[Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

Any advice beyond the Primer for a new Storm pilot?

I've been doing my best to get ready for GP DC but when playtesting I fizzle more often that I'd like mostly due to misusing cantrips.

Watch the videos in the primer and try to test with someone looking over your shoulder, preferably someone who has played the deck but even someone who hasn't played it before can see things you missed or offer alternative lines. If you find yourself fizzling back yourself up to the last decision you made and see if doing something differently will help.

Won a small From the Vault: Twenty event earlier today. I found myself sideboarding in Tropical against Jund (Over a Silence) and against Shardless (Over the third Mox). It was relevant in one game because it was my last land I could fetch for, just some food for thought.

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Originally Posted by gibbousm

Any advice beyond the Primer for a new Storm pilot?

I've been doing my best to get ready for GP DC but when playtesting I fizzle more often that I'd like mostly due to misusing cantrips.

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Carsten on SCG had a recent article on picking up storm decks, it's probably a good read. I would also recommend reading Bryant's recent tournament reports and Lemnear's Heart of the Storm reports where they go through their standing hands, play-by-play and thought process which is extremely helpful for someone picking up the deck for the first time.

Bryant - After testing out your new sideboard in a tournament, do you have any thoughts on Bayou vs Tropical Island as asked above?

@davelin

It's "Heart of the Storm". No free ads for a game company that insulted it's playerbase with Diablo 3

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

@davelin

It's "Heart of the Storm". No free ads for a game company that insulted it's playerbase with Diablo 3

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Mistype, corrected :smile:

I quit reading the Heart of the Storm reports when it became clear that Lemnear has a magic super power to draw stone perfect sevens every game. :tongue:

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Originally Posted by thefringthing

I quit reading the Heart of the Storm reports when it became clear that Lemnear has a magic super power to draw stone perfect sevens every game. :tongue:

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I tough the same ^^

Quick question guy.

Against Omniclash do you mulligan a lot ? if you don't have xantid and or lethal stuff in hand ?

they can win on second turn

and if we follow in and out we don't have anymore duress / cabal in our deck

how win if we cannot kick their hand for combo and if we don't have ourself the combo + xantid ?

Swap out discard for Xantid Swarm and you still have the same number of protection.

Oh and sure they can kill on turn 2.. but it's more on the rare side.. ANT can kill turn 1.. do you mulligan each hand without discard/silence to stop it? No you don't because that would be a garbage thing to do.

So no I'd not mulligan a whole lot of good hands just because they don't have a turn 1 kill.

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Originally Posted by thefringthing

I quit reading the Heart of the Storm reports when it became clear that Lemnear has a magic super power to draw stone perfect sevens every game. :tongue:

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I lol'd. Must be the reason my turn-1-Combo-rate is abyssal. ;)

Maybe I'm just getting out the maximum even from mediocre draws

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Originally Posted by Holly

Swap out discard for Xantid Swarm and you still have the same number of protection.

Oh and sure they can kill on turn 2.. but it's more on the rare side.. ANT can kill turn 1.. do you mulligan each hand without discard/silence to stop it? No you don't because that would be a garbage thing to do.

So no I'd not mulligan a whole lot of good hands just because they don't have a turn 1 kill.

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but they have fow so ? what the point to just take fow turn 1 ?

I'm not quite sure what exactly you're asking.

If I have the t1 kill and not a protected t2 kill in hand, I'll go for it. If they have the force so be it.
But I'm not going to aggressively mulligan a hand without a turn 1 kill just because they have a little chance of going off turn 2.

Ok i got the point

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Isn't it always bad to Dim.Ret. without having mana float and already had your landdrop? One Mox more doesn't make much difference if you have to generate 6+ mana outta nothing (aka 7 cards with at least one Wish removed)

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Maybe in gold fishing, on the play vs Jund I'm usually playing for Dim Ret ASAP after they strip LED. It's an important panic button.

