[Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

[Megadeus]

Game 1 blind if I have a nutters hand I will probably go for it as well. I mean they dont know you are on combo so you know that they arent specifically looking for a force of will. They just want a solid hand.

[Tammit67]

I didn't. I just went for it.

I feel like I'm getting worse with storm since I often know their hand when going off instead of just going for it like I'd have to with TES. I don't have to read people anymore

[Lans89]

@Endure2004: Wow your TES opponent in round 2 was probably still sleeping :P? In the other rounds players made some nice mistakes as well. It's a big + that TES can get a huge advantage of other player's mistakes ^^! Game 1 against Junk in round 4 must have felt epic too :P...

Thanks for both reports!

[jin]

I suppose I tend to play in small tournaments, so I don't get a chance to just go. I normally eat that FOW that they top-decked. I guess a big tournament will allow more room to just go for it. Thanks for the insight guys!

Reading people is definitely a skill that I have not developed fully. Gitaxian Probe is really helping out (or not depending on how you look at it).

[goblinsplayer]

Hi! I am selling death and taxes to buy into this deck. Any advice for a new TES player?

[Megadeus]

Goldfish alot and learm the lines of play.

[goblinsplayer]

Goldfish alot and learm the lines of play.

Thanks

[jin]

Thanks

Watch videos and read tournament reports involving how to SB.

[Jay_Gatz]

Hi! I am selling death and taxes to buy into this deck. Any advice for a new TES player?

Find a more experienced storm player to watch and to watch you play and comment, makes it a lot easier than trying to learn everything for yourself

[Megadeus]

I watched all of the videos in the OP and learned the lines by reading the posts. It took me awhile to get it all down, and I remember in my very first game with the deck Tutoring with 3 mana..

[goblinsplayer]

I just got this deck today.(with the cards from jupiter games) I have been playing against my brother who runs nic fit and i got 3 wins off him when he got 4 wins off me. Is this a good matchup for him or me?

[Megadeus]

You. Im not going to say Nic Fit is a bye, but G1 it shouldnt be too tough. G2 & 3 are a bit more difficult, especially if they are running Mindbreak Trap.

[Bryant Cook]

Just read the opening post. Then all of the content within the links section.

[Arew]

A pretty bad report, since I didn't take notes and haven't slept , but I played T.E.S. at Cincinnati this weekend to a pretty disappointing 74th at 5-4. I also went 2-2 in the Legacy Challenge. In the challenge I used Bryant's changes to both the maindeck and the side, but only the changes to the sideboard for the Open. Also important to note, I couldn't find 2x Silence before the player's meeting so I had to borrow 2x Orim's Chants from a friend.


Challenge:
R1: Esper Stoneblade (2-0)

I killed him G1 pretty easy, G2 he mulled to six and kept Leyline of Sanctity + Force + Top + one land, he stumbles on mana and I make a lot of goblins and hope he doesn't have land + explosives on top.

R2: Lands (2-1)

He managed to lock me out G2, G3 he kills all my lands but doesn't find any lock pieces and gives me plenty of time to sculpt a sweet hand to just kill him.

R3: ??? (X-2)

I honestly just don't remember this match at the moment.

R4: homebrew ANTish build (1-2)

He gets me G1 on the play, I get him g2 on the play, and G3 I mull to six and keep: City, Volc, Fetch, LED, LED, Lotus Petal. I keep thinking I should have mulled, but my thinking was I have to get lucky to get a five that will kill him, and he runs more discard than I do, and if I have to get lucky either way, might as well keep the hand that just needs a tutor.

Open:

R1: OmniTell (2-1)

G1 we both mull to six, I can kill him on t2 and he didn't keep a counterspell other than Divert. G2 we both mull to six again, but his is Land, Lotus Petal, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Griselbrand, Leyline. I wasn't expecting Leyline, so I didn't side in Chain of Vapor's and had just cut the Hull Breach, so I scoop it up when he Griselbrands into Emrakul. G3 keeps a no land hand with Leyline + Force, so I silence into Ad Nauseam into Chain on his Leyline into the kill.

