Bizarro Stormy (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Griselbrand)

[Jlive00]

Hoogland about to stream the deck. Looks like an empty is in the sb.

[Zavec]

It was a bad day to be Bizarro.

Round 1: Eldrazi

Game one turn one they played a thorn of amethyst, I had no way to remove that game 1 so I was locked out before getting a turn.

Game two made a griselbrand with unburial rites, a couple of attacks were good enough to close it.

Game 3 they had leyline of the void, I played an island and pondered instead of bouncing it with chain of vapor. Proceeded to get the chain thought-knotted and that was that. Lesson learned.

Round 2: UR painter
Game one I turn one'd him off land, dark ritual, cabal ritual, entomb, corpse dance.

Game 2 he played a turn 2 trinisphere and I couldn't find an answer before getting grindstoned.

Game 3 mulliganed to 4, didn't see a single non-LED mana source until one land in the hand of 4. Was still almost a game, but he had the turn one tormod's crypt and I couldn't find a way to make enough mana to cast two reanimation spells until after he landed another trinisphere.

Round 3: Storm
Game one thoughtseized him then went off no problem.

Game two kept a slow 5, got a bunch of discard pointed at me, died. Game three was much the same.

Mulligans were brutal all night, might go up to 14 lands + mox or 13+2.

[Acclimation]

It was a bad day to be Bizarro.

GAMES

Mulligans were brutal all night, might go up to 14 lands + mox or 13+2.

Rough night. Mulligans have been something I've been struggling with, although I haven't jammed a game since asking Phazonmutant for his heuristics a few pages back.

re: Hoogland's stream: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o4xgg1Cs-Y4

There's the vod. I haven't watched much of it yet, just the first match and game 1 of match 2, since I don't really care much for Hoogland (dude's negativity really turns me off).

Rant incoming: Apparently he was calling it Magus Storm, and refused to call it Bizarro, because the name wasn't descriptive. One of my pet peeves about naming conventions is that it assumes people don't know how to google search things. You google "Magus of the Mind Storm Legacy" and get his video, and some random reddit posts. You google Bizarro Stormy, and this thread is the first link (and lots of Sealab links). It's fine if you want to call things Grixis Control in standard, because you can add the qualifier "Dominaria Standard" to find discussion, but with non-rotating formats, having weird names makes things a bit easier to find. /rant

[Zavec]

The thorn of amethyst before I got to do anything was probably the most annoying. Makes me wonder about a burning wish version so we have outs game one.

Or maybe we just accept that if they have a turn one hate piece game one we probably aren't winning, and focus on games 2/3.

[scottpou]

The thorn of amethyst before I got to do anything was probably the most annoying. Makes me wonder about a burning wish version so we have outs game one.

Or maybe we just accept that if they have a turn one hate piece game one we probably aren't winning, and focus on games 2/3.

Even with TinFins, I have been going up against Thorn in game 1's. I have been thanking burning wish quite a bit. Happening to me yesterday to start the day on Cockatrice.

[Acclimation]

Even with TinFins, I have been going up against Thorn in game 1's. I have been thanking burning wish quite a bit. Happening to me yesterday to start the day on Cockatrice.

I think if Thorn is something you bump up against often in your meta, it's worth a change. If you want to make a BW version of the deck, here's where I would start (adjusted from the Death Wish build I posted a few pages back; also the manabase is probably not right either, but whatever):

1x Bayou
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Underground Sea
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Volcanic Island

3x Griselbrand
1x Magus of the Mind

4x Brainstorm
2x Cabal Ritual
2x Corpse Dance
4x Dark Ritual
4x Entomb
4x Shallow Grave

2x Collective Brutality
3x Burning Wish
1x Past in Flames
3x Ponder
3x Thoughtseize
3x Gitaxian Probe


3x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal

Sideboard
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Massacre
3x Silent Gravestone
1x Tendrils of Agony

3 Other slots (Shattering Spree/Hull Breach/ Hurkyl's/Empty?)

[LarryJ]

Rough night. Mulligans have been something I've been struggling with, although I haven't jammed a game since asking Phazonmutant for his heuristics a few pages back.

re: Hoogland's stream: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o4xgg1Cs-Y4

There's the vod. I haven't watched much of it yet, just the first match and game 1 of match 2, since I don't really care much for Hoogland (dude's negativity really turns me off).

