This Week in Legacy — Eternal Weekend Trial! WRITTEN BY Joseph Dyer

Howdy folks, this is Joe again with another weekly bit of Legacy content! This week we are going to be dipping actually into one of my own forays into the format, a tournament report from a recent trial event for a bye for the U.S. Eternal Weekend in Pittsburgh, PA this October.

This event ended up being sparsely attended, with just 12 players at the beginning of the event; thus, we ended up playing four rounds with a cut to Top 4. Unfortunately, I didn't quite make the Top 4, but my 2–2 record did put me in 6th place.

I was overall pleased with my performance in the event regardless. I quite enjoyed the time out, as any time playing paper legacy is great.

I also want to take the time to give a brief shoutout to a particular Puca user and close friend, Dengerous. Not only is he local to me and a solid trader, but he's also a solid friend, and without his assistance, I wouldn't have been able to make it as far as I have for competitive events. So super huge thanks to him, and if you feel like killing his profile a little, go for it.

Let's get on with it. Here is the 76 I registered for the event (no that's not a typo, I really am a monster):

Sneak Fit — Joseph Dyer | 6th Place US Eternal Weekend Trial @ Epic Loot Game & Comics

Creatures (16)

1 Deathrite Shaman

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

1 Eternal Witness

2 Fierce Empath

1 Grave Titan

1 Inferno Titan

1 Rune-Scarred Demon

1 Thragtusk

2 Tireless Tracker

4 Veteran Explorer

1 Woodland Bellower

Instants/Sorceries (14)

4 Cabal Therapy

2 Collective Brutality

4 Green Sun's Zenith

3 Lightning Bolt

1 Toxic Deluge

Enchantments (9)

3 Pernicious Deed

4 Sneak Attack

2 Sylvan Library

Lands (22)

1 Badlands

1 Bayou

1 Bloodstained Mire

3 Forest

3 Mountain

1 Overgrown Tomb

1 Phyrexian Tower

2 Swamp

1 Taiga

3 Verdant Catacombs

1 Volrath's Stronghold

4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15)

2 Blood Moon

1 Gaze of Granite

2 Lost Legacy

1 Massacre Wurm

1 Pyroclasm

1 Reclamation Sage

1 Scavenging Ooze

3 Surgical Extraction

2 Thoughtseize

1 To the Slaughter

My choice of deck for the event ended up being largely decided on Sneak Fit because it's the variant of Nic Fit that I am most comfortable piloting. I enjoy the explosive nature of the deck that it can sometimes present while still being able to play a solid midrange game.

Let's move on to the report itself.

Round 1 — WIN 2–0 vs Grixis Vial Smasher Control

Game 1

I keep a solid hand with Therapy + Veteran and a Tireless Tracker. I blind miss a Therapy for Brainstorm, but see that he's on Grixis Vial Smasher! As a Grixis Control variant, I'm feeling pretty happy about this match-up. I managed to land a Tireless Tracker with little effort, and made roughly 6–7 clues thanks to fetches and a Veteran trigger. This allows me to just muscle through his deck, which wasn't difficult thanks to him being stuck on two lands for a good portion of the game and seeing absolutely zero permission. I win off the back of Thragtusk and Tracker.

Sideboarding: Out — Grave Titan, Bolt. In — Massacre Wurm, Gaze of Granite

Game 2

This game progresses much the same, except I end up resolving a Sylvan Library and eventually a Sneak Attack. Massacre Wurm puts in some work taking care of him overextending into it. At the end of the game, I pay four life for a Library trigger to go to 15 and throw a deed out to blow up his only blocker (Vial Smasher) and sneak in Thragtusk for lethal. He does 10 me with a Fireblast but it doesn't matter in the end.

Record: 1–0 and feeling great!

Round 2 — LOSS 0–2 vs Omni-Sneak

My opponent is a friend of mine who is well known for piloting Show and Tell variants. I am not well positioned against these decks, so I have to be very aggressive with keeping interactive hands.

Game 1

I mull to six and keep a hand with Collective Brutality. I hit a Show and Tell, but he draws another one and makes an Omniscience, which he uses to cantrip into an Emrakul for the game.

Sideboarding: Out — things like Lightning Bolt, Pernicious Deed, etc. In — Thoughtseize, Surgical, Lost Legacy

Game 2

I have to mull to fice and keep a fairly awful hand with a T1 Thoughtseize. I take the Show and Tell but die to the Sneak Attack because I find no clock or action to present to him.

Record: 1–1, feeling a little upset about the variance of the match-up but sometimes them's the breaks.

Round 3 — WIN 2–0 vs Grixis Delver

My opponent is a friend of mine who hasn't been out for Legacy in some time, but is always a very chill dude. He knows what I'm on and of course, he does express some displeasure at being paired up against me because of how favored Nic Fit is in general vs Grixis (a fact I'm aware of because he has played Grixis for some time).

Game 1

This game progresses much like any other game vs Grixis Delver. Between some solid Therapy action and him overextending into Toxic Deluge, I manage to land a Sneak Attack and play the "Sneak in Rune-Scarred Demon and then throw out Emrakul plan."

Sideboarding: Same things as before with Vial Smasher, but I also bring out another card which escapes me at the moment to bring in at least one Blood Moon since it's better vs strict Grixis Delver then it is Vial Smasher (accidentally opening yourself up to Fireblast doesn't seem good in that match-up).

Game 2

Again, this game progresses well, with some solid action back and forth between myself and him. He makes an early flipped Delver which I deal with quickly, and then a Gurmag who dies to a Sneaked in Massacre Wurm. To seal the game away, I GSZ for a Fierce Empath getting Emrakul and Sneak her in, swinging in for lethal.

Record: 2–1. I'm pretty pleased so far, and find out that going into Round 4 I'm in 5th. If I win the next round, I'd be live for Top 4. Unfortunately…

Round 4 — LOSS 0–2 vs ANT

I already know what my opponent is on because he recently got Storm built and has been extensively playing the deck to get to know it better. I'm not favored at all in this match-up, and it's probably the hardest match-up Nic Fit has in general.

Game 1

An early Therapy reveals he kept a slightly sketch hand with double Cabal Ritual and double [[Therapy]]. I make a Veteran and get the Cabal Rituals, but am unable to deal with the Therapies before he can just hit my hand and snag my Grave Titan. Being unable to present a clock, I can't prevent him from eventually drawing out of the discard and storming off.

Sideboarding: Sideboarding for this match-up is mostly the same as the Sneak and Show one. Bring out cards like Tireless Tracker and Deed that are generally dead and bring in Thoughtseize, Surgical, and Lost Legacy.

Game 2

I have to mull to five which immediately tells me that I'm probably not winning the game. I open on a Thoughtseize and then do little else of importance. No extra discard plus no clock and I get stormed out.

Regardless of the bad match-ups I experienced (which are prone to happening in just four rounds), I was relatively pleased with my performance and my ability to pilot the deck. Variance is a powerful force in the game sometimes, and the post-board games against combo are generally where Nic Fit can shine and do well, but having the variance of bad hands and mulligans is what really killed me there.

Top 4 was great to watch after the Swiss rounds, just some really well played games of Legacy. I was ultimately excited for this event and am now heavily looking forward to Eternal Weekend in October!

Wrapping Up

That's all the time we have this week friends! Join me next week as we switch gears slightly and talk about another cool format that I have great love for. I'm talking of course about VINTAGE.

Until next time!