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Winning the Season 6 Legacy of the North Invitational with Jund
Drake Honess, April 30th 2025
Disclaimer: This entire tournament report is satire. Unless you think I’m serious, then I am 1000% serious. Someone who knows Reid Duke, send him this article. The list he’s played on 90sMTG is questionable at best and doesn’t contain nearly enough Modern Horizons cards.
This story begins on August 29th, 2024. I’m out of town for work, it’s a Thursday night, and I check the Legacy of the North Weekly Schedule™ and see “Waypoint Games – Thursday Night”. Open Maps, 30 minute drive, but I don’t have a deck. I knew who Josh was because I crushed him with Kess, Dissident Mage in my Czech Pile deck during a Team Trios event back when FaceToFace used to run them at Seneca. At the time, he probably had no idea who I was (although I personally would remember the face of every individual who disrespected me with Kess), but we had 28 mutual friends on Facebook when I sent him this message:
After this exchange, I met Josh formally for the first time, and he hands me this beautiful, mostly non-english deck with a bunch of FBB duals. What other format and community has players doing this, internet stranger, sight unseen? How did that weekly go? Awful. I went 1-3. I distinctly remember losing to Dawson on Cloudpost. When Josh asked how round 1 went, I said: “I don’t know how this deck beats Cloudpost…”, to which Josh replied chuckling: “Yeah, I don’t know how that deck beats Cloudpost.” We both laughed, and I only beat 8-Cast on the night. But within that 5 second Cloudpost bantering, there was a moment of clarity. So how did I tune my deck to try and beat Cloudpost? I played Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon in the board while Sowing Mycospawn was legal. Sure, it won some games, but not enough to consistently make the matchup better. They still had Elvish Spirit Guides to cast the Mycospawn/Crop Rotations and find their Forest(s), and despite the efforts I was making to try and not lose, it’s just easier to hope to dodge the matchup. The deck isn’t supposed to beat Cloudpost. The Cloudpost deck fundamentally isn’t going to lose Jund. And that’s OK. Much like modern Jund circa 2015, Jund never was beating Tron anyway. Surgicals, Fulminator Mages as sideboard haymakers, it didn’t matter. Surgical their Thoughtseized Karn? Congratulations, now you’ve lost to Wurmcoil. Have the Ancient Grudge for Wurmcoil? It’s likely still not good enough. And if you can’t dodge it, then that’s just a factor that’s completely out of your control. Welcome to tournament Magic. Can’t win ‘em all, unless you’re Conrad I guess?
I bought the missing cards for the Jund deck in paper, talked with Josh about where he was at with the deck, and he mentioned this Jund gamer in Brazil that he was following for monthly updates on the build. Enter, André Felipe. I have a respect for individuals who can carry a torch for a deck like this. Look at this MTGDecks page:
https://mtgdecks.net/players/andre-felipe-boschetti
https://mtgdecks.net/players/andre-felipe
Two links, one has his surname.
Results back from 8 years ago playing Jund, Jund, and only Jund. The truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth. Look at those decklists. Compare how they’ve changed throughout the format, there’s good lessons to be learned in there. Deathrite catching an unjust ban, Dark Confidants going from one of the best creatures in Legacy to stone-cold unplayable, Lilianas of multiple varieties, it’s a great history lesson for a fabled deck. And if André can still win/perform well in these 60+ player tournaments in 2023 to present day, maybe there’s something more to the deck than just classic “Boomer Jund” memes.
I began playing the deck locally, and it was overperforming on average. One singular 4-0, a few 3-1s, lots of 2-2s, tweaking numbers, talking to people about the deck, and often most importantly, lending the deck out to players and asking how they feel about it. That feedback is important I think, if you can trust the individuals playing it. Knowing I’m missing something to push the deck to the next level, I had to track down the big man himself.
Once again, the Legacy community delivers, time and time again… Eternal Weekend North America 2018, 26th place finish from yours truly on BUG Midrange without a Lotus in my deck, where round 3 or 4 I played against Brazilian Legacy hero Fausto Souza (probably one of the Legacy League trophy leaders right now on MTGO). We chatted after our matches, added each other on Facebook, and seven years later, I got to find André through Fausto (And Caue from Portugal last year, shoutout Lisbon Legacy League, everyone there is great). It really is a small world.
