[Article]Eternal Europe: Switching It Up

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

Discussing my plans for format exploration and some ideas I want to try out:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27479_Switching-It-Up.html

Enjoy!

[Lemnear]

Same issues since the BoM, Carsten. Everyone packs a shitload of storm hate in their SB (Especially Kai) and there's still the mental fatigue. Will play a bit more with Miracles and the pointy ears in the nesr future to recover

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

Little disappointed you didn't mention Caw Cartel. A lot of the factors that make miracles appealing apply to caw, except caw excels in a lot of places miracles doesn't. At least stateside, the decks that caw actively wants to see (delver, BUG, blade) are all much more prominent than they were some years ago, while cards it doesn't (Teeg, Lingering Souls, Punishing Fire) are seeing much less play. Granted I don't think I've even come close to taking a game off of Jund, but the deck is much less popular than it was when 2-toughness creatures were as prevalent. Seems like as good a time as any to revisit it, especially with so many new tools from RtR.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

In a deck with Terminus, that is aiming to control the game and thus wants to block, running Clique is baffling to me. I know lots of other lists do it, but at least they only run one, which makes it easier to justify on the grounds that you can just hope not to draw it in most of your matchups.

I've been working on a Deedstill list myself, I think Standstill is incredibly under-rated right now.

[RainbowPenguin]

In a deck with Terminus, that is aiming to control the game and thus wants to block, running Clique is baffling to me. I know lots of other lists do it, but at least they only run one, which makes it easier to justify on the grounds that you can just hope not to draw it in most of your matchups.


What would you run instead? TNN? That´s quite reasonable. Think the main strikes against it are: is bad against liliana and is a fair bit worse against combo than clique, too. Also, a number of relevant threats (delver, TNN, tombstalker, etc.) don't actually get blocked by it.

[Admiral_Arzar]

Discussing my plans for format exploration and some ideas I want to try out:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27479_Switching-It-Up.html

Enjoy!

Great article. I'm interested in the BUG Delver list as I've always liked the old Team America deck but always did terribly with it lol. Also, as a long-time storm/high tide player, I understand exactly what you mean about needing a break. Eventually the mental fatigue (and the sideboard hate in your local meta lol) catches up to you and you just need to change to something that requires less thinking. I even went to the extent of playing one-drop Zoo for months after nearly a year of playing all combo - sadly I don't think I can play Zoo anymore so I need to find something else *shakes fist at TNN*.

[Valtrix]

A specific question for you Carsten: How do you feel about discard in control decks? This is a question that I really just have not been able to answer myself. On one hand, having a 1cc proactivecard (aka thoughtseize) can be amazing for a control deck, since oftentimes you're playing reactively. However, as the game drags on the discard becomes less and less relevant. Is this too much of a liability? If not, then the power of being proactive (and very flexible!) makes discard worth running, how many to run? I see you only run 2 in the main, how did you decide on this number?

Also, is Golgari Charm? You already have 7 answers maindeck to a resolved true name nemesis (more counting counterspells and discard), so are more really needed specifically for this card? Is the splash hate for enchantments worth it? It seems like a very narrow sideboard choice. Something to handle batterskull better might be nice, since I think your list could be fairly weak to one if it gets through. Perhaps room for Vedalken Shackles? :D (Only half-kidding...)

How is time with this deck? I remember playing 4c control with just Jaces for win-cons before Entreat was printed and it was very painful finding win-cons at times to win quickly enough. I guess you do play a lot of draw go since you just trade spells with your opponent. Tar-Pit probably helps.