So I brought the list I posted on page 28 to the January NELC event this past weekend and finished in 9th place due to tiebreakers. I plan on writing a report but for those of you who are curious, the deck went 5-1-1 leaving me as the only 16 pointer out of 4 to not top 8. Round 1 I unintentionally drew with RUG tempo, round 2 I beat UW blade 2-0, round 3 I beat GW maverick 2-1, round 4 I beat affinity 2-1, round 5 lost to UWr blade 0-2, round 6 beat UWr blade 2-0, and round 7 beat Bant tempo 2-1. I'll give an in depth report of the matches when I have some time to write them up this week. All in all the list performed great, my friend played the same list to 10th place with a 5-2 record at the event.
"Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."
Well after boarding, i have 3 extractions, but they can play around surgical if they are good (at least when i try to remove punishing fire). Another option is to waste a grove and surgical the land instead of the fires.
But i want something in my maindeck. I saw scg atlanta lists with geist of seint traft. maybe this is an option.
As I mentioned, you'll have to wait for them to tap their Grove to give you life and then excteact the Punishing Fire in response to the trigger. This way, their Grove is already tapped so they can't trigger it again. Your extraction will resolve first, removing PFire from the game before it goes to their hand. This won't work if they have another untapped Grove in play though (unless you can immediately snapcast the extraction, or have another one in hand). But if they have another Grove in play, wasting one and extracting won't work either, because Surgical Extraction doesn't target cards in play.Originally Posted by preddi
If you get the opportunity to waste the Grove and extract, though, you should probably go for it, before they do get 2 in play.
I think Geist could be a reasonable addition. I was planning on trying him out (alongside the Cliques), even before seeing Tony Chu's list from Atlanta. I actually ran him main before I had the Cliques and he did pretty good, although it was only in one local tourney, so it's more anecdotal. He should be good versus the mirror and plenty of other matchups with spot removal, esp. if you can get a sword or powered Jitte on him.
Unequipped, Geist is an opportunity striker at best, but even then he remains a potent threat, keeping your opponent from fully swinging at you lest you race them with Geist + Angel.
Also, if you can get a Sword of Fire and Ice on one of your critters, they'll be immune to Punishing Fire. If Punishing Maverick is that common in your meta, you might want to run that in the maindeck.
If you run geist just be careful with your removal. I've watched a few blade players use stp in order to swing with geist profitably only to get boned later when an actual threat hits the table. Also geist should not just replace clique...I'd choose not to play geist before I cut my cliques.
"Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."
Can you explain how they got boned? Because he couldn't swing anymore, or some other reason?
Presumably Plowing a 2+ power blocker to try and get quick pressure in with Geist swings and then getting rolled by Knight of the Reliquary.
On the topic of Geist one can attack, generating the 4/4 and if they have a blocker, Karakas could be used to protect Geist. This is only situationally a productive line of play, but ground stalls definitely come up.
The issue I see with Geist is that he's really just a resilient clock. The deck already has 4 SFM, 3 Clique and 2-4 Planeswalkers occupying win-condition slots and all of these cards bring utility to the table. I'm not sure what I'd be comfortable cutting to accommodate him.
Last edited by from Cairo; 01-09-2012 at 10:21 PM.
Sorry, which deck has 4 Knight? No Blade Control (U/W Stoneblade) list that I've seen. The only green I've seen run in U/W Stoneblade is for Krosan's Grip.
My bad, I guess I was thinking Stoneforge and was typing Knight. My overall point was that Geist is purely a win condition. Stoneforge, Snapcaster, Jace and Elspeth can all provide effects to bounce back from unfavorable positions; Vendilion Clique can proactively navigate around some of those positions. For these reasons I can't really see cutting into the core win conditions for Geist. I don't really see a place for him in the MD.
Against control and combo I can totally see Geist shining, keep them off few (if any) blockers and seal the game quickly. But against agro the deck tends to have to grind out it's matches and Geist doesn't help too much against an unfavorable board position. I'd certainly rather be drawing SFM, Snapcaster, or a Planeswalker against Maverick, Junk/Deadguy or tribal.
Okay, so what does everyone think about Tony Chu's changes to his deck? For those of you who don't know, Chu won the SCG Charlotte Legacy Open on 11DEC11 with this deck: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=42657 and then recently won the SCG Atlanta Open on 08JAN12 with this deck: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=43048
Changes to his most recent deck are:
+2 Geist of Saint Traft
+1 Umezawa's Jitte
+1 Wasteland (3 total)
+2 Mana Leak
+4 Mishra's Factory
+1 Oblivion Ring
+1 Tower of the Magistrate
-2 Counterspell
-1 Island
-1 Karakas
-2 Mutavault
-1 Riptide Laboratory (0 Maindeck)
-2 Spellstutter Sprite
-1 Sword of Feast and Famine
-2 Vendilion Clique
You can see a side-by-side of his lists here: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...57&deck2=43048
Todd Anderson (13th place) also swapped the Counterspells for Mana Leaks
Looking at Chu's sideboard, I think he made 2 interesting choices:
1. Leyline of the Void - What exactly are the odds of drawing a Leyline in your opening 7? 40%? And does it drop to 35% if you mull to 6? Leyline is the toughest SB hate to play around, but Surgical Extraction is good with Snapcaster. If you gave me the option of Leyline in play or Surgical in hand, I would pick Leyline all day, but what scares me is the game I mull to 5 and don't see one. Also, since this deck has no way to hard cast them, they are totally deck draws later in the game. I know we can Brainstorm/Jace them away, but how about 2 Surgical/2 Relic?
