[Deck] The Rock

I was hoping I could get some feedback on this Doran Aggro build I just came up with. Some of the choices are a little unorthodox, I guess, but that's why I was asking you good folks what you think about it:

4 Mother of Runes
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
3 Bitterblossom
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Doran, the Siege Tower

4 Thoughtsieze
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Sylvan Library
3 Vindicate
2 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Bayou
3 Savannah
4 Scrubland
4 Marsh Flats
3 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
1 Volrath's Stronghold

...So. What do y'all think?

@Duke: It would be much more constructive if you covered your thoughts and choices - I am sure there must have been some leading to your list. I'll question these choices (not saying they're bad, just inquiring):

4 Mother
3 Bitterblossom (Both the count and the card)
2 Teeg ( --"--)
2 Sylvan Library (The card versus Top)
2 Maelstrom Pulse (the card versus Vindicate, and the number in conjunction with your other removal)

Teeg, BB and Mother in an aggro-strategy.
13 spot removal in an aggro-strategy.

And questions on stuff not in the list:

Tombstalker, Top, Bob.

Think of this as a Socratic way of inquiry, trying to give you the tools or the angle, to analyze your own question.

Peace - Tue

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jak.

Always have had a soft spot for The Rock. It's ability to accumulate card advantage over the course of the game via sweepers, creatures, etc always made it a cool deck in my opinion. I have also been fiddling around with a 2 card combo that accumulates card advantage over the course of the game. Both pieces are fine on there own and both fit very well into a BGr Rock deck. Here's the list.

Punishing Rock
By Jak.

4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Bayou
2 Badlands
1 Taiga
2 Swamp
1 Forest

4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Eternal Witness
3 Tombstalker

3 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Punishing Fire
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Pernicious Deed

2 Cabal Therapy
4 Thoughtseize
2 Hymn to Touarch

SB
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Firespout
2 Krosan Grip
2 Gigapede

I would really love to fit in some more creatures, so I may cut the two Hymns. I have no idea what would go in their place. Maybe Kitchen Finks, but I would like something a little cheaper and bigger.

Edit-
Ooooh, Vampire Nighthawk! That card could definitely work out. It still is small, but has evasion, gains life, and can take out bigger guys. I might just throw 4 in there.

Tentative changes:

-2 Hymn
-2 Therapy

+4 Vampire Nighthawk

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I haven't tested your deck, but I've tested a bit another version of Rock GBR, developed by an Italian player that made a top4 at a 60-70 players tournament. Running red in spite of white, I think you should consider to include bloodbraid elf. It makes card advantage... its sinergy with sensei's diving top is amazing (remember also that it has haste and so it speeds also up your race). IMHO punishing fire isn't enough strong to be included. Isn't Terminate better?

This is the list I'm talking about:

JUND ROCK

// Lands
2 Bayou
3 Swamp
2 Taiga
1 Badlands
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Mountain
3 Forest

// Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Eternal Witness
3 Kitchen Finks

// Spells
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Thoughtseize
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
3 Maelstrom Pulse

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Kitchen Finks
SB: 3 Duress
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Choke

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James22

I haven't tested your deck, but I've tested a bit another version of Rock GBR, developed by an Italian player that made a top4 at a 60-70 players tournament. Running red in spite of white, I think you should consider to include bloodbraid elf. It makes card advantage... its sinergy with sensei's diving top is amazing (remember also that it has haste and so it speeds also up your race). IMHO punishing fire isn't enough strong to be included. Isn't Terminate better?

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Bloodbraid Elf is pretty meh in my opinion. You get the card advantage, but a weak creature in modern Legacy. I could care less about it speeding up the clock because my build is much more control oriented. It can't play defense well and it is pretty bad in a deck with Lightning Bold, Thoughtseize, Punishing Fire, etc. Also, what if the opponent has no creatures out (ie combo, heavy control, etc)? Do you play it?

