Legacy Twin ?

[wizard_of_gore]

Is it possible to make legacy version of splinter twin deck to be viable in post-dig meta ?

Some sort of control-combo hybrid list, maybe something like this:

COMBO (7):
4x deceiver exarch
3x splinter twin

PROTECTION (14):
2x vendilion clique
1x spellskite
4x force of will
3x thoughtseize
2x flusterstorm
1x pyroblast
1x counterspell

CARD SELECTION, FILTERING (11):
2x snapcaster mage
4x brainstorm
4x ponder
1x preordain

BOARD CONTROL (7)
4x lightning bolt
2x jace, the mind sculptor
1x Engineered explosives

LANDS (21)
3x volcanic island
2x underground sea
1x badlands
3x island
1x mountain (or 2 copies with 10 fetches)
11x fetches (or 10 fetches with 2 mountain)


Opinions ?

[Bosque]

Worked for at least one person pre-dig ban.

http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/c...sts-2015-08-22

[Mystical_Jackass]

Sure I'll help you brainstorm.

What came to mind was something like U/R/w (AMERICA!!!), I feel like this has become my fav pet card but Imperial Recruiter is just awesome, with 11 mana (4x red) I'd sometimes actually go Recruiter --> Kiki-Jiki --> Pestermite kill in EDH if I really just wanted to end the game, so I can sort of relate to the combo even though this is Legacy.

Imperial Recruiter's pretty $ so I understand why a lot won't play, but filling the role of a creature that can block and equip & tutor is amazing. With that you can pick up a Clique for protection, a Magus of the Moon, or maybe a Mother of Runes. I was thinking something like:

+4 Aether Vial
+3-4 Enlightened Tutor (gets Splinter, Explosives, Vial or other silver bullets)
+1 Jitte

+4 Mother of Runes
+4 Imperial Recruiter
+1 Magus of the Moon
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Kiki-Jiki?

...and whatever combination of the cards on your list

I like the idea of Vial for some reason, the idea of playing it early and being able to Recruiter to get a Clique then Vial it in, or just get around counters and vial in Exarch at end of their turn seems really good. I also like the idea of tutoring... just get exactly WHAT you need and being proactive, versus playing more defensive with counters and removal and doing a lot of digging with ponders trying to find the right piece... I'd rather just chill and throw down vials and/or MOM to protect my dudes, then end of their turn get exactly the cards I need to win or deal with them.

Hope that helps, definitely don't need to use all or any of the ideas but that's one way of approaching the combo. It's difficult 'cause obviously Painter already exists and does much the same thing, so determining what this necessarily provides that's better than what they're doing is kind of sketchy, but who knows maybe its got some potential.

[jrsthethird]

Recruiter is 7 tix on MTGO so it's possible if that's where you play.

[AllIsDust]

I have a few ideas for this deck, mostly speeding it up since we lost dig through time.

Planeswalker (3)
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creature (10)
4 Deceiver Exarch
2 Pestermite
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (5)
4 Ponder
1 Preordain (Cut lands, add this? Probe?)
Instant (16)
1 Misdirection
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Force of Will
1 Pyroblast (could be spell pierce/daze/etc)
1 Spell Pierce (flusterstorm? Daze)
Enchantment (4)
4 Splinter Twin
Artifacts (3)
3 Chrome Mox
Land (20)
4 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
3 Ancient tomb
1 City of traitors
60 Cards
SB:
3 Blood Moon
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental blast
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Trinisphere
1 Vandalblast
2 Pyroclasm
2 Grafdigger's Cage


This build is trying to take advantage of ancient tomb since it allows for a quicker win since our combo pieces cost a bunch. The Bolt/Snapcaster plan might be harder to pull off in this format than in modern but I left it in since it gives us the backup plan against the disruptive decks. I wanted to try Chrome mox over the more traditional combo enabler lotus petal again to reinforce a fast kill but also allow us to plan a normal game with jace and snapcaster. Speaking of jace, this deck uses jace as it alt win con since we have so much ramp we needed a good pay off card and jace is one, if not, THE best. Sideboard is mostly thrown together but something cool is against storm we can turn 1 Trinisphere and really get em, and turn 1 blood moon just knocks out decks. Another benefit of Chome Mox.

[tarmogoat]

Hey! I don't know if anyone saw this, but there is a tournament report by Max Ansbro (the one who Top8ed the Legacy Champs in the link posted above). you can find that here.

I will also quote the post I made there, as it fits more this discussion rather than the report itself:

Hello! I want to play this deck, but I feel it might be too fragile. I played it a while and I really like that it has a good MU against Elves and Storm, which will probably be back in presence since DTT got banned. I also think DTT could be easily replaced by a combination of Preordains/Snapcasters/Intuition/Impulse.

