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this used to be correct when Mentors were not common in Miracles SB, and the only creatures were Entreat & SFM/Batterskull.Quote:
Originally Posted by mort-
Nowadays i think you need at least 2 terminus postboard. Personally, i run 0 STP, 2-3 Terminus, depending on how many mentors/SFM he plays.
(SCM, Cliques & Venser's can be dealt by Red blasts & your own creatures.)
~2 Wasteland is really good in this deck. Wow, I am really posting on MTGTheSource.com.
Obviously. I'm boarding in Staticaster and EE which has to be enough removal for the mirror. There's only one white card I actually want to see and that's Council's Judgment.Quote:
Originally Posted by CutthroatCasual
Even Schonegger boards out all his Terminus in the mirror. Since most people here give him the final say on this deck, that should settle it.
I really think this is an underrated strategy in this deck.Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinTrudeau
I have not tested it personally but the GP Kyoto T8 deck from Yuta Takahashi ran 2 Wastelands main.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/c...sts-2015-04-19
Reasons why they are good:
- Inkmoth Nexus (Infect)
- Cavern & Karakas (in the "Mirror") - Ie: interrupting the unbeatable Venser/Cavern/Karakas loop
- Boseiju (Sneak & Show)
- Creeping Tarpit (Shardless)
- Mutavault (Merfolk)
- Ancient Tomb (S&S + Mud/Prison decks)
- Cloudpost & Eye of Ugin (12Post)
- Play lines that become available, ie: Opp has 2 blue up. Your own upkeep Wasteland one of their blue lands, main phase they can't cast Counterspell on your JTMS, etc.
Reasons why they are bad:
- Cannot cast turn 2 Counterbalance (Basic Plains suffers from this problem as well)
- Cannot cast Brainstorm (Basic Plains suffers from this problem as well)
- Cannot cast miracled Terminus (Basic Island suffers from this problem as well)
- Another land that is exposed to opposing Wastelands (Who cares?)
Anyone have actual tournament experience (besides Yuta) w/ the MD or SB Wasteland(s) in this deck?
The guy you replied to doesn't play the artifact in his 75. Good luck Staticaster'ing 4/4s.Quote:
Originally Posted by mort-
I maintain that boarding out all removal in the mirror is not ideal. You can't hope to race an opposing Mentor with your own, nor can you hope to match an opposing ETA with yours. You need ways to deal with these so that you don't die to them before you can cast your own.
Actually, the guy I replied to asked me if I board all removal spells that I cut the really bad ones for good cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by CutthroatCasual
With this kind of boarding, Mentor is a problem ONLY if cast early and with a Cavern. He can be handled if cast late and the probability that I land a better card if you tap out early is pretty high.
Entreat.. lol. Why would you even leave that card in for G2? I can understand the need to win fast in G3 if the first games took long, but other than that, the card is just bad. The only situation you want the card is when your opponent has locked you out completly. But as I tend to not play my games in a way that leaves me in a need for a hail mary ETA, there's no need to play it ;)
But I can't say I don't like it. I've won so many games where both players were empty handed and my opponents drew Terminus or StP while I drew something actually useful. So please, keep in the dead cards.
Similar to how Mentor is "a better answer" to another Mentor than Terminus, would you consider Entreat "better" than Council's Judgment or Wear/Tear for the mirror? Sometimes you can fuse it and get a Counterbalance off the table early, but I feel like most games where you fight over a resolved Counterbalance, it happens mid-lategame. Entreat is just stupid going late, and basically ignores everything except Force and Counterspell.
I personally just hate drawing dead answers and narrow cards, especially in a Control mirror. I've never felt like most post-board games are locked up by turn 4, and something like Council's Judgment or Wear/Tear is only live if and when your opponent resolves Counterbalance. I'd rather Entreat for a 2-turn clock than attempt to restore parity with a Wear/Tear or attempt to Council's Judgment a Jace after it drew cards. There's also that whole unintentional draw thing...
But maybe I'm just playing it wrong.
To be honest, i can't remember winning many games when an opponent resolved Mentor before i do, even when i do so immediately after. The games i did win, is when i happen to have double tops, and he didn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by mort-
Wear/Tear can be an answer for CB-Lock, a 1 and a 2 with a Counterbalance (which is pretty important at times) and can also kill a Top in response to a shuffle. So I wouldn't want to miss it. They also have to hit a 3 with their CB if you fuse it, which won't happen too often (if the opponent is not anticipating this). Judgment ist the same in the regard that the chance of it resolving through a CB are pretty high, it also serves as removal for Mentor. So I don't think the cards are dead at all. Also, the first carddraw with Jace is just a Brainstorm. Unless he untaps with Jace, that's not too unfair for 4 mana.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher
The problem is that EtA is only really good if you can make at least 2 tokens. So, between people boarding Flusterstorm, having 2 Counterspells main and then also Snapcaster, I just don't see it resolving. Even more so if the opponent has locked you out and can save his Counterspells just for the Entreat.
