[Deck] TES - The EPIC Storm

[dlevsApiJ]

No, i play it now serieus since a week, that guy was matheus, called matelml here, he is also on the source so i think he would respond to you.

He also gives me the tips as keep playing Brainstorm over Ponder, and his/your arguments are good, its because i play the deck not long enough.

I should give him a sign to respond here.

Mvg

[matelml]

I got 2nd at the Dutch champs only losing the finals against a UBWG Fish deck with Fow, Daze, Spell snare, Stifle, EExplosives, Counterbalance, Confidant, Goyf, Etc. I went 7-1-2 (the draws are ID's) and the metagame was very positive for me. Almost no Thresh, a lot of Loam, discardbased aggro-control, and other non-blue decks. I heard there were about 120 players.
I'll post my list and if you don't agree with the card-choices I'll explain and give my arguments. Every card-choice has been considered over and over and for my meta I believe this maindeck is almost perfect, even the Plunges and 11 land. Only the Rough//Tumble in the Sb I wasn't sure about but I couldn't come up with anything better.

4 Orim's chant

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-gotten Gains
1 Diminishing Returns
3 Empty the Warrens

4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
4 Brainstorm
2 Plunge into Darkness
1 Ponder

4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Chrome Mox

4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Tomb of Urami

Sideboard:

1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill-gotten Gains
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Grapeshot
1 Shattering Spree
1 Rough//Tumble
4 Duress
4 Xantid Swarm

The Tomb won me a game, the Cabals are very good because the most played deck is Pikula/Mono B Aggro/Pox, and here most people don't have enough answers to Empty the Warrens the first game so I play 3 and most of the time board 2 out game 2 and 3.

[Windux]

The Tomb would have won a 2nd Game, if Chris had'nt drew the Explosive ;)

http://www.kvdeckmasters.nl/Forum/in...2285#msg172285

For all Decklists of the Top8

[Eldariel]

That link is broken; you might want to remove the "..." and replace it with the actual contents of the line. If I'm not mistaken, the actual post is here. Anyway, the metagame looks very low on blue and it seems like artifact lock pieces aren't around in numbers either, so it's a good metagame for you. Good job on the finish, but did you at any point think extra Xantids or Abeyances could've turned the final around?

[Lukas Preuss]

http://www.kvdeckmasters.nl/Forum/in...2285#msg172285

That's the link.

The finals were pretty one sided, but either way very much fun to watch. You did a good job, matelml. I sat right next to you and think you couldn't have done anything different, this is just a very bad matchup for you. I was pretty surprised by the Tomb though. I thought it was not considered maindeck material anymore. Of course, against Counterbalance it is quite solid. ;)

[matelml]

@ Lukas: Thanks, I couldn't find an out either, and I was in doubt about the Tomb but wanted a 11th land and decided i didn't want a 3rd paradise cause they are horrible in multiples and because it's the 11th land you don't cut any 5 color manasources anyway, I used to play 10 land and it worked pretty good too.

4 Chant's maindeck is certainly enough in The Netherlands, and I have up to 11 protection game 2. The Swarms are especially nice in the side because than they never die to removal.

Abayence sucks, you have enough situations where you can't cast the Chant, let alone the Abayence.

[Choobak]

Hello,

I would like some metagame help to build "my" TES.
I think this deack is strongly flexible and offer a good adaptability to the metagame.

Seeing how Wastedlife change frequently his opinions about cards MD as much as SD, that prove this deck can be modular.

