Hello Internet,

I’m back again with another tournament report for you all, this time detailing my Top 4 finish in the Sunday Legacy PTQ at Grand Prix Seattle. My weapon of choice this time: Elves. I’ll start my report by repeating something I’ve heard from many other Elves players, I’m not convinced that Elves is very well positioned in the current Legacy meta. With the banning of Sensei’s Divining Top I had many people tell me that Elves should be in a better position, but the unfortunate reality is that while Miracles as we knew it no longer exists in the Legacy metagame, the banning of Top allowed an increase in combo decks such as Black-Red Reanimator that are terrible matchups for Elves. On top of that Miracles is still a deck, and much to my dismay, people are still registering Terminus in their decks. Leovold, Emissary of Trest has also become a significant player in Legacy and is a rather large hinderance to elves since it shuts down card draw from both Glimpse of Nature and Elvish Visionary. Leovold being a 3/3 also makes the beatdown plan fairly difficult as well. This means that the best strategy against the Elf Advisor is jamming Natural Order, which is not always a reliable plan against an opponent playing Blue. The deck’s weaknesses were well illustrated by my 3-5 finish in Day 1 of the Grand Prix main event after being paired against multiple combo decks. That said, I think the deck is a ton of fun and really rewards tight play. I ran the same 76 in both the GP and the PTQ, and without further ado here’s the list:

Elves

Probably the strangest thing about my list is that there are 61 cards in the main. I saw Julian Knab win an online legacy challenge with Elves about a year ago playing a 61 card main deck so I figured it was worth trying out. After testing this configuration I feel that the upside of having a Scavenging Ooze available in the main deck outweighs the disadvantages of having a 61 card deck. There are also no copies of Nissa, Vital Force in my 76 despite my affection for the card. I decided to run the main deck Ooze instead and to play 2 copies of Choke in the sideboard for the Delver decks where Nissa would also have shined.

Round 1: (Miracles 2-0)

Game 1: My opponent’s first two lands are basic Island into basic Plains. Which can only mean one deck: Miracles. His Counterbalance matches up poorly against my Cavern of Souls and I’m able to assemble the Wirewood Symbiote plus Elvish Visionary combo while beating in for some damage. All the while drawing multiple cards a turn to keep my hand full. He eventually clears the board with a Terminus but I still have enough gas in my hand to rebuild and continue to beat down. He tries to stabilize with a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar but it leaves him defenseless against my Craterhoof.

Game 2: He plays a Counterbalance which I immediately Abrupt Decay. I try to Surgical his Counterbalances so I can more reliably draw cards off my Visionary / Wirewood combo but he counterspells the Surgical. Apparently this was because he had another Counterbalance in his hand. Next turn he deploys his annoying enchantment and passes back with two cards in hand. Here my line was to cast a Reclamation Sage to bait a counterspell, and then follow up with Green Sun’s Zenith for Ruric Thar which would only allow him to cast one more spell since he was at 10 life. To both of our surprise his Counterbalance trigger revealed an Entreat the Angels on the top of his deck, countering my Sage. This doesn’t change my plan much however, I figure that if I Green Sun for six and he has a Force of Will, then he will draw and cast Entreat on his next turn, leaving me free to hardcast the Craterhoof Behemoth that I had already drawn. To my surprise again, the Green Sun’s Zenith resolves and I have a Ruric Thar in play. He decides to take 6 damage to make a ton of angels, and subsequently dies to double Deathrite activation.

(1-0)

Round 2: (Mono Red Prison 2-1)

Game 1: My opponent mulligans to five and is on the draw. I open with basic Forest, Deathrite. He spends five cards to play a turn one Blood Moon and I just play a Wirewood Symbiote and beat for 1 on my second turn. He plays a Trinisphere on his turn three so I follow up with Green Sun for two to get a Heritage Druid. This was probably a mistake since it required me to draw a third elf before I would be able to make more than one green, whereas either a Birchlore Rangers or Quirion Ranger would have allowed me to do so without any other help. He starts to play creatures to block my 1/1s but I’m able to draw another elf in time to Natural Order for a Craterhoof and kill him.

