[Deck] Turbo Depths

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Originally Posted by DNSolver

How are you beating Miracles consistently? What patterns to the games result in you winning? How are you sideboarding?

Edit: I guess I'll actually answer the post :)

Tips and Tricks for Death and Taxes:

1) Wait to play Pithing Needle. Since D+T lacks card selection, they are stuck with what they draw in most cases. Wait to play Needle until you see something you want to Needle, either from them playing it or from a discard spell. In order of priority, these are usually Wasteland > Vial > Karakas > Port / Mom if there's no clear choice.

2) Fast mana can usually come out post-board because games will likely take a while to win unless you catch them with a bad hand that folds to one Needle.

3) Against only Karakas up as they pass to your turn with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben out, Ghost Quarter on Karakas at the end of their second main phase if they have already played a land that turn. This prevents them from floating mana in their endstep to use with their Plains they fetch to Plow your token. This does let them play a 2nd Karakas from hand if they have it, so use this trick only when they have played a land that turn.

4) Allow / entice your opponent to Wasteland your duals / Urborgs instead of your Stages / Depths.

5) Stage can copy your opponent's Wasteland, Port, or Karakas. You can occaisionally use the Wasteland or Port ability to get around Karakas.

6) Bring in Karakas to stop Mangara of Corondor from turning off your entire deck.

7) Flickerwisp is their best card against us if they can get to the necessary mana / vial number. It kills Marit Lage with its ability, blocks, attacks for 3 to clock us, and can exile Pithing Needles for a turn to unlock their cards.

8) Hexmage is a good blocker / attacker in the matchup. You can frequently get in some points of damage that negates 2-4 points of lifegain from Jitte / Batterskull. Hexmage also sacrifices to remove counters from vial. This will prevent your opponent from putting the card they want in from Vial if you remove the counters in response. If your opponent says that Vial remembers how many counters were on it, that only applies if the Vial is killed.

9) Sejiri Steppe can counter Swords, Flickerwisp or Mangara's abilities, etc. However, one of its better modes is to get through blockers.

10) Try to copy Ghost Quarter with a Stage if you get a chance, to make sure you have access to a second Ghost Quarter effect if your first combo attempt does not work.

Some of these plays are pretty obvious, but that should be enough to win at least half your games unless your opponent really knows your deck as well as you do.

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Thanks for all of the tips and tricks. Much appreciated, Unfortunately I have been playtesting against my buddy who is a highly skilled DnT player and knows my deck quite well at this point. I am looking forward to testing against other people to better gauge the matchup.

As for Miracles, I have been probably 80/20 over miracles. I actually keep most of the fast mana in, because I am going for a turn one Chalice or Sphere. I basically try to put out disruption, then either make Marit Lage, or plink away with Hexmage until they respond. And try to quickly assemble another iteration of the combo to keep them on the back foot. I had Crucible in the sideboard before I tried to adjust for an alternate plan against DnT. Crucible was nice when I saw it, but I generally won without seeing it.

For sideboarding:

+3 Abrupt Decay
+4 Chalice of the Void
+1 Sphere of Resistance
(with my new plan, I might bring in Steely Resolve instead of NOTW, but I haven't played against Miracles since I made these changes).

-1 Duress
-2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-4 Crop Rotation
-1 Lotus Petal

The rationale has been to remove CMC 1 cards in favor of getting a fast Chalice for 1. But also keep the deck fast to pressure Miracles and not let them draw-go too much while building up an arsenal. I sometimes Abrupt Decayed Counterbalance, but more often I have end-of-turn used it on their Divining Top the turn I am going to combo to hedge against Terminus, or use it in response to a fetch on their Top. Top feels more problematic than Counterbalance most of the time. But again, I am new to this deck and these are just my first impressions from running it mostly against my friends in our weeklies. This Friday I think I am taking it to a semi-local event where most people won't know what I'm on, which will be a good opportunity for testing with less confounding variables :-)

On a side note, I have really like have the extra Sphere--it makes it so I more often have a big piece of disruption in my opening hand--and often a backup on the way if it gets FOWed.

