Miracles - I would welcome any advice on miracle SB, stifle does have some valid targets but i wanted all 6 of those cards (2 REB, 2 Spell Pierce, 1 Krosan Grip, 1 pithing needle) and didn't know what else to cut. maybe gitaxian probe? I don't know. I like snare because it is a hard counter to RiP and counterbalance. I was not sure to expect any EE so other than that stifle application seems very narrow...Originally Posted by Contract Killer
Junk - I actually added 2 True Names in my SB to try and boost this MU...well see how that goes.
UWR - I like leaving 2 forces in otd. The card disadvantage is bad, yes, but TNN is a card we can't beat. They have so much removal (7 pieces main board) and they get more post board with REB and possibly the full playset of StP, so relying on delver to finish this one off is not I good idea I think. I knew he would aggressively try to waste me and I think I was already on a mull so pondering for more lands felt correct. it was not a fetchland - not going to just run a trop out there with ponder in hand and pass the turn with no other action.
There are two reasons why I would rather be on RUG than BUG when facing Miracles - one is Nimble Mongoose, the other is Stifle. Stifle has so many applications in the match-up, countering fetch-lands (primarily to screw with their Brainstorms, since they will probably not get manascrewed even by us anyway), Miracle-triggers, RiP-trigger, Snapcaster, Jace-activations, EE, Stoneforge (which some of them board into) etc.
In your case, I'd bring in those six cards, and side out all 4 Dazes (they will probably play around it anyway and you still have the benefit of Thalia:ing all their spells even though you don't have Daze) and 2 Forked Bolt.
Currently playing:
Canadian Threshold Primer!
My blog about Legacy, limited, EDH and stuff!
Jacob Wilson said pretty well in one of his Legacy streams (playing threshold) that you just need to land one threat (usually delver or mongoose) and protect it only if you don't have another threat in your hand. Counter only 'the must counter spells' like Jace, Counterbalance (most of the time), Terminus (if you have more than one creature in play) and Entreat the Angels. Usually Miracles is able to cast like two of those spells in first game and pre-board you should have even more answers in form of Pyroblast and Flusterstorm. Countering the Divining Top is a rare pleasure and you should not FoW it ever if your opponent did not mulligan down to five or something. This is just my opinion and I have won only two rounds against Miracles from like ten rounds I've played against it. But all of those have been insanely lucky by Miracle players; like top decking Jace or blind Terminus everytime when needed or drawing three Swords to Plowshares in two games. All Miracle rounds I have played have been very favored by me but you just can't beat nut draws if you don't have them also.
Threshold
Yes, I'd definitely play it the same, it's not reasonable to play it "Trop, go", this is a step to nowhere.
Exactly. I someties cut the Bolts, becasue I feel like there's much more important job to be done than doming for three. As long as I can counter/stifle everything they try to do, a mere Mongoose will get there, even if ti would be a 1/1 due to RiP.
Otoh, I can definitely ee the reason why a more tempo oriented approach - deal some dmg with cratures, burn the opponent post.Termninus - is also a valid one.
I often refrain to cut bolts in RUG at all, even against Storm opponents etc. Miracles has a way of stabilizing around 4-5 life, and at that point a couple of Bolts will put the game away.
Forked Bolt, obviously, is really bad vs them though.
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My blog about Legacy, limited, EDH and stuff!
This all depends on your gameplan, though.
I'm trying tio grind-out the games and completely forgo the tempo plan (except if a random "StifleWasteDazeGG" opportunity happens), because:
1) against Storm you need to survive the initial turns so you take every card that helps. This dilutes the deck, so there's no point to rely on Bolts anymore, except as a mean to get rid of X Swarm. (And that's why I alkways keep three LBs in.)
2) Against Miracles you cannot rely on a tempo plan, because there are cards that either wreck the plan alone (EE, Terminus) or your very deck (Moon, RiP, CB, Jace). So you once again need every possible answer and thus once again dilute the deck to the point where the Bolts simply cease to matter; in fact they may be a liability in times when you desperately need that REB/Pierce/Flusterstorm to stop that CB/EE/Terminus that threatens to end the game right now.
As long as it's impossible to completely balance the aggro and control elements necessary in the two matchups (and it IS impossible, indeed it is), I'll always lean to the side of a complete control. Because, once again: you need to survive, you'll win with w/e gets through, but you won't be winning against ToA for 20 on turn2 and you won't get anywhere with a turn2 CB on table.
I would also ask for advice SBing in Miracles matchups. I had a tourney this last weekend, lost against Miracles in top8, and I felt like I didn't sideboard well.
