Fine tuning za Overlord

I'm into my final tuning of the overlord deck.
It turned out quite fine actually with the limit break enabler doing sick things like turn 3 DOtR.
I upped the number of draw triggers after understanding the nature of the deck better, settling for a split of 6 crit 6 draw and not going into 4 crit 8 draws as the opponent inevitably has to take some damage from the front and not having crits to close the game can be very detrimental.
I am now settling my G3 spots with 2 DO (breakride), 3 DOtR, 3 DOtG.
The additional base the breakride gives DOtR does help quite abit as the draw trigger can be used to up its power to 26k. It also helps to save guarding power since it is less common for 18k RG columns nowadays,

I'm down to adjusting the last G1 and G2 spot, still undecided on which direction I should be headed for. I'm debating between Gojo and the limit break enabler for the g1 spot and perhaps the cb2 draw 1 on hit guy for the g2 slot. It's much better at building the game early on and I don't really use counterblast early.

I will be thinking about what more I can do while getting more open with the less common clans on the DS with the pre-bt16 pool.

Dragonic Overlord?

I decided to wind down my Legacy testing for awhile so that I can prepare for 4th Oct's Vanguard tournament.

I'm quite bummed that I would not be able to use the recently spoiled Shin-kyukyokujigenrobo great daikaizer which is legions with Great Daiyusha and has the Daikaizer's breakride skill as a legion skill. The earliest possible date to get it is like a week after the event. =/

I have yet to make a move on the movie EB cards (as I ran out of $) so I don't really have anything new and they recently killed the Sing-saver/phantom blaster dragon abyss deck that I had and I don't really have an image of what I should do next with those.

With the movie EB having a new Dragonic Overlord, I thought of a deck to use:

G0
1 Lizard Soldier, Fargo
4 Heal
7 Critical
2 Gattling Claw Dragon
3 Seal Dragon, Artpique

G1
2 Eternal Bringer Griffin
3 Perfect Guard
1 Quintet Wall
3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
1 Seal Dragon, Kersey
2 Seal Dragon Spirit, Malkibel
2 Calamity Tower Wyvern

G2
4 Dragonic Burnout
3 Bellicosity Dragon
3 Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame
1 Dragon Dancer, Arabella

G3
4 Perdition Imperial Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great e-birth"
2 Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth"
2 Dragonic Overlord (breakride)

For this deck, the main idea is to make use of Dragonic Burnout by having DO in the drop zone via discard/soulblast. DOTR is there to hopefully be able to withstand the link joker lock decks (since it itself operates under a lock 5 environment. While DO does not stack with DOTG, it should not be too much of a problem. It's more of a multiple drive check deck than anything. It is quite straight forward and does not have anything that is able to outrightly take the game.

The only issue is whether or not this deck will be outclassed by a dedicated perdition dragons build with that trinity flames skill. I will try it out tonight before I come to a conclusion as to whether or not to complete the deck or just move on to something more worthwhile.

Online Woes

I'm not sure why but I'm on a straight loss record for the Doomsday deck online.
Sure the hands have been rather bad but it's a little too bad for a bad record.

Last night I lost to UW counterbalance,
Game 1, I lost after getting my Doomsday countered post Rain of Filth as I Force of Willed the counterbalance.
I won 2 on Laboratory Maniac.
Game 3 I lost after my opponent had Jace in play and had a flusterstorm for my Unearth.

Round 2, I faced Painter
Game 1, I mulled to 5, keeping double Gitaxian Probe and tried to find lands. I ended up looking like I was playing Belcher.
Game 2, he had Grindstone out so I did not really want to Doomsday. I died to a bunch of creatures but was ultimately stopped by a Phyrexian Revoker naming Lion's Eye Diamond.

