[Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

[AriLax]

R2 GW Mongos
R3 GW Mongos

LOL at you calling the deck that.

Also, Bryant, re: Xantid Swarm vs. High Tide, AFAIK most of the lists are playing a large amount of Flusterstorm and I want Xantid as the most profitable way to deal with that. I'm also assuming most Tide players don't play the stupid MD Snap over more real untap effects or immediately board it our vs Storm, and that if I lose to Tide it has to do with them knowing to Merchant Scroll for Force of Will most of the time, which Xantid Swarm gets in under.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

The biggest part for me when it comes to Iggy and PiF is that you can't give LED flashback. Iggy is good against already favorable match ups, but what makes it strong is that your life total becomes nearly irrelevant (i.e. durdle until you can get them for lethal storm).

Going forward -- I'd be more willing to play main deck Tendrils than Empty. It's a good card to have in your opponent against slower blue decks to naturally storm lethal with their counterspells.

In hindsight with the list I shipped Koby, the Iggy-loop is ridiculously mana-intensive. For long tournaments, I'd say main deck Tendrils will get you more mileage when it matters.

I'm still fine with three Burning Wish. I've been happy with the 13th land. Twelve lands with three moxen and four probe makes me somewhat uncomfortable. Had a lot of games where I needed one more mana to get things done.

Koby, in game two against Sneak and Show, I noticed after you payed for Flusterstorm on Infernal Tutor you were tanking between Burning Wish and Ad Nauseam. You had four mana sources in play. Needed one more to cast AdN, and still one more for a lethal Grapeshot. I think you went for wish after thinking about it. I probably would have gone for wish into Grapeshot myself.

[Koby]

@Kirby
Game two the last turn went like this:
DRit, Petal, LED, IT popping LED for RRR. He responds with Fluster for 5 and i have BRRR floating and 3 unused mana sources. I payed for 'storm and only had 2 mana available for my target. The plan was always to Rapeshot Richard since he went down to 4

[Bryant Cook]

It seems like people are happy with Ill-Gotten Gains, I just don't use it nearly as much as I do Past in Flames. The northeast has always been heavily infested with Islands, which may be why I use PIF so often. I'll try using Ill-Gotten Gains for awhile before I make a decision on potentially cutting it for a bounce spell.

[KobeBryan]

Koby...how did your Bant matchup go?

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

I lost one game... A third in Top 8 when I leaned on Xantid Swarm and my opponent Path'd it (? Previous leveled) ad had Safekeeper with Teeg going against Karakas.

[KobeBryan]

What's previous leveled?

[TraxDaMax]

What's previous leveled?

No idea, but I assume it's a cute way of saying he topdecked it.

[AriLax]

What's previous leveled?

Opponent opted to not board out Path and he is attributing it to his opponent not being able to do so or just failing to think about doing so. The corresponding term would be "next leveled" if he thought his opponent assumed he was boarding Swarm and left in removal accordingly.

[Koby]

Opponent opted to not board out Path and he is attributing it to his opponent not being able to do so or just failing to think about doing so. The corresponding term would be "next leveled" if he thought his opponent assumed he was boarding Swarm and left in removal accordingly.

He was right in keeping some removal. But for the wrong reason: "you don't run basics" when StPing the Swarm has no worse of an effect than Path (potential BS shuffle). StP also provides a burst lifegain against lethal Storm. I pretty much lost it when he Path'd the 2nd Xantid Swarm in Game 2 of the Top 8 after keeping a hand with 4 lands, FoW, and Safekeeper.

[vercadium]

Link to Jacobs' Show and Tell match:
http://twitch.tv/scglive/b/346797640?t=2h44m40s

I watched the first game before I went to sleep last night. I'll get to watch the rest on my lunch break.

I love watching the deck in action. Storm is a beautiful part of legacy.

I would not go for Empty the Warrens versus faster combo decks (specifically late in the game). I can't remember the exact situation though, you might not have had a better choice.

--

Cutting the Hull Breach slot for an extra answer is something I can get behind.

I don't like not having the option to blow up enchantments/artifacts; it makes me feel a little vulnerable. However, I must admit it only got used occasionally in comparison to something like Chain of Vapor which we could utilise much more often - gaining more value from our precious sideboard slots.

