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I've never felt it's a "lock". More of just incremental and virtual card advantage to the point where they can't keep up and we bury them. That said/established, I do agree that you have to get a tad bit more aggressive with Mentor Miracles, but bear in mind that their card quality engine is still the same and that you shouldn't sacrifice a dominating position just to eek in a swing.
Went to a legacy 1K tournament this past Sunday at Face 2 Face Toronto and finished 2nd. Had 32+ people in the tournament so it was a six rounder. I played loam, didn't change anything in the maindeck but changed the sideboard so it looks like this:
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Slaughter Games
2 Golgari Charm
2 Engineered Plague
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Choke
1 Trinisphere
I decided to take out the 2 Thoughtseizes as I thought they would be relatively low impact unless you draw it on turns one and two and felt that the Trinisphere would be good anytime against Omnitell and Storm. I also added a second Engineered Plague as I just wanted another sweeper that would have a continuous effect. Hopefully I can recall the majority of what happened. The heat inside the store was crazy and I was totally exhausted by the finals.
Round 1 - Edgar (Omnitell)
Game 1: He just stomped me as omnitell should in game one. Nothing much to say here but I had him go through the motions so I can see how he was going to kill me.
Sideboard: +1 Trinisphere, +1 Choke, +1 Reclamation Sage, +1 Ethersworn Canonist, +1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, +2 Golgari Charm, +2 Slaughter Games. -3 Abrupt Decay, -2 Punishing Fire, -1 Maze of Ith, -1 Scavenging Ooze, -2 Life from the Loam
Game 2: I believe he countered my Chalice on turn 1 and then countered my Thalia on turn 2 and then cast show and tell on his turn 3. I put in a Reclamation Sage targetting his Omniscience but he had the Cunning Wish and killed me with the trigger on the stack. Oh well.
0-1 (0-2)
Round 2 - Peter (Grixis Control)
Game 1: I don't quite remember this one very well but I probably resolved a Chalice on 1 and then his life totals went from 20 -> 15 -> 8....
Sideboard: +1 Leyline of the Void, +1 Reclamation Sage, +2 Engineered Plague, +1 Choke, +2 Golgari Charm. -3 Abrupt Decay, -1 Gaddock Teeg, -1 Maze of Ith, -1 Life from the Loam, -1 Liliana of the Veil
Game 2: It felt like he had control of the entire game as there was a point in the game where all I had were lands in play with just one card in hand and he was resolving Dig Through Times turn after turn but then I was able to resolve a Chalice on 1 and then a Sylvan Library and then an Engineered Plague on Shaman and then somehow I won? Not sure how he bricked after seeing 21 extra cards but I'll take it. Blood Moon was also in play after I landed the Chalice but thankfully I had a Mox Diamond in play and then soon topdecked the basic Forest after he Kolaghan's Commanded my Mox.
1-1 (2-3)
Round 3 - Alexander (BUG Delver)
Game 1: I kept on Wastelanding his green sources and made him use up his Abrupt Decays on my Chalice on 1. Then I managed to resolve a Knight of Reliquary and finished him off in a couple of attacks.
Sideboard: +2 Leyline of the Void, -1 Gaddock Teeg, -1 Maze of Ith. Not sure if this is correct, it feels like the maindeck is so good against BUG that we might not want to sideboard much?
Game 2: I didn't draw any abrupt decays and he was able to keep on Wastelanding me while casting goyfs turn after turn and that was it for me.
Game 3: I don't recall this game that much either but I see that his life decreased by 3 every turn so I have to assume that a Scavenging Ooze did a bunch of damage early on and then I resolved a big Knight of Reliquary and decayed his only blocker and won.
2-1 (4-4)
Round 4 - Matthew (R/G Lands)
Game 1: I didn't know what he was on and he just destroyed me game 1 as he assembled Dark Depths combo without using Loam.
