Welcome to another weekly Showdown Recap, where we take a look at what happened at Face to Face Games Toronto’s weekly Sunday Showdown, a series of 1k events feeding into the Ultimate Showdown 5k Invitational. This week, we got back into Legacy after a fairly long break!
Last Legacy Showdown was dominated by one of the rarest decks in the metagame: Deadguy Ale. Legacy is known for being fickle, but many of Toronto’s best Legacy players continued to bring the WBg midrange deck to this Showdown, and Brian Bogdon was once again able to make it all the way to the finals on the back of [card]Hero of Bladehold[/card]! Many pro players believe Abzan to be the best deck in Modern, [card]Death’s Shadow[/card] notwithstanding, and given its recent dominance in Modern Showdowns, it’s only fitting for a powered-up version of the same strategy to be consistently performing in Legacy.
[card]Dark Confidant[/card] is not one of the most common threats in Legacy, a format where the ability to close out games quickly is usually preferred to incremental advantage, but Brian was not the only player to bring Bob to the table. Kenny Li made it to the quarterfinals with his take on Sultai [card]Delver of Secrets[/card], featuring [card]Dark Confidant[/card] in addition [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] in the 2-drop slot. In many ways, [card]Dark Confidant[/card] is a more pressing threat, especially given the prevalence of cards like [card]Gurmag Angler[/card] in Delver decks pushing the stats on [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] lower and lower. In fact, despite there being 5 Sultai-coloured decks in the top 8, only five [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]s could be found, with the fifth hiding in Shaun Zalewski’s Sultai Midrange deck. Of course, in a deck filled with [card]Noble Hierarch[/card] and [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card], spending your turn 2 casting [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card] leaves [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] in a fairly weak spot!
The rest of our top 8 is mostly filled with a set of creative combo decks, fueled by the resurgence in midrange strategies. Notable Hearthstone pro Andrew Gordon finished in 8th place with [card]Food Chain[/card] combo, a deck that uses the aforementioned enchantment in combination with [card]Misthollow Griffin[/card] to generate infinite mana and kill with Aether Revolt’s Standard powerhouse [card]Walking Ballista[/card]. Both this deck and Lisa Seelye’s [card]Aluren[/card] deck benefit strongly from Commander 2016’s [card]Leovold, Emissary of Trest[/card], protecting their combos while locking down many of the most powerful blue spells in the format. Paul Switzer also made it to another top 8 finish with the more traditional Sneak and Show deck, powering out [card]Emrakul, the Aeons Torn[/card] in the first few turns like it’s no big deal.
Now, you might have thought that Deadguy Ale was the most oddball deck to grace this particular top 8, and you wouldn’t be at fault for thinking that. Josh Oji, however, begs to differ. Always one to dredge through the vaults of combo decks of Legacy past, this week he brought Cephalid Breakfast to the fray. At first glance, the deck looks like an odd Death and Taxes deck, with [card]Mother of Runes[/card] and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] alongside blue cantrips and [card]Force of Will[/card]. Nope. It’s a combo deck. [card]Nomads-en-Kor[/card] target [card]Cephalid Illusionist[/card] several times to mill your entire deck, putting [card]Narcomoeba[/card]s into play, which [card]Dread Return[/card] [card]Angel of Glory’s Rise[/card], in turn reanimating [card]Azami, Lady of Scrolls[/card], which draws a card to win the game with the [card]Laboratory Maniac[/card] that also sneaks its way into play. Phew! It also gets to have [card]Force of Will[/card] backup!
When people think of Legacy, however, they invariably tend to think of the blue powerhouses [card]Brainstorm[/card] and [card]Force of Will[/card], working overtime to protect from the savage combos that exist in the format. Our winner, Daniel Goetschel, certainly did his fair share of that, bringing the most aggressive version of a [card]Delver of Secrets[/card] deck to the table, featuring powerful aggressive Prowess creatures to the table. No deck excels like this one at dealing a ton of evasive damage quickly while defending its creatures with [card]Daze[/card] and [card]Force of Will[/card], and he certainly made the most of it, taking down the whole event!
