Hallo. Sean Brown here, and yet again I have another tournament report for everyone to read. And once again, I lucksacked my way through to the Top 8 of a relatively large tournament with the usual love of my life, Death & Taxes. The deck served me incredibly well, per usual, drawing me out of some tight spots when I needed it most. D&T bae ❤

As you probably know though, from all the previous tournament reports posted on this very site, the highlight of this tournament was friendship (hah!). The journey up there, although I’m sure at one stage we all went slightly insane, was filled with amazing banter and jokes and idiocy that kept me laughing the whole time, and without the good mood that Stephen, Steven, Matt and Jesse kept going, I’m sure the whole event would’ve been less amazing than it ended up. I was also happy to meet some amazing people up at Canberra – hanging out with Canberra crew was great, as was meeting many people who spoke of enjoying the podcast and enjoying the articles. It means an incredible amount to me to get that kind of feedback, and really reminds me of why we’re creating content – because the Legacy community is such an excellent bunch, that keeps on giving back with all their enthusiasm. So thank you everyone!

Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff, and on to actual Magic. After the tortuous drive to Canberra, we arrived just on time for Block Constructed. For the sake of it, I’ll post my UG Madness list. It was fun, but its struggles to beat recent additions to the card pool like Planeswalkers. Getting my Roar of the Wurm token killed by an Ugin minus zero made me smile due to bizarreness of these two cards meeting each other, but also grimace because I knew I was dead. I should’ve been a better Magic player and just drawn Circular Logic more.

Creatures: (20)

4 Aquamoeba

4 Arrogant Wurm

4 Basking Rootwalla

1 Cephalid Looter

4 Wild Mongrel

3 Wonder

Non-Creature Spells: (17)

4 Aether Burst

4 Careful Study

4 Circular Logic

2 Deep Analysis

3 Roar of the Wurm

Lands: (23)

9 Forest

10 Island

2 Centaur Garden

2 Cephalid Coliseum

Sideboard: (15)

2 Coral Net

3 Envelop

1 Genesis

2 Krosan Reclamation

3 Moment’s Peace

2 Quiet Speculation

2 Ray of Revelation

After dropping from this event at a stellar 2-2 after beating a Kaladesh block deck with double Arrogant Wurm (poor guy), I forced the crew (or so they say) to go play Legacy FNM. Everyone else was tired and exhausted, but I was keen to go see our Canberra friends and play the format I love with them. I loosened up for this event with the classic Loosey Goose, RUG Delver.

Lands: (18)

4 Flooded Strand

4 Wooded Foothills

3 Tropical Island

3 Volcanic Island

4 Wasteland

Non-Creature Spells: (31)

4 Brainstorm

4 Ponder

4 Daze

4 Force of Will

4 Stifle

3 Spell Snare

2 Spell Pierce

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Dismember

Creatures: (11)

4 Delver of Secrets

4 Nimble Mongoose

2 Tarmogoyf

1 True-Name Nemesis

Sideboard: (15)

2 Ancient Grudge

2 Submerge

1 Pithing Needle

3 Pyroblast

1 Seal of Fire

1 Sulfur Elemental

1 True-Name Nemesis

2 Winter Orb

2 Surgical Extraction

I’ll briefly run down this event, since it’s not too pertinent:

Round 1: ANT (2-0)



Stifle lands and counter cantrips to shut down his mana, and then beat him down with a random threat. Game 2 he mulliganned into oblivion.

Round 2: RUG Delver (2-1)

This was a spicy more controlling RUG Delver variant with Snapcasters and Young Pyro. We had some amazing stack fights in this one, but I luckily ultimately triumph and put some stupid 3/1 fish on the table and cruised to victory from there. Game two the sideboard plan of board out all Delvers against Bolt decks worked like a charm, and my opponent struggled to defend themselves from a Tarmogoyf, eventually three-for-oneing themselves to rid themselves of it. I think I cast True-Name and again cruised to victory.

Round 3: Death & Taxes (1-2)

Game one I got Death & Taxed as always, and made stupid plays like Daze a Caverned Thalia. Game two I had the hand you need in this matchup – fast beatdown, Daze for Vial and plenty of removal. Game three he has the Vial and I cannot stop it. Winter Orb looks at me awkwardly as I cast it into his active Vial. “Yeah, your Vials meant to be shut down.” I meekly say.

