Congratulations on your first UOL League victory! Does it mean anything special to you to have won your first league?
Well I’ve been playing on UOL for a really long time, so I’m pretty happy to have won this league. I’m especially happy to have won playing Reanimator, which was my first Legacy deck ever and the deck I played in my first UOL League. I’ve played a lot of Legacy decks since then, but it feels really special to be able to take this league down on something I’ve been playing for so long.
Why did you select Reanimator for your deck this season? What have you played in the past and why didn’t you play that?
As I said, I’ve played a lot of Reanimator, but I’ve messed with some other things as well. In particular I played Eldrazi Stompy back in the day and Ninjas a bit more recently. Honestly, when I registered I hadn’t done a ton of testing recently, so it mostly came down to either Reanimator or Ninjas, which are two of my favorite decks. I decided on Reanimator because I felt that Ninjas wasn’t in a great position in the format, but both are fun decks that I love playing. I also considered decks like 8-Cast and Elves!, but decided I didn’t have time to pick up a new deck before the league–plus, it’s really fun to play a turn one Griselbrand.
What was your hardest game or match you played?
Honestly, the hardest match was definitely the finals. I won 3-2 against Zachinflames on Peer Into the Abyss Storm, which is a matchup I had lost in the Swiss (I think 2-1, but Zach remembers it being 2-0). Going into it, I was a bit nervous because of my loss, but I generally feel pretty confident into Storm and despite this list being a bit different than your typical Storm deck, I wasn’t too worried. I won game one after dropping a quick Sire of Insanity, and spent games two and three trading discard and counterspells forever until eventually my opponent resolved Peer into the Abyss and won.
I also kind of punted game 3 away by Entomb-ing for a Griselbrand instead of an Iona, Shield of Emeria. For games four and five, I realized that my opponent wasn’t comboing off very quickly, and I decided to try bringing in Sylvan Library–generally a great card in matchups where you trade a lot of discard spells around. It came in clutch to drop a threat right on time in game four, and in game five a quick Sylvan Library managed to carry me to a Sire of Insanity and a league win.
What changes would you make to your deck in the future?
After I registered my deck I pretty quickly realized that my list is, well, flawed. First of all: it has 61 cards. I didn’t notice that at the time but it probably wasn’t ideal. After all, most Reanimator matches don’t really come down to decking out. Beyond that? I think I’d like to add some Chancellor of the Annex back in. The card is great against discard-heavy decks like my finals matchup, and absolutely crushes Chalice of the Void decks like the sweet Minotaurs deck I played against in Round Two.
I think I was a bit over-excited to play with Grief and I probably could’ve used some Chancellor of the Annex instead. I’d also mess with my sideboard a lot: most of it was ripped off of a deck that had done well in some league recently, and I didn’t wind up using a bunch of the cards. In particular, my sideboard had three Phyrexian Obliterator that I didn’t bring in in a single game. I don’t necessarily hate the card, although I generally think you have better options, but it was definitely not a good meta call.
This league was played with Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer legal. What are your thoughts on its banning and the format’s health in general?
Personally I didn’t think the format really needed a ban but I’m not mad about Ragavan’s ban either. I’m mostly hoping that it’ll open up the way for other tempo decks like Ninjas or Death’s Shadow, both decks that I’ve really enjoyed in the past. With that said, I’m worried that the UR shell is still just better than both of those. Overall though I think the format is pretty healthy, I’ve really enjoyed playing it recently.
Legacy was our biggest tournament this season. What do you like about Legacy that has gotten you to keep playing it?
Personally, I like Legacy as a format that stays relatively stable over time. I started playing Magic in 2015 and I love playing with old cards that I haven’t ever seen before. It also has a huge variety of unique decks that I love. Historically, I think Legacy has probably been my favorite format, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
What do you expect to play in the next season of Legacy? It starts tomorrow. Will you be changing it up, or running back RB Reanimator again?
Honestly? No idea. Every league I play in I think about at least 5 decks I could try out, and since signups for the next league are about to be posted, it’s time for me to start thinking about it. I mostly think I’m off Reanimator for now? It’s seemed to not post great results overall recently, and I’d love to win on a completely different deck if I can pull it off. It’s still a consideration, but other decks I’m thinking about, without going too into depth, include GW Depths and Mono Red Painter. The problem is that both of those decks could be in trouble with Boseiju, Who Endures about to be printed, so I have some testing to do before I can make a final decision.
Thank you for talking with me, and congratulations!
Thanks for the interview, and thanks to the readers!
Our next Legacy League first tomorrow! Join our Discord to play Legacy or any of our other tournaments (Pioneer and Modern are firing soon)! If you are unfamiliar with UOL, check out our Get Started page. If you want to learn more about our last Legacy season or access the signups, check out our Legacy page.
