Eternal Weekend (11/19/2021) — 55th Place

My name is Aryaman Tummalapalli, and though I was born in India, I never really lived there, growing up mostly in Singapore, with stints in DC and Tokyo. I went to college in New York City, and I’m now a software engineer living in San Francisco. I have been playing Magic for almost six years now, since shortly before the release of Eldritch Moon in July 2016. I played exclusively Limited for a while, before gradually spreading into Modern, EDH, and Legacy. Outside of Magic, I enjoy listening to music and mixing cocktails. I love trying a wide variety of decks on Magic Online, but TES hooked me from when I first played it in spring of 2020 and I’ve played hundreds of matches with the deck online since, as well as bitten the bullet to assemble it in paper. I find both the jammed turn 1 wins and the turn 7 lines you puzzle through hate extremely rewarding. This year’s Eternal Weekend was the first big Legacy event I’ve played, and TES was the clear choice of deck.

Decklist

After trying with limited success to focus on work through Friday afternoon, I gave up around 4:30 and decided to spend the remaining half hour preparing for Eternal Weekend in the most important way: deciding which blingy card versions I wanted to use. Now, is it true that foils look terrible on Magic Online? Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to take advantage of this god account to play all the fancy card versions I can find. My only regret is that for some inexplicable reason, the secret lair [[Ponder]]s are present on MTGO, but not accessible even with the god account? Some things will never make sense. In any case, my art choices are below:

More has been written about this deck list by Bryant Cook than I could ever hope to do here, but this deck list is the current stock TES list. It’s mostly the same as the pre-MH2 list, with the notable addition of a fifth color. [[Defense Grid]] is poorly positioned at the moment both because of [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] treasures helping to pay for it, and more importantly because [[Prismatic Ending]] is everywhere and makes removing it very easy. Instead, they have been replaced by two [[Orim’s Chant]]. Speaking of [[Prismatic Ending]], guess what other card adding white lets us play? Triple [[Prismatic Ending]] in the sideboard makes for a super flexible answer to almost all hateful permanents we care about, from killing [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] on curve, answering [[Deafening Silence]] for one mana, [[Chalice of the Void]], and so on.

The other Modern Horizons 2 card we’re playing is [[Galvanic Relay]]. Relay could be described only a bit hyperbolically as 3 mana [[Mind’s Desire]]. Boarding into 3 copies of [[Galvanic Relay]] lets you just power through counter magic in the blue matchups, and even in game one scenarios opens up play patterns where opponents are forced to counter a naked [[Burning Wish]], because if they don’t you can grab [[Galvanic Relay]] and pretty easily draw 5+ cards on the following turn.

Eternal Weekend: Wasteland Event

Round One – tiggerwhit with Affinity

Game One (Draw):

I kept a 7 card hand on the draw with a couple pieces of protection, a bunch of mana, and a [[Ponder]] that I was relying on to find me an action piece. When opponent led on [[Seat of the Synod]], I was worried that I was facing the 8-Cast deck that’s been popular recently, which is a very poor matchup. But when they followed it up with a turn 1 [[Vault Skirge]], I felt a little better. My turn 1 [[Ponder]] found [[Mox Opal]] and [[Wishclaw Talisman]], so on turn 2 I decided that playing around counter spells is for chumps right? Opponent only had three cards in hand, so I pitched my [[Veil of Summer]] to [[Chrome Mox]] and jammed [[Ad Nauseam]] into a lethal [[Tendrils of Agony]].

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Prismatic Ending]]

Game Two (Draw):

My first two opening hands had mana but no action, ended up keeping 5 cards: 3 lands, [[Wishclaw Talisman]], and [[Orim’s Chant]]. In hindsight, I probably should have bottomed the Chant since I don’t think my opponent actually had counter magic. At the time, I was afraid of losing to a [[Force of Will]]. The hope here was to draw into [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and try and do something broken, but absent that the hand looked pretty slow, and I expected to be going to game 3. Meanwhile my opponent mulliganed to 3 cards, which turned out to be [[Ancient Tomb]], [[Retrofitter Foundry]], and a [[Pithing Needle]], with which they named [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on turn 1, shutting off the only plan my hand had.

