Page 451 of 533 FirstFirst ... 351401441447448449450451452453454455461501 ... LastLast
Results 9,001 to 9,020 of 10645

Thread: [Deck] Death and Taxes

  1. #9001
    Member

    Join Date

    May 2017
    Location

    New Zealand
    Posts

    26

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Medea_ View Post
    Tournament report for EW.


    I’ll likely play something pretty similar next weekend for the Legacy Open. I’ve been toying around with the idea of dropping a Revoker for something else, as it isn’t great against Delver and Czech Pile, but I haven’t convinced myself to pull the trigger yet. It’s too important for many of the fringe matchups, and it’s nice to have them in the deck when I’m staring down a Dread of Night. I was also considering playing some kooky enchantments to fight against Czech Pile, but I couldn’t quite justify running something like Angelic Destiny in a serious tournament. Enchantments are a real pain to get off the board for much of the format, and I think that’s a good direction to explore. I’ll muck around in The Gatherer later this week to see if anything catches my eye.

    Did you wish you had a palace jailer at any of the matchups and if so against which deck? In addition would it be something you would consider eg. +1 jailer -1 revoker

  2. #9002

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    I never thought to myself, "Boy, I wish I had Jailer here!" There are times where it potentially could have been useful (e.g. against Jund or Sneak and Show), but I don't feel like I need it. The card is objectively very powerful, but the card does come with a price. You'll lose most games where you lose Monarch status to your opponent for more than a turn or two. In the world of disposable bodies that we're in now, that's not the place where I want to be. I like it more in the red build, as P&K can help clog up the board and then let you really take over the game from there.

    If I drop a Revoker, it will be to maindeck a card that is good against both Delver and Czech Pile. A one of Vryn Wingmare, for example, would compensate for me dropping some fliers for the Crusaders.

  3. #9003

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Looking at all that Grixis Delver in top 8 at EW has me trying to figure out what to do to improve the match up. Currently I run a pretty stock list and board -3 Revoker +2 CJ and +2 Path. I’ve been finding the matchup pretty unfavorable still but I’m not super sure what to do about it. I really don’t like Banisher Priest type effects, and usually find myself losing to Delver itself. That being said, what are people’s feelings on RIP in the matchup? On upping the number of removal spells? On Wingmare?

    I personally want to try out Eldrazi Displacer. It kind of gives another Mom effect, unflips delvers, ignores Dread and Forked Bolt and offers a significant clock.

  4. #9004
    Member

    Join Date

    Jun 2015
    Location

    NYC
    Posts

    1,329

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    3 Path always feels great against Delver decks, since it lets you spend your removal freely - you rarely make it to turn 3/4 without having access to at least one piece of cheap removal. That in turn forces them to spend their turns digging for another threat rather than messing with your stuff. I like Fiendslayer a lot against them too, occasionally he's blanked by a Angler, but anytime else he's great, the incidental lifegain is huge.

  5. #9005
    *
    DarthVicious's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Central NY
    Posts

    358

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by WashableWater1 View Post
    I personally want to try out Eldrazi Displacer. It kind of gives another Mom effect, unflips delvers, ignores Dread and Forked Bolt and offers a significant clock.
    I'm loving Displacer. He also reuses birth triggers (Flickerwisp, Stoneforge, Jailer, Recruiter, etc) Shuts down opposing equipment that's not attached to True-Derp, can negate combat damage, can tap down opposing blockers or prevent attacks, permanently exiles tokens, resets Revoker or Prelate, the list of synergies is endless if you have the mana. He gets better the longer the game goes... and this is D&T.

    I had one Displacer with a bunch of mana vs a superior board position in the mirror and held him off for what seemed like ten turns just by flickering his offensive creatures. He kept trying to equip to Mirran and Mom was powerless. I lost when he drew into Revoker, but such is life.

  6. #9006

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Displacer is 100% viable in the flex slots. It's not always good, but, boy, when it is, it takes over games. I think the issue people have with it is that it rarely is amazing on its own. It requires something on your side or the opposing side to generate value, which differentiates it from something like Recruiter, which generates value regardless of the board state.

  7. #9007
    Member

    Join Date

    Jan 2017
    Location

    Batavia, IL
    Posts

    48

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    My issue with playing Displacer has been that when I have a colorless land in play to use it as a mana sink, the colorless land almost always could have acted as a mana sink on its own without the Displacer. So your net gain from having Displacer in play is not as high as you would expect.

