Hey, y'all, I'm considering messing around with DeathBlade, seeing as I'm missing just a Savannah. A few questions before I post my list for critique:
- What does this deck do well? Looking at most lists, it seems like a pile of pretty good cards, a little o' this, little o' that. Does it win based on raw power level? I doesn't appear to grind as well as, say, Shardless or pack as many answers as, say, Jund, or stop the opponent's game plan like, say, RUG Delver or DnT. So what's the draw to this deck?
- Why do you think the deck is less popular now? I don't see it placing in any major tournaments anymore. Is there a glaring weakness (besides the super greedy mana base) that needs to be shorn up? All the cards seem good, so I'm surprised that I don't see more of it. I would assume it's 'cuz lots of people play more artifact hate like Null Rod due to Miracles's omnipresence and out of respect for the power of Storm. Plus Shardless is popular and packs all the maindeck Abrupt Decays for Stoneforge Mystic and Umezawa's Jitte. And I can see Punishing Fire being a bear of a card; it kills all the threats except True-Name Nemesis.
So take my list with a grain of salt, seeing as I've never played the deck. But here's what I'm considering sleeving up:
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Baleful Strix
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
1 Painful Truths
2 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Spell Pierce
3 Force of Will
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Batterskull
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Karakas
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
// sideboard //
1 Pithing Needle
1 Flusterstorm
1 Envelop
1 Duress
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Sylvan Library
2 Meddling Mage
1 Containment Priest
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Council’s Judgment
1 Force of Will
- I think this deck should play maindeck Abrupt Decays out of deference to Miracles. Plus one more removal spell could probably help in game 1, especially in my list that wants to bridge the gap to my mid-game-drops.
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant is a much harder threat to answer than Liliana of the Veil yet perhaps less powerful. Since this deck plays all good cards, my gut tells me that I shouldn't play Lili because my cards are typically gonna be stronger than my opponents'. Again, though, I haven't piloted this deck, so I could be very wrong. And giving TNN +3/+3 improves the clock significantly.
- Painful Truths looks super powerful, so I want to play with it. Having card advantage in a good-stuff deck seems like a solid plan.
- The sideboard is probably utter crap - no testing. I'm considering a Grafdigger's Cage, but I like Containment Priest in that slot. Do I need to play cards like Disfigure, or can I get away with Toxic Deluge and Zealous Persecution?
EDIT: original list was a card short! That never happens. So I added a miser's Baleful Strix. It can wear equipment, is card advantage, is blue for Force of Will, is pseudo-removal ... card's solid. Maybe it can be something else, but I want to test it.
Also, do y'all think that Tasigur, the Golden Fang would be a good fit in this deck? Every threat in the deck has low toughness, making the board susceptible to sweepers like Toxic Deluge. Tasigur is a big body and can potentially recycle removal and cantrips.
Thanks for your help!
Last edited by theMonster; 01-21-2016 at 04:26 PM.
So my first experience piloting DeathBlade was a good one; I went 4-0 in my weekly against Elves, Pox, ANT and Junk Nic Fit. I sleeved up the following 75:
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Baleful Strix
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Painful Truths
3 Force of Will
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Karakas
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
// sideboard //
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Flusterstorm
1 Negate
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sylvan Library
2 Meddling Mage
1 Containment Priest
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Council's Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Force of Will
My sideboard plan might not have been optimal, but that's why I'm posting it; I'd appreciate feedback. Here are some brief match overviews:
R1 - Elves
G1: I keep the board pretty clean - Swords a Deathrite and a Dryad Arbor, Snare an Elvish Visionary. Then I Clique in draw step, bottoming a Nettle Sentinel because the rest of his hand is Hoof, Natural Order and Gaea's Cradle. Then TNN and DRS join the party, and the clock is too fast.
Out: 2 Jace, 1 Truths, 1 Strix, 2 Pierce, 1 FoW, 1 Ponder
In: 1 Swords, 2 Z.P., 1 Verdict, 1 Needle, 1 Judgment, 2 Meddling Mage
G2: He plays Sentinel, I play Deathrite. He follows with Wirewood Symbiote and Quirion Ranger. A Brainstorm finds the Needle, so I Swords the Symbiote and Needle the Ranger - big turn. Eventually I Ponder into a SFM, get Jitte and just lock it up.
R2 - Pox
G1: He opens with Dark Ritual --> Duress + Hymn to Tourach, nailing Jace, then two lands. I play Deathrite, which eats an Innocent Blood. Eventually he gets out three copies of The Rack and a Bloodghast against my TNN, Tar Pit and follow-up Deathrite. I am at 3 when I swing for lethal.
Out: 3 FoW, 3 Swords, 1 IoK
In: 1 Flusterstorm, 1 Negate, 1 Library, 2 Meddling Mage, 1 Judgment, 1 Needle
G2: Mishra's Factory, pass. I Seize away a Cursed Scroll and leave him with Swamps and a Rack. T2 I play Strix and trade with his Factory(...). T3 I dump Deathrite and Mage (naming Ensnaring Bridge) to play around I. Blood. Follow up with a TNN, and he just draws more Racks after I cast Truths.
R3 - ANT
G1: My opponent mulls to 5, plays U-Sea and passes. I leave up Pierce and pass. He names SFM with Cabal Therapy, gets one and passes - turns out he kept a one-lander. So I Wasteland his Sea and keep him off cantrips. Eventually BSkull and Jace +2 get there.
