[Deck] Death and Taxes

@iatee
I have a similar experience of Cataclysm, so i tend towards it over Gideon. I think the Gideon idea is a novel decision and certainly a 1-1 split was Adrian Throop's call, but Cataclysm really does just save you in certain matches in a way that Gideon won't. If there was ever card I would want going blind into a shifting meta where I don't know what to expect, it is Cataclysm because it is a catch-all for so many diverse situations. Gideon is probably at it's best in a build with 4 3/3 creatures main, plus everything else, making the emblem, which cannot be interacted with, very powerful.

Kor Skyfisher seems really interesting. As noted, returning a land to hand is not only a small price to pay, but can be positive value in many cases. Do you think it requires the 4 Recruiter build or does it just get better with it?

I think the more Recruiters you play the better the chances you have a high value target on board if you naturally draw the Skyfisher and you can be a little more free-wheeling with your targets when you know you can draw more Recruiters. e.g. If they have removal in response to your tutored Kor Skyfisher, you've kinda 'wasted' the tutor on a vanilla creature instead of something more targeted or with more value like a SfM. But if you're going to draw into more, who cares, they just STP'd a 1/1.

Still, the card seems playable as long as you're at more than 1 Recruiter. Overall it's a baby-Flickerwisp with Vial so it would be close to playable even in Mono-W, I'd imagine someone's tried it before and it was just a little too awkward when you don't have the huge upside that WR has with the card. Unlike Wisp you don't have the instant speed 0 mana Vindicate, but you can still protect your stuff and it has some other upsides that the Wisp doesn't have, cheaper, not WW, can effectively cost 1 mana if you're land light - and my personal favorite: isn't an x/1.

Does anyone have an imperial list with Displacer that has produced results?

Something like:

5 Fetches
2 Plateaus
3 Caverns
4 Ports
4 Wastelands
3 Karakas
2 Plains
(12+3 white, 7+3 red, 11 colorless)

4 Moms
4 Thalia
3 SFM
1 Jitte
1 SoFI
3 Revoker
2 Flickerwisp
4 Vial
4 StP
2 Eldrazi Displacer

3 Recruiter
2 Magus
1 Pia and Kiran
1 Mangara
1 Mirran Crusader
1 ?????????? (Fiend Hunter, 3rd Magus, 2nd Mangara?)


I know that Displacer is a complete nonbo with Magus of the Moon (perhaps it's a sideboard swap) but I feel like the games that you manage to lock out with Magus you are going to win pretty handily anyways.... but being able to displace recruiter, P&K would be a pretty nice bonus. Plus we play a lot more colorless sources than monowhite so there's a nice bonus there too.


Thoughts?

I've only tried Displacer a few times, it seemed okay. If it were a 2/3 it would be very tempting to make it work, like Kor Skyfisher it could turn every Recruiter into a party in a can.

My guess is that that list would perform fairly well just cause the core is so strong + Displacer can also be a powerful card. It probably isn't optimal to take up room in the maindeck w/ 3 power creatures that aren't always good, but who knows, Displacer is very good when it's good and I could see that list being better in certain metas (like vs Eldrazi it contains a lot of haymakers.) I think people should test with the card. I agree that the Magus nonbo isn't much of an issue since both of the cards take over a game on their own.

Another card for the tutor toolbox crossed my mind yesterday while I was trying to fall asleep: Blade Splicer. Human, very neat etbf-trigger, castable with a single W source. Have you considered running it in RW?

That guy's played a lot in Modern D+T, but I think kinda like Kitchen Finks, that's the kind of value creature that's good in a format that plays to the board but ultimately it seems a little too 'fair' for today's legacy. I don't see many situations where tutoring for that card gets you out of a jam.

I would actually be more interested in seeing that as a 1-of in a Mono-w 4-Displacer 4-Flickerwisp list, since it's better as a repeatable Flicker target than it is as a one-time Recruiter target.

It's certainly played in Modern.... shrug... I don't know... I worry about the impact of a 3/3 non-flyer that relies on yet ANOTHER x/1 to even be able to live.

