SFM?? You don't need Stoneforge, just Jitte. Run 3 of them for consistency and redundancy against other Jitte decks.
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SFM?? You don't need Stoneforge, just Jitte. Run 3 of them for consistency and redundancy against other Jitte decks.
I know Jitte is extremely powerful, but doesn't it seem a bit slow? Or is it once its active its too powerful to ignore?
You run 4 drum and 4 opal (well, you should) so you can probably cast and equip Jitte faster than most decks could. Jitte is fast enough against the decks (Maverick, Goblins) that lose to it and/or rely on their own Jitte to beat you (Maverick, Blade).
I played 4 Mox in my MTGO list, but always thought maybe 4 were too much since it is Legendary and I don't have any Ravagers?
You always want Mox Opal in your opening hand. It's worth the trouble. You can discard extras, or cast two more Opals after the first to net one mana. Also, Opal tends to find itself in the graveyard sometimes from your opponent's disruption, so it doesn't hurt to have extras anyway.
As of yet, I've always had at least (1) Mox in the hands I've had since playing the deck (other than stupid hands in MODO, ie: 4 Citadel, 2 Vaults, 1 Opal, etc.) but maybe I'm just lucky. :tongue:
Also, what's the fastest this deck can kill? Turn 3, right? I goldfished, and got a Turn 3 kill with 1 Pest+Plating (random artifacts in play) and Tezz ulti (pretty easy to do, honestly).
EDIT: Also, if I add the Therapies to my board, do you mind listing some of the cards you name in a particular match-up? That way, I would know where to start. :smile:
Maybe just lucky. The probability of an opening hand having at least one 4-of is 30-40%. I doubt you have better odds than that if you're just running 3 Opal. Anyway, as I said before, things can happen where your Opal gets countered (some smart players will Spell Pierce your Opal if you start out with just 'land, Opal') or blown away by Pernicious Deed or EE or even occasionally discarded by a first turn discard effect while you're on the draw, so it's good to draw into additional Opals to rebuild your manabase if you're fighting the attrition battle.
Here are some matchups where I can tell you the best card to name with Therapy. I'll start with combo first.
Show and Tell - On blind calls, name Show and Tell. If it's Sneak and Show, and they respond with Brainstorm, name Emrakul. If it's Omni-Tell and they Brainstorm, name Omniscience. If they have multiple outs (say a Show and Tell & Burning Wish) and you have information on their hand, you could name any of their SnT targets such as Emrakul or Griselbrand if they have it.
RUG - If you're on the play, I'd either name Brainstorm or Delver of Secrets on turn 1. If you have enough mana to play through Daze or Pierce for a Cranial Plating and you can afford to cast Therapy to clear the way, name Force of Will. If you're bringing in Relics, I wouldn't try to name Goyf unless you don't have Relics in your hand. Hopefully any misses you make on the blind call can be made up for by the flashback.
UW Miracle or Blade - Always name Swords to Plowshares on a blind call. If you can somehow wait until they cast Stoneforge, then you're golden. If they reveal something off of Stoneforge, name the Equipment. It's a free card always and you get rid of something that can harm you. If they Brainstorm in response to Therapy, still name Swords to Plowshares. An Esperblade guy played Trinket Mage for EE against me. I Therapied him, he Brainstormed, I named Swords to Plowshares (I used Therapy before on his Jitte, so I knew he had at least 1 StP). Turns out I knocked out two of his StPs!
Smallpox decks - Name Smallpox or Liliana.
Storm decks - If they don't realize they can cast their artifact mana to prevent them from being discarded, then always name Lion's Eye Diamond. Otherwise, I would name Dark Ritual or Brainstorm.
Affinity - Cranial Plating. If they have more than 3 mana, name Tezz or Master of Etherium.
Those guidelines are just merely guidelines. If you disagree, then tell me why or you can make different choices in your matchups. It's all insight that I developed myself from my own personal experiences with these matchups.
