[Article] The Process Of Actually Killing Someone On Turn One

[frogboy]

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/20528_Ideas_Unbound_The_Process_Of_Actually_Killing_Someone_On_Turn_One.html

Part two of my Tendrils primer.

[Doomsday]

Nice that you included sideboarding advice, that seems to be a problem that a lot of people have when picking up the deck. I still don't like the Swarms maindeck. You're siding them out vs the most popular deck and everything else except for CB (which is being pushed out by said most-popular deck) and Merfolk. I'd rather play Thoughtseize main, and make them gamble on whether to leave removal in (some will anyway just because of the lack of things to side in, but you know what I mean).

[emidln]

Nice that you included sideboarding advice, that seems to be a problem that a lot of people have when picking up the deck. I still don't like the Swarms maindeck. You're siding them out vs the most popular deck and everything else except for CB (which is being pushed out by said most-popular deck) and Merfolk. I'd rather play Thoughtseize main, and make them gamble on whether to leave removal in (some will anyway just because of the lack of things to side in, but you know what I mean).

The reason we play swarms is that the decks where Swarm isn't relevant, cannot generally interact with us in a meaningful way outside of turning dudes sideways. We goldfish them just fine if that card is Orim's Chant, Xantid Swarm, or Teka's Dragon.

An interesting trick against Counterbalance involving LED: don't break your LED until they resolve the Counterbalance trigger. You get priority back to use LED and there's no sense in losing your LED and possibly cards in hand (especially if you're using Wish) to a flipped 2.

[DragoFireheart]

Personally, I'm kind of amused by all of the attention being heaped on the Vengevine Survival decks. People are freaking out over a deck where, if everything goes right, they'll get to attack for sixteen on turn 4. That's, uh, neat, I guess. I'm going to be over here in the corner killing people on turn 2. I encourage you to do the same.


lmao, so very true.

[Nessaja]

An interesting trick against Counterbalance involving LED: don't break your LED until they resolve the Counterbalance trigger. You get priority back to use LED and there's no sense in losing your LED and possibly cards in hand (especially if you're using Wish) to a flipped 2.
What if your opponent decides to not put the CB trigger on the stack?

[emidln]

Trigger goes on the stack regardless. If he fails to do it, you remind him (or face a similar penalty). If he still doesn't, call a judge. He can choose not to reveal. He cannot choose to not trigger it.

[JeroenC]

Nice trick, never thought of it.

[Bryant Cook]

You keep going up on my list of people worth reading. Good job.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Great read :) I always look forward to these articles.

[ScatmanX]

My 2011 goal is to learn how to play this deck properly.
Thanks for this.

[ButtholeMcGhee]

This is the best article ever.

[jazzykat]

Excellent article. I suggest you do some playtesting vs. "interesting" or common matchups, especially vs. Countertop and write about it. I'm having excellent results testing with the deck.

[lorddotm]

The reason we play swarms is that the decks where Swarm isn't relevant, cannot generally interact with us in a meaningful way outside of turning dudes sideways. We goldfish them just fine if that card is Teka's Dragon.


You will actually lose if that card is Teeka's Dragon. That shit has a converted mana cost of 9.

Seriously though, I think he was saying why wouldn't you play the card you bring in against a lot of decks, and leave the Xantid's in the board? Also, Xantid's make playing against the UGW Survival list awkward since they can now STP your answer to Force of Will. I understand this list was mainly developed when Survival was UG and didn't run STP, but a lot of lists these days are running it. Just something to think about.


You keep going up on my list of people worth reading. Good job.

Are you dropping your 5C version for this one?

[Amon Amarth]

Ahh, good stuff. This was well worth the wait of a few days. I'll definitely have to test out swarms again.

[Vacrix]

I thoroughly enjoyed the article but feel like the title doesn't quite fit what you've written about.
I like your Tendrils variant. It actually resembles SITES in many ways, only it has sacrificed some explosiveness for more consistency via the cantrips.

Out of curiosity, what do you think of fitting Culling of the Weak in? You already run 4 maindeck Xantid Swarms if you play 4 of your fetchlands as Verdant Catacombs instead of Polluted Deltas you could play 1 Dryad Arbor and then have a total of 8 maindeck 'tallmen' fodder to fuel an explosive Ad Nausuem or tutor loop. Its unconventional and is obviously dabbling into the SI realm of explosive storm combo but the idea intrigues me given the list you already have. Also, setting up this play wouldn't be too difficult given the cantrips. I don't know that you necessarily need the draw engine to make Culling the Weak a viable acceleration piece, especially if you exchange those pieces of business for cantrips instead. It would just make the engine slower than it is in SI, but imagine hands like IMS, Fetch, Culling, Drit/IMS, AdN/(LED + IT/BW).

EDIT:
Also, keep on writing. You're definitely good at it.

[Bryant Cook]

Are you dropping your 5C version for this one?

No. I just read and thought it was a good article.