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

[chokin]

I sleeved up the Fear today for the first time and played 5 games with it, 4 vs 2 types of reanimator and 1 vs a mono black controlish deck. I ended up going 4-1 all of which were pre-board.

A landed Simic for reanimator is simply game over. The rest can be somewhat managed via countering, swords, or a lucky explosives for animate dead. I have found top to be crucial to get what is needed for this deck, even moreso than my experience with landstill. This is probably the case because the deck is not drawing inordinate amounts of cards so it needs quality and consistency.

Overall I plan on trying it out some more. The decklist was the one referenced a few pages back.

Diabolic Edict would solve this problem. I'd run no more than 2 though. The deck is pretty tight as is. I think it's Vorosh Landstill that runs a list similar to ITF but has no white and uses Edict. Your removal would basically look like UGWB Landstill's but Edict instead of Innocent Blood. Relic might be better than Crypt if you expect that much Reanimator. Being able to rip out their targets from under their noses all the time would rock.

[Tosh]

Diabolic Edict would solve this problem. I'd run no more than 2 though. The deck is pretty tight as is. I think it's Vorosh Landstill that runs a list similar to ITF but has no white and uses Edict. Your removal would basically look like UGWB Landstill's but Edict instead of Innocent Blood. Relic might be better than Crypt if you expect that much Reanimator. Being able to rip out their targets from under their noses all the time would rock.

Diabolic Edict: What you would have to take out to fit in Edict (Swords) is better than Edict in almost all situations. Edict is only good against shroud and to be honest, that's only relevant in 2 MU: Reanimator and Slivers.

Relic: The fact that Relic removes your own graveyard from the game is bad. Tormod's Crypt costs 0 and does not remove your own yard from the game. Relic is only better than Crypt when you need to deal with Goyfs, which this deck can do all by itself just fine. Relic's other effect is not relevant at all since it doesn't target a card in the 'yard, it just removes one of their choosing.

[Deep6er]

Quick update: "Templar" Goblins is a complete beating for It's the Fear. Thoughtseize is an absolute stellar card for that particular match up, and combined with four Siege Gang Commanders, definitely swings that match up back to being unfavorable for It's the Fear.

I'm doing a play-by-play match up analysis for Goblins, Threshold, and (hopefully, if I can find somebody to play me) Landstill.

I'll post them in Forum Development when I'm finished (possibly middle of next month at the earliest) so that people can understand my thought processes and ideas when I'm playing It's the Fear against various match ups.

I'll post quick updates as I finish the ten game sets (hopefully pre and post board if they don't mind).

[frogboy]

Define 'Landstill' and I would probably be willing to play a set with some iteration of Vorosh. I just don't want to be battling with garbage like Humility and whatnot.

[Deep6er]

Two things:

1) I have a Mac (and thus, don't have Workstation which is PC only).

2) My internet connection is difficult to describe right now. Imagine this:

You're in a house with four other people and only one telephone line. You have dial up. Also, one of the four people is a teenage girl.

That's kind of what I have now.

I can only siphon intermittent Wi-Fi when I'm in my apartment (there are two unsecured wireless networks, but they're distant, and spotty at best). So, I have to leave in order to get reliable internet connections. I don't have a car, so that means that I have to take the bus to go places. This is a lot of hassle.

Basically, the idea is to get one of the guys down here to help me out.

I do appreciate the offer though.

Also, if you haven't read my signature, I would recommend doing so.

[jeanbathez]

Hi to all !!!

I sleeved up It's the Fear last weekend for first time in a small tournament.

I must admit, it's the first since 10 years, that i played a deck with force of will. I had a long break from magic and then i started with standard.

When i found this thread and read the name of the deck, i thought : try it out !!

At first : This deck is really brilliant, it was a lot of fun to play and very effective !!!

I can only say thank you to all the people who worked on this deck (in particular Deep6er)!!!!!

So i played 4 Rounds, with the standard list, only a different SB for "my meta" :

1. Round : Discard 2:1
2. Round : Aggro Loam 0:2
3. Round : Mono G Elves 2:1
4. Round : UBw Fish : 2:0

My conclusion : i never thought, that counterbalance works that good, in this deck with that curve, it was sooood good.

In my last round my opponent play EE for with and to get through my balance, but i had oracle in my hand with brainstorm
About oracle, it was very versatile, it won me some games, somtimes as a beater, sometimes as carddraw, sometime for balance.

The most difficulties i had was to play the deck correctly. I think this deck needs a lot of practise.

The only real problem was the wastelands from the loam matchup. g1 he wastelanded me out of the game.Couldn`t get balance to stop his loams.

