[Deck] Death and Taxes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lebarion

I'd like to ask Kirby, Finn and everyone else here about some other topics:
1. Horizon Canopy - has it been tested? Does the damage or making the manabase more vunerable hurt too much?
2. Sword of X and Y- could it replace Sword of W and Z? (I'm testing Body and Mind in Fire and Ice's place, and I'm still unsure about the pros/cons)
3. Oblivion Ring - has it definitively lost its slot? Mangara and Flickerwisp are enough to handle artifacts, enchantments et al?

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1. I did some light testing with it as a 2 of and it didn't come up as much of an issue. Opposing Wastelands tend to be aimed at Ports or Karakas. I was running 10 Plains, 4 Port, 4 Karakas, 3 Wasteland, 2 Canopy. So the list still had 10 basics and 16 White sources, I was pretty comfortable with it.

2. I wouldn't cut Fire and Ice or Jitte from the equipment package. Fire and Ice gives you a go to on a clear/positive board state and is generally the best target versus control and combo for giving you a faster clock and more fuel. Jitte is obviously a house versus small/swarm agro. I think the last piece (or two pieces) can be debated/metagamed to ones liking. Feast and Famine probably has the strongest triggers and two solid protections that aren't covered on Fire and Ice. Body and Mind can be pretty good at pulling one out of a bad board position versus larger guys, pro-Green gets by Tarmogoyf and KotR, and then reequipping to the wolf after combat helps on the defensive. Light and Shadow has some really good protections versus targeted removal, which can be nice if you can catch an opening to get it on a guy.

3. I agree Oblivion Ring is pretty slow. It's nice in attrition battles, and has cool tricks with Flickerwisp, but by the time you can start doing tricks with it, you have equipment options and Mangara lock. You're late game's already great, I don't think O-Ring helps you get to that point often enough. Phyrexian Revoker I feel does a better job of handling permanents.

@ the Jotun Grunt discussion, I think this card is really strong right now. Between all the Knights, Snapcasters, Tombstalkers, and Tribal running around a 4/4 that disrupts GY strategies is really well positioned. Giving you some preboard against Dredge and Loam can be solid too.

This is the list I've been messing with

10 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Karakas
3 Wasteland
2 Horizon Canopy

4 Mother of Runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Mangara of Corondor
1 Mirran Crusader

4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Why wouldn't Batterskull at least be considered for the third equipment slot? It really just slaughters a lot of aggro/ midrange-ish decks if it's unanswered. And also, for those splashing green, I have to recommend 2-3 copies of Living Wish, it's a bit slow, but it provides a lot of potential toolbox-y options, and it sets up Mangara locks like a champ, since it tutors for both pieces.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DukeDemonKn1ght

Why wouldn't Batterskull at least be considered for the third equipment slot? It really just slaughters a lot of aggro/ midrange-ish decks if it's unanswered.

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I've tested Batterskull and found it to be too clunky. Sure it win games sometimes and shines in the late game, but if you fetch it turn 2 and your Stoneforge Mystic gets killed, you'll never be able to cast it until late in the game.
Even when you get to 5 lands, you probably want to leave Karakas untapped for Mangara and you'll be using Rishadan to keep your opponent off one color.

Hey guys, I came I first place at Mythic Games in Elmira yesterday with mono-W D&T! It was relatively small at 14 people; however, I went 4-0 with a 100% win streak. Here's my list:

Main:

Creatures:

x3 Mangara
x4 Mother of Runes
x4 Flickerwisp
x4 Serra Avenger
x3 Jotun Grunt
x3 SFM
x3 Revoker
x1 Martyr of Sands
x1 Leonin Arbiter
x1 Ethersworn Canonist

Artifacts:

x4 Vial
x1 Sword of Fire & Ice
x1 Sword of Light & Shadow
x1 Jitte

Instants:

x4 Swords to Plowshares

Lands:

x10 Plains
x4 Karakas
x4 Wasteland
x4 Rishadan Port

Sideboard:

Creatures:

x2 Leonin Arbiter
x1 Kor Firewalker
x1 Phyrexian Metamorph

Artifacts:

x1 Tormod's Crypt
x1 Ensnaring Bridge

Enchantments:

x1 Runed Halo
x1 Absolute Law
x1 CoP: Red
x1 Wheel of Sun & Moon
x1 Nevermore

Instants:

x4 Enlightened Tutor

As I forgot my notepad, here's a somewhat vague recap of my matches:

