As someone strictly lurking to learn about NOT-tezzeret decklist, I'm all for 2 separate threads.
So I took Top 3 (same score due to breakers) at weekly Legacy.
I'll do a quick report.
Round 1: Dan with TES
Game 1, I set up CounterTop and wreck him. He can't get any relevant spells through, then I force him into Empty the Warrens path by selective counterspells. I then drop the EE and he scoops. Sad for Dan, he's a great Storm pilot, but drew land after land and I sculpted his Storm path.
Game 2, I side in Cannonist, Crypt, Extirpate, Spellbomb, and Arcane Lab for irrelevant creature removal. I counter key cards, then Extirpate LED by mistake (I counter LED instead of the Tutor he had, as I was a bit on edge. I knew he had it, but I just slammed Force out of habit). Anyway, I rid him of LED and he tries to slowly rebuild. I drop Lab, but he bounces a few turns in a row. I eventually stabilize and counter a desperate Tutor attempt on his part. Then, I Jace him out. He scoops.
1-0
Round 2: Gavin with Affinity
I knew it was Affinity going in. He starts slow for Affinity, and I get a few decent draws. Eventually, he has multiple guys and drops Master of Etherium. I tutor for Humility, and get Thopter foundry, eating my useless Needles and Seat of the Synod. I hold on and he drops Tezzeret, turning a dude into a 5/5. I Needle it the next turn, and I also Top into the Sword of the Meek. I make a ton of guys and get out of the 5-life range, and puke Thopters. He scoops when he can't Affinity me out.
Game 2, I board in Serenity, Arcane Laboratory, Energy Flux. He goes turn 1: Darksteel Citadel, 4 Ornithopter, Mox Opal, pass turn. I act like I'm fucked, and drop turn 1 Top and EE @ 0. He cries, then topdecks the Needle. I cringe, then drop Serenity. what a blowout. I rebuild faster than he does, and I just Humility/Moat lock him. Jace wins it for me.
2-0
Round 3: James with U/R Painter
Since Humility doesn't play nice with Painter, I know I'm going to get hosed. I manage to counter, Swords, Needle, and combo, but he draws like a champion and busts out the combo.
Game 2, the same thing happens. I counter him to high heaven, but he boards in 6 Blasts and fucks me up with Painter online under Humility. What a beating.
2-1
Round 4: James (Plague Sliver) with NLT
Again, it comes down to me Humiliating him and Needling Jace, then going for the Combo.
Game 2, similar events occur and I take it home.
3-1
-------
I place 3rd on 3-1, but I get third due to breakers. I get $10 credit for my efforts.
Props: Ensaring Bridge, sideboarding for poor people (Affinity and Dredge). It's like throwing change at hobos, it's so wrong, but feels so right. I feel the deck is strong against inexpensive decks and Storm.
Slops: Layer 6 and Layer 4 screwing me over. Humility should Humiliate a Painter's Servant, but it doesn't.
-Matt
haha that last line was awesome. Can you post you list?
so honest question,does mental mistep kill this deck?
seems like in the Uw version's you dont really have room for MM and MM does shut down the silver bullet tutor package.
UW version has 7 flex spots to tinker with, we most certainly have room for 0-4 Mental Misstep. CounterTop and Mental Misstep can help combat opponent's Mental Missteps. If you don't have any countermagic at all, then it wouldn't really matter if your opponent cast Counterspell or Mental Misstep on your E Tutor as you had no way to push it through.
Sorry, Mother's Day got me sidetracked.
My list was:
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
2 Academy Ruins
5 Island
2 Plains
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Sensei's Top
2 Counterbalance
2 Pithing Needle
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Moat
1 Humility
2 Counterspell
3 Spell Pierce/Mental Misstep
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Board:
1 Pithing Needle
1 Back to Basics
1 Warmth
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ethersworn Cannonist
1 Arcane Laboratory
2 Extirpate
3 Engineered Plague
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Energy Flux
1 Serenity
My thoughts are I'd definitely love at least another Bridge main. It's my go-to lockpiece, to be frank.
@ Mental Misstep
I'm not going to stop running cards because they MIGHT get countered, otherwise I'd just run infinite Blurred Mongeese, Vexing Shushers, or some other garbage. Force of Will is more rampant than MM, yet I still play counterable cards. My word!
-Matt
If you're that worried about mental misstep (which can be a pain in the ass, not that much on enlightened tutor but specially on your stp as my testing showed), you can simply play intuition over enlightened tutor.
I don't think this deck should run mental misstep at all, neither as it is nor as an answer to opposite missteps. The best decks for misstep are blue creature based decks, for example daze+wasteland based decks or countertop builds with at least 12 creatures, because misstep is at its best a turn 1 answer AND a removal answer for the further turns, not just an answer for their turn 1 vial or top. And we run zero creatures, so misstep won't perform as its best here.
