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

[Tammit67]

Congrats.

I couldn't justify it after Indy the week before. It's a little rough, the prizes sucked and it's also not fair to my dog.

To everyone complaining about the protection package. I think some of the problems you may be facing may actually be from too many Cabal Therapy. While I love the card as much as the next guy, it's not exactly ideal on turn one or two without Probe and can cause awkward situations when you look at the different hate card. This is why I'm still running 3/2 on Therapy/Thoughtseize in the entire 75.

Well you won't skip DC I hope. Thoughtseize was relevant for me all day. Any life loss from it was usually negligible or I can attribute to shoddy play. I'll run the same 75 in DC most likely

[Bryant Cook]

I'll definitely be in DC most likely playing the list in the opening post.

[Lemnear]

Thoughtseize + fow combo was just awfull during the bom because even if you have hand you cant cast it and you will loose your perfect hand right after. Means you need brainstorm to ide stuff + sure to draw silence or discard to combo right after. In one word you need to get perfect draw perfect time perfect everything
Hate was easier too manage blood moon do to rite of flamme / burning wish + petal led
If you add thorn .... need to get petal chain + land ... in your not out of tempo allready. We could think of wear and tear in the right color but i guess if blood moon + thorn on the board we will need 4/5 mana available

Uploaded with ImageShack.com

[Lemnear]

Action![/URL]

The Judge Team[/URL]

[Jaycounet]

just to let you know i had a match against dredge who board in lineley against me during the bom ...

nice picture lemnear

[jandax]

Uploaded with ImageShack.com

sad panda face behind the camera?

[Lemnear]

sad panda face behind the camera?

Game 3 and i was in the draw with a turn 1 kill then he landed the Sphere T1 off the Tomb. Things got worse with CB #2 as well as Sphere #2! Had to waste all my later drawn removal to prevent him killing me with Painter + Grindstone.

[Pelikanudo]

From my experience with Timmo ANT with 3 B.Wish,

The disruption package is 4 Therapys 3 Duress plus from Side 2 Inquisition and even 1 more duress, so in total vs decks like Combo you're playing total 10 discard effects!!. This is a fact that you just play discard, discard, discard until you are ready for the combo and just win. See How To Side from Timo Post. its is easy and effective.

This is just another kind of deck. At least in my meta I prefer playing ANT build if my main purpose is to win, however I love TES the most, do not change the 4 Silence main. or just change to ANT. Also, the fact that with pure ANT you can side in much more cards is a plus.

I tryed some time ago to make a deck with Mox Opal -> wasn't success, however the disruption package I ran was great, its behaviour was like TES in speed matters, but the disruption was 4 therapys 3 duress because of Manabase issues.

From my point of view I prefer to play TES as I enjoy this deck soo much.... (Still thinking that it is more funny withouth gitaxian... and full moxen.. just we need to have X-Ray or to be an Autist...mine is more like second case)

From the Timmo notes you side: -2 Gitaxian - 1 C.Mox = +2 Inquisition + 1 Duress, but in TES you can not this. Gitaxian has a lot of value in TES and in ANT you're substituing Gitaxian for more discard effects which let you see the opponent hand. Gitaxian really advances only one card.

I think its just a matter of taste. For me TES is even more difficult to play tan DD builds which are way easy to play once you have all the posible piles in mind, I can say I reached Top8 will all Combo Decks (ANT, DD, H.Tide) in my meta however with not TES . or only very few.

Once I thoutgh Bryant was the luckiest Combo player..., not even near the reality.

Just an opinion

[Megadeus]

Inquisition seems horrible in a format where the card you want to strip most is a 5 CMC spell

[DarkJester]

Inquisition seems horrible in a format where the card you want to strip most is a 5 CMC spell

Don't you think that this is a very one-sided point of view? You don't board out protection that is able to blank fow in matchup's where it's relevant. And, IoK may still discard the fow-pitch (in rare scenarios), hatebears-and artifacts, pierces, dazes, flusters, hymns, snares, CB, Top, .... the best argument against this card imo is the SB-Space, but it's far from horrible.
Thoughtseize seems to be better, though.