Game 2 i had control with balance and top, then he played terravore, i looked at my top : no , i shuffled and saw 3 lands on top . I think i misplayed that game before .

I must admit the games against loam with wasteland wasn't that good, must think of it again, what i can do different next time.

[johanessen]

Why fact or fiction isn't played in these decks?

[Goaswerfraiejen]

Why fact or fiction isn't played in these decks?

Instead of what? Intuition works better anyway, being cheaper and letting you grab the necessary specifics for whatever situation faces you. FoF is hit or miss; Intuition is not. This (these) deck(s) cannot afford to miss.

[landstill101]

Hi to all !!!

I sleeved up It's the Fear last weekend for first time in a small tournament.

I must admit, it's the first since 10 years, that i played a deck with force of will. I had a long break from magic and then i started with standard.

When i found this thread and read the name of the deck, i thought : try it out !!

At first : This deck is really brilliant, it was a lot of fun to play and very effective !!!

I can only say thank you to all the people who worked on this deck (in particular Deep6er)!!!!!

So i played 4 Rounds, with the standard list, only a different SB for "my meta" :

1. Round : Discard 2:1
2. Round : Aggro Loam 0:2
3. Round : Mono G Elves 2:1
4. Round : UBw Fish : 2:0

My conclusion : i never thought, that counterbalance works that good, in this deck with that curve, it was sooood good.

In my last round my opponent play EE for with and to get through my balance, but i had oracle in my hand with brainstorm
About oracle, it was very versatile, it won me some games, somtimes as a beater, sometimes as carddraw, sometime for balance.

The most difficulties i had was to play the deck correctly. I think this deck needs a lot of practise.

The only real problem was the wastelands from the loam matchup. g1 he wastelanded me out of the game.Couldn`t get balance to stop his loams.

Game 2 i had control with balance and top, then he played terravore, i looked at my top : no , i shuffled and saw 3 lands on top . I think i misplayed that game before .

I must admit the games against loam with wasteland wasn't that good, must think of it again, what i can do different next time.

What was your sideboard? Being an extensive ITF player, I have found that any type of wasteland lock is a pain in the ass with this deck, and really the only thing you have mainboard is to have loam in opening hand or draw it within the first 3 turns, then you laugh at them, but since the list only runs 1 sometimes its hard to get. One of the things which really fix this problem is tormods crypt, you main deck soo many lands losing one wont make a difference with having brainstorm and top to search, you can just wait till he uses the loam, or the wasteland and just crypt it away. Another thing I have tried but don't like(because of mainboarding 3 deeds and 2 EE) is needle which shuts down wasteland and helps with other things like port, belcher, and such. One of the things I have used before to stop the loam recursion is to just keep countering the loam with things like spellsnare, counterspell and FOW untill you can get balance online then just keep a 2 cc in the top 3 all the time, this is prob the best way I see to help the first game.


johanessen, where do you see room for Fact or fiction, the deck has great graveyard recursion and intution gets you the card you want, and you control what goes in the graveyard. The post before this hit it pretty well.

[chokin]

What was your sideboard? Being an extensive ITF player, I have found that any type of wasteland lock is a pain in the ass with this deck, and really the only thing you have mainboard is to have loam in opening hand or draw it within the first 3 turns, then you laugh at them, but since the list only runs 1 sometimes its hard to get. One of the things which really fix this problem is tormods crypt, you main deck soo many lands losing one wont make a difference with having brainstorm and top to search, you can just wait till he uses the loam, or the wasteland and just crypt it away. Another thing I have tried but don't like(because of mainboarding 3 deeds and 2 EE) is needle which shuts down wasteland and helps with other things like port, belcher, and such. One of the things I have used before to stop the loam recursion is to just keep countering the loam with things like spellsnare, counterspell and FOW untill you can get balance online then just keep a 2 cc in the top 3 all the time, this is prob the best way I see to help the first game.


johanessen, where do you see room for Fact or fiction, the deck has great graveyard recursion and intution gets you the card you want, and you control what goes in the graveyard. The post before this hit it pretty well.

I had to play against Pox. His list had 4 Wasteland and 3 Crucible and I really just held out my counters for Crucible. Nothing else was too terribly threatening. Deeds really helps too if you can manage to get one out early.

Against Landstill, I could see it being a whole hell of a lot harder since they have Force and 2-4 Counterspell too. Save your fetches until you need them. They'll have to waste a land drop and allow you to have that land to quasi keep you from having a fetch. I play Grips in the board, which rock against Wastelock. Having 2 basics is key since all you need is a Trop for the Grip to stop the lock. Gravehate also helps beat Wastelock. You mentioned Crypt already.