Was playing Jacob Wison's list: 54 RUG +2 gitaxian probe +1 forked bolt +3 spell pierce. SB was:
· 3 pyroblast
· 3 submerge
· 2 grafdigger's cage
· 2 flusterstorm
· 2 rough / tumble
· 1 forked bolt
· 1 ancient grudge
· 1 destructive revelry
List was awesome, and went very well, reaching top8 easily. Won the first round really quickly against Miracles, putting 2 fast delvers and stifling his fetches. On the second round, I moved all bolts but one to SB, which finally was an error because the guy was playing stoneforge from SB, so round my 2nd round sideboard plan was -1 daze -1 forked bolt -3 lightning bolt / +3 pyroblast +2 flusterstorm, which was an error IMO. On the 3rd round my SB plan was +3 lightning bolt +1 destructive revelry +1 ancient grudge -4 daze -1 gitaxian.
I'm a noob playing this deck, so any tip in the matchup would be great. On the 3rd round I left the guy at 5 life, with a bolt in hand, but he could stabilize the board, maybe +1 bolt -1 gitaxian would be better. I felt like I oversideboarded.
Currently playing: T.E.S. & RUG Delver
@vermiis
I found it matters a lot what version they are on.
IE, a heavy V.Clique + Snapcaster version, bolt tends to be find where-as vs. the none-creature-list, not so much.
I can't comment on other people's sb, as I'm (obviously) not competent with them. But my sb (for 54 RUG, 2/2/2 Snare/Pierece/FB) is this...
2 Rough
2 Submerge
3 Pyroblast
2 Flusterstorm
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Artifact Mutation
2 Grafidgger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
...and against Miracels I sb like this:
- 2-4 Daze (depending if otp or otd, but at the end you may simply cut them all and be fine)
- 2 FB
- 1-2 Bolt (depending on number of Dazes)
- 0-1 Wasteland
+ 3 Blasts (CB, Jace, SCM, Clique, sometimes cantrips)
+ 2 Flusterstorms (Terminus and counterspells, also you may stop early StP)
+ 2 Needle (Top or Jace, but mostly Top)
The best idea might be to cut all Dazes and keep all Bolts, as the opponents will be playing around Daze so or so, and you'll have a consistent deck with 0/4 split. But sometimes you may off-balance them with a non-virtual Daze, and that might be useful esp. against competent players and/or those who already know that your post-board plan is Dazeless.
With a "54 RUG, 8 Bolts" deck I'd sb a bit different, as I'd try to win through direct dmg rather than throguh creature rush. This way you need to concentrate on keeping CB of the table and not care much of your creatures. Needle to stop Top, REBs to stop CB, but you definitely don't need to stop Terminus (after all, your creatures are meant to be a Bolt-on-legs and if they deal three dmg, you're fine with the result).
I'd sb like this:
- 4 Daze
- 1 Waste
+ 3 Pyro (CB, CB, CB... then maybe JTMS)
+ 2 Needle (Top, Top, Top... then maybe EE/Jace)
I'm open to ANY criticism!
Cool, I see I forgot to sideboard out some wastelands. Pithin Needle is great against SDT, I reckon, so I might add it to my SB, because it also works great against deathrite shaman, lilianas, and stuff.
Currently playing: T.E.S. & RUG Delver
@vermiis
I cut FOW from my deck against miracles, and leave the bolts in and its been a good match-up for me. But I do cut bolts against Reanimater, because you need those blasts
Oops hahaha didn't realize that's what you're talking about.
@ShiftyKapree If you want to add Sulfur Elemental I would shave a submerge and maybe a needle for something else. My experience with needle (which was brief so this might be biased) is like cage against elves. Sure it shuts off their green sun's and NO, but you can never really tell when it's good. I'm not saying it's bad, but being able to tell when needle is useful to me seems hard. I mean sure you can name something, but maybe that card never comes up or they decay it or Venser it back after getting counterbalance lock out. I just feel like needle could always have been something better that had left more of an impact on the board.
RUG Delver (8 Bolt variant)
53 core rug (- 1 goyf)
1 Sylvan Library
4 Chain Lightning
2 Spell pierce
Sideboard
3 Pyroblast
2 flusterstorm
1 spell pierce
1 vendilion clique
2 grafdigger's cage
1 destructive revelry
1 artifact mutation
1 sulfur elemental
1 rough
1 sulfuric vortex
1 price of progress
Now then here's my report for the recent 70 man tournament I played in.
Round 1 Jund 2/1 || 1/0
Game 1 OTP - I get a goose out turn 1 a little less than ideal, but it's ok. He thought seizes me and reveals double wasteland which is enough to make him depress. A few can trips later I find a third wasteland and Goose plus Goyf get the job done.
