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

[Togores]

A friend of me played my sneak and show deck in GPDC and he played Bryant.
He made a report and I would like to know what you would have made if he just snap slams the swan song to counter silence. If you would have combo out or wait one more turn or so.

My deck played 1 misdirection 3 flsuterstorms 2 swan song and 4 fow as protection, just to lt u know.


Here is his report

Round 6 vs Bryant Cook, ANT
Game 1 I kept a hand that allowed me to Sneak Attack on turn 3 and win on turn 4, and although it was not the strongest hand, it did also have a Swan Song. This game was somewhat uninteractive, with me playing land-go and my opponent just Pondering. My opponent was playing with beta duals and Japanese foil cards, so I respected that he was a strong player in whatever deck he was using - no one invests that much money into a deck without being a master. Because of that respect, on my turn three I decided to leave up mana for Swan Song instead of playing Sneak Attack, so that I could Emrakul + Sneak Attack on turn 4. But my opponent led off with Silence. I was finally able to recognize the deck as ANT, but was unsure of what to do. Should I Swan Song and try to fool my opponent into not comboing out of respect for Force of Will? Or should I let it resolve, and hope my opponent bricks on his combo? I decided to let it resolve, and after a couple cantrips my opponent got enough gas to successfully Tendrils me. I believe I misplayed and played "too honestly". I could have baited my opponent into thinking I had Force of Will by slamming Swan Song - but conversely, he had certainly played out this scenario hundreds of times. How often does he play into Force of Will regardless, in which case I lose anyways? That is only an answer he knows, but I think my error in judgment cost me the chance that my opponent could falsely read me as having Force of Will, then pass the turn and let me win.
Game 2 I kept a hand with no counters, yet, turn two Show and Tell for Emrakul. Again, my inexperience of this match up haunted me - I did not know how fast ANT could kill. Also, was it worth mulliganing into counters or Pyroclasm, despite me winning on turn three? I reasoned that I was beating anything less than a nut draw by my opponent, so after some deliberation, I kept my hand, and my opponent led with turn 1 Xathid Swarm. I got my turn two Emrakul, and my opponent revealed his nut draw, killing me on turn two. As I later found out, Bryant Cook is one of the most accomplished and well respected ANT players, which added another layer of complexity to my game 1 scenario.
4-2



MFG

[civet five]

Or should I let it resolve, and hope my opponent bricks on his combo?

This is pretty much the worst thing you can do and never correct, because Silence means you cannot interact for the rest of the turn, and "praying that they brick" is not a winning strategy.

Force of Will will only stop certain lines of play, so either the Storm player has a line that doesn't care, or has a line that does care and would also likely Duress/Therapy you to ensure the coast is clear. Its still very much possible that the SnS player was dead even if Silence was countered, but at least he would have gone down swinging.

[Lemnear]

A friend of me played my sneak and show deck in GPDC and he played Bryant.
He made a report and I would like to know what you would have made if he just snap slams the swan song to counter silence. If you would have combo out or wait one more turn or so.

My deck played 1 misdirection 3 flsuterstorms 2 swan song and 4 fow as protection, just to lt u know.


Here is his report

Round 6 vs Bryant Cook, ANT
Game 1 I kept a hand that allowed me to Sneak Attack on turn 3 and win on turn 4, and although it was not the strongest hand, it did also have a Swan Song. This game was somewhat uninteractive, with me playing land-go and my opponent just Pondering. My opponent was playing with beta duals and Japanese foil cards, so I respected that he was a strong player in whatever deck he was using - no one invests that much money into a deck without being a master. Because of that respect, on my turn three I decided to leave up mana for Swan Song instead of playing Sneak Attack, so that I could Emrakul + Sneak Attack on turn 4. But my opponent led off with Silence. I was finally able to recognize the deck as ANT, but was unsure of what to do. Should I Swan Song and try to fool my opponent into not comboing out of respect for Force of Will? Or should I let it resolve, and hope my opponent bricks on his combo? I decided to let it resolve, and after a couple cantrips my opponent got enough gas to successfully Tendrils me. I believe I misplayed and played "too honestly". I could have baited my opponent into thinking I had Force of Will by slamming Swan Song - but conversely, he had certainly played out this scenario hundreds of times. How often does he play into Force of Will regardless, in which case I lose anyways? That is only an answer he knows, but I think my error in judgment cost me the chance that my opponent could falsely read me as having Force of Will, then pass the turn and let me win.
Game 2 I kept a hand with no counters, yet, turn two Show and Tell for Emrakul. Again, my inexperience of this match up haunted me - I did not know how fast ANT could kill. Also, was it worth mulliganing into counters or Pyroclasm, despite me winning on turn three? I reasoned that I was beating anything less than a nut draw by my opponent, so after some deliberation, I kept my hand, and my opponent led with turn 1 Xathid Swarm. I got my turn two Emrakul, and my opponent revealed his nut draw, killing me on turn two. As I later found out, Bryant Cook is one of the most accomplished and well respected ANT players, which added another layer of complexity to my game 1 scenario.
4-2



MFG

From what I have read and concerning the developed manabase: go for it. You'll die to S&T/Sneak Attack regardless if you pass the turn and we don't even know if Bryant had a double protection available. The only thing we can tell is that letting Silence resolve is plain wrong.