Sideboard: +3 Leyline of the Void, +2 Slaughter Games. -3 Punishing Fire, -1 Gaddock Teeg, -1 Maze of Ith
Game 2: I put in a Leyline from my opening hand and he seemed shocked. I was also able to resolve a Chalice on 1 and then just killed him with a Knight.
Game 3: This game was weird as I had no Leyline but he just went land go on his turn 1 and I was able to cast a Dark Confidant on turn 1 and then was able to get a Scavenging Ooze active and managed to eat his Life from the Loam and his Punishing Fire. This was actually a very interesting game as he was trying to kill my Ooze with his Fires and I had to figure out how to get my Ooze to a x/3+ while disrupting his graveyard at the same time. After I ate his Loam and Fires, it looked like he was out of gas and I was able to kill him fast before he topdecked his Dark Depths.
3-1 (6-5)
Round 5 - Kirk (Elves)
Game 1: I knew what he was on so I had to aggressively mull and kept a 5 card hand that couldn't do much. Of course he ends up steam rolling me which was expected.
Sideboard: +2 Golgari Charm, +2 Slaughter Games, +2 Engineered Plague, +1 Trinisphere. -1 Gaddock Teeg, -1 Maze of Ith, -3 Liliana of the Veil, -2 Life from the Loam. Not too sure about the Trinisphere but I felt that anything that slows him down could be good.
Game 2: He still had no idea what I was on and this game was a real grind but I was able to resolve two Engineered Plagues on Elves and he just scooped as he used his Decays and Reclamation sage on Chalices earlier.
Game 3: This game was a real slog. I kept an opening hand with a Punishing Fire, Grove, Abrupt Decay and some other lands and was just trying to kill every single creature. Unfortunately, I couldn't draw another Grove or another Fire so I was only able to kill one thing a turn and he kept on drawing Wirewood Symbiotes so he drew at least 7 extra cards with an Elvish Visionary. I ended up casting Slaughter Games on his Natural Orders and time was called so he was not able to kill me on time. Frustrating game for both of us.
3-1-1 (7-6-1)
Round 6 - Jesse (TES)
Game 1: I think I mull to 5 trying to find some Chalices and didn't so he just steam rolled me with a fast Ad Nauseum.
Sideboard: +2 Golgari Charm, +2 Slaughter Games +1 Trinisphere, +1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, +1 Ethersworn Canonist, +2 Engineered Plague. -3 Abrupt Decay, -3 Punishing Fire, -2 Life from the Loam, -1 Scavenging Ooze.
Game 2: I once again mull to 6 and have nothing but I have to keep in case he has a slow hand. I get him down to 15 somehow and then he casts Ad Nauseum with one mana available and he just dies to his own Ad Nauseum as he didn't flip any rituals. It's good to be lucky!!
Game 3: I keep a 7 with Chalice x2, Gaddock Teeg, Liliana of the Veil and lands. He probes me on turn 1 and I'm just hoping that he doesn't cast therapy. He ends up not even playing a land and passes the turn and i'm like wow, what just happened. I end up casting Chalice on zero and then next turn I cast chalice on 1 and then played a Gaddock Teeg next turn and then a Chalice on 2 the turn afterwards. I was then able to cast a Liliana and then a couple of turns afterwards, played a Trinisphere. Good to be lucky again!
4-1-1 (9-7-1)
Made top 8 and it consisted of: Lands, Miracles, Grixis Delver, Burn, Omnitell, Deadguy Ale, Elves and Loam (myself). I end up being 4th overall after swiss and have to play against Lands.
Quarterfinals - Matthew (Lands)
Game 1: He doesn't have a fast start again and I was able to get an early Scavanging Ooze again and was able to navigate well enough to eat his Life from the Loam and Punishing Fire. I also got really lucky as he has stage and 3 lands in play and cast a Gamble with 6 cards in hand. Obviously he goes for Dark Depths and after I roll the dice, he discards the Dark Depths. I immediately exile the Dark Depths with my Ooze as soon as I was able to. Oh yes, the salt was flowing.
