Occam
08-20-2008, 03:18 AM
Matchup analyses will be edited in within a couple of days.
Carpe Noctem: A latin phrase/pun that is supposed to be the inverse of carpe diem ("pluck the day"), and means "seize the night". The deck was part of the rector archetype back in urza block days, and the deck was originally meant to be a versatile deck that could kill with aggro or a combo (symbiotic wurm/phyrexian ghoul/pattern of rebirth or enduring renewal/goblin bombardment/shield sphere). The swansong of the deck was during the extended season of 2005, and the deck has faded into relative obscurity since.
Before explaining the card choices and the potential that the deck has, here is the current decklist that I am playing:
Land (24):
4 x Bayou
3 x Scrubland
2 x Savannah
4 x Winswept heath
2 x Polluted delta
1 x Starlit Sanctum
1 x Volrath's Stronghold
1 x Phyrexian Stronghold
2 x Plain
2 x Swamp
2 x Forest
The engine (10):
4 x Academy Rector
4 x Pattern of Rebirth
2 x Diabolic Intent
Disruption (8):
4 x Cabal Therapy
3 x Duress
Acceleration (7):
4 x Birds of Paradise
3 x Sakura Tribe-elder
Other Creatures (11):
4 x Tarmogoyf
1 x Phyrexian Ghoul
1 x Nantuko Husk
2 x Eternal Witness
1 x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 x Yosei, Morning Star
1 x Visara the Dreadful
Silver Bullets (3):
1 x Moat
1 x Runed Halo
1 x Recurring Nightmare
Sideboard:
2 x Vindicate
1 x Planar Void
1 x Rule of Law
1 x Sphere of Law
1 x Serenity
1 x Ivory Mask
1 x Sacred Mesa
3 x Oblivion Ring
4 x Thorn of Amethyst
Cards in Testing:
1 x Angel of Despair (Visara)
1 x Diabolic Intent/Duress (Pattern of Rebirth)
3 x Llanowar Elf (SKT)
1 x Llanowar Elf/SKT (Fetchland)
1 x Garruk Wildspeaker/Liliana Vess (Yosei)
2 x Vindicate (Grip)
3 x Oblivion Ring (Runed Halo/Humility/Aura of Silence/Suppression Field/Worship/Extirpate)
Card Choices:
Land:
I wanted to smooth out the stability of the manabase, especially since three colours are being run. The duals and fetchlands facilitate that. Volrath's Stronghold is an out against control to recur various threats, while Phyrexian Stronghold/Starlit Sanctum act as additional sac outlets for Rector and Patterned creatures. Starlit Sanctum also gives utility, and an extra win con. I have won games from under a pseudo hard-lock with Sanctum and a recurring Rector.
Academy Rector:
Speaks for itself. The card that makes the deck tick, and is very arguably the strongest card in the deck. Rector fetches either creatures via Pattern of Rebirth or fetches silver bullet enchantments. It gets even better after sideboarding, with a plethora of more targeted silver bullets. As such, Rector also improves the aggro matchup by acting as a wall that not many people want to attack into, the same way that standstill creates conundrums for Landstill opponents.
Pattern of Rebirth:
Rector's partner in crime, and gives the comboish part of the deck redundancy, in that a pattern can and often does look for silver bullet enchantments, and that a rector can and often does look for fat beatsticks.
Diabolic Intent:
Sets up plays, whether it is searching for an extra landdrop for the fundamental turn or manually searching for a silver bullet. It may be just a two-of, but is still an extremely important piece of the deck, for the inevitability it gives. Acts as an extra sac outlet.
Cabal Therapy:
The disruption card of choice for the deck. While inherently inferior in many situations to a duress or even possibly a thoughtseize, therapy makes up for the blind calling in game 1 by having flashback, AND being an extra sac outlet for Rector and patterned creatures alike.
Duress:
Speaks for itself! Better than Thoughtseize here because Carpe Noctem does not mind seeing creatures on the other side of the table, and because not paying two life is great as well.
Birds of Paradise:
One drop, fixes mana, three-colour deck. An auto-include.
SKT:
Llanowar elf ran it very close for the spot, but SKT is simply better against most aggro decks, and its extra casting cost is often negligible as turn one is often spent on disruption or BoP. The acceleration is important in order to do something important on turn 3-4 of the game. By something important, I mean dropping an Akroma or getting a silver bullet.
Tarmogoyf:
Another auto-include for the deck. It won't get very big in a goldfish with this deck, but its main purpose is to act as a wall of sorts while the deck sets up. That it can steal games on its own is great as well.