Not certain how Flusterstorm is an argument against discard when it counters Silence, but I can't argue against Spell Snare and Divert being cards you'd otherwise blank with Silence. I guess it really comes down to which cards you expect to see more than the other, for me Spell Snare in MDs is a rarity and Divert is obviously a SB card. I just expect to see more hate bears and Counterbalance than I do fringe counters at the moment.

If you have problems with life loss you can always play with a set of Gemstone Mines instead, I think the 4th Chrome Mox does a fairly good job at off setting the life loss tho'.

The issue was that today you'll rarely face only one hatecard/counter but a mix of those and Silence can beat a hand with Flusterstorm, REB, Divert and Spell Snare unlike Thoughtseize and a shitload of of tempo decks play Snare over Pierce atm to beat Counterbalance, Infernal and Stoneforge Mystic more reliable. This was my reason to stick with Silence for now.

Hated to have Moxen in my hand too much to add the 4th again

[fogxanic]

Hello,

I played yesterday at GP Trial of 35 players with this list of Bryant's deck http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/62658. Felt like there is something wrong with the sideboard?

G1 vs. mono R burn 2-1

G2 vs. punishing jund 2-1

G3 vs. uwr delver 1-2
First game I won with silence to wish for diminishing returns Second game I try to combo on turn 2 or 3 but he has double fows and I just discard my whole hand to led. Third game I kept hand with lots of mana but no wish or tutor so he had time to cast meddling mage naming led and a turn later canonist also having some counters in his hand.

G4 vs. manaless dredge 2-0
This was very epic game from me. I was on go and probet his hand saw colossus, balustrate spy, ichorid, stinkweed imp and 3 narcomoeba orcource I had therapy and took his 3 moebas away got like 4 extra turns atleast for him to discard. Second game was also nice I played land ponder. He discarded phantasmagorian. His threw 6 cards to his gy on my end. There were ichorid, bridge, 2 cabal therapy atleast after dredging some guy. He put ichorid on play and attacked but I used this best card of the deck chain of vapor and bounced it to get again few free turns. Later I went of throught his mindbreak trap with lots of mana, burning wish and warrens making 16 goblins.

G5 vs. death and taxes 1-2
First game I lost he was on play and played turn 2 thalia. Second game I won he mulled to 5 and still had nothing. Third game lost he had some permanent hate and I kept slow hand.

G6 vs. bug delver 2-1

I was 8th at swiss with 2 % more owp than 9th player

Top 8 match against imperial painter 2-1

First game he put very quickly magus of the moon but later I was able to wish for grapeshot and later playing to shot his guy and same turn cabal therapy for his another magus for win. Second game was hard he mulled to 5 but started with T1 thorn. He got 2 moons later. Third game I really screwd up I saw his hand with probe but didn't remember pyroblast when I had put ad nauseam top of library with 2 lands on play and led I cast probe but same second remember his blast so didn't brake the led soon later he countered my 2 brainstorms with blasts and I counld't do that trick again. Later I cast warrens with 8 goblins and he was still on 1 land (turn 2 he played magus of the moon with mountain and 2 spirit guides I had land open and chain of vapor for returning it back ). I attacked once but he draw another mountain and pyroclasms my gobbos.

[Jay_Gatz]

My opponent was playing with beta duals and Japanese foil cards, so I respected that he was a strong player in whatever deck he was using - no one invests that much money into a deck without being a master.

Couldn't have been Bryant, he doesn't have beta duals. He refuses to have legible cards.

[NormalGuy]

@fogxanic: It looks like you may have played against forum member Hopo in the Quarter Final's.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post778922

Hello,

I played yesterday at GP Trial of 35 players with this list of Bryant's deck http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/62658. Felt like there is something wrong with the sideboard?

...