Sideboard: Same as above.
Game 2: I just blew him out this game, I had turn 0 Leyline, turn 2 Chalice on 1, turn 3 Chalice on 1, turn 4 second Leyline. The only problem was that he could topdeck his combo manually and he was able to protect his stages by making them into a basic forest so I couldn't wasteland them. It actually took forever for me to kill him as I had no threats and he had multiple ports and so I had to keep on wastelanding his ports so I would have mana and then I started playing wastelands not wasting anything in case he manually drew the dark depths so I could force him to make the Marit Lage token on my turn as I had an active Liliana to kill it. Oh Slaughter Games, why can't you name Dark Depths!!
5-1-1 (11-7-1)
Semifinals - Edgar (Omnitell)
Game 1: I try to mull to a Chalice and was unsuccessful and kept a miserable 5. I start the Dryad Arbor beatdown when he's at 18 and he's able to put an Omniscience in play and I couldn't play anything. He then churns through probably 20 cards in that turn and has to pass the turn. I don't draw anything good at all but I was able to get him down to 8 life with a Dryad Arbor and a Deathrite Shaman before topdecked an Emrakul and that was it.
Sideboard: Same as above.
Game 2: Before this game starts, he's saying how Slaughter Games is unfair and I'm like come on, it's a 4cc spell and Show and Tell is 3cc so he still has the advantage.... I keep a great hand with 3 lands, 2 Mox Diamonds, Slaughter Games and Ethersworn Canonist. I'm able to cast a turn one Canonist and then topdeck a land and cast turn 2 Slaughter Games naming Show and Tell. My friend beside me make a comment saying something to the likes of "so it's hard to get to 4cc eh?" What can I say, good to be lucky. The game is basically over by now but he plays on as my only threat is a Canonist and he's got ways to deal with it plus he still has Jace, the Mind Sculptor as his other win con. I end up topdecking my 2nd Slaughter Games a couple of turns later and name Jace and that was pretty much it.
Game 3: I open up another great hand. 3 lands, Mox Diamond, Dark Confidant, Choke, Liliana of the Veil. He probes me on turn 1, sees my hand and just shakes his head. I draw a Canonist on my turn and cast Dark Confidant that resolves. Next turn, he cantrips and passes. I reveal a land and draw Trinisphere! I proceed to cast Choke and that resolves and I'm like oh damn, he's actually got the combo. Next turn he casts Show and Tell and says I hope you don't have a Canonist. Well, I do but I drop the Trinisphere instead into play he's just super dejected and the crowd around us just goes berserk. After this it was fairly elementary as I draw a Golgari Charm and could kill his Omniscience at any time and I just Slaughter Games something irrelevant as I should have Golgari Charmed first and then cast Slaughter Games afterwards. Oops. He conceded soon after that.
Finals - Derek (Grixis Delver)
By this time, I was super tired playing this grindy deck for basically 8 straight hours in a poorly ventilated play area that wasn't helped by the heatwave + crazy humidity the city was going through and I was just ready to call it quits. I have no idea how people play this deck for 2 days in a GP, kudos to you guys!! My opponent did not want to split so ugh....
Game 1: We wasteland the hell out of each other and he actually forces my Mox Diamond which was really key. We end up topdecking for the next 3 turns trying to find land and he ends up finding a land first which is kind of upsetting as I'm playing a deck with 26 lands but hey, I've gotten lucky enough times today. He ends up building up a really good board presence by the time I get my 2nd land in play and it was just too much to overcome.
Sideboard: +2 Golgari Charm, +2 Engineered Plague, +2 Leyline of the Void. -3 Liliana of the Veil, -1 Maze of Ith, -1 Gaddock Teeg, -1 Life from the Loam. In hindsight, the leylines were probably really bad to be boarding in, but I felt that Liliana would also be really bad in this matchup as he can go wide really fast. Not too sure what I should be doing here, have to think about it more.
