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Topics - Sephiron

#1
So after some testing i decided that i want to play with most broken cards in highlander in this tournament, which means following: JtMS, bribery, Stoneforge Mystic, recurring nightmare, demonic tutor, natural order, primeval titan and birthing pod. Which meant i had to play something like 4c goodstuff. After a lot of testing i was happy with my list (and i still wouldn't change anything in this deck) and went to tournament, here is how matches went:

Round 1 - Bant

Game 1
opponent started with landdrop, while i got fyndhorn elves. Second turn he again just played a land, on my turn in upkeep i played worldly tutor to put stoneforge mystic on top, and then after making a land drop i casted it, which to my surprise resolved, so i got batterskull. Next turn opponent played finks, while i passed after playing a land. On his next turn (fourth) opponent tried casting sword of feast and famine to which i had FoW and then put batterskull into play with mystic EoT. After 2 turns opponent scooped (couldn't cast anything since he didn't draw any green sources) and we went to second game.

Game 2
Game started with both of us having noble hierarchs on first turn. Turn 2 opponent played worldly tutor in upkeep to get mystic on top, after which he casted it to get sword of feast and  famine. After untapping i played my own mystic getting batterskull. Next turn he played teeg which was pretty bad since i had Garruk, green zenith, but i still got to cast sylvan library to smooth my draws and knight of the reliquary to try getting maze of ith next turn. After equipping sword to teeg he attacked next turn making me discard zenith, but at least i had some exra life thanks to batterskull attacking previous turn. Since i was still at 15 life with batterskull i took one extra card from library, played land and attacked with batterskull which opponent couldn't block. Opponent tried attacking with teeg, to which i tried activating KotR to get maze of ith, opponent played aven mindcensor in response, luckily i at least got Creeping Tarpit, but i still had to discard garruk to sword. Next turn i finally got removal in form of vindicate to get rid of sword and attacked. Opponent tried bouncing teeg with Karakas to discard it to fauna shuman, but he didn't have any outs anymore.

About matchup: matchup is good since i practically play best cards from bant but instead of counters i have more tutors and threats, making this deck somewhat upgrade over bant. The fact that this deck is 4 colours doesn't matter since there isn't enough hate for it to be serious drawback (you can afterall get basics when you need)

Games 2 - 0

Round 2 - Hulk combo

Game 1
Nothing much to say here i just got some beatsticks in form of Acidic Slime and random mana dudes, while opponent only got gyus that fetch lands (yavimaya elder, sylvan ranger), with help of some disruption game ended quickly.

Game 2
This game was a bit more interesting since neither had much of action, but i got to resolve 4th turn gifts which got me bribery. Next turn opponent got natural order into terastodon,
breaking my only blue sources, but thanks to fetch i got tropical island to untap it with arbor elf getting his protean hulk with bribery. Now he couldnt attack me and after few turns I overwhelmed his board and got rid of terastodon and game ended.

About Matchup: this is usually good matchup since this deck disrupts everything opponent is trying to do (path+stop remove creatures, vendilion+exarch hand disruption, slime+pridemage land and artifact/enchantment removal and ton of tutors to get the needed cards), so comboing is hard, and without combo it's just worse version of this deck, because blue gives better cards.
 
Games 4 - 0

Round 3 - Oath

Game 1
I got goyf on t2 but opponent had removal to it. T3 I tried casting birthing pod, After some thinkin opponent said: "I assume since you're playing it, it's dangerous to let it resolve, so I'm going to counter it". After a few turns i got acidic slime breaking his land. He then transmuted muddle to get oath (i didn't know he played oath before so i had slime and dryad arbor in play). After he played oath i played my bribery which got me Emrakul. Opponent got blightsteel colossus from oath (no other creatures in the deck) and played control magic on my slime trying to survive, but i had stop to put him at six permanents making him sac them all after attacking with Emrakul.

Game 2
I started my game trying to get card advantage from sylvan library (since life didn't matter much) and some guys which he killed. On turn 5 i had some pressure and he played bribery, but i had primeval titan in hand, so he couldn't find any6thing better than got acidic slime destroying sylvan library. After few turns of going back and forth he played discard to make sure i didn't have anything relevant in hand, i had FoW but nothing to pitch with 4 mana, i just attacked on my turn. Then he played show and tell with 1 card in hand, he got emrakul and i put topdecked sower of temptation killing him with his own emrakul again.

About Matchup: didn't test much but from what i saw, unless i draw well and have answers in time he is favoured since he has better removal and card advantage.