Fair enough. It's too bad Joe and Schonegger don't post here anymore; I'd be interested in hearing their take on it.
Philip recently (after the banning of DIG) posted an article on MTGmintcard, I think, where he said the same thing - as well as drawing in the matchup. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher
If there is a good / easy way to convert MTGO replays to video files that I could upload to youtube I'd do that. It's somehow really hard for me to explain it correct outside of "this is wrong and this is right". Point is, I had a bit of time on my hands the last months and played 1 - 2 dailies a day, going 2-2 in one and 3-1 or better in the rest, losing maybe 1 or 2 mirrors of the 20+ I played (I have the correct data at home, I'll update when I'm there next weekend). So my total matchwin is > 67% and the constructed rating sits at 1940something. Not to brag (well, a bit maybe), but either all my opponents were pretty bad or I've been doing something right - and that's what I wanted to share with you, as this site has helped me from time to time, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher
I'll also attend the Belgish Legacy Championship tomorrow, so expect a report around monday or tuesday.
Nah, he only spoke on Terminus being bad post-board. In a sense, I was trying to take that general notion a step further.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quasim0ff
Wear/Tear has fewer targets than Terminus, though Counterbalance may be the most important. All I'm saying is in my experience Wear/Tear is like 60% to be dead for the first half the game, just like a Terminus. They not only have to draw Counterbalance, you also have to let it resolve, knowing that they can blind-flip you. It's one of the cards that's most likely to be left in my hand after the dust settles from a counter war. I think it's the last card left over in the majority of matchups, which is why I only play 1 copy.Quote:
OUT: 4 Swords to Plowshares, 3 Terminus, 1 Council’s Judgement, 2 Plains, 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
IN: 3 Pyroblast, 2 Flusterstorm, 2 Wear // Tear, 1 Izzet Staticaster, 3 Vendilion Clique
Now there are several things that are going on here at once. The first one is the removal of most white cards. In the past it was correct to exclude all white cards from the maindeck but with the advent of Monastery Mentor things have changed. This card is still not reason enough to keep in Terminus but is the sole reason that Entreat the Angels is still in the deck. Things change if your opponent is playing a 4 Mentor + Daze Miracles but here we are talking about playing against regular Miracles, where you expect one or two Mentors. The way you deal with Mentors is by having your own and having Izzet Staticaster in addition to all the points we’ll talk about in a second.
...
In order to further capitalize on the low amount of bad cards and lands it is essential to be on the draw for the postboard games. Should you happen to win the first game then your opponent will be kind enough to grant you said advantage. If things didn’t go according to plan in the preboarded game you can choose your own fate and decide to be on the draw. This means that you will lose a small percentage of games where your opponent goes for T1 Top, T2 Balance and has a couple Force of Wills to back this up. However, every other game that will go longer, and an impressive amount of games do so, will see you being favored due to having less lands which means more business as well as having the extra card. This is also why we can afford to not have Terminus in the deck against Monastery Mentor, as the combination of card quality and card quantity is the key to victory. This approach is not feasible when playing against a Mentor/Daze build, which should be rather obvious.
I'll leave it alone, though; I was just throwing it out there. My views on this deck are pretty far from the pack and it's not like I play enough to tell anyone they're wrong.
The debate over SDT is now on CFB site.
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/ban-top
http://www.channelfireball.com/home/dont-ban-top
Those articles should not be validated with discussion.
As for terminus/mentor in the mirror. I've had a lot of success siding out all removal as shoenegger suggests. I believe my record in the mirror is 10-3 since then. A resolved mentor can be a massive problem if you board this way, however mentors don't hit the field as often as they do in almost any other matchup. A massive part of the mirror is finding a time to resolve your spells while being able to prevent your opponent from playing something meaninful on their turn. There are three major spells to resolve in the mirror, Jace, Mentor, and Counterbalance. I would argue that counterbalance is the most critical spell as well as the easiest to sneak through.
