zulander
08-26-2007, 05:50 PM
Enjoy.
6-09-07 - The Beginning.
On June 9th, 2007 I was to play the format that sparked the competitive Magic the Gathering player in me. It was Regionals that weekend and I decided to play my favorite type 2 decks of all time, The Rock. While it was well over four years since the original Rock deck was created I knew I wanted to go old school and hopefully have some success at the same time (yeah, right...) but most of all, I wanted to play The Rock, because that meant I would have fun (at least that's what I thought until I actually showed up). Needless to say I did horrible and dropped after a few rounds, however after much ponderation (yeah, I just said ponderation) I decided that day that the red splash would have been a better call for the meta game. This ponderation then shifted a bit and transferred over to 1.5, the format that I play most. Here's the first list I came up with along with the original thread I created. (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6143)
7-29-07 - The Legitimacy.
After a couple of weeks worth of testing I decide to play GAGOMY at the 1.5 U.S Nationals Side Event Tournament. The report and list can be found here.
(http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6491)
8-26-07, 3:30pm - The Primer.
So I'm at work right now on a Sunday because of the new servers our Team has recently acquired, and I'm supposed to test out the applications once the servers go live (which was supposedly at 11 am, now it's almost 3:30 pm... yeah...). I've finally decided on the final list after the weekly 1.5 tournament we have at The Lucky Frog, so without further ado here it is.
GAGOMY (Gators, Apes, Goyfs OMY)
The Mana: 21
4 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Badlands
4 Bayou
1 Taiga
The Beats: 23
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Call of the Herd
4 Dark Confidant
4 Phryexian Negator
3 Umezawa's Jitte
The Disruption: 16
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Taurach
4 Seal of Fire
4 Lightning Bolt
The Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Extirpate
3 Pyroclasm
3 Krosan Grip
The card lobbying-
Wasteland - I've been told many times by many players that the card does not belong in this deck, however, the tournament and play testing games that I've played disagree with these people. But if I were to take them out I'd suggest bring in 2 Polluted Delta, 1 Blood Crypt, 1 Overgrown Tomb, or something of this fashion.
Kird Ape - While the deck has 8 burn spells that stop turn 1 I'd like to also play a creature on turn 1, especially a 2/3 creature with an irrelevant drawback. I've tested sarcomancy in this spot and that card seemed amazing on paper and horrible in actual game play. This deck isn't 1cc.dec.
Call of the Herd - This card is a beating versus control and aggro decks, and even aggro control decks too!! (I know, whoda thunkit right??). It's not as great agains combo however, but it can fill the board up nicely after a board sweeper. However I must inform you that using a powder keg set at 0 will kill him. Sure it'll make the judges and everyone else laugh at 3:30 am but it isn't a good play, trust me.
Hymn to Taurach - Accompanied by duress hymn is one of the most important cards in the combo match up, and it will occasionally help you steal game 1 before boarding in some more hate. The double black is hardly a problem and in the 100+ games I've played with the updated list I've only had a problem casting hymn once, and this isn’t an exaggeration.
Seal of Fire > Chain Lightning - Why? Because I can cast a seal of fire on one turn and not have to have a red open on the latter turns. Sure you give your opponent information on what you're playing but if your opponent is playing around a seal of fire then you should be punishing them with a beater or discard. The instant usage of Seal is another factor of it's inclusion over chain lightning, especially against goblins or other decks that can go busted in a single turn.
8-27-07 5:00 pm – The match ups.
We’ll I’ve been at work since 11 am this Sunday morning and it doesn’t look like I’ll be leaving for quite a while, so why not finish writing this primer with some match up percentages?
Threshold aka NQG
Recently it seems that every thresh deck has been splashing red, or both red and white. The match up percentages are based on the red splash.
Game 1: There are a couple of key things you must understand in this match up.
1. Don’t expect to resolve Dark Confidant
2. Your Tarmogoyfs should beat theirs but don’t always count on it.
3. Wasteland is a great way to beat them, use it whenever you can once you get a badlands/bayou in play.
So the first key is fairly simple right? Threshold hates it when people try to play this guy, especially if they see green lands because they know tarmogoyf should be coming up shortly.
