Look, someone has seen South Park.Originally Posted by Stevestamopz
Is that from South Park? Wow. They really did invent everything.
B2b and Verdict are 3 and 4 mana spells... we play a tempo deck. I don't get it.
The addition of b2b isn't exactly new, i don't know how you've all decided that no one could possibly have experience against a matchup if their record against it is different to yours. If you do have that belief, why bother asking then? Christ.
Question regarding a line that has came up a few time.
I am playing against mono red stompy and my hand is force, brainstorm, cabal therapy, delver, underground, ponder.
They are on the play and first turn bloodmoon. I force pitching brainstorm. Now on my turn I can cabal therapy for chalice because I know it locks my out of the game or play Delver and try to get a clock going.
I figure they have 4 cards left in their hand with a roughly 30% chance of it being a chalice. So I pick Delver and clock has to be the best play.
My question is with how punishing a game 1 chalice is should I play around that 30% chance? Is playing the Delver the best line?
Hey all, does anyone have some tips to offer for the storm match up? A few specific questions;
How, if at all should my general approach to the game or sideboard change depending of which storm flavor I'm facing?
How aggressively should I mulligan? My gut tells me that I want at least one permission spell (or something like probe therapy) but I feel like that leads me to games where I get Duressed and left with 4 or 5 cards.
Turn 1 with the following hand
fetchx2
deathrite
delver
force of will
ponder
brainstorm
If you keep this hand, do you run out a threat to get the clock going or hold up brainstorm for duress/cabal therapy?
Storm will often wait on their duress effects for when they are closer to going off, T1 cantrips are more common. And DRS is a particularly good threat vs Storm, so I'd lead with that.
You know, contrary to popular belief that Delver is good vs all combo, i think Storm is one of the decks worst matchups. When talking about traditional combo decks like UB Reanimator or Sneak & Show, Delver is very good, but Storm is built to crush counterspell decks and i struggle with the matchup frequently.
Storm doesnt like to see discard and permanent based hate; like Thalia, Chalice, or Thorns. Since we dont run any of those cards, Cabal Therapy is your best hate card. Storm is very resilient in general, and like you pointed out, it simply discards your counterspells.
I always like to play against Storm pretty aggressively. That sample hand you listed out is amazing, and you should lead with a DRS, then can trip + Delver to try and find more disruption. If they have discard into the combo in turn 1 or 2, then they just have it, what can you do.
I would agree that storm is a bad matchup preboard, but postboard is an entirely different matter: We're loaded to the brink with disruption. In my experience Deathrite is like a little hate bear, we also have access to discard and counterspells, optimally grafdigger's cage and answers to Empty. That's more angles of attack than most other decks can muster.
The most important thing is to have enough disruption in the sb, I disagree with people who leave in bolts or TNN, personally I have 8 sideboard cards: 2 Marsh Casualties, 4 Thoughtseize, 2 Surgical (I play a heavier black version without pyromancers).
People are argueing about whether to bring in Pyroblast. I think the card is suboptimal and can be played around quite easily, personally I don't like it. It often times forces me to tap out just to get a blue spell when I'd rather keep up mana with deathrite or a counterspell.
To that question: That hand is great, with a daze is might be near perfect. I think you might overrate brainstorming in response to a discard spell. That's good from the storm side so they can hide their one tutor, then show you a hand with all mana acceleration. As a delver player though all you're risking is hiding your FoW, then dying because they're going off that turn.
I pretty much never brainstorm in response since that brainstorm is generally super bad. I let them take it, otherwise they risk me drawing into a counterspell. Them taking brainstorm though means they can't take anything else, so often times they're forced to e.g. take FoW which leaves me with let's say a potential DRS activation and a chance to draw Spell Pierce, FoW, Stifle or whatever other disruption I choose to run.
@atopebenidorm
How has the vial smasher build been working for you? How badly do you find combo to be without pyro and therapy? I'm really interested in that variant, so any opinions or results from you or anyone else would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Do anyone of you know if there is a comprehensive sideboard guide anywhere? Please Link or send me a PM :-)
Hey all - not new to Grixis (and certainly not new to Magic), but I just made the plunge into MTGO, so I figured I'd start posting instead of just reading.
