Ruby in the Raw

My Deck

My Shuffle

My name is Sam. I'm an American expat living in China working as a teacher. I'm an avid Legacy player, mtgo league grinder (samus_ssp), and local paper player. I've been playing magic since 1998, and like many, I started on my kitchen table without sleeves. Though I don't remember specifically, I'm sure that when I began playing in local tournaments I started using sleeves, and obviously have since. Though I played Legacy back when it was 1.5, I got back into it around 2019 and have played a wide variety of decks -- of course all sleeved.

Today, I played in a Legacy tournament with no Sleeves.

Multani for EDH

The reasons to use sleeves are obvious, and to be clear I don't disagree with any of them. But still there was something alluring about playing magic with the feeling of magic cards -- the feeling of my youth.

I also play EDH, which for me is an opportunity to indulge in magical nostalgia. My decks are full of old boarder cards that have long been since power crept. And I thought, most of these cards are not worth much, and even the ones that are are either already in bad condition or I'm never going to sell them. So why not?

But in a tournament is different. No one plays Legacy without sleeves. So why not?

To protect expensive cards

My cards are not expensive. In Ruby the most expensive card by far is Ancient Tomb. Now I do have some nice Tempest versions, but I love them and will never sell them, so a scuff or two here or there is no matter to me.

To avoid marked cards

Again Ruby is uniquely well situated for this. From my experience as an old school collector, from 1993 -- 1996 (Alpha through Mirage block), the printing "constancy" is all over the place. Miscut boarders and noticeably different coloring on the fronts and more importantly backs. Further, older cards are older. They've been weathered more, faded by the sun and time. However, all the cards in Ruby have modern printings. Now, I am using Tempest Tombs and Medallions, because I like them and that's what I have, but the discoloring on their backs is minimal. Likewise I chose Urza's Saga Mountains as a nice bridge between the eras.

For all the cards, I had a close look at the backs to make sure there was nothing egregious, and there wasn't. Can you find differences if you study them closely? Absolutely yes. Could one use this to cheat? Yes one could. But I did not and no one accused me of this, so all was well. Look, I wouldn't take this to Eternal Weekend, but my local should be fine.

My Local Card Shop

Players

I live in Shenzhen, China. There is a healthy magic scene here, with a reasonable Legacy portion. We have larger annual events. But today was a smaller one. 21 participants, 5 rounds cut to top 8.

Trade Binder (not mine)

Magic was always an expensive hobby, but when your county's average income is lower than America's, Magic is truly a rich person's game. There are a lot of rich people in Shenzhen.

Tournament Report

Mostly I was just excited to play a deck without sleeves. I was a little worried people, or especially the judge, wouldn't be supportive, but actually there were no problems throughout the night. Everyone was quite amazed to see it, several asked if they were real cards or proxies. I shuffled with vigor, but my opponents all commented that they didn't know how to shuffle my deck. I encouraged them to riffle shuffle and even showed them how, but none were brave enough. But otherwise play was normal.

Got a lot of comments though, and I was the talk of the town in the relevant group chats. I was happy to get the attention, it was half the reason I chose to go sleeveless.

Link to Decklist (Moxfield)

Round 1 vs Painter

My opponent expressed surprise that I wasn't using sleeves.

Pretty quick 2-0 here. Game 1 I'm on the play and am able to go off turn 2 without fearing any interaction. Game 2 he does put me on the spot with the quick Painter combo available, but I'm happy to have the chance to go off when he's tapped out of blasts (painter on blue). It's tight but I get lucky stringing together some impulses.

Round 2 vs Doomsday

My opponent expressed surprise that I wasn't using sleeves.

Game 1 he is on the draw but has turn 1 Doomsday (pictured). Turn 2 I make an attempt to go off, but he Forces my first ritual. Well I wasn't going to win this one.

He has a transformational Sideboard into a reanimator package which he used, but I didn't really get to see much of it. Games 2 and 3 he just cast a bunch of cantrips and spun his wheels while I stuck some baubles and am able to go off.

Round 3 vs Yorion Beanstalk Frog

My opponent was supportive that I wasn't using sleeves.

My opponent is a known good player, so even though this is a pretty good matchup for me, I'm still nervous. I take game 1 pretty easily, but game 2 my opponent is able to counter some key spells and get there with frog beatdown.

Game 3 was more closer. I get in a spot where I have a storm count of 5 and Burning Wish. I can burning wish for Past in Flames or Inspired Tinkering, but either has a reasonable chance to fizzle. My opponent has only 1 card in hand and no pressure on board so I choose to wish for Galvanic Relay, but his last card is Consign to Memory. That was rough, but since he had no pressure I eventually drew another action spell and from there easily won the game.

Round 4 vs Frog Tempo

My opponent expressed surprise that I wasn't using sleeves.

My opponent offers the draw because 3-0-2 will make top 8, but I decline. I want to be top seed going into top 8, but mostly I just don't want to sit around for 2 hours doing nothing.

Game 1 goes as you expect, he has an early Force of Will for some early action from me. So the turn he taps out for a frog I figure I should make an effort. I get stuck in a place where the storm count is 4 and I'm on four mana post Wish. If I had five mana I could Past in Flames to keep going, but I am one mana short. My options are either Empty the Warrens or Galvanic Relay. Relay is obviously the best choice in retrospect but I chose Empty. Maybe my head was in the wrong place because previous round I had a bad Relay experience, and I completely forgot that Tamiyo was almost certainly in my opponent's deck. Sure enough he both plays and flips it next turn. I have three Mountains and zero cards in my hand to my opponent's frog.