Round 1: Fish

Game 1 starts off with cursecatcher on his side and a wasteland and vial on mine. He wastes my wasteland, sparing my turn-2 karakas. he drops mutavault, and another catcher, but no lords. Martyr hits, and I gain 9, buffing me to 26. It's obvious he's unfamiliar with DnT, as I've played my roommate's fish deck and had a much harder time keeping the moms and second vial i played next. Avenger and stoneforge land after reejery on his turn and i proceed to bash face, adding a grunt to the ranks. His turn, he pops up an image in the hopes of protecting him from Avenger. I say no one puts baby in a corner and target it with a swords. Stoneforge equips avenger with jitte and he submits at 5 life.

Game 2 is pretty open-shut. He, revealing afterwards, kept a hand with a daze, kira, image and no fishies. Turn-2 vial with mana open for daze and the mangara engine show him the error of his ways, and an army of wisps and avengers get him overhead.

Round 2: Sneak Attack

Game 1 threw me for a loop. Weird lands like crystal vein and blackcleave cliffs keep me scratching my head. The only note i had for the game was: "Canonist like a champ." Apparently the bottlenecking was too much and my repeated swings with grunt, avenger & co. got him to 8 before he quit.

Game 2 starts off with a pants-crapper. Dark rit, 3 lotus petals and suddenly it's sneak attack with 2 rune-scarred demons. Yikes. I'm at 8 and find myself struggling to cobble together my vague knowledge of Sneak Attack. My solution stares me in the face on my turn: Karakas. Followed by revoker & vial, I eventually stabilize and pin him down for some intense playtime with grunt, thanks to the graveyard snacks provided by his petals and sneak. He uses ingot chewer to dispose of revoker, but has nothing to sneak in. Also of note: was able to pull his blightsteel off a gamble and kept a swords in-hand, just in case. He gives in only when i get him at 1.

Round 3: Junk

Game 1 By this point, I'd heard of an elf deck rising in the ranks. Not fun, since I know how explosive that can get. And with no cataclysms, I'm especially screwed by swarms. So when my opponent dropped a forest first turn, I got concerned. However, it turns out to be similar to the above, as goyf and bayou show up next turn. The Rock, I think, not knowing it to actually be Junk. 3 moms and a martyr rush out turn 2 & 3, just in time to meet 2 more goyfs and Mr. Thrun. Wasteland punishes his bayou, while flickerwisp and port denies him his Maze of Ith. A needle stops my port dead, but too late for him. The fliers take him to 8 before he quits.

Game 2 Finally some recognition! He calls me out on being D&T, the first person to recognize my deck here; however, it's only because he tried to make it himself. He pops out a fetch, myself a wasteland and the fun begins. He searches, but instead I play Arbiter and lock out his tutoring. Next turn sees vial, bye bye to the bayou he grabbed with WL and a mom. A few dead turns go by for him while my my beatsticks wear him out. I only gain life--this time from a swords'd arbiter. However, even with the ability to fetch, he's at 8 and next turn folds to and avenger and 2 wisps.

Round 4: What IS This?

Game 1 and I'm seeing lavamancer followed by Bob. BR Burn? A variant of the The Gate? Regardless I revoke the mancer, swords the confidant and use stoneforge to fetch jitte. I'm smacked sideways by hymn to tourach. I make the decision to save the avenger in my 3-card hand and drop the rest. I'm hellbent most of the game, which would be great for his bizarre choice of Nezumi Shortfang/Stabwhisker the Odious, if he had the time to sink the mana into it. However, swords, wasteland and a combo of fliers and well-fed grunt screw him out of the chance, grabbing me the win.

Game 2 and I realize this to be a homebrew, pure and simple. Still, the hymns and shortfang give him an early advantage, forcing grunts and other goodies out. However, I revoke the shortfang, SFM an L&S and equip, swinging to return a wisp he denied me. He bolts the revoker, so I cast the wisp, flickering a land for swordsing. Next turn, wisp hits him, returning the revoker. I recast the hatebear, and on his turn he bolts the wisp. In top-deck-hero mode, I get SoFI, equip them both to revoker and make the guy pay up. Next turn, mom turns revoker into a rainbow-proof tank, and the extra damage from the swords are too much for him to handle.



All in all, D&T netted me $125 in credit and probably one of the best times I've had at a tourney in years. I attribute some of the wins to unpreparedness or ignorance of the deck; however, I still think the deck did very well regardless.