Game 2 - This one was pretty bad. He was able to get a deathrite out turn 1 and play around everything with perfect information off of thought seize. My goose never gets very big after failing to find removal for deathrite and his Goyf quickly beats me down.
Game 3 - I get the perfect open lead Delver go. This game was kind of thrown because he started with wasteland go hoping to waste me out with the other one in hand. I proceed to make land drops the next few turns despite his wastelands and my delver gets me there.
This is pretty much the only way I've found to beat jund have the mana denial hand their mid to late game is too goo to even try to beat.
Boarding -4 force // + clique, spell pierce, price, rough and tumble
Round 2 Maverick *sigh* more fair decks where are the unfair ones those are easy hahaha 2/1 || 2/0
Game 1 OTP - I keep an ok, but control-ish hand full of bolts counters and a cantrip or two, but only one land. His deathrite gets bolted EOT. I proceed to not draw any lands and pass. He plays out a Scooze which I chain lightning on my turn while still not drawing another land. He plays out a thalia to which I bolt off of wasteland not ideal. Eventually I get somewhat of a board presence, but not after he gets a scryb ranger equipped with SoFI though I did put up a good fight with my 2 geese and delver putting him down to 6.
Game 2 - This one was pretty close I lead land go holding up stifle. He plays fetch pass followed by fetching on my upkeep which I still stifle. After playing out a goose I pass. He plays around daze turn 2 by passing. I land wasteland and pass with Clique on his draw step showing *surgical, KOTR, Savanah, verdant, Windswept, Dark Depths, Thalia* and have him bin the Thalia. He wastelands followed by Surgical on my volcanic. I wasteland back on my turn and play goyf. His turn he Jams KOTR which gets hit by daze at which point his hand is full of lands and passes. I play out another goose and get their despite having only something like 11 dead draws hahaha
Game 3 - This game was pretty slanted. I land turn one delver. Turn 2 it doesn't flip, but I bolt Deathrite and land another delver. Next turn he plays loam for no value and passes. I assume he's hurting for lands which makes my line even better to just close out the game as soon as possible. Delvers flip and three turns later that was game. Something about having 6 power in the air turn 3 is really good.
Boarding - 4 force, 1 stifle, 1 spell pierce // + 1 sulfur elemental, 1 rough, 1 destructive revelry, 1 artifact mutation, 1 vendillion clique, 1 price of progress. OTD +2 force // - 2 daze
Round 3 Infect This is the only match I play horribly and regret. 0/2 || 2/1
Game 1 OTP - I know what he's on and keep an ok hand of 2 wasteland, 3 fetch force ponder. I ponder shuffle away a stifle fetch and wasteland only to brick into another land. He plays out noble I try to wasteland him out and it doesn't work.
Game 2 - I keep a hand full of bolts and a force, but it never gets there.
I've played this match up a lot with my friend and it's weird. It seems like you really need a mix of bolt + counterspell to win. If you don't have pressure they slowly ping you down until they force your hand by getting you at 6 poison (surprisingly easy when you lead glistener noble pendel haven). Wastelands should definitely be saved strictly for Nexus. Even with 2 wastelands I couldn't mana screw them. Despite the fact they only have 5 real lands and 4 dorks somehow they seem to have more mana sources than I had bolts + wastelands. Also sideboard is a lot easier with submerges I played casually with him today and won 3 post board games with 2 submerges.
Round 4 Sneak and Show Finally a match up I enjoy 2/0 || 3/1
Game 1 OTP - I have a solid delver hand and pass with the usual fetch delver go. He plays volcanic ponder pass (either combo, tempo at this point). Delver flips I swing and pass. He plays tomb tries to go off I force he forces back I spell pierce and live to fight another day before the spaghetti monster arrives. Delver puts him to 10 at this point (turn 4) and next turn triple bolt gets there hahaha.
Game 2 He has the turn 1 nuts with double petal and show and tell, but I have Force mwhahahaha. At this point he has two cards in hand is pretty low on resources I get a turn 2 library. Library proceeds to draw me threat + disruption next turn. I counter every cantrip while out drawing him 3 to 1 over the next few turns. So yeah Library is Broken against combo I drew myself 4 extra cards down to 2 life. It allows you to aggressively counter cantrips without the worry of not having counters for their actual combo.