A few turns of draw-go later, I cast [[Brainstorm]] into the [[Prismatic Ending]] for [[Pithing Needle]] as well as [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], but here I punted. Not thinking clearly, I put two [[Dark Ritual]]s on top of my deck instead of superfluous [[Orim’s Chant]]s (against a hellbent opponent), meaning that I could only draw one of them the following turn. Nevertheless I tutored and cast my maindeck [[Echo of Eons]]… and wound up one mana short of the win. Facing down lethal via [[Cranial Plating]], I conceded in shame.

Game Three (Play):

Opened up a hand with double [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and [[Echo of Eons]], and jammed. Resolved [[Echo of Eons]] with 5 mana floating into a perfect [[Tendrils of Agony]] on turn 1. Relieved my punt didn’t cost me the first round, I started off the event with a win!

Post-mortem

Despite playing [[Emry, Lurker of the Loch]], I don’t think that this straight Affinity ([[Vault Skirge]] + [[Cranial Plating]]) list was running any copies of [[Force of Will]], so I probably would have been better off keeping my [[Ponder]]s in and boarding out [[Veil of Summer]]s instead, but I am not used to playing against Affinity in Legacy so I boarded as though opponent was on 8-Cast or the Urza Echo decks.

Round Two – HJ_Kaiser with Jeskai Ragavan

Game One (Draw):

My first hand would have been excellent if only the [[Taiga]] was a fetchland. Without a black source to cast the [[Wishclaw Talisman]]s, I was forced to mulligan, and was rewarded. I kept a hand with a big pile of mana and a [[Burning Wish]], hoping either that a) opponent was on a non-blue deck, or b) to draw some protection. Unfortunately, opponent was indeed playing blue, and I drew nothing but mana until finally on turn 5, facing down a [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] and a 7/7 [[Murktide Regent]], I topdecked a [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. With a hand consisting of 6 pieces of mana and two tutors, I cast all my spells, tutored for [[Veil of Summer]], cast [[Burning Wish]] for [[Tendrils of Agony]], and won.

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], -1 [[Ad Nauseam]], +3 [[Galvanic Relay]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]]

Game Two (Draw):

Kept a hand of pure gas: [[Echo of Eons]], [[Burning Wish]], [[Wishclaw Talisman]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Dark Ritual]], [[Mox Opal]], and land. My turn 2 [[Brainstorm]] got [[Daze]]d, and then drew a second [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] on turn 3 to get Metalcraft. However, I managed to punt again at this point. Clicking without thinking, I cast both [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s, and then cast the [[Dark Ritual]] before the [[Mox Opal]], playing right into [[Daze]]. Sure enough, my opponent had the second [[Daze]], hitting my ritual and forcing me to pass the turn back. Opponent attacked with [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]] and [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]], cast a [[Murktide Regent]], and passed with 3 cards in hand.

For my 4th turn I drew a third [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], and facing almost lethal, I decided it was time to go. The key issue here was that my only initial mana sources were one land and [[Mox Opal]], making it impossible to cast anything more than a single tutor from hand that turn, but I strongly suspected my opponent was holding a [[Force of Will]]. Fortunately, also having [[Echo of Eons]] in hand made for a backup plan. I cast [[Burning Wish]] as force bait and sacrificed all my [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s. Here I was really hoping opponent would force this, because if it resolved, I would have been terrified to grab [[Peer into the Abyss]] knowing I’d be dead to a cleverly slow-rolled [[Force of Will]], but I didn’t really have any other targets, [[Galvanic Relay]] for 4 being extremely weak with no mana and 4 life. Fortunately, [[Keranos, God of Storms]] was smiling on me, opponent forced [[Burning Wish]], and I cast [[Echo of Eons]] into lethal with a [[Veil of Summer]] for protection.

Post-mortem

The line I took in game 2 basically relied on my opponent making a mistake. It was an easy mistake to make – forcing [[Burning Wish]] is usually the right thing to do, it’s a scary card, and knowing not to here would involve knowing my decklist – but still, an opponent playing perfectly would have beaten me here. Watching the replay now, I see that there was a better way to beat a slow-rolled [[Force of Will]]. Instead of cracking all 3 [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s in response to the [[Burning Wish]], I could have just passed priority. If opponent forces, I crack my [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s and flashback [[Echo of Eons]], and if they let it resolve, I can grab the other [[Echo of Eons]] from the sideboard. Now, I get to crack the [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s discarding both Echos, letting us play through a [[Force of Will]].

