Just please ignore all the hyperboles and hatred in that past discussion. I promise there's some valuable info somewhere between :)Quote:
Originally Posted by nevilshute
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Just please ignore all the hyperboles and hatred in that past discussion. I promise there's some valuable info somewhere between :)Quote:
Originally Posted by nevilshute
Heh, yeah there was a lot of both the former and the latter :) I've decided to try the UBr version with no Burning Wishes instead of the wish build I've been running up until now. I think an actual real sideboard will lend me the maneuverability to stand a better chance vs the deathrite/liliana decks. In particular I've lent inspiration from Patrunkenphat2 and have put in 2x Pithing Needle in the board also cutting Ad Nauseam for a maindeck Empty. Will probably take some getting used to, but will give it a whirl.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemnear
I've gone down to one Wish in the main, just as a hedge of some kind against Thalias and Gaddock Teegs in game 1. I don't have that many targets, either, just Pyroclasm, IGG, Massacre, Empty, and Duress - all stuff that I'd be playing in the board even without Burning Wish.Quote:
Originally Posted by nevilshute
So, I realized that I've played 2 SCG Opens, 1 top 8 and 1 top 32, with ANT and haven't posted anything about it. For starters, here's the list I've been playing with:
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Infernal Tutor
3 Burning Wish
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Past in Flames
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
2 Island
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
Sideboard
4 Dread of Night
3 Chain of Vapor
1 Karakas
1 Duress
1 Meltdown
1 Pyroclasm
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Grim Tutor
A couple of things about card choices:
No preordain: I hate this card in storm decks. I feel that it slows the deck down too much, which makes you worse in combo mirrors and against faster decks like dredge and burn.
3 Burning Wish: The way this deck is built, the function preordain usually serves is to find a tutor or a piece of disruption. It usually doesn't find mana because the deck has so much of it, and burning wish can find a duress if you need disruption. I'm not really a fan of the TES deck, but I do like how well it uses Burning Wish. In my eyes, it's a pretty irreplaceable card in storm decks. It also makes your deck better with Ad Nauseam than preordain does; even though it has a higher converted mana cost, you're more likely to be able to stop flipping after you hit a burning wish than if you had hit a preordain instead.
1 Badlands: I normally dislike this card in storm decks, but with 2 Islands it lets you cantrip turn 1, burning wish for grim tutor turn 2, grim tutor turn 3, and go off turn 4 if you're playing a slower matchup.
The sideoard: I don't play Abrupt Decay because it's too reactive for a deck like this, it stretches your mana too far, and makes Ad Nauseam almost unplayable. Chain of Vapor is better in almost every scenario, and is a good storm engine when you aren't bouncing a hate piece with it. The only times decay is better than chain are against counterbalance, a card that almost nobody plays in the U.S. anymore, and Chalice of the Void on 1, something which due to the nature of legacy won't ever be in too many decks. Decay also doesn't hit Leyline of Sanctity. I prefer to have a on-color, cheap answer in my sideboard than to have an off-color expensive one.
4 Dread of Night: I think the Death and Taxes matchup is pretty bad, and like having clean answers to Thalia plus Mother of Runes.
Here's how my matches from both opens went, though I didn't take notes so this is entirely fro memory:
Minneapolis:
Round 1: Cheerios
Game 1: I lose the roll, he mulligans to 5 and doesn't play anything. I cantrip on turn 1 and probe on turn 2, he tanks and concedes in response.
Sideboard: I don't know what he's on, so I hedge and board out a lotus petal for a chain of vapor.
Game 2: He plays turn 1 Lotus Petal, Glimpse of Nature, bunch of 0 drops, scapegoat, bunch of 0 drops, grapeshot.
Sideboard: I cut the chain of vapor for a duress.
Game 3: I turn 1 duress him and see his hand of lotus petal, glimpse, and 5 0 drops. I take his glimpse. My opponent's turn 1 play is lotus petal, glimpse of nature, 0 drops, kill you.
