What made you decide on the third Abrupt Decay?
Originally Posted by Koby
Follow me on Twitter @RaNDoMxGeSTuReS
You'll find out in my report come Friday.
Fair. Honestly, this is by far the best-tuned deck I've every picked up from a primer on the source. Most of the primers are garbage.
Empty has been great in the main so far, I understand where you're coming from there. Looks like you updated the decklist on the primer to have a third Abrupt Decay. Is that really better than the first Xantid Swarm? Seems like hedging against the pretty decent chance of playing High Tide or Show and Tell over a 15-round tournament would be better. AD is awesome in this deck though.
EDIT - guess I'll wait for the report on Friday.
I'll read it Thursday night.
Follow me on Twitter @RaNDoMxGeSTuReS
I just went ahead and tested this, since I wrote the script for it anyway. If you replace a Wish/Tutor with an EtW, you're drawing 3.7% less cards on average. This, of course, doesn't really mean anything, but it's pretty cool to know I guess.
"Part of me belives that Barrin taught me meditation simply to shut me up."
-Ertai, wizard adept
http://solidarityprimer.proboards85.com/index.cgi
Yes.
It's at 2:20. All of the TESticles.
Follow me on Twitter @RaNDoMxGeSTuReS
Played TES to a top 8 at the local store, 30ish people in the tournament this time. Played the list on the primer.
Round 1 - Merfolk : game 1 he had a lot of soft permission but didn't have a fast clock. Played the slow game Infernal'ing for mana, killed him t5 or 6 with Ad Nauseam. Game 2 he had double Force, but no pressure. I was clogged with tutors though, used IF as a hymn, then I punted and almost lost by playing double Dark Rit and then not having R for my Burning Wish. Didn't matter, killed him the next turn at 1 life with Wish for PiF.
Round 2 - Belcher : he mulled to 5 and I kept a disruptive hand. Stripped him of a bunch of cards but had no action. Shuffled away some cards with Ponder that would allow a win because it took 2 turns to draw them, definite mistake. He gets me with Belcher in a few turns. Game 2 I kept on 7 a no-lander that wasn't even likely to win if I got there with an IMS. He goblins'd on turn 1, I DRet on my turn 3, whiffed. Pretty much threw this match away.
Round 3 - Jund Scapeshift : game 1 he kept a land-heavy hand and I stripped his only action in Green Sun Zenith. My turn 3 had the option of waiting, making some goblins (but I know he plays Bonfire and Deed), or going for Diminishing Returns. Obviously go for DRet and get there. Game 2 he didn't sideboard, I board in some Therapies. He plays Top, I strip him of Therapy, leaving him no relevant plays. He rips Explorer but whiffs on Therapy, I win with Ad Naus on my turn 2.
Round 4 - Merfolk : Opponent mulls to 4 game 1 looking for lands. Killed him at my leisure. Not a real game. Game 2 I stripped a Force, leaving him Echoing Truth and Pierce, with a Cursecatcher on board and no lords. Turn 3ish I have enough lands and moxen to play a Burning Wish for PiF and pay the tax for 3. Next turn kill him with PiF.
Round 5 - UW Stoneblade : Game 1 the guy has Engineered Explosives as well as double Force, Jace. Infernal'd for Duress and sculpted some with cantrips. He got Jace down, but it didn't matter, stripped the last Force and went off with Ad Naus. Game 2 he again had EE but was light on lands. I played out a Mox and a Petal to play around Pierce and Infernal'd for Dark Rit, even got him to burn a Pierce. Next turn he Mana Leaked my Duress, I just cast Dark Rit and paid, took his Force. Won with Ad Naus next turn.