R2: Reanimator (0-2)

G1 we both durdle, he eventually has two unknown cards in hand, so I go for it, it's Force + blue card, a couple of turns later he reanimates Iona and I die. G2, I mull to six and he has T2 Jin-Gitaxias, and I don't have enough mana to go for any combo, so on my turn I silence him, play Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, LED, Infernal > Xantid Swarm and hope to draw a business spell. I don't.

R3: Esper Stoneblade - Matt Hoey (1-2)

G1 he has a lot of discard that I can't beat, G2 I land Xantid Swarm and kill him, G3 I cast four brainstorms and only find one protection spell and he has two counterspells when I go for it.

R4: Esper Stoneblade (2-0)

My opponent doesn't really do much, and is pretty new to Legacy, I kill him fairly easily both games, not much to report. Xantid Swarm did some work G2 by baiting a Force.

R5: RUG Delver - Curt Krane (0-2)

G1 I mull to four looking for an initial mana-source, though I mull'd a five of: Git Probe, Git Probe, Orim's Chant, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal and am forced to keep a four of something like Lotus Petal, Dark Rit, Rite of Flame, ???, G2 my only real window is on T3 when I Cabal Therapy him, with the intent on making 12 goblins that turn, he brainstorms, I brainfart and still name Force, even though it's obvious he would put it back and Daze kept me one mana away from comboing. I go outside for a bit to avoid tilting, playing against an acquaintance sucks, even more when you mull to 4 then punt the next game.

R6: Nic Fit (2-1)

G1 I burning wish, realize I don't have a tutor in my yard for IGG or PiF, and didn't crack my LED for blue like an idiot and get Empty, get him to one before he lands a deed and I don't find a burning wish for grapeshot. G2 and 3 he plays some hatebears, has a mindbreak trap or two I kill them/bounce them/discard them, and then him.

R7: UB Painter Grindstone (2-0)

G1 I'm forced to Ad Naus at 8 life and six storm and get there, at this point I'm ecstatic, because that's the lowest I've ever won with that card. G2
he keeps a pretty loose hand with nothing but a mindbreak trap, I cantrip for a couple turns, duress his trap, kill him.

R8: Maverick (2-1)

G1 he goes Forest, pass. I Gitaxian Probe him to see Thalia and Teeg in hand, have 2 cantrips, a land and 2 dark rits in my hand at this point, rip Ad Naus, kill him from 18. G2 he gets Momx2, Thalia and Thalia out before I can deal with it, so I scoop and move to G3, I play a t1 cantrip, t2 make 12 goblins, and he can't deal with it.

R9: ANT - Benjamin Ball (1-2)

G1 I have T1 Ad Naus, G2 I mull to a mediocre six and he kills me before I can go off, G3, I t1 Duress and see Delta, Delta, Cabal Rit, Cabal Rit, LED, IT, BW. I take LED, he plays a land and passes, and at this point my hand is Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Dark Rit, Rite of Flame, Ponder, Silence, and my line of thought was that he runs around 8 discard spells and only has 3 LED's left, so I go for the set up with Ponder instead of leaving Silence up and set up for a t3 Ad Naus, he EOT Brainstorm's into an LED and I'm dead.

Overall the deck felt fine, most of my mulligans this weekend were due to no-land hands, so maybe the 14th land would be nice, but I flooded out a couple times during the challenge. I'm sure I messed up more than the points I pointed out, but due to a lack of sleep after playing T.E.S. for nine rounds, I'm pretty fried. Xantid Swarm's were pretty awesome all weekend, and won me multiple games, so I was pretty happy about that change. Fairly upset I didn't money, and pretty sure it's my fault, so it's time to tank and try to find out where it happened.

