This deck is a DTB, because decks like Scepter Chant or Pox are not played by many people at good tournaments. Because these decks suck. Of course, you could be unlucky and face one of them during your first round, but after that, you're pretty safe.Originally Posted by WildCard
Sometimes you have to read between the minds.
++ T8ing all over Europe since 2005 ++
++ Team aYb - all your base (are belong to us) ++
In my opinion this is simply a deck to beat because:
1. It kills goblins.
2. It's played by many people because of 1.
3. It did top 8 at many big tournaments.
QFT. As much as there are some bad matchups for this deck (anything combo comes to mind), it has some killer ones (Goblins / Gro, etc.). The deck's weaknesses can be made up for, for the most part.
As for losing to WW with Geddons, I have quite a lot of that in my meta. Geddon can be dealt with by Sacred Ground out of the SB. Even though they have removal for it, they only have a limited amount of enchantment removal, and that means that they have to budget it carefully - you will have multiple "bad" enchantments for them, and they will have to prioritize what to remove. If pro-red guys are getting you down, you can try Wrath of God main, which is a fairly un-sexy solution, but I suppose if it works, it works.
Humility and Swords to Plowshares seems good against White Men, so does Wrath of God. Post SB, you'd better hold back on lands because you're going to get hit with at least a turn 3 Armadgeddon. If there are no beaters on the board, 'geddon isn't that scary. If you're staring down a bunch of Pro Red guys, Cycle away your Slice and Dices and Starstorms until you get to a Humility or a Wrath. Abeyance was terrible in this matchup, so I sided out a couple in favor of a couple more Disenchants to break their toys.
Well arn't you the racist. Anywho at kadilak's dual land draft of the 4 of them 3 of them were in the winner's bracket 80% of the tournament. Every round there was one next to me. Does that say something? The deck is fairly consistant but could use a faster win condition, they all went to time in the round a few times.
I think the problem with going to time can be partially solved by playing the deck lots. I plan on putting Rifter in bed between the missus and I just so I can get s'more quality time with the deck. I went to time against Affinity, Ninja Deck Wins, and Gro in the Quarterfinals vs. Overlord95. Lightning Rift seems fast enough to me, a single Rift will kill your opponent after about 10 cycling cards, 2 Rifts will kill your opponent in 5 cycling cards. You could go with the creature route, maybe Pristine Angel?
If you are trying to increase the speed of the kill I would add another Lightning Rift (if you are playing 3) or another DoJ (again if you are playing 3) before adding a creature like Pristine Angel which would clog up your hand in the early game. Between Lightning Rift, DoJ, and Eternal Dragon you should be able to win in time in most matchups. This deck will always be pretty slow, but given that its much faster than Wombat and perhaps even Landstill is one of the main reasons its the premier control deck in this format. You could even try Enlightened Tutor to find Lightning Rift, but I find the card disadvantage to be prohibitive.
3 Humility.
The thing is, this deck is like "Humility with some cycling cards." Humility is insane against so many decks, it's not even funny, but it is notoriously un-friendly with a "creature beats ftw" strategy. Besides, you're already packing 4 Eternal Dragon, so if you want beats, hold back on the Humility and play that. If you want to speed the deck up, add another Rift.
I've been playing the deck with 2 Maindecked Disenchants. In some occassions I've disenchanted my Humility and swung for 5-10 with Dragons for a quicker win. I know it's not 100% safe but sometimes in the late late game Humilty isn't even needed anymore. Esp after a cycled Slice n Dice and some removal in hand.
I also like to pack 4 Exalted's in the Sideboard to bring in anywhere I dont want Humility.
Now playing real formats.
If someone told me right before GP: Philly that Lightning Rift would become a staple of what will become the premier control deck of this format because it's faster than Eternal Dragon, DoJ, or Mishra's Factory, I'd shit on their coat out of total disbelief.
Making a 1/1 Dragon for 5WW and making 1/1 Angel Tokens is truly a terrible way to win. Lightning Rift is so much better, though I'd don't think I'd ever go to 4. Like I said, I think the deck is fast enough, but I need to make quicker decisions.
