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Thread: [Deck] UWx Stoneblade

  1. #141
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    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    1. Two volcanics is more than enough to cast, but not sustain. Gets destroyed via wasteland. Your mentioning of hypergeometric distribution really doesn't mean anything tbh. You didn't describe K, unless you mean for us to assume that K is drawing the 4th ponder or 20th land is to be included in which case drawing the mountain is still not bad generally. For example, in a 5 card hand + mountain + flooded strand, you play the mountain on turn 2 instead of being forced to ponder if an additional land is not drawn. SB is in fact more important than MB. Half of a stoneblade deck is useless in any given match up. For example, TNN is useless against combo & spell pierce has minimal value against DnT in the first game. Thus, the SB is necessary to bring in a lot of tailored cards post board & removing the less than useful cards. In fact, every match will have the same or more post board games.

    2. Ponder costs mana, even at 1. Drawing the 4th ponder vs drawing a card that does something. Adding ponder reduces the number of cards that do something in the deck. There is an argument for simply playing more cards that do things, like additional catch-alls, threats, etc. More cantrips increases looks but decreases the number of "do something" cards. It is possible to lose can-tripping into more while being pressured. 7 is just as a reasonable of a balance as 8.

    3. Clique is good against control of all types, and in a lot of instances better/more flexible than TNN. Flash is significant as is being able to play a threat on the opponent's turn. Getting a sorcery speed TNN countered is typically game losing because the opponent can simply play their own threat of do whatever they want on their proceeding turn.

    4. EE requires opposing CC's to align. Also loses out to revoker and flickerwisp. Verdict does not care. UW and UWr decks have a lot of basics so getting to 4 mana is usually not an issue. It wins when no other card can. It gives you a card to use can trips for in bad spots.

    5. All the cards I named may be play in a limited number of decks, but in the aggregate comprise of a significant number in a large tournament. Priests can be split, one on field and one in hand thus avoiding the possibility of removal. The flash aspect is hugely significant. Lastly, the idea is to wait for flickerwisp to target their own creature, not to simply run it out against vial.

  2. #142

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Same list, pretty meh night. Ended up not making any changes, the list feels really tuned. I do still want to add stuff, but I’m just not sure where. I thought I could cut disenchant for something else in the board, but week after week it pulls it weight and then some. It says for now.

    Match 1: Maverick(1-2 Loss)
    Game 1:
    His first land drop, windswept heath, gives him away. I was actually looking forward to this matchup as maverick is a deck I’m building towards. I manage to keep him under control for a bit with TNNs, but eventually he finds the SoFI in his deck and his KoTR start walking past my TNNs. I don’t have an answer and I die.

    Game 2: I’ve never played this deck before, so first time sideboards are always interesting
    -3 Force of Will
    -1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar(Just doesn’t seem to do that much...)
    -1 Liliana, the Last Hope(his key threats are huge, he does have some X/1s though so potential mistake)
    -2 Collective Brutality(Not sure if correct, again his key threats are huge)
    -2 Thoughtseize
    +2 Flusterstorm
    +1 Engineered Explosives
    +2 Zealous Persecution
    +2 Back to Basics(I see a ton of non-basics)
    +2 Disenchant
    My deck works as advertised against wasteland heavy builds. Tons of basics, some STP, and eventually I wipe the board with verdict. Jace gets resolved and takes me to the promise land. I think at one point I’m just snapping back verdicts which feels great. He sees the writing on the wall and concedes.

    Game 3:
    My deck doesn’t work as advertised. I see nothing but duals, and my cantrips fail to find a STP or fetchlands. He catches on pretty quickly, lands a KoTR, and immediately wastelands me out of the game. I never recover. It’s pretty frustrating to lose games like this, especially when I design my manabase to not put me in this position, but it happens.