Game 2: This game was just consisted of horrible decisions made by myself and I really deserved to lose this one. First mistake was when he had an unflipped delver and passed the turn. I had enough mana to cast a decay in my hand or I could go to my turn and cast the plague in my hand. Mistake #1: So instead of casting the decay for some odd reason, I decide to go to my turn and cast Plague and I name WIZARDS of all things. I really should have just named Humans because wizards kills my bobs as well and Humans will kill his young pyro too. So mistake #2 comes where I have Sylvan Library active and decide to draw a Bob because he's got an Angler attacking me and I have zero creatures in play. So I cast Bob, pass the turn and then realize that it dies to my own plague. OMG kill me now. Mistake #3. I'm at 7 life now, opponent has an Angler and a Young pyro in play. I see Punishing Fire, Knight of Reliquary and land. I decide to pay 4 life to draw both the Fire and Knight but then realize that I only have 4 mana in play. OMG. I play a Knight hoping he wouldn't cast a spell at the end of my turn and he does and so I die to a Young Pyro and his token. A horrible end to a great day.
So in retrospect, the Trinisphere really overperformed for me today. I am considering of maybe having an additional Trinisphere in the board but not too sure what to take out at the moment. I didn't realize how good Scavenging Ooze is against R/G Lands, was really surprised at that. I am thinking of probably replacing one Engineered Plague with a Night of Soul's Betrayal as there are so many weird creature types that you care about. I mean, Young Pyro is a Shaman of all things, Delver is a Wizard, True Name is a Rogue, Young Pyro tokens are Elementals, Wirewood Symbiote is an Insect, Mentor is a Human Monk but the tokens it makes are only Monks? I'd rather just slam down one card and it takes care of virtually all of those cards other than the Mentor than having to go through mental gymnastics and try to figure out the right creature type to name.
Again, any sideboard suggestions/corrections will be welcome. I find that I really suck at sideboarding for this deck.
I probably would have lost it after a day of playing is someone said something like that. He has read the card Omniscience right?Quote:
Originally Posted by pocari79
Anyway, well done! I do agree with you, this deck does get mentally taxing after multiple hours.
Good job! Everyone know that playing this deck for +5 rounds is tiring, there are just too many decisions.
The trinisphere seemed really key in your games but on the other hand Sage seemed to underperform(that seems to always happen to me)
I played a Night of soul's betrayal for a while but it is a little too expensive for my taste. The confidant into Plague is just priceless!
Slaughter games t2 is just raining salt!
Nice job on the finish!
Yeah, it can be... troubling sometimes. Especially since so much can depend on even a single card in your opponent's 75 existing or not existing.Quote:
Originally Posted by pocari79
Unless you're doubled up, casting your hatebear against OmniShow is almost always a no-no. Reclamation Sage, as you've experienced first hand, isn't something to be relied on. It's only a backup plan or something to be cast safely behind a hatebear after a resolved Show and Tell.
You're right that you're already pretty set against BUG. It's good to bring out Gaddock Teeg, but maybe not for Leyline of the Void and you definitely shouldn't touch Maze of Ith.
So long as you have it hanging around, Trinisphere's a good option against Elves. Ethersworn Canonist is a similar card that you should have looked to bring in since the person slamming Knight of the Reliquary will probably win the one-spell-per-turn race.
Also, take out Dark Confidant against Elves. It's weird to say that considering that it's suggested you leave him in even against things like Burn, but it's the truth. Ordinarily he's great because of his legs and his being a card advantage engine, but you can't clock Elves, Elves doesn't trade creatures with you, and Elves goes off faster than he can draw cards. Take him the hell out. It's reasonable to leave one because there's truthfully only so much you can bring out, but he doesn't actually do anything. He basically costs two and says "in one turn you'll get a card that won't suck as bad". The other things you took out in place of him are only really bad in multiples. For example, Loam doesn't necessarily kill things but it's still good because it smooths your game like butter on a biscuit and because Wastelands are still amazing, and Liliana may be slow but she's still good because she can prime the game for a lock and at the very least still goes one-for-one.
