[Article] Death and Taxes

[monovfox]

hey guys. I wrote an article on Death and Taxes, as people (not you guys) still seem to be clueless. I know it's more targeted towards people with less knowledge of the format, but I figured I'd drop here for y'all to read.

http://blog.mtgdeals.com/article-contest/there-are-two-things-certain-in-life-an-intro-to-death-and-taxes/

It's for an article contest, but I had been planning on writing an article similar to this for much time. Glad I finally did.

Btw, the editors of the website content are deciding the winner, so reading this puts no pressure on you to vote or anything of the sorts. It's there to read, not to force you to vote on it by posting it here ^_^ (because you can't :P )

[Zombie]

Begun laughing like an idiot when I read this:

Raid for Tarmogoyfs.

[dave8]

Nice article but you missed the most important part.
How to sideboard with the deck?

[monovfox]

Nice article but you missed the most important part.
How to sideboard with the deck?

I believe that is down to person experience. I like certain cards in certain matchups, and others hate them in certain matchups. I know my reply is not very helpful, but the sideboard explanation section might give a little bit of insight into how I sideboard.

Generally how I sideboard is fairly vague, and I mostly react to the cards that caused me trouble.
I also make general impressions when I think, so I don't have a specific sideboard for most decks. But, this list will give you the gist of what I aim for in my sideboards.



Esper-stoneblade:
-2 STP
-2 Judge's familiar (relevant game 1)


+2 Cataclysm
+1 Disenchant
+1 Sword of Light and Shadow

BUG variants
-2 Judge's Familiar
-3 Thalia (she's good, but you need to make cataclysm more castable in this matchup, as your opponent's generally over-extend on walkers)
-1 Serra Avenger

+2 Wilt-Lief Liege
+2 Cataclysm
+2 Rest in Peace

if I can: Solas

If I expect equipment or -1/-1 effects, disenchant occasionally comes in.

RUG Delver
-2 Mangara
-1 Phyrexian Revoker

+3 Rest in Peace/Gravehate

Nothing special here

Show and Tell (sneak):
+1 Enlightened Tutor
-1 STP

Pretty much no-sideboard


Show and tell (omni):
+2 Cannonist
+1 Enlightened Tutor
+1 O-ring
+1 anything else I can find

-5 bad cards

Storm Variants:
+2 Cannonist
+1 Enlightened TUtor

-3 Mangara

If PiF is present:
+3 Rest in Peace
-1 Batterskull
-2 Stoneforge Mystic

Jund:
cards I generally try to bring in:
Wilt-Leaf Liege
Cataclysm
Solas
Rest in Peace

hard to find a balance of sideboard and mainboard here. I generally pull Thalias, 2 mangara, and the birds, working from there. Occasionally a revoker will be gone, depends if I see them running punishing fire or not.

Esper Deathblade:
+2 Cataclysm
+1 Solas
+1 Disenchant

-4 flex cards, usually judge's familiar and 2 other cards (STP does not get pulled, too valuable. Do not allow their creatures to chump block)


Cards I would absolutely recommend in the sideboard:
Disenchant
Cataclysm

these cards are the bomb. They fit my playstyle quite well, and disenchant is a strictly-better swords to plowshares in the stoneblade matchups. Worst comes to worst, you are targeting your own aether vial because they are maelstrom pulsing your 2 vials. Yes. I have done that before.

Cataclysm is just insane.
I'm not over-exaggerating when I call it a 4-mana balance. I played a game against BUG (shardless I believe) in which he got a pernicious deed out and cracked it. I then tapped my 6 lands for mana, played cataclysm. my flagstones of trokair triggers, fetching me a plains, I keep a karakas. My opponent loses his liliana, and goes down to 1 land. I then play the land in my hand to cast my mangara. I top-deck a land, and get the mangara lock. I know, that's a god-casting of it, but situations like that happen frequently.



Begun laughing like an idiot when I read this:



My plan! It worked!

