SCG Invitational - The Worst Report I've Ever Written

I had this crazy idea a couple months ago about a Delver deck that cut white and shaved some lands and brought back the Stalker + Pike combo. At first I didn't even share the deck with my friends for fear of ridicule. It had 20 lands, all the cantrips, Inkmoth Nexus as a great plan b, and a SB full of powerful instants that I could dig too pretty easily for any matchup but it was missing something but I didn't know what it was. The list stayed on my desktop under the title "Mono Brew Delver" and gathered dust for a while.

Cut to the painful ride back from the Nebraska PTQ where Penick and I were both dead by round 4.

I said something about how I wanted to play 4 Images in whatever Delver deck I played next. Penick wasn't as excited by the card as I was and said something like, "I don't think I'd want to play that many without having something really sweet in my own deck to copy, like a Dungeon Geist, but that card sucks with Restoration Angel around."

Later that week I notice all the Delver decks are really week to artifacts right now. Most of them only playing 1 Divine Offering in the board. Maybe my Pike deck could be real? Still though, I couldn't imagine beating an Ancient Grudge since the deck relied to heavily on Pike.

Cue cheesy shot of me thinking, looking into the sky with my hand on my chin.

Cue Penicks voice ringing out in my head, "something really sweet, like a Dungeon Geist, something really sweet, like a Dungeon Geist."

Aha!

I could be a really streamlined Pike deck in game one and then transform into a midrange deck with Images and Geists against the green decks!

The list I put together after having this idea was only 2 cards off (I started with 2 Sphinx instead of Frost Titans) what I ended up registering a week and a half later in the Invitational after playing it all that time on MTGO.

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Gut Shot
2 Mutagenic Growth
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Thought Scour
4 Ponder
4 Vapor Snag
4 Mana Leak
4 Runechanter's Pike
4 Inkmoth Nexus
16 Island
SB:
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Frost Titan
3 Spellskite
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Dungeon Geist

How I came to my Legacy deck was much less exciting.

I was planning on playing RUG Delver since I didn't really know the format very well and I thought there would be a lot of Griselbrand/combo hate.

Again while talking to Penick on the ride up he said, "if I were playing a deck like that I would just play Merfolk with 4 Phantasmal Image main. Holy shit, that sounds awesome. I love Image more than most and putting it into play against Show and Tell seems awesome! (I found out just 2 rounds before Legacy started that this doesn't actually work.)

After round 3 I was going to Noodles with Cedric and we were talking about Merfolk since he was running it too. He had some Spellstutter Sprites where I had some Dazes. That seemed awesome especially with 4 Image so I changed my list to 2 and 2 and was good to go.

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergil Adept
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
2 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Merrow Rejeerey
4 Aether Vial
3 Spell Pierce
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
12 Island
SB:
1 Spell Pierce
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Submerge

So that's what I played, let's get onto the rounds.

Round 1: Chi Hoi Yim - UW Control
This guy was playing 8 Wrath effects AND Ratchet Bomb and tons of Gideons (a card I can't really ever beat). Game one he killed all my guys then played Gideon, Tamiyo, and Karn. But he was also playing pretty bad like forgetting to get stuff back after he went ultimate with Tamiyo so I still had some hope.

-2 Gut Shot +2 Spellskite

Games two and three he played a bunch of do nothings like Grafdigger's Cage and Torpor Orb and with some timely Mana Leaks I was able to Pike the shit out of him.

1-0

Round 2: Jackson Barbee - UWR Delver
Jackson was a real nice kid. Unfortunately all his removal was sorcery speed with Bonfire and Pillar so he wasn't able to deal with my Nexus and I infected him both games after Probing him to make sure the coast was clear.


-4 Leak +4 Image


2-0


Round 3: Dustin Taylor - UW Delver
Video feature match this round. Nothing really interesting happened. I got flooded in games 1 and 3 and picked up my first loss.


-4 Leak +4 Image


2-1


Round 4: Mike Nyberg - Dungrove Green
Game one I got smashed by giant Dungrove Elders but then I got to finally use my sideboard.


-4 Leak -4 Pike -4 Stalker -2 Probe -1 Scour
+15

The next two games I got to Image his Strangleroot Geists then get in some damage, then block a guy, and copy a Dungeon Geist when it persisted.


In the last game he cast Revenge of the Hunted to kill an Image and then later on payed 5 to Beast Within an Image that was a Frost Titan tapping one of his blockers that left him dead the next turn.


3-1


I was happy with a 3-1 in standard and was excited to finally play a game with my legacy deck.

Round 5: David McDarby - Grixis Delver
This was pretty obviously my first legacy match for quite a while.


He flipped a Delver and I had a Vial on two. He attacked and I Vialed in an Image to block but he stopped me. He stopped me and said he might want to respond to the Vial. He took two minutes then decided to Stifle the ability and I got hit for 3. But then I just blocked the next turn and eventually ran him over with Merfolk since he didn't have much removal.


-2 Daze -2 Force of Will +1 Jitte +2 Sower +1 Spell Pierce

My Vial got Forced and I Forced back and that was basically game.


4-1


Round 6: Robert Graves - UB Tombstalker Control
Another deck not very well equipped to deal with hoards of lords. At one point he had a Tombstalker and a flipped Delver and he swung with the Delver and I was able to Vial in an Image, copy Tombstalker and block the 3/2. Next turn I traded it for the Tombstalker then the board was clear for my smaller guys.


