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Thread: [Deck] Deathblade

  1. #61
    Stomping blue decks with "dead" decks, as usual.
    Vandalize's Avatar
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    I think this deck shouldn't run basics. 4 colors is reason enough for that. Sometimes you'll lose to Blood Moon, but I guess that's a worthy risk.

    My list, for reference:

    Lands [20]
    4 Polluted Delta
    3 Flooded Strand
    2 Marsh Flats
    3 Underground Sea
    3 Tundra
    1 Tropical Island
    3 Wasteland
    1 Creepin Tar Pit

    Creatures [14]
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True-Name Nemesis
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    1 Vendilion Clique

    Spells [26]
    4 Force of Will
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    2 Cabal Therapy
    2 Bitterblossom
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Painful Truths
    1 Abrupt Decay
    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa's Jitte

    Sideboard [15]
    2 Pithing Needle
    2 Meddling Mage
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Path to Exile
    1 Engineered Explosives
    1 Engineered Plague
    1 Zealous Persecution
    1 Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed

    List has been running fine. Playing 4 Ponders allow me to fix my mana ASAP and dig for threats when necessary. Painful Truths is awesome in long games, and plays well with Snapcaster Mage. I play Cabal Therapy instead of Thoughtseize because I don't own any seizes and I'm pretty good at blind hits against certain decks.
    Let your Dredge 6 be: Narco, Narco, Narco, Bridge, Bridge, Dread Return

  2. #62

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by Vandalize View Post
    I think this deck shouldn't run basics. 4 colors is reason enough for that. Sometimes you'll lose to Blood Moon, but I guess that's a worthy risk.

    My list, for reference:

    Lands [20]
    4 Polluted Delta
    3 Flooded Strand
    2 Marsh Flats
    3 Underground Sea
    3 Tundra
    1 Tropical Island
    3 Wasteland
    1 Creepin Tar Pit

    Creatures [14]
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True-Name Nemesis
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    1 Vendilion Clique

    Spells [26]
    4 Force of Will
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    2 Cabal Therapy
    2 Bitterblossom
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Painful Truths
    1 Abrupt Decay
    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa's Jitte

    Sideboard [15]
    2 Pithing Needle
    2 Meddling Mage
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Path to Exile
    1 Engineered Explosives
    1 Engineered Plague
    1 Zealous Persecution
    1 Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed

    List has been running fine. Playing 4 Ponders allow me to fix my mana ASAP and dig for threats when necessary. Painful Truths is awesome in long games, and plays well with Snapcaster Mage. I play Cabal Therapy instead of Thoughtseize because I don't own any seizes and I'm pretty good at blind hits against certain decks.
    Cabal Therapy is dirty. Probably works real well alongside Stoneforge Mystic.

    Maybe, in your meta, you don't get punished. However, in larger tournament settings and in my strong meta, there's a couple of blood moons, a lot of wastelands in delver and midrange, and several of the strongest lands players I know. The basics have made their way through the full midrange meta of my LGS. It's strong, it allows to you nearly guarantee certain lines of play in your first few turns. If venture to say that, as the deathblade player, if we win the first few turns, we typically win the match (except against shardless and miracles).

    The big takeaway that I've found is that:
    A) Abrupt decay is unnecessary, and
    B) I have plenty of removal between stp, snap swords, single Vindicate, tnn wall, lilly, Jitte and SOFAI.

    As a side note on B), using your removal and counters correctly is very important. It requires intimate knowledge of most decks that get played regularly. And I would say that its even more important for Deathblade pilots to be the knowledgeable player in a matchup. You need to know when to jam a threat, when to save your stp, when to fetch for Jitte versys SOFAI, etc.

    Just my two cents on the matter.

  3. #63
    Don't just have an idea - have all of them
    Neo900's Avatar
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    I would say our biggest weaknesses are A) Shardless BUG B) Blood Moon C) Punishing fire D) Wasteland
    Against Wasteland we have one or two basics paired with Deathrite Shaman.
    Fire is tricky. Good sequencing allows us to eat the Fire with our Shaman. In the Sideboard we have grave hate and Surgical Extraction is great.
    Blood Moon is hard but we can win. Also basics win or we counter it. Swamp allows us to play Deathrite Shaman and fix mana. Island allows us to play cantrips and search answers. Plains allows us to play Stoneforge Mystic. Since Prague I play a Hydroblast against Blood Moon.
    Shardless BUG is very hard. On the play it's easier. Force is bad. It trades 2:1 and is exactly what they want. Cheap counter like Invasive Surgery help me out. Leovold is great in this match up. Card and board advantage is helpful. Gideon, SoFaI, Jace. They are a control deck.

