burn decks can't beat an active Jitte or Batterskull.. trust me.
team italia rolls over to a deck with 4 missteps and 2/3/4 snares... i tested that matchup a bunch.
If you can fit even 1 Misdirection in your sideboard, its such a house against the hymn decks.
i keep flipping between running 2 crusaders or 2 submerges in my s/b and im leaning towards the submerges as they take care of tombstalkers and goyfs.... and the decks that play bob and tombstalker, well ill just submerge your tombstalker during your draw step and bob does 8 to ya.
I admit that I have had limited testing with SSS, although they seem very strong in conjunction with Bitterblossom, equipment and the 3 Vendilion Cliques that I run. I will make the folowing changes:
-4 Thopter Foundry, +4 SSS
-2 Sword of the Meek, +1 Spell Snare, +1 Jitte/Batterskull
you guys should check out Kyle Boggemes article on Brainburst today about his stoneforge lists..
the bob list is sweet... essentially putting bobs in place of hawks/sss in the lists.
Hmmm. Don't know if this is the right place for it but I have been having a lot of success with this list. I am playing it at providence. I refuse to run squadron hawk because it is terrible. The counter magic numbers are weird but I have been tweaking and adding till I found what seems to work for me.Originally Posted by adamt
It is my conclusion that stoneforge and batterskull ar the best cards since Jace. So many games I win just ramming batterskull into opposing creatures, bouncing and replaying it. It is broken.
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stoneforge
3 Mirran Crusader
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Vendillion Clique
1 Sower of Temptation
4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Misstep
1 Spell Snare
2 Daze
2 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Jace
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 Plateau
12 Fetches
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Mountain
SB
must keep some secrets in case I do well.
Hi,
First post on the Source. I've played competative in the eternal formats since 2000. I won Norwegian Nationals in 2006, but then took a break from magic until late 2008.
Anyways; I played CawBlade in a local Legacy tourny this weekend, and finished 1st.
Decklist:
// Lands
4 [B] Tundra
3 [B] Island (2)
2 [B] Plains (3)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [LG] Karakas
1 [WWK] Celestial Colonnade
// Creatures
4 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
4 [M11] Squadron Hawk
2 [MOR] Vendilion Clique
// Spells
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [AL] Force of Will
3 [B] Swords to Plowshares
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 [LG] Moat
3 [NPH] Mental Misstep
2 [B] Counterspell
1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
1 [MBS] Sword of Feast and Famine
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
1 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
1 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [B] Swords to Plowshares
SB: 3 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
SB: 2 [WL] Aura of Silence
SB: 2 [MI] Enlightened Tutor
SB: 2 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 [AQ] Energy Flux
SB: 1 [US] Arcane Laboratory
SB: 1 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
SB: 1 [US] Back to Basics
5 rounds of swiss and cut to top4.
Match 1:
Sneak Show (The opponent is one of the better players in my meta)
Game 1: He gets Sneak into play. I survive a hit from Emrakul, but he has another one for the next turn; so I die.
Board: In 3 Spell Pierce, 2 Aura of Silence, 1 ET. Out: 2 Moat, 3? StP and something else (SoFF or SFM).
Game 2: I counter his most relevant spells. An equiped Hawk eats up his lifetotal.
Game 3: He muligan to 5 on the play. I keep my 7 with only a Colonade as my blue source. He had a Blood Moon turn two of Mountain and Ancient Tomb. We FoW eachother's relevant spells. None of us draws an Island before time is called. Game ended draw, but I had a superior boardposition and more basics in my deck then he. I think I would have won given more time.
0-0-1
Match 2:
White Stax (The opponent is unknown to me)
Game 1: He starts of with Mox D + Tomb + 3Sphere. I waste his Tomb. He gets locked under his own 3Sphere while I continue to play lands. Clique kills him.
Board: In 2 Aura of Silence, 1 Energy Flux, 1 ET, x? Relic. Out: 3 MM, 2 Moat.
Game 2: I play lands each turn, and waste his Sol-Lands. Lots of permanents on my side help not to get locked under Tangle Wire.