Out: 3 Swords, 2 Decay, 2 Jace, 1 Strix, 1 Truths
In: 1 FoW, 1 Flusterstorm, 1 Negate, 2 Mage, 2 Surgical, 2 Z.P.
G2: He Gitaxian Probes, seeing 2 Brainstorms, then casts Therapy. I decide to Force it, seeing as I valued the BStorm more. I cast Deathrite, which eats a couple cards and eventually gets Decayed. Then I BStorm into 2 Pierces. He durdles, and I cast a second Deathrite. Next turn, with three lands in play and having not made a land drop, he casts BStorm, which I Pierce, giving him threshold. He then plays a fetch and casts Cabal Ritual, and I Surgical two BStorms in response to leave his graveyard with six cards after the cracked fetch. He casts a Lotus Petal and plays Ad Nauseum at 13 life. The cards he drew were horrendous: Tendrils of Agony, SDT, LED, Ponder, Past in Flames. After tanking, he picks 'em up and goes to 3. I untap and pass. He draws Rain of Filth, plays the Ponder, which I Pierce. I let Filth resolve, and he makes a bunch of mana, plays LED, then cracks it to flashback Past in Flames. I respond by eating Tendrils. He makes a million Goblins with Empty the Warrens after not finding Chain of Vapor or another Decay. I just untap and drain for lethal.
R4 - Junk Nic Fit
G1: I (finally) get the play and IoK his Green Sun's Zenith, leaving him with SDT, Truths and Siege Rhino. That hurts him badly. I'm able to tutor for BSkull and bash. After Topping for a few turns, he taps out for Qasali Pridemage, which I Swords EOT. He scoops.
Out: 3 FoW, 1 Pierce, 1 Snare
In: 1 Swords, 1 Needle, 1 Verdict, 1 Judgment, 1 Library (should've probably brought in Priest to fight GSZ)
G2: I get tripped up on lands, and after trading some resources he eventually lands Rhino. Even a BSkull matches up poorly.
G3: We trade resources early. Eventually I land Jace and decide to tick up, as he has one card in hand. Rhino comes down again, meeting a Swords. He plays another Rhino, I play BSkull, he Toxic Deluges to kill the Germ and my Deathrite. Then I cast TNN withopen, all the while ticking up Jace. He tells me after the match that he thought I would bounce BSkull, and he would've Decayed the Germ and won. So he attacks me and not Jace, putting me at 2. I equip TNN and smash, also getting Jace to 13 loyalty. Then he scoops.
Lot of fun! I made a few small mistakes - missing a Deathrite attack once, not realizing Pernicious Deed kills an active Tar Pit, etc. - but I think, overall, I played pretty tight. I cast every card in the maindeck except Snapcaster Mage. The list felt pretty powerful, and I never felt like games were out of reach. Perhaps my opponents drew below average, but in those games I felt like I had absolute control of the game. I never missed Liliana of the Veil, but that could be solely due to my matchups. The weakest card felt like Karakas, though I didn't need it in these games. Small sample size, but I liked this list. Felt like I had relevant and impactful plays all the time, even when I drew less than optimally.
Let me know what y'all think of my sideboarding - very new to the archetype, so maybe I missed something.
Thanks for reading!
Last edited by theMonster; 01-30-2016 at 01:43 PM.
Hey everyone, longtime aficionado of this and the traditional Blade control archetypes here, hoping to add my thoughts about the deck. I just participated in a SCG Super IQ yesterday as well so I'll give my list and a brief tournament report below.
I've been running one in my list since seeing the Esper Mentor decks that Chapin, Sperling, and Martell ran at GP SeaTac, and I've been thoroughly impressed. Some of the biggest advantage you get from it is actually its immunity to REB/Pyroblast. Against the grindfest matchups like Miracles, Lands, etc it really pushes you ahead. It does hurt a lot though if you run Thoughtseizes.Originally Posted by m0ller
I think the deck benefits from having the highest average card quality out of any deck in the format. A lot of decks in Legacy are really streamlined (RUG Delver is the poster child of this) and devote a ton of deckspace to maximize the consistency of a very specific strategy. Whether this means running a million cantrips or exploiting the synergy between less powerful options (Shardless), you'll have super efficient decks with plenty of velocity and a relatively small number of action spells. Deathblade is like the Modern Jund of Legacy; it's all lands and good Magic cards. What really pushes it past the Jund comparison though is the access it has to blue cards. Force of Will, Brainstorm, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor hold the whole deck together.
I also think this is why having raw card advantage like Dark Confidant or Painful Truths is so powerful in this deck especially. The average power level of your cards is going to be higher than decks running stuff like Lotus Petal or Daze.
And to answer your second question, I think the reason the deck is less popular now is for the exact same reasons I just stated. It's inherently a goodstuff deck, flexible enough to have game against anyone, rewarding of deck familiarity, but at its core lacking an efficient, "broken" strategy. Turn 2 Stoneforge or even Deathrite into True-Name Nemesis, while powerful, just isn't on the same level as Show and Tell Griselbrand, or Countertop, or Ad Nauseum. I believe most people would rather play a deck that is more streamlined and focused on a specific strategy in a format where you can't have a favorable matchup against all decks at all times. The logic is that it's worth playing Miracles to have an even or slightly favored matchup against the field at the expense of being a dog to certain decks like MUD. Additionally (at the risk of sounding elitist) you have to play very tight Magic to do well with Deathblade, whereas other lists can be played at, say, 90% efficiency and still win off of the power of their combo or card synergy (Stifle + Wasteland with a Delver in play, or Lotus Petal Ancient Tomb Show and Tell with Force backup). Remember, Deathblade has the highest average card quality, but some decks are filled with 5s and 9s to our 7s and 8s.