Rant incoming: Apparently he was calling it Magus Storm, and refused to call it Bizarro, because the name wasn't descriptive. One of my pet peeves about naming conventions is that it assumes people don't know how to google search things. You google "Magus of the Mind Storm Legacy" and get his video, and some random reddit posts. You google Bizarro Stormy, and this thread is the first link (and lots of Sealab links). It's fine if you want to call things Grixis Control in standard, because you can add the qualifier "Dominaria Standard" to find discussion, but with non-rotating formats, having weird names makes things a bit easier to find. /rant

Watching him play the deck was disappointing.. he calls the deck bad, but misplays half a dozen times...

[scottpou]

Watching him play the deck was disappointing..

Watched it live, and thought similarly. It definitely wasn't played optimally, but I do appreciate the exposure.

[8bit9mm]

Sideboard
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Massacre
3x Silent Gravestone
1x Tendrils of Agony

3 Other slots (Shattering Spree/Hull Breach/ Hurkyl's/Empty?)

If I were playing a Burning Wish variant (with green splash), I think I'd run something along the lines of:

2x Abrupt Decay
2x Chain of Vapor
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Echoing Truth
1x Massacre
3x Silent Gravestone
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Reverent Silence
1x Meltdown / By Force
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Exhume


This is mainly from my experience playing a ton of TES and a good bit of DDFT.
I may have overlooked something, but I think this would be a decent start.

[Acclimation]

If I were playing a Burning Wish variant (with green splash), I think I'd run something along the lines of:

2x Abrupt Decay
2x Chain of Vapor
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Echoing Truth
1x Massacre
3x Silent Gravestone
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Reverent Silence
1x Meltdown / By Force
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Exhume


This is mainly from my experience playing a ton of TES and a good bit of DDFT.
I may have overlooked something, but I think this would be a decent start.

This is probably correct. I'm thinking you could run straight Grixis, but it leaves you soft to enchantments beyond bounce spells.

Probably a mana base of:

4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Swamp
1 Island
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn

SB of (adapted from your suggested sb):
1x Rending Volley
2x Chain of Vapor
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Echoing Truth
2x Massacre
3x Silent Gravestone
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Meltdown / By Force
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Exhume

[.dk]

If I were playing a Burning Wish variant (with green splash), I think I'd run something along the lines of



This is mainly from my experience playing a ton of TES and a good bit of DDFT.
I may have overlooked something, but I think this would be a decent start.

I don't think you need green if you're playing Burning Wish. Empty is such a good card in the matchups where Carpet of Flowers is good and Abrade can mostly make up for Abrupt Decay. I think you'd want to board into multiple Empty the Warrens post board vs. Delver decks. Similar to a BW list I posted on the Discord 2-3 weeks ago:


2 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Brainstorm
3 Burning Wish
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
1 Corpse Dance
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Past in Flames
3 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:

2 Abrade
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth or Massacre
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Exhume
1 Past in Flames
1 Pulverize
3 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony


Substitute whatever artifact sweeper you want for Pulverize if you don't like that card - Meltdown, Shattering Spree, By Force, etc and update the manabase accordingly.

[Acclimation]

I don't think you need green if you're playing Burning Wish. Empty is such a good card in the matchups where Carpet of Flowers is good and Abrade can mostly make up for Abrupt Decay. I think you'd want to board into multiple Empty the Warrens post board vs. Delver decks. Similar to a BW list I posted on the Discord 2-3 weeks ago:


2 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Brainstorm
3 Burning Wish
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
1 Corpse Dance
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Past in Flames
3 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:

2 Abrade
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth or Massacre
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Exhume
1 Past in Flames
1 Pulverize
3 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony


Substitute whatever artifact sweeper you want for Pulverize if you don't like that card - Meltdown, Shattering Spree, By Force, etc and update the manabase accordingly.