Jeskai Twin
CMC0: 1
Engineered Explosives
CMC1: 15
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Pyroblast
1x Spell Snare
CMC2: 6
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Counterspell
1x Impulse
CMC3: 9
3x Deceiver Exarch
3x Pestermite
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Intuition
CMC4: 6
4x Splinter Twin
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
CMC5: 4
4x Force of Will
Lands: 20
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
1x Arid Mesa
4x Volcanic Island
1x Tundra
1x Plateau
4x Island
1x Mountain

Sideboard: 15
2x Pyroblast
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Wear//Tear
2x Misdirection
2x Pyroclasm
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Flusterstorm
1x Izzet Staticaster

I also wanted to try something different, more grindy:

Counterbalance Twin
CMC1: 16
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
3x Lightning Bolt
4x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Spell Snare
CMC2: 8
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Counterbalance
2x Counterspell
CMC3: 7
2x Deceiver Exarch
3x Pestermite
2x Vendilion Clique
CMC4: 5
3x Splinter Twin
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
CMC5: 4
4x Force of Will
Lands: 20
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
1x Arid Mesa
4x Volcanic Island
1x Tundra
1x Plateau
4x Island
1x Mountain

Sideboard: 15
2x Pyroblast
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Wear//Tear
2x Misdirection
2x Pyroclasm
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Flusterstorm
1x Izzet Staticaster

I really liked playing Pyroclasm over Sulfur Elemental, as it hits a lot more things like Dark Confidant, Young Pyromancer and his tokens, Delver, Deathrite Shamans, Elves, Merfolk, Monastery Mentor (if you go the tap-them-out route at EoT), Affinity, etc.

I've played against Elves, Shardless BUG, ANT and Jeskai Delver/Blade. Elves and ANT seemed really favourable MUs. Shardless BUG felt pretty good, I'd call it Even (If you manage get them to tap or get them out of BG colors for decay is easy to combo them). Delver felt awful as I always had to mulligan and never got to deal with a delver or a batterskull token early on. But the MU doesn't seem unfavorable though.

What do you guys think?


EDIT: I also want to find a way to sneak in a copy of Swords to Plowshares and/or Supreme Verdict in the 75, although Verdict would request another tundra/plateau and it's not likely to happen.

Cheers!

[wizard_of_gore]

Hey, link you posted doesn't work well, could you post it again, please?

[tarmogoat]

Hey, link you posted doesn't work well, could you post it again, please?

Fixed!

[HNana]

Hey guys! I've been playing the deck lately here in Japan! I love it! It's so much more fun than in modern and it's positioned in a decent place in the meta imo! It does really well against most control and combo decks! I've played 10 tournament matches with it and won 9/10 (winning against reanimator, storm, miracles, bug delver, death and taxes, painter, BW smallpox, high tide, and losing only to affinity with horrible misplays where the deck, if played well could have easily won) Here's my list:
Jeskai Twin
CMC1: 16
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Pyroblast
1x Spell Snare
1x Flusterstorm
CMC2: 5
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Counterspell
CMC3: 9
3x Deceiver Exarch
3x Pestermite
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Intuition
CMC4: 7
4x Splinter Twin
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
CMC5: 4
4x Force of Will
Lands: 20
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Any other blue fetch
4x Volcanic Island
4x Island
2x Mountain
2x Ancient tomb

Sideboard:
2x Fluststorm
2x Pyroblast
2x Pyroclasm
2x Misdirection (I don't really like it tho, and I want to swap it out for something different)
1x Arcane Laboratory
2x Shattering Spree (a good way to deal with Chalice on 1!)
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Pithing Needle
1x From the Ashes (this card is great against bug/4 color delver etc, essentially a 1 sided armageddon)

The strengths of the deck include:
- The opponent not being able to guess what you're playing just by a few turns (is it grixis control? UR delver? omnishow?).
- The opponent not having a ton of sideboard cards against the combo itself, yes there are some that really can hurt, but twin specific sideboard cards don't exist in this format
- Most things can be played at instant speed. Clique, exarch, snap etc, it's great to be able to clique the opponent the end of your 3rd turn, have them FOW or pyroblast the clique or whatever, then drop a jace. A lot of matches I won were just from dropping jace and +0 a few times to get enough advantage to beat down or combo off.
- It plays a good midrange game, and I felt it was way easier to keep pestermite alive than it is in modern (no kolghans command, not nearly as many lightning bolts, it flies etc).
- Lots of basics make it wasteland resistant
- Once opponents know it's coming, they tend to save stp for the combo pieces and then let you beat freely with clique. This applies to discard, too. I had too many opponents turn 1 thoughtseize me and instead of taking something like brainstorm (which would have really hurt), they take a splinter twin instead when I have a 2 land hand and no exarch/pestermite.

