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Originally Posted by jbone2016
WP, Jbone. Btw first game vs SamBlack, Was bullshit. You wiped his Board in response to glimpse and he had no permanents in play. Then he killed you with Elvish Visionary and Craterhoof, If you would have known that the visionary actually had summoning sickness you would have won the game with baneslayer the turn after. Pretty sad and unlucky, byt gz on ur finish.
Yeah, I just finished watching that part. We both lost track of what had summoning sickness. Granted, if I hold the deed until he attempts to hoof, I pretty much win. Also, misboarded. Brought in TSx2, trapx2. out: ooze, 1 vet, nightmare, 1 rector? Should have brought in: Humility and Batterskull instead of the traps. Rector probably still stays in, take out a sigarda. Live and Learn. I played this matchup a bunch last time I was in Milwaukee with my buddy who was playing elves. Teeg tends to be a house against them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoreline
Yeah, it can be easy to lose track of things in a match like that, not to mention the camera would make me super nervous. Everyone in the twitch chat was freaking out; most of us were rooting for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbone2016
First time on camera at a big event and playing against a pro, I was pretty nervous. The deck did well, the pilot just made some errors.
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I was planning to go with a KOTR package with stage/dark depths instead of the rector package. But after testing it just felt too awkward to be combo. Thune/feeder still feels to awkward as well.
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Mindbreaks are fine vs elves, they just require you to actually do something besides just sitting there. I'd have also boarded in the Revoker -- if you Wish, you're wishing for Canonist. Second wishes are irrelevant in this matchup. Surprised that you don't have an EPlague in the board -- that would've been pretty huge. You lack a knock-out to Rector for -- I know Moat is pricy, but there really still is no replacement for it in Rector-centric builds.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbone2016
What seems good to board out? Tusk, ooze, nightmare, one vet, thrun?
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Report Time:
Round 1: BUG Delver
Game 1: He lands an early deathrite and bob and just advantages me out. I believe he forced a top on turn 2, which set me back a lot. Didn't draw any removal. Out: Teeg, Nightmare, Rector x3 In: Thoughtseize x2, Batterskull, Carpet x2.
Game 2: I have a therapy, GSZ and some other stuff. I want to protect the zenith with therapy, so I name Thoughtseize blind. He reveals a daze, FOW and other stuff. Then rips a TS to take the GSZ. I don't get much going and die shortly after.
0-1 (0-2). Normal start for me. :(
Round 2: RUG Delver
Game 1: Lead with therapy, name brainstorm. He scoops. I'm like....ok..... I think I boarded in Humility and Ashen Rider, no idea what I took out
Game 2: Took some each damage from Delver, titaned him.
1-1 (2-2)
Round 3: Merfolk
Game 1: Had some early discard. Backed up with titan. Then dead. Then he copy my titan with image, brought image/titan, then image/titan, then lord with no cards left. Titan attack then deed, then I witness back the titan. Game. In: 2x TS, Batterskull. Out: teeg, Ooze, Rector
Game 2: He tried to copy of lord with an image but I decayed it to delay him a bit. Then a thrun came down. He copied it. We durdled. Got a deed, then a batterskull. Thrun+skull=ggs
2-1 (4-2)
Round 4: Death and Taxes
Game 1: I got down to 5 before I blew up the world and tore his hand apart. Easy beats from there. In: 2x TS, BS, Pridemage Out: Recur, Teeg, Ooze, Spirit?
Game 2: An early RIP took away some of my shengians. He gets a mystic for BS, I TS on my turn. Take my lumps before I stablize and win. Not sure how (need better notes)
3-1 (6-2)
Round 5: Tezzeret
Game 1: Lots of life gain on both sides (me with tusk/nightmare) and (him with thopter/sword). I'm able to deed several times but academy ruins is a big problem. After about 35 minutes, I succumb to the token army. In: TS x2 , BS Out: Not Sure
Game 2: I'm on the attack quickly but strixs slow me down. I'm able to get sun titan to recur deed every turn. The turn I kill him (in extra turns), I popped deed for two before attacks, gains enough life to survive the attack but I gobble up the combo before his next turn.
