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Thread: [Deck] Death and Taxes

  1. #5921

    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Quasim0ff View Post
    No, 3 is good. Both 1 and 2 is too few.

    *You want them for your own Thalia, Your own Mangaara. Opponents Griselbrands. You basically always want a karakas, and you don't really draw any cards, hence the three copies.

    for mangara and thalia what is Karakas?

  2. #5922
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by caprino View Post
    for mangara and thalia what is Karakas?
    A form of hexproof, more or less.

    In case of Mangara you first activate Mangara's ability, keep priority and then return him to your hand with Karakas before his ability resolves. This allows you to loop Mangara, removing one of your opponents' permanents on each of your turns.

    Out of curiosity, do you use Google Translate to convert your posts to English? I honestly mean no offense by this, by the way.

  3. #5923
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by nevilshute View Post
    Why bring in needle vs Storm?
    Well, this is exclusively for their fetchlands, often Polluted Delta because they always play 4x of them. It's simply because I prefer more early disruption instead of really slow cards as Flickerwisp and Mangara could be. In addition, is a decent turn 1 if you don't have Mother or Vial, it's better than "land go". I've won some games by a Needle into Delta although it's hard to believe I know . This plan it's not too good but I think that it depends on the number of cards you want to board in and the number of cards you want to board out. I used to do the same against Omnitell in the DTT era (often with Flooded Strand as main target, but in G1 you can see how their fetchland configuration looks like) for same sideboard reasons.
    In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except DEATH & TAXES

  4. #5924

    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    A form of hexproof, more or less.

    In case of Mangara you first activate Mangara's ability, keep priority and then return him to your hand with Karakas before his ability resolves. This allows you to loop Mangara, removing one of your opponents' permanents on each of your turns.

    Out of curiosity, do you use Google Translate to convert your posts to English? I honestly mean no offense by this, by the way.
    you use the translator, sorry if it is not always clear

  5. #5925

    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    Well, this is exclusively for their fetchlands, often Polluted Delta because they always play 4x of them. It's simply because I prefer more early disruption instead of really slow cards as Flickerwisp and Mangara could be. In addition, is a decent turn 1 if you don't have Mother or Vial, it's better than "land go". I've won some games by a Needle into Delta although it's hard to believe I know . This plan it's not too good but I think that it depends on the number of cards you want to board in and the number of cards you want to board out. I used to do the same against Omnitell in the DTT era (often with Flooded Strand as main target, but in G1 you can see how their fetchland configuration looks like) for same sideboard reasons.
    what are the most decks hard to beat?

  6. #5926
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by caprino View Post
    what are the most decks hard to beat?
    Did anyone say Jund?

    Because it's Jund.
    Quote Originally Posted by nedleeds View Post
    Dat 1/1 with built in pump. Watch out Griselbrand here comes lizard mid range.
    Quote Originally Posted by Von View Post
    Is this a troll or are gobbos really dtb?

  7. #5927
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    U/W/R Miracles

    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Cataclysm
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +1 x Sword of War and Peace
    ------------------------------
    -1 x Mirran Crusader
    -4 x Swords to Plowshares
    -1 x Umezawa’s Jitte
    -1 x Plains
    I keep some number of STPs vs Miracles these days but I also play a pretty different build. Given what you're trying to do, however, I think you shouldn't just not drop a Mirran Crusader, in fact you should bring in the other two. 4 Crusaders + two Swords to hook up to them is very powerful vs Miracles, gives you something close to a one creature / one hit kill, helps ensure you don't have to ever commit too much to the board.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    Shardless BUG

    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +3 x Rest in Peace
    ------------------------------
    -4 x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -2 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -1 x Swords to Plowshares
    -1 x Umezawa’s Jitte
    -1 x Flagstones of Trokair
    For similar reasons, I think you keep the Jitte here. While not insane against Shardless, it is insane with Crusader and you're playing 4. You also can't be blown out by their removal if you're hooking it up to a Crusader - worst that can happen is they Decay the Jitte.