Interesting....down at the GP... Apparently there's been a run on:

Magus
Recruiter
Blood moon
And containment priest

A lot of ppl are apparently moving towards blood moon strategies to combat Eldrazi...also apparently displacer + containment priest is the tech of choice for the eldrazi mirrors

It looks like Enevoldsen's on a run. Does he post here? Would he do a report?

EDIT: Also Tettinen on Imperial Taxes. Good to see them both doing well.

D+T is doing well in Columbus too, a friend of a friend went undefeated day 1 w/ it and I saw a decent amount at the top tables. I think the meta is very favorable, since Eldrazi eats up so many of the unfair decks and it's everywhere. I went 7-2 d1 with Imperial, hopefully I'll do okay today.

I limped into day 2 of Columbus at 6-3 and kept fairly good notes. I'll likely post something up after the weekend is over.

Congrats iatee, GL!

Enevoldsen's list:
Creature (26)
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Serra Avenger
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Banisher Priest

Instant (4)
4 Swords to Plowshares

Artifact (7)
4 Æther Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Land (23)
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Cavern of Souls
9 Plains
1 Mishra's Factory

Sideboard (15)
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Rest in Peace
1 Pithing Needle
2 Path to Exile
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Council's Judgement
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Cataclysm
2 Containment Priest

3 Mom!!!! This is by far the most unusual decision of the mainboard, though the 1-of SotL and Banisher Priest are interesting. Priest is clearly a response to Eldrazi and Warping Wail. No shenanigans, but harder to kill. 1 of Brimaz, clearly for Miracles.

Sideboard validates everyone on the Path to Exile path, but the real shockers are 1 of RoP and 2 Gideon! This puts Gideon in the sideboard spotlight for two Top 8 DnT decks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iatee

D+T is doing well in Columbus too, a friend of a friend went undefeated day 1 w/ it and I saw a decent amount at the top tables. I think the meta is very favorable, since Eldrazi eats up so many of the unfair decks and it's everywhere. I went 7-2 d1 with Imperial, hopefully I'll do okay today.

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Is your friend Colin? AKA Hill_Giant on here? I saw him in the top 40 I think.

Edit: 25th as of round 13

Ha well I had the pleasure to meet Colin at the event, but no I was talking about someone else. (Who had a bad day 2.) I went 11-4 in the end, as did Colin, good for 2 Pro Points but I had bad breakers so I finished out of t64. I could have played better at some points and had broadly favorable match-ups. I'll write some report later. (Colin should too, he beat Tom Ross memorably.)

Looks like I wasn't the only one wrecking house with legacy stalwarts Kor Skyfisher and Pia/Kiran though. Wonder if Teittinen reads The Source, would love to hear from him if he does.

MIKAEL TEITTINEN'S WHITE-RED DEATH AND TAXES - 10TH GP PRAGUE 2016

Creatures (27)
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Flickerwisp
3 Imperial Recruiter
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Mirran Crusader
Instants (4)
4 Swords to Plowshares
Artifacts (6)
4 Æther Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Terra (23)
2 Plains
2 Plateau
3 Karakas
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Flooded Strand
1 Windswept Heath

60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Containment Priest
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Magus of the Moat
1 Crackdown
1 Path to Exile

My day with mono-white ended on a downnote at 9-6 (took my 6th loss to Jon Finkle himself, so I don't feel too bad about that one).

Eldrazi Displacer was amazing when it got going, but I'm not sure if it's better than Crusader in a general sense. Two losses to elves, one to miracles, one to storm (Finkle), one to punishing loam, and my other loss happened in round nine, over three games to a deck I forgot to list out.

While R/W Taxes was doing well in Europe and America, there was me letting everyone down in the Australian Eternal Weekend. I ended the day at 2-3 before dropping and ending my misery. I also had Kor Skyfisher and P+K.

Highlights involved leaving for a cigarette with 15 minutes left to go in round 2, coming back 10 min later only to find out that round 3 was 3 minutes in and I had a game loss. :confused:

Congrats to everyone who crushed and my commiserations to everyone who joined me in scrubbery.

I watched Mikael Teittinen's match for top 8 and talked with him and the other Finnish guys afterwards, and he would've made top 8 had he not missed that Jaya Ballard is a legendary creature that can be returned to hand with Karakas. He had the winning line but missed it, it's unfortunate but 12-2-1 for 10th place is a nice result regardless.