Anything involving Young Pyromancer+"untargetable" fattie can be tough to work around. Including in terms of sideboard. We were actually talking about this a little bit earlier. I don't suggest cutting all of your Lilianas. A few, yes, but not all. Angler is fucking scary, and it's not impossible to get him alone. Also, I continue to not be sold on Leyline of the Void against "fair decks". Some people claim to have pulled miracles out of the ass of a lost game. Many others have a 4cc enchantment that can't kill creatures or stop spells or make creatures. Cards that people have been including in the sideboard to help protect against Angler and True-Name are Maelstrom Pulse and Toxic Deluge.
I tried out Night of Souls Betrayal for the same reasons your looking at it now. After grinding out a few events with it, I've found that the applications are too narrow and the card is too expensive. Engineered Plague may be hectic to play with, but honestly it does the trick, and it does so in an efficient manner.
p.s. I'm exhausted and at work, so I'm sorry if this rambles or is a pain to read.
@pilhas and @iamajellydonut
Thanks for your suggestions. I agree with you guys, the Reclamation Sage has been really disappointing. Theoretically I can Green Sun's for it but so far that has never happened so maybe the Reclamation Sage can become another Trinisphere. I find that I want to board in Leylines way too much for my liking so I'll need to curb that reaction in later tournaments.
I find it kind of surprising that you guys have disliked Night of Souls Betrayal. I'll have to try it out myself but I'll never get rid of the Engineered Plague. I think the 1/1 split might work but who knows.
I wish I could play something like Engineered Explosives on zero to blow up tokens but then that also blows up our Moxes and Chalices...
Has anyone ever thought of playing one Terminate in the sideboard? I keep reading about people having one Maelstrom Pulse to get rid of stuff like Angler and Tasigur and other weird stuff but having all those sorcery answers gives you a really clunky hand at times. I know Terminate only gets rid of creatures but 2cc and instant speed seems like it'll matter a lot.
Just wanted to ask if anyone has tried or has any opinions on trying out Fire Covenant?
as a 1 off in the SB? for that Night of Souls Betrayel/Toxic Deluge spot.... I can't quite decide yet but do like the instant speed and choice it gives.... maybe :confused:
Aww, don't go too hard on Reclamation Sage. Truth is that you just didn't really play anything that Rec Sage shines against. No Miracles. No Stoneforge Mystic. No DnT. No MUD. No mirror. Just OmniShow. And it's worth noting that Reclamation Sage would have actually gotten the job done if you weren't embarrassing scum (sandbag Thalia and reveal off SnT. pass turn cast Rec Sage no danger of Force of Will.).
Kidding aside, Reclamation Sage and its kin always have been and probably will always be one of the safest sideboard inclusions. Over the course of time, the card will pull its weight.
Night of Soul's Betrayal does exactly what the box advertises, but only after you get past the "some assembly required". It's 4cc (hello mana screw and/or Wasteland and/or Rishadan Port and/or opposing sculpted hand), can be countered (unlike Slaughter Games), and kills your own creatures. That last part may not seem like a big deal when you think of what it hits on their side, but consider that Knight of the Reliquary is already the best blind Surgical Extraction target in the deck, and things get real weird real fast. Engineered Plague is just overall a more reliable bet.
Instant speed is nice, but Terminate only serves a purpose against Angler whereas Maelstrom Pulse has the ability to shit on any problem. While we're on this subject though, and I know this has been done before, what's everyone's thoughts on Oblivion Ring instead of Maelstrom Pulse? Hits the same targets plus can be a better last resort against OmniShow. Does being able to be removed outweigh that advantage?
p.s. I feel your pain on the Engineered Explosives thing. I keep brewing up decklists that only work until I realize Pernicious Deed also shits on my own expansion. :(
I had actually considered this, but could never bring myself to justify the card over something as good as Toxic Deluge. If you do end up trying it out though, say so. I'd love to hear how it actually performs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackmagic
As nobody has mentioned this yet, you shouldn't ever take out Gaddock Teeg against elves. it Turns off NO and Zenith which are some of their best ways to win though our game plan.
