Mike Hawthorne places 34th place in SCG's Open Legacy tournament in Indianapolis, piloting New Horizons. Recap his nine rounds, learn a bit on sideboarding, and see the tweaks he'd make to the deck.

HI EVERYBODY!

This last week I went to SCG Indy and had a blast as I always do. Loved it.

All the drunken shenanigans and some great videos of Forrest Ryan's 36 Japanese Checklist Deck will be coming out tomorrow.

The event was a blast for me, although I had a disappointing finish in Legacy, rounding the tournament off in 34th place.

Here are the 75 I registered.

Let's cycle to my tournament report.

Round 1: Burn

Burn and I have a really bad history. Round one of GP Providence I played against this joke of a Legacy deck. And lost. The loss in RI put me on tilt for the rest of the event and I played very sub-optimally. This time I was ready.

Game one on the draw I kept a hand of,
Wasteland
Stifle
Tropical Island
Brainstorm
Daze
Tarmogoyf
Windswept Heath

This hand is a great example of a Stifle, Wasteland hand. If your opponent leads with a dual or a fetch, this hand is great. If your opponent leads with Mountain, Goblin Guide, this hand is garbage.

Long story short: this was a long grinding match. I take game one due to the fact that I cast 3 Goyfs and a Knight to kill him before he can burn my face off. Game 2 he gets me with double Price of Progress and double Fireblast. Game three is a long grinding one that ends with me double [card Daze]Dazing[/card] a Lightning Bolt just so I don't have any nonbasics after leaving a Price of Progress on top of his library with Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

Sideboarding for this match.
-4 Stilfe
+2 Blue Elemental Blast
+2 Path to Exile

1-0

Round 2: Snapcaster BUG

After checking my table number on SCG's Twitter feed, I get to the row of tables look for my number, only to see my good friend and editor, Tyler Tyssedal playing Snapcaster BUG.

Tyler and drove down to Indy together and stayed in the same hotel room, tweaking decks the night before. It was a huge disappointment to have to play him. He as well as two of the other people (Pat McGregor and Josh Rayden) in our room were on the Gerry T, AJ Sacher Snapcaster BUG list.

I love this matchup because they aren't playing any basics and Stifle, Wasteland land destruction is simply fantastic.

Game one we both durdle around a bit and I resolve a Tarmogoyf on turn two. We battle over some removal and Tyler Hymm to Torachs me twice, but eventually that same Tarmogoyf knicks in the final lethal point of damage all on its lonesome.

Game two Tyler ends up resolving a Jace after casting two Thoughtseize. And that's about all that happened. I was land light with two Knight of the Reliquary in hand and he punished me.

Game three was a close one. We battle back and forth for board position with Tarmogoyfs and I finally resolve a Knight. I then play a Crucible of Worlds and use Knight to find a Wasteland. I then [card Wasteland]waste[/card] him and replay the waste to do it again. A resolved Crucible is almost impossible for any deck with no basics to beat.

I end up taking the match 2-1

Sideboarding for this match
-4 Swords to Plowshare
-1 Ponder
+2 [Card] Crucible of worlds[/card
+3 Path to Exile

2-0

Round 3: Reanimator (Feature Match)

I like this matchup a lot. I have 3 Tormod's Crypt and the singleton Bojuka Bog for searching out with Knight of the Reliquary, so it's almost like I have 7 graveyard hate cards.

I always feel like the key to this match up is shutting down the cards that put the creatures in their graveyard, such as Entomb and Careful Study. Not the cards that actually bring them back.

Game one I manage to stick two Tarmogoyfs and counter his three Entombs, wrapping up that game.

Game two I keep a really sketchy hand with two Tarmogoyf, a Spell Pierce and a Karakas. He ends up [card Reanimate]reanimating[/card] Jin-Gataxias, Core Augur and I bounce it with Karakas. He ends up reanimating a Stormtide Leviathan and CRUSHES me.

