[Deck] T.E.S - The EPIC Storm

[Bryant Cook]

So, after all this dose of happy Cookiness, how is Eye of Nowhere supposed to be optimal in the sideboard? It costs 4 to Wish for it (eaning you're likely to do this in 2 turns) and bounce a permanent, and that UU requires it being played from 2 lands most of the times. Is it really worth it? I usually found the most common permanent hate to be bounced is bears. Canonist and Chalice are managed by Spree better. Trinisphere is managed by Spree as well, even better if it's Dragon Stompy because of Blood Moon. Solitary Confinement? Emrakul? not really. Iona? ok, but Reanimator has become very, very rare.

Cookiness, I like it. Eye of Nowhere wasn't very impressive at all. But then again, a random 1 of Deathmark doesn't impress me either.

Wouldn't Deathmark or even Flame Slash be overall better for that purpose, since they're playable off rituals and cost one?

I guess... it's a card that ends up being boarded in as a 1 of. I'm just looking for something better.

Also, I see the wise choice in packing 2 Echoing Truths sb. They're the best general bounce spell that get rid of hate bear, annoying artifacts and Iona.Against Zoo however, aren't them a bit cost-heavy (the difference between 1 and 2 here is ENORMOUS) and, most of all, P-Blastable? Also, Wipe Away against Zoo? double U and cmc of 3 could hurt in this matchup which is purely based on speed.

There was 0 card based choice in this. It was SCG was offering me 50$ for a peeling Japanese Foil Chain of Vapor, where the Japanese Foil Echoing Truth was 20$ and 30$ towards another Dark Ritual.

Yes, Wipeaway, I'd rather have an expensive answer to Gaddeck Teeg than no answer.

[jamis]

So, I've been playing emidln's Fetchland Tendrils, but after watching Bryant Cook pilot this deck in the GP, I became very interested in it. I'm currently thinking of building this version, and was looking for some advice on it before buying the rest of the cards I need:

1 Ad Nauseam
1 Tendrils of Agony

4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
4 Burning Wish
4 Infernal Tutor

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

3 Duress
4 Silence
1 Wipe Away

4 Fetchlands
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
4 Gemstone Mine
1 City of Brass

SB:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Ill-gotten Gains
1 Shattering Spree
2 Deathmark
1 Eye of Nowhere
1 Thoughtseize
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Wipe Away
2 Echoing Truth

[Bryant Cook]

My advice is play my list.

Top is terrible in T.E.S, as is Cabal Ritual. Badlands doesn't tap for blue which loses people games. Maindeck 3cc bounce spell? With no way to tutor for it... There's literally zero reason to play Red Elemental Blast over Pyroblast. You can get Pyroblast out of your hand in dire need, you can't with REB.

[paeng4983]

"You can get Pyroblast out of your hand in dire need, you can't with REB."

i did not get it. what does a pyroblast makes a much better card choice than REB?
i mean, they're just the same banana, though pyroblast says counter/ destory "if it is blue" and the other one
says "counter/destroy it directly". they're both instant.

the only advantage that i see with pyroblast over REB is that you can use the former
against other colors just for the sake of targeting it.

by the way before i forget, congrats cook for placing at the GP USA 2010!
*cheers*

[Bryant Cook]

Pyroblast doesn't need to target a blue spell, Red Elemental Blast does. Pyroblast can target a land in order to become hellbent.

[Ando]

i did not get it. what does a pyroblast makes a much better card choice than REB?
i mean, they're just the same banana, though pyroblast says counter/ destory "if it is blue" and the other one
says "counter/destroy it directly". they're both instant.

the only advantage that i see with pyroblast over REB is that you can use the former
against other colors just for the sake of targeting it.

You said why yourself. Say you have pyroblast, I. Tutor, and mana producers, none of which are LED. You somewhere along the way, you can cast pyroblast on a random spell. it won't do anything, but it'll get it out of your hand and thus, you can go get whatever you want with I. Tutor. If it was REB, you'd be waiting on an LED or Chrome Mox to get it out of your hand before you could use the Infernal Tutor while Hellbent.

EDIT: Ninja'd.