Game 2: I keep a pretty good one lander and he plays turn one Trinisphere. My next land is eight draws away.

Game 3: He has no turn one play but when he imprints a Fiery Confluence onto his Chrome Mox I think that I’m dead for sure. He plays a second Chrome Mox on turn two into Trinisphere and on turn four he finds another Fiery Confluence to sweep my board(shocking I know). The next turn he plays a Chandra, Torch of Defiance into chalice for one. This is followed by an Ensnaring Bridge which makes me pause to think about what I need to kill with my Reclamation Sage in order to be able to win the game. I decide to hit the Bridge since I probably won’t have time to find a Wirewood to kill the Bridge later once he gets to untap and make a Chandra emblem. Luckily he doesn’t have two spells so he elects to kill a creature instead of putting me to 6. I finally find a Natural Order and kill him with Craterhoof.

(2-0)

Round 3: (RUG Delver 2-1)

Game 1: My opponent opens with Delver of Secrets off a Tropical Island and plays a Volcanic Island the turn after. At first I think he’s on Grixis with an awkward draw until he flips his Delver with a Fire/Ice. I Green Sun for Scavenging Ooze and try to race his Delver, eating my creatures that he bolted earlier. He gets me down to 6 but would die on the crackback if he attacks with his lone Delver. I go to attack him with my lethal ooze to force a chump block, but he taps it down with Fire // Ice. I try to respond by untapping it with a Wirewood Symbiote but he counters the ability with Stifle. I have to fade a Bolt off the top from Fire // Ice and his draw for turn, but he doesn’t get there.

Game 2: He has a turn one Delver that blind flips on turn two. My hand is a little slow and his True-Name Nemesis and Delver get me to 9. He finds a Lightning Bolt on top this time and kills me.

Game 3: He tries to keep the board clear with bolts but doesn’t have any pressure. He eventually finds both a Young Pyromancer and a Delver that doesn’t flip on his next turn. He tanks for a bit and decides to play the last two cards in his hand which are both delvers. I’m guessing this was to hopefully chump my large Ooze with a token and then flip the three delvers the next turn to race me. Unfortunately for him I have a Natural Order against his empty hand.

(3-0)

Round 4: (Grixis Delver 2-0)

Game 1: I have a Wirewood Symbiote and go for a Green Sun’s Zenith for two to get my draw engine online. I’m somewhat sad when he casts Spell Pierce on the Green Sun but then I draw a Natural Order. He only has two cards left in his hand and tapped low for a treat on his turn. I get the feeling that he doesn’t have force plus blue card, so I just jam the Natural Order. He brainstorms in response trying to find a Force, and comments that he wishes he still had a Spell Pierce, but only finds a Bolt. He bolts a creature in response to the Natural Order, but dies to the Craterhoof anyway.

Game 2: My hand is a little awkward and I end up with two Wirewoods and two Dryad Arbor in play but no elves. My board gets wrecked by a Marsh Casualties and I’m left with a lone Forest. I draw a cavern off the top, name Ooze, and deploy an uncounterable Scavenging Ooze. He doesn’t have a Bolt on his turn and it quickly outgrows his Gurmag Angler. I try to race the big fish but he finds a True-Name that walls my Ooze. He flips a Delver to a Bolt the next turn and swings in with his True-Name and Delver, leaving me dead on board next turn. Without any other options I have to just jam a Natural Order. He bolts my last elf in response but I attack him for 16 with just the Ooze and Craterhoof. His fish is unable to soak up enough damage and he dies.

(4-0)

Round 5 (Eldrazi 2-0)

Game 1: I win the die roll and open with Forest, Nettle Sentinel. He has a turn one Chalice of the Void off an Ancient Tomb. I’m not that concerned since I have two Elvish Visionarys in my hand. He follows up with a turn two Thought-Knot Seer taking a Natural Order leaving me with Green Sun’s Zenith, an Elvish Visionary, and a Heritage Druid. I Green Sun for a Wirewood and play my second Visionary. He makes a Trinisphere on turn three and attacks. Next turn I draw a Cavern to cast my Druid through his Chalice and a Visionary trigger finds me another Natural Order. He doesn’t have another Thought-Knot on his next turn and dies to my hoof trigger.