Weaknesses -
- Really weak to decay. Yes there's misdirections in the sideboard, and clique to help get them away, but the uncounterable decay makes comboing off rough.
- Weak to other "meta" decks, like MUD, 4 color loam.
- Not quite fast enough to beat rug delver or 4 color delver/pyro pre-side.
- No good way to deal with a resolved counterbalance (pyroblast is pretty much it)

Anyways, the deck is legit, people I've played against have said that it's really cool, and seems pretty strong. Many games were won just by beating down with a clique and/or snapcaster/pestermite. Because of the versatility, it can be played in a bunch of different ways, making it really fun! Some of the lists were 3 color but canonist seems unnecessary to me (i like arcane laboratory better), and wear/tear is really the only thing that i really miss, because I don't have a good way to deal with counterbalance, choke, etc. The 2 color version is actually really consistent and losing wear/tear might be worth it to be able to slam more basics and have less of a chance of getting wastelanded or mana screwed. Any thoughts, suggestions?

[tarmogoat]

I played the Jeskai version with white cards SB and it felt awesome. Ethersworn Canonist is so much better than Arcane Laboratory, as not only she can beat to the face while stopping the storm count but also she comes down 1 turn earlier, which is huge. Wear // Tear is just awesome and so much faster/efficient than the UR best options which are Chain of Vapor/Engineered Explosives and you can even slam Rest in Peace to shut down graveyard strategies.

[wizard_of_gore]

Ok, guys, i have few questions:

- Is it really necessary to play 4 copies of splinter twin? With lots of brainstorm and ponders (even maybe preordain) i think 3 should be enough? I don't think we have opportunity to play combo on turn 4 every game if we take the facts that we are playing in format with stifles, wastelands, dazes, spell pierces... Every copy of twin above 1 sitting in your hand is too much and represent a dead card.
- Also, is 6 tappers maybe too much? 4-5 would be exact number in my opinion. They can steal time, but they are weak on it's own anyway
- Abrupt decay is problem, so, is it smart to splash black for thoughtseize/iok to fight decays turns before comboing out?

[Echelon]

Every copy in your hand above 1 can always be used to bait counters.

[HNana]

I played the Jeskai version with white cards SB and it felt awesome. Ethersworn Canonist is so much better than Arcane Laboratory, as not only she can beat to the face while stopping the storm count but also she comes down 1 turn earlier, which is huge. Wear // Tear is just awesome and so much faster/efficient than the UR best options which are Chain of Vapor/Engineered Explosives and you can even slam Rest in Peace to shut down graveyard strategies.

Yeah, I can see that. I might give the Jeskai version a try, then. Thanks for the opinions/advice!

wizard - in this sort of deck, they're really good. They tap guys, exarch can block well, and pestermite can swing for 2 in the air, which is nothing to laugh about. Protecting yourself from dying quickly is one of the ways that the deck is really good. Being able to protect a jace can also be really important. I like having a high amount of these, as they are great for a beatdown plan, to stabalize, to block etc. 4 twin is generally good pre-board. It's really easy to side out depending on the deck you're playing against. The beatdown plan/jace plan is still good so 4 twin isn't totally necessary, and I tend to side out one copy if I'm playing against a deck with very little disruption to my personal combo. I've also had times where I've thrown the twin on a snapcaster just to flashback a new spell every turn and ended up winning that way.

Also as for splashing black, that's what modern twin does. Not a terrible idea, but cliques and misdirections are your best bet against those types of decks.

[tarmogoat]

Ok, guys, i have few questions:

- Is it really necessary to play 4 copies of splinter twin? With lots of brainstorm and ponders (even maybe preordain) i think 3 should be enough? I don't think we have opportunity to play combo on turn 4 every game if we take the facts that we are playing in format with stifles, wastelands, dazes, spell pierces... Every copy of twin above 1 sitting in your hand is too much and represent a dead card.
- Also, is 6 tappers maybe too much? 4-5 would be exact number in my opinion. They can steal time, but they are weak on it's own anyway
- Abrupt decay is problem, so, is it smart to splash black for thoughtseize/iok to fight decays turns before comboing out?

- It is not necessary, but the value it can provide attached to snapcasters and even v cliques is incredible. Brainstorm + Fetch/Ponder is a great way of shuffling undesired twins in hand. Also, against linear decks like elves, big red, MUD (if you disrupted lodestone) and storm, you just jam the combo on T4 and they just look at you do it.
- 6 tappers is too much if you play less than 4 twins. Pestermite is awesome at beating down and exarch does a good job at protecting jace, which is the control wincon.
- Misdirection/Divert, and V clique is the way to deal with that, as brainstorm is the way to deal with discard. I don't believe you would improve your MUs by splashing black instead of white, I believe in this deck it would do the opposite, except for elves and D&T but Sulfur Elemental, Izzet Staticaster and Pyroclasm already do a great job against them.

In my opinion this deck is way more powerful in legacy than in modern and I am so glad I tried it, it is really fun and can be really surprising how it actually works. The only problem it has I'd say are decks that put pressure fast and play Daze, but not like they are impossible, if you draw decent cards you can fight them in a fair way.

[wizard_of_gore]

Ok, guys, i believe you :D

Btw., twin doesn't work on clique because of legend rule. I mean, it can work if you sac original clique, but that's bad.