For a start, I am considering making an uncounterable pile with Cavern of Souls and using Chromatic Sphere to pick up the last draw which would win the game.
This whole "can't do well online" thing is worrying as I don't really know what to make out of it. Might be that I'm terrible at the deck, the deck is terrible or my luck is terrible. I suspect it might be the technicalities and the strategies that I am not too adept at but I hope that that is the case.

Doomsday 2-1-1 (a turn away from 3-1) 18/9/14

I bought a Rain of Filth and replaced my Cabal Ritual.
I was researching the deck in the day so I have a better clue as to what to do with my sideboard.
I might put Infernal Contract so that I can Burning Wish, LED, Infernal.
I am also curious as to how Time Spiral works from the SB. Apparently it helps vs massive discarding.

Round 1 vs Lands (from the previous day)
Game 1, I got locked out by Chalice at 1 and 0, and thought that I could Cabal Ritual and Doomsday it back but I forgot that Doomsday gets rid of threshold. =/
I had a Misdirection maindeck as 2 FOW 1 Misdirection split but that ultimately backfired when I could not Force of Will the Chalice. A good reason to at least go 3 FOW, 1 Misd/FOW in the side.

Game 2, I played through a Sphere of Resistance to double Dark Ritual into Doomsday and go for the maniac kill which would need 4 mana. My land was tapped by Rishadan Port but I had Thought Scour in hand to push the combo through the upkeep. I won on the following turn.

Game 3, time was called before we started. I cast a turn 1 Doomsday. I assembled the Lab maniac but he tapped down my Island which would have drawn Thoughtscour for the win. We ended up with a draw after he declined to concede. The "would you like to concede" shit doesn't work.

0-0-1

Round 2 vs D&T
I didn't have a good feeling vs this matchup since it runs Karakas, has Thalia and has Swords to Plowshares, essentially having outs vs all my kills unless Ito run a Chromatic Sphere for the Lab Maniac kill which should, in my understanding, bypass removals since the mana ability comes with a split-second-type draw.

Game 1, I tried to buy time with a Burning Wish for Massacre but my opp dropped 3/3s and I eventually died to those.

Game 2, my opponent had Thalia out with a Karakas so I banked on the Maniac kill but it was hit by Swords to plowshares. It was difficult to slow play it as my opponent had double Rishadan port.

0-1-1

Round 3 vs Sneak and Show
Game 1, I had Force of Will backup and I went for the Lab Maniac kill since I had 2 draws, 3 mana.

Game 2, I cast Flusterstorm turn 1 vs a turn 2 Show and Tell. I Force of Willed a Sneak Attack but I could not get gas. A Sneak Attack eventually resolved and I scooped. I had an Emrakul mid-game, hoping that he would draw another Show and Tell but I couldn't get that lucky break.

Game 3, I Duressed away a Force of Will and he had a poor hand of double Lotus Petal post mulligan. I eventually just went for a Lab Maniac kill but passed the turn as I did not have the extra draw, opening myself to a Pyroblast which would decide the game. It was his card for the turn after so I got through.

1-1-1

Round 4 vs RUG
Game 1, my opp's hand developed into a very UR burn type of hand and I managed to sit around and build up, midway getting a Cabal Therapy to knock out 2x Stifles. Eventually, I stormed with 4 life left facing a Lightning Bolt.

Game 2, my Sensei's top got hit by Spell Pierce, my land was stifled, my opponent played goyf and tapped out twice. On my third land drop, I cast Duress, holding it for a turn to take away Force of will, facing Stifle, Daze, Bolt but my opponent was tapped out.
I had exactly enough mana to go off on my setup. I had double LED, Rain of Filth, U, Doomsday, Brainstorm.
I could do the Tendrils kill but my sequence until Brainstorm could not afford to get hit by Daze.
I went for it anyway. Since there is only two windows to use Daze.
I cast Doomsday, floating U. Cast LED, LED (so I was clear by here). I cast Brainstorm and sac-ed both LEDs and went for the storm kill and he saw the mistake there.

2-1-1

Got a KTK Windsweapt Heath (in the future) for my finish.

