Grand Prix Prague 2016 Finals: Nicolas Tholance vs. Rodrigo Togores (Legacy)

Watch the finals from Grand Prix Prague 2016, featuring Nicolas Tholance against Rodrigo Togores.
Format: Legacy
Full Coverage: magic.wizards.c...

[@FGCmtg]

The atmosphere in that room that day was amazing. So many people invested in the match, the excitement was infectious. I miss big legacy events so much. Paper magic at its peak.

[@shanegedekoh121]

If you're playing against Storm and an actual storm begins outside, so loud that you can hear it inside, I think you just concede.

[@johnoleary8438]

This match is played SO WELL by the Storm player.

[@EiJoYuJo]

He was one of the best yugioh players that ever played that game and was my favorite European player of all time. i wish ygo had a hall of fame because he wouldve been in it absolutely!! glad to see him doing super well in mtg!

[@AIyx]

Well as of today, the storm player has been banned for 1,5 years by the DCI. Make of this information what you want :D

[@colgatelampinen2501]

Togores banned? Source?

[@sidasdf]

AIyx What for?

[@tiagorafaelduarte6642]

One of the best match's i have ever seen.

[@ModelOmegaForReal]

An actual storm starts while the storm player is storming, this can't just be a coincidence.

[@amarillonapoles]

Masterclass of Magic The Gathering. Thanks Rodrigo Togores for this amazing play.

[@Eurowon]

Legacy is marvelous and this match is the proof.

[@sergi189]

Ese Felipe!! Pues si es una partida preciosa! Saludos sigue así!

[@borjamateogodoy9254]

One of the best matchs of legacy that I ever seen

[@benjaminvollmann2720]

Insane Play by Togores. Though he was done when I saw his opponents hand in G3. Won anyway. Kudos!

[@jtyree0226]

Benjamin Vollmann exactly Nicolas just needed to surgical therapy after the first one resolved. Considering that's basically only way he loses if his hand gets ripped apart. If all else you still have snap surgical when past in flames is cast

[@sythmaster0]

such a well played match and the commentary was superb, not normally one to watch legacy but this was too good to pass.

[@simonarcay]

this match is wonderful. Wow ! What is pleasure in seeing this.

[@Tryo707]

This might be the most well played storm match I've ever seen.

[@xulxer9077]

1:03:23 not that it matters, but he didn't pay B for the abrupt decay.

[@333BlackCloud]

This is my all time favorite commentary ever

[@DubiousKing]

I thought that game 1 was intense, but that game 3! Such a great match and amazing performance from Togores

[@Eurowon]

@azir64 It was a Cabal Therapy naming FoW, so Tholance just discarded the Fow he had in his hand, leaving another on top of his library to be drawn later with Top. But Togores had a Past in Flames to be drawn with top as well. Very well played by both.

[@kenh959]

missing these live matches; a nice break from the MTGO uploads

[@WojIsWin]

42:12 missed snapcaster attack, unsure if Rodrigo could have pulled it off with 1 less turn. Regardless, absolutely beautiful play from him, glad to see him take the trophy.

[@MrIcySack]

In game 3, at 1:00:00 after the snap, surgical and PiF resolve, Rodrigo has lethal bc his opponent went to 10 to cast surgical, and rodrigo had 2 mana floating and 4 lands untapped, so he could have cast the LED he was holding, played the tendrils and cracked LED to have the mana to pay for 5 copies of tendrils to resolve through the flusterstorm he knows about on top of his opponents library. There's not card in his opponent's 75 that could beat that play. By casting the brainstorm out of his yard he runs the risk of not being able to kill his opponent but got lucky and hit decay.

[@rodrigo6699]

Like 30 min latter I saw It. I didnt realized that he was at storm 5 even if I wrote it down. I had another 3 plans (not as good obv) to win. And just played for them.

[@rodrigo6699]

If with all the cantrips I hit decay or grip I win. If I hit another tendrills I win, If I hit rain of filth I win. I had a fair amount of outs. with all the card draw and filter I was gonna play. Could have went wrong and I would never have forgive myself if I had lost a game I had the win on the table :(

[@MrIcySack]

I mean I'm definitely not saying you played poorly, just missed one line in the last game of a long weekend of magic. You're definitely one of the better storm players on the planet and I'm a fan of yours. Don't want you to think I'm trying to shit talk you.

