Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sturtzilla
Great report, was fun to read :)
You definitely want to maximize your black fetches. Full set of Polluted Delta and Verdant Catacombs is important if you ever want to run a singleton Swamp, or Badlands.
I'm curious why you chose Inquisition of Kozilek for your sideboard. I'm assuming these go in for the combo match, but the life from Thoughtseize doesn't matter in those games and you often want to hit something bigger than 3CMC. In addition, I usually put in a 3rd Thoughtseize for Stoneforge Mystic decks since it hits equipment after they tutor. Inquisition won't be able to hit Batterskull.
Did you find any uses for the Engineered Explosives? I feel like Whipflare, Golgari Charm and Disfigure are just better cards. Thoughts?
Cheers,
Frank
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pherion
That seems like a fair point. I do think the suite of Delta, Misty, and Verdant are where you want to be as they each can hit all of your duals and thereby fix your mana. I want to convert the Flats to Catacombs. Either when I get paid or rack up some more store credit it will happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pherion
I'm curious why you chose
Inquisition of Kozilek for your sideboard. I'm assuming these go in for the combo match, but the life from
Thoughtseize doesn't matter in those games and you often want to hit something bigger than 3CMC. In addition, I usually put in a 3rd
Thoughtseize for
Stoneforge Mystic decks since it hits equipment after they tutor. Inquisition won't be able to hit
Batterskull.
I chose Inquisition of Kozilek as I only own 2 Thoughtseize. At ~$60-65 a piece I will probably back burner them unless my LGS meta shifts dramatically toward the combo end of the meta spectrum. Eventually they will become Thoughseizes. Using Thoughtseize to turn a SFM into a Squire does seem pretty good. I haven't yet had the chance to do that but will be trying it out next Blade mu I get.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pherion
Well it was a place holder as I only had one Liliana of the Veil. I have now corrected that portion of the deck's problems. I actually did not side it in at all... although I think it would have been pretty nice versus Affinity of which my meta has 1-2 pilots. Being able to answer Etched Champion is a pretty big deal. Liliana also can get that job done if you can pop off the rest of their guys. I guess I wanted a different sweeper type effect.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
@Sturtzilla: great performance, and good pile you put together.
I have found my favorite sweeper available to this deck to be Massacre, as it doesn't target and can be a blowout, particularly when you have Goyfs and/or Planeswalkers in play. It hits every other creature in your deck, but honestly I've found it to be a great insurance policy against Aggro and swarm, and particularly against anything white--Maverick, D&T, even Stoneblade. And it can't be cascaded into, so you don't run the risk of a crappy blind cascade.
Lastly, I like it more because it is a damn good answer to Mirran Crusader, which is starting to pop up a lot more.
I will concede that Golgari Charm has more overall utility, plus it won't kill your own DrShamans or Agents. It's a damn fine card.
And as for some sideboard tech I'm testing against Affinity (I have two players in my local meta). The cascadeable Hurkyl's recall. I mean, ouch. Hits almost every permanent they run.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Greetings, I recently came into a set of natural order and ive been brainstorming where to best utilize them. This archtype is one of the better candidates that came to mind. Heres what im testing today, all thoughts welcome:
Shardless NO Pro
4 shardless agent
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Tarmogoyf
1 Progenitus
4 Brainstorm
4 ancestral vision
4 Force of Will
3 thoughtseize
4 Natural Order
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Abrupt Decay
9 fetches
3 Trops
3 Sea
2 Dryad Arbor
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Forest
2 dryad arbors makes cascading into GSZ actually desirable due to enabling the combo with protection from liliana effects. 4 FoW, 3 seize, 3 clique is damn decent protection for the combo, from verdict/terminus, and not to mention vs combo.
Im basically replacing JTMS and baleful strix with NO package including GSZ, clique in place of hymn and maxing the FoW count. Meanwhile the deck retains the majority of good cascade targets only missing hymn/strix but in return gets a 10/10 pro everything. Thoughts?
