egosum
09-07-2010, 06:34 AM
1.Introduction
After Worldwake was realesed I instantly fell in love with a blue enchantment that seemed should have nice sinergy with Sensei’ s divining top, so I tell to myself why not trying to embed into a CB-Top Shell, this enchamentment was Quest for Ula’ s Temple (for reference: http://www.magiccards.info/query?q=for+ula's+temple&v=card&s=cname), after testing some lists without any success (basicaly for being too slow and too inconsistant, with an awful mana curve), I decide it to leave it alone and keep playing my storm lists. Months later the GP Columbus happened and I found a decklist that attract me in some or other way, this list was the one Stephen Menendian played (for reference: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/19857_So_Many_Insane_Plays_CounterTop_Emrakul_in_Legacy.html , but remember is a Premium article), so I can definitely say that this list is heavily influenced and motivated by his.
2. Motivation
As I said before the motivation to make this list was seeing Menendian’ s GP list, but then why not just copy it and avoid the effort? Well there are also some point that I strongly dislike from that list. First of all is the huge amount of dead cards that it is playing, specially those 4x Emrakul, Torn of Aeons, they are not only dead cards if you draw them without the Show and Tell but also they are n ultra weird 15 CC which hardly sinergyzes with the Counterbalance, also the Burning wish were very attracting but they seem too slow for the answers they want to fetch (board sweepers and the kind...). With all thisin mind , I satreted to work and this is the result
3.Decklist
“Living Top v1.1"
Maindeck 60
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Trinket Mage
4x Counterbalance
4x Sensei’ s Divining Top
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
4x Brainstorm
3x Firespout
3x Show and Tell
4x Living Wish
3x Volcanic Island
3x Tropical Island
2x Tundra
3x Island
1x Forest
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scaldign Tarn
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Academy Ruins
Sideboard 15
2x Krosan Grip
2x Red Elemental Blast
1x Pyroblast
2x Tormod’ s Crypt
1x Pithing Needle
1x Faerie Macabre
1x Emrakul Torn of Aeons
1x Peacemaker
1x Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Karakas
1x Maze of Ith
4. Gameplan
“Living Top” is but a control deck, so your main goal is to stablish a favorable board position to win the game, nevertheless you should have in mind that with a good curve there is the possibility to combo your opponent out by the beginning of the fourth turn (2nd turn living wish Emrakul, 3rd turn Show & Tell Emrakul, 4th turn swing for the win), but this is an ideal situation that hardly happens. This means that you will normally try to set the CB-Top softlock, play some Tarmogoyf for early defense, swap table with Firespout and seal the deal with Jace, the mind sculptor, after that, if the game isn’ tsteal won go for Emrakul and finish your opponent.
5. Card Choices
There are some auto-includes, that really doesn’ t need further explanation:
-Counterbalance, Sensei`s divining top, Force of Will, Brainstorm, tarmogoyf.
For the rest of the deck we have:
-Trinket mage: this guy helps in many ways, first being a 3 CC is important for CC builds, since it helps dealing with those post board Krosan grips, he is also a 2/2 body that grants card advantage (helping you to set the softlock or fetching for engineered explosives or pithing needle).
-Daze: I thought of counterspell, spell sanre and spell pierce too, but daze finally made the cut for being free and havinf the important role of keeping you alive in the early stage of the game and protecting the softlock, it can also be crucial for a third turn Show and Tell plan.
-Jace, the Mind Sculptor: well he is card advantage, spot removal and win condition all in one, if you can land him on a wining position the game will be almost done, it has really good sinergy with CB-Top.
-Firespout: one of the big reasons of the red splah. Firespout is huge at his role of protecting Jace and defeating huge tribal hordes, losing Trinket mage to it is not really relevant since when you need Firespout is in the matches where the Mage dies due to chump blocking.
-Show and tell: I’ m not really happy with this card, for being a dead card for the most part of the game, but being blue and 3CC make it worth for the meantime.
-Living wish: Menendian’ s list packed burning wish instead of this, but I feel living wish being superior in this build, not only for making a more decent mana curve but also because it grants a good toolbox of creatures, and some lands, that can be easily protected with Counterbalance and give you the advantage.
-Engineered Explosives: I had hard time deciding wheter to keep it maindeck or changing it for the Pithing needle, but Engineered Explosives can most of times do what the needle does and it ‘ s also more versatile in pre-board terms, it is also the reason why I’ m playing the Academy Ruins. Remember that is your only maindeck proactive answer to AEther Vial.
6. The sideboard:
First of all let’s analyze the Living Wish Targets:
-Emrakul Torn of Aeons: a win condition, this is just what he is, he is the greatest in terms of sealing deals.
