomsday requires an LED, a Sensei's Diving Top, and a Doomsday to go off. What is good about this deck is that it is very good at the long game. I unfortunately played four games against faster decks then dropped after a no-show in round five. I learned several things about playing combo and combo match-ups. Belcher is comicly good against other combo decks because it wins before any interaction between decks, so even Storm's measly pile of discard spells can't effectively disrupt it. I also learned a lot from facing a very cocky show and tell opponent.
He was talking about his deck decision as soon a the match started. He was bragging about how he had hands down the best deck in the field (he had lost round one) and how he was definitely going to top 8. Now we've all faced these opponents, but this one really resonated with me because of how he side-boarded. He saw me cast Doomsday in game one, but did not understand what my deck was, so boarded for ANT. Kennen Haas articulates the powers of being a rouge deck very well in his article that he wrote for SCG back in January: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27680_Leaving-A-Legacy-Jund-Depths.html. I found that being an unknown slightly weaker than tier 1 deck can be more powerful than a tier 1 very well known deck because with the latter option people know what you are and have figured out how to deal with you.
Next time I explore the perks of fast and slow combos in my process of deck decision before the GP.
Regards
-SC
Follow me on Twitter @NextLevelChapin.
I began my journey into the legacy meta-game with a classic beginner legacy deck. I had a fair bit of cash and trading stock at the time, so I was able to push and make Goblins. My first Legacy tournament was an SCG Legacy Open in Philadelphia. I went 3-5 drop because I had to leave, and I loved my deck more than anyother I had ever played. Goblins felt like the right deck forever. Goblins felt powerful, it felt fun, and, more than anything else, it was different. My original Goblins list was the following:
Goblins by Sam Chapin
Creatures (33)
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Goblin Piledriver
3 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Goblin Chieftain
1 Stingscourger
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
Artifacts (4)
4 Aether Vial
Lands (23)
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Mountain
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Platuae
1 Taiga
This was my favorite and only Legacy deck for several tournaments. The “Death of Goblins” was trumpeted after the printing of True-Name Nemesis. I was skeptical about the decline of such an old and fun deck. At GP DC, I beat every True-Name deck that I played against (and still have only lost to one True-Name deck with Goblins), but I lost to the True-Name hate. At SCG Baltimore, I experienced the same scenario, accept I was losing terribly to match-ups that I previously beat because of the new hate that they were packing for True-Name Nemesis.
The last round of the tournament that I played I lost to a Death and Taxes opponent and was on some mega tilt. Before the tournament, I was beginning to look into other Legacy decks because it had been a few months and I thought that I might want to try something different alongside Goblins. After I lost to the Death and Taxes player I dropped from the tournament and began to tear apart Goblins.
A life note from me: Never decide anything when heavily emotional, especially decisions that involve significant amounts of money!!!!!!
I began to buy and trade for cards for a slew of different decks, but, primarily, I was looking for pieces of Doomsday or DDFT.
Thus began the downward spiral, which I am still recovering from, of my different attempts in Legacy. Doomsday is a beautiful deck; however, it is beautiful the way a golden sword is beautiful. It looks very nice, but can't cut for shit. I constructed Doomsday after many months of soul searching and I sleeved it up for an SCG open. Doomsday is a very complicated storm deck that essentially wants to construct a very simple position. It is trying to have an Lion's Eye Diamond in play with a Sensei's Divining top or a Gitaxian Probe in hand and to stack its deck to become: Ideas Unbound, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, LED, Tendrils of Agony. To achieve this, however, Doomsday must jump through several hoops. Here is the list that I played.
Doomsday by Sam Chapin
Instants and Sorceries (32)
4x Brainstorm
4x Burning Wish
3x Cabal Therapy
4x Dark Ritual
3x Doomsday
3x Duress
4x Gitaxian Probe
1x Ideas Unbound
4x Ponder
1x Rain of Filth
1x Tendrils of Agony
Artifacts (11)
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
3x Lotus Petal
4x Sensei's Divining Top
Lands (17)
2x Swamp
2x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Badlands
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Island
4x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
Sideboard (15)
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Cabal Therapy
1x Cruel Bargain
1x Doomsday
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Massacre
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Time Spiral
1x Tropical Island
3x Xantid Swarm
Doomsday was a very hard deck to pilot. I was expecting it to be fairly easy after having mastered the piles that were needed. I found Doomsday to require strong maligning decisions, strong Brainstorming and Pondering (which I had no practice in before Doomsday and my practice with the deck), and fairly draw dependent. What I listed above is a three card combo. Doomsday requires an LED, a Sensei's Diving Top, and a Doomsday to go off. What is good about this deck is that it is very good at the long game. I unfortunately played four games against faster decks then dropped after a no-show in round five. I learned several things about playing combo and combo match-ups. Belcher is comicly good against other combo decks because it wins before any interaction between decks, so even Storm's measly pile of discard spells can't effectively disrupt it. I also learned a lot from facing a very cocky show and tell opponent.
He was talking about his deck decision as soon a the match started. He was bragging about how he had hands down the best deck in the field (he had lost round one) and how he was definitely going to top 8. Now we've all faced these opponents, but this one really resonated with me because of how he side-boarded. He saw me cast Doomsday in game one, but did not understand what my deck was, so boarded for ANT. Kennen Haas articulates the powers of being a rouge deck very well in his article that he wrote for SCG back in January: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27680_Leaving-A-Legacy-Jund-Depths.html. I found that being an unknown slightly weaker than tier 1 deck can be more powerful than a tier 1 very well known deck because with the latter option people know what you are and have figured out how to deal with you.
Next time I explore the perks of fast and slow combos in my process of deck decision before the GP.
Regards
-SC
Follow me on Twitter @NextLevelChapin.