RIGHT, ABRADE. That was the card I was trying to think about.

I think for a BW build you want a sb of:

1 Tendrils (duh)
3 Gravestone (also duh)
1-2 Chain of Vapor (need more answers to leyline/rip)
1 Artifact Sweeper (your choice of By Force, Pulverize, or Meltdown)

And then 9 cards:
Massacre (at least 1, 2 if you hate D&T)
Exhume/Reanimate (no more than 1)
Past in Flames (1 to wish for is good)
Empty (1-3, at least 1 to wish for, 3 if you want to board into a more aggressive Empty plan vs Grixis.)
Abrade (0-2 I think this card is hot right now, breaks Chalice, Cage, 3ball, DRS, Magus of the Moon, other random dorks out of decks)
Rending Volley (0-2 I like this if you run into more Leovold and Meddling Mage over Chalice decks)
Cabal Therapy/Thoughtseize (0-1, wishable discard is nice sometimes)
Echoing Truth (more bounce is good)
Hurkyl's Recall (I'm not as high on this since we can run the red options listed above)

There's probably something I'm missing, but I like this for my meta:

1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Meltdown
2 Massacre
1 Past in Flames
2 Abrade
3 Empty the Warrens

[.dk]

RIGHT, ABRADE. That was the card I was trying to think about.

I think for a BW build you want a sb of:

1 Tendrils (duh)
3 Gravestone (also duh)
1-2 Chain of Vapor (need more answers to leyline/rip)
1 Artifact Sweeper (your choice of By Force, Pulverize, or Meltdown)

And then 9 cards:
Massacre (at least 1, 2 if you hate D&T)
Exhume/Reanimate (no more than 1)
Past in Flames (1 to wish for is good)
Empty (1-3, at least 1 to wish for, 3 if you want to board into a more aggressive Empty plan vs Grixis.)
Abrade (0-2 I think this card is hot right now, breaks Chalice, Cage, 3ball, DRS, Magus of the Moon, other random dorks out of decks)
Rending Volley (0-2 I like this if you run into more Leovold and Meddling Mage over Chalice decks)
Cabal Therapy/Thoughtseize (0-1, wishable discard is nice sometimes)
Echoing Truth (more bounce is good)
Hurkyl's Recall (I'm not as high on this since we can run the red options listed above)

There's probably something I'm missing, but I like this for my meta:

1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Meltdown
2 Massacre
1 Past in Flames
2 Abrade
3 Empty the Warrens

No reanimation as a BW target? Exhume seems like such a no-brainer

[Acclimation]

No reanimation as a BW target? Exhume seems like such a no-brainer

Right. Not sure what to cut, probably 1 Abrade or a Chain. I kind of hate my Exhumes because they're from Graveborn and are kinda warped, would almost prefer to run Reanimate even if it's worse just because I have it in JPN.

[.dk]

Right. Not sure what to cut, probably 1 Abrade or a Chain. I kind of hate my Exhumes because they're from Graveborn and are kinda warped, would almost prefer to run Reanimate even if it's worse just because I have it in JPN.

Cutting 1 Massacre isn't terrible there either, as you're probably just boarding in 1 anyway? Also possible that it's better than Past in Flames as well, but I really don't know. I do like the prospect of having access to 2 PIF. That and having access to 5 Empties post board were the reasons I was wanting to play around with Burning Wish again to begin with.

[Acclimation]

Cutting 1 Massacre isn't terrible there either, as you're probably just boarding in 1 anyway? Also possible that it's better than Past in Flames as well, but I really don't know. I do like the prospect of having access to 2 PIF. That and having access to 5 Empties post board were the reasons I was wanting to play around with Burning Wish again to begin with.

Was thinking with 2 Massacre one would get boarded in, the other would be Wishable.