  8. #9008
    Member

    Join Date

    Jan 2017
    Location

    Batavia, IL
    Posts

    48

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    My report:

    7-4 matches, missed $ by one match at Eternal Weekend main event. I played a LOT of magic (nine game threes), and still was able to notice on the spot how I could have won eight of the games I lost (details below). Basically the deck felt great.
    • 1-2 BUG Delver
    • 2-1 D&T
    • 1-2 Elves!
    • 1-2 Infect
    • 2-1 D&T
    • 2-1 Elves!
    • 2-1 4c Loam
    • 2-1 UW Blade
    • 2-0 4c Blade
    • 2-1 Miracles
    • 0-2 Elves!
    Maindeck:
    • 52 usual suspects including 23 Lands, 2 Recruiter
    • 2 Revoker
    • 2 Serra Avenger
    • 1 Prelate
    • 3 Crusader
    Sideboard:
    • 3 Ethersworn Canonist
    • 2 Containment Priest
    • 2 Gideon, Ally
    • 2 Rest in Peace
    • 1 Manriki-Gusari (!!!)
    • 1 Disenchant
    • 1 Crusader
    • 1 Blessed Alliance
    • 1 Council’s Judgment
    • 1 Faerie Macabre
    Only 10% of the decks at EW played equipment; you could argue that I got lucky playing my Manriki+Disenchant sideboard against 4 equipment decks; I’ll happily reply that you can’t call me lucky playing against 3 elf decks (3% of the field). I also think that if we play efficient enough answers to equipment, we actually free up a sideboard slot because we can race unequipped True-Name Nemeses instead of trying to answer them with the second Council's Judgment. Also if an equipment exists that completely changes the game in 10% of your matches, I think you should play that equipment in your 75.

    Notable game losses that another pilot maybe could have won:
    • R1 G3 vs BUG Delver: Facing down an enemy Wasteland and Delver, my only white source is a Karakas. I choose to cast a Thalia instead of a Swords to Plowshares as my last white spell of the game. I die. This one could maybe be a victory for someone better.
    • R2 G1 vs D&T: I attack with my Mirran Crusader into his Stoneforge Mystic, letting him get Jitte counters for no reason. Die. Still win the match.
    • R3 G1 vs Elves: I vial in Flickerwisp at my end step to deny him resources, but I target an elf rather than the active Wirewood Symbiote, so I die on the spot. I actually have a chance this game and win game 2, so this match is maybe winnable by a better pilot.
    • R4 G2 vs Infect: I don’t scam my opponent when I could have; he puts his Berserk on top of his Invigorate on top of his creature on the battlefield. If I call a judge, I probably can convince the judge that the Invigorate has not resolved yet, which would win the game. In reality I did indicate that it had resolved, so this is more of an ethical question than a gameplay question; I don’t regret letting him win this. So this match is winnable by a less ethical pilot.
    • R5 G2 vs D&T: I let my opponent untap with a Mom instead of disenchanting his Revoker on my turn for absolutely no reason, and die. Still won the match.
    • R7 vs 4c Loam: I sideboard out Prelate for G2 because I think he is playing Maverick, which is fine, but then I fail to bring it in for G3 because I am apparently braindead. Still win the match.
    • R10 G1 vs Miracles: Late in the game I don’t port to keep him off Jace, and die to Jace ultimate. Still win the match.
    • R11 G1 vs Elves: I play a second vial instead of porting his turn 1 land; it turns out he kept a one-lander and I would have more or less instantly won the game. So this match is maybe winnable by a better pilot.
    Fun plays:
    • Won a game 1 where the opponent had both a Batterskull and a Jitte equipped to a True-Name Nemesis with Jitte counters. Mirran Crusader was already holding a Jitte with 2 counters, and it got a Sword, which does 24 damage in one hit.
    • Leaving Manriki equipped to the Germ while moving the Batterskull to a flyer is a really nice feeling; it happened twice.
    • Vs Infect game 1, I had Thalia in play and Swords in hand against an opponent with a free counterspell in hand, a threat on the table, and 2 mana available to pay for Thalia: an untapped fetch and a Noble Hierarch. I vialed in a Revoker on Noble Hierarch and Wastelanded the fetchland; in response to him cracking it cast the (now uncounterable) Swords to Plowshares. I had never done that before.
    Going forward I would try to find room for the Paths again. It felt terrible not having them vs my one Delver opponent and on average you will play against more Delvers than I did. I also need to stop thinking about sideboarding Longbow Archer because it is not a good idea; please send help.