[@rodrigo6699]

No, Your right. I didnt made the best play. I wanted to explain what was in my mind in that turn and why I didnt thought about it.

[@lourdeszamora8971]

rodrigo6699 top was beast in that game 1 it couldve won game 1 for either player. its hard to always know the right lines with storm but well played against a good opp.

[@blakewilliams8148]

the best game of magic I've ever seen g3

[@tombryning42]

hilarious seeing a Magician play Magic

[@francescofortini3990]

The ANT master! unforgettable match.

[@DNLKTV]

The ending of game three and these emotions of a winner is what I feel too when I finally get it done. The reason to play these types of decks.

[@roflblargamapep]

the chicken on the cup tho

[@matthewwroblewski8752]

That's what this game's all about, baby! Skill, luck, and pimp ass cards. Sick game!

[@barryshternshain106]

That missed snapcaster attack though

[@Anicet0rasta]

and cost him the game

[@MTGSwissEternal]

Is it me or game 3, he cast Abrupt Decay 1 mana?

[@sempre8135]

I think he actually did. He had 2 black tho so everything was legal

[@zivkobabz]

Fun fact only deck i have won 3 consecutive tournaments with is storm and that was when ad nauseum came out. I love that is still runs smoothly haven't played for a few years though.

[@zivkobabz]

That being small tourneys for 200-300 dollars price pools.

[@JoelGarcia-xj5kw]

In the first match, round to minute 9:30 Nicholas played a force of will without exiling a card, and then with the second Fow he exiles snap caster and then he played a brainstorm with the chances of hit and counter spell, isn't that to cheat?

[@alanyuan8565]

At 42, did he forget to attack with snapcaster mate?

[@sempre8135]

Yes. He would prob won the game (and the gp) if not for that mistake.

[@carlosmendes7383]

muitos parabéns togores,um grande jogador ainda tive a sorte de jogar contra ele em ycs Barcelona yugioh ainda jogas yugioh?

[@hentiesenpie6777]

Nicolas made one mistake in game one. Countering the tutor, let it resolve, then counter whatever he casts next. The math shows he's not dead if he waits and Rodrigo grabs tendrils.

[@sidasdf]

Joe Harvey I believe that he countered it because Rodrigo could have grabbed Empty.

[@Supernov4]

There's something suspect about the storm player shuffling after he fetches. That's definitely not sufficient and the way he does it it's possible for you to manipulate your deck to some extent.

[@joshuahburkhart9733]

And he just got a DCI ban for deck manipulation

[@5n4p5c07]

What a great game, but seriously guys, do you hear the rain, I mean it is absolutely down pouring. nevermind the match now, but the rain....dear god.

[@andimayer1119]

Play at the end was a little sloppy but everything else was probably the best match (where storm won) I have ever seen. plx more

[@Dav1dFPh1pps]

Could Tholance have won if he went Surgical, Snap, Flusterstorm on PiF? Make the Togores use up a ton of mana paying for the first, hit it with a second and probably not leaving him enough mana to storm off?

[@wimpynz]

Shouldn't have pitched force to force G3?

[@tombryning42]

omfg it's rodrigo

[@NinjaScholar]

funnily enough at 57:00 snapcaster flashback flusterstorm on the past in flames would have won the game on the spot if the arid mesa could still fetch a blue source for the flusterstorm on top which it couldn't because he had 3 tundra and 2 volcanics in play.

[@skuamato7886]

Ohhhh, that's why. I was asking myself why the hell he didn't double fluster the Past in Flames. Thanks!

[@FamineSSBM]

Just wow :O tbh there was no chance for miracles after that storm started..

[@paulberman9859]

couldn't he have won by playing lions eye diamonds playing tendrils when opponent flusterstorms sacrifice both led? and pay for 6 of them to resolve to win?

[@Rhyooski]

The storm count was a lot higher than displayed

[@Tada123123]

The storm count is irrelevant however. Tendrils will make X copies and Flusterstorm will make X+1 meaning that you simply need to pay for 5 copies of tendrils to resolve since your opponent is at 10. Togores himself has since said that searching for an abrupt decay opened himself up to a non-deterministic line. Either way this is a masterfully played game.

[@KumanoMTG]

52:30 - if he only fetched for a basic land...

