Tom Ross's decklist from last SCG Legacy Open Columbus, he made TOP 32
1 Wasteland
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
2 Pendelhaven
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Daze
4 Invigorate
3 Spell Pierce
2 Berserk
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Crop Rotation
1 Become Immense
1 Piracy Charm
SB: 1 Spell Pierce
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Necropede
SB: 1 Submerge
SB: 1 Piracy Charm
SB: 2 Force of Will
SB: 2 Hydroblast
SB: 1 Karakas
SB: 1 Treasure Cruise
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Sylvan Library
I'm a little puzzled about some of the changes he's made since his invitational list.
Upping the count of pendelhaven, spell pierce and daze while going down a force of will seems to be a direct response to the rise in popularity of TC delver decks, UR in particular.
What I don't follow is the inclusion of a maindeck piracy charm, and cutting white from the sideboard. Does the utility of piracy charm really outweigh the raw power of stp creature removal? Access to white has never been a problem for the deck, and the replacement of Savannah for a 4th trop barely increases the power level of daze in the deck.
On another note, what matchups are best suited for bringing in necropede? I feel like its intended for fair decks, but it just seems a bit lackluster against delver. Maybe elves?
Edited for spelling
His current list is much more similar to lists which were played at SCG Atlanta ( http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=8179&d=247092&f=LE )
Personally I don't like white splash in UG infect at all, imho we don't need swords so desperately, piracy charm can deal with unfliped delver, young pyromacer and grim lavamacer, btw I supose that necropede is against decks which can side in grim lavamancer and maybe elves.
I think Piracy Charm is to give your creature "Islandwalk", remember that you will fight lots of URs with lots of tokens
Islandwalk is not the main reason, 2/3 of our creatures are unblockable by pyromancers tokens naturally, there are better cards for unblockableble attack like Distortion Strike. I like the piracy charm flexibility, all modes (boost/kill/instant discard/unblockable) are relevant in this deck.
Flexibility is definitely a plus, but I feel as though the power level offered by piracy charm in the UR delver matchup just isn't enough to warrant a main deck inclusion. Maybe Ross was expecting to hit many other decks where the charm shines? If anyone has any experience with the Columbus area meta, that could be really insightful here.
Tom Ross playing some good Magic, just beat Lan Pham(?) to go 13-1.
EDIT: And now he's back on the Pro Tour! :D
that was crazy 3rd game in quarterfinals:) go tom!
top'ed8 a legacy 25+man tourney yesterday 5 rounds (4-1)
2-1 mud, 2-1 jeskai stoneblade, 1-2 reanimator, 2-0 mud, 2-1 jeskai stoneblade......quarters 1-2 urcruise
before losing to 1-2 vs urcruise, 3rd game in which i didnt draw any invigorates that couldve sealed the W for me..
packed in 3 BEB effects and a mizzium skin, and it did great!
managed to beat 2 jeskai stoneblades, 1 game me hard casting a fow over a counterspell for my invi..it was awesome!
i carried a 1 of's tcruise, groundswell, ponder...maindecked 4 fows, 4 dazes...
hope tom ross wins the GP for our banner!
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Surprised this thread is so quiet...honestly the deck seems under the radar and totally bonkers good. Umm...crop rotation end of turn for ink moth is too good.
It is a good deck and I have it built at all times, but play it against UR delver and it is a tough win unless you draw well. Then can you by turn 4 or 5 all while having counter magic and removal open. Electrickery is now a commonly used card that will hose you if you over extend, and they will apply pressure while you wait to make sure you have enough counter/pump to win through.
mizzium skin should be an auto include in the sb these days, and has done me well vs forked, electrikery, zealous, golgari charm...
vs ur, you will always have an advantage in land count with nobles, thus providing u ways to interact with vines and pierces too vs their removals...
crop rot to pendel is a very nice trick too. and once u resolved an invi, it shld be game.
ive included a 1 off groundswell for additional toughness support, rather than 3rd beserk or become immense (too slow for me)
treasure cruise provides us reload, 2 is just enough as it is a dead card early on.
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I've been trying a somewhat new build of infect and been going X-0 X-1 at my local shop. Although I can't say it's the most competitive meta down there. Though lots of the players there did top the SCG open in my state, including me (1st place ).
But instead of become immense, I've been running 2x Dig through times. I feel like it does what you want become immense does but better and more. You can most likely get an invigorate/pump or two and turn the dig into any where from a +4/+4 to a +8/+8 spell, find berserk+pump for 1 shot, or find what ever pieces you are missing. Only down side is Dig is UU and 1 extra delve cost, but you always have the plus side of it being blue and pitchable to FOW when you are going off early and don't have enough to delve.