0-1, also on life tilt.
Round 2: UWR Delver
Game 1: I turn 1 ponder, my opponent turn 1 delvers. I duress my opponent, taking his force and leaving him with a hand full of spot removal, and go off with past in flames.
Sideboard (Also my sideboard against every delver deck unless otherwise noted) -1 Cabal Ritual, +1 Duress
Game 2: My opponent plays turn 1 ponder, as do I. My opponent plays turn 2 meddling mage on tendrils. My turn 2 is duress taking force, therapy 2 spell pierce. My opponent draws, attacks, and passes. I probe, seeing an engineered explosives that my opponent declined to play out. I cast empty the warrens for 14 guys and flashback therapy on explosives. My opponent draws, passes, blocks a goblin, draws again, and concedes. If my opponent had played out the explosives, I had the option to wish for pyroclasm and use it to kill the mage the turn before I wanted to go off, but there's no guarantee that it would resolve that far down the road.
1-1
Round 3: UWR Counterbalance Miracles
Game 1: I Cantrip on turn 1, my opponent plays land and passes. I turn 2 probe, seeing a hand of rest in peace, counterbalance, jace, and lands. I draw a ponder and cast it, seeing a ritual and a diamond, both of which I need to be able to go off. I have to hope that my opponent plays rest in peace over counterbalance, or does something like reveal a 3 to the counterbalance if he does play it. My opponent draws for turn, thinks for a bit, and plays rest in peace. I mental fist pump, untap and go for it. My opponent didn't draw a force, so ad nauseam with mana floating gets the job done.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual +1 Duress
I board in the duress in this matchup rather than leaving it in the board to wish for because having a turn 1 duress for a counterbalance is very important, especially with no decays in my sideboard.
Game 2: My opponent mulligans, I keep a great hand. My turn 1 probe reveals a flusterstorm and not much else. Next turn I duress him and take the flusterstorm, and go off with past in flames.
2-1
Round 4: UBR ANT
Game 1: I win the roll and duress him on turn 1, seeing 2 infernal tutor, sea, led, probe, petal and therapy. I take the LED, as I don't want to die. My opponent draws, probes, plays land into ritual petal led infernal, ad nauseam. He hits more petals and kills me.
Sideboard: -1 Ponder, +1 Duress
I like to have ponder to burning wish for in this matchup sometimes because of how much it revolves around discard. You can't always wish for grim tutor and spend a turn casting it, the chances of losing to a discard spell or just getting combo'd out are just too high.
Game 2: I go off on turn 1 with my awesome hand.
Game 3: My opponent plays swamp and duresses me, taking brainstorm from my hand of brainstorm, lands, and discard spells. I draw petal and duress, taking LED and petal into therapy taking 2 infernal tutors. My opponent doesn't have a second land in hand and doesn't draw one until several turns into the game. I eventually end up wishing for a ponder, which finds brainstorm, a duress, and a fetch. I draw duress and cast it, and get my brainstorms surgical extractioned in response. My opponent has just drawn a bunch of mana, so I take a LED. My opponent draws and passes on his turn, and I peel Infernal Tutor on mine. I go off with Past in Flames with the plan of just casting a bunch of cantrips if my opponent drew a surgical for turn. He didn't, so he just died.
3-1
Round 5: Mono-U Omnitell
Game 1: I duress him on turn 1, taking a force of will and seeing a show and tell, pact, enter the infinite, and lands. My opponent played the land he drew for turn, so I knew the coast was clear. I went off on turn 2 with Past in Flames.
Sideboard: -1 Lotus Petal, +1 Duress
I don't board in chain of vapor in this matchup even though they do have leyline of sanctity, chain is just so bad against them when they don't have the leyline that I think it's worth the risk of losing to it.
Game 2: My opponent starts with Leyline and a ponder. I do nothing my turn 1. My opponent turn 2 plays ancient tomb, show and tell omniscience, enter the infinite, cunning wish, release the ants.