Top 8 match against imperial painter 2-1

First game he put very quickly magus of the moon but later I was able to wish for grapeshot and later playing to shot his guy and same turn cabal therapy for his another magus for win. Second game was hard he mulled to 5 but started with T1 thorn. He got 2 moons later. Third game I really screwd up I saw his hand with probe but didn't remember pyroblast when I had put ad nauseam top of library with 2 lands on play and led I cast probe but same second remember his blast so didn't brake the led soon later he countered my 2 brainstorms with blasts and I counld't do that trick again. Later I cast warrens with 8 goblins and he was still on 1 land (turn 2 he played magus of the moon with mountain and 2 spirit guides I had land open and chain of vapor for returning it back ). I attacked once but he draw another mountain and pyroclasms my gobbos.

[Lemnear]

Couldn't have been Bryant, he doesn't have beta duals. He refuses to have legible cards.

A guy mistaken TES for ANT without any clue how to play the matchup correctly shall be forgiven to mistake FBB Duals for Betas as well


@fogxanic
Sideboard is a bit outdated. Death & Taxes should be managable with solid keeps without sideboarding. How did you board against UWR? You need to expect Meddling Mage/Cannonist from this deck

[fogxanic]

A guy mistaken TES for ANT without any clue how to play the matchup correctly shall be forgiven to mistake FBB Duals for Betas as well


@fogxanic
Sideboard is a bit outdated. Death & Taxes should be managable with solid keeps without sideboarding. How did you board against UWR? You need to expect Meddling Mage/Cannonist from this deck

I sb in like 8 cards maybe there were some too much including chain and 2 decays. Also xantid swarms and carpets. But third game sided out some xantids because he still had lightning bolts in at second game.

[Togores]

Couldn't have been Bryant, he doesn't have beta duals. He refuses to have legible cards.

My friend its more or less new to legacy. May be he thought FBB lands where beta.
Cause thats the normal black bordered duals in USA.
But was Bryant for sure^^

[Lemnear]

I sb in like 8 cards maybe there were some too much including chain and 2 decays. Also xantid swarms and carpets. But third game sided out some xantids because he still had lightning bolts in at second game.

That's far too much my friend. You don't want Xantid and Carpets here, as the additional mana and Bugs doesn't help against the hatebears. You only want the removal for the bears.

Out of curiosity: what did you board out? Can't imagine that boarding out 8 cards didn't harm the deck tbh

[.Ix]

Just want to thank everyone for the great work on the deck and the thread! I've picked up the deck recently since I love storm from the Long.dec days. Learned a lot from this thread, and I've already gone 4-0 at two 8-mans with it. Going off T1 with this deck is just so satisfying.

[Jay_Gatz]

My friend its more or less new to legacy. May be he thought FBB lands where beta. Cause thats the normal black bordered duals in USA. But was Bryant for sure^^

I was just joking!

[Final Fortune]

From what I have read and concerning the developed manabase: go for it. You'll die to S&T/Sneak Attack regardless if you pass the turn and we don't even know if Bryant had a double protection available. The only thing we can tell is that letting Silence resolve is plain wrong.

The issue was that today you'll rarely face only one hatecard/counter but a mix of those and Silence can beat a hand with Flusterstorm, REB, Divert and Spell Snare unlike Thoughtseize and a shitload of of tempo decks play Snare over Pierce atm to beat Counterbalance, Infernal and Stoneforge Mystic more reliable. This was my reason to stick with Silence for now.

Hated to have Moxen in my hand too much to add the 4th again

Hmm, haven't seen a deck as diverse as 4 different 1cc counters between MD and SB yet, I guess it was only a matter of time until the format caught up with Cabal Therapy.

I always find myself moving between the extremes of 4 and 2 Chrome Mox, mainly because I think the deck has become more of an Empty the Warrens deck than anything else with Cabal Therapy and I really like the 4th fetchland if I plan to see Turns 3+

[Lemnear]

Hmm, haven't seen a deck as diverse as 4 different 1cc counters between MD and SB yet, I guess it was only a matter of time until the format caught up with Cabal Therapy.

I always find myself moving between the extremes of 4 and 2 Chrome Mox, mainly because I think the deck has become more of an Empty the Warrens deck than anything else with Cabal Therapy and I really like the 4th fetchland if I plan to see Turns 3+

I can't really tell if it's a euro-thing to split up SB hate that extreme into a lot of 1-/2-offs, but that shit can get really annoying if you want to push through with discard like Therapy. Kai Thiele, one of the prime bUrg players around and close friend, played FoW, REB, Snare, Pierce, Flusterstorm, Daze, DRS, Thoughtseize and Golgari charm postboard against me. That's serious news if you try to push through with discard that often only trades 1-for-1 with such splitted hate or Sideboards of UWR Delver with Cannonist/Meddling Mage/REB/Flusterstorm/Leyline/Snare ... just sick

[Pelikanudo]

A friend of me played my sneak and show deck in GPDC and he played Bryant.
He made a report and I would like to know what you would have made if he just snap slams the swan song to counter silence. If you would have combo out or wait one more turn or so.

