What Should I Play In My Metagame?

I play in armada games Saturday night legacy.

Crowd is usually 10-16. Not that big but it can be pretty diverse especially when the regulars switch decks every two weeks.
But the constant are
Reanimator
Mud
Dark maverick ( same thing just splashing black for death rite and abrupt decay)
rug delver.

These are the decks that pops up here and there.
Affinity
Belcher
Esper stoneblade
Elves
Bunch of rouge decks and home brews.

I have merfolk, affinity, and esper stoneblade completely built.
I know the easy thing to say is play esper, but honestly I keep losing with it. I'm seriously considering building rug or my version of bug delver which has nimble mongoose instead of Tombstalker , and adding ghastly demise and abrupt decay for remobpval. What deck should I play, or should I go for bug or rug delver

Yeah, I don't think Stoneblade is the best choice in that meta, and Affinity is definitely not where you want to be. Merfolk doesn't seem like a bad call and Team America seems really well positioned so I'd say either of those would be good choices, probably leaning towards Team America.

At the moment I have Manaless Dredge and Burn as my legacy decks, with dredge seeing more play and burn being my loan deck. I want to get more deeply into the format and start investing into a "proper" deck. The problem is that I can't decide on where to start and what deck would be good for me in the long run.

Here's a list of decks I've seen played at local events or know the players have at their disposal:

Esper/UW Stoneblade
RUG/BUG/UR/UWR Delver
UW Miracles
Shardless BUG
TES/ANT
Belcher
Show & Tell
Junk/Rock
Maverick
Death & Taxes
Goblins
MUD
Elves
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Merfolk

with TES and Delver decks usually seen in top 8s.

In standard/modern I like playing fairly aggressive decks and putting pressure on my opponent. In modern I also enjoyed UR Storm until the banning of Seething Song.

I find the following appealing: Elves, Maverick, Nic Fit (Recurring Nightmare), Eva Green / GB Aggro, Deadguy/Deathrite Ale.

Some of the decks I listed share staples between them, so eventually I would be able to expand into other decks but I should pick something as my starting point.

What would you suggest given the metagame and my preferences?

Hello, i play at a shop called fantasy games in saint louis. The meta is very heavily combo oriented. On average i see storm, dredge, show and tell decks, goblins, merfolk, reanimator, rug delver, metal-crafter, occasionally elves, and dark maverick (once) i was thinking uwr miracles, i am playing sneak and show right now. I like how miracles defeats dredge easy, and rip is good against goyf/mongoose too. I am wandering if the lack of proactive protection like discard. Is esper miracles a thing or would stoneblade just be the better choice. Oh and i also see burn and a black red deathrite burn discard thing

Anybody know of any decks with a good match-up vs. Delver, Storm and Show and Tell variants?

Yup! Play RUG Delver yourself!

@chlb: I would also reccommend that you try to build RUG Delver. It's the best deck to invest into, because it will hold it's worth and is a strong competitor anywhere. If i had the moneys i would be building that deck asap.

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Originally Posted by akatsuki

Anybody know of any decks with a good match-up vs. Delver, Storm and Show and Tell variants?

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TES is also good if you're willing to put in the work. It's typically the faster combo deck, has Silences instead of discard so cares less about bs like Leyline out of Show and Tell, and is able to dump a dozen Goblins on T1 much more consistently than other Storm decks, something Deler decks typically have trouble dealing with.

hi,

I play exclusively on MTGO, and I want to learn play Storm.
I know... but first of all, I need to take some version and learn.
This is all about it, should I try ANT or TES?
could you give me some hint what Storm version to pick?
If ANT, with or without Wishes?

I would be thankful for any help with that :)

TES / The Epic Storm: TES, like most engine combo decks, is a thinking man's deck. It is also definitely a gambling man's deck. TES is the most explosive not-all-in engine combo deck in the format, and the best Ad Nauseam deck in the format. Sometimes, you go nuts and kill them T1 with a Grapeshot for 47 (which isn't the main point - the 160 Goblins are). Other times, you play much like RUG Delver, barely hanging in there while eking out wins by the skin of your teeth. TES is always the aggressor no matter the matchup, and it's long game leaves something to be desired. And it is a gambler's deck. Ad Nauseam in TES is much more consistent than in other decks, but still a risk. Sometimes the only way out is to play Diminishing Returns and hope. The thing that made me quit TES as my main deck is the frequency at which the hands tell me "12 goblins on T1 or T2, go" (<-incidentally RUG Delver flat out loses to that game 1). I like playing games that last a few turns, TES is a bit too close to Goldfish.dec sometimes for my tastes. And I hate Burning Wish. Still, you want speed without losing to FoW, served with a side of intricate lines of play, TES is your deck.

