[Deck] It's the Fear - Control in the new Era

[Volt]

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[Deep6er]

Yeah, but a lot of those lack the cards that It's the Fear plays in order to continue playing magic under an opposing Counterbalance. VoroshStill is one of the few decks (like TEC) to play cards at three, AND Counterbalance. While you could definitely lose to those decks, I actually like my chances against some of them quite a bit.

Additionally, boo on registration errors. Those are beatings. Always.

[Tosh]

Here's the list I played:

// Lands
    1 [SH] Volrath's Stronghold
    1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
    3 [U] Tropical Island
    3 [ON] Polluted Delta
    2 [ON] Flooded Strand
    2 [B] Tundra
    3 [A] Underground Sea
    1 [CS] Snow-Covered Island
    1 [REW] Wasteland
    2 [ON] Windswept Heath
    1 [CS] Snow-Covered Forest

// Creatures
    4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
    2 [LRW] Shriekmaw

// Spells
    4 [TE] Intuition
    4 [7E] Counterspell
    4 [FNM] Swords to Plowshares
    2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
    2 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
    3 [CS] Counterbalance
    3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
    4 [FNM] Brainstorm
    4 [AL] Force of Will
    1 [RAV] Life from the Loam
    3 [AP] Pernicious Deed

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [GP] Leyline of the Void
SB: 1 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [SC] Stifle
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 1 [ON] Gigapede
SB: 3 [IN] Dueling Grounds

Round 1: Maverick676 (Nourishing Lich: Weird Level Blue variant) [1-0]
G1: Recurring EE with counter-top wins this game pretty handily (although I was at 17 and he 18, the game was over).
I board in LotV, Gigapede, and KGrips.
G2: Similar to above, I hard cast a LotV a couple turns in. He drops a Gigapede ~t10 and I top my Gigapede that's been sitting there for a while and play it. He scoops.

Round 2: quicksilver (Survival) [1-1]
Turns out I wrote down "counterspell" instead of "counterbalance" so my list had 7 counterspells... I receive a game loss.
Side note: Bardo's next to me but across the table and he also got a game loss for putting the cards from activating his top into his hand.
G2: This game gets really close and I play aggro and get him down to 1 when he EOT Survivals for Magus of the Moon. The previous turn he played an Eternal Witness to return Shriekmaw. He top decks a fetch. He floats a black and plays the Magus (I've got no cards in hand, so no counters) then Evokes Shriekmaw. I scoop.

Round 3: tatt2dfreak (Mono G Aggro) [2-1]
G1: I don't remember this game too much, I stabilize at 4 with Counter-Top.
I board in Dueling Grounds.
G2: Needless to say, he had no chance against my Dueling Grounds, 2x Vedalken Shackles, and Counter-Top.

Round 4: Yawgmoth (GBW Rock) [3-1]
He told me to put in the Wasteland the night before and so I made room for it. We tested it out and it did well so I decided to keep it in.
G1: Wasteland lock wins the game.
G2: He beats in with a Doran and Bob to finish me off. Nothing too spectacular this game.
G3: I Wasteland a couple of lands and he gets stuck on 2 lands. I Swords a Bob and a 'Goyf. He Extirpates my LftL to stop the wasteland lock but it's too late.

Round 5: Brent (Psychotog) [3-2]
G1: Really long game. Near the end of the game, I'm at 3 and have 2x Shackles and EE for 3 on the board. He gets an EE for 3 on the board and EOT pops it. He drops a 'Goyf and I've got a hand full of land so it gets through for the win. He had 5 cards in library when he won.
G2: Goes to time and we draw.