Terminate is decent removal, but it is a 1 for 1. Punishing Fire is ridiculous against aggro (Merfolk, Elves, Goblins, Zoo). It hits early and later comes back to deal with 2 creatures. It is also reusable damage against control decks if your creatures can't push through. Early, it takes down Lord of Atlantis. Once you reach three mana, it takes a dude out a turn. Once you reach five, it hit two guys. I also don't run Terminate since I have plenty of ways to handle Tarmogoyf and I would rather have the card advantage and late game power that Punishing Fire provides.

My list:

Creatures:
4 tarmogoyf
4 kitchen finks (Aggro eat your heart out!)
4 dark confidant
3 eternal witness

Spells:
4 thoughtseize
4 path to exile
4 swords to plowshares
4 vindicate

Artifacts:
4 sensei's divining top

Planeswalkers:
2 elspeth, knight-errant

Lands:
4 wasteland
3 bayou
2 scrubland
1 savannah
3 verdant catacombs
3 marsh flats
2 windswept heath
2 forest
2 plains
1 swamp

SB:
under construction

My manabase configuration is a bit off because I recently switched from black to white orientated... I'm looking for cards to cut so I can fit in a couple of knight of the reliquary (for which I'm going to adjust my manabase as well). This deck is built to fight aggro (my meta is aggroheavy). My sideboard will consist of good cards against control and combo.

What do you think? I must say that the control approach towards the rock suits me and feels right

As you said your list is for your meta. And I think it's fine for something like that.

If you are planning to add the knights I would cut a witness (You're super redundant already and probably won'y need to recur much) and 2 Path to Exiles. (6 1 mana removal spells is enough). What're you planning on doing with Knight? Knight's best when it can fetch for things that it can change the game state. I saw the Wasteland but there are other options as well (Stronghold, Horizon Canopy, Man-Lands...), and option's are never a bad thing.

I would suggest a manabase (without the knight addition and all 4 of your Wastelands) like this:

3 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
3 Savannah
2 Scrubland
1 Bayou
4 Wasteland
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Swamp

With Knight:

3 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Maze of Ith
2 Wasteland
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Forest

@Arne

I'm playing a control list myself at the moment; I would strongly recommend adding Pernicious Deed or Damnation, I've been getting good results with them both, Damnation especially so.

Also, I would think about a split between Vindicate/Maelstrom Pulse, as Iona on white will completely cripple you.

I actually like 3 Witness, they smooth the deck out tremendously provided you can keep GG on the table; recurring spot removal is crazy good vs aggro. Also, with these guys in here it's almost a crime not to play Volrath's Stronghold. It was won me countless games as a must answer land in terms of inevitability.

My changes would be somewhere along the lines of:

-1-2 Vindicate / +1-2 Maelstrom Pulse
-2-4 Path to Exile, -1 Sensei's Divining Top / +0-2 Damnation, +0-3 Pernicious Deed
-1 Wasteland / +1 Volrath's Stronghold

Also, I have just started testing Elspeth and have been getting good results so far; if unanswered it just controls the board (especially with wrath/deed) and can pop a goyf over the top for lethal.From behind it makes this hard to kill deck even more hard to kill, stalling until we can find a creature or something to sweep with. What are your experiences so far? I've also just started testing KotR and he is good but just seems like another large beater at this point; if I had a Tabernacle for the side it might be a different story and I have yet to test him with Bojuka Bog but it just seems too slow vs dredge/reanimator (the two most worrisome graveyard decks IMO)

I'm also curious as to how Dark Confidant has been working for you.

4 Finks FTW!

MrShine

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrShine

@Arne

I'm playing a control list myself at the moment; I would strongly recommend adding Pernicious Deed or Damnation, I've been getting good results with them both, Damnation especially so.

Also, I would think about a split between Vindicate/Maelstrom Pulse, as Iona on white will completely cripple you.

I actually like 3 Witness, they smooth the deck out tremendously provided you can keep GG on the table; recurring spot removal is crazy good vs aggro. Also, with these guys in here it's almost a crime not to play Volrath's Stronghold. It was won me countless games as a must answer land in terms of inevitability.