Boarding - 4 chain lightning, - 1 goyf, - 2 daze // + 3 pyroblast 2 flusterstorm 1 vendilion clique 1 spell pierce
Round 5 Goblins A match up I dread, but somehow win. 2/0 || 4/1
Game 1 OTP - I keep an ok hand of cantrips + bolts lead volcanic go. He plays out a lackey which meets bolt EOT. At this point I realize I need to find another land fast brainstorm and brick pass. He plays out another lackey which meets Chain lightning on my turn. He passes after not making a land drop. At this point we both have one land and I'm guessing he was banking on lackey A or B to gain board presence. I pass still locked off of my brainstorm. He plays wasteland go. I top deck Wasteland and now no one has lands. Eventually I'm the first to draw a land play out goose and ride it to victory.
Game 2 - He gets a turn 1 vial go. I land goose and pass. He passes back with vial at one and 2 lands out. I play out goyf on my turn and luckily he didn't have a lackey. He passes back adding a rishadan port which taps me off of red. I play out delver swing and pass. He vials out lackey followed by another vial and warchief next turn. Delver flips, but meets tarfire +1 to goyf hahaha. The team swings in and he quickly falls to 1 life. At this point we're at a stale mate with him having 4 or 5 some goblins out to my 2 geese + goyf. I land a Library pass hoping to just draw a bolt sometime soon... It doesn't happen. eventually he swings in with 5 out of his 7 goblins a few bite the dust goose trades with an absurdly large pile driver. My life total quickly dwindles down to 2 (none of which from my own library). I find a rough after fetching / pondering my way through my deck which clears the way for goose and goyf to go for the throat. It was slightly stupid seeing something like 12 + cards trying to find something like 5+ cards that win on the spot bolt with Brainstorm, fetch, ponder etc over a few turns.
Boarding is pretty bad here not much in the sideboard, but I'm kind of pre boarded with 4 chain lightnings to help out. - 4 force // + rough, sulfur elemental, vendillion, spell pierce I thought about adding Price or vortex, but ultimately decided they were too low impact / risky to side in. I also realized after boarding that spell pierce is almost as dead as force, but really what better did I have in the board hahaha.
Round 6 Deathblade Not sure how I feel about this match up seems 50/50. 1/2 || 4/2
Game 1 OTD - He has turn 1 deathrite which quickly meets bolt on my turn. He passes back after fetching while I'm tapped out. I play out a delver and pass. He swords my delver and follows with stoneforge which quickly dies to Chain lightning. I play out another delver and pass. Eventually it gets down to the wire with me keeping him out of Batterskull mana and delver beats. Two extra bolts help me get there just before batterskull was going to hit the table.
Game 2 - I play a control like game keeping a hand with disruption and Vortex. Eventually after some back and forth the first few turns him thinking I had stifle and a few dead deathrites vortex hits the table. I play out a delver and pass and he has Abrupt decay EoT for Vortex after only 1 hit with it. His turn he just passes back. Delver flips, but is quickly met by Snapcaster into abrupt decay. Snapcaster slowly beats me down, and he adds a batterskull to the table and then passes. I draw into a revelry which takes care of batterskull on his turn after he tries to equip. At this point it's too late and a TNN is enough for me to scoop up my cards.
Game 3 - I have an ok mulligan to 6 with 3 ponder, stifle, Price. I ponder shuffle and pass. He has turn 1 thoughtseize and tanks for a solid few mins and eventually picks stifle. The rest of the game is me pretty much being mana screwed while he plays out 2 deathrites and TNN. One thing that was hilarious was watching deathblade play like a tempo deck only extending two lands for fear of price hahaha.
Boarding I'm not sure about Vortex it seems good on paper, but with Abrupt decay and now council's judgment for miracles I'm thinking about cutting it. - 4 force, - 1 stifle, - 2 goyf, - 1 chain lightning, - 1 daze // + 3 pyroblast, 1 destructive revelry, 1 artifact mutation, 1 vendillion clique, 1 sulfuric vortex, 1 price of progress Cutting the goyfs seems ok seeing as Clique and Vortex are just better threats here and it allows me to dodge more removal.
Round 7 BUG Delver (without TNN, but at least 3 goyfs and probably 2 Tomstalkers maybe more) 1/2 || 4/3 This was the match up I was really worried about not having submerge and boy did it show.
Game 1 OTP - I get a delver out and force a turn 1 disfigure. Delver flips swings in, but that's all from him unfortunately. He passes delver tries to get in again, but is hit by Abrupt decay. I play out goyf pass. He plays Delver Delver pass. I swing in with Goyf add a goose to the table and pass. Delvers brick luckily, but he adds a tomstalker to the table. Goyf + goose swing he pauses for a min lets them through he goes to 1. He swings in for 8 plays a goyf of his own and passes. I just barely win with bolt off the top. I was a little skeptical of him swinging almost all in with Delver + Tombstalker, but with that much power on the table I can understand the advantage.