For Bonde and I playing mono white, Bonde scrubbed out of day 2 and joined the Sunday Super Series thing, and I went 5-1 on day 2 for 11-4 but only good for 87th because of awful breakers.

There was 4 D&T decks on day 2 and that accounts for the performance of them all. I would say that D&T had very good day 2 results.

@Bahra
What drove your decision to go with mono-white?

Death and Taxes is DEAD!!!

So here's my 11-4 report from GP Columbus.

Main:
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia
4 Mother of Runes
4 Aether Vial
3 Flickerwisp
4 Recruiter
2 Magus
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Vryn Wingmare
1 Batterskull
1 Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Swords to Plowshares
5 Fetch
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
3 Karakas
3 Plains
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Plateau

Side:
1 Path to Exile
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Rest in Peace
1 Fiendslayer Paladin
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Containment Priest
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Fiend Hunter

R1 Bye from Planeswalker points

R2 Miracles (2-1) (2-0)
G1 is a grind, I draw into 3 Caverns, he has Counter-Top. I don't play this one super right and my attempt at hardcasting a Batterskull gets Balanced w/ Force of Will. I just wanted an equipment in play quickly, but I shoulda been more patient. He comes close to going off with Mentor + Top, but at that point I have a Jitte to kill it - he doesn't have enough spells to really go off - and I manage to take the very long game.
Side out 1 STP, Magus, Magus, in Pia/Kiran, Mirran, Mirran
G2 T1 Top, t3 Mentor, I have the STP for it, he has Force of Will. Basically the perfect hand, especially if he wants to win 2 games in 10 minutes.
G3 Not a lot of time left in the round, I finally have a Vial hand, he gets a Staticaster but not in time to affect my board, I have a Sofi equipped to a Revoker and a Pia/Kiran activation does the final 2 damage when we're on turns.

R3 Eldrazi (1-2) (2-1)
G1 I have a Vial/Mom/Mom/Thalia hand which ends up not great as he's Eldrazi - at least I have an active Vial. I do draw into a SfM and eat a 2/2 Endless one with a Vial'd in Thalia, but he Reality Smashers me t3 and has a much faster clock and equips his own Jitte to his Smasher t4. I have a STP but I punt because I misremember the card text as "Discard a card when this is targeted" not "Counter the spell unless you discard the card." - so I purposely emptied my hand before casting the Plow. My friend laughed at me afterwards since I've made the exact same mistake before. Just can't believe that Reality Smasher is really *that good* - colorless creatures shouldn't have counterspells attached!! Anyway I wasn't certain to win that match without the terrible punt, we would essentially have dualing Jittes, but I had two vanilla 1/1s, a squire and a Thalia and a Jitte (not in play) - and he woulda had Eldrazi, just not yet in play.
Board out 4 Mom 4 Thalia board in 2 Crusader, Paladin, Path, Relic Warder, Pia/Kiran, Magus, Fiend Hunter
G2 Have a Magus in my opening hand and some other fairly decent stuff, but only 2 land. He t1 Chalices. I don't draw a 3rd land for a while (woulda won easily if I drew one t2 or 3) and take a decent amount of damage, but eventually draw a land and shut him off casting stuff that isn't Endless One - which he does cast. Cast a second Magus the turn after. My life total's low enough that I actually have to chump block with them - I'm at 2. He isn't doing a ton now and can't attack past a Crusader I play even though he has a Jitte. I keep trying to take him off Chalice on 1 (Flicker one, Recruiter for Relic Warder one) so I can cast my STPs, he keeps drawing more Chalices. Eventually my Jitte'd Mirran Crusader + Fiendslayer Paladin get me out of a super tight spot.
G3 We both keep sketchy hands - mine is Plateau, Port, SfM, Revokers, some other stuff, his is Eldrazi Temple, Wasteland, Matter Reshaper, Jitte, some other stuff. He t2 Reshapers, I t2 SfM, he wastes my Plateau, I draw into Wasteland and waste his Temple, we both are off lands for a few turns but he has a 3/2 and I have a 1/2. Eventually he draws lands and I don't and gets a Jitte online.

