[DTB] Team America (Aggro/Tempo Thread)

[DalkonCledwin]

Well since i was playing against landstill goyf was a 1/1 for a reason: humility.
=p

ah... I see... I had completely forgotten about that card >.<

[Mister Agent]

I think hymn to tourach in the board is pretty bad. I mean TA already runs cards like thoughtseize, daze, and force of will which should be plenty. Also sinkhole costs the same as hymn but proves to have a more relevant effect in this deck in terms of mana denial strategies.

Besides casting a second turn sinkhole as oppose to a hymn to tourach is a much better play for the deck as is. Especially since you have force of will, daze, and snuff out for backup. Another note I would like to address is, Diabolic edict seems far superior to hymn to tourach as well which is relevant if you ever plan on winning the mirror or against other goyfaggrocontrol variants.

Not to mention that hymn to tourach still doesn't address the counterbalance issue on a consistent basis.

[nitewolf9]

The MU against tempoish Thresh (both UGb and UGr) is quite tough as they have a similar disruptive approach. Spell Snare is really good at taking care of Sinkholes and such.

I like my odds against UGr considering they're paying burn and I'm playing removal that actually kills tarmogoyf. Also, tombstalker vs nimble mongoose is seldom a fair fight.

[GtF]

Hey, I played this deck in a local legacy tourney on Saturday and it was as awesome as advertised. I considered making all sorts of stupid changes to it beforehand but most of them were avoided, the only things I ended up changing were -1 snuff out and -1 sinkhole for +1 spell snare and +1 reanimate in the main. It seemed like if you don't get a threat on the table early enough, all your disruption just doesn't help you win, and since you often counter/thoughtseize away opposing goyfs or whatever, I figured reanimate would be great. It actually was pretty good. Thoughtseizing a meddling mage and then reanimating it naming a swords that was in my opponents hand was probably my favorite use for it on the day. As for the snuff out, it's great but not something I want to draw a ton of, as the life loss is kind of a pain. Spell snare was decent, but not amazing. I do like having another blue spell in the deck though.
The SB was 3 grip, 3 hydroblast, 4 crypt, 1 reanimate, 2 diabolic edict and 2 hymn. The hymns were for control decks, but ultimately probably weren't necessary and should be something else. Not really sure what though.
matchups were:
2-0 vs belcher
2-0 vs WGU threshold
2-1 vs. Scepterchantstandstill control (probably there's some clever name for this decktype but I just started playing legacy)
ID
ID
in T8:
2-1 vs. loam (I think I got pretty lucky here as he never saw a loam in games 2 and 3, and I managed to brainstorm into ponder into wasteland for his glacial chasm for the g3 win)
2-0 vs. UGR counterbalance threshold
I split the finals with the scepterchant deck from r3. Since there were an odd number of duals being distributed, we played for the first pick of the 5 nonallied ones and he absolutely demolished me. Swords to plowshares is a real beating against this deck since it plays so few threats and your dazes will likely never counter it. Still, I beat him in the swiss so the matchup probably isn't as one-sided as it seemed in these games.
The deck is really fun and once you're ahead it's hard to lose. If you fall too far behind though, it is virtually impossible to win. Fortunately with all the awesome cards in the deck, it's easy to get ahead and stay there.
The hymn slots in the board I'd probably change, though I'm not sure for what. I also want to try some other blue library manipulator for the spell snare. Is impulse good enough for legacy play?

[Wargoos]

Just a slight question: Why is this still not DTB?!

Oh and gratz to the nice finish GtF

[Nihil Credo]

Just thought I'd drop this by: Kikkofrio won a 132-player tournament (that's eight rounds) with the standard list. He beat two Rw Goblins and Doran Rock in the Top 8; not sure about the Swiss.

[nitewolf9]

Just thought I'd drop this by: Kikkofrio won a 132-player tournament (that's eight rounds) with the standard list. He beat two Rw Goblins and Doran Rock in the Top 8; not sure about the Swiss.

That's awesome, congratulations to him. I think the deck is pretty strong.

[kikkofrio]

That's awesome, congratulations to him. I think the deck is pretty strong.

Tnx

This was my tourney

1: I don t remember. 2-0
2: Fish uwgb. 0-2 (top8)
3. Angel stompy. 2-0
4. MUC. 2-1
5. Lanstill uwgb. 2-0
6. Goblin rw 2-0
7. Goblin rw 2-1
8. Ichorid 2-1

Quarter Goblin rw. 2-1
Semi Goblin rw. 2-1
Split in Final vs rock

[mossivo1986]

Actually I was being sincere about him doing well so once again congrats.

[nitewolf9]

@kikkofrio: You used the same main deck as the one on the first post in this thread, correct? How about your sideboard? Did you run the 4 crypt, 3 grip, 3 edict, 3 blast, 2 reanimate board? If so, do you have any additional insight to share about the configuration?

We're trying to optimize the sideboard, but I think the only thing that is controversial at all is reanimate. Although I think that card is very strong, I'm curious as to how you felt about it (and anyone else who has been using the same list).

[Wargoos]

Well, at the moment my sideboard looks like this:

3 Krosan Grip
3 Extirpate
4 BBlast
3 Diabolic Edict
2 Pithing Needle


The idea behind this configuration is that i play extirpates as weapons vs. dredge and loam based decks( plus it removes duals from opp lib) and am therefore able to add needles in the side.
Being boardable against nearly everything, needle is a additional solution against bunchload of problem cards like sdt, ee, survival etc.
In addition it helps shutting down utility lands and permitts us to play our sinks on opps basic lands.
The rest of the sideboard is the ordinary stuff.
Sometimes i exchange the edict's with e.plagues to adapt to my local meta.
So far~
EaD

[Aj-capra]

EE is a problem for Team America?