Game 2 - He has a perfect tempo hand with all the goodies. Not much I could do when he had everything: deathrite, delver, tempo daze and force protection.
Game 3 - This one was pretty much the same as game 2 except all he needed was for his Goyf to resolve. Eventually I was put in a position where I had to 2x bolt Tombstalker and chump with a delver on his goyf.
Boarding - 4 force - 1 stifle - 2 spell pierce // + 3 pyroblast, 2 flusterstorm, 1 vendilion clique, 1 price OTD - 2 daze // + 2 spell pierce
I was worried about not running submerge in the board and not having any other answers for it. Most variants of rug have some mainboard answer either in snare dismember or just perfect information tipping the scales in their favor. This build though definitely needs submerge in the board. Goyfs are too much of a problem to begin with and even worse when you only have 3 in your deck hahaha.
Overall I really like this build. It doesn't have the probe plan or solid silver bullets in snare and forked bolt, but it trades all that for absurd consistency in bolts. Always having a bolt for Deathrite, Mother, stoneforge, Thalia, etc is amazing. There's also some number of free win percentages gained by just having excessive burn. One thing about having a lot of burn mainboard you need to space it out over turns sometimes due to restricted red mana.
Sylvan Library was great all day. I've tested it against other decks like miracles, UR balancing painter, infect etc and it's absurdly good in the match ups where life doesn't matter which is plenty. You get to draw so many cards and invigorate's life gain actually becomes an advantage hahaha. There are so many draw combinations with Library that people can't beat. I've never really been sad about not having the 4th goyf. Jund wasn't too bad, but I would be wary of bug variants in only running 3 goyfs and no other answers for it. Unless you know there running TNN in which case the 4th goyf would still be irrelevant which I still think is more common than what I faced.
Despite running minimal counter disruption combo decks seem a breeze since our 54 core already beats them. Sideboard there's added hate with 5 solid counter spells and a clique. I might shave a pyroblast since against Sneak and show it was so one sided, but it has the other more important use in countering TNN.
The only changes I would make to the list would be the sideboard with the following:
3 Pyroblast
2 flusterstorm
1 vendilion clique
2 grafdigger's cage
2 submerge
1 destructive revelry
1 ancient grudge
1 sulfur elemental
1 rough
1 price of progress
Anyways keep on stifling those fetches guys!!!
Destructive Revelry. It's not like they sb out Vials, and you definitely want to see it in gy, esp. if it would deal another two dmg.Boarding is pretty bad here not much in the sideboard, but I'm kind of pre boarded with 4 chain lightnings to help out. - 4 force // + rough, sulfur elemental, vendillion, spell pierce I thought about adding Price or vortex, but ultimately decided they were too low impact / risky to side in. I also realized after boarding that spell pierce is almost as dead as force, but really what better did I have in the board hahaha.
@contractkiller Did you play at Tales this past weekend? Also how do you think deathblade is a 50/50 match-up we play stifle, wasteland, lightning bolt, oh and goose which doesn't get removed. I played against it round 1 and crushed it 2-0. I would cut a REB if anything to add sulfur elemental
They also play Batterskull, Deathrite, Jace, and from the board RiP, Verdict etc. all of which can cause trouble. It's pretty build- and skill dependant too, and I'd say its closer to even than favourable.
Currently playing:
My blog about Legacy, limited, EDH and stuff!
No offense but, are you sure the miracle player is any good? Not having FoW seems so wrong...you definitely need to leave bolts in vs miracles because of jace, clique, venser, SFM post board etc.
I would never ever take out FOW against miracles.
What you cut
2 forked bolts, 4 dazes, 1 wasteland,
in
2-3 elemental blasts
2 destructive relevary (or artifact hate)
1-2 spell pierce
2 pithing needle
1 clique for a goyf
Things to let resolve
4 plows, 4 terminus
everything else depends on the board state. counter the win conditions. or if they mull, counter sensei's.
When you are facing Miracles you want to do the following, and would be better of staying away from some other points:
1) Stifle is your MVP. If you want to board it out, you havn't understood neither the deck, nor the Match-Up. I am sorry. It's the reason, alongside those nimble Mongeese, why Canadian Threshold is the toughest of the Delver-MUS. Stifle isn't just there for either, Fetchlands or Miracle triggers. Its versatility is what sets this card apart from any other card in this MU. It can fit any role in any situation throughout different types of games. It can help complement the mana denial while you are beating down and dazing removal. It can make sure you resolve a critical spell (last creature, Sylvan Library etc) by stifling Snapcaster Mage and stranding Top on the battlefield. It can also deal with Miracles win-condition while being relevant against most routes the UW deck will take. Clearly the MVP here. I'd play 5 before I'd play 3.