ANT/ Ad Nauseam Tendrils: The other "sane man's Storm deck". Despite the name, ANT is actually a Past in Flames deck. It has a more wasteland-resistant mana base, better ability to play the long game backed by the power of Cabal Ritual and it's greater number of cantrips. It is a slower deck than TES, winning on T1 much, much less often. ANT's Ad Nauseams suck. But playing it is just fun. It's the control player's combo deck, I feel, unless you're intent on running High Tide. You haven't played Magic until you've hit Gitaxian Probe into Cabal Therapy.

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Originally Posted by Zombie

TES / The Epic Storm: TES, like most engine combo decks, is a thinking man's deck. It is also definitely a gambling man's deck. TES is the most explosive not-all-in engine combo deck in the format, and the best Ad Nauseam deck in the format. Sometimes, you go nuts and kill them T1 with a Grapeshot for 47 (which isn't the main point - the 160 Goblins are). Other times, you play much like RUG Delver, barely hanging in there while eking out wins by the skin of your teeth. TES is always the aggressor no matter the matchup, and it's long game leaves something to be desired. And it is a gambler's deck. Ad Nauseam in TES is much more consistent than in other decks, but still a risk. Sometimes the only way out is to play Diminishing Returns and hope. The thing that made me quit TES as my main deck is the frequency at which the hands tell me "12 goblins on T1 or T2, go" (<-incidentally RUG Delver flat out loses to that game 1). I like playing games that last a few turns, TES is a bit too close to Goldfish.dec sometimes for my tastes. And I hate Burning Wish. Still, you want speed without losing to FoW, served with a side of intricate lines of play, TES is your deck.

ANT/ Ad Nauseam Tendrils: The other "sane man's Storm deck". Despite the name, ANT is actually a Past in Flames deck. It has a more wasteland-resistant mana base, better ability to play the long game backed by the power of Cabal Ritual and it's greater number of cantrips. It is a slower deck than TES, winning on T1 much, much less often. ANT's Ad Nauseams suck. But playing it is just fun. It's the control player's combo deck, I feel, unless you're intent on running High Tide. You haven't played Magic until you've hit Gitaxian Probe into Cabal Therapy.

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thanks for Ur post.
I played a bit Storm some years ago, borrowed from my friend - it was TES. A bit all in, for me..
I would probably try ANT, but still those lists I'm looking are separated into many piles, one with Burning Wish, other with one Grim Tutor etc. another without those cards.

Is this a good pick for a Storm beginner? I really like the points hes talking about:
http://www.starcitygames.com/article...rm-Primer.html

Yup, Prosak's list is a very good starting point (and just plain good deck).

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Originally Posted by chlb

At the moment I have Manaless Dredge and Burn as my legacy decks, with dredge seeing more play and burn being my loan deck. I want to get more deeply into the format and start investing into a "proper" deck. The problem is that I can't decide on where to start and what deck would be good for me in the long run.

Here's a list of decks I've seen played at local events or know the players have at their disposal:

Esper/UW Stoneblade
RUG/BUG/UR/UWR Delver
UW Miracles
Shardless BUG
TES/ANT
Belcher
Show & Tell
Junk/Rock
Maverick
Death & Taxes
Goblins
MUD
Elves
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Merfolk

with TES and Delver decks usually seen in top 8s.

In standard/modern I like playing fairly aggressive decks and putting pressure on my opponent. In modern I also enjoyed UR Storm until the banning of Seething Song.

I find the following appealing: Elves, Maverick, Nic Fit (Recurring Nightmare), Eva Green / GB Aggro, Deadguy/Deathrite Ale.

Some of the decks I listed share staples between them, so eventually I would be able to expand into other decks but I should pick something as my starting point.

What would you suggest given the metagame and my preferences?

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These are the decks in your meta

Aggro 9
Control 3
Combo 5

total 17


you obviously play a combo deck here. my preference would be omnitell or sneak and tell. you should top 8 / win almost every week unless you goof.


just incase you dont know the wheel of magic

Aggro > control
Control > combo
Combo > Aggro

since the majority of decks in the format are aggro, you crush them with combo. The strategy in playing omnitell or sneak and tell over other combo decks is they have control elements which puts them slightly more favorable than dredge, belcher, and tes/ant. you should win those matchups with omnitell or sneak and tell.

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Originally Posted by Zombie

ANT/ Ad Nauseam Tendrils: The other "sane man's Storm deck". Despite the name, ANT is actually a Past in Flames deck. It has a more wasteland-resistant mana base, better ability to play the long game backed by the power of Cabal Ritual and it's greater number of cantrips. It is a slower deck than TES, winning on T1 much, much less often. ANT's Ad Nauseams suck. But playing it is just fun. It's the control player's combo deck, I feel, unless you're intent on running High Tide. You haven't played Magic until you've hit Gitaxian Probe into Cabal Therapy.