Hi everybody!
Just started to play this deck as I am new to legacy and saw it for the first time in GP Lille, I find it amazing!
Currently I'm using the GP Lille main list with minor adjustments (depths and stage seem too strong with 4 KotR) and this is the list:
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Dark Confidant
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Life from the Loam
2 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Punishing Fire
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Sylvan Library
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
2 Bayou
1 Badlands
1 Taiga
2 Savannah
1 Forest
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Maze of Ith
4 Wasteland
2 Barren Moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Karakas
1 Dark Depths
1 Thespian's Stage
The sb, pretty similar to the GP one, and consists in:
2 Thalia
2 Slaughter Game
2 Choke
2 Golgari Charm
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Thoughtseize
1 Reclamation Sage
I'm looking for some help to adapt both the main and the SB for the meta I'm playing in, basically composed by: URx Delver, Omni, Sneak&Show, Miracles (mostly) and sometime someone is playing Elves, Lands and Canadian
I was thinking to reduce to 2 the number of Bobs in favor of 1x Choke (to have a lock for blue based decks already in the main), in this way I may fill the free SB slot with 1x Ethersworn Canonist that seems pretty strong against Omni.
What about 1-2 slot of the SB for some surgical extraction?
Will Liliana really be effective in the meta? I read a list from early post with no Liliana in it....
Any suggestion/comment is more than welcome!!!
I wouldn't cut Bob. Seriously, the deck needs him.
I had this same thought when I transitioned to 4C Loam and jelly+others keep on bashing me to not cut bobs. Guess what? They are right! Bobs is single hand the best engine to the deck, don't cut it!Quote:
Originally Posted by monaco.errante
You are playing 28 lands, it is quite heavy IMO, I would cut a savannah and up the bobs to 4.
You will also miss the scrubland, if you really want to play DD+Stage combo, I would cut a fetch instead.
Rest of the deck seems good but test both versions, DD and no DD, you will probably arrive to a lot of the same conclusions we did. Sometimes it steals games, but the overall manabase is worse and a lot of times is just a win more card.
Sideboard seem solid. I would cut something for a canonist but is up to you.
I'm not sure how I missed this, but you are correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by apocolyps6
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a try!Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilhas
ATM I do not have access to a scrubland, this is why the 2 copies of savannah (probably better than a godless shrine :frown: )Quote:
You will also miss the scrubland, if you really want to play DD+Stage combo, I would cut a fetch instead.
As we are talking about SB, is it available a sort of "guide-to-sideboarding" for the deck? I cannot find it in the primer as it is refering to old builds of the deck :cry:Quote:
Rest of the deck seems good but test both versions, DD and no DD, you will probably arrive to a lot of the same conclusions we did. Sometimes it steals games, but the overall manabase is worse and a lot of times is just a win more card.
Sideboard seem solid. I would cut something for a canonist but is up to you.
tnx!
Considering the SB:
Right now I am trying to squeeze in a few cards.
First of all the fourth Abrupt Decay. This is the card I want so see as much as possible against any Delver/Deathrites/Tarmogoyfs, while also beeing able to deal with Mentor and CB.
I am not that confident with a Toxic Deluge in these situation. It does deal with multiple threats, but is super weak to soft counters a la Daze and Spell Pierce. And it is horrible to pay life, get it countered and being dead a turn earlier because of that.
