[Deck] UW Tempo

I stumbled upon a list called GW Maverick, and it got me wondering. Take this list for an example.

MD:
4 Wasteland
1 Gaea’s Cradle
4 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Treetop Village

3 Mother of Runes
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Eternal Witness
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Weathered Wayfarer
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Scryb Ranger
4 Birds of Paradise

1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 AEther Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Sylvan Library

SB:
2 Krosan Grip
1 Choke
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Aura of Silence
1 Ghostly Prison
3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Gaddock Teeg
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Ground Seal

The amount synergy in this list makes me wet my pants. Now I don't think this is a perfect list by far and the numbers need some tweaking.

Now that Storm isn't that huge of a fact and Reanimator is somewhat inconsistent, do we really needm counterspells? Barring some shit like Counterbalance (and even that) an answer for it after it resolved is far better than a counterpell, since you don't have to keep mana up, 2-1 yourself or bounce your own land when you don't want to. (this is a loose comment, I know)

Now let's break it down:

- Horizon Canopy: a fine card by itself and a good card to fetch with Wayfarer/Reliquary when you need to draw gas.
- Knight of the Reliquary: another tool to help you Wastelock your opponent and on it's free time it's a huge beater. Oh it helps you activate Wayfarer, just realised it.
- Scryb Ranger: AWESOMEST THING EVAR! Double Mom, Reliquary or Wayfarer abilities sounds good to me. Bounces lands to enable Wayfarer. Carries Jitte like a champ. Pro blue against Merfolk looks relevant. Flash adds another trick with active tapped Mom on the table. Finally it is a fine card against Wasteland, something that Daze never did for you.
- Qasali Pridemage: Something I wanted to have a lot on UW Tempo. MD answer to shit like CB or Vedalker Shackles. A resolved CB is a nightmare on game one if you didn't get a Vial or a Wayfarer. Exalted is great too.
- Eternal Witness: the most relevant thing I see this gal recurring is Swords to Plowshares.
- Sylvan Library: seems like a fine card with 7 shuffle creatures + fetches. Awesome against controlish decks.

I really don't like those Birds. They look somewhat out of place and really accelerate into nothing.

I'm not saying UW Tempo is bad or anything. But this just looks much more powerful... running better creatures that have more synergy. The question is: are counterspells really that good?

In the end it's just going to come down to a matter of taste. Some people just don't leave home without a set of Force of Wills. I really don't care. I just saw that GW list and it got me thinking if, in the current metagame, it wouldn't be a better choice.

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The question is: are counterspells really that good?

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The easy answer is yes, by themselves, because counterspells are not "just" mainboard anti-combo tech. But blue also opens up Brainstorm and Fathom Seer, both of which already interact with the Wayfarer engine. Removing blue obviously puts your combo matchups close to 0% preboard and maybe 10-20% post, but also trashes your control matchups, which go from all positive to all negative. Specifically: Lands, Enchantress, Stax, Aggro-Loam, Survival and resurgent Landstill, all of which have stronger engines than... Wayfarer-Ranger-Knight?

The benefit of weakening all of these is to improve your matchup against Zoo and Merfolk, which we already split with. You may also have an easier time vs. CBtop (which we're already favored in) with a decent chance even if they land their soft-lock (which will occur more often without said counterspells), but I'm really stretching to see the benefit of G/W Survival-less beats over 11 of the best cards in Legacy + Seer draw engine?

Yes, Canopy, Knight and Pridemage are all good cards, but Seer is better CA than Canopy or Library, Knight is still just a generic beater when it's not being less useful than Seer (again) at helping Wayfarer (which we already run) at tutoring lands and Pridemage is less influential against decks with powerful artifacts/ enchantments than Aura. Maindeck answers to said artifacts/ enchantments are also, in NG, blue- Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce of which the main runs 9. Relying on a 2cc creature to stop CB and Shackles (the two you mentioned) sounds pretty risky considering they both hit it easily, you have fewer than half as many in the deck and your clock, being an aggro deck, is slower than Zoo's.

I did very poorly at Knightware. 3-3, but I had great pairings and just played atrociously. I got plenty of chances to win, but then made some really nub play mistakes. I haven't played in a while, so I guess that's my excuse.


