Welcome back to The Library at Pendrell Vale and the first tournament report of the year!

Hopefully 2019 will be a great year for Legacy in the UK and we look forward to running as many events for the enthusiastic community as we can!

37 players turned out for the first event of the year and we managed to reward those intrepid people with some spectacular prize support. Tropical Island for first, Lion’s Eye Diamond for second, Scrublands for third and fourth and a choice between Reanimates or Back to Basics for those finishing in fifth to eighth. Even better we managed to find a box topper Leovold, Emissary of Trest for the winner of the Top16 playoffs. Nearly half of our players got the chance to play in the knock out rounds for these spectacular prizes!

I’m very sorry for missing last year’s November report. Unfortunately Christmas preparation got in the way and by the time any of us at LLM had the time to write anything it was already the new year and we were getting ready for this event. I do have the metagame from that event which I will include in the analysis later in this article. Quickly though, congratulations to those people who made the Top8 of that event. The final results shook out like this:

November 2018 LLM Results

1st – Juan Carlos Jara – UB Shadow

2nd – Niklas Ek – Eldrazi Post

3rd – Levi Shandolar Heinz – BR Reanimator

4th – Charlie Bridger – Goblins

5th – Thomas Charles Hooker – Sneak and Show

6th – Thomas Kellock – Goblins

7th – Hannah Lissaman – RUG Delver

8th – Jay Richardson – Grixis Delver

This months metagame was a bit all over the place. Only five decks had more than one pilot and some of the more typical London decks like Goblins and Miracles had only one representative in the room. (I partly blame myself for not publicising how well Goblins did in November for this!)

However, there are still some interesting broader points we can see. ‘Delver’ style decks that ranged from strict tempo (Jays RUG list we will see at the end) to the more aggressive Shadow variants took up quarter of the room. Both the combo and control decks are spread across multiple variants so it makes sense in a metagame like LLM to bring a proactive Tempo deck and be practiced for the mirror. Obviously the next level to this would be to prepare a deck like Elves which has a great Delver matchup, but which can also combo out very fast if your combo opponent stumbles or you manage to disrupt them.

London Legacy Monthly Jan 2019 Metagame

Deck No. of Players Deck No. of Players UB Shadow 3 Jund 1 Buried Pheonix 2 Metalworker Stax 1 Grixis Delver 2 Miracles 1 Infect 2 Mono Blue Delver 1 Lands 2 Nic Fit 1 Bizzarro Stompy 1 Omnitell 1 BR Reanimator 1 Pox 1 Cloudpost 1 Punishing Maverick 1 Death and Taxes 1 RUG Delver 1 Eldrazi 1 Shardless Bant 1 Elves 1 Show and Tell 1 Esper Control 1 Slivers 1 Grixis Control 1 Stoneblade 1 Goblins 1 TES 1 Icestation Zebra 1 UB Ninja 1 5C Survival 1

Interestingly the low number of combo players in November is likely the reason that two Goblins players made the Top8. Otherwise the archetypes played at LLM this month look pretty consistent. I think this is the sign of a very healthy format. There are obviously better decks (generally those with Brainstorm and Force of Will), but in the right hands many decks can do well. A good example is the Buried Phoenix deck that fellow LLM organisers Claude and Callum played this month. Callum is the originator of the deck and has been tearing up events online with it and tweaking it all the time. His experience with the deck showed as he made Top8 while Claude, piloting it for the first time ever finished outside the Top16. If you want to try a very resilient deck, with lots of discard and a pretty great combo finish then have a look at his list later in the article.

The Tournament

The Swiss rounds were dominated by Callum and Charles Seccombe (playing on his birthday and at his first LLM!) who both finished on 14 points. Another newcomer to LLM Josh Brass also made Top8 this month. The rest of the finalists were Deng Pan, Marcelo Scantena, Juan Carlos Jara, Thibaut Worher (all on 13 points) and Francis Cowper scraping into 8th place as the only 12 pointer to make it in. Just before round five Francis came up to me and described how he had just lost two win and ins in his previous rounds, I’m sure he is glad he shook off the disappointment and managed to win that last round!

Top 8

The quarter finals were a speedy affair as every match ended 2-0! Francis’ Elves deck dispatched Callum and his Pheonixes, while in the battle of the newcomers Josh on Grixis Control beat birthday boy Charles who was playing UB Shadow. Marcelo piloting Goblins (yay!) lost to Juan Carlos and is UW Stoneblade deck while Thibaut (in his first Top8) playing another new deck, Ninjas, took down Deng (in his second Top8) and his trusty Show and Tell.

This would guarantee Thibaut would win the first dual land he owns, essentially the reason we run these events: so people who love the format can come an win the cards they need to keep playing it!

I sat down to watch the two first time Top8ers Thibaut and Josh play while old hands Francis and Juan went at it. In Game 1 Josh’s Grixis Control list simply ground the Ninjas deck into the dust. Flashing back Kolaghan’s Command again and again while leaving poor Thibaut with nothing in hand. The end came with a top deck from Thibaut, ‘We have a chance’, to which Josh snorted, played a Baleful Strix, drew and played a Jace, the Mind Sculptor at which point the concession was forthcoming.