I'm just thinking aloud here, but the disadvantage of the Hull Breach slot is that it was narrow. The advantage was that it is a wishable answer. Are both of these statements true? On that premise, can a card fulfil both qualities?

Eye of Nowhere has both attributes, but is UU and I assume has been ruled out for a good reason, most likely because bounce is significantly worse at sorcery speed. If we could find a card that is less narrow than Hull Breach, but also that works well at sorcery speed, that would seem excellent.

--

I too have found Past in Flames to be sufficient. I don't really ever find myself wishing (excuse the pun) that I had IGG in the 75; any time I have Lion's Eye Diamond in the graveyard they are usually about to die.

Having said that, versatility is a great boon and it certainly does have its uses. It would be nice to guarantee the kill rather than casting Diminishing Returns in those situations.

Provided the cost of its inclusion was not high, I would like having
the option of IGG. If we have a slot free from removing Hull Breach then justifying keeping it in the list becomes easier.

--

Bryant, I remember you stating that you might replace 2 sideboard cards for "A Tropical Island and an Abrupt Decay". I'm not quoting this to quiz you on that - my question to you is:

If a third Abrupt Decay was ever to be included in the sideboard, do you think a Tropical Island is required to support it given the current manabase?

--

One last point. Everybody seems to love Karakas. Is two copies a given at this point?

--

As always, I look forward to all your thoughts; thank you for reading.

[Koby]

Im not going to write a full report, but I will share tidbits from the tournament. Karakas was highly relevant in four matches over the day. Twice against Maverick, once against Goblins with a splash for Thalia, and then against Sneak Attack. Ive ran three with ANT before and felt confident in that number. I would argue that three is also correct here too, eapecially if your metagame is ripe for it.

In Game 1 of the Top 4 (linked above by verdacium) i had access to cast a 4 mana spell post Wish and only 6 storm after Wish. Silence into Daze was only to build Storm. I knew my opponent had Sneak in play. If I went for Tendrils he would be at two, which prevents Griselbrand from bargaining before attacking, but not after. Goblin hedges against Emrakul. Both were underwhelming given the conditions I was facing. My hand at the beginning of that turn was DRit x2, Silence, Petal, Burning Wish. I would have died the next turn the same way I did.

Chain is nice utility and can buy tons of time. ADecay does a better job against permanent based hate too, but this deck might be too fast for it to be relevant. We must concede that when we board in these cards the deck is slower. Part of it is being forced to board out Gitaxian Probe.

Question to the thread:
How would you board against Show n Tell decks?
I tried +2 Xantid and +2 Karakas and shaved Silence and should have taken out a fetchland to balance the mana in the deck, but I didnt. I wanted to maintain speed and information, but was not lucky against my oponent's incredible Ponders. Im sure i boarded out wrong for the matchup.

[Doomsday]

Im not going to write a full report, but I will share tidbits from the tournament. Karakas was highly relevant in four matches over the day. Twice against Maverick, once against Goblins with a splash for Thalia, and then against Sneak Attack. Ive ran three with ANT before and felt confident in that number. I would argue that three is also correct here too, eapecially if your metagame is ripe for it.

In Game 1 of the Top 4 (linked above by verdacium) i had access to cast a 4 mana spell post Wish and only 6 storm after Wish. Silence into Daze was only to build Storm. I knew my opponent had Sneak in play. If I went for Tendrils he would be at two, which prevents Griselbrand from bargaining before attacking, but not after. Goblin hedges against Emrakul. Both were underwhelming given the conditions I was facing. My hand at the beginning of that turn was DRit x2, Silence, Petal, Burning Wish. I would have died the next turn the same way I did.

Chain is nice utility and can buy tons of time. ADecay does a better job against permanent based hate too, but this deck might be too fast for it to be relevant. We must concede that when we board in these cards the deck is slower. Part of it is being forced to board out Gitaxian Probe.

Question to the thread:
How would you board against Show n Tell decks?
I tried +2 Xantid and +2 Karakas and shaved Silence and should have taken out a fetchland to balance the mana in the deck, but I didnt. I wanted to maintain speed and information, but was not lucky against my oponent's incredible Ponders. Im sure i boarded out wrong for the matchup.

Man, "incredible Ponders" is right. Holy shit. G1 it looked like you had 5 mana after wish but not the colors to do either Reforge the Soul or Diminishing Returns (idk which you had). Like you knew EtW wasn't gonna get it done but the only other option is PiF and have Probe hit a land or a Dark Rit. Something like 12/whatever (46 for 26%?) and no one's gonna hail mary when they can make goblins.