Well, I've got 3 Extra slots with Spell Pierce, and with all the creatures in the format, nixing a Vial to give me time to set up could be fine.
-Matt
@ Matt, grats on doing well with the deck! Little nitpick on the affinity MU, I don't think you should have dropped the EE T1, since he did not thoughtseize you, that means he doesn't have it. He may have pierce T1 ready and he could needle (and did) your EE. I always drop an EE only when I am ready to blow it.
Btw I don't think Misstep hurts this deck that much if you aim to be less dependant on Enlightened ie: play more Bridges. Having said that I don't think we should run Misstep in this deck as we don't need to hit STPs and conditional counters hurt Bridge's ability to lock down dudes. I prefer to just run most permanents with only Force as my counter. Here's a post Misstep list:
4 Top
4 Counterbalance
4 Force
4 Brainstorm
4 Tutor
4 STP
3 Jace TMS
3 Bridge (Best card in deck, want to draw it naturally)
1 Moat
1 O ring
4 Thopther
2 Sword
2 Tundra
8 Island
2 Plains
1 Academy Ruins
4 Strand
4 Misty
1 Heath
No frills, simple and straight forward. We just ignore Vial/Dudes/Misstep by just running out as much permanents as possible. The deck is less flexible, but we can leave the bullets and conditional counters in the board.
@ Matt, loved your post :-) Keep them coming if you can, they are really helpful. However it's layers 5 and 6 that are screwing you over ^.^
I've been testing out your list for the past few days with some very nice results, and will probably be taking something nearly identical to a local event soon. So thanks!
My one suggestion is Rule of Law over Arcane Laboratory in the board, as TES/Charblecher run often run Pyroblasts post-board.
Ah, I totally forgot about that. Then yes, Rule of Law would be better.
Concerning Tezzeret, one good thing is he lets you win in two turns under a resolved Humility + Moat, instead of Jace taking a million years. If need be, he can race an opposing Jace, a pithing Needle on your Jace, and isn't killed by Jace legend rules. If I do in fact do that, take my list and do -1 Counterspell -1 Pithing Needle +2 Tezzeret, and the sideboard would be +1 Ensnaring Bridge +1 Needle -1 Cannonist (doesn't stop Affinity at all...) -1 E. Plague.
I've also changed my sideboard just a tad because I love Ensnaring Bridge *this* much. Even if I don't put Tezzy in, I'd still change my sideboard to include another Bridge at the cost of a Plague. Merfolk has to scoop to Bridge if they have a Lord down :P
-Matt
I've been toying around with this deck for a little bit. Basically ripped the core list from the Standstill build from the opening post, but had to switch the sideboard around a bit. The list:
4x Brainstorm
4x Sensei's Divining Top
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Enlightened Tutor
2x Spell Snare
1x Argivian Find
4x Counterbalance
3x Standstill
2x Thopter Foundry
1x Sword of the Meek
1x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Gifts Ungiven
1x Humility
4x Force of Will
1x Engineered Explosives
4x Tundra
1x Tropical Island
4x Mishra's Factory
2x Academy Ruins
4x Flooded Strand
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Scalding Tarn
2x Island
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Plains
1x Snow-Covered Plains
Sideboard:
3x Krosan Grip
2x Propaganda
2x Hibernation
2x Meddling Mage
2x Path to Exile
2x Tormod's Crypt
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Hanna's Custody
I played today in a local event (Only 8 people, but decent prizes, so nobody was really fucking around) and placed first overall, going 4-1 in rounds and 8-3 in games.
Round 1 - Nick with Mono-Red Storm.
I've played this matchup before, with a variety of decks. It's got some crazy redundancy (he's using Empty the Warrens + Burning Wish, Storm Entity and Dragon Storm) and can randomly explode into a wild turn 1-2 "Surprise! 16 Goblin Tokens *and* Goblin War Strike your face".
Game 1, I messed up. I was able to stall for a few turns by using Spell Snare on one of his rituals, but eventually he got his ETW off for 8 tokens, which wouldn't have been that bad if I had remembered that I had EE for an Enlightened Tutor target (I had a few drinks with lunch). His tokens just raped my face.
Sideboard: -3 Swords, -1 Humility, +2 Propaganda, +2 Meddling Mage.
Game 2, I kept a hand featuring Top, Counterbalance, Force of Will + Blue card, and 3 lands. I go turn 1 Tundra => Top. He goes turn 1, Mountain, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Desperate Ritual (I try to respond with a Force of Will), he Red Blasts it, Seething Song, Empty the Warrens for 14 Tokens. I died hard.
Record: 0-1 (0-2 for games)
Round 2: Anthony with Geddon Staxx
I didn’t like the idea of this matchup going in. The idea of Chalice at 1, Trinisphere, Ghostly Prison and Magus of the Tabernacle just terrified me. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how it ended up going.