[Adryan]

Was bored to death by Feline's Deathblade article, but your article was interesting. Especially the post rule change.

Keep the good work up. A Matchup analysis would be very interesting, if you look for ideas for future articles.

[monovfox]

Was bored to death by Feline's Deathblade article, but your article was interesting. Especially the post rule change.

Keep the good work up. A Matchup analysis would be very interesting, if you look for ideas for future articles.

Perhaps I'll do that this month. Though, I'm tempted to write an article on a modern deck *gulp* that I want to port to legacy (BUG infect). Though, my interpretation of it is different, as I personally believe infect does not need berserk in legacy (however, it totally needs invigorate).

Also, would people really be interested in another article on the same deck? I feel like that'd bore people. I feel like people would be angry if I did 2 articles in one month (and one of them on a topic already covered by myself). Not to mention I am not a writer for Deals, and thus have no place to regularly post my writings (that people actually read).

Glad to know people thought the article was interesting, at least.

Also, would people actually enjoy reading articles by me?

[Lt. Quattro]

perhaps i'll do that this month. Though, i'm tempted to write an article on a modern deck *gulp* that i want to port to legacy (bug infect). Though, my interpretation of it is different, as i personally believe infect does not need berserk in legacy (however, it totally needs invigorate).

Also, would people really be interested in another article on the same deck? I feel like that'd bore people. I feel like people would be angry if i did 2 articles in one month (and one of them on a topic already covered by myself). Not to mention i am not a writer for deals, and thus have no place to regularly post my writings (that people actually read).

Glad to know people thought the article was interesting, at least.

Also, would people actually enjoy reading articles by me?

yes

[Megadeus]

I enjoyed it. not sure though if it was the writing or the topic however. but overall I enjoyed thewhole article regardless

[Wynk]

Great article. Was enjoyable, informative and amusing to read. Good introduction to D&T. I like your sidebooard "recommendations" in this thread as well; pretty insightful.

[davelin]

Enjoyed the article especially the "how to beat" part!

[Zombie]

The article needs a warning to stay away from pointy-eared gits, does it not? I think the lack of one is irresponsible.

[monovfox]

The article needs a warning to stay away from pointy-eared gits, does it not? I think the lack of one is irresponsible.

Shhhhhhh, don't let Koby know. He might bring that to the MTGdeals open.

[Plague Sliver]

Clark, it's good to see your article on here.

With regards to "All of the pros are absolutely clueless" comment, I think it's a fair stance to take. However, the SCG commentary sheds some light on this type of perception. To paraphrase, they point out that the cards in D&T are very synergistic in working together, but no card on its own is objectively powerful on its own. This was from a feature match that I watched a few weeks ago. As a point of contrast, in that matchup, the SCG commentators point out how the opposing deathblade player was able to get back into the game (from an apparently insurmountable position) with cards like Jace and Brainstorm. It also didn't help that the D&T player started the Mangara engine too late, to the point where it didn't matter.

Oftentimes, perception = reality and I'm sure that many players are more likely to pick a widely-played deck. I also think that it's hard to play D&T effectively. Not to mention, acquiring the cards for this deck don't cross over well to other Legacy decks.

Ramblings aside, I think the more variety in the metagame, the better. And hopefully you've convinced a few players to try it out.

- James H.

[monovfox]

Yeah, starcity has been getting better, but 50% of the time they are clueless.


Glad you enjoyed the article.

Everyone, I figured I should let you guys vote on my next article:


BUG Infect port

More Death and Taxes

BUG infect port with an addition to Death and Taxes at the end

Both.

[Zombie]

More Death and Taxes, of course.

[Wynk]

Asking for a vote in a thread labeled Death and Taxes is going to skew the voting results...

D&T.

[Finn]

Eheh. I came straight in when I read the title.

I thought this was a fine first offering. As you know, there is plenty of room for discussing personal preferences in a deck like that, so it was great to see you talk about yours.