Thus far, I have seen A LOT of ANT online, and I feel like I'm extremely favored. It's certainly not an auto win, because sometimes they win the die roll and go off on turn 1 or you mulligan to death or whatever. I run 4 Probes, 3 Therapy main with 4 FoW, 4 Daze. Game 1 is much more of a toss up, but I feel like the matchup is incredibly favored post-board. I bring in the 4th Therapy, 2x Surgicals, a Pyro and REB (ideally would be a 2nd Pryo, but $$), SCM, Flusterstorm, and Spell Pierce. That leaves me taking out 4x Bolts, 2x TNN, and typically 1x Wasteland and 1x Angler.
I'm currently 6-3 in the matchup (which seems like a lot in only 9 Leagues). One loss was to a misclick, one loss was to opponent having a turn 1 kill on the play and a perfect draw game 2, and the third loss was to Orim67 - and I don't mean to dismiss their victory because they're obviously proficient with the deck, but I had miserable draws.
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Separate topic, I've recently been playing against Miracles a bit more frequently. I see it as a somewhat recent topic, but what is the general view of the matchup? I find it to be pretty winnable, though their perfect draws seem to beat ours - thoughts?
It's actually a good idea to run a split of Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast. The reason is because of Cabal Therapy (and other similar cards, e.g. Meddling Mage, Surgical Extraction, etc.). Granted this doesn't come up too frequently, but it's a more relevant consideration than the few corner cases where you are burning a Pyroblast on a non-blue target just to trigger a Pyromancer token and/or build up a graveyard for Delve.
Regarding Miracles, it seems to be slightly unfavorable (like maybe 60-40 in UWr's favor), although Grixis is very capable of getting a quick aggressive start and dealing 20 before they're able to stabilize. Keep your Force of Wills in so you have a hard counter for important cards like Terminus, Jace, Counterbalance, etc. You can make this matchup easier by running sideboard cards such as Winter Orb, (more) Red Elemental Blasts, Vendilion Clique, Sulfuric Vortex, etc. Perhaps consider running a planeswalker or two that grants long-term advantage, e.g. Liliana, the Last Hope, Garruk Relentless, or possibly consider something that can provide a steady stream of hard-to-deal-with damage, e.g. Bitterblossom, Honden of Infinite Rage.
Miracles has always been fairly popular, but now since it's a DTB you definitely want to take the matchup seriously and plan accordingly. You may also want to consider bringing in Izzet Staticaster and/or Dread of Night / Sulfur Elemental if you have them to deal with their Monastery Mentors. Engineered Explosives is good as it can be used to answer Counterbalance as well as clear the board of Angel/Monk tokens.
I actually just won a game yesterday by Pyroblasting my YP to get exactsies. I don't think I would have lost had it been REB (and I currently run the split anyway, so kinda moot), but who knows what an extra turn in legacy is going to bring.
Solid insight into Miracles. I do plan to eventually get a Last Hope and work it in the sideboard somewhere, especially if Miracles continues to show up in large numbers.
Got wrecked by Czech Pile running Lilly last hope over the weekend. I guess it wasn't the critical game, and there were other reasons I lost the round. But I definitely felt her power.
I could see a case for running her if I ran 3x Seas and 2x Volcanics. Then I could also experiment with maindeck Fatal Push and/or Dismember. But I don't really want to do that.
A book about the dark side of Legacy: "Magic: The Addiction" // Conversations with Magic players: "Humans of Magic"
She's legit and quite amazing in a lot of matchups -- certainly against anything that has a bunch of X/1 critters. Her other abilities are similarly useful.
For a somewhat similar effect of killing X/1's every turn: Honden of Infinite Rage.
Some advantages it has over Liliana:
-Easier mana requirements
-More resiliency as it can't be killed via combat or burn
-Can ping your opponent on an empty board
It's competing for the same sideboard slot that you'd be running Grim Lavamancer in. While I appreciate Lavaman's lower casting cost and hitting harder, he dies to a slight breeze. I'm testing Honden at the moment and have been pretty impressed.