Game 2: He just plays Tomb and passes which signals a Warping Wail for my turn one elf. I play a Deathrite anyway and he promptly removes it. He makes a turn two Thought-Knot Seer again and takes a Druid. I just play double Wirewood and pass back. Next turn he copies his Ancient Tomb with a Vesuva and plays a Trinisphere. I pay three mana for a Visionary and pass back. My opponent thinks for a bit and plays a Grim Monolith into a Wurmcoil Engine. Over the course of the next few turns I Green Sun for a Reclamation Sage and repeatedly bounce it with Wirewoods to destroy his Trinisphere, Wurmcoil Engine, the lifelink Wurm token, and the Grim Monolith. Since I have two Wirewoods he never has any good attacks and I’m able to Abrupt Decay his other Wurm token and attack him down to 3. This prevents him from playing an All is Dust because he would have to tap both Ancient Tombs to cast it. The top card of his deck is a Dust, so he goes down honorably by tapping both of his Tombs and extending the hand.

(5-0)

Round 6 (Elves 2-0)

Going into the last round of the swiss I have the lowest tiebreakers of the undefeated players. With 12 players left undefeated, the Top 4 in the standings were able to draw into Top 8 while I had to play.

Game 1: I know my opponent is on Elves since we had sat next to each other in the previous round. I win the all important die roll in the mirror and keep a very good hand. I open on an innocent turn one Deathrite Shaman and he has Bayou, Deathrite. I cast Glimpse of Nature on turn two, subsequently drawing and playing six or seven elves but fail to draw enough Nettle Sentinels to net mana in order to cast a Natural Order. He draws and concedes in an attempt to hide information, but I already know all of his secrets.

Game 2: We both Green Sun for Dryad Arbor on our turn ones and he plays Nettle and Druid on turn two. I play the only Visionary in my deck post board along with a Wirewood and pass back. He simply draws and passes. I pick up my Visionary and find a Cabal Therapy off the draw trigger. I make a black with my Birchlore and Visionary and name Natural Order. He shows me a hand of Quirion Ranger and Glimpse of Nature. I didn’t expect to see the Glimpse since I would have thought he’d try to go off the turn before if he had it. I’m forced to flashback the Therapy to take the Glimpse at the cost of my Birchlore, and pass. He draws for turn and passes back again. I untap and draw a Nettle Sentinel, which combined with two activations of the same Ranger thanks to Wirewood and my Heritage Druid, I am able to Green Sun’s Zenith for Craterhoof and still have enough untapped creatures to attack for lethal. And with that I was into the Top 8 as the number two seed.

(6-0)

Top 8

Quarterfinals (Omnitell 2-1)

Game 1: He casts a Show and Tell with my board being just two Wirewoods, a Deathrite, and a Visionary. All I have in my hand is a Craterhoof and a land, so I elect to bounce my Visionary to at least draw a card before I’m murdered by whatever he puts into play. Show and Tell resolves, I draw a card, and he gets an Omniscience. Oh boy. He then casts a Griselbrand and draws seven. Then he draws seven more and falls to 1 life. I realize after I let the second trigger resolve I can kill him but missed the window to do so before he drew the new seven. Luckily for me he then casts a Ponder which lets me make a black with my Deathrite, untap it with Wirewood, and drain him for the kill in response.

Game 2: I cast an early Cabal Therapy and name Show and Tell but he reveals a hand of double Sneak Attack, Griselbrand, and lands. I flashback my Therapy the next turn and he Brainstorms in response. I misplay here and forget that Brainstorm hides two cards, not three. I figure he hid the Griselbrand and Sneaks so I name Force of Will to try to go off with Glimpse next turn. Obviously he still has a Sneak Attack in hand so the next turn he draws the Griselbrand he left on top, draws seven, and finds an [/c]Emrakul, the Aeons Torn[/c] to kill me.