Thanks! I think it's going to help a lot! I was thinking of it, and the raw power Therapy has I can't pass it up. Even if I miss my blind-call, I can still play a 0-cost creature to get rid of something, if need be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawon
EDIT: I think I'm gonna change my SB to the following:
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 O-Ring
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Galvanic Blast
I might want to switch the numbers in my deck, like so:
-1 City of Brass
+1 Mox Opal
-1 Great Furnace
+1 Ancient Tomb
-1 MoE
-1 Spellskite
+2 Arcbound Ravager
Giving me something like so:
Lands/mana
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Ancient Tomb
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
Beaters
2 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Memnite
4 Frogmite
2 Arcbound Ravager
Win-cons
4 Etched Champion
3 Master of Etherium
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Cranial Plating
Other(s)
3 Galvanic Blast
4 Thoughtcast
Thoughts?
Why did you go from having 4 Relic to splitting it into Relic + Crypt + Spellbomb? Doesn't make much sense looking at it on paper. Ever since I saw your SB with Relics and tried them out, I've been having a MUCH easier time against RUG. It's probably a favorable matchup now for me if I bring in 3 Relics post-board. I wish I had thought of using Relic instead of Cage a long time ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Froggy
Ever since I saw your list, I've been meaning to ask you this: why are you - specifically - using Galvanic Blast? I know it's a good card, but are you using it for any specific matchups? Does it help your unfavorable matchups? More importantly, is it the best card you can use for a specific matchup that you want to to improve? I used to love playing the card all the time, but when I started asking those questions I asked you, I ended up not being able to answer them and started to realize that Galvanic Blast, while very powerful especially in multiples, wasn't what I needed. Do you NEED Galvanic Blast?
About my SB:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawon
I split the Relics because of fear of Needle, Revoker, Extirpate (the NPH one). This way, I can still bring them in, and not have to worry about them getting hosed by one card.
About Galvanic Blast. I guess it comes down to how or what I'm up against, because its never really a "dead draw", I'm never really disappointed in drawing it. I guess I chose it over Dispatch because I can hit my opponent with it, and I know Affinity does its business in the red-zone, but sometimes I Blast my opponent, drop them down to 16 (they probably took around 1-2 dmg from fetching), so 15-14 and just ultimate them for the win. At the tournament I got third, I think I did just that against my Goblins opponent.
EDIT: Funny aside, in my game against Goblins, my opponent and I found out how anti-synergistic Tin Street Hooligan and Goblin Warchief are, lol.
First, Relic will unlikely if not ever be Extracted (Relic will practically never be in the gy). Second, Needle is a poor solution to gy hate in general. Pithing Needle is too narrow for Dredge to use and risk being absolutely cold to Rest in Peace or Leyline. And Reanimator's SnT sb plan is much more effective at bypassing gy hate than simply trying to answer a Relic. So you might as well run 3-4 Relic and improve your Threshold matchup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Froggy
Ok, so you just described how Galvanic Blast is good. I already know this. But does that answer my question, do you need Galvanic Blast more than any other card to significantly improve a specific matchup? Against UW Miracles, is that 1-of Galvanic Blast in your SB really better than having the 4th Tezzeret in its place? Because I can confidently tell you that Tezz Affinity needs to have 4 Tezzeret in its entire 75 to compete with UW Miracles or Blade Control.Quote:
About Galvanic Blast. I guess it comes down to how or what I'm up against, because its never really a "dead draw", I'm never really disappointed in drawing it. I guess I chose it over Dispatch because I can hit my opponent with it, and I know Affinity does its business in the red-zone, but sometimes I Blast my opponent, drop them down to 16 (they probably took around 1-2 dmg from fetching), so 15-14 and just ultimate them for the win. At the tournament I got third, I think I did just that against my Goblins opponent.
I'm not telling you to cut Galvanic Blast because ultimately it's your choice. I'm just asking you from your experience which matchups were Galvanic Blast highly relevant other than just being a finisher or win-more card?