In short, the payoff you get from Deathblade comes from mastery of the deck and good format knowledge, while other decks can perform just as well or better with less preparation. That's just my take on it anyway.
So here's the list I ran at a 47-person SCG Super IQ all the way to 4-2 good for 12th place (and no money).
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Thoughtseize
2 Ponder
2 Spell Pierce
1 Council's Judgment
1 Painful Truths
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Karakas
Sideboard:
3 Meddling Mage
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Flusterstorm
1 Nahiri, the Lithomancer
1 Pithing Needle
1 Disenchant
Match Results:
R1 vs. Storm = 2-1 W
- G1 he Probes on turn one, then a couple turns later decides to go for it and I have the Force. He can't rebuild before I clock him with True-Name.
- G2 I set up with Meddling Mage on Infernal Tutor, Snapcaster in play, attacking him to 8. Pass with Force+blue card, Spell Pierce, and 14 life after casting Painful Truths. He goes Duress, I spell Pierce, he pays with his two open lands, takes Force, and goes Petal Petal Ritual Ritual Tendrils, storm at seven for exactly lethal.
- G3 he cantrips for a few turns, Probes and sees me with Flusterstorm, Snapcaster, and four open mana. Without any discard, he goes for it, casts Infernal Tutor, holding priority to dump Past in Flames off of LED. I let Tutor resolve, and he gets Ad Nauseum. I Flusterstorm it, then Snapcaster Flusterstorm on the Past in Flames. After that he scoops.
Only thing of note from this matchup is that Snapcaster is awesome (I just added the one back to my list, cutting Notion Thief from the board and pushing the fourth Thoughtseize into its place).
R2 vs. Merfolk = 1-2 L
This match was against my good friend who I drove to the tournament with, and who would go on to make the top 4, losing to Lands. He took games 1 and 3 pretty handily, but game 2 I was able to set up some nice blocks with True-Name and Deathrite and cast Abrupt Decay on his Chalice of the Void on 1. It was a pretty clean board wipe and freed my Brainstorms, but honestly I lucked out that he got stuck on two lands with no Vial or Islandwalk for the whole game. This matchup seems pretty tough but not unwinnable (I beat Merfolk during the Classic at SCG Charlotte a couple weeks ago). Having spot removal is crucial in this matchup, otherwise you just get Islandwalked into oblivion. True-Name is also tough with Lords but between Supreme Verdict, Council's Judgment, Zealous Persecution, and Snapcaster Mage, there's usually enough there to fight it.
R3 vs. Stax/MUD = 2-0 W
- G1 I land Deathrite and get Wastelanded. I manage to hit a second Deathrite and draw into three Force of Wills and a Swords to Plowshares over several turns without even drawing another land. Finally but turn ten or so I start to hit lands but can't keep them in play against Wastelands and Vesuvas. My opponent tilts pretty hard and eventually I beat him with a Batterskull off of Stoneforge, all while never having more than a single land in play. Lesson: Deathrite Shaman is great.
- G2 Metalworker comes down on turn 2, revealing five artifacts the next turn for ten mana plus four from his lands. He drops Kuldotha Forgemaster, Lodestone, Lodestone, then tinkers for Blightsteel Colossus. I have the Swords to Plowshares, but not enough pressure to close the game. He gets a Platinum Emperion with Lightning Greaves as I put Batterskull on a True-Name, and suddenly we hit a stalemate. Advantage blue player. It takes another twenty minutes of me digging through my deck for anything relevant, finally hitting Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Six turns later I ultimate Jace.
Lesson: MUD is scary but doesn't have a high threat density. Hold your counter spells for stuff you can't Swords to Plowshares and you can usually outlast them.
R4 vs. Burn = 1-2 L
This one wasn't very close. Maindeck Searing Blaze twice game one decks Deathrite and Stoneforge. He dies to True-Name and his own combination of Eidolon + Pyrostatic Pillar game two, and game three he just draws three lands and all spells on the play.
Lesson: Price of Progress wrecks us, even with two basics. I'm not sure if this is a matchup worth altering the sideboard or if it's just one I should accept is going to be bad for me.
R5 vs. UR Delver = 2-1 W
At this point no one is sure if x-2 top 8s, so it's pretty much win or the tournament's over. These games weren't super memorable and my opponent was pretty stone faced the whole time. UR Delver is pretty threat-lite, so even though he clocked me game one, our side boarded games were pretty one-sided.
Lesson: Against these high velocity, low threat count Delver decks, you're favored in the long run. Play conservatively, don't get Dazed or Stifled, and keep the board clear for the first few turns. Eventually they run out of cards and your superior card quality carries you ahead.
R6 vs. Grixis Delver = 2-0 W
Pretty much similar to round five. At this point we saw the standings and we were clearly out of contention, but the store owner was giving away additional playmats to 9th - 12th place. My opponent plays pretty loose, tapping the wrong lands, playing into things one the same turn as seeing them with Probe, and it's a pretty decisive victory. The most exciting moment was an attack with Batterskull and Snapcaster Mage into a Gurmag Angler. I was able to bait (ahem) the block on the Germ and Zealous Persecution to survive and kill the Angler.