The second key is also fairly simple, the red splash generally has 4 lightning bolts as burn and that’s usually it. You play lightning bolts along with seal of fire and jitte, so for the most part your tarmogoyfs should beat theirs up, most of the time. However, only rely on this plan if you actually get a jitte/seal to stick and don’t rely on the bolts in your hand. Attacking with goyf and bolt in hand to kill theirs is wrong, unless you know they can’t counter it.
The third point applies to the versions of thresh that splash a color (mostly red and/or white). Against the UG version keep your wastelands and use them for mana unless you know your opponent can’t get green after a waste or you’re mana flooded.
Game 2/3: The boarding plan is fully dependent on which version they run, however I try to board in EE almost every time. Only play EE when you know it’s safe, or when you must, otherwise protect it as it can hit a counterbalance and a couple of tarmogoyfs when bluffed correctly. The most gamebreaking EE is the one followed by a goyf of your own or a confidant.
This match up is around 50/50 prepoard, a bit better post. Expect them to be hard fought games as well, because competent thresh players hardly get rolled.
Goblins
Game 1: You have 12 turn 1 answers to lackey which help against their best hands, but ultimately the key cards here are Jitte/Tarmogoyf/Confidant.
Game 2/3: You bring in 3 pyroclasm from the board, and more often than not I usually board out 2 Negators and 1 Duress.
**Note: Something Anwar has helped me with in this match up is to only hymn when you’re under threat of a Ringleader which is when your opponent is at 3 mana or when there are 3 tokens on vial. Thanks a ton Anwar!
Out of the 20 dedicated testing games against the mono red version the records were 9-11 in goblins favor for game 1. It’s very winnable if you are able to draw some dedicated hate, but expect the worst from goblins, as they can generally top deck really well. Post board expect the %'s to be in your favor a bit more.
Cephalid Breakfast
Game 1: The cards relevant to stopping the actual combo are L.Bolt, Seal of Fire, Duress, Hymn, Jitte. There are eight dead cards against the deck, and they are the four call of the herd and the four kird apes. The disruption you pack in the deck is very relevant and the clocks you throw down put them on, well, a clock. If your opponent decides to go with the goyf plan then you play it as you would against threshold, but you must be very wary of them going off.
Game 2/3: I generally take out the 4 kird ape and 4 call of the herd and 1 Jitte. Bring in 3 Crypt and 3 extirpate and 3 EE (which you set at two). Post board they’ll bring in Abeyance and they’ll rarely try to go off without it. You have to disrupt their hand and get an early crypt/EE on the board and pressure them into finding Abeyance. However, if you have an extirpate in hand it might be better to not play EE/crypt so that they try to go off without abeyance. This trick doesn’t usually work on more experienced breakfast players however.
I have not tested against the Ghoul version very much so I don’t have the match ups right now unfortunately. But I’d estimate it at 40-60 in their favor due to the counters and combo that they run in game 1. Game 2 should be better due to the fact that you can win the goyf war and the boarded in gy hate. I’ll try to test this match up more as I know the deck is seeing an increase of popularity.
Storm Combo/Ichorid
Game 1: You don’t have too much of a shot game 1, maybe if you’re lucky 35% at best. In order for you to win you have to get multiple duress/hymns, or your opponent has to mull. These paths to victory are feasible, but do not occur often. Against Ichorid however you have a couple of more outs, sealing your confidants and things like this will help slow them down enough hopefully to get an active jitte, but it’s still not that close.
Game 2/3: I side out 4 Call of the herd and bring in EE/crypt/extirpate depending on the build. Now with 17 cards that slow down combo you have a much better shot at beating them if you draw your boarded in cards.
Whew, finally after 7 hours I’m able to login at work to start testing the new servers which means fun time's over and I have to do some actual work. I’ll be making updates as often as I can and I certainly hope you have enjoyed reading the primer.
Good luck in your savage beatings, and may your opponents go down crying GAAAAAGOOOOMEEEEE!!!!