So, the minimal uncounternable cards are for me (first number is MD, second, SD) :

1-1 empty the warrens
1-1 tendrills of Agony

for the kill

1-1 diminishing returns
1-1 ill-gotten gains
4-0 burning wish
4-0 infernal tutor

for the storm

4-0 Dark ritual
4-0 rite of flame
4-0 LED
4-0 Lotus petal
2-0 Chrome mox
4-0 city of brass
4-0 gemstone mine
1-0 undiscovered paradize

for the mana

4-0 brainstorm

for the CA/CQ

4-0 orim's chant

for the protection

After that, i can have alternatives :

for the kill :

- tomb of Urami (can be a very good turn one)
- Storm entity (not very great except turn one, but can't be stiffled !)
- grapeshot (as a finisher)
- Ignite Memories (a little too coster and too gambler)

for the storm :

- plunge into darkness (for just one card tutor or sometime to gain point of life)
- infernal contract (cost hard, can fizzle, but offer lot of solution)
- gamble (in the sb, not the best tutor)

for the mana :

- seething song (a little high cost, but as good as DR)
- cabal ritual (good in a black discard-like meta)
- tinder wall (good in a response to T1 lackey, so in a gob meta)
- simian spirit guid (a great one)
- tomb of Urami (again)

for the CA/CQ

- ponder (a good complement to brainstorm)
- Dark confidant (good CA for the midgame and good to begin to kill, but weak against anti crea and our pyroclasm)
- street wrath (to diminish the deck size, and, why not, a castable creature)
- Magus of the library (a strange idea : CA or mana)

for the protection :

- xantid swarm (a "each turn" protection against Landstill or thresh, but weak against anti crea)
- abeyance (a good cantrip card for protection or timewalk)
- REB or pyroblast (rather a SD option)
- pyroclasm (against MM, True believer, Teeg... in SD)
- shatering spree (against chalice, thorn... in SD)
- tranquility (3CC against counterbalance)
- duress/thoughsize (for protection)
- needle (against wasteland)

After this summary for which I hope exaustive, can you help me to build my TES ? my meta is strongly control or aggro control. (landstill, thresh, fish, pikula...). In addition to that, there is lot of wasteland.

Thanks !

[Kronicler]

I don't think I would ever go below 4 Chrome Mox in TES. It's a necessary evil to keep the deck fast IMO. Also, your meta doesn't exactly sound like the best metagame for TES, but if you are going to play it in that meta I would definitely run 4x Confidant in the MD and probably 4x SSG in order to have uncounterable mana sources.

Kronicler

[Choobak]

So, ok for the mana with 4 Chrome Mox and 4 SSG and ok for 4 DC for the CA and to help for the kill.

But what about protection, kill and storm ? I wonder what is the must, and in what proportion ?

And what about the wish box ?

[Gaagooch]

So I played The Epic Storm at the recent Dragon's Lair legacy tournament and i took down first place for 4 Goyfs. Someone asked me to post my list in this forum so i will gladly do so. Any questions feel free to ask. I am mainly a vintage player, but i have recently begun to play more and more legacy, and i really do like the format. Anyways onto the decklist.

Mainboard
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Orim's Chant
2 Abeyance
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Confidant
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Chrome Mox
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens

Sideboard:
3 Shattering Spree
2 Deathmark
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tranquility
1 Pyroclasm
1 Cruel Bargain


I will in short go quickly into the decklist choices. I played the maindeck Bryant had given me at the last mana leak, i really could not find any changes i felt like making at this time, and the deck worked perfectly for me now that i know much more about it. I did change a few cards from his sideboard and mine. I took out the Diminishing Returns as i never found myself wishing for it, or wanting to wish for it, Ill-Gotten Gains is just the all star their. I also cut the one Duress in return for those two slots playing two Deathmark. Deathmark really wasnt overly helpful on the day, but it is a wishable way for me to take out Meddling Mage, and or Tarmogoyf, other than pyroclasm. In theory it works very well, but it wasnt very relevent on saturday. Again any questions feel free to leave them, i will answer to the best of my ability.

-Gaagooch

[Jak]

Did you ever find yourself casting Abeyance before going off? I would definitely play Returns in the side. Sometimes you just don't have enough mana to go for Igg and you need to returns to get a new hand. But I really want to know how Abeyance was.

[Jaynel]

Could you go through the matchups you played on Saturday? Is it worth expending resources to drop a Confidant that will likely die before it draws you anything?

[Gaagooch]

@ Jak In this day i never cast abeyance before going off, but i have in the past, its another proactive card that helps protect you when you are going off. About returns, it has always seemed to be less than optimal of a wish target for me. I dont know through testing thats just the way i feel.

