Legacy

The Eye of Ugin: Tales From GP Providence

Musings from the Eye of Ugin or How to Climb Stairs with Stars

Here I was, at the border of the United States and Canada.
I sat checking my watch for the third time in the past minute.
It reads 1:13am. I look up, down, left, right, and around.
I get the feeling I’m one of those idiots on an episode of COPS.
It has been three hours since we arrived at the border.
A storm has just begun outside.
A bolt of lightning illuminates the otherwise pitch black sky for a split second.
The cackling thunder soon follows, seemingly mocking my predicament.
I closed my eyes and thought about my last three slots for my mono blue Merfolk sideboard.
I have all the time in the world now; might as well take advantage of that.

I arrive at Face to Face Games Thursday night before GP Providence and playtest a couple games with KYT and the Montreal team. They’ve finalized some sort of [Card]Stoneforge Mystic[/Card] deck, nicknamed “Team Westmount” because the main deck designers Alex Hayne and Rob Anderson both live in Westmount.

The games played out interestingly, like against any blue deck, Merfolk is really well positioned to just beat down and donk the opponent. However, once the Team Westmount deck resolves a Stoneforge and fetches a [Card]Batterskull[/Card], things look a little grim for the fish. Since Merfolk packs no sort of removal spell whatsoever, when the Mystic vials in the Batterskull it becomes really hard to race.

That is not to say that game becomes unwinnable at that point; all it really meant was that Merfolk needed a way to push through when that happens. A [Card]Lord of Atlantis[/Card] granting Islandwalk, a leveled [Card]Coralhelm Commander[/Card], or even a [Card]Merrow Reejerey[/Card] tapping down the germ can allow Merfolk to push through. If you’ve played Merfolk or against it, you’ll see that this actually happens a lot. The best thing about Merfolk is still the fact that it has so much redundancy and synergy.

– When you have counters to protect your guys, you can just kill your opponent.
– When you have dudes instead of counters, you can just play another dude and kill your opponent.
– When you have Wasteland, you can cut them at the knees and disrupt their mana, making cards like Daze almost a hard counter.

Back to the Team Westmount deck. I knew that the straight U/W version still struggles against Merfolk game one. What Batterskull really represents was instead of a virtually unwinnable game one, you actually might have a shot if your Merfolk opponent stumbles because of a loose keep or just draws into nothing at all.

After the couple of quick games with the team, I leave for Providence.

After two hours of driving, we arrive at the US/Canada border. Long story short, we then spend 4 hours at the border.

There were fingerprints.
There were mugshots.
There were interrogations.
There was paperwork.
No white gloves.

At 2 AM, we were free men again and drove back to Montreal.

Mat made some phone calls on my behalf, pulled some strings and got me a ride. Friday morning, this was the crew heading for Providence:
– Jay Elarar
– Dan Kramer
– Dan Lanthier
– Eugene Ho

Well… this was definitely an even more insane team than last time.

I’m sure anybody familiar with the Canadian Magic scene needs no introduction to these heavy hitters. I’ve heard legends about how they used to dominate the scene when they were active, but never actually met them. I slept through most of the drive just because I was tired from the previous night.

Fast forward a couple of hours, we arrive in Providence, Rhode Island. After some playtesting in the hotel room, I come to the conclusion that Merfolk is still the nuts, as it kept beating Team America and various other blue decks.

Come the next morning, I register this for Grand Prix Providence:

[Deck Title=Mono Blue Merfolk by Eugene (Ugin) Ho]
[Lands]
13 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aether Vial
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
2 Umezawas Jitte
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Dismember
2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
3 Null Rod
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Spell Pierce
2 Submerge
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

This follows the stock list from my previous article with the following changes:
– I took out the lone [Card]Mishra’s Factory[/Card], because it was always underperforming, and I’d rather play a real spell instead.
– 2 [Card]Merfolk Sovereign[/Card] – I felt that these really add raw power to the fish, and they also help you push through. I was always happy whenever I drew it.
– 2 [Card]Umezawas Jitte[/Card] – I’m a really big fan of the card, and it helps the bad matchups tremendously. Jitte also takes care of problematic cards like [Card]Dark Confidant[/Card] and [Card]Stoneforge Mystic[/Card].

The main deck I felt was near perfect. [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card] is what you want to be playing in Merfolk right now, because it has so much utility and combo is at an all time low. [card]Merfolk Sovereign[/card] I’m pretty happy with, but I could have as easily played [card]Spell Pierce[/card] over it and I’d still have been happy about it. On the other hand, I felt the sideboard was garbage.