Fact or Fiction is no where near as good as Intuition here. We recur whatever we get anyways, so Intuition is kinda like "2U: Demonic Tutor x3, your opponent chooses the one you get now, but you'll get the other 2 back later". Intuition allows you to create many different piles for whatever the situation calls for. If you need to blow up the board, get 3 Deeds. If you want Counterbalance, get it. If you have CB and need Top, do it. Grab Loam piles. It is extremely flexible. It's like Cunning Wish in WishStill or in Solidarity. It fills the role needed instead of having us cross our fingers in hopes that something we need now is on the top 5. Plus Intuition is a turn faster.

I think that FoF is best in a deck like Landstill, which draws cards like crazy. Basically, Landstill wants to draw cards and not tutor in the same fashion ITF does.

[frogboy]

Fact or Fiction is better in Landstill because most of Landstill's cards just trade, and it needs to get ahead at some point or it's going to lose just by virtue of having more lands than the aggro decks. That's not a concern with ITF.

[Infinitium]

Wrath, Deed, Humility, Crucible and Standstill would like a word with you? FoF has some major dissynergy with an active CounterTop though so this might not be the deck for it.

[Guy I Don't Know]

What is the plan against Ad Nauseum with this deck?

[chokin]

What is the plan against Ad Nauseum with this deck?

CB+Top kinda rapes their low cc spells. Having a land on top stops Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, LED and Lotus Petal. Having anything that costs 1(including SDT) on top stops Tutor, Brainstorm, Duress, Chant, RoF, Ponder and Dark Ritual. Our 2cc slot is kinda small, so they'll be able to squeeze Infernal Tutors, Cabal Ritual, and Burning Wish through. It isn't a win though, they can draw or tutor for Wipe Away/Rushing River before you assemble CB+Top, but you can always counter.

The only other things I can think of is Arcane Lab(kinda slow and shitty) and more counters(tight decklist as is). Meddling Mage is another idea, but naming AN sucks and Tendrils is just as bad. Multiples would do best, but counting on that is still not great.

[landstill101]

I had to play against Pox. His list had 4 Wasteland and 3 Crucible and I really just held out my counters for Crucible. Nothing else was too terribly threatening. Deeds really helps too if you can manage to get one out early.

I should have been more specific with my post when I ment wastelock it was refering to the post about aggro loam, which my explanation was against loam wasteland lock, crucible is really easy to stop and have never had a problem with it yet and I play against landstill and stax decks. Loam can keep coming back which is why its a pain in the ass.

[chokin]

I should have been more specific with my post when I ment wastelock it was refering to the post about aggro loam, which my explanation was against loam wasteland lock, crucible is really easy to stop and have never had a problem with it yet and I play against landstill and stax decks. Loam can keep coming back which is why its a pain in the ass.

Ah, I'm sorry that none of that helped lol. My experience playing this vs Aggro Loam is pretty limited and the decklist my opponent played was not mainstream at all. Game one, you might just lose and not be able to help it. CB+Top helps prevent Loam from locking you out. Game two gives you Crypt to use when Loam or Wasteland is in the yard will stop the lock temporarily. Get your basics early so you can still cast stuff (CB+Top to stop the shenanigans of Loam). Siding in BEB helps against Devastating Dreams and Crusher, so you can save STPs for Terravore.

[raharu]

On the topic of recurring Wasteland, don't forget your Academy Ruins, Tormod's Crypt, Life from the Loam pile for Intuition. Not "TEH BAST", but it's decent enough.

[Citrus-God]

Personally, I think you should incorporate more 4 cc cards in the maindeck. If not that, gamble for 50/50 and throw in 1-2 more BEBs in the SB. It seems that the only things this deck hates are Wort and SGC. If you can keep one of those from resolving, it might be quite beneficial.

[raharu]

Personally, I think you should incorporate more 4 cc cards in the maindeck. If not that, gamble for 50/50 and throw in 1-2 more BEBs in the SB. It seems that the only things this deck hates are Wort and SGC. If you can keep one of those from resolving, it might be quite beneficial.

I'd like to see the logic behind this. Not attacking the idea, but I'm just wondering what that's pertaining to.

[chokin]

Personally, I think you should incorporate more 4 cc cards in the maindeck. If not that, gamble for 50/50 and throw in 1-2 more BEBs in the SB. It seems that the only things this deck hates are Wort and SGC. If you can keep one of those from resolving, it might be quite beneficial.

Wort resolving isn't a problem. You can remove it after she hits before the upkeep. SGC makes doods and shoots little green men in your face. BEB effects are nice for countering and removing those little green guys, but the 3-4 ones that are in the board are enough. Unless you expect a bunch of red based decks, that is.