First time piloting miracles in a big event.. CFB 1K

[Jaytron]

Like it says in my title, this was my first time piloting miracles in a large event. I've maybe been playing the deck for three weeks.

I've been playing the deck for maybe a few weeks, trying different variants of the deck.

I settled on a very stock list for the day, as the variants really weren't doing it for me (likely due to my lack of experience).

Question for you miracles players... Where do you put your GY? I noticed that it's painfully obvious when I have a snapcaster, because I have to fan out my GY

2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
2 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
4 Brainstorm
1 Council's Judgment
4 Counterbalance
2 Counterspell
2 Entreat the Angels
4 Force of Will
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Ponder
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Terminus

Sideboard:
1 Council's Judgment
2 Disenchant
3 Flusterstorm
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Monastery Mentor
3 Pyroblast
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Vendilion Clique

R1 vs Shardless
I think I was OTD
This was vs my friend Denny who is a very seasoned Miracles pilot who decided to play Shardless because he had a headache (lol). G1 was a pretty long, grindy game, despite us both playing at a pretty good rate of speed.

G1: I don't remember many specifics, but I do remember him cascading blind into visions twice. Needless to say, I lost the game

+2 Disenchant +3 Pyroblast +1 Council’s Judgement +1 Mentor +1 Clique, as filler
-4 Counterbalance -4 FoW

G2: I again, don't remember much, other than he was able to resolve a visions or two, and won the grind eventually. I didn't really have much, it felt like I was on the back foot the whole game. I think I also missed a few land drops. I also wasted a pyro on an agent for no real reason. So then I was forced to force a Clique.. letting him resolve Jace. Mistakes were made.

0-1

R2 vs Luke on Storm
OTD

G1: I land an early CB and Jace. He concedes early when I assemble the lock.

+3 Fluster +2 Clique +3 Pyro +1 Izzet
-4 Terminus -2 Plains -3 StP -1 Council’s Judgement

G2: I counter his first Xantid Swarm, and have my 1-of Plow for his second. I assemble the lock, floating a CB and flusterstorm forever (I hid the flusterstorm under a StP for a long time, so I don't think he even knew a fluster was there). Eventually find a second snapcaster (I like to keep one in my hand in the MU, if possible), play it to flashback a ponder, and beat in. I win on the back of Ambush viper beats and the lock holding him at bay.


1-1

R3: Ben on RUG Lands
Despite having a pretty good RG lands MU, I really thing the RUG Lands MU is pretty tough. They have a much better late game than we do, and I feel like we have to win in the mid-game


G1 MULL TO FIVE. FML: I assemble the lock on two and have an entreat for 3 while he has two mazes. He tries to ML me, but I swords it while swinging in. I stick a Jace and have it ticked up pretty high while attacking. He concedes when Jace is at 11?

+2 Disenchant +2 Clique +1 Mentor +2 Surgical
-2 Counterspell -1 EtA -4 Terminus
Maybe since I have to pressure fast and early, I keep the second ETA in? Unsure.

G2: He has two chalice on 1s. :|

G3: I force a T1 Expo, but he has Chalice on 1 T2. Unsure if I should have held force for Chalice instead.

I'm tilting and I misplay pretty hard.. He's ghost quartering me off lands, and he hits my volc, for some reason I don't fetch a basic (I was not in the zone, and thought it was a WL). I could have played a Jace if I did that. I'm sure that was a pretty big punt. Bummer. It was really hot, and I forgot snacks AND was likely not drinking enough water.

1-2

R3 vs Andrew on Miracles
OTD maybe?

G1: We spend most of the first few turns catripping. I try to resolve a CB, and he fights over it. I have Force/blue card in hand, but I let him have it as I want to fight over Jace. He tries to resolve Jace on his turn, I force and hs has no answer. I figure this means I'm open to play my own Jace. I do and it sticks. I brainstorm a lot and land a CB, eventually a top. Opponent seems to be tilting a little, saying he's having a rough day of Magic and concedes as he has no answer to Jace after I've been brainstorming and Top-ing forever. I think at some point he goes for a mentor, which I terminus away.

+1 Staticaster +1 Mentor +3 Pyroblast +3 Flusterstorm +2 V-Clique +1 Council’s Judgement
-4 StP -4 Terminus -2 Plains -1 EtA

G2: He keeps a one lander, but can't find a second land for a while despite two ponders and a top. Rough beats. He concedes after I land the lock. I shoved CB T2, which gets forced, but I have a spare CB and that sticks.

2-2

R4 vs Zack on DnT
OTD

G1: Don't remember many specifics, but he has an early MoM which blanks StP for most of the game. I have troubl efinding a terminus and just get beat down.

+1 Mentor +2 Disenchant +2 V-Clique +1 Council’s Judgement + 1 Izzet
-4 Counterbalance -1 Counterspell -2 FoW

G2 Mull to 6: He beats me down to 8 before I can find a terminus. He's a bit overextended and gets punished fairly hard. I land an Entreat for 3 to his empty board. He plays Mangara and passes. I play Jace, bounce his Mangara and swing with the team (forgot how I had a snapcaster here). He plays Thalia and Mangara on his turn and passes. I bounce his Mangara again and swing, leaving Snapcaster back to block Thalia (I have a second in hand to double block). He concedes and round time is called before we can start G3.

2-2-1

R6 vs Adam on Omnitell
OTD?

Having forgot my water and food at home was really getting to me by R6.