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tombstalker
Greetings, I recently came into a set of natural order and ive been brainstorming where to best utilize them. This archtype is one of the better candidates that came to mind. Heres what im testing today, all thoughts welcome:
Shardless NO Pro
4 shardless agent
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Tarmogoyf
1 Progenitus
4 Brainstorm
4 ancestral vision
4 Force of Will
3 thoughtseize
4 Natural Order
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Abrupt Decay
9 fetches
3 Trops
3 Sea
2 Dryad Arbor
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Forest
2 dryad arbors makes cascading into GSZ actually desirable due to enabling the combo with protection from liliana effects. 4 FoW, 3 seize, 3 clique is damn decent protection for the combo, from verdict/terminus, and not to mention vs combo.
Im basically replacing JTMS and baleful strix with NO package including GSZ, clique in place of hymn and maxing the FoW count. Meanwhile the deck retains the majority of good cascade targets only missing hymn/strix but in return gets a 10/10 pro everything. Thoughts?
This list seems atrocious, sorry. Only 2 Goyfs, why would you want 3 Clique? GSZ seems like an aweful card to play, even when 'you can cascade in it'. Dryad Arbor does nothing worthwhile. Strix and Agent already gave you Liliana protection. And the NO combo, I guess you can play it, but you probably shouldn't. You've taken too many elements from the deck and made them MUCH worse, for a yanky combo. Also the manabase is poor. No Tar Pit, no Wasteland, basics, only 9 fetch with DRS, too few duals to protect against Wasteland.
This deck lacks power and more importantly velocity and a consistent gameplan.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
This list seems atrocious, sorry. Only 2 Goyfs, why would you want 3 Clique? GSZ seems like an aweful card to play, even when 'you can cascade in it'. Dryad Arbor does nothing worthwhile. Strix and Agent already gave you Liliana protection. And the NO combo, I guess you can play it, but you probably shouldn't. You've taken too many elements from the deck and made them MUCH worse, for a yanky combo. Also the manabase is poor. No Tar Pit, no Wasteland, basics, only 9 fetch with DRS, too few duals to protect against Wasteland.
This deck lacks power and more importantly velocity and a consistent gameplan.
The list might need some tweaking, I noticed this in the last 30ish test games but it doesnt lack in power. Actually it lacks cantrips, or even a jace or two brought back.
Goyf count might need to go up to 3 but probably not 4, not with GSZ.
Speaking of zenith it finds DRS and goyf and arbor so the deck is always ramping. Always. Its the worst cascade target, cant help that, but dropping shardless t2 into GSZ-> arbor still enables a turn 3 combo with sac protection on board. And thats worst case.
3 clique because they are flying evasive beaters with instant speed disruption, shuffle progenitus back into the deck and together with thoughtseize makes 6 ways to disrupt my opponents hand.
Please elaborate how the manabase is poor. Also no wastelands is not an accident or a budget thing.
This deck wants to hit 4 mana by turn 3 all the time. Packing wasteland and manlands isnt what I wanted because Progenitus doesnt care about opposing jaces like the current iteration, neither does clique. Seriously if someone wants to try and waste this deck out its not going to be easy. It packs 27 ways to get mana including 2 basics.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Linqed
This list seems atrocious, sorry. Only 2 Goyfs, why would you want 3 Clique? GSZ seems like an aweful card to play, even when 'you can cascade in it'. Dryad Arbor does nothing worthwhile. Strix and Agent already gave you Liliana protection. And the NO combo, I guess you can play it, but you probably shouldn't. You've taken too many elements from the deck and made them MUCH worse, for a yanky combo. Also the manabase is poor. No Tar Pit, no Wasteland, basics, only 9 fetch with DRS, too few duals to protect against Wasteland.
This deck lacks power and more importantly velocity and a consistent gameplan.