R4 Eldrazi (2-1) (3-1)
G1 I'm on the play, I t1 Vial, he t1 Chalices. He has a really fast hand, Dismembers my hardcast Batterskull and I go to 2 life, but I get it equipped to a Thalia and stabilize. He does have a lot of land and an active Eye of Ugin. I Port a land on his EOT to force him to activate it (and probably not get Endless One since he doesn't know I'm going to Magus him) - he gets an Endbringer - I Vial in Recruiter for Magus. Board the same as before.
G2 I have an early Magus that looked like it was going to take it, but he drew into a Dismember immediately and had a fast clock.
G3 T1 Vial with Flickerwisp and Pia/Kiran in hand. A little slow but Chalice-proof (he does Chalice t1) and those cards are very strong if I survive the first few turns, so I keep it. Draw into Mirran Crusader, Flickerwisp his Endless One. He's taking a lot of damage off Ancient Tombs and I start Wastelanding all his non-Tomb lands to make him take even more. He Thought Knot Seers and sees Pia/Kiran + a second Flickerwisp in my hand, takes Pia/Kiran but he's dead on board regardless.

R5 Grixis Delver (1-2) (3-2)
G1 On the draw I keep a really slow hand with Cavern/Mangara/Karakas/Recruiter and some more land 3 drops. I probably shouldn't have kept it even on the play, but on the draw the chances of being wrecked by a fast deck were just too high and it was definitely a mistake, which I felt bad about as soon as he T1 Gitaxian Probed. He had a fast clock and it wasn't close. I felt especially bad about losing a G1 to Grixis Delver because I feel like G1 is very favored, but they always bring great SB cards for the matchup.
Side out lots of x/1s, side in Fiendslayer, Crusaders, Path, Cunning Sparkmage
G2 After losing to keeping a dumb hand vs Delver, I decide to keep an even sketchier 6 land hand (w/ Port and Cavern) + Recruiter, and obviously win with it. I figured I had an uncounterable Recruiter-for-Fiendslayer and then an uncounterable Fiendslayer and could Port him t2 so I wasn't going to fall *that* far behind. He Wastelands my Cavern the turn after I Recruiter, then Forces my Fiendslayer, and has a Darkblast going which is pretty unfortunate, though I have sided out a lot of x/1s. He also Forces my hardcast Batterskull. He has a super responsive hand but the Darkblast is really making things look grim. I have a Flickerwisp stuck in my hand, eventually draw SfM and get both equipment with it on one turn - then he plays Young Pyro and Cabal Therapies them both. I have Cunning Sparkmage for his Young Pyro. Eventually my Mirran Crusader outraces his two Deathrites but it's super close.
Side in some RiPs for g3 because Darkblast is such a beating. RiP vs Grixis Delver is kinda tough, they often (but not always) drop their Cabal Therapies/Anglers, and drawing into it late isn't great if they've already got all their graveyard value via early DRS / Anglers. But sometimes they have Darkblast and keep 100% of their graveyard stuff and RiP would be game winning.
G3 He has 3 Bolt and Darkblast within the first 5 turns or so, almost no way I could match that tempo on the draw outside of an insane Vial hand.

R6 Maverick (2-1) (4-2)
G1 He casts a mana dork then Knight of the Reliquary, then Knight of the Reliquary, then Knight of the Reliquary, and just attacks me with a bunch of 5/5s and I can't keep up. Never needs to activate a Knight or do anything else.
Board out Thalias, one Magus, Wingmare and I think Sofi? For Crusaders, Path, Relic, Fiendslayer, Pia/Kiran, Fiend Hunter
G2 He casts an early Thalia, which I'm happy to see since it does so little here, I have a Vial. He plays a Pridemade and a Dryad Arbor, but can't activate it that turn, so I STP it and my Vial takes over the game with 3 SfM. I get a Batterskull+Sofi+Jitte and Relic Warder his Pithing Needle, and he's fairly mana screwed the whole time.
G3 I get lucky and draw a STP for his early Knight, and he didn't have much else, just a Scavenging Ooze that isn't doing much with an empty yard and a DRS, can't keep a Thalia in play because of my Karakas. Eventually I have a Fiend Hunter for the Ooze and then a Pia/Kiran + Karakas and blow up all his creatures.

