You can't use it to setup anything or get an answer or do you want to pay half your life for your CoV just to die once you pass the turn? You can't even use it to loop a PIF like Grim would. Using it like TES to fetch an EtW is pointless if your Goblins come down later than in TES due to the supporting manasources.Originally Posted by bigbobbobber
Do yourself a favor and run a second PIF.
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So far in games I've played, Death Wish has worked very well. Last week in the two weeklies i went to i never ran into the situation of having Death Wish, wanting to cast it, and being unable because the life loss would have mattered. it's gotten me out of sticky situations by giving me access to Massacre and CoV. Every game i have cast it ive loved it. More testing is needed however to be sure on it. I'll keep you posted on how it goes
Peter is right! Additionally, you could say this about Burning Wish as well. It gives you access to Massacre and Void Snare and Empty and Tendrils and so on. You see, it is nice to have new people discussion things in here but the problem is that no one wants to discuss budged cards because we want play the best 75 without any drawbacks.
My advice would be: Play one Top in the Grim slot or make room for 2 Burning Wish or an Empty the Warrens, one PiF or play TES.
You may do this indeed but I doubt that it is relevant for any discussion.
Ah and by the way: People call me dismissive but I am not.
WantToPonder
former: Team SpasticalAction & Team RugStar Berlin
Team MTG Berlin
The Dragonstorm
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...he-Dragonstorm
Scenario: T1 in the Mirror on the play. You can play Ponder/Brainstorm or Cabal Therapy, you can't win this turn. Do you use Ponder/Brainstorm or do you play the blind Cabal Therapy? If the latter, what do you name? LED? Infernal Tutor? Dark Ritual?
What are you playing against, do you know? if you don't playing ponder will be the best until you have more information, you might find a gitaxian probe or use the therapy later when you go off
Edit: Oh , didn't read the Mirror Part, theraphy naming LED might be correct.
I would definately go with Ponder and set up my own kill instead of risking to lose my first turn due to a blind Therapy.
WantToPonder
former: Team SpasticalAction & Team RugStar Berlin
Team MTG Berlin
The Dragonstorm
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...he-Dragonstorm
Hope the Tournament went relatively well for you Sawatarix. Could you post your list when you get a chance? I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be intrigued to see your list for the new meta.
In regards to Legacy:
Hi! Yesteraday i went to the January's Catalan Legacy League (81 players) and did a 5-1-1, unfortunately reaching only the 10th place. My sideboard was:
3 Abrupt decay
3 Xantid swarm
2 sensei's divining top
1 chain of vapor
1 disfigure
1 massacre
1 pyroclasm
1 krosan grip
1 empty the warrens
1 extract (i simply wanted to laugh in the mirror matches)
I started the tournament losing due to two stupid errors, simply problems of concentration by being to sleepy. I could have won the first match easily, but i think my mind was still in the bedI played against:
BW Pox (1-2)
Sideboard: +2 SDT +1 Abrupt Decay +1 Chain of vapor // -1 Cabal ritual, -3 Cabal therapy
RUG Midrange (1-1)
Sideboard: +3 Xantid swarm (My oponent took bolts out the last time we played) // -1 Duress -1 Preordain -1 Cabal ritual
BUG Control (2-0)
Sideboard: +2 SDT +1 Abrupt decay // -1 Preordain -1 Cabal ritual -1 Lotus petal
Miracles (2-0)
Sideboard +2 SDT +3 Abrupt decay +1 Krosan Grip +1 Empty the Warrens // -2 Lotus petal -2 Preordain -2 Cabal ritual -1 Island
Jeskai Blade (2-0)
Sideboard: +2 SDT +1 Massacre +1 Disfigure // -1 Cabal ritual -1 Lotus petal -2 Preordain
Team America (2-0)
Sideboard: +2 SDT +1 Empty the warrens// -1 Cabal ritual -1 Preordain -1 Grim tutor
Deathblade (2-1)
Sideboard: +2 SDT +1 Massacre +1 Pyroclasm // -1 Cabal ritual -1 Lotus petal -2 Preordain
Some reflexions about the tournament and sideboarding:
1. Despite I sided in SDT in almost every g2, i think it's OK playing 0 in the maindeck because they are good when games go long and we have to fight against tones of disruption = We don't need them in g1, which is easier and faster.