My changes would be somewhere along the lines of:

-1-2 Vindicate / +1-2 Maelstrom Pulse
-2-4 Path to Exile, -1 Sensei's Divining Top / +0-2 Damnation, +0-3 Pernicious Deed
-1 Wasteland / +1 Volrath's Stronghold

Also, I have just started testing Elspeth and have been getting good results so far; if unanswered it just controls the board (especially with wrath/deed) and can pop a goyf over the top for lethal.From behind it makes this hard to kill deck even more hard to kill, stalling until we can find a creature or something to sweep with. What are your experiences so far? I've also just started testing KotR and he is good but just seems like another large beater at this point; if I had a Tabernacle for the side it might be a different story and I have yet to test him with Bojuka Bog but it just seems too slow vs dredge/reanimator (the two most worrisome graveyard decks IMO)

I'm also curious as to how Dark Confidant has been working for you.

4 Finks FTW!

MrShine

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Thanks for your reply. About stronghold, I'm trying to trade/buy one, but they have been hard to come by. But when I do get my hands on one of them, it'll sure come in (swapping it for a wasteland of course). I've tested against a lot of aggro decks (gobbo, merfolk, zoo) and the sheer number of removal accompanied by witness/finks seems to give this deck a powerboost against those decks.

I've played deed and find it to be really slow. It is, however, a great card in combination with elspeth. maybe I'll add one or two... damnation also seems a bit clunky. I'm not a real fan of boardsweepers as you can see because they like to eat my critters as well.

Elspeth is a bomb. Drop it and keep it alive for one turn and you're basically in. When it lands, people tend to try and get rid of her as fast as possible. Many times people use multiple cards to deal with her so in that way, she's raw cardadvantage. Even when they do 2for1 or 3for1 her, she's done her job.

I don't know about m.pulse. I usually find it handy to vindicate a land. In that way, he seems more versatile because it allows me to manascrew my opponents even more. Because I play goyfs myself, I tend not to use it on my opponent's goyfs and the occassion where it could be 2for1 or more seems not extremely likely.

Knight of the reliquary is indeed a big creature and noting more. However, it opens the opportunity to create a landtoolbox. With the cards you named (tabernacle, bog) but also m. factory, nantuko monastery, maze of ith, etc. It gives the deck a lot more controloptions. It also searches for the one-off stronghold. I'm not sure what to cut for it but I'm thinking of -1 finks, -2 path to exile +3 KotR

Confidant is like Elspeth, they are the first to eat my opponent's removal so that my other creatures can push through. When it does stick, it wins the game. I've been hearing a couple of people say that they don't like it because it never sticks, but I find that to be a fallacy. If it sticks it wins.

And last but not least, Iona certainly can be a bitch. But my dredgematchup is terrible and the reanimator matchup can be won (Racing with a goyf, when the opponent casted a reanimate happens). I'm thinking of adding a few edicts to the board (chainer's edict looks good)

I'm also a big fan of playing the LD game with vindicate as well, but Iona is just really popular these days (in every survival and graveyard deck) that I really think it warrants including at least 1. Note that Vindicates can be recurred w/ witness should you want additional LD.

Damnation has actually been really good; they key is to not over extend and have at least 1 creature to drop afterwards. There is also synergy w/ Stronghold and Elspeth. It has saved my ass numerous times, even if it is a bit clunky and the BB in the casting cost can be a pain (but I choose it over wrath due to Iona).

Dredge isn't actually that bad, as long as we get a little luck on our side; basically, it requires having a swords and a deed in the opener G1 (deed isn't as slow here because we can crack it for 0), and w/ graveyard hate it IS doable... like you said racing w/ goyf is always a possibility. That being said, I would guesstimate the match at about 40-60 including G2 & 3, although my experience could be skewed because I seem to have gotten pretty lucky vs dredge in general. What I'm saying really is that we actually have alot of outs (damnation is good here too, btw) and it just depends on a little luck. Now ANT on the other hand...

