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

[Tom T]

Woah! Plans flipped over!

Berlin will probably send a whole battalion of stormtroopers to Paris for Bazaar of Moxen in November :DD



Amazing to meet all the Sourcers IRL today. Greetings to MD.Ghost ;)

I'm going as well, but I'm the only stormtrooper of the team. I don't know if Team Nijmegen will send some of their TES-players, but I guess not. Maybe Asthereal will, but then we have to hope he doesn't rock his wacky Hypergenesis combo haha!

[Tom T]

How do you guys feel about the 3rd abrupt decay in the board? Miracles has really dropped off lately which is where decay really shined. It's not great against Thalia. Would something else be a better use of that slot?

Against Chalice of the Void @1 you need the Abrupt Decay, because Chain of Vapor gets countered.

Maybe we'll have to look into the sideboard and figure out what to do against more permanent-based hate. Abrupt Decay feels a bit clunky lately. It's hard to cast in a field with Thalia, Chalice and Wasteland. Chain of Vapor is great though!
I realized I don't sideboard the Xantid Swarms very often. It is great against decks like Esper Stoneblade, but now that they switched to Deathblade they are running Abrupt Decay. So it's only good against Merfolk, which I don't encounter often.

EDIT: I just realized Abrupt Decay is the best removal TES could have. I should most likely play discard and board out the Silences instead in match-ups with Wasteland + Permanent-based hate.

[davelin]

I've tested a pyroclasm instead of third decay. Been very situationally helpful but dead otherwise. Agreed third decay doesn't come in often.

[phazonmutant]

I still think IGG is the most expendable of the Wish-target slots if you decide that it's more important to have answers to permanent-based non-U decks than to have a quick (conditional) line to take against them.

I agree that the third Decay has been marginal lately. Massacre seems pretty good right now given that there's lots of Thalias and Canonists but not many Teegs. I think at the end of the day though, the stock list is fine. Decays is very versatile.

[Lemnear]

The problem with Decay and the main reason why I near-never board it against anything that doesn't run counterbalance/Chalice is that removing Thalia, Cannonist and Thorn costs 1BG, which is a burden for a deck with such a low count on permament mana.

That's exactly the reason I rather Silence walk those Hate for W, than removing it for 1BG.

However, that doesn't mean that Decays are expandable. They ARE cruicial in the named matchups. The question is, why you want Pyroclasm in addition to Grapeshot in the board?

[HammafistRoob]

Well it is an efficient answer to Cannonist+Teeg. It's also a good way to slow Goblins and Elves with very little setup. I'm not sure it's necessary though, just giving him the benefit of the doubt and trying to keep an open mind.

[Pelikanudo]

@Lemnear Question:

about Heart of Storm 5 > Semifinals – UWB Esper Deathblade > Borading plan

I just wanted to ask why isn't better for you to side out 3 Silences instead of 3 duress.
Related to this:
Sideboarding: -3 Duress, -1 Empty the Warrens, +2 Cabal Therapy, +2 Chain of Vapor.


Apart, good job with these articles, I also feel the Heart of the storm as you.

[Lemnear]

@Lemnear Question:

about Heart of Storm 5 > Semifinals – UWB Esper Deathblade > Borading plan

I just wanted to ask why isn't better for you to side out 3 Silences instead of 3 duress.
Related to this:
Sideboarding: -3 Duress, -1 Empty the Warrens, +2 Cabal Therapy, +2 Chain of Vapor.


Apart, good job with these articles, I also feel the Heart of the storm as you.

I've learned from my round 1 opponent, that this archtype brings in creature based hate in form of Meddling Mage and run's less countermagic than I previously expected. Duress can't touch creatures, Silence however can keep creatures off the table as Chain and Therapy can handle them directly.

I wanted to keep a few cards in to handle FoW or random Flusterstorms, so the Silences stayed instead of overboarding with A.Decays in addition to chains.


P.S.: you may attach questions regarding the article rather to the article itself than in the TES thread, because those questions are way too important to get burried somewhere here. Thx in advance :)

[davelin]

Well it is an efficient answer to Cannonist+Teeg. It's also a good way to slow Goblins and Elves with very little setup. I'm not sure it's necessary though, just giving him the benefit of the doubt and trying to keep an open mind.

Yes, I find Pyroclasm is a better hate-bear remover than Grapeshot.