1-0-1
Match 3:
Lands (Good player, heavily invested in the format)
Game 1: I try to put presure on him but he has multiple Mazes, so my swords don't get through. Afther he resolve Ensnaring Bridge my only win is to deck him, with or without Jace. His only win is Creeping Tar Pit. I land a Moat and Jace. I ramp Jace each turn, but he finds a EE. I can't keep it of the table as he has Academy Ruins. I scoop and we move to game 2.
Board: In 1 Back to Basics, 2 ET, 2 Relic, 2 Aura. Out: 1-2? Moat, 3 Hawks!, 2-3 StP.
Game 2: I land B2B while he is almost tapped out. He scoops to Jace.
Game 3: Almost equal to game 2, but I can't finish him before time is called. (Game 1 took too much time).
1-0-2
Match 4:
Crazy 4c UGwb Goodstuff: SnT - Emrakul - Temple Bell - Mind over Matter - Goyf - Pridemage and Counters. (Decent player, but his deck is all over the place. He told me he made it while he was drunk... :p )
Game 1: I win with lots of Hawks and equipments - CawBladeStyle!
Game 2: He has 3 Pridemage + Goyf + Jace. Moat can't save me.
Game 3: He muligan to 5. Clique takes it home.
2-0-2
Match 5:
Merfolk
Game 1: I keep a slow hand with Moat. He beats with 2 LoA. Turn 6 I play Moat - he FoW - I play Counterspell - He play SPierce - I play MM - He play MM - I lose... game 2.
Board: In StP and Shackles. Out: Jace and SoFF.
Game 2: I resolve a SFM for SoFI. SoFI wins the game.
Game 3: We waste each others lands, and none of us gets any threats. I resolve a SFM for SoFI at some point, and SoFI takes it home.
3-0-2
After 5 rounds I'm undefeated with 3 wins and 2 draws (11 points). I'm 2nd after the swiss, after a bit poor start.
Semis:
Thopters against one of the top control players at my shop
Game 1: I win the dieroll. I MM an ET on turn 1. He plays a CB, but has no Top. I land a Jace on my 4th turn. I fateseal to ramp Jace and to play around CB. I land an Elspeth a few turns later. I win shortly after.
Board: In: 2 Relic, 2 ET, 1 Energy Flux and 2 Aura. Out: 3 Moat, SoFF and 3 StP
Game 2: I have a Relic turn 1. I counter his relevant stuff for the next turns. We both has few cards; then I play a Hawk which gets 3 other Hawks. BS + fetch next turn puts me far ahead (I draw both Counterspell, SPierce and other goodies).
4-0-2
Final:
Sneak Show. Same guy as Match 1.
Game 1: I win the die roll. Have to mulligan a 1-land hand. Keep my next hand, though it's pretty bad with 2 SFM and 4 lands. He resolves a Sneak on his secound turn. Turn 3 he Sneak a Woodfall Primus into play which kill 2 of my lands. I'm to far behind, and die soon after.
Board: In 3 Spell Pierce, 2 Aura of Silence, 1 ET. Out: 2 Moat, 1 MM, SoFF, 1 SFM and Crucible. (I keep the StP to handle Primus this time).
Game 2: I play SFM for SoFI on turn 2. He plays a Burning Wish for SnT on his turn 2, but he miss one mana to play it. I play and resolve a Clique on my 3rd turn (Mainphase to minimise the chance of him having FoW). He reveals SnT, FoW, 3 nonblue-Fatties and a land; I take the SnT of course. (Playing the Clique Mainphase was the right choice :D). Next turn I vial in SoFI and attack fo 7 with Clique. He dies before he finds any answers.
Game 3: I have a SPierce for his turn 2 SnT. I play a SFM for SoFI on my turn 2. Turn 3 I play Hawk, getting 2 other Hawks to fill my hand. I keep 2 mana open at all time to MM/SPierce and Counterspell. One Hawk attacking for 5 each turn is a fast enought clock (and SoFI fuel me with counterspells). I win.
5-0-2
Overall I was really satisfied with the deck. Clique was really good a lot of times, so a 3rd one would be nice. Don't know what to change (if anything should be changed). I like the Hawks btw, just slowroll your BS. It doesn't matter wheter I kill with a 1/1 or a 5/5, once I have control of the game, the opponent is too far behind to get back. I have played Faeries and SSS before, and I wouldn't make the change in this list.