It is true that the list lacks focus. Where NO RUG and it's splash brothers are all UGx midrange decks that just have the additional NOPRO button, this deck seems to be all over the place. Pure control action with Agent into Vision for value but no other good control cards (planeswalkers, sweepers). Fast disruption but almost no fast clock to supplement it. I feel that it's probably suboptimal to play the Natural Order package AND the cascade plan in one list.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
It is true that the list lacks focus. Where NO RUG and it's splash brothers are all UGx midrange decks that just have the additional NOPRO button, this deck seems to be all over the place. Pure control action with Agent into Vision for value but no other good control cards planeswalkers, sweepers). Fast disruption but almost no fast clock to supplement it. I feel that it's probably suboptimal to play the Natural Order package AND the cascade plan in one list.
I can see that its unfocused, although the different packages were kinda what appealed to me. Maybe it can be focused with a little help?
The clock is actually on par with tempo strategies Ive used without quite the same level of disruption. It can consistently find goyfs DRS and clique. Thing is ive never piloted the original NO RUG, just played against it, so I dont have a good baseline of what the original felt like. Honestly I was actually expecting people to feel like clique + progenitus increased the decks clock, say as opposed to jace and strix.
In all my test games so far ive noted a few things that might shed some insight:
-it has great acceleration and good disruption.
-wasteland is not an issue. Ive been playing against reoccuring wastes without any sweat.
-progenitus ignores so many creature based plans and even overturns a losing board state against non combo.
-shardless brings quite a bit of value due to being UG for NO and if necessary FoW while also being a 2/2 bear.
-the deck stalls in its draws at times wishing for more cantrips or more jace (ive since added 2 jace back).
-only 4 abrupt decay are at times not quite enough making the deck want to resolve NO to recover rather than having NO as an option. If progenitus lands removal is not really an issue since the deck can protect itself with chump blockers via arbors/shardless while progenitus wins. Jace might help with the removal thing too, not enough games to know for sure yet.
So with that said, any ideas? idk maybe I should just go for more of an aggro strategy? It would involve dropping shardless and visions for something green including full goyfs, and likely some ponders. Just doesnt feel as powerful though.
Another idea is just a little less focus on the cascade mechanic but keeping it intact since shardless does bring quite a bit of value to the deck. This would allow for a little more removal more disruption and more goyf. Thoughts?
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tombstalker
So with that said, any ideas? idk maybe I should just go for more of an aggro strategy? It would involve dropping shardless and visions for something green including full goyfs, and likely some ponders. Just doesnt feel as powerful though.
You might as well play play BUG Delver at that point and throw in Tombstalker.
For SCG Baltimore this Sunday, I think I've settled on this list. But who knows I might change it tomorrow again LOL!
Lands
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Badlands
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Wasteland
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Shardless Agent
2 Baleful Strix
Spells
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil
Sideboard
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Disfigure
2 Baleful Strix
2 Golgari Charm
2 Whipflare
1 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
3 Flusterstorm
I've removed one of the Creeping Tar Pits for a Swamp, this stabilizes the mana base after the addition of the Badlands for the red splash. Only other changes are in the sideboard. I've settled on Whipflare and Golgari Charm for swarms. Disfigure is additional removal for mirror or agro. Also, no graveyard hate, as I've found Deathrite Shaman is more than enough if you resolve him T1.
I put together a brief sideboard plan just to give myself an idea if the sideboard was effective, and I like how it looks so far. I'll attach the spreadsheet since I don't feel like posting it all here. http://www.arolkay.com/MrAvengerPimp...hipflare).xlsx
Comments and crit welcome!
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
So I thought the NO idea was interesting and I've been wanting to brew a NO Bug deck for a while. I threw together this list and started a lil bit of testing:
Creatures (13)
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Shardless Agent
4x Tarmogoyf
1x Progenitus
Spells (25)
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Ancestral Vision
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Natural Order
3x Green Sun's Zenith
Lands (22)
2x Dryad Arbor
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Polluted Delta
3x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
2x Bayou
3x Wasteland
The deck is obviously super soft to combo game 1. I'm not really sure how well the deck can protect the NO, which poses a bit of a problem at times, but I think you only really want to be casting it versus the non-tempo matchups anyways.