    Match 2: BYE

    Match 3: R/W Painter(1-2 Loss, 2-1 Win(Technically))
    A brief summary, for those who are newer, this already fringe deck more or less died out a year ago when top got banned. When people talk about the collateral damage of the top ban, this deck is part of it, without the consistency of top it has really struggled. This deck is a combo deck that uses painter’s servant and grindstone to mill you out in one go. Typically they name blue with painter’s servant, so when grindstone gets activated, all your cards are blue thanks to servant. Hence they mill you out in one go. Imperial recruiters help find the servants. Pyroblast is nuts with servant as yes, ALL of your spells are blue. Goblin welder helps them get combo pieces out of the yard. They also run sol lands for a fast blood moon.
    Game 1:
    Opponent mulligans to 4 so I know out the gate things are very much in my favor. I find out that this build of painter is runs smugglers copter which tries to imitate the effect that top had. I didn’t seem that successful though, but my judgment probably isn’t worth much. The mull to 4 does him in, I strip his hand apart and start clocking him with SFM+Jitte. I almost end up losing this one, he gets both painter’s servant and grindstone out, but doesn’t have the 3 mana to active grindstone, giving me a 1 turn window. I think on his endstep I blink in a snapcaster for more damage and punch in for lethal that way.

    Game 2: Another one of those first time sideboards.
    -3 Collective Brutality(1/3 servant makes this awkward, and their combo pieces are artifacts)
    -1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    -1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor(Not so great against a pile of pyroblasts)
    -1 Liliana, the Last Hope(Fetching BB against fast blood moon deck seems bad)
    -2 Supreme Verdict
    -1 True Name Nemesis(Tapping out against combo is dangerous and they have a ton of pyroblasts)
    -1 Batterskull
    +3 Surgical Extraction
    +1 Engineered Explosives
    +2 Zealous Persecution(Goblin welder is busted, also other small X/1s that could be a problem)
    +2 Disenchant
    +1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    +1 Force of Will
    I throw everything and the kitchen sink at him, but it’s not enough. I think there’s 2 grindstones and 2 painter’s servant in his yard when he sticks a goblin welder on about T4 I just can’t deal with. He buys both his combo pieces back and I get milled out. I really needed surgical extraction to show up here, but it doesn’t.

    Game 3:
    Before Game 3 starts we both agree to split the prize, which is essentially just our admission fee. And we play Game 3 out for fun. Opening hand is cantrips, counter spells, and a scrubland.... Scrubland is either the best land in my deck or it’s just the absolute worst. My mulligan to 6 is a no lander, as is my mulligan to 5. I pretty much concede deciding that going to sleep early is likely preferable to starting the game on 4 cards. Since we are playing for fun though, opponent just lets me draw 7.
    This time it’s much better, I manage to find both thoughtseize and surgical extraction and I rip away half of the combo. Now that he’s forced to play fair his deck just doesn’t stand a chance against stoneblade. I have the inevitability and eventually just kill him.


    Side Note: Since we ended early that night I decided to stick around and play with an aluren player who wanted practice. Game 1 ended up taking an hour, probably the most interactive/interesting game of magic I’ve played in a long time.

  3. #143

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Are we doing it wrong?

    Can you take Esper through 15 rounds without getting wasted/stifled out?

    Can you take UWR through 15 rounds without getting crushed by combo on the way or outvalued by Kolaghan?

    We are doing something wrong and need to adapt to the current meta..

    We have in TNN the best creature in fair matchups.

    We have Back 2 Basics!

    We have the best manabase with Wastelands IF we go 2 colours!

    We have Flusterstorm main! All we want to do is resolve TNN while not die to Hymn or combo in the proces!

    #Stopmakingthesamethingwrong

    All of this is of course bullshit If Miracles come back.. Then we are doomed😊

  4. #144
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    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by lasseu View Post
    Are we doing it wrong?

    Can you take Esper through 15 rounds without getting wasted/stifled out?

    Can you take UWR through 15 rounds without getting crushed by combo on the way or outvalued by Kolaghan?

    We are doing something wrong and need to adapt to the current meta..

    We have in TNN the best creature in fair matchups.

    We have Back 2 Basics!

    We have the best manabase with Wastelands IF we go 2 colours!

    We have Flusterstorm main! All we want to do is resolve TNN while not die to Hymn or combo in the proces!

    #Stopmakingthesamethingwrong

    All of this is of course bullshit If Miracles come back.. Then we are doomed😊
    I don't understand what you are trying to say. Could you rephrase it?

  5. #145
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    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Been playing a straight up UW list with some local success. A couple Mishras Factory have been nice (helped me beat humility + night of souls betrayal + needle naming Jace last night). Ojutai singleton has also been a great closer. Honestly Stoneforge has felt pretty mediocre overall. Crazy how this card used to be stupid powerful
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  6. #146
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    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Played UW Stoneblade last week, with 3-1 result.