Combo Elves (0), Eva Green (1-2 Loss), Aggro Loam (0-2 Loss), Merfolk (0-2 Loss), Aluren (0), ANT (1)

Combo Elves: I knew the matchup really well. He had some bad choices, like forgot to attack a bunch of times. I don't think it mattered as both games I was sandbagging mass countermagia while Vial put out beaters.

Eva Green: Definitely should have won this one. Game 2 my opponent had no cards in hand and my board was:

Angel, Mom, Fathom Seer, Jitte, Stoneforge Mystic, and Vial @ 2. I put Mother of Runes and Wayfarer into play (which added absolutely nothing, didn't even increase the clock, which was 2 turns anyway). Opponent rips Deed. Ouch. I still almost win as my topdecks are Fathom Seer into Fathom Seer, they kinda peter out, but his topdecks are approximately as good with Tombstalker, two more creatures, and Jitte on top.

Game 3 I keep a hand with one land that looks super-juicy inc Wayfarer, Mom, Vial. I tutor plains so I don't lose to Wasteland and put Wayfarer out, but he has an answer for Wayfarer and something for Vial, I think Hymn. Mom sticks, but I don't have any more plays. 4 or 5 turns later I topdeck Plains so I can play Serra Avengers and a Jitte (which counters his Jitte).

With Serra Avenger, Mom, Serra Avenger, my opponent has Shade, Shade, Tombstalker, but I'm in winning position on board and my opponent has to use the Deed he was holding, thinking that it would just be Forced and that would be game. My hand, though, is: Daze Daze Daze Brainstorm Brainstorm Fathom Seer Fathom Seer. GG. My opponent remarks that if one of those cards had been Island or Force of Will, then I would have won. This opp went on to Top 8.

Okay, 1-1 bracket.

Aggro Loam game 1 he has EE and Chalice MD, wth? I guess it's not bad, but wasn't too good for me. I manage to trade Wayfarer for two of his lands and an EE, but then he immediately has a Chalice @ 1 ready and my hand is mostly blanked.

Game 2 I start with a mulligan (no lands) and keep a 1 land hand. I play Mom, go. He has Chalice @ 1, but I think I still might have a chance. My turn 3 play is a Morph and I have Vexing Sphinx and another Morph still in hand and I have three Auras of Silence somewhere in the deck which could liven my hand up. His turn 3 play is Goyf, then Knight, then Crusher. His Crusher flips over three lands and then Mox Diamond. I point out that he missed three mandatory triggers to grow his countryside, but already Goyf is at least a 4/5 (5/6 if he just sacs the Mox Diamond) and Knight is like a 6/7 and Crusher would be 6/6, so I just scoop them up.

1-2 Bracket. At least my opponent is Merfolk.

Game 1 I have an endgame Brainstorm. I brainstorm and put two lands back. I put a fetchland into play. I then flip Fathom Seer over without cracking the fetchland. Fuck! Whatever, I have another Brainstorm and another Fathom Seer, so I still have a lot of draw power and can get rid of the chaff. I DO IT AGAIN. What the fuck?

I end up losing the game when I have lethal on board. My opponent draws a Merfolk Sovereign to let a 3/3 Mutavault swing in to kill me from my 2 life. Damn. I guess Lord of Atlantis would have also gotten the job done, but anything like Wasteland, Jitte, Swords, and I would have won easily despite redrawing 4 lands I should have been able to get rid of.

Game 2 I board in Aura of Silence, because I always try to play it safe against Merfolk. My opponent has turn 1 Cursecatcher, turn 2 Chalice @ 1. I force. He Misdirects my Force of Will. Ok. He misses all his land drops, but his hand has two lords. It's cool, though, I have two Swords and Aura of Silence, so I'm good. I play out a Fathom Seer. He forces. I play an Aura of Silence around Daze. He forces with his last two cards. Ok, I guess I lose.

1-3 Bracket (if that's even a bracket): Some nice, weird guy on Aluren.

Wayfarer rapes him game 1. He doesn't really cast anything important. I didn't even know he was Aluren except he played Cloud of Faeries + Cavern Harpy at one point to make blockers, and the guy is pretty old (like mid-50s) and reminiscing about days when he bought Tropical Islands for $10. Also, he's in the 1-3 bracket, so I figure he's playing something bad and old. Luckily I was around and remember the king daddy of bad and old: Aluren. I sideboard 15/15 and I'm deciding whether I should just bring in Aura and Canonist or also bring in Enlightened Tutor. I would lose like Mother of Runes and more Swords if I went to shut down his combo, which meant I'd be weaker against an aggro plan.