2. I will cut one Xantid swarm. Reanimator/Show and tell are not highly played in my meta, and leylines are not in their sideboards.
3. I'll cut the extract too. It's fantastic in the mirror but maybe 3 of the 6 ANT players were running wishes.
4. I like the empty the warrens against Miracles to win through the countertop, but i think i don't need it in other pairings and sometimes it isn't enough againstt miracles due to explosives, pyroclasm or entreat the angels. Maybe i'll cut it too.
5. Massacre, pyroclasm, chain of vapor and disfigure are verssatile and perfect in the diferent matchups.
So i end up with this SB:
3 Abrupt decay
2 Xantid swarm
2 SDT
1 Krosan grip
1 Chain of vapor
1 Massacre
1 Pyroclasm
1 Disfigure
3 ???
What should i play in those slots? Now in my meta there ara a lot of slow decks with lots of hate like deathblade, miracles, BUG, etc. There are also diferent forms of combo, so maybe flusterstorm could be a good card as a 2of, but i'm not a big fan of it.
ALSO: Another fantastic storm player won the tournament, playing 2 preordains, 7 discard and 1 SDT maindeck and this sideboard: 3 Dread of night, 3 Xantid swarm, 3 Abrupt decay, 2 Chain of vapor, 2 Carpet of flowers, 2 SDT. Opinions?
PD: The final results of my testing after the 3rd week are 60-18.
Buen trabajo (good ob)
Seems like storm had a good weekend in spain this weekend Raptor (the spanish one) wining your league, and you tenth. And me getting top 4 of my league with tes.
I like flusterstorm and if more ppl play ant and so its good. Also I like 2 grips and 2 massacre. The second tendrills is also nice. In my ant side board I have never wished I had an empty. I think is just a bad plan.
Last edited by Togores; 01-25-2015 at 10:31 PM.
After doing the yellow submarine winning the last 5 rounds not reacching the top8 was frustrating, but well, i'm happy with the results:) The next weeks i'll test 2 city of solitude and the second tendrils, I haven't worked with them yet.
Weekend was good indeed, just returned from a trip
top 8 Czech legacy series coming 2nd on Saturday
2:1 UBg Aeon Bridge
2:0 Burg
2:0 Imperial Painter
ID 12post (friend)
ID D+T (D+T)
______________ top 8 (2x D+T, Burg, 12Post, Thresh, Imperial Painter, UBG Dig+Deed, Me)
2:0 D+T
2:0 Threshold w Stifle
1:2 D+T (nice ID bro :(
= City of Traitors
and top 8 Austrian legacy champs spliting finals with a friend on Miracles on Sunday
2:0 UWR
1:2 Miracles (Tomas - finalist - report)
2:1 Dark Maverick
2:0 Manaless Dredge
2:0 UR Omnitell
______________ top 8 (2x Ant+Me, Reanimator, Ub Omnitell, Miracles, UW Digblade, Esper Digblade)
2:0 UW Digblade
2:1 Reanimator
split by drop
= Underground Sea
with the exactly same 76 I played in TC meta (3LP, wrong transcription in top8 decklists)... Bannings = No changes
Last edited by Sloshthedark; 01-27-2015 at 09:12 AM.
After piloting a few variants of ANT at weeklies, I decided to take it for the first time at a event for duals. I really hated running the Grim Tutor, so I cut it and went with a list very similar to Togores's (cutting the 4th Duress for a 2nd Preordain), although with a much different sideboard. Turnout was medium (48 players), but the field was pretty stacked: three players had won at least one SCG Legacy Open and another three had Legacy Open 2nd place finishes.
Deck ran extremely smoothly:
R1 Budget BUG Delver (2-0)
G1: He had no clock or disruption, and after using Top to find Infernal Tutor I made a million mana, cast PIF and flashed back Tutor for Tendrils without flashing back Gitaxian Probe in case he was running something weird like Psionic Blast. Turns out his unknown card was a Stifle, so I simply flashed back PIF and cast Tendrils again.
G2: He beat me down aggressively with Delver but was on a mull to 5, eventually tapping everything but a Ghost Quarter to play Deathrite Shaman. I made a ton of mana and had the ability to just Tutor chain into Tendrils, but then I realized the Ghost Quarter would enable him to cast the Stifle in his hand (the only relevant spell), so I Tutored for a second Tutor, got Past in Flames, flashed back my rituals, used the first Tutor to Duress him, then found Tendrils with my second.
