Quote Originally Posted by slave View Post
Took out the BLUE version again this week at the local.
Maindeck: 13 Lands, 4 Icky, 1 Prized Amalgam, 2 Pimps.
Sideboard: 1 Ashen Rider, 1 Iona, 2 Dread Return, 3 Firestorm, 4 Force of Will, 2 Lotus Petal, 2 Chain of Vapor.
Went 4-1
Beating Burn 2-0, Combo-Elves 2-1, Grixis 2-1, Hypergenesis 2-0
Lost to Death & Taxes (running maindeck RiP/Helm combo) 0-2

Force/Vapor came in for Grixis, HG + D&T. Firestorm, DR w Iona for Elves. DR, Iona & Petals for Burn.
Saw a lot of Force! I lucked out with a flacid Force (no other blue to pitch) twice during the night, but I countered 3 (Ensnaring Bridge, G-Cage, Shardless Agent), with another Force getting Dazed. D&T just ruined me with STP & RiP, and I didn't see Vapor....

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Now I can say I've run 3, 2 and 1 PA in the main respectively, each over a single meet (4-5 matches each).
With both 3 and 2 PA's, I ran 3 Icky.

3 PA's felt like too many.
2 was good without feeling like it was impacting the deck too much, with one PA I barely noticed it as I didn't actually see it very often.
I think either 1 or 2 is about right for PA, in future I may lean towards 1 as lately I'm preferring all 4 Icky.
I really don't want to drop my numbers of Icky, or any Studies/B-thru's for it.
I think it's a good card, but if I wasn't trying to make Force work (which I'm still not 100% sold on either) I would probably drop it entirely.
My experiences pretty my place me in agreement with all of this. Unfortunately, the deck is at the point where small margins matter. So it's that awful stage where you need to continually test switching only one card at a time.