Game 3: My opponent mulligans to 4 looking for leyline and finds it. On turn 2, I decide to go for empty the warrens because his hand on a mull to 4 will probably be too slow to beat it, and would likely lack force+blue card. I was right.
4-1
Round 6: Jund Nic-Fit
Game 1: My opponent won the roll, and leads off with turn 1 cabal therapy on infernal tutor, hitting one. He says he saw one of my matches earlier. Luckily, my hand features several cantrips, and my turn 1 probe reveal 2 thragtusk, burning wish, and lands, so he has nothing to follow up on the therapy with. I go off on turn 3 with ease.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Therapy, +1 Duress
I don't really expect any permanent based hate out of jund colored decks, and I'm unsure on what to name with therapy post board against a deck that could have almost anything post board, so duress seemed like the better call.
Game 2: My turn 1 duress takes a slaughter games from a pretty weak mull to 6, something I would absolutely never cabal therapy but also something that didn't matter at all as I went off on turn 2 with Past in Flames.
5-1
Round 7: Merfolk
Game 1: My opponent's draw features a ton of countermagic, including 3 force of wills, but he doesn't have an aether vial so he can only play one creature a turn. I'm able to strip him of his hard counters and play through his soft counters with ease.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, +1 Duress
Game 2: My opponent's hand has just a force of will for permission, which he has to use to prevent my cabal therapy that could have hit 3 lord of atlantis. To be honest, I probably would have just named force of will anyway. I end up going off with past in flames turn 4 or so after I find another discard spell to ensure that the coast is clear.
6-1
Round 8: UWR Delver
Game 1: My first several turns are just cantrips, which leads my opponent to believe that I am playing grixis delver. He taps out for geist on turn 3, I duress taking force and seeing several spell pierces and stifles, and go off with past in flames.
Game 2: I don't have much memory of this game, I just remember it being fast and winning with naturally drawn ad nauseam.
7-1
Round 9: Shardless BUG
Game 1: My opponent plays turn 1 underground sea, suspend visions. I mental fist pump, as this matchup is pretty great for ANT. My turn 1 probe reveals a bunch of green and black cards. My opponent plays a goyf, I untap and cabal therapy mindbreak trap, miss, and go off with past in flames.
Sideboard: -1 Lotus Petal +1 Duress
Game 2: My opponent's draw is a bit better this game, featuring thoughtseize and hymn. I am able to rebuild a bit and cabal therapy a liliana of the veil that would have been excellent against me. My opponent taps out one turn for deathrite and goyf, and I draw a very lucky dark ritual. I fetch planning to go off with past in flames, and accidentally put an underground sea into play instead of a red source. I have to go for ad nauseam from 13 instead as result, but I had 3 black floating so it was easy enough.
8-1
Top 8: UBR ANT, Jake Xu who eventually ended up getting second.
Jake and I are buddies, so we organize a split beforehand.
Game 1: We fire some discard spells back and forth, but his deck has more cantrips so he is able to recover first and kill me.
Game 2: We trade more discard spells, he draws something first, and I die.
Overall, this event was pretty sweet, and gave me the necessary funds to buy this deck again rather than having to mooch it off of friends. Big props to Jake for getting second, he's a pretty solid player and it's good to see him do well.
Milwaukee
Round 1: Shardless BUG
Game 1: I end up killing him pretty easily by duressing his force and going off turn 2.
Sideboard: -1 Lotus Petal +1 Duress
Game 2: I get thoughtseized turn 1. I duress him back and see a hand of decay, jace, hymn, and brainstorm. I think for a bit and decide on hymn. This may have been wrong, my reasoning was that my hand was reliant on the lion's eye diamond I had in it to win, with my plan being to infernal for a second one on turn 2 and go off on turn 3. If my opponent drew a land, he could hymn me and if he hit the diamond, my hand becomes very bad. If I play the diamond out to play around hymn, he can decay it if he draws a land. My opponent ended up brainstorming into wasteland+more lands, and wasted my only land. I never drew another one and died eventually to a tarmogoyf.
