I'm not a fan of it.
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I'm not a fan of it.
It's pretty sweet in the blue mirror, but other than that, it is still good. If your meta consists of a lot of Workshops or Dredge, I could see replacing it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Basaka
If you think about the MU's where you get 7 cards in hand, they're landstill and draw7.dec
And considering the nature of the two MU's, I'd say it would really only play a role against landstill. So if you don't expect landstill, don't play library.
There are certainly games where Library of Alexandria is underperforming. Then, there are games where you could not win unless you had Library going.
If you expect a fair amount of Blue mirrors, then play Library.
Otherwise, play more gas.
I like LoA, but Koby's assessment is spot on. You can't really go wrong with a Stripmine in its place (I sometimes run both). Another option is a singleton Riptide Laboratory. Its not spectacular, but it's solid with Bobs/Snappies. I've done well with it in the past, though I'm not running one currently (it makes it fun to run a Clique as well, but not worth it in builds with Welder/Strix).
Why strip mine over dust bowl? I realize bowl is more mana intensive but you probably won't nuke their lands if you don't have mana for your spells.
If you do run strip mine at least cut the artifact mana count a little. Sol Ring and Mana Vault only enable jace/tinker out of all the spells in the md.
Is merchant scroll useful now that it's basically got two targets if you don't count counters? Why not just run more countermagic? Also if stax is important, why trade so much consistency for power with flusterstorm over pierce?
Strip Mine will help you against Dredge, while Dustbowl is way too slow to be of any use there. Dustbowl would be better for a grinding blue mirror, but I wouldn't run it until you've already got a Strip Mine. Strip Mine can hit basic Island, which is significant.Quote:
Originally Posted by bowvamp
You probably don't want advice from me about what to cut because I nearly always run 61 cards in this deck. I basically run an extra land (either 16 vs 15, or 17 vs 16, can't recall off the top of my head which is the standard). I like the mana ratio better vs mana denial strategies. I don't run Mana Vault at all (just Sol Ring, Crypt, and Moxes/Lotus).
Merchant Scroll is okay. It usually just gets Ancestral, Hurkyl's, or counters (and I guess the slow tutor chain), though it is really good with Fire/ice (however, Lightning Bolt is better these days so it's kind of a moot point). I cut Scroll sometimes when I'm testing out other cards.
As for Flusterstorm, many metas have more Big Blue decks compared to Shops, so it's more efficient/useful to have Flusterstorm maindeck. When it works, Flusterstorm is WAY better than Pierce. I'd rather have something other than Pierce vs. Shops (Steel Sabotage, Chewer, etc.) and the Blue mirror shows up more so Shop stuff is mostly just out of the side. Obviously, if your meta has tons of Shops, it's a different story. There is also the fact that Pierce can hit Vault/Key/Oath/etc in a pinch, but the blowouts from Flusterstorm protecting your own stuff is just better IMHO. Flusterstorm is better offensively (protecting your stuff), while Spell Pierce is a better defensive card in many cases (because it hits more things, though it is easier to play around).
Thanks for the input.
Yeah, I'd agree with your assessment of Strip Mine, dredge totally skipped my mind. Dustbowl is also a good way to kill shops and academies. If you exhaust your resources, at least you can slow them down some was my line of thought.
Yeah, I wasn't saying cut crypts, just sol rings or mana vaults if you run them.
Also I'm running a split of pierce and flusterstorm atm because I agree with the power flusterstorm brings.
I'm running 2 Lightning Bolt, 2 Goblin Welder main. Do you guys suggest 3 volcanic or 2 volcanic main.
Even when I'm playing Welders, I usually only run 2 Volcanics and it has never been a huge problem, though it has come up once or twice. The issue is that you probably have to cut a basic Island for it which can be problematic (I like casting Drains with basics). Do you run 4xTarn in your fetch suite and a basic Mountain in the board? It's normally for Shops specifically, but you can board it in against decks with Wasteland to deal with that issue in G2/3.
Yea 4 scalding tarn with 1 mountain in the board.
7 Fetchlands
3 Seas
3 Volcanic
2 Islands
Im pretty much running the 3rd Volcanic over library.
I think 2 colc might be fine or this deck. Mox + feteches + Volcs and Lotus give about 16.7% to get 4/60 cards from your deck.
I've been running the same mana base in my Drain Tendrils list for the past few months and I'm positive (assuming you do not want to run Library) that it should be island #3 over Volcanic #3. Frankly, if I were to run a list similar to the Worlds list I would run Library. While it's not the most impressive and mind blowing card to play there’s something to be said about running an extra mana source regardless of being non basic that straight up wins blue mirrors especially when the list is already so well-tuned against mana denial strategies.
Hi, I tested a lot with the following list:
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Baleful Strix
2 Goblin Welder
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Dark Confidant
1 Myr Battleshphere
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Tinker
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Lightning Bolt
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mental Misstep
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Bloodstained Mire (I am playing a Basic-Mountain in my SB)
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
The intention of the List ist to have a maximum premium matchup against dredge and MUD.
So I added 2 Baleful Strix und 2 Goblin Welder to improve the matchup.
To improve the dredge Matchup, I decided to play 1 Nhil Spellbomb, because you can get it back with Goblin Welder.
Of Course I could also have added Rakdos Charm, but BR as casting costs ist like a double off-color against Shops.
Shops now feels like 60% and dredge like 50% - My Sideboard looks like:
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Mountain
4 Ingot Chewer
8 Dredgehate
More soon.