[Deck] Fetchland Tendrils

[imRauSch]

The turning point for me was when I started being able to read people's faces, and be able to pick up by the first few cards they played what the rest of their hand was.

I would be very glad if you could explain this in more detail. For which expression do you look, or what other hints do you get from their body language that they may hold key hate cards e.g. FoW or Trap?

[Diprivan]

I would be very glad if you could explain this in more detail. For which expression do you look, or what other hints do you get from their body language that they may hold key hate cards e.g. FoW or Trap?

The point is that there are no general rules for this.
Some people tend to hold their cards closer to them when they have hate, others do the opposite and try the "oooh, you got me look", hoping you buy it and walk into their hate. Some try to stop you with pure bluff and do the "hmmm, let me think a minute about it" for every card you play.

You should recognise the whole attitude of your opponent and notice changes. Some tend to keep looking at a particular card in their hand for example, etc.
Further it's essential you know their deck. When I say "reanimator", "bant aggro", ... you should be able to reconstruct at least 58 cards of their maindeck and some of their sb.

I wished I could give you an easier answer, but combo never was the most forgiving archetype to play

[jin]

The point is that there are no general rules for this.
Some people tend to hold their cards closer to them when they have hate, others do the opposite and try the "oooh, you got me look", hoping you buy it and walk into their hate. Some try to stop you with pure bluff and do the "hmmm, let me think a minute about it" for every card you play.

You should recognise the whole attitude of your opponent and notice changes. Some tend to keep looking at a particular card in their hand for example, etc.
Further it's essential you know their deck. When I say "reanimator", "bant aggro", ... you should be able to reconstruct at least 58 cards of their maindeck and some of their sb.

I wished I could give you an easier answer, but combo never was the most forgiving archetype to play

To add to this, since I play on MWS a lot, I really don't have any of that reading body language skill. What I do have is from their line of play, the mana they keep open, the number of cards in their hands are all usually an indicator of counter magic.

For example, when a player has 4-5 cards in hand, 3-4 mana open and passes turn without playing anything, he probably only has protection and lands (or a vendilion clique).

Contrastly, if they try to drop stuff as soon as possible, you know the only safety they really have is a fast clock.

Against other decks that aren't blue, a random Duress usually tells you if they have protection or not. If I hadn't drawn disrupt this game, I just go for it, since I really don't see mindbreak trap too often. I don't play around it until I actually see it from that player. Other than that, there isn't much to be afraid of.

[Wave]

Fair enough, I try to use DDFT but ... sometimes get lazy and just say DD, so that is understandable.

I don't even know where to start with a primer. What to people want to read? Clearly there will be links to Crafting DD Piles and the Piles pages, but I would start explaning how the deck works, something like:

What DD is

Lines of play to look for (Top tricks abusing LED and whetever)

1-3 lists

SB strategy

Stick articles at the bottom

Just thinking of it this would be a mere overview, but I guess if anyone is willing to play the deck they would have the patience to read everything. The problem is I can't really ... explain the non-linear thinking process because the deck has no clear cut game plan AND has a disgusting amount of options. Even with those sample hands I did ... that took FOREVER and ur plan changes and adapts with every new card u draw, especially if it is acceleration. There just is nothing about the deck that is 100%, so even reading sample hands it gives u an idea of how it works but when there is an opponent in front of u doing stuff ... then there are even more variables in the equation. I think I even missed a few plays doing just 3 sample hands. Now I realize this seems overly complicated, but to sum it up, you change so often based on what ur opponent does and it really isn't THAT hard, u just have to keep an open mind about things. I see so many people get fixated on 1 path to victory then just .. follow through with it when they could have taken some kind of alternate route that wins the next turn.

I almost think videos would be WAY better than a primer but I don't think people would want to watch me play against whienot or Thor and breakdown every turn and explain lines of play. Perhaps playing 1 match pre and 1-2 matches post board against Zoo, Merfolk, and ... some other random deck that people want to see would be informative. It would encompass hand selection, SB strategy, and lines of play against a broad portion of the meta. I'm sure either of those guys would be willing to play as long as I supplied the beer and I would be willing to make a few and that may be informative but u will only get to see my playstyle. The thing with combo is you have to evolve ur playstyle with each deck, that is why I never play Cook's list of TES and my hand selection is TOTALLY different than his. But if there are enough people who actually want to watch a video on DDFT VS other stuff .. I would probably make 1 or 2 playing against a blue and non-blue deck. If this sounds like something u guys would really want to watch, let me know.

