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

[Acclimation]

Grim Tutor

You get on out of here with that!


I think in your SB I would cut Flusterstorm, but I'm not too big on the card. Or a Chain of Vapor since you have Hurkyl's+Decay, and you really only lose ground vs Leylines and other random permanents above 3cmc, but that's just me.

[.dk]

You get on out of here with that!

what?! The only thing wrong with Grim Tutor is that you can't get it black border!

I think in your SB I would cut Flusterstorm, but I'm not too big on the card. Or a Chain of Vapor since you have Hurkyl's+Decay, and you really only lose ground vs Leylines and other random permanents above 3cmc, but that's just me.

I think the first thing to cut would be Hurkyl's, but i don't really like that either. I'm generally not huge on Flusterstorm either, but I do think we can have issues against Show and Tell variants, and that card helps a whole lot there. It's also a lot better in other combo mirrors than something like Xantid Swarm is as well, so that's why it gets the nod. 19 card sideboard, that's all I'm askin' for.

[Acclimation]

what?! The only thing wrong with Grim Tutor is that you can't get it black border!

I just refuse to play it because I owned one for over a year and it got 0 play since DP got printed. Not good enough for Storm, not good enough for us.

I think the first thing to cut would be Hurkyl's, but i don't really like that either. I'm generally not huge on Flusterstorm either, but I do think we can have issues against Show and Tell variants, and that card helps a whole lot there. It's also a lot better in other combo mirrors than something like Xantid Swarm is as well, so that's why it gets the nod. 19 card sideboard, that's all I'm askin' for.

I think 1 Hurkyl's is fine, because I'm finding that Chalice decks are just auto pilot slamming on x=1, so having an answer that hits that and other things in one go seems pretty good when you don't have Serenity.

I think my plan vs Show is bounce their Leyline, discard their countermagic, and maybe Silence them out, but once again, that's a strength of the White splash is that Silence is good vs combo and vs counter magic decks.

[.dk]

I just refuse to play it because I owned one for over a year and it got 0 play since DP got printed. Not good enough for Storm, not good enough for us.

It's good enough in storm sometimes too. Depends how many spell pierces and dazes are out there.

I think 1 Hurkyl's is fine, because I'm finding that Chalice decks are just auto pilot slamming on x=1, so having an answer that hits that and other things in one go seems pretty good when you don't have Serenity.

I think my plan vs Show is bounce their Leyline, discard their countermagic, and maybe Silence them out, but once again, that's a strength of the White splash is that Silence is good vs combo and vs counter magic decks.

Right - green has cards that are better in specific scenarios, white is a bit less powerful but more diverse. *shrug*

[phazonmutant]

So far I'm 3-1, 4-0, 4-0 in CardKingdom weeklies, 4-2 in a 1k for 15-3 overall. Not bad for a "joke" deck! It feels pretty busted, but it's dang hard to play. I'm playing something like this, with the caveat that the numbers look dumb and the sideboard is basically untuned.
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island

4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Mastermind's Acquisition
1 Past in Flames
3 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
1 Ground Seal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Massacre
2 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tropical Island

Notable differences from other lists:

• 2 CoBru instead of 3. It's a great effect, but just more expensive. 4 1CMC discard seems like a minimum.
• 1 Volcanic over 1 Badlands, 1 Island main. /shrug Storm plays this configuration for a reason. I've liked having 2 basics for Moon Stompy and D&T.
• Green sideboard. Somewhat more common now, but Carpet has been amazing. Decay is nice too for the grind plan lategame.

My big realization from playing this deck is that it goes late really well. There's not much incentive to go all-in in most matchups since you can just play haymakers or cast a giant dude pretty realistically. PiF really helps this too since it's a tutorable both halves of the combo / random Tendrils enabler.

I don't really remember each match, but I can give some analysis on the matches I've played.
Moon stompy 1-1 - pretty tough. Some seem to be playing Faerie Macabe, which seems really dumb but I got blown out by not playing around it. Board out some discard and Ponders, in bounce and Decay.
D&T 1-0 - This matchup feels pretty easy. Most of their interaction is turn 2. Watch out for Faerie Macabre. Board out some LEDs, some Ponders, a Cabal Rit, maybe a discard.
Eldrazi 0-1 - I got blown out by an ape. He mentioned Leyline was pretty good in this matchup afterwards, in case I hadn't noticed. Pretty hard.
Lands 1-0 - very easy. Watch out for Crop Rotation.
Burn 1-0 - yawn
Grixis Delver 2-0 - Feels close. You can usually play around Deathrite, but discard is rough.
Storm 1-0 - draw dependent but I think they're ahead. They have more t1 discard, about the same clock, and are a little less clunky. I like having a couple cards to bring in.

Meh that's it for tonight, don't feel like writing more of a novel. I haven't played too many blue control decks yet but I'm not too afraid, Gravestone is very, very good. I'm only really afraid of Chalice decks but mostly have beaten them.

[8bit9mm]

I'm playing something like this, with the caveat that the numbers look dumb and the sideboard is basically untuned.
...
My big realization from playing this deck is that it goes late really well. There's not much incentive to go all-in in most matchups since you can just play haymakers or cast a giant dude pretty realistically. PiF really helps this too since it's a tutorable both halves of the combo / random Tendrils enabler.

Initially looking at your fetches, it looked like a mess. But, the more I stare at it, the more it actually makes sense and seems perfectly serviceable. I don't think your numbers are really off at all.

I had a conversation with .dk on the discord about this deck's grinding capabilities. It's still Tin Fins-esque at it's roots. It'll still turn 1 you, but I find that post board you can just sit back, tear apart their hand, kill their Deathrites (hnnnnngggggg CoBru) and pick your spot. I also really love the ability this deck has to just cast Hook-Hands with rituals. It's not really that uncommon.

Grats on your success so far.

[Acclimation]

My big realization from playing this deck is that it goes late really well. There's not much incentive to go all-in in most matchups since you can just play haymakers or cast a giant dude pretty realistically. PiF really helps this too since it's a tutorable both halves of the combo / random Tendrils enabler.

I'm curious as to your mulligan decisions based off of this point, as I've been mulliganing myself into the ground looking for nutty hands (Belcher style), and tossing back hands that are more land/cantrip heavy if they don't have entomb or reanimation.

[.dk]

I'm curious as to your mulligan decisions based off of this point, as I've been mulliganing myself into the ground looking for nutty hands (Belcher style), and tossing back hands that are more land/cantrip heavy if they don't have entomb or reanimation.

That's a really interesting topic of discussion. My heuristic is that I throw back a 6 or 7 if it doesn't have at least a reanimation spell or entomb and a ponder/brainstorm - same as it was for Tin Fins. At least game 1 - mulligans get a lot tougher in post board games too.

[phazonmutant]

I'm curious as to your mulligan decisions based off of this point, as I've been mulliganing myself into the ground looking for nutty hands (Belcher style), and tossing back hands that are more land/cantrip heavy if they don't have entomb or reanimation.

Good question. I think it's roughly:

1. Mull if it has no combo pieces
2. Mull if it has no lands or Petals
3. Mull if it has a Reanimate and fast mana / disruption but no cantrips.
4. Keep if it has an Entomb and disruption, even if it doesn't have cantrips.
5. Mull if it requires 2+ cards, has a cantrip, but gets blown out by Wasteland *and* playing against a Wasteland deck
6. Keep any 2 cantrip hand with lands.
7. Keep if it has lands, fast mana, disruption, and a Griselbrand.

Basically I just want the deck to function and do something. I'm happy making land drops and setting up for a PiF or hardcast dude, so I usually keep 1 of those cards in hand with Brainstorm if possible, even at the cost of putting back reanimation.

[8bit9mm]

Here's where I currently am at with the white splash:

Sorcery (15)
3x Cabal Therapy
2x Collective Brutality
4x Gitaxian Probe
1x Past in Flames
3x Ponder
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Thoughtseize

Instant (20)
4x Brainstorm
2x Cabal Ritual
2x Corpse Dance
4x Dark Ritual
4x Entomb
4x Shallow Grave

Land (14)
1x Badlands
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Swamp
1x Tundra
2x Underground Sea

Artifact (7)
3x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal

Creature (4)
3x Griselbrand
1x Magus of the Mind

Sideboard (15)
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Echoing Truth
2x Fatal Push
1x Massacre
2x Serenity
3x Silence
3x Silent Gravestone


I've currently trimmed down to 3 Ponder and 2 Collective Brutality (following phazonmutant's advice), to make room for the 4th Probe and 3rd Therapy. The list has been very smooth so far. I still need to go and give Mastermind's Acquisition another test run, but I've been very sold on the main-deck Tendrils. Being able to Entomb your Tendrils and go for the kill via Past In Flames has come up on more than one occasion.

I've also been considering changing the land configuration as well for the white splash. Something along the lines of:

4x Polluted Delta
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Marsh Flats
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Underground Sea
1x Badlands
1x Scrubland
1x Swamp
1x Island

This would allow me to throw the Tundra in the SB and maybe run Swords over Fatal Push as my 1-for-1 removal.
I've found white to offer very potent SB options, I'm just not 100% sure they are more potent than splashing green.

[.dk]

Here's where I currently am at with the white splash:

Sorcery (15)
3x Cabal Therapy
2x Collective Brutality
4x Gitaxian Probe
1x Past in Flames
3x Ponder
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Thoughtseize

Instant (20)
4x Brainstorm
2x Cabal Ritual
2x Corpse Dance
4x Dark Ritual
4x Entomb
4x Shallow Grave

Land (14)
1x Badlands
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Swamp
1x Tundra
2x Underground Sea

Artifact (7)
3x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal

Creature (4)
3x Griselbrand
1x Magus of the Mind

Sideboard (15)
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Echoing Truth
2x Fatal Push
1x Massacre
2x Serenity
3x Silence
3x Silent Gravestone


I've currently trimmed down to 3 Ponder and 2 Collective Brutality (following phazonmutant's advice), to make room for the 4th Probe and 3rd Therapy. The list has been very smooth so far. I still need to go and give Mastermind's Acquisition another test run, but I've been very sold on the main-deck Tendrils. Being able to Entomb your Tendrils and go for the kill via Past In Flames has come up on more than one occasion.

I've also been considering changing the land configuration as well for the white splash. Something along the lines of:

4x Polluted Delta
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Marsh Flats
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Underground Sea
1x Badlands
1x Scrubland
1x Swamp
1x Island

This would allow me to throw the Tundra in the SB and maybe run Swords over Fatal Push as my 1-for-1 removal.
I've found white to offer very potent SB options, I'm just not 100% sure they are more potent than splashing green.

I still haven't run the land configuration that lets you run a basic Island. I should try that. Your proposed land configuration looks good for Tundra in the board too.

[.dk]

Also... small primer update to include Carpet of Flowers in the sideboard section, and move Abrupt Decay into the same section:

Carpet of Flowers: If you're running a Green splash, this card is well worth the slot as a 2-of. The extra mana it provides allows us to power through opposing soft counters as well as the ability to have more mana on the combo turn to speed up the clock and decrease the fizzle rate. Furthermore, the extra mana makes casting Griselbrand more viable as well (a line that comes up more often than I originally thought it would). This and Abrupt Decay are strong reasons for the Green splash.

Abrupt Decay - Chalice, Leovold, Blood Moon, Counterbalance - we all know how good this card is by now. Almost mandatory in some amount if you're running a green splash.

[8bit9mm]

I still haven't run the land configuration that lets you run a basic Island. I should try that. Your proposed land configuration looks good for Tundra in the board too.

Basic Island has provided a lot of utility. It's nice to not be cut off casting your cantrips.
Plus, basic Swamp and Island let you do pretty much everything you'd want to do.
I do find myself prioritizing blue mana though. I find it to be the choke point when going off with Magus.

[phazonmutant]

I went 4-0 again on Monday, same deck as posted above except -1 Fluster, +1 Surgical. I find it hard to believe the numbers are right, but I don't really have a good idea of what to change around and it keeps on winning. I think the sideboard cards just aren't that good besides Carpet, Gravestone, and some Decays.

The matchups were:
BR Reanimator: -1 CoBru, -1 Ponder, -1 Griselbrand, -1 LED, +2 Gravestone, +1 Fluster, +1 Surgical. Fluster stopped his Entomb and Gravestone won the game.
UR Burn: -1 Thoughtseize, -2 LED, -1 Ponder, -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Griselbrand, +2 Carpet, +2 Gravestone, +2 Decay. Carpet was great here for playing around Fluster. He kept in PoP.
Czech Pile: -2 LED, -1 Petal, -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Island, -1 Thoughtseize, -2 Ponder, +2 Decay, +1 Trop, +2 Carpet, +1 Fluster, +2 Gravestone, +1 Ground Seal. Carpet was so so good, enabled PiF.
Bizarro Stormy (mirror): -1 Island, -1 Ponder, -1 CoBru, +1 Surgical, +1 Fluster, +1 Trop

[8bit9mm]

I went 4-0 again on Monday, same deck as posted above except -1 Fluster, +1 Surgical. I find it hard to believe the numbers are right, but I don't really have a good idea of what to change around and it keeps on winning. I think the sideboard cards just aren't that good besides Carpet, Gravestone, and some Decays.

The matchups were:
BR Reanimator: -1 CoBru, -1 Ponder, -1 Griselbrand, -1 LED, +2 Gravestone, +1 Fluster, +1 Surgical. Fluster stopped his Entomb and Gravestone won the game.
UR Burn: -1 Thoughtseize, -2 LED, -1 Ponder, -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Griselbrand, +2 Carpet, +2 Gravestone, +2 Decay. Carpet was great here for playing around Fluster. He kept in PoP.
Czech Pile: -2 LED, -1 Petal, -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Island, -1 Thoughtseize, -2 Ponder, +2 Decay, +1 Trop, +2 Carpet, +1 Fluster, +2 Gravestone, +1 Ground Seal. Carpet was so so good, enabled PiF.
Bizarro Stormy (mirror): -1 Island, -1 Ponder, -1 CoBru, +1 Surgical, +1 Fluster, +1 Trop

I would suggest Reverent Silence, but we won't be blowing up Blood Moons with it and the only other enchantment I see regularly is Leyline of the Void/Sanctity, which we would just bounce if needed anyways.
I guess Hull Breach and Seal of Primordium are things we have access to as well, but it doesn't seem like you're running into as much Chalice as I am.

Edit: I guess Ancient Grudge is also something we could play, splashing green. May be a bit of a stretch to use 2 different splash colors though.

[Acclimation]

SB cards are overrated.

Gonna play Ral Zarek and Tibalt and Charbelcher alongside 2 Chain of Vapor, 3 Gravestone, 1 Tendrils, because that's all you really need (if you have MA main).

[thecrav]

SB cards are overrated.

Gonna play Ral Zarek and Tibalt and Charbelcher alongside 2 Chain of Vapor, 3 Gravestone, 1 Tendrils, because that's all you really need (if you have MA main).

Need me to ship you a Lhurgoyf to run in that slot?

[Acclimation]

Need me to ship you a Lhurgoyf to run in that slot?

Duh. I'll ship you a couple of Logan tokens back.

[KnittedSoup]

Recently jammed bazarro in a 'Win an Underground Sea' event in Melbourne. 5-0-1 in swiss and lost in the semi-finals.

I used the list posted earlier by phazonmutant with a few sideboard changes due to card availability.

1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Mastermind's Acquisition
1 Past in Flames
3 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Massacre
3 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tropical Island
2 Xantid Swarm

The deck seems insanely powerful and consistent. Just wanted to thank everyone who has worked on this list so far. Below are the matchups I played. Happy to write a short tournament report if anyone is interested.

Rd 1 - W - 4c Delver
Rd 2 - W - Infect
Rd 3 - W - Czech Pile
Rd 4 - W - Miracles
Rd 5 - ID - Miracles
Rd 6 - W - Storm

Top 8 - W - Storm
Top 4 - L - Miracles

Favourite play of the tournament would definitely be:
Turn 2 fetch, dark ritual, entomb for past in flames, LED, cabal ritual holding priority, crack LED for red discarding a brainstorm (getting me threshold after my storm opponent duressed my shallow grave turn 1). Into flashback PIF and replay the rituals into entomb griselbrand and flashback the shallow grave.

The best phrase to sum up the deck... "Got em!"

[Stevestamopz]

We're definitely going to need a tournament report!