2) Keep your Force of Wills. This should be common knowledge right now, but Force of Wills are actually very good against Miracles. As I said on different occasion during the last few months in this forum it shouldn't be used to counter removal (most things of what I said about BUG vs UWR count for here, too). It's there to deal with the cards that turn the tide. Miracles will use its plentyful cantrips (up to 12 -with 4 being reusable) and efficient answers to create a game state where on tide-turner will kick you out of contention. This very card varies greatly from MU to MU, but for Canadian Threshold I am talking about Counterbalance with a Top in play or any of the game winning spells like Entreat or Jace - even though Jace, the Mind Sculptor should be beatable with various other means, aswell.
3) Being flexible is key. Not necessarily in your cards, but in how you approach the match-up. Sometimes you should be going all fucking in, dazing the removal, forcing whats left and beat face while stifling the Fetchlands. Sometimes you should go for the mid-game, trying to find the right spot for your cards, allowing the wrong spells to resolve and counter the important one. And, most importantly, do not be afraid of going the long way against Miracles. In the postboard matches it is def. possible to go the grindy way.
- I guess this one needs more explanation, doesn't it? Ok so when should you be going the grindy way and which plays are imporant? The classic hand does consist of Nimble Mongoose and no real way of reaching threshold in the forseeable future. No Fetchlands, no Ponder, no Brainstorm, just Duals and Countermagic. If the mix is right this hand is good, nontheless. If you go for the late game, and identify your hand as one that can and should do that you have to shift a few paradigms here:
Forcing a Top is a good idea.
Never Stifle a Fetchland.
Board out all Dazes.
Never fight over creatures (unless the UW guy has only access to 1 card and you have like 1-2 counters)
So, as you can see those sentences are structured in a way that should be avoided when talking about Magic and life in general. But they are very true for this very approach. Once again, don't be afraid, just go for it. I've lost way more games against (competent) opponents identifieng the game state correctly and moving to the late game than to opponents killing me with a fast Delver. (Once though I faced Samuele Estratti at GP Strasbourg, and he mulled extensively G1 and scooped without any permanents to Top+Balance+RIP. He then mindtricked me via clever eye movement and counting moves, so I actually boarded against a belcher-esque combo, only to be beaten down by a T1 Delver without having more than two or three copies of actual removal in my deck, but blargh, this is off-topic :D )
4) The number of Lightning Bolts that are still in your deck depend on how many other cards you are boarding out. Boarding out Dazes is a good idea on the draw, but is wrong most of the time when you are on the play. The first things that leave are additional removal spells like Dismember, Forked Bolt or Chain Lightning, alongside a couple of Dazes and a few Lightning Bolts. I am no fan of dismissing either card completly from your sideboarded deck, but the right mix surely consists of combination that is dependent on what you have access to in your sideboard. If you do have access to a lot of REB-type effects Lightning Bolts might not be that important as those deal with Snappy/Clique and Jace aswell - with the upside of hitting other stuff, too. On the other hand, if you have more taxing counters like Spell Pierce or Flusterstorm it might be okay to trim the Dazes very low, as you have reduntant pieces of this piece of disruption.
5) Do not bring in Artefact removal. It's not worth it, in any way. Keeping mana open to hit a flipped Top is no plan at any stage of any game. You want cards that do something. There is no reason to bring in artefact removal in the second game. Should you see a Stoneforge Mystic in the second game, emerging from the UWs man sideboard you can easily move Ancient Grudge to the mainboard for the next game. Krosan Grip is obv. an exception to this, as it deals with Top rather well while also providing an out to Counterbalance and RIP, kind of.
6) Have some noncreature permanents in order to annoy Miracles to death. Sylvan Library is an prime example for this, which acts as the super best 9th cantrip you can have when facing an UW deck. Don't be afraid to take Sulfuric Vortex, too, as this card is ridiculously good against Miracles, too - obviously. Oh, and Sulfur Elemental is a fucking hell of a card. I might be biased on this one, but I love this card so much.
So, that's it for today - I think I've covered the most important parts of this MU. Shouldn't this have been the case or should you have additional questions or remarks/comments on what I said - let me know :)
Greetings
KobeBryan, while I agree with you, I still think we should counter StP and Terminus if it's possible and esp. if it's done for cheap, lets say for the price of Spell Pierce or Flusterstorm. Every creature dead, every turn lost without dmg dealt, this all counts. A prolonged game is not what we want, and while I love to grind out the games, it's not because of a fondness in a purposeless grinding; it has its own meaning, which is a protection of my gameplan and (to some extent) of my creatures.