Lesson: Similar to UR Delver. Be patient and play to the long game.
Overall the tournament felt like good practice. There's another Super IQ in April, the Modern GP in Charlotte in May (which should have plenty of opportunities to practice), all before GP Columbus in June. My results are pretty much what I expect from this deck and my proficiency with the list and at Magic in general. I've gone 4-2-1, 4-3, and 4-2 in the last three competitive REL events I've played in, just shy of top 8 and top 16s. And that's really why I think this deck isn't as popular anymore. You have to earn all of your wins. None of them are given to you (outside of mana screw which affects everyone now and then).
Let me know if you have experience playing the Burn matchup and any tech you've found. Thanks!
Thanks for the report, Ajax. Perhaps this is a bit narrow, but what about something like Timely Reinforcements for the Burn matchup? 6 life is basically 2-for-1ing them, and if they're on the Goblin Guide/Eidolon of the Great Revel plan, you make blockers, too. Perhaps the card has applications against UR Delver, though CMC
Played a 29-man event on Saturday and placed 4th, good for a NM Tropical Island. Here's the list I ran:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Scrubland
1 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Baleful Strix
3 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sylvan Library
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Force of Will
// sideboard //
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Flusterstorm
1 Negate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
2 Meddling Mage
1 Containment Priest
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Council's Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Force of Will
A quick synopsis with my sideboard plans - feel free to tell me if you'd prefer a different plan:
Round 1: ANT
G1 - Kept the ol' SFM/Decay/Swords/TNN hand in the dark. Died.
G2 - Established a fast clock with Batterskull and Creeping Tar Pit, and he didn't have enough to go off.
G3 - I think I made a mistake here. I cast DRS on T1 and decided to play SFM on T2 instead of Meddling Mage, naming Cabal Ritual. My reasoning was that I'd play Mage on T3 and cheat in BSkull. This proved too greedy; he was able to eke out a Tendrils kill.
Out: 3 StP, 2 Decay, 1 Library, 2 Jace, 1 Jitte
In: 1 Flusterstorm, 1 Negate, 2 Mage, 2 Z.P. (he showed me Xantid Swarm in G2, and I was worried about Empty the Warrens), 2 Surgical, 1 FoW
0-1
Round 2: MUD
G1 - He resolved a quick Chalice of the Void on 1 and then a Kuldotha Forgemaster and Wurmcoil Engine. I countered with a Batterskull and TNN. He didn't find enough artifacts to effectively use Forgemaster without sacrificing Chalice, giving me time to play Baleful Strix and another TNN. I was able to counter Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and whittle away at his life total.
G2 - This game was on camera and was a slog. He kept a loose hand of five lands, Ugin and Forgemaster. We got into so many stalemates. Eventually he got me down to 1, thanks to a well-timed Sundering Titan, but I was able to stabilize with a couple Swords to Plowshares. Strix once again swung for 1 like a champ for what seemed like over ten turns. Deathrite Shaman helped chip away at his life total while I kept his threats at bay with TNNs.
Out: 1 Jitte, 1 Library, 2 Pierce, 1 Snare, 2 Ponder, 1 SFM
In: 1 Judgment, 1 Verdict, 1 Needle, 1 Negate, 2 Mage, 1 Priest, 1 FoW
1-1
Round 3: Shardless BUG
G1 - My opponent mulled to 4 and put up a heck of a fight with T2 Goyf --> T3 Shardless Agent + cascaded Abrupt Decay on my SFM. But I kept topdecking threats and answers.
G2 - We traded resources for a reallylong time, and eventually he drew into more gas and overwhelmed me with endless Goyfs.
G3 - There were only five minutes left on the clock, and he had the answer to my T3 Batterskull. So we drew.
Out: 3 FoW, 3 Thoughtseize
In: 1 StP, 1 Needle, 1 Judgment, 1 Verdict, 1 Garruk, 1 Surgical
1-1-1
Round 4: Esper Stoneblade
G1 - I Seized a Brainstorm and sandbagged my SFM after seeing his StP. Eventually he drew into another BStorm and must've shuffled it away after seeing me play TNN on T3. Then I resolved my SFM, got Batterskull and did work.
G2 - I drew pretty well this game. He Seized me twice and IoK-ed me once. I topdecked a [cards]Snapcaster Mage[cards] to flash back my discarded Spell Pierce and counter his Jace. I Brainstormed into a Needle and waited till he played Jitte to cast it. Eventually I resolved Jace and a Jitte of my own in the face of four Spirit tokens. He was visibly frustrated.
Out: 3 FoW, 1 Snare
In: 1 Needle, 1 Judgment, 2 Z.P.
2-1-1
Round 5 - Dredge
G1 - My opponent mulled to 5. I countered his T1 discard spell, then Wastelanded his Gemstone Mine. I Batterskulled and TNNed my way to victory.
G2 - Got Dredged. 'Nuff said.
G3 - My opponent mulled to 3. I punted this game so hard. For some reason I unwittingly left a Thoughtseize in my deck. But since I had it, I thought I'd play it to try to nab a T1 discard spell. Well, I had to put a Golgari Grave-Troll in the graveyard. Idiot. Somehow his dredge was terrible, and he found no action. That gave me time to cast a SFM and TNN and counter the two discard spells he attempted to cast after drawing naturally. Didn't deserve that game, but sometimes the blind squirrel gets the nut.