Mental Misstep was included to avoid tempoloss to StP, Bolt etc in respons to equip. It also helps to hit SDT against CB, and improve my Storm-MU. Overall I liked them.
The SB was just a draft, and should be changed. I don't think both Canonist and Arcane Lab is needed. Not sure whether I prefer Shackles over other removal.
-NilsH
Last edited by NilsH; 05-30-2011 at 02:43 PM.
Well, it's time to dredge this up again since I've had plenty of tournaments and play testing now behind the helm of this one.
This deck is a flat beating. The last few tournaments we had in our area are now mirror matches for the finals.
Anyway, here's the last incarnation and I'll go through the changes and reasons behind them.
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Magus of the Moon
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Misstep
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Karakas
1 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Island
2 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Wasteland
Side
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sword of Body and Mind
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Firespout
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Divert
2 Submerge
Squadron Hawks were great, but the namesake is just not half as good as Vendillion Clique and that's all there was to it. Clique went in as a tester and slowly just took that spot over.
Magus of the Moon was a result of noticing other similar decks online. They were trying it out and doing well so I gave it a shot. Yeah, it's wonderful. It doesn't seem like you can get away with it, but you most definitely can and it's just devastating to anyone not playing mono-red. I even played it against a mon-r deck to turn off it's wastes and Mishra's once. Scary when it's even still decent against that. You always fetch up basics early on anyway unless you're color screwed so it was a natural fit. Surprised I didn't think of it first.
Stoneforge obviously is much better since Batterskull was made. He went up to 4.
Battleskull took the place of Moat. No real need for it when you can outclass aggro so hard. Stoneforge into Batterskull really is pretty dumb. Sounds so easy to deal with until you think about what kind of cards can back it up.
Sword of Feast and famine was good, but after trying out all the swords, Fire and ice won the top honors alongside Jitte. The lack of the moats were another reason that happened. feast and Famine is still going back and forth in the board fighting for that Sword of Body and Mind spot. Body and Mind is slowly winning since having that extra bear is really good when you run into Jace.
Lavamancer was a concession to Merfolk due to the Moat removal also. He's actually worked out quite well. Basilisk Collar in the board is for him. Makes Goyfs and Tombstalkers not too scary anymore.
Missteps weren't printed when I first was messing with this so they went in obviously.
Spell Snare goes with Misstep so well it ended up replacing the Paths.
Collonade eventually was cut to make room for the Magus and the CIPT thing was getting really annoying since the deck was getting more and more aggressive.
Divert is a tester that's working out well, but probably just due to the odd meta I have. Hymn is pretty popular so it seemed good. Spell Pierce or Flusterstorm might have that spot also. It also made Forge tender give up it's spot since Burn is pretty funny when you run these. Nothing like slamming a Fireblast back at someone for getting brave. If you don't run this card, you need the Sword of Light and Shadow back in. The life gain makes a huge difference since it's not hard to burn the sword holders (excepting Fire/Ice being already on) and you can die fairly easy to burn to the face.
Flusterstorm would have taken the Canonist's spot, but I kind of like the idea of making combo have to bounce through counters. That's rough. I played combo enough to know that's incredibly hard to do through Missteps (if it's chain) and Spell Snares for Echoing Truth. These can be cut if combo took a dive in your area though. It's about to come out of my board since it's non-existent anymore in mine.
Firestorm - Yet another concession to the lack of Moat. Replaced Wrath since it lets the Clique live. It's almost enough to make me want the Moats back having stuff like this, but I need to be able to make more flyers to run that. Elspeth and Clique alone can't do it. I tried.
I still miss the Seasinger, but I haven't had too much trouble out of that Sneak and Show deck around here. I think I keep getting lucky on it. She might get her spot back.
The only thing I don't like is the blue count again. It seems low and plays about what you'd expect. I hate how I keep running into that.
Anyway, I highly recommend trying this latest list out. It's sooo strong it seems unfair.
Goblins - Misstep, Spell Snare, Force, Batterskull, Lavamancer, and Swords practically ensures you win this. It's sad really.
Merfolk - see above. It's a little tougher, but not by much. Lavamancer is a wrecking ball. Magus even turns off the Mutavault.
