Greetings Loamers! I'm gearing up for the GP this weekend and was waffling about a few slots in my SB. As of this past weekend, it looked liked this:
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Thalia
2 Thoughtseize
1 Choke
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Trinisphere
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Golgari Charm
1 Aven Mindcensor
*Note: I run a Qasali Pridemage maindeck, as my 61st card, and it's been nothing but awesome. I'm a former devotee of the Thomas Herzog School of Maverick, and agree 110% that he's gas. Hence the lack of Rec Sage in the SB.
So I'm pretty sold on most of these cards, but the slots in question right now are:
Mindcensor
Thalia (1 vs 2)
Golgari Charms (1 vs 2)
Trinisphere (0 or 2)
Rationale on including these, along with performance notes from this past weekend, in which I won TWO different legacy tourneys in Portland, going 8-0 total and dropping only one single game vs Death & Taxes where he had double mom, thalia + karakas and a jitte online.
Aven Mindcensor: Weak to hate that some decks already bring in for x/1 creatures, especially Dread of Night, but he shored up the matchup vs D&T by providing a flier and making my opponent whiff on fetching a jitte, which would've otherwise been the end of me. Also won me a match vs. storm where I ran out a Chalice on 0 t1 without any other decent play, then drew a mox and jammed Mindcensor the next turn in response to him fetching. He was on ANT, and is a very smart player at that, but they only run 7-8 fetchable lands. The other logic in bringing it in vs storm is that they often need to chain Infernal Tutors to increase storm count or find their kill spell (often a Past In Flames), which can be rough. A week prior I went undefeated at a GPT in Corvallis with a junk/maverick hybrid (subbed out 4 GSZ for 4 Bobs, and 4 Moms for 2 Mox Diamonds and Stage/Depths Combo) and Mindcensor came up in a big way when I was about to die against Lands (in resp. to crop rotation for the Depths to kill me), R/w Painter (in resp. to a recruiter, then beats with a sword on it FTW because they have 0 fliers), and an Elves matchup where I would've died to a huge GSZ right away.
Thalia: Great against Storm, but I'm starting to realize that Trinisphere and Chalice on both 0 and 1 do much more work in that matchup. She's good against Delver and other "fair" flue decks, as well as combo like Sneak & Show and Omnitell, but I've been having a ROUGH TIME against Delver. One friend is on a BUG list with two bobs and 2 hymns, and another is on an outdated Grixis list with anglers and pyromancers and whatnot (I think with Stifle replacing Dig?), and Thalia has been vastly underwhelming against their tempo plays. Chalice on one is good, but it's terrible in multiples and I'd rather have more ways of dispensing with the swarm of threats so Liliana can get to work. I'm thinking about dropping one Thalia in favor of a Molten Vortex, which is a card I'm VERY curious to see what y'all think about. I know it's nerfed by Chalice on one, but let's move beyond that and maybe see what else it can do? Seems great against Elves and various Delver builds (except maybe RUG), plus also good against Mentor-based Miracles builds, and any deck that's praying to stick a Deathrite as their primary means of disruption for your graveyard synergy. These three strategies feel like a huge swath of the meta right now!
Golgari Charms: Super diverse answer to many things, but it comes up short against Deathrites and Delvers. I know I'll keep one in for sure, but I may turn the other in to something else, because I'm also 100% running 1 Deluge.
Trinisphere: GG vs Storm. Pretty busted against Omnitell, Stoneblade, Shardless, and any other deck that doesn't have a Delver breathing down your neck on turn one. I absolutely wrecked Miracles with this card after he spent his first two turns dealing with a Chalice on 1 (he forced it, pitching a cantrip) and a Bob (he Pondered to find Swords, Swords'ed it in his main phase, then dropped a fetch and passed after that). But I sense it's one of those cards that "feels great" against tons of decks ("Everyone plays tons of one drops!") but often ends up being underwhelming when you can't get a threat online fast enough, kinda like when I was on BUG colors for a minute and brought in Notion Thief against every single deck besides D&T. I do like it more than Slaughter Games, however, because you're almost always dead before that card becomes relevant. I also name the wrong card all the time because I never know if my opponent is on ANT or Storm, whether they did or did not bring in Progenitus, or whether or not Miracles guy took out Entreat and is relying on Mentor for the win. But that's a different story for another day.
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So that's what I'm up against right now. How do we feel about Molten Vortex right now? Even if it's susceptible to getting Decay'ed immediately, it can do 2 damage and get a land in the yard for RR, which seems to be not the most terrible, unprofitable loss of card advantage. Getting a Deathrite or a Delver off the board is clutch.
Also wondering about Garruk Relentless. Has anyone used him? I keep seeing him in sideboards, presumably as a threat vs Miracles, and perhaps a hedge in grindy matchups like Shardless and Stoneblade. Not too sure though. Thoughts?
