[Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

[Dice_Box]

This is a gamblers deck, take a punt. Personally for me option 2 is the safe one, but if he can only Dredge once next turn, then I would say that's better odds than option number 3.

[Lemnear]

Just wanna mention that if you shuffle before casting the Probe and hit mana you can cast Ad Nauseam. If you hit something like IT or more cantrips, you can likely kill with a natural count of 10 as well.

It's a bit early to do the math for hitting LED, IT, RoF, DR, Probe, Ponder and Brainstorm and then add another layer of calculation for the cards drawn with the cantrips which also provide the kill if you find LED, RoF, DR or Probe.

Without having done math, the chances to sculpt something deadly here look not that bad. Remember that your opponent gets 2 more turns with the Goblin Route to find more bridges/moebas/Dread Return Targets/etc.

I can see avoiding a headache here and just go for option 2 even if your opponent gets to dump another 25% of his deck during the next two turns, which should be enough to kill you


Edit: I would take a close look at his grave: if he doesn't play Dread Return combo, you have more options

[sawatarix]

ninjad by lemnear

[Asthereal]

This is a nice example where I would want to have Returns on side.
Then you can safely put back Therapy and land, then fetch and Probe.
If Probe gets you a mana source, just Ad Nauseam him. If not, Returns with UR floating should be good as well.

But anyway, here's the calculation:
- Winner cards you can hit are: 3x Petal, 3x Ritual, 3x Rite, 3x LED, 4x Infernal = 16 cards
- Hitting Cabal Therapy would make situation 2 and 3 the same, so "makes no difference" = 4 cards
- You have 50 cards total left in the deck after fetch shuffle, including 3x Probe
Ponder or Brainstorm make you lose an initial mana source, so chances of going off get slimmer.
Hitting Probe will just allow for anothe draw, so I will not count them in the total. Non-winners = 27 cards
Total amount of cards = 47

So chances for a direct win: 16/47 = 34%
Chances for getting situation 2: 3/47 = 6%
Chances for not directly winning: 58/47 = 60%

If the latter is to happen, going for 16 goblins without Cabal Therapy defense seems a loser. He has two turns, where he will dredge 10+ cards, hit at least one Moeba (he has 90+% chance of hitting one or more), which will allow him to continue the combo. This means he should get enough Zombies to block the Goblins and win later on, not even taking into account the fact that he might have the Flayer of Zealot kill.
So you will probably have to wait a turn. You will have the card drawn from Probe, plus another draw step. That should get you a win the turn after, provided he doesn't kill you with the dredge 5/6 he has next turn, or remove the Wish from your hand with his Therapy.

So, based on this info, what should you do?
My vote goes to option 3 here, since option 2 I estimate gives you a chance to win of below 40%, and option 3 gives you a 34% instant win, and a 40% chance at "the same or better". Main question is: does my estimation for winning % in option 2 make sense? My gut tells me 30-40% but we don't know the Dredge list, so it's very hard to tell.

[Lemnear]

This is a nice example where I would want to have Returns on side.
Then you can safely put back Therapy and land, then fetch and Probe.
If Probe gets you a mana source, just Ad Nauseam him. If not, Returns with UR floating should be good as well.

But anyway, here's the calculation:
- Winner cards you can hit are: 3x Petal, 3x Ritual, 3x Rite, 3x LED, 4x Infernal = 16 cards
- Hitting Cabal Therapy would make situation 2 and 3 the same, so "makes no difference" = 4 cards
- You have 50 cards total left in the deck after fetch shuffle, including 3x Probe
Ponder or Brainstorm make you lose an initial mana source, so chances of going off get slimmer.
Hitting Probe will just allow for anothe draw, so I will not count them in the total. Non-winners = 27 cards
Total amount of cards = 47

So chances for a direct win: 16/47 = 34%
Chances for getting situation 2: 3/47 = 6%
Chances for not directly winning: 58/47 = 60%

If the latter is to happen, going for 16 goblins without Cabal Therapy defense seems a loser. He has two turns, where he will dredge 10+ cards, hit at least one Moeba (he has 90+% chance of hitting one or more), which will allow him to continue the combo. This means he should get enough Zombies to block the Goblins and win later on, not even taking into account the fact that he might have the Flayer of Zealot kill.
So you will probably have to wait a turn. You will have the card drawn from Probe, plus another draw step. That should get you a win the turn after, provided he doesn't kill you with the dredge 5/6 he has next turn, or remove the Wish from your hand with his Therapy.