Turning to the other match I heard Francis announce,

’38, and you are on 15. Everything has trample. And no instants’ (he had an Archon of Valor’s Reach on the field…)

Onto game 2 for both the Semi finals.

For Game 2 Josh took out four Force of Will and a Spell Snare and brought in Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Thoughtseize, Notion Thief!!! and Diabolic edict

Thibaut took out three Force of Will, a Fatal Push, an Echoing Truth and a Diabolic edict. He brought in two Bitterblossom, two Back to Basics, a Hydroblast, a Liliana, the Last Hope and a Plague Mare!!!

Thibaut led with a turn two Bitterblossom which is a card Grixis Control always has a problem dealing with. His turn three Spell Keeper induced a REB from Josh which was countered by a Hydroblast. The Spell Keeper found Thibaut a Brainstorm that would come in very useful later. Next Josh found the answer he needed to the Bitterblossom in his Liliana, the Last Hope killing a Faerie token and ensuring Thiabaut could only have a maximum of two. The next turn Thibaut managed to ninjitsu back his Spell Keeper for some great value but lost his Ninja to a Bolt. On turn 5 before Thibaut attacked into Josh, Thibaut tried to use the Brainstorm that the Spell Keeper had first found. However, Josh responded with a Notion Thief sealing a six for one.

Josh was into the Finals!

In the second Semi-Final Francis had brought in two Choke and two Abrupt Decay to counter the Stoneblade deck. He took out an Elvish Mystic, Archon of Valor’s Reach and two Natural Order.

Juan Carlos brought in two Containment Priest and an Engineered Explosives while removing a Flusterstorm, Spell Snare and Council’s Judgement.

Game two started with an early Back to Basics from Juan. Francis followed with a Glimpse of Nature that Juan couldn’t find a Force of Will for. However, it didn’t find much for Francis. Juan continued to develop his board with a True-Name Nemesis to slow the death by a thousand cuts route Francis was taking in this match. The next turn however Francis found a Craterhoof Behemoth on the top of his deck and considering his earlier Glimpse had resolved went for it. Even with a Swords to Plowshares and a blocker it was too much for the Stoneblade player and Francis was through to the finals after scraping into the Top8!

Josh was on the play in Game 1 thanks to his slightly higher finishing position in the swiss rounds. The first plays were a couple of elves from Francis and a Gaea’s Cradle. Josh fought back with a Spell Snare on an Elvish Visionary to stop Francis finding action and then followed up with a Liliana, the Last Hope. Francis used a Glimpse of Nature to start flooding the board while Josh played a Gurmag Angler and continued to pick off solitary elves. With plenty of attacks from both sides the life totals were 10 each when Francis assembled the great blocking combo of Dryad Arbor and Quirion Ranger. Josh promptly attacked into it and Francis took no damage as he blocked and bounced the Dryad. Josh used the Lightning Bolt that he should have used before attacks and killed the Ranger. Francis then played his third Quirion Ranger of the match, now relying on the top of his deck to get him out of this mess. Josh cast a Kess, Dissident Mage and promptly forgot to flash something back. However, the game was over as the last of Francis’ elves perished to Liliana and blocking Gurmag and the top of his deck was no help at this point.

For the sideboarded games Francis sideboarded the same as he had against Juan playing Stoneblade

Josh took out three Baleful Strix and a Diabolic Edict. He brought in the Notion Thief, a Liliana, the Last Hope, Marsh Casulaties and an Engineered Explosives.

In Game two of the finals Francis immediately took the grindy route with his elves deck. Not committing too much to the board in the first turns while being able to protect his plays with a Wirewood Symbiote. Josh killed the symbiote with a Lightning Bolt as Francis managed to get to five creatures on the board, perhaps sensing that Josh didn’t have any mass removal to punish him. The next turn Francis cast a Glimpse of Nature and started to combo off, so Josh conceded.

Into the final game of the day everyone was tired after a long day. A turn three Liliana, the Last Hope from Josh looked to put him ahead as it took down one of Francis’ mana elves. However, Francis had the immediate Abrupt Decay for the planeswalker. Unfortunately Josh must have mistook the Decay for Assasin’s Trophy (also played by elves) as he tried to Force the uncounterable card. Even after he realised what he had done he refused to take the mistake back and played on showing exemplary sportsmanship. Even two cards down this still could have been a tight game but Francis found his other sideboard card and landed a Choke two turns which cut Josh off mana until a Natural Order ended the match.

Congratulations to our finalist Josh Brass and winner Francis Cowper!

