[DTB] Sneak Attack

2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Through the Breach
2 Echoing Truth
2 Pyroblast
2 Clique
2 Pyroclasm
1 Pithing Needle

sounds like a plan?

I like the leylines but I don't really digg that we have to mull into them. Diversified GY hate in form of Cage + Crypt + Relic seems to be the most painful choice for Dredge (I expect them pretty big in Ghent) and for Reanimator, it ought to be enough too.

Question: Why do people play E-Truth over Wipe Away? I guess Split second could come in handy at times.

I think some people play Echoing Truth over Wipe Away because of the cheaper cost.

Personally, I think the Split Second is really important. We're typically going to bring it in against blue decks that play permanents that wreck us, ie: Humility, Ensnaring Bridge, Blazing Archon, etc. so we'll typically need to potentially deal with countermagic to get the bounce spell through.

Also, Leyline of Sanctity sucks. Why? Because my friend was playing it the other day and I was playing Eva Green on a whim :(

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Originally Posted by lsho

2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Through the Breach
2 Echoing Truth
2 Pyroblast
2 Clique
2 Pyroclasm
1 Pithing Needle

sounds like a plan?

I like the leylines but I don't really digg that we have to mull into them. Diversified GY hate in form of Cage + Crypt + Relic seems to be the most painful choice for Dredge (I expect them pretty big in Ghent) and for Reanimator, it ought to be enough too.

Question: Why do people play E-Truth over Wipe Away? I guess Split second could come in handy at times.

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Now that sb looks a hell of alot better and exponentially more practical.

I'd just play 4x Grafdigger's over the other options for graveyard hate. The GY decks have a hell of a time dealing with that thing. They can fight through their GY being exiled once, but they must answer cage in order to do anything. Plus, any answers to cage can answer relic and crypt.

Wouldn't it be wise to always play at least 3 Cage because then you can Intuition into them?

My sweet Sneak Attack, I have not forgotten you!

So after the Grand Prix, my tournament performance with the deck is still ridiculously good:

GP record: 3-2-1 matches +3byes, 7-9-1 in games
Overall record: 18-4-1 matches, 36-15-1 games (factoring out ID and Byes)

I think the deck is still well positioned, but has to pay attention to any hate cards. I'm going to be playing this a large tournament next weekend. You may even see me on a live stream ;)

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Originally Posted by Koby

My sweet Sneak Attack, I have not forgotten you!

So after the Grand Prix, my tournament performance with the deck is still ridiculously good:

GP record: 3-2-1 matches +3byes, 7-9-1 in games
Overall record: 18-4-1 matches, 36-15-1 games (factoring out ID and Byes)

I think the deck is still well positioned, but has to pay attention to any hate cards. I'm going to be playing this a large tournament next weekend. You may even see me on a live stream ;)

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I agree, the deck is still well positioned, I'll be running sneakshow at a decent size tournament in 2 weeks. Good luck with your tourney, don't forget to provide us with a link.

What are people's thoughts about the Metalworker match-up? How do we beat them? It seems slightly tricky pre-board (although winnable) and pretty tough post-board. We're faster, but only by about a turn or so.

Casting Show and Tell is a little sketchy pre-board because they have at least one Duplicant that give us trouble if S&Ting a creature, and Sundering Titan really screws up S&T into Sneak Attack. Sometimes they don't have a Duplicant in hand and we get there, but if they do it's a total blow-out. Do we avoid casting S&T pre-board? Or do we only S&T into a creature and hope they don't have the Duplicant? (Or Platinum Emperion, which slows us down because only Emrakul can remove it pre-board if running a build without main-deck bounce--although we do get the Lifelink off Griselbrand.)

Post-board, they probably bring in even more Duplicants and a set of Phyrexian Revoker, so S&T is pretty bad. Misdirection is totally dead against Metalworker. Bounce and Through the Breach for S&T and Mis'd seems like the best plan.

What has everyone else's testing shown? Does anyone have any good tech that is broad enough to deserve the sideboard slot?