4-0 Doomsday 17/9/14

Last night I played the below 61 cards to a 4-0 finish.

3 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Doomsday
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4  Brainstorm
1 Ideas Unbound
3 Burning Wish
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Pact of Negation
1 Laboratory Maniac
2 Ponder
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Divert
1 Mental Note
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Spell Pierce
1 Unearth
1 Duress
1 Lotus Petal
1 Cloud of Faeries

2 Misty Rainforest
1 Island
2 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Underground Sea
1 Scalding Tarns
1 Shelldock Isle
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island

1 Force of Will
1 Void Snare
1 Doomsday
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
2 Xantid Swarm
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Massacre
1 Ponder

Bought a LED for $100 (so $75 minus $25 leftover store credit).
Thankfully I went 4-0 to get back $80 worth of store credit (or 2x Arid Mesa but I don't think I want that now) so I'm technically good, only that my funds are stuck as store credit.

Round 1 vs Reanimator
Game 1 was slow on his side. I could not make out what I was against until I cast Duress. Fortunately, I was clear to initiate the kill.
Game 2, my opponent reanimated Iona naming blue. I had a Cloud of Faeries in play so I set up Shelldock Isle + Emrakul and an Unearth to try to untap the Isle. Unfortunately, it got countered by a Force of Will and I was at 7 life.
Game 3, we traded Duress/Thoughtseize and I managed to top into a Thoughtseize for his post Entomb turn which nabbed Reanimate. The game dragged a little to where I got to cast Pact of Negation and pay for it. I cast Doomsday for the Emrakul kill since it sidesteps whatever reanimation targets and would win by itself.

Round 2 vs Burn
Game 1, I did a storm kill after setting up abit.
Game 2, I was not in a situation to Doomsday into a probable kill.
Game 3, I Doomsday-ed down from 6 to 3 and he immediately tried to cast Lightning Bolt even before I picked up my deck when he asked for my life. So I explained that if he wanted me to be at 3, I would have to stack my deck first. Got a little messy but since he was so eager to Bolt me, I put a Pact of Negation on top of the deck (which I probably wouldn't have thought of). I had double LED and a Gitaxian Probe so I guided him saying that I would have priority first. I cast LED and asked if he would like to Lightning Bolt me, which he did and I flipped Top into Pact of Negation, then casually went off to probe into top, discard my hand to double LED (which would have had the pact), cast top, draw Ideas Unbound and storm killed. (If he was not so eager, I would have lost)

Round 3 vs Jund
Game 1, it went slow and I could not assemble my cards on time and the creatures ended the game.
Game 2, I stormed up a 11 point Tendrils of Agony for his 21 life and managed to cast Pact of Negation on his Punishing Fire after I went down to 2, again capitalizing on the fact that I would have loss if he waited a little - for me to discard my hand. We both knew he had Punishing Fire since he returned it to hand a turn earlier.
Game 3, he mulliganed down to 1 in an attempt to get Leyline of Sanctity out.
I easy won that.

Round 4 vs Lands
Game 1, he tried to go for an early Marit Lage but I was a turn ahead and I stormed up 20 points.
Game 2, he had Chalice of the Void on zero and was attacking my lands with Ghost Quarter/Wasteland. I declined searching for a third basic land after he quartered my Swamp that was
quartered from an Island. I had double fetches in play and he tried to quarter my fetchland to force me to get a nonbasic. I cracked and saw a second Swamp (my land base online is different from my real life deck) so I was pleasantly surpirsed to see it and that foiled his plan for the turn.
I managed to Brainstorm into Doomsday to set up the Lab Maniac kill.
I had a fetchland in hand and Unearth in hand with Force of Will backup so my pile (going to pass the turn) was Mental Note - Lab Maniac - Gitaxian Probe - Gitaxian Probe -Underground Sea.
He quartered my swamp and wastelanded my Underground sea, leaving me with a Tropical Island in play.
I drew Mental Note, played my fetchland, cast Mental note, binnned Lab Maniac and card 3, drew probe, fetched Underground Sea, cast Unearth, cast Gitaxian Probe to end the game.