Games 6 - 0

Round 4 - Goblins

Game 1
He started only with land, I think I had llanowar elves, he then played vexing shusher, but i got mystic for batterskull and thoughtseize, he played tangle wire. I put batterskull into play on upkeep, that got to attack one time after which he destroyed it with topdecked tuktuk scrapper. Afterwards i continued beatdown with finks and some random guy, while he got recruiter. I played acidic slime to make deny him some mana, but he still had enough for ringleader. I played jace to filter topdecks, but he just killed it. Afterwards he tried playing goblin lord and mana producing goblin (the one that gives red for sacrificing a goblin), but thanks to jace i had oblivion ring and vindicate for them. Thanks to my beatdown he was at nine, so while trying to get enough goblins i just killed him with tarpit.

Game 2
He got vial into warchief into ramgang wastelanding one of my lands, while my first relevant play was finks on turn 4, at which pioint he killed me.

Game 3
After killing my lanowar elves it turned out he was color/mana screwed (balck two drops and red three drops with only mountains), but so was i, but i got land faster,
enabling me to get birthing pob into acidic slime denying him access to mana, at which point he scooped.

About Matchup: Goblins isn't bad matchup since i have a lot of removal and he has combo and reach, so it mainly depens on the luck of the draw (though if opponent isn't skilled enough with goblins then it's easy)
Games 8 - 1

next i just took 2 ID:s to get to top8

Top 8:

Quaterfinals - Bant

Game 1
Game wasnt too exciting, he got gideon, while i had volrath stronghold and venser, shaper savant. Turn six i played primal command putting gideon on top of his deck and searching mystic, which i immediatly played to get batterskull. Afterwards it was few turns of him +2:ing gideon and me attacking with my creatures, but opponent drew only land, while i got some tutors and we went to second game.

Game 2
After seeing mana drain with batterskull in my opening hand I had my gameplan set, so after he played land and some mana guy, i played tropical island into arbor elf. Turn 2 he tutored Stoneforge mystic, while i just played a land into ponder. Next turn he tried garruk which i mana drained getting mana for batterskull next turn. He tried to get back into the game with trygon predator and stoneforge mystic into his own batterskull, but i responded with vendilion clique which revealed he had fact or fiction and batterskull. I cycled his batterskull away. Now i had blocker for his predator, so i just attacked with batterskull again, which got through. EoT he played Fact which revealed: Glen-elendra archmage, spellsnare, Force of Will, noble hierarch and counterspell, i divided: elendra and spellsnare into one and Fow, counterspell and hierarch into second pile which he took (I think I might have made a mistake here, but it was alredy a long day at that point so i was a bit tired). On his turn he played noble attacking with predator that i had to chump block with vendilion clique. Over the next few turns i got some guys into play (i had arbort elf, llanowar elves, acidic slime and court hussar in game) while he finally got through with predator (making me bounce batterskull), played gideon. At this point I had around 30 life (thanks to batterskull), vindicate in hand (only scrubland to provide black or white) and recurring nightmare which he countered with counterspell. After few turns of me attacking gideon he finally died while he was attacking me for 3 in the air. I topdecked worldly tutor which i played his EoT, which he decided to FoW (hardcast), then i topdecked bribery which got spellpierced. Opponent then proceeded to topdeck a sun titan to return mystic fetching batterskull, while i got Eladamri's call with six mana to spend, so i tutored sower to get his sun titan and passed, opponent played land and attacked with predator putting me at 21. On my turn i drew land played it and attacked with sun titan (he was at 9) to get quasali pridemage from grave, opponent put batterskull with mystic into game, which i destroyed with pridemage, but he chumped my titan with his elf. He  proceeded to get mini-jace and attacked me with predator, which put me at 18. On my turn I drew land again and attacked with titan, getting pridemage from grave, which then tried destroying batterskull opponent put with mystic into play, but opponent bounced it back again. He then finally found elspeth, but couldnt swing with it since i had too much board presence, so he just made token and attacked me with predator to 12 (he still had noble in play). I attacked with sun titan and sower returning recurring nightmare to play (he didnt have mana to use mystic), he chumped titan with token from elspet putting him at 7 life. I used nightmare to sacrifice my guy (i think it was court hussar) to get some guy from graveyard (i think it was acidic slime). Opponent drew card for tourn and with jace, played top, topped and then made token from elspeth. On my turn I topdecked treachery. I then cast treachery to predator and vindicated his token to finally kill him.