[Jay_Gatz]

Don't you think that this is a very one-sided point of view? You don't board out protection that is able to blank fow in matchup's where it's relevant. And, IoK may still discard the fow-pitch (in rare scenarios), hatebears-and artifacts, pierces, dazes, flusters, hymns, snares, CB, Top, .... the best argument against this card imo is the SB-Space, but it's far from horrible. Thoughtseize seems to be better, though.

Force is the most played hard counter in the format, playing a card that doesn't answer it seems awful unless you are already maxed out on therapy duress and thoughtseize.

[DarkJester]

Force is the most played hard counter in the format, playing a card that doesn't answer it seems awful unless you are already maxed out on therapy duress and thoughtseize.

We are not talking about a Maindeck-Choice here. But because of the fact, that Pelikanudos post referred to a successful ANT-List from last year's Ovino and BoM, this shouldn't be discussed here. I just wanted to point out, that IoK is far from horrible in the right Metagame, maybe even before you max-out on thoughtseizes or duresses.

[Tammit67]

We are not talking about a Maindeck-Choice here. But because of the fact, that Pelikanudos post referred to a successful ANT-List from last year's Ovino and BoM, this shouldn't be discussed here. I just wanted to point out, that IoK is far from horrible in the right Metagame, maybe even before you max-out on thoughtseizes or duresses.

I dislike that it can't take mindbreak trap or natural order if I was so inclined. If such a metagame exists, I'm not convinced this is that meta.

[Megadeus]

I see what you mean about it being able to take hate bears, but I think I'd rather max out on TS. Being able to take hate bears AND force seems best

[Monkey_Island]

I was playing at the same table but finished my game earlier. Then I saw that game state with 2 Counterbalance + 2 Sphere against a shiny TES deck... I still feel bad for you!
Anyway it was nice meeting you and have a look to your awesome deck (even if I'm not into foils, it is still very impressive!).

[Lemnear]

I was playing at the same table but finished my game earlier. Then I saw that game state with 2 Counterbalance + 2 Sphere against a shiny TES deck... I still feel bad for you!
Anyway it was nice meeting you and have a look to your awesome deck (even if I'm not into foils, it is still very impressive!).

It was a pleasure to met you. ^^

I'm still a bit surprised that so many peeps were able to identify me even if I was not allowed to run my LED's or mistake my fellow Protegé Kai for being me (no wonder, because he's also from Berlin, also running full FOIL TES and also wore a Blazer and Beanie)

[Megadeus]

Sucks that they wouldnt let you run those LEDs. Is it just because they arent recognizable?

[Lemnear]

Sucks that they wouldnt let you run those LEDs. Is it just because they arent recognizable?

Yes. The Headjudge for the Mainevent told me, he'd prefer if I would replace them to make the card more recognizable for my opponents and I followed his wish. He however did not forbid me to play with my Diamonds. It was not a big deal because I had a second set with me.

I played the Lost Eye Diamonds on Friday withouts problems or complaints from Judges or opponents. I had nice peeps sitting across all day; some more chatty, some very focused, but no one was rude or Reckless shuffling my cards.

P.S.: I promise I'll make a bunch of pictures on the yearly MagicCardMarket-Tourney in 2 weeks

[Kael]

I am thinking about cards like Hurkyl's Recall against Painter. It is dead against Chalice on two, but I feel like most time they drop the Chalice on one to stop us. Do this in their end step to bounce stuff and clear the way for a combo the next turn, or even do this with Silence in hand to upkeep Silence-walk them and get 2 turns out of it to replay stuff, and then combo out... worse case, you can bounce their stuff and then Therapy it our of their hand on your turn. Slows the deck down a lot, but removes some problem stuff from play.

The other card I have been thinking about against Painter is Pulvarize. 4RR, You may sacrifice two Mountains instead of paying the mana cost... destroy all artifacts. Under a Blood Moon all your lands are Mountains, so tap them for mana, sac two of them for a free Pulverize (free Storm +1). The odds of them having Chalice on 6 is low. This also allows you to have a game 1 answer to Painter since you can just cast a Burning Wish with your two mountains and then blow up all Artifacts. Seems really narrow, and Hurkyl's Recall seems a lot better in our deck anyway... just brainstorming ideas.