R2 URw Pyromancer (2-1)
This player is a professional and the most accomplished in the entire room. I felt confident in my deck, but I rarely have an opportunity to play an opponent of such caliber.
G1: he had no disruption, and I managed to find the natural Tendrils and a Past in Flames. Even though he didn't have much disruption, he had a ton of card drawing power (plus Dig Through Time), so I had to start going for it by casting Dark Ritual without the sure win, but all I needed to hit was any spell on my top 3 since I had a Top. It got there easily.
G2: I board in two Chain of Vapors to hedge against Meddling Mage. I kept a sketchy hand without a whole lot of action, probably psyched out by having to play such an accomplished opponent. He quickly clocked me with Pyromancer, and I needed an amazing Brainstorm to have a chance; since he had previously represented Pyroblast, I went ahead and Therapied that away, which hit, but he also showed me FOW, Counterspell, and Flusterstorm. Since I didn't see any Mages, I went ahead swapped the Chains for Cities of Solitude instead, which was a mistake.*
G3: I take two turns to sculpt my hand, as I have a ton of cantrips, but he probes me and knows I'm light on lands. On my turn 3, I cast a Brainstorm with a fetchland open, and my opponent responds with a Brainstorm before allowing mine to resolve. The Brainstorm is almost perfect and includes a Probe and a Therapy. Probe reveals Meddling Mage, Hydroblast, Dig, Force, and Thought Scour. I Therapy away Force, my Petal into Ritual draws a Thought Scour, but he bricks on Force and I'm able to chain Tutors into Tendrils.
* phazonmutant previously advised me to play just one Chain of Vapor against Meddling Mage on Tendrils, but that didn't make sense to me since it seemed really difficult to find. Only after the match was over did I think of my line to beat Stifle in R1 did it occur to me: with a sufficient number of rituals, Tutor for a second Tutor into Past in Flames allows you to flashback the first Tutor to find your answer, then the second Tutor to find the kill.
R3 UR Painter (2-0)
G1: He takes the play and doesn't do anything relevant. I probe him and see a Brainstorm but no interaction. I have the ability to play Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual x2 (without Threshold) into Ad Nauseam in response to his EOT Brainstorm, but I decide to wait for his upkeep so I can ensure a large grip without having to discard. It got there, but was this a misplay?
G2: He's choked on blue mana, but has multiple Tombs and a Great Furnace, plus a Grindstone, so I'm almost certainly dead if he ever finds Painter before I can combo off. I draw a ton of lands to go with the Ad Nauseam and Tendrils in hand, but my opponent isn't drawing very well either. I know he has a Spell Pierce but he doesn't have the mana to cast it, so when I play my fifth land, I cast Ad Nauseam on his upkeep, which meets a Force of Will that he had draw by that point. I know he has a REB in hand, and I have a Brainstorm as well as an Infernal Tutor, but I still have found absolutely no Rituals yet, so I Infernal Tutor for another Brainstorm. He had started trying to naturally Grindstone me by this point, so by showing him a second Brainstorm, I induce him to tap both Tombs so that he could hold open his red source. Eventually, he gets to 6 life, and I cast Brainstorm, which eats a REB. Then I play LED and Tendrils him for 8.
R4 Merfolk (2-1)
G1: He mulls to 4 and dies on turn 2 to natural Tendrils.
G2: I have a cantrip heavy hand, but I never find a discard effect to beat the known Force of Will. I cast a Dark Ritual, trying to induce him to counter it by playing it before I play my Petals, but he trades two Cursecatchers and a Daze for it instead, which at least buys me another turn against his double Mutavaults. On the last turn before lethal, I play a Cabal Ritual to try to bait the Force, but he counters it instead with a freshly drawn Flusterstorm. I play out my two Petals and second Cabal Ritual just to see what he would do, and he Forces it, but at that point, I had no way of going off even if he didn't counter anything at all.
