Introduction

I was really happy to see EW hosted in Pittsburgh again since it’s my hometown. Not only is it a magic tournament but I get to see family and have free lodging. I hadn’t played much Legacy since 2019 and was torn between Lands or GW depths. I settled on Lands since I enjoy the controlly gameplay, found a list online and jammed leagues on modo. I made a few changes but my 75 was pretty close to a stock list. I wanted to play Spheres main since I think it gives a lot of game vs any deck on the play and is great even on the draw vs combo if they are too scared of a Force to go for it turn 1. I was on GW because I think Swords is just way too good right now. I honestly went in expecting to drop early and play some cube, but what I really wanted was to not be 2-2 and begrudgingly keep playing it out.

The Matches

Round 1 – 2-0 vs Beans

Game 1 is quick and easy with turn 1 Sphere and turn 2 Saga. I don’t face much resistance as I make karnstructs, get an Expedition Map which fetches another Saga and win through a Swords or two.

Game 2 is long and grindy. I spend a few turns making saga tokens which eat Swords and Terminus. 3 Beans are out at this point and he draws 6 off a Lorien Revealed. I Boseiju and Haywire Mite him back down to 1 Bean. I have a Stage on Urza’s Saga making constructs every turn which are continuously killed by Dress Down, Terminus, or Swords. A Forth Eorlingas claims the monarch at the cost of 2 out of 3 of the tokens and then stalls while drawing an extra card each turn, playing Endurances to chump block and disrupt my Loam engine. I manage to threaten a Marit Lage which eats the Swords instead of the karnstruct and I take the monarch for myself. I Wasteland my opponent’s Volcanic Island and Xanders Lounge to keep them off the second Forth Worlingas I assume they have. They Wndurance themselves and fetch red again. Luckily they don’t have the 2nd Forth in their hand and they concede as turns are called.

Round 2 – 2-0 vs Painter

Team kill vs a friend on round 2 feels pretty bad. I Pithing Needle Grindstone game 1 and make sure not to have an artifact in my graveyard to play around Welder. I make a Marit Lage by turn 4 or 5 and he has no answer to it. 

Game 2 I Swords the Painter and make an early Marit Lage and he has no answer for it. 

After this round my friend managed to play against four other people he knew in the following rounds before barely squeezing into cashing with a 7-3-1 record.

Round 3 – 2-1 vs Rhinos

I sit down and as usual make some smalltalk while waiting and find out they are in the Vintage top 8.

Game 1 he opens on a suspended Footfalls. I play Diamond, Wasteland on turn 1 and jam a Sphere followed by another Wasteland and another Sphere turn 2. Turn 3 we both pass and I double Waste him before the Footfalls would be castable and he shows me 2 Spirit Guides. I have no lands in play and the 2 Spheres stop me from doing anything and I die to the rhinos.

Game 2 is a slow start off a mull to 6 but I have a Sphere out on t2. Opponent plays out lands and nothing else. Turn 3 they pay 4 for their Shardless Agent with 3 lands and a Spirit Guide, forgetting about the Sphere for their cascade. They weren’t able to draw out of it and eventually died to some karnstructs. I definitely would have lost without that misplay and got really lucky he made it. 

Game 3 the rhinos come out early but a Maze of Ith and a Swords keep them at bay and the karnstructs are bigger than their Shardless Agent. A few get bounced or iced but he never gets another threat in play.

Round 4 – 2-0 vs Dragon Stompy

Game 1 I lead on Ancient Tomb into Sphere and he bolts himself with a Shatterskull Summit to play a Chrome Mox. Turn 2 I play a Saga and he follows up with a Chalice on 1. I stare at a hand of 2 Explorations and 2 Swords and pray. He does nothing else and the single Saga gets there. We go to game 2.

He opens with an Ancient Tomb and a Chrome Mox exiling Blood Moon and casts a Trinisphere which makes my Force of Vigor look real bad. I say Savannah go. Turn 2 he plays a Bombardier and swings for 2 while I play an Urza’s Saga and pass. Turn 3 he plays a second Bombardier and attacks for 4 bringing me to 14. I play a Stage and pass. Next he plays a Legion Warboss and before going to attackers I Force of Vigor the Chrome Mox and the Trinisphere, pitching Exploration so he can’t throw them at me with the Bombardiers. He still attacks for 5 bringing me to 9. I untap, draw and with the Saga trigger on the stack float 1 and Crop rotation it away for a Dark Depths using the trigger to find Pithing Needle which names Bombardier. I play the Mox Diamond I drew for turn and another land, make Marit Lage and keep the Mox Diamond up to Crop Rotation for a Maze of Ith if needed. He tanks for a few minutes and concedes.

Round 5 – 2-0 vs Patchwork Stompy

In game 1 Wastelands + Loam keep them off casting anything other than a single Patchwork Construct which eats a Swords. I make a Marit Lage turn 3 or 4 and win.

Then in game 2 Force of Vigor + Wastelands keeps them low on permanents but they resolve an Emry that buys back a few Baubles before being Pithing Needled. I get a few karnstructs and they are bigger than all their creatures and able to swing for the win.

Round 6 – 2-1 vs Witherbloom Scam

Game 1 he opens with a Grief on the play and I breathe a sigH of relief about the matchup. He takes a Swords and doesn’t Reanimate leaving me with some lands and a Crop Rotation. I play out my lands threatening a turn 2 Marit Lage. Turn 2 he plays a Witherbloom Apprentice and I feel a lot worse about my chances, turn 3 he has the Chain of Smog and I die. 

Game 2 I do my best to keep him off black mana but he has plenty of basics and gets the Apprentice out. I try to Swords it but it gets Forced. I fade the Chain of Smog for 4 turns in a row with both me and him dead drawing anything relevant until I finally draw a Stage to make Marit Lage and close it out. 