    My Plan A vs Czech Pile (which went pretty well in the two Trials where I went 2-1 matches, 5-2 games against Czech Pile) was to literally play an aggro deck after they removed my first two plays; 4 Crusader and 2 attacking 5/5 Gideons singlehandedly form a coherent plan which won 3 of those 5 games. One of the games was a win with Plan B: RiP + non-attacking Gideon to win a slightly-later but not-too-late game, and the other was a normal mana denial free win. So although I did not see Czech in the main event, I would happily play this list against a Czech meta.

    Since I already bought a lot of points in equipment matches with the Disenchant and Manriki, it's possible that I could find room for the 2 Paths by cutting Serra Avengers and bringing the 4th Crusader and 1 random spell back into the maindeck. But every time I cut Serra Avengers, I miss them. So I'm not sure.

    Suggestions, questions, and supernatural wards to avoid elves are welcome.

  9. #9009
    *
    DarthVicious's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Central NY
    Posts

    358

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisCunningham View Post
    My issue with playing Displacer has been that when I have a colorless land in play to use it as a mana sink, the colorless land almost always could have acted as a mana sink on its own without the Displacer. So your net gain from having Displacer in play is not as high as you would expect.
    You don't run him as a mana sink, you run him for the ability to be there when you need it. Also because he's a colorless 3cc 3/3. Although I will admit it can be a pain that he can't target himself sometimes. This is why we have Mother of Runes.

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisCunningham View Post
    Suggestions, questions, and supernatural wards to avoid elves are welcome.
    *waves hands* May we all avoid the pointy-eared menace.
    Last edited by DarthVicious; 10-24-2017 at 08:15 PM.

  10. #9010

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    @ChrisCunningham
    How did you like Manriki-Gusari? I am considering bringing it back, what with Stoneblade and DnT.

  11. #9011
    Member

    Join Date

    Jan 2017
    Location

    Batavia, IL
    Posts

    48

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by redtwister View Post
    @ChrisCunningham
    How did you like Manriki-Gusari? I am considering bringing it back, what with Stoneblade and DnT.
    I will paraphrase some reasons against playing Manriki that I think I understood correctly from other D&T players.

    * Manriki only works if you are ahead in the "equip something to a creature" game, in which case why aren't you just equipping Jitte and winning the game?
    * Manriki is good against equipment decks, but so are other things and our sideboard slots are precious, so you should play some other protection-from-white sword so your sideboard slot isn't so narrow.

    I kind of agree and kind of disagree with the arguments above.

    Equipment mirrors are first and foremost about doing combat damage with Umezawa's Jitte. Often a game ends when one player can do this and another cannot. If Jitte gets prevented somehow (Revokers, Mothers of Runes) then the game moves on to a subgame where someone tries to win without Jitte counters (Batterskull, flyers, value, planeswalkers). However, all the normal answers to the Jitte are actually kind of temporary. A Revoker can die, a Mom can get tapped for something else, and as a result the Jittes sit on the field like the Golden Snitch. You put all your effort into a complicated subgame, but often the game ends up being about leveraging the subgame to get Jitte counters in the end anyway.

    With a Manriki on the table, your opponent never even puts the Jitte on the table. They have to answer your Manriki before the Jitte can even hit the table. Equip 1 means you will basically always have it active. This means that even when you slip up in the subgame and your protection falls apart temporarily, you still don't get instakilled by a Jitte. It's a nearly impossible proposition for an opponent to do this:

    * Get through whatever your protection is to deactivate Manriki for a turn
    * Land their equipment
    * Equip it for 2
    * Hit you

    I say "deactivate for a turn," because Revoker / Needle are really quite bad at answering Manriki: it is equipped a turn earlier (equip 1!) and to actually shut it down they have to both answer the creature it is on AND needle/revoke the Manriki, which is way more resources than are needed to lock down the other equipment (equip 2!!).

    So in the end, I believe Manriki fundamentally changes the equipment mirror by adding a whole new level of things-to-answer before they can hit you with equipment, while also giving your random nonsense creatures something to do. Don't forget that +1/+2 is also a nontrivial boost for 1 mana.

