Awsome! I also read your report (I am from Perú) and it will help me a lot.Originally Posted by Frid
The thing is that i just finished the deck a week before the banning (and without the red splash) so i was kind of wondering if you could tell us, more or less, what you sided out and in through your matches?
A vague idea will help a lot!
Thx and congratz
EDIT> and also, wouldn't it be a good idea to add +1 or +2 tundra instead of basic ilands (know that you are planning to add Wrath)
This is how I sideboarded:
R1: 2 relic and 2 explosives for 2 shackles and 2 vendilion.
R2: 3 reb for 3 swords to plowshares.
R3: 3 firespout and 2 explosives for 1 vendilion, 1 jace and 3 snare.
R4: 2 relic for 2 cspell.
R5: Nothing, and had I known what I was playing against I would have done the same.
R6: 3 peacekeeper for 1 snare, 1 cspell and 1 jace. I knew he changed the NO package into stoneforges plus equipment postboard.
R7: 4 stp for 3 reb y 1 surgical.
R8: 3 reb, 3 fspout and 2 explosives for 2 jace, 3 cspell and 3 vendilion. That's right, I didn't bring in peacekeepers, and I'm sure that's the right call.
Quarterfinals: 3 reb, 3 peacekeepers and 2 surgical for 4 stp, 2 shackles and 2 snare. I knew he had a transformational sb into show and tell.
Semifinals: 3 reb for 2 shackles and 1 stp. Just in case of possible confidants.
Finals: Same as round 6
What I like most of this deck is the fact that it can pack loads of basic lands. I don't want to play a dual if I can play some combination of fetchlands on color and basics. Two tundra is more than enough to cover the few cases you have to fetch them. It's true that adding a pair of wraths makes me need WW in some games pos board, but 80% of the time the decks I will bring wrath in against don't play wastelands (bant, zoo, show and tell...). The rest is GW and maybe goblins, and think that I just run two wraths, so in many of the games I won't even draw into it. If the deck mana worked perfectly with 3 peacekeepers it also should work at least fine with two wraths.
Anyway, if you don't feel comfortable at all playing two tundras I suppose you can add a third one cutting one island. But I'm nearly sure that the times you will get screwed because of that island being a tundra will be more than the times you will say thanks for having a tundra there. That's the simple reason why I don't want to play more than 2.
THANK YOU!
I still need a couple of cards to complete your list. but i will try it in a week or so and let you know.
my final question :)
did you kill using jace's ultimate? or it was mainly use to brainstorm?
Of course I did. Brainstorm is just a tool to fill your hand, at some point you will have to win. There are even situations when playing jace that if you have already countermagic and removal in hand, and you're facing an empty board, you can (and should) start fatesealing right there.
I think the same. The ultimate is awsome. And using 4x Jace helps a lot, because you don´t need to protect the first one that much, knowing that you have a second comming.
Wow, thanks for the sideboarding details!! How effective were the REB's? I imagine it would be a total blowout against Jace or opposing Cliques but... Maybe it would be better to keep the mana strong by going straight U/W now that you are talking about playing Wraths? Are there really that many situations where you needed the REB and couldn't have used a Path to Exile or Spell Pierce instead?
You talk about the importance of playing a lot of basics to avoid getting crippled... I can't help but agree now that people are going back to Stifles. Do you think the slight power loss from cutting red might be worth ensuring that the tempo decks don't have game against you?
Absolutely. The real action in the control mirrors starts when both players have a decent amount of mana on the table, and this makes spell pierce useless half of the time. I have played this and other similar decks with spell pierce in the sb and really hated it. It's not a good card for a control deck, and dispel for example would be much better. But reb is the best card by far you can play to win control mirrors. I can't imagine playing the deck without it. The third color also makes engineered explosives much better.Are there really that many situations where you needed the REB and couldn't have used a Path to Exile or Spell Pierce instead?
I directly avoid playing path to exile in my decks because it's a bad card in my opinion (but hey, that's me)And as I said before, I don't think adding a pair of wraths in the sb will change much regarding the mana. You just have to fetch the second white mana in the form of a tundra when you're casting wrath, and then most of the time it will be irrelevant if they wasteland it because you will be facing an empty board... Anyway this weekend I will play the new sb configuration in a local tournament tomake sure it works.
I don't think this deck should care about stifle at all. Of course if you keep a two land hand and get stifled you're in trouble, but in such scenario who wouldn't? Once you've fetched the plains you have won half of the game. 24 land plus eight basics is a decent road to victory here, and you can always use wastelands to make them spend stifles. In the round I played against TA I ate some stifles and didn't care at all, still won 2-0 with him not having a chance.
What I love from stifle decks when I play against them is the fact that many times they have to stay untapped if they want to stifle, and because they're so light in lands many times they can't cast anything but a cantrip before passing. This buys yourself so much time that by the time you start fetching you have 5 or 6 lands in play and don't care at all about being stifled even twice. It's really funny. Unfortunately, delver of secrets has changed this a bit and now it's harder not to be under big pressure since the beginning, but swords to plowshares still costs one mana and they're still usually behind.
@Frid:
You currently have Sword of Body and Mind.
Do you think the other swords have use in this deck?
Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace
Sword of Fire and Ice
After seeing the top 8, I'm thinking about running Stifle since it has a lot of game against combo and Zoo. Another card I was thinking about is Mother of Runes as she can give similar protection to Mystics like Misstep used to provide.
