Cheers for posting, he does play nicely! And got a little lucky in that G2 vs Shardless :tongue:Quote:
Originally Posted by Agrippa91
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Cheers for posting, he does play nicely! And got a little lucky in that G2 vs Shardless :tongue:Quote:
Originally Posted by Agrippa91
Ben Friedman posted an article up about his 4 Angler and 4c builds and performances from the past few weeks: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/benfri...lver-wranglin/
He says he is going to do videos, and I hope he does! Deck is sweet.
In the last game the Shardless player made a few mistakes though, e.g. fetching Bayou when he has Basic Forest out (why would he need double green?) and, most importantly, blocking the Elemental token with the Baleful Strix when he could've blocked it next turn with the Tar Pit. Not having an answer to the Angler cost him the game there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dissection
Finally got some time to play a Legacy league on MTGO. TL;DR went 4-1. Report below.
Decklist:
http://i.imgur.com/usRfkH6.jpg?2
R1 vs Jeskai Control (basically Mentor Miracles without CB/Top). 2-1, 1-0
Game 1
I put him on Miracles. I tempo him out of the game in quick succession. 2x flipped delvers + wasteland get the job done. A late YP + token just add insult to injury. The whole game I was trying to play around terminus, but never saw CB or Top.
Game 2
The grindiest game of magic I've ever played. I sideboarded for Miracles and still never saw CB/Top, just a lot of Lightning Bolts, Snapcaster Mages, V-Cliques, Jace, and Nihiri. Seriously this match took like 17 minutes, each of us answering each other's threats. He was finally able to Council's Judgement my Pithing Needle (naming Nihiri) to tick her up to Ultimate, finding an playing a hasty Emrakul.
Game 3
This game starts with only 3:38 on the clock for me. Nearly 10 minutes for him. I fear the worst. Thankfully, I keep a good hand that only gets better and proceed to tempo him out just like G1. I have to admit, I drew very well, and on-curve. Painful Truths was an allstar and kept the instants/sorceries coming to fuel 2x YPs. A FoW on his before-combat V-Clique with 10 seconds to spare sealed the deal.
http://i.imgur.com/lR41lTH.jpg?1
R2 vs UR Delver 2-0, 2-0
Honestly, I don't remember much of this round. I really only remember blind naming Price of Progress with a Therapy and hitting. Felt like a god.
R3 vs BUG Delver 2-0, 3-0
G1
I put him on Shardless and get ready for the long haul. His first turns are more impressive than mine and it's looking grim. A couple good draws later and I've established a board with Delver and YP. He casts Tombstalker (shrinking his own Goyf). I have the dismember and follow it up with my own big 5/5 delver creature, rendering his Goyf useless.
G2
Side in some Baleful Strixs, Truths, Pyroblast and Needle. Game gets grindy with him answering my early threats with Decay and Dismember. I counter one Goyf and Waste him off green. He's able to land a DRS and casts another goyf. I cast my own drs. He casts a delver and passes. I cast a Gurmag Angler and swing with a flipped delver and DRS to 10. He untaps, misses his Delver flip, and casts a Tombstalker, my last two cards were Force and Probe. :)
R4 vs Goblin Charbelcher 2-1, 4-0
G1
I'm on the draw. He plays out his hand and lands a Charbelcher with a Taiga and 2 Chrome Mox. I kept a hand with gas, but no countermagic. I die on his T2.
G2
I rip his hand apart with back to back Cabal Therapies and he can't recover.
G3
I mull to 6 in order to get countermagic. My hand is Fetch, WL, Ponder, Force, Daze, Therapy. Scrying a Probe to the top(!). He plays Probe and passes the turn. On my turn 1 I Probe (drawing Null Rod!) and Therapy away 2x Desperate Rituals. On his T2, he tries to play a Chrome Mox, I Daze it. He plays Land Grant to grab Taiga and ties to play Rite of Flame. I know he has LED, Burning Wish, Tinder Wall and another card (I forget) in hand so I Force the Rite of Flame knowing I can Wasteland his Taiga. I draw and play a DRS + Wasteland his Taiga. He passes the turn. On my turn 3 I eat his Taiga with DRS and slam Null Rod. Game over.
R5 vs Miracles (MentalMisstep was the guy's name) 0-2, 4-1.
G1
My opponent disconnects 3 times, and wastes like 15 minutes from the clock. His lag finally subsides and we start playing real magic. A blind-flip of Counterbalance, revealing Council's Judgement in response to me casting TNN quickly closes out the game after a DRS and Delver eat removal T1 and T2. Looking at my hand of 2 Lightning Bolt and Gurmag Angler makes me sad as I get chunked by Monk tokens shortly after.
G2
I played a DRS t1, He StPs it his t1.
I play another DRS and pass.
His t2 he tries Brainstorm, I only have a Flusterstorm for permission and it doesn't hit CB or Top so I cast it, hoping to really stall/tempo him out. He only has ~5min on the clock at this point. He fetches and plays a Top, pass. So now it's me with DRS, him with Top.
I play a Delver and pass.