    Finally, while this kind of sideboard card is certainly narrow, I would play lots of narrow equipments if they were this good. If there was an equipment that had equip 1 and "Equipped creature has Tap: Destroy target Elf" or "Equipped creature has Tap: exile target card from an opponent's graveyard" I would totally play it. Essentially, if you could always attack the fundamental strategy of 10% of the field with only 1 sideboard equipment, then I would consider starting my sideboard with 10 of these equipments, one for each 10%! The other 5 sideboard cards are probably Canonists and Containment Priests, and that's that.

    However, I do think the "come on, we only get 15 slots" argument is totally valid too. If SFM decks drop to 5%, I agree the card is bad. I do believe there is a cutoff percentage, though, where the card is a must-play.

  12. #9012

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    @ChrisCunningham
    This corresponds with my take. I feel like the combination of DnT and Stoneblade (and amazingly the increasingly common Maverick!) decks means that this is very good against ~15% of the meta, and can be huge in those matches.

  13. #9013

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisCunningham View Post
    I will paraphrase some reasons against playing Manriki that I think I understood correctly from other D&T players.

    * Manriki only works if you are ahead in the "equip something to a creature" game, in which case why aren't you just equipping Jitte and winning the game?
    * Manriki is good against equipment decks, but so are other things and our sideboard slots are precious, so you should play some other protection-from-white sword so your sideboard slot isn't so narrow.

    I kind of agree and kind of disagree with the arguments above.

    Equipment mirrors are first and foremost about doing combat damage with Umezawa's Jitte. Often a game ends when one player can do this and another cannot. If Jitte gets prevented somehow (Revokers, Mothers of Runes) then the game moves on to a subgame where someone tries to win without Jitte counters (Batterskull, flyers, value, planeswalkers). However, all the normal answers to the Jitte are actually kind of temporary. A Revoker can die, a Mom can get tapped for something else, and as a result the Jittes sit on the field like the Golden Snitch. You put all your effort into a complicated subgame, but often the game ends up being about leveraging the subgame to get Jitte counters in the end anyway.

    With a Manriki on the table, your opponent never even puts the Jitte on the table. They have to answer your Manriki before the Jitte can even hit the table. Equip 1 means you will basically always have it active. This means that even when you slip up in the subgame and your protection falls apart temporarily, you still don't get instakilled by a Jitte. It's a nearly impossible proposition for an opponent to do this:

    * Get through whatever your protection is to deactivate Manriki for a turn
    * Land their equipment
    * Equip it for 2
    * Hit you

    I say "deactivate for a turn," because Revoker / Needle are really quite bad at answering Manriki: it is equipped a turn earlier (equip 1!) and to actually shut it down they have to both answer the creature it is on AND needle/revoke the Manriki, which is way more resources than are needed to lock down the other equipment (equip 2!!).

    So in the end, I believe Manriki fundamentally changes the equipment mirror by adding a whole new level of things-to-answer before they can hit you with equipment, while also giving your random nonsense creatures something to do. Don't forget that +1/+2 is also a nontrivial boost for 1 mana.

    Finally, while this kind of sideboard card is certainly narrow, I would play lots of narrow equipments if they were this good. If there was an equipment that had equip 1 and "Equipped creature has Tap: Destroy target Elf" or "Equipped creature has Tap: exile target card from an opponent's graveyard" I would totally play it. Essentially, if you could always attack the fundamental strategy of 10% of the field with only 1 sideboard equipment, then I would consider starting my sideboard with 10 of these equipments, one for each 10%! The other 5 sideboard cards are probably Canonists and Containment Priests, and that's that.

    However, I do think the "come on, we only get 15 slots" argument is totally valid too. If SFM decks drop to 5%, I agree the card is bad. I do believe there is a cutoff percentage, though, where the card is a must-play.
    I appreciate all that you said and the basis for which you have laid out your arguments. That all being said, I respectfully disagree.

    It’s a good card in my opinion, when you’re ahead. You acknowledge this argument but don’t really refute it. I played the mirror this weekend and lost game 2. My opponent had manriki-gusari and blew up my jitte. But I would argue that that was not the reason I lost. I lost cause he had an active mom, a revoker, and 2 pieces of equipment plus gusari. Advantage compounds in this matchup and all that stuff compounded heavily. My vial was off, my removal was blanked, and I couldn’t beat jitte.