I do remember from back in the day: the Aluren engine is pretty massive, and I saw a lot of various/offbeat U and G spells, so I figure he doesn't have too much room for a beatdown plan. I also didn't see any offensive creatures game 1 and even saw Wall of Blossoms. Also, I noticed my opponent only boarded in 3 cards. I figure he's still all-in on the combo, so I go ahead and board in the full anti-combo package (sans Thorn of Amethyst, of course). I'm kinda proud of this decision, since boarding on the fly is pretty difficult. I cut 4 Moms and 3 Swords.

To the game: I stick an Aura. He goes for Aluren anyway like on turn 7 or 8. He didn't miss many land drops, but I had a wasteland (and Aluren is 6 under Aura). I have like 2 Spell Pierces and 2 Forces at this point, though. I Spell Pierce. He has another Aluren (but obviously can't pay 8 to play it around Aura and Spell Pierce) and I counter it again.

2-3 Bracket: ANT
Game 1 he duresses me to take the force. I still have Spell Pierce, so it slows him down a bit. I tap 3 for a Fathom Seer (1 untapped) and he decides to go for the combo. He plays a LED, than Ritual. I Spell Pierce his threshed Ritual, but he pays 2. I dig for Daze or Force with Fathom Seer, but only see Spell Pierce (lol). I try to buff up some confidence and say, "Cabal Ritual's fine" but he goes for AdN anyway. GG.

Game 2 He doesn't "go for it" early and I get a Thorn out like turn 3 or so. He was either building parts or looking for disruption.

Game 3 he changes up his sideboard, but mulligans to 5 and I have early thorn again. GG.

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Originally Posted by IsThisACatInAHat?

The easy answer is yes, by themselves, because counterspells are not "just" mainboard anti-combo tech. But blue also opens up Brainstorm and Fathom Seer, both of which already interact with the Wayfarer engine. Removing blue obviously puts your combo matchups close to 0% preboard and maybe 10-20% post, but also trashes your control matchups, which go from all positive to all negative.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by IsThisACatInAHat?

Specifically: Lands, Enchantress, Stax, Aggro-Loam, Survival and resurgent Landstill, all of which have stronger engines than... Wayfarer-Ranger-Knight?

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Enchatress and Lands are kinda rough matches for UW Tempo game1. And game 2 only gets better because of white/artifact hate. Not having a fast clock really hurts on that matchup. Not that the GW version has one, just saying it. Countering them out of gas sometimes works, but most of the time you can't counters all the enchantress effects it has and from there on it's just downhill. Same for lands.

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Originally Posted by IsThisACatInAHat?

The benefit of weakening all of these is to improve your matchup against Zoo and Merfolk, which we already split with. You may also have an easier time vs. CBtop (which we're already favored in) with a decent chance even if they land their soft-lock (which will occur more often without said counterspells), but I'm really stretching to see the benefit of G/W Survival-less beats over 11 of the best cards in Legacy + Seer draw engine?

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Force of Will, Brainstorm, Island... what is the other 3? I just really don't like Fathom, sometimes it's just a bad Divination that sets me back 2 lands and chumps for a turn. CB Top is indeed an easy matchup, but the current trend is running aggro hate MD like Shackles, planeswalkers, EE, etc. Sometimes the hate gets me, especially when I have no Vial.

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Originally Posted by IsThisACatInAHat?

Yes, Canopy, Knight and Pridemage are all good cards, but Seer is better CA than Canopy or Library, Knight is still just a generic beater when it's not being less useful than Seer (again) at helping Wayfarer (which we already run) at tutoring lands and Pridemage is less influential against decks with powerful artifacts/ enchantments than Aura. Maindeck answers to said artifacts/ enchantments are also, in NG, blue- Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce of which the main runs 9. Relying on a 2cc creature to stop CB and Shackles (the two you mentioned) sounds pretty risky considering they both hit it easily, you have fewer than half as many in the deck and your clock, being an aggro deck, is slower than Zoo's.

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I disagree on the CA part. Knight is a fine beater/blocker, things that UW Tempo desperatly lacks. Qasali is a godly card, please don't try touching it. Sure it can be hard to push it through CB, but it's surely not impossible when they are low on mana or with Vial. And 4 "bad" answers > no answer at all. It just makes me sad when my opponent plays Shackles game 1 and I think, "My deck can't answer this single card in this position". It has happened that an opponent with an empty hand and empty board topdecked a Shacles and beat me with it.