    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    RG Lands

    +2 x Cataclysm
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +3 x Rest in Peace
    ------------------------------
    -2 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -4 x Swords to Plowshares
    -1 x Umezawa’s Jitte
    Going to 0 STPs seems wrong against Lands, even if its an uphill battle if you ever have to use one. I have been keeping 2 in. I guess 2 Needle helps replicate the 'Keeps me alive past an early combo hand' effect. Still, when games go longer I don't mind having a STP sitting in my hand as an insurance policy.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    4C AggroLoam

    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +1 x Sword of War and Peace
    +3 x Rest in Peace
    ------------------------------
    -4 x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -1 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -2 x Mangara of Corondor
    -1 x Sword of Fire and Ice
    Why do you like SoWaP more than SoFi here? I don't find these games to be a race as much of a question of who draws into their more powerful cards. So I think SoFI's card advantage is far more important.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    UG Infect
    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +3 x Ethersworn Canonist
    ------------------------------
    -2 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -4 x Flickerwisp
    -2 x Mangara of Corondor
    -1 x Batterskull
    I think we've talked about this before, but I've started boarding almost counterintuitively vs Infect (taking out Thalias, some moms) and generally found it to be correct, as I've been taxed out of my own STPs too many times in the past. I think Council's Judgment is gonna be extra hard to resolve if you're playing Thalia. I also like keeping in Mangara - he's slow but does reliably kill Blighted Agent and they usually can't beat Mangara lock.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    Burn
    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +3 x Ethersworn Canonist
    +1 x Sword of War and Peace
    ------------------------------
    -2 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -2 x Mangara of Corondor
    -1 x Sword of Fire and Ice
    -1 x Karakas
    I would bring in the additional 2 Mirran Crusaders. Yeah they're boltable, but what isn't, and when they can't immediately kill it it can eat any of their creatures and race them.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    Merfolks
    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    ------------------------------
    -4 x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -2 x Mangara of Corondor
    I've also found Mangara-lock to be generally good vs Merfolk since they play so little interaction, maybe would take out only one and bring in one Needle? I don't know. You'd still have 5 Needle effects at that point, which should be enough since you don't even always want to Needle Vial or Jitte and Mutavault's generally answered by the rest of our deck.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    BUG Delver
    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +3 x Rest in Peace
    ------------------------------
    -4 x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -2 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -2 x Mangara of Corondor
    -1 x Sword of Fire and Ice
    I think taking out all Thalias vs a Delver deck feels wrong, though I see the logic in this case and you are bringing in a lot of non-creature spells. I might take out 1 Thalia, 2 Flickerwisps and something else. Maybe only bring in one Council's Judgment now that it's often a 4 mana spell.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    U/W/R Stoneblade

    +2 x Council’s Judgment
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +1 x Sword of War and Peace
    ------------------------------
    -4 x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -2 x Swords to Plowshares
    -1 x Umezawa’s Jitte
    I think you want all your equipment here for all the reasons mentioned earlier. If you're playing 3-4 Crusaders, you're playing a fair deck with a somewhat unfair combo inside, and you want to maximize your chances at hitting that combo.

  8. #5928
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    I have to imagine that Google Translate fails on MTG as bad as my phone's autocorrect, so I will be generic where possible.

    (Echelon, how did you know, btw?)

    Caprino, Elves is the hardest common matchup. You want side board stuff like:
    Chalice of the Void (x=1)
    Containment Priest
    Grafdigger's Cage
    Warping Wail

    But also, these can help some and you should bring them in if you have them:

    Ethersworn Canonist
    Spirit of the Labyrinth
    Aven Mindcensor
    Ratchet Bomb
    Pithing Needle
    "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
    "Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
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  9. #5929
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Thanks for your reply iatee, I really appreciate the feedback. I think it's fantastic to keep improving every day and of course I like some points of your opinion that I had not appreciated by myself yet.

