Ruby Storm

[supremePINEAPPLE]

Ah wasn't you then. They seemed like they definitely using your list with the berserker showing up in g2. I was on Lands with ports and expecting to die the whole time.

[mistercakes]

Nice to see the deck is getting picked up. I wouldn't have tried boarding in berserker vs lands. Seems weird.

[mistercakes]

did another league, this one to a disappointing 1-4.

1-2
BUG delver w/ mongoose.
game 1 i sneak a chandra through a daze w/ ssg.
game 2 i try to go off, but he counters. i get an untap step and try to go off again, but he had 4 more counters. (lots of guys in play )
game 3 i get a turn 1 ruby. he has drs and mongoose. i wish for cave in. cave-in with 4 mana open. he forces. then i reiterate the cave in. he forces again. then he draws a thoughseize for my chandra. his mongoose is small so it's a slow clock. i draw a crypt to slow it down more. not many outs so need to draw a wish or reforge miracle. he draws another thoughtseize, but it doesn't matter as i don't draw any business spell.

2-1
lands
game 1 turn 1 ruby with tomb and unload my hand for a wish->reforge. he discards a bunch of lands but no loam. my turn 2 i play another a hazoret's which yields me a 2nd ruby, 2 spirit guide and a wish, i make 18 goblins or so. he punishing fires a guide. i attack and he gets chasm. (my lands don't untap this turn). his next turn he is sitting on chasm and 2 lands. i untap and go off and tendrils him.
game 2 he goes turn 1 land exploration stage. turn 2 stage #2 and another land. all i can do is play a turn 2 ruby and hope he doesn't have crop rotation. he does.
game 3 i have to mulligan to 5, but have double ruby. he has double sphere of resistance. there's a point where has dark depths, stage and 2 lands. i had just wished for by force. i untap and kill his 2 spheres with only a manamorphose and a petal. i luckily draw into a past in flames and am able to chain about 20 spells and kill him.

1-2
eldrazi
game 1 he's on the play. he is obviously sitting on a warping wail (he sat for about 3 minutes trying to find my decklist but he can't...so he lets it resolve. i cast seething song into chandra. unfortauntely for me end stepped token and then played an ugin and reality smashed me. couldn't draw out of it.
game 2 my opening hand is : tomb, ruby, 2 petal, guide, mtn, hazoret's. i'll keep! he has turn 1 chalice. i draw RoF. i go for it and hit a wheel and a gamble. my next 7 are great. he takes my empty the warrens. i play manamorphose into a 2nd ruby into chandra and kill his TKS. then he plays reality smasher and kills it. i untap and draw another manamorphse and proceed to cast past in flames, generate some small mana (no songs) and cast hazorets into wish empty guide and tendrisl him with 20 goblins in play.
game 3 i mull my 7 b/c it doesn't look aggressive enough. my 6 is bad. i keep a 5 with no land but a turn 1 ruby with a petal afterwards. it wasn't enough so i gotta chalk that one up to poor mulliganning. it's not a particularly good matchup, and it's likely the only other non-grixis matchup where blood moons would be fantastic. in an unknown metagame i still don't like blood moon, but if the meta is lands, eldrazi and 4c then blood moons should be there.

0-2
grixis delver
game 1 i turn 1 gamble, he forces. that's nice. i was just going to get a ruby anyway. he plays a delver. unfortunately for me i whiff on my 2nd land drop. he blind flips stifle. casts his 2nd brainstorm (exiled one w/ fow). i go to cast burning wish for cave in or grapeshot (undecided) he dazes anyway. he casts a 2nd delver. attacks me i'm at 14. i cast rof, into manamorphose thinking i will get some goblins since he's tapped out, but i draw a ruby and cast that instead. sucks to waste a rof. i draw another burning wish. it resolves. cast cave-in with 2 mana open.he has another force. looks like i'm pretty hellbent on drawing something good here. i go to 2. he bolts me. too bad, my next card was a mountain, if he had no more counters i could have resolved a past in flames and went off.
game 2 i have a reasonable 7 on the play. i gamble, he dazes, i use SSG. i play tomb ruby. he lets it resolve after thinking. he has wasteland for my tomb. i go for a combo but he has a force. since his clock is slow i'm hoping to miracle out of it. he plays angler and grudge. i draw rending volley. he got me. :(