R7 Miracles (2-0) (5-2)
G1 I'm on the play, T1 Vial, pretty happy to see a turn one Top out of him. He durdles a lot looking for a Terminus, can't find a single one and I kill him pretty fast. He woulda bought time if he found one but I hadn't over-extended and I had a Sofi out so I felt pretty in control.
Normal Miracles boarding, just trade Maguses and a plow for 2 Crusaders/Pia+Kiran
G2 Another t1 Vial, have a SfM and Revoker for top. He Cliques in response to SfM activation but I have both Batterskull and Sofi in hand. Recruit for Pia/Kiran and have the Pia/Kiran + Cavern + Karakas lock on something like t5.

R8 Sneak and Show (2-1) (6-2)
G1 Vial hand on the play, cast a t2 Thalia through Cavern and have exactly enough disruption to get there. He got one Emrakul attack in via Sneak on his last turn but I had enough permanents in play to win on the swingback. Board out plows and Maguses, board in Relic, Canonists, Containment, Fiend Hunter, Crusaders (just a good clock.)
G2 I have a Containment Priest, but he goes off T2 on the play
G3 He mulls to 6, I mull to 5. I have a decent 5. T1 Mom, Turn 2 Thalia is a lot better when they're on a bad hand, t3 draw a Karakas and Recruit for Containmebt Priest.

R9 Infect (2-1) (7-2)
G1 He has a slow start, no Blighted Agents, just Glistener Elf, and I have a Mom. Cast a Kor Skyfisher to block his Inkmoth and cast a SfM for Jitte. He attacks with 2 Elves, I let one through because I forget that Dryad Arbor is a Forest and he Invigorates+Beserks. If I blocked with SfM he could take me to 9 poison and I would only have one creature. I didn't have enough mana to get Jitte in play and equip it unless I drew a land. Probably needed to block.
Board out Thalias, 2 Mom, Magus and something, board in Path, Crusaders, Canonists, Relic-Warder, Sparkmage, Fiend Hunter.
G2 Keep hand of Plateau, 3 STPS. STP his Noble Hiearch, then STP everything else, draw more land and win pretty handedly.
G3 He has a bunch of non-basics and I cast a Magus. I have been going back and forth on the value of Magus in this matchup, since you don't always have time to set up well, but I think it's probably just correct to play them all.

R10 UR Delver (2-0) (8-2)
G1 Combination of luck and skill here, really pulled this game out of nowhere. Don't think I coulda won without Kor Skyfisher. He t1 Delvers, I t1 Vial. He follows up the Delver with 2 Stormchaser Mages and a Swiftspear - that's bad. His Delver doesn't flip for like 4 turns - that's good. I t3 Recruiter for Kor Skyfisher, bounce my Recruiter, Recruiter for Wingmare, trade Wingmare for Delver, trade 2 Revokers for a 2/3 Swiftspear and a Kor Skyfisher blocks a Stormchaser. Get a hardcast Sofi on Kor Skyfisher, STP one Stormchaser, Mangara his last Stormchaser and finally start attacking him. I'm eventually at 2 life and instead of hardcasting Batterskull I keep my mana open so I can Wasteland myself if he has Price of Progress - which he does, so I do.
Board out a lot of Recruiters, Maguses, board in Fiend Hunter, Fiendslayer, Ethersworns, Crusaders, Path
G2 He smashes my early Sofi but I have a lot of removal and draw a lot of lands and hardcast a Batterskull and attack with it a lot. Eventually he gets a TNN to block, but I draw a flyer and I ended the game at 29 life.