    I think our thoughts on how to board are different in the sense that I really want to minimize dead draws from a non-manipulation deck thinking on how the games against X archetype are more likely to develop based on my experience, and you prefer to have answers for all the situations, even if they are a bit remote, keeping in some slots that sometimes could be bad.

    And is for this reason that we disagree in some points, especially in terms of leave or not StP in some matchups I see. Well, first of all, against Miracles the gameplan is clear. You want to win ASAP or at least spending the fewer resources better, because the more the game gets longer, the more we have lost IMHO, so I don't want to draw useless cards under CB/Top having already some answers for threats like Monastery Mentor or Izzet Staticaster. I want to keep my opponent playing fair with permanents.

    Same against Lands. StP are bad virtually the entire game, so here I want preassure keeping Wastelands for key lands and Ports for keep them out of more than Loam each turn. When you exile Marit Lage with a StP you must know that you have lost unless you follow StP with a Cataclysm and even with this you will lose the game probably. Maybe we need another sideboard plan against the new version of Lands, keeping a couple of StP for Confidants mainly and the full set of Revokers for Molten Vortex.

    Against Shardless BUG, 4 x Mirran Crusader are a really good reason to keep in Jitte but you often eat a Null Rod or lose a turn when you're trying to equip Jitte and he decays it to really haven't got too much impact in the field if you charge it. So I prefer to keep it in when I am going to play a pure-race matchup or one in which I need to keep controlled the table. I hate when I have to go back and I have a couple of useless equipments in play. And again, here I am looking for an after-mass removal play because after that, I want to draw more creatures and if you topdeck the Jitte and a couple of lands, you will be out.

    Playing against 4C Loam I prefer SoWaP over SoFaI because you run over KotR with it and you can race your opponent better if you have him stucked through Wastelands/Ports, having his hand plenty of uncastable cards or if he is loaming each turn and has his hand plenty of lands.

    Against Infect I would never cut Thalias. You surprised me a lot with this. I consider they're fundamental in our gameplan here and I'd run 8 of them without doubt. In reference to Mangara of Corondor I think you're right and I have to keep them over Council's Judgment, even assuming that they can protect Blighted Agent from Mangara of Corondor with a Vines of Vastwood and not from CJ, but Mangara is easier to cast. Probably a better option.

    Facing Burn I think you're right again. Probably it's better to board out the full set of Revokers to bring the other 2 Crusaders?? Even being scared about Grim Lavamancer free wins...

    Again I like your reasoning against Merfolks and it's better split between Mangaras and Needles, or probably 3 Revokers/2 Needles to keep under control Mutavault/Mishra's Factory and not assuming risks about a posible Dismember to Revoker?? although you can eat a CotV... it's not an easy choice.

    I like to board out Thalias vs BUG Delver apart from the number of noncreature spells I'm bringing in, for the 3/4 sweepers they bring in. I feel the matchup similar to Shardless BUG matchup post board, changing Shardless Agent for Delver of Secrets, so I board similar to that. For this reason, I feel these games won't be fast games and Thalias won't be much relevant taxing the opponent.

    Finally I don't like to run all the 4 equipments at the same time against anything. I feel it's a bit awkward, and is by this reason that I board out Jitte, that I think it is the worst here.

    Again, thanks for the reply. Would be fantastic if you could help a bit with the remaining issues guys, telling us you opinion (Infect, Burn, Merfoks or other matchups you want to talk about for sure). I like to have a structure about how to board in events I play, even knowing the majority of sideboard plans from my testing I always bring with me my notes, and of course it's interesting to know other experienced players' point of view!

  10. #5930
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Did anyone say Jund?

    Because it's Jund.
    Hahaha, I agree. This matchup is dreadful. Thankfully, Jund isn't quite as prevalent as it once was.
    Discussing the impact of True-Name Nemesis on Legacy:

    Quote Originally Posted by 2Rach View Post
    And format warping itself isn't necessarily a bad thing for that matter.