Game three I keep a hand with Crypt, Goyf, Force, and Daze. He takes the natural discard plan and I play a Crypt on turn two and eventually play a Knight. This game was pretty easy and I put the match away in short order.

Sideboarding for this match,
-2 Engineered Explosives
-1 Stilfe
-1 Swords to Plowshares
+3 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Bojuka Bog

3-0

Round 4: ANT (On Camera Feature Match)

Ari Lax piloting ANT on another feature match, this time on camera. And there's a weird amount of pressure when there are cameras staring at you.

This match wasn't close.

He basically Duresses me into oblivion and kills me in both games. That's really all there is to say.

Sideboarding for this match,
-4 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Meddling Mage
+2 Tormod's Crypt It does something against Cabal Ritual and Ill-Gotten Gains

3-1

Round 5: Hypergenesis

Game one I Stifle the Cascade on his Violent Outburst after resolving a Tarmogoyf. After battling over the, Stifle he does nothing for the rest of the game.

Game two he turn ones me and I Force of Will the Hypergenesis. He doesn't have any counter magic to back it up. I end up killing him with Meddling Mage naming Hypergenesis.

Sideboarding for this match,
-2 Engineered Explosives
+2 Meddling Mage

4-1

Round 6: ANT

Game one I mulligan to five on the play. My opponent led with a Lion's Eye Diamond and continued on to cast his spells in the wrong order, killing me anyway.

Game two he casts Duress, sees the Snapcaster Mage and the Stifle in my hand, taking Stifle. He then tries to go off when I have three open mana. I flash in the Snapcaster and Stifle his storm and proceed to kill him with the 2/1 and a Goyf. If he would have waited to assemble a hand and deal with my, [card Snapcaster Mage]Snapcaster[/card], he probably could have killed me. There was no pressure on board and he had plenty of time.

Game three I mulligan until I find a land, which was when I open up my four with land, land, Spell Pierce, and Meddling Mage. I keep it, [card Spell Pierce]Pierce[/card] a Thoughtseize and play the [card meddling Mage]Mage[/card]. He goes off the following turn using Ad Nauseam and finds a Death Mark. Then kills me.

Sideboarding is the same as round four.

4-2

Round 7: UW Stoneforge

This match was a long grinder. I didn't write any notes on this because I was tilted. I remember losing to a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and two Stoneforge Mystics.

Sideboarding for this match.
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Stifle
+2 Krosan Grip
+2 Meddling Mage naming STp is really good intros match up.
+2 Crucible of Worlds

4-3

Round 8: Dredge

My opponent kills me on turn two of game one.

Game two and three: My sideboard is pretty good against him and I end up just beating him down with 2/3 Goyfs and a HUGE Knight of the Reliquary.

Sideboarding for this match,
-1 Ponder
-2Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-4 Stifle
+3 Path to Exile
+3 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Bojuka Bog

5-3

Round 9: UW Landstill

I was basically playing this round for $50.

I mulligan to four in game one and still put up a hell of a fight. I resolve Jace, the Mind Sculptor and stay in the game while he resolves his own Elspeth, Knight Errant. I lose to the Planeswalker and we go to game two.

Game two he casts three Swords to Plowshares and two Path to Exile on my creatures and I am allowed to resolve a Jace. I stick a Terravore and and a Knight and he Enlightened Tutors for and casts a Moat. I had brought in Krosan Grip for this scenario, but I was forced to wait for one to draw as he fate seals me into oblivion.

5-4

In the End

That was it. I missed money with a 34th place finish.

It was disappointing, but I played tight and tried hard and had a blast.

I would probably cut Snapcaster. I really didn't like it at all and I would probably make them both Vendilion Cliques. Clique helps the comma matchup and is really good against the Stoneforge Mystic decks.

I'll be will writing about a few financial things tomorrow in my weekly Insider article.

Until Next Time…

So be sure to keep an eye out for my next article.

If you’re not having fun, you’re not risking anything.

Please feel free to post question in the comments or email me.