Thanks for the helpful tips DNSolver, I will let you know how it goes incorporating them against DnT.

I still don't get why you guys love chalice so much vs miracles. Yes, it shuts off the cantrips+STP, but it greatly weakens our deck via nerfing crop rotations/tseize/duress et al. Sphere is better in more matchups and doesn't nerf 12 cards in your deck.
Try a 0 fast mana, Emrakul + abrupt decay plan w/ multiple needles on top - it works.

I think a real problem for us is actually bug decks. I'm finding the combination of lily + wasteland + hymn + strix rather difficult to deal with bar turn 2 turbo marit lage.

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Originally Posted by jdmdave

I still don't get why you guys love chalice so much vs miracles. Yes, it shuts off the cantrips+STP, but it greatly weakens our deck via nerfing crop rotations/tseize/duress et al. Sphere is better in more matchups and doesn't nerf 12 cards in your deck.
Try a 0 fast mana, Emrakul + abrupt decay plan w/ multiple needles on top - it works.

I think a real problem for us is actually bug decks. I'm finding the combination of lily + wasteland + hymn + strix rather difficult to deal with bar turn 2 turbo marit lage.

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I agree Chalice for 1 shuts off some of our stuff, but I think crop rotation actually isn't very good against Miracles because Counterbalance makes it look really bad, same as our discard. By Miracles turn 2 we might as well have boarded that stuff out in many cases. But if we do it proactively, and also Chalice for 1...it seems to work pretty nicely :-) But that's just based on my so-far limited experience. Just started Turbo Depths a few weeks ago, but have been playing the hell out of it.

I highly recommend you put more time into the deck @ comp rel. ;)

I was 4-0 vs. Miracles @ GP Chiba and won 3 of my game 2-3s due to combination of crop rotation -> steppe and duress/tsieze into surgical. The latter in particularly is a consistent winning line vs miracles.

I might try a rite of consumption.
If I go blooming marsh with 0-1 fetch maybe 1 bayou, should I be running a sylvan library or two to help the numbers game?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdmdave

I still don't get why you guys love chalice so much vs miracles. Yes, it shuts off the cantrips+STP, but it greatly weakens our deck via nerfing crop rotations/tseize/duress et al. Sphere is better in more matchups and doesn't nerf 12 cards in your deck.
Try a 0 fast mana, Emrakul + abrupt decay plan w/ multiple needles on top - it works.

I think a real problem for us is actually bug decks. I'm finding the combination of lily + wasteland + hymn + strix rather difficult to deal with bar turn 2 turbo marit lage.

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So many ppl have answered this question for tou. Ill take a different approach since you dont seem to understand. Its benefits outweigh its costs. For 1 chalice you can remove 4x stp, 4x brainstorm, 4x sensei's top. Thats a 1 for 12. Duress isnt likely to give you that value, and neither is crop rotation, and crop rotation is arguably the best card in the deck. With a chalice on 1 against miracles, what do you have to worry about? NOTHING. They cant swords, they cant draw on your turn to terminus, and they cant dig for win cons. If they top feck an entreat well shit, but duress / crop rotation wouldnt have saved you from that either. Maybe you have to worry about karakas and maybe blood moon.

EDIT

You do still have to worry about a few cards. They can still dig with chalice on 1 but not efficiently and like negator said below they can predict into a terminus. While chalice on 1 does stop them from doing many things and it does make many other things very hard for them they can still maneuver around it. That said, the reason miracles is such a good deck is because it is very difficult to disrupt. It is very versatile and performs consistently. It has a wide range of answers to just about everything. That is the nature of the deck. At some point, you matchups simply will not get better against it.