Top 8 - Death and Taxes : Game 1 I lost because he wasted my Volcanic, couldn't fetch another red source to cast the 3 Rites in my hand (had a Chrome Mox on B), then locked myself out of relevant draw steps with a Ponder that didn't find a red souce (good play). Game 2 I won very easily on turn 3 with an Ad Naus I floated with Ponder after he wasted a land turn 1. Saw he had glowriders. Game 3, he kept up a W for the first two turns. I thought out loud whether he had silence, but decided to call his bluff because surely any deck with Glowrider and Thalia wouldn't play Silence. Besides, D&T plays Canonist. Well. Turns out he just threw the board together and had 1 Silence. Wished for PiF but couldn't find resources to cast it before he Wasted and Mangara'd me out. This was surely a mistake on my part, could have kept a Dark Rit in reserve before going for BWish so I'd at least be able to cast PiF next turn if he did have Silence.
I'd have to say I played cantrips fairly poorly in this event, losing due to Ponders twice. Despite that, the deck functioned beautifully. Every game against blue decks felt like a fucking joke, they either had protection or pressure, never both. I need to work on my keeps when I'm playing against combo, need to figure out how to prioritize speed vs. disruption and an ok hand vs. mulliganning. It was a blast to play! Ad Nauseam is just so much filthier in TES than in ANT. Almost certainly playing TES in Denver.
All of the videos were added to the opening post. Was hoping to keep them a secret until tomorrow when my article goes live. But thanks, jerk.
This is all from my (usually awful) memory, so I hope it's mostly correct...I was playing Bryant’s maindeck (excpet for the 2/2 split on the white protection spells) and very close to his sideboard (2Empty, 2 Decay, 3 Storm Engines, 1 CoV over the second Karakas due to card availability). The tournament (at a local store) had 34 players, which meant 6 rounds of Swiss cutting to a top 8.
Round 1: Jund (2-0)
I lose the die roll, my opponent starts with fetch -> basic Swamp -> Thoughtseize. He sees a mediocre hand which I believe was land, land, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Ponder. He decided to take the Burning Wish. I draw a land, play Ponder (shuffle, draw a land). Next turn he plays Forest -> Dark Confidant. Next turn I draw, then play nothing, as infernal tutor is my only gas.
I don't remember the exact sequence of the rest of the game, but he was on 12 life from a Confidant flip (Maelstrom Pulse), a Fetchland activation, and a 2 Thoughtseizes (the second one grabbed my Infernal Tutor). I drew a Gitaxian probe (into Burning Wish) and was able to kill him with Probe (1), Rit (2), Rite (3), Mox no imprint (4), Duress (5), Burning Wish (6), Tendrils (7).
Had he taken the dark ritual (which was likely correct), I was probably going to Wish into Diminishing Returns on Turn 2, with hopes of casting it the turn after, obviously depending on what my next draw steps yielded.
Game 2, I keep a really loose, no-land hand on the draw (don’t judge me!!): Probe, Ponder, Dark Ritual, Rite of Flame, Infernal Tutor, Duress, Ad Nauseam.
He Thoughtseizes me on turn 1, which made me very sad, well at least until he took my Ponder instead of my probe or ritual :) I proceed to draw a Chrome Mox, Probe into a Lotus Petal, and then play a Turn 1 Ad Nauseam. My first flip is Empty the Warrens, which is then followed by a number of lands, Probes, Brainstorms, Ponders, and 3 Rite of Flame. I stop ADN, when I'm at 4 life and simply play a land then 3 Rites into Empty for either 22 or 24 Goblins. My opponent draws, plays a land, then scoops.
Round 2: Spiral Tide (2-1), Anwar
Game 1, I'm on the draw, he plays Island -> Cantrip, and I play a turn 1 Duress seeing a good hand: Force, Merchant Scroll, High Tide, Time Spiral, Island, Island - I take the Force. Anwar therefore feels the need to Scroll for Force on Turn 2 so that he doesn't die. I can't kill him through a force, so I decide to use my Infernal Tutor to set up a protected kill on my turn 3, instead of Duressing him. Turns out his last 2 draws were Tide, Untap effect, so on his Turn 3, he plays his 3rd Island, Tide, Tide, Untap effect, Time Spiral. I scoop with he casts Blue Sun's Zenith for 9 with 6 mana still available to him (and another Spiral in hand already).