He casts Ponder and then Brainstorm, and plays a fetchland; pass.
My delver doesn't flip, I draw a Gurmag and have YP in hand already with Bolt. I know he probably found Terminus so I hold off on playing any more threats; beat in for 1 with the Delver and pass.
Sure enough, on his turn he draws and casts Terminus. I eat something with DRS. He plays Counterbalance. So now he has 3 land, CB and Top to my 2 land and clear board.
I draw a Probe, play YP and probe him. He taps Top, draws a card and counters Probe. I pass.
He plays Monestary Mentor and passes (no land).
I draw Winter Orb. I try to bolt the mentor (since he drew the top) and he blind reveals Ponder :( I play the Angler and pass.
He plays: Brainstorm, Ponder, Land, Top and StPs my Angler. Now he has monk, 4 tokens and CB/Top. I just have winter orb and that's pretty much all she wrote.
At the end of the match I just said "wow, unreal turn dude!" to which he replied "get rekt." Oh well.
Anyway, not a bad run.
Went 1-2 tonight.. some rough matchups.. Pox R1, and Burn R3.. Infect R2 felt easy.
I went with the 4 angler build from Freidman's article. The build is growing on me. I miss Young P a little bit, but not being bound to probe+cabal, and being able to play a bunch of spell pierce main, with flusters in the board felt great.
Infect boarding in flusters/decays/needles/forked bolts while dropping all the thought scours and anglers was great. It felt like they didn't have the resources to fight through that much countermagic and removal. I'm going to keep testing with the 4 angler build for a bit. The speed at which you can drop an Angler G1 is underestimated by a lot of decks. Being able to be very flexible post board feels great too.
Continuing my streak of x-1, I wen't 2-1 in tonight's grinder (same one Jaytron was in).
2-0 vs Reanimator. Highlight: blind naming Entomb with Therapy and hitting when he only had 2 cards left in hand, the other being a land.
0-2 vs Maverick. Lowlights: suboptimal play in G1 (also, Scryb Ranger + Mom is really hard to beat). G2 My opponent mulligans to 6 and keeps his scry on the top. I'm on the play. I cast Probe and see: Jitte, SFM, Scooze, 3 lands. I have Therapy, YP, Ponder, Needle, Fetch, DRS in hand. I opt to cast Therapy and take his Jitte since my Probe draws me into Daze. My opponent draws for turn, a Wasteland he kept on top with his scry and takes out my Underground Sea. I never see another land and die several turns later. I probably should have played DRS or even Ponder, looking for land.
2-0 vs TES. Highlight: In G2 casting a YP, only to sac it in order to flashback a Cabal Therapy stripping 2x Dark Ritual I saw off the original (blind) Therapy a turn prior. Opponent never recovered after 4 turns of draw go. I was able to cantrip into threats + Force+blue card for his eventual Infernal Tutor.
Sorry to give you a heart attack Agrippa, I did indeed go 2-2. Considering one of those losses would have been a win had I just top decked 1 bolt I almost see it as a 3-1. I didn't really take an notes on my boarding but I do think I remember the basics of what I brought in and out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Agrippa91
Stoneblade
-2 FOW
-4 Stifle
+2 Therapy
+1 Grudge
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+1 needle
+1 REB
I realize that stifle protects my lands but forgot that fact when sidebording. Game 1 I did kill several of his lands and I think I stifled 1 fetch so he seemed desperate to keep his mana to play around things like daze (which slowed him down). I didn't bring the abrupt decays because I was worried that lingering souls and TNN would invalidate them.
UW Helm
This deck just screamed miracles to me, but game 1 the only spells I saw were top, terminus, helm, RIP and a bunch of cantrips. Don't know if he ran any counterbalances but I never saw one nor any volcs. In game 2 my wastelands and stifles did do some work and he was unable to get any more than 3 lands in play. Still never saw a counterbalance tho.
I boarded pretty similar to what you had listed.
BW tokens
-2 FOW
-4 Stifle
+2 Therapy
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Abrupt Decay
+1 Fire Covenant
I felt stifle wasn't going to do much since he wasn't running fetches and he only had 1-2 ghost quarters. Therapy was a good inclusion since I was able to discard away his elspeth. My friend at the tournament said that he would've boarded differently. He suggested that I bring in flusterstorm, surgical extraction and invasive surgery. His point was that by countering the sorcery token producers, I could remove them from the game and leave him with few win cons.
Punishing Jund
Pretty much what you have listed. I like surgicals as well which is why I brought in the second over the 4th FOW.
I completely disagree with this, I think you boarded well. Bringing in Surgical vs non Punishing Fire fair decks is almost always wrong, even if they have Lingering Souls. Surgery is relying on Delirium too which isn't that easy to get vs StP decks, and just countering one side of Souls is pretty poor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Misersoneof
If the plan is to beat Lingering Souls, don't most Grixis Decks have Dread of Night, or at least access to it, to beat DnT anyway? Seems like it could do some work there. Might be a little narrow for the Stoneblade matchups, but better than Surgical or Invasive Surgery IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dissection
Theoretically yes, but it's not a common SB card for Grixis and I was just commenting on the SB he listed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Svyelunite
If DnT gets the uptick everybody is expecting from Prelate and Recruiter Dread may well make its way into Grixis SBs, or maybe Sulfur Elemental.