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Originally Posted by apple713

So many ppl have answered this question for tou. Ill take a different approach since you dont seem to understand. Its benefits outweigh its costs. For 1 chalice you can remove 4x stp, 4x brainstorm, 4x sensei's top. Thats a 1 for 12. Duress isnt likely to give you that value, and neither is crop rotation, and crop rotation is arguably the best card in the deck. With a chalice on 1 against miracles, what do you have to worry about? NOTHING. They cant swords, they cant draw on your turn to terminus, and they cant dig for win cons. If they top feck an entreat well shit, but duress / crop rotation wouldnt have saved you from that either. Maybe you have to worry about karakas and maybe blood moon.

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They absolutely can still draw during your turn to trigger Terminus even against Chalice on 1. It's harder obviously, but Clique (themselves) and Predict both get the job done vs Chalice on 1. Jace can set up the top of the deck for that if they have it. They also have access to Wear/Tear, Council's Judgement, Engineered Explosives, etc to deal with a Chalice that got through their counters. Most of those cards can be dug to easily if they got a top through before Chalice. If the top is in play, its also not always a 1 shot if they don't have to use it to trigger the Terminus (using one of the other mentioned cards to draw during your turn) Those examples are on top of the obvious options you mentioned like Karakas, Blood Moon, and Entreat. Many lists have been jamming From the Ashes recently as well. I think Chalice can be effective, but you have to be concerned or aware of more that "nothing." The downsides are also real if you are boarding out Crop Rotations as they are not only the best card in the deck, but a primary answer to plow and snap/plow. The games where you don't draw Chalice in a reasonable time frame have to be harder without crops and with less discard.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by apple713

So many ppl have answered this question for tou. Ill take a different approach since you dont seem to understand. Its benefits outweigh its costs. For 1 chalice you can remove 4x stp, 4x brainstorm, 4x sensei's top. Thats a 1 for 12. Duress isnt likely to give you that value, and neither is crop rotation, and crop rotation is arguably the best card in the deck. With a chalice on 1 against miracles, what do you have to worry about? NOTHING. They cant swords, they cant draw on your turn to terminus, and they cant dig for win cons. If they top feck an entreat well shit, but duress / crop rotation wouldnt have saved you from that either. Maybe you have to worry about karakas and maybe blood moon.

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I'm much more afraid of terminus being actively hid by a top than anything else in the deck.

Running depths tomorrow at GP SJ side events.

// 60 Maindeck
// 7 Artifact
4 Lotus Petal
3 Pithing Needle

// 8 Creature
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

// 1 Enchantment
1 Sylvan Library

// 7 Instant
4 Crop Rotation
3 Not of This World

// 24 Land
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Blooming Marsh
1 Bayou
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse

// 13 Sorcery
4 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Into the North


// 15 Sideboard
// 5 Artifact
SB: 1 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 4 Sphere of Resistance

// 1 Creature
SB: 1 Emrakul, the Promised End

// 6 Instant
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay

// 2 Land
SB: 1 Cabal Coffers
SB: 1 Eye of Ugin

// 1 Sorcery
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge


hopefully ill run into great matchups :)

Good luck tomorrow! I might suggest a 4th needle in the board instead of deluge. Needle is very important for dealing with wasteland, karakas and top. Otherwise nice looking list. Let us know how the emrakul package works out.

Hi All, I won our small local weekly last night with my new Turbo Depths deck...mostly uneventful except my game three against my Miracles opponent my hand was: Bayou, Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize, Lotus Petal, Elvish Spirit Guide, Elvish Spirit Guide, Chalice of the Void. I was on the play and opened with a Thoughtseize, which he FOWed pitching Snapcaster. I played the Lotus Petal and Thoughtseized again, seeing Swords to Plowshares, Divining Top, Engineered Explosives, and a couple lands. I took EE, pitched two spirit guides, and landed Chalice on 1. Then proceeded to rip a fetch, a stage, and dark depths off the top for the win. This deck is awesome!!! I think I'm playing in a slightly bigger bi-weekly tonight, I'll let you all know how it goes.