I think I shaved a Chain.

[.dk]

Was thinking with 2 Massacre one would get boarded in, the other would be Wishable.

I think I shaved a Chain.

That's what I meant, you'd be down to 1 massacre, and just wouldn't have one to board in and just have the wish target.

[Acclimation]

Tested out the Burning Wish build at FNM tonight, and went 1-2. Since I don't own Volcanic Island or Badlands, I played shocklands, thinking it wouldn't matter... And it did matter.

Rd 1: Burn 1-2

Game 1 he goes Mountain, Guide, attack, go. I go turn 1 kill you.

In: 2 Abrade, 1 Chain of Vapor, 1 Silent Gravestone
Out: 3 Probe 1 Griselbrand

Game 2 I have a t2 combo, but my eot Entomb for Griselbrand gets Faerie Macabre'd. I end up drawing LED to pitch the GB in my opener, but brick on the draw 7 and couldn't make anything work with the mana floating. Had 7 life, swung for 7 to get back to 14, and decided to pass, since I figured I could have 2 more draw steps with a hand of Cabal Ritual, Magus, and loads of Reanimation. Opponent plays Eidolon, and I draw Burning Wish. I had a line (I wish I wrote it down) to play through it, but the shockland I needed to play untapped for Red mana prevents me from actually doing it. I make mini Tendrils to buy time and put him to 2, but don't draw CoBru to finish him.

Game 3: I keep a slow hand with Abrade, Ritual, Burning Wish, Shallow Grave, a Ponder, and lands. End up drawing CoBru and BW after shuffling with Ponder, kill both Goblin Guides but end up seeing 0 Instants/Sorceries in his hand with CoBru, just Sulferic Vortex, Macabre, and Land. He topdecks Eidolon, and I end up having a line for wishing for PiF and storming out for 14 (he also played Sulferic Vortex the turn after) when he was at 16, but Eidolon and needing to shock myself with a shockland once again leaves me 2 life short to win.

Rd 2: Nyx Fit 2-0
Nothing to note here, although in g2 he cast Lost Legacy naming Griselbrand when I was planning on t3 killing after keeping a mull to 6 that had one land and no rituals. End up going Magus for 5 into flipping Entomb, LED, Dark Ritual, Swamp, and Ponder-> Entomb PiF, Magus for 13 and flip 3 Shallow Graves and more LED+Rituals.

In: 3 Silent Gravestone 1 Chain of Vapor
Out: 1 Griselbrand 1 Ponder 2 Probe

Rd 3: Solidarity 0-2

End up getting slow hands both games and spun wheels. Tried to board in Empty to get a quick kill under FoW+Fluster+Remand+Muddle, and got punished by drawing both g2, so I had to make 6 Goblins t3 and 4 Goblins t4. He killed me with lethal damage swinging in t5.

In: 2 Empty the Warrens 1 Silent Gravestone
Out: 3 Ponder


Burning Wish was definitely interesting. I wish I had actual lands, as I should have won the first round and have been 2-1 (or maybe 3-0), but that's the risk of playing shocklands. I wish I had a Cabal Therapy in the SB, as I had a line where I could have Wished for Therapy to bin a Griselbrand in hand. Abrade is a good card, I like it vs a lot of decks, as it can answer random things like Cage+DRS out of Delver decks, Prison pieces+hatebears out of Stompy decks or D&T, and so on.

I wanted Empty to work out, but I didn't play any matches where having 2 Empty in the deck with 1 for Wish would have been good. That being said, my meta was this: 10 players: Me (Bizarro), 1 Nyx Fit, 1 Solidarity, 1 Tinfins (this guy also plays Aluren and Food Chain and BUG Control), 1 UB Eldrazi stompy (He had a boardstate of 2 Leyline of the Void, Chalice on 1, Sphere of Resistance, and Thought-Knot, with FoW in hand at one game I looked at), 1 4c control, 1 Burn, and 3 decks I didn't catch. We also have a guy that plays Moon Stompy pretty frequently, some guys that play D&T, and sometimes Miracles , BR Reanimator, Turbo Depths, Lands, Show and Tell, and Storm show up, but apparently tonight was jank night.