Phyrexian Ghoul/Nantuko Husk:
Vanilla 2/2 creatures, but with the ability to continuously sac creatures. Necassary evils.
Eternal Witness:
Its 1GG casting cost is prohibitive at times, but this creature gives Carpe Noctem a great midgame, and ensures that the deck does not run out of gas. Its synergy with Recurring Nightmare, Pattern of Rebirth, Diabolic Intent, fetches etc makes it an easy include. It also gives the deck an extra win-con, in being able to recur Rector for Starlit Sanctum, and works with extirpate from the sideboard, for those who run it, to deck an opponent together with Nightmare.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath:
The best beatstick in the deck, bar none.
Yosei/Visara:
These two are slightly harder to qualify as easy-includes. Yosei is there to give the deck a great mid-late game with Recurring Nightmare tricks. Together with a silver bullet like Moat or Runed Halo, it allows the deck to play like a stasis deck of sorts. It also turns sideways, and flies over Moat. Visara is chosen for its ability and its evasion. I am looking for more ideal creatures, though, especially as a replacement for Visara. A creature with a large body and that is immune to StP would be great.
Moat:
At first glance, it may seem incongrous to include Moat when 15 of the deck's 18 creatures with power cannot fly. However, the only three creatures that CAN fly are the only ones that you would expect to be turning sideways most of the time. Moat hurts a lot more decks that it hurts this one, including 95% of aggro decks that aren't FS, and is a great counter to EtW as well.
Runed Halo:
A kinda shaky inclusion, but the mb requires general bullets, and this gives the best possible solution against combo in game 1.
Recurring Nightmare:
A one-of, but is probably the most integral card to the deck save Rector come mid-late game. It is also the enchantment to search for with Rector in general situations, especially in game 1. Allows for degenerate plays with Witness, Yosei and so on.
Sideboard choices:
The inclusion of vindicate is not cast-iron, but it helps a large variety of matchups due to its versatility, and gives spot removal for problem cards. It destroys Rectors as well, in a pinch. Planar void is included to combat Ichorid, Loam decks and other yard-based decks. That it allows Rector to work through it is a plus. Thorn of Amethyst is to improve the combo matchup post-board, and is chosen over SoR because of the non-creature clause. The rest of the inclusions are pretty self-explanatory.
Other Possible Changes:
The need for a backbreaking creature as a possible replacement to Visara and to a lesser extent, Yosei, is present, due to the prevalence of StP in the format.
I am also testing a version with a tweaked manabase that runs 4 x Ancient Tomb in the places of a combination of dual lands and basics. It allows the deck to consistently make big plays early and to stabilise as soon as possible, but with the drawback that the manabase is more vulnerable to disruption and manascrew.
I have also been testing Form of the Dragon, due to the backbreaking nature of the card as a lock-piece and a win-condition rolled into one. It is the only non-castable silver bullet to be considered.
How the Deck Runs:
To explain this better, I will start with the overall philosophy of the deck before splitting the inner workings of the deck into three sections, the early game, the mid game, and the mid-late/late game.
Carpe Noctem is at heart an aggro-control deck, much like the classic Rock decks of Extended. That is where the association with Rock decks end, as Carpe Noctem plays very differently from Rock from turn 1-2 onwards. I have actually won several game 1s based on opponents thinking that this is a Rock deck, and making several misplays. The deck wins primarily by stabilising the game via disruption and by presenting silver bullet answers to the metagame's prevalent archetypes, with the option of exploding into the aggro role via Pattern. Unlike other decks in the similar mould, the deck has a great mid and late game due to the inherent synergy between Rector, Pattern, Witness, Nightmare and the various utility outlets (therapy, sanctum, Yosei).
Carpe Noctem's early game (turn 1-2) is spent on hand disruption and mana acceleration, with the aim being to have at least a blocker or two in the forms of SKT and Tarmogoyf. It also seeks to setup Rector or Pattern. The deck's fundamental turns (turn 3-4) are spent making its big plays or setting up silver bullets. Rectors act as walls against aggro and therapy fodder to setup Moat. The general rule is to grab Akroma against decks with flying creatures/black or red oriented/cannot deal with Akroma G1 (non-W Thresh, Madness, Rock, FS, Demonstompy etc), or to setup Akroma/worship (if the latter is used in the board). Moat is a general solution against decks which can remove Akroma or which Akroma may not be able to race. They are interchangeable a lot of the time, but knowing which to get, and when to get the solution is integral.