Round 4: BR Reanimator (0-2)

Game one is kind of bizarre – we both mulligan to four, I Stifle his first land, but eventually he sculpts a double Unmask into Ritual into Entomb and Exhume and I promptly die after tapping out for a Goyf. Game two I can’t really remember either, but he had some discard spells, and my hand was countermagic light.

Sadly, RUG Delver, as fun as it is, I do not have enough balls to bring to a tournament when I’m well versed in the ways of White creatures. However, the FNM did give me some tips about some decks to watch out for – Stephen Tang got crushed by both D&T and Eldrazi (and wondered why he squandered his years playing this game), and there was a solid amount of BR Reanimator too. I also expected a reasonable amount of random BUG decks as the Spike’s deck of choice. I ummed and erred on some of my decisions in the hours before CanCon, but ultimately settled on removing spice like Palace Jailer (too many True-Names, my friend!) and removed the second Prelate entirely as many other players like Bahra and Enevoldsen have done, hedging against the mirror and Eldrazi. This gave me room for a second Crusader in the main, and more hedges against BR Reanimator with an extra Faerie Macabre.

And so we came to this:

Lands: (23)

2 Cavern of Souls

1 Horizon Canopy

3 Karakas

9 Plains

4 Rishadan Port

4 Wasteland

Non-Creature Spells: (11)

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Æther Vial

1 Batterskull

1 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Umezawa’s Jitte

Creatures: (26)

4 Mother of Runes

4 Stoneforge Mystic

4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

2 Serra Avenger

3 Phyrexian Revoker

4 Flickerwisp

2 Mirran Crusader

2 Recruiter of the Guard

1 Sanctum Prelate

Sideboard: (15)

2 Council’s Judgment

2 Ethersworn Canonist

2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

2 Path to Exile

2 Rest in Peace

2 Faerie Macabre

1 Containment Priest

1 Leonin Relic-Warder

1 Pithing Needle

It’s kind of funny how D&T lists have really gone full circle and realised that Crusader and Avenger are still very worthwhile inclusions. Anyway, after some brief thinking about Magic we all went to bed, tipsy on some lovely gin and beer, happy to sleep in as the event started at 2.00pm.

The day of the event was highlighted by a great morning start – a solid brunch to keep us filled, some Rocky music and Are You Ready for This? to keep us pumped.

We were in good form as we walked into the event. One interesting thing that I’ve been noticing is that nerves are notably gone for me during these events. When I started playing in tournaments bigger and higher-stakes than a simple weekly a few years ago, I always got a bit clammy and was shaking, ever so slightly, throughout the whole day. Piloting the deck and playing the format I’ve experienced for many years obviously helps remove any nerves, but I think also just having a group of friends by your side to have a laugh with before and between rounds is notable. I’ve also gotten into a philosophy about just playing the cards as best you can and not being too hung up on the result of a match, and just thinking about what was in my control and persevering to learn as much as possible, and I think that certain helped me (spoilers) bounce back from the poor start.

Tl;dr, day of the event, I was in a good mental state and ready to rumble.

Round 1: Aluren (1-2)

Game one was a bizarre one. I ended up with Vial going and some Ports, negating whatever my opponent was doing for a few turns. However, my hand ended very threat-light, only having Thalia and Prelate (and two more Thalias). My Prelate ended up on one while my opponent started to establish a board of Strix. Thalia kept poking in there. He then established a Deathrite, but Thalia just kept poking in there. I think I ended up finding a Plow for when he tried the inevitable double-block, and then a Flickerwisp to push a blocker out of the way for the penultimate turn. But yeah, dorky Thalia beats for the win, hooray.

My opponent told me all they’d drawn was lands and Brainstorms. Sanctum Prelate, very fun Magic card. That being said, I did finish the match with three Thalias and a third Vial in hand. Noice.

I didn’t actually know what my opponent was on, but what I expected was BUG Control. Basically the Czech 4c Control lists with Push instead of Bolt, which would account for the amount of Strixes I saw. However he did have a basic Island, which should’ve rung alarm bells. For there was a combo coming.

+1 Leonin Relic-Warder

+2 Council’s Judgment

+2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

-1 Flickerwisp

-1 Umezawa’s Jitte

-1 Stoneforge Mystic

-2 Swords to Plowshares

Thalia came down early, but was my only source of mana denial, and eventually he reached five mana and tapped out for Aluren. He had the Recruiter of the Guard in hand and quickly killed me. Well.