We chatted for hours, exchanged decklists, theory, why you should be playing Blood Moon versus Magus of the Moon, or Null Rod versus Collector Ouphe, there’s lots of subtleties in the deck building. We continued to chat and theory craft, and while I shelved the deck to continue on my Painter tirade, there was this itch to keep playing Mirri’s Guile. The real call to arms isn’t a one mana Grindstone, it’s a one mana Mirri’s Guile, upkeep spin Top on an enchantment.
Going into the last year of Reanimator hell, you needed to play Leyline of the Void in your sideboard. Without Leylines, you weren’t beating Oops or Reanimator. With Leylines, you were still losing like 40% of the Leyline games because the Jund deck can’t clock fast enough, giving your opponent time to bounce or remove it. Nothing was also stopping me from getting my own Grists and Barrowgoyfs countered/Thoughtseized, and then reanimated by my opponent. All in all, these matchups felt miserable. Dauthi Voidwalker is obviously good, but they have removal/bounce, and you aren’t going to ship a playable Leyline hand just because it doesn’t include Dauthi. Between the pressure of Reanimator and big mana decks actually being good and playing Sowing Mycospawn, Jund was in an already worse spot than before. It wasn’t enough to dodge these matchups, because they were prevalent and putting up results. These matches represented 30%+ of the metagame (21% Reanimator, 8% Eldrazi, 5% Cloudpost at its heyday). Overboarding was necessary because you couldn’t hope to dodge them, and by overboarding, you fundamentally make your true 50/50 matchups more like a 40/60, and if I wanted those numbers, I should sleeve up Death and Taxes. All of these thoughts and considerations changed though when Troll and Mycospawn got axed. Seemingly overnight, there was a window where you could play what you wanted to play.
When a format gets shaken up, the natural thing to do is play Delver of Secrets. There is also this interesting and fun period of two months where things are “new and fresh” again. Within those two months, things become solved and a metagame establishes, but you can do what you want to do. I figured with the shake up to the format, there would be 1-2 graveyard decks at the Invitational, and the rest of the players who played UB Reanimator would likely shift to some sort of Underground Sea based tempo deck, Delver, or Show and Tell. Time to get to work, and build a deck that beats up on the new metagame.
My preparation started 5 weeks ago when Cronk told me to play 2004scape (a private server for a popular MMORPG that had been ruined over the last two decades, but this is the purest form. The game, exactly as it was, in April 2004). It took me back to being a care-free 11 year old kid again. And with that… nostalgia. It was exactly like I had remembered it, familiar, horribly janky, but in a good way. I guess the comparison I’m making here is that 2004scape is basically this Jund deck in every way. I found an old photo of a decklist that I played at a 3K back in 2016 in Modern, and I’m still using the same physical cards. Thoughtseizes, fetchlands, basics, Bolts, it all comes back and reminds me of this deck, the tournaments, the drives, the friends, the everything. Nostalgia is a hard thing to write about, maybe it’s a rose-coloured glasses situation, but I was dead set on playing Jund based strictly on the nostalgia I’ve been feeling from 2004scape. I tweaked some numbers around, playtested a bit with Adam Robinson (Sudbury/Honorary North Bay-ite) and Kieran MacDuff (North Bay-ite), played the matches I thought would be present at the Invitational, and ultimately settled on this banger:
Here’s a Moxfield link for people who don’t like photos: https://moxfield.com/decks/LvzTpRD8ekqj13f1g6RpTQ
Many of the card choices are “standard good stuff Green/Black/Red cards” in the Jund deck, but there’s a few cards that I want to touch on. Before those cards, let’s mention that the mana base is clunky. Obviously, you play the two good basics that make sense in a Blood Moon format, but the strain of BB for Dauthi is VERY real. Also, Abrupt Decay. Also, Grist. Also, the sideboard Molten Collapse. While balancing four Wastelands. As a result, games that you can keep Ignoble Hierarch around are at an absolute premium. The deck is also just Modern Horizons/supplementary product cards, which is hilarious. Barring some old holdovers that make sense, it’s all just powercrept FIRE design stuff.
X2 Minsc and Boo – Oftentimes the fastest way to close out any midrange grindy/control matchup. The card is stellar, but always gets boarded out versus Daze decks. Resolving 4 mana spells against Daze + Wasteland decks that also have Hydroblast post-board is rough. Did a lot of sideboarding this one out.
X3 Sheoldred’s Edict – Let’s be real with this one. This card is absurd. It doesn’t target, it hits exactly what you want it to hit unless it doesn’t, and a fantastic answer to planeswalkers. Or so it’s been explained to me, I can’t read my cards anyway.