Next, DD and Thespian Stage in the SB. Mostly for the matchups where you do not want the Maze of Ith or can board out some numbers of Wastelands. You can board it in against any sort of combo deck to present a fast clock, it's great against Elves and also a good way against Miracles to replace the Maze and a Wasteland. Miracles does have good answers in Terminus or Swords, but it can fly over Mentor+Tokens and they need the answer right away.
It also improves our match against the clock. Being 1-1 after two long grindy games makes it nearly impossible to win in time.
Would you consider Maze to still be better against most of the format ATM? Cuz having Maze in the board is much easier than having 2 cards in the SB.
About choke in the main: I've been playing it for a while and it feels like a 5th chalice. It randomly wins games by itself. Sure, soometimes it is not great, but there are actually no matches I can think of ATM that the matchup actually gets worse (I'm often going L-W-W against non-blue decks anyway)
Bob numbers: I've always liked 2 maybe 3. The deck has CA coming out of its ass and I don't often feel like I need more. Especially when delver decks and such have no option but try to remove our life total before we can play out our hand. Likewise my silvan library is 85% Sensei's top 15% Necro.
4th Decay: Hoogland was also trying to do this towards the end. Thinking about it, I'd actually like a card for mentor and delver decks but was hesitating on boarding in my deluges for the same reasons. I'll probably stick decay in over something and test it.
Maze is effective against all but a few decks in the format and its usually one of the first lands that I grab with Knight.Quote:
Originally Posted by apocolyps6
Also, I had considered a fourth Abrupt Decay in the sideboard since it is basically the single best possible reactive card in the deck against Miracles, but I've always been hard pressed to think of anything else I would use that forth Decay against. Like, sure, it takes out Tarmogoyf, but Deathrite Shaman and True-Name Nemesis are the cards I care about.
That's interesting. If we are going by the DTB, the top 5 decks atm are Miracles, Omni, Bug Delver, Grixis Pyromancer, and ANT. I'd like to have maze against BUG delver but none of the other ones. Miracles Omni and ANT don't play real creatures and having the option to 20/20 them is generally a good thing. The Pyromancer decks go wide and flying over them for lethal is a really good way to deal with that.
(and yes I'm aware that Maze makes knight better, but I wouldn't wanna play it just for that)
The real question is whether those 5 DTB represent a large % of your meta. Your analysis is spot-on. However, the bigger question is determining if those 5 archetypes represent like 25%, 50%, 80%, etc -- of what you face against at events. I could see Thalia/Canonist in the Main over Pfires using the same reasoning.Quote:
Originally Posted by apocolyps6
I kind of like the idea of Trinisphere in the sideboard -- seems pocari79 had some good success with it.
Has anyone tried a Trinisphere in the board, namely against decks like Omni ? I would assume that'd be one of the better matchups to play this card against.
Otherwise, I'm STILL having issues beating OmniTell games 2 and 3. Game 1 is just no chance but I do have tons I can board out and replace for games 2 and 3. The problem is, everything I board in doesn't really help all that much. Thoughtseize is nice IF they have a card in hand worth getting rid of (like Show and Tell) but otherwise, it seems everything else just slows them down. When they cast SnT, what am I supposed to put into play? Thalia slows them down a turn or so, but then they can usually just go off the next turn anyways, same with the canonist. The Sage will kill Omni on entering the battlefield, but many times they'll just cast dig in response and go off regardless. The only times I seem to beat OmniTell is when I put Thalia into play, they pass the turn and then I play Golgari Charm my next turn to remove the Omni. If they're tapped out, they can't afford to pay the 1 mana to force it but this requires me to have 2 cards in hand and the moons to align, in order to pull off consistently.
It's also entirely possible I'm just not experienced enough with this deck and I'm making play errors :( There feels like SO MANY CHOICES on how to play this deck correctly. Do I lead with a dark confidant over another creature/spell? How long do you durdle and control the board vs putting pressure on them? Do I save that 2nd/3rd land in hand or do I play it with the Mox Diamond right away? It's certainly not an easy deck to pilot, likely why I'm liking it as much as I do :)