  4. #64

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Wasteland, blood moon and shardless... The meta right now ahahah

    And there's death and taxes with rishadan port

    Think that deathblade needs to change a lot

  5. #65
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Death and Taxes is slow with their mana denial and most of the times I am able to stabilize and hit them with the Nemesis. I wouldn't consider Death and Taxes as a bad matchup.
    Elves, Miracles, Grixis/Burg delver, Death and Taxes are all matchups which are clear winnable.
    Deathblade is flexible and can react to the most things quite well.

  6. #66

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by davide View Post
    Wasteland, blood moon and shardless... The meta right now ahahah

    And there's death and taxes with rishadan port

    Think that deathblade needs to change a lot
    I agree 100 percent with Neo on this. Tnn all day. And, if you trick your opponent with brainstorms and equipment, you can get them to name the wrong equipment and equipment the one you were hiding. I'm a big fan of SOFAI against grindy decks because drawing extra cards helps find answers. Obviously Jitte is the best in that matchup.

  7. #67

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by Neo900 View Post
    I would say our biggest weaknesses are A) Shardless BUG B) Blood Moon C) Punishing fire D) Wasteland
    Against Wasteland we have one or two basics paired with Deathrite Shaman.
    Fire is tricky. Good sequencing allows us to eat the Fire with our Shaman. In the Sideboard we have grave hate and Surgical Extraction is great.
    Blood Moon is hard but we can win. Also basics win or we counter it. Swamp allows us to play Deathrite Shaman and fix mana. Island allows us to play cantrips and search answers. Plains allows us to play Stoneforge Mystic. Since Prague I play a Hydroblast against Blood Moon.
    Shardless BUG is very hard. On the play it's easier. Force is bad. It trades 2:1 and is exactly what they want. Cheap counter like Invasive Surgery help me out. Leovold is great in this match up. Card and board advantage is helpful. Gideon, SoFaI, Jace. They are a control deck.
    Punishing Fire and Chalice of the Void are pretty painful. I went to one larger tournament and got trounced by aggro loam in concurrent rounds.

    Like you said, versus Blood moon, a fetch for a Plains usually wins the game (for sfm getting sofai against moggcatcher stompy).

    Shardless, my best cards have typically been Sorin lord of innistrad and lingering Souls. Invasive surgery seems interesting. Using it on a hymn or ancestral would be very nice. It certainly is the hardest deck that we frequently encounter. If I ever figure out a play pattern that routinely gets me there, I'll share it on here. As it is, I've found something that works really well versus miracles and it feels like I should be happy I've made it that far, because miracles is, what, 20 percent of the meta?

  8. #68

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by Neo900 View Post
    I would say our biggest weaknesses are A) Shardless BUG B) Blood Moon C) Punishing fire D) Wasteland
    Against Wasteland we have one or two basics paired with Deathrite Shaman.
    Fire is tricky. Good sequencing allows us to eat the Fire with our Shaman. In the Sideboard we have grave hate and Surgical Extraction is great.
    Blood Moon is hard but we can win. Also basics win or we counter it. Swamp allows us to play Deathrite Shaman and fix mana. Island allows us to play cantrips and search answers. Plains allows us to play Stoneforge Mystic. Since Prague I play a Hydroblast against Blood Moon.
    Shardless BUG is very hard. On the play it's easier. Force is bad. It trades 2:1 and is exactly what they want. Cheap counter like Invasive Surgery help me out. Leovold is great in this match up. Card and board advantage is helpful. Gideon, SoFaI, Jace. They are a control deck.
    What are your thoughts on a sideboard Misdirection? Is there enough utility there against other matchups besides Shardless? Certainly, against shardless, it's got the potential to be pretty good. Is divert adequate? Seems like it could be better when used aggressively.

