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Originally Posted by
Nihil
By the way, how is only 20 lands treating you? I may see going down to 21, but 20 to me seems definitely risky.
Fair. The mana curve has dropped considerably in my deck with Shriekmaw replacing Shredder, Doran replacing excess Hierarchs, and adding an additional discard spell up to nine. 22 definitely feels too heavy as my curve continues to drop, but 20 might prove to be too low with time. I may go back to 21.
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About your list, I just don't like the maindeck Teeg. I played it for a while, then cut it because most of the time it was just a Mage pre-set on FoW. The second Doran is a close call, I may test it in Braids' place. And is Basking Rootwalla worth its space? It never did anything to me - I'd rather run Big Game Hunter.
I like the Teeg maindeck, even if all it does at times is act like a Mage pre-set on Force of Will. If that means resolving a Survival on turn three, rock on, I win. The fact that he's randomly godlike against Combo helps also. However, I concede it's possibly unnecessary.
Big Game Hunter seems ehh to me. Everything seems ehh to me compared to Shriekmaw now. If I were going to run BGH I'd just run a second Shriekmaw instead.
The second Doran is worth it, I think. I was running three, but kept getting two in my hand. Doran's amazingness is that he continues to wean you off your dependency on resolving a Survival, as he curves out beautifully into a massive aggro beatstick. I might also point out how incredibly necessary he is to try and beat Goblins game one. He shuts down Piledriver and survives an encounter with any other Goblin out there, and he takes a lot of effort to Gempalm out of existence. He's great to hold down the fort while Tarmogoyf clobbers through.
The Rootwalla is worth its space for now. For one mana you have an instant-speed blocker, a guard against Smallpox, someone to protect your big guys from Diabolic Edict, a Therapy flasher, or an additional potentially 3/3 beater. And nobody ever expects the Rootwalla. I can't even begin to tell you how many Warchiefs, Mages, Confidants, Mongeese, and so on I've managed to devour by dropping him out. He's not bad to get without a Survival, either. He'll trade with a Mongoose or flash a Therapy early on.
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Your discard setup is very interesting, though... I'll try something similar, probably a 3/3/2 setup. But I'm skeptical you'd want the 3x fourths in the sideboard - or rather, I'm skeptical they're the best way to use those SB slots. This ain't Discard.dec, the disruption is only meant as protection (except against combo, for which we have Teeg).
On the contrary, I find that 12 discard is a huge benefit here. Some of your toolbox slots are invariably useless in certain matchups, STP is useless on occasion, and 12 discard backed up by Teegs slaughters combo (I might cut the board Shriekmaw for a third Teeg). There are certain matchups like aggro-control matches, also, where having a Survival resolved is the difference between winning and losing, and the full complement of discard assures you'll resolve them. I frequently find that eight is never enough, and I can't fathom going with less than 10.
As for the 3/3/3 main, this is mostly experimental for the time being. I know I don't like 4 Thoughtseize maindeck due to the potential for excessive lifeloss, but I know I want four in the deck somewhere and probably some in the main. I find the 6/3 configuration of Nontherapy/Therapy makes my Therapies much more accurate and devastating when I get them, though I could fathom going 5/4 due to Therapy just being ridiculous.
Also, I think it's obvious to say that if I went down below 12 discard spells, A Duress is the first cut. The second cut is either a second Duress or a Thoughtseize. In no way does a Therapy get cut from the 75.
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And about your SB... those Harmonic Slivers should really, really be Krosan Grips. Two reasons for that: they give you an out against Humility, and they are almost guaranteed to break you out of Counterbalance lock. That plus a few other minor reasons (may actually hit Deed/EE, can hit Factories or Dragon Breaths) give them an edge over the Slivers' ability to be SotF food.
It's possible. I like the Harmonics for now though for what they can do against Stax and Enchantress and the like.