Rock style decks - Divert is soo mean to them. Even their best draws start looking horrible against this deck.
Team America - Same as above except even worse. Just try it and see.
Landstill - This is one you really don't want to see. If they out counter you, you are in deep trouble. there's not much recovering if they drop a Jace. You have to win the Stoneforge fight. It's all about that and it's an all in type thing around 4-5th turn.
Lands - Surprisingly an odd fight. Jace is usually the way to win it. Fetch up basics and drop him as soon as you can. You absolutely have to remove the academy ruins or hit the oblivion stone with some grave hate if you don't see the Magus. Magus is obviously a blowout.
Burn - Laughable.
Combo - It's all about the opening draw of course. How good is theirs compared to yours. Seems pretty favorable though. Fast clock with counters usually is.
Sneak and Show - not so fun. I'd say this is the one to be scared of. Thoughtseizes backed up by Force and Pierces is not fun when they can dump something you can't kill out faster than Jace. Peacekeeper and Seasinger used to help in this so if it gets to prolific, They will go back in. Misstep helps a ton, but they can do the first turn blow out occasionally.
I haven't had much chance to play against a good Hive Mind player, but I think it's going to have the same problem as Sneak and Show. They can dump something off Show and Tell you just can't deal with quickly. I guess you could always start running Angel's Grace or something if you have them in your area.
All in all, I feel really good about just about every match up. Some are surprisingly good despite how it looks. Some are bad even though you feel like you should win them.
Considering I have seen plenty of other people starting to evolve into the same deck also, it's a pretty good choice right now. Might as well call it Stoneblade now. Bye Bye Squadron Hawk, you will be missed.
4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Misstep
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Vendillion Clique
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Trinket Mage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Basilisk Collar
-----Sample Sideboard-----
4 Pyroblast
1 Vendillion Clique
2 Path to Exile
2 Misdirection
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Mirran Crusader
Philosophy-------
One of the most powerful tools of a control deck is the ability to quickly shift into an aggressive mode. Essentially, this allows “being aggressive” to act as another tool of control. Your opponent cannot try to get some hits in to whittle you down if doing so results in you untapping and killing them.
As a control deck, I don't want cards that do very little when the opponent is ahead of me. I went for consistency over explosiveness. Versatility over raw power. I'd much rather have cards that do something than cards that draw cards that do something.
Specific Card Choices----
4 Force of Will – Playing less than four copies of this card is wrong. Some decks have played three and been successful, but they are a lot more aggressive than this one.
4 Brainstorm – This is the best card in the format. Not close.
4 Grim Lavamancer – This is the second best card in Legacy. It's the best possible card against Merfolk, which is the most important matchup in the format. It's also amazing against: Affinity, Goblins, BW, GW, Elves. He's not bad against Bant, Stoneforge decks, Dark Confidant decks... He threatens to finish off Tarmogoyfs if they decide to block your Batterskull. He also shocks planeswalkers.
2 Counterspell – This card is actually here for the late game, designed to stop planeswalkers and the hail-Mary that is Natural Order, as well as being a catchall for any other shenanigans that the opponent might be up to.
2 Vendillion Clique – Clique is a house against combo and control. Clique is mediocre against aggro. Sometimes you have a Karakas in play and you get to live in Magical Christmas land.
1 Sword of Body and Mind – If you ignore the entire blue side of the card, you'll better understand why it's here. We get to attack into their Goyf/Knight, make a guy, then re-equip so that we can block said Goyf/Knight. SoFI would be better against Merfolk and Goblins, but we already have Lavamancer and Batterskul. SoFF also gives pro-green, but the sum of its other abilities is less significant than making a bear.
3 Trinket Mage, 1 EE, 1 Needle – Whenever I show people a list with Trinket Mage in it, they immediately dismiss the card. Don't. There is power in versatility. Most of the decks in the format have some manner of target that you'd love Pithing Needle, but one usually doesn't want to end up drawing two of the card. This solves that. Engineered Explosives is powerful both as a catch-all answer, and for its ability to generate card advantage, or to be a miniature Wrath. Plus, sometimes you have an Academy Ruins against the creature deck, and they just die. Furthermore, the fact that this deck runs equipment allows you to give the 2/2 body some teeth. [Also, little-known fact about playing against Lands.dec: they actually can't beat a Pithing Needle on Maze of Ith + guys.]