In short: not as dead to Stompy decks g1 (wish for By Force or Meltdown), extra storm lines (Wish for PiF/Empty), extra reanimation lines (Exhume). Probably worth fitting in a discard spell to wish for as well, since it comes up.

The cuts I made were 1 Ponder and 1 Discard spell (and MA) for the 3 BW, so there's a very good chance it's better, but it needs more testing.

I'm likely going to play my White splash build next week, as Serenity is really strong in my meta, and I really don't want to lose to shocklands again. Probably going to do 1 MA, 3 Therapy, 2 Cobru 1 Thoughtseize too.


Here's the BW list I played tonight:
1x Blood Crypt (Should be a Badlands)
3x Bloodstained Mire
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Underground Sea
1x Steam Vents (should be a Volcanic)

3x Griselbrand
1x Magus of the Mind

4x Brainstorm
2x Cabal Ritual
2x Corpse Dance
4x Dark Ritual
4x Entomb
4x Shallow Grave

2x Collective Brutality
3x Burning Wish
1x Past in Flames
3x Ponder
3x Cabal Therapy
3x Gitaxian Probe


3x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal

Sb:
1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Silent Gravestone
1 Chain of Vapor
1 By Force
2 Massacre
1 Past in Flames
2 Abrade
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Exhume

Recommended changes: Actual duals, probably go -2 EtW, +1 Cabal Therapy +1 Chain or other random card. Try to find way to jam in 6th discard spell, potentially.

[.dk]

Burning Wish was definitely interesting. I wish I had actual lands, as I should have won the first round and have been 2-1 (or maybe 3-0), but that's the risk of playing shocklands. I wish I had a Cabal Therapy in the SB, as I had a line where I could have Wished for Therapy to bin a Griselbrand in hand. Abrade is a good card, I like it vs a lot of decks, as it can answer random things like Cage+DRS out of Delver decks, Prison pieces+hatebears out of Stompy decks or D&T, and so on.

I wanted Empty to work out, but I didn't play any matches where having 2 Empty in the deck with 1 for Wish would have been good. That being said, my meta was this: 10 players: Me (Bizarro), 1 Nyx Fit, 1 Solidarity, 1 Tinfins (this guy also plays Aluren and Food Chain and BUG Control), 1 UB Eldrazi stompy (He had a boardstate of 2 Leyline of the Void, Chalice on 1, Sphere of Resistance, and Thought-Knot, with FoW in hand at one game I looked at), 1 4c control, 1 Burn, and 3 decks I didn't catch. We also have a guy that plays Moon Stompy pretty frequently, some guys that play D&T, and sometimes Miracles , BR Reanimator, Turbo Depths, Lands, Show and Tell, and Storm show up, but apparently tonight was jank night.

In short: not as dead to Stompy decks g1 (wish for By Force or Meltdown), extra storm lines (Wish for PiF/Empty), extra reanimation lines (Exhume). Probably worth fitting in a discard spell to wish for as well, since it comes up.

Recommended changes: Actual duals, probably go -2 EtW, +1 Cabal Therapy +1 Chain or other random card. Try to find way to jam in 6th discard spell, potentially.

In that meta, totally. One of the reasons I wanted to try Burning Wish to begin with was having access to 5 Empty the Warrens post board vs. Delver decks. Not that 3 Empties are bad, but I wonder if that is strong enough in those matchups - this config doesn't have any great options there otherwise.

[Acclimation]

In that meta, totally. One of the reasons I wanted to try Burning Wish to begin with was having access to 5 Empty the Warrens post board vs. Delver decks. Not that 3 Empties are bad, but I wonder if that is strong enough in those matchups - this config doesn't have any great options there otherwise.

And 3 Empty might as well be very good versus Delver, but due to the lack of the deck, I couldn't give it a spin. I think BW is promising though.