Feel free to lay into me for this plan. I need more experience in the matchup.
Out: 2 (should've been 3) Thoughtseize, 1 Library, 2 Jace, 1 Snare, 1 StP
In: 2 Surgical, 1 FoW, 1 Verdict, 1 Z.P., 1 Flusterstorm, 1 Negate
3-1-1 - squeaked into Top8.
Quarterfinals: Elves
G1 - Probably butchered this game. I had no interaction in the first two turns, then Cliqued away a Natural Order when given the choice between that, Glimpse of Nature a Cradle and Elvish Visionary. Maybe that's not right. He Glimpsed into a million guys, I Forced an Order and died to the second one.
G2 - What a game. Choke locked down two lands, making things slower. Got down to 1 after surviving a Hoof attack thanks to Batterskull. Was able to draw a land right on time to equip DRS, conveniently a 5/6. [cards]Zealous Persecution[cards] blew him out in combat, allowing me to kill the Hoof and a Nettle Sentinel.
G3 - Another grind. We traded resources, and eventually I found Jitte and countered his Reclamation Sage.
Out: 1 Library, 2 Jace, 2 Ponder, 2 Pierce, 1 FoW
In: 1 Verdict, 2 Z.P., 1 StP, 2 Mage, 1 Priest, 1 Needle
4-1-1
Semifinals: UR Delver
These games weren't particularly close. My opponent was an excellent player and piloted a deck that matches up very favorably with mine. SFM is just not a card against a Burn deck. I also drew all three Thoughtseizes in game 1, which didn't help. I battled, but when Chain Lightning, Lightning Bolt and Fireblast cause six Prowess triggers, that's tough to beat.
Out: 3 FoW, 3 Thoughtseize
In: 1 StP, 1 Verdict, 1 Z.P., 1 Flusterstorm, 1 Negate, 1 Surgical (in case I killed a threat and could extract 1/3 of his guys)
4-2-1
Overperformers:
Baleful Strix - it slices, it dices, it draws a card, it's blue, it flies, it carries Jitte, it's removal, it's great.
True-Name Nemesis - no explanation necessary.
Underperformers:
Supreme Verdict - a little awkward to get toin my list, especially without Karakas in this build. I loved the Abrupt Decays maindeck, so I may keep this
-skewed mana base and replace Verdict with Toxic Deluge. Not sure yet.
Bayou - never wanted to fetch for it, always had enough. Might go back to Karakas.
Undecided:
Spell Snare - didn't see it enough to know, but I liked having a high blue-card count
Garruk Relentless - in theory could've been very good against Shardless, as it kills DRS and Agent while flipping Garruk
Cards I'm considering:
Tasigur, the Golden Fang/Gurmag Angler - don't know if it's necessary. I felt threat-dense all day.
Timely Reinforcements (sideboard) - would be good if Burn is in the room or if UR Delver becomes a thing
Let me know your thoughts, and thanks for reading!
Last edited by theMonster; 02-08-2016 at 04:59 PM.
Went 2-1-1 in FNM last night, beating Dredge and Miracles, losing to ANT, and drawing with Lands. Here's the list:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Scrubland
1 Savannah
1 Karakas
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Baleful Strix
3 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sylvan Library
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Force of Will
// sideboard //
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Flusterstorm
1 Negate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
2 Meddling Mage
1 Containment Priest
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Council's Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Force of Will
In my past three events, I've been 10-3-2 with this list, save a card or two. It feels powerful and consistent, though I'd like to improve my win rate against Storm; I'm 1-2 - obviously a small sample size - but the games I lose don't feel particularly close.
As I learn the nuances of the deck, I wanted to post some observations and see if any o' y'all have encountered similar things.
- Tundra drives me crazy. The only times I ever really want it are when I need to Swords to Plowshares on T1, followed by a Brainstorm or to cast a
- Anyone advocate for a Delve creature like Tasigur, the Golden Fang? I've seen some Esper Stoneblade lists running one, and I'm curious how it's performed for those pilots.
- I feel like I have plenty of cards to bring in against Storm, but there are still a lot of weaker cards left in the maindeck post-sideboard like True-Name Nemesis. I generally have one flex slot in my sideboard - in this list it was Timely Reinforcements 'cuz I saw some Burn in the room, but I've also tried Garruk Relentless for Miracles and Shardless BUG. So perhaps that slot just permanently becomes Ethersworn Canonist. I feel I have enough power to win the grindier games, especially with maindeck Sylvan Library. Thoughts?
- Any other tech people like?
Thanks for reading!
Hi folks.
I have tried out 2 baby jace, seems solid. Only playing 1 jtms, along with 2 Lilliana.
Went 7-1 the other day, faced - miracles, delver, death and taxes, merfolk, show and tell, 2 Maverick, enchantress. My only loss was to show n tell
Cheers
Last edited by m0ller; 02-19-2016 at 08:48 AM.
Thoughtseize and Liliana shares the same slot. I would reduce the thoughtseize to fit more liliana and main deck one surgical extraction.
With the eldrazis around the corner, the 2 life from thoughtseize is really hurting my life total.
Surgical extraction has become my favourite spell since it takes away your opponents removal or counter.