G3: I have a cantrip heavy hand with a Carpet of Flowers, which I play off Bayou. He wastes it. I play Underground Sea and Ponder, and he plays a Cursecatcher. I play a second Carpet, cantrip, and ship back to him. He plays a Standstill. I break it with a Duress, and his three fresh cards are absolutely awful: three Silvergill Adepts to go with the fourth copy in his hand, an Aether Vial, a Master, and some lands. I do some math and realize I'm one mana short of beating Cursecatcher with a PIF loop (which would require me to Tutor for a second Tutor), so I play tutor for Ad Nauseam with no mana floating, but an uncracked LED in case I need to get hellbent and a land drop at the ready. I feel very comfortable passing the turn since he had already sacrificed his Cursecatcher, I had two Carpets in play, and even finding a Therapy would completely wreck him, but I manage to get there without passing the turn.
R5 ANT (ID)
I'm actually paired down, so I'm prepared to do battle.
G1: He wins the roll and has a better opening seven than me, but he is unable to kill me turn 1. However, I manage to draw very well off the top to make up for the advantage he had in his opening hand and use Therapy to disrupt him enough to get a second turn. Since I know I'm unlikely to get a third turn, after my Ponder bricks, I cast Petal into Ritual into Top, looking to find a discard effect or a way to win, and I manage to hit Infernal Tutor. I flip the top, cast three Cabal Rituals, and easily kill him via Tutor chain.
Since I have the pair down and woudl be up a game, I offer a draw, which he accepts.
R6 bURG Delver (ID)
T8 ANT (2-0)
G1: I mull to 6 on the play, Probe him, see discard but a hand with no action, and pass with an Island. He Duresses, so I Brainstorm in response to hide my Infernal Tutor, but I see a second copy, so I show him two Petals, an LED, lands, and Infernal Tutor. He takes the Tutor. I cast all my spells to play Infernal Tutor into Ad Nauseam, and I stop at 7 life since I still haven't found a Petal (of which there were two left) but do have Tendrils in hand, a Tutor, several Rituals and cantrip, as well as an LED which I play out before discarding down to hand size. He cantrips but is unable to kill me, so he plays Duress, but I kill him anyway on my third turn.
G2: I have a much better hand than he does and go for an early Ad Nauseam with a land drop left. I don't find a Dark Ritual, so I keep flipping, but by that point, I've found an Infernal Tutor, two LEDs, Brainstorm, Probe, and several other cantrips. I stop, Brainstorm the Infernal Tutor to the top of my library, play out my LEDs, and then probe into the Tutor while cracking LED.
T4 Jund (2-0)
G1: He Duresses away my LED, plays a turn 2 Tarmogoyf, and a turn 3 Deathrite. I manage to Brainstorm into multiple Rituals, PIF, Cabal Therapy, and Tutor. I cast my Cabal Rituals, Therapy away my PIF to get hellbent, Tutor for LED, flash back PIF, play out my Rituals and Tutor for Tendrils.
G2: We both keep our seven, and mine contains Top and multiple cantrips but just one fetchland. He leads off with a Duress to take the Top. I cast Probe and see a Duress, Thoughtseize, Nihil Spellbomb, Liliana, and a Tarmogoyf, but no more lands. My Preordain finds a dual and a Top, which I hide on top of my library. He bricks on land and casts another discard spell, taking a cantrip. I play Top and pass the turn. He bricks again on land, casts another discard spell. The top of my library is locked, so I cash in the top for a Ponder, shuffle my library, and find a land. Meanwhile, my opponent still bricks on land but plays a Grafdigger's Cage. I think I draw a Probe, which draws into a Therapy, which is really sweet against his hand of Tarmogoyf, double Liliana, and double Hymn (which I take). He's still unable to find a land, so on my turn, I go off with Ad Nauseam. I stop at five life without having assembled the kill because I can very easily pass the turn safe from Bolt, but my Brainstorm finds the Tutor I was missing and I'm able to end the game.
Finals 4-color Delver Pyromancer
We're both tired and want to go home, so we take the split, each walking away with two Force of Wills and two Tundras. I'm probably an underdog in this matchup, but ANT is really sweet and can beat anything if you run well and play tight.
Last edited by lordofthepit; 01-26-2015 at 04:35 AM.