    List:
    Lands-23
    5 Island
    3 Plains
    2 Tundra
    4 Flooded Strand
    3 Polluted Delta
    2 Windswept Heath
    4 Wasteland

    Creatures-11
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True Name Nemesis
    4 Snapcaster Mage

    Spells-20
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Ponder
    4 Force of Will
    2 Spell Pierce
    2 Council’s Judgement
    2 Counterspell

    Artifacts-2
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa’s Jitte

    Planeswalkers-2
    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Enchantments-2
    2 Back to Basics

    Sideboard:
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Containment Priest
    2 Disenchant
    2 Engineered Explosives
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    1 Karakas
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Pithing Needle

    R1 - 2-0 vs Deathblade
    G1: hose him with Back to Basics
    G2: he counters my B2B, discards all my equipments, but eventually 2 TNN is too much for him to handle.

    R2 - 2-1 vs Elves
    G1: he rolls me over
    G2: Jitte takes over the game
    G3: 2 Engineered Explosives and TNN handles it

    R3 - 0-2 vs Sneak and Show
    G1: he has T2 Sneak Attack with activation mana and FoW backup on the play. My single FoW is not enough
    G2: variance gets me, I keep a mull to 5 with only lands being 2 x Wasteland. I draw a third Wasteland and those are my only lands. He FoW's my T1 Pithing Needle and he "only" has T3 SnT into Emrakul. I had Council's Judgment in hand, if only I had white mana sources..

    R4 - 2-0 vs Turbo Depths
    G1: I stop 2 Marit Lage tokens, but SFM+Jitte and BSkull are quite fast clock anyways.
    G2: Long game where he needled Wasteland and I needled Thespian's Stage. Fate sealing Jace bottomed all his outs and SFM+Jitte rode to the victory.

    List felt good, considering to move the SB Karakas to MB and replace one Wasteland and add maybe another Pithing Needle to SB.

  7. #147

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Hey its been a while since my last report. I've been playing but been busy so haven't had time to do my usual writeup. My local shop did just start doing streaming w/ commentary, and there were two blade lists on stream this week! Figured i'd plug my local store as we're trying to step up our legacy support.

    I got the feature match in round 1, and a jeskai stoneblade player got it in round 4.
    https://www.twitch.tv/videos/261518579##

  8. #148

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by meite View Post
    Played UW Stoneblade last week, with 3-1 result.

    List:
    Lands-23
    5 Island
    3 Plains
    2 Tundra
    4 Flooded Strand
    3 Polluted Delta
    2 Windswept Heath
    4 Wasteland

    Creatures-11
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True Name Nemesis
    4 Snapcaster Mage

    Spells-20
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Ponder
    4 Force of Will
    2 Spell Pierce
    2 Council’s Judgement
    2 Counterspell

    Artifacts-2
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa’s Jitte

    Planeswalkers-2
    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Enchantments-2
    2 Back to Basics

    Sideboard:
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Containment Priest
    2 Disenchant
    2 Engineered Explosives
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    1 Karakas
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Pithing Needle

    R1 - 2-0 vs Deathblade
    G1: hose him with Back to Basics
    G2: he counters my B2B, discards all my equipments, but eventually 2 TNN is too much for him to handle.

    R2 - 2-1 vs Elves
    G1: he rolls me over
    G2: Jitte takes over the game
    G3: 2 Engineered Explosives and TNN handles it

    R3 - 0-2 vs Sneak and Show
    G1: he has T2 Sneak Attack with activation mana and FoW backup on the play. My single FoW is not enough
    G2: variance gets me, I keep a mull to 5 with only lands being 2 x Wasteland. I draw a third Wasteland and those are my only lands. He FoW's my T1 Pithing Needle and he "only" has T3 SnT into Emrakul. I had Council's Judgment in hand, if only I had white mana sources..

    R4 - 2-0 vs Turbo Depths
    G1: I stop 2 Marit Lage tokens, but SFM+Jitte and BSkull are quite fast clock anyways.
    G2: Long game where he needled Wasteland and I needled Thespian's Stage. Fate sealing Jace bottomed all his outs and SFM+Jitte rode to the victory.

    List felt good, considering to move the SB Karakas to MB and replace one Wasteland and add maybe another Pithing Needle to SB.

    I like your list.

    How is the combomatchup in general?