Props:
Terrell Boaz getting 4th, it's about time one of us makes it.
Xantid Swarm for being the best bug ever.
Bryant for making the deck.
Ross Koblentz and Chris Kronenberger for convincing me to play Storm over Elves.

Slops:
No lands
Myself for sucking

[NQN]

sup guys,
haven´t played for almost 2 years now but since I found out there was going to be a Legacy GP in Europe soon im super stoked to be able to play the most amazing deck ever in a tournament again! One thing i was wondering (probably has been asked a thousand times already, but i´d like a "new" answer to this:)
Are the amounts of Misdirection higher than Surgical Extraction in the current meta? Or what else is the reason for 4 Silence instead of 2/2?
I will write a report for sure if I make day2, but as far as my observation goes, i feel pretty good so far, knowing that people don´t seem to except storm that much anymore.
Thanks for any answers!
greetings,
notquitenoob

*EDIT* Last time i played was Amsterdam where I made day2 with ease just to get destroyed by 3 reanimators in a row the following rounds, i was wondering if there is any "new" tech they can bring against us in addition?

[Asthereal]

Silence is played instead of Chant because of stuff like Leyline of Sanctity mostly.
And because we almost never use the 'you cannot attack'-option anyway.
Misdirection has also become pretty bad against us because we don't play targeted stuff game 1 anymore, but that wasn't the main reason. People usually don't play much of those effects anyway.
Getting your Silences Extracted can be a nuisance, but I never lost because of it. One can always Wish for more protection.

EDIT: I see you are from Europe. We have more Storm than the American meta, so people here also adapt to it more. Always a good idea to keep that in mind.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

...haven´t played for almost 2 years...

I seriously thought you died.

[NQN]

I seriously thought you died.

People remember me? :D I`m flattered!

No, actually, i just began my academic studies, got a gf and discovered LoL :P

Edit: Just played a game on MWS, a guy played Pithing Needle naming LED. Nothings changed :p
Edit2: Thanks for the explanation! Back in the days i always liked the 2/2 split, saved my ass bunch of times because of the moat-effect but also against stuff like said Extraction or Cabal Therapy. I´m not sure how fast Dredge is these days, but when I played it the matchup was often decided by a Chant+kicker at the right time! Japanese Chants look so much cooler than my chinese Silence :*(

[Asthereal]

LOL yeah that stuff still happens from time to time.

I have only once cast Chant with kicker in four years of TES. So the not-targeting Silence has my preference.

Against Dredge decks you can still use Silence to stop them from Dread Returning and Cabal Therapying. That slows them down a full turn to combo out. There's also a rather popular Manaless list right now. I think it's crap compared to LED dredge with 12-13 lands and Faithless Looting, but people seem to like the fact that it's such an awkward deck to play against. It still dies to proper grave hate though. So there's really really fast Dredge, but you are just as likely to encounter a slower Manaless list.

EDIT: Watch out for the new stuff with creatures from the last set that drop their deck in the grave at once and then win on the spot. Like this dude: Balustrade Spy. Could become the flavour of next week.

[phazonmutant]

*EDIT* Last time i played was Amsterdam where I made day2 with ease just to get destroyed by 3 reanimators in a row the following rounds, i was wondering if there is any "new" tech they can bring against us in addition?

Griselbrand is a thing. I know there's one Sourcer in France who plays Reanimator with Stifles (for the Shallow Grave trigger), as if the matchup wasn't hard enough already. There's likely to be less Iona and probably no Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, but should still have Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in the 75. Show and Tell decks have mostly taken over Reanimator's role as the Force of Will combo decks.

I think the biggest change for storm in the past 2 years was the printing of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. She's made W creature matchups like Death and Taxes (mono-W) or Maverick (GW aggro hatebears) even to difficult. Fortunately mostly those decks have changed to be Junk so you'll only have to face a bunch of Hymns and Mindbreak Traps out of the creature decks.

Hope you do well!