Jund/ esp Punishing Jund has a pretty time dealing with a strong board presence and Rest in Peace. This makes their DRS/GOYF/PFire's and possible loam engine dead which forces them to waste Decay's on the RiP instead of your creatures. The downside of this is you lose your interaction with KotR, but if you play with 2 WLL, you should just be able to put through with your dudes.Originally Posted by M@verick
Has anybody tested the Dark Depths combo in the Vial build yet?
Edit: Since I currently run an ETutor board, it got me thinking: What about Worldly Tutor instead?
WTutor can grab any hatebear instead of just Canonist and Revoker and allows us to run certain hatebears like Pridemage as one-ofs. Plus, you can set up Vial nicely with it.
Last edited by Barook; 06-23-2013 at 07:41 AM.
I've been playing the GSZ build for a while and I'm finding I struggle vs Stoneforge Mystic/ Batterskull especially in the Death/ Esperblade builds. I run 2 Scryb Ranger because I always wanted it when I ran just one. I have two Phyrexian Revokers in the board. I was thinking of cutting a Ranger for Ulvenwald Tracker. I'd appreciate any thoughts.
Try a tower of the magistrate in the side.
Scryb Ranger is a boss against combat damage abilities (Batterskull's Lifelink, any dork wearing an Umezawa's Jitte). Block with a Dryad Arbor, bounce it before damage; double Mother of Runes activations, being Pro:Blue it blocks Geist of Saint Traft and Vendilion Clique, while having pseudo Vigilance. Honestly feel it is very powerful in the Esper Deathblade matches.
TPDMC
Congrats to Jack Wang, just won SCG Philly with Maverick!
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=56773
The 1 Scrubland was there because I couldn't find a 3rd Savannah, so cut the Scrubland for a Savannah. I actually lost a game because I had to mulligan a decent hand because the Scrubland did not tap for green mana.
Life from the Loam doesn't fit the game plan anymore, so cut it for the 3rd Thoughtseize in the SB.
I'll take questions and if there is enough interest, I'll write a report.
Yes, please.
As for questions, how did the Stoneforge package treat you (as opposed to just cutting them and running two Jittes)? That seemed a bit surprising to me.
Did you ever wish you fit in some Abrupt Decays or Bobs?
Edit: Also, congrats!
How did the aven mindcensors perform? Was the disruption they provided relevant?
Have you seen top gun?
Congratulations! For what it's worth, I would be interested.
TPDMC
I'd also be interested
run more qasali pridemage.
Congratulations!
How did the SoFF perform for you? In which match-ups was it releveant, considering BGx decks run Abrupt Decay?
That would be rad!
Another fun factoid: Jack is the first person to win a large American tournament with Maverick since March 2012, in which Adam Cai took down SCG baltimore with his bant splash, elesh norn loyal retainers maverick deck, and max tietze won the SCG invi baltimore with punishing maverick.
Round 1: UB Tezzeret
Won the match in three games. My opponent misplayed his Jace activations game 1 and that was enough for me to win the first game.
1-0
Round 2: Punishing RUG Cascade splashing for Deathrite Shaman.
I kept a loose hand of no mana accelerants, Karakas and Dryad Arbor. I led off with Mother of Runes, he bolted it, I had no turn 2 play and then I died to his recurring Punishing Fires.
In game 2 I mulliganed a hand that only had a Scrubland for mana. My 6 cards had lands and a Sylvan Library, so I kept it. After paying 8 life to get some card advantage to undo my mulligan, I spent the rest of the game trying to stabilize. Unfortunately he had 2 Lightning Bolts to finish me off.
1-1
Round 3: Dredge
I kept a loose hand game 1 on the play that was Wasteland, three other lands, 2 Swords to Plowshare and a KoTR. I obviously lost while he dredged into beats.
A combination of Deathrite, Thalia and Scavenging Ooze got me the win on game 2.
He misplayed his Cabal Therapy game 3 and I choked his mana when I played a Thalia on turn 2 to win game 3
2-1
Round 4: UWr RIP Counterbalance
He seemed hesitant to keep his hand and he ended up only playing about three spells in the game (Counterspell, EE, and Jace, TMS). He also misplayed the EE, so it was like he only played 2 spells in the game before dieing.