Changes:
I am going to change a Cabal Ritual for Rain of Filth tonight. A fifth Dark Ritual would be better than the second Cabal Ritual for sure. I know I have one but I couldn't dig it out yesterday so I'll just buy one later.

Of my sideboard, I am skeptical of Void Snare (bounce) but I'll try it for awhile.
I am trying a Flusterstorm in place of a Toxic Deluge for now.

Doomsday Log

Been testing out Doomsday and it has not been easy.
Doomsday is hard to play because there are so many possible variations of what is going on and any misstep ends the game right there and then.

In terms of deckbuilding, I'm not sure if my current call of running 3 very different win routes is correct. As much as the cards currently do not outright clash with each other (apart from Emrakul) since they components can be cycled (the reanimation spell and the faerie), there is a time factor that goes into using 2 mana to cycle.
There are more linear decks that focus on the exact kill route but those have the problem of having to be able to bash through the specific hate for them.
The main contention between the various kill conditions is actually LED which forces you to drop any counter protection.
I also have not figured out the right protection to use between discard and counters, not to mention that I have lesser of each now as well since I have more slots dedicated to going off.

I'm also not firm on how I aggressive I want to be with the cantrips because I cannot ascertain how fast I need to go off when I go off. Playing in a "when I can play" way makes each individual cantrip much less powerful since I usually get back 2 of the 3 cards that I see instead of 1 of the 3.

Do I go for upkeep top activation?
Do I keep a petal as the only mana producer?
Do I turn 1 Ponder?
Do I turn 1 Brainstorm?
Do I turn 1 Ponder or Brainstorm?

The sequencing of lands is also very questionable now since these decisions can clog up potential plays later on and make the player trip over.

Do I search for basic Island? Underground Sea? Volcanic Island?

So this whole bulk of "setup for doomsday" sequencing and playing needs to be firmed up which I would need time to build up and familiarize. I currently also need a greater understanding of which kill I should go for out of the 3 and how to integrate the sideboard into the deck post sb.
What to include in the sb is also another problem itself since I do not have a full understanding of the deck and its various matchups yet.

There are some additional points I need to take note as well:
-Being at 1 life pre-Doomsday is the same as being at 0.
-Emrakul on the same turn needs 1 more card in hand to go Isle+Faerie
-Sensei's Top + turn 1 kill setup requires 1 more mana since the first LED gives U already.
-On MTGO there is a need to keep looking at the library count to visualize what's left in the deck and I need to get the best plan before I click on the first card for Doomsday since I do not get to reselect.

As of now, I should be just about 20% tapping into the full potential of the deck.
It does not help that I usually test at night when I'm all worn out from work.
This is a very human factor when it comes to this deck as I would need to build up the mental capacity to go through more than 10 rounds of it in a day and in a fatigued state as well. I could do that for most control decks right now since I'm adept at the mid-late game but I can't say the same for the early game requirements that this deck has, especially when it is this unforgiving. I suppose I will have to take in the stress of playing in a tournament setting and just keep throwing it at myself to build up some resistance towards it,
It was quite difficult yesterday as I had trouble getting to sleep on the previous night and I was honestly very tired throughout the day even before starting round 1 at 10pm.
Hopefully I can make a judgment by the end of the year so that I can prepare more definitively for GP Kyoto in April.

Legacy Doomsday 3-1

Last night, I put together a Doomsday deck after getting 3 Doomsday (had 1 sad white bordered one), 1 Meditate and 1 Ill-Gotten Gains. I have the core of a storm deck irl less 2x Lion's Eye Diamond so together with my existing cards, I could more or less assemble a playable deck of some sort (with a bad mana base since I do not own 2x Volcanic Island or any Badlands/Bayou).