An early mentor is when he's scary, after a while he starts to play second fiddle to things like ETA and isn't worth fighting too hard to resolve. However, an early mentor is often an unrealistic play as resolving it will likely cost 2-3 additional cards leaving you nearly hellbent and tapped out so you won't be able to leverage the mentor very well in the coming turns. If your mentor doesn't resolve, as is often the case, then your opponent has just drained you of counters and can untap with 3-4 mana to play a free jace, mentor, or counterbalance.
Maybe you went for the bait mentor, and didn't really care about it resolving. In this situation a counterspell blows you out, and a force from your opponent still leaves you in a dubious position. They untap, make a counterplay and you force it. If that spell they tried to play was a mentor then good for you you're still at parity. If it was a counterbalance, they have the opprotunity to use a 1 cmc counter and blow you out of the game. This example shows how even a non-commital early mentor opens you up to getting blown out in a few ways.
These scenarios, and variations on them, happen relatively often and most of the time the player casting the mentor loses out. So, a skilled player will likely avoid slamming an early mentor leaving the card to fester away in their hand until it is outshined by other options.
That said, I HAVE lost postboard games to an early mentor, but I've won far more where my opponent has shown me a hand full of removal that could have been relevant cards.
Do you guys keep all Swords to Plowshares and Terminus in vs. MUD in G2/G3? How do you guys generally sideboard vs. MUD?
Yes and yes. Out goes Counterbalance, in comes (depending on what you have) 1 - 2 Wear / Tear, Mentor if in the board, Clique if in the board, Keranos if in the board, Venser if in the board. There is not that much that you can do here. Try to get Chalice / Trinisphere under control so you can use Snapcaster / StP to full effect and try to Jace them out. Or be aggressive and mentor them (I am going to use this for "make an assload of tokens and kill them dead" from now on).Quote:
Originally Posted by MGB
I don't agree with Keranos against MUD. Post board against MUD, you are the aggressor, and Keranos doesn't really help that game plan. Moreover, most MUD lists have several cards that deal with Keranos, all of which are strong against us post board (Spine, Ugin, Karn, and Ulamog).
My plan against them is to cut Counterbalance and a few Ponders. I max out on creatures, any way to destroy an artifact, and Blood Moon (if I have it). Mentor and the Legends are strong here. Use your Jaces for tempo. They often have at most one creature in play, and if you are presenting a clock, three unsummons can actually get there. Blood Moon is far from a hard lock against them, and only just slows them down. Chalice on one is awful if you don't have a Top in play, but if you do, I would consider holding your FoW for bigger threats. Same goes for 3-sphere. Ugin is very difficult for you to beat, so take note of when they have eight mana available.
I like Venser a lot post-board against MUD.
Sooooo, report report. As I have said, I went to the Belgian Legacy Cup - due to being in Belgium for working purposes - to grab that Belgian Legacy Champion title. As to directly spoiler you, I didn't get it. While I went 5-2, which was enough for Top16 finish, and not that bad of a result, I'm still pretty bitter (read: pissed) about it. But, onto the matches, as detailed as I can remember.
R1: 12Post
I keep Pierce, 2x Mentor, Counterspell, StP and lands. He wins the dice roll and starts with Island, Top. I instantly think about how fucked I am, seeing that I absolutly will not win that game against the mirror. His second play is a Cloudpost and all of a sudden my hand is pure gold. Mentor arrives T3 while he has only 3 mana open. In his mainphase he repeals it and I play it again, as the second one the turn after that. He plays Titan which finds Counterspell, then Crop Rotation on another Cloudpost and SnT for another Titan, getting Glimmerpost and Eye of Ugin. In my turn, I find a cantrip, which finds Top and another cantrip. The Titan also gets sworded with him being at 27 life. I miss the play of forcing my own top to attack for 30 and instead attack for 26. In his turn, he plays Emrakul, does a Time Walk, finds the new Ulamog and another Glimmerpost (going to 6) and exiling my Mentors. I survive the attack by simply sacrificing 6 of my 14 tokens and going to 2 life, then killing him in the counterattack.
In the second game, he play Cloudposts for 5 turns, then Emrakuls me.
Last game I could land a T3 Blood Moon, but decide against it as I hold Flusterstorm and Redblast, just in case he does have FoW (although he told me he doesn't have any G1). Still, T4 Moon is enough, Mentor joins soon after and finishes the deal. He shows me SnT and FoW in his sideboard, which I don't completly understand. Anyways, pretty happy I won a bad MU.