I draw wish. Not a bad draw, but wish is definitely worse than Burning Wish here because I don't have enough mana to cast it and cast a follow up spell. I can sit on it and hope I draw a few rituals over the next few turns, but I am a man of Action. I wish for Blast Zone -- next turn it can take out the Tamiyo. What are the odds my opponent has another? He has another. I had drawn an Ancient Tomb, and the only thing I have going for me is a stacked graveyard. So if I top deck exactly Burning Wish or Past in Flames, and my opponent has exactly nothing, I can win. This happens.

Round 5 - Intermission

My round 5 opponent is happy I'm willing to ID with them. I go get some well deserved noodles. I will be top seed going into top 8, so on the play for all my future rounds.

Top 8 vs The Epic Gamble

My opponent was not surprised I wasn't using sleeves. We had been talking about my plan for some time, Michael is my local expat friend, and he's also an avid storm player (owns real LEDs!). I'm nervous because this is the first truly terrible matchup for me. We're both combo decks with little to no disruptions, but his deck is just faster.

However I do have one tool, I maindeck 3x Vexing Bauble, which can be quite effective vs his deck, so because I'm on the play (top seed!) I am really looking to keep a hand with bauble. Game 1 my opening hand does have bauble, and a ruby, but only an Ancient Tomb for mana. In the blind I mulligan these, but I don't want to keep a hand without bauble and I don't want to risk going to fewer than 6 cards, so I keep this. I figure bauble will buy me time and I'll eventually draw a mountain, I only need one to go off because my hand is full of rituals. It mostly works, Michael is stuck behind the bauble but I have not yet drawn a red source. He hits Reforge the Soul off the top so we wheel. I discard all my rituals and draw a hand full of mountains. He has to pass, I have red mana now, but only 1! My new hand has a Past in Flames but no rituals so I have to pass as well. Lucky he is still unable to go off, and next turn with two red sources I'm able to easily close out the game.

Well on the play I can rely on bauble but on the draw? I do have 3x Leyline of the Void in my sideboard. Leyline is not great vs The Epic Gamble, but again he is faster than me and it's really all I got so I side them in. Some hands he is relying on LED echo lines and Leyline can shut those down. Besides, we had even talked about how Leyline is not worth it to bring in vs The Epic Gamble, so at least I don't think he'll be expecting it.

And in fact in Game 2 that's how it played out. I got pretty lucky in that he had to Mulligan to 5, and did keep a LED echo line. My opening hand AGAIN had Leyline and bauble, but AGAIN no red source. I keep with the same logic as the previous game but this time I do draw the red and am able to go off before my opponent.

Semi-Finals vs High Tide

Another Combo deck, but this one is more my speed. Therefor I figure being on the play I have the advantage. Normally High Tide's edge would be that they have interaction -- Force of Will -- but this version was not playing Forces just all in on Sapphire Medallion and Creatures (including the new Otter).

Game 1 I was on the play so I was able to go off first. His build does not have any Force of Wills so I wasn't playing around much, just trying to jam as fast as I could.

Game 2 was got by my opponent; I did have a very interesting spot where I now realized I miss-played. (actually pictured, not that you can see much). I was trying to go off but my opponent countered a key action spell of mine. I have Ral in play, and have played 2 previous spells. My had is 4 rituals, no action whatsoever -- so the only way to win this turn is to flip Ral with 8 loyalty, so I would have to play all my rituals. I can actually do this with pretty good odds because 3 of them are instant speed and I have the mana, so I can put all 4 on the stack at the same time, so that I just need to flip heads on any one of them.

However, I over think things (classic storm player). I know he's on 4 snap, and also this is post sideboard so he might have more bounce. Therefor I cast only 3 of my spells and hold the last one back to respond to his snap. But he just lets everything resolve and I flip ral on 7 loyalty, + it, and pass hoping to win next turn (I lose).

I now realize that I could still have done my play, pass priority with 3 flips on the stack. If my opponent passes back I have to resolve the first flip but I can then infer that I might as well put the last ritual on the stack for 3 50% chances of flipping with 8 loyalty. A smart opponent might still have the snap but I'm not playing around anything if he lets the first flip resolve.

There was a moment where he Mind's Desired forgetting about my Bauble in play, but he had enough resources that he was still able to win.

Game 3 my opponent taps out on turn 2 for a Sapphire Medallion and I go off and win (again no Forces in the deck!). He reveals he could have held up Brainstorm to dig for Flusterstorm, but he wanted to give himself the chance to win next turn if I couldn't. Reasonable.

Key Turn, also pictured my Bauble in play.

My Opponent's previous match where he also forgot about Vexing Bauble (but this time it was his own!)

Finals vs Eldrazi Mystic Forge

It's finals time! I'm just excited to be here.

Game 1 my opponent taps out for the One Ring on his turn 2, I am able to go off turn 3.

Game 2 I am not so fast and my opponent is on the play so he is able to "go off" with Fleshraker.

Game 3 I kept a hand that I now regret, all mana, no action. The good thing about it was it was Thoughtnought proof, I just need to top deck somthing good. But I don't and my opponent's good-average draw is good enough.

My tools

The green button is a storm counter

My Board

Note that his spells are better than mine

My Opponent

Congratulations to my opponent

Overall, very happy with second place, and very happy to have run with no sleeves. I don't think I'll do it again. Like I mentioned, so far you can really only do this with Ruby Storm and even with Ruby I'll probably just sleeve it up next time. Still it was fun and I'm happy I can say I did it.

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