  9. #69

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade


    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True-Name Nemesis
    1 Vendilion Clique
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    =15

    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Batterskull
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    =3

    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Liliana of the Veil
    =3

    3 Force of Will
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Ponder
    2 Spell Pierce
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    1 Dimir Charm
    1 Vindicate
    3 Thoughtseize
    =19

    2 Wasteland
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Flooded Strand
    1 Island
    1 Plains
    1 Swamp
    1 Creeping Tar Pit
    2 Underground Sea
    2 Tundra
    1 Scrubland
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Bayou
    =21

    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Rest in Peace
    2 Meddling Mage
    1 Containment Priest
    1 Pithing Needles
    1 Force of Will
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Divert
    1 Lingering Souls
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Sanctum Prelate
    1 Engineered Plague
    1 Zealous Persecution
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad


    Note that there is an extra card in the main deck and 17 cards in the sideboard.
    The items I'd like to discuss:
    - Which card gets removed for the 61st card, Leovold?k vs
    - What are two best choices for green sources? I chose Tropical and Bayou. I think Tropical is correct, but I don't know about Bayou.
    - Is Dimir Charm worth the difficult mana cost? Would a Diabolic Edict or Mana Leak be better?
    - In the sideboard, Divert feels really good versus Discard from Storm, Shardless, and removal in fair matchups. Does Flusterstorm get cut?
    - I put a 2nd Leovold in the sideboard because I project it to be an excellent answer to many of our problems.(Punishing Fire, Wasteland, etc.) Perhaps, teeg or prelate aren't good enough. My only reason for prelate would be vs shardless (naming 3) and miracles (naming whatever Meddling doesn't hit).

    I'd love everyone's input. I think a couple of tweaks to even up the shardless matchup could really improve the whole matchup.

  10. #70

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by ClimbGneiss View Post

    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True-Name Nemesis
    1 Vendilion Clique
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    =15

    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Batterskull
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    =3

    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Liliana of the Veil
    =3

    3 Force of Will
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Ponder
    2 Spell Pierce
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    1 Dimir Charm
    1 Vindicate
    3 Thoughtseize
    =19

    2 Wasteland
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Flooded Strand
    1 Island
    1 Plains
    1 Swamp
    1 Creeping Tar Pit
    2 Underground Sea
    2 Tundra
    1 Scrubland
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Bayou
    =21

    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Rest in Peace
    2 Meddling Mage
    1 Containment Priest
    1 Pithing Needles
    1 Force of Will
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Divert
    1 Lingering Souls
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Sanctum Prelate
    1 Engineered Plague
    1 Zealous Persecution
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad


    Note that there is an extra card in the main deck and 17 cards in the sideboard.
    The items I'd like to discuss:
    - Which card gets removed for the 61st card, Leovold?k vs
    - What are two best choices for green sources? I chose Tropical and Bayou. I think Tropical is correct, but I don't know about Bayou.
    - Is Dimir Charm worth the difficult mana cost? Would a Diabolic Edict or Mana Leak be better?
    - In the sideboard, Divert feels really good versus Discard from Storm, Shardless, and removal in fair matchups. Does Flusterstorm get cut?
    - I put a 2nd Leovold in the sideboard because I project it to be an excellent answer to many of our problems.(Punishing Fire, Wasteland, etc.) Perhaps, teeg or prelate aren't good enough. My only reason for prelate would be vs shardless (naming 3) and miracles (naming whatever Meddling doesn't hit).

    I'd love everyone's input. I think a couple of tweaks to even up the shardless matchup could really improve the whole matchup.
    I would cut Liliana, Leovald, or Dimir Charm. Probably Lili if it were me. I like Ponder in conjunction with all the shuffle effects, maybe add another one and cut Dimir Charm or a Snapcaster?

    I would also try to fit a couple Abrupt Decays in the board for Miracles, which would lend toward fitting in a Savannah rather than Bayou. I also think Savannah makes Leovald slightly easier to cast. Maybe cut Lingering Souls for Abrupt Decay?

    I like the list...good luck.