Funny you mentioned cutting thoughtseize for Liliana. Seems like this list did exactly that, and also added Sorin
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...?DeckID=100005
Was playing this last night against Elves (may be a card or two off since I'm going by memory.) Went better than I expected (3 - 2 before swapping decks, no sideboarding.) Wins were basically all "Find counterspells and swing with evasion stuff."
Explanation below:
Will be swapping Snapcasters (they feel dead too often) to Cliques and I think I'll be adding a SoFaI as I was getting annoyed with my Jittes getting popped and I'd like to be able to shoot things down/make relevant threats out of Strix/SFM if it's popped. I'll probably drop Strix #4; but it's a good card to toss to force, swing with evasion, and has psuedo removal.-18-
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 True-Name Nemesis
2 Gurmag Angler
2 Snapcaster
-2-
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
-21-
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Detention Sphere
3 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
-19?-
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Marsh Flats (1 may be a tundra or a swamp or something atm)
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
The point of the list is to Stonewall the opponent and be highly relevant against our Eldrazi overlords. Gurmags and Strixes trounce them and BSK does alright, TNN being another wall for most decks/threats. The 3-drops and Gurmag should give reasonable game against Miracles. The other main thing going on is a lot of evasion to ensure connects.
I think I'm happy with the creature base and am currently quite a bit fan of Daze (even with the 3-drops) and Ponder, but suggestions welcome. I realize getting a waste or three in there would be good, but I *really* hate it when you have Waste + Strix. I'll be playing this (or the modified version you guys may help with) tonight at a local.
Creatures (17)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 True-Name Nemesis
Spells (21)
4 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Batterskull
4 Force of Will
Lands (22)
1 Bayou
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
Sideboard (15)
2 Flusterstorm
2 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Life from the Loam
4 Engineered Plague
1 Mindbreak Trap
75 Cards Total
Alvas (does anybody knows him) has being destroying leagacy league with this lately. I think it is one of the sweetest list I have seen in a long time. What are your thoughts?
Tomáš
I like the list for the points I put above. I feel like even 3 Snapcaster is too many as getting use out of them can be difficult. 4 SFM without a 3rd equip will see dead SFMs too often. That said, this encourages me that I could add wastelands without cutting too heavily and still land my strixes and stuff. I feel like that list is a bit weak to Miracles and D&T.
I'll test my above list with:
-1 Marsh Flats
-1 Angler
+2 Wastelands
I think. Swapping to Cliques from Casters gives me more game for Miracles via 3-drops, so the second Angler is likely unnecessary.
I think Deathblade is really bad against Miracles. We dotn want to see Counterbalance, Jace, Top... We cant really beat those cards. Or can we?
So I'm playing 1x Liliana in my main right now and I've been pretty unsatisfied with it. I'm considering a few different options for a replacement:
- 4th discard spell, either a Thoughtseize or Inquisition
- Singleton Spell Snare
- Singleton Counterspell
- Singleton Diabolic Edict
- Singleton Dimir Charm (anyone try this lately?)
Thoughts?
@-1 lily
I don't know your deck but of the cards listed Dimir charm is ok. I like having less than 4 discard because I've had too many games where I topdeck 1-too-many discard. What I'd probably advertise is swapping your 3 discard and Lily for 4 Daze; but that's just me. Daze ranches people pretty regularly and provides tempo gain as opposed to tempo loss.
If you want the 4th discard I'd advertise Therapy as Snap, Strix, and SFM are good sac targets and it's a fantastic card against SFM decks or if you need to clear forces/answers for your big spell.
Well, some people run a couple Decay since you have the singleton Trop for DRS anyway. I'm running D-Sphere since it's difficult to Balance against and it is easier to cast reliably than Decay.
General Counter-Top strategy against Miracles
Sorta. You can utilize 3-drops, dredge-dudes like Gurmag, and other cost-changing mechanics to make counterbalance difficult. Generally, them sitting on Mentor (one of their only 3-drops) makes less sense than casting it and just beating you to death. This typically means that unless you're on the turn right before they're about to start winning (vs. stalling) then you can cast 3-drops with impunity.
Normally if I'm locked with Counterbalance I start by baiting them to figure out what's going on and just overload their top. TNN and Clique are quite good because not only are they 3-Drops, but they interact well against their removal. Clique by shoving Terminus to the bottom of their library in response to the trigger, and TNN because they have to Terminus in order to get your clock to stop. Mixing these with some well timed 2-drops can work out as well.
Example:
* Cast 1-drop. They draw with SDT. You now know you can probably cast a 2-drop or 3-drop.
* Cast 1-drop. They search three and then declare they are drawing a card with Top. You Plow/Brainstorm/Etc in response because you now know they probably need the SDT on top to counterbalance it.
* Cast 1-drop. They draw with SDT and you let that resolve, but before the CB trigger can resolve, you Clique the SDT back into their hand. This means they can't adjust the deck to counter Clique and they can't counter the 1-drop because Clique will be triggered against the Top, and you know they didn't have a 1-drop on top.
You get the idea. Normally you put your neck out there in order to see if a spell resolves or how they respond, and then you reply on the stack. Sometimes you'll get hosed; but this is the anatomy of how you break the CB lock; mostly via 3-drops or abusing the fact that they needed SDT to have the 1-drop ready for you. They can't continually float 2-drops, 3-drops and 1-drops; first because they'd have to draw one of those and never have a land in there, and second because they don't have a ton of 3-drops. This means they're usually drawing 1-drops or lands since Top can cover 1-drop and floating a 2-drop or a 3-drop.