R2: Grixis/g Delver
The guy packs a Top playmat and tokens, so I immediately put him on Miracles. I keep lands, 2 Force, 2 CB, Pierce. He starts with Delver which I let resolve. It doesn't flip for two turns while I force through a CB and blindcounter a Pyromancer with CB#3. StP That's the last nonland I see while he resolves Pyromancer and two Deathrites.
G2 I keep something along the lines of W/T, CB, lands, Ponder, REB. Ponder shows me 3 lands, shuffles, finds another land, then another two. He goes DR, Pyro, make 6 Tokens. My EE stalls him for a turn in which I find top, but he has two FoW against my REB. As happy as I was R1, this felt just incredible frustrating.
R3: BUG Delver
Not exactly sure what I kept. Something along the lines of Ponder, CB, Jace, Top, lands. He starts with USea, I with Volcanic into Ponder to give my best RUG impression. He wastes and I don't play Top as to not run into Daze. He plays Hymn, hitting Top and StP. Then another Hymn, hitting Jace and CB, leaving me with two lands, then lands Confidant into Liliana. I find Mentor a turn later, which runs into double Daze. He lands Liliana and discards unneccesary lands while I somehow stabilize with a Top and a second Mentor to stop his onslaught of guys and Goyfs. Still, his DR gets me down to 2 before I find a Jace. He bounces two turns, then has to Brainstorm as my opponent played two DRs. Well, no Terminus there, so Ponder. Again no Terminus, gg.
Second game is pretty easy, he starts at turn 2 with a Dark Confidant that I sword instantly. He resolves Liliana, making me sacrifice my freshly cast Mentor. In his next turn, he lets us discard. As I have two Snapcaster Mages in my hand, I'd rather not lose their ability, so I discard RiP. He obviously plays two Tarmogoyfs. I eot flash in the first Snap, hoping to bait a Daze and flashbacking Brainstorm (with only 3 lands). Resolves. I find another Sword, so I go for Sword, Snap, Sword in my turn. Turns out that he had the Daze and his second Goyf lives. Oh well.. I manage to find another removal with his Liliana now at 4 and attack with 2 Mages into 1 DRS. He blocks, moves Liliana to two, then sacrifices her so I have to sac my Snapcaster. We both draw lands for a while, then I find a Mentor to finish it.
Last game was again pretty frustrating. He starts with DRS into T2 Liliana. I have a Top, as well as Lands, Mentor Jace and Keranos in my hand, so I try to get onto a gamestate that lets me play Jace and float Keranos while discarding useless cards. First step is to play Mentor, so he has to use his -2 on Liliana. Well.. he has Confidant, then Daze for my Mentor and Hymn for Keranos and Jace. Ran into the nuts, did not survive, Top8 gone, lost against two Delver decks in a row. All those things that should not have happened. But as I had nothing planned this sunday and kind of wanted to protect my honor, I kept playing.
R4: Esper Mentor
I know what he's playing and I know it's almost a bye. Two games that lasted about 6 turns each, then he concedes and we talk a bit about the MU.
R5: DnT
He has somewhat of a slow start, casting Mother, which I sword, then nothing. He instead keeps porting me. As he's just doing nothing else, I can develop my mana pretty good and land a T4 Mentor. His StP gets forced and then my hand of 3x Brainstorm, Top, Ponder takes over.
Second game has him manascrewed. He stops at two landdrops and can't use his Wasteland because he has to deploy his threads first. In that time, I land a Mentor and can protect it again.
R6: RW Painter
Looooong, long game. He lands an early Top as well as Grindstone and also Blood Moon. At this point, I have one Island in play, one in hand and a Plains in my top 3, so I let it resolve. He pressures me with Vexing Shusher while I first land CB, then Jace, keeping force for his Painter open at all times. I find a Terminus in time for his Shusher and land a Mentor to stabilize completly. He has Ensnaring Bridge and no cards in hand. Now he tries to grind me out before I can use Jaces ultimate. With Top I'm able to not let him mill more than 2 cards and win the game with about 15 left in my library.
Second game goes to time after we grinded a long time. He tries for a fast combo. I don't know, and forgot to ask, if he had a Redblast in his hand. He ponders a long time before naming black with Painter. In response to his Grindstone activation, I sword and that is that. He again starts to grind me out, which works until I find Venser to bounce his Stone and counter it on the way back. Keranos, Venser and two Snapcaster attack him on Turn 5 for lethal. Or would have, he decided to kill himself with an Ancient Tomb.