If i were choosing an Edict I would definitely choose Diabloic Edict; Instants are just better vs decks like reanimator that pack counters

Well, when I check out ANT lists, they usually pack no red (burning wish) and they play a singleton Tendrils. Which means aggromullen to hide/seek should do the trick... Since it's an instant, you can react to spells like chant etc. And ANT, being less explosive and more consistent gives us time to cast it

Quote:

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Well, when I check out ANT lists, they usually pack no red (burning wish) and they play a singleton Tendrils. Which means aggromullen to hide/seek should do the trick... Since it's an instant, you can react to spells like chant etc. And ANT, being less explosive and more consistent gives us time to cast it

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Sorry, but is this a mis-post from another thread? I don't think ANT has come up for a while

There are so many good creatures in the 3 mana slot. it is quite hard to decide between:

Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness
Doran
Knight of the Reliquary
..

Vampire Nighthawk
Troll Ascetic


Personally, I am playing 3 Doran, 3 Finks and 2 Witness.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrShine

Sorry, but is this a mis-post from another thread? I don't think ANT has come up for a while

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I am sorry... should've quoted a statement you did

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrShine

Now ANT on the other hand...

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That's where my post reacts to

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Moczoc

There are so many good creatures in the 3 mana slot. it is quite hard to decide between:

Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness
Doran
Knight of the Reliquary
..

Vampire Nighthawk
Troll Ascetic


Personally, I am playing 3 Doran, 3 Finks and 2 Witness.

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I play 3 kitchen finks, 3 witness and 3 knight of the reliquary. They do the trick for me... When playing against a lot of zoo, goblins and merfolk, you should consider 4 finks and a couple of witness' They really shine in those matchups

For those running the more aggro-based builds, especially those running 3-4 Doran, have you thought about Stoneforge Mystic? She becomes a 2/2 attacker with Doran out in play, and she's +CA (something this deck doesn't have a lot of unless you're running Hymn/Verdict). And most aggro-based builds I've seen run 1-3 pieces of equipment anyway, so she seems like a logical choice for consideration. The obvious problem is that the 2cc slot is pretty filled out already; Goyf, Confidant, Pridemage. I suppose moving the Pridemages to the board and maindecking the Mystic is the most obvious fix, but then we lose some utility and gain some +CA. Thoughts?

I played at the Jupiter Games event at Vestal, NY on March 13th, my first big Legacy event ever. 106 people, and I ended 37th, so nothing too special, but I was happy with my deck. Here was the list I played:

Lands (23):

2 Bayou
3 Scrubland
2 Savannah
3 Marsh Flats
3 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
1 Plains
1 Forest
2 Swamp

Creatures (10):

3 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary

Disruption (12):

2 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Gerrard's Verdict

Removal(13):

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Diabolic Edict
2 Smallpox
3 Vindicate

Miscellanous (2):

2 Sensei's Divining Top

Sideboard (15):

3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Infest
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Choke
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt

Report:

Round 1: Burn

Game 1: I keep a hand that's decent for an unknown deck. Turn one thoughtseize reveals a hand full of burn cards, and I frown at the Dark Confidant and other Thoughtseize in my hand. Having only ten threats in my deck, of which three of them which I am unwilling to cast, meant that I drew no relevant threats and he burned me out.

Boarding: -3 Dark Confidant -2 Smallpox -2 Vindicate/Thoughtseize +3 Gaddock Teeg (it's a threat at least, and it stops fireblast and flame javelin) +1 Chalice of the Void +1 Ethersworn Canonist +2 Enlightened Tutor (something like this, I don't quite remember)

Game 2: I mull to 6, he keeps his initial seven. I turn one Thoughtseize him, revealing Fireblast, Flame Javelin, and five lands. I take the fireblast. He goes Mountain go. I Gerrard's Verdict him, he discards land and flame javelin. I overrun him with 2 Knight of the Reliquarys and 2 Tarmogoyfs.