  11. #5931
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Yeah I think I've always played slower builds of the deck and especially now as I've been fixed on how Imperial Taxes plays (vs Miracles and Lands it is good at going long but worse at winning quickly, so you're more scared of an early creature on their side, be it 20/20 or Mentor) And in the total opposite direction, I want to play a super fast prison game vs BUG Delver (cast Thalia, try to resolve a Magus of the Moon) but I can see taking out Thalia if you essentially want to beat BUG Delver in a very fair game, especially with their post-board removal.

    I think vs Infect you should test dropping Thalias for a while at least. I think the big issue is that STP is our best card in the deck and it is incredibly difficult to hold up STP after Thalia is down. It's not that Thalia never wins, it's that it's a matchup where *our* non-creature spells are essential early + our Wastelands/Ports need to stay open too. They can win with very little mana and they play ramp. So if they cast Hierarch into Agent and we have a T2 Thalia, they still have 4 mana to work with on T3, which is more than enough.

    I think while 4 equipment vs Stoneblade can be a bit awkward, a lot of it will be destroyed / turned off by both players along the course of the game, so having something live to fetch with your late game Stoneforge is strong.

    I actually didn't think about getting past a KotR with SoWaP, couldn't think of a relevant white card in their deck cause I forgot he was white.

    Vs. Burn maybe cut 2 Flickerwisp so you stay dense on 2 drops and still have a few hedges against Lavamancer? Against Burn especially it's pretty ugly to have to hardcast it and your Vials aren't always there or can get smashed.

  12. #5932

    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    Thanks for your reply iatee, I really appreciate the feedback. I think it's fantastic to keep improving every day and of course I like some points of your opinion that I had not appreciated by myself yet.

    I think our thoughts on how to board are different in the sense that I really want to minimize dead draws from a non-manipulation deck thinking on how the games against X archetype are more likely to develop based on my experience, and you prefer to have answers for all the situations, even if they are a bit remote, keeping in some slots that sometimes could be bad.

    And is for this reason that we disagree in some points, especially in terms of leave or not StP in some matchups I see. Well, first of all, against Miracles the gameplan is clear. You want to win ASAP or at least spending the fewer resources better, because the more the game gets longer, the more we have lost IMHO, so I don't want to draw useless cards under CB/Top having already some answers for threats like Monastery Mentor or Izzet Staticaster. I want to keep my opponent playing fair with permanents.

    Same against Lands. StP are bad virtually the entire game, so here I want preassure keeping Wastelands for key lands and Ports for keep them out of more than Loam each turn. When you exile Marit Lage with a StP you must know that you have lost unless you follow StP with a Cataclysm and even with this you will lose the game probably. Maybe we need another sideboard plan against the new version of Lands, keeping a couple of StP for Confidants mainly and the full set of Revokers for Molten Vortex.

    Against Shardless BUG, 4 x Mirran Crusader are a really good reason to keep in Jitte but you often eat a Null Rod or lose a turn when you're trying to equip Jitte and he decays it to really haven't got too much impact in the field if you charge it. So I prefer to keep it in when I am going to play a pure-race matchup or one in which I need to keep controlled the table. I hate when I have to go back and I have a couple of useless equipments in play. And again, here I am looking for an after-mass removal play because after that, I want to draw more creatures and if you topdeck the Jitte and a couple of lands, you will be out.

    Playing against 4C Loam I prefer SoWaP over SoFaI because you run over KotR with it and you can race your opponent better if you have him stucked through Wastelands/Ports, having his hand plenty of uncastable cards or if he is loaming each turn and has his hand plenty of lands.

    Against Infect I would never cut Thalias. You surprised me a lot with this. I consider they're fundamental in our gameplan here and I'd run 8 of them without doubt. In reference to Mangara of Corondor I think you're right and I have to keep them over Council's Judgment, even assuming that they can protect Blighted Agent from Mangara of Corondor with a Vines of Vastwood and not from CJ, but Mangara is easier to cast. Probably a better option.