Round 6: Krieger (Ichorid) [3-3]
Copied from his report so it's from his perspective. Why should I rewrite it :D
G1: I am on the draw and have a fairly good hand. I also knew he was playing something with counterbalance in it. He plays top turn 1. My turn LED, LED then play coliseum and break both LEDs to activate coliseum this gets me 1 Narcomeoba and a few Ichorids into the graveyard. Ichorids come back next turn and I attempt reanimate sage but he Forces I have another Dread Return so I use the tokens I got from bridge and win shortly after that with like a hundred Ichorids/ zombies.
**I board in Leyline of the Void, Tormod's Crypt, and Dueling Grounds
G2: I keep a slower hand that has answers to hate cards. He plays a Dueling Grounds that I answer with Ray of Revelation. Later he gets a Leyline of the Void to stick. We play draw go for a while until I get coliseum and use it to dig for answers. I find double Putrid Imp and need a turn cast them both. I get him to seven lives and then I get back Ichorid and swing for the win.

Props:
Virginians for coming all the way over.
Volt for setting it up.
Volt for winning.

Slops:
Not having someone else check my deck list.
Not having enough time to beat Psychotog in G2 and G3...

Ideas:
I never played Pernicious Deed. Not once. The recurring EE was just plain better in almost all situations. I'm thinking about moving it to the sideboard or taking out black entirely (running Gigapede in the main which can replace the win-con recursion).
I played once against Counter-Top (Maverick676) and I still won through it. EE is definitely an all-star against opposing Counter-Top decks.

[Deep6er]

Dueling Grounds? Really? What for?

Also, no Eternal Witness? She is so amazing in this deck.

Just curious about these.

[Tosh]

I put the Dueling Grounds in because I saw a ~3-4 Goblins and expected several other random aggro decks. I was considering Propaganda although Dueling Grounds is just as effective if they have 4 lands and if they have 2 (2 wouldn't be hard to get so I'm not going to assume that Propaganda would let only 1 creature attack). I should probably also mention playing against Yawgmoth with Goblins the day before in the precursor tournament and lost horribly to it. Game 2 I had 3 Tarmogoys, 2 Swords to Plowshares, and a Pernicious Deed and still lost (he had 3x Lackey [swords on 2 of them, 'Goyf to block the other], 2x Piledriver [one had to be traded for my 2nd 'Goyf, other was post-deed], and 2x Ringleader [dropped 2 which hit 3 & 2 gobs incl. Weirding. deeded these away and lost a 'Goyf to it] and my 3rd 'Goyf was Weirding'd)

I took out the Eternal Witness because it was unnecessary. Any time I actually used Eternal Witness I had already won the game and it's too mana intensive to bring back relevant targets in time to make a difference (Intuition, Stronghold, Witness, <target>. That's spread over 3-4 turns which is a bit too slow for my liking).

[Deep6er]

I heartily disagree with your "win-more" assessment of Eternal Witness. Eternal Witness + Stronghold presents a conundrum to your opponent. If he attacks, he's not going to do any real damage, and he guarantees you being able to get the most important card out of your graveyard.

Second, Eternal Witness makes for great backup plays. Plan went wrong? Eternal Witness can fix it by getting back whatever part of the plan went wrong. That card is incredibly good in this deck.

Also, I think that Blast is better than Dueling Grounds. One, it allows you to have more control over the early game, so that he can't ever build up a massive army. Second, it's more versatile. Blast helps out against Imperial Painter, Dragon Stompy, and Burn.

[landstill101]

Round 2: quicksilver (Survival) [1-1]
Turns out I wrote down "counterspell" instead of "counterbalance" so my list had 7 counterspells... I receive a game loss. I didn't know what he was playing so I didn't board.
Side note: Bardo's next to me but across the table and he also got a game loss for putting the cards from activating his top into his hand.
G2: This game gets really close and I play aggro and get him down to 1 when he EOT Survivals for Magus of the Moon. The previous turn he played an Eternal Witness to return Shriekmaw. He top decks a fetch. He floats a black and plays the Magus (I've got no cards in hand, so no counters) then Evokes Shriekmaw. I scoop.