So, based on this info, what should you do?
My vote goes to option 3 here, since option 2 I estimate gives you a chance to win of below 40%, and option 3 gives you a 34% instant win, and a 40% chance at "the same or better". Main question is: does my estimation for winning % in option 2 make sense? My gut tells me 30-40% but we don't know the Dredge list, so it's very hard to tell.

1) You forgot that drawing a Ponder/BS can make you find RoF or LED too.
2) In addition drawing another Probe off a brainstorm can setup another line with LED to fix colors.
3) Hitting another Probe of the initial Probe is relevant for the natural 10-count
4) Yeah, the calculation is complex and I asume the chance to win is about 40% without taking your opponent into consideration.
5) is 40% enough for you?

[vercadium]

I'll complete my overview on the deck changes with my thought process on the sideboard changes below.

As a page has past since I discussed the main deck, here are links to the relevant posts - Post #1 & Post #2.

--------------------

Ok, so first off, I think these are 100% locks at the moment. I wouldn't dream of changing them:

2 Xantid Swarm
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Thoughtseize
1 Void Snare
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
1 Infernal Tutor

That's 11 cards. So the remaining four I reckon can consist of the following possibilities that are, in my opinion, at least defensible:

+<=2 Pyroblast
+<=2 Pithing Needle
+<=2 Chain of Vapor
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Xantid Swarm

--------------------

Let's break these down:

Pyroblast.

I'm in an awkward place with Pyroblast. It wasn't too long ago it was being proclaimed as the holy grail. It's both amazing and horrible.

So it's ok against anything with counter-spells obviously, with added awesomeness against High-Tide/Omni-Tell etc. But what's it actually good against? i.e. When does its unique trait make it better than other options?

Decks with counterspells that have must-answer blue permanents. The most relevant of these is Meddling Mage. Yes, you can hit Brainstorm, Show and Tell, Counterbalance (before the lock gets online) and a ton of other sweet cards with it too.

So, for me, whether this card is good enough is really down to how much Meddling Mage is out there. The answer? Quite a lot.

I love versatility, I really do. It's great being able to blow up Meddling Mage and not be stuck with a grip of Abrupt Decay when they have Spell Pierce and Force of Will instead. How amazing is that - how can I not play it?

So why is this choice not a lock?

I hate how it is reactive instead of proactive - it's at odds with the core concept of this deck.

Let's be honest, it's absolutely awful with Lion's Eye Diamond and Infernal Tutor. Is that a terminal issue? If our most important spells are Infernal Tutor and Burning Wish, and the ones we most commonly want to protect, how can we even consider the card when the best thing we can protect is Burning Wish when not used with Lion's Eye Diamond?!

It's a good card, but its a reactive card that is only great for us when we use it in a semi-proactive manner (i.e. not protecting our "going off" spells).

A tough decision, we'll talk more about it in the conclusion.

Pithing Needle.

Pithing Needle is powerful against certain decks while still being flexible enough for varied use. One thing that's easily overlooked is that it's castable using any of our initial mana sources which is a fairly big deal in terms of the consistency of the cards we bring in. If you haven't been stuck in a situation were you can't cast the Abrupt Decay in your hand, or you have to break a crucial Lotus Petal to do so, you're lying (or haven't played the deck for long).