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this is a great description however a control players combo deck would be omnitell or sneak and tell.

I showed up to the my first week at Redcap's corner in Philadelphia to field absolutely filled with combo. Lots of storm, elves, show and tell, and at least one reanimator running around. What do you think would be the best deck to bring into that type of metagame seeing as the combo comes from so many different directions.

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Originally Posted by [SLAYER]chaos

I showed up to the my first week at Redcap's corner in Philadelphia to field absolutely filled with combo. Lots of storm, elves, show and tell, and at least one reanimator running around. What do you think would be the best deck to bring into that type of metagame seeing as the combo comes from so many different directions.

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UW Control.

Maybe a slight derail of the thread topic, but since the question does not necessarily warrant its own thread ...

Basically I am looking for a deck to play. (Surprise!) And since my local metagame is quite diverse AND fluctuating from tournament to tournament the best course of action seems to me to pick an archetype I like and spend money to get the cards and time to perfect or more realistically at least improve how I play it. Which works better with an archetype I enjoy.

Now my biggest favorite would be an almost instant based draw-goish hardcore control deck (yes, I am one of those sick persons, I loved the original Draw-Go as well as Invasion Era Nether-Go), however in a format with threats as varied as in Legacy that no longer seems like a viable option. So on to the next best (?) thing, some nice blue based combo deck, ideally with some solid control elements.

The way I see it that category currently consists of three potential candidates:
Classical Sneak&Show (Show and Tell or Sneak Attack into Emrakul or Griselbrand)
Monoblue Omnitell (Enter the Infinite based)
High Tide.

Would those of you more versed in some or all of these archetypes maybe give some advice on the relative strength of each, the playstyle differences and some general sketch of good/bad matchups?

P.S: If one of you knows of a competitive control shell containing at least three of each Force of Will, Brainstorm, Counterspell and Snapcaster Mage I'd also be happy to hear about it.

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Originally Posted by Kobal

Maybe a slight derail of the thread topic, but since the question does not necessarily warrant its own thread ...

Basically I am looking for a deck to play. (Surprise!) And since my local metagame is quite diverse AND fluctuating from tournament to tournament the best course of action seems to me to pick an archetype I like and spend money to get the cards and time to perfect or more realistically at least improve how I play it. Which works better with an archetype I enjoy.

Now my biggest favorite would be an almost instant based draw-goish hardcore control deck (yes, I am one of those sick persons, I loved the original Draw-Go as well as Invasion Era Nether-Go), however in a format with threats as varied as in Legacy that no longer seems like a viable option. So on to the next best (?) thing, some nice blue based combo deck, ideally with some solid control elements.

The way I see it that category currently consists of three potential candidates:
Classical Sneak&Show (Show and Tell or Sneak Attack into Emrakul or Griselbrand)
Monoblue Omnitell (Enter the Infinite based)
High Tide.

Would those of you more versed in some or all of these archetypes maybe give some advice on the relative strength of each, the playstyle differences and some general sketch of good/bad matchups?

P.S: If one of you knows of a competitive control shell containing at least three of each Force of Will, Brainstorm, Counterspell and Snapcaster Mage I'd also be happy to hear about it.

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you could slip snap casters in here somewhere for sweet intuition piles

http://www.starcitygames.com/events/...l_with_da.html

I expect my meta to have:

Shardless
Deathblade
Lands with wishboard
12posts
D&T
Elves

Any idea as to what I should bring?

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Originally Posted by alphacat

I expect my meta to have:

Shardless
Deathblade
Lands with wishboard
12posts
D&T
Elves

Any idea as to what I should bring?

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Combo.... Your meta is practically all aggro

Ant or s&t

TeS rapes that meta. Bring the black power.fist.

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Originally Posted by alphacat

I expect my meta to have:

Shardless
Deathblade
Lands with wishboard
12posts
D&T
Elves

Any idea as to what I should bring?

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Blood Moons. Only Elves & D&T can beat it.

I have a two-day tournament where I have to play 2 different decks. For the last day, the main event, I will play Omnitell and I dont know what to play the other day. Firstly, I want to play a so different deck so no combo or decks similar to Omnitell, and secondly the meta is combo, all types of combo, so give me some advice. Thank you a lot! :)

If your meta is infested with combo and you are a very good player, go for Canadian Threshold. Otherwise, you might want to pick a different aggro-control deck. Archetype-wise, these decks usually give combo the most trouble.

You want to be fancy? Pick some sort of Stax.