This is also why Jace is good against them, since they can only CB it if they are floating a Jace or happen to have Venser in the deck.
This is largely why I'm using a bunch of applicable 3-drops and an Angler or two; aside from their other uses. Also; TNN, Clique, and Strix have Evasion which is good for Equips, punching through a Mentor as they try to race you instead of Terminus, or flying over Snapcaster. TNN, Clique, and Strix are all good against Jace as well (Strix Draws cards, Clique gets to swing at him anyway.)
EDIT: This is also part of why I like Daze. If you open with DRS and another threat they have to move towards Terminus. If they drop Balance on T2 you can just Daze it which buys you a turn. If they wait til T3, it still buys you a turn by merely existing.
Normally your sideboard will include a few things for them. I tend to use Engineered Explosives as my Decay replacement since it has other applications, but is very difficult for them to Balance. Again, feel free to prime their CB-lock in a way that makes it easy to drop the EE.
Very nice thank you!
I am afraid the given situation somehow counts they have nothing for 1 on top which is not very likely. Or that they dont have brainstorm or another top...
I play miracles a lot and deathblade always seemed like a bye.
Daze might be good but certainly not against miracles - when they will find out you play it they can wait. Against delver miracles players cant wait sometimes and have to play into it but with all the basics and conisdering how slow is deathblade clock (and how terrible top it is) its not the way to go.
I dont think deathblade can beat miracles without decay. I think sphere is fine but after board he is bringing in wear//tear or two, has judgement main...
Needle on top, Jace, Deacay and Sword of Fire and Ice, TNN are the card to beat Miracles.
Cabal Therapy is one of my favourite cards - very good point!
Tomáš
That's me :)
Cool! Can you tell us something about how did you end up with this list? Or write a little report from some of the last tournament? I absolutely love this list.
As much as I like the main I hate the side. ;-) lftl, decay, fluster, single canonist is great but the rest is quite questionable. I wish we had some Surgical, zealous persecution...
Tomáš
Well i've played many leagues i just forget most of the games anyway. Yesterday, for example i played 2 leagues and went 4-1 and 5-0.
The List is tunned to beat eldrazi decks, miracles, infect, elves and combo decks mostly (which is the most relevant part of the online metagame).
About the list:
- 4 Thoughtseize: I like playing 4 thoughtseize over inquisition because you really, really want to take 4CC+ Spells like Jace TMS, Thoughtknot Seer, Reality Smasher, etc...
- 4 Baleful Strix: Best Card against Eldrazi, overall good card against grindy decks like Team America, Shardless Bug, etc... Very good against Delver decks too, has evasion for jitte against elves (they can avoid you getting counters on jitte with quirion ranger and symbiote)
- 1 True-Name Nemesis: this is actually the card i like the least in the deck, but it is sometimes awesome with jitte obviously.
- 0 Spell Snare/Pierce- I like being pro-active, these cards force us to leave open mana i don't think we need these, we have thoughtseize and snap-seize for disruption.
- I'd like to add more ponders for consistency maybe i'd cut some Snapcaster Mages or the True-Name Nemesis.
- I think 2 equipment(s) is enough, i sometimes cut some stoneforge mystics post-board depending on the match-up.
Sideboard:
4 Engineered Plague: I know a lot of people don't like this card but i think it's good. I'll explain:
-Merfolks, Elves, Goblins: Very good, against merfolk you will need multiple or to kill the lords with swords, decay (not really a problem, post board you have millions of removal)
-Empty the Warrens Combos (ANT, Belcher): Good, Unlike Golgari Charm and Zealous you can play it proactively and not wait for them to take it away with duress/thoughtseize/Therapy and then make a million goblins.
-UR(B) Delver: Name Human (Delver, Pyromancer, Grim Lavamancer, Snapcaster Mage)
-Infect, Death and Taxes, Maverick: Name Human (Mother of Runes, Thalia, Noble Hierach, Blighted Agent,...)
-Kills true-name nemesis (yes i have 1 too but still a good thing).
-Kills Mentor tokens.
-Against BW(R) decks you can name spirit (Spirit of the Labirinth, Lingering Souls tokens, Bloodghast)
-Against Dredge (not great) but you can name a lot of stuff (zombies, horror, spirit).
-Stops the aluren combo by naming beast (cavern harpy).
-Against infect they can't protect their creatures from this unless they have countermagic, it avoids pump spells (invigorate,etc..) and protections spells (vines of vastwood).
4 Abrupt Decay: Best card against Miracles, you really need this in many matchups (Counterbalance, Monastery Mentor, Bloodmoon, Chalice of the Void, Back to Basics, many eldrazi creatures, Equipment, Sylvan Library, Choke, Liliana of the Veil, null rod, etc...)
1 Mindbreak Trap, 1 Cannonist, 2 Flusterstorm- There was a lot of Belcher running around at some point online. And it's good to diversify against combo decks so you don't get destroyed by cabal therapy (2-for-1 or 3-for-1).
1 Life from the Loam - Great in grindy match-ups (Pox, Aggro Loam,etc...), makes sure you don't get mana screwed against delver decks and sometimes wins the long-game against decks without basics (Delver decks, Eldrazi, Mud, Mirror, Shardless, 12-post [Decay kills needle on wasteland]). This card is a low-cost high-reward type of card, it just wins games by itself and it's never awful.