I don't even know where I'm trying to get at. I'm just putting the idea out there. Probably should have started a new thread or something, but the resemblance to UW Tempo made make a stop here first.




On the report I promised on the black splash.
OF COURSE the worst case scenario came up. God I swear it was a curse put by you guys becayse you didn't want to see the splash winning. Top 4: UWb Tempo(me), Zoo, GW Maverick(a horrible version) and obviously Dragon Stompy. Out of 3 decks 2 play a lot green creatures... and obviously I am paired against the one that doesn't. And obviously the Dragon Stompy player is playing MD Wildfire Emissary............. turns out that game 1, Wildfire Emissary >>>> 3 Avengers since I can't block and was too far behind on the race. Game 2, he has the Wildfire Emissary and just creatures, while I draw Aura of Silence, Jit-quip and swing FTW, but he obviouly had Shattering Spree.

Went 2-0-2 at The Mana Dump in Tempe, Az today. There were 10 players and we had four rounds and cut to standings.

New Horizons (1-1-1)
G2 (play) -1 Vexing Sphinx, -2 Stone Forge Mystics, -1 Wayfarer, for +3 E Tutor and +1 Relic of Progenitus
G3 (draw) -3 Daze, +1 Wayfarer, +1 Wheel of Sun/Moon (probably a bad idea:rolleyes:), +1 Vexing Sphinx

Elves (2-1)
No board

b/r Goblins (2-0)
-3 Daze, -1 Sphinx, for +3 E Tutor and +1 Ghostly Prison

Thopters u/w/b (1-1-1)
-2 Swords, -2 Mom, -2 Stone Forge, and -1 Vexing Sphinx for +3 E Tutor, +3 Aura of Silence, and +1 Wheel of Sun and Moon

(2-0-2) for third place. Would have gotten first if I beat Thopters. Seems like a tought MU though...

Looking back, I probably should have gone -4 Swords and -0 Mom against Thopters (his only creatures were Dark Confidants). G3 I was on the draw and would have gone -3 Daze for +2 Stone Forge and +1 Vexing Sphinx (we drew since there was only 2 min left in the round).

As always, I welcome comments or questions about my sideboarding decisions.

Don't board in ETutor against New Horizons. You only want Relic and additional removal (if you run any) there.

Don't ever board Daze out against goblins. And no, you don't need ETutor there either.

Neither do you need ETutor against thopters. I'd go with Relic, Wheel and Auras.

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Originally Posted by Tinefol

Don't board in ETutor against New Horizons. You only want Relic and additional removal (if you run any) there.

Don't ever board Daze out against goblins. And no, you don't need ETutor there either.

Neither do you need ETutor against thopters. I'd go with Relic, Wheel and Auras.

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I don't like boarding in ETutor against every match up, but I only run single copies of Relic and Ghostly Prison in my SB. Perhaps that will change with the upcoming meta shift. Relic, Wheel and Auras are all sick vs. Thopters. I boarded out too many of my threats for the ETutor package though. G3 I went like 10 turns with out drawing a dude. He would have won that game, if it wasn't already a draw. Next time -4 Swords, -1 Mom for +3 Aura, +1 Relic, +1 Wheel; against Thopters. My friend said that Sword of Fire/Ice might be helpful, since Thopters are blue. I may have to test that in the new SB...

Boarding out Daze vs. Goblins was a mistake. Previously, I went -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Vexing Sphinx, -1 Wayfer for Etutors and Ghostly Prison. Taking out Spell Pierce against Goblins seems smarter, but I don't like losing a Wayfarer. He is probably the only choice though...

Thanks Tinefol! Please share your thoughts on sideboarding as the meta develops.

If you are going the Ghostly prison route, use propaganda since it is also blue for FoW. I have been running a single in SB for dredge.

You don't need ETutor against every match up. You only need it in a couple of match ups. Boarding just 2-3 cards is fine.

Against goblins, take out Pierces, and that's about it, unless you run Burrenton forge-tender in s/b

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Originally Posted by kicbak

If you are going the Ghostly prison route, use propaganda since it is also blue for FoW. I have been running a single in SB for dredge.

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Propaghanda is also susceptible to Pyroblast/REB. Isn't that more important than its synergy with FoW? The decks you board it in against are usually Red. You run enough blue cards, don't you?