As far as the 1xCabal Therapy MD is concerned, I agree with Hammerfist, it's kind of awkward MD compared to Duress and I usually prefer to board them in after I already know what the opponent is playing. It's not like ANT where you plan on cantripping for the first couple of turns and then know what to target after you see your opponent's land drops.

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Originally Posted by Final Fortune

Maybe in gold fishing, on the play vs Jund I'm usually playing for Dim Ret ASAP after they strip LED. It's an important panic button.

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I have a history of games against JUND and I dislike the idea of giving them 7 free cards just to gamble on a miraculous 7 drawn or any use of DR as a panic button. It's almost guaranteed that you loose against JUND if you fail to kill them immediately after DR.

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Originally Posted by JPoJohnson

Bryant - After testing out your new sideboard in a tournament, do you have any thoughts on Bayou vs Tropical Island as asked above?

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There isn't much to say. Bayou doesn't cast cantrips which is incredibly important, it's the same reason we haven't been running a Badlands all this time.

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Originally Posted by Final Fortune

As far as the 1xCabal Therapy MD is concerned, I agree with Hammerfist, it's kind of awkward MD compared to Duress and I usually prefer to board them in after I already know what the opponent is playing. It's not like ANT where you plan on cantripping for the first couple of turns and then know what to target after you see your opponent's land drops.

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It's a skill card. You don't cast Cabal Therapy turn one, blind, on the play. But if you're going to, it should be naming Force of Will followed by a Tendrils for 20. I love the Therapy maindeck.

Shouldn't we then begin to reconsider the roles of Duress in the Maindeck then? Turn 1 Duress bought me so many turns in face of Thoughtseize/Hymn and other shit, that I never desired to replace it Maindeck. If my intention was to slice through several identical counterspells i wish for the SB Therapies.

Therapy rewards slower play and seizing your opponent ... I doubt this is the right deck for MB Therapy even under the aspect of sideboarding the 2-offs.

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Shouldn't we then begin to reconsider the roles of Duress in the Maindeck then? Turn 1 Duress bought me so many turns in face of Thoughtseize/Hymn and other shit, that I never desired to replace it Maindeck. If my intention was to slice through several identical counterspells i wish for the SB Therapies.

Therapy rewards slower play and seizing your opponent ... I doubt this is the right deck for MB Therapy even under the aspect of sideboarding the 2-offs.

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The Therapy is in the main deck because there simply isn't enough sideboard space to include everything that we need. If you don't mind being worse against the Thalia decks of the format, don't play it.

Been testing against RUG which is a matchup I've had trouble against. Couple of situations came up and wondering if I should've taken a different line or been more conservative -

Game 1: Pre-SB, TES on the draw

Opening Hand: Gemstone, City of Brass, RoF, Infernal Tutor, Dark Ritual, Petal, Ponder

RUG1 - Mulls to 6, Tropical Island -> Nimble Mongoose
TES1 - Draws RoF, Gemstone Mine -> Ponder (this was a mistake, should've dropped Petal in case of Daze). RUG dazes Ponder

RUG2 - Drops Tropical again, attacks (TES at 19)
TES2 - Draws Brainstorm, City of Brass (18) -> Brainstorm (looking for protection). RUG Spell Pierces Brainstorm, TES doesn't respond to pay. With RUG tapped out, TES drops Petal, RoF x2, Dark Ritual into Infernal with enough mana to get EtW or AD with no mana floating. Agree with this line of play?

Game 2: Post-SB TES on the draw

Opening Hand after Mull: Dark Ritual, Burning Wish, Gemstone, Infernal, Rite of Flame, LED

RUG1 - Volcanic Island -> Ponder
TES1 - Draw Underground Sea. Drop Sea

RUG2 - Drops Polluted Delta
TES - Draw Dark Ritual. At this point I was thinking about Wishing for Therapy to protect going off this or next turn. But with DR X2, RoF and LED, I believed I had enough mana to fight through soft counters and if my Wish was hard countered, I would still be able to cast Tutor to retrieve EtW or Ad Nauseum. Thoughts?