Game 3: We both keep our initial seven. I don't remember much about this game, but I know I played around Price of Progress (after Thoughtseize/Duressing him and seeing two PoP). He makes a really bad play at one point by Lightning Bolting my 2/2 un-summoning-sick Knight of the Reliquary, which proceeds to sac a dual, get a fetchland, and get a basic. The Knight survives. Eventually, I remember that I'm at five and he's at 19, and I have a 4/4 or 5/5 Knight out, he just has a Price of Progress in his hand, I only have one dual in play. So things are not looking good for me. I rip a Chalice for one, and realize stupidly that it just nullified the swords in my hand. Apparently it was the right play, though, because the only thing he drew while my Knight beat him down for four turns was lands, a Keldon Marauders (which got Diabolic Edicted), and a Chain Lightning that he couldn't cast. He dies after 5 turns of drawing nothing of relevance.

1-0

Round 2: CounterTop Bant

I'm playing Matt McNally, whom I realize afterwards is the highest rated Legacy player in New York, and also won the last Vestal tournament.

Game 1:

I'm on the play. I turn one Thoughtseize/Duress and take something that I don't remember. He goes turn one Noble Hierarch. I Smallpox, which gets Dazed. A few turns later I play a Knight of the Reliquary, who I thought was 3/3. He attacks with his 5/6 Tarmogoyf, thanks to double Noble Hierarch, into it. I block, tap and sac a land, get a Wasteland, waste my own land, and block with what I think is a 6/6 Knight. Apparently I went overboard and didn't need to Waste my own land since my Knight is actually 7/7, so it must've been a 4/4 before. Oh well, he still loses his Goyf. He's at like 28 because of Rhox War Monks, while I'm at 11 from previous exalted beats. So now the board state is as follows: I have a huge Knight (12/12 or so), and a 4/5 Goyf, while he has a Rhox War Monk, two Noble Hierarchs, and a Counterbalance without a Top. I stupidly decide to slowplay it by just attacking with Goyf for a couple of turns, leaving Knight behind to block. He's drawing nothing but lands and Dazes so I beat him down to 14 with Goyf. On my turn, I attack with both, he blocks the Knight with a Noble Hierarch, he takes the Goyf beats and goes to 10. I play a Goyf during my second main, blind Counterbalance flip reveals Natural Order. F. And to make it worse, I had played Dark Confidant a few turns earlier, causing me to go from 11 to 9. If I hadn't played the Confidant, or if I had been more aggressive with attacking with the Knight, I would have survived one Progenitus attack and probably win this game. I die shortly afterwards to Progenitus.

Boarding: None as far as I can remember, maybe I brought in Choke and Deed.

Game 2:

We both mull to five, and eventually my initial discard gets us both in topdeck mode (well not really since we both have Tops out). He gets Counterbalance out, while my Top reveals that I have Confidant on top. I switch the Top for the Confidant, and play the Confidant, his Counterbalance reveals land or something, so my Confidant resolves. Unfortunately, that means I can't play my Top again. I'm getting huge card advantage from Confidant, who survives the whole game. However, he is getting huge card advantage from Counterbalance, rendering most of my draws pretty useless. He locks me out with CounterTop and beats me with Goyfs.

1-1

Round 3: Reanimator

Game 1: I Thoughtseize him, he Brainstorms in response and Dazes it. I put him on Reanimator, since my next Duress sees some Forces and an Echoing Truth. He turn three Thoughtseizes me, and I have nothing but two Confidants and some lands, so he takes a Confidant. I draw a Smallpox (=]) and play my other Confidant. End of turn he Mysticals for a Dark Ritual, then he goes Dark Rit, entomb, exhume, getting Empyrial Archangel. I Smallpox, he frowns, I win.

Sideboard: -3 Vindicate, -2 Gerrard's Verdict, +2 Enlightened Tutor, +1 Relic, +1 Tormod's Crypt, +1 Chalice of the Void.