-Faerie Macabre: very good weapon against reanimator and survival builds, it can also be useful against rock or landstill, and sometimes against storm (this is corner case just because you won’t have time to tutor for her, since canonist will be better target, and they normally won’ t use the IGG plan against you)
-Peacemaker: along with Counterbalance + Top this guy can give you enough turns to finish the game with jace, he is specially good agains Merfolks, and quite weak against goblins, though he will buy some turns until they can find an Incinerator.
-Llawan, Cephalid Empress: the merfolk nightmare, once she hits the table the game is over (specially if the Vials are under control. She has other uses against Bant or faeries, but is not as good as is in the merfolk match up.
-Ethersworn Canonist: the storm deck terror, in addition with CB+Top this match should be quite easy to handle. Though never understimate Storm decks power you have very few relevant cards in main deck for the first turns, and REB/Pyroblast is not that great agains them (specially bad against T.E.S.)
-Karakas: it may be an extra land drop if needed, though this is not its main purppose. It helps with Iona and Emrakul, also if needed can keep Vendilion Clique Under control.
-Maze of Ith: great against aggro control deck that play monsters.
And the "regular" board:
-Krosan Grip: all around tool, helps in mirror matches, against counterbalance, landstill, …
-Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast: extra countermagic if needed in the control match-up. They are also Spot removal against merfolks.
-Tormod’ s Crypt: it can be fetched with Trinket mage and recurred with academy ruins (this is why I chose it instead of Relic of Progenitus, it also doesn’ t screw your Goyfs that much).
-Pithing Needle: great against Aether Vial, Survival of the Fittest, Pernicious Deed, Wasteland, and opponent’s Planeswalkers.
7.Testing so far
By now I’ ve been only able to test it through Magic Workstation and the results were excellent, though I know it’s soon enough to take any conclusions, this is what happened:
Note: Deck Type: Games Won; Games Lost.
-Zoo: 2; 1.
-U Tempo (faeries, canadian,…): 5; 2.
-Storm builds (T.E.S., ANT): 2; 0.
-Goblins: 5; 2.
-Burn: 2; 0.
-Surivval Madness: 3; 1.
-Survival Rock: 2; 1.
-Counterbalance: 3; 0.
-Show and Tell: 1; 0.
-Eva green: 1; 1.
-New Horizons: 2; 1.
-Merfolk: 2; 1.
-Pikula: 2; 1.
Which makes a wining average of: 74.4186 %, so far.
I’ll keep this updated while after more testings, and if you like it and try it, I’ ll be glad to hear the reports.
Greetings,
Iņaki.-
After Worldwake was realesed I instantly fell in love with a blue enchantment that seemed should have nice sinergy with Sensei’ s divining top, so I tell to myself why not trying to embed into a CB-Top Shell, this enchamentment was Quest for Ula’ s Temple (for reference: http://www.magiccards.info/query?q=for+ula's+temple&v=card&s=cname), after testing some lists without any success (basicaly for being too slow and too inconsistant, with an awful mana curve), I decide it to leave it alone and keep playing my storm lists. Months later the GP Columbus happened and I found a decklist that attract me in some or other way, this list was the one Stephen Menendian played (for reference: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/19857_So_Many_Insane_Plays_CounterTop_Emrakul_in_Legacy.html , but remember is a Premium article), so I can definitely say that this list is heavily influenced and motivated by his.
2. Motivation
As I said before the motivation to make this list was seeing Menendian’ s GP list, but then why not just copy it and avoid the effort? Well there are also some point that I strongly dislike from that list. First of all is the huge amount of dead cards that it is playing, specially those 4x Emrakul, Torn of Aeons, they are not only dead cards if you draw them without the Show and Tell but also they are n ultra weird 15 CC which hardly sinergyzes with the Counterbalance, also the Burning wish were very attracting but they seem too slow for the answers they want to fetch (board sweepers and the kind...). With all thisin mind , I satreted to work and this is the result
3.Decklist
“Living Top v1.1"
Maindeck 60
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Trinket Mage
4x Counterbalance
4x Sensei’ s Divining Top
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
4x Brainstorm
3x Firespout
3x Show and Tell
4x Living Wish
3x Volcanic Island
3x Tropical Island
2x Tundra
3x Island
1x Forest
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scaldign Tarn
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Academy Ruins
Sideboard 15
2x Krosan Grip
2x Red Elemental Blast
1x Pyroblast
2x Tormod’ s Crypt
1x Pithing Needle
1x Faerie Macabre
1x Emrakul Torn of Aeons
1x Peacemaker
1x Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Karakas
1x Maze of Ith
4. Gameplan
“Living Top” is but a control deck, so your main goal is to stablish a favorable board position to win the game, nevertheless you should have in mind that with a good curve there is the possibility to combo your opponent out by the beginning of the fourth turn (2nd turn living wish Emrakul, 3rd turn Show & Tell Emrakul, 4th turn swing for the win), but this is an ideal situation that hardly happens. This means that you will normally try to set the CB-Top softlock, play some Tarmogoyf for early defense, swap table with Firespout and seal the deal with Jace, the mind sculptor, after that, if the game isn’ tsteal won go for Emrakul and finish your opponent.