Games 10 - 1

Semifinal - Oath (the same one from swiss)

Game 1
He started with duress revealing a few lands llanowar elves, tainted pact and gifts. He took pact since it was too dangerous (if i had fetched correctly it couldn't fizzle and i could get sower in response to show and tell or slime for oath). t2 lotus cobra, t3 he force spiked my gifts, t4 mulldrifter (I played  creeping tarpit). My hand had skinrender (dead card), Stop (if he got blightsteel colossus i could use this), fauna shaman and tarmogoyf. After attacking him he was at 12 and i played fauna shaman, he played shockland untapped (to 10) and damnation. I played goyf to which he responded with smother (which was a mistake, since he should gave killed it with ghastly demise, because now he couldn't use it to kill my tarpit). Afterwards i proceeded to kill him in 3 turns with my tarpit.

Game 2
He got Sensei's divining top, but on turn 2 he used it to draw card and play watery grave, so I thought he was mana screwed and proceeded to vindicate his tropical island turn later. And later i used acidic slime to hit another land. He proceeded to draw some lands, but it still slowed him down enough so i could start beating him down. Next turn he didn't do much, but i had eladamri's call into glen-elendra archmage with 2 open blue mana (had to play shockland untapped for that). He played merchant scroll and personal tutor that i countered with archmage (couldnt let them resolve, since he most likely alredy had some piece of como). After 1 turn he tried tapping my guys and draw card in my upkeep with cryptic command (he was at 6 or nine, i hit him for 3 per turn), which i mana drained and played sun titan from drained mana.

Games 12 - 1

Finals - Grixis control
before games we agreed on prize split, so we practically just played for title. Game one he inquisitioned my mystic, and after some FoW wars (he had mystical teachings into gifts, and then pitched it to Fow trying to counter my recurring nightmare, but i FoW:ed it pitching treachery he knew about, he resolved inferno titan which got shriekmaw) he got to resove wildfire leaving me with 1 land, and then proceeded to draw 2 lands and JtMS. Game 2 he just cast treachery on my knight of the reliquary and followed it with burning of xineye leaving me with no lands again.

About Matchup: I didn't test against this deck so cannot say much, but matchup doesn't seem too good, it seems to moslty depend on whether he has enough disruption to kill/counter my threats in time. Wildfire/xineye is definitely MvP for him, since everything else i can deal wiht, but he has troubles with fast primeval titan/birthing pod.

Games 14 - 3

Decklist can be found here: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=618.0

Comments are welcome

#2
Deck Lists / 4c best stuff
15-05-2011, 02:37:23 PM
Here is the deck i played to get 2nd place in finnish highlander nationals

About deck:
After watching what people play in Finland it occured to me that there was practically no drawback to playing four colors instead of 3, because there clearly wasn't enough nonbasic land hate and i could play the best cards legal in highlander: JtMS, bribery, Stoneforge Mystic, recurring nightmare, demonic tutor, natural order, primeval titan and birthing pod. I tested quite a lot and ended up with the following list:

Decklist:
Deck: 4c Best Stuff

maze of ith
Bloodstained mire
verdant catacombs
windswept heath
arid mesa
wooded foothills
flooded strand
polluted delta
misty rainforest      
marsh flats
scalding tarn
wasteland
horizon canopy
dryad arbor
volrath's stronghold
treetop village
creeping tarpit      
plains   
underground sea
watery grave      
tropical island
bayou
savannah
overgrown tomb
breeding pool
tundra
hallowed fountain
swamp         
2 island
2 forest
snow-covered swamp
snow-covered island   
snow-covered forest
scrubland

sensei's divining top
ponder
swords to plowshares
duress         
fyndhorn elves
noble hierarch
thoughtseize
llanowar elves      
birds of paradise
arbor elf
inquisition of kozilek
preordain
worldly tutor
path to exile
elves of deep shadows
brainstorm

Tarmogoyf
sylvan library
tainted pact
quasali pridemage   
stoneforge mystic
eladamri's call
demonic tutor
fauna shaman      
sakua-tribe elder
mana drain
lotus cobra
wall of roots

vindicate
pernicious deed
trinket mage
sword of fire and ice   
recurring nightmare
knight of the reliquary   
vendilion clique
maelstrom pulse   
yavimaya elder
oblivion ring
kitchen finks
sword of feast and famine
court hussar
eternal witness

entomber exarch
birthing pod
glen elendra archmage
venser, shaper savant   
gifts ungiven
natural order
sower of temptation
loxodon hierarch      
jace, the mindsculptor
fact or fiction
skinrender
garruk wildspeaker

shriekmaw
primal command
mulldrifter
treachery      
batterskull
bribery   
acidic slime