I punted terribly game 2. My lands were all non-basic when he had a Blood Moon, but I had 2 mana dorks and a Gaddock Teeg in play. Unfortunately, when he Detention Sphere'd my Gaddock Teeg, I played a Garruk Relentless instead of actually using my Qasali Pridemage to free my Gaddock Teeg. A Terminus, Energy Field, and Jace, TMS later, he assembled RIP and Helm for the win.
On the play game 3, I played a turn 2 KoTR while all he had was Top and Counterbalance. A few Wastelands later the match was over.
3-1
Round 5: Midrange artifacts
From what I saw, it looked like he was playing a midrange deck with artifact lands, moxes, Stoneforge Mystics, Trinket Mages, and Tezzerets.
After a 35 minute game 1, involving Scryb Ranger, KoTR and Garruk Relentless tricks I finally won through his multiple Stoneforge Mystics.
He mulliganed game 2 on the play with a one lander and led off with Chrome Mox imprinting Force of Will, Mox Opal, Ancient Den into a play that I don't remember. At the end of his turn 1 he only had 1 card in hand. An Engineered Explosives for 0 to wipe his moxes and a Wasteland to destroy his one land was enough to mana screw him for the rest of the game.
4-1
Round 6: Glimpse of Nature Affinity
He had a fast start, but besides one Ravager they were all vanillia 2/2s and 1/1s. So I had enough time to assemble bigger creatures while he bricked on boom booms.
In game 2, I started with some removal and stabilized with KoTR and Lingering Souls. I believe I got lucky in this match up since he never had a Glimpse of Nature to combo off with.
5-1
Round 7: Junk
A combination of Thalia, Aven Mindcensor and some Wastelands wrecked havoc on his mana base. However his Stoneforge Mystics kept him in the game while I also had to hold off an aggressive draw of a few Goyfs and an opposing KotR, so it took us more than 40 minutes to finish game 1.
Game 2 was strange since he started with two Deathrite Shamans with no lands in the graveyard for them to make mana. He also had a Dark Confidant on the play that I did not have a StP for. I was sensing that I would not be able to win the game trying to maintain card parity since he had an active Dark Confidant. So I ramped up to 7 mana and played both parts of a Lingering Souls (I had a Thalia in play). I aggressively attacked his life total while ignoring his Elspeth that he played later; as a result he eventually had to use his Deathrite Shamans to gain life instead of draining me for two. As a result the game went to time and I won the match.
6-1
Round 8: Reanimator
There were 220 players which was 9 players short of 9 rounds, so X-1's could not safely draw since x-1-1 was not guaranteed a spot in the top 8. (Max Tietze ended up at 9th at 6-1-1).
I was unsure of what he was playing game 1, so I led off with Mother of Runes instead of Deathrite Shaman on turn 1 while being on the play. When he Careful Studied away an Iona, I had two options. Play Deathrite Shaman and hope he doesn't have a reanimation spell or play Thalia and hope he gets choked on mana. I decided to play Deathrite to play around Daze, but then he tapped out for an Exhume and Iona was set on White. In hindsight I should have played the Thalia there since I was not beating a Force of Will no matter what play I made.
In game 2 he Plagued Winded me with Elesh Norn, but I had the Swords to Plowshares for it and another StP for his Sphinx of Steel Wind. He bricked on business while a Dryad Arbor with a Jitte finished him off.
In game 3 I had the nuts of Thoughtseize, Thalia and Deathrite Shaman. The combination of that disruption kept him on the backfoot for the whole game and I won.
7-1
I was second after the end of Round 8, so I would have the advantage of being on the play for most of the top 8.
Quarterfinals: Geist Deathblade
He misplayed a Thoughtseize when he choose to make me discard a Thalia instead of Sylvan Library. The extra cards I got off Sylvan Library was enough for me to grind him out of game 1.
He led off with Relic of Progenitus game 2, but my start of Deathrite Shaman, Thalia and some Wastelands was enough to keep him choked on mana. There was a point in the game where if he peeled a 4th land that was a white source, he could have cast Supreme Verdict to stay in the game. But he missed on drawing the 4th land and died to a giant KotR.
SemiFinals: RUG Delver piloted by Pikula
I led off with a Mother of Runes game 1 on the play and he had to spend his first turn killing my Mother of Runes instead of playing a threat. A combination of his mulligan to 6, Force of Willing something, and spending 2 cards to kill my KotR was enough for me to finally resolve a Jitte after he ran out of gas to finish the game.