Game 3: I whittle my opponent's hand away, he gets a nihil spellbomb into play at some point. I go off on turn 5ish, and my opponent has one unknown card in hand, the rest being irrelevant. He cracks the spellbomb and draws, and forces my infernal tutor. Yuck.
0-1
Round 2: Affinity
Game 1: I probe him and see a bunch of stuff that doesn't really matter. He dumps his hand into play and makes a frogmite. I kill him on turn 2.
Sideboard: -4 Cabal Therapy, +3 Chain of Vapor and 1 Duress
Game 2: My opponent mulligans, I duress and see nothing important. I kill him on turn 2 again.
1-1
Round 3: UBR ANT
Game 1: I duress my opponent turn 1, seeing a bunch of rituals, a brainstorm, and a probe. I take the brainstorm. My opponent draws, probes, and casts ad nauseam with mana floating. I die.
Sideboard: -1 Ponder, +1 Duress
Game 2: I kill him on turn 1 with IGG loop, ritual, led, led, infernal for wish, wish for igg, rit led infernal tendrils for 20.
Game 3: He duresses me turn 1 and sees my hand full of discard. He takes my ponder and passes. I duress and see LED, 2 brainstorms, and lands. I take the LED, play petal, and therapy the brainstorms. We play draw-go for several turns, my opponent eventually draws and casts and nauseam with none floating from 15, having already played a land drop. He kills himself while revealing a bunch of rituals, diamonds, and tutors. If my opponent had played out the LED turn 1 after seeing my had full of discard, he would have had it in play to use in response to the ad nauseam and I would have lost handily.
2-1
Round 4: UWR Delver
Game 1: He wins the roll, plays arid mesa and passes. I think he's on UWR, but I don't really have any plays other than cracking my fetch, which is my only land. It gets stifled. My opponent has turn 2 ponder into delver, I miss some land drops, and end up 1 mana shy of being able to win the turn before I'm dead.
Game 2: The big play of this game is on turn 2, I play a second land and play probe with phyrexian mana. My opponent pierces it, thinking I couldn't pay. I pay, and see just a force for disruption. I duress it next turn and go off.
Game 3: I end up going for empty the warrens after trading some cards with counterspells, my opponent doesn't find an engineered explosives in 2 draw steps so I win.
3-1
Round 5: UWR Delver
Game 1: My opponent's hand is great against creature decks but awful against mine. It doesn't even have a blue card to pitch to force if he draws it on his next turn. My opponent plays turn 2 stoneforge, and I go off easily.
Game 2: My opponent's hand is much better this game. I pondered turn 1 and saw infernal tutor, tendrils, and past in flames. I drew tutor and stacked past, planning to kill him with a big storm count in a few turns. My opponents' turn 2 rest in peace punishes me for keeping that ponder, and while I'm able to shuffle the tendrils away with a fetch, I end up losing because I can't get hellbent because of the Past in Flames in my hand.
Game 3: I play some discard spells, but my opponent has a delver and a stifle that I know about. My opponent gets me down to 6. I duress taking a force but leaving my opponent with a brainstorm and a stifle. The way my hand looked, I couldn't beat a daze or force and I was dead next turn to delver and his in hand bolt, so I had to go for it. I ritual, infernal for ritual, ritual, ritual, cabal ritual, infernal for past in flames and cast it off petal floating a black, my opponent tries to stifle the petal. The judge tells him that doesn't work, so he goes for brainstorm. Luckily he misses on cards that matter and I kill him.