R7: Omnitell
Pretty short. He casts T2 Show and Tell. I use Spell Pierce, he has Pact of Negation. I let the Pact resolve, then force SnT. He has a Force on his own, while I have Top in play, Force and Judgment in hand. I draw blind and miss. So I put in the newly drawn Tundra while he goes for Omniscience. Ponder finds nothing, shuffles and reveals a land. He loses to Pact in his upkeep.
Second game I keep a very good hand against SnT, even with Mentor and one Staticaster in case he has Pyromancer. Well.. he goes for T2 Stoneforge, T3 Batterskull, T4 second Batterskull. In the meantime, I resolve Mentor and Surgical his Brainstorm so I know what he's up to. Turns out he has Enter the Infinite, Dreamhalls, Force of Will, Show and Tell, Stoneforge and Land 5 in his hand. Great. I try to resolve Jace, which he forces, pitching Enter the Infinite. Jace brainstorms into a second Mentor. So he resolves his Show and Tell with a newly found Omniscience, but has nothing to profit from it while I put Mentor into play. Snapcaster, Redblast kills Omniscience and the token can chump his Batterskulls (his life goes up to 60) until I can block them dead with a cantrip. I bounce SFM with CB, a 2 and a 5 on top and the Mentors take over the game in short order.
As my breakers are the worst (44% I think), I get 16th, netting me 5 Boosters for my trouble. Still, I think there should've been more (resultwise. The tournament was well organized and pricing absolutly ok), so I'm pretty disappointed. The games I lost I kept reasonable hands that got destroyed by the perfect opposite hand by my opponent.
The list I played, can recommend and will play on the next Legacy event shortly after new years eve:
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10896&d=262147&f=LE
Maindeck -Island, + Volcanic Island
Sidebaord -Pithing Needle + Keranos, God of Storms
WTF? RTFC. Spine and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre can't interact with Keranos, unless you're referring to something else. If anything you should be aware of, it's uncounterable sundering titan.Quote:
Originally Posted by presquepartout
Not sure the MUD player is trying to "deal with Keranos", basically ever. I think people overestimate that card's value.
Keranos isn't "good" against MUD. But it's not as dead as a CB and might do something once you hit 5 mana. You probably have about 4 cards you can sideboard, depending on how it's build. So if you have Keranos in the SB, it's probably one of the 4 sb cards that are "not dead" in the MU.
Quote:
Originally Posted by twndomn
you mad?
mort- sounds like you were missing that 4th Terminus in R2 and R3.
Yeah. I think I had it in hand against the Grixis guy in G2, but didn't find a Brainstorm to put it back. But I only cast 1 Terminus this whole tournament. Didn't seem like it was the day for wraths (except for my own). Will definitly stay at 3 Terminus though ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by CutthroatCasual
Sultai, Grixis, Temur...
why don't you guys just play more Pyroclasm. I also like Meekstone so much..
turns off Goyf, Cliques, Delvers. Holds off just everything and the rest dies to Pyroclasm
I don't post much, but I read every single thing written in here. For the removal in the mirror debate you guys were having, I think with a normal version of the deck it is hard to determine and I understand the indecision. With Legend Miracles, I have been leaving in 3 terminus. Cavern/Karakas are so powerful that all I really worry about is not dying. Terminus is harder to cast but effective against both Entreat and Mentor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher
I was using Pyroclasm for a while. I recently switched to Staticaster. I haven't played a full event with it yet, but the pros/cons are this:Quote:
Originally Posted by Poron
Pyroclasm - Pros
- 2 damage hits and will often kill many things: Merfolk, DRS, everything in DnT, Delvers (flipped and unflipped), Mongeese before threshold has been reached, Strix, Shardless Agent, Bob, Young Pryo and friends, Mentor and friends
- Is CMC 2, which makes it easy to cast and useful to flip to CB
Pyroclasm - Cons
- Sorcery speed
- Is Thalia-taxable, so against DnT it will often cost 3 (or more)
- Requires :r:, so it exposes us to Wasteland, and we often have no more than 2 red sources in our decks. This card alone is not a reason to play a basic mountain
Staticaster - Pros
- Instant speed; flash blocker
- Has a big butt (3 toughness is good to stall against many decks in the early game)
- Pitches to FoW
- Can ping tokens and even kill some generators (Pyro and friends, monk tokens)
- Not Thalia-taxable
Staticaster - Cons
- Has no tits (0 power does less than Snapcaster)
- Only pings for 1, meaning that it doesn't deal with real threats
- Turns on opponents' removal, though you can view this as a plus if that removal is Decay
- Is CMC 3 and requires :r:
- Can be REB'd
All in all, it really depends on what you prefer and what meta you're expecting. The tl;dr is: Pyroclasm is more powerful in the MUs you bring it in if you can cast it, but it's "slower". Staticaster doesn't have as much raw power but she is more versatile.