I dont think visions or shardless can really come out because it gives the deck enough card advantage to negate the fundamental card disadvantage of both FOW and NO while also fueling both. I'm not sure about the mana base as I've sometimes been flooded while completely land screwed at other times. Regardless, this is an interesting way to take the deck and NO certainly makes some rough game 1's (Maverick, Jund) easier.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
somethingdotdotdot
So I thought the NO idea was interesting and I've been wanting to brew a NO Bug deck for a while. I threw together this list and started a lil bit of testing:
Creatures (13)
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Shardless Agent
4x Tarmogoyf
1x Progenitus
Spells (25)
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Ancestral Vision
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Natural Order
3x Green Sun's Zenith
Lands (22)
2x Dryad Arbor
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Polluted Delta
3x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
2x Bayou
3x Wasteland
The deck is obviously super soft to combo game 1. I'm not really sure how well the deck can protect the NO, which poses a bit of a problem at times, but I think you only really want to be casting it versus the non-tempo match-ups anyways.
I don't think visions or shardless can really come out because it gives the deck enough card advantage to negate the fundamental card disadvantage of both FOW and NO while also fueling both. I'm not sure about the mana base as I've sometimes been flooded while completely land screwed at other times. Regardless, this is an interesting way to take the deck and NO certainly makes some rough game 1's (Maverick, Jund) easier.
I feel like if you want to run Natural Order and Green Sun's Zenith, then you need to be running the hate-bears (Gaddok Teeg, Scavenging Ooze, etc.) and you might as well run a better threat. Tarmogoyf off of a GSZ. At that point you've completely changed the nature of the deck. Shardless BUG is a control/mid-range deck. You've removed all of the control (counters/discard), and made it into a bad mid-range/agro/combo mash-up deck.
The inability to protect a Natural Order is really bad. Especially since the creature sac is part of the cost. Elves has this problem too, and sides into discard in order to ensure their important spells resolve. I'm not sure this deck can create an effective sideboard plan. What would you remove in a combo/control game for discard? How about FOW? Just looking at the list, the first thing I'd remove are the GSZs. They don't have any good targets, and are just there to enable NO.
Sorry guys, I just feel that the NO version your toying with is a completely differnt deck, and has lost the control concept that makes Shardless BUG so powerful
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
I still feel BUG is the correct color choices and DRS/GSZ-> arbor is a powerful strategy for consistantly dropping bombs like liliana/clique/shardless turn 2 and jace/NO turn 3. Unfortunately there are a few problems with the supportive cast which I havent been able to work out yet. idk maybe its just because im used to tempo and combo so the deck doesnt feel as fluid by comparison.
Anyway thanks for the input guys, ill be moving on to continue testing NO elsewhere.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tombstalker
I still feel BUG is the correct color choices and DRS/GSZ-> arbor is a powerful strategy for consistantly dropping bombs like liliana/clique/shardless turn 2 and jace/NO turn 3. Unfortunately there are a few problems with the supportive cast which I havent been able to work out yet. idk maybe its just because im used to tempo and combo so the deck doesnt feel as fluid by comparison.
Anyway thanks for the input guys, ill be moving on to continue testing NO elsewhere.
The thing is NOPRO requires so many slots to work well, adding Agent+Vision just doesn't fit.
I've tried to make a list, but the least cards I got was 64 in the main...
Let's continue the discussion in the NO RUG thread and figure out a sort of optimal configuration there.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tombstalker
I still feel BUG is the correct color choices and DRS/GSZ-> arbor is a powerful strategy for consistantly dropping bombs like liliana/clique/shardless turn 2 and jace/NO turn 3.
You may be aware of this, but I wanted to point out that Shardless cascading into GSZ is awful (X = 0) and GSZ for Shardless is just as bad (no Cascade trigger). If you're going to go NO BUG, I would just axe the Shardless Agents and play something with higher impact.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Any advice on how to fight the mirror? I played 2 matches and lost both as the opponent is the first guy who resolved a suspended vision. I sided out all FOW for more discard like thoughtseize but I think a timely FOW to stop a vision might be very important as well.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Round 5 out of 9, poor Marius loses Game 1 to not exiling the Infernal Brian Braun-Duin was forced to cast a turn early. Remember folks, an exiled Tutor a turn keeps the Tendrils away.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Gratz to Timur finishing 4th in Baltimor. Is he on this forum as well? I would be interested to see his report.