  11. #71
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Leovold is so strong. It makes all bad matchups better. Against DnT, BUG, AggroLoam.
    In Prague I played against Maverick and all he had is a Birds of Paradise with Sword of Fire and Ice and I was able to draw so many cards with Leo.
    I played Divert a long time in my Sideboard. It helps against Loam as well.
    Right now I would cut Jace. He is a great Planeswalker but the meta is too aggressive. Most of the times I force my opponent into top deck with Liliana and Thoughtseize while I have a thread like Bitterblossom or Nemesis or I am simply better in top decking. I thought about Hymn again to reach this situation earlier.

    Your list is okay so far. In your list a Savannah would be better since you focus more on white and stoneforge. Gaddock Teeg is questionable. Blocks your Batterskull, Jace and Force.

  12. #72

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by Neo900 View Post
    Leovold is so strong. It makes all bad matchups better. Against DnT, BUG, AggroLoam.
    In Prague I played against Maverick and all he had is a Birds of Paradise with Sword of Fire and Ice and I was able to draw so many cards with Leo.
    I played Divert a long time in my Sideboard. It helps against Loam as well.
    Right now I would cut Jace. He is a great Planeswalker but the meta is too aggressive. Most of the times I force my opponent into top deck with Liliana and Thoughtseize while I have a thread like Bitterblossom or Nemesis or I am simply better in top decking. I thought about Hymn again to reach this situation earlier.

    Your list is okay so far. In your list a Savannah would be better since you focus more on white and stoneforge. Gaddock Teeg is questionable. Blocks your Batterskull, Jace and Force.
    Thanks. That's a good point about Teeg. Teeg seems an easy first removal. I'm tempted to run only one green source and keep my mana base the way that was previously (1 tropical, 3 uSea vs 1 trop, 2 usea, 1 other green source). If I am only running the 2 Leo (1 main, 1 side) is the single green source adequate? I would assume that I would sandbag the source until I needed it or would rely on a drs.

  13. #73
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    It depends on the match up. against Miracles you can fetch on green ASAP because they don't have wasteland. Most of the times my opponent wants to cut me off of white, rare times off black.
    If green sun's Zenith is a problem, you can play grafdiggers cage. the only it hurts is your own snapcaster mage.

  14. #74

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    yesterday i've played deathblade with this list

    4 stoneforge
    4 shaman
    3 nemesi
    3 baleful strix
    2 bitterblossom

    3 fow
    3 size

    4 brainstorm
    2 ponder

    1 batterskull
    1 jitte

    4 swords
    2 decay
    2 liliana

    lands

    2 wasteland
    3 flooded
    3 delta
    3 misty
    2 tundra
    2 underground sea
    1 scurbland
    1 bayou
    1 tropical island
    1 plain
    1 swamp
    2 island

    side

    1 notion thief
    1 path to exile
    2 surgical extraction
    2 flusterstorm
    1 decay
    2 zealous persecution
    2 vendilion
    1 lost legacy
    1 pithing needle
    1 painful truths
    1 Containment Priest

    small report

    2-0 lands
    2-1 sneak and show
    1-1 grixis control
    1-2 shardless

    some feedback:

    -didn't miss JACE, cards too slow for this meta...
    -bitterblossom great card against BUG and control, thinking to add another on sideboard

    - the change that i'll make will be - 3 strix (didn't like too mucth) for + 2 snapcatser mage + 1 equip, sword of fire/ice or feast and famine 8for having a better MU against shardless)

  15. #75

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    My "team" and I (just two friends haha) decided to play Deathblade at Vegas next year, so we've been putting in some testing with the list. Played and won a small 8 man tournament tonight with the following list:

    Lands: 22

    3 Wasteland
    4 Flooded Strand
    3 Misty Rainforest
    3 Polluted Delta
    3 Underground Sea
    2 Tropical Island
    2 Tundra
    1 Savannah
    1 Scrubland

    Creatures: 12

    4 Deathrite Shaman
    3 Stoneforge Mystic
    2 Baleful Strix
    2 True-Name Nemesis
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest

    Planeswalkers: 3

    1 Liliana of the Veil
    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Artifacts: 2

    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Batterskull

    Other Spells: 21

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Thoughtseize
    2 Ponder
    1 Spell Pierce
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Sylvan Library
    2 Lingering Souls
    3 Force of Will

    Sideboard: 15
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Spell Snare
    1 Divert
    1 Ceremonious Rejection
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Containment Priest
    1 Dread of Night
    1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
    1 Toxic Deluge
    1 Zealous Persecution
    1 Surgical Extraction
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Invasive Surgery

    So as of now we are basically all in on the yolo no-basics plan, definitely plan on testing a couple basics though -- either without Decay, or I think this list could support like -1 Wasteland -1 of the non island Fetches, +2 basics possibly. But Decay has been an allstar for me so don't really want to cut it.

