Ruby Storm

[mistercakes]

Just grasping at straws :)

[Mr. Safety]

With new decks, any card is on the table for testing.

I was saying in an earlier post that I think the deck is one card off from optimal...the more I play the deck the more I believe that card is Gamble. So many games hinge on finding Past in Flames, which can win the game with only a couple cards in the graveyard (one game I went off with only a GitProbe into Manamorphose into Gamble, Seething Song in graveyard, storm shenanigans, Empty for 18 gobbos FTW.)

I dropped all the Faithless Lootings from the deck in favor of better acceleration/AoI (Mox/Helm) which gives a much better mid-game. I was worried about top decks in the late game, but getting my Act on Impulse count higher (3 currently) really solved that issue as well. Dropping Looting and shuffling things around I am at 2x Reforge/3x Act on Impulse maindeck. I could easily see going 4/1 in favor of Act on Impulse.

I finally BW-ed into Reforge! It was a desperation line against Grixis Delver, with lethal on the board on their side, and I got there with only 2 life remaining. I'll say it again: we're not dead until life total is 0. In that same 5-6 games testing run I also BW > Reforge > Blood Moon t2, g2. Blood Moon is shoring up the bad matchups in a big way. I also punted in a couple of test games and HUF got there for me, once getting me Manamorphose and Burning Wish for Tendrils. This was even after getting my Rite of Flames Surgical-ed. I think this matchup gets better the more practice I get against it; they are, for the most part, a known quantity while we're the wild card. Not saying its favored, but it isn't a blowout anymore.

Did a few test games against Death and Taxes again with revised list; no Thalia, no problem. Stoneforge into Jitte/BSkull is too slow when we can go off turn 2 (because we know we don't have to worry about Force.) One of the more common matchups that we really don't need to worry about unless we draw really poorly and let them establish a mid-game lock.

Next matchup to test is definitely Sneak/Show, and I think I need to test against Br Reanimator. Sideboard 2x Surgical helps with that matchup, especially because we can have a chance even on the draw to stop them (one situation where Simian Spirit Guide to fight through a Chancellor trigger would be solid.)

[ronco]

This is one of the decks I can test against and my experience vs reanimator is that it is a very very tough matchup. I have a mono black run with lots of disruption and the standard creature base of Gris, Tidespout, 4 chancellors, and an Aurelia, the Warleader (it was my personal touch lol). The helms really speed up the reanimator deck that much more which is even worse for us (Ruby Storm) and blood moon doesn't do much here either (for mono black. Would be of SOME help vs BRx).

Do you think 2 surgicals is enough to get them in your hand early enough to work? Is there room for a 3rd/4th?

[Mr. Safety]

This is one of the decks I can test against and my experience vs reanimator is that it is a very very tough matchup. I have a mono black run with lots of disruption and the standard creature base of Gris, Tidespout, 4 chancellors, and an Aurelia, the Warleader (it was my personal touch lol). The helms really speed up the reanimator deck that much more which is even worse for us (Ruby Storm) and blood moon doesn't do much here either (for mono black. Would be of SOME help vs BRx).

Do you think 2 surgicals is enough to get them in your hand early enough to work? Is there room for a 3rd/4th?

Long story short: the count of Pyroblast/Defense Grid could be tweaked to include another Surgical. I could see going to 3 Surgical/2 Pyroblast instead of the other way around.

I wouldn't board in Blood Moon, or anything else really. I would just board in the Surgicals, mulligan aggressively for them, and try to use Gamble to find extra copies. If they have the t1, well, that's just something we have to live with. We can't optimize against every deck. I think for the most part the blue matchups are where we should spend most of our attention; they will definitely, almost always, be more common.

Runeflare Trap would be hilarious but too gimmicky. Maybe its time to start considering Mindbreak Trap, or go old school with Tormod's Crypt (like Rampart did in his 5-0 list)

EDIT: Ensnaring Bridge, or even Meekstone might be solid tech (colorless so Iona doesn't shut it off, an it can come down t1.) Meekstone would be hilarious...because they would have used more cards than us and we could literally wait for them to mill out because they will likely not have an answer for it. Meekstone = one attack, then we wait out the game lol.

Now, Grafdigger's Cage...it shuts off Past in Flames, but we can still go for EtW. Maybe we start looking at boarding out Past in Flames in favor of permanent-based hate. We will always have access to it with Burning Wish, so if we need to we can use multiple burning wishes to get our By Force (for our own Cage) and use it the turn we go off. It's quite the long winding path, but if it means we shore up the matchup I think it could be feasible.

[ronco]

you snuck in while I was editing my above post...
What about moving in an additional Etw? I think (off the top of my head) the best route to go would be surgicals and additional Etw with the hopes of going off T1 with a slew of gobbos to outrace a non-Gris creature that lands. Since we don't have access to an StP type card (that I know of), 1st turn gris might be just, as you said, tough luck.

[Mr. Safety]

you snuck in while I was editing my above post...
What about moving in an additional Etw? I think (off the top of my head) the best route to go would be surgicals and additional Etw with the hopes of going off T1 with a slew of gobbos to outrace a non-Gris creature that lands. Since we don't have access to an StP type card (that I know of), 1st turn gris might be just, as you said, tough luck.

I'm more afraid of t1 Iona, honestly. It shuts off 95% of our deck and leaves only dead cards that we could play. T1 Gris essentially does the same thing though, because they can just double Bargain for 14 cards, get Petal/Ritual/Entomb/Reanimate Iona. That same sequence with Chancellor is also tough, essentially the same as Thalia out of DnT (but faster, bigger, meaner...)