Did anyone tested Lost legacy ?
I am right now testing massacre, but I still have some issues with death and taxes/ miracle as the two worst matchup of the deck.
Lost legacy might be very good versus miracle (sword/terminus)/showAndTell/storm(tendrill).
I am right now not sure that Not of this world is good enough for my sideboard, I think massacre might do a better job here ; more foccused on death and taxes.
As for the basic swamp, I have definetely adopted it for my sideboard having access to both green and black is so important versus blood moon I cutted one krosan grip for it.

I've run Lost Legacy a few times now.

Tournament results:

* Against Mono Red Stompy, extracted all 4 Blood Moons. Died to what was on board (Magus of the Moon #3, had killed 2 already).

* Against Legends Miracles, extracted all 3 Swords to Plowshares (0 in hand). Lage bounced by top decked Venser, never got back in the game.

* Against BR Reanimator, extracted all Griselbrands (2 in yard). Win I think.

Haven't run into combo with it.

It's okay. Seems good as a 'cabal therapy' effect, naming what you don't want to face the next turn, plus getting information. Pulling shit out of the yard shouldn't be underestimated too, I can see where extracting all the Loams from Lands would be good too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdmdave

I'm much more afraid of terminus being actively hid by a top than anything else in the deck.

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I agree, but all of the discard in the world won't help you solve that problem. Neither will a crop rotation or any other 1 drops that you are locking yourself out of with chalice on 1. It doesn't change the fact that chalice simply gives more value.

played the legacy double up today. Went 3-1

R1: Death and Taxes- Ouch 0-2
I get wrecked by his Mangara, Karakas, Wasteland, Flickerwisp and Serra Avenger..

R2: Goblins- 2-0
T2 Marit Lage is pretty strong and a T4 Lage in G2 protected by Not of This World finishes him.

R3: Death and Taxes- 2-0
He seemed fairly new to Legacy and had never played vs Turbo depths before. I handily win with Lage by Crop rotoing with ESG while tapped out when he goes to Path my Hexmage.

R4: Lands- 2-1 Would have loved to split and play but he was 1-0-2.

G1: He punts hard by letting me get a draw with library which finds me not of this world which protects lage from the karakas when swinging for lethal.
G2: His early Sphere makes things awkward and we grind for a long while. He eventually gets me good with seal of primordium to hit my needle.
G3: He tries to jam and makes the mistake of trying to Krosan grip my petal. I forget its a mana ability and let it go. He swings with his Lage but I have ESG to activaate Stage and kill him on the crackback.

Overall was great. Picked up my First FBB dual in a Bayou for this deck

@Apple

On my list I have made the following changes : +2 sylvan library +1 top -1 duress -1 needle -1 map.
I think having acces to card selection is so important versus miracle and death and taxes.

The side has a lot changed also I have included the basic swamp and fourth decay instead of the two krosan grip,
and lost legacy+ massacre are in test.

I think we have to make the good balance between going off fast and to be very consistant (mainly to beat delvers.decks/burn this means a good amount of tutors/combo pieces) and having a good late game versus detah and taxes/miracle (this means more card selection/disruptions pieces).

I have a tried lost legacy and it seems very good versus miracle, I think it is even better than chalice cause miracle has lot of outs to get ride off it via wear/tear-disenchant-ee-council whereas lost legacy once resolved is gamebreaking.