Sun Titan
Primeval Titan

Force of will
Green Sun's zenith
Engineered explosives

Card choices:

Finishers: after a lot of testing i found out that primeval titan was sufficient finisher and deck didn't need any terastodon or progenituses, since you would practically never cast them, and only they were mostly NO targets, but primeval titan is always good (getting it and then tutoring volrath stronghold with wasteland or manlands puts you very far ahead, and even if they killed it you still have advantage). So you can play less expensive/dead cards and fill those slots with something more relevant. I never actually missed terastodon or progenitus since natural order won't usually resolve and if it resolved i won with just titan. On the other hand it made games against decks with bribery much easier, since now the best they got was prrimeval or sun titan that i could bounce to hand. And grave titan was useless in every game I drew it during testing, so while I understand it's very good, it just didn't have enough synergy with the rest of the deck, although i could see myself playing him in slower metagame (with more ramps and controls and less combo/bant/reanimator decks)

Counterspells: i left only drain and FoW because i usually tapout don't have mana to counter spells. And most of the time my spells are better than opponents. You could call i metachoice, since you only want counters against combo or ramp decks. While you still have good disruption against combo, I might add more counters to deck if there were more decks like what my finals opponent played.

No white planeswalkers: after testing i noticed that it was too hard to cast those with four color manabase so i had to cut nearly all spells that cost double black or double white. Only exeptions were sun titan (usually i had possibility to get 2 white sources by turn 5-6) and entomber exarch (In one game opponent asked me: "Isn't playing exarch too greedy for that deck" to which I answered: "No, you see I have 2 swamps in the deck so i can cast him"  :D). Mainly because they were creautres so i could tutor them to birthing pod and they come late enough for me to have time to fix my mana. I could usually cast them whenever i needed.

Primeval Titan: this guy is all you need to win a match, by tutoring wasteland and volrath stronghold you usually get ahead of opponent on mana, break their important lands (like their maze of ith). And if they somehow get rid of titan you just return it on top of the deck. against aggro you can always get maze of ith. If you have lacking board presence you get manlands. If you don's have much cards in hand horizon canopy helps you there. While i know these things are obvious, most people still try to win with Progenitus/terastodon that are vulnerable to mass removel/or edicts, while with primeval titan even if they kill it you still can get lands and if they don't kill him, well trampling 6/6 ends games fast enough. So while it's a bit harder to win with primeval titan being only big threat it makes deck more consistent.

About new cards:

Batterskull: this card is sick, i cut wurmcoil engine for it, since now playing stoneforge mystic t2 is gg against any deck that can't destroy it fast enough. It practically kills burn and gives tremendous advantage against control since it is very hard to destroy. With five mana and stoneforge open, you can just trade the token with anything and bounce+replay it EoT. now opponents have to get rid of both mystic and euipment ASAP. A lot of the times in tournament when asked how the games went they answered: "opponent got t2 mystic so couldn't do anything" or "I got t2 mystic so it was easy". Mystic was nearly borken before batterskull, now it's just stupid (recall what was argument for banning jitte, mystic creates similar situations).

Entomber exarch: I'm amazed how most of the people missed how good this guy is. This guy is pure utility: aginst contorol/combo you can duress them and beat down and against creature decks he returns finks/shriekmaw. It's good against any deck and always a relevant card (btw it can also discard lands, didn't notice it until yesterday)

Birthing pod: People who say it isn't good or medicore, just haven't tested with it. This card is nuts it's power level is somewhere between survival of the fittest and recurring nightmare. I am still to lose a game where this has resolved. Some highlights about this card:
-it practically gives your creatures vigilance since you can upgrade them postcombat.
-With  help of some mana guy you can play and activate it turn 3 or play it t2 and activate t3
-It can upgrade llanowar elves (or any other 1 mana managuy) into stoneforge mystic
-It can upgrade you 2 drops into: kitchen finks/witness/vendilion Clique/Yavimaya elder
-It can upgrade your 3 drops (especially fun when your 3 drop is yavimaya elder or finks) into: baloth/venser/sower/glen-elendra Archmage/entomber exarch/skinrender
-It can upgrade your 4 drops into: acidic slime/shriekmaw/mulldrifter/reveillark/arc slogger
-It can upgrade your 5 drops into: titans (i succeded only once every other time opponents scooped after i got 5th drop)
-it can sacrifice creatures you stole from opponent with sower/treachery
-you can set up chains that you want, for example saccing wall of roots into finks to get 2 four drops, or if you don't have enough land 2 drop into elder, and then into four drop
-creatures mentioned above are mostly for this deck, but any color combination with green in it (and sometimes without) has enough good targets for birthing pod to be very good.

comments and suggestions are welcome

Edit: tournament report can be found here: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=619.0
#3
Played finnish highlander nationals with UGB control deck, shamefully didnt get library of alexandria in time but in the end it wasnt needed.