    Let’s look at the game 3 I won. I had t1 vial. My opponent did not. I pressed the advantage by porting and he responded with e-tutor. If you wanna argue that shouldn’t be in the deck, I agree, but nevertheless he tutored for gusari and had it all game. And it wasn’t close. I had active jitte, I had creatures, and I never let anything stick. This is a matchup of many advantages and gusari is irrelevant unless you can get a creature to stick. Means by it is only good in a board stall or when ahead and that’s not the greatest card in the mirror because several cards can accomplish this role.

    I just really have never found the card to ever be good in these matchups. A card like that is only good in the play or to somewhat “break” a board stall but it’s not even guaranteed to do that. In addition like you said blade decks and the mirror aren’t even at an all time high popularity. If I wanted a mirror breaker and good equipment matchup card I like SoWaP. It’s also good vs burn, and okay vs combo decks.

  14. #9014

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    I'm firmly in the SoWaP camp, but I will add one more thing to Manriki's merit for the sake of the discussion. The total play and equip cost of Manriki is 3. On curve on the draw, you can fetch that up prior to Jitte (or any other equipment) hitting the field and connecting. That's a defensive attribute that the other equipment lack.

  15. #9015
    Member

    Join Date

    Jan 2017
    Location

    Batavia, IL
    Posts

    48

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Marungo View Post
    It’s a good card in my opinion, when you’re ahead. You acknowledge this argument but don’t really refute it.
    I guess my argument against it is that it actually pulls you ahead in a unique way. Obviously if you deploy twice as much mana of magic cards as your opponent, you are probably going to win (vial vs no vial). But if both players are at parity going T1 Vial-or-Mom (both threaten to protect an equipment-bearer on T4) and T2 Stoneforge Mystic, and one of the players gets Jitte or SoWaP and the other gets Manriki, I would say the Manriki player has pulled ahead in a subtle and powerful way.

    The Manriki player can drop and equip the equipment T3 and continue on with life. The other player cannot deploy their equipment at all now, until they have broken through the web of protection that is up. The game has been forced into a situation where the non-manrikier is stuck with cards in hand that are not even usable until *after* he has gained decisive control of the board. This is a unique property of Manriki that I used to very good effect at EW.

    If you are way way behind, of course it doesn't save you -- but it puts you decisively ahead in a unique way.

    Quote Originally Posted by Marungo
    he tutored for gusari and had it all game. And it wasn’t close. I had active jitte
    Yes, if you don't get the Manriki with SFM so you have someone to hold it turn 3, then it is garbage. :) Friends don't let friends play Enlightened Tutor.

    In addition like you said blade decks and the mirror aren’t even at an all time high popularity. If I wanted a mirror breaker and good equipment matchup card I like SoWaP. It’s also good vs burn, and okay vs combo decks.
    I think that's totally fine. I completely agree that other, broader cards still give you mirror percentage points but aren't so specific to equipment mirrors. The main thing we disagree on is how much better Manriki is than SoWaP in the mirror match itself. I think it is significantly better; you and most others think it is maybe-marginally-better-but-not-enough-better. I think it's fine to disagree here.

  16. #9016
    Member

    Join Date

    Jan 2017
    Location

    Batavia, IL
    Posts

    48

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Actually -- followup question: What nonwhite matchups are you bringing War and Peace in against? Are you bringing it in against like, Show and Tell? Reanimator? Elves??

    Maybe when I have War and Peace in my 75, I don't realize how many matchups it is good in, and that's why I am not landing in the same camp as you.

  17. #9017

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisCunningham View Post
    Actually -- followup question: What nonwhite matchups are you bringing War and Peace in against? Are you bringing it in against like, Show and Tell? Reanimator? Elves??

    Maybe when I have War and Peace in my 75, I don't realize how many matchups it is good in, and that's why I am not landing in the same camp as you.
    I bring it it probably 50% of the time or more. It's great against just about any cantrip-based combo deck (Reanimator, Show and Tell, Omni, High Tide), it's great against any StP deck, against Punishing Fire decks, and against decks where you can reasonably expect to lose a piece of equipment or two over the course of the game to fair removal.

  18. #9018

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Eternal Weekend 2017 Tournament Report

    I finished 28th at EW and had a good start but lost the last 3 rounds.

