Maindeck or SB? I'm afraid that it might make the deck even more slow than it is now, because we would need to cut answer-now cards. I don't know.. But I like Ratchet Bomb too, I like it aalot.Quote:
Originally Posted by bakofried
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Maindeck or SB? I'm afraid that it might make the deck even more slow than it is now, because we would need to cut answer-now cards. I don't know.. But I like Ratchet Bomb too, I like it aalot.Quote:
Originally Posted by bakofried
I do think we need to find a way to stuff McFae back in the main, as Vengevival is still big (unless I'm mistaken). Furthermore, a way to deal with 'Folk would also be a good plan. Any ideas?
I'm not too concerned about either of these matchups with Extirpate and Engineered Plague in the SB. See post #820.Quote:
Originally Posted by bakofried
How to win against Pinter/Mola + Imperial Recruiter + Auriok Salvagers?
Game 1: I think the match is favorable only if we open a good "control" hand, otherwise the match is unfavorable.
Game 2/3: Side in [4x] Pithing Needle (against Grindstone and Auriok), [3x] Extirpate -> Side out [2x] Faerie Macabre, [3x] Umezawa's Jitte, [2x] Bitterblossom.
Did I sideboard correctly?
My list:
[4x] Abyssal Persecutor
[4x] Gatekeeper of Malakir
[4x] Dark Confidant
[4x] Vampire Nighthawk
[2x] Faerie Macabre
[4x] Duress
[4x] Innocent Blood
[3x] Cabal Therapy
[4x] Hymn to Tourach
[3x] Umezawa's Jitte
[3x] Bitterblossom
[17x] Swamp
[4x] Wasteland
//Sideboard
[3x] Spinning Darkness
[2x] Faerie Macabre
[3x] Extirpate
[3x] Dystopia
[4x] Pithing Needle
Hi,Quote:
Originally Posted by TheyCallMeTim
i tried a lot of different configuration against merfolk but none seems working fine. They are simply too fast for us (like goblin and somehow zoo).
I play with 3 pithing needle maindeck (instead death mark, especially in these days of suvival of the fittest :P) and still doesn't help a lot.
I tried 4x engineered plague but it's quite poor (they have usually 2 lords on the board and our sacrifical effects let them choose Curse Catcher, Adept or Mutavault...)
I tried 4x Spinning Darkness but for the same reason they are not so effective.
I really didn't find a good answer to it.
My last attempts concerned 3x Damnation and 3x Smother:
-Damnation is slow but with a lot of discard effects you can hope to cast it without encurring in counterspells
-Smother allows us to target lords, gaining time to casts persecutor, vampire or damnation
With this configuration the matchup is still quite hard, especially if they play standstill.
These two cards are useful against zoo and goblin, other two difficult matchups for us.
For reference here my sideboard
4x extirpate (vengevine anyone?)
4x perish (zoo, survival, elves, progenitus, bant...)
3x smother (zoo, goblin, merfolk)
3x damnation (zoo, goblin, merfolk)
1x hymn to tourach (to complete the 4x)
So, this is the plan:
-4 dark confidant
-3 hym to tourach
+3 damnation
+3 smother
+1 extirpate
I side in 1 extirpate instead keeping 1 dark confidant because this is an option to see the opponent's hand before casting damnation.
If you have a better idea how to beat merfolk, then please, post it!
Any comments?
Have you tried a combination of Engineered Plague and Spinning Darkness at the same time? I usually board out 4 Dark Confidants, 3 Deathmarks and perhaps 1 Duress. I destroyed a 16 Lord build running Kira, Great Glass-spinner with this configuration. Of course, the other trick employed here is to stay ahead in card advantage. Use discard liberally, naming Standstill or Silvergill Adept with blind Cabal Therapys.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheyCallMeTim
Against Merfolk and Goblin:
IN: 4x Pithing Needle and 3x Spinning Darkness
OUT: 4x Duress and 3x Death Mark
I think Spinning Darkness >> Engineered Plague becouse it is usefull also against zoo.
I don't think we can have both Spinning Darkness and Engineered Plague in sideboard.
In the following jpg you can see:
- my list (as for that one on the 1st page except for 3x Deathmark that has been modified in 1x Hymn + 2x Faerie Macabre)
- my sideboard and how do I sideboard against others deck
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6905/thegate.gif
Perhaps this is why you stuggle so much against Merfolk? One Engineered Plague on the board and 3 Lords are all in Spinning range. Does Pithing Needle seem to really help the matchup? Do you win every time it lands?
I played in a local 20 man tounament this weekend and piloted the Gate to a top 4 finish. One of my matches included Merfolk which I was able to edge out 2 - 0.
I am going to finalize my version of The Gate today. Only thing I've been running an issue is the sideboard card dystopia vs perish. With all the new survival decks wouldn't perish be faster.