MUD is one of those matchups where I feel that since we're playing red, we have plenty of sideboard options if we want it.

If it's a real issue for you, I'd just say board a couple of Shattering Sprees and call it a day?

Game 1 I wouldn't be too afraid of Duplicant - the odds of them having it with no library manipulation is pretty low.

Funny you should bring up Shattering Spree. I've been playing Sneak Show for about a month, and my sideboard has three bounce spells; however, the only things I've been bouncing are Pithing Needle and Ensnaring Bridge.

So why not have three Shattering Spree instead? Or are there other significant threats that Echoing Truth hits?

just because for example : peacekeeper, humility... and so on

Yes, we are on red (barely...), but I wanted to know if anybody had any strategies not involving warping the sideboard. Artifact hate doesn't seem great in this format, although..

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Originally Posted by delcameron

the only things I've been bouncing are Pithing Needle and Ensnaring Bridge

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...that's a really interesting point. Now that I think about it, I also frequently bounce either Pithing Needle or Revoker. In fact, that's probably upwards of half the cards I have to bounce in my various match-ups in both testing and tournaments. 1x Shattering Spree along with 2x bounce might not be the worst, although my sideboard plan is pretty tight as-is. Still, something to think about.

Edit: Actually, nevermind. It's still too narrow. I always know to bring in bounce post-board, because it will be useful 99% of the time. Artifact hate post-board could be dead, so it seems risky to waste a slot on it. Improving the Metalworker match-up doesn't seem worth it.

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Originally Posted by lochlan

although my sideboard plan is pretty tight as-is.

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Care to share? :)

Also Merfolk seems to rising its head a little and I was thinking should we prepare for this matchup someway? Are 2-3 Pyroblasts enough in the sideboard? Pyroclasms could also work, although they're not that good when there are multiple lords in the table.

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Originally Posted by Avez

Care to share? :)

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Sure. For whatever it's worth I have tested this extensively (although I still need to test the Merfolk match-up--not sure if/how this will alter my board).

Sideboard:
2 Blood Moon
1 Defense Grid
4 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Wipe Away
1 Echoing Truth
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Through the Breach
2 Karakas


Pretty standard for the most part.

The 2x Karakas seems bad but:
1) it's an easy board-in for 1x Ancient Tomb and 1x Lotus Petal, 2) it bounces Teeg/Thalia, 3) it bounces Griselbrand/Emrakul back to hand post Sneak, and (of course) 4) it blows up a Karakas on the other side of the table (which I always plan for if my opponent is on white), one of the few cards that gives us trouble.

Karakas is also phenomenal in the mirror and has some decent utility against Reanimator, which is a terrible match-up (my plan vs. Reanimator is 10 cards, but has been excellent). I played this board at SCG Seattle (ending 5-3) and 2x Karakas was amazing all day long.

The Defense Grid is for RUG, but also comes in for some other matches (e.g. Stoneblade).

My main deck is the same as this Jonathan Hickerson list with +1 fetch -1 Volcanic Island. I started with a deck about ~5 cards off and arrived independently at that configuration, I believe it to currently be the optimal main deck.

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Originally Posted by lochlan

/.../
The 2x Karakas seems bad but:
1) it's an easy board-in for 1x Ancient Tomb and 1x Lotus Petal, 2) it bounces Teeg/Thalia, 3) it bounces Griselbrand/Emrakul back to hand post Sneak, and (of course) 4) it blows up a Karakas on the other side of the table (which I always plan for if my opponent is on white), one of the few cards that gives us trouble.

