Vastros
02-06-2012, 10:31 AM
Here is my latest project and I would love to get peoples opinions. I am trying to get into the legacy tournament scene after years of playing more or less casually and a year of playing more seriously. Without further ado:
Top of the Gate:
So here is the decklist:
Creatures:
4x Gatekeeper of Malakir
4x Vampire Nighthawk
Sorceries:
4x Hymn to Touroch
4x Duress
4x Innocent Blood
Instants:
1x Dizzy Spell
3x Brainstorm
3x Muddle The Mixture
4x Lim-Dul's Vault
Artifacts and Enchantments:
4x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Bitterblossom
3x Counterbalance
Lands:
4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Watery Grave
4x Swamp
Sideboard:
1x Bitterblossom
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Echoing Truth
3x Pithing Needle
3x Abyssal Persecutor
Deck breakdown:
For years I have loved Countertop and while looking through these forums I saw a deck titled the gate. It heavily fit my playstyle, so I thought of combining the two.
The main purpose of this deck is to disrupt opponents hands, forcing them to top deck, while using countertop as means to make it difficult to successfully top deck. With sideboarding it can turn more disruptive, or more aggressive as needed.
Brainstorm/Counterbalance/Sensei's Divining top: Nothing that I can say here hasn't been said a million different times in as many places much less this site.
Vampire Nighthawk: Gives fantastic board presence as well as counters the life loss from Bitterblossom,Lim-dul's Vault, and Fetchlands. A solid body at 2/3 with flying and lifelink and a fantastic aggro creature as well.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: Either functions as a 2/2 for 2, or with kicker a solid creature and board control as it can deal with creatures with shroud, or deal with persecutors sideboarded in.
Hymn to Touroch:
Referred to by many I know as the best discard spell printed, the massive hand disruption caused by this card can be near lethal against combo decks as well as aggro decks.
Duress:
I opted for Duress instead of thoughtseize because of the fact of the life loss being so cumulative. Duress does a similar job, possibly not as well, but it gets the job done well.
Innocent Blood:
More board control. When coupled with Bitterblossom can be devastating. A turn 4 innocent blood followed by gatekeeper can work wonders against a lot of decks.If I'm not going first, getting rid of whatever they played on first turn creature-wise is fantastic 8 times out of 10.
Bitterblossom:
This is the mainboards primary aggro. It also couples with Innocent blood very nicely.
Dizzy spell:
In a pinch, Dizzy spell can save me three life, but its main use is its transmute. It allows me to transmute into fifteen other cards in the deck.
Muddle the Mixture:
While not only being a decent counter, it is a fantastic transmuter for seventeen other cards in the deck.
Lim-Dul's Vault: Grants me speed, deck fixing, and is essentially a tutor combined with a set up for the next five turns. At UB? Definitely.
Sideboard:
Bitterblossom:
I find adding one more can help the effectiveness of the card allowing me the higher chance of drawing one in a matchup I need more aggro in.
Cabal therapy:
Synergy with Bitterblossom, as well as the abyssal persecutor makes this fantastic as well as being a great hand disruption card.
Echoing truth:
Echoing truth allows me to handle pesky cards that can play around cards like Vial, as well as bouncing tokens. Saved me against dredge several times by bouncing the tokens.
Pithing needle:
One of those cards that is so well discussed elsewhere.
Abyssal Persecutor:
This card gets so much flak, however in this deck he is perfect. Grants the deck a huge tempo advantage and is relatively easy to get rid of with Gatekeeper, Cabal therapy, Innocent blood, as well as the cards that transmute to these. There is rarely a problem getting rid of him once his job is done.
Matchups:
No-pro decks are a breeze as the sheer amount of board removal gets rid of progenitus fast. After he is gone the disruption usually can handle the rest.
70-30
Storm: With countertop and hand disruption, it really comes down to how explosive they are. I havent had much problem with storm decks so far.
75-25
Reanimator:
Again, sheer board removal and controlled hand disruption save us here. When they reanimate a fattie we simply shut it down.
70-30
Stoneblade:
This match has proven to be equal, a more disruptive sideboarding is needed and you should be fine
50-50.
