[Deck] Solidarity

[I am the brainwasher]

Ok, heres my Tournament report!

At first I have to say that I can only give the finalstandings in addition to the report, because the Decklists havent been uploadet yet and I dont think that I will find time around Christmas to write the report with the decklists. I can give you the information what deck made which place in the Top 8, I think that is enough. I'll show them if wanted when the site is updated!

The list I have played and a short explanation to it:

1 Snow-Cvered Island
13 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta

----------------------------

4 Brainstorm
3 Repeal
3 High Tide
4 Impulse
4 Reset
4 Remand
3 Brain Freeze
2 Flash of Insight
3 Meditate
4 Cunning Wish
2 Turnabout
4 Force of Will

----------------------------

1 High Tide
1 Turnabout
1 Meditate
1 Brain Freeze
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hibernation
1 Rebuild
1 Wipe Away
2 Dispel
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ravenous Trap


If you have followed the Thread its the exact list I introduced, besides that I switched 1 Repeal for 1 Flash of Insight, best decision I could have made, definetly.
I expected a very mixed up meta, because everyone was thinking that Survival would be Banned the day after and so there would be many players who would completely ignore Survival and play in advance Merfolk, NO-Bant with CB-Top Softlock but also a lot of players who might use their beloved deck for maybe the last time in Legacy. It was a bit of a gamble but my expectations were quite well and the number of Survival players were nearly equal to those who played Merfolk or Counterbalance. I created my list in focus to beat everything besides Sneak-Show relativeley constant, but kept in mind that I wanted to play the list that I would also play after the expected banning, so there was no doubt for my list.


1st Round: TES

In game 1 I kept a good hand with 1 Force (which I totally prefer against an unknown deck) and 3 Lands (one Fetch) plus Brainstorm.
I wasnt sure what I was playing against as he cracks his Delta for U-Sea and lets his other Fetchland untouched so I was joking around that I was facing Faeries or TES. He shrugged, but after his Duress Captain Obvious striked again and I knew my gameplan. Good for me, it seemed that he needs more stuff to combo out safe and did just Ponder Brainstorm or kinda stuff. He tried to go off with Chant Protection on but I Remanded him his Chant and he got no left white manasource after cracking Lotus Petal for that, so I bought myself enough time to go off in response to another Duress and left him with no deck and me with 2 Forces and 1 Cunning Wish (It's a Trap!) in hand. Funny is the fact that I played Mediate out of combo to fill my Hand again after his Duress-Actions and he wasnt able to go off safe in his extraturn.
sb: -3 Repeal +1 Dispel, +2 Mindbreak Trap
This might have been a mistake because of the Xantid Swarm he boarded, but they didnt showed up. I need to think about that more and maybe I switch my boardingplan against TES with that learned.
Game 2 was very easy. I had no Force in Hand but double Cunning Wish and Remand and so I my chances werent bad if I make it to turn 3-4 (I assumed that he was going to create a rather slow but safe kill again). I made it to Turn 5 with Remands and gone off in response to his Duress holding a impulose with Cunning Wish,Force,Force on top of my deck after the Duress with enough mana to grab what I need. He played Burning Wish on Tendrils, I exiled a lot. Game.
2-0
I was very lucky in game 1, this needs to be said. My opponent was a very polite and nice guy who is normally a Judge who organizes with his crew large tournaments also in germany. He definetly knew what he was doing and it wasnt down to his misplay I think.


2nd round: The Rock

Game 1 We both kept our hands and I forced his Dark Confidant and after that he only had Vindicate and Thoughtseizes for a couple of turns which I compensated with Meditate. I gone off with maybe 5 Lands in play and won with Brain Freeze on me and stacking my deck. I milled him exactly to the last card and Wished for Hibernation. Very close and a lot of counting and calculating.
sb: - 1 Force of Will, +1 Echoing Truth
I have tested this matchup and Deadguy often online and this is my typical boarding. If he brings in hate bears 3 Repeals really shine and you often dont need to force any spell because Remand and Repeal are awesome here.
Game 2 he also had disruption and Bojuka-Bogged my yard. I somehow managed it to win out of a lot of lands and a Hightide, Meditate, Cunning Wish in hand, stroking myself, sealing the deal after it.
2-0
I think even if this matchup looks not that good on paper, we are most of the times in a favour because the draws which combine disruption with a relevant clock are kinda rare and I often found myself with 2 cards in hand but 18 life or some or the other way around. Remand and Repeal are priceless here.