Ran this deck tonight at a local, only played 5 games (bye, Dredge 2-0, DD-Hexmage Rock 2-1), so not much to report on. Flickerwisp and mana disruption were fire. Mangara and Karakas wouldn't line up for me, so both felt underwhelming, but having got the lock in the past I know it's solid.

I ran the list posted above -1 Plains +1 Horizon Canopy. I felt 3 Canopy is too many, I got stuck taking a fair bit of damage a couple games from doub Canopy, so I will be going back to the 10 Plains 2 Canopy configuration.

My Sb was

3 Enlightened Tutor
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Retribution of the Meek
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Null Rod (should be Stony Silence)
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Phyrexian Metamorph

Think I will be dropping the Retributions and Macabres for the 4th Enlightened, 4th Jotun, 3rd Mirran and a Nevermore.

I have been testing again and, as one might have guessed, D+T pounds both the RUG and Bant decks that are so popular. I recommend a bit more removal though. It may be time to bring back Oust for awhile. The biggest reason I have noticed is that they are AGAIN getting too aggressive with their manabases. Considering the deck is strong against Reanimator, anything with the word "Stoneblade" in it, and of course Merfolk, this is a pretty good time to take it to a SCG Open.

Just finished building this yesterday, seems like a blast. I can definitely attest that this build romps RUG builds, I'm sure the same is true for Bant. Maybe adding some copies of Path to Exile instead of Oust?

Also, what equipment setup does everyone think is optimal right now? I would argue for Sword of Body and Mind given the current meta as well as the fact that both triggered abilities are super underrated. Maybe Sword of Light and Shadow as the second blade? Definitely generated some serious card advantage and even "combos" with Martyr.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seems Good

Maybe adding some copies of Path to Exile instead of Oust?

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Lol, this has been discussed probably on every page on this thread.

SoFI and Jitte are for sure the right call. The last Sword is really the one that's up for discussion. I think that some :w: sword should be included maindeck, and of the remaining colors that would need to project from, :b: seems like the best utility. Considering that some RUG decks also run Dismember should be reason enough to warrant SoLaS.

That's essentially the equipment package I run with Maverick (which isn't really too far off in strategy from D&T).

I've alredy posted this on salvation,

Its my report from Brazilian Legacy National(13/November/2011)

I traveled around 1,3 thousand Km to São Paulo (I live in the south) to play the National. Players had to qualify in smaller tournaments all around the country to get the opportunity to play the national. I qualified with Forgemaster combo.

There were around 130 players, and I was with 5 friends. I made 42’ (3 wins, 1 Loss, 3 Draws). The others were 20’, 25’ and 9’ (bad luck, he didn’t entered top 8) and a drop.

The decklist.

Maindeck:

4 Karakas
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
11 Plains

4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Mother of Runes
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor
4 Serra Avenger

4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 AEther Vial

Sideboard:

3 Leonin Arbiter
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Batterskull
1 Runed Halo

About the Main deck, I don’t feel that I need to change anything. The list is very good and consistent. About the sideboard, I would have changed only one thing: Runed Halo. That was useless. I really liked the CoP’s in the sideboard, and the CoP Green in my opinion needs to be in every SB of this deck, since right now it stops almost every big creature. The Red one was there because what I’ve heard before the Tournament.


Round 1 – Zoo (1-2)

Game 1:
He starts with Ape, beats me 2 times, and then played a Qasali. He bolted my threats and I couldn’t equip anything.

Game 2:
He starts with Wild Cat and bolts my Forge. I play Jotun equipped with Fire Ice and it goes for the Victory.

Game 3:
He starts again with Wild Cat, then ape, then Goyf. I remember having 2 Flickerwisp, being confident about winning this game, but he bolts one Wisp and a Grim Lavamancer (previously revoked) kills the other. Then he races me.

Round 2 – BW Blade (1-1)

Game 1:
He starts very slowly, giving me a thoughtseize and a Hymn. He used a StP in my Jötun, then I beat him with 3 Serra Avengers.

Game 2:
I don’t remember this one much, but he sided in a lot of hate against creatures, never giving me the chance to equip and beat.

Game 3:
No much time left, he was at 3 life with: Batterskull, Bitterblossom, 2 Faerie Tokens and a Top.
I had a Mother of Runes and a Serra Avenger. He was going to pass turn and I would give to Serra pro Black, attack and won, but in his turn he used top, fetch to shuffle, Top again, draw, and used StP in my already tapped Mother. I attacked, he blocked, than in his turn he increased his life with Batterskull. Time was over, draw.

