Road to Kyoto '15 - 2/3/15

7 weeks to the GP.
If I need to get cards, I would need to get them around now to be safe.
Last night I played Storm to an 0-2 drop. Very rusty with the head, deck and had quite a bunch of awful Ad Nauseum flips. I definitely wouldn't be playing this at the GP since I would definitely flip badly at some point to give up a few games.

I rested over the weekend as my hand was down and mousing would have been difficult.
I managed to settle my flight tickets in the meantime, flying in on Thursday and out on the Monday right after the GP.

There is also a local GPT early April which is in Legacy and nets a 2 round bye.
I think I might have to follow the new set closely and see what is good from there.

Being this undecided at this point is worrying actually. I shall read up more and do more research to see what can hold my interest and hopefully work from there up.


Update: Found a very enticing list not too far from my style of playing that went 3-1 in a DE.

2 Jace, TMS
1 Keranos
2 Snapcaster Mage

2 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge

4 Brainstorm
2 Counterflux
2 Counterspell
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Dig Through Time
3 Force of Will
3 Punishing Fire
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Spell Pierce
2 Terminate

3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Vedalken Shackles
3 Counterbalance

2 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea

SB
1 Force of Will
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Duress
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Envelop
1 Flusterstorm
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Massacre
1 Nether Void
1 Night of Soul's Betrayal
1 Perish
1 Pyroclasm

Road to Kyoto '15 - 26/2/15

Played in a Legacy DE yesterday with an updated version of the old 4c control deck.
Went 2-2 with it, winning elves, Grixis pyromancer, losing to shardless bug and burn.

The replay (while it's still up): http://www.twitch.tv/tarmotog/b/629938090

Still pondering if I should just work on refining the deck or playing something like storm.
The problem with storm is that it is very hard to beat a very prepared player and it has some natural busts when going off.
The problem with my control deck is that it plays long (higher risks of draws/losses) and that it usually goes 2-1 if it wins and that might affect the standings in a large tournament from what I understand.
I have a very limited card pool in real life so I think that it would restrict heavily what I can play.

It doesn't help that my right hand is now badly injured. =/
Would have to account for slower mouse movements online with my left hand.

In any case I need to step up and win more or I'll end up losing too much funds during testing.

Road to Kyoto '15 - 25/2/15

24 Feb
Tested Splinter Twin in Legacy. Found that there was too many efficient spells to fight against in the format to want to win on a 2 card combo that cannot go off on the turn it resolves. Might as well play Show and Tell or something if I am interested in going in that direction.
The next thing I want to test out would be Jeskai Ascendancy or Miracles.

25 Feb
Went down to the local cardshop since it was MTGO downtime and I wanted to ask around to see who would be going to GP Kyoto as well. Unfortunately, the local response wasn't too good. I guess it'll be a solo-trip.

I gathered some cards in the morning and made a deck on the spot. Went 2-2 with a makeshift BUG control deck that looks similar to my control decks but lacking quite a few cards because not everything was in the box I brought out.
I lost to URW Stoneforge and dredge, winning mono U Show and tell and Sneak & Show.
Surprisingly, my "old deck" seemed more relevant that I gave it credit for.
Perhaps I can try an update on the deck and add in new cards and see how this goes.
I am worried about Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor since my main go-to card would be Toxic Deluge. Monastery Mentor I have greater fears for primarily because I have not seen it yet and I am afraid that adjusting to it might be a challenge if I do it suddenly.

Road to Kyoto '15 - 23/2/15

Last night, I took the prototype deck into a Daily Event.

I ended up 0-2, the first round losing to timeout and the second losing to a misclick when I was Pondering.
I'm not too sure how slow I am playing but my clock runs out really fast.

My takeaways:

My Wastelands are a good call vs Karakas which plays a huge role in the control matchup.
Unexpectedly Absent was not too great a call but it does have some potential to change the flow of the game. Unfortunately, the deck doesn't draw cards so it is difficult to pull away.
I need some source of inevitability.
I need a reliable way to get past Counterbalance.

I am considering running something that needs less time to play as I can't be timing out online nor irl.
I think I will try Jeskai Ascension or something tonight.