3rd round: Goblin

Unfortunetly, he was a good friend of the Rock-player and they talked about me and the games we played out right before the paitings showed that I play against him, great....
He is a very experienced and good player and so he knew that he only had a shot at game1 when he mulligans aggressive into Lackey or Vial.
I lost the die-roll and he mulliganned to 5 until he finally finds his Lackey. I kept that greedy 1 Land-hand with double Force, impulse, Remand, Flash of Insight and Meditate, because I thought that 2 Forces would be enough to let him run out of gas and letting me find that 2nd land in 2 turns to grab the third with Remand as a Cantrip or Impulse. WRONG! I found that 2nd land way too late and his draw was very impressive, thats what he told me after game1. I lost this due to my decision to keep that hand and to the fact that he knew he needed a fast hand.
sb: -1 Remand, +1 Echoing Truth
I should have boarded out another card for Wipe Away but I decided not to do that, whatever is responsible for that ;(.
He Om-nom-noms me again in game2 after he resolves a Warren Instigator(into Matron, into Siege-Gang...ouch) turn2 after I forced his Lackey and I havent found an early Tide and lost my 2 Turnabouts already, tapping his guys, as it appeared.
0-2
Goblins isnt such a good matchup with my list, period. The lack of Hydroblast and more Echoing Truth really hurts here. I think if I expect a lot of Gobs I would change my board a bit. Repeal is (if you draw it...) here very nice again, especiall when you are on the play and bounce his Lackey/Vial.

4th Round: Sneak-Show

Emrakul, my old Nemesis! He plays Turn 2 Show and Tell, I force, he forces back. Facepalm!
sb: -3 Repeal, + 2 Dispel, +1 Mindbreak Trap
I try to win the Counterwar over resolving Show and Tell. Trap can (and must) work wonders here. I always expect REB's and Spell Pierce, which doesnt make playing around up to 7 reshuffle triggers easier btw.
I let a Intuiton on Show and Tell resolve (another Tech he could use, grabbing 3 Emrakul, in combo). He plays Intuition again and I am kind of confused. It is a real shame that I didnt recognized he was obviously searching for that Eldrazi, reshuffling his other Show and Tell and Intuitons and let that resolves also. That made me loose that game.
0-2
The turns I would have won out of that are very important and I couldnt stop him finding a second show and Tell pretty fast after the first Counterwar. Going off against this deck needs a very good hand and its hard to have both Counterbackup and a very decent hand for comboing off. Misplayed but with no alternate Win-Condition and no Curfew in Wishboard its a very unfavourable matchup, regardless how good you play this deck.


5th round: ELVES!

A cakewalk since I included Hibernation and 4 Wishes. He was a more mediocre pilot and early Repeals and Remands bought me enough time and I gone off turn 6, stacking my deck with Brain Freeze; Hibernation got the last word before dmg-step. He was kinda confused after game 1.
sb: -1 Force, -1 Remand, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Wipe Away
Game 2 He plays an early Relic of Progenitus and had just some Mana-Elf and a Lord. Repeal here and Echoing Truth there helped me to win through a Thorn of Amethyst, my graveyard wasnt important at all.
2-0


6th round: Loam with Astral Slide

I know this deck because I played against it the tourney before and know that he has no relevant clock and only Vindicate/Discard and Living Wish on Gaddock Teeg or Ethersworn Canonist to stop me. Repeal made it here again.
sb: -1 Force of Will, +1 Echoing Truth
Game2 I Repeal his Cannonist in response to Gaddock which decided to force afterwards. Another Repeal showed up and I had a lot of time to set up and had enough mana to directly stroke him away.


Unfortunetly the Top 8 isnt played out on that tourney so I ended up on 6th place out of 41 players. The snow-chaos in germany was responsible for that rather low ammount of players, but it was a very nice tournament all over.

http://trader-online.de/turniere/Ran...010-12-R15.htm
1st place: Led-Less Dredge
2nd place: Sneak Show (from round 4)
3rd place: Goblins (from round 3, congrats btw.)
4th place: Led-Less Dredge
5th place: ???
6th place: Solidarity (guess who)
7th place: Zoo
8th place: ???


I am pretty happy with my current list and I wouldnt do any change besides switching the Wipe Away into a Curfew (which is also not bad against Aggro Decks) if I would play again.
On the 30th of December I am going to play in one of the biggest Legacy-Events in germany (1st price 40 Duals ) and I think this is the list I am going to play, maybe cutting 1 Brain Freeze and a Remand for 2 Peer through Depths and 1 Island for a Tropical to have more possible Turn3 kills and can sneaky-ninja-tech steal some games, even if the 4 Remands and 3 Brain Freeze were just amazing in nearly all games I have played with the deck (also out of the tourney).

I wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year,
Iatb

[GoldenCid]

Gratz on the finish.
I really liked your list and i'm glad that the changes you'd do where my questions about the deck.
Some observations:

-I noticed that 20 lands mean a flood (in my experiencie). That's why you cut the opt in your deck?
-Peer throught depths is a great card here and maybe is a must (2 copies sounds good)
- And the 3 turn kill with green is hunting pack?

THx.

[cjva]

whats your experience with the lack of cc1 cantrips? I only see 4 bs. 20 lands feels a bit cloggy but I'v also experience some problem with the 18 land build.

