[Podcast] The Brainstorm Show episode 15: DeMentor

[Patrunkenphat7]

http://www.thebrainstormshow.com/pod...tor-deck-tech/

Hey guys, check out episode 15! We discuss an Esper CounterTop deck that we have been testing on MTGO.

[nevilshute]

Hey guys, nice episode. Mind slightly blown at how similar our lists have developed independently.

Have a few thoughts/questions but will pm you.

[Mackan]

Thanks for the episode guys! Keep them coming!

Btw. I think miracles is even/slightly favored vs shardless these days ;)

[nevilshute]

Oh, and slight aside:

Besides putting a copy in the top-8 of the open in St. Luis last October, Red&Taxes/Imperial Taxes or whatever you wanna call it has performed, at least well enough to not be the laughing stock you guys make it out to be

http://mtgpulse.com/search#[informat=4&witharchetype=145&includescard=[0=[0=at least&1=1&2=Imperial Recruiter&3=1]]]

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckd...ion=Show+Decks

[lucksack_delver_flip]

Oh, and slight aside:

Besides putting a copy in the top-8 of the open in St. Luis last October, Red&Taxes/Imperial Taxes or whatever you wanna call it has performed, at least well enough to not be the laughing stock you guys make it out to be

http://mtgpulse.com/search#[informat=4&witharchetype=145&includescard=[0=[0=at least&1=1&2=Imperial Recruiter&3=1]]]

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckd...ion=Show+Decks

@Nevilshute, the reason we felt so vindicated in poking fun at the deck was that after a well-reasoned discussion of the card choices in one of our earlier episodes, a certain user on the Source (who will go unnamed) took to trashing our podcast here and on Twitch streams because we didn't give the deck a glowing review. This user was particularly invested in the deck idea and had been testing it quite a bit at the time. In fact, we were very civil about our criticisms of the deck and even offered alternate card choices that could fit within a mono white build. This is why we were a little bit brash about the deck's fringe playability.

[Patrunkenphat7]

Yeah I just want to reiterate what Paul said - 8 months ago we said that red D+T was interesting but that we believed it did not offer enough incentives to surpass regular D+T as the industry standard. We were absolutely TRASHED on a Twitch stream by a pretty well-known player for our seemingly neutral and analytical comments, and it was a frustrating experience, as the attacks were incredibly personal. I apologize if we came across as hating on the deck. We love deck innovations and encourage everyone to try new things (like we have done in this episode). I actually traded for an English P3K Imperial Recruiter recently haha.

Mackan is awesome for giving us kind words while also completely disagreeing with a major premise for many of our conclusions. I wish everyone offered feedback like that rather than going on a 15-minute rant about how stupid we are and how no one should ever listen to our podcast in front of a couple hundred Twitch viewers.

[nevilshute]

@Nevilshute, the reason we felt so vindicated in poking fun at the deck was that after a well-reasoned discussion of the card choices in one of our earlier episodes, a certain user on the Source (who will go unnamed) took to trashing our podcast here and on Twitch streams because we didn't give the deck a glowing review. This user was particularly invested in the deck idea and had been testing it quite a bit at the time. In fact, we were very civil about our criticisms of the deck and even offered alternate card choices that could fit within a mono white build. This is why we were a little bit brash about the deck's fringe playability.

Oki-doke, wasn't fully aware of the history there. I think - having played a decent amount of monoW D&T and not with the red splash at all - that the red splash seems to offer two really excellent tools in Imperial Recruiter - a card that, had it been white, would have been a main stay of the deck from the get go imo, and strong sideboard options to improve the Elves matchup. These two points are really sweet.

Then there's Magus of the Moon and that card feels incredibly high variance-like compared to what the deck is otherwise trying to do. Not only in shutting off your own ports/wastes but just having the built-in blood moon variance of sometimes being absolutely devastating to being more or less insignificant. I guess that can be said of other cards in the deck (revoker etc) but at least those cards don't often run the risk of being detrimental to our own strategy - I'm thinking here of the awkwardness of having a magus in hand and 2 active ports in play staring down at a couple of basics... And playing the monoW I can't imagine how angry I'd be on RW the first time I lose to a turn 1 stifle on my single (fetch)land

That said I think both constallations of the deck have their merits.

[Patrunkenphat7]

Completely agree with those points, particularly the one about your Elves matchup improving post-SB with the red splash which is really nice.

[btm10]

This is an interesting list - and it's very close to what I and some other folks in Philly were testing right after Dig was banned. We mostly came to the conclusions that you did, though we ended up concluding (perhaps after not enough testing) that the Shardless matchup was still enough in Shardless's favor that we felt like Mentor was out-competed in the midrange space while not being better enough in combo matchups. I'd be interested to see videos of you guys playing the deck if they exist/you're planning on making them.