6-09-07 - The Beginning.
On June 9th, 2007 I was to play the format that sparked the competitive Magic the Gathering player in me. It was Regionals that weekend and I decided to play my favorite type 2 decks of all time, The Rock. While it was well over four years since the original Rock deck was created I knew I wanted to go old school and hopefully have some success at the same time (yeah, right...) but most of all, I wanted to play The Rock, because that meant I would have fun (at least that's what I thought until I actually showed up). Needless to say I did horrible and dropped after a few rounds, however after much ponderation (yeah, I just said ponderation) I decided that day that the red splash would have been a better call for the meta game. This ponderation then shifted a bit and transferred over to 1.5, the format that I play most. Here's the first list I came up with along with the original thread I created. (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6143)
7-29-07 - The Legitimacy.
After a couple of weeks worth of testing I decide to play GAGOMY at the 1.5 U.S Nationals Side Event Tournament. The report and list can be found here.
(http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6491)
8-26-07, 3:30pm - The Primer.
So I'm at work right now on a Sunday because of the new servers our Team has recently acquired, and I'm supposed to test out the applications once the servers go live (which was supposedly at 11 am, now it's almost 3:30 pm... yeah...). I've finally decided on the final list after the weekly 1.5 tournament we have at The Lucky Frog, so without further ado here it is.
GAGOMY (Gators, Apes, Goyfs OMY)
The Mana: 21
4 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Badlands
4 Bayou
1 Taiga
The Beats: 23
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Call of the Herd
4 Dark Confidant
4 Phryexian Negator
3 Umezawa's Jitte
The Disruption: 16
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Taurach
4 Seal of Fire
4 Lightning Bolt
The Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Extirpate
3 Pyroclasm
3 Krosan Grip
The card lobbying-
Wasteland - I've been told many times by many players that the card does not belong in this deck, however, the tournament and play testing games that I've played disagree with these people. But if I were to take them out I'd suggest bring in 2 Polluted Delta, 1 Blood Crypt, 1 Overgrown Tomb, or something of this fashion.
Kird Ape - While the deck has 8 burn spells that stop turn 1 I'd like to also play a creature on turn 1, especially a 2/3 creature with an irrelevant drawback. I've tested sarcomancy in this spot and that card seemed amazing on paper and horrible in actual game play. This deck isn't 1cc.dec.
Call of the Herd - This card is a beating versus control and aggro decks, and even aggro control decks too!! (I know, whoda thunkit right??). It's not as great agains combo however, but it can fill the board up nicely after a board sweeper. However I must inform you that using a powder keg set at 0 will kill him. Sure it'll make the judges and everyone else laugh at 3:30 am but it isn't a good play, trust me.
Hymn to Taurach - Accompanied by duress hymn is one of the most important cards in the combo match up, and it will occasionally help you steal game 1 before boarding in some more hate. The double black is hardly a problem and in the 100+ games I've played with the updated list I've only had a problem casting hymn once, and this isn’t an exaggeration.
Seal of Fire > Chain Lightning - Why? Because I can cast a seal of fire on one turn and not have to have a red open on the latter turns. Sure you give your opponent information on what you're playing but if your opponent is playing around a seal of fire then you should be punishing them with a beater or discard. The instant usage of Seal is another factor of it's inclusion over chain lightning, especially against goblins or other decks that can go busted in a single turn.
8-27-07 5:00 pm – The match ups.
We’ll I’ve been at work since 11 am this Sunday morning and it doesn’t look like I’ll be leaving for quite a while, so why not finish writing this primer with some match up percentages?
Threshold aka NQG
Recently it seems that every thresh deck has been splashing red, or both red and white. The match up percentages are based on the red splash.
Game 1: There are a couple of key things you must understand in this match up.
1. Don’t expect to resolve Dark Confidant
2. Your Tarmogoyfs should beat theirs but don’t always count on it.
3. Wasteland is a great way to beat them, use it whenever you can once you get a badlands/bayou in play.
So the first key is fairly simple right? Threshold hates it when people try to play this guy, especially if they see green lands because they know tarmogoyf should be coming up shortly.