I'm running 3 probes, 4 ponders, and 4 BS to help fill the yard and help smooth out draws for when you want or don't want the dig through times. Also I upped to 4 force of wills since the blue count is higher and the dig through times can help with the long term card disadvantage.
I cut the wasteland, crop rotation, and stifle plan from the deck to make room. I feel my build is more streamline at finding combo pieces and win versus having a toolbox/plan B tempo plan strategy. I will admit there were times I miss having a wasteland to break up burning grove combo/maze of ith, and the crop rotation can be used to fill the yard too, but I disliked the card advantage and felt most the times I was just holding it in hand for emergencies instead of being proactive.
Sorry for the wall, don't post much here but thought I'd share my brew idea and get some feedback.
Can you post a list? How do you for the ponders? Are you cutting daze or pierce??
i love treasure cruise in this deck
(i play tempo decks and has been on RUGdelver most of my life : ), and i hate treasure cruise!)
equipped with 2 crop rots, tc will be fast! i usually crop rot to fetch to trop/forest for max gy buildup.
croprots also are our 13th/14th infect creatures and it's haste considering it'll be an eot inkmoth.
crop rots are very valuable here.. will punish punishing fire once u call pendelhavens, and blanks wastelands too.
that's why my i tend to use a 1-off groundswell, that i can cast anytime rather than BImmense..
i'll dedicate my delves on just tc's for reload.
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This doesn't feel like where you want to be with infect. While the deck does have combo elements, it's ultimately playing like an old RUG delver deck that sticks a threat and then protects it for long enough to get the job done. At 6UU, I don't see dig being cast reliably before turn 4, considering that you want to land a threat by turn 2 at the latest, and that inkmoth and basic forest don't provide blue mana to help pay for UU.
The ponders also feel clunky in the deck. While they are far and away the best choice for smoothing out the deck (outside of four brainstorm), they force you to take actions main phase rather than at instant speed. Infect is a deck that thrives on small windows of opportunity created by out maneuvering the opponent. If you're cutting soft counters for ponders (just assuming, I can't imagine you'd cut anything else), you're hurting yourself two fold, both by preemptively tapping lands on your turn and by removing the soft counter package that can double up as protection for your infect creatures.
Here is my current list, it's been pretty strong and consistent:
Spells: 29
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
4x Brainstorm
4x Invigorate
4x Vines of Vastwood
2x Crop Rotation
2x Berserk
3x Treasure Cruise
2x Gitaxian Probe
Creatures: 12
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Glistener Elf
4x Blighted Agent
Lands: 19
3x Windswept Heath
1x Misty Rainforest
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Tropical Island
4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Forest
1x Wasteland
1x Pendlehaven
Sideboard: 15
2x Grafdiggers Cage
1x Submerge
2x Spell Pierce
1x Nature’s Claim
2x Krosan Grip
1x Necropede
2x Viridian Corrupter
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Hydroblast
1x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Sylvan Library
In my testing the one card I wish I had more often is actually Gitaxian Probe. The info obtained is incredibly valuable in this deck because you are always playing chicken during your combat phase with pump spells and there is always a choice to just kill them right there (instead of say just going for a 2 poison hit), but if you go for it and they've got the bolt of whatever your board is wiped and you do no poison. But I'm really stuck on what to take out for more probes. I think with 3 TCs the 4 Force of Wills are automatic, so I'm stuck on those, but I'm not so sure about the full set of dazes. When the opponent is tapped out they are obviously amazing, but against a deck like miracles or even UR Delver, they often have the mana to play a removal spell around daze, and the card really sucks to draw mid or late game. Do you guys think it makes any sense at all to maybe drop 2 of the dazes for the rest of the set of Probes? Is daze even something you want at all if you cant play 4? Does dropping a daze and a force make any sense?
3 cruises seems ambitious. The only way I see even 2 resolving in a game is if you're aggressively crop rotating for delve, and that seems really dangerous if you want to go down to 2 daze and sb spell pierces. I would consider cutting pendlehaven or moving it to sb for another fetch in the main to help out with delve. You could even cut an inkmoth depending on your meta, as 2 crop rotations in the main are basically instant speed fliers with infect.
Depending on what your meta looks like, you might want to consider swapping 2 maindeck forces for the spell pierces in the side. Going 2 for 1 on counterspells is a necessary evil of legacy, but dumping spell pierces does just as well early game while doing a much better job of fueling delve. As for probe, I think it's a fantastic card, though I'm still unsure of what the correct number to run is. My current list only runs 2, as burn seems to be in full swing at my shop. That said, I'm curious to know how 3 or even 4 of probes play out in the deck.
Edited for punctuation
I think I agree. I just love treasure cruise I kinda just jammed 3 in there, but it really is never about resolving multiple cruises. It's more about drawing that one when you need to reload. I may swap out the 3rd cruise for a 3rd probe and see if it feels better. THANKS!
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