Round Three – kauffj with BUG Zenith

Game One (Draw):

Opponent revealed [[Yorion, Sky Nomad]] making me assume they were on Death and Taxes, but I was a little paranoid while bottoming my [[Orim’s Chant]], having just hopped over to Twitch between rounds and seeing CalebD on a Bant [[Green Sun’s Zenith]] deck with Yorion. My 6 card hand was a little slow, but had a couple cantrips and a [[Wishclaw Talisman]], so it seemed better than 5. Opponent led on [[Bayou]] into [[Green Sun’s Zenith]] for [[Dryad Arbor]], which together with [[Yorion, Sky Nomad]] meant BUG (lol imagine someone playing Abzan in Legacy). I cast turn 1 [[Wishclaw Talisman]] off a [[Chrome Mox]], which ate a [[Force of Negation]] and passed. On turn 2, I cast two cantrips, managing to find both [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and [[Echo of Eons]], but [[Ponder]]-locked myself into a couple draws I didn’t really want. Feeling no sense of urgency, I opted to pass the turn instead of wheeling in hopes of drawing protection in the next couple turns.

This was a big mistake, as opponent used their turn 3 to [[Green Sun’s Zenith]] for a [[Leovold, Emissary of Trest]], shutting off [[Echo of Eons]]. I played draw-go for a couple turns when, facing down lethal from a hellbent opponent, I topdecked my only out, a [[Burning Wish]]. I wished for [[Prismatic Ending]], exiled [[Leovold, Emissary of Trest]], and cast [[Echo of Eons]] with an untapped [[Underground Sea]] and a land drop available. Unfortunately, not all stories have happy endings, and my new hand was close, but not quite good enough, and I conceded.

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], -1 [[Echo of Eons]], +3 [[Galvanic Relay]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]]

Game Two (Play):

Kept a solid 6 card hand missing only land number two but having a [[Brainstorm]] to dig for it. Fortunately I naturally drew [[Scrubland]] on turn 2 and cast my first [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. On turn 2, my opponent cast [[Ponder]] and shuffled, making me feel pretty positive about resolving a second [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on turn 3, with the intent of going off on turn 4. Instead, I topdecked [[Veil of Summer]], and sensing weakness from my opponent’s choice to shuffle, cast it first. Opponent cast their own [[Veil of Summer]] and F6’d the rest of the turn. I tutored and cast [[Ad Nauseam]], but needed it to be good to hit storm 18 for [[Grapeshot]], since [[Tendrils of Agony]] was no longer an option. Fortunately, [[Ad Nauseam]] was good and I took game 2.

Game Three (Draw):

Kept a fairly strong hand that was just looking to draw a bit of mana and cast [[Galvanic Relay]]. My second turn came around and I had drawn a second land and [[Lotus Petal]] as hoped, so it was time to start casting spells. I cast a couple petals, ritual, and then used [[Brainstorm]] to stack [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and a third land drop on top of my deck for my storm 5 [[Galvanic Relay]]. I’m not used to [[Brainstorm]]ing before [[Galvanic Relay]], and I’m not sure how much it mattered, but I chose to hide the protection spells in my hand and reveal the tutors. Opponent cast [[Carpet of Flowers]] and took some other game actions that did not in any way stop me from casting [[Orim’s Chant]] and [[Veil of Summer]] from hand, the two [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s from exile, and winning the game (storm 9 [[Tendrils of Agony]] from the [[Wishclaw Talisman]]).