I hadn't even thought about Pithing Needle seriously until 2 days ago so I'm finding it difficult to evaluate. Lemenar, how long have you been playing with Pithing Needle now? Could you give me an overview of how the card has been performing for you and what you like and dislike about it?

I really like being able to fight Griselbrand and Sensei's Divining Top with one card. Both of the decks that attack us with these are becoming quite common. This is Legacy, so an important thing to note is that, like Pyroblast, what makes it playable is that it has a myraid of utility.

Chain of Vapor, Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize.

With the printing of Void Snare (yay!), we no longer need to rely on Chain of Vapor as our only out to a possible Leyline of Sanctity.

It's still a great catch-all answer though, with something semi-relevant you can do with it in most games. I do think we still should have at least one, but the 2nd could be too much.

In this metagame Abrupt Decay is the better removal spell, so a 3rd copy of it instead could be argued (though it's much worse against Thalia, Guardian of Thraben when you do play against it). Also, you don't want to draw too many Abrupt Decay in a single game and with 3 that becomes much more common. It also increases your overall CMC which is relevant - I hate flipping Abrupt Decay with Ad Nauseam.

Thoughtseize is kind of our alternate Chain of Vapor. That might sound ridiculous, but the 2nd Chain of Vapor and 2nd Thoughtseize overlap quite a bit. Both have situations where they are much better than the other, but based on the metagame, I think the 2nd Thoughtseize is preferable.

I'm sticking with 2 Abrupt Decay and I've decided against the 2nd Chain of Vapor. Whether or not I run the 2nd Thoughtseize will be discussed in my conclusion.

Xantid Swarm.

Xantid Swarm is obviously very powerful against Show and Tell and the other blue decks that have little or no removal. This is Legacy though and that's still quite a narrow criteria no matter how popular these decks get. I personally don't think there's enough of these decks to warrant a 3rd copy. Also, if you resolve one unmolested, you don't want to draw any more. I'll be sticking with just 2.

Conclusion.

So, after that consideration, I think these 12 are locked:

2 Xantid Swarm
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Void Snare
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
1 Infernal Tutor

With these being our outstanding options for the 3 remaining cards:

+<=2 Pyroblast
+<=2 Pithing Needle
+1 Thoughtseize

I've decided on the 2nd Thoughtseize over the 1st Pyroblast as I think in many situations it can accomplish the same task as Pyroblast, but has more relevant match-ups.

So would I rather have +2 Pithing Needle or +1 Pithing Needle and +1 Pyroblast?

I'm going to hate playing against Meddling Mage from tempo decks, but we don't have a ton of bad stuff to board out in those match-ups anyway. I'm going with +2 Pithing Needle for now.

--------------------

So, finally, I have arrived at my current list:

//Card Draw and Selection (12)
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe

//Tutors (7)
4 Burning Wish
3 Infernal Tutor

//Targets (2)
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Empty the Warrens

//Disruption (7)
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress

//Ritual Mana (8)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame

//Artifact Mana (11)
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Chrome Mox

//Land (13)
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Gemstone Mine

//Sideboard (15)
2 Xantid Swarm
2 Pithing Needle
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Thoughtseize
1 Void Snare
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
1 Infernal Tutor

Thank you for reading my long posts, I hope they've contributed something productive to the discussion or your understanding. I could just dump a list, but I think how we arrive at our decisions is just as important. If you feel there's factors I haven't considered or you have a different perspective, please let me know and together we can come to the correct decision. :)

[Asthereal]

You forgot that drawing a Ponder/BS can make you find RoF or LED too. In addition drawing another Probe off a brainstorm can setup another line with LED to fix colors. Hitting another Probe of the initial Probe is relevant for the natural 10-count

Edit2: *SNIP AGAIN!

Damn, I'm not rusty, I'm starting to doubt myself while I was actually doing fine.

Idea: Probe into Cantrip. Cantrip draws LED, Rite or Petal.