[One With Nothing]

Hey there everyone, I've been testing the following version on MTGO and have been having decent success. I think this deck is pretty decently positioned right now because of how easily you can just win on the spot with a Blood Moon.

4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Daze
3x Snapcaster Mage
3x Deceiver Exarch
3x Pestermite
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Force of Will
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Pyroblast
2x Blood Moon
3x Splinter Twin
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Fire // Ice
2x Ancient Tomb
1x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Flooded Strand
4x Volcanic Island
1x Mountain
5x Island

2x Flusterstorm
1x Tundra
1x Pyroblast
1x Pyroclasm
2x Sulfur Elemental
3x Meddling Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Wear // Tear
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Engineered Explosives

Blood Moon has been treating me pretty well lately. The sideboard needs some work for sure, and I think this is a good starting point. I like the Meddling Mages simply because having permanent-based hate combined with countermagic gives you a much stronger combo/control package. The card I'm really missing is Misdirection. I'd love to have 1-2 with all the Shardless BUG running around, but Blood Moon works against them too. I just don't want to shell out a cool benny frank apiece for them on MTGO. I really want to include Vendilion Clique, but it's a bit of a nonbo with the Ancient Tomb. I have been trying to squeeze some Gitaxian Probes in there as well, but can't find the spot right now. Maybe -1 Daze and -1 Fire // Ice or -1 Pyroblast. What do you guys think? The deck has a lot of game, and the win on the spot potential is very high. What do you guys think?

[tarmogoat]

Ok, guys, i believe you :D

Btw., twin doesn't work on clique because of legend rule. I mean, it can work if you sac original clique, but that's bad.

It actually works like this:

- You control a twinned clique
- You activate clique's ability to create a token copying itself
- The copy enters the battlefield
- Its ability triggers, but it's not placed onto the stack until...
- ... SBA are checked and the legend rule applies (you choose to sac the token)
- The ability is placed on the stack
- Valuetown

@One with nothing: Blood Moon is nice, but I think I'd also be bring Meddling Mage in most MUs where I'd bring Moon, and that's a nombo with no basic Plains (which I wouldn't play at all). I don't think the deck needs to go all in (like it used to be in modern) or tempo (like is now in modern), but rather a control deck with a combo finish and a value package potential (twinning snaps/cliques). EE mainboard is plain Awesome, and will provide many G1 wins out of nowhere with the digging power the deck has. I've played against shardless bug 10 matches and won 7, including wins when my opponent resolved up to 3 Ancestral Visions, that is just HUGE. Jace > Blood Moon in that MU. This was post DTT ban. I don't believe I am afraid of BUG but more afraid of Tempo (UR/RUG/Grixis/Jeskai Delvers), MUD and prison decks.

[One With Nothing]

Thanks for the tips! Like I said, the side is really weak, as I threw this all together yestserday and have only tested about 10 matches thusfar. Are there any raw card advantage cards you feel would be a good fit? Also, how do you feel about the inclusion of Ancient Tomb? I like it because it lets you accelerate into a powerful card and doesn't usually impact your mana in a negative way at all. Do you think any other utility lands might be useful here? My short list includes:

Desolate Lighthouse
Riptide Laboratory
Karakas
Academy Ruins (for EE of course)

[tarmogoat]

Thanks for the tips! Like I said, the side is really weak, as I threw this all together yestserday and have only tested about 10 matches thusfar. Are there any raw card advantage cards you feel would be a good fit? Also, how do you feel about the inclusion of Ancient Tomb? I like it because it lets you accelerate into a powerful card and doesn't usually impact your mana in a negative way at all. Do you think any other utility lands might be useful here? My short list includes:

Desolate Lighthouse
Riptide Laboratory
Karakas
Academy Ruins (for EE of course)

I wouldn't know, the only way of getting a proper answer is through thorough and extensive testing.

I will quote the guy that played Jeskai Twin and leave a link to the original post in the 'Tournament Reports' forum:

Hello everybody, I’m Max Ansbro, the Splinter Twin guy from Legacy Champs. I finished 7th out of 744. I’ve seen a few things online speculating about the deck, so I figured I’d write this tournament report.

First, a few questions I’ve seen:

Am I a die-hard Modern Twin player?
No. I actually despise the Modern format. I hate it because every mana efficient library manipulation and draw smoothing spell is banned. Have you ever cast Serum Visions? Card is miserable.

Is the deck just a worse Show and Tell variant?
I am not quite sure. I think the deck does a similar combo thing, but it attacks in much different ways.

How much of the deck’s success came from the opponent being taken by surprise by a rogue Twin deck in Legacy.
A huge amount, as you will see in the match details below.