Top 8 Decklists

1st – Francis Cowper

Elves

2nd – Josh Brass

Grixis Control

3rd – Juan Carlos Jara

Stoneblade

4th – Thibaut Wohrer

Ninjas

5th – Callum Smith

Buried Phoenix

6th – Charlie Seccombe

Shadow

7th – Deng Pan

Show and Tell

8th – Marcelo Scatena

Goblins

London Legacy Monthly Leaderboard – Jan 2019

Player Name 1st 2nd 3rd-4th 5th-8th Number of Top8s Total Points 1 Niklas Ek 1 1 2 4 13 2 Juan Carlos Jara 1 1 1 3 10 2 Francis Cowper 2 2 10 4 Jay Richardson 1 2 3 7 4 Callum Brownson-Smith 1 1 2 7 6 Michael Woodleigh 1 1 5 6 Charlie Bridger 1 1 2 5 6 Deng Pan 1 1 2 5 9 Enrico Selis 1 1 4 9 Mario Espinosa 1 1 4 9 Amar Dattani 1 1 4 9 James Mills 2 2 4 9 Diego Massone 2 2 4 9 Claude Schmit 1 1 4 9 Thomas Kellock 2 2 4 9 Marcelo Scantena 2 2 4 9 Josh Brass 1 1 4 18 Stavros Denaxas 1 1 3 18 George Moulton 1 1 3 18 Nic Genieis 1 1 3 18 Aston Ramsden 1 1 3 18 Joe Baddeley 1 1 3 18 Artur Malimonov 1 1 3 18 Levi Heinz 1 1 3 18 Thibaut Wohrer 1 1 3 26 Matthew Johnson 1 1 2 26 Michael Yearby 1 1 2 26 Alex Rea 1 1 2 26 Lauri Achte 1 1 2 26 Rory Smith 1 1 2 26 Tom Hooker 1 1 2 26 Hannah Lissaman 1 1 2 26 Charles Seccombe 1 1 2

We are thinking of ending this season in June 2019. Please get in contact with any of us with suggestions of what we can get Nik when he invariably wins it…

Spice Corner

Two decks for you this month. The first is from Niklas Ek. Yes, while he didn’t Top8 this month it was likely due to this mad brew he brought rather than a waning in his skill. Nik played 5C Survival or MOST (Merieke, Opposition, Survival, Tradewind Rider) if you prefer. I came up against this deck in the Swiss rounds and after a quick Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale I was rather confident in my sideboarded games against the silly manadork deck. Then this happened.

Niklas Ek - 5C Survival

MOST is a deck that has answers to everything in a bunch of one of creatures. Many of these creatures are green and so can be found with Green Sun’s Zenith. GSZ can also find Fauna Shaman which does a good impression of Survival of the Fittest and can find the rest of the answers in your deck that are not green. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade turns off a bunch of fast mana cards and decks such as Storm as does Gaddock Teeg. Meddling Mage and Deputy of Detention either stop your opponent casting things or removes those cards. This is a deck that rewards knowledge of the format.

Mother of Runes protects the creatures that are answering your opponents plan. The mana dorks and Vials allow you to skip up your mana curve, play creatures at instant speed (this is good!) and are fine to discard to a Fauna Shaman later in the game. The deck also includes the sweet combo of discarding a Griselbrand to Fauna Shaman, finding a Loyal Retainers and returning the Griselbrand to play! You can find some video of it being played here.

The second deck I wanted to bring attention to was Jay’s RUG Delver list running a few cards from the newest set.

Jay Richardson - RUG Delver

This is a pretty stock list other than the additions of Cindervines and Pteramander. The Salamander Drake seems like a pretty sensible addition. In the early turns this is another evasive creature that you really don’t mind your opponent wasting a removal spell on. Not when you have Tarmogoyf to follow it up with. Also that early damage can come in very handy in a deck that tries to win just as it runs out of cards in hand. Late game, Pteramander is a 5/5 flier for as little as two mana. That should win most races you need to.

More interesting is Cindervines. This card is obviously powerful but looks much more like a broad sideboard card for Modern than a maindeck card in one of Legacy’s most streamlined decks. However, the number of levels of incremental advantage the card provides make it a possible inclusion going forward. RUG Delver often runs out of cards a couple of points of damage short of winning the game. Cindervines will provide a surprising ammount of damage over the course of a game.More interestingly the card will also warp how opponents can play, which might be even more useful. Your opponent can’t crack a fetch or play a Brainstorm, for example, while at 6 life for fear of dying to a Lightning Bolt and the Cindervines damage. The card removes annoying permanents such as Back to Basics and Umezawa’s Jitte. Finally, having a main deck Enchantment can grow your Tarmogoyf out of range of those puny Gurmag Anglers and Reality Smashers. I think Cindervines is really suited to this RUG list and can’t wait to see more of it in the future.

Next Month

Thanks to everyone who came down and made the first LLM of the year a really enjoyable experience. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

Next month prices for tickets will initially be £15, increasing to £20 the week of the event.

We asked what you wanted and that option won overwhelmingly. As I said at the event, this way of offering entry should help us secure prizes earlier in the month as it ‘should’ encourage more of you to buy tickets nice and early. We also hope that the slight drop in entry fee will encourage people who are new to the format and continue to foster the kind of atmosphere we want for LLM going forward.

You can find Tickets for February here.

Thomas Kellock

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