Do you bring in the Honden against Chalice decks to increase your non-1CC cards? It seems like it would be very slow, and maybe getting the YP token or fueling Angler is just better? Perhaps on the draw instead of the play? I have no experience with the card outside of draft.
If we're considering Honden, then we might have to consider Bitterblossom, too. I do like the ping as a way to get rid of Strixen, though.
A book about the dark side of Legacy: "Magic: The Addiction" // Conversations with Magic players: "Humans of Magic"
does anyone have tips for the czech pile matchup. I know its supposed to be a hard matchup, but we are grixis delver, we don't have hard matchups. Right now I'm on the stock Bob Huang list, and I've had a lot more success against pile by playing stifle. However, I dont think stifle is good enough right now against everything else. Any tips on this matchup with the stock Bob Huang list? I'm playing in a legacy GP shortly. Thanks!
A couple of Wastelands can be devastating for the opponent. Use what you see from Gitaxian Probe to inform your decision on what to hit with Wastelands. I generally like to attack their splash colours (red/green) because they usually have a basic Swamp and a basic Island, as well as an abundance of other blue and black sources of mana, making it tough to cut them on those colours. However, you may be able to cut them on black mana occasionally, so if you sense weakness, cutting them on black can cause problems.
True-Name Nemesis and Gurmag Angler are your best threats. You want to make sure that they resolve. Strix is really annoying so let delvers fight strixes then deploy Gurmag Angler. You definitely want Baleful Strixes to stay off the board as they are mainly what allows them to stabilize against a fast start. Young Pyromancer can be very good if your opponent has run out some removal to take care of your Deathrites and Delvers already, and can quickly overwhelm your opponent.
Aim to close the game quickly. If you give them time, you will lose that fight. They have far more ways of grinding out card advantage and stabilizing then you can handle in the late game. You are aiming to pressure them with early threats and protect them while clearing the way of any stupid Baleful Strixes and you want to capitalize on an early advantage with a Gurmag Angler or True-Name Nemesis or even an unanswered Young Pyromancer.
Edit: You could play Bitterblossom or Price of Progress in the sideboard if you are looking for high impact cards to bring in in that matchup.
Good luck at the GP!
Last edited by TheManWithaPlan; 12-23-2017 at 11:03 PM.
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The patient Brainstormer always wins.
Thanks for all the info. Could you tell me generally what you board out and in? At first I was cutting all my forces, but then I kept losing to deluge and marsh casualties in the late game, so I figured I should leave in 2 forces. Usually I only have 4-5 cards to bring in 2 lavamancers, 2 pyroblast, and a price (if I have it in my board). I take out 2 forces, then I shave probes and dazes.
Is grudge any good? Gets through multiple strix.
I used to board in 1 Smash to Smithereens against Shardless when that was popular and I was playing more UR Delver. However, only 4 artifacts tops is not a great place for Ancient Grudge if the things you are aiming to Grudge are not Chalice. Staticaster is actually decent in this matchup if you have it. It is just able to freely gun down Strixes and keep them out of the way. Lavamancer is also great but gets killed a little easier than Staticaster and can't do anything the turn it comes in. It also guns down random Snapcasters that threaten to bock or attack you. I don't want to see Force of Will at all in this matchup. Against Deluge, you just have to play around it or play your way to a board state where deluge is trying to kill a Gurmag Angler and would drop their life total to a precariously low point. I like Flusterstorm as it is a cheap way to interact and early it is unstoppable. If you have Relic of Progenitus, that can be a fantastic sideboard card in this matchup. It eats away at their potential targets for Snapcaster Mage and helps you to win Deathrite Shaman wars. I have been running a split of Nihil Spellbomb and Relic lately but I think I am going to go back to 2 Relics.
My Current Sideboard
1x Abrade
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Baleful Strix
2x Cabal Therapy
1x Diabolic Edict
1x Flusterstorm
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Pyroblast
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Surgical Extraction
In: 1 Relic, 1 Spellbomb, 1 Staticaster, 2 Pyroblast, 1 Flusterstorm
Out: 4 Force, 2 Daze
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The patient Brainstormer always wins.
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