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Originally Posted by
thefreakaccident
1. A resolved counterbalance, the only out in the MD is to either counter it or the top... against another thresh player, this is a loosing battle. Has anyone considered a few bounce spells/grips/whathaveyou to stop this in the MD?
There are only a few customizable slots in the MD: I picked Spell Snare for precisely this reason - a flexible tool that also improves your chances in the Counterbalance war. Your maindeck is about as prepared for that fight as the average Threshold lists.
Postside, your tools for the mirror match are Red Elemental Blasts and Blood Moon.
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2. Ichorid = extremely bad times... I know that this has always been so for red threshold, however, is there a way to remedy this aside from the obvious (play something else)?
Wait two weeks and you'll get to supplement Tormod's Crypt with the new Shards of Alara artifact. Beyond 4 Crypts and Pyroclasm, it will be your best additional inclusion.
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3. Swan, a two of or three of? I have been having mixed feelings, as I always have an extra one to spare, which is sometimes a hassle, and sometimes a blessing.
Having three makes me more comfortable with pitching one to Force early, knowing that I have decent chances of finding a second if necessary.
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Originally Posted by Dark Cynic 87
No Stifle or Fire//Ice? Do you miss it?
Stifle is a good card, but without a primary plan of land destruction (i.e. no Wastelands to back it up) a Spell Snare covers more important stuff.
Fire//Ice, with the Ice side severely weakened by the lack of a tempo strategy, is comparable to Chain of Plasma in power; the combo utility of Chain tips the scales in its favour. It's not an unreasonable consideration for the flexible (i.e. Spell Snare) slot.
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Does 3x Chain feel like the right number (I always thought people used 2x)? I don't mean to question, I'm just trying to get comfortable with it.
I feel OK with three, myself. They're essentially Incinerates, and they kill a lot of stuff.
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How often does the combo kill come into play? Is it the normal way of winning? How often does it win vs. a Goyf/Goose win?
You go for the combo maybe once in four or five games against control and the mirror; half that or less often against aggro. It's a Plan B that comes to rescue you when, for whatever reason, your green guys have failed to go through the red zone.
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What's a good combatant vs. Ichorid and Dragon Stompy for the 2x Spell Snare Slot? I realize that Spell Snare is good vs. CotV and Jitte, but virtually useless vs. Ichorid (these are my two most common matchups here). I also play against Spring Tide, burn and a Zoo build, but the top 2 are DS and Ichorid.
I think I'm stating the obvious here, but Ichorid and Dragon Stompy are two of the worst matchups for any Thresh variant. Moreover you'll want to side out Swans of Bryn Argoll, like anything that costs 4+ mana, against every matchup you listed except Dragon Stompy. This is probably not the thread you want to be in. Finally, Blood Moon is useless against every deck you listed except Zoo.
Anyway, if for whatever reason you want to go ahead with Swan Thresh, turn those Snares into Engineered Explosives, sideboard the third copy plus 4 BEBs, and good luck.
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Originally Posted by
Mister Agent
List
Your mana curve severely worries me. Compared to the list I've been playing, your changes are mostly towards more expensive cards (Out: 1 land, 2 Bolt, 2 Snare, 1 Ponder, 1 Swans; In: 1 Shoal, 2 Predict, 2 Rushing River, 2 Engineered Explosives). I think you'll end up with clogged hands far too often.
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I basically replaced blood moon/ruination with price of progress to punish 3-5 color decks for reaching. With several fetchlands and only five dual lands, I imagine playing a resolved price of progress wouldn't hurt too bad.
PoP is a lot more narrow than Blood Moon, because it can only reliably attack control decks. Blood Moon is a bomb in the Counterbalance mirror, against Thrash, against CounterSlivers, against Doran Rock, etc. etc.
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The singleton disrupting shoal interacts like a 5th force of will which can come in handy in matchups. It's been testing smoothly so far but I might replace it with something else later on like for maybe a 3rd predict or a 4th ponder.
I can't comment on Disrupting Shoal since i never played with it, but you absolutely want 4 Ponders. Find room for them - you run Predict, by the gods.
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Rushing river can be useful in the mirror since it bounces powerful critters and as well as temporarily removing a threshold diminishing enchantment can do wonders as well.
Bounce sucks here: you don't play the tempo role nearly as well as Thrash. In those few situations where you'll want to sacrifice card advantage to bounce a couple of blockers or a lock piece, running the other Lightning Bolts will be almost as good, and they will prove more useful in nearly every other situation.