    My sideboard was kinda janky, I got there late and didn't have the time or means to mess with it, so definitely not what I would ideally run. The metagame was unknown for me and was pretty wild -- myself and my buddy running the same 60 (he had the better sideboard, don't remember exactly what) and one Grixis Delver, then Doomsday(!), Lands, 4C Loam, Dredge, and Aluren.

    Round 1 I played vs Aluren, I did at least know what this guy would be on as we've played a few times before (never this particular matchup though)

    Game 1: He gets a quick Aluren, I have no Force backup and get comboed out.
    Game 2: I'm able to get there with TNN beatdown, constricting his mana a bit and able to Force his Aluren
    Game 3: Super long and grindy game, I get a Canonist down plus Needle on Harpy, he resolves an Aluren but can't use it effectively while I'm beating down with 2x TNNs. He Intuitions for Abrupt Decay, I had cast a spell that turn so on his upkeep I Surgical them and he flashes in an Eternal Witness to save, but can't cast a spell until my turn. He decays my Canonist but isn't able to do anything with a pretty empty hand, draws Brainstorm but doesn't find anything and dies to my TNNs. He mentioned sideboarding out Reclamation Sage being a mistake (seems like you leave that against Stoneforge Mystic..), so probably shouldn't have won this one.

    1-0

    Round 2 I played vs 4C Loam which I think is a pretty bad matchup.

    Game 1 on the play I get a quick DRS->Lingering Souls->Flashback and beat him down with Spirits before he's able to stabilize -- probably needed one or two more turns to make a 20/20.

    Game 2 he plays a Wasteland so I Waste it. He plays a tapped green cycling land so I waste it. He plays another Wasteland so I play the second Underground Sea with Spell Snare and Brainstorm up, thinking if he Wastes it I probably Brainstorm in response and don't feel *terrible* about it, but that it's pretty likely he'll keep the Wasteland to try to Chalice or Bob. He goes for Bob and I get him with the Spell Snare. I thoughtseize with a Surgical in hand and see Decay, Scooze, PFire and lands (including Grove), but he's a little constricted on red mana and I have Leo in hand, so I take Decay thinking Fire doesn't finish off Leo in one go and I can probably manage to Surgical the Fires in response to a trigger. Of course he topdecks Chalice so I surgical the Abrupt Decays while I can at least do something, look through his deck and note the 1x Choke sideboard tech -- didn't need to remember for long as he rips the Choke off the top and that was that -- drew a Decay a few turns later but not the means to cast it and was already getting beat down by a Scooze + huge Knight.

    Game 3 he mulligans into a pretty slow hand, he has Chalice but I have Decay for it and am eventually able to resolve a Jace -- he's a bit tight on mana and plays a Pridemage and tapped GW Manland, so I Liliana tick down (knowing it will eat a P Fire but he has no Grove) and Waste the manland. He takes care of Lili but I get a Leovold online start hitting him for 3 while ticking up Jace on him (spending a couple turns Brainstorming in between). I'm able to keep him off anything relevant, he eventually finds a Karakas but it's not very good vs Leovold. I Jace ulti him for the win. Tight match but that game I never felt not in the driver's seat, would've taken a lot for him to stabilize.

    2-0

    Next I sit down with my finals opponent and he remarks that the matchup is pretty bad for him so I hope Delver. Sure enough I see a turn 1 Delver and feel great. Game 1 I guess he has zero permission and I just draw triple Swords and Sword Delver, Young Pyro, Young Pyro. He's never really able to come back from that and I slowly beat him down with a TNN after he Therapies my Batterskull. Game 2 I draw a super gas hand, my board state when I won was 2x SFM, DRS, both equipment and TNN. I made a slight mistake one turn equipping a Strix with Jitte and attacking with that plus a Germ into flipped Delver + Angler. My thought was that he couldn't really block due to Jitte counters, but I get blown out by Bolt on Strix + block on Germ, which was one of his two cards. It didn't really matter since my plan was to immediately drop TNN and suit up next turn anyway, but I could've got some more value off Jitte and I was far enough ahead that I should've just avoided any potential for him to get back into the game with a big mistake like that. I ended the game a couple turns later by double Abrupt Decaying his two Delvers and attacking with the team with an unused Lingering Souls still in my hand.