3-1-1 (7-3)
Round 6: ANT
Game 1: He wins the die roll, plays a blue fetch and passes. I therapy, he immediate says it resolves. I blind name brainstorm and hit one. Has ritual, duress, therapy and 2 land (he mull to 6). Next GSZ for vet, flashback take.....therapy?. Has a tutor. I play Spirit. Next turn, living wish for Canonist. Beat for 5 a turn...and next game. In: Traps x2, TSx2 out: Bane, sigarda, thrun, rector x1?
Game 2: I end up with a teeg in play at a trap in hand. He names therapy with his and hits for one. The hate keeps bashing while flashback the therapy I see his hand of 2 LED and a cabal ritual after I name infernal tutor and hit one (I think). He finally finds a duress for the trap but has to pass back with me having lethal. He has a chain to deal with my tusk. I therapy after his LEDs and then flash it back and he concedes.
4-1-1 (9-3)
Round 7: DnT
Game 1: Early aggression leads to a deed and Ooze and thrun clean up. In: BS, TS x2, QP
Game 2: Some early back and forth leads to him with a vial and a cataclysm and I can't catch up.
Game 3: I'm able to take away some of his early plays and then finish with Thrun and Tusk.
5-1-1 (11-4) Currently #25 (bottom of x-1-1)
Round 8: Elves
I think the video speaks for itself.
5-2-1 (11-6)
So....can't draw in (53rd)for money, so we play.
Round 9: Dnt..again
Game 1: Board wipe once, bounced brimaz with karakas and therapied away later. Tusk and thrun finished up. SB: same as before
Game 2: Early batterskull for him was good but deed and then assembled voltron (sigarda and batterskull) and finished the game quickly.
Questions? Time to sleep.
So I really wanted to give BUG pod a go for a while now, and finally got a chance at a small tournament last week, having never played the list at all going in, I knew the odds were slim for me. And I was right, the deck punished me badly for my inexperience with it and I end up dropping after going 0-2. My list wasn't complete, I was missing 3 tropical islands, due to the surge in prices lately.
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BUG Pod is very difficult to play. I couldn't grasp how to make it work in a powerful enough fashion so I dropped the deck.
Yep it looks ready fun but while I played it, I found myself wondering how I was going to win. It doesn't match My play style, control fits me more.
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It is indeed a very difficult deck to play and takes quite some games and fine tuning to make it work. I'm still in the process of doing so. My latest thought is to include ponder, as I have quite a problem with the consistency of the deck, especially later in the game when I've ran out of gas. My thoughts are to remove 1 decay, 1 GSZ (this card has not been doing much as most targets I want are blue), 1 Shaman and one baleful strix. Anybody else having thought about adding ponder (or gitaxian probe)? I chose it over top as it is less mana intensive (early on) and is blue (better against combo with FoW in the board). My second problem is sideboarding, at which I am terrible. I still need to get used to certain decks in the meta and how to board. Any tips are most welcome. However, the deck is both challenging and fun to play, so I hope to put up some results soon that will feed my addiction.
BUG-Pod has alot of potential. I've basically discarded all other NicFit options for this deck. It is indeed a hard deck to play, but i play Pod both in modern and legacy so i've had some good experience with it now,
Almot always do well in the tournaments i've played the deck (though so far not a big one, plan on taking it to BoM in a month and hopefully will be able to bring back a report from that tourney).
My current list is as follows;
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Bone Shredder
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Thragtusk
1 Acidic Slime
1 Aetherling
2 Pernicious Deed
1 Recurring Nightmare
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Garruk Relentless
3 Birthing Pod
3 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Polluted Delta
2 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Phyrexian Tower
SIDEBOARD
4 Force of Will
2 Swan Song
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Notion Thief
2 Golgari Charm
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Some info about some card choices then:
Aetherling: He is just awesome, tried him for the first time at a local tourney this weekend and he delivered.