I had some thoughts, wanted to try it out, and the build actually works for me :]
15 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yagwmoth
4 Mishra's Factory
3x Abyssal Persecutor
4x Vampire Nighthawk
4x Gatekeeper of Malakir
4x Dark Confidant
4x Innocent Blood
3x Bitterblossom
3x Ratchet Bomb
3x Thoughtseize
3x Cabal Therapy
3x Hymn to Tourach
2x Umezawa's Jitte
2x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Smother
The main thing I wanted to include was Ratchet Bombs and Mishra's Factories. Ratchet Bomb is an answer to multiple problems on the field. Factory helps us to keep our lifetotal a bit higher. And Thoughtseize... well, it's personal prefference. So yeah, that's what I'm going to play from now on :]
Lack of Wasteland seems to be not convincing. It is too powerful and versatile card to be omitted.
Has anyone tested TheGate against GW, UG, Ooze or UGW Survival?
In theory having Deathmarks and so much removal seems nice....but is it fast enough?
Preboard you will have no answer to his combo. Preboard you can play Faeries and Extirpate and hope for the lucky draw:(
Dystopia is most likely stronger against Survival variants, due to the fact that it can actually take out survival. Otherwise, you'll be dead to the recurring Vengevines.
Necro.
I have a fondness for mono colored decks. I play death and taxes, and have piloted dragon stompy and goblins to tournament success. I wanted to try something different and I remember seeing this deck on here months ago, so I tossed it together.
My first impressions are very pleasing. The "large" amount of discard is very appealing to me. Cabal therapy is a VERY skill testing card (I play ichorid often as well and recognize therapy to be a powerhouse". Proper use of discard is very important for this deck to win the "small game" during the first few turns. I'm looking to weigh more options for the deck, currently I am playing the list from the OP with -1 wasteland +1 swamp.
With survive-vine getting the axe, how are everyone's thoughts on this deck?
I look at this deck as almost the "opposite" of death and taxes(which rules the long game with mangara tricks, the early game with mana denial and vialing in creatures, and beats with smaller equipped creatures to win), The Gate needs to command the first 3 turns to be the "most" effective. The similarity these two decks share is that there are meta choices that you need to make with your maindeck and sb before getting into a tournament. A few cards can change much with both decks. Fine tuning the maindeck and knowing what is available for the sb to help in matchups you are likely to face is very important for these decks to do well.
I intend to take this to some tournaments during 2011. I had to take a hiatus from magic since I had a baby girl this summer and she is still quite the handful and I can't leave my wife home alone for too long and not feel guilty about it. But I am indeed getting back out there during the new year
After all the discussion that went on in this thread, people have just dropped it? I don't think this is a poor choice of deck at all. I'm working with this list:
18 swamp
4 wasteland
4 dark confidant
4 abyssal persecutor
4 gatekeeper of malakir
4 vampire nighthawk
2 bitterblossom
3 umezawa's jitte
3 cabal therapy
4 duress
4 hymn to tourach
4 innocent blood
3 deathmark
Sb
3 faerie macabre
3 spinning darkness
3 soul spike
3 dystopia
3 vendetta
Maxed out hymn and need 4 duress to pull those pesky planeswalkers out of the opponents hand.
And yes. It is 61 cards. 18 swamp feels right and 4 wastelands have stolen me games in testing
I'm open to start testing again. Hopefully the meta will be less hostile this time around.
I like the core of your list Joe_C. My list is similar, but I'm curious about a few of your card choices.
Why Duress over Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozalek? It seems to me that against a great deal of the widely played decks you're going to want to snag a creature from them on the first turn. I realize the 2 life from thoughtseize adds up with our bob and BB triggers, so why not run Inquisition MD and have Duress in the board to further shore up our storm matchup.
Why only two Bitterblossoms? Bitterblossom, to me, is the heart of this deck. Persecutor may be a house, but I find he's very fragile--BB is much harder to deal with. I've won three times as many games on the back of BB than with persecutor. With BB and an active Jitte, it's GG, so why not give ourselves the best chance to find our best card.
That leads me to the lack of Dark Ritual. This deck needs to get off to a fast start, and with the best CA engine in the game on our side, the pros to running rituals far outweigh the con of ripping a dead draw late game. This will also allow you to cut a swamp or two. Imagine ritual, thoughtseize, bob go. Or ritual, nighthawk, go. Or ritual, inquisition, hymn go. Or ritual, thoughtseize, bitterblossom go. Not to mention turn two persecutor. Those starts are extremely difficult to deal with (especially when you snag their answer for them) and happen more often than one would think. Auto four-of in my mind.
And finally, I know this is beating a dead horse, but are we seriously still talking about running deathmark? Really? I'm not trying to flame anyone at all, but I wouldn't even run that in the board. It's a dead card against two of the most popular decks, fish and gobos, and against zoo, bant aggro, C-top bant, elves combo, etc, I'd rather have Perish anyway (which I run in the board). That slot would be better served by diabolic edict (which I like over innocent blood anyway because of the instant speed) or more discard spells.
Finally, in my testing I'm finding our biggest problem is with lack of utility removal spells. We have no way to deal with resolved equipment/artifacts/enchantments that I'm aware of. SoLS and Jitte (when I can't find my own) make us cry. Anyone have any ideas other than not letting them hit the board in the first place or pithing needles? Without the ability to blow up resolved enchantments/artifacts, it seems like we're better off splashing white for vindicate, which leads to throwing in swords, which leads to deadguy ale... (which is what I currently run in tournaments anyway...) I'm rambling now so I'll stop. Keep this discussion going though Joe_C because this feels like a deck than can be really solid.