R11 Grixis Delver (0-2) (8-3)
G1 He's on the play and Probe/Therapies my Vial. He has an early Gurmag I come close to stabilizing with a Jitte on Mom, but he has a bolt when I'm at 3. I probably win this one on the play? Board the same as I did vs the last Grixis deck.
G2 I STP his Deathrite and Wasteland him, he is stuck on a Badlands + Wasteland and I have a Kor Skyfisher + Flickerwisp vs his Gurmag Angler. I wait a turn to STP his Angler since I could theoretically win a race if he doesn't draw any more blue sources and I don't really want to give him 5 life (another turn to draw into a land) + also want to kill any Deathrite he draws, but he draws mana eventually and a burn spell for Wingmare. I had quite a few turns where he was shut off from doing much and I had a live Vial and lots of lands, so if I had drawn any decent threat (SfM, Recruiter, any sb card) I woulda won but I just drew into lots of lands. Eventually I drew into SfM and even got a surprise Batterskull down but it was after he had a decent board and he Decay'd the germ token and swung with a large board. Felt pretty unlucky since I was very ahead at one point but you can't always draw perfectly. It's possible my not-STPing his dude for a turn mattered in the end, but I'm not 100% sure it was wrong.

R12 RUG Delver (2-0) (9-3)
G1 Keep a one land Port + Aether Vial hand on the play. YOLO. It resolves, he Dismembers my Thalia and doesn't have anything left to stop Magus.
Board in Path, Crusaders, Magus, RiPs, Fiendslayer, Fiend Hunter, board out a lot of Recruiters, Revokers, Mangara
G2 He plays a Goose, I get an early RiP, which eats a lot of stuff, but he Destructive Revelries it. Get a SfM and get Batterskull, he stifles the activation (stifling Germ woulda been better), then I get Magus out. Fiend Hunter a Goyf, he still has one in play. I play Mirran Crusader to block the remaining Goyf, but shoulda activated SfM again instead. He Rough/Tumbles, which wipes my board except for Fiend Hunter, kills his Goose and leaves him with a Goyf. I get Flickerwisps and try to equip Sofi to one, but he has Sulfur Elemental. Eventually Fiend Hunter + SoFI kills most of his board.

R13 White Eldrazi (1-2) (9-4)
G1 He mulls to a Chalice because he thinks I'm on Storm. He gets Magus'ed early. Board similarly to how I did for the other Eldrazi.
G2 He sides out his Chalices and apparently plays way more basic Plains than I do, and sided in STPs. He saw something like 3, I saw 0 and got Reality Smashed.
G3 I was fairly ahead on board, with a Revoker+Jitte and a Leonin Relic-Warder which ate his Jitte vs a Batterskull. He flashes in ARCHANGEL AVACYN. And has Karakas to protect it. And another Avacyn in hand. And a Batterskull in play - which can do some pretty gross things in combination with Avacyn. I had a decent amount of mana and tons of Recruiters but there was basically nothing I could do to beat that other than draw nothing but STP and Wastelands, didn't draw a single Plow. Can only complain so much about losing to Archangel Avacyn + Karakas when I've been winning with Pia/Kiran and Karakas. Avacyn is very good as a fair match-up haymaker. Mono-W D+T should seriously test it in the SB. I mean it's Baneslayer Angel with flash that can be Karakas'ed.

R14 Sneak and Show (2-0) (10-4)
G1 Vial on the play, Thalia + Recruiter for Wingmare. I don't Vial it in though, he uses the spot to cast a Sneak attack for 5. I instead Vial Flicker my Recruiter and get Revoker, cast Revoker on the Sneak and then have Thalia+Wingmare too. It might have been more difficult if he had SnT and not Sneak, as I didn't have the Fiend Hunter main to tutor for in that spot and didn't have a Karakas, but I probably still coulda put together something. Board the same as I did last SnS matchup.
G2 Keep Karakas, Mom, Thalia, Ethersworn, 3 Recruiter on the draw, Karakas is a good land. Very risky but I have two draws to hit land and if I do I've bought some time via Thalia/Ethersworn, plus I already have Karakas. He mulls to 5. I draw Vial turn 1 and cast Vial off Karakas. He laughs at how good my hand seems, but I did really just get lucky.

