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On Sunday, in Orlando, Florida, StarCityGames.com’s Legacy Open tournament wrapped up. As the first high profile Legacy tournament since the introduction of Mental Misstep, there are a few things worthy of note.
Full decklists can be found here, on SCG’s site. Results are as follows:
- 1st place: Team America by Chris VanMeter
- 2nd place: Mono-Blue Control by Gerry Thompson
- 3rd place: Mono-Blue Control by Drew Levin
- 4th place: Painted Stone by John Cuvelier
- 5th place: Team America by Josh Jacobson
- 6th place: Merfolk by Nicholas Spagnolo
- 7th place: Team America by Edgar Flores
- 8th place: Metalworker by Jason Raflowitz
- 9th place: Merfolk by Dakota Rogers
- 10th place: Mono-White Mystic by Daniel Payne
- 11th place: Painted Stone by Bronson Magnan
- 12th place: Merfolk by Chris Lewis
- 13th place: Merfolk by Vincent Lanceford
- 14th place: Metalworker by Ali Aintrazi
- 15th place: Merfolk by Tim Landale
- 16th place: Merfolk by Steven Goanos
In the Top 8:
- There were 27 Mental Missteps in the Top 8.
- All eight Top 8 decks played blue.
- Only one deck in Top 8 didn’t play Mental Misstep.
- Six decks playing Mental Misstep played a full set of 4, the other playing 3.
- Only three decks ran Tarmogoyf: Team America, Team America, and Team America.
- Team America displayed three creature choices: Tombstalker, Dark Confidant, and a dangerously aggressive inclusion of both Tombstalker and Dark Confidant.
- There were 12 [card Llawan, Cephalid Empress]Llawan, Cephalid Empresses[/card] in the sideboards of five Top 8 decks.
- There were five archetypes: Team America, Mono-Blue Control (with white for [card Swords to Plowshares]Swords[/card]), Painted Stone, Merfolk, and Metalworker.
From 9th-16th:
- There were an additional 18 [card Mental Misstep]Mental Missteps[/card].
- Three decks didn’t play Mental Misstep: Mono-White Mystic, Merfolk, Metalworker.
- There were 9 [card Llawan, Cephalid Empress]Llawan, Cephalid Empresses[/card] in the sideboards of four decks.
- Only one deck didn’t play blue: Mono-White Mystic.
Top 16:
- Fifteen of the Top 16 played blue.
- Twelve of the Top 16 played Mental Misstep
- Three Team America decks made Top 8, one making finals and taking 1st as a result of Gerry Thompson scooping.
- Two Mono-Blue Control decks made Top 8, one making finals and taking 2nd.
- Two Painted Stone builds made Top 16, one making Top 8.
- Six Merfolk builds made Top 16, one making Top 8. Only one didn’t run Mental Misstep
- Twenty-one [card Llawan, Cephalid Empress]Llawan, Cephalid Empresses[/card] were found in the sideboards of 9 decks—over half of the Top 16.
- Two Metalworker builds made Top 16, one making Top 8.
- Three Karn Liberated made a showing in Metalworker. Two in one deck, one in the other.
Congratulations to everyone this weekend! The meta has definitely felt a shift and I am interested in how it will respond to the potential impact of Mental Misstep.
I think we’ll see a few more [card Llawan, Cephalid Empress]Llawan, Cephalid Empresses[/card] in sideboards, pushing a little more hate Merfolk’s way. It made an impressive showing in the Top 16, but fell out of favor the closer it got to finals.
Maybe then we’ll see Merfolk splashing green for Tarmogoyf in order to sidestep the [card Llawan, Cephalid Empress]Empress[/card]. Or—what’s more likely—not.
How does everyone feel about this week’s results? Where might the format head from here on out?
Tyler Tyssedal
Both decks labeled “mono blue control” run white. Cam someone please clarify what “mono” means for me?
Because 3-4 swords to plowshares don't really "count" as an additional color. Though it's still obviously a U/w standstill deck. Which is actually really powerful.
I watched the Semi Final match between U/w Landstill and PainterStone. It illustrated just how well Mental Misstep and Standstill work together. One of the problems with Standstill prior was that if you were not able to keep a turn 1 threat off the board than your Standstill was dead in hand. Mental Misstep along with Force of Will, Spell Snare and Swords to Plowshares enables the Standstill player to keep the early threat off the board and then drop the Standstill shutting the opponent out and creating a huge shift of control and card advantage in the Landstill player's favor. Mental Misstep is just the card that was needed to push Standstill up a tier in its potency. I have been playing Landstill before the printing of Mental Misstep, and I hope to see more innovation with this deck in weeks to come.
I think you're exactly right.
Vedalken Shackles is out of stock at SCG at $14.99, now. They were holding at $9-10 in most places before this past weekend, and I still found a few in stock at a couple of online stores for ~$10.
I doubt you'll even need more than two in any single build, but I don't see the card becoming worse anytime soon.
I'm not sure if I'm completely sold yet on Vedalken Shackles. If you run that card you probably shouldn't run basic Plains, which means you really aren't playing White. I still think that white has more to offer than just 3 Swords in the main deck. Maybe this is old school mentality but I like the option of some board sweepers plus Humility, as well as Elspeth KE. I also think the deck should run 4 Factories, not 3.
But maybe I should pick up a couple Vedalken Shackles just in case…
“It’s two weeks before we have to make an entry for him, and a decision will be made around that time,” Oxx said. I would have no fears about the surface there. He has plenty of Polytrack experience on the Curragh, and I think he would love the surface and bounce off it.”