I like the inclusion of 1 Top even though it means dropping a ancestral vision. . I wonder if 3 Lili and 3 Jace has been to much? I prefer 2/2 split myself.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mike1987
Any advice on how to fight the mirror? I played 2 matches and lost both as the opponent is the first guy who resolved a suspended vision. I sided out all FOW for more discard like thoughtseize but I think a timely FOW to stop a vision might be very important as well.
I've got some for you in this post :)
SCG Baltimore Tournament Report 34th / 284 players, 6/3 (26/16 in games)
This is my best finish at an open. Last time in DC I placed 36th with Esper Stoneblade. Here's the list I took this time around:
Lands (22)
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Badlands
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Wasteland
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures (14)
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Shardless Agent
2 Baleful Strix
Spells (24)
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil
Sideboard (15)
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Disfigure
2 Baleful Strix
2 Golgari Charm
2 Whipflare
1 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
3 Flusterstorm
Round 1 TES 2/0
G1: Opponent keeps a 0 lander with Gitaxian Probe and Lotus Petal into Ponder. He hits a land, but doesn't find enough gas. I Wasteland him once, and get a Tarmogoyf on board strengthened by his artifacts. Goyf beets for the win.
G2: I sided in 1x Liliana of the Veil, 1x Golgari Charm, 2x Thoguhtseize, 3x Flusterstorm, and 1x Hymn to Tourach. I took out 2x Baleful Strix, 4x Shardless Agent, and 2x Abrupt Decay. My opener saw Force of Will and Flusterstorm with a Deathrite Shaman, so I kept. I drew into a few discard spells while slowly eating at his life with Shaman. It comes down to him with 4 cards in hand, a Lotus Petal and Lion's Eye Diamond in play, and he casts a non-hellbent Infernal Tutor. I have two counters in hand, and figure that if he's going for protection it doesn't matter anyway, so I let it resolve. He get's a 2nd Rite of Flame. He then casts a 2nd Infernal Tutor, still no hellbent. At this point his hand is 2x Ritual, and an unknown card. I think for a bit and realize it has to be Empty the Warrens because he knows I have a Force that would stop any tutors. I let the tutor resolve, and he plays three rites into empty. I Flusterstorm, and he sacks all his artifact mana to pay for copies. Now the fun part: Golgari Charm! He scoops to that.
Round 2 Tezzerator 2/0
G1: I drop an Ancestral Vision on turn 1 and on turn 2, and his only real action is casting a Chalice of the Void on 1 and a chalice on 0. I think a lot of people have overestimated the effect of Chalice on this deck... it doesn't really do anything unless you hit it for 2. I had an abrupt decay in my opener, and EOT before my first Visions goes off I kill the Chalice on 0. After that he's just drown in Tarmogoyfs and Cascades.
G2: I swapped the main-deck Hymn to Tourachs for Thoughtseizes since I figured targeted discard is better to his his planeswalkers. He drops a Chalice of the Void off of Ancient Tomb on turn 1, and I Force of Will. My T1 is Deathrite Shaman, he drops another Chalice on 1 T2, and I don't care anymore! I Wasteland his Tomb, and he never gets past 1 mana >< ... not really a game of Magic: The Gathering unfortunately.
Round 3 12/14 Post 2/1
G1: I have no hope after Maelstrom Pulseing two Primeval Titans. With all his land, I'm just dead to any fatty top deck, and he's got a Sensei's Divining Top. Finally he finds Crop Rotation for Eye of Ugin and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn eats my head.
G2: I side in 2x Baleful Strix, 2x Thoughtseize, 1x Hymn to Tourach, 1x Liliana of the Veil. I took out 4x Abrupt Decay, 2x Shardless Agent. He t2's Show and Tell and I Force of Will. From there I drop some Tarmogoyfs with Force backup and he dies quickly with only a few lands in play.
