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

If behold the beyond is to do anything, it will be to get out of situations where your losing horribly. for example, you have a low life total, your opponent has rest in peace in play, and making goblins isn't good enough, but you have ten mana available between your lands, your chrome mox, and the three mana accelerants you have in hand.

An example situation : vs esper stone blade, game has gone a little long, opponent has been taking your cantrips with discard, countering your business and beating you down with tnn. to make matters worse your opponent has just resolved rest in peace. you untap draw and resolve brainstorm.

Your hand is now:
Delta
git probe
B Wish
dark ritual
dark ritual
Rite
Rite

In play is:
Swamp
C. mox (imprint git probe, tapped for brainstorm)
volcanic island
underground sea (land drop for this turn)
badlands

life totals are you at 6 and them at twenty

your line is: 2 life for git probe, coast is clear, draw a fetch you put back. storm 2. tap Volcanic for Rite, storm 3, RR floating, Rite, storm 4 RRR floating. Tap swamp for Ritual, RRRBBB storm 5, Ritual RRRBBBBB storm 6, cast
wish for BTB, RRBBBB storm 7, Tap volc to cast BTB, discarding the useless fetches and get:
Dark ritual
LED
Burning wish
Cast ritual, cast led cast wish and...
Oh.
oh no.

Guys it wasnt until this point until i realized this doesn't work without another mana... and at that point diabolic revelation is better.

I'm so sorry guys.

This card is just bad in here.

Of course it is bad as it needs as much mana as the BW-DP-AN playline; if life matters its still worse than PIF; If life is low & yard shut down & goblins no option you work towards a lethal cantrip chain anyways.

The card is not nearly as flexible as it should to deserve a slot. Even in ANT the manacost is too high to run this card over a conventional Tutor chain kill

Whoa slow down- lethal cantrip chain? This is the first I've heard of this trickery. Do tell, this sounds like the sort of advanced technique that better players of this deck know and worse players are not aware exists.

ie; me.

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Originally Posted by Wordslinger

Whoa slow down- lethal cantrip chain? This is the first I've heard of this trickery. Do tell, this sounds like the sort of advanced technique that better players of this deck know and worse players are not aware exists.

ie; me.

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In the rare and unlikely case that this isn't meant in a sarcastic way: If its forseeable that damage is rolling in fast and you can not combo quickly (aka AN & EtW not being options within a few turns anymore), its totally fine to just develop your manabase via successive landdrops and hold back artifacts, Discard, Probes and other cantrips for a few turns and use these sandbagged cards to ramp stormcount when needed.

A lot of players underestimate how fast the stormcount goes up once you hold back the free spells and convert U and a Ponder/Probe/Brainstorm into a DarkRitual/LED/RoF which not only nets you more mana than you invested, but also 2 stormcount (for a single cantrip!). Mind, that Wish equals 2 stormcount too and IT even 3 (IT->BW->ToA). The same applies to discard provoking opposing Brainstorms or counters. Do the math for some scenarios with the beforementioned rules of thumb and you'll see that "forcing" the deck into either the AN or EtW route is unneccessary and the winning playline is sometimes pretty blunt :)

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

AJ Kerrigan's latest for the website: http://www.theepicstorm.com/a-storm-over-innistrad/

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Mad props to AJ. He's a solid writer and very analytical in the right spots without coming across as a homer.

On an unrelated note, I've been strongly considering a return to...TES. I think fast is where you want to be right now if your plan is to Storm.

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Originally Posted by Plague Sliver

Mad props to AJ. He's a solid writer and very analytical in the right spots without coming across as a homer.

On an unrelated note, I've been strongly considering a return to...TES. I think fast is where you want to be right now if your plan is to Storm.

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I mean, he's a bit of a homer in the fact that he still plays Telemin Performance! ;) But I'm very glad to have him on the team.

The more, the...?

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

I mean, he's a bit of a homer in the fact that he still plays Telemin Performance! ;) But I'm very glad to have him on the team.

The more, the...?

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Telemin is ok in a known meta full of combo and reanimator and such, right?

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

Telemin is ok in a known meta full of combo and reanimator and such, right?

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Not quite. Storm can board in Xantid, HighTide plays Snapcasters, Reanimator can play low-impact cards like Inkwell Leviathan, etc.