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Originally Posted by Ivan

I have a two-day tournament where I have to play 2 different decks. For the last day, the main event, I will play Omnitell and I dont know what to play the other day. Firstly, I want to play a so different deck so no combo or decks similar to Omnitell, and secondly the meta is combo, all types of combo, so give me some advice. Thank you a lot! :)

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if there is really that much combo, play D&T and run extra combo hate main. such as 4 thalia instead of 3, ethersworn canonist, and possibly glow rider depending on how all in your want to go. and 4 moms. They cant beat it....unless they land a dread of night

Doesn't Reanimator prey pretty well on combo decks?

So, my metagame is pretty infested with combo and tempo decks, with control decks mostly gone, also Death and Taxes is pretty popular. I'm able to build pretty much everything, so feel free to suggest any decks which are both good vs combo and tempo.

Your meta sounds interesting. Miracles is a deck which can be tuned very well to beat both. Counterbalance, RIP (helm), Clique and Fluster main. All cards which are great against RUG and combo.

Hello,

My meta is fairly small but the decks I need to beat are all varieties of Miracles/Countertop, Death and Taxes, and 4 color Hoogland Loam. Multiple deck suggestions would be great as I don't have access to everything but possible access to a lot. Thanks!

The Tier 1 deck to consider is Sneak Show, it has an even matchup with Death & Taxes, a good one with Miracles, and a great one with Loam. Other decks to consider are Goblins (bad against Loam, though), Lands, Merfolk (also bad against Loam), and 12-Post (which has a great matchup against both DnT and Miracles).

It's that time again!

What's the best deck for a blind-meta? (AKA, I have no idea what everyone is playing)

UGx Tempo, UWx Control or Ux Combo.

Greetings

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Originally Posted by Einherjer

UGx Tempo, UWx Control or Ux Combo.

Greetings

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Hello.

Ux Combo: does this include ANT, TES, Sneak and Show, OmniShow, Hypergenesis, and Reanimator? Or strictly two color combo decks (ANT and Sneak and Show)?

It probably boils down to Show and Tell and ANT, with TES being third.

Greetings

The obvious answer is to run blue yourself.

If you want a nonblue answer to this metagame, I would say maverick with tons of good storm hatebears, and chokes in the board. You don't want to play a black splash.

Which could be in your opinion a blue deck that has good chances in a metagame where the rampant forces are Show and Tell, Canadian, Miracles (Snapcaster versions) and Jund? I'm breaking my head trying to come up with some UWx concoction, but I can't seem to find any.

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Originally Posted by Piceli89

Which could be in your opinion a blue deck that has good chances in a metagame where the rampant forces are Show and Tell, Canadian, Miracles (Snapcaster versions) and Jund? I'm breaking my head trying to come up with some UWx concoction, but I can't seem to find any.

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Wouldn't Shardless BuG have all the tools you want for those decks? Force/Discard for SnT, Lilly for Miracles, Decay and DRS for Canadian, and a faster cascade against Jund.

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Originally Posted by DragoFireheart

Wouldn't Shardless BuG have all the tools you want for those decks? Force/Discard for SnT, Lilly for Miracles, Decay and DRS for Canadian, and a faster cascade against Jund.

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Show and Tell and Jund are, respectively, bad and slightly bad matchups for Shardless BUG (the latter because of Punishing Fire which, in the long grind, demolishes all of BUG's threats but Goyf).

I can confirm: Punishing Fire beats the crap out of Shardless. Played it a lot before/during/after GP Straßburg and the only games I ever won were the ones where I was able to successfully use Surgical Extraction on Punishing Fire. Once you've done that it get's much easier because you've got so much more card advantage and more planeswalker. But generally speaking, the matchup is not very good.

S&T combo is so-so. The main problem is the slow clock of Shardless. I'd much rather play a completly different deck..

Some sort of Esperblade with Vendilion Cliques and enough discard might be ok but I doubt you'd get above 55% against any of these decks.

My weekly/bi-weekly meta consists of a lot of Goblins, DnT, Miracles, Jund, Elves, and Lands, with very little combo, shardless, or delver. I've been having issues with trying out DnT because of how many creature based decks there are, and how they easily skirt around a lot of what DnT has. My main options are Delver in any color combination or Shardless, though I'm not a fan of the elves and DnT matchup that Shardless has, as well as Jund from a few posts up. Should I be assembling a combo deck, and just accept my bad DnT matchup? Or something else?

To be fair, Elves vs Shardless is also pretty much favors the green dudes; and Lands is an abyssmal matchup if they have tech to handle DRS (as Lands deck these days should). So I don't really know about D&T but Canadian Threshold should be pretty much 50/50 against most of these decks. Just remember to prepare your sideboard accordingly: less additional countermagic, more crowd control.

It's funny because allot of the posted metas get raped by belcher/TES /SI. Overall though right now in general I think storm is very well positioned