Game 2, He keeps a land heavy (4) hand, I duress away his protection (Force). He Merchant Scrolls for more (Force or maybe a Flusterstorm). However, his brainstorm is unkind to him, and I protected kill him on my turn 3 via Ad Nauseam.
Game 3, Not sure what happened, but he definitely received a lethal dose of Tendrils.
Round 3: U/W Counterbalance (1-1-1), Chris
Game 1, I'm on the draw, he plays Tundra, go. My hand is strong, and can play a protection spell (Duress) on turn 1, and kill on turn 2, or turn 3 with a Silence if I draw any mana source in my first 2 draw steps. However his hand is strong as well, as my Duress reveals the following hand: Fetchland, Spell Pierce, Counterspell, Sensei's Divining Top, Enlightened Tutor. I wasn't thinking properly, and chose to take Spell Pierce (so that he can't play Top and hold up Countermagic next turn or on any subsequent turn until he draws a land). My idiocy is revealed when he plays E. Tutor -> Counterbalance, and taps out for it on turn 2, sigh...
My next turn is spent playing Burning Wish (resolves, as a Fetchland was his top card) -> Hull Breach. He plays Land and Top, I play Hull Breach, which after a fetch and blind counterbalance miss meets Counterspell. At this point his hand is almost completely depleted, so I play Burning Wish -> Past in Flames to set up for a long game (my hand at this point was almost all rituals, so no real chance for a quick kill b/c of his top).
He keeps spinning top, playing lands, etc while play land, go or draw, go. The game goes on for many turns (10+) with him not doing much of anything until he plays a Jace. I finally decide to go for it and play a number of rituals and rites (and a Silence), which all resolve after he checks his top. So now I'm thinking OK, he must have a 4-drop, a 2-drop, and something random (the third card down) on the top of his library, so I play Past in Flames, he reveals Jace. I then play Ad Nauseam, he spins top and reveals Force of Will, I didn't have a Tutor or Wish in hand, so I pack them up. The plan was going to be to find the MD empty…
Game 2, I duress away a Spell Pierce on Turn 1, then Cabal Therapy away 2x Counterbalance on Turn 2. I'm all set up to win, however, my deck then decides to be a huge jerk and give me some really shitty Ponders (all shuffled). My opponent eventually Cliques me, making me bottom my Abrupt Decay. I'm able to find another Decay for the Counterbalance he played shortly after, though I still can't find any business. I FINALLY draw Ad Nauseam, and play it from 8 life (my 6th spell for the turn after protection/rituals) with a Chrome Mox still in my hand. I reveal Ponder, Gitaxian Probe, Chrome Mox, Land, Infernal Tutor - I stop here which puts me to 4 life.
I currently have 3 lands untapped, can still make a land drop for the turn, have BBR floating, and Storm = 5.
My opponent has 18 life, 4 untapped lands plus a fetchland, Thopter Foundry, Sword of the Meek, and EE = 0 in play.
I play Chrome Mox, and with the imprint trigger on the stack, my opponent pops his EE. I choose to remove the Probe when the imprint trigger resolves even though my Mox is no longer in play. I play another Mox, imprint my Ponder, play my land, and then tap everything to get to a total of 8 mana. Play Infernal Tutor (hellbent) for Burning Wish, for exact Tendrils (if he used foundry twice), gg.
If he didn't blow the EE (and therefore could have activated Foundry 4 times), I would have played Mox imprint Probe, cast Ponder, find any ritual or colored card for imprint on the second mox, and win from there (I have one more storm this way).
Round 4: RUG Delver (2-0)
Game 1, My opponent played a Delver on turn 1, and flipped it on turn 2. I don't remember how the game played out exactly, but he decided to use a stifle on my fetch (instead of holding up a second piece of countermagic) and am able to make lots of Goblins through a Force of Will. My opponent had to hit Red Source and Lightning Bolt on a Brainstorm on his last turn to get me for exacts. He hits the Bolt, but I fade the Red Source and win.