The deck is a mesh of the known kill conditions that it commonly runs, having the storm kill, the Emrakul kill and the Lab Maniac kill available post Doomsday.
The white bordered Doomsday looked ugly so I decided to play 2x Burning Wish and put it into the SB. (HAHAHA)

I faced RUG round 1, losing game 1 to not being able to figure out how to win from BB and top.
I won game 2 after going for the Lab maniac kill with protection.
Game 3, my setup was attacked with Spell pierce, Stifle on fetchland, Wasteland etc.

Round 2, I faced Shardless (bant).
Game 1, I cast Doomsday, set up Sheldock Isle + Emrakul and Lab Maniac + double Gitaxian Probe.
He dropped a Karakas to bounce the Emrakul, I cast Lab Maniac, and double probed for the win.
Game 2, he had a mediocre hand but I had to Force of Will a Meddling Mage. I saw that he had creature removals so I opted for the storm kill.

Round 3, I faced the Veteran Explorer deck.
I let him Cabal Therapy me to get the 2 basic lands. Eventually, I stormed for the win.
Game 2, I went for a turn 2 Doomsday after I Diverted a Cabal Therapy to see a clear hand. I did the Lab Maniac kill.

Round 4, I faced D&T. I went for a turn 1 Doomsday and opted to go for the Lab Maniac kill. I was vulnerable to Swords to Plowshares the whole time. He dropped Thalia so I could no longer do the 2 mana kill and had to hardcast Lab Maniac. I safely untapped and Mental Noted for the win.
Game 2, I played slowly, casting Toxic Deluge to clear the threats. I eventually used the storm engine to win at storm 10. Would have been lacking one if he had left W up for Swords to Plowshares.

I liked how the deck just won out of nowhere. I'm looking forward to preparing and testing it online.

I won a True-Name Nemesis for my finish.

Boom//Bust on doubles

The weekend has been rather eventful for me.

I went 4-2 in the MOCS qualifiers, losing the last round to a URW delver deck that went double Wasteland, double True-Name Nemesis and double Lightning Bolt (after I Toxic Deluged for 1 going down to 6). At least I got a Show and Tell for my trouble.

As for the big real life Legacy tournament, I went 0-3 drop, possibly the worst results I have had thus far.

Round 1 vs the Gravecrawler deck.

I lost game 1 when I eventually ran out of cards against Cabal Therapy and tokens.

Game 2, we got into a long game and I stabilized with Jace in play and the Punishing Fire combo.

In game 3, his turn 1 Faithless Looting threw in 2x Bloodghast. I played a turn 1 Deathrite Shaman and he dropped Pithing Needle naming it and cast a Gravecrawler. To make things worse, he dropped 2x Blood Artist and made it impossible for me to come back.

Round 2 vs Painter
Game 1, I get hit by a Blood Moon with an Island and Swamp in play but not much I can actually do. An Ensnaring Bridge on the other side stops me from attacking with Snapcaster Mage and he assembles the Painter combo eventually.

Game 2, I misplay and opt to Force of Will instead of putting down an Engineered Explosives for 2. The painter combo comes down with Pyroblast backup and I lose.

Round 3 vs Shardless BUG

Game 1, I run out of business cards after Jace gets Force of Willed.
Game 2, we get into a long attrition game and I manage to cast Intuition for the Marit Lage kill to close it.
Game 3, I misplay Snapcaster by playing it a little too early to get Brainstorm instead of getting Intuition later on despite having thought of that route, Eventually, the game drags out and Shardless Agent into Ancestral Vision, Shardless Agent into Tarmogoyf puts enough pressure on the game with nothing significant on my side other than a True Name Nemesis, ending with a Disfigure on my Creeping Tar Pit ready to block a goyf.

So now, this chapter of Legacy has closed for me. I am looking to work towards 2015's GP Kyoto (Legacy). I will probably test some other strategies over the next few months.