Road to Kyoto '15 - 22/2/15

I tweaked into a more white-based shell and ended up with a more stable deck.
I think I would not need the third Underground Sea with that version but having 2 WW spells worry me. Currently I have Unexpectedly Absent and Council of the Judgment in the maindeck over the 2x Abrupt Decays. I'm very undecided if I should have so many cantrips because I become very weak to Counterbalance and Chalice of the Void at 1.
With WW I would have to start setting up WWW on the board when I develop it and that means I would have to get more Tundras (I have no idea how) and I would be weaker to Blood Moon. =/

While researching, I found a Modern Esper list which looks similar to what I am trying to do.
The idea of Lingering Souls from Thought Scour sounds very neat,

2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
4 Creeping Tar Pits
1 Vault of the Archangel

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Path to Exile
4 Thought Scour
4 Inquisition of Kosilek
2 Spell Snare
2 Thoughtseize
1 Disfigure
2 Remand
4 Lingering Souls
2 Murderous Cut
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

I'm still hoping to play some kind of quick kill as I liked how inevitable Dark Depths and the copy land was. The deck runs out of cards fast with Force of Will doing a -2 and most cards trade for parity. Feels like a countertop deck (which I could consider going into since Sensei's Divining Top sounds wicked with Monastery Mentor). Still finding it to figure out which direction to go since everything with Monastery Mentor sounds as good as each other.

Just booked accommodation. I booked a 4 guys hostel room near one of the train stations coming up from Kyoto. (Gojyo) After I get the flights arranged I should be good for the time being.

Road to Kyoto '15 - 21/2/15

On the first day of testing, I came up with a mockup brew, following what I had said I had set out to do. The mana is a little odd as I ended up a little short of white mana when I had brought in the post sb Council's Judgments. I think I should just leave a green mana (or remove it completely), take out Abrupt Decays and put something like Vindicate or maybe just go for Council's Judgment.

There should be something I can use but I just haven't thought of it.

Maybe I should find some Esper lists for reference.

Anyway, Monastery Mentor was wicked sick. In one game, I cast turn 1 Deathrite Shaman, turn 2 Monastery Mentor + Gitaxian Probe, then on the following turn I managed to chain a few 1 mana spells (with the opponent countering one) and had a 5/5 and a 4/4 ready to bash. That would end the game pretty fast there if I can do it consistently.

Tasigur was awesome as a 4/5 since it readily blocked Batterskull tokens.

I put in Karakas (for Tasigur) after that and that opens up a little more legend tech like Vendilion Cliques and Geist of Saint Traft against some decks that can't do much against it.

I shall test a more white based build and see how it goes.

I think I can also try out a Jeskai Ascendancy combo build and see how it plays out since it runs on a very similar engine.

Oddly, the list I found looks like this:

4 Fatestitcher

4 Brainstorm
2 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
2 Gut Shot
1 Pact of Negation
2 Spell Pierce
4 Thought Scour

4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Wind Zendikon

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Treasure Cruise

1 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal

4 Flooded Strand
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Snow-covered Island
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island

Obviously this is from the previous season but I find it interesting that
Wind Zendikon is used over Faerie Conclave.
Perhaps Wind Zendikon + fetchland = 1 more island?
The only thing that isn't here now is the 4x Treasure Cruise
but it might not have to win on the spot.
Hmm...

Road to Kyoto '15 - 20/2/15

Today is the first official day I'm starting with preparations towards GP Kyoto.

I haven't played Legacy for a few months ever since the dreadful Treasure Cruise which game people access to 4x Ancestral Recall. I did not want to play in a format that simply encouraged me to make plays that were the total opposite of what I had practiced over the years.
To say that that era was very uncomfortable would be a great understatement.
I couldn't beat it and I did not particularly want to join it so I stepped away.

Now, I'm on my way back into the format, figuring out what I want to use.
Currently, I am thinking about playing the following cards:

Deathrite Shaman
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Monastery Mentor

A quick search on mtgonline's decks, shows some decks I want to use as references:

URW Young Pyromancer:

1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 True-Name Nemesis
4 Young Pyromancer

4 Brainstorm
2 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island

Grixis Ver

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Innocent Blood
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
4 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Thought Scour

1 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Young Pyromancer

2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island


And finally, a Shardless BUG deck:

2 Jace, the mind sculptor
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Shardless Agent
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Ancestral Visions
2 Hymn to Tourach
3 Throughseize

3 Bayou
1 Marsh Flats
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs

I want to take the Thoughtscour deck, replace bolts with swords, replace Young Pyromancer with some Monastery Mentor (maybe not 4), have a Cavern of Souls to cast uncounterable humans, add some Deathrite Shamans. I suspect that if I use the Young Pyromancer shell with Monastery Mentors instead, the showdown against Young Pyromancer should be easy with a simple trigger allowing each token to trump the elemental tokens. Perhaps I shouldn't be too greedy with Tasigur but I should just keep these at the back of my head while I think of how to execute the deck properly.
If I go the white route, I'd have to get some Tundras. (2 copies I guess... given my budget constraint)