Telemin is good if you play against known entities like OmniTell with Emrakul as their only Creature or SneakShow with Emrakul/Griselbrand, otherwise Telemin can be dangerous gambling

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Not quite. Storm can board in Xantid, HighTide plays Snapcasters, Reanimator can play low-impact cards like Inkwell Leviathan, etc.

Telemin is good if you play against known entities like OmniTell with Emrakul as their only Creature or SneakShow with Emrakul/Griselbrand, otherwise Telemin can be dangerous gambling

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Ok. That makes sense. Thanks!

I have been playing this deck online (played 15 matches so far), and it seems like the current list is basically perfect. Only thing that has felt useless is the Void Snare, but I could see situations where it could be useful. I wonder if a Massacre is better in that slot? I've had a lot of fun with the deck and have gone 10-5 so far. The only thing that has frustrated me is that I feel bottle-necked into certain Empty lines, and the deck is very fragile against some of the more disruptive blue strategies. It is certainly good against all the D+T and Maverick running around online though.

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Originally Posted by Patrunkenphat7

I have been playing this deck online (played 15 matches so far), and it seems like the current list is basically perfect. Only thing that has felt useless is the Void Snare, but I could see situations where it could be useful. I wonder if a Massacre is better in that slot? I've had a lot of fun with the deck and have gone 10-5 so far. The only thing that has frustrated me is that I feel bottle-necked into certain Empty lines, and the deck is very fragile against some of the more disruptive blue strategies. It is certainly good against all the D+T and Maverick running around online though.

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Ever since I cut Massacre a few weeks ago I haven't missed it. In paper (I don't play online at all), D&T has been dead - I've been getting much more use out of Grapeshot. I'll admit that Void Snare can feel like a safety net, but I hate siding in answers in for potential Leyline of Sanctity (When playing Chain of Vapor). If you cut Snare right now, you're only path to victory against Leyline is attacking, which isn't great against those decks.

As for feeling bottle necked, it really depends on how you play out the games. In my match against Miracles tonight, I turn one'd him game one because I had Chrome Mox in my opener. Then during sideboarding, sided out all three Chrome Mox and a Lotus Petal so I could grind them out post-board which worked perfectly. It's a matter of how you see the games going.

Either way, glad to hear that you're enjoying the deck.

TES Infernal Tutoring #1 is live!

In this brand new series, the best masterminds of The EPIC Storm are combining their efforts to teach a beginner the secrets of their art. AJ Kerrigan, Peter Raab and Bryant Cook himself are tutoring Alexandre Richard in his quest for TES mastery. Come see what they have to say!

http://www.theepicstorm.com/tes-infernal-tutoring-1/

Remember that feedbacks are important to help create the best content possible. Any questions or suggestions are welcome!

We're back with an all new ‪TES Mailbox ‬: http://www.theepicstorm.com/tes-mailbox-8/

The second issue of Infernal Tutoring is there!

For this article, we went for longer games, writting full reports and general strategies. Next issue will be more focused on tactical gameplay and micro management. Stay tuned for more TES action!

-Alexandre

http://www.theepicstorm.com/tes-infernal-tutoring-2/

Hi all and to whom may interest:

The other day I played at the LML here in Madrid and got top8!!

I just won my first 4 rounds which consisted in Infect, UBR Tempo, Lands and Hatebears.
The next 2 rounds we drew, they were miracles so I was lucky,

Then the 1st round of the Top was vs RUG classic tempo, which I won, and the next - quarterfinals I faced to a Losset Legend Miracles in which I won my 1st game becuase of an error of my opponent - he should have put Venser on Top instead of Fow, I had therapy and of course named venser.... and lost the next 2... as always...