4-1
Round 6: Sneak Show (guy who ended up winning the tournament)
Game 1: I lose the roll, my opponent plays altered volcanic into altered ponder. Normally, volcanic into ponder makes me think delver, but the alters made me think combo deck. I decide to play it safe and crack a fetch for a basic island and not cast my ponder to play around stifle and daze. My opponent plays altered island, second altered ponder. At this point, I 100% have my opponent put on sneak and show, and was planning to use my cabal therapy blind on sneak attack next turn. Fortunately, I draw probe for turn and cast it. Unfortunately, while I see 2 sneak attacks, I also see a spell pierce that will counter my therapy, along with a show and tell and lands. I debate on leading with dark ritual because it's less obvious to pierce that than the 2-for-1 therapy, but I decide that unless emrakul gets sneaked into play next turn I would rather have a ritual in hand than a therapy. I therapy, he pierces. Next turn, sneak attack into emrakul happens and I die.
Sideboarding: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Lotus Petal, +1 Duress +1 Karakas
Game 2: I keep a hand of dark ritual, lotus petal, probe, karakas, and fetches. This hand is a bit sketchy, but I keep on the theory that the Karakas will buy me enough time to draw out of my opener. The karakas does buy me quite a few turns, but unfortunately every draw step is either a ritual of some sort or a land, and I eventually die to a sneak attack with multiple red open.
4-2
Round 7: Jund
Game 1: I get turn 1 Thoughtseized, luckily my hand is very redundant, with ritual, diamond, ponder, brainstorm, duress, and lands. My diamond gets taken, and I draw an infernal tutor for turn. I duress and take a hymn to tourach. Tarmogoyf comes into play turn 2, and on my turn 2 I brainstorm into the nuts and go off with past in flames.
Sideboard: -1 Lotus Petal +1 Duress
Game 2: My opponent mulligans and keeps a hand with a thoughtseize but not much else. I end up going off on turn 4 or so with empty the warrens with therapy to protect from pulse/explosives.
5-2
Round 8: RUG Delver
Game 1: I win the roll and probe, seeing 2 stifles, delver, ponder, force ,waste, trop. Luckily I was on the play and get to fetch basic swamp to go with my in-hand basic island. I go off a few turns later after duressing the force and therapying away the stifles.
Game 2: My hand is an excellent mix of mana, discard spells, and a tutor, and I go off on turn 3 rather easily for the matchup.
6-2
Round 9: UWR Delver
My opponent and I draw, as the prize for top 32 and top 16 are the same, so there's no reason to play it out.
Overall, I've been pretty happy with how the deck is positioned in the metagame, and I've been a pretty big fan of all the card choices.
Hi, Alex! Thanks for you detailed report.
I am playing a similiar list with you on UBR manabase but without Grim Tutor. That card is just expensive and beyond my budget. How do you feel this card for you?
Also, in your SCG Minneapolis Round 9, Game 1. Before you go off, you therapy naming MBT instead of Force? In game 1, I guess people won't have MBT in their main deck :)
I have been liking grim tutor a lot, I've won several matches by playing rituals into wish for grim into tendrils against decks that deal damage to themselves, and it's a way to go off with past in flames through burning wish because the tutor stays in the graveyard. Most of the games where I end up with a line of play that involves winning by wishing for it I don't really look for other lines that don't involve it, so I can't really say if it's been necessary, but it's certainly won me a lot of games.Quote:
Originally Posted by entreri_fans
As for therapying mindbreak over something else g1 of round 9, I knew that his hand before his last draw step had no blue cards, he had tapped out for tarmogoyf, and he was playing shardless bug. I thought the most likely thing to have happen would be something like him being unable to borrow the last force of will for his deck before the tournament, so he was starting a mindbreak trap because they're similar sometimes. Mostly, I needed to get hellbent for Infernal Tutor and there was nothing that is commonly played in shardless bug that could stop me from going off.
wow, thx for your rapid reply!
I am currently on 3/3 split of Infernal Tutor/Burning Wish in my main deck, leaving the remaing 1 Infernal Tutor at my sideboard, still satisfied with this arrangment. But sometimes maximizing Infernal Tutor is needed. In tempo match ups, burning wish->Infernal Tutor is still a little slow I think.