Thanks. Definitely didn't think you were leaving in the whole 3, but If you're leaving in more than a miser copy I'm sure it's been working for you. I've got 3 Cliques and 1 Venser post board but no Caverns and a single Karakas, so maybe that's not aggressive enough to take that line.Quote:
Originally Posted by oarsman
Great analysis. A few comments on the Staticaster:Quote:
Originally Posted by CutthroatCasual
Flash is huge vs D&T as it helps dodge R.Port activations in your upkeep (this in addition to your point on the Thalia tax).
I think you left out one MAJOR (but obvious) pro of the Staticaster: The effect is reusable, assuming it lives. This is huge vs. Elves for example.
The inability to kill 2-toughness creatures is the biggest con. Deathrite, Stoneforge, Flipped Delver, & Shardless Agent all laugh at Staticaster. Of the four, DRS is the most painful as it is the one most likely to be encountered in decks where you would bring in Staticaster (Grixis & Elves).
Dying to REB is only really an issue vs Grixis.
Pyroclasm is also a great target for Snapcaster Mage, and it's interactions with Thiago shouldn't be overlooked.Quote:
Originally Posted by ozimek
In some really really weird occasions it will deal with 4 thoughness creatures at the cost of :3::u::r::r: (clasm -> snap -> clasm), which even though most likely unrealistic (too much mana, including :r::r:, and having both in hand), could be relevant in a really narrow and small portion of games.
Also, Pyroclasm can be useful after being discarded by elves, paired with Snapcaster Mage, while a discarded Izzet Staticaster is flat out gone.
Not saying we should play Clasm over Staticaster (I don't have enough experience to state something like that), just pointing out 2 narrow, but possible, scenarios in which clasm can be pure gold.
Staticaster is also one of the few good defensive spells against the best deck in the format (Miracles).
I'm sorry, Staticaster is Not an out, can't even considered a pro, when you want to use it as a SB trump against any decks that potentially have Red Blast effects. Sure, you can SB it in against Miracles, but that cannot be your only plan, or a reliable plan. Same goes against decks like Painter, Goblin. This Staticaster card is a magnet for Red Blast, either on stack or immediately gets destroyed after you use it once. It's actually a liability if you have any intentions of keeping it alive, since you have to throw in resources to protect it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher
Against Elves and Storms, yeah, it's great, other MUs, not so much. People keep saying it's good against DnT, that would work only if DnT doesn't have an active Mom.
If you really want to hose Mentor Miracles and DnT, you would have Sulfur Elemental.
You can double-ping a Mother of Runes against D&T. Sulfur Elemental is better against that deck, but is only playable against that and Miracles. It also only stop the 2 copies of Mentor in their deck, while buffing Entreat and ignoring or trading with the 6 copies of Clique and Snapcaster. If it wasn't for Clique and Snapcaser I don't think 2x Mentor would be enough for me to board Staticaster.
I don't really think the card is comparable with Pyroclasm. Staticaster is 50% more expensive but offers another "soft lock" angle. If I thought I wanted Pyroclasm I wouldn't feel it was either-or.
Depending on the draw, Pyroclasm can be pretty bad, as most decks can and will rebuild where Staticaster just leaves corpse after corpse. I think I'd rather play Verdict over Clasm for a one time Wrath.
As a D+T player, I can say that Staticaster is pretty easily the Miracles SB card I'm most unhappy to see. Sulfur Elemental is also strong, but doesn't kill Revoker, which is the most important Hatebear in the matchup.Quote:
Originally Posted by twndomn
Delver, Shardless Agent, Shaman, SFM, Mirran Crusader
These rarely seen creatures die to Pyroclasm and just, totally, ignore Staticaster..
Though it is great since it pitches to FoW, it is reusable, it has Flash.
May be we play 3 Terminus, 1 Pyroclasm and 1 Staticaster?
I like them all
I also went to the Belgian Legacy Cup with Miracles. A short report:
I had a housewarming party at my place with some old friends from university, so I didn’t get much sleep the night before. I was actually contemplating maybe not going, but as it has been a tradition for the past few years and I hadn’t gotten the time to play in a big tournament in a while, I bit the bullet and drove to the venue. I arrived about 5 minutes before the start of the tournament (when I entered the judge called that there was only 2 minutes left to register) and I had not yet written down my deck list. Luckily I know most of the list by heart, so I finished writing down everything just before the judge came to pick-up the sheets. I couldn’t have been better prepared for what would be an 11 hour tournament with Miracles.