Round 3 – Enchantress (1-1)

Game 1:
I knew his deck because last round I watched him playing, so I was all agro, leaving him with 6 life. Then he played Solitary Confinement, making all that draws and playing more and more, you know, useless enchantments. I could killed him if I had a Wisp or Mangara, to remove his Confinement and attack. He played Cadaverous Bloom, then he removed half deck from his hand and played half his deck. The time passed, and passed, OMG.
Then with 12 spells in stack he played Tendrils of Agony.

Game 2:
I begin, and in the end of his turn, I played tutor, get Canonist. After that, I slowly beated him down. Yes, that easy.

Game 3:
Same as game 2, the difference is that I had Canonist in my opening hand. But the time was over. Another Draw.

Round 4 – NO Bant (1-1)

Game 1:
I made an early pressure, with Mother, Forge and Flickerwisp. It was too late when he used NO, and I won with a Stoneforge equipped with Jitte and Light Shadow.

Game 2:
I had the game controlled, but he used NO and I couldn’t find any sideboard/answer.

Game 3:
With 2 StP I killed his creatures, he didn’t had the opportunity to use NO, and, in the last turn possible, he was at 10 and I attacked with 2 Flickerwisps causing 10 (7/3 because of Jitte).
He used Snakeform, leaving him with 2 life. He passed the turn, than the game finished.
Draw.

Round 5 – Zoo (2-1)

I won this game 2-0. I was sitting in the wrong table (I thought I saw “table 28”, but mine was 38), then the judge send me to the right one and gave me a game loss. Yeah, **** me.

Game 1:
He mulled to 5, I punished him with 2 wastes and a Jotun equipped.

Game 2:
He played Ape and Goblin guide, I used StP in the Ape and the Guide attacked 4 times, revealing 4 lands (I love Goblin Guide after this haha). In his turn, I used tutor, get CoP Red and beat him down with a Serra Avenger.

Round 6 – Dredge (2-0)

I consider this round a bye

Game 1: Vial, Jotun, GG.

Game 2: Tutors, Grave Hate, Beat him with Serra equipped with Jitte. He still got around 8 tokens, Flickerwisp removed 1, Serra blocked another, Jitte killed another. End.

Round 7 – NO Bant (2-1)

Game 1:
He mulled to 5, and I beat him with Serra Avenger and a Jotun Grunt. After this game he tells me that he had 5 lands in his opening hand.

Game 2:
He uses Vendillion Clique choosing my Phyrexian Metamorph, then uses NO.

Game 3:
This Game was the longest. We were the only players still playing the round 7.
I remember winning with a Batterskull. The Germ Token was equipped with the Skull, Fire Ice and Jitte. He had a Tarmogoyf, Relicary, Noble and Dryad Arbor. I gave the Germ Token pro Green and Beated him down.

Hope you liked the report. I really enjoyed playing with Death & Taxes. Sorry if I made any writing mistakes. Cya.

With the Finnish Legacy Championships coming up again, I decided it was time to dust off the deck and get back into tweaking it. I'm still working on a build I found successful last Summer some smaller tournaments I went to.

7x Plains
4x Karakas
4x Wasteland
3x Flagstones of Trokair
3x Rishadan Port

4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Aether Vial
1x Sword of fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Batterskull

4x Mother of runes
4x Serra Avenger
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Jötun Grunt
3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Mangara of Corondor
4x Flickerwisp

//Sideboard
1x Serenity
1x Never More
1x Stony Silence
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Wheel of the Sun and Moon
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Pithing Needle
3x Wing Shards
3x Enlightened Tutor

The only big things I'll be changing is the removal of something from the SB in favor of adding Sword of Feast and Famine. I'm also considering replacing Wing Shards with another answer to re-animator since it hasn't proven that impressive. I'm considering Revenge of the Meek or Meekstone. Something of that sort.

Wow Retribution of the Meek...this card seems insane. Anyone playtest it?

Yeah this card is great, you hit all the relevant Threats of the modern metagame:
Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster, Stoneforge, Confidant, Lavamancer, Goblin Guide, Wild Nacatl, Nible Mongoose and so on...

Nah honestly, how often are you going to find more than ONE Knight of the Relinquary or 4/5 Goyf... Not very often to be honest, the times of NaturalOrder are over.