@Jaynel If you dont run confidant then what are you going to run? It works out really well, if bob draws you a single card, youre fine with it, and he beats for a storm copy per turn. He does die sometime, but my resources are usually a land and a simian spirit guide. Even if he dies it doesnt set me back that far. There is really nothing else you can put in that slot that will not use more resources anyways. I have to look over my notes for matches and such, but i will assuredly tell you soon...

[NQN]

I got first at a local tournament at Saturday with a record of 5-0-1. The draw was against Solidarity because we spend 45 minutes on g1 because we both had such a worse draw.
I played this list:
Mainboard
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Orim's Chant
4 Brainstorm
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Chrome Mox
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Cruel Bargain
1 Infernal Contract
1 Seething Song
2 Ponder
2 Cabal Ritual

Sideboard:
1 Diminishin Returns
1 Shattering Spree
3 Pyroblast
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tranquility
1 Pyroclasm
1 Infernal Contract
1 Duress

The draw4 are freeking awesome and won me about 4 games. I will play this list at the next tournaments here and report my results. I just love this list :)

[NQN]

Changes:
Main:
-1 Seething Song
+1 Cabal Ritual

Black mana is more important then red since we can get red from Spirit GUides too and Infernal is more important for the kill then Wish.It´s easier to cast too.

Sideboard:
-1 Extract
+1 Xantid Swarm

3 Mana to fetch the Ghoul is much. And the fact that it does not win us the game results in the discharge.

[Gaagooch]

To further respond to Raynel's question about dark confidant being good enough or not. I think it is one of the best cards in the deck. Think about it like this, you play a turn one confidant, using a land and a lotus petal, or simian spirit guide. If your opponent does not deal with the confidant by your next turn, you now get an extra draw, and every turn they don't deal with confidant from then on out only makes the game worse for them. You put the pressure on your opponent. As i see it in combo, it is all about putting the pressure on your opponent, and making them stop you if they can. Forcing them to find a way to win, your deck has its ways to win, it is already pretty simple and set up that way. Why wouldn't you want to run a card that essentially reads, deal with me when i am played, or else lose the game almost everytime. On saturday i won numerous matches simply because of playing confidant first turn. It won me a burn matchup, as playing a first turn bob caused my opponent to burn him out. Had any of the burn pointed at my confidant been pointed at my head instead, i would have lost the match. He is a flag-bearer, yes, but unchecked he single handedly lowers the needed storm to win, and enables you to get to that point much quicker.

[esmandil]

On saturday i won numerous matches simply because of playing confidant first turn. It won me a burn matchup, as playing a first turn bob caused my opponent to burn him out.

Caused him to do what??? I guess this play wins him whatever the equivalent of Darwin Award in MTG is ;-)

But this example is definitely not the way to show how good Confidant is. Actually, when I play burn and I see an opponent "land,petal,Confidant,go" I am always so happy... Probably the single better play, from my point of view, is "land,ritual,Infernal Contract,go" :)

[Gaagooch]

I dont play contract though so its ok, and if i did i would not ever want to cast it in that matchup, as it is usually insta-death. You will find that sometimes burn opponents will not burnout your confidant. Some players just dont think its worth it, whether they think it will help them by lowering your life total or not. In three games i went turn one ssg-land-bob. Two games he went fanatic, sac deal 1 to bob. That got one of his creatures off the table, granted its only a 1/1 but it slows him down enough. The one game he didnt kill my confidant on the first turn, it drew me the extra cards i needed to empty for more than lethal. He is just that good in my honest oppinion. Yes in that particular matchup he is less than stellar, but, he still is not the worst card you could ever see...

[Bryant Cook]

I think their point was you should be playing contract. It doesn't take 4 turns to draw 4 cards. Doesn't die to spot removal and can be cast on turn 1 to win the game.

[andrew77]

What do you guys take out against thresh? I mean some of your lists run 2 swarms, 4 pyroblasts/reb. What do you take out without hurting the deck too much?

Also how often do you use the duress in the board. lately, I almost never use it and am thinking about cutting it.