G3: I keep my sideboard. I start out with t1 Thoughtseize, t2 Hymn to Tourach (which hits lands), t3 Liliana of the Veil to edict his Deathrite Shaman. He's stuck with 3 lands, and Thragtusk and Primeval Titan in hand. I find both of my Wastelands to keep him off mana, and a single Tarmogoyf wins it.
Round 4 Shardless BUG - Mirror 2/1
G1: We both suspend Ancestral Vision early, and the board gets stalled. He Force of Wills both of my Visions, and I can't stop his, so the game is over.
G2: I side in 1x Liliana of the Veil, 2x Baleful Strix, 2x Disfigure. I take out 2x Force of Will (because I like to be able to stop a visions), 2x Hymn to Tourach, 1x Thoughtseize. I start with a fetch, and he starts with a Deathrite Shaman. I crack EOT and Disfigure. I hit a t3 Liliana of the Veil, and he can't recover from there.
G3: Here's the important Mirror information This game was amazing. I had a slightly superior board with a Shardless Agent into Tarmogoyf. He has an Ancestral Vision suspended, a lonely Shardless Agent and a Creeping Tar Pit. I slam my Jace, the Mind Sculptor and fateseal myself. My goal here is to keep him attacking with Creeping Tar Pit while I expand my board state. Instead, he passes with four mana open. I brainstorm with my Jace, and he slams a Notion Thief. In my humble opinion, this card is bad in legacy... but hey. I respond and use the one card in my hand to Abrupt Decay his Agent. He draws 3 cards, and has a visions set to go off next turn. I realize that I have to kill him, and I have to do it fast. I play another Agent, and hit another Tarmogoyf. I swing in with my two available creatures, and of course he doesn't block (since i have two visions suspended as well and he wants to draw those too!). He spends his turn drawing more cards, then attacking with theif and tar pit to kill my jace. I swing the beats back at his face. And he drops to very low life. His turn, he plays two creatures and passes. I swing team, and he has to block with everything... Theif dies the turn before my visions goes off. From there he can't jam enough onto the board to make up for how far behind he is - even though he drew 7 cards in one turn.
Moral of the story - board state wins the mirror! Someone on Cockatrice told me this, and I can't agree more! It doesn't matter how many cards are in your hand, or how many you make your opponent discard. What matters is what's on the board. So for those looking for mirror advice - take out all your discard for more creatures and removal. You're going to attack your opponent to death, and that means you need more creatures than they have.
Round 5 RUG Delver 1/2 (Mark Rankin who placed 6th)
G1: A very close game with us both at very low life at the end. He eventually gets there with Delver of Secrets.
G2: I get an Ancestral Vision suspended on t1, and another on t3. He doesn't see enough creatures to deal with my removal, and I hit a Tarmogoyf to block Nimble Mongoose. After the two visions resolve, he can't handle the card advantage!
G3: Another very close game (hell I think these games, and the mirror games were the absolute best of the day). We end up in a dead board, we both are on 2-3 lands, and have both Wastelanded each other. We're sitting on removal/control and are waiting for top-deck threats. The game was very intense, and he finally draws a Life from the Loam. I thank god for my singleton Swamp which is in play, and being to plan my turns based on one less mana each turn. I manage to waste his Tropical Island to keep him off Loam for a turn or two. At the end he has a Goyf and a Delver. I have Baleful Strix and Disfigure with two lands out. All I need is for him to expand his board state instead of wastelanding me, and I'm in the game. He takes a fetch from his hand and hovers it over his discard pile (go! do it!), then think better and Wastelands my Underground Sea. I shake his hand, and we chat for a while. Great game, and my first loss of the day.
Round 6 Reanimator 0/2
G1: This is the match-up I didn't want to see. It's not that huge a portion of the metta, and I was hoping to doge it all day - so much for luck! G1, he has a t1 Grisslebrand to my perfectly reasonable - and fair - hand. I try to rush to a Liliana of the Veil, but he has a Force of Will.