Game 2: At the end of my turn one I E. Tutor for Chalice of the Void, intending to play it for 1 on my turn two. Only after I draw it do I realize that this is stupid because I know he plays Daze. I play Chalice, it gets Spell Pierced, oh well. Next turn, I draw Relic like a champ, and it resolves. He Thoughtseizes me the turn after, and sees a hand that's something like: Goyf, Edict, Edict, Smallpox, Swords, Confidant. He remarks that this will be an interesting game. He takes the Goyf, and attempts to Reanimate the Goyf. I tap and remove Goyf with Relic in response. He can do absolutely nothing about the three untargeted removals in my hand, as well as Relic, so he dies to Knight beats or something.

2-1

Round 4: Stax

I'm playing Anwar Ahmad, who apparently writes articles for Starcitygames or something.

Game 1:

My huge Knight of the Reliquary crushes through Ghostly Prison twice, he dies. Of note, though, I find out that he's playing Pitfall Trap, which actually seems like a very good choice for Stax, since it's basically a Swords that gets around Chalice for one.

Boarding: -4 Swords to Plowshares, -2 Smallpox, +3 Gaddock Teeg, +2 Enlightened Tutor, +1 Pernicious Deed

Game 2:

I keep a hand with Thoughtseize, Top, and five lands, thinking I should be fine as long as he doesn't go turn one Chalice. He goes turn one Chalice. Frown. I draw Gaddock Teeg, and play him next turn. He apparently can't do a damn thing about it. He tries to play Engineered Explosives for two but I inform him that he can't because it has X in its cost. He has Crucible + Wasteland going, as well as Crucible + Horizon Canopy to draw cards every turn. He also has a Karakas in his graveyard, which apparently he doesn't know he can use to bounce my Teeg, but I don't say anything, so I happily beat him down from 20 to 6 with just Teeg. All the while, my hand is filling up with CC 1s. He eventually finds Magus of the Tabernacle, and then Baneslayer, and I concede because I have no lands.

Boarding: -1 Swords to Plowshares, +1 Relic

Game 3:

I keep a hand with double Windswept Heath, Hymn to Tourach, a Teeg, and some other stuff. On the second turn, I make a really bad decision. I drew another Hymn to Tourach, so I decide to use my two Windswept Heaths to get Bayou and Scrubland in order to Hymn him instead of fetching basics and playing Teeg. I fail to hit Crucible with my first Hymn. He Wastes my Bayou, so I can't Hymn him next turn. I do have Savannah though, so I can play Teeg. He then plays Crucible. F. Wastelock just destroys me. Notably, this game he does remember that he can bounce Teeg with Karakas, and announces it dramatically when he does bounce Teeg. I lose to Wastelock.

2-2

Round 5: UWR Landstill

Game 1: I Thoughtseize/Duress him first turn, he Brainstorms in response, I take a Swords. He plays Standstill next turn. I break it with Goyf. He Oks Goyf. I eventually play a bunch of Knights and Goyfs and apparently he can't find any removal for any of them. I beat him down to one with Goyf, and kill him with Smallpox, heh.

Boarding: -4 Swords to Plowshares, -1 Diabolic Edict, -2 Smallpox +3 Gaddock Teeg, +2 Enlightened Tutor, +1 Choke, +1 Pernicious Deed

Game 2: We both keep sketchy one land hands. He goes Factory, Relic, pass. I go turn one Thoughtseize, seeing he has no other lands and so I take his Top. He goes another Relic, pass. I don't draw my second land so I just play my Top, which gets Forced. He draws Dust Bowl (still no colored mana, ha) and attacks me for Factory some. I draw my second land and play Confidant, which he can't answer. I play Teeg, Knight, Choke, and some Goyfs, all of which he can't answer. However, he does have Crucible, so that combined with Dust Bowl is able to free up his blue sources. While I beat him down, I go down really low from Confidant flips. On my final turn, I have lethal on my board, but I'm at three from Confidants. I hoped he boarded out Lightning Bolts since he didn't see any creatures with toughness less than 3 game one (it turns out that he did). On my last flip, I flip Gerrard's Verdict, so I win with one life remaining.