    After grinding in the side events Thurs/Fri and failing to acquire any byes, I decided to make a few notable changes to my list for the Legacy Champs:

    I saw a lot of 4c Leovold and elected to go with 3x Mirran Crusader main.
    I felt that with all the control type decks floating around, I would be playing the aggro role in most matchups, leading me to go with 2x Serra Avengers as well.
    There were also a lot of Death and Taxes in the meta and I kept losing to Manriki and Sword of Light and Shadow. Unfortunately, I was unable to acquire that Light+Shadow and went with my War+Peace.
    Prelate has been underwhelming of late and I really only wanted it in the Lands and Grixis Delver matchups. 4c Leovold is not as committed to 1cmc, making Prelate less effective - relegating the Prelate to the SB.
    With all the Leovolds, the monarch from Jailer is nullified, so I decided to drop it from my list. Quite frankly, I’m pretty bad at monarch triggers and this is one less thing for me to remember.

    Special thanks to the folks in this forum and MacKenzie Doyle for helping me finalize the list.

    Lands (23)

    10x Plains
    1x Cavern of Souls
    3x Karakas
    4x Rishadan Port
    4x Wasteland
    1x Flagstones of Trokair

    Creatures (26)

    4x Mother of Runes
    4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    4x Flickerwisp
    4x Stoneforge Mystic
    3x Phyrexian Revoker
    3x Mirran Crusader
    2x Serra Avenger
    2x Recruiter of the Guard

    Other Spells (11)

    4x Swords to Plowshares
    4x Aether Vial
    1x Batterskull
    1x Sword of Fire and Ice
    1x Umezawa’s Jitte

    Sideboard (15)

    2x Cataclysm
    2x Council’s Judgment
    2x Rest in Peace
    2x Faerie Macabre
    2x Containment Priest
    2x Ethersworn Canonist
    1x Pithing Needle
    1x Sword of War and Peace
    1x Sanctum Prelate
    Round 1: Win 2-1 vs Justin on Pox (1-0)

    Gm1:

    I mull to 5 on the draw. Opponent starts with Urborg, Inquisition of Kozilek, followed by Mishra’s Factory, Gifted Aetherborn, Sinkhole and Hymn to Tourach. Liliana of the Veil continued to destroy my hand and I just lose.

    Gm2: +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Council’s Judgment, -2 Serra Avenger, -1 Flickerwisp

    Vial and porting his lands got me there. He eventually got to Liliana, The Last Hope but my mom was able to protect my board.

    Gm3:

    Kept a hand with vial, mana denial, and Revoker. Same game plan got me there. I didn’t even know he was on Pox until he showed me his deck after the game.

    Round 2: Win 2-1 vs Johnny on Turbo Depths (2-0)

    Gm1:

    He beat me quick with Vampire Hexmage and Dark Depths.

    Gm2: +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Council’s Judgment, -2 Recruiter of the Guard, -1 Stoneforge Mystic

    I kept a hand with Karakas and Revoker on Vampire Hexmage that got me there.

    Gm3:

    I had the nuts for this game. Karakas with Needle on Thespian Stage, and a Swords to Plowshares for backup.

    Round 3: Win 2-0 vs Benji on Eldrazi Post (3-0)

    Gm1:

    This was a good close one. Opponent Spyglass my Rishadan Port so I couldn’t mana denial. I used Revoker on Grim Monolith, but he eventually got to two Reality Smashers. I made a timely double block with Mirran Crusader and Revoker to kill one and rode double Serra Avenger to win.

    Gm2: +2 Cataclysm, +2 Council’s Judgment, -4 mom

    I was on the mana denial plan. Opponent resolved Spyglass on Rishadan Port and Stoneforge Mystic. Cataclysm was a blowout in this game and I eventually drew into a second one if he managed to build up again. Serra Avengers and Mirran Crusaders proved to be very good in this matchup. Cataclysm was MVP, but be careful that they don’t have a bigger creature left.

    Round 4: Win 2-1 vs Michael on Stax (4-0)

    Gm1:

    This game was crazy and went for 30 mins. Tanglewire really slowed down the game for him to resolve Ensnaring Bridge. I put revoker on his Staff of Domination and we were in a stalemate until he stuck the third bridge. I asked to count the cards in our deck and I would have eventually lost due to my Stoneforge and Recruiter thinning my deck earlier. Scooped it up with 20mins to go. Also saw Crucible of Worlds allowing him to recur Wasteland and Buried Ruin.