I built a similar list as always - the 60 are the same... and after Reading the Bryants Cook historical of TES, I made the same - substituted my pyroclasm in side for grapeshot...in deed this is a card that should never had gone from TES... I won 1 round because of G.Shot:

This was the 3rd round vs hatebears and my hand was C.M. C.M. land EtW G.P. RoF, moreless, The issue is that I needed to land Gobs before a hatebear landed and my land was destroyed by wasteland, so I needed to put 10 gobs, the opponent landed DRS chumpblocking anf getting him life and next CAnonist, and I was able to leave the opp. to 2 and destroyed the DRS with decay - yes I chose DRS instead of Canonist, then the opp. also played GSZ to Gaddock teeg, the game was developing me having less gobs and the opp. more critters and then he was at 2 with canonist, Teeg and Enginered Plague - yes to kill my 2 gobos left on table, then 2 turns before my death I drew B.W. , I played B.W. to G.Shot and finished turn, holding LED, and before my death so my play was LED, G.S. and win. YES!, I love you TES.

My opponent told it was like reaching the coast after a shipwreck and next beeing the food of cannibals...

I liked a lot my rounds vs UBR and UGR Tempo, as I was fitgning all in the same round vs wasteland, stifle, Fow and daze...

Again I lost vs miracles...
This times was legend miracles and the next 2 rounds - won the 1st, but the fact that once you reach the 5th turn you are just death even if there is no balance... snapcaster to B.S. holding FoW on top or venser or fluster or snap to fluster, etc, etc.... they had too many angles of defense after they reach a certain turn... my opponent even didnt landed c.b. bt the pressure is always there, I ate my decays one more time...

I was trying 4 decays plus 1 extirpate...well at least this is the unique match up I loose... likely I'll try the goasQuickasPoss approach... on the other side, as I mentioned
Forgot, I put some of antieldrazi hate, but was lucky to not facing any....

Well another top for TES!

Thnkas for Reading.

Latest Infernal Tutoring!

#3 is all about small, smart decision making. What would you have done? Hear the pros out!

http://www.theepicstorm.com/tes-infernal-tutoring-3/

Bryant, LDX, and crew, thank you guys so much for doing these Infernal Tutorings. It's extremely helpful to see you guys explaining why you'd do what you'd do, especially because it's often hard to see all the cards (and to figure out lines of play) on camera-matches. Wish there were more articles like yours for this deck and ANT (if anyone's got links, I'd really appreciate them).

Keep up the good work, gents!

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Originally Posted by Ronald Deuce

Bryant, LDX, and crew, thank you guys so much for doing these Infernal Tutorings. It's extremely helpful to see you guys explaining why you'd do what you'd do, especially because it's often hard to see all the cards (and to figure out lines of play) on camera-matches. Wish there were more articles like yours for this deck and ANT (if anyone's got links, I'd really appreciate them).

Keep up the good work, gents!

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It's always a pleasure :smile:

If you have any comments or scenarios you would like to see in a future edition, make sure to ask! I've been taking a few questions already that shall be seen in the next one, but there's always room for more.

I kinda sorta feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things. Sometimes I still goof up technically, but after about a month with the deck and never playing legacy before I think I'm doing alright. Show & Tell/Sneak Attack decks and Eldrazi/Chalice decks are giving me fits tho. Seems like if I don't have de nutz in my opener I'm toast. What are we looking for in these matchups, especially if we have to mull?

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

I kinda sorta feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things. Sometimes I still goof up technically, but after about a month with the deck and never playing legacy before I think I'm doing alright. Show & Tell/Sneak Attack decks and Eldrazi/Chalice decks are giving me fits tho. Seems like if I don't have de nutz in my opener I'm toast. What are we looking for in these matchups, especially if we have to mull?

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Lands.

I seem to be lucky enough to get 4 land hands all the time :)

They are just way too slow to beat chalice at 1 or/and chalice at 0. Or Emrukal/G-pap on t2/3.

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

I seem to be lucky enough to get 4 land hands all the time :)

They are just way too slow to beat chalice at 1 or/and chalice at 0. Or Emrukal/G-pap on t2/3.

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Thats why you board decays/recalls or more discard respectively

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Thats why you board decays/recalls or more discard respectively

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Right. Yes. Just like Bryant's SB guide says.

Hi guys, I'm new here. I just wanna thank you for the great work with Bryant's site, it's very very helpful for a beginner like me. Having few time to test, I learn a lot by reading your articles and watching streaming of players piloting this deck.

List is very solid nowadays, and with the slow eldrazis' downfall we have better chances to avoid those fu**ing chalices and thorns :laugh:

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Thats why you board decays/recalls or more discard respectively

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

Right. Yes. Just like Bryant's SB guide says.