    Facing Burn I think you're right again. Probably it's better to board out the full set of Revokers to bring the other 2 Crusaders?? Even being scared about Grim Lavamancer free wins...

    Again I like your reasoning against Merfolks and it's better split between Mangaras and Needles, or probably 3 Revokers/2 Needles to keep under control Mutavault/Mishra's Factory and not assuming risks about a posible Dismember to Revoker?? although you can eat a CotV... it's not an easy choice.

    I like to board out Thalias vs BUG Delver apart from the number of noncreature spells I'm bringing in, for the 3/4 sweepers they bring in. I feel the matchup similar to Shardless BUG matchup post board, changing Shardless Agent for Delver of Secrets, so I board similar to that. For this reason, I feel these games won't be fast games and Thalias won't be much relevant taxing the opponent.

    Finally I don't like to run all the 4 equipments at the same time against anything. I feel it's a bit awkward, and is by this reason that I board out Jitte, that I think it is the worst here.

    Again, thanks for the reply. Would be fantastic if you could help a bit with the remaining issues guys, telling us you opinion (Infect, Burn, Merfoks or other matchups you want to talk about for sure). I like to have a structure about how to board in events I play, even knowing the majority of sideboard plans from my testing I always bring with me my notes, and of course it's interesting to know other experienced players' point of view!
    Yesterday i play Vs maverick and esper mentor...side in and side out Vs this matchup? Thanks. Main deck list you play is fantastic

  13. #5933
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Against Maverick I think the sideboard plan depends on if you're facing a Dark, Punishing or a classic GW Maverick, for bring in more or less RiP for example (if any of them) or bring in SoWaP. First game against them I think that we have enough tools to win between flyers, 4 x Revokers main and more options to swing with an equipment. Post board we should be careful with cards like Zealous Persecution. It's hard to board this matchup because you want to bring in a lot of cards and you have no space. So against Dark Maverick (which is the most popular) I'd board similar to this:

    +2 x Council's Judgment
    +2 x Pithing Needle
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    -4 x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -1 x Mangara of Corondor
    -1 x Sword of Fire and Ice

    As you can see, probably I'd opt for controlling better their tricks with more Needles over a more aggressive plan with SoWaP that could be sweet as well.

    I have to leave now . Let me a couple of hours and then I'll post you how I'd board vs Esper Mentor
    In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except DEATH & TAXES

  14. #5934
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Finn View Post
    (Echelon, how did you know, btw?)
    The sentences in his post felt odd, as if they were translated word by word. The syntax just seemed off. It reminded me of a sketch a Dutch comedian once performed. Before the man became a comedian he worked as an English teacher at a highschool and during the sketch he shares some anecdotes concerning work he received from his students. One of the gems he shared with the audience was the sentence "Orphan up your guard". Apparently the student ment to say something along the lines of "be on your guard" but translated the sentence word by word, unable to recognise that the result he came up with wasn't quite what he ment. Some time ago there also was a commercial on Dutch television based on that premise. In that commercial a Dutch tourguide tries to explain various sights to the tourists he's guiding but does so while translating Dutch proverbs to English pretty much word for word (with some pretty horrible yet hilarious results).

    Also, one of my wifes' former classmates once proclaimed she found something very cathedral. She ment stupid or dumb, which in Dutch is dom but Dom is also the name of a Dutch cathedral. Turns out people can be very cathedral too.

    Long story short: his syntax was way off and that got me curious.