My deck played 1 misdirection 3 flsuterstorms 2 swan song and 4 fow as protection, just to lt u know.


Here is his report

Round 6 vs Bryant Cook, ANT
Game 1 I kept a hand that allowed me to Sneak Attack on turn 3 and win on turn 4, and although it was not the strongest hand, it did also have a Swan Song. This game was somewhat uninteractive, with me playing land-go and my opponent just Pondering. My opponent was playing with beta duals and Japanese foil cards, so I respected that he was a strong player in whatever deck he was using - no one invests that much money into a deck without being a master. Because of that respect, on my turn three I decided to leave up mana for Swan Song instead of playing Sneak Attack, so that I could Emrakul + Sneak Attack on turn 4. But my opponent led off with Silence. I was finally able to recognize the deck as ANT, but was unsure of what to do. Should I Swan Song and try to fool my opponent into not comboing out of respect for Force of Will? Or should I let it resolve, and hope my opponent bricks on his combo? I decided to let it resolve, and after a couple cantrips my opponent got enough gas to successfully Tendrils me. I believe I misplayed and played "too honestly". I could have baited my opponent into thinking I had Force of Will by slamming Swan Song - but conversely, he had certainly played out this scenario hundreds of times. How often does he play into Force of Will regardless, in which case I lose anyways? That is only an answer he knows, but I think my error in judgment cost me the chance that my opponent could falsely read me as having Force of Will, then pass the turn and let me win.
Game 2 I kept a hand with no counters, yet, turn two Show and Tell for Emrakul. Again, my inexperience of this match up haunted me - I did not know how fast ANT could kill. Also, was it worth mulliganing into counters or Pyroclasm, despite me winning on turn three? I reasoned that I was beating anything less than a nut draw by my opponent, so after some deliberation, I kept my hand, and my opponent led with turn 1 Xathid Swarm. I got my turn two Emrakul, and my opponent revealed his nut draw, killing me on turn two. As I later found out, Bryant Cook is one of the most accomplished and well respected ANT players, which added another layer of complexity to my game 1 scenario.
4-2



MFG

I believe that if instead silence the opponent had played Therapy, then that thereapy would have been countered by that Swang Song.
That was the real good play!
Joke.

[Lemnear]

Just want to thank everyone for the great work on the deck and the thread! I've picked up the deck recently since I love storm from the Long.dec days. Learned a lot from this thread, and I've already gone 4-0 at two 8-mans with it. Going off T1 with this deck is just so satisfying.

If it's satisfiying for you to play the deck and it rewards your patience to learn it with top results (and prices) It's worth the time we invested here. No need to thank. :)

[fogxanic]

That's far too much my friend. You don't want Xantid and Carpets here, as the additional mana and Bugs doesn't help against the hatebears. You only want the removal for the bears.

Out of curiosity: what did you board out? Can't imagine that boarding out 8 cards didn't harm the deck tbh

I board out little bit of everything like 2 ponder 1 tutor 1 mox 1 silence etc.

[paeng4983]

Happy new year to all TES people!

We had our monthly big legacy tournament yesterday (5th of January) and here's the link of my brief tournament report.

http://mtglegacy.freeforums.org/post12.html#p12

@fogxanic
If I'll be facing against a URW, I might have this SB plan,

out: 1 ponder, 1 chrome, 1 etw, 1 tutor
in: 1 trops, 2 pyroblast, 1 thoughtseize

If against DT

out: 1 chrome, 1 tutor, 3 silence
in: 1 vapor, 1 thoughtseize, 2 decays, 1 trops

[PartyMonster]

Anyone in the mood to shoot pros and cons at me about running a third decay in the board over chain of vapor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paeng4983]

Anyone in the mood to shoot pros and cons at me about running a third decay in the board over chain of vapor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Take into consideration the possible meta that you'll be playing. If you feel that counter-top lovers will be rampant, then including a 3rd decay is justified. But if DTs and the like hatebears are going to be present, having a vapor is much better than paying BGx.

Let me put it in this presentation:
AD
good vs. counterbalance
not that good vs. tax effect manipulation
bad vs. permanents with 4cc and higher

CoV
not that good vs. counterbalance
good vs. taxing effects
good vs. permanents with 4cc and higher
better in some situations wherein you need to chain bounce your moxen to feed your storm count
can remove two hates if opponent decides to bounce something from you.

Personally last Sunday, I was tempted to replace 1 pyroblast with a vapor. But I still went with Cook's list because I was expecting a lot of TNN and delver decks.