How good are the repeals in the non cb/top mu's?

general question to the thread, what are our expected meta when survival is banned? I feel that we will revert to the merfolk/zoo/cb meta again. Can repeal succesfully take the place of the cryptic commands we utilised last time around?

[I am the brainwasher]

@ Cid:
"-I noticed that 20 lands mean a flood (in my experiencie). That's why you cut the opt in your deck?"

Yes thats true. I often felt very uncomfortable with Opt because I used it most of the times to ensure my landdrop and in combo it was not a card that done much or was relevant. I am more into playing spells that have a impact, like Remand and Repeal, knowing that I will find my lands with just that mnimal cantripping. 20 lands are indeed much but my gameplan is noramlly to go off turn 5 & 6 (and this is very doable, against nearly each deck most of the times) so I wouldnt go under 19. You are not so vulnerable to Vindicate/Sinkhole and having a constant landdrop literally wins you games against slower counterdecks. As long as you have kinda same ammount of lands and you resolve a High Tide, you just win. I made the experience that Brainstorm/Impulse is enough if you have to dig for lands before you go off, as well online as real life.

"-Peer throught depths is a great card here and maybe is a must (2 copies sounds good)"

I think if you are playing a Version that tries to combo off on turn 3-4 its a must. I just would include it if I play Hunting Pack, thats the only reason I am maybe going to play it. Comboing without Meditate can be priceless if you are willing to create Tokens ftw. I wouldnt go over 2 because even with that 2 I often had a Hand full of Impulse and PtD and other Stuff and I didnt wanted that much. Besides that I dont like showing my opponent any card, against both Blue and non-Blue decks.

"- And the 3 turn kill with green is hunting pack?"

Sure! Tide, Untap, Untap, Wish is a hand that youll see in many games on turn 3 and letting your unprepared opponent running into 4/4 Beasts can be amazing. Just wait with your fetch and unleash the Beast. It won me games as far as I have tested and is very doable. Its not the common scenario, but I really like how many new possibilities there are with just splashing 1 single Dual. The -1 Mindbreak Trap is allover ok, because I think TES&ANT wont see that much play in the near future.


@cjva:
"whats your experience with the lack of cc1 cantrips? I only see 4 bs. 20 lands feels a bit cloggy but I'v also experience some problem with the 18 land build."

I never wanted Opt/Peek back to be honest. Its maybe about your style of play but I think one of the best changes you can do to modern Solidarity is playing at least 19 lands and a 3 Tide/4 Wish split.

"How good are the repeals in the non cb/top mu's?"

It depends. Against Sneak-Show and TES they are just horrible in G1 and I normally board all out for Dispel/Trap. against nearly all other matchups I let them in and I liked them very much. I think it COULD replace Cryptic Command in some lists but against some decks it has its disadvantages in front of good old Command. The point is that I win the matchups where Command would have done something without it in the last time, so no reason for playing it. Repeal is just a great card and I would be very surprised if lists without it can win against counterbalance, which isnt a bad matchup at all with the list I play, reliable.
As said before, bouncing T1 Nacatl/Lackey/Vial or T2 Confidant/Merfolk/Dreadnought/everything else or Hatebears works out fine for me.

"general question to the thread, what are our expected meta when survival is banned? I feel that we will revert to the merfolk/zoo/cb meta again."

I think Dredge, CB-Top (NO-Bant, Stifle-Nought) and Merfolk will come back. Maybe some players desperately try to reanimate Vengevine and start to focus on Spring Tide now, time will tell. Maybe Combo isnt played that much anymore, because its good Survival-matchup is now history. If you are playing in Spain or southern europe you will meet Ubg Jacestill I think, in germany youll see UW(X) Landstill more often I think. I am really interested which decks will define the american meta, I guess Merfolk and Countertop, Dredge isnt played much (and good lists are rare there, MaxMCcall is an exception here) as far as I recognized it. Zoo and Goblins could also be decks that will make several Top8, they are the most constant and straight decks.

[GoldenCid]

@ Cid:
"-I noticed that 20 lands mean a flood (in my experiencie). That's why you cut the opt in your deck?"

Yes thats true. I often felt very uncomfortable with Opt because I used it most of the times to ensure my landdrop and in combo it was not a card that done much or was relevant. I am more into playing spells that have a impact, like Remand and Repeal, knowing that I will find my lands with just that mnimal cantripping. 20 lands are indeed much but my gameplan is noramlly to go off turn 5 & 6 (and this is very doable, against nearly each deck most of the times) so I wouldnt go under 19. You are not so vulnerable to Vindicate/Sinkhole and having a constant landdrop literally wins you games against slower counterdecks. As long as you have kinda same ammount of lands and you resolve a High Tide, you just win. I made the experience that Brainstorm/Impulse is enough if you have to dig for lands before you go off, as well online as real life.

Well i'll go for the 19 lands....and no opt.