Now, I made the right call on these:
– I think the 2-2 split between [card]Submerge[/card] and [card]Dismember[/card] is correct and I wouldn’t change that.
– 3 is the minimum number of [card]Spell Pierce[/card] I would want in the 75. Depending on the metagame you might want to move them to the main.
– The [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card] was just awesome every time I drew it; I would play at least 3 in any upcoming tournaments.
– You want at least 2-3 Llawan to fight other Merfolk decks

These, however, were just terrible calls:

– I played [Card]Null Rod[/Card] over [Card]Energy Flux[/Card] because it comes a turn earlier and is good against ANT/TES as well. All I can say that it is most definitely wrong and DO NOT play Null Rod in your Merfolk sideboard.
– [Card]Sower of Temptation[/Card] was never the blowout card I thought it would be, and most of the time it ate a removal spell or was stuck in my hand because I couldn’t get 4 mana.

This is the sideboard I’d play in future tournaments:
– 2 [Card]Submerge[/Card]
– 2 [Card]Dismember[/Card]
– 3 [Card]Phyrexian Revoker[/Card]
– 3 [Card]Llawan, Cephalid Empress[/Card]
– 3 [Card]Spell Pierce[/Card]
– 2 [Card]Blue Elemental Blast[/Card]

This sideboard is not perfect, as there are just way too many matchups to take care of and you can’t have everything. The artifact hate is gone, but Affinity hasn’t been posting good results, thus it is not very popular these days. [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card] also addresses a lot of the problem cards against Affinity, such as [Card]Arcbound Ravager[/Card], [Card]Cranial Plating[/Card], [Card]Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas[/Card], etc. I think this configuration addresses most of the problem cards that Merfolk faces, without sacrificing flexibility.

Tournament Report

I’m not going to do a play by play analysis, but I’ll give the a recap of how the games played out and how the matchup usually goes.

Day One

1: Life Combo 2-1
2: Junk 2-1
3: Team America 2-0
4: Combo Elves 2-1
5: Merfolk 0-2
6: High Tide 2-0
7: Merfolk 2-0
8: U/W/R Stoneforge 1-2
9: U/W/B Stoneforge (Josh Utter-Leyton!!!) 2-0

The Life Combo deck was something I’d heard of before, but I’ve never actually played against it in a tournament. What it tries to do is get [Card]Nomads en-Kor[/Card] and [Card]Daru Spiritualist[/Card] into play, give a Cleric infinite toughness, and sacrifice to [Card]Diamond Valley[/Card] or [Card]Starlit Sanctum[/Card]. I’m not sure if it is a good matchup for Merfolk or not, but the combo seems rather prone to disruption, and Merfolk can usually beat down and just kill.

First game I Force one of the combo pieces and the fish beat him down.

Second game he gets the combo turn 2 and I don’t have any counterspells.

Third game I [Card]Submerge[/Card] his dude in response to another combo piece coming into play, and attack for lethal the following turn.

Junk is W/G/B, playing cards like [Card]Tarmogoyf[/Card] and [Card]Knight of the Reliquary[/Card] for power and good cards like [Card]Swords to Plowshares[/Card] and [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card]. Usually the matchup with Merfolk is really tight, and whoever makes the first mistake usually punts and loses. Thankfully he played horribly and I beat him despite him taking down game one.

Team America is one of the best decks in Legacy, because it plays [Card]Force of Will[/Card]/[Card]Brainstorm[/Card], [Card]Hymn to Tourach[/Card] and [Card]Dark Confidant[/Card] or Bob. Some of the most powerful things you can do in Legacy right now.

However, Merfolk beats that deck rather easily because Merfolk is just so much faster and can really disrupt Team America with its [Card]Wasteland[/Card], [Card]Daze[/Card], etc. I beat it 2-0 as expected.

Combo Elves is a really hard matchup for Merfolk. Elves combos usually around turn 3, and is really hard for Merfolk to disrupt. He was playing a blue splash, for reasons unknown until the very final turn of the match.

Game one he combo kills me turn 3.

Game two I have [Card]Submerge[/Card] and [Card]Dismember[/Card] to keep him honest, and my [Card]Umezawas Jitte[/Card] lands and takes down the game soon after. Game three was really tight. I Submerge a [Card]Nettle Sentinel[/Card] in response to his [Card]Green Sun’s Zenith[/Card], and suddenly he couldn’t combo off that turn. I draw my other [card]Submerge[/card] (mise) and beat down. He fetches a land, and I Submerge away the [card]Nettle Sentinel[/card] he fetched from the Zenith before. I beat again on my turn. I had lethal on board, and he didn’t have anything to combo with on board. He top decks… [Card]Intuition[/Card]! He bins his [Card]Vengevine[/Card]s, plays two creature spells, and attacks with the angry plants. I vial in a [Card]Lord of Atlantis[/Card], and block to save myself from dying. Next turn I attack for the win. Whew!