3-2

Round 6: UBR Painter + CounterTop

Game 1: I feel in total control of the game as I have a Goyf and two Knights that are unanswered. He plays a Trinket Mage and grabs Meekstone. F. I can't do enough damage or find a Vindicate before he PainterStones me.

Boarding: Don't really remember, but it was dumb because I boarded out some removal, which probably should have stayed in because I knew he plays Painter and Confidant. I do remember that I brought in Chalice.

Game 2: Sometime during this game I play Chalice for one. It resolves, he frowns. He plays Engineered Explosives, paying 2 for X but only with one color, setting it at one counter, which really confuses me since I play no permanents that are CC 1 in my deck other than Top. Eventually he tries to blow up Chalice with EE, but I tell him that Chalice has CC 0 when its in play, so EE at 1 does nothing. He concedes because he can't win against Chalice at 1.

Game 3: He gets Painter, which I don't have removal for. I try to lure out his Red Blasts with Thoughtseize and Goyf and stuff, which works. He has Counterbalance in play though. I go EOT Enlightened Tutor, he doesn't remember the Counterbalance trigger, so E Tutor resolves. I go get Chalice and next turn I play it for one. Blind Counterbalance flip reveals...Dark Confidant! Damnit! In a few turns he goes Trinket Mage for Grindstone, and kills me. If only he had remembered the Counterbalance trigger, I could have waited one turn to play Chalice at one and would have had a much higher chance of winning that game.

3-3

Round 7: UBG Homebrew with Trinket Mage, Tombstalker, Tarmogoyf, Deed

His deck is incredibly similar to mine in play style. He tells me before we start playing that if he wins it'll take forever, so I guess Landstill, he says no, but it plays kind of like Landstill. He also remarks that he really wishes I were playing Reanimator. So I rack my brains for a deck that he might be playing, but I can't really think of one.

Game 1:

Turn one Thoughtseize reveals Chalice, EE, Tombstalker, and some other stuff. So I'm really confused at what he's playing. I take Chalice. The entire game is basically one for ones. One turn, notably, he trinket mages for Top, but doesn't use crack his fetchland to play Top. I thought that was the wrong play by him, because I just Duress it away. The whole game is basically one for ones. However, eventually I get Confidant to stick. I'm losing more life than he is with Confidant, and he's not using Deed because he wants me to die to my own Confidant. I've had Smallpox in my hand for forever, but I'm waiting for him to play a threat, which he doesn't. So once I go down to two or three life, I play Smallpox, which 4 for 1s myself since he doesn't have a creature in play or a card in hand. Basically, we both play infinite removal for each other's threats, but eventually I get double Knight of the Reliquary and kill him, since all of his threats are smaller than Knight. At the end of the game we both have about 10 cards left in our libraries.

Boarding: -2 Smallpox, -2 Edict, +2 Enlightened Tutor, +1 Choke, +1 Pernicious Deed (I dont' actually know why I brought in Deed).

Game 2:

Same thing, one for ones until the board state looks like this: He has Pernicious Deed, Trinket Mage, and Top, and I have Pernicious Deed and Top. I Jedi mind trick him into thinking that there's a way I can save my top when I blow up my Deed. When I crack my Deed for three, he responds by activating his Top. I respond by activating my Top. He responds by cracking his Deed...for 0. He's just having fun, I guess he didn't realize that he could kill my Top by cracking Deed for 1 in response to my activation. Eventually I find Choke, Vindicate his non-blue lands and his Deeds, and he can't find Maelstrom Pulse for it, so I beat him down with Goyfs and Knights.

4-3

The deck played just fine, but there were some issues. Infests in the board were crap, since I didn't play any Goblins or Merfolk. In hindsight they would have been so much better as Krosan Grips, which would have been useful in every single match I lost. Secondly, Edicts and Smallpoxes were only mediocre, Iona never came into play against me, and I never got to kill a Progenitus with them. On the positive side, they did probably single-handedly win me the Reanimator match. If I were to play this deck again, I would probably go -2 Smallpox -1 Diabolic Edict +3 EE, -3 Infest from the board +1 E Tutor and 2 more tutor targets.