Hey, y'all, so I tested the following build against a few decks last night:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Gurmag Angler
2 True-Name Nemesis
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Forked Bolt
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
1 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
1 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland
// sideboard //
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pyroblast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Pierce
2 Thoughtseize
2 Pithing Needle
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Darkblast
1 Golgari Charm
1 Go for the Throat
1 Fire Covenant
1 Snapcaster Mage
The list felt smooth and powerful. I think two Thought Scours are enough to support three Anglers. I didn't want to go all-in on the Zombie Fish because they're not great against combo and are soft to Rest in Peace (which I faced yesterday). Plus only running ten cantrips gave me more space for additional removal and permission. Angler was super soft to Swords, but at least the two True-Names gave me a complimentary, resilient threat.
I made a couple greedy choices for the sake of testing, notably the singleton Abrupt Decay and good ol' Counterspell. I wanted the former in order to deal with the preponderance of equipment in my local meta and a quick Chalice. I tested two in the past, which required a second Trop - not worth mucking up the mana. I think running one Decay is ok in this iteration of Grixis because it runs three Seas instead of three Volcs. Counterspell was actually pretty good when I saw it. People complain about how clunky it can be, yet they play Vendilion Clique, which has an even more prohibitive cost. I may stick with it, not finding it unwieldy at all because there are only four cards (2 TNN, 1 Decay, 1 CSpell) that cost more than :1:.
I like that this removal/permission suite is more flexible than the Pyro lists. Not sure about the numbers - my meta skews fair, hence seven removal spells maindeck. The sideboard may need a couple tweaks, too; Fire Covenant could perhaps be something else, for example. I had no experience with the card, so I wanted to sleeve it up. I should probably cut something for Clique so I have a better threat package against combo. But it was a start. Open to any and all feedback.
Thanks!
I like the SB Snapcaster with all your one-ofs and thought scours. It should prove clutch in the grindier matchups
I have another thing to talk. In G1, why Grixis player didnt attack with the elementals? he could get some dmg from it and dont need to draw the boltQuote:
Originally Posted by Agrippa91
He had 1 YP, 2 tokens and no fuel left afair against a DRS. If you attack with everything, the opponent might block the Elementals first and then the YP. By offering the trade with the YP first he ensures that he'll still have 2 dmg per turn left even in YP gets traded away.Quote:
Originally Posted by VERTUK
That said I also like attacking with everything there. Getting in 3 dmg when he blocks the Elemental with the upside of YP not being dealt with is just too big. Even if he blocks the YP it doesn't matter because you just traded your inactive YP for an active DRS and your Elementals no longer can be block.
Yeah i see it the same way. However, i meant the situation when grixis player had 3 tokens and a YP and a DRS and the BUG player had a Tarmogoyf. I think attacking with all three tokens is the best option cause you lost one of them but BUG player take 2. Grixis player didint see it the same way, cause he didnt attack.Quote:
Originally Posted by Agrippa91
Oh, in that scenario I actually really like not attacking. Your army gets only bigger, the Goyf can't swing because the counterattack would be too much and the DRS drains nicely each turn. Even if the opponent finds a Decay for the YP (which would propably be the right choice) you still have a big enough force to hit him back for at least 5 if he starts attacking (3+drs).Quote:
Originally Posted by VERTUK
On the contrast if you only attack for 2 and next turn for 1 your force if dwindling and soon the goyf threatens to race you when he's like 5-6 power. That's assuming that you don't produce a new token every turn but that was more of a thing while DTT and TC were around, not so much today where it's more like "make 2-4 tokens before YP dies or you run out of gas" most of the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Agrippa91
Maybe you are right, i just see it like Grixis is the aggro deck and has to close the game soon before Bug player draws anything (a sweeper?) and the fun ends xd
Still, you have to realize when you're ahead. I agree that you should almost always trade damage because you have more aggressive creatures and Lightning Bolt, but trading 3 damage for 2 1/1s seems like a bad deal to me, at least when the opponent still has tons of life left.
Question: what's a good way to tailor the deck to beat Death and Taxes? (aside from putting Dread of Night in the sideboard)
I played in a legacy bi-monthly recently and there was a lot of Death and Taxes deck. Between that, the Aggro Loam deck I faced and the 1 Miracles player I can't beat I was thinking of including True Name Nemesis. Would this work as an adjustment? Should I try and go for the Angler + Thought Scour build? Or am I better of just going for something like Bant blade/Deathblade to beat the 'fair' decks?
Turbo Angler seems pretty soft to StP decks, tbh. :\
RUG at least can run rough/tumble along with forked bolts.. Unsure what options you have as Grixis other than Forked bolt and cards like Fire Covenent. Turbo Angler means you could Rough/ Tumble, but it would still kill your Deathrites :(