One thing just to clarify, for the first game, did you play it or was it just an instant game loss, because if it was, it was lucky you didn't side in or it was another instant game loss. according to the rules You can not side in if the first game was a game loss due to tardiness forgetting to deside or any other instant loss before the games starts due to rules. And also would you be able to explain more on what happend to Bardo, or maybe Bardo could come on and explain. From what you said I don't see anything wrong, and since I play countertop as well I don't want to make the same mistake.

[landstill101]

Last friday I played a tourny with 21 ppl I think to be exact. I went 4-0-1 and then went 2-0-1 in playoffs to draw for first place. I'm to lazy to write a report, I've written enough that many of the matches I could just cut and paste.

The one matchup which I have never faced before was 9 land stompy. Which surprisingly tog shined in this matchup. Mainly becuase he got dropped down and just blocked for as many turns as I needed untill I got shackles which against 9 land stompy means win every time.

[Tosh]

One thing just to clarify, for the first game, did you play it or was it just an instant game loss, because if it was, it was lucky you didn't side in or it was another instant game loss. according to the rules You can not side in if the first game was a game loss due to tardiness forgetting to deside or any other instant loss before the games starts due to rules. And also would you be able to explain more on what happend to Bardo, or maybe Bardo could come on and explain. From what you said I don't see anything wrong, and since I play countertop as well I don't want to make the same mistake.

It was an instant game loss, we presented our decks but never got to cutting them when I received the game loss. I thought that after game losses you get to sideboard so I guess it is a good thing I didn't :D (changed my report to omit that). Also, the judge put the list face up right in front of me and in his report, quicksliver said that he saw exactly what I was playing so boo to the judge.

From what I could tell, Bardo had the win on the table against Meathooks (the player had never heard of the Source so idk) and he topped... eot I think. He had his hand in his right and topped with his left and I believe he brought them together on accident. His opponent called the judge and Bardo admitted to accidentally putting them into his hand. I guess he got excited and/or thought it was a Brainstorm.

I heartily disagree with your "win-more" assessment of Eternal Witness. Eternal Witness + Stronghold presents a conundrum to your opponent. If he attacks, he's not going to do any real damage, and he guarantees you being able to get the most important card out of your graveyard.

Although I've only been playing the deck for about 3-4 weeks, I made that decision based on experience. I may end up putting him back in if he is as good as you say he is if I continue to play the deck.

Also, I think that Blast is better than Dueling Grounds. One, it allows you to have more control over the early game, so that he can't ever build up a massive army. Second, it's more versatile. Blast helps out against Imperial Painter, Dragon Stompy, and Burn.

You may be right here, but there was no Imperial Painter, no Dragon Stompy, and Counter-Top beats burn anyway. Blasts don't do very much against Ichorid while the Dueling Grounds do help a little. There were 3+ Ichorid decks that I saw.

[Deep6er]

I definitely urge you to continue testing Witness, she's been nothing but good for me.

@Dueling Grounds: Your plan against Ichorid is to use Leyline and then protect it. Dueling Grounds is likely to be pretty low on their list of "cards that I need to get off the table in order to win the game". Certainly true that IN THAT MATCHUP, Dueling Grounds is better than Blasts, but as a whole, I would argue that Blasts are more useful than Dueling Grounds.

[Bardo]

And also would you be able to explain more on what happend to Bardo, or maybe Bardo could come on and explain. From what you said I don't see anything wrong, and since I play countertop as well I don't want to make the same mistake.

I have the whole thing detailed in my tournament report which should be posted on Thursday, Friday at the latest. I don't want to derail this thread, so I'll try to make this quick. My opponent was at 1; I was at 16. He had a Plated Sliver or some shit opposing my 3/3 Goose and 4/5 Goyf. I was going to win that turn and was really stoked that the game was in hand but got careless when I played the Top from my hand and spun it. Anyway, you can read about the situation in the report, which should be up in a day or two.