Garruk Relentless: Still not sure about this guy, might try Jace in this spot.
Notion Thief: Should be a second Glend Elendra.
The Riptide Pilferer i've seen in some deck i really don't like. Tried it against ANT and he just ignored the card basically. Rather have Clique together with Swan Song.
One thought me and my friend had was to add Back to Basics to the deck, i kinda solves the bad match up which is 12 Post and also is really strong against alot of the Legacy decks.
I played so terribly this match...Quote:
Originally Posted by jbone2016
Glad to see you finished in the money though. You were one of the most pleasant people to play against all day.
With the amount of shuffle effects, I do think it's Brainstorm or bust. I think not playing Brainstorm in lieu of any other filter/draw effects isn't right, on top of it's ability to protect vs discard and hymn which is quite rampant these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by UseLess
GSZ is a card I've also been underwhelmed with, and feel I'd be more whelmed with if I was packing a Dryad Arbor. I think it's usefulness is really only stated when you have a few good Green silver bullets. As I cut Acidic Slime, I only feel like I have Uktabi Orangutan and Scavenging Ooze. If the games are going long, I usually have resolved a Birthing Pod, and if I have a Birthing Pod, I don't necessarily need another GSZ more than a creature to find an answer.
With sideboarding, I usually cut a Cabal Therapy in most matchups (with combo and prison type being the most pertinent where you don't follow that), followed by whichever 4 drops are irrelevant (and there's usually 1), and then the same with a 5 drop, and then I work towards which cards you know are irrelevant in the matchup, or less relevant, depending on what you want to bring in.
It is very challenging and very "feely" as to actively setting up your lines of play, and rewards effort. I can see that over the past 4 weeks that I've just started getting "better" at it, and playing more of a game in a lot of matchups that I wasn't previously... except for a Bant Depths deck that I played last night that turned me upsidedown and I was like ehhhhhh. (To be fair, I also did the cardinal sin of keeping a one land brainstorm hand which I should have clearly known better, but I had brainstorm, fetch, veteran, deed, good card + good card, and saw pod + drs + creature, and was like, okay. I can do this. and then get my drs stp'd turn 2, and then my veteran stp'd turn 3, and then proceeded to discard 4 turns in a row).
I've been thinking about the sideboard again with rector/living wish package.
SB as of right now.
2 Thoughtseize
1 Batterskull
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Humility
1 Karakas
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ashen Rider
What I'm considering changing is dropping the Ashen Rider, 2 carpet for an O-Ring, Leyline of the Void and possibly a curse of exhaustion.
Maybe a Vindicate instead of a pulse in the main as well. (I got hosed pretty good by an academy ruins and actually a karakas). Maybe just a wasteland in the board as a wish target. Just some thoughts.
@Vindicate vs Pulse: this is a tough one. Depends on how many times you can get extra value out of killing more than one permanent vs killing a land.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbone2016
Wasteland as a wish target seems real good, since the average Academy Ruins player probably has counters.
went undefeated at 3 weekly events, 4 rounds each with this list:
// Lands
2 [ZEN] Forest (4)
1 [R] Savannah
2 [R] Bayou
3 [RLM] Grove of the Burnwillows
2 [B] Taiga
4 [ON] Wooded Foothills
2 [B] Swamp (2)
4 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
1 [9E] Mountain (3)
1 [US] Phyrexian Tower
// Creatures
1 [M13] Thragtusk
4 [WL] Veteran Explorer
1 [CMD] Scavenging Ooze
4 [RTR] Deathrite Shaman
1 [DKA] Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells
// Spells
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
3 [ZEN] Punishing Fire
4 [RTR] Abrupt Decay
3 [M12] Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 [ISD] Liliana of the Veil
4 [AP] Pernicious Deed
2 [RTR] Vraska the Unseen
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [C13] Toxic Deluge
SB: 2 [7E] Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 [THS] Thoughtseize
SB: 3 [7E] Duress
SB: 3 [NPH] Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 [NPH] Beast Within
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
That is a nice-looking list. Love all the planeswalkers that you can ramp into, the addition of Deathrite Shamans for moar ramping, and the extra set of discard spells in the board. Couple of questions for you:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock Lee
- Why choose that version of Garruk over the other three? (just curious)
- Why did you choose the Punishing Fire combo as your third color over white (Rector) or blue (Brainstorm)?