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So boarding in the right things is pretty easy - Bryant gives a clear concise guide. I guess what I am really wondering is how to approach these matches post-board. For example, do you mull away a good hand with rituals/cantrips or petals/diamonds that just needs a little help to look for decays because you fear chalice?

Pretty sure there is a little more to it than "board correctly." That's kind of a throw-away answer.

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

For example, do you mull away a good hand with rituals/cantrips or petals/diamonds that just needs a little help to look for decays because you fear chalice?

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Would you throw away a T1 kill hand just because your opponent could have FoW or do you take the 60/40 gamble in your favor? Its (more or less) the same statistical question as in the Chalice case

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Would you throw away a T1 kill hand just because your opponent could have FoW or do you take the 60/40 gamble in your favor? Its (more or less) the same statistical question as in the Chalice case

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So you are saying it is just "board correctly and hope for the best"? Make them have it?

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

So you are saying it is just "board correctly and hope for the best"? Make them have it?

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That's actually not far off.

The difficult and hair-raising (and fun, I daresay) aspect of playing combo decks is that we're playing the most busted interactions in the format, but there are single cards that can shut us down. So often we have to gamble that the opponent doesn't have That One Card that stops us. Targeted discard or Probe often gives us our answer, but we—and, for that matter, our opponents—don't always draw the cards we're looking for.

Last weekend, I was playing AnT against an Eldrazi player. His lack of turn-1 plays beyond a land indicated that the coast was clear in both games for a T1. Trouble was that he showed up that day running Warping Wail (in G1) and Mindbreak Trap (in G2) and I didn't have the disruption to stop them.

That doesn't mean I shouldn't have gone for the combo on turn 1 of both games. Perfect information obviously would've indicated that I should wait, but we're making the odds worse every turn we pass without advancing our board-state or crafting our hand. Waiting would've let the opponent topdeck artifact-based hate I would've been unlikely to beat.

I'm remembering a game from several months ago in which I was playing All Spells. I couldn't tell what my opponent had in hand, and I had the combo with Pact of Negation in my hand. Turned out the opponent had both Force-blue card and Daze. Doesn't mean I shouldn't have gone for it; just means that the opponent had a hand I couldn't beat. Even if "60 percent of the time, it works EVERY TIME," there's still the other 40% of the time when the opponent happens to draw just what they need to stop us.

And never forget: if you force your opponent to have an answer and they have an answer, you might be screwed, but if you force your opponent to have an answer and they don't, you win the game.

Well said, sir. I am more the short, sloppy, rude guy :p

hi guys, I know that a lot of you prefer to put the bayou in the sideboard, but don't you think that the advantage of having 1 more spell in the sideboard is much greater than the disadvantage of having 7 fetches instead of 8? Matematically speaking also I don't see a big difference; and, moreover, one more mana-producing land can help against decks with 4 wasteland.
Did anyone try these two configurations for a long period?

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Originally Posted by Morden

hi guys, I know that a lot of you prefer to put the bayou in the sideboard, but don't you think that the advantage of having 1 more spell in the sideboard is much greater than the disadvantage of having 7 fetches instead of 8? Matematically speaking also I don't see a big difference; and, moreover, one more mana-producing land can help against decks with 4 wasteland.
Did anyone try these two configurations for a long period?

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Still playing 14 lands and among them 8 fetches. My sideboard is not for mana if my MB is already 40% mana

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Still playing 14 lands and among them 8 fetches. My sideboard is not for mana if my MB is already 40% mana

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What does your current decklist look like?

Sunday I'll have my first "big" tournament (more or less 60 people), but sadly the postal service made some strikes and now I miss 3 chrome mox :cry::cry::cry:
here the strange question arrives.....how do you replace this 3 slot? starting from bryant's list, I think I'll do:

-bayou maindeck, 1 pyroclasm in side (I have massacre instead grapeshot by default)
-1 preordain
-1 cabal ritual

I know that these cards are completly different from mox, it will be more difficult to start making mana from 0 floating mana after ad nauseam, but what can I do.....At the beginnig I was thinking on 2 cabal and 0 preordain, but I like to sculpt my hand a little better and suffer 1 life point less in case of nauseam.
rain of filth can be also nice probably.