5-1


Round 7: John Penick - Reanimator
I really didn't want this pairing. It's always awkward getting paired against people who helped you prepare for the tournament and even loaned you practically 100% of the deck I'm going to be playing against him.


That being said it was an interesting match.


In game one he got Blazing Archon in play and once that hits the only way I can win is to Image it and force him to make a Tidespout Tyrant to bounce my copy then I have to Image his Tyrant and bounce all his Archons.


The board state get to where he has Griselbrand, Archon, an Image on Archon and I have an Image on Archon and loads of merfolk. I'm at 11 he is at 1. He Exhumes Tyrant into play and bounces my Image and some of my lords and attacks me down to 1 so he goes to 7. I am able to Image Tyrant, play Rejeerey to bounce his Tyrant then play another merfolk to bounce his last blocker and tap his Imaged Archon then have exactly 7 power to exactsies him.


Whew.


-2 Daze -1 Jitte -1 Cursecatcher -4 Coralhelm +1 Spell Pierce +2 Faerie Macabre +2 Sower +3 Crypt

This game I was able to counter his first reanimation with Faerie and he was never able to get anything else going.


6-1


Round 8: Evan Wagstaff - Maverick
Game one he naturally drew his Scryb Ranger and ambushed my Adept with it then played Jitte and equipped on turn four. I was lucky enough to draw my Jitte the next turn but I was too far behind.


-3 Spell Pierce -4 Force of Will +1 Jitte +2 Sower +4 Submerge


Game two I Sowered his first Knight and Image Sowered his second one then he scooped.


Game three he had his Scryb Ranger again to stop my attack. I was able to Daze a spell he could have payed for for a minor moral victory before he smashed me with giant Knights.


6-2


Round 9: Andrew Shrout - Naya (Pod?)
This guy used to beat me a lot on MTGO but here in real life I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!


I don't really remember any of the standard rounds from this day. I know for game two I boarded into my midrange deck and killed him with three or four Dungeon Geists. Later on that day he confused me and Kenny Castor so screw him!

7-2

Round 10: Kevin Jones - 


Round 11: David Bauer - 


Round 12: Kyle McDaniel - 


I have no idea why I have no recollection of these matches. I'm pretty sure two of them were UW Delver and the other was RG Aggro. They all succumbed to the Pike's fairly easily.


10-2


Round 13: Gerry Thompson - Reanimator
I always like playing against players who are better than me, I just enjoy the challenge.


Game one he made a Griselbrand on turn two while I made a Silvergil Adept. I was able to Image it and then Image the next one. Then he just died to the Adept and some Mutavaults.


I boarded the same way I did against Penick. He Careful Studied on turn one discarding something and an Elesh Norn then Thoughtseized me on two. I responded by Macabre on Elesh Norn and he took my Sower.


He got a Griselbrand into play but I had a Lord of Atlantis to keep the pressure on so he couldn't keep drawing cards. One his last turn he Reanimated my Sower and took my Lord of Atlantis and for one second I thought, "oh fuck, now I'll have to draw something to win next turn." Then I realized I'm an idiot and the Lord still pumped my dudes and made them unblockable so I swung in and won.


After it ended Kyle Dembinski pointed out Gerry could have Dazed his own spell then Dazed his Daze to pick up his Islands and survive but luckily Gerry missed it.


11-2


Round 14: Michael Hetrick - UW Stoneblade
I was worried about this matchup because I had been told it was unwinnable.


We played two really close games with a bunch of good draws from both sides of the table. Right after he played Llawan in game two I drew a Vial and was able to replay all my guys and eventually grind out a win.


Round 15 and 16: Both draws to lock up Top 8.

Woop!

That night at dinner I made a joke on facebook about my match in the morning.

Adam Boyd: Please keep Gerry Thompson in your thoughts and prayers tonight.

I thought it was hilarious.

The next morning on site Gerry didn't even acknowledge that I existed and I thought he might have taken it the wrong way.

Oh well.

When we sat down he made a joke saying, "Remember when I used to beat you all the time?"

I thought for a while and responded, "....No? I think you've only beaten me once..."

Game one I stalled on land for a few turns and had to keep up mana so I didn't get hit with a Sword. I just wasn't able to mount enough of an offence and eventually he had too many spells for me to deal with.

-4 Leak +4 Image

Game two was awesome. I knew he had a Hero in hand, which I wasn't really expecting since he knew I was boarding in four Images, and I Pondered into Island, Image, Snag. I drew the Island and he Probed me then played the Hero then I had Image and Snag that he didn't know about to answer it and kill him when he wasn't able to come up with a way to target it.

-2 Mutagenic +2 Leak

Game three I got Stalker/Pike going pretty quickly and his Hero showed one turn too late.


-2 Leak +2 Dungeon Geist


Game four I mulliganed to six and joked about how it was the first time I hadn't kept a hand in the tournament. He had multiple Delvers and a Geist and I was way behind the whole time. Eventually after he flipped the Delvers I scooped.


Game five it was his turn to mulligan but he mulliganed into triple Geist and I stalled on mana again and was overwhelmed pretty quickly. I think I had a shot if he didn't top deck his one Dismember on that last turn.


Ended up in 6th place which was good enough for $3,000. Which is tough to complain about. I was especially proud that I was able to do it with a deck of my own design.


If you've got a standard tournament coming up I would suggest my Delver deck, it's awesome and I wouldn't change a card.


Sorry about how bad this was, and I know it was bad. I couldn't remember most of the matches and there are so few details.


I have a few more awesome stories from the weekend that I will write about a little later.


Thanks if you've managed to get this far.