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Arid Mesa
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Monastery Mentor
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Force of Will
1 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Terminus
1 Council’s Judgment
1 Entreat the Angels
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-
2 Flusterstorm
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Rest in Peace
1 Pithing Needle
2 Wear // Tear
1 Containment Priest
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Sulfur Elemental
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Round 1 - Shardless BUG (2-1)
Game 1 - I stabilize and destroy him with Mentor and 2 tops (and 8 mana)
Game 2 - We go back and forth and I get him empty handed, with me having the advantage. He drops a Creeping Tarpit however, and I find my Entreat a turn too late.
Game 3 - I counter his early Hymn with Flusterstorm, his Visions with blasts and drop Jace. Jace finds Gideon and that’s all she wrote for my opponent.
Round 2 - Sneaky Show (2-1)
Game 1 - After a few turns I figure it’s either the mirror or Sneaky Show. I have two plows in my hand which are dead, so I brainstorm with two active fetchlands to sculpt my hand. I find 2 Terminus and a Top. I drop Top, which gets forced. I also have a force in hand, but decide not to counter back in fear of getting spaghetti monstered. As it turns out, he drops a Sneak attack on his next turn. My current hand is 2x StP, 1 FoW and 1 BS (with me still having a fetch in play). I decide to brainstorm instead of going Force pitching Brainstorm, as I feel like I won’t have much of a gameplan with the two StP’s in my hand. I brainstorm into 2 terminus and 1 StP. Tentacles soon follow. -_-
Game 2 - I drop Cavern of Souls on Wizard. Uncounterable Clique and 2 SCM follow, killing him before he can do much of anything.
Game 3 - I drop Cavern of Souls on Human (with Containment Priest in hand) and eventually beat him down with the Priest and a Clique.
Round 3 - Moggcatcher (2-0)
Game 1 - He wins the die roll and proceeds to drop Cavern of Souls on Goblins, go. Shit. On his next turn he drops City of Traitors, followed by a Goblin Rabblemaster. I’m actually quite relieved at this point, as I knew this meant he was playing Moggcatcher (which is easy in comparison to the pain that is actual Goblins). I plow his creatures and he can’t really keep up. I take control with Jace and kill him with Mentor.
Game 2 - I take control of the game, but he has a Blood Moon in combination with a chalice on two and a chalice on one in play. I Top every turn but keep finding lands and useless cards. Luckily, he doesn’t manage to do much either. I eventually find a Wear//Tear, which I use to destroy his Blood Moon and Chalice on one, which releases my fetches (I had come to a point where all the playable lands were out of my deck) and I quickly find business with Top.
Round 4 - UWr Miracles (1-2) Johan Steurs
I knew Johan was also at 3-0, so I was hoping we didn’t have to play the mirror. Unfortunately, we get paired (of course). This is a match-up I usually hope to dodge at a tournament (and is actually quite doable due to the few Miracles players here) as I’m really not comfortable with it.
Game 1 - Can’t remember the specifics, but I believe I manage to resolve the CounterTop lock with him resolving Top and Jace. He eventually gets my Counterbalance with Council’s Judgment and drops a Counterbalance of his own.
Game 2 - We both keep a one lander, he stumbles and I resolve CounterTop. He quickly scoops, realizing we’ll need the time for a third game.
Game 2 - We both resolve the CounterTop lock pretty early in the game (fun times). The game goes long, with both of us floating Entreat on top. We’re nearing time and he goes for the Angels on my EoT. I have Cavern of Souls on Wizard and Clique the Entreat out of his hand. On the end of my third turn of time he finds his Entreat again and I can’t manage to stop it. At this point we’re already 10-15 over time. Pretty intense final rounds of the game!
Round 5 - Grixis Delver (1-1-1) Alexandre Darras
I was a little flustered after the previous round taking so long (I was still desideboarding when the new pairings were posted), so I scurry to my next round opponent.
Game 1 - I stabilize the game and drop the CounterTop lock, which is the end game for this matchup. My opponent knows this, scoops and we go to game 2.
Game 2 - I get to the point of stabilizing (ran him out of cards/empty board with me still having 3 cards in hand), but fail to find a Counterbalance or a finisher and my opponent finds Delver and flips Lightning Bolt to finish me.
Game 3 - We start this game with 2 minutes on the clock. Not much more to say.
Round 6 - Aggro Loam (1-1-1 / 2-1) Christophe
Game 1 - We go back and forth and I eventually ultimate him with Jace.