So here’s the deck:

3 Deceiver Exarch
3 Pestermite
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique

4 Splinter Twin

4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Dig Through Time
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
1 Spell Snare
1 Pyroblast
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Volcanic Island
1 Tundra
1 Plateau
4 Island
1 Mountain
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa

Sideboard:
2 Pyroblast
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Wear//Tear
2 Misdirection
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Flusterstorm
1 Izzet Staticaster

---

Deck Development: the point of this section is to dispel any kind of belief that I know anything about Twin. Read it if you’re curious how the list came together or where it’s been so you can take it further yourself.

Full disclosure: I’ve actually never played Twin before outside of Cube. I started fooling around with a Twin list online the weekend before the event. I’m usually a Miracles player, and I believe Miracles is the best deck in the format right now. However, everyone is gunning for Miracles right now. Even other Miracles players are metagaming their decks to gain edges in the mirror. I decided I wanted to try doing something more fun for Eternal Weekend.

Let’s be honest, the idea if far from original. At one point or another, every Modern or Legacy player has thought about porting Twin over to Legacy. In Modern, the deck lets you play either a combo game or a strong control game, often switching roles mid-game. Surely adding Legacy power level cards can do nothing but make this game plan much stronger? Those were my thoughts going in a week ago and I (very briefly) tested several ideas, my conclusions about all of which may be very wrong:

- I originally had three Young Pyromancer in the maindeck alongside four Deceiver Exarch and no Pestermite. I went away from that because I decided that the deck doesn’t produce Pyromancer tokens fast enough to compete with the real Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor decks of the format. Pestermite, I think, allows for decently powerful beats in the air in a midrange-control game as well as having the Twin combo upside.

- There are only two Snapcaster Mage in my deck. I tried more (he is the all-star of the Modern deck after all), but I felt that I don’t churn though cards fast enough to support multiple Snapcasters and three Dig Through Time. Also, I only own two paper Snapcasters so I’m clearly biased.

- What should the sideboard look like? Playing a rogue UR deck (which can splash any third color basically for free) I felt like I could transform into anything. Maybe become a UR Delver deck post board? Maybe go the other direction and cast Show and Tell? We have blue anyway and we want to see a lot of cards, why not side into Counter Top? The miracles player in me wanted to be more controlling post board, but I wanted to keep the potential to combo and a decent beat down plan. I felt that the hate people were bringing in against the Twin combo would simultaneously hit CounterTop, so I went away from that. I experimented with a Trinket Mage package, which was more cute than good. Two days before the event, I decided on this cookie-cutter sideboard build.

- I decided I wanted White as my third color. Ethersworn Canonist seemed like the best option against a combo field dominated by Omni-tell and Storm. She even does well against Elves. I also wanted Wear//Tear against the field of Miracles and the recent slew of Stoneforge Mystic decks that have been doing well. I experimented with splashing green for Krosan Grip and Sylvan Library, both of which were very powerful. I decided against that plan because casting Arcane Lab for three mana seemed terrible vs. Storm and Krosan Grip, at three mana, was a little slower than I wanted it to be.

---

And so I walked into the event early Saturday. Well, I didn’t exactly walk. I was a little late, so I jogged in at 9:07 and frantically scribbled down my deck-registration. I got some questioning looks as I shuffled through Twin pieces at the table, which made me smile.

Round 1: Four color Delver
As I said, porting Twin into Legacy is far from an original idea. Decks like this four color delver have to be a big reason nobody expects it to do well. A fast clock backed up by Wastelend to stop you casting your four mana enchantment, Daze, Peirce and Abrupt Decay? Oh boy. The deck even features Young Pyromancer, making the board control backup plan difficult.

Game 1: I died to the typical Delver plan of “make a 1 drop then never allow your opponent to resolve a spell.” I suppose that’s what happens when you try to cast 3s and 4s through Daze and Wasteland.

Game 2: Didn’t go as poorly for me. My opponent kept a cantrip heavy hand and didn’t get out of the gates as quickly, which gave me time to cast a Vendilion Clique to clear the way and pick a spot with two counters backup for the combo. My first time Twinning someone!

Game 3: Started promisingly, however this time my opponent was more prepared. Clique revealed multiple Abrupt Decays and I lost a counter battle over Young Pyromancer. As the game went longer, I got flooded by lands and Elemental tokens and was defeated.


Record: 0-1. Still live for top8… just need 10 wins in a row!


Round 2: RuG Delver
RuG is a frightening deck for anyone whose plan involves tapping lands for mana in order to put spells onto the stack.

Game 1: This game was won off the back of the “Miracles read.” One of my opening lands was the Tundra, and each spell I played was a part of the Miracles deck. He seemed quite surprised when Exarch arrived to tap his lethal attacker and then Twin happened.

Game 2: I was RuG’d out of the game. Stifle + Wastelanded and I died with two lands looking at my three drops and four drops in hand.