The second key is also fairly simple, the red splash generally has 4 lightning bolts as burn and that’s usually it. You play lightning bolts along with seal of fire and jitte, so for the most part your tarmogoyfs should beat theirs up, most of the time. However, only rely on this plan if you actually get a jitte/seal to stick and don’t rely on the bolts in your hand. Attacking with goyf and bolt in hand to kill theirs is wrong, unless you know they can’t counter it.
The third point applies to the versions of thresh that splash a color (mostly red and/or white). Against the UG version keep your wastelands and use them for mana unless you know your opponent can’t get green after a waste or you’re mana flooded.
Game 2/3: The boarding plan is fully dependent on which version they run, however I try to board in EE almost every time. Only play EE when you know it’s safe, or when you must, otherwise protect it as it can hit a counterbalance and a couple of tarmogoyfs when bluffed correctly. The most gamebreaking EE is the one followed by a goyf of your own or a confidant.
This match up is around 50/50 prepoard, a bit better post. Expect them to be hard fought games as well, because competent thresh players hardly get rolled.
Goblins
Game 1: You have 12 turn 1 answers to lackey which help against their best hands, but ultimately the key cards here are Jitte/Tarmogoyf/Confidant.
Game 2/3: You bring in 3 pyroclasm from the board, and more often than not I usually board out 2 Negators and 1 Duress.
**Note: Something Anwar has helped me with in this match up is to only hymn when you’re under threat of a Ringleader which is when your opponent is at 3 mana or when there are 3 tokens on vial. Thanks a ton Anwar!
Out of the 20 dedicated testing games against the mono red version the records were 9-11 in goblins favor for game 1. It’s very winnable if you are able to draw some dedicated hate, but expect the worst from goblins, as they can generally top deck really well. Post board expect the %'s to be in your favor a bit more.
Cephalid Breakfast
Game 1: The cards relevant to stopping the actual combo are L.Bolt, Seal of Fire, Duress, Hymn, Jitte. There are eight dead cards against the deck, and they are the four call of the herd and the four kird apes. The disruption you pack in the deck is very relevant and the clocks you throw down put them on, well, a clock. If your opponent decides to go with the goyf plan then you play it as you would against threshold, but you must be very wary of them going off.
Game 2/3: I generally take out the 4 kird ape and 4 call of the herd and 1 Jitte. Bring in 3 Crypt and 3 extirpate and 3 EE (which you set at two). Post board they’ll bring in Abeyance and they’ll rarely try to go off without it. You have to disrupt their hand and get an early crypt/EE on the board and pressure them into finding Abeyance. However, if you have an extirpate in hand it might be better to not play EE/crypt so that they try to go off without abeyance. This trick doesn’t usually work on more experienced breakfast players however.
I have not tested against the Ghoul version very much so I don’t have the match ups right now unfortunately. But I’d estimate it at 40-60 in their favor due to the counters and combo that they run in game 1. Game 2 should be better due to the fact that you can win the goyf war and the boarded in gy hate. I’ll try to test this match up more as I know the deck is seeing an increase of popularity.
Storm Combo/Ichorid
Game 1: You don’t have too much of a shot game 1, maybe if you’re lucky 35% at best. In order for you to win you have to get multiple duress/hymns, or your opponent has to mull. These paths to victory are feasible, but do not occur often. Against Ichorid however you have a couple of more outs, sealing your confidants and things like this will help slow them down enough hopefully to get an active jitte, but it’s still not that close.
Game 2/3: I side out 4 Call of the herd and bring in EE/crypt/extirpate depending on the build. Now with 17 cards that slow down combo you have a much better shot at beating them if you draw your boarded in cards.
Whew, finally after 7 hours I’m able to login at work to start testing the new servers which means fun time's over and I have to do some actual work. I’ll be making updates as often as I can and I certainly hope you have enjoyed reading the primer.
Good luck in your savage beatings, and may your opponents go down crying GAAAAAGOOOOMEEEEE!!!!