4 Reset
4 Force of Will
3 Remand
3 Repeal
4 Cunning Wish
3 High Tide
3 Meditate
2 Brain Freeze
4 Impulse
2 Peer Through Depths
4 Brainstorm
3 Turnabout
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
10 Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Flash of Insight
1 Polluted Delta
SB: 1 High Tide
SB: 3 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Ravenous Trap
SB: 1 Brain Freeze
SB: 1 Stroke of Genius
SB: 1 Snap
SB: 1 Turnabout
SB: 1 Hunting Pack
SB: 1 Rebuild
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Moment's Peace
SB: 1 Wipe Away
SB: 1 Meditate

I have to admit that i'm a bit afraid of not run words of wisdom in side...

[Ziilot]

Ok, heres my Tournament report!
--

GZ for finish. I like your list, but can you tell me what do you mean by stacking your deck with Brain Freeze?

Regards,
Ziilot

[I am the brainwasher]

Alright, there you go:

You play Brain Freeze, copies are created as you cast the spell, for each spell cast before this spell. You target yourself until you have Flash of Insight in your grave and (at best) enough cards that you can remove for its flashback cost that you can arrange the rest of your deck as you like. Typical is for example taking meditate and put the cards like Reset/Turnabout, Cunning Wish Remand back on top so youll draw them in that Meditate or something else. Its a nice trick to only grab Remand to return the original Brain Freeze (which is still on stack, waiting to resolve, if you havent used it to mill yourself already) and simply recast it. You can do amzing stuff with that and this will win games outta nowhere. The typical scenario is if you run out of business and you are left with rather useless cards (or 2 lands on top, knowing that from your Brainstorm, where you failed to find something that you would need to win), holding a loneley Brain Freeze or you dont have enough copies.
This is also a great reason why I can just recommend to play 3 Brain Freez, 4 Remand and 4 Wish. It is nearly impossible to mill away all your win conditions with having this huge package of cards. This makes the Brain Freeze targetting yourself a really strong play and you really dont have to gamble on that as much as in other lists. I often hear that I play too many Brain Freeze/Remand and that I wont see them in the hand with which I go off. WRONG! I totally love to have that Brain Freeze in hand to stack my deck or just to win soooo easy with finding a second one. Some players may have their doubts but this works out just amzing for me and won me 2-3 games in each tournament I have played so far. It is important to get a good overview over the actions your opponent can do to avoid that "stacking". What I mean by that is that you really shouldnt do this if you expect some Extirpate or an untapped Knight of the Reliquary (Bojuka-Bog, anyone?). You will get to know in which scenario its a good option (or the last shot at victory) or not.
I hope I could help you out.

[Vacrix]

I did few searches over the past few days and found some interesting stuff.

- Rewind -
Untap effect and a protection spell. We can respond to a spell the opponent plays by going off in response to that spell, and then playing Rewind to counter it, also untapping our lands. In games against control its the better than free counterspell we need to deal with less than 3 countermagic. Mindbreak Trap allows us to beat X >/= 3 countermagic. For decks like UW Tempo, we'll probably only be dealing with one FoW and an irrelevant counterspell like Daze. At the very worst its a very counterspell if the opponent is responding to our High Tide. Should we run this over X Turnabouts?

- Divergent Growth -
This allows us to play any color instant out of our boards without having to worry about color fixing and exposing our mana base too much.

- Oona's Grace -
2U to draw a card in Solidarity seems weak.. but this card intrigues me nonetheless. We can use it to make use of spare lands, a lot of untap spells, and then in Oona's Grace in the graveyard. Its most useful function is its ability to target ourselves OR the opponent for the kill. Further, we can play this from the graveyard even if the opponent has caused us to discard it, or if we've used it to draw cards.

- Harrow -
This is another possible replacement for a few Turnabouts. It allows us to set up quickly and protect our Tropical Islands from Wastelands by playing it in response. It might not untap all of our lands but it will find us 2 fresh islands, essentially producing 4 mana for the investment of 3. It also depletes our deck of two lands. In addition to fetches, I think this will smooth out the draws a little more. Now you might think, Solidarity hasn't really ever played Land acceleration. Well what are we doing for the first few turns with our cantrips. Impulsing for Islands? Why bother setting that up when we can play a little land acceleration instead?

[cjva]

I'v been thinking and trying Harrow as well since Van Phanel mentioned it earlier in the thread.

What lead me to not play it in the end is how weak Harrow is against counter magic. Wasteland and LD in general are time walks for our opponents, and Harrow will make counters from our opponents into Time Walks for them as well. In a meta without or with very little control players Harrow seem's strong, but I would never bring it to an unknown meta.

[GoldenCid]

Well guys...i'll smash myself into a tornament in a few minutes.

