[Deck] Death and Taxes

[timmycolossus]

Well first of here is my list that I have been running and proving to be pretty effective.

Death
3x mother of runes
4x sfm
4x serra avenger
3x jotun grunt
3x revoker
3x flickerwisp
3x mangara

Spells:
4x vial
4x swords
1x jitte
1x batterskull (good against control)
1x Sword of fire and ice
1x Sword of light and shadow
3x mental misstep (very good in this deck)

Taxes:
3x karakas
4x port
4x wasteland
11x plains

SB: TBA

I have found this list to be pretty good however I need more testing against control decks. From the primer it says that D&T has trouble against landstill decks. I was wondering what new tools can be used against control decks?

Erbs: I have not made a SB because it really depends on the meta. Would you mind explaining why you chose the cards you did for your SB.

[AggroSteve]

i am sceptical about mental misstep, can you please describe why it should be good in this deck, and be played, aside of the obvios tempogain, and little help against combo

[Fry]

personally I don't think that it belongs in the main board, and that sideboard would be personal choice... I don't play any missteps in my 75 nor do I plan to.

[AggroSteve]

i think as well that it does not really belong in this deck, though sticking a mother of runes and being able to protect it with misstep is nice

but we are no blue tempodeck that needs to stick one of their few creatures and protect it, we are a vial-based tempo deck which means we run about 20+ creatures and in that case i think we should only really fear mass-removal, or recurring removal IMO and in both cases mental misstep is of no use

in our case i think it really only could improve the combo matchup a bit, but with the meta as it is right now, i do not think improving the combomatchup is necessary, since combo, aside of hive-mind and painter-stone, is non-existent

[timmycolossus]

Misstep has been amazing. The combination of mm and mom stomps zoo, protects are vial, counters entomb and reanimation (some) spells, stops discard, slows down gsz decks when they try to zenith for zero, counters most 1 cmc burn, can even counter cantrips. You should play test misstep, I do not think anybody esle has tested aside from me. It is good and has a place in the main. Also one big thing is it also feeds grunt, makes reanimator match up much better giving us another turn or so that we get control of the board. In other words it makes all of our average matchups better.

[timmycolossus]

i think as well that it does not really belong in this deck, though sticking a mother of runes and being able to protect it with misstep is nice

but we are no blue tempodeck that needs to stick one of their few creatures and protect it, we are a vial-based tempo deck which means we run about 20+ creatures and in that case i think we should only really fear mass-removal, or recurring removal IMO and in both cases mental misstep is of no use

in our case i think it really only could improve the combo matchup a bit, but with the meta as it is right now, i do not think improving the combomatchup is necessary, since combo, aside of hive-mind and painter-stone, is non-existent

In my meta combo and painter is quite prevalent. If 1 cmc was not so prevelant I would not play it. But since I feel protecting the vial is so important I will continue to play it.

[Fry]

I used to have it in my sideboard, but then I noticed I would side in any other card and never the missteps, so they got cut, I run mono white, so I am able to do a few more shenanigans that other builds, but I stand by what I said earlier, that I personally do not believe that Mental Misstep has a place in this deck.

[mrjumbo03]

Hey Fry, have you tested with the Grand Abolishers lately? Still on my exam week so I can't really test them but I'm about to get a Foil playset later!

[Fry]

I haven't had the oportunity to test with them yet, I'll probably try 2 or 3 main board at some point, but I haven't figured out yet what slot to put them in I was thinking of trying them over one of my leonin arbiters and perhaps the 2 oblivion rings, I'm just going to do some testing with it, and if I don't have time I'm not going to try it out at large tournament, but perhaps a smaller one.

Unfortunately my legacy play group lives about 30-45 minutes away from my place and I don't drive a car.

[pandaman]

Played two tournaments with Death & Taxes over the weekend - a 28 player and a 38 player. Went 6 out of 28 (no cut to Top 8) and 10 out of 38, missing Top 8 in the second tournament on resistance. My first tournaments with this deck that were 4 or more rounds (4 rounds for the first, 6 rounds for the second). Good times.