G1: I quickly realize he's on Omni, so I know I need to put some pressure on fast. I try to Entreat for 2, and it gets countered. I flip to CB showing another Entreat (this also keeps him off of SnT for a turn). I entreat again.. it resolves. He goes for SnT, I'm sad because I realize It doesn't let me put Jace into play. Wamp. He SnT's in Griselbrand. He goes down to 8, gets one Lotus Petal countered by my land on top. I play Jace, he has Pierce for it. I pray to RNGesus for a blind flip, and don't get it.

+3 Flusterstorm +2 V-Clique +3 Pyroblast +2 Disenchant +1 Mentor
-4 StP -4 Terminus -1 Council’s Judgement -1 EtA -1 Plains
Maybe could have dropped a second plains and kept the second EtA?

G2: The hunger and thirst are really setting in (I've gone through two small water bottles at this point, and I'm kicking myself for forgetting mine). We fight over some stuff, he has brought in YP, and I luckily have a Counterspell for it. I play a mentor at some point, and he tries to wish in resp, and I believe I force. He tries to bolt and tired me decides to fight over the bolt targeting my mentor. Dumb. He has the Pierce and 1 land, so I think I'm ok. He drops an Ancient tomb and SnT's his last card in hand, Emmy. I try to top into something (all of which have been sided out) so I lose. I guess it wouldn't have mattered if I fought over the SnT later, as he had pierce anyways.

2-3-1

All in all, not a bad run. Definite misplays were made. VS RUG Lands and VS Omnitell. Both MUs I have little practice on. I felt confident vs Storm and the mirror and I'm fairly confident I played them well. My buddy on Shardless said I played better than the Miracles MU he had later that day, so that was a little confidence boost. My goal was to get EXP and not go to time every round. That was achieved! Only drew once. DnT is such a grindfest... I think I'll spend some more time on the stock list then move over to predict.

[twndomn]

Like it says in my title, this was my first time piloting miracles in a large event. I've maybe been playing the deck for three weeks.

I've been playing the deck for maybe a few weeks, trying different variants of the deck.

I settled on a very stock list for the day, as the variants really weren't doing it for me (likely due to my lack of experience).

Question for you miracles players... Where do you put your GY? I noticed that it's painfully obvious when I have a snapcaster, because I have to fan out my GY
...
All in all, not a bad run. Definite misplays were made. VS RUG Lands and VS Omnitell. Both MUs I have little practice on. I felt confident vs Storm and the mirror and I'm fairly confident I played them well. My buddy on Shardless said I played better than the Miracles MU he had later that day, so that was a little confidence boost. My goal was to get EXP and not go to time every round. That was achieved! Only drew once. DnT is such a grindfest... I think I'll spend some more time on the stock list then move over to predict.

Just do what Schonegger does, Always fan out the graveyard. It's not just for eazier to find. If you drew a Snapcaster blind off the top of library, you would naturally now want to look at your graveyard, which means you gave away information on what you just drew. Of all the Miracles players you've seen, maybe the ones in your event, don't they do the same?

Countering Exploration would only make sense if your opening is vulnerable to Wasteland. This is especially true in the SB games since Lands' player would pack in all the hate like Choke and Chalice.

Your win-con vs. Omni usually is the Amush Vipers in Snapcaster and Clique, sorcery speed tap 3 lands to present a threat against a combo deck is often unnecessary risky.

[ExpiredRascals]

Figured I'd echo the "always fan out your graveyard" part. This is especially true because I think you're putting yourself in a position where a competent opponent is likely to know your graveyard better than you do. This didn't come up in our match (since the GY was a little less crucial), but when I'm on Aluren, I'll normally ask to see your yard very frequently if you're piling it. This means that you're actually cutting yourself off of information that I have strong command of and this is very exploitable.

As to how to arrange your yard, even though I was on a graveyard-dependent deck this time, I lay out the yard the same way for every deck I play: just a straight line down the right hand side of the mat with the names of cards visible (and periodic correction to make the cards group tighter). This gives good sight recognition of what's down there, maintains your grave order, and for items like pyroblast, the colour alone is enough for you to tell it's available for snapcaster.

[ironclad8690]

Just put your GY so you can see the title of every card. This helps no matter what deck you are playing. Try to pause sometimes in draw step to bluff a Miracle, and try to look at your GY sometimes to bluff snapcaster.

As far as your reasoning vs Omnitell and "providing a clock", don't forget that sometimes CB can act as an even better clock than a threat will. The longer the game goes, the longer CB becomes unbeatable for your opponent (because you get to assemble a 1/2/3, helps to leave 3 on top in "dead time" to counter a stray Wipe Away).

You want to resolve a threat when you have stopped your opponent from being able to do anything effective. It doesn't always work because of Boseiju or lack of counterspells, but try to be patient and win the long game. I don't think there is any deck (12 post and goblins aside) that wins the long game vs you, so try to draw the game out (unless you are short of round time).

Hope these tips help :)

[ExpiredRascals]

You want to resolve a threat when you have stopped your opponent from being able to do anything effective. It doesn't always work because of Boseiju or lack of counterspells, but try to be patient and win the long game. I don't think there is any deck (12 post and goblins aside) that wins the long game vs you, so try to draw the game out (unless you are short of round time).

This is generally correct, but I felt I should point out that Aluren and Tezzerator both normally beat Miracles in the long game as well. :P

[Jaytron]

Thanks for all the tips guys!

Still learning this deck. It's much more complex than the Delver variants that I've played for the past year.