X4 Dauthi Voidwalker – In my post tournament stream interview, I mentioned this card being a sleeper in Legacy. It’s incidental graveyard hate in a world where most decks in the format utilize the graveyard for value or exploit it entirely, it has evasion, it provides a substantial clock especially with exalted, and some decks simply can’t beat it. I played four copies as my only way to interact with the graveyard maindeck.
X2 Grist, the Hunger Tide – Another Legacy sleeper. Green Sun’s Zenith enjoyers know how good a tutorable removal spell is, this card is just incredible and punches above its weight time and time again. One was too few, three was too many. Have you ever recurred Grist with Barrowgoyf? You can’t lose.
X2 Mirri’s Guile – Big fan. The card is actually bad because it’s card disadvantage. One was too few, three was too many. Everyone tells me: “Play Sylvan Library”, but I just want to look at some more cards than my opponent, man. There are far too many two drops in the deck as is, and the fact that Bowmaster can make Sylvan Library look worse than Mirri’s Guile says something. The card quality in the Jund deck is better than most midrange/control decks. Most of the cards in the deck will generate card advantage, hell, maybe they even generate tempo? Still not sure what that word means, but nobody knows what tempo is. I’ve been told tempo is Lightning Bolt, and we’re playing 2 copies of that card, so Jund is tempo.
You can cut your losses with the Guile knowing you can set up your Questing Druids later in the game and know what you’re going to Seek the Beast into. This is particularly relevant with the timing on Seek the Beast, because you may flip something relevant but not have the mana to get full value out of the Seek. Sometimes Mirri’s Guile finds you the lands on a land light hand, or the necessary removal to not lose. Lastly, if Barrowgoyf is connecting, you can draw the non-creature spells and pick up the creature spells with Barrowgoyf’s ability. For the very low cost of a green mana, it puts in work. Average additional cards seen per game on a turn 1 Mirri’s Guile against any deck that doesn’t punch my face in on turn 1: 15+. Good return on a singular green mana. I’ve played much worse cards.
X1 Nihil Spellbomb AKA the only piece of graveyard hate in my board – Most notably, the thing lacking in the sideboard is graveyard hate. In order to fix some of those 50/50 matchups to make them truly favored, I had to make room somewhere, and with graveyard decks demanding 6+ slots, it seemed all too obvious. As I alluded to earlier with losing to Cloudpost at Waypoint Games, simply dodge those matchups. What if you could dodge an entire format pillar for an eight round tournament? Wouldn’t that be cool? 1 NIHIL SPELLBOMB in the board. It also comes in versus every Murktide deck, control, tempo, midrange or otherwise. More on this later.
The rest of the sideboard is carefully mapped out with the metagame that I expected people to play at the invitational. I didn’t expect two Oops players in the room, and both of them would go on to make the top 8. They were really out to throw a wrench into my plans of taking down the Invitational in the most stylistic way possible. I did sideboard in every single card throughout the day in my 15 card board, so I did extract maximum value.
All of this being said, I decided I was going to make this outlandish call two weeks ago. And I made it known. Everyone who is slightly interested in the Jund archetype got messages from me about how I’m just going to play Jund with no graveyard hate at the Invitational, and I’m going to win. I told Dave Marino: “Give me the round 1 feature match, I’m bringing Jund” with the expectation of: I’m either winning this tournament, or going 0-2 drop. Bryant Cook, love him or hate him, has this great philosophy behind playing decks at tournaments. He’s not afraid to “look like an idiot” for something that he thinks he’s right on, and if the call doesn’t pay off, it doesn’t pay off. What he does is “play the deck that’s going to win the tournament, not the deck that’s going to top16 for your money back after 9 hours”. I made some slight changes after testing, but the deck felt good enough to win with. Sometimes, you need to make some bold choices, and predictions, and hope that your master plan pays off.
The Friday before the Invitational, I was gigging, got home at 1am, fell asleep at 1:30, woke up at 5:15, and hit the highway at 7:15 to drive to Newmarket. Got there with 20 minutes to spare, and used this time to chat with the field and catch up with friends. Talking to Jaime Herzog before the event, we always catch up and talk some smack about our deck choice (read: me telling Jaime why my deck is sicker than his stock Magic Online UB Tempo/Delver/beans deck). In classic fashion, playing No Bad Matchups* Jund (*except the matchup I am currently playing), I tell him that: 1) I firmly believe Jund beats the Beans decks and 2) “If I win, my opponent lost to Legacy Jund in the calendar year 2025, and if I lose, yeah, I’m playing Jund in the calendar year 2025, what do I expect?” He told me I can’t have my cake and eat it too, but that sounds like a 2 for 1, which is exactly what the Jund deck wants to do. Pairings are called. No regrets, just memories. I check my phone, and I’m playing against a Sudbury gamer.