Greetings

I see this card as situationally powerful. For example, when you're up shits creek against, say fish because they have 3 lords and a dude, so you're staring at 4 4/4 or bigger dudes, and you have like, an Avenger and Revoker, the card is a total freakin blowout. Again this is very situational, but it might warrant 2 or so slots in the SB?

I agree that the current meta is infested with small guys right now, but for 2W, this card seems like it could be quite a blowout.

So now we have a Glowrider that costs :1::w:, has First Strike and is legendary. I guess it's a good 3-of in our 75.

This list just took top 8 at scg Atlanta.

Maindeck:

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

Artifact Creatures
3 Phyrexian Revoker

Creatures
1 Aven Mindcensor
4 Flickerwisp
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Mother of Runes
4 Serra Avenger
4 Stoneforge Mystic

Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares

Legendary Artifacts
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Legendary Creatures
3 Mangara of Corondor

Basic Lands
10 Plains

Lands
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

Legendary Lands
4 Karakas

Sideboard:
1 Batterskull
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Leonin Arbiter
1 Absolute Law
1 Aura of Silence
1 Stony Silence
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
3 Enlightened Tutor

Firemind, I will probably be trying out two in the main and one in the side at first. It's a near certainty that this card is going to be good in D&T. But the deck has become so tight, the question is what to take out.

I'm thinking of running it as a 3-of since I have 3 flex slots at the moment. Currently I'm running 2 Leonin Relic Warder and 1 extra equipment.

Anyways, I may or may not be going into the Finnish Legacy championships this year. I forgot to enter on time so they were full when I remembered to check. If I do get in, I'll do a writeup.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is bananas-good in this deck, from my perspective. She's about the highest-quality hate bear white has gotten so far, or at least second to Ethersworn Canonist, she holds equipment like a beast, and she can do cute Karakas tricks. What's not to love?

I got into the Finnish Legacy Champs even though I hadn't entered on time since a bunch of players couldn't make it. However, my performance was abysmal (1-3 drop). My Sideboard lacked vital cards and the fact I didn't have a Batterskull hurt in some matchups.

Here was my list:
MD: 60
7x Plains
4x Karakas
3x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Wasteland
3x Rishadan Port

4x Aether Vial
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte

4x Mother of Runes
3x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Serra Avenger
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Jötun Grunt
2x Leonin Relic-warder
4x Flickerwisp
3x Mangara of Corondor

1x Elspeth, Knight Errant

SB: 15
3x Enlightened Tutor
3x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Wheel of the Sun and Moon
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Pithing Needle
1x Serenity
1x Stony Silence
1x Never More
1x Hex Parasite
1x Crucible of Worlds

I should have had an Oblivion Ring or an Aura of Silence or something targeted in the SB. I don't know why I didn't think about it when I was making the decklist. The Elspeth was supposted to be a batterskull but I forgot to find and borrow one.

Round 1: 2-1 vs. Pox
Long drawn out matches against Pox. It was a struggle in each one until I got a creature with a sword to stick. In the third one the singleton Elspeth somehow turned out good by letting me swing over his mishra's factories. I sided out revoker and a Mommy to bring in 2 tutors, Wheel of Sun and Moon and Crucible

Round 2: Belcher happened. 0-2

Round 3: Bant. 0-2
Game 1: Long drawn out game, Maze of Ith and jace eventually let him win with a Knight of the Reliquary. Engineered Explosives destroying my turn 1 vial hurt. I eventually lost because I was swinging with 2 serra avengers with 1 being mazed and was using Vial at 3+karakas to infinitely chump KotR with Mangara. One got removed when he was at 1 hp. I couldn't get the last one through maze. I should just have chumped with one angel to remove the maze and finish him off.

Game 2: was rather similar with him playing an early elspeth that got revokered. I get a Jitte with my Stoneforge Mystic. I play an avenger but get hit by EE at 2. can't overcome Elspeth with an empty board and scoop.

Round 4: RGW Maverick (at this point I was at some level mentally guard broken and was secondguessing a lot of my earlier plays and deck construction choices).
Game 1: I go full retard while mulliganing and deservedly lost.
Game 2: I can't find an answer to batterskull and lose because of it. Nearly won but Mommy+Birds slowed my Serra Avenger beatdown while Tower of the Magistrate meant I couldn't get sword hits through.

I dropped because I didn't have a chance at top 8 and I was fairly frustrated at my misplays and bad deckbuilding decisions.