+2 Ethersworn Canonist

+1 Stoneforge Mystic

+1 Umezawa’s Jitte

-2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

-2 Serra Avenger

I probably should’ve trimmed some Avengers to start with, as they’re pretty bad vs. Strix. Anyway, Canonist stops their combo, and Jitte can also do some work against it too if there’s enough counters.

Game three I start with a solid hand – Revoker, Recruiter and a few other things. I turn two Revoker Cavern Harpy to stop his comboing, and eventually activate my Vial for Recruiter to get my Mirran Crusader to finally start clocking my opponent – I also had a second Recruiter in hand. And next is where I screw up. After he casts Aluren, I feel I can go completely wild and just ruin him, as my Revokers are locking up his combo – I play another Revoker, cast Recruiter for Wisp, start chaining, etc… Eventually culminating in getting a Relic-Warder for his Aluren.

One thing to learn from this is the simple lesson of not overextending.

I swing in for some damage (it’s actually not that much) and then my opponent casts Orzhov Pontiff, wrathing everything of mine, including a Mom that was defending my Warder. He then Decays my Warder and comboes off.

I think the key thing I learnt from this match is jeez, D&T actually has a pretty solid time against Aluren if it can cut through all the annoying dorks blocking the way. Our hatebears can not only stop the combo, but we can cast them at instant speed once the enchantment is in play. We also have our own Recruiters to summon whatever hate piece we need in a timely fashion. Holding a Recruiter in hand the whole game is what I likely should’ve done.

But I didn’t do any of these things, I just decided to spray all my resources on the table. But with D&T, this is typically always the wrong thing to do. D&T is not a blunt instrument, especially against combo decks. It is a careful armament of keys to pick apart the opponent’s game plan. I certainly forgot that here, and got punished.

My opponent was an incredibly nice guy though and we had some good banter afterwards. Coming out of the first round loss, it’s easy to feel annoyed or frustrated, but I was actually glad I got to play against Aluren and learn a bit more about the matchup. It’s quite an uncommon one to see, but with Recruiter of the Guard and the pure BUG versions so popular, I’m sure it’ll be more common in the year ahead. It’s nice to have a plan up my sleeve now.

Round 2: Black-Red Reanimator (2-0)

This was against a Canberra friend, and I already knew what deck he was on. And I expected to promptly lose game one. But I didn’t!

I have a hand with some hatebears in it, though they end up being too slow against a turn two Chancellor reanimated. Luckily I can make a land drop before he reanimates something again, Entombing and Exhuming for Sire of Insanity, feeling he’s quite a head. With Sire’s trigger on the stack I Plow Chancellor (paying the tax) and then discard my hand. It’s time to draw some creatures to brick this monster.

I whiff on the first two draw steps, but eventually assemble Flickerwisp and Thalia to double block and kill the Sire. Nice! However, my opponent is very quickly reassembling and about to reanimate another huge monster (was it Tidespout?); luckily I draw another Thalia (I give her some words of love as I peel her off the top), and have a Port active to keep pinning his mana. The idiot brigade assembles and he eventually succumbs. The monster hunters are the victors.

+2 Faerie Macabre

+1 Containment Priest

+2 Rest in Peace

+2 Council’s Judgment

-4 Stoneforge Mystic

-1 Batterskull

-1 Umezawa’s Jitte

-1 Sword of Fire and Ice

The next game my opponent very quickly reanimates an Inkwell Leviathan with a Reanimate, so his life total is at quite a toll. I realise that I can race it (even without Vial!), especially with Serra Avenger able to do some blocking duty while attacking. I’m able to block effectively to even avoid myself dying to a topdecked Collective Brutality on the critical turn. And so we are the victors in the typical D&T motley crew fashion.

Round 3: Aluren (2-1)

I’d spectated the Aluren mirror the round before, since I had a little bit of time between rounds, and hence knew what this guy was on – lucky I now knew what to do after round 1’s fiasco! Game one is a weird one – I end up mulliganning and being mana screwed, drawing all my Flickerwisps and a pile of other WW creatures like Crusader and Avenger. He goes for Aluren, but I’m aiming to spray my hand (this time I’m sure it’s correct) and then Flicker in response to his Recruiter, Flicker again , at end step, in response to whatever the next thing is on the stack (the Dream Stalker, I’m guessing) and then hit him in the face for likely lethal. He casts Imperial Recruiter (fancy!) and I Flicker. In response, he casts another Recruiter. I Flicker again. He Recruiters again, and now I’m sure I can’t get there as he can get three things at end step to overload my single Wisp. I try again and Aluren flips over until the end of turn. At end of turn, he gets Stalker, Harpy, and then Parasitic Strix. We are dead.