Round 1 – Jason Keeping – Esper Tempo (0-1, 0-2 for games)
Game 1, mulligan, on the draw. I land a turn 1 Mirri’s Guile, Thoughtseize a card, we trade Bowmasters. I trade Edicts for Tamiyo and Murktides. Eventually I get him down to 1 life, and after seeing probably 15+ extra cards with Mirri’s Guile I can’t find the last point before he kills me with his 1/1 Orc Army and Bowmaster.
Game 2, I board in Blasts, Chokes, Nihil Spellbomb. Very similar to game 1, this time around I get him down to about 5 before he stabilized and took over the game with Kaito stunning my only creature and more damage on board.
Losing the first round of any tournament is awful, so now I have to win out. I didn’t get my round 1 feature match either.
Round 2 – Steven Huynh – Dimir Tempo (1-1, 2-0)
Game 1, I win the die roll, keep a 7 against his 7. I don’t remember much about this match in particular, but I do know that I put a good amount of time testing the UB Tempo matchup with known Bird enthusiast Adam Robinson. My consensus was obvious, Choke good, Barrowgoyf good. Huh, I guess the sky is blue. Things change a bit more on the draw and the tempo decks are capable of winning, but it still feels favoured for Jund. Jund did Jund things. Sia and Connery sitting next to us were laughing, because at one point I had 47 life. Barrowgoyf is a hell of a card. Steven was digging for a Push, but didn’t find one after a few Ponders and Stock Ups.
Game 2, board in Blasts, Chokes, Nihil Spellbomb, and Molten Collapse, board out Thoughtseizes, Minsc and Boos, some Edicts and Bolts. The fatal flaw in my experience with the UB Tempo deck is that it has no actual reach (I guess late game resolving Brainstorm into a Bowmaster, but my Badlands/Bayou/Taiga deck sure isn’t casting Brainstorm), and oftentimes when the deck stutters out, the opponent is within Bolt reach. I think I resolved a Grist, a Choke, had a Dauthi floating around, and did Jund things?
Round 3 – Jim “The Duke” Monolith – Mono-Blue Painter (2-1, 2-1 on games)
This match was live streamed. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2443210247?t=2h41m49s
Game 1 I kept a bad hand that didn’t line up with what Jim had going on. After some soul searching with Mirri’s Guile, and not finding much, eventually he assembled the second Painter’s Servant and Grindstone, and he killed me on my upkeep. I could’ve Wastelanded Jim off his second land while he was waiting for 3 mana to activate Grindstone, but I thought I should play a fetch and try and see more cards with Guile. Shame shame. WhAt A cOoL cOmBo JiM, iS tHiS a HoMeBrEw?
Game 2, I bring in Molten Collapse, Force of Vigors, and Null Rods. I keep a hand that has Thoughtseize AND Null Rod. I open on Thoughtseize and see a hand that loses to Null Rod, I take his Force of Will, and slam a turn 2 Null Rod. I hold a Blast in hand to Blast his bounce spell, but end up Blasting an Emry, which was probably wrong, but who knows what weird permanents he could get back? Eventually I close the game out with a Questing Druid and Jim draining for 1 per turn from The One Ring. He said he has a Hydroblast for my Pyroblast, and I told him I won with 7 blasts in my hand.
Game 3, Jim opens on Saga, I follow it up with a Thoughtseize, revealing that Jim kept a 7 of Urza’s Saga, Ancient Tomb x2, Seat of the Synod, Minamo, and Transmute Artifact. I take the only thing I can, he plays the Tomb, I Wasteland his Saga on 2, prompting a Construct. Jim peels another Urza’s Saga, but I rip an Orcish Bowmaster and shoot down his 1/1 Construct. He makes another Construct to block my 1/1 Orc Army, and I flash in the other runner runner Bowmaster I drew. At this point, a Thoughtseize reveals more land and a Thoughtcast, which wasn’t going to be good against two Bowmasters, but I take it and move on. Jim draws The One Ring, makes a Construct and fetches a Mox Opal, and slams Ring for “one instance of protection”. I play Dauthi Voidwalker, and the clock is on, forcing Jim to draw a card with the Ring, taking 2 from my Bowmasters to put him down to 6 life. He then goes down to 1 by drawing 2 with Ring, and he packs it in.