game 1 i have a turn 1 tomb + petal. he goes delta go. i cast manamorphose x2, draw a wish, cast empty the warrens for 12 goblins. he mainphase brainstormed then scooped. b/c of no counters, i bring in 2 berserkers just in case.
game 2 i have a pretty good hand with 2 mountain, volley, wish wish, ruby, empty. he mulligans to 6 and keeps top card. he plays a misty and passes. i draw manamorphose, play mountain and pass. underground sea, wasteland DRS. i burning wish for cave in and exile my empty. it resolves. i play a ruby medallion and it resolves. (drawing chandra) he mainphase brainstorms. i cast 2 manamorphose a ruby and a chandra (forces) i cast wish #2 he dazes. he hymns my hand. i play a mountain and pass. hoping for miracle, pif, or wish. draw another land. now hazoret's is an out. draw wheel. it resolves. i draw a bunch of mana and a pif. he exiles my burning wishes. pretty clever guy. i go for PIF he wastelands and in response counters it, then he can exile pif on the stack. he plays out a delver which doesn't flip and i have a spirit guide holding down the fort. i draw a petal. he hymns my petal. i draw a rending volley which keeps me alive another turn due to his unflipped delver. i don't draw a way out of the deathrite.
game 3 i have a hand with sudden shock, grapeshot, manamorphose, ssg, scab-clan, pif, and a mountain. i play mountain pass. he plays thoughtseize. he took the berserker. he plays delver and deathrite. i eot manamorphose and shock his DRS. i draw chandra. then another chandra. he blind flips abrupt decay and attacks me.

losses here were to lots of countermagic, which there is some chance i will get through it anyway. beat lands, which is mostly a race, after sb there is some disruption. eldrazi seems a bit rough. grixis matchup is about even, depending on their clock. it's possible i will start using defense grids again, although it's hard to find the slots.

chandra is really good in the deck, but it's possible that the 2 chandra should be defense grids. my logic for playing chandra is that it is a proactive threat that it can kill leo, thalia, delvers etc and still ramp, and will almost always bait out a force of will. the other option that i discussed with vieko was running uba mask. i really like uba mask, but it's hard to justify not running lion's eye diamond in a build where all your spells can be cast by lion's eye diamond without a real downside. there's a good chance i should just be running sudden shock over the volleys since they kill everything except leovold. then that means vs leovold the main way of winning would just be goblins, which isn't great, but leovold isn't that big of the meta.

i think the safe bet is still defense grid as it only costs 2 mana and is quite easy to resolve.


summary:

bug delver (1-2)
grixis delver (0-2)
bug delver (1-2)
lands (2-1)
eldrazi (1-2)

the deck definitely has a weakness for the tempo + counters deck. because mtgo is so random it's hard to determine what the best build is, but if this meta was consistent i would have easily considered running maindeck blood moons. i think the current configuration is fine except for the reiterate and commune with lava.

it's possible the chandras and those 2 slots could be 4 blood moons. i'm willing to try it irl, but i don't have blood moons on modo, so it can't be tested by me. the other option is just running 3 defense grids and running 1 other card.

[vieko]

Ah wasn't you then. They seemed like they definitely using your list with the berserker showing up in g2. I was on Lands with ports and expecting to die the whole time.

GG supremePINEAPPLE! I messed up on my Wish there... Grabbed the artifact hate instead of Cave-In which would've killed you on my next uptap :) Brought in Berserker because it has won me G2 vs. Lands in the past... it can be underwhelming but, she got there for me before. I noticed you asked me a question in the chat but had already quit the game... what was it?

[supremePINEAPPLE]

I asked about the wish target, figured that you would have had something that killed me on the spot and cave in makes perfect sense. ggs!

[Mr. Safety]

Building the deck in paper, likely tonight. I still have a short list of potential cards I want to try out. I have playsets of Act on Impulse and Hazorets, but I know 4 of either is likely not optimal (per Vieko.) List hasn't changed since I last posted. Here is my list of jank potential cards:

Runeflare Trap (easily triggered by RftS or opponent's Jace/Brainstorms, makes a storm count of 10-13 with Grapeshot lethal)
Inferno Titan (potential alternate sideboard threat)
Young Pyromancer (storm jr alternative threat, similar to EtW, again can combine with Grapeshot to create a lethal endgame)
Cinder Pyromancer (can deal in the range of 7-8 damage on the combo turn, again helps Grapeshot become lethal)
Pyromancer's Swath (classic tech from old extended/modern that turns Grapeshot triggers into Lightning Bolts)

[mistercakes]

Considered those, I'd say the most viable is probably inferno titan. Seems like a valid sb option, or maybe even 1 maindeck, depending on the meta.

