10/16/10 Top Finishers: Legacy Constructed
1. Show and Tell by Michael Smith
2. Merfolk by Dominic Casali
3. Rebels by Skye Kutner
4. Imperial Painter by Joe Hammond
This event was a great learning experience for me, and I'll be the first person to say that I was pretty fortunate to finish where I did, because there were a lot of great decks being played. Having access to 17 years' worth of cards allows for the creation of some pretty ridiculous decks. For those of you who missed the event, this isn't a perfect generalization, but most Legacy decks fall into one of two categories - they either do something really unfair, or they prevent the opponent from doing something really unfair (and often do something really unfair afterwards).
Some clear contenders emerged very early. First was Joe's mono-red Imperial Painter mill combo, which I already knew about from losing a bunch of test games against it the night before, but everyone else found out about it when Joe reported his 2-0 match win while Nick and I were still resolving game 1 mulligans. After the second round, two blue/white decks were also undefeated - Skye's Rebel deck (yes everyone, Skye had some Plains in his deck) and PalaDan's unblockable/bounce shenanigans. Skye took the battle of those two decks, and Joe also rolled into the top 8 at 3-0.
They also moved into the semifinals, as Joe narrowly beat out Brent's bant-colored New Horizons deck and Skye's well-timed Ethersworn Canonist rode him past Nick's Spanish Inquisition storm combo deck. Joining them were Michael, whose red/blue Show and Tell deck, which uses Sneak Attack and Show and Tell to easily put an Emrakul or Progenitus onto the battlefield, beat Dane's mono-blue control, and my mono-blue Merfolk deck islandwalked past PalaDan.
In the semifinals, Michael took down Joe in the combo mirror before me and Skye could finish game 1. After a mulligan to 5, Skye took down game 1, but I came back to take the next two. As he conceded game 3, Skye pensively analyzed his day, and gave me the awesome quote of "my playing skill managed to get me decently far, but in the end having white cards in my deck was too much of a hindrance to go all the way."
The finals was really exciting, and I wish I could've featured it, but obviously I had to play. In the first game, I got Michael down to 10 with a Cursecatcher and Lord of Atlantis, but then he cast Show and Tell. I played Spell Pierce, but he Spell Pierced my Spell Pierce, which I couldn't pay for, so I Dazed his Spell Pierce. Unfortunately for me, he Dazed my Daze, which I Dazed, but then he Dazed my Daze that I had used to Daze his Daze, so his Show and Tell resolved and I had to scoop to Emrakul. And who said counter wars weren't fun? I took game 2 by Islandwalking past Emrakul for the last few points of damage after a much faster start. I was crippled in game 3 by two mulligans, but I made a game out of it, putting him to 8 while countering a Show and Tell. Unfortunately for me, he had an Intuition to find another Show and Tell, and with only a Hydroblast in my hand (which would've stopped the Sneak Attack in his hand) and no ability to Islandwalk, Emrakul finally got me. It was a really fun match, and I think everyone who stuck around to watch the end agreed it was worth the time.
You can see Michael's Show and Tell deck list here:
Creatures (12)
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Progenitus
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Other Spells (28)
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Intuition
3 Lotus Petal
4 Show and Tell
4 Sneak Attack
2 Spell Pierce
Lands (20)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
Sideboard (15)
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Spell Pierce
2 Firespout
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Tormod’s Crypt
This event caused a surprisingly light shake-up in the standings, as many of the people in similar positions scored similar point totals, but here's the updated list so you can locate where you stand with only a month to go until the invitational:
Standings through 12 events (number of events attended in parentheses):
1. 40 - Michael Smith (10)
2. 34 - Skye Kutner (8)
3. 27 - Joe Hammond (8)
4. 26 - Emile Paul (10)
5. 25 - Haren Lalchand (10)
6. 24 - John Kreinbring (11)
7. 22 - Hunter Garrett (7)
8. 21 - Bryant Benson (8)
9. 21 - Dan Hooghkirk (6)
10. 16 - Brent Kollinger (7)
11. 16 - Scott Record (4)
12. 14 - Nick Catalfano (6)
12. 14 - Michelle Karl (6)
14. 14 - Helen Croce (3)
15. 11 - Liz DiGangi (6)
16. 11 - Alycia Johnson (4)
17. 9 - Kevin Crowley (4)
18. 9 - Jordan Arnold (1)
18. 9 - Tyler DeForge (1)
20. 8 - Stephen Kwok Choon (7)
21. 8 - Ben Monge (4)
21. 8 - Will Sturges (4)
23. 7 - Glen Parker (6)
24. 7 - Greg Lovell (3)
25. 6 - Dan Hoekstra (2)
26. 5 - Matt Wills (4)
27. 5 - Andrew Capik (3)
28. 5 - Mike Mooty (2)
29. 4 - Michael Carney (3)
29. 4 - Ethan Pepmiller (3)
31. 4 - Anna Hallahan (2)
31. 4 - Dane Newton (2)
33. 3 - Kareem Elashmawy (3)
33. 3 - Krystal Lutz (3)
33. 3 - Nikita Nikolayev (3)
36. 2 - Shawn Brabant (2)
36. 2 - David Chesnutt (2)
36. 2 - Jennifer Mori (2)
36. 2 - Steven Nelson (2)
36. 2 - Noah Senzel (2)
41. 2 - John Chandler (1)
41. 2 - Kevin Hoover (1)
41. 2 - Aaron Macy (1)
44. 1 - Michael Cambata (1)
44. 1 - Thomas Fitch (1)
44. 1 - Brian Lam (1)
44. 1 - Mike Sedivy (1)
44. 1 - Hannah Sharp (1)
44. 1 - Trish Vincent (1)
Thanks to everyone who attended. Next weekend will be another $12 Scars of Mirrodin draft, with the exact date and time to be determined. Please check back in the next few days for some scheduling updates and details on the planeswalker event (which may be moved back a week). I'll let you all know as soon as I get everything figured out. Have a great week!
- Dom
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