Game 2, My opponent taps out on turn 2 for a Tarmogoyf and dies with Spell Pierce and Fluterstorm in hand. Probe let me know that the coast was clear.
Round 5: Mono-Red Chalice Aggro (2-1), Kopac
Game 1, Probe (Seeing a lot of nasties like Magus of the Moon, Chrome Mox, Gathan Raiders, Phyrexian Revoker, etc), City of Brass, Ponder, go. He plays Mox (Imprint Raiders), Phyrexian Revoker naming Lion's Eye Diamond. My turn 2 I play Land, Chrome Mox (Imprint Ponder?), Burning Wish for Diminishing Returns, and then Chant my opponent in his upkeep. Next turn I play a Land, pass, then Silence him in his upkeep. The next turn I play Chrome Mox (Imprint Duress?) then Diminishing Returns, play a Land, pass, then chant him in his upkeep. Next turn, I'm able to Ad Nauseam into the win from 12 life or so.
Game 2, Not sure on details, but he played some nasty stuff and I died very quickly.
Game 3, Very interesting (to me anyway) game. My hand after probing was Land, Land, Duress, Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox, Ponder.
His hand is: City of Traitors, City of Traitors, Chalice of the Void, Chalice of the Void, Phyrexian Revoker, Mountain, ?
I Duress him and take one of his Chalice of the Void b/c Chalice on 1 + 0 straight up beats my hand. I also played a Lotus Petal before passing the turn. To try to convince him off of playing Revoker and Chalice = 0.
He plays a turn 1 Chalice on 1. I draw Burning Wish. I run out Land, LED, Mox imprint Ponder, Burning Wish into Empty for 8 Goblins. Suprisingly, they get there unassisted.
Round 6: Intentional Draw with Jarvis (Shardless BUG)
Top 8: RUG Delver (2-0) very quick games
Game 1, My opponent wins the die roll and plays Delver of Secrets, go. I play land, Ponder, go. He triggers Delver in his upkeep, revealing Force - Ouch, that's like the best possible opening for them! He then died on my third turn...
I played Duress on Turn 2 revealing Force of Will, Force of Will, Stifle, Tarmogoyf, Land, Land - obviously taking one of the Forces.
On his third turn, he plays a land, then Goyf, leaving a Tropical Island untapped. I play a Brainstorm in his end step, and it's damn near perfect - mana, business (Wish), and something, while I have a white protection spell in my hand.
On my third turn I play Land, Silence, and he responds by tapping out to cast Brainstorm (the card he drew last turn). He then Forces the Silence removing Stifle. Because of his two spells, I believe my line was: Tutor for 2nd LED and play it (4+5), LED (6), Tutor (7), Wish (8), Tendrils (9) with him having used a Force and at least one Fetchland. If he had not Brainstormed, and instead held up Stifle, I would have had to use Ad Nauseam with one black floating from 13ish life.
Game 2, He had to mulligan to 5. He was crushed by a protected turn 2 Empty for 14 goblins.
Top 4: High Tide (0-2), Anwar
Game 1, He wins the die roll, and has a decent hand (Force, Merchant Scroll, Tide, Lands, and another blue card). Additionally, Anwar is extremely familiar with the matchup and knows that he should usually be Merchant Scrolling for countermagic, and take the control role in the matchup. I believe I misplayed pretty badly with a Brainstorm (played it one turn early), resulting in me being "Brainstorm locked" and dying miserably. Of course, my deck could have just given me the nuts off of the Brainstorm instead of 3 blanks and I would have won, but it was not to be.