G2: in - 3x Flusterstorm, 1x Liliana of the Veil, 2x Thoughtseize, 2x Baleful Strix. Out - 4x Shardless Agent, 2x Hymn to Tourach, 2x Abrupt Decay. My t1, he forces my Thoughtseize, which gets me really scared. He pitches an Iona, Shield of Emeria, and passes the turn. Draw a force, and have a Liliana of the Veil in hand. I know he's already pitched one force, and am hoping he either doesn't have the reanimate spell, or counter backup. On his turn, he Exhumes, and I force. He has a Misdirection, and the game is over (he named black).....
Round 7 Merfolk 2/0
G1: I can tell my opponent is inexperienced, and I feel bad when I see him cast a t3 Standstill while he has no Lords and I have a Tarmogoyf. I respond to the standstill by Abrupt Decaying one of his two dudes. He does draw go for a while, until he eventually has to break the Standstill. I draw the cards, and resolve an Ancestral Vision the next turn. He can't win from there.
G2: in - all my removal, - out planeswalkers and discard. He plays standstill much better this time, but this deck is just nuts. He gets to draw off of two standstills (both of which I break immediately because it's NEVER worth while sitting there when they have better board state.) Between Golgari Charm, Disfigure, Abrupt Decay, and Whipflare - it didn't matter how many cards he drew, and I won on the back of a single 7/8 Tarmogoyf.... biggest one I've ever had!
Round 8 Patriot Delver 1/2
G1: I kill off two Stoneforge Mystics, and he slams a third... I can't beat a Batterskull.
G2: all the removal comes in again, plansewalkers and discard out. I resolve an early Liliana of the Veil and then two Ancestral Visions. He can't keep up, and I grind him out.
G3: I played well this game, but he ends up with Delver, SFM and Geist of Saint Taft... I'm at 9, and have to clear his board or I'm dead. I Brainstorm into nothing, fetch and Brainstorm again - still nothing. Here's where Whipflare would have shined :(
Round 9 RUG Pyromancer 2/0
G1: This deck was funny... It played every cantrip available, and Young Pyromancer. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or not when my opponnent ragged when I Abrupt Decayed his Tarmogoyf to swing in lethal.
G2: He got a Young Pyromancer out and made a dude. Then I cascaded into Whipflare. He raged again .... Fun magic!
Conclusions
My MVPs for the day were Disfigure and Tarmogoyf. Disfigure kills EVERYTHING, so glad I fit it into the board. And of course Goyf beats for the win. My opponents were consistently amazed at how big he is - it's the artifact creatures that do it, make him a 5/6 on the regular.
The only card I'm not sure about is Whipflare, it seemed good when I got to use it, but I wonder if other cards wouldn't be better. Just have to test more!
I also didn't get to see the one match I was really scared of - Death and Taxes. I guess I was justified in being scared since it had two showings in the top 8! That's what the Whipflares were really for. Wish I'd have fought them - think I would have done OK :)
Over all it was a great day of Magic, and I had loads of fun making opponents salty when cascading into crazyness!
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cire_dk
Gratz to Timur finishing 4th in Baltimor. Is he on this forum as well? I would be interested to see his report.
I like the inclusion of 1 Top even though it means dropping a ancestral vision. . I wonder if 3 Lili and 3 Jace has been to much? I prefer 2/2 split myself.
Timur should be Zirath here on the Source, i think he wrote an TA/River Rock report when he Top 8'ed with it some time ago.
Re: [DTB] BUG "Shardless" Control
Started 0-2 then won 7 in a row yesterday.
Got 17th (with Shardless).
I was going to board 2x Venser, Shaper Savant, but Venser was ($20) in the dealer booth, so I didn't feel like buying a second one. Due to the generosity of people, I managed to find one.
Amusing tidbits: losing r1 to Kenny Mayer (of Virginia) playing Zoo-Battle of Wits in 3 games.
Also went 7-2-1 in the Standard portion (losing r9 for my 2nd loss, basically my lose and out).
I plan on playing Shardless in DC again, with some minor changes, but a few notes: I do not understand lists with less than 22 lands. I think 22 is the bare minimum given your deck is fine with flooding to a certain degree, and I don't mind 23.
Gerry convinced me to cut my sideboarded Loam at the last minute, which I think he is right about.