Merfolk mirrors are funny. Usually it’s really based on chance, like whoever wins the die roll, or just draws like a god. Sometimes if you’re playing someone less experienced and doesn’t realize the interaction of their [Card]Lord of Atlantis[/Card] and your creatures, you’ll be able to mise a game. My opponent was a fairly solid Merfolk player, and won the die roll, so the odds were already stacked against me. He played [Card]Aether Vial[/Card]s turn 1 and 2, and just goes to town with it. When I lost that game my hand was 3 Lord of Atlantis.

Game 2 on the play my hand was really good, containing 3 lands, assorted Merfolk, and [Card]Llawan, Cephalid Empress[/Card]. I never get past 3 lands and my opponent had turn 1 and 2 [card]Aether Vial[/card] again. I get pretty much locked out and lose when he vials in Llawan.

In round 7, when I played the mirror again, I had turn 1 [Card]Aether Vial[/Card], turn 2 [Card]Umezawas Jitte[/Card] so it was kinda hard to lose that one.

Game 2 we both had a Vial, and since he went first I was on the back foot (He did play a [card]Lord of Atlantis[/card], however…). The one turn before he had lethal, I ticked my Vial to 3, put a [Card]Merrow Reejerey[/Card] into play, played a spell, untapped the vial, put a [Card]Merfolk Sovereign[/Card] into play and killed for exact.

High Tide is one of those good matchups for Merfolk, because you just beat down and counter their stuff when they try to go off. On the turn he tries to go off, he plays [Card]High Tide[/Card] and I [Card]Mental Misstep[/Card]. He plays another one and it resolves. He tries to play [Card]Turnabout[/Card], I [Card]Force of Will[/Card] it, and the game was mine.

Game 2 he had two [Card]Pact of Negation[/Card] for my double [card]Force of Will[/card] on his [Card]Time Spiral[/Card]. We got new hands, and mine had [card]Mental Misstep[/card] and 6 other cards that aren’t counterspells. He tries to [Card]Ponder[/Card] and I Misstep. He [Card]Brainstorm[/Card]ed… and whiffed.

The last two decks I played in the day are [Card]Stoneforge Mystic[/Card] decks. The first one splashed red, which is arguably the version that Merfolk has the worst time with. It plays less counterspells and more gas like [Card]Grim Lavamancer[/Card].

Game one he got turn 2 Stoneforge, and used [Card]Swords to Plowshares[/Card] on my Lord. [Card]Batterskull[/Card] takes down the game.

Game two I Forced his turn 2 Stoneforge, and the fish took it from there.

Game three this was the hand I kept:
– 2 [Card]Island[/Card]
– 1 [Card]Mutavault[/Card]
– 1 [Card]Silvergill Adept[/Card]
– 2 [Card]Force of Will[/Card]
– 1 [Card]Spell Pierce[/Card]

I drew two more [card]Spell Pierce[/card]. When I drew [card]Lord of Atlantis[/card], it wass turn 5 and he resolved [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]. [card]Lord of Atlantis[/card] gets Plowed despite my best efforts to Force it. Soon after, he plays [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card], shot down my team, and [card]Batterskull[/card] took it down for him.

So there I was, 6-2, and the next round was the win-and-your-in.

I check the pairings, and I’m paired against Josh Utter-Leyton.

Suddenly, I was reminded of my GP Toronto experience.

I was also 6-2 going into the win-and-your-in round and I was paired against Kazuya Mitamura, arguably the toughest opponent in the X-2 bracket. As expected, that didn’t end well. Was I gonna let history repeat itself and let myself get dream crushed by a pro? I took a deep breath, and walked towards my table.

We sit down, shake hands, and I win the die roll. I knew that he was playing some kind of Stoneforge deck, as I’d heard all the Channelfireball crew came up with. I was extra happy because going first meant that it would be harder for his [Card]Batterskull[/Card] to race me.

My turn one [Card]Aether Vial[/Card] resolved. He played [Card]Underground Sea[/Card], and suddenly I felt a lot more confident. Splashing black meant that he was running [Card]Dark Confidant[/Card], which actually helps me kill him, and it also means that he is more susceptible to [Card]Wasteland[/Card]. Turn two I played [Card]Umezawas Jitte[/Card], which resolved as well. He played a Bob. I Vialed in [Card]Cursecatcher[/Card] end of turn, untap, equip, swing. That’s how I won.