[Tom T]

Yes, I find Pyroclasm is a better hate-bear remover than Grapeshot.

I'm thinking about playing 2/3 Dread of Night in the board.
So I now have the stock list with SB -Grapeshot, -1 Xantid Swarm, -1 Chain of Vapor, +3 Dread of Night.

5 Silence effects seem enough in this meta, Grapeshot hasn't been useful except as fancy kill condition.

What do you guys think?

[Lemnear]

Yes, I find Pyroclasm is a better hate-bear remover than Grapeshot.

Grapeshot is however more flexible because it can take out bigger creatures. If hatebears are a problem for you, which is more of a rare problem for the deck due to it's nature, you may remind that wishing for Pyroclasm isn't all that amazing against Cannonist and Thalia as well.

I'm about to tune the deck for BoM which WILL bring a lot of changes to the main and side, because I expect the crowd being prepared to storm

I'm thinking about playing 2/3 Dread of Night in the board.
So I now have the stock list with SB -Grapeshot, -1 Xantid Swarm, -1 Chain of Vapor, +3 Dread of Night.

5 Silence effects seem enough in this meta, Grapeshot hasn't been useful except as fancy kill condition.

What do you guys think?

You want to scoop to OmniTell and Meerfolk? Don't cut Swarm and CoV. If you dislike Grapeshot and pass on killing creatures out of your Sideboard ... do it. DoN is crap.

[feline]

Cook's on camera, last round!

[Deviruchi]

Maybe it is 2 am here but this game was EPIC and worth watching.

[Basaka]

Aaaaaaaaand he wins. What a master.

16 goblins > SFM.

[Kayradis]

The girlfriend was wondering why the hell I was going apeshit watching the SCG stream.

Too bad she can't understand!

[davelin]

Grapeshot is however more flexible because it can take out bigger creatures. If hatebears are a problem for you, which is more of a rare problem for the deck due to it's nature, you may remind that wishing for Pyroclasm isn't all that amazing against Cannonist and Thalia as well.

I'm about to tune the deck for BoM which WILL bring a lot of changes to the main and side, because I expect the crowd being prepared to storm




You want to scoop to OmniTell and Meerfolk? Don't cut Swarm and CoV. If you dislike Grapeshot and pass on killing creatures out of your Sideboard ... do it. DoN is crap.

Agreed that it is rare that the deck needs to wish for a hatebear answer and if so, its probably not going to end well for the TES player. However is those rare circumstances Pyroclasm wouldve been a better answer than grapeshot.

[testing32]

I'm leaning toward swapping out the 3rd abrupt decay with shattering spree.

[davelin]

Maybe it is 2 am here but this game was EPIC and worth watching.

Anyone with link?

[Lemnear]

I'm leaning toward swapping out the 3rd abrupt decay with shattering spree.

Why would you do so? Destroying a Chalice of the Void is RR compared to Abrupt Decay's BG and I have no clue which deck runs any Mainboard Artifact you need to destroy.



Edit:
What da fuck did happen in the Quarterfinals?! Losing against a Goblin.dec on the draw with only 4 starting cards ... bad beat

[paeng4983]

Why would you do so? Destroying a Chalice of the Void is RR compared to Abrupt Decay's BG and I have no clue which deck runs any Mainboard Artifact you need to destroy.

Maybe Affinity, MUD and other artifact base decks are rampant in his meta.
But in general, the current SB list is fine vs. those decks.
Just use your decays and vapors properly at the right time.

I'm about to tune the deck for BoM which WILL bring a lot of changes to the main and side, because I expect the crowd being prepared to storm

Are storm base decks dominating the European meta lately? Please share you assessment on the current European meta and how will it change in the next two months before BOM.

Whenever we will have our big legacy event our meta usually looks like that of the US. In the recent SCG legacy opens, blue base variant control tempo decks, combo decks such as Elves, Reanimator, Sneaky Show are always on top. Only a handful of storm base combo decks show.

And with that meta, I am happy with Cook's list because its well suited. Unfortunately, I always end up 9th 10th or 11th place due to bad tie breaks.

I wish you all the luck in the fast coming BOM: Paris fellow TES player and I hope to read good stuffs from you.

Let us know what changes in the deck you will do.

^_^

By the way, can anyone share the link where we can watch the reply Cook's game?
Congrats Mr. Cook on your strong finish at the recent SCG legacy open!
Thank you.