In game 2 he got unlucky to draw a bunch of Stiles when I did not draw fetchlands. At a certain point in the game he wanted to Stifle my KotR activations multiple times while he got in for three a turn with Delver of Secrets. However I got lucky to naturally draw the Maze of Ith and he ended the game with three dead Stifles.
Finals: Reanimator
He had a turn 2 Griselbrand on the play and that was game 1.
On game 2, I kept a really good hand of Deathrite, Karakas and KotR. He had a turn 1 Griselbrand via a Reanimate, but my natural drawn Karakas forced him to go to 4 life and my Deathrite Shaman finished the game real fast.
In game 3 he did not have an explosive start, so a combination of disruption bears was enough to end the game and match in my favor.
Notes:
- If I had another Thoughtseize in my SB I could have had a better chance of drawing it and not relying on the 1 Karakas to beat a turn 1 Griselbrand
- In the fair match ups, its important to be aware that Thalia makes your spells cost more, so plan on ramping up mana to cast Green Sun's Zenith, StP, planeswalkers, etc.
- Obviously the Scrubland should be the 3rd Savannah.
Mindcensors rarely blow out my opponents completely into a game loss. But the disruption was enough to mess up some Stoneforge Mystic triggers and fetchland activations throughout the day. Being a 2/1 flier with flash was pretty sweet, since you can EoT a flier and put an equipment on it when they are not expecting a flier. Sometimes its just fine being a 2/1 flier that gets pumped by exalted triggers during stalemates where both sides have a bunch of creatures(pretty common in Legacy nowadays)
I have the two Stoneforge Mystics as extra value creatures in grindy match ups where you need the extra card advantage. Or sometimes you just need to cheat in a Batterskull against say, Affinity or Goblins.
I've been thinking about siding in Decays but I don't think Bob fits the game plan in the same way that Life from the Loam rarely fits the game plan. You want creatures that double up as disruption. Its like playing a Prison deck, but your prison pieces can actually kill your opponent.
Congrats on the win, and thanks for the writeup. How did you feel about Garruk in the main, and when exactly do you bring in Souls from the board? I saw you brought it in against affinity and Junk, just not sure what the reasoning behind it is.
I think the biggest thing is the deep seeded emotional understanding that the right play is the right play regardless of outcomes. The ability to make a decision 5 straight times, lose 5 times because of it, and still make it the 6th time if it's the right play. - Jon Finkel
"Notions of chance and fate are the preoccupation of men engaged in rash undertakings."
How comfortable did you feel having only one Jitte in the 75? And what's your general game plan for Punishing Fire decks?
Garruk was great when I needed the card advantage, much in the same way Lingering Souls is needed for extra card advantage. I brought it in against Affinity since from the Modern PTQ season, people figured out that Affinity had trouble beating multiple 1/1 Fliers, so obviously the same logic worked versus Legacy Affinity.
There also a few times in fair match ups, where we figured out that assembling Air Elemental ended the game since the opposing deck didn't have a good answer. Like back last Winter/Spring, my playgroup always wanted at least one Lingering Souls in the maindeck of Stoneblade since just playing Air Elemental was enough to win a game. Against my Junk opponent, I payed 7 mana for 4 power in the air which was enough for him to make awkward attacks and Deathrite Shaman activations so that he didn't die from combat damage.
I would play Elspeth over Garruk Relentless, but the 2WW casting cost is pretty hard to manage in a three color Wasteland deck that has a Cavern of Souls in it.
I was fine with only have one Jitte in the 75.
I haven't jammed a lot of matches against Punishing Fire decks, but I think I am 50/50 or less than 50/50 against them. If they got to the long game where they had a lot of mana and a Grove of the Burnwillows, it was usually hard to win. If the game went long, but I saved my Wastelands for Grove of the Burnwillows or if I choked them on mana through Thalia/Wasteland/Aven Mindcensor then I was usually advantaged to win.
Also having some Oozes and Deathrite Shamans helps to exile Punishing Fires, but that rarely happens since they either kill those two creatures or you untap and win with those creatures.
Congratulations. I was watching and rooting for you. I was about to turn it off, then the Karakas came down and I knew you would pull it out.
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