I signed my lifepad page, tossed it at Jim, and he crumpled it up in a ball and started eating it. Big moves from The Duke himself.
Round 4 – Connery “Achillies27” Knox – GWr Maverick 3 Thalia Main lol (3-1, 2-0 games)
We joke about how I only beat Connery when it matters, and this match matters because whoever wins this will likely be able to draw in. Connery assures me my matchup is good because he’s playing Thalia today. A card not even good enough for Death and Taxes? In a Savannah deck? Surely this guy couldn’t win the 1K the next day at Chimera with this list…
Game 1, I was on the play and kept a 7 with a Thoughtseize opening. Connery mulliganed, and when he revealed the goods, he actually showed me the bads. Thalia, the Guardian of Thraben and 5 lands. I played a Barrowgoyf, then followed it up with a Minsc and Boo. On my next turn I made the maximum greed play of +1ing Minsc on the Boo token again for the rub-ins, and he packed it in. “I guess I’m supposed to go to 5 vs the value deck, seems shit” – CK
Game 2, I board in Molten Collapse, Plague Engineer, Toxic Deluge and Nihil Spellbomb and take out 4 Thoughtseize. We’re grinding. Connery leads on Horizon Canopy, Mother of Runes, and I fetch up a Badlands and Bolt the Mom. He fails to drop a second land, plays Noble Hierarch, and I ping it with an Orcish Bowmaster. He fetches up a Taiga and Mawlocs my Bowmaster, I Wasteland his Canopy, Edict him to take the Mawloc off the table. With just a Taiga and no white, he deploys Birds of Paradise, which also meets another Orcish Bowmaster, and I run away while he doesn’t find his third land.
Going into the next round, in classic round 1 loss fashion, my breakers were awful, forcing me to play it out.
Round 5 – Max Burstyn – Turbo Doomsday (4-1, 2-1 in games)
Both Max and I are playing a win and in at 3-1, because we both had terrible breakers and are forced to game. Perfect, you love to see it, just like we drew it up. Magic, for stakes that matter.
Game 1, I don’t know what he’s on, I’m not sure if he knows what I’m on. I play Wooded Foothills, pass. He plays Polluted Delta and passes, I play another Foothills and pass holding up Seek the Beast on Max’s end step, and Max fetches for a Undercity Sewers, surveils something, untaps and Dark Rituals into Doomsday, making a pile that kills me. I don’t show him anything else, and look through his list and see standard Eureka22422 Turbo UB Doomsday, Personal Tutors, no green so I don’t need to worry about Veil.
Game 2, I board in Pyroblasts and Chokes, taking out removal. If his Doomsday deck boards into Sheoldred, I can be put in a rough spot, but Pyroblast covers the Murktide juke if he’s on it, and I’m the better Barrowgoyf deck if he also has Barrowgoyfs, so I think it’s unlikely he boards into the juke if he has it. I open on Thoughtseize and see a hand of Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal, Doomsday, Thoughtseize, a cantrip, Cabal Ritual, and some other things, most notably no lands. I make the very difficult decision of taking the card that the deck is named for. Max eventually finds some lands that allow him to cantrip, which meet my Wastelands, and I think an exalted Dauthi closes the game out.
Game 3, Max keeps a hand and opts for a slightly slower but more consistent line. This was a weird game that involved an Ignoble Hierarch, a Dauthi, Max having two or three Cabal Rituals without Threshold, and only a Lotus Petal and Swamp for mana. No blue mana, I resolve Choke after Wastelanding him multiple times, and then the final surveil from the Undercity Sewers that didn’t untap on his turn sealed the deal. Close games!
Top8, third seed. NO SPLITS KILL EM ALL.