I use prop/ghostly mainly for dredge since we have 2 of 16 players usually playing it. Depending on the meta (more zoo) I would switch over to wing shards instead for the board since killing the creatures in zoo and running them out of gas works better.

I wouldn't ever go for Prison againt Zoo anyway. Right now I'm running 2 Shards + 2 Condemn against Zoo.

Again 4 rounds, and again I struggle to get into top4.
Went 2-1-1

Won against BW Pox 2-1, draw with BGW Sur, lost to insane draws from another BGW Sur (I'm starting to hate the deck), and won against BGW Fish.

I got there.

Pox featuring THE RACK (0), Bant Counterbalance (0), Bant Counterbalance (0), BG Eva Green/Pox (0), Lands (ID), Clarance (IW)

Round 1 vs. Pox: He plays two racks both games. I don't really need to talk about it, I guess. 2-0.

Round 2 vs. Sammy on Counterbalance: We keep going back asking cards in hand and he goes like: 7, 6, 5, 3, 2 and I go like: 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 7. Basically Wayfarer gets there. He keeps needing to top to get lands, and top is obviously only good when you have lands and need to use top to avoid getting lands. I think he gets a CB lock out off two basics when my board is Wayfarer, Mom, Angel. The same thing happens again. 2-0 again.

Round 3 vs. Slow Fuck Hypocrite on Counterbalance: I take a mulligan game 1 and the guy slow plays the hell out of me, I guess thinking he'd get there game 1 and then slow play me out of game 2 or game 3. I had mulliganned and he had Counterbalance lock to open the game up, so the strat might have worked. There are no judges and 45 minute rounds there. I miss Phil.

I open with Tundra, Wayfarer, Fetchland (next turn).

He counters with: READING FUCKING TUNDRA, then reading Wayfarer, then READING FUCKING FLOODED STRAND. Ok, you're probably thinking he's just new, but guess what his turn 1 play was? A Tundra (same set, too). And he played Misty Rainforest. Why would you have to read those when you're playing them yourself and it's round 3? What an asshole.

Ok, so I do the Wayfarer trick. I explain it to him. He rereads all my cards and keeps going, "Wait, I didn't pass priority." Fuck you, you don't have stifle, what are you going to do? So like 2 minutes later, he's ok with me getting a wasteland.

I untap, play the wasteland and shoot his Trop, and he goes, "wait, wait." 1 minute later, he goes: "Ok." Fuck you, how did the game state change enough that you had to think AGAIN even though you have NOTHING TO DO? I ask him to play faster several times throughout the game.

I get out like Mom and Wayfarer and he has Counterbalance lock out, but not really enough lands. I play stuff and he's pretty good with topping them, including saving a 3cc to pop my Vexing Sphinx, but he nearly taps out to do something stupid and I get out Grunt + Serra Avenger and get there.

He's even basically slow-playing me when he has 2 life and I have a Serra Avenger. He passes the turn and acts all confident. I'm like: Untap, draw, swing for 3. And he's like: "Ok, that's game." Why would I not swing with my flying, vigilance? Fuck this asshole.

So I win. I check the time in the round: 9 minutes. That means we spend 2-3 minutes sideboarding and he has 6 minutes to kill me. Nice.

He grabs his deck, riffles it three times, and then presents (no sideboarding). The hell? Where was Speedy Gonzales when I had a mulligan and he had Counterbalance Lock in his opening hand? Oh yeah, he was busy reading my Tundra, that's where he was.

So I go 15 in, shuffle, 15 out (I always do this), and then HE goes: "Oh, I guess you're just going to slow-play me out of this match. I guess if you want to act that way." FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But he ends up having to take a mulligan and three Serra Avengers (two get Force of Willed, leaving him with nothing) get there before time is even called anyway, so I guess none of this mattered. Reading my Tundra when he had great board/hand position and then accusing me of slow-playing when I choose to sideboard instead of performing barely-legal and completely inadequate randomization to start the game 5 seconds faster? Fuck that asshole. 2-0.

Round 4 vs. Eva Green/Pox. I end up paired down. I'm 6-0 on games, but I get paired against a 2-0-1? Doesn't really make sense, but whatever.