[@IeuroI]

I wish I could tell if togores is using ffb duals or betas. I can't discern the print from the height the camera is at DX

[@rodrigo6699]

FBB german^^

[@Ivan1296Krs]

FFB?

[@davidfencl8894]

at the end.. .he looks like LeBron after winning the finals

[@maximuscesar]

He should have countered that past in flames, what he was thinking?!

[@lukacarroll]

If he counters the past in flames then Togores can just play LED, top and tendrils with storm count at 5 and win.

[@maximuscesar]

But when Togores casted past in flames he had still two flusterstorm uses.

[@xAnonymousss]

Past in flames has flashback on its own tho...He can't counter everything, so he might aswell try to focus on the important spells.

[@Kettwiesel25]

But it is way too expensive to flashback it... He would have lost on the next turn, if he doesn't win.

[@bobonit9381]

game one he didnt discard a blue card to force of will ? ... or am i missing that ?

[@pkfreezing]

It was named by Cabal Therapy and discarded so he didn't cast FoW

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

You don't discard cards to cast Force of Will, anyways

[@MTGRainman]

Tholance should have snap flusterstormed the past in flames. Storm of 5 after the surgical gave him perfect information. He can then draw flusterstorm on top to beat the tendrils.

[@KumanoMTG]

He fetched the wrong land with his previous fetchland and had no blue sources remaining in the deck for that Mesa. Otherwise, it would have been the winning play.

[@Willd2p2]

Could he not have tapped top to draw flusterstorm, cracked the mesa for a plains, used the plains to cast snapcaster, targeting flusterstorm, and then cast the flusterstorm from hand on the past in flames? That still plays around any line involving cabal therapy whilst letting you cast the two flusterstorms you need. Incidentally I think Togores missed a much simpler win after the flashback on surgical. Simply playing LED and casting tendrils would be enough - he would have 5 mana left after casting the tendrils, so could pay for 5 copies of flusterstorm and deal 10 damage.

[@Hoopr32]

Why did Tholance keep in Terminus G2 ???

[@marcoliguori9553]

Empty the Warrens i believe?

[@stirling3523]

Is this ANT or just normal storm?

[@IeuroI]

ReveredGamer, ant is sorta the norm storm deck. the variations are like The Epic Storm, which uses burning wishes & rite of flames instead of cabal rits & dark petition. then there's doomsday which technically is a storm deck, but you usually play that more to make a statement over winning haha

[@BigHit9922]

Comeback!

[@rastellimanuel1571]

In reality the storm player did a wrong play at the risk of losing if he hadn’t found the decay...after the second surgical he had basically won...cast two led and tendrils,opponent draw and do flusterstorm...crack leds for six mana and pay for six copy countered of tendrils...gg

[@adamschorsch2358]

So many great one liners just completely went over the co-host's head :/

[@ethanpubg8894]

Maybe they should hire some casters that know something about legacy .

[@alessioguazzini5860]

wow

[@adriandelpozo9607]

GOTY

[@paolocardi4366]

tholance played it so bad, he could have won this pretty easily

[@Repaurcas]

24:20, why does he overpay the cabal ritual?

[@TheCobaqua]

threshold

[@Repaurcas]

+TheCobaqua no, he payed three mana for it, I know it adds 5 to your pool if you have threshold

[@TheCobaqua]

yeah. he needs the petal in his GY for treshold

[@Repaurcas]

+TheCobaqua Yeah, I know, but he tapped two lands AND sacrificied the petal. That's one mana too many, he would have had another land untapped right?

[@helderboymh]

mana is still in his pool

[@nicksg9]

i see very rich people lol

[@staalejonko]

inb4HD

[@brianwarhurst7538]

quality so bad xD

[@HELLICRINATIOn]

A muslim walks into a bar and says "free shots for everyone"

[@gibsongs23]

Esa surgical ha sido una cagada. Muy mal jugada.

[@olmomedina1339]

Cartomago.

[@sanderanders]

Why is the Storm player all the time with his hands under the table, near his pockets...i would't like that. Let's hope he is not some card-magician!

[@sempre8135]

actually he is, in fact, a card magician outside mtg they call it ilusionists :D

[@sanderanders]

+Sempre wow...his hands are under the table ALL THE TIME, and hey wears a very loose sweaters, and is is a very miracelous win, and het is a illusionist....just wow. 😇

[@adamjames6148]

The second commentator is unbearable "snip snapcaster mage". gtfo