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4 Color Beanstalk Guide: Taking Down the Legacy Showcase
Taking Down the Showcase
Hello everyone and thank you for joining me today. This Sunday I was fortunate enough to take down the Legacy Showcase Qualifier which qualified me for the Magic Online Championship Showcase, Pro Tour Amsterdam and Regional Championship Naples. I want to take you through the process of me qualifying, studying the Legacy metagame, building my deck from scratch and executing the plan under pressure. Let's get to it!
First of all, this tournament is extremely hard to qualify for. You need to either top 8 a 300-player tournament or 5-0 a Last Chance event, and this time I did the latter on my very last try. I played Dimir Midrange tuned to beat the Dimir Reanimator decks that have been dominating lately.
The trick to this build was trying to be heavily favored against regular Dimir and still being solid enough against the field that I still had a well-rounded deck. The Stifle plan caught people off guard, I was able to beat graveyard hate after sideboard, and Dauthi Voidwalkers won a few game ones against enemy number one. It felt awesome punching the ticket to the actual Showcase Qualifier.
Metagame Analysis
The field in a tournament like this consists of 24 players (three top 8s from qualifiers) and a handful of player qualified via Last Chance like myself. Knowing that, you can research the decks that players used to qualify with and adjust accordingly. I think around 90% of players stick to the deck that got them there, and these are the approximate numbers I found:
- 6-7 Delver variants
- 6-7 Dimir variants
- 4 Goblins
- 4 Mono Red Prison
- 3 Marit Lage decks (Lands/Depths)
- 2 8-Cast
- 1 Control
- 1 Cephalid Breakfast
There's a lot to say about this metagame, but the biggest thing was 0 spell combo and almost no control decks. 50% Daze and eight(!) red decks motivated me to register many copies of Carpet of Flowers and Hydroblast. Funnily enough, Control's biggest weakness is when the field is unpredictable and you simply don't have enough sideboard slots to cover everything. This often makes it a bad choice in my opinion, but this was the time to strike.
Card Choices
Force of Negation
I quickly realized that I didn't need Force of Negation at all and was happy to cut it for more tools to improve matchups I knew I was gonna face.
Endurance
Endurance was the big breakthrough as that card is strong against the Daze decks disrupting Channeler, Murktide Regent, Reanimate and straight up eating Delver of Secrets while lining up great against Lightning Bolt.
Triumph of Saint Katherine
I was excited when this card got introduced on Magic Online. It's a good fit with Up the Beanstalk and has good stats to stabilize and dodge removal.
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
I didn't want to overload on graveyard dependance, but I think a couple of Uros would be useful to close out grindy games and turn the corner vs. tempo decks. Pitching to both Force of Will and Endurance is clutch as well.
Orcish Bowmasters
The orc is a necessary evil if you want to rely on Up the Beanstalk to take over the game because you need to kill opposing Orcs. Not much to say, this card is absurd and warps the format around it.
Sideboard Choices
Hydroblast
Triple Hydroblast will grant a good red matchup. The nightmare is having them trapped in your hand vs. opposing Chalice of the Void on one, so try and avoid that scenario. Note that sometimes it's better than Force of Will against Goblins because it can kill Name-Sticker Goblin with the trigger on the stack when resolved through a Cavern of Souls.
Doorkeeper Thrull
The least impressive bouncer in history is only a card vs. Goblins, but it's a very good one. It stops all ETB triggers and can sometimes block some 1/1s in scrappy games.
Carpet of Flowers
This card is so great against Daze decks and is the biggest reason I wanted to play control. Once it resolves, you don't care very much about Wasteland and Daze, and the game becomes so much easier as a result.
Surgical Extraction
I wanted a little bit of extra protection against fast Reanimator starts and Life from the Loam decks. Surgical Extraction is a sideboard staple with very good reason.
Pithing Needle + Null Rod + Tsabo's Web
These flexible artifacts can aid me in different scenarios. Needle is mainly good against Urza's Saga, The One Ring and creatures out of Selesnya Depths while Null Rod knocks out 8-Cast and Tsabo's Web shines vs. Lands.