Yeah, I see what you mean about Relic. I should just go on using 3-4 Relic?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawon
Also, it's true that Blast is kind of a "win-more" card.. But I do enjoy being able to kill creatures (Hierarch, Heritage, etc.), and not have to rely on the red-zone to kill things that could potentially be a nuisance.
What does everybody think of Kevin Green's list that Top 16'd a SCG Open? It's the best showing since RTR was released:
http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/38779
I noticed there are no Memnites or Vault Skirges, and it's much more of a midrange Tezzeret type deck. Interesting direction for Affinity. I wonder if he was budget constrained, choosing the Duress over Thoughtseize. I think w/o Memnite, not using Therapy makes some sense.
To be honest, I think the list is terrible and very unrefined. I don't care about his placing. Affinity has been relatively midrange ever since the majority of players have switched from Vial-Ravager-Disciple to straight up Tezzeret Affinity, so I don't really see how this list is groundbreaking. The basic lands are better served as Darksteel Citadel, because you know, Darksteel Citadel actually synergizes with the deck. I run some nonartifact lands myself, but I don't run them in place of my other artifact mana. I just don't get this methodology of diluting your manabase for situational needs. Fetching basics off of a Veteran Explorer isn't going to directly impact your chance of winning in a deck with such as small threshold of mana and it's probably not going to keep your from losing if your opponent still manages to Time Stretch into an active Pernicious Deed anyhow. That's why you run Tezzeret and Darksteel Citadel, and this guy compromised both their numbers. Shame. Also, why run fetchlands for 2 basics when you can just run two more of the same basics, or better yet, Darksteel Citadel. I don't think shuffling your library is going to make that Etched Champion suddenly pop back on top of your library after your opponent resolves Terminus.
The rest of the list is just suboptimal period, due to all the shaving from 4-ofs. Everyone repeat after me: YOU NEED 4 TEZZERET AGAINST CONTROL, MD OR SB. That's why he lost against a BUG deck that didn't even have Pernicious Deed. What is this guy's infatuation with the number 2, as if it's his lucky number and that if he runs something as a 2-of he's always going to draw it at the right time, such as the 2 Master of Etherium. Good luck finding the opportune time to resolve a Master of Etherium on turn 7 when you needed to cast one on turn 3!
What's your current list (with SB)?
I kind of like the O-Rings and the Smelts.
O-Ring is good because it doubles as a generic permanent removal and as a foil to Show and Tell. Smelt, however is unnecessary because you have other cards that do the same job (Revoker, O-Ring, Cabal Therapy, Spell Pierce) that don't just sit there in your hand until you have an opponent's artifact you can target.
My latest list. I cut my last 2 Frogmites for the Therapies so I could free up my sb. Now I can finally make a sb that can beat Show and Tell without killing my other matchups:
Mana
12 Artifact Lands
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
2 Underground River
1 Academy Ruins1 Karakas
Small guys
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
Big guys
3 Master of Etherium
1 Arcbound Ravager
4 Myr Enforcer
43 Etched Champion
Best cards in the deck
4 Thoughtcast
4 Cranial Plating
Tech
3 Spell Pierce
2 Cabal Therapy3 Phyrexian Revoker
SB
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Angel of Despair
21 Karakas
1 Etched Champion
I changed my deck:
-1 Furnace
-1 MoE
-1 City of Brass
+1 Tezz
+1 Opal
+1 Tomb
And my SB:
-3 Duress
+3 Therapy
Just made some more changes:
-2 Cabal Therapy
-1 Academy Ruins
-1 Etched Champion (to the SB)
+3 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Karakas (from the SB)
As much as I am a fan of Cabal Therapy, I quickly noticed how light my creature base was after taking out Frogmites for the Therapies. So once again Cabal Therapy is out of my MD, but instead of going back to Frogmite, I've decided to try out Phyrexian Revoker. It's still a utility card just like Cabal Therapy, but it keeps my creature count where I want it.
@Shawon I feel your list is more midrange, also how is Karakas working out for you? Seems very "techy" for me.. Is it for the Show and Tell match-up?