Game 1 I mulligan, but my opponent has to read Wayfarer. Again a good sign. There was rules confusion about whether or not Wayfarer can fetch any land I want ("That's strong") whether or not I can retain priority between sacrificing a fetchland and activating Wayfarer, whether or not Wayfarer rechecks on resolution if I still have fewer land than he does, whether Grunt can put cards under only one or both yards (with multiple counters), whether or not Wasteland can be used on a Fetchland after Fetchland is already sacrificed, and whether Mishra's Factory (as a 2/2 creature) has summoning sickness or can use the tap-to-make-it-a-3/3 trick the turn after it comes into play.

Fortunately, I know all of those rules, so uh... gg? I feel kinda dirty because I won since my opponent didn't have a very good grasp of the rules (and he said he'd been out of competitive Magic for a few years). I end up winning off of two Weathered Wayfarers beating the distance (they got him from 18 or 19 down to 6 when Serra Avenger took over).

Game 2 I don't really remember. He has Innocent Bloods for Moms and like a Pox or Small Pox that I Force of Will. According to my notes I'm knocking him by 3 a turn so I assume that's an Avenger doing the dirty. I don't really remember because we played a couple of extra fun games and I end up 5-0 against him. He ran a lot of LD (sinkhole, Wasteland, Vindicate as well as Big Pox, and maybe Small Pox, I can't remember), and Wayfarer and/or Vial just shut that down.

Match 5: The most interesting match. I'm against Lands (bummer), but we're the only 12 pointers. There are 3 or 4 9-point players, but nobody above 9. Some other interesting info:

There's no cut to top 8, it's just from Swiss Standings.
First place is four Tarmogoyfs, second place is $40 in store credit. Third/fourth are each 20 bucks and then I think there's $10 going down to 8th and then a couple packs for top 16. Ok, holy shit the prizes are top-heavy. You don't really think about it in the early rounds, but nobody wants to end up second on the Swiss.

Anyway, even if we play it out, the winner still isn't guaranteed first place because he's going to be paired down and nobody would ID the last round away, because the prizes are so top-heavy. So to win, you need to win two rounds in a row anyway. That didn't really make sense. We end up deciding to ID with the side-deal that if we both win our Round 6 match, then we split the Goyfs and store credit.

I wish the prizes hadn't been so top-heavy, but the first place prize is more than 4x better than the second place prize, so the tournament is just about maximizing your odds of getting a chunk of that first place prize.

Anyway, ID.

Round 6 vs. Clarance (the UWT player who always places higher than I do because I suck at this game, but this time he's playing Bant to change things up). He's unfortunately 4-0-2, so he mathematically cannot win the Goyfs. He decides to be a pal and scoop me into two Goyfs. Again, the prize structure is so top-heavy. If he won, he'd probably get 20 bucks and I'd get 20 bucks. If he scoops, he gets 10 bucks and I get at least two Goyfs and 20 bucks and maybe even four Goyfs.

We play some fun games, I get there 3-1, but had a sideboard plan (a red dual land and 3 Firespouts). Seems pretty good.

The Lands player won 1 game and then was on 7 life or so in extra turns and Billy had Fireblast, Bolt, Bolt (just waiting for Glacial Chasm to sac). If the game had been longer, Billy would have 1-1'd the game and I would have four goyfs, but whatever.

Can you post what you played at this tournament? I still haven't decided whether or not to take this to the columbus GP and would like some ideas of what to do for the side since its gonna be a big tournament.

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Originally Posted by Forbiddian

Round 3 vs. Slow Fuck Hypocrite on Counterbalance: I take a mulligan game 1 and the guy slow plays the hell out of me, I guess thinking he'd get there game 1 and then slow play me out of game 2 or game 3. I had mulliganned and he had Counterbalance lock to open the game up, so the strat might have worked. There are no judges and 45 minute rounds there. I miss Phil.

I open with Tundra, Wayfarer, Fetchland (next turn).

He counters with: READING FUCKING TUNDRA, then reading Wayfarer, then READING FUCKING FLOODED STRAND. Ok, you're probably thinking he's just new, but guess what his turn 1 play was? A Tundra (same set, too). And he played Misty Rainforest. Why would you have to read those when you're playing them yourself and it's round 3? What an asshole.

Ok, so I do the Wayfarer trick. I explain it to him. He rereads all my cards and keeps going, "Wait, I didn't pass priority." Fuck you, you don't have stifle, what are you going to do? So like 2 minutes later, he's ok with me getting a wasteland.