+2 Ethersworn Canonist

+2 Council’s Judgment

+1 Leonin Relic-Warder

-2 Swords to Plowshares

-1 Flickerwisp

-2 Serra Avenger

Game two from what I remember I get the full D&T mana screw nut draw, with Vial, Waste, Port and some hatebears – likely Canonist and Revoker. It’s nice to know the deck has a nut draw sometimes.

Game three is very interesting. My opponent Duresses (!), Therapies and Surgicals a bunch of random things, like Wasteland, Mirran Crusader etc. My hand is in ruins, but D&T has a lot of strong draws off the top, and per usual the crew of idiots assembles. Flickerwisps start beating down after a Dream Stalker bricks the ground. My opponent concludes the game with a draw step that, if it’s Aluren, he can take the game. It’s not.

Round 4: Dragon Stompy (2-0)

“You’re Sean Brown the writer, right?” My opponent says as we shuffle up for the round.

I grin with glee as I enthusiastically say “Yes!”

It’s times like these I cherish the Legacy community and their welcoming and kind attitude. Getting recognised is nice, but knowing that I’ve helped out people understand the format more via my content is always good to know.

Anyway, we move on to game one and I’m on the play; I begin with a Vial, he begins with a Chalice – I’m not too fussed since I have Vial anyway, though a Plow is stranded in my hand. My Vial starts to spew out a few creatures, eventually ticking up to three and I start Flicker chaining. However, he quickly Blood Moons me, and I’ve failed to draw basic Plains! I soon draw some Serra Avengers quickly getting stranded in my hand while a Thunderbreak beats me down. The Flicker army soon does its job though, racing the Dragon. A Prelate also gets set to four sometime during this game – Fiery Confluence is seriously the most scary card imaginable from Dragon Stompy and although this matchup is traditionally very favoured for us (they have too many dead cards) that card can create a huge swing.

“You’re probably the only person in this room that knew to set Prelate on four, y’know.” My opponent says.

Oh the flattery! I think I’m blushing.

+2 Council’s Judgment

+2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

-4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

We exchange resources a bit, he ending up with a Chalice on one that gets Flickered. Unfortunately his draws end up pretty dead, even with an active Sin Prodder, while I assemble a flying army. I do get Fiery Confluenced at some stage blowing up a Sword and some creatures, but I’m able to reassemble pretty quickly while having some solid answers, drawing both my Council’s Judgments. Basic Plains is pretty OP.

My opponent was an incredibly good-spirited person, even in loss, and Tang also ended up having a great battle against him. I’m glad Dragon Stompy made a deep run – the Japanese lists really look like some of the best versions of the deck that have ever appeared, and Chandra, Torch Defiance certainly would’ve been scary if she showed up. So yeah, huge thanks to my opponent for being an incredible guy.

Round 5: Esper Faeries (2-1)

My opponent was on a very sweet deck featuring Spellstutter Spirite, Bitterblossom, Deathrite, Snapcaster and Probe + Therapy (sweet with all the value creatures in the deck!), though was splashing White for his tertiary colour primarily for Swords to Plowshares – a bit of a weird choice with Push in the format and Decay so good, but anyway.

Game one I have active Vial and cripple his mana at the start of the game, but he slowly starts to recover and my Flickerwisps are quickly bricked as his Bitterblossom assembles a wall of Faeries that are proving very tough to break through. And then I topdeck Mirran Crusader, who cuts through all of them, and we go to game two. What a champ.

+1 Leonin Relic-Warder

+2 Council’s Judgment

+2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

-1 Flickerwisp

-2 Swords to Plowshares

-1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

-1 Serra Avenger

Game two my opponent’s deck shows all its power – a turn one Deathrite into Dazing my first play into Spellstutter Spriting my Vial (I could’ve played Thalia instead, which was probably correct) makes me fall way behind, and soon I die to an army of Faeries again spawned by Bitterblossom.

Game three is… An interesting one. My hand is very grindy, including two Wisps, some other three drops and a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar which I should’ve boarded out, as he’s pretty terrible in Daze matchups (I only realised my opponent has Dazes game two). My opponent begins by Probe Therapying away all my Wisps and then I don’t have much going on, especially with my mana a bit stressed by opposing Wastelands – though at least I have a Vial – but Gideon is looking more and more ambitious. A Relic-Warder appears to stop his Bitterblossom going out of hand, but is eventually killed and an army starts appearing with a second Blossom adding to this; especially threatening once my opponent reveals an Umezawa’s Jitte. All I’ve meagrely assembled is another Vial and a Mother of Runes in the meantime, with Vials on two and three. I’m soon on topdeck mode, with a brick Gideon in hand, and next turn he is going to nuke my board with Jitte while also gaining life to stop himself dying to his double Bitterblossom. I have very few outs…

I draw the top card of my library… It’s Flickerwisp.