Also, do you think it's necessary to split green for abrupt decay now? Although the miracle decks are declining, but I am still wondering if we need this card. As it catches random permanent hate, like chalice, trinisphere, thalia, canonist, thorn etc. But it does make our manabases more awkward :(
If I'm not running Preordain, then how am I supposed to know immediately what to sideboard out in every single matchup?Quote:
Originally Posted by cuthbertthecat
Haha this is a great comment.Quote:
Originally Posted by gregtron
Well, now that M14 rules are in place, you no longer need to worry. Just toss in whatever feels right and run a 60+ card list and a <15 card sideboard like every other hack at a lower table. Fuhgettabowdit.
-ABC
"Cast Burning Wish."Quote:
Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee
"Sure."
"Shit, I boarded in... Everything."
Hehehe, +1 Storm, fizzle. Hooray!
I've never cared for preordain. I prefer 4 GProbe before a single Preordain. I don't think 3 Burning Wish is accurate, I think that 2 is plenty, but that's me. I do disagree with dropping it from the deck completely, and my last iteration had it as a singleton, which was decent, but seeing it a bit more often would have been nice. I think it's a solid 2-of.
-ABC
3/3 Infernal and Wish is probably fine, the only concern I have is being to tutor chain for sufficient storm with only a lot of black floating and no red. I really hope that grim tutor gets a reprint in something soon, it wouldn't be too good for standard or modern and it's barely playable in legacy. Really shouldn't be 150 dollars or whatever it is these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by entreri_fans
I think that abrupt decay is basically unplayable in ANT, it's too slow, too awkward with the mana, and it makes ad nauseam too bad. It's hate that's better against two cards in the format that don't see much play, and it's much worse than chain of vapor or echoing truth in every other scenario.
This is by far the best argument I've ever heard for preordain.Quote:
Originally Posted by gregtron
I do agree that 3 wishes has the potential to be clunky by drawing 2 together, but I usually end up using one of the two for a grim tutor for more mana, then going off with the second wish. I've never had a problem with 3, but I doubt the difference between 2 and 3 wishes really matters too much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee
I like Preordain.
How do the non-burning wish ANT players board vs Jund =)? I used to side in 3 Confidants but Jund seems to have the space to leave in Abrupt Decay so either that or Liliana will just kill the Confidant :frown: ..
Now I still want to side in Empty the Warrens but I don't know what I should side out (Ad Nauseam is still good enough).
You play like this against jund.
Side out first the therapy then the duress on the draw.
Ad nauseam is very good against discard.
It's a key card.
Empty is very good to. But keep in mind they play pulse or a plague;)
A other key card is ignorant bliss:) it's a very good sb card i think:)
Against hymn it's key and win a lot.
Some people think it's doesn't protect you to a t1 discars, yes that's true but t 1 discard is not that goos against us.
I don't like bob. Why? When you play adn main, he makes to much dmg to you.
And he get handled anyway.
Bob is okay against jund. You don't really have much to discard much of their cards, namely the one that is most relevant is liliana of the veil. If you see them board in a boatload of cards I'd board in bob though as they are not nearly as likely to have an answer for bob then assuming they board out bolts and decays and turn 1 bob is just unreal against them as you're likely to draw a discard spell for their liliana if they have it before they land her and even if they do, you drew a card off bob/it replaced itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdingo
3/3 Split of infernal and wish is pretty terrible. People have tried it and the deck is noticeably worse, as you REALLY want to see an infernal and wishing for it is pretty bad. Odds of opening with at least 1 infernal in hand as a 3 of versus as a 4 of is a 12% difference. Note that I do advocate boarding an infernal out in some matchups in wish versions but its matchup dependant and whether you think they have surgical or not.