Line for LED: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Cantrip, LED, LED, Petal, Rite, Wish, (sac LEDs), Tendrils = 18 (no IMS to cast our Ritual).
Line for Rite: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Cantrip, LED, Petal, Rite, Rite2, Wish, (sac LED), Tendrils = 18 (no IMS to cast our Ritual).
Line for Petal: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Cantrip, LED, Petal, Petal, Rite, Ritual, Wish, (sac LED), Tendrils = 20 (only way)

So Cantrip finds Petal is a win. The others aren't.

Odds: Ponder sees 4 cards, Brainstorm sees 3 cards, 3 Petals left in 46 cards.
Ponder: 4/46 * 3 = 0,26 and Brainstorm: 3/46 * 3 = 0,20
Seems worth to add, though it's not great odds.

Brainstorm into Probe could also win, losing the Rite, but we need a Petal, Mox, LED, Probe or Ritual to go because miss one Storm:
Line: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Brainstorm (put back Rite, Wish), Petal, Ritual, LED, Probe , (resp sac LED for RRR), Wish, Tendrils = 18
So we need an additional card to cast that costs no mana. Petal (3x), Mox (3x), LED (3x), Probe (2x), Ritual (3x) all work. That's 14 out or 46.
So Brainstorm must find 1 of 3 Probes AND 1 out of 14 other cards in 46 cards total. That's 3/46 * 14/46 * something. I forgot how this works exactly.
Let's just be optimistic and go for 3 here (WILD guess). That's 3/46 * 14/46 * 3 = 0,06 Wow, 6%. So Ponder and Brainstorm both have 26% chance of winning.

Lines:
So chances for a direct win: 16/47 = 34%
Chances for Cantrip into win: 7/47 * 0,26 = 4%
Chances for getting situation 2: 3/47 = 6%
Chances for not directly winning: 58/47 = 56%

So I guess it still all depends on how we evaluate the chances of the Dredge player. I thought we have 35-40% chance to win with 17 Goblins and two Bridges removed, but this greatly depends on what the OP missed that was still in the yard of the Dredge player, and whether the Dredge list has Dread Return into sick stuff or not. The OP said the Dredge player had nothing yet, but that means all the good stuff is probably coming now. Moebas, Ichorids, a new Bridge, perhaps a Dread Return and a target. Who knows what comes up in 11 cards dredged?

[Lemnear]

Edit2: *SNIP AGAIN!

Damn, I'm not rusty, I'm starting to doubt myself while I was actually doing fine.

you did an awesome job here.

Idea: Probe into Cantrip. Cantrip draws LED, Rite or Petal.

Line for LED: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Cantrip, LED, LED, Petal, Rite, Wish, (sac LEDs), Tendrils = 18 (no IMS to cast our Ritual).
Line for Rite: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Cantrip, LED, Petal, Rite, Rite2, Wish, (sac LED), Tendrils = 18 (no IMS to cast our Ritual).
Line for Petal: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Cantrip, LED, Petal, Petal, Rite, Ritual, Wish, (sac LED), Tendrils = 20 (only way)

So Cantrip finds Petal is a win. The others aren't.

Tbh, you can still choose to increase your number of goblins to a possible one-turn clock with Wish -> Infernal -> EtW which isn't that bad either.

Odds: Ponder sees 4 cards, Brainstorm sees 3 cards, 3 Petals left in 46 cards.
Ponder: 4/46 * 3 = 0,26 and Brainstorm: 3/46 * 3 = 0,20
Seems worth to add, though it's not great odds.