Game two my keep was this:
– 1 [Card]Force of Will[/Card]
– 1 [Card]Spell Pierce[/Card]
– 2 [Card]Coralhelm Commander[/Card]
– 2 [Card]Island[/Card]
– 1 [Card]Dismember[/Card]

Turn 1 (his): Land, go
Turn 2 (mine): Land, go, he [card]Brainstorm[/card]ed EOT
Turn 3 (his): Land, Bob.
Turn 4 (mine): Land, Dismember. He Forced. I blew him out with [card]Spell Pierce[/card].
Turn 5 (his): Bob, I Forced it, pitching the [card]Force of Will[/card] that I drew the turn before.

I started playing [Card]Coralhelm Commander[/Card]s. When he resolved a Stoneforge, I drew a Wasteland and killed his white source, preventing him from any Batterskull shenanigans. After a couple of turns, he gave me the handshake.



That was it. That was the end of day one, and I made day two of a GP! It felt really surreal. I’ve never done exceedingly well at any major Magic tournament, let alone a GP. I originally felt uneasy when KYT asked me to write for Mana Deprived, because I felt like I had no qualifications. Well at least now I could add day two GP Providence competitor to my resume. But this was not the end of it; I still had a tournament to win!

10 AM the next morning I sat down for my Day Two round 1.

And I crashed and burned:
10: Zoo 0-2
11: TES 1-2
12: Affinity 0-2 drop

Zoo is the worst matchup for Merfolk, as I’m sure all of you know by now. They have bigger, faster threats, coupled with cheap efficient removal. I tred to play a couple of fish to match with his [Card]Wild Nacatl[/Card], [Card]Qasali Pridemage[/card], [Card]Tarmogoyf[/Card], and the fish got plowed, burned, exiled, etc… I had the Jitte in hand, but he just sat on Qasali Pridemage, refusing to let it go into the red zone, which I guess was the right play for him, as Zoo just straight up can’t lose to Merfolk unless Jitte gets going.

TES is about 50/50 for Merfolk, at least for an experienced pilot instead of a random scrub.

Game 1 he tried to go off turn 3 and I had the Force for his [Card]Ad Nauseam[/Card].

Game 2 I kept a hand with double [card]Mental Misstep[/card] and various dudes and lands, as I didn’t think I could reliably get a six-hander that was better. He went: [Card]Lotus Petal[/Card], land, double [Card]Lion’s Eye Diamond[/Card], [Card]Infernal Tutor[/Card], sac Diamonds while holding priority, fetch [card]Ad Nauseam[/card]. Got Force? Nice Deck!

Game 3 I tried to get my stuff going, but he played [Card]Xantid Swarm[/Card], which I had no choice but to Force. Then seeing the coast was clear, he comboed off into 14 Goblin tokens. I don’t have Jitte or any other outs.

I’ve covered Affinity before, but I’d thought I give it a special mention again. I basically made epic misplay after misplay in game 1 which lost me the game. I had the Jitte plus some dudes in hand, so I wasn’t in particularly bad shape. As usual he put some dudes in play turn 2~3 and resolved a [Card]Cranial Plating[/Card]. I was in bad shape, but if I could get my creatures to trade while wearing a Jitte, I would have been well positioned to win. For some reason, I completely started to freak out and time walked myself by [card]Wasteland[/card]ing his black source, in fear of [Card]Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas[/Card] or something. Next thing he played was a [Card]Springleaf Drum[/Card], which I Misstep, “because there would be no other target”. He shrugged and played [card]Dispatch[/card] on my blocker.

Game two I mulligan into [Card]Wasteland[/Card], [Card]Mutavault[/Card], [Card]Null Rod[/Card], plus 3 dudes. I guess I keep? He had turn 1 [Card]Disciple of the Vault[/Card] and [Card]Signal Pest[/Card].  I turn 2 Null Rod. He then went [Card]Frogmite[/Card], Frogmite, then applied the beats. I couldn’t get another land for 3 turns. I tried to stabilize, but he played a [card]Mox Opal[/card] into another [card]Mox Opal[/card] to dome me for two, killing me.



Well I guess that was it. I slump back in my seat. Surprisingly I didn’t feel as sad as I thought I would. It wasn’t the giggly made-day-two-and-that’s-all-that-matters euphoria either. Sometimes you just can’t win it all. I played some tough matchups, misplayed and lost. That’s just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

But I knew one thing for certain; if you play well, you will get rewarded with victories. I’ve played in 3 GPs so far: Taipei, Toronto, and Providence. My results were: scrubbing out, almost making day two, and finally, making day two.

It was clear that when I had more preparation and was on the top of my game I did better; results don’t lie. I am making baby steps in becoming a better player, I know that for certain. Maybe the next GP I play in I will top 8, who knows? The fire is burning stronger than ever.

Wish me luck on my quest to master the game that is Magic: The Gathering

No longer a scrub,
-Eugene Ho!

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