The deck's mid game (turn 5-12) is spent fortifying its position and locking the game down. Chances are that the Akroma that was put into play would have been dealt with (this is Legacy, after all), and this is a great time to lock the game down further via silver bullets and/or Nightmare tricks, the latter including but not restricted to recurring Akroma, stripping an opponent's hand, going into "stasis-mode" with Yosei while setting up Akroma's return and so on. Building up mana resources is also important here.
The deck's late game (turn 13 onward) is often a simply playing out of the nigh inevitable. The game will often either be in a soft-lock, or the deck's position will be in an extremely tenuous position. The former doesn't take much to play out, but the latter can still be salvaged by the right application of solutions and silver bullets. More will be covered on the matchup analyses.
Matchup Analyses:
Goblins (R/G):
Pre-board: 60/40
There really isn't much to fear from Goblins, save mana disruption. It may be a bit of an oxymoron, but hear me out. SKT is a star in this matchup, especially on the play, blocking lackeys and fetching basic lands which cannot be wasted. Tarmogoyf acts as a huge obstacle to the little red men as well, and Rector often proves backbreaking for them. Both Akroma and Moat are absolute houses here, and Runed Halo on Piledriver/lackey in the early game and SGC after the game has stabilised is backbreaking.
Post-board: 80/20
The matchup improves considerably post-board, as borderline useful cards like duress can be replaced with other silver bullets. A point of note is the real possibility of Anarchy post-board. With that in mind, going for the Yosei-lock, keeping a rector in play in anticipation of an anarchy or going for a Visara are all viable plays, and all easily achievable.
Thresh (U/G/w):
Pre-board: 50/50 (slightly in Thresh's favour)
White thresh is tougher than the red version, due to StP in addition to all the countermagic and stifle. It is still very possible to win as a single resolved Rector or Pattern that isn't stifled usually fetches Moat or Recurring Nightmare, neither of which Thresh particularly likes. The best way to play would be to play around Daze, baiting StPs and counters with Tarmogoyf before setting up with Witness, Rector, and Pattern. Disruption spells should grab stifles and FoWs. Akroma, Visara and Yosei all shine in this matchup if they can get into play. Counter-top is a pain, as usual, but the most important cards (disruptiom and engine cards) are all played before it gets online or are 4CC.
Post-board: 50/50 (slightly in Carpe Noctem's favour)
The tide turns slightly post-board. Thresh gets Grips, possibly Sower and more control stuff. Carpe Noctem gets Vindicates, Sacred mesa and Oblivion Rings in place of 2 x Pattern, a fatty, a SKT and the 2 x Intent. The deck then goes from a more comboish engine to a top-decking machine. Save BoP, SKT and the fatties if they cannot be casted, every card becomes an immediate must-counter, while 4 Goyfs, 3 O-Rings, 2 Vindicates and 4 Rectors means that it will be tough for Thresh's creatures to get through.
Thresh(U/G/r):
Pre-board: 55/45
The lack of StP is huge, and makes the difference here. While burn on BoP is irritating, it is nowhere near as back-breaking as StPs on Rectors and Akromas are. The same scenario as above applies.
Post-Board: 55/45 (Slightly poorer than before)
Thresh gets almost the same cards, but may have Anarchy, once again. I would play normally with the assumption that there isn't Anarchy, because Thresh isn't a deck you can sit back against. The deck that I tested against had Anarchy, and that is the reason for the slightly poorer matchup post-board, despite the sideboard cards
CRET Belcher:
Pre-Board: 40/60
Tough matchup as Belcher has the ability to go off before the deck can get any sort of disruption going. The fatties don't matter here at all, and even an early EtW can spell doom for the deck.
Post-Board: 60/40
Belcher doesn't really get much, while Carpe Noctem gets access to Rule of Law, Ivory Mask, Sphere of Law and 4 x Thorn of Amethyst. I would replace all the fatties save Akroma (esp if Worship is in the board) and all the Goyfs. I would also consider bringing in the O-Rings, replacing the Nightmare and 2 Patterns.
