Sneaking to 1st place at a Legacy Double Box

I love Legacy, and always have, the format was first developed to bridge the gap between eternal and extended formats. I am one of those players who have been playing the format since it was first invested, so when I heard there was going to be a double box tournament I was very excited and made sure to attend.

Proxies

This tournament was fairly unique in that the organizers allowed players to proxy 10 cards to allow newer player to “upgrade” their Modern decks and play the greatest format in the magic world. Being an avid collector I am fortunate to have an extensive legacy collection and choose to play Sneak and Show but if you look through the deck list below you might notice that I played 3 Emrakul, the Aeon Torn and 1 Blightsteel Colossus, this was not some secret tech but I don’t have 4 Emrakul, the Aeon Torn and didn’t want to have any proxies in my deck. Blightsteel Colossus turned out to be my MVP on the day and I would definitely include it in all future builds.

My Deck

My Games

I don’t remember too much about my games but I recall a legendary game against Tim who was playing a lot of hand disruption which is probably the worst thing you want to come up against with Sneak and Show. In this match I recall the true value of Brainstorm as I was able to brainstorm in response to a Thoughtseize and put my 2 combo pieces onto the top of my library thereby ensuring 2 Top Deck’s for the win.

I was the only player on 4-0 going into the final round, I knew I would be paired against Gerhard Nysschens (Blue something control) or Richard Wicht (Reanimator) who had drawn the 4th round. If I could have chosen, I definitely wanted to play Richard as a Gerhard Blue Control deck is always a tricky prospect – I got paired against Gerhard.

I pulled off a turn 3 intuition into 3 show and tells to combo on turn 4 with counter back-up to win game 1. Game 2 went long after I eventually managed to get a show and tell to stick Gerhard dropped an ensnaring bridge to effectively keep me from attacking. As with most control decks it took a long time for him to eventually kill me. I played game 2 out to the end as it was important for me to understand how his deck would kill me so I could sideboard properly for game 3. I also knew that a draw would most likely benefit me due to my 4-0 record going into the round.

After being locked out in game 3 by ensnaring bridge I pulled out my sideboard and there was no answer to it, I just needed to make sure it didn’t land. Game 3 turn 2 I could play show and tell with counter back-up the only risk was does he have ensnaring bridge. I decided to go for it, I played show and tell and put my Griselbrand facedown, Gerhard put his card face down, and as we flipped them I see the ensnaring bridge and I knew I couldn’t win. 2 turns later time was called and I was able to secure the draw and the tournament win.

Final Thoughts

Thank you to the organizers Exalted Games and all the player who joined in what turned out to be an awesome day. Legacy is definitely a great format and I look forward to more tournaments like this and more players giving it a go. My sideboard needs and answer to ensnaring bridge and Blightsteel Colossus is fantastic. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I look forward to your comments.