Originally Posted by
pandaman
A short report from the local weekly.
Maindeck (60)
6 Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Show and Tell
4 Omniscience
4 Enter the Infinite
4 Dream Halls
4 Cunning Wish
1 Intuition
1 Trickbind
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Flusterstorm
3 Pact of Negation
Sideboard (15)
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Research//Development
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Pact of Negation
1 Trickbind
1 Wipe Away
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Swamp
Round 1 v Bant - Win 2-0
Game 1 I start on the draw (by choice). I grind through some cantrips and combo out pretty easily with PoN and Flusterstorm backup.
Game 2 I again start on the draw (not by choice). This time it is a bit more difficult because my cantrips aren't showing me any love, but I stay patient and play to my outs and draw the combo off the top at 7 life, again with PoN backup.
Round 2 v Mono U Merfolk - win 2-0
Game 1 I start on the draw (by choice). He states he thinks this is a good matchup for him. I cantrip quickly into the combo and have mana to pay for his Spell Pierce and a PoN for his FoW.
Game 2 I again start on the draw (not by choice). This time he leads with double Cursecatcher, one of which nabs a ponder. However, I was prepared for that and planned for it to be countered. I continue to cantrip with my Brainstorms, and even take a couple of turns to blind draw off the top because he's only beating in with Cursecatcher for one per turn. However, he eventually drops a Merrow Reejerey and a Lord of Atlantis, meaning that I have to go for it. I have managed to drop five Islands and find a City of Traitors, the combo, plus a Cunning Wish, PoN and two Flusterstorms. I hardcast Dream Halls with two blue mana available, and PoN his FoW. He activates Vial in response and I tank, wondering if he's got a Clique to put in. Anyway, I can't stop it, so it resolves and he puts in a TNN. He Spell Pierces but I Flusterstorm back, win the counter war, and EtI for the match win.
Round 3 v Death & Taxes. Loss 0-2
Game 1 I start on the draw (not by choice). He gets down a Turn 2 Thalia, Turn 3 Stoneforge Mystic, and Aven Mindcensors me when I crack one of my fetchlands. I find an Island in the top four cards that time, but not on the subsequent fetchland, leaving me one mana short of comboing off before dying.
Game 2 I start on the draw (by choice). I boarded in 1 Swamp, 2 Deluge, and 4 Thoughtseize for 3 PoN and 4 Flusterstorm. He goes Turn 1 Vial, Turn 2 Thalia, Turn 3 upkeep Enlightened Tutor for Spirit of the Labyrinth, which he casts with mana, then Turn 3 EoT Enlightened Tutor (again!?) for Ethersworn Canonist, which he Vials in on Turn 3 EoT. So on his Turn 4 I'm faced with all of that, meaning that all my spells cost one more, I can't play more than one per turn, and I can't draw more than one card per turn, plus I'm facing seven damage per turn. Through all of this, I've managed to assemble two Islands, one swamp, a Deluge, and the combo in hand, and on the turn before lethal I rip a City of Traitors to cast Deluge for two, wiping his board. However, he's ramped his Vial to three counters and of course brings an EoT Flickerwisp, which finishes me off from two life. I was on four life before Deluging for two, going to two, so I couldn't survive the Flickerwisp swing.
Round 4 v Patriot Delver. Loss 1-2.
Game 1 I start on the draw (not by choice). He gets a second turn Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull, and sees two Spell Pierces and a FoW, and also my hand via Gitaxian Probe. However, I manage to assemble a hand with multiple Show and Tells, which I ram into his countermagic until I can use my PoN on his FoW to win.
Game 2 I start on the draw (not by choice). He gets a Turn 1 Delver that flips, putting me on the clock. He also gets a Meddling Mage naming Show and Tell. I find a Toxic Deluge and the combo, but Deluge gets countered and I can't get rid of the Meddling Mage in time.
Game 3 I start on the draw (by choice). He again gets a Turn 1 Delver, but this one doesn't flip. His Turn 2 Delver worries me, as does the Turn 3 Meddling Mage. Of course, on Turn 4 they flip and I am in for it. Again, I have a Toxic Deluge but he again has the counterspell for it. Again, I would have been able to go the next turn.
Today's verdict on Toxic Deluge is that it's too slow and it could have been Massacre in any case and it would have been just as good or better. In the Death & Taxes matchup, in the second game if the Deluge had been a Massacre I would have won because I would have remained on four life and the Flickerwisp wouldn't have killed me. In the second game of the Patriot Delver matchup, I had a Flusterstorm in hand which I would have been able to use to protect the Massacre and won the game. However, I still appreciate that Deluge has wider applications against decks such as BUG Delver and Maverick where you may not be able to cast it for free due to an absence of Plains, and also (in the case of Maverick) of Gaddock Teeg. However, my metagame is inundated with good Death & Taxes players so I think maybe I change the Deluges to Massacres next week and see how it runs. In a larger metagame Deluges are likely the right call, however.
I didn't take out Slaughter Pact, removing Intuition instead. I find I can avoid creating situations where I wish for it when it's not there. It was probably the easiest cut.