I will try this side due to the suspect of aggro control deck (with the same main posted above):

3 Mindbreak trap
1 Ravenous trap
2 Spell pierce
1 Echoing truth
1 Stoke of genious
1 Hunting pack
1 Words of wisdom
1 Meditate
1 Turnabout
1 Rebuild
1 High tide
1 Brain freeze

At the finish the report!!

Wish me luck!!

[Olesch]

If I am not mistaking, you need to declare targets for the BF copies all at once. For example if storm is 14, you can choose 7 on you and 7 on opponent. You cant choose targets one and one.

However, you can of course resolve them one and one and play in response to them :)

Alright, there you go:

You play Brain Freeze, copies are created as you cast the spell, for each spell cast before this spell. You target yourself until you have Flash of Insight in your grave and (at best) enough cards that you can remove for its flashback cost that you can arrange the rest of your deck as you like. Typical is for example taking meditate and put the cards like Reset/Turnabout, Cunning Wish Remand back on top so youll draw them in that Meditate or something else. Its a nice trick to only grab Remand to return the original Brain Freeze (which is still on stack, waiting to resolve, if you havent used it to mill yourself already) and simply recast it. You can do amzing stuff with that and this will win games outta nowhere. The typical scenario is if you run out of business and you are left with rather useless cards (or 2 lands on top, knowing that from your Brainstorm, where you failed to find something that you would need to win), holding a loneley Brain Freeze or you dont have enough copies.
This is also a great reason why I can just recommend to play 3 Brain Freez, 4 Remand and 4 Wish. It is nearly impossible to mill away all your win conditions with having this huge package of cards. This makes the Brain Freeze targetting yourself a really strong play and you really dont have to gamble on that as much as in other lists. I often hear that I play too many Brain Freeze/Remand and that I wont see them in the hand with which I go off. WRONG! I totally love to have that Brain Freeze in hand to stack my deck or just to win soooo easy with finding a second one. Some players may have their doubts but this works out just amzing for me and won me 2-3 games in each tournament I have played so far. It is important to get a good overview over the actions your opponent can do to avoid that "stacking". What I mean by that is that you really shouldnt do this if you expect some Extirpate or an untapped Knight of the Reliquary (Bojuka-Bog, anyone?). You will get to know in which scenario its a good option (or the last shot at victory) or not.
I hope I could help you out.

[GoldenCid]

At the finish the report!!

Wish me luck!!

Ok, i went with the list i posted above but i didn't do it so well. I entered to a very open meta where i knew dark horizon would dominate in the tables. The aproximate metagame breakdown was:

TES
Dark horizon
Belcher
EVA green
Sea stompy
MBC
Aluren
Affinity
Landstill and so on...

Round 1: Affinity.
I didn't know what to think....should i win this game?
G1: i mulled to six and he kept his hand. I had a repeal in hand to delay and impulse it guess and lands. The bad choice here was that i hadn't any part of the combo (high tide, untap effect and draw spell). I got flooded and i could not do much.

Sieboarding: -1 FoW -1 FoI +2 Spell pierce

G2: Again mull to 6. This time my hand was better, with 2 lands and some spells. Unfdortunately for me, he kept a hand with 3 counters and i got, now, screwed. I didn't get addtional lands.

0-2.

Round 2: Sea stompy.

Awful match: counter and hate artifacts main deck!

G1: I kept a good hand: tide, reset, impulse and some lands. He drops a chalice @ 1 first turn and i forced it and he forced my force. Damn!
Ok. What i did was to get as much lands as i could and play around chalice. It could be said that i was lucky when i was at 2 life and answered to a Chalice @ 2 with reset, wish to meditate and a second reset on the top 4. I managed to win with the Brain + Remand trick. It's good to say that i was hit once by a trinket mage equiped with sword of body and mind.

Sideboarding: -2 Repeal +2 Spell pierce.

G2: I don't remember this match except for a resolved chalice @ 1, a sea drake and a serendib efreet which smased me before i could go off.

1-1.

Round 3: Random deck (some kind of megrim deck)

Yeah discard and damage.

G1: I manage to keep me alive for repeated inquisition of kosilek (remanded it twice and the force). Finally i did my job and went off in response to a lightning bolt.

Sideboarding: again -2 repeal +2 spell pierce.

G2: Rare one. I had a good hand and pierced a tourach. Then he drops a sulfurix vortex and i decided to go off via Hunting pack to kill him with tokens 4/4.

2-0.

Round 4: TES

Oooook.

G1: he makes a terrible mistake giving me priority when he played an infernal tutor with led on table.

Sideboarding: -3 Repeal -1 FoI +2 Trap +2 Spell pierce.

G2: Say that his disrruption spells where more than my counters.

G3: I give back the favour of G1... :@. He plays duress on my "ideal hand": Trap + will + lands + BS. I play BS and hit a remand and more lands adn keep in hand the remand and lands, hiding FoW and the Trap!!!!! Noooooobbbb!!!!! Lethal mistake. He dropped lotus petal and warrens 14 tokens.
Oh, well things that happens.