Game 3: I kept a two lander with a Brainstorm. He opened on Nimble Mongoose. I Fetched up a basic island when he tapped out for Delver and a Ponder on turn two (playing around Stifle), cast my Brainstorm on turn three hoping to find land #3… and missed. Brainstorm locked. In desperation to buy time, I cast Ambush Snapcaster Mage to try to trade with Goose on his attack. Mage resolved, but he had a Lightning Bolt to clear the path. Well, we have two Misdirections in the sideboard for a reason. I Misdirected the Bolt to his Delver, traded with Goose, and hoped to draw out of the lock. The third card down was a Relic of Progenitus, perfect for keeping his new Mongoose in check even if it wasn’t the land I wanted. Poping Relic found Brainstorm! Perfect! I cast it… for no lands. Locked again, I was sure I was destined for an 0-2 drop. I did find Force and Counterspell, which traded with Goyf and another Delver over the next few turns.
His second Mongoose took a few turns to grow to a 3/3 after the Relic, so I wasn’t completely dead when I finally found land #3. At this point, I had two Deceiver Exarchs in hand alongside Jace. It turns out that Exarch in Yoked Ox mode is quite good at keeping 3/3 at bay, and Jace ended up arriving and taking over the game.


*whew* Record: 1-1


Round 3: Goblin Prison
Game 1: Opponent on the play led with a turn 1 Chalice on 1. My hand included Exarch, Twin, Force, blue card and three lands. I figured I was going against MuD, which plays real high impact spells I’d rather force. Chalice resolved. Turn two he played Blood Moon. Oh. Well, one basic island is all I need for the combo, so I fetched one and let it resolve. Two turns later he was reading Splinter Twin.

Game 2: It turns out that Twin has the advantage over other combo decks of not caring about Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere or Blood Moon. Game two went much the same way as game one.


Record: 2-1


Round 4: Dredge
Game 1: I don’t think Dredge is as unstoppable as other people seem to. But sometimes they just have the nuts and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I was killed on turn two.

Game 2: I boarded in the two Flusterstorms, Pyroblasts, and Relics. What do I want to counter? Anything! He discarded Grave Troll turn one and tried to resolve two draw spells on turn two, both of which I countered. This bought enough time to Twin him out of the game.

Game 3: Sometimes Dredge has the nuts, and sometimes it mulls and dies to a single counter. Turn one he cast Putrid Imp, which I Forced (my Force policy in the matchup is to force the first thing to go onto the stack). Turn two he cast Golgari Thug, then Stinkweed Imp. This is not the Big Dredge Machine of legend, and was easily dispatched.


Record: 3-1.


Round 5: Death and Taxes.
Game 1: Opponent kept a seemly land-light hand that got going slowly after I forced his Aether Vial. I had a bit of time to cantrip and set up, bolting a Stoneforge Mystic and assembling some basic lands. By the time he reached three lands and played Thalia, I had Deceiver + Twin and five mana ready to go. Ironically, Thalia prevented him from casting any of the three Swords to Plowshares in his hand.

Game 2: In my effort to sideboard for Monastery Mentor, Stoneforge Mystic and the various tribal decks, I had quite a few heymakers to bring into this matchup. 2x Sulfur Elemental, 2x Wear//Tear and Izzet Staticaster all came in off the bench, but I didn’t need any of them. Opponent mulled to oblivion looking for interaction with Twin and died easily.


Record: 4-1


Round 6: Death and Taxes again.
Game 1: This match was much more competitive than the previous one. Aether Vial resolved along with Thalia and Vryn Wingmare. My opponent also had Port rolling, making everything hard to cast. I cast Clique, Hoping to take a single disruption piece and trade with Wingmare. This would buy me enough time and mana to untap, take a Thalia hit, end of turn play Pestermite, tap Port (giving me an extra mana on my turn) and slam Twin. However, Clique showed double Flickerwisp. With Vial on three, this was one too many thing for Pestermite to tap and I died one mana short.

Game 2: Bringing in all my hate again, I had a much easier time setting up the combo. Wear Vial into Snapcaster Wear Vial stopped instant speed uncounterable Flickerwisps from being a problem, I cliqued away one Swords to Plowshares and had the Force for his second.

Game 3: This game was much easier than the previous two. I played Sulfur Elemental and all my opponent’s creatures died. Then I played a second Sulfur Elemental, just because I was feeling vindictive.


Record: 5-1. Over the hump into the second half of the tournament and still not dead!


Round 7: UW Stuff.
Game 1: Both of us were confused by the other’s deck. My opponent opened with a Plains into Aether Vial. I figured I was against the third Death and Taxes in a row. I went Island into Ponder. Turn two, opponent cracked a Polluted Delta, cast Meddling Mage and named Show and Tell. *whew* good thing I don’t play that. The game progressed, I fetched the Tundra and kept casting cantrips. He probed me and saw a Counterspell and Jace, so he vialed in another Meddling Mage and named Terminus. Gotcha. Three turns later he was dead to Twin.