2. Krosan Grips - I like that Chu packs Artifact/Enchantment hate (something UW has been known to be weak to), but what concerns me is he only has 1 green mana source (Tropical Island). I realize you can leave a fetch until you need to use Grip, but Wasteland isn't going to let that Tropical Island hang around for long. Crucible provides an ability for recursion, but with only 1 in the deck, it is a long shot. Disenchant is weak to Spell Snare, Counterbalance and Batterskull bounce, but it is easier to flash back with Snapcaster. Thoughts!
Just wanted to get the conversation started. Interesting changes Chu made, removing the Faerie package and making the UW Legacy Stoneblade more like the Standard UW deck.
Is Tower of the Magistrate better than Kor Haven? They both shut down an equipped attacker, both are susceptible to Wasteland and can tap for colorless, but Kor Haven isn't only relevant against Stoneforge Mystic decks. Magistrate is admittedly a bigger beating against Stoneforge decks giving a Germ pro-Artifact leaving the 'Skull hanging, but it seems like pretty narrow application. I could totally be missing something, but Magistrate seems loose.
I think the beauty of Tower of the Magistrate is that you remove the threat. True, they can bounce and replay the Batterskull, but that costs 5 mana with a SFM in play, 8 without. It can be used against Maverick in addition to the mirror. I agree, it seems loose, especially with no way to search for the lone Tower, but if you've got the spot, it beats a basic Island. I guess it could also be used against Death & Taxes, to prevent a Mirsha's Factory from pumping itself or to strip a Cranial Plating off Affinity. Plus, Umezawa's Jitte sees play in a lot of decks (Zoo, Merfolk, etc.).
Personally, I like Maze of Ith over Kor Haven. I realize Kor Haven taps for a colorless, but it costs W1 to activate, so it seems like a 'win more' card.
I was wondering the same thing, wrt Maze vs Kor Haven. On the pro side for the Haven is that I guess you can still have your blocker deal damage while being protected from the incoming attacker. On the pro side for the Maze, it makes for good general defense as well as a good pairing with an attacking Geist. Personally, I have a weakness against Bant with KotR and exalted, so a Maze would disrupt that as well. Then again, the main problem I have is getting my non-basics wasted from Knights fetching Wastelands...
Re dropping Riptide: I think it makes sense with a more aggressive deck. I've found that I generally only start thinking about bouncing wizards in the late game due to the cost, and Chu's deck wants to put more of a clock in place. Plus, you can still bounce your Vendilion (and Geist) with a Karakas if you have one, and bouncing and recasting a Vendilion seems like a more disruptive play in the long run, and for less mana (if you include the cost of snapcasting a spell; the same amount of mana otherwise, including the tapping of Karakas).
On the other hand, I have found uses for Academy Ruins in the mid game when I was running Engineered Explosives (when I was splashing red; currently I'm trying to go purer U/W with the Geists, though I also have the Trop and Krosans in the SB). But without recurring explosives, it becomes somewhat of an edge case. Recurring equipment would obviously be useful, but is it worth the slot for that?
Chu cut Karakas as well, so no bouncing of Clique/Geist at all. I think for this deck, it is best to leave Maze of Ith/Kor Haven out.
The Tower of the Magistrate/Riptide Laboratory/Academy Ruins/Karakas situation warrants discussion. For Academy Ruins, I think this plays best in the Counterbalance/Enlightened Tutor deck, as you will have more artifacts and can fit in Tolaria West. Tower/Karakas is a meta decision - Tower to stop Batterskull and Karakas to stop Emrakul/Reanimator
I'm more interested in Chu's source of sideboard graveyard hate - Leyline of the Void over Surgical Extraction/Relic of Progenitus. I've played with Leyline's in this list and it just such a dead draw later in the game. Surgical is nice with Snapcaster. Perhaps I'll switch.
Also, Tower can protect your guys from Jitte counters and SoFI damage.
I'm interested in knowing why the Maze isn't right for this deck. It certainly seems to be the consensus, but why?
Also, don't forget about Karakas vs Marit Lage ;-)
True, Karakas does wreck Dark Depths, but so does Wasteland (pre-Marit Lage) and Swords to Plowshares / Path to Exile / Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Shame that deck isn't seeing much play.
I think the reason Maze is wrong for this deck is 3 fold:
1. You want the threats off-board. You want to STP/PTE/WOG away creatures, not keep them on board and nullify them.
2. You have no way to search for Maze of Ith. In Maverick or Bant, you have Knight of the Reliquary and you can search for Maze at instant speed. In 40 Lands (which runs 4 Maze of Ith), you are dumping your entire library in your graveyard and can bring it back with Life from the Loam.
3. Maze of Ith produces no mana. In this deck, you need all your mana drops to count and an opener with 2 land and a Maze is not as good as an opener with 3 mana-producing land.
Also, Maze is dead against creature-less decks (Storm, Hive Mind, High Tide, Enchantress, combo, etc.). In a deck with KotR (or any other creature with a tap effect), you can attack with your creature and in response to combat damage, untap with the Maze. The damage still goes through and you can use your tap effect, basically giving your creature vigilance, so it's still not a completely dead card versus a creature-less deck (although should be boarded out).
Congrats goes out to Tony Chu for pulling down another victory with U/W stoneblade (take a look, as he didn't use Karakas).
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=2435
I like it; even if it does splash green.
I'm trying to find a way to fit jitte into the main and am having trouble with what to remove.
I'm running SOFF and Batterskull as equipment and fairy version of the deck.
I've been thinking of moving a single Force of Will to the sideboard to accommodate the main deck jitte or going to 61 cards. Any opinions?
You could drop to 3 FOW. This guy did it: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/l...hould_Too.html and said it works well.
Thanks, that's a really good article
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