[Article]Eternal Europe: The Devil Is In The Details

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

And one about the extremely minor decisions that can make or break your Legacy match.

Scenarios inside! (just imagine the modified Intel sticker)

http://www.starcitygames.com/article...e-Details.html

[Admiral_Arzar]

Damn I'm bad at magic. Great puzzles lol.

[Sloshthedark]

interesting
1, I'd do the Trop thing, because I'd not plan to BS T2, I think it's not clear if the Daze isn't something that would drive us to victory BSing away excessive/dazed back lands for more pressure, for me it's too early to make a decision and the current situation looks fine, but I'm no tempo palyer, you know...

2, Sadly Ant is on 2 life - I'd dodge the problem just because spending for U Probe seems not right for me in the situation (which would bring me to the same number of cards seen realization randomly =D) in respect of potential Ponder-shuffle-BS 2 ... had we had 3 life I'd fall for the trap because the "all lands scenario" is very slim chance to happen... I'm aware of that since Timo Schunemann played unnecessary Probe during the GP finals (and would lose to the all lands), but happened to me only once since

3, would not thing of that this is something a player realizes once playing the deck and gets more familiar with the inner mechanics, reminds me of losing (with Painter) to a Survival Rock who kept discarding Progenitus to hand size acquired by milled Squee

[lordofthepit]

This might be the best "fundamentals" article I've ever read, certainly the best since your cantrip sequencing article that you submitted for the SCG writer search many years ago.

[Lemnear]

1) I agree here to Brainstorm turn two to get rid of the third Daze. The Rest pretty much depends on the drawn cards. Delver/Stifle/Pierce/Ponder are all possible plays you want to follow up with after you cracked your second fetch.

2) honestly, breaking the Routine of starting with Probe isn't interresting because of getting landlocked but because you get to see a lot more cards if you draw into a Ponder instead of an Infernal. Brainstorm->Ponder->shuffle->Brainstorm is a real option in that case and makes much better use of the three blue mana than casting Probe at any point unless you hit Infernal directly of course

3) not familiar with the Petal loop. Interresting fact. Would'd call a Judge if my opponent is trying to do that as times pretty damn close to the 4 Horseman loop as you can say that result x is coming up after a number of iterations y, but the Order of cards in your library is not definable.

[jrsthethird]

tiny details and extremely minor-looking play decisions can have a huge impact on who's getting the W and who the L.

Or if both players are getting the D. (Sorry, had to.)

Otherwise, great article!

[FTW]

Great article!

1) With so few cards in hand that require mana, I'd have slacked on mana utilization and just gotten the Trop, gone T2 Nimble, planning to leave the fetch uncracked for a T3 Brainstorm. That would give me 1 extra card seen and 1 more turn seen from the opponent before deciding how to optimally Brainstorm. Since the opponent is Jund, they have no cantrips... it is possible opponent misses a land drop next turn and is stuck on 1-2 for a while, in which case all 3 Dazes are amazing. Most likely the 3rd Daze is redundant. But I'd still be tempted to see if he misses his land drop first. Plus, you don't even know if opponent will play a DRS or some other 1cc spell after Stifle resolves (meaning you Daze and only have 1 land next turn anyway so can't Brainstorm). And maybe opponent isn't even Jund but just had an off-color fetch. Seems like there are too many unknowns.

Then again, optimal mana utilization aside, guess that hand forces you to both dig for something other than Daze ASAP and fill your graveyard ASAP. Otherwise you have no pressure. So I guess you need to turn 2 Brainstorm to stay proactive. You can still have a "perfect Brainstorm" after getting Trop. You can fetch a 2nd Trop if you saw a 3rd land in the new cards, or fetch Volcanic and play a blue card if you draw one (Delver/Ponder/etc.). But maybe you don't. Volcanic does leave you more outs. I'd definitely screw that up in a game. Nice scenario.

Would you have held the Brainstorm if (for some flukish reason, e.g. [card]Chancellor of the Spires[/card]) Mongoose was already 3/3? In other words, is the decision to T2 Brainstorm instead of waiting to see how mana screwed opponent is driven by the fact that you have no pressure?


2) Agree with Lemnear. I completely missed that Probe screws you if you are landlocked with Infernal, but picked Brainstorm first anyway for the chance of using the blue mana on Ponder instead of Probe.

3) I've never played OmniTell before or seen Petal in action, but I did notice the Petal loop as an out right away... probably from playing too much Recross the Belcher and 4 Horsemen. Library stacking cheats FTW.

[bruizar]

Loved the article. Especially the omniscience and dark petition example.