1-2.

All in all, i know that the list is in the good way. I didn't tested the 19 lands + repeal configuration as much as i wanted. But no excuses. Bad playing and bad meta i guess.
1 pro is the game i won aroung chalice @ 1 without high tide!

[I am the brainwasher]

Happy new year everyone, hope you enjoy(ed) your holidays and ya'll had a decent New Year celebration!

Here comes a short report of the End of year Event in Germany, in which I played (of course) Solidarity.

Its important to mention that I got up 4 in the morning to come right in time to the Tourney, which is about 3 hours away from my parents house and havent slept that much, because I just switched on TV to watch a few minutes before I fall asleep BUT then I saw that RAMBO III was there and stood awake for longer than it was good for me (Rambo is the REAL Sower of Temptation, not that bitch-ass Faerie!). I only played Solidarity once before with a lack of sleep and good nutrition and realized that its very difficult to make correct plays/decisions it if comes down to that. This isnt a excuse but as you read further, you will see what lead me to some decisions. I can just recommend how important it is to sleep long enough, eat good and concentrate as hard as you can, all the time. Oh yes, and coffe, coffe is your best friend!

My list (again):

1 Snow-Cvered Island
13 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta

----------------------------

4 Brainstorm
3 Repeal
3 High Tide
4 Impulse
4 Reset
4 Remand
3 Brain Freeze
2 Flash of Insight
3 Meditate
4 Cunning Wish
2 Turnabout
4 Force of Will

----------------------------

1 High Tide
1 Turnabout
1 Meditate
1 Brain Freeze
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hibernation
1 Rebuild
1 Wipe Away
2 Dispel
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ravenous Trap

I was tinkering a bit after the last tourney but realized that this list is really the optimum for me. I tested hunting pack, Peer through Depths and Curfew but I felt better with my list as I played it in the last tourney. In the future I will test Curfew a bit more in the slot of Wipe Away and Hunting Pack in the slot of the 3rd Trap and see where I am going with that. Time will tell.


1st round:

4-color Landstill.
I won both games very easy because I had a ton of time to setup and milled him in G1 without a single Force of Will (worst card against slow Blue decks if you ask me, really) and in G2 with a single Mindbreak Trap to counter all his Spells which were desperatly waiting on stack to resolve; he extirpated Brain Freeze and cast 2 Duress, thats it.
Boarding Plans against Landstill: -3 Force of Will, + 1-2 Dispel & 1-2 Mindbreak Trap
I like to leave in the Repeals if he boards hatebears, if you are sure that he boards Ethersworn Cannoninst dont cut that many Forces! That guy can be very, very annoying... .

2nd round:

Team America.
I also won both games. This matchup just looks bad to us, but is very doable if you know how to play against them effective. The point is (and the same is true for the Rock, Deadguy Ale, The Gate, SUI...) that they cant combine relevant disruption with an early clock in most of the games. I have nearly always the time to cast Meditate pre-combo to trade 3-1 with Hymns/Thoughtseizes/Duresses and Repeal on Tarmogoyf is a strong play when he tries to put some pressure.
G1 I simply mill him away and played Repeal twice to bounce that Goofy which would have clubbed me to death.
G2 I would have milled him but he forces the last copy of Brain Freeze to have enough time with 2 Cards in his deck to finish me (at 7 life) with his 5/6 Tarmogoyf. Bad for him, I didnt cast a single Meditate in the combo so I could Wish in my turn for Wipe Away to ensure the Victory.
I board normally: -2 Force of Will, +2 Dispel. Maybe -another card, +Echoing Truth (Tombstalker) if it feels right for me.

3rd round:

Ooze-Survival.
I havent tested this much to be honest and lost the first game to my miscalculation. I thought that after my wished Hibernation Brain Freeze/Remand/Brain Freeze would be enough. I really dont know why, but at that moment 5X3+8X3 were 42 for me... .
I boarded: - 2 Remand - 1 idk for Echoing Truth, Hibernation and Ravenous Trap.
Game 2 I didnt had any chance. He resolved Cannonist and Ooozed me to death. Next turn he would have been dead, how bad ;(.
I misplayed sometimes here and done stupid actions like Brainstorm, putting crap on Top, having a fetchland in play, then castin Impulse and not shuffling away that crap in response and things like that. I really had a huge lack of concentration here and I think that I really threw away those games at some points in the game, even if this isnt a good matchup. This version is much more hard to fight than UG or GW, thats my oppinion (about I dont have to care anymore, bb Survival).