Game 2: I wasn’t sure what exactly my opponent was doing, so I brought in the same package as the Death and Taxes games. What’s the worst that could happen? My opponent seemed light on lands and didn’t do much after I used EE to bomb his opening Vial. Sulfur Elemental arrived and beat in for three a turn, I fetched a bunch of basic land against his board of Tundra, double Wasteland and Port. I assumed he was locked out of casting Meddling Mages by his one colored source. Then he cast Armageddon, taking me by surprise. My hand was Bolt, second Sulfur Elemental, Force, Dig. I had more than enough cards in the graveyard to Dig, I could even have hardcast Force. But instead I decided to bolt his face and cast the second Elemental, letting Geddon resolve. Two turns later he died.


Record: 6-1. This is, somehow, turning into a real run.


Round 8: Shardless BuG
Game 1: So Mr. Fancy Twin player, you think your goofy combo deck can play a long, grindy game, eh? Well, this game was long and grindy, and my opponent got the better of me. There are a few decisions I could have made different which may have mattered, but by and large he was in control from start to finish.

Game 2: My plan going into this game was to shave the combo package for the two Misdirections, two Relics and a Wear//Tear (against whatever evil was lurking in his sideboard). This game was also long and grindy, but with one difference. Before Shardless could bury me under Hymn and Liliana and establish a threat, I managed to stick a Jace. This put the pressure on him to get on the board and get rid of Jace before he was buried under my card advantage, which involved him tapping too low to hold up Decay and losing to Twin.

Game 3: Opponent kept a greedy seven including Ancestral Visions and no second land. I Misdirected his Visions. The game was basically over then, but it still went on to include Jace standing tall. Once again, Shardless needed to over-extend to pressure Jace and lost to Twin.


Record: 7-1. At this point, top 8 actually started to feel less like a dream and more like a goal.


Round 9: Merfolk.
Game 1: My opponent played a bunch of merfolk. I played cantrips, Deceiver Exarch and Splinter Twin. He died.

Game 2: I believe I mis-evaluated my place in this matchup. I boarded out a few combo pieces to bring in the two Pyroblasts, and two Wear//Tear, intending to play a more controlling game vs. The Folk. I ended up short on mana and dying to True Name.

Game 3: I decided I’d rather play/defend my combo than try to defend Jace against Mutavault and True Name. I boarded out Jace for the two Misdirections and brought the combo back in over a Dig and the Wear//Tear’s. This turned out to save me, I spent the Pyroblasts to kill off fish, killed off a Phantasmal Image with an Exarch trigger, and finally put Twin on Exarch with Misdirection backup.
This, of course, resulted in the Misdirection judge call. Opponent cast Swan Song to counter Twin, which I Misdirected. He, confused, asked what I was Misdirecting it to, so I told him it was to Misdirection itself. He called a judge to see if this was something I was allowed to do. The judge in question apparently has never seen Joe Lossett’s stream and decided that it’s not a legal play. I appealed, the floor judge was overruled, and Twin resolved.


Record: 8-1. Now, two years ago at Legacy Champs, I had a camera feature match that I thought was a win-and-in. I was at X-1 and it was the second to last round. I ended up winning.


Round 10: Lands.
Game 1: There’s a reason they end GPs after nine rounds. Fatigue was setting in hard and everyone was starting to play fast and loose. Game 1 wasn’t pretty from me. I punted hard and the top of my deck was kind enough to get me there anyway vs. an opponent with very little real interaction.

Game 2: I boarded in my Relics, Wear//Tears and a Misdirection (anything has to be better than Bolt and Pyroblast vs. Land). This game was long and grindy. I fell behind the Waste/Loam game and couldn’t find a Relic to break it up, all the while being Ported down and my opponent clearly leaving up Korsan Grip. Marit Lage arrived, which I was able to stall for two turns with a Deceiver tap and Clique chump (which confirmed his 2x Grips in hand). I couldn’t find Jace to unsummon the 20/20 in time (which would only have delayed things an extra turn) and died.

Game 3: This time things went quite poorly for the Lands player. I had a Relic on turn one, effectively turning off his Loam plan. Then he played Sphere of Resistance, which turned out to be a much bigger problem for him than it was for me. He tried to Waste me down from sufficient mana to cast my spells, but I found enough land to overcome that. I cast an Exarch, and in an effort to not be dead to Twin, he crop rotated for Glacial Chasm (down two more lands for him). I played Jace instead, and Fatesealed away any lands that tapped for mana (which seems an odd thing to do against the Lands deck, but I did it anyway). He went for a desperation 20/20, which I tapped with another Exarch and Jace unsummoned. He finally couldn’t pay for Glacial Chasm and I Twin’d him.


Record: 9-1. Two years ago after I won the penultimate round, it turned out I couldn’t draw into the top8. What followed was the singular worst match of Magic I’ve ever played in my life. In the present, because of my round 1 loss, I had the worst breakers (by a mile) and got the pair down. Once again, no drawing into top8 for me. All I wanted was to not punt it away quite as savagely as before.


