Introduction
After I got back into Magic this Summer and successfully went 2-1 in my first Modern FNM it was clear that I’d be ready for real tournaments. My LGS hosted a qualifier for the Legacy European Championship with 47 participants. After watching a few of Tezzey’s videos and some discussions in the Modern Affinity Discord server, I decided to go with Moebius’s list.
The Deck
| Lands (18) | ||
| 1 | Otawara, Soaring City | |
| 1 | Island | |
| 2 | Treasure Vault | |
| 2 | Silverbluff Bridge | |
| 4 | Mistvault Bridge | |
| 4 | Urza's Saga | |
| 4 | Darksteel Citadel | |
| Creatures (23) | ||
| 4 | Ornithopter |  |
| 4 | Memnite | |
| 1 | Gingerbrute |  |
| 4 | Frogmite |  |
| 2 | Myr Enforcer |  |
| 4 | Thought Monitor |   |
| 4 | Sojourner's Companion | |
| Sorceries (4) | ||
| 4 | Thoughtcast | |
| Artifacts (15) | ||
| 2 | Welding Jar | |
| 1 | Pithing Needle | |
| 4 | Springleaf Drum | |
| 2 | Relic of Progenitus | |
| 1 | Aether Spellbomb | |
| 1 | Shadowspear | |
| 4 | Cranial Plating |  |
| Sideboard (15) | ||
| 1 | Tormod's Crypt | |
| 1 | Grafdigger's Cage | |
| 2 | Chalice of the Void |  |
| 2 | Hurkyl's Recall | |
| 4 | Metallic Rebuke | |
| 1 | Spell Pierce | |
| 3 | Damping Sphere | |
| 1 | Orvar, the All-Form |  |
| Total: 75 cards | ||
The list is almost a stock list for an 8-Cast list without Patchwork Automaton. The interesting or less common decisions are the main deck Pithing Needle and the Spell Pierce in the sideboard. Usually, people play another threat like Nettlecyst in the slot of the Needle but I found that card very clunky. I didn’t have a strong opinion or any testing with Spell Pierce in this deck but I like the card and trusted Moebius enough to just go with it.
Moebius was also kind enough to share his sideboard notes which I typed up here.
Round 1: Death’s Shadow (Loss, 1-2)
The first round already started quite bad. I knew that there was a Death’s Shadow deck but since it wasn’t really one of the top decks anymore. So I was completely unprepared for that matchup. Still, I was able to steal game 1 with a well-timed Cranial Plating. In the following games it turned out that I was clueless on how to play against Ledger Shredder. I made a lot of misplays basically threw away the last two games.
Round 2: Mono-R Midrange with Obosh (Loss, 0-2)
Here, I felt even more lost than against Death’s Shadow. I didn’t have a single clue what kind of deck I was facing. In the first game I get them down to 2 life but then lost to their removal. In game 2 I keep a slowish hand, they disrupt me by killing off some artifacts and I never get a single attack on them.
Round 3: Asmo Food (Win, 2-1)
After losing the first two rounds I decided to be more aggressive when it comes to mulligans. With that strategy I was able to win the first game quite fast but lost the second because (again) I didn’t fully understand how the deck works. After I got a better idea of the deck, I played a lot better in game 3. Grafdigger’s Cage and a fast clock obviously also helped a lot.
Round 4: RG Ponza (Win, 2-0)
When I realized that they were playing Ponza, assumed that would be a bad matchup since they play eight moons effects and green artifact removal. Interestingly, I completely crushed my opponent.
We played two more games after that and I also won those. It wasn’t close for any of those. I guess, Ponza is a good matchup. Spell Pierce saved two Saga’s against Blood Moon here. In general, Blood Moon was a lot weaker against me than I thought. I also wasn’t aware of the fact that there was a rules change five years ago that made the bridges come into play untapped under Blood Moon.
Round 5: Yawgmoth (Win, 2-0)
Maindeck Needle really payed off here as I was able to get it with Urza’s Saga in game 1 to stop Yawgmoth. My opponent already had Yawgmoth in play when I got the last counter on Saga but he didn’t expect me to have Needle in the main deck.
In game 2 they played Grist and I had to kill it over two turns while getting up to 32 life with Spear. I’m not sure if I should have gone for face instead.
Round 6: Temur Scapeshift (Win, 2-0)
In game 1 my opponent was mana screwed and had to play his Boseiju as a land. For game 2, Welding Jar was the MVP here and I grabbed it off Saga to protect my Cranial Platings against their artifact removal.
Conclusion
Overall I went 4-2 and got 15th. Unfortunately, there were only prizes for 1–14.
It turned out that the more aggressive mulligan strategy worked quite well. Overall, I think I’d performed a lot better if I had a better understanding of the format. It never felt like my deck didn’t stand a chance but more like I didn’t have a decent plan to tackle certain MUs (especially the first two where I didn’t have any sideboard notes).