Decklist:

Lands:
2x Swamp
3x Island
4x Forest
Academy Ruins
Bayou
Bloodstained Mire
Breeding Pool
Flooded Strand
Barren Moor
Lonely Sandbar
Maze of Ith
Misty Rainforest
Overgrown Tomb
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Volrath's Stronghold
Wooded Foothills
Windswept heath
Wasteland
Vesuva
Underground Sea
Tropical Island
Tranquil Thicket
Tolaria West
Snow-Covered Swamp
Snow-Covered Island
Snow-Covered Forest
Watery Grave
Marsh Flats
Verdant Catacombs
36 in total
Mana Fixation:
Birds of Paradise
Chrome Mox
Coalition Relic
Garryk, Wildespeaker
Hermit Druid
Llanowar Elves
Lotus Cobra
Mox Diamond
Nature's Lore
Noble Hierarch
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Solemn Simulacrum
Wall of Roots

Counters:
Condescend
Cryptic Command
Force of Will
Glen Elendra Archmage
Mana Drain
Misdirection
Miscalculation
Mystic Snake
Venser, Shaper Savant

CA:
Fact or Fiction
Frantic Search
Future Sight
Jace Beleren
Mind Twist
Thirst for Knowledge
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sensei's Divining Top

Recursion:
Body Double
Eternal Witness
Genesis
Life from the Loam
PRegrowth
Recurring Nightmare

Removal:
Damnation
Engineered Explosives
Krosan Grip
Maelstrom Pulse
Pernicious Deed
Shriekmaw
Slaughter Pact
Sower of Temptation
Treachery
Vedalken Shackles
Wickerbough Elder
Tormod's Crypt
Primal Command

Tutors:
Demonic Tutor
Gifts Ungiven
Intuition
Trinket Mage
Survival of the Fittest

Guys:
Grazing Gladehart
Kitchen Finks
Looter il-Kor
Vendilion Clique
Tarmogoyf
Worm Harvest
Spike Weaver
Ravenous Baloth
Rampaging Baloths
Psychatog

101 cards in total

Round 1 (some rgb survival goblins):
Games werent too interactive, in first he played 1 goblin and had 3 lands (seems needed more) while i got some guys pretty fast to beat him to death.
Game 2 was interesting: first turn llanowar elves into 2nd turn wall of roots + Survival of the fittest, at end of opponents turn search for rampaing baloths just in case, while he Demonic tutors if i recall correct, then i play land and pass, he krosan rips survival, after which few turns later i play rampaging baloths + land and it becomes fast too hard to handle.

Round 2 (4c survival):
This game is interesting in that i won in situations in which one usually loses. First game i get second turn lotus cobra, while opponent got 2 fetches -> loam -> fetch some more + beats from cobra get him fast in 12 life where he casts mind twist for 5 to clear my hand, i condescend for one, to clear my topdeck, and let it resolve (would have gotten future sight next turn), and he kills my cobra, but is left with no cards in hand, but with loam in grave, while i have not enough lands and genesis in grave after twist, after few topdecks, genesis and cobra prove to be too much and we go to game 2. Here we both dont do anything relevant for first turns, he then resolves gifts getting loam and library of alexandria in grave, academy ruins and volrath stronghold to hand, later on my turn i mind twist him leavng with 2 cards in hand. Few turns later i get survival he has trinket mage + top and casts wickerbough elder answering top, next turn i cast only goyf, his turn he makes epic blunder: goyf is 6/7 (thanks mainly to my grave) and he equips sword of fire and ice to elder and attacks without checking goyf's size, i block kill his (he had tormods crypt in hand, which he could have played precombat to shrink goyf) guy topdeck sword of my own and proceed to demolish him.