    Gm2: +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Council’s Judgment, +2 Rest in Peace, +2 Cataclysm, -4 mom, -3 Swords to Plowshares

    The game was much faster this time as he tried to slow me down with Smokestack. I was able to pump out enough threats and made the right choices on sacrificing to Smokestack while maintaining threat.

    Gm3:

    We only had 9 minutes to complete the game and managed to win it before he was able to lock down the board. The key to this matchup is to have constantly dropping permanents. Rest in Peace is good to counter the Crucible recursion.

    Round 5: Win 2-1 vs Vince on Eldrazi (5-0)

    Gm1:

    I went down to 5 on this one, but eventually won it with the fliers

    Gm2: +2 Cataclysm, +2 Council’s Judgment, -4 mom

    I lost this game due to double reality smashers and was only able to swords one of them.

    Gm3:

    I managed to swords his first reality smasher threat and knocked him down with recruiter and the chain of flickerwisps.

    Round 6: Win 2-0 vs Justin Parnell on Sultai Shadow (6-0)

    Gm1:

    All I saw were shocklands, discard spells, and a DRS. He did most of the damage to himself and I finished him off with my creatures.

    Gm2: +2 Rest in Peace, -2 Serra Avenger

    At this point, I had no idea what the opponent was playing. I chose to go with RIP because I saw the DRS and he may have goyf or gurmag. The game went pretty much the same as the first game. I blind named Liliana of the Veil with my revoker and stuck a RIP. Justin told me after the match that the RIP saved me. Got lucky on this one.

    Round 7: Win 2-1 vs Edward on Grixis Delver (7-0)

    Gm1:

    Edward is a fellow Torontonian and we’ve played each other numerous times in the past. We knew each other’s decks. I was down to 5 life when I managed to get 4 Jitte counters with my Mirran Crusader and punted the game with poor use of the counters to kill his Delver and DRS. He responded with a DRS activation to get me down to 3 and bolt me the next turn.

    Gm2: +2 RIP, +2 Council’s Judgment, +1 Sanctum Prelate, -2 Revoker, -2 Serra Avenger, -1 Flickerwisp

    Gm3:

    I don’t remember the rest of the match, but I managed to pump out enough threats to get me there. Vials with mana denial are the best way to win this matchup. Only keep hands that have some sort of disruption (ie. Thalia, Port, Wasteland). At this point I am starting to feel fatigued and hungry. D+T can be such a grind and does not give you much time between rounds to replenish.

    Round 8: Win 2-0 vs Brian Coval on Grixis Delver (8-0)

    Gm1:

    Opponent mulled to 6 and kept the card on top. I only remember that he was casting a lot of cantrips and it felt like he was digging for answers. I put him on Grixis Delver after this game.

    Gm2: 2 RIP, +2 Council’s Judgment, +1 Sanctum Prelate, -2 Revoker, -2 Serra Avenger, -1 Flickerwisp

    This game went pretty much the same as the first one. Opponent was digging hard for answers and just seemed to draw really poorly both games. I made some poor decisions on the Jitte counters again and gave the opponent one more turn. It didn’t matter to the result, but I’ve got to clean things up.

    Round 9: Lose 0-2 vs HJ on Sultai Delver (8-1)

    At this point, HJ and I were the only two undefeated. I really punted this match bad. You can watch all the misplays here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184303938

    Gm1:

    The opponent had the nuts with 3 delvers on turn 2 and flipping them (revealing hymn) on a beautiful brainstorm at upkeep on turn 3. I really had two choices at this point, go with revoker to shutdown DRS or Flickerwisp to slow down the Delvers. In hindsight, Flickerwisp would be the better play, but it likely wouldn’t have changed the result as he would come in for 6 damage from delvers (if it flips again) and 2 damage from DRS to bring me down to 3. Another swing with the 2 delvers would have won it for him.

    Gm2: +2 RIP, -2 Serra Avenger

    I made two huge mistakes in this game that cost me the game. The first one was not attacking Lilliana even with Revoker shutting it down. Revoker can be fragile and the Last Hope is devastating for us. The second misplay was the double block on Thalia. I could have protected it with mom after the first strike damage (assuming opponent didn’t have spot removal in hand). The safer play was to keep Thalia back to lock out the toxic deluge. I just simply punted this game as I was too focused on trying to finish him off at 5 life.