Our perennial hero and recurring focus of this segment, Chris Ha, was fortunate to not fall in the standings this week, but plenty of new players managed to qualify for the Ultimate Showdown! Daniel’s win automatically qualifies him, while Brian Bogdon and Andrew Gordon accumulated enough points to land just above the 50-point threshold. Join us next week for a Frontier Showdown, and don’t forget to keep preparing for March 18th’s Facetofacegames.com Toronto 3k Modern Open!
Daniel Goetschel – UR Delver – 1st
[deck]
[Creatures]
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Stormchaser Mage
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Price of Progress
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Force of Will
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
2 Island
2 Volcanic Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Bedlam Reveler
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Pyroblast
2 Invasive Surgery
1 Spell Pierce
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Dismember
1 Blood Moon
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Brian Bogdon – Deadguy Ale – 2nd
[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Shriekmaw
1 Hero of Bladehold
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Thoughtseize
3 Lingering Souls
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Chrome Mox
2 Vindicate
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Cabal Therapy
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Scrubland
2 Bayou
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Wasteland
4 Marsh Flats
3 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Rest in Peace
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sylvan Library
1 Pithing Needle
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Paul Switzer – Sneak and Show – 3rd
[deck]
[Creatures]
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Griselbrand
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Sneak Attack
3 Omniscience
3 Lotus Petal
4 Show and Tell
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Preordain
4 Ponder
3 Cunning Wish
4 Force of Will
1 Flusterstorm
2 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
1 Intuition
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Island
1 Mountain
2 Volcanic Island
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Pyroblast
2 Kozilek’s Return
3 Blood Moon
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Intuition
1 Rushing River
1 Though the Breach
1 Firemind’s Foresight
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Lisa Seelye – Aluren – 4th
[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Glint-Nest Crane
3 Cavern Harpy
4 Baleful Srix
2 Parasitic Strix
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Shardless Agent
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
1 Sylvan Library
4 Aluren
4 Force of Will
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Forest
2 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Meekstone
1 Karakas
1 Flusterstorm
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Chill
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Engineered Plague
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Pithing Needle
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Garruk Relentless
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Josh Oji – Cephalid Breakfast – 5th
[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Nomads-en-Kor
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Shaman-en-Kor
3 Narcomoeba
1 Angel of Glory’s Rise
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Labratory Maniac
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Mother of Runes
3 Recruiter of the Guard
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Force of Will
2 Daze
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
4 Aether Vial
3 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Scrubland
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Dark Confidant
2 Unearth
2 Winter Orb
2 True-Name Nemesis
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Disenchant
1 Underground Sea
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Shaun Zalewski – Sultai Midrange – 6th
[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 True-Name Nemesis
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Tarmogoyf
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Thoughtseize
1 Fatal Push
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Wasteland
1 Forest
1 Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Painful Truths
2 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Dread of Night
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Pithing Needle
2 Flusterstorm
2 Fatal Push
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Kenny Li – Sultai Delver – 7th
[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Dark Confidant
1 True-Name Nemesis
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Spell Pierce
2 Fatal Push
2 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Abrubt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Wasteland
[/Lands]
[sideboard]
2 Thoughtseize
1 Flusterstorm
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Dismember
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Null Rod
1 Baleful Strix
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Life from the Loam
2 Dread of Night
1 Winter Orb
[/sideboard]
[/deck]
Andrew Gordon – Food Chain – 8th
[deck]
[Creatures]
4 Walking Ballista
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Eternal Scourge
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Misthollow Griffin
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Manipulate Fate
4 Food Chain
4 Force of Will
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Island
3 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Hydroblast
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Prognetius
1 Misderection
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Surgical Extraction
3 Duress
1 Sylvan Library
2 Golgari Charm
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]