Side rant: What happened to actually wanting to win things? What’s up with this “I’m grinding 7+ rounds of Magic for $250 STORE CREDIT?” Get real. I drove my 3 hours to PLAY some cards, not 3-0-2 into the top8 and cut for $125 on a 1K. And for every time that this comes back and haunts me, you actually get to create a situation where the stakes are high, with a narrative, and it feels much more rewarding. Play your rounds, win your rounds, stop splitting. /end based rant
Quarterfinals – Boston “Also Team No Splits” Schatteman – Izzet Cori-Steel – 2-0
The link to the VOD is here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2443210247?t=5h36m1s (Game 1)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2443210247?t=5h52m28s (Game 2)
My initial thoughts going into the matchup and my general game plan is to resolve Barrowgoyf that is out of Unholy Heat delirium damage range. You can’t do anything about Brazen Borrower bouncing, so don’t fall too far behind on board. You need to trade 1 for 1 early and don’t let Dragon’s Rage Channeller get out hand and bin multiple cards before a Dauthi hits the table. Respect Daze, either fetch basics game 1 or go all out of you’re flooded and have them Wasteland you but have good mana. I think that which mana path you take in the matchup depends on whether or not you have your own Wasteland(s) or Ignoble Hierarch/Mirri’s Guile. Favorable to say the last though.
Game 1, on the play. I keep a 5 land hand, and open on Bayou into Thoughtseize. Boston reveals a Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Unholy Heat, Daze, Wasteland, and three fetchlands. I take the Dragon’s Rage Channeler without removal, and Boston sends a Wasteland at my Bayou. I surveil, pass back, Boston draws and casts Ponder. I fetch and play the drawn Ignoble Hierarch so I don’t walk my Voidwalker into a Daze. Boston plays Cori-Steel Cutter and Bauble, making a monk and attacking for two. I untap, Abrupt Decay the Cori-Steel Cutter and Wasteland one of his two Volcanic Islands. He attacks with a Monk and passes back. I draw Barrowgoyf. I play a Dauthi Voidwalker to try and bait out some countermagic, but Dauthi resolves. I play Wasteland to play around the Daze I knew about in hand and try to resolve the Barrowgoyf next turn. I put Barrowgoyf on the stack, he Force of Wills. In response to the prowess trigger on his Monk, I flash in Orcish Bowmaster and ping his monk. Boston plays Tamiyo and passes while I draw Grist, the Hunger Tide and throw my Ignoble Hierarch at the Tamiyo. Uptick Grist, Wasteland Boston, attack for two. I continue to make insects with Grist, he plays a Brazen Borrower on end step to try and kill my Grist, but I have the Bowmaster to shoot it down.
Game 2, I board out Thoughtseizes and Minsc and Boos, board in Blasts, Spellbomb, Plague Engineer, Molten Collapse, some number of Chokes. This is the hand I keep while Boston takes a mulligan:
Boston leads on Volcanic Island into Dragon’s Rage Channeler, and I develop mana with Ignoble. Again, it’s important to play around Daze, which Boston sees off of a turn 2 Ponder. The surveil trigger flips over a Mishra’s Bauble, and Boston begins working on delirium. He plays an Urza’s Bauble, and surveils away a Daze. He Wastelands me after attacking on turn 2 with a delirious Channeler. The Bauble reveals a Bolt in my hand, which ends the Channeler. Next turn, Boston fetches up a second Volcanic Island and Ponders into Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. I play Wasteland to play around Daze, and resolve a Dauthi Voidwalker, and opt to not Wasteland. Unless I’m very clearly on the mana denial plan, putting myself down land drops by Wastelanding the deck that can EASILY operate off of two lands while I am very mana hungry is how I would lose. Good Death and Taxes players (fun little oxymoron for you) will almost NEVER Wasteland Delver players, but the even better Death and Taxes players (all four of you in the world) know when to break that rule. Jund plays a similar role in the matchup. Boston makes a clue with Tamiyo, and makes a conservative play of passing back, and Bolts my Dauthi Voidwalker in combat. Second main I play one of the few spells that matter, Barrowgoyf. He shrinks the 5/6 Barrowgoyf by delving for a Murktide Regent, which immediately eats the Molten Collapse from my opener. Barrowgoyf connects for 5 with exalted, and I buy back a Grist. “Value Village” they’re calling it. Boston plays a Cori-Steel Cutter, and then Mishra’s Bauble, making a Monk after attacking with Tamiyo to get a clue. During my upkeep, with the Mishra’s Bauble draw trigger on the stack I flash in Orcish Bowmaster, ping the monk, he draws from Bauble, that pings the monk again, but Boston has a Bolt to prowess to keep the monk alive. It blocks the Barrowgoyf, Choke runs into Daze, Barrowgoyf becomes a 7/8 thanks to Choke in the yard. Boston then spins his tires for a few turns, I continue attacking with Barrowgoyf, play another Dauthi that has the turn 3 Lightning Bolt void counter available for the kill if he goes down to 3. He floods hard, but my one sided The Abyss that also was gaining me 8 life per turn. There’s some wonky sequencing at the end, but Barrowgoyf closes things out. Here’s another pretty photo. Some nice cards here.