If I can stop the Jitte from connecting for a few more turns, my opponent will burn out of life from the double Bitterblossoms. Flickerwisp helps exactly with this – he can fog one attack by killing an equipped token, and also block the next turn with Mother of Runes backup to stop any Jitte triggers. D&T showed me incredible love with this incredibly lucky topdeck. All hope seemed lost, but I was finally back in the game. Now to execute our plan.

My opponent ruins this with a Gitaxian Probe – the jig is up. He realises that attacking is not productive, cantrips around a little and passes the turn with two mana up. I don’t do anything, other than Port a Mutavault on his upkeep prior – a Flickerwisp left in hand is always the best Flickerwisp – and move to my turn.

Another incredible draw – Recruiter of the Guard. There’s a huge swathe of options available to me now, be it Recruitering for Phyrexian Revoker to turn off this Jitte, to getting a Crusader to cut through my opponent’s board of Black Faerie Rogues. But per usual, being reactive is key for D&T. We pass the turn back. My opponent deploys a Spellstutter Sprite on my end step.

My opponent shrugs knowing that I can fog this attack. He equips his Jitte to his Faerie and implies he’s passing after I ask. We’d been keeping up solid communication throughout the match without a hitch. I activate my Vials at his end of turn, Recruitering for Revoker. I ask “go to my turn?”

“No. Go to combat.”

What?

WHAT?!

I was 100% certain we were on his end step. His implication he was passing, along with my activating of Vials (as a D&T player “end of your turn, activate…” is common phrasing because of Flickerwisps interactions with the end step, and I’m relatively certain I used that) made me sure of this. My opponent seemed to believe we were still in his first main phase.

A Judge was called at this point in the game. I explained that I certainly believed we were at my opponent’s end of turn. My opponent explains that he was passing priority of the Jitte equip. I’m not sure if anyone says “pass” after activating a Jitte equip.

The Judges have a think about the situation at hand away from the table. I don’t like believing my opponent has been trying to angle shoot me. The matches throughout today were incredibly fun, and my opponents were all great sports. We’re all just here to just hangout and play some Legacy. Although I’m suspicious, I give my opponent the benefit of the doubt that there’s just been some weird miscommunication.

That is until he sighs, and says, as the Judges are still deliberating:

“I think you’ve got this one.”

My opponent’s tone soured me. It sounded as if his last out was to win this Judge ruling. It sounded as if he knew that I was a smart enough player to be able to navigate this situation, and that he was just playing to his final chance at victory by having me activate my Vials at an opportune time.

The Judges return, and we rewind to his first main phase. He equips Jitte and that goes fine. He attacks and I Flicker the token equipped to the Jitte. He then passes turn. I draw, and pass again. He equips once more, and then goes to Push my Mom. I give my Wisp protection from black. He then Plows my Wisp. If my Vials were down, his double removal spell certainly would’ve trumped me. He goes to attack with his Faerie; before damage, I activate my Vials, getting Recruiter and then Revoker on Jitte. He doesn’t have the third removal spell, and next upkeep he burns out from the Bitterblossoms.

I guess the lesson with this one is to be as clear as possible to avoid any complications and any room for situations like this to occur. Be vigilant at calling Judges if there’s any problems with communication. Stand up for what you believe the game state is when complications like this occur.

Round 6: Eldrazi & Taxes (2-0)

Game one is a pretty boring affair. He has a Thought-Knot Seer and Guardian of Thraben, but draws little else. Guardian of Thraben trades with my own while I have Vial ticking up ready to start Flicker chaining. He keeps drawing bricks, and I’m in trouble if he finds a Smasher or anything of relevance. He doesn’t, and the Flickerwisp army gets there.

+2 Council’s Judgment

+2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

+2 Path to Exile

+1 Leonin Relic-Warder

-4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

-1 Sanctum Prelate

-2 Mother of Runes

Similar kind of deal. He ends up deploying a Heretic Cathar that I sadly don’t have a Karakas for (he does to defend it), but I end up drawing basic Plains (again, OP!) that makes Heretic pretty mediocre anyway. I soon burn a Plow on an Eldrazi Displacer and then assemble Stoneforge Mystic that gets Batterskull and takes away the game, after I eventually cobble a way to beat Heretic Cathar and Karakas. I also remember Serra Avenger being involved at some stage, because seeing a tapped Serra Avenger is something you don’t find too often.