The Deck
(6 - 2)
75% in MTGO Legacy Showcase Qualifier #12623660 [29 Players] — 31-Mar-2024
$2739/399.49 Tix
Maindeck (60)
| Creature [13] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 Triumph of Saint Katherine | $22.99 | |
| 4 Orcish Bowmasters | $57.99 | |
| 2 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath | $14.99 | |
| 3 Murktide Regent | $17.99 | |
| 2 Endurance | $27.99 | |
| Instant [12] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Swords to Plowshares | $1.79 | |
| 4 Force of Will | $74.99 | |
| 4 Brainstorm | $2.29 | |
| Sorcery [8] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Ponder | $2.79 | |
| 4 Lórien Revealed | $3.49 | |
| Enchantment [9] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Leyline Binding | $6.49 | |
| 4 Up the Beanstalk | $2.29 | |
| 1 Dress Down | $1.79 | |
| Land [18] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Bayou | $179.99 | |
| 4 Flooded Strand | $29.99 | |
| 4 Misty Rainforest | $23.99 | |
| 1 Savannah | $179.99 | |
| 1 Underground Sea | $279.99 | |
| 3 Tropical Island | $229.99 | |
| 1 Tundra | $229.99 | |
| 1 Island | $0.01 | |
| 1 Plains | $0.01 | |
| 1 Scrubland | $179.99 | |
| Sideboard [15] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 Doorkeeper Thrull | $2.99 | |
| 3 Hydroblast | $4.49 | |
| 2 Surgical Extraction | $0.99 | |
| 3 Carpet of Flowers | $6.49 | |
| 1 Endurance | $27.99 | |
| 1 Pithing Needle | $0.69 | |
| 1 Null Rod | $109.99 | |
| 1 Tsabo's Web | $4.99 | |
| 1 Dress Down | $1.79 | |
$399.49 Tix @cardhoarder
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$2,779.16 @tcgplayer
$2,698.39 @cardkingdom
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Archetype Analysis
Magic online format
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Mental Prep
I think having a healthy mindset can help a lot in high pressure, high stakes tournaments like this. When things get tough, you need to stay strong and give yourself a chance to win rather than check out mentally in the face of adversity. I aim to play all matches with the same intensity, but I still have work to do. It's also important to focus on the factors that you actually have impact over and deal with those where you are helpless. I went into this tournament feeling confident in my deck and in my own ability.
Link for youtube VOD review: https://youtu.be/i2_I0oIF4Hs
Matchups & Sideboard Guide
Round 1 vs. Lands
My opponent qualified with another deck that I was confident he would not run in this tournament, so the matchup is blind. I end up winning game one with a 6/6 Murktide Regent after Forcing and Endurance on Life from the Loam (with Maze of Ith, Saga, Wasteland as targets). Game two, my opponent mulligans to 5 and I have a great draw.
Round 2 vs. 5c Beans
This is the biggest grindfest, and I feel unfavored against the Yorion version. Witherbloom Command was clutch this match as it killed Up the Beanstalk and recured Wasteland for the win. Back against the wall!
Round 3 vs. Mono Red Prison
I randomly had my one Underground Sea as my first land drop, and the opponent went turn one
Unlicenced Hearse which is very good vs. Dimir, but not very exciting vs. me. I grind out game one, get nut drawed game two, and game three is a tight game where I beat three copies of Fury and finishes the job with Triumph of St. Kathryn.
Round 4 vs. Izzet Delver
These games were very textbook. Once I got my mana online, my superior cards take over. Game two I resolve Carpet of Flowers and from there it's not card to close it out.
Round 5 vs. Goblins I'm 2nd in the standings and realize that match is only about trying to dodge the Control matchup in the quarterfinal. I get demolished in quick fashion, but I'm lucky to be 7th which means I won't play against Control until the finals.
If they play Questing Druid:
Without:
Quarter final vs. Izzet Delver
Very hard fought match where the opponent played like a master game two. The games I won are very similar to the ones from the swiss where staple mana, higher card quality and timely Endurance were victory conditions.
Semi Final vs. Goblins:
I get aggro'd out fast and manage to answer back with a dominating win game two. Game three is a super tough game where I let Chalice of the Void resolve because I had Leyline Binding to kill it later. In the meantime, my opponent keeps up the pressure including a Muxus which hits Ringleader and Name-Sticker Goblin. I can deploy a Murktide Regent and try and tempo out my opponent, but I only succeed because my opponent forgot about their own Chalice of the Void for two and plays Battle Cry Goblin into it. I win the game on two life.
Grand final vs. 5c Control:
I get my chance for a rematch and feel ready to give it a go. I realize that time can be relevant, so I want to play fast. He has a fast Forth Eorlingas! game one, so we have plenty of time for the rest of the match.
I ended up winning two close games where we took turns grinding for advantage with Beanstalk, Uro, and a hard-cast Lórien Revealed. In the end, my opponent made a misplay with Uro versus my Endurance, where I was able to get rid of Uro and the entire graveyard because he didn't sacrifice his fetch lands in response to Uro dying. If I hadn't had priority there, I would have been in a much worse spot and would have had to kill Uro on the battlefield instead. Small margins matter a great deal after a long day, and this time I was the one who was gifted an advantage in a tight spot. My opponent wished me good luck at the Magic Online Champions Showcase and the Pro Tour, and I got tears in my eyes from happiness and relief. What a day.
Closing Thoughts
I'm obviously extremely happy that I was able to win the tournament and achieve one of my goals, but I also realize that I was extremely fortunate. My opponents made a few costly errors that ultimately gave me the chance to win instead of them. What I'm most proud of is using metagame analysis to build my own deck and actually executing and playing well throughout a long tournament against the best in the game.
Now I have to relearn Modern and hopefully do a good job in the MOCS and at the Pro Tour. I'm excited for the next chapters of my journey.
Thank you all for supporting me,