[Patrunkenphat7]

This is an interesting list - and it's very close to what I and some other folks in Philly were testing right after Dig was banned. We mostly came to the conclusions that you did, though we ended up concluding (perhaps after not enough testing) that the Shardless matchup was still enough in Shardless's favor that we felt like Mentor was out-competed in the midrange space while not being better enough in combo matchups. I'd be interested to see videos of you guys playing the deck if they exist/you're planning on making them.

We would love to do videos of gameplay, although if I am being honest I will admit we still have a ways to go on figuring out the best way to do that. We had setbacks with the streaming software, and I think I just need a better computer setup to make it an enjoyable experience for viewers. Regardless, we may begin by just posting recordings of matches and commentating on the recordings; that doesn't seem too difficult.

I am definitely interested in doing a matchup analysis with Shardless because you are right that the deck shares a somewhat similar space in the meta, although there is a major difference that affects a lot of matchups in different way - the combos (CounterTop and "combo" kill). Examples of some matchups that are hugely affected by this difference are Burn, Elves, and Lands. I want to explore this on a much deeper level though, because you have raised an important point.

We've received several great comments/questions via personal messages as well as on here, so I'd like to talk about the deck further in a Brief Brainstorm.

[rubblekill]

We would love to do videos of gameplay, although if I am being honest I will admit we still have a ways to go on figuring out the best way to do that. We had setbacks with the streaming software, and I think I just need a better computer setup to make it an enjoyable experience for viewers. Regardless, we may begin by just posting recordings of matches and commentating on the recordings; that doesn't seem too difficult.

I am definitely interested in doing a matchup analysis with Shardless because you are right that the deck shares a somewhat similar space in the meta, although there is a major difference that affects a lot of matchups in different way - the combos (CounterTop and "combo" kill). Examples of some matchups that are hugely affected by this difference are Burn, Elves, and Lands. I want to explore this on a much deeper level though, because you have raised an important point.

We've received several great comments/questions via personal messages as well as on here, so I'd like to talk about the deck further in a Brief Brainstorm.

After listening to your latest episode, it seems that probably one of you guys had some fun online games against me and/or Ricardio (junk fit)! I remember a couple of them where a timely top decked deed won me the match, against what seemed to be your counter top mentor build. I might play it because it seems very balanced against the field.

[nevilshute]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...y33ERcjzGL6-vy

Tried to play some matches with this deck. Was fun, powerful and frustrating

Edit: Was made aware that there was a glitch in my editing process and that the intro music was playing through out. I have fixed that now and hopefully the videos play out as intended now.

[Patrunkenphat7]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...y33ERcjzGL6-vy

Tried to play some matches with this deck. Was fun, powerful and frustrating

Sweet, about to watch! @rubblekill - sounds like that was probably me! Did I play you more than once or are there other Junk Nic Fit players running around online? I think I was 1-1 against it and maybe even played a third match but don't remember what happened.

EDIT: Just noticed you have 2 hours of content - SICK. About to get very distracted from my work haha.

[rubblekill]

Sweet, about to watch! @rubblekill - sounds like that was probably me! Did I play you more than once or are there other Junk Nic Fit players running around online? I think I was 1-1 against it and maybe even played a third match but don't remember what happened.

EDIT: Just noticed you have 2 hours of content - SICK. About to get very distracted from my work haha.

I play almost everyday, always with different configurations of Nic Fit. I have only met one guy playing junk nic fit, at least during sessions in my time zone, but I know that Ricardio plays nic fit online as well. I remember being 1-1 against you (probably) and winning the match after a very grindy third game. Counterbalance is less good against AD and all the random cmc creatures/spells junk fit plays! Fun games
Keep up the good work!

[ozimek]

Good to see you guys producing content again. The effort is much appreciated.

Was Skeletal Scrying considered in the Painful Thruths slot? Instant speed, and scales better at the cost of "non-discount delve". At 3 mana PT is obv. more efficient, but instant speed seems like a pretty big deal.

Would it put too much strain on the graveyard with Deathrite Shaman competing for food? I wouldn't expect opponents to board in GY hate because of DRS.

[jaska]

Was Skeletal Scrying considered in the Painful Thruths slot? Instant speed, and scales better at the cost of "non-discount delve". At 3 mana PT is obv. more efficient, but instant speed seems like a pretty big deal.

I feel that Skeletal Scrying is pretty bad with Snapcaster Mage in the deck. Also 4 mana is a lot more than 3, even if it is at instant speed.

[Patrunkenphat7]

Good to see you guys producing content again. The effort is much appreciated.

Was Skeletal Scrying considered in the Painful Thruths slot? Instant speed, and scales better at the cost of "non-discount delve". At 3 mana PT is obv. more efficient, but instant speed seems like a pretty big deal.

Would it put too much strain on the graveyard with Deathrite Shaman competing for food? I wouldn't expect opponents to board in GY hate because of DRS.

Sorry, I didn't see this! Skeletal Scrying is a good idea, but I like Truths because it can be cast for 1 less and is also a 3-drop for CBalance.