5. Card Choices
There are some auto-includes, that really doesn’ t need further explanation:
-Counterbalance, Sensei`s divining top, Force of Will, Brainstorm, tarmogoyf.
For the rest of the deck we have:
-Trinket mage: this guy helps in many ways, first being a 3 CC is important for CC builds, since it helps dealing with those post board Krosan grips, he is also a 2/2 body that grants card advantage (helping you to set the softlock or fetching for engineered explosives or pithing needle).
-Daze: I thought of counterspell, spell sanre and spell pierce too, but daze finally made the cut for being free and havinf the important role of keeping you alive in the early stage of the game and protecting the softlock, it can also be crucial for a third turn Show and Tell plan.
-Jace, the Mind Sculptor: well he is card advantage, spot removal and win condition all in one, if you can land him on a wining position the game will be almost done, it has really good sinergy with CB-Top.
-Firespout: one of the big reasons of the red splah. Firespout is huge at his role of protecting Jace and defeating huge tribal hordes, losing Trinket mage to it is not really relevant since when you need Firespout is in the matches where the Mage dies due to chump blocking.
-Show and tell: I’ m not really happy with this card, for being a dead card for the most part of the game, but being blue and 3CC make it worth for the meantime.
-Living wish: Menendian’ s list packed burning wish instead of this, but I feel living wish being superior in this build, not only for making a more decent mana curve but also because it grants a good toolbox of creatures, and some lands, that can be easily protected with Counterbalance and give you the advantage.
-Engineered Explosives: I had hard time deciding wheter to keep it maindeck or changing it for the Pithing needle, but Engineered Explosives can most of times do what the needle does and it ‘ s also more versatile in pre-board terms, it is also the reason why I’ m playing the Academy Ruins. Remember that is your only maindeck proactive answer to AEther Vial.
6. The sideboard:
First of all let’s analyze the Living Wish Targets:
-Emrakul Torn of Aeons: a win condition, this is just what he is, he is the greatest in terms of sealing deals.
-Faerie Macabre: very good weapon against reanimator and survival builds, it can also be useful against rock or landstill, and sometimes against storm (this is corner case just because you won’t have time to tutor for her, since canonist will be better target, and they normally won’ t use the IGG plan against you)
-Peacemaker: along with Counterbalance + Top this guy can give you enough turns to finish the game with jace, he is specially good agains Merfolks, and quite weak against goblins, though he will buy some turns until they can find an Incinerator.
-Llawan, Cephalid Empress: the merfolk nightmare, once she hits the table the game is over (specially if the Vials are under control. She has other uses against Bant or faeries, but is not as good as is in the merfolk match up.
-Ethersworn Canonist: the storm deck terror, in addition with CB+Top this match should be quite easy to handle. Though never understimate Storm decks power you have very few relevant cards in main deck for the first turns, and REB/Pyroblast is not that great agains them (specially bad against T.E.S.)
-Karakas: it may be an extra land drop if needed, though this is not its main purppose. It helps with Iona and Emrakul, also if needed can keep Vendilion Clique Under control.
-Maze of Ith: great against aggro control deck that play monsters.
And the "regular" board:
-Krosan Grip: all around tool, helps in mirror matches, against counterbalance, landstill, …
-Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast: extra countermagic if needed in the control match-up. They are also Spot removal against merfolks.
-Tormod’ s Crypt: it can be fetched with Trinket mage and recurred with academy ruins (this is why I chose it instead of Relic of Progenitus, it also doesn’ t screw your Goyfs that much).
-Pithing Needle: great against Aether Vial, Survival of the Fittest, Pernicious Deed, Wasteland, and opponent’s Planeswalkers.
7.Testing so far
By now I’ ve been only able to test it through Magic Workstation and the results were excellent, though I know it’s soon enough to take any conclusions, this is what happened:
Note: Deck Type: Games Won; Games Lost.
-Zoo: 2; 1.
-U Tempo (faeries, canadian,…): 5; 2.
-Storm builds (T.E.S., ANT): 2; 0.
-Goblins: 5; 2.
-Burn: 2; 0.
-Surivval Madness: 3; 1.
-Survival Rock: 2; 1.
-Counterbalance: 3; 0.
-Show and Tell: 1; 0.
-Eva green: 1; 1.
-New Horizons: 2; 1.
-Merfolk: 2; 1.
-Pikula: 2; 1.
Which makes a wining average of: 74.4186 %, so far.
I’ll keep this updated while after more testings, and if you like it and try it, I’ ll be glad to hear the reports.
Greetings,
Iņaki.-