Game 2, I think I played decently despite it being a loss - I wish I remembered more of the details. I do remember two key turns in the game:
First, it is my turn (4?) and I know Anwar's hand contains 2 Flusterstorms amongst other cards. He has an Island tapped (used to play Preordain), an Island untapped, and a Flooded Strand. I see my oppurtunity and play Silence, leaving me a total of 5 mana available and an Ad Nauseam in hand. Predictably, Anwar uses Flusterstorm to attempt to counter Silence, which resolves and I choose not to pay. If he cracked his fetch at EOT, I would have been able to play Ad Nauseam in response, but he didn't...
On the following turn he plays a land and passes. On my turn I play LED and pass. He plays Cunning Wish in my end step, and I respond with Ad Nauseam. He plays Flusterstorm (4 total), and I pay, resolving Ad Nauseam. I draw approximately a million cards, while Anwar finishes resolving his Cunning Wish for Intuition. Unfortunately for me Anwar untaps, draws Ponder, ponders into Tide, plays Candelabra, and has Time Spiral in hand as the last card other than Intuition, and the only card I didn't know due to the nubmer of Duresses/Probes I had played this game (exact mana to play it, too). He draws a good Spiral hand, and I scoop them up.
I finished in 3rd/4th place, good for $120 in Store credit. I picked up some Innistrad "Dual Lands" (3 Harbor, 3 Falls), a Sphinx's Revelation, a Huntmaster of the Fells, and an Angel of Serenity. Deck felt good, seems fairly well positioned, and I think I'm back to playing it decently. I used each of the sideboarded storm engines at least once during the tournament, though I’m not certain if the Ill-Gotten Gains is needed. Also, I know Bryant is moving away from the second Empty in the sideboard, but I’m sticking with it for now.
The only card I realistically cant obtain are the karakas. Is it still okay to play this without them?
I recommend Chain of Vapor/Deathmark if that's the case. These will do. Although they're not the most optimal choice. They just slow you down against Maverick that's all.
Jrp, glad you're back! Also congrats on the finish.
So I'm not allowed to ask questions till Friday, huh?
This is like waiting for Santa on Hanukkah.
It's about the triple Ponder hand with Ad Nauseam.
Follow me on Twitter @RaNDoMxGeSTuReS
I don't know what you're talking about, maybe I will tomorrow.
We have to use our last day on earth to learn the ways of TES?
Sounds like we should all learn Doomsday instead for tomorrow.
West side
Find me on MTGO as Koby or rukcus -- @MTGKoby on Twitter
* Maverick is dead. Long live Maverick!
My Legacy stream
My MTG Blog - Work in progress
I wonder what type of pile you would need to end the world? I guess it would be best to ask lejay.
I've actually been considering trying Bryant's list +1 land, +1 Ideas unbound, and cutting something from the board for a wishable doomsday.
Rite, BW, rit, DD, led, probe, IU, led, led probe, BW, Tendrils sounds great to me. Any wishable deterministic kill should have merit.
Matt Bevenour in real life
Not an entirely bad idea. I've ran DD/sb plans with Storm before. Typically against "fair" decks where Emrakul is just better than Storming. It probably fits better in Fetchland Tendrils than EPIC Storm, so let's move that discussion there. Mainly because SDT is sort of required to make the plays easier.
West side
Find me on MTGO as Koby or rukcus -- @MTGKoby on Twitter
* Maverick is dead. Long live Maverick!
My Legacy stream
My MTG Blog - Work in progress
I've also been doing something like this, only replacing the ETW with a Meditate.
This is likely a bad idea, but it's pretty fun.
Basically allows you to win on the spot with at least 6 life (if you have probe in hand) and a starting mana pile of 1RBBB and then U or 2 life, depending on if you have probe or a ponder/brainstorm.
I like Doomsday way too much for my own good, but these suggestions sound awful. If you have RoF, DR, LED, (B)(R) and a Wish, you should just get DR or ETW.
Just realized I used DR to refer to Dark Ritual and Diminishing Returns. Most of you probably understood anyway.
Last edited by emidln; 12-21-2012 at 10:20 AM.
BZK! - Storm Boards
Been there, tried that, still casting Doomsday.
Drawing my deck for 0 mana since 2013.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Reply With Quote