    HJ deserved to win the Legacy Champs, I was simply outclassed and outplayed on this one. Congrats to him on taking the title!

    Round 10: Lose 1-2 vs Seth Black on Eldrazi (8-2)

    Gm1:

    Seth is another fellow Torontonian. Even though I haven’t played against him before, I knew he was a solid player given that he runs an LGS near my home. I couldn’t keep up with his pressure with the Thought Knot Seer in this game.

    Gm2: +2 Cataclysm, +2 Council’s Judgment, +1 Pithing Needle, -4 mom, -1 Thalia

    I managed to win this game with Stoneforge fishing up Batterskull and eventually won by suiting up flyer with Batterskull.

    Gm3:

    I didn’t have the disruption to keep up with the pressure. In this matchup, it is key to get vial with disruption in opening hand. Eldrazi has spyglass now that helps interrupt this plan a little. The wasteland and Jitte in Seth’s MB proved to be very good in this match. Congrats to Seth on reaching the finals and representing Toronto!

    Round 11: Lose 1-2 vs Kevin on Nic Fit (8-3)

    Gm1:

    This was a grindy game and I eventually got there with vials and drawing gas. He nearly stabilized with Thragtusk here.

    Gm2: +2 RIP, +2 Council’s Judgment, -2 Serra Avenger, -2 Thalia

    I couldn’t keep up with his Ixalan dino and Thragtusk.

    Gm3:

    He killed me with Primevil Titan Ramp to Scapeshift for Valakut to burn me down in one shot. In hindsight, I should have brought in Cataclysm for this matchup. Opponent told me that RIP is only mediocre at best. I still think it’s good in stopping veteran explorer and cabal therapy.


    Overall, it was a fun run. Everyone I played against was super friendly and great ambassadors for the MTG community. It was also amazing to see all the support from my home MTG community in Toronto/Hong Kong and also all the D+T players who stopped me to say hi. Thank you all for the support. Sorry I couldn’t represent us in the top 8.

  19. #9019

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    @dsquared
    Thanks for the writeup! Parnell is one of my locals. Here's the sort of list he's been playing for months, if you are curious.

    I can see moving the Prelate to the sideboard as being reasonable. That's another one of those things I've been mulling over, but haven't had time to try yet.

  20. #9020
    Member

    Join Date

    Jun 2015
    Location

    NYC
    Posts

    1,329

    Re: [DTB] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by dsquared View Post
    Eternal Weekend 2017 Tournament Report
    Round 9: Lose 0-2 vs HJ on Sultai Delver (8-1)

    At this point, HJ and I were the only two undefeated. I really punted this match bad. You can watch all the misplays here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184303938

    Gm1:

    The opponent had the nuts with 3 delvers on turn 2 and flipping them (revealing hymn) on a beautiful brainstorm at upkeep on turn 3. I really had two choices at this point, go with revoker to shutdown DRS or Flickerwisp to slow down the Delvers. In hindsight, Flickerwisp would be the better play, but it likely wouldn’t have changed the result as he would come in for 6 damage from delvers (if it flips again) and 2 damage from DRS to bring me down to 3. Another swing with the 2 delvers would have won it for him.

    Gm2: +2 RIP, -2 Serra Avenger

    I made two huge mistakes in this game that cost me the game. The first one was not attacking Lilliana even with Revoker shutting it down. Revoker can be fragile and the Last Hope is devastating for us. The second misplay was the double block on Thalia. I could have protected it with mom after the first strike damage (assuming opponent didn’t have spot removal in hand). The safer play was to keep Thalia back to lock out the toxic deluge. I just simply punted this game as I was too focused on trying to finish him off at 5 life.

    HJ deserved to win the Legacy Champs, I was simply outclassed and outplayed on this one. Congrats to him on taking the title!
    No, your first mistake g2 didn't have to do with Liliana, you didn't need to be attacking it. When he double blocked your Revoker, you Flickerwisp'd your Revoker instead of Flickering his DRS + giving Revoker pro-Blue with Mom. That would have killed the Delver and he would have never been able to cast Toxic Deluge in time, or really do anything, since he'd be on 2 lands + DRS/Goyf vs a Thalia/Mom/Revoker/Flickerwisp/RiP.

    And after that - you did actually need to be attacking with Thalia - the safer play was not to keep her back, eventually he's going to draw a land and Deluge, you needed to be pressuring his life.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)