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^^ I'm playing Karakas in sideboard since a couple of weeks and really don't think that those seem bad. The only point I would disagree is boarding out an Ancient Tomb for them - most times in the control matchups you don't want your Petals and it's nice to have gainst their Karakas, but in tempo oriented matchups or gainst mana denial you want both, Petals and additional lands. I even board them gainst RUG - not only nice to have more lands, but also there is the unrealistic gimmick in making Gilded Drake little bit worse ;)

But anyways - nice to see that some people came to the same results in testing =P

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Originally Posted by lochlan

Karakas is also phenomenal in the mirror and has some decent utility against Reanimator, which is a terrible match-up (my plan vs. Reanimator is 10 cards, but has been excellent). I played this board at SCG Seattle (ending 5-3) and 2x Karakas was amazing all day long.

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Haven't even though about Karakas! Now I must also have to have 2 of them in my sideboard :D Thanks!

My main is also just like Jonathan Hickerson list except I have 2 Spell Pierce, 2 Misdirection, 2 Daze and -1 island. BTW Is it too paranoid to play 1 Wipe Away in maindeck in case of Blazing Archon, Ensnaring Bridge, Humility...

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Originally Posted by Stephan/

most times in the control matchups you don't want your Petals

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I know that people like to board out Petal, but I never board out more than one. Taking them out really slows us down, which is rarely a good idea. Petal also helps play around Daze and Spell Pierce. Furthermore, reducing the number of available red sources is a little scary.

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Originally Posted by Stephan/

in tempo oriented matchups...you want both, Petals and additional lands.

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I have not tested using non-mana slots for Karakas in the RUG match-up. I get why that seems good, but additional non-colored sources doesn't sound that appealing to me. My feeling is that I'd rather have dig/permission than more colorless lands--yet playing around Daze is critical, and it does have some marginal utility vs. Drake, so I will at least try this out in testing. I do board into extra lands in certain MU's, such as Maverick, just not RUG in particular.

@Avez:

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Originally Posted by Avez

Is it too paranoid to play 1 Wipe Away in maindeck

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Whatever wins the tournament is correct. I don't play main-deck bounce--Annihilator 6 is my removal of choice--but it definitely means I'm completely cold to a Blazing Archon pre-board. You should do what works in your regional meta game.

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Originally Posted by lochlan

I know that people like to board out Petal, but I never board out more than one. Taking them out really slows us down, which is rarely a good idea. Petal also helps play around Daze and Spell Pierce. Furthermore, reducing the number of available red sources is a little scary.

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Well, control decks usually don't play Daze and in my humble opinion additional lands just seem better than Petals to play around Pierce. I just don't believe that you can win with speed gainst counters, discard and additional counters from board (e.g. esper blade), but I think that this might highly depend on your main board - for instance I dropped the Intuitions quite early to play 11 cantrips.
My plan gainst control is not to board out cantrips, but rather to increase the threat densitiy and bring hard counters like Pyroblasts. FoWs/Misdirections (of course Misdir. stay in gainst discard) I take out, because I need cantrips to search through and find business, lands and counters. I don't have the situations when I want to pitch them - I just don't believe that post board gainst control an early Show with FoW backup is the winning goal (not even speaking of Flusterstorm to play gainst).

First timer post, fairly new to SneakandShow. I have a few question/need a few tips about SB. In our meta we have a few Deadguy/BUG decks and i often tend too lose those games.

My SB;
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Echoing Truth
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Pyroclasm
2 Blood Moon
1 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Leyline of Sanctity

I take in 4 Leyline of Sanctity against those decks but i really dont like to take a mulligan for digging after then.

Are then any options/cards i can use against those type of decks?

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Originally Posted by Zyroc

First timer post, fairly new to SneakandShow. I have a few question/need a few tips about SB. In our meta we have a few Deadguy/BUG decks and i often tend too lose those games.

My SB;
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Echoing Truth
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Pyroclasm
2 Blood Moon
1 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Leyline of Sanctity

I take in 4 Leyline of Sanctity against those decks but i really dont like to take a mulligan for digging after then.

Are then any options/cards i can use against those type of decks?

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If you've got heavy discard in your meta, Leyline of Sanctity is fine because it'll also typically protect you from their Edict effects. Also don't forget Brainstorm is generally one of your best weapons against hand disruption as well.