In opening turns when they are developing (and they're slower than us), I'll easily Pierce the StP - namely if it targets Aberration, an evasive creature that cannot be hosed by RiP -, because this Pierce may buy another two or more turns when I'm dealing damage.
Same is true for Terminus, as it's quite an expensive spell speaking of setup. If you'll counter or at least Stifle it, they might not get another chance of playing it again, at least not soon enough to save them; and then there are those situations when you overextended (for any reasonable matter, e.g. you temporarily cut them of white and felt save, or had either too good or too bad hand that asked for an insanely fast race, or RiP forced you to play two Mongooses to have clock, or emergency Clique joined turn1 Delver, w/e) and then they are about to kill a pair of your critters.
But esp. with an eight bolts build I wouldn't bother to save my creatures that often, unless the opponent is too high on a life total and the burn alone won't win me the game.
I mean: while it's reasonable to not tkae care of your creatures, and the Miracles players have plethora of removal, sometimes it is wise to protect your minions, esp. if it doesn't cost you much and very much especially if it doesn't endager yourself. While it's reasonable to Daze their StP targeting your sole creature with your hand full of blue stuff (and no Bolts in sight), it is not really wise to do the same for the price of FoW when the only other cards you hold have red borders and the whole StP was a bait to get the CB through.
Again, I may be wrong.
edit: Lemnear, thanks a lot for your input!
So I managed to make top 4 (we split) of the 6/22 Die Hard Games Buncha Duals. Here is the list I ran and a few notes.
MD
4 Wasteland
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lighting Bolt
1 Forked Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
4 Stifle
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
SB
3 Submerge
1 Forked Bolt
1 Sulfur Elemental
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Rough/Tumble
2 Spell Pierce
2 Pyroblast
I ran a similar list at the SCG Open in Providence on 6/8 (-1 Probe, +1 Burn in the MD, -1 Burn, -1 Sulfur Elemental, -1 Submerge, +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Surgical Extraction). After drawing and then losing to Miracles in back to back rounds, I knew that I needed to improve my approach a bit. I moved the 2nd burn spell from the main for an extra Probe (burn spells are terrible against Miracles and other non-creature decks, an extra Probe is really good especially in game 1 since it tells you what you opponent is on. I usually board out the 3rd probe for a burn spell in match ups where you want 6 burn spells). After some discussion on The Source over the past few weeks about how to best tackle BUG Delver and Shardless BUG, I decided that those where some of our hardest match ups and I definitely wanted another card against those decks. Since those decks can attack you from all angles (Deathrite, Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, TNN, Liliana, Hymn to Tourach, Abrupt Decay), the only thing I could come up with to set my opponent back in most situations was Submerge. Submerge is pretty broken though and I am happy to be running 3 again.
Round 1: Joseph Bennitt – Blue Artifact Control 2-0/1-0
Game 1 I played a Gitaxian Probe revealing Mox Opal, Thirst for Knowledge, Seat of Synod, Meditate, Crucible of World and Chalice of the Void. I’m not sure what my opponent’s deck was doing exactly but I was able to counter Chalice of the Void’s in both games and win shortly thereafter.
SB: I don’t remember.
Round 2: John Orzell – Elves 2-0/2-0
I won pretty handily when my opponent to didn’t draw Gaea’s Cradle into Natural Order game 1 and I drew my Rough’s Game 2.
SB: +1 Spell Pierce, +1 Forked, + 2 Rough/Tumble, +3 Submerge, +2 Grafdigger’s Cage, -4 Stifle, -4 Daze, -1 Gitaxian Probe
Round 3: Jonathan Lewis – RUG Delver 2-0/3-0
I have lost approximately a bazillion mirror match ups in a row, so it was nice to buck this trend. Game 1 my opponent was on Goose while I managed to get a pair of Tarmogoyfs into play. Game 2 I drew and cast all 4 of my Tarmogoyf and I was on duals instead of fetches, nullifying the Stifles in my opponent’s hand.