    My list rund 22 lands 4 Waste and 1 Tundra 2 Flusterstorm main with 1 Counterspell and 2 Spell Snares(Probably wrong though)

    My SB is 2 additional Flusterstorm, 2 Ethersworn, 2 Priest, 1 Blue Blast, 2 Disenchant, 2 EE, 3 Surgical and 1 Gideon..

  9. #149

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    UW Stoneblade

    I have brought UW Stoneblade to the last 2 FNM’s. Going 5-0 and 4-1.. Still a lot of work to be done with the deck If it at all is good enough on the long term.?

    List:
    Lands-22
    5 Island
    3 Plains
    1 Tundra
    4 Flooded Strand
    4 Scalding Tarn
    1 Arid Mesa
    4 Wasteland

    Creatures-10
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True Name Nemesis
    3 Snapcaster Mage

    Spells-21
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Ponder
    4 Force of Will
    2 Spell Snare
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Council’s Judgement
    1 Counterspell

    Artifacts-2
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa’s Jitte

    Planeswalkers-2
    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Enchantments-2
    2 Back to Basics

    Sideboard:
    3 Surgical Extraction
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Containment Priest
    2 Disenchant
    2 Engineered Explosives
    1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    1 Blue Elemental Blast
    2 Ethersworn Canonist

    The deck has a really nice package in Disenchant and EE plus 2 CJ in main against lockpiece decks. Not to mention B2B which WINS GAMES.

    I’m still afraid of Miracles though. So my SB might not be correct yet.

  10. #150

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by lasseu View Post
    UW Stoneblade

    I have brought UW Stoneblade to the last 2 FNM’s. Going 5-0 and 4-1.. Still a lot of work to be done with the deck If it at all is good enough on the long term.?
    Where do you live that has legacy events as FNM?

  11. #151

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by kramer733 View Post
    Where do you live that has legacy events as FNM?
    Tuesday Legacy Copenhagen.

    Just called it FNM. 😊

  12. #152

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by kramer733 View Post
    Where do you live that has legacy events as FNM?
    Siegen in Germany. Legacy Fnm with ~10 every friday. Wednesday Open Training Rounds and every 3-4 Weeks we Drive to bigger tournaments togehter.

  13. #153

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Hello guys,

    I am looking into an UWr Blade list but I am not experienced at all with SFM decks so I dont really know the character and "way to go" for it. What is the best list exactly? Midrange, control or with Delver and Wastelands? How good is UWr right now? For what do you splash red or is Uw superior? Do you play 3 or 4 Tundra? I am very experienced with Delver decks so I would actually like playing Delver + SFM and a red splash for YP and Bolt. But I didnt work out yet, sometimes it is missing reach and also SFM is so easy on removal spells that the deck feels slow and clunky. Can anybody help me out who is playing this deck a lot? My card pool currently: I have the important blue cards with FoW and fetches, 3 Volcanic Island, 2 Tundra (I could buy a 3. one if needed, but not a 4th).

    Thank you

  14. #154

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by IamHANDSOME View Post
    Hello guys,

    I am looking into an UWr Blade list but I am not experienced at all with SFM decks so I dont really know the character and "way to go" for it. What is the best list exactly? Midrange, control or with Delver and Wastelands? How good is UWr right now? For what do you splash red or is Uw superior? Do you play 3 or 4 Tundra? I am very experienced with Delver decks so I would actually like playing Delver + SFM and a red splash for YP and Bolt. But I didnt work out yet, sometimes it is missing reach and also SFM is so easy on removal spells that the deck feels slow and clunky. Can anybody help me out who is playing this deck a lot? My card pool currently: I have the important blue cards with FoW and fetches, 3 Volcanic Island, 2 Tundra (I could buy a 3. one if needed, but not a 4th).

    Thank you
    There isn’t strictly speaking a “way to go.” Blade decks are essentially amorphous, they take whatever shape their pilot wants. I once tried UWr stoneblade with delver, I found the two simply don’t work that well together. Stoneblade decks want to take it slow and easy whereas delver decks want to blow the opponent out as quickly as possible. They’re just trying to do two different things and tying them together makes them both worse off. Additionally, blade decks don’t have the density of spells needed to support YP and delver. The blade shell of the deck probably sits where your git probes/bolts/therapies used to be. Delver never flipped consistently enough for me. And your YPs will probably look weak relative to their peers.