EDIT: Oh you don't have Tendrils main....Probe into Dark Rit or Probe into land - Ponder that hits a Dark Rit. Not good at all lol.

[Bryant Cook]

Link to Jacobs' Show and Tell match:
http://twitch.tv/scglive/b/346797640?t=2h44m40s

I watched the first game before I went to sleep last night. I'll get to watch the rest on my lunch break.

I love watching the deck in action. Storm is a beautiful part of legacy.

I would not go for Empty the Warrens versus faster combo decks (specifically late in the game). I can't remember the exact situation though, you might not have had a better choice.

I plan on watching this over my lunch break, looking forward to it. I'll also be adding this to the opening post.

Cutting the Hull Breach slot for an extra answer is something I can get behind.

I don't like not having the option to blow up enchantments/artifacts; it makes me feel a little vulnerable. However, I must admit it only got used occasionally in comparison to something like Chain of Vapor which we could utilise much more often - gaining more value from our precious sideboard slots.

I'm just thinking aloud here, but the disadvantage of the Hull Breach slot is that it was narrow. The advantage was that it is a wishable answer. Are both of these statements true? On that premise, can a card fulfil both qualities?

Eye of Nowhere has both attributes, but is UU and I assume has been ruled out for a good reason, most likely because bounce is significantly worse at sorcery speed. If we could find a card that is less narrow than Hull Breach, but also that works well at sorcery speed, that would seem excellent.

I too have found Past in Flames to be sufficient. I don't really ever find myself wishing (excuse the pun) that I had IGG in the 75; any time I have Lion's Eye Diamond in the graveyard they are usually about to die.

Having said that, versatility is a great boon and it certainly does have its uses. It would be nice to guarantee the kill rather than casting Diminishing Returns in those situations.

Provided the cost of its inclusion was not high, I would like having
the option of IGG. If we have a slot free from removing Hull Breach then justifying keeping it in the list becomes easier.

I don't see a huge benefit of running a singleton bounce spell. Two copies is the minimum I would run, at this point you need to decide if the bounce spells are better than the ability to run Ill-Gotten Gains and Hull Breach. With Gains in the sideboard I feel that Hull Breach is better for the deck, without Gains, perhaps two bounce spells.

Eye of Nowhere is useless, I played it during my Grand Prix run in Columbus, never cast it once over seventeen rounds besides showboating and bouncing a land post Ad Nauseam.

Bryant, I remember you stating that you might replace 2 sideboard cards for "A Tropical Island and an Abrupt Decay". I'm not quoting this to quiz you on that - my question to you is:

If a third Abrupt Decay was ever to be included in the sideboard, do you think a Tropical Island is required to support it given the current manabase?

I don't think they need to go hand in hand, but at the moment Miracles numbers have been declining. I don't see a reason to raise the number of Decay because of the lack of Counterbalance. Also, without Xantid in the sideboard the Tropical loses a lot of value.

One last point. Everybody seems to love Karakas. Is two copies a given at this point?

I believe so. If Maverick ever comes back in force, I'll be running three.

Question to the thread:
How would you board against Show n Tell decks?
I tried +2 Xantid and +2 Karakas and shaved Silence and should have taken out a fetchland to balance the mana in the deck, but I didnt. I wanted to maintain speed and information, but was not lucky against my oponent's incredible Ponders. Im sure i boarded out wrong for the matchup.

-2 Silence
-1 Infernal Tutor (making it a Wish target)
-1 Empty the Warrens (but in your list - Duress, making it a Wish target)

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Our mana can't really support it, but ever think about playing Grand Abolisher?

[Tammit67]

Our mana can't really support it, but ever think about playing Grand Abolisher?

Just seems like a harder to cast [cards]defense grid[cards] that gets bolted.