Have you even played this deck before? Why would anyone make angel tokens with a humility on the board? Did you not notice the whole cycling thing with soldiers which happen to already be 1/1s so they are unaffected by humility.
I have been playing against rifter and haven't found it too slow. I play Zilla Stompy and have actually been winning regularly. I absolutely hate playing against rifter so I pack 3 tranquil domain SB. I usually side in 3 domains and 2 anarchys to stop humility rift and rune of protection. Have you guys had trouble with dealing with an early troll ascetic with regen mana. I have single handedly won several games by ranoring him and beating through all opposition. If they dropped a humility I would domain it, if they dropped pyroclasm I would regen etc. I'm just curious about the ways to deal with my little troll friend.
The best way to deal with Troll have to be Humility and Wrath of God. I really think this deck needs Wrath of God and I think Urabahn ran it this past Saturday.
No, I have never, ever, ever, ever played this deck before. Just ask Kadishack, Mad Zur, AnwarA101, SpatulaoftheAges, IBA, Deep6er, Ewokslayer, Krieger, FakeSpam, Garv, T is for Tool, CavernNinja, Obfuscate Freely, Calosso, and Overlord95.
Cycling DoJ can make Soldier tokens?! I had no idea, but then again, I've never played Rifter.
Having never played Rifter, I can say with utmost certainty that you might want to play DoJ for Angels with Humility in play if you're desperate for a blocker. You can do the same with Eternal Dragon! When Humility is in play, DoJ for Angels and 1/1 Eternal Dragons are terrible ways to win. That point, which I made earlier, coincides with your painfully obvious comment.
If you're so afraid of Rifter, why would you play an early Troll? Unless you play it with 2 mana to spare, you've got to wonder if they're going to play Pyroclasm. If you wait until you've 2 mana to spare, then you've given the Rifter player all the time in the world to find Wrath of God or Humility. With Humility in play, Rifter only needs a 1 mana removal spell to whack your troll. In reponse to your Tranquil Domain, Swords to Plowshares seems good, so does Rift on the stack targeting your Troll.
My bad, I guess i just misunderstood you I didn't mean to sound smug I was just confused as to what you were talking about.
You guys have played alot, do you know what kind of match-up rifter has against Zilla Stompy? I've been testing (probably not against good players) and have had decent success against rifter dropping an y early threat really. Iwamori is tough to remove other than with STP without humility in play, BTS pings you for cycling etc. I know rifter was designed to stomp aggro, but is it totally unfoavorable to the zilla player? I'm just curious because I can only afford to build one of the decks, and want to know if zilla can handle this (as a top deck) while still handling gobbos etc.
Thanks in advance.
-LD
With no way to get rid of Humility in game one, I think Rifter is heavily favored. Post-board, Rifter has to play Wrath and Starstorm and rely on those more than Humility to wipe out your guys or guy with Rancor. In addition to Starstorm and Wrath, Rifter ought to play with Wing Shards (maindeck or post-board) to deal with your big threats. If you side out Lightning Bolt like Zilla recommends, you lose a bit of punch, but you can kill Humility.
But why wouldn't you cycle instead? You get more blockers, at instant speed, and it draws a card. Or are you assuming they Needled DoJ?
Yup, Needle on DoJ, no Disenchants, and you need a blocker would be why.
You could always play maindeck Naturalize in Zilla Stompy. I dont know why everyone feels the need to play the deck card for card with zillas. He does have a different meta. If you think you'll see rifter often enough play with Naturalize. It shoots down Humility ftw.
Now playing real formats.
I could also see Plague-naming-Soldier as a reason to do this.
From all the talk I'm hearing, it seems like people are saying the best way to deal with any tough situation is Humility. If that's the case, why are people only running 3? I can see them being dead in some matchups, and dead in multiples, but especially post-board, wouldn't you want to have the 4th to make sure you can get it on time and that it can weather the hate?
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