R15 LED Dredge (2-1) (11-4)
G1 He's on the play, has a super explosive Breakthrough+LED hand. I scoop in response to a Cabal Therapy so he doesn't know what I'm playing. Side in my GY hate, Crusaders, Path, Fiend Hunter, Containment Priest.
G2 I have a Rest in Peace in my opening hand + Plains/Karakas. Kinda wish I had a non-W source so I wouldn't be giving any tell t1 on what I was playing. If I had a Cavern I probably would even name Cavern on Merfolk or Goblin on t1. I try to hem and haw a little bit on my keep, since a white deck snap keeping vs Dredge is a tell. Plains, pass. He Cabal Therapies...I wait for it...he targets himself to get a Dredger in the yard. I play RiP then SfM and he scoops on t3.
G3 I have a Rest in Peace + Faerie Macabre + Thalia in my opening hand, close to ideal. He Careful Studies a Dredger + Griselbrand t1, I Faerie Macabre the two. I play a Thalia before playing my Rest in Peace just to make it harder for him to interact with it if he does find a Nature's Claim or something, he scoops. Faerie Macabre came in for exactly one match out of my 15, but it was among the best cards I could have.

Overall I am a little disappointed I punted a few times but 11-4 is still pretty decent. I had what I would say are 5 very favorable matchups handed to me (2 Sneak, RUG Delver, 2 Miracles) and zero absolutely terrible ones. The matches I wanted to see the least out of my 15 were Infect + UR Delver and I won those both. In retrospect, the white Eldrazi build I played against might actually be the worst D+T matchup out of the 15, since the Stoneblade package + Eldrazi Displacer + TKS/Smasher + Archangel Avacyn (??) + removal is actually just super hard for D+T to beat with smaller creatures and the same equipment package. That deck deserves its own thread on the Source, I think it's sufficiently different from Colorless Eldrazi - it almost feels closer to D+T than it does to Colorless Eldrazi.

I would have liked to play more Miracles, Lands and any BUG decks, but I dodged Burn/Elves/fast combo/most random jank.

I got punished for a few greedy keeps (Hand full of 3 drops vs unknown on the draw, Plateau+Port vs Eldrazi) but also got rewarded for even more of my greedy keeps (My Port + Vial on the play, 6 land + Recruiter on the play vs a Delver deck, and only-Karakas vs SnS on the draw) so it kinda evened out. I think Imperial players should keep greedy Vial hands more - and should mull to it more. The deck has a higher curve so Vial becomes an even more broken card when it's online. Paying 0 mana for a Recruiter into paying 0 mana for the target is pretty unfair in a format with very little card advantage and very tight mana.

I think Kor Skyfisher is good and I'm going to keep playing it. I only got Recruiter value out of it once, but wouldn't have been able to win that game if I couldn't tutor exactly 2 flyers vs UR Delver. Most of the time I just hardcast it and was happy to have a beefy flyer, or (and on two occasions) used it to cast 2 two-drops with 3 lands. It's Serra Avenger meets Flickerwisp, worse than either independently, but has its own set of tricks.

4 Recruiters feels more powerful post-board than pre-board - there's only so much fun-stuff to tutor with the maindeck I ran. I don't think I sideboarded out Batterskull a single time, so I wasn't unhappy to have it in the main, though it did clunk up a few of my opening hands. My sideboard ended up being pretty well suited for the matches I got, probably wouldn't change it much even knowing I was going to play the exact 15 matches again, though I would prefer a Fiend Hunter main. I predicted not a lot of Storm and going down to 2 Ethersworn worked out. I think every sideboard card outside of Ethersworn Canonist either directly or indirectly won me a game. Fiendslayer Paladin still seems like the best possible tutorable answer to Grixis Delver. That deck that does a lot of different things so it doesn't have a real pressure point, but ultimately it pressures your life and kills your creatures with removal and this gains life and can't be killed by removal.

There was only one game where Fiend Hunter not being Banisher Priest weirdly mattered - vs RUG Delver it had a Sofi equipped so was a 3/5, but he had a Sulfur Elemental, so it was a 4/4. He had a Mongoose out and had to chump block with it - Banisher Priest woulda been a 5/3. Rough/Tumble woulda killed it too a few turns earlier.

It was nice to meet hill_giant and a few other people. I watched him have a pretty unfortunate last game vs. Miracles r15 - his opponent had the one-of Karakas vs Thalia. Dunno if anyone is making EE next week in Pennsylvania, but I'm probably going if I can hustle one of my friends with a car into driving.