Roun 3(UW fish):
Lost my notes on this match, so dont remember this clearly. this was pretty back and froth, seems he kept bad hand in second game and i controlled him pretty heavily, both games killed him with rampaging baloths (one game aso included ravenous baloths and recurring nightmare alongside them)

round 4 (UG survival fish):
he had only some force spike 2 mana 1/1 drake on turn 2 and winter orb with totem, which slowed himdown more than me since i had noble hierarch and enough land to cast 4th turn deed and blow it at the end of his 5th turn while still having enough life. In second game we both get totally manascrewed, but he gets the islandwalkind-card-drawing-selkie, and 6 turns later sword to it after finally getting lands, he then proceeds to destroy me. Game 3 started like this: mox diamond, land noble hierarch, on second turn play land and jace with 1 mana open and overwhelm him with card advatage he generates and tempo advantage mox and druid generate.

Rouns 5 and 6 ID with opponents for slot in top 8 and first place in swiss standings.

TOP 8 (Zoo):
too exciting games so not much notes here. In first game he killed me fast, didnt have much to say about it (finks came too late), in game two he had me hanging on the ropes and i was sure i was going to die, but ravenous baloth and next turn rampaging baloths + land but me outside of his range pretty fast. Game 3 he got few dudes pretty fast and started attacking me with them, killed my blocker and played tangle wire, in response with 4 lands and survival i cast fact or fiction, got rampaging baloths and maze of ith to hand and goyf, wall of roots and something random in grave. Maze stalled him enough so that tangle wire faded, and he was forced to overextend (though he played all of his cards in hand, although he didnt havre to) so after damnation on my turn, next turn rampaging baloths ended game in a hurry.

TOP4 (RB burn-aggro):
In first game opponent played some pinging guy, later he got magus of the moon to my island, tropical island, academy ruins and underground sea (color screw, so forced to fetch nobnbasics), then EOT Gifts -> Swamp, Slaughter Pact, Solemn Simulacrum and Chrome Mox(maelstrom pulse in hand), got swamp and solemn, next turn kill magus ramp mana with solemn simulacrum, next turn glazing gladehart + land, then nature's lore and he is forced to kill gladehart. After primal command i got out of reach and got some dorks to finish he game. Game 3 he rushed with 2 1 mana shock dudes, while i got only birds of paradise and no relevant lifegain, few turns later got garruk + token with goyf protection while he burned me down to 10, next turn he tries to kill garruk with 3 mana burn, which i mana drain, next turn after my draw he plays instant that lets him choose card type and deal to me 3 for every card of the chosen type, in response i vendilion clique his burn, and get 3 for 1 creature in hand, on main phase garruk untaps and is at 4, so i cast rampaging baloths off of mana drains mana and untapped lands, next turn opponent is forsed to use his burn on garruk so that he wouldnt die to overrun next turn, but he doesnt topdeck anything relevant in 2 turns that baloth kills him.

FINAL (UW fish i defeated in round 3):
Nothing much to say here he is tired, didnt read needle properly and named birds of paradise on it, later returns it to hand and names psychatog + geddon, from which i recover with land few turns later (had 1 birds and sychatog on my side while he pinged me for 2 with tapping morph rebel) killed his only threat with shriekmaw and got goyf with few friends on field to kill him fast. Game 2 wasnt even close with me having tempo advantage and having rampaging baloths twith lands to get tokens + recurring nightmare to get killed baloth back.

So first place for mana drain, some great commons and 50 store credits.

Few notes:
- you dont get to tap survival to tangle wire
- glazing gladehart is one of best commons of zendicar
- survival is busted
- rampaging baloths are busted
- Landfall is busted, very powerful mechanic for highlander
- needle DOESNT shut down mana abilities so RTFC
#4
As a side event for nationals in Finland there was a highlander tournament. Around 24 players came and it was very fun. Most likely judges from the even will write some kind summary of the event, but here's my report on tournament:
After not getting thru LCQ to nationals I traded cards for highlander and played some side-events and got most of the cards for the deck during friday-saturday (was so busy didnt even sleep  :-\ ). At 10 am i played some test games and realized dark confidant didnt belong in the deck (i got it in three games durning testing, and it got me venser, miscalculation and fact or fiction so opponents made lethals pretty fast after that). At 11 am registrations started and organizers confirmed that there will be decklists, so half of players started writing them (me included). At 12 o'clock tournament was starting and I made last minute change (confidant to solemn simulacrum, though jace or crime//punishment would be better). Not without difficulties (99 cards in decklis which one is missing :o ) i got to table.
I played 5c survival missing some cards (like redcap insead of ghitu gslinger and court hussar instead of that drake)