Round Four – C_o_B with RUG Delver

Game One (Draw):

Riding a bit of a 3-0 high going into round 4, I proceeded to lose my fourth consecutive die roll, but hey, I won those other three matches right? I kept an average 7 card hand that needed to find a bit more mana and a piece of protection, but had [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and [[Ad Nauseam]] in hand. My opponent also kept 7, leading on [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]] and [[Mishra’s Bauble]], a fairly aggressive start. On my turn 1, I cast a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] off of [[Chrome Mox]] (with a [[Lotus Petal]] to play around possible [[Daze]]) and passed the turn. On their turn, my opponent played a [[Delver of Secrets]], so the shelf life of my [[Ad Nauseam]] was limited. I drew and cast [[Ponder]] on turn 2 seeing nothing but lands, shuffled, and drew another land. Opponent played another [[Delver of Secrets]], but luckily neither did their first one flip, nor did they hit delirium for [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]]. Going into my turn 3, I was two mana away from casting [[Ad Nauseam]] while holding up two mana to claw for [[Veil of Summer]]. Instead, I drew [[Veil of Summer]] itself for turn, and windmill slammed it. It resolved, so I tapped [[Wishclaw Talisman]] to search up a [[Dark Ritual]]… and got it [[Stifle]]d. I passed the turn, opponent revealed [[Force of Will]] to flip both Delvers, I cursed the existence of [[Stifle]], drew a card and conceded.

Sideboarding: -1 [[Ponder]], -1 [[Ad Nauseam]], +3 [[Galvanic Relay]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]]

(Note: I misclicked when sideboarding and accidentally ran a 63 card deck instead of boarding out 4 [[Ponder]] as intended)

Game Two (Play):

Mulliganed an unkeepable 7, into a weak 6 that lost really hard to [[Wasteland]], into a 5 that was leaning pretty hard on [[Brainstorm]]. [[Brainstorm]] did a decent job, leaving us with a hand seeking only action. Meanwhile, opponent played [[Wasteland]] on turn 1, wasted my [[Tundra]], and did nothing else? They made no land drop on turn 2 or 3, and discarded a [[Ponder]] to hand size. Unfortunately I did not draw anything useful, and on turn 4 (with the help of a turn 3 [[Mishra’s Bauble]]) opponent played a land and a [[Delver of Secrets]]; the clock was on. After nothing much happening other than me getting my face beat by Delver for a few turns, on turn 7 I drew [[Wishclaw Talisman]].

I didn’t quite have enough mana to try to win, so I settled for trying to resolve [[Wishclaw Talisman]] this turn. I cast [[Orim’s Chant]] ([[Force of Will]] pitch [[Expressive Iteration]]), [[Veil of Summer]] ([[Force of Will]] pitch [[Stifle]]), and then got my [[Wishclaw Talisman]] onto the battlefield. The next turn, at 7 life, I [[Ponder]]ed and found [[Echo of Eons]] and [[Orim’s Chant]], with the [[Wishclaw Talisman]] representing [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. I drew [[Echo of Eons]] and passed so I could draw [[Orim’s Chant]] next turn, since opponent needed double [[Lightning Bolt]] to kill me. Alas, opponent untapped, cast [[Meltdown]] to blow up my [[Wishclaw Talisman]], leaving me with a hand that did nothing.

Post-mortem

I don’t think there was a whole lot that could have been done differently here, opponent just had the cards and we didn’t, and congratulations to them.

Round Five – MeTheKaptain with The EPIC Storm

Game One (Play):

Since MeTheKaptain is a regular participant in the Storm Discord, I knew before resolving mulligans that this was the mirror match, so winning the die roll (for the first time that night) was particularly nice. I kept 7 and pondered to set up a turn 2 [[Echo of Eons]]. I did as planned on turn 2, casting [[Echo of Eons]] floating a black mana with a land drop available, drawing this monstrosity of a hand.

I made my land drop and passed, knowing that I had just given my opponent a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and expecting to lose in short order. Instead, they played some mana rocks and a second [[Wishclaw Talisman]] before passing back to me. On my turn, I drew [[Ponder]] and proceeded to cantrip like a maniac. [[Ponder]], fetch, [[Brainstorm]], fetch, [[Brainstorm]], fetch, [[Brainstorm]], finally finding the [[Wishclaw Talisman]] with the fourth cantrip. Unfortunately, opponent silenced me in response to my [[Wishclaw Talisman]] activation, and I conceded on the premise that anyone who couldn’t figure out how to win with 3 [[Wishclaw Talisman]] against a hellbent opponent probably wouldn’t take TES to a tournament.