Game 3: My opponent mulligans to six and I again cast turn one Therapy naming Show and Tell. I also consider naming a cantrip like Brainstorm but figure I just don’t want to lose to the nuts. He shows me a hand of one land, Flusterstorm, and four cantrips. He plays the cantrips and I just have a Deathrite and a Wirewood with a Craterhoof stuck in my hand. I make a stupid mistake and don’t play a land before casting a Thoughtseize which allows it to get countered by his Flusterstorm. The only clock I have is a Wirewood and Deathrite activations so I feel uneasy about all his cantrips and fetch for an Arbor to flashback the Therapy. He brainstorms in response and lets it resolve. I tank for a bit and finally settle on naming Griselbrand. He shows me a hand of Lotus Petal, Grafdigger’s Cage, and Griselbrand! The card on top of his deck was Sneak Attack and he plays it together with the Cage on his turn and passes. For the next few turns I draw lands and discard while he draws lands and Show and Tells. I attack him down to 3 and he finally rips a Griselbrand and attacks me going back up to 10. He thinks for a second and decides that if he draws cards he will just die to end step Deathrite, untap Deathrite. With him back at 10 I still can’t kill him in less than three turns, and I brick on my next draw thanks to his Cage. He draws a Preordain and bottoms both cards and just passes the turn. I finally draw another elf that lets me drain for 4 on my turn, attack for 1, and drain for the last 2 on his turn to get into the top 4.

Semifinals (Miracles 1-2)

Game 1: Being the second seed I get to start on the play again and I know my opponent is playing Miracles. I know this matchup gets worse and worse for me the longer the game lasts so I go for a lethal Natural Order on turn three, but he has a Force of Will. He taps out for a monastery mentor on his turn three though, so I just jam another Natural Order on my following turn. He doesn’t have a second Force and dies.

Game 2: I don’t remember the specifics of this game but I get my board swept by Terminus twice and he lands a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. With no pressure and my opponent controling an active Jace, I eventually scoop up my cards for a game three.

Game 3: I try to bait out a counterspell with a Glimpse of Nature on my turn three with just a couple Wirewoods in play. He forces the Glimpse, which allows me to deploy my Choke. At this point I’m feeling pretty good about my chances to make it to the finals having resolved such a haymaker. I draw some Abrupt Decays and he taps two more Islands under the Choke to cast a Jace. Unfortunately it seems my opponent drew fetchlands plus white removal nearly every turn with his Jace brainstorm. He’s even able to Terminus me twice with just his Jace activations to find and set them up. I try to pressure down the Jace but he somehow always has answers with Swords, Path, and Snapcaster Mage. I knock the Jace down to 1 on multiple occasions but could never quite finish it off. I make a pretty bad macro mistake in this game because I don’t play my Reclamation Sage as just a body to help pressure the Jace. Instead I opt to hold it in the event he had a Counterbalance. I should have realized that since he was playing Monastery Mentor that he was likely not playing Counterbalance, and even if he was, it may very well not be worth losing two more of his Islands to my Choke. Another body may have been the difference in killing the Jace, and really squeezing him out of the game, but alas. I also had a Natural Order in hand but never had very many creatures, and I was certain he had a Force in hand since he had been brainstorming for the past five turns. After drawing a couple lands in a row, he end of turn Unexpectedly Absents my Choke and untaps with a Mentor and two monks. He then proceeds to cast seven spells that turn including removal for my blockers and kills me.

Moving forward

Even though I didn’t get there, I shouldn’t be too upset about going 7-1 in matches and 15-5 in games. However, I felt I played considerably worse in the top 8 than I had in the Swiss, and game three in the semis was very close. It felt pretty bad to think that I could have made it to the finals and been one step closer to the PT, if I had just played better. I had not eaten a real meal since 8am and I was getting increasingly concerned we would miss our flight as the tournament went on, but I ultimately didn’t perform well under the pressure. I think Legacy is definitely a format that really punishes small mistakes, but also one that rewards knowledge about the format as well as practice. This is probably why fans of Legacy love it as much as they do. I was definitely punished for my lack of familiarity with the format and also my deck, but with more practice I hope to take it all the way with my little green men.

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