4th round:

Saito Merfolk.
I tested this matchup only a few rounds and lost as many games against this deck as I have won against it. 2:0, 1:2, 0:2 all happened to me. Normally I would say that if he cant combine a relevant clock with a good counterbackup this is game for us, but if he has got that it can be very hard. He had that exact combination in G1 and in G2 I kinda fizzled, and needed to Brain Freeze my self into Flash of Insight, which he forces and I cant answer it.
I board here: -2 Force of Will, - 1 Remand, +2 Dispel, +1 Echoing Truth

5th round:

Deadguy Ale.
He plays maindeck Extirpate and resolved 1 and Duressed me and hymned me a few times, Mediate pre-combo made it here again, Repeal was the bomb, especially against that Mesmeric Fiend he played. G2 Nearly the same.
I boarded: -1 Force of Will, +1 Echoing Truth

6th round:

Belcher (G/R, only 1 Taiga)
He had the first turn kill in all 3 games and won the die-roll. 1st game I didnt had a Force, he didnt saw a single card from me and boarded nothing, so I boarded out all my Repeals (which just stay if he boards that Swarm) for 2 Mindbreak Traps and a Dispel.
G2 I mulled to Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Island, Fetchland, Remand, idk. I kept that Hand because if I make it to 2 Mana I have Remand, which is nearly a Dismiss here and could find Trap/FoW in that Brainstorm. He gone into combo, I found that Force and had enough time and Remanded him out of G2 as he tries to combo off again.
G3 I know that he boards that Swarm, so I boarded the Repeals in again for 1 Turnabout, 1 Brain Freeze and another card idk atm.
I mulled twice and couldnt find a single Force/Trap and decided to keep that hand with Brainstorm and Remand again. He wins again on the 1st turn... . You might have recognized that I boarded totally wrong, yes WRONG! Its so dumb to leave that 3rd Trap in the board because this isnt ANT, nor TES where it makes sense to do so (Cunning Wish). You want to have all 3 Traps and maybe also 2 Dispel. I boarded wrong and maybe lost to that dumb decision. I was stucked on the thought that this is the right plan against Combo and didnt noticed how diferent thos decks play out. I totally deserved that loss, really.
If I would board today, I would do as follows: If he doesnt bring in Xantid Swarm, because he won the die-roll and killed on turn 1: -3 Repeal, -1 Brain Freeze, -1 Turnabout, -1 Cunning Wish, +3 Mindbreak Trap, +2 Dispel, +1 Echoing Truth.
If he boards Swarms the same as above but -1 Dispel, - Meditate for Repeals.
This is heavily in my favour and its just horrible that I donated him those games.

7th round:

Reanimator.
I won the die roll and decided to let his buried alive resolve to Cunning Wish/Ravenous Trap him completely out of G1. i done so but he Dazes my Cunnig Wish I Force, he forces back. Next turn Exhume on Iona, GG...not. That was so dumb, if I would have concentrated on my own combo and spared the Force for his Reanimation Spell I think I would have won that easy. I came to 4 Lands next turn and if I would have grabbed High Tide and would have gone into combo, or stole a few turns via Remand or Force this would have been a knockout for him. Yeah, would,would, would. Another dumb decision costet me that game.
I boarded -3 Repeal + 2 Dispel + 1 Mindbreak Trap. I think I should have boarded an additional Wipe Away or Echoing Truth for another card but this wasnt the day of strong decisions.
He Careful Studies into It that Betryas and cast Reanimate, no Force, no Remand, no chance.

8th round:

The Rock.
Game1 I win as usual with pre-combo Mediate. G2 He had a pretty epic hand/draw and I was blown out, that just happened to me in maybe 2 games as for long as I play that deck ;(.
G3 He managed it to put Chalice 1&2 into play and he had a knight of the Reliquary and a Dark Confidant and I had about 8 or 9 lands in play. i wished for Rebuild EOT and cast it. He plays Extirpate on high Tide (I really dont know why^^) as i gone off in the end of his drawstep and found about 7 lands in 2 Meditates, really, true story. I had only a shot at victory when I mill myself into Flash which appeared as my library contained just 14 cards or so. I realized that I could mill him but all Turnabouts, Cunning Wishes, Repeals, Echoing truth were gone. Its so sad that both flash of Insight were in the last 15 cards but that happens I guess, even if the chance is very low... .
I board here as usual: -1 FoW, +1 Echoing Truth

Result 3:5
103th out of 190 players.

I enjoyed playing but didnt liked to do so many misplays, which directly costet me games. Wrong boarding plans, wrong decision, it all went a bit wrong. I had the goal to do my best and dont making any misplays and when I am losing a round with all that done right, its definetly ok for me, honestly. I am kinda sad that I couldnt reached my goal but this has nothing to do with the great game as a whole or something, its something personal that made me unsatisfied but thats pretty ok afterwards and i think you need to handle those things.
I still believe in my list and the most important thing that I have learned and which I am very happy about is, that I lost most of the games due to my plays and not to the deck-type and not to my list.

I hope that somebody learns from that and gives energy to those, who might think about giving up on that deck,
Iatb

PS: I announce a bet here. I bet that Emrakul will leave the Legacy Format in 2011.