So when I board in 1 Empty I should just randomly cut a therapy, preordain or probe? Or should I just get rid of 3 Therapy's and side in 2 Chain of Vapor too?
About my sideboard:
3# Dark Confidant
2# Xantid Swarm
3# Abrupt Decay
3# Chain of Vapor
3# Dread of Night
1# Empty the Warrens
Dark Confidant is epic vs Shardless BUG and Esper Blade, but I might cut them for 2x Carpet of Flowers + a 4th Therapy, a random Karakas, a 3th Swarm or even a 4th Dread of Night. RUG Delver and Patriot are not super positive matchups and Carpet will realy shine against those decks, while preordain and probe (the cards I usually cut for 3 Confidant) are still good cards versus Shardless BUG and Esper Blade.
For those who want to know my thoughts about Dread of Night; Death and Taxes and Maverick are hard matchups when you will most often loose game 1 for not playing with Burning Wish :frown:
I won a 32 person GPT yesterday with ANT, playing the following list
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Preordain
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Black Lotus
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Grim Tutor
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Past in Flames
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest (I prefer the RUG fetches because it's the easiest deck to pretend you are with fetches and brainstorms/ponders T1-2)
SB
3 Carpet of Flowers
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Xantid Swarm
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Duress
1 Karakas
------------
Round 1 - Death and Taxes: 2-0 - 1-0
Round 2 - Hypergenesis: 2-0 - 2-0
Round 3 - Death and Taxes with a blue splash for Meddling Mage: 2-1 - 3-0
Round 4 - ID vs Pox
Round 5 - ID vs Dark Maverick
Top 8
Quarterfinals - Pox
Semifinals - Dark Maverick
Finals - Meathooks (seriously?)
I'm not going to bore you with a complete play by play, but in round 3 I did beat an opening on Leyline into turn 2 Canonist, Turn 3 Meddling Mage, Turn 4 Canonist, which was cool. The majority of the day was characterized by opponents not understanding my deck and making serious misplays, which is odd because the store it was at features one of the toughest legacy gauntlets around (3 different regulars have won SCG legacy opens, and there's a large crowd that plays on their level).
This was my 3rd GPT, I lost in the finals of one last Saturday and in the semifinals of one on Sunday. Between all three I'm 15-4 with the deck. I lost to Reanimator, Dredge, Team America, and Shardless BUG (had real bad draws against Shardless, because that's usually a good matchup). I also did not ever play against Show and Tell, which I still believe is a negative matchup for this deck.
I'm really liking Grim Tutor right now, I think it's much better than playing Burning Wish. Divining Tops have been excellent against the discard decks, siding in for 2 Preordains. I think it's a better plan than Ignorant Bliss, especially since most of the discard decks also run Wasteland so I don't like fetching the volcanic early if I don't have to. I'd like to find room for an Empty the Warrens in the board to bring in against Surgical Extraction, because I had multiple situations over the 3 GPTs where Tendrils could've ended up in the yard and gotten eaten by Deathrite or Surgical, and I won a game in the top 8 only because my opponent didn't pay attention and realize i only had one tendrils, so he surgicaled infernal tutor when he could've taken the tendrils and won the game. I'm not sure how to tell which matchups to side it in, though, so it's tough to say for sure what the right approach is. I'm intrigued by the people putting Ad Nauseam in the board and maindecking the Empty the Warrens in it's place, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to get rid of my crutch just yet.
Anyway, that's the deck, and what I liked about it. It's an incredibly stock list, but it's treating me well right now. I'm probably going to play it at the GP next month unless True-Name Nemesis does something weird to the format that makes storm less good. Nemesis is most likely to bring back Merfolk, which isn't a great matchup for us, but it also preys on our worst matchups, reanimator and show and tell, so it's hard to say what the ultimate breakdown will be.
^Nice job at the GPT. I think Merfolk is actually a great matchup, and Show and Tell decks are generally slightly favored. Reanimator is indeed terrible though, so we'll see what happens to the metagame.