Sideboarding: None

Game Two (Play):

I kept 7 and started by casting [[Wishclaw Talisman]] off a turn 1 [[Dark Ritual]], with enough mana in hand to [[Ad Nauseam]] on the following turn. Opponent played some mana rocks, I jammed on turn 2, did not get [[Orim’s Chant]]ed, and won the game with Tendrils (after casting [[Orim’s Chant]] just in case of an opposing [[Veil of Summer]]).

Game Three (Draw):

Being on the draw for the third game scared me, and so did mulliganing to 6. The 6 looked slow to me, so I mulliganed to a respectable 5, looking for action but with an [[Orim’s Chant]] in hand to disrupt the opponent. For 3 turns both opponent and I just cast rocks and cantrips (including one cycled [[Veil of Summer]] on my part), until I drew [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on my fourth turn. Unfortunately I was a mana short of silencing opponent before casting [[Ad Nauseam]], so I opted to pass the turn, only to get my claw [[Abrupt Decay]]ed. The next turn I drew [[Burning Wish]] and wished for [[Peer into the Abyss]], passing the turn again. I strongly suspected my opponent had a [[Orim’s Chant]], but I was holding up one of my own as well. I passed, intending to draw out their Chant with mine on the next turn, and win the turn after that.

Unfortunately, opponent exiled one of my [[Lotus Petal]]s, leaving me a mana short of casting [[Orim’s Chant]] before [[Peer into the Abyss]]. but at this point I didn’t really want to pass the turn back to a storm opponent with 8 mana in play and a known [[Echo of Eons]] in hand. I decided to jam my [[Peer into the Abyss]], figuring in the worst case, I deploy a lot of mana, hold up [[Orim’s Chant]] for opponent’s turn, and discard down to a perfect 7 to win with. As it happened though, opponent had been bluffing the Chant the whole time, I drew 23 cards, cast spells unimpeded, and cast [[Grapeshot]] for the win.

Post-mortem

I think I made a couple mistakes in this match. One, I definitely should have sideboarded. [[Veil of Summer]] is not a particularly good card against TES, as I demonstrated in round 3, and they would have been better off as [[Prismatic Ending]]s and [[Abrupt Decay]]s as my opponent did, and used to good effect. Also, while I feel the 6 card hand was kinda borderline, it was probably better to keep it. I haven’t played very many mirror matches since MH2 released, and the impact of [[Orim’s Chant]] on the games is huge. I spent half the games playing around it, and I know from conversations with my opponent that they did the same. Given that, I should have kept what I thought was a slow hand on the back of [[Orim’s Chant]] and a [[Ponder]].

Round Six – JPA93 with Jeskai Delver

Game One (Draw):

Opponent kept 7 and led on Volc into [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]], so I marked them down as on UR Delver. I pondered on turn 1, cast Chant on turn 2, played double [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Ad Nauseam]], some other stuff, and [[Tendrils of Agony]] for 24.

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], -1 [[Ad Nauseam]], +3 [[Galvanic Relay]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]]

Game Two (Draw):

I kept a 7 with a line to play a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] (which ate a [[Force of Will]]) and [[Galvanic Relay]] for 6 on turn 1, which is what I did. Sadly, it contained 3 tutors but no mana, and the best I could accomplish was to deploy a [[Lotus Petal]] and a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and pass the turn with [[Burning Wish]] in hand. On top of that, the maindeck [[Echo of Eons]] got exiled to [[Galvanic Relay]] as well, further limiting potential options. On their turn 2, opponent played a [[Ponder]] and, surprisingly, a [[Tundra]], the first white source I had seen this match.