1 Sensei's Divining Top – This is an extremely powerful card. Before I decided to go the Trinket Mage route I had two of them in the deck, and I was never disappointed to draw it. It's power as an engine has fallen since Mental Misstep has made it less reliable, but it remains a powerful tool for nearly any deck. The fact that it can be tutored up with Trinket Mage when desired truly makes it worth including.
1 Basilisk Collar – This is me being cute, I won't deny that. It can be tutored up with both Trinket Mage and Stoneforge Mystic. It makes a Grim Lavamancer do truly, truly unfair things. It lets you trade any one of their creatures for any of theirs if you can manage to get them to hit each other. That said, the card is relatively untested, although I have played it in other decks in the past and not been entirely disappointed. I recommend trying it before cutting it.
0 Wasteland – Wasteland is easily in the top 5 best cards in the format. Everyone should have a good reason for not running it, and everyone should have a good plan for beating decks that are. I have the same reason for both: I refuse to lose to my mana. There are similar lists to mine running around with 4 Wastelands, and to me this just seems wrong. Each turn I want to have white for my Mystic, red for my Lavamancer, plus I want to be able to cast Clique/Counterspell/Force, AND I want to be able to reset my Batterskulls. The cost of running this card is simply too high. Yes, if you have it you will get some free wins off it, but I do not believe those free wins will outweigh the times you lose from either being mana-screwed, or having to waste a Brainstorm on finding lands instead of lining up your most effective spells.
0 Mishra's Factory – Omitted more or less for the same reason as Wasteland.
0 Standstill – I used to play a lot of Merfolk with Standstill. I can't recall a single game where I resolved a Standstill then lost. However, I can recall many games where I looked at the Standstill in my hand and frowned. One of the problems I have seen with the lists that are running Standstill is they really don't have anything to draw into. They play the Standstill, draw some cards, but with all of that effort they've not gotten further ahead on the exchange than if they'd just played a card that had a real impact on the game.
0 Jace, the Mind-Sculptor – In Legacy, what Jace is the best at is being a win condition for decks that lack more robust options. If you are trying to cast Moat/Humility/Ensnaring-Bridge, creature-based win-conditions look silly, and Jace becomes the best option. That simply isn't something this deck wants or needs. Keeping the curve low so as to be immune to Wasteland was another consideration for not including him. To me, the card feels like most of the time it is just win-more in a deck with other win-cons. In fact, the biggest reason I could come up with for including He Who Broke Standard was to beat other Jaces. Then I remembered that I already had Grim Lavamancer, Vendillion Clique, Stoneforge, Pithing Needle, and Engineered Explosives to kill him.
uhm..
cawblade without caws isn´t cawblade.
Edit:
Without Jace its even more distant to cawblade. Perhaps you should open a new topic.
.
Last edited by bruizar; 07-03-2011 at 06:52 AM.
Let me get in some more testing against a few other decks like No Bant and those types and I'll just write up a primer for it. It's seriously worth playing right now.
This deck seems pretty close to what I wanted to do for a U/W aggro-control deck. I don't particularly like the red splash and would be willing to take the drawbacks that entails, I posted my U/W list and then like, as I refreshed the page this popped up right below it, feel bad for wasting forum space T_T;;.
Here's my list though:
//Creatures: 10
2x Vendilion Clique
4x Mirran Crusader
4x Stoneforge Mystic
//Hand stuff: 4
4x Brainstorm
//Removal: 4
4x Swords to Plowshares
//Counters: 11
4x Force of Will
3x Counterspell
4x Mental Misstep
//Board wipe: 1
1x Wrath of God
//Equips: 3
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Batterskull
//Planeswalkers: 5
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
//Lands: 22
2x Tundra
4x Flooded Strand
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Kor Haven
6x Island
5x Plains
//Sideboard: 15
3x Peacekeeper
3x Ethersworn Canonist
3x Tormod's Crypt
2x Energy Flux
1x Meddling Mage
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Wrath of God
This list obviously leans towards control moreso than aggression.
Nowadays, I think you have to play Batterskull. I would cut an Elspeth for one. I also have no idea why you aren't playing Swords to Plowshares. Cut the Ponders for a set.