Semifinals – Troy Warrington – BUG Beans – 2-0
I get to prove to Jaime that I’m more than just a big mouth. Talking to the coverage team, I also find out that both Oops All Spells decks lost their top8 match. Huh, I guess you really can’t high roll all day. I looked at Ben Kwan, Steven Liao and Will Sorley and told them: “Looks like Jund is winning this tournament then!”
Game 1, I Thoughtseize him, see Rakshasa’s Bargain, Fatal Push, Fatal Push, Orcish Bowmaster, and 3 lands. I take the Bargain. I play Dauthi that eats a Push, I play Bowmaster that gets gobbled up by his Bowmaster in response to his cantrip. We trade resources back and forth, I remember Wastelanding him 3 times off of Hedge Maze and two Tropical Islands, he didn’t have enough green mana to escape Uro, and I believe I had a Barrowgoyf stick around for a few hits before the game was over.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2443210247?t=6h57m26s (Game 2 halfway through)
Game 2, I sideboarded 3 Chokes, 4 Blasts, 1 Nihil Spellbomb. On the draw, and about half of this game is streamed. Where the stream catches up to, I will try and remember how the game went down. I play turn 1 Mirri’s Guile, Abrupt Decay Troy’s Up The Beanstalk, he Wastelands me off a Bayou, and then the stream starts as I resolve a Grist. Grist was supposed to be countered as a bait spell so I can slam Choke the following turn that I was hiding on top of my library with Mirri’s Guile to protect it from discard. I resolve Grist, and don’t uptick because I stacked Guile wrong. Magic is hard. Mirri’s Guile is even harder. The following turn I slam Choke off the Guile, which Troy tries to find Force of Will with Rakshasa’s Bargain, tapping out all of his Islands. He doesn’t find Force of Will, and the Choke begins to take control of the game. He Thoughtseizes me off a Bayou, takes my Barrowgoyf, falling to 16. Uptick Grist, make some insects, attack with exalted insects. I play a Dauthi Voidwalker, which immediately eats a Fatal Push. Mirri’s Guile finds yet another Dauthi Voidwalker, which eats yet another Fatal Push. To cast the Push, Troy has to fetch up his Swamp, and with just a Bayou and Swamp to get out from under Choke, I had put myself into a good position to lock him out. Troy goes for an Up The Beanstalk, in response I flash in Bowmaster, shoot Troy down to 10, and then 9 on the Beanstalk draw trigger. Lots of power on board, a Grist throws an insect at a Murktide Regent, he gets pinged by the Beanstalk draw trigger. Missed lethal on the last turn. Rock n roll. Onto the finals, just like we drew it up.
Finals – Lyle Waldman – Izzet Cori-Steel – 2-0
Here’s a link to the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2443210247?t=7h24m56s
I refuse to split the finals prize. I want it all, and I can’t be stopped. Game 1, I fetch basic Forest, and play Mirri’s Guile. Lyle respects it enough to Force of Will it. I scream. G: “Hymn to Tourach”. Didn’t think I registered Hymn today. Lyle Ponders and passes, I Wasteland him and play Hierarch. Once again, develop mana. Play around Daze, unless it’s by design. A true Jedi-Mind Trick if you will. Lyle plays Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Mishra’s Bauble, surveil keeping it on top, but he’s a Bauble into the yard away from delirium. I draw Barrowgoyf. I’ve got my plan now. Don’t let it get countered, get my Barrowgoyf out of Unholy Heat range. Lyle then misses his Bauble trigger. Judge ruled it a missed trigger because he took a game action of playing a fetchland and fetching. Missedra’s Bauble trigger. He plays a Cori-Steel Cutter and a Urza’s Bauble, making a monk and attacking for two. I fetch a surveil land, and see Decay. Once again, timely Decay, and I snap Decay the Cori-Steel Cutter. I don’t mind if Grist is in the yard, because the Barrowgoyf I’m about to slam the turn after will be a 7/8. He looks at the only card in my hand, and it’s a Barrowgoyf. Lyle plays a BIIIIG MURKTIDE that can’t race a Barrowgoyf. He then deploys a pair of Dragon’s Rage Channelers, and I attack with an exalted 7/8 Barrowgoyf. I Bolt one of the Channelers, and continue attacking. Barrowgoyf finds a Barrowgoyf, and just like that, game 1 is over.