2 Grafdigger's Cage - This is self-explanatory, good against graveyard strategies (reanimator, dredge, etc...) good against elves (zenith, natural order), good against ANT (avoids past in flames), has dyssynergy wth Snapcaster Mage (it's a cost i'm willing to pay).
Hi everyone guys! My name is Marco and i'm an Italian player and Deathblade aficionado.
I've always loved the deck but i decided to stop playing it after Nebraska's War (300+ people Italian tournament last December): i was an underdog to Miracles and Shardless (both Tier1 decks) and i had some problem with consistency. Basically, i just wanted to play 4 Ponder, but doing that simply slows the deck too much, shutting down the awesome start that is capable of. I decided to go with 2 Ponders but lost too much to variance. So left the deck to try something else.
Then Eldrazi came. A guy I know 6-0ed into 2 ID an event with Deathblade and the deck lighted my fire again. I was sure i wanted to play Baleful Strix, so i started working on my old list.
When a friend of mine shown me Alvas/Jparula's list, i decided to give it a shot (cause why not? the results were excellent), leading it to a(nother) 5-0 in a 27 people tournament yesterday night.
Tomás texted me today (i know him since he was my only loss in the swiss of Ovino9 :D) asking if i was still on Deathblade. I was. We discussed the list for a while and he asked me to report here. So, here i am.
One thing before the actual report start: i hated the SB as much as i loved the MD, so i designed one of my own, which is the following.
2 Flusterstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Council's Jundgement
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Negate (no joke, this card is insane in this deck. is basically counterspell cause you don't care about creatures at all, but lighter on mana)
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Life from the Loam
R1 Eldrazi 2-0 (10 minutes match)
g1: FoW his Smasher (he clearly didn't have TKS in hand) into SFM+Wasteland. Game.
g2: Loam+Wasteland. Game.
SB: out: 4 TS (otd, 4 FoW if otp), 1 Ponder (Chalice menace), 1 JTMS (Smasher menace) / in: 3 AD, 1 CJ, 1 EE, 1 LftL
R2 Omnishow 2-1
g1: He combos with backup on turn 3, i could have played BS searching for Seize and another pitch in my turn but BS was my only pitch so i thought it was too risky.
g2: Seize buys me time, when he attempt to combo i play Priest in response, he let it resolve, put Omni, i put Canonist. I already had 6 dmg on board+4 from the hatebears is 10 for exact lethal. I even had CJ in hand.
g3: he's heavily flooded, so i Negate his BS (i knew his hand after a TS). He just keep flooding.
SB: out: 2 SFM, 2 Equip, 4 STP, 1 TNN / in: 2 Fluster, 1 Surgical, 1 Negate, 1 Priest, 1 Canonist, 1 CJ, 1 AD (cause of Pyromancer and potential Blood Moon), 1 Clique.
R3 Affinity 2-1
g1: got rekt by Chalice+Champion+Jitte. Just needed to FoW or Seize one of those, but sometimes you just don't find the answer in time.
g2: i'm in screw but i manage to win a Jitte vs Jitte fight cause my opponent didn't see the correct line.
g3: FoW champion and Jitte ftw.
SB: out: out: 2 JTMS, 4 TS (maybe you can switch with fow if otp), 1 Ponder (Chalice menace) / in: 1 CJ, 3 AD, 1 EE, 1 Persecution, 1 Clique.
R4 Deathblade 2-0
g1: i race his TNN with mine plus Strix and Shamans. Eventually Bskull joins the party.
g2: i play Jace on turn4.
SB: 3 Strix, 2 Snapcaster Mage (if OTD Deathrite Shaman can punish you and the 2/1 body is not relevant in the MU), 4 FoW / in: 1 SofI, 3 AD, 1 CJ, 1 EE, 1 Persecution, 1 Clique, 1 LftL
R5 Team America 2-0
G1: He mulls to 5.
G2: He resolves a Painful Truths on turn3 but i still manage to grid him out with the SFM+Brainstorm "combo" and Snapcaster Mages. Eventually Bskull joins the party again.
SB: 4 TS, 4 FoW, 1 JTMS (if OTP maybe you can switch with 1 Snapcaster Mage) / 3 AD, 1 CJ, 1 EE, 1 Persecution, 1 LftL, 2 Fluster
This list is a blast. The consistency seems so high cause you basically play all 4offs, and 4 Baleful Strix make the Delver and Eldrazi matchup quite a joke, improving also (i guess) the Shardless one.
I just have only one main concern: this deck can't get rid of a resolved Counterbalance or Chalice in Game 1. Even if you can surely play with those cards on the board, they are still very annoying. I was one of the first DB players to maindeck Abrupt Decay, but being soft to those cards in Game 1 is probably a necessary evil for consistency's sake.
That said, my sincerest congratulations, Alvas/Jparula. I think the MD explains itself, but i'd love to read something about your sideboard choice, which as said i don't really like. Are them in function of the online metagame or you think they would work fine even in a real life tournament?
Thank you very much!
Marco
EDIT: Reading your previous post ;)
EDIT2: Done. All your arguments are reasonable, i just think that 4 EP could be too much. Also you seem a little soft to Omnishow, since you have only 4 effective SB cards. I would suggest cards like Negate and Invasive Surgery for that purpose. I also like Surgical much more than Cage: the card has a good synergy with Snapcaster Mage, Cage (as you said) is a nombo. Cage is ofc very good against Elves, but do you really need that one with so many EP in the sideboard?
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