@Frid:
You currently have Sword of Body and Mind.
Do you think the other swords have use in this deck?
Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace
Sword of Fire and Ice
Nope. With just 10 creatures I don't want more swords, because it's relatively easy to draw into them, and the tempo loss of playing, equipping and having the creature killed with nothing more toequip can be a headache. I had to choose one, and it was SoBM because the token trigger lets you race opposite big creatures (which are green 90% of the time) by swinging and after combat equipping the token, and doing it again turn after turn. It's the only sword that is able to race an unfavourable field by itself.
About mother of runes I would argue the same as I did about not running more swords: With just 10 creatures it's hard to take full avantage from it. I mean, this is not GW or whatever, where you can easily run 3 swords and the playset of mothers is mandatory.
I have concerns about this deck. It doesn't look like a deck that can handle the meta that is full of combo decks. Namely, Storm and Reanimator. Storm looks like it's too fast and Reanimator seems to run too much disruption. Thoughts on fighting those decks?
Oh, and just a thought: Grim Lavamancer + Basilisk Collar?
I had Basilisk Collar in my early lists. I pulled it since it sucked on everything but the Lavamancer. Not horrid on a Mystic or clique, but far from good. if you end up using Hawks again, it's fairly decent all of a sudden though. Getting kills from multiple hawks for free was always funny.
Storm combo is an easy matchup unless you keep a hand full of dead cards, at least for my list (defeated an ANT deck in semifinals with 5 and 4 cards hands in game 1 and 2 respectively), and reanimator post board should be also easy (4 red blasts, 2 relic, 2 surgical).
Combo is not the problem for this deck. Fast swarm decks with much removal like aggresive versions of zoo are, and even aggresive versions of bant with many creatures and 4 zenith. Those are the pairings one should care about when playing this.
What about Mirran Crusader? It has protection from green, which lets it chump Goyfs, Knights, and even kitties all day long. Throw a sword on it and it can even race a Progenitus. It has issues sadly, like dying to Lightning Bolt and Grim Lavamancer while also having double W in it's casting cost. Thoughts?
I don't think that there's any problem with the card, but what would you cut to fit it in? Everything else just seems so much more important.
Maybe cut the Vedalken Shackles? It's slow and can't grab bit creatures right off the bat.
I've tried Mirran Crusader time and time again and his casting cost has always been an issue for me. Almost anytime I rip him I just simply dont have WW. Hes an amazing beater though, and if red is going to be specifically for sideboard I could see people squeezing him in the deck. I think I'd rather find ways to abuse snapcaster personally though ;)
Alright, next question:
Will Daze see play in this deck? It's a means to help protect our SFM cast on turn 2. Or will Daze hinder us too much?
Then you cast SFM and pass the turn your oppenents has either 2 or 3 mana available. Bolt, Chaining Lightning, StP, PtE blank daze. SFM is not tarmogoyf to which your oppentent responds with a bigger threat himself so you can daze it and gain tempo. It's unlikely anybody wants to race SFM->Skull with a "bigger creature"
www.theepicstorm.com - Your Source for The Epic Storm - Articles, Reports, Decktech and more!
Join us at Facebook!
Hey guys,
this is the list I'm currently testing. It feels very powerful, yet some things 'mI not completely sold on. I'm aware of the alternatives but don't seem to be able to judge the best choices for large tournaments (--> GP Amsterdam), which is why I'm asking you for crits.
Thanks it advance!
UWR Stoneblade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island (see SB)
3 Mutavault
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
[-22-]
(Very happy with the mana base)
4 Spellstutter Sprite ---------------------- debatable choice, but right now I love'em
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Snapcaster
1 Grim Lavamancer ----------------------- might appear random, but it's basically spot removal #8 that can carry equipment - I'm concidering -1 Bolt, + 1 Lavamancer - but Bolts are much better at handling Planeswalkers.
2 Opt ----------------------------Still not sure about Opt. With Sprites and Snappers I like keeping my mana open though (also revelant if only "bluffed"), plus those 2 make up for land #23 and give more flexibility beyond that
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor ------------------------ I did play a full set but found myself boarding out 1-2 way too often (against fast aggro/combo/mana denial decks) to justify 4.
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
2 Lightning Bolt -------------------------------- I used to run Shackles but with Snapper more spot removal just seems better
1 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare ---------------------------------- the correct number with Snapper and Sprites imo
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice ------------------------ it's a meta choice, obv., but what Sword would you run at 200+ ppl events and why?
SB:
1 Umezawa's Jitte ---------------------- pretty happy with that sb choice.
2 Path to Exile ------------------------- with 13 removal spells postboard, Firespouts just seem overkill
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
1 Ancient Grudge ------------------------ not sure if those two legitimize the mini green splash
1 Krosan Grip
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Trinket Mage -------------------------- mini toolbox (still testing that set up, sometimes I feel that versatility<speed though)
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt ------------------------ Relics just seem like bad idea with Lavamncer and Snapper,
---
Closing thoughts:
--> Peacekeeper was a house in the Misstep days, but I feel he's lost some of his power since then. --> hot or not?
--> I've tested Riptide Lab, and used its ability 2x/80 games, which disappointed me. I used Karakas more often and would definitely favor the latter, but with a 3 color mana base plus Mutavaults I can't see including more colorless/white mana sources would be beneficial.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