Asylum EDH: Foil or go home.
Revised.
Now that I think about it, I may want another Swords effect. Possibly cut either SoFI or SoFF for a Path to Exile. In this meta, I think more removal is necessary.
Asylum EDH: Foil or go home.
Now you know why I am so fond of the red splash. Sowrds wasn't cutting it. Path was added and went up to 2. I didn't like that much since it became crap against a control deck so I shifted to red to get Lavamancers. Lavamancer also makes sure you don't lose to things like Goblins, Merfolk, and the like. Being able to play Magus to smash Lands and heavy non-basic land decks like Bant was just gravy.
It doesn't seem like any of these lists are running Ancestral Vision. I was under the impression that this is the draw engine stoneforge decks wanted.
I can’t wait to read a primer on this. After reading the last couple of posts, I decided to try the deck myself, and I really like it. I think the Uwr version deserves it's own thread.
I love the red splash, since Lavamancer eats fish all day, and red offers great SB options. I don’t quite know about the moon effects though. I think they are most effective on turn 1 or 2, when the opponent can’t have basics set up. Good opponents will know how to play around a moon on turn 3 by having a fetch open and going for a basic to just play on or kill the moon. It just doesn’t sound that great on turn 3 compared to the strong turn 1 play from e.g. Dragonstompy. Also, for Clique and Jace, we want UU, so we actually have to have UUW and a red source up before we drop the moon. That just seems like it’s too late to have a great impact on the game (except for TA, which doesn’t play basics at all).
Here is the list I’m currently testing:
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
3 Spell Snare
2 Counterspell
2 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Grim Lavamancer
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Jace, the Mind Scultptor
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Wasteland
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Karakas
The ponders are more or less flex slots. I tried 2 EE and 1 Academy Ruins, but I never felt that I needed a sweeper that much. Maybe just 9 creatures are not enough to carry the equipments. I find myself going for Batterskull most of the time though.
I also like the idea of playing with an additional Trinket Mage package. I’ve played with Trinket Mages for quite some time, and they are rarely dead. If you don’t need any particular artefact, you just grab SD.Top and gain a huge advantage in the mid- to late game. I just can't find room to fit it in.
I don’t agree on playing zero Jace though. The deck has no actual draw engine, so Jace should fit that role. He is just too good to not play him.
What do you guys think about Ancestral Vision in this deck? I haven’t tested it so far.
Not really needed from what I could tell. The game is so decided in the early turns anyway. I have the Lavamancers and Snares so they usually like to be first anyway and Jace pulls up the rear, but it's usually over by then. Jace needs to be a 2-3 of at minimum. He is the back up. He's easy enough to find as a two of, but someone people like 3.
The Magus is one of those things you just have to try. It sounds like crap on paper. Turn 3? Bah. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It has so many accidental benefits though. You tend to search up your basics early anyway so he's not going to hurt you. He just flat owns the decks that are a pain to kill like Lands and is a huge advantage against the meaner Landstill variants like BUG. They can't let you have him or they flat lose on the spot. It's the slower decks you seem to want him for anyway so it works. You're not going to keep him vs Zoo anyway, too fragile.
I'm leaning toward a couple of peacekeepers in the board just for Show and Tell type stuff. It's such a pain how fast those decks go and they can get turn 2 S&T with a Force, Misstep back up so easily. So I wanted something to drop. Seasinger doesn't work on Projo so I settled on Peacekeeper. you can always win with Lavamancers and Jace later.
Oh yes, if you end up hitting the mirror a lot like what my meta is quickly turning into, try out Orim's Thunder. It's hot tech for Stoneforge and his equipment he got.
A primer would be nice. This deck is everywhere and yet there is no primer about Stoneblade on The Source.
Working on it, but I want a ton more games in against just about everything so I don't sound like a tard trying to explain a match up I didn't test much. It just takes me a while since I only tend to test against people who know the deck they are playing very well. It helps especially with the Landstill, Bant, or Goblins players. Only a really good player gives you a good indicator of what you can expect.
Edit: screw it. I posted what I have. I'll fill it in as I go.
Last edited by dahcmai; 07-04-2011 at 02:06 AM.
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