Game 1, I lucked out and was able to Spell Snare his Chalice at 1, Force for Trinisphere, and an eventual EE for 3 to wipe out his Crucible and Ghostly Prison. Humility was able to stop Magus from ruining my day, and even through Smokestack + Geddon, I was able to recover (Particularly due to the EE eating his board after he dropped the Stack). Eventually Gifts for Foundry, Sword, Find and Ruins gave me what I needed to finish the game.
Sideboard: -4 Swords to Plowshares, -1 Standstill +3 Grip, +2 Tormod’s Crypt
Game 2 was a bit more terrifying. He opens up, Mishra’s Factory, Mox Diamond (pitching a plains), Phyrexian Revoker (naming Foundry). I breathed a sigh of relief as he didn’t name Top. Over the next couple turns, he was stuck on 2 lands, but was still beating face for 4 each turn. Eventually I was able to KGrip the Revoker and land a factory of my own to slow the game down. Counterbalance eventually locked the game out when I had both a Humility and a KGrip on top. He scooped once he saw them both.)
Record: 1-1 (2-2 for games)
Round 3: Melissa with Burn
I wasn’t terribly concerned. She was still a little new to the game, but was loaned a competitive burn deck and actually faired pretty well overall. However, Counterbalance + Top, as well as Foundry + Sword really does a number on the deck.
Game 1: Landing counterbalance wins games. Swordsing Hellsparks and Keldon Marauders always seems like a good call to me. In the end, counterbalance + top with one Factory won it for me. The fact that I’m apparently the “luckiest son of a bitch” when it comes to counterbalance also helped significantly.
Sideboard: -1 Humility, -1 Ensnaring Bridge, +2 Path to Exile
Game 2, the pressure was on right from the start. She opened up with a turn 1 Goblin Guide, swings in, and I reveal a Sword of the Meek. Not terrible, but not great. I opened up Tundra go, she drew, bolted me and swung in again. I brainstormed with the Guide’s trigger on the stack to sneak an extra draw in. The next couple turns consisted of me dropping top and Foundry, and eventually dropping Sword and just winning from there.
Record: 2-1 (4-2 for games)
Round 4: Tim with UGr NO
The games started to blend together, but a good chunk of countermagic, Counterbalance, and EE + Academy ruins really put a damper on his game plan. Game 2, Ensnaring Bridge left him beating face with an Exalted Dryad Arbor, but EE slowly killed off his board. Gifts grabbing missing the Thopter/Sword pieces ended the game pretty hard.
Sideboard: -3 Standstill, -1 Spell Snare, +2 Hibernation, +2 KGrip (He had mentioned Energy Flux before the tournament started)
Record: 3-1 (6-2 for games)
Round 5: Nick with Mono-R Goblins
Game 1: I was able to stall out until I landed Humility, only to be stuck with a Thopter Foundry in play, no ways of recurring it and no way of finding Sword of the Meek.
Sideboard: -3 Standstill, -1 Island, +2 Propaganda, +2 Path
Games 2 and 3: Ensnaring bridge is pretty solid once they’ve landed their second Goblin Chieftain. Eventually, a combination of Ensnaring Bridge, Propaganda in one game, Humility and Propaganda in the other, was able to lock out the game. EEing away Lackey and Vial is incredibly useful, as is effectively having 6 swords.
Ending record: 4-1 (8-3 for games)
In the end, I only had a couple thoughts:
Sideboard: I used every card in my sideboard but Wheel of Sun and Moon and Hanna’s Custody. I’m not sure If they’re unnecessary or if it just wasn’t right for the metagame.
Spell Snare: I like it, but I wonder if here, it’s better suited as Mental Misstep (especially in a deck that can abuse Standstill)
I dunno… that’s what I’ve got for now. Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?
Today is under construction
Thank you for understanding.
@puppektion
Given this list feels like a combination of Landstill and regular Countertop Thopters, what do you feel that this list does better/worse than the either of the regular lists? i.e. Why play this list?
Was Jace not in because of availability or do you have a more specific reason?
Your opinion of Intuition vs. Gifts Ungiven?
Lastly, any neat tricks this deck can pull? (e.g. things that may not be apparent to us that haven't played the deck)
Tezz gives you another win con under Humility and Moat, because if you pump out Thopter Tokens, even though they can't attack, they'll count towards Tezzeret's ultimate ability :)
Also, Ensnaring Bridge ruins Merfolk, as their own lords work against them.
-Matt
Meh, using the attack phase is for chumps :P
-Matt
Why not one TimeSeive... for infinite turns with 6 mana/foundry/sword?
I like the way you think, good sir. But, that combo doesn't actually get you anywhere within a reasonable amount of time (your opponent will probably make you run the turns out), but it's obviously viable.
-Matt
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)