Brainstorm into Probe could also win, losing the Rite, but we need a Petal, Mox, LED, Probe or Ritual to go because miss one Storm:
Line: Brainstorm, (fetch), Probe, Brainstorm (put back Rite, Wish), Petal, Ritual, LED, Probe , (resp sac LED for RRR), Wish, Tendrils = 18
So we need an additional card to cast that costs no mana. Petal (3x), Mox (3x), LED (3x), Probe (2x), Ritual (3x) all work. That's 14 out or 46.
So Brainstorm must find 1 of 3 Probes AND 1 out of 14 other cards in 46 cards total. That's 3/46 * 14/46 * something. I forgot how this works exactly.
Let's just be optimistic and go for 3 here (WILD guess). That's 3/46 * 14/46 * 3 = 0,06 Wow, 6%. So Ponder and Brainstorm both have 26% chance of winning.

Lines:
So chances for a direct win: 16/47 = 34%
Chances for Cantrip into win: 7/47 * 0,26 = 4%
Chances for getting situation 2: 3/47 = 6%
Chances for not directly winning: 58/47 = 56%

So I guess it still all depends on how we evaluate the chances of the Dredge player. I thought we have 35-40% chance to win with 17 Goblins and two Bridges removed, but this greatly depends on what the OP missed that was still in the yard of the Dredge player, and whether the Dredge list has Dread Return into sick stuff or not. The OP said the Dredge player had nothing yet, but that means all the good stuff is probably coming now. Moebas, Ichorids, a new Bridge, perhaps a Dread Return and a target. Who knows what comes up in 11 cards dredged?

in essence both ways are 40:60 gambles in out opponents favor. Therefore going for goblins should be the way to go ad you have a guaranteed threat established and still have the chance that your opponents deck screws him rather that hoping your deck does not screw you ;)

Pithing Needle.

Pithing Needle is powerful against certain decks while still being flexible enough for varied use. One thing that's easily overlooked is that it's castable using any of our initial mana sources which is a fairly big deal in terms of the consistency of the cards we bring in. If you haven't been stuck in a situation were you can't cast the Abrupt Decay in your hand, or you have to break a crucial Lotus Petal to do so, you're lying (or haven't played the deck for long).

I hadn't even thought about Pithing Needle seriously until 2 days ago so I'm finding it difficult to evaluate. Lemenar, how long have you been playing with Pithing Needle now? Could you give me an overview of how the card has been performing for you and what you like and dislike about it?

I dislike not being able to control my opponents Ponder and Brainstorm setups for Counterblance and Terminus as well as not being able to prevent Clique; I love to fuck with some miracle players mindset of "SDT fixes that hand" and screwing with their idea to hide counterspells from discard.

I love to have a permanent "fuck you griselbrand"-sign on the battlefield and me not having to fight over his combo Pierces rather than their counter; I hate that unlike with Xantid, I still have to care for their cards in Hand

I like dropping it turn 1 against Belcher; I hate not having 4 in the SB for the matchup

I like the versatility in several matchups; I hate having less outs to Meddling mage

I hate asking me the question if Needle isn't less flexible than Pyroblast and if they should either be run alongside or replace each other; I love to hear from your testing experiences

I really like being able to fight Griselbrand and Sensei's Divining Top with one card. Both of the decks that attack us with these are becoming quite common. This is Legacy, so an important thing to note is that, like Pyroblast, what makes it playable is that it has a myraid of utility.

[d0nkey]

You gotta risk it to get the biscuit.

[Pelikanudo]

My hand before sending 2 back is: Misty Rainforest, LED, Burning Wish, Dark Ritual, Rite of Flame, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Lotus Petal. Now, with an uncracked fetch, LED, and a Lotus Petal, I should have no trouble getting the colors I need, the main issue is what to actually do this turn.

call me crazy but that specific hand was perfect for Doomsday in Side plus Shitty IU in base.
the less worse path would have been D.R.

Related to the question, It all depends on Gitaxian. if it draws nothing, maybe put as many gobs as you can is the less worse option. but I asume the player will do bad things on his next 2 turns, in these situations there are lot of things to evaluate in that moment... anyway..

also maybe an option if you start is just hoping he will not draw 2nd therapy and using fetch to volcanic to pretend to be other deck is likely what I will do.

