Originally Posted by
jtos84
I am wondering what people think, or what the expert opinion is on playing anything but one tendrils main in the preordain build as opposed to playing with burning wish or wishes and all the other random cards like empty the warrens, xantid swarm, ill gotten gains, etc. To me it seems to be an experience factor unless there are meta game factors I am missing.
In my progression with the deck I had to play with burning wishes and empty the warrens just to stay interested because I was missing so many lines of play. About a month and a half ago or so (maybe longer I can't remember) I decided to take a break from my other deck and just play storm until I was proficient with it. I was using one burning wish and a tendrils and past in flames in the s/b. At first I did not like preordain at all. After I played and played and played I understood that preordain just like using one tendrils increases the constancy of the deck.
If you are able to identify most (all if possible) lines of play then all the extra cards just get in the way. The discard package of four duress and 2 cabal therapy in the main is adequate for disrupting most plays your opponent is planning. I could probably go on and on about why I think this and why I think that, but what advantage if any do burning wish variants have over preordain builds? I also use one grim tutor because it seems to also be the more consistent than four preordains.
For the s/b I just do not understand xantid swarm. Carpet of flowers allows you to fix your mana base to either beat the counters or get the right color. I also do not really understand more than two chain of vapors. Most of the time I end up casting them off of an ad nauseam to bounce a leyline. Even in those circumstances I just board in the karakas and an extra cabal therapy to get thalia, and one chain of vapor. Slaughter pact also seems completely unnecessary and redundant. Chain of vapor can achieve the same goal against gaddok teeg, ethersworn canonist, and any other board piece that needs removed.
I am also wondering why more people do not use gemstone mine? That card probably picks up so many games its ridiculous because it can produce any color you need. I've also found that two basic islands, one basic swamp, four deltas and three tarns are necessary for higher consistency. I used to play tps in vintage, so the legacy version of storm just seems far more simplistic.
I'm not saying the cards I mentioned above are not good cards to play, but I am wondering what the numbers are on them in terms of success/failure in certain metagames. Go ahead and tear that post up, that is kind of what I am looking for here.