[ivanpei]

Pyroblast can be used to build storm when there's no blue spell or permanent to target. REB can't. You can pyroblast your opponent's trop island for example, but it will just resolve, see that trop is not blue and just do nothing. Thus, you can empty your hand and go hellbent with tutor. Pyroblast -> REB in this deck. The only reason to play top maindeck is to play 3 colours with 7-8 fetches and like 5-6 lands. That and 4 doomsday + shelldock emrakul in the board for the counterbalance MU. You can drop the chant/silences for thoughtseize since you are only in 3 colours now. If you're going to go in that direction, check out the doomsday/fetchland thread. I don't think it's TES anymore. I still think if you're not emidln, TES is a better choice as you are less likely to mess up a decision and lose the game. That said, TES is still bloody difficult to pilot, unless you are of course, Bryant Cook. :)

Edit:
Anyway I was wondering about the chain of vapor vs echoing truth too. I understand wipeaway is supposed to be krosan grip 2, but its wipeaway because it can be boarded in VS bear hate as the 3rd bounce. That said, I now know that Bryant's choice of chain vs truth is based on Jap foiling which I understand completely as I am also a card pimp :), I will be playing chain instead (albeit non pimp), because the chance of me seeing gaddock teeq -> double challice, or double cannonist, meddling mage, trini etc. And Gaddock can't be dropped in multiples, I play bant decks and Gaddock is my no 1 favorite hate bear.

[paeng4983]

ok, got it guys. thanks
:)

[jamis]

Alright, I'll be making the changes to switch Bryant's list. The only thing I'm not understanding is why run Ponder over SDT?

[rogue.nine]

Ponder has a built in shuffle effect and imprints on mox. Whereas SDT requires you to have a fetch if the top 3 are not stellar and you don't really have an abundance of those handy.

[ivanpei]

In addition to what rogue.nine said, Sensei's top also requires quite a fair amount of mana investment. Basically you have to pay 2 mana, to look at the top 3 cards, and say you dont find the card you want, have no way to shuffle. Without ponder, you have 4 fetches and possibly 4 infernal tutor to shuffle. I don't think its worth it IMO. TES aims to go off early, before hate comes down. Top slows you down. If you want to play the slowrolling, topping every eot game, sculpting a perfect hand, play doomsday, because you can actually still go off with like 2 life + have the option of adding a bounce spell to your 5 card stack to play around hate like gaddock. Also you have more fetches and lands that don't die (gemstone) or hurt you (city of brass) which is quite relevant. Cheers, Ivan.

[perm]

Why play this over TSI?

[Bryant Cook]

Why play this over TSI?

Constructive post.

Mainly because this deck has results, in fact, I top 8'd a GP this weekend with the deck. What has TSI ever done?

[TrialByFire]

Constructive post. What has TSI ever done?

Lose a lot :)

On topic: I was considering cutting the Silence for another land, based solely on the fact that I can only play Legacy locally and there aren't too many people capable of playing a top tier deck at my local store. I usually side out Chants every game (almost nobody plays blue), and I sometimes feel another land would be beneficial. Would you run the 2nd Volc or the 3rd U Sea? Im thinking second Volc

[Jeff Kruchkow]

Lose a lot :)

On topic: I was considering cutting the Silence for another land, based solely on the fact that I can only play Legacy locally and there aren't too many people capable of playing a top tier deck at my local store. I usually side out Chants every game (almost nobody plays blue), and I sometimes feel another land would be beneficial. Would you run the 2nd Volc or the 3rd U Sea? Im thinking second Volc

Id say 3rd sea. Playing the deck I usually prefer to draw seas to volcs and you do run 4 fetches and gold lands if you really need red.

[ivanpei]

I played bryant's exact GP T8 list yesterday against countertop progenitus and mulled alot because of the lack of lands. I think -1 chant + 1 fetch would be better if you want the consistency. I like having the shuffle effect. Makes you stifle prone though. Having said that, this list is beasting, I could go 50/50 preboard. :)

[median]

@ Bryant Cook
I have a couple questions about your use of warrens, I'm always feel like I'm playing it incorrectly.

I got the sense from reading your report that ETW was your goto spell for when you falling behind. Am I getting this right? Also how often does warrens usually get used, I got the feeling that D returns was seeing use about 15-20% of the time, is warrens seeing more or less play than that?

[ivanpei]

I'm no expert, but my guess is that, you diminish when you know your opponent has some sort of sweeper (EE, deed) or already has a significant board presence (like zoo with lots of dudes), or he can kill you when you pass the turn (ie combo mirror with him having a full grip). Against blue you prefer to empty the warrens because they may draw into force+goodstuff if you diminish. You can also draw into chant/duress, but if you don't have that much mana floating, it would be pretty difficult. There's a good chance you might fizzle too with diminishing returns. I see it as sort of a hail mary when I can't empty (ie will die next turn to burn etc).

[Ozymandias]

i did not get it. what does a pyroblast makes a much better card choice than REB?
i mean, they're just the same banana, though pyroblast says counter/ destory "if it is blue" and the other one

I don't really have anything constructive to say, but what country is "just the same bananna" an expression in? Because dude, awesome.

[Waikiki]

You can cast pyroblast on anything even if it's not blue. Therefore it's easier to get hellbent if needed.