Quote Originally Posted by sasa_batora View Post
I used to play NQGw with two maindecked Predators mainly because of Dragon Stompy and Stax. I understand your pain, even though I have not met this beast when playing FS. (Not talking about mws..)

But dont forget that even with all of his shuffling and cantrips, opponent has only two or three of them. And with CotV you make his search engine much worse... SoFI also looks solid against guy, as you can swing through him and then switch the SoFI to blocker. (Not to mention that some of our guys stop Predator all day long: 4+4 Drakes and Efreets are >>> 2 Predators.

In your case I would try to maximize stealing aspect of the deck. Esp. with your SB I dont think that the opponent has some great advantage in Predator, as post side you have 6 ways to steal his Goyfs, Predators and Enforcers. Also imagine Predator equipped with SoFI forcing through Gilded Drake, dealing six and eating CB at the same time..

And the opponent is not going to play Predator before third turn, too. Maybe even turn 4-5 if we count Daze and/or missing land drop from his lands<18. By this time you must land big flier, some chumper for Goyf (Mage/Mite, the latter chumps the Predator too..) and with SoT/Gilded Drake you wait for a target to steal...

Btw, how are you satisfied with Gilded Drakes? I am thinking of them, but there is a problem with them being bigger than half of our creatures... I also dont like giving a creature to my opponent.

And do you find setting Eng. Plague post board on Drakes to be a problem?

PS: I like the ITEOC thingy more and more. Time to count the number of instants in all the DTB..
ITEOC has been fine so far, doesn't come in against everybody but is very good against the decks I want help for. The Gilded Drake has also been working fine (but not spectacularly) for me, either providing for (6) steal critters effects or being able to swap 1:1 with the much more vulnerable Sowers. The plan to utilize the Wipe Aways and the Gildeds for silly advantage hasn't panned out yet, but the experiment is definitely a work in progress. If anything gets axed from the SB it will be the Wipe Aways as they don't play well with ITEOC and are rarely a primary inclusion. They haven't been as effective in my other plan either - bouncing a 1cc/2cc permanent that pisses me off but slipped in before CotV. Maybe the correct SB for Evolution Thresh is +3 Gilded, +3 B2B with some painful choices in what to remove, but the deck is a beating... Having it played by good players doesn't help either... This is one of the decks where I would love bring in the entire SB...but what to remove becomes the problem. (6) cards is probably the max, but which (6)? B2Bs + 3 Wipe Away? Wipe + ITEOC obviously doesn't work... ITEOCs + Gildeds? ITEOC + B2B? All 4 Wipe Aways & the 2 extra Crypts (not seriously, as this does nothing to alleviate any of the problems of Predator, Krosan Grip & Counter-Top)? Every Game 1 I have played against this I have lost the die roll, making it much more difficult to land a Chalice at 1 or a Trinket Mage (the only really relevant plays). Without CotV 1 any large creature I put down gets whacked at an inconvenient point in time (often in response to equipping...) as they play as much removal as I play large creatures (pre-equipping) while they have the cantrips & Top to dig. I'm hoping that the testing of Esperzoa goes well & helps push this imbalance back in my favor. In a way, always playing second is good, since it is like running with weights, if I ever get to run without the damn weights, I will be faster & stronger (and happier...).