  15. #5935
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Against an Esper Mentor without Stoneforge Mystic package and without CounterTop lock (like this: http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=18293&iddeck=138277) I'd board similar to this:

    +2 x Council's Judgment
    +2 x Cataclysm
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +1 x Sword of War and Peace
    -4 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -2 x Swords to Plowshares
    -1 x Umezawa's Jitte

    I don't have tested the matchup enough and those lists are really variable. It's hard to deal with Cabal Therapy here as against Grixis Control decks, so maybe if they run DRS you have enough reason to board in a couple of RiP, closing Snapcaster Mage as well. Lingering Souls is a card that hurts us a lot too buying a lot of time for them, so if you face it probably you should bring in RiP definitely and maybe keep Jitte in, replacing SoFaI.

    Deal with this kind of decks is harder than against Miracles for example IMO. They clean your hand and after that they start to play great cards against D&T, bomb after bomb. The problem is that they usually force you to cast more creatures if you want to race them, opposite than Miracles, and can clean you the board when they want with Toxic Deluge or Zealous Persecution as well. If your metagame is full of this kind of decks you should run a couple of Ratchet Bomb in your sideboard.

  16. #5936

    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    Quote Originally Posted by Koke_MTG View Post
    Against an Esper Mentor without Stoneforge Mystic package and without CounterTop lock (like this: http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=18293&iddeck=138277) I'd board similar to this:

    +2 x Council's Judgment
    +2 x Cataclysm
    +2 x Mirran Crusader
    +1 x Sword of War and Peace
    -4 x Phyrexian Revoker
    -2 x Swords to Plowshares
    -1 x Umezawa's Jitte

    I don't have tested the matchup enough and those lists are really variable. It's hard to deal with Cabal Therapy here as against Grixis Control decks, so maybe if they run DRS you have enough reason to board in a couple of RiP, closing Snapcaster Mage as well. Lingering Souls is a card that hurts us a lot too buying a lot of time for them, so if you face it probably you should bring in RiP definitely and maybe keep Jitte in, replacing SoFaI.

    Deal with this kind of decks is harder than against Miracles for example IMO. They clean your hand and after that they start to play great cards against D&T, bomb after bomb. The problem is that they usually force you to cast more creatures if you want to race them, opposite than Miracles, and can clean you the board when they want with Toxic Deluge or Zealous Persecution as well. If your metagame is full of this kind of decks you should run a couple of Ratchet Bomb in your sideboard.
    Thanks, Vs dredge?

  17. #5937
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    I don't have "the truth" about how to board. There are different ways to board depending on the plan you want to develop, the matchup... etc.

    The best for you is to try configurations by yourself to improve and become a great player.
    In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except DEATH & TAXES

  18. #5938
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    As someone who runs both D&T and Esper Mentor, I'd definitely keep in all Plows and the Jitte. If I'm on Mentor, it's very hard for me to deal with an active Jitte, and 1cmc instant removal that doesn't care about Mentor's p/t is gdlk.
    Discussing the impact of True-Name Nemesis on Legacy:

    Quote Originally Posted by 2Rach View Post
    And format warping itself isn't necessarily a bad thing for that matter.

  19. #5939
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    I try to minimize dead draws and I think the rest of the maindeck options are better in this matchup so I opt for go ahead without the full set of our 1CMC spot removal. If they cast a Mentor and have the protection for your StP you'll probably lose really quickly, doing your StP a bit irrelevant and depriving you from a better draw here, so I prefer to not enter on this kind of game. It depends on your priorities I believe, but you make Mentor better if you give him so much value and at the same time I think you're doing your deck worse. Playing with Jitte is not an easy choice here, even more when you're running 4 equipments. There are situations in which all of them can shine so whatever you choose here is at least respectable.

    I played again at my LGS as almost each friday. This time I won a 28 players event with a 5-0 record and the same list I posted a couple of pages before which is giving me great results lately. I really love D&T since I started to play it 2 years ago. You have no manipulation but playing well you can win against everything and with different gameplans. The experience is fantastic as well. I win a lot of games, especially grindy matchups, only by making less mistakes than my opponent.