Here's the decklist i played:
misdirection
remand
brainstorm
mana drain
swords to plowshares
condescend
thirst for knowledge
intuition
fact or fiction
putrfy
gifts ungiven
force of will
eldamari's call
regrowth
deep analysis
demonic tutor
life from the loam
vindicate
mind twist
back to basics
recurring nightmare
Aluren
Survival of the fittest
blood moon
Pernicious deed
oblivion ring
sensei's divining top
sword of fire andice
chrome mox
scrabbling claws
aether vial
engineered explosives
trinket mage
genesis
mystic snake
body double
hermit druid
tarmogoyf
looter il-kor
murderous redcap
stonecloacker
squee, goblin nabob
aven mincensor
magus of the moon
shadowmage infiltrator
harmonic sliver
eternal witness
trygon predator
birds of paradise
ravenous baloth
court hussar
kitchen finks
Solemn simulacrum
llanowar elves
venser, Shaper savant
spike weaver
wall of roots
merfolk looter
bone shredder
reveillark
sakura tribe elder
vampire aristocrat
lorescale coatl
knight of the reliquary
quasali pridemage
gemstone mine
swamp
taiga
flooded strand
barrenmoon
island
volcanic island
4 forest
3 island
grasslands
tranquil thicket
tundra
bayou
volrath's stronghold
wasteland
lonely sandbar
bloodstained mire
windswept heath
tropical island
vesuva
underground Sea
wooded foothills
plains
polluted delta
mountain
plateau
badlands
mountain valley
bad river
rocky tar pit

Round 1: Opponent had sleeves from 2 different sets with slightly different colours so i asked him to change them so that they would match and judge agreed. In first game he got hellkite overlord in grave on turn 2 i got trinket mage for scrabbing claws (slow start) and he played necromancy on t3 gg. In game 2 he tried to reanimate empyrial archangel turn 5 i remove it with stonecloacker, get double with survival few turns later, we laugh at situation since he just dumped some big dudes in his grave, next turn i combo out with reveillark from survival. In game 3 i got turn 2 looter il kor and he duressed me revealing few counters and gifts, taking gifts and playing some 1/2 with irrelevant ability. After that i dont get 4th land for 10 turns and here starts damage race: my looter beats im to face for 10 turns (no lands) and his 1/2 is pinging me for ten turns (cant reanimate because of counters). Opponent then notices that he forgot to shuffle exiled empyrial archangel and left it out of the deck, after some discussing with judge he gets off with warning and we continue with the game. Then i play trinket into scrabbing claws and opponent is very troubled. After few turns he gets rid of claws and hardcasts kederekt leviathan returning all my guys to hand, next turn i topdeck aluren and at his EOT play finkel, looter, witness and trinket mage, killing him next turn.

Round 2: I get paired against my friend with whom i tested but didnt play any games with current version of the deck so he knew my gameplan but didnt know what to expect from red splash which i added two days ago. Game one i played mirage fetch land tapped and he wastelanded it turn 2 + bop and it went downhill from there: i get stuck on 3 lands he gets treefolk harbringer into doran, then i get 4th mana for aluren into boneshredder, stonecloacker in response to volrath stronghold and knight of the reliquary. Next turn he attacks with doran, i block with knight using his ability to get fetch so that he would be 6/6, in response to me fetching (i went to 4 life) he psionic blasts me for exactly lethal. Game 3 i start with looter il kor which he sends to topdeck, i replay him turn 3, then add goyf while he gets colossus, i play then aven mindcensor his EOT. For a few turns i fix my hand and eat his life with looter and mindcensor, while chumping his colossus with some small dudes. Turn 6 he makes fatal mistake: he plays white instant that fetches equipment and then we get reminded about mindcensor when he is about to fetch (turns out he thought mindcensor's ability worked for one turn since i used russian copy he didnt check and i just forgot about mindcensor). So he just attacks with colossus i block with 5/6 goyf forcing him to spend mana on pump. Few turns later using squee to combo with looter I get recurring nightmare for goyf, he gets needle for nightmare and rhox warmonk. During my next turn time is called and i attack trying to to kill in time, he attacks with his guys, i chump colossus. My next turn after some thinking i play trygon predator, attack and pass turn with him being at 5 with some guy to block colossus. He attacks, i chump colossus, he goes to 8. EOT I play intuition with which judge is unsatisfied since ours was the last game, and it took me some time to decide on the three i wanted from intuition: redcap,reveillark and sword of fire and ice. He gave me redcap, my turn attack with my evasion guys for 5 destroying needle with predator, play redcap shooting to face, and for last three mana I play recuring nightmare to sac redcap and deal that last 1 poin