SB: -2 Stifle, -2 FoW, +2 Pyroblast, +2 Submerge (On the draw)
Round 4: John Hogan – U/B Reanimator 0-2/3-1
Reanimator is a brutal match up, and is a big part of why I like Surgical Extractions in the sideboard if you can fit it. I just kept drawing creatures and lands during the match when I needed any kind of interaction. I screwed up in Game 2, it was my turn 2 after just holding up Stifle on turn 1. I had Delver, Goose, Waste, Stifle, FoW and Brainstorm in hand. I cast Brainstorm but only to draw a Waste (not relevant at the time), a Mongoose and a Fetch. I was a bit tilted after not drawing any more blue cards and the best I could come up with was putting back 2 Mongeese , shuffling them away and then playing a Delver and hoping to draw a good card. What I should have done was kept a Goose to put into play and left the Delver in my hand to pitch to FoW. But I didn’t, of course my opponent cracks a fetch land on the next turn (I have to save Stifle to pitch to FoW since it's the only other blue card in my hand) and then plays Show and Tell and is able to Flusterstorm my FoW to put Griselbranned into play.
SB: +2 Grafdigger’s Cage, +2 Spell Pierce, +2 Pyroblast, -4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Forked Bolt, -1 Tarmogoyf
Round 5: Mason Sokel – U/W Miracles 2-1/4-1
In Game 1, I mostly road Delver to victory. In a Game 2, my opponent had 4 lands and a top in play. My opponent goes to play Counterbalance and I have Destructive Revelry and Spell Pierce in hand. It occurs to me that I could Spell Pierce to tap him out so that my Revelry is more likely to resolve, but I decide to take my chances with my opponent not having a 2 drop in his top 3 cards. My opponent is unsurprisingly able to find a Counterbalance to the trigger to counter the Revelry. I definitely should have tried to get value out of the Spell Pierce, although my opponent having the backup CB likely means I was screwed anyway. In Game 3 I get my opponent down to 4 with a Tarmogoyf in play when my opponent plays Energy Field. We play draw-go for a bunch of turns until my opponent Miracles a Terminus, putting Tarmogoyf on the bottom of my library and Energy Field in the graveyard. My opponent uses a Fetchland putting him @ 3, and I thankfully just drew my Sulfur Elemental which gets in for the final 3 damage.
SB: +2 Spell Pierce, +2 Pyroblast, +2 Destructive Revelry, +1 Sulfur Elemental, -4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Forked Bolt, -2 Daze
Round 6: Brent Gilmore – Shardless BUG
Brent recognized me from SCG Providence, although I don’t recognize him at first. After a little small talk, I realized that he is the Miracles player that I drew against in round 2 of that tournament (which put me in the draw bracket, dooming my tournament). I offer to draw but Brent thankfully realizes that we would be drawing ourselves out of the top 8 due to an abundance of people at 4-1. As the game starts, I am hoping he is not still on Miracles, and am actually relieved when he proves to be on Shardless BUG. He gets me Game 1, Game 2 he has a loose keep that I easily take advantage of. Game 3 is looking to be pretty close when I am only drawing lands and creatures and not much interaction, but I am able to draw Submerge at the basically the last possible moment. Shortly thereafter, I am able to Brainstorm into a Forked Bolt that allows me to attack and deal the final 2 damage.
SB: +3 Submerge, +2 Pyroblast, -2 Daze, -2 FoW, -1 Gitaxian Probe
Top 8: Rodney Hannigan – Mono-B Reanimator
Rodney didn’t recognize me and I didn’t recognize him by his face (although I remember the name) but I last played Rodney when I lost to his Dreadstill deck playing Goblins in the top 8 of tournament in Wareham, MA like 5-6 years ago. Rodney is a very good player and I knew winning wouldn’t be easy. I didn’t know what he was playing but he watched me beat Shardless BUG so he knew just what I was on. Game 1 he got Griselbrand into play easy against my meager defenses. Game 2 I am able to hold on. Game 3 my opponent is forced to mulligan to 4 while I am on my opening 7. It’s not going to be easy though as I keep drawing creatures. My opponent ends up reanimating Grisebrand at 10 life putting himself to 2. Thankfully at this point I have a Goyf, 2 Mongeese and a flipped Delver in play, meaning I can just attack for the win. One thing about Mono-B Reanimator versus those playing Blue decks Pyroblast is a terrible card to bring in, meaning I really only have 4 cards for this matchup, which is pretty weak for a difficult matchup like reanimator. I brought in some Destructive Revelry’s because I saw my opponent running Animate Dead, but they just got stuck in my hand, Lightning Bolts would have been better.
SB: +2 Grafdigger’s Cage, +2 Spell Pierce, +2 Destructive Reverly, -4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Forked Bolt, -1 Tarmogoyf
The Top 4 was able to agreeable to a split and I walked away with $350 in cash.
Props:
Submerge and Sulfur Elemental doing work out of the SB.
RUG Delver for being the best delver deck.
Slops:
The lack of Surgical Extraction in the SB.
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