Young Pyro could be okay. Especially vs decks that Board out removal.

[Mr. Safety]

Considered those, I'd say the most viable is probably inferno titan. Seems like a valid sb option, or maybe even 1 maindeck, depending on the meta.

Young Pyro could be okay. Especially vs decks that Board out removal.

I want to play Titan maindeck, but with limited protection as it stands it just doesn't seem good. Sideboard seems ok, but it's already tight with the wishboard, Pyroblasts, and a small amount of graveyard hate.

Testing has gone well. I can see the resilience factor being a huge part of this deck's reason for existing. I have done games where 10-12 goblins wins the game, and I have had games where I got a storm count of 20+ and just BW-ed into Grapeshot. My main plan ATM is to play Git-Probe maindeck and then use those slots for protection post-board (Pyroblast/Tormod's Crypt/Rending Volley.) Playing 3 copies of EtW main lets me skimp on those slots in order to squeeze in the protection. I am actively trying to be patient on when to combo out, and that has been giving me much better results. With such a strong PiF game the deck has a surprising amount of inevitability. The later the game goes, the stronger the PiF plan gets (barring Rest in Peace, but even then BW into EtW for 10+ goblins still gets there.) I have been really underwhelmed by SSG, might cut it entirely. Sixteen lands seems fine, but at this point I'd rather play 17 lands before I played another SSG (2 currently.) Doesn't add to storm count, and hitting it with AoI/HUF is terrible.

Act on Impulse and Hazoret's Undying Fury are the real deal, especially HUF. Ruby Medallion makes for broken turns, especially t1. Reforge the Soul isn't necessarily a storm engine enabler, which is what I was forcing it to be. It's actually better to just set up Past in Flames kills by adding 4-5 more cards to the graveyard and refilling my hand, pass the turn, kill next turn.

Slightly tweaked list below, with new sideboard to try out:

4x Ruby Medallion
4x Rite of Flame
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Manamorphose
4x Seething Song
4x Lotus Petal
2x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Burning Wish
3x Empty the Warrens
3x Reforge the Soul
1x Past in Flames
1x Act on Impulse
2x Hazoret's Undying Fury
4x Gitaxian Probe
12x Mountain
4x Ancient Tomb

Sideboard
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Past in Flames
1x Grapeshot
1x Goblin War Strike
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x By Force
1x Pyroclasm
4x Pyroblast
2x Inferno Titan
1x Rending Volley


Cut Tormod's Crypt to fit in Inferno Titan. Not sure if that's correct, but I see very little in the way of broken graveyard strategies at the LGS. Dredge is rare, and so are reanimator variants.

[mistercakes]

looks like a pretty solid list to work with. i'd just be aware that the berserker is very good vs storm, which is a tough matchup without it. the desperate rituals do seem great, and i had them in my original version. perhaps i would like to go back to it. 1 pif is a little risky, but i can see the value in that. i'm personally stuck on 3 maindeck, 1 sb....however i will probably drop back down to 2 because i hate seeing 2 in my hand at a time, but i always want 1 each game.

i haven't considered dropping the guides, but i can try that as well. they are nice to sneak through spells past daze effects which the opponent can't foresee.

you can also try cutting the probes for other cards, as more business is probably better, unless if you are having trouble hitting lands or you desperately need the 2 extra goblins.

[Mr. Safety]

looks like a pretty solid list to work with. i'd just be aware that the berserker is very good vs storm, which is a tough matchup without it. the desperate rituals do seem great, and i had them in my original version. perhaps i would like to go back to it. 1 pif is a little risky, but i can see the value in that. i'm personally stuck on 3 maindeck, 1 sb....however i will probably drop back down to 2 because i hate seeing 2 in my hand at a time, but i always want 1 each game.

i haven't considered dropping the guides, but i can try that as well. they are nice to sneak through spells past daze effects which the opponent can't foresee.

you can also try cutting the probes for other cards, as more business is probably better, unless if you are having trouble hitting lands or you desperately need the 2 extra goblins.

