Emperor of Legacy Preliminary – Hareruya Osaka 2020.02.29

For the unfamiliar, Hareruya runs "Emperor of [Format]" tournaments every so often. The winner gets their photo on the wall and it’ll s just a big tournament overall. This tournament awarded the winner with a bye for the next Emperor of Legacy. I have been working on various builds of ANT and after talking with a well known Japanese player Sekikawa, I decided upon the following list:

Round 1: Sultai Urza

Game one my opponent scoops to my turn two Underworld Breach and LED. He had ramped out Oko and had Artifact lands so I expected Urza and Emry. Game two he leads with Emry and mills a Chalice which he casts for one the next turn. I’m able to destroy it during his next end step. I use my cantrips to dig for an LED but can’t find one and scoop to his giant Construct. Game three is unfortunately unexciting. I mill to a quick kill but he has double Force of Will. He then tops a Karn to lock me down. I scoop when he grabs Liquidmetal Coating to Strip Mine me every turn. 1-2 and I’m 0-1.

Round 2 – RUG Delver

He leads with a Volcanic Island into Ponder. I cantrip and pass the turn. Dreadhorde Arcanist hits the table. I untap, fetch Underground Sea and lay down a Petal. Dark Ritual. He thinks and plays Force of Will. I crack the Petal and play Veil. Game one, me. Game two he leads on a Delver and Tormod’s Crypt. His Delver does not flip and he plays a Ponder that leads to a shuffle. I take the one and fetch up a basic land. I get out my third basic and cast Thoughtseize which a Veil stops. His Delver fails to flip and I take another one and his second delver hits the table. I untap, make 16 goblins. He looks at his top card and scoops. 2-0 and I’m 1-1

Round 3 – Painter

I saw my opponent earlier playing Mountains and Chalices and I curse as I lose the die roll. He leads with a Grindstone but that changes my mood little. I cast Brainstorm, and find a turn 2 kill. Here’s hoping he doesn’t have me dead before ten. He plays a Goblin Engineer and throws Painter’s Servant into the graveyard. I win. Game two starts out the same way except I Thoughtseize away his Goblin Engineer. He topdecks Painter and names Blue. I play my land and pass. He draws, plays a Mountain and activates Grindstone. I cast Echoing Truth on his Painter and pray he does not have the Pyroblast. He did not. I get a turn three kill. 2-0 and I’m 2-1.

Round 4 – Lands

Knowing I’m up against Lands makes me feel relieved when I win the die roll. I stare at my hand and realize a turn two kill is possible. Turn one if I had a fetch. Oh well. I Ponder and shuffle away garbage hoping to topdeck a Lotus Petal and go for the win. I draw Tendrils of Agony. He leads with Mox Diamond and Rishadan Port. I draw Bayou after my Sea gets tapped, do some quick math. I can Brain Freeze him to win. I had to exile my LED and Tendrils to do this, but it worked. He checks my graveyard before scooping. Game two he leads with an Elvish Reclaimer. My Thoughtseize takes away his Sphere of Resistance. I can win at any time now, but need to avoid Bojuka Bog. We play lands and pass back and forth until I’m at 12 and he has the opportunity to make Marit Lage during my next end step. I play out three Petals, LED and cast Infernal Tutor for Ad Nauseam. Volcanic Island, two Dark Rituals, Infernal Tutor, Ponder, and Rain of Filth. I play out my Volcanic and cast Ponder which he Pyroblasts. I cast my rituals and get Tendrils to win. 2-0 and I’m 3-1.

Round 5 – Grixis Delver

I take a brief look around the room and figure I’m a shoe-in for Top 8 if I ID. Sure enough, I’m paired with a friend and will make it in. I go downstairs and grab a beef bowl. ID to make Top 8 at 3-1-1.

Quarter Finals – ANT

Three of the four top 8 matches are mirrors. Grixis Delver, Lands and ANT. RUG Delver and 5C Control make up the last table. I am on the draw and open a decent hand but lose turn one. Game two I make him discard his Flusterstorm and am then able to pull off a turn two kill. Game three he mulls and leads off with a Brainstorm. With him tapped out, I go aggro, playing out two Petals to dig deeper and Duress him. He has a tutor, Ponder, a fetch and Mastermind’s. I take Ponder, knowing I am close to a kill. He goes for the combo and I play Veil. He makes Goblins. I draw Veil and lead with it. He has a Tropical Island up and one card in hand. It’s Fluster, Veil or I have an easy win. I get started with my combo and cast Duress. He plays Veil. I Brain Freeze myself and make lots of mana. Mastermind’s Acquisition grabs me Sentinel Tower and then I cast some Dark Rituals to win. 2-1 and I’m heading to Top 4.

Semi-Finals – Lands

This is not the same player from before, but he laughs and shakes his head knowing that I am likely to win. Game one he leads with a Gamble and something uninteresting goes into the graveyard. I grab Underground Sea and Ponder, grabbing a Bayou and putting Infernal Tutor on top. He plays Rishadan Port and passes, tapping my Underground Sea during my upkeep. Brainstorm grabs me an LED and Infernal Tutor. I lay out my Bayou and LED, cast Rain of Filth to play Infernal Tutor and Underworld Breach cinches the win. Game two he is quick to put out a Mox Diamond and Pyroblasts my turn two Ponder. Exploration sets him up for a Marit Lage and I attempt to cast Echoing Truth but he has a second Pyroblast. Game three is a repeat of game one. 2-1 and I’m going to the finals!

Finals – 5C Control

My opponent offers me a prize split. Winner gets the bye for the tournament in April, plus the free entry. That leaves 13000 points to split. 5500 for first and 7500 for second. I agree and ask when the tournament is. I can go, so we play it out. Game one I get hit by a Hymn to Tourach but am lucky that he has no defense for my combo. Game two his turn one Thoughtseize takes away my protection for his Hymn. I’m left digging for resources while Elks slam into me. Game three we trade resources back and forth a few turns. Finally a Hymn takes away my Brainstorm and fetch leaving me with one more Brainstorm. I cast it and it locks me out of the game as a Snapcaster Mage finishes me off. 1-2 and I got second place.

Cabal Ritual feels like a sacred cow, but to mix metaphors, kill your darlings. Relying upon Breach and LED for most of my wins made getting LED more important. The extra Talisman helped here. Two Veils also felt useful, especially in game one. Rain of Filth gave and filled the graveyard for Breach.

Two cards to question are Ad Nauseam and Mastermind’s Acquisition. I did not cast them much, but when I did, they worked wonders. Ad Nauseam is, well, Ad Nauseam. Sometimes it’s going to kill you. But the lower curve helps. Mastermind may not be as cheap as Burning Wish or give you mana like Dark Petition, but the flexibility was key.

As far as the sideboard goes, I was happy. I was not sure when I was going to use Sentinel Tower, but I found the opportunity. I did not find a chance to use Return to Nature, but it seems promising. Hurkyl’s Recall may have helped me against Urza, but I never had a chance those games.

I’m pleased with how the deck performed. The next Emperor of Legacy takes place at the end of April. Barring any bans (cough Underworld Breach cough) this should be the way I’m taking the deck.