    My buddy went 2-1, losing to Doomsday in round 1 (he said he had the win but punted, but I was too busy with my Aluren match to watch closely) and beat Lands and 4C Loam.

    All in all we love the deck, it feels very skill testing to play and almost similar to Jund in Modern in that it attacks from all angles and has some difficult to deal with threats. We definitely want to try swapping out for some Basic Lands (though I've loved Abrupt Decay) and I want to test out Bitterblossom as well and probably 1 less Jace (would've tonight but I didn't have time to get it together)

    Cheers! Just decided to register here to post this haha, get a lot of great insight from this thread so I'll definitely be popping in here and there to read about the latest thoughts.

  16. #76
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Congrats for your win.
    your list seems solid. I wonder why you play only 2 Thoughtseize. I think hand disruption is an important strategy in various situations and the first turns. with Deathrite and Thoughtseize in my start hand against a Mulligan I start always with Thoughtseize.
    What does Sorin Solmn Visitor for you instead of other Planeswalker ?
    Our Planeswalker have to do one job which is either board or card advantage.
    Liliana and Jace are the best and strongest Planeswalker we can play. I can understand if you feel unsafe with Elspeth or Gideon with double white or Garruk Relentless with green.
    We want to bring those Planeswalker mainly against control. Sorin sv can produces token as -2 ability so he can't produce every turn a vampire. the +1 helps only with a good board situation. His ultimate is not good against control match ups since they don't have any creatures.
    If you need him for the lifelink, think about Basilisks Collar. Against eldrazi or other aggro it's quite interesting. A deathtouch Batterskull or Nemesis is quite strong.

  17. #77

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by Neo900 View Post
    Congrats for your win.
    your list seems solid. I wonder why you play only 2 Thoughtseize. I think hand disruption is an important strategy in various situations and the first turns. with Deathrite and Thoughtseize in my start hand against a Mulligan I start always with Thoughtseize.
    What does Sorin Solmn Visitor for you instead of other Planeswalker ?
    Our Planeswalker have to do one job which is either board or card advantage.
    Liliana and Jace are the best and strongest Planeswalker we can play. I can understand if you feel unsafe with Elspeth or Gideon with double white or Garruk Relentless with green.
    We want to bring those Planeswalker mainly against control. Sorin sv can produces token as -2 ability so he can't produce every turn a vampire. the +1 helps only with a good board situation. His ultimate is not good against control match ups since they don't have any creatures.
    If you need him for the lifelink, think about Basilisks Collar. Against eldrazi or other aggro it's quite interesting. A deathtouch Batterskull or Nemesis is quite strong.
    I agree, I would definitely like a third Thoughtseize in the maindeck. Sorin was definitely a mistake, the sideboard wasn't optimal but I didn't have a chance to swap it -- it should be a Garruk (or maybe a second Lili, not sure), that's what we're running on mtgo. It didn't really matter for the matchups I played though, at least.

    Basilisk's Collar is a pretty interesting idea..

  18. #78
    Don't just have an idea - have all of them
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    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    I had Garruk in the Sideboard then swaped to gideon, ally of zendikar.
    I didn't like the fact that Garruk forces me to fetch on green. But Garruk is the most flexible Planeswalker we can play. If he flips he can kill with his -3. I olay 2 Liliana main and no Jace. Right now he is too slow in an aggressive meta.
    Baleful Strix is an okay meta call bit seems a bit fragile.

  19. #79

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Played a 5 round weekly at my LGS.
    Played my most recent list I've been proposing (Dimir charm, still has jace tms because im waiting for 2x leovold, a basic of each esper type).

    Anyway, I went 3-1-1 for 3rd/4th place store credit. Given a normal set of reasonable matchups, death blade does deliver this result frequently.