    R1 --> BUG Control (2-0). I knew he was on this and I kept a really good hand while his hand was really slow. I managed the G1 to win with Crusader + SoFaI. He tried to destroy the Sword with an AD but a Flickerwisp was in my hand to let me win the first game with Crusader equipped. G2 was really long. I ate a couple of Toxic Deluge, 3 AD, a couple of Lilianas, Disfigures and Needles... and he ate my 2 Cataclysm. Finally I won topdecking another Crusader. It was really hard post-board with tons of love.

    R2 --> Elves (2-1). He was really unexperienced on Elves and played a bit bad over the match, forgetting some tricks and not bringing in Abrupt Decays. I won G2 and G3 with Crusader + Jitte.

    R3 --> High Tide (2-1). I was not sure he was on High Tide and I kept a slow hand without disruption first game so I only could try win through a high clock without success. G2 and G3 I won especially with the help of Cataclysms, combined with Thalias, Canonists, Ports and Revokers.

    R4 --> Sneak & Show (2-0). G1 was a hard lock with Karakas + Revoker to Sneak Attack. G2 he had a bit slow hand and I could play Vial + Needle + Revoker keeping Karakas in hand while I was Porting him. He hurted me a bit with a Blood Moon but could not find the pieces of the combo facing a clock with Thalia + Revoker + Crusader and Mother backup for a possible Pyroclasm.

    R5 --> Junk Depths (2-0). I had played against this mate a lot of matches with different archetypes. G1 I kept a hand with 2 Wastelands and Vial, Mom, Avenger, Crusader, Plains. I prayed for a T1 without Shaman because I had tools to go for mana denial plan but I had no StP. I ate it followed by a Bitterblossom. He discarded my Crusader with a Therapy, what hurted me a lot because Crusader was my solution against a problemathic card as Bitterblossom was at this moment. Without him I spent some turns without a real clock. I was lucky drawing a StP later for a Dark Confidant. I drew a Mystic a few turns later when he was short on mana because of 3 Wastelands. I searched for Jitte and started to swing with him + Serra Avenger until he conceded. G2 he draw a lot of mana and I managed to play a little number of creatures playing around sweepers. He did not find enough answers because he was entertaining drawing more and more lands and I had Karakas down if he wanted to try the combo with the DD that he had, finding TS with a Crop Rotation or something.
    Last edited by Koke_MTG; 04-10-2016 at 09:46 AM.

  20. #5940
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    Re: [Deck] Death and Taxes

    I agree with Arsenal, and yeah I think it goes back to our difference in sideboard philosophies.

    I look at that Esper Mentor decklist and I see about 4 cards I really 'care about' g1 (3 Mentor, 1 Toxic Deluge) and an additional 3 post-board (Zealous, Null Rod.) I want to have answers for those cards / play around them when possible, as they are ways we can just lose on the spot Everything else in that deck doesn't particularly scare me, the only other powerful thing the deck can do is a Probe/Therapy/Strix opening, but there's not that much you can do about that. (Sometimes I like using my SB to go down on 4-ofs vs Cabal Therapy decks, but I think that's pretty marginal.)

    Mono-W D+T has no card selection but we're playing against someone who does - the % chance that the Esper Mentor deck will find one of those 3 Mentors is very high, especially in a post-board grindy game. So on a relatively even board, if we don't have a way to kill a Mentor within a turn or two, we just lose + they have a very high chance of hitting one of those Mentors - keeping 4 STPs is just a sacrifice you have to make to those statistics.

    I am actually not sure I would bring in Cataclysm - it's only necessary if they already have a board filled with Mentor tokens, but even then it doesn't kill the Mentor itself (so often it will just buy you a few turns.) Unlike Miracles they're not really as dependent on having a large # of lands in play so the Armageddon side of the effect is only okay. Cataclysm also kills Jace but it has a lot of downside too as if there isn't a Mentor in play, we're going to have more creatures than they do. So, in short - I think it's better to have an answer for the Mentor immediately instead of after they've gone wild with it.

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