First of all, are you really playing against Painter with CotV? That counters so many cards in their deck...They must really hate storm. Secondly, you should try Serenity instead of Hurkyl's. I think the occasional downside of not having W mana is more than made up by the ability to hit stuff like Leyline, Arcane Lab, Counterbalance, or whatever other crap you run into.

Pulverize seems loose, given that it only works against Painter and Dragon Stompy, and is completely uncastable if they don't have a Blood Moon down.

[HerrGevatter]

Hello,

I’m a relatively new Storm player from the Philadelphia area (Matt we might have played each other on occasion) who decided to pick up the deck after getting frustrated drawing too much with Miracles. I first played TES competitively at GP Charlotte in a side event (which I won, despite horrid misplays), and have been hooked ever since.

Since I had my best showing ever with TES at Legacy Champs this past weekend (7/2, Top 16), I wanted to share a little bit about my experience and card choices.

The Deck
My starting point was Bryant Cook’s list, with different fetches based on what I was lending out (1 Delta, 2 Mistys). Other than that, I ran the same 75 in the main.

For the sideboard, I added Reforge the Soul, Massacre, and Eye of Nowhere, removing DR, IGG, and CT. Despite the higher cost, I’ve found RtS much easier to cast than DR with RoF. I also find it easier not to have to juggle UU.

Eye of Nowhere may not be necessary, but it’s helped otherwise unwinnable games, and Massacre can be cast for free and is great against the usual hate bears (except Gaddock Teeg, but there’s always Grapeshot). Death & Taxes is popular here, and I expect it will be all over DC after Ari Lax’s win.

Matchups:
Round 1: 2-1 vs Imperial Painter. Double Sphere is hard to beat, but the deck can’t do much about Goblins. 1-0.

Round 2: 2-0 vs TES. He kept a no-lander game 1 and slow-played, thinking I might have counterspells. I was able to go off first. Game 2 I made more Goblins for the victory. 2-0.

Round 3 – 2-0 vs Death & Taxes. My opponent forgot to deboard and got a game loss; I then Turn 1ed him on the draw. 3-0.

Round 4 – 0-2 vs Sneak & Show. It’s very hard to win against resolved Griselbrand. 3-1.

Round 5 – 2-0 vs Sneak & Show. If they don’t resolve Griselbrand AND mull to oblivion… 4-1.

Round 6 – 2-0 vs Aggro Loam with Dark Depths/Thespian’s Stage. Game 2, my opponent set up his game-winning combo instead of playing a Thorn of Amethyst, and I was able to Tendrils him that turn. 5-1

Round 7 – 0-2 vs RUG Delver. Early Delver flips backed by hordes of countermagic won both games. This is the one match I lost due to pilot error. 5-2.

Round 8 – 2-1 vs Punishing Jund. I won game 2 after my opponent took himself to 13 life off Thoughtseizes and fetches, using PiF into the Grapeshot he’d made me discard earlier. I won game 3 in turns off a top-decked Silence to protect my Goblin horde. 6-2.

Round 9 – 2-1 vs Merfolk. He won Game 1 with pressure and counters, then kept a hand without Force of Will game 2 and lost to Turn 1 Goblins. In game 3 he didn’t counter my Rites, saving it for the Tutor in my hand – which was an Empty the Warrens. He was a real gentleman and gave me the 2-0 victory, though it didn’t make any difference.

Overall, I felt the deck was very well-positioned, despite lots of D&T and Miracles. Ad Nauseam is wonderful but not always necessary; I don’t think I played it at all in the first five matches. Goblins are very good. But with Miracles and D&T being so popular, I think three ADs and a Massacre are necessary evils.

Oh, and never, ever, play without Grapeshot.

Based on this thread I’m going to do some testing with Thoughtseize over the next two weeks before DC, but I’m still most concerned about the matchups with Sneak & Show and Reanimator. The third XS sounds like a good start, but I wish there were something more. If anybody (Bryant?) is testing Surgical Extractions, I’d love to hear about your results.

Thanks for all the advice posted here – I’m looking forward to lots of TES in DC!