[Deck] EATS!

[thefreakaccident]

The first time I ever picked up ATS was a year ago... I got first place at a local tourney (about 30 people).
I then built my own in a couple of weeks and began playing with it religiously, coming to a top 5 finish about every week. I recently stopped playing it though, due to the extreme rise in quick combo and aggro control in my meta (I have a tough time with solidarity). I recently added black to my color scheme, which isn't all that creative.. seeing that you guys have been doing that for a while.
With the new black splash I have been able to bring the matchups to either wins or 50/50 games... I will be going to a tourney soon with my build, which I will tell you guys later (It is quite late, about midnight over here).... I will give a report along with my build/ choices/ questions for my build... it may seem a little bit less aggro, and a little bit more control; but that is my personal preferance... If you perfer a little disruption with mass beats, hey go for it... I am usually the guy that plays mass control and kills you with a factory just to be a jerk . So untilo saturday my fellow M plyrs. There are also some large differences in my build to some of the others in circulation, I guess it is just my own difference in playstyle...

[The Djinn]

I've been thinking about the 2nd Witness. As you don't need it very often, it may be an idea to replace it. The replacement needs to work without Survival and with that in mind I came to the following options:

Mesmeric Fiend (more maindeck combo hate, trick with Tradewind)
Quirion Ranger (extra utility creature, Ranger is important in saving your duals from Wasteland and other LD)
Ravenous Baloth (more lifegain to deal with Bob and aggro)
Spike Feeder (see Baloth, but getting this with Bob hurts less, secret tech with Tradewind)
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary (more mana = good, but legendary...)
Nothing (makes the deck 60 cards)

I will be testing this deck the coming weeks and start with a M.Fiend instead of 1 Witness. I'll report back my findings

[Happy Gilmore]

I was under the impression that EATS uses Fow and more blue cards? I really like the new setup but I wonder when it changed over from that earlier version. Tinderwall seems retarded against goblins. All in all it seams much more streamline, solid. Now I have to go ahead and survival back together .

Some questions though:

1. Is Dark Confidant all that good when you only have 4 disruption spells to draw into?

2. Do you feel 1 Tin-street Hooligan is enough?

3. Is Bone Shredder better than another FTk Considering you run 4x Tinder wall?

4. What is the best game plan post-board vs. Storm combo?

5. Considering the number of blue and Red cards in the deck wouldn't it be better to run 4 Taiga and 3 Tropical Island?

[The Djinn]

5. Considering the number of blue and Red cards in the deck wouldn't it be better to run 4 Taiga and 3 Tropical Island?

The 4 Trops are necessary to play a 1st turn Brainstorm. The red mana is not needed that early. FTK and Tin Street cannot be played turn 1. By the time you need it, you'll probably have Birds, Tinder Wall and/or Taiga in play.

The other red cards (Squee, Anger) are supposed to be in your graveyard or in your hand to use with Survival.

[Di]

I was under the impression that EATS uses Fow and more blue cards? I really like the new setup but I wonder when it changed over from that earlier version

Like 6-7 months ago. You are really behind the times man. First you post about 300 like a month after it's blown by, then you wonder where the FoWs are. I'm just pickin on ya, but seriously what's going on?

1. Is Dark Confidant all that good when you only have 4 disruption spells to draw into?

Dark Confidant is there to act as a means of draw outside of Survival of the Fittest. I feel my deck works better than any of the other Anger-based Survival decks (I say Anger based because the GBW control builds have a much different agenda, therefore it isn't even comparable) because I have access to a lot of draw outside of SotF with Confidant and Brainstorm. It is possible to run Sylvan Library or even Sensei's Divining Top in this slot, but they don't have the synergy with the deck like Bob does. (Survival use, Therapy, Tradewind, etc)

2. Do you feel 1 Tin-street Hooligan is enough?

Why shouldn't you? Pithing Needle is not the worst card for this deck. In fact, Pithing Needle isn't that big of a deal at all. Of course Tin-Street is also good against other stuff, but there just isn't space in the maindeck. That's what a sideboard is for. For reference this is my current sideboard:

3 Engineered Plague
3 Duress
2 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Krosan Grip
2 Arcane Lab
2 Null Rod
1 Goblin Pyromancer

Yea it's kind of ugly but so far it's been working. I recently moved a Mesmeric into the maindeck, but that slot is debatable at this point. However, the sideboard now has access to a good amount of combo hate, all the while packing Null Rods for Affinity/combo/equipment and Krosan Grips, as I've been having difficulty with a few unmentionable enchantments....

3. Is Bone Shredder better than another FTk Considering you run 4x Tinder wall?

If you've read through the thread then you'd understand the reasoning behind Bone Shredder. 9/10 times it'd be better suited as an FTK because it hits more and is bigger, but FTK can't touch pro-red men, nor can it touch anything with an ass > 5. It isn't all that common the situation comes up, but when it does FTK isn't able to bail you out.

4. What is the best game plan post-board vs. Storm combo?

Stop them by any means necessary through heavy discard and dropping anti-combo bombs (Lab, Rod). These are the cards I board in for combo:

Duress
Mesmeric Fiend
Null Rod
Arcane Lab
Engineered Plague (Empty the Warrens)
Goblin Pyromancer (occasionally for Warrens)

5. Considering the number of blue and Red cards in the deck wouldn't it be better to run 4 Taiga and 3 Tropical Island?

As The Djinn already stated it's important to be able to cast Brainstorm turn 1. Also, you still have more red sources in the deck due to Tinder Wall.

[Happy Gilmore]

Like 6-7 months ago. You are really behind the times man. First you post about 300 like a month after it's blown by, then you wonder where the FoWs are. I'm just pickin on ya, but seriously what's going on?

Sigh, what can I say. My brain is on a one month delay. But seriously, I heard from "word of mouth" that you had rebuilt ATS with FoW and like 12 blue cards or something. I never bothered to look at it after I heard that. I like the current list a lot more. Especially how Tradewind is used as a utility creature rather than the main strategy. I especially like how it replaces the Enchantment removal slot while still being effective in other ways.