// 60 Maindeck
// 9 Artifact
3 Pithing Needle
3 Expedition Map
3 Sensei's Divining Top

// 6 Creature
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Birds of Paradise

// 2 Enchantment
2 Sylvan Library

// 7 Instant
4 Crop Rotation
3 Abrupt Decay

// 23 Land
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sejiri Steppe
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Forest
2 Khalni Garden
4 Blooming Marsh

// 13 Sorcery
4 Sylvan Scrying
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress


// 15 Sideboard
// 4 Instant
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction

// 3 Land
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 Maze of Ith
SB: 1 Swamp

// 8 Sorcery
SB: 4 Lost Legacy
SB: 4 Massacre

Below is the list I'm currently testing. It's been surprisingly good with the added boost of speed with Dark Ritual. Aether Snap has been a boss, surprising opponents with not only another avenue in creating a Marit Lage token, but also knocking off Jace or Liliana at the same time (two potentially problematic cards). The discard package remains, obviously - so protection is still there. I like the mid to late-game power it provides, as well with the added bonus of clearing Monk, Elemental and Goblin tokens - in addition to giving you an out to Chalice decks in good standing without having to devote Hexmage to clearing it off the board. This deck obviously isn't geared too much for those situations, so having that ability to massively swing the game-state is a nice bonus. The ability to push back time by knocking off Vial counters is key in the Death and Taxes match-up, because it forces the opponent to play hard-cast answers where Not of This World wins you the game (potentially). The synergy and bonuses are very good.

I originally thought it border-lined "cute," but after some rigorous testing it was pretty strong (especially in today's meta, which it is much better in as opposed to ten year-old lists running a play-set). The Carpets out of the board give you the option to generate fast mana early to generate Marit Lage, push past conditional counters with the added benefit of discard into combo, giving you added mana for A-Snap faster and making mulligans stronger where in-hand mana becomes less necessary. It also forces your opponents to sometimes play around it, which I love doing.

A set of Spheres are there to punish combo and control decks, which shines with your low curve and ability to create Marit Lage off lands.

I always prefer Dread of Night. The card is Value City without investing heavier resources later in the game and I feel as though that outweighs the value of Massacre when Death and Taxes opens with Vial and a bunch of non-Plains lands. It shores up tokens against Miracles with Snap, too - so that's a nice bonus.

A pair of Faeries are in the board working with Bog. Chancellor of the Annex is a thing, so free blowout hate is perfect that has added value in being able to cast and attack with, too.

Abrupt Decay is Abrupt Decay.

Karakas is there as a tutor target for Marit Mirror-Lage match-ups, in addition to other giant assholes.

I'm still tweaking the list, so it's never perfect. But it gets there like it always does, just with a slight variation of supporting characters.

// Turbo Depths

// 60 Maindeck
// 7 Artifact
3 Lotus Petal
4 Pithing Needle

// 8 Creature
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

// 10 Instant
4 Crop Rotation
3 Not of This World
3 Dark Ritual

// 22 Land
4 Dark Depths
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sejiri Steppe
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Llanowar Wastes
4 Thespian's Stage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Forest

// 13 Sorcery
4 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Aether Snap


// 15 Sideboard
// 4 Artifact
SB: 4 Sphere of Resistance

// 2 Creature
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre

// 4 Enchantment
SB: 2 Dread of Night
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers

// 4 Instant
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Not of This World

// 1 Land
SB: 1 Karakas

Glad to hear that Lost Legacy is doing some work, adrieng. I am always looking for new cards to test vs Miracles. I would probably even fit in a Boseiju if I was doing that plan, but then maybe Rite of Consumption would be a better choice at that point?

I played in a $1k yesterday in Maine. My list was the typical turbo list with the following sideboard:

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
1 Karakas
3 Sylvan Library (a.k.a. Books)
2 Chalice of the Void

The split of Chalice / Library was for Miracles, with the idea that Library is fine against Stoneblade and other combo decks to draw into more discard.