The deck ran really well, I had a lot of fun. I will write a report later, so people can give me some help with sideboard, which I wasn't complete satisfied with. What I will say now is that Mental Misstep was insanely good, and caught everyone by surprise when I played it. It won me Round 6 against Hive Mind because every time he cantripped I could counter it. It won me Merfolk by countering his Vial while I resolved my own. It won me a match against Painter's Servant countering a Red Elemental Blast in Game 3 when I was swinging for lethal when he would have drawn a Llawan the next turn to bounce my board. I played it as a 3 of in the main, and I loved it. I would recommend everyone test it and run it if you like how it plays. But I'm on the bandwagon.

[_erbs_]

Played two tournaments with Death & Taxes over the weekend - a 28 player and a 38 player. Went 6 out of 28 (no cut to Top 8) and 10 out of 38, missing Top 8 in the second tournament on resistance. My first tournaments with this deck that were 4 or more rounds (4 rounds for the first, 6 rounds for the second). Good times.

The deck ran really well, I had a lot of fun. I will write a report later, so people can give me some help with sideboard, which I wasn't complete satisfied with. What I will say now is that Mental Misstep was insanely good, and caught everyone by surprise when I played it. It won me Round 6 against Hive Mind because every time he cantripped I could counter it. It won me Merfolk by countering his Vial while I resolved my own. It won me a match against Painter's Servant countering a Red Elemental Blast in Game 3 when I was swinging for lethal when he would have drawn a Llawan the next turn to bounce my board. I played it as a 3 of in the main, and I loved it. I would recommend everyone test it and run it if you like how it plays. But I'm on the bandwagon.

hello, as for the MM yeah i have the same sentiments with you but i feel its much more of a SB card as a main.., bec the more i play DT i have come to realize that its very very dependent on vial and it provides anti land screw which is quite common in this deck and its the heart and soul for DT's tricks.

@grand abolisher
well i've been testing him and i feel it really deserves a slot in the main deck and is very potent when paired with cataclysm, but the problem i've always been faced is that with abolisher on board as compared to grunts or arbiters is that you need double white, and DT has a quite high land screw rate, and i only ran 7 colorless lands out of the 22 land count i use.

[timmycolossus]

Played two tournaments with Death & Taxes over the weekend - a 28 player and a 38 player. Went 6 out of 28 (no cut to Top 8) and 10 out of 38, missing Top 8 in the second tournament on resistance. My first tournaments with this deck that were 4 or more rounds (4 rounds for the first, 6 rounds for the second). Good times.

The deck ran really well, I had a lot of fun. I will write a report later, so people can give me some help with sideboard, which I wasn't complete satisfied with. What I will say now is that Mental Misstep was insanely good, and caught everyone by surprise when I played it. It won me Round 6 against Hive Mind because every time he cantripped I could counter it. It won me Merfolk by countering his Vial while I resolved my own. It won me a match against Painter's Servant countering a Red Elemental Blast in Game 3 when I was swinging for lethal when he would have drawn a Llawan the next turn to bounce my board. I played it as a 3 of in the main, and I loved it. I would recommend everyone test it and run it if you like how it plays. But I'm on the bandwagon.

Nice man congrats on the finish. I also agree misstep deserves a place in the main in the current meta imo. It is okay if people say other wise bc that is an opinion. What did you cut for mm? I have never been a fan of blue in general and never played it in a tournament until mm came along. I am glad you tested and did well. I am going to say this and receive serious criticism but I cut mother of runes. I am ready to feel the heat and explain why I cut it.
@fry: hey bro I did not see you at jupiter. Also are you going next month? If you are are you playing D&T?

[timmycolossus]

Hey Fry, have you tested with the Grand Abolishers lately? Still on my exam week so I can't really test them but I'm about to get a Foil playset later!