EDIT: Stranglehold? Probably garbage...

[Icapica]

If you're really afraid of turn one shenanigans from Reanimator, there's always Faerie Macabre. It's instant speed, costs 0 and dodges Chancellor.

[procobrito]

What about the new Sunbird's Invocation from Ixalan?

5R

Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell from your hand, reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. You may cast a card revealed this way with converted mana cost X or less without paying its mana cost. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.


The 5R hurt a lot, but any chance that work better than Hazoret?

[Mr. Safety]

Now that is a good idea! I think I'll go 2x Surgical/1x Macabre for now.

Nice work.

[Mr. Safety]

What about the new Sunbird's Invocation from Ixalan?

5R

Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell from your hand, reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. You may cast a card revealed this way with converted mana cost X or less without paying its mana cost. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.


The 5R hurt a lot, but any chance that work better than Hazoret?

No way is that better than Hazoret's, not by a long shot. Hazoret's does the job itself for 5-6 mana, and immediately goes to work. The enchantment does literally nothing unless you have a ton of mana available and cards still in hand (or an active Past in Flames) If we have a ton of mana we are going for Past in Flames/flashback a ton of stuff/Burning Wish FTW. Hazoret's also just grabs the cards off the top of the library, which means we aren't dependent on our hand or the graveyard to get the 3-4 spells it gives us.

[procobrito]

No way is that better than Hazoret's, not by a long shot. Hazoret's does the job itself for 5-6 mana, and immediately goes to work. The enchantment does literally nothing unless you have a ton of mana available and cards still in hand (or an active Past in Flames) If we have a ton of mana we are going for Past in Flames/flashback a ton of stuff/Burning Wish FTW. Hazoret's also just grabs the cards off the top of the library, which means we aren't dependent on our hand or the graveyard to get the 3-4 spells it gives us.

True, and you can use Hazoret's with past in flames, the enchantment don't. When you reach the 6 manas, your hand is probably empty

[vieko]

This is one of the decks I can test against and my experience vs reanimator is that it is a very very tough matchup. I have a mono black run with lots of disruption and the standard creature base of Gris, Tidespout, 4 chancellors, and an Aurelia, the Warleader (it was my personal touch lol). The helms really speed up the reanimator deck that much more which is even worse for us (Ruby Storm) and blood moon doesn't do much here either (for mono black. Would be of SOME help vs BRx).

Do you think 2 surgicals is enough to get them in your hand early enough to work? Is there room for a 3rd/4th?

It is a tough matchup but not impossible. I bring in 2 Tormod's Crypts + 2 Scab-Clan Berserkers against BR Reanimator. Mull to Crypt if your 7 is not fast enough and you are more than fine... take out Helms G2/G3 of course ;) If you lose, you lose... it's gonna happen!

[vieko]

What about the new Sunbird's Invocation from Ixalan?

5R

Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell from your hand, reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. You may cast a card revealed this way with converted mana cost X or less without paying its mana cost. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.


The 5R hurt a lot, but any chance that work better than Hazoret?

I've seen this at 3R actually... not a terrible one-of, a permanent effect and without the downsides of Hazoret's Undying Fury (which is too random of a card IMO).

[Rampart]

Reanimator is just a unsalvagable matchup. I keep a crypt in my board to pair with the couple gambles to hedge, but unless you devote 4-5 slots in your board your not going to budge the % points at all. I would rather focus on racing that matchup then loose more sideboard slots for stuff you see more often

[mistercakes]

I'm with vieko here. 2 crypts is enough. With 2 Gamble you're looking at a good chance to have hate vs them.

If they turn 1 you on the play... Good for them. Their deck has a ton of variance. Occasionally they will get the nuts.

[MGB]

Did you guys ever consider splashing blue for Baral, Chief of Compliance?

[vieko]

Did you guys ever consider splashing blue for Baral, Chief of Compliance?

I splashed blue for Epic Experiment :)

[vieko]

Reanimator is just a unsalvagable matchup. I keep a crypt in my board to pair with the couple gambles to hedge, but unless you devote 4-5 slots in your board your not going to budge the % points at all. I would rather focus on racing that matchup then loose more sideboard slots for stuff you see more often

YUP... this right here ^^^

[Mr. Safety]

Reanimator is just a unsalvagable matchup. I keep a crypt in my board to pair with the couple gambles to hedge, but unless you devote 4-5 slots in your board your not going to budge the % points at all. I would rather focus on racing that matchup then loose more sideboard slots for stuff you see more often

Do you like Crypt better than Surgical Extraction, or was it a nod to availability? I was thinking Extraction has uses against more than just reanimator, whereas Crypt is a pure, one-shot grave hate (that doesn't work with Past in Flames.)

@MGB: I haven't tried Baral, but once you have blue...Intuition? Gifts Ungiven? Brainstorm/Ponder/Preordain? I think it leads to a splash slippery slope. Not saying it wouldn't be good, but to my knowledge nobody in here has tried it.

[mistercakes]

Crypt was from the list I had posted a while back, for which rampart used.

The reasoning behind this is very simple. Permanents are much more difficult to deal with than instants and to a lesser degree faerie macabre. (cabal therapy recommended, the user not the card)

Crypt can also be drawn after a Reforge or off of AoI and easily played. Additionally Crypt is much much better Vs ANT.