    The stars of the red splash are red elemental blast/pyroblast, with bolts/blood moons being solid supporting additions. REB/pyroblast are insane against blue decks, they’re basically 1 mana counterspells/vindicates that you can also flash back with snapcaster mage pretty easily.

    Just straight UW stoneblade exists because back to basics is a ridiculous magic card. It’s manabase is virtually unassailable. The problem is it lacks the utility of a 3rd color. If you look at your meta and see a ton of non-basics back to basics might be a good choice.

    That being said, SFM is in pretty bad spot right now. The problem isn’t necessarily that SFM dies to removal, even if they say bolt her you still get 2-1 value out of it. You really shouldn’t be deploying her until you can protect her, I rarely if ever deploy her on T2. The problem is that decks like 4C control are on the same grindy value plan that we are, and in a lot of ways they’re better at it. Leovold, Liliana, hymn, kommand, and baleful strix make our lives pretty miserable.

    It’s hard to give specific build/play advice. Here’s a solid local player’s list from gp vegas a few years back.
    http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=15926&d=298117&f=LE

  15. #155
    Don't just have an idea - have all of them
    Neo900's Avatar
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    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    There is one player in Germany, his name is Niklas Krull. He plays Esper Delver Blade always in the top ranks of tournaments.
    2017 we sit together in the top 8 and had a little talk the rounds before. You can find his list here: http://series.magiccardmarket.eu/cov...acy/#top8decks
    It should be the first one on the page.

    I play Esper Deathblade quite successfully. I have the feeling that deathrite shaman gives you extra spees and aggression to your play or it might be that I just play very aggressive xD

  16. #156

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    I’m finally back with another report. I’ve been running cold lately and been busy, so my motivation to sit down and do one of these things has been pretty low. The list has changed bit since I last left it as result of the tinkering. Thoughtseize #4 replaced collective brutality #3, Tasigur replaced Liliana to increase the number of threats in the deck, pierce replaces a Flusterstorm in the side to help deal with planeswalkers, and council’s judgment gets added to the MD as a catchall.

    Lands-20
    3 Island
    2 Plains
    1 Swamp
    2 Tundra
    2 Underground Sea
    4 Flooded Strand
    4 Polluted Delta
    2 Marsh Flats

    Creatures-11
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    3 True Name Nemesis
    3 Snapcaster Mage
    1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

    Spells-24
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    3 Ponder
    3 Force of Will
    2 Collective Brutality
    4 Thoughtseize
    2 Spell Pierce
    1 Supreme Verdict
    1 Council’s Judgment


    Artifacts-3
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa’s Jitte
    1 Engineered Explosives

    Planeswalkers-3

    2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar


    Sideboard:
    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Engineered Explosives
    2 Zealous Persecution
    2 Back to Basics
    2 Disenchant
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Force of Will
    1 Containment Priest
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Liliana the Last Hope


    Match 1: BR Reanimator featuring Worldgorger Dragon(2-1 Win)
    It’s much less common now, so in case you aren’t familiar, Worldgorger Dragon + animate dead/dance of the dead creates and infinite loop. Animate dead brings world gorger into play, when worldgorger ETBs it exiles all other permanents including the animate dead. When animate dead leaves play worldgorger goes back to the graveyard getting all permanents back. Animate dead re-enters the battlefield targeting worldgorger dragon, the player then taps all their lands that just reentered the field for mana. Worldgorger dragon ETBs and exiles everything again and the process repeats. It ultimately generates infinite mana that gets used to do all sorts of nasty things. In my case he generated an infinitely large walking ballista and shot me to death. Or he can just use sunscorched Desert...
    Of note for us, STP is very relevant in this matchup. With Worldgorger’s leaves the battlefield exile trigger on the stack you can STP it to break up the loop.


    Game 1:
    I know he’s on his weird build of BR from the get go. I don’t know what’s the exact composition is though since he is almost always running some wacky off the wall stuff. My starting 7 is great, if I were facing a creature deck. I go down to 6 with a thoughtseize, SFM, TNN, and lands. My scry is a land which I ship to the bottom. Thankfully he goes down to 6 as well. My thoughtseize takes his only entomb and I start deploying threats. I end up getting lucky as his faithless lootings just never find him anything productive. TNN+SFM deal lethal. Probably stole this one.