Actually Emidln already wrote an excellent primer on the decision making process when he wrote about crafting a doomsday pile a while ago, as long as you get into that thinking process or similar you are up for a good start. Maybe you should use that in your upcoming article to explain how to play the deck.

[OurSerratedDust]

flrn, how has your doomsday list been working for you?

[lorddotm]

Pulp, I say do the videos, it would be interesting.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Because I was bored...

15 Land
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Island

45 Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Orim's Chant
3 Silence
3 Ponder
3 Cabal Ritual
2 Doomsday
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Meditate
1 Rain of Filth
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony

15 Sideboard
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Angel's Grace
2 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
1 Krosan Grip
1 Wipe Away
1 Deathmark
1 Slaughter Pact

It's something I've been playing around with lately. Nothing too special. Obviously the sideboard was thrown together.

I tossed two Doomsday into the Grim Tutor slot of UB ANT. I really hated Duress/Thoughtseize and even most counter heavy decks can't beat Chant-Chant.

Rain of Filth is disgusting after Ad Nauseam. Any thoughts (sideboard ideas please)?

[OurSerratedDust]

This looks interesting. How often do you use DD vs. Ad Nauseam?

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

This looks interesting. How often do you use DD vs. Ad Nauseam?

Currently the best answer is, "Which ever best fits the situation." It's completely dependent on life totals, hate bears etc.

To give a general answer, I'd say in testing against Force of Will decks it's about 60/40 in Ad Nauseam's favor.

Since over all the meta has slowed down, SDT has been a great addition to the ANT portion of build--I almost always get what I need. As for Doomsday, well that's for obvious reasons.

I'm bringing this to a tournament next Monday. We'll see what happens. I've reached some truly unnecessary storm counts by using Doomsday post Ad Nauseam. This helps especially after taking a couple hits from Batterskull or other life gain pests.

What I've enjoyed most about using Doomsday with Ad Nauseam is that I don't care too much about discard effects. I mean there's a point where yeah too many of them means I lose, but being able to get everything back is pretty sweet.

Also the inclusion of Rain of Filth seems way better than any number of Chrome Moxen.

I still have no clue what to use for the board though.

[Chikenbok]

Recently I switched my UB ANT over to UBr to add the burning wishes into the deck for versatility and just other win conditions in general. I'm really liking the idea however, or replacing them, perhaps, with 2/3 Doomsday and 1-2 more duress/chant effects.

@Random - Anything about your build that you'd wish was different (aside from the board). I'll give it a few run arounds and see how it feels.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Recently I switched my UB ANT over to UBr to add the burning wishes into the deck for versatility and just other win conditions in general. I'm really liking the idea however, or replacing them, perhaps, with 2/3 Doomsday and 1-2 more duress/chant effects.

@Random - Anything about your build that you'd wish was different (aside from the board). I'll give it a few run arounds and see how it feels.

The only thing I question is the Tropical Island in the main. Also I'm starting to think that the Xantids in the board should be Carpet of Flowers as a nod to Merfolk and other tempo decks.

Lastly, I'm not sure Meditate should be Ideas Unbound or Gitaxian Probe (keeping converted mana costs and Ad Nauseam in mind.)

IU makes your opponents' Spell Snares stronger while IU and probe offer a softer hit when flipped off Ad Nauseam.

So far Meditate hasn't been a huge liability.

[OurSerratedDust]

That list has been surprisingly sick for me. Great work, random.

Sometimes it seems like the deck wants more lands. I haven't messed with the manabase yet, but so far I am at -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Chain of Vapor, -1 Orim's Chant, +1 Ad Nauseam +1 Ponder +1 Silence (better against leyline of sanctity).

Cantrips seem pretty important here, and having a bounce spell isn't too important most of the time in game one.