- The GSZ package is a little light with only 11 creatures to 4 Zeniths. Could you maybe either cut one Zenith or add another target (either a Witness, or maybe a fatty like a Prime Time)?
Not trying to poke holes in what is obviously a very successful list, just trying to understand the logic. Thanks in advance for your insight.
I would also definitely cut some cards to fit in some card selection -1 perni -1 AD (not to mention "top" as in these colors you dont have access to cantrips).Quote:
Originally Posted by OCPunisher
Furthermore 8 walkers might be a bit to much. I used to play a BUG walker list with the following config (see p.317 of this thread):
3 Liliana
1 Ashiok
3 Jace, the Mindf.
2 Vraska
Config that evolved to a 7 walkers one as opening hands were, more than I would like, a bit clunky (2+ walkers in a starting hand -> mull).
4 Green Sun are "OK" with 11 crits. But I would definitely cut 1 veteran (if only 5 basics) for a witness.
Phyrexian tower vs Stronghold is also to be debated.
Phyrexian tower is very relevant at the very beginning of your games, while Stronghold is better mid-late game. As a one-of, without any tools to fetch for it, I would recommend picking Stronghold over Tower.
Obviously we should not scorn at the following sequence:
T1 = Forest + Vet
T2 = Tower, sac vet, get 2 forest -> 5 mana (3 green) -> Cast Primal hunter
But this sequence is impossible in Rock's build as he only runs 2 forest MD. Nevertheless, the proba of such a start is anyway very very low.
Speaking of the mana base, I would increase the number of basics (at least 6 - 7 with 3 forest & 3 swamps) and lower the number of duals. I would also not play less than 4 groves even with 3 Punish.
Why 3 forest & 3 swamps ? Just to be able to cast a walker right after playing a CT then flashbacking it to sac' a vet (be it a Garruk or a Lily).
One reason to play Punish is the synergy with Liliana which I think is one of the reasons that made JUND's fame.
But also PF can answer weaknesses I have found in my BUG walker list (I won't speak about BGW as I have never tried one):
- Punishing Fire (BUG walker has no way to fight back MD save the lone Ooze and I'm not counting on DRS to handle PF)
- Man's land can be very problematic as Deed is your only out.
Anyway, RED as the third splash color is an interesting choice.
Here is my latest BUG list for reference purpose:
Panzers Fit.
4 Verdant catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Tropical island
2 Bayou
1 Underground sea
3 Swamp
2 Island
2 Forest
2 Polluted delta
1 Volrath's stronghold
1 Eternal witness
1 Scavenging ooze
2 Veteran explorer
4 Deathrite shaman
1 Wall of blossom
2 Baleful Strix
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
2 Vraska, the Unseen
2 Sensei's divining top
3 Pernicious deed
4 Brainstorm
3 Negate
4 Cabal therapy
2 Green sun's zenith
3 Abrupt decay
Sideboard
1 Engineered explosives
2 Golgari charm
1 Viridian zealot
2 Ensnaring bridge
2 Pithing needle
2 Swan song
2 Surgical extraction
1 Flusterstorm
2 Thoughtseize
For those interested in a Heavy Walker List, you can also read the following article:
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/inside...teran-walkers/