If I could get a creature to stick, I'd rather play confidant or swarm

[Machahiko]

Played in Finnish national legacy championship tournament this Saturday, got 32th out of 108 participants. Deck played like a charm and every game that I lost, I felt like I could have won if I had maybe done something differently/better. Here's a quick recap of some of the games:

Round one I lost to Ru goblins because he just happened to naturally draw a spell pierce. I wasn't happy. 1-2

Another game that I lost was against zombardment, G1 I thought that he was playing sneak attack (he opened with badlands, last time I played there he was playing sneak attack) so I decided to try and kill him. He died. I had no idea at all what he was playing because he immediately gave up so that he wouldn't give me any extra information. In game two I was pretty surprised when my xantid swarms were useless.., especially after he T1 Cabal Therapy naming LED hit two and made my hand pretty bad. For third game I wanted to side in additional goblins because I imagined that they would be pretty awesome. They weren't so awesome after I played Ad Nauseam, flipped EtW, EtW, Chrome Mox, EtW...

After I had taken 12 damage from 3 EtW I decided to keep on digging, the deck could still deliver. Short notice here, I had checked his hand earlier and I remember him having two lands and Rakdos Charm. I drew some fixing and not a lot of 0 mana accelerants, but plenty of rites and dark rituals. I was still missing a wish / tutor, after flipping I went to two life and couldn't find burning wish or a tutor. I kind of gave up on trying to find either one and now I still feel bad about it. I don't exactly remember what my hand consisted of, but I had plenty of gitaxian probes. Afterwards I played two EtW's and lost on his turn. My friend came to check the top of my deck, and it was land, chrome mox, burning wish. I still keep on thinking about how stupid I was, I should have kept on finding tutor or wish instead of giving up.

A short question here, would you side in two EtW against zombardment? For now I feel like I should have left one in the sideboard.

My third loss was 0-2 against counterbalance. Game 1 he won due to an awesome brainstorm that just happened to find fow+blue card on top of deck. No other card/combination would have saved him. Game 2 I don't draw any additional lands besides the one I had in my opening hand. Because of that I can't decay counterbalance and fight through his counterspells.

Anyways, the deck worked like a charm, I just wish I could have played a little bit better at some points. Did I do the right thing when I boarded in two EtW against zombardment?

[Bryant Cook]

I'd always keep at least one ETW sideboard, but I would side them in regardless. Fighting creatures with creatures is bad, that isn't where this deck succeeds. I would board in a possible second storm engine first.

EDIT: I finally watched the video. I feel like you definitely over sideboarded. Also, I would've taken the Show and Tell instead of the Blood Moon. It's much easier for T.E.S. to win through Blood Moon than the position your opponent was in with no blue source.

[Koby]

I'd always keep at least one ETW sideboard, but I would side them in regardless. Fighting creatures with creatures is bad, that isn't where this deck succeeds. I would board in a possible second storm engine first.

EDIT: I finally watched the video. I feel like you definitely over sideboarded. Also, I would've taken the Show and Tell instead of the Blood Moon. It's much easier for T.E.S. to win through Blood Moon than the position your opponent was in with no blue source.

I was thinking about it when I watched it again last nite. My thought process in game as that "lets give the viewers a show" and I wanted to just highlight Karakas > Show & Tell. I also think I could have taken Sneak Attack in Game 1. Luckily, no extra prizes were on the line so I'm not stressing too much about how the games turned out.

[Pelikanudo]

Hi all,

I just saw this list in Legacy Open Las Vegas:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/dec...7&iddeck=71173

I proposed a list to Bahamut with no Empty and No Tendrils in Base With Gitaxian, and this list seems what I was looking For (maybe finally I would succumb to playing gitaxian but not yet...)
The only change I maybe do not agree is -1 burning +1 Disruption, and this will be the change I'll add to the list, as exact the list proposed to Bahamut.

Apart from that the 13th land I see as a Must

Regarding my Non Gitaxian List, I definately took out that shitty Grim Tutor, on opening hand is slow, and in the games I drew it seemed awfull, I needed to test it by myseld, so I recognized my fault at this point.

Regarding to Xantid Swarms, In my meta there is still S&T Decks, so I'll keep them.

Is there by here the pilot of the deck, I'd really like to make hime/her some questions...?

In my Non gitaxian Build I need 1 slot, I definately will set 1 Preordain as seems the less worst. I've tested also 1 Gitaxian 1 Personal Tutor...
The idea is that having 8 disruption spells you do not need to side in too much vs control and likely I'll test +2 gitaxian -1 disruption as it was at first... Still thinking in my Nion Gitaxian Build... But that list opned my eyes as I thoutgh in similar direction... No Tendrils No Empty base, 13 lands 3 moxen.


Opinions are apreciatted.