Round 3: Again one of guys from my town with a good BW aggro deck which is usually bad matchup  :'( . First game he gets fast start, but i get boneshredder killing one of of his guys, next he gets nearly kills me, but redcap + recurring nightmare into boneshredder and he scoops. Game 2 he gets 3 guys during first 2 turns + armaggeddon on 4th turn, so pretty uneventful. Game 3 we had discussion with judge how highlander mulligan works with new mulliganing* rules and nobody was sure, so in the end I didnt want to bother and just took my highlander mylligan and kept that. He was forced to mulligan to bad hand not getting any guys first 2 turns, and i removed all the guys he got, though in the end he discarded what was left of my hand. I then topdeckced genesis andplayed it on field with 2 guys on both sides. Genesis then proceeded to kill him.

*I would be glad if anybody could explain how new order of deciding when her to mulligan works with highlander mulligan rule

Game 4: Again aggro, white weenie this time, but he got bad hand first game with manascrew (wasteland one of my lands gets stuck on 2 one of which i vindicate), on turn 10 he gets 3rd land to cast 3 mana 2/2 first striker which i couner with hardcast force of will. When he finally gets something I just kill him. Game 2 im still unsure whas he playing and keep medicore hand which he punishes by getting lots of small dudes + exalted angel and flying over mine for lethal (now i understand why wonder is needed in this deck). Last game started with him playing some dudes and me getting aether vial and wall of roots + getting screwed on mana thanks to wasteland hitting tapped fetch, but vial into ravenous baloth is hard on weenie (he had 3 ww first strikers) + fact or fiction into putrefy and lands, then on my turn I dont know what i was thinking (most likely brainfreeze) and attacked with baloth into 3 2/2 first strikers with which he blocked i then had to putrefy 1 and venser from vial into other one, he then stopped baloth (sacced in response). Few turns later he has 3 guys in play and i have few manaproducers topdeckced senseis divining to and knight of reliquary, with only squee in hand. For 2 turns i repeat this process draw card, play fetch, use top, see only crap, fetch, top, EOT Knight's fetch into fetch, top, fetch, top. After a few turns i play deed for 3, leaving venser and persisted finks for me and jotun grunt from under o-ring for him (using sensei's divining top and then putting it on top). On upkeep I return squee from grave draw top into survival (which i topped for), then  I realize I used 2 of my 3 green mana and have only 1 left, so I pass a turn. On his turn he played ronom unicorn destroying survival, in response i fetch withness. On my turn time is called and I just return squee draw play witness + survival and pass, opponent watches his hand and plays some creature. On my turn squee->Body double->Vampire aristocrat->Reveillark with exactly six mana to evoke, but no redcap to kill, so i just bounce all his permanents and kill him on my last turn. Later opponent revealed his hand and it turns out that he could have played winter orb during his first turn when the time was called so he could have gotten the draw.

In Round 5 opponent proposed ID since he was unsure of matchup with my deck (he played mono g elves), while i was very tired and had to drive home 150 km later so I agreed since prizes werent too different (around 10 boosters for 5-0-0 and 8 for 4-0-1). We then played a game for fun and i won with him not even having a chance (he got lots of elves and wellwisher while i got spike weaver + recurring nightmare which he couldnt annswer), though I did get pretty good hand agains his slower one.

So in the end the weekend was great especially highlander tournament was fun, here are some things that came tomind during weekend:
- genesis can win games even in play
- reading cards is a tech
- having foreign cards is tricky
- be sure to remember names for cards you have foreign versions of, because writing decklist in half an hour with lots of foreign cards isnt something you ever want to do
- Exalted angel is good :D
- sleeping before tournament is tech
- releases are crap, they are expensive and have very bad prizes (1st place 7 boosters  :( )
- nobody ever has crappy commons with them even though you NEED THEM SO MUCH  ;)
- hardcasting force of will on 3 mana 2/2 to get moral victory
- survival is unfair 1 card combo, though im glad its not banned since its fun to play it  ;)
- playing first legacy tournament with teps which you dont know how to play and getting the deck 5 minutes before the tournament can be a bit tricky  :o

Comments on decklist and feedback are welcome

EDIT: btw forgot to mention metagame had actually pretty much "control":
top 3 (4-0-1): 5c survival, mono green elves and staxx (if i recall correct), there were one goblin deck i think, few white based aggros, quite a few midrange decks some of which were survival decks (at least three 4c survivals without red), I saw one oath deck and one 4 color total control (my friend played it; nearly full foil; plays best enchantments, counters and CA cards) in top tables