Round 11: Miracles.
This match was the on camera feature. You can find it on the CardTitan Twitch.tv past broadcasts (http://www.twitch.tv/cardtitan/v/12221746, starting at around 9:00:00) (and I’m sure it’ll be up on YouTube soon). I won’t go into too much detail about it as you can just see for yourself what happened. In theory, I think Twin has all the tools to pressure Miracles from multiple angels and, in the end, grind the deck out. I haven’t done nearly enough testing to say for certain, but that was my theory going into this.

Game 1: We played a grinder, in which Miracles ran out of cards first and couldn’t answer Twin. Exactly according to plan.

Game 2: I played a horrific game of Magic. Fortunitely for me, you can’t see too many of my punts on camera (as my hand isn’t clearly visible) so I’ll plead the 5th on telling you about it. Suffice it to say, a reasonable wizard would have won that game from my seat.

Game 3: I firmly am in the camp of “would rather lose than mull.” My seven card hand was double Pyroblast, Force, Jace, Deceiver, Twin and one land. In other words, if I draw land or cantrips (half my deck) this hand is the nuts. What can I say? It was round 11, I was tired and reckless, so I kept it.
People have been talking about Miracles punting. It doesn’t actually matter which land he tapped for the Flusterstorm, as he wouldn’t have had enough to cast Swords or REB out of the yard (assuming I hadn’t counter-punted, described later). His real punt was casting Snapcaster at all. If he doesn’t do that, his REB kills Exarch and my Force + REB can’t overcome his Flusterstorm in hand. This doesn’t excuse me from my punt to make the mistap relevant. I should have let Snapcaster resolve after the Flusterstorm and Forced the Swords, which would have tapped him out. I left myself open to a whole slew of cards in his hand, none of which he had. This made me the lucky winner.


Record: 10-1. Into Top 8! That night, I saw I was against Grixis Delver. Talking about it with my friends, I’m pretty sure it’s a very rough matchup for me. It’s hard for my deck to play the control game against Zombie Fish and Young Pyromancer, who are too big to bolt or make a bunch of friends pre-bolt. It’s also hard to play a Combo game against a deck with fast pressure, Wasteland, permission and discard out of the board.


Top 8:
Game 1: My draw didn’t come together at all and I got run over by Young Pyro and his Elemental friends. Just that easy.
Game 2: I mulled to five (my first time going below six card the whole event, lucky me on the entire run). It doesn’t start off well for me, I Pyro’d an early Delver and put together enough land drops to try for the combo. Given that his many card hand had absolutely nothing, I had outs. However, he did have something, and I was defeated.

Record: Dead in top 8.

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Some impressions on the deck after playing it for 12 rounds:
- It does a very powerful thing, and it can do it with multiple lines of defense.
- It is a very slow combo. In the many games I Twin'd people, I never felt like I wanted to (or really needed to) before turn six.
- The ability to tap down an opponent’s mana source on end step with Pestermite / Exarch is huge. It forces them to play awkwardly all game. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to any Modern players but it struck me as interesting.
- The “control plan” didn’t so much involve Jace going all the way or getting there with Clique and Snappy beats like I thought it would. Far more often, it involved forcing my opponents into vulnerable positions so I could combo them out.
- Vendilion Clique is amazing in the deck. I don’t think I’d want to put a third in, but I can’t see ever cutting one.

The deck going forward:
- I would rework the manabase to have another basic mountain. I played one (because I only own one altered mountain) and there were times when I desperately wanted another. Also, maybe a 21st or 22nd land in general. Or maybe a pair or Preordains. I felt a bit land-light at times through the day, although this isn’t nearly a large enough sample size to say.
- The deck needs a better plan against Delver, especially the Young Pyromancer versions. Perhaps that involves playing our own in the 75 to fight them on the ground? Perhaps that involves playing Pyroclasms and planning to counter Zombie Fish on the stack? There are plenty of options to experiment with, but I speculate that the answer isn’t trying to force the combo through faster.
- In the grindy matchups, I wanted another grinding tool. I think I would find room for a third Jace in the sideboard, or perhaps another Snapcaster in the main.
- I didn’t play against a single combo deck. I feel the deck has the tools to beat Omni and Storm, but this is untested.
- Perhaps focusing on the Twin aspect of the deck isn’t the right approach. Maybe all we need with Dig and Jace, Brainstorm and Ponder as dig spells are 4 of the Twin creatures and 2 Splinter Twins. This is what I was shaving down to post board for most matchups and I never had a problem finding what I needed (Dig is a hell of a Magic card). The remaining space could easily be used to insert another form of threat. Maybe the bonus Jace/Snapcaster I mentioned above. Maybe a completely different direction, like Stoneforge Mystic or TarmoTwin. Maybe even Deathrite Shaman and a black splash for a discard package.

Link: Twin Report

Also the video: Twin vs Miracles
Video starts at ~21min and gameplay at ~30min.

I PMd Max and asked him to swing by this thread to give his opininon/feedback and help develop the deck, hopefully he will show up and give some insight.

[wizard_of_gore]

@tarmogoat

Oh, i really didn't saw that, thanx. It's even better then