He had his hand in his right and topped with his left and I believe he brought them together on accident. His opponent called the judge and Bardo admitted to accidentally putting them into his hand. I guess he got excited and/or thought it was a Brainstorm.

That isn't what happened. The Top cards were in my left hand; my hand cards were in my right. They never touched, but it must have looked that way, or fishy at the least, from his side. Honestly, I think he lawyered me into a game loss; but it was a careless mistake on my part (having the two sets of cards close), and the ruling was probably correct, given the information the judge had and that I had no witnesses that the Top cards mingled never mingled with my cards in hand (we were still in game 1 and everyone was playing their matches).

Let's not discuss this further in this thread. Thanks. If you want, we can talk about it in the report thread.

[Lord Gibbo]

I just Want to ask you a question: Why you don't play with Psycatog?
I run it in my list and I think it's great.

It's a very good finisher and don't nead green mana, so if you don't have the green after an Extirpate on Tropical Island you can win with Atog...

Gigapede don't do this beacause of his mana cost.

[Deep6er]

Simple. I tried him and I didn't like him. He's anti-synergistic with a great deal of the strategies (Eternal Witness, Stronghold, Ruins, Tarmogoyf), and he really isn't as good as he used to be. Tarmogoyf will just outclass Psychatog because he's bigger for longer with no other restrictions.

Also, Wasteland + Extirpate? Honestly, not terrified of that. Decks that play those tend to lose to Vedalken Shackles. Even then, I can deck them. Not like I'm going to play a sub-par creature in order to shore up a matchup that I'm not afraid of.

[Lord Gibbo]

I Agree to you.
Atog is anti-Sybergic, but it's a "one tourn finisher".

I think it's a good Creature for a Deck that use LftL.

I'm testing Gigapede and I don't like it so much, why you think that a 6/1 is better than atog?

[Deep6er]

I don't like Gigapede either. The only creatures I run are Tarmogoyf and Eternal Witness.

Also, I disagree with your "one turn finisher" statement. Psychatog is only going to be a one turn finisher if you've already won the game. I'm MUCH more concerned with the events leading up to that. I don't want a creature that will let me put it away once I've won it. Tarmogoyf does that in addition to helping me get to the "I've already won the game" stage. Psychatog does NOT help in getting to that stage of the game.

[Hana, The Deadly Flower]

I'm testing this deck out and I have a few concerns with this deck.

1. My deck runs 3 colors, (b, u, g). I have 3 smothers in the main deck, do i need a 4th color (white) just for S.T.P?

2. I have 6 creatures; 1 Witness, 4 Tarmogoyf, and 1 Finisher. I thought of either having Tombstalker, Spiritmonger, or Morphling. What do you guys suggest.

This deck IMO is the best deck that can handle any types of decks out there (control/aggro/combo). Let me know what you guys think.

[Deep6er]

1. Yes, Swords is really good enough to have. It's the absolute best removal in the game.

2. You don't need a finisher. Seriously. 4 Tarmogoyf and 1 Witness are enough.

[Hanni]

Also, I disagree with your "one turn finisher" statement. Psychatog is only going to be a one turn finisher if you've already won the game.

This is not always the case. Sometimes against Goblins, you barely stabalize, let's say from something like a Deed or something. Now, Shackles could be argued to replace Tog in your list as far as controlling the game from there... but Tog can win a game you weren't necessarily winning by swinging for lethal when you otherwise wouldn't be able to swing. However, in your decklist, you don't run Wonder... so a simple Mogg Fanatic or something will waste your time with Tog.

Personally, I'd recommend at least some type of alternate win condition outside of Shackles and decking the opponent. Tog is by no means a bad option but I definitely think Gigapede offers you so much that it's silly to not run it as a 1-of. That's just my opinion though, I guess.

[Yawgmoth]

What happens when your opponent extirpates Tarmogoyf? Cry?

[Hana, The Deadly Flower]

That's why there should be a finisher just incase tog gets out.

Does anyone recommend putting in living wish?