This pseudo-mirror I feel favours us, as they have too many dead cards (Chalice and all the Thalias) and very few fliers, though my opponent was deeply splashing Black for Orzhov Pontiff I’d imagine, and that’s to be aware of. Containment Priest and Displacer are also pretty scary.

And so… We’re into the Top 8! Me, Steve and Stephen all congratulated each other, but especially Tang. With me and Steve winning our final rounds we knew we were locked, but Tang was quite the surprise. I was also really happy to see Tang and myself bounce back from early losses into the Top 8, showing a solid mental state from both of us. We’re salty dogs, but compared to years ago when we’d bum out of GPTs and PPTQs early on by tilting out, it’s nice to know that we’ve improved on that. Legacy as a format and the people you meet throughout the tournament all culminate in a pretty positive, relaxed atmosphere though, and I’m sure I need to give some credit to that.

You can find the breakdown of the Top 8 on mtgtop8!

And I ended up paired against Junk!

Quarterfinals: Junk (0-2)

These Jund-esque midrange matchups are typically hard for D&T – they have discard to break up your game plan and then some massive creature destruction tool at their disposal. For Jund, there is Punishing Fire. For Junk, there is Stoneforge for Jitte. To win these you typically need Vial to tempo them out of the game with mana denial, but they of course they have Decay to stop this too. Mirran Crusader can occasionally go all the way, but Lili and Plow make that tough. Pretty hard matchup overall, but certainly not unwinnable, especially with the powerful new grind cards we have.

Game one a Bob goes unchecked and soon draws him bountiful amounts of removal that grinds me out of the game. A Batterskull with a Jitte on it ruins me and we go to game two in relatively uninspiring fashion.

+2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

+2 Rest in Peace

+2 Council’s Judgment

+1 Leonin Relic-Warder

-1 Sanctum Prelate

-4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

-1 Swords to Plowshares

-1 Flickerwisp

Gideon is a nice bomb if we can protect him from discard, and RiP nullifies a lot of threats. Thalia doesn’t tax them too much, especially with DRS and their creature-heavy draws, and Prelate gets little work done that Mom wouldn’t be able to do, and their diverse removal suite means Prelate is very lacklustre.

Game two my opponent has a very fast beatdown draw with Deathrite, Goyf and Bob, along with some removal for my light amount of threats. I slam Gideon on turn four, making a Knight, but he has better – Umezawa’s Jitte, naturally in hand! Bob gets suited up and Gideon can’t keep up, with me unable to assemble something to stop the Jitte. My Crusader, ready to die to Jitte counters, laughs at me from hand while his crew of Black-Green creatures beat me down.

My opponent played incredibly well and was wonderful to fight, and he eventually took second place. The coolest thing was what happened after the tournament – he immediately started breaking apart his deck and passing all the cards he’d borrowed back to their original owners. His second-placing deck was a product of the community’s kindness – he went from borrowing a Bayou to owning a Bayou after his strong performance. Very nice.

And so ends our tournament! For me, I came away with a Plateau and may likely be slotting this into Red-splashing D&T if I ever try it again. I was overjoyed that team mate Stephen Tang took away the tournament in the end (despite his win on technicalities), and even a huge fine for a U-turn couldn’t bring us down. Death & Taxes was as reliable as always, and the deck has yet to fail me at these large events (I’m sure variance will hit me sooner or later, because #nonblueproblems). The last minute changes were also solid in the end. We concluded the day of the tournament with Super Smash Bros. Melee and beers at our rented apartment with two of the Canberra boys, took friend Matt Larcombe to the airport at 5.00am, then woke up before our 10.00am kick-out and ventured into the streets of Canberra for some yum cha. We slowly went insane on the eight hour drive home, but stopped by some random monument, “The Dog on the Tuckerbox” for some pictures:

An amazing trip, with some amazing friends for an amazing card game and an amazing format. Thanks to all the organisers and Judges at CanCon and to the Legacy community for showing their support for Magic’s greatest format. I’d also like to shout-out all the people who came up, said hello and thanked me for the content I’ve produced. It makes it all worthwhile!

See you at the next one!

By Sean Brown