R1: BUG Aluren 2-1
Game two he gets me with topdecked Aluren to combo with his Glint-Nest Crane + Cavern Harpy

R2: Miracles 1-2
Game 1 He has Top on the play. I cast Duress and see two Counterbalances with a second blue source to cast it, so the game ends pretty much right there.
My sideboard plan was my entire sideboard except for 1 Surgical. I took out 1 Depths, 4 Crop Rot, Steppe, 8 fast mana

Game 2 My turn 1 Needle on Top gets Force'd. I follow it up by slamming turn 2 Library. I pay 12 life over the course of the game to acquire Abrupt Decays, Surgicals, and discard. After making a token, in response to a Brainstorm (to trigger a Terminus), I Surgical something to shuffle his deck. He responds by throwing away his Top. I get to a spot where he keeps off a Ponder, then passes, so I dig for discard with Library to clear the way. Library was pretty good this game, though I was pretty fortunate he didn't have an answer for it all game (he had 2 Wear/Tear 1 Council's). By using Surgical I saw that he had no legendary creatures, and a 1-of From the Ashes instead of any Blood Moons, so I re-sideboarded out the Karakas for the 4th Surgical.

Game 3 I get him to a weird spot where I have Surgical'd Wear/Tear and Council's Judgment, but the board is pretty much empty with him having only Surgical in hand (I haven't combo'd yet) and me slowly putting together the combo against his Snapcaster Mage attacking for 2 a turn. I'm finally ready to combo and find a discard spell, which reveals that he drew two Plows in a row. I take one of them. I then draw another discard spell to take the other Plow. He draws Top (which has not been Needle'd) for his turn, which pressures me to go for it only to get hit with another Swords to Plowshares -> Surgical Depths. My next draw step was Chalice of the Void, which he had no answers for because I Surgical'd them all :(((((((((

R3 Maverick 2-1
Game three he kept a hand that didn't do much and luckily drew into Sylvan Library, but his Library didn't find anything despite him paying 8 life twice. Crop Rot for Steppe got through his Birds of Paradise.

R4 Cloudpost 2-1
I lose G2 to Needles on Stage and Hexmage when I didn't board in Decays, like an idiot.

R5 Shardless BUG - I was paired against someone I traveled there with, so we determined that the best EV was to split, then have him concede to me to guarantee top 8.

R6 Miracles ID
Played for fun, and this opponent didn't know the matchup. Pretty easy 2-0 after he doesn't board in Wear/Tear or Surgical. Entered top 8 as 6th seed so I would be on the draw the entire time.

Quarterfinals Sneak and Show 2-1
G1 he gets me with Omniscience -> cast Emrakul one turn before I am able to get there while having Needles on Sneak Attack and Griselbrand.
I boarded in Karakas, 3 Library, Needle, 4 Decays for 3 NOTW, 1 Scrying, and some other stuff, probably fast mana.

G2 I cast a Duress to see Show and Tell, Sneak Attack, Magus of the Moon, Cunning Wish, Brainstorm, Ponder, Island. I take Ponder because I have a Needle in hand for his Sneak Attack but no answer to his Magus. On the next turn I play Library, in response he Brainstorms and doesn't find a Force. He plays out a land he found from his Brainstorm. I Library into a Crop Rotation and pay 4 life, then Needle his Sneak Attack. My opponent casts Show and Tell and I have some more decisions based on what I think is happening. I could get Magus'd, but I have a basic Forest in play and can Crop Rot into Swamp, then dig for Decay. I let it resolve and put in nothing, holding two Crop Rots in hand. Opponent puts in Emrakul (I'm pretty sure this is a mistake), and I just use one of my Crop Rots to get Karakas. My Library on the next turn finds no discard, but a green land and another Crop Rotation. I pay 4 for these and play the land, then in response to Magus I double Crop Rot and combo.

G3 I have a very interesting choice on 7 cards: Verdant, Urborg, Depths, Hexmage, Crop Rotation, lands. My opponent mulligans and cantrips. After drawing Library for turn I have some interesting choices, and eventually decide to play Verdant out to survive a Blood Moon effect on turn 2. I could have played out Depths and then put in Hexmage off a Show and Tell to beat Emrakul or naked Sneak Attack. My opponent plays an Ancient Tomb and now has Tomb and Island out, but does nothing. I fetch forest, then cast Hexmage off Urborg, which resolves. My opponent plays another Ancient Tomb and does nothing again. I play Depths out from hand and hold up Crop Rotation and my opponent dies. Kind of anticlimactic.