[GoldenCid]

I still believe in my list and the most important thing that I have learned and which I am very happy about is, that I lost most of the games due to my plays and not to the deck-type and not to my list.


PS: I announce a bet here. I bet that Emrakul will leave the Legacy Format in 2011.

It happened the same to me. I felt that my list was good and consistent but i got flooded and screwed, fisrt round, and missplayed in the 4th one.

About emrakul: is it true??

[I am the brainwasher]

"About emrakul: is it true?? "

It cant be said that this is true but I really see that Sneak-Show is going to be the next Survival. I really see that this deck is going to brake the format, everyone should feel free to disagree but I am pretty sure that they will nerv the deck by taking that guy out, which would weaken it significant. I think its with LED-less Dredge really THE deck that you should play if you want to be successfull in the next time. Its not a tought which is based on my wish to not have a hard matchup or something, its just what I really see coming. I saw multiple games of that deck and think that the future will show to many players that this Emrakul is clearly one of the most unanswerable cards (like Survival) in the Format. Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but thats what makes a bet so tempting, isnt it so?

[Dark Ritual]

I really can't see emrakul getting the banhammer. There are so many answers to emrakul; enchantress can beat the card, knight of the reliquary is a house that fetches karakas to bounce him, the meta would adapt to fight emrakul if it really was breaking the format because sneaky show can be answered easily if you play the right deck. UGB landstill could fight him with innocent blood as well. Red blast would be good. And then there's the fact that storm combo decks are much more broken than show and tell decks; when show and tell resolves, it doesn't win immediately, it is a delayed win if not delayed by two turns and yes, people can still win after emrakul swings making them sack 6 permanents it isn't the most likely but if the game drags on the combo gets worse and worse depending on gamestate. Once ad nauseam resolves at 15+ life, it is GG's. You can even resolve it at 9 life and sometimes win. Really, emrakul will never get banned. And part of me thinks that if one part of the combo was banned, it would be show and tell. Because if emrakul was banned, show and tell could still cheat other stuff into play like progenitus, sphinx of the steel wind, inkwell leviathan...and you can bet that that would be just as powerful as emrakul.

Playing solidarity with lack of sleep = bad idea, this deck is the 2nd hardest deck to play in the format and in 8 rounds it will get worse and worse.

[Hereticfire]

@Dark Ritual: What is the first hardest deck to play? DDFT?



My LGS normally has 2-3 stax decks present, and I've been indecisive about which SB cards are best against them.

Rebuild:
Pro: has a CMC of 3, which makes it (almost) chalice-proof.

Hurkyl's Recall:
Pro: It's much a little easire to Wish -> Recall, than to Wish -> Rebuild.
Con: loses to Chalice @ 2.

[cjva]

@Dark Ritual: What is the first hardest deck to play? DDFT?



My LGS normally has 2-3 stax decks present, and I've been indecisive about which SB cards are best against them.

Rebuild:
Pro: has a CMC of 3, which makes it (almost) chalice-proof.

Hurkyl's Recall:
Pro: It's much a little easire to Wish -> Recall, than to Wish -> Rebuild.
Con: loses to Chalice @ 2.

I would play some mix of them. Depending on the amount of players in your local meta, 2-3 seem to be a rather large number.

2 Rebuild, 1 Hurkyl. Sideboard in Rebuilds and leave Hurkyl for wish?

[Dark Ritual]

White stax should be a cakewalk MU I don't know what you're doing wrong but rebuild as a 1 of wish target beats that deck. They rarely can/will chalice on 3, and that has to be backed up with chalices at 1 and 2. And we can always time walk them with remand. And if you're playing mono blue, they can't waste you. Only card that causes us problems if it resolves is armageddon and even that is beatable because they lack a fast clock most of the time since their whole deck is lock pieces plus a handful of win cons. And if the win con is beating with a magus or a factory, you have 10 turns to set up which isn't that hard. Really, this MU is the one you want to see. I personally run 1 hurkyl's recall and 1 rebuild in the board as wish targets. There isn't a need for more except in rare corner cases.

@Hereticfire: DDFT is the hardest deck to pilot in the format. The decision trees of that deck are enormous and it is very difficult to master the deck and to learn all the math involved with its mana and how to generate X storm and so on. Just try piloting the deck at a tournament and you'll see what I mean.

[GoldenCid]

White stax should be a cakewalk MU I don't know what you're doing wrong but rebuild as a 1 of wish target beats that deck. They rarely can/will chalice on 3, and that has to be backed up with chalices at 1 and 2. And we can always time walk them with remand. And if you're playing mono blue, they can't waste you. Only card that causes us problems if it resolves is armageddon and even that is beatable because they lack a fast clock most of the time since their whole deck is lock pieces plus a handful of win cons. And if the win con is beating with a magus or a factory, you have 10 turns to set up which isn't that hard. .

Sorry to disagree. But everybody knows that no stax, noadays, beats just with magus and mishra's.