Other matchups have already been complete and will be edited in within a few days. From what I've seen, combo in game 1 is generally tough, with Belcher and Ichorid the worst. Aggro is generally almost a walk in the park. Game 1 against survival decks is a nightmare. The deck has a decent-good matchup against Stax G1, but with a great G2. Non-white Rock variants are very favourable matchups. Deadguy is slightly unfavourable, especially G1. Red death and black sligh matchups are even, slightly unfavourable. Burn is a great matchup. More from me later. This post is too long already :smile:
Carpe Noctem: A latin phrase/pun that is supposed to be the inverse of carpe diem ("pluck the day"), and means "seize the night". The deck was part of the rector archetype back in urza block days, and the deck was originally meant to be a versatile deck that could kill with aggro or a combo (symbiotic wurm/phyrexian ghoul/pattern of rebirth or enduring renewal/goblin bombardment/shield sphere). The swansong of the deck was during the extended season of 2005, and the deck has faded into relative obscurity since.
Before explaining the card choices and the potential that the deck has, here is the current decklist that I am playing:
Land (24):
4 x Bayou
3 x Scrubland
2 x Savannah
4 x Winswept heath
2 x Polluted delta
1 x Starlit Sanctum
1 x Volrath's Stronghold
1 x Phyrexian Stronghold
2 x Plain
2 x Swamp
2 x Forest
The engine (10):
4 x Academy Rector
4 x Pattern of Rebirth
2 x Diabolic Intent
Disruption (8):
4 x Cabal Therapy
3 x Duress
Acceleration (7):
4 x Birds of Paradise
3 x Sakura Tribe-elder
Other Creatures (11):
4 x Tarmogoyf
1 x Phyrexian Ghoul
1 x Nantuko Husk
2 x Eternal Witness
1 x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 x Yosei, Morning Star
1 x Visara the Dreadful
Silver Bullets (3):
1 x Moat
1 x Runed Halo
1 x Recurring Nightmare
Sideboard:
2 x Vindicate
1 x Planar Void
1 x Rule of Law
1 x Sphere of Law
1 x Serenity
1 x Ivory Mask
1 x Sacred Mesa
3 x Oblivion Ring
4 x Thorn of Amethyst
Cards in Testing:
1 x Angel of Despair (Visara)
1 x Diabolic Intent/Duress (Pattern of Rebirth)
3 x Llanowar Elf (SKT)
1 x Llanowar Elf/SKT (Fetchland)
1 x Garruk Wildspeaker/Liliana Vess (Yosei)
2 x Vindicate (Grip)
3 x Oblivion Ring (Runed Halo/Humility/Aura of Silence/Suppression Field/Worship/Extirpate)
Card Choices:
Land:
I wanted to smooth out the stability of the manabase, especially since three colours are being run. The duals and fetchlands facilitate that. Volrath's Stronghold is an out against control to recur various threats, while Phyrexian Stronghold/Starlit Sanctum act as additional sac outlets for Rector and Patterned creatures. Starlit Sanctum also gives utility, and an extra win con. I have won games from under a pseudo hard-lock with Sanctum and a recurring Rector.
Academy Rector:
Speaks for itself. The card that makes the deck tick, and is very arguably the strongest card in the deck. Rector fetches either creatures via Pattern of Rebirth or fetches silver bullet enchantments. It gets even better after sideboarding, with a plethora of more targeted silver bullets. As such, Rector also improves the aggro matchup by acting as a wall that not many people want to attack into, the same way that standstill creates conundrums for Landstill opponents.
Pattern of Rebirth:
Rector's partner in crime, and gives the comboish part of the deck redundancy, in that a pattern can and often does look for silver bullet enchantments, and that a rector can and often does look for fat beatsticks.
Diabolic Intent:
Sets up plays, whether it is searching for an extra landdrop for the fundamental turn or manually searching for a silver bullet. It may be just a two-of, but is still an extremely important piece of the deck, for the inevitability it gives. Acts as an extra sac outlet.
Cabal Therapy:
The disruption card of choice for the deck. While inherently inferior in many situations to a duress or even possibly a thoughtseize, therapy makes up for the blind calling in game 1 by having flashback, AND being an extra sac outlet for Rector and patterned creatures alike.
Duress:
Speaks for itself! Better than Thoughtseize here because Carpe Noctem does not mind seeing creatures on the other side of the table, and because not paying two life is great as well.
Birds of Paradise:
One drop, fixes mana, three-colour deck. An auto-include.
SKT:
Llanowar elf ran it very close for the spot, but SKT is simply better against most aggro decks, and its extra casting cost is often negligible as turn one is often spent on disruption or BoP. The acceleration is important in order to do something important on turn 3-4 of the game. By something important, I mean dropping an Akroma or getting a silver bullet.
Tarmogoyf:
Another auto-include for the deck. It won't get very big in a goldfish with this deck, but its main purpose is to act as a wall of sorts while the deck sets up. That it can steal games on its own is great as well.