[Lemnear]

call me crazy but that specific hand was perfect for Doomsday in Side plus Shitty IU in base.
the less worse path would have been D.R.

Related to the question, It all depends on Gitaxian. if it draws nothing, maybe put as many gobs as you can is the less worse option. but I asume the player will do bad things on his next 2 turns, in these situations there are lot of things to evaluate in that moment... anyway..

also maybe an option if you start is just hoping he will not draw 2nd therapy and using fetch to volcanic to pretend to be other deck is likely what I will do.

The points to evaluate are:

a) can your opponent make up for the 2 lost Bridges within the next two turns to kill 17 goblins?
b) does your opponents grave indicate any combo?

The option to go for goblins and remove the bridges has the best odds of winning this match and puts your opponent under pressure instead of having a 55%+ chance of plain loosing.

[Pelikanudo]

The points to evaluate are:

a) can your opponent make up for the 2 lost Bridges within the next two turns to kill 17 goblins?
b) does your opponents grave indicate any combo?

The option to go for goblins and remove the bridges has the best odds of winning this match and puts your opponent under pressure instead of having a 55%+ chance of plain loosing.

I will evaluate the option of:

c) Pretending to be a RUG Player meaning he will name FoW AND he will not hit 2nd C.Therapy - evaluate the chances of that, so the question is playing b.s. you can still pretend to be a RUG player, which was the land already in play? as the next turn you just will win, sure if not b) then not c).

EDIT: Seem you're ritgh about hitting bridges maybe.
which are the Chances of drawing a 2nd therapy?

[Lemnear]

I will evaluate the option of:

c) Pretending to be a RUG Player meaning he will name FoW AND he will not hit 2nd C.Therapy - evaluate the chances of that, so the question is playing b.s. you can still pretend to be a RUG player, which was the land already in play? as the next turn you just will win, sure if not b) then not c).

EDIT: Seem you're ritgh about hitting bridges maybe.
which are the Chances of drawing a 2nd therapy?

Dunno. Higher than dumping Bridge #3 & #4 to maybe get enough blockers for all the Goblins.

Your plan still requires your opponent to miss with Therapy #1 (as a Dredge player I would blind-name BS). We still have no clue if he even could have disguised himself as RUG or if the first land was an U.Sea

[d0nkey]

Dunno. Higher than dumping Bridge #3 & #4 to maybe get enough blockers for all the Goblins.

Your plan still requires your opponent to miss with Therapy #1 (as a Dredge player I would blind-name BS). We still have no clue if he even could have disguised himself as RUG or if the first land was an U.Sea

He played Cephalid Colleseum on turn 1. I would imagine he will be able to win after he dredges 15+ cards next turn.

I would still risk it for the biscuit.

And by risk it, I mean I would lead with probe and see what happens.

[Bryant Cook]

Played the list at a local tonight, beating Maverick, UR Delver, Reanimator, (ID with UR Delver), Miracles and Reanimator (5-0-1). Needles were only relevant once, but it wasn't as expected. Needle on Griselbrand forced an Iona naming black, I then made a lethal amount of Goblins. The list felt tight. I did find myself siding in five cards so that I could bring in Tendrils too against Miracles & Reanimator, when doing so I sided out a Therapy. Those are match-ups where the guarantee to hit something turn one over the Duress is huge - just my initial thoughts.

[wonderPreaux]

Played the list at a local tonight, beating Maverick, UR Delver, Reanimator, (ID with UR Delver), Miracles and Reanimator (5-0-1). Needles were only relevant once, but it wasn't as expected. Needle on Griselbrand forced an Iona naming black, I then made a lethal amount of Goblins. The list felt tight. I did find myself siding in five cards so that I could bring in Tendrils too against Miracles & Reanimator, when doing so I sided out a Therapy. Those are match-ups where the guarantee to hit something turn one over the Duress is huge - just my initial thoughts.

