Bosh N Roll
01-04-2010, 10:21 PM
I'm interested in hearing opinions about Chris Hartten's top 16 deck from the last Philly 5k. For reference:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=29971
I'm a big fan of Canadian Threshold, it's the deck I've been putting up results with for quite some time now. This deck has a very similar plan to Threshold.
Shared cards:
Brainstorm
Daze
Fire/Ice
Stifle
Force of Will
Ponder
Wasteland
Clearly the tempo shell is still there in force.
Significant differences:
Tombstalker over Tarmogoyf
Bitterblossom over Nimble Mongoose
Spellstutter Sprite over Spell Snare
Terminate over Lightning Bolt
Umezawas Jitte over Rushing River/Vendillion Clique/Wipe Away
2 basic lands over zero
Tombstalker and Goyf are both two-mana fatties, that role is filled just fine either way.
Bitterblossom seems a lot better than Mongoose if it stays in play for a few turns. It certainly blocks and attacks past opposing Goyfs better than Mongoose does.
With Bitterblossom online, Spellstutter is a hard counter in the format. Without Bitterblossom online, Spellstutter is still pretty close to a hard counter in the format. And it makes a dude. That seems like an upgrade on every turn past the first.
Terminate can't go to the dome to end close games, but Lightning Bolt can kill Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, or Baneslayer Angel. And the mana is there to use them interchangably based on meta considerations.
A Jitte can just win when combined with Bitterblossom. It's a powerful reactive and aggressive weapon, depending on your role in the game. That seems better than purely reactive cards like Wipe Away and Rushing River.
The biggest difference in the lists is the lack of access to Green in U/B/r's sideboard. Threshold can bring in Krosan Grips and Trygon Predators, which are both huge in the matches they matter in. Threshold can also get both sides of Firespout. The tradeoff is that UBr can get 3 counters on Engineered Explosives, and it can run Relic of Progenitus because (aside from Tombstalker) it doesn't care about its own graveyard.
So what do people think? On paper it seems that UBr has the leg up on Canadian Threshold for every significant difference. Am I evaluating the changes incorrectly?
I have a small local Legacy event coming up this weekend. I'm going to run UBr, and I'll let you all know how it went. But in the meantime, I'd like to hear some other thoughts.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=29971
I'm a big fan of Canadian Threshold, it's the deck I've been putting up results with for quite some time now. This deck has a very similar plan to Threshold.
Shared cards:
Brainstorm
Daze
Fire/Ice
Stifle
Force of Will
Ponder
Wasteland
Clearly the tempo shell is still there in force.
Significant differences:
Tombstalker over Tarmogoyf
Bitterblossom over Nimble Mongoose
Spellstutter Sprite over Spell Snare
Terminate over Lightning Bolt
Umezawas Jitte over Rushing River/Vendillion Clique/Wipe Away
2 basic lands over zero
Tombstalker and Goyf are both two-mana fatties, that role is filled just fine either way.
Bitterblossom seems a lot better than Mongoose if it stays in play for a few turns. It certainly blocks and attacks past opposing Goyfs better than Mongoose does.
With Bitterblossom online, Spellstutter is a hard counter in the format. Without Bitterblossom online, Spellstutter is still pretty close to a hard counter in the format. And it makes a dude. That seems like an upgrade on every turn past the first.
Terminate can't go to the dome to end close games, but Lightning Bolt can kill Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, or Baneslayer Angel. And the mana is there to use them interchangably based on meta considerations.
A Jitte can just win when combined with Bitterblossom. It's a powerful reactive and aggressive weapon, depending on your role in the game. That seems better than purely reactive cards like Wipe Away and Rushing River.
The biggest difference in the lists is the lack of access to Green in U/B/r's sideboard. Threshold can bring in Krosan Grips and Trygon Predators, which are both huge in the matches they matter in. Threshold can also get both sides of Firespout. The tradeoff is that UBr can get 3 counters on Engineered Explosives, and it can run Relic of Progenitus because (aside from Tombstalker) it doesn't care about its own graveyard.
So what do people think? On paper it seems that UBr has the leg up on Canadian Threshold for every significant difference. Am I evaluating the changes incorrectly?
I have a small local Legacy event coming up this weekend. I'm going to run UBr, and I'll let you all know how it went. But in the meantime, I'd like to hear some other thoughts.