Game 3 he leads on a Misty fetching a basic Island, I follow up with a land and a Pithing Needle blind naming Polluted Delta. Next two turns he plays out deltas and dies to a quick Marit Lage.

Round 7 – 2-1 vs Reanimator

Game 1 I have a Sphere and win with Marit Lage. All I see is basic swamp, Thoughtseize and Urza’s Saga, so I board for Reanimator.

Game 2 he opens with Dark Ritual, Entomb, Reanimate on Atraxa and I have the Surgical in hand. I play out a bunch of lands but no threats. He top decks a Magus of the Moon and slowly kills me.

Game 3 he has a turn 2 Archon which eats a Swords to Plowshares. I Wasteland a bunch of his lands and play out 2 Spheres and we’re both in top deck mode. My opponent is doing a bunch of Sphere math and ends up really confused. He ends up casting a Dark Ritual into 2 spheres off 3 lands netting 0 mana and then casting an Animate Dead on a Troll. I cast an Endurance for 5 mana to stop the Animate Dead and get a threat on the board. Next turn I draw another Endurance which I immediately deploy. The 2 Endurances end the game and I draw a Surgical right after for good measure.

Round 8 – 2-0 vs Grixis Delver

This round was a camera match, the vod can be found on the Card Titan twitch channel.

My last camera match I got t2 Marit Laged within 30 seconds of the stream swapping to my match so I went in to this one expecting to get destroyed in a similar fashion.

Game 1 I keep a hand of Depths, Stage, Fetch, Mox Diamond, Land, Exploration and a Pithing Needle on the play. It’s the nuts and he doesn’t force anything so i get the t2 Lage and win. 

In game 2 a turn one Delver comes down early and blind flips. I play an Exploration and slow him down with a Maze of Ith. He plays a Dragon’s Rage Channeler turn 2 and I play out 2 lands and start Loaming. I play a Soul-Guide Lantern to keep the Channeler off delirium. I dredge Loam and flip Depths and a Tabby. I cast a Loam which meets a hardcast Force of Negation and then cast the 2nd Loam in hand which they counter with Force of Will. At this point he has 3 lands and 5 cards in the graveyard and I should have popped the Lantern but I don’t and a Murktide comes down. I dredge, play out my lands and completely forget Price of Progress exists and die to it.

Game 3 I have Diamond + Loam. He plays a Dragon’s Rage Channeler. I try to stick a Choke but it eats a Force of Negation. I Wasteland his Volcanic Island after he plays a second Channeler. Then I waste his second land and play a Sphere. Dredging Loam finds a Tabernacle and I Wasteland his Wasteland before playing the Tabernacle with them having no lands in play. I eventually find an Urza’s Saga and he concedes to the wincon.

Round 9 – 0-2 vs Boros Painter

Honestly at this point in the day I’m so tired I barely remember what happened so sorry if any of this is wrong.

Game 1 I try to keep him off mana and Urza’s Sagas but am not successful. I don’t put up any threats and without an Exploration Loam is too slow so I die to the combo.

Game 2 I Swords an early Painter but he has a second one. A Magus of the Moon comes down and without a Diamond I can’t Swords it and slowly die.

I think I really need to keep a fast Marit Lage in this matchup since it’s really hard to keep them off their combo and a fast kill is by far your best shot.

Round 10 – 0-2 vs TES

This round was another camera match, the vod can be found on the Card Titan twitch channel.

Game 1 I die turn 1, not much to say or that I could do differently. I kept a hand with turn 2 Marit Lage and hoped he got unlucky, but its possible mulling for a t2 Sphere would have been better.

Game 2 I mulled to 5 looking for a Sphere or Deafening Silence, and end up keeping a medium 5 with a t1 Deafening Silence. Urza’s Saga fetches a Soul-Guide Lantern to keep him off Gaea’s Will lines. I am able to make a Marit Lage but drew a Sphere that turn. Decided to try to win and died to end of turn Echoing Truth into a Beseech for Song of Creation. Definitely should have played the Sphere but the pressure of the win and in plus playing against Storm did me in.

Round 11 – 2-1 vs Mystic Forge Combo

Game 1 a Pithing Needle comes down against an early Karn. I Wasteland a few lands as he plays out Grim Monoliths and Voltaic Keys. He eventually draws his whole deck with One Ring + Paradox Engine. Not able to threaten his mana base enough when he as Voltaic Key and Grim Monolith.

In game 2 I Wasteland every land he plays and Pithing Needle Voltaic Key. The One Ring comes down and can’t find anything to help.

Game 3 he goes to 5 after 2 regular mulls and 2 Serum Powder mulls. He opens with Urza’s Saga + Lotus Petal and a Mox Opal. I Force of Vigor the 2 artifacts and Wasteland the Urza’s Saga and he isn’t able to do anything the whole game.

At this point I’m the highest x-2 so if tables 3 and 4 decide to play it out rather than risk the ¼ chance of being 9th off breakers I can squeeze in but they all shook hands and drew.

Conclusion

I got really lucky with the matchups and draws this tournament as well as some questionable misplays from opponents. A big part of doing well in any tournament this big is always gonna be luck but how you leverage your good and bad luck is what matters more. 

Overall happy really with my performance but going from 8-0 and missing 2 win and ins definitely hurts. With so much of the prizing being in the top8 with the dragons rage channeler promos 10th place getting $500 + some accessories is rough. The deck feels really good, but Magus of the Moon was pretty backbreaking and I definitely see the appeal to playing red to have answers for those. Gonna practice a lot more for next year and hopefully find myself in the top 8 instead of narrowly missing it.