Phyrexian Ghoul/Nantuko Husk:
Vanilla 2/2 creatures, but with the ability to continuously sac creatures. Necassary evils.
Eternal Witness:
Its 1GG casting cost is prohibitive at times, but this creature gives Carpe Noctem a great midgame, and ensures that the deck does not run out of gas. Its synergy with Recurring Nightmare, Pattern of Rebirth, Diabolic Intent, fetches etc makes it an easy include. It also gives the deck an extra win-con, in being able to recur Rector for Starlit Sanctum, and works with extirpate from the sideboard, for those who run it, to deck an opponent together with Nightmare.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath:
The best beatstick in the deck, bar none.
Yosei/Visara:
These two are slightly harder to qualify as easy-includes. Yosei is there to give the deck a great mid-late game with Recurring Nightmare tricks. Together with a silver bullet like Moat or Runed Halo, it allows the deck to play like a stasis deck of sorts. It also turns sideways, and flies over Moat. Visara is chosen for its ability and its evasion. I am looking for more ideal creatures, though, especially as a replacement for Visara. A creature with a large body and that is immune to StP would be great.
Moat:
At first glance, it may seem incongrous to include Moat when 15 of the deck's 18 creatures with power cannot fly. However, the only three creatures that CAN fly are the only ones that you would expect to be turning sideways most of the time. Moat hurts a lot more decks that it hurts this one, including 95% of aggro decks that aren't FS, and is a great counter to EtW as well.
Runed Halo:
A kinda shaky inclusion, but the mb requires general bullets, and this gives the best possible solution against combo in game 1.
Recurring Nightmare:
A one-of, but is probably the most integral card to the deck save Rector come mid-late game. It is also the enchantment to search for with Rector in general situations, especially in game 1. Allows for degenerate plays with Witness, Yosei and so on.
Sideboard choices:
The inclusion of vindicate is not cast-iron, but it helps a large variety of matchups due to its versatility, and gives spot removal for problem cards. It destroys Rectors as well, in a pinch. Planar void is included to combat Ichorid, Loam decks and other yard-based decks. That it allows Rector to work through it is a plus. Thorn of Amethyst is to improve the combo matchup post-board, and is chosen over SoR because of the non-creature clause. The rest of the inclusions are pretty self-explanatory.
Other Possible Changes:
The need for a backbreaking creature as a possible replacement to Visara and to a lesser extent, Yosei, is present, due to the prevalence of StP in the format.
I am also testing a version with a tweaked manabase that runs 4 x Ancient Tomb in the places of a combination of dual lands and basics. It allows the deck to consistently make big plays early and to stabilise as soon as possible, but with the drawback that the manabase is more vulnerable to disruption and manascrew.
I have also been testing Form of the Dragon, due to the backbreaking nature of the card as a lock-piece and a win-condition rolled into one. It is the only non-castable silver bullet to be considered.
How the Deck Runs:
To explain this better, I will start with the overall philosophy of the deck before splitting the inner workings of the deck into three sections, the early game, the mid game, and the mid-late/late game.
Carpe Noctem is at heart an aggro-control deck, much like the classic Rock decks of Extended. That is where the association with Rock decks end, as Carpe Noctem plays very differently from Rock from turn 1-2 onwards. I have actually won several game 1s based on opponents thinking that this is a Rock deck, and making several misplays. The deck wins primarily by stabilising the game via disruption and by presenting silver bullet answers to the metagame's prevalent archetypes, with the option of exploding into the aggro role via Pattern. Unlike other decks in the similar mould, the deck has a great mid and late game due to the inherent synergy between Rector, Pattern, Witness, Nightmare and the various utility outlets (therapy, sanctum, Yosei).
Carpe Noctem's early game (turn 1-2) is spent on hand disruption and mana acceleration, with the aim being to have at least a blocker or two in the forms of SKT and Tarmogoyf. It also seeks to setup Rector or Pattern. The deck's fundamental turns (turn 3-4) are spent making its big plays or setting up silver bullets. Rectors act as walls against aggro and therapy fodder to setup Moat. The general rule is to grab Akroma against decks with flying creatures/black or red oriented/cannot deal with Akroma G1 (non-W Thresh, Madness, Rock, FS, Demonstompy etc), or to setup Akroma/worship (if the latter is used in the board). Moat is a general solution against decks which can remove Akroma or which Akroma may not be able to race. They are interchangeable a lot of the time, but knowing which to get, and when to get the solution is integral.