Probe is definitely the weakest card in the deck, but it's also one of the few slots that can give for sideboarding. Probe is information, pure and simple g1. G2 its the first to go once I know what's up. The velocity factor isn't insignificant either. Without Brainstorm/Ponder the deck relies on Probe/Manamorphose a lot more to set up combo turns. I could add more business but that business would then be on the chopping block during games 2-3. I may be looking at it too simplistically, but I have a hard time figuring small percentages/edges when dropping from 4 to 3 copies etc. Simian Spirit Guide is also a sideboarding slot, mostly because the protection is much more important than speed. In my testing I need to really pick my window, be patient, and work with inevitability rather than just going for nuts-out speed.

Past in Flames is really plan B for my deck, plan A being Empty the Warrens. I can sometimes blast a fast combo win (got 1 game where BW into Tendrils win turn 2, care of Manamorphose) or sometimes just go deep with Reforge into BW into Past in Flames, re-buy Reforge and then get another BW into Grapeshot. It may be incorrect to play less than 2 Past in Flames, maybe cutting 1 EtW for another copy is correct. I want to test at least 30 games before making changes however (unless its minor sideboard changes to adapt to matchups as I learn.) I find that if I don't chain into a second Burning Wish I will at least chain into another Empty the Warrens. At that point, as long as my opponent doesn't have a wiper, storm count of 12+ kills just as well with Empty as it does with Grapeshot.

Berserker, ugh, I don't own any yet. I just don't know where to cut in the board. I don't face that many storm decks in my metagame, maybe 2 people play it. Elves is a much more common combo deck, and Pyroclasm/Inferno Titan do a hell of a job killing elves. I will definitely get some if I see an uptick in storm.

[mistercakes]

so if empty is your main plan, then probe is totally valid. i also have 2-3 empty in my maindeck, but i'm not running probe. it's just another angle of attack for me.

regarding the probe sideboarding thing....i would just play better cards in the maindeck, and then decide what gets cut based on specific matchups. if you have let's say

1 more AoI, 1 PiF, and 2 of X (whatever they are) then if you were going to cut the Probes no matter what, then just cut those 4 cards. but maybe in some matchups hazoret's is lousy or maybe even reforge doesn't work so well in some matchups, so you might want to trim 1 of them post sb. i actually have been running 2 gambles maindeck which seems to be quite good so far. (it was mentioned earlier in the thread and i got around to it. i also have been running chandra, but might go down to 1 as i don't like drawing multiples at the same time.

i think you have a good point about the guides not being preferred in slower matchups, i will have to test versions without them, but you are correct in running desperate rituals if you aren't running guides. if it's for your local meta, sb should be tuned accordingly. on modo there is a ton of storm and reanimator, where berseker is great. i also have tormod's crypt, where it is also great vs both and is nice to draw after hitting a wheel.

[Mr. Safety]

Regarding Probe: some decks I don't need to sideboard at all, the Wish package is enough. In those matchups having extra velocity is better than some random number of other cards. I could see playing another Act on Impulse, or maybe Overmaster. I really like Overmaster, it might have to be my next purchase, and honestly its probably just BETTER than Probe.

I like your reasoning though: if I'm going to cut Probe in every matchup regarding sideboard, why not maindeck something more relevant. I could easily try this:

-4 Probe
+1 Past in Flames
+1 Act on Impulse
+2 Inferno Titan

That may actually be better than just a random Peek. It also lets me get 2x Berserker/Crypt into the board. I like it, I'll make the change and start testing. I don't think its a significant enough change that it will make the deck all-of-a-sudden 'not work.'

EDIT: I think the threshold for going for a short-stack Warrens is storm count 4, getting 10 goblins. That's a 2-turn clock. Less than that is sub-optimal, more than that is nice but not necessarily going to give an edge on win percentages. I think I can comfortably hit 10 goblins without Probe in the deck, so that is also where my thoughts are at with the cut. Nice dialogue, I appreciate it.

[mistercakes]

Just be aware if you have mana problems. Sometimes it's tough with 12, 4 petal and 4 ssg to get started.

[vieko]

Probe provides more than just a peek into your opponents hand: it also draws you a card and increase your storm count for 2 life... both super relevant with Tendrils / Goblin / Grapeshot. It is probably one of the better cards in this list... my two cents.

[Mr. Safety]

Probe provides more than just a peek into your opponents hand: it also draws you a card and increase your storm count for 2 life... both super relevant with Tendrils / Goblin / Grapeshot. It is probably one of the better cards in this list... my two cents.

Point noted. Testing is the real proving grounds. The deck has been functional, good even. Working towards optimal is the hard part.

[mistercakes]

I would consider testing this list next

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/689113#paper

Gamble and Chandra are flex spots in this one. But they should be something good off of hazoret's.

You could also go for a less risky build and run 3 Act on Impulse over Hazoret's. You won't have the explosiveness of getting a lucky Hazoret's, but your consistency should go up. I prefer to play it risky.

I'd also consider running 1 other flex spot in exchange for the 3rd maindeck past in flames. could be the inferno titan, or an act on impulse etc.

[Mr. Safety]

So summing up the list: No SSG's, 17(!) lands, a bigger focus on Hazorets, 2 Gamble, and 1 Chandra. The rest seems consistent with other variations of non-LED builds in the thread. I like it quite a bit, especially because it focuses more on HUF, which is the card that I think sets this deck apart from other storm variants. Gamble is essentially extra copies of Past in Flames, which seems like techy goodness.

I am testing my above list against a gauntlet (DnT, SnT, Grixis Delver, ANT, Stoneblade variants, Elves, UR Delver, Lands.) So far the deck has issues (regardless of build I think) against DnT (thalia), and Show and Tell (having access to functionally limitless counterspells is hard to beat.) Stoneblade variants seem to be easier because they are trying to disrupt and then race with smaller threats (Bskull, TNN, Jace) which gives us a turn or two to get there. Show and Tell drops draw-7's and annihilator 6's. I haven't tested against Grixis Delver, ANT, UR Delver, or Elves yet.

Haven't drawn Inferno Titan yet, but it seems fantastic against a ton of decks if it resolves. Ripping Jace, Mystics, Delvers, Deathrites, multiple elves. It might be magical-Christmas land, but it also deals 12 damage over 2 turns, out of Push/Bolt/Decay range, and makes short-stack Grapeshots lethal.

[mistercakes]

my main issue w/ inferno is it whiffs off of hazoret's and it doesn't help your storm out too much.

SNT is a bad matchup, i think that's just how it goes unless if you want to have a good sb plan (maybe the pyroblasts are okay there). DNT can be pretty tough, mostly b/c of thalia and revoker...although ruby cancels out a thalia. revoker is only good vs petal and chandra, so it's minimal...but it does have an effect.

after sb you should have some cards vs it. i like rending volley, cave in, sudden shock, pyroclasm, pyrokinesis. if there's a lot of DNT you can even consider kozilek's return b/c of mother of runes.

i haven't had time to test yet in a few days but maybe i'll get some in over the weekend.


-Rob

[Mr. Safety]

Wow, fast response lol.

My big decision for the sideboard currently is Pyroblast vs. Other Options. Pyroblast gives us a decent chance against Show and Tell/Force of Will, but it sucks up a ton of sideboard space when considering the wishboard. I don't see having room for more than 1 Rending Volley, 1 Pyroclasm, and 1 By Force (don't even have Cave-In or Pyrokinesis.) Alongside that decision is how many slots to dedicate to win-cons/engine pieces in the board and how many slots to dedicate to interaction for specific matchups. Goblin War Strike might be unnecessary, and it might be unreasonable to keep the Tendrils in the sideboard (we MUST have a Manamorphose or 2x Lotus Petal after storming off to even cast it.) I think both are dead/inconsistent in too many matchups, which is where I can squeeze in Pyrokinesis/Cave-In.

Inferno Titan is a maindeck interaction piece against fair decks, and a threat by itself. If I were to land Titan it would be a goal in itself, without needing to go further with the storm chain. If I happen to have a Burning Wish in hand with 4 mana floating left over (unlikely) I could do a short-stack Grapeshot for value. If I have 10 mana floating in the first place and I don't have anything keeping me from winning the game on-board then the choice is easy: go for the storm win.

[mistercakes]

i work in front of a computer, so i can keep a tab open for this thread :)

i think at this point these lists just need to be tested again. i haven't tested any lists without spirit guide, so everything at this point with those lists is pure theory. the main benefit of desperate over spirit guide is off of hazoret's. if you don't have a ruby medallion then they do the same thing, except one adds to storm count and the other one helps you deal with daze better. it also provides you with an initial red mana source, which this deck desperately wants.

btw - tendrils is great. i won't be cutting that from my list. it also beats glacial chasm (just worth noting if you play vs a lot of lands decks). also if you're going off a gamble can get you a manamorphose if need be, but usually it's a non-issue.