Game 2, same sideboarding as Boston’s matchup. I keep a weird hand that has to line up relatively well with what he’s got going on. Here is my hand: Swamp, Wasteland, Fatal Push, Pyroblast, Orcish Bowmaster, Wasteland, Wooded Foothills. It’s a very reactive hand though, and on the draw, I can very easily get run over. Lyle leads on Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Bauble, surveil a Steam Vents to the bin. I debated playing into Daze for a long time. I actually sat there for like 1 minute+ thinking about how this game is going to sequence, because I drew a second Wasteland. I decided that the risky play is to Push the Channeler and hope he doesn’t have Daze. He chooses to not protect the Channeler with the Force in hand. Lyle took WAY too long to contemplate if that Push was resolving, so I knew he had Force of Will going forward, which put me on the Wasteland plan. Instead of playing Cori-Steel or a threat, he Brainstorms, and I know I’m in the clear. He plays a basic island, and notably not a fetchland. My whole game strategy changed at that point, and I snap off the Wasteland on his lone Volcanic. He plays another Volcanic, and a Ponder off his Island, choosing to not shuffle. I snap the second Wasteland off. I continue to draw more stack interaction, and more Pyroblasts, which aren’t very good in this particular game. Lyle tries to Brainstorm, I flash in Bowmaster, which meets a Force of Will pitching Brazen Borrower, which is good for me. Petty Theft is one of the two or three answers that Lyle has to a large resolved Barrowgoyf. Lyle plays Cori-Steel Cutter, then a Ponder which I Pyroblast. I then slam Barrowgoyf, Lyle Forces, and I Blast the Force of Will. Barrowgoyf in play. Opponent, hellbent. My life total: 16. I can’t lose now. Attack, it’s blocked, I play Dauthi Voidwalker, and it’s over. Barrowgoyf attacks for 5, and reveals 4 land and 1 Pyroblast. Good stuff. Still can’t lose. He Unholy Heats my 5/6 Barrowgoyf, and goes down to 6 from Dauthi. I main phase Seek the Beast and play another Barrowgoyf into a Daze, find another Dauthi and get him dead.
Hilarious photo from Dave. Apparently, this was what I mustered up after winning the tournament. The called shot. Thanks for all the love and congratulations messages.
Still the dog. Never the ball. Except…
King of the North Match
This Invitational decklist that I registered for a one-time metagame that basically omitted all graveyard hate, meaning that Conrad Dungan, who registered Oops All Spells, would have an extremely favourable matchup versus me. Previous seasons’ title fights were interesting and often went to 5, but I couldn’t see it happening with the way the both of our decks were configured. Conrad also had the added bonus of getting to play two game 1s without board.
To challenge the King of the North, we played it at Chimera the following day. Brief Chimera tournament report. I played Shortcake. I lost to Omni-Show in 3, beat Nadu in 3, and lost to Cradle Control in 2. Then I dropped, and got destroyed by Conrad. People did record the games, I will eventually get them uploaded to Youtube, but it was a massacre. I played a grand total of 10 turns, Conrad played a grand total of 11 turns, and he won the series 3-1. At least I took a game off him, a moral victory for Jund. For the same reason I picked Jund as an Invitational deck, I think Conrad made an excellent deck choice, knowing full well you start the series with 2 pre-board games. Congratulations buddy, well deserved.
Special shoutouts to:
Head Judge Kris Burningham. Immaculate vibes, very chill.
Jim “THE DUKE” Monolith, for all the hard work he does with Legacy of the North, organizing, promoting, and making Legacy the most successful FNM format in North Bay in recent years.
All the LotN team, Trevor Cordingley for organizing the Invitational and judging events, Boston Schatteman for doing all the behind the scenes spreadsheet work, anyone else who I’m unaware of who put in work behind the scenes.
David Marino for taking some great photos that are littered all throughout this tournament report.
Steven Liao, Ben Kwan, Will Sorley, David Marino and Ben Slutsky on coverage.
North Bay homies, you know who you are, “Victims of Release the Ants” Cabal (Let the record reflect that I have never been a victim of Release the Ants)
Josh Cronk for the original deck loan, and the FBB Bayou loan. Jacob Murray for the victory pint.
Kris and the ETB team for hosting and supporting LotN.