Semis Miracles 0-2 same opponent as R2
G1 I combo three times in the first five turns and he has Plow, Terminus, Terminus because I don't have a Needle on Top.

G2 My opponent gets stuck on 3 lands for a few turns and I decide to go for it and die to Terminus (from Brainstorm) + Surgical Depths.

What do you guys think about playing a number of surgicals in the main possibly over duress? I feel like I side them in every game and you have that option to just strip all wastes from the deck once they fire one off? I guess it's really important to pull the removal etc from their hands but have just really enjoyed paying 2 life to get a look at their hand and also rip specific cards away from the match.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DNSolver

R2: Miracles 1-2
Game 1 He has Top on the play. I cast Duress and see two Counterbalances with a second blue source to cast it, so the game ends pretty much right there.
My sideboard plan was my entire sideboard except for 1 Surgical. I took out 1 Depths, 4 Crop Rot, Steppe, 8 fast mana

Game 2 My turn 1 Needle on Top gets Force'd. I follow it up by slamming turn 2 Library. I pay 12 life over the course of the game to acquire Abrupt Decays, Surgicals, and discard. After making a token, in response to a Brainstorm (to trigger a Terminus), I Surgical something to shuffle his deck. He responds by throwing away his Top. I get to a spot where he keeps off a Ponder, then passes, so I dig for discard with Library to clear the way. Library was pretty good this game, though I was pretty fortunate he didn't have an answer for it all game (he had 2 Wear/Tear 1 Council's). By using Surgical I saw that he had no legendary creatures, and a 1-of From the Ashes instead of any Blood Moons, so I re-sideboarded out the Karakas for the 4th Surgical.

Game 3 I get him to a weird spot where I have Surgical'd Wear/Tear and Council's Judgment, but the board is pretty much empty with him having only Surgical in hand (I haven't combo'd yet) and me slowly putting together the combo against his Snapcaster Mage attacking for 2 a turn. I'm finally ready to combo and find a discard spell, which reveals that he drew two Plows in a row. I take one of them. I then draw another discard spell to take the other Plow. He draws Top (which has not been Needle'd) for his turn, which pressures me to go for it only to get hit with another Swords to Plowshares -> Surgical Depths. My next draw step was Chalice of the Void, which he had no answers for because I Surgical'd them all :(((((((((

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I think taking the swords was the incorrect choice in g3. You probably see it now too after having gotten surgicaled. You can fight through a swords, but you have 0 % chance to win if you get surgicaled. Also, think of how much a card like liliana of the veil would help you against miracles. You can edict their snap caster, and discard their hand over a few turns. It leaves them unable to hold answers for an eot marit lage. in my experiences miracles miracles doesn't have enough threats to keep up with a liliana. 3 cmc is also hard for them to counterbalance. Main deck i think they only have council's judgment and post board pithing needle. My version is slower but liliana, abrupt decays, sylvan library, and chalice of the void are main deck so my miracles matchup is pretty solid as you can imagine.

Also, in a situation like u were in earlier where you surgicaled wear and tear and councils judgement, instead of maybe lost legacy, have you considered sadistic sacrament. Just 1 of them is able to get those pesky 1 of answers against miracles. It's also a silver bullet against a few combo decks. Post board against miracles, you might be able to remove all of their win cons with 2 sacraments. Some versions only run jace, snap caster, and entreat. Sometimes they get sided out and even if you can't win it'd be easier to win by default where they can't win and they deck themselves.

I'm not saying that you should replace surgical with sadisitic but give it some thought. I pitched the idea a while back and it didn't get much of a response because the deck was still in its infancy but now there are more eyes on it and ppl are considering lost legacy it may be time to revisit sadistic sacrament. Thoughts on sacrament and liliana?