I untap, play the wasteland and shoot his Trop, and he goes, "wait, wait." 1 minute later, he goes: "Ok." Fuck you, how did the game state change enough that you had to think AGAIN even though you have NOTHING TO DO? I ask him to play faster several times throughout the game.

I get out like Mom and Wayfarer and he has Counterbalance lock out, but not really enough lands. I play stuff and he's pretty good with topping them, including saving a 3cc to pop my Vexing Sphinx, but he nearly taps out to do something stupid and I get out Grunt + Serra Avenger and get there.

He's even basically slow-playing me when he has 2 life and I have a Serra Avenger. He passes the turn and acts all confident. I'm like: Untap, draw, swing for 3. And he's like: "Ok, that's game." Why would I not swing with my flying, vigilance? Fuck this asshole.

So I win. I check the time in the round: 9 minutes. That means we spend 2-3 minutes sideboarding and he has 6 minutes to kill me. Nice.

He grabs his deck, riffles it three times, and then presents (no sideboarding). The hell? Where was Speedy Gonzales when I had a mulligan and he had Counterbalance Lock in his opening hand? Oh yeah, he was busy reading my Tundra, that's where he was.

So I go 15 in, shuffle, 15 out (I always do this), and then HE goes: "Oh, I guess you're just going to slow-play me out of this match. I guess if you want to act that way." FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Hahaha the part about the tundra cracked me up. I think Sean has issues with him slow playing too.

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Originally Posted by rayaj

Can you post what you played at this tournament? I still haven't decided whether or not to take this to the columbus GP and would like some ideas of what to do for the side since its gonna be a big tournament.

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4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath (could be any white fetch)
1 Arid Mesa
2 Plains
1 Island
3 Wasteland

3 Aether Vial
2 Jitte
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords
3 Daze
2 Spell Pierce
4 Force of Will

1 Vexing Sphinx
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Serra Avenger
4 Mother of Runes
4 Weathered Wayfarer
4 Fathom Seer



Board:
3 Aura of Silence
2 Enlightened Tutor
3 Relic
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Curfew
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 can't remember

Board's not super-optimal, but I wasn't really sure what would happen just a few days after Mystical Tutor got banned. It was a very important card in the metagame.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Forbiddian

Game 1 I mulligan, but my opponent has to read Wayfarer. Again a good sign. There was rules confusion about whether or not Wayfarer can fetch any land I want ("That's strong") whether or not I can retain priority between sacrificing a fetchland and activating Wayfarer, whether or not Wayfarer rechecks on resolution if I still have fewer land than he does, whether Grunt can put cards under only one or both yards (with multiple counters), whether or not Wasteland can be used on a Fetchland after Fetchland is already sacrificed, and whether Mishra's Factory (as a 2/2 creature) has summoning sickness or can use the tap-to-make-it-a-3/3 trick the turn after it comes into play.

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Story of my life right here. I actually enjoy calling the judge for Wayfarer clarifications though. He's a powerhouse and our #1 creature to be sure, but people unfamiliar with him go absolutely nuts trying to get him off the board and often make atrocious misplays as a result. Still, at some point playing NG, you will be forced to facepalm.

Bummer on the goyfs, maybe if you'd gotten the other 2 you could finally play a good deck or add green to this one like your fan club says you should. Finally, Nogoyf.dec will have goyfs!

Fuck that slow player guy, too. It's happened to me a fucking ton and it's even worse when they're playing a deck with a much faster clock (Zoo & New Horizons especially) so if they steal g1, they can sit on g2 until time or if you manage to take g2, they can decide to play g3 until either: 1. they have favorable board position (in which case their turn is 4 seconds max) or 2. you do (in which case they just stall into the draw).

Is forge-tender really that worth it to board these days? At the same time, is it really necessary to board the third grunt as well?

Rather unrelated: What do you think about the new War-Priest of Thune coming out in M11? 1W 2/2 that can destroy an enchantment when it comes into play. I think it could maybe warrant siding, but I wasnt sure since aura is probably better in most situations. I just thought it would be nice to vial in to kill library, counterbalance, survival, etc.

Hi,

I played the deck as recommended in a practice round. The only difference to my list was more stoneforge mystics and a sword of fire/ice and light/shadow (over aether vial, which is probably greedy). Those equipment deffinately won me the round, as my double equipped serra avenger was able to trump an Iona with quasali pridemages being fetched by survival and destroying my equipment one at a time.