The deck's mid game (turn 5-12) is spent fortifying its position and locking the game down. Chances are that the Akroma that was put into play would have been dealt with (this is Legacy, after all), and this is a great time to lock the game down further via silver bullets and/or Nightmare tricks, the latter including but not restricted to recurring Akroma, stripping an opponent's hand, going into "stasis-mode" with Yosei while setting up Akroma's return and so on. Building up mana resources is also important here.
The deck's late game (turn 13 onward) is often a simply playing out of the nigh inevitable. The game will often either be in a soft-lock, or the deck's position will be in an extremely tenuous position. The former doesn't take much to play out, but the latter can still be salvaged by the right application of solutions and silver bullets. More will be covered on the matchup analyses.
Matchup Analyses:
Goblins (R/G):
Pre-board: 60/40
There really isn't much to fear from Goblins, save mana disruption. It may be a bit of an oxymoron, but hear me out. SKT is a star in this matchup, especially on the play, blocking lackeys and fetching basic lands which cannot be wasted. Tarmogoyf acts as a huge obstacle to the little red men as well, and Rector often proves backbreaking for them. Both Akroma and Moat are absolute houses here, and Runed Halo on Piledriver/lackey in the early game and SGC after the game has stabilised is backbreaking.
Post-board: 80/20
The matchup improves considerably post-board, as borderline useful cards like duress can be replaced with other silver bullets. A point of note is the real possibility of Anarchy post-board. With that in mind, going for the Yosei-lock, keeping a rector in play in anticipation of an anarchy or going for a Visara are all viable plays, and all easily achievable.
Thresh (U/G/w):
Pre-board: 50/50 (slightly in Thresh's favour)
White thresh is tougher than the red version, due to StP in addition to all the countermagic and stifle. It is still very possible to win as a single resolved Rector or Pattern that isn't stifled usually fetches Moat or Recurring Nightmare, neither of which Thresh particularly likes. The best way to play would be to play around Daze, baiting StPs and counters with Tarmogoyf before setting up with Witness, Rector, and Pattern. Disruption spells should grab stifles and FoWs. Akroma, Visara and Yosei all shine in this matchup if they can get into play. Counter-top is a pain, as usual, but the most important cards (disruptiom and engine cards) are all played before it gets online or are 4CC.
Post-board: 50/50 (slightly in Carpe Noctem's favour)
The tide turns slightly post-board. Thresh gets Grips, possibly Sower and more control stuff. Carpe Noctem gets Vindicates, Sacred mesa and Oblivion Rings in place of 2 x Pattern, a fatty, a SKT and the 2 x Intent. The deck then goes from a more comboish engine to a top-decking machine. Save BoP, SKT and the fatties if they cannot be casted, every card becomes an immediate must-counter, while 4 Goyfs, 3 O-Rings, 2 Vindicates and 4 Rectors means that it will be tough for Thresh's creatures to get through.
Thresh(U/G/r):
Pre-board: 55/45
The lack of StP is huge, and makes the difference here. While burn on BoP is irritating, it is nowhere near as back-breaking as StPs on Rectors and Akromas are. The same scenario as above applies.
Post-Board: 55/45 (Slightly poorer than before)
Thresh gets almost the same cards, but may have Anarchy, once again. I would play normally with the assumption that there isn't Anarchy, because Thresh isn't a deck you can sit back against. The deck that I tested against had Anarchy, and that is the reason for the slightly poorer matchup post-board, despite the sideboard cards
CRET Belcher:
Pre-Board: 40/60
Tough matchup as Belcher has the ability to go off before the deck can get any sort of disruption going. The fatties don't matter here at all, and even an early EtW can spell doom for the deck.
Post-Board: 60/40
Belcher doesn't really get much, while Carpe Noctem gets access to Rule of Law, Ivory Mask, Sphere of Law and 4 x Thorn of Amethyst. I would replace all the fatties save Akroma (esp if Worship is in the board) and all the Goyfs. I would also consider bringing in the O-Rings, replacing the Nightmare and 2 Patterns.
Other matchups have already been complete and will be edited in within a few days. From what I've seen, combo in game 1 is generally tough, with Belcher and Ichorid the worst. Aggro is generally almost a walk in the park. Game 1 against survival decks is a nightmare. The deck has a decent-good matchup against Stax G1, but with a great G2. Non-white Rock variants are very favourable matchups. Deadguy is slightly unfavourable, especially G1. Red death and black sligh matchups are even, slightly unfavourable. Burn is a great matchup. More from me later. This post is too long already :smile: