[Deck] Death and Taxes

[Medea_]

@Smutko

You got the eybrow raise. Care to elaborate on some of your decisions going into this build?

[smutko]

The common things to be blinking on my side with displacer were mangara or blade splicer, but generally it was much more common to be a pseudo-mom and/or messing with blockers and killing pyromancer tokens. Some other cute interactions include how great it is against opposing moms, and blinking an arbiter after they've paid to search. Generally speaking the ability to mess with their creatures was relevant enough to make it yet another lightning rod in lightningrod.deck. It seemed like the vast majority of the games were either (a) they run out of relevant interaction (i.e. removal) and die to whatever's left, where displacer is either demanding interaction or a great cleanup crew when they're spent or (b) they have the goods and you lose and it probably wouldn't have mattered what your creatures were.

Decisions going into the build:
(a) i don't have ports; i've played enough modern d&t to wonder if arbiter/ghost quarter could be viable in legacy. basically i'm trying to jam extra hatebears in the deck to double down on the prison facet of the deck. i want to drown my opponents in pseudo-thalias. plus i like the idea that i can still punish opponents that fetch basics early (similar to port) if they don't have that many basics. or even better, getting to freeroll path and ghost quarter against the no-basic million color delver decks is an amazing feeling. lastly, arbiter doesn't "get 'em" all that often, but it does challenge a common play pattern against d&t of leaving your fetches around until you absolutely need them, and instead forces people to choose lands to fetch before they necessarily know what sort of pressure their manabase is going to be under / what they're going to need later in the game, and makes it a bit easier to knock out a color in the mid-game. fetching early also makes late-game brainstorms slightly worse. it's also worth mentioning that people mess up arbiter on modo way more than they would IRL.
(b) why is thalia so good? because she punishes the cantrip-intensive deckbuilding of legacy. ethersworn canonist is another attempt at getting more copies of thalia, because they both turn the card brainstorm from the best card ever into kind of a headache. and then there are matchups where canonist is mega-thalia (storm, elves). i ended up squishing canonist into the main in a much earlier iteration of the deck that had thalia's lieutenant as a way to play nice with displacer, and while that card was horrible i liked the canonists enough to leave them.
(c) if my deck is all dinky creatures i'm probably going to be way behind against opposing creatures. if i'm playing arbiter i can't play stoneforge; what was i hoping to get out of having stoneforge in my deck? strength in creature matchups, largely via jitte. i'll just play more jittes to try to get the same effect. plus, you're not locked in to giving your opponent 1-2 turns warning when you're going to jitte them. it's also super satisfying to know you have more jittes in your deck when the first one gets blown up.
(d) looking to beef up my ability to play creature battles is how i ended up on displacer as well. if my creatures are all dying, it didnt matter what they were. if they're living, i want to have a displacer on the battlefield because he rules the roost.
(e) smattering of creatures that play super well with displacer (containment priest, blade splicer, mangara) because why not. i also just like mangara tricks period, especially in a ghost quarter build that is occasionally trying to pressure their basics.
(f) 3 aether vials is my default number and i know it's anathema to most people but i really really hate drawing aether vial on turn 6.
(g) the sideboard is horrible and needs a lot more work.

[iatee]

That's not great logic. I hate drawing lands when I'm flooded too, that doesn't mean you should play 10. Aether Vial is the most powerful card we play. 50% of our games are turbocharged and that's pretty much the reason why this deck is playable is that in a format with super tight resources. The biggest issue with playing this deck is that you don't always have access to it. I would play 8 if I could.

[IRS]

That's not great logic. I hate drawing lands when I'm flooded too, that doesn't mean you should play 10. Aether Vial is the most powerful card we play. 50% of our games are turbocharged and that's pretty much the reason why this deck is playable is that in a format with super tight resources. The biggest issue with playing this deck is that you don't always have access to it. I would play 8 if I could.

Eetai,

For the past months I have tried various builds (Bahra Chalice build, your WR List with a ton of PtE SB, OG Wescoe list from Louisville 2016), but I have found I liked your build the best. I feel that Magus is totally necessary to beat a lot of fair matchups where the usual white creatures just don't cut it. However, I also find myself wishing for Pontiff very often, given the amount of TNN, Elves and Young Peezy in the mix.

What is your current list at the moment? Have you considered adding Pontiff and if so how would you do it?

[gh0st_b1rd]

Will vouch that Eetai is best authority when it comes to working on Recruiter Taxes builds. He helped me when I was still working on mine awhile back.