Game 2 - I almost have him, but he gets a Knight down which finds a 20/20 token.
Game 3 - Nothing much happens this game and we go to time. My opponent asks me if I want to concede, I say that I don’t and he offers me the win. Thank you Christophe, I made sure to make the most of your concede!
Round 7 - Dark Maverick (2-0)
I’m 4-1-1 at this point and need a win to make Top 8. My opponent gets downpaired and asks me if I want to draw. I say that I have to play, as drawing would not get me anywhere. He didn’t seem pleased the hear this.
Game 1 - He resolved a few creatures, which all die to my array of Termini and StPs. We get to a point where he has 4 lands in play and I have 8 with an active Jace (5+ activations) and Top (i.e. in complete control of the game). We come to a point where he’s in a “draw-go” situation. I Top at the end of his turn, untap my lands and draw my card for the turn (a Misty Rainforest) and play it. He suddenly calls a judge to the table and tells him I’ve just played my second consecutive turn. What follows is a 10 minute discussion with the judges to hear the story from both sides (I’m very clear in my actions and always announce my activations and even wait for my opponent to respond to Top activations, so I’m certain I did not take an extra turn) and to see if it is possible to recreate the gamestate step by step (which at this point is impossible). The head judge rules that the gamestate is legal. I play my turn, my opponent untaps and scoops. I’m still not sure if my opponent just actually missed the gamestate or if this was some scummy way of trying to get me a gameloss in a game that he couldn’t possibly win anymore (I talked with a spectator after the match who followed the entire game, and he said I didn’t take an extra turn).
Game 2 - What follows is a very awkward game 2 (as we’re both convinced to be in the right), where my final boardstate consists of 5 4/4 angels, a 2/2 token, a Gideon and a Jace.
Quarterfinals - Infect (2-0)
Game 1 - He resolves 2 Noble Hierarchs, but no infect creature. I resolve a Terminus and stabilize the board, eventually finishing it with Clique.
Game 2 - At a certain point he has a Blighted Agent and 3 Inkmoth Nexus in play, but due to me carefully killing his creatures at the end of his turn and never fighting during his combat, I manage to remove all of his threats and stabilize with Staticaster and Jace. A Clique finishes the game, with me being at 8 poison.
Semi-finals - Sneaky Show (2-0)
Game 1 - We go back and forth, I Clique him at the end of his turn and see he has a typical “my deck does nothing” hand which Sneaky Show tends to have. Clique gets there.
Game 2 - He gets a Boseiju down and I drop a Sulfur Elemental to race him (counter that, hah!). I keep a Clique in hand with a Cavern of Souls on Wizard in play so I can respond to his inevitable Show and Tell. When he goes for it, I Clique him and see a hand of 2x Omni, Emrakul, Griselbrand, Flusterstorm, Spell Pierce and Wipe Away (at that point I have 2x FoW, 2x blue card and 1 Pyroblast and 1 REB). I take the Emrakul, fight over his Griselbrand and blast both of his Omniscience on my turn. Clique and Sulfur Elemental get there.
Finals - Grixis Delver (2-0) Alexandre Darras (re-match)
Game 1 - We get to a point at around turn 5 or 6 where he drops a Young Pyromancer and he has two cards in hand. I plow the YP on my turn, and he responds with a few instants to create 2 tokens. I’m at 16 at this point with 3 or 4 cards in my hand and with him basically empty handed. I find Mentor and a second Top. His tokens are quickly outmatched.
Game 2 - I run him out of cards, block his Clique with my own and drop a Monastery Mentor with 1 token. He Decays the Mentor, and I drop Counterbalance with a Wear//Tear floating. I drop another Counterbalance and slowly beat him to 5 over the course of 10 or so turns (I knew he didn’t have any outs at this point and I simply couldn’t find a faster clock due to me wanting the Wear//Tear to stay on top). He tries to cast a few spells, but the Wear//Tear is not going anywhere. In his final turn of the tournament, I Clique him and see all CMC 1 spells. I say he can keep all of his cards, untap, Top, and cast Brainstorm to pump the Mentor token and proceed to attack him for 5.
The tournament is over and I take home a playset of Tundra and the prestigious title of Belgian Lecacy Cup Champion for the year.
A big thank you to the team behind the Belgian Legacy Cup as they continue to sustain the Legacy community here in Belgium with annual tournaments, and ofcourse also to the regulars at my local store making it possible to play legacy on a weekly basis (and my brother, who made Top 16)!