The_Red_Panda
05-01-2009, 01:53 AM
First, a decklist:
Beaters: (20)
4x Alabaster Leech
4x JaAAADEEEEE LEEEEECCCHHHHHH
4x Andradite Leech
4x Ruby Leech
4x Sapphire Leech
Disruption/Buffers: (20)
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Trinisphere
4x Survival of the Fittest
4x Coat of Arms
4x Force of Will (Proxied up from Mosstodons --> it is hard to cast spells when there is an elephant on your face)
Mana: (20)
1x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Tundra
4x Polluted Delta
4x Flooded Strand
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
4x City of Brass
Sideboard:
4x Jade LEeeeech
4x Pithing Needle
4x Blessing of Leeches
3x Red Elemental Blast
As you can see, this is a take on the conventional stompy manabase, but it has a chance to compete in this new meta, full of radically brilliant combo decks.
Card Choices:
Leeches: Self explanatory. They're creatures that are so good they need a drawback, but by not running that many cards in their colors, we avoid that drawback.
Chalice of the Void: This was a clear choice, as the deck has no cards that actually cost one. This shuts off the relevant removal in the format, as well as quite a few cheap costing cards. Set to two it turns off both False Cure and Kavu Predator, both of which are staples of top decks.
Trinisphere: Trinisphere is an amazing meta choice, as a resolved trinisphere significantly cripples Nourishing Lich's ability to Nourishing shaol itself.
Survival of the Fittest: Tutors for Leeches, 'nuff said.
Force of Will: Some people will claim that having eight blue cards in the maindeck makes it too hard for you to reliably cast Force of Will. They haven't tried hardcasting it through a leech yet.
Manabase: Simple, elegant, well built. If you change one card in this manabase, you're no longer playing Team America COUGH Leech Stompy. Sorry.
Matchup Analysis:
Threshold: 100% in our favor. They can't win. I mean, everything has a positive matchup against threshold. Everybody knows this.
Efreet Errata: This one is a bit tough, because you can't really kill their efreet at all, and if they manage to resolve it you basically lose. Key cards for this matchup are Jade Leech and Chalice of the Void set to four, so they can't cast Chance Encounter. After that you just have to get enough leeches into play to attack past their efreets. Still, 60-40 their favor.
Nourishing Lich: This is why this deck was built. Total cakewalk. Setting chalice to four keeps both Lich off the table, and counters tendrils. Trinisphere keeps the Shoal from being free, and Survival is a total house, finding more leeches for you every turn. Something like 70-30 in our favor
Fluctuating Goodness: This one is a little harder. Unless you get trinisphere down fast, they tend to do things like cycle their library away. Force of Will is key here. Try to mull into a leech that you can pitch to it. Still 55-45 in our favor.
Pitch World: Again, trinisphere is a house here. Considering that they run 0 lands, it will be really hard for them to resolve spells when those spells actually cost mana. After that all you have to do is land some leeches and go to town. Easy if you have trinisphere, not as easy if you dont. 60-40 our favor on trinisphere hands, 50-50 when you don't draw the sphere. I would recommend aggressively mulliganing to get Jade Leech.
Cavius Sligh 2k8: This matchup is a rough one. Ronom Unicorn is a total beating for this deck, and Aethervialing in Mogg Fanatics to chump block Jade Leeches makes it hard to do combat math without a Ti-83. On the bright side, if we get down coat of arms, none of his creatures share a type, so that's like GG right there. 45-55 in their favor.
Coming Soon!:
Matchup analysis for The Cure, Paul Wall, and Cavius Ale
Sideboarding Strategies
More tournament results
Beaters: (20)
4x Alabaster Leech
4x JaAAADEEEEE LEEEEECCCHHHHHH
4x Andradite Leech
4x Ruby Leech
4x Sapphire Leech
Disruption/Buffers: (20)
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Trinisphere
4x Survival of the Fittest
4x Coat of Arms
4x Force of Will (Proxied up from Mosstodons --> it is hard to cast spells when there is an elephant on your face)
Mana: (20)
1x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Tundra
4x Polluted Delta
4x Flooded Strand
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
4x City of Brass
Sideboard:
4x Jade LEeeeech
4x Pithing Needle
4x Blessing of Leeches
3x Red Elemental Blast
As you can see, this is a take on the conventional stompy manabase, but it has a chance to compete in this new meta, full of radically brilliant combo decks.
Card Choices:
Leeches: Self explanatory. They're creatures that are so good they need a drawback, but by not running that many cards in their colors, we avoid that drawback.
Chalice of the Void: This was a clear choice, as the deck has no cards that actually cost one. This shuts off the relevant removal in the format, as well as quite a few cheap costing cards. Set to two it turns off both False Cure and Kavu Predator, both of which are staples of top decks.
Trinisphere: Trinisphere is an amazing meta choice, as a resolved trinisphere significantly cripples Nourishing Lich's ability to Nourishing shaol itself.
Survival of the Fittest: Tutors for Leeches, 'nuff said.
Force of Will: Some people will claim that having eight blue cards in the maindeck makes it too hard for you to reliably cast Force of Will. They haven't tried hardcasting it through a leech yet.
Manabase: Simple, elegant, well built. If you change one card in this manabase, you're no longer playing Team America COUGH Leech Stompy. Sorry.
Matchup Analysis:
Threshold: 100% in our favor. They can't win. I mean, everything has a positive matchup against threshold. Everybody knows this.
Efreet Errata: This one is a bit tough, because you can't really kill their efreet at all, and if they manage to resolve it you basically lose. Key cards for this matchup are Jade Leech and Chalice of the Void set to four, so they can't cast Chance Encounter. After that you just have to get enough leeches into play to attack past their efreets. Still, 60-40 their favor.
Nourishing Lich: This is why this deck was built. Total cakewalk. Setting chalice to four keeps both Lich off the table, and counters tendrils. Trinisphere keeps the Shoal from being free, and Survival is a total house, finding more leeches for you every turn. Something like 70-30 in our favor
Fluctuating Goodness: This one is a little harder. Unless you get trinisphere down fast, they tend to do things like cycle their library away. Force of Will is key here. Try to mull into a leech that you can pitch to it. Still 55-45 in our favor.
Pitch World: Again, trinisphere is a house here. Considering that they run 0 lands, it will be really hard for them to resolve spells when those spells actually cost mana. After that all you have to do is land some leeches and go to town. Easy if you have trinisphere, not as easy if you dont. 60-40 our favor on trinisphere hands, 50-50 when you don't draw the sphere. I would recommend aggressively mulliganing to get Jade Leech.
Cavius Sligh 2k8: This matchup is a rough one. Ronom Unicorn is a total beating for this deck, and Aethervialing in Mogg Fanatics to chump block Jade Leeches makes it hard to do combat math without a Ti-83. On the bright side, if we get down coat of arms, none of his creatures share a type, so that's like GG right there. 45-55 in their favor.
Coming Soon!:
Matchup analysis for The Cure, Paul Wall, and Cavius Ale
Sideboarding Strategies
More tournament results