[iatee]

I am probably running this in Vegas tomorrow:

4 Thalia
4 Sfm
4 Mom
3 Flickerwisp
2 Recruiter
2 Revoker
2 Magus
2 Serra Avenger
1 Palace Jailer
1 Vryn Wingmare
1 Sanctum Prelate

4 Vial / STP / 3 Equip

2 Cavern
3 Plains
2 Plateau
5 Fetch
3 Karakas
4 Wasteland
4 Port

2 Containment Priest
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Miran Crusader
2 Leonin Relic Warder
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Path to Exile
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Pia/Kiran

I might swap a card or two, maybe have a 3rd Magus in the board. I have been on 4 Plains / 1 Plateau no Pia/Kiran for a while now, but I don't think the nu-Miracles deck is an auto-win and I wanted something for it. (It might actually be harder than old-Miracles cause they don't play a bunch of dead Counterbalances g1.)

If I were to add a Pontiff, I think I would add a Cavern, put the Pontiff in the SB and hope for the best. I don't think one card is worth the Scrubland. I think 'Scrubland gets Wastelanded and that sucks' happens in a lot more games in total than 'Can't cast Pontiff and that sucks'. If you do play a Scrubland, I think playing at least one Kambal is probably worth it too. That card is very good and people should play it more.

[IRS]

I am probably running this in Vegas tomorrow:

4 Thalia
4 Sfm
4 Mom
3 Flickerwisp
2 Recruiter
2 Revoker
2 Magus
2 Serra Avenger
1 Palace Jailer
1 Vryn Wingmare
1 Sanctum Prelate

4 Vial / STP / 3 Equip

2 Cavern
3 Plains
2 Plateau
5 Fetch
3 Karakas
4 Wasteland
4 Port

2 Containment Priest
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Miran Crusader
2 Leonin Relic Warder
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Path to Exile
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Pia/Kiran

I might swap a card or two, maybe have a 3rd Magus in the board. I have been on 4 Plains / 1 Plateau no Pia/Kiran for a while now, but I don't think the nu-Miracles deck is an auto-win and I wanted something for it. (It might actually be harder than old-Miracles cause they don't play a bunch of dead Counterbalances g1.)

If I were to add a Pontiff, I think I would add a Cavern, put the Pontiff in the SB and hope for the best. I don't think one card is worth the Scrubland. I think 'Scrubland gets Wastelanded and that sucks' happens in a lot more games in total than 'Can't cast Pontiff and that sucks'. If you do play a Scrubland, I think playing at least one Kambal is probably worth it too. That card is very good and people should play it more.

I agree on all counts here. I have played far too few reps and its easy to remember when you missed Pontiff, but its harder to remember when being wastelanded off Scrubland would have sucked. I also was going to try Kambal out but the guy who was going to sell it to me could not get it in time for the tournament on saturday so I decided to play OG monowhite instead. You changed a Plains for Plateau since last I checked though, you old fox ;)

BTW I like the 3rd Magus on the board, I think in certain matchups its super important to drop one and way more impactful than any other card that could be subbed in (Eldrazi, 12 Post come to mind since I played both last time and really wanted the goddamn magus lol)

[smutko]

That's not great logic. I hate drawing lands when I'm flooded too, that doesn't mean you should play 10. Aether Vial is the most powerful card we play. 50% of our games are turbocharged and that's pretty much the reason why this deck is playable is that in a format with super tight resources. The biggest issue with playing this deck is that you don't always have access to it. I would play 8 if I could.

I don't think the comparison vial-to-lands is an honest one. The deck can function without aether vial, it can't function without lands. A land drawn on turn 6 can be very impactful to the game. An aether vial drawn on turn 6 has a much harder time mattering. I also think vial matters a lot more to a deck playing, for example, recruiter of the guard, which is basically a 6-drop in 2 installments and the mana saving is actually accelerating you, or flickerwisp, where flash really matters. If you have a mix of vial and lands and all of your creatures are vanilla, getting your 3 drop into play on turn 4 isn't breaking the game wide open. In my particular deck, almost all of the creatures have a static ability that you want in play as early and long as possible. when the option is curve mom into thalia or vial into vial in mom into vial in thalia... i don't think it's that clear cut.

All of that said, I went ahead and put a 4th vial into the deck and it's been fine. Otherwise the main deck is the same, been messing with the sideboard, haven't been in love with what i've got, not sure what direction I want to take it. I could also see losing the arbiters and moving in a more traditional direction.

Had the morning off, went 4-1, 4-1, 3-2 in successive leagues. Losses were to 2 different pernicious deed decks, 1 reanimator, 1 miracles.

[iatee]

Ran my above list swapping a Crusader for a Prelate in the board. Dropped from the GP at 6-3 to play the limited GP instead tomorrow. 2 Byes + beat DnT, Grixis Delver, Aggro Loam, SnS, lost to Mono-Red Sneak (whatever), Eldrazi/MUD turn 1 Trinisphere (whatever) and Bahra-style 3 color taxes (he played well, it was a very close and interesting game 3, I was ahead but lost to Sword of War and Peace / a topdecked Flickerwisp.

I played pretty well all day, mostly just felt like I didn't win the matchup lottery, just played vs lots of Chalice decks and only 2 blue decks. That is part of what you sign up for when you play a meta deck though.

[tarmogoat]

Good ol' classic D&T in the hands of Andrew Calderon made it to the top 8, then beat RUG Delver into top4, then beat Grixis Delver into Finals, and beat UR Delver to be championed!!!

Creature (27)
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Flickerwisp
4 Mother of Runes
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Serra Avenger
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Sanctum Prelate
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Swords to Plowshares)
4 Æther Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Karakas
8 Plains

1 Sanctum Prelate
3 Rest in Peace
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Council's Judgment
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Pithing Needle
1 Path to Exile

As good as always! 22 Lands and no 4 drop mainboard.

Update:

D&T on the finals vs UR Delver!

D&T WON GP VEGAS, FOLKS! CONGRATZ ANDREW CALDERON!!!

[Marungo]

Congrats to Andrew for a masterful set of games with DnT. Particularly proud of him for sticking with the mono white variant. I may not agree with all of his decisions, but he's obviously a great player and it's awesome to see DnT rise to the top!

[Moctzal]

Grats to Andrew Calderon!

Getting it down with mono-white.

22 lands and 8 plains seems ballsy.

Good for him!

[staticgripped]

Here's to hoping we can get in contact with him and see if he could provide a tournament report. Sounds like he faced Sneak and Show and Delver all tourney, which sounds pretty nice. I'm waiting and hoping for metagame breakdown so we can get a better picture.

[IRS]

Good old OG Monowhite D+T takes it all!

Congrats to Andrew, great finals!

[Whole]

Went 11-4 at GP Vegas w/ Bahra's Mardu taxes. Cut a plains for scrubland and cut 3 mindbreak for +1 Leonin Relic Warder, +1 Grafdiggers Cage, +1 Rest in Peace. Pretty good considering I faced Delver only once. My losses were to Shardless BUG (close games, many outs to lock it up), Reanimator (both games he goes Dark Rit Thoughtseize Entomb Reanimate on turn 1), Eldrazi (bad MU and I played like a complete scrub game 3), and Food Chain (awful MU). Would 100% run back the same 75. Willing to answer any questions as I've been streaming and playing the deck tons on MTGO

[Marungo]

Went 11-4 at GP Vegas w/ Bahra's Mardu taxes. Cut a plains for scrubland and cut 3 mindbreak for +1 Leonin Relic Warder, +1 Grafdiggers Cage, +1 Rest in Peace. Pretty good considering I faced Delver only once. My losses were to Shardless BUG (close games, many outs to lock it up), Reanimator (both games he goes Dark Rit Thoughtseize Entomb Reanimate on turn 1), Eldrazi (bad MU and I played like a complete scrub game 3), and Food Chain (awful MU). Would 100% run back the same 75. Willing to answer any questions as I've been streaming and playing the deck tons on MTGO

Thanks for responding and congrats on your success so far this year. What were your matchups overall? How do you feel this version of DnT compared to regular mono white or soldier stompy? Do you wish you had done anything differently? Who framed roger rabbit?

[Whole]

Thanks for responding and congrats on your success so far this year. What were your matchups overall? How do you feel this version of DnT compared to regular mono white or soldier stompy? Do you wish you had done anything differently? Who framed roger rabbit?

I faced some BUG TrueName/Snap deck, UW Standstill, Shardless BUG (loss), BR Reanimator (loss), mono white DnT, Sneak and Show, Eldrazi (loss), some weird UW DnT/TNN deck, Mono Red sneak attack, Grixis Delver, and 2 Food Chain deck (1 loss)

Loved the power of the build and chalice was sweet. Magus underperformed but still seems good vs more normal matchups.Pia and Kiran was gas...I wonder if we could find a black equivalent, we could do BW with a few Ancient tombs. Soldier Stompy doesnt seem like a good deck. My friend played it and he says it is DnT for bad players. I wish i didnt punt my eldrazi match

[solnox]

Congrats!

I personally decided not to run DnT as I don't have enough experience with the deck and played Depths instead.

I did play BW taxes at a Legacy double up and went 3-1 beating Elves, Tezz, Miracles, losing to The Rock.

[Irvin]

Anyone knows when the video's from gp vegas will be uploaded?

[LMP]

Irvin
Anyone knows when the video's from gp vegas will be uploaded?

Top 8:
1:03 Quarterfinals Lands vs Grixis Delver
1:37 Quarterfinals D&T vs Temur Delver
2:00 Semifinals Lands vs U/R Delver
2:48 Finals D&T vs U/R Delver

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/152366237