    Game 2:
    -2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    -1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    -1 Council’s Judgment
    -1 Supreme Verdict
    -1 Engineered Explosives
    -1 Umezawa’s Jitte
    -2 True-Name Nemesis
    +2 Surgical Extraction
    +1 Flusterstorm
    +2 Disenchant(I’ve seen him run Azor’s gateway in the past)
    +1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    +1 Force of Will
    +1 Containment Priest
    +1 Spell Pierce

    Keep a reasonable opener, thoughtseize some countermagic and a SFM to clock him. We trade countermagic and hand disruption but he gets a good faithless looting off and puts both worldgorger and griselbrand in the yard. My last two cards in hand are land and collective brutality. I fire off brutality praying to see a reanimate, but it’s an animate dead. Womp womp. He goes off the next turn and domes me with huge walking ballista. As much as I love the card, brutality can be really awkward sometimes.

    Game 3:
    I get to play defend the queen, in this case that queen is containment priest. I stick her when my opponent taps out for a thoughtseize. I spend the rest of the game fending off brutalities and kommands to defend her. Eventually priest+snapcaster mage beatdowns put him out of the game.


    Match 2: Dnt(2-1 Win)
    My old nemesis.... I recognize this guy, so I know what he plays. I buckle up for a rough ride.
    Game 1:
    Game 1 goes very smoothly. I get all the basics in the world and he never sees a rishadan port so my mana is entirely unharrased. TNN wears a jitte, and once that jitte gets counters on it I’m probably 90% favored to win. A jace gets resolved and my opponent concedes to the inevitable.

    Game 2:
    -1 Tasigur(A bad joke in this matchup)
    -3 Force of Will
    -1 Gideon Ally of Zendikar
    -2 Spell Pierce
    +1 Engineered Explosives
    +2 Zealous Persecution
    +2 Disenchant
    +1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    +1 Liliana the Last Hope

    This game I end up keeping a decent white heavy hand. And it starts off well enough, I keep his board in check, but I run into problems in the late game. Despite getting 5 basics, but my opponent finds 2 rishadan ports and locks me off of white. I end up dying with Gideon and supreme verdict in hand. Which got me thinking, should I play back to basics? I figured I had nothing to lose so I gave it a shot.

    Game 3:
    -1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    -1 Thoughtseize
    +2 Back to Basics

    My opener ends up being an island, 2 fetchlands, cantrips, EE, and B2B. Well time to test some science I guess. I kill his opening mom+vial with EE, and on T3 when he taps karakas+plains to deploy thalia I see my window. I pay 4 to resolve B2B with 4 basics in play and the rest of the game goes perfectly for me. He does get 3 plains in play so he’s not dead in the water, but he can’t interact with my manabase at all. I get to play all my powerful color intensive spells without a care in the world. My better cards eventually prevail and I win.

    Match 3: Dnt(2-1 Win)
    Game 1:
    No idea what this guy is on, I keep fetches, STP, ponder, and some other stuff. He opens on basic plains and Aether vial and it’s obvious I’m going in for DnT round 2. The game ends up being really interesting and takes about half of the match time. We go back and forth, we both enter top deck mode with my batterskull racing his flickerwisp in the air. Which I’m usually fine with, except he finds a mirran crusader and proceeds to stomp my ass with it.

    Game 2:
    Well I guess I get to try the B2B plan again...
    -1 Tasigur
    -3 Force of Will
    -1 Gideon Ally of Zendikar
    -2 Spell Pierce
    -1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    -1 Thoughtseize
    +2 Back to Basics
    +1 Engineered Explosives
    +2 Zealous Persecution
    +2 Disenchant
    +1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    +1 Liliana the Last Hope

    My opener is really awkward. Underground sea, polluted delta, STP, and cantrips. I can’t deploy the STP without exposing myself to wasteland, but if I fetch the plains I could be cutting myself off cantrips needed to find mana. I hate these kinds of hands since they really put you at the mercy of your cantrips. He opens on rishadan port pass, a good start. I do underground sea, ponder and brick. He wastelands me then passes. I crack the polluted delta, find a tundra, and ponder again, I get a fetchland! And he wastelands me again.... I play my fetch and pass and he spends his next 3 or 4 turns discard to hand size as he hits the manascrew very hard. I start drawing my lands and win with some random critter. No colored mana and no vial means his deck doesn’t function. Free win I guess.

    Game 3:
    Another basic/fetch heavy hand with some removal and cantrips. Snapkeep. On T3 or so I ponder or draw in to B2B again and deploy it after he taps out leaving him with a solitary plains. He never recovers. I get 4-5 basics online to start throwing haymakers at him and he just can't keep up.


    B2B vs DnT is an interesting discovery, I’m not sure if it’s correct or not though. On paper I get why it’s easy to think it’s bad. They run 8-9 basics and Aether vial. You can’t use B2B to manascrew your opponents out of the game like you normally would so it should be left out.
    But in this case I’d argue you play B2B defensively to protect your own manabase. Once you deploy it, they really can’t mess with your mana if you have enough basics. Also consider they run a lot of non-basics of their own. Karakas, port, wasteland, cavern of souls, and horizon canopy are all one shots now. Additionally consider that even though they run a ton of basics, they go through their deck way slower without any cantrips/card draw. It’s very possible that you force them to operate on only 1-2 plains. And if you can keep vial off the board they really suffer as they’re forced to play their creatures out honestly 1 at a time.
    Last edited by First_Revenge; 06-11-2018 at 11:01 AM.

  17. #157

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    What are your thoughts about Brightling? I think it fits at best in a straight UW shell, but for Esperblade lifelink is nice, too. Nonetheless in general the many W activation costs are a bit problematic for a 3 colour mana base. I'd like to test it at least as a 1 of. Has anyone of you tested the card so far?

  18. #158

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Do you think it's better than TNN?

    Maybe it goes in the side for when you face miracles and whatever else it ends up being good against?

  19. #159

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    No, I don't think it's better than TNN, but maybe just worth as an additional critter. I only stumbled across this non-tournament based Esperblade list yesterday and was interested: https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/fr...eblade/1313836. I like the card's pure control aspects, but don't know if it's just too mana intensive when you want it to be flexible enough every turn. Probably it really shines only as a sideboard card for a matchup like Miracles. I'll give it a try soon.

  20. #160

    Re: [Primer] UWx Stoneblade

    Quote Originally Posted by haloquaero View Post
    No, I don't think it's better than TNN, but maybe just worth as an additional critter. I only stumbled across this non-tournament based Esperblade list yesterday and was interested: https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/fr...eblade/1313836. I like the card's pure control aspects, but don't know if it's just too mana intensive when you want it to be flexible enough every turn. Probably it really shines only as a sideboard card for a matchup like Miracles. I'll give it a try soon.
    Lol you found my decklist. I haven't tested it yet though, i'll probably grab a copy today and test it out next week?

    The card seems like it will be at its best in dnt. I mean once you get vial on 3 and you blink this in with 2-3 plains open, how exactly do you kill this thing?

    In our deck it will probably be less good, but still decent. Flat out, it's not a replacement for TNN. TNN is likely still the best equipment bearer ever printed. Its a very difficult card to answer. That being said, because its so common everyone and their mother is ready for it. Any deck interested in playing magic beyond T3 needs(and has) an answer to this guy. And that's a key weakness to TNN. Brightling covers some of those weakness, it trades in TNN's evasiveness for some additional survivability.

    Here's my thoughts on the card having not tested it.

    The good:
    Very flexible. Especially relevant in esper is the lifelink.

    Assuming you cast him with at least 1 mana up, he's actually still really good. For example, look at the average grixis delver decklist. How exactly do they kill it? Lets assume you cast brightling with 1 mana up. Well bolt doesn't work unless they want to trade 2-1. The -X/-X effects don't really work either. They do have diabolic edict as a 1-2 of which could be unreliable and only works on certain board states. With all the red based removal running around in general, just being able to pump him to 4 toughness is really relevant. Of course the story gets better after you untap with him and he starts getting unkillable.

    It's also worth pointing out that at least in my local meta, point and shoot killspells which would require a bounce to deal with such as fatal push, STP, and AD are at all time lows.

    The bad:
    I see him being awkward in combat. It's likely brightling ends up in a lot of staring matches. You force your opponent to keep their angler/TNN back, but at the same time you aren't doing anything either. Stoneblade needs someone to carry the equipment and brightling might not be able to do it.

    WW is a lot to ask, WWW to deploy and fully protect him is also asking even more. In a wasteland heavy meta our 3 drop threats costing 1UU and 1WW does stretch the manabase somewhat.

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