EDIT: As for your Xantid Swarm vs. Carpet of Flowers issue, I think Swarm is much more relevant against tempo. In the past, Carpet was amazing, but most tempo decks have moved away from soft counters and started using Mental Misstep in their place. Another issue is that your protection spells are kinda dead against pretty much any non blue deck, save belcher. This isn't a terrible thing, just something to think about. I'm really digging the 7 chants so far.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

At this point, I'm not too worried about protection for non-blue decks. In my meta Gaddock Teeg is fairly common, so that's why I have the bounce.

My favorite part about running 7 chant effects is that any blue deck MUST counter it or they will lose. I'd almost like to think Mental Misstep is weaker against this deck because of that.

Here's why:
Do you misstep the SDT? If not you'll probably lose.
Do you misstep the chant? If not you will lose.

I kind of see it as there's too many must counter 1cc spells in the deck.

As for extra lands, I totally know what you mean. So far I've been okay with 15 land + Rain of Filth. Sometimes I want a 16th land as a basic swamp, the fourth Underground Sea or maybe a Scrubland.

How's the second Ad Nauseam working for you? I've never been a fan of it.

[OurSerratedDust]

At this point, I'm not too worried about protection for non-blue decks. In my meta Gaddock Teeg is fairly common, so that's why I have the bounce.

My favorite part about running 7 chant effects is that any blue deck MUST counter it or they will lose. I'd almost like to think Mental Misstep is weaker against this deck because of that.

Here's why:
Do you misstep the SDT? If not you'll probably lose.
Do you misstep the chant? If not you will lose.

I kind of see it as there's too many must counter 1cc spells in the deck.

As for extra lands, I totally know what you mean. So far I've been okay with 15 land + Rain of Filth. Sometimes I want a 16th land as a basic swamp, the fourth Underground Sea or maybe a Scrubland.

How's the second Ad Nauseam working for you? I've never been a fan of it.

I've really liked it so far, but I'm still messing around with the setup. I'd like to test different combinations of DD and AN to see which I like the best.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I'm also messing around with a build that squeezes in 3-4 Gitaxian Probe and runs Ideas Unbound. It'll be interesting to see which runs more smoothly.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Currently 1 Ad Nauseam and 2 Doomsday has kept me happy

I'm not sure about cutting Cabal Rituals though, but if I needed to cut something it'd be the third ritual or the Chain of Vapor.

I'm not sure about Gitaxian Probe. I may test it as a singleton to enable some fun DD piles. But I think running the first probe is better than running the first Duress or Thoughtseize.

[Chikenbok]

I was hesitant at first to run any kind of storm combo deck without at least 1 duress thoughtseize but simply not caring what your opponent has in hand, so long as a chant effect resolves is kind of.. well.. amazing feeling. I cut out the MD CoV for the 4th ponder and the deck has been unbelievable - simply sitting and sculpting, chanting every other turn feels beautiful.

Oh, and then winning.. feels even better.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Anyone know a good generic sideboard? I'm still having issues coming up with one.

Basically all I have is?

4 Xantid Swarm
11 cards

[Admiral_Arzar]

A generic bounce/removal suite (say 1 Slaughter Pact, 1 Krosan Grip, 1 Wipe Away, 1-2 Echoing Truth) goes a long way toward solving issues in matchups were chant effects aren't particularly good. All of them dodge Misstep as well, although be careful of REB against Zoo when casting Echoing Truth.

[OurSerratedDust]

I agree with Admiral. Additionally, having something to board against hivemind has been something I've been thinking about lately (for storm decks in general). Flutterstorm seems pretty good, but being able to randomly steal games with Angels Grace may have some merit as well. Hell, even some number of Duress in the board could be good against a bunch of decks.

Anyways, on goes my testing. I went 6-4 preboard against Bertoncini's NO RUG list today, which is better than TES had been for me. I'm going to try to sneak in twenty-ish postboard games in the next few days. Xantid is obviously bad in this matchup, so I think I'll give Carpet of Flowers/Duress a shot in the board (maybe board out Cabal Ritual?). At the very least it can be like a ritual every turn, and certainly would be good post Ad Nauseam. Plus, it seems like we have a lot of sideboard slots we need to fill.

Sorry, just thinking out loud.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Angel's Grace also has the "LoLwut, I just drew my library?" factor to it...

...in addition to being good against Hive Mind.

EDIT: Hit a storm count of 40+ by going Ad Nauseam -> Doomsday -> Doomsday.