I was playing ANT on cockatrice yesterday and i was paired against a MUD player. After playing a few games i realize it's very very hard to get through Chalice on 1 and Trinsphere. But then by a coincidence i saw Energy Flux laying around on my table (used it in my French EDH (very casual), but it got cutted for a Ghostly Prison). Now im wondering, why are noone playing Energy Flux in sideboard for the MUD matchup? that matchup seems to be like unwinable, but a flux on the table = GG.. But okay im a rookie.
@Lordofthepit any chance we can see your full decklist + sideboard?
I don't play this deck, but I assume it's because MUD is VERY narrow, and reaching 3 mana vs. mud is already pretty damn hard? :)
Never used the Cities. I'm very scared of graveyard decks, so I run more Surgicals than anyone else I know, plus it's pretty useful in the mirror (either to blow them out or to protect your own business spells from Surgical by fizzling them), and I've found fringe uses for it in other combo matchups.Code:2 Underground Sea 1 Volcanic Island 1 Tropical Island 1 Bayou 1 Island 1 Swamp 4 Polluted Delta 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Lotus Petal 4 Lion's Eye Diamond 4 Dark Ritual 4 Cabal Ritual 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Brainstorm 4 Ponder 2 Preordain 2 Sensei's Divining Top 3 Cabal Therapy 3 Duress 4 Infernal Tutor 1 Past in Flames 1 Tendrils of Agony 1 Ad Nauseam SB: 2 City of Solitude SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers SB: 3 Abrupt Decay SB: 2 Chain of Vapor SB: 3 Surgical Extraction SB: 2 Dread of Night SB: 1 Karakas
If I would play some artifact hate I would play hurkil recall for sure.
Under a thorn or a golem costa 1 less
Dosnt get blown out by metalworker or paying with lands for lodestone
Can net you aditional storm
Its an instant
So all better than flux
Rebuild > Hurkyl's Recall
* Witchbane Orb
* Fixes their taxes AND additional bounce
* Cmc 1U or 2U is irrelevant because of Trinisphere
Edit: Cmc may be relevant, but the other arguments are still strong enough to choose Rebuild over Hurkyl's Recall
A few Q's
Main Deck EtW is better against BUG Variants than Ad Nauseam? Assuming they don't have any -1-1 effects on the main deck , and side it out for Ad Nauseam.
Or the contrary will be better, Ad Nauseam Main deck, due to Deathrite Shaman.
Will Dig Through Time be a good Meta Call against discard or it is not necessary as we will fight back the discard with discard :D
Dark Confidant will fit in this meta?
Thanks
On your first point. EtW is just mediocre imo vs. everything. Don't side out Ad Naus vs. BUG decks. They don't pressure your life total all that quickly (even BUG Delver is sort of slow). I would keep Ad Naus in post board vs. basically any deck not running red (lightning bolt).
Delving with Dig Through Time is both slow and a big nonbo with PiF. Also, vs decks with discard (and no counters) just take out your discard. Like vs. Jund just take out all your discard for more threats (2nd Tendrils), permanent hate to fight their sb cards (AD, CoV, w/e) and more cantrips/ca (SB Tops or Bobs).
So now my current list looks like this:
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Preordain
1x Sensei's Divining Top
4x Duress
3x Cabal Therapy
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Dark Ritual
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Past in Flames
1x Ad Nauseum
4x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
2x Bloodstained Mire
1x Underground Sea (FINALY! had it today and I'm very happy)
1x Watery Grave
1x Steam Vents
1x Breeding Pool
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Swamp
1x Island
Sideboard:
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Xantid Swam
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Massacre
1x Pyroclasm
1x Tendrils of Agony
So i think im gonna stick with this for a while, seems like a fair mix of optiens for different matchups. I have a single MUD Player at my local so if he shows, i might gonna cut the 2 Surgicals for Hurkyl's Recall. Even thou we are 3 people who plays some sort of combo (TES/ANT) every time. So not sure if i need to get some Flusterstorms. Atleast my priority is to get the duals done. (I'm very close to the second Underground Sea).
So the best idea is to get the second Sea or what specific Dual should i go for next, to get my game smoother?
I've been looking at some podcast with WonderPraux so i've got an idea of how to play. No clue how good a player he is but it's a help. Anyone knows some other podcasts/streams etc i can watch to get some better understanding of ANT? Ofc I've read almost all from Carsten Kotter about storm (I think) so where to look now?
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