At this point, I was just hoping to topdeck an [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], which would have allowed for an [[Echo of Eons]] from the sideboard with [[Veil of Summer]] backup, but no spare mana, so even the best case scenario was not looking great. After drawing [[Tendrils of Agony]] for turn, I decided to Wish for a [[Peer into the Abyss]] that I was a couple mana away from casting, but in hindsight this was probably a mistake. A draw of [[Dark Ritual]] next turn would have let me cast [[Peer into the Abyss]], but without any protection, and drawing an [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] would be basically useless with the [[Peer into the Abyss]] already in my hand. Instead I should have Wished for [[Echo of Eons]] as I mentioned earlier, leaving me [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] as an out to cast a protected engine. In reality though, my choice this turn did not end up mattering, as opponent used their [[Tundra]] to cast a [[Meddling Mage]] on their turn, shutting off my [[Burning Wish]] target. I was able to [[Abrupt Decay]] the [[Meddling Mage]] a turn or two later, but fell to 1 life in the process, was forced to cast a mini [[Tendrils of Agony]] just to stay alive, and then conceded to [[Murktide Regent]].

Game Three (Play):

I kept a 7 with a bunch of mana and a [[Veil of Summer]], looking to draw action some time in the next couple turns. Opponent played a turn 1 [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] and I bricked on turn 2, but on turn 3 I spiked a [[Galvanic Relay]] and cast it for 6 following 4 mana rocks and a [[Rite of Flame]]. With a [[Veil of Summer]] in hand and a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] in exile I was feeling good about winning on turn 4, until my opponent cast a [[Meltdown]] on their turn, destroying all my mana rocks.

On the upside, drawing [[Dark Ritual]] for turn at least gave me the option of casting [[Wishclaw Talisman]] with [[Veil of Summer]] backup, but opponent had double force, as well as a [[Wasteland]] for my [[Badlands]]. It may have taken another 6 turns for [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] beats to eventually kill me, but for all intents and purposes, the game was over here.

Round Seven – into_play with Mono-G Post

Game One (Play):

I kept a solid 7 with [[Wishclaw Talisman]], a couple cantrips, and all 4 colors of mana between [[Tropical Island]] and [[Badlands]]. Ponder saw an [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], which gave me a line to [[Echo of Eons]] next turn. On their turn 1, opponent played [[Pithing Needle]] naming [[Wasteland]] and passed back to me, and the fact that they played it off of a turn 1 [[Forest]] suggested to me that I could afford to be a little more patient. Instead of taking the relatively risky line of casting [[Echo of Eons]] with no mana floating, I chose to cast a [[Brainstorm]] instead to get a bit more mana for next turn, and played the [[Tundra]] I drew off it rather than the [[Badlands]], hoping to look like a Bant deck. into_play is a master of their deck though, and either saw through my ruse or just hedged correctly by playing a second [[Pithing Needle]] on [[Wishclaw Talisman]], stopping me in my tracks. I spent the next 3 turns [[Brainstorm]] locked, heroically tried to stave off death by [[Primeval Titan]] with a kicked [[Orim’s Chant]], and then died.

Sideboarding: -4 [[Veil of Summer]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Prismatic Ending]]

Game Two (Play):

I kept a 6 card hand that could [[Echo of Eons]] on turn 1 using a [[Wishclaw Talisman]], but was forced into a decision on the first turn. I know that into_play’s sideboard contains 4 each of [[Mindbreak Trap]] and [[Force of Vigor]], and I needed to decide which one to play around. Jamming [[Echo of Eons]] would put me dead to [[Mindbreak Trap]], by playing out the [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and passing the turn would expose myself to [[Force of Vigor]]. I decided to play around [[Force of Vigor]], and promptly got hit with a [[Mindbreak Trap]]. I cast nothing else of relevance for the rest of the game before being hit by [[Marit Lage Token]].

Round Eight – mhwhet with Elves

Game One (Play):

I went into round 8 feeling pretty demoralized by my third loss, and contemplated dropping, but since I still had a shot at top 64 with an x-3 finish I rallied and went into the next match. I won the die roll and kept the following no lander.

This hand actually had [[Ad Nauseam]] and 5 mana, so I had the option to jam on turn 1, but in the dark I didn’t want to take the chance of losing to a [[Force of Will]], so instead I cast [[Lotus Petal]], [[Mox Opal]], and [[Chrome Mox]], then cast [[Brainstorm]] with the imprint trigger on the stack hoping to draw a land to shuffle and cast [[Ponder]], looking for some more mana and protection, particularly a fetchland. My 3 cards off the [[Brainstorm]] were basically perfect: fetchland, [[Lotus Petal]], and [[Veil of Summer]], so I hid [[Ad Nauseam]] on top of my deck and passed the turn. To my delight, my opponent spent their turn casting [[Green Sun’s Zenith]] off a [[Forest]], signaling Elves, a good matchup for TES. I untapped, played [[Veil of Summer]], [[Dark Ritual]], and [[Ad Nauseam]], culminating in a turn 2 [[Tendrils of Agony]] for 28.