I have been testing grand abolisher and have found him to not be impressive imo. That does not necessarily mean that it does not deserve a place in the sb for certain matchup. Also maybe its my meta as to why it was not impressive in my deck. It is amazing with cataclysm though

[Fry]

I wanted to go so badly, but I couldn't get off work, and it;as not worth calling off for in case I do actually get sick, which is what call offs are for anyway. I will be there in August and September though, got the requests off approved. I don't know what I'll be playing yet, at least not for sure, though if I can't decide D&T is pretty much always my fall back deck now.

[pandaman]

Timmy, my list was:

Main (60)

4 Aether Vial
3 Mother of Runes
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Mental Misstep

4 Serra Avenger
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Jotun Grunt
1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Phyrexian Revoker

4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow

4 Karakas
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
11 Plains

Sideboard (15) (for the first tournament)

4 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Null Rod
1 Serenity
1 Pithing Needle


Sideboard (15) (for the first tournament)

3 Wing Shards
4 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Serenity
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Phyrexian Metamorph

So I cut (from the standard list) 1 Oust, 1 Jotun Grunt and 1 Mother of Runes for 3 Mental Misstep.

Worked out well. Before the second tournament I changed the sideboard, removing Thorn of Amethyst for combo hate, to then run into 4 combo decks (TES, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Four Horsemen, Hive Mind)... boo. Still went 4-2 :P

[timmycolossus]

How did 2 grunt work out for you? How was mother of runes for you in this deck?

[pandaman]

Mother of Runes is always excellent to have. I love it. However, I played four combo decks one tournament, including that Kuldotha artifact deck, so she got boarded out a lot.

Jotun Grunt is good when you see lots of creature decks with Tarmogoyf. I didn't see those decks so he wasn't that good. However, a fat creature is good sometimes - if he comes down mid/late game and you have a Flickerwisp to reset him he's an excellent clock, given by that time you usually have at least one piece of equipment on the board.

Still, although the above cards weren't useful in some matchups, I wouldn't run the deck without either of those two cards in it.

Having said that, I would love a fourth Revoker maindeck... that card is really good.

[_erbs_]

I ran a very different lists from yours, but i do use mental misstep and jotun grunts on the SB as i feel they are SB card more of a main. I use grand abolisher in those spots

As for jotuns, having it main is so so as tarmo is still the most common creature in legacy but i feel if you want to main deck it 2 is the magic number drawing him early is a a bit crappy.

As for mental missteps in the main deck..., well it also has its ups, but for me i would rather be it on the SB. What i really like mm on the MD is that you have protection from 1cc removals and MM for your vial, which is very important in any DT deck, having your vial countered will backtrack and slow you down.

I run 4 mm on my SB, what i cut for SB are 1mom 1serra avenger 2 depends on what im up against. normally i put in mm for decks that packs tons of 1cc removal and a fellow vial user aswell.

[Fry]

my current list is as follows and it has proven itself to me time and time again

Main Board:

3 Flickerwisp
2 Jotun Grunt
3 Leonin Arbiter
3 Mangara of Corondor
4 Mother of Runes
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Serra Avenger
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 AEther Vial
3 Phyrexian Reovoker
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Umezawa's Jitte
9 Pains
4 Karakas
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

Side Board:

3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Flickerwisp
2 Jotun Grunt
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Runed Halo
3 Wing Shards
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Sword of Body and Mind

[AggroSteve]

i was using sword of feast and famine as well and its power surprised me quite a bit, specially against any green deck

first attacking and thanks to pro green into player, than thanks to ability re-equipping for defense is quite awesome, making the opponent lose cards all the time, thus making him uncapaple of answering it once it got startet

the tempo-boost it provides is awesome, but as i haven't got enough space in MD right now and prefer sword of fire and ice, and sword of light and shadow in the maindeck i moved feast and famine to the sideboard