All input is appreciated and questions will be answered to the best of my abilities.
Top of the Gate:
So here is the decklist:
Creatures:
4x Gatekeeper of Malakir
4x Vampire Nighthawk
Sorceries:
4x Hymn to Touroch
4x Duress
4x Innocent Blood
Instants:
1x Dizzy Spell
3x Brainstorm
3x Muddle The Mixture
4x Lim-Dul's Vault
Artifacts and Enchantments:
4x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Bitterblossom
3x Counterbalance
Lands:
4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Watery Grave
4x Swamp
Sideboard:
1x Bitterblossom
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Echoing Truth
3x Pithing Needle
3x Abyssal Persecutor
Deck breakdown:
For years I have loved Countertop and while looking through these forums I saw a deck titled the gate. It heavily fit my playstyle, so I thought of combining the two.
The main purpose of this deck is to disrupt opponents hands, forcing them to top deck, while using countertop as means to make it difficult to successfully top deck. With sideboarding it can turn more disruptive, or more aggressive as needed.
Brainstorm/Counterbalance/Sensei's Divining top: Nothing that I can say here hasn't been said a million different times in as many places much less this site.
Vampire Nighthawk: Gives fantastic board presence as well as counters the life loss from Bitterblossom,Lim-dul's Vault, and Fetchlands. A solid body at 2/3 with flying and lifelink and a fantastic aggro creature as well.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: Either functions as a 2/2 for 2, or with kicker a solid creature and board control as it can deal with creatures with shroud, or deal with persecutors sideboarded in.
Hymn to Touroch:
Referred to by many I know as the best discard spell printed, the massive hand disruption caused by this card can be near lethal against combo decks as well as aggro decks.
Duress:
I opted for Duress instead of thoughtseize because of the fact of the life loss being so cumulative. Duress does a similar job, possibly not as well, but it gets the job done well.
Innocent Blood:
More board control. When coupled with Bitterblossom can be devastating. A turn 4 innocent blood followed by gatekeeper can work wonders against a lot of decks.If I'm not going first, getting rid of whatever they played on first turn creature-wise is fantastic 8 times out of 10.
Bitterblossom:
This is the mainboards primary aggro. It also couples with Innocent blood very nicely.
Dizzy spell:
In a pinch, Dizzy spell can save me three life, but its main use is its transmute. It allows me to transmute into fifteen other cards in the deck.
Muddle the Mixture:
While not only being a decent counter, it is a fantastic transmuter for seventeen other cards in the deck.
Lim-Dul's Vault: Grants me speed, deck fixing, and is essentially a tutor combined with a set up for the next five turns. At UB? Definitely.
Sideboard:
Bitterblossom:
I find adding one more can help the effectiveness of the card allowing me the higher chance of drawing one in a matchup I need more aggro in.
Cabal therapy:
Synergy with Bitterblossom, as well as the abyssal persecutor makes this fantastic as well as being a great hand disruption card.
Echoing truth:
Echoing truth allows me to handle pesky cards that can play around cards like Vial, as well as bouncing tokens. Saved me against dredge several times by bouncing the tokens.
Pithing needle:
One of those cards that is so well discussed elsewhere.
Abyssal Persecutor:
This card gets so much flak, however in this deck he is perfect. Grants the deck a huge tempo advantage and is relatively easy to get rid of with Gatekeeper, Cabal therapy, Innocent blood, as well as the cards that transmute to these. There is rarely a problem getting rid of him once his job is done.
Matchups:
No-pro decks are a breeze as the sheer amount of board removal gets rid of progenitus fast. After he is gone the disruption usually can handle the rest.
70-30
Storm: With countertop and hand disruption, it really comes down to how explosive they are. I havent had much problem with storm decks so far.
75-25
Reanimator:
Again, sheer board removal and controlled hand disruption save us here. When they reanimate a fattie we simply shut it down.
70-30
Stoneblade:
This match has proven to be equal, a more disruptive sideboarding is needed and you should be fine
50-50.
All input is appreciated and questions will be answered to the best of my abilities.