Sideboarding: -2 [[Orim’s Chant]], -2 [[Veil of Summer]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Prismatic Ending]]

Game Two (Draw):

I kept a hand with [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and a couple [[Dark Ritual]]s, looking to cast [[Ad Nauseam]] on turn 2 or 3. Between turns 1 and 2, opponent played [[Dryad Arbor]], [[Quirion Ranger]], and [[Birchlore Rangers]], but I topdecked [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] on turn 2. That gave me 8 mana, exactly enough to cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]] into [[Ad Nauseam]] for another turn 2 [[Tendrils of Agony]]. The entire match took 12 minutes from die roll to match win screen, which was very pleasing. I think when playing combo, one deserves at least 1-2 free wins per tournament, so after having to fight all night for my wins, it was nice to get a quick round to take a break and have a drink before the final round.

Round Nine – connormc02 with UR Delver

Game One (Draw):

I kept 7 with mana and a cantrip, while my opponent took the play and mulliganed to 5. I briefly suspected combo from the mulligan, but then they led on [[Volcanic Island]] and [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]], making this my third monkey matchup of the day (fewer than I was expecting to face to be honest). My turn one [[Ponder]] saw both [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and [[Veil of Summer]], but with only two lands in play and no [[Lotus Petal]]/[[Mox Opal]], the colors didn’t work out for me to [[Veil of Summer]] into [[Ad Nauseam]] on turn 2, so I was going to have to pass the turn back. Opponent played turn 2 [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]], I played land and passed, taking 3 damage from opponent’s creatures. On turn 3, I played a pile of rituals, [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], and a [[Veil of Summer]] which ate a [[Force of Will]], leaving opponent with just a single card in hand. At this point, my storm count (and mana) was high enough that I could [[Wishclaw Talisman]] for Wishclaw for [[Tendrils of Agony]], taking game 1.

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], -1 [[Ad Nauseam]], +3 [[Galvanic Relay]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]]

Game Two (Draw):

Fortune was on my side these last couple rounds, as my opponent mulliganed to 5 again in game 2, opening with a [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]] again. Meanwhile, I opened a hand with 9 mana, [[Burning Wish]], and [[Veil of Summer]], which meant that with a single exra mana source off the top I would be able to cast [[Peer into the Abyss]] with [[Veil of Summer]] for backup on turn 1. Naturally, I kept that hand and prayed for another mana. Unfortunately I drew [[Tendrils of Agony]], so I played a land and generously gave my oppponent a second turn, with which they cast [[Brainstorm]] and a second [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]]. On turn 2 I drew [[Chrome Mox]], the perfect use for my [[Tendrils of Agony]] (I had nothing else to pitch to it). I cast mana, [[Veil of Summer]], [[Burning Wish]], and [[Peer into the Abyss]] to draw 25 cards. I cast a bunch of other spells, culminating in (just for fun) [[Grapeshot]] for lethal.

Totals & Stats

 

Closing & General Thoughts

Since my last round was so fast, I had to wait upwards of half an hour for everyone else’s match to finish to get my final standing with tiebreakers, but I ultimately finished in 55th place and prized out slightly better than break-even, which is a win in my book. TES feels great in the current Legacy meta, and though I definitely made mistakes in this tournament, luck was on my side and I was able to end with a good record, with my sole regret being that I did not get to cast [[Empty the Warrens]] a single time all night. A call with a friend and the general chill vibes in my house made 9 rounds of timed Swiss much less draining than I thought it might be, and I’m now considering playing the Sunday Vintage EW event this weekend. I went into this event expecting little more than a round 5 drop, so a final record of 6-3 was something I was very happy with, and a top 64 finish on breakers left me in the mood to celebrate. Until next time, may [[Keranos, God of Storms]] heap blessings upon you!