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Originally Posted by Morden

I know that these cards are completly different from mox, it will be more difficult to start making mana from 0 floating mana after ad nauseam, but what can I do.....

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You can get more mana before Ad Nauseam. I would go with two Cabal Ritual, but I would also try Rain of Filth, as stated. Maybe one of each. I wouldn't bother with Preordain judging how often Ponder are sided out, and really, since you're just trying to replace Chrome Mox with something else, I would pick something that does somewhat-ishhh the same thing: add mana.

On an unrelated note, fourth edition of Infernal Tutoring is up!

http://www.theepicstorm.com/tes-infernal-tutoring-4

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Originally Posted by LDX

You can get more mana before Ad Nauseam. I would go with two Cabal Ritual, but I would also try Rain of Filth, as stated. Maybe one of each. I wouldn't bother with Preordain judging how often Ponder are sided out, and really, since you're just trying to replace Chrome Mox with something else, I would pick something that does somewhat-ishhh the same thing: add mana.

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it makes sense, absolutely!

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Originally Posted by Morden

Sunday I'll have my first "big" tournament (more or less 60 people), but sadly the postal service made some strikes and now I miss 3 chrome mox :cry::cry::cry:
here the strange question arrives.....how do you replace this 3 slot? starting from bryant's list, I think I'll do:

-bayou maindeck, 1 pyroclasm in side (I have massacre instead grapeshot by default)
-1 preordain
-1 cabal ritual

I know that these cards are completly different from mox, it will be more difficult to start making mana from 0 floating mana after ad nauseam, but what can I do.....At the beginnig I was thinking on 2 cabal and 0 preordain, but I like to sculpt my hand a little better and suffer 1 life point less in case of nauseam.
rain of filth can be also nice probably.

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Considering you play most of your games vs control post-board without Chrome Mox it's not that big of a deal, you can just play Bayou and 2xCabal Ritual MD and have a grindier list vs Miracles pre-board. What matters more than anything is that the lands, rituals, tutors, and LED align for any combination of 2 lands, 1 ritual and LED into either an Empty the Warrens or Ad Nauseam, because you have no other way to justify playing Rite of Flame over Cabal Ritual. In a deck with discard and cantrips, I think going for turn 1 wins via Chrome Mox acceleration is really overrated and the deck should only play XxChrome Mox to "smoothe out" Ad Nauseam as necessary.

I've been running MD Bayou, 3rd Duress and only 1 Chrome Mox for awhile, I needed the SB space for extra copies of Tendrils/Past to grind out Miracles more akin to ANT and the SB land and discard took up a ton of space. You can sort of modulate the deck's mana towards slightly slower styles of play, it's no big.

I agree with you somehow. This morning I found 3 mox and I tried a standard list: went 3-3, lost with painter,S&T,grixis delver, won against painter, 12post, white stax (don't laugh, G2 he started with leyline and trinisphere on turn 1........). Not bad, I made a lot of errors, I had a little of unluck (g1 painter went on second turn with grinstone->painter->led, 14 goblins were ready on my side......).
I think a second hurkyl's recall is necessary in sideboard, but I want to keep also pyroclasm and massacre, so I think I'll remove a chrome mox to add the bayou mainboard, having a slot for the hurkyl.

New article is live:
http://www.theepicstorm.com/the-current-state-massacre/

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

New article is live:
http://www.theepicstorm.com/the-current-state-massacre/

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Great article! Just FYI, if you click http://www.theepicstorm.com/articles on your site tho, you still only see up to TES Mailbox #8, not the new article or any of the Infernal Tutoring entries past #1.

In the article you mention streaming. I find watching folks experienced with the deck a great learning aid. Where/when can we view that? Do you record your streams?

Thanks!

Z

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Originally Posted by Zooligan

Great article! Just FYI, if you click http://www.theepicstorm.com/articles on your site tho, you still only see up to TES Mailbox #8, not the new article or any of the Infernal Tutoring entries past #1.

In the article you mention streaming. I find watching folks experienced with the deck a great learning aid. Where/when can we view that? Do you record your streams?

Thanks!

Z

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