    Rd 1 vs Grixis Tempo (1-1-1 drew because of time).
    Grixis Tempo was not playing young pyromancer. They were on 3 tnn, 2-3 Snapcaster mage, bolts, decays, delvers, drs, no goyf.
    We went to time. I take time at critical junctures but will play very swiftly otherwise. I've been playing with the deck long enough to know when to just play, attack and pass. My opponent was very deliberate, and played very tight. I feel confident that we went to time because of him. I harbor no ill will because it was a good match and we were at a casual weekly event, so it's a good place for a person to learn.
    G1, he beat me on the back of an early true name and removal and counters on my threats.
    G2, I won strongly off the back of an early tnn equipped with sofai.
    G3, grindy and with little time, we finished with him having a tnn and me having a drs and plenty of gy fodder to stall his clock. I had three cards in hand including batterskull, and several match breaking cards to draw. His best draw would have been liliana, but I don't think he runs that card.

    Match 2 vs 12 post LOSS IN 3
    G1, opponent played cloudpost, cloudpost, vesuva, emrakul the promised end. I used some permission on Her various pieces along the way (candelabra, top, map) but she was drawing post lands. Not much to do.

    G2, I won off the back off a few well timed top decks vs some bad top decks. After our first few turns, I had a few creatures and a Liliana on board. I made a critical error and named emrakul the promised end with Meddling made and she thumped down an ugin and wiped my board. I top decked two wastelands and a Vindicate and got out of being ultimated at 2 life. Drew tnn and sfm into sofai for the win.

    G3, she drew post lands and Pithing needles and played old school emrakul with a Karakas in play.

    12 post feels very hard to win...

    Match 3 vs TES (WIN in 3)
    G1, he plays out Mire and Delta and I call him on combo. I play put drs and sfm and then jace. Over 3 turns jace brainstorms me nothing and he combos off.

    G2, I do work with my 10 sideboard inclusions.

    G3, same as g2.

    Match 4 vs DNT (win in 2)
    This match should be bad. This particular player knows me and knows blade decks well. Hates TNN and main decks several answers to Jitte
    G1, early Jitte and tnn with 5 lands in my hand. Used both wastelands and just kept attacking with tnn and triggering jitte. More stuff happens but nothing remarkable.
    G2, I get the luckiest hand. I draw all 4 Swords and a Snapcaster to boot. I also cast a jitte and some other creature.

    Round 5 vs Belcher (win in 3)
    G1, he goes off turn 1 after I mull to 6 looking for a counter. I wasn't sure if he was on storm or Belcher, I just knew he was on combo. He creates 10 goblins and then casts goblin war strike.

    G2, I have 2 force of will in hand and 2 Blue cards.

    G3, see g2.

    3-1-1. Very possible that I could have gone to 4-1 had I won round 1.

    With deathblade at my weeklies against a strong player base, my match win percentage has been approx 60 to 65 percent. Lately it's been tailing off (it started at something closer to 85 percent over the first 2 months). With more Jund, Aggro Loam and Maverick showing up, it's been difficult navigating my way through these decks.

    I'm trying a sideboard atraxa for these Abrupt decay matchups. I will also be trying 2 leovolds in the 75, removing the jaces.

  20. #80

    Re: [Deck] Deathblade

    Quote Originally Posted by ClimbGneiss View Post
    Cabal Therapy is dirty. Probably works real well alongside Stoneforge Mystic.

    Maybe, in your meta, you don't get punished. However, in larger tournament settings and in my strong meta, there's a couple of blood moons, a lot of wastelands in delver and midrange, and several of the strongest lands players I know. The basics have made their way through the full midrange meta of my LGS. It's strong, it allows to you nearly guarantee certain lines of play in your first few turns. If venture to say that, as the deathblade player, if we win the first few turns, we typically win the match (except against shardless and miracles).

    The big takeaway that I've found is that:
    A) Abrupt decay is unnecessary, and
    B) I have plenty of removal between stp, snap swords, single Vindicate, tnn wall, lilly, Jitte and SOFAI.

    As a side note on B), using your removal and counters correctly is very important. It requires intimate knowledge of most decks that get played regularly. And I would say that its even more important for Deathblade pilots to be the knowledgeable player in a matchup. You need to know when to jam a threat, when to save your stp, when to fetch for Jitte versys SOFAI, etc.

    Just my two cents on the matter.
    How does this deck beat elves.....?

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