Your experience with Needle is exactly the sort of thing I would expect, actually. It is very good at forcing the opponent down certain lines and, since TES is so adaptable, you can just counter the line you force them on. Out of curiosity, what prompted you to board in Tendrils in the Miracales and Reanimator matches? The natural storm line seems appealing for slow control, but idk what purpose the mained Tendrils serves against reanimator, other than countering iona on red or something.

[Bryant Cook]

Your experience with Needle is exactly the sort of thing I would expect, actually. It is very good at forcing the opponent down certain lines and, since TES is so adaptable, you can just counter the line you force them on. Out of curiosity, what prompted you to board in Tendrils in the Miracales and Reanimator matches? The natural storm line seems appealing for slow control, but idk what purpose the mained Tendrils serves against reanimator, other than countering iona on red or something.

You answered your own questions.

[sawatarix]

iona naming black is always wrong against TES - same for meddling mage naming infernal tutor.
They should name red (or Burning Wish with Meddling Mage) because this shuts down the kill and ways to escape like void snare)
Exception: the games where we board in Tendrils of Agony but i'm not a huge fan of boarding the 1 copy we have in the mainboard because i don't see any reason to do so.

[wonderPreaux]

You answered your own questions.

I'm guessing the boarding was something like:

- 1 EtW
- 2 C. Mox
- 1 Ponder
- 1 Cabal Therapy
+ 1 Tendrils of Agony
+ 2 Pithing Needle
+ 2 Abrupt Decay/Xantid Swarm

Do you often bring Tendrils in against Miracles? It's an option that hadn't really occurred to me, usually I try for really fast hands against Miracles, but the natural storm chain seems like a good option if they force the game to go long.

[vercadium]

Alas, I'm not sure if I should be flattered that no-one other than Lemnear had any other viewpoints to add to my post yesterday or insulted that no-one else bothered to do so.

I dislike not being able to control my opponents Ponder and Brainstorm setups for Counterblance and Terminus as well as not being able to prevent Clique; I love to fuck with some miracle players mindset of "SDT fixes that hand" and screwing with their idea to hide counterspells from discard.

I love to have a permanent "fuck you griselbrand"-sign on the battlefield and me not having to fight over his combo Pierces rather than their counter; I hate that unlike with Xantid, I still have to care for their cards in Hand

I like dropping it turn 1 against Belcher; I hate not having 4 in the SB for the matchup

I like the versatility in several matchups; I hate having less outs to Meddling mage

I hate asking me the question if Needle isn't less flexible than Pyroblast and if they should either be run alongside or replace each other; I love to hear from your testing experiences

Thank you for your reply and insight Lemnear. I haven't played with Pithing Needle yet, so any statements I could make would be mere conjecture. Rest assured I will share my expieriences from testing when I have.

Yeah I'd rather try Bayou too (casts more relevant spells), but Bayou+Volcanic doesn't cast Decay...
I still have to test the Taiga. If I like it, I will post it here.

Taiga shouldn't even be a consideration - just look at the colour breakdown of our deck. Tropical Island vs Bayou is the only option for that 13th land. Bayou casts more spells, but Tropical Island adds consistency. I think Tropical Island is the correct choice.

Regardless of everyone's opinion on that, with a Tropical Island/Bayou main-deck as the 13th land, what do people think of a 5th fetch-land in place of the second Volcanic Island? I'll miss having that stability and redundancy against Wasteland and also being more vulnerable to Stifle, but it does help our low land count deck hit all its colours more reliably and has the added benefit of being a shuffle effect. Having less fetch-land targets than we have fetch-lands is detrimental in some scenarios though. We ran 1 Volcanic Island for literally years, so this isn't an outrageous suggestion.

Another change I'd consider from my list is:

MD:
-1 Duress
+1 Thoughtseize

SB:
-1 Thoughtseize
+1 Pyroblast

As an aside, I think side-boarding in Tendrils of Agony in the Miracles match-up is pretty strong and I would recommend that as the default option going forward.