Your deck is pretty heavy on disruption. Why is that?

I played at a small tourney in my hometown on sunday. This is what I played:

3 Bayou
2 Scrubland
1 Savannah
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Swamp
3 Wasteland
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Marsh Flats
2 Windswept Heath

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
3 Eternal Witness
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Path to Exile
4 Vindicate
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

SB:
4 Hide//Seek
3 Krosan Grip
3 Gaddock Teeg
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Path to Exile
1 Kitchen Finks
1Crime//Punishment


We played five rounds with no T8 and I went 3-2-0 and took 5th place. I built this deck with my aggro meta in mind. The deck that won the tournament was ANT. I lost 2-1 against ANT, only because of a stupid mistake I made. I already discarded AdN and chose to remove Tendrils over a IGG with my Hide//Seek. The only thing is that my opponent boarded in a copy of Brainfreeze as an alternative killcon. Seek really does win this matchup.

My sideboard worked out for me. I won the first round against my friend Bart who played Thoptercontrol (the build that went 9-0 at Madrid), won 2-0 against a UB Faerie deck, lost to ANT, won against another BGW Rock deck (the match was like a standardgame, he played a threat, I find removal, I play a threat, he finds removal, and this went on and on) and finally lost to UBG TempoThresh due to bad mullingdecisions. I think this deck could've won the tournament if I didn't make those mistakes. I know ANT is a bad matchup but I know Hide//Seek shines (along with Teeg and Thoughtseize to buy time) and TempoThresh isn't a bad matchup.

Quote:

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Your deck is pretty heavy on disruption. Why is that?

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Because I wanted to have a decent to good matchup against combo. Also, I wasn't going to play the 2 extra Duresses, but the store only had 2 Smallpoxes for sale (I wanted to play four) so I had to put Duresses in. I never had the problem of not having enough threats all day, except for maybe against Burn game 1.

Also, Arne, congrats on your finish, but I have some questions for you. What matchups do you board Hide/Seek in against? It seems like an interesting choice, one that I might consider for my sideboard. Also, do you think 4 Tops is too many?

Thanks for your reply! I only board in the Hide//Seek against combo AKA ANT. This because that deck is so consistent and tough to beat with only 4 thoughtseizes in your deck... the only thing you do with disruption like duress and thoughteize is buy time... Or let me put it like this, you're just delaying the inevitable.

So, you just have to attack the weak spot of ANT, and that is the one-off killcon they have in their deck... Hide//Seek does all that, for just 2 mana at instantspeed! Considering that ANT is strong, resilient and consistent but a bit slower than say TES and Belcher, you can safely get to two mana.

(I don't think this happens a lot, but when your opponent boards in a copy of brainfreeze, you can just remove their AdN and later on a IGG/Tendrills to put the wind out of their sails)

I really don't think 4 SDT's is too many. That card is MVP and gives you a lot of cardquality. Even when you draw 2, it's never a bad thing... but with one out and a bunch of fetches, you can always shuffle it away... 4 is needed to get it in the early turns.

Another thing, I know Hide//Seek seems like a narrow card to put in the Board. But combo is such a bad macthup that I don't really care. I've a good matchup against aggro and aggrocontrol and control is not too bad either... that only leaves combo.

Yea, Hide/Seek does seem pretty narrow if you only board it in against ANT. Keep in mind that there are other combo decks out there (Belcher, Solidarity, TES, I guess Dredge and Reanimator kind of count), and that Hide/Seek does next to nothing to those. If you really want to hate combo, I suggest a more versatile answer like Ethersworn Canonist or Thorn of Amethyst.

But about Hide/Seek, why don't you board it in against, say, NoPro Bant or Bant Survival? Seek on Progenitus, Loyal Retainers/Iona, or Squee seems pretty good.

seems like an idea^^, only problem is those decks do not really need progenitus or iona, but, without them it looks better for the rock imho