EE destroy only Tarmogoyf in team america!!!

I play Team Europe now, because spell snare is very very strong.

My list now is:

// Lands
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [ON] Flooded Strand
3 [R] Underground Sea
2 [R] Tropical Island
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [ALA] Swamp (1)
1 [ALA] Island (1)
1 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
1 [R] Bayou

// Creatures
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [FUT] Tombstalker

// Spells
4 [CST] Brainstorm
4 [NE] Daze
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [LRW] Ponder
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
4 [SC] Stifle
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
3 [MM] Snuff Out
3 [DIS] Spell Snare

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [TSP] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 2 [5E] Hydroblast
SB: 2 [4E] Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 4 [AT] Hymn to Tourach

I play two basic lands because magus of the moon and blood moon are very very bad!!!

EE is very very strong versus goblin , chalice, counterbalance, nimble mongoose.

Sinkhole is strong too, but daze is a problem.

Tourach in SB are good versus combo, mirror and control decks in general!!!

I played team america in my last tournament (kikkofrio won with team america) and I finished 5-3 because in my last game I losted for choke...Otherwise I finished 6-2 (top16).

@edit : sry for my little english :(

Aj.-

[Wargoos]

EE is a problem for Team America?

Well, of course it can kill just our goyf, but loosing even one critter isn't optimal for us, since we are just playing 8 of them.
And i do love my greenies =(

[Aj-capra]

Well, of course it can kill just our goyf, but loosing even one critter isn't optimal for us, since we are just playing 8 of them.
And i do love my greenies =(

Yes, it's true!!! But in early game EE is very very good for me.
My playing strategy is destroy my opponent (manabase,treaths) and later win de game!!!

Sinkhole is good in early game only. After 4°/5° turns of game it's a dead card for me, spell snare not!!!
Obv if the turn 1° and 2° I played 2 wasteland, sinkhole is very very strong :)

[Wargoos]

I don't know if ee is so good, since we have the snuff outs already for opp's critters.

For me the way to go is the manabase disruption.
Sinkholes, Wastelands and Stifle are just interacting too good to cut anything of these and aim right for gaining huge advantages in early game and clear the way for the win right there.

Cutting Sinkholes and Non Basic lands and adding EE's and Spell Snares kinda "slows" the deck down for some reasons:
1. EE needs an investment of twice payment to get rid of problems.
2. Spell Snares wants us to keep open mana to be available, which isn't often the ideal strategy of TA as nitewolf designed it to be.
The huge advantage is that we actually can afford to tap out (for creatures), since we are still able to cast spells.

Besides i think that you don't really need the ee's and spell snares when your deck works as it's designed, keeping the opp at one - two mana while generating pressure with your huge dudes.

Am i missing somethin?

[Nazgath]

Has anyone considered Paralyze over Diabolic Edict? Nothing came up in my search.

Pros:
-Costs 1 mana less
-You get to choose


Cons:
-Cannot touch shroud
-More vulerable to CB?
-Sucks lategame
-Lone Confidant chuckles
-Sorcery speed

Yes, that does seem a bit lopsided, but maybe the mana cost is relevant enough?

[Nazgath]

Just saw this post:

@kikkofrio: You used the same main deck as the one on the first post in this thread, correct? How about your sideboard? Did you run the 4 crypt, 3 grip, 3 edict, 3 blast, 2 reanimate board? If so, do you have any additional insight to share about the configuration?

We're trying to optimize the sideboard, but I think the only thing that is controversial at all is reanimate. Although I think that card is very strong, I'm curious as to how you felt about it (and anyone else who has been using the same list).

If Reanimate is in the deck, Paralyze obviously sucks. My decklist is pretty old.

[mackaber]

Just thought ya'll might be interested that Team America will be played in the Top 4 of the Team Competition at Worlds by the Australian National Team.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazin.../teamtop4decks

A livestream should also be up pretty soon.

[kikkofrio]

@kikkofrio: You used the same main deck as the one on the first post in this thread, correct? How about your sideboard? Did you run the 4 crypt, 3 grip, 3 edict, 3 blast, 2 reanimate board? If so, do you have any additional insight to share about the configuration?

We're trying to optimize the sideboard, but I think the only thing that is controversial at all is reanimate. Although I think that card is very strong, I'm curious as to how you felt about it (and anyone else who has been using the same list).

no reanimate for me,

4 beb
4 krosan
4 tormod
3 edict

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

So, I tested some against this with Mighty Quinn, and a weakness the deck has against control is that it has no way of smoothing draws consistently in the mid to late game. There's not enough cantrips to really chain into each other reliably ala old Hatfield Thresh.

Top is a possibility, but another thought I had was fitting in Portent.

This lead to a thought;

Slowtrip, yeah, but might the ability of Portent to insure that an opponent that's struggling to get a second land doesn't draw lands for another couple turns actually make it better than Ponder in this deck?

Has anyone thought of this angle, or does the situation just not come up often enough to warrant the wait on the draw aspect?

(Portent, unlike Ponder, can target opponents, so you can rearrange the top three of their library. If anyone's wondering what I'm talking about.)